I swallowed. Apparently, there was something else to add to the list of skills that I was totally unaware of, and that didn't benefit me at all.It wasn't pity, or maybe it was, I wasn't sure. With the destructive and relentless sea that my feelings had become, wreaking all kinds of havoc inside me, my resolve was drowned without the slightest chance of salvation. Like my sanity.“Look,” I said on a defeated sigh, “if you want me to help you again, it has to be only on my terms.His brows drew together, but then he seemed amused." Your terms?" she scoffed."That's right," I replied without hesitation. Never, ever hang me again, got it? The amusement drained from her expression as soon as she heard that. I want you to continue to keep your distance from my family. I'll help you figure all this out, but you're not going to involve them. I don't want them to ever find out about the existence of demons. I paused briefly and he narrowed his eyes, but he remained serious. You have to stop
"Find out everything that happened the day you were born," he said suddenly. I looked up and he seemed to notice something abnormal in my countenance, so he reluctantly added, " Please."The latter was somewhat funny to me, but I forced myself not to laugh and nodded."I will," I promised. He stared straight ahead, resuming his haughty face as he squared his shoulders. I watched him for a couple of seconds. Know? I've known more about you in these two weeks from them than during the time I've been with you.-I imagined it. Her.” He rolled his eyes, irritated. They are idiots."Khaius is a little distracted," I added.“It was something I was risking. He let out a short breath. But I know he wouldn't hurt a human like you."Is it special or something?"He frowned."In his own way, yes.""What about your nov… Akhliss?" I corrected myself.He frowned almost dismissively."That was careless on our part," he said angrily, still not looking at me. He learned of your existence through my slip
I shook my head when I stumbled, the product of not paying attention to my walk."Why does it seem like... you changed after the fight with Mabrax?" I mumbled, not looking up because of the shame I felt.It took him a minute to collect his thoughts. Or decide to be honest."You said I ruined your life," he said under his breath.I felt disoriented. I had to force my mind to evoke every memory of that day, until, at the moment when my own words echoed in every corner of my head, I revived the image of the moment when he had a hand squeezing my neck."Oh, I…" Another wave of shame and guilt washed over me. N-it wasn't… The situation…"I think that's partly true," he interrupted me. In a way, it's true, even if I have nothing to do with your abilities. While I assume I find it fun to torture you psychologically, my intention was not to devastate your life, not to the point where you begged me to end it. Her.” She shrugged, but she didn't want to look down at me. Although I suppose it was
I bit my tongue as I looked with surprise—and revulsion—at the new uniform that had just been delivered to me, the one we were to wear starting the following week. My stomach clenched at the thought of wearing a skirt to work, especially for someone as prone to falling in public as I am.I put the clothes in my bag, sighing, not even wanting to imagine what I would have to deal with for the rest of the day. My only consolation was that the next day I rested. Generally, Sundays still counted as my "normal" day, my quiet day. The demons also seemed to give me a break, since they didn't dare show up at my house.I wasn't in the best of spirits, not after the conversation I had with my parents the night before. I couldn't help but shuffle around the cafeteria, because it had occurred to me that I didn't want to spend time finding out about what happened the day I was born.I started the conversation before they went to sleep, on the pretext that I had Googled my own name out of curiosity
She huffed as she rolled her eyes."Oh please, girl. Have you had a few nightmares and you think that's too much? You have no idea about anything, Amy. Her eyes moved over my face, as if inspecting me. Look at you, if you don't even have a clue what it's like to be with a man, how could you have problems in life?Anger erupted inside me. My nails dug so deep into my palms that I felt an eminent burn. I bit the inside of my cheek, focusing my anger on myself so as not to hurt her.And I was sure that, at any moment, I could vent by smashing my fist into his face."I guess I'm not the only one who changed," I said bitterly, and couldn't help but sound more hurt than I intended. Her face twisted, but she gave no further sign of annoyance. Do you know Diana? Actually, you and I have absolutely nothing in common."You're right," he mumbled, his face tinged with rapture. I don't know how we didn't notice it before.—I think that the only thing you liked about me was that I was always at you
However, she spoke before I did."I can't believe you do this every day," she whimpered, crossing her arms as if in a tantrum. I haven't even been here ten minutes and I'm already bored.“Akhliss, you can't come here and do this! I exclaimed, clenching my fists. I'm working, dammit!"And can't you get out for a while?" I'm getting bored!“Hey, it's not my duty to entertain you, okay? If you really came to take care of me, then get out of here and do it from outside.She stared at me until her eyes narrowed and she scratched her chin thoughtfully."You look stressed," he told me, "do you want a massage?"Before I could say no, in less than the blink of an eye, she was behind me. I felt her hands on my shoulders, and then she moved her fingers in a soft, rhythmic way. I didn't walk away right away, just because the kneading was welcome on my muscles.“Akhliss…” I murmured in warning.—Do you know what is good for stress? She ignored me. The sex. I can take male form too, did you know? I
My spirits plummeted. Put your head down."She already told you, huh?" I mumbled."He says you've changed," he said, wrinkling his face, "that you're not the same girl you were before."-And what do you think?David looked away."I think not," he murmured uncertainly. Don't be mad, it's just that I got worried when he told me. And well, since you hadn't told me anything...I sighed. For some reason, I started to feel all the accumulated tiredness at once.“Look, Dave,” I said, trying not to raise my voice, since it wasn't his fault. He didn't even know exactly what Diana could have told him, “perhaps she's right. But you know what? If I'm really changing, I don't think it's such a bad thing.David's brown eyes widened as I spoke. I watched as he swallowed nervously.-No but…“Diana is mad because I met a friend,” I informed her.-Really? she asked, and astonishment crossed his features, as if it seemed stupid to him, too. I thought it was because… I don't know, I imagined something ba
-Please!"Calm down, Amy," he said under his breath, very calm for I was losing my temper. Nothing will happen, let her.-That? I questioned. Can't you see what he wants to do?Akhliss was nimble, and without doing me the least bit of harm, she slipped out of my grasp and walked quickly over to David. He froze; I could see how his face paled in a heartbeat.“Akhliss, damn it! I growled.I got to them as diligently as I could. She had already started to speak, David swallowed loudly and seemed unable to articulate a word. I managed to make out that there were traces of sweat on her forehead.I took the devil's arm."Let's go, okay?" I asked urgently.She pursed her lips and uttered a denial. She watched Dave through narrowed eyes for a minute. And then, as if nothing had happened, his nerves disappeared from her expression and something dark took over her gaze, behind the lenses of her glasses, making her smile back at the devil.She was sure she had never seen him like this before...