Human (23 page)

"He's not a toy. I don't want to own him! I want him to be free," I said.

"Well, you can set him free, but then some demon might steal him from you and claim him. Once a slave, always a slave. He's safe as long as you own him because you're my daughter, and no one will mess with you. I'll make sure that everyone knows," Asibrius said. "Besides, that way you can forbid him to cheat on you." He actually winked at me.

"Well, thank you, really. I'll be grateful to you forever," I said. "But Devin's going to be my slave only on paper."

"You want him to be your slave on paper? Try marrying him." Asibrius chuckled. "Look, do whatever you want. But for his safety, it's better you sign the contract and never break it."

"Fine," I sighed. Demons were so complicated. I heard a groan and looked at Devin, who was trying to open his eyes. He smiled at me dreamily, but then his eyes fell on Asibrius, who just grinned at him. Devin sat up in the bed so fast that he startled me. He looked around him in confusion, getting up to stand between me and my father. I caught his arm as he stumbled and nearly crumpled to the ground.

"Devin, you need to lie down," I said, tugging at his arm. He focused his attention on Asibrius, pushing me behind.

"Stay away from her," Devin said.

"She's my daughter, and I got you out of Hell for her. I'd be nice to me if I were you." Asibrius' voice was as cold as ice. Devin turned his head to look at me, a confused expression on his face.

"It's true what he says," I said.

"Ariel, you...you're really here," he whispered, embracing me so tightly that it was hard to breathe. But I loved it that he was so close to me and that we weren't in Hell anymore. And the best part was that he could stay with me.

"Let's get this contract signed so I can leave you two lovebirds alone." Asibrius rolled his eyes. He reached for his knife and sliced his palm, dripping blood on the paper. I went over to him and let him make a small cut on my finger since my super-fast healing ability was missing. A few drops of Devin's blood, a bit of magic, and our contract changed the fine writing on it. Now it stated I was Devin's owner. It felt awkward to even have such a contract, but I wasn't going to let anyone take Devin to Hell anymore.

"Take care, my child." Asibrius gave me a warm smile before he flew out of the window. Devin pulled me close to him, and our lips met in a passionate kiss.

"Wait, where are you going to stay?" I frowned. I couldn't exactly hide him in my room forever, could I? Or... "There's a free room in the attic! You can use magic to make my parents believe you are an exchange student staying at our place!"

"Don't you hate it when demons use magic on your family and friends?" he said, caressing my hair.

"Yeah, there's nothing I hate more, but I can't just kick you out on the street," I said, biting my lip. "They'd have a fit if they found out I was hiding you here, and they for sure wouldn't believe me if I told them the truth. Besides, they don't need the shock of finding out their daughters are not really theirs. It would ruin their lives. And with a little bit of magic, you can actually live here."

"All right." He kissed my forehead.

"But how are we going to protect my sister? Maliadades will send someone for her," I said, pulling away from him and sitting down on the bed.

"We'll know when they get here."

"Yeah, but we won't know where they are!" I ran my hand through my hair.

"They won't be able to locate your sister immediately anyway. And Maliadades doesn't have who to send after her now. He might find someone, but it will take time. They won't be here any time soon. I promise." He kneeled in front of me, taking my hands in his.

"Hello, Ariel," I hear a familiar voice say. I open my eyes and realize I'm in my bed, Devin sleeping next to me. I remember we were talking, but I can't remember when exactly
we have fallen asleep. Sitting up, I see Leonard standing in front of the bed, his face calm and smiling.

"What are you...? How...?"
I touch Devin's arm, but he doesn't even twitch.

"A vision, Ariel. You're having a vision."

Right. Of course I am. There's no way Leonard could be here otherwise.

"Make him happy, Ariel. That's all I ask," he says. "I'll give you something in return."

"Give me what?" I look at him in surprise.

"I'll warn you if Maliadades sends someone after your sister. But I'm doing everything to keep his mind occupied with other things. There aren't many demons who want to help him anyway. Others can't go
to the human world. And even Maliadades can't trust someone who doesn't belong to him. He's afraid the demons he hires will realize what his plan is and use the angel for themselves."

"But if they break the spell, doesn't that mean he could go out too?" I say, relieved that we aren't in danger. Leonard wouldn't lie to me.

"Yes, and none of them wants that, trust me. They all want everything
only for themselves."

"
Right, demons aren't the sharing type, got it," I say sleepily. "Thank you...for everything. I'm sorry you couldn't say goodbye to Devin."

"Tell him I said hi." Leonard smiles. "I'll be watching over you."

"Wait, you're not watching us all the time, right?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

"No, of course not." He laughs.

"And why aren't you showing yourself to us in a mirror or in Devin's mind?"

"Because you can communicate that way only with your slave. Mind communication hurts, mirror communication not so much, but visions are the best."

"Oh." I should have stolen the demon encyclopedia while I was in Hell.

"Se
e you some other time, my dear," he says.

I blinked. Devin was still asleep just like I had seen in my vision and there was no one else in the room except us. Pulling the covers over me, I snuggled closer to Devin and closed my eyes, letting sleep overtake me.

"We're dating. What's wrong with that? He still has so many things to see and experience in this world, just like I do."

"But you own him!" She shook her head at me in exasperation. "Would you really let another girl steal him?"

No, I wouldn't. "Don't say that! I'm not some crazy demon who forces people to do things. If he falls in love with someone else... I'll have to let him go."

"You're insane."

"I didn't say I won't do everything to keep him, but I'm not touching that contract. I don't know what will happen in a few months, a year, five years... We might not even want to be together by then. Who knows?"

"God, you're such a pessimist!" Italia rolled her eyes. "How about happily ever after?"

"Yeah, my birth parents thought they were in love and they were ready to fight two worlds to be together. It was that kind of epic love at first sight that was supposed to last for centuries, but look what happened. Just because we're taking it slow doesn't mean we won't be together forever." I frowned. "Why are we even talking about this?"

"The angels want to know if your alliances lie with demons or with us." He watched me so intently that I felt like I was on a trial. Ah, my judgy little angels.

"Why? You don't know in which book to put my name down?" I tried to dissipate the tension, but Amadeo's lips didn't even twitch.

"This is serious, Ariel. We need to know on whose side you are," he said. "No one is going to hurt you. We just need to know."

Wow, this sounded a lot like a political campaign. Choose a side, you'll always pick the wrong one. I opened my mouth to say something stupid, but I reconsidered at the last moment. Amadeo looked at me expectantly, hope lighting up his eyes. He knew I was dating Devin, but it seemed like he believed I was going to do what he considered right.

"You know what? I'm half-angel, half-demon. I don't have any special powers angels and demons have. I can't even open my wings here. Do you know what that means?" I waited for him to say something.

"Yes, it is. I've been to Heaven and Hell. I've seen both angels and demons. If you mixed those two worlds, you'd get Earth. My angel half cancels out my demon half, and vice versa. Forget your classification. I'm human."

"I'll tell them that," Amadeo said, getting up, a few girls nearly passing out from excitement as he walked past them towards the door. I really hoped angels would leave me alone after this. I didn't even have any idea why they were asking since I could have as well lied to Amadeo. And they hadn't tried to get to my sister since I'd gotten her out. Obviously, they cared only about angels they could get to Heaven and since my sister wasn't going back, they had given up. Weird, but I didn't have to concern myself with that, so I picked up my pizza and took a large bite.

Devin and I were standing on the bridge, watching the sun go down. As long as he held me in his arms, I wasn't even a bit cold. Closing my eyes, I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"You know, I keep thinking if I could use magic, maybe we would be able to defeat Maliadades and send demons and angels away from here," I said quietly. Devin's arms tightened around me.

"No. We'd never be strong enough. Even if something happened to Maliadades, there would be someone else who'd try to do the same. You don't know how other kings are."

"But Leonard would be an awesome king." I opened my eyes to look at Devin's cerulean ones. I had to admit I liked blue on him more than black. His eyes didn't go black very often now, only sometimes when he wanted it.

"Just maybe?" I smiled when he let go of me. I wanted to scream that I loved him so that the whole town could hear us, but I didn't. What was the point of saying it over and over again if I could just show it to him? We had years ahead of us for that. I only hoped demons and angels wouldn't try to ruin it for us. But we had friends. We'd fight them off.

"We'll find out," he said, and then he shuddered for a second. I frowned, placing my hand gently on his cheek.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. It's just... sometimes I think I can still hear Maliadades' voice in my head. I can't help but think what would happen if I saw him again...if they somehow opened the gate."

"No." I looked into his eyes. "There's a whole world separating you and him. He can't get to you. And if he's trying something, it won't happen any time soon. Don't you think he'd have done it already if it was so easy? Besides, who says he'd even remember you? I'm sure he doesn't want to come into this world just to find you. And the last time I saw him, Leonard told me something about an uprising in Hell. Looks like the demons will be busy for some time."

"You're awesome too." I grinned at him. "Well, why don't we just focus on the good things here? None of the other demons know about my sister or want to do the same as Maliadades. Even if they figure it out, it might take them years to do so. And my sister will probably have her powers by then and be able to fight them off all on her own. You're lucky that your father and Maliadades are on the other side of the gate, and it's not just a restraining order separating you. I think that's much better than most of the people get."

"Hey, don't call me that!" I punched him lightly in the shoulder, the corners of my lips twitching. I couldn't even pretend I was mad at him, let alone really be mad at him.

"Fine. Your wish is my command."

I sighed, exasperated. For some weird reason he loved to remind me of that damn contract and the fact that I owned him. It was probably because he thought it was fun to provoke me. Besides, he told me once I owned his heart, and that had nothing to do with any kind of a contract.