Torment (12 page)

When the movie finished I leaned up on my elbow and looked at him.

“That was quite good” he said, stretching.

“Yeah, it wasn’t bad.”

“What time is it?”

“Three thirty,” I said, turning to look at the clock.

“What time do Lily and Jake get back?”

“Normally about six.”

He looked me in the eyes for a moment with a soft expression on his face. Then he ran the backs of his fingers slowly down the side of my face. I leaned forward to kiss him; as soon as my lips touched his he pushed me away and stood up quickly.

“I’m sorry,” I panicked.

“No,
I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten so close to you.”

“Eligos…”

“I can’t do this anymore,” he said, turning to look at me. “I’m sorry.”

He disappeared.

“No, Eligos, I’m sorry,” I said, standing up. “Come back.”

He didn’t answer me or come back and I started to get upset. Why had I been so stupid? I knew he would react this way and yet I still did it. Why did I always push him? First I bug him about what he is hiding, when he’s obviously not comfortable talking about it, and now I come on to him when he didn’t want me to. He had never pushed me to tell him anything and he had never put me in a position where I would feel uncomfortable. I had to apologize to him. I had to tell him I was sorry for being so selfish. I walked into the kitchen and wrote Lily a note saying that I’d had to go away for a bit and that I didn’t know when I would be back. I stuck it on the front of the fridge and walked outside locking the door behind me. I stood in the garden and closed my eyes.

“Lilith, Mother, if you can hear me, I really need you,” I said loudly. “I need you to bring me to Hell, please.” I waited and waited, stood completely still with my eyes closed. “Lilith, please!”

Chapter Sixteen

Scar

I gave up and opened my eyes, only to find myself standing outside Eligos’s castle.

“Thank you!” I whispered, hoping Lilith would hear me.

I was about to knock on the door when I heard something smash. I jumped a little and looked around me but I couldn’t see anything. Then I heard it again, only it was louder this time and I realized it was coming from inside. I walked in without even knocking and followed the sounds of glass and pot breaking. I walked into the living room and found him looking out of one of the back windows, with his back to me.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I looked around the room.

Everything was broken, the little coffee table was in half, chairs had their legs broken off and the big mirror from over the fireplace was smashed into a thousand pieces on the floor. Ornaments had been thrown against the walls and now lay on the floor broken.

“Eligos, answer me!” I demanded.

“How did
you
get here?” he asked coldly, still with his back turned on me.

“I called out to Lilith.”

“Just leave.”

“No, not until you listen to me, I need to apolo…”

“I can’t do this anymore,” he told me. “I can’t be around you.”

“Why?”

“Because you drive me crazy, that's why. I’ve never felt like this before, and I can’t
keep
feeling like this.”

“I don't understand,” I sobbed. “I said I was sorry.”

“I swore to myself, not long after it happened to me, that I’d never give my heart to anyone. That way they could never hurt me. I’ve never hidden myself from anyone, and so nobody had ever shown any sort of affection towards me. I can’t say I blame them either. But then I met you. I knew that, if I turned up looking natural, you wouldn’t have given me the time of day. So I hid from you. I cast a spell on myself so you would never see what I really look like when I’m around you. But it was the wrong thing to do. You befriended me, and got close to me, and I did the one thing I never wanted to do.”

“After what happened to you? What thing?” I asked confused.

“I let myself…fall in love with you.”

My stomach did a somersault, my heart started racing, my legs felt as though they were about to turn to jelly. He was
in love
with me. That was the one thing I’d hoped and prayed I would someday hear him say to me.

“…And now it doesn’t matter how hard I fight it, I can’t stop,” he continued sadly.

“Good,” I almost cried. “I don't want you to stop.”

“You will.”

“Show me the real you.”

“No, just leave me alone.”

“Never!”

“Keira…”

“SHOW ME!” I shouted as I started to walk towards him.

“Fine.”

He turned his head quickly and stared straight at me. My mouth fell open slightly and I stopped dead in my tracks. His beautiful face had changed down one side. He had a thick silver-colored scar running down his left-hand side. It started on his forehead, just over his left eyebrow, then it ran down over his left temple branching off slightly into the corner of his eye. The main scar carried on down over his cheek, and about an inch away from his lips, again with little branches coming of it, then down and under his jaw. The shape of it reminded me of fork lightning. It had affected his left eye too; instead of it being the beautiful sapphire blue, it was now almost white. The same color as a blind person’s eyes.

“Happy now?” he asked, walking past me and out of the room.

I stood there for a moment, still in shock I think. I couldn’t believe he thought he had to hide himself from me. I thought he knew me! Just because he was scarred, that wouldn’t have changed how I saw him, and I would have still wanted to get close to him.

I turned around quickly and ran out of the room into the hallway looking for him. I called his name but he didn’t answer me. After checking a few of the rooms leading off the hall, I found him in his dining room. He was slumped against the large table, again with his back to me.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” I said, walking slowly into the room. “I can’t believe you thought you had to hide it from me.”

“I wanted to see if you could…” he started to say sadly. “Forget it! Go and ask Lilith to get someone to take you home.”

“I don't want to go home.”

“Well, at least leave me alone.”

I walked over to him slowly and stood between his legs. He turned his head away from me quickly, so I could only see the unmarked side of his face.

“Eligos look at me,” I pleaded. “Please!”

He slowly turned to face me before looking into my eyes. I ran my fingers lightly down the side of his face, tracing the scar with my fingertips. I couldn’t work out the look he was giving me.

“Just because a rose starts to wither slightly, it doesn’t make it any less beautiful,” I told him. “Don't ever think you need to hide yourself from me. I wouldn’t care if you grew a second head, three more arms and two more legs. I would still want you; it doesn’t change who you are.”

“How can you say that? Look at me.”

“I am looking.”

“Don't pity me, Keira. I don't want pity from anyone, I never have.”

“I’m not,” I told him.

“Then leave.”

“I can’t leave you.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I love you.”

He glared at me as I moved closer to him, wrapped my arms around the back of his neck and kissed him. I was surprised when he didn’t push me away. Instead he kissed me back and after a few seconds he wrapped his arms around my waist. He kissed me so passionately and held me so close to him. I never thought kissing anyone could feel so amazing.

When the kiss ended I kept my arms around him and my face close to his.

“This doesn’t bother you?” he said quietly.

“Not in the slightest.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Well, you better start to. Now is there anything else I need to know about you?”

“No, this was the only thing I kept from you.”

“Good,” I smiled. “So does this mean you’re going to stop running away from me?”

“Is that what you want?”

“I want to know what
you
want; now I know what you look like, and now that you know I don't care.”

“Simple, I want you!” he said, staring into my eyes.

“Well, you’ve got me, for as long as you want me.”

“What if I want you forever?”

“Then I’m going to start looking forward to forever,” I smiled again.

This time
he
kissed me.

When the kiss ended he held me close to him for a few minutes before leading me into another living room. He sat me down on the sofa and poured us both a glass of wine.

“I suppose you want to know how I got this?” he said, sitting next to me.

“If you don't mind telling me, then yes.”

“It happened in my first fight. I’d been in Hell for just over nine months and I was doing well in my training. One of the Dukes came to me and told me a demon was planning to attack the Palace. He wanted me to go after him.”

“Just an average demon?” I asked.

“No, he was a Lord and extremely powerful. On top of that he was one of the best fighters in Hell. Anyway, I did what was asked of me and I went looking for him.”

“Why did they ask you?”

“I was a damn good fighter. The only problem was I had been so busy learning all the fighting styles that I hadn't learned how to use my power very much. When I found the demon, I could fight him physically, no problem, but when he saw I could beat him he resorted to his power. He pinned me against a wall and attacked me with his sword. I hit the floor unconscious and he must have thought I had been defeated, that my soul had been extinguished, so he left. He was wrong, of course, but his blade scarred me for life. No magic can cure it; it’s not like being cut by a normal blade.”

“Did you ever find him again?”

“No, nobody knows where he went or what happened to him. We haven’t heard from him in over four thousand years. Everyone just assumes he’s dead, in demon terms, that is.”

“What if he isn’t?”

“Then one day our paths will cross,” he said as his jaw tightened. “And I’ll kill him.”

“What if he is stronger than you? What if he kills you?” I asked worriedly.

“He won’t, don't worry!”

“You don't know that.”

“Yes I do. I wouldn’t give him a chance to fight back. That bastard should have checked to make sure I was dead. Instead he left me looking like this.”

“I’m glad he did walk away,” I said, taking his hand in mine. “I couldn’t imagine not knowing you.”

“If I’d have mastered my power as well as my fighting, you might be looking at a nice face now, instead of this.”

“You still have a nice face as far as I’m concerned. Plus, if he hadn't scarred you then some other demon would have snapped you up and I would have had to kill her.”

“I doubt it,” he laughed. “Don't forget, I wasn’t interested in anyone until I met you. I could have hidden myself from everyone; nobody has to see this,” he said, pointing to his scar. “But there’s only ever been you that’s gotten my attention. I’ve only ever wanted one person and that's you.”

“Good, keep it that way!” I said before kissing him again.

“I’m not showing your friends yet,” he told me. “I don't know them well enough, and I don't want Lily to get scared or anything. Also I think Tyler may use it as an excuse to try and come between us.”

“You shouldn’t have to hide from them. Lily would be OK after a minute or two.”

“And what about Tyler?”

“I just wouldn’t listen to him; it’s about time you started being natural.”

“That would be nice. The spell I cast doesn’t last that long, so I have to keep recasting it to make sure I stay covered up.”

“So be yourself then.”

“OK, the next time we’re all together I’ll show them,” he told me.

“Good, Jake and Danny won’t be any different with you, I can guarantee that. Lucian, I’m not sure about. Tyler is Tyler, so we’ll have to wait and see. As for Lily, she thinks a lot of you, so I seriously doubt it will bother her.”

“Are you going to tell them we’re together?”

“I’d like to, unless you don't want me to.”

“Oh I want you to,” he said seriously. “Mainly because if Tyler ever grabbed you and kissed you again, I’d rip his lips off. He’s lucky I didn’t do it last time.”

“He won’t do it again.”

“I know he won’t,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Anyone would think you were jealous,” I smirked.

“I was. I’m not afraid to admit it. I had to watch a guy I don't particularly like grab the only woman I’ve ever loved and kiss her. You have no idea what that felt like; I wanted to kill him.”

“Don't be jealous! I’m with you, no one else, and that's how I want it to stay. That's how I’ve wanted it to be since I met you. If you’d have been honest with me, we would have been together a long time ago.”

“I didn’t know that though, did I? I just saw a beautiful woman, surrounded by guys with normal faces. I didn’t think for one minute you would have chosen me over one of them.”

“Well, it just goes to show you don't know everything, doesn’t it?” I smiled.

After an hour or so of cuddling each other we returned to my house. Due to the time difference we were home before Lily and Jake finished work. Both of us had wanted to stay at his place for a while longer but we knew we had to come back; it wasn’t safe there for any of the guys at the moment. We knew if they were attacked they wouldn’t be able to defend themselves without our help. They weren’t powerful enough to take on the higher-ranking demons. Possessed bodies they may be able to handle, but only if there were a few of them. Anything more than that and they would be seriously hurt. As for Lily, how would she be able to stop them?

We got a beer each and had a game of pool while we waited for everyone to come round. The game took a lot longer than normal, since every time we passed each other we would stop for a kissing session. Hey, I didn’t mind; I could do that all day every day. He didn’t hide himself from me now either, which I was really happy about, but when we heard Lily and Jake come in he cast his spell and hid the scar. We made our way downstairs hand in hand and went into the kitchen to greet them.

“Hey,” I said to them both.