Chapter 12
Imogael
I watched over Scott's shoulder as he opened the box, fretting over what he might find. Maybe it was trapped like the door of the factory, and he could end up hurt. Wouldn't it be the worst for him to die hating me?
And there was no doubt in my mind that he hated me. It was pretty obvious. The way he avoided my touch and refused to get too close to me. How he looked at me, full of fear. It was breaking my heart every time his eyes glanced in my direction, first showing love and then hatred. I almost couldn't bear it, but fulfilling my duty was more important to me than sating my ego or my need for his love.
I did need his love. Desperately. I needed his touch, I needed his lips against mine. Thinking that I may never have those things ever again filled me with despair, but I had to move past it. I had to keep myself together, not let myself collapse and give up. He deserved better than that. I needed to give him better than that.
I would save him from having to put up with me forever, though. I would help him solve his problem, and then I would leave. In the night, when he couldn't stop me. That would solve all of our problems, and eliminating his choice simplified things.
My mind was made up. I was going to leave at the earliest possible time. Maybe it would be painful for Scott at first (though I doubted it, considering how he was acting), but in time he would move on. Maybe he would find someone else, someone that wouldn't get him killed on accident. Someone much better for him than I could ever be, with my demon blood, my strange powers, my need for chaos.
No, he would be much better off without me anywhere near him. If I couldn't get back to Hell, then I would drift while I was on earth. I would just wander, and explore the world of the humans.
As he slid out the drawer that was hidden behind the locked door, there was a niggling feeling in the pit of my stomach. Instinctively, I gripped at Scott's jacket and moved closer to him, my heart pounding. Something wasn't right. Something was coming, and it was bad.
There was a sound, like something heavy hitting a wall. A gurgle. I looked to Scott, who was also listening, but he shrugged. “That was probably just the manager cleaning up while he waits for us.” He looked at me and saw the worry in my eyes. “Are you scared of something?”
“Something dangerous is coming,” I warned. He just turned back to the box, not taking me seriously.
Footsteps could be heard in the building, not too far away, and they were getting closer. Maybe it was just the manager, coming to check on us, but that niggling feeling in my stomach only nagged harder. There was no way I was wrong about this: there was someone out there, and they meant to harm us.
I waited for the person to make a move, preparing myself to react. I didn't know what I could have done to stop it, but I knew I had to protect Scott at all costs. I would have gladly laid down my life for one single human. That specific human.
What a piss poor demon I had become, I thought with a smile. I kind of liked it.
As the door slid open, I grabbed Scott and pushed him down, then found myself staring down the barrel of a gun. Holding it was a man who looked a lot like one of the men from Scott's planning board in his basement, only with part of his face scarred and disfigured.
He was momentarily confused when he saw only me in the room, but then I heard the click of him preparing to shoot me. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I wondered if I could heal myself if I got shot. I had never tried to heal myself before.
There was a large boom, but no pain except for my ears ringing. I was convinced that I had died, and was finally facing oblivion. Maybe eternal death and darkness wouldn't be so bad. Maybe it would be relaxing, in a strange way.
Then I opened my eyes. I was still in the room. The man that had come to kill us was on the floor, blood pouring from his chest.
Scott stood, holding the gun that he had used to shot him, and then plugged another bullet into the man. Right in his head, through his skull. “I didn't double tap you last time,” he said to the dead man. “This time, I'm making sure I did the job right.”
Scott stood still for a few moments, watching the bleeding man, then looked to me. “It was one of the men from your board,” I said.
“I know.” He crouched down, searching the dead man's body, but he found nothing. His pockets were empty. “We need to take all of this and get the fuck out,” he told me. I nodded.
“Is there a lot to take?” I asked, looking into the drawer. There was a lot of money in there, but the room was too dark for me to see.
“No, I can carry it all. Take this,” he said, handing me one of his guns. I think it was the one he called Boaz, which he held always in his left hand. “Check if there's anyone else in the lobby. If there is, come back here. If they spot you, shoot them.”
I nodded and poked my head out of the door while Scott stuffed his pockets with the papers and cash that was in the safety deposit box. I was anxious, but I didn't need to be. The bank was empty, and all was quiet again.
Even the manager didn't come running.
Scott
Pulling everything from the drawer, I stuff it all into my pockets. There was no time, at the moment, to look at what was on all of the papers. There was no time to leave the money. My hands just moved, stuffed, moved, stuffed.
But Joey was alive, and who knew how many of the others were alive too. I couldn't possibly fathom how they were alive, but it was undeniable at the point. And they were after me, coming to make me pay for trying and failing to kill them.
Once I had everything, I followed Elise out into the lobby and grabbed her arm, pulling her through the back rooms that led to the back door. Everything was so quiet. It wasn't a good sign, but we had to keep moving.
At the door, there was blood. A lot of it. Pushing it open more to step out, we found the manager on the ground, a thin wire wrapped around his neck and cutting into his flesh. He was taken out in a way to keep him quiet. The man who had come to kill us didn't want to get caught before he finished the job. Shooting the manager would have alerted neighbors.
“Fuck,” I said. Then I said it louder. I stopped dead in my tracks, unsure of what to do. Should I see to the manager, or leave?
“We have to go, Scott.” Elise tugged at me. “Come on. The police are on their way.”
She was right. Their faint sirens were getting closer, and in only a few minutes they would be there. We both jumped onto my bike, and we were off, even passing a police car on our way back home.
So much had happened in just one night, and I knew that I would have to process it all soon or I was useless. I needed to know what was going on, what Joey's plan was, and how I could stop him, but first I had to know what was in my pockets.
Anger was pushing at me, but I kept swallowing it down. Anger would not do me any good yet. I needed to stay calm, focused, on the task at hand.
Elise's touch on my torso felt much less dangerous as we made our way back to my house. She felt fragile, actually. There had been a gun in her face, ready to shoot her, only a few minutes prior. No wonder she was shaking.
I didn't know what to think of her, who she was, what she was. None of that mattered. I loved her, and I knew we could work through it. She shouldn't be punished for thinking she was a demon. If she really was a demon (I knew she wasn't), then we would deal with that somehow.
All that mattered to me was that she was willing to take a bullet for me, and that I loved her. Deeply, passionately. It was a surprising love, but I needed to act on it. I needed her to know what I felt, and it was time for me to stop fearing her.
When we finally got to my house, she hopped off of the bike before I did. I followed her, unlocking the front door and letting us both in.
“So what are we going to do now?” She asked. I wanted to kiss her. Terribly.
“We have to lay low for a while. The police might come and ask us some questions, but we technically weren't doing anything wrong in there. We were let in, we had a key for the box, and we didn't kill anyone. So if we show up on a camera, we'll be fine.”
She nodded. “Do they have their cameras on at night?”
“I sure as hell hope so, or things will be a lot more complicated.”
She stepped closer to me, her eyes on the ground, her bottom lip quivering. “Are we going to be okay?”
The question shattered my heart into a million pieces. I never wanted to see her scared or sad. What kind of man was I, for leaving her in such a fearful state? Sweeping her into my arms, I hold her close and kiss her forehead, taking deep breaths to encourage her to do the same. I should have been more kind, more understanding. She didn't deserve to be treated the way I had treated her, with apprehension and suspicion.
“I can't guarantee anything, Elise, but I can promise you one thing. Anything that happens, I'll be there, next to you. I'll walk through fire with you, for you. You don't have to be alone in this.”
She nodded, laying her head on my chest. She smelled like gun powder. Her long hair cascaded over my arms as they wrapped over her shoulders.
I didn't know how, but I would work things out with her. All of the weirdness she brought, all of the danger he caused her, none of it really mattered. All that mattered to him then was that he needed her to stay with him.
“I'm sorry for being such a shit earlier,” he said. “For not trusting you. I don't know if you're a demon or whatever. I'm not ready to just believe that, but I do know something,” I said, tilting her head up to look into her eyes. They glinted, and they were wet. Was she crying?
“What?” She asked.
“I know that I love you, and I am glad that you're here.”
Her thin arms squeezed around me, pulling me closer. Her breaths slowed, and then her tension eased away. “I'm so happy,” she said.
Taking her face in my hands again, I bent down and pressed my lips to hers. It was a real kiss, between two adults who were finally starting to understand one another. It wasn't about sex or anything else. It was just a need to be closer to her, to show her some affection. It was the best kiss I had ever experienced.