Demon Kissed - Katie May Page 0,101

up the entire room.

Going back to William after I’d kissed Kastros was complete and utter torture. Because I realized I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to be at his table. I wanted to be at the next table over, with my demons.

My demons. How ridiculous. They have a Center somewhere who’s perfect for them, and I’m over here pining. Me. A pathetic human. It’s even more awful than pining over William because it’s five times as impossible.

I drag my feet across the hotel room and climb into bed without making eye contact. I close my eyes, but I don’t dare fall asleep. Janie might not be as pissed as before, because I cut my date short with William. When I came back to the table, I was pale and my hands were shaking. All the blood had fled my face and gone…other places.

“I think I’m coming down with something,” I’d told him.

His eyes had flashed with surprise, a hint of annoyance, and then finally, had changed to a smirking wink. “Let me just grab the check,” he’d said.

He’d actually thought I was faking so we could get out of there.

I had been faking so I could get out of there, but not with him.

Raz had saved me from a fate worse than death, growling at William and telling him that only chaperones could escort ill students, and he should stay with the team and away from me to ensure he didn’t get sick too.

Raz had risen from the table, where Akor had gotten to juggling nine knives. And he’d walked me back to my room just like a proper guardian would. Just as if the air hadn’t swirled with anticipation and my eyes hadn’t darted to his with longing every two seconds.

Nothing had happened. No conversation about feelings or William. No lectures. Not even the angry yelling I expected from him. Not unless you counted Raz’s parting line at my door. “I’ll see you soon.”

What. The. Hell?

I punch my pillow, pretending to reshape it, but really I’m just getting out some aggression. Yeah, he’ll see me on the damn drive home. In, like, six hours, because he and Kastros are assholes and told us that we were going to leave at five AM.

Fury fills me, and I want to kick myself. I should have asked him if I could ride home in the other car. Why didn’t I ask that? It would have been a perfect solution; it would fulfill my new life strategy to avoid William Washington at all costs.

I’m an idiot. But we all knew that, right?

I think again about Kastros’s kiss. I wish it hadn’t been interrupted. I wish he could have shoved me up against the wall, and I could have ground against him.

I wish…

I wish…

I suddenly find myself walking through the cloud meadow, and for the first time, I feel a sense of wistfulness while I’m here. Like I’m missing something.

I’m on a hill in the meadow that’s a little removed from everything else. It’s not my normal spot near the friendly baby clouds. It feels bigger, more empty, and a bit more ominous.

When I turn and look behind me, the hills of cloud stretch as far as the eye can see, like the dunes of a vast white desert. There are no gardens, no creations, just the steady rise and fall of dense white masses that have peaks and valleys like whipped meringue. Just past those dunes, I can see a ribbon of red, as though a fiery sunset lurks beneath those clouds.

But then he arrives. Ziel walks out from behind a massive, slate grey thunderhead. Tonight, he’s tall and his skin is a rich dark gold. His head is shaved bald, and his dark eyebrows rise when he sees me. His signature red cape streaks out behind him as he runs towards me.

Suddenly, my heart feels complete.

Is my conscience telling me that I’m good because I finally accepted the feelings I’ve been fighting for the demons? Or is my heart trying to tell me that loving the demons is just as dreamily unrealistic as loving Ziel?

My questions cease a moment later, when Ziel scoops me up and spins me in a circle. I start to laugh, but his lips on my neck quickly change that laugh to a gasp.

He pulls back and stares down at me. “Katrina Colt, I’ve been waiting for you for what feels like an eternity.” He brings his fingers up to trace my cheek, and I lean