I have to sprint down the hall to catch up with her, which becomes easier because the bell for second period rings, and the hallways are now mostly clear.
When we reach my office, Katrina whirls on me. “You all have to stop this! It’s not safe!”
“It’s fine! Zolroth is almost fully recovered!” That’s a total lie, but demon. Hello.
“You’re a fucking liar,” she accuses.
She’s right on both counts. “Yes. Lust demon. Fucking liar. Synonyms. Your point?”
“You all need to fucking leave this school and leave me and Adam before one of you gets killed—”
“We can’t. We love—” OH. SHIT. I just spilled the L-word. My eyes go wide, and my chest contracts. I feel like a balloon that’s getting the air squeezed slowly out of it, the kind that makes that high-pitched, embarrassing semi-fart noise.
Fucking abstinence, you’re an idiot, Van.
Yes. Abstinence is a curse word. Obviously.
Humans don’t say that word unless it’s been like, what…decades? Katrina has no idea how long I’ve waited to feel this way, but I think I just messed up.
She’s going to run.
And I’m right.
The love of my existence turns tail and bolts out of my office, my heart pulsing with longing in time to her retreating footsteps.
2
Akor
How to make Katrina love me…
I tap one finger against my chin in contemplation as I watch her from the bushes, snacking on movie theater popcorn I stole.
Putting the binoculars back to my eyes, I watch her through the classroom window as she bends over her textbook, pink hair cascading forward to curtain her angelic face.
One hand holding the binoculars in place, I reach around the popcorn tub towards my backpack, and grab my opened pack of red licorice. I slurp one into my mouth like spaghetti, chasing it down with a beer.
Though nothing I eat or drink will compare to Katrina’s flavor exploding on my tongue as I ate her out at the school dance. It was so worth tongue-fucking Van afterwards, just so he could share in her taste as well. It was…heavenly. As heavenly as a demon could possibly get.
I don’t need the pearly white fence, the pathway adorned with fluffy clouds, the winged fuckers guarding the entrance and promising me candy like creepy old men luring kids out to their van because Heaven has to lure people in. All I need is her.
And she left me. Again.
Because it’s, and I quote, “Too dangerous.”
Well, fuck that.
And fuck her. In a bed. In a car. On a car (and I’m talking the roof while we hold on to the luggage rails for dear life). On a moving train. On a trampoline.
I’m flexible.
Literally, I can place my foot behind my head.
When I focus once more on my lovely Center, it’s to see that she’s no longer at her desk. Confusion and a healthy dose of fear practically barrel me over as I jump to my feet, my claws elongating and bat-like wings erupting from my back. If any angel even tries to harm Katrina, I will—
“Akor!” her musical voice reaches me a moment before she stomps around the side of the school, pink hair billowing behind her face and a fierce scowl marring her perfect features.
Immediately, my claws descend back inside my fingers and my wings retract. The snarl transforms into a bright smile as I skip towards my beloved.
“Kitty Kat!” When I’m close enough, I scoop her up in my arms and spin her in a circle. She remains stiff in my embrace, almost as stiff as my dick. “How did you know I was here?”
She nods towards the camera slung around my neck before pinching the bridge of her nose. “Your flash was on.”
“Oh.”
“And you literally have a ten-foot tent set up behind a two-foot bush.”
“It’s a—”
“And you were playing the guitar—horribly, I might add—while singing about my,” another disgruntled sigh, “bosom.”
I divert my attention to said bosom, a slow, wicked grin pulling up my lips. “It is a rather nice one.”
“How the fuck didn’t the other students see you? Why didn’t my teacher call the cops?” she blurts, waving her hand at one of my two camps. The other is located at the back of the hotel she’s been staying at, directly beneath her window.
“Oh! That’s easy. I had Tatrys—you know, from the other murder in town—create an illusion so no one but you can see me.” I reach into my pocket and present Katrina with one of the many gifts I plan to bestow upon her. “Candy?”
“That’s…a prescription pill,” she says simply, and