I concentrated on buckling my seatbelt. The metal buckle tapped against the clip. I missed the slot once, twice, three times.
Andre placed a hand over mine.
I drew in a shaky breath and glanced up at him. His gaze was concerned. He squeezed my hands.
“It’s okay,” he whispered, understanding what I didn’t say. “It’s going to be fine.”
I nodded quickly—too quickly.
“My soulmate took care of herself. That’s all I care about.”
I still hadn’t gathered together the courage to let him know what I had done.
I was a coward.
Andre gunned the car, pulling us onto the road.
I pressed a hand to the window and watched the ruins of Peel Castle disappear behind me. I’d only attended for mere months, but I’d come to love the place. The warm glow of the wall scones, the smell of musty books, the casual magic that wrapped itself around the buildings themselves. I finally understood what made this place, this island, so very appealing. There was some part of it that called to the primordial magic that ran through my veins.
We careened through the town of Peel, the dark storefronts staring back at me. How many weekends had Oliver, Leanne, and I come here to drink coffee and eat pastries? Never would that happen again. I caught sight of the zany fondue restaurant Caleb had taken me to all those months ago, when I was just the dark, strange girl that captured his attention.
Caleb. A lump rose in my throat. He’d been so sad. What I would give to know his thoughts. Did he hate me as much as the rest of them? I didn’t think so, but who knew? People were complex. They could be reasonable when you expected them not to be, but they could also be unreasonable when you thought they’d understand.
My breath fogged the glass, and I drew a frowning smiley face. Gah, I was depressing.
Next to me, I could feel Andre’s tension seeping into my bones. I wasn’t sure I was the only mess in this car. He just did it while looking regal and broody as all get out.
Outside, the city fell away, hills and glens replacing the small town. Even this scenery tugged at my heartstrings. On that first trip from the airport to Peel, Leanne had explained that the small mounds that dotted the landscape were from ancient burials.
Just as I reached up to add a tear to the frown-y face I drew, a shadow streaked across my vision.
I rubbed my eyes. Just one more thing falling apart these days.
Andre’s hand fell to my thigh and gave it a squeeze. I glanced down at its comforting presence. This was how lovers touched each other. I still hadn’t gotten used to it—that we could touch each other like this, not just in the bedroom, but outside of it as well. The reminder sent a thrill through me.
I glanced up at him, my skin beginning to shimmer. The glow of it reflected in his eyes, which watched me.
Another shadow caught my eye. My head whipped to the window. Only this time, the shadow didn’t disappear.
Ghostly sentinels stood at the edge of the field that bordered the road. I recognized them at once for what they were—the devil’s minions.
“Uh, Andre?”
He slammed on the brakes. “I see them.”
He turned the car off and the door opened in the next second. “Stay here, soulmate,” Andre ordered, never taking his eyes off the demons.
I guffawed. “Oh, right. Sit here on my ass while you’re busy slaying incorporeal beings. I don’t think so,” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt.
“Soulmate.”
“We already have enough enemies to fight. It’s going to be hard if you’re trying to get me to cooperate on top of that.”
Andre ran a hand through his hair. “Why must you always be so stubborn?” he grumbled as I slid out the daggers I carried on me.
“It’s one of my charms.” I smiled at him.
Oatthhhh breakerrrr, the wind hissed.
I turned my attention to the demons that watched us. These weren’t the good guys. The underbelly of the supernatural world had come out to play. “Why aren’t they attacking?”
In fact, several of them folded in on themselves. I realized belatedly they were bowing.
To me.
My stomach contracted. I might not have the Sight like Leanne did, but my instincts were going off, and they were telling me that we’d fallen into the middle of something we shouldn’t have.
The shadows stirred, their smoky bodies rippling as something passed through them. Then the darkness condensed, and there, from the shadows, emerged a man.
No, not a man. The devil, clad in one of his usual suits. He only had eyes for me.
“Evening, consort.” His gaze had me pinned to the spot.
“Why are you here?” I asked, clutching my weapons even tighter.
“Soulmate, we need to go.”
“It’s too late for that, dear Andre,” the devil said.
Just like the centaurs had done, the demons circled us. I still didn’t understand their motives. They couldn’t attack me here, nor could the devil. They were incorporeal.
The devil’s eyes fell to my weapons. “How precious. You mean to stave us off with your crude tools.”
Andre stepped in front of me, and the devil’s attention turned to him. “And the king of vampires, here to defend the siren against his creator.” The devil’s upper lip curled back. “I would smite you where you stand for touching my consort if I did not know that her parting would ruin you worse than my lashes ever could.
“Does it frighten you to think that one day soon she’ll leave you? And once that day comes, she will warm my bed, and she will stand faithfully by my side for all eternity?”
My gooseflesh rose at his words. He said it to get under Andre’s skin, and it worked. Our connection pulsed as a wave of Andre’s power washed over me. The crowd of demons stirred at the sensation.
“He pushes you behind him, consort, as though you cannot protect yourself.”
The devil was doing this on purpose. Baiting me. He knew Andre’s overprotectiveness annoyed me.
“As though,” the devil continued, folding his arms, “you aren’t far more powerful than he is.”