All The Wrong Signs

I had told Hollie I was tired, and I was. It was just that sleep didn’t want to come to me. Even it was betraying me.

My eyes were burning, but even shutting them didn’t help. Once again, I found tears dropping from my eyes, and I wiped at them angrily. Why was I so weak? Why couldn’t I stand up for myself?

Rolling to my side, I sighed, wondering how in the hell I made it to this point in my life. Divorced. Childless. Tied to a demon.

“Why the fuck are you crying?”

I jumped hearing Blaze’s voice. I looked around the room but didn’t see him. “I’m just tired,” I lied.

Blaze snorted, “then go to fucking sleep.”

“Don’t you think I’m trying?” I said sharply as I rolled away from the sound of his voice. For someone who was just saved, he was being a straight up ass, and I would tell him that if I wasn’t afraid of what he would do. I still wore the faint bruising on my neck from his earlier loss of temper.

Feeling the bed dip down, I froze. Was Blaze sitting beside me in the bed? I was too afraid to turn around. Afraid of what I would see.

I jumped, screaming a little, when one of his hand covered my eyes. I could feel the weight of his body as he leaned over, whispering something in my ear. I was about tired of people talking some ancient language around me, not telling me what the fuck they were doing.

Raising my hand to move his hand, I paused. The stinging in my eyes was gone. My eyes still felt heavy, but this was something different. I blinked a couple of times as I managed to grab his hand and try to pull it away.

Heavier and heaver, my eyes became until sleep finally took over.

I must have slept like the dead because the next morning when I woke up, it was well past 12 in the afternoon. My reflection in the mirror made it more than clear that I had a rough night. I had pillow marks on my face, and my hair was a mess even in its braided form.

Jumping in the shower, I tried to clear my mind. I knew I needed to be rational. But how do you rationalize with a demon? One that you had pissed off.

Was he still mad?

He had put me to sleep last night.

Once I had run a comb through my hair, and changed into some shorts and a t-shirt, I made my way out of the bathroom looking around like I was the guest in the house. There was no sign of Blaze, so I started a pot of coffee and put a bagel in the toaster.

Tapping my knife against the counter as I waited, I heard a faint pop from behind me and I turned around, expecting to see Blaze. Instead, Petra stood on the other side of my counter, looking perfect as always in a long black gown, like she was going to some type of ball.

“I told you he would be pissed,” she said simply as she sat down.

Shaking my head, I pulled my bagel out and started to spread some cream cheese on it. “He’s hardheaded and won’t listen to reason.”

Petra laughed, her laughter filling up the room. “I don’t know if that’s so much the demon, or the man in him.”

I couldn’t help the smile that came to my face. “He did help me sleep last night…”

“Oh really. I wondered when he was going to make a move?”

I arched my brow at her. “Whatever he did, my headache is gone, too.”

Petra frowned, “oh I thought…you know what? Never mind.”

Tilting my head to the side, I wondered what she was implying. He put me to sleep? Oh hell. She had assumed he had helped me sleep by…

No.

“Well, even though he is still pissed at you,” Petra said, “he did send me here to babysit you today.”

“I don’t need babysitting,” I said, pulling my coffee mug down.

“Yeah, well, apparently he thinks you need one.” Petra glanced down, “and now I’m missing my date. So you are most certainly not welcome.”

I snorted, “you owe me. I brought him back.” Sitting down beside her, I turned my head, “by the way, where is he?”

“Chasing after a lead.” Petra turned her body toward me, “you can still summon him. He will have no choice but to come back.”

“Yeah, I tried that,” I admitted. “He was pissed.”

Petra laughed, “Blaze doesn’t like not being in control.”

“Is he really a prince?” I asked.

Petra nodded, “I’m afraid so. Can’t you tell?”

Taking a bite of my bagel, I looked over at her. “Why does he change his appearance all the time? It’s kinda jarring when he does it.”

“He molds himself to fit into whatever environment he needs to.” Petra looked at me, “not what you expected a demon to look like?”

I shook my head, “the blonde hair and blue eyes threw me.”

“Angel blood.”

“What?” I asked.

“Oh nothing,” Petra said. “Word of advice. Don’t threaten to send him back anymore, ok? He’s about ready to strangle you.”

I snorted. “Fuck him.”

After I ate, I grabbed my MacBook and went outside and sat on my back porch, letting the dogs run around. I needed to get some work done that I had already committed to and now that my headache was gone, I needed to take advantage of it.

Petra had walked outside with me, although she looked up at them soon as if it was a fireball from hell about to attack her. “I took you for more of a moon bathing kind of girl,” Petra said, taking a seat beside me.

I stretched my legs out. “Oh, I do love the moon, but I love the feel of the sun touching my skin.” I let my fingers finish typing the sentence in my head before I looked back up at her. “And why does Blaze think I need babysitting? Afraid Lakyn will come put a bandaid over his mark next time.”

One of Petra’s expertly plucked brows came up. “He’s actually worried about your ex husband showing back up.”

I had to grasp onto my MacBook because I almost sent it flying out of my lap. “What? Why? Has he been back? Did he…”

Petra shrugged. “Blaze can read evil intentions in someone’s mind. Your ex didn’t come here for a friendly chitchat. Nor did he come after your dogs.”

Closing my MacBook, I sat it down on the patio table beside me. “He’s like a different person. I thought I knew him, but…”

I stopped mid sentence. Blaze had sent his sister here to babysit me, in case Collin came back. He didn’t want me alone with him. Just what had his intentions been?

Trying to work after that was useless. I had managed to get a couple of more paragraphs done, but I still had a good half day’s work left on both of my assignments.

Back in the house, I grabbed one of my books and sat down to read. After reading a paragraph twice and till not able to focus, I looked up at Petra. “I thought demons were all mean?”

She snorted, “the battle of good and evil isn’t as clear cut as you would think.”

A faint pop sounded, and Petra stood up. “Well, I hate to leave such good company, but I did have a date.”

She disappeared before I could even think of something to say to her. Did you thank people for “babysitting” you?

Blaze walked in, not once bothering to look up at me. As he sunk down in his chair, I frowned, watching him put a hand to his head as if he had a hard day.

“You did tell me your name before. I forgot. It was before I knew for sure that you weren’t some figment of my imagination. You told me what my tattoo meant.”

Blaze looked up at me but didn’t speak. I sighed, “I don’t know how else to apologize to you, Blaze. I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

“You can stop anytime now,” he said coldly, sounding never more like a demon prince in his life.

“Blaze,” I said.

He sighed, “just shut up little witch. I’m here. Let that be enough.”

I watched as he sat back deeper in the chair, closing his eyes. Was he tired? What had he been out doing? They were all questions I wanted to ask, but thought better of it.

“Do you want to go lay down? You can rest in my bed. It’s more comfortable than the chair, I’m sure.”

“Riley.”

“Yes,” I answered.

“Shut the fuck up.”

My mouth clamped shut. But at least he was talking to me. Hopefully, that was a good sign.

From my seat on the couch, I could see the sky start to darken as night approached. I knew I had a thousand other things I could be doing, but I found myself glued, watching Blaze sleep.

Or at least I thought he was asleep.

Some of his blonde hair and fallen in has face and he never more looked human to me. My fingers itched to walk over to him and swipe it out of his eyes.

Grabbing my MacBook off of the coffee table, I intended to work, but I found myself googling information about demons. None of what I read fit Blaze or his sister. Remembering Petra mumbling something about angel blood, I typed in demon with angel blood.

Interesting.

Could Blaze be an nephalem? The offspring of an angel and demon. Or maybe his mother before him. It read that nephalem had the grace of an angel, could have either demon or angel blood running through their veins, but held a human soul.

Nope.

There was no way Blaze could have a human soul.

Nephalem’s were unique and powerful, and that I could believe.