Chapter 11

Levi droveus to the heart of the neighborhood and parked the car at a strip shopping center, a few spots from the Italian restaurant. We barely said anything as we ordered our food and ate—a shrimp alfredo pasta for me, and fettuccine with steak in red wine sauce for Levi.

We had also ordered a lasagna to take back, so Lacey and Heidi would have dinner once they were done with the potion.

Levi carried the paper bag, and, when we exited, I headed to the car.

"Not yet," Levi said. "This way."

We rounded the corner, walked by a narrow street that led to the back of the shopping center, flanked by snowbanks, and followed a little stone path into a bunch of leafless trees. After a few steps, the trees were gone and we entered what seemed like a small park. Despite the cold and the snow, people sat on benches feeding birds, walking their dogs or riding bikes along the concrete paths, and kids played on the playground. In an open area, a large pavilion stood with open sides, but for one wall with a big white screen. Lots of people sat on the picnic tables under the pavilion, and in the parking lot beside it were three food trucks.

"It's still the same," Levi mused, stopping at the edge of the stone path.

"What is?"

"Every Friday, they still have movie night here. But they used to put everything under tents. Now, they have that structure."

I frowned and glanced at the time on my phone. "There's still thirty minutes or so to dusk."

"People always came early to eat, let the kids play, talk with friends."

"It's so damn cold." Thankfully, Heidi"s coat closet had plenty of Lacey's jackets and coats, and I grabbed a black one before Levi and I left the house.

"When you're born and raised in a cold town, you get used to it."

Kids ran from blanket to blanket. Some had frisbees and nerf guns, others played tag or hide-and-seek or were having a snowball fight. The adults gathered in groups and talked, laughed, and drank together.

It seemed like a perfect Friday evening for friends and family.

A pang of jealousy cut through my chest.

My family hadn't been that amazing, but I had had one.

Now, I had no idea what was going on with them, if they ever wondered what happened to me. Did they believe the rumors? Was it a rumor up there, or was it a fact? It really looked like it, the way the angels were hunting me.

I forced those thoughts out of my mind and turned my gaze to Levi, who watched the humans intently.

"How do you know Heidi?" I asked.

He turned cold eyes to me. "Will you drop it if I tell you to?"

I was curious, but I wouldn't bother him. "I will."

That half grin was back, but without its usual energy. "What did Lacey tell you, sweetheart?"

"Nothing."

"Liar. Lacey loves talking and she has no qualms talking about our past." He paused and looked out to the humans again, but I didn't think he was actually seeing them. "She doesn't have many friends in her coven. To be honest, she doesn't have any. She's seen as an outcast since she was born away from them and raised by a demon for the first nine years of her life."

"That's not her fault."

"Tell that to the coven." He shifted the paper bag to one hand and put the other inside the pocket of his slacks. "She longs for a friend, and to her, you seemed like a good candidate." He looked at me again. "Tell me, sweetheart, what did she tell you?"

"Nothing," I insisted. I didn't want to get Lacey in trouble.

Levi shook his head, and his hair fell over his eyes. "Heidi was hired as one of our nannies when we were kids," he finally answered my question. He pushed his hair back and returned his hand to his pocket. "She was the kindest, most caring nanny we had, and she actually stood up to our father whenever he threatened us." He inhaled deeply. "He got tired of it and fired her. We lost contact for many years."

"You haven't seen her in … what? Ten years? This was the first time in ten-ish years?"

"Are you trying to do math, sweetheart? Or guess my age?" he asked, teasing me. He was correct on both accounts. "Heidi left when I was sixteen and Lacey was eight." A year before Lacey was sent to live with her mother's coven. "But no, this wasn't the first we saw her in twelve years."

Which meant … "You're twenty-eight. Or have you been twenty-eight for a while?" Lesser and neutral demons lived for a long time, but higher demons and princes were known to be immortal. Their aging slowed down around late teenage years, until it eventually stopped.

"I'm actually twenty-eight, Lacey is nineteen, and we'll probably stop aging in our mid-to-late thirties."

Hm, a new higher demon. You didn't meet one of those every day.

I went back to the previous subject. "How did you find Heidi again?"

He considered it, as if weighing the fact that he had already told me too much, and I shouldn't know more. I kind of agreed, but now I was curious.

"At thirteen, Lacey lost control of her magic when …" He paused, shifted his weight. "When her period first came. I couldn't go to her, because the coven wouldn"t allow it, and because I was tied up on business on the other side of the country. But I already had contacts. I was able to find Heidi in a matter of hours and begged her to go see Lacey."

"I bet you didn't need to beg."

He nodded. "I didn't. She was ready to go. Ever since then, we have maintained contact, the two of them more than me, but Heidi is like family. The good kind."

That was so sweet. Levi and Lacey had lost their mothers, but they had had a loving mother figure in their lives. I couldn't help but wonder why Heidi never had gotten married and had her own children … that was a question for another day, though.

"I'm glad you have someone like her in your lives."

Levi turned fully to me, his eyes hard. "Lacey told you too much. Hell, me too, but it stops here, sweetheart. Do not let Lacey get close to you. She'll try, that's what she does, but you're going to push her away."

"Hey!" Who said I wanted to get close to her anyway?

"After all this shit is done, you'll cut this fucking bond, and you'll disappear from our lives. If you don't, I'll make you, and that will break her heart." He stepped closer, his powerful body casting a shadow over mine. "This is the only warning you'll get."

After a death glare, Levi walked away.

I waited a few steps and followed, since he was my ride back to Heidi's. If I had another way around, if I knew the town, I would have stayed here, probably watched the movie to clear my mind, and then found my own way back.

Maybe I still could. I didn't have the Uber app, but there were taxis. I just needed to find out Heidi's address.

"Come, sweetheart," Levi called out, his voice as harsh as before.

With a sigh, I trailed behind him.

Movement to my right caught my attention and I looked. I did a double take and came to a full stop.

"Levi," I said in a deep voice.

"What, sweetheart?" He continued walking for a few seconds, but when I didn't answer, he turned and followed my line of sight.

At the edge of the tree patch in the corner of the park, under the shadows cast by the trees, were two males in black hoodies.

"Demons," I said.

Levi nodded. "I can sense them."

I had lost most of that ability with my magic, but after so many years, I could tell. Besides, some of them didn't hide it.

Behind the duo, I could see more bobbing heads. It was a large group, and they were watching the families waiting for the movie.

"They will attack once its dark."

"It looks like it."

I looked at Levi, feeling a sense of urgency. "We have to stop them."

"What? We don't have to do anything."

"Levi, I can't just walk away from this."

"If we weren't here, if we hadn't come to meet Heidi, you wouldn't even know about this." Again, he approached me, towering over me. Was he trying to intimidate me with his impressive height? "Hell, with the demons banished from the underworld, there are thousands, tens of thousands of attacks like that happening right now all around the world. What are you going to do, sweetheart? Save them all?"

"I know I can't save them all, but I have to save the ones I can." I whirled on my heels, intent on rushing into the demons and fighting them in the trees.

How would I, a powerless creature, fight a handful of demons. But my principles wouldn"t let me walk away from this.

A hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me back. Levi glared at me. "What the hell? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Let me go." I jerked my arm hard, trying to get free, but his grip only intensified.

"I'm bound to you, sweetheart. If you go in there and die, because honestly, that's what will happen, and then what? I die too? Or the pain will be too much and it'll drive me crazy? I, for one, don't want to find out." He started walking away, holding tight to me, forcing me to come with him.

"Let me go, or I'll scream!"

He scoffed. "Do you think I care what the humans think, what they will do?"

I didn't. He could probably overpower a hundred humans, even armed ones, without breaking a sweat.

We exited the park the same way we came in. A few steps into the narrow road beside the shopping center, I jerked my arm again, trying to get free once more, and put all my weight behind it.

I stumbled back and Levi stopped, but his grip tightened.

"I'll scream!" I warned.

He leaned in. "Try it, sweetheart."

Shadows surged from the sides, and suddenly, we were surrounded.

My stomach dropped.

Shit, the demons had decided to come after us.

But when I looked around, I saw they were no demons.

They were Blackthorn Hunters and they had their Dawnblades leveled at us.

I looked around for familiar faces and found a few.

"Erin? Rey?" I kept turning in a circle, taking them all in. "Doreen? Ava? Harvey?" I didn't know the other three hunters. "What's going on?"

For a moment, my heart squeezed. It was so good to see them. Rey was the headmaster of the Blackthorn Hunters Academy here in Colorado, and Erin, his girlfriend, was a princess of the underworld and one of the best demon hunters out there.

Ava and Harvey were their best friends and married to each other, and Doreen was the hunter to call for any ridiculous mission. Or so I had heard.

Erin lowered her blade, her golden eyes inquisitive. "Ariella? What's going on?"

I glanced at Levi's grip on my wrist. "This … it's nothing."

Rey took a step closer. The light of the setting sun cast a golden light over us, giving his brown hair a bronze shade. "It doesn't look like nothing."

Yeah, I could see why they would think that.

"He's a demon," Doreen said. She had beautiful auburn hair that I had always thought was too pretty to be real. "We should take him."

"You won't take me anywhere," Levi hissed.

"Stop," I told him in a lower voice, though I was sure everyone could hear me. "They are my friends."

"How comforting," Levi mused.

"What's going on? Why are you here?" I asked the hunters.

"We're tracking a group of lesser demons that has been terrorizing the nearby towns," Erin explained. She stared at Levi. "And we found a demon."

"No, no." I shook my head. "Levi has been with me for the past couple of days. Besides, we saw the group you"re looking for." I pointed my free hand to the stone path. "Through there. They are hiding under the trees in the park."

Rey nodded to the hunters, and they jogged down the stone path. Erin stayed back.

"And what about this demon?" Rey asked.

"He's a higher demon," Erin said.

"Aren't you King Brikan's daughter?" Levi asked in that annoying, flirty tone. He did that on purpose, the bastard. "Princess of the Underworld."

"He's not king anymore, he's dead," Erin said. "And who are you?"

He took a step closer to her. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Rey lifted his sword, blade at the ready.

"Ignore him," I said. "He's a pain in the ass, but he isn't evil. He's a good demon." The lie felt thick on my tongue, but I couldn't let them take him. "Besides, he's helping me."

"With what?" Rey asked.

I swallowed hard. It was no secret to our circle. "Find my wings." Though, I had never told anyone about my sword.

Erin's eyes widened. "What? You know where they are?"

I nodded. "Well, he does and he's taking me there."

Rey and Erin exchanged glances.

"Fine," Erin said. "We'll let you take him. But call us if things change." Erin handed me a black card. I slipped it into my pocket. A demon hunter with a business card—that was new. "Okay?"

"Of course."

"Actually, call me even if you don't need to," Erin said. "Text me your new number. Everyone has been trying to contact you for months."

I nodded. Once I lost my powers and left DuMoir Castle seven months ago, I received dozens of calls and hundreds of texts a day from my friends. I couldn't take it. I ended up changing my number so I would have some peace.

"I will," I lied. I would go straight to the underworld for the sheer amount of lies I had been telling lately.

"I mean it," Erin said. "Everyone is worried about you, especially Farrah and Wyatt. After you get your wings back, you should give them a call."

I nodded, not willing to say anything else.

Rey stared at Levi, looking as menacing as the demon. "If you hurt her, we'll find you, and we'll make you regret it."

I didn't waste my breath saying Levi couldn't hurt me. That information wasn't important.

"Thank you," I said.

"We should go," Rey said.

"We should." Erin reached out, squeezed my hand, and then followed to catch up to the other hunters.

I stared at the path long after they disappeared.

"You're such a liar, sweetheart."

I snapped my head back to Levi. "What?"

"You won't call anyone."

No, I wouldn't, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him. I jerked my hand again. "They will capture those demons. You can let me go now."

Levi hesitated but withdrew his hand.

His grip had left a red mark around my wrist and I rubbed at it. Jerk. Didn't it hurt him too? Or was this kind of pain a tickle for him?

For a moment, I considered going after Erin and Rey and the others and helping them. That was what I used to do … when I had my powers.

I had to be real with myself. I wouldn't be able to help a fly now if it yelled for me. I would only put myself in danger and my friends would have to rescue me.

I walked past Levi, toward the car. "Let's get out of here."