Page 43 of Demon Kissed
That’s all this is.
It’s not real. It’s not like what I feel for William.
I picture William’s face as I snuggle into my pillow and force myself to take deep, calming breaths. It works for a minute, but his face is quickly replaced by Raz’s face leaning over my own, his dark eyes soft for once.
Somehow, a tender look on Raz’s face is shoving away my daydreams about William. Maybe because finding a gentle expression on that asshole’s face seems even more impossible than getting William to like me?
But I’d seen Raz’s eyes go soft earlier tonight.
Heat flares in my stomach as I think about the she-demon that is apparently out to get my guys. This Center. I’d panicked, of course, as soon as I’d learned about it and gotten caught—launching into the guys and going on a tear.
Raz had been the tiniest bit sympathetic to my fear at first, particularly when I started spouting off about demons attacking Adam. That was when the Hell’s-frozen-over, call-an-ambulance-because-I’m-hallucinating, soft eyes had come out and stunned me into silence.
“No she-demons are going to attack you. Demons don’t attack humans. We only fight angelic bastards.” The tender look had faded as Raz’s normal asshole expression returned, and he added, “So stop freaking out and being dramatic.”
Dickwad.
Like I know all the rules of Heaven and Hell.
I blow a raspberry at no one and quickly decide that’s a terrible idea, because the spit ends up all over my pillow and I have to swap it for the cold one on the other side of my queen-sized bed.
Dammit.
It takes twice as long for me to fall asleep with a cold pillow. But gradually, my brain drifts off, and when I dream, I end up in my favorite place.
The cloud meadow is lit from below with soft pink light, as if it’s dawn somewhere beneath us. My feet sink into the plush clouds under me, and the biggest smile of all brightens my face. I love it here. Something about this meadow just puts my soul at ease.
I glance around, but I don’t see Ziel yet. So instead, I wander over to the tiny thunderheads. I sit down cross-legged in front of a row of them that are smaller than the palm of my hand and watch the lightning dance across their dark little surfaces.
When I’m tired of that, I dawdle through the space, possibly farther than I’ve ever been before. I crest a small hill in the clouds and find a patch of rainbows that are as tall as my hips, growing out of the clouds and swaying gently in the breeze like reeds. A giggle flies out of my mouth unbidden because they’re just so beautiful.
I skip through the rainbows, letting my hands run across their silky surfaces—they feel like ribbons—and then realize there’s another new section of the meadow I’ve never seen before. I rush forward to find a pond filled with stars.
The dark surface of the water glitters, sparkles. Beneath the surface, stars dart like tiny fish, zooming around one another, colliding and making brilliant orange and purple supernovas. I’m awed, as if I’m staring down into a miniature of the universe itself.
“Gorgeous, isn’t it?” Ziel appears beside me.
I’m so startled, I nearly fall into the pond, but Ziel’s thick arm shoots out and pulls me back to safety.
I stare up into his eyes—tonight, Ziel is a handsome Chinese warrior—and smile. “Next time, warn a girl, will you?” I flick his red cape playfully.
“Kinda hard to make noise when you’re walking on clouds,” he replies with a grin.
“You could whistle,” I suggest.
“I don’twhistle.” He bristles as if that is the most unmanly suggestion ever.
“You sure?” I ask, feeling a challenge and rising to it. Somehow, with Ziel, I don’t feel as awkwardly self-conscious as I do in real life. Somehow, maybe because I know I’m dreaming, I feel flirty and fun and all those things that I stumble over like a drunken cow during my waking hours.
I glance coyly at Ziel before I start to saunter through the rainbow reeds. Ziel follows behind, and I’m pretty damn sure he’s watching my ass. I give it a little extra sway as I whistle the theme fromThe Andy Griffith Show, the only show I was allowed to watch at Grandma’s when I was younger. I deliberately stop mid-song to see if Ziel will rise to the occasion.
He narrows his eyes and crosses his arms. And for a second, a strange sense of déjà vu washes over me. Ziel reminds me of someone else. But before I can put my finger on just who…he starts to whistle.
My smile is as happy as the rainbows I walk through. “Ha! Gotcha!”
“You think you got me? I’ll get you!” Ziel chases me.
I sprint away, laughing and clutching my sides as I scramble up the hill. His longer legs quickly overtake me, and he scoops me up from behind and spins me around, faster and faster until my legs fly up.
