Earth Angel (The Kamlyn Paige Novels) (20 page)

The bed was warm and soft, inviting me in and
helping me to drift off to sleep. I wasn’t concerned with waking up early the
next day. Whenever I had the strength to get out of bed, I would do so and talk
to Sari about helping me prepare for my fight with Lamia. There would be no
more random jobs. I was only going to work towards helping my son and that was
it. That’s what I should have been doing all along.

*

My entire night had been a blank except for what I
was sure was the tiniest sliver of a dream. Sari was sitting on the edge of my
bed, looking at me while he ran the back of his soft hand against my flushed
cheek. His eyes were full of longing, off in his own little world of thoughts.
The second our eyes met, I blinked and he was gone. I was positive that one
second of pure adoration I saw in him would last forever, stuck in the back of
my mind as a purely perfect moment. But when the sunlight moved across my face
and my eyes fluttered open, the image started to fade until I wasn’t sure what
I had dreamt at all.

I looked over to find Sari still lying in the same
position as when I’d gone to bed; on top of the covers with his eyes closed and
his arms folded. I still wasn’t quite sure if he actually even slept or if he
just liked to pretend to, but I took advantage of this privacy to get dressed.
I rooted through my duffel bag for my dark blue long sleeved t-shirt and a
thick gray zip up hoodie for later. I had just grabbed my favorite pair of worn
out jeans when I heard movement in the room.

“Oh! Sorry, I thought you were asleep,” I said as I
rushed to pull the jeans out of the bag to cover up the panties with little
hearts all over them I was wearing.

The sides of Sari’s mouth curled up into a grin as
he laughed to himself. Why did I have to be so awkward? I turned back around,
trying my hardest to play it cool and not care if he was looking or not. We
were both adults here. I walked over to the bathroom, feeling the burn of his gaze
on my back the entire time. I decided to be bold. Either it would work in my
favor or it would bite me in the ass. I glanced over my shoulder, letting my
long hair flow around and gave him a little smile before shutting the door
behind me. Smooth, Kamlyn. I smacked the palm of my hand against my forehead
after shutting the door. I’m such an idiot! Ten minutes later, I put my
stupidity behind me and put my game face on. It was time to get down to
business.

“Alright, show me how I can beat Lamia,” I said emerging
from the bathroom.

Sari’s face went from all smiles to uncertainty. I
could tell he still thought I was not ready for this.

“I’m going to find her and try anyway, so you might
as well prepare me as best as you can,” I responded to his unconvinced face.

He sighed, knowing there was no way he could talk
me out of my decision. I had to do this…for Danny, for all the other children,
for myself.

“Though she’s a goddess, she has turned demon
because of her curse. That means you
can
get rid of her. But she still
possesses some of her god-like powers. She’ll be stronger, faster, and unwilling
to show any mercy. She won’t try to psych you out like most demons will. She
will get right to destroying you,” Sari explained, lowering his gaze and
stepping closer towards me.

He took my hands in his, staring down at them as he
rubbed his thumb gently over my skin. My whole body tingled from his touch.

“I can’t let anything happen to you,” he whispered.

“I know…” I said, releasing my hands from his.
“It’s your job.”

It
was
his job to watch over me and protect
me. I’m sure if he let anything happen to me he would be in a lot of trouble.
One reason I was glad to finish Lamia was because I wouldn’t have to torture
myself any longer by being around Sari. If I wasn’t a hunter anymore, he’d have
no reason to watch over me. He could move on to protecting someone else…like a
big burly man hunter, I hoped.

“All we really need to work on is your lying skills
and your focus to channel your abilities,” he said, ignoring my comment.

He made it sound so easy. Like all I had to do was
tell her I wasn’t a hunter and then punch her in the face or something. I knew
there had to be more to it than lying and focusing.

“When you meet her, you need to be someone else.
You need to pretend you have no idea what or who she is and you need to above
all control your anger and your actions,” he warned me.

Now it was starting to sound difficult. I wasn’t
sure I could come face to face with her and pretend she wasn’t the one who
killed my son.

“What if I can’t do it?” I asked, letting the
imminent defeat wash over me slowly.

“You can and you will…you loved Danny way too much
to let this opportunity go,” he reminded me.

I let his encouraging words sink in and build my
confidence back up. He was right. I would do whatever it took to bring this
chick down. I raised my gaze to look at Sari and grinned.

“Let’s do this, then.”

*

For the entire day, neither of us left that hotel
room. I was too focused and eager to think about eating. We ran through all
possible scenarios and circumstances we could think of. We talked about how I
had previously killed the other demon and how I could use that again against
Lamia. There was just one thing that continually stumped me; how were we going
to find her?

“Can’t you just ask your other watcher friends if
they know where she is?” I asked, running out of ideas.

“There’s no way I’m doing that,” he snapped,
shaking his head back and forth. “There’s no way a regular hunter could beat
her and they’d be furious if I let you go anywhere near her. They’d think I was
deliberately putting your life in jeopardy.”

His face was serious and panicked at the thought of
having the others know who I really was. I decided to drop it and trust Cara
and Don would come up with something soon. Later I planned to try another mind
search for her. Something was bound to turn up.

“I think we’ve done all the work we can today,”
Sari said, changing the subject. “How about we do something fun?”

His lips curled up into a crooked grin as I looked
at him with curiosity.

“What’d you have in mind?”

*

It was like déjà vu walking into the bar with Sari.
Sitting on a stool with a beer in my hand was how we had met. This bar was much
nicer than the one we had found each other in, though. There was a large area
behind the counter where three bartenders were wildly at work mixing drinks.
Strategically placed all around were intimate round tables for two. A few in
the back and along the sides were four-seaters, meant for double dates and a
party with the single gals and bachelors.  In the middle of it all with a
spotlight shining down on it was a wooden platform with a lonely microphone and
chair.

“Open mic night?” I asked, rolling my eyes at the
thought.

I’d never had the urge to sit in an overcrowded bar
and listen to bad music before so why was I being dragged to one now and being
told it would be fun?

“Don’t expect to hear
me
sing,” I said as
dramatically as I could.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already heard you sing…nobody
wants that,” Sari laughed to himself while shooting me a playful grin.

It had been so long since I’d seen the fun and
carefree side of Sari, I’d almost completely forgotten about it. He grabbed me
by the hand and led me over to one of the tiny tables right in front of the
mock stage. As if our sitting was a cue, the lights dimmed and the first drunk
made her way up the wooden steps to the platform. She sang a lively, yet off
key, version of Carrie Underwood’s song ‘Last Night’. As she jumped around and
danced on stage, I looked over at Sari with a pleading face.

“Lighten up and try to have fun,” he leaned into me
and laughed.

His warm breath ran along the side of my face and
down my neck, giving my whole body goose-bumps. I found myself thinking it
wasn’t
so
bad being there. A few more singers made their attempts at
some of the current popular songs. I actually found myself smiling and giggling
as I watched. I even clapped for one of them when they were done, and it wasn’t
only because I was glad to see them leave the spotlight. Maybe it was the fact
that I let loose and tried to have fun, or maybe it was the two empty bottles
in front of me. The lights brightened back up as the bar took a short
intermission from its entertainment. The room filled with chatter and cheering
as the people got up to get more drinks.

“I’ll be right back. I’m going to get us a few more
drinks,” Sari said as he stood up and made his way through the crowd.

Before he made it back to the table, the lights
dimmed down again and everyone was back in their seats and ready for the next drunken
wave of humiliation. The spotlight clicked on to reveal Sari sitting on the bar
stool in front of the mic. He had an acoustic guitar in his hands and was
tuning it perfectly without strumming a note. I couldn’t believe what I was
seeing. What was he thinking? I looked around the room to find all the girls,
whether they were with someone or not, were glued to their seats and staring
forward with anticipation.

Sari turned his gaze to the front and smiled. He
locked his eyes onto mine and parted his lips, licking them once before he
sang.

“Earth angel, Earth angel…will you be mine?”

My eyes widened as his gaze on me grew more intent.
Was he really singing this to me?

“I’m just a fool…a fool in love…with you.”

With a wink of his warm, honey colored eye, I knew
he was for real. My mind was racing along with my heart. I didn’t want the
moment to ever end. I couldn’t have removed my gaze from his if I tried. He had
me locked in and I was his. I could feel the eyes of every woman in the bar one
me, jealous…wondering what made me so special, but I didn’t care. All I cared
about right then was taking in every sweet note Sari sang.

Once the song was over, instead of the spotlight
shutting off to give Sari a clean exit, it remained on him, following him off
the stage. He walked over to me, my mind playing the moment in slow motion. He
stopped just inches from where I had stood up to meet him. I was dumbstruck.
And just like one of those romantic movies I used to watch with Cara and
daydream I was the leading lady, Sari wrapped his arms around my waist and drew
me in closer to him.

“I don’t want to pretend any longer,” he whispered.

Without another word, he leaned his face in close
to mine. His sweet breath filled my nostrils, causing everyone else in the bar
to fade away into darkness. It was just the two of us now. His lips gently
grazed mine before kissing them softly. I ran my hands up his chest and around
his neck to hold onto him, never wanting to let go. His lips pulled back from
mine, but I wouldn’t loosen my grip. He rested his forehead against mine as he
smiled, looking directly into my dazed eyes.

“I love you, Kamlyn.”

The impact of his words could have knocked me over.
I knew what I felt for him had all along been the most intense love I’d ever
felt, but I hadn’t known he felt anything close to that for me. The bar came
rushing back as the sound of clapping and cheering came from all its patrons. I
smiled back as wide as I could, not being able to control the feeling of bliss
I was experiencing. I whispered the three words I’d never uttered to another
man before as we held each other closely. I clasped my hands with his and
started to head for the door. There was nothing I wanted more than to be alone
with him at that moment. We walked across the parking lot, hand in hand and
silent until we reached my old weather-beaten tuck. Sari stopped me before I
could reach for the handle.

“I have to check in tonight,” he said with
disappointment.

My smile faded as I stared at the ground. Just when
I finally had him, he had to go away again. He cupped my face in his soft warm
hands before pressing his lips against mine.

“I’ll be back by morning,” he reassured me.

I nodded my head, not being able to speak. There
was nothing I really
could
say. If he had to go then he had to go. He
held my hands in his for a moment before kissing me gently on the forehead. I
closed my eyes, savoring the moment before it ended. A gust of wind ran through
the parking lot and when I opened my eyes again, Sari was gone.

I drove to the hotel and once inside I sat there in
silence for a few minutes, processing all that had happened at the bar. My
smiling was uncontrollable. I jumped around the room cheering for myself. I
couldn’t remember the last time I felt so happy or elated. There was only one thing
I could think to do.

“Cara? You’ll never guess what!” I squealed into
the phone.

“Maybe you’ll get what you wanted.
Maybe you’ll stumble upon it.”

 – Coldplay

It took all of my concentration to fall asleep that
night. I kept thinking about Sari’s lips on mine, the warmth of his touch, the
feel of his arms around my waist. Hours went by and I was still tossing and
turning, staring at the back of my eyelids wondering when I would slip away
into a dream. I repeated the word ‘sleep’ over and over in my head, trying to
drown out the images of Sari’s face inching closer to mine and the fantasies of
what could have been if he were there with me.

My phone rang. I opened my eyes, realizing I had
just woken up from a dead, dreamless sleep. My eyes tried to adjust to the
pitch blackness of the room as I pawed at the bedside table.

“This better be good,” I groaned, slightly cranky
and groggy.

“I think you’ll like it.”