The Fighter (Book 1)

Chapter 14

After training, Zack still hadn’t come back down. I found him in the room where he burned his hand on holy water. He watched the little waves, tossing broken pieces of tile in once in a while.

I sat down next to him. Silence. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, blue eyes falling shut, “It’s my fault.”

I shook my head too, leaning into his side. “Why can I touch it, but you can’t?”

“You’re only part demon. I am too, but more than fifty-percent.”

I nodded, feeling the warmth of his skin through my shirt and his jacket over that. “I love you,” I said, looking up to his any trace of emotion.

“I love you, too,” he smiled sadly at me. “Do you still want to go?”

“Zack, you know I’d go anywhere with you,” I smiled, kissing his shoulder. “You know I’m just trying to help, right? That there will be Elders imitating my entire facial structure to get under your skin. Incubi and Succubae can do that. The one from the plane kind of admitted that, and I think I’ve read it somewhere.”

“I know, and I’m just trying to not hurt you,” he kissed my forehead. “Do you have any idea how much it kills me to realize that I’ve hurt you in our less-than-two-weeks of knowing each other? I’m trying to be less of a monster around you.”

“You’re not a monster. You could never be a monster. You’re a demon, and you’re amazing. And you’re mine,” I added. “Violence is in your nature. So what? That’s who you are, and I don’t want you to change that.”

“Really?”

“Really,” I created waves on the water with my rather unused skill. “I love you, Zack Wells, and no amount of demonic encounters could ever change that.”

He smiled, eyes finally meeting mine, and looked behind him before leaning over to me, “Are we staying the night there?” his lips were at my ear, and his gravelly voice gave me chills.

“Do you want to?”

“Is that a trick question? Sneaking out with my lovely girlfriend to spend the night in my parents’ empty house. Does that or does that not sound like me?” he chuckled, standing up and pulling me up shortly after.

“It does,” I wrapped an arm under his wings. “Do you want your jacket?”

“Nah, I’m dying of a heat stroke as it is,” he leaned into me. “Really, T, do you want to stay the night? I mean, we can stay the night…like, without staying the night. I just wanna be with you, and away from this mess.”

“I still want to go, Zack,” I rolled my eyes. “And we’ll just see how things go on staying the night.”

“Oh,” he said softly as we rode the elevator up to our floor. “What are the chances, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Fifty-fifty,” I couldn’t hold a straight face.

“You’re such a tease,” he rolled his eyes with a laugh. “I’m gonna pack up some clothes. It’d be pretty obvious to the others that we snuck out if we came back in wearing yesterday’s clothes.”

“Michael knows we left.”

“Yeah, but he can’t lock the Savior down, and if the other Beings see that we can sneak out, they’ll try it and leave Rome,” Zack kissed my temple. “Meet in the room of whoever isn’t done?”

“Sounds good,” I nodded, winking at him before heading down the hall to my room.

“You’re killin’ me, Williams!” Zack called, making me crack a smile even though he couldn’t see it. I was a little terrified by the thought of being alone with Zack. And spending the night, even if it wasn’t spending the night. I was even more scared of the latter. The former only scared me because everyone else was still here, and I didn’t want something bad to happen while I was gone. I liked helping. A lot.