Midnight Playground

Chapter 14

"You were as stubborn back then, as you are now."

Bastien griped as he stared at the blank expression on her face. Of course, one light kiss of air on the back of her neck soon snapped her out of her reminiscing and she shoved him away from her in a panic. Brushing off her startled feelings, Cassie closed the window, jumping up on the spot.

"I'm all done here." She said, drying her hands quickly on a tea towel. She cast a look at Bastien who simply sighed at the gesture and began to rummage through his pocket. With a resigned look, he handled her a crumpled up white envelope and held it out to her. Cassie paused, her arm in mid-air. Often, when she had tried taking her pay check from him, he had gotten the drop on her. Whether it was landing a lick on the cheek or yanking her near enough onto his lap, she was aware of his trickery. Of course, that didn't mean that he meant any harm by it either. Sure, he had a naughty streak and a childish personality but that was all there was to it. To this day, he hadn't told her anything about himself and liked to keep his business to himself -they were similar in that way. Still, she had spent many hours guessing, as she was sure Alec did about her and found herself snooping for clues to his identity.

As expected, the moment that her fingertips touched the envelope, he withdrew it from her grasp, grinning mischievously. She sighed inwardly, pretending to feel annoyed by it. So what would it be this time? A peck on the cheek? A bite on the ear? When he released the envelope from his keeping peacefully, she felt herself shudder.

"You should have chosen me." Those words alone made her heart stop beating. Chosen him? Over who exactly? She glanced at him, mulling it over. His face didn't really retain any traces of jealousy, although she could scarcely imagine what it would look like anyway.

"What? Are you disappointed?" He taunted, raising his hand out to stroke the fringe of her hair. Realizing that she had been staring, she jerked her head back and headed for the door.

"Not on your life." She yelled from the doorway, her eyes taking in one last look of the room. After all, it could very well be her last visit, as was any other day. Nothing was a sure thing in her life anymore. She looked at Bastien, who had returned to sit on the table, making no attempt to see her off. With his gaze fixed on the wall in front of him, he remained motionless as rays of moonlight glided over his silhouette, the light spreading down from the window, leaving his shadow lost in the darkness.

"See you later." She muttered, unsure why. The silence ebbed at her, reminding her of the long walk home ahead of as well as what was probably waiting for her. She dismissed a shiver. There was no point worrying about it right now, there was nothing she could do about it anyway.

"Just keep going south..." His voice was like a whisper, barely audible in fact but still he smiled, ever so slightly, filling her with such a relief that it even made her smile in return.

"As the crow flies right?" She giggled, waving her goodbyes as she left the café and headed for home. She had repeated the phrase a lot over the last years, as though it had become a chant to help her to forget her worries of what was to come.

"Keep going south, as the crow flies...You'll eventually find what you are looking for..." Truthfully, she wondered, just how far south she would have to travel, to find that one thing, worth looking for.

Cassie made her way carefully up the stairs to her room, avoiding the creaky steps the best that she could manage. She had arrived back at the house for little more than ten minutes and already she knew that something was amiss. For one thing, she was still alive. The tension in her shoulders gradually lessened as she worked her way further inside the house but she remained sceptic at heart. The dim light of the orange lamp beside her bedroom door was a welcomed sight for her sore and tired eyes. Had she really gotten away with it? Doubtful. Not only could the demons scent her but she was pretty sure that she had been under their strict surveillance for the past few days. She headed down the corridor, peering nervously into the shadows. Where was Jace? He had never missed an opportunity to corner her before and yet tonight, he was nowhere to be seen. And the house wasn't on the quiet side either, filled with life as the sound of typing laptops and Tv screen echoed around her. Everything was eerily, normal. Standing at her bedroom door, Cassie paused and stood alone in the hazy light for a spell. The door appeared untouched, as it had always done. There were no extra scratch markings or signs to suggest that another had tried to gain entry. And it wasn't only the demons that had tried to access her room. In the past, many of the client had attempted to get into her room, just looking to see why the demons were so curious about her or to strike a counter attack A.K.A bullying. Many of her belongings had gone missing in the past and her room trashed. It was all normal to her and one by one, those who had once tried to cause her misery had fallen into the claws of the demons.