Inhabited

Chapter 15

I shake myself off, leaning against the trunk of a tree, clutching my camera to my chest. I can feel my body trembling and have to close my eyes to keep my vision from wobbling in front of me.

"I'm sorry." I mutter, dragging in sharp breaths. "I didn't mean to – you know."

"You don't have to be sorry." He says gently, his fingers brushing over my cheek and my eyes flutter open. "It happens."

I can feel the tingling leftover from his touch and my chest tightens, but I pull away quickly, looking anywhere but at him. "I have a boyfriend." I remind him in a clipped voice.

Lucifer clears his throat and his shadow pushing against mine pulls back. "I know. I'm sorry, that was—"

"Don't worry about it." I say airily, waving my free hand dismissively as I turn to give him a tight smile. "Seriously."

His eyes search mine. "Let's go find something else to do. We can come back later, when the smoke calms down and all."

The ground rumbles beneath us and we turn just as the air fills with smoke. A hand slams over my mouth and noise and I fall back into him, twisting slightly, my free hand grabbing at his. But he's too strong for me to pry off. After a moment though, it connects that he isn't doing this to be mean. The smoke billows around us, wrapping around us. My eyes water, stinging with the smoke.

Yelling ensues, my name on mouths searching for me, followed by others. Maisie's name drifts in the air, separated from the guys. I have to close my eyes to stop the smoke in my face. The hand isn't enough to block it all out though. Tendrils seep between his fingers and slip through my lips, hitting my lungs. As it burns, the coughing starts. My lungs tighten all over again.

He turns me around and scoops me from the ground. My legs instantly wrap around around his waist, my face burying into his shoulder. I can feel the bouncing movement of his feet as he rushes forward, but I can't look. My head is swirling.

I hate this. I fucking hate this.

Gripping my grip still, I hold to Lucifer's shirt as tightly as possible. When we stop, I slowly draw my head up. Instead of smoke now, a fresher scent hits my nostrils.

Leaning over, he sits me on a sandy beach and let's me stretch out. I still sputter and cough, grasping for air. But the freshness here enters my lungs, batting away the smoke that still lingers within.

My camera slips from my fingers, but right now, I can't think about it. Despite the little bit of coherency that wants me to grab at it. Blinking rapidly, I turn my eyes to Lucifer standing a few feet from me. He's breathing heavily, his back to me, head bent down. I can hear him muttering something, but the words are indiscernible.

I ache to know what he's saying, but I make no sound as I watch him besides the wheezing gasps of air that tug at my lungs here and there.

"What – what happened?" I gasp out, my hands shaking as I press them to the ground and push myself up.

He clears his throat and reaches up, dragging his fingers through his hair as he turns back to me. "The plane – guess it wasn't done."

"My brothers. My sister. Sully!" I breathe, pushing my feet into the ground to stand.

But when I push weight on my feet, I crumple back to the ground on my knees.

"You're too weak right now." He tells me. "You need to give yourself time to rest."

I shake my head. "We need to go. My family – my boyfriend-"

"Will be fine. They weren't by the plane. I promise. It was just us. You know that."

My eyes raise to his and then dart behind him. Diamonds skitter across the surface of a lake, with a mountain's outline peeking up behind it. My fingers dig into the sand beneath me, taking in the smoothness of it. "Where are we?"

"Just – just a lake."

"How?" I look behind me, taking in the line of trees and then back to him. "Where the fuck are the others? How far away are we?"

He grimaces, his face twisted as he approaches me. "Calm down, alright? Just a few feet from them, that's all. I had to get you away from all that smoke."

I narrow my eyes at him and finally rise, my legs shaking like jello, but I have to hold myself up. "Where are they? I can't hear them. If they were feet away, I'd be able to hear them."

Lucifer's eyes darken, his jaw setting, and refuses to say anything as he stares at me. Fear curls through me in place of the smoke, latching inside of me. This doesn't feel right. Oh this feels so fucking wrong. I take a shakily step back, my ankle hitting something hard and I glance down to see my camera still lying where I'd dropped it. Without hesitation, I reach down and snatch it.

"I promise, we aren't too far away." Lucifer tells me as I rise again. "We're close enough, but far enough we can't hear them. As soon as you feel better, I will take you back to them."

I tilt my head, squinting at him as I grip my camera between my fingers. "Who are you?"

"I told you. My name is Lucifer."

I shake my head and step back, a ball forming in the pit of my stomach. It wants me to run, to hide from him. But a voice in the back of my head is screaming at me to stay. That running will only be dangerous for me. If I run, he can no doubt catch me. And then what? I don't know this guy. I know nothing about him. Yet, I went off with him like he was an old friend or something.

Nate was right to be angry. I can be such a fucking idiot sometimes. And now, here I am, alone with some strange ass guy who is dragging out more questions then any answers I've been given.