Falling for the Devil

Chapter Eight - Luke

Luke burst through the library doors, the look of a madman in his eyes. He let out a sigh of relief. There she was, her back to the door and her nose in a book. Luke's eyes tightened, and there he was, too. Luke walked stiffly to their table.

"Bael, may I have a moment?" he asked, forcing out a polite tone.

Ell glanced up at him, at first excited and then concerned, "Is something the matter?"

Luke smiled at her concern, "Nothing major. Just some family business to sort out." He looked back at his older brother, "Bael, now, please."

Bael stretched his lanky form within the confines of his chair, "What's the big deal, Lucy? Did one of the other kids break your toy?" Bael turned towards Ell, "you know, this one was such a cry baby when we were kids. Always complaining about something," he made eye contact with Luke, "but never having the balls to do anything about it."

Luke was reaching his breaking point. His fear from Ell's momentary disappearance coupled with Bael's thinly veiled insults was beginning to add up.

Then, Bael crossed the line, "You should have seen him after his ex. What was her name? Amy or someth-"

Luke's control broke. He launched himself over the table and dragged Bael to the ground much more quickly than any human would have been able to. He pulled back and hurled his fist into his brother's face.

Bael just smiled up at him, "Careful now, little brother. Do you really want the lady to see your dark side?"

Suddenly Luke imagined what this scene must look like to Ell. She had no idea of his family's involvement with Amelia's death, and if he wanted to keep her safe, it had to stay that way. All of this happened in the blink of an eye. As Luke pulled himself off the ground, Ell's mind just finished processing all that happened. She sat, mouth wide open, gaping at the two brothers.

Luke turned towards her with apology written on his face, "Ell, come on. It's time to go."

He held his hand out to help her from her seat, but she flinched away from him. She's scared of me. This is exactly what Bael wanted, for me to mess up and get angry and lose her forever. Luke always hated the moment when they found out that he was different, that he wasn't human. Ninety percent of the time, the girls were scared away and he never heard from them again. But this was the first time he had scared one away without revealing his true form. Luke prided himself on being a gentleman who treated women with proper respect, much unlike his devilish siblings. Luke was ashamed, but he had to get her out of this room and away from Bael.

Luke let his hand fall and crouched to be at her eyelevel, "I'm so sorry, Ell. I shouldn't have acted that way, but, please, we need to go."

Ell nodded mutely and stood to gather her belongings. Luke made sure to stand between Ell and Bael, and he attuned his sensitive ears to Bael's every move. As soon as Ell shouldered her bag, he hurried them out of the library and into the relative safety of the hallway.

They walked in silence out the entrance of the school. Soon the silence became unbearable for Luke. Once outside, he paused. Ell continued to walk for several moments before realizing that her escort had disappeared. She looked around and found him with his head down in the shadow of the building. She slowly made her way to his side and stood looking up into his brooding face. When he remained silent, Ell placed her hand under his chin, lifting his eyes into hers.

"What's wrong?" she whispered.

Luke waited for a long moment before responding, "I thought I had lost you."

Ell looked puzzled at his reply, so he forged on, not letting her think too much of his statement, "Bael is bad news, Ell. You need to stay away from him."

"But he's your brother? How can your brother be so bad?"

Luke smiled wryly, "Nothing good ever comes from hell."

Ell, assuming he was joking, laughed to lighten the mood, "Well, now that we're away from hell spawn, we better get to work."

Now it was Luke's turn to laugh, "Work? On what?"

"Our mythology project for English! The deadline is coming up fast."

"It's still a month away!"

"Yeah, so like I said. The deadline is coming up fast."

Luke laughed and slung his arm around his shoulder, "I guess we're both gluttons for punishment today."

"So where to? My house is out for obvious reasons. No need for another family reunion today." Luke paused for a moment, "What about your place?"

Luke could clearly recall his last visit to Ell's house. His fingers could still feel the raised bumps that scarred her back. He needed a reason to get back in the house, to make sure that everything really was okay with Ell.

Ell answered with no hesitation, "Sorry, my mom doesn't like visitors. We could try the University Library. They have a pretty good selection."

Luke mounted his motorcycle, disappointed that his plan had been struck down, "Do you want a ride? No point in both of us driving."

Ell laughed and cast a skeptical look at the black monster in front of her, "There's no way you're getting me on that death trap! I'd like to live a few more years, thank you very much!"

"Trust me. The motorcycle won't kill you," Luke revved his engine and took off into the road.