Nightfall

Chapter 15

"So the little Liam is a hellhound," Sage said, grabbing a bag of chips and some salsa from the kitchen. "I did not see that coming."

"His mom was a little protective of him when he mentioned that he wasn't exposed to fire in his life," I remarked, grabbing one of Sage's chips out of the bag. "Maybe it's a genetic thing."

"Considering that his mom does not have glowing orange eyes, it's possible that his dad does," Sage responded. "Poor Liam. He must be terrified."

At that moment, I stopped. "'Poor Liam'? Since when did you pity him?" I asked. "What happened to the Sage who didn't like anyone?"

"I've changed my mind about Liam," she responded. "Not the other boys."

I immediately looked up from the freezer. "You like him?" I asked, my eyes flashing a bright red in surprise.

"Well...yea," she said, eating calmly. "Not like that, but I've never met anybody who's like me, and he's so sweet and I'm so..."

"Sour?" I said, snickering as I grabbed a carton of ice cream from the freezer. "I mean...to be honest, he is better for you. After all, he was very caring when we rescued you."

Smiling, Sage joined me on the couch. "So Caleb's cute," she said, giving me an obvious look.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not looking for anybody right now, S."

"Oh please, get over that fantasy. Have you seen his face when he looks at you? That's love!"

"No, that's puppy love, and I can't date right now. We have a job to do, and I can't get distracted by him."

"Aw come on, E. Go out there and get some!"

Laughing, Sage and I were soon interrupted by a flash of orange on the stairs. Looking up, we saw Liam, his hair messy with sleep. "I heard you guys talking, and I can't really sleep anyway," he murmured, walking over to the couch and sitting beside Sage.

"Liam, is your mom okay?" I asked, thinking of his mom's worrisome reaction to his secret ability.

"She's surprisingly cool about the whole thing," he responded. "She doesn't want to get in the way of me learning."

"It'll be okay," I chuckled. "Who knows? Maybe Sage will help you."

"Hell yea I will!" Sage said, her mouth full of salsa.

Smiling, Liam hugged Sage, and I saw Sage's cheeks blush slightly when they broke away from each other.

"What are you guys watching?" Caleb asked, sliding down the stairs.

"Uh...some movie about these superheroes," I responded, eating my ice cream.

"Oooo, cookie dough," Caleb said, grabbing a spoon from the kitchen.

As he started to put his spoon in my carton of ice cream, I snarled at him, my eyes glowing a cherry red.

"Don't touch my food," I said, gritting my teeth as I moved slightly farther away from him.

Caleb laughed. "I'm sorry Ember," he said, putting the spoon down. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure," I said, putting the ice cream back in the freezer and following him upstairs to his room, unsure of what was about to happen.

"What's up?" I asked, sitting on Caleb's bed.

Caleb solemnly looked at me, and took a deep breath. "Okay. This is going to be hard for me to say, but for the past few weeks, I've had this feeling."

I raised my eyebrows. "What kind of feeling?" I asked. "Are you sick?"

He chuckled nervously. "No, I'm not sick, but I feel like I'm about to be."

Suddenly, my eyes grow wide, and I look at him. "You're not about to say that you're in love with me, are you?" I asked.

He smiled. "No, nothing like that," he said, glancing at the floor. "I do like you though."

I wasn't really all that surprised, thinking about what Sage said. "Well, Caleb," I said, shifting on the bed, "I'm flattered, but I'm not really looking for anything right now."

"I understand, considering that you have a lot on your plate. I didn't want to put you in an awkward position, but I just needed to get that off my chest."

"That's very brave of you, Caleb," I said, hugging him. "Thank you."

After that short but honest conversation, Caleb walked me over to the door. "Goodnight, Ember," he said.

"Goodnight," I responded, walking away, until Caleb grabbed my hand and spun me around, kissing me.

I wanted to stop it, knowing what I said, but I couldn't. I felt such an emotional connection with him, and the physical connection had just started.

Breaking the kiss, Caleb looked at me as his eyes glowed a bright blue. He started to kiss my neck, stopping at my shoulder. Lifting up my shirt, he picked me up and closed the door, pushing me against it.

"Is it hard?" Liam asked, eating a container of cookies.

Sage glanced at him. "Is what hard?" she asked.

"Being a hellhound," he responded, looking at Sage like she had all the right answers.

She shrugged. "Well, up until this point, I didn't know what I was. It's not like you have to pass some initiation in order to become one. It's pretty badass."

Liam laughed. "So where are your parents?"

She looked back at him, her eyes hard. "Dead, most likely. I was merely a small child when Ember's parents found me and took me in. Ever since then, I could never repay them."

Liam grabbed Sage's hand. "I think you've already repaid them by coming into their lives," he murmured.

Sage smiled slightly. "So where's your dad?"

The corners of Liam's mouth dripped sadly. "He died a few years ago. Broke my mom's heart. I'm all she has left, which is why she's so protective."

"Well, not to worry. I'll protect you," Sage murmured, her eyes flashing a dark orange.

"From what?" Liam asked.

"This," Sage said as she kissed Liam, who kissed her back.

I smiled as I ripped off Caleb's shirt, leaving scratch marks on his back. Breathing heavily, Caleb placed me on the bed, kissing my stomach.

Lifting Liam's shirt, Sage started to kiss his neck, stopping at his chest. Liam kissed Sage's forehead as she kissed his stomach.

The rest of the night was a blur that no one could remember, but we felt the heat and possible passion that had been bottled up inside for a while.