Lonely - Jai's P.O.V. Smokeless Fire the 'Invisible Save' scene

The buzz of teenage conversation was giving Jai a headache and he was pretty sure from the tightening of his client’s features that it was giving her a headache too.

I am on the assignment of a lifetime. It will all be worth it.

Luca, Jai’s father, and Jai’s spawn of Satan three half-brothers wouldn’t be able to touch him once he completed this assignment successfully. So far it had been easy— a little like being trapped in a teenage soap opera from hell— but other than irritating, it was easy.

Yeah, Jai had been surprised by the girl he was to guard. Ari Johnson. An eighteen year old girl from Sandford Ridge, Ohio. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting but it definitely wasn’t… Ari.

It wasn’t how gorgeous she was that had taken him aback—although he hadn’t been expecting it—it was how lonely she was for a pretty and intelligent eighteen year old. Pop culture told him that she should be popular and loved and surrounded by people twenty-four seven.

Instead she was quite possibly the loneliest person he’d ever ‘met’.

As lonely as he was.

He felt a kin with her because of that.

Her dad wasn’t home at the moment and from what he could tell—which wasn’t a lot since a damn Ifrit Jinn was keeping him out of the house—Derek Johnson rarely checked in with her. Ari was left to the care of the Ifrit who Ari presumed was a poltergeist. The fact that she didn’t even flinch at having a poltergeist intrigued him more than a little bit.

 Jai hadn’t sensed anything harmful from the Ifrit yet he thought it best to check in with The Red King. His Highness didn’t seem all that perturbed by the Ifrit’s presence so Jai was going to let it settle until he could get into the house. He wasn’t keen on someone else trying to guard his client but there was little he could do against her surprising strength unless The Red King gave him the all clear to fight her.

Jai leaned back against the classroom wall and indulged in a heavy sigh. He was of course using the Cloak to hide himself from Ari as he watched over her. He’d walked with her to her friend Charlie’s house and then walked them to school, vigilant for any signs of otherworldly danger. Ari had been fine. The only danger she was in was the danger of getting her heartbroken by Charlie Creagh. Personally Jai didn’t understand the emo, moping, drug abusing thing Charlie had going on when he had a gorgeous, sweet girl like Ari hanging around. He knew Charlie’s past and he felt bad for the kid, but when shit happened you fought through it. You let the wounds heal and took strength from the scars. You didn’t keep picking at them until they were infected.

After that encounter Jai had walked a forlorn Ari to school and strolled around the perimeter, making sure he couldn’t feel anything out of the ordinary in the air. When he’d done that he’d found her in Art History, where the kids were all excited about their future and crap like that.

“I can’t wait to get to Brown,” Some girl announced cheerily to Ari who was diligently working on a puzzle of Mona Lisa. It was also clear from where Jai was standing that Ari didn’t want to hear it. In fact, he’d noticed as everyone talked about what they were doing with their lives, Ari curled up into herself, blocking them all out, suggesting to him she was having a crisis about the future.

Yeah… if only she knew what was coming.

Ari Johnson was about to find out her father was a Jinn King—The White King had made some enemies apparently, enemies who might discover who Ari was and try to use her against him. She was about to become aware of Jai’s 24/7 guard and she was going to be subjected to Jai’s kiss so he could trace her if anyone did try to take her.