Frost and Fire

Three

Teivel stared at the twins lying unconscious on the floor, his eyes flickering between the two and the door. He didn't really have much time to decide. Shadow-travelling was quick and took a very little amount of time - Azazel would be waiting for him and soon, if Teivel did not come to a decision in the next few minutes, he might even return to the destroyed house. He didn't really know what to do with the teens sprawled across the floor. If it had been anyone else, anyone else, he would have handed them over to his boss without even a second of hesitation. But it wasn't just anybody. It was Juliana Rayburn and her brother. He had wanted to deny it at first, when he'd first seen her. But even though Shadow-Dwellers claimed to have no soul, this particular Shadow-Dweller knew he'd just found his soulmate.

Teivel sighed, contemplating. On one hand, there was his life at stake. If he failed to take the teens to Azazel, the Shadow-Dweller would hunt him down and wouldn't hesitate to kill him at sight. But on the other hand, it was her life. Juliana's. The girl with those emerald eyes. The one whose screams still echoed in his ears. Could he leave her at the mercy of that monster? Could he allow himself to become a monster just for the sake of living? The girl was pure, innocent. Would he ever forgive himself if he went ahead with the original plan?

Teivel didn't think so. He stared at the object of his inner conflict, pressing a fist against his forehead. Lifting his head, he let out a resigned sigh. There was only one way out of it - to go into hiding. With the twins, of course.

***

The young Shadow-Dweller grunted - Lane Rayburn was one heavy boy. He would've gladly dragged him to the bedroom but...why wasn't he dragging the dratted boy along the floor? It wasn't like his sister was around or anything. Teivel groaned. He should've just Shadow-travelled directly to the bedroom, even if it did make him feel nauseous. Even the thought of travelling through shadows made him want to throw up. He hadn't eaten anything for more than twenty-four hours now and he was starving. He had also used a lot of his magic that day and he didn't want to over-reach his limits.

Grunting, he lifted the boy and set him down on the huge double-bed, pulling up the covers to his chin. If the brat died, it was very likely that Juliana wouldn't forgive him and that wouldn't help the 'soulmates' thing at all. She wouldn't be very impressed with him either. He had earlier placed her on a bed of her own, as large as her brother's.

He hadn't minded carrying her - she was considerably lighter than her twin... and hotter. In both senses of the word. Her forehead had been burning when he'd left her which was probably a minor side-effect of the torture she'd been put through. Since the pain had been directed at her, she'd faced the brunt of it while Lane had merely felt a third of what it truly had been. Teivel figured her temperature would settle down after a good long nap.

He shook his head, trying to rid his mind of images of Juliana Rayburn sleeping. He headed straight to his room, took a quick shower -Teivel never took baths- and pulled on a pair of black jeans and a grey t-shirt. He figured grey described his current situation accurately. Neither here nor there. Not black and definitely not white.

He smiled faintly - he was becoming all deep and deep wasn't his thing. Food was what he needed at the moment - its lack was messing around with his thoughts. Business could go take a hike; in the meanwhile, he was going to cook some pancakes for himself. And Juliana. Would that impress her? It might. But she might be one of those girls. The herbivore kind - the ones who only ate leafy things. That wouldn't work at all. He mixed the batter expertly, convincing himself that it didn't matter, not really. He didn't care about her anyway. Or did he?