The Black-Hearted Ninja (The Dark Triangle #1)

Stay Ahead

Cole's P.O.V.

Cole could predict every move of every ninja. He was always two steps ahead of everyone else. Cole knew.

Until he didn't.

Nya wanted the ring. She wanted it.

She was eager to receive it.

       Against all probability, common sense, against the core basis of Nya's personality, she reached out her hand and gave him her beautiful words. "Give me the ring." They were surrounded by darkness and yet this one light shone through. Death and destruction and Nya, the only things in Cole's world.

"Are you sure? There's no turning back." Cole said. Every molecule in his body fought to stay as hard as rock but he was melting like butter at the sight of Nya looking at him like that. The way he looked at her every single day.

"I'm sure." Nya said. In her eyes there was still that unreadable expression. What was going on inside her head?

Now that Jay was gone Nya was realizing the truth. She never loved that whiny, chattering excuse for a ninja. No, finally, she could see who she truly belonged with, how much Cole loved her, through anything, human, ghost, or demon, it didn't matter as long as there was them. That's what Cole thought, at least.

But Cole had to know for sure. "I thought you hated me, after all the things I did. What made you change your mind?" As Nya drew closer, Cole's eyes lightened a bit. They were no longer a clear jet black, instead a bit browner, like the color of dark dirt.

"As you killed Jay, I went numb. When emotion came back I expected to feel grief, sadness, anguish, and especially hatred, towards you, but instead I was almost relieved." Nya's tone was the same she used with Jay the morning after the dreams, Cole knew because he watched them. "And then I felt something else. I'd been trying to repress those feelings for so long but I just couldn't anymore. It was a flood, and then I knew."

"Knew what?" Cole cursed himself. He was a demon! Demons don't ask questions! They kill stuff! Demons are always in control of the situation! Cole wasn't even in control of his own emotions, much less what was happening. Stay ahead.

"The reason why I can't hurt you. Why I couldn't go near you after Kai's death while I was doing Spinjitzu. Why the spell failed even though it was working before."

Their eyes met and locked. Like puzzle pieces fitting together, Cole's world clicked into place. He'd killed his enemies, friends, even his own father just for Nya and after all this time, she was his. Really.

"I can't stand to see you in pain, Cole. It hurts me too. This will probably get me killed, trusting you, but nobody, not Kai, or Jay, no one but you truly understands me. You've taken my life, ruined my world, and yet you also stole my heart and I can't change that."

Everything, every single horrible thing the demon had ever forced him to do, all of it was worth it.

Cole and Nya. Nya and Cole.

Perfection.

Cole reached out and took Nya's outstretched hand in his, transferring the ring from his talons to her long, warm fingers. For a moment the power was shared between the two until all of it passed to Nya. A little quiver went through her as the energy hit her human body.

"Don't put it on your finger yet, not for a while. The power could kill you if you don't adapt to it first. And you're the only one I don't want dead." Cole said, releasing her soft hand from his cold, almost scaly one.

Nya nodded. "What will the ring do? Once I put it on?" She asked, turning it over and over in her fingers as if mesmerized by the strange darkness.

"It's a bond, connecting us, almost like marriage. Once you put it on, our combined strength will be so great we can do anything! We can be anything!"

Nya touched his arm with her left hand and tremors spread through Cole's entire body. She made him weak. She was a danger to him. Perhaps the girl needed to join the rest of those dead, she was too much of a risk. But no, Nya was the reason Cole even killed anyone in the first place. Why would he think of such a thing? Although, he did feel more vulnerable around her.

"What do you want to be?" Nya said. Why had Cole desired to hurt her? Make her feel pain? Now the only thing he wanted was to be-

"Yours."

Don't let her have the upper hand. Stay two steps ahead. Don't care. Don't care. Cole Brookstone doesn't care.

I would murder anyone or anything else. I would kill all of Ninjago before hurting Nya. She is my liability. She is my weakness. I can't have a weakness. I have to stop this! Don't look at her!

I am a demon. A demon is me. But I don't want to be a demon! Nonsense, of course I do. None of this would have been possible.

Can demons love?

Jay's blood is really very warm.

These thoughts raced through Cole's head.

"You complete me. You're my obsession, my one and only." Cole said. His eyes were even browner, the black draining from them. He and Nya were close, so close now Cole could feel her warm breaths on his face.

"Love makes us all do terrible things." Nya whispered. Cole's lips were inches from hers. For a fraction of a second, Cole thought he saw her looking at...Jay? No, she couldn't have been because of what happened next.

When they kissed, the rest of the world didn't matter. Cole and the screaming voice in his head telling him to keep focus didn't matter because the only thing was Nya. It was of no importance how many people he'd killed or notes he'd carved or hearts he'd held in his hands because it had led up to this moment.

The ground beneath them shook as Cole wrapped his arms around Nya's waist, kissing her with everything he had. He was careful not to pierce her skin with his claws or bite her with his long fangs, because Cole was not going to hurt Nya. Even though he was a demon and she was a human and he was a killer and she was a victim and they were so different, they were the same.

Perfect matches, indeed.

As their lips parted and Cole's eyes opened, for a second they were completely back to normal, until they faded back to the in-between. The two teens broke apart and their foreheads touched. Nya blinked a few times as if trying to clear her head and then Cole said something, something he didn't like saying. It was cheesy and cliché and Nya hated clichés. But they were standing in a heart of murdered friends and dead rose petals and really, there was nothing else that Cole could think.

"I love you."

Nya smiled. She leaned in as if to kiss him again.

And instead whispered something.

Her eyes changed cold and hard as she hissed,

"Too bad."

    Before Cole could react, Nya had stepped back. She lifted her left hand up in front of his face, the fingers trembling. Her right hand came in front of her own face as Nya stared at the ring. It was thin, and an off-white dried blood color, as if some of Jay's blood was still inside the bone. The object was not completely circular, no, in fact it had three distinct points that made the ring more of a triangle. The way Nya held the ring had one side facing Cole, the next the dead Jay, and third, herself.

Power. Power. Power. More than the green ninja, more than the Four Weapons of Spinjitzu, all held in the grasp of that ring. Cole felt the danger of it. Nya wasn't ready. Her body hadn't acclimated to that kind of power. It could kill her!

The world seemed to go silent as Nya thrust the triangle of bones onto her left ring finger.

A/N Ok, kissing...romance...yeesh.

What will happen next? Are you surprised that Demon Cole has a "sensitive" side (cause he's evil and all that) ? Was Nya really playing Cole that whole time? Why did she put on the ring? Do you like my "love triangle" reference? Hahaha. Anyway, yay! I finished that chapter! Now I am going to sleep!