Kiss Me Deadly

Chapter Eight

My night is plagued with nightmares. Dredging up old memories has a cost, one that refuses to go unpaid. When I close my eyes, the ghosts of my past are there to haunt me after all this time.

I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, contemplating my conversation with Archer one moment and the next I'm sixteen years old again, running away from a glimpse of a ghost. Rain pours down on me as I flee, soaking me to the bone. I pay no mind to the rain, however. I can't, not while I'm running for my life. My mind seems to only be capable of one sentence: they found me. It plays on repeat in my head, like a heartbeat. They found me. They found me. They found me.

A hand on my arm is all it takes to make my heart stop.

A terrified gasp leaves my parted lips as I'm jerked to a stop. My eyes squeeze shut and I curse silently. Ever so slowly, I turn around, using the rain as an excuse to keep my eyes cast down. My eyes lock on a pair of dark boots standing in the middle of a growing puddle. Not daring to say his name or meet his gaze, I stay silent and still. I try to appear calm, but I'm trembling with fear.

"Viridian." My name rolls off his tongue, managing to sound scolding and teasing at the same time. He's waiting for me to look up at him, leaving me no option but to face him after all this time.

Taking a deep, steadying breath to prepare myself, I look up.

Icy, riveting eyes stare down at me from a face framed by inky black hair even darker than his father's. His lips twitch, fighting a smile, though I doubt he's happy with me. He's changed since I saw him last. There's a coldness to him now and a haunted look in his eyes that causes the oceans in them that once raged to freeze over.

I regard him cautiously. Angelo Octavian's son has never been a predictable one. I never know what's hidden behind those eyes and that humorless smirk.

"Ryder." His name comes out softly, unsteadily. I clench my cold hands into fists at my sides to fight the urge to flee.

My nervousness amuses him. He looks down and gives the ground a half smile, one I'd seen many times before. In that moment he's so heartbreakingly handsome that my chest aches. However, when he looks up again he's frowning, as if disappointed in me. I bite the inside of my cheek, knowing what's coming.

"Everyone is looking for you, Viridian," he sighs, as if I'm some insolent child, though his voice trembles slightly over my name. "Why did you leave?"

I'm taken aback by the sudden softness in his voice; the almost insecurity there. I look at him sharply and immediately regret it. His icy eyes capture mine, daring me to look away, but I can't. I'm enraptured by his gaze. He's always had the ability to unnerve me with those blue eyes of his, even when we were children. It's like he can see into my soul, unraveling my darkest secrets with the blink of his icy eyes.

There's something else in them, though. There's a relief in his gaze, that makes me wonder just how hard he's been looking for me. We were never really close in the sense that we spoke often and thought fondly of each other. To each other, we were silent reminders that we weren't alone during our endless training and the many monstrosities we were tasked with. I look again into his eyes to figure out the strange desperation behind them and am caught.

I lean in towards him, unable to resist his pull. It's almost magnetic. My gaze drops to his lips, so full and tempting. I bite my own lip, trying unsuccessfully to hide just how badly I want to devour his lips with mine. The sharp pain of my teeth piercing my lip and the metallic taste of blood in my mouth snaps me from my lust induced daze. I back up, cursing myself for falling for such a simple trick. It's one of the oldest rules in the book; never look directly into an incubi's eyes. They reel you in with hypnotizing eyes and knowing smirks and the next thing you know, you wake up naked next to a sexy demon -if he didn't already kill you just for the hell of it.