Jeaniene Frost - The Beautiful Ashes

Zach smirked at him. Actually smirked, and said, “I will enjoy witnessing this.” There went another note under my ever-growing list titled Things I Didn’t Expect From An Archon.

Adrian gave both of us such a cold glare that I was sure he’d refuse. Then he spoke.

“I’m sorry, Ivy, for not telling you about the mirrors. There’s your apology, and here’s information you didn’t know—because you can see through Archon glamour, you saw me hand blank pieces of paper to the clerk. He saw a stack of hundred dollar bills, and we’re using the same trick to fly to Mexico because we can’t use the Oregon vortex to enter multiple realms through the same gateway anymore.”

At my indrawn breath, Adrian went on. “Demetrius will guess that’s where we’re headed since we were in the Oregon desert when he caught up with us. Zach’s here to refill our manna supply, glamour your appearance and remind me that we’re on our own once we enter the demon realms. The two sides can’t cross into each other’s territories, so if we’re captured, Zach can’t help us even if he wants to.”

I was openmouthed by the time he finished, but I quickly recovered. “And you are what? ” I asked, wanting to know that more than all the other details.

Adrian smiled. “I promised to share secrets and I did. I never specified which ones.”

Zach smirked again, and this time, it was directed at me.

“I’ll remember that,” I replied, giving Adrian a look that promised retribution.

If he thought I’d give up my quest to find out what he was, why he acted so hot and cold around me or what Demetrius had meant when he said that every moment “the bond” would strengthen between us, he was dead wrong. Now, the real trick would be to make sure that none of us ended up really dead before I got my answers.

I turned my back on Adrian, giving Zach my full attention. “You’re going to change how others see me? Fine. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a blonde.”

The airport teller’s name was Kristin. I handed her two blank paper stubs and a stack of equally blank Post-it pages, hoping I didn’t look as guilty as I felt.

“One round-trip ticket to Durango, Mexico, please,” I said.

Kristin looked at the blank stubs and pages. I tried to smile, but my face froze. Adrian swore that she and everyone else would see a driver’s license, a passport and lots of cash in the Post-it note pile. All I saw was my imminent arrest, if the Archon glamour didn’t hold up.

After what might have been five seconds but felt like ten years, the teller snapped up the two stubs from the pile, starting to type with crazy quickness on her keyboard.

“Anything to declare?” she asked.

Yes. I’m a total criminal right now . “Uh, nope.”

The next flight to Durango had two stopovers, and only first-class seats available. I looked at the Post-it pages. Damned if I knew what monetary denominations they were supposed to be.

“Take it,” Adrian said softly from behind me.

“Sold,” I told the teller, pushing the pile toward her. If I didn’t have enough pretend money in it, I’d get more from Adrian or play up the dumb blonde stereotype as an excuse for not being able to count.

After more brisk typing, the teller handed me the two blank stubs, most of the blank pages—my change, I supposed—and a ticket with the fake name I’d chosen for myself. Adrian bought his ticket, then we checked our bags and proceeded to our gate.

That’s when my last shred of denial ripped away. Some tiny part of me must’ve still been clinging to the idea that everything I’d seen was a hallucination, just like countless doctors over the years had assured me. But after a TSA official ran our blank stubs through a computer that authenticated them as valid IDs, the truth was undisputable.

I wasn’t experiencing a psychotic break with another equally crazy companion. The fact that even computer systems were fooled by Archon glamour proved that this was nothing short of a supernatural phenomenon. Archons— angels —were real. Demons were, too, and I was going to enter into their world to find a weapon so Adrian and I could kill them.

To say I was in way over my head was an understatement.

This time, I was the one who brooded in silence over the next couple days of layovers and long flights. When the plane finally touched down in Durango, I’d come to the same realization I had in Bennington over two weeks ago.

I had nothing left to lose. My whole family had been taken from me, and I didn’t have someone special waiting back at college. Truth be told, there had never been anyone special. I used to blame my lack of romantic enthusiasm on the medication I took, but now that I knew the pills were placebos, I had to admit the problem was me. I even kept my roommate and my other friends at arm’s length, so while they’d miss me if I never came back, it wouldn’t leave a big hole in their lives. Sure, we had fun hanging out, but no matter how many parties we went to or how many nights we stayed up talking, part of me hadn’t really been there. I think they must have sensed that because while I didn’t lack for friends, I’d never been anybody’s best friend. That took the kind of trust and honesty I’d only shared with Jasmine. With everyone else, I was too busy pretending not to catch glimpses of things only I could see, or worrying if I was living the college life the way everyone expected me to. Most days, I worked harder at faking “normal” than I did on my grades, friendships or the few-and-fleeting relationships I’d had. So while I was scared shitless, the only person who’d really care if I didn’t make it was Jasmine, and my doing this was her only hope of surviving.

It kinda sucked seeing how little my life mattered in the big scheme of things, but then again, that was also my biggest advantage. People with nothing to lose were dangerous, and since I was taking on demons, I needed to be as dangerous as I could.

As we disembarked, Adrian grasped my arm, the contact sending a familiar shiver through me. He was the only guy who’d made me feel everything I’d been missing all these years, and for reasons he refused to discuss, he wanted nothing to do with me. Figured.

“I know I deserved it, but are you done paying me back for all the times I’ve given you the silent treatment?” he asked.

I looked at him, taking in his height, muscular build and devastating good looks that were invisible to everyone but me. Then I spoke the first words I had in over a thousand miles.

“Yeah, I’m done, and more important, I’m ready.”

We spent the night in a hotel in Ceballos, one of Durango’s smaller towns. Adrian spoke fluent Spanish, which helped with checking in and getting dinner. Jet lag and my new resolve ensured that I slept well, and in the morning, I found out that we weren’t driving to the entrance of the demon realm alone. Two guys approached us as soon as we entered the hotel parking lot, exchanging back-slapping man-hugs with Adrian.

“Ivy, this is my friend Tomas,” Adrian said, indicating the tough-looking Hispanic man with a scar curving from his neck down to his upper arm.

“Hola,” I said, wishing I’d taken more than two years of Spanish in high school. Tomas accepted my outstretched hand, shaking it firmly.

“Hola, senorita.” Then his stoic features cracked, and he flashed a wide smile at Adrian. “La rubia es caliente! Hora de que empieces a salir de nuevo, mi amigo.”

“It’s not like that,” Adrian said in English, though I’d translated enough to get the misassumption. “Ivy and I aren’t dating. We’re...friends.”