He gives me yet another smile as he steps out of the car. It spreads a little too thin.
Leaves fall from a nearby tree, grabbing my attention. Adrien looks that way too, and for the second time that night, I think he’s searching for the giant gargoyle too.
“Must be a bat,” he decides.
I frown as he walks away.
Chapter9
Adrial
Zuriel
When we were youngerthis game between Adrial and I was new and interesting, and I would have attacked him outright.Destroyedhis host body with my light. Truly it would accomplish little, for he would only be delayed while he sought out a new host. Yet for a time, I would have freedom. Of course, such a thing was easier before my solidification—back when I was young and naive with no affection for humans or the bodies he claimed as a host.
In my arrogance, I never imagined he could trick me. I had divinity on my side.
But trick me he did, using the image of an angel to nearly claim my name. Thus I was punished with the first failsafe of stone.
It seems impossibly long ago, the memories hazy.
We are older now, wiser—craftier. He sensed my awakening, surmising that someone knows my name, the single most thing he wants besides total malfeasance and pain.
Humans have bled on me before, begging me to bond with them. However, it is not what Summer has done. She is unlike any human I have known. She has given me gifts. Her laughter, her companionship. Her desires. And because of that, I do not assume Adrial will play things out as we have in the past.
Waiting and watching will give me the upper hand…in time.
It must.
I can’t risk him hurting her. Not before I understand what is happening.
I first learned grief when Adrial destroyed the monastery. And only now am I feeling more. Summer garnered myaffection.
Neither emotion should be possible.
Yet she’s the first ray of light after losing my mind to an endless void, an internal place I created to safeguard my sanity, where I resided within the sanctuary of a fantastical cathedral cast in moonlight. A place that is at once familiar and foreign. My birthplace obscured and expanded upon to fit my needs. Muddled memories reached me in the depth of this void, and in time, I may have surrendered to the imaginary depths of my head.
Then Summer arrived. She guided me back to the living with a laugh.
Unlike the disjointed memories from the centuries before, I remember every interaction Summer has had with me, the details clearer with every hour I spend awake. I recall her company—her stories. Her voice drew me from my shell, her cadence fun and airy. She lifted me from my stony void by sharing her jokes, laughter, longings, and disappointments… the depths of her loneliness.
It was intriguing.
So few things intrigue me.
I know her better than any human. I knew when she was near, even if she was quiet. Her presence was unmistakably warm and sweet. I was always there, alert and listening.
I’ve made small efforts to protect her in the past. Working at Hopkins’ has not been easy for her, and she has occasionally been left alone with angry customers. After being in her company for so long, day after day, I learned to sense her emotions and experience them as my own. Her anxiety when she was alone with cretins disturbed me. I have tried to comfort her and quell her unease.
There was little I could do buttry.
I recall her fingertips brushing my wings, warm and curious, touches that emanated heat over my stone body. Her conversations with others, her little grunts of annoyance, and the sighs of pleasure when she sipped coffee from the shop next door. She likes something called mocha. These remnants piece together as I study her from afar, finally able to see more of her. My blood heats and my chest constricts.
My teeth grit as the demon’s eyes feast upon her, and I chafe against my restraint. I believe Summer is sincere in her innocence. However, these emotions, my new vulnerability, are they his doing? Is she his unwitting pawn? If so, it is a trick I am falling for.
Adrial steps out of the car and looks directly at me. He smirks.
My hands clench. He’s already wormed his way into Summer’s family with his silver tongue and trickster ways.
