Charade (Heven and Hell #2)(67)
Author: Cambria Hebert

But I kept running.

Glancing over my shoulder for the hundredth time, I confirmed what I already knew; demons were hot on my heels. I picked up the pace and turned to my left, praying it wasn’t a dead end. It wasn’t and there was a small crumbled section in the wall off to my right so I jumped through and started running in the opposite direction. I heard a great thump and a crumbling sound and knew that one of them saw where I had gone, and they were destroying the wall so they could follow. It made me mad that this ancient place would be damaged for something like this. I took a right and ran smack into the rough stone wall.

“Dammit,” I swore and turned to go back the way I came. I had no idea how deep in this place was or how big it actually was. It couldn’t be that big… could it?

There was a small alcove in the wall. I squeezed myself in and doubled over to catch my breath. Maybe I should start carrying a weapon like Gemma. I heard a scuffling sound and peered out to see a demon run by. I waited a few minutes and left my hiding place and ran in the opposite direction. There was a light up ahead and I ran toward it, hoping it wasn’t a trap.

It was an old door that was open and led to stairs that went up to the ground floor. I could hear the traffic go by on the street.

Sam! There’s a door to the outside. It was close now. I was almost there.

No, Heven! It’s a trap! Turn around!

Too late. A demon rushed me from the side and sent me crashing to the floor. The scroll fell out of my hands and rolled away into a shadowed corner.

The demon that sent me to the floor landed on top of me and was scrambling off me to get to the scroll. I dug my nails into its arms, trying to keep it from getting away. It looked down, annoyed, and I brought up my knee between its legs. I had no clue if that was even a good defense against creatures like this, but it was worth a try. It hissed and rolled to the side.

Note to self: it is good defense to knee demons in their ‘man parts.’

I pushed off the ground and raced toward the scroll. The demon recovered from his groin injury and grabbed me by the foot, yanking me off my feet. I used my free leg to kick it in the head as Sam lunged, ramming his fist right through its back; it disintegrated right on top of me. Gross.

I rolled over and grabbed the scroll, hurrying to shove it inside my bag as I stood. Sam helped me to my feet and we both turned when we heard scuffling.

Cole was being ambushed by the two remaining demons.

As he was fighting, he was hit from behind and Cole slumped to the ground.

“Cole!” I screamed as Sam ran forward at the demons.

But he didn’t have a chance to do anything to them.

A super strong gust of wind blew in from the door and knocked the demons to the ground. Sam hurried to send them to dust. I crouched beside Cole. “Cole!”

He groaned and looked up at me. I grabbed his hand and squeezed.

“Is he all right?”

All of us whipped around at the new voice. Kimber was standing in the doorway looking torn.

“Kimber? What are you doing down here?”

“Mrs. Britt sent me to see what was taking you so long.”

What had she seen? How would she even know we were down here?

“Oh, uh—I accidently tripped and fell off the walkway above these passageways. Cole and Sam came after me and we got lost down here.”

“Cole?” Kimber asked, taking a few more steps inside. I could see her aura even in the dark and I could see that she was genuinely worried about Cole.

And that she still loved him. Nothing like a demon attack and threat of death to bring out someone’s true feelings.

“Heven?” Cole groaned, grabbing my arm.

“Everything’s okay,” I told him as he sat up, holding his head. I felt around for blood, but there wasn’t any. Thank goodness.

“You need to hurry up,” Kimber snapped.

My show of concern for Cole angered her. If only she understood…

“Kimmie?” Cole asked, getting to his feet.

Kimber, who was on her way out the door, stopped and turned. The red in her aura gave way to pink. “Yeah?”

“What are you doing down here?”

Kimber huffed and her worry turned back into anger. Keeping up with her aura was like watching exploding fireworks. “Hurry up!” she barked and disappeared from sight.

“How much did she see?” Cole asked as we walked toward the door.

“I don’t think anything,” Sam said.

I remained silent because I wasn’t so sure. I think Kimber saw a lot more than they thought. I also thought that she pretended to buy my excuse about being down here, because if she started asking questions, then I would too.

Like how exactly she knew where to find us and why that gust of wind flattened those demons right as they were threatening Cole, the guy she still loved.

Chapter Seventeen

Heven

The rest of the day seemed to drag on endlessly. I was filled with dread, waiting for the next demon to attack, expecting something in every corner or shadow we passed. Sam and Cole were wound just as tight, and wherever we went, they flanked my sides, closing in and making it harder to breathe than it already was. My bag felt like it held ten heavy stones when, really, all it held was a cherry lip gloss, some money, a student ID and the scroll. But what weighed me down most of all were the questions. They swirled through my brain like snowflakes in a winter storm, clouding every other thought I had.

Something was going on with Kimber.

I knew.

She knew I knew.

When I wasn’t staring at shadows and corners, I was staring at her. She avoided my gaze like the plague. I might have brushed it off before as her just being angry and thinking I stole Cole, but not anymore.

Her eyes betrayed her, the way she hunched her shoulders betrayed her, but most of all, her aura betrayed her. Lies and uncertainty cloaked her wherever she went. And it seemed to me that her skin became paler every day.

What did she have to do with that wind back at the Colosseum? What is in that box she is carrying around? Why do things seem to happen when she’s around—odd things, like slamming doors and blocking that mist? What bothered me most of all about Kimber is that she seemed to hate me. Sure, she was angry and sure, she turned out not to be the friend I thought she was, but I never believed she hated me. Maybe she did begin to hate me when she began thinking that I was after Cole, but deep down, I think she knows that Cole and I are just friends. I think she uses it as an excuse to cover up something else, an excuse to hate me.

And I let her.

Because I have secrets too. Secrets that I don’t want her to know because it would put her in danger by knowing. Isn’t there enough danger already? I would rather Kimber hate me than be my friend and be hurt because of it.