“It was amazing.” A nostalgic smile played at the corners of her mouth.
“It was,” I agreed. “I saw you volunteer. Your mother didn’t know you were going to do it.”
“She would have tried to stop me if she had, but we were sinking and she needed more help than I could give her with my brothers.”
“Brave of you, considering you didn’t know what you were signing up for.”
“I would have been signing up to watch them go hungry more often than not if I’d stayed. Maybe cowardice made me run away from that.”
I decided I liked this girl, and without thinking, I reached over and rested my hand on hers. “I have two brothers I took care of before coming here. What you did was brave.”
A dull blush slid across her cheeks, but she was saved from having to respond when Mac stepped in the cafeteria and barked, “Yellow Team, fall out!”
Yellow had become my least favorite color since arriving here. As far as I could tell, there were fifteen different groups of colors at the moment, with a new one cropping up every day. Reluctantly, I pulled my butt away from the rubber cushion.
Better than a cloud, I decided as I lifted my tray and stepped away from the bench. Balancing the tray in one hand, I bent and retrieved the cushion.
“Thank you,” I said and held the cushion out to Carrie.
She gestured toward a side room. “They’re stashed in there.”
“That would have been good to know on day two,” I muttered.
She giggled. “I discovered it yesterday. I think they purposely kept it hidden from the newcomers.”
“Probably,” I agreed.
The blonde-headed soldier who had been questioning me moments ago gave me a scathing look when I passed by her. I smiled in return. Carrie followed me to the tray return area and then the storage room on the side before heading for the door. For the first time, I noticed people stopped talking when we walked by. I tried not to pay them any attention as we stepped back into the warmth of the midday sun, but I didn’t like being the main topic of their conversation.
My gaze went to the field in the distance and the line of demons standing there, waiting to teach us some more fighting moves. My shoulders sagged in resignation, but I couldn’t deny the little flutter in my heart when my eyes fell on Kobal in the center. It was impossible to miss him as he towered over the others surrounding him. I found my body didn’t ache quite so much, and my heartbeat quickened as we strode across the field toward them.
I stood in the center of the group of eighty-three volunteers who had arrived with me on the first night. Across from us stood Kobal and five other demons who resided within the tents on the hill. Over the past two weeks, I’d learned who each of them were and that these five were closer to Kobal than any of the other demons in the camp. I’d come to learn they’d all arrived in camp again only a couple of weeks before I had.
Bale was the beautiful red-haired demon. Corson stood at about six-four and was the friendliest of the demons. He had pointed, almost elf-like ears. He usually had sparkly earrings hanging from the tips, but right now, they were free of any jewelry. He had a lean, whipcord build that flowed with easy grace when he moved.
Corson stood next to Shax, the most human looking of them all. The most demon-like part of him was his sunflower-colored eyes and they were beautiful. His blond hair fell around his ears and he flashed a grin that caused some of the girls in the front to smile and wave their hands at their faces. At six-one, he was the shortest of the male demons but looked like he could lift a house and flip it over with one hand tied behind his back.
Morax stood beside Shax and was an inch taller than him. The sun glinted off his leaf-green, lizard-like skin. Pine shades of green color were etched throughout his flesh, giving it the appearance of scales. It looked as if his skin would be rigid to the touch, but I’d brushed up against him before and knew it was actually silken. His tail, resting on the ground behind him, was a good foot in diameter and as long as he was tall. He had orange, snake-like eyes with two sets of eyelids that blinked at the same time. From the top of his bald head, two black horns, at least six inches in length, curved toward each other and nearly touched in the center of his head.
Verin stood beside him, her rounded hip stuck out to the side with one of her hands resting on it. Hair the color of the sun tumbled to her waist; her eyes were the same color as her hair. Sexuality oozed from her pores, and every time I saw her, all I could think of were the sirens who lured sailors to their deaths, or maybe a succubus. I imagined humans who could see between the dimensions had gotten a glimpse of this woman and spun her tale quite successfully.
No matter how beautiful she was, and how all the men tripped over themselves when she walked by, I’d come to realize she and Morax were together. I didn’t know exactly how it worked with demons, but they were rarely apart from each other and both of them had bite marks on their necks.
Somehow, I instinctively knew the bites were their way of marking their relationship with each other. Those bites caused something to stir in me, something I didn’t understand but craved. I glanced at Kobal before hastily looking away and focusing on all of the demons before us once more.
They all wore loose-fitting linen pants in a variety of earth colors. A hole had been cut into the back of Morax’s pants to let his tail through. Their shirts were also made of linen and matched the colors of their pants. They looked perfectly natural in the clothes, but I had a feeling this wasn’t their normal attire. They’d simply donned the outfits in order to fit into our world better. I still wasn’t sure who made Kobal’s clothes, but I didn’t envy them the task.
Behind the demons, an assortment of weapons glinted in the sun. Targets had been set up and pads lay on the ground behind the swords, knives, katanas, and other assorted blades within the box. I hadn’t believed it possible, but I’d actually become decent with a katana and I enjoyed the weapons part of our training. Unfortunately, thanks to Kobal, I was going to find myself lying on the ground more often than not for the next hour or so before I could get my hands on one again.
“Let’s begin,” Kobal declared.
His deep, baritone voice caused odd little flutters in my belly that I forced myself to ignore. Getting distracted by the Hell beast would only result in me meeting the ground faster than normal.
We’d been doing this for long enough that we automatically separated into our assigned groups. I stretched my legs, hoping to loosen my muscles a little before we started. Kobal strode purposely over to my group, his black eyes surveying me as he moved.
Despite my dislike of him, my pulse picked up as he approached. The way the sun caressed his muscles and the clothing hung on his massive frame was enough to make my mouth water. I hated being tossed around like a rag doll, but I savored feeling his hands on me and those muscles moving against me when he took me down.
This place, and his presence, were turning me into a masochist.
