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David took his keys out of his pocket. Worry filled his eyes, and it struck me that his smiles were becoming like a rare ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.
What if Allison was right? Once I had enough information to survive on my own, maybe I should set David loose so he could go back to his job and his friends.
I reached for the keys, but he held them tight. “Why do you have that look on your face?”
“What look?”
“The look that says you’re about to do something you don’t want to do.”
I reached up on my tiptoes and kissed him. Even if setting him free was the right thing to do, I wasn’t sure I could do it. Especially now that I loved him. But wasn’t that reason enough to let him go? Even so, the whole idea was preposterous. David Preston wouldneverwillingly walk away from me, and it only made me love him even more. “I’m just being sentimental. If you get done sooner, let me know. I’m eager toshowyou how much I love you.”
He wrapped an arm around my lower back and pressed his forehead to mine. “When you talk like that, I want to say screw it all and take you home.”
I laughed and broke free. “Find out what we need to know, and then I’ll give you a special reward later.”
“I like the sound of that.”
I snatched the keys out of his hand and hopped into his car, driving off before I changed my mind. While I trusted David, Trina’s warning looped in my head.
When I got back to David’s house, I got out of the car and promptly tripped over something on the driveway. I nearly fell flat on my face but managed to catch myself with my hands. Just as my right hand hit the ground, my palm started to tingle. But it was gone just as quickly as it came, replaced with the pain of a scrape. I hurried to the front door to make sure the marks weren’t smudged, and after I went inside and turned on the lights, I went out the back door to do the same.
Just as I was about to go back inside, something moved at the edge of the yard. Since the property backed up to the woods, I figured the creature was probably a raccoon or an opossum.
No. My hand was tingling again. It was supernatural.
A tiny dark figure streaked across the yard and scampered behind a tree ten feet away.
I resisted the urge to shriek. Whatever it was, it was no more than two feet tall. It was probably an animal, just as I first thought. My hand had been randomly itching for weeks, so there was no reason to believe this was any different.
The creature ran to the far edge of the house and the porch light made it easier to get a good look at it. I couldn’t ignore the fact that it wasn’t covered in hair or fur. It looked like it was covered in skin.
Holy shit, it was a tiny person.
The mark on my hand began to burn.
Shit. It was a demon.
I held out my arm, flexing my wrist so that my palm was aimed at the creature. “Demon, come out and face me.” But I was on the edge of the porch, and I lost my balance, falling the two feet to the yard. After landing on my feet, I stumbled around to face it.
“I’m not a demon,” a voice grumbled. “You know nothing.”
I took a breath, holding up my hand. “Then what are you?”
“A guardian of sorts.”
“Like the Guardians who are collecting all those old weapons?”
He scoffed. “They may call themselves guardians, but they are thieves and liars.”
He obviously knew about the Guardians and I considered asking for more information, but finding out about him took priority. “What or whom do you guard?”
“You, you idiot, now lower your hand.”
Rebuked, I lowered my hand without even thinking about it. “Come out and let me see you.”
“No.”
Whatever it was, it thought it was superior to me. I could use its arrogance to my advantage. “You mustn’t be much of a guardian. You tripped me in the front yard, didn’t you?”
