The Accidental Kiss (The Kiss Book 1) (9 page)

My eyes widened. “You have seen everything?”

“Who else do you think put you in pajamas?”

I sputtered, overcome with a wide range of emotions, violated was at the top.

Daemon laughed and patted my knee. “I’m joking, Sky. I didn’t see EVERYTHING. If you didn’t notice, you still have your bra and panties on.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.” I screeched. Especially since I wasn’t wearing my finest underwear.

He arched an eyebrow. “Does it make you feel better if I told you, you looked beautiful?”

“When? Now or when I was half dead?”

Daemon’s eyes darkened as his gaze wandered over my face. “Always.”

My heart sputtered in my chest. Damn, he was good at the one-liners. He tucked the sheets around my legs and rose from the chair.

“You’re leaving?”

He smiled at the panic in my voice. “I haven’t slept and it’s almost three a.m.”

“But I thought you don’t need sleep.”

“Of course I need sleep.”

“You can sleep here,” I said, surprising the both of us.

The truth was, the dark had always frightened me and after what went down last night, there was no way I could fall asleep without somebody next to me. Also, the thought of Daemon’s body pressed against mine warmed me to my very core.

“I can’t sleep in the chair. It’s not big enough to fit a toddler, let alone me.”

“You can sleep in my bed but you have to leave in the morning before my mom wakes up around six.”

He cocked his head as if he still wasn’t sure I was lying or not and, based on our short history, wasn’t surprising. I’d only known Daemon a day but our feelings toward each other bordered on bipolar disorder. One minute I hated him and the next I was inviting him to sleep next to me. Granted, Daemon did save my life. The least he deserved was a good night’s rest.

“Ok,” he said reluctantly. “But if you try anything I won’t stop you.”

A grin tilted up my lips as I shifted over to make room. My ribs screamed in protest. Doing the vertical tango was the last thing on my mind. That was until Daemon threw off his shirt. His abs were perfectly toned, his shoulders broad, and his arms looked as if they were carved out of marble.

I take that back.

His entire chest looked as if it was carved out of marble. Were all zombies as hot as Daemon?

He caught me drooling over him. “Take a picture, it might last longer.”

A deep blush heated my cheeks. Grumbling, I lied down, shut off the lights, and closed my eyes. A second later the bed sunk from Daemon’s weight. Acutely aware of him, my body buzzed. He rolled over, brushing my thigh with his hand. I bit my lip from gasping.

“You’re burning to the touch.” Concern laced his voice. “Come here.”

If his fingers brushing my thigh almost did me in, I couldn’t handle any more contact. But it wasn’t up for discussion. Daemon scooted until he was pressed up against my back.

“Holy shit.” I jerked away from him. “You’re like a popsicle.”

“No blood flow, remember? But it’ll help your temperature. Come back.”

Gingerly, I molded my body against his. We were like fire and ice, but surprisingly I felt my breathing slow as sleep took hold.

The morning sunshine filtered through my window. I kicked off my covers and glanced at the other side of the bed. Daemon was gone. A weird pang of disappointment churned in my stomach. As grudgingly as I didn’t want to admit it, Daemon wasn’t who I perceived him to be. He was still annoying, but last night showed me he could also be incredibly caring. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and marched into the bathroom to wash the grime off my skin. I turned on the shower to scalding hot. Steam enveloped the bathroom. My fingers gripped the edge of the sink as I stared at myself in the mirror. On my forehead, a nasty red cut stood out against my pale skin. I probably got it when my head hit the sidewalk last night. Grabbing a Band-Aid from the medicine cabinet, I placed it over the scratch. You would think that if the voodoo priestess could bring me back to life, she could also heal a small wound. Now, I had to explain how I injured myself to my mom.

Twenty minutes later, squeaky clean and ready for school, I wandered into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. My mom and Laura sat at the dining room table, deeply engrossed in a conversation. At the sight of my presence, they stopped talking.

My heart caught in my throat. “What?”

“What?” My mom eyes shimmered with anger. “Is that all you say, Sky? Where were you last night?”

Double crap. I should have figured Daemon didn’t get me home last night before ten p.m. rolled around.

“I went for a walk,” I answered lamely.

“You went on a walk for four hours?” My mom caught sight of the Band-Aid. “And what happened to your forehead?”

I raised my fingers to the cut. How the hell was I going to explain that two freaks kidnapped me and almost drained me of my blood?

I went with half the truth, which was better than lying. “I forgot to wear my glasses and tripped over a bump in the sidewalk.”

My mom raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing a word out of my mouth. “And where you did go on this four hour walk without your glasses?”

“The park…”

She let out a heavy sigh as she stood up and took her coffee mug to the counter. Her shoulders sagged underneath the heavy burden of not knowing. I wanted to confess everything, however, that would only makes things worse. Besides, what could my mom do? Move to another town? She loved her job and this kooky little house. Daemon and I had to fight this battle on our own.

Never a fan of more than five seconds of silence, Laura tapped her fork on her plate. “I have an announcement.” My mom and I turned our attention over to her. “I’m pregnant.”

I immediately glanced at her slightly round stomach, which I had figured was due to overindulging in her baked goods. A baby had never crossed my mind. Laura could hardly take care of herself, let alone a child.

At our shocked reactions, she doubled over in peels of laughter. “I am joking.” She said between breaths. “A baby! Can you imagine? What a disaster.”

My mom looked like she wanted to dump the coffee pot over her friend’s head. “What the hell, Laura? That’s not funny.”

Laura inched her forefinger and thumb together. “It’s a little funny. Besides I had to say something. It felt like a funeral home in here.”

“That’s what happens when your teenage daughter is keeping secrets.”

She was the pot calling the teakettle black. Up until two days ago, my mom had been sitting on a life-altering secret that would change the course of my future.

I stuck my hand on my hip. “You do know you’re contradicting yourself right now, right?”

“How so?”

“You’re joking?”

My mom looked at me blankly as if she didn’t see the correlation. The crack in my sanity grew into a gaping hole. A manic laugh bubbled out of my throat. Concern flashed over my mom’s features and she took a step in my direction but Laura shook her head as if she knew consoling wouldn’t help me. Nothing would. There wasn’t a map to navigate this newfound reality I found myself living in, and frankly it was a dark path to walk alone. Luckily, Daemon had been my support and savior these past two days but it was hard to accept that my existence as a normal teenager girl was gone. That I was a walking freak with magical lips.

“How do you know I have this gift?” I challenged my mom. “For all you know, I could see nothing when I kiss the person I love. Zilch, nada, nothing.”

The crowfeet around her eyes crinkled. “It’s written in your destiny, Sky, there is no changing that.”

“That’s not a very satisfying answer,” I grumbled.

“I’m sorry, I wish I could tell you something tangible like you have a birth mark shaped like a kiss or that your eyes tell a thousand stories.” I raised an eyebrow and my mom grinned. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m just trying to say is that I’m sorry I can’t give you more. More answers, more explanations, anything to make this gift an easier pill to swallow. The truth is though that I’m just as lost as you are. My mother simply left the book on my bed one day and told me the bare facts.”

Sighing, I ran my hand through my hair and gazed at the checkered tiles on the kitchen floor. “It’s not fair.”

“I know it isn’t, but don’t think of the eye of knowledge as a burden but as a gift.”

That was easy for her to say. Who knows what I will see when the day comes?

My mom wrapped me into a hug and her citrusy perfume wafted under my nose. “I love you, sweetie.”

“I love you too.”

Once we separated, I felt a smidge better about the deck of cards I had been handed. Nonetheless, a part of me was aware my acceptance of my gift wouldn’t happen until it was activated. God rest my soul.

“You weren’t with this Daemon character when you want on that walk, right?” When she saw me hesitate, she jumped down my throat. “Sky, I told you he was trouble.”

Trouble wouldn’t be the word I would use. Daemon saved my life; there was no going around that.

The lies kept rolling off my tongue at an alarming speed. Normally, I was awful at deceit. “I was alone. Don’t have a conniption.”

Laura took this moment to cut in. “Since when you do speak Yiddish?”

“Since Melissa taught me.”

“Did she teach you anything else? My old boyfriend spoke a little but only when he was yelling at me. I have always wanted to….” My mom cut her off with a death glare. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

“Don’t be.” I went over to the coffee maker where I poured a mugful. “We are done with this conversation.”

My mom sighed again, obviously giving up. “Fine, but be careful. Whatever you’re doing.”

“I will.”

The dark black elixir smelled heavenly as I inhaled its aroma deeply. First cup of the day was always the best.

“You were born for this. Might as well give into your fate.”

The freak’s voice popped into my head, startling me. Coffee sloshed over the rim onto the counter. With shaking hands, I ripped off a piece of paper towel and cleaned up the mess. Was the freak spewing nonsense or was there truth behind his words? Was I born to only be sacrificed?

When I got to first period, Daemon was nowhere to be found. An irrational part of me was worried he had been kidnapped and was now suffering the same fate I had encountered last night. Most likely though, he skipped school because he was exhausted. I stifled a yawn as the coffee buzz wore off. Mr. Tucker scrawled a list of talking points on the whiteboard. Normally, I would be gung ho about nerding out on literature, but my attention was elsewhere. My gaze wandered outside where the sun was hiding between a thick mass of clouds. The past two days had been one surprise after another. If I had to pick, the biggest surprise was a voodoo priest wanted to drain me of my blood because, why? I had two guesses. Either because I was the ‘chosen one’ or because it was my fate to die. What does the ‘chosen one’ even mean? And what does the voodoo priest gain from my blood? Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose. I should have let Daemon hand over the information to me yesterday. Random doodles filled my notebook as my brain churned over and over.