Breed of Envy (The Breed Chronicles, #02) (14 page)

He let out a harsh breath. “I’m not sorry I kissed you. I’m just sorry I picked now. Tonight. When things weren’t exactly right.”

I fought a grin. He was so cute when he was flustered, and it rarely happened so I wanted to bask in it for a while. Plus, I needed time to recover. Every cell in my body seemed jittery, like they’d each had a dose of caffeine. “So, when would things be ‘right’ exactly?”

He didn’t say anything, just gave me a blank stare that worried me. I bit my lip and looked away, unable to meet his gaze. “Was it a pity kiss or something?”

“A pity kiss? What the hell?”

“Well, you’re acting like you regret it, so now I’m not sure what to think!”

His hand went to my face and he made me look up. “I don’t regret it, Jade. At all. Not even for a second. Like I said, I just thought it was really bad timing. I stopped thinking and just reacted.”

“Well, whatever. I’m not sorry, so you’ll just have to suck up the guilt and deal with it then.”

“I know. I already said I was—wait, what?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Did you hear any complaints from me?” My only complaint would be that he stopped the kiss. Nothing had felt so right in a long time. This had been one of the hardest weeks I remembered having (even harder than the dying-not-dying thing) and he’d done everything in his power to make it better. What could I really complain about?

He eyed me warily. “So, you’re not mad?”

“No.”

“Oh. Okay.” He nodded to himself. “That’s good.”

I was torn between bafflement and…nothing, actually. I was just baffled. I scratched my head. “So…are we good then? Can we get past this awkward moment?”

“Yeah.”

I bit my lip. “Good. But I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

“Aren’t there rules against this type of thing or something?” I hadn’t really given it much thought before now. Maybe Greene didn’t want Prospects making out or getting together. I hadn’t seen any rules about it in the paperwork he’d given me, but maybe he’d mentioned it during the parts of my Orientation that I’d missed.

“Not really. I mean, if you think about it, they’d prefer us together with other Prospects. Less lying and less chance of important information getting out. They have a stricter policy against dating outside the CGE than they do in.”

I nodded. “Okay. I guess that makes sense.”

“Yeah. So…” He gave me wicked grin. “Wanna make out some more?”

Chuckling, I said, “Maybe.” My gaze went upward and it took everything in me not to scream like a girl. “But maybe we can get away from the creepy thing first?”

There was a holo-ghost hovering above us, staring down with empty eyes and a weirdly sad expression that was almost human.

“The what?” Linc’s head whipped around. “Shit. Come on. That is creepy.”

He pulled me to my feet and we jogged away from the holo-ghost. Thankfully, it didn’t follow us.

Unthankfully, we ran into Tasha and Chris. Tasha waggled her eyebrows at us while Chris looked over us, like his gaze was fixated on the ghost. Obviously they’d seen us making out in the grass.

“Enjoying yourselves?” she asked in a laughing tone.

I wanted to bury my head into the ground to hide the blush I felt.

Linc, all clam and collected again, gave me a wicked grin, winked, then said, “Yeah, I think we are,” and pulled me away.

The silence lasted half a second before I heard Tasha let out a whoop.

“Crap,” I said with a groan.

“What?”

“They caught us.”

“So?”

I smacked Linc on the arm. “So. Chris likes to record things. Everything in fact.”

“Shit.” He shook his head. “If he posts that, I’ll kick his ass.”

“I call first dibs.”

He considered it. “I can live with those terms. You’ve got yourself a deal, Hall.”

*~*~*

Over the next hour, Linc and I walked around. Mostly, we just laughed at people for running from holograms, and then we got laughed at in return when new, unexpected creatures popped up from out of nowhere. The witch Chris had mentioned finally made an appearance a few minutes before, cackling as it flew above the buildings.

There were more holograms roaming around now than before, I noticed, including some that looked like real demons—or mostly like real demons. Some looked more real than others because their colors blended in with their surroundings which made them seem less transparent.

I glanced around us. The Halloween bash was still in full swing. Like graduation, there were teachers and teens dancing to the music that blasted over the air. The food supply had been restored and I spotted a few of the guys that I’d seen working over in the South Tower grabbing treats.

I saw Mr. Sheldon (who was dressed in black leather and had a bow and arrows at his back) dancing with Mrs. Fletcher (who wasn’t wearing a costume).

“Isn’t she married?” I asked Linc, bumping his shoulder to get his attention.

“No, divorced. Overheard her talking to someone about it.”

“Oh.” I smiled. “Well then. I think they have a thing.”

“A thing?”

“Yeah. Like, a couple thing. They were dancing together at graduation, too.”

“Maybe they’ll have a makeout session on the grass.” At my incredulous look, he winked. “What? It was fun.”

I just rolled my eyes. “You’re such a guy sometimes.”

“Oh,
now
you’re complaining?”

I made a face at him. “Maybe I am,” I said, then I took off running.

We were still probably fifty feet from the North Tower when another holo-demon appeared maybe ten feet in front of us.

The demon was big. Not just tall, though it had to be pushing six and half feet. But wide, with arms and legs thicker than anyone’s—or anything—I’d seen before. Its skin was almost translucent, but not because of the hologram. Pitch black eyes stared back at me. There was a ring of blood red in the center of its eyes that made them glow almost…evilish.

I started to laugh but then I froze. There was something eerily familiar about it, but I couldn’t quite place where I’d seen it. It had to be from the Demonology text, I was sure, but…

Linc stopped. “What?”

Not taking my gaze from the holo-demon, I said, “I know that demon.”

“Is it from Demonology?”

I shook my head. “I thought it had to be, but I don’t think it is.”

“Have you seen it somewhere? Heard it described, maybe?”

I shook my head, but then the answer came to me. I
did
know that demon. I tried to open my mouth, to tell Linc, but no sound came out. The breath in my lungs completely evaporated, making it impossible to breathe. My heart thumped solidly, almost painfully, against my ribs.

“Jade?” Linc squeezed my hand. “Are you okay? What is it?”

“Demon,” was all I managed. My gaze stayed fixed on it, on the long gash down the front of its chest.

Linc shot a look at it. “It’s fake, Jade, just a hologram. It can’t hurt you.”

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “That’s the demon.”

He frowned. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

Without blinking, I continued to stare ahead. “That’s the demon that killed my family.”

C
HAPTER 08

“Shit. Are you sure?” Linc asked.

I nodded, my gaze still fixated on the holo-demon. “I’m sure,” I said grimly.

The demon stared at me. I knew, logically, that it probably wasn’t really looking at me, but its eyes seemed to be focused on me alone. Eyes that held death. It made a motion at me, a motion I distinctly remembered it making two years ago as it killed my mother.

“Maybe we can find out what type of demon it is.”

“That’s the same demon.”

Linc, with sympathy-filled eyes, looked down at me. “Jade, there are probably hundreds of its kind.”

I shook my head. “No. It’s the same one. Chris said some of the holograms were actual footage from demons.”

“Jade…”

I twisted to face him. “That’s it, Linc. I remember it!” The holo-demon made a face, one I could’ve sworn was grin-like, then faded away. I ran to the spot it’d been. “No! Come back, damnit!”

“Let’s go find Chris. He might be able to help.”

I would have argued—still wanted to, really—but the hologram was gone. Linc felt or saw my reluctance, so he grabbed my hand and pulled me away, heading in the direction where we’d last seen Chris and Tasha.

It didn’t take long to find them, but they were with a group of people. “Just wait,” Linc said. “I’ll get him.”

I nodded and waited as he walked up to Chris and tapped him on the shoulder. Linc whispered something in his ear, then motioned for him to follow.

When they both came back over, Chris had a confused look on his face. “Um, what’s going on?”

“One of your holo-demons was a demon we recognized but don’t know the name of,” Linc said, speaking for me. His tone was completely casual. “Any way for you to find out what demon it was? It was just outside the North Tower not even five minutes ago.” He shot me a look. “It’s kind of important.”

“A real demon or one of the fake holograms?”

“Real.”

Chris frowned. “No, they’re automatically generated from the video archives online.”

I swallowed past the lump at the back of my throat. “Can we get access to that?”

“Sorry, no. I didn’t have direct access. I just made a program to randomly select demons from a list of videos Director Greene supplied. I didn’t want to pick and choose just a handful, so I programmed it to select them randomly. I couldn’t even tell you how many videos the program is pulling from the archives. Director Greene is the only one with access, and I’m not even sure
he
could figure out what videos were used.”

“Damnit!” This was the closest I’d come to finding the demon. And not only had I found the demon type, but I was one hundred percent positive that it wasn’t just the same demon family, but that it was
the
demon itself.

“What’s this about?”

Linc shot me a look. “Jade thinks she saw… She thinks she saw the demon that killed her family.”

Chris looked at me, frowned. “I’m sorry, Jade. If you tell me what it looked like, I can ask around. Someone might know what it is. One of the P3s or P4s, maybe.”

I gave him the description. “Thanks.”

“I’ll ask around, but I wish I could’ve helped more.”

“No, I appreciate it.”

Linc and Chris walked a few feet away. Linc said something to him and Chris nodded. He shot me another look and waved.

“What’d you say to him?” I asked Linc when he walked back.

“I just asked him not to tell anyone why he was asking about the demon. It’s your business—no one else’s.”

“Thanks, Linc.”

He nodded. “You going to talk to Greene about it?”

“Maybe. But Chris didn’t seem to think it’d do any good.”

“Can’t hurt, and it’d be one more person looking.”

“True.” The more people looking the better. “Okay, I’ll ask him next time I see him.”

“No time like the present.” Linc put his hands on my shoulders and turned me around. “He’s with Peter by the food tables.”

They were both standing there, but neither seemed to be saying anything. Peter shoveled food onto a plate; Greene seemed like he was looking for trouble. Considering he’d had Chris set up the decorations, I wasn’t that surprised. “I guess I should go ask, then,” I said, despite the fact I didn’t move an inch.

“You really don’t like asking him things, do you?”

I frowned. “It never leads to anything good.” And that was if he even gave me an answer, or the truth. Greene had limited supplies of both unless it suited him.

“Want me to go with?”

Yes!
I thought immediately, but then I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. Go check out some stuff. Have some fun tonight. You don’t need more of my drama.”

Linc grabbed my hand and pulled me closer. “I did have fun tonight, but I’m sorry you didn’t.”

I smiled up at him. “I did. Tonight was a million times better than I thought it’d be.”

“I do have extraordinary kissing skills.”

I blushed, and my smile turned into a grin. It eased the clenching in my stomach a fraction. “You’ve got skills in something, but it starts with bull and ends with shit.”

His lopsided grin appeared and he laughed. “There, too.” He gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Go talk to Greene. Hopefully he’ll have some answers for you.”

“Thanks. I’ll find you when I’m done, if you want.”

“I do.”

I sent him another smile, then turned away. After five steps, I stopped, turned back. “You do have some kissing skills, Flyboy.”

His chuckle followed me as I headed for Greene. He’d mentioned missing my laugh, and I didn’t realize until then that I’d really missed his, too. It was deep and rich, full of life. And it was, I discovered, sexy as hell.

I’d always liked Linc, since day one, but now it was just…different. Stronger, definitely, and not just because of the kiss (though that could’ve been a deciding factor by itself), but because he got me. He always said and did the right thing, without even thinking about it. He just did it without being asked, without it being hinted at. Even that first day, when he’d held my hand in Doc’s office. He didn’t have to do that. He’d known me only minutes and yet he still took my hand and gave me comfort when I needed it. Before I knew I needed it.