Devil Inside (20 page)

“Of course not,” Nya answered, without explaining further.  Levi shrugged in response.  “Well we’ve had a long night so we are going to head up to bed and get settled in.”  Nya simply nodded in response she had resumed her careful study of Harley and still wasn’t blinking.  Harley worked hard to hold the woman’s gaze.  She didn’t want to back down and be the first to look away but the strength of the woman’s stare burned through her.  She didn’t feel threatened by the woman.  Instead, she felt like an animal at the zoo—studied with amusement and curiosity.

Levi broke the eye contact when he stepped in front of her to hand her bag to her.  She hadn’t even realized that he had gone back to the mudroom to retrieve their personal bags.  She blinked a few times to clear her head and took the strap from him.  “Thanks.”

Nya looked even more amused as Levi led Harley past her towards the rest of the house.  Harley didn’t miss the annoyed look that Levi tossed towards Nya as they passed.  And she definitely saw Nya’s smile grow wider as he did so.  When she caught Harley’s eye again she gave her the same small nod she had given Levi and Harley returned the gesture.

Harley took a deep breath when they were out of the kitchen.  Out from underneath the woman’s scrutiny she felt like a tremendous weight had been lifted from her shoulders.  Even though the woman scared the crap out of her, Harley knew that she liked Nya.  The humor in her eyes and gestures belied the power of her movements and stare.  Harley couldn’t help but wonder if Nya was a little crazy—a quality that Harley apparently appreciated. 

The rest of the house was as shadowed as the kitchen.  They walked through a sitting area that Harley could just make out furniture in before they headed down a hallway that led off to the right.  The hallway was virtually pitch-black.  Harley could barely make out Levi even though he was only a couple of feet in front of her.  The whole house was eerily quiet and she wondered how many Nocte were behind the doors they passed. 

Finally, Levi stopped at the last door on the left, opened it and stood back to let Harley enter.  The room was furnished modestly.  It had a bed, nightstand, a dresser and a chair and small desk in the corner.  Levi opened a door in the far corner revealing a small closet.  He tossed his bag inside and held his hand out for hers.

“There is a bathroom right across the hall if you want to wash up,” he said adding her bag to the closet as well.

“I’m just ready to crash,” she answered wearily.  She hadn’t felt that tired when they first arrived.  But it must have been the excitement of arriving because now she could barely keep her eyes open even though the night was only half over.

“Me too,” Levi began stripping off his clothes.  Neither of them bothered with pajamas.  Levi flopped into bed in his boxer briefs and she chose to sleep in underwear and the undershirt she had been wearing.  She piled her clothes in the chair on top of Levi’s and climbed into bed beside him.  She buried her face in the pillow and breathed in the fresh laundered smell.  It seemed like such a normal smell she could also forget that they were in the headquarters of a “vampire” organization.  She held her breath to prevent the giggle that threatened to bubble out of her.  She felt Levi shift next to her and she found comfort in his presence.  Sex wasn’t on either of their minds, instead, they both quickly drifted off to sleep.

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For once it wasn’t Harley who jerked awake from a nightmare.  She bolted upright when she felt Levi jerk awake with a small gasp.  She looked around the room confused for a minute.  Then remembering where she was she looked back to see Levi rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Nightmare?” she croaked.

“Mmm,” he groaned back.  He didn’t say anything more and she didn’t press for details.

Harley could see dying light around the edges of the black curtains.  “It looks like the sun is going down.  What time is it?”

Levi picked his phone up from the nightstand next to the bed.  The room was dark enough that Harley herself squinted when he turned the display on to check the time.  “7:00pm.”

“Ugh.  Did we just sleep over twelve hours?”

“Apparently.  We should get up,” Levi croaked sitting up beside her.

“Do we have to?” Harley asked.  Despite her hesitant words her heart picked up in excitement.  It was time to take the plunge—things were going to happen today—scary things.  She was wide awake now.  She climbed out of bed, as did Levi.  They both stretched the sleep out of their bodies and yawned audibly.

Levi ran his hands over his face again.  “Do you want to wash up before we find Nya?”

Harley swallowed the lump in her throat. “Yeah, definitely,” she said around a dry tongue.

“OK, well it’s across the hall.  I’m going to go find out where everyone is.  I’ll come back and get you in about…half an hour?”

“Yeah that’s fine.”

He pulled on his jeans as she gathered the few things she would need to shower.  Going across the hall she knocked lightly at the door Levi had pointed out.  When she didn’t hear a response she turned the handle and pushed the door open.  When she saw the bathroom on the other side she felt silly for knocking.  It wasn’t a single bathroom.  It was a large communal style bathroom.  Luckily, no one else seemed to be in here to hear her knock like an idiot.  She stepped inside and let the door swing shut behind her.  It looked like the bathroom had at one time been at least two bedrooms and had been turned into one large bathroom.  It housed three large shower stalls that were enclosed in frosted glass.  There were two large hot tubs on the opposite wall and at the closest end were three sinks with cabinets above them.  Separating the sinks from the showers was a row of toilet stalls.  Set back into the wall in between the sinks and the toilets were shelves and cubbies to store personal items. 

Harley found an empty storage area in which to stash her stuff.  There was a set of drawers and shelves that held wash rags and towels next to the hot tubs.  She got what she would need and chose a stall farthest from the door.  The water pressure was great.  She turned the water on as hot as she could stand it and let it beat down onto her sore body.  The shooting streams slowly melted the stiffness from her shoulder and back and stung her scabby knees.  She let the water wash over her and relax her as much as it could before she turned off the water and began to towel dry.  She knew she was taking a much longer time than normal, a part of her was dreading the “test” she was going to have to go through. 
What if they make me fight an Ignis?
  She cringed inwardly at the thought.  She wanted to kill Ignis, lots of them.  But she knew that in an actual fight she would be lucky to come away alive right now.

Her senses pricked up and she realized she wasn’t alone in the bathroom.  She could tell someone else was moving around outside of her stall.  She held her breath for a minute trying to figure out the best option.  Should she pretend she didn’t hear the other person out there?  She didn’t know how everyone here would treat her and she was cautious about encountering them.  Technically—none of them were human.  So, she had no way to predict how they would react to her.

Before she had a chance to decide, the person made the choice for her.  “Hello,” a bright female voice called out.

“Um, hello,” Harley answered back.

“Hope I didn’t startle you,” the woman said politely.  “I figured it would freak you out more if I knocked on the shower door or something,” she laughed softly.

“Oh,” Harley smiled.  “It’s fine.”  She resumed drying off and wrapped the towel around her before opening the door.  The voice had come from a young blonde woman who was sitting her stuff in the first of the shower stalls.  And she was completely naked.  She popped out of the stall when she realized that Harley was out.  She pranced towards her with her hand outstretched.  She had long blonde hair and light blue eyes and a child-like round face.  She looked like the typical California girl, all the way down to her large round, bouncy boobs.  She was skinny, but Harley could tell she was fit and strong by the muscles that bunched under her pale skin.  Had the woman been human and not Nocte she would have not been all that remarkable.  But the darkness and strength that Harley was beginning to recognize in the supernaturals that she encountered enhanced the woman’s beauty.   Harley tried really hard to not acknowledge that the woman was stark naked as she shook her hand but since she was several inches taller than her it put her breasts closer to eye level than Harley was comfortable with. 
Apparently modesty does not come along with the Nocte
she smirked to herself.  She didn’t have a problem with nudity—whether it was male or female.  But she was having a hard time not staring at the woman’s boobs in her face.

“I’m Evalynn,” the woman chirped.  “Everyone calls me Evie though.”

Harley forced herself to not grimace as the strength behind Evie’s handshake.  If she had doubted that she was a Nocte before she definitely didn’t now.  “I’m Harley.”  Evie must have noticed Harley flexing her hand as she pulled it away. 

“Oh, gosh—I’m sorry.  I’m so used to being around others like us that I forget how strong I am sometimes,” she grinned sheepishly.

Harley brushed the apology away.  “Don’t worry about it.  I’m sure you don’t get too many humans in your bathroom, right?”

“Right,” Evie laughed easily.  “It’s not the norm, that’s for sure.”  They both smiled at each other awkwardly for a moment.  Finally, Evie broke the awkwardness.  “Well, I’m sure I’ll see you around later.”

“Right!” Harley answered, still carefully not looking at the woman’s boobs.  As the woman showered Harley finished up in the bathroom.  She went across the hall to finish dressing and a short time later she heard the bathroom door open and close as the woman apparently left. 

She was relieved to know that, apparently, not all Nocte were so serious and dark and intimidating as Levi and Nya.  She didn’t mind levity—but it was nice to know that darkness didn’t automatically come with the bond.  Evie had been bright and pleasant and friendly.  Harley let go of some of her tension.  So far, Levi had been right.  This place seemed more like a boarding house than a headquarters.  Nya was apparently in charge, and while she was strong and intimidating, Harley didn’t get the impression that she was a dictator or tyrant.  Levi had actively joked with her and the woman had also done so in return.  Harley sat and waited for Levi to come and get her while she brushed her hair.  He had said that he would come back for her in about half an hour so he should be back any minute.  She knew that she wasn’t a prisoner; it was just because this place was huge and she had no idea where she was going that she needed to wait on Levi.    She was still nervous and kept fidgeting with the blanket on the bed.   As nervous as she was, she wasn’t nearly as scared as she knew she should be considering she was facing a test and possible death.

Harley got tired of sitting and stood in front of the mirror over the dresser.  She watched the brush glide through her hair without blinking.  Her hair didn’t have any more tangles in it but she enjoyed the feeling of the brush scratching against her scalp.  She realized that she had let herself fall into a rhythm and zoned out as she stared into her own green eyes.  She tried to imagine what she would look like with black eyes and was disappointed that she couldn’t call the image to mind.  Her nervousness was passing and in its place was a growing reckless excitement.

As she was finishing brushing her hair the door opened and Levi stepped in.  He came behind her and watched her pull her wet hair into a short ponytail.  He reached out and tugged on it, sending chills down her back.  Apparently, he was thinking the same thing.  “I wish we had a few extra minutes,” he mumbled.

“Mmm, I could use that distraction,” Harley said accidentally knocking the brush off the dresser.

“I told you,” Levi picked the brush up, “you’ll be fine.”

“I know, I know—” Levi interrupted her by spinning her around and planting a kiss on her mouth, sucking at her bottom lip as he pulled away.

Harley took a deep breath, “Whew!  You know how to distract a girl, huh?” she laughed.

“I do my best,” Levi smirked.

“Am I dressed OK?”  Harley hadn’t wanted to ask that question but couldn’t help it.  She was wearing a tee shirt that Levi had brought her and jeans and sneakers.  While she guessed that anything was fine, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she should be more dressed up than this.

Levi looked at her steadily.  “Nobody cares what you wear, trust me.”

“OK—OK!”  Harley waved Levi towards the door, indicating that she was ready.  He led the way down the hall and towards the woman that Harley had to convince she should be a Nocte.  She took deep breaths and tried to convince her insides to stop squirming as they made their way through the house.

Levi led her to a door on the second floor without encountering anyone else on the way.  The house was dimly lit but Harley was able to get a much better impression of the house now that people were up and about.  The house was sparsely furnished and decorated as an afterthought.  There were random pictures of flowers or landscapes hung in the most likely places as if they were a formality.  Someone had seemingly thrown them in to give the impression of a real home, not unlike a hotel room.

Levi stopped outside a plain white door and knocked softly.  Without waiting for a response he eased the door open and held it for Harley to enter.  She looked at him questioningly, confused because it seemed like he wasn’t coming in also.  Levi returned her scowl with raised eyebrows and a slight smile.  He winked at her just before he shut the door in her face.  Her mouth fell open in shock but she quickly recovered.  She was annoyed by the fact that he hadn’t explained that he wouldn’t be here for this.  The annoyance only lasted a moment because she soon realized that if she embarrassed herself she would rather it wasn’t in front of Levi anyway.  Taking a deep breath she slowly turned and surveyed the room in front of her.