Fire with Fire (Demonblood Series #2) (16 page)

“So are you,” I whisper back, tracing a finger over his moist, golden chest.

“I love your eyes.”

“I love your smile,” I purr.

“I love your hair, your skin, your taste…” He covers my mouth with his again, and soon he’s making love to me once more. I’m so lost in euphoria I barely notice the triple moons merging as one. Bones skillfully brings me to the brink of ecstasy and holds me teetering on the edge, before sending me tumbling over the other side in a delirious state of otherworldly bliss. I smile as I wrap my legs around his torso and bury my face in his neck, savoring his musky, masculine scent.

“I love you.” I’ve never felt so contented…so wonderful inside.

“And I have
always
loved you,” he whispers back, stroking the side of my face. He looks deep into my eyes and straight into my soul.

I glance up at the sky and let out a small groan. “I have to go. Can’t imagine
this
would go over too well with you-know-who.”

We are both fumbling to put on our clothes when Bones glances down at me, almost shyly. “Are you…okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

I finish dressing and stand up, throwing my arms around his neck. “Nothing has ever felt so good in all my life. So right. So perfect in every way.”

He nuzzles my nose with his. “Perfect.”

“I have to go. See you tomorrow.” I turn to leave. I’m cutting it close…I need to hurry.

“Lucky—?”

I pause and glance over my shoulder. “Hmm?”

Bones bites his lip and shakes his head. “Never mind. See you tomorrow.”

Tristan leans over to me and whispers, “What’s wrong, Liora? You seem distracted about something.”

I give him a quick side glance and wait until Mr. Sodenberg looks away before whispering back, “I’m just kinda worried about Corrine. She hasn’t been here all week. It’s not like her to miss school—” I snap my mouth shut as my English teacher turns around and shoots an unfriendly glare in my direction. I bury my face in my book and shift uncomfortably in my seat. For some reason my hips are sore, like maybe Lucky fell off Diablo last night or something.

A moment later a small piece of paper appears on my desk, and written in Tristan’s neat handwriting is, “
I’m sure she’s fine, but if you want, we can go check on her.”
I flash him a grateful smile and nod.

When the bell rings at the end of class, I reach for my phone and try calling Corrine again. Still no answer. Since Corrine doesn’t have a cell phone of her own, her house line is the only one I can try. And either it’s not working, or no one is home. But I can’t shake the nagging feeling that something isn’t quite right. Although she and I have been drifting apart lately, I still care about her and hope nothing is wrong. It’s one thing to miss school if she’s sick, but she hasn’t even tried to get in touch with me for homework assignments or anything. Considering how hard she’s working to improve her grades, this is unsettling. Maybe she’s mad at me?

Tristan and I start down the hall. But instead of turning down the corridor leading to our World History class, I take his arm and lead him toward the parking lot. “You wanna go now?” he asks, both eyebrows raised.

I nod and bite my lip, casting my gaze downward.
Why does he suddenly look so ugly?
“Yeah, I just want to do a quick drive by and make sure everything is okay.”

“Sure, let’s go—” He takes a step toward his car, but I hold him back.

“Wait…I was wondering if maybe you wouldn’t mind loaning me your car?” I smile widely, knowing my request is nothing short of insane. His Jaguar probably costs over a hundred grand.

He furrows his brow. “Why don’t you want me to drive you?”

I sigh. “It’s ‘cause of Corrine…she’s really embarrassed about where she lives. I think I’m the only one in the whole school who’s ever been to her place, and believe me, she was humiliated. If she’s sick or hurt or something, I don’t want to make her feel any worse than she already does…”

“I don’t think I like the idea of you going alone. What if something really
is
wrong?” he asks, squinting his sky-blue eyes.

I shrug and look away. His scar seems darker than usual. Garish, almost. Must be the shadows from the trees. “I’m sure she’s just sick, and her phone is out of order or something,” I mumble. For some reason, I really don’t want him coming with me to check on Corrine. Normally, I want him next to me all the time. But now I feel like I need…
space
.

“What is it, Liora? You seem different today, somehow.” Tristan studies me, and I shift uncomfortably.

“Same ol’ me,” I reply with a casual shrug. But in a way he’s right…I sort of
do
feel different today. Not sure how or why, almost as if there’s some deep anticipation or excitement buried inside me…like I’m stronger, more cohesive somehow. I’d chalked it up to finally getting a really good night’s sleep, since this morning I awoke feeling refreshed and recharged for the first time in
weeks.
The lingering, sickly feeling I’d been living with seems to have been replaced with a feeling of robust health.

But as I gaze upon Tristan, I wonder if something else is changing. At first, I never wanted to be away from him for even a short period of time. But now I’m suffocated by his overbearing presence. Why is he
everywhere
I am? Why does he do
everything
I do?

“I’ll drive you to Corrine’s,” he says, as if that settles everything. I can’t very well argue; it is his car, after all. And my place is in the complete opposite direction. Plus, I’d run the risk of seeing Tatiana and facing her wrath. No thanks.

“Fine,” I say.

We’re both quiet as we head toward the back road that leads to the outskirts of Dove Creek. Paved road becomes rubble, houses become shacks. “She lives around the corner, last one on the row…Stay here and I’ll be back in a jiffy,” I say, opening the car door once he stops.

“Wait,” Tristan says, getting out. I give him a confused glance as he lopes around the side of the car and wraps his arms around my waist.

“What’s up?” I mumble, trying not to let my annoyance show. Why does he have to be so damn clingy?

“Just wanted a kiss first.” He lightly licks his lips and lowers them to meet mine.

I return his kiss halfheartedly and am the first to break away. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Tristan gives me an odd look as I turn and head down the path, but I don’t care. I’ll talk with him about his smothering behavior later. Right now my focus is on Corrine.

I just round the corner when I hear, “Hey, pretty girl. Wanna come inside for some homemade lemonade?” A fat, balding man wearing jeans and no shirt stands in his half open doorway, scratching his portly stomach and drinking from a brown paper bag.

“Gross,” I mutter, and pick up my pace.

Loud and obscene shouts come from Corrine’s trailer, and my heart stops. But then the yelling is followed by raucous laughter, and I let out a long breath. A moment later, the busted screen door swings open violently. A woman I recognize as Corrine’s mother stumbles down the two wooden steps followed by a skinny man with a long, greasy mullet and pockmarked cheeks.

“Well lookie what we got here, Jolene. Some pretty ‘ung thang here lookin’ like Bambi who lost her mama,” the man says with a salacious smirk. “Did you lose your mama, sweet Bambi?” His eyes feast over my body before settling on my chest. The curvaceous woman with overly-bleached hair and wearing clothes two sizes too tight, laughs as if it’s the funniest thing she ever heard. She almost trips over her five inch spiked heels and grabs the skinny man for support, all the while puffing on a cigarette. I stand there unmoving, not sure what to do.

“Wait a minute, don’t I know ya?” she slurs, blowing smoke in my direction. I try not to cough as I nod.

“Yes, ma’am. I’m a friend of Corrine’s. My name is Liora Greyson.”

Her eyes narrow and she steps closer to me. The man watches us curiously as she glares at me with an intoxicated anger.

“She been telling you lies? That why you here?” Corrine’s mother spits out, and takes a long drag from her skinny cigarette.

“Ma’am?”

“She’s a liar. A dirty little liar and she spreads her filthy lies everywhere. I won’t stand for it. I won’t tolerate it, hear me, missy? The tongue of the devil!”

“Uh, yes, ma’am.” I figure it’s best to just play along. She seems totally out of her mind.

“So go on now. Git. Denny and me are off to get party supplies, and I don’t need the likes of you stirring up more trouble. That girl needs to learn her place and I won’t be havin’ no lies. Hear me? So go. Go on now. Git. And don’t come back.” She waves me off with a handful of long, bright pink fingernails.

“Uh, yes ma’am. Sorry.” The man still hasn’t stopped staring at my chest, and I hurry away, disgusted. They stumble off towards an old white pick-up truck, and I duck around the corner out of sight.

Once I’m sure they’ve gone, I return to the trailer, surprised to see Corrine sitting on the front porch, her head held low, her stringy hair covering her face.

“Hey,” she mumbles as I sit beside her. “Sorry ‘bout that. She’s been on a tear lately.”

“Hey, Corrine,” I whisper. She raises her head, and I gasp. “
Corrine!
What happened?” Her black eye is purple in some spots, yellowish in others. Her nose has a funny bump to it I don’t remember seeing before, and her puffy mouth bears a vicious gash on her lower lip.

“It looks worse than it is. Promise. But I didn’t really wanna show my face at school, for obvious reasons.”

“But—but—what happened? Were you in an accident or attacked or something?” I stammer, unable to get over my shock. I never expected to find her like
this
, and my heart aches.

She shrugs and drops her head again. “It’s all very Afterschool Special.” She lets out a deep sigh. “Drunk mom has druggie boyfriend. Druggie boyfriend tries to have sex with drunk mom’s daughter. Daughter fights back and tells mom. Daughter gets the crap smacked out of her. You know…the usual.”

“Oh, Corrine, I’m so sorry. Is there
anything
I can do?” I whisper, rubbing her back consolingly.

She peeks at me through her dishwater bangs. “Ask your grandma if she wants to adopt me?”

My heart sinks into my gut, and my stomach twists in knots. I knew Corrine had a tough home life, but I had no idea it was
this
bad.

“Corrine, you have to go to the police or something. They can’t get away with treating you like this—”

“There’s nothing the police can do. It’s their word against mine. And besides, what would happen to me? I turned seventeen a few months ago. Foster care? Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. And I have no money, no job, no
nothing.
I’m stuck here.”

“Corrine, there’s gotta be something we can do.” I rack my mind trying to find a solution. Obviously staying with me is out of the question.
But maybe…
“I have an idea…what if I gave you some money? Would that help?”

Corrine looks confused. “I don’t see how…”

“Money…to stay at a motel or get your own apartment or something.”

“I’m a minor. Mom would just call the cops on me…”

“Well, what if—”

Corinne shakes her head and holds up her hand. “I know I gotta get out of here. And someday I will. But it’s usually not this bad. This was kind of an unusual fight. Normally you can’t see the marks. I’ll be fine in a few days. No worries.”

I bite my lip and stare at the ground. Clearly
something
has to be done…

“How’d you get here?” she asks, interrupting my thoughts.

“Oh, um…a car…”

“Where’d you park? I don’t see it anywhere.”

“Uh…around the corner.”

“Why? And why’re you acting funny?”

I let out a guilty sigh. “Don’t be mad, but Tristan drove me. I had him park down on the street around the corner…”

“Ahhh. Didn’t want him to see the sort of trash you hang out with?”

“Corrine, you know that’s not true! I did it out of
respect
for you, not because I’m ashamed of you!”

She twists her hair around her finger and chews on her lip. “Yeah, I know. Sorry. Don’t know why I’m being a bitch.”

“Oh, please. You have every right to be a bitch right now. I don’t know how you’re being so cool and collected after what happened—”

“Liora, just stop. Please,” she whispers hoarsely. “I don’t want you feeling sorry for me. Your pity hurts worse than being punched in the face.”

“I’m sorry…I just wish there was something I could do for you.”