Promise (22 page)

Trying not to be too obvious, I snuck a peak
over my shoulder to see what caught his attention. Mostly men lined
the bar—except for one leather-clad, long-legged female who took a
seat at the end closest to the door. Her long hair was almost as
white as the silk, low-cut blouse she wore. Her skin was nearly as
pale, smooth as a porcelain doll. The black leather mini-skirt and
knee-high boots contrasted starkly with the rest of her. She was
absolutely gorgeous. All the men at the bar agreed—they stared at
her with their mouths hanging open.

I sighed again.
Yep, I'm really blowing
it
.

My self-esteem plummeted right through my
feet and into the floor. I bit my lip and stared at my lap, my
right hand turning the engagement ring on my finger round and
round.
How can he love me when he can have
that
? Why
would he want to be with
me
? I definitely don't deserve
him.

Disgusted with myself, I mumbled something
about needing to get home for something stupid, nearly knocked my
chair over as I hurriedly stood up and made a beeline for the door.
I didn't even wait to see if Tristan followed. I was close enough
to walk home and almost welcomed the idea. As I passed the bar,
though, a rough-looking man stepped away from it, directly in my
path.

Evil! Stay away! Bad! Danger! Evil!

"They're cute," he said, nodding at Carlie
and her friends, "but you, lassie, you're a pistol. There's fire in
your eyes."

My alarms sounded loudly but I stood frozen
in place. I stared at the man in astonishment. He might have been
attractive at some point in his life, but his face was rough,
weathered, threatening. He looked like an ugly, overgrown
leprechaun.

What are you doing?! Run now! Evil!

I inhaled sharply—the smells of booze,
cigarettes, rotten meat and, strangely, sweet citrus poured off
him—and eyed the path to the door. As soon as I shifted toward an
opening, he shifted that way, too, grinning maliciously, exposing
crooked, yellow teeth.
Not a leprechaun…an ogre
.

"Where ya going, lassie?" he asked with an
Irish accent. "I just got here. Don't leave already. Lemme buy
ya—"

Someone grabbed my left hand from behind me
and pulled me back. My heart jumped as the thought he had an
accomplice flashed through my mind, but Tristan stepped in front of
me, holding my hand at the small of his back. He stared angrily at
the vulgar man, stopping him in midsentence. I was pretty sure
Tristan couldn't kill with just a look, but if he could, this man
would have dropped to the floor dead.

"Ah, Seth," the man said. They glared at each
other and then the ogre nodded at me. "This one yours, huh? 'Bout
time ya took advantage of what ya got. Nice catch."

I looked at Tristan, confused. The ogre acted
like he knew Tristan.

"Back off," Tristan growled.

"Ah, come now, I was just having a little
fun. Got your name on her, huh?"

"I don't even know her. Just leave her
alone." He squeezed my hand, I thought to send me a message. I took
it to mean to go along with it or keep my mouth shut. I did
both.

"Ah, just a play toy, then?" The fiend
sneered. "Why don't ya share?"

"I said to back off!" Tristan took a
half-step forward.

The ogre laughed throatily. "I think we need
to have a little visit. It's been a while."

"Not here. My place."

"Ha! Ya think I'm stupid? Nah. We stay in
public, where there's witnesses. O'Shea's, by the beach." The ogre
drained his full glass of amber-colored booze the bartender had
just set down, threw money on the bar and started for the door
before we even moved. He glanced over his shoulder. "And don't even
think about letting her go. Bring the lass."

"Tristan, who
is
that?" I asked once
the ogre left.

"Shh…he can still hear us," he whispered.

"Hey, Alexis, Tristan, you still leaving or
did you change your minds?" Carlie asked from behind us.

Tristan swore under his breath, then said,
"We have to go."

He pulled me toward the door, not letting go
of my hand. I followed him to the car in silence, nearly jogging
through the rain to keep up, narrowly avoiding big puddles from the
day's downpours.

"Now?" I asked once we were in the car. He
nodded. "So, who is he? He's wretched!"

"Yes, that he is." He stared forward out the
windshield, his jaw muscle twitching as his teeth clenched. "Give
me your ring."

I instinctively hid my hand far away from him
and stared at him wide-eyed.
He changed his mind? I already blew
it?

He looked at me and his face softened, as did
his voice. "Just for now, my love. He can't see it. They can't
know, remember?"

"Who?"

"Who do you think?"

As I realized what Tristan meant, terror
overcame me. My voice trembled. "Why can't you just take me
home?"

"Because he'll follow me and I'll lead them
right to you and Sophia." The anger had returned, but he stroked my
face gently. "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you.
Don't forget who I am. There's a reason he doesn't want to be alone
with me."

He grinned, but it wasn't with humor. In
fact, it was spine-chilling.

I pulled my ring off and reluctantly handed
it to him, my hand shaking. He stuffed it in his jeans pocket, then
reached over and tucked my necklace under my shirt. Then he drove
us to O'Shea's, an Irish pub by the beach. He took out his cell
phone and dialed a number as he drove.

"Ian's in town…Headed to O'Shea's…Yeah, she's
with me…I know, but I don't have a choice. I can't take her home
with him on my tail…. It's not necessary…I'll bring her home as
soon as it's safe." He clapped the phone shut.

"Who was that?"

"Sophia. She needed to be warned."

I panicked, making my voice screechy. "She's
not coming, is she?"

"I don't know. She really needs to stay away
for both of you."

"He's a…a
Daemoni
?" I asked, nearly
choking on the word.

He nodded. "He is now. Wasn't always. Just as
Sophia brought me to the Amadis, the Daemoni are sometimes
successful in bringing your people to their side."

"Oh," I breathed. "Why did he call you
'Seth'?"

His face twisted in the light from the dash.
"That was my Daemoni name. They refuse to use the name
Tristan."

I reached out for his hand, needing to hold
him, at least some part of him.

"Listen… He'll probably figure it out—your
looks give it away anyway—but we need to try to not let him know
who you are. And he definitely can't know about…
us
." He
glanced at me. "Remember what I told you about my weakness?"

I nodded.
Me
.

"I'll probably have to say things I don't
want to…just remember, it's just as hard for me to say as it is for
you to hear. Remember, too, deception is his most powerful weapon.
Don't believe any of it, okay?"

I swallowed hard and nodded. We turned into
O'Shea's parking lot.

His voice softened to nearly a whisper. "I
love you more than life, Alexis. Always remember that."

"I love you, too, Tristan. Please believe
that," I whispered. He squeezed my hand and nodded.

"He can hear us now." We pulled into a
parking space and a motorcycle parked next to us. The rain
apparently didn't bother the ogre.

Keeping his own body between mine and Ian's,
Tristan gently pushed me in front of him, as Ian followed us into
the pub. I'd never been inside before and when we walked in, I was
sure I wasn't even allowed to be there. I was underage and this was
no restaurant. It was dark and kind of dingy, the odor of beer and
harder liquor strong in the air.

I smelled a familiar scent and noticed Owen
sitting at the bar.
Oh, no!
I looked away before I caught
his eye, afraid he'd see the fear in my face. I definitely didn't
want to drag him into this mess. I briefly wondered what he was
doing in a place like this; it didn't seem his kind of
hang-out.

Tristan directed me to a table, where we sat
next to each other and Ian took a chair across from us. I started
to reach for my pendant until I saw Tristan just barely shake his
head, knowing that playing with it had become a nervous habit.
There had been a reason he'd tucked it under my shirt. Needing
something to do with my hands, I yanked and twisted my hair
instead, trying not to rip it out from fear.

As a waitress took our drink orders, the
gorgeous blonde from Mario's entered the bar. That surprised me
even more than Owen being there—it definitely didn't seem like her
kind of place. Owen moved around the bar to sit next to her. She
didn't look happy at all about it, but let him pull her into a
conversation—from what I could tell, a strained conversation. I
hoped they could keep each other company, or, at least, busy. I
didn't exactly want her attention on Tristan. And I definitely
didn't want Owen's attention on any of us.

Ian kept his pale blue eyes on us as he sat
back in his chair, scrubbing his hand through his untidy, dull red
hair, then folding his arms across his chest. He lifted his chin in
my direction.

"Another toy for your collection?" His voice
was calm, cool, but I could hear the menace in the tone.

"I told you, I don't know her. She's just a
girl at the restaurant." Tristan was a smooth liar…except his
actions spoke too loudly.

Ian smirked. "Yeah, see, I don't quite
believe that. You're too protective of her."

"Only because she's an innocent girl, in the
wrong place at the wrong time. Just let her go and you and I
can…visit."

Ian chuckled, a disgusting rattle, and leaned
forward in his chair. "Protecting the innocent these days, huh?
Well, if she means nothing to ya…then why don't ya lemme play?"

Tristan leaned forward, too, and I could see
his muscles tighten against his shirt.

"
No!
" he growled.

"Hmph…yeah, what I thought." Ian looked smug,
still peering at me.

"What do you want, Ian? What are you doing
here?" Tristan tried to distract the ogre, but Ian stared at me
harder.

"Well, I heard ya were around and I was in
the neighborhood, so thought I'd drop in to say hullo, catch up,
you know. But looks like I found an interesting situation." Ian
leaned almost all the way across the table, his fumes nauseating
me. He studied me closely in the dim light. "Ah-ha. Yeah…I thought
I heard blondie call ya Alexis. Wouldn't happen to be Sophia's
Alexis, would ya, lassie?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Tristan said.

"The looks are right. The name is right." He
reached his hand out to touch my face and I jerked my head back in
revulsion. In a flash, Tristan was on his feet and lifting Ian by
the collar. Several people turned to look in our direction. Ian
laughed quietly. "Just a girl, heh?"

"Don't touch her," Tristan snarled.

Ian held his hands up in surrender. "All
right, all right. I get it."

Tristan let him go and they both picked up
their fallen chairs and sat back down. The staring bar patrons
finally looked away. I understood why Ian wanted witnesses—Tristan
couldn't do anything…
unusual
…here.

The ogre grinned wretchedly and his voice
returned to its coolness. "Ya know, Seth, ya play with fire, you'll
get burned. Even you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Amadis
royalty
? The worst of all
evils. Not even you, the
ultimate warrior
, can handle that.
They'll take ya down."

A moment of silence hung around us as the
waitress set our drinks on the table then scurried away.

"You've never been the clever one, have you,
Ian?" Tristan said. "You never could tell your ass from your
head."

"Oh, right." Ian nodded. "I almost forgot.
You think the Amadis are good,
perfect
. I spent two
centuries with 'em, lived with all their damn rules, under their
control. And
I'm
the one who's ignorant?"

"Your lustful advances were rejected. You
were out of line."

"Don't matter. I found my
true
family.
Your
real family,
Seth
. Ya think the Amadis are going
to like this?" He waved his hand toward me. "Ya think you're just
one of them now? You're the one who's mistaken. They'll stomp all
over ya and throw ya out with the bleedin' rubbish…if they don'
kill ya first. I'm surprised they haven't done it yet…."

Ian's voice trailed off as his eyes widened.
He nodded slowly, as if a realization had just dawned on him. He
smirked again, his pale eyes moving back and forth between Tristan
and me.

"Ahhh. That's right. They're still using ya,
aren't they? Have a little assignment for ya to do?" Ian's voice
was mocking. Tristan stiffened.

The question dinged in my head like an alarm
or a reminder. I couldn't grasp at the thought trying to come
forward from the back of my mind.

"You're wrong," Tristan said.

"Oh, I don't
think
so. They let ya
have a little taste of royalty arse here—" Ian flicked his hand
toward me again "— they get what they want and ya get to walk free.
Nice little assignment, ya lucky bastard."

"Lies, Alexis, remember what I told you,"
Tristan warned me. Instead, I remembered that thought I had tried
to grasp…Tristan saying something about an assignment he had when
we first met.
Is that what Ian's talking about?

"Ha!" the ogre barked. "I was there, there
when all the plans were made. Remember? Lil' Alexis, just a babe
then, and they had it all planned for ya."

"Remember, Alexis, he's a deceiver."
Tristan's voice had that steely undertone to it.

"No, this is the truth, lassie." Ian looked
at me with glee in his eyes. "You were just a tiny bundle when the
Amadis planned everything. You and
Tristan
here…"