The Accidental Kiss (The Kiss Book 1) (22 page)

“God, you are relentless.” He blew out a breath. “Don’t tell them our location or what happened.”

They hadn’t been clued in about anything that had to do with the voodoo priest since day one. If I tried to catch them up now, it would take hours, plus who knew if Emily would even believe me?

I jumped out of the booth and kissed Daemon on the cheek. “Thank you.”

I pushed open the door and stepped outside. I walked over to a grassy area to my left. I stared at my phone in my hand, at a loss on what to tell Emily and my mom. It couldn’t be a flimsy lie or else they would tug on their detective hats.

I punched in my mom’s number. She answered halfway through the fifth ring. “Hello,” she said gruffly.

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Sky? Are you ok? I tried calling you earlier.”

Guilt stabbed in the stomach. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, it was a late night.”

“I’m sure it was.” I heard her take a sip of coffee. “Do you know what time you’re coming home?”

“I’m actually going to stay at Emily’s through the weekend. We have an art project for school we have to do together.”

“Is that ok with her parents?”

I bounced on the balls of my feet, antsy to get this conversation over with. I felt as if any moment my mom would catch onto my deceit. “Yes, it’s no problem. I have to go. I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Have fun.”

As she was about to hang up, I said, “I love you.”

My mom’s voice held the promise of a smile. “I love you too.”

As soon we disconnected, a lump formed in my throat. At the end of the day, my mom was my best friend and I hated the fact we had fought before I left. If and when I did get home, there would be no more petty fights between us. Next on my agenda was Emily. When she answered, it took a good five minutes for her to calm down. She kept repeating the same sentiment, “I thought you were dead.” Once she quieted, I explained my hasty retreat out of Castor and asked her to cover for me. She wasn’t happy about lying to my mom but I promised her the juicy details when I got back. Emily couldn’t resist a hot piece of gossip so she agreed. By the time I walked back inside the diner, my pancakes and three drinks were waiting for me.

I slid into the booth across from Daemon. “Thanks for ordering for me.”

“Sure. I was afraid if you didn’t get your pancakes, you might kill somebody.”

I poured a hefty dose of syrup on top of the fluffy stack of carbs. The first bite was pure magic. “These are everything and more.”

Suddenly, his voice sounded loud and clear in my mind. “We need to leave. NOW.” Taken aback, my fork clattered to the table. I jerked my chin up and saw Daemon’s intense gaze on mine. “Follow me and do not ask questions,” he said, telepathically.

I glanced at my breakfast with remorse. It was a sin to leave behind a perfectly good stack of pancakes but something or someone had Daemon spooked. “Fine,” I said, pushing the plate aside.

Daemon threw down a stack of cash on the table as he hauled me out of the booth. We stumbled toward the kitchen’s swinging doors. When I glanced back, five men had entered the diner. Their hair was buzzed off, their eyes held the cold menace of serial killers, and…I gasped. They were marked with the snake, which meant the voodoo priest’s zombies had found us and they had brought back up.

Bacon grease hung heavy in the air when we entered the nerve center of the restaurant. There was an old man hunched over the grill, a spatula gripped in his hand. He didn’t register our presence. Daemon urgently yanked me toward the door marked ‘EXIT.’ Back in the main area, I heard silverware clatter amongst the chorus of screams. Fear froze my blood.

I looked over my shoulder. “Daemon, we shouldn’t have left those people back there.”

“And instead do what? Stay and get killed? They won’t harm them,” He pushed open the door to the outside. “Hurry unless you do have a death wish I wasn’t aware of.”

A fierce need to survive propelled my heels forward. I breathed in the dewy morning air and glanced around at our surroundings. We were in the back parking lot, next to the dumpsters. Unless we wanted to dumpster dive, there was nowhere to hide.

“We are totally fucked,” I mumbled.

Daemon trained his sight on a bright red four-by-four truck lifted six inches off the ground. “Don’t give up so easily.” We ran toward the truck and skidded to a stop. “Do you have a hairpin in your pocket?”

Strangely enough, I did. Handing it over to him, he jingled the hairpin into the truck’s lock. Behind us, the exit door swung open and banged against the restaurant. The zombies planted their feet, prepared to battle to the death.

“I hope you’re the master of picking locks because there are five big zombies growling at us,” I said.

The zombies choreographically cracked their knuckles. It would’ve almost been comical if I hadn’t been so afraid for my life. As they were about to start sprinting toward us, I heard the sweet sound of the truck unlocking.

Daemon jumped into the driver’s seat. “Get in.”

He didn’t need to tell me twice. I ran around and slid into the seat opposite of him. Daemon did something underneath the steering wheel and the truck roared to life. He threw it into gear and the wheels spun widely. I watched a bloom of dust blanket the zombies when they came to a grinding halt behind us. My head bounced against the window as the truck sharply veered to the left.

“Sorry,” Daemon said.

“No need to apologize. Just make sure we get out of here in one piece.”

“Aye Aye, captain.”

In the rearview window, I saw one of the zombies hunch onto his hind legs and spring upwards. A scream ripped out of my throat at the sound of a loud thump on the roof. The zombie hung his head over the windshield while his fist cracked against the glass.

Daemon kept his eyes peeled on the parking lot. “Hang tight.” The truck u-turned in a dizzying circle, throwing the zombie off to the side. He landed in the dirt, bones mangled yet got back up and was ready to undertake his mission once again.

Awareness sparked inside me. “They will never give up.”

“No they won’t especially when they’re on green juice.”

I took it Daemon wasn’t talking about the kind of juice that hippies and rich people are crazy for, which FYI taste like grass. Rather, he was talking about the drink I had read about in the book. It mentioned it heightened the zombies’ abilities but I had no clue by how much.

Daemon’s eyes scrunched together in annoyance. “Shut up.”

Was he talking to me? “I didn’t say anything.” He shook his head so rapidly; I could hear his brain rattle in his skull. I laid my hand over his knee. “Are you ok?”

“They won’t shut up with their incessant chanting. Can’t there be a different war cry then that stupid noise?” Daemon bit out.

“And you can hear them in your head? Right.”

The zombies re-grouped and faced the truck head on. Determination lined Daemon’s mouth. “We have one option left.” He revved the engine. “We have to go through them.”

Before I could voice my opinion on whether that was a good idea or not, Daemon pushed on the gas pedal, gunning the truck. I watched the speedometer rise. The zombies kept their ground without an inch of fear. I slapped my hands over my eyes at the last minute. A sickening thump broke the tense silence as bodies flew. I peeked out of my fingers and saw a zombie hanging on to the hood of the truck while another was attached to the rear bumper. Daemon jerked the wheel widely, trying to shake them loose. Their grips were fierce though and they remained where they were. The one on the hood of the truck yanked himself forward and cracked his fist against the windshield. Not this again. You would think they had a better game plan than repeating the same movement.

As if he read my thoughts, Daemon glanced over at me. “While the juice does heighten their powers, it takes away their ability to think for themselves and replaces it with the simple need to kill.”

I looked at the man on the hood of the truck. His eyes were glazed over as if he no clue where he was or what he was doing. Daemon suddenly slammed his foot on the break. The zombie slid over the top of the truck and took the other zombie on the bumper to the ground.

“Now, that’s how you do things,” Daemon said triumphantly.

The truck lurched forward as we continued onto the highway, free and clear. Those poor patrons in the diner were going to be traumatized after what they witnessed. I voiced my concerns to Daemon.

“They manipulate their memories, Sky. They won’t remember a thing except that they ate their breakfast like any other day.”

I frowned. “That sounds like a violation of privacy. Do you also have this ‘gift’?” Daemon slightly tipped his chin. “Have you ever used it on me?”

Several beats passed until I felt as if I was a rubber band about to snap. When he opened his lips to speak, I was already convinced the answer was yes.

He blew out a breath. “No.”

It sounded like what I wanted to hear but not necessarily the truth. “You sure about that?”

Daemon dragged his sight away from the road. His emerald eyes churned with an indefinable emotion. “Yes, I am sure.”

I wanted to believe him so badly it hurt because if I couldn’t trust him, then who could I trust? “Ok.”

We drove into New Orleans a quarter past noon. I strained my face against the glass and gaped at the energy spilling out of the street corners. Jazz music faded and began again as if the city had its own personal soundtrack. Happiness in pastel shades painted the houses and ivy climbed up the balconies of businesses. New Orleans was a place that would never lose its majestic powers.

Daemon broke into my thoughts. “It’s an amazing city, isn’t it?”

“You can say that.”

I rolled down my window and stuck my head out. A man playing a saxophone caught my eye and winked while his sweet musical notes floated in the air. I stayed that way, breathing in the sight and smells of the city until I grew dizzy with elation.

When I got back inside the car, Daemon saw my smile and matched it with his own. “I like seeing you this way.”

“What way?”

“Happy and free. New Orleans agrees with you.”

The fervid adoration in his gaze caused my eyes to drop away to the floor. My heart fluttered in my chest. It was dangerous to have these feelings for Daemon. We had no future together. He would watch me grow into an old woman while he stayed his young sixteen-year-old self. I couldn’t do that to him or me. On the other hand, no future with Daemon was as bleak as a winter’s day. As corny as it sounded, he had become my ray of sunshine.