Torn (Demon Kissed #3) by H.M. Ward

thought I’d be at school, hanging around the theatre, and watching you rehearse, while I painted backdrops and tripped over cans of paint. I thought I’d gripe about sitting through bio and accidentally set the lab table on fire.” I smiled faintly. “Eric, of course, would know exactly what to do and put it out. Shannon and I would ride bikes through the dirt paths at the park as fast as we could without slamming into a tree. My helmet wouldn’t fit right because my hair’s too big. And maybe at the end of the year, before you graduated and left, maybe you would have asked me to prom. Maybe we woulda danced. Maybe things would have been normal, just for one night.” Until I voiced those words, I never realized how much I wanted those things. I wanted a normal life. I wanted the friends, the fun, and the memories that went with it. And most of all, I wanted Collin, and a chance life for us to be happy. A normal life would have been a date. A movie. Dinner, maybe. But not this. Not Valefar, demons, and this unrelenting wave of crap that crashed over me since the night Jake kissed me. “But there’s no prom in my future.”
    Collin gently slid his hand into mine and weaved our fingers together. He smiled softly at me, blue eyes full of expression, “I would have asked you.” He smirked. “Probably after teasing you like crazy, but there is no one that I would have rather gone with.” He pulled me too him, and kissed the top of my head. “We were dealt a crappy hand, Ivy. The only joy in my life comes from knowing you. Come Hell or high water, we’re in this together.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TEN
     
    I couldn’t relax around Collin anymore. I had hoped that I would, but it was impossible when Kreturus was unaccounted for. And without knowing his exact whereabouts, I was leery of Collin because he could still be possessed. Kreturus held powers that I wasn’t aware of, and it was possible that he had hidden himself inside the one person I would do anything for. That damn demon was smart, and I couldn’t see him vacating for no reason. So the question was, if he wasn’t in Collin, where was he? What was more tempting than this brown-haired, blue-eyed boy who went to Hell for me?
    I had no idea.
    So I was stuck waiting, agonizing over my decisions and second guessing myself. Every time I opened my mouth, I had to hide my distrust and carefully evaluate what I was telling Collin so that I didn’t accidentally feed Kreturus information that I didn’t want him to have. It was becoming more and more difficult to be around Collin and talk to him about anything. And there was no way that he didn’t notice my behavior, even though he didn’t say anything about it.
    Looking over at Collin, he caught my gaze and smiled at me expectantly, “What’s on your mind?”
    I looked away, quickly steering my thoughts to some other topic, so he couldn’t sense how apprehensive I felt. He took my look as shyness, but it really wasn’t. My attempts to cover my butt were shameful. I hated lying to him and couldn’t wait for this to be over. Things could go back to normal as soon as Kreturus reared his head.
    I asked, “Can you tell where other Valefar are?” Collin arched an eyebrow at me with a surprised look on his face. “I’m not asking if you’re all telekinetic or something, but I was wondering what the other Valefar abilities were. You said you showed me the two that wouldn’t hurt me. I was wondering what the other ones were.” We stopped walking suddenly, and ducked around some stone that protruded from the ground like giant toothpicks.
    Collin held his hand out, and I grabbed it as he lifted me over the last mess of boulders. There was caution in his voice, “Why are you asking?”
    Uncertain of his question, I responded, “Because I’m half Valefar. What other powers do we have? I was wondering what else I could do?” His hand was in mine and we were trying to maneuver