Storm and Fury(27)

I glanced at the door. Where was Misha?

“I was worried about you, too.”

My gaze shot back to his. “Why?”

His brows lifted as that grin disappeared. “Are you really asking me why?”

“Yeah. Thought you found me annoying and frustrating.”

“I do.” A quick smile appeared and then disappeared. “Doesn’t mean I can’t worry.”

“Well, you can see I’m just fine.”

“No one is just fine after bleeding that much,” he commented, and, well, I couldn’t argue that point. “Thierry and Matthew reacted a little oddly to the whole blood thing.”

Crap. They should’ve thought about that before flipping out over the blood. “They are...really squeamish about blood and stuff.”

“Uh-huh.”

There wasn’t a single part him of that believed me.

“I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff. I’ve told you that before.” He paused. “Been through a lot of weird stuff.”

Well, if he’d lost a part of his soul, that would definitely be considered weird. Probably would be on the top of the list of weird stuff.

Zayne wasn’t done. “You, this clan and every damn thing that’s happened since I arrived is competing for the top spot of weirdness. We didn’t come here for the Accolade. We came for reinforcements, and Thierry demanded that we stay, which is bizarre because it’s rare that anyone is even given permission to come here, let alone stay for a while. And then there’s you.”

“Me?” I squeaked.

“You’re a human living in the regional seat of power—a human who can kill a Warden. And the whole blood thing? Yeah. This shit is bizarre to the max.”

“I have no idea what to say to that.”

“Well, get ready, because I know something else about you,” he said, and I tensed up so badly a dull burst of pain radiated down my arm. “Nicolai said you can see ghosts.”

My mouth opened and then closed. It took me a moment to speak. “He wasn’t supposed to repeat that.”

“There’s very little Nicolai doesn’t share with me,” he replied, tilting his head. “So, it’s true?”

I gave a little shake of my head as I said what Matthew had said to me. “I’m not the only person out there who can see ghosts and spirits, Zayne. A lot of people can. It’s not a big deal.”

He chuckled softly as he let his hands hang between his knees. “Only you would think that’s not a big deal. It is. I don’t know anyone else who can do that.”

“Maybe you do and they just haven’t told you.”

“Doubtful,” he murmured. “You’ve always been able to see them?”

“Yeah,” I admitted, and it was odd but nice to be talking to Zayne about what I could see. “Always.”

“What’s it like?” he asked, curiosity threading his voice.

I lifted my brows. “It’s hard to explain. I mean, ghosts and spirits are different. Did you know that?”

He shook his head.

“Yeah, ghosts haven’t moved on. They either don’t know they’re dead or refuse to accept it. They’re usually in their death states, so sometimes they can be kind of gross. Spirits have passed on, gone wherever they’re supposed to go, but are back either to check on loved ones or deliver a message.”

“And that’s what you do? Give people messages?”

“When I see spirits, yes, but I haven’t see one in ages,” I admitted, fiddling with my blanket. “When I see ghosts, I...I help them move into the light. So they can find peace.”

“That’s sounds difficult, but also...amazing,” he said, and when I lifted my gaze, I found that he was staring at me intently. “Some people would probably choose to ignore them or be afraid.”

“I couldn’t do that. They need help, and if you saw them, especially the ghosts...they’re so confused. They shouldn’t be left like that,” I told him, falling quiet as I dragged my teeth over my lower lip. “There are other things, though, that I won’t interact with.”

“Wraiths?”

Surprise shot me through me. “How did you know?”

“Unfortunately, I have experience with them.”

Wraiths were humans who’d had their souls stripped from them before they died. They couldn’t pass on, either to Heaven or Hell. They were stuck, and the longer they were stuck, the farther from human they became. “There are also...shadow people,” I said, curling my fingers around the edge of the blanket. “Have you heard of them?”

“Lower level demons,” he said, and I nodded. “They’re not ghosts or spirits.”

“I know, but they’re often mistaken for them. I’ve only seen one once. It was superfreaky.” I paused. “How do you have experience with the wraiths?”

Zayne sighed heavily and stared down at his hands. “In all the snooping you do, you didn’t hear about this?”

“I don’t snoop,” I muttered. “That much.”

His lashes lifted and a ghost of smile touched his lips. “It’s a long story.”

“We have time.”

“It’s late and you should be resting.”

“I am resting.” I gestured at myself with a flick of the wrists. “I’m in bed.” When he said nothing, my eyes narrowed. “Or is it a story you don’t think I should hear because I’m not a Warden? Because you don’t know me?”

Zayne was stubbornly quiet.

Irritation pulsed. “You ask me a ton of questions and yet refuse to answer ninety percent of mine. That’s not cool.”

He dragged his bottom lip through his teeth. “We had a Lilin in DC.”

If I had been sitting up, I would’ve toppled over. “You’re for real?”

He nodded. “There was a demon who wanted to free Lilith,” he explained, and I immediately thought of the half demon his clan had raised. Lilith’s daughter, supposedly.

“Convinced himself he was in love with her and tried to carry out this ritual to free her. His name was Paimon.”

Now my eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head. Paimon was an ancient Upper Level demon, like one of the biblically old demons. A King of Hell, he ruled over hundreds of demons. “Paimon was topside?”

“We actually get a few of the big players in DC. With all the politicians to corrupt, they’re sort of lured there,” he said. “Anyway, we thought we’d stopped him in time, but little did we know, the ritual had been completed.” His jaw hardened as a beat of silence passed. “A Lilin was created, and it unfortunately got ahold of a few humans. Some, it stripped the souls immediately. Others, it toyed with, taking a little here and a little there, which left us with wraiths to deal with.”

Processing this, I wanted to ask if that was what had happened to his soul, or if it really did have something to do with Lilith’s daughter, but I didn’t even know if it was true. And while I was impulsive and often spoke before thinking, I wasn’t so much of a jerk that I’d flat out ask someone if they’d lost a part of their soul.

So I asked instead, “How did you deal with the Lilin?”

“It wasn’t easy. Took a lot to take it down. A lot of sacrifice,” he said. “The Lilin had created an army of wraiths, and it somehow got them inside these old statues of gargoyles and they came to life. It was... It was crazy. One of them got ahold of my father. That’s how he died, fighting the Lilin. I was there, but I couldn’t get to him.”

“It’s not your fault,” I said.

“How do you know that?” That gaze met mine.

“Because I’m sure you did everything you could,” I said, and even though I hardly knew him, everything in me believed what I said. “I’m sorry, Zayne. I know that what you...you experienced wasn’t easy.”

Jaw working, he nodded. “He died fighting, but he also died to protect someone he cared very much for. Knowing that does... It does make it easier to process. To deal.”

“I’m sure it does,” I said, wishing I had something better to say, something more powerful.

“You know, you’re the first person outside of those who were there that I’ve talked to about my father,” Zayne said, shocking me yet again. A winsome smile appeared as he shook his head. “Surprises me.”

“Why? I’m easy to talk to.”

He smirked. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” I let a grin sneak through. “It’s another one of my attributes.”

“I’ll have to remember that,” he said, and I knew it didn’t matter, because he’d be leaving. “You told me something, when we were at the training center. You said your mother was killed by a Warden.”

Oh God, I really shouldn’t have said that. “She was.”

“And now, you’ve been attacked by a Warden. Are those two things related?”

I wanted to smack myself, but my head had already been through enough so I resisted. “I don’t know.”

Zayne stared at his hands again. “Can I ask you something, and you answer me honestly?”

“Yeah?” I hoped it was a question I could answer honestly, but I was betting it wasn’t.