Eliza's Reality

           “Ash…” The man’s fingers loosened around my neck, and he nervously looked up at Ash. “I was only trying to talk to her.”

           “I said let her go.”

           “Of course.” Talla let go of me and jumped up to his feet. He slowly backed away as he watched Ash carefully. “I was only here because Onyx sent me. You know I wasn’t going to harm her.”

           Ash looked down at Talla’s unbuttoned pants and dangling belt. 

           “She’s mine,” Ash growled, his silver eyes began burning red. 

           “I didn’t mean to…I didn’t know she was yours. She’s just a human.”

           Ash moved so quickly that all I could see was blood splatter through the air as he lunged at Talla and ripped his head off with his bare hands. Talla’s headless body crumbled to the ground and burnt into flames. I let out a scream at the terrifying scene. Quickly, Ash rushed to me and embraced me in his arms. In a flash, we were gone from the alley and standing in front of the cottage by the ocean. 

           “Shh.” He calmed me. His lips kissed my forehead. “Did he harm you? Are you hurt?”

           He leaned back and looked me over. 

           “I’m fine.” I exhaled loudly, relieved that I had come out of the situation alright.”

           “Are you sure you are okay? Do you need help? Should I carry you?”

           “Ash.” I stopped him as he started to pick me up. “I am fine, really.”

           A brow went up as he looked me over again.

           “Of course, you are, my brave girl.” Then he swept me off my feet and carried me to the cottage. 

           “What are you doing?”

           “We are staying here tonight.” He stepped on the porch and headed to the door.

           “What if it’s locked?”

           “Eliza, I am a demon, do you really think a lock could keep me out?”

           It was the first time he had said it. Demon. He was a damn demon. I knew it, even if the word had never been spoken, it was inside my heart; the darkness I was ignoring. Ash was a demon and part of my heart belonged to him. Did that mean I had evil inside of me too or could there be goodness within him?

           Ash laughed. He was reading my mind again. 

           The door swung open and he carried me over the threshold. He put me down and I flipped on the lights. I stared in amazement. It was just as I had remembered as a child. The small kitchen and hardwood floors. Even the old wood panel walls were still the same. 

           “I love seeing you smile,” Ash said. “You haven’t smiled much lately.”

           “How would you know? You left and never came back.” I told him. His upper lip curved up sinfully. “You’ve been watching me?”

           “I couldn’t stay away.” He sighed. “I tried. Fuck, I tried so hard to stay away from you. It’s impossible. I can’t. I couldn’t. And now look what happened. I fucked up. Onyx and his men must have followed me, and now you are in danger, all because of me. Talla would have killed you tonight. He almost raped you. If I would have just stayed away from you, none of that would have happened. It’s my fault.” 

           Enraged, he turned and punched the refrigerator, remarkably busting a hole right through it. 

           “Ash.” I grabbed his hand and took it in mine. “I’m glad you didn’t stay away.”

           He looked down at me, blood from Talla was in his hair, on his shirt, and spattered across his face. I should have been horrified, but I was turned on. Unable to hold back any longer, I pulled his face to mine and kissed him. Ash picked me up and hurried to the bathroom. He quickly turned the shower on. Within seconds, our clothes were on the floor and we were under the water. I looked over his naked body in awe. Oh, damn. 

Not only was he amazingly sexy in the nude with water glistening on his skin, but he was extremely well-endowered. I had never seen someone so large. 

           “I’m glad you like it.” Ash arrogantly said.

           “Stay out of my head.” I shoved him into the shower wall and started kissing him again. 

           Suddenly, Ash let go of me and turned the water off. I started to speak, but he motioned for me to be silent and still, as though he heard someone there. 

           “Wait here.” He told me before disappearing before my eyes. 

           Not sure of what alarmed him, I nervously stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me. It felt like an eternity waiting for him to come back safely to him. But after a long moment, Ash appeared in front of me. His devilishly handsome smile let me know that everything was alright.

           “False alarm.” He said. “It was just a raccoon in the garbage out back.”

           My body tingled with desire as I looked up at him. His black hair was dripping wet. I reached up and brushed it away from his eyes with my fingers. 

           “We can’t have sex,” Ash announced. “At least not yet.”

           “What?” I question him. “Why not?”

           “I want to, trust me. I want you so bad. I’ve never wanted anything or anyone as much as I do you.” Ash pulled me to him and I could feel his erection against me. “But I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what exactly you are or why you can see me and other demons, like Talla. And, well, something is going on inside me also, a feeling. I’m so drawn to you. You’re mine. I feel it so strongly.” 

           “You’re mine too.” I kissed his bare chest.

           “No, you don’t understand.” He pulled away from me and looked down into my eyes. “I think we’re bonded.”

           “Bonded?”

           “Bonded Mates. I believe that you and I somehow have a fated bond that demons share with one another. When the bond happens, it’s for life. You only bond with one other demon and they become your mate forever.”

           “But I’m not a demon.” I stared up at him, hoping to see some clarification in his face but he seemed just as puzzled as me. 

           “Eliza, I don’t know what you are, but I do know that you are mine and I won’t let anyone take you from me.” He grabbed my hand and led me to a bedroom nearby. “Mating would connect us even more; it would mark you. I can’t make have sex with you until we get answers, and you fully understand the bond. I don’t want to overwhelm you just yet.”

           “Okay.” I was still comprehending everything he just told me.

           “Come on, you need to rest.” Ash pulled me into the bed.

           As our naked bodies laid close together under the covers, my head rested on Ash’s chest while he caressed his fingers down the curve of my back. The cottage was obviously still being used as a vacation home for tourists like my family, but no one was there at the moment so the two of us could just enjoy the place together for the night. 

           “I missed you,” I whispered to him. “I don’t know why, but I missed you so much. How come I didn’t see you if you were watching me?”

           “I stayed in the shadows or hidden where you wouldn’t know. I didn’t want you to know I was there because every time I told myself it was the last, but something always drew me back to you. I suppose it is the bond pulling us back together like magnets. I was there tonight, in the club when you met with Seth.”

           “You saw that?”

           “I watched as you ran out, but I didn’t follow right away. Instead, I followed him. I thought about killing Seth, just ripping his throat out right there.”

           “Why would you do that?”

           “Because you are mine, and he wants you,” Ash said as though it was obvious and normal. “But, I knew you would be mad at me if I did that, being that you humans are touchy when it comes to taking lives, so I left him alone and came looking for you. Perhaps if I had just followed you in the first place, you would have been safe all along.”

           “Don’t. I am fine. You came in time.” I kissed his chest. “But don’t go killing every man that even looks or thinks about me wrong. Seth may be a cheating bastard, but he doesn’t deserve to get killed for being my ex.”

           “Do you love him?”

           “I think you know the answer to that. After all, you are reading my thoughts as we speak.”

           “He loves you. That’s why I want to kill him.”

           “But I don’t love him.”

           “I know. I’ve seen that in your head this whole time. That is why I haven’t killed him.”

           I wanted to argue with him for even speaking like that, but there wasn’t a point. A demon wouldn’t care about morals or doing what’s right. It was a waste of breath. 

           “That man in the alley, who was he?” I changed the subject.

           “Talla.” Saying his name made Ash angry again. I could feel his heart pound faster underneath my cheek. “He was a demon that I should have killed years ago. He was scum.”

           “He mentioned another name…Onyx…he said Onyx sent him.”

           Ash sat up in bed, as though something I said had bothered him. 

           “Don’t worry about him.”

           “But Talla said that Onyx sent him. You don’t think I should be worried that another demon is coming for me?”

           “No. Let me worry about it.”

           “They could kill me.”

           “I am not going to let that happen.”

           “Why is this Onyx person so interested in me? Why would he care about a human?”

           “Because I care about you.”

           “So, why would he care?”

           “Please, just stop asking questions. Just go to sleep.” Ash laid back down and pulled me close to him. “We have to start our journey early in the morning.”

           “What journey? I have to work tomorrow. I need to go home and call Ally. She is probably worried that I disappeared like that from the club.”

           “Eliza, you can’t go back home.”

           “Fine, I’ll stay here with you tonight. You need to take me back in the morning though.”

           “Don’t you understand?” Ash kissed the top of my head. “You can’t ever go back home. It’s not safe. Now that they came for you once, they will never stop.”

           “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

           “I’m taking you somewhere safe; somewhere you can live that no demon can get to you. There, you will be safe forever.” Ash pulled me close to him. “Now, please, just lay with me. I just want to hold you tonight.”

           “But…”

           “Shh.” He kissed my head again. “Just close your eyes, my brave girl.”

           My eyes closed as I lay silently with him. A million thoughts ran through my head. I wanted to ask questions, demand answers, but skin to skin with Ash, I felt safe and sound. Soon, I was asleep in his arms. It was the most peaceful sleep I had ever had. I didn’t have any dreams that night, but I suppose my reality was so unimaginable that dreams were irrelevant.