chapter 8

Sophie pov

The drive took me a few minutes before I reached my destination.

The rally's location was more spacious than I imagined it to be, but it took a while for me to find a parking space due to the number of bikes parked, and it looked a little too cheerful and colorful for a place filled with hundreds of bikes, leather and smoke.

The sea of people looked too difficult to cut through.

I still felt out of place here with my leather jacket and high-waist jeans, with a top that clung to me like a second skin. Agent Sophia would be appalled by this show of body and even though bartender Sophie would approve, I felt I was neither.

I didn't feel comfortable in my own skin, and with each second that ticked by, I felt more and more like an impostor with serious identity issues. For the hundredth time, I contemplated texting Blade to find out where he was but decided not to.

I had to get my bearings together before meeting him. The sounds of kids chasing each other washed over me as I took deep breaths to steady my nerves, and it helped, making me feel slightly better than before. I turned around and almost had a heart attack. Blade's eyes were watching me. He seemed to not be in a hurry to meet me as I walked towards him, maneuvering my way around the crowd.

"Are you stalking me now, Blade?" My heart was in my throat as his eyes swept me from the bottom up. His eyes seemed darker as he seemed to stand straighter.

"You seemed to have forgotten that I was the one who invited you to this race," he answered roughly. Like a moth drawn to a flame, I pulled closer as I asked, "Why did you invite me, Blade?" His scent overpowered me as I fought to stay afloat. It should be illegal to smell this good. I swallowed as I took a shaky step back, maintaining a reasonable distance between us.

The silence between us could rival that of space, Blade stood watching me like I was something he would love to tear apart. I could see his eyes twinkling with that playful look that I had come to know.

"Sophia, I...." He was cut short by someone calling out his name, a teenager who made his way towards us grinning. Blade cut me a look before turning towards the guy.

"Chestnut, you better have something important for yelling out my name like that."

I tried not to laugh, the name chestnut made me think of ponies. The boy tried to look indignant as he blushed.

" I was asked to come get you. We are about to start." He kicked a stone as he looked at his shoes.

"Noted, I'm on my way." Chestnut glanced at me before also nodding and turning away from us.

I was caught off guard by what I was seeing. The dangerous man who hardly smiled, had this soft side to him.

I didn't know I was staring until I saw Blade's infuriating smirk. "Are my charms that strong?"

"Sh*t" I caught myself, but it was already late. Blade had caught me, and the worst part, he now had a wrong notion about everything.

"No, no, I was just..."

"Let's go, before your face catches fire," Blade teased, making me blush even harder.

Blade led me around the rally with his hand hovering at my back. It wasn't on me, but I could feel its warmth.

As we walked through the crowd of people, I became even more shocked at what I saw. People seemed to gravitate towards us or rather towards Blade.

Each person seemed to have a word to say to him, and I was astounded to see how he transformed.

The enforcer seemed to vanish as I saw the real Blade. He knew each person by name, there was a lot of nodding to words, shoulder clapping and playful banter. Even the kids seemed to be happy around him. A child of about seven with a tooth missing hugged his leg as he asked Blade, "Mr Blade, don't forget about giving me a ride on your bike, you promised."

Blade ruffled his hair as he smiled, actually smiled. "Of course, buddy, I will pick you up later."

Another child, a girl, came up to me clutching a doll." You're pretty. Are you his girlfriend?" Her big blue eyes stared at me adoringly.

Before I could answer, Blade swept her up as she squealed. He laughed, and suddenly I wanted to see him laugh more. My chest felt constricted and full. Seeing Blade like this wasn't part of the plan. I was supposed to be gathering information to nail his gang down. But there was more to him than just being their enforcer.

Blade looked at me and I knew I could get lost in his stormy eyes. I had a tentative smile before I saw something that made my smile disappear.

Blade followed my line of sight and saw what I had done.

Devil Disciples, here at the rally ground. What were they doing here? Was it allowed? Would a fight break out between the gangs?

They stood in a corner looking smug, daring anyone to challenge their presence.

Their arrival seemed to change the atmosphere of the entire rally, like a structure waiting to collapse.

Before I could react, Blade stepped into my line of sight as he steered me away.

"Don't look, don't say anything," he murmured. I looked at him, at his face that was pulled tight, but showed no emotion.

"Walk with me." It didn't sound like a request, my feet moved voluntarily. As I walked away with Blade, I couldn't help but look back at the Disciples.

One of them gave me a menacing smile, his eyes blazing. Cold shivers ran down my spine.

It was Venom.