Body and Soul (The Chronicles of Light and Darkness Book 1) Read online

never seen, frightened her. How long would he pursue her? How could he scare her so much when she had never seen him?

  Kate spent most of the morning and afternoon cleaning up the mess in her room, taking careful pains to make sure that everything was spotless. After that, she shut her window, along with all the others in the house, and turned on the air conditioner; her parents would have to deal with it being on all the time because she was not giving any demon an invitation to come in and possess her.

  As Kate cleaned, she thought about how easily it was for her to believe Rico’s story and wondered why. It should be an impossible thing to believe, knowing that science was incorrect, that a lot of what she learned in school consisted of untruths. Somehow, though, she sensed that he told the truth. First, the man had been incredibly strong; his arms had held Kate captive against her will. Kate knew that she wasn’t stronger than a fully grown man, but she should have been able to struggle in his arms. He had held her still, so tight that her breath had escaped her chest, until Kate had managed to hit his head with hers.

  Second, Kate didn’t think that Rico’s imagination could paint an intricate story within minutes. She knew that Rico wasn’t stupid; she could tell by the way that he spoke and carried himself. However, Kate didn’t think that it was possible, for even the best storyteller, to come up with a lie so elaborate.

  Kate’s mind drifted back to Rico. She remembered the way his eyes kept finding hers in order to make sure that she wasn’t scared out of her wits. She remembered the way his voice sounded when he told the story, informative, yet sad at the same time, like it hurt to tell the truth. She thought about his endless eyes, a blue that she had only seen on the covers of animated princess films. Kate allowed herself this once to fantasize about his intentions, imagining that he was a hero and she was a damsel in distress.

  The afternoon passed by quickly; Kate was consumed with cleaning and working through her thoughts. It wasn’t long before her parents came home with dinner. Kate sat at the table, immersed in pleasant conversation with her mother and father, and for a moment, Kate forgot about the demon that lurked outside.

  “Why are the windows shut, darling?” Kate’s dad asked after dessert.

  “I’m too hot to sleep at night. The summer weather is beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t seem to fall asleep. I’ve tried it out, I promise, but it doesn’t work. I’m sorry,” Kate said. She felt bad for having to say this to her father. She figured her mother would have been the one to ask her, and the speech she prepared for her mother was much more snarky.

  “That’s okay, Kate. To be honest, it’s hard for me to sleep. The breeze coming off of the ocean in Australia was much cooler, somehow.”

  “Thanks, Dad. I appreciate you letting me do this,” Kate said with a small smile. She looked up at her dad then, so happy to be talking with him instead of her mom.

  Blaire had just sat there, listening to the conversation without a word. Kate imagined that she would complain to her dad about it after Kate left the room, and when she did leave the room later that night, she wasn’t surprised to hear her mother’s whispers as she ascended the stairs for bed.

  The sun shone brightly the next afternoon, beating down on Kate’s tanned body. She sipped peach lemonade and read another juicy vampire story, waiting for her skin to bronze and sparkle. The story made Kate feel giddy, almost as if vampires could be real since demons obviously were.

  Kate hadn’t seen Rico in almost two days, and she was beginning to feel like it was all a dream. If Rico hadn’t really come into her room the other night, did that mean that she had never been attacked? Kate liked the odds of this, and leaned back in her chair, imagining that none of it happened. She was just getting to a good part in her daydream when she heard soft footsteps behind her, coming her way.

  Kate turned to see an old man carrying equipment; he looked to be about sixty-years old, and had dark grey hair. His smile was friendly and warm, like his hazel eyes. He shuffled when he walked, dragging his legs across the sandy ground like it hurt too much to lift them up.

  “Excuse me, Miss. Do you mind if I spray the plants inside and out?” he asked, his voice a slow southern drawl.

  Kate nodded, and pointed toward the back door. “It’s already open,” she said. “You can walk right in.”

  “Thank you. I’ll go on and head on inside first, Miss, if that’s okay.”

  Kate nodded and watched as the gardener hobbled up the steps. She smiled, thinking about how adorable he was.

  Kate decided that it was time to abandon her thoughts; it was too dangerous to get caught up in things that weren’t real. There was a demon chasing her. There wasn’t any time to contemplate what her life would be like if he wasn’t, because he was.

  Kate stood up and walked to the edge of the ocean; she let her feet sink into the sand as the water ran over its smooth surface. The waves splashed against her warm skin, cooling her off. She let the water trickle over her body, taking with it all thoughts of demons. Kate played with the waves for a while, letting them chase her and then tackling them afterwards. She enjoyed the carefree atmosphere of their quiet, private beach and felt safe.

  Kate walked back up to her beach chair a little later, water dripping from her hair. She was ready to continue lounging around, even though she buzzed with energy. She glanced at the house, wondering why she never saw the old man leave; she had been in the water for at least fifteen minutes. Kate was about to go and make sure that the gardener didn’t leave without her noticing, when Rico strolled around the corner with his hands in his pockets, his eyes on the ground. He looked up, taking in Kate’s aquamarine bikini, and smiled appreciatively. Kate sighed inwardly and rolled her eyes, knowing that Rico, too, would notice her figure. She was tall and thin, with long legs and a tiny waist. Now that her skin was kissed by the sun, her lean muscles were defined.

  “Is this what you’ve been doing all day?” Rico asked, walking up to Kate. “Running around in the sunshine?”

  Kate smiled and pushed her damp hair behind her ear. “Pretty much,” she said.

  “I don’t see why you would be outside when your parents are home, especially because you don’t get much time with them.”

  “My parents aren’t home,” Kate said, confused.

  “What?” Rico said, spinning around, his voice growing angry. He was now looking at the house, Kate the last thing on his mind.

  Kate followed his gaze and wondered whether he had lost it.

  “Who did you let inside?” he asked accusingly.

  “What? It was just the gardener. He had to do his job. Who do you think I let inside?” Kate asked, her voice accusing Rico, asking him why he thought she was so incompetent.

  “What do you mean just the gardener? I told you not to talk to strangers. You don’t know who he is or what he’s capable of. You should have listened to me. I asked you to do one thing and you couldn’t even do that,” Rico said, his voice rising.

  “What is the matter with you?” Kate asked.

  “That man in there is what’s wrong,” Rico said, pointing at the beach house. “You don’t know who he is, whether he’s a human or a demon.”

  “Are you kidding me? Am I supposed to be afraid of everyone now? Look, Rico, I pissed off one demon, but that doesn’t mean that they all are coming after me. There are millions of…”

  “You don’t know that,” Rico said, interrupting Kate’s angry tirade. His voice was oddly calm, his face a mask of indifference. He stepped away from Kate, shoving his hands back in his pockets, looking into her stormy eyes, waiting.

  “What?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

  “I don’t know who that demon was,” Rico answered. “He could be important. He might not be. I didn’t get a good look at him when we fought the other night, but he wasn’t someone that I recognized instantly. We need to wait until we figure out who he is before we make any decisions. If it’s someone important, he could send others after you. Since we
don’t know, Kate, you need to be careful.”

  Now it was Kate’s turn to step back. “You never told me this,” she said, flashes of fear and anger burning her throat. Angry tears threatened to fall, but Kate managed to control her emotions. She thought about what they had spoken about that night, but there was no mention of the demon that attacked her. It seemed like Rico knew as much as she did about him, which wasn’t much at all.

  She was still staring at Rico when the gardener walked back out of the house. He looked from Kate to Rico and smiled at the couple.

  “I’m finished inside,” he said as he hobbled down the staircase. “You sure have a lot of plants in the house, Miss. Do you mind if I take a break and come back later to do the outside? You seem rather busy, and I’m pretty tired if I do say so myself.” The man was in front of Kate and Rico now, looking back and forth between them, probably sensing the raw emotion coming from both of them.

  “Sure,” Kate said breathlessly. Her thoughts were far from the gardener, but slowly circled in when she realized what he could be.

  “Thank you, Miss,” he said before turning to leave. “I didn’t mean to get caught up in y’all’s romance. I apologize.”

  Kate watched as the old man shuffled away across the sand. He was far too fragile and adorable to be a demon. There was no way that Rico would be right about this