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

man. She allowed her eyes to rest on the gardener for a moment longer before turning back to Rico. Kate watched his eyes pursue the old man until he disappeared around the end of the building.

  “Well?” she asked.

  “He’s human,” Rico said, sounding defeated.

  “I told you that he wasn’t going to hurt me, Rico.”

  “But he could have. And that’s all that matters. Don’t you understand that?” Rico asked her, truly wanting to hear Kate’s honest answer.

  Kate sighed. Rico was right, though. In the end, that man could have been a demon; he could have invited Kate into her own house and possessed her. Kate knew that Rico’s comment rang from the truth within his words, but she couldn’t help but wonder why Rico cared so much about her safety. He was a stranger that had introduced her to this life because of a random attack. He had never been obligated to tell her the truth, but he had, and Kate was thankful. “Yes. You’re right,” Kate whispered. She looked at the ground when she spoke, almost as if she didn’t want to give Rico the satisfaction of being right.

  Rico sighed then, and walked down to the water’s edge. Kate followed him, not wanting him to disappear for another couple days, only to show up and bark at her some more. They stood there for a while before either of them spoke, Kate trying to remain patient, Rico trying to calm himself down. Kate kept sneaking glances, watching Rico as he stared out into the endless blue-green of the ocean.

  “You have to understand that I’m trying to make sure your parents don’t have to bury their daughter,” he said.

  “I understand,” she claimed. “But I don’t understand why you care about my safety. I don’t understand what’s going on. I don’t understand why it’s happening. I do know that we may have never met, and I would be just like every other girl out there that’s not being saved by overprotective bad boys.”

  Rico laughed but it sounded sad. “Overprotective bad boy? Is that what you see me as, Kate? If so, I might have to change my image, because that wasn’t the label I was aiming for.” He laughed again, and this time it sounded honest. Kate watched as he laced his fingers together and put them behind his head before speaking again.

  “I met you, Kate. That’s what this is. You said it could be different right now, but it’s not. Meeting you is the reason I’m trying to keep you safe. I would do the same for Adriana, even your parents,” he said.

  Of course, Kate thought. He would definitely save Adriana too. Kate crossed her arms, suddenly annoyed with Rico.

  “You should go,” she said quickly. “It’s getting cold outside and I think I’m going to go in and get dressed. My parents and I are going in to Tampa tonight to grab dinner and go shopping. We’re going to be there for the whole weekend so you won’t need to wait outside my window.”

  Rico nodded and turned to leave. Kate stared, watching him just walk away without so much as a goodbye or see you later. Rico didn’t seem like the type of person to hate saying goodbye; he could have had any girl he wanted. Kate let her thoughts drift back to her last boyfriend, remembering their goodbye.

  Kate had dated a senior during her freshman year. He had been a baseball player, with an excellent home run average and a scholarship to a local university. His blonde wavy hair and blue eyes made him someone that all of the girls chased. Kate was lucky that she caught him, but realized quickly that he didn’t care about her like he did his friends or baseball practice. She had been one of the four girls he left when baseball season started up. It was a different freshman girl each year; they were the only ones that didn’t know about his schemes. They were the only ones innocent enough to fall for them, and they were the only ones that upperclassmen loved to see fall into the trap he created each year.

  Kate blinked, forcing herself to focus on something positive. She was going to get out of her small beach town for a couple days. She was going to be able to think about things that didn’t remind her of demons, Rico, or her safety.

  6

  Kate walked up the front steps of the beach house a few days later, hands filled with shopping bags and her suitcase. She pushed open the familiar buttercup door and walked up to her bedroom, tossing everything on her bed. She walked back downstairs, eager to see the white sand and blue waves of her backyard beach.

  Kate had enjoyed Tampa. She loved the large shopping malls, the beautiful houses and upscale restaurants. It was nice, being able to escape the turmoil of her days alone at the beach house. Now that she was back, she was glad to be here. She couldn’t imagine why people wanted to live in large, spectacular houses that were too beautiful to really live in, when they could find a quiet place on the beach somewhere.

  Kate smiled as she pushed the door open. The warm summer breeze tangled itself in her curls like a friendly embrace. Kate rushed down the steps of the cherry deck and stepped onto the smooth surface of the sand. The heat of the summer sun could still be felt in the individual grains, and Kate had a feeling that the sand had been waiting for her. The wind had erased her footprints while she was gone, leaving a fresh new canvas. Kate ran across the smooth surface, enjoying the feeling of moving her stiff muscles, laughing because she felt pure freedom in her ability to run with the waves.

  “You look like you’re having fun,” Adriana commented.

  Kate turned and smiled at Adriana. “I haven’t seen you in a while,” she replied. “How was your weekend?”

  “Busy. My dad and I sold quite a bit of bait this weekend, so I had to spend a lot of time driving back and forth, delivering larger and larger amounts because of the rush of people. What did you do this weekend?”

  “I went into Tampa with my family. We shopped and checked out some sites, including the Florida Aquarium,” Kate said, rolling her eyes in Adriana’s direction.

  “Well, it looks like we both got lucky this weekend,” Adriana said with a smile.

  Kate looked at her and offered a smile in return, understanding the meaning behind Adriana’s words. Both girls were lucky to have spent time with their families, since neither one got to very often.

  Kate liked the sense of kinship she felt around Adriana. She had never found a girl that had the same feelings she had, and it was easy to trust her new acquaintance. She looked at Adriana then, taking in her dark features and ivory skin. Adriana wore a black bikini and a dark sheer dress to cover the exposed skin on her midriff. She was thin, like Kate, but shorter by about three inches. She carried wedges in her hand again, and Kate suspected that she didn’t like being small.

  “Hey, I know you just got back, but I was wondering if you wanted to have a sleepover at my house,” Adriana asked. “I’m home alone tonight and don’t really want to stay by myself. Rico’s been pretty cryptic lately but he’s making it sound like it’s not safe around here anymore. Do you think your parents would let you stay?”

  Kate blinked. Were the demons invading this small town? Or was Rico just making sure that Adriana stayed cautious like Kate? Whatever the reason, Kate was certain that Rico wasn’t kidding around with Adriana. He hadn’t been kidding around with Kate when he told her not to talk to strangers; in fact, she had been chastised for doing just the thing that he had asked her not to. Kate assumed that he hinted that Adriana sleep with a friend tonight.

  “I think so,” Kate said, hoping that her parents would allow her to sleep over. She felt the sudden need to watch over Adriana, to protect her, like Rico protected Kate.

  When Kate walked inside her house, her parents were dancing around the kitchen in a fit of romance. An idea burst in her mind.

  “Hey, Mom, Dad, do you mind if I spend the night at Adriana’s house? She’s the girl that I went fishing with a couple days ago. I know you’ve been hanging around me all weekend, so I assume you want to be alone.” This had to work.

  Kate’s mother turned to face her. “Of course, dear,” she said distractedly.

  Kate’s dad, however, turned to Kate. “Are you sure that this is a good idea, honey? You hardly know the girl. How do you kn
ow that you can trust her?”

  “I can trust this girl, Daddy. I promise. She’s not like the other girls I’ve known. She’s different.”

  “Okay,” Aaron said skeptically.

  “Let her go, Aaron. She’s a big girl,” Blaire responded airily. Kate could sense that her thoughts had already drifted somewhere else.

  Kate looked into her father’s eyes and nodded. He trusted her judgment, and she was telling him that she would be okay this time.

  “Go ahead,” he said at last.

  Aaron turned to Blaire and took her into his arms once more, spinning her around the kitchen tiles. Kate watched her parents continue their dance before heading upstairs to pack her things.

  As Kate packed, her mind was pulled back to her only other sleepover. Kate’s middle school friend, Ally, had been a small girl that was more concerned with popularity than friendships. Kate wasn’t as concerned with the concept yet; she was more concerned with making friends in general. When Ally invited Kate to a sleepover that she was having with the popular girls, Kate was ecstatic. She rushed home after school that Friday and packed her sleeping bag and stuffed dog. She packed her nail polish and makeup, along with her hair things, knowing that, according to the movies, makeovers were a tradition at sleepovers.

  When Kate arrived, the girls stole her clothes and tossed them