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Not sure what to do with myself, I walked outside. From the porch, I could see the shed, this time closed, and though there was no one there now, I knew the potion was in there, brewing away.
Barefoot, I padded to the grass, felt the cool blades on my toes and inhaled the fresh, chill night air. I let it fill my lungs, clear my mind, propel my blood, give me renewed energy.
This was paradise. I knew it was probably twenty-five degrees if I went to the front of the house, but here it was a perfect seventy-five. Heidi was probably powerful enough to keep this spell up all the time.
Without thinking, I lay on the cool grass, the blades tickling my bare legs, and stared at the night sky. A few clouds hovered in my peripheral vision, and I couldn’t see the moon, but mostly, the sky was dotted with millions of bright stars.
Humans believed that heaven was somewhere among the stars. That was a beautiful way of thinking about my home, but like the underworld, Elysium could only be reached by portals. Angels with wings could cross the portals freely, but others, including angels without wings, had to ask permission. If they tried to go through without permission, the portal would block them.
I know, because I had tried.
More than once.
More than a hundred times.
That was how desperate I was after I was abandoned here.
Why were my thoughts veering toward terrible things again?
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, welcoming the scent of the grass, the perfume of the trees behind the shed, and even a handful of spices from the shed.
Then another scent invaded my nostrils.
A deep wood and musk scent, along with something masculine.
I opened my eyes as Levi stepped up closer and bent his torso over me, obscuring my view of the sky.
“A night escapade, sweetheart? Didn’t peg you as that kind.”
I scoffed. “And what did you peg me as?”
He sidestepped me and sat on the grass beside me. “A fierce and righteous angel.”
That was a nice compliment.
He looked nice too. He wore black silk pants and a white t-shirt that hugged his sinful body in the most appealing way. Were these his pajamas? Jeez, even that was attractive on him.
Then I realized something and sat up. “Shit, I woke you up.”
“Yes. I felt your terror. Nightmare?”
I nodded. “Something like that.”
“Want to talk about it?”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “What happened to the I-don’t-do-small-talk speech?”
He lay on the grass and folded his arms behind his head, his biceps bulging with the movement. “If talking helps you relax and go back to sleep, so I can sleep too, I’m all ears, sweetheart.”
I stared at him while he stared at the night sky. Could Heidi be right? Did he have a good heart? Even half of one? But he was a higher demon.
I couldn’t say I knew a full-blooded demon, other than the ones I had fought against with my friends, and those had definitely been evil. But I'd met half demons before, like Erin and Rey, and they were good people, with good hearts, and only acted for the greater good of everyone, supernaturals and humans alike.
I hadn’t been there, but I had heard about the meeting where Erin had called every leader she knew or had heard of in the supernatural world, and she told them that not all half demons were bad, not all vampires were blood-sucking cannibals, not all wolves were hot-tempered to the point of murder, and so on. Like humans, all supernaturals came in every shade of gray possible.
Perhaps even full-blooded demons.
But for some reason, Levi hid it all underneath a thick layer of mean, and I was suddenly dying to know why.
