Bitter Sweet Love (The Dark Elements 0.5)

The sweet, heavy scent teased my senses again. “What is that smell?” I turned, my gaze crawling over the people and the glass storefront of the parlor. I could see Layla and Zayne inside, still sitting side by side. The wide smile was back on her face as she laughed at something Zayne said. “You don’t smell that?”

“No.” Dez placed a hand on my shoulder. “All I smell is exhaust and humans.”

I frowned. The odd, pleasing scent was stronger than those elements. How could he not sense it? Shaking my head, I started to turn back to Dez, when my gaze snagged on something.

I don’t know what it was about the boy that caught my eye, but once I saw him, I couldn’t look away.

He was leaning against the brick wall of the ice-cream shop, only his profile visible. He was tall—taller than Dez and Zayne, but not as broad. There was no mistaking that his body was nothing but powerful, lean muscle. The black shirt he wore revealed the sinewy strength in his arms, but it was that tattoo that held my attention.

The image was of a snake, but... each ripple in the skin had been shaded so that it actually looked three-dimensional, the underbelly gray and the scales defined. It looked real, like a thick copperhead had crawled up the boy’s body and wrapped itself around his arm.

The boy’s artfully messy hair was so dark that it reflected blue in the fading sunlight. The one eyebrow I could see was arched in the middle, as if he was enjoying a private joke. Although I couldn’t see his face fully, the high cheekbones and the tilt of his lips were set in a visage I knew would be beautiful—too beautiful. Like the pictures of all the fallen angels in the books my father kept in his library.

Somehow I knew that scent was coming from him.

And I was also pretty sure he was watching Zayne and Layla—namely, her.

Chills danced down my spine as the boy turned toward us, the sardonic twist of his lips spreading. My insides knotted as I lifted my gaze. Two eyes the color of polished amber locked with mine.

I sucked in a startled breath and stepped back into Dez. The eyes! There was no mistaking what the boy was. Only one thing in this world had golden eyes like that. My stomach dropped and my heart kicked into overdrive.

He was an Upper Level demon.

Chapter Fourteen

No sooner had that thought crossed my mind than Dez shifted so that I was behind him and he was between the demon and me. My heart pounded against my chest painfully. How long had he been there, watching us? That was one of the many problems with Upper Level demons. They could cloak their presence so we couldn’t sense them, giving them the advantage. The fact that I’d picked up on the sweet smell had been rare, and most likely he’d allowed me to. I didn’t want to know why.

“Get out of here, Jasmine.” Dez’s voice was low and hard. “Go now.”

There was no way in Hell I was going anywhere without him. I balled my hands in the back of his shirt. “I’m not leaving you.”

Dez cursed. “Go. Please, God, go.”

“Please, God?” The demon stepped toward us, cocking his head to the side. I’d been right about his beauty. It was unreal. Frightening in its sheer perfection. “Are you expecting a response? Because I’m going to go out on a limb and say he’s probably not listening.”

The muscles under my hands tensed as Dez drew in a deep breath, but before he could speak, the demon chuckled darkly as he swaggered forward, paying no heed to those passing between us. And he didn’t need to. Humans seemed to sense that any contact with him would probably be their last. He parted the crowd on the sidewalk like a twisted version of Moses, stopping directly in front of us. He looked no older than me, but there was a worldliness in the way he held himself, in the odd glint of his eyes.

“I don’t think your little friend is going anywhere,” he murmured, those amber eyes glowing slightly as he leaned to the side. He waved at me. “Hi, there.”

Dez shifted, blocking me. “Look at her one more time and I will snap your head off your neck.”

“Tsk, tsk, that isn’t how you talk to a stranger.” One side of his lips quirked up. “So rude.”

People were starting to watch us. No way was this situation going to end well. I could already smell blood in the air.

“I’m not playing with you.” Dez’s hands formed fists.

“That’s good, because you’re the last thing I want to play with.”

Dez stepped forward, going toe to toe with the demon. A shudder worked its way down his back. He was seconds from phasing.

“Oh, I wouldn’t try that, you heavenly reject.” The confident smile remained fixed in place. “You go all Warden on me and then I’ll go all badass demon on you, and then oops.” His eyes widened. “All the little humans in the world will know they’re not alone. And I’m not talking about E.T. Unless that lumpy creature was really a demon.”

For a second I thought Dez was going to say screw it and totally lose his head right there, and the demon’s smile stretched to epic levels. He spread his arms and curled his fingers back in the universal “come get some” sign. Along the underside of the demon’s biceps, the tattoo suddenly moved—the scales gliding over his skin as the tail disappeared under the sleeve of his dark shirt. Around the demon’s neck, black ink spread and the head of the snake appeared. One red eye shining like a ruby focused right on us.

What in the holy Hell?

Dez growled low in his throat. “You have no idea how badly I want to take you apart.”

“What’s stopping you?” the demon shot back.

He was purposely antagonizing Dez. Did he want exposure? I didn’t know what would happen if that occurred, but I was pretty sure it would involve the annihilation of both of our races.

But this moment meant more to me on a personal level. An Upper Level demon had killed my mother and, as strong and cunning as Dez could be, he could fall to this one. I couldn’t stand here, cowering, and do nothing. I wasn’t a little girl anymore.

I summoned my courage and grabbed hold of Dez’s arm. “What do you want?”

“She speaks?” The demon laughed. “And here I thought all female Wardens were incapable of even forming a single thought without the aid of a male.”

“Excuse me?” Disbelief gave way to anger.

Dez held his arm out, keeping me from making my way around him. “I’m going to give you five seconds to get out of here.”

The demon stood there as several heartbeats passed. “Five seconds are up. Next threat?”

“Aren’t you a smart-ass,” Dez snapped.

“Among many, many things.” The demon’s gaze seemed to find the tiniest part of me visible behind Dez. He sighed as his gaze softened. “I have no problems with the two of you, so...whatever.”

Whatever? Had I heard him right?

The Upper Level demon winked an amber-colored eye and then turned. Casting one last lingering look inside the ice-cream’ shop, he strolled away, humming under his breath. The melody poked around at my memory.

“‘Paradise City’?” I said dumbly, stepping to stand beside Dez. “He’s humming a Guns N’ Roses song?”

Dez didn’t respond, and I don’t even know why I was fixating on the song. Maybe it was shock from being this close to an Upper Level demon and then hearing him say he had “no problems” with us. He’d walked away. He’d walked away when the demon who killed my mother hadn’t.