CHAPTER FOUR
Jesse felt completely wrecked, like he had ran a marathon for three days straight, or swam across the Pacific ocean. He slumped on to the wooden chair as if his body was made out of jelly.
"So, is it as I expected?" Regina said.
She was tapping her pen against a file, mimicking the sound of a train running on it's tracks.
Jesse twisted his lips into a lopsided frown.
He pulled the black stone dagger out of his pocket and placed it on the desk. He eyed it as if it were a venomous snake, waiting to strike.
Regina's breath hitched and her lips opened in a soundless gasp. She must have been praying her suspicion had been wrong as well.
"This is bad." She said leaning forward. She grabbed a Kleenex out of it's box and placed it over the dagger's handle.
She examined the stone with morbid curiosity.
Jesse felt like his lungs were sutured shut, leaving only small gaps for oxygen to enter them.
"I think.. it's best if I send Ky and Ash back to New Orleans. They have their own troubles, this war is all on me." He said, rubbing his smooth jawline with thought.
"I'm not sure that is a wise decision. You may need their help."
Jesse's brows furrowed.
It was true, but this is a battle that would call them to death. Could he ask that of them?
"I'll speak with Ash soon. First I'll need a little help getting these spikes in demonic activity in hand." Jesse said, leaning forward and clasping his hands. He pressed his mouth against his interlocked hands and breathed.
"Seems like your fitting in nicely fresh meat." Miles stated. He was balling up a piece of paper that he had ripped out of his notepad and tossed it at the boy in the front row.
He made a triumphant sound when the paper hit him on the back of his head.
The boy swiveled around and shot Miles a glare that promised vengeance, causing Miles to chuckle under his breath.
In English literature, the second period class, the students were allowed to pick a partner to sit next to.
Miles had chosen her.
"Because that's my number one concern. For everyone to like me and swoon at the sight of me." Lyla scoffed.
The statement was hardly true. At her old high school she was a wall flower, seemingly unnoticed by most of her peers.
Here she had nothing to hide herself with. She was vulnerable and out in the open. Not to mention a new target for Stacy to torment.
Then there was Jesse.
One of the most bizarre human beings that ever existed.
Every time she was within touching distance of him he flinched. It was like he was afraid of her touching him, like she had a heinous infectious disease.
She had made the mistake of dropping her pencil on his desk when she was attacked by the same agonizing heat as the first time she sat next to him in class.
As she reached her hand over their joined table to grab it, he slid his chair farther away from her like she had made a pass at him.
"Monday we are having a field trip to go to the city. They try to do it often to break up the time spent here." Miles said thoughtfully.
"That should be fun. Does everyone go?"
Miles shook his head.
"It's optional. A lot of students don't mind being here."
Lyla tapped her pencil against her bottom lip. As much as she would like to pretend she couldn't care less about Jesse, she couldn't help but wonder if he would be going too.
On the way to Ms. Montez's class Lyla felt the familiar feeling of heat welling inside of her chest.
Not the heat that usually accompanied her when she came within earshot of Jesse. It was something far worse.
The familiar stabbing pains in her chest, the unwelcome heat sprinkling over her making her feel like she was standing directly under the burning sun for hours.
Her anxiety was flaring.
As soon as she plopped down into her seat, she flung her messenger bag open and fished inside of it for her anxiety medication.
She felt herself explode with frustration when she realized she had left it in her room.
She sucked in a breath and gathered the strength of will to make her way to the front of the class.
Using her compulsive fidgeting to keep at bay the bothersome feelings that were quickly trapping her in a cage of nervousness, she tugged on her sleeve.
The miniscule act of keeping her fingers busy did mountains of wonders for her mental coping ability.
"Ms. Montez?" Lyla murmured. She regarded her teacher like she would a wild animal. She was unpredictable, one of Lyla's least favorite attributes in another human being.
Ms. Montez flicked her head up and smiled a dazzling smile.
"Yes Ms. Daniels?"
Lyla chewed on the inside of her cheek. After her introduction by Ms. Montez at the beginning of the week she was terrified of asking her about anything.
She was far too personable.
"I left my anxiety medication in my room. May I have a pass?"
Lyla's cheeks turned ruby red as different scenarios of how Ms. Montez would more than likely respond made her chest lock.
"Of course." She smiled.
"Mr. Tyler?!" She raised her voice to draw Jesse's attention.
Cement flowered in to her bones, freezing her.
Out of all the possibilities that her mind had conjured up, this was not one of them.
Soon She felt a hot body standing beside her. Radiating tension like He was an electrical power source.
He was almost as stiff as she was.
"Ms. Daniels needs to go to her room to retrieve her medication. Would you be so kind to escort her?" Ms. Montez's eyes glimmered with complacency at the boy's noticeably stricken face.
This was clearly just a small piece of payback that she had in store for the young man.
He opened his mouth then snapped it shut, deciding to let her have this victory.
The walk to Lyla's room was excruciating, a wall of dense silence clung between them like a force field. It nearly drove her mad. She quickened her pace, eager to get this grotesque awkwardness out of the way.
Once they reached her dorm she rushed inside to her desk. Jesse on the other hand took the liberty of analyzing her side of the room.
He stopped In front of her dresser and stared at the medium size picture frame that Lyla brought with a handful of other things from her old life.
It had the picture of her, Rick and her mother from last year's Thanksgiving filling it's boarders with happiness.
"Who are they?" Jesse asked.
His voice was calm and collected, but she could sense his reservation about being alone with her in a room.
Lyla felt herself stiffen and she turned around to face him.
She wrapped her arms behind her back and cleared her throat.
"My Mom and her boyfriend. Rick."
She tugged on the ends of her hair as the razor sharp needles of sorrow stung her lungs.
She tried to take slow deep breaths to steady her climbing pulse.
"Why the need for medication? Did you get bullied or something." He grumbled with annoyance.
Lyla felt a prickle of aggravation swirl through her body.
"I wasn't bullied. I have a mild form of PTSD." She muttered.
She couldn't fathom the reasoning behind his sudden interest in her but quite honestly she didn't care for it too much.
Jesse's brows knitted together as he studied her. The weight of his heavy metaled eyes nearly crushed her.
"What happened?"
For the first time since they've crossed paths he was actually being amiable toward her. The sudden mood change made her do something she didn't quite expect herself to do.
She stepped toward him catching him off guard. Then everything happened in slow motion.
He fell backward, colliding with her dresser. The contents on it's surface showered over him, each of the small trinkets including the picture frame, crashed into his head.
Lyla roared with laughter as Jesse pulled out of the awkward position he had fallen into.
Her stomach muscles ached like she had done a hundred sit ups.
"Are you okay?" She said through tears of humor.
Jesse's face was red with humiliation, he straightened himself and cleared his throat.
"You think that's funny?" He sliced his eyes into hers with a wicked smile.
Lyla felt herself gulp.
Jesse gaited toward her ever so slowly, like a panther trapping it's prey.
Instinctively Lyla backed up, her back digging into the edge of her desk.
He was now barely a centimeter away from her. The warmth of his breath rushed against her face, sending tingles down her arms and legs.
She was rendered speechless.
He leaned his face toward her, stopping just a fraction away from her ear.
Her heart began to palpitate slamming viciously over and over again into her rib cage.
For a moment, just a slither of a second.. she'd thought he was going to kiss her. The idea horrified her to such an extent that the hairs on the back of her neck rose. But in the same breath, in the miniscule part of her brain that operated out of honesty, it thrilled her. It Sent delicious warmth rippling through her lower abdomen and her heart betrayed Her with a flutter.
"Not so funny now is it?" He breathed. A look of satisfaction glistened in his chrome colored eyes.
Lyla swallowed.
Her throat felt so dry she could have sworn she'd never had a drop of water in all seven-teen years of her life.
"We should get back to class." She coughed.
Jesse stepped aside almost immediately and Lyla found herself missing the warmth of his body.
Lyla grabbed her dinner tray and made her way to sit next to Dee.
They've struck up a friendship of sorts and not long after Miles joined their little inner circle. she assumed it was more for her benefit than his own.
He seemed to be quite a hot commodity at school. Half of the girls shot him seductive looks any time his eyes traveled around the room. The other half shot Dee and her looks of contempt.
"That doesn't even make sense!" Dee hissed glaring a look of cruel disbelief at Miles.
Miles groaned and dropped his head on to the table.
"It does make sense. You should pick up a comic book sometime." He muttered into the table.
"I'm guessing you guys are still debating on whether Spiderman's abilities are plausible or not?" Lyla chimed in.
Dee stuck her lip out in a pout and Miles smiled brilliantly.
"Why am I the only one that thinks superheros are for the birds."
"Super awesome birds." Miles smirked.
"So about the field trip, are you going Dee?" Lyla said stuffing her mouth full of flavorless ravioli.
Dee's expression looked like Lyla had grown a third head in the mere seconds that she sat down at their table.
"Of course I'm going and your coming with me." She said matter of fact.
"As long as you both agree to drop this week long argument." Lyla rolled her eyes.
Her two new friends nodded in agreement.
Dee locked her arm around Lyla's and drug her toward the bleachers.
Jay, Dee's boyfriend and a few other students had decided to play a game of football, and Dee was determined to show her boyfriend her undying support.
"See the one in the red shirt?" Dee said pointing to a tall and lanky boy with greasy looking hair that reached to his chin.
Lyla nodded.
"That's Jay. He's a fantastic athlete." She sighed.
Lyla tried to focus, but she was far more distracted by Jesse, whom was wearing a black shirt that matched his shaggy hair.
She had grown use to the fact that she was able to spot him in a sea of a million students just by the way he moved. He walked with almost a feline air. Graceful and fluid like melted gold.
"Your doing it again." Dee said amused.
Lyla jerked her head to her friend and her cheeks sizzled.
"I'm not doing anything." She protested.
Dee chortled and begun making sloppy kissing faces at her.
Lyla slumped, laying her face in her hands.
"It's okay. Every female in this school thinks he's hot."
Lyla glared at her.
"I don't think he's hot!" She growled.
Dee rolled her eyes and let the subject evaporate into thin air.
Lyla had to admit she actually liked watching the boy's play, but when she saw Jesse's hands reaching for the hem of his shirt, her heart nearly stopped beating.
Her navel burned with anticipation and something foreign and sweet blazed in her chest.
His stomach was ridged with hard muscles and the flexing of his arms showed off his strength. Her favorite asset of his was the V of his hips.
She wanted to trace his indented lines with the tip of her index finger.
"Okay now your just flat out drooling." Dee teased.
"Shut up." Lyla hissed.
There was a dome of negative energy that encased the campus like a bubble since Lyla had arrived.
Jesse was thankful for it. It gave him something to do. When he wasn't worried about getting too close to Lyla, he was killing different entities left and right.
Him, Ash and Ky even turned it into a game of sorts counting kill points an lethality points. Lyla was a magnet for these creatures, and it was his fault.
It was hard to push away the self loathing that kept lingering around his mind like a phantom smoke of insecurity. He tried his best to drown it out, but he knew a horrible truth. The girl lost her mother because of him.
He had heard her talking in the cafeteria, thanks to his heightened hearing. He would have to go on the field trip on Monday. An outing he would usually pass up.
He felt himself smile when he remembered the few times Dee had called Lyla out about her fascination with him.
He twisted his lips disapprovingly at his own thoughts. This was the kind of distraction he didn't need.
But, his need to protect her grew day by day. He could feel them being pulled closer and closer together. He tried at no end to resist the temptation. It would only cause more chaos. But his will was beginning to melt away. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep his distance.
He was perched on the top of the boys dormitory, kneeling on the edge and scanning the grounds.
Hanging on the outskirts of the campus, just a few feet out of the forest was a Marchosias demon.
What mundanes would consider to be a werewolf in their twisted idea of romance stories.
They were no where near as attractive as one would think.
They looked like starving winged wolves with tails that resembled a rattlesnake.
They traveled in packs, the lead Marchosias would be three times larger than it's subordinates.
Jesse grimaced.
It was lucky that he'd acquired several leather jackets through out his lifetime.
The one he was wearing was as good as dead.
He pressed his earpiece, connecting to Ash and Ky.
"On the outskirts." He said maneuvering his fingerless black gloves out of his weapons belt, and a canister of purified water made out of Quartz.
His version of purified water was different than what you would see in vampire movies.
It wasn't only water that was prayed over and blessed. It was the very same water that flowed through the light realm. Feeding the realm with it's pure reviving liquid. Water blessed by the creator himself, specifically for his kind to use to aid them in their quest to rid the cosmos of these vile creatures.
"Daddy Marchosias incoming. Might want to keep your eyes on the sky." Said ash, Jesse detected slight humor in his voice.
"It's fine, I'll take the daddy so you boys can baby sit. I hear their real ankle bitters." Jesse smirked.
Then a nasty howl, one that sounded like the roar of a lion and wolf mangled together cut through the atmosphere with the song of rage.
He shuddered, the same kind of quiver that rolled over his skin if he heard nails scraping down a chalk board..
Regina was going to have a lot of cleaning up to do. These particular fights ended in alot of scattered remains.
He pressed the button on his watch, it was a direct line to her earpiece.
"What is it now?" Regina said in a tired voice. She was just as worn as he was since the spike of demonic activity. Even if they didn't need sleep, a body could only go for so long without rest.
"There's a pack of Marchosias demons behind Your building." His lips curved with amusement.
He could already imagine the look of revulsion on her face. They were her least favorite, to her they were as gruesome as slugs.
"This time, try to lure them away from the garden. I've seen Lyla sitting around the garden bed, she seems rather fond of it."
Jesse felt the warmth rush through him at the mention of her name and clenched his teeth. The urges were growing stronger and stronger.
The desire to be a complete idiot and damn them both.
"Got it."
He ended the call.
The sound of wings coming in fast behind him made him whirl around.
He was just fast enough to remove the lid of the quartz canister and throw the contents onto the creatures face.
A sick cry of pain rang through the air as the water acted as acid and burned away the beasts flesh.
He was thankful that most of the time these kind of demons were hard to be seen or heard by humans.
There would be an uproar of fear on the campus if the students had even the slightest inkling of what bumped in the night.
The creature crashed on to the roof, sticking it's paws out to stop itself from falling off of the edge.
Jesse smiled wickedly as the creatures legs refused to grip.
He heard what sounded like a dog yelping as it crashed toward the ground.
Jesse leaped off of the building, landing on bent knee's with one hand holding the ground beneath him.
The corner of his mouth twisted into a menacing smile. His eyes glistened with hunger. The hunted had become the hunter.
"For a leader you lack manners. You ought to teach your inbred kids that it's rude to interrupt a rather important phone conversation." He jeered.
The creatures mouth curled over it's canine's and it growled a horrible throat ripping sound. Thick strands of drool dripping from its teeth and red eyes that slitted like a snake.
Jesse could hear the rattle of it's tail, a tell tale signal of it's growing aggravation.
He heaved the quartz dagger out of his weapons belt, circling around the Marchosias in a protective crouch.
"Come here boy, Let's play fetch!" he whistled.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Jesse slung his essence infused dagger into the demons chest.
The skin around the dagger corroded instantly, spreading over the demon like a fast growing mold. He should have aimed for the heart, but he was in the mood to play with his food.
The beast howled in pain and blistering fury. he charged toward Jesse, grabbing him by the sleeve of his jacket and tossing him at least twelve feet into the air.
Jesse did a flip and landed on the branch of the tree just beside his building.
His teeth pierced his lip at the impact, the taste of copper welling in his mouth. He smiled an the crack in his lip widened, painting his chin with wet rubies.
"Stop playing with it damnit." Ash said with elation. That was were him and Jesse were kindred souls. They both loved the adrenaline that swarmed through their bodies when they fought.
Jesse drew his sword out, jumping from the branch to land directly Infront of the creature.
The Marchosias lunged forward, it's sharp knife like talons ripping across Jesse's midsection.
Jesse grunted, holding his breath to prevent the pain from disabling him.
He slashed out, thrusting the blade in to the creatures chest. It's body slowing turning the color of ash, hairline cracks unfurling over the demons body, disintegrating into a pile of rotten dust.
Jesse laid back on the grass, lifting his shirt to see the nasty marks carved into his abdomen.
"I think your bleeding." Ky said with pleasure.
Jesse glared at him, silver bolts of lightening setting Ky a blaze.
Ash appeared just a few steps beside him. Kneeling to examine Jesse's wound, Jesse winced.
"We'll handle the rest of them." Ash muttered unconcerned.
That was another characteristic that he admired about Ash. He was quick with words and knew when a situation was severe enough.
Jesse nodded, lifting himself from the ground. He pressed his hand over his stomach and disappeared in a blue electric storm of transparent clouds.
A more primal howl vibrated through the air.
The leader's mate had undoubtedly felt the loss of it's companion falling at Jesse's hands.
"He had to leave us with the widow." Ky groaned.
"Hell hath no fury." Ash smiled with a horrible curve of his lips.