Chapter 33
Random Town
Sofya
A few hours later we finally reached the town, A few meters down the street I spotted a hotel and I bolted. I desperately wanted to be clean. I still had bloody clothes on, literally.
"Sofya!" The others yelled at me, but I didn't care. I needed a soft warm bed and shower pronto.
I reached the lobby and ran up to the desk. The lady looked up to me and gasped.
"How may I help you, young lady?" She asked, her gaze looking over my horrible appearance, I probably looked like a terrorist or something.
"Can I have two rooms with two queen beds?" I asked.
"Um, we only have one room with two queen beds left, will that be good?" Well, it meant one of us was sleeping on the floor or three smashed in a bed, but it was better than not getting a room.
"Sure, the card number is 344766102348, and we will be staying here for three nights," I said, I had memorized my old foster parent's card number, just in case I forgot the card. I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Yeah, right. Just like they would mind a bird crapping on their heads.
"Thanks for choosing us, hope you have a nice stay." The lady said handing me a card with the room number stamped on it.
"Thanks," I replied, then turned around to see the rest of the gang behind me. The lady gawked at us. I was a little concerned she was having a stroke.
"Got the key guys," I said cheerfully. Ash walked up to me, scowling.
"You do not run off by yourself. Do you have any idea how many people want us dead? Alek's spies could be anywhere." He said, his voice near a growl, clearly pissed off. I frowned. I had forgotten that I should've been looking out for danger. But it wasn't as if I couldn't take care of myself.
"How about right in front of me," I muttered, turning my head down from his hurt gaze. I know, that was a bit harsh but he couldn't be trusted. Not truly. Not how I wanted to.
He placed two fingers under my chin, warming my skin, and lifted my head back up with surprising gentleness. His expression had softened drastically. I could see the emotions dancing in his eyes. I bit my lip, feeling a tad guilty,
"I can't lose you too Sof." I nodded again, stepping out of his grasp. My head feeling foggy and dazed. I had wanted to kiss him, but that was not a good idea. I looked over at the others, Lucy was speaking with Maxon, and Nico was lounging in one of the chairs. I skipped over to him.
"Guess what I got?" I said triumphantly. Nico turned to me with a lazy smile on his face.
"That's nice Sofya, but have you changed your decision? I saw you talking to Ash." He said, he glanced over at Ash who was talking with Lucy and Maxon. Nico lowered his voice.
"Sofya I'm pretty sure that Ash loves you. Ash is my best friend and I've known him for a very long time. He's head over heels for you. I can tell when he is hurting, and he is. Sofya, you can see that right? And don't think I don't see you acting the same. Don't realize it too late, okay?" I gulped. Nico thinks that Ash loves me as well?
I took a glimpse at Ash, he was looking at me with a pained expression like a lost puppy. He quickly looked away. Nico was right, Ash was hurting, but did he really love me? He couldn't possibly. I looked back at Nico.
"I will reconsider my options here, but I can't promise anything," I said. Nico looked pleased.
We walked over to the others. "Let's go to the room because I don't know about you guys but I'm ready to clean up." They all grinned at me. I turned around and bolted up the stairs and to room 234.
I rushed into the room. I eyed the soft beds and sighed in delight. Everyone piled into the room.
"We obviously need new clothes." I declared because I was absolutely not putting these filthy clothes back on, nope. Lucy nodded.
"Nico and I will go get clothes. Maxon, I need you to go see if Enzo is here yet. Sofya you'll stay here. Ash, you guard her so she doesn't do anything stupid." I glowered at her. I was not ready to be alone with Ash, and I did not do stupid things. Actually, the more I thought about that the more I realized it was true. I did do stupid things.
"We'll be back as soon as possible," Lucy said grabbing Nico's hand and hauling him out of the room. Before he left Nico winked at me, traitors, they were obviously trying to get us together. Not going to work buddy. Ash cleared his throat, his eyes flickering over to me.
"I'm going to get extra pillows and blankets. I'll be back in a sec."
"Wait, Ash?" I asked. He turned back around.
"Yeah?" I gulped, his eyes bore into mine, sending electricity through my veins.
"Can you get some scissors?" I asked. He squinted in confusion. What? I needed a haircut, don't judge. Ash gave a small smile.
"Sure." He said not questioning my insanity. Then he left, so it was just me and Maxon standing in the room. Maxon turned to me, giving me a small grin.
"Well, I'll be back in a bit, but before I go. I just want to let you know Sofya, I think Ash loves you. You're all my friends and I want you and Ash to be happy. Don't realize your feelings too late. I can tell you both are very upset. You may not see it now but you're stronger together, remember that." He said, patting my shoulder, then he dashed away. What was wrong with them! They must have freakin' planned this, assholes. Also, he was one to talk about not fessing up feelings.
I stood with my mouth hung open, just as Ash came back in. I snapped my mouth shut and stared at him. He was way too gorgeous, but I could see the pain in his eyes, his pretty, pretty eyes. I thought for a minute, and I realized they were maybe right and I was maybe a fool. I cared about Ash and I knew he cared about me. It might be love it might not be, but if I don't act on it then it will be nothing.
I was still taking this slowly and cautiously. Because even with their suspicions, I didn't know if Ash loved me and what the consequences would be if we were together or what I felt or could feel. It was all unknown. But I suppose going into the unknown was, taking risks was how brilliant discoveries were made. Sometimes you just had to jump off the cliff.
"You ok?" Ash asked me, raising an eyebrow. I blinked.
"Huh? Oh, um yeah." I said blush filling my cheeks. I totally had just been staring at him. A slight grin pulled at his lips.
"You go take a shower, you need it." He said walking by me handing me the scissors, sniffing, then plugging his nose. I slugged him in the arm and grabbed the scissors with my other hand. "What was that for." He whined. I grinned.
"For saying I stink."
"I didn't say that, I said you needed a shower." I shrugged.
"It was implied, good enough," I said, marching towards the shower. I took one last glance back, to see him chuckling. I slammed the bathroom door shut and stripped, relieved to be rid of the blood-stained clothes. I threw the damaged clothes in the trash. I gazed at my reflection in the mirror. I had lost some weight, since we've not really had a normal eating schedule or availability of food, and there were big bags under my eyes.
I fingered the red gem on my neck, this thing was dangerous. It was from Ash, but that wasn't why I kept it on. I kept in on all these years because it resembled hope. Hope that everything would eventually be okay. I had never taken it off in my life and I never would.
I started the shower. I had forgotten about the strip of cloth over my arm, setting it on the counter. I took it off, examining the markings, they were beautiful. I picked up the comb and scissors then started hacking my hair off.
Once I was finished it came just above my shoulders. I smiled at my reflection then threw the hair in the trash can. Then I stepped into the burning hot shower. I sighed, this was wonderful. I could stand here all day. Not really but it felt oh so very nice.
I shampooed and conditioned my hair, and cleaned everywhere, there was even a razer. Once I was done, I felt refreshed. I wrapped a fluffy towel around me, and the piece of cloth back around my wrist. Then I realized I had no clothes, dang it. Well towel, it was. I exited the steamy bathroom, Ash was lounging on the ground, reading a book. He glanced up and his gaze wandered over my body.
"Nice haircut." He said standing up, towering over me. He touched the ends, then abruptly stepped away. Blush spread across my cheeks.
"You can shower now," I said, scurrying over to the bed, grabbing the TV remote, and then jumping onto the very soft bed. Now, this was heaven.
Ash nodded, then disappeared into the bathroom. I turned on a show about vampires, it was called The Vampire Diaries. Glad those didn't exist, but maybe demons and angels were worse, at least some of them were, cough, cough Alek and his minions.
About an hour later, I heard Ash come out of the bathroom. I immediately turned towards him. My eyes widened. He only had a towel wrapped loosely around his waist. Around his shoulders and top of his chest, were white and navy blue markings, that looked like Celtic knots, connected together with spirals, it was beautiful.
I gasped, it was the same markings on my wrist. Well, he didn't need to know that. No one did, or at least not yet. Ash's eyes darted to mine, burning desire dancing in his eyes. I could feel the heat spreading to my cheeks. He walked across the room and stretched out on the other bed.
"Ash, what are those marks?" I asked, my voice shaking, I really needed a distraction, before I did something I was going to regret, maybe. He just shrugged, as if it was no big deal, maybe it wasn't.
"I don't know, I try to find something about it tomorrow, but my guess is that it has to do with turning eighteen. I saw a picture of my great grandfather and he had the same marks. When I asked my dad, he didn't specify but he said I would get them at eighteen. So I'm assuming it has to do with being part seraphim." I nodded, still staring at the marks in awe. Wait a minute, what was the date? I had not been paying attention but I knew Ash's birthday was only a month before mine, so my birthday must be close. Man, this was not how I dreamed I'd spend my eighteenth birthday. Suddenly the door flew open, and I jolted up in surprise. Lucy and Nico, came bounding in, with a bunch of bags in their arms.
"We got clothes!" Lucy exclaimed, all giddy. Seriously? It was clothes. Lucy started hurling clothes at me. Lacy underwear hit me in the face, along with jeans, a black lacy nightgown, a few tops, and a bunch of black leather clothing. I grimaced that the only pajamas were the black lacy nightgowns. You've got to be kidding me. Lucy, come on!
I grabbed it and stomped over to the bathroom to change. What did I have to do to get a nice pair of sweatpants? Gosh. As soon as this debacle was over I was heading straight to the store to get me some sweat pants and then I would be never getting out of bed again. Mark my words.
I quickly put it and some underwear on then went back to the bed. Ash had changed as well. He had put on some loose cotton pants but was still shirtless. I struggled to bring my gaze up to his face, and when I did, he was smirking. Bastard, he knew what he did to me. Where the heck were the others? Oh, they had totally done this on purpose. The nerve.
I sucked in a breath and turned around. Ash was watching me, his eyes sparkling in delight. I scowled.
"What are you staring at?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Nothing."
I lumbered back over to my bed and collapsed. I was soooo tired, the room was getting darker and darker. Eventually, it sucked me in.
I screamed at the sight. A huge man in dark hooded robes stood before me, I couldn't make out his face, but I was sure it looked heartless. In his left hand he was holding a long silver sword splattered with blood, and in his right was Ash's limp body, a diagonal slash across his throat. See what you have done. The voice said, cold, and dripping with ice.
I bolted awake, screaming my head off. Tears streamed down my face, and I struggled to catch my breath. I felt warm strong arms bring me against a hard chest.
"Sh, it's ok, I got you." A familiar voice whispered in my ear, Ash. I slumped against him, my heart pounding. It wasn't real, it wasn't real. Repeated over and over in my head. Ash continued to rub my shoulders and whisper in my ear, till my breathing evened out. I turned to face him, burying my face against his chest.
"Thank you," I whispered, wrapping my arms around him, holding him as if my life depended on it.