The horrible moment passed and Breandan's face gentled into exasperation and impatience. The shift was so fast; I floundered, unable to account for the sudden change. Chuckling to himself, his arm propelled me towards the door picking up my bag as we went.
"Walk me out," he said cheerfully, he even had a spring in his step.
Wasn't I doing a dandy job of extracting myself from this situation? I was meant to be in my room by now, waiting for my guest to wake up so I could answer his questions and get rid of him. Instead, I was walking out a fairy that seemed happy to be in mortal peril, for that was the situation for any demon on Temple grounds.
"You have my word no harm will ever come to you that will be of my making," a voice said in my ear. I turned to look Breandan in the eyes, sincere and warm. "I will always protect you. Even when you don't me to," he added after a small pause.
"I'm not afraid," I said tartly and took a half step before drawing deep and taking another larger one. I lowered my voice, "And I can take care of myself. By doing what you did back there you've painted a big target on my back. I need to be careful after what happened this morning and you are putting me in danger by just being here, and throwing your weight around. Devlin is a Disciple, a popular one at that. He could get me into serious trouble. Besides, I think I'd be safer with him than I ever would with you."
He raised an eyebrow then became thoughtful.
As we left Sanctuary, cool air blew into my face and the speckles of ash that floated by were comforting, familiar. It was tinged with smoke now the fires had been lit in preparation for the night. The days were short so close to winter.
Breandan moved ahead of me and took my hand. Before long I heard a group of Disciples nearby, their high and happy voices floating through the dark coming straight toward us. He turned so we no longer walked on the path to the main gate but out onto the lawn surrounding the Temple, into the darkness. Over my shoulder I saw Devlin followed silently and he didn't look alarmed but rather annoyed. Rather than an all-dark figure, I made out his angular features and the green of his eyes. With a start I realized everything looked lighter, and then I saw why. Breandan's tattooed skin glowed in the dark. It was like he wanted to get caught. Like he really didn't care Devlin could name him as demon.
Said boy pushed between us, and grabbed my hand to pull me forward. My skin crawled. I tried to pull away but he held on firmly. Breandan held on and stopped moving. I was stuck between the two and Devlin was determined to keep going, so I squeaked when my arms nearly yanked out of their sockets. Brendan growled, literally hunched his back and bared his teeth. The sound was a low rumble, but resonated loud enough to be taken as a warning. Despite this display he had to let me go to avoid hurting me, but he was not happy about it.
Devlin barely broke stride as he half turned and smirked. Turning back to my puzzled face, he feigned innocence. "Possessive isn't he?"
I looked over my shoulder and sent Breandan a wobbly smile. The reason known only to the complicated workings of my heart, I wanted to reassure him that I was okay. Jaw working soundlessly, he walked close behind us and kept his eyes locked on Devlin's long fingers wrapped around mine.
Devlin let my hand go and I sighed in relief, we reached the Temple wall and I wondered what was coming next. Breandan seemed quite unconcerned at how this was turning out, and I was curious to see where this adventure was headed next. Seriously, where was it headed? There was no way through the barrier here unless you could jump higher than twenty feet like a vampire, or scale smooth, seamless concrete.
"Rae, place your hands over your eyes" Devlin said.
I planted my feet, ready to fight it out. Whatever these boys were planning would not go down as easy as they thought. "I will not close my eyes. Do you think I'm that stupid?"
He blinked in shock; face dumbly surprised. It was like he'd never been told 'no' before.
The side of Breandan's mouth tugged up. "Please close your eyes," he simplified.
