Page 13 of A Wicked Dance of Obsidian and Light (Echoes of Darkness #1)

Sitting on the exam table in one of the rooms reserved for the hospital on the third floor of the compound, I scroll on my phone as I wait for Dr. Corey to do the full-body checkup Grayson ordered of me. I have at least two hundred missed calls and some very colorful voice messages from Sam over the weekend, but nothing else backed up to the cloud, not even a single missed call from Aunt Josephine.

The clock on my brand-new phone screen shows it’s six p.m., so I don’t have much time until I have to start my shift. I already showered and changed with some spare clothes I always keep at the compound for after my training sessions. I hope the doctor will finish the exam quickly because I’m starting to get hungry, and I don’t want to start my shift on an empty stomach again. That would really suck.

This day feels like the longest day on Earth, and tiredness is seeping into my bones. All I want to do is hop off the roller coaster of emotions I’ve been trapped into from the moment I woke up this morning.

Taking a deep breath in and expelling it through my mouth, I stare at the white wall of the doctor’s office, indecisiveness plaguing my mind. I don’t know what to do. I miss Noah so much, but I don’t want to get sucked into my feelings for him again. I barely managed to get over him, and it required a lot of tequila, gallons of ice cream, and some really questionable choices. I fire a text to Sam, needing her advice.

Me: Noah is back. He wants to talk. What should I do???

My phone immediately pings with her reply.

Sam: WH AT?!?!?

NO FUCKING WAY!!!

Are you sure it was him and not a ghost?

I smile and roll my eyes at her words.

Me: 100% sure ?????? It was him I saw all right. I did do a double take when I saw him in Grayson’s office. I thought I was having a stroke.

Sam : Shit.

Are you ok?

Do you want me to come kick his lyi ng ass?

The string of messages come one after another. Sam is one of those people who isn’t patient enough to send a full text; she just isn’t wired like that.

Me: Yeah, I think so. Actually…I don’t know if I’m ok.

I don’t know what to do. Should I go talk to him or not? He’s waiting for me at our spot in the garden…if I don’t show up, he promised he won’t bother me again. He told me he was sorry and that he wants to explain ever ything…

Sam: Maybe you should go and see what he has to say.

You never did get any closure. Dick punch him for me when you finish your talk, though.

Wait. Is he sti ll hot?

The door opens, and I look up from the phone, putting it on silent. Dr. Corey walks in and stops in front of me. “What can I do for you today, Iris?” he asks with a warm smile. He’s a very handsome man with deep, ebony skin that creates an unusual contrast with his natural, almost whiteish blond buzz cut and hazel eyes.

“Grayson told me to do a full exam. I was attacked by a demon this weekend, and he sent me here. He wants to see if I’m okay…at least, I guess that’s what he wants,” I mumble the last part mostly to myself while I look back at my phone. A few unread messages are flooding my screen.

Sam: ????? C’mon Iris. I want t o know.

What are best frien ds for?

OMG.

I totally forgot!

What did you tell G rayson?

How did the meet ing go?

I quickly type a reply. I don’t want to be rude toward Doctor Corey, but I know Sam is like a dog with a bone and will send me a thousand texts if I don’t answer her right this second.

Me: Jesus! YES, he is still hot. Actually, he is even hotter than when he left. He’s all man now. Now stop being a psycho and stop sending me 100 texts. I’m at the doctor’s office getting a full exam—Grayson’s orders. Talk to you lat er. Xx

The sun is setting on the horizon, painting the sky in vibrant orange and magenta hues as I descend the stairs at the back patio of the mansion, making my way toward the garden. As Sam said, I need closure. Even if I don’t owe it to Noah to listen to what he has to say, I owe it to younger Iris, the one with the broken heart. Maybe I can finally close that chapter in my life forever and allow myself to fall in love again. Even though I repeat like a mantra in my head over and over again that I don’t feel anything for him anymore, I know deep down that he is the reason I refuse to go further with anyone else.

The fragrant lilac air fills my lungs as I start walking on the pebbled mosaic garden path, passing the luxuriant lilac shrubs and a few hawthorn trees in full bloom on my way to our spot, as Noah called it. It was my spot at first, where I used to hide from the scrutinizing eyes of the other Order members and enjoy the beautiful garden as I sat on the grass, resting my back on the tree trunk or sprawled on a blanket under the ancient oak tree and did my homework or prepared for an exam. After that night in the training room, Noah met me there almost every day and it quickly became our spot. I did my homework as he read a book or helped me study.

The massive oak tree looms over the wrought iron bench Noah is seated on. The bench wasn’t here before; I wasn’t aware of the change until this moment. I haven’t been back in this spot since he left. It hurt too much.

He’s slightly bent over, looking at the ground, lost in thought, his elbows resting on his knees. His messy honey-blond hair is slumped over his forehead, covering his eyes. When Noah hears me approach, he lifts his head. Gray eyes flit to mine with a glint of relief.

“You came,” he says as he straightens, pushing the hair out of his eyes.

“That doesn’t mean I forgive you, Noah. You don’t know what it’s been like for me…” I swallow through the lump in my throat and continue, “So, talk. I don’t have much time.” My tone drips with iciness as I sit down stiffly on the other side of the bench, leaving as much space as possible between us.

God, it feels so weird to sit with him again under the oak tree, as if we are frozen in time, and he never left.

“I guess I deserve that,” he sighs, looking down. “I wish things were different. I wish that day my parents told me they had a special mission and we had to leave the country never came because I would still have you. We would already be married by now, I’m sure of it.”

He scrunches his eyebrows and shakes his head, continuing, “If there is one thing I deeply regret is that I waited so long to ask you out on a date. I was so fucking stupid, waiting for almost two years. Jesus, Iris, I fell in love with you the moment I saw you for the first time. I still am in love with you…I never stopped.”

He meets my gaze, and the pain in his glistening, smokey eyes lands like a blow to my solar plexus. A tear crests over my eyelashes and rolls down my cheek. I break the eye contact and wipe at it quickly with trembling fingers.

Ugh, stupid fucking feelings.

My jaw ticks. “If you were so in love with me, why did you let five years pass without even a message? How can I believe you cared so deeply for me when you treated me like yesterday’s trash, huh?” I demand angrily, still looking away from him, my heart raw, the old wounds I thought I had stitched carefully with tequila and sleepless nights threatening to open again and bleed me dry.

“When we arrived in Italy, my phone stopped working unexpectedly. I managed to find a repair shop and left it there, hoping they would fix it quickly. We were staying at a hotel, so I went back to my room, planning to call you, and that’s when I realized I didn’t have your phone number or any other number memorized. My parents already left on a secret mission they could tell me nothing about because it was classified. I waited for them to return so I could call Grayson from one of their phones and ask him for your number.”

He takes a deep breath and exhales shakily. “My parents…they never did come back. They were killed in that mission.” His words are laced with undisguised pain.

My head snaps back at him when I hear the last part. “What? Your parents are dead?” I pause and shake my head in disbelief. I take a deep breath and swallow before continuing, “Noah, I had no idea; I—I don’t know what to say.” I place my left hand over his, which rests on the bench in the empty space between us.

He turns it with his palm facing upward and interlocks our fingers, making my heart flutter at the contact. I withdraw it, though, after a few seconds. I’m sorry for what happened to him, but I can’t bear his touch anymore. The lines are already starting to get blurry, and I can’t let my feelings for him mess with my head again.

I tuck my freshly washed hair behind my ear. “But that was five years ago. Why didn’t you call to tell me what happened? I would have jumped on the first plane to get to you. You know that.”

“My parents were members of a special division in the Order called the Kabal. Everything they did was classified. A member of the Kabal contacted me in person at the hotel and told me an Elite demon killed them. He also told me I was supposed to be recruited into the special division, and that’s why my parents insisted so much that I moved there with them, but they never got to tell me. Everyone in my family had been a member—it was my birthright.”

Noah looks wistfully in the distance and continues, “I was so devastated by the news of what happened to my parents; I didn’t want anything to do with the Order anymore. I locked myself in my hotel room for a week, and even if I picked up my phone, I couldn’t reach out to anyone. My grief paralyzed me. If I didn’t call and tell you about their deaths, then it couldn’t have been real. If no one else knew…then maybe I could live in my bubble forever.”

He heaves out a deep sigh and his sad eyes lock with mine. The purple, darkening sky reflects into his irises, making them almost the same color as the rings outlining mine. He doesn’t say anything for at least a few seconds, just keeps me captive with the sadness in his kaleidoscope gaze. Then he starts talking again.

“The denial I was feeling soon turned into anger, and when the Kabal contacted me again, I told them I would join their special division if they let me kill the Elite demon. I wanted revenge, and that was the only way I could get it. They accepted my request, but I had to enroll in their special training program first, which lasted for three years. In the program, we weren’t allowed to contact anyone from our previous lives. Attachments to the past are not accepted in the Kabal. In order to become the killing machines they wanted us to be, we had to let everyone from our pasts go.”

Jesus, what the fuck?

Would he make up such an elaborate story just for me to forgive him?

No, that can’t be. Noah never lied to me before. And I know his parents traveled all the time, probably for those special secret missions. But I don’t know this new Noah sitting next to me on the bench. It all sounds way too freakin’ crazy not to be true, though. He wouldn’t lie about his parent’s death.

Maybe I should have gotten day drunk with Sam because all of this would have been much easier to digest if I was at least slightly buzzed.

“And what about when you finished your special training? Why didn’t you try to contact me then?” I inquire. “Why did you let two more years pass?”

“I didn’t think you would still want to hear from me after so much time. I was sure you had already moved on. Look at you, Iris, you’re gorgeous! You’re so beautiful, not only on the outside. Any man would be lucky to be with you,” he responds while his eyes rake over my body, a glint of desire shining in them.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have taken that decision from me. It was mine to make,” I scoff. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about your family. I know how much you loved your parents and how close you were to them. But what are you doing here, Noah? I don’t believe you appeared out of nowhere after five years just to have this conversation with me.”

“The Kabal sent me. They monitor every ley line in the world, especially in the cities where the Hell gates are located. Something caused a massive disturbance in the ley lines on Saturday around three a.m. I believe it has something to do with the demons that attacked you in the forest. The Kabal sent me to investigate the disturbance.”

My eyebrows draw together. “What are you talking about?”

“There are mutinies in Hell. The Kabal managed to trap a lesser demon in the Seal of Solomon about a year ago. After a few months of continuous torture, the demon started singing like a bird. It told us the leaders of the mutinies in Hell are getting more and more powerful. A lot of demons want to overthrow Lucifer, especially after he signed the Celestial Treaty,” he replies.

“The Seal of Solomon? Aren’t witches the only ones who can trap demons into that seal?” I ask, bewildered.

“The Kabal is working with a few dark witches. We get our missions directly from an archangel, so the organization is on another level than the Order and doesn’t play by the same rules. Anyway, the situation is dire. Lucifer went into hiding, and Hell is in disarray. I’m afraid something big is coming.”

So Kaiden was telling the truth after all. I pretend this is the first time I heard of such a thing and feign shock. “And Grayson knows about this? About everything you’re telling me? Am I even allowed to know all of these things?” I ask with urgency.

“Grayson knows that I’m a member of the Kabal. He was told I was going to arrive today with a special mission to find what caused the disturbance in the ley lines and that he is supposed to help me in any way he can. He doesn’t know about the mutinies or Lucifer. I trust you will not say anything to anyone about it. And no, you’re not supposed to know any of the things I told you; everything is classified.”

He scoots closer to me on the bench and takes my hands in his, pinning me in place with his burning gaze. “Something big is coming and you’ve already gotten hurt by those demons in the woods. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you again. I can’t lose you too,” Noah’s voice trails off on a broken whisper.

Looking away, I swallow, trying to escape the emotion shining in his eyes, but I don’t withdraw my hands this time. I look at the sky, needing a moment to take in everything he told me, from the death of his parents to the secret organization and his declaration of love.

Dusk settles around us, and I take a deep breath, filling my lungs with the perfumed evening primrose air. I don’t have much time until I have to start my shift.

“I have no words, honestly. Everything you’ve told me is so,” I search for the right word, “convoluted.” With a deep sigh, I get up from the bench. “I need to go; I still have to take some new weapons from the armory before my shift. I also need a new onyx stone.”

Noah stands up at the same time as I do and stops me by placing his fingers softly on my left elbow. “Would you consider giving me another chance? I missed you so much. I want to be in your life again. There’s nothing I want more in this world.”

“I don’t know. I need time to process all of this. I can’t give you an answer right now.”

A soft breeze tingles the back of my neck, lifting a few strands of my hair, blowing them into my face. Noah steps closer. The tips of his shoes touch mine as he grazes his knuckles over my cheek slowly before tucking the strands of hair under my left ear. A shiver works its way down my spine at the gentle touch. He’s so close I can feel the ghost of his breath on my lips. The silver light cast by the moon dances in his eyes, making them glow.

“At least let me be your friend again,” he almost whispers.

I inch back to break our connection. I’m surprised there isn’t a hole in the ground between my feet with how hard I’m staring at it. “As I said, I need time.”

“Take all the time you need. I’m ready to wait however long you think is necessary. But I will also need your help with the investigation. Can you please take me to the place in the national park where the demons attacked you?”

“Yeah, I can do that. Let’s meet up tomorrow. Call me around twelve; that’s when I usually wake up after my shift.” I take another step. “Bye, Noah,” I say as I put more distance between us, taking the pebbled path back to the mansion.

“Wait, what’s your number?” Noah shouts after me.

“It’s the same one. I never changed it,” I shoot back over my shoulder.

I always hoped you’d call.