Jennifer L. Armentrout

“What's your deal?" I asked in the hallway after class. "I know you did that."He shrugged. "So?" ... "That was rude, Daemon. You embarrassed him." ... "And I thought using your ... stuff would draw them here?" ... "That was barley a blip on the map. That didn't even leave a trace on anyone." He lowered his head until the edges of his dark curled brushed my cheek. I was caught between wanting to crawl into my locker or crawl into him. "Besides, I was doing you a favor." I laughed. "And how was that doing me a favor?"... "Studying math wasn't what he had in mind."That was debatable, but I decided to play along ... "And what if that's the case?""You like Simon?" His chin jerked up, anger flashing in his emerald eyes. "You can't possibly like him."... "Are you jealous? ... Your jealous of Simon?" I lowered my voice. "Of a human? For shame, Daemon.”

“Holy Hawt Chemisty, Batman!”

“You jerk."Grinning, he backed down the steps. "I'll see you at noon, Kitten.""I hate you," I hissed. "The feeling's mutual." He glanced over his shoulder. "Twenty bucks says you wear a once-piece swimsuit."He was insufferable.”

“My mouth opened as did the door behind us. Stomach dropping, I turned to see Mom standing there in all her fuzzy-bunny pajama glory. Oh for the love of God. Her eyes went from me to Daemon, completely misinterpreting everything. The glee in her eyes made me want to vomit on Daemon's head.”

“Anyway, back to the kids.""Well, one is a girl who looks about your age, and there's a boy." She grinned as she stood. "He's a hottie."A tiny piece of egg caught in my throat. It was seriously gross to hear Mom talking about boys my age. "Hottie? Mom that's just weird.”

“You know what?” His breath was warm against my cheek. “There are a lot of stupid things to do, but I really want to do the stupidest thing possible.”“What’s that?”“I want to kiss you.”

“You're perfect for me,' I whispered in my own language.”

“If she was mine, I'd cherish every inch of her. And I wanted to. Now”

“Ever since I’ve met you, I’ve wanted to break every rule.” Aiden turned away, the muscles in his neck tensing. He sighed. “You’ll become the centre of someone’s world one day. And he’ll be the luckiest son of a bitch on this earth.”

“Without thinking, I moved again, reaching out and touching the handresting near my thigh. Call it an experiment, but I wanted to see what would happenSeth’s head whipped in my direction. “What are you doing?”“Nothing.” And nothing was what happened. Confused, I wrapped my fingers around his.“Doesn’t look like nothing,” His eyes narrowed on me.“I guess so.” Giving up on my impromptu test, I lifted my hand. “Shouldn’t you be—” Whatever I was about to say died on my lips. Incredibly fast, Seth grabbed my hand and threaded his fingers through mine.“Is this what you wanted?” he asked, ever so casually.It happened. Being so close to him this time, I could see where the markings came from. The thick veins in his handwere the first to darken, branching out before spreading up his arm. Mesmerized, I watched the inky tats cover every piece of exposed skin. Before my eyes, they shifted away from his veins, swirling around his skin. Breaking off into different designs as he—we—continued to hold hands.”

“—Límpiate un poco —me lanzó una sonrisa maliciosa—. No puedo tener a mipequeña «Apollyon en prácticas» hecha un desastre.Cogí la toalla con fuerza.—Si alguna vez vuelves a decir una estupidez así, te asfixiaré mientras duermes.Levantó sus cejas doradas.—Pequeña Álex, ¿estas sugiriendo que durmamos juntos?”

“Desde la noche en que te vi en Georgiahas estado bajo mi piel. Te metiste dentro de mí, te convertiste en parte de mí. Nopuedo quitármelo. Está mal —Agapi mou, no puedo… —volvió a poner sus labios sobre los míos.”

“—El primero… el primero es siempre el más poderoso —cerró los ojos, suspirando—.Luego hay necesidad y destino. Ese es otro tipo. La necesidad se disfraza deamor, pero la necesidad… la necesidad nunca es amor. Ten siempre cuidado de quiente necesita. Siempre hay un querer tras una necesidad, sabes.”

“This guy was flipping my bitch switch like nothing else.”

“On a good day, the animosity levels between us were usually at CODE RED. Bad days they were at CODE I’M GOING TO KILL YOU.”

“Okay. You’re the best Apollyon there is.” He tipped his head to the side and arched a brow. “I’m the only Apollyon there is right now.” I grinned. “You’re still the best.”

“Cold up there, huh?” Yeah, it kind of was. “Stupid down there, huh?” Seth’s brows flew up. “For one in such a precarious position, you sure don’t know how to talk yourself out of it.” “That’s because it’s hard to reason with idiots.” I gave him a cheeky grin. “Why bother?”

“So childish, Alex. You’ve ruined her dress.” The vibrant red silk floated around me as I treaded water. “I know. Bad me.”

“How in the world did they just jump from politics, to a ball, and now to daimon attacks? And here I’d thought I had the attention span of an ant on Red Bull.”

“What do you think it means if someone has a tattoo of Thanatos’s symbol?” “Nothing probably, since a lot of us have tattoos of various symbols.” “You don’t.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them. His eyes turned from gray to silver in a heartbeat. I imagined he was remembering how I would know if he had a tattoo hidden somewhere.”

“One of my Instructors at the Covenant has a tattoo of it on his arm.” His lips pursed. “Minister Telly has one on his arm, too.” “How in the world do you know that?” We cut across the frost- covered lawn to one of the covered walkways connecting smaller buildings to the main one. “Have you been sneaking into his room and cuddling with him, too?” “Don’t be jealous. You’re my only cuddle bunny.”

“You know what, you need to stay out of my bedroom. You have your own.” He smiled. “I know I do. I see it quite often. I just prefer your bed. It smells better.” I made a face. “It smells better? What does your bed smell like? Regret and bad taste?”

“The little ball went up, then down, then up in his palm. My inner golden retriever couldn’t look away.”

“Hmm… I’m having this strange sense of déjà vu, except you were telling me to stay out of your training business, and I told you how weird—” “That’s funny.” Aiden’s full lips twisted into a smirk. “I’m having the same feeling, except I said you should—” “Oh, for the love of baby daimons everywhere, I’m ready to start practice.” I pushed up from the chair.”

“Seth threw me a mischievous grin. “I can’t have Marcus just walking in on us. What if I want to snuggle on these cold New York nights?”My frown increased. “We don’t snuggle.” He dropped his arm over my shoulder, and the scent of mint and something wild tickled my nose. “How about we cuddle?” “We don’t do that either.” “But you’re my cuddle bunny. My little Apollyon cuddle—” I punched him in the side.”

“Why are you such an ass?" The words came out before I could think twice."Everyone has to excel at something, right?""Well, you're doing a great job.”

“Oh, yeah.” Carissa nodded. “They were googley-eyed in class on Friday. It was pretty steamy, the whole ‘I’mscrewing you with my eyes’ thing they had going on.” I choked on my drink. “That was not what we were doing. We were talking!”

“You haven’t locked yourself in any rooms or rocked in any corners, right?”I rolled my eyes and began walking again. “No Daemon, but thanks for making sure I’m mentally sound and all.”

“Some powers come more easily to others, but Matthew rocks at reading energies.”“What?” I set my fork back down. “Our biology teacher is an alien? Holy crap…all I can think of is that movie The Faculty.” Dee choked on her orange juice. “We don’t snatch bodies.”I hoped not.”

“Aliens—if they exist—are little green men with big eyes and spindly arms or…or giant insects or something like a lumpylittle creature.” Daemon let out a loud laugh. “ET?”“Yes! Like ET, asshole. I’m so glad you find this funny.”

“You look like you got more of a bath than the car. I neverthought washing a car would be so hard, but after watching you for the last fifteen minutes, I’m convinced it should be an Olympic sport.”

“So the dickhead had a name. Daemon—seemed fitting. And of course his sister would be as attractive as him. Why not? Welcome to WestVirginia, the land of lost models.”

“Everything could come to a crashing end for us if we were caught, but it didn’t matter. Right now, being with him seemed worth whatever consequence could come from it. This was right, like it was meant to be. There was no logical explanation for it.”

“It was just a hug, but gods, it meant so much. It meant everything.”

“People do the damndest things when they’re in love.”

“Need covers itself with love, but need… need is never love. Always beware of the one who needs you. There is always a want behind a need, you see.”

“Two people see each other across a room or their skin brushes. Their souls recognize the person as their own. It doesn’t need time to figure it. The soul always knows… whether it’s right or wrong.”

“ALEX: “How come you smile when you knock me down?”AIDEN: “It’s the little things that make me happy.”

“There was something romantic about all of it, in the way he cradled my cheek when his mouth returned to mine and whispered my name like I was some kind of mystery he’d never be able to figure out.”

“And this is why you don’t want me to be friends with Dee, because you were afraid that I’d find out the truth?”“That, and you’re a human. Humans are weak. They bring us nothing but trouble.”My eyes narrowed. “We aren’t weak. And you’re on our planet. How about a little respect, buddy.”Amusement flickered in his emerald eyes. “Point taken.”

“I bet you think things through, right? Accept candyfrom strangers and get into vans with a sign that reads free Kittens?”

“Am I glowing?""Like a Christmas tree.""Not just the star?"The bed moved a little, and I felt his hand brush my arm. "No. You're super bright. It's kind of like looking at the sun.”

“Remind me," he paused, drawing in a stuttered gasp, "to never piss you off again. Christ, are you secretly a ninja?”

“I didn't tell you this because I'm sure you would've changed your mind about the dress.""What?" I frowned. "Does it make my butt look big?"She laughed. "No. You looked stunning in it.""Then what's the deal?"Her smile turned downright mischievous. "Oh, you know, just that the color red is Daemon's favorite.”

“At least I don't look like a Christmas tree.""You look like the star atop the tree.”

“How long have you been standing there?""Just long enough to see you give Daemon the middle finger.""He deserved it.”

“Will you show me what you really look like? You don't sparkle, do you?”

“I think it's obvious if you're wanted here or not.""Daemon," hissed Dee, her cheeks red. She turned to me, tears in her eyes. "He's not being serious.""Are you being serious, Daemon?" Ash turned in his lap, head cocked to the side.My heart was already pounding in my chest when his eyes met mine. His were sheltered. "Actually I was being serious." He leaned over the table, staring up at me through thick lashes. "You're not wanted here."Dee spoke again, but I was beyond hearing. My face felt like it was on fire. People around us were starting to stare. One of the Thompson boys was smirking while the other looked as though he wanted to crawl underneath the table for me. The rest of the kids at the table were staring at their plates. One of them snickered.I'd never been more humiliated in my life.”

“Ash is going to kick your ass, Daemon."Daemon's grin went up a notch. "Nah, she likes my ass too much for that.”

“Daemon!" Dee called from the kitchen. "I need your help!""We should go see what she's doing before she destroys your kitchen." He rubbed his hands down his face. "It's possible.”