Daybreak Ch. 03

“So am I.” Charisma sat down on the couch once more. She looked at his hair and realized that she never noticed that it was so long. He must have pulled it back. Now, it was loose and the sheet of midnight hair covered his shoulders. God, he looked even hotter with his hair down. She had to say something before she ending up staring at him even more. “Uh, so what exactly is going on?”

“Well, it seems that Zaide wants you.”

She remembered the man in her house mentioning the name. “Who is he?”

“The leader and unofficial creator of the Mordecai.”

“Mordecai?”

“Special brand of demon that feed on human souls.”

“How do they do that?”

“They suck the blood out of the body. The soul’s pretty quick to follow.”

Charisma frowned in confusion. “So they’re like vampires.”

“Yes and no.” Jameson looked down at the hands he clasped as he thought of an adequate explanation. “They drink the blood because it tastes good, but they don’t need it to survive.”

“So it’s like the appetizer before the entrée.”

He nodded as he said, “And the soul is the main course.” He looked up to see the shocked look on her face. She had a lot of information to absorb. “Like vampires, they only come out at night, but like I said before, they don’t need the blood.”

“What would they want with me?”

“That’s what we’re going to figure out.”

There was a moment of silence as Charisma thought his words over. She looked at Jameson’s face and felt her stomach flutter when he wiggled his eyebrows in a way that clearly showcased his desire to ease any anxiety she might have had. “So what’s your story?”

“My story?”

“Yes. What are you?” It was obvious that he and his brothers were as special as she was. Just how special was the question.

Jameson took a breath. It was a very rare occasion in which he was asked that question, the very reason he became uncomfortable each time he had to answer it. “Do you want the long or the abridged version?”

“Abridged should be fine.”

“Half god demon hunter.”

Charisma sat back for a moment before she said, “I change my mind. Long version.”

He smiled at the amazed and partially confused look on her face. There was a dimple in the center of her forehead when she frowned, he noticed. “Technically, I’m more powerful than the actual definition of the word ‘god’, but it’s the standard description used when referring to the High Council.”

“High Council?”

“The most powerful beings to ever exist. Period. My father is one of them.”

“Oh.”

“Yea, he got a bunch of women pregnant with the crazy idea of creating an army of his own. The rest of the Council found out, had him exiled, and pretty much told us that we had to work for them.”

Charisma blinked in surprise. That was some kind of family history. “Whoa, so you’re telling me that you have to do this until you die?”

“Pretty much,” he replied on a nod.

That was a pretty serious job description. How was he expected to live his own life when he had demons to fight all the time? “What about a girlfriend or a wife?”

“Are you volunteering?” The intense flush that took over her face made him smile. That wasn’t the reaction of someone who only saw him as a sort of bodyguard.

“Be serious.”

“We have them from time to time, but if we happen to break up,” which was an uncomfortably common occurrence, “the High Council removes their memories of us.”

“That’s one hell of an easy-out clause.”

Jameson laughed as he said, “It has its benefits.”

Charisma tilted her head curiously at the self deprecating tone to his voice. “I’m sensing a but.”

Jameson turned his head away from her curious gaze. How she was able to see passed his joking smile and go right to the heart of his thought, he didn’t know. He didn’t know how to tell her that seeing his half demon brother with the love of his life opened Jameson’s eyes to the fact that he’d spent many years alone. Sure, there was the long list of one night stands, but he was lonely. He wanted companionship. “There is always a but.”

“I guess.” She let out a breathe as she tried to figure out the next course of action. “How long have you been doing this?”

“A really long time.”

“Translation: I don’t know you well enough to get into what comes with that question.”

Jameson only smiled as he asked, “What about you?”

Charisma shrugged as she looked away. “There isn’t much to say. I’m a freelance chef-”

“How does that work?”

“I get a call from someone who is having a fancy-pants dinner, well, actually, Marie, my assistant – I should really call her and let her know that she has a vacation.”

He chose to ignore the subject change and said, “We’ll take care of that later. What about your parents?”

She looked away uncomfortably as she said, “I haven’t spoken to them in a few years.” It was more like seven, but he didn’t need to know all of that.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“No, I don’t want to contact them.” She shrugged before adding, “Back to what we were talking about. I cook the meals, Marie assists me, clients pay me. They get a good meal, and I get another reference.”

Which explained why she didn’t complain about having to get to work in the morning. “Does that pay well?” He knew that she lived in a pretty nice neighborhood, but considering said house was now nothing but ashes...

“At a minimum of a hundred dollars a plate plus manual labor, yes.” She pulled the hem of the t-shirt over her knees when his gaze lingered on them. Charisma was in no way shy about her body, but there was something about the way Jameson stared at her that made her nervous.

“I think we can afford that.” Jameson smiled at her boisterous laugh and felt himself frown at the tight ball of desire that lodged itself in his groin. Her pale eyes brightened when she smiled, and paired with the flush that still took over her skin... He cleared his throat when his hardened member throbbed within the confines of his pants.

No, he couldn’t allow his thoughts to drift to anything other than the fact that he had to protect her. “You should get some sleep.” Jameson stood up and quietly left the room. As he walked down the hall and toward his room, he thought over Nadia’s premonition: 'She doesn’t understand why they want her. You don’t understand why you need her. But it is together you must work to find the truth.' Being told that he didn’t know why he needed Charisma was the understatement of the year. What was the green-eyed beauty supposed to mean to him?

How was it possible that after only a few hours, she meant something to him already?