A Rose as Black as your Heart

(44) Misery Loves Company

Chapter 44

“Whoa.” Travis blinked as I savagely drove a knife through one of the creepy manikin’s chest. “No Demon stands a chance against you.”

I beamed. “Thanks.”

We were in Dad’s warehouse, and I was practising killing Demons while Travis watched in wide-eyed wonder. It had been his idea more than mine to come here in the first place.

“Is there any way you could practise stabbing Demons?” he’d said, as we’d sat on the sidewalk after making up.

“Sure, my dad had this place where he took Matt to practice fighting and stuff.”

“For real?” Travis’ eyes went huge. “Wow. Can I see it?”

“Yeah, I guess.” I shrugged. I didn’t see how Matt would mind. “Don’t you have to visit your aunt first?”

“She won’t miss me. She didn’t even know I was coming.” Travis had jumped up and I’d grinned at his enthusiasm. “Come on, Rivera, get your butt of the pavement.”

“Pavement?” I’d imitated him, making my voice sound a lot more posh than his really was. “You mean the sidewalk.”

“No, I mean the pavement. You’re in our country, Canada, so you should do things our way.” He held out a hand, and I pulled myself up with a smile.

I wanted to ask him if he still had feelings for me – if he was still in love with me. But I didn’t want to bring it up when we’d only just made up, and seeing as Travis didn’t seem to be in any hurry to tell me, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

Yanking the knife out the manikin, I passed it to him while I tied up my wild hair into a semi-controlled ponytail. “Travis?”

“Mmm?”

“When you saw me on the sidewalk-”

“Pavement.”

“Sidewalk.” I mock glared at him. “This is my story.”

Travis rolled his eyes.

“When you saw me on the sidewalk, why did you come over? You haven’t wanted to talk to me in weeks.” I mentally held a breath, hoping the question hadn’t been too private.

Travis shrugged with a small, sad smile. “I hear misery loves company.” He passed me the knife, a smile brightening his face, and I could tell he didn’t want to discuss it anymore. “Can I see you stab more stuff?”

I grinned, suddenly incredibly thrilled to have him back. “Even better.” I headed back to Matt’s array of weapons, and after glancing longingly at the guns, picked up a knife and passed it to Travis. “I challenge you to a duel.”

“Don’t be stupid, you can’t duel with knives.” But he accepted the knife and held it out like a sword anyway.

“Try me.” I gestured for him to hit me. “Come at me, bro.”

Travis snickered and half-heartedly made to poke my arm with the knife. I whipped out my arm, catching the knife and sending it flying out his hand. Travis blinked at me in surprise.

I grinned. “Yeah, I’ve been practising.”

“That’s not fair.” Travis bent to pick up his knife. “Throwing competition instead?”

“You only want to because your aim is better than mine. And you know I’d kick your ass in a duel.” But I’d never really considered knife throwing before, and it seemed like a good thing to practise if I ever wanted to outright kill a Demon instead of save it.