12 Chapter Twelve: Rich

The group left the cafe around two, everyone agreeing to tread carefully. If someone knew they were going after the Incubus, they would probably try to stop them. The group split, Jade and Derik going one way, the others going the other way. They walked side by side for a while in silence, until Jade realized they were heading to the outskirts of the city.

"Where are we going?" She asked Derik, looking around.

Here, the buildings were getting shinier and less crowded. To Jade, it looked like a high-end residential area.

"To get your supplies," Derik replied simply, glancing at Jade and smirking at her.

"Oh." Was all Jade replied with.

Her eyes were drawn to the buildings, which went from tall to shorter, the surrounding area getting bigger. They were definitely in a residential area. A very high end, expensive, residential area. Somewhere Jade only saw in the few catalogs she'd occasionally glance through.

"You act as if you've never seen a neighborhood," Derik commented, focusing on her.

"I haven't," Jade replied. "Well, I have, but never one with mansions."

Derik nodded, taking her comment in. He'd never cared about the humans and their problems. They were annoying to him, always looking at him with terror, or in Jones' case, with admiration. But the day he met Jade, her look of complete defiance, her tone of utter disrespect for him, it shocked him, interested him. She was the first human to not fear him. And the first others looked at in wonder and fear, almost as if she was a Demon herself. And he understood why now. Of course, he knew the name Parke, but he always assumed it was a human that got lucky with a few weak Demons. Not someone who could banish and kill higher-ups. And to have a girl who could do the same, who showed no fear at the idea of facing what had just attacked her, it was more than intriguing, it was downright attractive. He was always looking for a way to surprise her, so he could see her caught off guard, to see her weak, to know she was a simple human; but it was much harder to do than he expected. She didn't seem to be afraid of much of anything. And when he met her in her room, yesterday afternoon, he realized he wanted her. And the previous night, he wanted to tear that Incubus to shreds, not because he was terrorizing his city, but because he was after Jade. As far as he was concerned, Jade was as good as his.

The two had walked pretty deep into the residential area, on a dead-end street. At the end stood a huge white mansion trimmed with gold. It sparkled in the sunlight, and Jade looked upon it with wonder. She had never seen such a beautiful house. She could hardly believe someone lived there, it seemed like it should be an art museum exhibition. It was That beautiful.

"Hey, Derik?" Jade said after she noticed they were heading towards the mansion.

"Yes, Jade?" He asked.

As usual, his voice saying her name, lit something up in her heart, making her feel really good.

"Where are we going?" She asked, trying to hide her pleasure.

"My home. I'm sure Father keeps soul stones in storage." He said.

They had made it to the steps. While Derik went right up them, Jade hesitated. Not only did they look too expensive to tread on, but Jade had also gotten nervous. They were at Derik's house? She knew his father was the big, bad founder, but This was his house? And She was there?

"I can't meet his parents, we aren't even really official.'

It seemed stupid to her, her reaction and her thoughts. Of course, they weren't official, they never would be. Seeing his house, she was accepting what had been nagging her. She was only a human, and a Hunter at that. As if Derik would ever want her in that way.

'He was probably only toying with me.'

That thought sent her mood crashing down, and she silently yelled at herself. Why the hell had she kept herself going on that fantasy, Derik would never want her in the way she wanted him. They were so different it wasn't even funny. In fact, she wanted to cry.

"Jade?" Derik's voice cut through her thoughts.

Steeling her heart and hiding her emotions, Jade steadied her voice and replied.

"Yeah?"

"Are you going to stand there all day?" He asked, a small smile on his face.

"Of course not." Jade snapped. "Let's go."

She marched up the steps. Suddenly, the house didn't look so pretty, it looked gloomy.

Jade's voice cut into Derik, and he frowned as he watched her pass. The frown still on his face, he followed her, opening the door and walking in. The house seemed empty, as he expected. As much as he was annoyed by his family, he wasn't going to risk Jade's safety.

Derik stepped out of the way, to let Jade pass. She walked in, not pausing in wonder at the house, not even glancing at him. Something had happened in the short time Jade had hesitated at the stairs, something to make her mad. It had Derik concerned, he didn't like seeing Jade like this, so annoyed.

"You said your father keeps Soul Stones," Jade said, still not looking at him.

"Yes, how many do you need?" He asked, walking up beside her.

"Six. One for each tip of the pentagram and one for the center." Jade replied, voice cold.

"Follow me then," Derik said, thinking being in a house that belonged to Demons put her on edge.

He headed down a hall, towards the supply room. His father kept nearly everything in it, and wouldn't notice a few Soul Stones. It wasn't like they were hard to replace either. For a human, they may be, but for a Demon, they were basically a common object.

He heard Jade's footsteps behind him, they weren't carefree, as usual. They were hard, stiff as if she was holding something back.

Derik entered his family's storage, Jade behind him. Going to a shelf at the far end, he began to grab the Soul Stones placed there. Handing them to Jade, not once did she make a comment on the objects in the room. He had thought for sure, being a Hunter, she would've, but she stayed silent the entire time. It was starting to get on his nerves.

After handing Jade the Soul Stones, he found a cloth bag and handed that to her as well. She put the Stones into it without a word and turned to walk out. Derik did the same, closing the door behind him. He watched her for a moment, noting the movement she normally made wasn't there. The way her hair swayed as she walked, now jerked with each step; the way her movements seemed to flow into the next, now seemed stiff and hard; her nearly silent steps, even though they were carefree, were now hard and loud; everything about her was off.

"Jade," Derik said.

Jade didn't even acknowledge him, her breathing didn't catch, nothing.

"Jade." He tried again.

Still nothing, and it was pissing him off. Finally, he reached for her arm.

"Jade, answer me."

The moment his hand touched her, Jade slapped it away. She stopped then, but only to glare at him.

"What." She spat.

That was the last straw. Derik, moving at his Demonic speed, took Jade's arms and pinned her against the wall. Looking down at her, he could see the anger in her eyes.

"Derik. Let. Me. Go." Jade said slowly, pushing against him, to no avail.

He wouldn't budge.

"Listen to me. " Derik said, ignoring her. "What the hell is your problem? Ever since we got here, you've been pissed. Why?"

"What's my problem?" Jade asked. "You are, Derik Heath. You are my problem."

"What have I done?" Derik asked, although a little gentler.

Being close to her, he could now see the hurt in her eyes, past the anger, was pain. He could also feel the sadness of her aura. It was obvious what he did, somehow, he had hurt her. And that thought hurt him more than her words could.

"What have you done? Try everything. Do you get off, doing things like this?" Jade asked still pure anger in her voice.

"Doing what?" Derik asked again.

"Don't play dumb, you know exactly what I'm talking about," Jade replied, pushing against his arms again.

"No, I don't know, Jade! Tell me! What have I done?!" Derik yelled, his grip tightening on her wrists.

The fine thread holding his temper back snapped. His anger blazed, but so did Jade's.

'She's still not afraid.' Derik thought.

"You should know, Asshole, that toying with a girl's emotions is Not okay. I don't care who the hell you are, it's not okay. Now, let me fucking go, before I bind you to one of these Stones." Jade threatened, her voice now emotionless.

"Toying?!" Derik repeated, his anger mixing with his shock. "You think you're worth toying with? Why the hell would I toy with you?"

That was it for Jade. She could feel the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. She had to get away, Now.

"Derik, I swear to fucking God, if you don't let me go right now, I will never forgive you, and you don't want to piss off a Hunter." She threatened.

It sounded weak to her, but it did the trick. Derik released her arms. Without a backward glance, without even grabbing the bag of Soul Stones, Jade walked out of the house.

Derik watched Jade go, sighing and running a hand through his hair. Where did this go wrong? Yeah, he lost his cool, but how did it escalate is quick? And toying with her? Why would he do that? She meant so much more to him than just someone to play around with. He thought she ready knew that.

"How the hell am I going to fix this?" He asked to the empty house.