chapter 3

LUCI

I avoided Saint like the plague throughout the day. We shared three classes and I didn't see him in any. I thought he was avoiding me, but from the whispers, throughout the halls, it seemed like he had left early.

"What a coward," I huffed out under my breath.

After the closet incident, my hands felt numb and the colour drained out of them. My neck showcased an unnatural faint blue colour against my brown skin. The ice that engulfed my hands was glacial to the point where my hands encountered frostbite from it.

I kept trying to make sense of the situation, but I just could not understand.

Saint wasn't human. That bit was obvious to me. He was a specimen in human form but he could not be a full being. As much as I hated to admit it sometimes I believed that he was too beautiful to truly be from Earth anyways.

His face, his sculptured build, as well as his stature were all geometrically perfect.

"Lucille! Table 7 needs more ketchup. Get to it!"

Dragged away from my thoughts I looked up to see my manager Ruth standing over me with her arms crossed.

"I don't pay you to sit around and do nothing." She walked closer to me and snatched the clean rag from my hands.

"Go get the ketchup and when you're done go serve Table 3!"

I rolled my eyes and let out a heavy sigh. I hated working here but I needed the money. My mom and I weren't "poor" per se, but things got rough sometimes. Working this job meant enough money for utilities and that alone was enough to keep me here.

Grabbing my pencil pad, paper and 2 bottles of ketchup, I headed over to Table 7. I stopped in my tracks when I recognized the delinquents at the table.

Reluctantly I plastered a smile on my face and headed over to the table.

"Hi, sorry for the wait. Here is the extra ketchup," I placed the ketchup in the centre of the table when one of the boys grabbed my hand.

"I didn't know you were working tonight, Luci,"

"I work practically every night Devan. You know this," I attempted to retract my hand but his grip intensified.

"Don't be so rude, we're just trying to be nice," he grinned.

I threw him a fake smile before snatching my hand away from his. "Don't flatter yourself," I retorted.

As I began to walk away I heard the sound of metal clanking down to the floor.

I turned around to see Devan and his friends snickering as all five of their spoons fell to the ground.

"Sorry we're just really clumsy," Luke said with a sigh. He motioned down with his chin and they all stared at me awaiting my next action.

I let out a heavy sigh and bent over to pick up each of the spoons. It was the company policy at Rugrat Diner to make sure each customer had a satisfactory dining experience. Any failure of that would result in a strike and after 3 strikes, you were fired.

I had all four spoons in my palm and quickly searched for a fifth. Looking around for a few seconds I found the fifth spoon hidden under Luke's shoe deep inside the table. I groaned and went father inside in an attempt to grab it when I felt a palm stroke my behind.

"Nice," Devan laughed and continued to feel me up.

I froze for a second until I heard the shuttering sound of a camera and snickering laughter.

Grabbing the spoon I quickly got up off the floor and readjusted my shirt.

I took a deep breath and clenched my fists as I felt my hands heating up.

"Delete it," I said calmly. The five boys glanced at each other in confusion and chuckled.

"Delete what?" Devan asked. He crossed his arms and smirked at me.

"Cut the shit. I know you took a picture of my ass Devan! Now delete it." I glared at him with as much conviction as I could muster. I stood over him and clenched the spoons in my hand tightly.

"Getting hostile, are we? Wouldn't want Ruth to know how you treat your customers?"

I huffed out in response. He was right of course. I couldn't lose this job. Ruth wouldn't care that I had gotten harassed by customers. She only cared about the steady income they brought her. If I were to make a scene, it could cost me everything.

"That's what I thought," he looked me up and down and smiled to himself, "now run along now, I'm sure other customers are waiting."

I snatched my writing pad off the table and began to walk away. "Thanks for the ketchup and the show!"

I rolled my eyes and tilted my head back to avoid tears spilling from my eyes. I hated that I couldn't give them peace of mind like I wanted to. Apart from me wanted to burn his phone and the other part of me was a coward who had to walk away before things escalated.

I knew I couldn't contain this part of myself for long. It was only a matter of time before things got out of hand.

"Lucille!"

I looked up to see Ruth fuming. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot in frustration. "Table 3 has been waiting for too long. I thought I told you to go and serve them!"

"My apologies, I will get right to it, now."

Ruth rolled her eyes and walked away whispering insults. I picked up my pad and pen and stubbornly walked to Table 3 before stopping.

Crammed together in a booth were Emma, Saint, Greyson, Bryce and Diya. The main group of people that had tormented me for years at Kingston High. I held my breath before exhaling it and walked slowly to their table.

"Welcome to Rugrat Diner! My name is Lucille, I will be your server for today. What can I get you started with first?"

They looked up from their phones and eyed me up and down. All except Saint, who kept his eyes glued to his screen.

Emma was the first to speak; she dawned her arm around Saint and kissed his cheek before saying, "I will be having the small fries with no salt, as well as the hamburger but with no patty. I only want the cheese, lettuce, tomato and bun. Oh and large water."

I jotted her order down quickly trying to pass little judgement. I don't know why she always ordered the hamburger with no meat-she might as well have gotten a salad.

Greyson cleared his throat and look over at Bryce and they both nodded in agreement. "We're gonna take the extra large nacho platter to share, and two cokes."

"Alright and for you?" I motioned towards Diya who was fixing her long acrylic nail. "I'll take the pasta and a sprite." She replied curtly.

I nodded and wrote down her order. I cleared my throat and focused my eyes towards Saint.

"And what would you like sir?"

The atmosphere was tense. Everyone was silent and turned to Saint who seemed to be oozing a sort of hostile aura. After I spoke to him he shifted his body upright as if he felt uncomfortable, and placed his hands atop his lap.

"I'll take the #2 meal," he said promptly and went back on his phone while Emma clung to his arm and gave him another kiss on the cheek. He shrugged her off and wiped away the assault.

"What drink would you like with your meal?" "Fanta."

"We're out of Fanta."

"Then a Dr Pepper."

"We're out of that too,"

"Then a fucking water!" He slammed his hand on the table and everyone around him shook. Emma placed a hand on his shoulder and stroked it slowly.

I wrote down his order while my fingers struggled to stay steady against the strokes of the pen. I looked down at where Saint smacked his hand and noticed a sizable patch of ice trailing on the table. It began to quickly melt into water and I prayed that no one noticed it.

I cleared my throat and tightened the grip on my pen.

"Maybe you should calm down," I mumbled, and narrowed my eyes towards him.

He finally made eye contact with me by glaring. I fixed my gaze on his eyes and then on his hands, repeating my eye movement, hoping he would catch the signal.

He finally looked down and saw the ice trail. Quickly, he folded his hands together and set them on his thighs under the table.

Emma straightened herself up against the booth as she took notice of my wordless brief interaction with Saint.

"Maybe you should just do your job, and get our fucking food," she spat out.

I paused for a moment, taken aback by her harsh tone. I nodded curtly and finished writing down Saint's order.

"W-will that be all?" I stammered out. My index finger began to shake against the pen and I tried my best to steady my grip.

Emma along with the rest of the group snickered and Bryce and Greyson eyed me up and down.

"Looking good today Luci," Greyson laughed and motioned towards my uniform.

"But I don't think the uniform fits someone of your size," Bryce joined in with him and the two began to point and chuckle.

I knew my uniform didn't fit me correctly since it belonged to another girl who worked at Rugrat before me. Ruth knew it too except she refused to give me a bigger size since she believed I needed to lose a few pounds and stop complaining.

I sniffled in response to their comments and begged myself not to spill tears. "If that is all, then your order should be out in 15 minutes,"

I gave them my routined half-hearted smile and walked away to the back of the restaurant. I dropped the order slips into the chef's basket and walked over to the break room.

I found myself alone in the room and | let out a breath I did not know I had been holding.

Seeing Saint was stressful enough but enduring Saint with his friends was worse.

It made me anxious to be near that group. They came to the diner often but I would usually avoid serving them, but of course, Ruth had to foil my planning somehow.

As I thought to myself quietly in the desolate break room I suddenly heard the door bang shut behind me.

Startled, I turned around and immediately froze. "What are you doing here?" I asked Saint.

His body guarded the door frame as he leaned up against it. His green eyes pierced through mine and my breath hitched.

I hated how much he affected me. As much as I despised him there was something about his aura that made it impossible not to stare. It was dauntingly captivating. His stare was like a siren singing to an off-course sailor, it was beautifully fatal.

"You need to leave right now!" I declared with as much confidence as I could force.

"Listen," he spoke lowly. His voice rang about three octaves lower than usual. It was hoarse as if he had spent the whole day screaming.

He stepped towards me and I backed up in response until my back reached the wall.

"I don't want to sugarcoat anything I just needed to make sure we get on the same page."

I opened my mouth to speak when Saint grabbed me by the neck and used his other hand to cover my mouth. He pressed his body on top of my mine and pressed me further up against the wall. His left leg rested in between my thighs and he lowered his head closer to mine.

"No. This time you will listen." I stared at him wide-eyed and felt the coldness starting to protrude from his palms.

"Nod if you are going to agree and listen to what I have to

Say." On instinct, I nodded and stared into his green eyes. I tried to move out of his hold but he pushed me up against the wall tighter.

"Good girl," he whispered. He sighed and loosened his grip around my neck a bit but still pressed firmly against my airway.

"I just want us to be civil okay," he began, "obviously there are some things we don't know about each other that we should both keep as a secret."

I rolled my eyes and tried once more to budge out of his grip. He quickly pushed me back into the wall and his left leg increased pressure on my inner thigh.

"Now now, Luci be good for me,"

"Yesterday wasit was insane for me. I wasn't sure what happened and I still don't know... the bottom line is you can't tell anyone about what happened in that closet,"

He removed the hand that covered my mouth and ran his hand through his hair.

"I just need to know what you are. So maybe that way I can figure out something about me."

He stared into my eyes awaiting a response. He was so close to my face that I could feel his breathing on my nose. I averted my gaze to the floor and let out a low giggle.

I looked up back into his eyes and grinned. "Now why the fuck would I tell you anything?"

His face contorted into a confused frown. In the year's Saint had tormented me, I had rarely ever snapped back at him.

"What did you just say to me?" Saint asked he tightened his grip on my neck and I could see the outline of his jaw clench.

I rolled my eyes once more and grabbed onto his wrist which attempted to choke me. I closed my eyes a focused my energy on to hand. I took deep breaths and when I felt the fire reach my fingertips I stared up at Saint to catch his reaction.

"Ow! What the fuck!?" He immediately let go of my neck and backed away from my body to examine his freshly burned wrist.

I smiled menacingly at him and rolled my neck back with a sigh.

"I said," stepping closer to his frame I looked up into his eyes and smirked, "why the fuck would I tell you anything?"

"Liste,n Saint, after all these years I finally have the upper hand."

He glared at me dumbfounded while attempting to soothe his wrist. He opened his mouth to say something before I beat him to it.

"See I know what I am and I know how to control my powers at least better than you do." I crossed my arms and leaned my back against the wall.

"The only thing you know how to do is attempt to choke people out of what you want to hear," I cooed.

I could see Saint's exterior becoming undone. He was livid. For the first time in years, he didn't have the upper hand.

In the corner of my eye,e I saw his fingertips start to twitch and mini ice particles littering his fingernails.

"Pack it up Elsa, don't even try to use your powers on me," I laughed loudly to myself and watched Saint's mortified reaction.

"You don't even know how to control it, let alone what you even are. I'll admit that stunt you pulled today was impressive but I know it was just a fluke."

"Not to mention"

In a blink of an eye, Saint had to push back into the wall and covered my mouth with his hand. However, he did not choke me this time instead he used his remaining hand to trap both my wrist together behind my back.

I mumbled against his hand attempting to speak. He removed his hand from my mouth and placed it on my waist.

"Getting ballsy now are we," he seethed, "why don't we negotiate terms of some kind?"

"Why don't you get to move your leg out of my thighs and get your hand off my waist," I retorted.

"I've tried to be nice," Saint reached into his pocket and rummage around until he pulled out a medium-sized sharp pocket knife.

"Now," he held up the knife to my throat and smiled menacingly, "you still afraid of blood, darling?"

I was too shocked to move. Blood made me anxious especially if it was coming out of me. Saint knew this of course since he had been one of the causes of this phobia.

My eyes widened as he used the knife to pull my shirt down to my collarbone area. He teased the knife on the bone before slowly applying pressure. Any more force and he would rip through my skin.

"P-please don't," I could feel tears forming in my eyes as my heart beat rapidly out of my chest.

"Speak. Now. You know what I want,"

I sniffled and took a deep breath while my hands started to shake. "I've known since I was seven. My mom told me about everything. About angels, fallen angels, and demons,"

| collected my breath and caught Saint staring deeply into my eyes listening to every word I could muster.

"S-she said that angels who wanted a taste of Earth more than Heaven and came down here with demons as well,"

He pressed the knife deeper into my collarbone and I could feel a drop of blood drip down my shirt.

"Get. To. The. Point." He growled. "Okay! Please no more," I whimpered.

"She said that a particular demon came here and they fell in love and had me. But all half-humans were supposed to be given up to be killed."

I couldn't tell him exactly who the "particular demon" was. I wasn't ready to tell him who I truly came from.

"So what are you saying? You're a half-demon?" "Yes," I said in a whisper. "So what does that make me?" He asked.

I looked at him again and cursed to myself. How could I have been so daft? His naturally blond hair he dyed black. His captivating green eyes resembled a forest in spring. His high cheekbones seemed to be symmetric. His overall sculpted build and tall stature. He was quite literally the untrained eye perfect.

"An angel."

I could feel Saint hold his breath, and he quickly removed the knife from my neck.

He put his thumb in his mouth to wet it, then placed it over my cut.

"You think I'ma half-angel?"

"Yes, your powers are the complete opposite of mine and your features are..."

"My features are what?" He smirked down at me and tilted his head.

Not wanting to give him satisfaction | closed my mouth and looked off to the side. He caught my chin with his fingers and forced me to look at him.

"My features are what, Luci?" He whispered lowly.

Before I could answer his phone started to ring. He cursed under his breath and reached into his pocket to answer it.

"Hello?" He replied. "Yeah, everything is fine. Sorry, it was a long restroom line. Food's here? Oh okay. I'll be out now,"

He ended the call promptly and sighed.

"Well this was fun," he released me from his grip and walked back towards the door. He opened the door to leave when he turned back around to face me.

"Oh and Luci,"

I looked up to face him when I saw that he had the knife in the air and began to wave it around. "I'll always have the upper hand."

"Oh and don't ever call me 'sir' again. At least not in those circumstances," he winked at me and left the room quickly.

The door slammed shut with a bang and immediately tears started to spill from my eyes as my body sunk to the floor.