Demons at Deadnight (2011), page 23
“You alright?” the nurse asked.
“Fine.”
“You’re sighing and making odd noises.”
“Sorry.” Squelching the pity party wasn’t easy. Doubt ruled the day. I’d hoped to talk to Gloria, but she hadn’t shown. And, no, I didn’t try rubbing the feather, but it was in my pocket.
I wanted to talk to her because she seemed the most likely to not be manipulating me, but because she looked like the one least likely to manipulate me, she could in fact be the master manipulator, manipulating me into manipulating myself by asking for her help, ergo—yeah, I’d looked it up and it wasn’t a person—I’d fallen right into her trap. Got it? Glad somebody did. My brain felt like mashed potatoes.
Had Jayden told them the Divinicus idea? That I’d zapped him? How fast would they send me to the Mandatum? Would they hurt me? What were they hiding? What powers did they have? What powers did I have? How long was my family safe? I wanted answers but would they lie or tell me the truth?
And to top it off, no visions. Fiskick, demon of the stupidest name, and Echo were currently MIA, but no doubt skulked in some shadowy fringe waiting for their next opportunity. Life sucked.
***
At the end of the day, the nurse released me early. Hallways stood clear and silent. I wanted to get outside before the bell signaled doors slamming open and bodies streaming out, careening like lemmings, clotting the open space, and my sanity. I dumped a gazillion textbooks into my backpack because of all the makeup work. Raised voices from down around the corner didn’t concern me until I heard my name. I edged against the row of lockers and crept toward the conversation.
“—better to keep her confined until we figure things out.” Matthias’ voice sounded strained.
“She’s not going to like that,” Ayden said.
“He’s right,” Jayden agreed. With Ayden I think.
“No one,” the Aussie’s voice shook and he took a moment to quell the rising volume. “No one should care if she likes it or not. She’s in danger and we can’t protect her if she’s out running around. We can’t trust her to stay home. She’s already shown she’ll keep secrets, lie, and put herself in dangerous situations she may not survive next time. It’s for her own good. You know the demons will attack again, and next time she may not be so lucky.”
“Valid points.”
“Sure they are, Jayden,” Ayden’s voice oozed sarcasm. “It’s just that little problem of getting her to agree.”
Matthias made a noise that conveyed contempt. “She doesn’t have to. We take her. Period. I’ve made arrangements to get her out of town. We’ve got several secure locations to choose from, but the farther away the better. My dad’s office can smooth everything over. She’ll be safe and out of the way while we hunt these guys down.”
Somebody sighed. “Fine.” It was Ayden. “I’ll pick her up and have her ready. Jayden, see if you can get some of her clothes together.”
Jayden grunted agreement.
Something buzzed and one of the fairies squeaked, “She’s gone.”
“What?”
“She’s not in the nurse’s office.” Pause. “Oh, don’t give me that look. I left for a second and—”
“Where is she?” Ayden’s voice grinded with annoyance.
At the moment, booking down the hallway as fast and quiet as she can. I made it to my locker and started banging books just in time for my peripheral to catch the three boys lean around the corner. I kept my eyes forward. Ayden made a shooing motion and headed toward me.
“Need some help?”
“Nope.” If Jayden were here, my heart-rate would give me away.
He leaned against the lockers, arms folded across his chest—his broad firm chest—and settled a lazy grin on his lips—full sensual lips. Lips I’d wanted to kiss earlier. Lips that, inexplicably, I still wanted to kiss despite the fact this handsome hunk planned to kidnap me and send me to some “secure location.” Embarrassing. But who knew such a seductive package harbored such a ruthless jerk.
I slammed my locker shut. “I’ve gotta use the bathroom.”
“I can wait.”
“Of course you can.”
His eyes stalked me as our steps echoed down the hall. I needed help, a plan, more time. I needed Gloria. I kept my gaze straight ahead, my mouth shut. At the bathroom he blocked my way while he pushed the door open. The room appeared empty but he stuck his head in to check, having the decency to look somewhat embarrassed.
“All clear. Let’s go.” He moved to follow me.
I turned and put a hand on his chest. “Only double X chromosomes may enter. It’s a rule. Like vampires.” I grabbed the edge of the door and pushed against his grip. Nothing.
His gaze tried to dissect my intentions. I blushed. “Please.”
“Fine.” He licked his lips. “I’ll hold your stuff.”
I jerked the backpack out of reach. “No, I’ve got it. But thanks. I’ll be out in a minute.”
I experimented with a reassuring smile but with all this tension I probably looked like I’d swallowed a bug. A stab at shutting the door again produced the same result, or lack of one.
His brow furrowed. Suspicion? Concern? “You alright?”
Other than the fact you’re planning to abduct me? Oh, I’m dandy. I gave a weary shrug and backed into the bathroom. “Privacy would be nice.”
His eyes swiped the room then he stepped back, silent. His gaze gripped mine until the door swung closed and broke the connection.
A deep breath rattled my lungs. Gathering resolve, I raced to the trash can and turned it upside down underneath the high window which was out of sight from the door so if my self-appointed security guard peeked, he couldn’t see me.
I put one foot on the trashcan and my hands on the wall for stability. On three I hefted up, pushed the window wide, and a few grunts later, my backpack thumped on the grass below. Outside, the lawns stretched out toward the forest, clear of prying eyes.
My hands on the sill, I readied to boost myself up.
“Aurora? You okay?”
I nearly fell off the trashcan. This guy was unbelievable.
“Jeez, Ayden.” I injected my voice with indignation.
“Just checking.”
“Well don’t.”
“Everything okay?”
The door squeaked. “Everything except for the fact you’re talking to me. This is humiliating enough. Keep the door closed and shut up. I’m not going to answer you anyway. Okay?”
“Okay.”
The door squeaked and settled closed.
“Aurora?”
“What?” Could he get any more exasperating?
“I thought you said you weren’t going to answer me?”
Yes he could. I launched myself out.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Impressed with my smooth landing, I wore a self-satisfied grin when I shook the hair out of my eyes and came face to face with the red fairy. Ayden’s fairy. Ayden’s spy.
I stamped my foot. “Oh come on!” I swiped at her. “Go away.”
Face skewed in horror, she dodged easily, disappearing and reappearing in puffs of raspberry-red dust. “You can see me!”
“Unfortunately.”
She shot me a dirty look.
I shot one right back, continuing the high level of maturity which begun with my impressive foot stamping.
She stuck her tongue out.
I did it back.
She inhaled sharply and narrowed a glare. “You’re a very rude girl.”
I dusted off my pants. “You’re a very rude fairy.”
That sharp intake of breath again. “I am not a fairy.”
“You look like a fairy.” She shimmered in the sunlight and her delicate wings sparkled like they were spun from strands of iridescent silk. She smelled like cinnamon.
The non-fairy crossed her arms and raised her chin. “I do not look like a fairy.”
“Yes you do.”
“You’ve never seen any fairies.”
“Oh, I’ve seen plenty of fairies.”
“Have not.”
“Have to.” This was getting ridiculous, but at least it was keeping her from reporting to Ayden. “So if you aren’t a fairy, what are you?”
Her tiny little body puffed up with self-importance. Her tone snide. “None of your business.”
“Obnoxious little twit.”
She stopped to hover in front of me. “What?”
“You heard me. Now leave and don’t come back.”
She resumed her aerial zigzags. “I don’t take orders from you.”
“You’d better take orders from me.”
“Or what?” she said, her tone bored.
I put hands on hips and summoned my nastiest squint. “Or I will smite you down.” Okay, a little dramatic but she was irritating the crap out of me.
Her shrill howl of hysterical laughter sliced my eardrums. “Smite me? You think you can smite me? Do you even know what that means?”
I shrugged. “What do you think it means?” I thought I’d gotten it right.
“Nothing,” she cackled. “Absolutely nothing because you couldn’t smite me even if you knew what it meant.”
“Really? A minute ago you didn’t think I could see you. How do you know what I can or can’t do?”
That slowed her down.
“Trust me, if I can see you, I can smite you.” I didn’t think I could, but I’d caught her off guard and I wanted to keep the advantage. She went completely still, if only for a split second.
She flew around my head, the cinnamon aroma wafting stronger. “I might leave you alone if you stay away from my boy.”
“Your boy? What’re you his mother?”
“Of course not, I’m his g—” She stopped and wagged a finger. “Oh you’re good, but not good enough. And you’re certainly not good enough for my handsome, sweet, adorable Ayden. I’m going to go tell him you’re sneaking out the window.”
I let her buzz a few feet away then said, “Good.”
She screeched to a halt and looked over her shoulder. “Good? I thought you were trying to get away from him?”
“I was, but you changed my mind. I mean, he is kind of cute.” She flitted back. The hum from her wings intensified. “We should go out on a date.”
“Oh, no.”
I smiled. “Oh, yeah. A real date. No more pretending. We’ll hold hands. And cuddle.”
“No, no, no.” She zoomed about like a mad woman. “No date, no hands, no cuddling, absolutely no—”
“And we’ll end the night with a big…juicy…kiss.” My hair ruffled as she zipped by and caught a few strands with her wings. Ow. “Unless you agree we never met.”
She settled in front of me and glared. “Okay.” She nodded. “I’ll give you a head start. But I can’t keep him away forever.” She flitted away, but zoomed back to get in my face. “He wouldn’t want to kiss you anyway.” And she was gone.
***
I hid out, then melded into the throng of kids heading for the buses, my hair stuffed under a stolen beanie. The hospital was my safest sanctuary because it was public and no amount of “smoothing things over” by the sheriff’s office would ever convince Dad to let them take me away. I found the right bus, only relaxing when we passed the gates.
Relief didn’t last. A screech of tires. A harsh aroma of burnt rubber. The Maserati sailed past, fishtailed a right turn up ahead, and pulled in front of another bus, forcing it to stop. Ayden, followed by Tristan, leapt out and sprinted to the bus, banging on the door. I caught the number. It was my regular bus.
Not knowing how many Hex Boys were on the hunt and how many buses they were willing to detain, I stumbled my way up front and exited at the next stop. With directions from some kids, soon I was downtown headed for the hospital, skulking on side streets.
The sidewalk was empty when the vision hit. My mind tunneled and weaved in a blur to a deserted spot on the lake watching the Kalifera ooze out of the mist, crawl over the water’s surface, and stalk onto the beach, shaking off the wet in an image so vivid I flinched from the spray. It pawed at the ground and lifted its dripping snout high. All four yellow eyes locked onto mine.
It saw me. I felt it. It connected with my brain, my psyche, whatever. I felt its presence enter mine and slither like poison infecting every crevice of my being. None of the demons in my visions had ever seen me or connected in any way.
Panicked, I forced myself away and rushed back into my body. I fell against the nearest building and pounded my chest to reboot breathing. A triumphant shriek echoed in the distance and I felt with certain terror the Kalifera knew where I was.
And now, it was tracking me.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Like a wet tongue on a glacier, I’d frozen to the building. Until another Kalifera roar, closer this time, prompted me to perform my favorite ninja move.
Run.
Till my lungs burned so hot every exhale should’ve shot flames. I ducked into an alley for a breather and squeezed behind a dumpster, huddling down next to filth and stench that hardly registered after the Waiting World trip.
My fingers fumbled the feather out of my pocket.
“Gloria, Gloria, Gloria,” I chanted, squeezing the fluff tight in fists pressed against my forehead, but when I opened my eyes, no white-winged, primary-color-haired woman was singing and dancing in the streets.
My skin itched like a thousand ants crawled over it. That sensation, and a prickling in my head, had been returning ever since my connection with the Kalifera. Hands over my ears, I rocked back and forth and mentally pushed him away. The invasion passed as it had before, but extricating its presence proved harder as I became more physically and emotionally drained.
I wanted to collapse, let myself go crazy. After all I’d been through, I deserved it, right? But I couldn’t do that to my family and I cursed the indomitable Lahey spirit that kept me sane and fighting.
“Since when have you let something like that stop you?”
My breath hiccupped. My head jerked, banging against concrete. A throaty engine rumbled, then cut out.
“Enough already, Tristan,” I heard Ayden say. “It was the girls’ bathroom. Pearl missed her too.”
“I’m just saying—”
“And you’ve said it enough. Keep your eyes open. Jayden said based on the location of her backpack and the demon’s movements she should be coming by here any minute. Probably heading for the hospital.”
I grabbed a piece of broken mirror and eased it around the edge of the dumpster, using it to see Ayden in the Maserati parked a few yards away in the alley. I just couldn’t catch a break.
Ayden pounded his palms against the steering wheel. “We wasted too much time. I should’ve known she wouldn’t be on that bus. Why would she run? I thought—”
“Relax. You’ll melt the steering wheel. We’ve got someone watching her house, the hospital, the flower shop. We’ll find her.”
Ayden gripped the wheel, rattled it a few times, slapped it when it wouldn’t rip loose, then slumped back in his seat with a gravelly “Arrrgh!” So angry. Must have screwed up his assault quota. And they’d blocked all of my sanctuaries. Where would I go now?
“What do you think she is?” Tristan asked into the tense silence, head rotating to scan the area. “She sees our eyes change. Sees demons—who want her dead. I can’t mess with her mind. Well, I can, but—”
But it practically killed me.
“What?” Ayden’s head jerked toward his friend. “She’s not a ‘what,’ Tristan.”
Tristan’s voice rose. “What is wrong with you? I didn’t mean it that way and you know it. I was the one who wanted to keep her away from us, remember? It was your brilliant idea to get close.”
“To keep her safe,” Ayden growled.
“Yeah, that’s what I said and you said—”
“Okay, I get it.” Ayden’s hands went up. “You were right. Sort of.”
“Yes I was, and you said, ‘Is there something going on between the two of you we should know about?’”
“I said I was wrong.”
“No you were right to ask the question because personal feelings affect our judgment.”
Tell me about it. I was cozied up to a dumpster that made Lucian’s dirty socks smell edible because I trusted you guys. And Gloria. Where was she?
“I didn’t like it, but you were right, so now I’m asking you. Ayden, is there something going on between the two of you we should know about?”
“No,” Ayden said, quick, defensive.
My chest went sub-zero.
I knew our relationship was a set-up, but sometimes… sometimes it felt real. Or like it could be.
“I’m just—I don’t—” Ayden’s hand raked through his hair. “Quit with the stupid questions. Not the time. We have to find her. She’s in over her head. How can she be so stupid? She fights us every inch instead of letting us do our job. Where the—”
Over their arguing, a demonic roar sent my skin itching.
“It’s getting closer,” Tristan said.
Ayden nodded.
“So let’s track it.”
“No,” Ayden snapped. “She’s our priority.”
“I know, but it’s following her, so,” Tristan held one hand up, “find the demon,” he held up the other, “find Aurora. It could work.”
The itching intensified. Invisible claws grazed up the back of my neck, wrenching every nerve to painful attention. Another hungry screech sent spikes piercing my brain. Lights shattered my vision. I couldn’t breathe. I burst out of the suffocating space just as the engine roared to life and gunned the car forward.
With a violent curse, Ayden slammed on the brakes but not before the Maserati rammed my hip. I hurtled into the air and rolled a fast spin onto the hood.
“Or you could just hit her with the car,” Tristan said. “Real smooth.”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
You’re kidding. They hit me with a car? Wait, they hit me with my car. It better not have a dent.
