Horns and Halos, page 18
Proudly, she straightened up a little more in her chair and nodded. “Of course, I am the founder of this village.”
“You guys are doing rather well for it being so new,” I admitted with an honest smile.
Again, Penelope laughed and shook her head. “Dear, sweet, child. No, this place is far from new. My father was the one that broke ground on this village after everything went to hell, quite literally.”
“So ... he is the founder, the one that made the pact?”
“No,” she said with a glint of something dark in her eyes. “I did.” Her vision crept over to the closed door. “Shhh ... father. Let me tell the story.” She flipped her hair again, settled into the chair, and sighed. “I made the pact a hundred and forty ... mmmm ... seven years ago. The price I had to pay was steep. My debt was the life of my father and,” she motioned to the window indicating the world outside her hut. “You saw how Lucian can be. He could go a few years without touching a soul and then kill a string of them in a single night. He’s quite the fickle devil. But, as long as he is in high spirits and a party is going on around him, he doesn’t care. He loves watching people indulge in pleasures as much as he likes taking a life.”
I was at a loss for words. If what she was saying was true, she was ... how old? And she looked that young? There was no way unless she made it part of the deal. As the thought dawned upon me, I looked at Penelope confused, and she giggled. The sound grated against my skin. “You sacrificed your father for immortality?”
“Of course. He had lived a long life, and I needed to ensure my investment in our village remained protected and was run smoothly. How could I pass over this position to someone that would ruin everything that I worked so hard to build?”
“That was your flesh and blood!” I yelled.
Her tiny fist beat down on the arm of the chair, and she tried to rapidly regain her composure after the anger had flared up in her. “I did what I had to in order to survive and to have this place survive. Look around you, Sia! Is it not thriving and full of life and joy?”
“That joy is a mask,” I countered. “Everyone lives not sure that they will see another day, and Lucian loves how on edge everyone is.”
“And what about you and your little village? How perfect was it that you were tossed out like yesterday’s trash and forced to make your own deal?” She smirked. “Don’t preach to me like you are any better. What is your debt?”
Instantly, I straightened my spine like a steel rod had replaced my backbone. “You don’t need to worry about that.”
She stood from her chair. “Oh, but I want to because I want to offer you a place here. Imagine how much bigger this place could be. Imagine what we could build together. Think about it. You and I could rule this place together with our devils.”
“I much rather reach a faith city that is free of pacts and devils.”
She crinkled her nose, repelled by the idea. “The faith city? Those places are smoke and mirrors. They aren’t any better than us out here in the Wastes. Stay and build something that can rival the faith cities with me.”
“It comes at a cost.”
“It’s such a small cost in the grand scheme of things.”
“Not to me!”
“Then you are weak!” Her words felt like a slap, and I balked at her. Penelope steamrolled on, “But you could be so much stronger than what you are now. Stay with me. Stay and build an empire.”
I was done with this conversation. “I decline your offer.” I turned and headed for the door, but her hand was instantly on my wrist, and she jerked me back toward her with a strength I hadn’t expected her small frame to possess.
“Don’t be a fool, Sia. There is nothing out there that could offer you what I have here!”
Looking at her with disgust, I snatched my arm out of her grasp. “You don’t want me. You want the power that my devil could offer you.”
Her face twisted into something that looked less human. Her kind and sweet act had fallen apart right in front of me. “What are you going to do with him, hmmm? Run away to a faith city and then pay your debt, live and die with the guilt of whatever your payment is? At least I’m not being pathetic like you.”
“I gave you my answer. Back off.” I started for the door again.
Screaming, Penelope rushed at me and yanked on my braids, forcing me to stumble backward as my hands tried to hold onto the hair she had a grasp of. Before I could yell at her, I felt the air in the hut change. Heat wafted through the home and carried with it was the scent of the spice and smoke, and then I felt her grip vanish from me.
Draki tugged me toward him and guided me to stand behind him. The walls rattled and the wood whined as he looked down to the girl cradling her hand against her chest on the floor.
“Someone is a brave little thing,” he muttered through gritted teeth.
“She is worthless. Let me make a pact with you. Together this village would grow beyond what anyone could imagine. You could have me. You would never be bored,” Penelope promised with a smile that turned my stomach.
He scoffed. “I’m already bored here. You, my dear, are not in the slightest bit appealing to me.” He stepped closer and loomed over her. “But—mark me—if you lay a hand on her again, I will rip your devil limb from limb in front of you, kill every villager, and walk away while everything burns to the ground with you tied in the center of it all.”
Her eyes widened, and her face paled. Tears welled up in her eyes as she stuttered and crawled toward him. “You wouldn’t. Don’t. I don’t want to die. Shut up, father. I’ve got this! We won’t touch her. Go. Go. I’m sorry.” She reached for him.
Draki backed up before she could touch his robes. “I’m glad that you understand.”
“Please, I know you!” Penelope barked out.
It happened so fast. I could hear her inhale to speak, and then she was snatched up by the throat. Draki’s grasp squeezed as he snarled in her face. “Say my name and I’ll have your tongue!”
She nodded and tears continued to fall as her face turned colors. Her hands scrambled over his, trying to loosen his grip so she could breathe.
I laid a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Draki,” I whispered.
He looked to me, and some of the anger in him subsided. He tossed Penelope onto the floor and wiped unseen dirt from his attire. “Enough of this. Come, Sia,” he commanded, taking my hand and leading me to the exit.
As soon as we burst through the door, Lucian was standing there. The two devils stared each other down for a long moment before Lucian calmly said, “I see you left her alive.”
“Only because I was in a good mood,” Draki warned.
“Hmm. Careful, they might be mortals but there is something positively alluring about them and their short little lives,” Lucian stated while letting his hazel hues slide over to me. He looked me over starting from my feet and walked his line of vision up my body. After he rested on my eyes, he winked and I looked away. He chuckled. “I’m off to pick up the pieces. Sleep tight, love. Call me if you need a good time.”
“She’ll be far too busy with me,” Draki snipped and led us away.
When we got back to the hut, there was no fire and not a single oil lamp or candle was lit. The small home was pitch-black and quiet. I wondered where Elijah was, and for a moment I feared that the unspeakable had happened to him. Turning, I reached for the doorknob.
“Where are you going?” It was Elijah’s voice, and he sat up from the couch with empty eyes.
I had to squint to see him in the shadowed depths. “Elijah?”
“Yeah,” he grumbled and fell back flat on the couch.
“Are you—?”
He held up a thumb before I could finish the question. “Yup. Everyone wants to be your best friend when they think you’re married to a woman who has a more powerful devil than them.”
I walked to the couch and leaned over the edge. “Are you okay?”
He raised a flat hand in the air and twisted it from side to side. “Meh.”
Sighing, I went to get a blanket to cover him up with, but he quickly jumped over the back of the couch and hugged me from behind. Unexpecting the action, I went still and looked around the room like something in it would help me escape his embrace.
“Elijah. It’s been a long night. We should sleep.”
“Do you care about him?” he breathed the question against my neck, and I shivered. “Do you?”
I could smell the alcohol rolling off of him. “You’re drunk and need to lie down.”
“Is he the reason you’re distant with me?”
I spun around and lay my fingers over his mouth. “Stop. Just stop. We have other things to worry about. We need to leave at daybreak.”
“I want to talk with you.”
“Tomorrow,” I urged him. I knew it was a lie. I was going to avoid it again. I was going to avoid it at every cost. “Right now I need you to sleep. Okay, handsome?”
He grinned after I complimented him and let me guide him back to the couch. “Handsome, huh?”
“Mhmm.” I hummed as I rushed to grab the blanket, ran back, and covered him up.
“Tomorrow?” he slurred sleepily.
“Tomorrow,” I replied.
Chapter 18:
Escape Artist
Outside the hut the next morning, there was a burlap sack full of apples and a note that said,
“Think of me each time you take a bite, love.”
And I knew who had left them. I wasn’t going to complain, though. It gave me something other than cornbread to eat, and I was thankful for that.
Elijah was too focused on his throbbing headache to ask me anything while we walked to the exit. Unlike when we arrived, today the gate was empty save for the two silent guards that let us leave. There was no grand goodbye or celebration. If you came and wanted to stay, you were family and practically treated like royalty, but if you were leaving, you were forgotten and left alone.
I looked back once and saw Lucian leaning against the outside wall tossing an apple up in the air and catching it like it was a ball. He saluted me with two fingers and I just nodded to him, not sure if upsetting him would be a great idea. I acknowledged the devil and moved on because there was nothing for me back there.
“No more villages,” I grumbled as I passed by Elijah.
“Huh?” he moaned, holding his head.
“We can’t trust people in other villages. We’re safer out in the open and on our own with swarms of demons, so we need to stick close to each other.”
He smirked. “I don’t have a problem with that. I won’t have anyone trying to feed me booze or telling me horrible jokes.”
“Oh, the jokes couldn’t have been that bad.”
Peering out of one eye at me, he winced in pain. “You’ve no idea.”
I laughed and prodded the canteen on his hip. “Might want to drink up. We’ve got a long walk.” I then remembered the apples and grabbed one and tossed it to him.
Fumbling as he tried to catch it, he gave a glower to the sun rising over the horizon and sighed heavily. The two of us traveled for a long while in silence before we spoke again. Elijah had a couple of apples and seemed to be better after a while of having food in his stomach. I struggled to finish mine. The memories of last night kept replaying in my mind like some horrible nightmare that I couldn’t shake, and it ruined any appetite that I would have had. It didn’t help that I felt dizzy and lightheaded all morning.
After sipping from his canteen, Elijah wiped his mouth and asked, “What happened when you left with Penelope last night?”
That was a can of worms ... “I met her dad.”
“Oh? Was he nice?”
“He was pretty quiet considering he was a hundred and forty-seven-year-old mummified corpse.”
Elijah coughed and sputtered. “A hundred and forty-seven-year-old corpse!? Man, it’s the quiet ones you got to be careful about, huh?”
“Yeah. Seems so.”
There was a silent moment between us before he asked, “What happened?”
The question was so simple, but the memories that I had from last night were anything but that. “She wanted me to stay.”
“What?”
I nodded. “Yeah.” I sighed and pushed a few braids behind my ear. “She wanted my help turning her little orchard village into an empire.”
It took a moment, but when I looked at him I saw the realization sink in. “Because of your devil.”
Again, I nodded. “Mhmm.”
He shifted the weight of the bags. “It’s a good thing he showed up last night.”
I turned to look at him, confusion written all over my face. “Who?”
Staring at me, he finished with, “Your devil.”
I let out a short burst of nervous laughter as I remembered the incident and what Elijah had said once I got back to the hut last night. I wondered if he remembered much of what happened before he passed out. “Yeah. I was lucky. There’d be one less person on this journey today if he hadn’t been there.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What? Why are you sorry?”
“I thought I could keep you safe. I didn’t think that if I stepped away it would put you in danger.”
I shook my head. “It wasn’t your fault, Elijah. Don’t beat yourself up.”
He sighed. “Sia—”
“We won’t have to worry about something like that again. No more villages, remember? They aren’t safe. We have better chances out in the Wastes with demons and wandering devils than we do in any village.” I didn’t want to talk about us. I knew without letting him finish that it was the topic he was going to bring up.
He nodded. “Okay.”
The disappointment on his face told me that the bravery he had mustered up to talk to me about us had died off a little. It might not last as long as I would hope, but it would buy me some more time. There were more important things to address anyway.
“Keep your eyes peeled for firewood in a few hours. We don’t know if the next area will be barren or not.”
“Right. I can attach a small bundle with the straps on my backpack.”
“Great. I wish I would have had that the first night I was out on my own. I had to carry an armload for a while before using my belt to bundle it all. My hands were sweaty and sore by the time I stopped.”
“I can imagine.”
“I’ll also see if I can spot a rabbit or lizard.”
“Tired of cornbread and apples already?”
I made a face, and he laughed at me. I couldn’t help but chuckle along with him.
Hours later, we stopped at the first suitable area that we found. The lightheadedness I had been feeling never went away, and the more we walked, the more groggy and strange I felt. The sweat beading on my brow felt chilled too. Even when the wind blew I didn’t feel a reprieve from the heat. I must have looked as off as I felt because Elijah pressed his wrist against my forehead while his free hand measured the temperature of his own. The results were less than favorable because he frowned at me.
“You feel like you’re starting to have a fever.”
Gently, I pushed his hand away. “I’ll be fine after we eat and rest,” I assured.
His hard expression turned in my direction spoke volumes of the lack of trust he had in my words. “We have more than enough firewood. We have food and clean drinking water. I’ll set up camp on my own and you rest early tonight. We won’t make it far if you get worse than you are now.”
I wanted to protest, but the moment I inhaled, I felt the world spin. I might be headstrong, but I wasn’t stupid. Sighing loud enough to wake the dead, I shrugged off my bags and plopped down to rest against a small boulder. “Fine,” I announced glumly.
“And she doesn’t argue. Amazing.”
“Ha, ha. I would if I felt better,” I admitted.
He tossed me the bag of apples. “If you can stomach it, eat one and I’ll set everything up. Okay?”
For the next several minutes, I watched Elijah make our sleeping area, organize our things, and start the fire. It didn’t take long before he was helping me to my feet and forcing me to lay down on the blankets.
“I didn’t think it was possible, but you look worse now than you did a little while ago.”
“What every woman dreams of a handsome man telling her. Be still my heart.” I said it and instantly regretted it. The thoughts that he was having were plain for anyone to see. I needed to dodge the bullet and fast. As I lay down, I winced like I was in pain and held my head.
His hands flew out to grab me like I was going to fall over. “Take it slow.”
“Water,” I rasped.
Elijah grabbed my canteen and handed it to me. I chugged generously and handed it back saying, “I ... I think I’m going to take a nap.”
“I wouldn’t be too surprised if you’re out for the count until morning.”
Fear took hold of me then. “Don’t stray far from the camp,” I sluggishly warned.
“Why?”
“Just promise me you won’t go far from me.”
“Okay. I promise, Sia.”
I didn’t want to tell him my devil didn’t give a damn if he lived or died. He only saw him as bait and nothing more. If he couldn’t serve his purpose, or if he became a problem, Draki would watch him being flayed alive without batting an eyelash. If the devil got angry enough, he just might be the one to perform the action. As long as Elijah stayed near me, he was safe. With me being under the weather, I didn’t trust my body to obey my thoughts, which made my ability to save him like last time out of the question.
“Sleep, Sia,” Elijah said with a smile. His hand reached out and covered my eyes, blotting out the sunshine.
I couldn’t help it. I smiled and closed my eyes. His hand felt so warm. His touch wasn’t like Draki’s. It didn’t burn. It was soothing and inviting. Even though we were out in the Wastes, I didn’t feel vulnerable. I felt safe. And despite the hour, I managed to drift off to sleep in no time at all.
Chapter 19:
