Demon Kissed: Book 2 of the Venandi Chronicles (An Urban Paranormal Romance Series)

by Sara Snow

  Georgia winced. I could tell by the pain in her eyes that my comment had hit its target. I walked out of the room, leaving her to explain last night to Carter.

  This trip wasn’t the end of my hopes of winning Georgia’s heart. Only a delay in the action.

  16

  Georgia

  The bickering started before we left the Chicago metro area. I sat in the front seat next to Carter, who stared straight ahead as he navigated the early morning rush hour traffic. The wind had kicked up early today, slowing the stream of vehicles even more than usual.

  “I didn’t have time to book a manicure, Carter,” Olympia complained. “I hope you’re happy. I don’t see how I’m going to cast any spells with hands like this.”

  She waved her lovely, slender hands at Carter and me.

  “Your fingernails look fine, Olympia.” I sighed. “We have more important things to worry about.”

  “Right. Like just about anything else I can think of,” Carter snapped. “I don’t have time to listen to this trivial bitching.”

  “Give her a break,” Jacob said. “We’ve all done our share of bitching this morning. Let’s chill out and relax.”

  “Fine by me,” I said. I leaned my head back against the headrest and closed my eyes. Jacob might be defending Olympia now, but he’d glowered at Carter when he found out that he’d been assigned to the back seat.

  We had planned to leave well before dawn, but that ghastly scene with Carter and Jacob set us back. After Jacob left the room, I expected Carter to grill me about the kiss. Instead, he told me I was right about cooling things off.

  “If there’s one thing I know about Paimon and his gang,” Carter had said, “it’s that they’d love to see us destroy each other with our own weaknesses. We can’t let them see that there’s a conflict between any of us. Even if there is.”

  Aren’t you going to say anything about the fact that I kissed another guy? Ask me for a commitment, tell me I mean something to you?

  But he went to finish packing. No kiss on the cheek, no demand for a commitment. Not even a big, accusing silence. He just walked out of my room, leaving me feeling like a balloon leaking air.

  By the time we got all our stuff together and said goodbye to Kingston, Eli, and Jose, it was well past sunrise. The wind grew stronger as we left Chicago. A heavy gust smacked Carter’s car, almost shoving us out of our lane. Clouds of dust and particles of debris flew across the highway. A bank of clouds was forming on the horizon in the direction we were going.

  “Can you do anything about this weather?” Carter asked Olympia. “Why don’t you cast one of your spells? The visibility is terrible.”

  “Try taking off those ridiculous glasses,” Olympia suggested sweetly. “I guarantee your vision will improve dramatically.”

  Even though the sky was overcast, Carter wore a pair of dark glasses to protect his eyes. They weren’t the kind of sporty sunglasses that most commuters wore at this time of the morning. The frames were heavy, and the lenses were thick, black, and totally opaque.

  Although he had declared that I was riding shotgun on this first leg of the trip, Carter had avoided direct communication with me since he’d left my room that morning. That scene had been horrifically embarrassing, and I still couldn’t get over my regrets about hurting Jacob.

  Before we all left the warehouse, I caught up with Jacob in the hallway outside the training room. I knew what I wanted to say, but the words stuck in my throat, and we ended up staring at each other for several long moments.

  I was the first one to look down. After all, I was the one who had a reason to be ashamed.

  “Jacob,” I said, “I’m really sorry.”

  “For what?” Jacob asked, with a casual shrug. “We kissed a couple of times. That’s all. It’s not like we’re engaged, or even dating. We’re two people who enjoyed each other’s company.”

  I couldn’t help noticing that he used the past tense when he talked about enjoying my company.

  “It was more than that,” I said. “I like you, Jacob. A lot.”

  I thought about that feeling of hope that came over me when he hugged me last night. I wanted to hang onto that, but Carter’s intensity, the erotic pull of his dark eyes, had drawn me away.

  “I like you, too, Georgia. You’re an amazing woman, and I’m always here for you, no matter what happens. Never forget that.”

  He smiled at me and rested his hand on my shoulder—back to being my friendly big brother. Then he quickly left the room, telling me he needed to pack his crossbow.

  Not exactly the best time to have two guys fighting over me. ‘Awkward’ doesn’t even begin to describe it.

  This morning, as we all piled into the car, I was relieved that Carter had asked me to sit up front. With Jacob sitting behind me, I could almost, but not quite, forget he was there.

  Our plan was to head south out of Chicago toward Missouri, then hit Missouri and cruise on down through Oklahoma by the afternoon. From Oklahoma, we’d head through the bulk of Texas, moving south toward El Paso.

  Where Deena would be waiting for me in an abandoned building that Olympia described as a “hellhole.” Olympia had scried my mother’s location a few more times in the past couple of days. She had tried to see my mother, but the air around her was always filled with a greenish-black smoke that obscured her face.

  And there were always shadows in the background, shifting in and out of the room, giving my mother the chemicals she needed to maintain her shaky hold on life. No food or water, of course. Just the drug she had craved for as long as I could remember—heroin.

  In the pocket of my hoodie was the charm Olympia had made me, the clump of bone and hair that represented Deena. Now, as we drove out of the city, I clutched the little totem and felt it growing warmer in my hand.

  It won’t be long until we’re back together. Until Deena is close enough for me to touch her.

  “I feel like we’re constantly being watched,” Olympia complained. “Like the Tenebris know where we are every minute.”

  Olympia had cast a spell to protect the car against demons of the air, so that we could travel safely from one place to another without interference from any supernatural beings. But as she admitted herself, she couldn’t stop them from watching us or tracking our movements from one place to another.

  “They do know where we are every minute,” said Carter.

  “Well, the thought of them following us in the air is creeping me out,” Olympia said.

  “Think of it this way,” Jacob said. “It’s like when you call the police to report that somebody is stalking you, and they say they can’t do anything until the stalker actually does something to you. You just have to deal with the creepiness of knowing that you’re being watched.”

  “At least they can’t touch us,” I added.

  “We want them to know where we’re going,” said Carter. “That’s the whole point, to lure them to El Paso. If they lose track of us, our timing might be off, and we won’t be there at the right time to destroy them.”

  I reached for my phone, put in my earbuds, and turned on my music. If only I could drown out the voices in my head telling me I was a demon’s daughter, that part of me was just as evil as those creatures in the sky or the kings of Hell who were threatening the mortal realm.

  What would it take for me to become completely good? Would I always have to live with the possibility that the demon side of me could take over my whole being like a clump of malignant cells?

  Maybe Deena will be able to tell me what to expect. At least she’ll know where I came from.

  I wanted to see Deena, to touch her and talk to her—while I still had the chance.

  In the deepest corner of my heart, I wanted to hear her say that she loved me.

  Georgia

  The room where my mother lay was filled with the same inky miasma that Olympia had seen in her magic mirror. I could barely make out the emaciated form of the woman on the bed. Her skin was so
pale that the sheet she lay on looked dark by comparison—or maybe that was just the contrast of her body with the filth and grime of the threadbare fabric.

  Is that you? Are you my mother?

  The woman lay on her back, with her head tipped back on a pillow. Her mouth was open wide, gaping in a soundless scream. The lank strands of her black hair formed a nest for her skull.

  A fog covered her eyes, which stared up at the ceiling, unblinking.

  Under her thin torso, clad only in a sheet, a dark stain blossomed. As I watched, the puddle spread, and I saw that the edges of the black pool were actually crimson.

  I plucked a corner of the sheet between my thumb and forefinger, and slowly lifted it away from the body. The fabric, sealed to the skin with drying blood, resisted at first, but then I was able to pull it off the woman’s chest.

  Her open chest.

  The skin had been flayed off the woman’s breasts and ribs. A triangular area of skin had been left intact over the sternum, and in the middle of that triangle was the blackened outline of the letter P.

  I threw down the sheet, screamed, and turned to run, but a towering male figure blocked the door. A rim of light glowed around the outline of his head, which was topped by an elaborate crown.

  Georgia. I thought this moment would never come. I’ve waited so long. I’ve always wanted to know you, and here you are! My beautiful, powerful daughter—I will give you all the love you ever longed for, and gifts that you never imagined, if you only come with me.

  He stepped forward to greet me. Behind him stood two other figures. Together, the three of them moved into the light, allowing me to see them. They were equally tall, but their forms were more fearsome. One wore a cloak and had a skull for a head, and the other had grotesquely contorted features, like a lizard made of melting wax.

  I tried to move, but my feet were stuck to the floor. I looked down to see that the blood from the corpse had dried into a sticky puddle on the carpet. The blood was as thick as drying glue.

  I looked up helplessly to see the figure still in the doorway, now holding out his arms as if inviting me into an embrace.

  Come with me, Georgia. The world will be yours.

  Sickened by the blood, horrified by the body’s flayed chest and the sight of my own mother’s exposed heart, I shook my head.

  But part of me longed to go to him. Part of me wanted everything he was promising with those open arms and that gentle, beckoning voice.

  I did this all for you, Georgia. I gave your mother what she deserved. Come with me now.

  I screamed.

  Georgia

  “Georgia. You okay?”

  I woke to find Carter’s hand on my knee, shaking me out of my dream. Cold sweat beaded my forehead, and even in the heated car, I felt chilled.

  Carter’s left hand was still on the steering wheel, and he was guiding the car down a freeway lined with suburban tract homes. Those neighborhoods looked so uniform, so normal. What could go wrong in a place like that, where everybody’s house and car and kids looked the same?

  Where nobody’s dad was a demon.

  “Must have been some dream you had,” Olympia said from the backseat. She leaned forward and handed me a small silver flask. “Have a sip of my liqueur, sweetie. It’ll drive any nightmare away.”

  “Uh, no thanks,” I said. “I’d rather just sit with the nightmare.”

  Olympia sniffed. “Oh, well. More for me. Care for a swig, Jacob?”

  While Olympia and Jacob joked and took turns sipping from the flask, I sat in silence and stared out the window.

  “Are you going to tell me about the dream?” Carter asked. His right hand still rested on my thigh. The weight of his touch was reassuring.

  At least I know I’m awake now.

  “It was nothing. Just the usual,” I said. “I was running away from a demon, but my feet were stuck in quicksand. You know how nightmares are.” I didn’t want to tell Carter that I’d dreamed of my mother with her chest flayed open, the letter P branded into her flesh. Saying it would just make it more real.

  Carter had taken off his sunglasses. The sky was overcast, and even more clouds were gathering on the horizon. He glanced over at me, and I saw true concern in his eyes.

  “They’re going to get worse before they get better,” he said. “Those dreams and visions, I mean. That’s how Paimon will communicate with you, and as we get closer, his messages will get stronger and more persuasive.”

  “He’ll never persuade me to do anything,” I said with a shudder.

  “I sure hope not,” Carter said. “But that’s why we’re all here with you, to remind you of what great friends you have. Especially me.” He gave me a sly grin, bringing a warm flush to my cheeks.

  He was trying to shake me out of my dark mood, but the thought that Paimon was trying to communicate with me in my dreams was hardly reassuring. How the heck was I supposed to go to sleep now?

  “Where will you and Jacob be when I meet my mother?” I asked. “You know, if Paimon and his buddies show up.”

  “Not ‘if’ they show up,” Carter said firmly. “When they show up. Our goal is to choreograph this reunion so that we’re there at the same time as Paimon and his gang, so we can blow them to smithereens and burn them to ashes. And yes. We will be there. This is the kind of confrontation that our team has been training for since the days Kingston and I were out fighting demons together.”

  “Well, we can thank the goddesses that we have Georgia with us now,” Olympia said. “She is the most powerful weapon we’ve got.”

  “Yeah. I just have to make sure I have the strength to use my powers when the time comes,” I said.

  “Hey. Don’t doubt yourself,” Carter said sternly. “Doubt could weaken you. We’ll be right there with you when it’s time to take down Paimon and his buddies.”

  Doubt could weaken you.

  So could fear.

  I looked down at my hands. Olympia thought her fingernails looked bad, but mine were a hundred times worse. In the past few days, I’d bitten my nails to the quick—talk about needing a manicure. I hadn’t let on to the rest of the team how worried I was about the trip. The fire gave me more confidence, but I still wondered if I could stand up to the demons when the time came for the confrontation.

  Especially since one of those demons is my father.

  I had to be strong. I had to remember why I wanted this meeting with my mother so much. I had to remember my friends.

  I’ve always wanted to know you, and here you are! My beautiful, powerful daughter—I will give you all the love you ever longed for, and gifts that you never imagined, Paimon had said in my dream.

  What if he was being sincere? What if those words were more than just demonic bullshit?

  If Paimon really did want me, if he truly loved me as his daughter, then turning him into a blazing chunk of demon flesh might be tougher than I thought.

  17

  Eli

  As I watched Carter’s silver sedan pull out onto the street this morning, I felt a lurch in my gut. Kingston, Jose, and I stood in the middle of the street, waving as they set off on their journey, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was all a mistake.

  Kingston must have caught on to my ambivalence.

  “We’re going to be victorious. Don’t worry about that,” he said. He put his arms around Jose and me and drew both of us into a huddle. “We have to keep up our optimism. Don’t give in to doubt, even for a second. That’s what causes divine beings to fall. I know that better than anyone.”

  I knew that Kingston had a lot riding on this mission. After the team left, he told me that if we succeeded in our goal of saving the mortal realm, he could regain his divine status. That meant the world to Kingston. His heart, which had carried the weight of his fall for so long, would be healed.

  Victory meant a lot to Jose, too. His dreams had gotten more vivid. He woke every night in a cold sweat, with images and words seething in his mind. He’d even
gotten to the point that he was channeling demons in his waking hours. Bebal was the voice he used most often, but he had also begun to speak as Abalam, Paimon’s second assistant.

  I had recorded some of those prophecies on my phone and had taken videos of Jose when he was channeling the demons. Kingston had even set up a monitor and security camera in his room, so we could hear when he was having nightmares and record any visual evidence of demonic possession.

  But when we went back to watch those videos, the screen was clouded with gray static. The audio recordings were horribly distorted, with occasional bursts of garbled syllables spoken in deep tones.

  So, Kingston and I started taking turns sitting with Jose at night. When he slept, we napped in sleeping bags on the floor. When he woke and started shouting, we would do our best to write down everything he said.

  Kingston was a lot better at capturing Jose’s channeled messages than I was. He knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and apparently, the demons used all of them to communicate. Most of their messages held threats for us, warnings to stay away from Georgia.

  Her fire belongs to the one who fathered her.

  Leave her to him, or the fire will be turned upon you.

  These were just a few of the demons’ messages, but they all had the same intention: warning us off. Telling us to back down. Demanding that we let Paimon have his daughter back.

  Then, there were other voices, the voices of other spirits or beings. Kingston said that some of them were angels, speaking prophecies that offered hope and promises of victory over the Tenebris.

  Jose’s mind was being torn apart by demons. No wonder he was losing sleep and losing weight. He walked around the warehouse like a ghost, his t-shirts and jeans drooping off his scrawny frame. I tried to get him to eat more, drink more, work out with me to ramp up his appetite.