The whip she kept coiled around her wrist slowly unwound as she spread her feet in an aggressive stance. Like a cornered animal.
There was something oddly intimate about the whole situation. Me finding myself back in the ring because we are the only few of our kind. That we know of. I let that thought fall to the wayside as I crossed my arms over my chest and smirked with just a touch too much of self-satisfaction. It would piss her off, her demon even more.
“You haven’t trained in months. What makes you think that—”
I moved while she was still talking. Using the same speed she had already mastered with ease, I crossed the clearing and placed myself behind her.
“I run forty miles a day and exercise my mind even more than my body,” I said.
She jumped, then whirled around already moving her whip to catch me, but I caught her off guard when I moved into her attack instead of away.
I brought my hand down on her wrist, twisting it sharp enough to cause pain but not so much to break. She dropped the whip, her eyes darkening as she moved her gaze from my hand to my face.
“How did you—”
“Lesson one,” I twisted my grip again and forced her to lean into me. “Expect the unexpected.”
I relinquished her wrist and slammed my other hand into her chest, putting just enough of my power into it to send her flying across the clearing.
She let out a gasp as her body hit the frozen ground only inches from the stone wall she could have landed against. My demon stirred restlessly, wanting to come out. Wanting to play.
I hesitated for a fraction of a second before silently letting her forward.
Trust. The only way we’ll both survive is a foundation built on trust.
She shivered in delight and rubbed her presence against me reassuringly. I eased into it, ignoring the gasps from higher above as my eyes turned black and blotted out the white entirely. They didn’t understand, but just like Alexandra, they would. Being part demon didn’t make me inherently evil.
If anything, my demon side was a hell of a lot more benevolent most of the time.
This was not one of those times.
Alexandra rocked her legs back and arched her body as she shot her momentum forward, jumping to her feet. Obsidian ashes swirled in her eyes as her demon vied for power. She flicked her glance to the corners of her vision, taking her eyes off me for a second too long.
I capitalized on her crippling mistake, jumping the distance between us. I clasped my hand around her throat and pushed her back into the stone wall.
“Lesson two,” my demon and I said. “Trust yourself. Trust your demon. Without you, she is dead, and without her, you are weak.” I tightened my grip, pushing the pads of my fingers into the soft, burning flesh of her throat.
She was getting close.
“Lesson three,” I whispered, leaning close. “Let go. Fearing yourself will not change what you are, but it will get you killed.”
She flinched under my inscrutable gaze and I shook my head, releasing her to step back. I had to mentally prepare myself for how far I might have to push her and make sure I didn’t get lost in the madness while I was at it.
“Do you remember,” I started slowly, “how father trained us?” I heard her breath catch in her throat when I held out my hand and the whip shot straight towards it. I caught it in mid-air and stroked the handle thoughtfully.
“S-Selena,” she whispered.
I think she meant to admonish me for even considering this, but the strain behind her voice told me that I’d hit it on the mark. If I couldn’t goad her into it, maybe an overwhelming combination of anger and fear would set it free.
It is, after all, what worked for me.
Only she doesn’t know that I won’t do it.
Oh, but I could make her believe I would. Me, the queen of lies. I resigned myself to my faults, because even liars and thieves have their place in this world. Right now, mine was provoking that demon out of her. Making it come to her aid.
Forcing her to protect herself in the only way she can from another demon.
“So, you do remember?” I poked. Prodded.
“We were children. He was only trying to do what was best for us,” she snapped. Those midnight shadows in her eyes swirled more as her demon hammered away at her defenses.
I laughed cruelly, a dark chuckle that had the hairs on her arms standing at attention.
“If you think so highly of his methods, why don’t we revisit them,” I murmured.
In the back of my mind, I was aware that I was dancing perilously close to the edge of where my control sat. Alexandra was only a hairpin away from losing it, and I was prepared to pull the trigger.
Above us, the apprehension thickened with every second I let this charade go on. One wrong move and someone would spring. I mentally placed a barrier over the lip of the ring, pre-emptively preventing any of them from entering and any fire from escaping.
I angled my body toward Alexandra, stiffening my spine with resolve. My heart beat slow and sure as I began stalking towards her.
The moment my hand lifted, the tension snapped.
Her eyes blackened instantly as her demon sprang forward and sent the snow covered ground up in flames. Heat washed over my skin as the fire consumed me.
I tossed the whip away and into the fire, glancing up to ensure my shield held.
It did.
Until the flames turned black. She homed in on me like a lion with its prey and locked me in a cage made of dark fire. I lifted my hands to the onyx flames, but these didn’t burn. They trapped me.
I focused my energy on pushing the flames out. Extinguishing the entire arena, but the tables had turned, and this was her playground now. My demon snarled at her through the wall that separated us, but she only smiled.
“It’s not nice being trapped, is it?” she goaded in an empty voice.
I shifted my aim from controlling the fire to controlling her. Alexandra’s eyes widened as I wrapped an invisible hand around her throat and brought her to her knees.
She may be able to lock me in here, but she couldn’t hurt me. I may not be able to control her flames, but I could still do far worse.
“Who’s at whose mercy now, sister?” my demon and I said softly. She narrowed her shadowed eyes.
“Release me,” she demanded.
I smiled lazily and crossed my arms over my chest, ignoring the cries of outrage from those outside the arena. My head pounded as heat imploded inside it and a splicing sensation ripped down my chest. It wasn’t my actual body, my reactions, or my emotions that fueled it—but I felt it all the same. Aaron was growing more agitated and angry by the second.
I needed to speed this up before he did something rash.
“Show me you can be trusted,” I replied. “Show her you can be trusted.”
She continued to stare at me with a blank apathy, but beneath her emotionless façade, I was not fooled. I think her demon knew what I was doing, and as much as it was pissed at me for going about it this way, it recognized the importance of this moment.
My sister would know everything she said and did. Alexandra would understand her reasoning, her thoughts, her feelings. She would be forced, at the very least, to acknowledge this other part of herself.
Acknowledge that it had the chance to act out and burn the residence to the ground, but it chose not to. Selfish reasons or not, it was a choice.
A very small pucker formed between her eyebrows, the first emotion outside of an impassive rage that she let herself display. That slight pucker drew her eyebrows together in an almost thoughtful way—were her eyes not black and emotionless.
The flame prison that held me at bay dissipated without a trace, and every flicker of black flame in the clearing followed it. The once snow-covered ground was now hard and baked from the prolonged heat. The stone walls of the arena covered by dark ash marks. Above them, the crowd had grown, but not even one looked burned or had singed clothes.
&nbs
p; All in all, I’d mark this as a success.
Now I just had to talk her demon down.
“I’m impressed,” I told her. “You have more control than I did.” I wasn’t lying. For this being the third time that she’s called forth her demon…color me green. She was going to be just fine.
My dark-eyed sister watched reproachfully as I walked to her and dropped down on one knee. I relinquished the phantom hands that held her, the same as she had done the flames. She didn’t jump away or make any move to fight me, as I suspected. I took it as a sign of good faith to raise one hand and extend it towards her. Another gesture of trust to bridge the gap between my sister and her other half, as well as the rest of us.
She frowned at my hand, staring at it like she didn’t understand. A minute passed. Then another. Silence spread across the residence. Only a howling wind and the rustling of dead leaves made any sound.
She raised a steady, burning hand to mine—and two demons formed an unspoken trust founded on an understanding that hadn’t been there before.
Chapter 123
“Ohmigawd—you’re a demon! Like a full-blown, badass—”
“Language,” Aaron scolded.
“—demon.” Keyla paused to look sheepish for about a second before continuing. “How did I not see this? It’s sooo obvious.” She reached across me to snatch another hulking slab of ham, dumping half the contents of the gravy boat on top of it.
“First of all, I’m only part demon. Not full. So don’t go around spreading rumors,” I corrected her with no small amount of snark. She rolled her eyes to the heavens and Scarlett muttered a complaint about her behavior for the third time since we’d sat down for dinner. “Second, you didn’t see it because part demons have never existed before to anyone’s knowledge. We’re a bunch of special fucking snowflakes.” That seemed to crack grins around the table and pull some chuckles from a few.
“Right,” Keyla drawled. “Part demon. How’s that even possible? Does it mean you have like, two sides? Do you demon-out on people?” She tapped her chin thoughtfully with the fork before digging into her second plate of pineapple glazed ham and mashed potatoes.
“No, I don’t ‘demon-out’ on people, as you say,” I pursed my lips taking a drink of water. Several ears at the table perked up at the turn in conversation, particularly Johanna and Oliver. Whatever I answered right now was going to set a precedent in the future. “My demon and I are the same, but like two sides of the same coin. Think about what happens if you try to destroy one side.”
The table went dead silent the moment the words were out of my mouth, but Keyla was oblivious. I had counted on it.
“You can’t. Not without destroying the other…oh.” Her mouth popped open giving Scarlett and Liam an eyeful of her mashed-up food as they were sitting across from her. “So, you can’t exist without each other?” she asked without judgement, only innocent curiosity.
“No, we can’t.” My gaze swept up without thinking to gauge Alexandra’s reaction. She wasn’t looking my way, but the concentration with which she stared at her food was telling. “My demon half is me, just a bit more…savage.”
I paused at the way Amber choked on her water. She shot a suggestive grin between me and Aaron. He flipped her off and gave her a stern don’t fucking say it kind of look.
“Savage?” Keyla asked. “You want to kill people?”
“No.” Not kill, per se, but occasionally maim. Or torture. “It means that part of me thinks a bit more black and white. My instincts can rule me at times, but sometimes those urges are for things other than just violence.” I shifted on the uncomfortable bench, accidentally brushing my arm against Aaron. He stiffened beside me, but Keyla didn’t seem to notice my reaction.
“Like sex?” she asked. It was my turn to choke on my water and Amber busted out laughing.
“More like you. My demon decided that she was fond of you before I did,” I replied, avoiding her question entirely.
But she wasn’t wrong. The goosebumps that broke out across my skin at the slight brush of his skin had little to do with the cold and more to do with the craving for intimacy.
It started months ago and I thought it was because my powers were coming back, or the confused feelings about Lucas. Now with my demon and I merged in a holistic unit, I’ve come to realize that’s her. She craves intimacy in all forms, more than I ever did before.
I never considered myself a hugger, but if she had her way, I would be.
“She has her own thoughts?” Keyla continued.
“Err,” I paused to think. “It’s kind of hard to explain. It’s less her own thoughts than it is instincts.” I toyed with how much to tell them because I didn’t know how they would respond. But if we were ever going to get over the past, to learn to trust, the truth seemed like the best way to go. “She’s still very new to being able to experience things with me, and that makes her less cynical at times. More open to…everything.”
My throat locked up at the uncomfortable vulnerability of the moment. It wasn’t a lot by most people’s standards, but for me, I may as well have bared my soul to the world. My gut reaction was to shut down, but that wouldn’t help anyone. Certainly not Alexandra, who was learning through my conversation with Keyla.
“Hmm,” Keyla hummed to herself. “It sounds like what Shifters say about their inner animal.” She mused around bites of food making Scarlett glare death at her.
“What’s having an inner animal like?” I leaned across the table to reach for the bowl of mango salad only half paying attention because I was focusing on not accidentally getting touchy with Aaron again.
“I wouldn’t know.”
I frowned, and without thinking, the bowl leapt from the table to my hand. Some of the Shifters cast me wary looks, but that wasn’t anything new. Being a Supe in Shifter territory tends to draw attention, matter manipulator or not. The weird part is that I wasn’t the only one they were looking at this time.
“What do you mean?” It wasn’t like her to be shady about stuff. She was normally running her mouth a million miles an hour.
“I don’t have one.”
Don’t have one?
“What do you mean you don’t have one?” I asked, a pit of dread settling in my stomach when she didn’t answer right away. From the other side of me, Aaron had gone very still.
“Keyla was born as what we Shifters call latent,” he answered quietly.
“Latent? What does—”
“She’s a Shifter that can’t shift.”
Oh. Suddenly, a lot of Keyla’s behavior made sense.
She was the Alpha’s daughter, but without the ability to shift.
Shit.
I could do one of two things in that moment. The first was apologize and tell her I didn’t know. Something told me that would only make it worse for her. Keyla didn’t want my pity. She didn’t want anyone’s pity. She never said anything before, and I could only guess as to why.
Which left me with the second option, and that was to let her know I didn’t care. She was still Keyla, with or without the ability to shift. Just like I was still Selena, demon or no demon.
“Well then,” I said, a lot more boisterous than I felt, “I guess that makes us both special snowflakes.” I waited two long seconds hoping I didn’t guess wrong. Peopling and feelings weren’t exactly my forte, but then again, they weren’t Keyla’s either.
She looked over at me and cracked a slight smile, her lips quirking up despite her solemn eyes. Those deep, soulful amber eyes seemed to tell me more than words could have, and we continued our dinner without another word of it.
Early the next afternoon, I walked up to the edge of the arena to stand beside Aaron.
“Where is Alexandra?”
“Tori said she wasn’t feeling well. That time of month,” he quoted, rolling his eyes.
I snorted. Time of the month, my ass. We stayed up the night before watching reruns of Charmed, but if I could get my ass up in time for train
ing, so could she.
“Wars don’t stop for that time of the month,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest. “Keyla, can you go get her?” On the other side of me, Keyla groaned but nodded before marching back towards the mansion. “Bring a jug of water with you in case she does anything rude!” I called as an afterthought. Keyla let out a sharp laugh and picked up her pace.
“She’s going to throw water on her now,” Aaron sighed.
“I’m counting on it.”
He let out a dark chuckle before turning his eyes to the scene below where Blair and Oliver were sparring—an odd pairing if there ever was one. Blair was short by anyone’s standards, and while her whip-fast blade skills weren’t something to be underestimated, her real skill lay with her ability: ice.
Oliver Fortier came from a long line of force field manipulators. His own particular skills lay in physical shields, making him nearly untouchable to everyone here with the exception of two people. The first being Johanna, whose Heinz57 blood made her a woman of many talents and one of the deadliest people in the entire residence. The second was me. I had the ability to shatter his shields, as my demon had already proven.
Knowing this, I wasn’t surprised when he enclosed her in a shield, instantly rendering her knives useless. She let out a curse and sheathed her blades, taking deep even breaths. From up here, the clang of swords and animal roars made it difficult to pinpoint subtle noises, but in the eerie still space where I stood, almost like I was outside of time itself…I heard her heartbeat.
Low but quick, and rapidly increasing.
I tilted my head, studying her for all of three seconds before the electric blue shield surrounding her broke apart and dissipated like it was never there at all.
“What are you doing?” I asked Oliver as he moved towards her.
“Checking to see if she’s alright—”
“You’re coddling her,” I replied swiftly before he could get the words out. Oliver stopped mid-stride and his lips thinned.
“She was surrounded. What would you have me do?” he replied tersely, crossing his arms over his chest.
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