Aura

by Rebecca Lynn Talley

  He seemed to buy my whole act, so I decided to push it a bit further. "If only I knew something about where they are and how they're doing, I might be able to relax a little." I gave him my best I-want-to-kiss-you look, hoping for a useful response.

  "Maybe I could help."

  Finally.

  "How?" As if he was going to help me at all. This was taking too long, but I didn't know how to hurry it along without giving myself away.

  "My uncle is a detective in town. Maybe he's heard something about them."

  "A detective? I didn't know that." Such a liar. Did he think I was that stupid?

  "I'll give him a call and see if he can find anything out."

  "I'd really appreciate it." I smiled at him wishing I could punch him instead. Or kick him. Or maim him.

  Nate walked into the other room, so I hurriedly sent Alec a text to update him.

  After several minutes, Nate came back into the room with a smug expression.

  "I missed you," I said, feeling slimy and dirty.

  "My uncle said he'll check on a few things and call me back. I gave him their descriptions and when you noticed they were missing."

  "Okay. Thanks." He probably knew right where my parents were. Jerk. If only I could've read his mind, then I wouldn't have needed this painful charade. Being this close to him sent my stomach into convulsions. I so wanted this nightmare to be over.

  "Does that make you feel better? Can you relax now?"

  I understood the disgusting innuendo.

  "A little."

  "My uncle said he'd make finding them a priority. He's going to send a bunch of officers out looking for them right now." I wanted to rip the lies out of him. So transparent. The more he lied, the more anger boiled inside me.

  "I wish I knew something concrete—anything, about where they might be. None of this makes sense." I hoped he'd take my bait.

  "I'm sure we'll hear something soon. In the meantime . . ." He reached out and pulled me toward the hallway.

  "As soon as I hear something—"

  "Shut up." It came out harsh. Rough. I tensed. "I mean . . ." He tried to soften his face, but it didn't work.

  "Nate?"

  He let out a long breath, and his face contorted. He grabbed my right arm, almost cutting off the circulation. "Enough."

  My heart raced, and perspiration sprang to the back of my neck. "What are you doing?" I tried to keep my voice even.

  "You really are a hard nut to crack. Much harder than I anticipated." His voice deepened. "I'm sick of these cat-and-mouse games. I will not fail this time."

  That was it. Fire lit my cheeks and the dam holding in my anger exploded. I screamed in his face, "I know exactly what you are. Tell me where my parents are. Now!"

  He narrowed his darkened, lifeless eyes then gave a guttural laugh.

  I tried to jerk my arm away, but he had a tight grasp. "Where are they?" I yelled.

  "I'll tell you in exchange for . . ." He licked his lips.

  "What?" As if I didn't know the vile thing he was about to propose.

  "You. Of course. That's what I want. And so does he."

  "He?"

  "Your little boyfriend. Yeah, he's still in here. Awake. Watching all of this." Demon-Nate laughed again. A sick, throaty laugh. "He can't do anything but watch. And he was so easy. I promised a little scholarship, threw in some fame, and he was more than willing to rent himself out."

  I hadn't planned on him admitting to being a demon so quickly. I had to think. "Where are my parents?"

  "Safe. For the moment. Depends on you. And no paralyzing me this time." He gripped my arm even tighter. "Are you willing to give yourself freely to me? Relinquish your Light so I can absorb it?"

  I squared my shoulders, and calling on all the courage I had, I met his demon-eyes. "If I agree, you'll take me to my parents?"

  A repulsive smirk grew on his lips. "Absolutely."

  I swallowed back the bile that rose in my throat. "Fine. You win."

  He started to kiss me with hot, slimy lips and I had to focus all of my energy on not barfing. My heart thudded a wild rhythm against my ribs while I considered my next move.

  I pulled my head back. "Where are they, Nate?"

  "All in good time." He continued to kiss my neck while the muscles tensed across my back.

  "I need to know."

  "After." He pulled me closer, kissing me harder. He stopped for a moment. "Hmm, having a human host is incredible. Who knew it'd feel like this?" He licked his lips and came at me again.

  The air in the room closed in on me. I tried to convince myself to keep going, but I couldn't. Not one more second. I pushed him away. "I can't do this. I won't." I wiped at my face, trying to remove his slime.

  "Even if it means your parents' lives?" he said with an arrogant smirk that begged to be torn off.

  I didn't want anything to happen to my parents, but I refused to give anything more to this disgusting demon hiding inside Nate. There had to be another way.

  "Pretend I'm really your boyfriend." He started to paw at me again.

  "Leave me alone."

  He grabbed me, pulling me to him. "Do you want to know where your parents are or not?"

  I arched my back, putting as much distance as possible between our faces. "I—"

  "If you give me what I want, I'll give you what you want. We both win." He leaned in.

  Maybe he was right. Maybe this was the only way. Maybe . . . I thrust those thoughts out. Being this close to a demon seemed to scramble my brain. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind and yelled, "No!"

  He let go of me, and I stumbled backward. "I've tried to talk you into it. I've tried to force you. Now I'll reason with you." He paused."You have to willingly give yourself to me so I can absorb your power. Once you've done that, you will no longer be a threat to any of us, and I'll take you to your pathetic parents."

  His words turned my stomach to acid. There was no more pretending or playing dumb. The charade was over. I wasn't sure what to do next, because I hadn't planned on it going this way.

  "You're making far too much of this. It's a simple thing, really." He stared at me with dead eyes.

  "I don't understand why—"

  "Your Light is connected to your soul," he said impatiently as if I was stupid.

  "And?" I wanted to stall him with questions.

  He puffed out a breath. "Humans share their souls when they consummate a relationship. When a demon possesses one of the humans, he can drain the other human's soul of its Light, absorb the power and use it to fuel his own power. Your soul is engorged with Light. Absorbing that much Light will make me more powerful than most demons, and Lord Vincent will be forced to put in my rightful position—beside him. Get it?"

  I mentally ordered my legs to stop shaking.

  "I do need to report back soon and you, well, you want your parents back before breakfast. So let's begin," he said with urgency.

  I took several steps away. "No." I shook my head. "Never. Not with Nate, and certainly not with you."

  "You are trying my patience. As if I had any." He laughed.

  I held up my hands. "I won't give myself to you."

  "You'd rather see your parents dead? I imagine they'll die slowly—very slowly—and painfully." He emphasized the last word.

  Being in the same room with him was sickening. I had to do something, so I focused on my Light. I thought maybe, if Nate was still in there, I could reach him. It was all I could think to do. "I want to talk to Nate."

  "I bet you do." He took a step toward me a smug expression.

  Focusing harder, trying to grasp my Light so I could use its power, I said, "Let me talk to Nate."

  He took another step toward me, his grotesque smile growing larger. "This is quite entertaining." He reached out for me, and I stepped back, tripping over a chair and falling to the ground. "Come, now, let's not waste time." He grabbed me and pulled me up to him, his filthy hands holding me so tight I thought he'd crush m
y lungs.

  I drew in a deep breath and closed my eyes. I envisioned my Light and concentrated on finding it, grasping it, and holding it. Heat built up inside me as my mind filled with Light. I searched for the right words. "I command you to let Nate talk."

  Demon-Nate released his hold on me. He started to jerk and convulse. He fell to the floor and rolled around. His face turned red, and his arms flailed around.

  When he stopped, he reached his hand out for me. "Help me," he said in a weak, almost hoarse voice.

  "Nate?" I stared at him, stunned. Is it really Nate?

  "Yes. It's me," he said in a whisper. "There's something bad inside me. He's controlling me, but around you he has less control. He said he'd kill you if I didn't go along."

  Still in shock, I studied him, wondering how I'd actually reached him. "When I commanded him to let you talk, he must've had no choice but to give control back to you."

  "Just . . . get this thing out of me."

  I knelt beside him. "I'm not sure how."

  He grabbed my arm and squeezed it. "I'm sorry, Crystal."

  "Nate?"

  He glanced at me for a second.

  I tried to encourage him. "See if you can stop it from the inside somehow."

  "I . . ." He seemed to be getting weaker.

  "Do you know where my parents are?"

  He lifted his head. "I . . . I . . ."

  "Nate!" I yelled. "Where are my parents?"

  His eyes rolled back, and he convulsed a few times. Then he got to his hands and knees and, with considerable effort, finally rose.

  I stood too, peering at him. "Nate? Is it still you?"

  "You do have extraordinary power. Enough to hinder my hold on this human momentarily." He took some ragged breaths. "But I am strong and adaptable. If you don't cooperate, I can guarantee that your parents will be disheartened." He sneered. "Literally."

  "Say whatever you want, but I will not give myself to you." There had to be another way to free my parents. A way that didn't include being with him.

  "You will give me what I want." He moved toward me.

  Instinctively, I drew up my foot and kicked him as hard as I could in the groin. He crumpled over and moaned, and I tried to stop the smile that swept across my lips.

  He may have been a demon, but he was still in a human body—kicking him was all I could think to do to get away.

  "Sorry, Nate." I didn't know if the real Nate could hear me, but I wasn't going to wait to find out. I rushed from the room and flung open the front door.

  "This isn't over!" he shouted back.

  I ran down the street, panting. My plan had disintegrated right in front of me, and I still had no idea where my parents were—they could be killed at any time—everything had fallen apart. A car pulled up behind me so I turned, thinking it would be Alec, but instead, I saw Erin behind the wheel. She motioned for me to get in the car.

  No way.

  My charade was over with Nate. I didn't know what she knew about it or what might happen next. I whirled around and started running again.

  She gunned the engine. Every part of my body screamed that she would run me down, so I darted off the road, to my right, and behind a blue house toward the alley.

  Where is Alec? I looked to my left. My right. No sign of him. I started down the alley and finally caught sight of his car. I sprinted over to it, yanked open the door, and jumped inside.

  "Go!"

  The tires screeched as Alec stepped on the gas pedal and we sped out of the alley. "What happened?"

  "Nate's demon offered me a deal. The location of my parents for . . ." The idea of being with him sent a creepy crawly sensation all over my body. Nauseating.

  Alec gave me a sideways glance while keeping both hands on the wheel. "And?"

  "I thought about it for a millisecond." I paused. "But then said no way."

  Alec let out a breath. "How did he take it?"

  "Not too well. I had to emphasize my refusal."

  "Huh?"

  "I kicked him. Hard. And it was great!" I glanced at Alec.

  A painful expression crossed his face. "In the . . . ?"

  "Yep." Watching demon-Nate fall to the ground in pain gave me a minor amount of satisfaction. "I might be small, but I learned some moves in a self-defense class at one of my high schools." Of course, I'd always thought I'd use them against human jerks, not demons intent on destroying me.

  We turned onto the highway and headed toward the mountains.

  "I totally blew the plan, though. I thought I could trick him into telling me something. But nothing. Not a thing." My voice trembled. "Now my parents . . ."

  "Don't be too hard on yourself."

  "He said Nate is still in there with him—awake and watching everything. I reached him for a second, but the demon took back control."

  "You reached the host? And talked to him?"

  "Yeah. He asked me to get the demon out."

  "If you can actually sever that connection and cast out the demon, maybe you can save Nate." He nodded and smiled. "And other human hosts too."

  "Since I ruined the plan . . ." I balled my fists, digging my nails into my palms. "Where do we go from here?" I felt like a complete failure. All I had to do was find out where my parents were, and I'd failed. I'd made things worse, too, because now the demons definitely knew I could use my Light against them. They'd be even more prepared, and they'd adapt like demon-Nate had said.

  "I'll text my mom to let her know what happened," Alec said. "We'll figure out the next step."

  "Luke won't be surprised. He never thought I could pull it off anyway." Luke's I-told-you-so expression flashed through my mind.

  "Don't let Luke get to you. He's a good guy. Intense at times, but a good guy. Vincent killed Luke's pregnant wife and young daughter about eight years ago."

  That explained a lot. "Wow. He must've been so sad."

  "And angry." He glanced at me. "He met my mom and joined The Covenant. He's sworn to take Vincent down. This is the closest he's ever been."

  At least I understood more about Luke. I didn't want to lose my family too. A loose thread at the bottom of my shirt caught my eye. I rolled it between my fingers while the full realization of what happened hit me. "I'm sorry I failed."

  Alec pulled the car off onto the shoulder and stopped it. He sent the text to his mom and then studied me, his gaze sending ripples of energy down my back. "You didn't fail."

  "But I didn't get any useful information."

  He reached over and brushed a stray hair from my face. "You got something better."

  "Better?" I closed my eyes for a few moments. "What are you talking about?"

  In a gentle voice he said, "Your aura is even stronger now."

  "It is?" I looked at him and then felt the air around myself.

  Alec gave a small laugh. "You can't feel your aura with your hands."

  "How do I even know it's there?" I'd never seen it, so how did I know it actually existed? "Can you see your own aura?"

  "No, but I can see others', and I can definitely see yours. You'll have to take my word for it."

  His clear, sparkling eyes drew me in and assured me that he deserved my trust. In a different place and time, I could've lost myself in those eyes. Indefinitely.

  "But how do we find my parents now?" I'd blown whatever chance we had.

  He stroked the back of my hand with his fingers, sending my heart into a flutter. "Don't give up on us. You'd be surprised at how much information we can gather. We have our own network, and there are still plenty of good people with some Light that will help us. I'm sure my mom already has a backup plan."

  "I can't imagine living without my parents. I'd be so lost." Even though I was nearly eighteen, thinking about losing them made me feel like a helpless little girl. What would I do without them? I shook the daunting thought from my mind.

  I rolled down the window, allowing the cool, fresh air to pelt my face and whip through my hair. After several minutes
, I turned from the window and asked, "Where are we going?"

  Alec pulled out his phone. "Back to the cabin. My mom hasn't responded to my text, so we need to talk to her in person. I hope . . ." His sentence trailed off.

  I chewed on my thumbnail and watched the headlight beams bounce off tree trunks, thoughts ping-ponging in my brain.

  After several quiet minutes, Alec asked, "What are you thinking about?"

  "Lots of stuff."

  "Like?"

  "Besides being scared about my parents, I also feel . . . betrayed." Anger bubbled inside me.

  "By Nate?"

  "And by Erin. I'd finally found a place where I felt like I belonged. I had a best friend and a boyfriend. A first for me." I played with the air vent in front of me. "Moving all over the place kinda prevents you from getting to know people, and now . . ."

  "Remember, they aren't themselves."

  "Yeah, but whatever the demons offered them was more important than anything else. Even me. They're both responsible for what happened to my parents." I rolled up the window.

  "They probably didn't know what the demons were actually up to. Demons are notorious for lying about everything. They rarely tell the truth, unless it happens to benefit them."

  I twisted some hair around my finger. "I thought Nate and I had something special. And Erin—I totally trusted her. To think that both of them were so willing to give in to demons makes me so mad. And upset."

  "Neither of them is as strong as you. That's why the demons targeted them and then double-teamed you."

  As we headed toward the cabin, I dreaded telling Melinda, and especially Luke, about what had happened. I hoped they'd already formed a plan and would know what to do next.

  Before it was too late.

  As we neared the cabin, an eerie sensation seeped through me and left terror in its wake. I didn't want to face everyone and see their disappointment. Alec stopped the car, and I convinced myself to get out, despite my thundering heartbeat. The closer we got to the front door, the more I wanted to bolt, but I forced my feet to keep going. I'd have to admit my failure eventually.

  Alec turned the doorknob, and as the door swung open, I stopped in horror, covering my mouth to stifle a scream. The chairs were upside down, the small table turned on its side. Couch cushions and papers were strewn on the floor.