Demon

by Laura DeLuca

  After a few hours of rehearsing, they decided to call it a day and indulged in a late-night snack of rocky road ice cream. It was a reward well earned. They were both yawning as Justyn carried the dishes over to the sink. He dropped them on the counter, and she worked to remove the sticky marshmallow from the bowls. She was just laying them in the drainer when she noticed Justyn bend down to pick up a crumbled piece of paper from the floor. He unfolded it and studied it for a few minutes.

  “Where did this come from?” He frowned.

  Rebecca dried her hands on a paper towel and reached for the paper. “Oh, that,” she shuddered a little when she saw the warning notice. She had completely forgotten about it in the hustle and bustle of the last few days. “It was stuck in the spokes of my bike the other day, and I tossed it in my bag. It must have fallen out when I was packing up my assignment.”

  “No one mentioned this when we came to visit the campus,” Justyn complained.

  Rebecca shrugged and tossed the paper into their recycle bin. “He’s probably long gone by now.”

  Justyn shook his head. “You don’t know that. You need to be careful, Becca. I’m sure during the day you’ll be fine if you stick to the main trails. But you have that night class all the way at the back of the campus….”

  Rebecca wanted to tell him he was being silly, but she’d honestly been thinking the same thing. Still, she didn’t want to make him worry.

  “I’ll be okay,” she reassured him. “I have pepper spray on my keychain.”

  “You also have a boyfriend available to walk you to class,” Justyn reminded her. “I’m serious, Becca. You know Darlene raised me with a healthy respect for women’s rights and I know you can fend for yourself, but I would never forgive myself if something happened to you.”

  She smiled and kissed his cheek. “I’m not one of those crazy feminists who believe that equal rights have to mean the end of chivalry. I won’t complain if you walk me to class. Feel free to continue holding the door and pulling out my chair as well. I think you’re the perfect combination of old-world charm and new-age reasoning.”

  “Now that was a compliment.” He put his arm around her. “I’m glad you’re not going to fight me on this night-class thing. I have enough to stress over.”

  Rebecca rolled her eyes. “You? Stress? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get anxious. I’m the one who’s always a hot mess.”

  “Well, I agree on the hot part anyway.” He took her hand. “Now, come on. Let’s get some sleep. It’s going to be another busy day tomorrow.”

  Rebecca followed Justyn to the bedroom. She didn’t realize how exhausted she was until she was under the covers. After classes, tryouts, work study, and a five-page paper all in just two days, it was no wonder she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. It seemed like only a few seconds later that she woke to Justyn calling her name with pure panic in his voice. Rebecca darted up in bed, wiping the crust from her eyes.

  “What … what is it?” she half mumbled, her voice still thick with sleep.

  Justyn didn’t reply. She squinted to adjust to the pitch darkness, and saw he was still sleeping beside her, though not at all peacefully. His forehead was beaded with sweat, and his arms thrashed from side-to-side. He was obviously in the thralls of some awful nightmare. Rebecca knew the feeling. After what happened with Debbie, there were many nights she woke up screaming as well.

  “Becca! No!” Justyn cried out again, and Rebecca put her hand on his shoulder. It took several gentle shakes before he reacted to her touch. Then he darted up with a gasp and looked around the room, his eyes wild, still stuck in that awkward stage between dreaming and wakefulness. Rebecca wrapped her arms around his bare chest to try and comfort him.

  “It’s okay, Justyn. It was only a dream.”

  She could still feel his heart pounding as he struggled to catch his breath. He clung to her almost desperately for a minute without speaking. She waited, giving him time to calm down before she questioned him. Then, as though nothing had happened, he stood from the bed and ran a hand through his hair.

  “I’m going to get some water. I’ll be right back.”

  Rebecca blinked a few times. She was a little puzzled since he normally didn’t try to hide his feelings from her. She knew she was never going to fall back to sleep without him by her side. So she climbed out of bed, grabbing her terrycloth robe along the way to fight off the early morning chill, and followed him into the kitchen. The cold air didn’t seem to bother Justyn. He stood at the counter in only his sweatpants, rubbing his bad shoulder. An untouched glass of water sat on the counter beside him.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “It was just a dream,” he told her and tried to shrug it off. “It isn’t a big deal.”

  Rebecca’s mind was still foggy from sleep. Nevertheless, she knew whatever it was had been a big deal, especially to someone like Justyn, who held the firm belief dreams stemmed from either the subconscious or beyond and always had meaning. She tried to give him another gentle nudge of encouragement. “Maybe it won’t seem so bad if you talk about it.”

  He shook his head, flinched, and rubbed his eyes. “Damn, I have a splitting headache.”

  Rebecca felt her brows furrow with concern. Justyn often got headaches when his shoulder bothered him. The doctors had mumbled something about the muscles and nerves in that area all being connected and damaged by the bullet wound. They insisted it wasn’t anything to be concerned about, but Rebecca always worried anyway. She was a chronic worrier by nature, and she hated to see the man she loved in pain.

  “Sit down,” she ordered. “I’ll make you some of your mom’s willow bark tea. But then I want an explanation.”

  “No, really, I’m okay. I don’t need tea.” He pulled her against him, burrowing his face in her hair. He held her so tight she had a little trouble breathing. “You’re always so good to me,” he whispered. “I love you, Becca. More than you even know. If anything ever happened to you … if anyone hurt you….”

  “Is that was the dream was about?” she asked. “Someone hurting me? You called my name out a few times in your sleep.”

  He gave her a weak smile. “I suppose that’s better than shouting out some other girl’s name.”

  She pulled away from him, placing her hands on her hips. “Stop trying to change the subject.”

  “All right, I’ll tell you.” He sighed deeply with resignation. “In the dream, you were alone and terrified, surrounded by fire. You were crying and calling out to me to save you. I saw myself standing there, moving toward you, but I had no control. It was like I was outside of my own body. You were looking up at me, but instead of looking relieved that I was there, you cowered away from me, like you were afraid. The fire kept getting brighter and I couldn’t see what happened after that, but you screamed … and then you woke me up.”

  Rebecca shuddered, but tried her best to soothe him. “It really was just a dream, Justyn. I’m right here and I’m fine. We both know you would never hurt me. After all we’ve been through, I don’t think anything can hurt us now.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Justyn whispered. “But I will promise you this—I would kill anyone who dared to lay a hand on you.”

  She saw his face fall into shadows, and she knew there was nothing else she could say to calm him down. Instead, she took his hand to lead him back to their bed. He didn’t argue. He seemed grateful when she lay down beside him, gently massaging his neck and his sore shoulder to try to rub away any remnants of pain. After a while, she felt his heartbeat slow to a steady rhythm, and she knew he had finally fallen back to sleep. As she checked to make sure he was really out, she traced first the beautiful tribal tattoo on his right shoulder and then the puckered scar that marred the left. It made her think again about Justyn’s dream. Much like his mother Darlene, his premonitions often hinted at the future.

  She shivered. Suddenly, even though she was exhausted, Rebecca found it impossible to fall back
to sleep.

  Chapter Five

  Justyn and Rebecca waited in the theater with the thirty-or-so other students who were fortunate enough to have made callbacks. Their presence meant they were all guaranteed a spot in the production, even if it was only in the chorus. Rebecca wasn’t sure whether to be elated or terrified. She and Justyn had practiced half the night, yet she still felt like a novice in the midst of professionals. Like Justyn, most of her competitors had been performing practically since infancy. Only Rebecca had made her singing debut less than a year ago. Unless of course, she counted all the time she spent singing in the shower. Her being stamped a musical savant only made it that much worse, because she had no idea how she would live up to a reputation that had been unwillingly thrust upon her. She was on the verge of a complete and total nervous breakdown. Beside her, Justyn had his legs up on the seat in front of him, lounging as though it were a day at the beach. She had no idea how he was so calm. She was absolutely petrified.

  “Deep breaths, Becca,” Justyn teased. “Everything’s going to be fine. You made it this far, didn’t you?”

  She nodded, too nervous to even bother arguing with him. To make matters worse, Livy flounced down the aisle with her two flunkies in tow, giving Rebecca a demeaning stare as she passed. Despite the fact that Chad and Scott constantly lavished her with attention, Rebecca couldn’t help but notice the beautiful Goth’s gaze kept drifting over to Justyn. She didn’t like it. For the first time, she started to appreciate what she had put Justyn through with Tom. At least Rebecca didn’t have to compete against the much more voluptuous girl. Justyn was already hers.

  “Hey look, it’s Jerseylicious!” Chad suddenly exclaimed. Rebecca blushed and turned an even brighter red when he wagged his tongue at her in the most inappropriate way. “Didn’t think I’d see you here….”

  “I didn’t think I’d see you,” Justyn countered. “I didn’t realize this was a daycare center.”

  “What?” Chad puffed out his chest. “What did that mouthy freshman just say to me? I should—”

  Justyn stood from his seat. “You should what?”

  Rebecca took hold of his arm and gently pulled him back down. The last thing they needed was a fist fight. She didn’t want Justyn getting expelled the first week of school.

  “Justyn, don’t. Just ignore him.”

  “Oh, so you need your girlfriend to protect you?” Scott laughed sarcastically and wiped his nose on the back of his hand. “See that? Big man on campus is hiding behind his pretty little girlfriend.”

  “No one’s hiding, you ignorant piece of—”

  “All right, boys,” Livy interrupted, stepping between them. “Let’s all try to behave like adults. I know it’s not easy for some of you,” she gave Chad and Scott a hard stare, “but most likely, we’ll be spending a lot of time together. So let’s play nice, shall we?”

  “I can play nice.” Scott gave Rebecca a wink. “I can play real nice.”

  Livy rolled her eyes and waved them away. “Sorry about them. They aren’t so bad really … well, who am I kidding? They’re total idiots, but you know … they’re my idiots. We’ve done three plays together already. You have to stick by your team, right?” She gave Rebecca a cocky smile. “Even if they aren’t worthy of you. I’m sure you can both appreciate that. Anyway, I promise to try a little harder to keep them in line.”

  “I would appreciate that,” Justyn said. He still glared at Chad, even though the other boy was on the other side of the stage. Chad glared right back. It wasn’t a good start to a new production.

  “All right then,” Livy said. “I’ll chat with you later. Good luck with the audition.”

  Rebecca was sure she heard a whispered “you’re going to need it” as Livy walked away with her black velvet skirt rustling, but it could have been her imagination. She didn’t have time to worry about it. The professor had arrived, ten minutes late and unapologetic about being tardy, despite his strict rules on punctuality. He plopped down his briefcase and pulled out his notes.

  “Good afternoon, students. I hope you’re all ready to begin. I’d like to get this over with as quickly as possible. I feel I already have a good idea about how the casting will go, but I want to be absolutely certain. As soon as the orchestra is tuned, we shall begin.”

  “Sounds like he really loves his job, doesn’t it?” The blonde girl Rebecca had noticed from the initial tryouts slid in the seat next to her. She smiled brightly. “Hi, I’m Megan. I think we’re in English lit together.”

  “I’m Becca.” She nodded. “I thought I recognized you the other day.”

  “Lord Justyn.” He leaned over to shake her hand. Megan didn’t bat an eye at his unique introduction. Eccentric seemed to be the norm at the art school.

  “You guys were amazing the other day at tryouts. I mean … I was totally flabbergasted with the way your voices just melded together. You were so perfect. I mean, the chemistry between you … it’s just … wow! You must have been singing together for years to pull off that kind of magic. Really, I don’t know how you do it.”

  Rebecca was a little flabbergasted herself, because Megan had spit out that whole speech in under three seconds without taking so much as a single breath. At least she wasn’t going to have any trouble with the speed-singing in the play. Still, her smile was optimistic and cheerful, and she was the first friendly person Rebecca had come across since arriving on the campus. As they chatted, Rebecca realized she had made her first official college friend.

  “Silence!” Professor Carter bellowed and Rebecca and Megan, along with every other person in the room, snapped their mouths shut. The director stepped up onto the stage and stared into the crowd. “All of you freshmen out there are going to find that being in my production isn’t going to be anything like your high school drama club. I expect a certain degree of professionalism—starting with the respect to remain silent when the instruments are tuning.” Rebecca swore he stared directly at her, and she swallowed hard. “In this career path, you should also learn to expect the unexpected. I know some of you thought today’s auditions would be with the partners of your choosing. Well, it certainly doesn’t work that way on Broadway and it isn’t going to work that way here. A real actor, a true artist, should be able to perform with anyone, under any circumstances. Therefore, I will choose who shall perform together today, and you will all have to make the best of it.”

  “Don’t panic,” Justyn told her.

  Rebecca hadn’t said a word, but she didn’t need to. She was sure the horror was written all over her face. She was just as sure the whole speech had been—at least partially—directed at her. For some reason, Professor Carter didn’t seem to like her very much. Maybe Miss King had written in advance to tell him how much trouble she had caused the year before.

  “I can’t … I can’t … I can’t sing with s-someone else,” Rebecca stuttered. “I just can’t.”

  “Sure you can,” Justyn insisted. “You sang with Tom, didn’t you? Just about every guy here is better than him.”

  That made her smile. “That wasn’t very nice. I thought you two were friends now.”

  Justyn shrugged. “We are, but the guy still can’t sing to save his life.”

  That time she laughed out loud. The sudden outburst caught the attention of the director, who glared at her through narrowed eyes. “Well. Miss Hope, since you are obviously so well prepared for this turn of events that you find it humorous, perhaps you would like to go first. You can show the rest of the cast how it’s done.”

  Rebecca swallowed hard and felt her cheeks turn beet-red. Everyone stared at her, but still she didn’t budge from her seat.

  Professor Carter sighed. “Today would be nice, Miss Hope.”

  “It’s okay. You’re going to do fine,” Justyn told her. “If you get nervous, look for me out in the audience. Pretend there isn’t anyone else here. Just like the opening night of Phantom.”

  Megan gave her an encouraging nod, and Rebecca ro
se. But a little farther down, she noticed Livy smirking and whispering to Scott, who chuckled as he watched her step onto the stage. There were two more people who didn’t like her. Rebecca wondered how the audition could possibly go well when the director and half the cast were already out to sabotage her. Still, she somehow forced her shaky legs to carry her up to the stage and waited while the professor considered who her partner would be.

  “Let me see here,” Professor Carter mumbled as he went over his cast list. “Francis Wade, would you do us the honor of dueting with our little starlet?”

  A sweet-looking blond rose from the back of theater and jogged up to the stage. Rebecca vaguely remembered seeing him at the auditions, but she had left before he performed. He wasn’t easy to forget, because he didn’t look like he belonged anywhere near a college campus. He had the face of a twelve-year-old and the physique to match. The guy stood about a foot shorter than Rebecca, and she wasn’t even wearing heels. She also realized he was the only person present who was in her acting for dummies class, which made her think their pairing wasn’t so random. Still, his big brown eyes were friendly and his smile genuine when he stuck out a hand in greeting.

  “Hey, I’m Frankie.”

  “Be-Becca,” Rebecca replied. She wondered how she would be able to sing when she couldn’t even say her own name without stuttering.

  “Don’t worry, Becca. I’m a little nervous too, but we can do this,” Frankie assured her.

  “Let’s begin,” Professor Carter instructed.

  Rebecca felt her heart start to race when the music began, but she forced herself to forget she was onstage with a stranger. She imagined she was still back at the apartment rehearsing with Justyn. She was only about three lines into it when the music started to take control. She allowed herself to embrace the part. She laughed out loud as she and Frankie sang about how they would be serving up their neighbors into their scrumptious meat pies. The only part that was awkward was when they tried to waltz. Frankie’s eyes came up just above her breasts, and while he certainly didn’t seem to mind, Rebecca was a little uncomfortable with his face so close to her bosom. She was relieved when the orchestra strummed down and the song finally came to an end. Breathless, Rebecca and Frankie stood waiting for some instruction from the director.