by Lola StVil
She tries to get out of the rain by coming under the awning with me. I make room for her to sit next to me and she tells me that Swoop should be ready to go in another half hour.
“That’s great, thanks for taking care of her,” I reply.
“No big deal,” she lies.
“Diana, I know things can get crazy between us, but you know I care about you--a lot. Why didn’t you tell me you were raped?” I ask carefully.
“It’s not something I talk about—ever,” she whispers.
“Okay, I get that. But I’m here. If you need me, I’m here,” I reply simply.
“My family was taken from me. My grandmother died and my mom shortly after. They were my world. I bounced around from one place to the next. I finally ended up with a distant relative, a cousin who I had never met before. She was nice enough to take me in. It wasn’t a big place, but I had my own room and I was thinking about going back to school.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“Her fiancé couldn’t stop looking at my breasts.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I tried to ignore it for as long as I could, but I knew it was only a matter of time before he acted on his urges. So I told my cousin.”
“She didn’t believe you?” I wonder.
“She did—at first. Then a few weeks later he convinced her that I came on to him. She kicked me out. I was homeless for a while, but it wasn’t too bad. I found a way to make it work. I went to different shelters, worked odd jobs, I survived.”
“Did you manage to find somewhere to stay permanently?” I ask.
“I found what I thought was my saving grace. I was working at a country club. I took out the trash and cleaned up for a few bucks. That’s where I met Sebastian Jr. He was handsome, rich, educated, and for some reason he liked me. I felt like Cinderella. We dated for a few weeks.”
“Did you love him?” I inquire.
“Yeah, at first I thought it was just because he had money, but as time went on, it was more than that. We laughed a lot and watched a million sunsets. He smelled like pine trees and fresh snow. I remember thinking I wanted to wake up to him every day. I remember thinking maybe I had found a new family of my own.”
“Did he feel the same way?” I ask carefully.
“Yes. It was love. It was perfect. Then he said he wanted me to meet his dad, Sebastian Sr. I knew how important Sebastian’s dad was to him. So I gathered every dime I had and bought this dress from a thrift store. It was a knee length blue wrap dress. There was a jacket that went with it perfectly but I couldn’t afford it. The cashier got tired of me gawking at it and she bought it for me. It cost five dollars.”
“Did you get to meet his dad?”
“I did. A few days later we went to his house for dinner. They had things I’d only ever seen in movies: high ceilings, a crystal chandelier, and a marble staircase. It was like being inside a dream. His dad seemed to really like me. We talked and even joked around. Then about an hour later, I found myself alone with Sebastian Sr. He’d sent his son on an errand.”
“Diana, what happened?”
“Sebastian Sr. told me how pretty I was and how good I looked in the dress. Then he locked the door. I tried to wrap my head around it but I couldn’t. These are rich, upstanding people. They’re not lousy drunks in a trailer park. Surely he won’t do something so cruel and savage. I was wrong. It turns out rapists are from all walks of life. I screamed so loud he slapped me. But I didn’t care; I fought him as hard as I could. And I kept screaming because I knew sooner or later, my boyfriend would come for me.”
“There was no one else in the house?” I ask, growing angry.
“No one came for me. Sebastian’s dad grabbed me by the throat and threw me down. My head hit the floor so hard I felt like my brain was rattling inside my skull. In throwing me down, he’d knocked a glass of water off the table and onto the floor. I could feel the liquid all around me. There was also a slight scent in the air but I couldn’t make out what it was.”
I want her to go on because I feel like she needs to get this story out, but I don’t want to push her. So I wait quietly as she gathers herself.
“He ripped my panties off and shoved them in my mouth. He grabbed my thighs and spread them apart. I begged him to stop, repeatedly. He told me to shut up or he’d use his belt. He said I was lucky to have him pick me for this honor. I tried to talk to my body and convince it to let him in because he was going to insert himself anyway.”
Her voice is far away and filled with fear. It’s as if she has brought herself right back to that moment. It’s like she’s not a powerful demon anymore but a human girl with nowhere to run.
“But the body isn’t logical. It doesn’t understand rape. So no matter how hard he tried to enter me, my body closed up. Finally he had had enough of trying,” she continues.
“Did he stop?”
“No. He found something to loosen me up: a beer bottle. He jammed it inside me and…” She’s having trouble keeping her voice steady.
I want to touch her. I want to hold her and make it better, but being touched by a man, human or angel, is the last thing she needs.
“After that, my body didn’t resist. It couldn’t. He came barreling inside me like a freight train. He pounded into me over and over again. It felt like he would be inside me forever. He was a virus and he infected every part of me.”
“Did you at least get him arrested?” I ask.
“No.”
“Did you tell his son what he did?”
“No.”
“Diana, that bastard raped you. What did you do?” I push.
“I died.”
Damn…
“That’s your Core?” I reply.
A Core is the story of how someone becomes an angel or a demon. That is if you were not born that way.
“Yes, that’s my Core. Turns out the liquid I felt under me was coming from my head. He’d cracked my skull. I bled out with him on top of me. But the whole time I was being raped, I never shed a tear. Not one. But then as I was dying, something actually brought tears to my eyes. I finally placed the scent that had been looming just outside the door--pine trees and fresh snow.”
“Your boyfriend was out there the whole time?” I demand.
“The whole time. He was just behind the door. I don’t know if he planned it or if he was too afraid of his father to help me. But as I lay dying, I just hoped for one thing. I wanted to eat that coward’s heart out. I literally wanted to bite down on its meaty red flesh and pull it apart. That’s how I got to suck the life out of people; it was my last thought,” she says.
Often when a human becomes an angel or a demon, they are given their power from their last thoughts before death. Diana’s ability to suck the life from her victims has always made me curious as to how she died.
“I tried to be something different after I died. But I died in a flame of rage. I hate everything and everyone. Including myself. And I try not to think about it. But the truth is, I could never be good. Because to be good, you have to follow Omnis and do what he says. And I can’t. I can’t follow Omnis because he let me get raped. He let it happen. And I won’t forgive him. I’ll never forgive him…” she whispers.
Tears spring to her eyes. They are the same color as her blood: black. I have never seen a demon cry. I didn’t think it was possible.
“Diana, I’m so sorry,” I reply as I hold her close.
She sobs and shakes in my arms. I hold her as tight as I can. I look down at her and for the first time, I can see the human she once was. The frightened girl who found herself alone, brutalized, and betrayed.
She looks back at me, broken. We lean in and close the gap between us. Our lips part and seek out a familiar touch. The kiss is slow, tender, and seeking…
Chapter Eighteen:
The Moment Before
It’s only when Diana and I pull apart that we notice him standing there, watching us. He glares at us and stands perfectly stil
l, rooted in his anger. I don’t know how long he was standing there but I know he saw everything, which makes a bad situation that much worse.
“What is it, Bex?” I ask.
“Swoop is asking for the demon,” he replies coldly.
“Yeah okay, I’ll go check on her,” Diana says.
She looks back at me before she goes. She has something she wants to say, but she knows this isn’t the time or place. So, she heads back to the cave.
“Was that all?” I ask Bex.
“No, Silver, that’s not all,” he replies.
The rain has started to die down, enabling us to get a good view of each other. Even the wind has managed to calm itself. It’s as if the whole forest is vested in the conversation about to take place and it doesn’t want the weather to interrupt the sound quality or visual.
“You pushed Randy to say what he had to say, so now it’s your turn, what the hell is it?” I ask.
“You saved Key from a year of certain agony and for that I will always be grateful. And when it comes down to it, I will place my life before yours because you did that for my girl. But you hurt Pryor, and there is no limit to how far I will go to take you out.”
“You really think I would hurt Pryor?” I snap.
“Yeah, Silver, I do. I think it’s easy to hurt a girl like her because she’s naive enough to believe a guy like you can fight his dark side and win. But I’ve seen your dark side--we both know that’s not true.”
“Bex, you haven’t seen my dark side, but keep pushing…” I ask.
“You blame everyone else for actions when the truth is it’s you that makes the decisions. You could have stayed away from Pry but you didn’t. That’s not The Center’s fault. That was you. You could have at least warned us that The Center was out to get her and we would have taken steps to protect her, but you didn’t. Instead you do what you always do—you let your dick guide you.”
“Are you done?” I ask.
“No.”
“Bex, trust me; you are done.”
I march back towards the cave and with every step, fury gathers inside me. It’s not anger towards Bex but rather supreme rage at myself. I am a grade “A” asshole right now. The only girl I want is being tortured and tormented and I pick now to kiss someone else? Who the fuck does that?
ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How the hell could you do that, Silver? How could you kiss Diana? What the hell were you thinking? She’s already under the impression that you two have something together and now you go and lead her on even more by kissing her? Seriously, could you be a bigger jerk?
Fuck me…
I enter the cave and find the team is gathering their things to go deeper in the forest. I check on Swoop; the mixture over her eyes is clear and, according to Diana, healing very nicely.
“Can you see clearly?” I ask.
“It’s still a little blurry, but I don’t want us to waste anymore time. We need to get to the Deed,” Swoop replies.
“And what about you, are you back to full strength?” I ask Bex.
“I’m good. Let’s go,” he says shortly.
We leave the cave and venture out deeper into the woods. The good news is that the rain has stopped completely. The bad news is nightfall has completely set in, and we have almost zero visibility. So as we make our way towards the river, I take out the second object Harris gave us: a portable light source called Iso.
Iso looks like a small glass marble and hovers just above our heads. Without it, we would have had to wait until morning because it’s impossible to see anything at all. As we make our way, Diana leans in and speaks to me in a whisper.
“Can you please stop?” she says.
“Stop what?”
“Reprimanding yourself—and don’t say you’re not because I know you, Silver, and I know what you look like when you are taking on blame.”
“I shouldn’t have let that happen,” I confess.
“All you did was comfort me. What’s so bad about that?”
“Diana, you know what’s bad about it.”
“Why do you have to do that? Why do you have to step on every nice moment between us?”
“I don’t want to hurt Pry. She’s important to me, you know that.”
“Yeah, I got it, Silver. But while you’re walking on eggshells to ensure her happiness can you not stomp on mine? We saved each other’s lives countless times. We made love in every conceivable part of the world, in every possible position.”
“Diana—”
“When the nightmares you had about The Center brought you over the edge, and nearly robbed you of your sanity, I was there to help pull you back. And just now I was more honest with you than I was with anyone in my entire human or demon life. ”
“That doesn’t mean we should be together, Diana.”
“No, but it does mean that after everything we’ve faced together, you shouldn’t be shocked when we reach out for one another. And you damn sure shouldn’t look so guilty about one kiss. Did I miss something, because as far as I know you and the redhead aren’t dating, right?”
“No,” I reply tightly.
“Then why are you walking around here looking like you backed the car over the family kitten? Seriously, enough with the damn guilt.”
“Why is it so important to you that I’m okay with the kiss?”
“It’s not the kiss. It’s the moment before when you held me against you. It was…nice. And it’s okay if it wasn’t nice for you but stop ruining it for me,” she says as she marches ahead.
“You think Marisol’s okay?” Easton asks us.
“We’re in the Forest of Ash and Bones and you’re worried about your girlfriend, who’s probably in line at Starbucks right now?” Swoop replies.
“She doesn’t like Starbucks. It’s something to do with low wages for employees. Anyway, she won’t touch the stuff.”
“Does she know about your addiction to dark peppermint mocha?” Swoop asks.
“No. ‘Mocha’ and I are forced to hide our love,” East teases.
“You drink three of those things a day. How do you hide it?” Bex asks.
“I pour it into generic coffee cups that say ‘Coffee’ on the side; like an animal,” East says, giving voice to his “shame.”
“Hey, stop,” I order the team.
“What is it?” Randy asks.
“Shhh…” I reply as we gather and scout the dense wooded area.
There is no creature behind us or in front of us, yet I can’t help but feel like we are being followed. Bex echoes the same sentiment although he too can’t see any possible threat. We keep going but I remind the team to stay together and to be on high alert. We now walk in silence and try to make as little noise as possible.
Suddenly, Easton signals for us to look over to the right; there we see a pair of bright blood colored eyes in the black forest background. I order the team to halt. Bex signals us to look over to the left; we now have another pair of red eyes focused on us.
I can’t tell what the creature is yet and therefore can’t decide what weapon we will need. I take a chance and will the Gain to turn once again into an ax. Suddenly a third set of eyes appears in the darkness. In a matter of seconds we are surrounded by nearly fifty sets of bloody eyes. That’s followed by a series of menacing growls and sneers.
“Swoop, what does the Inka say?” East asks.
“I can’t point it at them because I can’t seem them. We have to wait for them to come towards the Iso. That way they’ll be in the light,” she says.
“By the time they do that, we could already be dead,” Randy replies.
“Everyone stay close together and don’t make any sudden movements. Swoop, get ready to use the Inka the moment they are close enough,” I order.
“An additional ten sets of eyes just popped up on my right,” Bex says.
“Same here,” I reply.
“We need to move now!” Diana says.
“No, we need to know wh
at we are up against first. There’s no telling how they will react,” I tell her.
“Come on, step into the daylight so we can see you,” East says.
“I got it,” Swoop says as one of the creatures makes a slight move forward and is suddenly bathed in light.
The creature has the body of a rotted out pitbull and the needle-toothed jaw of a piranha. Its tail is long with a pointy spike on the end of it. From where we stand we can make out the stench of decay.
Current image: Eway Snatchers
Summary: A breed of proficient pack-like hunters. They surround their prey and attack when given the signal by their leader. Their jagged teeth contain a toxin that paralyzes its victim,
allowing for the pack to devour at will.
Weakness: The skin of the Eway is hard like that of metal, but the underbelly has a spot often exploited by its enemies. However, given the ferocity of these beasts, running is often the first and wisest option.
I calmly make eye contact with the rest of team, and then give them the signal to run. We charge ahead at top speed and the Eway are right behind us. They let out a series of horrifying sounds as they chase us through the woods. The more we run, the more determined they are to catch us.
We weave in and out through the trees, hoping to throw them off, but it doesn’t work. They are still right behind us. Swoop shouts a warning to Diana, but it’s too late. An Eway comes up the side and pounces on her. Diana falls to the ground and tries to keep it from biting into her.
I turn to help her, but an Eway leaps out and knocks Randy into the muddy ground. Bex shouts to me that he has Diana and I run over to Randy who is trying to escape the Eway by climbing up a tree. Meanwhile, East and Swoop have been encircled by a dozen Eway with no way to escape.
I tackle the Eway chasing Randy and wrestle it to the ground. The beast aims its sharp tail at my chest. I move quickly, but not quick enough. The Eway manages to insert its tail into my lower right side. I swear and groan as the pain works its way down my body.
Seeing that its prey is hurt, the Eway goes to strike me again. I quickly will the Gain to turn into a knife, then I slice its underbelly. The creature whimpers as its guts spill out from its underbelly.
