Daniel Taylor Between Two Worlds
Page 3
Vanessa moved up to the edge of the bed. “But we’re dancing partners, what should I do? There’s really no reason for you to be jealous. We’re just friends.”
“Yeah, right!” Deeply hurt, Daniel pulled up his jeans. His heart was beating so loudly that his eardrums were vibrating.
“Mike and I aren’t suited for each other at all. We found that out very quickly, and that was the end of it!” Vanessa had also jumped off the bed to get dressed. “What I felt for him wasn’t anything like the way I feel about you. I was with him mostly out of curiosity — I just wanted to know what it was like to have a boyfriend.”
“You’re not going to meet up with him tonight!” Daniel knew that they had a dance class that evening.
Vanessa’s eyes flashed. “You can’t forbid me to go, Daniel!”
“Oh, just do what you want, then!” His rage was so great that Danny felt he might burst. He shifted his gaze to the vase on Vanessa’s windowsill. With a deafening bang, it shattered into a thousand pieces.
They were both frozen in place.
“Why did you do that?” whispered Nessa. Tears were slowly filling her eyes.
Daniel’s heart contracted. He wanted to tell her that he hadn’t done it on purpose, but instead he felt like he had to just get out of there. Damn it all, I could have hurt Nessa! Suddenly, he felt like the biggest loser in the world. He just couldn’t do anything right. Without saying a word, he turned his back on her and stormed out of the house.
Marla understood nothing about securities and the stock market — for her, just listening to Mike’s pleasant voice was enough. She sat on the edge of Mike’s desk and watched with fascination as he held a meeting with an older man. She visited him at the bank almost every day — invisible, naturally — because she just couldn’t get him out of her head. She had been on the verge of making herself visible to him so many times. Would she still be able to resist him?
Marla knew that such a move would just make everything more complicated. She had fervently hoped that her crush would fade away by itself, but … damn it, she was already in love with him.
In that suit, he looks good enough to eat! She dreamily thought back to how he had come out of the shower half-naked, the water still dripping from his blond hair. Since that day, Marla had avoided visiting him at his apartment. The risk of becoming hopelessly dependent on him was just too great. Does he even remember me? she asked herself often. Maybe he has a girlfriend. She never saw him with any girl other than Vanessa at their dance class, which assuaged Marla’s fears. Marla had even gotten to like Vanessa a little, despite the fact that she was so boring and normal. Even the nerd’s clothing was too goody-goody. Marla had no idea what her brother saw in Nessa.
But Vanessa hadn’t ever tried to hurt her, and she didn’t spout idiotic clichés, so Marla had almost become fond of her.
Her latest mission was to get to Silvan through his girlfriend. A member of the High Council — no less than her father Obron himself — had entrusted her with this duty, and he wouldn’t stand for any failure on her part. Otherwise, Metistakles would have a free hand to punish her, and Marla knew what that meant. She shuddered.
Even if Silvan didn’t want to accept his claim to the throne, he could be very useful to the demons. Through him, they could finally get at James Carpenter. Obron in particular badly wanted to get his hands on the man. Marla didn’t know exactly why. She just wanted to avoid angering her father.
Probably Obron wanted to take revenge on Carpenter for stealing his wife. Marla found that to be acceptable. Carpenter should suffer, just as she had!
As Mike ran a hand through his hair, her thoughts turned back to him. The client had left, and Marla should have been on her way as well, but something about the way Mike was acting made her stay. He threw a fleeting glance over his shoulder and then began typing something into a search engine on his computer. “Marla Little Peak California.” Her pulse quickened. He hadn’t forgotten her! He was actually looking for her. Man, don’t make this hard on me! She looked on, mesmerized, as he tried other word combinations in an attempt to find her on various social networks. Of course, he was unsuccessful; demons can’t be found on the Internet. Sighing, he typed something new into the search field, erasing it immediately afterwards: “Marla, I miss you!!!”
Her heart almost stopped. Damn it, he’s so cute, and he wants me! No, she wasn’t allowed to even think about it — he was a human! She had sworn an oath to hate all humans with all her heart! But perhaps she could just chat with him once more, like they had at the party. That would be okay, right? She’d have to look more human. Her outfit might scare him off — as always, she was wearing her heavy leather boots, the torn fishnet stockings, and a black leather jacket. Maybe she could persuade Vanessa to go shopping with her; if her father found out, she could make it seem like this was part of her new mission.
A smile spread across Marla’s face. What a great idea! She slid off the desk and went over to the wall behind Mike. Using her hand, she drew a circle. A portal rimmed in shimmering blue fire opened immediately, and had Mike turned around, he would have seen Vanessa’s room through the opening. But he was so lost in his computer that he didn’t notice a thing.
One last time, Marla took in his wide shoulders and his blond hair, then stifled a sigh as she stepped through the portal.
“Well, I’ve got to get going,” Vanessa said, checking her wristwatch. She had just spent an astonishingly pleasant afternoon with Marla, taking advantage of the excursion to distract herself from her worries.
Daniel’s reaction was still eating away at her painfully, and so the demon’s request to go shopping with her had actually been welcome. Although Vanessa found talking to Marla to be a little awkward, and she was still afraid of her, she went along out of sheer frustration and to get to know her “enemy” a little better. It was also a unique opportunity to pump her for information about Daniel — whether he was really turning into a full demon, and whether he wanted to become Overlord. Unfortunately, Vanessa hadn’t learned anything from Marla. However, she had quickly discovered that Marla really wasn’t all that bad. Beneath her cool façade, there was a curious young woman who was surprisingly nice for a demon.
Marla was wearing tight jeans and a dark sweater with a wide turtleneck, both of which suited her enormously. She had also been to the hair salon to tame her wild black hair. Now it fell straight down to her shoulders, and Marla looked like a completely normal young woman. Vanessa’s pocket money had all been spent, but Marla had promised to pay her back. Vanessa didn’t want to think about how the demon might obtain the money.
“Could I come with you to your dance class?” she asked.
The fact that Marla was suddenly taking such an interest in human things surprised Vanessa, but she had nothing against the idea. She liked this friendly demon better than the despicable woman who kept trying to drive a wedge between her and Daniel.
“Are you going to remain visible for everyone?” Vanessa grinned. “Otherwise, people will think I’ve got a screw loose when I talk with you.”
Marla laughed. “No, I’ll make myself invisible; you’ll be the only one who’ll be able to see me.”
“Okay, good to know, because Mike’s standing out front. I would have tried to introduce you.” Vanessa waved to the young man who was waiting for her outside of the building. Marla’s reaction when she saw Mike didn’t escape Nessa’s notice: She stared at him fixedly, biting her fingernails. What did that mean?
Mike waved back, and when Nessa walked up to him, he gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You’re late; I was starting to get worried.”
“I was out shopping,” Vanessa said in her defense, holding up the bags full of Marla’s old clothing. Vanessa was usually punctual to a fault, but today hadn’t been a typical day at all. Her timing was all out of whack.
“Ever since you started going out with Taylor, I scarcely recognize you.” Mike smirked mischievously.
Vanessa froze.
Can he tell that my life has been taken over by obsessive thoughts about Daniel? She felt like she had some sort of disease, because she thought about him all day long: his dark-green eyes; his coal-black hair that slid so silkily through her fingers; his tall, athletic figure; his inscrutable smile; and his kisses that made her all but swoon. For her, that was enough, but for Danny, it seemed like everything revolved around sex. That can’t be the only thing in a relationship, can it? she asked herself, even though she had to admit that she enjoyed messing around with Daniel and wanted to spend every second of every day with him. Right now, she was missing him dreadfully. She fingered the silver ring that he had given her the previous week. Hopefully he’ll be back to himself soon; I hate it when we fight. It was nice to be with him, but because they were always holed up in their treehouse, she hadn’t seen her other friends for ages. This made her enjoy the dance class even more. And Danny wanted to take that away from her. There was nothing going on between her and Mike, why couldn’t he understand that? And why had he freaked out in my room? She had actually been a little bit afraid of him. After all, when his demonic side came out, who knew how he might change? No, he’d never hurt me, she thought, hoping that she wasn’t wrong in thinking that.
As always, Mike led her masterfully across the dance floor — but Vanessa wasn’t at her best today. This was mostly Marla’s fault, who had evidently forgotten that Vanessa could see her. The demon ran after them, trying to follow the complicated steps, but even her clumsiness couldn’t cheer Vanessa up. For one thing, she kept seeing Daniel’s enraged face in her mind’s eye.
“What’s up with you?” Mike asked as they were packing up their things and making their way to the exit after the class.
“It’s nothing.” She didn’t want to talk to him about Daniel, especially since Mike still suspected that her boyfriend had broken into his apartment.
“Are you sure?” He stopped before the door and took her by the shoulders. “Is it something about Taylor?”
Of course, Mike knew nothing about Danny’s demonic side, so Vanessa had to be careful about what she said. “Well …”
“Did he do something to you? Pressure you into doing something?” Mike frowned. “Just say the word, and I’ll take care of it.”
“Oh, it’s nothing, we just had a fight is all,” she replied quietly, but she couldn’t stop the tears from welling up in her eyes.
“Hey, come here.” Mike hugged her, and Vanessa leaned into his chest. “That happens even in the best of marriages.”
Vanessa sniffled. “Smart-ass.”
Mike stroked her back soothingly. “You’ll work it out, I’m sure.”
Daniel was sitting on a park bench near the dance studio, keeping his eyes fixed on the entrance. Vanessa would be coming out soon, so for the hundredth time he went over what he wanted to say to her. He had overreacted, and now his guilty conscience was plaguing him. He had just been so jealous! Vanessa was more experienced at kissing than he was, and then this Casanova just had to be her ex-boyfriend. This morning, Daniel had actually played with the idea of dropping out of school and getting a job so that he’d be able to offer Vanessa something more.
I’ll invite her to Lorenzo’s for a snack, he decided; Vanessa would surely be hungry after dancing, and her parents must have already eaten dinner. He discarded the idea when he saw Mike coming out of the studio, his arm around Nessa. I knew it! But what he saw next stopped him short before his anger could surge again. What was Marla doing with them? Daniel was amazed to see how his half-sister was dressed. She looked super! Super normal.
Now he was curious. He stood up to walk over to the trio. Vanessa noticed him first, even though his dark figure was nearly swallowed up by the encroaching twilight. She immediately pulled away from Mike and ran over to him.
She stopped a few steps away from him. “Hello! What are you doing here?” She seemed surprised.
His voice was unusually cold as he replied, “Well, I wanted to invite you to Lorenzo’s, but I can see that you’re otherwise engaged.”
“What?” Nessa frowned.
By this point, Marla and Mike had caught up with Nessa. “Hey, Taylor,” Blondie said.
Daniel ignored him. He glanced over at Marla inconspicuously, but she seemed to sense that the air was thick with tension and strolled on a little farther.
“I just saw you two,” Daniel growled at Vanessa. “He had his arm around you.” He would have liked to ask Marla about it, but he couldn’t as long as Blondie was here. Daniel could have tried communicating with her mentally, but he didn’t want to take the risk. He hadn’t quite mastered the trick of letting only Marla into his head while shutting out the other demons. There really was nothing else for them to find in his consciousness, but Daniel could feel them incessantly trying to tap into his mind. Maybe Marla’s taken Nessa’s side in this, he considered, then said to Mike, “You two seem to be awfully close friends.”
“Yes, we’re friends, what of it?” Mike crossed his arms and planted his feet firmly apart. They were about the same height, so they had no trouble glaring directly at each other.
“It looks like something more than that!” Daniel hissed.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Taylor!”
“It’s less ridiculous than your suspicions. I was never in your apartment!” Daniel knew from Vanessa that Mike still thought he had been the intruder who had left the note on the desk.
Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel saw Marla studiously examining something on the sidewalk. What was up with her? Why was she behaving so strangely? Did she feel bad because she had been the one to leave Mike the message about where to find Joe Adams’ corpse? Nonsense, she was a demon! They didn’t have guilty consciences. Sometimes Daniel wished that he didn’t have one, either, or any feelings. He felt like the whole world was conspiring against him. Daniel had to take care not to send anything flying through the air this time. He balled his hands into fists, his palms tingling dangerously, and moved so close to Mike that their noses almost touched.
“Hey!” Vanessa inserted herself between them, facing Daniel. Tears were shining in her eyes. “Why don’t you two just stop it? I don’t want to be caught in the middle.”
“All you have to do is pick one of us!” Daniel snapped at her.
He immediately regretted his words. Damnit, he was making a mess of this! She was hurt enough. All he wanted was to take her in his arms and forget the world around them. Vanessa was the one person who he felt understood him and accepted him for who he was. He hadn’t even confided in his mother about his demon nature. Who else could he talk about these things with, if not Vanessa?
“Just calm down, Taylor. You’re confusing the hell out of her.” Mike put his arm around Nessa again and led her to his car, a red Pontiac that was parked in front of the dance studio.
“Marla!” Daniel hissed helplessly, but his sister simply shrugged her shoulders and ran after Mike and Vanessa.
This can’t be happening! Daniel couldn’t understand why they had all turned against him. Things had been going so well!
Frustrated, Daniel watched as the three of them got into Mike’s car and drove off. Then he set off toward home. He was so angry that he could barely think straight. A gaping hole had opened up in his heart. He made an effort to get his feelings under control, but he only succeeded after he had sent a trash can flying through the air with his telepathic powers. Once back in his room, he let it all out. He turned up the stereo full blast and made the model truck that stood on the shelf above his bed explode into countless pieces. He began to feel a little better.
The music suddenly stopped, and Daniel spun around. His mother was standing there staring at him, her mouth hanging open, finger still lingering on the power button of the stereo. She was still wearing her jacket; she must have just come home from the hospital. “Danny, have you lost your mind?”
No, just my girlfriend, he thought, frustrated. “Sorry, Mom, I didn’t know that you were home.”
“When will you finally tell me where I can find my dad?”
“Soon. You just have to have a little patience.” She left the room, pulling the door shut behind her.
“Patience,” he muttered, pacing across the room. “Understanding, time … I can’t take it anymore!”
He leaned back up against his desk and bowed his head. They were all against him. Then there must be something wrong with me; I’m just not normal.
“Of course not!” He slammed his hand against the desk in frustration.
What would it have been like if he had decided to stay in the underworld? They would have given me the proper respect I deserve. I could have ruled them all … But then he couldn’t have been with Vanessa. Nessa … He missed her. Over the last few weeks, they had spent almost every day together, from morning to night. They went swimming and to the movies, rode their bikes, took long walks in the park, made out, talked, laughed, and made out some more … Maybe I overreacted. I should apologize to her. Right away. Mike’s probably brought her home by now. He looked out the window, but there was no light on in Vanessa’s room. The whole house was dark, even the ground floor. Daniel knew that the Barkleys were out bowling tonight. But where was Vanessa? He gradually began to get worried.
Suddenly, the demonic part of him sensed that he was no longer alone. He spun around and saw Marla lying facedown on his bed, her head buried in his pillow.
“What’s wrong?” Daniel sat down on the bed next to her. In a way, he was happy that she was there.