Evolution (Demon's Grail Book 2)

by Amy Cross

  Jonathan

  “She's tense,” Absalom mutters, watching as Abby carries her pitcher toward the river. After a moment, he turns to me. “Has she said anything to you about what's wrong?”

  “She doesn't want to talk much,” I reply. “Not since we left Jagadoon. I think maybe she's just thinking about what's to come. While she was training, she could focus on that, but now...” My voice trails off for a moment as I watch Abby in the distance, framed against the night sky as she kneels to collect water. “I think the whole situation is weighing heavily on her mind.”

  “As it should,” Absalom replies. “I guess you still don't really understand everything that's happening.”

  “Six months ago I was a librarian living a boring life in New York,” I remind him. “Now I'm sitting here far from home, far from the world I know, trying to come to terms with the idea that I'm the son of a vampire.” I pause for a moment. “While Abby was training her body at Jagadoon, I spent six months reading the Book of Gothos over and over, trying to understand it all, but I still feel just as lost. Maybe I should have joined Abby and Oncephalus and worked on becoming a warrior instead.”

  “We had to prioritize Abby. We thought...” He pauses, as if he was about to say something he'd have regretted. “You'll have a role to play soon. When we get to Gothos we'll be able to find out what's happening, the council will undoubtedly have learned more about the spiders' intentions and they'll have come up with some plans. Obviously those plans will be flawed and I'll have to fix them, but at least it's a start. To be honest, Jonathan, your existence caught us all by surprise, and so far you seem...”

  “More human than vampire?”

  “Abby reminds me of Patrick,” he continues. “I never met Sophie, your mother, but I suspect you take more after her.”

  “Abby doesn't want to talk about her at all.”

  “I'm not surprised by that,” he replies. “Sophie died not long after she gave birth to you both. Neither of you really met her, she was just the human who happened to get caught up in all of this.”

  “Is that really all she was?” I ask. “I get that Patrick was this great, powerful vampire who'd fought in a load of wars, and I get that people feared him and that he had this prophecy attached to his life. There seems to have been a lot of focus on him, but why was he drawn to Sophie? Out of all the human women he could have fallen for, why her?”

  “Love, I suppose.”

  “Abby keeps telling me she wishes I could have met our father,” I continue, “and I do wish I'd met him, but if I had to choose between meeting either him or Sophie, I think I'd choose her.”

  “You would?” He frowns. “Why?”

  “Because I feel I can read about Patrick and know everything about him,” I point out, “whereas Sophie is barely mentioned in any of the official records. It's like she was just a cipher or a ghost in the story, but there must have been more to her than that.” Hearing footsteps nearby, I turn and see Abby's silhouette heading back from the river. “Don't tell her I asked about Sophie,” I continue, keeping my voice low. “Sometimes I think she actually gets annoyed with me. I guess when she heard she had a twin brother, she expected me to be more like Patrick. She's disappointed.”

  “She's angry with herself,” Absalom replies. “She's a remarkable person, but she keeps pushing herself. I honestly don't think I've ever met anyone like Abby.”

  “But she failed at Jagadoon,” I point out. “You can't deny that.”

  “Actually -”

  “We're being watched,” Abby says suddenly as she takes a seat next to me. She's holding a dead rabbit in her hands.

  I immediately turn to look around, but she nudges my arm and then grabs the back of my head, forcing me to look at her.

  “We're being watched,” she says again, “and right now the only advantage we have is that whoever it is, they don't know I've spotted them. Let's try to keep it that way. Act normal.” With that, she starts using her bare hands to tear the rabbit's skin away.

  “What do you sense so far?” Absalom whispers.

  “Just a presence, someone who's trying very hard to stay quiet. One person, that's all. I wouldn't have noticed them at all if I wasn't so jumpy.” She pauses, as if she's listening to the silence all around us. “Whoever it is, they're moving closer. I don't sense any intention to attack us, it's more like...” Another pause. “I'm getting mixed signals. I'm fairly sure it's not a spider or a vampire, but apart from that I'm not sure at all.”

  “I don't sense anything,” Absalom replies, before turning to me. “What about you, Jonathan?”

  “I...” The truth is, whenever they talk about things like this, I feel completely left out. Either I don't have the same abilities, or I haven't learned to use them yet; either way, I'm definitely not in their league. On current evidence, I'm barely a vampire at all. “I'm just going to have to trust you guys on this,” I say finally.

  “The person's backing away,” Abby says suddenly. “Turning. Leaving.” She glances over her shoulder, looking toward the river. “It's female. She knows we're onto her.”

  Before I can react, Abby scrambles to her feet and races off into the darkness. I hear a second set of feet too, running through the undergrowth, and then I hear the sound of a struggle as Absalom and I hurry after Abby. Up ahead, my sister is shouting at someone to stay down, while another voice – female, young – is begging to her to stop. As soon as we get closer, I see that Abby has managed to get the intruder to the ground and is now sitting on her, gripping her throat.

  “It's a spy!” Abby says firmly. “She must have been listening to us the whole time, ready to take information back to the other spiders!”

  “Are you sure about that?” Absalom asks cautiously as we get closer.

  “Of course I'm sure!” Abby hisses.

  The girl on the ground gasps, barely able to breathe as Abby squeezes her throat tighter.

  “I don't think she's a spider,” I say suddenly, stepping toward them.

  “Stay out of this,” Abby snaps.

  “She's terrified,” I continue, feeling for the first time as if maybe I can detect another creature's emotions. “Abby, she's scared you're going to kill her.”

  “Of course I'm going to kill her,” Abby sneers. “I'm going to kill every last one of her species.”

  “Jonathan's right,” Absalom says suddenly. “Abby, this girl isn't a spider.”

  “You don't know what you're talking about,” Abby replies, reaching down and pulling the girl's shirt up to expose her belly. “Look, she's -”

  Stopping suddenly, she stares at the girl's smooth flesh. There's no sign of a vertical slit; instead, the girl simply has a normal-looking belly.

  “She's...” Abby whispers, before loosening her grip on the girl's throat, allowing her to breathe again. “Who the hell are you? More importantly, what are you?”

  Gasping for air, the girl clutches her throat. Clearly young, no more than a teenager, she has dark, straggly hair and a series of thick scars on one side of her face. As soon as Abby starts to climb off, the girl pushes her away and then sits up, still trying to get air into her lungs.

  “She's human,” I say after a moment, feeling a flash of sympathy for a fellow lost soul out here in this strange world. “Can't you tell?”

  “He's right,” Absalom adds.

  “This far out?” Abby replies sternly. “I don't buy that for a second. A human would never survive anywhere near the ridge.”

  “Are you insane?” the girl splutters breathlessly, glancing around at us before reaching to her belt and pulling out a small knife with a blade no more than four or five inches long.

  “What are you going to do with that thing?” Abby asks. “Open our mail?”

  “Don't come near me!” the girl shouts, holding the knife out toward her.

  “Why were you spying on us?” Abby replies.

  “I wasn't spying on you!”

  “You were hiding in the bushes.”
/>
  “I wasn't spying!”

  “Then what were you doing?” Abby shouts, stepping toward her.

  “I was planning to rob you!” the girl shouts back, with the knife still raised in her trembling hand. “That's all.”

  “I believe her,” Absalom says after a moment.

  “Thanks,” the girl says, glancing at him. “It's not often -”

  Before she can say another word, Abby grabs the girl's wrist and slams her down to the ground, knocking the knife from her hand in the process and pressing the heel of her boot against the back of her neck.

  “Stop!” Absalom shouts, stepping toward Abby and pushing her back, before helping the girl up.

  “Psychotic bitch!” the girl yells, gasping for air once again.

  “Nice,” Abby mutters darkly. “Real fast way to ingratiate yourself, there.”

  “Let me look at you,” Absalom continues, turning the girl around to get a better view of her in the moonlight. He pauses for a moment, as if he's trying to understand her. “Tell me, what's a human teenager doing out here in the mire-lands, sneaking up on a group of vampires with the aim of stealing from them?”

  “Vampires?” the girl replies, her eyes widening with shock. “What are you talking about, I didn't know you were vampires!”

  “Allow me to give you a demonstration,” Abby says, stepping toward her and baring her fangs. I quickly reach out and push her back, worried that she might decide to take more of her anger out on the girl.

  “I was just going to try to steal some of your supplies,” the girl stammers, “I swear, that's all! I wasn't even going to attack you, that's not how I do things. That last thing I want is to get into a fight out here. I just wait until people leave things unguarded, and then I snatch them and run.”

  “We're not exactly overburdened with supplies,” Absalom points out.

  “I saw that much,” she continues. “I was about to give up on you and move on, when that psycho came running after me.”

  “Call me a psycho one more time,” Abby says firmly, “and I'll take your head off!”

  “No,” Absalom tells her, “you won't!”

  “Fine,” Abby mutters, “but I'll loosen it a lot!”

  “What's your name?” I ask, stepping closer, hoping to defuse the situation a little. I know Abby can get angry, but something about this girl seems to have really pushed her over the edge.

  The girl stares at me for a moment, clearly scared and suspicious.

  “You might as well tell us your name,” I point out. “I'm Jonathan, this is -”

  “Abby,” Abby says, interrupting me. “That's as much as she needs to know.”

  “A name's a useful thing,” the girl replies, turning first to Abby and then to me. “When you know someone's name, you can use it against them. If you're smart, at least.”

  “Good point,” Absalom replies. “My name is Absalom. Now perhaps you can tell us yours, so that we're all on a level playing field.”

  The girl pauses again, as if she's genuinely considering holding back. “Ash,” she says finally.

  “Ash?” Abby scowls.

  “That's a nice name,” I add. “Short for Natasha?”

  Ash stares at me, before nodding cautiously.

  “Show us your belly,” Abby says suddenly.

  Ash frowns. “Why?”

  “Just show us.”

  “I already did!”

  “I want to see it again!” Abby says firmly. “I want to be sure!”

  “Abby,” Absalom says with a sigh, “I think we'd both know by now if she was -”

  “Show us!” Stepping forward, Abby towers over the girl. “If you've got nothing to hide, Ash, then show us your belly.”

  “You're crazy!” Ash replies.

  “I'm crazy and I have a sword,” Abby says darkly. “Think about that for a moment.”

  Ash pauses, before rolling her eyes and pulling up her shirt to expose her bare belly. “Happy?”

  “She's not a spider,” Absalom points out, turning to Abby as Ash lets her shirt drop back down. “You were right to be suspicious, but let's accept that fact now, okay? Spiders aren't the only creatures out here near the ridge.”

  “That still doesn't mean we can trust her,” Abby replies. “For all we know, the spiders have been paying spies to act on their behalf. The Book of Gothos is full of stories about them allying with other species whenever it suited them.”

  “So tell us, Ash,” Absalom continues, turning to the girl, “how did a human teenager end up in a place like this? You are human, aren't you?”

  “I'm whatever you want me to be,” she replies. “For a price.”

  “Is that how you've learned to survive out here?”

  “I'm pretty adaptable.”

  “You're from the human world,” he says with a smile. “I can smell it on you.”

  “Nice,” she mutters, clearly still worried that she's in danger. “Let's just say that I was born and raised in England, then everything went a little screwy, and now I'm here in the Underworld or the mire-lands or whatever you people want to call this place. I've learned to survive while I wait to find a way home.”

  “And you get by as a thief?” Abby replies, clearly still suspicious.

  “I get by the only way I can!” Ash says, turning to her. “Turns out GCSE History and Geography aren't so useful in a place like this.”

  “What about your parents?” Absalom asks.

  “They're not here,” she replies, taking a step back, almost as if she's bristling at the mention. “I guess they're back at home, they probably think I ran away or got hurt. I'm here alone. I don't belong in this place.”

  “I know the feeling,” I tell her.

  “And I'm not really a fan of small-talk,” she continues. “I heard you guys talking before the psycho came after me, so I've got a vague idea what you're doing out here. Something to do with the spiders and trying to get to Gothos.” She turns back to Abby. “Oh, and these two are worried about you. They were talking about how quiet you've been since you left Jaga... Ja... I don't remember what it was called.”

  “No-one needs to be worried about me,” Abby replies, scowling at me.

  “You mentioned spiders just now, Ash,” Absalom continues. “Usually when spiders come up in a conversation, people still think they're extinct, but you don't seem very surprised to have heard us talking about them. Why not?”

  “I've got my reasons.”

  “Care to elaborate?” Abby asks.

  “Don't take this the wrong way,” Ash replies, “but you already seem pretty wound up.”

  Abby take a menacing step toward her, but I hold her back.

  “You're not surprised at all,” Absalom points out. “Sorry, Ash, but that makes me more than a little suspicious. Why don't you find it hard to believe that there are spiders in this area?”

  “Because I've seen them,” she replies, rubbing the red mark on her neck from where Abby tried to throttle her. “I've seen them all around here lately. I've been following them, actually. I could tell you what they're doing and where to find them.” She pauses. “For a price.”

  Abby Hart

  “It started about three months ago,” Ash explains as she leads us through the darkness, up a rocky incline beyond the forest. “People have always told stories about meeting weird creatures out near the Navarian ridge, and most of those stories are just garbage, but I started noticing... Well, this time something felt different.”

  “Different in what way?” I ask, still not convinced that she's anything more than a drifter trying to con us out of some coins. “Come on, be specific.”

  “The stories started to match each other,” she continues. “Before, it was just wild ravings, just lunatics and drunks who either enjoyed lying, or who'd been so badly damaged that they genuinely believed they were seeing things. But gradually I noticed some common threads emerging. The people telling the stories were still kind of unreliable, kind of crazy, but it was like
they'd all seen the same things.”

  “Spiders?” Absalom asks.

  “Exactly. So I came to check it out.”

  “You came out here alone?” Jonathan replies. “That's brave.”

  “It's not brave,” I mutter. “It's stupid.”

  “It's both,” Absalom interjects.

  “I came because I know this area,” Ash continues, sounding a little annoyed. “I've never been able to afford to hide from danger. Around here, hiding means starving. Just to the east of the Navarian ridge, you can pick Calicle Surmounts fresh from the ground. Ever heard of those?”

  “They're a type of spice,” Absalom replies. “Very valuable. Merchants will pay a lot for the stuff.”

  “And not many people dare come out to collect it,” Ash explains. “That's how I stayed alive, though, by coming out here to forage, searching in the shadowy places that usually go undisturbed. And like I said, about three months ago, people started talking about seeing giant spiders late at night on some of the more lonely trails.” As she gets to the top of the incline, she pauses for a moment, staring at the plain that spreads out ahead of us under a starry night sky. “People around here have always been scared of spiders. It's an instinctive, in-built thing after everything that happened in the past, but I could tell these latest stories were real. When I came to check for myself...”

  Her voice trails off for a moment. Keeping low, I look out across the plain, but all I see is a vast tract of rocky, dirty ground in the moonlight. It's hard to believe that anyone or anything has spent much time here.

  “Have you seen anything yourself?” Absalom asks finally.

  When she doesn't reply immediately, I turn to Ash and see a hint of fear in her eyes. “Not at first,” she continues, her voice sounding a little smaller now, as if she's struggling to sound strong. “It's not like the place is swarming with spiders, it's more like... For a few nights, I kept my guard up more than ever but I didn't see a damn thing. I mean, I'm no fool, right? I'm not going to go running around if I think there are spiders, but at the same time I was worried someone was spreading the rumors to scare people away, maybe so they could get all the Calicle Surmounts for themselves. Anyway, I think it was the fourth or fifth time that I...” Another pause, and her eyes have that faraway gaze of someone remembering a shocking sight. “It was big, the size of a bear, maybe even bigger, and that's just the main part. Each of those long black legs, scurrying quietly through the cold night air, scratching on the rocks... And then that black, glistening kernel of a body at the center... It made me feel sick just seeing it. It makes me feel sick now.”