Demons

by Heather Frost

  “I know, right?”

  We hugged quickly, and when I pulled back Lee blew out her breath and slapped her hands on her knees. “Right. So what now?”

  “It's tough to say…” I hesitated but knew the words had to be said. “You're going to have to keep all of this a secret.”

  Her head dipped easily. “Of course. I'm not going to tell anyone about Patrick and Toni. Why would I?”

  “No. Not that. I mean, yes, no one else should know about them. But… I meant Peter. About everything he did today. You can't tell your mom.”

  Her aura darkened, and her expression was quick to match. “Kate. The psycho kidnapped us at gunpoint. There's no way I'm not telling my mom to dump him.”

  “Lee, he's done all this to protect you.”

  “He's one of the bad guys. Tell me you wouldn't complain about being stuck with him.”

  “He's not a bad guy, he's just… giving in to their demands.” I wondered if these words would soon be spoken of me. Would I be Selena's puppet if it meant saving Patrick?

  Lee interrupted my thoughts. “Yeah. And as touching as that is, I still don't want him around my mom.”

  “I can understand that. I just… If he doesn't follow Selena's orders, you and your mom are going to be targets.”

  “So share some of your Guardians with us.”

  “It's not that simple. Patrick… he's not exactly at his best right now.”

  Her brow furrowed, and I watched as she mentally connected the dots. His sickness, which had seemed so normal, but now after learning that he was immortal… “What's wrong with him?” she finally asked quietly.

  I bit my lower lip but forced myself to stay detached and clinical. “He's sick. It's a virus the Demons have made, and somehow it manages to kill Guardians.”

  “Is Toni…?”

  “No. He seems immune. Most Guardians are, apparently.”

  “Patrick is dying?”

  I swallowed hard, my voice a mere whisper. “Yes.”

  Lee reached for my hand once more, holding it tightly. Her eyes bored into mine, and I could see the sympathy in her face and her aura. “I'm so sorry, Kate. Is there anything we can do?”

  I didn't answer right away, and in that slight pause she knew that there wasn't much hope. Before I had to see the pity register on her face, I spoke smoothly. “I'm not giving up.”

  Lee smiled quietly, and I was grateful for her understanding of what I needed. I guess it was just more evidence that one didn't need to see a person's aura to know what they were feeling—one just needed to pay attention.

  We shared a quiet moment together, and I was glad for the chance to contemplate my new plans. Now that I knew Selena had the cure—something I should have considered before, I guess—I knew that going to Clyde would no longer be necessary. I wouldn't have to track a rumor anymore. I could go right to the source. I don't know if that realization was frightening or just a major relief. I think it was a mixture of both.

  I heard Lee take in a breath, prepare to speak, but the sound of a fast-moving car tore toward us, and we both twisted to look toward the small empty street.

  A midnight-blue Altima came screaming around a nearby corner, sliding past the last couple houses and toward the line of parking spots. By the time I was coming to my feet, the new car was skidding in next to my car, where Peter was just opening the door—his aura a new blend of fear and apprehension.

  The blue car jerked to a stop, the engine dying a split second after. Patrick was in the passenger seat, and his door was the first to be thrown open. He pushed out of the car, gripping the door tightly as his eyes scanned sharply around the park before falling on me. Instead of relaxing when he saw me, his shoulders abruptly stiffened. He slammed the door shut before walking briskly toward me, not even sparing a glance at Peter Keegan. Maybe he was worried that if he saw the Seer, then he wouldn't be able to keep his promise.

  Lee was standing beside me now, but I was already moving, rushing to reach Patrick before he had to walk any further.

  Though I was focused on his drawn face, I could see what was happening over his shoulder. Peter was standing next to my car now, the passenger door closed, stepping toward the back so he would be out of Toni's way. As soon as he was no longer blocking the driver's door, Toni forced it open and stood, turning to face Peter exclusively.

  It wasn't until Toni was slamming him against the side of my car that I realized he wasn't going to honor the promise not to hurt the Demon Seer. Peter Keegan cried out in fear and pain, and Toni harshly twisted the gun out of his hand and jabbed it against the Seer's forehead. Toni was holding the gun sideways, and he looked like he seriously knew what he was doing. I hadn't expected that because I'd only seen him deal with knives. This seemed a lot worse, and I was sure he was going to pull the trigger any second.

  “Toni, stop!” I burst out. I changed my direction thoughtlessly, intent on interfering, but before I'd taken two steps Patrick had reached me, and with a single arm he snagged me, dragging me back to his chest with surprising force.

  “Kate.” He crushed my back to him, keeping me firmly away from the gun. “It's okay. We're here now.”

  “No, you don't understand—I was telling the truth. I can't let you hurt him!” The last I yelled toward Toni, not that he was looking at me. “Toni! You promised!”

  He didn't look up, but his voice projected well. “Nope, I sure didn't. Patrick did that all by himself.”

  “Toni, stop it!”

  We all looked to Lee, who was coming up behind me and Patrick. She was glaring at Peter, but her words continued to be directed to his captor. “If Kate has a reason to keep him alive, I think we should listen to her. She's the All-Seeing One, right?”

  She glanced to me, and I gave her a thankful look. She continued to walk toward Toni, but Patrick was holding me too tightly for me to follow after her. I twisted in the tense cage of his arms and stared up at his tight and colorless face.

  “Patrick,” I said. “It's okay. I'm all right.”

  “No. Nothing about this is all right.”

  I released my breath slowly and continued patiently—as if explaining something to a stubborn child. “I'm so sorry that you had to go through this. But it's over now. No harm done.”

  “Did he point that gun at you?” My silence was answer enough. He growled deep in his throat, and then—arms still surrounding me—we walked over to join the others.

  Lee was standing near Toni and Peter, hesitating between the two hoods of our cars. We came up behind her, stopping on the sidewalk. Toni was still pushing the barrel of the gun to Peter's head, and the school teacher was wincing in pain.

  “Toni.” I sighed, giving up on the forceful approach. “Does he look like that much of a threat?”

  “If you'll recall,” Toni said seriously, gazing firmly into Peter's fearful eyes, “you misread him once before.”

  “It's all right, Kate,” Peter said quietly, unable to look away from the menacing Guardian before him. “There aren't any bullets in the gun.”

  Toni pulled the trigger, just to be sure.

  “Toni!” I yelled. “What if he'd been lying?”

  Toni just shrugged. “Would have taught him a good lesson about the benefits of honesty, I guess.” He focused back on Peter. “I thought it was too light. Then I just thought you were a wimp—barely brave enough to take on two girls. Well, you picked on the wrong ones, pal—”

  “Would you guys please just listen to him?” I begged. “Toni, let go of him already!”

  Lee sighed and walked forward. She reached Toni and laid a hand on his arm. He stole a fast look at her, and she spoke calmly. “A guardian angel, huh? I knew there was something off about you.”

  He stared at her—adjusting to the fact that she knew every-thing—and then he sent me a mean look. “Seriously, Kate. Guardian angel? Real cute and mature.”

  I shrugged. “Don't look at me. I didn't say anything.”

  “Every stinking time
,” he muttered, rounding back on Peter. He let out his breath and then shoved Peter harshly back against the car before releasing him in disgust. He grabbed the barrel of the gun and pointed the handle back to the Demon Seer, returning the useless weapon. But he didn't step back. I guess he wanted to maintain a threatening presence.

  It was working.

  Peter fumbled to replace the gun into his brown jacket pocket, and then he looked to me for help to explain this mess.

  Patrick's arms tightened around me, and I could feel his heart pounding through my back. It shouldn't be working that hard, should it? I didn't let myself dwell on his growing weakness—that could be addressed in a minute, after I was sure Peter would be safe.

  “Peter isn't the enemy you think he is,” I told them all. “Yes, he works for Selena. But not by choice. He's just trying to protect Lee and her mom from the Demons.”

  “I think we can take over the job,” Toni grunted, narrowed eyes slicing into Peter, who flinched.

  But he didn't back down. “I know you have every reason to distrust me, but Kate is telling the truth. I'm only here to keep them from getting hurt.”

  “But you're hurting Kate's family,” Lee said, before either of my Guardians could speak. “And who knows who else. This woman you're working for—she kidnapped Jenna and Josie. I may not know all the details, but I know that helping that creep isn't protecting me and my mom. The twins are like sisters to me. You're not going to hurt them again.”

  “I don't want to. I wouldn't touch those girls.”

  “But you'd hurt Kate?” Patrick spoke at last, his voice barely controlled.

  Peter shook his head quickly. “No. I couldn't do that. At first I thought I could, but…”

  “Then you met us?” Toni said darkly.

  Peter swallowed nervously. “No. I met Kate. Seeing how happy another Seer could be… it's given me hope.”

  “So we're supposed to feel sorry for you?” Toni asked sarcastically.

  “No. But let me have a chance to change things.”

  “You'll stop working for Selena?” Patrick asked bluntly. Peter hesitated, and Patrick continued quickly. “No deal. Not if you're working for Demons.”

  “Selena has a message for me,” I said suddenly.

  That got everyone's attention. Patrick released me, only to wrap his taut fingers around my arms and twist me to face him. Wordlessly he waited for me to share the message, and the tension around us built until I finally spoke. I knew everyone was listening to me, but I directed my words to Patrick—the only person that mattered to me in this one moment.

  “She has the cure, Patrick. She can save you.”

  He stared at me, and through his wide, clear eyes I could see the wheels in his mind turning, fighting to understand every implication my words gave birth to.

  He suddenly looked grayer, felt a lot stiffer.

  I couldn't blame him. I was feeling pretty much the same.

  We finally reached an unsteady compromise. It was getting late, and we had to get ready for Jenna's piano recital. Toni stopped man-handling Peter Keegan, and Patrick stopped glaring at him. Actually, Patrick stopped doing a lot of things. He wasn't really looking at anyone now, and he'd released me so I could give Lee a good-bye hug.

  Toni was going to take her home in the Altima, since my best friend seemed to have a few questions she was hoping to get answers to.

  I was a little put out that no one else had gotten excited about Selena's revelation. Toni had been my strongest ally in the beginning, but a quick look from Patrick had silenced any of his possible comments. It seemed as if I was the only one who thought this track was worth pursuing. But just because everyone else thought it was a bad idea didn't mean I wasn't going to try reasoning with Patrick. Once I got him to come around to my way of thinking, I was sure that Toni would be all for it.

  By unspoken agreement I was going to take Patrick back to the warehouse in my car so we could have a few minutes alone. Peter was already driving away in his red Mini Cooper, more than a little happy to escape my Guardians. I hoped I made the right choice in trusting him, but I was pretty sure that I had.

  Then again, I'd once been pretty sure that he had nothing to do with Demons.

  “Are you coming to the recital?” I asked Lee as we took a step back from each other.

  She shrugged. “I'd been planning on it, but… now I'm kind of thinking I might be having a talk with Peter instead.”

  “You don't have to do anything with him,” Toni insisted firmly.

  She nodded once. “I know, but… I trust Kate. If she says he really cares about me and my mom, I've got to give him some sort of a chance, right?”

  “Yeah, just… don't ever get in a car with him, okay?”

  She smirked at the Hispanic Guardian. “You know, you're pretty cute when you're concerned.”

  Toni rolled his eyes but didn't deny anything. He moved to open the door for her, and Lee climbed into the passenger seat. He then gave us an offhand salute as he rounded the hood of the car, and then he was opening his own door and climbing inside.

  In less than a minute, they had disappeared down the street, leaving Patrick and me alone on the sidewalk. I looked to him, but before I could ask him if he was ready to leave, he was shuffling to the car, moving to get my door for me. I pursed my lips and followed him, wondering how long this silence would last between us.

  Once we were both in the car and I was backing up, Patrick finally made a sound. He released a shaky breath, and my eyes flickered over to him as I shifted into first.

  “Patrick, you look awful,” I said.

  He cracked a thin smile that didn't lighten any part of his face. His eyes were focused out the windshield, his head pressed back against the headrest. “Yeah. I feel pretty awful.”

  I hesitated, but the words still came out. “I'm sorry this had to happen. Especially today, after everything… you must be exhausted.”

  He was quiet for an uneasy moment, and then his voice was incredibly fragmented. “Please don't apologize. I don't think I can listen to you making any more excuses for him.”

  I bit my lip, nodded once, and then turned my attention to the winding residential streets.

  Patrick spoke again, his voice was stronger this time. “Kate, I know you're thinking about Selena. About… her message.”

  “I'm not alone in that.” I glanced at him, and he nodded once, allowing that.

  He looked to me for the first time, keeping his voice low but firm. “We can't contact her. We can't trust her.”

  “But she's got the cure. She could make you better.”

  “I know.”

  I shot him a look, a sudden feeling of betrayal sweeping through my body. “You thought she would have it. You made the connection before.”

  He glanced back out the front window. “They have the virus. It only makes sense that they have the cure, if there is one.”

  “So why didn't you mention this sooner? Why didn't Terence? We could have been working on a way to get it from her!”

  He shook his head, still staring out the window and avoiding my quick looks as if they had the power to shake his firm resolve. “There would only be one way to get it from her. And that's not happening. She's not getting you.”

  “Patrick, you're going to die. I can't… I can't stand that.”

  The knob in his throat leaped as he tried to swallow. His voice was wavering, fragile. “You don't understand, Kate. We would still be separated. But you would lose everything—your freedom, your family, your home. Your life for mine… it's not even worth debating.”

  “If you die, that's it—there's no way to fix that. But if you're alive… you can come back for me.”

  “I'm not discussing this with you.”

  “Why won't you listen?”

  His voice was growing stronger. “I've considered this option, Kate. For all of a minute. That's all the time it took for me to realize that it's not a viable alternative. The Demon Lord… he has too
many followers. Too many bases of operation. There's a good chance I'd never find you again, no matter how hard I searched.”

  “I trust you.”

  “I don't trust me. Not with something like this. Not when I'm gambling your life with the devil himself.”

  I stopped trying to meet his gaze, because I knew he wasn't going to negotiate this. He wasn't even going to consider the words I was saying. Why even talk at all?

  We continued on in silence, until roughly ten minutes later when we were pulling in front of the warehouse. I stopped in front of the double doors and turned to him at last. “You don't need to come tonight. Jenna will understand.”

  He gave me a tired smile. “I want to be there.”

  I nodded once, glancing out the front window. “I'll come pick you up, then.”

  He sighed, but I didn't look toward him. “Kate, please… please don't be upset with me.”

  “I'm not.”

  “Then why are you refusing to look at me?”

  I pulled in a deep breath, then twisted back to face him. My eyes were stinging but I ignored that. “I don't want to see this, Patrick,” I admitted, the pain making a sharp edge of my voice. “I don't want to see you die. Why can't you understand that? Why can't you help me try to save you? Why don't you fight?”

  “Kate…”

  I looked away again, because seeing how my words had cut him only succeeded in making me feel worse. How was that possible? “No.” I blew out my breath in a forced and rapid burst. “It's okay. Forget I said that.”

  I heard him shift in his seat. “Kate. I want… I wish you could understand. Losing you… It's the hardest thing I'll ever have to do.”

  Then why aren't you fighting? I wanted to demand. But I couldn't. Not when his voice was so haggard, so pleading…

  I did the only thing I could. I released my seat belt and reached for him, kissing him intently. His lips were cold, and I knew that time was running out. I ducked my head into his shoulder.

  “I love you so much,” I mumbled against him.

  His lips pressed into my hair. “I love you, Kate Bennett.”

  Not enough, though, my mind taunted my heart.