by Lanie Jordan
“Wonder if there’s a demon-finding fee.”
“Seriously? We’ve got a demon after us and you’re worried about money?” I said.
He shrugged. “It’s not after me. It’s after you. I’m an unlucky bystander.”
“Thanks, Stone. Appreciate that,” I muttered, which made him laugh.
“The cavalry will be here in a few minutes, so I’m not worried.”
Within a second of the words leaving his mouth, light from the hall shone through the scratches. I slapped his arm. Hard.
“Walked into that one, didn’t I?”
The scratches in the door got bigger and bigger. Within a minute, we could actually see a small portion of the Burrower through the splintered wood. Another minute or two, and the darn demon would likely be through the door. Burrowers dug fast. They dug quick and deep, burrowing themselves into the ground or in the walls of (mostly) abandoned houses when the weather was warmer.
“I don’t think it’s after you,” Linc said conversationally, fumbling in the dark to find my hand. When he managed to find it, he held onto it. “At least not in the bad way. Otherwise…”
“Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have made it into the room.” He had a point. But regardless of the demon’s intentions, it was still after me. Good, bad, neutral, that didn’t matter. Before we bunked down for the night, probably every Prospect would know a demon had escaped and went to my freaking room. They didn’t quite understand why demons liked or hated me, because I wasn’t in any hurry to tell them, but they didn’t like it. I didn’t like it, but outside my small circle of friends, no one seemed to notice that point. Or if they did, they just didn’t care.
I didn’t like being different from the other P3s. Not by this much. I didn’t like having demon DNA or having demons come after me for no reason.
Just wait until next Phase, I thought to myself. I just needed to make it until then, because the Prospects who signed up for the treatments would be more like me. When they were, they’d understand me better. Wouldn’t they?
I blinked when I saw Linc’s hand waving in front of my face. I swatted it away. “What?”
“You zoned out.”
“I did not zone out.” Lie. “I’m just concentrating really hard on the demon that’s currently scratching its way through your door.”
He shrugged again. “They’ll replace it.”
“And if it gets through before help gets here? Then what?”
“Then…you can do your demon whispering thing and tell it to sit patiently until help arrives.” Even in the dark, I could see his grin.
I almost admitted to doing that before but decided against it. “If that darn thing gets through before someone catches it, I’ll sic it on you as a distraction and escape.” That would teach him, wouldn’t it?
“Yeah, you probably would.”
“Damn straight.”
The hole doubled in size and we could see the demon’s head through it. One of its hands reached through and waved around. It wasn’t a frantic waving like I’d seen in the movies when a creature was after someone and desperately tried grabbing them. It was more…gentle. Almost like it was reaching for something (or someone) but worried it’d hurt them.
The Burrower pulled its hand back and peeked through the hole. Its eye darted left, right, up, and then down.
Slowly, I took a step forward and knelt down until I was eye level with it. The thing hadn’t tried attacking me, and really, after it’d seen me, it’d stopped moving altogether until I’d moved. Maybe it just wanted to keep me in sight for…whatever reason it had. Maybe it’d keep it calm and not door-scratchy if it saw me.
“It’s okay,” I murmured quietly. “You can see me now. Just stay there, okay? I’m okay, you’re okay. Everything will be okay, demon dude.”
“Demon dude?” was Linc’s comment.
I shot him a quick glance. “I don’t know. I had to call it something.”
He knelt down beside me. “What if it’s a girl?”
“Then it’d be demon dudette.”
“Okay. Works for me.”
I shook my head. “You’re so…you.”
“Why does that sound like an insult?”
“Because it partly is one, you crazy person. We’ve got a demon at the door—literally—and you’re joking about it.”
“And you’re talking to it, so I’d say I’m in good company.”
My mouth opened, then closed. “Damn you and your valid point.” I didn’t have to look at him to know he was smirking, but I checked just in case. And yup, full blown smirk. “I hate it when you do that.”
“What? When I’m right?”
“Yes,” I muttered angrily. Well, I tried for angrily, but it mostly came out as a pathetic sounding laugh.
Here we were, trapped in his room, in the dark, with a demon trying to scratch its way in, and he was making jokes and I was laughing. Linc was right. He was in good company, because we had to be slightly neurotic to find this situation funny.
“You guys okay?” a voice said.
Linc jumped to his feet and ran to the security panel. “Yeah. We’re fine. Jade demon-whispered the demon into a staring contest. I think she’s winning.” When I gasped, he shrugged. “What? It’s true.”
The person on the other end coughed. “Can you repeat that?”
Linc winked at me, then repeated what he’d said.
“I’m not sure, uh, staring at it is the best move,” the voice said, slowly, almost like he was questioning his own words. “Stay away from the door and stay out of sight.”
“Where’s the cavalry?”
“They should be there any second.”
I glanced up at Linc. “I’m not moving. It’s calmer now, so I’m not going to try something that’ll piss it off. I don’t know why it’s calmer, but it is.”
Maybe my so-called staring contest with it was the cause. Or maybe it was some other crazy reason I didn’t know. Either way, it was working or something else was, so until I had a better reason than it not being ‘the best move’, I wasn’t changing a thing.
I wouldn’t have had time to, anyway, as I heard voices in the hall a few seconds later. There were a few loud words, then a familiar voice said, “What’s it staring at?” in a baffled tone. A second later, the demon was gone and a human face appeared in its place. “Should’ve known,” Adam said. The door opened and he looked down at me as he shook his head. “It’s always you, isn’t it?”
I glared and stood up, then I tossed my hands to my hips. “Someone had to do your job for you while you were sitting around somewhere, doing whatever you were doing.”
“You were sitting down, too.”
“Yeah, and I still managed to find it and keep it contained, didn’t I?” I gave him a smug smile as me and Linc moved the desk out of the way.
Peter walked up behind Adam. “She’s got a point.”
Adam rolled his eyes. “Weren’t you supposed to be on a hunt?”
“Yeah, just got back.” Peter leaned against the door frame, smiled easy. “Someone in security tagged me, said someone was busy having a staring contest with a demon. Had to check it out.” He winked at me. “Figured it’d be you.”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s always me, the demon whispering, staring contest with a demon, P3.”
Linc chuckled. “Don’t forget the piranha pariah bit.”
“You’re the one who told them it was a staring contest!” I said, jabbing my finger at him. “Don’t make me—”
“Now, now.” Peter strode forward and stood between Linc and I. “No threats while I’m around.”
“Fine.” I crossed my arms over my chest and sent Linc a glare. “I’ll just get straight to the action portion.”
“You definitely have to wait for that—just until we’re gone.”
“Hey!” Linc protested.
Adam laughed. “First lesson of dating: don’t make fun of your girl.”
“Especially,” Peter added, “when that gi
rl can, and likely will, kick your ass.”
That had Linc’s grin fading and mine blooming, even as Adam’s words gave me a slight pause. I shouldn’t’ve been surprised by his ‘dating’ and ‘your girl’ comments. It was the CGE. Everyone seemed to know everyone else’s business. Well, at least most of it. No one had figured out the vampire bite thing or the I-have-demon-DNA thing until last Phase. Everything else was fair game, though.
Linc eyed me warily. “Yeah, she’s a tough one.”
Peter laid a hand on Linc’s shoulder. “Just get used to being wrong, young hunter. You can’t win with the women folk.” He shot me a smile. “You guys okay?”
“Yeah.” I nodded but tilted my head toward the door. “But Linc’s door isn’t looking so good. Not sure about mine, either. It was there first.”
“It was at your door?” Peter asked.
“Yeah, scratching like a puppy wanting to be let in.”
I didn’t add the rest, like me talking to it and coaxing it into letting me get to Linc. But then, I didn’t need to when Linc told them for me.
Adam and Peter looked at each other. Both of them raised their eyebrows. To their credit, they didn’t comment, but the look was enough to get the message across. It was the same look Doc had on her face whenever she said the word ‘interesting’.
Note to self: play poker with them sometime, since they have terrible poker faces. I could cash in easily. I shook my head. “Go away. Go far, far away.”
There were three distinct laughs. Why do I like them again? I waited but no definitive answer hit me.
“We’ll get someone to board the doors up for tonight, then get it repaired when we can,” Peter told us. “Don’t know if we’ve got any spare ones around, so it might have to wait until the storm passes.”
Linc gave a careless shrug. “Not a big deal.”
Peter nodded and motioned for Adam to follow. “See you guys around then. Thanks…for keeping the demon occupied, Jade.” They shuffled out with the demon in tow, laughing.
As soon as they were gone, I smacked Linc’s arm. “You’ve got a big mouth, Flyboy.”
“What? Like I told them anything you wouldn’t have mentioned.”
“I wouldn’t have told the security room guys.”
He rolled his eyes. “Why not? They probably know about you, anyway.”
“Thanks. That makes me feel so much better.”
“You’re really pissed because I told them?”
“Yes.” I let out a loud breath that ended on a sigh. “No. I’m pissed the demon came to find me. I’m pissed that I really am a damn demon magnet. I’m pissed that everyone is going to find out by morning and that it’s going to give them just one more reason to hate me.”
The demon magnet thing had been said as a joke originally, but now… Now it was true. A demon had not only escaped from a cell, but it had left the South Tower, came to the North, and then sought me out. It had ended up right on my doorstep, like someone had led it there.
Stupid DNA.
“It was a good demon, or at least not a bad one. That’s good, right?”
“Yeah,” I agreed half-heartedly.
“So…get over it.” He rolled his eyes and took my hands in his, then put them behind me as he pulled me close. “Take the night off from thinking for once.”
“But—”
“What’d you tell the demon? Something like… ‘I’m okay, you’re okay, everything is okay’? So tonight, just forget about everything else.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you using my words against me?”
“Yeah, but you’ll just have to get over that, too.” He leaned down and gave me a slow kiss. “We’ve had an exciting day, but it’s still early.”
I raised an eyebrow at him and tried for a stern look, but it was hard to manage with my stomach fluttering. “Your point?”
“Now you can think about something else and keep me occupied.”
The stern look I hadn’t been managing at all fell and I ended up grinning. “You want to be in a staring contest, too?”
Gently, he rocked me side to side until we were moving in a kind of slow dance. He looked into my eyes. “Nah. I bet we can think of something else to do.”
His eyes always pulled at me, like a brewing storm. Fascinating, dangerous, beautiful. If we got into a staring contest, I’d win, hands down, because getting lost in his eyes was way too easy. He wouldn’t stand a chance. “Oh?”
“Yeah.” He walked me backward until my legs hit the side of his bed. It threw me off balance, but Linc kept his grip on me as we fell to the bed. Resting on his forearms, he hovered over me and stared down, his eyes fixed on mine.
“I thought you didn’t want to be in a staring contest?”
He gave a half shrug. “So I want to enjoy the view.”
“It’s dark. I bet you can’t even see me clearly.” But I could see him—and his grin that went sly to wicked in under a second—perfectly.
“Fine, then I guess my hands will just have to enjoy it for me.” As he spoke, he slid one of his hands under my shirt and smoothed it over my stomach, making me shiver. “And my lips,” he said, leaning down to kiss my neck. He kissed along my jaw and chin, and when his mouth met mine again, his hand tangled in my hair.
His heart beat steady in his chest. It started slow, then built up until it was as quick as mine. I focused on it, and his lips, until I couldn’t find my breath and decided I didn’t need or want to. Everything I wanted was right here, right now.
As his tongue slid into my mouth, deepening the kiss, I closed my eyes.
Gladly, I lost the staring contest.
CHAPTER 06
The worst of the storm moved on after a few more days. Thankfully, it hadn’t been as bad as predicted. Other than a few broken windows, some missing roof tiles, and mine and Linc’s holey doors (thank you, Burrower demon), nothing had been badly damaged. Because of another storm system, we had more wind and rain, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Without a hurricane barreling down on us, classes started again. I didn’t mind, because too much free time made me antsy. But I did mind that everyone had heard about my most recent demon encounter and started with the you’re-evil! glares again. It was annoying enough that I wanted to yell, “Yes, that’s right! Fear the demon whisperer!” at anyone who looked at me funny.
Too bad that would’ve meant yelling at over ninety percent of the Prospects.
It still tempted me, even days later, as I made my way to see Doc for my Friday appointment. Some P2s saw me coming and ran in the opposite direction, pulling a terrified looking P1 with them.
“Oh, for crying out loud! What do you think I’m going to do, eat your brains?” I half-shouted as I pounded on Doc’s door.
She yanked it open, already glaring. “I’m not deaf and—” Breaking off, she made a face at me. “What about brains?”
I laughed at her expression and then groaned. “Sorry. Drama.”
She looked around. “Are you and Linc fighting again?”
“No. My drama is with everyone else.” My eyes narrowed. “And why would you think me and Linc were fighting?”
“You’re alone.”
“I’ve come alone before.”
“When you two were fighting.”
I glared and shoved by her. “I’ve come by myself other times. Not often, but I have.”
It wasn’t that I really wanted to be here by myself now, but I had no idea what next Phase held for me. I was pretty sure I’d hit my limit on genetic tweaking already, so where did that leave me? Linc might not be allowed to come with me to my appointments next Phase, at least not after his treatments. They weren’t going to be quarantined to their rooms or anything, but their six-month stuck-at-the-CGE period was to keep them from unknown contaminants. My DNA was considered unchartered territory, so what if that meant he couldn’t be around me?
Doc didn’t quite mask her uh-huh, yeah-right look. “If you say so.”
“I do,” I muttered.
I couldn’t be positive, but I thought I saw a grin as she turned away from me.
Still glaring, I looked around. With my appointments at the demon facility, I’d almost hoped I wouldn’t have to come here as often, but I still did. Doc wasn’t my blood-stealer anymore, but she was still in charge of my scans in the Terminator Tube. The TT—all seven-foot of it—was in the back corner with the electrodes hanging down like big, different colored spider webs. That corner of the room was darker, I noticed, so the TT seemed even freakier than usual with the glow of lights coming from the base. The five panels that closed in to make the tube were wide open. Some would probably say it looked inviting.
And it did—if you wanted an alien torture device.
“Things with Dr. Cherry going okay?”
Tearing my attention from the TT, I jammed my hands in my pockets and turned to Doc. I’d mentioned the appointments to her after the first one. Doc had said she’d talked to Dr. Cherry before and liked and respected her. “I’ve only been to see her a few times, but I still like her, so that’s good right? I mean, she’s a heck of a lot funnier and nicer than Dr. Asshat.”
“I told you I thought you’d like her.” She handed me the gown. “Though I think you would have preferred working with a monkey to avoid Dr. Hamilton.”
I couldn’t argue with that, so I shrugged and went to change. When I came back out a minute later, she hooked me up to the TT and went back to the console.
Doc looked up. “Has she discovered anything yet?”
I thought about the meetings I’d had with her over the last month and frowned. “Not a lot, no.” I followed the beam of light with my eyes as it moved down my body. “I was hoping we’d have some answers by now, but we don’t yet.”
“Jade, your DNA is unique, so it’s going to take time.”
Time. How much time did it really take to dissect someone’s DNA and figure out what made it tick? They had machines that could basically x-ray your body layer by layer, but they didn’t have any fancy machines that could point out DNA issues? Hadn’t Doc told me last Phase that the TT would detect I was sick even before I knew it?
