The Devil's Fool (Devil Series Book One)

by McClellan, Rachel

  Off to my left, another growl filled the night. This throaty snarl was not as loud as the grizzly’s, but was just as menacing. Hunwald.

  Hunwald moved carefully toward the bear whose attention had now turned to the wolf. Hunwald circled behind the bear, turning it away from me. He continued to growl, and when the grizzly charged him, he darted away but quickly turned back to harass the bear again, nipping at its legs. He continued to this process several times, until the bear was no longer near me. I admit I was disappointed.

  Boaz appeared at my side. “Why did you push it so far?”

  “I was curious.”

  “Curious to see how long it would take for a bear to rip your head off?”

  I set my jaw, knowing I would’ve been just fine. After realizing the strength of my power earlier, I knew I didn’t have to worry about anyone or anything ever hurting me again.

  “I can’t afford for you to be careless, Eve.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  His face softened, and he pulled me close. “I couldn’t bear it if anything were to happen to you.”

  I searched his eyes. “You are a mystery, Boaz. One day, I might see the real you.”

  “You already have, love.”

  I tilted my head. “I don’t think so.”

  14

  Time passed quickly, and I anticipated every day like a child on Christmas Eve. I couldn’t get enough of my new life. Boaz showered me with gifts and opened doors to all kinds of new and exciting experiences. He took me to the opera, plays, parties, and political events. If anything of importance was happening, regardless of where, Boaz and I were present.

  We traveled all of Europe. I enjoyed learning the many cultures and seeing how the landscape changed, but I especially liked Ireland and its lush green mountains and impressive coastlines. I could’ve stayed there for weeks, but Boaz was inexplicably anxious to leave.

  In addition to traveling, Boaz introduced me to many important people. I was amazed to learn how many of them knew me simply because of my parents. My family name gave me instant respect, especially from other witches.

  I grew to love the attention, so much so, that I used my last name as if it were my first. I would say, “I’m Ms. Segur, the daughter of Erik and Sable Segur.”

  I loved to watch their eyes grow big and listen to the sound of their loud gulp.

  Speaking of my parents, I saw them once from a distance at a political convention party. I didn’t know if they saw me back, nor did I care. Boaz never spoke of them, and neither did I. They didn’t exist in my new world.

  What surprised me the most of my newfound life was discovering how many supernaturals held important positions in the governments of almost every country. They used their abilities to pass laws and change their countries into what they desired. The “dependents” (the word I’d given to naive humans) were easily manipulated, making it easy for our kind to take over. After seeing what others like me could do, how they could change the rules people lived by, I, too, was anxious to get into politics.

  Every day I used magic a little more than the day before until, before I knew it, I used magic for almost everything. I’d catch myself using it for dumb things, like starting the bath water or combing my hair. At first, it scared me, and I vowed to cut back, but the alluring power proved too great.

  The world, once full of light and joy, became dark and loathsome. I no longer took pleasure in simple things like nature or books. For me to experience even short-lived joy, I had to have more: more parties, more jewels, more experiences, and they had to be greater than before, or anger would swell within me and only strong magic could release it.

  Boaz was the only thing in my life that brought satisfaction. He was the giver of everything I needed. Our relationship was a violent, passionate one, consumed by one another. But it wasn’t just his body I craved—it was the power within him I fed upon. Soon, I came to depend upon him like a flea on a rat, and the dependency quickly turned into what I thought was love, until one day I couldn’t imagine my life without him.

  ***

  It was a cold winter evening. We had just returned from New York City, where Boaz had taken me to his most favorite place, the Metropolitan Opera House. I hoped I would enjoy the play, but instead found it dull and lifeless. Even the music left me feeling empty.

  Afterwards, we met up with Liane and William again for a late dinner at an upscale restaurant. We were the only supernaturals in the whole restaurant surrounded by clueless humans. If they had any idea of our power, they’d run away in fear. I smiled, liking this thought very much.

  “Let’s play a game,” Liane said after finishing up her lobster tail.

  William shook his head. “Not another one of your games.”

  “You’re such a bore, William,” she said. “What about you guys?”

  I turned to Boaz. He was leaning back in his chair, looking past me as if deep in thought. Lately, he would do that: sit right next to me, yet be a million miles away. It was really starting to annoy me.

  “Boaz?” I asked.

  His gaze slowly met mine. “Hmmm?”

  “We’re playing a game. Do you want to play?”

  “Not if it involves magic. I don’t stand a chance of winning against you three.”

  “Then you can watch,” Liane said. “The rules are simple. All you have to do is prank someone, and it’s got to be funny. Nothing as lame as making someone sneeze or something.” She looked pointedly at William.

  William chuckled, a smile brightening his normally serious expression. “I can handle this. I’ll even go first.” He looked around the room, his gaze settling at the corner of the room. “See that man over there? The one in the black suit jacket?”

  “The cute one with dark hair?” Liane asked.

  “I guess,” he said. “Watch what he’s about to do.”

  A few seconds later, the man raised his glass of wine and threw it into the face of the woman sitting across from him. The man’s eyes widened in horror while the woman shrieked.

  I burst into laughter along with Liane. The corner of Boaz’s mouth turned up slightly.

  “My turn,” I said just as the woman with the wine stained dress hurried by me. The man she was with was right behind her, apologizing profusely. I settled my gaze on an approaching waiter whose arm was up holding a full tray of food. Mentally, I pushed a paralyzing thought to the man. Literally. The man no longer believed he could walk. He fell face forward, food from the tray falling across the floor. Part of his cheek landed in a puddle of marinara sauce. I released my mental hold upon his mind, but it still took several seconds for the waiter to gather himself up.

  Boaz chuckled at this one, making my heart swell.

  “I can do better,” Liane said. “Be prepared to crown me queen.”

  She glanced about the room. I wasn’t sure what she was going to do until a large woman sitting three tables over from us rose from her seat unexpectedly. I giggled when she attempted to climb onto the table, knocking over her glass and breaking her plate. The woman she was with attempted to stop her, but the large woman continued upward, awkwardly bending and moving until she was standing shakily upon the table. Two waiters rushed over, asking repeatedly for her to get down.

  “It’s okay,” William said, but he was smiling.

  “I’m not finished,” Liane replied. She kept her focus on the terrified woman whose eyes were darting about at all the people staring at her. A moment later, the overweight lady took off her light sweater jacket and proceeded to unbutton the top of her blouse.

  “Oh no, Liane,” William said. “Please don’t.”

  “You are so evil!” I said and tried hard to hide my laughter.

  Then the unexpected happened. The table collapsed and the woman fell hard to the floor.

  “Time to go,” Boaz said. He was up and pulling me with him before I had a chance to set down the glass in my hand. William and Liane followed us out, arm in arm, and laughing hard.


  I sipped from my stolen glass, and then lowered it to ask Boaz, “Having a good time?”

  “Of course.” He smiled. It looked genuine, so I leaned into him and inhaled deeply.

  I was glad he wasn’t bothered by me and my friend’s abilities. Boaz couldn’t use magic like we could, being a vampire and all. He knew a few things, but nothing impressive, not real magic. But he made up for this shortcoming in other ways. He was extremely strong, fast as lightning, and I swore he could disappear and reappear at will, but he had yet to admit to it.

  “I’m so proud of you, love,” he said and wrapped his arm around me.

  “For what?”

  “For becoming you.”

  I tiptoed and kissed his mouth briefly. “Thanks to you.”

  “Hold up, Eve!” Liane called.

  I turned around.

  “This is where we part,” she said, smiling mischievously. “William and I are going back to the hotel. I’ll call you soon.”

  I said goodbye and watched them walk away, thinking how great it was to have good friends. I’d never been able to say that before. And all of this—my friends, my fun, my travels was all because of Boaz.

  He squeezed my hand. “Let’s go.”

  I was about to turn back when a tall man beneath a lamppost caught my eye. He wore a long dark coat with a black derby hat. He stared at me beneath thick eyebrows, and his thin lips were as straight as piano wire. Hands stuffed in pocket, he held still while people shuffled by him completely unaware of his powerful presence—the power of which I could feel even though he was standing across the street.

  I tugged on Boaz, stopping him from going any further. “Who’s that man?”

  “Where?”

  I pointed across the street. Boaz’s hand tightened around mine. “He shouldn’t be here. It’s too soon.”

  “Who is he?”

  “Your grandfather. Wait here.”

  My grandfather? I squinted to get a closer look. That was him? He didn’t look frightening, but a dark, electric force seemed to pressurize the air around him, similar to what one might feel before a storm’s arrival. I shook my head, still unbelieving that the man who had elicited months of silence and hate between my parents was only a stone’s throw away.

  Boaz was saying something to him while pointing his finger toward me. My grandfather repeatedly shook his head.

  I took a deep breath. Time to go see what this was all about. I moved to step across the street, but was interrupted.

  “You are to stay with us,” said two feminine voices from behind me.

  I turned around, surprised that someone had spoken to me like that, and came face to face with identical twins. Their blonde, almost white hair was cut short, framing their pointy chins. They had large noses to match, but nothing was as unnerving as their eyes. Their irises were narrow slits swimming in luminescent sea-green eyes—the exact same color as my own.

  “Who are you two?” I asked.

  “We are your cousins,” they said in unison.

  “I’m Helen,” the one on the left said.

  “And I’m Harriet.”

  I glanced back at Boaz. “How are we related?”

  “Our mother is your father’s sister,” Harriet answered.

  This sparked my interest. “I didn’t know my father had a sister.”

  The twins looked at each other and then back at me. “She is much stronger than your father.”

  “Awesome,” I said and snickered. As if I cared. I hadn’t thought about my parents for weeks. “You know, it’s great that I have cousins, but I’m sort of busy right now. Let’s do this another time.”

  I turned to leave but found a force blocking my path. Startled, I pressed my palms against the invisible wall. Magic.

  I swiveled around. Both girls were smiling, their noses pointed downwards, dipping into their wide grins.

  “Going somewhere?” Helen asked.

  “Trying to get away from us?” Harriet added.

  “Um, you guys are creepy. I need to go talk to Boaz.”

  At the mention of his name, a far off look filled the twin's eyes, and air escaped their lungs in a long drawn-out sigh. The invisible wall weakened, and I quickly moved to take a step forward, but both girls reached at the same time and took hold of my arms.

  “You are not to speak to Boaz,” Helen said.

  “Ever,” Harriet added.

  “Let go of me, freaks!” I said, struggling against their surprisingly strong grip. I tried pushing them away by using magic, but somehow they managed to block my attack. This frustrated me even more. No one had ever stopped me from using my abilities before.

  “You can’t use magic against us.”

  “We’re too strong for you.”

  My gaze went to Boaz. His back was to me as he was still talking to my grandfather. The girls spun me around, away from him.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “To prove to Boaz that we are more powerful than you.”

  “To get what is rightfully ours.”

  “You can’t be serious.” One look at each of their faces told me that they were very serious. “Boaz is a grown man. He can choose whom he wants to be with.”

  “Boaz will choose who is most powerful,” Helen said.

  “And it’s not you,” Harriet added.

  “That’s ridiculous. Boaz will choose whom he loves.”

  Both girls laughed; the sounds were ugly and cold, sharing pig-like grunts between the both of them. Without warning, their laughter stopped as they eyed our grandfather. I turned around in time to see him nodding at the girls.

  “Time to go, cousin,” they said.

  “Go? I’m not going anywhere.”

  They tugged on my arms.

  “Boaz!” I called.

  Boaz turned around slowly, his expression blank.

  “Boaz, help me!”

  Still, he did nothing.

  One of the twins opened the rear door of a nearby vehicle, while the other one shoved me in, making me fall onto my back. Why wasn’t Boaz doing anything? Without my legs being visibly touched, they were pushed in and the car door slammed shut, banging my knee. I whirled around and put my hand against the back window. “Boaz!”

  He stood next to my grandfather, arms at his sides. The street lamp above cast an eerie light upon him, stretching his shadow beyond what I thought it should be. He stared at me, unblinking, his face no different from a stone statue.

  As the car drove off, I startled when it appeared that his shadow detached from his body and followed after me. I must’ve imagined it, for when I looked back again, only the darkness of the night remained.

  15

  We were the only people on the road and had been for miles. A forest on each side of us pressed up against the pavement, never giving me a clear view of what lay beyond.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  Neither twin answered.

  I sighed. “Come on, girls. We’re family. Can’t we at least be nice to each other?”

  Still they didn’t speak.

  “Fine,” I mumbled. I slumped against the cold leather seat and stared out the window. Occasionally, the vehicle’s headlights would flash against a green sign. Soon I realized we were headed to Vermont, to my grandfather’s home.

  Was that really so hard to say?

  I tried to endure the silence by thinking of Boaz. At first, I was angry he hadn’t tried to save me, but surely he had a good reason. He’d never let me down before, so why would he start now?

  In front of me, the back of the twin’s white-haired heads hadn’t moved for the last two hours. It really annoyed me, their oddness, almost as if they weren’t mentally all there. It was like they each shared half of a brain between them. Despite the silence, I laughed.

  Helen and Harriet turned around simultaneously and glared.

  I nodded toward the road. “Watch where you’re going. I want to make it alive so I can figure out what this is all
about. Someone’s going to pay.”

  They turned back around, wordlessly.

  Because I hated to be ignored, I decided to goad them, having a pretty good idea what would make them talk.

  “You’re mother’s hardly powerful,” I said. “Did you know my father once crushed a giant tree with a single blast of air? All that remained was a circular wood disk, one inch thick. It was one of the most remarkable things I ever saw.”

  Helen gripped the steering wheel, but still, neither responded.

  I tried again. “Then another time he completely changed his appearance for over three hours while he sat in on a meeting with the governor of New York. The entire time he thought my father was a high-up European diplomat and divulged some very valuable information. It was impressive, for sure.”

  The hair on both girls’ heads ruffled while the temperature in the car seemed to rise. They were close to breaking.

  “Most importantly,” I continued, “my father married my mother, the most powerful female witch of her time—that is, until they gave birth to me.”

  Slamming on the brakes, Helen swerved the car to the side of the road and stopped. The twins turned around.

  “You are not powerful,” they said, each of their half brains working together.

  I let my eyes burn bright, power coursing through me like a live wire. “How do you know?”

  “Our mother said,” Helen said.

  “Our grandfather said,” Harriet echoed.

  “They lied,” I snapped back. I clapped my hands together suddenly, and with a simple command from my mind, the windows shattered and blew into the night in tiny shards as small as snowflakes. Then, as if time had stopped, the shards of glass suspended in mid-air, floated for a few seconds, and then returned to the car doors, forming windows once again.

  “This is our father’s car,” Helen said.

  “We must not hurt it.”

  “I will tear this car apart piece by piece, unless you tell me what’s going on,” I said.