Despite the searing pain in my head, I sprung from my seat, leaping to an unnatural height, and took hold of the disk. It sliced open the skin on my palm, but I didn’t hesitate. Instead, I tossed it right back at the twins using both mental and physical strength. They easily stopped its motion within a few feet of them, surprising me. I fell to the ground amidst broken china and glass, hurting myself even more.
Anne laughed from the balcony. I clenched my jaw tight and puffed air through my flaring nostrils. Magic once again swelled in response to my growing anger; just in time, too. I used a portion of it to knock the wine glass from Anne’s hand. She jumped and cursed when it shattered on the floor.
I battled the twins well into the night to the point of exhaustion. Even they sat hunched over, breathing deeply, but neither they, nor I, gave up. We had each tried everything we could think of to distract each other until finally we reached a standstill.
There were only a few illuminated plates left on the shelves, lighting what no longer looked like a room but more of a war zone. Broken glass and china littered the floor, and the long table had been smashed into unrecognizable pieces. Even the chairs had been destroyed except for one, but it had been firmly embedded into the wall hours ago.
Both twins were pale, and Harriet had a bloody nose. I sat on the floor with my back against the wall, trying to keep my eyes focused on the disk, afraid that if I looked away even for a split second, I’d lose my mental grip. I kept expecting our grandfather to say something like, “Let’s take a short break” or “We will continue this tomorrow,” but he remained silent, as did my aunt. For all I knew, my grandfather was asleep, and Anne passed out from too much wine.
A cool breeze brushed over my legs, startling me. The cold pressure in the air, which had darkened significantly, crowded the space around me. I sucked in too quickly and nearly froze my lungs.
“Finish this,” a deep voice whispered.
My heart pumped faster. Boaz?
“Now!”
My shoulders slumped forward. But I’m so tired. Help me.
“You are the great Eve Segur,” he hissed. “Push harder!”
But there are two of them!
“There are two of them,” he repeated, his voice thoughtful.
I shook my head slowly. “I don’t understand.”
“There are no rules.”
I thought hard, trying to grasp what he wanted.
“End this!” he shouted inside my mind, making me jump.
And then his words made sense.
I could end this. Right now.
Before I could think twice, I used the last of my mental strength to take hold of the wooden curio cabinet behind the twins. There were nails driven into its back, holding it fast to the wall. At first, they groaned and resisted my pull, but their rebellion couldn’t last. I jerked it one last time. The curio moaned and creaked as it fell forward. It suddenly looked much bigger and heavier than I originally thought. When it collapsed on top of the girls, dust and debris billowed into the air. A single scream was all that escaped.
I stared at it, the image before me like an abstract painting. The disk dropped to the floor nearby, making me jump.
“Eve …” Boaz’s voice said, his voice stern.
My gaze lowered to the silver disk. Without opposition, I lifted it with minimal concentration and directed it across the room and into the shield where it fit perfectly.
From the balcony, a slow clap began, and the room lit up, the lights magically fixed. My grandfather stood there, his hands slapping together. Anne was next to him, but she wasn’t celebrating. She was staring at the overturned curio, her mouth open and her face pale. Wine from a tipped-over bottle poured from the balcony.
I slowly followed Anne’s gaze to the toppled-over hutch; a dark pool of blood stretched out beneath it. A sharp breath caught in my chest, and my knees weakened.
What have I done?
I stumbled forward, pushing my way through the broken debris and shattered glass, while my grandfather spoke.
“You have won, Eve. All that I have will be transferred to your parents' account, and in time the fortune will become yours. Like generations past, you will use this money to further our political power in both our world and the humans.”
I reached the curio cabinet and tried to lift it but was too weak. “Help me!”
My grandfather and Anne had somehow moved off of the balcony and stood not far from me. Anne’s color had returned, her expression unreadable.
“It is done. You are free to go,” my grandfather said. He turned around and walked toward the door. Anne followed him.
“Anne!” I cried. “These are your daughters. Help me!”
“I’ll send a maid,” she called over her shoulder as she stepped outside into the night. The door closed behind her.
I yelled in frustration and tried again to lift the heavy shelving, even trying to use magic, but either I had nothing left or my emotions were somehow blocking it. I glanced all around the room. “Boaz!”
The door opened, and he strolled in with open arms and a huge smile. “You did it! I knew you would.”
“Get over here and help me. Now!” I again tried to lift, grunting and groaning.
Boaz came next to me, but stepped back to avoid the red puddle I was standing in.
I took hold of his arm and jerked him forward. “Lift this. Please. The twins are beneath it.”
His expression twisted into horror. “You did this?”
I blinked. A few times. Words struggled to come out of my mouth. “You told me to.”
“I would never tell you to kill someone.” Boaz bent down and easily tossed the curio aside.
I turned the first twin over. I think it was Helen. Half of her head was caked in blood, but I couldn’t tell if it was hers or not. She moaned and her eyes fluttered open, exposing a glossy blue surface.
“Helen?”
She stared through me.
“Helen?” I asked a little louder. “Are you all right?”
I waited a few seconds then patted her cheek. No response. At least she was breathing.
“Help Harriet,” I said to Boaz. I reached under Helen and pulled her body away from the broken glass and to the corner where I propped her against the wall. “Helen? Can you hear me?”
“She’s dead,” Boaz said.
My heart skipped a beat, and I straightened. “What did you say?”
“This one’s dead,” he repeated. “You must’ve killed her.”
My mouth dropped open, and I shook my head. I forced my gaze down at Harriet’s body. Her arm was twisted awkwardly behind her back, and her knee was bent the wrong way. But it was the broken shard of a china plate protruding from her eye that I would remember the most.
"Can you help her?" I asked Boaz. "Turn her or something?"
"It's too late."
I stumbled backwards into the wall and slid to the floor. “I didn’t mean to. It was an accident. I only wanted to—”
“Win?” Boaz finished for me. He walked back to me, and knelt down, taking my head in his hands gently. “You did what was necessary.”
“But I didn’t have to do that.”
“Look at me. She is gone and there is nothing you can do to fix it. Let’s go home and get you taken care of. You are all that matters.” Boaz helped me to my feet.
I leaned into him, my breaths coming in short gasps. “We should do something. An ambulance. The police.”
“No,” Boaz said. “Your grandfather will take care of it. This is no longer our concern.” Boaz guided me toward the front door, his hand warm against the small of my back.
I dug my feet into the floor, but I was too weak to stop my momentum. “This feels wrong, Boaz. We can’t just leave!”
“It isn’t right or wrong. It just is.”
Before Boaz helped me out the door, I glanced back at Helen who still sat motionless in the corner. I mouthed the words “I’m sorry” but Helen didn’t see. She was so
mewhere else, somewhere dark and lonely.
As we walked toward the house, two servants scurried past us. I could only imagine their reaction when they saw the carnage, but then again, maybe they were used to seeing death while living with the Segurs. In my mind, I saw Harriet again, lying face down in a pool of blood. I stopped moving. “I should go back. I should help Helen.”
“There is nothing you can do for her. Without Harriet, she is dead, too.”
I leaned into Boaz. “What have I done?”
“Only what you were meant to do.” He pulled me forward until we reached his car that was parked a short distance down the lane.
I didn’t speak the entire ride back to Boaz’s, nor did I speak for several days after. I couldn’t even sleep or eat. Over and over, I replayed the events in my mind. Every move, every word. Boaz hadn’t told me to kill the twins. I had done it all on my own. This nightmare played out every hour of every day until I refused to come out of my room.
I was a murderer.
Boaz sat next to my bed daily, saying nothing, but on the seventh day, when the moon’s light filled the window, he finally spoke: “What you did was horrible. You destroyed the body of one and the mind of another. There is nothing more evil than taking a life. But for someone like you, that is to be expected. You are more powerful. This gives you the ability to do whatever you want. Remember the bear? People like us do not have to live by the same rules as others. You must learn to think differently. What you did is considered murder in the human world, but among ours, you simply did what was necessary. In fact, you will be admired for it.”
I blinked, moonlight disappearing and then reappearing. “Why was it so important to you?”
“Excuse me?”
“You promised to tell me why I should fight the twins.”
Boaz leaned back into his chair and squared his shoulders. “Because I wanted to see if you could. Only the strongest will be at my side.”
Afraid his answer would be that simple, I closed my eyes, tucked my hands beneath my chin, and curled up even further into the quilted bed.
Boaz leaned over and found my mouth. He kissed it gently. “You need to get over this.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“Let me help you. Take my power. It will make you stronger.”
“Is that possible?”
“Between us? Yes. Take it from me, and let it overcome your guilt.” His lips brushed over mine again. “Concentrate.”
My gaze met his. A power, dark and alluring, swirled in his pupils until his eyes were entirely black. My heart leapt in anticipation. It was right there: a cure for my pain. Boaz’s energy, his dark presence, was always stronger than mine. Deep down, I always knew that, but it wasn’t until now that I was willing to admit it. And now I wanted it for myself.
I gripped his arms tight, willing his darkness from him, but I didn’t just take it—I ripped it from his entire being. His chest tightened as if he’d been squeezed, and he gasped for air. This was the first time I’d ever seen him in pain, but I didn’t stop. His dark energy raced through my body, flooding me with new life. I took as much as I could, having to suck in air to catch my breath. My eyelids closed, and my body swayed as if were on a boat, moving with the waves of the sea. Gently. Lightly. Floating across the waters of a forgiving sea, not as a deserted castaway, but as a God. Nothing could touch me now.
"That's enough," Boaz said, his voice pained.
“Just a minute. Let me enjoy this. You feel so good inside me.” I giggled and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him close.
He nuzzled my neck and relaxed into me. “Finally we can move on with our lives. There is much to do.”
19
I changed. All that I once hated, I now embraced. I no longer felt remorse or compassion toward anyone or anything. And I only hung around those who could make me stronger—like Boaz.
It was on a stormy night, the kind where really bad things happen, that I decided to change my life forever. Boaz seemed to sense the change, too, and all through dinner, he kept glancing at me, as if waiting for me to confess the reason behind my seductive perma-grin.
I let him wait.
We left the restaurant, huddled beneath an umbrella, and crossed the street to his car. On the way home, I said what I thought I would never say. “Boaz?”
“Yes, love?” His eyes stayed focused on the road ahead.
“I have been having the time of my life with you, and I don’t want it to ever end. I want to be with you forever. I’m ready.”
Boaz slammed on the breaks and steered the car to the shoulder of the road. A cloud of dust billowed behind us. “Are you absolutely sure?”
“I am, but only if you want it, too.”
“I have waited so long to hear you say those words. I want you by my side forever.”
He kissed my eyelids and then my cheek. His lips caressed my face until they found my mouth. He kissed me deeply, and his arms wrapped around me, forcing my body closer. Then, in a movement I barely felt, he lifted me effortlessly on top of him so my legs straddled his waist. His lips continued to stroke my face and finally trailed down to my neck.
This is it! I closed my eyes and waited to enjoy Boaz quench his thirst for the blood he craved, while also satisfying my own desire for ultimate power.
But my pleasure was short lived.
Boaz pushed me away. “I want to give you a surprise first.”
“I don’t want a surprise. I just want you.” I took my turn of kissing his face, but he stopped me again.
“I have to leave town for a while. In the next few hours, in fact.”
“Now? What for?”
“To work on the surprise.”
“I don’t want a surprise.”
“But I want to give it,” he said with more force.
“How long will you be gone?”
“Maybe a week.”
I leaned back into the steering wheel and pouted. “A week? No good. I’ll go crazy.”
“You’ll survive. I promise it will be worth it.” He moved to lift me off his lap, but I clung to him.
“Not yet,” I said and slipped my hand under his shirt.
He raised an eyebrow, a smile threatening to break. “By all means, love. I am yours to command.”
***
Boaz left as promised. It was strange to have him gone. It was the first time we’d been separated in months. The first day, I was bored out of my mind, TV unable to keep my attention. And I didn’t even bother trying to read. The most entertainment I found was using my magic to play tricks on the servants, but even that dulled with no one around to laugh with me.
I needed to go somewhere. Do something. The power within me was swelling and needed to be released. A solution came when the phone rang at two in the morning. It was Liane inviting me on a spur of the moment trip to New York City.
“William will meet us there, and we’ll cause all sorts of trouble for New Yorkers. It will be great. We’ll be just like our great grandmothers.”
I couldn’t say “yes” fast enough.
The next day at noon, Liane picked me up. I enjoyed her company almost as much as Boaz’s. She was spontaneous and fun and wasn’t afraid of anything. Her lack of fear had gotten us into trouble more times than I could count, but the adventure was always worth it.
“Don’t you think it’s time you cut your hair?” Liane asked, eyeing me sideways as she maneuvered her car onto the road.
I flipped down the passenger vanity mirror. I had curled my long hair into big waves. It looked okay. “Is it really that bad?”
“It’s just so goodie-goodie. You need a punk style or something that makes a statement. Something that says ‘watch out, here I come!’” Liane snapped her head to the driver’s side window. “Did you see that?”
I glanced around. “What?”
“Up ahead. A man just passed me.”
“Oh no,” I moaned. Liane hated to be passed.
She stepped on the ac
celerator until she was even with the car that had passed her. “Watch this.” She rolled down her window and said something under her breath. The tire on the man’s vehicle popped, sending his car out of control. I looked back just in time to see the car hit a truck, spin around a few times, and finally crash into a guard rail.
I laughed. “That was horrible!”
That one potentially deadly prank set the tone for the remainder of the trip. Together, with William, we constantly tried to one-up each other in our viciousness toward others. At one point, we had the police chasing us through the streets, but a five-car pileup blocked the pursuit, thanks to William.
I no longer saw the faces of the victims we tortured. I reveled in the power I had over others and used it merely for my own entertainment.
When I returned home, Boaz was waiting for me in the bedroom. I immediately threw my arms around him. “You’re home early!”
“I can’t stay. I only returned to get a few more supplies.”
My eyes narrowed. “For my surprise?”
“For your surprise. Where have you been?”
“I went with Liane and William to the city. We had a killer time.”
“I’m glad, but I would feel better if I was with you. It’s still dangerous.” He sat on a sofa across from the bed.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to mess with me.” I removed my coat and walked over to him and fell into his lap. “When are you leaving again?”
“In a few hours. I’m very close to fulfilling your dream. Soon, love. We will be together and unstoppable.”
He tilted my chin and kissed me deeply. Gripping me tightly, he lifted my body and carried me to the bed. The air thickened and the electric current between us grew as it often did when we were so close. I stared into Boaz’s eyes; a dark mist swirled in great swells as our combined power gave him a natural high. He smiled, but not at me, and I knew it. He was smiling at the power.
***
Boaz was gone the next morning, leaving no note saying when he would return. It bothered me that he was away from me so much. Working on a surprise? Unlikely. I thought about it all morning before choosing to ignore the uncomfortable scratching at the back of my mind. Boaz would never turn against me. I was way more powerful than him.
The Devil's Fool (Devil Series Book One) Page 13
