I need to give her a call soon, I thought to myself sleepily.
It was almost three in the morning, but I couldn’t sleep. My body was way exhausted beyond all reason, but unable to cross the threshold into unconsciousness. After two or three hours, I’d finally given up and decided to do some research. Google wasn’t being helpful, and neither was Wikipedia. Demons? Nope. Lucifer? Even less helpful than the last.
I’m not sure what I expected to find, it’s not like in the movies where a website miraculously appears with all the mystical information you’re searching for. It’s kitschy at best and mind-numbingly repetitive. My search was coming up empty. After all, I’d met the Demon Lords, I knew what has the potential to be based in fact, and this was utter garbage. The secret to defeating a Demon Lord like Aidan would only be found in learning more about him, and maybe I could discover a weakness.
What am I missing?
Aggravated, I tugged at one of the chains from my probationary necklace and glanced down at the journal on my desk. Caleb’s picture was safely tucked away inside, but I couldn’t look at him right now, it hurt too much.
The truth was I didn’t feel like I belonged here anymore. Not with my family, not in Mobile, maybe not even the Mortal Realm. I couldn’t risk the Demon Lords going after my family again. What if they came after Dad or Nate? I couldn’t protect them any more than I could Elyse. Their safety was nothing more than an illusion as long as I stayed. It was time for me to go, I just didn’t know how to tell them.
With an exhausted sigh, I glanced up at the screen again and was about to type in another search when Dad came wandering down the hall and paused for a moment in my doorway. My hand stilled on the keys when I discovered him, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. His faint yellow aura swirled around him as he called to me inside, “Wynn, you’re still up?”
Cleo gave a lazy squawk and rolled over in my lap as I quickly minimized the screen, turning to him with a guilty smile. “Yeah, I couldn’t sleep. Sorry if I woke you.”
“No, that’s okay. I just saw the light on and thought that I’d come check on you. What are you doing anyway?”
“I was, er, registering for some classes.”
“Classes?” he asked me a little confused. “I thought they didn’t start for another month.”
I bit my lip, trying to figure out how to explain this. “Actually, I was thinking about going up early so I can get settled before the semester. There’s a dorm already waiting for me and I could use the extra time to find a job. What do you think?”
There was an awkward moment of silence before he responded. “Well, honey, that’s up to you. Nate and I will be sad to see you go, but I think we understand if you want to go out early. When did you want to leave?”
“Maybe next week?”
He nodded solemnly. “Okay, we can call the housing office on Monday and let them know you’re coming.”
“Thanks, Dad. I’m probably going to turn in though and try to get some sleep.”
“That’s a good idea. Night, hon.”
“Goodnight.”
~ * ~
Over the next two days, I was baffled by the wary glances from my family. Dad in particular seemed anxious about my state of mind. I tried my hardest to reassure him that I was okay, but nothing I said would convince him otherwise.
Truthfully, though, I was much better than I expected to be. It felt odd to be packing all my things, but my room had never felt the same since Aidan’s abrupt arrival several months ago. The whole place was in shambles, though void of the dirty laundry that usually graced my bedroom floor. It had been replaced with cardboard boxes as I sorted through the mess, deciding what I should take with me, and what would go in storage. Most of it would have to stay of course, but some things I couldn’t bear to part with — my lava lamp was one of them. It all went into an old vintage suitcase open wide in the center of my bed, which was the only one I could find that Dad would let me keep.
“You don't have to do this,” Nathan argued as he helped me fold the clothes I was taking by handing me another pair of jeans. My fluffy calico kitten was lazily sunning herself on the window ledge and purring contentedly as she did so.
“Yes, I do,” I told him with a stubborn smile. “It’s the only way to keep you safe. I was going to leave in a few weeks anyway, this just speeds things up.”
“I don’t want you to leave,” he muttered sadly. His faint, green aura was dull and pale, exposing his grief as we prepared to say goodbye. “Dad and I need you here. You belong with your family.”
I shook my head, grabbing the leather jacket from the back of my chair and folding it inside the suitcase. “That's the problem, Nate, I don't. I don't belong anywhere. The least I can do is bring the fight somewhere else while I figure this whole thing out. Since I’m the one on trial, the Demon Lords will come after me. That means you and Dad will be safe,” I told him matter-of-factly. “Death and destruction follow me anywhere I go, so it’s really the kinder option. Besides, my probation is up in February and if the Council’s not impressed … at least you’ll have gotten used to me being gone.”
“Yeah, I get it,” he told me bitterly.
During my trial, the Elders made it clear that my life was at stake. I had to make use of the time they’d given me and prove that I could temper my demonic rage and control the powers I’d been gifted, otherwise they would kill me. Or rather, remove me from realm of living souls.
I smiled weakly before glancing over in the cat’s direction and sauntered over to where she was. Cleo stretched along the window sill and looked up at me with curious, yellow eyes. “Do you mind taking care of Cleo for me when I’m gone? I don’t know what else to do with her since they won’t allow pets in the university dorm.”
Nate grinned as she chirped affectionately in his direction and flopped down on the floor in front of him, exposing her belly. He scratched affectionately beneath her chin as she alternated between purring and biting his hand. “Unless she decides to eat me in my sleep,” he complained half-heartedly.
“Hey, no biting. Biting does not equate affection,” I scolded firmly.
What. A. Spaz, I thought to myself ruefully.
In a moment of clarity, I suddenly remembered the cardboard box I had hidden underneath my bed, holding all our mother’s things. It was the best insight I had to unraveling her past, and the deeper I got, the more I realized there was so much more I had yet to discover. Therefore, the box was coming with me so I could continue my investigation.
I knelt and retrieved it from its hiding place, causing Nate to raise an eyebrow when I set it on the bed. “What else could you possibly expect to find in there?” he asked me in amusement. “Bad hairdos from the 80’s?”
I shrugged. “Who knows? I still haven’t been able to rummage through all of it. Maybe something in here will come in handy.”
He snorted with a grin and sat back deeper on the mattress. “Were you going to say goodbye to her before we leave?”
I nodded slowly, even though I hated going to the hospital. Even though she wouldn’t hear me in her coma, I still wanted to do it for myself. “I already talked to Dad about swinging by on our way out of town,” I told him with a sigh.
Our mother, the great and terrible beauty she was, still hadn’t woken up from her magically induced coma. She’d been that way for almost two years now and I had mixed feelings about how I’d react if she ever did manage to return. Aidan would never wake her from that slumber unless I agreed to serve him willingly. That meant conversing with her frozen body was the closest thing I would ever have to being with her again.
My eyes flickered to the jewelry box on top of my dresser and I walked over to it slowly, lifting the lid to pull out a rose quartz stone. “I should probably take this with me too,” I muttered quietly.
As I picked it up, the faint pulse of a heartbeat quivered from inside — all that was left of our parent’s love for one another. I was glad our father had no idea Mom had pl
aced him under a love spell, taking away his agency. But the spell was dying and its hold on him would soon be over.
Nathan watched me carefully as I wrapped it in a scarf and put it in the suitcase. “Alright, you—”
I held my hand up to silence him when my demon sense started tingling. Nathan fell quiet and investigated the room with me suspiciously. “What is it?”
“Shh … someone’s here,” I told him. “I can sense it.”
Nathan gulped and his jawline visibly tensed. My nerves were all on edge as I recognized the familiar tremor that came with another demon’s presence. In my peripheral vision, I saw something move within the shadows and the whiff of a purple aura with the sound of muffled breathing.
I narrowed my eyes and prepared to strike as Nathan watched me cautiously. He and I made eye contact, and I put a finger to my lips before shifting across the room. It was an odd sensation to have my body spread across two different locations at once, then collect itself in one of them. The short-range teleportation allowed me to tackle the unwelcome visitor and grapple it to the floor without much difficulty. “Augh! Mistress, please!” the imp-like creature whined.
I recognized the portly, red-skinned devil immediately as he tried to wriggle from my grasp. His four arms made him difficult to hold on to, but somehow I held the grapple and pinned him to the floor. “Blix?” I snarled furiously. “What are you doing here? I told you never to show your face around here again.” After a showdown at the high school theater, I made it clear if he appeared in my room again, I’d skin him like a cat.
“Apologies m’lady, but Lord Aidan was most insistent I retain my post. Please don’t hurt me!”
“I should rip your eyes out,” I hissed at him with fire blaring in my eyes. “You tell Aidan the next time he sends one of his minions to come and spy on me, I’ll send them back to him in pieces.”
“Yes, ma’am! Anything you say, just let me go!”
I released the writhing creature and growled at him, “You’re lucky I’m feeling generous. Don’t ever let me find you creeping around here again or I will remove your spleen.”
Blix bowed, trembling on the hard wood floor with his eyes twitching from side to side. He wrung his hands together in distress and when he saw the suitcase on my bed, cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Excuse me, Miss, but are you leaving?”
I stepped forward threateningly and snarled once again, releasing part of the glamor on my face. There was a tingling sensation along my cheekbones when it happened, with a cool breath of air against my scales. “Are you?”
He nodded with a twinkle in his eye and disappeared with a puff of smoke.
“Freaking ridiculous,” I grumbled. “That took some moxie for him to come back after I explicitly told him not to. One of these days I’m going to turn him into a pair of shoes.”
Nathan swallowed nervously and motioned to my reflection in the mirror. The skin around my eyes had cracked, revealing blackened veins and reptilian features along my brow line. My eyes themselves were completely black, except the blood red iris’s in the center surrounded by a ring of gold. It’s was truly horrifying, and if I hadn’t recognized myself it would have scared me too.
I cleared my throat, ashamed for having exposed myself like that in front of him, and returned my face to its human norm.
“He saw your suitcase,” Nathan muttered. “They know you’re leaving.”
Grinning slightly, I told him, “Isn’t that the point? Now he’ll go back and tell Aidan what he saw. Once they realize I’ve moved out, there will be no more reason for them to come here anymore.”
“But what about you?” he inquired slowly. “Won’t they just find you in Tuscaloosa?”
I snapped the suitcase closed and shrugged. “There’s only one way to find out. You’ll call me if anything happens, right?”
“Of course.”
There was a knock on my bedroom door and the two of us turned to find Dad standing in the doorway. “How’s it going in here?”
I exhaled dramatically, gazing down at the open suitcase in front of me. “I think we’ve got everything, it’s just weird to think I’m leaving. What if I forget something?”
Dad smiled warmly and leaned up against the doorframe. “Then we’ll send it to you in a care package. Can I get your suitcase?”
“Sure.”
He grabbed it by the handle and headed out the door as I took one last glance around my room before leaving for Tuscaloosa. I smiled at him even as my body began to tense. It had been a while since my fear of riding in cars after dark had reared its ugly head. It was something I was used to since the accident, but I’d learned ways to cope. I breathed deeply through my nose as the anxiety began to rise and counted backward from ten.
I still remembered the door not budging as I tried frantically to escape the twisted wreckage of my car. The smell of gasoline as it pooled around me would be forever ingrained in my memory. I started to hyperventilate at the memory of smoke and fire stealing the air from me, flashing back to the taste of blood in my mouth and knowing what would happen if the fuel reached the burning engine.
A man’s voice had rung out clear and calm within my head, Use the back door. To this day, I still had no idea who it was, but it was familiar and confident.
I’d trusted their advice and managed to crawl out the rear passenger door, which had been the only part of the car that had remained unscathed. Broken glass cut into my skin as I scrambled to get out and collapse onto the grass.
That voice had saved my life and guided me to safety. I clung to that thought as we loaded up the car and I climbed into the passenger seat. Someone had been watching out for me. They’d taken care of me back then, they were taking care of me now, and I had no reason to be afraid.
At least, that’s what I told myself.
~ * ~
Dad hugged me as we stood on the sidewalk outside my new apartment — Riverside Hall on the north side of campus. We stood in the parking lot across the street as I wrapped my arms around him in a hug and nuzzled my head against his chest. Here I was, on the precipice of adulthood, and clinging to my father like it was the first day of kindergarten. He and Nate had both driven up to see me off and all three of us were hot and sweaty after spending the last few hours unloading my things.
It was time to say goodbye.
I’d never been good at things like this, so I just held him for a minute. The feel of his cotton shirt and the warmth of his arms made me feel like I was safe. It was like his mantle of security protecting me from the world and all its problems.
My stomach did a somersault as I contemplated whether this would be the last chance I got to see the two of them. It may have been clichéd to see their departure like that, but I never thought we’d lose Mom or Elyse either. Members of my family were dropping like flies, and with the Demon Lords still at large and my probation in effect, it wasn’t honestly out of the question. It could happen.
I sniffed back the tears building up inside me and Dad must have felt me tense because he pulled me tighter for a moment and kissed me on the forehead. “Hey, none of that,” he ordered in a tease. “If you start crying then I’ll start crying and Nate will start crying, and we’ll never get out of here.”
“I’m gonna miss you guys.”
He smiled. “I’m proud of you, honey. I know it’s scary right now, but that’s okay. Think of it as a great adventure. We’ll call you when we get in tonight, okay?”
“Kay.”
Nate had his arms around me in a bear-like hug before I could even get the words out. “I love you, Wynn.”
I kissed him on the forehead and waved goodbye as they started getting in the car. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as they drove off down the road, making me uneasy. As the car disappeared into the distance, I turned back and proceeded back towards my dorm. When I passed the bushes on the edge of my building it felt like someone was watching me. I didn’t like the idea that someone, or something, had followed
me.
Something moved inside the bushes, and I jumped back in alarm. When I went to investigate, a wild rabbit hopped out onto the grass, then ran off into the trees. I laughed at the sight of it and turned back to go inside, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that eyes were watching me from the shadows.
Chapter Two
Pale September
“Yeah, Dad, it’s great. The place is really coming together,” I said in an attempt to reassure him. “Lacey and her mom will be here in a couple of days and I’m in full nesting mode.”
He chuckled on the other end of the line. “It sounds like you’ve got everything under control. Have you found any nice spots on campus yet?”
I sighed, hanging some more clothes up in the closet. My hair was in a high ponytail, and I’d changed into some sweatpants as I unpacked. “Not yet. There’s a coffee place down the street I want to check out called Death Before Decaf.”
You could almost hear him rolling his eyes on the other end. “Sounds appropriately collegiate. Just think, in a couple of weeks you’ll start classes and be a grown-up college student. How does it feel?”
“Weird,” I admitted sheepishly. “Maybe they’ll decide I’m an imposter and send me packing. I’ll return to Mobile in disgrace, with my tail tucked between my legs and live under a bridge somewhere.”
Dad laughed at my joke and added, “Welcome to adulthood, sweetheart.”
“Thanks. Hey the next time to go to visit Mom, give her a kiss for me.”
“Will do.”
“Could I ask you something before you go?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Well, after visiting Jack and Lydia, it’s bringing up some unresolved issues for me.”
“How so?”
“Well, Elyse,” I offered hopefully. “She never got to meet her real mother. When we found out about Anna it came as a shock to all of us and I just wanted to be forthcoming and let you know I’m doing some research into our family history. There are things in you and Mom’s past we don’t know about, like Uncle Garrett. I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately. Considering how things went this spring, I thought it would be best to let you know what I was thinking and that I plan on doing some family history. I want to know about him, Dad. We never talk about him, but he died before we ever got to meet him. It just seems unfair to let them be forgotten.”
The Devil's Due (The Earthwalker Trilogy Book 2) Page 2
