Accidental Ashes: or that time I found out I was a demon, and all my friends were vampires and werewolves (Xoe Meyers Young Adult Fantasy/Horror Series)

by Sara C. Roethle

  I continued to stare, waiting for something to happen.

  “What’s wrong?” Allison whispered.

  “I don’t know,” I answered. “I don’t know how to do it.”

  “Don’t you have to, you know, get angry?”

  I shrugged. “I guess so, but I don’t have much anger right now. I’m leaning more towards scared out of my wits.”

  “Think about something that makes you mad,” Allison urged.

  “I’m trying,” I hissed.

  “Try harder!” she shouted.

  I whipped my head around to glare at her.

  She put her hands up in surrender. “Sorry, just trying to make you mad.”

  I pouted, realizing that she almost had me when I ruined it.

  “Xoe?” Brian questioned, letting his fear trickle into his voice. “What are you trying to do?”

  “Nothing,” I snapped without looking back at him.

  “Can you believe Nick?” Allison interrupted. “He had us all fooled.”

  “Yeah, the weasel,” I responded grumpily.

  “He even gloated about it,” she went on. “Said he couldn’t believe how easily we let him in. That we were naïve and stupid to trust him like that.”

  I sighed loudly, depressed. “We were.”

  “So get mad about it,” Allison urged.

  “I can be mad about my own failure, but it’s not something I’m going to lose my temper over.”

  “What are you trying to do?” Brian shouted.

  I spun around to regard his scared, angry face. “Nothing!” I snapped again.

  “Oh, and he said one more thing,” Allison went on. “He told me that he could take you on with both hands tied behind his back.”

  “Stop it Allison!” Brian yelled. “What are you guys trying to do?”

  “SHUT . . UP!” I shouted.

  That was the spark I needed. I felt a thrill of electricity zing through my body, and suddenly the space heater exploded. It exploded . . . a little too much. A whoosh of roiling fire surrounded me, then in an instant was gone.

  I waited for the pain to hit, and felt . . . nothing. I looked down at my hands, sure that I had to be burned, but they were their normal smooth whiteness.

  “That hurt,” Allison said from behind me.

  Uh oh. I stood up, feeling numb, and rushed to the corner where my friends had taken shelter. I crouched in front of them to survey the damage.

  “I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed when I saw them.

  Allison’s eyes were wide with shock. Allison held her hands up to her face, but didn’t touch her skin. “Is it bad?”

  “No, um, not too bad,” I answered. “You just look kinda . . . pink”

  “I feel like I’m sunburned,” Brian added.

  I heard shouting from the outer room. “Um guys,” I prompted, “we gotta go.”

  Allison pushed against the wall to slowly get to her feet. I had to grab Lela’s hand and pull her up to get her moving. “What do we do?” Lela shouted, only now snapping back to reality. The shouting was getting closer.

  Thinking quickly, I answered, “We’ve got to make way for Allison or Brian to get away. They can tell the others where we are.”

  With that I turned and ran to the cell door. The heater hadn’t actually done much damage, but it had broken the lock and latch, and one of the bottom hinges. The corner of the door scraped harshly against the stone floor as I pulled it open. The metal felt warm to the touch, but didn’t burn, either because it had cooled, or because I was a demon. At the moment, I didn’t really care.

  I entered the larger stone room. It was almost as barren as our cell had been. A couch, mini-fridge, and another space heater were the only things in the empty space, plus another make-shift cell next to ours. Oh, and Claude. He had probably come to investigate the shouting and ended up too close to the blast. His large form was curled on the ground in agony, but it seemed like he’d live. I caught a single glimpse of his charred face, then extinguished my pang of guilt to turn my attention to the footsteps coming down a small stone staircase.

  The first of our abductors to enter the room was Nick. I felt a smile spread across my face. We had to make our way out, and if I had to go through a person to do that, I was very glad that it was Nick.

  He stood on the stairs, looking stunned to see all four of us out of our cell. He recovered quickly, and crouched into what looked like a professional fighting stance. I nervously tried to recall how I had blown up the space heater, but before I could do anything, Lela leapt on Nick with a shriek of anger. They tumbled sideways off the stairs to land in a writhing heap on the stone floor.

  Lela ended up on top. I watched in terrified amusement as she cocked back one dainty fist, then started pummeling Nick in a blur of motion. Shakespeare was right; hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

  Deciding that Lela could handle Nick, I grabbed Allison and shoved her up the stairs ahead of me, then pulled Brian up behind me. We emerged into a small room that was thankfully above ground. There was no door, just a large frame leading out into the moonless night. We were close to freedom.

  Just then, crew-cut man stepped into the doorway, blocking the entire opening with his broad shoulders. Lela came trotting up the stairs to stand slightly behind me.

  “It’s four to one,” I said to the crew-cut man. “I suggest you move unless you want to end up like your friends.”

  “I don’t think so,” said a voice from behind the crew-cut man. The big man stepped through the doorway to reveal a tiny blonde woman. A tiny blonde woman with a gun.

  She flipped her shoulder-length hair out of her face, then gestured with her gun that we should walk back down the stairs.

  “That one stays up here,” the big man said pointing to Allison.

  The blonde woman gave him an angry glance, then gestured once again that we should go downstairs.

  “They have Megan,” he argued.

  “You knew the risks when you took my money,” blondie answered sharply.

  “Kidnapping teenagers wasn’t part of the deal. I’m going to get Megan back, then we’re going to disappear.

  “A trade?” the blondie asked without looking at him.

  The man nodded and started to walk towards Allison.

  “They’ll never go for it,” blondie taunted. “They won’t trade just for one and let us keep the others.”

  “I have to try,” the big man said angrily.

  “Fine, try,” she snapped. “But not yet. Take her somewhere, then go and offer them the trade in the morning. Just make sure they don’t actually get her back until after tomorrow night. She turned back to Lela and me. “You two, back downstairs.”

  What else could we do? Lela might survive a couple gun shots, heck I might too. I didn’t really want to find out, but apparently Lela did. She leapt at the woman, completely ignoring the gun pointed right at her chest. The woman froze too long and didn’t get a chance to shoot. They both tumbled out the doorway.

  Allison took the opportunity to slip the big man’s grasp and run for the door as well. He turned to go after her and I leapt onto his back, trying to buy her a few minutes. He struggled to reach his meaty arms behind his back to grab me, then finally just slammed his back against the wall, crushing the air out of me. I slid off his back to land in a crouch, wincing at what was probably a broken rib.

  As I tried to re-learn how to breathe, Brian came up behind the big man. He hefted a broken two-by-four he had found somewhere and swung it like a baseball bat to hit the man across the back of the head. The man barely flinched, then turned on Brian and swatted him as if he was an annoying insect. Brian went sailing right out the doorway. This guy was so obviously not human.

  From my position on the ground, I lunged and grabbed the man’s ankle. I was plenty mad now, and my powers came flowing easily through me. The smell of burning flesh crept up to my nostrils just as the man screamed and fell away from me. I lost my grip on his ankle as he tucked his feet be
neath him to end up in a crouch.

  Brian limped back into view. “Run!” I screamed.

  I turned my attention back to crew-cut man. His eyes glazed with rage, he lunged for me again. I managed to evade his grip and made a dash for the door. I could see Lela and Allison running away in the distance, Brian leapt out the door to follow behind them. I couldn’t blame them for leaving me. If at least one of us could get away, they could get help for whoever couldn’t.

  As the cool night air enveloped me, I began to think that maybe all four of us would get away. Then in my peripheral vision I saw the blonde woman, limping and with blood running down her face. With a truly terrifying grin, she lifted the rock that was in her hand.

  For the second time that night, I was out like a light.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I stumbled into consciousness, fighting the familiar feeling of tranquilizers. I was in what seemed like a hotel room this time. I could feel the scratchy synthetic comforter under my hands. That was about all I had time to notice before the blonde woman’s scraped and bruised face appeared above mine.

  “I don’t think so,” she whispered. I felt another sting in my arm. The last thought I had before my eyelids fluttered shut was that I was going to die.

  When I finally came to the next time, it was night again. Now if only I knew which night it was. My first thought was that I was absolutely freezing. I hung by my arms against what felt like a large tree. My winter coat was missing and the rough bark scraped against my back as I struggled to free myself. I looked down as best I could to see that my feet were about two feet from the ground.

  The smell of smoke was thick in the air, scented with what smelled like cinnamon and anise. I crinkled my nose in distaste as the cloying scent stuck in my sinuses. I hate anise. As more of my conscious thought returned, I began to survey my surroundings. A large cracked piece of stone was only a few feet away from where I hung. I had to swallow past a lump in my throat when I realized what it was . . . a gravestone.

  Panicking, I began to struggle more against my restraints, which felt like they were made of metal. The graveyard was the last place I wanted to wake up. Well, the last place besides an actual grave. I mentally mapped out the Shelby graveyard, trying to place what area I was in. There were simply too many trees around though. The graveyard had trees, but they were spaced farther apart than the trees I was currently surrounded by.

  I had to be somewhere in the woods. There were old abandoned houses in the woods; it would only make sense that those who lived there would have had a graveyard. A really old graveyard. This was very, very bad.

  I worked against the bonds on my hands some more, but only succeeded in scraping and probably bloodying my wrists. My arms and shoulders ached from supporting the weight of my body. I took a deep breath to try and scream.

  I found I could scream, but was cut off quickly as someone suddenly appeared out of the darkness in front of me. It was the psychotic, gun-toting blonde. So, I was officially in the last place I wanted to be, staring down at the last person I wanted to see. Heck, I’d even take Nick over her.

  “Hello again,” she said cheerfully.

  I glared down at her, not saying anything. She had a black eye and deep scratches running down one side of her face.

  “Don’t wanna talk huh?” she asked. She smiled a truly wicked smile. “That’s okay,” she went on. “You don’t have to talk. All we need is your blood.”

  My blood? Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. I swung my foot out in an attempt to kick her in her smug little face, but she easily dodged to the side and out of reach. She laughed a horrible jingling little laugh that I would remember forever (however long forever might be) and walked away.

  I didn’t have to wait alone for long. Nick came swaggering into sight to stand several feet away from me. His air of superiority was slightly tainted by his battered face, courtesy of Lela. Unfortunately his werewolf blood had already healed the bruises to an ugly yellow.

  “Afraid to get too close?” I mocked.

  “Not afraid,” he countered. “Just smart.”

  “That’s debatable,” I mumbled.

  “What the hell are you anyway?” he asked. “I saw what you did to Claude and Michael.”

  Michael must have been crew-cut man’s name. “I’ll tell you what I am,” I offered, “if you tell me what the heck you plan to do with me.”

  “We plan to slit your throat and steal your powers,” he stated calmly.

  His words hit me like a ton of bricks. I mean, I knew they were planning to kill me, but hearing it put so coldly put ice in my veins. “Did you steal the others’ powers? The ones you abducted?” I asked weakly.

  “Yep,” he answered cheerfully. “I mean, I was already a werewolf, but Jaime promised to give me more powers if I helped her get hers. She promised me your powers, and now that I’ve seen what you can do, I’m very glad that she did.”

  Okay, I thought, keep him talking; buy more time. “Jaime?” I asked. “Is that the blonde? How does she do it? Steal the powers I mean.”

  He traced the toe of his shoe in the dirt absentmindedly. “I dunno,” he answered. “She lights the funny smelling fire and calls to . . . something. As far as I can tell, it’s like a spirit or something. You’ll see. It appears in the fire. Then she slits our captive’s throat. That would be you,” he pointed a despicable finger at me. “Then she puts your blood into a big bowl and pours it into the fire for the spirit thingy. As far as I can tell, the spirit takes the powers from the blood, and gives them to her or to whoever she tells it to.”

  I was getting dizzy. I had to swallow back the bile that was climbing up my throat to ask, “If all you need is blood, can’t you just take it from a non-lethal place. You can have my powers,” I pleaded. “I don’t want them.”

  “Nope,” he said with a smile. “The spirit says that the captive has to die before it can take their powers. It has to separate them from your soul. Now that’s enough explanation. Tell me what you are.”

  “I’m something you really don’t want to mess with,” I threatened.

  He laughed at that. “Sorry honey. Threats don’t really work when you’re tied to a tree.”

  I forced myself to smile back at him, but it was more just a baring of teeth. “Remember when we met?” I asked. “And I told you I’d kill you if you betrayed me?”

  He nodded. “Yep. It makes this situation all the more gratifying.”

  Ignoring his lack of fear I went on. “Well,” I began, “I may not be able to kill you myself, but you’ll still end up just as dead.”

  “And how’s that?” he asked, still smiling.

  “Because of what I am,” I answered. “I’m a demon, which in and of itself might not deter you, but demons run together, and you so don’t want demons after you.”

  “Get out of town,” he said jovially. “A demon? Yours’ have to be like, the coolest powers ever.”

  “You are such an idiot,” I mumbled, losing hope.

  “We’ll see about that,” he remarked, then disappeared back into the darkness.

  “We’ll see about that,” I mimicked to myself as he left. My wrists were throbbing from the restraints cutting into them. I had to get out of here. I closed my eyes and focused, trying to muster even a spark of fire to do . . . something. If I could blow up appliances, maybe I could melt the metal restraints. Or maybe set the tree branch I was hanging from on fire?

  I tried to focus on how mad I should be at the whole situation, at Nick’s casual talk about my death, but all I could feel was tired and scared.

  I heard chanting behind me, from where I assumed the fire was. I was running out of time. What the heck kind of spirit steals powers only to give them back to a mortal anyhow? Was death what it wanted? That didn’t really sound like a spirit. As far as I knew spirits didn’t have, nor did they care about, that kind of power. No, this particular deal sounded more like a demon. Not all demons are good ya know.

  There was a loud wh
oosh, and I shuddered with the sudden electric sensation. The demon was here.

  “Where is it?” I heard Nick’s voice ask.

  “I don’t know,” Jaime answered sharply. “Just shut up.”

  The demon wasn’t here? But I had felt it . . .

  “Maybe it ran away scared,” another voice chimed in.

  A surge of hope washed through me when I realized that it was my dad’s voice. The whoosh had come from him! I smiled deliriously and tried to struggle against my restraints again. Then the screaming started.

  Jaime screamed first, followed shortly by Nick. I watched in awe as glowing shadows decorated the forest in front of me from the flames. The screaming didn’t last long. A few moments later, my dad came walking around my tree to stand before me.

  “Hello Alexondra!” he said cheerfully. He stood at ease with his hands in the pockets of his slacks, no sign of stress on his face for having just killed two people.

  “Hi dad,” I answered, then cringed when I realized that I had called him dad. I’d been doing it in my head so much lately that it just came out.

  He pretended not to notice my slip up as he set about examining the tree I was hanging from. Apparently seeing no other way, he hoisted himself up into the tree by some of the lower branches. I waited anxiously as his feet disappeared into the foliage.

  “You ready?” He asked.

  “Just do it,” I grumbled.

  With a loud snap, the branch I was hanging from broke off and I fell to the ground in a heap. My dad thrust the branch off to the side as he let it drop so it wouldn’t land on me.

  I stayed on the ground where I had landed, not quite ready to move. My dad’s feet landed right beside my head, then he was hoisting me up with his hands beneath my shoulders. Now that I was down, he took a closer look at my cuffs. “Wait here,” He ordered, then disappeared around the tree.

  I stumbled after him, feeling like I somehow needed to see the carnage, if only to assure myself that it was really over. I expected a rather grisly scene, but it wasn’t all that bad. Was the fact that I could think of two charred corpses as ‘not all that bad’ a bad sign?