I swung at him again. Anger is so much safer than pain. “You sent me into a frickin’ nightmare. I saw such horrible things, and for what? Nothing. I’m still no closer to finding Lydia. I hoped she’d be there, but she wasn’t even in that awful house.”
Mouth suddenly looked sick. I didn’t think that was even possible for a demon, but he seemed to surprise me every day.
“She wasn’t in there?” I looked away from him and spit on the ground. Mouth studied me, and then he turned his attention to Reed Taylor.
“Where’s his entourage, anyway?”
I nudged Reed Taylor too hard with my shoulder. “Mouth wants to know where Demon Patrol is.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s been missing for a while, now.”
“Ever been gone this long before?” the demon asked. I repeated the question.
“Nope. And I have to say I’m worried. It feels like something big is going down, and I don’t have a clue as to any of it.”
I glared at Mouth. “You know anything about this?”
He looked worried. “No. Maybe. Nope.”
“You’re lying.”
His eyes cut to me. His voice cut, too. “Why, because I’m a demon, and demons always lie?”
I met his fiery gaze with fire of my own. “No, because I know you and I know you’re lying. Stop being so defensive.”
“Stop telling me how to be!”
“Stop arguing,” Reed Taylor said, and sighed. He rubbed his eyes. “It’s tough being with you two, you know. I only catch one side of the conversation, which is probably a good thing because you two go at it like cats and dogs. But knock it off for now, okay? I wasn’t even in there very long and the house got to me. Besides, I’m sure it gets a kick out of your fighting.”
The demon’s mouth went ugly for a second, and then he took a deep breath. Funny. I didn’t know demons needed to breathe.
“The idiot’s right,” he said grudgingly. “The house thrives on negativity.”
“So it’s probably eating this conversation up with a spoon,” I said.
He glared at Reed Taylor, who was studying my face like he was memorizing it. “That’s why I was so ticked off when Clueless here showed up. That house is a tinderbox and this guy’s a spark. I’m surprised the whole place didn’t go up.”
I knew it was a figure of speech, and he meant it didn’t go up in a vortex of evil, or an inferno of damned souls or some such thing, but I thought of the burning girl and the demon with my father’s face.
Reed Taylor took my arm. “You look sad. Are you still thinking about Lydia?”
Mouth was eyeing Reed Taylor’s hand on my arm, but at the mention of Lydia, his eyes flicked up to my face.
“Luna?” he asked. “What did you see?”
Starfish crawling in blood. Something writhing under the stone. The destruction of a thing that looked like my father. Little girls burning and being ripped apart by demonic wolves.
“Nothing,” I said fiercely and yanked my arm away from Reed Taylor’s grasp. He put his hand in his pocket. I whirled on the demon and stared him down. “I didn’t see a thing in there. Nothing that matters.”
Demons aren’t the only ones who lie, but I couldn’t make myself talk about it, at least not yet. I’d seen enough to last me the rest of my days, and yet it wasn’t enough. There was going to be more. I’d walked in there in order to find some information on my niece and maybe even bring her out, and I was standing here empty handed. What good had it done?
No good. Nothing had happened. I’d nearly been destroyed by a couple of dark things playing around, and I had nothing to show for it. No Lydia. No repentant Sparkles.
Mouth reached up with transparent fingers to wipe away the mascara that had run and pooled under my eyes during my torrential crying. I couldn’t even feel his touch. Happy and calm he was not.
“I tried to warn you, but there’s no way to prepare you for it. This place messes with your mind. You’ll see things that aren’t real. It vomits misery, and strives to create it. I am sorry, Luna.”
I was tired.
“I’ve got to get out of here,” I said, and pushed my way to my bike. I strapped on my helmet and roared off, leaving them standing silently side by side, watching me.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I didn’t think I had a destination in mind, but soon I found myself parking my bike near a rocky cove near the water. The sea always calmed me. Its homicidal anger made me feel like I was mellow in comparison.
I climbed down the rocks, careful not to slip and knock myself out. The way my day was going, that was a fairly likely scenario. Something reached out with a soft, black tentacle, and I kicked it with my boot.
“Uninvited,” I said. It withdrew.
Mom had also loved the sea. It’s one of the only things we had in common. She was soft and delicate with a quiet, gentle voice, not like me at all. She was everything I wished I had been.
She had died when Seth and I were still pretty young. Cancer. It didn’t creep up on her like you always hear about. It came hard and swift and took her almost before we realized it. So fast she didn’t have time to harden. She just wilted like a flower without enough water. Strangely beautiful and tragic at the same time.
Something pressed against the Mark. My shoulder blades drew in automatically.
“Uninvited,” I said again with more force. “How many times do I have to tell you?”
“You’re a prickly one, Luna. That’s for sure.”
I glanced up, watched Reed Taylor scrabble down to sit beside me. His hair caught the setting sun like flames. The sound of the water had masked his footsteps.
“I came out here to be alone,” I told him pointedly. “I need to…process.”
“I know you do, but you and I need to talk. You didn’t let me get a word in edgewise back at the house. You just came in with both barrels blazing.”
I should defend myself, but I was too tired. Too sad. I watched something swirl around in the water like ink. Like I said, lots of activity in the sea. It never stops.
“So what do you want to talk about?” I wasn’t going to make this easy. Then again, I never do. I felt my frown deepen.
“Cecilia. Sparkles. We need to talk about it.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Tough, Luna. We’re talking. I hate that you’re mad at me, but I hate it even more that you think I’d lie to you about Cecilia. I didn’t know she was married when we dated. She told me she was a single mom, that there was no guy in the picture. And I didn’t realize Cecilia was your Sparkles. She never called herself that, and you never called her by her real name.”
“She doesn’t deserve to be called by her real name.”
“This bitterness isn’t becoming.”
“Screw you.”
He reached out, put his arm around me. I tried to pull away, but then I leaned my head against his shoulder.
“I don’t think you’re a bad guy, Reed Taylor. In fact, I think you’re one of the good ones. But you and Sparkles just blew me away.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. I didn’t realize what the problem was until you flat out told me before you left. I felt sick when I figured out I was the guy you were always talking about, the guy you hated so much for moving in on Seth’s wife. You have to understand that I would never, never do something like that on purpose. I don’t know a lot about family, Luna, but I value it. I wish I had one. I wouldn’t go after somebody else’s.”
“So why did the two of you break up, anyway?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear anything about his days with Sparkles. Maybe I’m just a masochist. Maybe I deserve to be punished for being a rotten person. Maybe I want to prove that I can take the lickin’ and keep on tickin’.
“There were a few reasons.”
“Hit me.”
He tilted his head, listening to the sound of the waves. “I didn’t like that she wouldn’t let me come to the house. Of course I understand that now,
but it seemed strange to me. I didn’t like that she had a kid and I never even met her.”
I blinked. “You never saw Lydia?”
“Not once. And that was cool for a while, you know. I mean, you don’t want to go around introducing every guy you meet to your kid, and all that. It could get confusing for them. But to never meet her at all? Cecilia spent an awful lot of time away from home without her daughter, and that bothered me.”
This wasn’t as bad as I thought. I could get used to hearing Reed Taylor bag on Sparkles. “What else?”
He looked at me. “Look, we had our issues, but I don’t think Cecilia is as evil as you’d like her to be.”
I bristled. “Not evil? Did I describe the demon that has wrapped itself around her closer than even you did, my friend? I’d call that the epitome of evil. What, your angel never mentioned it?”
He pulled away. “Sorry, Luna, but I’m not gonna rise to the bait.”
“I’m not baiting you.” I was baiting him.
“Sure you are. That’s what you do. I can roll with it; it doesn’t bother me too much, but don’t deny it. Cecilia isn’t pure wickedness and you’re no white knight. You two are much more alike than you realize.”
My laughter startled a seagull perched nearby. It couldn’t get away fast enough.
“Alike? How are we possibly alike? Besides our fine taste in men, of course.”
His eyes were emeralds. “You both like to hurt. You’re also the loneliest women I have ever met.”
I pulled away. “I am not lonely.”
“Not only lonely, but you’re thorny. You keep everybody at a distance. You don’t even call me by my first name.”
The sun was starting to set. Maybe in another life it would have been romantic, but in reality it made my heart drop. The night would be stark. The activity would kick up. Reed Taylor wouldn’t be able to sense any of the demonic hijinks. The thought made me feel more alone than ever.
“So are we cool?” he asked me. It was said nonchalant, but I could feel the tension in the muscles of his arm. He cared. What I said mattered. That’s what made it so hard.
“No, Reed Taylor. We’re not cool. I…I’m not sure if I can do this anymore.”
He pulled back, looked at me. I turned my eyes away from his gorgeous greens.
“Because of Cecilia?” His voice was tight. “Because I was a user? Because I’m not good enough for you all of a sudden?”
Something ghosted past him, slid its misty form toward my face.
“Uninvited!” I screamed, and Reed Taylor and the thing both jumped.
“You didn’t even sense that,” I said dully. It was a statement, not a question, and I didn’t like the weariness I heard in my voice.
“No. I didn’t.”
I took a deep breath, leaned back and looked at the stars that were appearing over the water. “That’s the problem. We literally live in two different worlds. I’m dealing with this junk all of the time, and it’s not even there for you. Do you know how frustrating that is?”
He snorted. “You think I don’t know? There are two angels that have been following you ever since you parked your bike. In fact, that’s how I found you. Sitting there and there.” He pointed. “And you act like I’m the one who doesn’t have a clue?”
Ouch. He had a point. “Is Demon Patrol one of them?”
He shook his head. “Haven’t seen him around in quite a while. I was worried, to tell the truth, but now I wonder if it isn’t time for him to go. Maybe he never planned to stick around forever, I don’t know. I miss him, but I’m getting used to the idea. I thought, maybe it won’t be so bad as long as I have Luna.” He turned his blazing eyes on me and I couldn’t get out from under them. “But I don’t have you anymore, do I? You just don’t know how to say it.”
I didn’t realize a tear had rolled down my cheek until the sea breeze chilled it. I wiped it away with the sleeve of my leather jacket. “I love you, Reed Taylor, and I know you realize how hard that is for me to say. But it isn’t going to work. You see angels. I bet they’re beautiful. But I see devils. They can hurt you and torment you, and you wouldn’t have the slightest clue about what’s going on. I mean, Sparkles. She’s the worst of the worst, and you were in love with her. At your house, if you could have seen her…” I took a deep breath. “I have a lot to do right now. Save Lydia. Defeat Sparkles’ demon. Protect my brother. And you’re only getting in my way.”
I wish I could say he looked stricken. He didn’t. He went completely dead. “I’m in your way.”
“Totally. I can’t worry about myself and you, too. I don’t have the energy.”
“So you’re breaking up with me because I can’t see demons like you.”
I frowned. “It sounds so stupid when you say it. It’s totally reasonable in my head. It seems noble and responsible.”
He stood up, stuffed his hands in his pockets. “It’s stupid any way you look at it. But whatever, Luna. I’m done chasing after you. I can only take so much.”
He turned and climbed up the rocky slope. I listened to the engine of his bike start and speed away. I felt the chill on my cheeks again, dashed the tears away.
The dark mist drifted my way again, drawn to the scent of the Tracing.
“Uninvited,” I said firmly, and the harshness of my voice sounded horrifyingly cruel to me. I wondered if Reed Taylor was right, and there really were angels watching after me. If they weren’t frightened away by the ugliness of my words, that is. “Uninvited” was getting far too easy to say, even to the ones I love most.
I rested my forehead on my knees and spent the rest of the evening trying not to cry.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“So?” Seth said to me. He looked better than he had the last time I’d seen him. They must have slipped some perky meds into his breakfast. Now if only they’d give him some pants, things would be almost perfect.
“So I had a showdown with Sparkles’ demon, but she wasn’t there. And Lydia wasn’t there, either.”
His face fell. “You didn’t see Lydia at all?”
I chose my words carefully. “Well, I thought I saw Lydia, but it turned out to be a demon instead. Wearing, you know, Lydia’s form.”
Seth’s face went red. I wanted to smile because it was something that used to happen to my father, and Seth hated that it was passed on to him, but I wisely abstained. This girl has some brains, I tell you.
“Tell me what happened.”
“Trust me, big bro, you don’t want to know.”
“Tell me.”
His voice sounded like rusty metal, sharp and dangerous. I told him with as little detail as I could. It still made my voice shake and my hands clench, however. I watched Seth turn red and white in quick succession.
“You saw her die.”
“But it wasn’t really her.”
He spit out a word then that I had never heard him use.
“Did you call an ambulance? The police? Where is she?” He started scrambling out of the bed. His IV caught and he snarled, pulled it out.
“What are you doing? I told you it wasn’t really Lydia, just a demon who shape shifted to look like her. There’s no need…” Then it hit me. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
“Where are my clothes?” Seth yanked the stickers off of his chest. The machine next to the bed went crazy. “They have to have my stuff here somewhere.” He started to rifle through cupboards.
“After all of this, you still don’t believe me about the demons. You think I’m lying.”
Seth turned to me, exasperated. “I don’t think you’re lying, Luna. I think you’re unstable. My daughter is missing and you see her body lying on the floor of some house, and you just walk away? I don’t care,” he said, and I knew better to interrupt him, “that you think it wasn’t really Lydia. You saw her, and I need to make sure my little girl isn’t dead. Okay? Okay? Get it?”
I got it.
This wasn’t the time to have hurt feelings. I star
ted punching buttons on the monitor until the beeping stopped. “We don’t have time to find your clothes, Seth. Just hold yourself closed. Let’s go.”
He grabbed the back of his hospital gown and I hurried him toward the door. We hustled down the hall until we passed the nurse’s desk. I was hoping it would be unmanned, but no such luck. I put my arm around Seth like I was supporting him.
“Hi,” I said brightly, strolling by. I gave the nurse my cheeriest grin. “Just taking him for his daily walk. I’m so glad you guys suggested walking around the floor. It’s really helping his recovery.”
“It does that,” she said and smiled back. The phone rang and she turned to it.
“This way,” I whispered, and Seth and I darted down a back hall toward the stairwell.
“This is so very unhygienic,” he complained, grimacing at his bare feet as we thundered down the stairs. “Think of all the things that go on in the stairwell of a hospital.”
“Shut it,” I commanded. “I’m still furious at you right now.”
“You know you’ll forgive me later.”
“Not hardly.”
We burst out of the hospital. A security guard on a Segway eyed us suspiciously. Seth looked ready to push him down and speed away on his laughable machine if he tried to stop us.
As much as I cheered Seth’s newfound fierceness, now wasn’t the time.
“Excuse us,” I said. “Tom here needs a cigarette in the worst way. They said he couldn’t smoke inside the building, and I know we can’t hang around the doors. Could you kind of point us…”
“That way,” the security guard said. He nodded toward the parking lot.
“Thanks, man,” Seth said. The guard nodded and zipped away.
“’Thanks, man?’” I asked. “Is that how a guy jonesing for a smoke talks?”
He glared at me. I shrugged and led him to my bike. He caught the helmet I tossed and climbed on behind me.
I did a double take. “Aren’t you going to hold that gown closed? What, you’re going to flash the entire city with your blinding skin?”
“I need both hands to hold on. I know how you drive.”
Nameless: The Darkness Comes Page 15
