“Ah, I see he has betrayed you. It is time to even the score, yes? Time to go on the hunt. Think how the taste of his flesh will fill you. And after the blood of your blood, who shall we pursue?”
Reed Taylor. My stupid boss. Sparkles.
“Yesssss,” he hissed, and burrowed down even deeper. “All of them, one by one. Or in a pack. And then we shall go for the softest one, yes? Tender. The pup. The child. Think how her skin will rend, how she will fill our jaws nicely, how her tiny body will feel as we shake, shake, shake her, and bury her bones in the soft dirt. The child. Let us go for the child.”
The child? Lydia. He wants to hurt my Lydia.
He licked my ear, but my scrambled thoughts were righting themselves.
“The child?” I asked. I laid still on the concrete, water running over my split lip and broken nose. The dog demon leaned closer.
“The little one. Little ones are so tender, and the sound they make as they die…”
He didn’t have time to finish. My elbow cracked up into his sensitive snout. He grunted and rocked back. I flipped onto my side, bending his arm painfully, and punched him in the snout again.
His fingers ripped from the Tracing, and I was disgusted to find I missed the feel of him, missed the rush of heated emotion that pulled from me. Disgust and horror gave me strength. I rolled on my back and kicked him, once, twice, in the head. My boot connected solidly in his ribs, and he sprawled backwards, howling. I clambered to my feet.
“You won’t touch her,” I spat out between kicks. “She is not for you. I may be flirting with darkness myself, and think horrible things, but I would never, never, never,” I accentuated each word with another kick, “hurt her!”
He curled into a ball, whimpering. I realized I should have felt sorry for him, but the anger humming in my veins felt too good. With each passing second, he was fading away into mist, and I wanted to hurt him for as long as I possibly could. Make him feel it. Break his legs and make him limp home, sorry he had met me. Sorry he knew my name.
Blood flowed from his snout, dark and red, and the thick heat of it burned in my throat. Could demons bleed? Is that even possible? I took a step back from him, breathed deep, and really looked.
One eye was swollen shut. He was breathing quickly, shallowly, his tongue lolling from his mouth. His skin was slick with rainwater and blood.
Blood. It reminded me why that vial of demon’s blood had been so important to Demon Patrol. Obviously he knew something I didn’t. I needed to talk to Reed Taylor, see if he had any answers.
I swallowed hard and wiped my mouth with my hand.
“You’ll never touch her,” I said uselessly.
He was fading away now, nearly translucent. I wanted to look away from his ravaged body, at the things I’d done to him, but I couldn’t make my eyes do what I asked them to. They ran over his bloodied muzzle and his trembling hands.
I never thought I would go this far, but maybe Seth knew. He was too delicate to handle the demons, but maybe he had seen a monster in me that I hadn’t known was there. I could see why he had made that trade, after all.
Anubis spat at me. “You can’t hide what you are. Your bloodlust is apparent. You only make things easier for us.”
“But I don’t normally—”
He laughed, the sound jarring and unnatural coming from a twisted animal’s maw. “You don’t know who you are anymore, Luna. But I do.”
He turned away from me, and faded out of view. I stood there in the rain, watching the water wash the thin stream of his blood from the pavement.
I had lost myself. Again.
I spun on my heel, striding as fast as the bumps and bruises would let me. This wasn’t going to end here. I had to do get some help. I had to save Mouth. I had to save Lydia. Perhaps by doing this, I’d save myself.
I burst into the house with my usual grace. Seth was sitting with his head in his hands.
“Luna!” He ran over, threw his arms around me. “I’m so sorry. I know I can’t take back anything I’ve done, but I—”
“Can it. You’re forgiven. Listen, I need some backup to keep me from turning into an animal. I’ll be back soon.”
He blinked. “It’s the middle of the night. Where are you going?”
I felt my face harden. It hurt. “To speak to Reed Taylor. Give me the keys to the Pinto. Now.”
Chapter Forty-Three
My thoughts were going wild as I drove to Reed Taylor’s house. Anubis had very nearly stolen my soul as well as breaking my face, and I was still cursing myself for that. I had misjudged him. I thought about Seth’s confession about the Tiptoe Shadow and my eyes narrowed. I had misjudged everything.
Well, if I was so great at misjudging, perhaps I had misjudged the endgame. I had always assumed I’d end up on top.
I pulled into his driveway and felt like pulling right out again. His house was perfect. His lawn, although overgrown more than I had ever seen it, was a thing of beauty. The flowerbed bloomed flowers and…wait, are those actually weeds? Real weeds dared to invade Reed Taylor’s yard? I remembered what he said to me once, about being fanatically tidy, and to call for help if I ever saw a weed. Suddenly every sense was alert. I slammed the car door and scanned the area. Something creepy and relatively harmless hovered around the backyard, yes, but that wasn’t alarming. But weeds? And the too-long grass? For such a cool, laid-back guy, Reed Taylor usually kept things surprisingly tidy.
Something was wrong.
I walked to the door as casually as I could, splashing through the puddles. I couldn’t forget I was still trying to present a normal front. Perhaps he’s just so torn up about the end of our relationship that he doesn’t really want to mow the lawn. Or maybe he’s dead, stabbed with a knife or lying with his head cracked open in the garage. What if he’s dying right this second, weakly calling for help, and I’m out here like an idiot?
“Reed Taylor,” I yelled, pounding on the door with my fist. “Open up right this minute or I’m coming through the window, do you hear me?” I waited a second, turned and noticed a pale face pressed against the window in the neighboring house. I forced myself to smile, my split lip cracking in the process. “Uh…please?”
A sound from inside the house. Was that a muffled shout? A groan?
“Seriously, Reed Taylor, I need to know you’re not dead, okay? If you don’t get to this door in the next thirty seconds, I’m coming in after you. And I’m not paying for damages.”
Maybe that didn’t sound super stable, but at least it sounded concerned. The panic in my voice frightened me so I cleared my throat.
“Be cool, be cool, be cool,” I whispered. I relaxed my shoulders and popped my neck. Waited.
Forget being cool. I raised my fist to pound again when a voice suddenly purred in my ear.
“Mmm, Luna is all alone.”
I jumped. I’d been so absorbed in the moment that I’d failed to notice something dark and unbearably thin had slithered close. Too close. I yanked myself away from its probing hands and positioned my back firmly to the door. Great. A snake with arms. Fantastic.
“Uninvited,” I snarled.
Snakey demon grinned, and I felt my stomach turn at the malice I saw. “Uninvited? I think not. I think,” it said, sliding its fingers over my cheek and into my hair, “that perhaps you aren’t as strong as you hope, yes? Oh, you didn’t think I could touch you, did you?” It smirked as my eyes widened. I felt behind me for the handle to the door and tried to turn it. Locked, of course. “You thought,” the fiend continued, “that you’d shout your little catchphrase and everything would go away, yes? Well, fragile one,” Snakey said, and a horrifying red light blazed from its eyes, “that isn’t how it works, is it? Not now. Not anymore.”
“Reed!” I shrieked. It was the first time I had ever just used his first name. “Reed! Open the door.” I pressed against it, trying to protect the Mark from the demon’s probing fingertips. It burned. It stung. My stomach twisted, and I turned my hea
d to vomit off the side of Reed Taylor’s porch.
“You had forgotten, didn’t you?” The demon sneered, and suddenly grabbed both sides of my face with its hands. Sharp nails dug into my skin. “You’d forgotten how strong we can be. You think that since you’ve seen one of the major demons—”
“Back off, demon.”
“—the rest of us are nothing, is that right? I’ll show you nothing, Luna Masterson. I’ll show you what it’s like to suffer.”
It grabbed me by the hair and slammed my head against the door. Twice. Three times. I scrabbled uselessly at it, trying to get some purchase. It slammed my head back again, turned it so pain exploded on my ear and cheekbone with the next assault. I screamed.
“I like the sound of that,” the demon said, and the side of my face hit the heavy metal door again. My body sagged, and the demon turned me around, yanking one arm up behind me as it crashed my face against the door. I shrieked as I felt my nose crunch and my lip split. I tried to kick at it with my feet, but I was having a difficult time staying upright.
When the demon spoke, I felt its breath on my good ear. It was cold, and the desolate sound of it brought more tears to my eyes than the broken nose did.
“Where are your friends now?” it asked. A sob caught in my throat, but I wasn’t going to give it more than that. “Where is your demon protector? Where is your Reed Taylor? You chased everyone away and where has that gotten you?”
I ran my tongue over my newly chipped teeth. My vanity and humiliation stoked my anger, and it felt good. I spit out the blood that was running from my nose.
“One day, demon, I’m going to find out exactly how to vanquish you. And I’m going to enjoy it.”
The demon hissed. “Say hello to your father,” it said and plunged its fingers into the eager, waiting wounds of the Mark. Darkness flooded my soul. I threw my head back and screamed.
“Enough!”
Reed Taylor stood in the doorway, shining with rage. His green eyes were frightening.
The demon spat and grudgingly withdrew. “We’ll finish this later, shall we?”
I sank down on the porch. The demon was right. One way or another we’d finish this. I didn’t have the strength to do anything else.
Chapter Forty-Four
“Oh, Luna,” Reed Taylor said, and squatted down beside me. I was too dazed to move. I noticed the blood running from my face and soaking into the porous stone steps. Nice color, good body. I wasn’t as iron deficient as I had told the counselor.
“Sorry,” I tried to say, but the word came out funny.
Reed Taylor cupped my face gently, turning it tenderly this way and that. I closed my eyes.
“I haven’t seen you attacked on the street like this before,” he said finally. I missed his hands when he pulled them away.
“They usually don’t…” I stopped talking, tried to touch my mouth. The mere thought of my own searching fingers made me cringe, and I blinked tears out of my eyes.
Reed Taylor stood up. “You need to go to the hospital. Is Seth home? I’ll give him a call, tell him to pick you up.”
“Can’t…you take me?”
My words were slurred. I suddenly felt very tired, and cold. I shivered and Reed Taylor looked away.
“I can’t,” he said. “And I can’t have an ambulance come here.” He yanked a phone from his pocket, punched in a few numbers.
“Seth, hey. It’s Reed. Listen, your sister is here and…”
I didn’t want to listen to the rest of the conversation. My face hurt. My head hurt. My body was one big ache and pain, but more than that, my heart was being squeezed until I thought it would simply give up and stop beating. Reed Taylor didn’t want me here at all. I was lying in a bloody pool outside his house, and he was focused on getting me out of his way. Had I hurt him that badly?
“Hey. He’s catching a ride with a buddy. He’s on his way.”
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to jar anything by nodding. I didn’t want to open my mouth because I’d say the wrong thing. Like why are you acting like this? And did you stop loving me so quickly? And obviously I need your help. I can’t do it without you.
Silence.
I opened my mouth, worked my jaw. “This sucks,” I said.
“Completely. Did you tick that demon off in an earlier life, or what?”
I struggled to sit up and he took my hands.
“Don’t,” he said. “I don’t think you should move. Your face looks like hamburger.”
“No, this awkwardness sucks. Forget the demons for a second. I’m more worried about you.”
He laughed, and it was good to hear it. “Me? You’re the one who’s heading to the ER.”
“I came to apologize. I need you, Reed Taylor.”
He sighed, got to his feet. Disappeared into the house and came back with a wet washcloth. I shied away.
“I’m not coming anywhere near your nose, babe. But I’m gonna mop you up a bit so your brother doesn’t have a heart attack as soon as he sees you. You’re terrifying. Now listen to me,” he said, dabbing at the blood that had run down my chin and neck. “I get what you were saying, Luna. About me holding you back. No, I really do,” he said, when I tried to interrupt. “You can see demons and I can’t. It’s a major setback. At that house, when you were freaking out? I couldn’t sense a thing. You were going bonkers, screaming about Lydia’s body in the closet, and there I am, standing there like stooge realizing that you’re either crazy or genuinely lost in world I can’t touch. It’s true. It does suck.”
“Reed Taylor,” I began, but a strange car screamed into the driveway.
Reed Taylor grinned a lopsided smile that I hadn’t seen before. It looked brave and sad and it scared me.
“That, babe, is your brother.”
Seth leapt out and ran to us. He saw me and stared in horror.
“You look terrible!”
“Thanks, big brother,” I said sarcastically and tried to stand up. Both Seth and Reed Taylor reached down to help me up. Standing up made everything throb anew, and Seth supported my weight.
“Her nose is broken, but she’s too stubborn to be really hurt,” Reed Taylor told him.
“You’re not coming?” Seth asked. His eyes narrowed as he fully took in Reed Taylor for the first time. His mouth tightened and he nodded. “Of course you aren’t. Well, thanks for the call.”
“Goodbye, Seth. I really hope things work out for you. Both of you.”
The two men shook hands, and the finality of it made my heart sink. This was it.
Reed Taylor turned to me. “I appreciate that you came by. I know it couldn’t have been easy. But don’t stop in again. I won’t be here.” He paused, and then leaned forward and kissed an unbloodied spot on my hair. “Goodbye, Luna. I’m sorry. You won’t see me again.”
He closed the door, and I heard the lock click.
Seth’s eyes cut to me. “Are you crying because you hurt or because you miss him?”
“Shut up,” I said, and he hugged me for the first time I can remember. Then he stuffed me into the front of his Pinto of Death.
“This hospital better start issuing us Fast Passes, we’re going there so much. So what are you going to say happened? If the words ‘demonic attack’ come out of your mouth, our bid for stability goes out the window. The same with ‘bar fight’ and ‘mugged by an army of ninjas.’ How are we going to explain this?”
I leaned my head against the cool car window. “I’ll think of something. Give me a second, will ya?”
“Sure.”
We drove in silence. Suddenly I said, “That sounded pretty final back there. Is he going to do something stupid?”
Seth didn’t take his eyes off the road. “I’d say he’s already doing something pretty stupid.”
I peered at him through my swollen, blackening eyes. “What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. Forget it. We’ll talk about it later. What’s your hospital story?”
/> “Maybe I turfed it on my bike. Bailed and smacked into a tree, or something. Does this look like I smacked into a tree?” I tried to smile.
“Looks like you smacked into a thousand trees and they all smacked back. Okay, we’re here. Ready?”
“Ready.”
I tried to push Reed Taylor to the back of my mind. I’d have to get used to doing that, I guess. But I couldn’t help remembering the dangerous look in his eyes when he told me goodbye. When the doctor reset my nose, the tears in my eyes had very little to do with the pain.
Chapter Forty-Five
The sun was starting to rise by the time we bailed out of the hospital.
“I am so tired,” Seth told me. He yawned as he got into the car. “I can’t wait to go to bed.”
“Spill,” I demanded. “You said I wasn’t astute about Reed Taylor. What was I missing?”
“Cripes, Luna. You sure you want to do this? You’ll be wound up and we’ll never get any sleep.”
I grabbed the lapels of his shirt and yanked him halfway out of his seat. “Seth Masterson, if you don’t tell me right this minute, I swear I’ll…”
“He was high, okay? He was high. Or coming down from it. That’s why he couldn’t bring you in or risk the ambulance. They would have known.”
My fingers went slack. Seth pulled himself gently out of my grip. “Listen, maybe now isn’t the time to talk about it. We already have a lot on our plates, and there’s nothing you can—”
“He’s using again.”
“Looks like it.”
“After being clean for so long.”
“It happens. I’m sorry, Luna.”
“Because I broke up with him?”
He shrugged. “Maybe, but that’s pretty extreme behavior for a breakup, you know.”
“Something isn’t right, Seth.”
“Obviously.”
“No, it’s…” Something was tugging at my brain. Something so close I could nearly taste it.
Seth eyed me. “I don’t like that look. It usually means trouble.”
“I’m figuring something out.”
Nameless: The Darkness Comes Page 19
