Bitter Demons

by Sarra Cannon

  I made my way through the crowd toward her and made it just in time from the looks of it. Drake had his arm draped around her shoulders - my shoulders - looking way to comfy.

  “Hey Harper,” I said, my voice much higher pitched than I intended.

  “Oh, hi,” she said. She sounded giggly and flirty. She leaned in slightly to Drake’s embrace.

  I quickly grabbed her hand. “Would you mind if I steal Harper for just a minute?” I said, pulling her away from his claws. “I have someone she really needs to meet.”

  “Bring her back to me,” he said. “We’ve got some time to make up for.”

  I wanted to stick my finger down my throat. Gross! After the way I’d treated him lately, did he really think I would fall back into his arms so easily? He was completely delusional. I pulled Caroline away, but she looked back at Drake with a dreamy wave.

  “He’s gorgeous,” she said. “You didn’t tell me there were so many cute boys at your school.”

  “Remember how I told you stay away from Drake Ashworth?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That was Drake Ashworth.”

  She opened her mouth in shock. “Why on earth would you want to stay away from him? He’s so cute.”

  “He’s also abusive and selfish and egotistical,” I said. “Please tell me you didn’t agree to go out with him or anything.”

  “I didn’t,” she said. “We were just making small talk, you know about the game and stuff, and he put his arm around me. I kind of liked it.”

  “Trust me, he’s not as nice as he seems.”

  “Yeah, I guess it doesn’t matter,” she said. “He thought I was you anyway.”

  “And by the way, your sister is a real you-know-what,” I said. “She’s not very nice to you, is she?”

  Caroline shrugged. “She’s okay, I guess. I mean, she’s bossy and she likes to treat me like I’m her servant sometimes, but for the most part, she’s a good person. I think she’ll make a good Prima someday. Me, I never wanted this life, to be honest with you.” She got a faraway look in her eye, like she was dreaming of another life. “Sometimes I wish I could just get away from it all, you know?”

  “Yes, I do,” I said. “I know exactly what you mean.”

  Caroline came out of her daydream and smiled sheepishly. “Meredith’s alright. She’s just got her own ideas about how things need to be, and there’s no use arguing with her about it. Why, did you do something to piss her off?”

  “I was talking to Jackson Hunt,” I said. I watched her face as I said the name, but she didn’t seem to recognize it. I pointed to him. “That guy over there.”

  She gasped and pulled away. “You know he’s a demon right?” she asked. “The Order named him Wrath for what he did all those years ago.”

  “So your sister told me,” I said. “But no one calls him that here. What did he do that was so bad?”

  “You seriously don’t know?” she asked. “I can’t believe you go to school with him and you don’t know.”

  Tell me already, I wanted to scream, but I kept my cool. Just as she opened her mouth to answer my question, Meredith appeared again, a sour look etched onto her face.

  “Caroline, may I speak with you for a moment, please?” Meredith had one hand on her hip, her lips pursed tight in disapproval. What had I done this time?

  “Sure, one sec,” I said. I leaned over to the real Caroline’s ear and whispered, “Go upstairs to the bedroom and wait for me. I’ll be up there in a minute and we can switch back to normal.”

  She nodded and turned away, leaving me with Meredith.

  “What’s up?”

  “You tell me,” she said. “You’ve been acting strange all night. First, you interrupt me when I’m busy talking to people, then I catch you talking to that demon. You’re not being yourself, and I want to know what’s wrong with you.”

  “Nothing’s wrong,” I said. “I’m fine.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re impossible tonight. I hope you get this little attitude out of your system, because I’m not going to put up with it for much longer.”

  I needed to get away from this chick. I’d had enough. As much as I felt sorry for Caroline for having to put up with a sister like this, I was ready to hand this life back over to her and get my own back.

  “I really have to go to the bathroom,” I said. “Are we done here?”

  Meredith crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “Yes, but I want you to come find me when you’re done. I’m not going to let you out of my sight for the rest of this party. There’s no telling what craziness you’re going to get yourself into.”

  I turned on my heel and bolted up the stairs to the second floor. The music was pumping down in the living room, and I had the most terrible feeling of deja vu. This house was different from Foster’s lake house, but the layout was eerily similar.

  Agnes is dead, I told myself. She can’t hurt anyone anymore.

  But there was something else that was bothering me. A chill in the air that caused goosebumps to break out all over my arms. Icy fear crawled through my veins. That’s when I heard her scream.

  I stood there frozen in place, unable to force my body to catch up with my brain. A strange shrieking sound, something not quite human, followed Caroline’s scream and the sound jolted me. I moved with lightning speed, throwing open the bedroom door only to find the room pitch black in darkness. My hand fumbled for the light switch.

  The room lit up in bright white, and I searched for Caroline. She wasn’t anywhere in the room, but the balcony door stood wide open. A cold breeze blew across my skin. Sitting on the edge of the balcony was a small black crow, its bright blue eyes staring intently at me.

  My heart stopped beating and time seemed to stand still. Then, the crow flew off into the night. I crossed the room in three long strides, reaching the balcony just in time to see the bird disappear into the woods.

  My shoe slipped in something slick, and I looked down. Bright red blood pooled on the wooden planks below my feet. Stuck in the gory mess was a single black feather. I leaned down and took the feather in my hand.

  Caroline was gone.

  Crows Can’t Scream

  I stood motionless, staring up at the bright midnight sky. Downstairs, I could hear the party-goers laughing and talking, the bass thumping. Another party gone wrong in this town from hell. I wanted to scream and pull out my hair.

  How could this have happened? What happened to Caroline? I couldn’t be completely sure it was her blood beneath my feet, could I? Maybe she was still downstairs talking to Drake or something. Maybe this blood was from some kind of animal. The crow, maybe?

  Crows can’t scream.

  The terror-filled scream I heard in the hallway still rang in my memory. The blood was Caroline’s, I was sure of it. But where did she go? I stepped to the very edge of the balcony and said a little prayer that I wouldn’t find her body crushed below. With dread in my heart, I leaned over the railing and peered down at the ground.

  No sign of Caroline.

  I let out a rickety breath of relief. At least she hadn’t jumped or been pushed. I slipped out of my bloody shoes so I wouldn’t track it all over the carpet. In the bedroom, I searched for any sign of a struggle. In my panic, I even checked under the bed. I knew I wouldn’t find her there, but she couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air.

  While I lay there on the floor, unsure what to do, I heard the door to the bedroom sail open and hit the wall. I closed my eyes and let the glamour fall away. It felt good to be in my own body again. I sat up and looked toward the door.

  Meredith stood in the doorway, a vulnerable and scared look in her eyes. “Where’s Caroline?” she asked.

  How did she know something was wrong? Was the scream so loud that everyone downstairs heard it too?

  “I don’t know.” I stood, then had to sit back down on the bed. My legs couldn’t be trusted to hold me.

  “Something’s happened,” Meredith said. “I can
feel it. She’s so scared, it’s making my heart beat faster.”

  I looked at her in surprise. “You can feel what she’s feeling?”

  “I can feel what everyone in the Prima line is feeling to some extent,” she said. “God, don’t you know anything about your own heritage? When a future is in danger, everyone in her family feels it, almost like it were happening to us too.”

  Meredith’s eyes scanned the room. I wanted to stand up and close the door to the balcony. I didn’t want her to see the blood. But it was too late. Her eyes widened and she ran to the balcony. “Oh god, what happened?”

  Like me, she looked over the edge of the balcony, then held her hand to her heart. She turned to me, her eyes filled with giant glassy tears.

  “What did you do to her?”

  “I didn’t do anything,” I said, standing. “I came up here to find her, but halfway down the hallway, I heard a scream and a struggle. I ran to see what was going on, but there was no one in here. The balcony door was open. I walked out to see if I could see her. That’s when I found the blood.”

  Meredith’s eyes went to my abandoned shoes. “Where could she have gone, though?”

  “I have no idea.” I held my arms close to my body and paced the floor. “I was looking for her under the bed, everywhere. I know that’s crazy, but this town is making me lose my mind.”

  Meredith flipped out her cell phone and dialed a number. “Mom? I felt it too. And there’s blood here at the lake house. I don’t know what happened.”

  I listened as Meredith explained everything I’d said about what happened. I don’t know why I didn’t tell her that Caroline and I had switched places with a glamour. Had Caroline changed back into herself while she was up in the room alone? Or did she still look like me?

  The thought hit me like a truck. If she looked like me, did that mean whoever hurt her really meant to hurt me? I stuffed the black feather in my pocket. If I told anyone about the glamour, the Order would put me in chains up on the third floor. I felt sure of it. Mrs. Ashworth’s threat was clear in my memory. If the Order believed I was acting in a way that put myself or them in danger, they would take the necessary steps to make sure I remained safe.

  I couldn’t afford to let that happen.

  But I couldn’t just sit back and let Caroline be killed. Or was she dead already?

  Meredith hung up the phone and turned to me. “Mom is on her way,” she said. “We need to make sure no one else gets up here. They’re going to want to cast a memory spell on this room, so please stay here if you can.”

  “Why do they need me for that?” I asked. My insides felt jumbled up and jittery. Would their memory spell show the truth about our switch? I wanted to confess the truth, but the words wouldn’t come out. I held it in like a dirty secret.

  “You’ve disturbed the energy already,” she said. “We both have. If we leave, it will just disturb the scene even more.”

  “Can you tell if she’s okay?” I asked. I didn’t want to come right out and ask if her sister was dead or not. I kept my eyes away from the blood stain on the balcony.

  “She’s alive if that’s what you mean,” Meredith snapped.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. If she was alive, I still had time to fix this. Maybe once whoever took her realized they had the wrong person, they would just let her go. Or be willing to make a trade. If it was me they wanted, they might let her go if I agreed to give myself up to them.

  Of course, the Order would never agree to such a thing. A second like Caroline was nowhere near as valuable to them as the sole remaining blood-line of an entire demon gate. I wasn’t going to put this in their hands.

  My heart raced in my chest. I hoped I was making the right decision. I’d already put Caroline in danger. If she died, I would never be able to forgive myself.

  There’s Only Fear

  Within ten minutes, the house was crawling with members of the Order of Shadows. Downstairs, the music was quiet. Sheriff Hollingsworth barked out instructions for everyone to sit down and wait to be questioned. I sat up in the cold bedroom, the open balcony door mocking me.

  Meredith sat in a corner on the other side of the room. Her head dropped into her hands and she barely moved while we waited for her mother to arrive. If she was crying, her tears were silent.

  When the door to the bedroom opened and her mother walked in, Meredith ran to her. She threw her arms around her mother’s neck and held on tight like a child afraid of the boogeyman. I stood and backed toward the wall, not wanting to interrupt their family moment. I lowered my eyes to give them whatever privacy I could.

  I had expected her mother to have an entourage, but no one else entered the room. I heard the door click closed.

  “Harper,” the woman said. “My name is Eloise Sullivan. I’m Meredith and Caroline’s mom. Meredith tells me you were the first one up here when Caroline was taken?”

  Eloise was not a tall woman, but her presence made her seem taller somehow. Her hair was the same caramel color of her two daughters. She was dressed in immaculate matching detail, like an older, more mature version of Meredith.

  “I was in the hallway and heard her scream,” I said. “I ran in to see what happened, but she was already gone.”

  “And the balcony?”

  “The door was open. I walked over to see if she…that’s when I found the blood,” I said. I dropped my eyes again, knowing how difficult this must be for a mother to hear.

  “Why were you upstairs?” Eloise asked. Her voice was all business.

  “I…” I shook my head, trying to think of how I was going to explain this without telling the whole truth. “I had to go to the bathroom and the one downstairs was being used.”

  I struggled with the lie. Did she pick up on it? I couldn’t tell. Her face didn’t show it if she did.

  “Caroline came up here to use the bathroom too,” Meredith said.

  Her mother asked a few more questions about how much time I spent with Caroline and whether she’d said anything unusual to me that night. I told her about how we’d talked at the beginning of the party, but had parted ways shortly after.

  “I want both of you to sit down on the bed,” she said. “Be very quiet and do not interrupt me.”

  Meredith and I sat on opposite sides of the bed. I sat as quietly as I could, but my heart was beating so hard, I was afraid they would hear it.

  Eloise walked to the balcony door and stood very still for a few seconds. Her eyes closed and she held both of her arms out to her side, palms up. A strong wind blew in through the open door. Her hair and skirt blew back, and I shivered. The energy in the room grew dense, electric.

  I imagined that if I lifted my fingertip and reached out toward the Prima, the air would ignite in flame or hot lightning.

  After a time, there was a noticeable sense of release, like breathing out. The wind stopped blowing and Eloise turned to the two of us on the bed. Her eyes were angry and less controlled than before.

  “The memories here have been blocked,” she said. “Someone very powerful has been here.”

  “Can’t you just unblock them?” Meredith said.

  “I did the best I could,” her mother said. “But all I can see is the silhouette of a girl walking onto the balcony. I can feel Caroline’s happiness. A sense of freedom or something. But I can’t quite tell what she’s happy about. Then, there’s only fear. And darkness.”

  Happiness. Caroline felt free because she was able to get away from herself for a little while. Away from the condescending tone in her sister’s voice and the pressure of being Caroline. Of course, I didn’t see how being me for a few hours really could have been much better, but something had made her happy tonight. I tried to take some comfort in that.

  “Sheriff Hollingsworth is sending everyone home after her men ask some very basic questions about Caroline,” Eloise said. “Are you sure there’s nothing else you can remember?”

  I swallowed. “There was a bird,” I said. “On the
balcony.”

  Her mother drew her eyebrows together, questioning. “What kind of bird?”

  “A crow,” I said. I didn’t mention the blue eyes. I already felt ridiculous even mentioning it, but if it would help them find Caroline, I had to tell.

  “What? You think a bird carried her away?” Meredith said. “Don’t be ridiculous. It probably just smelled the blood like a vulture or something. Can’t you remember anything that will actually help us?”

  “I suggest you head home, Harper. We have to assume that Caroline was kidnapped. Until we know for sure whether the person responsible is specifically targeting futures, I think you should lay low and be extremely careful.”

  Lay low? What did that mean, exactly?

  “You mean stay at Shadowford?” I asked.

  “I mean stay in your room with a guard posted at your door and a protection spell on your windows,” she said.

  “A guard?” I repeated, shaking my head.

  “You should take this very seriously, Harper,” Eloise said. “Being Prima comes with extreme responsibility. Your life is no longer your own. You should keep that in mind.”

  Again with the responsibility. Expectations. Pressure. I never asked for this life. It was thrust upon me after years of unhappiness and never being able to trust anyone. I’d never gotten seriously attached to anyone in my entire life, yet now everyone expected me to be willing to sacrifice everything for this town. How could I do that when they wouldn’t even tell me the truth about the final initiation ceremony? I couldn’t trust the Order. My life was still my own, whether the Order wanted it to be that way or not.

  “I’m sorry about Caroline,” I said. “If there’s anything I can do to help you find her, please let me know.”

  “We will,” Eloise said. “For now, you are dismissed.”

  I left the room with a heavy heart, but also with a new purpose. I had to find out who had taken Caroline and offer them a trade. And I had to do it without the Order knowing. There was only one person in this whole town I trusted, and that was Jackson Hunt. The only problem was that I couldn’t let him know I was planning to offer myself in trade. He would never agree to that. Even if he didn’t care about me the way I hoped, he wouldn’t let me put his brother’s life in danger.