Eighteen
The Human World – Present Day
I ran my hand along the jagged red scar that still marred the side of my body. It was the only wound I had that was deep enough to scar my body permanently. No matter which form I took, that scar always remained.
Remembering just how weak and helpless I had been back then was difficult. It helped some knowing that I had eventually seen the end of those tiger twins, but their deaths had not come at my hands. It had been Harper who had ended them.
She was stronger than all of us.
I had a feeling she had only just barely begun to realize the depth of her own power. Half-demon. Half-human. The daughter of a king and a prima. She was one of a kind, but because of that, the hope of both our worlds rested on her shoulders. It was a lot for a seventeen-year-old to handle.
I turned and smiled as Harper walked out the back door and made her way toward me in the garden.
No, not seventeen. She was eighteen.
Today was her eighteenth birthday. The day she should have become the prima here in the town of Peachville. It was a day I had dreaded since the moment her lips first touched mine.
I never dreamed we would be able to destroy the Peachville demon gate and free both her and my brother from the Order of Shadows. It was a miracle we were thankful for every single day. But especially this day.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked, laughing. “You look happier than you have all night.”
“I was just thinking how wonderful it is that there’s no binding ritual tonight,” I said, pulling her into my arms under the light of the moon. “How grateful I am that you will never be prima.”
She wrapped her arms around me and lay her head against my chest. “There are still so many gates,” she said. “So many girls and demons being forced into a life of slavery to the Order of Shadows. It’s hard to be truly happy when there’s still so much that needs to be done. There are still so many who need to be saved.”
I kissed the top of her head. “And we will save them all,” I said. “One battle at a time.”
I didn’t want to tell her that our next battle was just around the corner.
I wanted to let her enjoy this one night without worry. I had kept the drawings of my most recent vision secret from her, but I couldn’t hold it back forever.
That’s why I needed to give her this memory stone tonight. I wanted to face the future knowing there was nothing left unsaid between us. I wanted to be able to stand before her with no secrets and no doubts.
She pulled away and lifted up on her toes to place a soft kiss on my cheek. “I know you’re busy with some secret project, and I didn’t mean to interrupt you, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay out here all by yourself.”
I placed my hands on her cheeks. “I love you, Harper.”
Her eyes searched mine. “I love you, too,” she whispered.
I lowered my lips to hers, drawing courage from the feel of her body pressed against mine. I would need courage to face the memories that came next.
Never Have To Ask
The Shadow World – 75 Years Ago
The tiger’s wound had carried enough poison to bring me to the edge of death, but not enough to finish the job.
Lea had managed to help me back to the castle, but I had collapsed against the steps, unable to go any further. My body had been consumed by a terrible fever and my mind was lost to reality.
For days I lay trapped in a nightmare, visions of burning bodies and tortured demons pulling me deeper into madness.
When I finally regained consciousness several days later, I was weak and broken.
I had been so foolish to believe I could fight the Order of Shadows on my own. In my rage, I had imagined myself strong and capable, but the truth was that I had no training and no knowledge about how to fight against human witches. I didn’t know the first thing about their magic or their power.
Aerden had been one of the strongest, most capable fighters I’d ever known, yet I had watched as he was shackled and torn from this world, fear and pain contorting his features.
In one brief moment, a witch with the power to somehow transform herself into a terrible beast had struck me down. She could have killed me if she’d wanted.
When I first woke up, part of me had almost wished she had finished the job.
I would have rather died than face the extent of my own shame and weakness.
I drifted in and out of consciousness for several days. Often, Lea would be there by my side, reading to me or holding my hand. Sometimes I woke to see my mother’s worried face.
But when I opened my eyes and found the king standing beside my bed, I forced myself to sit up.
I struggled to focus on his face and saw right away that he was angry. I knew he had come here with a specific purpose. And it wasn’t a happy one.
“Denaer, I know you need your rest, but I am glad to see you awake,” he said. He pulled a chair over to my bedside and sat down so that his face was level with my own. “There is something very important I need to talk with you about, and I need to make sure that you hear every single word. Do you understand?”
“Yes, your majesty,” I said. My voice was scratchy and weak and I reached for a cup of water on the table. My hands were still so weak that even the simple act of picking up a glass was difficult and awkward. At the time, I had no grasp of how long I had been unconscious or just how close to death I had truly come.
“Lea has been very vague about the wound on your side and how you came to be so sick, but I know the poison that runs through your system,” he said. “I know that you are very lucky to be alive.”
I dared not say a word. If he knew this poison, then he also knew that I had discovered the truth about the Order of Shadows. Or at least some part of the truth.
“I understand that losing your brother was the cause of great sorrow in your life. I even understand your need to continue searching for answers when your parents repeatedly asked you to leave it alone,” he said. “What I don’t understand is why you insist on dragging my daughter, the future Queen of the North, into dangerous situations with no regard for her safety.”
I turned to stare at him, meeting his gaze. This was not about putting his daughter in danger and we both knew it.
“Lea makes her own choices,” I said.
“She would follow you to the edge of this world and beyond if you asked her and don’t pretend she wouldn’t,” he said. “Your searching has gone far enough. You’ve already come dangerously close to a truth I hoped you would never have to face. You cannot go any further down that path. It’s time for you to accept that your brother is gone and he’s never coming back. It’s time for you to embrace your future here with the princess and let go of the past.”
My hands trembled in anger and I balled them into tight fists. How dare he ask me to turn my back on my own brother. He should have been offering his help, his guards, his money and influence. He should have been apologizing for letting things go as far as they had.
“You’re right,” I said, sitting up a little straighter. My anger was giving me a renewed sense of strength.
He nodded. “I’m glad to hear you have finally come around to this under—”
“You’re right that we have discovered a terrible truth,” I said, interrupting him. “We know all about the Order of Shadows. We know that these human witches have portals all over the Northern Kingdom. They steal demons from their homes in the middle of the night and pull them through to their world for their own evil purpose. And we know that you’ve known about this since before my brother was taken, yet you did nothing to stop them.”
“You don’t know anything,” the king said, standing. “Don’t speak to me as if you have the right to judge my actions. I am King of the North and I will make the decisions I feel are best for my people.”
“Then tell me, King, how is it best for the people that these witches are allowed to continue taking demons from
their villages?” I asked. I swung my legs over the side of my bed.
“I don’t answer to you.” His voice swelled.
“You do answer to me,” I said. I set my feet against the floor and somehow found the strength to stand for the first time in days. “My brother is gone because of the decisions you have made and the lies you have told. You owe me an answer. You owe it to every demon who has lost someone they love.”
The king’s face twisted in anger.
“You have no idea what you are talking about. The Order of Shadows is not a normal enemy,” he said. “I cannot simply send out my army and destroy them.”
“How would you know unless you tried?” I asked. “Their portals are unguarded. I have seen one of their rituals with my own eyes. There was no one there to stand against them. Not a single guard or sentinel.”
The king lifted his chin and squared his shoulders. “The demons who live inside the gates of this city live in safety,” he said. “I do the best I can to send out patrols to watch over the villages in the outerlands, but it’s impossible to police them all. The Order is too big and too strong. If I sent my guards out there, they would all be dead in an instant. What use is that to anyone?”
“What use is a king who is too scared to fight back?” I asked, taking my first steps. “As long as the Order knows you are afraid of them, they will continue to take until there is nothing left.”
“We are immortal,” he said. “The humans are not. Their lives are short and meaningless compared to ours. Yes, what the Order of Shadows is doing is horrible. But they control very dark magic that is nearly impossible to defeat. It’s in the best interest of the kingdom to wait them out. They cannot live forever.”
I could hardly believe what I was hearing. This was his plan? To simply outlive the humans?
Andros was right. The king was blind. Ruled by fear and foolishness.
“And what about the demons who are being taken?” I asked. “You would sacrifice them so willingly?”
“Their sacrifice is minor compared to the lives that would be lost in a war against the humans.”
“Maybe, but at least our deaths would be honorable.” I walked toward him, fueled by my own anger and determination. “At least we would die standing up against a great evil rather than allowing that evil to rule us through fear. There is no honor in Aerden’s death, if he is in fact dead.”
The king snapped his head toward me. “He is dead to all of us,” he said. “It is best if you learn to accept that now.”
“I cannot accept it,” I said. “I won’t. I will not be ruled by fear.”
“You’d rather be ruled by rage?” the king asked. “You’re a fool and I won’t allow you to drag my daughter any further into your madness.”
“That isn’t for you to decide.” Lea stood in the doorway, tears reflected in her deep green eyes. “I love you, father, but my heart belongs to Denaer. And my life, my future, belongs to the demons of the Northern Kingdom.”
The king’s face crumbled and he shook his head. “What are you saying?” he asked. “That you would choose to betray me?”
Lea crossed the room and placed her hand in mine. “You betrayed me first. You have betrayed all of us.”
I looked down into the face of a girl I had known all my life, but never truly seen as the future queen until that moment. She had more strength than I had ever realized.
“It’s not too late to stand and fight,” I said. “I know the Order is strong, but every enemy has a weakness. All we have to do is find it.”
The king stared down at our joined hands, then turned toward the door. “If you choose to fight, I won’t stop you,” he said. “But know that the moment you step outside the gates of this city, I will no longer acknowledge you as my daughter. I won’t come after you when you are taken by the Order.”
He walked through the door of the room, not even turning around to look at his own daughter one last time.
Lea took in a sharp breath but did not let go of her grip on my hand.
We stood together in silence for a moment before she finally turned to me. “Are you strong enough to make it to the camp?” she asked.
I searched her face. “Is this really what you want?” I asked her. “Because if you are doing this for me, I want you to know that I would never ask such a sacrifice from you.”
The tears she had been able to hold back in front of her father escaped onto her cheeks. “You should know by now that you would never have to ask,” she said.
Her hand slipped from mine.
“Do you want to say goodbye to your parents?” she asked.
I shook my head. “If Aerden is dead to them, then they are dead to me, too.”
“Gather anything you want to take with you and then get some rest,” she said, wiping the tears from her face. “We’ll leave at dawn.”
The Love She Deserved
We arrived at camp of The Resistance three days later.
We’d taken our time getting there since I still hadn’t fully recovered from my injuries. Lea was also concerned that her father might have us followed, so she led us on a strange path, taking detours across swamps and into the forest, making it difficult for anyone to track us.
Andros and the others were very happy to see us and they welcomed us into their village and their lives with open arms.
As soon as we were settled, our real training began. Andros took charge of our battle training, sparring with us from early morning until mid-afternoon every day. It was obvious right from the start that we both had a lot to learn.
Everything I thought I knew about fighting was incredibly basic. Beginner stuff that was practically useless in a real battle. But Andros took me under his wing and taught me how to fight like a true warrior. Over time, I improved.
Lea, however, excelled. She was a natural fighter with an affinity for ranged weapons.
At times, I worried that she had followed me here out of loyalty. Or love.
But other times, especially during our training, I saw her anger come through. I recognized her pain.
She had looked up to her father as the perfect example of a ruler and king, but now the veil had been lifted from her eyes. She saw him for the coward he was. And I could see that the truth had changed her. Hardened her. I tried to get her to talk about it, but any time I mentioned her father, she clammed up and refused to speak.
“I’m not his daughter anymore,” she would say.
As part of our daily tasks, I took on the job of watering the crops while Lea helped with the cooking. Sometimes after dinner we would walk together, hand-in-hand, and talk about the day’s activities.
Sometimes we sat around the fire telling stories of our loved ones and remembering the happier days. Lea curled close to me on the colder nights and I began to like the feel of her warm body pressed against mine.
And I hated myself for it.
Every touch became a betrayal of the worst kind.
It should be Aerden here by her side, not me.
One night, when everyone else had gone to bed, Lea and I stayed up talking by the fire. She ran her fingers lazily across my arm as she began to talk about the future. Our future.
I had no problem talking about the past. Remembering was how I stayed close to Aerden.
But the future she was dreaming about was something I couldn’t see. She talked about what we would do after we won the war against the Order of Shadows. How someday we would become the leaders our people truly deserved.
“He cannot deny me the throne,” she said of her father. “The people will still accept us as their rightful King and Queen.”
She spoke of restoring peace to the land and building a safe home together.
And in time, her talk turned to children.
I stood then, my stomach tight. I walked away from the firelight, my back turned.
She came up behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist and pressing her face against my back.
“I know it’s diff
icult to imagine a future when we’re preparing for battle, but I need this,” she said softly. She sounded so vulnerable. “I need to know we still have this hope of a real life together that doesn’t involve humans or swords or dark magic. I need to know that the light of your love still shines for me.”
I stiffened, unable to return her affection. “And what about Aerden?”
“He’ll be right there by our side,” she said.
I placed my hand on top of hers, trying to imagine the life she saw so clearly for us. Was there any hope of it?
Even if we could somehow save my brother and bring him back here, I knew he wouldn’t be able to live in the city alongside us, watching our happy lives unfold in front of him. That was the whole reason he’d left in the first place.
No, if he ever came back, I swore right then and there that I would tell Lea the truth about the heart stone. I would do what I should have done right from the beginning. I would do whatever it took to make her see that the love she deserved had been right there in front of her all along and that she and Aerden belonged together.
I stepped out of her embrace.
“It’s late,” I said. “You should get some rest.”
Disappointment flooded her eyes. She dropped her hands to her side and looked toward the fire.
“Aren’t you coming to bed?” she asked.
I followed her gaze and stared into the flames. She wanted my love for her to burn like that fire, but it never would. It was cruel to draw her in and push her away like this, over and over.
It wasn’t fair to her. The future she hoped for did not exist. Not for me.
Eventually she turned away, disappearing into the hut we shared at the edge of the village. My heart ached for her, but it could be no other way.
As time wore on, Lea stopped talking about the future altogether.
Abandoned
For fifteen years we continued on like this.
Our skills in battle became stronger and more refined. Our numbers grew as others learned about our work to restore the villages that had been hit the hardest.
A Demon's Wrath: Part II (Peachville High Demons) Page 5
