The Horror Of It All
I stepped into the ritual room for only a moment before the horror began.
There were more than a dozen witches lined up along the walls of the circular room. Five more stood at the points of a star carved into the stone floor. At the head of the star, near a large blue stone, stood a woman in a blue velvet robe with silver embroidery.
That was all I saw before I was forced into a tight rope of shadowy smoke. I couldn’t breath or control my own body. I heard my axe fall to the floor with a loud clang, my new form unable to hold onto the weapon.
I was pulled with great force toward the body of the teenage girl hovering above the blue light.
I didn’t understand it at first, but I couldn’t protest or cry out. No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t regain control. Panic seized me as my smoke snaked around her body, encircling her arms and chest and finally, being pulled straight into her open mouth.
Inside, there was only darkness.
A terrible weight compressed me into a thin ribbon of smoke as the girl inhaled me. The pain of being squeezed so thin and tight nearly knocked me unconscious, but I pushed to stay awake. To hold on.
Then, everything stopped.
Everything except the beating of a human heart.
I could hear the blood rushing through her body. I could feel the pull of her magic as she began to siphon my power to make her own stronger.
That’s when the horror of it all sank in.
These witches weren’t just using demons as slaves and stealing their power through the use of soul stones. They were consuming us. Eating us and forcing us to live inside their bodies without sight or will.
It was unthinkable.
It was evil beyond anything I’d ever known or dreamed.
I would not be held captive inside this girl.
Rage and madness overcame me. I felt the human body surrounding me begin to convulse and shake as I ripped my way through her heart, through her veins, and straight through her chest. Screams rang out through the small ritual room as the girl’s lifeless body fell to the floor with a thud.
Two witches rushed forward toward the body and I sent tendrils of smoke toward them, wrapping my power around their throats and squeezing life from them until blood poured from their eyes and mouths.
I knew nothing in those moments but hatred. It tore through my soul the way I’d torn through that poor girl’s helpless body. I wanted nothing but destruction and vengeance. I wanted blood.
Every witch who tried to cast a spell my way or flea from the room was brought down by my wrath.
Six witches died, their blood running through the grooves in the five-pointed star, pooling near the blue light of the still-open portal.
And when I turned to face the next witch, the necklace she wore caught the light and I stopped.
Even in my madness, I recognized that necklace. It was a blue pendant on a delicate silver chain and the last time I saw it, it was clutched tight in my brother’s hands and then thrown into a cup of his own blood.
I looked up at the witch. She was not the same girl with braids I had seen on the floor of this room on the day Aerden was taken, but I knew she was the prima. I knew that my brother was enslaved inside her heart, powering her magic.
I pointed my fingers toward the ground, reaching deep inside the earth where I could feel water flowing. I summoned it up through the roots and dirt and through the stone floor of the portal room. I pushed it forward toward the prima and it froze, a river of ice along the floor between us.
I intended to encase her in ice, but the moment the ice touched her foot, a terrible fire broke out along the floor, melting every inch of ice I’d created in the room.
Confused, I cast again, this time pulling daggers of ice from the water and hurling them toward her at impossible speeds. I would kill her if that’s what it took.
Only, the ice daggers never reached her.
Instead, a dark shadow formed in front of me. A recreation of the vision I’d had of him. This was the moment I’d been waiting for—dreaming of—for months. And it had turned out to be nothing but a nightmare.
There, in front of me, stood my brother. Half smoke. Half demon.
Protecting the witch who stood behind him.
Nothing Left Of Me To Save
Aerden’s eyes met mine.
Tortured.
Broken.
Helpless to do anything but protect the prima from harm. He raised his hands against my ice daggers, stopping them from hitting their mark. His fire destroyed my ice.
And I knew that if I lashed out against her again, he would kill me.
Not out of choice.
But out of duty.
He belonged to her now and there was nothing I could do about it.
I stood, stunned. Unable to move or cast or cry. The worst of my nightmares had not even touched the horror of this truth.
In that moment, I wanted to die. I couldn’t fight anymore.
On the other side of the portal, Lea screamed my name. I turned my head to see her standing there, bathed in blue light, her hand reaching out toward me. Her eyes panicked.
Behind her, I saw Andros and Ourelia raise their swords against the hunter, Yanora.
I was out of time.
This was the moment I knew would come. The moment where I would have to choose. Stay or go.
I looked into Lea’s eyes.
I have to stay. I’m sorry.
“No,” she screamed. Her voice was pure desperation. The sound pulled Aerden’s attention and he looked to her with such sadness, it broke me in two. She stared at him, then back at me. “No, Denaer. Dammit, come with me. He’s gone. You have to let him go, please.”
She begged me, tears streaming down her face. I knew I should move quickly, but I couldn’t. I was broken from the inside out. There was nothing left of me to save.
I shook my head, then fell to my knees as the witches in the room formed a circle of joined hands. They began to chant and I immediately felt my power start to drain from my body.
Behind her, Andros shouted for Lea to move. He raised his sword against the circle of roses.
Lea clutched her hand to her broken heart, her eyes locked on my face. Andros pulled her back just as the last of the light disappeared and the portal closed.
Born Of Love
The Human World – Present Day
I knelt on the ground near the ruined ritual room, the memory stone clutched tight in my hand.
I had many reasons to hate the Order of Shadows. They had broken my spirit and my heart too many times to count. But the wrath I brought down on those witches the day I came through the portal was every bit as horrible as anything the Order of Shadows has done.
I have hated myself for the darkness that consumed me in those moments.
I lost control. I killed an innocent girl who, before that night, had no idea what it even meant to be initiated into the Order.
But I had paid for my sins. With Harper’s help, I had finally put things right here in Peachville. And with her by my side, I wanted to continue this fight against the Order so that every portal could be closed and every human and demon set free.
Would she still love me after she saw the memories I had poured into the stone?
Would she understand why I did what I did? I knew that sharing this with her would either bring us closer together or tear us completely apart.
I could only pray she would forgive me for all the mistakes I had made in my life. I hoped her love was strong enough.
I stood and placed the memory stone in my pocket for the last time tonight. Then, I pulled out the locket Lea had returned to me. My heart stone. It was empty now that she had given it back.
I had never gotten the chance to use this heart stone. Aerden had taken that burden from me, and even though his intentions had been born of love, the lie had caused nothing but pain.
I hoped that someday he would have the courage to tell Lea the
truth. But my future happiness was no longer tied to the two of them. My heart belonged to another.
I carefully waved my palm over the delicate golden locket. It fluttered open to reveal an empty stone inside a velvet lining.
I smiled through my tears, then lifted the stone from the case and brought it to my heart.
Finding Light
I felt like I could hardly breathe as I walked through the back door of Brighton Manor.
I’d waited my whole life for a night like this, never really believing I would ever get the chance to commit my heart to someone out of choice rather than obligation.
I passed through the halls searching for her. And when I found her, the look in her eyes took my breath away.
She crossed the room and threw her arms around my neck. “Are you done?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said, my lips trembling slightly over the word. God, I was as nervous as a shadowling. “I have something I want to show you.”
I took her hand in mine and led her through the hall and out the back door.
“Where are you taking me?” Harper asked, giggling as we stepped into the darkness of the forest.
“Hold on,” I whispered. I held her tight around the waist, then shifted into smoke and flew us through the trees. I knew that Harper could shift on her own now too, but it was nice to hold her tight to me, especially after the loneliness of the past few hours.
I stopped just shy of Brighton Lake, taking her human body in my arms and pulling her close to me. “I know it’s been a strange night, and I’m sorry I’ve been so distant,” I said, my mouth close to her ear. “But there was something important I needed to do. Something I needed for you to see.”
She pulled away so that she could look into my eyes. “What is it?”
I took a deep breath. This was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I couldn’t imagine an eternity without her. In my heart, I knew she wouldn’t turn her back on me. But at the same time, showing someone your deepest, darkest moments was never easy. It’s so rare that you love someone enough to really bare your soul to them like that.
Or maybe it was trust that was rare.
“It comes in two parts,” I said. I took the quartz stone from my pocket. “This is called a memory stone. It allows you to see and feel any memory that has been placed inside of it. I have spent most of my night in the past, remembering everything that happened from the time Aerden was first taken all the way until the day I came here to try to save him.”
I took Harper’s hand and opened her palm, then placed the stone inside.
“When you close your fist around the stone and close your eyes, you’ll be able to see everything I experienced during that time in my life,” I said. “There are so many things you don’t know about me. Things that happened to me. Things I have done. And even the things you do know, like what I did when I came through the portal, you might not truly understand. I know I have kept so many secrets from you in the past, but I don’t want there to be any more secrets. I want you to understand everything about me, even the horrible things I have done in my life.”
She stared at the stone in her hand, then looked up, her eyes meeting mine. “Jackson, I love you no matter what you’ve done,” she said. “I love for you everything that you are, even the darkest parts of you that you haven’t wanted anyone to see.”
I ran the back of my fingers across the softness of her cheek. “I don’t deserve you,” I said in a whisper.
“I wish you could see yourself the way I do,” she said. “There is no one in this world or the next who deserves love and happiness more than you. And no matter what I see inside these memories, there’s nothing that will ever take away from the love I feel for you. I hope you know that.”
“We’re going to face some tough times ahead,” I said, thinking of what I knew we would soon have to face. “The peace we’ve known the last few months isn’t going to last. I needed to show you these memories in order to let go of the past. It’s the only way we’re going to move forward.”
Harper nodded, then sat down on a fallen log. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, then slowly closed her fist around the stone.
She sat still and quiet for a long time as the memories flowed through her. I knew it wasn’t exactly like watching a movie or seeing these things happen in real time. It was more of an absorbing of knowledge. Fifty years of my life were flowing through her mind in the span of only an hour. It would be a lot for her to take in.
I paced the path in front of her, waiting.
When she finally opened her eyes, tears cascaded down her cheeks.
I held my breath, not knowing what to expect.
She stood up slowly, walked toward me, then placed her palm against my face. She looked deep into my eyes and my heart raced.
“You are the most loving, most loyal, most beautiful being I have ever known,” she said. Her voice hitched on the words. “Everything you have ever done has been born of love. I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you.”
Hearing those words from her was like finding light in the darkest corners of my heart. I slid my hands around her waist and lifted her up, holding her tight against my body. She wrapped her arms around my neck and lifted her lips to mine.
I poured my love into that kiss. My gratefulness. All the ache of the past melted away in those moments as her lips touched mine. I breathed her in and held her close, never wanting to let her go.
But there was one more thing I needed to do tonight.
One more secret hope in my heart.
When we parted, she smiled, her eyes twinkling. “What’s the second part?”
“The second part is more fun,” I said, taking her hand. “Close your eyes.”
She closed her eyes and let me lead her the rest of the way down the path toward Brighton Lake. When we got to the small dock surrounded by white roses, I smiled and nervously told her to open her eyes.
She opened them slowly, then gasped, fresh tears springing to her eyes.
Along the dock and floating across the entire lake were more than a thousand white candles.
“You did all this for me?” she asked.
“This is only the beginning of what I hope to someday do for you.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out two items. A small piece of paper and a golden locket.
I unfolded the worn paper. It was fifty years old and had been folded and unfolded a lot during that time. There wasn’t much to the drawing itself. I’d never really had a chance to finish it.
“I drew this just before I came through the portal to Peachville,” I said. “I had stuffed it in my pocket at the time, not really understanding its significance. In the days following the ritual, when I was broken and powerless, bound to human form and thrown in the attic at Shadowford, I spent a lot of time looking at this drawing, wondering how my future would ever lead me to something so beautiful.”
I handed her the drawing.
It was simple, but clear. A girl with long blond hair and brown eyes standing in a window looking down at a boy, seeing him for the first time. Neither of them understanding exactly how much they would mean to each other.
“The moment I looked up at that window and saw these eyes staring back at me, I knew that everything in my life had been leading me to you.”
I took her hand in mine, then slowly dipped to one knee before her.
“I know it’s human custom to give a woman a ring when you propose to her, but in the demon culture we share heart stones to reveal our true intentions. Our deepest feelings. From my memories, you know that I never got to use my heart stone with Lea. My engagement to her was never real, no matter what anyone else may have thought. I never chose her. And I never loved her the way I love you.”
Her lips parted slightly and her hand trembled in mine.
“Harper Madison Brighton, never in almost two hundred years of life did I ever dream I could find a love like this. You are the strongest, bravest, most amazing wo
man I have ever known.” Tears of love and joy streamed down my face as I looked up into the eyes of the woman I loved. “Every moment of pain and heartache. Every broken piece of my soul. It was all worth it because it was all leading me here to this moment with you. You have made me whole again. You have brought me happiness when I thought there was no hope. If you’ll have me, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
She took the golden locket in her shaking hands, then fell to her knees on the ground in front of me.
“I have no life without you,” she said.
She leaned into me, her body warm and quivering against mine. I kissed her there among her mother’s beloved white roses. The place where she and her sister had spread their father’s ashes.
The place where we’d had our first date.
Where our two worlds opened up to each other. Not from the evil magic of a corrupted witch’s greed for power, but from the love between a demon king and a human girl.
This was the way our two worlds deserved to be joined. This was the way it was in the beginning and the way it was always meant to be. We would make it right again, even if it took a hundred lifetimes.
“Are you going to open it?” I asked her between kisses, motioning to the locket that still held the heart stone.
“Yes,” she said, smiling through her tears.
She set the locket against her palm, then waved her hand across the top of it.
I pulled her close as the locket opened, revealing a light so bright and a love so strong, a thousand candles could never compare.
A light we would both cling to in the dark days to come.
COMING THIS SPRING
EMERALD DARKNESS
A brand new Demons series begins this Spring as Harper, Jackson, Lea and Aerden face even stronger enemies inside the Order of Shadows.
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A Demon's Wrath: Part II (Peachville High Demons) Page 11
