I sighed and absentmindedly began scratching at the tender flesh beneath the fabric of my sleeve. “I’ve been achy all over for a few days now. My entire body just feels sore and cramped. I thought it was the beginning of the flu, but nothing else happened.”
A flicker of concern crossed his face and his smile became somewhat forced. “Are you going to show me the other mark as well?”
“What do you mean?”
“The one on your wrist,” he informed me flatly. “That one I healed the day Aidan found you. I knew that kind of magic would never disappear completely.”
I froze immediately and felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment at the knowledge that he already knew what I was hiding. Slowly, I rolled up the sleeve of my shirt and removed the wristband I was wearing to expose the irritated patch of skin, or more appropriately, lack thereof. On the inner side of my forearm was a large section of flesh that had sloughed away to reveal a pattern of black and reddish scales. They were hard as steel and could flex and retract in response to my muscle movement. I offered my arm to him and Caleb gulped nervously. He carefully began to examine the affected area. “Does it hurt?” he asked me softly.
“Only a little,” I confessed. “It itches mostly.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I didn't want to worry you,” I told him sheepishly. “Also … I also didn't want to give you a reason to have to kill me.”
“As if that could ever happen,” he responded softly, brushing his fingers next to my cheek. “You know that’s impossible, right? I would never ever hurt you.”
I cleared my throat and blushed, quickly rolling down my sleeve so that the scales were no longer visible. “I wish you wouldn’t look at me like that.”
“Why not?” he asked casually. “You’re a pretty girl, why wouldn’t I want to look at you?”
“You know why,” I responded firmly. “It’s isn’t fair to either one of us, so please just … don’t.”
For a minute, it looked as if he had just been slapped. I felt terrible, but we both knew it was the truth. “Do you want me to leave?”
“No! Please stay, I don't want to be alone. Dad’s still talking to Nate and Elyse, so I’m trapped up here until things cool down.”
One corner of his mouth lifted into a crooked grin and he said, “Then I’ll stay as long as you like.”
I hummed approvingly and rested my head against the wall on the outside of the house.
We sat in companionable silence for a while until a voice echoed to me from inside, “Wynn, are you in there?”
“Yeah,” I croaked.
Caleb disappeared with a gust of wind and said, “I'll see you again soon.”
When he was gone, I climbed back in through window as my bedroom door opened. Dad stepped inside and walked over to my desk to sit in the vacant seat. “You wanted to talk?” I asked.
“Actually, I wanted to apologize,” he answered me sincerely. “I never thought I would grow up to be like my old man, but I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree.”
“It’s okay, Dad.”
“No, no it's not,” he responded adamantly. “There's no excuse for violence. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am. The truth is … I'm embarrassed. You must have struck a nerve on something. When your mother went into the hospital … she abandoned me as well. I keep thinking by going through the motions and seeing her face every week I'll remember what I'm holding on to, but lately I just feel alone. That bond I used to feel is gone.”
“She been gone for a long time,” I told him soothingly. “You have to guard your heart and do whatever you have to do to survive. I am sorry about what I said earlier, not for feeling that way, but for saying it in front of you. I found out a lot of stuff about her recently and I’m not ready to forgive her.”
“What issues could you possibly have? Are you really that upset we didn’t tell you about Elyse?”
“No, I don’t really care about that,” I told him brusquely. “But … I am a little pissed off how Anna was forgotten. Didn’t you love her? Doesn’t she deserve to be remembered, just like Mom? Elyse has a right to know where she came from.”
“You’re right,” he conceded sadly. “But I wasn’t trying to forget her. Anna’s death … was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to face. Any time her name got mentioned in conversation I would have an anxiety attack. It was like I was re-living it all over again. I had to get medicated for a while, and then Michele and I eventually moved here, but I couldn’t talk about it — it was just too painful. I didn’t forget her, I’ll never forget her. She’s the mother of my child. And I can’t believe how much Elyse is like her, even her mannerisms or the way she smirks. I just couldn’t talk about it, because I had no way to cope. Your mother understood, and we raised all of you together. She loves Elyse just like the rest of you, and I hope that one day you’ll forgive us.”
I nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, but that doesn’t explain how you turned a blind eye to all the other stuff that has happened.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You and Mom have been married for over twenty years,” I told him. “There is no way, in all that time, that you didn’t have some clue as to what was going on with her. All the rumors that were going around about her … I thought they were just idle gossip, but you knew better, didn’t you? Those cuts on her wrist didn’t come from any accident. She was using her powers right in front of us and we just pretended not to notice. You can be pissed at me all you want, ground me into eternity, but I had the right to know. Going to find Nadia was the only way I was could learn the truth about her.”
His face was nearly white by the time I finished talking. I was starting to feel a little lightheaded and a cool sheen of sweat broke out across my forehead. Dad cleared his throat uncomfortably and rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. “Look, honey, there’s a lot of things about your mother that even I don’t know. Whether or not she had powers … I never had that discussion with her myself, it was a delicate subject so we just avoided it entirely. She’s an incredibly private person, so I thought it was just more small town mentality casting derision on your mother’s past because she came here as an outsider.”
“So you don’t think it’s real,” I clarified.
“Well no, of course I don’t,” he responded simply. “How's your cheek?”
I pointed to the frozen bag of peas on the floor to show my attempt at dulling the pain. “The swelling's going down.”
“Better keep some ice on it just in case,” he muttered. “I’ve got to go speak with Nate, he’s pretty upset and locked himself in his room again.”
“How’d Elyse take the news?” I asked with genuine concern. My body was feeling heavy and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep up this conversation. I started breathing through my mouth and rested some of my weight against my hands.
Dad’s eyes started to tear up and he choked back another sob. “She called me a liar and ran out the door in tears — probably going to spend the night at Kevin's. I was, um … going to dig up some old pictures and documents for her. Hopefully, that will give her some kind of closure.”
My heart buckled when I heard the tremor in his voice. “Oh, Dad…”
He nodded, standing up from the chair and walking back towards the door. “It's a long drive back to New Orleans, so I invited Nadia to stay in the guest room. Would you mind helping her get settled?”
“Yeah, sure.”
On his way out he turned around to say, “I really did think we were doing the right thing. You know that, don't you?”
I nodded slowly. “Yes, but that doesn't mean we still don't feel betrayed.”
“I know. Goodnight, hon.”
“Goodnight.”
He disappeared into the hallway and I let out a tired sigh, grabbed the melted bag of peas sitting at my feet, and went to return it to the freezer. Each step I took felt like it required more strength than I was used to and an overall sen
se of weakness started to settle within my skin. My head was foggy and I blinked a few times so I could concentrate. Nadia met me in the hallway and gave me a gentle smile. “Is your Guardian still with you?”
At first I was taken aback by the bluntness of her question, then I figured, Why not? She was fae to begin with, so of course she’d be able to sense him. I was just glad that she hadn’t brought it to my father’s attention that I had a visitor upstairs. “No, I um … had a lot to think about, so I asked him to leave. Do you want me to help you with your bag?”
“Sure.”
I took the suitcase from her, leading her back towards the guest room. It had been ages since we had anyone stay in it, but the bed was warm and the linens were neat and clean. “This is it,” I said dismissively, trying to shake off the sense of fatigue building up inside me. My cheeks felt hot as if I was running a low grade fever, but it came on so suddenly that I wasn’t sure exactly what was happening. Maybe it was the flu.
“I can get you an extra pillow from the hall closet if you like.”
“That’s quite alright,” she assured me calmly. “But are you feeling well? Your cheeks are a little flush.”
I shook my head, setting her bag down on the bed. “Actually, I feel a little sick. I haven’t had anything to eat since noon.”
“Why don’t you go get something to eat and rest? We can talk more about this in the morning.”
I nodded. “That sounds wonderful. Goodnight, Nadia.”
“Goodnight, dear.”
I whimpered slightly, scratching tenderly at my aching wrist. She shooed me down the hall and I dragged my body off towards the kitchen. There was some leftover pot-roast in the fridge, so I heated it in the microwave and sat down to have a bite.
The food warmed me up from the inside out and offered the nourishment I needed, but I still felt weak. When I finished the meat and potatoes, I put my bowl in the sink and walked back towards my room.
It didn’t seem like a common virus, I felt too weird — like hauling a lifeless corpse off to the cemetery.
A roll of sweat drizzled down my forehead as I braced my weight against my bedroom door and stumbled to get inside. “Blix!”
The gnarled figure of my bedroom goblin immediately emerged from a burst of flame and offered a gracious bow. “Yes, mistress?” he addressed me formally.
“Get Aidan,” I wheezed at him urgently, rolling up the base of my sleeve to show him the blackened scales. The flesh around them was beginning to peel away from where I had scratched furiously at the bloody edges. “Ask him if he can fix this. Tell him that I need help and am waiting for him to come to me.”
Blix's golden eyes began to sparkle with delight and he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Once he was gone, I groaned again in pain and rubbed circles around it with my thumb, trying in vain to relieve the ache. Beads of sweat dripped down my face as my room began to spin and I collapsed onto my mattress.
~ * ~
I dreamt, in my hallucinatory fever, that I was changing into a dragon.
I struggled to get comfortable in my bed, my aching muscles felt … confined somehow. I scratched mercilessly at the scaly wound on my wrist until a huge chunk of flesh ripped away. The serpentine skin glistened underneath and suddenly all my skin felt tight. I peeled and scraped at it, realizing the scales went all the way up my shoulder. I ripped the fleshy husk off to reveal black leathery pads on my hands and rock hard scales up and down my arms. The bones of my wrist and fingers still felt tight so I flexed them and talons broke through from underneath. I looked at my now-clawed hands, marveling at them and feeling the power course through the sinewy muscle. I turned my attention to the rest of my body and tore the remaining skin off, mauling the false carapace until nothing remained. There was still so much pressure in my back and I arched forward as pain ripped through my spine. Two enormous wings erupted from between my shoulder blades and crashed noisily against the walls.
I stood in all my demonic glory, reveling in my new form and finally feeling like I could breathe. I took a deep breath and reached for my face.
Freeing my body from a shell that was too small was liberating, but shearing the flesh off my face was like removing a mask I didn’t even know I was wearing. The false smile I wore, the forced laughter, was a thing of the past as I tore the façade away and unhinged my snake-like jaw. I licked my lips with pleasure and felt the cool air against my true skin for the first time.
Euphoric freedom.
~ * ~
In the morning, golden rays of dawn filtered through my window and I let out a contented sigh. My legs and arms felt great, miles away from where they had been last night. No longer were they riddled with pain and feeling cramped like they had before — it was wonderful. I nuzzled my head against the pillow and breathed in the scent of fresh laundry detergent and cotton, but there was something else I smelled that I couldn’t put my finger on. Sniffing curiously from my drowsy cocoon, I thought I smelled the faintest whiff of … bourbon?
Opening my eyes, I found Aidan seated comfortably at my desk and let out a tired groan. “You called, my lady?” he asked with a cocky smirk.
“Couldn't this wait until a more reasonable hour?” I pleaded with him testily.
Aidan frowned and reclined further in his seat, drumming his fingers against the arm rest. “You called me, remember? Blix told me about your arm, is it still bothering you?”
I groaned and sat up on the mattress, giving him my full bleary-eyed attention. “No, actually it feels fine. I’m not sure….”
My gaze drifted down to my hand momentarily and was shocked to realize that my skin was no longer there. In its place was black and leathery scales that curled into talons at the end of my hand. I threw off the covers and screamed terror.
Running to see my reflection in the mirror, it was worse than I imagined.
My hair was still the fiery, red that it had always been, but instead of curling gracefully down my back it looked as though it had been set ablaze with heatless flames. I still maintained a woman's figure, but my skin was covered in hard back scales and a pair of enormous, leathery wings sprung outward from my back.
It hadn’t been a dream.
For the first time, I looked like the demon they said I was. Somehow I had deluded myself into believing that it wasn’t as bad as the Council made it out to be.
I was wrong.
A knock on my door told me someone heard me scream. “Wynn, you okay?” Nate called to me inside.
“Um … yeah, just a spider.”
“Ookay … want me to kill it for you?”
The door handle began to rattle I reached out to it in panic from across the room, flipping the locking mechanism through force of will. “NO! Don’t worry about it … I’ll take care of it.”
Aidan nodded approvingly at the knee-jerk reaction to use my powers and sat back comfortably in his seat.
I felt bad for yelling at Nate. As his footsteps started walking down the hall I muttered, “Thank you though….”
As I stared at my reflection in the mirror and tried to formulate a statement in my mind, the words would just not come. “I'm…”
“Beautiful,” Aidan finished for me. “You're a demon, Wynn. That human illusion was just a shell to conceal your true identity. Now that your demon half has been activated, your body's begun rejecting it and your true, magnificent form has finally broken free. May I just say what a pleasure it is to be seeing you at last.”
“I’m a monster…” I muttered dismally.
He rolled his eyes dismissively and sat up in his seat. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, love. I’m telling you, you are no such thing. But if you want a human face again, then you’ll need to cast a glamour spell. Are you finally willing to accept my help?”
In the back of my mind, I knew he was right. Even with Caleb’s emotional support, helping me control demonic powers was something beyond his ability — I had to learn somehow. If Aidan was willing to help me then he w
ould simply be a means to an end, I didn’t see any other choice. I turned to face him directly and looked him in the eyes while nodding infinitesimally. “Okay. Teach me what you know.”
Aidan breathed in my words with a delicious sigh as a crooked smile crept across his handsome face. “Those words! I've been waiting to hear them for far too long. Close your eyes,” he ordered. “You’re going to clear your mind and picture the image you would like to project to the rest of the world. Good. Now try to pull that likeness out of you from inside, you'll feel it hollow within your limbs and replace the figure you see now.”
I licked my lips and nodded, trying to visualize a picture of myself I'd seen before. It was hazy at first and I couldn't get a grasp on the finer details, red hair with a sideways ponytail. It had started to solidify in my mind when I felt like I'd been shoved in the chest and stumbled backwards — the image was gone. “Ow!” I complained automatically. “What the heck was that?”
“You didn't focus,” he quipped. “Try again! The only thing keeping you out is your own ability to believe.”
I huffed at him and once again began to clear my mind, imagining the persona I was trying to recreate. An odd emptiness took hold of me as I closed my mind to everything except this image of how I used to look. Freckled skin and hazel-green eyes, topped with auburn hair cascading down past my shoulders. Instead of scaly black talons, I envisioned human hands with chipped nail polish on the end of my fingernails.
Once the image was solidly ingrained into my mind I opened my eyes again and looked at my refection in the mirror — it was my human-self staring back at me.
“Very good,” Aidan complimented. “That wasn't so hard, was it?”
“No,” I agreed with him pleasantly. “It was easier than I expected.”
His smile faded slightly as he said, “Don’t sound so surprised. I knew you’d be a natural, it took Michele no time at all to learn the basics of illusionary power.”
Dealing with the Devil (The Earthwalker Trilogy Book 1) Page 19
