The only thing that he wanted to do was hurt her. I could see it in his face and feel it in the way he hissed at her. He assaulted her just like I was assaulted. He tore from her the innocence she had tried so hard to protect, the entire time ignoring her pleas for him to stop. When her screams fell on deaf ears she prayed for death to come, only it didn’t. She willed her wings to form so she could take flight. Then, miraculously, two beautiful white wings unfolded from her back. It was so painful, however, and she was so weak that she had no strength to use them and escape. When the boy saw the wings hanging limply from her shoulder blades they only enraged him even more.
He hit her, screamed at her, and told her that she had betrayed him, that the voices had been right. After what felt like years he cut her loose and dumped her limp body in the trunk of his car. The vision went dark again. She was scared. With her last ounce of her strength, she willed her wings to disappear, hiding the beauty that was supposed to save her.
We were in the dark together. We were scared. We were crying. The remainder of the final vision was blurry, as if I was watching it through tear-filled eyes.
He pulled her screaming from the dark to assault her again and again until finally, after a week of experiencing repeated pain and betrayal at the hands of the boy that she loved, her wish came true. At first it seemed distant, an image coming slowly into focus. Then we saw an angel in front of us with his arms outstretched, his eyes sad but his smile sincere. Her soul parted from her body and we took our last breath. I felt peace at last as she was set free from this horrible nightmare.
***
“Dawn?” The voice was sweet yet demanding, and I could feel cold hands clasping my cheeks.
I jumped up and found myself staring into the black eyes of Mara. I was still feeling highly emotional and I threw myself into her arms. She seemed confused as she wrapped them around me and rocked. I realized slowly that we were no longer in the castle. I was in my own room with my mother and father sitting at the end of my bed, their hands twined together, just staring at me.
“It was horrible!” I wailed as soon as I could speak. I drew back and looked at all three of them. “How did I get home?”
“Ramiel brought you,” said Mara softly. She stood up and moved away from me, glancing uneasily at my parents as if she was waiting for them to tell her she could leave. She clearly wasn’t comfortable being there.
“Of course he did,” I said to myself, pushing myself off the bed and noting that, at last, the sun was up. “What time is it?”
“Eleven in the morning,” my mother told me.
Her eyes were puffy from crying. I wondered if she had touched me while I was in the vision and had seen the horrible things that I had seen. I felt fire surging in me; anger radiating from my core as everything slowly started to make sense. As it sank in I began to understand what was happening to me. I was on the same path as that girl. I frowned at my mother and father.
“I’m going to kill her,” I hissed.
My father shook his head. “You are strong but I don’t know if you are that strong yet. You have a lot to learn. She’s had centuries of growing and training. You, honey, have had only eighteen years. She possesses the ability to maximize her strength. You still set your bedsheets on fire during a bad dream.” He glanced at Mara, his eyes sympathetic. “You were always a good friend to me. Thank you for taking care of her.”
Mara nodded and turned to my mother. “You have raised her well, angel. She is definitely a strong one in both arts. When the battle breaks above I hope to be below.” She gave me a candid wink. “Now, if you don’t mind, I need to return home before they start asking too many questions. Lucifer himself will come looking for me if he deems it necessary, and I would hate for you to meet him under these circumstances.”
My father smiled at her again and she disappeared in a cloud of smoke. I blinked a few times as the sulfuric odor burned the inside of my nose and my eyes began to water.
“Do all demons smell like that?” I asked, fumbling around my room. I had a lunch date that I had no intention of breaking. With everything that was going on I could really go for a little normalcy.
“Well…” My father laughed. “Yeah. You know, the whole hellfire and brimstone bit.”
My mother got up and stood next to me, evidently fighting the urge to touch me.
“What he did to her was horrendous, honey, but what he did to you was just as bad,” she murmured. “He took something that you can never get back.”
Why was she comforting me? I was fine, damn it!
I choked. “You know what’s worse than all of this?” There was a tightness in my chest as my mother stared at me. “I went through all of that, felt everything that she felt, and I still don’t even know her name. How can I be so in tune with somebody I don’t know?”
“Krista. Her name was Krista,” my mother said, her voice shaking. “I don’t know who her biological mother was, nor do I know her father. She was adopted by a family that I knew. A little miracle from Heaven is what her mother called her. She came into their lives not long after her adoptive mother found out she couldn’t have children of her own.”
Knowing the girl’s name didn’t help any, in fact. It just made the tightness more unbearable and I felt hot tears forming in my eyes. I had to get my mind off it or I would start obsessing. But something didn’t feel quite right about what my mother was saying. When she mentioned not knowing who the girl’s parents were she quickly looked away at my father and shot him a pained expression. I had learned that meant there was more to the story.
I rubbed my eyes. “Jonathan was a victim too, you know. I learned a lot in that vision that made quite a few things here seem a little more possible. He was played. He was nothing more than a pawn in the whole mess.”
“I figured there were connections between the two beings,” said my mother, frowning. “Usually one doesn’t show without another in tow.”
“She caught him talking to himself. Then she found him drawing strange pictures. And he would disappear at night. She started to see physical changes, like him looking tired and pale. On the night he attacked her he told her repeatedly that she had betrayed him. It was as if something was whispering in his ear, making him do all those horrible things”
My mother looked flabbergasted.
“Mom, he had the same things done to him that are being done now to Wesley. What I don’t understand is how John can be here if Dad killed him.”
“Well, honey, we only assumed that he had been killed,” she replied. “Without a body there was no concrete proof that he actually died. There was no funeral. His parents were so ashamed of him that they chose to ignore his existence altogether.”
“This story gets more and more weird,” I muttered. “Is there anything else that I need to know about what happened that day?”
I was becoming increasingly exasperated by the lack of information I was being provided with. My mother and father, however, just shook their heads, so I only had one option: I would just have to believe everything that I had been told about that night eighteen years before.
“What do you know about a Lilliana?” I asked, quietly twining my fingers together.
My father put his head in his hands and sighed. “Lilliana is the product of a low-level demon having a tryst with a high-level vampire in the mid sixteen hundreds. Since demon blood runs hot, we tend to have children at an accelerated rate. Vampires very rarely procreate, so the demon nature inevitably took priority. Lilliana’s mother gave birth four months after conception to a half-demon, half-vampire child.”
When my father looked up at me I saw his eyes were turning black.
“The child grew up rapidly, but she stopped aging around eighteen or nineteen years old. Shortly after that, her mother was found drained in an alleyway.” He shrugged and continued. “Lilliana enjoyed feeding on the emotions of her suitors before she dipped her fangs in their blood. It gave her a high,
so to speak. She wanted to have some form of connection to their feelings. That made it easier to bend them to her will when she needed them. There was a time when she went on a murderous rampage. Killed quite a few women in a small town in Italy at the turn of the nineteenth century.” He let out a low chuckle. “That was a mess to clean up, let me tell you.”
He thought for a moment then frowned.
“She’s created a few companions, but none have stayed by her side. Many of them found death not long after their creation, yet she still tries to find that perfect mate. She’s a typical woman in that way. The only difference is that she has eternity to brood over it, while most females have only a lifetime. She’s known to be vicious and incredibly strong. She has the ability to infiltrate dreams, like Mara, and to manipulate images, otherwise known as hallucinations. She often portrays herself as the victim in dreams in order to get sympathy from the desired prey.”
My father stopped as I held my hand up to prevent him going on. I couldn’t take any more of her biography. The more he told me about her, the more I wanted to wrap my fingers around her throat and squeeze till her head popped off.
“What did Lilliana look like?” I asked impatiently.
“I never really had the chance to meet her. I was too busy cleaning up after her. She spent more time on Earth than I did, prior to this sentence.” He looked at my mother, who was as pale as a ghost. “However, they said she was beautiful, with red hair and wild green eyes.” He switched his gaze to me. “Why is your mother looking at me like that?”
I rolled my eyes and took my mother’s hand. “Dad, Mom’s already figured out that Lilliana is Miranda. From what I understand, she takes on a new name every so often. This means that what Wesley knows her as isn’t the same as what John knows her as. If I hadn’t seen that vision I would have assumed they were two separate women.”
“You have to be shitting me!” my father exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.
“I wish I was, Dad.” I turned to my mother. “So you know what this means?”
“History is repeating itself,” she whispered. I thought my mother would pass out as she stumbled to my bed and sat on it. “There is far too much to this, honey. This is quite the pickle we have here.”
“If it makes things any easier, at least we have now simplified the whole John and Wesley thing,” I consoled her, sitting down next to her.
“But there are still so many more things that have to come into play here, honey. This isn’t a TV show where in just half an hour the heroine gets to save the world. This is real life. We have two hybrids out to get you, both of which have had more time to prepare for a situation like this. This is a very tangled web. I have half a mind to pack up everything and leave this house.” She paused, looking very flustered. “But he’s Greg’s boy. And Greg has been a good friend to us.” She eyed my father. “We need a plan. We need to sit down and figure out what we’re going to do. We can’t be with Dawn every second of every day, and I’m not going to confine her to her room. We already know that doesn’t stop him.”
I felt like my head would explode. There was far too much information buzzing through the crevices of my brain. I needed to escape, to retreat to the normal world, where things made more sense.
“I’m going to take a few hours and just pretend to be normal,” I informed them. “I think that is something all of us should do. I have a lot to think on. So do you. I do believe that I have earned one hot lunch with one best friend.”
“I think that is a great idea,” my mother said, smiling weakly. “Get out of this house, but don’t be alone for long. We have no idea what John might have up his sleeve.” She patted my father’s hand. “And we need to discuss how we’re going to do this. You’ll have to go home some time. Your wife will start worrying. However, in the light of what we now know, I don’t think it would be in Dawn’s best interests if you went right now.”
“We can discuss this when Dawn has gone,” my father muttered. Then he looked at me. “You go and have fun, sweetie. Just come home at a reasonable hour. Preferably before the sun goes down.” He gave me a playful hug and the two of them left my room so I could get ready to go out.
I felt exhausted, like my whole world had been exposed to public view. And I had my personal future to consider, too. I could see Wesley so clearly in my mind now and I understood why Miranda, or Lilliana, or whatever her name was, would hold on so tightly to him.
I showered quickly and got dressed, settling for a simple black sweater dress and my usual combat boots. When I was done I was satisfied I looked the best I was probably going to, all things considered. At least the makeup hid the black bags under my eyes, which were, I noticed, still a dark brown right now due to the amount of anger I was carrying around with me. I pulled out my phone and sent Adam a text.
Me: We still on for lunch?
After a moment my phone buzzed with his reply.
Adam: Yeah, just got out of church. Meet you at my house?
Me: OK
I left my room in a whirl. My parents were nowhere to be seen so I just shrugged and carried on out of the house. As I got behind the wheel of my car and pulled out of the driveway, I had this sudden feeling that I was forgetting something vital from the previous night’s visions. But I assured myself it would still be there once I returned home. Right now, I wanted to concentrate upon being a normal girl with a normal life.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Stupid Girl
I pulled into Adam’s driveway as he and his father were just getting out of their car. His dad gave me a slight wave and headed toward the front door while Adam hung back to greet me. His father seemed a nice man. I had only met him a time or two, but he was always very pleasant to me. He was very quiet, and rarely struck up a conversation with people he didn’t know. Adam had told me his dad hadn’t been the same since his mother left three years earlier.
Adam looked nice today with a white button-down shirt over blue jeans and black Doc Martins. I found his look fitting for the image of the innocent white knight who ran away from love and all that came with it. I secretly thought that having watched his parents’ marriage fall apart was the main reason he was so guarded when it came to relationships himself.
“Hey there, stranger,” he said as he gave me warm hug.
“Hey there, yourself,” I answered as he squeezed me hard.
“So, I was thinking we could just have lunch here,” he suggested. “I only have a few hours before my mother comes over.”
I pouted. I’d hoped we’d have the whole day together. “That sucks.”
He smirked in reply. “Sorry. I have some family party at my grandparents’ house this afternoon. But we can chat for a few hours and you can leave right before she gets here.”
I nodded in reluctant agreement and followed him inside the two-story brick house.
“I’m making toasted cheese and tomato soup. Does that sound good to you two?” Adam’s father yelled when the front door closed.
“Yeah, Dad, that sounds great,” Adam yelled back. Then he turned to me. “So, tell me about you and Aaron.”
He could hardly let me into the house before grilling me on my love life. I had forgotten how great it was to have a friend constantly plunge into your choices.
“What is there to tell?” I asked, not really understanding the fuss over me dating someone other than Wesley.
“Rumor has it that it’s serious.” He batted his eyes at me and laughed.
“Geez,” I breathed. “No, it’s not serious. We’ve spent the last two nights together. And he met my father. That is really the extent of the seriousness.”
“Oh my, so he’s met the mysterious father.” He stuck his lip out like a toddler. “I’m hurt since I have yet to meet the man that sired you.”
I punched him playfully and he laughed.
“I’m assuming that you are still holding out, thinking that Wesley is going to come back around?” he speculated. “I don�
�t understand what you ever saw in that boy in the first place. He was rude, and he dressed funny.”
He led me upstairs to his room where we sat down on the gaming couch.
“Nope, I can’t be with someone who finds it necessary to cheat. What do you mean he dressed funny?” I felt my fingers itch and I sat on my hands, just in case.
“I don’t know. I figured I needed something other than the fact that he was rude. Aaron’s a nice guy and all, but he has his secrets just like Wesley did.” He looked at me and gave me a smug smile. “There were some rumors last year that he spent the previous summer in rehab for drug abuse. However, nobody ever saw him do anything, so it was wiped off as just a rumor.” He reached over and turned on his X-box, then picked up two controls and tossed one into my lap. I started at it blankly.
Did he really think that I was going to play video games with him?
“Well, you know what they say about rumors,” I commented, deciding a few rounds of Halo weren’t going to kill me.
“That there is always some truth in them?”
“That isn’t exactly what I was going for.” I sighed. “Yes, Aaron’s a nice guy. I have fun with him, even though our first date was crashed by Wesley and Miranda.”
“Ouch. I bet that was painful, seeing him with her.” He said something under his breath that I couldn’t make out.
“I think it hurt him more to see me with Aaron than it did me to see him with her. Maybe I’m over it, who knows? Maybe we’re too young to know what love really is.” I said quietly. “I don’t see this thing with Aaron lasting long, but it’s nice to have someone around who says they want to fix you.”
“Fix you, huh?” He laughed. “That’s quite a pick-up line. I’m going to have to remember that one.”
“Since we are on the subject of those we are dating, how’s Nadine?” I asked, simply wanting to change the subject.
“She’s good. She’s been dealing with some family issues here recently so we haven’t seen each other. She texts me all day, every day, wanting to know what I’ve eaten and where I’ve been.” He sounded irritated.
The Wardens Boxed Set Page 23
