by Jamie Loeak
your happiness. I don’t ever want to,” he added.
Kate looked at him, a weak smile present on her features. Rico mistook her small smile for fear and continued talking.
“You don’t need to be afraid. I swear that I’ll protect you, body and soul,” he said earnestly. “I won’t let him take you away.”
Kate finally found her words. “I’m not afraid,” she said. “And I am happy right now. I’m probably the happiest I’ve been since I met you.”
Rico nodded. “Yeah, it’s nice to feel freedom.”
Kate gripped the rail that was in front of her, steeling herself for her response. She knew that if she planned on letting Rico know how she felt about him, she would have to do it now. She let out a breath before continuing. “It’s nice to feel the way I do; the way I feel with you,” she said, blushing fiercely. She sat there, staring at her hands, waiting for Rico to say something, anything.
Next to her, Rico ran his hands through his hair, laced his fingers, and rested them on the back of his head. His breathing grew heavy, and Kate was afraid that she ruined their easy friendship, that Rico was growing angry with her.
“You shouldn’t feel that way,” he said at last.
Kate’s cheeks burned further and angry tears threatened to choke her. She looked up at him bravely, searching his eyes for something other than what he had just said, searching for what she wanted him to say to her.
Rico tousled his hair and covered his face in his hands, hiding his emotions from Kate. She looked back down at the faded wood.
“I’m here to protect you. I can’t be anything else,” Rico said when he was able to look at Kate. “I’m sorry, Kate, but it’s the truth. I’m just a soldier.”
“No you aren’t,” she said, her voice small. “You’re pretending that you don’t feel but I’ve seen you laugh. I’ve seen you when you’re angry or scared or worried.”
“I don’t feel the way you do, Kate.” His voice sounded like it was on the verge of breaking and Kate felt the need to comfort him. Instead, she stood there, stoic. Her thoughts tangled with her emotions. She could feel Rico’s tension; his muscles were flexed, his breathing loud and quick. Kate couldn’t believe that Rico felt nothing for her. He had freaked out after scaring her at the beach; he had talked with her about her appearance, clearly stating that he thought Kate was more attractive with her curls. Kate couldn’t let that knowledge go. She knew that deep down, there was something hidden within Rico, something that he wasn’t telling her. Kate guessed that everyone was hiding something; it was human nature, and like Adriana stated earlier, there was no reason for her to be hypocritical about it.
“We should head back,” Rico said finally, pulling Kate from her swirl of emotions. “I’ll drop you off at your house. I’ll let Adriana know you were tired.”
Kate shook her head. “I’d rather walk. It’s not far from here.”
“It’s not safe for you to walk. I’m not letting you go.”
“You aren’t my father, Rico. You aren’t even my boyfriend. I don’t think you have the right to tell me what to do right now,” Kate spat.
Rico took a step back, shocked at Kate’s outburst. He looked at her for a moment before trying to persuade her once more.
“Look,” she said calmly. “The only thing I have left when it comes to you is my pride. Please, let me keep just that,” she said, pleading with him.
Rico sighed, knowing he had nowhere to turn from here. He let her go and stood on the boardwalk watching her silhouette retreat, waiting until he could see it no more.
When Kate was gone, Rico got into his car and drove slowly along the road parallel to Kate, listening for her soft presence.
14
Kate stumbled into her bedroom thirty minutes later. The long walk home had been calming, yet eerie. The whole time, she felt the sensation that someone was watching her and shuddered at the thought of Kern sulking in the shadows somewhere.
When Kate opened the door, Adriana sat on the bed, an overnight bag next to her. Her dark eyes sparkled with knowledge but there was no smug smile on her face.
“I need to be alone tonight,” Kate demanded.
“No, Kate. I know enough about being friends to know that the last thing you need right now is a cry fest. You need to talk about it,” Adriana said, worry creasing her brow.
“What do you know about being friends with me?” Kate asked. “As soon as Kern is gone, as soon as he doesn’t want my soul any longer, you’ll be gone too. You aren’t my friend because of something natural. This friendship is an excuse to watch over me all the time.”
“That’s not true,” Adriana said in a small voice. “It may have started out that way, Kate, but I really like you. You’re the first person that I’ve actually felt a connection to.”
“Wrong,” Kate said. “You have a connection to Rico and your hypothetical father. I’m not the first person so don’t lie to me.”
“Believe me, Kate. You are.” Adriana began muttering to herself about Rico and Donovan being angry with her. She was at war with herself for about ten minutes before she looked into Kate’s cloudy eyes, her dark ones determined.
“Kate, I want you to listen to me,” she said. “I don’t want you to interrupt me or ask questions; I just want you to listen. Do you understand?”
Kate nodded, a question rising in her throat already. What was going on?
“When I say that you are the first person I’ve had a connection with, I’m not lying. Rico, Donovan and I are not people.” Adriana paused to give Kate a moment to process the information that she was offering. “Rico, Donovan, and I are demons.”
Kate stumbled backward and slammed into her dresser. She kept shaking her head back and forth, almost as if she couldn’t hear what Adriana was saying, almost as if she could shake her new knowledge right out of her memory. Kate wanted to talk, to ask a million questions, but she kept her mouth shut out of respect for Adriana’s wishes.
Adriana stood up, moving towards Kate. Kate kept backing away. She wasn’t exactly afraid of Adriana; Adriana and Rico had each had the opportunity to take her soul if they had wanted to. There was no reason for Kate to think that they would start trying now. But there was something different about Adriana now. Kate could almost see her unearthly beauty, the grace that accompanied each lithe movement. She extended her thinking and realized that she could see these same characteristics in both Rico and Donovan.
“Kate, I won’t hurt you,” Adriana said. She stopped where she stood, no longer aiming to comfort her friend.
Kate stared at her, the feeling of shock rushing through her veins.
“We might be demons, but we still feel pain.” Adriana whispered. Was she insinuating that Kate was hurting her feelings? It was Kate’s feelings that were crushed. She had been tricked this whole time, thinking that her friends were just like her, fragile and helpless when it came down to it. Now she realized that they were opposites.
Adriana moved on. “Rico, Donovan, and I are immortal. We have been alive since the beginning of time. We have seen every raging war, we have seen people possessed, and we have seen other demons murdered during exorcism.
In the beginning, I was alone. I fought alongside my brothers and sisters, destroying our planet, relishing in the destruction. I was a monster.” Adriana looked at Kate, her eyes growing sad.
“When Darkness put us here on Earth, I knew we didn’t belong here. I saw my brothers and sisters taking human souls, killing humans so that they could truly feel love. I wondered how demons could truly feel that love if it was stolen from someone. You can’t truly have something that you take by force; it will never be yours.” Adriana sighed and moved back to sit on the bed. Kate noticed that Adriana chose the spot that was furthest from her; it was as if Adriana knew that Kate didn’t want to be near her. Kate’s heart beat guiltily.
“I have never taken or tried to take a human soul,” Adriana said.
“Hundreds of years after i
nhabiting this planet I found Donovan. You were right, Kate, he’s not my father; he’s my husband. I thought that you and I could connect over the desire to spend time with our parents, so I pretended that Donovan was my father. I truly am sorry for lying to you about myself, about Rico and Donovan. We never planned on letting you know, but you took us by surprise, Kate. Before you came along, it was always just a job. We never actually cared about any of the people that we protected.”
Kate detached herself from the dresser. She moved slowly, cautiously, toward the other end of the bed. She could see Adriana’s dark eyes lighten some, hope burning there. Kate sat down across from her friend, pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her chin there. She waited patiently for Adriana to continue her story.
“I found Rico later, in India. I had been searching for Kern for quite a while. You see, I lost his trail about fifty years before; Rico helped me find him again. We’ve been working together for about two hundred years now, but we haven’t been able to stop Kern from possessing the humans that he lays his eyes on. I think you’re different, though, Kate. I think you’re strong enough to resist him. You’re the first person I’ve met that truly doesn’t need another person to make her happy, to make her feel alive. You symbolize hope to me,” she admitted.
Adriana stared out the window for a moment before turning to Kate again. Kate watched her, but couldn’t make herself say
