See All Evil

by Majanka Verstraete

“And how about your mother?” Cass asked, ignoring my question. “Any secrets about her that you haven’t shared with me?”

  “No.” I was becoming irritated at her annoying questions.

  “She hasn’t exhibited any strange behavior? No reason for you to think that something out of the ordinary is going on with her?”

  “You mean other than this morning?” I snapped. “No. The only person who’s acting out of the ordinary is you. What’s going on?”

  Cass sighed and threw her hands in the air. “Okay, I’m sorry. It’s just that… I’ve known you forever, and I’ve never once thought that you were… Well, one of us.”

  My eyeballs practically fell out of their sockets. “One of ‘us’? Who is this mysterious ‘us’? And for the record, I thought there was an ‘us’ already, namely you and me.” I pointed at her and then at myself.

  Cass bit her lips. “I really shouldn’t be the one to tell you this. But if your mother is not like us, then…” She looked at me apologetically. “Then it must’ve been your father.”

  “Why are you bringing my father into this?” I hated how hurt I sounded, my voice raising a few pitches whenever I talked about him.

  My father had disappeared ten years ago. He up and left one day, with just the clothes on his back. He didn’t even drive away; just went for a walk and never came back. My mother thought he was kidnapped at first, or murdered, but I knew differently.

  Before he left, he’d bent down to the height of eight-year-old me and looked me straight in the eyes.

  “I have to go.” His voice hadn’t wavered once while he spoke the words. “I have to leave in order to protect you. Know that I will always love you, my Devilina.” He’d used his nickname for me—Devilina rather than Devina, a nickname that had originated from my years as an unruly toddler, a ‘devil’. “This is not your fault.” Then he’d kissed me on my forehead and walked out of the door.

  When I told Mom what happened, she practically tore down half the house in a rage-filled outburst. It was one thing to think the person you were in love with, the person you wanted to spend your entire life with, the father of your child, had been kidnapped or held somewhere against his will. But to find out he left her voluntarily, abandoned the child he supposedly loved, was another thing completely, and my mother couldn’t cope with that. It took years before she started to resemble her old self.

  And my father’s comment he had to leave to protect me—what the heck did that even mean? Protect me from what? I’d struggled with that one for years until I figured he had probably just said it as an excuse to get away from the life he’d built, the mundane nine-to-five job, living in the suburbs and the responsibility of dealing with a child. I had never heard from him, not in ten years. Maybe he had started a new life somewhere, maybe he had a new wife and children he actually cared about.

  But Cass knew how much this had traumatized me, and she never brought it up, never. So, why now?

  “Since your father isn’t around anymore to tell you,” Cassie continued, ignoring my question, “I guess I’ll have to do it.”

  She reached for my hands, holding them in hers.

  “Tell me what?” I asked reluctantly.

  Cassie took a deep breath. “The ‘Academy for the Wicked’ is a place for—”

  “Cass,” I interrupted her mid-sentence, gesturing to her milkshake while my eyes grew wide, and my mouth dropped open.

  The milkshake glass was hovering inches above the table, dangling in the air, and flying higher and higher with every passing second, like a helium balloon. Then, with a violent thug, the glass jerked to the left and smashed against the wall, shattering in a dozen pieces.

  I jumped up, startled, barely believing what had just happened. Glasses didn’t fly. They couldn’t. What the hell was happening? Was this real, or was I still stuck in my nightmare? What if I had never left the red room to begin with?

  I stared at Cass dumbfounded. “What did you—”

  “Seriously?” Sarcasm dripped off her tone while she interrupted me, rolling her eyes.

  She didn’t seem shocked or scared, not jumping out of her skin like I was. Why? Why wasn’t she scared?

  “That glass levitated!” I yelled at her.

  A customer two booths away from us turned his head toward us and coughed to demonstrate his annoyance at my sudden outburst.

  I brought my tone down—last thing I wanted was customers fleeing Joe’s Diner because of a possible poltergeist haunting the place, and Alfred firing me for spreading the story to begin with. “Why are you not freaking out like I am?”

  “If I can take a guess,” an unfamiliar voice said from behind me, “it’s because she knows perfectly well what’s going on.”

  Chapter Three

  I spun around on my heel, coming face-to-face with one of the handsomest guys to ever walk this earth, hands-down. He had short, brown hair, a five o’clock shadow, and the most startling green eyes—they shone like emeralds.

  I wanted to ask him who he was, but I was too stunned to move. Had he just come in? I hadn’t seen him here before, and a guy like that, I would definitely remember. But the entrance was on the other side, and he would have had to pass us by if he had entered through there, so how could he suddenly appear behind me?

  And, lest I forget, how did that freaking milkshake glass float in the air?

  “Alec.” Cass sighed while looking past me at the almost godlike specimen who had materialized in the middle of Joe’s Diner. “Why do you always have to make a spectacle out of everything?”

  “Because you were going to spill the beans,” the mystery guy apparently named Alec answered. He walked past me, and I struggled to keep my mouth from dropping open. Did Cass know this guy? How? Had she met him at college?

  Since she was a year older than me, Cass had transferred to college already. But she came home every weekend, and we hung out a lot. Community college wasn’t that far away. I called her practically every night, and it didn’t feel very different than from when we were still in high school, except that I couldn’t drop by and visit her on weekdays. But if community college had guys this hot, then I was looking forward to enrolling.

  It was strange Cass never told me about this guy, though. In general, she didn’t say much about college, but I figured that was because she didn’t want me to feel left out.

  “And I can’t let you do that,” the Alec-guy continued while he sat down on the seat I had occupied seconds ago, before I had jumped up in shock at the floating milkshake glass. He moved further into the booth, to the seat against the wall, and gestured for me to sit down next to him. “This is the first time I’ve ever had one who didn’t know, and I don’t want you to ruin the fun.”

  “You can’t exactly keep her in the dark either,” Cass barked at him, talking me about me as if I wasn’t even there. “Who was it who pulled that little trick on her mother this morning—Christian? The lot of you practically scared her half to death.”

  I held my hands signaling for her to slow down. “Okay, stop, stop. I’m not following.”

  I looked from my best friend, who seemed more like a stranger to me with every passing second, to the actual stranger. “What’s going on?”

  Alec patted the empty spot next to him. “I think you best sit down when you hear this, new girl.”

  I peered at Cassie questioningly, but she shrugged and indicated I could sit down.

  I didn’t trust this guy for one minute, especially not because of Cass’s reference to what had happened this morning with my mother. Was this guy involved? If so, how? Had they given my mother drugs or something? And how had my best friend gotten tangled up in this mess?

  I sat down at the far end, as far away from Alec as possible. “Tell me what’s happening, Cass,” I pleaded with her.

  “I tried to, and then this idiot here pulled that little trick with the milkshake. So, I’m taking it that they want to tell you themselves.” Cassie waved dismissively at Alec, obviously an
noyed.

  “And who is ‘they’?” I looked from Cassie to Alec.

  “We are the welcoming committee.” Alec leaned back in his seat, looking as smug as a cat who’d just captured a mouse.

  I turned to Cassie again, desperate for answers from her, but she stayed silent. Her sole reaction was glaring at Alec. If looks could kill, he’d be dead and buried by now.

  Since my friend wouldn’t provide me with any answers, I had no choice but to shift my attention to him instead. “You levitated the milkshake?”

  “Oh yes.” Alec chuckled. “That’s nothing really. I didn’t want to scare you too much, because I, unlike some of my friends,” he sneered, “am actually a pretty nice guy.”

  Cassie snorted.

  “Come on, Cass, even you have to admit I’m not as bad as Christian.”

  “There’s no award for being less bad than a demon,” Cass shot at him.

  “Demon?” My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. I had to be dreaming. None of this could be real. Demons? They existed only in horror movies and TV shows featuring two hot brothers hunting down supernatural creatures, right? Cass was probably joking.

  Although, she didn’t sound like she was joking and I’d never once, not in the decade I’d known her, heard her talk about demons.

  “Anyway.” Alec draped his arm over my seat, way too close for comfort. “I’m what you call a ‘warlock’. Ever heard of it? TV, movies? There are a lot of rumors about us, but none of them are true. Or well, most are, but not all of them.” He chuckled.

  “A warlock? Like… a witch?” I frowned, staring at the stranger without comprehending what he was saying. “But witches aren’t real.”

  “Warlocks are male witches, with the focus on male,” Alec said, winking at me. “But yes, kind of like witches. We have magic that we can use for neat tricks, such as levitating milkshakes. Or this chair you’re sitting on, or the table. But we can do a lot more than that. Levitation is basically kids’ stuff.” He waved his hand, dismissing the ability to levitate items into thin air as if anyone could do it.

  I focused on Cassie, trying to gauge her reaction. She looked serious, but this had to be all a joke, right?

  “Ha ha,” I said eventually, my voice edged with layers of sarcasm. “That’s a good one. You’re a witch, like Harry Potter. And you’re here to take me to Hogwarts?”

  “Well…” Alec scratched his neck. “It isn’t exactly like Hogwarts; I’ll tell you that.”

  I glanced from one of them to the other. Neither appeared to be joking. Cassie wasn’t exactly a good actress, but now she was either starring in the performance of a lifetime, or she wasn’t joking and all of this was real.

  “And this morning? With my mother?” The sarcasm had vanished from my voice, and all that remained was shock.

  “That would be me.”

  In an instant, the seat opposite Alec and next to Cassie, which had been empty seconds before, was occupied by a man who was perhaps even more stunning than Alec. Jet-black hair, blue eyes the color of the ocean, a strong jaw, and a scar through his left eyebrow that somehow made him look even more attractive. If this guy would’ve walked straight out of a movie set, I would’ve believed it. Guys this hot didn’t usually hang out in our boring little town.

  I was dreaming, I had to be. One hot guy turning up was one thing, but him claiming to be a warlock, and then another equally stunning specimen turning up?

  I should have pinched myself to wake up, but all I could do was stare at the guy who had literally materialized out of thin air.

  “Do you always have to pop up everywhere unannounced?” Cass barked at him, irked. “How about using the front door like everyone?”

  “You’re just jealous of my skills,” the blue-eyed hottie said.

  “Of a demon?” Cass snorted. “Hardly.”

  I blinked slowly, the words barely sinking in.

  A demon?

  A warlock was bad enough, but an actual demon?

  “Name’s Christian. Which is a bit ironic, I have to admit.” The newcomer held out a hand toward me, and I automatically reached out to shake his hand, but Cass slapped my hand away.

  “You don’t want to know this one, trust me,” she said.

  I jerked my hand back without protesting and gaped from one stranger to the other. If this wasn’t a dream, but some kind of messed-up version of reality, how could I ever trust my best friend again if she talked to creatures like warlocks and demons and had never once told me about it? Who was she, really? Did I even know her?

  “You look like you’re about to come up with a brand-new theory about the creation of the universe,” Christian commented while gazing at me. “Don’t hurt your brain too much, love. Just accept what we’re telling you, and don’t try to make sense of it.”

  I struggled to reclaim my ability to speak. “You’re… you’re a… a demon?” I sounded like a toddler attempting to say her first ever actual sentence.

  “Yes,” he replied. “And I’m also the one who possessed your mother this morning. In all fairness, Alec told me not do it, but I just had to. The look on your face, by the way, pure comedy gold.”

  The demon seemed to find the whole experience enjoyable. As if scaring me and even worse, my mother, was a joke.

  “You scared the hell out of me!” I felt anger flaring through me, despite my shock, despite how terrified I felt. “And my mother!”

  Christian e shrugged. “She’ll forget all about it by this evening, trust me. A one-time possession is not that bad. Besides, we had to do something, else you wouldn’t believe us.”

  “Believe you about being warlocks and demons? I still don’t believe you.” I gazed at Cass, growing exasperated. “Please tell me there’s a hidden camera somewhere.”

  Cass’s expression was pained. “I’m sorry, Dev. There isn’t. Warlocks, demons, witches, all the things that go bump into the night… They’re real.”

  “And you knew this? But you decided not to tell me?”

  The hurt at her betrayal was even worse than the shock I felt at what the guys had just told me.

  “Of course, she didn’t tell you,” Christian said while he tapped Cassie on the head, as if she was a child. “She didn’t tell you, because she’s one of us.”

  Chapter Four

  I stared at Cassie, my best friend for over ten years, as if it was the first time I had ever seen her. Warlocks, demons, and what not being real was one thing. But my best friend being one of them, and not telling me about it?

  Did I even know her? Who was the real Cassie? What other secrets had she kept from me?

  “Dev, it’s not like that…” Cassie reached for my hand, but I pulled away from her. All I could feel toward her was shock and anger.

  “Then explain.”

  Cassie sighed. “Fine. But you have to understand, Dev. I couldn’t tell you. I wasn’t allowed to. We’re not supposed to reveal who we are to humans. And all these years, I thought you were… Well, human.”

  “Uhm, excuse me, but I’m pretty sure I’m one hundred percent human.” I looked at the three of them as if they’d all grown four heads. Them being something supernatural, I was willing to come to terms with, but good old me? I was definitely human. In all the years I’d walked this earth, I had never developed the ability to possess people, levitate objects, or do whatever it was Cassie could do.

  “Humans don’t get invited to the Academy, love,” the demon said. “So, you’re one of us, all right. The only reason why all of us showed up is because none of us has any idea what you are yet.”

  Cassie frowned. “All of you showed up? Well, where are the others then?”

  Alec shrugged. “On their way.”

  Others? The Academy? There were more of them—an entire school of them? And they wanted me to join them?

  I wanted to get up and start running, but with this one guy being able to pop up out of thin air, I doubted I would get far, so I tried to keep calm even though my h
eart hammered in my chest.

  “Which one are you?” I asked Cass. “Warlock, or demon?”

  “I’m neither?” She shrugged, staring down at the table. A faint blush had crept up her cheeks, and I knew she probably felt embarrassed for keeping something like this from me, but that didn’t stop me from being mad at her. We told each other everything! I’d told her how horrible it had made me feel that my father just up and left, how insecure I felt about not a single guy in high school being even remotely interested in me. Everything. Every single thing, I had told her. And then I figured out, on my birthday none the less, that there was an entire part of her life that she had kept secret.

  “I’m a siren,” Cassie eventually confessed.

  Demons, warlocks, and now freaking sirens? “Next you’re going to tell me vampires and werewolves are real too.”

  “Oh, they are,” the demon said. “Very real. And a total pain in the ass.”

  “Shut up, Christian.” Cassie snapped at him, and then turned to look at me. Tears were reflected in her gaze. “I’m really sorry, Dev. Really. But if we tell humans about our existence, it means banishment.”

  “Sometimes even death at the stake.” A nostalgic smile crossed Christian’s features. “Ah, the good old days, that delicious smell of witchy flesh on fire…”

  “Can you keep your mouth shut for a second?” Cassie rolled her eyes at him before focusing her full attention back on me. “So, I couldn’t tell you about who I really am. But I never lied to you about anything else. I did go to college, just not community college you thought I was attending. Last year, I enrolled into the Academy for the Wicked.”

  “And what is this ‘Academy’ exactly? It’s a school for… you people?”

  “‘You people’?” Alec chuckled. “That includes you too, princess, so you might start thinking of your future home in a slightly more affectionate way.”

  The door to Joe’s Diner opened. The trademark ting-a-ling sound of the wind chime above the door disrupted our conversation, and to my horror, Alfred came stomping in. I quickly got up from my seat—an angry Alfred was even more frightening than a warlock and a demon stopping by for lunch. As usual, Alfred had drunk too many beers at the pub and his alcohol-induced rage was directed toward me. Even when drunk, Alfred wouldn’t be abusive toward the customers who were his livelihood, but the hired help who spent twelve hours a day on minimum wage in the midst of summer? Why not?