“I didn’t choose this,” I told her, watching things get physical between Lucy and the other me.
My weapon wasn’t forming. Why did I get the feeling it wasn’t going to show?
“The deal is done,” Selena said, with a sigh. “I would have preferred one of your boy toys, but she’ll do.”
“No,” I said. “You can’t really care about this. Tell me what you really want.”
She laughed. “I want one of your friends to suffer while I’m incarcerated, Tina. I want you to watch the demon use her until she’s nothing more than an empty husk. You could have stopped it. You could have joined me, but you refused.”
That was what this is about? “I was never going to join you.”
She shrugged. “You’re pretty boring anyway, sis. I don’t feel very connected to you at all.”
“Believe me, the feeling’s mutual.”
“Mum didn’t feel a connection either. She told me when she drove me home. I’m her only real daughter. She doesn’t know where you came from.”
Anger rose inside me, raging to burst forth, wanting me to attack the bitch in front of me. Then she smirked, and I realised exactly what she was doing. The demon in this dreamscape was particularly potent. He was infecting the atmosphere around us.
Suddenly, Lucy’s wellbeing wasn’t my only concern. This beast got loose? The world was going to burn.
There was no point in trying to reason with Selena. She’d already proven she didn’t care about anyone or anything. I focussed on bringing my weapon forth. Something seemed to be blocking it. I couldn’t understand it. I was helpless without it.
“The demon is already in full possession of your friend,” Selena told me. “She was so close to summoning one to her before I put him in here. She was so ready and willing to go dark.”
I turned to take a swing at Selena and she laughed, moving away swiftly. Almost becoming a blur.
“I’m not really here, Tina,” she whispered, fading in front of me.
She left without an exit. She didn’t seem to be bound to the set of rules I’ve followed my whole life. Maybe they weren’t really necessary. How the hell would I know? My entire life had been built on lies. Why should this shit be any different?
“Calm down, Tina,” I muttered aloud, reminding myself I’m trapped in a dreamscape with a powerful wrath demon. I’d thought the last one was bad. This was pure torture.
Lucy and the rotten version of me were still fighting. Arguing loudly, throwing things, hitting each other. Ugh. This was like something out of a bad movie.
“Stop it, both of you,” I cried out, hoping to hell that drawing the demon’s attention would be what it took to bring my weapon forth. Hoping I wasn’t about to screw this up.
It could be my only shot. Who knew what would happen once this asshole was set loose in the physical world? They both turned and stared at me, and it was immediately obvious that the demon was Lucy. I knew it already, but seeing her eyes glow red made my guts twist.
“What’s it going to take to convince you to go home?” I asked, flexing my fingers.
“A dream walker without a weapon? How amusing,” the demon said, cocking Lucy’s head to one side. “I’m sure you’re aware, but I’m just as capable of sending you to meet your maker as you are of sending me back to mine.”
Ugh. He’s a talker. Usually the powerful ones are. I don’t know why I’m surprised.
“Just try it, asshole.”
He grinned. “Very well.”
The room started to pulse, white hot rage burning through my veins as he approached me, slowly, like he had all the time in the world. I clenched my fists, ready to use them.
“She was never there for you, Tina,” the demon told me, adding fuel to the fire. “Not once. Not ever.”
I shook my head, trying to fight it. He was right. The thought made me sick. I didn’t want it to be true.
“She gave me a job. She let me move in.”
He laughed. “You think she would have done those things if they didn’t benefit her? She had nothing to lose with the job. She could make herself feel good, and if you fucked it up it was no skin off her nose. You think she would have let you in the flat if she had a boyfriend? She was just using you, trying not to feel lonely. It made her feel good to be nice to her stupid slacker friend. I’ll let you in on a secret. She never expected you to stick around this long.”
Where the hell was my weapon? I wanted to beat this creep with it until his dreamscape body was mush.
“That’s it, give me your rage, Tina. Let me drink every last...”
I laughed as the penny dropped. He didn’t want Lucy. He wanted me.
“Screw that,” I said, darting for the exit.
I could feel him breathing down my neck every step of the way, but I made it. I got out. I woke up.
I was not going to let a demon destroy this town. It was time to get smart about this shit.
“Mason, wake up,” I said, shaking him a little as I pulled away from him.
He grumbled and groaned as he sat up. “What time is it?”
“It’s time to exorcise a demon. You have to hurry. We’re going to run out of time.”
Chapter Forty
If the demon had the ability to force Lucy awake, I was sure he would do that. As it was, Mason griped all the way to Lucy’s place about needing to use the bathroom, but we got to the flat while she was still asleep. I looked in on her and bit down on my lip.
“Can I take a piss now?” he asked, grinding his teeth.
“Help me tie her up first. We may not have much time.”
Lucy wasn’t big or muscular. It shouldn’t take much to restrain her. I picked up tights from her open dresser drawer and threw Mason a pair. He scowled at me as I started to tie one slender wrist through her headboard. He did the other as quickly as possible before dashing to the bathroom while I tried to decide if it was enough.
She was still out, thankfully. I heard Mason sigh in relief in the other room. He came back through a handful of seconds later, a lot less agitated than he’d been.
“So what’s the emergency?”
“Lucy’s possessed,” I told him, shrugging when he frowned at me.
“You were in my dream last night.”
“Yeah, I dispelled a demon.”
“Shit,” he said, frowning. “I didn’t notice.”
“Kind of how they work,” I told him.
“So you were in her dream too?”
“I was in a few dreams last night. Selena decided to make me jump through some hoops. This is her end game. I couldn’t exorcise this one. Something’s different about him and I need to figure out what, or we’re screwed.”
I took Selena’s phone out of my pocket and looked through it. She didn’t have a contact titled Mum, but she did have one titled Bitch and the text messages they exchanged had a distinctly mother-daughter feel to them. I took a chance and hit dial.
Mason kept his gaze on Lucy, looking like he was ready to smack her down if she gave him any trouble.
“Hello?” My mother asked, picking up after a single ring. “Tina, is that you?”
“It’s me,” I said, suddenly kind of lost for words. It felt weird to be calling her. Weirder still that she seemed eager to talk to me. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I cleared my throat, trying to remember what I needed to ask her.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” I told her. “Well, kind of. Selena had all seven demon types and she forced me to fight them until there was one left. Then my weapon wouldn’t come, and I had to leave the dreamscape before the demon possessed me.”
“Oh, Tina,” my mother said. “I’m so sorry. She shouldn’t have been able to do any of that.”
She sounded weary, and a little sad. I tried to stay focussed. Lucy was still sleeping, which freaked me out considering we’d managed to come into her room and tie her up while she was out of it. Something had to be keeping her under.
> “I don’t know what I need to do.”
“You wouldn’t,” she started. “This should never have happened. She’s pushing your limits. I’m surprised you were able to exorcise six demons in one night, Tina. It must have been exhausting.”
“A couple of them didn’t have good footholds,” I told her. “It wasn’t so bad.”
“You ran out of energy,” she told me. “You need rest before you can take on the final demon.”
“Rest?” How was I supposed to manage that? Every time I sleep I keep going to go back to the dreamscape. That was, while Lucy was asleep. My stomach churned just contemplating what might happen when she woke up. “The demon was so powerful. I can’t let him walk around the real world just because I’m out of juice. I can’t sleep without going back to the dreamscape either. So I’m open to suggestions.”
She sighed. “I can come back and hold him off until you recover.”
“You know what? Don’t feel obligated,” I snapped. “It’s not like you’re my...”
“I’m sorry, Tina. I know that’s not good enough. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make things right between us. There’s something you should know.”
“Something I should know?”
She hesitated before following up with, “About your father.”
“You can tell me when you get here,” I told her, hanging up before she could find some excuse or other not to come.
Mason looked at me. “She’s coming back?”
I nodded. “She has to.”
Because I had no clue what I was going to do if she didn’t. This is your chance, mum. Make things right. Help me toss this demon back to hell. It’s where he belongs. It’s where they all belong.
Chapter Forty-One
Lucy slept as if she was passed out cold. I watched her and I could hardly believe this was the same person I’d known my whole life. The friend I’d been close to since we were kids. I didn’t feel that bond that used to be there. I couldn’t reconcile how I’d seen her, versus how she’d been seeing me.
Maybe I was never her best friend. Maybe she’s always been the kind of girl who was just waiting for a man to come along, because she wasn’t capable of building friendships. It seemed sad, but it was starting to look true.
“You look strange,” Mason told me, concern in his gaze.
“You were right about her,” I told him, feeling horrible even saying it. “She was never really my friend.”
He put an arm around me. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” I asked, hugging him back.
“It sucks when you find out someone isn’t who you thought they were.”
It really did, but I tried to shake it off. I needed to get ready for what was next, and I barely even knew what that was.
We stood around in the bedroom for a while before Mason got twitchy again. This time his stomach was growling, so I could guess what was bothering him.
“There’s probably some breakfast stuff in the fridge.” Not that I remembered buying any. I hadn’t been here often enough to think about it. Lucy always had things stocked up though. She was always organised like that.
“I can wait.” He was lying, but it was cute that he was making an effort.
“Just go and look.”
He hesitated for a second before leaving the room. “I’ll be back in a sec,” he called back to me.
“Take your time,” I called back.
Lucy wasn’t in a normal sleep. We’d been making noise this whole time. She hadn’t stirred one little bit. We were unlikely to waken her with our noise, though I couldn’t be sure what would do the trick. I suspected her demon was at the controls already. For what purpose, I had no clue.
I’d have to wait for my mother to show to find that out, and the woman was taking her time.
I took Selena’s phone out and went through their messages to each other once more. Nothing too notable. Selena being vague and our mother asking a lot of questions and making some threats. She couldn’t keep my sister in line as far as their messages showed.
“You want some cereal?” Mason asked, coming back into the room with a bowl of the honey hoop off brand cereal that Lucy seemed to prefer.
“I’m not really hungry,” I told him. My stomach was in knots over this possession.
I wanted it to be over already. For things to get back to normal. That wasn’t going to happen.
Mason raised the bowl closer to his face as he ate, turning to watch Lucy as he did so.
“She hasn’t moved,” I told him. Not even a tiny little bit.
I could see the steady rise and fall of her chest, but she was otherwise behaving like a dead body.
“Do we want her to wake up?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
I shrugged. “Until my mum gets here and can help, I don’t think so.”
“Okay,” he said between mouthfuls. “Then should we leave the room?”
I hesitate at the suggestion, wondering if the demon could be playing us, waiting for his moment.
“I don’t know,” I told him, shaking my head.
He nodded, and went on eating. When he was done, he placed the bowl on her dresser.
My phone started to ring. Scratch that. Selena’s phone started to ring. I answered quickly.
“I’m in town. Where are you?”
I rattled off the address and she said she’d be with us in five.
When the door finally knocked, I asked Mason to get it. Didn’t feel safe leaving Lucy alone. I wasn’t entirely convinced she was asleep.
“Where is she?” I heard my mother ask.
“In here,” I called out, sticking my head out the door.
They came into the room and my mother smiled tightly at me.
“Tina, we should talk.”
Mason looked at me and I nodded. He left the room, closing the door behind him.
“What is it?” I asked, watching her face.
“You’re not going to like this.”
“Tell me anyway.”
“Your father was a host.” She reached out to take my hand.
I hesitated before allowing her to hold it.
“He was possessed by a demon,” she went on, her gaze drifting downward. “The demon won.”
“So, he’s dead?” I asked, feeling nothing. My father had never been in the picture. I’d thought of him as dead for most of my life. It didn’t hurt me to know that was true.
She shook her head slowly. “The man I fell for was a demon.”
I tried to understand what that meant, but I couldn’t quite grasp her full meaning. “It doesn’t make me a demon...”
“You’re right. It doesn’t.” She nods slowly. “It doesn’t affect your DNA. It doesn’t make you a different person.”
“So why does it matter?” I asked.
“It matters because Selena put you through a trial,” she told me, smiling sadly.
“A trial?”
“Your grandmother never told you?”
“She gave me information on a need-to-know basis,” I replied, a little irritated by the surprise in her voice. If she didn’t want her mother to raise me the way she had, she shouldn’t have left me with her.
“Oh. Well, certain demons can put dream walkers through trials. Selena... well she spent more time with demons than I ever realised and she learned to do the same.”
“How do you know that?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.
“I know because she did it to me,” she said with a wry smile. “I got through it fast because your father helped me. Otherwise, I would have become possessed by the most powerful demon of the bunch.”
“Is that why Lucy’s still sleeping?”
She nodded. “The demon wants you to sleep. He can possess you if he gets the chance now. You’ve used up all your energy. The weapons forged in each dreamscape use up energy that you have to have dreamless sleep to be able to regenerate. There are no ways to destroy a demon if you can’t form a weapon.”
/>
“What happens now?” I asked.
“I’ll awaken your friend, and I’ll keep her busy. You need to sleep. At least an hour, two at most. It’ll be enough to let you take her on.”
Okay. We had a plan. I nodded, ready to set a two hour timer on my phone.
She moved over to the bed and slapped Lucy across the face, hard. I felt it across the room, my cheeks reddening at the noise.
“Wake up, demon,” my mother called out in a sing-song tone.
Lucy didn’t stir, at least, not until she got another slap. A harder one. Her eyes opened, glowing red as she surged against the restraints and growled venomously.
“Go, Tina,” my mother told me.
I hesitated. It felt wrong to leave, but I knew she had this. I took a breath as I made for the exit. Time to rest now. I have a demon to exorcise later.
Chapter Forty-Two
Mason was pacing in the hall when I got out there. He looked at me expectantly.
“I need to sleep while she looks after Lucy.”
A crash from the other room made me wince. He raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah, we woke her up first.”
He followed me as I headed for my bedroom. I slipped out of my trainers and got onto the bed.
“So, um, you’re just going to sleep?” he asked, sounding nervous.
“It’s the only chance I have at defeating that demon.”
“Can’t your mother take care of it?”
“I don’t think so,” I told him, lying down. “She said it was a trial that Selena put me through. I need to defeat all the demons.”
“Shit,” he said, pacing around.
“Can you wedge the door shut and come over here?”
He nodded, wedging my desk chair under the handle. I moved over to make room and he lay down next to me. I set a timer on my phone and put it down next to me.
“Two hours. I have to sleep and not dream.”
“You can do that?” he asked, teasing a little.
“Shut up,” I mumbled, holding onto his hand when he put his arm across my stomach.
“I guess I shouldn’t wish you sweet dreams.”
I snorted as I closed my eyes. My brain was ready to shut down for a bit. I’d been wired before but now I was ready to crash. One to go, I thought to myself as I passed out.
Quicksand Nightmares (Seven Deadly Demons Book 2) Page 11
