The Infernal Sacrament (Guardians of Elysium Book 1)

by Nissa Leder

  Clearly, the stress of my mom’s letter has me confused.

  After not sleeping well—again—I woke up late and forgot to pack a lunch, so cafeteria food it is. I dig out a ten-dollar bill from my pocket and head toward the smell of greasy pizza and French fries.

  As I’m about to round the corner to the commons, I hear Claire’s voice. “His Pops passed it on?”

  Who is she talking to?

  “Yeah, but no one ever told him about his family’s heritage,” Tuck says.

  It makes sense it’s Tuck. His locker is right around the corner. But why would Claire and Tuck be talking about Darien? Every time they’re in the same room together, they find something to bicker over.

  Darien, Tuck, and I added Claire to our group when I met her in second grade, and while Claire and Darien have always gotten along, she and Tuck have a more frenemy-type relationship.

  I should let them know I’m here. Eavesdropping isn’t the classiest thing to do. But I know if I do, they’ll change the conversation, so I stay put.

  “And the new girl is his counterpart, I take it?” Claire says.

  Counterpart? What is that supposed to mean?

  “Yeah, that’s why she moved here,” Tuck says. “D finally learned the truth of it all the other night. He isn’t too happy.”

  “Oh, really?” Claire’s voice is full of sarcasm. “Let’s see here. He’s been planning an entire future for himself that now is pretty much impossible. Can you really blame him?”

  Tuck huffs. “I wanted to tell him years ago. But it wasn’t my place.” He pauses. “Don’t give me that look. What about you? Does Ava know anything about your bloodline?”

  Bloodline? Am I in some weird dream? They’re talking about things that don’t even make sense. I know she’s half Filipino, but somehow I don’t think that’s what he means.

  “That’s different. She isn’t a part of this world and we need to keep it that way.” Her tone is serious. “Darien can’t tell her anything.”

  “I don’t think he will,” Tuck says. “He wants to keep her safe and knows it’s all too dangerous.”

  I can’t listen to any more of this. My friends are hiding something from me. From the sound of it, something big and they’re all in on it.

  Claire knows something about Rachel’s sudden appearance at school and she hasn’t told me. And it has something to do with Darien and why he broke up with me.

  How can she lie to my face like that?

  Tears pool behind my eyes but I refuse to let them out. As betrayal, hurt, and confusion swirl inside me, I walk down the hallway and through the double doors, straight outside. I can’t be here right now.

  I unzip my messenger bag’s side pocket and pull out my cell. My three best friends are all lying to me, but I’m not a piece of fragile glass, ready to shatter at the slightest impact. Whatever it is, I can handle it.

  Right now, all I can think about is getting out of here. I need to think so I can process all of this, somewhere where I won’t run into any of them. I thought I was just crazy, but maybe everything strange that’s happened has all been real.

  Not wanting to go home yet, I call the first person I think of.

  I’m surprised when I see Ava’s name pop up on my cell phone. I’m even more surprised when I answer and she asks if I can pick her up from school.

  What makes it especially unusual is that it’s only noon. Unless they’re having some random half day, school shouldn’t be out yet.

  Thankfully, there isn’t a lot of traffic this time of day, so driving there doesn’t take as long as it would have if she called me after school. I pull up to the bus stop that we took yesterday, which is where she said to meet her.

  Ava’s sitting on the sidewalk ahead with her arms crossed in front of her chest. When she doesn’t notice me, I honk.

  She jerks her attention to my car and shakes her head, as if I pulled her out of a major zoning out, then she picks up her bag and gets into my car.

  “Sorry, I wasn’t really sure who else to call.” She buckles up.

  “No problem. I’m flattered you thought of me.” It sounds cheesy as can be, but it’s the truth. I should be focused on using it to my advantage somehow. It’s what a better half-demon would do. But the nerves in my stomach have me feeling more anxious than seductive. “Did you need to go somewhere?”

  She still hasn’t told me why she called. From the frown on her face, something bad must have happened at school. Did she fight with her ex? Or maybe she and Claire had a disagreement.

  “Anywhere where I can think more clearly,” she says as she stares out the window.

  Her emotions are a mess right now. I can read anger, sadness, and confusion in her aura. But why?

  Neither of us talks while I drive us to a nearby park. There are a few adults and toddlers by the little slide and swing set, so we get out of the car and walk to a picnic table at the other end.

  Ava sits on its top with her boots on its benches. She rests her elbows on her knees and her chin in her palms. The slight breeze blows her blond hair into her face. She groans and takes the hairband off of her wrist and puts her hair into a ponytail.

  I sit next to her. “Do you want to talk about anything?”

  She takes a deep breath and glances at me. “I think my friends are hiding something.”

  My body tenses. Did Claire tell her about me? No, she couldn’t have. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have called me. It must be something else. “What makes you think that?”

  Ava closes her mouth and stares at me as if questioning what she’s about to say. “I know it all sounds crazy, but it’s like they’re all part of this secret world they want to protect me from or something.”

  “Oh.” I’m not sure what else to say.

  She tilts her body toward me. “First, yesterday morning when I left my house, I noticed this car parked by my house. Then when I got off the bus, it was parked in front of the bus stop. Weird, but not too out of the ordinary. Then, after feeling jittery from sensing I was followed, I accidentally swung at Claire and she stopped my fist with her hand like it was as natural as breathing to her.” She pauses to catch her breath. “Then, when I was talking to Darien, this new girl bumped into him and I swore her skin glowed.”

  Her brows furrow. “I tried to brush it all off as not enough sleep the night before, but then today I overheard Claire talking to my friend Tuck. They said something about Darien inheriting something and not knowing, and the new girl, who by the way has seemed strangely obsessed with him since she randomly showed up at a football game completely out of nowhere, being his ‘counterpart.’ Is that some old-school word for girlfriend I’ve never heard about? A week ago, he was dating me. Then bam, he pushed me away completely out of the blue. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around it. Maybe there were signs I didn’t see. But for the life of me, I can’t think of a single thing that would make him dump me like that.”

  She exhales a long sigh. I think she just said more words in the last minute than she did our entire date.

  “Did they say anything else?” I ask, wanting to seem like a normal person listening to her vent.

  “Something about bloodlines, but I have no idea what that was supposed to mean.” She shrugs. “I’m crazy, right? There’s something I’m missing that keeps everything from making complete sense. There has to be.”

  I stare at her as I inhale the emotions swirling inside her. She’s confused and hurt and I don’t blame her. How a human ended up in this mess of the supernatural is beyond me, but she has.

  “Maybe you aren’t. What if there’s more to this world than most people know about?” I ask, testing her.

  “Like what, vampires and werewolves?” Her eyebrow curves.

  “Angels and demons.” The words are out of my mouth before I contemplate what telling her means. If I spill Claire and the rest of her friends’ secret, I’ll have to share my own.

  I expect her to laugh at me, but she doesn’t. “You think m
y friends are supernatural creatures?”

  As if I have my own inner angel on one shoulder and demon on the other, my mind argues with itself. I should tell her. It’s only fair she knows the truth. Claire deserves to be knocked off her high horse. But will the knowledge help Ava, or will she live in fear of all the dark creatures around her? Does not knowing keep her safe or endanger her more?

  Most importantly, what will she think of me if she knows the truth?

  With a deep breath, I make my decision. “Yes. What if they are?”

  She laughs but not as if what I’m saying is ludicrous, but as if she’s processing it all.

  “Surely, I would have been able to tell,” she says, her gaze locked on mine.

  “I need you to promise me something,” I say. “You have to finish this conversation with me and not run away.”

  She scans the park. “Okay.”

  “Swear?”

  “I swear.”

  I hope I don’t regret this. “I’m half demon.”

  “Ha ha. Okay, point taken. I’m just looking into things too much.” She shakes her head as if embarrassed she mentioned anything.

  Clearly, telling her the truth isn’t enough. I’ll have to show her instead.

  I use my demon gift and feed from the anger still swirling inside her first. Once I’ve latched on, I find her confusion and let my power pull it to me. I move toward her and rest my hand above her knee. My skin touches hers, and my demon side buzzes.

  With our gazes locked, I lean in and press my mouth onto hers.

  After our lips touch, I release my hold on her emotion and send it crashing back into her.

  When she realizes how close I am, she pushes me away. “What are you doing?”

  I step back and lift my hands up. “Showing you something. You promised you’d hear me out.”

  Ava scans the park. When she sees there are people on the other side, she relaxes and nods.

  “I really am part demon.”

  She tilts her head to the side. Specks of yellow scatter across her aura, a sign a part of her believes me.

  I continue, “I can use your own emotion against you, and, if you aren’t trained to fight me from your mind, I'm able to alter your feelings.”

  “Before you kissed me, all my worries vanished and I wanted your mouth on mine,” she says as her belief grows, the yellow in her aura expanding. “Have you been doing that the whole time you’ve known me?”

  Betrayal flashes around her.

  “No, I swear. I thought about it when we first met, but I wanted to get to know the real you.” I knew by telling her she’d question my intentions, and I hope she’ll believe me.

  “Are my friends demons?”

  I laugh so hard I almost snort. “No, Claire is half angel.”

  Ava doesn’t say anything so I continue. “I think your ex is a new Hellwalker. Someone who drags demons who interfere with humans back to hell. Has someone in his life died recently?”

  “His grandpa.” Her voice is nearly a whisper.

  “He must have passed on his gift. It’s a hereditary thing. The new girl must be his counterpart. Basically, the light to his darkness.”

  She still doesn’t respond, but the confusion in her grows. “They’re part of a Triad, so your other friend is probably their Priest. It’s all kind of complicated.”

  I meant for this to all come out normal and easy to follow, but the stupid angel world is so convoluted, keeping things simple isn’t easy.

  “Anything else?” She looks at me and I see the overwhelmed expression in her tired eyes.

  Maybe her friends were right. I’ve never told anyone about our world before. Maybe humans are better off in the dark.

  “I won’t hurt you, Ava. I promise.” I’m not sure if she’ll believe me, but I need her to know that I’m not evil. Something inside me wants her to trust me more than I’ve wanted anything else.

  “I should get home. I need to … think.” She pushes herself up from the table.

  “Of course.”

  We don’t talk as we walk back to my car or as I drive her home, but the yellow in her aura continues to shine. She’d seen all the signs and my explanation has only confirmed them. I want to say something to ease the betrayal she’s feeling, but I can’t find the right thing to say, so I keep quiet.

  When I pull in front of her house, she turns to me. “Thank you for telling me.”

  “You’re welcome,” I say.

  I want to ask her if I can see her again and promise her one more time she’s safe with me, but instead, I let her walk away.

  My head spins as I open the front door and enter our house.

  The aroma of garlic is the first thing that hits me, managing to pull me from the disbelief swirling inside my mind.

  “You’re home early,” Dad says from the kitchen area.

  Dad. Oh no. Why is he home?

  “Yeah, just had a headache.” I set my messenger bag on the dark granite island, small silver specks scattered through the black stone. It was Mom’s favorite part of the kitchen. A dark island to contrast with the white countertops, a fad she swears she came up with herself before it was all over HGTV. The kitchen was the first part of the house they remodeled. She was adamant that it be the perfect space for chef masterpieces. Her artistry didn’t limit itself to colored pencils and watercolors. Food was another medium in her eyes.

  Dad’s back is turned to me as he stirs something on the stove. “Sorry, Princess.”

  Princess. I was ten when I begged him to quit calling me such a little girl name. I’m thankful he never listened. Somehow, it’s nice to still be a child in his eyes.

  “I’m sure some aspirin will fix it.” I pull out a stool and sit on it, resting my elbows on the breakfast bar with a sigh.

  “Everything okay?” He twists the burner to low and spins toward me. His chestnut hair is cropped short, flecks of silver framing his face. His gray eyes narrow in concern behind metal frames.

  Finn’s confession sits on the tip of my tongue. But I can’t exactly share it with Dad. Yeah, it’s great. Just found out my friends have been lying to me my entire life. I wouldn’t even know about it if it weren’t for the demon I made out with the other night.

  Since I can’t burden him with all of that, I confess what now seems so small in comparison. “Darien and I broke up.”

  His small mouth frowns. After setting down his wooden stirring spoon, he walks to me and pulls me into a one-armed hug. “I’m sorry. You two have always been so close.”

  I lean into his side. “He’s going through a lot with Pops passing and all.”

  “Maybe you two will work it all out.” He pulls away and stares down at me with hope in his eyes. No point in crushing his optimism.

  “Maybe.” My lips form a smile I hope is convincing. “What are you doing home right now—cooking nonetheless?”

  He laughs as he returns to the stove and opens the oven. “Well, I have a seven o’clock flight to catch, and I wanted to make you some spaghetti to take over to Claire’s tonight.”

  Oh, right. He has an extended weekend trip for work, and I’m supposed to go to Claire’s to stay the night. That’s clearly not happening now, but he doesn’t need to know that.

  Guilt knots my stomach as I lie, “I’m sure Mrs. Atwood will appreciate a gourmet meal delivered right to her door.”

  Dad checks the watch on his wrist even though the microwave clock right in front of his face says it’s two o’clock. “Where has time gone?” He grabs a colander from the cupboard next to the sink, places it inside, dumps the noodles into it then rinses them. “You know how bad traffic can be.”

  “Not to mention TSA,” I say. “I can finish this up so you can get outta here.”

  “Well, okay.” He sets the hot pan back on a cool burner then walks over to me.

  I stand up and give him a proper hug, holding on just a little longer than usual. “Have a good trip.”

  He pats my back. “Be safe, okay
Princess?”

  “Always.”

  After he leaves to finish up some last-minute packing before heading out, I pour the noodles and sauce into a Tupperware container, take the garlic bread out of the oven and wrap it in some foil, then put both in the fridge for later.

  Right now, I’m about as far from hungry as I’ve ever been.

  By the time I have the kitchen cleaned up, Dad is packed and gives me one more hug before leaving. I watch his charcoal-colored Prius—Dad’s eco-friendly to his core—back out of the driveway and pull away, getting smaller and smaller until it turns and disappears completely.

  Then I scream, letting all my frustrations purge from my lungs. I don’t stop until my throat hurts and my ears pound. When I regain my composure, I go to my room and slam the door.

  I fight the urge to grab all the pictures of Darien, Tuck, Claire, and me and throw them in the trash. With a deep breath, I settle into my desk chair.

  How could the friends I’ve known nearly all my life lie to me for so long? Do they not trust me? And how did I not notice the signs sooner?

  Claire has always been flighty. Sometimes, she’d be at my house to stay the night when she’d get a text and say her dad needed her help with something. A dad, which by the way, I’ve never met. For as long as I’ve known her, her parents have been divorced. Something tells me that they never were really married. She’s always been beautiful, charismatic, if a bit, as Darien’s Gran would put it, of a floozy, which doesn’t scream angelic.

  And what about Tuck? He’s been attached to Darien’s hip like a blood brother. Are they actually connected in some bizarre supernatural bond? Even when Darien and I started dating, he never distanced himself from Darien. I felt a gap between him and me grow, but Tuck stuck by Darien without a hiccup.

  Then there’s Darien. The boy I love who’s not mine to love anymore. The way he pulled away as if we were suddenly two magnets with the same charge, not opposites as we’d been for so long. It all changed when Pops died. Up until then, things were great. I thought it was grief that made him pull away from me, but if everything Finn said is true, then it was something else. Something bigger.