A Demon's Wrath: Part II (Peachville High Demons) (15 page)

I looked into Lea’s eyes.

I have to stay. I’m sorry.

“No,” she screamed. Her voice was pure
desperation. The sound pulled Aerden’s attention and he looked
to her with such sadness, it broke me in two. She stared at him, then
back at me. “No, Denaer. Dammit, come with me. He’s gone.
You have to let him go, please.”

She begged me, tears streaming down her face. I
knew I should move quickly, but I couldn’t. I was broken from
the inside out. There was nothing left of me to save.

I shook my head, then fell to my knees as the
witches in the room formed a circle of joined hands. They began to
chant and I immediately felt my power start to drain from my body.

Behind her, Andros shouted for Lea to move. He
raised his sword against the circle of roses.

Lea clutched her hand to her broken heart, her
eyes locked on my face. Andros pulled her back just as the last of
the light disappeared and the portal closed.

The Human World – Present Day

I knelt on the ground near the ruined ritual room,
the memory stone clutched tight in my hand.

I had many reasons to hate the Order of Shadows.
They had broken my spirit and my heart too many times to count. But
the wrath I brought down on those witches the day I came through the
portal was every bit as horrible as anything the Order of Shadows has
done.

I have hated myself for the darkness that consumed
me in those moments.

I lost control. I killed an innocent girl who,
before that night, had no idea what it even meant to be initiated
into the Order.

But I had paid for my sins. With Harper’s
help, I had finally put things right here in Peachville. And with her
by my side, I wanted to continue this fight against the Order so that
every portal could be closed and every human and demon set free.

Would she still love me after she saw the memories
I had poured into the stone?

Would she understand why I did what I did? I knew
that sharing this with her would either bring us closer together or
tear us completely apart.

I could only pray she would forgive me for all the
mistakes I had made in my life. I hoped her love was strong enough.

I stood and placed the memory stone in my pocket
for the last time tonight. Then, I pulled out the locket Lea had
returned to me. My heart stone. It was empty now that she had given
it back.

I had never gotten the chance to use this heart
stone. Aerden had taken that burden from me, and even though his
intentions had been born of love, the lie had caused nothing but
pain.

I hoped that someday he would have the courage to
tell Lea the truth. But my future happiness was no longer tied to the
two of them. My heart belonged to another.

I carefully waved my palm over the delicate golden
locket. It fluttered open to reveal an empty stone inside a velvet
lining.

I smiled through my tears, then lifted the stone
from the case and brought it to my heart.

I felt like I could hardly breathe as I walked
through the back door of Brighton Manor.

I’d waited my whole life for a night like
this, never really believing I would ever get the chance to commit my
heart to someone out of choice rather than obligation.

I passed through the halls searching for her. And
when I found her, the look in her eyes took my breath away.

She crossed the room and threw her arms around my
neck. “Are you done?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said, my lips trembling
slightly over the word. God, I was as nervous as a shadowling. “I
have something I want to show you.”

I took her hand in mine and led her through the
hall and out the back door.

“Where are you taking me?” Harper
asked, giggling as we stepped into the darkness of the forest.

“Hold on,” I whispered. I held her
tight around the waist, then shifted into smoke and flew us through
the trees. I knew that Harper could shift on her own now too, but it
was nice to hold her tight to me, especially after the loneliness of
the past few hours.

I stopped just shy of Brighton Lake, taking her
human body in my arms and pulling her close to me. “I know it’s
been a strange night, and I’m sorry I’ve been so
distant,” I said, my mouth close to her ear. “But there
was something important I needed to do. Something I needed for you to
see.”

She pulled away so that she could look into my
eyes. “What is it?”

I took a deep breath. This was one of the most
terrifying moments of my life. I couldn’t imagine an eternity
without her. In my heart, I knew she wouldn’t turn her back on
me. But at the same time, showing someone your deepest, darkest
moments was never easy. It’s so rare that you love someone
enough to really bare your soul to them like that.

Or maybe it was trust that was rare.

“It comes in two parts,” I said. I
took the quartz stone from my pocket. “This is called a memory
stone. It allows you to see and feel any memory that has been placed
inside of it. I have spent most of my night in the past, remembering
everything that happened from the time Aerden was first taken all the
way until the day I came here to try to save him.”

I took Harper’s hand and opened her palm,
then placed the stone inside.

“When you close your fist around the stone
and close your eyes, you’ll be able to see everything I
experienced during that time in my life,” I said. “There
are so many things you don’t know about me. Things that
happened to me. Things I have done. And even the things you do know,
like what I did when I came through the portal, you might not truly
understand. I know I have kept so many secrets from you in the past,
but I don’t want there to be any more secrets. I want you to
understand everything about me, even the horrible things I have done
in my life.”

She stared at the stone in her hand, then looked
up, her eyes meeting mine. “Jackson, I love you no matter what
you’ve done,” she said. “I love for you everything
that you are, even the darkest parts of you that you haven’t
wanted anyone to see.”

I ran the back of my fingers across the softness
of her cheek. “I don’t deserve you,” I said in a
whisper.

“I wish you could see yourself the way I
do,” she said. “There is no one in this world or the next
who deserves love and happiness more than you. And no matter what I
see inside these memories, there’s nothing that will ever take
away from the love I feel for you. I hope you know that.”

“We’re going to face some tough times
ahead,” I said, thinking of what I knew we would soon have to
face. “The peace we’ve known the last few months isn’t
going to last. I needed to show you these memories in order to let go
of the past. It’s the only way we’re going to move
forward.”

Harper nodded, then sat down on a fallen log. She
took a deep breath, closed her eyes, then slowly closed her fist
around the stone.

She sat still and quiet for a long time as the
memories flowed through her. I knew it wasn’t exactly like
watching a movie or seeing these things happen in real time. It was
more of an absorbing of knowledge. Fifty years of my life were
flowing through her mind in the span of only an hour. It would be a
lot for her to take in.

I paced the path in front of her, waiting.

When she finally opened her eyes, tears cascaded
down her cheeks.

I held my breath, not knowing what to expect.

She stood up slowly, walked toward me, then placed
her palm against my face. She looked deep into my eyes and my heart
raced.

“You are the most loving, most loyal, most
beautiful being I have ever known,” she said. Her voice hitched
on the words. “Everything you have ever done has been born of
love. I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you.”

Hearing those words from her was like finding
light in the darkest corners of my heart. I slid my hands around her
waist and lifted her up, holding her tight against my body. She
wrapped her arms around my neck and lifted her lips to mine.

I poured my love into that kiss. My gratefulness.
All the ache of the past melted away in those moments as her lips
touched mine. I breathed her in and held her close, never wanting to
let her go.

But there was one more thing I needed to do
tonight.

One more secret hope in my heart.

When we parted, she smiled, her eyes twinkling.
“What’s the second part?”

“The second part is more fun,” I said,
taking her hand. “Close your eyes.”

She closed her eyes and let me lead her the rest
of the way down the path toward Brighton Lake. When we got to the
small dock surrounded by white roses, I smiled and nervously told her
to open her eyes.

She opened them slowly, then gasped, fresh tears
springing to her eyes.

Along the dock and floating across the entire lake
were more than a thousand white candles.

“You did all this for me?” she asked.

“This is only the beginning of what I hope
to someday do for you.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out two items.
A small piece of paper and a golden locket.

I unfolded the worn paper. It was fifty years old
and had been folded and unfolded a lot during that time. There wasn’t
much to the drawing itself. I’d never really had a chance to
finish it.

“I drew this just before I came through the
portal to Peachville,” I said. “I had stuffed it in my
pocket at the time, not really understanding its significance. In the
days following the ritual, when I was broken and powerless, bound to
human form and thrown in the attic at Shadowford, I spent a lot of
time looking at this drawing, wondering how my future would ever lead
me to something so beautiful.”

I handed her the drawing.

It was simple, but clear. A girl with long blond
hair and brown eyes standing in a window looking down at a boy,
seeing him for the first time. Neither of them understanding exactly
how much they would mean to each other.

“The moment I looked up at that window and
saw these eyes staring back at me, I knew that everything in my life
had been leading me to you.”

I took her hand in mine, then slowly dipped to one
knee before her.

“I know it’s human custom to give a
woman a ring when you propose to her, but in the demon culture we
share heart stones to reveal our true intentions. Our deepest
feelings. From my memories, you know that I never got to use my heart
stone with Lea. My engagement to her was never real, no matter what
anyone else may have thought. I never chose her. And I never loved
her the way I love you.”

Her lips parted slightly and her hand trembled in
mine.

“Harper Madison Brighton, never in almost
two hundred years of life did I ever dream I could find a love like
this. You are the strongest, bravest, most amazing woman I have ever
known.” Tears of love and joy streamed down my face as I looked
up into the eyes of the woman I loved. “Every moment of pain
and heartache. Every broken piece of my soul. It was all worth it
because it was all leading me here to this moment with you. You have
made me whole again. You have brought me happiness when I thought
there was no hope. If you’ll have me, I want to spend the rest
of my life with you.”

She took the golden locket in her shaking hands,
then fell to her knees on the ground in front of me.

“I have no life without you,” she
said.

She leaned into me, her body warm and quivering
against mine. I kissed her there among her mother’s beloved
white roses. The place where she and her sister had spread their
father’s ashes.

The place where we’d had our first date.

Where our two worlds opened up to each other. Not
from the evil magic of a corrupted witch’s greed for power, but
from the love between a demon king and a human girl.

This was the way our two worlds deserved to be
joined. This was the way it was in the beginning and the way it was
always meant to be. We would make it right again, even if it took a
hundred lifetimes.

“Are you going to open it?” I asked
her between kisses, motioning to the locket that still held the heart
stone.

“Yes,” she said, smiling through her
tears.

She set the locket against her palm, then waved
her hand across the top of it.

I pulled her close as the locket opened, revealing
a light so bright and a love so strong, a thousand candles could
never compare.

A light we would both cling to in the dark days to
come.

COMING THIS SPRING

A brand new Demons series begins this Spring
as Harper, Jackson, Lea and Aerden face even stronger
enemies inside the Order of Shadows.
 
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This part of Jackson’s story was so heart-breaking. Seeing Lea’s heartache
over the years also gave me so much insight into why she is the way she is. I
can’t wait to delve into her point-of-view in EMERALD DARKNESS. The best part,
though, was writing Jackson’s proposal. His love for Harper is so strong and
boy are they going to need it in these next battles! Thanks for coming back to
Peachville and the Shadow World with me.

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