A Demon's Wrath: Part II (Peachville High Demons) (5 page)

“If that human girl died tonight, it was
definitely not her own choice,” I said. “She was
terrified.”

“No, but maybe their ritual is a way of
exchanging one life for a greater, more powerful one,” Andros
said. “Maybe it is through sacrificing a human life that they
are able to summon a demon to take her place?”

We all thought about it for a moment and the
forest grew quiet except for the sound of the nightbirds overhead.

The fact was that Andros and his friends had no
idea what was really going on in that ritual. They were guessing
about most of it.

“How many of these rituals have you
witnessed?” I asked.

“I have seen five,” Ourelia said. “The
most of anyone.”

She moved to sit on a stump near the fire.

“I was just a child the first time,”
she said. “A shadowling of only seven years. I should have been
at home in my bed, but on that night there was a starshower unlike
any in ages. I left my warm bed and came out to the field to watch
the stars. I lay down in the firegrass and stared up at the sky. It
was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my young life.”

She hung her head low so I could no longer see her
eyes.

“I accidentally fell asleep in the grass,
but I heard the scream and woke up, scared to death. It was my
mother’s voice. A single, terrified scream that rang out and
then was cut short, like her throat had been sliced with a dagger. I
couldn’t move. I was completely helpless as I watched her
writhing there above the summoning stone, a pool of emerald green
light growing against the darkness of the night. I heard the human
witch call her name. And then she was gone.”

Ourelia sobbed and Andros joined her on the stump,
wrapping his arms around her small frame.

“I ran to her, just as you did tonight,”
she continued. “I tried to figure out where she had gone and
what I could do to save her. But the light was gone and I was
frightened. I saw the silhouette of the black roses on the ground,
but I could feel the strange pull and power of them. I knew they were
enchanted somehow, but at the time, I didn’t understand the
magic. The very idea of such a dark magic was so foreign to me, I
thought maybe I’d been dreaming.

“And then I heard the hunter approaching.
She slithered out of the darkness like a snake, floating just above
the ground. I think the hunters are somehow tied to their portals,”
she said. “And whenever someone comes near them, they appear in
order to protect them. I thought she had come to kill me, and maybe
she had, but she laughed when she saw that I was so young. Weak she
called me. I wept and she laughed. She told me my mother was lost
forever. That she had been taken to a place where her powers would be
appreciated.”

I sucked in a breath. “That’s what
Aerden told me,” I said.

“Your brother?” Andros asked,
surprised. “When?”

“The day before he disappeared. We had an
argument and he told me he was leaving the city,” I said. I
looked to Lea, then looked down at my hands. She didn’t know
everything I’d talked to Aerden about that day, so I chose my
words carefully. “He said he’d met a woman who had told
him of a great land where his powers would be appreciated and used.
But he’d said she was beautiful. Not a hunter.”

Andros shook his head. “That doesn’t
make sense,” he said. “Usually a demon doesn’t know
they are going to be taken. It doesn’t fit somehow. What else
do you remember? What did you see when you had your vision of him
being taken?”

“The portal light was blue, not green,”
I said. “And he was shackled with spiked cuffs on his wrists
and legs.”

“Strange,” Andros said, standing and
stroking his face.

“It’s late and we’ve talked
enough for one night,” Ourelia said, touching his arm gently.
“Let’s eat and rest. We’ll have plenty of time to
work through the details later.”

The demons in the camp all moved to gather around
the table. Lea helped me stand and I took a seat next to Ourelia.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “About
your mother.”

“I know it is difficult to watch and do
nothing. Believe me when I say there is no one here who thirsts for
vengeance more than I do,” she said. “If I could, I would
kill every hunter in this world and every witch in the next. But we
have to be smart. Until we understand them better, their power is too
much for us.”

“Someday, we will have our vengeance,”
Andros said, taking Ourelia’s hand in his.

After that, talk around the table turned to
introductions and food and questions about living in the castle, but
I focused all my thoughts on that one word left ringing in my ears.

Vengeance
.

I awoke to pain. I hissed in and sat up. Azira
knelt beside my bed on the floor, applying some kind of paste to my
wounds.

“I’m sorry I woke you,” she said
in a whisper. “My father was a shaman and he taught me how to
make a few poultices with herbs common to this area. It took me a few
hours to find everything I needed, but I am hoping this will help
you.”

I saw she had cut a long slit along the leg of my
pants where the roses had burned me. The healing paste had a foul,
swampy odor, but the areas where it was sinking in felt cool.

“Thank you,” I said. “It’s
helping already.”

I glanced around the campsite. After dinner, most
of the demons had retreated to their own huts. Lea and I had
discussed heading home for the night, but Andros had insisted we
stay. With my leg still hurting, I agreed. I wasn’t sure I was
ready to face my parents right now, anyway. Azira and Ourelia had set
up soft beds of blankets and rags near the fire for us. Lea was
sleeping soundly on the opposite side of the fire, her face so
peaceful in the flickering light.

“The herbs will draw the heat away from the
burns,” Azira said.

I lifted my shirt over my head and nodded toward
the ointment. “May I?”

“Of course,” she said, sliding it
toward me before going back to work on my leg.

I dipped my hand into the paste and rubbed it
along my side. As soon as my hand touched the burns on my chest, an
unexpected energy flowed through me. I pulled away, surprised. The
area I had touched tingled, then cooled.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, shaking
my head. “I just had the strangest surge of energy.”

Her eyes grew wide with wonder.

She grabbed my shirt from the ground and wiped the
healing ointment from my side. “You’re a healer,”
she said.

I shook my head to protest, but when I looked
down, I saw that the wounded area was nearly healed while the
untouched spots were still red and blistered.

“It has to be the ointment,” I said.

“No. This ointment is very basic,” she
said. “It takes days to heal burns this deep. Look.”

She used my shirt to wipe a small section of the
paste off my leg. Underneath, the burns were still red and puffy.

“How is this possible?” I asked. “I
would have known if I had a gift like this.”

“Not necessarily,” she said. “For
one, many of our gifts do not present themselves until we are older.
Everyone knows that. And second, you probably haven’t had many
injuries in your lifetime, seeing as how you grew up in the king’s
city under the protection of the crown.”

I stared down at my side, twisting to get a better
view. This was incredible.

I dipped my hand into the paste and rubbed it
along the small section of my leg she had treated earlier. Again, the
strange energy pulsed through me, cooling the burns as if I had
placed ice against my skin.

Azira waited a moment, then removed the paste. The
skin underneath was still a little red, but nothing like it had been
a moment ago.

She laughed, then covered her mouth as Lea
muttered and rolled over.

“You have two gifts,” she said. “Night
vision and healing. Although, I would guess neither of these are your
primary gift. What else can you do?”

She pushed the ointment toward me again and I
worked, placing the paste all along the my right side where the magic
of the roses had burned me.

“I can manipulate water,” I said. “I’m
especially good with ice. My brother Aerden was my opposite,
controlling fire.”

Sadness seeped into my voice. Ice and fire were
not rare gifts, but as a team, we were a perfect pair.

“You miss him greatly,” she said. “I
have never met twins before.”

“I feel like a part of me has been severed.”

“I understand,” she said, lowering her
eyes to the ground.

And I think she did. I could hear it in her voice
and see it in her face. Who had she lost? I had been so wrapped up in
my own sadness these past ten years, I had failed to see the sadness
of so many around me.

She didn’t ask about my other gifts, but I
knew I still had one more. It still hadn’t matured to its full
power, I didn’t think, but it was much more rare and possibly
much more valuable.

I could see visions of the future.

And all these visions had told me so far was that
things were going to get a lot worse before they would ever get
better.

When morning came, my wounds were almost
completely healed.

“Incredible,” Andros said, staring at
my leg. “This is a very useful gift, my friend. We could really
use a healer in our camp.”

Lea and I exchanged glances.

We had only briefly talked about what we would do
if Andros’s information seemed to be true or interesting.
Before we saw the portal ritual, Lea had been convinced going to her
father was the right thing to do. I hoped she wasn’t still
thinking of talking to him about what we’d seen. Especially now
that we could be sure our parents already have some awareness of
what’s been going on.

Still, I couldn’t promise anything to Andros
without speaking with her. Even if our future was uncertain, she was
still technically my promised mate and I owed her that respect.

Andros nodded. “I understand that you will
want to discuss this,” he said. “But I’m going to
ask you to please not speak with the king about The Resistance. It
would put all of us in danger.”

Lea hesitated, but then held her hand out toward
Andros. “I give you my word that for now I will not discuss the
specifics of what we’ve seen with my father. I promise not to
tell anyone of your camp here on the border of the icelands.”

Andros took her hand and bowed his head to her.
“Thank you, Princess.”

“What are your intentions with this
Resistance Army?” I asked. “What do you hope to
accomplish?”

Andros stepped back and clasped his hands behind
him. “We want to destroy the Order of Shadows,” he said
simply, as if it were an achievable task.

“And how do you plan to go about doing
that?” Lea asked. She looked around the small group gathered in
the camp. They were hardly an army.

“First, we will gather as much information
about them as we can. Once we know how they work, what magic they are
using and what weaknesses they may have, we will start to develop a
plan of attack,” he said. “We will continue to recruit
those who would join us and fight with us. And, eventually, we will
start a war against these humans. We will not stop until they are
dead and the portals are destroyed.”

“And what about the demons on the other
side?” I asked, thinking of Aerden. “Do you hope to
develop a plan for rescuing them?”

“If they can be rescued,” Andros said.
“We don’t have enough information about what’s
going on once the demons are pulled through to know if they can be
saved.”

“But if they can be saved—”

“Then we will save everyone,” Andros
said. “And I hope you’ll be there by my side. As future
rulers of the kingdom, your commitment to The Resistance would mean
more than you can know.”

Lea nodded, then raised an eyebrow toward me.

I bowed to Andros. “Thank you for your
hospitality last night,” I said. “And for trusting us
with what you have learned so far. We have a lot to discuss.”

Andros stepped toward me. “I’m truly
sorry for the loss of your brother, but if you join us, I promise I
will do everything in my power to help you either save him or avenge
his memory,” he said. “You have my word.”

I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Thank
you, my friend.”

Lea and I gathered our weapons and started toward
the road.

Andros called out, stopping us at the edge of the
village. “Be careful on the way home,” he said. “The
witch last night saw your face.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It means she’ll be looking for you,”
he said.

A chill ran up my spine. Looking for me?

“And what do I do if she finds me?” I
asked him.

He raised an eyebrow and the left side of his
mouth curled into a smile. “Run.”

It was a long trip home. Once we got closer to the
castle, we decided to walk instead of fly, hoping that by not using
any magic, the guards at the gate would not be able to track our path
back to the camp.

At this point, I wouldn’t have been
surprised if the king had instructed some of his personal sentinels
to follow us.

I wanted to discuss our plans, but I was scared to
hear what Lea would have to say. I knew she wouldn’t want to
openly betray her father by joining The Resistance. And how could I
join without openly betraying her in the process?

But I wanted to join them.

I wanted to see the end of the Order of Shadows.

“Just say it.” After miles of walking
in silence, Lea finally stopped and turned to me. “I know what
you’re thinking. I can feel the anger and worry coming off you.
Let’s just get it out in the open.”

I took a deep breath. How could I convince her to
want what I wanted?