Dark Calling (29 page)

Keely cringes as she recalls her moments with the same thing. 
She realizes that must have
been Dana that night at Nick’s
.  Another cringe shakes her body.

“I tried to fight her off, but once she
started worming her way in and
turned all…gooey
, it was impossible
.  I couldn’t get a grip on her.  I went for my stars, but they were gone.  I don’t remember taking them out
,
but then I saw them sitting on the dash board.  She must have done it while we were kissing or something.  I could see them, but I couldn’t reach them.  It was like my freedom was right there, right out of my grasp.  I couldn’t breathe.  And it tasted so bad man.  I just wanted to die.  Then it was over.  She was gone.  It was just me.  I picked up my stars, got out of Dana’s car and got into my own.  Drove myself downtown.  I just got out of the car and started walking.
  I walked for probably two hours.  I didn’t know where I was going, but I did at the same time.  I know that doesn’t make sense, but that’s how it was.  I walked right up to a house and went inside. 
There was another Demon there.  She knew him so I knew him, but I didn’t really.  He’s the same one
here that comes when Dana doesn’t.  She
knew him as Geryon.  A Demon
Guard.  From there, everything’
s a blur.  The next thing I clearly can recall is waking up here in the dark and freaking out.  I screamed
and yelled.  I begged and I prayed
until I lost my voice.  I made my fingers bleed trying to rip at
the bricks
.  I tried to get out until I was too exhausted to try anymore.  Then I just gave up.  I thought I was going to die here alone.  I made peace with it.  Then you showed up
.”  He smiles at the darkness.  “It was like total relief followed by complete panic
.  I was so happy you were all right
, so happy I wasn’t alone. 
You were alive. 
We were together.  But this place, this fate…I don’t want this for you, Kiem.  Not for you.  You can’t die.  Not here.  Not like this.  Not ever.”
 

The silence lingers betwee
n them.  She can hear the heavy
intake and release of his breathing.  “What happened that you got separated
from everyone
?” 

Kee
ly clears her throat several times trying to find her voice
.  “We went to Pandora to meet Apophis.  The plan was to meet at eight o’clock and exchange myself for my parents.  I mean, that wasn’t really the plan, but that was what we agreed
to with Apophis.  We got there
and he wasn’t there.  Then Dan
a came
.
”

“Did she hurt you?”
  B
itterness leaks back into his tone.

“No,” she lies.  “She did something, or somebody did something.  I don’t know what happened exactly, but o
ne second we’re standing there and everything’
s fine, then the next… I
t was like everyone
was losing i
t.  Like they saw something I didn’t.  It was just a rush of scared kids trying to get out all at once.  I was pushed to the ground and I haven’t seen Nick since.”

“What about the others?  Dustin and Lila?”

Keely hesitates.  She doesn’t know if she should tell him about Dustin.  Doesn’t know what
she
thinks
about Dustin.  Would she have done the same thing if it were Nick?
 
If it were Bryon? 
Would she turn on her friend?  Sacrifice someone else to save the person she loves?

“I don’
t know,” she says slowly almost to herself.  “We can’t count on anybody else to save us.  They can’t know where we are, we don’t even know where we are for sure.  Between the two of us, we can think of something to get out of here.”

He snorts.  “We can’t even see.  Maybe if we could, maybe if we had a weapon, maybe if we were together in the same cell
.  I don’t know
.
  I don’t want this for you, but I don’t know what to do.
”

“Think.  We can do this.”

He stands, grips the bars.  “That’s all I’ve done since I’ve been here.  It’s all I can do.  They have us, Keely.  There.  Is.  No.  Way.  Out.”

“
They took away your stars, your freedom, and your light.  Don’t let them break you too.  They’ve already taken enough. They want you to give up.  They want you weak.  They want another feeble follower.  Don’t give into them.
  They have taken too much from us, Bryon.
”
She lets her head thump against the wall that separates them.
“Bryon?  Are you with me?”

Bryon touches his forehead to th
e wall as well
and takes a deep breath.
  He can almost feel her on the other side.
 
Keely. 
He won’t let this be her end
.
  Bryon flashes a cocky smile
to the black nothingness around him.
 
“Let’s start a riot.”

**
*

The stairs stretch
before her
endless
ly
.  A soft
yellow light spills
across t
he first few steps.  They look
as if they could crumble away at any moment. 
The first step into the unknown is always the hardest
.  Always the scariest.  She does
n’t get
scared though.  At least, she i
sn’t supposed
to.  She i
s brave, to
ugh
,
and smart.  At least, she i
s supposed to be. 

So why i
s she having such a terrible time picking her foot up and placing it on this stupid stair?  The stairway
to her freedom.  At least it’
s supposed to be.

Given the source, she couldn’t blame herself for disbelieving.  And there was something else.  Like taking these stairs was running away.  Like she would be a coward if she took that step.  But maybe she’d be a coward if she didn’
t.  Confusion rolls
over her.  Indecision.  Hope.  Panic.  One emotion after the other as her foot hovers in the air waiting on her to tell it what to do.  She stomps it to the ground and curls her hands into fists. 
Her rings push painfully into her fingers.  She stretches them out.  Cracks her knuckles.

She
’s
been standing here so long, staring up this dilapidated stair case.  It’s a wonder s
he hasn’t been discovered still hanging around
.  Her head turns from the bright view in front of her to the darkness behind.

One way seems to lead to safety.  Yet, somehow, her heart pulls her to the darkness.  To the pitch blackness and dank smell.  Why?  Why would her head disagree with her heart?  Why would her heart face her this way?

H
e
r
bright pink flat
s squeak
on the damp ground as she pivots to look full on into nothing.  Her hands relax at her sides.  She squares her shoulders, standing up tall, mind determined.  Her father always taught her to follow her heart.  “It will neve
r steer you wrong,” he said
. 

One step leads to another then another until the light has completely disappeared behind her, closing her up in a suffocating black blanket.  She runs her hand along the wall so she doesn’t lose her way.  Something tickles her
arm and she t
ears it away with a gasp.  W
ipes her arm several times and shakes her shirt out just to be safe.  She decides to hit the wall every other step as she begins moving again.  She keeps count in her head.  One hundred and sixty-eight steps to the first fork.  She takes the right automatically because her heart tells her to do so.

One.  Two.  Three.  Four.  Five. 
Footsteps pause her counting, q
uicken her pace.  She runs blindly because though she didn’t
need it, her heart tells her to
.  Screams at her to get away.  At the next fork she doesn’t
even see it coming.  She has stopped hitting the wall in her hurry to get away.  She doesn’t have a clue it’s coming until she rushes it at full speed.  She slams, face first into the brick wall.  She notes the taste of blood and the smashed nose just as she
feigns
un
consciousness.

Icy
rough
hands pull her up.  She
is
shifted over a firm shoulder in a very
ungentle manner
before she is carried away.  She opens one eye just enough to see, but all she can make out is more darkness.  This man carrying her doesn’t seem to have a problem seeing in the dark.  He moves easily through the tunnels.  She hears voices in the distance.  Keely.  Bryon. 

A flickering ligh
t shows through her eye lids, but s
he d
oesn’t dare open them
.  There is the clanking of heavy metal keys.  A slow creek as a door is opened.  The man holding her cops a feel.  Fingers dig into her behind, move much too slowly as they fondle every last inch.  It takes everything inside of her not
to
kick him in the testicles, but then what?  She has no weapons, he would over power her, possibly kill her and she knows Keely and Bryon are close.  The man chuckles as he drops her in a heap on the floor.  The door
slams shut and his footsteps fade. 

Lila rolls over.  Swipes her sleeve across her face to remove some of the blood.  She holds her breath and listens.  Her heart tells her she is where she needs to be.  So she sits u
p and pulls her feet under her.  A
nd she waits.

One.  Two.  Three.  Four.  “Hello?”

Lila attempts a smile, but decides it hurts too badly.  “How’s it going, Keely?”

“Lila?”

“Hey Bryon.  So, I
guess you aren’t a traitor
after all.”

“A traitor
?  What are you talking about?”

“Not important right now,” Keely sighs.  “We need to get out of here.”

“No, we need to wait,” Lila says.

“For what?”  Keely crosses her arms exasperated.  Obviously she doesn’t have much of a choice, but she felt better
when she was trying to think of a way out.

“I don’t know for what.  I just know we need to
wait
.  It won’t be long now.”

Eighteen
:

“You said if I helped you, y
ou would let her go.  You said-
”

“What I said was she would be free to go.  Am I to blame if she chose not to?”  Apop
his examines his nails, growing
bored
with this boy and his insufferable whining
.  He has more than enough distractions to
keep him entertained.  Dustin may very
well no
longer
be
of
use to him.  He considers how he will kill him as the boy continues to spout about fairness
,
and deals
,
and other insignificant banter.  His ranting is interfering with his thoughts.  It makes it hard to concentrate.  And to think, he was so kind to this…this peon.  He allowed him a fair chance, his girl as well.  And here he is, speaking of injustices.  Even calling him ugly names.  Him.  He who is so far from anything of ugliness.  He who is bright and clean and beautiful by anybody’s standards.  He who is the third son of his Angel father.  He who has the blood of an Angel coursing through his veins
at this very moment
.  How dare he insult him?
  How dare he speak to him
in such a manner?  HOW DARE HE?

Apophis closes his
icy blue
eyes.  The boy’s voice makes him cringe ever so slightly
with the whininess of it
.  He inhales deeply.  Holds the breath in.  Exhales slowly.  Very slowly.  The
boy moves closer, he can tell by the way h
is voice grows louder, stronger.  Apophis rubs his forehead tiredly.  He could snap his fingers and any number of servants would
in turn
snap
this boy’s neck.  Or stab him in the heart possibly.  Slice his throat maybe.  Cho
ke him with bare hands even.  H
e stands over him now, cursing him.  That’s all it takes to decide Apophis’ mind.  In one solid movement
,
so quick the boy never sees it coming, he has him by the throat.  The grip he places on his Adam’s apple is precise.  With the
lightest of pressure he could finish this.
  Yet, where is the fun in that?
  He lifts Dustin off the ground and walks him to the long dining table.  Body slams him on top as if he weighs nothing at all.  He snaps the fingers of his free han
d to draw the attention of the D
emon girl sprawling across the chair to his left.  “Needle and thread
,
now.”  She stands immediately and nods her head.  “No, make it so
mething thicker.  Fishing line maybe.”  She nods again and scurries off.  Dustin str
uggles under his grip.  Apophis adds a small amount of force and watches as the boy’s eyes try to close.  He smiles as Dustin fights against himself, trying desperately not to lose consciousness.  “Bind his hands,” Apophis calls to the boy by the door.  He looks younger than the boy on the table, yet he is nothing like him.  The younger boy is a duty bound Demon.  He obeys quickly disappearing out the door and returning promptly with a small length of rope.