Darkness Brutal (The Dark Cycle Book 1) (31 page)

“Can I see it?” I ask, holding out a hand.

He hesitates but then passes it to me. “Be very careful. The paper is easily corrupted by oils.”

I take the scroll and scan the script—looks like Chaldean and Assyrian mingled together. I find the section he was reading from:
“the gate is carved of bone . . .
 It’s talking about the formation of the doorway, what it’s made of. Bone, ash, tendon, and the word you couldn’t read translates as
wing
. The bone is from a human, the ash is from a demon heart, and the sinew is from a seraph’s wing.” I begin reading aloud. “
In all of these resides the key, of blood and dirt molded in earth and womb
—this word is
combining
, or
mixed
, I think—
combining into one form
.” I look up from the page. “So the key is made of all these things: angel, demon, and human.”

Sid takes another scroll out of the box and begins reading. Then he places it back in and takes out another. “This can’t be right.”

“That’s what it says,” I say.

“No, I mean why would this be happening now? The end of things isn’t meant to begin until much later. Hundreds of years from now. Even with your birth, the end of it all wasn’t until the next generation—” He stops speaking, and all the color washes out of his face.

“Sid, what’s wrong?” Kara asks.

“My gods . . . Aidan, I’m so sorry. My gods. It’s me.”

“
You?
You’re the key?”

“No, no, not the key. I’m the reason they’re using the key so soon.”

“What? Why?”

“I wasn’t supposed to stay!” He takes the scroll from me and puts it back into the box, shutting the lid. “I was meant to
kill
you and go back. But I stayed! Everything has a ripple effect. You being born, then your sister, then me staying. Even Kara. Now it’s all changing again. The prophecies, the predictions, none of the things I knew before I came here will be right.” He gives me a frantic look. “The demons have moved up their timetable. They’re a step ahead somehow. And they’ve gotten their hands on a key to the doorway of Sheol.”

My pulse speeds up. “Someone who’s angel, demon, and human.”

“Or someone they can make that way,” he whispers. “My gods . . . your sister.”

I go still. “Ava. But she’s not all three.”

“And you know this
how
? You know she’s possibly something other than human and that the demons have been after her since you can remember. But do you know what runs in her bloodstream? Your mother could be of mixed spirit herself! Most mediums have descended from the time when demons and angels walked the earth—she could likely have one or the other in her blood already. All the demons had to do was allow for her offspring to contain the missing piece.”

My lungs feel like they’re full of cement.

“We have to know if it’s really her,” Sid says. “A test or something. Somehow we have to find out.”

But I can’t hear anymore. I see the pieces of the puzzle finally falling into place, the years of wondering why they want Ava, why they didn’t care about me. And why my mother made the deal to give her blood over in the first place. And I’m the only thing that can mess up the storyline. The only hope I have left to save her is what’s possible because of my father’s blood; the hope of this Fire Bringer. Whatever that means.

And there’s only one way to awaken it.

FORTY-ONE

We pull up to the front of the house, and Sid gets out of the car, the box of scrolls tucked under his arm. He’s talking to himself as he shuts the door and heads for the side yard, muttering how mindless he’s been, not thinking of the ripples he’s made, not thinking of everything he’s set in motion. His cane taps the ground harder than normal as he opens the side gate and goes through the backyard to his shed. Maybe to read more of the scrolls, find more answers. It doesn’t matter.

I take my seat belt off and start to open the passenger door, but Kara stops me with a hand on my arm. “Don’t give up, Aidan.”

I look down at her fingers gripping my bicep and try to feel her energy, but for once I’m so numb I can only sense the wounds inside of me.

She unbuckles her seat belt and slides across the bench, pressing herself into me. She touches my face and cradles my cheek in her palm. “You’re important, you have to believe that. There’s a way to save her, a way to save yourself. Just let it happen.” She kisses the corner of my mouth.

My body goes tight, feeling the vibration of our connection as it sparks inside me, running over my skin in a surge. I know what she means, and I know she’s right, but . . . “Kara it’s not—”

“Please.” Her thumb strokes my jaw, sending the charge down my neck. “Let me do this for you. For your sister. I want this.”

My throat goes dry, and my body wars between desperation for her and the throbbing sorrow inside me. I don’t have the strength to lie. “I want it, too. But—”

She slides her fingers over my lips, stopping my words. “No. Let me do this. It’s my choice.” And then she leans in, kissing me again, longer, sweeter. She pulls away before I can respond. “Tonight,” she whispers. “Come to me.”

And then she slides across the seat and out the driver’s door.

Tonight
.

If I go to her, it’s because I’m a selfish bastard. I want her to help me fix this, to awaken my power fully so I can stop everything, all of it, but I’d also be burying this pain in a night of pleasure. A night I’ve wanted since the moment I kissed her in that club. And I don’t care if it’s right or wrong.

I slide from the car and walk toward the house, feeling defeated. I open the front door and walk into the entryway, stepping right into a puddle.

Disoriented, I look down. The light from the setting sun behind me reflects across the puddle’s surface.

Glittering red.

My stomach rises. I follow the shape of the puddle, to where it smears into footprints—

“Kara!” I yell, looking around, feet frozen. No one answers.

Where is she?

I step past the entryway and study the shadows. No one’s in the family room. No one’s in the kitchen.

Bang!

Something upstairs crashes against a wall. Shattering glass. A muffled scream.

I move toward the noise and then freeze at the base of the staircase. Lester comes out from the bathroom at the top of the stairs, dragging a limp Kara across the wood floor, even though he shouldn’t be that strong. He lays her at the top of the landing. Beside a second form. There’s another body up there where Lester is arranging Kara. Red hair spills over the top step; an ivory hand is folded over a pale chest. Rebecca.

“What happened?” I choke out, starting up the stairs. “What’s going on?”

Lester arranges the two girls side by side. “I’m getting them ready for you.” And then he raises his head to look at me. And smiles.

I stumble back, nearly losing my footing.

His lips are thin, inhuman. The odd turn of his mouth twists his features, making them almost unrecognizable. This isn’t the same Lester I saw this morning. His eyes . . . even from here I can see that they’re hollow black holes.

My God. That’s not Lester anymore. He’s possessed by a demon. A demon that can see me—apparently the amulet doesn’t work if the demon is looking through human eyes.

“I’ve got everything arranged,” he says. “I think you’ll be very pleased.”

I don’t have any breath to ask what he means. I look along the rest of the landing for Ava’s body, but I only see Kara and Rebecca.

“Don’t worry, they’re still alive,” he continues. “I figured you’d want to say good-bye.”

“Whose blood is that?” I ask, surprised my voice works at all. I point to the pool in the doorway.

“I had to break the house’s seal somehow. You should know, Seer. Blood is the only way.”

“Who?” I demand, not sure I want to know. There’s no trail of blood up the stairs, which gives me hope that it’s not from Kara or Rebecca. But where’s Ava?

“I wouldn’t waste a human on these measly spells. Especially since all the disposable characters of this play are conveniently on an errand that my current pubescent host sent them on”— he pats his chest—“foolishly trying to save them from me. But things being what they are, I couldn’t wait for them to return. So I used what I had on hand: a mediocre-grade cat. I’m doing the neighborhood a favor, really.”

Cat blood. I’m relieved and horrified at the same time.

I almost don’t ask the question in my head because of how much I dread the answer. “Where’s my sister?”

Demon Lester’s features shift, like he’s hiding a fun secret. “Oh, that will all come clear soon. First I have to invite someone in so I can pay off my end of the deal. And you’re here just in time for the show.” He bows his head, takes in a deep breath, and then mumbles something in a demon tongue:
Let Hunger enter here to claim your prize
.

Instantly the smell of sulfur billows into the air, strong enough to make me gag.

“He’s anxious to finish his task,” Demon Lester says to me, pleased. “He was very helpful finding the child—your sister. And now I’ll repay him.”

Ice stings at the back of my neck, and I turn.

Rebecca’s demon appears, emerging from the puddle of blood behind me, its sigil forming on the surface of the pool as its large shape becomes clear.

My whole body reacts. I want to run away, to attack, but I force myself to stand still. It can’t see me. Yet.

Demon Lester continues, as if we’re just chatting, “This allows me to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.” I turn back in time to see him pull a small kitchen knife from his waist and hold it over Rebecca’s chest. “Pun intended.” He laughs. It’s woven with other sounds: the snarling of a dog and the creaking of tree limbs.

My eyes flick between the knife in Demon Lester’s fist and the demon in the doorway. My insides are warring, begging me to act. The daunting seven-foot-tall, leather-skinned creature moves forward. It passes me as it starts up the stairs. Walking toward Rebecca. Totally unaware of my presence.

My fingers fly to my amulet, ready to tear it off. To do . . . something, anything.

A small hand touches my arm, stopping me. “No, Aidan. Don’t.”

My breath catches as I turn to her, my heart cracking in my chest as realization filters in. “Ava,” I whisper, not sure where she came from. “What’s happening?”

Her pale eyes glitter with unshed tears. “I did what needed to be done.”

I shake my head, all hope leaving me. “No.” I turn back to Rebecca and Kara, to the demon nearing the landing and the dagger in Lester’s fist poised to kill. “You called a demon here . . . Why?”

“I needed to know what happened to our mother,” she says. “And I needed help. So I made a deal.”

“My God, Ava. You’ve killed them.”

“No, I’ve saved
you
.” It’s like she’s pleading with me to understand. She touches my hand, and I hear her whisper under her breath, “Remember what I told you about what I’ve seen. Remember.” I don’t know what she means, but she pushes an image into my head of the note she left me the other day with the amulet:
Protect yourself. I can fix everything so we’ll both be free
.

She bound the amulet to me when I wouldn’t do it myself. She’s protecting me, but at the same time, she’s going to be the death of me.

Demon Lester’s voice breaks through the storm inside me as he greets the larger demon. “Hunger, you’ve come!” He sounds like a boy who’s glad his friend showed up at the party. “I’d like to repay you for your help in finding my charge by doing away with yours.”

But the demon inside Lester didn’t need help finding Ava. She had already found
him
; she called him here. What game are they playing?

The beast, Hunger, growls in pleasure and bows its head, looking grateful.

My mind spins as I look for answers, a way out, a way to save Ava—to save all of us from what’s about to happen. A million scenarios flash in my head, none of them ending in anything but death.

“Good!” Demon Lester says. He smiles at me. “People really shouldn’t leave sharp things lying around when someone’s clearly suicidal.” And then he takes Rebecca’s wrist, lifting it up and putting the knife blade to her skin.

I gasp “No!” and jolt forward, shaking off Ava’s hold on me and scrambling up the steps.

The blade sinks in, flesh parting in a thin line down the inside of her arm. And her life begins to flow in a gush of red.
Oh, God, oh, God . . .
I reach out for her, grabbing her shoulder, trying to pull her to me.

Demon Lester drops her hand, and her arm flops to the side, the blood spilling onto the stairs.

I take Rebecca’s wrist, grip it in both hands, trying to hold the wound closed, red running between my fingers, panic filling me as I pray the rhythmic current will slow. “Oh, God. No.”

“God’s not interested in helping you,” Demon Lester says, sounding oddly jealous. “Time to give up, Seer. Time to let go of your sister and everyone else you care about.” He picks up Kara’s scarred wrist and raises the knife. “No one will be surprised at this one. She’s already made me an outline.” He presses the blade to her scar.

Something inside me snaps.

I drop Rebecca’s arm and lunge before Demon Lester can dig the sharp edge into Kara’s skin.

I fall onto him with a scream, pounding with bloody fists. His smile turns crimson as I feel his cheek crack against my knuckles. He takes me by the throat in an iron grip as I go for his knife, as if I’m nothing to him, a fly buzzing around his head. I fumble for a hold on his neck, hit him, scratch him, press my weight down, trying to be free, but it does no good. He’s too strong.

Even as the world blurs, rage consumes me like fire. I see my mother’s heart ripped from her chest, Ava staring into nothing as she sits in a circle of death to protect herself, the demon whispering to those boys to hurt Rebecca, Kara’s bruised face from being beaten. And me, alone, as this
thing
drags my sister from me for good.

My fist closes over his knife, trying to yank it from his grip, cutting my hand as I fail to get it from him. And then I remember my own knife. I fumble in my back pocket, taking hold of the hilt with slick fingers. I raise the blade as the world goes dark. And stab him in the neck. Without a thought. Without blinking.

I kill Lester.

As I come back to earth, I watch in a daze as Lester’s eyes clear. All the black fades away in a hiss of breath as he returns to normal, the shadow of the demonic gone. He gasps and chokes, his muscles beginning to jerk.

“Aidan!” Ava screams, yanking me off Lester’s gurgling form.

I killed him.

I’ve killed.

Rage is washed away by a tide of horror as Lester’s body convulses. His now human eyes stare at the ceiling in confusion and shock as his mouth fills with foamy red fluid.

Guilt falls on me like thick tar as I look down at my bloody hands.

“Stop it!” Ava screams at the top of her lungs. Like Lester can hear her and stop dying.

But his form goes still. As if a switch just flipped.

Then his head turns, and he smiles, the blood that pooled in his mouth leaking over his cheek. The shadow fills his eyes once more, turning them to pitch. “I couldn’t help myself,” he says as he swallows, the cut on his neck moving unnaturally. “Your reaction, Aidan, was beauty itself.” Then he says to Ava, “Did you see his face?” And he laughs, all beast and evil.

“Don’t worry,” he says to me. “This Lester kid is definitely dead as soon as I head out. But I still need his meat suit for a while, so we’ll fake it.”

Confusion and rage fill me, making me want to attack him again.

But a growl vibrates the air, and we freeze, remembering our guest.

The demon stands over the three of us, its claws open to strike.

Looking at me.

It bares its teeth. “Seer.”

Ava scrambles over to the wall, her shoulder bag bumping against her hip. “Aidan! Your amulet!” She snatches up the golden chain that must’ve come off in the violence.

Demon Lester holds up a hand. “Whoa, down, boy.”

“This Seer is my enemy,” it growls. “He must be destroyed. Word is spreading he can touch us through the Veil.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Demon Lester says. “He’s a pain in the ass, I agree. But I have this deal, see. He can’t get hurt right now. It’s a witch thing. You know how it is.”

The bigger demon huffs. “I made no deal with a witch.”

Demon Lester stands, moving between me and the large beast. “You see that girl over there?” He points to Ava. “She’s the descendant of a very powerful force. I wouldn’t get on her bad side.”

The demon looks at Ava as if seeing her for the first time. “She is small.”

“She’s not reborn yet,” Demon Lester says, as if that explains everything. “And the Master wants her. So if you’re clever, you’ll do as I say.”

The demon seems to consider this, but then sneers at Lester. “You are below me, snake. I will do nothing you say.”

Demon Lester glances sideways at Ava as if signaling something. And then she moves. Quick.

I scramble away from the demon’s reach as Ava pulls Mom’s grimoire from her bag, opens it to a marked page, and begins to chant in Latin while kneeling beside Rebecca’s head. Then she takes a handful of something from her pocket and sprinkles it along Rebecca’s body—dried violet flakes that catch in her amber hair, rest on her eyelids, float in the blood on the steps.

Lavender.

Ava’s chanting: “
Expediam vincientes, fregerit hoc signaculum, dimittere nocte . . .
”
Unfolding protection, binding light, break this seal, cast out the night
.