Demonosity (13 page)
Authors: Amanda Ashby
“It’s gone,” Thomas cut her off. “Look at the grimoire and see for yourself. It’s no longer glowing intensely, which means that the immediate danger has passed.”
Cassidy looked down to where the book was lying and sank to her knees as she reached out and skimmed the leather with her fingertips, still bloody from Nash’s wound. It was cool to the touch despite the faint glow that lingered. “S-so what happens now? Do we go after it?”
“Non.”
“What? But we can’t just sit back and do nothing. It could be out there getting more recruits.”
“Guardians do
not
chase demons,” he said through clenched teeth, his jaw so tight that Cassidy thought something might snap. “They protect the Black Rose. That is all. Have you found the vessel yet?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Cassidy was immediately distracted. “And I think we’re going to have a problem because the Black Rose is Celeste Gilbert.”
“It doesn’t matter who the vessel is, you need to do your duty. You need to follow the Black Rose and protect it. Everything else is irrelevant.”
“You’re not listening to me. Celeste is a senior. Following her everywhere isn’t going to be easy. I was thinking that we should tell her what’s happening.”
“Non.”
He gave a definitive shake of his head. “That is not an option. You must find a way to protect her.”
“Fine.
I’ll find a way,
” Cassidy mimicked in annoyance as the mail pressed down on her shoulders. She tried to wriggle out of it, but instead managed to get her hair tangled up in the tiny steel links. Pain raced down her neck before Nash hurried over and helped ease the cumbersome metal cloth over her head. Cassidy panted in relief and quickly slipped off the equally uncomfortable undershirt. “But I still don’t see why—”
“Where did you get that?” Thomas suddenly cut her off as his eyes narrowed in on the carnelian necklace that had swung free now that her armor was off.
“A friend gave it to me,” she said in surprise, before adding, “Why? Is there some stupid rule to say that I can’t wear jewelry while I’m fighting?”
“No, but would you take it off if I asked you to?” he suddenly asked, his voice as uncompromising as the red scar on his cheek that shimmered and throbbed with anger.
“Why, what’s going on?” Cassidy studied his face, since up until now Thomas hadn’t shown any interest in anything that wasn’t the Black Rose. Her fingers tightened around the necklace, unsure whether she should take it off or not.
“Nothing.” He shook his head. “I-I must go. Follow the vessel. Make the protective amulet and ensure that the Black Rose is safe. That is your only mission. I will return tomorrow when the lauds bells ring for your training. Your stance during the battle was not acceptable.”
Then he was gone, and Cassidy and Nash were left sitting in the empty courtyard with only the sword and a couple of feathers to let them know that there had ever been a fight. But despite the fact the dead demons were gone, she could still feel their presence everywhere. Like acid burning through her skin, covering her clothes, clogging her nostrils so that she could barely breathe. And her hands. Stained with Nash’s blood.
“Okay, so that was abrupt even by his standards. And what was with the necklace?” Nash complained before suddenly pausing and studying her face. “Hey, are you okay?”
“No.” Cassidy tried not to look at her hands. “Not really. I mean, there were six of those demons, and Thomas wouldn’t even listen to me when I tried to explain how hard it’s going to be to follow Celeste. Nash, those demons: that was real. You could’ve been killed.”
“You could’ve been killed, too,” Nash said in a soft voice. “And Celeste still could be.”
“I know.” She tried to ignore the way her body was now shaking. “Wh-what are we going to do? What if I can’t stop them?”
“We’ll just need to make sure that we do,” Nash said firmly.
“Thank you,” she said in a choked voice. Nash had always been there for her, but she was certain that this went far beyond the normal job description of best friend.
“Don’t thank me too soon,” Nash warned as he rubbed his arm where the demon’s sword had slashed him. “Because there’s one other thing we can do, but I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”
“There’s a lot of this that I don’t like,” Cassidy said, still refusing to look at her bloodstained hands. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t do it. What are you thinking?”
“You could audition for
Romeo and Juliet
, and then you would be able to spend all the time you want with Celeste. Whether she likes it or not.”
What?
Cassidy opened her mouth to protest, since not only did she hate acting but the idea of standing onstage made her feel physically sick. But then she closed her mouth and looked at where the five demons had been slain, already knowing that this was one more decision that she didn’t have a choice about.
“Fine.” She slowly got to her feet and looked for somewhere to wash her hands. “I guess we’d better get going if I don’t want to miss the auditions.”
C
assidy stepped out of the shower and studied her hands. Despite scrubbing them for the last twenty minutes, she could still see Nash’s blood running down her fingers and onto her calloused palms. Was it always going to be like this? Then she caught sight of her tattoo. Ever since she had let Thomas heal Nash through her, the tattoo had felt like it was dancing under her skin.
She could ask Thomas what that meant, but right now she was still too mad at him. Not only because of his disappearing act but because he made her burn the demon and cleanse the swords before letting her attend to her best friend. Duty first.
Even thinking about it made her furious, and she bit into the fleshy part of her lip as she hurried back to her bedroom, where the green dress had been condemned to the back of the closet along with the black one. At this rate she would have no clothes left by the end of the week. She grabbed some old jeans and the Snoopy hoodie that her mom kept trying to get rid of, and finished getting dressed while trying to ignore her aching muscles. All she really wanted was to sleep and pretend that none of it had happened. But she’d arranged to go over to Nash’s house to make the amulet.
She just hoped it worked.
Especially since it turned out that trying to audition for
Romeo and Juliet
after killing five demon knights wasn’t such a bright idea. It was bad enough that she’d been forced to grab the longest jacket she could find from the collection of discarded clothes in her locker to try to cover the worst of the blood, but then there was the whole trying-to-speak-in-front-of-an-audience thing to get over.
Nash had tried to convince her that it wasn’t so bad, but Cassidy knew that even with the help of Travis’s lucky charm, she’d be lucky if she managed to get cast as a tree. The only small consolation was that when they’d gone back into the auditorium, there had been no sign of Travis, something that she was very grateful for, since embarrassing herself in front of cute guys wasn’t her favorite thing in the world.
At least while Cassidy had been auditioning Nash had broken into Celeste’s locker and found her hairbrush, which meant that they had all the hair they needed. After that they had followed an annoyed-looking Celeste out to her car and trailed her all the way back to her house, before deciding that the sooner they made the amulet, the better.
Which was why she needed to get moving.
She slung her sports bag out the window so that her parents wouldn’t see it and then left the bedroom. As she walked down the hallway she could hear her mom in the kitchen, but she continued on to the living room, where her dad was sitting on the couch, his leg stretched out in front of him. He was no longer wearing the protective brace, and his cheeks were flushed from doing his exercises. Despite the crutches that were still lying nearby, he was looking happier than he had in ages.
“Let me guess, more homework with Nash?” her dad said as he turned down the volume on the television. “Or are you going to celebrate your good news?”
“Wh-what good news?” Cassidy asked in a cautious voice, since she was fairly sure he wasn’t talking about her killing five demon knights this afternoon.
“The play. According to Colin Thompson, you were at the
Romeo and Juliet
auditions,” her dad said before frowning. “But Cass, tell me the truth, did you audition because you wanted to or because your mom thought it would be a good idea?”
Cassidy groaned. It was one thing to audition so that she could get close to Celeste Gilbert, but it was another thing entirely for her mom to think that she was following her advice. Then she realized her dad was still waiting for an answer, so she let out a reluctant sigh.
“It just seemed like it would be fun. But it was only an audition, and I don’t even know if I’ll get a part yet,” she said. “In fact, considering that I had the lousiest audition ever, I doubt it.”
“Nonsense, everyone can act, even you. You just need to tap into your emotions,” her dad said, and for a moment Cassidy thought of Travis and his haunting performance. What emotions had he been tapping into? Then she thought of the way he seemed to have eyes only for her, and her face heated up. “Besides,
Romeo and Juliet
is my favorite Shakespeare play, and I would love to see my daughter up onstage.”
“It is?” Cassidy instantly forgot about Travis as she looked at him in surprise. Her mom had mentioned that the other day, but Cassidy hadn’t believed her.
“Sure. Family feuding? Star-crossed lovers? Teenage angst? What’s not to like?” His navy eyes twinkled. “And when you get a part, I’ll help you learn your lines.”
Cassidy was pretty sure that she wouldn’t get any part, based on her bad audition, but the idea of spending more time with her dad—not to mention Travis—was definitely appealing, and she nodded her head. “I’ll be taking you up on that. Anyway, I guess I’d better go, since I can’t put this homework off.”
“Words that every parent longs to hear.” He grinned as Cassidy gave him a grateful hug before racing to the front door. She stopped to yell a cursory good-bye to her mom and then scooted around the house to retrieve her sports bag.
The night air stung at her cheeks, and the sounds of the evening traffic and the low hum of voices from some joggers who were braving the cold weather hung in the air. She thrust her hands deep into the pockets of her coat while she hurried the three blocks to Nash’s house.
He’d also changed out of his ripped clothing and was now wearing his favorite Smiths T-shirt under a black buttoned-up vest and some heavy gray surplus trousers. His parents weren’t home, so they went straight to his room. Cassidy had once dubbed it the Old Curiosity Shop because it looked like it had come straight out of a Dickens novel and was filled to overflowing with ancient books and paintings, as well as a giant floor-standing globe over by his bed and an equally giant telescope propped up next to his window. The antiquities were broken up by posters and ticket stubs of his favorite bands, which Nash had hung around the room to remind anyone that, despite his love of history, he still liked to rock out from time to time.
“Okay, so I think I’ve got everything. Though it’s a bit unclear how long I’m supposed to consecrate it all for.” Nash chewed his lip. “I wonder if Thomas would know?”
“Probably, but since he disappeared we can’t exactly ask him, can we?” Cassidy retorted.
“Look”—Nash put down the river stone he had been holding—“I know that you’re pissed off with him.”
“Pissed off with him?” Cassidy spluttered as she raised her eyebrows. “He almost let you die, Nash, just so I could burn a couple of demons. Demons that were already dead.”
“The cut wasn’t life-threatening, so he made a decision based on priorities,” Nash corrected her before relenting. “And I know he can seem a bit high-handed, but try looking at it from his point of view. He’s frustrated that he can’t be here fighting the demons himself. From what I can gather he’s been protecting the Black Rose almost single-handedly for the last three years, so the idea of his having to—”
“Trust a girl?” Cassidy retorted in a dark voice. “Because obviously he’s sexist. Oh, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like my dating, either, because did you see what he was like when he saw this necklace? It was like he knew it came from a guy.”
“Cass. I don’t think—”
“Stop trying to defend him,” she snapped as her fingers curled around the carnelian. “Besides, if he’s so concerned, then where is he now? This whole amulet thing would be a lot easier if he hadn’t deserted us.”
“It would also be a lot easier if you stopped moaning about him,” Nash retorted in a dry voice as he turned his attention back to the small mortar and pestle he had been using to grind up the ingredients that he had neatly lined up on his large oak desk.
Suddenly, Cassidy felt guilty. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make things worse. I’m going to forget about Thomas and his lack of social manners. So I guess you need the grimoire?”
“Yes, please.” He nodded, and Cassidy unzipped her sports bag and handed it over, trying not to notice that the cool leather was warm under her fingers despite the chilly weather. The more time she spent with the book, the creepier it got. However, Nash didn’t seem to notice as he carefully turned the pages until he reached the one he wanted, his head bent in concentration. Cassidy knew better than to try to interrupt him when he was working, so she silently sat on the floor until he eventually looked up and ran a distracted hand through his dark hair.
“I was thinking that instead of just doing an amulet that Celeste can wear, we could do a second one for her house. That way she’ll be safe when she’s there and it will save us a lot of time camping out in the car.”
“Anything that reduces the number of hours we have to be protecting her is fine by me,” Cassidy agreed as Nash got to work.
“Now, the parsley, rosemary, two strands of burned hair, and a cup of soil are all here, and I’ve ground them into a fine paste,” he said as he checked off his list. “We have river stones that have been cleansed with salt and two small cotton bags to put them in. One we can tie around her wrist and the other we’ll put by her house. Oh, and I’ve got a piece of paper and have used a consecrated pen to write out the words:
No matter if demons shall touch, see, or smell the vessel. Keep her invisible to all of them
.”
