Demon's Daughter: A Cursed Book (13 page)

“I started off as a falcon when I was fourteen,” I said. “I got information, brought it back. On one run, I was almost killed. I wanted to move up after that, become stronger. So I had them make me an enforcer. I became the person who went after the people who paid late, or didn’t pay at all. And I usually beat them within an inch of their lives.”

Max winced, but Manny’s face was unreadable. I was grateful for that. I had been a monster in my past, and I wasn’t proud of it. Even when it made me feel powerful.

“I didn’t tell you because I was looking out for my sister,” I admitted. “You never would have taken us in if you knew who I used to work for.”

“But you wouldn’t have told us at all if Max hadn’t found your tattoo,” Manny said, no question in his voice.

I wanted to lie, but… “No. I wouldn’t have.”

“We were running from the demons,” Dro tried to reason. “We thought we could lose ourselves in Mexico, but the Blood Thorns found us and Con…” She looked at me with a strange mix of pride and anxiety. “Con fought them off. She made a deal with them.” She glanced at Manny and Max desperately. “It isn’t her fault. Please, please don’t call the police on her.”

Max might be weak for the despair in Dro’s voice, but Manny remained stony.

“How did you convince them?” Max asked. “They aren’t big on women in their merry murdering gang.”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “Dad was a falcon for them before we came here. He had enough of a reputation for me to be considered. I told them I would repay his debt, and then some. Which is what I did, and in half the time they thought I could.”

“Why did you leave them?” he asked. “I heard that no one leaves the Blood Thorns. At least, not alive.”

I looked up at Manny. “They betrayed us. They were going to give Dro to a witch. We had no other option but escape.”

He stared at me for a long time, and I stared back. I wasn’t intimidated by anyone. I couldn’t afford to be seen weak.

After a very, very, long time, Manny asked me another question.

“Do you regret the things you did?”

I flashed back to my past in Ciudad Juárez. Riding in the back of a dumpy truck with my scared little sister. Making the deal with Emilio. Getting the tattoo, a black thorn that looked like it was weaving in and out of my bleeding skin, when I passed initiation. The late night runs in dark alleys. Nearly being raped and beaten to death. Advancing up the ranks. Standing by while people were tortured and slaughtered in front of me. Pretending not to care. Kicking down doors. Making people scream. Using my fists to give a message. Cutting off fingers. Sliding my blade across a man’s throat. Being stronger than everyone else in the room.

“Every day,” I muttered. “Every day, I wish I could wipe the slate clean. But I can’t.”

“Because you don’t think you can be redeemed, or because you don’t want to be?”

I looked up at Manny again. “It’s too late to change the past, Manny. God won’t forgive me for what I’ve done. Even if I believed in Him, it wouldn’t matter. I could go to confession for the rest of my life, and it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference, because I don’t deserve it.”

Dro took my hand and gave it a hard squeeze. I was too ashamed to look at her. How she could still see me as a sister astounded me.

“God forgives anyone who asks for it,” Manny said quietly, “especially when someone means it with all of their soul. He forgave me.”

I raised an eyebrow. Max looked away, clasping his elbows and looking uncomfortable.

Manny took one of the chairs from the desk and sat down on it across from us. “I don’t suppose you ever wondered why I became an exorcist?”

If I was being perfectly honest, it had never crossed my mind at all. I knew better than most that some things in the past should stay there. You don’t want to dig up old ghosts if you’re running from personal demons. But he had a point to make, so I waited patiently.

Manny reached under the collar of his shirt, and I thought he was pulling out his rosary. Instead, he pulled out a gold wedding band on a simple chain.

“My wife, Marianna, was possessed when she was pregnant with Max. I was young back then. I didn’t know about demons. I didn’t understand the damage they could do. Marianna would have violent fits, breaking everything she could get her hands on, lashing out at me, hurting herself, trying to pry Max out of her stomach with her bare hands…”

I heard Dro’s steady intake of breath. My heart ached for Manny. Max was eighteen, and all this time Manny had been living with the pain of losing his wife, and probably almost losing his son, too. I remembered the deaths of my parents, and kept quiet.

“No one could understand what was wrong, and eventually I ran out of options. I called an exorcist. He told me that my wife had a demon inside her, and that it wanted to kill my wife and possess my son. He asked my permission to remove the demon, and I consented.” Manny looked at the ring around his neck. “Fate was erratic that day, because the same day the exorcism happened, was the same day Max was born.”

The grief in his eyes was unbelievable. It seemed stretch from his eyes to the very center of his soul, tearing through his heart on the way down. I don’t think I had ever seen such a broken-hearted man before.

“The doctor saved Max, and he was baptized almost immediately. The demon couldn’t get to him. But Marianna was bleeding too heavily. The demon was still trying to break out of her, and it was hours before it was gone. By that time, Marianna was dead.”

I couldn’t begin to express how sorry I felt for him. I looked over at Max. He had curled his arms around his knees like a lost kid. He looked guilty, like he thought his mother’s death was his fault, even though it was anything but. He relaxed a little when Dro reached out with her other hand to take his. I saw him squeeze it tightly, like he could draw strength from her. I hoped he would feel her kindness. It wouldn’t heal the wound, but she would take away as much pain as she could.

Her ice blue eyes and my dark brown ones fixed on Manny again.

“I learned about true evil that night. I could barely rejoice about the birth of my son because a demon had tortured my wife to death.”

His face was hard and solemn, but his eyes were still filled with a sorrow I couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

“That night I cursed God. He took the woman I loved from me, made me fear for my son, showed me true monsters. But the exorcist said that it wasn’t the will of God or failure that killed Marianna. It was demons. Creatures who continued to take any helpless soul they wanted. If I wanted to channel my rage, it ought to be directed on the demons. So I followed exorcists, watched houses where victims of possession lived. Then I broke into those houses, and tried to beat out the demon trapped inside the human.”

I tried to imagine Manny as a younger, brokenhearted man, ruthlessly beating on a possessed victim to relieve the pain in his heart. The picture I had didn’t match that of the man in front of me, but I could also tell that Manny wasn’t lying.

“One of the people I attacked turned out to be a woman who looked like my Marianna. And then I thought about what I was destroying. How I couldn’t help her, and that Marianna would be ashamed that I was focusing on my anger, and not our son.”

Max remained silent beside me. I figured he was gripping Dro’s hand even tighter now.

Manny slipped his wedding ring back under his shirt. “After that, I repented and asked God for forgiveness. It was granted when I remembered He provided me with a strong, kind, healthy son.” He looked at Max, undying love crystal clear in his eyes. “He gave me a purpose, a way to help others when their need was dire.”

Manny looked at me. “I don’t blame you for any wrongs you’ve done to protect your sister. But I will not continue to help either of you if you revert to whatever old habits you might have taken from the Blood Thorns. I do not want them in my house where my son can be harmed.”

I said nothing, nodding my understanding. I didn’t bother with words. Manny was probably the most patient, understanding man I’d ever known. Even after everything he knew about me, he was still willing to help. There were no words to express my gratitude.

He got up from his chair and stood in front of me, putting his hand on my shoulder. The sadness hadn’t left his aged eyes yet, but his smile had returned.

“God will forgive anyone, Constance. But first you have to forgive yourself.”

I wasn’t sure what Manny was expecting from me. To have a breakdown? To throw myself into his arms and accept God into my life? To begin forgiving myself for everything I’d done?

Not a chance, Manny. It’s way too soon, and I have too many demons to kill.

I kept my dark eyes locked on his, wondering what I should say. I felt awful about what happened to his wife and how his life was nearly destroyed, but I also loosely admitted to not only being a murderer for one of the most dangerous criminal organizations on the planet. I had to know what Manny was going to do.

“Are,” I started, unable to find my voice at first. “Are you going to turn us in?” I asked, sounding more confident than I felt.

Manny sighed, and I kind of felt like a selfish bitch. He took his hand back. “Everyone makes mistakes, Constance. Some people just make worse ones than others. But do I have your word that you’ll be careful, and keep Max out of harm’s way?”

I could have lied. I lie to people all the time. It’s almost as natural as breathing. But Manny was one of the best people I had ever met. He deserved better than that.

“I won’t let any harm come to you or Max,” I said. “I can’t say the same for everyone hunting us if they find us, but if I hear they’re nearby, we’ll be gone. I’ll turn them away from you, and give them hell before they hurt you.”

The old man’s eyes darkened, weariness creeping in again. His smile was weak, but genuine.

“Thank you for your honesty, Constance. I believe we can make a righteous woman out of you yet.”

I stifled a laugh, not aware that I had one in me.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

He nodded. “We’ll let you get some rest,” he said. “Come on, Max.”

The kid’s mood hadn’t improved. He stood up, Dro still holding his hand. She stood up with him and pulled him back to her, wrapping her arms around his neck. Max held her close, burying his face in her neck and shoulder. No amount of hugging could make Max feel better about the mother he had never known, but Dro was trying. At least he could go to sleep knowing that she cared.

Dro leaned back and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. She held his face in her hand for a moment, smiling gently. Max watched her like he was in a trance, probably feeling all the kindness and understanding my sister had. No matter what, she would be there for him. She would listen, and tell him everything he needed to hear.

After a few more seconds, she stepped back and sat next to me. Max’s eyes lingered on my sister for a minute before he walked over to his father. Manny slung his arm over his son’s shoulder and led him out of the living room to give us some privacy. When they were gone, Dro looked at me sadly.

“How much longer do you think we have here, Constance?”

I reclined back against the couch. “You really want the answer to that?”

She sighed and leaned back next to me. “No, not really.”

Of course she didn’t. I saw the way she looked at Max. Dro wanted to stay with him. We both knew that if we left, she would never find someone who would look at her the way Max always did. After a long silence, she turned her head to look at me.

“Did you find anything out on your little lunacy escapade?”

I snorted. “Only that demons hate Nephilim. I guess that’s what you are after all.”

I skipped the part where they appeared to want her alive for now. Once we knew why, then I could tell her. I wouldn’t worry my apprehensive sister more than I had to.

She frowned. “I don’t know how I feel now that it isn’t a mystery. But I still think you shouldn’t have gone out there and talked to that demon for me,” she said, worry filling her icy blue eyes. “Look at what happened.”

I turned my head to her. “Trial and error, Dro. I’m fine.”

“But it wasn’t your responsibility. You’re human. I’m not. I should have been the one to talk to it. They’re after me.”

“Which is exactly why I didn’t let you. The demon knew about you, little sister. If it had seen you…” I shook my head, all sorts of horrible scenarios running through my mind. “It would have gone very, very badly.”

She stifled a laugh. “You’re saying the way you did it went well?”

I turned on the couch to face her. “I’m saying I took a risk for you, and that I’ll do it again if I have to. You have enough on your plate with the powers and the nightmares. If I don’t help you every way I can, then I’m not being a good sister.”

Dro flinched, suddenly regretting having said anything. But I was glad she had. It was important for me to know what she was thinking. It was the only way I could help her.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I just… I…”

“I know,” I said so she wouldn’t have to. “And so am I.”

My dark gold hand circled her pale shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Let’s get some sleep, Dro. We’ll be safe for tonight.”

She nodded and stood up, starting to walk back to the basement. I stayed on the couch, remembering another time where being a good sister meant more than caring about consequences…

Dad was stunned when I walked back in the house without so much as a mark. Dro was still crying, unable to sob out the truth to him. I thought that was a good thing. Dad loved us, but he was a practical man. He wouldn’t believe even me if I told him Dro had healed me with a single touch.

I felt fine, better than fine, but Mom told Dad to take me to the hospital to make sure I didn’t have a concussion. She worked close to the hospital and was going to meet us there. We had the barest bones of government healthcare, so all we could do was pray that whatever Dad had to pay for wouldn’t put us in more debt. He already had a second mortgage on the house. There was no way he could get a third.

Just like she’d said, Mom was at the hospital when we got there, still wearing her restaurant uniform. She shot up from her chair and raced over to me, hugging me as tightly as a mother could.