Evil (17 page)

“He was planning that with Gus?”

“She doesn’t know. She went upstairs to distract you, make you think they’re going to do what we want, but it’s not true. He sent her up there to say that to you, but she doesn’t know why. Gus is left in the dark, but I heard his thoughts. It’s what woke me up.” Then he grimaced. “And he’s scared about your appearance. He doesn’t know what it means, that you look different, but he’s worried that it’s because of your powers. You might be more in control of them.”

I swallowed tightly, feeling betrayed. A whirl of emotions was going through me, but I asked, dumbfounded, “And what about you? Doesn’t he think you’d be mad about me?”

“He thinks I’ll miss you, but I’d understand in the long run. He also thinks it would impress me, that he thought of that on his own. He thinks he would save us from the messengers.”

“What an idiot.”

Kellan grinned, but then sobered. “He suspects that I knew what he was doing. I didn’t want you to drink the coffee, and normally I wouldn’t care. Vespar’s not stupid. He’s now more worried than before since I went against his plan, either by accident or on purpose. If it’s the latter, then he knows I chose my allegiance.”

“And it’s not with him.”

“Exactly.” Kellan took my hand as he pulled up outside of our school. “I want you to stay in here.”

“Why?”

His eyes shifted past my shoulders, and he nodded in that direction. “Because you have a visitor.”

I looked over and saw the painter. He stood in the shadows of some trees on the edge of our school’s lawn. As Kellan got out and headed inside, I followed suit but went the opposite direction. When I drew closer, I saw the painter was in a hooded sweatshirt with it pulled over his head. His eyes were so bright, trying to look inside of me, but he remained where he stood. His hands, like Vespar’s, were also stuffed in his front pockets. He looked casual, but the tension was thick around him, clinging to his form.

I stopped just before him, unsure what to say.

“She got out,” he spoke first.

I nodded and gestured to my arm. “The tattoo changed, too.”

“Your messenger side is powerful now, almost more powerful than your human side, but she’s quiet. Why is she quiet?”

“I have no idea. I’m still adjusting to being a hybrid and all these new changes with having a messenger inside of me.”

“She’s a part of you; she’s just been separated because that’s what you wanted. You didn’t want to be intertwined with a messenger so you separated yourself from her. You’ve given her an altogether separate personality because of it. It’s not right, to have something inside of you that you can’t control. And you don’t control her. You know that, right?”

I gulped. Control her? I didn’t even know she had a different personality. “How do I do that?”

“Stop denying who you are, for one. As you become more familiar with your messenger side, you’ll become more whole and her personality will become meshed with you. It’s the only way you can control her, if you take control of yourself.”

It made perfect sense when he said it, but doing it was a whole different story. “I’ll get to working on that then.”

He frowned and jerked forward, but stopped and slammed back against the tree. “I’m sorry. I reacted, and I shouldn’t have.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” He looked away and hunched his shoulders forward. “Does Kellan know what you are going to do when your father comes to town?”

I swallowed tightly. My throat felt like bark had grown inside suddenly. “I haven’t told him that information yet.”

“You should. You have to. He needs to know. Otherwise, everything might be ruined. You might be ruined.”

Riddles. Everything was riddles. “Yeah, okay. I’ll tell him.”

“I mean it, Shay. Kellan has to know. He’s bonded to your human side. He’s been able to control his demon side because of it when he’s around you, but if your father arrives, and he’s not prepared, his demon might react too strongly. Someone will die, someone you’ll need for your survival.”

“So, you’re helping me now? You’re helping him?”

The painter drew back, straightening against the tree, and gave me a rueful grin. “I guess so. Yeah.”

I was tempted to roll my eyes. I was beyond really trusting anyone anymore, even Kellan. I knew he was still keeping secrets from me, but I was slowly starting to believe he had my best interest at heart.

I watched him carefully when I asked, “What’s your place in all this? You said before that you were a part of me, too, the messenger part? Are our messengers bonded together?” Then I did roll my eyes. “And can you at least tell me your name?”

He chuckled softly. “My name is Damien.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Damien.”

“And my messenger side is bonded to yours in a family way.”

Oh—that was…different. “So not the soulmate way?”

“No, not at all. Let’s leave it at that.” Then he straightened and nodded past me. “Your soulmate is back there, waiting for you. He knows I don’t mean you trouble, or him for that matter.” Then his eyes gleamed brightly, and he whispered, “As long as he’s truthful to you, then he won’t need to worry about me.”

Tingles went through me at his words, and I knew he had sent them to Kellan. He wanted his message heard and glancing over my shoulder, I felt the anger start to grow with my soulmate. Kellan got the message, loud and clear, and didn’t enjoy the threat, but he remained by the car, waiting.

Damien told me, “When your father comes to town, he’s going to seek me out. He’ll want to know where you are and what demons you are living with. Your mother has been hidden to him since she gave birth to you. He holds a grudge against her for that, but he’s coming for you. The Braden twins gave him the excuse to come here. And he won’t be happy about Kellan. I know he doesn’t know of the demon or how you are bonded to him. Your father will be enraged and will try to break the bond.”

Okay, now I was worried. “What are you saying?” Could that even happen? Could the bond be destroyed? And if so, then what would happen after that?

He seemed to choose his words carefully. “Just that it would be smart if you strengthened your bond.”

My mouth went dry at that. “What do you mean by that?”

He grinned crookedly. “You can take it any way you want. Kellan will know, but if the two of you
are
strong enough, your father will know not to even try to break the bond. If you two work together as a team, you could be powerful, more powerful than you could imagine.”

Well…that was nice and cryptic. I was left annoyed and slightly speechless when Damien gave me a small hug before he left through the trees. I stood there for another minute before I turned and slowly walked back to the car, back to Kellan. He straightened and asked, watching where I had left, “What did he say?”

“Oh, oh. You don’t want to know.” I laughed with a hysterical note in my voice.

Kellan narrowed his eyes. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Oh, nothing. Just that my father is going to try to destroy our bond, and we’re supposed to make it stronger. Oh, and that my father is actually coming here for me, not for Gus or Vespar. They’re just his excuse to come here. Oh—I should’ve first told you that my father is the messenger coming here.” I threw my hands up. “Surprise! I’m going to meet my dad soon. How…lovely.”

Kellan arched an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest. “Did he do something to you just now? This isn’t normal, Shay.”

“It’s not a normal day for me. I find out about you, about me, about my father coming, and that guy is ‘family’ to me. Did you know that?” I jerked a thumb over my shoulder.

He was silent for a moment and then said grudgingly, “I see your point.”

That made me laugh harder. The hysterical note grew in volume until I was bent over, clutching my stomach, and slowly falling to my knees on the ground, sobbing from the laughter. Kellan watched me for another moment and bent to wrap his arms around me. Lifting me in the air, he held me against his chest while I started to sob into his shoulder. One of his hands smoothed back some of my hair while his thumb brushed at my tears while he was still holding me.

After a few moments, when my sobs had started to subside, I hiccupped against his shirt. “I’m sorry. I’m a bit not normal right now. And Vespar tried to kill me.” I didn’t even know how to comprehend that one.

Kellan whispered against my forehead, pressing a soft kiss there, “Vespar will be dealt with. Trust me.”

It shouldn’t have comforted me, but it did. When he kissed my forehead again and then bent to softly kiss my cheek, I closed my eyes and curled into him, feeling safe, even though I didn’t know if I should.

LEAH

Across the school parking lot, standing inside the doors, Leah watched them from a window. Hatred boiled inside of her, and she frowned with her fingers curled so tightly into the window frame that it drew blood from underneath her nails.

Dylan came to stand beside her. Glancing from the blood under her hands and her stony face to the couple where her gaze was frozen, he sighed. “They’re not who you think they are.”

She clipped out, “I know.”

When Shay had asked about her parents, something unlocked in her mind. Memories flew back at her, drifting in and out of focus, but they were there. She felt them. She heard her parents’ laughter, her own with them. Then she heard raised voices, threats from a man’s voice. His hands touched her, made her do things that brought shame to her. Cringing on the inside, Leah wanted it all to go away, but she knew it wouldn’t. They were permanently there, and they shifted alongside her new memories. Nothing made sense to her, but the memories and emotions haunted her. She knew they would always haunt her, but one memory that was perfectly clear was the night her parents were killed.

Vespar and Gus had rung her doorbell, and she had answered it, thinking they were there with some information about Kellan. She’d been so excited, thinking that Kellan would come to help her. Save her. But he didn’t, he sent those two and they had pushed their way inside with a sick gleam in both of their eyes. When her stepfather had demanded to know who they were, what the hell they were there for, Gus had laughed—laughed—as she flicked a knife in the air. It landed perfectly in his chest, but it hadn’t been enough. The female Braden had danced to him, took the knife out, and then slit his throat, giggling when he gaped at her with his eyes wide. When his body slid to the ground, Leah’s mother and real father had come out of the garage, alarmed. Then Vespar had gone mad, lunging for them through the air. He’d taken their heads—Leah trembled, clasping her eyes shut. She didn’t want to remember it. She didn’t want to hear their surprise or their agony, how they had begged for their lives.

“We can make them hurt.” Dylan touched her arm. “Kellan tried to erase my memory, but it didn’t work. I knew a spell that kept it from happening. His power can’t touch me.”

“How do you know that stuff?” she whispered, choking on vomit.

“My grandmother. She told me about things like them, what we can do to protect ourselves against them. They killed my entire family.”

“I saw your brother in school today.”

“Gus killed them, but I think Kellan brought them back to life.” He took her shoulders and turned her to him. “They can do things like that, but we can stop them. We can hurt them.”

With tears running down her face, Leah frowned. “How? They’re so powerful…” She looked back and felt another stab in her heart when she saw Kellan place a gentle kiss on Shay’s forehead with his hand holding her cheek. It was a tender gesture, but could they feel tenderness? Did they feel love? Why did she feel comforted by him?

Dylan drew back, smiling. “I know what to do. Do you trust me?”

She jerked her gaze back to his and took a deep breath. “I want the memories to go away. I can’t stand it. I’m haunted, Dylan. They made that happen. I feel like I’ve been ripped apart and sewn back together with a knife and rope.”

“I’ll make it better. I promise.” Dylan took her hand and squeezed. Then he slid an arm around her shoulder and drew her against him. “Come on. We’ve got lots of work to do.”

Leah looked back over her shoulder, but Kellan and Shay had disappeared.