Nameless: The Darkness Comes (9 page)

Chapter Sixteen

The ride home took forever, and the worst part was it gave me time to think.
Obsess, really. If Lydia was with Sparkles, then that means she’s hanging out with her mom’s demon. Who know what was going on, wherever they were? Seth was in no condition to go after his daughter. I think Reed Taylor would be willing, but what good would he be without his own personal Demon Patrol? He can’t even see the things. And Mouth seemed like he might know what’s going down, but he is, after all, a demon himself. We all know demons are liars.

Mouth was waiting for us when we pulled in.
He looked irritated.

“All right, let’s go.”

He stalked up the porch stairs.

“Hey,” I called out, “you’re not going to be able to—
”

Mouth glided through the front door.
I froze. I couldn’t make myself breathe right.

“What’s wr
ong?” Reed Taylor asked me. He cursed. “I can’t see anything.”

I licked my lips.
“He just…he just went through the door. He’s in the house.” I turned to face Reed Taylor, hoping his gorgeous greens would calm me down. They didn’t. “He isn’t supposed to be in the house. I did that protection thing. It should work against any demon that isn’t fully possessing a human…”

Mouth’s
head popped back through the door. “Coming?”

I took a shuddering step forward, and Reed Taylor wrapped his arm around my waist.

“You shouldn’t be able to get inside there,” I accused Mouth.

He shrugged.
“I had no problem. So are you staying outside all night or what? Your neighbors are already watching you mill around.”

Ugh, the neighbors.
First the ambulance and now I’m freaking out on the sidewalk. I growled in my throat and started marching forward. The things I do to keep up appearances.

“We have a
lot
to talk about,” I threatened.

“Can’t wait,”
Mouth replied demurely. The Mark between my shoulders tingled.

I worked the key in the lock and threw the door open with
exuberance. Quite a bit of exuberance. Too much exuberance.

“Ouch!” yelped Reed Taylor.

“Oops! Sorry.”

He rubbed his shoulder
and stepped through the door. He stopped.

“Whoa,” he said.

Whoa was right. The ambiance. The heaviness. But more than that, the house was packed. Demons crowding around the staircase, demons on the furniture. A tiny demon that looked like a fruit bat stuck its head out of the garbage disposal.

I had never seen so many demons in one place before.
I felt dizzy and looked for a place to sit down, but there were demons of all shapes and sizes propped on every surface.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” I said, and slid down the wall to the floor.
I wrapped my arms around my knees, trying to keep myself as small as possible. I didn’t want a demon to touch me if I could avoid it.

“Your house,” Reed Taylor said.
He moved his head around like a blind man who was straining to see. “It feels terrible. So dark. What happened here?”

“It’s become Demonic Utopia, you screw-up.”
Mouth looked Reed Taylor up and then he looked him down. “Seriously, Luna, what do you see in this guy? He’s got nothing.”

“Shut up, Mouth.”
I struggled to my feet. “There are demons everywhere,” I told Reed Taylor. “I mean hundreds. One just…one just walked right through you. Did you feel it?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Thank goodness. I took another step into the room. I hated to see them in our space, trying to touch our things. Something slinky slid down the banister.

They’re upstairs, in our rooms
, looking at our pictures, at our clothes, touching as much as they could touch. I wondered if I’d find a tiny demon in Lydia’s crib. The thought of it nearly made me throw up.

“You okay?” Reed Taylor asked me.

I shook my head.
“This is so uncool. I mean, seriously. You should just see the place. Actually, it’s probably better you can’t.”

R
eed Taylor’s muscles were tense. “I don’t have to see them. I can feel the air. It feels dangerous.” He looked at me. “Besides, there isn’t a single angel here. Not one. I wonder why that is?”

“Because they’re not welcome here,
doofus!” Mouth stabbed his finger into Reed Taylor’s chest.

“Knock it off, Mouth
. But what do you mean, they’re not…ugh.”

My eyes practically crossed, I was feeling so sick.
I doubled over and wrapped my arms around myself.

Reed Taylor was instantly at my side.
“What’s wrong? You look awful. Is it the house?”

“It’s the—
” I started to gasp out, but I couldn’t finish. I dropped to my knees. I screwed my eyes closed, but I could still feel the demons’ gazes upon me. The area between my shoulder blades screamed for their attention, I could feel it.

“It’s
the Mark,” Mouth finished for me. Which was very helpful, except Reed Taylor couldn’t hear him at all. Still, it was a rather conciliatory gesture, offering an explanation to the man he despised so much and without good reason, and I’d have to thank him for it later.

If I didn’t die right here on the living room floor.

Mouthy demon closed his eyes and the want in his voice made me shiver. “Oh, man, that Mark. The Demon Tracing. You have no idea what…” His eyes snapped open. The other demons were inching closer.

“You need to get out of here, Luna,” Mouth said.
“Like, right now.”

I couldn’t move. It hurt to breathe.
I was curled up on the ground and my muscles were starting to twitch.

“No,”
mouthy demon said, and stood between me and the other demons. He used the commanding voice and strange language I had heard from him before, his eyes flashing. I didn’t need to speak Demon to know he was angry.

The demons stopped advancing for just a second, but the pull of the
Tracing and my deliciously deliciousness was apparently too great. Mouth turned to Reed Taylor and swung at him in frustration.

“Get her out of here, you moron
! Use your head. Be useful for once.”

Of course Reed Taylor couldn’t hear him, but if there was one thing that man knew how to do, it was to think on his feet.
He swept me up, threw me over his shoulder, and took off out of the house.

Just being out of that oppressive environment made me feel better.
I breathed in through my nose. The Mark still hurt, but it wasn’t a blinding, screaming pain like it had been before.

“You can put me down, Reed Taylor,” I said.
My voice sounded weaker than I liked.

“When we get to the bike.”

He trotted over to his motorcycle, and set me down gently. “How are you feeling?”

I rubbed my eyes.
“Not so great, but better. The house…”

I didn’t know what else to say.
The house was a cesspool of demons. It felt like death. The house was no longer safe. I didn’t have anywhere to go.

“What did your little demon friend have to say about it?” he asked me.

Mouth didn’t come out of the house, but other demons were starting to drift over from across the street. It seemed like tonight was going to be a big demon block party.

“He didn’t say anything.
Wait, except that he started yelling at them in some strange language. He was telling them to back up, or something. I’m not sure.” I reached back to rub the pain out of the Mark. It wasn’t helping. Plus it’s in a really awkward place. I sighed and grabbed my helmet and motorcycle.

“What was that all about, anyway?” I asked bitterly.
“Why would he bring us here if he knew it was going to be so disastrous?”

Reed Taylor shrugged.
“Maybe he didn’t know. Maybe he thought you’d be more comfortable at home, I don’t know.”

Suddenly Mouth was standing at my side.
“Or maybe I wanted to give ol’ Luna here a wakeup call. Show her how things were really shaking down. ”

I bared my teeth at him.
“Oh, is that it? You couldn’t have just told me, instead of driving me to my knees because of the horrible demony power of my mystical, magical Tracing?”

He bared his teeth right back.
I almost took a step back but reminded myself it was only the pesky mouthy demon, and he didn’t scare me. Good, because I had almost forgotten.

“Telling you does no good,
Luna,
because you never listen to me.
Luna.
” He wasn’t kidding this time; he was really, genuinely angry. I really did take a step back, and nobody could fault me for it.

“I take it he’s here again,” Reed Taylor said wearily.
He pulled his helmet over his head. “Fantastic.”

Mouthy
demon heaved a great sigh and visibly pulled himself together.

“Listen, you two.
I tried to tell you, and I tried to tell you. That wasn’t getting us anywhere, was it?” He gestured at Reed Taylor. “He can’t hear me. You won’t listen. What else am I supposed to do?”

“I’m sure you could have thought of something.”

He wheeled on me quickly, and his eyes were blazing fire. That’s not a figure of speech, either. It’s a real true thing. Fire licked up out of the sockets of his eyes and danced around his forehead. I could actually feel the heat.

“You,” he said, and his voice dripped with venom and, I want to say, disgust.
“Stop with the jokes. Drop the wisecracks and sarcasm. You don’t even grasp what I—“ He glanced over his shoulder. “They’re coming. They can’t forget the scent of your Mark.” He glared at me, and I kid you not, I was actually afraid. “Go somewhere. Anywhere. Get away from here. And if you’re smart, you’ll get away from him.” He spit at Reed Taylor, and disappeared.

“What did the punk have to say?”
Reed Taylor asked me.

I was shaking with anger and more than a little fear.
Did Reed Taylor somehow have something to do with this? Was he demon bait, too? “The usual,” I said, and threw my leg over my bike. “I don’t want to talk about it. Listen, Reed Taylor, it’s been swell, but I need some time to think. I work best alone. Catch ya later.”

He looked hurt, so I quickly pulled my helmet down and started the engine. Demons ran
from the house like dark water, flowing toward Reed Taylor and me. The Tracing sizzled and I felt my head start to spin. I couldn’t stay here anymore. I needed to bail.

I found myself doing a lot of that lately.

Chapter Seventeen

I left Reed Taylor standing in my driveway and headed to the flower shop on the far end of town. We had a big garden when I was a kid, full of daylilies. I packed the flowers up carefully and hopped back onto the bike. I needed to think. I needed to calm down. I couldn’t go in swinging concerning Lydia. As much as I hated it, Reed Taylor was right. If I tore the city walls down brick by brick, shrieking for Lydia, it was only going to hurt our cause. I had to get control first, and there was only one place I could think of to go. It was a good long drive, and it was getting dark when I arrived at the cemetery.

I had been here so many times that I could walk the place blindfolded.
I stepped carefully past the tattered flags and broken stone. My boots didn’t make a sound on the soft grass. I knelt down by a double stone that had two names carved on it.

“Hi, Mom,” I said, and kissed my fingers.
I pressed them to her name. “How are things going there?”

I stopped for a second. I wasn’t really sure what to say.
I forced a smile, just in case she could see me. And it made me feel braver, more confident. The last thing I wanted to do was curl up and cry on my parent’s graves. I am not an orphan in a Charles Dickens story. I’m more…Buffy the Vampire slayer. Only not cute and perky. Or very effective at slaying anything.

Hmm.
Perhaps I’m more Dickens than I thought.

“Lydia is so big now, Mom.
You’d be really impressed. Sweetest little thing. Smart, too. She’s a typical Masterson lady, that’s for sure. But she’s missing. With her demonic mother, and that’s no exaggeration. I don’t know how to find her just yet, but I will. And Seth…well, he’s going through a hard time, but I’ll figure out how to pull him through. You know I will.”

I gave Mom a daylily, Dad another, and stuck the third behind my ear.
This is how we shared flowers when I was young. There was always a flower for Seth, too, but he never wanted anything to do with them.

Daylilies didn’t bother him.
Dad bothered him.

I sighed.
“Dad, I’m not sure what to do. There’s this mouthy little demon that keeps popping up everywhere. He tells me things are going down, that they’re going to get really bad. My natural tendency is not to believe him, of course, because, well, he’s a demon. But there’s something about him. His earnestness, maybe. I think he’s telling the truth, and I’m not sure what to do about that. Because if things are getting bad…” I snorted. “What am I saying? They are bad.” I turned to Mom’s side of the grave. “Cover your ears, Mom. This isn’t for you.” I turned back to Dad. “Sparkles just waltzed in out of nowhere. Said she wanted Lydia, and Seth just lost it, or something. I found him in the bathtub today and he had taken a whole bottle of pills. Sounds like Sparkles took her before Seth did it.”

I lay down between them on their grave, my arms behind my head.
The moon was large and luminous, and faintly sinister. I couldn’t get over the feeling it wanted to lean down and bite me. Perhaps there is evil inside the moon, and has been all of this time, and we never knew about it.

“I don’t know what to do, Dad.
Everything is so messed up.” I paused and bit my lip. “There’s a boy, though. A guy. His name is Reed Taylor, and I sort of dig him. Mom, you can listen to this part. He’s something special, he really is.” I thought about my parents, about their bodies moldering in the ground all of these years. What would be left, really? I closed my eyes to keep myself from thinking that. Things were bleak enough.

“I didn’t want to talk about bad things, only.
That’s why I mentioned Reed Taylor. I wanted you to know there are good things going on, too. Always. Anyway.” I stood up and dusted the dirt off of my back and legs. “I love you guys. Just wanted to let you know.” I walked away from their graves without looking back. Ever since I had been a child, I never looked back.

I intended to head for my motorcycle, but I surprised myself by taking a turn and walking toward the rose garden adjacent to the cemetery.
It was full of peace and beauty, and maybe I needed that right now. Plus Lydia loved roses, and this was a way to feel closer to her while I thought of where to look. I found a white stone bench that gleamed dully in the moonlight. I sat down and pulled my knees up to my chest, content to just look at the sky.

“Beautiful night tonight,” Mouth said conversationally.

I groaned and pulled my knees in tighter. “Why did you have to show up? I just want to be alone. It seems I’m never alone anymore.”

If I thought Mouth would apologize, I was certainly wrong.

“What do you expect?” he said. He shrugged, not caring. “You’re Marked. You’re a popular girl nowadays, Luna, and popularity has its price.”

“Ugh, the
great Tracing that turns me into demon bait. What can you tell me about it, anyway?”

His voice remained level.
“I can smell it a mile away. I can feel it in what used to be my bones. It’s everything I can do not to throw you down and push into your soul right here right now, and I’m one of the good guys.”

I felt my e
yes widen.

“Yeah, that Mark you wear is bad news, girlie.
I don’t think you understand the full implication of it.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything.
I leaned my head back against the bench and smelled the roses. They seemed clean and slightly sultry at the same time. I turned my head toward Mouth.

“Can you smell the roses?
Is that something demons can do?”

Mouth leaned back, as well.
“Well, I’m not your typical demon, I’ll have you know. Most have lost that sense. They’ve lost most senses. Lost most of their minds. I’m more…intact than they are, I guess you’d say.” He flashed his eyes in my direction, and I couldn’t read the expression in them. “Yes. I can smell the roses.”

“Don’t they smell wonderful?”

He didn’t move. “They smell like decay. Like a dying thing.”

Oh.
Well. That was cheery.

Mouth obviously felt like elaborating.
“You’re just a hunk of meat, Luna. You and everybody you care about. That guy. Your brother. The baby girl. You walk through life, going about your petty little routines, and your bodies are dying all around you. It’s disgusting. It’s what true horror is. I can hardly abide being near the living.”

Normally I would have jumped on that full force, but it had been a hard couple of days.
“I’m sorry I disgust you, then,” I said, and I very nearly meant it.

He eyed me.
“Man, you’re in a mood. I can’t believe you didn’t take my head off for that. I’ll have to try harder.”

I took the daylily from my hair and held it up so it was centered in the middle of the moon.

“I’ll be honest, Mouth. I don’t know what’s going on. I always say I’ll land on my feet, but I’m not so sure this time.” I turned the daylily around and around, a delicate moon dance. “Sparkles scares me. I’ve seen her demon. I had never seen anything like it. I’m worried about Seth because he’s always so calm, and that was completely… I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to…and the house today…”

I couldn’t finish.
I swallowed hard and pursed my lips together.

From the corner of my eye, I saw that Mouth was studying me.
Normally I’d be embarrassed, but I was too tired to be embarrassed.

“So maybe I’m kind of sorry about taking you to your house today.
A little.”

I didn’t say anything, so he continued.

“I wanted to scare you, of course. I wanted you to see how serious things were becoming. You’re always so rebellious and unconcerned, and I’m not sure if that’s how you really feel or if it’s an act. You need to realize, Luna. I…I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

I was surprised at how gentle his voice was.
I turned to look at him. His smile was crooked. How could I know he had a crooked smile? I stared hard into his eyes. They had a hint of color.

“Mouth!
Are you…you’re not as transparent as you usually are. Are you becoming fully formed?”

I reached out a hand and grabbed at his sleeve.
I felt some real substance there, underneath the air and resistance.

He gently pulled his sleeve away.
“It comes and goes. It seems to be stronger when I’m happy and calm.”

I raised my eyebrows.
“I’m nearly crying my eyes out as I tell you that my life is falling apart around me, and you’re happy and calm?”

“Funny, isn’t it?”

I closed my eyes, tested my energy level. “I didn’t even feel you taking anything out of me.”

“I didn’t.”

That startled me. “You didn’t? You managed to form on your own? But I thought…”

He looked weary.
“I told you I’m not like everybody else. I don’t need to use you like the others. If I’m relaxed enough, I can solidify without even meaning to. Do you know how that feels?” His eyes shone. “To manipulate things in the real world? To actually leave an imprint? That’s why everybody’s after you, you know. Because you can see them. Because they’re finally real to somebody, even if it is a smart-aleck woman.”

“Hey.”

“You can’t deny it.”

He took the flower from my hand.
I looked at him in amazement. “You’re formed enough you can actually touch that?”

He held it in his palm.
I almost expected it to wilt in his hand, but it didn’t. It held its form and even looked more lovely than usual, if that could be possible. Something serene and beautiful held by something created from despair. It made me want to cry.

“You take this for granted,” he said.
“You take everything for granted. Life truly is wasted on the living.”

He took the daylily and gently tucked it behind my ear.
I was reminded of my father. I was reminded of Reed Taylor. I remembered I shouldn’t be sitting in the moonlight with a demonic presence. It was dangerous. But I couldn’t keep myself from staring at the swirl of color that fought its way up from deep inside of his eyes. His eyes were dangerous and frightening and surprisingly lovely.

“Get some sleep
. Be well.” Mouth breathed in deeply through his nose. “Oh, Luna. The Mark. You have no idea how your soul smells. It smells like blood and lavender on ice. I’d better leave now or you’ll be dead by morning.”

This time he didn’t just disappear.
He stood up and walked away. I’d hate to say he frightened me. I’d like to think I’m braver than that, but as I reached up to touch the flower in my hair, I couldn’t control the trembling in my hands.