Saint of Sinners (18 page)

I stepped onto the stage and waited, getting more nervous by the minute. The whole school was here, all of them waiting to hear me admit what I’d been hiding this whole time. What if they panicked? I imagined hundreds of screaming people, all trying to get out at once, some getting knocked down and trampled…

I shook my head to clear it.

One of the kids from drama club came up with a microphone stand and set it in front of me, flashing me a smile. I thanked her and turned back to the crowd in time to see the principal walk in. He looked almost as pale as he had that morning. I waited a few more minutes for the last of the students to hurry in.

I tapped the mic to make sure it was on. The whispering in the crowd died. “Hi, everybody.” My heart pounded so hard I wondered if they could hear it through the speakers. “So, I told you I’d explain everything.” I swallowed. “I don’t know how to start without freaking you out. I’m not gonna hurt anybody, so don’t panic or scream or anything.” Everyone stared at me.

“Fine, okay. The man I fought the other day was the devil, and he’s my father.”

Murmurs and exclamations. One guy shouted, “Seriously?” I heard a lot of “crazy” and “no way.”

“I know some of you saw the fight. Weird shit, right? That’s normal life for me. This school, going to class, talking to you guys—
that’s
weird to me. But I wanted it, wanted the same normal, boring lives you had. I wanted it so bad I ran away from home and lied to all of you to have it. I’m supposed to be evil. I’m supposed to help Satan destroy the world, but I’m not. I won’t.”

So I told them about hating my parents and how I’d saved the world three times last summer. As I talked, I got less and less nervous. It started to feel good to be up on stage, holding the mic, walking back and forth as I talked about fighting Fenrir and battling Satan on the moon.

I liked the feeling of confession after lying for so long. I liked the attention. I left out the part about killing Mom and Ken and the Satanists. They didn’t need to know that.

After finishing the CliffsNotes version of my life, I said, “So, that’s it. Any questions?”

A few hands went up. One guy stood and shouted, “Are you really a demon?”

“Half demon.”

“Where’s your horns and shit?”

“Right here.” I summoned my horns and wings. That made a few people scream. I think a lot of them didn’t really believe what I was telling them. “I got them last year, and they only come out when I want them. And yes, I can fly.”

That distracted most of them. “What else can you do?”

“I can control fire and ice, teleport, talk to some animals, move things with my power. I’m working on shapeshifting.”

“Can you show us something?”

“Well, fire would be a bad idea. I already burned down half the school office.” That got some laughs. “I can make it snow.” I really like that trick. So I made it snow in the auditorium, and moved some pencils and books that people held up for me.

One girl kept raising her hand and I finally called on her. “If you’re the son of the devil, then that makes you the Antichrist.”

“Technically.”

“So you’re like the kid from
The Omen
?” someone else said.

“No, Hellboy!” another shouted.

“I’m not… well, actually Hellboy isn’t too far off. We both love cats, too.”

Several people chuckled.

I hadn’t wanted this when I started school. I’d wanted to blend in, hang out with my little circle of friends and get good grades. Now, thanks to Satan blowing my cover, I’d just become the most popular kid in school.

Chapter 21

Everywhere I went at school, a little entourage followed me around. I had to shoo them away when I got to class. When I had class with one of my admirers, they tried to get the desk closest to mine. Girls went around glaring at Hayley and saying nasty things behind her back until I warned them to leave her alone or else. Hayley and Casey and my other friends got popular by association, and suddenly our little group of nobodies got more attention than any jock ever had.

The lead jock and two of his friends came up to me the day after my auditorium performance. “That fight we had at the beginning of the year… you seriously could’ve killed us.”

“Easily,” I said.

He hesitated. “Why didn’t you?”

“Well, one, I didn’t want to get arrested for murder or expelled my first week of school. And two, you didn’t do anything worth getting killed for.”

“So, we’re cool?”

“Yeah. But I’m still serious about the bullying thing. You pick on someone and I’ll hurt you.”

He lost some of his color. “Yeah, okay. I won’t pick on anybody.”

The bullies hadn’t beaten anyone up since the fight. They had picked on some kids, but as soon as I made it clear those kids were under my protection, most of it stopped. Anytime I was around and caught them doing something—calling a kid names or shoving someone—I used my power to trip the bully, or shove them into a wall, or spill food on them. For months, a rumor went around that the school was haunted. Now they knew it was me, and I didn’t see or hear about anyone else getting picked on.

Well, not by the bullies, at least.

We had a different kind of bully now that everyone knew I was the devil’s son. A group of six “born again” Christians set themselves on their own little crusade to get rid of me. First they tried an exorcism, full-on Latin and everything, even though they supposedly thought Catholics were false Christians. I laughed at them.

A week later they cornered me in the lunchroom and read from the Bible, the bit about Jesus casting out the demon. I rolled my eyes and waited until they finished. “Guys, first, I know Jesus. We’re friends, and although we have our disagreements, he wouldn’t cast me out of anything. Second, my lunch is getting cold, so get out of my way.”

They glared and shouted stuff at me as I went to the table.

It wasn’t just me they went after. They went after Hayley because she was dating me, and my other friends for hanging out with me. They picked on Casey and called him gay, even though he wasn’t. They didn’t get physical, although they did corner people like a pack of hyenas to shout nastiness at them. It hadn’t been like that before my announcement. I wondered where these fuckers had been hiding. I think they secretly loved me being here because it gave them a reason to act like huge douchebags.

I shrugged it off until the two girls in the group cornered Hayley in the bathroom and called her the Whore of Babylon, a slut, and lots of other things. They finally backed down when she threatened to hit them. She was mad when she told me about it, but I could tell the words had hurt.

That was it. At lunch I went up to their table. Some of them whipped out their crosses, like they thought I was a fucking vampire or something. “Hey, you little shits, leave Hayley alone.”

“Upset at us preaching truth to your whore?” The leader sneered at me. “The Word of God says—”

“Shut the fuck up.” I heated up and had to be careful not to set something on fire.

“Or what? You’ll use your unholy power to hurt us? Kill us?”

I glared at him. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Prove you right, turn you into a fucking martyr.” I really wished I could bring Joshua here and have him give the assholes a lecture, but I bet they wouldn’t even recognize him. “You’re supposed to be followers of Christ. How about you show me where in the Bible he harassed people? I thought there was something in there about loving your enemies, not calling them names.”

From one of the nearby tables, someone said, “Ooooo…” and several people chuckled.

I looked around. “Maybe we can give them a lesson. How about we all be extra nice to these pieces of shit? Open doors for them, give them cookies, tell them they’re pretty. If they tell you you’re going to Hell, smile and give them a compliment. We’ll show them how to ‘love thy enemies.’” I got laughs and several shouts of agreement. The Christians tried to burn a hole in me with their eyes.

One boy shouted, “You’re really beautiful, Michelle.” That was one of the girls who’d cornered Hayley. Everyone laughed.

It was a fun game. We played it for weeks. Every time I passed one of them in the hall I’d think of something nice to say. Completely false of course, but the compliments didn’t have to be real. I don’t think any of the six had to open a door at school for a month. If they dropped something, a dozen people scrambled to pick it up. They were constantly being offered cookies and candy. People taped paper hearts to their lockers, left nice notes on their desks.

For a while they kept up with their insults, but little by little they got quieter. By the end of the month, they seethed in silence. I’d stopped the jock bullies by proving I could kick their asses. I’d killed the so-called Christians with kindness. Metaphorically, of course.

The game fizzled out. Teenagers’ attention spans only last so long, including mine. By May, I’d almost forgotten about them.

Prom was coming, and I was super excited. It was a standard of the American high school experience. Most kids waited until their senior year because of the expense, but juniors were allowed to go. I told Hayley I’d help pay for her dress if her parents were worried about the cost. At first she told me it wasn’t a problem, but then she found a dress she loved and I gave her the money to pay for it.

Her parents didn’t know the truth about me. We’d agreed they wouldn’t understand. We explained the money came from my trust fund. Hayley wasn’t bothered by me stealing money from ATMs as long as the money was coming from the bank and not an actual person’s account. She had about as much sympathy for greedy corporations as I did.

She helped me shop for a tux. We debated about whether to go with traditional black or do something different. I decided I already stood out enough so I didn’t need to make any crazy fashion choices. “Besides,” I told her. “You’re the one that’s supposed to stand out.”

I almost went with a bow tie. Even though it was James Bond-ish, I didn’t like it. So I went with a vest and tie in light blue to match her dress. And my eyes, she said, although my eyes were paler than the color we picked.

Some of our friends were too young to go, including Casey. Lucia had to beg her parents, and I helped her find a great deal on a dress through the Internet. I also found her a date, which I felt sort of bad about because I don’t think he was really interested in going with her, just going with our group since I was in it. But hey, they were both dateless before I hooked them up, and at least they got along.

I got a limo and a table at the fanciest restaurant in the city. Nothing but the best for me and my friends. The one thing that spoiled the excitement for me was thinking this was the perfect opportunity for my dad to attack. I wanted to wear Animus, but she wasn’t exactly conducive to dancing. I left her in the limo while we ate, but I took her with me to the prom itself. I left her on the table, knowing I could pull her to me if I needed to. She was also handy for making sure no one else took our table. No mistaking that I’d claimed it.

I led Hayley out to the dance floor. She looked like a fairy-tale princess in her long blue dress and diamond jewelry. I’d gotten her earrings and a necklace to go along with the outfit. I admitted the earrings were real, but I lied and said the necklace was cubic zirconia. I didn’t want her to know how much money I’d taken to pay for that. Her hair was done up, making it look almost as short as it had been when I met her.

“You’re beautiful.” I kissed her, a soft brush of lips.

“So are you.” She smiled and laid her head on my shoulder.

“This is better than I imagined. This is perfect.” I wanted to stay like that forever, dancing with Hayley to a sappy love song. Another slow song followed, then a stupid party song. I rolled my eyes but danced to it anyway. I was in too good of a mood to hate it.

We danced a while longer before taking a break. Hayley went to the table to sit down and I went to get her a drink. While I was filling a cup of punch, I heard an argument by the front door. Over the music I caught the word “faggot” and I whipped my head around.

The so-called Christians were surrounding someone. I put my cup down and headed over. They were actually surrounding two guys, one I recognized and one I didn’t. The Christians looked pissed, and the two guys were glaring back. “Get out of here,” the lead Christian shouted. He looked like he might start shoving the guys any second.

“What’s going on here?” I asked.

The lead Christian, Thomas, turned his glare on me. “This is none of your business, devil spawn. This school has been defiled enough by your presence.” So I guess they’d gotten over their glowering silence.

The guy I recognized, though I couldn’t remember his name, said, “They won’t let us in.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re gay.”

Aha. I looked down and realized the guys were holding hands. And they had matching corsages on their suits. Cute. “Get out of the way,” I told the assholes. “This is their prom too.” The game was really over now. I’d been having such a good time, and these fuckers were putting a damper on it.

“We’re already suffering your abomination, we don’t need these faggots flaunting their unnatural lifestyle in front of the whole school.”

“Why don’t you just go back to standing in the corner and muttering Bible verses,” I said. “The rest of us want to have a good time.”

Michelle said, “Of course you’d be on the side of the homosexuals.” She flicked her gaze to them. “Do you want to stand beside the son of the devil and go down with him to the fiery pit of Hell for all eternity? Or will you repent your sinful ways and come to Jesus?”

Oh, they were in rare form today.

“We just want to dance,” the boyfriend said. “Get out of the way.”

Two of the chaperones were hovering, but with me involved they were reluctant to do anything. I’d rather handle it myself anyway.

“Move,” I growled.

Thomas and Michelle crossed their arms. “Or what?” he asked.

“I’ll make you move.” I motioned for the gay couple to get behind me.

“You won’t touch us. We’re protected by the Holy Spirit and blood of Jesus,” Thomas said.