The Appeal of Evil (The Road to Salvation) (6 page)

The look of pain on Wes’s face was almost too much to bear. If she had been in a different situation and wasn’t afraid for her life, she might have cried for him. How could she have put him through that? She never meant to hurt him. She just wanted him to know how bad he made her feel. But those sorrows didn’t last for long. She had more pressing concerns, mainly if someone was going to die and if there was anything she could do to stop it.

“Oh, he already knew how much it hurt you,” Josh said, seemingly reading Katie’s mind.  “He felt it in his heart and soul every time he left you hanging. His heart ached, his soul cried out.”

Wes turned his gaze back on Katie. He held his hands out to her. “I never meant to hurt you. Never. I had no choice.” Tears filled his eyes.

Anger surged through Katie’s body. Using all her might, she struggled to stand. With some effort, she got to her feet.

“How dare you,” she hissed. Her voice was low, barely over a whisper. “After all these years, after all I’ve told you, you could have said something to me.”

It irritated her it took a situation like this for Wes to open up. He’d had ample opportunities to prepare her for a moment like this. Instead, he kept his mouth shut, made her vulnerable.

A tear fell onto Wes’s cheek, and he shook his head. “What would I have said? Would you have believed me?”

“I loved you, Wes. I would’ve believed anything you told me. I would’ve tried to help you through your problems. Instead, you kept me in the dark, treated me like an idiot. Made me feel hated.”

Wes choked. “I’m sorry. I did it to protect you.”

Katie narrowed her eyes to slits. “I don’t need you to protect me.”

Josh laughed. “Ooooh! She’s a feisty one.”

His voice broke Wes’s gaze from Katie’s face. He glared at Josh, then looked back at Katie. “You can’t believe anything he says. He’s evil. He lies to get what he wants.”

Katie huffed. “That may be, but he’s still kept more promises than you have.”

Wes’s gaze dropped to the floor.

Josh laughed again. “She has you there, buddy. What are you going to do now?”

The Hell Hounds drew in closer to Wes, their lips curled up, exposing their teeth. With a sniff, Wes wiped his face with both hands. He looked up. Anger and hatred once again covered his face.

“You still won’t win. Even if Katie doesn’t love me anymore, I’m not going to let you have her.”

Josh shrugged his right shoulder. “She’s the one who makes that decision, not you.”

Wes yelled and ran forward. A Hound lunged and grabbed the back of his shirt, but it wasn’t fast enough. The material tore and Wes continued toward Josh. He tackled him to the hard ground, then sat on his chest and proceeded to punch him in the head. 

Blood spattered from Wes’s fist and Josh’s face. Josh’s head bounced off the concrete floor with every punch, but Wes only got three of four hits in before the dogs dragged him off their master.

“I will kill you!” Wes screamed. “Kill you!”

The dogs’ teeth dug into his flesh, and he yelped in pain. Katie watched blood ooze from his arms as the dogs continued to drag him across the floor. Josh picked himself up and brushed the dust from the shirt. Blood dripped from his face.

“That may be. But you’ll have to wait until I get back to Hell to do it.”

Katie’s eyes scanned the area, looking for something she could use as a weapon. Her heart thudded in her chest, fear tingled her extremities. Her gaze fell on the pile of trash. She ran toward it. Her heart sank as she examined it. Decayed boards with rusted, broken nails were stacked to her waist, along with some rusted wire, broken plastic, and layers upon layers of dirt. She toed the pile, hoping to find something buried underneath. It paid off. She bent down and picked up a pipe. It wasn’t any thicker than her two fingers, but it was twice as long as her arm and weighty. It would do the trick. 

A yell echoed through the large space, and Katie turned back toward Josh and Wes. The dogs had gotten Wes prostrate on the floor, and they held him in place with their jaws around his ankles and wrists. Blood drained from the puncture wounds. Josh stood over him, smiling. Why wasn’t he concerned with what Katie was doing? Was she really that little of a threat he didn’t need to keep an eye on her? Part of her couldn’t help feeling rejected. Wes was right; Josh didn’t want anything to do with her. Josh was only using her to get to him, and now that Josh had Wes, Katie didn’t matter. That really pissed her off. She wasn’t going to be anyone’s pawn, and she wasn’t going to be the reason for anyone’s death. Her grip tightened around the pipe.

Josh lowered himself onto Wes’s chest, and the nail on his index finger grew to ridiculous lengths. It caught and reflected the light like a sword blade. Wes struggled underneath Josh’s weight, causing the teeth at his wrists and ankles to rip his flesh open further. Blood pooled under his extremities.

“I’ve waited a long time to kill a Praesul. I’m going to enjoy this.” He dragged his nail across Wes’s midsection, slicing open his shirt and drawing a line of blood from his abdomen. Wes yipped, then bit his bottom lip to keep the scream from erupting from his mouth.

Katie didn’t waste any more time. With the pipe raised over her right shoulder, she ran toward Josh. When she was close, she swung as hard as she could. The metal connected with his skull with a crunch, and Josh fell backward. One of the dogs released its grip on Wes’s ankle and lunged at her. The teeth sunk into her left forearm.

“Aaaaah!” She raised the pipe again and smashed it into the creature’s head. The only thing that accomplished was causing the thing to dig its teeth deeper into her arm.

Wes kicked his free leg at the other hound. Successfully, he got it to release him, then focused on the ones at his wrist. Confusion followed, and the dogs were unsure where they needed to be. The one from his ankle shook his head and attempted to get a grip back on his leg, but Wes moved too much. The one on his left hand let go to help his companion subdue Katie. It leapt on her chest and knocked her to the ground. The pipe skittered across the floor. Jaws moved toward her neck. 

“NO!” Josh’s voice boomed through the room. “Don’t hurt her!”

The dog growled but obeyed its master. It remained on her chest, and the other let her arm go. Katie pushed the creature to the side and clambered to her feet. Blood dripped down her fingers. It felt numb and useless. She scanned the floor for her pipe.

Wes had made it to his feet and stared at Josh, who seemed to be having trouble keeping his balance. Through the mess of blood on his face, Katie noticed a small dent in his forehead where she hit him. Did she really strike him that hard? She didn’t think she had the strength. The boys faced off, ready to attack each other again, if they could find the strength. The dogs circled Wes, waiting for the chance to grab his limbs once again.

Katie found her pipe and picked it up. She wasn’t going to wait. With one hand, she raised it over her shoulder and smashed it into the closest Hell Hound’s head. It whined and its legs gave out underneath him. She smashed it again to silence it. The others didn’t like that.  They turned their attention to her and bared their teeth. She whacked the other one nearest her with the pipe, knocking its legs out from underneath it. Before it could recover, she kicked it in the head with all of her might. She felt the impact through her maroon Chuck Taylor. For a second, she wished she’d had a chance to put on her tennis shoes. The other two stopped and glared at her.

“Come on!” she yelled. “I’ll take care of you, too!”

The dogs snarled at her but didn’t come any closer. Josh’s laugh resounded through the warehouse.

“You’ve got spunk. I like that.”

“I don’t care what you like,” Katie spat. 

“Yeah, if you’re not careful,” Wes wheezed, “she’ll use that spunk on you.”

Katie pointed the end of the pipe at him. “I didn’t do this for you,” she hissed.

Wes snapped his mouth shut and averted his gaze to the floor.

“I don’t really care what kind of tiff the two of you have going on, but I’m not going to be a part of it anymore. I’m done.”

Josh held his hands out to his sides. “Fair enough. I wouldn’t want you to have to witness your friend’s death.” He pointed at her. “But you and I aren’t done. I’ll find you when I’m done here. We really need to talk.”

His comment disconcerted her, but she didn’t want to stick around any longer to figure out what he meant. This wasn’t her battle. She wasn’t going to fight anymore. Katie was about to turn and head for the door when Wes threw something through the air. She had no idea where it had come from, but he apparently used the distraction to grab it. From where Katie stood, it looked like water. It splashed against Josh’s face, and instantly his skin steamed. He screamed and covered his face with his hands. Wes wasted no time. He lunged forward again, pulling something out of the back of his waist band. He kicked Josh in the chest and knocked him over. Then, while sitting on him, plunged a gold knife through his eye. Josh’s screams instantly stopped, his body went limp. The dogs turned and ran toward Wes, but he was ready. More water arched through the air, and when the droplets touched them, they exploded. Black ooze and bone scattered about the room. Katie covered her eyes to protect them. The adrenaline drained from her body, and she sunk to the floor.

Her head spun, her stomach cramped. She thought for sure she was going to puke. Pain throbbed through her arm. Her vision blurred. She was going to pass out. But before she could, she felt Wes’s hands on her shoulders.

“You’re fine. Take deep breaths.”

Her first inclination was to shove him away. She didn’t want him anywhere near her, but she didn’t have the strength. That anger was enough to revive her, and the wave of dizziness subsided. It also cleared her vision, and she glanced over Wes’s shoulder. Josh stood behind them, the knife sticking out of his eye, pointing at them. She sucked in a sharp breath and tightened her grip on the pipe. It probably wouldn’t do her any good, but it was better than nothing.

“This isn’t over,” he growled. “I will come back for her. She will be mine.” He pulled the knife out of his eye, and his body disintegrated into dust.

Wes took a deep breath and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “Glad that’s over.” His face pinched with pain. “Katie, you got your phone on you?”

The pipe clanked onto the floor as she frantically patted her pockets and found it in her right front one. “Yeah.”

“Good. Call me an ambulance.” With that, he fell over backward, unconscious.

***

Katie sat next to Wes’s hospital bed with her arm wrapped in a bandage after receiving thirty stitches. She had been cleared to go home, and her mom was ready to take her, but she asked if she could stay for a little while longer, just to keep an eye on Wes. His wounds had been cleaned and stitched up, and aside from needing a transfusion, he was going to be just fine. Katie wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about that. On one hand, she was extremely happy he was still alive. Even though he’d broken her heart a bazillion times, she didn’t want to see anything bad happen to him. On the other, it would have made things much simpler if he wouldn’t have made it. It would have depressed her, yes, but she would have moved on. Did that make her heartless? Or a bad person? What was going to happen to them now?

She reached forward and gently traced her fingertip across his forehead. His skin was pale and wrinkled with concern. As she pulled her hand away, he opened his eyes and stared at her.

“Hey.” He smiled. His voice was soft and croaked.

“Hey.”

“Where am I?”

“The hospital. You lost a lot of blood, but you’re going to be just fine.”

He stared at her intently. “What did you tell them?”

Katie sighed and leaned back in her chair. “Well, I couldn’t exactly tell them you were in a fight with a demon from Hell who sicced his Hell Hounds on us, could I?” She returned his intense gaze. “I told them we skipped school to talk. We went to the warehouse for privacy and were attacked by a rabid dog.” She shrugged. “I don’t really know if they believed me, but they didn’t ask any more questions.”

Wes attempted to push himself up. Katie placed a hand on his shoulder.

“No, just relax. It’s fine.”

Wes ignored her and got himself into a sitting position. He turned toward her and grabbed her face gently in both hands. “Josh wasn’t joking. He will continue to come after you. He will not stop until you are his.”

A lump formed in Katie’s throat. “Why?”

“To hurt me. But also because he likes you.”

“How can that be? He’s a demon. Can he have those feelings?”

Wes sighed. “He saw something in you, Katie. Something dark, something evil. He wants you for his own.”

Fear grew in the pit of Katie’s stomach. “What do you mean?” Her voice was barely over a whisper. “I’m not evil.”

Wes pulled her closer and gently kissed her lips. Katie wanted to protest, to pull away, to scream at him and make him answer her question, but she couldn’t. His lips were warm and soft, radiating security through her entire being. It felt natural, right, like she was exactly where she was supposed to be. After a few moments, he pulled away.

“I’m sorry I never told you about my, ah, other life. I couldn’t. I needed to keep you safe.”

Katie nodded. “I know. Just tell me one thing. The other night, when you came into my room, whose blood were you covered in?” It was pointless to try to get the answers she wanted out of him, so she figured she’d try to get answers to the multitude of other questions she had.

Wes’s gaze dropped. “My dad’s.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Is he all right?”

Wes nodded. “He’ll survive. Just like I will.” He met her gaze. “But as long as Josh is still out there, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

Katie rolled her eyes and pulled away from Wes. “I’ll find a way to take care of him.”

Wes wrapped his arm around the back of her neck to keep her from going too far. Katie didn’t fight against his grip and rested her forehead against his.

“Josh was nothing compared to the other creatures out there. He’s a low-level demon. A baby.”