The Burden of Trust

by Nikki Frank

  He opened his eyes and smiled at me. “Must be my lucky day.”

  I gasped and dropped the powder on him. He vanished slowly enough for me to see the astonishment on his face as he went. I hurried back out the window and into the church, arriving moments after Graham. He’d backed himself against a wall and pointed a switch-blade at Iya.

  “What the fuck are you freaks?”

  Iya flicked his fingers in the direction of the knife, which Graham dropped with a scream. The metal twisted and hardened into a useless lump.

  “Not the kind of freaks a stupid weapon like that is going to work on.” Iya’s voice carried a measure of amusement. “Now, if you don’t want to end up like your knife, I suggest you listen carefully. We need you―”

  “For what?” Graham interrupted.

  “I’m getting to that. We―”

  “So, my aunt got it right? You really are unholy creatures? Devils?”

  “Not really. We’re―”

  “But you did magic. Magic is the devil’s work, right?”

  “No, it’s―”

  “But―”

  “Would someone shut this kid up?” Iya turned and pinched the bridge of his nose. His eyes were closed, fighting his temper.

  I leaned against the wall next to Graham. “I wouldn’t push him. You’ll get answers if you actually listen.”

  He nodded and winked in my direction. “Hey, cute-stuff. Wanna finish what you started? I never thought that when my dad sent me to this one-horse shithole, I’d have cute girls climbing into my room in the middle of the night. But I’ll take it.”

  He reached for my shoulder, but before I could react, Velor had shoved him back against the wall, his body between us.

  “Bad idea, kid,” he growled. “If you think the redhead’s the one you don’t want to mess with, you’re wrong.”

  Graham trembled, and guilt attacked me. We were going to take this kid and stuff demon magic in him. Then he’d be forced to follow me around for . . . however long I managed to live. Not really the kindest fate to begin with, so frightening him seemed cruel.

  “Velor, easy. He’ll be one of us. Treat him well.”

  “One of us?” Graham ran his eyes over the group. “Are you guys vampires? Are you going to turn me into one of the undead?”

  “Touch Olivia and I might.” Iya flashed a grin full of fangs at Graham.

  “Holy fuck.”

  “Guys,” I snapped. “This is quickly getting off track. Graham, we need you to provide a . . . service . . . for me. You will be well compensated, but you will have to come with us.”

  He perked up instantly. “Really? You’ll get me out of here?”

  “Well, yes. But―”

  “Awesome. Dad caught me smoking pot with some of my friends and sent me out here to get a ‘wholesome’ perspective. Evidently living with the preacher and my aunt in this . . . you know, I’m not sure it even qualifies as a town, was supposed to make me rethink my choices. I’ve been here for a week, and I already swear the only way out is to kill myself. Aunt Molly and Uncle Kent were born like a century too late.”

  He paused and paled in the moonlight. “Wait. You don’t mean like you’re going to do something to my soul and drag me to hell, do you?”

  “No, we’re―”

  “Oh, good. ‘Cause I don’t want to go to hell. Not for real. I just don’t wanna be stuck with nothing to do in this overly-religious―”

  “Oh, for God’s sake.” Iya yanked Graham away from the wall and out of Velor’s grasp. He grabbed my arm with his other hand. “Let’s get this done.”

  His power undid the lock on the demon magic’s canister. Before the demon magic had a chance to uncurl, Iya had taken it and transferred it to Graham. I had a gentle pull to Graham who’d fallen back against the wall, gasping.

  “What the fuck did you do to me? What am I? What are you?”

  Iya turned his back on him. “Don’t bother trying to answer. It’s not like he’ll listen anyway. Olivia, how do you feel?”

  I gave myself a little shake. “Amazing. I feel like me again.”

  Iya snaked an arm around my back. “Wanna celebrate like last time?”

  I shoved him off. “No. Going to the bar wasn’t a celebration. It was a nightmare.” I wiggled my toes in my Hermes shoes. “What I’d really like is to be alone.”

  Iya shook his head. “You can’t. I’ve never created a human vessel before. I don’t know if this will hold, or how effective containment will be, or even if—”

  “I wasn’t asking,” I told him as I jerked the door open and ran off.

  Chapter 9

  My shoes took me flying through the wheat fields, covering miles in mere minutes. The wind in my face freed me. I focused on that feeling. Please, let the running last forever. A tug at my shirt startled me. My feet caught on each other, and I went down, sliding through the dirt.

  “Sorry, Livy.” Talon offered a hand to help me up.

  I took it, and fire rushed through me, starting at the place where we touched. Something stabbed at my heart. I loved this man so much. He didn’t drop my hand, and hope ran through me next. Maybe . . .

  “Are you really better? For real?” he asked.

  I nodded. “There’s no explanation for how much better I feel. Better even than when my power lived in the container. There’s a soft link to the demon magic, but otherwise, I’m free.”

  “Good. I’m happy to hear that.” He gave my hand a little squeeze. “I promised to stay until you were well. And . . . I can’t do this anymore, Livy. It breaks my heart to see you suffer, but Iya draws out my anger at every turn. Each time the two of you interact, all I see is . . . you—in his arms.” His voice cracked. “My heart hurts. I thought—well, hoped I could get over what you did. But . . .”

  His head hung down, hiding his face. A tear dropped into the wheat. I grabbed his hand and pulled it to my chest, hugging it.

  “No. Not this. Talon. I love you. Please don’t go.”

  He pulled his hand away. “I’m sorry. Good luck with everything.” He turned and started back through the field.

  My knees gave, and I fell to the dirt. “No,” I whimpered at his back.

  The world became blurry, and even my view of him walking away disappeared. “No.” A bird startled up and flew away.

  My parents were gone. Talon had left. I’d ended up alone, as I’d feared. Sobs tore from my body, and the grass cut my hands as I gripped the wheat. Dying in the battle with Lord Zaemon would have been better.

  I sniffled into the damp earth beneath my cheek. I’d probably been crying in the field for far too long, but it didn’t matter. What was the point of going back when Talon would be gone?

  A rush of air and a familiar sun-warmed rock smell startled me. Ferika landed next to me in the form of a dragon—in broad daylight.

  I scrambled to my feet. “What’s wrong?”

  “All kinds of trouble. Hop on.”

  We went back to the church in a blur. She transformed as soon as we landed in the churchyard, and shouting reached us outside. It was unmistakably Talon and Iya. I rushed inside to the two facing off, snarling at each other.

  “Good, you’re back.” Iya pointed in my direction. “Do you see what you’ve done?” he yelled at Talon. “If she breaks and we lose everything we’ve worked for, you’re the first person I’ll hunt down and kill.”

  Talon looked murderously at him. “Her condition is your fault. Yours and hers. Grow a set and face the consequences.”

  “You didn’t have to be an ass and dump her right after we fixed her.”

  “And you didn’t have to fuck my fiancée,” Talon screamed back. “I asked her to pair bond. You killed a piece of me already, why not have a go at the rest?”

>   Iya gathered a ball of fire on his hand and launched it at Talon. Talon dodged and drew his daggers. Graham stepped up beside me, a strange gleam in his eye.

  “So that’s the kinda power I’m holding for you? Too cool.”

  He held out his hand.

  “No.”

  His palm glowed, and our connection buzzed angrily.

  “Iya.”

  A blinding flash filled the room. Graham and I screamed in unison at the agony. A horrible tearing sound ripped through the air. I fell to the floor, gasping.

  “Talon, keep her calm while I work on the boy,” Iya ordered.

  Talon pulled me onto his lap and rocked. “Livy. Livy. This wasn’t supposed to happen. You were supposed to be all right.”

  I gripped his leg as pain tore through my body. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be all right without you.”

  He tensed, and I let it go. His feelings came through loud and clear. My efforts were better spent on surviving the pain. The room swam in and out of focus.

  I glanced over at Graham in a lucid moment and immediately wished I hadn’t. What felt like tearing in my own body translated to real tearing in his. He looked as though the magic had exploded through his flesh. Skin hung in strips, tattered.

  “That’s exactly what I feel,” I gasped.

  I shuddered and gripped Talon’s arm, feeling blood at my fingertips where my nails gouged him. Another scream tore from my throat. If only I could hurry up and die.

  He gave a sob. “Fix her, Iya.”

  “I can’t.” Iya’s voice came from far away and carried a metallic tone. “They’re still connected, and he’s bleeding out. I can’t fight the magic and make the repairs fast enough.”

  Graham’s body gave a sickening shudder, and the convulsions began. I groaned and held Talon as my body quaked with Graham’s.

  “Iya, please,” Talon begged.

  The others yelled back and forth, but words failed to connect in my brain. I’d passed out so many other times. Why not now? Was this my punishment? To stay with Graham until the end?

  Graham’s body burst into flames. I shrieked. All the pain up to this point had been a warm-up act. I was burning alive along with Graham.

  Lots of shouting filled the room, followed by a roar which cracked the glass in the windows. A white-hot pain seared across my throat, followed by a choking sensation. Then Iya shoved the demon magic back in my tattoo box and sealed it.

  With our connection severed, the pain fled swiftly, and my body began to cool. In its place burned guilt even brighter than my shame over Talon. Each calm part of my body was a horrible reminder that Graham felt nothing anymore.

  I pushed my way off Talon’s lap and threw up. The sight of Graham’s charred and lifeless leg beside me brought more up. Ferika’s bloody dragon talon was the reason why the pain had been cut off. Why couldn’t we have slit his throat earlier? Why had we let him suffer?

  “What have we done?” I shrieked. “We killed a teen. For nothing.”

  “He killed himself,” Iya soothed. “We warned him not to use the magic.”

  “He’s a defiant high schooler. That’s why he got sent here.” I buried my face in the carpet. “I felt it all. He died horribly.” I threw up again.

  “Livy,” Talon mollified, “this wasn’t your fault.”

  My teeth lengthened, and I snapped them at Talon. “It was my fault. And I know you guys want me to turn around and do this to someone else.”

  “Not without a bit more research.” Iya used magic to clean up the destroyed church—and the body. “I must have missed a step. Something to keep the vessel safe.”

  “You think?” I yelled at him. “Maybe you should have done the research first.” My tail lashed behind me.

  “Livy, please calm down. I’m not even sure you’re healed.”

  “So what? After what I’ve done, I deserve to be in pain.”

  Talon tried to get near me, and I threw a ball of fire at him. “You had your say already. Stay away from me. Both of you. Ferika, take me away until they’ve fixed things here.”

  “Yes, Mistress.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Silence hung heavy in the van. I’d washed my hands of anything to do with the Kenseys, making Iya and Talon clean up the mess. Iya said he used his powers of manipulation to convince them Graham had run away. He left the church completely unscathed. But I thought it a sad way to treat the smiling Mr. Kensey and his over-cautious wife. In this case, her fear had been well-founded. I certainly felt unholy.

  We drove in silence for hours as I lay across the backseat. I refused to eat or even to watch out the windows. Who cared where we went next? When we stopped for the night, I took Velor and locked us in my hotel room. Velor silently tucked me under the covers, turned out the lights, and climbed into bed, his back pressed against mine.

  The dark of the room didn’t bring the peace or sleep I’d hoped. Instead, wave after wave of horrible emotions rode over me: guilt, sadness, helplessness, heartbreak. I tried to hold back the tears, but they forced their way out.

  “Mistress?”

  “I don’t want to talk.”

  “I’ve been thinking since this morning―”

  “Velor, I let you in because you’re usually the silent companion. Don’t muck it up.”

  “Yes, Mistress. But would you please hear me out on this one issue?”

  I grunted.

  “I know the whole situation and the outcome distressed you. There’s no way to make this incident better. But I know a way for you to refocus your negative energy into something positive.”

  “Right,” I snorted.

  “Well, you are the demon lord. Governance in your district is largely up to you. Between the events surrounding your friend Emmett and the disaster surrounding Graham, perhaps you could draw up a new law protecting humans capable of channeling magic.”

  “How would that help?”

  “If you were to commission specially trained officers to deal with such humans, battles wouldn’t be fought over them, and mistakes by untrained individuals wouldn’t occur.”

  A new and hopeful feeling tickled at me. “I could regulate human safety.”

  “Yes, Mistress.”

  “I could avoid situations like this. And if a law worked well in my district, similar laws might be passed for the entire Central Borderlands. Maybe even in Hakushi. I doubt the Goblin King is interested in protecting humans, but it’s certainly something.”

  “Just what I thought. Human protection falls so closely in line with your other policies.”

  I rolled and hugged Velor. “Thank you. You have no idea how good the promise of real action is. I’m so tired of clinging to nothing but hope and getting nowhere. I want to act and accomplish something. New laws will have to wait for a while, but the thought of preventing any more of this . . .”

  I got a warm snuffle in my ear in return. “It’s good to see you in better spirits, Mistress.”

  ~ ~ ~

  When I woke, Velor stood waiting with my breakfast and a smile on his face. “Good news, Mistress. Omri took the others to a hot spot last night, and they traced another vessel.”

  I made a gagging noise, and Velor tensed. “Don’t worry. Iya currently has his books out in the other room. He’s sure he’ll find a better way. But we’re all certain we need to do this. You can’t go on as you have been.”

  I nodded. “I know, but using another person is sickening. Where are we going?”

  Velor shrugged. “West from here is all Iya knows right now. He’ll get a closer read as we go. Mistress?”

  “What?”

  He gave me a soft smile. “If I may, I have no doubts you will find love again. We all love you. You’re far too likable not to draw people to you
. All will eventually be right. Now, eat. You’ve been through hell and back. You need to treat your body kindly.”

  ~ ~ ~

  For the next few days, I exiled myself to the far back seat. To my astonishment, Iya took the front seat with Talon driving. The first day only held a little stiff conversation. But that a truce had even been reached blew my comprehension.

  On the second day, they talked. From the bits I strained to hear, conversation centered on harmless stuff about Borderland sports and such. Though, I still scratched my head. Without me to fight over, they got along. Weird.

  The third day, Iya turned to pass back my lunch order and caught my eye for the first time since the church. My stomach gave a lurch. Strange, I’d missed him.

  “I know you’re not talking to me, but you need to listen. The more I read, the more I think the vessel works like a source. We should have had a unicorn seal the bond. We need to be careful with this one. There weren’t any others in North America when we searched.”

  I gave him a nod but bit my tongue. I wasn’t ready to talk to him yet.

  Mid-morning on the fourth day, Iya’s directions took us off the freeway in Las Vegas. As we reached the end of the strip, I rolled my eyes. What if the vessel turned out to be an Elvis impersonator? Since we were now figuring the vessel would be like the source, imagine kissing Elvis to get at my power. Gag!

  Iya pointed at one of the huge, glittering casinos. “There. The vessel is inside.”

  I burst out laughing at the signs plastered all over the casino, neon colors glowing and flashing. “What if it’s the magician? How ironic would that be?”

  Talon used magic to open a couple gates and pulled in at the back of the casino. We piled out of the van and gathered around the door which read: Stage entrance. Performers only.

  Omri knocked on the door. A burly-looking security guard opened it and frowned at us.