Demon Bound

by Chris Cannon

  “Then that’s what I’ll have to do.” I only wished there was a way to help Zelda and Carol.

  “Have you lost your mind?” My father and Sage yelled at the same time from opposite ends of the kitchen table when I told them about my plan.

  “No. I’ve come up with a solution,” I said. “The only one I can find. My contract with Carol ends if I die. No one said the death had to be permanent.”

  “There has to be another way,” my dad said.

  “Not that I can find.”

  “This is just a summer job, right?” My dad sat back in his chair. “You can handle this for another month. When you go back to school, the problem goes away.”

  “So I should just suck it up and deal with my demon boss for a month. Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Yes. It’s a much healthier option than stopping your heart and hoping you can restart it or whatever you planned to do,” my dad argued.

  He had a point. “I guess.”

  A jolt of cold ran up my arm, and three envelopes appeared on the kitchen table. “Speak of the demon.” I picked them up and checked the location. “Oh, joy. I’m going to the casino again today.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Sage said.

  My collections went smoothly. Ever since Sage had gone all protective tiger on Frank, my collectees had been calm and courteous. Once I had the required syringes full of souls, I headed for the library to meet Bane. Maybe this wasn’t so bad. Just one more month and then my life might get back to normal.

  I headed down the stairs to the library cafe to meet Bane with a sense of optimism. The black velvet jewelry box which sat on the table next to Bane’s coffee jarred my heart into overdrive. What was in the box? Just because he had it didn’t mean it was for me. It’s not like I’d agreed to anything. It could be a total coincidence.

  Rather than joining him at the table, I stood across from him and set the envelopes on the table. “Here you go. If you’ll excuse me I have human errands to run.”

  “Sit,” Bane said like he was issuing an order.

  I wasn’t sure if this was the hill I wanted to die on, but I wasn’t going to let him order me around like a servant. I had free will and I was going to use it.

  “No. Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Sit, or someone you care about dies,” Bane said.

  My mouth fell open. Then I shut it, ground my teeth together, and sat in the stupid chair. I didn’t trust myself to speak because if I opened my mouth again I was going to tell him to go to hell.

  “Vampires are causing trouble. Offering to heal people. Taking souls that are rightfully mine.”

  Son of a… Both of those problems led straight back to Jake. How much did Bane know? I tried to play it cool. “No disrespect and please don’t kill anyone, but why are you telling me this?”

  “I want to know who started it,” Bane said. “And I want to make it crystal clear that it needs to end.”

  Crap. Crap. Crap. “Well…Sybil told Jake how she was turned after she almost died in a car crash. I asked if vampirism cured mental illness, like my mom’s. Sybil had no idea. Her sister Violet was in the final stages of dementia and had no quality of life, so she decided to test out the theory. Violet is now a happy eighty-year-old vampire. It was all a family thing. Sybil never offered deals to random people.”

  Bane tapped his nails on the table. “She only cured her own family. No one else? What about Jake?”

  “After the wreck I wanted to call you…make a deal to save his life. He insisted I call Sybil because he didn’t want to be responsible for me dying at twenty-seven.”

  “So she didn’t sell him on the idea?”

  “No. I called her. She came and he asked her to turn him.” I couldn’t say it any simpler than that.

  “If I find out Jake is encouraging vampires to take souls, or if he’s told anyone about biting me, I will hang him using his own intestines as a noose.”

  I cringed at the mental picture he’d painted. “Is that it? Are we done? Can I go?”

  “No.” He popped the lid open on the jewelry box which I’d been trying to ignore. A thin silver bracelet nestled on the black silk lining. Tiny diamonds sparkled along the middle of the bracelet. “Put this on.”

  I put both hands behind my back. “Why?”

  “It signifies that you’re my employee and you’re looking after my interests.”

  Nope. Not doing it. “That is not what you said a bracelet meant before.”

  “Everyone knows she works for you,” Sage added from the sidelines. “They think I’m her bodyguard, so collections have been going smoothly.”

  “I need to know you’re on my side,” Bane said. “Everyone needs to know that. Think of it as a non-competition clause.”

  “I swear I’m a loyal employee, but school starts in less than a month, so there’s no reason for me to put that on.”

  Bane appeared confused. “What does school have to do with your job?”

  “I signed on with Carol for a summer job. Once school starts, the job is over, which means I no longer work for you.”

  Bane produced the contract I’d signed with Carol and laid it on the table. “Do you see a specified end date anywhere on this document?”

  My mouth went dry and a cold feeling of dread filtered through my body. “What are you saying?”

  He ran his finger down the page. “Nowhere in this contract does it state that your job is for a limited amount of time.”

  No. No. No. “It was understood,” I argued. “Carol understood that. We talked about it.”

  “Then you should have put it in writing,” Bane said. “Your job continues until I no longer require your services.”

  “Or until Carol dies,” Sage spoke up again. “Right? When Carol dies the contract is terminated so Meena doesn’t need to put that bracelet on which signifies lifetime employment.”

  Bane turned on Sage. “Another word from you, and someone Meena loves will die.”

  “That’s not fair,” I shouted. “You can’t keep threatening my family. I didn’t sign a contract with you. You might hold my summer job contract from Carol, but that’s it.”

  “There you go again with that whole summer idea.” Bane tapped the contract. “Should I read it to you?”

  Angry tears blurred my vision. My stomach rolled like I was going to puke. This could not be happening. I was supposed to get my life back after summer. There had to be a way out of this…besides waiting for Carol to die.

  And then it came to me. “I’m under eighteen. My father doesn’t allow me to work during the school year. He wants me to study and make good grades so I can get into college. You can’t make me work during the school year.”

  “Let’s see about that.” Bane disappeared and reappeared holding on to my father, who looked like he was about to vomit.

  “Put me down,” my father yelled. He spotted me. “Meena, are you okay? What’s going on?”

  I tried to get an explanation out before Bane twisted things around. “I only work during the summer, right? My job with Carol was for the summer. I don’t work during the school year so I can concentrate on my grades.”

  “Yes,” my dad said. “She only works during the summer, which means she isn’t working for you once school starts. And she never signed a contract with you to begin with, so this whole thing has been kind of sketchy, especially since she’s not legally an adult.”

  “If Meena continues to work for me year round, I’ll pay off your house.”

  “No deal,” my dad said.

  We’d never had a ton of money, but we were okay. Bane wouldn’t be able to work the greed angle.

  “How about a Ferrari and a new house?” Bane asked.

  “No.” My father stood firm.

  “Fine.” Bane leaned forward and sniffed my dad a
nd then he smiled. “Is that cirrhosis of the liver I smell?”

  “What?” I grabbed my dad’s arm. “Is he serious?”

  My dad shrugged. “I drink. He’s guessing. Come on, honey. Let’s go home.”

  Bane didn’t stop us when we walked toward the stairs, up into the library and out the front door. Once we were in my car, I sped away, blowing through a stop sign.

  “Slow down, kiddo,” my dad said. “Everything is going to be okay.”

  I pulled into a parking lot and turned off the car. “No it’s not. Nothing is okay. Jake is being an asshat and Bane has no intention of letting me out of that contract.”

  Sage opened his door and climbed out. He opened the driver’s door and said, “Why don’t we trade spots.”

  “Good idea.” I moved to the back seat while my brain spun. I couldn’t help feeling that we were running out of time.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Jake

  Now I had two women who weren’t speaking to me. Meena was mad that I was focused on Bane rather than her. Sybil had told me I was an idiot for wanting to take on Bane. I was definitely not feeling the love.

  As I replaced warped boards on Aunt Zelda’s back steps, I tried to come up with a plan. I didn’t want to be the guy responsible for turning vampires into a bunch of demon blood junkies so, as far as I could tell, the drinking demon blood angle was out. And I missed Meena. It didn’t help that I was the one who’d screwed things up. I’d like to blame the demon blood and maybe that was part of it…maybe it was my burning hatred for Bane, but I needed to fix things with her. How in the hell was I supposed to do that?

  Aunt Zelda came outside on the back porch holding her phone. “Your mom is on the line.”

  Shit. She was probably coming to get me.

  “I already talked to her about you staying for your senior year,” Zelda said. “Choose what’s best for you. Okay?” She passed me the phone.

  I put the phone to my ear. “Hey, Mom. How’s Florida?”

  “It’s great. You’re going to love it. Steve has a house near the beach.”

  “Sounds nice, but Aunt Zelda offered to let me stay here and go to school.”

  “Stay in Crossroads? Why would you do that?”

  “I like it here. I have a job and a girlfriend.” If I still had a girlfriend.

  “I really want to stay. If that’s okay.”

  “But I miss you,” my mom said.

  Should I give in and go stay with her? Maybe it was time I made decisions that were best for me. “I miss you, too. You can always come visit me.”

  I heard voices in the background. My mom laughed. “Sure, honey. I’ll come visit you at Zelda’s. I gotta go. Love you.”

  “Love you, too, Mom.” And then she was gone.

  I handed the phone back to Zelda. “Now that I’m staying, I better straighten things out with Meena.”

  “Good idea.” Zelda headed back into the house with a smile on her face. She was happy I was staying. She wanted me here. Crossroads could be my home.

  I finished nailing the last board into place and then put my tools away before calling Meena. Her phone rang and rang. Was she avoiding my calls? I tried again.

  “Jake, this is Sage. You need to come over. Meena’s in trouble.”

  “What’s—” Before I could ask more Sage hung up on me.

  I ran, using my vampire speed. When I made it to her house, I half expected to see an ambulance or demons or something. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

  Her dad swung the door open before I could knock. “Come on. She’s in the backyard.”

  I sped through the house and out the back door. Meena lay on the ground surrounded by rose bushes.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Astral projection,” her dad said.

  “I hate that crap.”

  “This time she plans to slip her tether,” Sage said. “She wants to die.”

  “What?” I couldn’t have heard that right.

  “It’s the only way to escape Bane,” Sage explained. “The contract she signed with Carol didn’t state that it was a summer job. Bane claims she’s bound to him for life. This seemed like the only solution.”

  I kneeled in the grass next to Meena and took her hand. “If you can hear me, please don’t do this.”

  “I had her tether,” Sage said. “But she pulled away from me. I wanted you here because I was hoping her strong emotional connection with you might help guide her back.”

  As I watched, Meena’s breathing became shallower and shallower. And then her chest stopped moving.

  “She’s gone.” Sage brushed the hair off Meena’s forehead. “Now we must wait for her to come back.”

  “Can’t we wake her up?” her dad asked. “Throw cold water on her or something?”

  “No,” Sage said. “That would be dangerous.”

  Blue light flashed on Meena’s arm. The bracelet was no longer a solid circle. I reached over and pulled it off. “That part worked. Meena, come back.”

  Nothing happened. She just lay there. How long could she go without breathing? I didn’t plan on waiting to find out. Instead, I lay down on the ground next to her, holding her hand. “I’m going to get her.”

  I could do this. All I needed to do was focus. I didn’t need to die. I just needed to let go and travel out of my body. When I’d tried astral projection before, I’d failed. A lot had happened since then. After the crash, I’d drifted between life and death. It had felt like I was floating away.

  I closed my eyes and focused on that sensation. Just floating along. Drifting in the ether. That’s where Meena would be. As my body grew lighter, I opened my eyes. I was adrift in what looked like a night sky. There were pinpricks of light.

  “Meena?” Lights of various colors blinked in and out. I spotted a golden light…it was warm…there was something familiar about it. I drifted over and reached out to touch it. Suddenly I was falling through clouds… I landed on my back…and tried to get my bearings. “Meena?”

  I looked around and saw a girl sitting under a tree, petting a cat, and reading a book. I ran to her. “Meena, you need to come back with me.”

  She glanced up at me and then went back to looking at her book. “Why would I go anywhere with you?” She turned a page and continued to read.

  “What?”

  “You abandoned me. I walked home. You didn’t even notice.”

  Crap. “You’re right. I was an idiot. I’m sorry. Please come home.”

  She closed the book. “Even if I wasn’t mad at you why would I want to leave? It’s lovely here.”

  Maybe if I reminded her why she’d done this. “Bane’s bracelet came off. You don’t have to work for him anymore.”

  “That’s good.” She set the book down and picked up the black cat with white feet and held him on her lap. “This is Mr. Mittens. He was my first cat. My sister wanted to call him Socks. I liked Mittens better.”

  The cat purred and closed its eyes.

  “He seems like a great cat, but we can’t stay here.”

  “At first I was worried about finding my way home, but now I don’t really care.” She pointed at the ground next to her. “Sit. Stay for a while.”

  How long could we stay before she couldn’t go back? I had to convince her that her place was in the real world. “My mom called and asked me to go to Florida, but I told her I wanted to stay in Crossroads for my senior year. You’re a big part of why I wanted to stay. Please come home with me.”

  “How’d you find me? Is Zelda helping you?”

  “No. It’s just me. I panicked and dove in.”

  “Who’s holding your tether?” Meena asked.

  “No one.” And that was a terrifying thought.

  A genuine smile lit her face. “So you just came to find me. You weren’
t worried about getting lost or not being able to find your way back?”

  “No.”

  “But you were scared of that before.”

  “You’re right. I was.” I reached over and touched her face, and when she didn’t move away from me I leaned in and brushed my lips across hers. “The scariest thing I can think of is losing you.”

  She sucked in a breath. “That’s so sweet.”

  “Please come back with me, Meena.”

  Mr. Mittens meowed.

  She rubbed the cat’s ears. “Do you think Mr. Mittens could come with us?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “I guess I’ll hold on to him and hope for the best.”

  “Does that mean you’ll come back?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” There was one problem. “How do we get back?”

  “We’re going to fly up and out of my psyche until we can look down on our bodies and then we’ll dive into them.”

  Like it could be that simple.

  We stood. I held Meena’s hand tight while she held Mr. Mittens. She bent her knees so I did the same.

  “Don’t overthink it. We go on three,” Meena said. “One, two, three.”

  I pushed off and we blasted up into the air and out into the ether. We went higher and higher into the twilight and then I could see Meena’s backyard where we were lying on the ground. We changed trajectory and dove for our bodies.

  I jerked awake, sitting upright, and then clutched the back of my head. I rubbed the spot where it felt like someone had smacked me.

  …

  Meena

  I was still holding Jake’s hand when I woke up, but Mr. Mittens had disappeared. That was all right. I’d see him again someday.

  “Are you okay?” Sage asked.

  “I’m fine.” Although I was a little embarrassed that I’d almost accidentally committed suicide. Everything had seemed so peaceful over there. But now that I was back, it was time for phase two of my plan. I stood up and took the pocket knife Sage held out to me.

  “Can you stop doing things that scare the hell out of me?” my dad asked.

  “Gladly.” I used the knife to cut my finger. “I’m looking forward to a quiet, boring school year.”