[Peachville High Demons 01.0 - 03.0] Beautiful Demons Box Set

by Sarra Cannon

  In the second drawing, there were very few clues as to where they'd taken him, but one thing did stand out to me. In the far right corner of the page, Jackson had drawn a portion of an ambulance.

  They've taken him to the hospital.

  I tucked the drawings back into my pocket and raced toward the hospital. The streets were crowded with cops and bystanders even though it was almost midnight. It seemed that everyone had come out to help with the search. I pulled a hat out of my jacket pocket and tucked my hair into it, hoping no one would recognize me. The last thing I needed right now was to bike straight into Mrs. King or another member of the Order.

  Peachville General Hospital was about two miles from the police station. I biked as hard as my legs would carry me, but it still took several minutes to get there. When I pulled into the emergency room parking lot, I started to think about what I'd done. This didn't make any sense. How would they have gotten him into the hospital without anyone noticing?

  I took out the drawing again. Jackson was chained to the wall. Modern hospitals weren't exactly known for their torture rooms. I shook my head, angry at myself for making such a costly mistake. The Others hadn't taken him to Peachville General. That would be too risky. There were too many people here who would see them.

  No, they needed a place where they could have complete privacy. A place where Jackson could scream all he wanted and never be heard.

  I stopped a woman walking toward the parking lot. “Excuse me, but is there another hospital in town?”

  The woman shook her head. “No,” she said. “This is the only one for twenty miles.”

  “You're sure?” I asked, feeling helpless. The ambulance in the drawing was my only clue.

  “Positive,” she said. “There used to be another one a long time ago. Brighton Memorial. But it's been closed down for years.”

  My heartbeat sped up. “Where is it?”

  “Trust me, you don't want to go there,” she said. “It's a complete wreck out there.”

  “Where?” I asked, raising my voice more than I should have.

  Her eyes widened and she shook her head, confused by my behavior. “On the other side of town, near the old graveyard. Just head toward the bridge and turn left before you cross over.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  The Others had to have taken him there. Brighton Memorial.

  I had wasted precious time coming this way. My legs felt like rubber and my back tingled. I prayed no one was watching me. My only hope was that with all the commotion surrounding Jackson's disappearance, no one from the Order would be concerned with monitoring recruits tonight.

  I pushed my body to the limit. My lungs burned. The cold air sent stinging tears rolling down my face. But I kept going, picturing Jackson chained up against that wall. There had already been so much death this year. So much heartache. I couldn't bear it if Jackson was hurt or killed.

  When I got to the old hospital, I immediately knew I was in the right place. The area was out on the edge of town next to an old graveyard and an abandoned school. No one ever came out this way anymore. It was the perfect location for the Others to have a hideout.

  I noticed a trail of tire tracks through the tall grass, so I dropped my bike by the side of the road and followed the pressed trail. Close to the building, an old ambulance sat parked under an archway. I held my hand close to the tail pipe. Heat radiated from it. They hadn't been here long.

  I wished I had a gun or something. Or a plan. All I could think about on the ride over was making sure Jackson was safe. Now that I had found him, however, I had no idea what I intended to do to save him. What was one girl against three adults?

  Morgyn had said the Others were made up of both regular non-magical people and witches like Agnes who had abilities but were never invited into the Order of Shadows. I had no idea what kind of people or abilities I would be up against tonight.

  I thought about making an anonymous call to the police station. If I told them Jackson was hiding out here, they would come with sirens blazing. Of course, the Others might panic and kill Jackson on the spot. It was too risky.

  I crouched down and made my way around the old ambulance. The door to the hospital was slightly open and I made my way toward it, stopping every once in a while to make sure no one was behind me. There were no lights on inside the building and once the door closed behind me, I couldn't see a thing.

  Summoning an orb of light didn't take much concentration, but it might draw some serious attention to me. Of course, so would smacking into a gurney in the pitch black darkness of the hallway. I opted for a super-tiny blue orb of light that was soft and only allowed me to see a few feet ahead.

  I made my way down the hall slowly. My hands were shaking and I was sweating inside my jacket. I pulled it off and set it on the floor. As I came to the end of the first corridor, I looked both ways down the intersecting hallway. Toward the very end of the right hall, I saw a flicker of light. I listened. Voices.

  My heart raced. What was I getting myself into?

  I paused and took several deep breaths. I needed a plan before I took another step. With Jackson chained to the wall, I couldn't very well barge in and tell him to make a run for it.

  If I made myself invisible, I could try to find the key. His drawings didn't give a specific time frame, so it was possible the Others were planning on keeping him locked up here for days before they were going to kill him.

  If that were the case, I could just wait it out. Eventually, someone would have to go to the bathroom or they would fall asleep and I could make my move.

  Then I remembered the demon tattoo. The second anyone realized I was missing from Shadowford, someone in the Order would track me.

  I was going to have to just wing it. I inched closer to the source of the light. When I got to the door, I carefully peered through the clouded window. Jackson was there. He was chained against the far wall. I counted at least two men in the room with him. There was no sign of the silver dagger.

  I can handle two guys.

  Just as I was about to make my move, however, I felt a sharp object dig into the skin on my shoulder.

  “Don't move,” the woman said.

  My Blood

  I turned to see who was behind me, but the woman grabbed me by the back of my hair and pushed me through the double doors leading to the old operating room.

  “Look what I found snooping outside,” she said.

  Jackson's face twisted into a look of horror when he saw me. He yanked against his chains and kicked the wall behind him.

  “Was she alone?” One of the men walked toward me. He was tall and completely bald. He had a military presence about him. He got in my face and I could smell the onions he'd had for dinner. “Who knows you're here little girl?”

  “Wait,” the other man said. He lifted his flashlight and shone it right in my face. I grimaced and tried to look away, but the woman still had hold of my hair. “I recognize this girl. She's one of the new cheerleaders. I can't think of her name, though.”

  “Are you sure?” the bald guy asked.

  “I'm positive. She's new this year.”

  “What's your name?”

  I cleared my throat nervously. “Harper,” I said.

  “Well, Harper, what brings you to our little party?”

  I glanced toward Jackson. He was alive, which was a good sign, but for how long? I wanted to run to him and tell him I was sorry for screwing everything up. Our eyes met across the room. I realized that I had never cared for anyone more in my entire life.

  “Let him go,” I said. “What use is he to you? He's just a normal guy, but I'm a recruit. I'm more valuable than he is. Let him go.”

  The bald man tossed his head back and laughed. “That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time,” he said. “What do you think, Mary? Top five dumbest things ever said?”

  Behind me, Mary laughed along. She still had her fingers in my hair and something sharp pressed into my back. I coul
d feel the demon tattoo on my back open its eyes.

  “This kid has no idea, does she?” Mary said.

  “A normal guy, huh?” the bald guy asked. “He's an abomination. He's pure evil. Go ahead, tell her what you are.”

  Jackson struggled against his chains. “She has no idea what she's walked into,” he said. “Let her go. She's innocent.”

  “She's a recruit,” the younger guy said. “She's half-way to becoming one of them.”

  “Arnold's right. We can't just let her go,” the bald guy said. “She's seen too much anyway.”

  “Check and see if she's got one of those tattoo's,” the young guy said. “They can track her with those.”

  “Everyone in town will be looking for Jackson Hunt, the escaped murderer. No one is going to be looking for the recruits. By the time they come looking for Harper, here, she'll be dead.”

  I tried to break free of Mary's hold on me, but she stuck the sharp point of her knife deeper into my skin. I cried out in pain.

  “Leave her alone!” Jackson yelled.

  “Or what, demon? You'll kill us all?”

  “Demon?” I looked to Jackson questioningly. “What is she talking about?”

  Mary laughed. “Your little boyfriend here isn't human. He's a shadow demon.”

  I shook my head. “That's not possible. Shadow demons don't look like that. I've seen one before.”

  The bald guy laughed again and I clenched my jaw tight. He was seriously starting to get on my nerves.

  “Do you want to tell her the story, Jackson? Or should I?”

  Jackson glared at the guy, his body tense with anger. “Isaac, you don't want to do this. I'm telling you to let her go.”

  Isaac. So that was baldy's name. A religious name.

  Isaac clucked his tongue in disapproval. “Jackson came to this world more than fifty years ago, didn't you Jackson? Only when he first got here, he was a big smokey black shadow. He was supposed to be joined with a recruit in one of their horrible ceremonies, but Jackson was too powerful for the girl. She died and he was set free. He killed, what, five members of the Order before the witches finally trapped him in human form? Or was it only four?”

  “Stop it,” Jackson said. He pulled and twisted at his chains, but they wouldn't give.

  I wanted to put my hands to my ears and block out Isaac's words. Jackson couldn't be a demon! He certainly wasn't a killer.

  But a part of my mind reminded me of the pictures from the yearbook. Those pictures were taken over fifteen years ago, yet he looked exactly the same. How was that possible? He could also see the future. That wasn't exactly a normal, everyday ability for a teenage boy.

  I shook my head, not wanting to believe it.

  To my right, a rolling cart full of medical instruments began to rattle and shake. I tried to get control of myself, but I was too upset. The cart sprinted forward and Arnold, the younger guy, had to jump out of the way.

  “Well, well, we've got a feisty one,” Isaac said. “Powerful, too. Maybe we can use you somehow to bargain with the Order. But I can't have you messing up this ritual tonight. It took us years to figure out a way to kill this demon. We tried a hundred different ways before we found the one object that was capable of piercing his flesh. We almost killed him the night of the dance, but Morgyn Baker got in the way.”

  Isaac shook his head. “She was a traitor. She came into our group and we accepted her as one of our own. We shared all of our secrets with her, and how did she repay us? By falling in love with a demon and sacrificing her life for his.”

  Morgyn's mission.

  Her service to the Order must have been as a spy. But she wasn't the target that night, and neither was I. The Others had been targeting Jackson all along. Morgyn didn't die to save me. She died to save Jackson.

  I twisted my head to the side and Mary lost her grip on my hair. I stumbled forward. She jabbed forward with her knife and I felt it slice through my arm. I crashed against a bookcase, then fell to the ground, cradling my arm. Blood trickled down my hand and onto the floor.

  “Isaac,” Mary said. Her voice was low and serious. “You need to see this.”

  Isaac stepped forward, then drew in a sharp breath. When he turned around, I saw that he was holding the silver ritual dagger. That must have been what Mary was holding to my back the entire time.

  Along the blade, I could see a streak of bright blue blood.

  The Prima's blood.

  My blood.

  Aerden

  “No!” Jackson shouted. He pulled against his chains so hard, I could see the veins in his arms begin to strain. “Leave her alone.”

  I scrambled backwards toward the wall, but Arnold made a quick move to intercept me.

  Isaac stood there, staring at the dagger. He had this wild gleam in his eye.

  “We've found the Prima.”

  “But how can we know if she's Peachville's Prima or not?” Mary asked. “Morgyn's blood turned blue for a moment when I stabbed her too, but she didn't belong here. She belonged to another demon gate.”

  “Killing any Prima is a victory,” Isaac said. “Because of Morgyn, an entire line of witches might someday die out, taking all of their demons with them.”

  I listened to them talk, but my heart pounded so loud in my ears I could barely process what they were saying. They knew who I was. They were going to kill me.

  I looked to Jackson. He was staring at me. Tears welled up in his eyes.

  “I'm sorry,” I mouthed to him.

  He shook his head, then looked away.

  I'd really managed to make a mess of this whole evening.

  “Pick her up,” Isaac said. “Put her on the operating table.”

  Mary and Arnold each grabbed one of my arms and lifted me up into the air. I kicked and tried to pull away, but I was no match for the two of them. They placed me on top of the cold metal operating table in the middle of the room. Isaac held the silver dagger in front of my face.

  “This dagger is made of a special silver that is only found in the shadow world,” he said. “It's the only thing that can kill a demon, but it works just fine on witches too.”

  He lifted the dagger high into the air.

  I moaned and tried to pull away, but Mary and Arnold held me down. No matter how hard I kicked, I couldn't get any leverage against them.

  My eyes darted around the room, searching desperately for a weapon. The rolling cart I'd moved earlier was positioned just behind where Isaac stood. On top of it were several different kinds of sharp medical instruments.

  I calmed myself and closed my eyes. I needed to create a connection to the earth. Despite the panic rising up inside of me, I had to find a way to connect to my inner power.

  A sliver of energy began to hum through my body. It started deep in my belly, then spread across my arms and down toward my toes. I opened my eyes and concentrated on a pair of shiny scissors that lay on top of the cart. With my mind, I lifted them into the air, even with the back of Isaac's neck. Just as he made a motion to bring the dagger down toward my heart, I sent the scissors flying toward his flesh.

  He screamed in pain, then dropped the knife. It fell and pierced my shoulder. I screamed. I could feel the warmth of my blood as it trickled down onto the operating table, soaking my t-shirt. Isaac stumbled backward, then yanked the scissors from his neck. From what I could see, he was bleeding even worse than I was. He sank to his knees, then collapsed on the floor.

  Mary and Arnold both rushed to Isaac's side. As soon as they released me, I pulled the dagger from my shoulder and sat up. Dizziness threatened to overcome me, but I willed myself to stay awake.

  Arnold stood and lunged forward, reaching for the dagger in my hand. I plunged it deep into his gut. He fell to the floor next to Isaac, clutching his stomach.

  I stood and ran toward Jackson, but Mary sent a ball of fire streaking across the room toward me. It barely missed me and struck the wall of cabinets on the far side of the room.

  I felt
my sapphire pendant grow warm against my skin. I remembered the shadow demon who had come to my aid the night Agnes tried to kill me. I ducked behind a gurney and clutched the pendant in my hand.

  Please, help me again.

  The fire from Mary's blast spread slowly. The walls were cinder-block, but most of the cabinetry was made of wood.

  I stood, ready to fight.

  On the other side of the room, Mary pulled the silver dagger from Arnold's dead body. Her eyes were fixed on Jackson. Panic rose up within me like a tidal wave. She was closer to him.

  “Harper, run,” Jackson called.

  I couldn't leave him there. Through the growing smoke, I searched for a weapon. The medical cart was blocked by the operating table, and nothing within arm's reach seemed to be sufficient.

  Except the fire itself.

  I didn't know how to create a fireball, but I did know how to move things with my mind. I focused on the wall of fire. I'd moved water before, so I thought of the fire in the same way. The flames danced and writhed as one, moving toward the center cabinet to create one giant wall of flame. I held out my hand to direct its movement. Just as I prepared to send it in Mary's direction, a blast of cool air pushed the doors of the operating room wide open.

  A swirl of darkened shadow moved into the room. I recognized the demon from before and instantly felt my own power surge to new heights.

  Mary screamed. She looked from Jackson to the new demon, fear and hatred in her eyes. She lifted the dagger as if trying to decide which demon to go for first.

  The shadow demon moved forward. I could feel its energy pulsing through me, and I soaked it in, unsure whether to help or stand back and watch. Then, suddenly, the demon stopped. The smokey darkness of it took shape, and I could see its eyes. He was staring straight at Jackson with an expression I couldn't quite read.

  Jackson shook his head, his eyes thick with tears. “Aerden.”

  The demon's name sent a shiver through my body. The earth seemed to turn in slow motion. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Mary lunged toward Jackson, the silver dagger raised high.