Great, I thought. Progress at last!
“You will return to me at midnight of every new day and release a demon of my choosing.”
I thought about that. “Fine!” And then I’ll slay said demon before they can do any real damage. Two points for Evie! Who said evil couldn’t be thwarted?
“And . . .” he sneered. “You will be with no other. You. Are. Mine!”
HOLD THE FRICKIN’ PHONE! “What?”
“You belong to me and no other man.” A proclamation! He stepped back, taking his seat once more.
I stood there like a fish, opening and closing my mouth. There were no words.
“Agreed?”
“NO!” I finally shrieked. “Ew! You’re like . . . ancient or something. There is no way I’m hooking up with you. I’m sixteen for God’s sake!” Again, the intense dagger-sharp pain shot through me.
“Do not mention that name here.” His words were dark and absolute.
I swallowed loudly. I was deliberating my next course of action. “Look. I have a rule about dating guys that weren’t even born in the same century as me.” I cringed at the thought.
“Do I appear to be an old man to you?”
I thought about that. No, he looked like a twenty-five year old male model. “Why would you want me?” The question fell out on its own accord. “Other than opening the gate for you, I mean.”
He appeared in front of me again, the back of his hand, gently caressing my cheek. I flinched from his touch. “You’re pure.”
“I’m pure?” He made the word sound icky. “So are a million other girls.” Note to self: May want to rethink the “pure” thing; it may not be as beneficial as I thought.
“There is only one like you. Your hair . . .” he reached out and touched a loose curl that had slipped from my ponytail, “ . . . it is as red as the flames of Hell.”
Okay, there was no reason to be nasty! Making fun of my hair—a low blow—even for him! Although, I think it was actually . . . a compliment?
“Your eyes . . .” he continued. I shivered at the sudden closeness between us as his hands cupped my face, “ . . . are as blue as the deepest ocean.” His touch was so warm and soft, I felt myself leaning into it. Against my wishes, my heart skipped a beat. Shake it off Evie . . . he’s a damn demon! I chastened myself.
“You are fire and light, wrapped into one,” he continued, not bothering to notice my inner conflict. “You will free me.” There was unmistakable desire in his eyes.
“Your powers and mine . . .”
I recoiled, severing all contact. “I’m sixteen. A child compared to you!”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” A hungry look hung in his eyes as he stepped toward me. “I can be a generous man. You will have everything your heart desires. You will want for nothing . . . If you will only agree to let me love you.”
“But!” There were a million bazillion “buts” and “I’m sixteen!” was the only excuse I could think to utter.
He clasped his hands together. “A compromise! A good faith example of my generosity: I will give you until your eighteenth birthday. On the twelfth hour you will return to me. Once I have you as my own, our bond will be unbreakable.
Chapter 22
Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God! I fought the pain that stabbed through me for speaking of the divine being. This was so not good. There had to be away out of this.
“But, what if I, you know, want to be with someone else?” The question came out as almost a whisper. I could feel red coating my cheeks. Imagine. Me, and the Lord of the Underworld talking about—I couldn’t even think it. This was beyond awkward.
“You will not be capable of making love to another until you are eighteen. My gift to your father,” he laughed lightly. “A sort of invisible chastity belt if you will.”
I swallowed air.
“How many fathers can say they don’t have to worry about their daughter’s virtue?”
Horrified that he mentioned me and the word “virtue” in the same sentence in front of my dad, I turned back to look at my father to find he had vanished.
“Where is he? Where are the others?” I panicked. I hadn’t realized we were alone.
“They’re fine. I thought our conversation should be . . . private.” He actually had the nerve to wink at me.
“You will not control my body. I can be with whom-ever I want, when I want. It’s not the . . . you know . . . whatever century you were born in. Women have rights now. We're independent thinkers. We even vote!” I announced triumphantly. Why the hell was I talking about woman’s lib with Satan?
“A downfall of men, to be sure,” he mocked.
I gasped. “How dare—”
“You will agree to my conditions or your father and friends die, now!”
So much for bargaining . . . I folded my arms across my chest in a huff.
“I am growing impatient with you, Child of Light.”
I stomped my foot. “Fine! You free my dad, and my friends. You tell me where to find the Oracle . . .” I grimaced, “ . . . and I’ll agree to open your damned gates at midnight.” This was going to put a serious crimp in my sleep time. Not to mention any chance I had getting into Heaven.
“And . . .?” He prompted; a self-satisfying look plastered to his face. Bastard!
“And,” I snarled. “I’ll return to you on my eighteenth birthday. But you better not look all old and troll-like or the deal’s off.” I sure as hell hope my dad and friends appreciate what I do for them. Honestly. The thought of spending eternity in Hell . . . saddled to some old demon, made my skin crawl. I had an instant headache just thinking about it.
“We’re agreed?”
I wanted to slap that grin off his face. The jerk knew it too. He smiled brightly.
“Almost,” I took a deep breath. I hated to admit any weakness but it was now or never. “I want to be able to live in the outer world. I can’t . . . stay here all the time. It’s scary . . . and dirty . . . and people are always screaming.” The list went on and on.
“Of course, you already have the power to travel between your world and mine.”
“I do?”
“The moment you began accepting my help, you became tied to this world. You may visit whenever you wish.”
I smiled. Or like never! Hello loophole!
“Or when I summon you.”
Goodbye loophole! Wait. Maybe not goodbye loophole after all: I promised to return at midnight . . . I was born at 11:05pm. That meant I had nearly an hour from the time I turned eighteen to . . . make other arrangements. HELLO AGAIN, LOOPHOLE! Thank you God! I smiled through the sharp pains that struck me. “Agreed!”
A sonic boom resounded as a blast of power shot through me. The very words of our bargain seemed to brand themselves to my soul, sealing my fate and intertwining it with his. What had I done?
* * *
My surroundings had changed abruptly. I looked around. I was standing outside the gates to Pinehurst. Antonio and Roland were helping my father to stand.
“Child of Light?” I looked down. Havoc and Chaos stood beside me looking up; their eyes, wide with alarm. “What have you done?” Havoc asked.
“What was necessary,” I answered, keeping my voice low. I couldn’t afford to think about it now. For now, the only thing that mattered was my dad.
I looked back at Antonio. His shirt was torn. Patches of blood soaked through the fabric. He looked to me. His eyes were full of questions that I didn’t want to answer, questions that I wouldn’t answer—not now anyway. I looked at my watch. I still had seven hours and thirty-five minutes before I had to return to Hell. I slumped.
“Evie?” My father's voice was weak.
“I’m here, Daddy. Everything’s alright now.” I went to him and wrapped an arm around his waist for support. He was so frail. There was no way anyone would believe he was my father.
“We need to phone Miles,” I spoke to Antonio. The sooner Miles came for my dad the better. I could on
ly imagine how Ms. Leech would react to seeing the famous George Hollyander reduced to a pile of bones.
Speak of the devil! Well, not quite, but a definite contender. Ms. Leech appeared suddenly just on the other side of the iron bars, her black eyes, dark and unforgiving surveyed us with distaste. She was flanked by two goons. Their tall and menacing forms would have scared me before, but not now. After traveling the Underworld and facing-off with Satan, I couldn’t imagine anything else scaring me. “I was informed there were a few students “lurking” outside my school.”
“We weren’t lurking,” Roland exclaimed. “We’ve just been to Hell!”
“Really, Mr. Vandenberg, Hell?” She pursed her lips. “You’ll have to come up with a better excuse than that. Your parents are as livid as I am at your attendance this week! I’m sure they will be just as eager to learn where you’ve been. As for you Miss Hollyander—”
“He’s telling you the truth. Antonio and I rescued him!”
Ms. Leech had rounded on me, her fury unmistakable. “And just who is this?” Her tight expression fixed on my dad.
“This is Evelyn’s Grandfather,” Antonio interjected quickly. “He’s been missing over a week now. May we use your phone? Her father will be happy to know he’s been found.”
Ms. Leech eyed my “Grandfather” up and down before nodding to Antonio. “You may use the phone in the office. And get him some water. He looks as if he’s about to pass out!”
“Thank you.” Antonio had already begun moving us that way, taking the brunt of my dad’s weight. Sadly it wasn’t much.
“I expect to see you in my office the moment you finish that call, Miss Hollyander.”
“Yes, Ms. Leech.”
As if she didn’t trust us to actually go to the office, her “dogs” practically hauled us in by the scruff of our necks—we received better treatment in Hell!
I phoned Miles and made arrangements with him to come pick up my father, AKA Grandpa. Fortunately he was already on his way, having planned to extract me from school and leave me with my mother for “safe keeping” while he went looking for my dad.
Antonio met Miles in the parking lot with my father a half an hour later. Saying good-bye to my dad had been one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do. Lucky for me Ms. Leech didn’t allow long farewells. She had promptly ushered me in her office where I sat now, awaiting the lecture of a lifetime.
“Miss Hollyander. Did I not expressly tell you that I would not tolerate any ill behavior from you while attending this school?”
I sat in my “assigned chair” in the center of Ms. Leech’s office. I stared at her. She was in fact Ms. Leech, minus the demon. I smiled. I was actually glad to see the old bat.
“I hardly think this is a smiling matter, Miss Hollyander; really. Enabling your elderly grandfather, trying to sneak him onto campus when your family has been clearly looking for him?” She gasped at the very idea. “Thank heavens your father’s assistant arrived so promptly to take him home.”
I had been able to brief Miles briefly on my father’s condition. He agreed to keep him safe, and hidden from the outside world until I was able to find out how we might reverse the damage he’d suffered at the hands of Satan.
Antonio had come up with the “escaped elderly grandfather” story in a pinch. It was brilliant really. According to him, it was imperative word of George’s condition never got out. Miles was more than in agreement.
“As for your involvement with Mr. Vasques . . .” Somehow, Antonio and Roland had evaded Ms Leech’s version of the Spanish Inquisition. Roland had at last collapsed, and had been rushed to the infirmary for a complete physical and a phone call to mommy; and Antonio was simply excused. Apparently being nineteen had benefits. Being a Guardian and an instructor at the school, he didn’t need to answer to anyone. Although I’m sure he got a tongue lashing from Ms. Leech about letting a student accompany him on such a dangerous mission.
“ . . . Heading into the Underworld to rescue Mr. Vandenberg was extremely foolish, and completely against the rules,” Ms. Leech rambled on. “We do not encourage vigilantes Miss. Hollyander. I still have no idea how you managed it.” By her expression, she really didn’t want to know.
“I’m sorry Ms. Leech.”
She looked shocked at my sober apology. “Yes, well. If it weren’t for the considerable contribution your family makes, and the gratitude the Vandenbergs have expressed, I might be forced to take matters in a different direction. As it is . . .”
“As it is,” I was off the hook! She rambled on and on until the grumbling of my stomach alerted her it was dinnertime. She released me with a “ . . . and don’t let me see you in here again for disciplinary actions.”
I ran off, and I mean ran! I hadn’t had a real meal in two days and I was starved! So why in the world did Stacy need to talk now?
“Evie!” Stacy jumped out from behind a tree along the way to the Kitchen.
“Stacy!” My heart skidded to a halt. And I was the one who got in trouble for “lurking.” Sheesh!
She smirked. “I’m glad you’re back. We were so worried when we heard you’d disappeared.” The hell she was. I could hear the false concern in her voice.
“I just came from seeing Roland. He told a bunch of us all about the little adventure you went on. Fighting pixies? Confronting the Lord of the Underworld himself?”
Oh God. How much did she know?
“You don’t fool me. It’s obvious that along the way he hit his head, and you’ve decided to glamorize his rescue. Please, save it!” She put her hand up, silencing my attempt to deflect her accusations: “As if I’d believe anything that comes out of your mouth.”
I huffed. “That’s uncalled for, don’t you think?”
She stepped closer. “I will find out the truth about what happened, and when I do, the whole school will know your dirty little secret.” My “dirty little secret?” She glowered at me with raw hatred; I almost felt bad about making the tree she was standing under drop one of its branches on her head–almost! Stacy screamed out in pain a moment later, holding onto her head.
I grinned. “You work on that ‘dirty little secret.’”
I left Stacy crying. Actually, I think she was in the process of untangling herself from the branch so she could run off to tell on me, but she was definitely crying. Life can be sweet at times . . .
I found Iris and the girls sitting at a table with their heads together.
“You mind if I join you?”
“Evie!” They screamed in unison.
Iris leapt up and threw her arms around me. “You're alright!” She exclaimed.
“Yes, I’m fine.” I couldn’t believe how happy I was to be back. I hugged her tightly.
“Thank you for bringing you-know-who back,” she added under her breath.
“You know who?” Oh, Havoc.
“She’s fine by the way.” Iris had read my expression. “But her friend is a little . . . accident prone!”
I laughed. Chaos would be an interesting addition to our clan. Maybe he could spend some time with Stacy—an idea to explore at a later date.
The Kitchen was buzzing about our adventures. Everyone somehow was under the delusion that Roland himself was actually fighting off the pixies when Antonio and I arrived to save him. Interesting . . .
“Evelyn.” A thick accent spoke from behind me. I spun around. “Do you have a moment?”
For Antonio? Forever! I hadn't had a chance to talk to him privately since we'd returned. I was anxious to make sure he was all right.
The girls all winked at me as I got up from the table.
“I'll see you later.” I winked back at them.
Antonio and I walked out into the yard, neither one of us speaking until we reached a bench somewhere in the common area. I couldn’t say where, I was too busy trying to read Antonio’s face. He’d changed his clothing since I’d last seen him. He now wore a clean blue shirt, and jeans that looked fashionably worn out. I wis
hed I’d had a chance to change—I could only imagine how gross I looked.
“You struck a deal.” His words came out sharp and absolute.
“Yes.” Why lie? He could read my thoughts anyway.
No! God no! He screamed silently as he ran his fingers back through his hair.
“I had to. It was the only way Satan would let you all go.” I held my chin up. There was no way I’d let Antonio make me feel guilty. He would have done the same if the roll were reversed.
“What did you promise him? And do not hold anything back.” His dark eyes held mine.
How much did I want Antonio to know? What would he think of me if he knew the truth—the whole truth?
If you do not tell me, I will sift through your mind and claim the knowledge for myself.
The hell you will. There was no way anyone was taking any more from me than I’d already given. Evie was all used up . . . for now anyway.
“I’ll tell you,” I blurted out. “Not because you threatened me, but because I’d already planned to.” I took a deep breath. “In exchange for your safety and the knowledge to help restore my father’s health . . . I agreed to return to Hell every night at midnight to release a demon through the gates.”
Antonio’s mouth sprung open. He hadn’t seen that coming. “Evie! How could you promise such a thing?” He looked . . . what? Angry? Ashamed? Of me? Unacceptable!
“He would have killed you all on the spot and used me anyway,” I announced angrily. “With my cooperation I won’t age and die like my father in a matter-of-days; I’ll be able to save my dad’s life!”
Antonio looked sick.
“I didn't have a choice!” I yelled. “I’d do it again if it meant saving you. All of you,” I added quickly. Realizing I’d emphasized him above the others.
He took my face in his hands, his eyes watering as they looked into mine. “You’ve condemned your life to him. Do you understand that? For them . . . for me.” I could hear the heartache in his voice.
“For them, for you,” I breathed. Always for you . . . My hand reached up and touched his cheek, cupping it gently. “You went into the Underworld for me . . . I couldn’t leave you there.”
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