When Evil Comes to Play

by B. L. Brunnemer

  I woke up struggling to breathe through the pain. My clothes were soaked with blood and it wasn't getting any better. I took deep breaths as I slowly turned to Isaac. He still didn’t look great, but he wasn’t bleeding anymore. In fact... there were only scars remaining.

  “That was impressive,” a woman’s gentle voice announced. I tore my eyes from Isaac to look at the woman standing over him. Her dark chestnut hair was back in a braid, cognac eyes watched me from a stunning oval face. Her frame wasn’t large, but she had to be taller than me by a few inches. Her rather pregnant belly pushed against the fabric of her white sundress as she scratched Hades’ ears.

  “You two put up quite a fight,” she said, her voice impressed. “But you almost got yourselves killed.”

  “Who the hell are you?” I snapped, my hands going to my side to try and stop the bleeding. It wasn’t working. Pain continued to roll over me.

  Her eyes ran over me, growing concerned. “I’m Evelyn. I’m the back-up you’ve been waiting on.”

  Chapter 17

  “Huh?”

  Before I could answer, the door slammed open, making me jump. Pain had me doubling over as a tall, white-haired man in an immaculate suit came in. His elfin features were furious as he strode straight to the woman.

  “You are supposed to be sitting,” he growled as he snapped open the chair he carried and put it behind her.

  She sighed before she let him help her sit down.

  “That was the agreement for coming.” It sounded like this wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation.

  She rolled her eyes before looking up at him. “Atty, this is Lexie,” she said patiently before she turned to me. “Lexie, this is my husband, Atticus.”

  His gold eyes snapped to me and ran over me, assessing. “You’re the one working on the Veil. And you’re bleeding.”

  My jaw all but dropped. “How do you…”

  “Zahur sent us,” she explained quickly before she turned to Atticus. “I need to heal her wounds or she’s going to bleed out.”

  Atticus growled. “Stay here.” He strode toward me. My heart slammed. Who the fuck was this?

  “Don’t touch me,” I growled.

  Atticus ignored me. He grabbed the folding chair I was sitting on and lifted it with me still in it. What the fuck? A new wave of pain washed over me, dotting my vision with black. He carefully set me down in front of Evelyn. I whimpered in pain.

  “Atticus,” she chided.

  “I didn’t touch her,” he replied.

  She smiled at me as she lifted the hem of my shirt so she could see my slashed ribs and bruises. “I’m sorry, we’re still training him in how to interact with humans.”

  “I’m almost five hundred. I believe I know how to interact with humans,” he countered.

  Her brow drew down as she examined the slashes up the side of my thigh. “You’d think.” She set her hand on my stomach and closed her eyes. I was confused as my wounds grew hot. I looked down in time to watch the skin close. Long scars took their place.

  “Holy shit,” I stated. I pulled my neckline down my shoulder. A large puncture wound scar sat under my collar bone.

  “You’ll scar, but they might fade in time. I also took care of that concussion. You had some pressure that needed to be relieved,” she said as she opened her eyes and dropped her hand. “We’ll have a doctor look at Isaac but he should be fine in a few hours, physically at least. Emotionally… he’s going to struggle for some time.” She winced and rubbed the side of her stomach.

  “Evelyn.” Atticus’ voice tried to sound firm, but it came out warm. “You need some sleep, you’re still on bedrest. Walking down here was ridiculous.”

  She looked up at him. “It’s not my fault you started to talk with the Templars and got distracted from the entire reason we came here.”

  “Eve,” he bit out, clearly exasperated.

  “I walked from the door to the bed,” she answered with a smile. “Ranulf carried me the rest of the way down here.”

  He closed his eyes and sighed. “The three of you are going to be the death of me.”

  The door to the room opened. A muscled giant in black leather with long, dark-blond hair poked his head in. “The lass’s friends are gettin’ restless,” he announced in a deep voice with a thick Scottish accent.

  Evelyn turned back to me. “We’ll be here for a few days checking up on everything. Just ask one of the Templars to find me and we’ll talk later.”

  I just nodded, too stunned to say anything.

  Evelyn moved to get to her feet, Atticus gave her his hands and helped pull her up. She grumbled under her breath. “All your fault… silly pregnant body…” Atticus just looked down at her with warm eyes. She shot him a look before turning to me. “We’ll let your friends come in and see Isaac. I’m sure they’re worried sick.”

  “Alright, Evelyn. Time to go,” Atticus announced.

  She turned around and looked up at him. The back of her dress was low enough to show two large, thick scars that ran down from her shoulder blades and disappeared into her dress. What the…?

  “Alright, Atty,” she said, her voice softening.

  “That’s not going to work this time,” Atticus warned. She giggled as he bent down and swept her up into his arms. He began carrying her toward the door and the large blond man.

  “Of course, it will,” Evelyn teased, the smile clear in her voice. “Can we stop by the cafeteria? I’m dying for some pickles and ice cream.”

  Atticus sighed. “You need some rest.”

  As Atticus carried her through the door, Evelyn looked up at the blond man who was holding the door open. “Ranulf?”

  The blond man chuckled, “Aye, I’ll get ye your pickles and ice cream.” He followed them out of the room “What flavor this time?”

  “I’m getting the damn pickles and ice cream. I just want you in bed first,” Atticus growled. Evelyn and Ranulf were laughing as the door closed behind.

  The steady sound of the heart monitor filled my ears as I turned back to watch Isaac. The blood on him was dry, the cuts scarred over. I got to my feet and moved to the bed.

  Isaac looked like himself again. I reached over and held his hand. It was warm. Isaac was going to be okay. Hades moved off Isaac and lay against his side. He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.

  I was crying when the guys came in with Dr. Zimmer. His gaze went straight to me and assessed. I shook my head. Understanding I was fine, he went straight to Isaac.

  Ethan saw me crying first. “They said he was fine!”

  I wiped my face quickly as everyone ran in. “He is.” I sniffed.

  Everyone surrounded the bed while Dr. Zimmer examined Isaac.

  “Then why the hell are you crying?” Zeke snapped.

  I wiped my face again. “Happy crying. The demon is dead, Isaac is going to be okay.”

  Deep relieved sighs went around the room. At least until Zeke noticed the blood.

  “Why the fuck are you both covered in blood?” he demanded at the top of his lungs as he came around the bed. I looked up at his furious face and started laughing.

  “It’s a long story.” He was so going to kill us.

  Asher

  Ally’s room was quiet, well, except for Zeke’s snoring from the chair in the corner. When Dr. Zimmer had decided to move Isaac to a more comfortable room, we agreed immediately to send him to Ally’s. Then none of us left.

  Isaac was pale and out cold in the middle of Ally’s bed, lying on his side. His arms held her to him as if she was his security blanket. Ally was on the left while Ethan lay on the right with his back against his brother’s. Hades was curled up at the end of the bed. The dog had refused to leave Isaac’s side.

  Dr. Zimmer had suggested that everyone be sedated for a good, long, dreamless sleep. Well, except me and Miles. I caught Miles’ eye in the dim room and tilted my head to the door. He nodded and got to his feet.

  We silently left the room and h
eaded upstairs to the cafeteria. I grabbed an orange juice while Miles poured coffee. We sat down at the closest table. We had our choice - the damn cafeteria was empty this time of night.

  “Coffee?” I asked.

  “Yes, I need to do some thinking,” he admitted.

  “Yeah…” I muttered. “A lot has happened. Did you see those scars?"

  "Isaac's? Yes. Lexie's..." He met my eyes. "I saw her leg."

  I shook my head. "A demon cut them up… Where do we even start trying to understand this?”

  “How about with questions?” a woman’s voice asked. We both turned to watch a tall woman, with red streaks in her blonde hair come over with the giant man from earlier. “I’m Astrid.” Her eyes ran over us. “And you boys are friends of that poor kid and the Necro, right?”

  “Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say.

  She smiled, grabbed a soda and sat down next to the tall blond. She turned towards us. “So, what do you know? Or want to know?”

  I met Miles’ gaze, both of us stunned. We’d been trying to get info out of the Templars, but they hadn’t been willing to explain much.

  “First,” Miles turned back to them. “What else exists out there?”

  She smirked.

  The man behind her started laughing. “Tell ‘em, Goddess.”

  Goddess? What?

  “Well, I’m a werewolf. My Mate Ranulf here, is a gargoyle, the same as Evelyn, Atticus, and Falk.” She set her soda down and started listing off on her fingers. “Okay, here’s the big groups that exist. Vampires, shapeshifters like werewolves, witches, demons, angels, and… pretty much another few thousand species of creatures that have lived in secret for thousands of years.”

  Stunned, all I could do was stare.

  She chuckled. “Okay, too fast.” She opened her soda and took a drink. “Look. What you need to take away from this is that demons are real. They are extremely powerful and are not to be messed with by humans unless they are properly trained.” She took another drink.

  Ranulf nodded. “Aye, what that lass did took guts, and it worked, but—”

  “It was stupid,” Astrid stated. “They’re both lucky to be alive. And from what Evie told me, it was damn close.”

  I shared a look with Miles.

  Miles turned back to them. “What did she do?” he asked carefully.

  Her eyebrows went up as she slowly put down the soda can. She turned to Ranulf. “It seems she didn’t share.”

  “Aye, it does.” Ranulf chuckled. “Ye said it. Ye clean it up.” He got to his feet and headed into the kitchen.

  Astrid sighed. “Evie explained it like this. Your friend Lexie, she went into Isaac’s Center.” She eyed us. “Do you know what that is?”

  “Yes, we know about a person’s Center,” Miles said carefully.

  “Okay, that’ll save time,” she explained. “Your friend Isaac was dying. His center was being filled with the demon. It was wiping him out. She jumped in to help him fight off the demon. They both took heavy injuries. Luckily, Evie was there to heal them both, so they just walked away with scars."

  "And with that lass's injuries, it was obvious what she had been doing.” Ranulf came back in with a couple beer bottles and handed her one before sitting down beside her again, facing the outside of the table.

  I shared another look with Miles. He didn’t have a clue either.

  "What do you mean? What had she been doing?" Miles asked. Ranulf went still.

  Astrid smirked at Ranulf. "That one's on you."

  “Shite," he muttered as he set down his beer before looking at us. "That puncture on her shoulder? Evie told us it meant Lexie started making a deal with the demon. Probably trading herself for your friend."

  My stomach dropped. No.... she... she wouldn't... Shit, I knew damn well that she would do that. I started to rub the tension out of my neck and tried to stay calm.

  “Let's put that to the side for now. What can we do to help her deal with these things?” Miles asked.

  Astrid gave him an understanding smile. “You can’t.” She said it like it was obvious. “You can’t see these creatures, and even if one was standing in front of you, you wouldn’t be able to tell it wasn’t human.”

  “Shit…” I muttered. We had almost lost them both and… I propped my elbows on the table and rubbed my face. “How are we going to be able to help her if we can’t…” I dropped my hand and looked at Miles.

  His eyes were unfocused on the table, a wrinkle in between his eyebrows. His eyes refocused before he turned back to Astrid. “Astrid, Ranulf, you obviously know more than we do. Is there a way to keep the dead from attacking Lexie? Or to let us help her?”

  Ranulf was suddenly smirking at Miles. He eyed Miles with approval. “Smart lad.”

  Astrid grinned. “There could be.”

  Chapter 18

  Sunday

  I woke up slowly. Arms were wrapped around me tightly. The scent of limes filled my lungs, relaxing me even more. I reached down and ran my hand over Isaac’s arm around my waist. His face was buried against the back of my neck, his breathing deep and even. I smiled. Isaac was okay. I was tempted to just stay there all day, but I couldn’t. Evelyn was here, and I had questions I needed answers to.

  Carefully, I slipped Isaac’s arm from around me and moved out of bed. The lamp was on low near Zeke, who was still out cold. Asher was spread out on the floor. Miles was sleeping deeply in another chair with his arm resting in its sling. Hades was stretched out at the end of the bed. I shook my head and moved quietly through the room to the dresser. I pulled out some clothes, snuck into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. Hoping not to wake anyone up, I cleaned the blood off me and got dressed.

  When I peeked out the bathroom door everyone was still asleep. Hades had moved to Isaac’s side and didn’t look like he’d be moving anytime soon. I loved my baby. I put my dirty clothes away and snuck across the room. Amazed that no one woke up, I slipped out of the bedroom. I asked the first Templar I saw on the stairs where Evelyn was. She used her radio to find out she was in the flower garden. I thanked her and hurried outside, following her directions.

  Evelyn was sitting on a stone bench next to the rose bushes with a leggy brunette who looked like she should be on a runway. I hesitated at the archway. If she was busy…

  Evelyn turned towards me and smiled. “Come on over, Lexie. We’re just having a gripe session.”

  The brunette sent a welcoming smile.

  I headed over. The brunette got prettier as I got closer. “We have a bitch session every few days; we can pick it up later.”

  “Lexie, this is Rina. She’s a human telepath and a friend of mine,” Evelyn introduced us.

  “Nice to meet you,” I said.

  “Same.” She took a sip of the ginger ale in her hand.

  “I know you must have questions,” Evelyn said politely. “That’s one of the reasons we’re still here. Zahur said you were getting to the point you’d need some answers and he doesn’t have the expertise that you need.”

  “Yeah…. Wait. What? He?” I asked, not sure I heard her correctly as I sat down on the bench across from them. “Zahur’s a guy?”

  Rina chuckled.

  Evelyn sighed. “Let me guess, he appeared to you looking like you?”

  “Yeah. I actually thought Zahur was a girl or… something,” I admitted. This was so strange.

  “That’s Zahur. He’ll take the most efficient path every time.” She shook her head. “Alright, let’s see, where to start?”

  “How about with ‘I’m not human?’” Rina offered as she picked up a Saltine from the pack between them and carefully took a small bite out of the corner.

  Evelyn nodded. “That’s a good starting point.” She turned to me. “I’m a member of a guardian race of gargoyles. We’ve protected humans from supernatural predators, as well as kept those species in line, for… oh, thousands of years.”

  My eyebrows shot up. Guardians? Serena had me
ntioned something…. “Wait, are you the ones who made a deal with the Witches Council?”

  Evelyn grinned with approval. “Yes, we are, though our role has changed in the last year. But that’s another story. So, you’ve met the Witches Council?”

  I scoffed. “I met a witch who said she’d help me figure things out, but hasn’t.”

  Her eyes narrowed, her lips pressed together. “Really?” She sighed. “We’ll come back to that. But, first, I'll be happy to clear up anything that's confusing you.”

  Only a thousand things confused me, but I couldn’t seem to remember them at the moment. “Isaac. How’d the demon get in? We were only in that house for… thirty minutes tops.”

  Her eyes grew soft. “When I help someone the way I did with Isaac, I tend to get a feel for their personality.” Her hand started rubbing her stomach gently. “Isaac is self-destructive, it’s like he’s hated himself for years. When you do that, it creates a… weakness in your natural barriers. He’s torn himself down enough to create it. Demons use that weakness to slip in.”

  I chewed the corner of my lip. There was one thing I wanted to ask. “You healed us both, I watched those cuts heal right in front of me. Can you heal something else?”

  She gave me a small smile. “You mean the lesion of dead tissue in your brain? I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but notice it when I was working on your wounds.”

  I let out the breath I was holding. “Yeah. Can you heal that?”

  Her face was soft when she shook her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m able to heal almost anything. I can repair a shattered spine, work down scar tissue, even heal brain injuries. But what I’m working with has to be alive. I can’t bring dead tissue back to life.”

  I sighed, it figured. I knew there was no point in hoping. “Can you get Francis to give me the Templar tattoos to keep it from growing?” I half expected a no.

  She sat up straighter, her eyes narrowed on mine. “He refused?”

  I nodded. “He said they are sacred and, if I wanted them, then I had to work for the Templars.”