Changeling (Black Petals Book 2)

by Marie, Tarisa

  Kenna looks at me strangely, like she’s examining me or maybe my words. At first, I don’t understand why, then I remember that I’m a demon, a pure blood demon and I shouldn’t be concerned for either of them. Or should I? Didn’t Aiden once tell me that demons can love? To what extent can they love?

  “Both are fine, I assure you,” she answers, her wrinkled face relaxing. The changeling is the oldest I think I’ve ever seen. She looks to be about eighty though I can’t tell for sure. Who would turn an eighty-year-old woman into a demon? Oh, I know, a heartless pure blood. I know she wasn’t born a changeling because changeling children stop aging once they are full grown.

  The woman stares at me with her beady black eyes. She shoves her grey hair behind her ears and smiles. “You sure heal fast. Must be a royal. Who’s your daddy?”

  I hesitate. Thankfully we’re interrupted by the return of my waiter who throws a limp body into the cell beside me. As soon as I feel the pull of the soul, I lose all control to my uncontrollable hunger and black out like I did that first time I consumed a soul. I snap back into reality a moment later and find myself staring up at Kenna who looks extremely annoyed by my behavior. “Guess I know who your father is,” she snarls and kicks me in the shin. “Up. Now.” She knew my dad? Her observation is hurtful. It stings. Was my father known for his soul consuming problem?

  I jump up to my feet automatically. I notice that my pain has—for the most part—subsided. I look down to see my clothing covered in blood. I lift my shirt sleeve up to see that I don’t have any bullet wounds. Did consuming that soul heal me that quickly? I check my other arm. Healed. Jesus. That’s miracle work.

  “She’s a new one,” Kenna observes. “Take her to Maxwell. He wants to speak with her.”

  One of two women standing at the door nods and comes forward, grabbing me harshly by the wrist. She drags me out into a long, cement-walled hallway. We pass by many metal doors before she finally stops at one and throws me into it, closing the door behind me. I curse.

  “Ah, finally,” a masculine voice growls. “You’re a mess.” Maxwell strides across the room to me and helps me up off the ground. “I see you’re not adapting to life as a demon very well, can’t even stay on your feet.” He says this quickly, so quick a human wouldn’t be able to comprehend it. In fact, it takes me a moment to process it. “May as well be a human. No one’s taught you to move right or run right. Aiden’s taught you nothing useful.”

  Aiden taught me lots, well, in theory. I haven’t had time to master it all in reality. I’ve only been a demon for a few days. What does everyone expect from me? I haven’t even had time to process all of this yet.

  “I…” I start. “I haven’t had time to learn.”

  He looks at me almost with apology or sadness.

  “Is Landon okay? Laney?” I ask. Then I remember Forrest. “Forrest?”

  Maxwell’s face drops and he tilts his head to look at me from a different angle. “They’re fine. Why do you care?”

  Clearly Maxwell isn’t as observant as his brother. I don’t know what to say. I got my answer from him so I don’t have to tell him anything. “Where are they?”

  He shrugs. “Forrest is here of course. Landon is hopefully relaying the message to Aiden that we sent him to. Laney is likely with her father.”

  “What message?” I ask him. I take a step back from him so there’s a little distance between us.

  “Oh, just that we have a certain hostage that he might be interested in trading places with. We hear he has a strong attraction to you. Some might call it love.”

  He thinks Aiden would risk his freedom for mine? Aiden is far too important and smart to do something so dumb. Plus, why would they think he’d do such a thing even if for love? As far as they know he’s as soulless and evil as all pure bloods.

  “He won’t come. He’s not stupid,” I retort. “He has a lot more important things to deal with than me. He has hell to run.”

  “Love makes us do stupid, stupid things,” Maxwell answers with a smile. “I know you don’t know much about being demon, but they will do just about anything for someone they love, no matter how stupid it is. Love is their biggest weakness in more ways than one.” Maxwell is very sure of himself, very sure that Aiden will come, but I know Aiden isn’t so stupid.

  I’m about to ask him what he wants with Aiden, when the door opens and Forrest peaks his head in. “Kenna wants to talk to you,” he says in a quick whisper. My ears barely detect it. I feel handicapped in this new body. I’m used to the demons talking at human speed and at human sound level so I can keep up. Now that I’m a demon, they cut me no slack. It’s like they just expect me to always have all my senses turned up, but I’m not used to this.

  Maxwell nods. “Watch her while I’m gone. This shouldn’t take long.” Maxwell winks at me creepily and then leaves the room, leaving me with Forrest.

  “Look, we don’t have long,” he mutters quickly. “I can get you out of here. Tonight. Be ready when I come. I think we can get out while the guards on duty switch shifts, give Maxwell a taste of his own medicine.”

  “You think we can get out?” I reiterate.

  He nods. “Don’t want to get too cocky.” He winks at me playfully. “Wow, you look like hell. I’ll make sure someone gets you new clothes.”

  “Why aren’t you locked up?” I ask him angrily.

  He shrugs. “Proved I can’t be compelled and told them I wanted to join them. They don’t really have a reason to not believe me.”

  I wonder how he proved this but don’t ask.

  “Please don’t suck my soul out or my brothers,” he says half-jokingly, half not.

  That’s why he’s keeping his distance from me. He doesn’t trust me. I don’t blame him either.

  I nod. “I think I can do that. No promises though.”

  He laughs and edges towards the door. I don’t blame him for not trusting me. I don’t trust me either honestly.

  “Get me out of here safely and we’re even,” I decide. “I won’t hold anything over you, I’ll forgive you.”

  Forrest seems relieved to hear this. “Alright,” he whispers. “Deal.” Then the door swings open again and Maxwell comes in.

  “Forrest, take her to a cell,” he instructs. “Please. I have something to do.”

  Forrest nods. “Whatever you say, Max.”

  Then Forrest grabs me roughly and pulls me from the room. “Struggle,” he whispers in my ear. “No one can know there’s something wrong with you.”

  I hesitate before throwing a scene in the hallway as we pass changelings and demidemons alike. They all walk by us like nothing is out of the ordinary.

  When evening rolls around, Forrest stays to true to his word. He comes into the dark room in the middle of the night and unlocks my cell door. He rushes me through the halls silently and out a back door. We only pass two people. Both these people, he stabs in the chest. I’m also surprised by this because although he does owe me, I don’t know if I could ever kill for someone else.

  We race for the tree line. I’m surprised by the lack of guards around. Even while switching shifts shouldn’t they be fully guarded? After all, aren’t they expecting Aiden to show up here, likely with force?

  “They didn’t tell Aiden to meet them here. They gave him a trick location. They weren’t done with using you yet. They thought they could get more from him if they kept you,” Forrest answers calmly. I have a feeling he is very used to sneaking around like this. I remember what Aiden told me about Forrest. He’s sneaky and smart, clearly.

  We stop after some time of running through the trees at full speed. This time, after running, I notice I’m breathing a little heavy. I almost welcome this because it’s so strange for me to not run out of breath. While a halfling, I ran out of breath after climbing a set of stairs or running a lap or two around the track while training with Aiden.

  Forrest pulls a small bowl from his jacket and takes my hand without asking. He slices it open and le
ts blood fall into the bowl. I wince and pull my hand back. Well, I try to pull it back but he’s stronger. “What the hell?” I ask angrily.

  He chuckles. “Did you learn nothing while in training?”

  I shrug because apparently not. I don’t seem to know much even though I read more books than you’d think necessary.

  “I’m calling Aiden. Well, I’m calling my dad because I don’t know how to get ahold of Aiden. They don’t throw around his demon digits.”

  Demon digits? Calling Terry with a bowl of blood? What?

  “And your blood won’t work why?” I ask him. “You insist on cutting me open why?”

  “You heal faster. A wound like that would take me weeks to heal from completely. Duh. Demidemons are slow healers,” Forrest rattles off while releasing my hand.

  I really have a lot more to learn.

  Forrest says a few words in a different language and then goes quiet.

  I’m more than surprised when he begins talking to himself. “It’s Forrest. I need to speak with Aiden. Now.”

  I look at him with furrowed brows and he grabs my hand. Suddenly, inside my head, I can hear Terry’s voice. “Speak to him? Are you insane? He’s ready to kill you. You’ve gone too far this time. Both of you. He’s given you far too many chances. You can’t keep screwing up, son.”

  “No, dad, I’ve done something legal this time, I swear. I’m with Megan. We’re...sort of safe. I would exorcise her, but I’m a demi demon and that won’t work so well. I would find a portal but I know nothing about this world. I don’t know where I am, let alone where the nearest portal is.”

  I hear Terry sigh. “You better not be lying to me. I am looking for him now. Where is your brother?”

  Forrest hesitates. “With the rebels, dad. He’s understandably not on the same side we are.”

  Terry groans. “I see. I know you might understand his decision, but you know I can’t possibly. What is he thinking? Does he wish to die?”

  There is a moment of silence on the other end, then Terry says, “Okay, he’s here, say what you need to.”

  “Aiden!” I shout without really meaning to.

  Forrest hushes me. “He can’t hear you. You can listen in because we’re linked right now, but the conversation is between me and my father only. You and Aiden can only overhear our conversation.”

  My shoulders sag in disappointment.

  “Okay, Aiden, it’s Forrest. I’m with Megan. I got her out of the rebels’ hands, but now I need to know how to get her back into hell. I don’t know where on earth I am and I have no idea where to find a portal.”

  “Aiden says to find out where you are, and he will find a loyal changeling in the area and send them to you to exorcise Megan, or if there’s a portal in the area, he’ll let you know. He thinks there’s likely one near for the rebels’ use.”

  “How am I supposed to figure out where I am?” Forrest asks Terry and Aiden.

  “Don’t you have a cell phone?” I ask him in a whisper.

  He nods. “Landon gave me one.”

  “Its GPS will tell us where we are,” I tell him. Finally, I feel useful for once in months. I open my hand and he places his phone into my palm. I open the GPS to see that we are in Montana, USA. I relay this to him and he tells Aiden and Terry. I also get him to relay the exact roads we’re near. I give them our latitude and longitude.

  Terry’s voice tells us to hold on. We do. We hold on for almost an hour, hoping that no one tracks us here or finds us before help arrives. I am more than thankful to see Landon when he shows up. I have to admit that I was partially hoping Aiden himself would come, but I know that would be too risky.

  “Hurry, they’ll know you’re missing by now and be looking for both of you,” Landon instructs and leads us south. “There’s a portal five minutes from here, but it’s surrounded by changelings that I presume are rebels. I barely got through. I gave them a fake name. Luckily, I’m not near as popular as Aiden. You, on the other hand—maybe both of you—they won’t let pass so we’re doing this differently. I’m going to exorcise you both to Tartarus. I’ll then go back through the portal or find a different one. No one is looking for me, but I think some of the rebels might recognize me from Belize. I’ll be careful.”

  “No one is worrying about you, dumbass,” Forrest teases a little harshly.

  Landon scowls at him playfully, but seems almost genuinely hurt by Forrest’s statement, like he wants us to care. “I care,” I spit out. Do I? We share blood of course I care. I’m warming up to Landon.

  Landon lightens up a little and then grabs my shoulders. He mutters something I don’t understand, but something I recognize. It’s something I vaguely heard Terry muttering once before Aiden was exorcised. I’m surprised to feel nothing, at least at first. Once he’s done his ramble, a sharp, piercing pain floods every part of me, a pain worse than all twenty bullets caused when they pierced my skin in Belize. I scream. It feels like I’m being ripped apart from the inside out.

  But unlike the bullets, the pain disappears quickly and I recognize my surroundings vaguely.

  Chapter 4

  “We’re near the castle,” Forrest grunts and stands not without effort. I was unaware that demidemons could even be exorcised. Can Changelings? Halflings?

  “Castle?”

  “Yeah, where Aiden lives these days. You get knocked on the head?” he asks, rubbing his own.

  “Didn’t realize it was a castle,” I say apologetically. What’s with his short temper?

  “Oh, you thought it was just a huge brick cottage?” he teases. Forrest straightens his shirt and begins walking to our right. I follow him as he limps.

  “You okay?” I ask, ignoring his question.

  He shrugs. “Demidemons are not supposed to exorcised. They never are because they’re never topside. They can be exorcised, obviously, but it takes a toll on them. A young demidemon wouldn’t have survived that. Me, it just fucks me up a bit apparently.”

  I stare at him with concern before beginning to help him. He stops me. “Keep up appearances, you’re a fucking pure blood, Megan. At least try to act like one. Use your gift or curse or whatever it is to your advantage.”

  I think about that. What does he mean by this? I stop helping him and decide to follow him instead. It isn’t long before Terry finds us wandering towards the castle. He’s been out looking for us.

  Something I do know is that exorcism doesn’t always land you in the same place. It can land you near where you want to land those you exorcise but it’s not exact. Ever. Terry has probably been searching for us all over Tartarus, and Aiden is probably inside the castle freaking out, not able to leave without risking his own safety

  Forrest runs to his father and wraps him in a tight hug. I never would have imagined Forrest to be so intimate. In my mind, I see him as tough, smart ass without a worry in the world.

  “Son,” Terry approves. “As much as you make me want to smack you sometimes, I am glad you’re alright. Megan, come. We need to be going in case someone recognizes you.”

  Terry, followed by multiple other guards, lead us back to the castle, back to a waiting Aiden. Aiden stands in the entryway of the castle with his arms crossed tightly and a stoic expression plastered on his face. “Forrest. Megan,” Aiden states, sounding disconnected. I can’t help but wonder what is going through his mind. He sounds almost angry, but why? Surely not at me or Forrest.

  “Sir,” Terry voices and bows, something I’m not used to seeing. “As you requested.”

  I glance to Forrest to see a small smile of amusement forming on his lips. Why?

  Aiden reaches out and grabs my forearm, yanking me inside. Forrest follows. Once we are out of the guards’ earshot, he whispers, “Are you alright?” He begins checking me for scratches.

  “I’m fine. I’m just… Well, I’m shaken up. That was…” I trail off, unsure how to answer.

  Forrest chimes in, “You should amp up security. You know they will stop at nothing.
As history tells, when they are determined, they get what they want or at least don’t stop until they win or die.” Forrest looks around the room quickly.

  Aiden seems to remember his presence in that moment and turns to him. “Forrest, although I am not happy with some of your past actions, you have proven valuable to Tartarus, the demon race, and to Megan and I especially. I have not and will not forget that you damned Megan to this life, but I will forgive you to the best of my ability. Although you have mastered a few monstrosities not in my favor, you have also saved Megan’s life. Possibly more than once which is something I don’t take lightly. I have spoken with my advisors and with the council. I have convinced both that it is in the best interest of everyone that you are kept alive and free. This comes with one condition. You will stay in Tartarus and you will serve me personally at the same level as your father but doing different work. There are things that I may need, skills of yours that may come in handy, I request your presence here in the castle. Though my requesting you should legally leave you no choice but to obey, and though this offering is more than most changelings, demidemons, and even pures will ever dream of, I present you with a choice. You may leave now and return to earth, blending in with the humans and running for eternity, or you may stay here, living in luxury, making a good chunk of cash, and being free to do as you please with enough freedom as nearly even a pure. The duties I request will not be daily or even weekly or monthly, but they will be here and there. They will be important, and they will be tough at times, though I don’t doubt your ability to handle them. Do you agree to this?” Aiden asks after his long lead up.

  I look between the two demonic men, looking for a hint of emotion, looking for a clue as to what is going on because even though Aiden has just explained exactly what he means, I don’t fully understand what he asks of Forrest.

  Forrest’s face is blank, though I think I detect a hint of surprise. Aiden’s is expressionless, yet almost hopeful.

  Finally, after a near minute of complete and awkward silence, Forrest nods once. “I accept with the utmost appreciation, sir.”