Changeling (Black Petals Book 2)

by Marie, Tarisa

  Aria places a hand on her hip and juts it out to the side. “Aiden, two wrongs don’t make a right. Now stop wasting time and let’s go. We don’t hurt the kids. What’s gotten into you today?”

  Aiden ignores her and sprints forward into the larger area of the basement where chaos has broken loose. The rebels are shoving children through windows trying to get them out.

  “Aiden himself has come to kill us,” one woman, a brittle old lady, observes shuddering. The mass of eyes turns to look at us, mainly Aiden. The same looks of fear passes across each of their expressions. They’re scared of Aiden.

  “And a hunter,” a man mutters to another man. “I think that man there is an ex-hunter too.”

  “Hunters and demons working together. That’s new. We really must’ve pissed them off,” another man says. His slicked back, greasy hair makes me want to hurl.

  Aiden doesn’t hesitate. He charges on a lady and snaps her neck before plunging a brass blade into her brain. A woman screams and backs away from Aiden who lunges at her next, knocking her to the ground. He finishes her with a brass blade to the heart.

  Mason is next to spring into action. He takes down two men in a blink of an eye. Maybe they were right. Maybe this will be a piece of cake. It’s clear that many of these changelings aren’t well versed in fighting. Maybe these are new recruits. Humans they’ve only recently made demon.

  As instructed, I don’t do anything unless I am attacked. Aria takes down an elderly looking man and then another man in a suit.

  The blood and gore is overwhelming and I feel myself ready to puke though I have to admit that a part of me—a very demonic part of me—is actually enjoying the mess. This same part of me pushes me to jump in and fight.

  Finally, a woman notices me just standing here and rushes at me. “It’s her royal highness,” she mocks, alerting the others of my identity. “Miss Megan Caplan.”

  “What have we done to deserve this pleasure. You two and two of the original hunters though one is now demonic of course,” a shrill voice antagonizes. It’s a young woman in knee-high boots and a short skirt. She looks like your average bitch.

  The two women come at me at the same time but Aria manages to send one flying across the room into a wall.

  The second woman jumps at me and lands a kick right to my chest. I fly backwards into a wall and slide down in violently. The drywall is shattered but to my surprise, I feel fine. Instinct has me whip out one of my brass throwing blades. I throw it at her at an incredible speed, not imagining the result it would cause. My throw, for the first time ever, if perfect. If Aiden had saw, he’d be so proud of me. The blade slices into the woman’s forehead, sending her to the ground and sending a stream of crimson through the air and onto Mason’s back. He doesn’t seem to mind because he keeps doing what he’s doing.

  “Just like old times, Aria,” he muses and shoves a changeling into a broken table. The splintered wood goes right through his stomach.

  Aria giggles. “Exactly like old times.”

  The woman I threw the blade at impossibly stands up, blade still sunk in her skull. I didn’t reach the brain with the brass. I didn’t throw it hard enough. Blood pools down her face and she looks like something off of “The Walking Dead”. I pull my knife from my belt and run at her. She has no weapon so I’m not too nervous. I press the blade against her chest as she restrains me from pushing it in any further. She’s stronger than me and manages to push me to the ground and on top of me. She takes my knife and directs it at my own chest. Shit.

  A whoosh of air takes me aback and the weight of the woman disappears. I sit up quickly to see that all living changelings—all eight of them—are plastered against the wall of the building by an invisible force. One look at Aiden and the amount in which he is concentrating tells me that he is doing this.

  Mason groans. “Aiden, I was just starting to have fun.”

  Aria snickers. “Me too, actually. It’s been a long time.”

  Aiden ignores them, approaching the changelings pinned to the wall slowly. “Any of you want to present your case? Half my council is dead because of you so things are not looking good for you.”

  None of them speak. They all seem to be shaking in their boots.

  “None of you? Really?” Aiden asks in disbelief. He laughs and puts a hand in the pocket of his sweats.

  One changeling, a man in a sweater and jeans with black hair and tanned skinned speaks up, his voice shaking. “Master, please, let us be. We only want peace for all demons.”

  “And you don’t think there’s peace now?”

  The man slowly shakes his head. “Not for us changelings who are not under the pures’ spell. We are forced into lives of slavery and servitude.”

  “And what about the humans?” Aiden points out. “What about their freedom.”

  “You know as well as I that they are only a source of sustenance. Why you resist this movement, why Lucian did is beyond me.”

  Aiden grumbles something unintelligible. “Humans are not just sustenance. In fact, demons were created long ago to keep the human race pure. We were created to sort out the dark souls from the light souls.”

  The man hesitates. “Yes, but...but we’re better than that. We shouldn’t have to obey by their laws. We shouldn’t have to protect them. We’re powerful.”

  Aiden looks like he’s running out of patience. “We have an entire plane to ourselves. An entire plane. Good god, why is it that you insist on ruining another ace just for their plane when you have your own?”

  The man is silent like he doesn’t know how to answer.

  “Here’s what I’m going to do,” Aiden decides. “One of you is going to live because there are children here who need taken care of. I can’t have a bunch of demon children running amuck and I’m not a monster like you rebels are. I won’t harm the kids. There is one condition however. If I choose you to live, you must give the others in your group a message. I want you tell them that we’re coming and that if they want to back down, they better do so now or they will all meet their ends.”

  Aiden walks across the line of changelings, stopping at the one with a blade in her head. “You are not going to live. You attacked my girlfriend.” He then looks to me. “Megan, would you like to do the honors?”

  I can’t help but shake my head. Now that I’m calmed down a little, I don’t really want to take the life of another.

  Aiden simply uses his blade to push the blade already in her skull deeper and into her brain. She shudders before falling limp. He lets her body drop to the ground below. He then moves on to the man he spoke to. “You, sir, let’s call you John, shall we?”

  “My name is Linden,” he corrects in a whimper.

  “You are brainless. You shall go.” Aiden ends it quickly for him with a blade to the heart. “Let’s make this interesting. I’m going to ask a question that you all must answer. Any who get it wrong, will die.”

  I find myself moving closer to Aria as reality begins to take the place of adrenalin in my veins. There is so much blood.

  Aiden presses a finger to his lips as he thinks. He continues pacing back and forth. “What is my zodiac sign?” Aiden asks grinning.

  They all look at one another, and to my surprise, they all call out the same one. Aiden nods. “That was an easy one. Let’s try again.” He’s silent, building suspense and making the rebels antsy. “What is the first thing you were taught as a changeling?”

  I can’t pick out a certain answer because they’re all jumbled in a swarm of words.

  Aiden looks back at Mason. “Do you want to give them the right answer?”

  Mason steps forward. “The first thing we are taught as changelings is that we need to respect the human race, taking only what we need to survive and nothing more.”

  Aiden makes his way down the line again, sending his knife into three chests.

  “What is the second thing you learnt?” he asks next, wiping his bloody knife on a dead changeling’s shirt casually
.

  Again, I don’t hear the individual answers because they’re all shouted at the same time. I only know that there is more than one answer given.

  “Mason?” Aiden asks.

  “The second thing we learn is that the existence of demons is to be kept secret from the humans.” Mason tucks away his knife into his belt and relaxes against a beam.

  “Excellent,” Aiden approves and slams his knife into two more chests. He then releases the last changeling from her place. “One last question. Why are you with the rebels?”

  The girl trembles. She looks no older than twenty-five. “I-I don’t know. My parents were rebels, sir. I was born into this life.”

  Aiden nods once and motions for her to leave. “Go then. You have the choice of returning to the rebels elsewhere or joining the rest of us. You will be welcomed either way I assume. Take the children with you and go.”

  The girl nods quickly. “Thank you, sir. Thank you for your mercy. I won’t disappoint you. I swear it.”

  Aiden doesn’t reply but begins throwing all of the bodies into a pile quickly. He then pulls a package of fire starter from his pocket and lights a few matches on top of it. The smell of blood was enough but the smell of burning flesh is something I can’t handle. I gag but nothing comes up. There is nothing in my stomach. Aria wraps her arm around my shoulders and leads me out of the building while Aiden and Mason finish with clean up.

  “I forget how wretched that smell must be to someone who’s never smelt it,” she apologizes. “It’s really terrible.”

  We move for the truck as Aiden and Mason come out of the building laughing and joking around. It’s weird how Aiden can go from terrifying, murderous demon ruler to soft, playful Aiden. How can these people be so hard and yet so soft? It’s enough to make me dizzy.

  “Aria,” Aiden calls and catches up to us. “I’m sorry about the human earlier. I wasn’t in my right mind. I think that crap Landon gave me is messing with me. I feel weird. Bipolar actually.”

  Aria doesn’t say anything but a sad expression crosses her face before she nods. Apology accepted.

  Aiden’s hand lands on my shoulder and a warm expression on his face makes me relax a little. “Do you see why I didn’t want you coming along now? Not only did I not want you to be in danger but I didn’t want you to see all that, not the bodies, not the blood, not the death, Megan, and certainly not that side of me or Mason or Aria. War isn’t for you.”

  Chapter 16

  “Catch!”

  A pain radiates through my skull and I whip around to see Forrest wince. I send a look of daggers his way.

  “I told you to catch,” he reiterates.

  I bend down and grab the football from the grass. “That hurt.” I rub the spot where he hit me on the head.

  He looks like he’s holding back a laugh which sends me over the edge and I toss the football with all my might at Forrest’s head. He catches it like it’s nothing and tosses it back at me with the same speed. It hits me in the stomach and bounces off me.

  “Forrest!” I shout, feeling my cheeks redden and my temper slipping.

  In an instant Mason is at my side. “What the hell did he do?”

  I point to the ball rolling across the ground.

  Mason crosses his arms. “You were playing football?”

  “No, he keeps throwing it at me!” I burst, feeling like I could kill Forrest.

  “She can’t catch. Her hand-eye coordination is nonexistent,” Forrest explains himself. He looks quite smitten with himself.

  Mason picks up the ball, winds up, and throws it at Forrest as hard as he can. The ball hits Forrest in the stomach and explodes upon impact.

  A string of cusses leaves Forrest’s mouth and he falls to the ground.

  “How did you do that?” I exclaim with annoyance. At least Forrest has gotten a taste of his own medicine.

  Mason merely shrugs. “Good aim and muscle.”

  Forrest scoffs. “You got lucky.”

  “Do you want to try again?”

  Forrest goes silent.

  I feel cheated. “Why can you throw like that? Why can’t I?”

  “Well, I’ve played a lot of football in my day. I’m also willing to bet you throw like a girl.” A small smile emerges on Mason’s lips.

  I’m getting a little sick of all these men, so I storm off in the direction of the beach where I find Aria sun tanning on a towel in her pink bikini. She welcomes me with a smile and removes her sunglasses.

  “What’s going on over there?” she asks and props herself up on her elbow. “I heard you yelling at Forrest.”

  “He threw a ball at me. Twice. We all know how good at sports I am. The first time it hit me on the head and the second time in the stomach. It still hurts,” I complain with a sigh and lay down on the sand beside her.

  She raises an eyebrow. “Sounds like him. Are you okay?”

  I nod and watch a seagull fly above us in an erratic pattern. “Just pissed me off.”

  Aria groans and rolls back onto her back. “I am seriously getting sick of all these men.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  Aria rolls onto her stomach. “Will you help me put lotion on?”

  I jump up and reach for the bottle of tanning lotion beside her. I put some into my palm and begin rubbing it on her back.

  As I apply lotion to Aria’s back, I can’t help but wonder what Aiden’s been up to all day. I haven’t spoken to him since we arrived back on the island yesterday. He’s been busy helping Landon get ready to put the soul into Terry. Terry doesn’t seem nervous about the idea. He also doesn’t seem concerned that he will once again be human. He will be mortal. He will be able to die after all the time he’s spent alive. At first it was hard for me to understand his wanting to be human again after being immortal so long, but then Aria explained that sometimes not aging, never growing old, is more a curse than a blessing. Plus, of course, if he dies with a soul, his soul will be put into another being eventually. He will live further lives. As Terry told me the other day, he’s had to watch his family and friends die over and over again. I guess living dozens of lifetimes could become tiring.

  “So, you getting tired of hanging around demons yet?” I ask her casually.

  She snorts out a giggle. “I’m actually more tired of the men. Mainly Crispen. This is the first time he’s left me alone since we’ve been here. I had to beg him to just let me go suntan in peace. I’m sure he’s around though. He’s probably watching me right now.”

  “He’s protective.” I have to agree. “That’s not always a bad thing,” I assure her.

  She sighs and drops her voice. “It is when you feel like you’re suffocating.”

  I can’t help but laugh because I know how Crispen is and I understand completely. He might just be a little over protective. I lower my voice to a whisper as well. “Have you seen the way Forrest’s been looking at you?”

  “Forrest?” She rolls over. “What, like he’s going to eat my soul?”

  I shake my head. “No. Like he wants to throw you against a wall and kiss you like on some movie.” Half of my mouth turns up in a smile.

  Aria looks shocked. “You’re joking!” she gasps.

  I stare her, assuring her that I’m not joking.

  “You’re serious!” She lowers her voice again. “You think he likes me. Like you think he’s interested in me? I’m a hunter!”

  “You’re smiling,” I note. “That must mean you’re not totally repulsed by the idea.”

  She sits up frantically and a hand flies to her mouth. “Megan, I’m not. Look, there are some things you don’t know about me. I didn’t only move to Australia because my brothers were suffocating me and I wasn’t one hundred percent feeling my hunter duties. I...I met someone. A halfling, Megan. He’s only eighteen so I felt a bit like a cradle robber. Anyway, it didn’t work out. By the time I returned to Australia after all the drama that went down, he’d been swiped up by his birth father and made into a pure.
He...isn’t the same as you can imagine. He tried to kill me when he found out that I was a hunter.”

  She pulls her swim suit cover over her shoulders as a slight breeze picks up. “I was more than happy to come here and babysit Crispen when I got the heads up. I needed to leave anyway before Tanner came searching for me or something. Anyway, a demidemon isn’t much different than a halfling. Forrest could be transitioned into a changeling, which from what I understand wouldn’t change him a whole lot.”

  “Yeah, but he’d still be a demon. He still is a demon. You’d be alright with that?” I ask, scrunching my nose.

  “Yeah, but Crispen might blow a gasket. I mean, he’s been pretty good and he’s been fairly nice to the demons, but I think that might cross a line, you know?” She bites her cheek and sinks deep into thought. “You really think he’s into me?”

  “Definitely,” I assure her.

  Her cheeks redden slightly.

  “Are you interested in him?” I can’t help but ask her this because it’s been on my mind for quite some time.

  She doesn’t hesitate. “He’s nice, well, he’s nice to me. He seems really sweet.”

  I find it interesting that she doesn’t think he’s a tad too talkative.

  “He’s kind of cute, too, right?” Her cheeks redden again.

  “I can’t disagree with that.”

  Aria, being a go-getter, asks, “Should I go talk to him?”

  I push her to do exactly that and offer to take her bag back to the house while she does. I point her in the direction I last seen the little devil and she hurries over. Part of me wants to watch her talk to him, but I decide to give her privacy and take her bag back to the house.

  Aiden, Landon, and Terry sit around the kitchen table. Landon has a syringe stuck in Terry’s arm while Aiden is placing the shiny pearl on Terry’s tongue. Not wanting to disturb the process, I drop Aria’s bag by the door and leave the house. Mason is pacing the tree line a few meters away. Crispen is standing with his arms crossed as he looks across the island from the porch. I didn’t even see him when I went into the house.