The Devil's Prey (The Demon Within)

by Jessica Stark

  ‘I am going to Italy!’

  Chapter 13

  The week flew by so fast that before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to everyone. I said goodbye to Michel on Friday morning, and was soon saying my goodbyes to Ethan and Amanda. ‘I will miss you,’ I said, giving Amanda a hug. I didn’t bother giving Ethan a hug, because after our confrontation that ended with me kicking him in the knee, he promptly went back to ignoring me again. At that point I didn’t really mind, because really, how many times can someone break your heart and shatter it into a billion pieces before you’re done with them?

  ‘Come on, Summer, we are running late,’ Lauren said from the car, snapping me out of my reverie.

  ‘Ok just coming’ to tell Lauren ‘I will be back soon don’t have too much fun’ and like that I am off to Italy.

  One thing that sucked about overseas was that the plane trip was long and boring. Every time I tried to go to sleep, I was woken by either my excitement or the old man next to me, who was snoring the whole way.

  ‘Amanda, can you hear me?’ I asked. I was not sure it would work at such a huge distance. I never got a reply from Amanda, so I sat there, looking out the window into nothing. When the plane landed, I was jumping out of my seat. I was excited to see Italy, and maybe for once get somewhere with my powers. I was almost the last person off the plane, because the old man next to me was in a deep sleep, and nobody was able to wake him up.

  ‘I am sorry, young lady,’ he said with an Italian accent once he was finally awake.

  ‘That is ok,’ I said, trying to be polite. The moment I stepped off the plane, I could tell I was no longer at home. The air was warm, unlike back home, where we were coming into autumn. Here they were coming into spring.

  Inside the terminal, the place was overcrowded with people. ‘Great,’ I muttered to myself. I knew I had to find Liam, but I didn’t even know what he looked like. People kept apologizing for bumping into me, and I got yelled at to keep moving, but I was in a new place and had no idea where I was going. Someone brushed against me, and I immediately noticed that their body temperature was way too warm for a normal person, but when I turned to look, they were already gone into the crowd. I looked around, hoping to find the person, but all I could see were lots of people in a hurry to catch their flights.

  ‘Excuse me,’ a man said from behind me. I turned around to see a man in his late twenties. He had blond hair and green eyes. ‘I think you dropped something.’ He picked up my passport. How had I managed to drop that?

  ‘Oh, thank you.’ When I reached for his hand to collect my passport, it was like I was being pulled out of my own body. I could see through his eyes, and feel what he was feeling. He was thinking about what a pleasure it would be to teach me- and how beautiful I was. When I snapped back, he was still gripping my hand. His hand was warm and had a tingle to it. I looked up at him with surprise.

  ‘You must be Liam,’ I said. I hoped I was right, because if not I was going to be so embarrassed.

  ‘Yes, I am, and you must be Summer. Welcome to Italy.’ He opened his arms. He led the way out of the airport and to his car, waiting in the car lot.

  ‘So, Summer, what did you see?’ he asked when we were in the car.

  ‘Excuse me, what do you mean?’ I had no idea what he was talking about.

  ‘Well, each fairy has a trait. When you come into contact with them for the first time, they have a special way to present themselves.’ His accent was a lot to take in, because some of his words were hard to make out.

  ‘Umm…I saw things the way you see them,’ I said.

  ‘Well, that is good.’ We drove in silence until we got to a huge house that looked more like a palace.

  ‘Oh my god, do you live here?’ I asked, gazing at the beautiful house.

  ‘Yes, I do. I’ve owned it for a long time.’

  I had imagined him as a crotchety old man, because he supposedly had helped train the last pure fairy, which had been years and years ago. ‘May I ask- I thought you would be…well, how do I put this nicely? A bit…older?’

  I saw his reaction to my poor choice of words, but then he laughed as he understood what I was trying to say. ‘My power is the ability to stay young. I have been looking this same age for about twenty-odd decades,’ he says easily. My jaw dropped, but he went on like nothing unusual was happening. ‘You must be tired. I will show you to your room, then we can begin once you wake.’ He led me to a beautiful room, which was huge. The bed was big enough for four people.

  ‘Thank you. It is lovely,’ I said as he left. I stood there for a bit, dumbfounded, before I decided to take a shower. I jumped into shorts and a singlet. I was not tired, but the moment I hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

  When I woke up, I was confused at where I was. I was in a strange bed, in a strange room. It took me a moment to realize that this is not a dream. I was really in Italy. On my bed, there was a note under some clothes.

  ‘When you wake, please put these on. Then we can begin.’ This man sure knew how to get down to business. I slipped on the clothes- cargo pants and a black shirt with a purple strip running down the left side and around the collar. I also put on the combat boots at the end of my bed. I pulled my hair into a long plait. This was going to be a long day, I thought as I headed out of my bedroom.

  ‘Look at how stunning you are! The best I have seen in many years,’ he said as he looked me up and down, like I was a specimen in a science lab or something.

  ‘You do know you have a lot of work to do, and I get frustrated easily- and I don’t work well with insults,’ I told him flatly, hoping he knew what he was getting himself into.

  ‘Don’t worry, I know. I have been informed of what you are capable of. Might I say- very interesting, both telepathy and telekinesis. That is a rare gift, and so is controlling the weather. Not many fairies can do that.’

  I sat down and started eating the sandwich that he had laid out for me, but he motioned for me to stand. ‘We might even find something else. Come, you can eat and walk.’ He led me down a series of steps until we reached a door.

  ‘Welcome to training.’ He pushed the door open, and there was a huge room with lots of things I hadn’t expected. There were trees, a river, a fountain, and there were targets everywhere. When he closed the door, the huge space suddenly felt like it had shrunk.

  ‘Won’t people notice if I tamper with the weather?’ I asked, looking around and wondering how it all fit.

  ‘That is what this room is for. Special built, so it only happens in here. Let’s begin.’ He clapped his hands together. ‘Now I heard you went into fury the other day. Let’s start with that.’

  Sure, let’s start with the hardest, I thought to myself.

  ‘Close your eyes. You need to be relaxed. Block everything out, so you can only hear the sound of humming. That is the sound of your power source.’ He left me for a minute to listen, but I heard nothing.

  ‘This is not working,’ I said, already about to give up.

  ‘It is not working because your head is clouded. Clear it. Think of nothing but your power. Try again.’

  I closed my eyes. I tried to wipe everything from my head except for my power, but my thoughts were so jumbled that it didn’t work.

  ‘See, I tried, it’s not working.’ I stood still for a moment, feeling defeated.

  ‘What do you do when you glow?’ he asked.

  Well, I just glow. ‘Umm…I am not sure. I can show you.’ I glowed, just like that- no thinking or attempts to clear my mind.

  ‘Interesting. Your mind is still clouded, but it is like a natural instinct, the same way you breathe.’ We stood for a moment while Liam was thinking.

  ‘Ok, let’s move on to your telekinesis. I hear you managed to move a whole person, am I right?’ I just nodded, too ashamed of what I’d done to admit it aloud. We stood there for a whole hour while I tried to move a stick.

  ‘Summer, you need to concentrate. Please clear your mind. Think abo
ut your power and moving the stick. You need to connect to your fairy side.’

  I closed my eyes and dug deep down for my power. This time, I did find something- a hum, like a bird, but it was locked away. I tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. My eyes flew open in a hurry.

  ‘I had it! I heard the hum, but it was like it was locked away.’ I was excited. This was the first breakthrough I’d had in ages.

  ‘Ok, that is good. Now you need to open it, and it will unlock all your powers.’

  ‘How the hell am I supposed to do that?’ I asked. He always left me with unanswered questions.

  ‘It’s like a key. Find the right hole it belongs to, and it will open.’ Another riddle. I closed my eyes and found the same power source, when out of nowhere, I began thinking of Michel. What was he doing right at that moment? I felt myself open, so I kept thinking about Michel, but nothing else budged.

  ‘Good, Summer. Try to move the stick.’ I opened my eyes and lifted my hand. When I moved my hand to the side, the stick moved with it.

  ‘Oh my gosh! I did it! I did it!’ I started dancing around the place, excited that I’d finally managed to do something.

  ‘Very good, Summer, now it’s time to move this.’ Liam pulled out a huge weight from a cabinet against the wall.

  ‘You have got to be kidding me.’ The weight was huge!

  ‘Nope. Now move it,’ I tried, but it wouldn’t budge. I tried for another hour, with no results.

  ‘I give up! I really do. Maybe I can only move small things.’ I threw my hands in the air.

  ‘You are not even trying, Summer. I am starting to see that maybe you are not a pure fairy- just a normal fairy trying to add a bad name to real pure fairies. They went through hell trying to stay alive, and what’s the most you had to deal with- keeping your boyfriend?’

  I didn’t know what he was aiming for, but I was getting mad, and when I get mad it never ends well for anyone. ‘Don’t start about me going through nothing! If you haven’t heard, I nearly died! I even went into the other life for a brief moment, where I was told I was destined for great things. I was pulled back into a world of pain. I have been tortured- demons escaping from my chest, the devil himself stabbing me with a knife, so don’t tell me I have not been through hell, because you cannot begin to understand!’ I was so caught up in my words that I did not realize what was going on around me. The wind was blowing and everything was shaking.

  ‘That’s what I want to see, Summer.’ Everything stopped when he talked.

  ‘What do you mean?’ I was still annoyed.

  ‘You unlocked your powers. I know what the lock is. It is the event you have been through that restrained your powers. It is the happy memories and accepting that bring out your powers.’ His voice is gentle again.

  ‘You know what? I don’t bloody care. I came here to learn, and if I am going to be yelled out and abused all holiday, I might as well go back to Lauren. She seems to do that fine without any help, so I am going to pack up my bags and leave!’ I walked toward the door, and it flew open before I even touched it.

  Chapter 14

  At first I was walking, and then I found myself running through a strange park. People were looking at me because of the way I was dressed, and my hair was messy, falling out of its braid. When I finally stopped, I found myself shaking, not because I was cold, but because I was in shock. I sat on a bench and closed my eyes.

  The first thing I saw were memories of the night I died and came back to life, only it was like I was there again, in that moment. I could feel the knife pushing its way through me. I tried to think of Ethan, but the only thing I could see was him lying broken and bleeding next to me. I knew that this was not real, but it sure felt like it. I started to think of Michel, but all I could see was my dream where Michel was being held at knife point by someone I couldn’t quite identify.

  ‘Thinking of me, I see.’

  My eyes flew open, but they were blurry with tears. It took me a while to see who was sitting next to me, and when he finally came into focus, I jumped. ‘Michel! What the hell are you doing here? Wait, don’t even bother, how did you get here?’ I was barely managing to keep myself from falling apart, and suddenly Michel appeared, bright, happy and looking ready to conquer the world.

  ‘Well, it was boring without you. So I vanished into thin air and ended up next to you.’ He was smiling at me. ‘You ok, princess?’ He’d started calling me by that name after seeing me in my princess boxers.

  ‘Yeah, I am fine,” I muttered, but I could tell he was not buying it.

  ‘Come here,’ he said, and that’s when I burst into hot tears. My emotions had been building up for so long that I just couldn’t contain them any longer.

  ‘It is ok, Summer.’ He moved closer to me and held me in his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder.

  ‘It’s not fair, Michel. It is not fair.’ I feel the heat of my tears run down my face and onto Michel’s shirt, which was getting wet, but he didn’t seem to care. ‘Why me? What have I ever done to anybody?’

  We were getting a few glances from other people in the park, but I didn’t care.

  ‘It’s going to be ok, Summer. You are strong. Stronger than anyone. You will be ok.’ He sat there with his arms around me while I cried. When I finally stopped, my eyes were red and my nose and face were puffy.

  ‘Better now?’ he asked as he brushed away the last of my tears.

  ‘I think so.’ I sniffled. I was tired and sore from training. I tried to get up, but my legs buckled and I fell down.

  ‘Come here, Summer.’ He wrapped his arms around my waist, and we were gone. When we landed, I was in my room. I found my way to my bed, where I lied down, not bothering to change into my pajamas. Michel was gone, and I started to doze, but the moment I fell asleep, I was woken by night terrors. I was surprised that Liam hadn’t come up yet, because my screams were blood-curdling and high pitched- almost like Lucy’s squeal.

  By sunrise, I still hadn’t managed to get an ounce of sleep. I was worn down and barely able to move. Every muscle in my body ached. On the end of my bed was a fresh new set of clothes, like last time, with a note.

  When you wake up, come down to the training room.

  I got dressed like a robot, putting on the top, pants, and boots, and walked down to the training room. When I walked in, I went into a state of total panic. Everywhere I looked, I could only see the devil, Lucy, or Andy. I had two blue lights straight away. I went towards the door, but it was blocked off. I kept walking backwards until I was trapped against a wall. My eyes widened as they came closer to me.

  ‘Leave me alone!’ I screamed. My body was going into shock. I tried to move, but my feet were firmly planted on the ground. I threw the light, but it went straight through them.

  I remembered hearing what Michel had told me. ‘You are strong. Stronger than anyone else.’ I started to move my legs, and ran into the open space. I stood still and closed my eyes. I reached deep down into my power, and felt it burst open inside of me. I could feel pure energy running through my veins, and I felt invincible, limitless. I could feel the ground under my feet. I could feel the sun, and the wind that was not there. I could feel every living thing around me.

  I used my mind to throw Andy across the room, and when he was about to impact, I made him burst into flames. I could hear his screams as the fire burned him. I turned to the devil and Lucy, who were standing there, shocked. I felt for the wind, but there was none, so I started to twirl my hands and make wind. The force of it ripped my hair from its ponytail, whipping strands around my face. My vision grew blurry as rain began forming around me. I could feel lightning itching to have its turn, so I struck the ground with lightning right at their feet as a warning, but they didn’t back away.

  I cleared a path for me to see through the storm. I broke a tree branch behind Lucy and ran it straight through her heart. She started to cough up blood and fell to the ground. I looked around for the devil, but he was nowhere
to be found. I calmed down the storm so I could see, and I saw a black figure running behind a tree, like a coward. I started to glow, but the power was so great that I hesitated, taken aback at the amount of power pumping through my veins. I brought on my full fury like a charm, and burned harder, so that he would have to come out. Still he did not emerge from his hiding place. I knew it was a trap, but I still walked to where he was hiding- to find nothing. I still let the fury burn hard, just in case.

  When I whirled around, I saw him, standing so close I could have strangled him with my bare hands. I saw a vine to my left, and used my mind to wrap it around his neck. ‘You are going to suffer like I did.’ I laughed as the vine began killing him. At that point I knew I had gone mad. I released the vine’s grip, but as I stepped closer, I could see his flesh burning. I started laughing and tightened the vine again. I made the lighting strike around him in a circle, so that he was surrounded by a ring of fire, just like he had done to me.

  I grabbed my pocketknife and brandished the blade. ‘I think it Is only fair that you die the same way I did.’ I began to laugh again, and this time I used my own hands, not my powers. I cleared a gap in his fire circle and plunged the knife into his thigh. He screamed in agony as I plunged the knife into his arm and stomach. I watched him bleed, and laughed at him, like he had done to me.

  ‘See, I have a very funny feeling that no one is waiting for you in the afterlife, to bring you back to the living like they did to me.’ At that, he let out his final breath and died. He vanished, just like Andy and Lucy had.

  I took a step back and started laughing like a mad woman. I heard someone call my name, and saw a figure appear on the other side of the room.

  I called down a warning lightning strike right next to him. ‘Stay away if you are smart- or you will end up like them.’

  The person kept walking. ‘Summer, calm down, ok? They were not real. It was just a dummy- a dummy that takes the figure of whatever it is that you fear most. I was just seeing how you would react. You can calm down.’ The voice was soft, with a funny accent to his words.