Dark Calling

by McIntyre, Cheryl

  “What’s a leap into moving in?”

  Keely laughs. “Well, I was thinking I would hide you in my closet until my parents fall asleep and then sneak you into my bed.” She pulls the bag from his hand and tries not to tip over. “I just need it this way. So I know I can do it on my own.”

  Nick nods his head. He looks past her at Kimberly who is peering out the window. He lifts his hand in a hello, but she has already let the curtain drop back into place. “You’ve never had a problem doing things on your own. You’ll be fine.”

  Keely stands on tip toes to give Nick a kiss on the cheek and turns toward the house. “I’ll get a hold of you later,” she calls.

  Nick waves to her back. When she’s inside, he walks slowly back to his car, taking his time. He doesn’t do this because he doubts Keely’s ability to handle her home life. He knows she’s strong and can deal with anything. The thing is, Nick doesn’t have a clue as to what to do with himself. No. This isn’t true. He knows exactly what he should be doing. He just really, really doesn’t want to do it. Drumming his hands on the roof of his car, he knows it’s time to man up. It’s time to face Bryon.

  ***

  The light tap on her door means the end of the reprieve she was given to put her things away. Keely would know her mom’s knock anywhere. Swallowing hard and smoothing her shirt, Keely turns the knob.

  “We need to have a talk,” Kimberly says. Her hair is down, none of her usual clips holding it off her face. Her eyes are red and puffy, the make-up unable to cover the sure sign of crying.

  Keely wrings her hands. She will not accuse. She will not blame. She will not attack her mom. She will remember how worried she was about her less than twenty-four hours ago, and she will quietly listen.

  Kimberly sits on the edge of Keely’s bed and pats the space beside her. As she sits, her mom begins. “I’m sorry, Keely. I want to say that first. I’m sorry for all of it. I should have protected you better. I should have been more open with you. I should have—well, I should have done a lot of things differently, let’s just leave it at that. But I am going to try to be better, I promise.” She looks down at her hands and clears her throat. “When I was your age, I made the decision to leave this life. I lost both of my parents because they chose to honor the Angel. They were great Guardians, but it left me alone. And it wasn’t easy. I wanted better for you. I was stupid to think I could just walk away from it.” She shakes her head; her hair falls over one green eye. She tucks the strand behind her ear and continues. “I tried to leave it all behind. I left my boyfriend at the time. I enrolled myself in a normal college and I met your dad.” She smiles with the memory and Keely wishes she could see what her mom sees. Wishes she could see a younger version of her mom and dad as they fell in love all those years ago.

  “Your dad was so handsome and so sweet. He was funny and understanding. And completely normal. I needed the normal more than anything. If I had just kept everything normal, I could have saved all of us so much heart ache. Your dad couldn’t give me children and some stupid, selfish part of me wanted my own child. A special child. I wanted to carry on our lineage. Pass down the gift of the Angel. You see, if I had just been happy with the normal life I had made for myself, I would have adopted. I wouldn’t have you though, Keely, so I’m so mixed up how I feel about that. Yes, I could have saved you from this life, but it wouldn’t have been you. It would have been some stranger.

  “The point is, I made so many mistakes, but some led to good things. Like you.”

  “And like how I met Nick,” Keely helps.

  Kimberly shuts her eyes, her face tight. When she opens them again, her lips are a thin line. “Keely, my biggest mistake of all was not sticking to a supernatural free life. I think, well, I just think that you should maybe date human guys.”

  Human guys, hmm. Well, so much for quietly listening. Keely squirms under her anger. “I like Nick.” And Bryon.

  “I understand you like him, Honey. I’m not saying you shouldn’t. You can be friends until this is all resolved of course. But, Keely, you have to understand, when this is finished, he will be reassigned. And you’re so young. You haven’t had many boyfriends so you don’t understand. The attention he’s paying you, it’s because he is trying to keep you safe.”

  Keely stumbles over her words, trying to form a sentence that makes sense. The magical sentence that will make her mom take back what she’s said and give Keely her blessing. “That’s just…no,” is all that comes out.

  “There will be other boys. Better, normal boys. Safe boys.”

  Better? Safer? Shaking her head, as her face grows warmer and warmer with each passing second, Keely sucks in a breath. “Does it matter to you that I care about him? That he cares about me?”

  Kimberly’s eyebrows crinkle in a sympathetic way. “Oh, Keely.”

  “No. Don’t ‘Oh, Keely’ me. I’m not some love sick schoolgirl crushing on the quarterback. He has saved my life so many times, Mom.”

  “That’s his job,” Kimberly says softly. It’s not sympathy, it’s pity. Her mom thinks she is stupid. That Nick couldn’t possibly return her feelings. That she has completely misread his feelings for her.

  “I think I love him,” Keely whispers.

  “It’s not even been a week. You can’t love someone that quickly, Keely. You don’t even know him.”

  “I fell in love with you the very first night we met,” Kevin says from the doorway. He puts his hands in his pockets. “We spent the last twenty years as husband and wife and I still don’t know you.” He enters the room. Heads straight to Keely. He places his hands on each side of her face and kisses her forehead. “You’re eighteen. You can date whomever you choose kiddo.”

  “No, she can’t,” Kimberly says sternly. “You don’t understand how these things work, Kevin-”

  “No, you’re right. I don’t. Nobody ever explained these things to me! I couldn’t possibly understand. I’m only human.”

  Keely has never seen her mom and dad fight before. Little arguments over who used the last ice cube and didn’t refill the tray. Whose turn it is to load the dishwasher. Which movie to watch. That’s it. Their perfect marriage wasn’t really perfect. It was a lie. Her dad didn’t even know who he married.

  “I’m trying to now.” Kimberly stares at Keely. “Nick has taken an Oath. You are his responsibility. Dating your charge is seriously frowned upon. That’s not to mention that he has kept a very important secret from the Hierarchy. Beside the one that he’s making out with you, I mean.”

  “We don’t make out. We kiss. And he didn’t tell the Hierarchy about the Demon King wanting me alive because he was protecting me,” she says, careful not to refer to him as her father in front of her dad. “How can you throw that up in my face?”

  “I’m not throwing it up in your face, Keely. Your secret is out. Half of those people saw him kiss you last night and all of them know he agreed to work with Asmoday who was following orders directly from the Demon King. Do you know how this will look to the Hierarchy? Nick is going to face some kind of penalty. The last thing he needs right now is…” Kimberly shakes her head. Tries to find the right word. But it’s too late.

  “Me.”

  “That’s not what I said. I just don’t think a relationship with his charge is a good idea when he is already in trouble. And I’m not going to lie to you. I would be happier if you dated a human and tried to obtain a normal life.”

  “As long as you’re happy. I mean, living a normal life worked out so well for you.”

  “I made mistakes, but you can learn from them. You’ll know to be honest about who you are.”

  “I don’t even know who I am!” Keely tugs her hair. She didn’t think her world could crumble anymore. Weren’t the pieces that were her life already small and scattered enough? How could her mom take Nick from her? And worse than that, how could it make sense? How c
ould Keely know her mom was right?

  “You are you, Keels. You’re the same girl you’ve always been,” Kevin insists.

  “But I’m not. I’m different, Daddy. Everything’s changed.”

  Kevin nods. He understands. Things will never go back to how they once were. He doesn’t want them to. That was a sham of a life before. Just a fantasy his wife had created.

  “Keely, things have changed, yes. But you will always be you.”

  “And who is that,” Keely challenges.

  “My beautiful, innocent, smart, sweet daughter.” Her mom reaches for her. Keely moves out of her reach before traitor fingers can touch her.

  “Yours and everybody else’s.”

  “Stop that. You are not his,” Kimberly snaps. “You are nothing like him. You have his blood, but you also have mine. And you were raised human. You are better than all of us.”

  “What does that make me?”

  “It makes you Keely. It gives you a choice. The Demon King, he was a Watcher. I am a Guardian. You could choose to honor either of the blood lines. You are also a Princess, and there is that choice, but that would mean turning your back on everything and everyone you love. You would be an enemy of the Hierarchy, of Nick. Or you could choose your human roots. I am still partially human. I passed that on to you. You have many more choices than most.”

  “But I don’t. You want me to live as if I were human and nothing else. What if I can’t do that?”

  Kimberly gazes at Keely. Almost looks through her. “I will love you no matter what choice you make.”

  “No matter which one? Nick said that I was special because a child born to an Angel has never been a girl. That a girl has never joined the line until at least the next generation. He said I’m needed for something. What if I do it? Would you still love me then?”

  After a tremendously long pause, Kimberly meets her daughter’s eyes. “Yes, I would.”

  “If you could accept that, than you can accept me honoring my Angel bloodline. I want to go to school where the others go. I want to train to be a Guardian.”

  “There’s a school?” Kevin asks surprised.

  Kimberly ignores him for the moment. “I don’t know if that would work. I don’t know if you would be welcomed, Keely. You are a Demon Princess, whether you embrace it or not. Whether I know you’re a good person or not. The Hierarchy may not allow it.”

  “Then I’ll find out. I want this. I don’t want to be normal. I don’t want to deny who I am. That’s you. It’s not me. That life got me nowhere. It nearly got me killed.”

  “No, I nearly got you killed. You’re prepared now.” She puts her hand up. “We can talk about this more when you’ve had time to think. And I do want you to think about it. Everything.”

  Keely nods tightly. “It’s not going to change.”

  “And about Nick. I think you need to end it. If not for your sake, then at least for his.”

  “Keely, I don’t know about this stuff,” her dad says. “I wish I did, but I don’t. Talk to Nick and make this decision together.”

  Kimberly gapes at Kevin. She opens her mouth to say something, but realizes that’s exactly what she should have done years ago. Instead, she did what she’s doing now. Making all the decisions for everybody else all on her own. She pushes her hair off her face and leaves Keely’s room a little shaken.

  ***

  Keely isn’t sure exactly when she became such a cry baby. Hot tears stream silently down her cheeks. She sniffs. Wipes the sign of weakness from her face. The Demon Grimoire stares at her from the nightstand. Taunts her. Calls to her.

  The phone rings endlessly. She ignores it. Instead, answers the call of the Grimoire. It dries the tears immediately. Soothes her like a baby with a blanket. Distracts her from all that’s wrong in her life.

  Keely opens the book and runs her fingers over the bumpy pages. Loves the feel of the old paper. She leans in to inhale the scent. Stops short as she remembers what the cover is made from. What the ink truly is. She heard once that half of a person’s recollection is based on smell. This isn’t a smell she wants stored in her memory.

  Keely decides to start at the beginning. Read it in order, although she doesn’t think the book has an order. It’ll make it easier to keep track of what she has and hasn’t read. The image of dark chestnut hair floats behind her vision. Just a bubble of a thought before it pops. Another image, this one of long silver scissors clipping a chunk of the dark hair. The words blur in front of her. A flash of a deep iron pot. The word caldron comes to mind. The last image she envisions is the hair shrinking and sizzling in a bright white flame of fire. She can smell the singed hair. Goose bumps raise across her arms and she shivers. It’s a love spell. To make someone fall in love with the caster. Ugh. She hates Demons. All they want is control.

  She glances over the many names. Understands the names to be those of past users. There are eighteen. Eighteen Demons have used this spell to force someone into false feelings of love for them. Her finger skims the names, grateful she doesn’t recognize any of them. She moves on to the next. It isn’t a spell, but a prophecy. She hears thunder, but the sky is sunny outside. Knows only she can hear it. Wind blows warm, wet air across her face. Picks up her hair. Keely’s mouth goes very dry, but she keeps reading. Papers lift with the wind and circle her room.

  In her mind’s eye, she envisions a girl with long, pale blonde hair. She walks slowly up a set of steps, careful not to look back. And Keely knows the girl is not allowed to look back. Knows that if she does, something very bad will happen.

  With a gasp, Keely holds tight to the book. Rain drops splat heavily onto the page. The words smear red. She continues to read, faster now. The girl keeps climbing. She trips. Her long white gown catches on the jagged corner of the stone step. The staircase appears endless, winding around itself over and over. Forever going higher and higher. Still the girl ascends. The hot gusts of air push on her, try to stop her. Try to shove her back. The rain pelts her skin. The stairs begin to crumble. All elements work against her, but still she continues upward.

  Keely wipes at her face. Knocks a rain drop from her nose. She feels as if she’s on those steps with this girl. Feels her struggle. Feels her anguish. Knows she cannot look back to see how far she’s come. She must only look forward at the endless myriad of stairs. The girl falls again. Keely cries out as the girl slides down several steps and scrapes her legs. Keely’s legs burn. The girl turns her head as if she is looking at Keely. As the stairs disintegrate into pebbles, the girl falling with them, Keely gets a startling look at her face.

  The Heavens fall.

  Hell rises.

  The realms break apart like shattered glass.

  Earth is stuck somewhere in the chaos.

  No sky above. No ground below. One boundless abyss. The stars are no more. Beneath, there is only a rolling pool of gray.

  The Demon King rises from the murky bottom of the nothingness. Demons slither out behind him, already seeking their pray. People scream endlessly. They try to run, but fall into the nothing. Get ripped apart by Demons. In his arms, the Demon King carries the girl. He stands tall. Proud. He hugs the girl to him as he gazes around at what she has done. She has joined Heaven and Hell with the Earth. Opened everything in between. His child. His beautiful.

  Keely cannot look at the innocent people’s panicked and terror-stricken faces any longer. She tears her eyes away from the words. Away from what she has done.

  Twenty-Four:

  “Just say it already, man,” Bryon says. “It can’t possibly be that bad. Besides, I think I have a pretty good idea of what you want to tell me.” He absorbs Nick’s tight movements. Observes his discomfort.

  Nick searches Bryon’s face. He’s pretty sure he doesn’t have a clue as to what this is about. Of course, now Nick wonders what Bryon thought he was going to say. He holds out his ha
nd, gesturing for Bryon to go on.

  “I already know about you and Keely. Who doesn’t at this point?”

  Nick tries to keep his expression neutral. He’s pretty sure it slips. “That’s not… Why would you think I’d come here to tell you about Keely? That’s private between me and her.”

  Bryon laughs. It’s thick with sarcasm. “Yeah, not private when you kiss her in front of everyone.” He crosses his arms over his chest and scrutinizes Nick. “What’s going on?”

  “Uh.” Nick rubs his eyes. “I knew there was someone leaking information about Keely to Apophis.” He sits down on the edge of the couch cushion. “I knew it wasn’t Lila. And then you went missing.” He meets Bryon’s gaze evenly. Watches it turn into a grimace, followed by a scowl.

  “So you assumed it was me?” No longer able to look at his supposed friend, Bryon turns and paces the room.

  “Not at first, but when we couldn’t get a hold of you, it just made sense.”

  Bryon stops pacing. Turns slowly to face Nick again. “Only thing wrong with that is I am your friend. I have always had your back. Always! Even when you were wrong, I still stood by you, man. You should have known I would never do that. And to Keely? How could you believe for a second I would ever do anything to hurt that girl? That’s seriously messed up, Nick.”

  “I didn’t want to believe it. So much was going on. I screwed up. I’m sorry.”

  Bryon squeezes his hand into a fist. “I want to hit you right now. Did you even try to look for me?”

  Ashamed, Nick stands and looks at his feet. “Keely tried.”

  “Did you?”

  “No. I didn’t,” he admits.

  That’s what their years of friendship are worth. Bryon nods his head. “I would have looked for you. I never would have believed you were a filthy traitor,” he says calmly.