Drop Dead Demons

by Kirk, A

  “Yes.”

  “What?”

  “No!” Ayden’s arms flailed. “You know what I mean.”

  “Do I?” I kicked my high horse and let the reins loose on a full gallop. “Maybe I’m secretive because you’re secretive, keeping me in the dark, going off on ‘meetings,’” I used finger quotes, “that you won’t explain. And when you do finally show up you go all hot-hottie-from-hottiesville just before you give me the artic shaft, like some silly strumpet you mess with before you blow me off while you wait around for a real girlfriend instead of this pretend mumbo-jumbo we’ve,” I pointed back and forth between us, “got going. And for dinner with her, I’d bet you’d show up.”

  Silence followed, broken only by my heavy breathing. Trenches furrowed across Ayden’s brow.

  “What are you talking about? You think I’m…” He looked like he was trying to translate an alien language. “And that there’s another girl?”

  “Yes!” I ground my teeth. “Okay, no. Not exactly. But there could be. I mean, you do this hot and cold thing. Just like now,” I shot a hand toward my backyard, “when I have to beg you to kiss me and then things are…happening and then you rebuff me.” There, I said it out loud.

  “Rebuff you?”

  “Quit repeating everything I say!”

  “I’m sorry, but rebuff is what you took from that experience?” He choked a harsh laugh. “This is insane.”

  “What’s insane is that you practically maul me,” not that I minded, “and then run for the hills. It’s like you don’t want to get too close or even be alone with me.”

  Ayden raked a hand through his already-mussed hair. “Because I don’t.”

  Oh.

  I looked down at my chest, figuring there had to be a bullet hole. Or an arrow sticking out. Something to explain the pain. But then I realized it was just my heart. Breaking. Why did I ever think…

  Idiot.

  “That’s, uh,” I cleared my throat, “good to know.”

  “Not…” Ayden slid both hands back through his hair, then laced his fingers together, cradling the back of his head like he was trying to keep his skull from exploding. “It’s… complicated. There’s so much happening. ” He dropped his hands and stepped toward me. “And to explain—”

  “No, I get it.” I jerked back and held up my palm. “It makes sense to keep your distance. Especially for when I become too dangerous and you help Matthias drag me to the Mandatum to save yourselves.”

  Low blow, I know. The result of a lethal combination of humiliation, pain, and paranoia. Ayden looked like I’d sucker-punched him. I suppose I did. I knew I should take it back, but my big mouth had yet to find an off switch let alone a rewind button.

  Wondering how much of the something between us I’d just thrown away, I walked back into the house. Before he could see the tears. Before he could stop me.

  Not that he tried.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Underneath the water just shy of scalding, the shower wasn’t melting away the afternoon’s manic misery like I’d hoped. Even the delicate floral scent of Jayden’s fancy French shampoo offered no relief.

  There was a knock and Mom opened the door.

  “Special delivery,” she said with aggravating cheer. “The coffee shop delivered your favorite. White chocolate raspberry mocha. Mmm. Smells good.”

  I moved the shower curtain and peeked out to see her set down the cardboard cup on the counter.

  “Thanks. How’d you get them to deliver?”

  “Wasn’t me,” she said. “According to the blond barista who brought it, Ayden got them to deliver by making it a condition for him buying a boatload — she used another term which I won’t repeat — worth of coffee beans and various merchandise, including a cappuccino machine, and tipping them all heavily.”

  Of course it was a girl. I bet he tipped her heavily.

  “Just leave it.” I let the curtain fall and stuck my head under the water, half-hoping it would drown me into oblivion.

  “Does this have something to do with you crying?” Mom said. “I noticed when you came in and raced up here. Want to talk about it?”

  “Not really.”

  “Aurora—”

  “Mom, please. Not now.”

  How could she ever understand? The secrets, the lies, the layers and layers of crap piled on my life. And everyone I loved bore the brunt. I scrubbed my scalp to rinse the suds then worked in some conditioner.

  I heard Mom sigh. “Okay. For now. Look, I don’t know what happened, but I see how you two look at each other. All the love and passion.”

  “Mom!” My warning tone was meant to stop further conversation. So why did she keep talking?

  “Very bad things happened which frightened you, still frighten you, and that’s understandable, but don’t be scared of love.” Her voice softened. “Love always beats fear, sweetie, but you have to let it in.”

  “Got it, Dr. Freud. Now, can I shower in peace?” I knew she meant well, but my pity party was best wallowed in alone.

  “Fine. I’m here when you want to talk. I love you.”

  “Love you too,” I said quietly as she left.

  That part was easy. Loving my family. They were predictable and solid as a rock. But this other stuff? Too many unknowns.

  Maybe I should shut down the pretend boyfriend “fiasco.” Sure, it may be keeping me alive, but it was also killing me, because with each labored beat, my heart seemed to fissure a new crack, and eventually, it would shatter.

  I tilted my head back into the shower’s pulsing flow, breathing the steam, tasting the heat, waiting for relief to arrive.

  “I require your assistance,” a male voice whispered.

  My mouth fell open. “Ahhgaluhg!” I gagged — near drowned — on a slew of water and lost my balance. The pink shower curtain proved no leverage whatsoever, and I ripped it down with me, rod and all, slopping into the tub with a splash, irritated squeal, and shuddering thud.

  “Jay—!” I stifled a scream and hissed the second syllable through clenched teeth, “—den!”

  “Have you sustained injury?” Jayden’s face hovered over the tub.

  “Not until you showed up!” I struggled to sit up. The plastic shower curtain crackled in protest as I pulled it to cover myself. “You can’t come into my bathroom!”

  “I needed to speak privately and the odds were probable that you would be bathing alone. Additionally, no one would interrupt you.”

  “And you didn’t think that should include you?” I shoved the hair out of my eyes.

  He cocked his head with a blank look. “It was the most advantageous way for us to be alone.”

  “That is stupid in so many ways,” I fumed. “Besides, my mom was just here, you idiot.”

  “Then we must be expeditious in the event of her return. Come.”

  He offered a hand. I slapped it away. Then slipped trying to get up.

  “Grrrrr!” I pointed at the door. “Go! Wait in my room.” When he hesitated, I pointed harder. “Out! And close the door.”

  He opened his mouth then closed it, gave a sharp nod, and retreated to my room, closing the door softly.

  My exit from the tub was anything but graceful. It didn’t help I was furious. I wrestled the curtain off and dumped it, along with the fallen curtain rod, into the tub with a decisive clatter. Great, Dad just fixed the one in my bedroom and now I’d have to explain this. I snapped a towel off the rack.

  Jayden spoke through the door, “Might I inquire—”

  “No!”

  “Excellent. I’m right out here if you need anything.”

  “You with a clue would be nice,” I muttered, scrubbing myself dry.

  He knocked. “What was that?”

  “Jayden!”

  “Right. I’ll simply wait out here in your room.”

  With no clean clothes in the bathroom, my only option was to wrap the towel around myself, take a deep breath, and open the door.

 
; There was a scream.

  From Logan.

  He stood just inside my open window. At the sight of me — and after the scream — he spun around and tried to duck out. In his panic, he miscalculated and slammed his forehead into the edge of the frame. The impact reeled him back. He stumbled and landed on his backside, holding his hand to his head, moaning.

  “Aurora?!” Mom’s voice shrilled from downstairs.

  “I’m fine!” I yelled, then blew air between my lips and walked over to offer Logan a hand up. “Good thing you scream like a girl.”

  Cowering like a mouse facing a pack of ravenous leopards, he covered his eyes, rolled onto his knees, and crawled away.

  “What are you doing n-n-naked? With Jayden?”

  “Get a grip.” I turned away to close the window and curtains. It was harder with one hand because the other had to make sure the towel stayed put. Otherwise, Logan might actually lose consciousness. “I’m not naked.”

  “Is anyone else naked?” Logan was sitting on the floor, back against my bed, shading his eyes with one hand and rubbing his forehead with the other. “Is naked a thing now that a girl’s on the team?”

  Jeez, I hoped not.

  I changed in my walk-in closet and reappeared wearing sweats to find both boys in my bathroom putting up the curtain and rod.

  Good.

  As I went about my hair care routine, Logan whacked Jayden on the shoulder. “It’s bad enough you do it to us. You can’t do it to girls.”

  Apparently, Jayden pulled his “surprise” bathroom visits on all the guys. Which was supposed to make me feel better.

  It didn’t.

  “When I need to find each of you alone, the shower is the perfect location.” Jayden slipped rings on the rod, unperturbed by the scolding. I got the feeling he’d heard it before.

  “No, the shower is not perfect,” Logan said with a rising level of frustration, “because—”

  “I know.” Jayden flapped a dismissive hand through the air. “The naked issue. But naked is a natural state. I don’t possess lustful inclinations toward any of you. Your prime physical shapes should be a point of pride. And as for Aurora being a female, her status as a team member embodies her as an asexual presence.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “It wasn’t a compliment.”

  “No kidding.”

  “More of an observation on the agamic perception I have of you.” He stood on the tub edge and jammed the rod into place

  “Jayden!” Logan slid the curtain back and forth a few times. “No one cares.”

  Jayden said evenly, “My point is, being naked in my presence should not invoke such a heightened level of anxiety. It makes no logical sense.”

  “Well, it doesn’t have to,” I snapped. “So take your logic and shove it. And don’t let it happen again. Capiche?”

  Jayden bristled. “I hear your unnecessarily hostile request, and will do my best to acquiesce.”

  “I’ll take that as a yes. Now, let’s grab some banana bread and do homework.”

  “No.” Jayden grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the bathroom. “Since acquisition of Flint’s treasure has proved impossible for an advanced civilization of enhanced humans with unlimited resources for well over a century, I’ve contrived a scheme to give Rose what he so desires without the encumbrance and time constraint of uncovering the treasure, thus avoiding your demise.”

  Homework could wait.

  “Next time lead with that.” I stopped to grab my shoes and hurried downstairs. “Let me tell my mom.”

  “Jayden already told her we’re going to Blake’s.” Logan rode the railing down and opened the front door.

  “Am I bait?” Not my favorite strategy. Besides, last time we’d tried it, disaster had ensued.

  Jayden gave me a steady look. “No, you’re the sine qua non.”

  I paused in the doorway. “You know, I hate it when you say things like I already know what they are.”

  “Noted,” Jayden said then nodded and urged me toward the driveway.

  Logan spoke over his shoulder as he hopped in his sleek, low-slung sports car. “He means his whole plan hinges on you.”

  “Great. No pressure. What do I need to do?”

  “Use your ability.” Jayden held the passenger door open for me.

  I ducked in the backseat. “We gave up last week on sparking my explody power.”

  “I didn’t ‘give up.’” Jayden slid into the front seat and slammed the door just as Logan peeled out of my driveway. “I simply decided that we would wait for your ability to occur naturally rather than force it into a tumultuous state.”

  Sounded a lot like giving up to me. “How does my explody power work into your plan?”

  “It doesn’t.” Jayden turned in his seat to face me. “If we find the demons that hired Rose, we’ll use them to retrieve his sister then we’ll eradicate said demons, and Rose will depart satisfied, leaving you unharmed.”

  I frowned. “I still don’t understand how I help.”

  “Track the demons, Aurora.” Jayden gave me a look that clearly questioned my intelligence. “You are the Divinicus Nex. That’s what you do.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  I kicked out a window, dove through the shattered glass, front rolled onto the road, and ran for my life.

  I’d get home, grab a bag, and…then what? Where could I go? How could I hide? Not sure but they weren’t going to take me. Not without a fight.

  “Aurora?” Jayden snapped his fingers in front of my eyes. “Aurora?” He studied my face. “She seems to have devolved into some sort of catatonic state. She’s very pale.”

  Logan punched Jayden’s arm. “We weren’t going to tell her we knew!”

  “How were we to solicit her help while pretending she’s not the Divinicus?” Jayden said.

  “I don’t know, you said you had a plan!”

  “Yes. Confine her in the car then reveal we knew her secret.”

  “Oh, for—” Logan groaned. “Blake could’ve come up with something better.”

  My escape had been just wishful thinking brought about by my panic. Was I breathing? Didn’t matter. I had to move. This time I did get out the window, wind slapping my hair against my face, lines on the asphalt blurring underneath me.

  The car screeched and fishtailed. Jayden grabbed my waist and hauled me back in, hanging over the backseat to strong-arm me into place.

  “Blake?” I could barely breathe. “Who else did you tell? Because you shouldn’t because,” I laughed, well, more of a rattling wheeze since air was scarce, “you sound crazy since Divinicus…es—or is it Divinic-i?—are always guys, and I’m pretty sure Jayden can now confirm I’m a girl, and I can blast demons which a Divinicus cannot do which means I’m not it so you can call off that Mandatum extraction team because it will be a waste of their time.”

  “She’s prattling,” Jayden told Logan.

  “Because you scared her. Next time I’ll handle it.” Logan sighed and caught my gaze in the rearview mirror. “Aurora, I’m sorry about Jayden’s delivery.”

  Jayden released me and returned to his seat with a huff. “My delivery was sound.”

  “Aurora, only Jayden and I know. He figured it out when—”

  Jayden cut in, “My suspicions were confirmed when she saved me during the altercation with Fiskick and Echo at the concert hall, but prior to that—”

  “Yeah, we get it, you’re a genius,” Logan said, then told me, “I just heard the Kalifera call you Divinicus right before I killed it. But we didn’t tell anyone. The rest of the guys can’t know so they have plausible deniability in case we get caught hiding you and the Mandatum delivers consequences. We didn’t tell Cacciatori so there’s no extraction team, but we have to get rid of the threat of Rose. Does he know what you are?”

  After a pause, I nodded. “Promises not to tell as long as I help get his sister.”

  “Like he can be trusted.” Logan blew out a long breath. “And i
f he knows, the demons he’s working with probably know too. But if we find the demons, get his sister, we can shut this whole thing down. It’s a long shot, but…can you trust us and help track them?”

  Well, gosh, such tempting options. I flopped in my seat and grumbled, “No.”

  The hope in Logan’s eyes flickered out.

  “Not because I don’t want to, but because I can’t. There’s no control. I only find demons when they’re within a certain range. And when I say find, I’m not searching, I just suddenly get the vision and know exactly where they are and how to get to them. Or, more often than not, they come after me. Like Fido.”

  Logan squinted. “Fido?”

  “The blood contract demon,” I said.

  “You gave it a sobriquet?!” Jayden said. “Oh, Aurora, it’s dangerous!”

  “How far is your range?” Logan asked.

  I shrugged. “A few miles? Usually less.”

  “I can work with that,” Jayden nodded.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  I squirmed. “This isn’t working.”

  Jayden pursed his lips. “Because you’re not engendering a tranquil state.”

  “Because I look like Frankenstein.” I lifted my hands, dragging up the wires that were stuck all over my arms, head, neck, and chest with tiny sticky suction cups. Some blinked bright neon colors.

  I was tipped back in what resembled a dentist’s chair in the secret room at the Ishida house. The space was separated for two functions. On the other end, the windowless, rectangular space housed an extensive array of the latest computer equipment. The monitors alternated different shots from the surveillance cameras around town, and a couple had random documents left open. The half where I sat was set up like a gleaming, stainless steel, NASA-worthy intergalactic space station lab.

  The ceiling was two-stories high like in the game room, but instead of swinging gymnastic rings embedded above, several pipes from all the extraordinary machinery zigzagged across in neat lines.

  The odd scents from the rainbow of potions constantly bubbling in flasks atop Bunsen burners always wrinkled my nose. Glass jars held…specimens, and parts of specimens. Of the supernatural variety. I tried not so study them too closely because the bizarre and grotesque items along with claws, entrails, internal organs, and things with too many dead eyes — that I swear I’ve seen blink — freak me out. Call me squeamish.