Tirade

by Cambria Hebert

  I grabbed Sam’s favorite T-shirt and changed my clothes, throwing my dirty ones on the floor and leaving them there, too tired to bother with them. The soft fabric brushed the tops of my bare knees. I went into the bathroom to remove the makeup I had applied with such care and anticipation. Tears threatened, but I blinked them back for the millionth time tonight. Crying wouldn’t change anything. I was so incredibly tired, but sleep wasn’t an option. Bad things happened when I went to sleep. I was terrified if I went to sleep tonight, Beelzebub would seize the opportunity to pull me back into hell. The thought of seeing Sam was tempting, but if I went down there, Beelzebub would show up and he would continue his revenge by doing something to Sam while I watched, helpless. At this moment, it seemed like the best thing I could do for Sam was to stay away.

  I began tossing aside the fluffy throw pillows on the bed, thinking that even if I couldn’t sleep I could lay there and talk to Sam, to feel him. I tossed the last pillow away and reached for the bedside lamp, clicking it on.

  Then something clamped onto my foot and ankle.

  I looked down and stifled a scream.

  A gnarled, green hand was grabbing me. I kicked and stomped but whatever was under my bed was strong and it wasn’t going anywhere. It started yanking, as if to drag me beneath the bed.

  Every childhood nightmare I ever had came rushing back.

  There were such things as monsters under the bed.

  I threw myself forward, half lying across the bed, trying to unbalance my weight so I wouldn’t be so easy to pull. I lifted my free leg up into the air, frightened another hand would reach for it.

  This was the first time a demon had come into my house.

  Into my room.

  Turns out, lifting my leg didn’t do anything because another terribly long arm shot out and grabbed my ankle and tugged me down. I fell backward, landing on my butt as the demon slowly dragged me under the bed. Frantically, I looked for something, anything to help me. I reached for the lamp, but it was too far away. I grappled for the cord hanging over the nightstand and managed to grasp it. The lamp came tumbling over the side and I caught it before it hit the ground and made a loud noise. It was still plugged in and the light was bright so I shoved it toward the darkness under the bed.

  It was a sight I wished I never saw.

  There was a swirling, black sort of tide pool thing that circled around the demon holding me. It didn’t have any eyes, only a round white head with no hair and only two black holes for a nose. What was most disgusting was its mouth. It was a huge black hole that took up half its face and sharp, jagged teeth lined the mouth’s circumference. In the center of the mouth, this pink thing came forward and released these long tentacle-like things. All of them waved in my direction, straining to reach me.

  I gagged and kicked my legs harder.

  The tentacle things weren’t very long so they couldn’t touch me. Yet. Thinking fast, I tore the lampshade from the top and smacked the bulb against the metal frame of the bed. I was left with jagged broken glass that was hot to the touch. The demon pulled me a little closer and I shot my arm out, aiming the makeshift knife at its hand. The glass cut into its green hand and it shrank back, releasing one of my feet. I brought it out and used it as leverage on the bed frame to push myself away from him. Surprisingly, it worked and I got free. I stood and backed away, pressing against the wall, hoping the thing would go away.

  No such luck. I watched in horror as two green hands shot out and slowly pulled itself from beneath the bed.

  It was blind—that much was obvious—so I figured I could use that to my advantage. But judging from the size of the two holes on each side of its head I guessed it relied heavily on hearing. As silently as I could, I tiptoed away from the wall to the other side of the room. It stopped, cocked its head and turned to face me. The next thing I knew, it shot across the room, its long snakelike body following behind it. I don’t think it had any legs, just arms and a heinously long body. Which it proceeded to wrap around my body.

  I bit down on my tongue to keep from screaming and tried to struggle. It was useless. This thing had me and I was dead. I watched as its head came closer and it sniffed me. Then it made a sound and the tentacle thing at the center of its gaping mouth extended and the things reached for me. I turned my head to the side and squeezed my eyes shut.

  Wet, sticky things touched me, running along my cheek, and I whimpered. I waited for it to bite me, but it never happened. I heard this weird sound and then I was coated in wetness. Gross. Did this thing just barf on me?

  “Sorry about that,” Riley said from above.

  I looked up to see him smiling. The demon’s head dangled from his left hand and a dagger was in his right. I looked down at myself. I was covered in blood for the second time that day. “This is Sam’s favorite shirt,” I whined.

  “Not anymore.” Riley tossed the demon head to the floor, reached down to grab me by the elbow and yanked me up.

  Then the burning started. I jumped up and ripped the shirt over my head, taking most of the blood with it. Thankfully, my tank top beneath seemed clean. I used the shirt to wipe away what was left on my cheeks and arms. “Damn demon blood is like fire to the skin.” Oh well, at least there wasn’t any spit this time and I wouldn’t get sick.

  The back of my head screamed in pain and I blinked my eyes at my blurred vision; then I looked up.

  “Hey,” Riley said, I could hear the concern in his voice. “Did that thing bite you?”

  “No bites, just demon blood.” I insisted. “Sorry, my head hurts.”

  “Did you hit it?” His fingers were gentle when he pushed them through my hair. I closed my eyes because, damn him, it felt good. The thought jolted my eyes open and I was glad to see my vision was clear. Riley’s face was close to mine as he searched my head for bumps and I couldn’t help but stare at his navy eyes. This close, I saw flecks of silver in the center.

  His eyes shifted and he looked at me.

  “I thought you went home,” I whispered.

  “Good thing for you I didn’t.” His fingers were still tangled in my hair and they flexed against my scalp.

  “I’m not hurt.”

  “I know.” He stayed where he was.

  I cleared my throat and stepped back. “I need to shower and change.”

  He picked the head up off the floor and held it like a football. “I’ll get rid of this thing.”

  I looked at the bed. “There was some sort of portal under the bed.”

  “It’s gone. It died when this thing did.”

  I nodded. It’s funny how I never questioned anything he said.

  He tossed the head out of my bedroom window and then reached for the body.

  “Umm, hell-O,” I said as I got out some clean, demon blood-free clothes. “Don’t you think Gran might notice body parts falling from the sky and into the yard?”

  “Nah. It’s dark and she’s old. Good thing you don’t have neighbors,” Riley said. I swear he was trying not to smile.

  I shook my head, trying not to be amused. “I don’t understand why that thing showed up. If Beelzebub has the scroll, why keep sending demons?”

  He looked back. “Maybe he doesn’t.”

  “Maybe.” I said the word, but I didn’t believe it. “That’s the first time one of them came into my bedroom.”

  “Are you sure?”

  My eyes shot up to his. “What?”

  “Maybe the scroll was here but a demon took it.”

  I hadn’t thought of that. There were so many possibilities and all of them made sense. “I don’t know anymore,” I said, rubbing at my head.

  The only thing I did know was that things were about to get a lot worse.

  *

  Riley was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall when I entered the room. I was carrying Sam’s wet T-shirt that I scrubbed in the shower and then rung out. I draped it over the back of my desk chair to dry. I would throw it in the washing machine tomorr
ow. I still wasn’t sure if it could be saved.

  “I thought you left.”

  Riley shrugged. “Figured I would hang out a while in case any other demons came back.”

  “Did you get rid of the body parts?” I asked, looking at the window.

  “No. I left them out there. What will Gran say?” He gasped, putting a hand to his chest.

  “Whatever.” I laughed. I was actually kind of glad he’d come back. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was kind of scared.

  “They’re gone,” he said. “I’m getting good at cleaning up bodies.”

  Everything inside me fell at the mention of Colin.

  “Don’t go getting all depressed now. It’s over,” Riley said, guessing the direction of my thoughts.

  I went around the room, picking up, making sure there was no leftover blood from the demon, and we lapsed into a comfortable silence. Suddenly, I began to feel self-conscious at having a boy in my room who wasn’t Sam.

  “You know I love Sam, right?”

  “I know who you belong to,” Riley said, with nothing in his voice to tell me what he was thinking.

  “Why did you agree to help Sam?” I sank down on the foot of my bed.

  “I was bored.” He shrugged.

  “Liar.”

  He sighed. “I thought you didn’t care as long as you got what you wanted.”

  “That’s not true,” I said. His words stung, especially when I decided he was right.

  Riley chuckled. It was a warm, rich sound. “Want me to check under the bed for monsters?”

  I shook my head even though I wanted to say yes.

  His smile widened and he crawled forward to look. Dark hair fell onto his forehead when he leaned down. “All clear.”

  I let out a breath. “Look, I know that I’ve been kind of… focused on getting Sam out of there, but I do care about your reasons for helping. I care about you.”

  “Don’t.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m not like Sam,” he said quietly.

  “I know. No one is like Sam. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

  “He wouldn’t say that.” Riley shook his head.

  “Why is that?”

  “He’s seen me at my worst.” I felt a pang in my heart for Sam, trying to fit into a group where he never belonged. “I made his life very hard.”

  “You’re making up for it now.”

  He shrugged. “It’s not always that easy. Things aren’t just black and white. Sometimes the only choice you can make isn’t the best one.”

  I stared at him as his words really sank into me. I finally understood why I liked him. He got it. He just put into words the feelings I had been struggling with lately. Sometimes the path you’re on makes sudden turns. Should you turn with them or keep going straight because that’s how you originally started? “Sometimes on the path to good, you have to be bad?” I mused.

  “Or maybe sometimes you need to offset the bad you do with something good.” Riley’s smile was lightning fast and his teeth were a flash of light against the darkened room.

  “Is that what Sam is for you? A chance to make up for the bad you’ve done?”

  He sighed. “Something like that.”

  I could tell he was done talking. I’m actually surprised he said as much as he did. But still, I was certain I’d barely scratched the surface of Riley Stone. I yawned, long and loud.

  “Get some sleep. I’ll make sure no more monsters get you tonight.”

  “Sleep’s not an option.”

  He raised an eyebrow. I got up and began cleaning up the broken light bulb beside the bed.

  “Never?”

  “You saw what happened the last time I went to sleep.”

  “Do you ever sleep?”

  “Not much since Sam left.”

  “He kept the Dream Walker out of your head?”

  “Yeah, he did. We thought he broke the thread Beelzebub left in here.” I tapped my forehead. “But turns out there was more than one.”

  “How’d he keep him away?”

  I paused. “He slept with me.”

  “It’ll be rough, but I can take one for the team.”

  I laughed, but then I remembered that my mother had just died and I shouldn’t laugh. “Not like that. Beelzebub couldn’t get in my head when he was in the bed with me.”

  Riley got up and prowled over to the bed. He lifted the hem of his shirt and wagged his eyebrows. I shook my head and scowled. He shrugged and let go, leaving the shirt in place. I watched as he kicked off his shoes and lay down on the bed. “I hope you aren’t a cover hog.”

  “We can’t sleep together.”

  “Why?”

  “It isn’t right.” I would feel like I was betraying Sam.

  He rolled his eyes. “Come on. I’m not going to cop a feel. If I want some of that I’ll go get some. The ladies love me.” He made kissing sounds with his lips and rubbed his chest with his hands.

  “I’ll just bet they do,” I muttered. “Poor things have no idea what’s coming.” I still stood awkwardly beside the bed, wondering what to do. I was so tired that the idea of getting just a couple hours of restful sleep was enticing. Yet, how could I sleep with someone who wasn’t Sam?

  “Heven.” The tone in which he said my name called me out of my internal debate. For once, he was serious. “You don’t really have a choice. You need some sleep. You look like shit and tomorrow isn’t going to be easy.”

  I blinked back tears. He was right. If I wanted to be strong enough to spend a day making funeral arrangements for my mother and then go into hell, I needed to be clearheaded.

  “Fine,” I said, slinging back the covers. “But only because I have to.” I climbed in and lay down on my side, putting my back to him.

  He laughed.

  I winced, thinking that those words didn’t come out very nice. I rolled over to face him and he turned his head to look at me. “I didn’t mean it like that. I…”

  He smirked. “Go to sleep, Heven.”

  I closed my eyes but an image of Colin and then my mother flashed in my mind. I opened my eyes again. Riley was staring at me. There was knowledge in his eyes, and I felt again how much he understood. Without a word, he reached his hand over and placed it over mine. He didn’t lace our fingers and I didn’t try to hold his hand. He was simply offering some sort of comfort.

  “I didn’t say thank you for earlier,” I whispered.

  “You don’t need to.”

  I was about to argue, but he sighed and rolled away, putting his back to me. “Go to sleep.”

  I rolled, putting my back to his as well and closed my eyes. Sam…

  Hey, beautiful. His velvet voice filled the hollow spaces inside me.

  I decided to listen to you this one time. I’m not coming until tomorrow.

  When in doubt, listen to Sam.

  I smiled. I wish you were here.

  Can you feel me? he asked.

  The force of his love reached out to me and I grabbed onto it and pushed myself closer. I imagined that we were together and he was holding me. I’ve been waiting for this all day.

  Me too, sweetheart.

  Can we stay like this?

  All night.

  Unfortunately, the night was too short.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sam

  One minute, I was sitting in the cell, relaxed, keeping tight hold of the link I shared with Heven, and the next, he was walking right through the force field, once again acting as if it wasn’t even there.

  I eased away from my link with Heven as quickly as I could (so I didn’t scare her) and watched with open violence as he paraded around. I wanted to kill the bastard for everything he had done but mostly for his most recent activities. The death of Heven’s mother and the loss of the scroll.

  I got slowly to my feet, acting as if I wasn’t alarmed by his sudden appearance, as my fingernails curled into my palms.

  Beelzebub smiled. “Well, well. W
hat do we have here? Tell me how weak living with that amulet has made you?” He held his hands behind his back as he spoke.