Demon's Daughter: A Cursed Book

by Amy Braun

  Dro stopped crying for a second to read my eyes, so different from her own bright blue ones. They were filled with hope. She believed me. I even believed myself.

  “But we have to run,” I told her, “keep running and never ever look back.”

  She nodded. “Never look back…”

  Dro breathed out a sleepy sigh and turned on the mattress, pulling me out of the memory. She blinked her eyes steadily, staring at the roof and looking around until she saw me. For a moment, she just stared, like she couldn’t believe I was here. Dro didn’t hesitate or seem to care about her injuries. Before I could tell her to lie back down, she pushed herself up and threw her arms around my neck.

  “I thought you were dead,” she whispered.

  I hugged her tighter, scared that I would lose her again if I let go. “I could say the same thing about you,” I replied. Guilt ached in my heart as I remembered how Isabel and Lucifer had tortured her. How I hadn’t–

  “Stop thinking about it, Connie,” Dro breathed. “Stop it.”

  “Sorry,” I said, remembering that she could sense my emotions. She knew me too well. “How are you feeling?”

  Dro pushed back from me, looking down at her left side. A bandage was wrapped around the area where her rib had been torn out. There wasn’t any blood on the cloth, but Sephiel and Rorikel hadn’t been able to regrow her rib. It was probably going to cause her pain for the rest of her life. She slowly sat up on the mattress.

  “I can feel the piece of me that’s missing,” she said quietly.

  I almost broke down right then. I had to clench my fists and dig my nails into my palm and focus on the pain to stop.

  “I’m so sorry, Dro,” I said, too ashamed to look at her. “I should have stayed with you. This wouldn’t have happened if I’d been in the room, but I…”

  “Don’t blame yourself for this. Please, big sister. You couldn’t have known what would happen. None of us did. But I knew you would be looking for me. I knew you’d find me. That was what I kept telling myself when…”

  Dro stopped and bit her lip. I noticed the tears in her eyes, just as I noticed how she was starting to shake. I scooted onto the bed and pulled her into my arms. She clutched my body and cried for a couple minutes. I joined her.

  I didn’t say anything to try and make her feel better. There was nothing I could say. I wasn’t going to lie to my little sister and tell her everything was going to be okay.

  Everything was far from okay.

  Once we had calmed down, Dro leaned back and looked at me. “He did it, didn’t he?” she asked. “He opened both the Gates.”

  I wiped my eyes, looking at her seriously. “Yeah.”

  Dro slumped and shivered. “I felt it,” she said, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. “I was barely awake, but I still felt it. That power that rushed through me, the Gates opening,” her eyes shone with fear. “Lucifer in my head, promising to find me again and take me home…”

  I reached out and took one of her hands. “He’s not taking you anywhere, Dro. We’ll figure out how to stop him.”

  She lifted her head. “You don’t get it. I know I’m his daughter. I can feel the connection in our blood. The angel in me might be able to hold him back for a bit, but he’s too strong for me, Constance. If he wants to find me, he will.”

  I didn’t try and tell her she was wrong. I squeezed her hand. “I won’t let him take you, Dro. Never again. We’ve beaten the odds before. We can beat them this time.”

  But she was already shaking her head. “You don’t understand how strong he is. He’ll hurt you to get to me, and I’ll give in to make him stop. We can’t win against him, Connie–”

  I took her other hand. “Andromeda,” I said, holding my fear down as best as I could. “Please don’t give up. I need you to be strong, because if you can’t, then neither can I.”

  Deep down, I think Dro always knew how afraid I was of the things and the people hunting us. But I don’t think she ever understood how intense that fear was for me. I was going to have to overcome it if we were going to live through this, if we were going to fight back. I wouldn’t be able to do that if she gave up. Dro had always been my anchor. Without her, I drifted out to sea.

  Dro started crying in earnest when she saw how scared I was, but that I still refused to give up. Once she saw that in me, she wouldn’t be able to give up either. She couldn’t stand to lose me anymore than I could lose her.

  I’m not the only one who needs an anchor.

  I pulled Dro close again and held her as she continued to cry. She was the only one of her kind, but I let her know that she wasn’t alone. That she would never be alone, even if neither of us knew what we were going to do.

  I once said I’d burn the world to a cinder to keep Dro safe.

  Now I was wondering just how true that promise was going to become.

  THE END

  Acknowledgments

  The Cursed story has been with me for years. At first it was just an idea that I thought would be fun. Then it became an obsession. I worked on it every second I had available to me, losing myself in mythology and research, developing characters that I think are memorable, and action scenes that had even me on the edge of my seat. Now that the first novel has finally reached completion, I feel like a mother watching her baby take its first steps. Nervous, but undeniably proud that it’s come this far.

  This accomplishment wouldn’t have been possible without the love and encouragement I’ve gotten from my friends and family. There’s nothing quite as wonderful as seeing the smiles on their faces when you tell them what you’ve achieved.

  Huge thank you to Deranged Doctor Designs for the absolutely beautiful cover. You knocked it out of the park.

  Big thanks to my editor Eden Royce for working with me and pointing out important details that were embarrassing to miss. Advice to new authors: Always hire an editor. You never know when you’re going to accidently name a location after a salad dressing brand.

  Tons of thanks to the lovely ladies of the Writing GIAM community, as well as the alpha and beta readers who helped me nitpick Demon’s Daughter.

  Last but not least, thank you reader for giving my story a chance. Considering this series is my figurative child, I can’t tell you how much it means to know that someone, somewhere, picked it up and enjoyed it. Thank you for giving this story– and this indie author– a chance. I hope to be thanking you again soon.

  About The Author

  Amy is a Canadian urban fantasy and horror author. Her work revolves around monsters, magic, mythology, and mayhem. She started writing in her early teens, and never stopped. She loves building unique worlds filled with fun characters and intense action. She has been featured on various author blogs and publishing websites, is an active member of the Writing GIAM community, participates in NaNoWriMo, and is the recipient of April Moon Books Editor Award for “author voice, world-building and general bad-assery.” When she isn’t writing, she’s reading, watching movies, taking photos, gaming, and struggling with chocoholism and ice cream addiction.

  Website: literarybraun.blogspot.ca

  Twitter: @amybraunauthor

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/amybraunauthor