by L. C. Mawson
Damon shook once more as he lowered his top. “It’s fine. He was here and... It’s fine.”
Freya shook her head. “That doesn’t look fine to me. I... I’m sorry for leaving you. I should have stayed. I should have stopped him.”
“No,” Damon said firmly. “Freya, I promise you, if you had stayed, he would have hurt you. He is always looking for new ways to hurt me and hurting you to get me would have been the newest of all. And the most hurtful. I could not bear it if you were ever hurt because of me.”
Freya didn’t know what to say. She wanted to give him a hug, but she was afraid she would hurt him, given his wound.
Damon reached into his pocket, bringing out a small silver charm in the shape of the sword, attached to a black piece of string.
“Here,” Damon said, passing her the charm. “My uncle gave me this. It’s supposed to protect you. But I think you need it more than me right now.”
“Damon, I can’t-”
“Just think of it as a loan. Just until tomorrow. Then you can give it back to me at school.”
Freya wanted to protest further, but she didn’t, deciding that would probably be rude. Instead, she took the charm, tying the string around her wrist like a bracelet.
“See you at school tomorrow,” Damon said firmly. “Promise me that I will see you there. And that you will get this back to me.”
Freya couldn’t help but remember what Gregor had told her, about not making promises she couldn’t keep. And yet, she found herself saying, “I promise,” before saying, “I should go.”
Chapter Fourteen
By the time Freya headed back outside, it was getting dark.
At first, she simply did her best to get as far away from Damon’s as possible. But then she tried to think of how to get the Demon to come to her.
Of course, the Demon coming to her was the last thing she actually wanted, but she didn’t exactly have a choice. If she waited too long, Amber’s spell would wear off, and Freya would lose her combat skills. She needed to attack him as early as possible if she had any hope of stopping him while she still had a chance.
She figured that Ryan must now be home with Margaret, putting him back under the protection spell. The only other person she cared about enough for the Demon to conceivably target would be Damon. But then, she didn’t even know if the Demon had any idea that the two of them had been close. And even if he had, she doubted that Evelyn would leave her Human partner without protections. Especially not after Freya had been to his apartment.
After a little while, she figured the best way to draw him out would be to go back to the car park where she had stabbed him to the eye. He was probably still hunting her, and she figured that the memory of her besting him might be enough to draw him out.
She shifted to the car park to find it empty, but she didn’t have to wait long before the Demon appeared before her.
She readied her fists, and coated them in flame, ready to punch him as soon as she had slowed him down by manipulating the water in his body once more.
But before she had a chance to push back at the water within him, he crackled with dark light. He thrust his hand forward, and black electricity jumped forth, hitting Freya square in the chest.
Freya felt a sudden force against her, and the next thing she knew she was on her back.
It took a few more seconds for any kind of cognizance to return, which was just enough time for the Demon to advance upon her, his weapon brandished.
Freya found that she couldn’t move, her limbs locked in place by the crackling Energy that still surged through her, keeping her muscles seized up.
Amber’s memories told her that the Demon had attacked her with pure Energy. That would have been a difficult feat for even the most powerful Demons as it was a direct drain on their supply.
Freya had a fleeting hope that that would mean that he could no longer access his magic, levelling the playing field if she could just get up.
But then his hand went to a runed stone on his belt. A source stone, Amber’s memories told her. Demon higher-ups sometimes charged them with their own Energy and gave them to their underlings, to make sure that they could complete the tasks they were given.
The light of the glowing rune died as the Demon touched his hand to it, draining the Energy. He would be just as powerful as before he had hit Freya.
He smirked as he returned his attention to her. He was taking his time, she realised. He knew that she wasn’t going to get up. Her fingers twitched, as movement returned to them, but it was slow. The Demon had plenty of time before she was a real threat again.
If she could just regain movement in her arm, she might be able to deflect his sword. But only if she had one of her own.
She was out of options, her mind informed her, hit with the sudden realisation that she was in fact going to die.
As the Demon moved to bring his sword down on her neck, frantically twitching fingers brushed up against Damon’s charm. She clutched it tightly in her fist, deciding that, if she was going to die, she would do so thinking of her friend.
She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow to hit, but her attention shifted to the charm in her hand, the tiny silver sword expanding.
She quickly yanked up her arm, and the new, full-sized sword within her hand, to knock away the Demon’s weapon.
Freya managed to roll to her feet as she knocked him away, staggering upright.
She brought up the sword, and the Demon advanced with his own. Thankfully, Amber’s training came easy to her, meaning she was no longer the fumbling girl she had been with Damon just the day before.
She grinned as she got her first strike in, cutting his shoulder. But she quickly realised that she was getting too far ahead of herself as he brought his own sword down to her leg at exactly the right angle to stop her from dodging the blow.
Freya cried out, her leg crumpling beneath her. She barely managed to stay upright on her one good leg, and she was now only holding the sword with one hand, as the other clutched at her side.
The Demon kicked her at the wound, and her sword clattered from her grip as she cried out once more, turning back into a charm as it hit the ground.
She gasped, desperately trying to numb her pain. She could tell that the Demon was feeding from it.
Though, if he could feed from it, she thought to herself as her frustration grew at her inability to completely numb the now excruciating pain, why couldn’t she?
She abandoned all attempts to numb the pain, instead letting it crash over her in a way that almost made her vision blackout.
She crackled with Energy, and she thrust out both of her hands, a torrent of black electricity hitting the Demon square in the chest, knocking him down.
He didn’t get back up.
She hobbled over to him, her step slow as she kept waiting for him to get back up.
He didn’t.
As she approached, she realised that he was still drawing breath, though was barely managing it, and he had a large hole carved straight through his chest.
“I won’t be the only one,” the Demon managed, wheezing in a way that Freya figured might have been an attempt to laugh.
“What do you mean?” she demanded, desperate to know why this Demon had been attacking her.
“He’ll keep sending us.”
Freya frowned, figuring that he meant whoever had given him the source stone. “Who? Who would want me dead? Why?”
The Demon spoke once more though this time it was pained. “Sins of the parent...”
Before Freya could demand to know what he meant by that, he gave one last shuddering breath, before he collapsed to the ground, his body limp.
Lifeless eyes gazed back up at her, accusingly, and Freya backed away, suddenly nauseous.
“It’s never easy.”
Freya looked up to see a man standing over the Demon. He was about her height, with the same paper white skin and jet-black hair, though his eyes were black like tar pits. He
wore a black suit with a white tie.
“Killing, I mean,” the man continued, failing to look even slightly disturbed by the topic. “I hear it does get easier over time, but the first time is always the worst.”
“I don’t want to get used to it,” Freya said, her mind unable to ask any of the questions it had through her daze.
“I think few people ever do. But the important thing is that you get used to it anyway. After all, he was right. He will not be the only one.”
“How do you know that? Who are you?”
“I am Death,” the man said simply. “I merely came to retrieve the Demon, but it seemed like you needed someone to tell you it’s okay. There is no other way this could have ended, Freya. Believe me when I say it was you or him.”
Freya nodded numbly as she looked around. “Where’s Amber?”
Death looked apologetic. “I’m afraid that Amber tends to leave whenever I’m about. She is too afraid that I will take her to where she truly belongs.”
“I still need her,” Freya told him, almost pleadingly.
Death nodded. “Which is why I won’t take her. Don’t worry, Freya. I promise, you have nothing to fear from me.”
“Said Death,” Freya muttered.
Death grinned. “Sarcasm! That is an excellent sign that you are already starting to recover.”
Freya rolled her eyes, though she quickly sobered. “Do you know who sent him?” she asked, figuring that he might have knowledge beyond hers.
Death nodded. “But it is not my place to tell you.”
“What do you mean by that? Why can’t you tell me?”
“We all have our parts to play. And, as much as I want to, I cannot change mine. All I can say is that you are unique in this world, Freya. You have a choice between Light and Dark, and you were raised among humans. It gives you a unique perspective, but it will also leave you alone.”
Freya nodded, having been able to put as much together herself. “Why won’t Amber tell me any of this?”
“Because she’s desperate for a different outcome this time,” he said with a shrug. “We all are.”
He disappeared before Freya had a chance to ask who “we” were.
Freya looked over the Demon once more, the armour around his shoulder gleaming under the streetlight.
Freya quickly made her way over to where she had dropped Damon’s charm, making sure she didn’t forget it. Once she had it, however, she realised that, as soon as she returned it, she would be without a weapon.
She glanced back over to the Demon, and his weapon lying next to him.
Well, it wasn’t as if he was using in anymore...
She quickly grabbed the sword, as well as his shoulder armour, doing her best not to cringe as she went. She needed to think practically, she told herself, trying to suppress her revulsion at taking the dead man’s things.
When the next Demon came, she had to be prepared...
FREYA SHIFTED BACK to her bedroom, more than a little exhausted.
She dissipated the glamour that was sleeping in her bed and immediately felt as if a weight lifted from her shoulders. She hadn’t realised how much of a continuous drain maintaining the glamour had been for her.
She took the sword and piece of armour, walking over to the old wooden box that Margaret had put in her room.
Freya placed the sword and armour inside before grabbing a pen and quickly drawing a rune on the side to keep her foster parents from investigating the contents.
Freya opened her bedroom door, hoping that Margaret hasn’t investigated the glamour too closely.
“I’m just going to hop in the shower,” she called down the stairs.
“Alright,” Margaret called back, her calm tone of voice telling Freya that she hadn’t noticed anything wrong. “Are you feeling any better?”
“Yeah, I think I might be on the mend.”
Freya hurried into the bathroom with a set of pyjamas and clean underwear, locking the door behind her.
She let out a sigh of relief once she was under the water, scrubbing away the blood and dirt covering her. After half an hour of scrubbing, however, she still couldn’t get the feel of dried blood from her skin, even though her eyes told her that it was long gone.
She kept turning up the heat of the shower, hoping that hot water would help it to wash away. After a while, the water became scalding, and the pain cut through the illusion.
Once Freya was out of the shower, she quickly dried herself and got dressed. She looked up at the mirror, to check over the wounds on her face, only to jump back as she saw something red in the corner of her eye.
After a moment, she realised that it just been strawberry shower gel on the side of the shower, but her heart rate refused to lower.
“It’s okay,” Amber said, appearing once more. “He really is gone for good. You don’t have to worry about him.”
Freya nodded, though the Demon’s words about more coming for her refused to leave her mind.
“You did well today,” Amber told her, as Freya left the bathroom and headed back to her bed, quickly burrowing down into the sheets.
“I mean it,” Amber said. “I’m proud of you, Freya.”
Freya didn’t have the energy to respond before her heavy eyelids closed and sleep claimed her.
Chapter Fifteen
Freya awoke sporadically throughout the night, in cold sweats. She once again found herself thankful she didn’t dream.
As soon as the first signs of morning light started to leak through Freya’s window, she got up, deciding there was no use in trying to get any more sleep.
“I’m sorry,” Amber said, as she materialised once Freya had finished getting dressed. “About not warning you, I mean. You were right, you deserved to know. I should have thought to train you. I just... I remember what that was like, and I didn’t want you making the same mistakes I did.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Freya eventually said. “Just train me. Make sure this can never happen again.”
Amber nodded. “I will, but it will not be easy.”
“I was under no illusions it would be. But it has to be better than dying.”
“Alright. We’ll start on combat magic as soon as you finish recovering.”
Freya nodded, looking to the little silver charm that she had placed on her desk. It had to be magic, to grow into the sword as it did. It certainly hadn’t been Freya’s doing.
“He might just be Sensitive,” Amber told her, seemingly figuring out where Freya’s thoughts were. “Sensitives are usually from families that have some small amount of magic blood. If that is true for Damon, it wouldn’t be surprising he has some magical relics in his family.”
Freya nodded, though she hoped Amber was wrong. The thought that Damon might be like her, that she might have someone she could talk to about this, was more than an enticing idea.
“Regardless,” Amber continued, “you will be able to find out for yourself the next time you see him. After all, you can sense for magic now.”
Freya nodded. The ability to use her magical senses was one of the few things she still retained from Amber’s memories, along with the ability to shift and to use her flames.
Though, what hadn’t come from Amber’s memories was her ability to use Dark Energy.
“When I killed the Demon,” Freya said, “I used the same magic as him, didn’t I? How did I have access to that kind of magic?”
“It was Dark Energy, yes, but that’s not so unusual. If I remember correctly, your great-great-great-grandmother was half Demon.”
“Why didn’t you tell me I had Demon blood?”
“Because it’s so far back that it hardly matters. Everyone has a bit of Demon blood. I don’t think you even would have been able to tap into the Dark Energy if you hadn’t been so scared and hurt. Really, Freya, it’s nothing to worry about.
“Now, I really must be getting back to my body. After all, we don’t want anyone pulling the plug on her. Not least because it mi
ght reveal I’ve been keeping her alive with a magical amulet when I’m not there. Not too sure how I would explain that...”
Freya nodded, realising Amber wasn’t going to tell her anything more. “Alright, I guess I’ll see you at school.”
“Yes, though probably not today. It might take me a little while to get back on my feet. I can still come to visit you like this though.”
Freya nodded once more, and Amber left.
FREYA ARRIVED AT SCHOOL to see Damon waiting for her at the front gate as always.
“Freya, are you alright? You look worse than yesterday.”
Freya suppressed a sigh. She had used a glamour to cover her wounds, so no one would question them, but it seemed Damon saw right through it.
She opened up her magical senses, hoping to find some spark of magic coming from Damon.
But there was nothing but the slightest flicker. Just enough to make him Sensitive, but not truly magic.
Not like her.
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “It looks worse than it is.”
She pulled his charm from her pocket, passing it back to him.
“Thank you,” she told him. “For lending this to me, I mean. It meant a lot...”
She wished she could say more, that she could tell him how he had saved her life, but she kept her mouth shut. She had to keep this secret.
There was nothing she wished for more than that they didn’t have to keep secrets from each other.
But Damon smiled back, and she couldn’t help but feel he seemed to know exactly what she had meant, though she didn’t know how.
“It was no problem,” he assured her, his fingers brushing up against hers as he took the charm back, sending a thrill up her arm.
Before she could say or do anything, however, the morning bell rang, and Damon stepped away.
She smiled, despite that. After all, things were good. She had a home and a friend and no one was trying to kill her right that second.
She would take it.
Epilogue
Lord Uther stood atop the roof of a church, glamoured so that none of the Humans below could see him.