Demon Child

by Patti Larsen

  Two visitors in one night were enough, thanks. But the third didn’t give me much of a choice. Sebastian appeared just as Brad left, so near me and so silent that when I turned to go inside I actually cried out in terror.

  My heart rate slowed as I realized who it was. The leader of the Blood Clan DeWinter actually smiled at my reaction.

  “Demon girl,” he said. “You look well.”

  “You too,” I said, rubbing my arms and the goosebumps he gave me. Please tell me he was looking for Mom. I wasn’t sure I could handle another in depth conversation, and knowing Sebastian and his particular dark sense of humor, I’d end up blushing. It was only then I realized he looked better than well. Much better. In fact, he looked fantastic. Mind you, he was always handsome, with his dark hair and eyes and that chiseled jaw. I’d always thought he was handsome from the moment we met. But there was something more about him now, enhanced. He almost seemed to glow with it, though I know normal eyes wouldn’t see what my witch eyes did.

  “Wow,” I said. “What happened to you?”

  His head cocked to the side, deep voice the velvet sound I loved. “Nothing,” he said, though there was a hint of a lie in that one word. The glow around him faded, retreated as if he tightened his grip around it. Within seconds he was back to the yummy Sebastian I first laid eyes on.

  “Apologies,” he said, kissing the back of my hand with a twinkle in his eye. Imagine. “I’ve just fed and must be still under the effects.”

  That wasn’t it. I’d been around vampires my entire life. And while I knew older undead had different reactions to feeding, Sunny was old enough I would have noticed it if she’d started shining like an angel after she ate.

  My mind flickered to Cesard. Sebastian and his blood clan drained the vampire plague from the man’s body. Unlike the docile power animating modern vampires, this was the entity who started it all, a crazed and evil blood plague killing an entire race.

  Should I worry? “You guys happen to notice anything weird after the whole Cesard thing? Any new need to ravage and pillage?”

  He actually laughed. “Why yes, now that you mention it.” Sebastian’s smile grew until he showed fang. “Impertinent child,” he said. “I’m here to see your mother.”

  Mom appeared at the door with a smile of her own. “Welcome,” she said. And looked at me. “Why aren’t you in bed?”

  Sigh. I waved at Sebastian, kissed Mom’s cheek and retreated, while filing away the question I’d asked him for later examination. If anyone would notice a change in the vampires, it would be Mom. She had enough of their magic in her from the stolen power she’d taken back from the Moromonds that if something was up she’d know about it.

  Thoughts of Sebastian and his people didn’t last long. Amazing, really, I was able to sleep. My mind spun from Quaid to Brad and images of myself in a slinky number or a perfect princess dress dancing the night away at prom. I could barely contain the confusion, excitement and sadness turning around and around so fast I cried on my pillow one second and giggled hysterically the next.

  But I must have fallen asleep because I jerked suddenly awake due to a surge of panicked power reaching for me. An image of a man leaning over my sleeping sister drove panic past my weariness and spiked my own magic into action. I reached back to her even as I scrambled out of bed in a rush, pulling the tangled sheets along with me, landing on the floor with a thud as the confining blankets knocked me off balance.

  I couldn’t reach her mind. Meira was so overwhelmed she could only broadcast, not receive.

  I heard a hiss and saw Sassy leap over me, a streak of silver heading for the door. I made it back to my feet and ran for it, jerking it wide and pounding down the hall with Sassy just ahead of me, bursting through into my little sister’s room.

  She sat up in her frilly pink four-poster, sobbing silently, her mental cry for help so loud I staggered. I lurched forward, tumbling onto the bed, grabbing her and hugging her to me, while Sassy pounced into her lap and began roughing up her little cheeks with his very abrasive tongue.

  The internal screaming cut off abruptly as she hugged me back, finally wailing her fear out loud as her tears soaked through the front of my T-shirt. She let me go long enough to hug Sassy, dragging him between us. When her little arms, surprisingly strong for such a tiny girl, wrapped around me again, he squashed against me.

  He didn’t complain. In fact, he started to purr, the vibration of it reaching into my bones.

  It didn’t take long for her to calm down, gulping big breaths of air between hiccups. I extracted myself long enough to retrieve a couple of tissues from the sparkly holder by her bed and wipe the tears from her face. She blew her nose delicately, amber eyes glowing in the near dark of her room. The night-light beside her bed cast enough of a glow I could see her normally red-tinted cheeks, so dark now it was frightening, returning to their natural color. Her cute little horns peeked out of her thick, curly black hair, shining faintly in the low light.

  “Nightmare, Meems?” Meira was only nine, after all. Scary dreams happened.

  She shuddered and cuddled Sassy who rubbed the sides of his face over her chin again and again. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, voice hoarse from crying, looking very tiny and very vulnerable. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

  “It’s okay,” I said, just happy the image I saw wasn’t real.

  “What was it about?” Sassy sat back, golden eyes glowing as much as hers. He obviously missed what she shared with me. In that moment I felt a powerful surge of love for Meira. She chose me to reach for in her moment of terror.

  Then I just felt anxiety. No pressure or anything.

  “There was a man,” Meira whispered to him, her nose almost touching his. His tongue swiped out, catching a tear she missed as he focused on her words. “He wanted me to go somewhere with him, but I didn’t want to go.”

  “Smart,” Sassy growled. “No going with strangers.”

  Usually a comment like that would win him a grin from her, but she shook her head, still serious. “He didn’t feel like a stranger, that’s the thing.”

  I rummaged around inside the memory of the image and understood what she meant. There was something familiar about him, but the view was so distorted by her fear I finally let it go.

  “He felt like someone I know,” Meira said. “But not quite right.” She sighed and sank back into her mountain of fluffy pillows. “Stupid nightmare.”

  I snuggled down next to her, my fingers following hers as we petted Sassy together. He settled on her chest, purring again, amber eyes sliding half closed. There is something incredibly calming and peaceful about a cat’s purr and Sassy’s was no exception. In fact, Meira’s eyes were almost closed too, my own growing heavy, making me wonder if he used demon magic to augment his already soothing rumble.

  I shook myself awake just as my sister drifted back to sleep and eased my arm out from under her shoulders. I carefully tucked her in while Sassy slid down to curl up next to her, his head on her shoulder. I didn’t have to ask him to stay with her.

  Sassy wasn’t going anywhere.

  I kissed my sister goodnight, planted another on the top of Sassy’s head and eased my way out of her room. I left her door partially ajar before retreating down the hall. I noticed Mom’s door was open and ducked my head in. As I thought. Empty. There’s no way she would miss Meira’s outburst if she was home. Which made me wonder what kept her out in the middle of the night. As far as I knew, aside from the Chosen’s unfortunate attack, everything in the family was calm and peaceful.

  For once.

  I climbed back into bed, my worry for Meira making my own problems seem silly. I had to remember to tell my mother about it the next morning.

  But I was tired when the alarm went off, dragging my butt out of bed. By the time I made it downstairs to breakfast I had five seconds to kiss Mom before she was out the door.

  “Please feed your grandmother,” she said and she was gone.

  Gram. Ri
ght. Like I had time to take care of the crazy lady today.

  I winced at my own insensitivity as I made a bowl of oatmeal with extra peanut butter. That crazy lady saved our family, sane and insane. Because of her, I figured out how to beat the Moromonds at their own game. And because of her, we were able to gain valuable information about the creature Cesard who attacked the family. She deserved better from me.

  I slid my magic through the wards on her door so only I could enter or exit. Yes sad, I know. Mom had to keep her locked up. But it was more for her safety than anything. Ethpeal Hayle had the tendency to fire off random magic if offended or hurt. Or if she was in a bad mood. Or a good one. Okay, so Gram didn’t have much control over herself anymore. But Mom was way more worried about her mother getting hurt than if Gram happened to blow up someone’s house.

  Go figure.

  My grandmother sat perched on the end of her bed, looking out her window. My brief jab of guilt and regret for her erased the moment she spun and fixed me with her washed out blue eyes. She cackled and gestured with her hands, urging me forward. I set her tray on her lap and watched with growing disgust as she ignored the spoon I gave her and used both hands to shovel the hot cereal into her mouth.

  I turned to go, not wanting to ruin my own appetite when she spoke.

  “We’re having a visitor.” She cackled around her breakfast.

  That brought me around. “What did you say?”

  She bounced up and down so hard her bowl started to slide. “Visitor!” She was shouting now, bits of oatmeal flying out of her mouth. “You remember! You remember.”

  I did. She tried to warn me once. Before we discovered Jared Runnel, a trusted member of our coven, was really Galleytrot, a black hound of the Wild Hunt, brought to our family by the Moromonds to destroy us. Both Gram and I shared visits from him.

  That made me think of Meira. I couldn’t take her nightmare for granted.

  “Thanks, Gram,” I said. And turned to go again.

  “Sydlynn,” she said, the sound muffled through another mouthful of food. Damn. I hated it when she used my name. It could mean only one thing. I turned and looked at her, knowing what was coming, wishing I had an answer for the question she was going to ask me.

  “Do you have something for me?” She looked so pathetic sitting there in her dirty dressing gown, her white hair floating gently around her pale face in static wisps, covered in oatmeal and peanut butter. Like a little kid who lost the meaning of her life.

  “I’m sorry.” It came out in a choked whisper. I hated that question. She’d been asking me ever since I could remember and I had no idea what she wanted. Mom assumed it was just a memory thing, something from her past, but I knew that wasn’t it.

  Her hopeful face fell and she turned away, hands falling to the tray. I had to leave.

  I couldn’t bear to watch her cry.

  Brilliant start to the day.

  ***

  Chapter Six

  My friends were waiting for me just inside the main school door, as usual, though it only took me a moment to realize Pain wasn’t with them.

  “Feeling better?” Beth’s brown eyes shone with concern. “My mom gets migraines. They’re awful.”

  Right. “Yeah, thanks,” I said, feeling the heat rise to my face as I reinforced the lie. “I’ll be okay.”

  “By the way,” Alison hooked her arm in mine and started leading me to our lockers, “Benjamin says hi.” She winked at me with a smirk.

  I groaned. “Did he bug you guys?”

  Alison shrugged. “Not so much,” she said. “He actually seems nice.”

  “Really smart, too.” Simon grinned at me, pushing his glasses up his narrow nose, skinny shoulders hunched forward under the weight of his overloaded backpack. “Knows a ton about chemistry.”

  Tell me my friends weren’t falling for this guy? That would really, really suck.

  “I don’t like him at all.” I was so shocked by the angry grunt from Blood I stopped in my tracks. Gone was his usual smooth and laid back attitude. Even through the thick black makeup I could tell he was angry about something. I almost asked, but Alison pinched me and drew my attention back to her.

  “We’re going to be late.” She rolled her eyes toward Blood and back to me. Okay, so a conversation for just us. Fair enough. Still, as I rubbed at my arm where it still stung I wished she hadn’t pinched me so hard.

  We went our separate ways to class, my worry about Benjamin and why Blood was in such a bad mood about the guy at the surface of my mind.

  It wasn’t long before I had my own answer without Alison’s help. There in front of my first period class, heads bent together as they talked, were Benjamin and a certain Goth girl I called a friend.

  No wonder Blood was pissed. From the look of the animated conversation they were having, Pain was really into this guy.

  She laughed just as I walked up to them. It was lovely, full of warmth and not too high pitched. It was then I realized I’d never heard her laugh before, let alone seen her with her head thrown back, teeth flashing as she did.

  What the hell was he doing to her?

  Her black-circled eyes met mine and her laughter turned to a gigantic smile.

  “Syd!” She grabbed my hand and held it between her own. “Benjamin was just telling me the funniest story.”

  I scowled at him as he smiled his flashy smile at me. “I bet.”

  Her happiness faded a little. “I invited Benjamin to join us for lunch.” Great, just great. My creep meter climbed another notch as her hands dropped mine and took one of his.

  “Okay.” Not much I could say, really. But her smile came back so I figured it was the right thing, at least in her eyes. I could sit on the end away from him and maybe it would be fine.

  Did he just wink at me? Ickle.

  Even creepier was the fact their eyes were the exact same color of perfect clear blue. It was like looking at a dark angel and a light angel only they were both so freaky all the coolness was lost to pure shudders.

  I slunk into my seat and tried to ignore the two of them. The more I saw, the worse I felt for Blood and myself. This guy was relentless and Pain lapped it up.

  By the time I landed on the bench of our table in the cafeteria, I was in a decidedly pissy mood. Alison tried a few times to talk to me but my occasional grunt wasn’t enough to keep her occupied.

  Which, unfortunately, left her wide open to Benjamin’s influence. How could they miss the mask he wore? He played the lot of them with his charm one second and oddness the next.

  His lack of knowledge about the latest in the media made Alison giggle.

  “I’m sorry,” he said in the proper way he had, “but what is this fascination with what other people are doing?”

  She rolled her eyes at him, toying with her pudding cup. “Because,” she said with heavy sarcasm, “their lives are so much more interesting than ours.”

  “Even though you know who they appear to be is a lie?” His blue eyes tried to connect with mine but I refused to let it happen.

  “Whose isn’t?” Alison shoved aside her plastic spoon and cup. Simon’s eyes lit up behind his glasses. She grinned and shoved it toward him. I shook my head. That kid could eat his own body weight every day and still stay short and scrawny.

  “We missed you at Johnny’s last night, Sydlynn.” Benjamin was talking to me. To me. I wanted to squash him for daring to address me directly even as I struggled with the dislike that would not go away.

  “Migraine,” I muttered.

  “Ah,” he said. “They can be horrid, certainly.”

  His sympathy meant nothing to me. Instead of answering, I tore my sandwich apart rather than eating it, wanting nothing more than to stuff it down his face and maybe let my demon take a shot at his ever-present smile.

  I caught a look at Blood’s scowl and it snapped me out of my own sullenness for a moment. What was wrong with me? Benjamin was just a guy, like us. A little weird, with no friends, who just
wanted a place to belong. And here I was resenting him for it.

  I kicked Blood under the table. His eyes lifted to mine. I’d never seen him so sad and angry all at the same time.

  What came next seemed way worse. Blood stood up, gathered his stuff and went to stand behind Pain. It took her almost a minute to even acknowledge he waited there. A very long, very uncomfortable minute. After all, Benjamin was in the middle of one of his stories and even had Alison laughing.

  When Pain finally looked back at Blood, a flicker of annoyance crossed her face.

  “I’m going out to hang for a bit,” Blood said. “Coming?”

  Pain turned away from him, eyes locking on Benjamin’s. “No thanks,” she said. “I’m busy.”

  My jaw dropped. Even Alison looked shocked. But Pain just leaned forward and took Benjamin’s hand like we weren’t even there. Beth shifted in her seat, blushing and obviously uncomfortable while Simon looked back and forth between Pain and Blood, eyes huge behind his thick lenses.

  “But, we always do on nice days.” My gut twisted for Blood, embarrassed at how pathetic he sounded, how desperate. Alison’s eyes caught mine and dropped a moment later. Everyone fell totally silent.

  Pain actually sighed like he was bothering her or something. I wanted to slap her for that.

  “I said I was busy.” She waved one hand at him over her shoulder in dismissal.

  He stood there for a long time while Pain and Benjamin whispered to each other, giggling despite the growing discomfort at the rest of the table. He wavered on his feet, as though wanting to reach out to her and touch her, say something, anything to make her change her mind.

  I almost sighed in relief when he finally gave up, head hanging, and slunk away.

  That was worse than any bullying I’d ever endured or witnessed. Without caring or even noticing, Pain casually and completely broke her boyfriend’s heart.

  Not her boyfriend anymore, I guessed. Someone new filled that role.

  My anger and resentment flared back to life.

  “I’m out.” I tried not to slam things or make a scene, but I was so pissed at Pain and Benjamin for hurting Blood I barely had the willpower to keep from throwing my stuff at them.