The Shadow Stealer

by Melissa Giorgio

  As I watched the standoff, barely breathing, one single thought kept racing through my head: Why don’t I remember this?

  “Not her, please, not her,” Mom said desperately. She took a small step forward and the demon tensed, tightening its hold on little Gabi. Her cries increased in volume, her face all scrunched up as giant tears rolled down her red cheeks. “We made a deal, demon, you can’t go back on it—”

  “I never said I wasn’t going to help.” The demon’s conversational tone was the complete opposite of Mom’s. “But I also never said I would do it freely.”

  “A price?” Mom asked, the relief plain on her face. “Fine. Whatever you want from me, take it. Just leave her alone!”

  “Actually…” The demon cocked its head sideways. “I rather like this one. So young, so pure. I could do so much with her.”

  Mom rushed forward. “Don’t you dare—”

  “Not so hasty.” The demon tightened its embrace, and Mom stumbled to a halt. “You are no longer the one in control, Master. Right now, I hold all the power, and you will listen to me.” It made a noise of disgust, deep in its throat. “For thousands of years, we have been at your beck and call, but today, you will listen to my request.”

  “What do you want?” Mom whispered in a broken voice. Her eyes never strayed from my younger self, and her hands were curled into shaking fists. She was barely restraining herself from darting forward to grab little Gabi, but the talon slicing into the tender skin of her daughter’s neck kept her from acting.

  “You have a son who is dying, but can be saved by my hands, and a daughter who is alive, but can die by my hands. The question is: Which child do you want to save?”

  “N-No!” She clapped a hand over her mouth and shook her head rapidly. “No, please, no—”

  “Pleading with a spirit, how far you’ve fallen.” It smiled cruelly, revealing two lines of crooked, yellow teeth. “Oh, I’m sorry, what is it you humans call us again? ‘Demons?’” It spat on the ground. “So disrespectful. I have always believed you should be put in your place by us. If I have to do it one pathetic human at a time, then so be it.” The demon shook little Gabi, lifting her up so her feet dangled above the ground. She made a pathetic noise, a cross between a sob and a hiccup. “Make your choice, Master!”

  “I can’t!” Tears spilled from Mom’s eyes. “I can’t choose one or the other—take me instead!” Mom fell to her knees and crawled forward. “Please, spare my children and take me instead!”

  “Mommy!” little Gabi screamed.

  “Please!”

  The demon snorted. “Your sacrifice is noble, but it is not one of your choices. You will either let me have this girl and save your son, or let your son die while this girl goes free.”

  Mom’s head snapped up. “‘Have’ her? What do you mean by that? You won’t kill her?”

  A spark of triumph flashed in the demon’s eyes. It had won, and it knew it. “No. She’s much more valuable alive. Like I said, I could do so much with her. But she needs to live.”

  “Then…” Mom swallowed hard. “Then do it. Save my son. Please.”

  I couldn’t help the loud gasp that escaped my lips. If I wasn’t an invisible guest to this horror show, I would have rushed forward, grabbed Mom by the shoulders, and shook her, demanding to know what she was doing.

  She sacrificed me, I thought numbly. She used me to save Philip. But—how? What did the demon do to me?

  I had an idea, but I waited for it to explain.

  The demon started laughing, a low chuckle that quickly grew in volume, until it was practically screaming with glee. At the same time, a muted, yellow light engulfed both it and my younger self. Little Gabi had stopped screaming; she lay motionless in the demon’s arms, her eyes shut, and I wondered if she’d fainted.

  Mom remained on the ground, watching the scene play out before her. She was still crying, and one hand clutched at her throat, like she was horrified at the words that had spilled up and out of her, telling the demon it could have her daughter.

  The light died away, and the demon dropped my younger self to the ground. Mom was there in a flash, scooping little Gabi up and carrying her away from the demon. I followed closely, watching as Mom lay her down on the ground and checked her pulse, even though the demon had said she would live. “What did you do to her?” Mom asked.

  The demon studied Mom with a bored expression on its skeletal face. “She’s been… What do you humans call it? Demon-touched?”

  Mom pulled my younger self into her arms, as if that would save her from what had already been done. I narrowed my eyes, wishing again that I was actually part of this conversation. “You cursed her.” Her voice was flat, monotone, but her expression was full of rage. She had her back to the demon, so it couldn’t see the range of emotions playing across her face.

  “I wouldn’t call it a curse.” The demon tapped its chin with a long talon. “It’s a gift. Your daughter has been infused with my powers. She’ll be able to heal.”

  The world spun, and I placed a hand on the wall for support.

  “And then what?” Mom demanded. “What happens when she heals? You appear from your realm to destroy her?”

  “Nothing nearly as dramatic. If anything, I am fair. I will allow her to use my powers freely—if she can survive them, that is. But the more she uses them, the more she becomes mine, until—” It mimicked grabbing something in the air, squeezing its fist tightly to emphasize its point. “Her body becomes mine to control. In a human body, you pesky sorcerers will no longer be able to summon me as you please. I will finally be in control of myself. Just think of what I’ll be able to do to your pathetic race then.”

  “Why?” Mom asked. “Why do it like this? Why not just inhabit her body now?”

  The demon smirked. “Because I want to see you suffer. Like I’ve suffered. You sacrificed your daughter for your son, and I want you to spend the rest of your life regretting your mistake. You will pay for your arrogance, human. This is what happens when you call forth spirits. There is always a price, always a consequence. Today, it is your daughter.”

  “No.” Whirling around, she pointed a finger at the demon, letting it see the anger on her face. “You won’t have her. Do you hear me? I won’t let you. She will never heal; she will never let you in. You won’t touch my child!”

  The demon smiled again. “I will consider that a challenge, my master.” After a sarcastic bow in Mom’s direction, shadows began rising from the ground, cloaking the demon in a writhing, black mass. “And now, I must fulfill my end of the deal. Your son awaits.” The shadow contracted, like a black hole, until it vanished completely, leaving Mom and my younger self alone.

  Turning back to little Gabi, Mom pulled her into her arms, sobbing. “What did I do? Oh, Gabi, what did I do?”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  I can’t breathe—

  I can’t breathe—

  I can’t breathe—

  “Gabi!”

  Someone was shaking me, frantically, shouting my name until my eyes snapped open. A very familiar pair of green eyes hovered inches from my face, dark with worry. “Gabi!” Rafe repeated, his hands tightening their grip on my shoulders.

  What was I doing on the floor? I remembered sitting in my chair, Mom saying she would show us what happened, but now— Now I was sprawled ungracefully on the carpeted floor, and I swore there was a little bit of drool running down the side of my face. I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand and struggled into a sitting position as the same thought ran through my head over and over again:

  I was cursed.

  By a demon.

  Nina had been wrong, and that should have relieved me, but instead I was heavy with dread. I didn’t have demon blood in me, but instead I was demon-touched. Cursed. A ticking time bomb, like we’d originally thought. How many more times could I heal before that demon came for me?

  No, not me. My body. It would use my body to do unspeakable things. What would happen to
me? Would it just shove me to the side, let me watch what was going on like a passenger?

  Something told me it wouldn’t be that painless. That demon would want to run the show by itself, and to do so, it needed me gone.

  As in, dead.

  “What happened?” Rafe asked, his voice tight with fear.

  “You didn’t see it?”

  “No. Only you and Phil must have seen whatever it was your mom did—she did something and you went into this sort of trance. Scared the hell out of me, especially when you toppled out of your chair. I’ve never seen magic like that before. None of us have.” He brushed the hair out of my face and I saw his hand was shaking. “It only lasted a few minutes, but it was horrible. I’m still scared.”

  “Rafe, it was awful,” I whispered. “I—” My voice broke and I shook my head. How could I tell him what I’d just seen?

  “Here, come on, let’s get you up and into a chair.” He gently helped me to my feet, pulling out my chair and never letting go of my arm as I slowly sat down. I massaged my temple. My head was pounding, right behind my eyes, my stomach hurt, and there was a sour taste in my mouth. I took a hesitant sip of soda, and when the liquid didn’t come right back up, I drank some more. Rafe remained standing, his hand a comforting weight on my shoulder.

  Next to me, Philip was clutching his head, his face pale and drawn while Kain rested a hand on his arm and spoke to him in a low murmur. Only then did I realize what Rafe had said. The only ones who’d seen Mom’s… vision were me and my brother. Who happened to be highly sensitive to magic.

  Did Mom know that? She could have warned us at first, at least. Still sitting across the table from us, she was leaning back in her chair, staring at the ceiling with a broken look on her face. I quickly averted my gaze. I was angry with her for what she’d done to both of us, but it was hard to stay angry when she looked like that.

  I scooted my chair closer to Philip’s. “Are you okay?”

  Philip laughed bitterly. “Oh, I’m great. I love finding out your life was destroyed just so I could live.”

  “What are you talking about?” Rafe asked. “Gabi, what did you see—”

  “She made a deal with a goddamn demon.” My brother pointed a finger at Mom. His face was still pale, but two red spots had blossomed on his cheeks.

  The four who hadn’t seen the vision stared at Philip in horror. Kain was the first to speak, addressing Mom while his eyes never left his boyfriend’s face. “I’m assuming that’s how Philip made his miraculous recovery when he was twelve?” Now he turned to Mom. “You sold Gabiella’s soul to a demon in exchange for Philip’s life?”

  Swearing sharply, Rafe whirled on Mom. I grabbed his arm before he could say or do anything. “Wait, Rafe!” As confused and broken and hurt as I was, I didn’t want him to fight Mom.

  “Gabi—” His green eyes were full of pain as they searched my face.

  “Just let her explain,” I said softly. “Please.”

  He gestured for Mom to speak.

  “I didn’t bring you here to beg for your forgiveness, because I know I don’t deserve it,” Mom said. “My entire life has been full of mistakes. I left Philip as a baby because I didn’t think I was ready to be a mother, but I regretted that mistake ever since. When I received word from my Silver Moon contacts that he was dying, I panicked. I’d taught myself how to summon demons from my aunt’s books.” Mom paused, noticing our stupefied faces. “There was a reason she was exiled from the family. She practiced all sorts of magic that Silver Moon hunters consider taboo.”

  “Like the spell you just cast on Gabiella and Philip,” Kain said. “I’ve never heard of such a spell before.”

  Mom nodded, rubbing her arms as if she were cold. “And a number of other things. Aunt Kate never crossed the line, though. She never brought a demon into this world. Even though I learned how, I never expected I would need to. I may have refused to become a hunter, but that didn’t mean I liked demons.” She clutched the front of her shirt, right over her heart. “I knew what would happen to me if I summoned one, but I didn’t care. I would do anything to save my son. Pay any price.”

  “But you didn’t,” Philip said. “Gabi paid the price instead. You should have let me die!”

  “Please,” Rafe whispered. He was truly frightened, I realized, and I wanted to throw my arms around him and tell him everything would be okay, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t lie to him like that. “Please just tell me what happened.”

  “Gabi was supposed to be in the house, sleeping. Just like her father and sister. I put wards up around the shed, barriers to deter a regular human from entering, but I should have known my daughter would be able to walk past them easily. Without me even realizing, she entered the shed and broke the chalk line in the summoning circle.” Mom buried her face in her hands. “The demon saw its chance and attacked. I didn’t know what to do—I thought I was about to watch it rip my daughter to shreds. So when it said it wanted to make a deal—a deal that would keep Gabi alive—I agreed.”

  “And let me guess,” Evan said. “It gave Gabi a little gift to use?” He wiggled his fingers for emphasis.

  Alexandra frowned. “But that doesn’t make any sense. It gave Gabi the ability to heal? Why that and not, I don’t know, make her a carrier for demon spawn?”

  “Oh my god,” I said, horrified. “Are you freaking kidding me? They can actually do that?”

  “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “But it sounds like you got an awesome deal out of it, you know? Why would the demon want to help you?”

  “Because it’s playing with her,” Philip said. “The demon made a gamble. It gave her that ability, and if Gabi uses it too much, the demon will return to claim her, body and soul.”

  “What?” Rafe’s grip on my shoulder tightened. “That’s not true, is it?”

  I dipped my head. I couldn’t say the words, because speaking them out loud made them true, and I desperately did not want them to be true.

  “She’s already healed three times,” Rafe said desperately. “Me, Evan, and Alex. How many more times before the demon comes for her?” When Mom didn’t answer, he shouted, “How many?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter.”

  “Of course it matters!”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Mom said loudly, speaking over Rafe, “because I put a seal on her powers. She won’t be able to heal again. Ever.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  I felt like I was going to be sick. Trembling, I stood and leaned into Rafe, and he wrapped his left arm around me, pulling me closely to his side. “Never?” I whispered. I wasn’t sure why that made me so… unhappy. I knew what would happen if I healed again. Hell, it could happen the very next time. But at least with my ability, I could help my friends. Without it, what good was I?

  It was like a part of me had been cut off, taken without my say, and I didn’t like it one bit. Mom had already done so much to me. Did she have any right to do this too, without my permission?

  “Yes,” Mom said in answer to my question. “That was that spell I cast on you, when you went to help Kain.”

  With a nauseous roll of my stomach, I remembered that fierce electric shock that had struck me. That was when she’d sealed my powers? It seemed so…anticlimactic. Maybe I watched too many movies, but I almost expected a large ritual involving human sacrifices in order to block a demon.

  “And that’s it?” Rafe sounded dubious, and I had to agree. It was way too good to be true. “She’ll never heal again? No matter what?”

  “Never. I’ve been working on that spell for years. I hoped I would never need to use it, but after I heard whispers of a Soul Healer, I knew what had happened.”

  “If you knew, why didn’t you put the seal on her two months ago?” Each word Philip spoke was as sharp as a dagger’s blade. “If we hadn’t shown up today, in the right place at the right time, would you ever have put the seal on her? Or would you have let the demon take her?”


  I expected Mom to protest. To say she would have shown up at my door, sooner, rather than later, to fix the mess she made. Instead, she averted her gaze when she noticed me staring at her, and my stomach dropped.

  She’d been too afraid to come see me.

  “You would have rather let the demon come and get me than see me again?” I asked, my voice cracking. Rafe and Philip both reached for me, and I allowed them to take my hands. Their presence filled me with strength, and I let seven years of words spill out of me, fast and furious. “You knew I was healing—you’ve known since December, and you never once thought that maybe you should come find me, Mom? To explain what’s going on with me? I’ve been scared out of my mind since I healed Rafe, and all this time you’ve had the answers I needed!” Tears splashed down my cheeks. “Phil’s right. If we hadn’t seen you today, if we hadn’t forced your hand, you would have continued to hide in your shining office building like a coward!”

  Mom flinched, but she didn’t try to deny my accusations.

  “You ruined our lives, Mom.” I choked on a sob, forcing it down. I needed to get these words out, or I might never be able to. “And I’m not talking about the demon part, either. I’m talking about how you left us. You destroyed us. Seven years, and nothing. Not even a damn phone call!”

  “I know that. Gabi, I know that.” Even though my friends surrounded me, it was like Mom was only speaking to me. Her brown eyes locked with mine, pleading with me to listen to her. “I’ve made so many mistakes, but starting today I’m going to fix everything, I swear it.”

  Fix everything, as if it were that simple. As if she could go into the past and erase everything she’d done to us.

  My head throbbed, and my heart hurt. It was too much to take in, and I couldn’t do this right now. I couldn’t keep sitting across from her, pretending to eat my sandwich while she told me about all the mistakes she’d made.

  I needed time to think, time to work through this, and I couldn’t do that if she kept staring at me with such a broken expression on her face.