Inner Demons

by Amanda Strong

  Not sure what else to do, I ditched the camo. I held my hand out to her and said, “Jocelyn, it’s okay! It’s just me.”

  Now I was sure Jocelyn’s eyes were about to pop out of her head. I’d never seen the whites of her eyes before. Maybe she didn’t know as much as we’d thought.

  Blake dropped the camo too, and Jocelyn honed in on her captor, her eyes narrowing. As her body jerked about in Blake’s arms, she grumbled against his hand.

  “Blake,” I said. “Let her go.”

  “She’s going to scream,” he warned.

  When Jocelyn growled into his fingers, I sighed. “You’re right. She might. We can’t talk here. We’re going to have to take her somewhere private.”

  Jocelyn shook her head at us, her wailed ‘no’ heavily muffled by Blake’s fingers. I sickened. This wasn’t how I wanted this to go down, with my sister scared out of her mind.

  “Jocelyn, we’re not going to hurt you, I swear. I just need to ask you some questions. I’m not sure how much you knew about this…” I paused, turning so my wings were visible. Jocelyn didn’t seem as taken with the wings as I’d thought she’d be. Maybe she’s seen these before. “But I have to know what you know.”

  Jocelyn eyed me for a moment, her expression hard to read with half her face covered. I bit my lip, debating the best course of action. There was no turning back now since she’d seen me as a damsel. I had no guarantee she wouldn’t blab this to my parents the minute we left. I’m committed now. Better get this over with.

  “It’ll be dark soon. We’ll have to just risk no one seeing us fly her out of here,” I said to Blake, realizing we should have come ten minutes later so the night could give us a way to hide my sister.

  At my statement, Jocelyn stopped wiggling and said something into Blake’s fingers. It didn’t sound like a protest this time. I met Blake’s gaze, both of us debating if we should let her speak.

  “Jocelyn, I’m sorry. Blake and I aren’t trying to scare you,” I said softly, moving closer to her. “I know you and Sammy were close. Trusted one another, confided in each other. Did Sammy ever tell you about us,” I pointed at Blake and myself, “being Dragon Fae?”

  Jocelyn glanced at Blake, and then back at me. After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded her head.

  “Okay, great,” I said, smiling. “That’s a start. So Sammy told you about how she, or we, became a damsel?”

  Again, Jocelyn nodded her head. I hated to see Blake’s fingers still clamped across her mouth, but I wasn’t sure what she’d do if he took them away.

  “So you knew Sammy was the one who orchestrated the abduction and the cabin? That she was the one who changed me? With Kate’s help?” A muffled, “Yes.”

  “Did you always know?” I demanded. How could she keep that from me?

  Immediately, she shook her head.

  Slightly pacified, I asked, “Do you know anything about Kate’s disappearance now?”

  Jocelyn’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t respond.

  “Alright. Well, let’s talk about Kory then,” I said, switching tactics.

  Now Jocelyn’s eyes were slits. If her mouth weren’t covered, I had the feeling her lips would be scowling at me right now.

  “I know you’re dating Kory,” I said, my voice flat. Seeing the way her eyebrows shot up, I added, “Sammy told me. Anyway, I know Kory’s been promising you a shot that makes you not gain weight or even age. Guessing you know now this is what he’s really been peddling, right?” I turned again, letting my wings flutter.

  When Jocelyn didn’t respond, I threw my hands up and growled, “We need answers, Joc. Too many lives are at stake.” I glanced at the window, relieved to see it was finally growing dark. “I think we can risk it now, Blake. Let’s get her out of here.”

  Jocelyn shook her head, muttering something into Blake’s hand. He lifted his fingers ever so slightly and asked, “What was that?”

  “I won’t scream, I swear,” she said, her words rushing out, “You can’t take me. Not tonight.”

  My eyes narrowed at the way she said tonight. “Why? What’s happening tonight?” I asked.

  She bit her lip, Blake’s hand still hovering inches from her mouth. She grimaced. “Nothing. Fine. I’ll talk. I’ll tell you everything I know, but you need to promise me you’ll leave me alone if I do.”

  Blake and I met eyes, and then he turned to look at my sister. “Wish we could promise that, but you’re involved in something a lot bigger than you realize.”

  She scowled. “I know more than you think, Blake,” she spat back at him.

  “Great,” Blake dryly said. “You won’t mind sharing it with us then.”

  She seemed to consider him for a moment before meeting my gaze. “To answer your question, yes, I know what Kory’s serum will do to me, that I’ll be like you, but I didn’t always. Sammy didn’t know either, but she found out through Mack. Of course, she didn’t bother to tell me then.” She frowned. “She decided to keep all of that to herself. I had no idea what really happened at the cabin. I swear, Samantha. It wasn’t until that dance, when I saw your wings, that I knew something was definitely up with you. But Sammy didn’t seem to be around anymore, and the last time we spoke before the cabin, she just kept warning me to be careful around Kory.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because she’s a freaking hypocrite,” Jocelyn muttered. “Warning me that Kory’s serum might not be safe, while planning on taking it herself.”

  I could see how she would see it that way. Sammy had been plotting how to transform herself.

  Jocelyn swatted Blake’s hand away from her face. “Do you mind? I’m not going to scream.”

  Blake relented and gave her a little bit more space. Knowing how fast Blake could move, I wasn’t too worried.

  “If you ask me,” Jocelyn continued, folding her arms, “they’re a lot more alike than she thinks.”

  “Who? Sammy and Kory?” I asked, not liking that idea.

  “Yeah. They both wanted to change, to become more than just human. That’s all that Kory wants too. To improve humanity, make it better.”

  Blake and I exchanged glances. How much Jocelyn knew of Kory’s real designs, we had yet to determine. But this is good. Jocelyn is talking freely with us. For some reason…

  “So if Sammy never showed you what she was, how did you find out?” Blake asked.

  “Oh, I didn’t say she never did, just not then,” Jocelyn admitted. “But it was Kory who showed me. He transformed for me.” A smile tugged at her lips, despite us being there to see it.

  “When?” I asked.

  “It wasn’t long after that Halloween dance you went to. In fact, I’d been the one to bring it up to him. I couldn’t get over how real it looked on you. There was something about it, I just couldn’t let go. And well, one thing led to another with Kory, and then he was transforming before me. Telling me what you both were now. He kept asking me who’d taken you to the cabin. Like I knew then.”

  My mind tried to put the pieces together. I’d gone to the dance. Blake had left for what I’d thought had been California. It’d been during his absence that Kory had stolen away to my bedroom. He had insisted that Blake had been the one to change me, so much so that I’d been scared to death of Blake when he’d returned from Tonbo’s Island. I guess Kory really did suspect Blake.

  “So when did you learn it was really Sammy and Kate, and not me?” Blake asked.

  Jocelyn shifted her weight, her eyes darting to her window. “Sammy told me,” she answered, wringing her hands together. “Now, I’ve answered all of your questions. Will you please go, now?” Her eyes darted to her window again, and a wave of understanding hit me.

  “What’s the rush, Joc?” I asked, forcing a smile. “Worried you might miss something?”

  “No, I’m not worried, just annoyed. As fun as this is, I have other things to do.” She tried to scowl at me, but there was no hiding how pale her complexion had become.

  “Y
ou haven’t answered all our questions,” I said evenly. “Not even close. Like for starters, when’s Kory coming over?”

  Chapter 26

  Blake’s surprise was almost as comical as Jocelyn’s shock. “He’s not,” she stammered, but the sudden blush in her cheeks said otherwise.

  “Oh good, so we can keep talking then,” I insisted, watching my sister squirm under our glares. “So has Kory made good on his promise yet? Are you one of us now?”

  She seemed to be weighing her options. Finally, she shook her head. “No. I’m not like you.” The defeat in her tone was hard to miss.

  Blake tilted his head to the side. “Seems like he would have changed you by now. Wonder what he’s waiting for?”

  She made a face at him. “I had to give him what he needed first. You can’t just change someone without the right DNA.” She said it like we should’ve known this.

  Blake snorted, and I suddenly felt sorry for my sister. It was apparent Kory was stringing her along for some reason. The worst part was that she seemed to genuinely care for the jerk.

  “Jocelyn,” I said, drawing nearer. “If Kory wanted to change you, he would’ve by now. He’s been lying to you. He doesn’t need to make your formula different for it to work.”

  “You’re wrong,” she said, backing up a step. “He warned me you’d try to stop me, to keep this world from me, like you have the right to decide. Kory’s making sure things are just right for me. He doesn’t want me to suffer because,” she hesitated, “because he loves me.”

  “Okay, let’s say Kory does love you,” Blake said evenly. “And who knows, maybe in his own twisted way, he does. What does he mean by the right DNA?”

  Jocelyn sighed, rolling her eyes at us. “Again, he needed a good match for me. So the transition would be smooth and painless.” She glanced at me and said, “He told me yours was extremely painful, and I don’t want that.”

  I scowled. “Since when does Kory know what I felt?”

  Blake’s disbelief matched mine. “So Kory needed your DNA to make your own special serum?”

  Jocelyn’s haughtiness slipped as her eyes darted to the window again. “Not mine,” she said, her lips twitching.

  I frowned. “Then whose?”

  Her eyes shot to the carpet. “Yours,” she admitted.

  “Mine?” I asked, gaping at her even though she refused to meet my gaze. “Kory wants my blood?”

  When she didn’t answer right away, Blake said, “Well, he’s not getting it. Ever.”

  The way Jocelyn shifted her weight didn’t bode well with me. The mysterious padded envelope Sammy had given Jocelyn tugged at my mind. It couldn’t possibly have been that, could it?

  “I think he might already have it,” I said, my stomach falling.

  Jocelyn’s eyes met mine, and she nodded slowly.

  “What? How?” Blake demanded.

  “You said Sammy showed you her wings. Let me guess, back in November, right?” I asked, piecing it all together. The time between passing out in Tonbo’s theater and waking up in Jaxon’s cave. That short time period that had haunted me for months was finally falling into place. I’d left the theater, stopped at the Outskirts, chatted with some ancients, and then gone to see my sister.

  Jocelyn’s eyes went out of focus as she said, “It was the first time I’d seen Sammy since, you know, the kidnapping and all that. She just showed up, started telling me how I should break up with Kory. That the shots he was promising me weren’t what I thought they were. We had a pretty… heated discussion. I mean, who was she to tell me to break up with him? She just disappeared on me. Completely gone. Then she comes barging into my room, demanding I break up with my boyfriend because the shots will change me? Make me like her? I told her Kory was going to make sure it was easy on me, not like how Blake changed you.”

  Jocelyn’s eyes darted to Blake. “That’s when she had the gall to tell me she plotted it out herself! That you had nothing to do with it! How could she tell me not to do something she herself went to great lengths to do? Hypocrite,” she muttered.

  Well, that explains all the hostility I’d been sensing around my sister lately. She’s been mad at Sammy.

  “So you asked Sammy for her DNA after that, and she just gave it to you?” Blake incredulously asked.

  “Well, no, not exactly.” Jocelyn bit her lip. “I knew she wouldn’t do it because she didn’t want me to change. She kept telling me how it’s not what I think. That I would be giving up too much for it. I just kept reminding her—didn’t she just do the same thing? Talking about family, telling me how I’d lose Mom and Dad, Krista, never have children of my own.”

  Jocelyn snorted. “Again. Didn’t she just throw our family away when she changed? Didn’t she decide being a damsel was more important than being my sister?” Hearing the hitch in her voice, I realized how deeply Jocelyn had loved Sammy.

  “You’re right,” I said, my voice somber. “It does seem like she threw it all away, but you aren’t understanding why she did it. She believed it was the only way she and I could have the life we were meant to have. She hoped it would heal us, make us one. I don’t think she ever meant to hurt you.”

  She shook her head at me. “You can keep telling yourself that all you want, but Sammy never cared about anyone else, you included, Samantha. She only looked out for herself.”

  “Why do you think that?” Blake asked when I stiffened.

  “Because all of her fussing about Kory was a ruse to keep me from becoming a damsel. Like I said, she’s a lot more like Kory than she lets on. Just drives me crazy that she acts so high and mighty about it all, when in the end, she wound up in cahoots with him after all.”

  Even though we’d suspected Sammy might be involved in Kory’s schemes, hearing Jocelyn confirm it made my stomach turn.

  I crossed my arms. “If that’s true, why aren’t you mad at Kory too?”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “Because Kory’s the only person I trust anymore.”

  I was temporarily speechless. Her frustration with Sammy was one thing, but why was I getting the brunt end of it too? Blake took a step closer and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Seeing the contempt in her eyes for him, I wondered what horrible lies Kory had filled her head with.

  She threw her hair over her shoulder. “I find it ironic that you both keep acting like I don’t know what’s really happening, like Kory’s keeping things from me, but he’s the only one who’s been honest through it all.”

  Seeing how she kept defending him with almost crazed eyes, I felt like my sister had been brainwashed. This can’t be my sister. It just can’t.

  Trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, I said, “I don’t think you know about everything. If you did, you wouldn’t be saying—”

  Her laugh cut my words off. “You think Kory hasn’t shown me his plans?” She smiled at me, throwing her weight to one hip. “I know about all of it.”

  Neither Blake nor I said a word. Jocelyn’s vanity was proving extremely valuable. If she wants to boast about what she knows, all the better for us.

  “The transformation of the world into Dragon Fae is inevitable,” she said, giving Blake a long look. “Honestly, Kory can’t see why you keep fighting it. It’s the superior race. It’s only a matter of time until it takes over completely, and when it does, there needs to be some order to the chaos that will come. That’s why he’s creating a force that will be able to govern, keep the peace.”

  Hearing my sister rattle off Kory’s propaganda made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Can’t decide if I’m more freaked out she bought it or the fact that Kory just might be delusional enough to believe his own bull crap.

  “So Kory’s told you about his bug army then?” Blake asked, staying focused. I couldn’t seem to say anything; my insides were raging. I wanted to scream at Jocelyn, tell her how stupid she was being. Don’t think of her as your sister right now.

  “It’s not a ‘bug’ army,” she said, scowl
ing at him. “He calls them Dragon Defenders because they fight for what’s right.”

  I felt my own eyes bulge out, an almost hysterical laugh bubbling up, shocked with how blind love had made her.

  “What’s right for who? Kory?” Blake asked. “If it’s his sense of right and wrong that governs our future, I’ll pass.”

  She made a face at him.

  “So where does Kory keep his bugs… or the Dragon Defenders?” he asked, putting emphasis on his last two words.

  “I don’t know, but…” She stopped short, her eyes widening.

  She’s trying not to tell us something. I could sense my sister’s predicament. She wants to cooperate so we’ll leave. Kory must be coming soon. At the same time, I could tell she was fighting herself on how much to divulge. Seeing how anxious her face had become, it dawned on me.

  “But,” I finished, “Kory’s going to show you tonight, right?”

  Her eyes shot the floor, her silence answer enough.

  “So how do you know Sammy and Kory are working together again?” Blake asked, still staying focused on gathering information.

  My mind shot in an entirely new direction, a plan hatching within me. A plan that just might work. Jocelyn’s words cut through my thoughts, though.

  “Kory told me Sammy’s blood, or yours, would be a close enough match,” she said, looking at me. “So I tried to think of how to do it without it seeming strange. Luckily, it wasn’t too long after that when Sammy showed up in my room. When I saw how adamant she was that I not change, I knew she’d never willingly give her sample. Since Kory had already told me about his plans for the future, how we needed something to protect us, I changed my tactics. I told her I needed her blood sample to help make the Defenders stronger.”

  Blake and I glanced at one another.

  “So Kory told you about his plans before he’d sent me on that goose chase to kill my own brother?” Blake asked, his brows gathering.

  For the first time, Jocelyn’s haughtiness faltered. Her bottom lip stuck out a bit as she asked, “What are you talking about?”