Inner Demons

by Amanda Strong

  He’s the only thing that matters to me. How did I ever lose sight of that? I should never have insisted on going on this crazy, hair-brained scheme of mine.

  “What’s wrong with him?” I asked, my voice shaking as my eyes welled up. “Why isn’t he waking up?”

  Kalepe glanced over at Blake, and then to me. He seemed to consider his answer. Finally, he said, “He’s been drugged. Kory wants him out of the way, not dead. We aren’t the bad guys here.”

  Relief whooshed through me as I quickly said “And neither are we, Kalepe! We don’t want to hurt you, or the other Defenders. We just want to make sure,” I paused, weighing my words, “you aren’t being led by someone who can’t be trusted.”

  “Kory can be trusted,” Kalepe growled back at me. “He’s our creator. He takes good care of us.”

  “Why didn’t he tell you about Jaxon, then?” I asked. “Did you know you aren’t the first ones?”

  Kalepe remained silent, rubbing his jaw with his clawed hand. It seemed strange to converse with him while he looked so inhuman.

  “I heard what Blake said, at the beach, about his brother. I’m sure Kory did what he thought was right. He’s merciful and kind.”

  “Merciful? Tricking someone into killing their own brother is not merciful! Kalepe, you don’t know Kory like I do… like Blake does! He lies. He manipulates people into doing what he wants. He—”

  “Enough!” he roared back at me, his black eyes hardening. “I won’t let you speak of him in such a way!”

  I scooted back, away from the bars, startled by his eruption. “It’s the truth,” I said flatly. “Sorry if the truth hurts. Kory’s not what he seems. He’s ruthless. The fact that we’re in cages because we don’t agree with what he’s doing shows how insane he is. What’s he going to do to the rest of the world? Huh? Going to torture them too? Put them in cages if they don’t want to transform into dragons and damsels?”

  Kalepe, to my surprise, didn’t argue, but seemed to be listening.

  “Look, you’re not a bad guy. None of you are. You signed up to be Dragon Defenders. Defenders of the right. You thought you’d be the super heroes of the world. I’m telling you right now, Kory has different plans for you.”

  “You say all this, yet you are the one who pretended to be someone else. You have been the deceptive one since you arrived on our island. Why should I listen to you? Kory’s never lied or tricked any of us.”

  I shrugged. “I guess you can’t know for certain. Not yet, anyway. But you can’t tell me something about all this doesn’t feel off to you. I can see it in your eyes, Kalepe.”

  He rocked back on his heels, his large, black eyes narrowing. “Tell me then, if Kory is as wicked as you say he is, then why did you sign up to help him?”

  I snorted. “That wasn’t me.”

  “It was Sammy, right? She’s still a part of you.”

  “No.” I rose to my feet, grabbing the bars that separated us. “She’s not. She’s done things behind my back my entire life. I never even knew she existed until just months ago. She’s the reason I’m even here… that I’m part of this crazy world.” “Then you have her to thank,” he evenly said. “She’s as much a part of you as this Defender form is a part of me. I’ve come to accept it. Embrace what it has to offer. I think you should do the same, Samantha.”

  I huffed, unable to respond, not sure if I was more shocked by Kalepe turning into my therapist, or the fact his advice might have some merit to it.

  “I’ll leave you now,” Kalepe said, turning to go.

  “Wait, aren’t you going to torture Sammy out of me like Kory asked?” I said a bit sarcastically. If I was honest, deep down, there was a twisted part of me that actually wanted him to try. If Sammy’s so dang smart, like everyone seems to think she is, maybe she can see a way out of this. I wasn’t really sure how Sammy would play the cards if given the whole deck, but seeing Blake’s still form next to me, I felt certain she’d do a better job than I had. At this point, who cares whose bloody side she’s on? Maybe, just maybe, she’s on both our sides.

  Kalepe hesitated, frowning. “No,” he said. “Torturing you so Kory can get some questions answered does feel off to me.”

  Shocked, I stared at Kalepe’s retreating monstrous form. No doubt in my mind now. These… well, not the ones right next to me… but the Defenders given the extra DNA are different. They have a conscience. They can be reasoned with. And, I thought with elation, glancing over at Blake, that means there’s finally hope for Jaxon!

  Chapter 37

  “Sam!” a voice hissed in the darkness.

  I stirred, rubbing my eyes. My shoulder and hip ached from the hard floor I’d been sleeping on. This was my second night in here. Slowly sitting up, I glanced around, but the room was too black to make anything out. After spending the entire day before waiting for one of the howling beasts to finally break free and tear me to shreds, I decided Kory’s idea of scaring Sammy out of me was simply to leave me here. Surrounded by vicious bugs and an unconscious Blake.

  Trying to muffle out the awful bug noises, I’d wrapped my arms around my head and apparently fallen asleep. Now, straining to make anything out in the lightless room, I wondered if I’d only dreamt of someone calling my name. With only eerie silence greeting me, I weighed out my options. Either those bugs finally crashed after tormenting me all day, or they aren’t in here anymore.

  At the last thought, I clutched at the bars and whispered, “Blake.”

  “Sam? Is that you?” he immediately responded.

  “Yes, it’s me!” I practically shouted back in my excitement. “You’re awake, finally!”

  “Are you okay?” we both asked each other at the same time.

  As soon as we’d both established that we were both unharmed, Blake asked, “How long have I been out?”

  “Since last night. I was freaking out; I thought you’d never wake up!”

  “No kidding. Wonder what they knocked me out with… Where are we anyway?”

  “You don’t remember anything?”

  “No. They injected me with something as soon as we left the beach. I’d been prepared for a butt-whipping, not to wake up two days later in some kind of a cage.”

  “Oh. Well, you got the cage part right. Here, reach through the bars.” I extended my hand out and was elated to feel his fingers grasping for me in the dark. We grabbed one another’s hands.

  “We are locked in with…” I said, letting my voice drop. In all my excitement to discover Blake awake, I’d forgotten about the fact the Defenders might be listening in right now. “The bugs Kory hasn’t given Sammy’s… or… my blood to.”

  “I don’t understand. What do you mean the ones Kory hasn’t injected?”

  Realizing I had a lot to explain, I rushed into what had happened, trying to fill him in with every detail I could. From the difference between the unchanged Defenders and Kalepe, to how the ancients were here and Kate was not. When he asked what went wrong with my cover, I hated admitting that the Defenders had figured it out and told Kory, who then tried to torture Sammy out of me.

  “I’m going to kill him,” Blake growled in the dark.

  “Maybe Kory’s right. Sammy should be here, not me,” I admitted, giving into the feeling of defeat. Our present predicament did seem pretty dismal.

  “What on earth are you talking about, Sam?” The anger behind his words was hard to miss.

  “Blake, look at us. We’re in cages. Kory’s psychotic. I don’t know; maybe Sammy can find a way out of here.”

  “Sammy wouldn’t help any of us if she were here. She’d probably go off and develop a new serum, leaving us with a thousand new problems to solve. She doesn’t care about you, Sam. She’s just as psycho as Kory.”

  Blake’s words felt like he’d reached across the bars and slapped me. Gasping, I shrunk back, pulling my hand away. Logically, I knew he was probably right, but Kalepe’s words had stirred up the desire to trust Sammy all over again. Was it so wron
g I still wanted her to be the good guy?

  “Sam, what happened?” he asked, not understanding my actions.

  “Nothing,” I said, trying to rein in the sudden anger flooding me. Ironic, since just yesterday, I’d decided nothing mattered more to me than Blake, including Sammy. Frustrated with myself, I took a deep breath and went to try again.

  “Sorry,” he said before I could get a word out. “I wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings. You know I’m not talking about you, Sam, right? Sammy is different than you.”

  I swallowed back the desire to repeat what Kalepe had said to me. Surrendering myself to her was not the answer. Besides, last I checked, bugs weren’t exactly sages of wisdom.

  “I know, Blake. Sorry I got upset. I’m just so confused right now. Nothing makes sense. Like where is Kate in all this? Kory made it sound like she’s never been involved at all. And,” I added, “the ancients acted really weird when Kory found out they’d seen Sammy.”

  “Yeah, maybe they weren’t as happy to comply as Kory thought,” Blake whispered. “Think Sammy really went to see them about healing the both of you?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. But one thing I do know from being here, Sammy’s blood made all the difference in these bugs. Kalepe isn’t the same, Blake. Kory told him to basically torture me to get Sammy to come out, and he refused.”

  Blake let out a low whistle. “Really?” he asked.

  “Really. Which makes me wonder if Kory got mad at him since I haven’t seen him since he brought me here. Other Defenders came to bring us food.”

  “Wait, there’s food in here?” Blake croaked. “Why didn’t you start with that?”

  I laughed, realizing how ravenous he must be. He’d been unconscious for almost two full days. I could hear him rummaging around his little cell.

  “There should be a tin bowl, near the front of the cage,” I offered, just as the sound of metal ricocheting to the floor sounded.

  “Crap,” he muttered. “What the hell, I’m starving.”

  Poor guy. He’s probably licking the spilled taro and yams off the floor.

  “So you know what this means, Blake, right?” I asked, hearing the sound of him licking his fingers.

  “Mm?” he hummed back at me as I heard the sound of the bowl scraping against the floor. “Just trying to get some of this back into the bowl. I don’t even want to think about how disgusting this floor is,” he muttered.

  I grinned, wishing I could see him, but sure he’d be embarrassed if I could. “It means,” I continued, “that we can do the same thing for Jaxon. He can be in control again.” His rummaging stopped. “I’ve seen it, Blake. Kalepe isn’t the same. The Defenders down by the beach, the ones who’ve brought the food, they aren’t the same.”

  “Sam.” There was something defeated in his tone. “Jaxon has had your blood already. Remember? And it hasn’t helped.”

  “Then there’s something more to it. We just aren’t seeing the bigger picture yet. I’m telling you there has to be a way for Jaxon to behave like these Defenders do.”

  “These Defenders,” Blake spat the word out, “aren’t as innocent and wonderful as you think, Sam. They follow Kory.”

  “Not all of them do,” I retorted.

  “Okay, so maybe one or two don’t, but most of them follow Kory with blind devotion. They could be made to do anything. Which is why…” He stopped short, and I waited. “They have to be destroyed.”

  “What? No! No way, Blake.”

  “Sam, I know it sounds horrible, but it’s the truth.”

  “No. They can be reasoned with. They’re still people! They just wanted to do the right thing. Be soldiers to help keep order. You can’t just kill them. It’d be genocide!”

  “You’re sounding like you believe Kory’s crap, Sam.”

  “Not even close. Kory, on the other hand, you can have. He’s the one pulling the strings here, Blake. Don’t destroy the puppets, kill the puppeteer.” Even as I said it, I knew my analogy sounded ridiculous.

  “Kill the puppeteer?” he repeated, and then chuckled softly. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Okay, so say we do off Kory, you think that will solve everything?”

  “Uh… well, no. But it’d make me feel a lot better.”

  Blake’s laugh deepened, and then he sighed. “Me too.”

  We both sat there for a moment, perhaps not ready to argue with each other again. I was still so relieved he was alive. I wished I could throw myself in his arms, instead of hackle him about what we should do about Kory and his bug army.

  Killing the Defenders was wrong. That much I was certain of. What drove me bonkers was that I couldn’t shake the feeling the solution to this was somewhere in the back of my mind, niggling at me. Tickling my conscience, begging me to listen.

  Sammy, if that’s you, you better just show up, because I’m pretty much out of ideas.

  A little shocked at my own willingness to let her in, I cleared my throat. “Well, I guess you and I can argue for the rest of our lives, however short they may be, about what’s best to do with the Defenders. Because we can’t do a darn thing about it stuck in here.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean…” Blake’s voice dropped to where I could barely hear him. “It’s not by accident we’re in here. I’ve got a plan.”

  “You do?” I wished I could see his face, gauge if he was being serious or just trying to make me feel better.

  “Yes. Did you think I’d really sit around and wait for you to come back after you left with Kory?”

  I stared at the blackness between us, frustrated the room had no windows. “Um, I guess I did. You really have a plan?”

  “Of course I do. I’m seriously offended you think the Irukas could catch me that easily.”

  Hearing the cockiness in Blake’s voice, I couldn’t help but laugh. Maybe he’s telling the truth! Maybe all hope isn’t lost! “Okay, okay. Just tell me what’s going on. How are we getting out of here?”

  “We’re not,” he said.

  Chapter 38

  “Ok… that doesn’t sound like much of a plan to me,” I said, frowning.

  “Well, not yet, anyway. We need to sit tight for a bit longer… let things play out. Perhaps things already have. Either way, we have to wait and see.”

  “Blake, you’ve totally lost me. What are we waiting for? Is Mack coming to get us out?”

  “Yes. Once the Irukas are done.”

  “Irukas? Aren’t they the ones who captured you in the first place?”

  “I let them get me.”

  “Okay, so you let them get you. Either way, aren’t they on Kory’s side?”

  “Not all of them.”

  I let out a whoosh of air, ready to explode if Blake didn’t stop giving me cryptic answers.

  He must have sensed my frustration because he said, “Alright, let me start at the beginning. Get you up to speed.”

  “Thank you. That would be nice,” I grumbled back at him.

  “So like I said, I didn’t just sit on my thumbs after you made your grand exit with Kory. I followed your scent all the way to Tonbo’s Islands. I knew you didn’t stop there, but I decided I needed Mack. He’s an amazing tracker.”

  “What about Jocelyn?” I asked, interrupting.

  “That was my other reason for stopping. I figured leaving her with Tonbo might give her a fresh perspective on this whole thing.”

  “Good idea. Okay, so you got with Mack and just followed me here?”

  “Well, not right away. First, I wanted to know what Mack had gotten out of Jaxon while we’d been gone.”

  “Oh,” I said, my stomach tightening with nerves. “Did he get anything?”

  Blake exhaled. “Yes. Some we’d already guessed on our own. I guess the bug being so upset helped Jaxon remember more. Anyway, he told Mack that when he’d captured Sammy, she had dropped a bag, which he’d gone back to retrieve while Sammy was unconscious, like
we’d thought. He said he found an unmarked vial of blood in it, which he’d then, like an idiot, straight up injected himself with when he’d got back to his cave. He didn’t run any tests on it, didn’t even know whose blood it was. Jaxon said the bug was obsessed with it, so there was no stopping him. He said nothing felt different from it. He didn’t notice any new or special abilities. So then, when you woke up, he decided to get blood directly from you. Which I’m sure you remember all too well.”

  “So why did Jaxon ask me later what’d I done to him? He must have started feeling differently.”

  “You’re right, he did. After he’d begun treatment at Tonbo’s facility, he started feeling this insane need to see you. And it wasn’t just because he craved you like before.” Blake’s tone dropped lower, and I knew this was hard for him to talk about. “He said it felt like…”

  “Like what?”

  “Like he had to protect you.”

  “Protect me from what? Him? Maybe Jaxon’s winning after all.”

  “I can only hope that’s what it means, but Jaxon says he feels the need the strongest when he’s the bug, not himself. I guess the bug in him is furious for sampling your blood in the first place. He’s convinced it’s changing him somehow, and the bug doesn’t want to be changed… not like that anyway.”

  “If he’s so worried about changing, what’s he doing sampling my blood in the first place? Not just once, but twice!” I shook my head, even though Blake couldn’t see me. “Blake, I know you’re scared to have hope, but it sounds like Jaxon might be becoming more like the Defenders after all. He’s gaining more control over the bug in him.”