Inner Demons

by Amanda Strong

  Poor Mack, I thought. That must have been so hard.

  “You didn’t pass out after that, and with the hunt to figure out who’d changed you, Mack and I decided to keep a low profile.”

  “I bet,” Blake muttered, but to his credit, he didn’t flare up at her.

  “Then, I started getting the letters again,” Kate said nonchalantly, taking us both by surprise.

  “What letters?” I asked.

  “Sammy’s letters,” she said, easily, while I nearly choked on her words.

  Chapter 42

  “I don’t remember writing anything!” I blurted. “And until that night in the theater, I never passed out either. So when did she do it?”

  “At night, when you were asleep,” she explained. “Sammy’s always had more control at night when your subconscious relaxes. So once things settled down a bit, she started writing me again.”

  “Wait a minute. I’m Sammy every night?” I can’t breathe. Am I breathing right now?

  “Oh, not every night. She doesn’t always take control, just some nights when she needs to,” Kate rushed on.

  “That’s disturbing on so many levels,” Blake mumbled, and I realized he was so right. I mean, what did that mean for our future? How could I relax at night knowing someone else got to use my body for a few hours? Oh my gosh! Has she been there some nights when Blake and I were together?

  “I don’t know why you are both freaking out. You’ve known Sammy can possibly show up at any time. So what’s the big deal?”

  “The big deal? You just told me that when I sleep, Sammy gets free rein. It makes me never want to go to bed again.” Suddenly, all the restless nights with Sammy plaguing my dreams made sense. She had been there. Those dreams weren’t so farfetched after all.

  “Like I said, it’s not every night. And besides, Sammy’s not going to hurt you, Sam. When will you believe me on that?”

  I knew Blake wasn’t happy about this new development, but we didn’t have time to waste either. Kate had a lot more to say.

  “Okay, fine. What did the letters say?” I asked. I’ll freak out about my need to become an insomniac later.

  “At first, she just said how sorry she was things hadn’t worked as we had planned. She let me know she was still there and was still working on a way to solve the problem. Then the letters got more interesting. Apparently, Sammy decided it was time she learned more about her sister’s boyfriend, Kory.”

  My mind scrambled to piece together my Kory-Sammy timeline. It all got so confusing. Trying to keep it straight how much I knew versus what Sammy knew at any given time was almost impossible. It would be so much easier if we could just meld our consciousness together.

  “So at this point, Sammy knew Kory was a dragon,” Blake asked. “She also knew that Kory was dating Jocelyn, and that Kory was developing his own serums, right?”

  “Right. She knew about Kory and Jocelyn before the cabin even happened,” Kate said, confirming what I’d seen in my Tonbo-induced ‘vision’.

  “About that, why didn’t she just go to Kory for the serum since Mack kept refusing to do it?” I asked. “I mean, seems like that would have been the easiest thing.”

  “Yeah, maybe she would have, but thank heavens she’d already met me by then,” Kate said.

  “Oh, that’s right. You mean when Mack took Sammy to the island,” I said. “You said before she started writing letters again, so I’m guessing after that visit, you started corresponding through letters, right?”

  “Yes. Looking back, it was foolish. But how else could we do it? We could hardly call each other. That’s too easy to trace. Letters can be hidden.”

  What I wouldn’t give to see those letters now! After this was all over, I’d make Kate show them to me.

  “So Sammy and you plotted the cabin out through letters?” Blake asked.

  “Yes, basically. After the transformation happened, and the letters started up again, I knew Sammy was still there. Being a damsel only seemed to amp her need to fix you, Sam. She became obsessed, which led her down Kory’s path. She wanted to know what he was up to. She was always too curious for her own good, if you ask me. I never wanted to be dragged into Kory’s melodramatic war. Kory’s a spoiled brat. Always wanting to be the center of attention.”

  “Finally, something we can agree on,” Blake muttered.

  “Told you that you might like me in the end,” she teased, and I felt a stab of guilt. Kate did like Blake. She loved him. What must this be like for her now?

  “Kory didn’t know about Sammy’s existence at first, but he found out about her before you did, Sam,” Kate continued. “Jocelyn told him after the Halloween dance, when Kory let her in on the whole Dragon Fae world. Even though Kory knew about her, she kept a low profile when she followed him at night. He never knew she was basically stalking him. There was one night the tables were turned, but that’d been you at Lemon Reservoir, not Sammy. Remember that?”

  “Yes,” I said. “How could I forget? That was when I’d found out I wasn’t the only winged creature out there. I’d tried to catch Kory, but he’d been too fast. And then there was that night he’d come to my room.” And accused Blake of being my kidnapper, I left that part unsaid.

  “Yeah, and in the meantime, while Sammy shadowed Kory, she’d write to me about what she’d discovered,” Kate said. “I read about the last bug’s DNA and what Kory had done to Jaxon. When she wrote me about the plans for the Dragon Defenders, something changed. For the first time since I’d known her, her letters stopped obsessing about fixing you two. Instead, she focused on a much larger problem.”

  Blake’s silence was palpable. He didn’t argue, but seemed to be listening.

  “You mean, Sammy didn’t just join forces with Kory like Jocelyn said she did?” I asked, scared to have hope.

  “Heck, no. She’s no idiot.” Kate hesitated, and then added, “But she did make one big mistake. She trusted Tonbo to do the right thing.”

  Hearing Blake gasp, I knew this was where it would probably get unpleasant between the two of them again. I braced myself for it.

  “But Tonbo didn’t even know about Sammy until recently,” he countered.

  “He’d sure like you to think that. Why do you think Tonbo kept me in a holding cell with no visitation rights, while Mack was free to go, huh?” She grunted. “Since Mack wouldn’t tell Tonbo about her existence when she was trying to change into a damsel, she asked me to do it. It was a bit tricky, seeing how I couldn’t admit I’d been the one to change Samantha in the cabin.”

  “When was this?” Blake asked, his tone sharp.

  “Before you took Sam to the island to meet Tonbo. Before you left to hunt down Jaxon,” Kate firmly answered. “Sammy asked me to tell Tonbo everything. She wanted you to know who you were really hunting, Blake. She thought he would warn you.”

  Never mind we were getting close to the Outskirts, Blake suddenly ditched the camo.

  “I need to see your face, Kate,” he commanded when we stopped abruptly to stare at him. “If you’re going to tell me that Tonbo knew full well I went after my own brother, I need to know you’re not lying.” His chest was heaving.

  I felt Kate’s inner struggle. We were getting close. What happened if an Ancient found us out? Finally, with an exhale, she appeared.

  “Fine,” she relented. “Look me in the eyes when I tell you this, Blake. I went to Tonbo. I told him what I was about to tell him sounded crazy, but that it was true. Blake’s girlfriend, Samantha, had an alternate personality. Started way back from the freak drowning accident she had when she was young. I told him Samantha’s split personality had reached out to me since I worked with Tonbo and was Blake’s friend, wanting me to warn everyone about Kory’s real plans.”

  “You didn’t tell him about the cabin? How convenient for you,” Blake said darkly.

  “The only reason I didn’t then was because I knew I’d be imprisoned. And Sammy needed me to be her hands. She needed me to finish what w
e’d started.”

  “I’m surprised he bought it at all. I mean, how would Sam even know who you were, Kate? She’d never even heard about you until Kory’s making up a bunch of lies about what happened between us.”

  “Um, that’s not entirely true,” I slowly said. Blake shot me a glance. “Your sister Anna told me about Kate, at least that she was your girlfriend before.” I felt my face flush. It felt horribly awkward to be the one to point out their obvious history.

  “What?” he blurted, and then shook his head. “Either way, why did Sammy reach out to someone she didn’t really know? Without telling Tonbo about your history together, Kate, it seems like a weak story, at best.”

  She shrugged. “You know, at the time when Tonbo shoved it under the rug and pretended he didn’t believe a word I was saying, I’d be inclined to agree with you.”

  “There’s one thing I don’t understand,” I interrupted. “It would have been a lot more believable if all this had come from Mack. I mean, he knew about Sammy for years. He never told Tonbo about her at all? Why didn’t she just reach out to Mack? Confided in him? Or…” My stomach sickened. “Maybe she did. Maybe Mack has known about this all along too.”

  “No,” Kate said, her voice absolute, when Blake stiffened. “Sammy didn’t want to hurt Mack anymore. When she realized the treatment hadn’t worked and saw what the whole cabin thing had done to him, she knew she’d made a mistake.”

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “She told me in her early letters. She didn’t want Mack knowing she was writing me at all. She didn’t want to involve him anymore. She felt he needed his friends to trust him again. The less he knew, the better, in the end.”

  “Maybe because she feared Mack would have the gall to stop her this time,” Blake said.

  “Or maybe because she really did love him, Blake.” Kate frowned at him. “You’d be surprised what people are willing to do for love.”

  Another awkward pause.

  I cleared my throat. “Okay, so we don’t have much time. Why don’t we just skip to what matters. You told Tonbo, he may or may not have believed you, but then what? I came to the island with Blake and Tonbo’s theater happens. Please, please tell me you know what Sammy did during that time.”

  Kate’s lips twitched to the side. “I do know. Question is—are you ready to find out?”

  Chapter 43

  “Stop stalling, Kate. Just spit it out,” Blake demanded, clearly as irritated as I felt.

  “When Sammy took over in the theater,” Kate said, looking at me and ignoring Blake, “Tonbo either knew or realized then what was really happening. He told you he’d had you brought to your room to rest, Sam, but what he didn’t tell you was he came to see you soon after. Only you were Sammy, so you don’t remember.”

  Thankfully, Blake didn’t interrupt, so she continued. “Sammy again told Tonbo of Kory’s plans, pleading with him to keep you from killing your own brother, Blake.” She glanced over at him. “But he wouldn’t budge, accused her of making it all up. He thought there was no way it was really Jaxon, and even if it were, that there was nothing to be done but to kill him. Said it was too late for Jaxon.”

  Blake’s frown deepened, but he still didn’t stop her.

  Kate sighed and rubbed her forehead. “That’s when Sammy spilled the beans and told Tonbo there might be a way another way of dealing with Kory’s Defenders. She’d found something that could help them control their urges. She needed time to make sure it worked right. Time she didn’t have sharing her body with you.”

  It felt funny hearing Kate put it that way. Suddenly, I felt bad for Sammy. Although, to be fair to myself, I had no idea about any of this. Heck, I didn’t even know she existed at this point.

  “Tonbo became adamant that under no circumstances was Sammy to experiment on the bugs. He felt the results could only make things worse,”

  “A valid argument,” Blake commented in an even tone. “So what happened? Obviously, Tonbo and Sammy didn’t see eye to eye.”

  “Nope. So Sammy did the only thing she could do. She pretended to faint.”

  “Oh,” I said. “So Tonbo would think it was me coming back. Right?”

  “Exactly. Tonbo got you back in your bed and left the room fast. As soon as he was gone, Sammy took off for the ancients.”

  “What about the letter she wrote and left for Tonbo?” I asked.

  Her eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”

  Luckily for me, when I transformed back into myself from Jocelyn, my same clothes came too. I pulled the folded-up piece of paper from my pocket.

  “Tonbo said this note was left from… er… me. But if what you said is true, Sammy wouldn’t have left a note at all for Tonbo saying she was leaving.”

  “Let me see that,” she said, holding out her hand.

  I hesitated and gave it over. For some funny reason, I didn’t want to part with it.

  “Sammy didn’t write this,” she said after a glance. “I’d recognize her handwriting anywhere.”

  “Then who did?” I asked, taking the letter back from her.

  She shrugged. “Who knows… maybe Tonbo did after he discovered she was gone. To cover his tracks.”

  Blake frowned at Kate. “You said Sammy went to see the ancients next. Why?”

  “In all their heated discussion, Tonbo had mentioned a few of the ancients who had been there during the bugs’ terror. He had been using them to prove his point, saying, ‘Just ask Alek or Otto if a bug is worth saving!’ Well, Sammy decided if Tonbo wasn’t going to help her, maybe they would. It was a huge risk, but she did it anyway.”

  “So that’s how Otto had Jaxon’s plans in his office? Sammy had shown them what Kory was up to?” I asked, trying to piece it all together. “Why would they agree to help her? I mean, they are pretty loyal to Tonbo. And the bugs’ had killed their friends and family long ago too,” I said, remembering how Galina had said not just Tonbo’s family was lost that day.

  “Good point,” Kate said, “But Sammy knew a few things from her own research that maybe Tonbo hadn’t shared with everyone, including the ancients. Since she knew Otto and Alek, with a few other key scientists, had helped Tonbo develop the original Dragon Fae serum, she thought it was worth a shot to at least present them with the facts.”

  “What facts?” Blake asked, his eyes narrowing. “I find it amazing that Sammy can find out things that no one has known for a hundred years. I mean, she must have an amazing search bar on her computer. Oh wait… she shares her computer with Sam. And come to think of it, most of her days are shared with Sam’s consciousness.”

  “You can make all the snarky remarks you want, Blake. I’m not making any of this up. Just stop me now if it’s not at least answering some of your questions.”

  He grimaced but didn’t say anything. Clearly, he was going to let her finish as he promised me, and then we’d see where the chips fell.

  “Okay, then. Where was I? Oh, yeah. The ancients. Man, are they a mess if I’ve ever seen one. Good luck governing them, Master Blake.” Kate laid the title on thick.

  Annoyed with how slow Kate was going about this, I squinted at the horizon. There was something out there, far in the distance. Were those Outskirts? Were we that close already?

  Crap! Kate has so much to tell us. Like what we’re going to do to stop all this! All we’d really learned was that Sammy thought Tonbo was a ruthless killer who saw no good in the Defenders’ lives, Sammy supposedly had some cure up her sleeve after all, Tonbo may have lied about knowing about Sammy, which put the whole, I need to speak with Sammy, into a new light, and Tonbo might have been the one who was keeping Jaxon from getting better.

  That last thought sickened me. If that proved to be true, I didn’t know if I could ever forgive Tonbo.

  “Kate,” I said in a sharp voice. “We are getting close. You need to speed up this explanation!”

  Kate glanced ahead and spied what I saw. “Okay. So long story short,” s
he said quickly, “Sammy went to the ancients. She pleaded with them to understand that just because something is different, or maybe doesn’t fit the mold, doesn’t mean it’s a monster. She got them to see that even the bugs—a byproduct of science gone wrong—still had lives worth saving.”

  “Wow,” Blake said, clapping his hands like Kate had just given a speech. “You know, this all sounds wonderful. Too bad it’s not real life. The super soldiers were stone-cold killers. I should know. I killed the last one, remember? There was no humanity left in it. I can barely see humanity left in my own brother! He was a good husband, the most devoted, loving dad I’ve ever seen. A doctor, for crying out loud—dedicated to saving people! Now, I barely recognize what’s left of him. So sorry if I don’t buy the whole, let’s save the bugs because they are still people speech.”

  Hearing Blake’s torn words, I felt how deep his pain really ran. His love for his brother was the only thing keeping him from finishing him off.

  “The bugs Tonbo developed for the Germans long ago aren’t so different from you and me, Blake. They were given the same dragonfly DNA, but Tonbo added lots of testosterone and adrenaline. Enough that it would have killed any normal man. But with the dragonfly DNA, it created huge, out-of-control dragons, or bugs, as everyone calls them. I always hated that term. Seems so juvenile.”

  “Kate,” I snapped. “Who cares what they’re called! For us being in such a hurry, you’d think you’d explain what we are about to do!”

  She frowned at me, slowing in her flight. “But that’s just what I’m doing! You have to understand why and what Sammy did. The history of this is important. Or Blake is never going to go along with what we have to do now.”

  Chapter 44

  “Just tell us,” Blake practically growled out. “I haven’t liked a word you’ve said so far anyway.”