Inner Demons

by Amanda Strong

  Kate frowned. “I was hoping you’d see that Sammy really isn’t the bad guy here.”

  I licked my lips, trying to decide what I should say. Part of me really liked to think Sammy had the master plan, that her motives were really good after all.

  Kate must have taken my silence as a good sign because she shot me a sympathetic smile. “Samantha, maybe one day you’ll get to know Sammy like I have. When this is all over, I’ll show you the letters. Then you’ll see.”

  “I’d like that, actually. Thanks,” I replied honestly, even though Blake didn’t look happy about the idea.

  Kate took a deep breath and faced Blake. “So to answer your question. What we have to do now is get to your brother.”

  “What? Why?” he asked.

  “Because when Sammy went to the ancients, they didn’t just sit around sipping iced tea. They developed a new serum, with Sammy’s… or well, your blood, Sam. Sammy had the theory that if the bugs were given something to help them come together and work as a team for a common goal, their out-of-control desires to hunt and kill could be channeled into something better. With the ancients’ help, she added honeybee DNA.”

  “Yeah, that’s what Alek told me back with Kory,” I told Blake. “So Sammy and I don’t actually have the bee DNA then, she just added it to what she gave Jocelyn?” I asked, hoping I was keeping this all straight.

  “That’s right. Sammy got the serum ready and told the few ancients who had agreed to help that they should try to find where Kory was and join him. Pretend they were on his side, whatever it took to gain his trust. She felt they should be there to alter the Defenders without Kory really knowing. In the meantime, Sammy wanted to test her new serum out on Jaxon. She figured since Jaxon was doomed either way, it couldn’t hurt to try. She knew you were hunting the bug, so she knew she had to move fast. Get to Jaxon before you did,” Kate told Blake as goose bumps shot up and down my arms.

  Blake might not like what Kate had to say, but too much of it was making sense to me. Like puzzle pieces snapping into place.

  “So she flew home to warn Joc about Kory first,” I said.

  “Yes, she’d hoped if she told Jocelyn the entire story, that she’d see why Kory was so evil,” Kate said, nodding.

  “But Jocelyn just felt like Sammy was a hypocrite since she had been the one to change herself in the cabin, not me,” Blake added. “Jocelyn told us about this part.”

  “Oh good, so then you know how she asked Sammy for a sample of her blood. Sammy told her she’d need some time and left. Really, she needed a minute to think. She knew this was the perfect opportunity to get the new DNA serum into Kory’s hands and into the Defenders’ blood, but she’d wanted to test it out first on Jaxon. In the end, she knew she didn’t have much time left. She divided the sample into two vials. One she gave to Jocelyn, and the other to Jaxon.”

  “So that’s why Jaxon said it seemed like she wanted to be caught,” I said. “Sammy did. Only she probably didn’t mean to drop the bag. Lucky for her, Jaxon went back for it.”

  “Actually, I bet she dropped it for that very reason,” Blake said, scratching his chin. The hazy outline of the Outskirts was all too clear now; we’d need to be switching to camo soon.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Sammy,” he said, for the first time with no contempt in his voice, “knew the bug in Jaxon would have been more cautious if she’d had it with her, maybe even tested it out to make sure it wouldn’t hurt him. But since she’d left it behind, almost like she didn’t want him to have it…”

  I laughed. “It only made him want it that much more. No questions asked.”

  Kate cocked an eyebrow at Blake. “Told you Sammy knew what she was doing.”

  “So Sammy gets the new serum into Jaxon’s blood and hopefully Kory’s new army, and then I wake up in the cave. Her job’s done,” I said with a little bit of awe. “All those times I was so close to passing out, Sammy was really trying to come back to tell us what she’d done, so we could finish it,” I said more than asked.

  “Exactly.” Kate grinned at me.

  “Which I’m guessing has to do with Jaxon,” Blake said, his tone surprisingly void of argument. “I’m still not seeing how the bee thing fits in. So you’re telling me he wants to work with other bugs now, or something?”

  Kate didn’t have a chance to respond because something fast and invisible knocked into her, sending her body catapulting backward. Blake swore and shot after Kate’s cartwheeling form. As soon as Kate got herself reoriented, the invisible dragon must have put her in a chokehold. I got a glimpse of her gasping for breath, clutching at something across her neck, before she disappeared.

  Blake yelled over his shoulder, “Sam, camo now!” and then he was gone from view as well. I quickly switched and shot after them. At least, where I hoped they were.

  Why do they always want to fight invisible? It makes it so hard to tell what’s happening! Wouldn’t it be easier to not have to just use scent and sound? I mean, one of the huge benefits to be being part dragonfly is that we have insane vision!

  Remembering how fast Blake could target his prey and attack, it dawned on me. Maybe that was the exact reason they did camo out. Perhaps it leveled the playing field a bit more. Not being able to use super-human sight to stalk prey was the price paid to not have the prey use that same skill in return. Either way, I couldn’t stand not knowing what was going on. All I could hear was grunts, gasps, and a lot of cursing. They were moving too fast for me to tell whose outlines were whose. I so need to work on my sense of smell! All I could make out was Blake’s warm amber scent, Kate’s lilac and spring floral, and something new that was a bit too sweet to be pleasant. Almost like watermelon-flavored candy. How any of that information could help me fight was beyond me.

  From the outlines, it appeared Kate had been freed. I drew closer to her. No one had touched me, but that didn’t mean we weren’t surrounded right now.

  Blake gasped, and then suddenly appeared, looking like he held someone by the neck.

  “You’ve lost, so you might as well show yourself,” he commanded.

  Kate and I both followed suit, dropping our camo.

  When our attacker appeared, it was my turn to gasp. Without her hair in the ever-present tight chignon and thin-rimmed glasses perched on the edge of her nose, I almost didn’t recognize her. When she smiled at me, the way it didn’t reach her eyes had my mind registering that it was really her.

  “Dr. Killian?” I asked.

  Chapter 45

  “Hello, Samantha, or is it Sammy today?” she asked, tilting her head to the side, not seeming bothered by Blake’s chokehold. I halfway expected her to produce a pad of paper at the same time. Not wearing the business apparel, but clad in tight black pants and a black tank top, I couldn’t wrap my brain around what she could possibly have to do with any of this.

  “Wait, you know her, Sam?” Blake asked, his brows knitting together.

  This day could not get any weirder. I threw up my hands in mock surrender. “Yeah, she’s my psychologist!” I gaped at her, refusing to believe she was not only a damsel, but was also here attacking us too. This is impossible!

  Blake’s eyes widened, probably trying to wrap his brain around the implications. He tightened his hold on Dr. Killian. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

  She only gave him her heartless smile.

  “Who cares? Just get rid of her, Blake,” Kate stated, hand on hip.

  “Why are you here?” he repeated, ignoring Kate and restricting her air even more. “Who sent you?”

  She shot him a dirty look, but the way her hands scrambled to free herself gave away how panicked she must have really been feeling.

  “The army isn’t far behind us, Blake. We don’t have time for the doctor,” Kate repeated.

  Dr. Killian struggled to speak with Blake’s tight hold on her throat. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” she managed to hiss out. “For them to follow you bl
indly and not ask questions, but they need to hear my side so they can decide for themselves.”

  “Actually, I’m kind of tired of everyone’s long-winded stories today,” Blake interrupted. “This is your last chance—tell me why you’re here now, attacking us, or I swear I will end this, and it won’t be pretty.”

  “He who controls the army will rule the world,” she gasped out.

  “What?” His hand loosened on her neck, and I saw the color wash back into her face. “What are you talking about?”

  “Why do you think Kate’s obsessed with saving the Defenders? I mean, come on. Don’t tell me you really buy Sammy as the warmhearted savior and Kate the devoted helper to the end? They want the army for themselves!”

  “Shut up!” Kate shouted back at her. “That’s not it at all!”

  “I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head. “Even if what you say is true, why are you here? I mean, my parents were looking for a psychologist… and they just happened to get you? You knew about me being a damsel the entire time I saw you, didn’t you? What was your angle? Huh?”

  Dr. Killian cleared her throat. “I’ve never lied to you, Samantha. Yes, I’m a damsel, but I’m still your psychologist too. It wasn’t hard getting the right people to recommend me to your parents. Your mom was upset about your nightmares. At least, that’s what she thought they were, and since you and Sammy were practically celebrities in the Dragon Fae world, I recognized your dreams for what they really were. Sammy. I even told your mom. I wasn’t trying to keep secrets. She became quite distraught and decided to keep tabs on you more at night. She’s never really trusted Sammy; always felt in her gut that Sammy had something to do with the cabin. Guess she wasn’t that far off, really.”

  Dr. Killian shrugged, and I could only stare. Who knew! My mom was watching out for Sammy to show up again…

  “That’s when your mom discovered Sammy leaving at night. Lucky for you, you have a large tree outside your window, or she would have had a lot more questions.”

  “Argh,” Kate interrupted, grabbing Blake’s arm that wasn’t holding Dr. Killian. “Believe me or don’t, either way, you can’t just trust her! She said herself the importance this army could play. What makes you think she’s not after it for that very reason? If we don’t get to Jaxon now, all of this is for nothing! Even you,” she shot Dr. Killian a withering look, “know no one wins if Tonbo destroys the Defenders.”

  Dr. Killian not countering her statement made me think Kate might be right. I had so many questions I wanted to ask still. Like how did she know we’d be out here right now? Why was she really here? Even with Dr. Killian throwing a monkey wrench into everything, deep down, I still believed Kate. We need to fix Jaxon, and then somehow everything will work out. No idea how, yet.

  I glanced over at Kate and nodded. “You’re right, let’s go.”

  Seeing her look of relief, I switched to camo and immediately took off, not glancing back to see if Blake would follow. Kate was by my side in an instant, her body a mere silhouette against the sky, her camo matching the blueness surrounding us.

  Blake, of course, did follow us, with my psychologists in tow. I was shocked to see that once they’d caught up to us, she’d been willing to switch to camo when Blake did. It would have been easy enough to refuse and us be easily spotted as we passed the Outskirts.

  “Got to make a pit stop before we get to Jaxon,” he informed us as we passed over the last island. “Can’t have the doctor giving us away.”

  Kate and I didn’t object. Even with his hand over her mouth, we could clearly hear her complaints. I guess she’s not too happy about being our prisoner. I was a little shocked on the lack of planning on her part. She attacked us, odds three to one. What did she hope to accomplish? Realizing she had really only targeted Kate, I supposed she’d hoped we would have been a bit more sympathetic to her cause. Which was what again?

  I tucked that question away for later; we were under a time crunch. City was fast approaching, and with the preparations for the arrival of the big bug army, the hope was no one would notice our little groups’ semi-silent entrance.

  Dr. Killian began wailing against Blake’s fingers. Kate mumbled something under her breath. I caught the words, ‘silence her for good.’

  My heart was beating so hard and fast in my chest that I was glad Dr. Killian was causing a fuss. It distracted me from what we were about to do. We entered the island from the southwest side. The beaches here weren’t as sandy as up north. There were more rocks and trees breaking up the oceanfront, and since we didn’t want to march right up the boardwalk in downtown City, it was a great place to sneak in.

  We needed somewhere to stash the noisy doctor first. And, I thought with rising panic, I need Kate to be a bit more specific on what we’re going to do with Jaxon.

  Tonbo’s large storage container was further south of us on the southern tip of the island, Blake informed us as we slipped under some trees. It felt great to have my feet on solid ground again. Long flights were exhausting, even as a damsel.

  “So,” Kate said in hushed tones. “Where should we leave the doc?”

  “At my place,” Blake stated.

  My head whipped in his direction. “Your what?”

  He chuckled. “Did you think I lived with Tonbo when I’m here?”

  “Well, yeah. If you’ve got your own apartment, why did we stay with Tonbo this whole time?”

  “It’s a house,” he corrected me, his voice drawing closer to me. “And as much as I’d love to have you stay with me, Tonbo insisted on you being his guest.”

  I heard Kate snort. “Yeah, I bet he did. So he could keep close tabs on Samantha.”

  Dr. Killian made a noise, I wasn’t sure whether she was trying to agree with Kate or not. Either way, Blake must have thought better of arguing about what Tonbo’s motivations really were.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said, surprisingly close to my ear. “Let me go drop her off.”

  “We’ll go with you—” I began.

  “No, it’d be better if you wait right here. Give me two minutes.” He brushed his lips against my cheek.

  He was gone before I could disagree. Really, I was dying to see where he lived. I mean, what eighteen-year-old high school senior has his own digs, already? I didn’t care about the size; I just wanted to see what it was like. Was it messy or meticulously clean like his car? Would it be nicely furnished with an entertainment center, couch, dining room table, etc? Or would it be like sitting on a folding chair while I get you a TV tray to eat on?

  The thought of staying with him at his own house sent a thrill through me. I bit my lip, embarrassed by my own desires firing up. We might be on the brink of a full-blown war if things don’t go right… and I’m thinking about making out with Blake!

  I was about to ask Kate if she’d been to Blake’s place, but then remembered they had history together and maybe I didn’t really want to know what she’d been doing at his house anyway.

  Blake was true to his word and returned moments later, rescuing me from the weird feeling of jealousy in my chest. I caught his scent before he even touched me, yet I was still surprised when he pulled me into his arms.

  “When this is all over, I promise I’ll show you everything,” he said, his voice huskier than normal.

  I returned his embrace, even though I knew Kate was growing impatient and perhaps uncomfortable.

  “I’m going to hold you to that,” I murmured back, kissing his cheek. I leaned back a little, hating the camo, wishing I could look him in the eyes. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine. You’ll see. Now let’s get to your brother.”

  Chapter 46

  Sneaking into Jaxon’s compound proved to be a little tricky. After Blake informed me there were air sensors surrounding the short fence that would go off if we flew through them, I was glad I hadn’t tried to the last time I’d been here. I’d been lucky the delivery boys had shown up when they had.

  Which was
why I was now waving at the gatekeeper, wearing cargo shorts and carrying a large box. I’d impressed myself with fabricating from memory; I was one of the guys I’d seen before. Kate and Blake remained in camo, silently following me.

  As soon as the double doors shut behind us, Blake whispered. “Change back. I can’t handle you being a dude anymore.”

  Five seconds later, I was me again and back in camo.

  Blake’s fingers wrapped around mine. “I wasn’t about to hold your hand while you looked like Fabio.”

  I giggled. “Yeah, that would have been weird for me too.”

  The building wasn’t large, and it didn’t take us long to wind back to where Jaxon’s holding cell was. As we got nearer, I could hear Blake’s breathing speed up.

  “Kate, what exactly happens now?” he asked.

  To my surprise, she appeared before us holding a syringe with a bright yellow label on it. Glancing around and seeing the coast was clear, I opted to become visible too. Blake sighed and did the same.

  “An EpiPen?” he asked, frowning. “Pretty sure that’s the last thing Jaxon needs right now.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. When Tonbo created the bugs, he pumped them full of epinephrine, but not enough norepinephrine. So when Sammy altered the serum, she added more.”

  “I don’t understand,” I interrupted. “What’s the difference?”

  “Well epinephrine, or adrenaline, whichever you want to call it, targets the blood vessels and the heart, leading to the constriction of certain blood ways and the opening of others, all in order for your body to have the fight-or-flight response to stress. Your heart will be beat faster, your lungs get more air, etc…” Kate’s words came out fast.

  I nodded along; I knew how an adrenaline spike felt all too well. I was having one right now. Felt like all my blood was in my heart, leaving my fingers, toes, and the tip of my nose cold and numb.

  “Norepinephrine stimulates the heart too, but it also acts as a neurotransmitter. Which basically means it arouses the brain. Making you more alert. Spikes the reward centers. Adding the extra norepinephrine to the serum makes it so the Defenders can be reasoned with, which in turn, helps them control their appetites more.”