by Karen L Mead
David pointed to the coffee table, where a shiny rock was sitting next to a vase of flowers. Cassie exhaled, relieved.
“Oh, good. I was afraid I left him in the ocean.”
“That’s really Lord Sammael? The Lord of Hell?” asked David, confusion evident on his thin face.
“Yes,” said Sam, eyeing the rock with an odd expression. “I can sense it’s him, but it’s hard to believe that he would take that kind of risk…use up all his energy and reduce himself to that. He must have had no other choice.”
“How long is he going to be like that?” Miri asked.
Sam shrugged. “I’ve never seen anyone do anything like this before, I have no idea how long it’ll take him to recover. If he can recover.”
Cassie looked up to meet Jay’s eyes, and realized he was staring at her with an intensity she wasn’t used to from him.
“What? Is there something on my face?” she asked.
“On your back,” he said.
“Oh,” she said. She put down her coffee cup and coughed.
“I have wings now. They’re mostly invisible, you can barely see them, but they’re there. I can’t fly or anything… at least, I don’t think so. But this is what the Watchers were waiting for. Now that I’ve ‘flowered,’ or whatever, they can use me to get to this world.”
“There are no flowers of any kind involved in this,” said Dorothy, sitting on the stairway. She was eating tortilla chips out of a bag. “They shouldn’t use such terms.”
Sam reached out a hand to touch the translucent shape on the couch next to him, but she pulled her wings closer to her body before he could. Somehow, between manifesting them and spending a few hours as an extension of the Watchers, she’d learned to control them a bit. She vaguely remembered them being useful underwater, helping her swim.
“Don’t, they burned Sammael whenever he touched them. I don’t know what they’ll do to you.”
Sam took a deep breath, looking at her back as though transfixed.
“Compulsion didn’t work on you. I don’t know if you’re a familiar anymore.”
Under any other circumstances, Cassie would have been relieved to hear that his commands didn’t work on her. Now, it just cemented her feeling of dread.
“I uh, missed some meetings, so I don’t know much about these ‘Watchers,’ but I’m pretty sure they’re bad news,” Khalil said. “Are you saying they can show up any time now?”
“No. Well, yes, but they won’t,” Cassie said. When everyone gave her puzzled expressions, she explained further.
“Technically, they could come now if they wanted to. But they want to drown everyone in a flood, right? That means, it needs to be raining.”
She gestured to the window, where abundant morning sunshine was cascading through the blinds.
“It’s bone-dry out there. We’re good for a few days, at least.”
Everyone took out their phones to check the weather report. Cassie scratched behind Teddy’s ears, feeling relieved that at least he was happy to see her.
“Did he eat while I was gone?”
“Not much. I’ll get some greens for him.”
“Thanks, Miri,” Cassie said, caressing Teddy’s back. The animal made a satisfied sound and rested his head against her leg.
“Weather Puppy says there’s going to be a downpour on Saturday. So what do we do until then?” Khalil asked.
“Live, I guess,” Cassie said, trying not to sound as defeated as she felt. “I don’t know if we can beat them, guys. Since we have a few days before they get here, we should take advantage of it. Do your bucket-list stuff.”
Jay narrowed his eyes.
“I’m not doing my bucket-list stuff, because we’re not going to let them do what they want. We’re going to kick their asses and send them back where they came from.”
Behind Jay, Khalil nodded.
“Yeah, kid’s got the right idea.”
“Besides, I don’t have the money to do any of the stuff on my bucket list right now,” Jay continued.
“You could have left that part off and just quit while you were sounding awesome.”
“I will assist with stopping the Watchers. Too much water is inconvenient,” said Dorothy, eating cookies out of the bag. Vladmira was still happy in the fairy’s presence, alternating between perching on Sam’s shoulder and Dorothy’s.
Miri brought up a bag of grasses, which Cassie began feeding to Teddy one at a time.
Oh well. Situation isn’t great, but at least I’m home, not stuck in Realm, and we’re all facing it together. It could be worse…oh. Oh wait, I forgot something important.
“Um,” Cassie began awkwardly, “there’s one more thing you all should know. The Devil just broke free, so he could be anywhere.”
Everyone took a moment to process that.
“Well, whose side is he on?” asked Khalil.
Chapter 49
Eventually, everyone left until the only people left were Sam, Cassie, and Miri. Aeka was resting upstairs, but showed no interest in coming down when Miri tried to rouse her.
“She’s sleeping again?” Cassie asked, concerned. “She doesn’t even want to come downstairs to see me?”
Miri made a pained gesture. “I don’t know. She’s just been staying in bed more and more lately. She’s not sick or anything as far as I can tell, just sleepy. I’ve been trying to get her to tell me what’s up, but you know she doesn’t tell me anything.”
Sam always felt more than a little guilty whenever the subject of Aeka came up. Taking care of her was at least partially his responsibility, but he hadn’t really done anything for her lately. He kept meaning to talk to Bennet about her, since he was the one who found her and presumably knew more about her background, but there was always a more pressing concern. Now he’d waited too long.
Okay, I will talk to Bennet about her. It might be too-little-too-late at this point, but at least I can do something.
Still, he couldn’t think about Aeka for too long when a freshly-returned Cassie was right in front of him. He hadn’t been expecting her back from Realm for some time, so her sudden appearance had left him unprepared. Especially when she had shown up changed in ways he didn’t understand, not to mention naked….
“It’s good to have you back,” he said softly. “I know it’s only been a couple of days, but it feels like it’s been longer.”
“Yeah, it feels that way for me too,” Cassie said.
Miri looked from Cassie to Sam, then cleared her throat.
“I need to run out and get some groceries, otherwise we’re not having dinner tonight. I’ll even get more desserts, in case Miss Angelfood Cake decides she wants to wake up anytime soon.”
“Thanks, Mir,” Cassie said as Miri got her purse and prepared to leave. Miri shot Cassie a mischievous look over her shoulder.
“That was subtle,” Sam said after the front door had closed.
“For Miri? It kind of was.”
“Guess she’s feeling well enough to be back to manipulating us. That’s good, I think.”
Careful not to touch her wings, Sam began stroking Cassie’s arm. He knew he had no right to fondle her, not unless she initiated it, but he felt a need to touch her in some way.
“Stop distracting me, we have serious stuff to discuss.”
“I thought the ‘serious stuff’ discussions were over.”
“I meant, serious stuff just for us,” she said. She changed position, so she was facing him. “Did you really eat another demon?”
Well, that’s certainly a mood-killer.
“How do you know?”
“It was kind of a big deal in Realm.”
“I guess it would be.”
How do I explain this, without coming off like a total monster? Well, I am a total monster, as she’s well aware, but still, how do I explain it?
“Listen, it wasn’t anything I planned. But Azazel…he was torturing Serenus. I had to kill him. Only one way to do that and have it
stick.”
“Torture? Oh God. Is Ser okay?”
Sam wasn’t sure how to answer at first, but then he thought about the professor’s dogged insistence that Sam fill him in on everything.
“Okay is overstating it, but he’ll recover, I think. Both physically and mentally. He’s too stubborn not to.”
“Well, that’s a relief at least. Why was he torturing him? What did he want?”
Sam threw up his hands. It seemed ridiculous to him that he didn’t even have a good answer for her.
“Who knows? He had some kind of Byzantine plan to manipulate us, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I put an end to it.”
She nodded. He could tell she wasn’t really satisfied with that answer, but there was no point in dwelling on it. She took a deep breath and met his eyes.
“There’s something else I have to tell you. You know all that stuff about the Devil being loose now?”
No. Not this.
“It was kind of hard to miss.”
“What I didn’t want to tell anyone else is that the Devil is…well, he’s…he’s….”
He moved forward to kiss her, surprising her. Amusingly, she fluttered her wings frantically, probably trying to move them out of his way to avoid singing him. They made a cute thump-thump noise against the leather of the couch.
“Heeeey! I’m trying to tell you something important!”
I don’t want to know anything more about the Devil. Because once I know, it’s inevitably going to be somehow my problem, I know it, and I can’t handle that right now. Please. Anything but this.
He traced the outline of her jaw with his index finger, then moved his fingertip down her throat and began tracing her collarbone. She shivered slightly.
“I don’t care if it’s the Devil or some lesser demon, we’ll kill anyone who gets in our way. Why make it more complicated than that?”
“That’s a dumb way of—” she began, but he distracted her by kissing her again. She pushed away from him and frowned.
“You know, the other night, I was trying to make out with you and you were all like ‘I’m so above this, little girl.’ Where did that guy go?”
He frowned right back at her.
“You got kidnapped, again, and dragged down to Hell. I wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again. Makes an impact.”
“So you’ll let me seduce you now?”
“I think I could be talked into it.”
They kissed for a long time. Very carefully, he started to take her take her dress off over her head, mindful not to touch her wings. They were bizarre, these semi-translucent things on her back, but he found them arousing. It was just more proof that she was dangerous in her own right, not a delicate little flower that he had to be worried about crushing.
When he’d taken her dress off, he began unbuttoning his shirt.
I shouldn’t be doing this. She’s still not ready, the time isn’t right….but the world is probably ending this weekend. When is the time ever going to be right?
He finished undoing his button-down shirt, then took off his undershirt in one smooth motion. She looked at his chest with obvious approval, and he felt reassured. Lately he was so preoccupied with his feelings for her, it was easy to forget that she was attracted to him as well.
At least physically, she’s attracted to me. She can’t help it, because that’s part of our bond…if it weren’t for that, then she wouldn’t…or even if she did….
He felt a sudden wave of anger and tried to push it aside; it didn’t do any good, thinking like that.
“By the way, I’m annoyed at you for kissing that English boy,” he said, tossing his shirt aside with more force than was strictly necessary. “He’s a nice kid. Don’t make me have to kill him, please.”
She giggled. “That was my crazy Angel side, you can’t blame me for that.”
He moved closer to her, so their chests were touching, and kissed the side of her neck. She made a pretty, feminine sound. A voice in his head was still yelling at him to stop, that he had no right, but if she kept making noises like that, that would be the end of his resistance.
“I’m the only one you or ‘your crazy Angel’ side gets to kiss, you understand?”
He pushed her down gently, so he was on top of her on the couch. He caressed her softly, and she made another soft moan that nearly drove all conscious thought out of his head. Still, a troublesome memory refused to be banished; the last time he’d touched her like this, it had ended badly. She had looked at him with eyes full of fear—it hurt even to remember that look—and abandoned him, devastated.
He tried not to dwell on that, but he couldn’t stop remembering that look, that sense that he was something alien and threatening to her. When he moved his hand so he could take off the rest of his clothes, it seemed as though she had remembered too.
“Please, I’m not… I’m sorry….”
She sounded like she was about to burst into tears.
For the briefest moment, he felt searing anger. Why did she keep seducing him if she wasn’t ready? When did she plan to be ready, after they were both dead?
But she’s not the one doing the seducing, is she? I’ve been pushing her, even though I know it’s wrong. I have no right to be angry. I have no right to anything.
The anger subsided, leaving only sadness and disappointment.
“I know,” he said, and kissed her on the forehead. That was the only way he should have kissed her in the first place. Slowly, he moved off of her and backed away, until they were both sitting separately on the couch. He looked away as she put her dress back on over her head.
“So, now that my cunning plan to change the subject failed, why don’t you tell me all about the Devil?”
Chapter 50
“Yes, David Fishman will be transferring in, starting today. You have all his records, all the paperwork has been taken care of,” said Miri in an authoritative voice.
“We have…all his paperwork?” the middle-aged woman in the busy office said, sounding confused.
David twitched, uncomfortable; he’d seen vampires use mind control before, but it usually wasn’t for his benefit.
Miri leaned over the woman’s desk, making direct eye contact. “Yes, yes, it’s all been taken care of. His name is already in the computer.”
The woman switched her gaze from Miri to the computer.
“Oh, yes, I see, his name is right here. David Fishman. Starting date Tuesday, May 24. He has first period English with Mr. Golding.”
“Exactly,” said Miri, smiling.
When they had left the admissions office, David shot the vampire a quizzical look.
“My new name is Fishman?”
“Yes, because you fished Cassie out of the ocean. Isn’t it cute?”
“You could have asked me for input on what my new name was going to be.”
“Yes, we could have,” Miri responded flatly.
“This really isn’t a remotely proper transfer, you know. I’m not even in the same year as the rest of you. I should be in different classes.”
Miri made a dismissive wave. “Details, details.”
When they got to the classroom, David’s eyes sought out Cassie immediately. She was sitting near the front, wearing a short-sleeved purple shirt (under her silver SCA vest) and dark blue jeans. She’d somehow managed to bind her wings, so they were hidden under her clothes. He didn’t mean to stare, but he couldn’t help looking at her for a few moments. He couldn’t get the image of her as he’d first seen her, naked and glittering and inhuman, out of his mind. Every time he saw her in normal clothes, it was like he struggled to reconcile the girl with the fantastical image in his mind.
“Oh, you’ve got it bad,” Miri murmured, giving his back a little push. David stumbled into the classroom, embarrassed.
The teacher at the front of the room took notice of the new additions. David had already been informed that the teacher was “one of ours,” but he wasn’t quite sure what that meant.
While Miri took a seat, David stood at the front of the classroom, nervous. Cassie gave him a reassuring look, but that just made his heart pound in his chest, making everything worse.
“Um, hello, my name is David Alder—I mean, Fishman. David Fishman. I’m from London, originally, and I just transferred here. Lovely to meet you all.”
“You’re transferring in this late in the year?” asked a pretty blond girl sitting near the front, in an incredulous tone.
“Miss Clarke,” said the teacher in a warning tone.
“It’s just, it’s weird! Who transfers in at the end of May?”
David shrugged.
“It was because of my dad’s job, so you know, couldn’t be helped.”
That’s not entirely a lie; I did end up moving because of my dad’s job….
From their expressions, the kids in the class seemed to buy his explanation that his unusual transfer was explained by his father’s work situation, so he breathed a sigh of relief.
“May I sit down now?” he asked Mr. Golding. A few students snickered.
“Almost. Can you name your favorite author for me?” the teacher asked, smiling.
“Oh, that’s easy. Stephen King.”
The teacher’s smile faded immediately. “There are some empty desks in the back. Go sit down, David.”
Cassie gave him a look of mild pity as he walked past her.
Mr. Golding looked down at his notes and looked as though he was about to launch into some kind of a lecture, then froze, unnaturally.
“Actually…it appears we have yet another new student…” he said, looking toward the door.
As he took his seat, David looked at Mr. Golding. The teacher’s expression was odd, like he didn’t want to say the words that were coming out of his mouth, but couldn’t help himself. Seeing the other new student only added to his confusion; while he was pretty sure he’d never seen this boy before, there was an odd sense of recognition that he couldn’t shake. Hearing Cassie gasp only confirmed that something strange was afoot.