Chapter Forty-Three
The beeping that woke me was an annoyance I could do without. I reached out to hit snooze on my alarm and my hand slapped something else.
“Ouch,” Mason complained as I realised I’d turned in my sleep and I’d just slapped him in the face.
Oops. I turned back and switched off my alarm, putting the phone into my pocket.
“Sorry,” I told Mason, stifling a yawn. “I forgot you were there.”
He shook his head at me as he got up. “I can’t believe it. I feel more tired than I did when you woke me up this morning.”
“Me too,” I agreed, trying to shake it off.
I got up and stepped back into my trainers. It sounded calm outside the room. I picked my phone up and moved towards the door. Mason followed slowly, as if he was wiped out. I moved the chair away and opened the door.
“Hello?” I called out, expecting a reply of some kind.
I didn’t get one. I stepped out into the hall and saw that Lucy’s bedroom door was open. Shit. That can’t be good. I rushed across the hall and looked inside. The restraints were there, but Lucy wasn’t.
My mother was gone too. The room was empty.
I picked Selena’s phone out of my pocket and called her. The phone rang out. I cursed, waiting for it to let me leave a voicemail. It didn’t have that option. Seriously? What phone doesn’t have voicemail? I sent her a text instead, asking where the hell she was.
“What’s up?” Mason asked as he caught up with me in the hallway.
“They’re gone,” I told him.
He frowned at me. “Gone? Where?”
“Damned if I know.”
I never should have trusted the woman who walked out on me when I was born. I mean, what kind of idiot does that kind of thing? I’d been desperate, but I didn’t think I could lean too heavily on that excuse. I’d trusted her too blindly.
I turned to Mason. “Can any of your spirit friends help out?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Help out?”
“I need to know where they went.”
“Ah,” he said, looking around. “Give me ten minutes.”
I watched him stalk off before racing to catch up. I mean, he was going to find a helpful ghost. I had to see this. He only turned back and shook his head at me once.
Chapter Forty-Four
The helpful spirit was fond of hanging around the park along the street, as far as I could tell. Mason had told me to wait at the gates. The spirit was shy, and I intimidated her, apparently.
I looked around, not seeing any trace of my mother’s car. Confirmation that they’d done a runner. Ugh. I felt so stupid. She was some kind of demon sympathiser, clearly. Rescuing the poor possessed monster who took over my friend’s body. I should have seen this coming. She did basically admit she has a thing for demons.
I turned back to the park, watching Mason walk around a little. He nodded every now and then, his phone held to his ear so he wouldn’t look like a crazy person to any passersby. He talked in a low voice. I was too far away to hear anything. So, I had to wait.
I wished I was better at waiting. As it was I was getting more and more agitated, waiting to see where the hell my mother had run off to with Lucy. At least I knew she wouldn’t hurt her physically.
Selena might have been right about causing a permanent demonic possession though. The longer a demon that powerful possessed a person, the less likely it was that I could exorcise it. If the demon did too much damage while in possession of her, the Lucy I knew could be lost for good.
I felt my guts twist at that thought. The Lucy I knew was a lie.
Mason came back out of the park, tucking his phone into his pocket.
“So?” I asked.
“So she saw your mother and her car and she’ll take a look around town for them.”
“Cool,” I murmured.
“Now what?”
“Neither of us are supposed to be working, are we?” I asked, only half joking.
He laughed. “No. Thankfully not. Tomorrow’s a different story.”
“Let’s hope it really is,” I said, crossing my arms under my chest.
I wasn’t getting any calls back on Selena’s phone so far. I wondered how quickly she’d freed Lucy and run off with her. She could be miles away by now.
“Let’s go and get some lunch,” he told me, putting his arm around me.
Translation, this could take a while.
I got Selena’s phone back out, and noticed it was close to dying. I transferred my mother’s number to my own mobile and sent her a message, asking her to call me back right away. I doubted she would care, but I added in that she could forget about ever seeing me again if she didn’t call.
“Okay. Let’s go get lunch.”
Chapter Forty-Five
It happened right when I realised how out of control everything was. I was sitting in a cafe with Mason, picking at a sandwich because we were stuck waiting to find out if my mother might still be somewhere in town. Lucy was possessed by the most powerful wrath demon I’d ever come across and I had no idea what was happening to her right now. Frustration filled me, and then the tug of the dreamscape made me gasp.
Mason raised an eyebrow at me. “You okay?”
I shook my head. “Dreamscape,” I murmured quietly.
He got up quickly as I felt a stronger pull. One more like that and I’d be going under.
“Catch me,” I whispered, slumping in my seat.
The red light that filled my vision immediately was blindingly bright. I shielded my eyes until I could get my bearings. It was the same dreamscape as before, only with one major difference.
Demon Lucy grinned at me, a bloody knife in her hand. Her shitty version of me was on the ground at her feet, motionless. “Dream walker.”
Please tell me my mother didn’t lie about my weapon. I flexed my fingers, willing it to come.
The demon grinned at me. “Looking for something?”
He flashed the knife at me, and I frowned at him. There was no way in hell he had my weapon. It wasn’t possible for it to form without me.
“Come on. Where are you?” I murmured, trying to be patient.
“Can’t you see me? I thought you were only blind to your mother’s flaws.”
“Leave her out of this,” I snapped at him.
“It’s too late for that,” he told me, smirking.
I knew what he was doing, trying to get to me. I couldn’t let him. My weapon formed and I smiled in relief as the handle of something undoubtedly sharp and nasty made my grip tighten. A quick glance confirmed it as a dagger.
“Come get me, dream walker.”
I lunged at him and he backed away. He sliced the knife at me and I backed away. The dance we were doing had been done a million times before. I knew that, so I kicked when he expected me to back away. I took a sliced up arm in exchange for bringing him to his knees. I swiftly sliced the dagger’s blade across his throat. Lucy’s throat. The red light went out of her eyes. Blood sprayed across me.
“Goodnight, Lucy,” I said, stepping back to let her fall.
Covered in blood, I dropped the dagger and walked out of the dreamscape. Trial over. Best friend exorcised. My work was done.
Chapter Forty-Six
I woke up in the backseat of my car, in Mason’s arms.
“Careful,” he told me. “You cut yourself.”
I looked at my forearm, the one the demon had slashed. It was wrapped with a piece of material. I sat up and discovered Mason had ripped off one of his T-shirt’s sleeves.
“She had a knife,” I told him, shaking my head. “I mean, the demon had a knife.”
“Did you do it?”
I nodded. “Trial over. Demon exorcised. We can go home.”
“Two seconds,” he told me, cocking his head towards the window.
He was listening to a spirit. I waited, getting my keys ready so we could get moving.
“Shit,” he murmured as his ey
es widened.
“What?” I asked, panic swelling quickly.
“It’s your mother. She found the car. She’s been stabbed.”
He took the keys out of my hand. “I know where. Just put your seat belt on.”
I sat there, staring into space as he got into the driver’s seat and started the car.
“Lucy stabbed my mother?” I asked, as he started to drive, wasting no time.
“It sounds like it. I’ll call the police when we get there. It’ll only take a minute.”
My thoughts swirled as we headed towards the edge of town. He brought us into a parking lot and I rushed out as soon as the car stopped, heading towards my mother’s car.
I gasped and jump back when Lucy stepped out, bloody and still holding the knife. My gaze moved to her eyes. No trace of red. No demon inside. I didn’t understand. What was this?
“Lucy, put the knife down.”
“You slept with my boyfriend, Tina.” Her voice was empty, cold.
“No. It’s a long story but that didn’t happen,” I told her, keeping my voice steady.
Mason grabbed my arm. “Tina, back away.”
I shook him off. “Lucy, put the knife down.”
She glowered as she moved closer. Mason pulled me back. He put himself between us quickly and I gasped out as she started to raise the knife. He punched her in the arm and she dropped it, yelping in pain.
“I’ll kill you with my bare hands,” Lucy said, getting ready to throttle me.
Mason pushed her back, knocking her to the ground forcefully. “Stay down,” he warned, putting his foot on her stomach. He had his phone in his hand and he was calling the emergency services a second later.
I rushed past them to find my mother. Panic swelled once more when I saw her, pale and bleeding from a wound in her belly. Sitting on the driver’s seat, with the door open, she was holding the wound but her grip was slipping. I immediately took over.
“Mason’s calling an ambulance. Just hang on. You’ll make it.”
She smiled. “I always do.”
“What happened?” I asked, my voice cracking. I couldn’t lose her when I’d only just found her.
“Your friend woke up in a mood. I expected to have her locked away in a cell by the time you exorcised her demon.”
“This has to be the demon’s influence.”
My mother shook her head. “She was the perfect host, Tina. She already had the anger inside her. She just didn’t choose to unleash it until now.”
I could hear sirens in the distance as her eyelids began to blink closed. Tears spilled from mine as I watched her struggle to stay awake. Don’t die. Please don’t.
“Promise me something,” I asked her, desperation leaking into my voice.
“Anything,” she said, her smile weak.
“Promise you’ll stay for dinner next time.”
She laughed lightly, wincing a little. “It’s a deal.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Lucy went to prison for attempted murder. My mother spent a few weeks in hospital. I was careful about when I visited, not wanting to run into my father. She’d had her hands full with Selena for years, but now she promised to spend at least half her time in town with me.
I moved in with Mason officially, and today my mother got out of hospital so she was making good on her promise to come over for dinner.
“You’re sure she likes meat?” Mason asked, as he prepped the roast.
I nodded. “Definitely. She even ate the nasty ass hospital mystery meat.”
He laughed. “Now I feel bad that I made jelly for desert. She must be so sick of that stuff.”
“She said it’s her favourite desert,” I told him, smiling. “She should be here soon.”
“Maybe you should watch for her coming. I don’t think the doorbell’s been working right.”
I went into the living room and looked out the window. Her car was there. I knew what that meant, yet I didn’t look away. I was curious, to say the least. Finding out my father was basically a demon in human clothing was weird, but there must be something good about him. My mother isn’t a bad person. He can’t be a wrath. No chance in hell.
I watch and see a dark haired man get out of the driver’s side and move quickly to open the passenger’s door before she could do it herself. She laughed at him as he helped her out, only wincing lightly afterward. Still in a little pain, but she smiled as she kissed him. He turned towards the house and I saw the deep blue tint in his eyes.
Pride demon. Probably the least awful kind.
She waved him away and he took one last look at the house before driving off. I opened the door to welcome her in. She’d asked before if I wanted to meet him, but didn’t want to push too hard if I wasn’t ready. Maybe next time I’d say yes.
Acknowledgements & Author’s Note
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a short review.
Please note this is the end to Tina Saint’s story and the Seven Deadly Demons series.
Special thanks to Cherri-Anne Boitson for coming up with the winning name for the character Piper, named for her much loved and missed Sheltie.
This series is set in my home town in Scotland. The main settings are fictional but are based very loosely on existing locations that are not specified by name.
You can check out my other books on Amazon here (and be sure to hit follow under my name if you want to be alerted when I have a new release):
https://www.amazon.com/Sharon-Stevenson/e/B001KIWMFC/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1513728211&sr=8-1
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Quicksand Nightmares (Seven Deadly Demons Book 2) Page 12