True Loves (A Collection of Firsts)

by Michelle A. Valentine

  “So what if you hurt him? What goes around comes around. Plus, you’d probably really like Rick if you gave him a chance.” She stands, swaying back and forth a little. “Think about it, Nat. I love you, and you should be treated like a queen. Don’t take shit from anyone.” She kisses my forehead before she wobbles from my bedroom. “Good night.”

  Way to plant the seed, sis.

  Now visions of Rick flash in my mind. He really is kind of beautiful with his cool gray eyes set above chiseled cheekbones and full lips. Long hair and tattoos on a guy have never been my thing, but on him they totally work. And even though I’ve never seen him without his shirt, I imagine from the tone of his arms that his body is quite solid. Another plus is he’s definitely nice. Look at how he stood up for me tonight, like he’d take on the world if I asked him too. No one has ever done that before.

  I can’t think about this right now. I need a distraction.

  I snag my Mp3 player from my nightstand, poke in my earbuds, and study my alarm clock while mentally calculating how much sleep I’m going to get before the dreadful three-thirty-three nightly wakeup call. If I can manage to slow my brain down, I’ll get at least two hours of sound sleep. My breathing flows into a rhythmic pattern as I attempt to relax and search my playlist to choose a song.

  “I didn’t think she was ever going to leave.” My eyes fly open at the sound of the demon’s voice, and a gasp releases from my mouth.

  I yank the earbuds out and stare at him. His tiny body rests against the side of my bed as he leans over me and inspects my face. My pulse pounds in my veins and I try sit up. He places a tentative hand on my forehead and forces me back against the pillow. “Wait! I’m not ready.” I plead and try to get to my nightstand where I keep a jar of salt stashed.

  He shakes his head and a dark lock of hair falls into his gray eyes as he stops my hand. “Relax. I’m not here to kill you.”

  My bottom lip trembles. “Why are you here then? You never used to check up on me so much, and you’ve never come into my room before.”

  His little palm traces the contours of my face. “I’m here to fix you.”

  My mouth feels like I have a wad of cotton balls in it. “Fix me?”

  “Close your eyes,” he whispers—the side of his face illuminated by the moonlight shining through the window.

  My eyes narrow and I stare him down. He matches my intense gaze and sighs. “I’m not going to hurt you. I would’ve done it already if I was.”

  What choice do I really have? I don’t have a weapon or another plan of attack yet, so I do as he asks. But when a bright amber glow flickers, I sneak a peek. His tiny hands are red, like hot coals. The same brilliant white eyes he gets when he’s about to claim a soul are on full display. I knew I couldn’t trust him.

  “Wait!” I beg, but he presses his hands on either side of my face. My legs buck wildly beneath the blankets, and I claw at his hands. I’m not ready to die yet, and I’ll fight my hardest against him.

  At first, my skin burns, like a million tiny flames trying to melt my face from the bone, but then it changes. A cool sensation covers my skin. A combination of fire and ice fills every inch of me. My legs calm down and stop pumping all over the place. My fingers go limp and fall away from his. The pain is gone. The gash where my lip split is now smooth under the glide of my tongue, and I’m totally relaxed.

  He removes his fingers from my head. “There. That should fix it.”

  Sleep tries to overtake me, but I fight to stay awake. It’s almost like he gave me a sleeping pill.

  “Wha’d you do?” I manage to choke out.

  He smiles, and it seems genuine. “I told you. I fixed you.”

  I’m too tired to try to escape. My legs wouldn’t move even if I attempted to budge them. “Why?” is all I can manage to ask.

  “It’d be easier if I showed you.” His index finger touches the middle of my forehead.

  Suddenly I’m in the dark. There is complete nothingness around me for a few seconds until a light flickers before my eyes. The tunnel reappears just like before when he tried to show me something—blurry at first, but then it grows clear. There’s an old, wooden cabin surrounded by trees. The path in front of the house is dusty and worn. To my right, I see a horse trough filled to the brim with water. The birds chirp while the smell of wild flowers and fresh air feels real. Why is he showing me this? I’m not scared at all. Matter of fact, I feel completely comfortable here in this vision. It’s peaceful here, like this is home.

  There’s a little girl in a faded, blue dress sweeping the front porch. She looks like she’s straight off of Little House on the Prairie—very plain. I glance down and notice my outfit nearly matches the little girl’s. My fingers touch my hair. It’s braided into two long plaits that rest on my shoulders and feels strange between my fingers.

  While I wonder why I’m here and why demon boy is showing me this, I hear a man shout in the distance, followed by the sound of hooves pounding the ground. The haze of the hot summer sun causes the three cowboys riding over the hill to shimmer. They’re strangers. Strangers I can’t let near the little girl. For some reason, I just know this. Fear causes my entire body to tremble, and before I can stop myself, I yell, “Run, Sarah! Hide!”

  The little girl drops the broom on the porch and takes off toward the barn. I watch her tiny eight-year-old legs carry her, but I feel like she’s not moving quickly enough so I scream again for her to hide. I think about hiding too, but no one else is here to defend the farm, and I can’t let them destroy what I feel is our home. The men bring their horses down to a trot as they approach me. They look rough—like they haven’t had a bath or shaved in weeks. I swallow down a lump in my throat. Suddenly, I’m really afraid, more than I’ve been in my whole life. It doesn’t look like they just want directions.

  The largest of the three men stops his black horse in front of me. “You there, girl, yer daddy here?”

  I shake my head. “No sir, but I ‘spect he’ll be along any minute.” Those words don’t sound like anything I’d ever say, but it’s like I have no control over my actions or words. It’s like I’m in the passenger seat of my body.

  The three men laugh as they dismount. The big one smiles at me and I notice he’s missing his right, front tooth. “The horses need tending to. You see that they get water and then get on in the house and fix us something to eat. We’re mighty hungry.”

  Bossing me around doesn’t sit well, and I’m sure as hell not their servant. “Papa doesn’t like strangers ‘round here. Y’all need to get back on your horses and be on yer way. There’s a town a little ways up the trail.”

  Toothless marches over and grabs me by the arm. Hard. “You sassing me, girl? I don’t take to kindly to being sassed by no woman.” He spits, and it nearly lands on my shoe.

  “Let go of me!” I shout as I smack his face. Nobody grabs me like that without asking for a fight.

  He rubs his face and smiles evilly. “Looks like we’ve got a feisty one here boys. Maybe we should cool her off.”

  Bile fills my throat and I nearly throw up as I’m brought out of the vision. The room rocks back and forth as I focus on the demon boy. Then he presses his finger to his lips and then points toward the door with the other hand.

  “Natalie?” It’s Alicia. “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

  I look at him, my eyes still wide from what’d I’ve just seen. Alicia cracks the door open and my gaze darts in that direction.

  “Why—” before I can say another word, he’s gone. That vision felt so real and has left me with so many questions and absolutely no clues on why it’s important. Now, I’m just further confused about him and what exactly he wants from me.

  I clear my throat to regain my composure before I answer Alicia. “Sure.” I pull back my covers and slide over.

  She snuggles in beside me. “I really don’t want to leave for school.”

  She’s still drunk. I rub her arm and whisper, “It’ll be okay.” />
  I’m safe from a return visit from the demon as long as my sister is here with me. For some reason, I think he’s only able to freeze time when he’s collecting a soul, which is why I used to always climb in bed with Alicia when I was younger. There’s safety in numbers. He did seem different tonight, though. Not as scary as usual.

  This visit showed me a different side to him—a caring side. Maybe I can convince him to renegotiate my deal? The next time I see him, I have to try to bargain with him and ask him about the vision he showed me. I sigh and close my eyes knowing I won’t get my answers tonight.

  The next thing I know Alicia shakes me vigorously. Damn it! I wish I could be an evil sister and yell at her to leave me alone because I only have a couple hours of sleep time left. I love her too much to do anything mean to her, though.

  “Nat, wake up.”

  My heavy comforter becomes a shield over my face. “What, Alicia?”

  Footsteps come to a halt at my bedside. Why is she up already? “Come on. Get up. You don’t want to sleep the day away. I’ve got big plans for us.”

  I groan. “You’re still drunk. Can’t it wait until morning?”

  She laughs and yanks the blanket off my face, then opens up the drapes that keep my room pitch black. “God, Nat. It is morning.”

  What the hell? Startled, I sit up and rub my eyes as streams of bright sunlight shoot across my bedroom.

  She gasps. “What the hell happened to your face?”

  My fingers trail along my right cheek. Crap! I bound up from my bed and dart over to the mirror. The bruises aren’t nearly as bad as I thought. There’s a faint yellow spot on my left cheek. They’re almost healed. Impossible. The baby demon really fixed me just like he said.

  Not wanting to drag the topic of me and Trevor back out, I quickly cover the faint bruise up with make-up. “It’s nothing. I got drunk last night and kind of fell on my face.”

  Alicia crosses her arms and glares at me through the mirror. “Are you sure? That jerk-off Trevor didn’t touch you, did he? Because you told me last night that Rick came in before anything happened. Don’t lie to me, Natalie. You know I can always tell when you’re lying.”

  Nervous laughter spills from my mouth. “I wouldn’t lie to you. I fell. That’s it. I promise. It’s not even that bad. See.” I turn towards her.

  She inspects every inch of my face. After a thorough assessment, she nods, believing me. “If you say so. Cover that up good. Mom won’t let us out of the house if she knows we were both hammered last night.” She walks over beside me. “I’ve got a surprise for you. Get dressed.” She pauses and looks me up and down. “And make sure it’s cute. None of that all black shit.”

  I stare after her as she leaves my room. I’ve never slept through the nightmare. Never. The constant 3:33am wake up call is what always reminds me my soul is promised to the miniature devil.

  Another warning that things are about to change, maybe?

  After dressing, I clink my way down the stairs in my boots and find my sister gossiping with my mother. My defenses shoot up as they always do around my overbearing-want-to-be-perfect mother. I raise an eyebrow as they both turn their focus on me. Mom’s dressed in her work out gear with her dark hair smoothed back into a tight ponytail. Her eyes glisten when she looks at me, and my heart sinks. Has Dad finally asked for a divorce?

  “Oh, Nat. This is going to be great,” Mom says as she stuffs her platinum credit card in my hand and closes my fingers around it. “Buy whatever you need.”

  What? With my eyes glued on the shiny plastic card, I answer, “Uh, Thanks?”

  “Oh, Mom. You’re going to ruin the surprise,” Alicia spouts off.

  “All right.” Mom wipes a solitary tear from her right eye. “Have fun girls,” she says before she leaves the room with a goofy grin plastered on her face.

  I shoot an inquiring glance at Alicia. “What was that about?” Mom never treats me like that—like she’s happy with me. I’m the troubled kid—the one who gave her early gray hairs with all my demon antics. And giving me permission to use her credit card is huge. She’s never let me near the thing, because she knows I’d buy more demon killing items with it.

  My sister is definitely up to no good.

  She shakes her head and then grabs my arm. “Nuh-huh. No questions. Let’s go.”

  Knowing she always has my best interest at heart and means well, I let Alicia drag me along without objection, but I’m still on high alert, trying to figure out where she’s taking me. She opens the driver’s door of her little red car, and I mimic her movements on the opposite side. The black leather is already a little warm from the early September sun, and Alicia’s signature floral perfume mixes with the strong leathery new car smell.

  She slides on her sunglasses, and I do the same. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

  “Nope.” She laughs as she backs out of the driveway. “You’ll see when we get there.”

  Once on the road, she cranks her stereo up and bops around in her seat. She never gives any hints on where she’s kidnapped me to. “Come on, Nat. Sing with me.”

  I roll my eyes and laugh, but give in like I always do when it comes to Alicia. The lyrics to an old song roll off my tongue. Sure, we’ve had moments when we want to rip each other’s hair out but usually we stay pretty tight. She’s the only one who gets me, the only girl I actually consider my friend. Even though she’s only a couple years older than me, she seems so much wiser.

  After a quick fifteen minute drive, Alicia whips into a huge parking lot. “Um, why are we at the mall?”

  Alicia grimaces for a split second. “Oh, don’t be a party pooper.” She pats my leg. “This is going to be fun.” She sets her eyes on me, and her face totally reads with the ‘duh-look’. She’s lost her mind. No way is she dragging me around that place. I hate the mall and all the preptastic people that hang there. People like Stew. “I’m giving you a makeover.”

  My head flies into instant no-motion. “No, no, no. No way!”

  Her eyes narrow. “Yes.”

  “No!” I fold my arms over my chest.

  “Nat?” She puts on her best puppy dog eyes. “Please do this for me.”

  I sigh. “Alicia, I can’t! Look at what happens when I just wear a blue shirt. All hell breaks loose.”

  She grins. “You’ve already shocked everyone. You might as well go all out. Please let me do this. My main goal here is to help you in the man department. With my help you can have any guy you want. You are super hot, and it’s time the rest of the world knows it.” I could use some help there. Maybe if I looked a little more like Alicia, Stew’s dad would have been cool with us dating, and last night could’ve been avoided completely.

  Ugh. Instantly, I’m upset with myself for thinking about any relationship at all with Stew. He’s a dick and it’s time to forget him.

  This could be helpful. Not that I want anything to do with most of the assholes I know, but a little acceptance would be nice.

  After I stare into her pleading eyes, I let out an exasperated sigh. Her fashion intrusion is irritating. “Okay, but let’s not go crazy.”

  She squeals and squeezes me against her. “This is going to be so fun. We’re going to make Stew so jealous, and Rick won’t be able to keep his hands off you. Where’s Mom’s card?” I hand the card over. “Okay, let’s go do some damage.”

  After ten gazillion hours of shopping, my feet are on fire from these stupid heels Alicia put me in. I’m starting to regret the decision of throwing my old clothes—including my boots—in the trash can. It was such a liberating experience, freeing myself from the current bullshit of my old life, so I try not to complain about the bubbly white blisters forming on my heels. I do really kind of love the plaid skirt and black halter-type blouse picked out for me. Several male eyes have trailed after me since I’ve made the clothing switch, and I won’t lie and say that it didn’t boost my self-confidence a little.

  Alicia pats her belly. “
I’m starving. Let’s get some lunch.”

  “Sure, where do you want to go?” I ask.

  "Let’s eat at the food court.”

  I follow her to the center of the mall where we claim a table next to the two story indoor fountain and put our bags down. A chlorine scent surrounds me, and it feels like a day at the city pool—it re-energizes my body and gives me a new burst of liveliness, despite my aching feet. “Lish, I’ll grab our lunch if you stay with our bags.”

  She pulls out Mom’s card and hands it to me. “Get me a really big salad since it’s on Mom.”

  With the card firmly in my hand, and I make my way over to the line for Pinni’s—who’s known to have kick-ass grilled chicken salads.

  I find I’m uncomfortable in my brightly colored—hey look at me—skirt showing off so much skin. Tugging at the material on my hips, I try to get a little more thigh coverage. I wrestle with my personal clothing dilemma and catch the conversation between the two women in front of me.

  “I really think you should go,” the young blonde woman says as she digs in her designer handbag. “She really helped me.”

  “Janie, not everyone believes in that stupid hoodoo crap,” the slightly older woman replies.

  The blonde looks up from her bag with an expression of horror. “It’s not crap! If I hadn’t gone to Madam Zoë, I’d be married to that cheating snake, Robert. She’s totally legit.”

  The older woman rolls her eyes. “Just because she told you to not trust Robert doesn’t actually mean she saw your future. I could’ve told you he was a loser, and my advice would’ve been free.”

  Future?

  That has my wheels turning. What if this Madam Zoë can really tell the future? If she can, she could totally help me out with my current crisis—give me a little insight. She might know how long before the demon takes me to hell. This might be what I need—someone to help me out with my future because by the looks of my life lines, I don’t have much time to waste.

  “Excuse me,” I say as I tap the blonde on the shoulder. She turns and points an artificially beautiful smile at me. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be nosey, but I heard you talking about Madam Zoë.”