A Demon Made Me Do It (28 page)

I jerk my arm out of Bones’ grasp, and
my hand from Kieron’s. “You two work it out. I’m going in.” I run
across the border before either of them can stop me.

They dash after me as I leap over a
fallen tree and make my way to a small, hidden clearing. The stench
is overwhelming, and I scrunch my nose in disgust. I stop and
glance around, my eyes suddenly freezing on a gruesome sight.
Jumping back in horror, I let out a blood-curdling
scream.

Instantly, Kieron’s hand is over my
mouth, muffling the cry. Bones makes a pained, whimpering sound,
and I feel like I’ve just been whacked in the gut with an ax. I
squeeze my eyes shut, unable to bear the sight of what is left of
Cody’s bloodied, mangled corpse.

“
No, no,” I moan, pressing
my face into Kieron’s chest. “Who would do this? Why?”

“
Shhhhh…” he whispers in my
ear. “They may still be here.” He wraps his arms around me.
Instantly, rage overtakes me, and I push him away, sending him
staggering back against a tree.

“
Tell me where so I can rip
their heads off!” I yell, my eyes blazing with fury.

Kieron rushes to me and slaps his hand
over my mouth again, urgently signaling for me to be quiet. Only
the terrifying intensity in his eyes forces me to remain
still.

Bones slowly pads over to the lifeless
body and nuzzles it with his nose. His droopy eyes display an
unspeakable grief demons rarely show. Bones and Cody had been close
friends for over twenty years, and I know Bones is allowing himself
to feel pain out of respect for his lost comrade. But he’ll soon
shut off the feelings that are causing him such unbearable
suffering.

Lucky bastard.

I fluctuate between choking back sobs
and screaming at the top of my lungs. I want to hit something. I
want to destroy everything in my sight. I want to find whoever did
this and rip them to pieces. But something in my gut is telling me
to obey Kieron’s cautions. I grit my teeth and look at him, but his
attention is elsewhere.

The hairs on my arms stand up at the
sound. “Did you hear that?” I gasp, and quickly disentangle from
his embrace.

“
No,
Lucky…wait.”

I don’t have to go far; she’s only a
couple hundred yards away. I almost don’t see her, as her body is
mostly covered by a fallen tree.

Frantically, I throw off the wooden
branches. But uncovering Ivy’s body reveals a sight even worse than
death. I’d thought Cody looked horrific…

I’m momentarily frozen...stunned by
what I see. Her blonde hair is stained bright red from the wounds.
Her face, so swollen it’s unrecognizable, is various shades of
green and yellow. But that isn’t the worst of it. Her eyes have
been carved out of their sockets, and tears of blood run down her
cheeks.

But she’s still
alive…
barely.

She lets out a moan so soft I can
hardly hear it, but it’s enough to spring me into action
again.

“
Shhhhh,” I whisper,
cradling her head in my lap. “I have you, sweetie. Everything’s
going to be okay. You’re fine…” I look up at Kieron, who’s scanning
the area for hidden dangers.

“
Is anyone out there,” I
whisper. My breath stops until he finally shakes his
head.

“
No, they’re gone…for now”
he says, coming to kneel beside us. When he sees the extent of
Ivy’s injuries, his face contorts in stunned disbelief.

“
We have to help her.” I
speak quietly, under my breath.

“
No. We have to get out of
here,
now
.” His
command is as urgent as it is panicked.

“
I’ll carry her.” I lift
her broken body.

“
No, you
cannot
. They will trace
you. Put her down,” he orders.

“
I’m not leaving her here
to die,” I hiss.

“
She has been marked by
them. She is already dead.” His eyes are as hard as
steel.

“
By
who
? Kieron, we
have
to get her out of
here!”

“
If you do that, you’ll
soon be dead, too. And so will everyone you care about if you take
her back to Dryndara.” His face is marked with anger and
fear.

I can’t believe what he’s suggesting.
It’s like he doesn’t even care that my friend is badly hurt and I
have to save her.

When I don’t move, Kieron
pries my hands away from Ivy’s body, forcing me to set her back
down. “Don’t touch her anymore. Their energy is still all
over her. Their toxin is poisoning her, and she’ll
be dead shortly. It’s amazing she’s lasted this long.” He looks
deep into my eyes. “You
cannot
save her.”

“
Kieron, I have to. She’s
my friend…” I push him away, and try regaining my grip on her. But
he clamps his hands around my wrists and shakes them
loose.

“
You take her anywhere,
dead or alive, and they will find her. And you. All of us. And it
will be bad. Very bad. Worse than the worst thing you can imagine.
We are not safe, and we need to get out of here
now
!”

“
No! You may be afraid of
them, but I’m not! What demons did this? I will find them and kill
them. You can run away—”

“
A demon didn’t do this,
Lucky,” Kieron says, his voice low and heavy. He glances around
nervously and leans closer.

“
Of course a demon did
this…look at her. Look at Cody! No human could possibly even
remotely…”

“
It wasn’t a human. It
wasn’t a demon.”

“
Then what was it? Tell me,
or I’m taking her out of here right now…”

He tightens his grip around my wrists
so I can’t move. I had no idea he was so strong. But it’s the
terror in his eyes that’s got my attention.

“
Lucky, it wasn’t demons
who did this…it was
Light-
angels
.”

******

Wordlessly, I stare into his blue
eyes, my mouth no longer able to function properly. The crunching
of twigs behind us causes me to jump, and Kieron looks over his
shoulder.

“
Is she alive?” Bones asks
in a dull voice, grief clouding his masculine features.

I slump down, my gaze slowly moving
from Bones over to Kieron, down to Ivy’s motionless body, and back
to Kieron again—a silent, desperate plea in his eyes.

Almost imperceptibly, I
shake my head
no
.

“
Probably for the best.
Don’t imagine one would want to live without the other,” Bones
says. Now he sounds cold and detached. He holds up a small black
band. “Found this in what was left of Cody’s hand. I’m guessing
they either just had their blood-binding ceremony or were about to
when they were…attacked.”

I glance down at Ivy and gasp. I
hadn’t even noticed she was wearing the sacred gown of the
blood-binding ritual. She and Cody had finally made it official, or
were about to.

I close my eyes, my insides thoroughly
shredded as I release my grip on her and stand up.

“
Whatever demons did this
are in for a world of hurt. Let’s go,” Bones says, before falling
onto four paws and sprinting off toward Dryndara.

I can’t believe I’m leaving Ivy here
to die alone. But I know Kieron’s right. I know we have no choice.
My legs wobble as I gaze upon her battered body one last time.
Kieron wraps his arms around me and holds me steady.

“
We can’t leave her here to
suffer like this,” I whisper. “I just can’t…”

He nods grimly. “We need to be
fast.”

I feel like I’m dying a million deaths
as I release the explosion of electric fire from my hands, and
instantly reduce Ivy’s body to ash.

“
I will kill you for this!
Do you hear me? I will find you and I will
kill
you!” I scream at the top of my
lungs, not caring who or what hears me.

Kieron gives me a haunted look, and
grabs my hand. We take off running.

Chapter 16.
Liora

I know something’s wrong the moment I
open my eyes; there’s a disturbance deep within my soul.
Something’s happened with Lucky. But I don’t want to know what it
is. I don’t want to think about anything right now. I just want to
lie here in my bed and bask in the soft sunlight streaming in
through my bedroom window. School’s out until tomorrow, so I’m
going to savor this one last day of peace and quiet before having
to face Kieron and my humiliation.

To anyone else, I’m sure it
would seem like I’m overreacting.
So
what
if Kieron was at the mall with
Drusilla.
So what
if they were sitting by each other, laughing, obviously
enjoying each other’s company.
So
what?
It’s not like he and I were anything
special, or ever could be. And we’ve only known each other for
what, a week?

Somehow, it feels longer.
Much longer. And even though it was obviously all in my head, it’d
felt like our connection was deeper than just friends. For the
first time in years, I actually wanted to let down some of the
walls I’d built to protect my secret. I wanted him to see me.
Moreover, I wanted to see him. Really
know
him.

But it’s definitely better this way.
He needs to be with a girl like Drusilla, and I need to be alone.
It’s the only way. It’s too dangerous allowing myself to fall for
someone, when, inevitably, both of us will be hurt—and in his case,
destroyed.

How selfish of me to even entertain
the notion of a having a relationship… how cruel…

How pathetic.

There is a light tapping on the door.
“No school today, remember? I get to be lazy all morning,” I call
out. Tatiana ignores my words and enters.

“
Rise and shine. It’s a
glorious day outside,” she sings, carrying in a large glass of
freshly-squeezed orange juice.

I sit up, smiling at my guardian. Oh,
how I love Tatiana. She’s always been here for me, through good
times and bad. She’s the one whose shoulder I can always cry on.
The one whose ear is always available to listen to my problems. The
one who reminds me who I am, even when I feel my most worthless. No
one else could’ve handled me and Lucky the way she has, with
effortless grace, eternal patience, and limitless
understanding.

Impulsively, I hug her and plant a
kiss on her cheek. She responds with a crackly laugh. “What’s all
this?”

“
Just felt like giving you
a hug is all. I don’t give you enough of them and that’s going to
change.”

“
Well, you won’t be hearing
me complain about that,” she says, her white eyes crinkling in
amusement. “What’s brought this on? Not that I mind, of
course.”

I lie back down, propping myself up on
the pillows and sipping some of the juice. “Dunno. I just feel
like, life is too short. Gotta tell the ones you love how you feel
before it’s too late.”

The words come out of my mouth without
me even thinking about them. I scrunch my eyebrows together, trying
to think what would be making me feel this way. Perhaps I’m still
affected by what happened at school? Yes, that must be it. I am
normally not the sentimental type.

“
Well, I appreciate the
gesture. Now hurry up and finish your juice. You don’t want to keep
your visitor waiting.”

“
Ack! What? What
visitor?”

She brings her hand to her mouth.
“Sorry, dear, I got distracted with your lovely hug. Yes, there’s a
gentleman caller waiting for you outside. I told him you would be
getting up soon, and he said he’d wait. But you mustn’t keep him
waiting too long.”

I’m already halfway to the bathroom.
Quickly, I splash some water on my face and brush my teeth. My eyes
are bloodshot and a bit swollen. Was Lucky crying last
night?

I run a brush through my hair, briefly
touching that place on my neck where it burns a good twenty degrees
hotter than the rest of my body. The crimson star, permanently
branded on me at birth, is a constant reminder of a world I’d like
to forget. It’s always there, haunting me.

I throw on some jeans and a sweater.
Even though the sun is making a rare appearance today, it’s still
cold outside. My hands shake as I fumble with the laces on my
boots.

Why is Kieron
here?

It has to be him; no other guy has
ever come to my house before. I don’t even think anyone else knows
exactly where I live.

I race to the front door, only slowing
down at the last moment so as not to appear too eager. I take a
deep breath. He’s there, leaning against the truck, his beautiful
face bathed in the glow of the soft morning light.

“
Liora, hi. Hope you don’t
mind me stopping by,” he says, ambling toward me.

“
Of course not, its fine.
How are you?” My heart speeds up the way it always does when he
comes close…actually, when he’s anywhere in the
vicinity.