Demon Girl (15 page)

“I like your eyes,” she declared. “Your
family always did have the most beautiful gold eyes.” The
witch-girl had an innocent, pixie like face and curly blonde hair.
She waved her hands up and down my body critically. “You’re meeting
me in your true form. That is a good omen. Sometimes you come to me
still disguised as human and what I have to say never goes down
well.”

“As long as you don’t tell me what to do,” I
said and gazed at the buckled roof, “we’ll get along just
fine.”

Ana smacked her forehead then clicked her
fingers into points and nodded. “Sorry, I get confused somewhat
when I meet new people. It takes a while to fit them into the
bigger picture. The Sight gives me glimpses of possible futures,
and you’re radiating images like a beacon whacked up to max. It’ll
be easier for me once I’ve done a proper reading on you. The roads
of your future will be clearer and we can–” She spaced out, her
eyes flickered at something unseen. “Oooh, that is not good. Tell
your blonde friend not to go outside on her own in the dark. In
most futures it ends badly.”

“Huh?” I croaked feeling a million miles
behind.

“I’m trying to get a feel for where we are
time wise,” she enlightened. Her tiny palms flew up. “Wait. Has
that vampire bitten you yet? You should have met him by now.” She
frowned and looked inward. “I’m missing something.”

My heart thumped. She could only be talking
about Tomas. I was hyper aware of Conall standing alert beside me
at the mention of a vampire. I twisted my hands into my jumper
pockets. “Uh, I don’t know what you mean.”

“Maybe if you never meet him you won’t end up
at Orchard. That’s a relief. I did a reading on Breandan, and he
ends up there in chains. He gets distracted because the vampire
wants you.” She frowned. “No wait, I think it’s a humans fault.
Damn, I can’t see. Anyway, things get out of control. You know how
vampires are once they’ve had your blood. Bottom line is in this
future you all
died
. Sometimes you save him but not the
vampire. Or you save the vampire and the human but not Breandan. I
can’t see what the difference is between one future and the other.
My advice is to avoid Orchard if you can.”

“Say-so,” I said. Not that I’d ever had any
plans to be in the company of Tomas for much longer or ever visit
this Orchard place. “Y’know what, I’m going to be honest and say I
have no idea what to do with anything you just said. I’ve seen and
done unreal stuff today.” Sensing its queue my tail whiplashed out
behind me. “Nothing is simple anymore and everything frightens me.
And
you
. Your supposed to be a witch and evil by default.
You aren’t what I expected.”

“Old woman with a hunch back, raspy cackle
and a pimple on her nose?” She asked in a bored voice. “Cauldron
and a cave?” I nodded guiltily. “Damn. Stereotyping is a bitch.
Yes, witches are bad, but I’m the exception to the rule.” She
stepped toward me and I stepped back, wary. She extended her hand
and I eyed it warily. “Let’s get this done. Sorry to disappoint,
but I don’t peer into your palm and trace lines. Hold my hand, I
won’t bite.”

Taking a deep breath, I reached out and
clasped the undersized hand in mine. Ana’s pupils dilated into
coin-sized black holes, swallowing the whites of her eyes. The skin
on my fingers started to tingle.

“Incredible,” she breathed.

Her body became motionless, and her eyes
hooded. They flickered rapidly trying to watch a million things at
once. My hand grew hot and she gripped me tighter. I flinched to
pull away, but she held on, astonishingly strong. She shrieked, a
loud, short sound of pain and denial. A pulse of energy shot down
my arm, and my hand was wrenched from hers. We staggered back in
shock of the connection being broken, and I curled in on myself,
blowing on my heated palm.

Ana face was clouded with indecision. “Oh
Rae, what have you done,” she whispered.

Conall had a big question in his voice, “What
have you seen?”

Ana said nothing, but watched me absorbedly.
“Could you give us some space?”

He hesitated, but then nodded. Releasing me
he blurred into a sprint and rocketed out of sight. Again, it
seemed demons were not big on goodbyes. After a few seconds deep
silence, I fidgeted at how intense Ana had become. My eyes darted
to and from her gaze that never wavered from its mark.

“Rae, you have many futures but two are
clear. You stand at a precipice and I’m telling you, for your own
sake you need to step back.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” I made a
helpless gesture.

“The vampire, I see him in your future. He
hails the end of people you care about and those you have not yet
met. Hear me.” Ana stepped forward, hand outstretched and face
anguished. “You must stop what you’re doing. Turn away from that
future. Plain enough for you?”

Understanding came to me then, and a name
slipped through my parted lips. “Tomas.”

She paled to gray. “I warned Breandan he
would seek you out. I thought he was deflected. They’ve been
hunting him for nearly a month now.” She swallowed, her unsteady
breathing plainly revealing her angst. “You must stay away from
him. He is bad news,” she said. “You have no idea what he is
capable of. If he gets a hold on you we will be lost.”

“You don’t have to worry.” I tired to sound
calm and reassuring because she was freaking out. Her face was all
red and her hands waved about in the air frantically. “He’s okay.
He just wants to talk. I’ll hear him out and then he’ll go.”

“You don’t really believe that, do you? That
a vampire has risked his life to come and tell you something then
run away into the night and leave you be?”

I flushed. It did sound improbable that Tomas
would want to tell me something then leave, but what else could he
want?

“You have to tell me what’s going on.”

Ana did not answer. Instead she drew herself
up and was glaring at me again.

“There was a decision I did not understand,
but now I see.” A sound of frustration gurgled in the back of her
throat. “I will not look further down that road, it is a disaster.
If you keep this secret about Maeve for much longer, it’ll be the
beginning of the end. Breandan may seem cold at times, but he needs
to be able to trust you. It is my purpose to reveal what counts,
but if
I
tell him Maeve may be… If I tell him everything
falls apart.” I said and did nothing. I stood and stared at
nothing, because once again I hadn’t a clue what was going on. Ana
cocked her head. “He hasn’t explained anything to you, has he?”

“We only met this morning and he’s been busy
hunting Tomas.”

Who I’m hiding in my wardrobe,
I added
silently. Realizing I’d rallied to Breandan’s defense, I pressed my
lips together.

Exasperated, a hand flew to her hips, and she
tutted. “Lochlann, Breandan’s older brother is the leader of a
group of fairies who have broken away from Devlin’s rule, and
therefore the Tribe. Rebels.”

My mouth flapped open. “What?” I spluttered.
“Fairies have Tribes?”

Ana yawned, rubbed at her ear. “There is only
one Tribe,
the
Tribe, ruled over by the fairy High Lord,
Devlin. Lochlann is a lord too, from one of the older families.
After disagreeing with Devlin about…” Her eyes flicked back to me,
and she dropped the end of her sentence. “He took his family and a
few others with him. Then he left a month ago, and didn’t say why
or where he was going. He just left us.” Her shoulders jerked once.
“Some panicked and started to lose faith. A few even went back to
Devlin.”

Shaking my head, I caught up, and frowned.
“Breandan took his place?”

She went pink and scowled at the floor. “He
was as confused as the rest of us. Lochlann is not weak or fickle.
He had a reason for leaving, but it’s hard to keep faith in such
times as these. Breandan and Maeve had their own private battle as
to what should be done to lead the others until he returned. But
neither of them said anything directly
to
Lochlann’s
followers to soothe them. Once, when it was really bad, I touched
Breandan trying to get his attention, and I saw his future.” She
sighed and rubbed her head. “Before I thought it through I blurted
it all out. Naturally the rebels turned to him to lead.”

“What did you see?”

“Breandan standing over Devlin, victorious
with a fairy-girl stood beside him. I saw alternates of course, but
when the fairy was gone Breandan failed and died. Lochlann comes
back to his brother’s body and turns his back on us.”

Of course I was going to ask, “So, who’s the
fairy-girl?”

“Seriously? I have to answer that
question?”

Pressing a hand to my throat, I searched for
the invisible fingers crushing it. “How did you know where to find
me?”

“I saw you and Breandan running hand in hand
behind the Wall. You wore the green blazer with the Sect sigil. Oh,
the fact you are training to be a Cleric went down a treat with the
rebels, by the way.” She sighed. “Damn that boy, I’d kick his ass
if I didn’t owe him. He played such a dangerous game.”

I sunk to my knees amongst the leaves and
settled down onto my bum, legs flopping weakly in front of me. My
hands burrowed into the dry dirt either side of me, and fisted
beneath the surface.

“What game? How is any of this a game?”

“Wrong choice of words.” She waved her hands
in apology. “Breandan sought you out, no matter how much he may try
to deny it. The moment I told him what I saw, he wanted to see you,
but it’s screwed things up. I always saw you bumping into each
other and your love growing. I told him to stay away, that the time
for your meeting would happen naturally. Then I found out he was
spying on you for the last month.” She smiled. “This morning when
you saw him, by the slope before you fell, he didn’t help you up
because I called him away. You were not supposed to meet like that.
But when you got lost the future changed again, and in pops the
vampires chance.” She grimaced and looked down at her hands. “But I
guess, it’s my own fault for blurting out the truth.”

“A few things are starting to make sense,” I
said, and breathless, lifted a finger to signal time out.

I thought of how Breandan reacted toward me
the first time we’d met. He’d been horrified at who I was, annoyed
at me, and yet so persistent. Always coming back no matter how many
times I told him to back off, so sure that I had to listen and
trust him. My wings curled around me, and my tail flicked about
behind me disturbing stone and insect. It was daunting to hear
someone you had just met and were beginning to feel something for
had known you, and what you would become a long time before you
knew they existed.

“And Devlin? How did he find out? I doubt
Breandan would have proclaimed my existence to the Tribe.” I
remembered the reluctance in his expression when he held me for the
first time. And I remembered his words,
the white witch was
right and now I’ll never hear the end of it.
“And as much as
you tell me he wanted me meet me; I have a hard time believing
it.”

Ana pulled her top up and I recoiled. The
skin across her stomach was a ghastly sight of lumpy flesh and pink
scars. “The Tribe caught me and I was not strong enough to hold my
tongue.” Pulling the top back down a tear rolled down her cheek.
Scrubbing it away she looked disgusted at herself for showing
weakness. “Breandan saved me, and carried me to Conall for healing.
But the cuts were done with magic, and Devlin’s consort, Wasp,” she
spat the name, “is a tricky bitch with a special gift for knife
work.”

I yanked my hair a few times, the feeling of
helplessness threatening to overwhelm me. “Only you’ve foretold
this showdown between Breandan, Devlin and me?”

“There has been no one with such a strong
gift of Sight in a long time. I’m good and my gift has yet to
improve but trust me, I’m never wrong.”

“You can’t see things, say, fifty years from
now?”

“That’s not how it works. I don’t see
visions, I see future possibilities,” she explained wiggling her
fingers and nose. “I look at you or touch you and in my head I see
you taking different actions, making decisions and the future steps
you take altering because of them. Like ghost images moving on top
of what I see. It’s hard for me to attach time to it or remember it
all. It doesn’t help I have a memory like a sieve. I judge time by
appearance and significant events.” Ana’s creased face broke into a
playful grin. “Sounds mental.”

“I hate to admit it, but you’re one of the
sanest people I’ve met today.”

“I’m the most awesome person you’ve met.”

There was a question that pressed on my mind.
I didn’t want to seem self-absorbed, but the more I ignored it the
louder intuition chimed it meant something, something big and
scary.

“When I first met Breandan, he touched me and
it felt…strange. Then he said something about us no longer having a
choice. That is was sealed. And a while ago Conall said he sensed
something odd. I think he was feeling the…the after effect of
whatever it was.”

Ana sucked in a breath. “Ah, that surprised
even me, and boy did I feel it. The disturbance slammed into me
like a sledge-hammer. Others sensitive to such things would have
sensed it too. The moment it happened the future shifted so
dramatically it gave me a killer headache.” She turned her head and
her eyes echoed her reaction to whatever future she saw moving over
me. They looked haunted. “But it does explain why you and Breandan
coming together is so important. The connection itself, well, it’s
happened once before and it didn’t end well.” I threaded my fingers
through the grass at my side and waited. Ana focused hard on my
face then looked away. “You must avoid speaking of it, Rae. Don’t
tell anyone,” she said in a rush. “There are those who will not
accept.”