Demon Kissed (19 page)

Swallowing hard, I shook my face out of his grip. I answered, “You've never been so wrong.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Shannon emerged from the crowd with a surprised look on her face. She inserted herself between Collin and
I
, and then pulled me away from the staring eyes of the crowd we'd attracted. Nothing was said. Nothing had to be. I could see the look on her face, and I saw the thanks she nodded at Collin before she drove me home.

Soaked to the bone, I sat in her car, and blasted the heater in my face. Every attempt was made not to take out my anger on Shannon. I did something incredibly stupid, and got caught.

After a long silence she said, “Dumping you in cold water was the best thing he
coulda
did for you.” Turning my wet head, I stared at her. My eyebrow shot up, as my mouth fell open. She was siding with him? “No,” she said. “I'm serious. For Martis, cold water is like a reset button. It has the same shocking effect that cold water has on humans, but without any of the risk of hypothermia. The cold is supposed to purge ailments from immortals. Did it help?”

“Help?”
I chattered.
“Help!
No, it didn't help. He threw me in cold water, in front of everyone. Now, I'll be the wet virgin.
Awh
, suck.
That's so much worse!” My head slumped forward, as I clutched my face.

“Ivy, you're an idiot,” her sharp words shot through my pride in a way uniquely Shannon. “I'm not talking about your social standing. There's no way that little display helped your social life.
Although the skaters may avoid you now.”
She smiled, suppressing a laugh. “Did it help you purge whatever was bugging you? I'm assuming the idea of being around Eric, and knowing who he is, had you freaked. Are you better now?”

 
“Maybe.”
She glared at me while I sulked. “Okay, yes. It helped. That’s gone for now. But won't it just come back?”

She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, “Only if you let it.” Her face took on a star struck expression. “I wish I had enough guts to throw you in a fountain.” She laughed, “It's almost like he knew that would snap you out of it. Too bad he's not a Martis.” She wagged her eyebrows at me.

I stared at her in disbelief.
“
Awh
crap, Shan.
Now you like him? You can't like him. You hate his guts. He hates you. You can't like each other. My head will implode.”

The car came to a stop, a few doors down from my house. She smiled at me. “Maybe he's not so bad. I mean, he kept you from indulging your inner-Valefar. Ivy, Martis don't sleep around. That could have damaged the ratio of your inner good to bad. We don't know what hurls you into the prophecy. Collin may have kept you from making a huge mistake.” She shrugged, “So, maybe he's not so bad.”

“Come inside. I need to tell you something—about him—and me.” Seeing an odd look cross her face, I quickly added, “And it's not what you think.”

After I changed into dry clothes, I felt better. Oddly, the dunk didn't leave me chilled all night. It felt more like jumping into a cool pool on an insanely hot day. I felt refreshed, and the crushing fear was gone. Shannon sat at the foot of my bed. I plopped down on the pillows by the headboard.

“Shannon,” I said, “I think I've done something to Collin. I didn't tell anyone else about it, because I thought it might be Valefar induced.”

Shannon nodded, green eyes widening. “Ivy, what'd you
do
?”

Taking a deep breath, I continued, “I don’t know. He can hear me. And I can hear him. It's like mind reading, but more vivid. This sounds weird, but it feels like our spirits are intertwined—like we're bonded or something. Tell me you've heard of this?” I gripped my fingers tightly.

She leaned back against the wall, looking very intrigued. “It's only with Collin? Not anyone else?”

I nodded, “Only him.”

“Hmmm. Seyers have unique powers the rest of us don't, but I'm not aware of anything like this. But, it doesn't mean it's not there. It means I'm not a Seyer.” She pulled her hair over her shoulder, twirling the ends.

“Who told you I'm a Seyer?” I asked. “I skipped that part earlier today.”

She shrugged, “Eric called me. I thought that probably added to your freak out, so I tried to track you down. By the time I found you, Collin had you in the fountain.”

“The Seyer thing didn't help,” I acknowledged. “Al made it clear she knows I'm different, although she didn't say she knows what I am. She seems to think I'll do stuff. I have no idea if she knows that I’m tainted.
But this?
Shannon...” I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. “I'm afraid it'll hurt him. I don't know what it is, and whatever this is, this bond, it’s changing. It feels different. In the past I could only hear his thoughts by looking him in the eye and touching him. But tonight there was no need for either of those things. He heard me anyway.”

Shannon was quiet before she asked, “Did anything else change?”

Thinking about it, I wasn't sure. The anger earlier had clouded everything else. Nodding, I said, “I can
feel
the bond. It felt like an old rubber band, tugging me toward him. When we separated, it didn't like it. It felt stretched beyond comfort, and then it snapped. I was so mad, I didn't notice.”

“You need to talk to Al. She's your mentor. She'd know if bonding like that is Martis or not.” She sat up, looking at me.

“It's the
or not
part that concerns me,” I said.

School the next day sucked. I managed to ruin my reputation, and flamed Eric's in one glorious streak. There were hushed whispers of stopped conversations when I walked by. From what I heard, I cheated on Eric with skater-boy, which was horrible, because everyone thought Eric was a sweet guy. How could anyone do something like that to him? Then I was accused of having a fling with Collin, which is why he tossed me in the fountain in a jealous rage. Basically, I was crowned class slut. Nicole, of course, was thrilled with Collin's humiliating actions. She made sure to tease me, as I walked into my first period class.

Mr. Turner paired everyone up for class work, and I had the joy of working with one of Nicole's drones. Lily had an oval face, platinum blond hair, and bright red fingernails. She also had the trademark big boobs that made Nicole's clique noticeable. She sneered at me when I scooted my desk over. “That was trampy—even for you.” Her lips pulled back into a disgusted expression, as she glared at me.

“Whatever, Barbie.
Let's just do the work.” I couldn't look at her. Normally the clones didn't bother me, and their chatter rolled off my back, but I felt raw. Her words stung.

She sneered, hissing as she leaned closer to me. “What's it gonna take for you to notice him? It's cruel—what you do—leading him on.
Dating any other guy.
Sucking face with some skater freak, when he's right in front of you.”

I dropped my pen, and glared at her. “I am not leading Collin on. Listen, I...”

She cut me off before I could finish the rest of my thought. “No, you listen, you little slut,” she sneered poking her pen into my arm. “Nicole didn't want me to say anything, but I can't stand watching you torture Collin anymore. Since you're too stupid to notice, I'm telling you—he loves you. Get it through your thick skull.” My mouth fell open in disbelief, but I couldn’t get a word in. She hissed, “A guy doesn't act like that for a fling. He doesn't scoop up a girl and carry her away from another guy if he's just a friend. The rest of us hang on him, but he doesn't notice us, we're like air—invisible.
But not with you.
Never with you.
He runs after you, checks on you, does stuff for you, gave you that ring you're wearing. He loves you. Stop treating him
like
crap.”

Shaking my head, I said, “He doesn't love me. It's just lust.
Or something.”

Her perfect eyebrow shot up. “Tell yourself whatever you want, but you better stop hurting Collin. Nicole's gonna kill you. And I can't stand you either.” Her words hung in the air. The horrible certainty that her clones thought he loved me, made me feel sick. If he did love me, the way I acted was horrifying. No. They couldn't be right. It wasn't possible. This was payback for messing with Nicole last night. Collin couldn't love me. He couldn't.

The rest of the day passed, and I dreading seeing Eric. People were talking about him and it was entirely my fault. I didn't know how he'd respond. When I turned the hallway to the bio room, I saw Eric leaning on the wall. His arms were folded, as he watched me approach. My pace slowed. The burn of humiliation rose to my cheeks. When I reached him I said, “Eric, let me explain.”

His amber eyes were cold. He lowered his face to mine, and said, “Explain. Explain how you could do something like that. You didn't even know him.” Straightening, he stepped back.

“Eric...” the bell rang. His disappointment deflated my desire to fight back. My entire defense, the need to conceal the demon blood coursing through my veins melted. I couldn’t hide this anymore. It was eating me alive and destroying every friendship I had.
 
Horrified, I heard the words slipping out of my mouth before I could stop them. “Eric, I'm not like you. I'm different. There's darkness inside me that I can't control. Yesterday, I heard you talking about killing someone, permanently. I was overloaded. I can't stand the thought.
Oh God, Eric.”
The confession spilled over my lips before I could choke it back, “It's me. I’m the one you’re looking for.”

His lips cracked into a smile, as he laughed. He put his hand on my shoulder acting utterly amused. “That's what freaked you out? You think you're the one we're looking for?” He laughed some more, shaking his head. “I suppose that warranted your reaction, but I assure you,” he smiled, “I'm not hunting
you
.”

He didn't believe me!
Unbelievable.
I told the Seeker the one he was hunting was standing right in front of him, and he blew me off! I felt irritated, but it also assured that I was well hidden. He didn't suspect me at all. From the look on his face, he thought I was foolish for thinking such a thing. Eric forgave me easily. It was part of his charm, but it also made it harder. There would be a time when he realized who I was. The betrayal was going to be horrifying, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

My mood was crap by the time I got to the nun. Sister Al was telling me about the premonition type of Seyer-
ing
that happened before a vision, when I blurted out the question that I was dying to ask, “Is it normal for a Seyer to have a heightened sense of another person?”

Her wrinkled face seemed surprised by my question. “No. That
ain’t
normal, but none of us is the same. And you were cut from a different mold, child. Any fool can see that.
Why you
askin
’?”
Her old eyes held mine.

I couldn’t look away. I wanted to tell her. I wanted to trust her. But my mouth wouldn’t spill the truth. I shrugged. “I thought maybe we just had heightened senses in general.”

She replied, “Ask your question, if you got one.”

“I have a connection with another person. It’s like we can hear each other’s thoughts. It feels very - weird.” I paused. She didn’t look at me like I was insane, so I began again slowly forming the words that described our bond. “And the connection, this bond we have, it's growing. When I try to pull away from this person, it’s starting to physically hurt. Something inside me is being stretched. And it snaps when I leave.” I stopped there, expecting her to tell me I was nuts.

“Hmm.
It's not with everyone—only one person?” Her ancient fingers made a tee pee on her chin.

“Only one,” I breathed.

Her old eyes considered me. “And it’s changing?”

I nodded, “Yeah. It’s getting stronger. In the beginning, it was only a sensation. Then it required eye contact or touch. I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep my secrets to myself. Like the Martis. What do I do?”

Her face was serious, as she tapped her upper lip. I expected this sage to have all the answers that I would need for the rest of my life. I hung on her words, waiting for them to enlighten me, and get me out of this mess. Her answer was shocking. “No idea, but that’s an interesting situation. You’ll have to let me know how it turns out.”