The Devil's Fool (Devil Series Book One) (17 page)

But my pleasure was short lived.

Boaz pushed me away. “I want to give you a surprise first.”

“I don’t want a surprise. I just want you.” I took my turn of kissing his face, but he stopped me again.

“I have to leave town for a while. In the next few hours, in fact.”

“Now? What for?”

“To work on the surprise.”

“I don’t want a surprise.”

“But I want to give it,” he said with more force.

“How long will you be gone?”

“Maybe a week.”

I leaned back into the steering wheel and pouted. “A week? No good. I’ll go crazy.”

“You’ll survive. I promise it will be worth it.” He moved to lift me off his lap, but I clung to him.

“Not yet,” I said and slipped my hand under his shirt.

He raised an eyebrow, a smile threatening to break. “By all means, love. I am yours to command.”

***

Boaz left as promised. It was strange to have him gone. It was the first time we’d been separated in months. The first day, I was bored out of my mind, TV unable to keep my attention. And I didn’t even bother trying to read. The most entertainment I found was using my magic to play tricks on the servants, but even that dulled with no one around to laugh with me.

I needed to go somewhere.
Do
something. The power within me was swelling and needed to be released. A solution came when the phone rang at two in the morning. It was Liane inviting me on a spur of the moment trip to New York City.

“William will meet us there, and we’ll cause all sorts of trouble for New Yorkers. It will be great. We’ll be just like our great grandmothers.”

I couldn’t say “yes” fast enough.

The next day at noon, Liane picked me up. I enjoyed her company almost as much as Boaz’s. She was spontaneous and fun and wasn’t afraid of anything. Her lack of fear had gotten us into trouble more times than I could count, but the adventure was always worth it.

“Don’t you think it’s time you cut your hair?” Liane asked, eyeing me sideways as she maneuvered her car onto the road.

I flipped down the passenger vanity mirror. I had curled my long hair into big waves. It looked okay. “Is it really that bad?”

“It’s just so goodie-goodie. You need a punk style or something that makes a statement. Something that says ‘watch out, here I come!’” Liane snapped her head to the driver’s side window. “Did you see that?”

I glanced around. “What?”

“Up ahead. A man just passed me.”

“Oh no,” I moaned. Liane hated to be passed.

She stepped on the accelerator until she was even with the car that had passed her. “Watch this.” She rolled down her window and said something under her breath. The tire on the man’s vehicle popped, sending his car out of control. I looked back just in time to see the car hit a truck, spin around a few times, and finally crash into a guard rail.

I laughed. “That was horrible!”

That one potentially deadly prank set the tone for the remainder of the trip. Together, with William, we constantly tried to one-up each other in our viciousness toward others. At one point, we had the police chasing us through the streets, but a five-car pileup blocked the pursuit, thanks to William.

I no longer saw the faces of the victims we tortured. I reveled in the power I had over others and used it merely for my own entertainment.

When I returned home, Boaz was waiting for me in the bedroom. I immediately threw my arms around him. “You’re home early!”

“I can’t stay. I only returned to get a few more supplies.”

My eyes narrowed. “For my surprise?”

“For your surprise. Where have you been?”

“I went with Liane and William to the city. We had a killer time.”

“I’m glad, but I would feel better if I was with you. It’s still dangerous.” He sat on a sofa across from the bed.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to mess with me.” I removed my coat and walked over to him and fell into his lap. “When are you leaving again?”

“In a few hours. I’m very close to fulfilling your dream. Soon, love. We will be together and unstoppable.”

He tilted my chin and kissed me deeply. Gripping me tightly, he lifted my body and carried me to the bed. The air thickened and the electric current between us grew as it often did when we were so close. I stared into Boaz’s eyes; a dark mist swirled in great swells as our combined power gave him a natural high. He smiled, but not at me, and I knew it. He was smiling at the power.

***

Boaz was gone the next morning, leaving no note saying when he would return. It bothered me that he was away from me so much. Working on a surprise? Unlikely. I thought about it all morning before choosing to ignore the uncomfortable scratching at the back of my mind. Boaz would never turn against me. I was way more powerful than him.

I decided to go somewhere, too. To the city for a few days. Relax. I knew several supernaturals there I could party with, or I could likely get Liane to come again. And if by chance Boaz came home and I wasn’t there, then too bad. I wasn’t going to wait around. Besides, the dark power inside me was already festering again. I was afraid if I didn’t leave, I might hurt the mansion or those working inside it. Like Boaz, dark energy was incapable of holding still.

It was raining in New York; it dripped from the gray sky like a faucet that wouldn’t shut off, making the city smell like a wet dog. I left the Cardigan Hotel, my umbrella tight in my hand, and headed toward 5th Avenue. That was where I would find the most people. Complete strangers that meant absolutely nothing to me. I would use my magic against them, giving me the release I desperately needed. Already my insides were beginning to hurt. The dark power within me could only be satisfied by pain and suffering—whether mine or another’s, it didn’t care. I preferred it be another.

A cold wind swept up an abandoned newspaper. It swirled at my feet before it was carried away into the night. I pulled my coat tighter around me and mouthed the word “Caldor”. Invisible warmth blanketed my entire body.

I toured the city alone, walking from 5th Avenue to Central Park West. I’d never been alone like this, but I wasn’t worried. It was everyone else that should be worried. Too bad no one warned them of my arrival.

I destroyed and hurt whoever and whatever I could without causing too much attention. People tripped, glass shattered, dogs bit. All freak “accidents”. With every curse or incantation I uttered, dark magic left me, and I no longer felt like I was being stretched from the inside out.

As the hour grew late, I sat on a lone bench in Central Park to watch the full moon rise over the city. A few minutes later, a couple huddled together in quiet conversation walked by me. I was about to mentally shove the man into the woman, but something stopped me.

I rose from my seat and followed after them, frustrated by their obvious affection for each other. I was in love, too, but they looked different—they looked happy.

Why am I not happy?

The more I watched them, the angrier I became. They stopped just before 5th Avenue to stare into each other’s eyes. The tall man placed his hands on the woman’s face, paused, and then kissed her tenderly. I could almost taste the revulsion in my mouth.

With one word and a flick of my wrist, I exploded the tire of an approaching delivery van. It swerved and veered off the road and into the park. The driver’s eyes were wide as he gripped the steering wheel tightly, seemingly to try and gain control of the direction of his vehicle. But I wouldn’t let him.

The van hit the kissing couple head on. The woman flew up and over the car, while the man went under it. They didn’t scream. I didn’t give them time.

For a few minutes, I watched as others attended to the man and woman. Everyone was so concerned. Even a teenage girl, surely a complete stranger to the couple, was crying.

Ridiculous.

The injured woman’s leg moved, and she moaned. She would live. I wasn’t convinced the man would, though. A person was sitting over him, pressing their palms into his chest.

Because I felt nothing, I left.

Back at my park bench, I had barely sat down when a voice asked, “What are you doing?”

Startled, I turned around. In a clump of trees behind me, the dark silhouette of a man stood tall.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” he said. His voice was deep and smooth.

“I was minding my own business, which you should do too.”

“You’re going to stop hurting people, starting
now
. Do you understand?” His figure shifted a fraction of an inch.

“Why don’t you come over here so I can see you?” I dared him, wanting to know who or what would talk to me like this.

“You will stop,” he said.

If he wouldn’t come to me, then I would go to him. I stood up and rounded the bench. “Says who?”

“You will leave this city tonight.”

I was almost to him, but his face remained hidden in the shadows. He stood erect, with legs spaced evenly apart and lined directly beneath a thick trunk. From where I first saw him, he appeared massive, but after moving closer, I realized his size was a trick of the light. He looked to be only slightly taller than Boaz.

He stepped from the shadows to meet me, and the light from the full moon shimmered in his incandescent blue eyes. I sucked in a breath. Not because I recognized him as a vampire immediately, but because of a sudden and foreign emotion that washed over me. It felt like joy, but I couldn’t be sure.

Was it possible that I knew him?

The vampire had a square jaw line, a sharp crooked nose that looked like it had been broken a few times, full lips, and hooded, wolf-like eyes. It was his eyes that captivated me the most. They were filled with sorrow. What trauma could’ve filled him with so much pain that his eyes could do nothing else but bleed the strong emotion?

“I meant what I said. You will leave this city tonight,” he said.

“Now why would I do that?”

“You’re hurting innocent people.”

“They were hardly innocent. Did you see what they were doing?”

The vampire’s eyes looked in their direction. Lights from distant emergency vehicles turned the color of the trees red and blue.

“They looked happy,” he said, his voice no louder than the quiet breeze ruffling my hair.

“It was disgusting.”

His gaze turned on my sharply. “I want you gone.”

“I have a better idea. What do you say you and I go have some fun tonight? You look like you could use some loosening up.” I reached for his hand, but when my fingers brushed his, a jolt of what felt like light surged through my body. And, for a brief moment, I had a perfect vision of the innocent girl I used to be. I even heard my younger voice vowing never to become like
them.

He stepped back. “I want nothing to do with your dark magic, Witch.”

I ignored the strange, electric moment that only I seemed to notice. “You know nothing about me. I’m the most powerful witch in the country, probably in the world.”

“Don’t forget most humble.”

“Don’t insult me. You have no idea who I am.”

In a calm, yet frightening voice, he said, “And if you knew who I was, you’d run away screaming.”

I looked him up and down. “I can see who you are. You’re a weak, confused, newbie vampire who—”

Before I could utter another word, his strong hand gripped my neck, and after moving himself and me at lightning speed, he smashed my back into a tree far away from the spot where we’d just been.

I pried at his fingers, trying desperately to get him to release his hold, but he was incredibly strong. I glanced at the limb above me and imagined it smashing down on his head. The limb snapped and fell, but he caught it with his free hand before it even came close to making contact. He was simply too fast.

With fangs barred, he growled, “This is your final warning. Leave now.”

I quickly nodded, awash in an emotion I hadn’t felt in a very long time. Fear. He released his grip, and I tumbled to the ground, sucking in air.

Once recovered, I straightened and smoothed my clothes. “I was about to leave anyway. This city is boring. No one knows how to have fun anymore.”

He looked back toward the city whose lights could be seen above the tops of the trees.

“But before I go, could you answer one question?” I asked. He said nothing so I continued. “Why do you care about them?” I nodded my head toward the people in the city.

“They’re innocent.”

“But you’re a vampire.”

“What’s your point?”

“You have incredible power. You’re greater than they are.”

“Power is a dangerous thing,” he said. He turned and walked away.

Something stirred in my memory, as if I’d once thought the same thing.

“How is it dangerous?” I called after him.

“Be gone within the hour.” He picked up speed.

“Wait!” I tried to catch up, but he had already disappeared.

I stared after him, at the empty space that felt so big. Tears stung my eyes, and I gulped in air.
What was wrong with me?
The faint imprint of the girl I used to be lurked near the edges of my mind, a ghost risen from the grave.

The thought repulsed me. I hated to think how weak I used to be before I met Boaz.

Boaz.

I returned home right away, hoping I would find Boaz there, but he was still gone. I curled up in bed, but I couldn’t get my mind off the vampire I’d met. Over and over, his sorrow-filled gaze tortured me, and an unexplainable gnawing pinged in my gut. I felt pity for him, but it was more than that. It was as if the light from his touch still lingered inside me, and it made me question everything.

That night, when I finally fell asleep, I dreamed I was sitting with the vampire in a field of tall grass, the sun shining brightly. I thought it strange to see a vampire in full light, but he didn’t seem bothered by it in the least. He was curled up on his side, head resting in my lap.

Looking down on him, compassion followed by peace overwhelmed me. The moment seemed to last forever, but the dream didn’t. I woke to the howl of wind blowing outside. A winter storm was approaching. I rolled onto my back and stared at the high ceiling.