A Demon Made Me Do It (9 page)

No matter how fast or far I run, I’m
never able to escape the nightmare that continually haunts me. I
can’t outrun the feelings of anger, hopelessness and regret that
plague my mind. I can’t hide from the shameful disgust that eats me
up inside

It’s all my
fault…everything that happened to Michael, Kayla, me and Liora…it’s
all because of me…because I was
weak.
Because I was
afraid.

Bones rests his head on my lap
lovingly as I sob into my hands. Then he pulls away. A moment later
he sits beside me, his naked body now that of a man. When he wraps
his muscular arms around me, I weep freely on his shoulder. His
skin is as soft as butter and he holds me tight, caressing my hair
and whispering soothing words into my ear.

I cry and cry until I can cry no
more.

******

After what feels like hours, I slowly
raise my tearstained face and look in Bones’ eyes. “If you ever
tell anyone about this, I’ll find a loophole in the immortality law
and kill you. Slowly. And I’ll invent new ways to make it hurt
first.”

He gently wipes away a tear trickling
down my cheek. “Your secret is safe with me. Besides, who’d ever
believe me anyway? That bad-ass Lucky has such a soft spot for some
Sapies,” he whispers.

“
They weren’t just
any
Sapies.”

“
I know.”

He reluctantly lets me pull
from his embrace and I pace around, taking deep breaths, trying to
regain my composure. My eyes burn, and I’m sure my make-up is
ruined. But I don’t care. I spot an old tree with a massive
trunk.
Perfect
.
With all my might I push it until I hear a loud
crack
. I step back as the mighty tree
tumbles to the ground.

“
Feel any
better?”

I don’t, but I nod anyway.

“
I’m really glad you did
that. That tree was giving me the heebie-jeebies.”

I swallow a smile.

“
Where were you planning on
going tonight?” he asks. “’Cause wherever it is, I’m going with
you.” I turn to admire his beautiful nude form splayed against the
rocks. Under the dull light of the moon he looks like a statue of a
god.

“
Dressed like that?” I ask
with a hint of a smile.

He glances down and arches
an eyebrow. “Right you are. Didn’t quite think this through.
I
do
need to mate
though. Badly. Suppose we could break into a house around here and
‘steal me something to wear…’” He adds air quotes, and I know he
cares nothing about clothes.

“
But if you need to,
um,
work
, I don’t
think you will find what you’re looking for where I’m going. It’s a
nightclub, and not a very nice one,” I add in response to his
quizzical look.

He nods, understanding. Bones has a
very specific type of female he’ll seduce: Between the ages of
seventeen and twenty-two, beautiful, healthy and intelligent. One
who doesn’t smoke, drink, or use any drugs, and most importantly, a
virgin who is at the peak of her fertility cycle. Girls like that
probably aren’t hanging out at a seedy downtown nightclub in the
middle of the week.

“
Well, then, I’ll just
search the nearby area. Find a partner in a home that is not
brightly lit. Call for me when you’re done, and we’ll meet back
up.”

“
I’m tormenting a few
regulars after. They’ve been let off easy the past few nights so I
have some making up to do.”

“
You gonna hit up Old Lady
Sullivan?”

I nod.

“
Cool. I’ll meet you there.
I love watching you freak her out.” Of course he does. Mary
Sullivan castrated eleven men before murdering them and burying
their bodies in her backyard. So far the police and her neighbors
have no clue what she’s done. But I know. And now she’s a
regular.

“
Okay.” I shuffle over to
where he’s standing and give him a hug. “Thanks for being
here…thanks for everything,” I whisper.

“
No problem, kiddo.” His
voice sounds thick. I pull back, touched by the compassion in his
mahogany eyes.

“
Go. You obviously need to
mate. Get it out of your system.” With a smile, I gently push him
away. I never want him to know how much it bothers me that he has
to go do
that
.
When he finds his perfect virgin, seduces her, and impregnates her
with his seed—I know he has no choice. If he doesn’t continually
reproduce with Sapies, his function as an incubus—one who is
capable of assuming human form and being my
friend
—will cease to exist. He’ll
become and remain a Hound of Hell permanently, forced to guard our
sacred realm for all of eternity.

But it really bothers me. I hate
thinking of him lying with all those women, flooding them with his
intoxicating powers of romance and seduction. I hate knowing he
gives them something he can never give me. I hate knowing—no matter
what—I’ll always be forced to share his affections with nameless,
faceless girls who provide him with a reason for
existing.

And I hate myself even more
for feeling this way. I am a Justice demon, for Satan’s sake! I’m
supposed to be free from passion and operate only on reason and
rationality,
not
be subjected to crying fits of anger and the discomfort of
petty jealousies. What a crock of crap it is. Totally
illogical.
And pathetic.
What do I expect him to do…sit around and pine
over me night after night? Tell me he loves me more than anything
else and can’t bear the thought of living eternity without me? That
I’m his one true reason for breathing and without me his life has
no meaning?

Yeah…dream
on
. Demons don’t work like that. Only
Sapies get all wrapped up with their crazy emotions. Something
that, thanks to Liora, seeps into my life where it shouldn’t. At
least demons have the ability—
and good
sense
—to shut off the feelings they don’t
want to feel. Not Sapies, though. They seem to enjoy being enslaved
by them.

But I can’t blame Bones for any of my
madness. He’s just as incapable of ignoring his demonic desires as
I am of ignoring my tainted-by-human ones.

“
You sure you’re okay?”
Bones asks, studying my face.

“
I’m fine…promise. Tonight
is just what the doctor ordered. Carnage followed by torment. Can’t
wait.” I fake a small smile.

“
Okay…well, I’ll catch up
with you at Old Lady Sullivan’s. And be careful…don’t get too cocky
out there,” he says with a wink.

“
Yeah, same to
you.”

For a brief moment we stare into each
other’s eyes, both of us feeling what neither can say. Then, with a
grin as sinful as the devil himself, Bones shakes and quivers,
gracefully landing on two large paws. He lets out a lustful howl
and sprints toward a remote farmhouse in the distance.

I take a deep breath and head toward
the bright lights of the city.

******

About twenty miles from the
club, I wave my hand at a passing motorist who instantly screeches
his car to a halt. Now that I’m out in the open I can’t run
anymore, not without attracting the type of attention we all try to
avoid. It makes our lives easier to keep the Sapies in the dark
about certain things. If they
really
knew what was going on right
under their noses…

I pop my head inside the passenger
window of the luxurious Mercedes. A well-dressed middle-aged couple
sit side by side, both wearing the blank fixated look of someone
under my spell. People are just too easy.

“
Take me to the Galaxy
nightclub on the corner of Fifth and Main,” I command the driver as
I let myself in the back. The man instantly makes a dangerous and
illegal U-turn and begins driving to my destination.

The couple remains silent,
as I have no desire for them to speak. I stare out the window at
the whizzing scenery and try not to think of Bones—what he is
doing
right now
. I
glance at the seat beside me; there’s a playbill and a bouquet of
flowers.
Aww, how cute.
Is it date night?
But
this couple appears to be in their fifties or sixties; certainly
they are not still subject to the ridiculous rituals of
romance…

“
Why are there flowers
here?”

Both remain silent.

“
You may speak,” I
say.

The couple look at each other, unsure
who should answer. I roll my eyes. “Man…answer me.”

“
They are Irena’s favorite.
I give her these flowers on the twenty-second of every
month.”

“
Why?”

“
Because she likes them,
and they make her happy. I like making her happy.”

“
No, I mean why on the
twenty-second?”

“
That is the day we met. It
is the day we were married. It is the day our son was
born.”

How
touching
. “You do this every
month?”

“
Yes.”

“
How long have you been
doing this?”

“
Thirty-seven years and
three months.”

My eyes narrow. Surely this
can’t be true. But under my spell Sapies are incapable of lying.
This man
is
telling me the truth. “You mean to tell me that every single
month for the past thirty-seven years you celebrate the day you met
and got married, and you bring her her favorite
flowers?”

“
It is also the day our son
was born,” he reminds me. “I missed one month because I was in the
hospital. But then it was she who brought the flowers to
me.”

My curiosity piqued, I lean
forward. This man’s story intrigues me. I knew that some Sapies
stayed together for long periods of time, but I didn’t think they
actually
liked
it.

“
Tell me, do you love your
wife as much as you did when you were first married?”

The man stares straight ahead in a
zombie-like trance. “No,” he replies.

I slump back in my
seat.
Yup. That’s what I
thought
.

“
I love her much, much
more,” he finishes.

A strange, achy emptiness spreads over
my chest. “Have you ever loved another?” I ask.

“
That would be
impossible.”

“
Have you ever wanted to be
with another woman?”

“
Not for one
second.”

A sense of bewilderment fills me.
Surely this wasn’t possible… “Have you ever cheated on her?” I ask,
somewhat desperately.

“
I would rather cut off my
own hand than touch another woman with it the way I touch my
wife.”

I slink down lower in my seat. “Would
you die for her?” I whisper.

“
Happily. A million times
over.”

Suddenly, I feel very sad.
And
very
alone.

“
Pull over,” I demand even
though we’re still several miles away from the club. The man
immediately obeys and screeches the car to a halt. As I get out, I
give them one final order. “You never saw me, I was never here. You
took a wrong turn, but now you are on your way home.”

The couple drives off, and
I walk the rest of the way to the club. What is wrong with me? Why
am I having such an emotional reaction to that man’s story? This is
the kind of stuff
she
loves
…she’s always reading sappy
romance novels. I just saw one in real life.

So why do I feel so sad? Why can I
feel Liora’s heart breaking inside of me?

I don’t like the answer that fills my
mind, but I cannot deny what I know to be true.

I shake my head, trying to force the
thought away, but it creeps back into my gut.

I’m sad because this will never, ever,
happen for me.

Or for her.

We are destined to live without ever
experiencing that kind of love.

This
is our ultimate curse.

Chapter 5.
Liora

Normally I dread the mile
and a half trek through the woods to Dove Creek High. Not the walk
itself—
that
part I
enjoy—but the fact that I have a long day of misery ahead of
me.

But not today.

Today, I feel more alive
than any day in recent memory—as if all the mixed-up pieces inside
me had miraculously rearranged and lined up in proper order. For
the first time, I’m actually looking
forward
to school. Just knowing he’ll
be there, nearby, makes me feel I can endure almost
anything.

I know I’m setting myself up for a
dangerous disappointment. I know nothing can ever happen between
Kieron and me, just as I know he’s only talking to me so I can help
him with his studies. Guys like him go for sexy girls like
Drusilla, or gentle southern sweethearts like Samantha Morgan. He’s
new, so he hasn’t figured out how the social system works yet. But
he will soon enough, and then he’ll want nothing to do with me. I’m
sure of it.