Acropolis (14 page)

"I'm going to be blunt. I'm a Demon, and I
don't consider myself a good one," Luther says suddenly.

The class grows quiet. I think I hear a
snort, and I'm pretty sure it's Conor. Luther walks in front of us.
His eyes meet mine briefly, and then moves away.

"All of you are Demons. And, despite the
belief of many, I don't really believe any of you are worth saving.
You want to prove me wrong, now might be a good time."

Lyre pushes away from the wall.

"You admit
you're
bad. What gives
you
the right to live?"

Luther grins, his eyes cold. He targets Lyre,
his hand lifting just enough we all know he's going to attack. She
doesn't move fast enough, and I see her eyes go round. She's
struggling to breathe. Her Guardian steps forward, but Conor takes
him by the arm and shakes his head. Lyre suddenly drops to the
floor, gasping.

"Just so you know, Hellion,
interrupting me is
not
the way
to convince me you should live."

He looks around the room. No one says a word.
I pity Lyre, but I don't move. Something tells me pity is a
weakness.

"I'm not the one here to prove myself. You,
Kiddos, don't have a choice. The world is changing, and you are
caught in the crossfire. You want to live, join the rat race. I'm
not here to promote goodness because I play for the wrong team, and
I'm okay with that. I'm here to show you how to access your powers,
how to make the most of them. What you do with them after that is
up to you. I'm a hybrid, but I'm a powerful one. There will be no
territorial battles with me. You won't win. Understand?"

We all nod. The Guardians are silent, their
eyes full of hatred. For some reason, Luther has been given
sanctuary in order to teach us, and they are not happy about
it.

I was informed there would
be a student who could use my expertise.
The thought
makes me shiver, and I fight to hide it.

"Emma!" Luther shouts, and I jump.

There are snickers as Luther points to the
middle of the room. I walk to the spot he indicates. I don't ask
him how he knows my name. I have come to accept that these people
all know who I am. I just obey. Luther points at Lyre.

"Come," he orders.

Lyre's pride is wounded, and she looks up
expectantly. She's ready for a fight, and she's hoping Luther will
give her one. I see Conor step forward out of the corner of my eye,
but he doesn't interfere.

"She's not ready to fight," a small voice
says pleadingly.

I look over my shoulder and see Deidra's
small frame against the wall. She's too young to be in this class.
Why she's here is not obvious to me, but she must be more powerful
than I'm giving her credit for.

Luther turns to the imp. Deidra backs into
the corner, and Luther shakes his head before facing Lyre and me.
His gaze lands on Lyre, and he waves his hand in my direction.

"Attack her," he says simply.

My heart plummets to my feet, my body
suddenly numb. She is going to kill me. I can feel her hatred, her
need to be the best. I can feel her murderous intent.

"She's not ready."

This time the voice belongs to one of the
gargoyles, and I turn to see Will Reinhardt standing in the open
doorway. Luther stares at him.

"Are you a Guardian, Kid?"

Will swallows hard.

"No, I'm in training. They sent me to
watch."

Luther raises a brow.

"Then watch and leave your mouth shut."

Conor has moved across the room to his
cousin. His jaw is tight. He knows the rules even if Will doesn't,
and it seems the rules include watching me get killed. I tell
myself I don't care. I'm not afraid of death.

"Attack her," Luther repeats, his voice
louder.

Lyre grins, her face transformed by fury as
she lunges. When she hits me, I barely feel it. There isn't enough
time to feel pain. Oddly, I just keep thinking how hard everything
is at the Acropolis. Everything is stone. Cold and hard.

My head slams into a wall, and I feel the
wound on my head reopen. Emotions suddenly flow into me. It is
immediately obvious they aren't mine. There's excitement and
expectation. I'm supposed to get up. I don't want to. It gives Lyre
the chance to attack again, but somehow I move up the wall, my back
against the stone.

A red ball of flame similar to the one I had
thrown at Conor's mom and Rachel flies at me, but I don't deflect
it, and I don't duck. It hits me in my middle, and I am suddenly in
pain. I am burning from the inside out. I think I am screaming, but
I'm not sure. Wait, no . . . I don't have enough breath to scream.
I can't breathe at all. It's Deidra I hear.

"Enough!" I hear Will shout from the wall of
Guardians.

No one else utters a word. One emotion
rips through me stronger than the others, and I know it's
Conor.
Get up
! I crawl back up
the wall.

"Attack," Luther commands.

He's marching on the side of the room, his
eyes red. He's watching me, but his words are for Lyre. She holds
her hands up, and I know suddenly this will be a death blow. I can
feel the anger in the ball of flame that forms. I can feel the
hatred. I can feel the violence. I can feel the jealousy.

She throws her hand forward, and the flame is
moving toward me, her wall of anger slamming into me before the
fire ball, and I feel it course through my body, entering my veins,
and singing through my blood. I don't see anything now. There is
only a red haze. Hatred. I feel it, and my body tells me to revel
in it. I grasp it because it is the only emotion available, and I
am suddenly standing, my hands out. The room is deathly silent. And
when I look down, I am holding flame.

Lyre's face has gone pale. There are murmurs.
I hear the word "impossible", and I know the power I'm holding
isn't mine. It's Lyre's, and it wants release. It wants someone to
die. I lift my hands, my face hard. I am confused, my body singing.
If there was pain before, it is gone, replaced by the feel of
power. I can kill her. I know this, and I want it. I step forward,
my hand lifting.

Suddenly, a hand is wrapped around my wrist.
I don't see Conor through the red haze, but I feel him.

"Throw it down, Emma. A Demon's own power
destroys him. Lyre's power will kill her. You are not a killer.
Throw it down."

My eyes are wide as I stare down at his hand,
at the flames jumping just beyond his tanned fingers. The heat
bothers him, and his hand transforms, turning to stone.

"Throw it down, Em."

I look up, my eyes meeting Lyre's. I don't
know what she sees in my gaze, but she whimpers. I am suddenly
engulfed in her fear. At first, it feeds the hatred. It feels good,
but then it hurts. It makes my stomach turn, tears spring to the
corners of my eyes. Fear I understand. Fear is something the human
Emma pities, loathes.

I close my eyes. The fire is beginning to
burn me now, and Conor's hand lets go. I turn my wrist, throwing
the flame into the stone floor. The force of it throws me into
Conor. He catches me by the shoulders, and then he's gone.

I am left standing facing Lyre, Luther, and a
room full of astonished Demons and Guardians. Luther claps his
hands once and motions Lyre back to the wall. I barely have time to
breathe before he points at Deidra. The imp is shaking now.

"Come!" he shouts.

She slinks to the middle of the room. I still
haven't moved, and he hasn't told me to. Instead, Luther looks at
me, his onyx eyes finding mine.

"Attack," he tells me.

I just stare as the room swells with emotion
again. Astonishment and excitement. And then there are images. I
see glimpses of Deidra playing pranks on the other Demons, her
laugh light and merry as she waits to see their reaction. Her acts
aren't malicious, but she is young, and they are not amused by her
games. I feel her disappointment, and then I feel her fear as other
students attack her. She is strong despite her size, and she gives
a good fight.

"Attack!" Luther shouts.

I look into Deidra's eyes, and I don't
move.

"No," I say. My eyes move to Luther's.
"No!"

The word is strong, loud. Luther's mouth
twitches, the corners lifting just slightly.

"Now
you
," he says as he narrows his eyes.
"
You
might be worth
saving."

Chapter 21

Conor

"What the hell was that?"

Luther is leaning casually against the wall
across from me, his black boot tapping lightly against the ancient
pize flooring. The students have all left. Will is guarding Emma.
She is being moved to the residence hall in the renovated barn. We
all sleep there in a group. It is supposed to encourage comradeship
among the ranks, but it only seems to cause animosity.

"This is a prison, you know," Luther says
while gesturing at the room. I narrow my eyes.

"What else are we supposed to do with them?"
I ask.

Luther shrugs.

"Kill them. Let our side have them," he
suggests.

I'm unable to keep the disgust off my
face.

"So that Satan can use them against
mankind?"

Luther leans forward, his eyes glowing
red.

"Being bad isn't all bad, Reinhardt. You
should try it. Our girl was pretty hot today wasn't she?"

His reference to Emma makes my blood
boil. Luther knows Emma's mother personally. This I am sure of.
Luther is ancient. He has been around almost as long as his older
brother, Marcas. He knows what Emma is capable of.
I
know what Emma is capable
of.

"You are as bad as the rest of them," I
accuse.

Luther laughs.

"I've never pretended to be anything other
than what I am, Reinhardt. You, on the other hand, you don't know
what you are.

"I know exactly what I am," I argue.

Luther pushes away from the wall and circles
me.

"Do you?" he asks. "You, gargoyle, are a
liar. From the moment I met you, I've known you were confused. The
lines between good and evil are blurry. Anyone worth his grain of
salt knows that. If you were so sure the hybrids are all bad, then
why let your best friend leave with my brother?"

My heart is beating now. The rhythm is hard,
angry.

"It was her choice."

"And you did it out of love, right? Keep
telling yourself that, Reinhardt."

Luther has gone too far. I feel myself
changing, my hand turning to stone as I lift it. I know my eyes are
cold, calculating.

"Is it me you want to hurt? Or is it
yourself? You don't love Dayton. You care about her, and you love
her the way you would family, but you don't
love
her," Luther says as he looks at my
hand.

I am in Luther's face now, my fists clenched,
but they are at my sides and heavy.

"You don't know me, Craig."

Luther watches me, his eyes unblinking.

"I know you more than you think I do. I know
you better than your own people do. You can play the hero,
Reinhardt, because you are one. You know as well as I that when the
battle between Heaven and Hell happens, some of us won't be on the
sides we're supposed to be on. And you, Conor, are not made to be
the gargoyle they want you to be. Your past speaks for itself."

I stare at him, my eyes searching his red
pupils.

"What are you referring to, Craig?"

Luther glances at the charred stone floor a
few feet away. It's the mark left behind by Emma.

"You won't marry Rachel. You don't love
Dayton. You were in love with the idea of protecting her," Luther
says. "And you can't lose yourself in women. I know. I've tried in
the past. I've had centuries to try. And you've been with a Demon,
Reinhardt. You tell me who crossed the line."

Luther has connections in the Demon world.
This has been obvious to me since the day the two of us met. He
knows everything and what he doesn't know, he finds out.

"I wasn't aware of what she was when I met
her," I say firmly.

Luther shakes his head.

"Don't tell me you didn't suspect. Lyre is
powerful. Hot headed and jealous and powerful."

I back away from Luther, my gaze still on the
charred stone.

"I
didn't
suspect. I was sixteen and stupid. People
make mistakes."

"And Lyre is her mother's daughter. She
entices men. I can see that. Once again, lines between good and
evil are blurred. And what did you do when you found out? You
brought Lyre here. You attempt to save her despite knowing she was
with her mother too long. And now she sees you guarding Emma. Emma,
who is potentially more powerful than every Demon in this school. I
know you volunteered to be Emma's Guardian. Why is that,
Reinhardt?"

I don't have an answer for him, and he knows
it.

"You volunteered because you see something in
her," Luther says confidently. "Beneath the plain facade, beneath
the assumed fear, she is brave, she is loyal, she is practical, and
she's strong. She doesn't need saving."

"I don't know her," I say, my voice low.

"No," Luther agrees. "But she's the kind of
girl you could fall in love with when or if you do get to know her.
And she's a Demon. The lines are blurred, Reinhardt. The lines are
blurred."

"The lines are black and white and perfectly
clear."

I turn to walk away, my back to Luther as I
reach the door.

"Then tell me this, Reinhardt. When they sign
the extermination order, will you be able to take her out?"

"They won't do that."