“Demons don’t look like that. Their eyes are red, brown sometimes when you see their true form.” He kept inching backward.
“Are you trying to run away from me?” I glided after him, moving an inch to his inch. “Do you think you can escape me?”
As I watched him consider his options, run, fight, or surrender, I saw into him. There was a tiny speck of blackness in him. It had a ring of the same reddish brown that he just testified all demons have in their eyes. Dylan didn’t know it, but he was becoming part of a demon or a demon was becoming a part of him.
“What are you?”
I stopped in the kitchen’s doorway as he continued backward, closer to the front door, through the living room now. “What do you think I am?” But that wasn’t what I wanted him to know, so I asked instead, “Did your grandmother prepare you for beings that aren’t fully demonic? What did she teach you? What else do you know?”
Vespar and Gus weren’t full demons. They were only half. At least that’s what I thought, but she doesn’t act like one of them. She’s more or something else? What else could she be? Grandma didn’t teach me this stuff.
His inner voice was panicked, and he still hadn’t decided what to do. Then again, if he chose to fight, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do either. He was dark, and I felt the messenger in me rearing to attack, rip his head off, but another part held me back. The majority of him was still a human, a very sinister and sinful human, but one nonetheless. A protective emotion filled me at the same time.
“Shay, I—” he gasped, interrupted by his own thoughts.
Where the hell did Matt and Leah go? Is Kellan here? What about—oh God. I can’t…
“What are you going to do, Dylan?” I tilted my head to the side and narrowed my eyes. He had become part of the black and white backdrop that I saw through my messenger eyes. The little demonic part of him flared upward, like a small fire that had been given a burst of oxygen. The smoldering red and brown waved together in a furious motion. It wanted to take over more of him, but couldn’t. Not yet.
“What do you mean?” Dylan fought a shudder from coming over him.
“You can’t fight me. You can’t kill me. You don’t even know what I am or what I’m not. What are you going to do?”
He licked his lips in a nervous motion. “I think the question is what are you going to do to me?”
“What do you think I should do?”
The shudder broke over him, making his body tremble before my eyes. “I…I don’t know.”
“What were you going to do to us? To me? If you could, what were you planning?”
“I—it doesn’t matter. I can’t take it back, can I? You’re going to kill me. I can tell. It’s what—”
I’d do if I were her.
“Where did your friends go?”
Hope flared in him as an idea came to him. “Leah wanted you dead more than I did. I wanted Kellan, but Leah wanted to hurt you. She asked me if she could be the one to torture you. She wanted you to watch her have sex with him.”
My, my, what a little whore she’s become.
I added out loud, “And you were going to let her?”
“No! I wasn’t, I really wasn’t. I wanted her help. I knew that she’d been affected by you guys, too, and that…”
Leah’s a fun screw. Why wouldn’t I want her? If Matt hadn’t taken over, things would’ve been fine.
“Let’s be honest. You wanted her with you because you wanted some sex on the side. Didn’t you, Dylan? I can hear your thoughts. I know I’m right.”
His eyes popped out in horror. “What? You can? I don’t—I mean. Holy shit.”
“Matt got in the way? She’s been with him when you were hoping that she’d be with you this whole time? That’s why you planned this, isn’t it?” I saw the wheels in his head turning. Each statement I made was true and with each word, the hope in him shrunk. “You didn’t even really care that Gus killed your entire family, did you? You liked the idea that you were alone, not held back by human morals. Then when Kellan brought them all back, when Kellan and I brought them all back, that’s what really pissed you off. You wanted to be done with them, but you couldn’t, not after all of that. And you wanted us out of the way. You want to be top dog around here, don’t you? You want to be big and bad and Leah will be all yours? Why didn’t you compel her? Use one of those handy magic spells your grandma taught you and make her yours?”
“It didn’t work,” he gasped out, blanching as he heard his words. “She’s too broken from whatever you guys did to her. Her mind can’t be controlled anymore, it’s in pieces.”
“Well, there you go. What were you going to do to Matt? If this had all worked and you’d been rid of the Braden Family, what then? She still would’ve wanted to be with him.”
I was going to kill him.
“How?”
I spoke to him in his mind, and he winced from the intrusion.
“I was going to drug him one night and leave his body in the woods.”
I withdrew from his mind and moved backward, watching him in condescension.
“And you think we’re the demons? Before you know it, you’ll be one of us.”
“What?”
“You’re becoming a demon. I see it in you, and it’s thirsty. It wants more of you, and it’s going to make you do horrible things to grow. You planted a bad seed inside of yourself. All your pretty words are only going to hurt you.” Then I smirked. “You might want to watch what you teach others. It can all be used on you, too, now.”
Dylan’s face scrunched together, and he opened his mouth with an angry retort on the tip of his tongue, but a blood-curdling scream shrieked through the air.
“What the—” he cut himself off and sprinted for the basement door. I was right behind him. We braked at the top of the stairs. Matt was pointing a gun at Kellan. Leah stood in the middle while Vespar was straining against his chains. His skin was pale and sweaty, white around his mouth, but his eyes were alert, more focused with the sight of help in front of him.
“Matt, don’t,” Leah pleaded with her hands clenched in tight fists. One was stretched toward Kellan while the other held on to Matt’s arm. “Think about this first.”
“Oh my God. Why do you care?”
“I love him.” The admission was whispered. “I can’t help it. I don’t know why, but I do. Don’t kill him. Don’t shoot him.”
“You’re sick, Leah. You’re just…you’re so sick. How can you love one of them?
You know what they did, what he did to you.”
Dylan was slow as he went down the stairs, both of us watched in silence. The tension was thick in that room between them, so thick I feared the slightest sound would set off Matt, or Kellan, who looked like he was contemplating killing Matt or waiting to see if Leah would be successful.
“I know,” she said, quiet as tears slid down her cheeks. “But I can’t help it. Don’t kill him, Matt. Please.”
“I have to,” Matt choked out. His fingers tightened around the gun.
“Don’t!” Leah yelled.
“Why are we scared of a gun?”
I looked at Kellan and saw him hear my question, then shoot me a dark look.
“You were supposed to stay upstairs and distract that idiot. Go back. Make something up.”
“Why are we scared of a gun? Can it hurt you?”
“It can hurt you. Go back! You’re still half human.”
“So are you.”
“I’ll be fine. Get back! Shay, do it.”
I cast a worried glance at Vespar, whose eyes hadn’t moved from Matt. He seemed captivated by the threat from him.
“And Vespar? It can hurt him, too?”
“More him than you. The bullets are dipped in the same saint’s blood that his chains are. It’ll kill him. It might hurt you. Stop wasting my concentration and get out of the room. Take Dylan with you; better yet, just kill him.”
I ignored him, too concerned for Kellan and a little bit for Vespar. As I watched, Leah started to reach for the gun, but Kellan murmured at the same time, “Leah, you still love me?”
She swung her gaze to his with her eyes wide with devotion. “You know I do. I never stopped.”
“Help me then.”
“How?”
“I can’t touch Vespar’s chains, but you can. Unchain him. Let him go.”
“But—” She swung nervous eyes to Matt and then back to Kellan. “He’ll kill me. I hurt him, too. I was a part of this, but I did it for you. I wanted to be with you.”
“Wanted? You don’t want to anymore?”
“No! I do. I really do. But…”
“Unchain him. I promise Vespar won’t hurt you. I’ll protect you. You can come with us then.”
“Don’t listen to him, Leah,” Matt burst out, his hand started to tremble.
“He’s lying to you. He loves Shay. You know that. You saw him with her. He won’t leave her for you.”
At the mention of my name, she sucked in her breath and then pinned Kellan down with her eyes. “What about her? About what he just said.”
Kellan frowned. “Shay is my sister. Of course, I love her. You want me to kill one of my siblings for you?”
“You don’t have a sister-brother thing. I’ve seen you with her. It’s not right. It’s gross. What about her? Do you love her?”
“Of course, I love her. She’s my sister.” As Kellan answered her, he started to move forward, gliding with each word he whispered. “But I could love you, too, in the way you want me to.”
“You don’t now?”
I winced, hearing the pain in her voice, no matter how delusional she was.
Kellan was close to her now, close to Matt. “I don’t love anybody, not in that way, but I could. I do think I could love you. I was there for you. Do you remember? When your parents died, are those memories still with you? I stayed with you for a week. I was concerned about you. That has to mean something…”
Matt stumbled back a few steps. “Get away. Get away from her!”
Leah didn’t move as she lifted her eyes to Kellan’s, lost in what he was promising. “Do you mean it?”
Kellan bent his forehead to rest against hers. “I do. I really do.”
The surrender was swift in her. Her eyes clasped close, and her body relaxed in one breath. “What do you want me to do?”
“No!” Matt yelled and then pulled the trigger.
Kellan shoved Leah aside, but it was too late. She screamed when the bullet pierced her back and then fell forward into his arms. In two seconds, Kellan had Matt in the air by the throat and slammed him against the wall. The gun dropped to the floor with a rattle, but it was ignored. All eyes were on Kellan as he growled, “I can hear her heart slowing.”
His face was pinched together, but Matt tried to respond. It came out as a gurgle instead.
I was frozen on the stairs as my heart started to slow. Kellan cared for Leah. The realization shook me. It wasn’t something I had ever considered, but the evidence was before me. For once since we’d entered the house, he wasn’t in complete control. Glimpses of his real demon came out, and his rage was so strong, the house started to shake from it.
Matt looked around with panicked eyes, but only squeaked as he was thrown again into a wall.
Dylan scrambled off the stairs and lurched for the gun.
“No!” Vespar threw himself forward, but the chains jerked him backward.
“Kellan, the gun.”
Matt was forgotten. Kellan looked back and watched as Dylan rose from the floor, the gun in his hand. He pointed it at him with a steady hand and hatred in his eyes. “You made him kill her. He never would’ve done that if you hadn’t seduced her with your sick lies.”
“I did care for her.”
Even as I heard the growl in Kellan’s voice, I studied him and saw he was back in control. The momentary lapse was forgotten, and now he stood there, content to watch what Dylan would do.
Why?
I thought to myself, but stopped my thoughts when Kellan threw me an irritated look.
Vespar growled, “Rip out his throat, Kellan. What are you waiting for?”
But he didn’t. He stood, staring down the muzzle of the gun, with a calm that emanated from him. It was like he wanted the gun to go off, but… I was left with the same question I’d asked myself. Why? It hadn’t taken him long to take the gun from Matt and Dylan was closer, but something held him back, something that hadn’t happened yet.
Without thinking, my hand let go of the stair rail, and I stumbled to the floor. As I righted myself, everyone watched me, distracted for that moment. It was a surreal feeling in the basement at that moment, like the calm before a storm and then, like an echo in the distance, Dylan pulled his finger on the trigger. A bullet shot out, straight toward Kellan’s face, but it bounced off him. The air around Kellan rippled from the force of the bullet, protecting him.
I felt weak in the knees. My relief was so strong. I’d forgotten about the protective armor he could put around himself.
Effing hell! This guy doesn’t die.
Even as he swore in his mind, Dylan turned in a smooth motion and thumbed out another bullet. This one hit Vespar in the chest and sent him backward against the wall. Dylan shot him again, and his body slumped to the floor, unconscious. Blood spilled out at a fast pace, but I didn’t wait to see it start to pool around him.
I whirled back and saw a satisfied look come over Kellan before he shot his arm out and snapped Dylan’s neck. The gun slid into his hand as Dylan’s body dropped to the floor, limp.