Suppressed (Suppressed Saga) (26 page)

“
Donovan.”

That sounded so normal, both their names sounded normal. I don’t know what I was expecting, something demonic, like D’ Angelo or something strange like that.

“
Is that good enough for you, Cameron Porter?” Eric said amusingly.

I looked over at him, “How do you know my last name? I never told it to you before.”

“
We go to school together, it pretty easy to know someone’s whole name. Well, I guess it’s not that easy for you, you didn’t even know the last name of the guy you’re sleeping with.”

I slapped my hand to my mouth in shock. “Oh my God! That’s horrible. I never looked at it that way before.”

“
It’s not that bad. I was just joking.”

“
Maybe it’s not that bad for you because you’ve slept with about fifty people.”

This was just ridiculous. How could I sleep with him and not even know his last name? I wasn’t a slut or anything. I had only slept with two other people besides him.

“
Seriously Cam, it’s not that bad. It’s not like you slept with him and never talked to him again. You all are together so it doesn’t count. And by the way, I have not slept with fifty people. It’s fewer than twenty just so you know.”

I laughed, “What, nineteen?”

“
No, less than that.”

I tried to think of another number but realized I shouldn’t care how many people he’s slept with, it was none of my business. I changed the subject to something more down to earth.

“
So what’s your major?”

This was something I was actually interested in knowing. Eric wasn’t someone I imagined going to college and it made me wonder what he was into.

“
You really want to know?”

I turned in my seat to face him, “Yes, I really want to know.”

“
Philosophy and Psychology.”

I didn’t mean to laugh but it just came out. “Are you serious?”

“
What? I’m smart.”

My laugh had subsided and I tried to be serious. “So you transferred here?”

“
Yeah, it’s hard for me to go to school though. With everything I do I can never actually finish a semester. I’ve gone to three schools in the past five years.”

It was a shock to find out he actually tried to go to school and be at least a little bit normal. There wasn’t much else I could say on the subject and it didn’t feel right to pick at him about it.

“
So what did Seth say on the phone?”

“
He’s on his way back, should be here in the morning. What times does your friend leave tomorrow?”

“
Eleven. And don’t say ‘your friend’. You slept with her, or don’t you remember? She has a name, Amy, though you probably don’t know her last name.”

He reached forward and turned up the radio throwing me a grin. At least he wasn’t in a shitty mood anymore.

One boring car ride and three hours later we were back in Boston. I slept the last hour and woke up to Eric shaking me. When I opened my eyes I was yet again staring into his green eyes above me. He stepped back and was standing outside the passenger door waiting on me. I sat up and expected to be at the house but found myself sitting in the parking lot of my dorm.

“
Why are we here?” I said harshly.

“
It’s better than sitting at the house waiting for them to show up. At least here we’re around people.”

I slunk bank in the seat trying to hide, “What if Graham’s in there with Ashley?”

“
He’s not here, trust me.”

I squinted my eyes and looked at him questionably, “How do you know that?”

“
Will you just come on?” He pointed for me to get out of the car.

I grudgingly stepped out and snatched up my cell phone. This was one of those times I was sketchy about Eric. He was so secretive and knew things that I wouldn’t think he would know. The other night when we saw Graham he went up to him and talked to him almost friendly like. I was so mad at him that night for yet again leaving me alone that I never got to ask him what it was all about.

“
What did you say to Graham the other night when we were at the park?” I asked. We were walking up the steps to my floor and he rubbed the back of his head at my question. His eyes were a little bit dark, probably from the lack of sleep.

“
Nothing, I just told him he needed to back off your brother and that he had nothing to do with this.”

“
And he just listened?”

“
Yeah”

For some reason I didn’t trust him. A part of me thought it was ridiculous to think that he would lie to me but at the same time it was so obvious he would. Maybe I was being blind and didn’t want to think that he would betray me. There were so many reasons he would and so many reasons I should think so.

He didn’t think Seth and I should be together and what if he did know the reason why Declan wanted me and that reason made him want me for himself. What would make him any different than Graham or Declan? Then there were the things he had done to make me think he wasn’t so honest. One, he was friends with Graham. Two, the other night he was arguing with that other demon and wouldn’t tell me what it was about.

“
What’s going on in that head of yours?” Eric said as we came to a stop at my door.

“
Nothing,” I searched my pockets for my keys and then realized I didn’t have them, the only thing I had was my cell. “I don’t have my keys.” I said looking up at him.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. The diamond Versace key chain dangling down from it told me they were mine. I have no idea how he had them but I just added it to my list of reasons not to trust him.

“
I grabbed them before we left.” He explained.

I snatched them up without commenting and unlocked the door. As Eric predicted there wasn’t anyone here. I hadn’t talked to Amy and it worried me what Graham was doing with her.

The clock on top the fridge between our beds showed it was almost seven in the morning. I was beat but was scared to go to sleep. Eric took a seat in my cushion chair in the corner and leaned back, rubbing his hands over his face. I watched him as I took off my shoes and sat down in my bed with my back against the wall.

“
What are we going to do?” I asked him.

“
Stay here for a few more hours and then go back to the house. Seth should be back early in the morning. I don’t know what we’re going to do tonight. I’ll have to think of something. I’d rather not stay at the house until Seth get’s back.”

I nodded looking down at my hands. Seth was off trying to make things better, but I don’t know if they would ever be that way. Eric said he didn’t think Graham was going to leave me alone either way. This all started because Seth took Stephen. If he wouldn’t have taken him then Graham would never have seen me. I wasn’t going to blame Seth though; he only did what he was told. But who told him to do it was another question. I had never asked them who it was they worked for. All I got out of it was it was someone very powerful.

Maybe now was a good time to ask. I didn’t want to fall asleep and asking questions would be a good way to keep myself awake.

“
Who do you work for?”

Eric looked at me a little perplexed. “What do you mean?”
“You all told me that you work for someone. That’s who you take orders from, right? Who is it?”

I could tell he was contemplating his answer carefully.

“
His name is Xander. He’s a demon, Declan’s brother actually.”

Hmm, that was interesting. “So do they get along?”

He laughed, “No, they hate each other. It’s more of a war than anything, a territory type thing. Every creature of the Underworld has to pick a side and Seth and I chose Xander.”

I swallowed, “A war?”

“
Yeah, it’s been going on a couple hundred years. I’m not old enough to know why. Basically it’s just your good old family feud. Ridiculous if you ask me. But I’m just a demon stuck in the middle, my opinion doesn’t matter.”

“
Can you ever get out?”

“
It’s not easy, you can try running, to stay hidden, but something always finds you. A witch, werewolf, they’re all out there and they won’t hesitate to kill you when they find out what you are.”

Oh God, I knew there were different things out there but I never knew what. Truthfully I didn’t want to know. I’d rather be in and dark and not know what goes bump in the night.

“
What makes Declan and Xander different than other demons?”

“
They’re old, like a thousand years old, and they come from hell. Seth and I were born on earth; Declan and Xander were created in hell, they are the real deal. At one point they used to work together and built an army to take over the underworld. Then something happened and now they’re at each other’s throats.”

Well that was more than I expected. It wasn’t everyday you were told that there were hell fire demons walking the earth at war with each other. I was still a little confused though, even after all the explaining.

“
I thought when you died that you went to hell for good. How did they get here?”

“
Earth bound demons go to hell when they die, we’re tainted. A full blooded demon can come up from hell, I don’t know how though. But Xander and Declan are the only two demons to ever come up from hell, that’s what’s so special about them.”

Well that’s just great. Wonderful, I had a fully fledged demon after me. I tried my best to shove that thought to the back of my head. There was one important question I had been thinking about a while, since I found out what they were.

I looked at him skeptically to see his expression when I asked. “How do you kill one of you?”

He did nothing but start laughing, “You think I’m going to tell you? The second I tell you you’ll probably start hatching a plan to kill me.”

I rolled my eyes irritated, “I would never kill you. You should know that.”

“
That’s the thing, I
don’t
know that. I would like to hope you wouldn’t but then again you hate me, who’s to say you don’t hate me enough to kill me?”

This conversation was going nowhere. I leaned my head back against the wall and shut my eyes. Everything was so weird. I had no idea what I had to do with any of this but I was to the point where I wanted to know everything just to ease my mind and not question anything else in my life anymore than I already had.

It felt like no time had passed when I snapped my eyes open instantly. Did I fall asleep? The room was brighter and I looked at the clock; it was ten thirty. I quickly sat up and looked around. Eric was passed out in the chair with his arm over his eyes. I got up and headed to my closet grabbing a pair of jeans, some boots, and a long sleeve shirt. I wasn’t in a good mood already. My head had started to hurt again and it was making me feel evil. I needed coffee.

After I got dressed I picked up a book and threw it at Eric. He automatically jumped up out of the chair and drew his fist back. I reflexively put my hands up to my face and almost fell back on the bed. I was waiting for the impact of his fist on my head when I felt his hands gently grab my wrist.

“
Sorry, you scared me.” He pulled my hands from my face and I looked at him wearily. His eyes looked sad and I when I realized he wasn’t going to hit me I pushed him back with all the force I had.

“
Scared
you
? What the hell is wrong with you? You tried to hit me!”

He rubbed his chest where I had just pushed him. Like it really hurt, who was he kidding?

“
I wasn’t going to hit you, it was just a reaction. Can you blame me?”

“
Whatever, let’s go, I don’t want to be here anymore.” I grabbed my phone and headed for the door. Another reason I was pissed was I didn’t have my tooth brush. Nothing was more irritating that not being able to brush your teeth.

Eric still had a huge dried up blood stain on his shirt. When we got to the car he went in the trunk and pulled out a red and white sweatshirt to put on. We went for me to get coffee and then I rummaged in the center console for the Advil I saw when I snooped through his car a while back. We arrive at the house soon after and the moment I walked in the door I plopped on the couch, falling into a deep sleep.