Betrayal (13 page)

‘Simon …’ Eve breathed. She hadn’t even thought about him until Luke spoke. But he’d been skulking around Jess’s house, and watching her during school, and he’d written her that horrible letter.

‘Jess turned this guy Simon down when he invited her to the prom,’ Luke explained to Alanna. ‘He didn’t handle it very well.’

‘I guess not.’ Alanna glanced over at the dress.

‘I think he might have cursed me.’ Jess blinked a few times. ‘Eve and I saw him with this book. It had all these weird markings on the front. Not letters. It could have been a book of spells.’

‘What do you know about this guy? Is it possible he’s practising the dark arts?’ Alanna asked. Only someone from the Order would treat Jess’s idea about being cursed so seriously.

‘I know it’s Deepdene. And I know weird things happen here pretty much on a daily basis,’ Luke said. ‘But I don’t think we should jump to the conclusion that there’s something supernatural going on. To me it seems like Simon was obsessing about Jess, without her even realizing it. Then when she turned him down, he lost it.’

‘I’m so used to looking for paranormal answers, I just went there,’ Alanna told them. ‘But what Luke said makes sense, not that I know the guy. This Simon gets mad that you won’t go to the prom with him, so he cuts up your dress.’

Eve sprang to her feet. ‘It was him. It has to have been him.’ She began to pace, her power roiling inside her. Her best friend was being terrorized. Eve wasn’t going to let it continue. It was stopping now.

The fingers on her right hand twitched, and before she could stop it, a small bolt of lightning escaped. It flew towards the bed, and ripped into Jess’s dress with a sizzle. The scent of scorched fabric filled the room.

‘Oh, Jess, I’m so sorry. So, so sorry,’ Eve cried. She dropped down next to Jess and wrapped her arm around Jess’s shoulders. ‘I just got so angry thinking about Simon that … It just burst out.’

‘It’s OK. It was already ruined.’ Jess’s voice was flat and emotionless.

‘Luke, do you think …?’ Eve nodded towards the door. Jess needed her right now, but she didn’t need a crowd.

‘Alanna, you wanted to see the animal bodies I found in the woods. I can walk you out there now,’ Luke offered.

‘Thanks,’ Eve mouthed, then turned her attention back to Jess, trying to think of anything that could possibly make her feel better. This was way beyond the powers of chocolate.

‘What’s that?’ Alanna pointed to the strip of scorched earth running through the woods. ‘Was there some kind of fire?’

Luke hesitated, but decided to tell her the truth. ‘Eve’s power made it,’ he answered. He looked at her face, trying to judge her reaction. When he’d first seen what Eve’s out-of-control power had done, it had turned his whole body cold.

Alanna crouched down and ran her fingers over part of the charred area, her face giving no clue to what she was thinking. She turned her gaze from the ground to the trees. ‘Is that what happed up there too, those bare spots?’

Luke nodded. He hated even looking at the trees Eve had zapped.

‘Was she fighting the demon? I thought it was over by Jess’s house,’ Alanna said as she stood up.

‘It was.’ He struggled to decide how to describe what had happened. ‘Eve had just found out that the Order had put up the force field without telling her. She was devastated – and furious. Basically, she just lost it. She ran out here and this is what happened.’ He swept out a hand, indicating the ground and trees. ‘Then, when she got to the barrier, she threw her power at it until she blasted through.’

‘This wasn’t a momentary loss of control, like what we just saw at Jess’s,’ Alanna commented. ‘This is major destruction.’

‘I was just glad she had the sense to get herself away from people,’ Luke admitted. He didn’t like talking behind Eve’s back. But he was worried about her slips in control.

‘Does that happen a lot, where her powers are in charge of her instead of the other way around?’ Alanna asked.

‘It used to happen more at the beginning, when she first got her power,’ Luke replied. ‘But not really since then. It was mostly because she got mad. Emotion made it hard for her to keep a grip.’

‘Still does, it seems to me,’ Alanna said. ‘Back there with Jess, it was clear that Eve was upset.’

‘She and Jess are really good friends,’ Luke explained, feeling protective. ‘And what Simon did – it had to be him – was really horrible. That’s why she lost it.’

Alanna pursed her lips, as if trying to decide what to say. ‘Luke, you have to remember that Eve isn’t completely human. She might never be able to fully control the demon part of her nature.’

‘Eve is as human as me or you. Having that demon blood is what gave her and the other Deepdene Witches their power. And she uses that power to fight demons,’ Luke protested. ‘OK, occasionally she lets her power slip, but before this it had been months. She just got especially upset. And who could blame her, given what the Order did? They could’ve killed her!’

‘There are always going to be things that upset her. There’s no avoiding it.’ Alanna’s brows came together in a frown. ‘It’s possible the demon part of her is getting stronger and that’s why she isn’t able to keep her power in check the way she used to. If that’s true, it will keep happening. And the results might be a lot more serious than some burned-up grass and a scorched dress.’

‘You make it sound like her power is a bad thing,’ Luke said. ‘Eve uses it to fight evil. She uses it to kill demons. She wouldn’t be doing that if even a small part of her was demonic.’ He wanted to believe that. He
did
believe it most of the time. But the way Eve had let her power explode here in the woods disturbed him. If she hadn’t made it here, if she’d lost control on Main Street …

Luke didn’t want to think about that, but he wasn’t able to push the idea away completely.

‘I understand that you want to see her as human, Luke, but she’s not. You have to face that. It’s dangerous for you if you don’t. Demon blood makes her part demon. That’s simply a fact. Maybe her human side will always be dominant, but that doesn’t mean the demon side isn’t there.’ Alanna took his hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘I’m going to tell you something that I’m not supposed to,’ she said. ‘And it’s partly because I’m afraid for you – you and Jess.’

Luke locked eyes with her. ‘What?’

‘The Order is very concerned that Eve blasted down the force field. The reason they put it up in the first place is because they wanted to observe Eve in a contained environment, where any damage she did would be limited,’ Alanna explained. ‘That’s why I’m really here. They sent me to investigate. I’m supposed to determine if Eve can be trusted – or if she’s a threat.’

Luke followed his torch beam deeper into the woods, comforted by the feel of his sword strapped to his back. He wanted to take another look at the dead animals. There had to be something he’d missed. Some clue that would help him figure out what was going on.

He followed the course of Eve’s fire. It was the easiest way for him to find the unmarked border between his town and East Hampton. The damage looked worse at night. So many bare branches twisted up into the moonlight. Luke hadn’t remembered so many leaves being destroyed. And wasn’t the path of scorched grass wider than before?

Suddenly he was aware of the beating of his heart. Hard, shuddering thuds, as if his heart was trying to escape from his body. Cold sweat began pumping from his pores and slithering down his back. His body was telling him something was very wrong. It was telling him to go back, to run back to the safety of the town, the rectory, his bed.

It took all his will, but Luke continued down the dark path. He felt the presence of evil around him, heavy and smothering, stronger than anything he’d felt during a demon battle. What was out here?

He reached behind him to touch the sword. His blood ran cold. The sheath was still strapped to his back, but the sword was gone. How was that possible? It couldn’t have fallen out of the sheath. Should he turn back and look for it? He would need it soon, if his instincts were right. He should—

A shriek, long and saturated with pain, dragged him away from his thoughts. Luke did the only thing he could – he ran towards it.

His torch beam found Eve at the end of the scorched path. Relief surged through him. He wouldn’t have to fight whatever was out here alone. A moment later, he realized that Eve was in a long white nightgown, and it was spattered with blood. She swayed on her feet, her face pale, so pale.

‘Where are you hurt?’ he exclaimed as he rushed towards her. Something caught his foot, and he fell to the ground, the taste of ashes filling his mouth. He struggled to stand, but he couldn’t pull his foot free.

He twisted round to see what had caught him – and he screamed. The scream felt like it was ripping and tearing his body as it surged out of him.

A hand. A hand grasped Luke’s foot. Jess’s hand. Her throat had been slit. Blood gurgled from the wound when she spoke. ‘Stop her. You have to kill her.’ Jess’s eyes went blank, her soul slipping away.

Luke jerked his foot free from her grasp and leaped to his feet. Two more bodies lay between him and Eve. Throats slit, eyes staring up at him.

‘Eve, what have you done?’

She smiled at him, and he could see spatters of blood on her teeth. ‘I’ve been killing demons, Pooh Bear.’ She pulled the sword, the sword Payne had entrusted him with, from behind her back. ‘This town is full of them.’

Luke stumbled backwards, but before he could turn and run, Eve was on him. The slash down his throat didn’t hurt, but he could feel his hot blood, his
life
, gushing out of him.

‘Nooo!’ he shouted.

And then he jerked upright in bed.

In bed. He’d been dreaming. He pressed both hands against his throat. Damp with sweat, but that was all.

Luke lay still for a moment, his heart still racing. Then he got up slowly, his eyes adjusting to the darkness in the room. No way was he going back to sleep now. He might never go back to sleep for the rest of his life.

He sat down at his computer, taking a deep breath. Eve’s face smiled at him from the screensaver. He reached out and traced the line of her cheek with his finger. This was the real Eve, smiling, full of strength and righteousness. The girl who had killed demon after demon.

He shuddered, remembering the words of the dream Eve. ‘I’m killing demons,’ she’d said, with the bodies of their friends lying around her.

‘I talked to Seth last night about the dress,’ Jess told Eve the next morning. They stood in front of the school finishing up their coffees from Java Nation. Star-shaped silver flyers for the prom had been tacked to some of the trees, and they fluttered gently in the light breeze. ‘He was so furious. He’s positive Simon did it.’

‘It’s really the only thing that makes sense,’ Eve answered. She’d thought about it a lot. She hadn’t been able to stop herself. But all the scenarios she came up with had ended up involving Simon.

‘At least the house won’t be empty today. Peter has the flu and mom decided to keep him home,’ Jess said. ‘He’s been pretty out of it, but he’ll hear if anyone tries to get in.’

‘Have you been able to figure out if he saw us with’ – Eve did a check to make sure no one was in hearing range – ‘the squishy demon?’

‘I didn’t come right out and ask him, because if he hadn’t seen anything, I didn’t want him to know there’d been anything to see,’ Jess replied. ‘But I made sure to talk to him once I got cleaned up. I’m almost positive he would have said something to me.’ She finished her last sip of coffee, then crumpled the paper cup. ‘You ready to go in?’

Eve glanced at her watch. Almost fifteen minutes before homeroom. ‘I want to stay here and keep an eye out for Simon. I want to at least ask him some questions.’

‘How will that do any good? He’s not going to say “Yes, I sneaked into Jess’s house and went at her dress with a knife,”’ Jess pointed out.

‘Maybe I won’t ask any questions then. Maybe I’ll just—’ Eve stuck out her hands and wiggled her fingers.

Jess grabbed her by the wrists and pulled Eve’s hands down. ‘You wouldn’t do that! Would you?’

‘Of course not! I was joking.’ Eve shook her head. How could Jess even ask her such a thing? ‘Simon is a person. Probably a sick, deranged person, but a person. I’d never use my zap on someone who wasn’t a demon.’

Jess gave an apologetic smile. ‘I guess I was thinking of the way your power shot out at the dress yesterday.’

‘I got so furious. I didn’t mean to do it. It just happened,’ Eve explained. ‘I’m so sorry. I know it was already ruined, but I hate that I did that to your beautiful, beautiful prom dress.’

‘I know. I think you were as upset about the dress as I was. That’s because you’re a true friend,’ Jess said. ‘But if we talk to Simon, stay calm, OK? Maybe there are some breathing techniques you could use. My mom is all about the breathing techniques.’

‘I’ll be OK. It was just the shock of seeing your dress, I think. And realizing Simon had been in your house. In your room. It made me a little crazy. But it won’t be like that today. I’ve had a little time to process it.’ Eve finished her coffee. ‘What about you? How’re you doing now? Have you thought more about what you want to do for a dress? Are you sure you don’t want to find something sort of like it. Maybe something chiffon at least?’