Bitter Demons (6 page)

"Tell me," I said. I put my hand on his.
"Please."

Jackson began slowly, his voice shaky.
"Aerden is Peachville's first demon. The Prima's demon," he said.
"He was torn from our world a hundred years ago."

"That's why he protects me," I said. I slid
the pendant back and forth along the silver chain. The zipping
sound was so familiar to me now, it brought some comfort.

"When a demon gate is first created, the
witches of the Order use a special stone. It isn't always a
sapphire. Sometimes they use emeralds or topaz or even diamonds. I
don't know the exact reason behind the different stones, but I
think it has something to do with the specific energy of the
location." He stood and began to pace the ground under the branches
of the pecan trees. "The stone is used to create the portal, and a
part of the connection between the first demon and the first witch
is trapped inside the stone. A piece of the stone is chipped off to
create a necklace like yours."

"What does it do?"

"It connects you to the demon. To Aerden," he
said. "Whenever someone tries to use magic against you, he'll
always come to help. It's especially important when it's worn by a
Future, like you. Before she's been combined with the demon in the
initiation ceremony. After the initiation, the necklace takes on
different powers. Like allowing you to teleport to the ritual room.
Every Prima in your family has worn that necklace before you."

I pictured the stone around my mother's neck.
And her mother before her. It was the only solid connection I had
to my family, and it was precious to me. I never knew that to
Jackson it symbolized the day he lost his brother to the Order of
Shadows.

"One day, we were a family," he said. His
fist was balled up by his side. "And the next, he was gone. At
first, I didn't understand where he'd gone. It was like he just
disappeared into thin air. It took me nearly fifty years to find
him."

"So you came through the portal," I said. "To
Peachville. Fifty years ago?"

Jackson nodded. "1962. Once I came through
the portal, there was no way back," he said. "I was stuck here, and
so was Aerden."

"So, how did you become human instead of
being forced into the body of another witch like the others?" I
asked.

"A curse," he said. He turned his face away
from me. "The Order cursed me and turned me into this human
form."

I stood and ran my hand down his back. I had
a feeling he wasn't telling me the whole truth, but I was scared to
ask. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what he might have done back
then.

"I came here thinking I could save him and
bring him home, but I was too late," he said. "He's bound to your
family for eternity, and there's nothing I can do about it." He
turned to me. "And if your family dies out, my brother dies with
you."

I could hear the anguish in his voice. It was
obvious how much he loved his brother, but did he care about me at
all? Or did he only spend time with me and try to protect me
because he wanted to protect his brother? It was all so
confusing.

I took a step backward and tripped over a
plate full of fruit. I fell to the ground and cursed. My eyes
watered.

"Harper." Jackson rushed to my side. He
picked up my hands and wiped the dirt from my palms. "Are you
okay?"

I avoided his eyes. I didn't want him to see
the tears in mine, so I kept my head down. Wasn't I the one who'd
pushed him to tell me the truth? I needed to stop being such a
baby. I knew as well as anyone that the truth could be painful.

And that when it came down to it, most people
had a hidden agenda. Why did I expect Jackson to be any different?
Hadn't I learned my lesson by now?

"I'm fine," I said. "It just stings." I
rubbed my hands along the side of my jeans, then held them up to
him. "Help me up."

Jackson gripped my hands in his and tugged me
upward. For a moment, our faces were dangerously close. I opened my
mouth slightly so I could draw in a deep, calming breath. Anything
to slow the beating of my heart.

"Thanks," I said. I tore my gaze from his,
feeling sad and confused.

I sat back down on the flannel blanket and
picked up all the fruit that had spilled. I tried to act like
nothing was wrong, but I had a feeling he could see right through
me.

He sat down and helped me pack the food and
wine into the picnic basket. We worked in silence for a minute, the
tension thick between us. I was starting to get the worst headache
from using the glamour all day, and I just wanted to go home.

"Thanks for the picnic," I said. "Sorry if I
kind of ruined it."

"You didn't ruin anything," he said. "I
shouldn't have told you about my brother. I don't want you to feel
like you're in any way responsible for what happened to my
family."

"No, but I'm the reason he's stuck here now,"
I said.

Jackson didn't say anything. What could he
say? He fastened the basket on the back of the motorcycle, and I
folded the blanket. I watched him work and wondered what would
happen to us if I was ever officially joined with Aerden. We could
never have a real future together with his brother enslaved inside
me.

"Is there no way to break the bond of a Prima
and her demon?" I asked, handing Jackson the folded blanket.

"Not without killing them both," he said.
"Believe me, I've spent the past fifty years looking for any way to
free my brother from this slavery. I've never found a single
reference to anyone breaking the bond without killing the Prima,
the demon, and the entire town."

"What if we could find a way to close the
demon gate?"

Jackson shook his head. "It's been done. Once
before in Paris. A group called the Hand of God smashed the portal
stone and closed the demon gate."

"What happened?"

"Everyone died."

"Oh," I said, hanging my head. "What if we
just ran away?"

Jackson turned to look at me, sadness in his
eyes.

"What if we just got on your bike and drove
away? If I never go through the initiation, maybe we could spend
our lives trying to find a way to free your brother without the
Order breathing down our necks."

Jackson carefully tucked a strand of hair
behind my ear, then placed his palm on my cheek. "I wish we could,"
he said. "You have no idea how much."

"Why can't we?"

"The Order would find us no matter where we
tried to hide," he said. "Especially now that you've gone through
the confirmation ritual. Running away would make things so much
worse for us both. Besides, there is no way to free my
brother."

"Don't say that," I said. "We still have
almost two years to look for a way out of this. There's got to be a
way."

Jackson let his hand slip from my face.

"Let's get you home" he said. "It's almost
seven."

I climbed onto the motorcycle, my heart
aching.

Even with the important game coming up, I
couldn't take my mind off my afternoon with Jackson. How had I
managed to screw things up so royally? Instead of enjoying the
beautiful picnic, I pushed him to tell me his most painful
secrets.

Now everything was even more complicated than
ever. When we were together, I felt a magnetic attraction to him -
like we were meant for each other. But now I wondered if the
attraction was only one-sided. Did he really care for me? Or did he
just want be close to me so he could stay close to his brother?

Right now, his brother was more like a
bodyguard for me. He was trapped somewhere and was only able to
take form when my life was threatened in some way. I'd figured that
much out by now. If the Order of Shadows ever put me through the
final initiation ceremony, however, my connection to Jackson's
brother would be much more intimate. Any hope I had of a possible
relationship with Jackson would be destroyed forever if I let that
happen.

I needed to find out as much as I could about
the initiation ceremony of a Prima. And I needed to start looking
for a way to break the bond or close the gate without killing
myself and everyone in Peachville.

"Harper?" Courtney knocked on my door and
poked her head inside. "You're not even dressed," she said. "Ella
Mae's already downstairs waiting in the van. Need help?"

I looked down at my robe. I'd been so
absent-minded the past few days. If I didn't hurry, I was going to
be late to meet the futures from Cypress. That's what all the girls
on the squad called them, anyway. Futures. The technical name was
Prima Futura and was given to any girl in-line to someday become
the Prima of her demon gate. There were two Futures on the Cypress
squad. Their mother was the current Prima. I envied them and I
hadn't even met them yet. I would have given anything for just five
minutes with my mother. Maybe she could have explained this crazy
world to me.

"Harper?"

I'd been staring into space again. "Sorry," I
said. "Can you grab my cheerleading uniform out of my closet?"

Courtney rushed to the closet while I quickly
applied the demon tattoo to my cheek and threw my hair into a high
ponytail.

"Thanks," I said. "Tell Ella Mae I'll be down
in two minutes."

I got into my uniform in record time, slipped
into my sneakers and ran downstairs to the van. By the time we got
to the school, everyone was waiting for me.

"I was just about to go without you," Mrs.
King said. "Brooke, you're off the hook. Harper's here."

Brooke crossed her arms in front of her
chest. "Are you sure Harper's ready for this level of
responsibility? She's ten minutes late."

"Yes, Brooke. Thank you." Mrs. King dismissed
her and winked at me.

"Sorry I'm late," I said.

"You're fine. The other team isn't here yet
anyway."

"What exactly am I supposed to do when they
get here?"

Mrs. King put her arm around my shoulders and
led me out into the gym. "Just greet the squad," she said. "Smile
and be friendly. I'm excited for you to meet the futures from
Cypress. Meredith is the oldest. She's also team captain. Her
younger sister is Caroline. I think she's about your age."

"That's all? Just be nice?"

Mrs. King laughed. "Yep, that's it.
Simple."

The tension in my shoulder relaxed a bit. The
pain was still bothering me, especially when I was stressed. "I
think I can handle that."

We walked outside just as the buses from
Cypress pulled up. Football players climbed off the first bus and
started making their way to the guest locker rooms. I saw Drake
come out of the locker room with Coach King. I crossed behind Mrs.
King to walk on the other side, hoping to avoid Drake seeing me. It
was bad enough I had to put up with him at the lunch table
everyday.

The second bus was full of cheerleaders.
Their coach, a tall woman with short brown hair, stepped down from
the bus and nodded to Mrs. King. There wasn't even a hint of a
smile on her face even though Mrs. King was smiling from ear to
ear.

"Welcome back to Peachville," Mrs. King said,
extending her hand in welcome.

"Thank you," the Cypress coach said. She
shook Mrs. King's hand, then turned her cold stare my way. "This
must be Harper."

Geez. Did everyone in the world know about
me? I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and did my best
to make my smile look genuine.

"Hey," I said. "We're so glad to have y’all
here this weekend."

The woman pressed her lips into a hard line
and looked me up and down. "I guess I was expecting more," she
said.

I pulled at my uniform, making sure it was
straight. What exactly was she expecting me to look like? I didn't
like the idea of having to be nice to a woman who was so obviously
rude. I hoped the futures were nicer.

"Why don't I show you to your locker rooms,"
Mrs. King said. "The game isn't scheduled to start for another
hour, so you've got plenty of time to freshen up if you'd
like."

The coach sighed and nodded. "If I remember
correctly, your guest facilities are less than ideal," she said.
"But I suppose the girls would appreciate the chance to go to the
bathroom and get a sip of water."

Mrs. King cleared her throat. I saw her smile
falter for a moment, but she recovered quickly. "Excellent." Her
voice was strained.

A beautiful girl with the most striking light
blue eyes appeared on the stairs. "Are we going to sit here all
day? Or can we..." her voice trailed off as she caught site of me.
She replaced her scowl with a beauty-pageant smile. "Well, Harper
Madison. Aren't you just the cutest thing."

She stepped down off the bus and gave me the
type of hug I call a "porcelain doll" hug. It was the kind of
delicate hug that made you feel that if you squeezed the person
even a little bit, you might break them. I hated those kind of
hugs. They just seemed so fake. She ended her hug with an air kiss
on my cheek. I threw up in my mouth a little bit.

"Thanks," I said. I wasn't sure how else to
respond. "You must be Meredith."

"Of course," she said. She flipped her long
brown hair back off her shoulder. "It's so nice to finally meet
you. You're all anyone's been able to talk about the past week.
Peachville's prodigal daughter, so to speak."

"Prodigal daughter?"

"You know, the story from the Bible where the
son runs off and squanders his fortune, then comes back and
everyone throws him a big party?"

I raised my eyebrows. Seriously? What part of
that sounded like me?

"I'm sure the rest of the squad is anxious to
get off the bus," Mrs. King said. She squeezed my arm a little too
tight. Maybe she sensed that there was only so much bullshit I was
going to take from these people before I totally lost it. My
patience had been on a short fuse lately.