Dark Calling (22 page)

“I’m all right.  Hurts like hell, but it’s not deep.”  He puts his hand over Keely’s, presses the shirt harder to his chest.

“Keely, your back.”  Dustin cringes
. 

“What is it?”  She somehow had forgotten about the pain, but now feels it full force.

“Looks like that,” Dustin says, pointing to Nick.  “But
there’s more.  Looks like two
of them.”

Nick pushes himself up with his elbow and lifts the back of Keely’s shirt.  Long jagged slices bleed down her spine.  They aren’t deep, but he knows they hurt.  “Lila, the first aid kit.”

Lila nods and disappears into the bathroom.

“What the hell was that?” Dustin spits.

“That was my brother,” Keely mutters.

“Nice guy.  So, I take that as a no to the whole park meeting then?”

“
That seems like what he was trying to say
,” Nick scoffs.

“I really wish he would have just text,” Dustin says.

“Yeah, me too,” Keely
whispers.

Right on cue, Keely’s phone sounds from where Nick dropped it on the floor.  They all s
tare at it, afraid to touch it
.  Lila sets the first aid kit down between Nick and Keely and picks up the phone.

“It’s a text.  It says
:
PANDORA, FRIDAY, 8.”

“Yeah, we already got that message,” Nick nearly shouts. 

Lila goes to work on his chest as he works on Keely’s back, dabbing gently with cotton balls soaked in Peroxide.  Nick stays quiet, but Keely sucks air through grinded teeth, her hands turning white from squeezing them so hard.

Lila bandages Nick’s wound then helps with Keely.  As she takes over, Nick watches quietly.

“You’re very lucky, Keely.  These don’t even need stitches,” Lila tells her in a soothing voice.

“I know.  It could have been much worse,” she says.  Her fingers caress the scar on her throat. 

Nick shakes his head.  Has to look away.

“So, what’s the plan now?” she asks.

“Plan for what?”
Nick says
each word perfectly enunciated.

Keely looks at him.  “For Pandora.  I obviously don’t have a choice.  I have to do it his way.”

Nick lowers his head.  Rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands.  “You have a death wish, don’t you?  Well, fine.  We’ll go to Pandora Friday.  We’ll hand you right over to him.  Maybe if you’re lucky, he’ll spend some time torturing you first.  How’s that sound?”

“Nick, I have to-
” 

“NO YOU DON’T
!  I am risking everything for you and you are g
oing to let him kill you, Keely!
Please.  Please don’t do this.  I can protect you.  We can go.  We can get in the car and just drive away.  We can hide.”  He takes her hands in his, grips them firmly.  “We can go anywhere you want.  Just please stay with me.”

Kee
ly looks away, unable to watch
him plea
ding with her like this. 
She knows he’
s risked himself, his life, his job.  That’s what makes this so hard.  She stares at the wall as she says, “I’m going, Nick.  I have to try to help my parents.  He can get me if he really wants to.  We just established that.  I just want it to be over.  I’m sorry.”  She pulls her hand out of Nick’s grasp.  As soon as Lila has taped the bandage, Keely pulls herself up and goes straight to the bathroom.  She glares at her reflection in the mirror. 

She
doesn’
t understand where this resol
ve comes from.  Just a little while ago, she was sitting on the floor giving up, yet now she is determined to find her parents.
  Because this is probably what is happening to them, she realizes.  She can’t just run away.  Why can’t Nick understand that?  She can’t give up on her family any more than he can give up on her.

Thirteen
:

The air is warm and smells like Saturday mornings at home.  Saturdays—when
Keely would sleep in and awake
to the sweet s
mell of homemade cinnamon rolls
or huge Belgian waffles.  On those days, she would bounce down the stairs and find her mother standing in front of the oven, her father perched at the table sipping coffee and reading the paper.

But this is Thursday
morning
and she is not home.  The overly comfortable bed gives it away firs
t.  S
he knows where she is.  Keely half opens one eye.  Peeks around the fluffy blanket.  Home sweet freaking home.  Right.

“Good morning
.”

Keely pulls the blanket over her head with a groan.  “Send me back, Asmoday.”

“Cannot
do dear sister.  He wants to speak with you.  And when I say speak with, I really mean speak at.  He talks, you listen.  Come now.”

Shaking her head and rolling her eyes from the protection of her hiding place, Keely growls out an annoyed, “Fine.”  Shoves the blanket away from her and stands.  The long silky nightgown slides down her legs.  Another annoyed sound grumbles in her throat.  “Why do you guys insist on dressing me?”

Asmoday raises an eyebrow devilishly.  “Would you prefer to be nude?”

Keely refuses to make eye contact with him.  Refuses to let him get to her.  “No.  What I would prefer is to be left alone, in my own clothes, in my own home.  Why does he keep bringing me here?  What is this place?”

Asmoday tsks.  “Those are not questions for me to answer.”

“Why not?”

“They are not about me and I am not on
e to presume to know his
reasoning on such things.  He is…  What is the right term?”

“Insane?”

Asmoday laughs.  The sound is shockingly child like.  Pure and sweet.  “As I said, I am not the one to answer your questions.”

“Where is he?”

“Through the rabbit hole, Alice,” Asmoday instructs,
gesturing with a sweep of his hand in the direction of the door.

“Off to see the Mad Hatter, I suppose.”

“Indeed.”

“So,” Keely asks as she brushes past her brother, hand on the door knob.  “What’s that make you?  Twiddle Dee or Twiddle Dum?”

Again, Asmoday laughs.  Slides a finger down Keely’s spine, exposed from th
e backless nightgown.  “I did not
do this.”

Keely shivers at his unexpect
ed touch.  His fingers are
like
ice
and
feel good against the painful gashes
.  “No, you didn’t.  This is c
ourtesy
of our brother
.”

“I a
m not a fan of his art, though he did have a beautiful canvas.”  His voice drips like honey, surgery sweet and
maddeningly sticky.

“You’re my brother,” Keely says, more to herself than to him.

“Hmm
, bu
t I do no
t have to be.  I can be anybody you wish.  What form do you desire?”  His finger glides across her back again.  Gently.  Tenderly.

“You disgust me.”  She pulls on the door only for Asmoday to push it shut. 

“Who do you want me to be?”  He is so close to her now.  Too
close.  His breath in her hair
tickles her neck.  Another shiver.

“Nobody.  I don’t want you to exist.”  She tries for calm and
collected, but knows she sounds
anything but.

“But I do exist.
  I am flesh.”  He reaches out, touches her shoulder.  “And blood.”  Let’s his fingers trail down her arm.  “And bone.”  Takes her hand and turns her around.  Keely gasps.  Can’t close her eyes because it’s not Asmoday standing before her, but Nick.

His fingers touch her cheeks timidly.  Slide to her neck.  Soft as a feather
,
caress the scar there.  His body touches hers just barely.  Just enough that she should feel the heat of his skin, but instead it’s like standing in front of an open refrigerator.

He can be anything.  He can be anyone
.

Keely smacks his hands away.  “You make me sick.  You always will.  No matter what form you take.”  She is shaking, but feels confident her voice didn’t quiver.  She actually meant what she said.  He is not Nick.  He cannot be Nick.  Never.

Asmoday chuckles.
In the time
it takes Keely to blink, he has shed
his Nick g
lamour.  Keely stares into deep brown
eyes.

“Don’t try to be someone you’re not,
brother
.  You are just a cheap imitation.  I don’t want the knock off.”

“Oh, I am the real thing,
sis
.  Trust me.”

“Not if my life depended on it.”  Keely’s stomach twists.  Her life may very we
ll depend on it.  Why i
s she being so defiant?  She swallows hard and turns back to the door.  Without another word, Asmoday allows her to leave.

“My beautiful.  My Keely.  My daughter.”

Her father, K
ing of Demons, sits at the table, large silver trimmed glass in hand.  She can’t tell exactly what’s inside, but wouldn’t be surprised
if it were blood.  The color i
s right.  Consistency too.  Gross.

He smiles and stained red teeth greet her.  There is red between his teeth as well, looking as if his gums are
bleeding. 
Keely turns her head, feeling sick.

“Please, sit with me.”

Keely shakes her head.  Backs up a step.  “I’m good, thanks.”

He inclines his head in her direction. 
“Your stubbornness is a trait you have inherited from me I think.”

Yet another shiver.  She does
n’t want
anything from him.  She does
n’t want to be anything like him at all.  He meant to compliment her, she assumes.  Make her feel some sort of connection to hi
m.  Instead, he’s put Farah Fritz to shame in the insult department.  Up until this moment, Keely would have sworn Farah slung them better than anybody.

She clears her throat.  “Asmoday said you needed to talk to me?”

“Yes.  I would like your help.”

Hard swallow, like choking down pebbles.

“I can’t seem to locate Apophis, and you see, his trying to murder you is putting a damper on things.”

Hmm
.  She couldn’t agree more.  “What do you want me to do?”

“Tell me where he is.”

“I don’t know where he is.”

“He has hurt you again.”

“Yes, and Nick too.”  Keely averts her eyes.  Doesn’t want him to read any emotion in them that he could use against her as her brothers are so fond of doing.

“I can make him stop.  I can make him pay for his betrayal.”

“I think I would really love f
or you to do that,” she says,
half of a smile twitching her lips.

“Then tell me.”

Uh…
  “I don’t know where Apophis is.  Really.  If I did, I would tell you.  The thing is, he has my parents, and if I had any clue at all to his whereabouts,
I would have gone there.”

“Your mother, he has her?”

“Yeah.  My dad too.”
 

“I am your father, my Keely.”

“Right, yeah.  I just meant my dad that I grew up with.  Anyway, he wants me to give myself ov
er to him and he’ll let my par—m
y mom and
step
dad go.”

“He never will.  He’s lying.”

Keely cringes as her father takes a long drink from his glass, the thick liquid sloshes and slowly runs down the side.  He licks it f
rom his finger
leaving a stain of crimson on his skin.

“Yeah, I figured that, but I have no other choice,” she murmurs.

“But you do.  You have me.  Tell me.  Where is this exchange to occur?”

Keely hesit
ates.  It’s not like she trusts
him anymore than her brothers.  Could he be trusted now?  Doubtful.  However, he did want her alive.  If she could use that to her advantage to insure her
parents’
safety, well…

“I want my parents rescued.  I want them to go home safely.  Alive.  If I tell you where I’m meeting him, can you make that happen?”

“I can make you stay here and see to it you never make your meeting.”  He glowers at her before putting the smile back in place.  “However, I want nothing more than for you to be happy.  If this is what you want, then I will make it happen.”

“It’s what I want.”

“Good then.  Tell me.”

Keely wrings her hands.  Hopes she is making the right decision.
Couldn’t be any worse, right? 
“Pandora.”