Dark Calling (52 page)

Keely pulls away from him, her blond hair spills around her as she drops her head. 
She takes a step back.  Then another.  She turns and escapes through the door. 

Once outside, Keely takes a deep breath. 
Inhales like
it’s her first breath after nearly
suffocating. 
Sinks to the curb.  What is wrong with her?  Had she really just tried to kiss Bryon?  And after his speech in the car, did he just turn her down flat?  A slow realization sinks in.  She is seriously, truly, one hundred percent, demented.
  She is disgusted with herself
because she knows exactly why Bryon had stopped her from kissing him.  Nick. 

Keely hears the door open.  Hears it slide closed again.  Sees his shoes from the corner of her eye.
 
Slowly
, she looks up at Bryon
. 
Words unwilling to come.

He
lowers himself to sit
beside her.  “It’s not that I don’
t want to, Keel.  Because I
do.
  I really do.
  It’s just, I can’t do it like this.  You have too much already going on.  You just told me you can’t choose between Nick and the Demon.
  I don’
t want to be
another option for you
to choose from.  And I can’t
just
be
a distraction. 
I could say screw it
and enjoy this moment, but we would bo
th regret it.  Nick’s my friend, and t
he way I want to be with you, it’s sor
t of in a long term
way.
 
I’m smart enough to know that if I kissed you now, it would end up being a bitter memory for both of us.  I can’t share you.
  And I can’t lose you.
”

Keely nods her head as his arms circle around her.  The warmth of his body against hers chases away
the chilling cold inside
.  “I am so confused, Bry.  I feel so…much.  You don’t know how long I had been going without feeling anything.  Just shoving everything down.  Now, it’s like I can’t stop it.”

“What do you feel for me?” h
e asks, looking down at her.  “Just so I know.  Just in case…
”  He shakes his head.  “J
ust so I know
.”

Keely nearly gasps at the look on his face.  The longing in his eyes that must mirror her own. 
She doesn’t know what to say.  W
ill telling the truth make
things worse?  Because the truth is, sh
e loves him.  She always has.  But not more than she loves Nick.
  Not more than Asmoday.  But
love is love. 
Filling her heart.  Making it feel as if it is about to burst. 

“Never mind,” he says softly.  “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“I love you.  But I love him too.  Both of them.”

Bryon’s hand shakes on her arm.
He nods stiffly.  “That really sucks.”

Keely looks away.  “Yeah.”

He stands up and offers her his hand.  She takes it and he pulls her to her feet.  He sighs.  “
I’m probably going to regret not taking advantage of this.”  He smirks at her, but the sadness in his eyes makes it clear he isn’t joking.

Keely glances at the store.  “We need to get your hat.”

Bryon runs his hand up the back of his head, his palm sliding across his dark hair
causing it to stick out.  Keely brushes it
back into place and heads
to the store.  The door sticks
slightly when she opens it, making
a sound like peeling a sticker
from fabric
.  The small building seems darker than it was a few minutes ago.  And colder.  Something prickles Keely’s skin.  Some kind of sixth sense or intuition she can’t quite place.

Just as she is about to voice
her strange feelings, Bryon pulls
on her arm.  He shoves her back to the door, but it is completely stuck now, refusing to budge.  He hisses something in her ear that sounds a lot like
,
“h
ide.
”
  She isn’t sure she heard him right over the pounding of her speeding heart.  He pushes her again and reaches into his pocket, coming back with three throwing stars.  Keely feels her eyes go big as it occurs to her that they are definitely in some kind of danger.  She looks around
quickly.  Heads for the counter where the cash register sits.

She pulls herself over the counter and ducks behind it.  Her head is throbbing with each beat of her heart.  She sniffs the air expecting to catch the scent of stale cigars, but picks up a softer
, sweeter smell instead.  L
avender and vanilla.  Something about it brings an image of Dustin to
her mind.  Keely shakes it away.  T
hat can’t be right.  Her confusion brings her back to her senses.  She reaches into her pocket for her cell phone and nearly curses when she remembers she left it at home to charge the new battery.  Why couldn’t these things happen when she was better prepa
red?  Keely looks around
hoping the store has a phone conveniently placed.  She trails her eyes over the cord coming from the wall
to where it connects to the base of a cordless.  And of course, the actual cordless phone is missing.  The base sits empty, mocking her. 

“Well hello there, handsome,” a voice calls sweetly.  Keely wants so badly to peer over the counter to get a look at the source.  It takes all her self control to stay in her hiding place.

“We haven’t been properly introduced.  I’m Mianna.  And you would be…hmm.  Bryon, right?”

“Who are you?”
Bryon demands, spitting the words.

“I just told you, I’m Mianna.”

“
What
are you?”

“
Just a girl,
”
she laughs.

“How do you know me?”

“I’m good friends with your buddy.  The one with the pretty eyes. 
Well, eye.”  She giggles quietly.  “
But your eyes, they’re much prettier.  I could play with you all day.”

“I’m
not much up to games right now,” Bryon sneers.

“Sorry, I’ve been given strict orders.  I’m to play with you so they can grab her.”

Though Keely can’t see, she can tell by the way her voice projected that Mianna was looking in the direction of her hiding place as she said this.  She
has a feeling she i
sn’t
actually
hidden at
all.  And now she really wants
to see who the ‘they’
a
re.

“Nobody is touching her,” Bryon says coldly.
  “Not unless you want to lose an appendage.”

Keely can’t stay back
here any longer.  Not when she’
s imagining Bryon surrounded by Demons.  She grips the counter and pulls herself up slowly.  Her eyes dart around the room scanning over the four Demons.  Two behind Bryon.  One—the girl that’s been doing all the talking—directly in front of him.  One in front of the door.  This one turns his head slowly and stares at her with eyes reflecting like a cat’s. 
 

“Oh, good.  There you are, Keely,” Mianna purrs.  “Wow, you really are as pretty as they say.  Your brother is quite taken with you.  He gave us strict orders not to leave any permanent marks on you.”  Keely doesn’t have time to respond before Mianna is in front of her.  She uses both hands to flip Keely’s hair off her shoulders. 
Her fingers linger in her hair. 

“So soft.  What kind of shampoo do you use?”

Keely blinks in shock.  “Shampoo?”

Mianna leans forward, pulling a chunk of hair to her nose and inhales deeply.  “Strawberries.”  She drops the hair and takes Keely’s chi
n gently in her grasp.  Turns her head
to the side, then to the other. 
“Flawless.
”  She smiles coldly.  Her grip tightens and Keely jerks away.
  “Let’s get this show on the road, boys.”

Bryon grips his throwing stars, ready to throw as two of the Demons stalk toward Keely.  Mianna disappears from in front of Keely and pops up behind Bryon.  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Good thing you’re not me.”  He releases one of the stars.  It sails through the air imbedding itself into the throat of one of the Demons.  He plucks it from his thick flesh, dark syrupy blood flows from the wound.  He turns his head, fixing an expressionless gaze on Bryon and throws it
back at him.  It strikes him below
the shoulder, just to the left of his arm.
  He makes a sound of surprise mixed with pain.

Keely places her hands on the counter and propels herself over.  She lands it gracefully and runs to Bryon’s side.

“Seriously?  You
can’t restrain one small girl?”
Mianna seethes.  She
pulls back her arm and backhands Keely across her face with such force her feet leave the floor.  In the time it takes
Keely
to land on her back, knocking the air from her lungs, Mianna is on top of her.  Hands move around her throat.  Nails dig in as she shakes Keely.  Her head hits against the hard wood floor again and again.
 

Mianna leans close to Keely’s ear as her fingers tighten on her windpipe.  “He’s not coming to save you.  I put a seal around this entire store.  Nobody gets in.”  She kisses Keely’s cheek and let’s her weight settle on her chest.

Asmoday
.  He must feel her fear.  Her pain.  The fact that she can’t breath
e
.
 

Why does every Demon insist on suffocating her?  Keely
raises her hand and makes a
fist.  P
unches Mianna in the face.  She spits blood. 

“Stop fighting little Princess.  This goes on until you pass out.”

Bryon raises himself up, pulls the throwing star from his chest.  Shudders as he sees how deep it implanted itself.  Blood spreads across his shirt, turning
it
a rich crimson.  He feels dizzy as he tries to raise the star.  The two Demons are only steps away.  His right arm refuses to cooperate.  Shifting the star to his left hand, Bryon tosses it at Mian
na before falling forward.  H
ears it hit its mark.

Mianna looks at Keely with eyes full of astonishment.  Her fingers slide from her throat and reach to the back of her
own
neck.  Keely shoves her off of her and rolls over gasping for air. 
Pulling herself to her knees, she crawls toward the table in the middle of the room.  On top, thick wooden stands hold hats.  One hand grips her throat, the othe
r fumbles with the display.  A
hat stand falls to the floor, bouncing and landing next to Keely.  She
wraps trembling fingers around it and pushes herself
back.

Mianna rips the star from her neck.  She smiles at Keely before disappearing.  The lights flicker.  The room brightens significantly as Keely moves herself toward Bryon.  The other Demons stand around him uncertain of what they should do next. 

Keely gets to her
feet and swings at them maddeningly
.
  She succeeds in
back
ing them
away a
few
step
s before one—the one with the cat eyes—wrenches the hat stand in
Keely’s hand.  Her fingers burn
as she frantically tries to keep her grip.  With little effort, he wins the tug-of-war and
throws it hard behind him
.  It hits
the door shattering
in large chunks of glass. 

“
Keely, go.  Run,” Bryon demands.  He pushes her away from him weakly as he tries to stand.
  
 

“I’m not leaving you,” she cries.

Bryon’s eyes plead with her. 
“
Go
.”

Keely takes his hand and pulls him to her.  She ducks under his arm, offering herself as support.  “We’ll go together.”

“You have to come back with us,” one of the Demons begins.  “Apophis awaits your return.”

“Apophis’ Demons are weaker in the daylight, right?” She asks Bryon quietly as they hesitantly approach the door.

He nods and looks over her head.  “It’s sunset.  There’s no time.  Please just go.”  He shoves his keys into her hand.

“We’re almost there,
”
she assures him quietly.

The Demon with the cat eyes blurs as he flings himself in front of the door, blocking their escape, but he doesn’t touch them.  His eyes lock with Keely menacingly.  “The only place you’re going is back to the realm.  We have orders
from the Prince.”

Bryon’s knees buckle and he slides out of Keely’s arm.  He catches himself from falling on h
is face, but his right arm can’
t hold his weight and he collapses the last foot to the floor.  Keely cries out
,
a sound twis
ted with panic and fear
.