Demon Girl (10 page)

“Wouldn’t call marching up to the closest
demon and trying to kill it, nothing,” I said. Chewing my bottom
lip, I cautioned myself to be careful. “I ran that’s all. I just
ran.”

“Thinking on it, I don’t believe you,” Ro
said.

I shrugged. I couldn’t tell them, it was too
big.

Alex placed her palms on the table. My eyes
darted from hers to the small runes that decorated the back of her
hands. “The Wall keeps us safe. It keeps those demons out and us
humans in. That’s the way it be, Rae. If a vampire or goblin were
to lay hands on you–” She shuddered, her eyes becoming hollow with
visions of death and gore from years past. “Your life here means
something. Don’t throw it away.”

“The Rupture happened lifetime’s ago. Who
knows what it’s like out there?” I leaned forward and lowered my
voice to match hers. “They may have changed, evolved.” I thought of
Breandan and Tomas. “Y’know, I don’t think he Sect have been honest
about what they’re like.”

“Evolved? Demons be animals, dangerous
animals driven by need, nothing more.” She took a deep breath. “The
Doctrine of the Sect is law. Clerics keep the law, and Doctrine
says going beyond the Wall is forbidden. The rules keep us safe.”
She visibly relaxed as she said the words.

Familiar frustration bubbled inside me at her
lack of curiosity. “What if that’s not how it’s supposed to– Forget
it,” I said and ducked my head. I felt her eyes on my face and I
carefully kept it blank, my gaze cast down to the floor.

I couldn’t force her to change her mind in a
minute, nor did I want to. She was the one making sense and
thinking clearly. I was the one making waves, and allowing
dangerous beings to run riot unchecked and unopposed.

A voice said close to my ear, “Am I to keep
the vampire in your wardrobe a secret?”

I jerked up and Devlin leaned back, grinning
impishly. I swear, if I had not spent a lifetime controlling my
face and emotions, I probably would have launched myself at him
shrieking. Ro had wandered off across the room, and I hadn’t seen
Devlin sidle up, too lost in my thoughts. How the
hell
did
he find out? He must have seen Tomas carrying me across the Temple,
but Tomas was sure we would be moving to fast to be seen. Panicked,
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I didn’t know what to say.
Oh Gods. Devlin gazed at me, green eyes clear and sharp. I decided
the best plan was to deny it. To call him deluded or whatever I had
to get him off my back. It was his word against mine, and though I
was considered freaky, the mere suggestion I had a vampire in a
wardrobe was just crazy. But then hadn’t my behavior had been
somewhat suspect? I glanced around. Devlin coming over to talk to
me captured the attention of the entire class, but no one seemed
overly alarmed.

“What?” I said in a perfection imitation of
cluelessness, but I knew my face was white as snow and my voice
brittle.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody. What fun
would that be?”

He was still leaning close over me, speaking
right into my ear so no one else could here. To the casual observer
it may have looked like he whispered sweet nothings in my ear. My
heart sunk. What did he have in mind? Blackmail?

“Why are you doing this?” I asked in a low
voice. “Just go away.”

I sank further into my seat and turned my
head away slightly, clearly giving the message I didn’t want to
talk anymore. Childish tactics, but confrontation didn’t seem to
work, maybe ignoring him would. He had that amused smirk that made
his face look smug and I found myself detesting his presence. There
was something decidedly off about him, and the perfection of his
face was making me sick.

He turned to Alex, narrowed his eyes and
moved his lips without sound. Maybe if I acted bored of this
theatrics he would get the message and leave. I watched him with
cool detachment.

He spoke to me whilst keeping his gaze on
her, “This is a female of strength. You choose your friends well.”
His fingers, seemingly infused with light, brushed her check.

I didn’t like that and I smacked his had
away. Alex started, as if coming to from a trance and sent me a
baffled look.

“Who’s the boy outside?” Ro said from across
the class.

I shot up. Devlin backed away a pace, as if I
was suddenly too close for comfort. I excused myself and walked
speedily to Ro’s side, all the while telling myself the fairy-boy
I’d met that morning would never dare. He would know he could not
show up here at Temple, and parade around half naked, and glowing.
I reached the window and made a strangled noise. Breandan. At least
he’d had the good sense to glamour himself human. His eyes flicked
from me to behind me, and then he beckoned to me.

“Rae, you know him?” Ro asked and eyed me
head to toe. A slow smile spread across his face, and the green
beads he’d tied into the end of his cornrow plaits clicked together
as he laughed. “You be keeping secrets, eh?”

“Yes,” I said, took a step backwards. “I
mean… I don’t know…” In truth I was not surprised Breandan was
there. I just wondered how long he intended to follow me and if his
ultimate goal was to have me strung up Outside by the Clerics.

Breandan waved at me, impatient this
time.

“He seems to know you.” Ro ran his tongue
over his top teeth. “If you don’t want him, I’ll take him.”

Breandan stood on the grass with his hands
loose by his sides and somehow, through the rain, I saw the storm
in his eyes threatening to drown me. He didn’t beckon to me again,
but I knew he wanted me to go to him. Afraid of the hot, fluttery
feeling spreading through my limbs, I shook my head hoping he got
the message. This was not okay. He could not come here and expect
me to run off with him into the forest like a lunatic.

His head drooped then snapped up, his gaze
directed over my shoulder.

“Rae, you right?” Alex asked from beside me.
“What’s going on?” Then she spotted Breandan scowling at me.
“That’s him? The boy from this morning?”

A few other Disciples got up out their desks
and came over to look out the window at whatever it was we were
looking at. I took a few steps back until I bumped into someone
standing behind me. Devlin stood in my way and looked furious. What
was his problem? He was the one on my back, not the other way
round. Then his shoulders started to shake and I realized he was
laughing. He looked straight at me and smiled. No. Not a smile, but
a snigger filled with wicked delight. The intensity of his stare
boldly probed mine, and the chill that slithered down my spine had
me wound to near breaking.

When I looked back round Breandan’s entire
body tensed, and just like that, with one last glance at me he
turned and darted away. A sense of relief was replaced by a fiercer
surge of regret. The moment he winked out of sight the longing to
see and feel him, pressed upon my consciousness. The emotion was
like a splinter burrowed beneath the skin, determined to settle in
for the long haul.

I thought then about telling a Cleric,
Breandan, a demon from beyond the Wall, could get onto the Temple
grounds. Why was I was covering for some boy I barely knew? Yes,
he’d told me I was a demon, but what if that had been a lie. I
looked pretty damn human to my eyes. Yes, I’d done some demon
stuff, but I could be a witch. The thought made me very nervous.
All witches were bad, forces of evil. Did I really want to wish to
be one? My mind wandered back to Breandan, the boy who made me warm
and tingly when I thought about him. And that is why I resolved to
keep my mouth firmly shut. That and the fact I was hiding one of
the scariest of demonkind in my wardrobe.

Ro stared out the window, confused. Unlike
me, he was not used to the fairy disappearing act, and I could see
him trying to figure out how Breandan had left so quickly. The
other Disciples had lost interest and had wandered into small
groups again.

It was all getting a bit much for me, and I
couldn’t keep up. My head felt light, spongy, and my limbs weak. I
was hiding so many things from so many people my brain felt like it
was being pried apart. Alex seemed to sense my stress since she
dragged me out the door by my sleeve the moment the bell rang.

“C’mon,” she said. “We got Alchemy and I
don’t want to be late.”

Stumbling out the door, I waved goodbye to
Ro. “But, I thought you were ditching,” I said, trying to keep up
mentally.

“I need to keep my eye on you.”

Skipping out the room, I watched the back of
her bobbing head. Breathing in I focused on her drama instead of
mine. “You like Ro, a lot,” I said.

Pushing out the side door to take a shortcut
through the courtyard in the middle of the building, we carefully
trudged down the slippery pathway and she shot me evil eye. Pulling
up our blazer collars, we raced across and the rain pelted hard
against my skin. My feet splashed in every puddle along the way and
the wind tugged on my body. Storms never bothered me. The power and
beauty of the sky churning, clouds darkened with rain and flashes
of lighting made my skin goosy. We made it through the heavy doors,
and I rung out my hair and clothes as best I could, wiping my
dripping face on my wet sleeve.

“I don’t do steadies,” Alex said. She
strutted off and I trailed behind, smiling into my shoulder.

Ro would be the perfect steady for Alex. He
would take care of her, and love her for more than her beauty. She
knew this, and though she kept going on and on about his fondness
for guys when he wasn’t with her, that’s what the real problem was.
He saw through the cocky smiles, the extrovert character to what
she was about.

Marriage was an old and tired concept. The
last union performed around a century before, about the time the
last of the old religions died out. But if it were practiced they
definitely would be suitable candidates in my mind. People didn’t
tie themselves to each other anymore. Why should they? Chances were
you’d find somebody who appealed more in a few years. People knew
it was best to keep it simple. There were romantics, of course, who
feel in love and ran away to other regions to start new lives. Two
Disciples had tried that idea three years ago, and had tried to
travel to the next region by going Outside. The Clerics had us
Disciples visit their graves once a year as a reminder of what
happens to the stupid and irresponsible.

“Lex, I can’t,” I said and stopped
walking.

She spun round and frowned. “Can’t do what?”
Her face smoothed. “Rae, if we don’t turn up to class–”

“I know,” I cut in and backed away. “You go
on. I’m going to go sit in the Library for a while. Cover for me?
Say I have a headache and went for some quiet time. I’ll deal with
the punishment.” I didn’t wait for her answer, and took off at a
run back down the hallway.

Walking into the Library, I gave myself a
mental pat. It was empty and blessedly quiet. The library was just
a bunch of bookcases pushed against the wall and a few tables and
benches arranged in the centre. It smelt musty, but not unpleasant,
as if it had been a while since the air was last disturbed.

I settled down on a table with a low lamp and
closed my eyes, enjoying the stillness. Here I could be at peace. I
drummed my fingers on the tabletop. Then I ran them through my hair
and frowned when I encountered tangles. I redid my makeshift hair
bun, trembling a little when I fingered the twig and remembered
what had happened after I had found it. I scrunched up my face then
relaxed it again. Scrunch and relax. Urgh, but my mind was not
quiet. It was shrieking at me, throwing back everything from that
morning. Closing my eyes did not change the fact I had a vampire in
my wardrobe that was going to reanimate in a few hours. My mind
lingered on thoughts of Tomas’s dark, bottomless eyes and the fact
Devlin somehow knew he was in my wardrobe. How did he know? How,
how, how? Breathing in deeply did not fix whatever genetic quirk
made me a demon. Oh gods, how could I be a
demon
? Shouldn’t
I have figured that out by myself? Why did someone have to point
out such obvious things for me to finally add it all together to
equal demon? As my thoughts touched on Breandan, my body went
haywire. My heart sounded to pound and my hands became slick with
sweat. Where was he? Would I see him again? In the space of one
morning my whole life had been turned upside down, yet the thought
of never seeing or touching him again was…
unbearable.

I got irritated with myself. I’d come to the
Library for a quiet place to think and figure out what I was going
to do, not moan about what had already happened. I needed a plan of
action. I needed to remain calm, and collected, and work this thing
out. I tried to get comfortable on the hard wooden seat, but the
feeling of discomfort that had appeared when Breandan left had
lingered, and in the last few minutes had changed slightly. The
splinter wasn’t burrowing under my skin anymore, but had almost,
insistent. Like, ‘look here I am’.

The door opened. Sounds and smells of the
world rushed in, breaking my reflective bubble. I jerked up. In a
lifetime of habit, I shied inward and prepared myself to become
part of the furniture.

A boy, blazer collar turned up sauntered into
the room. White hair flopped down to conceal one of his sparkling
eyes. The gods be damned, it was Devlin. Rather than launching into
a tirade of accusations like I expected, he said nothing. He simply
stared at me like I was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen.
It made me feel like a butterfly, entangled in a web of lies, and
waiting for the spider to pounce.

The solid silence was driving me mad. “Hai,
Devlin.” My voice was strained.

“You don’t like me very much,” he said.

A few responses played on my lips before I
chose, “Direct.”