Demon Girl (16 page)

The sudden urgency threw me, and I leaned up.
“Why? And don’t evade the question.”

She saw my surly expression and sighed. “In
the end they died and they took thousands of fairy lives with
them.” The curiosity in my face prompted her to continue. “The word
you’re looking for to explain what you feel is a nexus. When you
touch something is created between you and Breandan that is
unbreakable, untouchable. It grows. The longer you are apart the
greater the need for contact with him will become. When you do
touch it will be like…like a direct tap to the Source. The longer
you are apart the greater the, ah, release of energy will be.”

By the scared look on her face, I don’t think
the big release of energy was a good thing. The larger implications
of what she was saying sunk in and burned a hole.

“What if I don’t
want
to be tied to
him?”

“It’s done now.”

“But, I–, I still don’t even know what it
means.”

“Bonded ones can never rule or lead because
they end up too wrapped in each other to think or see
straight.”

“That’s not what I meant. What does it mean
in real terms? Like does it mean Breandan and I are destined to be
together?”

The idea was so cliché it was gross, but it
was one I understood easily.

“How the hell would I know?” I shot her a
look. “Oh, you’re forgetting what I can and can’t do again. I can
tell you if you’ll turn right down a fork in the road instead of
left, but I can’t tell you why you chose that direction.” She
paused thoughtfully. “Unless say, the right was blocked and you had
to go left. See what I mean?”

With a tremble, I digested what I had
learned. Breandan and I were tied together by an unbreakable
magical bond, for life. And I wasn’t even sure I liked him.

“Does Breandan know?” I asked.

“After you met the first time I saw what
would happen should it grow beyond control. I warned him to stay
close and to touch you skin to skin as often as he could.” She
grinned. “I don’t think he minded the instruction once he’d met
you.”

“I don’t understand. We can connect to the
Source. Big deal. You can touch the Source.”

“This is more complex than a simple
channeling of power. When the nexus opens you become a living
embodiment of the energy in its raw form. A Source in your own
right.”

I frowned and chewed my lip. “Sounds
intense.”

She barked a laugh and rubbed at her eyes.
“You have no idea.”

I sensed her close up on the subject and
thought of something else. “Why does Devlin want me to go with him?
He seemed very insistent that I go home with him.”

“This is where it gets complicated. Has
Breandan or Conall explained the limits of the Source yet?”

“I can get better at wielding magic with
practice, but can never draw more than my limit.” I said, proud of
myself for remembering.

“Clever girl, but for you and Breandan the
rule no longer applies. You’re bonded.”

“Oh,” I said, neatly put in my place. “I
see.”

Ana gazed above and her face was frightened.
“There are three ancient items of magic in the form of golden
amulets pure fairies – Priestesses, whose purpose is to keep the
balance of life – can wield to make themselves extremely powerful,
and become more connected to the Source. For nearly two thousand
years the balance was maintained. But then one Priestess forgot her
purpose, and it got out of whack. The dark outweighed the light,
and things that never should have been possible occurred.” Her face
took on a sour look. “The Rupture was a side effect of her failure.
If she was doing job and keeping the balance, it never would have
happened. The vampires would have been stopped. But the result of
that failure is clear to see, look at the world we live in.”

“You’re looking for these amulets,” I said,
“to try and bring back the balance. But Devlin has other plans.
It’s like a race.”

She nodded. “A bloody sprint to see who can
amass the most power before inevitable war. The grimoire, a book of
spells has been in the Tribe’s possession since before anyone can
remember. It would be horrific if a force of evil was able to open
it.” She shuddered delicately in the grass. “The grimoire is
locked, and the key is the three amulets combined, wielded by a
pure fairy.”

“Why are you guys so worried then? If you
have to be pure to–”

“It doesn’t matter which type of pure you
are. Pure evil can unlock the book just as pure good can.”

“Who’s the dumbass thought that gem up?”

“You did. Rather, one of your past
reincarnations did.”

“Ah,” I said.

“Breandan lost an amulet piece this morning.
It gives protection to the possessor.” She smiled at a spider
scuttling across her leg. She picked it up and held it in her palm,
moved her hand this way and that as the hairy brown arachnid
searched for a place to get off. “Its guardian gave it to him for
safekeeping as he felt he could no longer conceal it.”

The implications of what she was saying hit
home. “So, the Tribe now has one amulet, and the rebels have–”

“Officially, none,” she said and grimaced.
“Lochlann will not forgive Breandan easily for that screw up. He
became its protector, and left it unprotected to run around after
you since you got lost. Like I said before, I’ve saw that sticky
spot you slid into with Maeve.”

I scowled darkly. Everyone sounded so ready
to bend over and take it from this fairy Lochlann, but I didn’t see
him risking his hide to guard the amulet piece. Where was he? He
was needed here.

Ana set the spider on the grass, and waved
goodbye as it scurried away into the undergrowth.

“Rae, the next time we hear strange noises in
the forest, what do we do?

“Go the other way,” I mumbled.

“Correct.” She beamed at me. “Don’t worry,
all is not lost. We can even the score. There are two more, hidden
with their guardians and we’ll find them, just you watch.”

I let it all sink in. My hand unconsciously
strayed to the pendant, no, the amulet piece lying under my tee
shirt. Ana honestly didn’t seem to know that I had it. But Conall,
Breandan and Devlin did. Ana was a witch and gifted with the Sight.
How could she not know that I was a guardian too? Something was
off. There were still large gaping holes in the tapestry that was
being woven in my mind. Devlin was an evil fairy-lord. Pure evil
and he wanted my amulet piece so that he could try to open the
grimoire. Lochlann, another bad ass fairy and Breandan’s older
brother was leading the revolution to bring back the balance, and
was therefore fighting against Devlin, which made him the good guy,
right? The grimoire was a scary powerful book that Devlin had, but
couldn’t open because it was locked. Somewhere in the middle of
this myself and two other fairies had been chosen as guardians of
the key, the amulets. I assume to keep them safe from evil, because
though my moral compass was dubious at the best of times, I didn’t
feel evil, which made me good too, right?

But then why did I not
know
any of
this? Why had I been dumped on the steps of a Temple Priests house,
glamoured as a human baby with no memory or knowledge of whom or
what I was? Surely, if this amulet were important it would be
madness to entrust it to someone who may have just thrown it away
one day. Everything was falling into spaces, but some bits didn’t
fit.

One thing I knew for certain, though I was
curious – who wouldn’t be – I didn’t want a part in any of it. No
matter what Ana thought it was too big for me. The whole political
battle between the rebels and the Tribe, and the battle between
good and evil. The only reason I could see I was a part of it was
because of my connection to Breandan. After all, no long lost
relative had come forward to claim me.

The macabre tone of my thoughts had me
scrambling around my own head for a distraction. “Uh, the way you
talk,” I said, “you consider yourself part of the fairy
rebels?”

She snorted. “The gods created the Source and
we all came from that. I don’t care they look different to me.
We’re made of the same basic stuff.”

“But you’re human,” I said stubbornly taking
in her normal ears, skin and lack of other limbs. There was no
glamour over her; I’d looked hard for it.

“If you want to get technical about it I’m
the white witch, but for the most part yeah, human. You are most
definitely fairy.”

“So it’s true then. All witches are bad?
Barring you, I mean.”

Sadness flickered across her expression.
“Fairies are magical. It is the essence of what they are, and for
the most part it protects them from influences that can rot a
person to the core – jealousy, greed and spite to name a few.
Humans who can touch the Source, witches, do not have these natural
safeguards.”

“What makes you different?”

“The same thing that makes you different.”
Her eyes lingered on my wings. “The will of the gods.”

Stunned by her knowledge I pried without
thinking. “How old are you?”

“Fifteen.”

I thought back to when I was fifteen three
years before. Trying to work out why my body was so developed, and
why I didn’t want the boys to touch me like the other girls did. I
compared myself to this powerful girl and cringed. I went to pull
my hood up but at Ana’s stern look I rested my fingers on the
fabric, and my stomach clenched.

“I am in so much trouble. I don’t think I can
do this.”

She glared at me with a face of thunder. “You
know what, this ‘oh no poor me’ routine has to stop, Rae.”

“What?” I wailed. “I have a right to be
upset.”

I raised my palms helplessly and swallowed
the excess saliva building in my mouth.

“You don’t have time to mope, or worry about
what’s coming because it’s already here. Sorry to be the one to
break it to you, but it’s crunch time. I wish you had more time to
prepare, I do, but fact is you don’t. You need to face who you are
and accept your place beside Breandan. The Tribe has stolen the
amulet of protection. They grow more powerful, and now they have
one of the four. In many futures you try to run but trouble finds
you. If you don’t accept this–”

Clamping a hand over my mouth, I leaped up
and dashed into a corner before emptying my stomach onto the
ground. I heaved until nothing but clear, acidic liquid dribbled
from my lips. My mind scuttled over everything and I retched,
puking air. Leaning my head on the cool stone I clung to the
trailing ivy rooted to the wall, and breathed in the light scent
from flowers sprouting in-between the gray bricks.

Pushing away from the wall I swayed back over
to Ana. I let my legs give way so I was seated, leaning forward
limply.

“Chew this.” She pushed something green into
my hand.

I stuffed it in my gob and chomped down. A
clean taste exploded in my mouth, down my throat, and into my belly
until the nauseated feeling subsided. I spat the wad of green out
of my mouth and raised it in my upturned palm.

She motioned to the lump of weedy grass. “I
laid a spell to help you.”

With bigger things to be upset about then a
bit of magic, I tossed it and pushed hair out my eyes. “How am I
supposed to react to this?” Thinking on it I came up with nothing.
My wings flexed behind me and I sighed. “This is too big for me, it
was too big when I found out I wasn’t human.” My hand drifted to
touch an elongated ear; it twitched beneath my touch. “You’re
telling me that I have to be with Breandan or he and his brother
will fail in their quest to overthrow Devlin. I don’t even know
why
they are against him.”

Though I could guess. Devlin
seemed…cruel.

“I wish I could say something wise and
comforting, but that’s not what I’m here for. That’s not my
purpose. But I know you’ll make the right choice.” Leaning over to
give me a hug she pressed her cheek to mine. I stiffened. Moving
away, she laughed quietly. “Oops, sorry. I forget.”

Shrugging it off, I plucked at the grass.
“How do you manage with all this?”

She grinned. “It’s cool. My strength is my
Sight, but I can draw some power from the Source should I want. I
have known who and what I am since I can remember. The rebels are
the only real family I’ve ever known. I don’t want to be without
them.” We shared a smile before Ana looked up to the night.
“Nothing can compare to fairy kind.” She lay flat on her back, and
I paused trying to figure out how settle beside her.

A few minutes of unsuccessfully lying down
and shifting into awkward positions I leaned up and thought move
out a little, and my wings moved out a little. I leaned back and
the grass pricked the skin between my shoulder blades. My wings
folded up against my body to cocoon me; curving overhead. The
overall effect was snug as we watched clouds roll across the
sky.

“Tell me about them?” I asked.

“They’re all different, living solitary lives
for the most part, even those sworn to the Tribe. The majority
remains Outside, but there are those who live within the Wall
disguised as human, like me.”

“You’re not a slum girl,” I said. “You talk
like an upper dwell.” I wondered how many other demons were living
as ordinary humans. “It’s strange to think of demons as so
civilized. I’m used to thinking of them as, well, something close
to animals.”

Ana snorted a laugh. “Do you consider
yourself as animal?”

I chose to avoid answering that.

“Can you tell me how many demons there
are?”

“My, my counting assets already.” She laughed
at my blush. “The other demons have their own laws, and I have no
idea about their numbers. We believe the fairy number to be
teetering at a thousand,” her voice was proud. “There may be others
hiding in the regions across the seas. Then there are the outcast
fairies.”