Demon Girl (20 page)

“I’ll go back,” I mumbled into my shoulder
and half turned. “Watch yourself with him, okay?”

Breandan gave me a little shove. “Walk back
and I will run. I’ll be with you before you can miss me.”

Devlin grinned at me. What was so funny? Did
he know something I did not?

I shivered, and started off at a slow walk. I
was not afraid in the blue and purple forest surrounding me. It was
peaceful. As I wandered back, I slid my glamour back on, and tugged
at the gaping hole at my back where my tee shirt had given way for
my wings. The world became darker and it felt like I was draped
under a heavy curtain. My limbs dragged, and my hearing, sense of
smell became muted. How had I functioned like this for eighteen
years? Finally alone, I took a moment to think on everything that
had happened to me. The day seemed endless, and I hoped there were
no more surprises in store. I didn’t know how much more I could
take. I was dying to pee, so I squatted behind a tree and relived
my self, humming low in my throat.

Back on the compound, I was reaching for
Bayou’s door when a heavy hand landed on my shoulder. The hand was
warm, human warm, and it spun me around and pressed me back into
the door.

“Lord Cleric,” I protested and pushed
forward, but he held firm.

I was stronger than him of course, but I let
him pin me to the door as the Lady Cleric from that morning came
out of the shadows. I dipped my head in a show of respect but my
mind was racing. This was not good. It was the middle of the night,
I was not asleep in bed like the other Disciples, and I looked like
I had been to hell and back.

“Hai, Disciple,” the Lady Cleric said in a
nasal drawl.

She had a slight accent and upward tilt to
her eyes. She was a small thing, tiny hands and feet obscured by
mittens and clunky black boots. Her mousey brown hair hung
straight, severely parted in the centre and cut blunt at the ends,
and over her eyebrows in a fringe. She was not attractive, or ugly
either she just looked mean.

“Hai, Lady Cleric,” I replied.

I didn’t know her name, so I simply said the
honorific keeping my eyes downcast and my voice small and quiet at
an attempt at meekness, whilst I scrambled around my head to get my
story straight. This treatment of me was against the rules. This
told me two things. One, that they suspected me to be the girl in
the forest that morning. Two, they had already tried the official
route and had probably been told to take a hike by the Priests. Oh
gods. Or they were acting with Sect approval and their orders where
to take care of me quietly.

And I’d handed myself to them on a
platter.

“Looks like you’re doing some hard thinking
there,” Tu said. “Why so nervous, Rae?”

I looked my teacher in the eye, and could not
hide the flash of hate in my glare. He faltered and the pressure on
my shoulder eased. I used it to slide away and stand up straight. I
felt the wind blow past and sent a chill up my exposed spine. How
would I explain my ripped top? I lifted my chin and looked between
them.

“Is there something I can help you with? I’m
tired after my run, and I would like to sleep.”

They shot looks at each other. “Do you often
run in the middle of the night?” The Lady Cleric looked me up and
down. “Looking so…disheveled?”

I scrunched my fingers into fists behind my
back. “Yes, Lady Cleric. I like to run at night. I find it
soothing.”

“Do you run in the morning?” Tu asked
quietly.

I nodded my head. “Sure. The security guy
often lets me out in the pre dawn. I circle the Temple grounds and
come back.

The Lady Cleric tilted her head. “Sounds
innocent enough.”

I smiled somewhat tightly. “Do you run,
Cleric? If you do you will know how peaceful it can be.”

“Yes. I too find it soothing. Killing demons
can be stressful.”

I flinched, just a little, but enough to
confirm their suspicions. Normal people did not flinch at the
mention of killing demons. It was seen as a good thing.

“We know all about your morning runs, Rae.
But that’s not why we are here. It’s what led us to you, but not
why we’re here.”

I swallowed a couple of times before I could
say. “I don’t think I follow you. Led you to me?”

“You know there is an in and out list for the
gate?”

I closed my eyes briefly, realizing the
blunder before I answered. “Yes, Lord Cleric.

“This morning, you went out as usual, but you
didn’t come through the gate again.” He pointed behind him, where
the black iron gates lurked. “You showed up in my class sure
enough, and asked a few…concerning questions. When we came back to
the class you looked most preoccupied. Then you skipped all of your
afternoon classes. Most concerning.”

My hand reached behind me and curled around
Bayou’s door handle.

“I understand Lord Cleric,” I said humbly. “I
will come to your classroom tomorrow morning to discuss my
punishment.”

The Lady Cleric’s face twisted. “No, Disciple
Wilder. You are coming with us. Now.”

I jerked the door open and bolted through it.
Taking the stairs two at a time a hand snagged my ankle and I went
down. I smacked my head on the stair in front of me, and was half
dragged back down by my calf. Flailing to grab the railing rushing
by, I caught one and held on. I half turned, and kicked with my
other leg catching the Lady Cleric by the side of her head. She let
me go and I scrambled up the stairs on all fours. Up the second
flight, I heard her close behind me and plucked my key out of my
back jean pocket. I heard her take the second flight of stairs,
cursing the gods as my hand tried to slot my key in the lock. My
hand trembled. As it slid in and clicked, I opened the door and
turned to get the Lady Cleric’s fist straight square in the face.
Pain exploded out from my nose and radiated across my cheekbones. I
flew back, and landed hard on my back with a flat
thump
. The
Lady Cleric stepped in and kicked the door closed behind her.
Glamoured as human, I could see nothing in the dark, but I could
hear her raspy breaths.

I wiped at my bleeding nose. Why was it not
healing?

“Demon bitch,” she spat. “That’s what you
are, isn’t it? A demon. That was the only way you evaded the dogs,
my tracking.”

“It’s not what you think,” I sobbed and
crawled backward.

“I knew it was you, but Tu wasn’t sure. He
tried to convince me it was just a coincidence. That one of his
precious students could
never
be one of them.” The venom in
her voice made me tremble even harder. “You disgust me, I read your
file. You’ve been hiding among us since a baby. Fooling that old
Priest into thinking that you were an abandoned ward.”

“No, it wasn’t like that.” My heart hurt when
I thought of the Priest who had found me outside his door. I would
never do anything to hurt him. It was him who had suggested I be
enrolled at Temple when he saw how I had survived at the orphanage.
I shook my head again. “It wasn’t like that.”

I was afraid. Had I been this afraid when I’d
met Breandan? Or when I’d met– I swear, my heart stopped then
kicked twice before a cold sweat broke out on my palms. I couldn’t
even think his name, because then it would be real. The horror of
what was about to happen would become a reality, and there would be
no taking it back. I hobbled up and pressed myself against the
wall.

“Tomas,” I whispered.

I felt him shift beside me before I saw his
silhouette slink forward. I heard his snarl a second before I held
my palms up and out, the words to call him off dying on my lips
when I thought hard about what she would do to me. Would she have
taken me to the Priests for judgment, or would she have killed
me?

I watched. I watched him move silently around
her, and watched as his fangs ran out. She was still advancing
toward me, hyped on hate, and unaware her own death was less than a
moment away. He grabbed her head, and clamped a hand over her mouth
to smoother her scream. Yanking her shoulder down, he curled his
fingers around her cloak to rip it away and expose her flesh. His
head hung suspended against the smooth ivory of her neck, and I
watched her eyes widen in horror. Instant tears make them glisten
as Tomas twitched then bit down. A spray of blood splashed against
the wall and my face. I was unable to look away. It was loud,
grizzly and violent. The heels of the Lady Cleric’s boots thumped
on the hardwood floor, and the salty smell of her blood filled the
air. Her dying wail was heard only by me as a senseless keen, a
single sustained note. It lasted a few seconds. It lasted an age.
Then, when he was done, Tomas let her lifeless body fall to the
floor with a hollow thud.

It took me less than a moment to see the
immense danger of my situation. I started to creep along the wall,
keeping myself as small as possible. Tomas stood in the middle of
the room, savoring his kill. Good for him, bad for me. I made it
all the way to the door then the darkness swarmed around me.

Before I could squeal, Tomas had hold of my
wrist and yanked me forward. I pulled against him, again pressing
myself into the door. I held still as his tongue swept over my
skin, smoother than a normal tongue. He lapped up the blood I’d
wiped from my nose and groaned. He loomed over me, brown eyes
liquefying.

“You smell like sunlight,” he said
darkly.

His fingers brushed over my pulse point then
his eyes flashed black. He bent my wrist back and I cried out in
pain.

“You have to let me go,” I said and kept a
tight rein on the urges of my nature.

Fear pressed on my mind made it hard to
think. Made it hard to remember he was here to talk not hurt me.
This demon, this vampire who right now thirsted for my blood wanted
to talk, and I’d left him here for half the night, hungry. He’d
just sucked the life out of a Cleric, but it didn’t seem to have
been enough. She had been a small thing. If I attacked it would be
fatal, for he would succumb to his baser instinct.

Fangs still dripping with blood, my blood;
his chest started to rise and fall rapidly.

“Are you going to bite me, Tomas?” I did not
snatch my hand away; it would excite rather than subdue him. “You
promised no biting and I trusted you. I trust you.”

“I am what I am,” he said, slowly.

Bringing my wrist back to his mouth, his
fangs grazed over a vein and the lush tearing of my skin punctured
the edgy silence. He made a noise half way between a growl and a
pained keen.

“Don’t do this.” I tugged my hand, unable to
help myself. His eyes heated. “If you don’t let go–”

“What will you do?” His voice was dark,
filled with anticipation. He pushed my sleeve further up my arm to
expose more of my skin. “I want to taste you. I have since the
first moment I breathed your scent.”

With a sigh of triumph, he opened his jaw
wide, and bit down.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I felt my skin divide
as his fangs sank into me. Gods, it hurt, it hurt. His cold lips
brushed my skin and it burned as he sucked. Then it changed.
Subtly, the burning started to sweep over me in tingly pulses of
pleasure. My eyes flickered open and I moaned. A tide of lust
flowed through me and invaded secret places they had no business
being. Thick blood gushed down my hand and overflowed from his
mouth, only for him to lap it up. A wave of fatigue had my knees
buckling.

“Tomas,” I shouted and reached out to the
well of energy now mine to control, all I had left to defend myself
with. I pushed power into my voice as I called his name and it
boomed. It was loud, and echoed through me, made the walls
quake.

Head flying back, dark hair streaming across
his face, he gasped and clutched a hand to his head. He spun,
dragging me with him like a rag doll and threw me across the room.
Before my body hit the floor, for a split second it was like I
could fly. Had I been a clever girl, I would have dropped my
glamour and used my wings to land softly on the floor. I was too
messed up to do anything but cry. When I landed, I rolled and
rolled before crashing into the base of the wall. Thank the gods my
room was small. Tomas staggered back and hit the wall on the
opposite side. He bent over, trembling and mumbling incoherently to
himself.

“Tomas,” I repeated, quieter this time.

I needed to know he was okay. If not I would
need to run. I didn’t want to fight him, so I would run. He was by
the door, but I had magic now and I knew how to use it. Not very
well, I was likely to create a fireball big enough to obliterate us
both, but it would be better than being sucked dry.

“Wait,” he said hoarsely. His eyes cleared up
and he fell to his knees. His hand reached out to me; palm up and
it shook. “I’m in control now. Wait.”

I nodded and pressed myself into the wall.
Tomas’s vampire smell and the salty tang of my blood filled my
nostrils. Sweat trickled down my brow, and I focused on controlling
my breathing as my body repaired itself. Oh gods, thank you. My
nose felt better already, as did the rest of my body. When Tomas
had tossed me my shoulder and left side had taken the brunt of the
impact when I’d hit the ground. I’d felt a rib or two crack. I was
upset but strangely calm at the same time. Ana had said a vampire
would bite me and she had been right, of course she’d been right.
Tomas was a vampire, but I had held my own and taken care of
myself. Yes, I had been thrown across a room and used as a tasty
post dinner beverage, but still.

After a few beats he stood and crossed the
space. He stopped a few paces shy of me.

“I was hungry. You were supposed to be here
at sunset. I could not leave without talking to you.”

“I didn’t have a choice.” I glared up at him,
my fear becoming anger. “The fairies came back for me during the
day, what was I supposed to do? I tried.”