Reign or Shine (13 page)

My throat tightened and I held up a hand. "But ... I'm
not
a Darkling anymore. My father ... the king ... he gave me a potion and I drank it. I'm completely human now."

He studied me for a moment and then sniffed the air. "If that was the case, I would sense it. I don't smel only human. You're a liar."

I took a shaky step back from him. "Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am. The only thing that matters is what I have to do."

"Where's Michael?" I demanded. My heart slammed against my ribcage and every muscle in my body was tense. "What have you done to him?

Have you

hurt him?"

"Who's Michael?"

"He was with me yesterday when you tried to attack me."

He narrowed his eyes. "The Shadow." "Where is he?" "I kil ed him." I gasped. "No!"

His expression twisted into a cruel grin. "Just kidding, Princess. Why would I bother to kil a Shadow? But it's very interesting. A princess concerned for the fate of her servant. I'm sure the king wouldn't be too happy about that."

I felt like I was going to throw up. The thought that Michael could have been dead . . .

He eyed me then, his gaze moving down the length of me and changing from dangerous to leering. "You are very 130

beautiful, Princess. I can see why your Shadow has developed a bond with you. It's unfortunate that I must destroy you now. I think we could have gotten

along very nicely."

He closed the distance between us so fast that I didn't have a chance to move. He pressed the sharp knife against my throat.

Anger, panic, and fear surged simultaneously through me and my headache raged forward again so badly that my knees buckled.

"Don't do this," I managed as I grabbed his forearm, but he was like a tank. I knew I couldn't fight him off for very long. He was too strong.

But I
couldn't
just give up. I couldn't just let him kil me. I'd fight as much as I could for as long as I could. Past the fear, past the anger, past the panic.

I

concentrated al of my energy on doing whatever it took to get out of this alive.

My fear began to wash away from me like a sheet of water. I knew I should be scared. I should be begging for my life, but fear was suddenly the last thing

on my mind.

I thought of my father, I thought of Michael. This couldn't be the end. I needed to see them again. One last time. The thought melded with the anger I felt

and grew stronger and stronger. I felt something very strange then. It was like somebody had lit a hundred sparklers inside of me. Little bursts of energy shot around in my stomach, only it

didn't hurt. Actual y, it felt pretty good. The sparks moved along my limbs, down my arms, and into my fingertips.

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"I promise to make this quick, Princess," the brute said, so close to me now that along with feeling the painful sting of the knife at my throat, I could smel

that he'd chosen not to use any form of deodorant that day.

I raised my eyes to his.

He growled. "No, Princess. You shouldn't do this." "Shouldn't do what?"

"Your Darkling . . ." He began to loosen his grip on me.

"Darkling?" As I said it I sensed something shifting in my mouth. My teeth were changing. When I looked down at my hands, they remained my regular hands, but my fingernails grew to be long and black and pointed. I felt a rip, but it didn't hurt, and from the corners of my eyes I could see the black wings

spread out from my back. Strength unlike anything I'd ever felt before wel ed inside of me, as if I were a kettle fil ed with boiling water about to start whistling loud enough for everyone in Erin Heights to hear.

I took a deep breath and realized that it didn't seem cold outside anymore. The temperature didn't bother me. I wasn't shivering from fear. As my attacker backed away from me, I stood straight and tal and energy hummed beneath the surface of my skin.

When I raised my hand I watched with amazement as a bal of energy formed and hovered an inch above my outstretched palm. The colors--red, orange, yel ow--swirled and surged together faster and faster, the bal getting denser and denser the longer I concentrated on it.

Too cool.

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The brute's eyes were wide as he watched me. Was that fear I saw in his expression? But then his eyes shifted to red--he was a demon, too, but stil in

human form--and he roared, clutching the knife tighter in his grip, and ran toward me. Without thinking, I threw the bal of energy at him. It hit him squarely in the chest. He flew backward and landed hard on the ground.

That's al it took. He was out cold.

I approached him in my demon form. I didn't feel completely in control of myself any longer--it was like something else had taken over. Something much

more powerful, and something angry that anyone would try to attack me in the middle of a park. There was a car to my right at the edge of the parking lot and I walked past it so I could see my reflection in its windows. I tilted my head to the side and looked with shock at the demon-girl reflected back.

I looked different from my father. He'd been completely demon when he changed, but I was only half--a Darkling. My hair had changed from honey blonde to become red and long and flowing. It looked as if it was on fire, but it wasn't, which was a very good thing. My eyes were red and catlike, with no whites

showing at al . My teeth weren't al sharp, only my canines--as though I wore fake vampire fangs.

Smal , spiral horns emerged from just above my temples, red like my hair and shiny like metal. My talons were black and as sharp as X-acto blades. My

wings stretched out behind me to their ful width--about four feet on either side of me, black and leathery and perfect. I stil wore the clothes I'd left school in, as wel as my winter coat, but it now had a huge gash in the back to make way for my wings. Underneath my clothes I could sense that lean muscle corded my arms and legs as if I were some kind of fitness model on ESPN. My hand glowed bright red from where I'd thrown the energy bal .

My eyes also glowed red like demonic lightbulbs.

Holy crap.

Being a Darkling made me feel different than I did in human form. I felt. . . bigger, better, stronger. And extremely dangerous to anyone who messed with me.

I reached down and felt at the unconscious brute's exposed neck. There was a pulse. Demons had pulses. This was very good to know.

He was stil alive. Even though he wanted to kil me, that was also good to know.

Suddenly the power that had fil ed me left in a mind-numbingly painful
whoosh.
I braced myself against the tree as agony swept through me. My teeth returned to normal and my hands, too. The wings retracted and disappeared completely.

I felt utterly exhausted. In fact, I felt like col apsing to the ground, curling up into a bal , and fal ing unconscious for the next five years.

Elizabeth had told me not to harness my powers or I might die.

I'd just harnessed. Big-time. And the pain from it racked my body.

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I doubled over and fel to my knees on the ground. It took me a minute before I could stand up again, stunned and amazed and scared beyond belief by what had just happened. I felt seriously il . I needed to rest.

I'd just managed to save myself. But at what cost? 135

I was utterly convinced I was dying by the time I staggered home.

"Nikki," Mom cal ed out as I made my way past her writing room. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," I replied weakly.

What could I tel her? I needed to get her to take me to the hospital. I didn't have much time. Elizabeth was right. I'd used my powers and now I was dying.

But instead of saying anything at al , I went directly to my room and closed the door. I knew what had to be done. I looked in the mirror on my vanity and

saw a scared girl looking back at me. I didn't want to die.

Michael,
I thought desperately.
Where are you?

When there was no response I sat down on the edge of my bed and pul ed the necklace out from under my shirt. I uncorked the vial of potion and held it up

to my lips.

Drink it,
I told myself.
Just drink it and get it over with.

Get rid of the demon in me. Get rid of any trace of Darkling. Then what had happened wouldn't matter. I could get back to my normal life where the dance was the

136

biggest thing I had to worry about. I could be normal. I didn't have to die.

Drinking the potion would solve al of my problems.

Do
it. Do it now.

There was a knock at my door then and I pul ed the bottle away from my mouth and jammed the stopper back into it.

"Nikki?" my mom said. "Is everything okay in there?" "Fine," I managed. "Can I come in?"

I tucked the bottle of potion under my tank top and pushed the tears off my cheeks. "Sure."

The door eased open and she looked in at me with concern.

I heard a male voice behind her. "What's going on?" It was Robert.

She glanced over her shoulder. "Nothing. Give us a minute, please."

He shuffled past the door and glared in at me. "Strong little thing, aren't you?" he said unpleasantly. His arm was in a cast now--the arm I broke like it was a pencil when he hit my mother.

"You have no idea." My eyes narrowed and I felt my headache return.

No, I thought. I
have to stay calm.
I couldn't risk my Darkling coining out again.

Robert didn't give any indication that he thought our altercation was anything more for me than a . . . wel , a 137

lucky
break.
I guess he hadn't noticed that my eyes had turned red. That was a relief.

When he'd left and I heard the door at the other end of the hal way click shut, I looked at my mom. "I thought he was staying with a friend?"

"He came back."

"I swear, Mom, if he hurts you again--"

She raised her hand. "I know, Nikki. Don't worry. It's not going to happen again. I won't let it." She leaned against the wal . "I was worried that you were sick coming home early today. But you actual y look wonderful."

"I do?"

She nodded.

I sure didn't feel wonderful. I frowned at the thought. Then again, I didn't feel
that
bad anymore. The pain was starting to fade away to nearly nothing at al .

"I brought you something." She entered my bedroom ful y so I could see she held a paperback novel in her hand. "It's the new one. I just got my copies

today. I think you'l like it."

I took it from her and checked out the darkly good-looking cover model staring at me. I ran my finger along the embossing on her name. "What's it about?"

"It's about a handsome vampire and a beautiful woman who was his wife hundreds of years ago. She's been reincarnated so she doesn't quite remember him, but in her soul she knows that she's always loved him."

I thought about my father and how he'd loved my

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mother before being parted from her. How he was trapped inside the castle and now was going to die al alone.

"Does it have a happy ending?" I asked.

"Of course." She smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

I put the book on my bedside table. "I real y want you to have a happy ending, too, Mom."

She sat next to me on the bed and put her arm around me. "Happy endings only happen for characters in books. The rest of us have to deal with reality."

I'd begun to slowly relax now that my brush with death had official y passed. I'd been so scared that I'd almost drunk the potion. If my mom hadn't stopped

me ... I'd already be forgetting everything.

Then I wondered if that would have been so bad. Mom was right. Happy endings weren't that realistic--not in my case, anyway.

"Maybe you just haven't found your handsome vampire yet," I said.

She scrunched her nose. "Not sure I'd go for a vampire. I hate the sight of blood."

"But since you write about them, you must think that ...
monsters . . .
are kind of sexy, right?"

It was a baited question, I'l admit it. If my father could have had his chance to tel her his secrets, what would she have done? Would she have run screaming from the room at his demon form? Or would she have loved him anyway?

I didn't know. I guessed I'd never know.

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She shook her head. "It's just a book, honey. It's not like monsters actual y exist."

"Right." I cleared my throat. "Forget about it."

After another minute she left my room to get her dress for me to borrow. I wanted to tel her that I wasn't going to the dance. Winter Formal was the last thing I wanted to think about, but again I didn't say anything.

I was tired. So tired.

I put my head down on my pil ow and even though my brain was going a mil ion miles a minute, I fel asleep right away.

When I woke up it was because my mom was yel ing up the stairs for me. "Nikki! Melinda's on the phone for you!"

I sat up and rubbed my eyes and then looked at the clock. It was nearly six thirty. I'd just slept for four hours.

Not good.

I grabbed for the receiver and held it to my ear. "Melinda?" My voice came out al croaky.

"Please tel me you're almost ready," she said simply. I swal owed hard. "Not exactly."

"You're bailing on the dance, aren't you?" She sounded mad.

"I ... I don't real y think I'm feeling so great--I'm coming down with something. It's probably better if I just stay home."

There was a long pause. "Is it because you're not into Chris anymore?"

I sighed. "That has a little to do with it, but it's not the only reason."

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Another long pause. "I don't understand what's going on with you."

"Look, Melinda, you'l have a good time tonight. Every-body wil be there. You won't even notice that I'm missing."

She didn't say anything for a moment, but I could hear a muffled sound.

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying. That's ridiculous." She sniffed. "What's wrong?"