The Sight Seer (21 page)

Sighing, I put my hand on top of his, our fingers entwining.
“Okay, now I’m banning demon talk for the rest of the evening.”

Rafe
rested his head on mine, his laughter blowing softly against my hair. “Good call.” His fingers tightened around mine. “But what
will
we talk about instead?”

I tilted my head back so I could give him a wicked smile.
“Why talk at all?”

Chapter
Thirty-eight

On Friday afternoon I had been home for all of a half hour when the home phone rang and I answered it with a distracted, “Hello?” After throwing my school books into my room where I hoped not to look at them until maybe Sunday night, I had grabbed a bag of potato chips and a can of soda and plopped down on the couch in front of the TV. I had tried calling Rafe, but he was still at school doing some extra-curricular activity because in his warped mind, his straight-As weren’t enough to impress the colleges, and he had promised to call me back later. Tonight was pizza night, but I was going to beg and plead and mope and sulk until Dad let me invite Rafe over because I could not go through another dinner with Chloe fixing the two of us with death glares. Dad had talked to her very seriously after the plant-throwing incident, but she had ended up taking the rest of her anger out on him, which resulted in her being grounded for the next two weeks. Now she stomped around the house, sighing and rolling her eyes whenever we attempted to talk to her. I had given up completely, and I think Dad was approaching his limit. It was stupid of Chloe to act that way because he would just end up adding weeks to her sentence until she found herself grounded until the spring.

She was around somewhere, probably hiding up in her room posting about how much her family sucked on Facebook, and made no attempt to answer the phone.
On the third ring, I picked it up and Dad answered.

“Honey, I’m going to be stuck in the office longer than I thought, so I’m going to have to cancel pizza night.”

I groaned. No Dad meant no Rafe coming over. I could sneak him over and have him leave before Dad got home, but Chloe would never cover for me, not when she hated my guts.

“Sorry.
Maybe you girls can order Chinese and bond over some mushu pork and a scary movie?”

“She’ll probably try to stab me in the eye with her chopsticks,” I replied dryly as I hit the mute button on the
remote. Curling my feet up under me, I listened to him sigh and felt guilty. “I’ll try talking to her, Dad. I don’t know how much good it’ll do, but I’ll try.”

“That’s all I can ask.
Don’t force her—you know how surly she can get. There’s money in the front drawer, order whatever you want.”

“Okay.”

“And Gabi?”

“Yeah, Dad?”

“No boys over.”

That’s why I hadn’t even
bothered mentioning Rafe’s name—I knew I was going to get shot down. Rolling my eyes, I said, “Can I at least call him up and talk to him?”

“Yes, but I want you home tonight.”

“To make sure Chloe doesn’t sneak out.”

He silence spoke for him.

“Fine, Dad, but can I go out with Rafe tomorrow?” I didn’t even care if I had to go nest hunting with him—I just wanted to see him!

He told me it was fine (I think he was starting to feel guilty, which made me wish I had asked for something else in addition to Rafe-dating time) and we hung up.
I sent a quick text to Rafe explaining what was going on and then slid my phone into my pocket before heading upstairs. When I knocked on Chloe’s door, she didn’t answer.

“Chloe, either open up or I’m coming in.”
She still didn’t answer, so I shrugged and pushed open the door. She wasn’t in her bedroom, but the bathroom door was shut. I opened it without knocking and found her leaning towards the mirror, lining her eyes with thick, black lines.

“What do you want?” she snapped without sparing me a glance.

I took in her appearance—hair curled and thrown up in a high ponytail, thick makeup on her eyes, her lips shining with red gloss, and her low-cut blouse and barely-there skirt—and narrowed my eyes. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Out.”

“You’re grounded.”

“So?”

I crossed my arms across my chest, resisting the urge to start throwing things at her. “What do you mean, ‘so’? You can’t go out if you’re grounded. Dad is coming home.”

“No, he’s not, he’s stuck at the office and had to cancel pizza night.”
She gave me a wicked grin, letting me know she had listened in on the other phone. “And now you’re stuck here by yourself and if you tell Dad I left, I’ll tell him you were with Rafe on the day you stayed home ‘sick’.”

I stared at her, feeling disgusted.
She was the one who had asked Rafe to come over to see if I was alright, and now she was using it to
blackmail
me? What a nice little sister I had. “Chloe, don’t be an idiot. Dad’s coming home
tonight
and he’ll know that you’re not here!”

“Not if you tell him I locked myself in bedroom and refused to come out.”

“I’m not lying for you!” Anger pulsed through my veins, hot and heavy. I really, really wanted to hit her.

“Then I guess Dad will find out about you and Rafe and then you can kiss your boyfriend goodbye.”
Chloe smiled nastily. “You wouldn’t let me see Evan, so now you can’t see Rafe! Isn’t it funny how that worked out?”

I grabbed her by the arm, determined to shake some sense into her.
“Is that what this is about? You’re sneaking out to find Evan?” Desperate to make peace, I pulled out my phone. “Look, I’ll call Rafe and tell him and Evan to come over tonight. We’ll get Chinese, watch TV, and have them leave before Dad gets back.”

Chloe yanked her arm out of my grip and picked up her mascara.
“Ooh, so you do know how to break the rules sometimes.” She began applying a thick coat to her lashes. “But it’s too late. I don’t care about Evan. I found someone new.”

Dread began forming in my stomach.
Call it instinct or something else, but I knew letting Chloe out of this house was
not
a good idea.

“Fine, tell Dad about Rafe,” I said.
“You’re not going out tonight.”

“Try and stop me.”

I went to grab her again but she pushed me aside first and I crashed painfully into the sink. My knee hit the cabinet door hard enough to see stars and I gasped, going down on one foot. Rubbing a bump that was already forming, I watched as she grabbed her bag and pulled out her phone to check for messages. At that moment the doorbell rang and my blood froze as she flashed another evil grin.
It was like she wasn’t even my sister
, I thought, scared. It was like she was possessed, or something.

“That’ll be him,” Chloe told me.
“See you later, Gabi!”

The hell you will.
Gritting my teeth, I hauled myself up and followed her down the stairs. She was already opening the door and inviting her date in when I got to the front room.

And he was a demon.

It was dressed casually, in jeans and a t-shirt, and its brown hair was combed back from its face. It was its face that gave it away immediately. Its skin was tinged green, and its eyes were two black orbs without any white. They were the scariest thing I had ever seen, and when they fell on me, I froze in place, despite my mind screaming at me to run away. I couldn’t even if I wanted to; my limbs were like heavy pieces of lead. I strained against whatever the demon had done to me, but all I succeeded in doing was breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Hello, Chloe,” the demon purred, planting a kiss on my sister’s cheek.
She smiled, her cheeks turning pink with delight.

“Get away from her,” I hissed, finally finding my voice.
“I know what you are—get away from her!”

“Gabi, please!” Chloe snapped.
She started pushing the demon towards the door. “Ignore her, she’s deranged.”

The demon grinned, a slow, evil grin that promised to devour both me and my sister before the night was through.
I started trembling but kept my face a blank mask. I would not let it know that it frightened me, that I found it was worse than Boneless or Crotch Soda Boy. This was the scariest demon I had encountered yet, and not because Rafe wasn’t by my side. I mean yeah, watching my boyfriend kick this thing’s butt would probably ease some of my fears, but there was something about this demon and the way it carried itself. It was strong, but it was also intelligent, which made it even more dangerous than the others.

And it had frozen me in place with just one look from its soulless eyes
, I thought grimly as I tried in vain to get my legs to start moving. I was trapped, but at least my voice still worked. “Chloe—”

The demon interrupted me.
“Chloe, I just need to use the bathroom before we head out.”

She frowned, looking confused.
I was confused, too; demons used the restroom? “Oh, sure. Just go down the hallway and you’ll see it on the left.”

“You can wait for me in the car.”

“But…” Her eyes trailed to me and I thought for a moment that she would insist on staying here with me. But something flickered in her eyes—hurt or maybe anger—and she turned and flounced out of the house without another word.

“No, Chloe!”

The demon grabbed me, throwing me against the wall and stopping whatever I had been trying to say to my sister. I gasped in pain, but I still couldn’t move. It put its face near my neck and I thought for one scary moment that it was going to take a bite out of me. But then it hissed in disgust and pulled back. “It’s just as I thought. You smell like hunters.”

Rafe.

“I knew your sister would prove useful to me,” it hissed. I stared at it, uncomprehending. What did it mean? “She has led me to you, and you, in turn, will lead me to what I want.”

“I won’t do anything for you!”

It smiled, revealing teeth that were just a little too long and a little too sharp. “Oh, but I think you will. You wouldn’t want me to devour your sister piece by piece, would you?”

I stared at it in horror.
“You leave her alone—”

It leaned in to whisper into my ear, each word sending shivers down my spine.
“Do what I want and she will be fine.”

“But I don’t know what you want!”

At that moment, my cell phone beeped and the demon shoved its hand into my pocket to dig it out and read the message. Smirking, it dropped me to the floor like a discarded dirty t-shirt and began muttering something under its breath. Its green hands began glowing with a strange, dark light.

“What are you doing to me?”
My voice was weak and trembling despite my resolve to hide my fear.

“Buying myself some time.
We will not fight here. It wouldn’t do. No, we will fight on
my
turf,” it said as the dark light began dripping from its hands and enveloping me. I sucked in a breath, expecting to feel pain, but there was nothing.

I
was nothing.

I couldn’t move, couldn’t even speak.
With another smirk, it put the phone down next to me and said, “When the spell wears off, you can call your hunter and tell him to rescue you.” With a gesture of almost tenderness, it pushed a lock of hair back from my face. “Tell Rafe that Matthew Davenport said ‘hello’. He will know that name, and he will know where to find me. If not, Evan will be able to locate me.” The demon stood, looking down at me with a harsh sneer. “I look forward to seeing them again. But for now, I have a lovely young lady to play with.” It shuddered with pleasure, its black eyes rolling back into its head. “Goodbye, Gabi.”

It left, shutting the d
oor behind it with a soft click. My cheek was pressed against the cold wooden floor as I watched it walk away, taking my sister to an unknown location to do unspeakable things to her.

And I could do nothing,
nothing
to help her.

I was nothing.

Chapter Thirty-nine

The clock on the wall ticked loudly, a constant reminder that time was moving on while I laid there, my body like an unmovable stone. With every tick, my sister was suffering at the hands of that awful demon.

Matthew Davenport.
Why did it have a human name? It was, in fact, the most human-like out of all the demons I had seen. The others drooled more than talked, providing Rafe with the opportunity to execute them easily. But this one was different. This demon would give Rafe a hard time, worse than Boneless.

And that monster had my sister.

As the sun set, leaving me in darkness, my heart leapt every time I heard a car pull up and a door slam shut. But none of those drivers were Dad. And it wouldn’t be Rafe, either, not after my last text telling him to forget about seeing each other tonight. All I could do was lie there and wait for the damn spell to wear off.

It started in my toes, that pins and needles feeling you get when your limb
s have fallen asleep. I silently growled in frustration. My toes? Like I could use them to accomplish anything! Still, it
was
a relief to be able to move
something
. I know the demon had said the spell would wear off, but it could have been lying. It could have been permanent.

My fingers started tingling I don’t know how many minutes later and I seized on that opportunity immediately.
As the feeling spread down my arms, I reached forward with my left arm, straining as hard as I could against the spell. It felt like moving through molasses (not that I’ve ever done that, but it’s what I’d imagine moving through molasses would feel like) and I was sweating profusely by the time I managed to move my arm half an inch forward. My phone sat there, still out of reach as if it were mocking me. I wanted to scream in frustration, but I couldn’t even do that.

Oh, Matthew Davenport, I could not wait to watch Rafe chop your slimy demon head off.

After much more straining and sweating, my fingers touched the shiny surface of my phone. The screen lit up, showing Rafe’s last text message—
Sucks about tonight. I’ll call you tomorrow
—and I hit the “call” button. I listened as the phone rang, breaking the silence I had been sitting in for who knows how many hours, praying he would pick up. After three rings, he did. “Change your mind about tonight?” he teased and I nearly cried when I heard his familiar voice. Except I couldn’t cry. Or speak, for that matter. Obviously, I hadn’t thought this plan through very well. As I struggled to get my voice working, I heard Rafe say my name. Then he said it again, panic coloring his words. “Gabi, are you there? Did something happen?”

I squeezed my eyes shut, mustered all of
my energy, and whispered, “Hel… p.”

“Gabi!”
My eyes flew open in triumph; he had heard me! “Where are you!? You’re at home, right? I’m coming right now, hang on.” Sounds of him scrambling to grab his keys floated through the speaker. “Stay on the phone. I’ll be right there.” Rafe kept up a steady stream of conversation, constantly telling me his location so I would know how close he was. His words filled me with hope. Rafe would fix this.

Five minutes later (he must have blown every red light and stop sign to get here that fast), I heard his car pull up with a loud screech, his footsteps pounding up the walkway and porch before he threw himself at the front door and went flying through when he realized, belatedly, that it was unlocked.
As he careened through the room he nearly tripped over my prone body, stopping mere inches from stepping on my face. “Gabi?” he shouted, which was totally unnecessary since I was
right there
. He looked around wildly, calling my name again.

I managed another moan and his eyes found me immediately.
Crouching down, he pulled me into his arms, cursing softly. “Who put a spell on you?
Who
?!”

“De
…mon.”

Rafe cursed again as he stood, cradling me in his arms.
He set me down on the couch before flipping on one of the lamps. I squinted in the bright light and let out another moan as a tremor of pain wracked my body from head to foot. Was the spell wearing off, or was it simply reacting to Rafe’s presence?

“Alright, easy, easy,” he said, kneeling in front of me.
He took one of my hands in his and brought it to his lips, kissing it softly. His voice and actions may have been kind, but I could see the anger blazing in his eyes as he watched me fighting against the spell. Eventually those eyes flicked to the rest of the room. “Gabi,” he said, his voice full of dread, “where’s Chloe?”

With a bleak expression, I squeezed him as hard as I could with the hand he was still holding and his face
drained of color. “No. Oh no…” As if to confirm what I was saying—or, in this case, not saying—he got up and tore through the house, calling my sister’s name. He came back, breathing hard as he scooped me up in his arms again. “I have to get this spell off of you. Then you’ll be able to tell me what happened so I can find your sister.” He explained all of this as he carried me out the house and jogged to his car. “She’s going to be fine, Gabi. I swear it.”

Rafe put me in the backseat, throwing his jacket over me as my body trembled uncontrollably.
Brushing a strand of hair off of my face, he promised, “I’ll make this right.”

Then he jumped into the front seat and took off, tires squealing as he pressed on the gas.
Well, we were either going to get to wherever he was taking me in record time, or we were going to die in a car crash from his reckless driving. He did stop at red lights and stop signs, though, taking the time to reach back to grasp my hand in his. He kept telling me over and over that things were going to be alright and I almost believed him. But then I would remember the awful expression on that demon’s face and a fresh wave of terror would wash over me.

Rafe pulled up in front of our destination, slamming on the brakes and nearly killing me in the process.
I let out a startled gasp as my body rolled off the backseat and onto the floor. Rafe cursed as he got out of the car and came to my rescue. “Sorry!” Any other time and I would have found this situation hilarious. Now, not so much. After apologizing again, Rafe ran for the building with me securely in his arms.

I couldn’t see much with my face pressed against Rafe’s chest, but I immediately smelled antiseptics, which made me think of a doctor’s office.
He called out a quiet greeting to someone, maybe a receptionist, and then bypassed the elevator for the stairs, running up three flights before walking out into a quiet, carpeted stairway. He wasn’t even breathing hard after all that running. If it were me, I would have died somewhere back on the second landing.

I sobered when we entered a room on the right.
A machine was beeping softly and I managed to turn my head slightly to see a small, pale Asian girl sleeping in a bed that looked way too big for her. That was all I saw before Evan was there, blocking my view as he began screaming at Rafe.

“What are you doing here?
I told you to never bother me when I’m here—”

“Evan, I need you to—”

“No, whatever it is, no. Leave me alone, Rafe! All I ask is that you leave me alone when I’m here and you can’t even do that!”

“I need your help, you idiot!” Rafe shouted, all but shoving me into Evan’s arms.
That
got his attention. “There’s a spell on her, and I need your help to take it off!”

Evan fell silent, his lips pursed together tightly to form a thin line.
Warring emotions flew across his face, and for a moment I thought he wasn’t going to help us.

“Fine,” he snapped, turning away.
“Bring her to the empty room next door and I’ll be right there.”

“Thank you,” Rafe said.
Before he left the room, I saw Evan reach for the girl on the bed with an uncharacteristic look of sadness etched across his face. Who was that girl, and how was she connected to Evan?

Next door, Rafe stopped to flip on the overhead light before placing me on the bed.
He spent more time than necessary fluffing my pillows and rearranging the blanket over my body, all the while avoiding my eyes. It was clear Rafe knew
exactly
who that girl was, but he didn’t want to tell me. Or maybe he couldn’t, because of Evan.

Speaking of the blonde, he walked in
carrying a satchel, which he put down next to me on the bed before grabbing a chair and sitting down. For a few minutes he was quiet, concentrating hard as his half-lidded eyes roamed back and forth across my body. His hair was loose and falling in his face, but he made no effort to push it back. Finally, he sat back in the chair with a sigh, one hand to his chin.

“Figured it out?” Rafe asked quietly, hand on the back of Evan’s chair.
His body was tense, as if he were ready to tear apart whoever did this to me with his bare hands.

“Yeah,” Evan said, opening the satchel and rummaging through.
“It’s really familiar, which worries me.”

“Who?”

“Davenport.”

At the sound of that name I made a squeak and both boys looked at me.
Rafe was pale with fury while Evan just sighed in disappointment. “Of course.” He held a long, skinny brown stick over my body and broke it in half—a blue light spilled out and floated gently on top of me. A hot breeze crashed against me and the pins and needles feeling intensified until it was a steady, buzzing pain. I cried out, and Rafe was there in a flash, holding me as my body thrashed against his.

The process felt like it went on for hours, but it must have been seconds.
When the buzzing faded away, I let out a loud gasp and managed to sit up with help from Rafe. He held me protectively as he looked at Evan. “It’s gone?”

“It is,” the blonde confirmed.
“It was fading already and would have been broken by midnight. He did that on purpose; you know how he likes to torture his victims.”

I shuddered and Rafe pulled me closer.
“He?” I croaked, relieved that I was able to talk again. “He, who?”

“Matthew Davenport,” Evan said grimly.

“He’s not a he,” I protested. “That was a demon.”

“Actually,” Evan said, “that was a human who injected himself with demon blood.”