Unbound (33 page)

A light bulb turned on in my head and I hurried over to my blood stained jeans. I got the old photograph, unwrinkling it as I laid it on the desk. I typed “Ryan and murder” into Google. Ok, that was too broad. I added “Syracuse” into it but there were still too many results. I looked at the truck and guessed a date. Still, nothing shed any light. I bit my lip as I thought. “Maybe it wasn’t murder,” I said aloud to no one. The last time I saw the ghost his wrists had been slit. This time I typed in “Ryan, Syracuse, suicide”. After filtering through the results, I got what I was looking for. I quickly read the article and climbed back into bed. I had a lot to think about. After a few minutes, Ethan joined me and we quickly fell asleep.

***

“So tell me again what happened.” David looked me in the eye so intently I felt like a little kid being reprimanded by the principal.

“We went for a walk. I had a feeling to go towards the barn, we found the photos, I got a really strong feeling of panic, and we left the root cellar and then got attacked,” I summed it up for the third time.

“And these things, the bird-demons, they just appeared?”

I shook my head, causing my hair to whip in my face. “No, it was like they came from the roof of the barn.”

He was silent for a minute. “And when you stabbed it, with this,” he held up the dagger, his brown eyes focusing on Ethan, “nothing happened.”

“Right.” Ethan nodded. We were sitting in the living room. David and Sam rushed home soon after we arrived. “It barely reacted to the pain. But as soon as Annie touched the handle, the thing burst into flames.”

David set the dagger down on the coffee table and was silent for a few minutes. “I guess we were wrong. For years, this dagger had been believed to kill any demon with a single stab.” He looked at me, discontent in his eyes. “It’s only a medium, a way to direct the power.”

“What do you mean?” I had to ask.

“
You
are the power that kills the demons. It makes sense now why the dagger has stayed in the hands of the Coven. Only those of the Coven can power the dagger. After all they did make it.”

“That sucks,” Sam said in a snotty voice from across the room.

“It does,” I agreed. I know how much easier it would have been for everyone if we could have shared such a powerful weapon. I tugged at my pendant.

“Don’t feel guilty.” Ethan nudged me.

I pushed my eyebrows together. “How did you know?”

He ran his hand down my thigh. “As complicated as you are, I’m starting to figure you out.” I locked my eyes with his and smiled. He held my gaze for a few seconds before I looked away, realizing that it was sort of an intimate thing to do in front of his family.

“The third demon,” I said to break the silence. “It ran away. Why?”

“Probably to save its ass,” Ethan suggested.

“It did scream in pain when it hit the wall,” I added, thinking maybe it did run away with its tail tucked between its legs. I had a nagging feeling it would be back.

My phone rang, startling everyone. I got up and went into the kitchen to get my purse. It was Laney.

“Are you alive?” She sounded worried.

“No, Laney, you’re talking to my ghost.”

“Shut up Annie. With you it could be possible.”

“You’re right, sorry. But we’re ok.”

“I was worried! You said you’d call and it’s been…ok, it’s only been like two hours. But still, you scared me.”

“I promised I’d explain and I will. Can I call you back though?”

“Promise you will?”

“Yes. Hey, why don’t you come over later and I’ll explain it in person. I’ll call you when I get back to my house.”

“Ok, talk to you later then.”

I put my phone back in my purse. I walked towards the living room. It sounded like Sam was arguing.

“You coddle her too much, Ethan.”

“Maybe I want to,” Ethan replied.

“She needs to learn how to deal with this as an everyday occurrence. She never will if you baby her like this. Just tell her to go home and deal like the rest of us.”

“Sam,” Julia scolded in a motherly ‘shut-up’ way.

“I have to agree with Ethan on this one,” I heard David’s voice say. “That girl is a moving target and she doesn’t know half as much as we do about any of this. She needs all the protecting she can get for the time being.”

“You are making this a bigger deal than it needs to be. So what, she’s some witch? What makes her any different than anyone else we’ve helped?”

“Sam that’s enough!” Julia yelled.

“She’s not just any witch and you know it.” David sounded angry.

“And she means a lot to me.” Ethan’s voice was rising too. “Isn’t that enough?”

“I just think it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Ever since you met her you’ve been a different person.”

“Yea, I’ve been happy.”

“And a sloppy hunter. You’ve been too distracted. And look at yourself now! You got mulled by demons because of
her
.”

“That’s enough,” Ethan said in a very cold tone, emphasizing every word. He must have gotten up because Sam said, “You know I’m only saying this because I care!”

His footsteps got louder so I turned back to my purse, pretending to be busy looking through it.

“Anora,” Ethan said softly. “Did you hear any of that?” I nodded the tiniest nod ever. “Come here.” He opened his arms. I went over and he wrapped them around me. I put mine around him too, careful to avoid the fresh wounds.

“I love you, Ethan.” I looked up into his intense brown eyes. “I’m sorry I got you hurt.”
 
He kissed me.

“I love you too, Anora. And you’re not gonna like hearing this but getting hurt kinda goes hand in hand with hunting demons. And this cut is really nothing.”

I groaned. Not only did I not enjoy pain in the least bit but I hating seeing people I care about in pain even more.

He kissed my forehead. “I’m gonna stay with you tonight, in case number three shows up.”

“Do you think he will?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. It would have to have tracked you somehow, or be intelligent enough to figure out where you live. So I’ll say the chances are low.”

“Good, ‘cuz my mom would have a fit if they wore those dirty robes on her white carpet.”

***

“I told Laney I’d explain, but I have no idea what to say,” I confessed to Ethan. We were back at my house and Laney would be here any minute.

“The truth?”

“Well of course, but how do I say it? No matter what I think of, it sounds crazy and sorta stupid.”

“It’s hard to explain, I know. It’s best to just go with it; don’t plan out a speech.”

I sank down on the bed next to him. “I wish we knew what those demons are. Creepy bird-demon just lacks the scariness that they have.” I started to pull my hair into a pony tail, but something solid made my heart skip a beat. “Oh, it’s only a bur,” I said aloud; glad to not find a bug in my hair. “I know!” I turned to Ethan. “How about I take a shower and you explain everything?”

“How about no?” He smiled. “She’s your best friend. She’ll want to hear it from you.”

“Fine. Make me be the one to tell her the worst news ever.” I went into the bathroom and brushed my hair. I had to rake two more burs out. Hunter jumped up and ran down stairs barking upon hearing the front door open. A minute later he ran back in my room, with Laney a few steps behind him. She rushed over and hugged me.

“What the hell Annie?”

“Sit and I’ll explain.” The three of us sat in my bed.

“Ok,” I began. I was nervous and jittery. I wished I didn’t have to be doing this right now. “You know about the ghosts and the magic. And you have to know that people other than me can do magic.” Laney nodded. Her eyes were wide with interest and fear. “And you also know that just regular people can be really, really good.” Again, I got a nod. “Ok, and you also know that regular people can be bad, really bad. Well, the same is true for people—or things— with magic power.” I paused, waiting to go on based on her reaction.

“What are you trying to say, Annie?”

“Remember that creepy picture I drew during the slide show?” I went over to my desk and flipped through a stack of school books and brought back the notebook. I opened it to the bird-demon and tossed it to Laney. She looked at it for a good minute before she looked back up.

 
“
That
attacked us today.” My words hung heavy in the air, crashing down on Laney’s incorrect view of the world and reminding me of what my life has become.

“Why?” she asked. It was a logical question but I still didn’t expect it.

“Anora is actually a pretty powerful witch,” Ethan jumped in. “Those things, as well as many others, would love to see her dead.”

I couldn’t tell if Laney was going to cry or laugh at us. “Why do they want to kill her?” she asked quietly.

“Because she has power and they want it. But, more than that, they don’t want
her
to have it. She is their enemy.”

No one said anything for a very long minute. Then, in a shaky voice Laney said, “I don’t want you to die, Annie.”

I went around the bed and hugged her. “I don’t think I’m going to, not yet at least.”

Ethan’s phone rang and he went into the hall to talk to his dad.

“What happened?” Laney asked.

“When? A lot of things happened.”

“When it attacked you. What did you do?”

“I killed it. Two, actually.”

Laney blinked. “You killed it?”

I nodded.

“How?”

“Stabbed them. One attacked Ethan. It was like I didn’t know what I was doing. Everything was pure instinct.”

“So you’re kind of like a super hero,” Laney said with a smile.

“I wouldn’t say that,” I laughed.

She picked up the notebook again. “What is this thing?”

“I don’t really know yet, I call it the ‘bird-demon’ but that sounds oddly non-threatening. I started having weird dreams a while ago about them and then all of the sudden, they attacked.” The speed of my speech increased. As much as I loathed the bird-demons, the topic made me excited in a weird I-want-to-kill-something way.

“How does Ethan know about all this?”

“He’s part of an old Order of demon hunters.”

“Seriously? This is like a movie! It’s so cool!”

I couldn’t help but share Laney’s excitement for a moment. But then reality hit. Aunt Estelle’s husband died mysteriously. Now I knew better: it was by a demon. Ethan had a hard life growing up, never fitting in and always being the outsider. And it was hard enough for me being a medium, now throw demons and monsters into the mix and it was a party… I looked down the hall at Ethan. His face was relaxed. Hopefully I could take that as a sign everything was ok on the home front.

“You do love him, don’t you?” Laney asked, following my gaze. Her comment made me realize that I had something serious to share.

“I forgot I didn’t tell you! And this is non-demon stuff!” I filled her in on Ethan saying the “L” word and about our night on the turret.

“I can’t believe you waited this long to tell me!”

“I know, I’m sorry. Things have been-”

“Annie, I’m joking!” We laughed. It felt so good to talk to Laney. Ethan rejoined us, smiling slightly at the sight of us laughing.

“Everything ok?” I asked, though I knew the answer.

“Yea. My dad’s trying to get a hold of an old friend who knows a lot about Pricolici and who might know something about these guys.” He tapped the notebook. He looked tired. I knew his injuries weren’t close to being fatal at all, but they had to hurt. And when I’m in pain I like to sleep. Thinking of injuries reminded me to check his stitches. Ethan said again that he didn’t think it was necessary, but when I unwrapped the bandage it became obvious that it was.

His skin around the gash was bruised from the needle jabbing in and out so many times and the entire area was puffy and swollen. Laney didn’t handle gross things well, so she offered to let Hunter out.