Chapter 2

Whoa. I am very disappointed; that’s all my mind can come up with. But that’s what it was. The demon pulled away, smirking at me. Blank faced, I let go of the breath I was holding, and it came out as black smoke. I stared at Darek, expecting an answer even though I knew he wouldn’t give me one. He was also grinning at me, although his grin was more of that evil this-is-going-to-be-fun grin.

“In time you’ll learn about Garren and all of his powers. For now, you two go get acquainted.” He said in a dismissive tone.

I snorted. “Like hell I will, I’m going to go see Caleb.” I started to walk toward the door, but Garren grabbed my wrist.

“Layra, at least let me come with you.” God, I had never heard a more seductive voice. This guy was very dangerous. Oh wait, how does he know my name? I turned to him slowly, asking the question with a wavering voice.

“When I kiss someone, I’m able to enter their mind and learn basic information about them.” He replied as if it was nothing at all. I began to wonder exactly how much “information” he took.

“Yes, Layra, he will accompany you to the hospital. Opal is actually the doctor taking care of him.” That thought comforted me. Opal was very good at what she did, and I liked her. However, I did not want to have to explain the demon and why he was with me. Caleb would freak and his injuries would probably get worse.

“Well, is there anything you can do to hide your presence?” I asked Garren. Warlocks had the ability to sense demons. Most had to concentrate to do this, but some, like my brother and I, didn’t. My new demon smirked and his presence faded away slowly until I couldn’t sense him anymore. Now he appeared to anyone as a very handsome man. I really am worried about what I got myself into.

I forced myself to smile and we left the room. Getting in the car, I put some Evanescence (gotta love Amy Lee), and we drove down to the hospital. About halfway there, Garren started singing along to Whisper. Even though the singer was a girl, his voice accompanied both her voice and the music wonderfully. This is definitely not going to end well. Somehow, his singing got me to sing too. My brother tells me I’m a great singer, but I’m a bit self-conscious about it. Part of me was screaming at myself to stop, but the other part was singing to my favorite band. For those of you don’t know the lyrics, here’s what we were singing.

Catch me, as I fall

Say you’re here and it’s all over now

Speaking to the atmosphere

No one’s here and I fall into myself

This truth drives me into madness

I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away

If I will it all away

Don’t turn away

(Don’t give into the pain)

Don’t try to hide

(Though they’re screaming your name)

Don’t close your eyes

(God knows what lies behind them)

Don’t turn out the lights

(Never sleep never die)

I’m frightened by what I see

But somehow I know

That there’s much more to come

Immobilized by my fear

And seem to be blinded by tears

I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away

If I will it all away

Don’t turn away

(Don’t give into the pain)

Don’t try to hide

(Though they’re screaming your name)

Don’t close your eyes

(God knows what lies behind them)

Don’t turn out the lights

(Never sleep never die)

Fallen angels at my feet

Whispered voices at my ear

Death before my eyes

Lying next to me I fear

She beckons me

Shall I give in?

Upon my end shall I begin

Forsaking all I’ve fallen for

I rise to meet the end

Don’t turn away

(Don’t give into the pain)

Don’t try to hide

(Though they’re screaming your name)

Don’t close your eyes

(God knows what lies behind them)

Don’t turn out the lights

(Never sleep never die)

Don’t turn away

(Don’t give into the pain)

Don’t try to hide

(Though they’re screaming your name)

Don’t close your eyes

(God knows what lies behind them)

Don’t turn out the lights

(Never sleep never die)

Don’t turn away

(Don’t give into the pain)

Don’t try to hide

(Though they’re screaming your name)

Don’t close your eyes

(God knows what lies behind them)

Don’t turn out the lights

(Never sleep never die)

Yes, that song is important enough for me to interrupt my train of thought in order to tell you the words to it. Evanescence is a great band. Back to the point, as I pulled into the hospital, coincidentally it was just as the song ended, Garren leaned in dangerously close as he turned and told me I had a wonderful voice. Trying to hide my blush, I thanked him, got out of the car, and slammed my door in his face. Collecting myself, I walked into the hospital and up to the information desk or whatever they call it here and asked where Caleb Freelance’s room was, Garren trailing close behind me.

As we entered the room I saw Opal standing at the bedside with a clipboard under her arm and a smile on her face. She was joking with my brother. I sighed mentally with relief. Even though there were bandages covering half my brother’s visible body and he had machines connected up to him, I knew he was okay. Opal wouldn’t be joking if there was anything serious.

Just then said doctor looked up and noticed Garren and I. Her smile broadened, as did my brothers. Though his was probably because of the man standing behind me. My obviously true suspicions were confirmed. “Hello Layra, who’s your ‘friend’?” Crap. I had forgotten to think of how I would explain him.

“I’m her pen pal.” Garren jumped in. “We got matched together a while ago by a service. She told me you ended up in the hospital and I happen to live nearby. I’ve wanted to meet you for a while but I didn’t imagine it to be in a hospital.” Garren smiled at my brother who was now grinning from ear to ear. Again I wondered how deep into my thoughts and memories he got. He had to have taken that idea from when I became Asrael’s pen pal.

My brother looked at me with a playful smile. I matched it and the four of us started talking. After catching up, I asked Garren and Opal to leave so that I could talk to my brother alone. Hopefully Opal thought it was one of those are-you-sure-you’re-alright speeches. As soon as the door closed behind them my brother turned to me. He knew I wasn’t the type to keep going on and on about whether or not someone is alright. “What’s this about Layra?”

“Darek gave me your mission.” I replied with a straight tone. This was a time for me to be serious. These people hurt my brother, I need to make them pay.

Caleb let slip a long, drawn-out sigh. “Well then I guess there’s no avoiding it. Just promise me that you’ll be careful.” I nodded. “It’s a small group of semi-powerful warlocks. They all ganged up on me and I was nowhere near good enough. They’ll have changed location by now, but they can probably still be tracked easily. They aren’t that good at covering up their trails. I found them very close to The Cabal. All their activity has been within a twenty-mile radius of it, so odds are they’re somewhere nearby that school.”

I nodded as he continued to fill me in on their recent activities. All I really need to do is stay home with the news on and wait. I thanked him, wished him well, and left with Garren. There wasn’t any singing in the car on the way to my house, thankfully.

The first thing I did after I had opened the door to my house and set my stuff down was try to forget that demon that followed me in and check my e-mail. Asrael had already replied, telling me he lives close by and that we should meet for coffee tomorrow. Needing time with a male that didn’t come from another plane of existence, I eagerly accepted the invitation. Just as I closed my laptop, I looked up just in time to see a lamppost blow up in the news.

“Garren! Let’s go!” I called to my accomplice. I rushed to get my stuff.

“They’re not far from here;” Garren called, I looked and saw that he was right, the street was pretty close. “If we hurry we can make it before anything worse happens. We’ll just need to blanket the area.” Blanketing was the common term used to shield an area in darkness. It’s not really that hard, and everyone inside the area would still be able to see. That way we won’t be noticed.

I nodded and grabbed my keys. A hand stopped me. “That’s too slow” The owner of the hand said. “We’re going to have to shift.”

“It’s three miles away! And I thought only imps could shift.” I stared in astonishment.

His face impassive, he closed his eyes and the room around us blurred. When it cleared, we were standing in the middle of a street. Shifting takes a bit to get used to, and that was only my second time. I stumbled for a second or two.

“Come on, you need to blanket it.” He reminded me; I nodded and summoned shadows that were impenetrable by the light of the sun. A weird dark light filled the dome. Having done that, I turned around to see our opponents.

There were about ten of them, only one was a woman, and they all had clenched fists that were made nearly invisible by the ball of fire wrapped around each one. The bastards were using balefire, it didn’t burn the one who summoned it but to everyone else, it seared your very soul.

“Balefire.” Garren, thy name is captain obvious. “This could get difficult. How many can you take?”

“These losers? All of them.” I got growls from the awaiting side. Hold on, did I say awaiting? Never mind. They charged right after I said losers. I ducked a fiery punch and then retaliated by upper cutting the guy’s chin. He flew back several feet and the balefire flickered out along with his consciousness.

Smirking, I turned to see Garren handling seven of them at once, he was somehow holding a sword made of fire and shadow and lashing out it and his demonic magic. Gee, he even had a nice pair of bat wings that could block the balefire. How nice for him.

While I watched the beads of sweat roll down his muscular neck, I barely noticed getting attacked. Great, he made me lose track of my own fight. I barely dodged a punch to the gut, but the whisper of fire burned through my shirt and barely touched my skin. All the same, I cried out in pain. Balefire hurts. I snapped my fingers, and the woman went up in flames. I launched a bolt of shadow at the last warlock still standing, who was charging at me by the way (you think they would have learned not to do this by now); he was struck so hard he flew outside the blanket. Even though Garren was doing fine, these were the guys who hospitalized my brother and I wanted them all hurt but alive; Garren seemed to be jeopardizing their lives by putting his sword through them.

I let the darkness fill my mind and my being, drawing it out from the darkest reaches of my soul. Darkness swirled around my physical body in a sharp web-like mass, I whipped them at the cultists, and the dagger-like ends struck the backs of the ones that hadn’t yet died. Blood gushed out from their wounds, and the ones that didn’t fall immediately I savagely beat with clubs formed by the same dark tendrils. Somehow I refrained myself from killing them. Releasing the power, fatigue swiftly flew in to replace it. That was a technique I had just designed, and this had been its first field test. At least I know it’s effective. Garren walked over to me, his sword and wings were gone. He was dragging two of the rogues behind him. I wondered how these people could possibly have bested my brother.

“That was…interesting. But please don’t use it too often. It takes a serious toll on your body.” Concern glowed in his eyes, and I thought he might actually care. “Did you see my wings?” Showoff.

“Why would you care? And yeah, I did.” I asked with a flat tone, despite being very out of breath. I wondered why he was showing concern for a human; it wasn’t in a demon’s nature to do so.

He ignored my question, which made me even warier of his motives, and shifted the four of us back to Darek’s office. Said principal looked up with amusement glinting in his eyes.

“Very nicely done, the blanket was useful. Although you didn’t need to hit that one man so hard.” As if he actually cared about the life of one man.

“Shove it. We got two of them here for questioning.” I indicated the rogues Garren was holding.

“Yes, we sent a team out to retrieve the rest. You did well from the looks of it. Now you and Garren can go back home.”

“Wait, we’re not dismissing him?” Garren shifted nervously as I asked this.

“Of course not. There are many questions to be answered yet. Why is there suddenly such a large group of rogues? Why were they only striking near the school? There is still much to be done.”

“He is not staying at my house!” I yelled

“Yes, he is.” Although he said this with a calm voice, the shadows in his eyes shifted threateningly.

Growling lowly, I turned back to Garren. I knew an order when I heard one, didn’t mean I had to like it any more. “Come on.” I stormed out of the office. When we got to the car, Garren stopped me before I opened the door.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry to burden you, and that I can’t explain everything to you. Can you forgive me?” He pleaded to me. He did seem great and powerful in battle, but he really didn’t act like a demon.

I sighed. “It’s not you as much as it is Darek. That man is the one who needs to tell me what’s going on, and he’s also the one that dumped you onto me.” He nodded and apologized again before we both got in the car and drove home. As soon as we got in the house I asked what he ate. He replied he had to get his own sustenance, but he could cook for me.

Great, he knows I can’t cook too. I just hope that there are a few secrets I had kept hidden from him. A bit of secrecy was kind of essential for someone like me. I watched him move as he prepared my meal. I wasn’t gawking per se, just studying his movements. He was definitely a trained fighter, his steps were light and balanced, and I could barely hear his footfalls.

I wondered where he could sleep, the house wasn’t that big. The only places were Caleb’s room, the couch, and my room. The last one was completely out of the question; he was not going to set one foot into my room. Caleb would probably sense something if Garren slept in his room, so the only place left was the couch. I told him my conclusion and he was fine with it. Setting down my plate, I thanked him and he went into the living room.

Mulling the day’s events over in my head, I ate the dinner for three by myself. I needed to do some research, if I was going to work with this thing I needed to know what it was. It could hide its presence, could switch between human and semi-demonic form, and it could practically break into other peoples mind. Not to mention it was drop-dead gorgeous and dangerously so. Maybe I should see if Asrael had ever heard of it. Although, I was itching to try this new spell Caleb had taught me recently.

Grinning, I slipped past Garren and into my secret room. I opened my soulgem bag and started ruffling through the various sizes, shapes, and colors until I found the one I wanted. It was about the size of my open palm and in the shape of an eye. The “sclera” were a dark, nearly black, blood-red, while the slit “pupil” was more akin to a diamond in color. It was the soul of an eredil, the lore-keepers among demons. This thing could probably tell me where to start searching.

I opened my grimoire to refresh my memory of the spell, then turned and reached into the depths of the soulgem, calling for the soul within it. The soulgem started to dematerialize, becoming wisps of ethereal matter. Unable to stop it, I watched as the gem became an eredil. The creature hadn’t changed since when I met it; tall with unnaturally long limbs. A robe covered its body and two wings stuck out its back. It even wore half-moon spectacles, oddly enough. Now it was a ghost however, just a free soul.

“Layra, I never expected to see you, or anything else, again after you ripped the soul from my body.” The grin and slight turn of his face disgusted me. Faeren was my mistake, I called him to our world to ask more about the nature of demons and he used his magic to call several large and nasty demons here. He “taught” me to not be so trusting.

I put on one of those sweet I-want-to-rip-your-guts-out-and-feed-them-to-you-with-a-side-order-of-french-fries smiles. “Well, after teaching me how to summon all those nasties, I thought it would only be fair to teach you a lesson in return.”

“Alright Layra, let’s get down to business. Obviously you are in need of my intellect, and I-“

“You want your body back.” The one problem with this spell is that I had no control over the soul. I would have to strike a bargain with him.

I didn’t expect the laugh my interruption brought on. “No, the body is weak, the mind is strong. This spell you used forces me to remain within a mile of you, all I desire is freedom to return to our world in this form.”

“You mean your world.” I said, correcting his mistake.

“Oh no, I mean ours. Maybe one day you’ll be curious enough to seek out the origin of warlocks.”

Deciding I needed to do that, but not right now, I described Garren and his abilities and asked Faeren if he had ever heard of such a creature. In return he smiled broadly and unsettlingly. “My answer is the same.” A light flashed between us. “The pact is finished, I am free to go. Bre’me xi airgix Si’mennar.” Before I could stop him and demand he tell me the whole story, he was gone. Bre’me xi airgix…Blood and shadow, a common farewell in demonic. Si’mennar…half-mortal? As I puzzled over this, I glanced up at the clock in my bedroom to see that it was already nine. Unfortunately, I was an early sleeper. I went in to say goodnight to Garren, but he was already lying down on the couch, asleep.

That certainly saved me from talking to him, even though I would like to say goodnight the less I talked to him the better. I got ready for bed, turned off the lights in the house, then climbed into bed and fell into slumber. I think that it was the first night in a long time no nightmares plagued me.