After I’d cried myself out, I ran to the bathroom and heaved up the last meal I’d eaten. I was shaken to my core. What Kennet had done to me was worse than my long ago attack by two thugs, worse even than the rape I’d endured from a foster brother. Kennet had forced me to kiss him and enjoy it. My body had turned traitor to my heart and my mind. When we’d been kissing, my body had wanted more, and I couldn’t do anything to stop those responses, as hard as I’d tried. If he’d told me to strip and lay spread-eagled on the bed, I would have done it and smiled. I pushed down another wave of nausea, my weakness only adding to the disgust I felt at allowing him to touch me. I wiped my lips with my forearm, but his taste remained to haunt me.
In the bathroom I washed my face and rinsed my mouth, then crawled onto the bed and started to curl up into a fetal position. A movement caught my eye. Isaiah was back in the room, sitting in a chair at the small table.
“Go away.” My voice was hoarse from the acidic burn in the back of my throat and the crying jag.
“Sorry, healer. I’ve been told to stay in case you try to harm yourself. And we still have much to discuss, you and I.” He crossed his right leg over his left and settled back in the chair.
“I don’t want to talk to you, so fuck off.”
“I see. So you will curl up into a ball and hide your head under the pillow and wait for him to come back and torture you again? You have two days and you’ve already wasted an hour with your purging and your hysterics.”
Furious, I sat up and took another look at him. “What do you propose I do with these two days that will make any difference in the end?”
He leaned toward me and whispered. “I can teach you how to access the lines; even though he has placed a block on them which a certain petulant cheetah shifter can’t get through.”
I quickly crawled down to sit on the edge of the bed, feeling a tiny shred of hope begin to stir in my chest. “Why would you do that for me?”
“I despise him every bit as much as you do.”
My mind was suddenly spinning. “I don’t understand.”
“I am magically bound to obey him, but it is possible—”
“Possible for us to work out something that doesn’t interfere with his orders? Some way that allows you to teach me?”
He seemed amused by my desperate tone. “Yes.”
“Then teach me, please. Right now.”
He laughed at me. “You must be patient.”
“But—”
Holding up a hand to stop my protest in mid-sentence, he straightened his spine, placed his feet flat on the floor and took on a business-like aspect. “First we will create a binding agreement. All terms will be laid out clearly so you know exactly what I require of you and also exactly what I am giving to you in return. The agreement will be bound in blood.” In his hand appeared a bowl contained a knife and a black candle.
I sighed in frustration. “I’m not a complete idiot. Before I make any bargains I have to know more about you. Are you a sorcerer?”
He chuckled. “I’m not like any breed of supernatural you’ve so far encountered.”
“Why are you here serving Kennet? How could he bind you to him?”
“He summoned me.”
“Summoned you? Like you’d summon a demon?”
His eyes glowed with bright amber. “Exactly like you’d summon a demon, Healer.”
I opened and closed my mouth, twice. Shaking my head, I grunted and crawled back up the bed, curling up once more. I’d actually been stupid enough to allow myself to hope. “Why am I not surprised?” I closed my eyes, too tired and depressed to be afraid.
“Where are you going? We need to work out our agreement.” He was angry.
I didn’t bother sitting up. “I’m not making a blood bargain with a demon. You’ll eat my soul for breakfast. Plus, I’d be trading one evil jerk for another.”
He laughed so hard I thought he was going to go into convulsions. “Jackie, you are so entertaining.” He was instantly sitting cross-legged on the bed next to me. I sat up in a rush and tried to move away, but he grabbed my wrist. His grip was stronger than I’d expected.
“I am not going to hurt you. I have been ordered to protect you and I cannot go against Kennet’s orders.” He snorted in disgust. “He gives such generalized, ridiculous orders. ‘Guard her’, Protect her’, ‘Watch her’. They can all be interpreted in so many ways. We love to twist things to our purposes and Kennet has little experience dealing with my race. It will be his downfall, in the end. But meanwhile, I can be very patient, while you have less than two days: forty-six hours to be precise. I need your help and you need mine. At least allow me to lay out the facts for you. Then you can decide.”
He was speaking very reasonably and so I thought, what the hell? “Fine, tell me what you want from me, and it better not be sex.”
He laughed again, releasing my wrist. “I am growing quite fond of you Jackie, but no, I don’t want sex from you. What I want is much more valuable, in fact it is exactly what you want. I want my freedom and my revenge. And right now, you are the only one who can give those things to me.”
“And in return you’ll train me in the next forty-six hours to access the magic so that I can escape? I can go home? That’s the deal?”
“Oh there’s much more.” I scowled, but he held up a hand. “Let me explain. Kennet can summon me here because he knows my True Name. He purchased it from a goblin prince who carried a grudge against me.” A fire was burning in his eyes as he spoke, then disappeared when I scooted away from him. His hand flashed out, grabbing my wrist again to keep me close.
“But that is a story for another time,” he continued. “Using a special ritual, he can summon me whenever and wherever he wants. He can command me to do almost anything and I cannot go against his wishes. That is, unless I outsmart him, like I am doing at this exact moment.” He straightened up proudly. “He has not commanded me to keep you from learning new skills. Only to guard, protect, watch, blah, blah. He is an imbecile, like most fae.”
I smiled at hearing a demon—a demon—using an expression like ‘blah, blah’. “So how do I help you?”
“I disclose to you my True Name and you summon me. That will cancel out Kennet’s hold on me. Afterward you will order me to capture Kennet. He will not have time to summon me again. You can then escape through the lines and I will take him with me to my realm. I intend to enjoy myself with him for quite some time before I kill him.” He was grinning excitedly. Kind of creepy really, but I could relate.
“You’ll have to take me through the lines.”
His smile widened. “You will be able to take yourself.”
“I can’t travel through the lines without a fae touching me,” I said, irritated by this cryptic conversation.
“Kennet doesn’t know what you are, and apparently neither do you. You have other ancestors besides shifter.”
“Someone would have told me that if that were true.”
“This bloodline is uncommon in your world, and often overlooked unless one knows it well. You’ll have to take my word for it. With training, you will be able to travel within the lines just like the Seelie Fae and the higher levels of demons.”
“So you’re saying I’m part fae?” This couldn’t be true. Liam would have sensed it immediately.
“No, Jacqueline. Fae is not the blood you carry.” He beamed at me and a cold shiver crept down my spine in response.
I didn’t say anything for several seconds, deciding to dismiss what he’d said as total BS. He must be trying to manipulate me in some way. I couldn’t be what he’d inferred. Could I? Isaiah made no further comment. Instead he rested his hands on his thighs and waited for my response, as if this conversation was perfectly normal. His expression remained pleasant. “How is this possible? Wouldn’t I know if I was…evil?” I asked.
He snorted. “I did not imagine you would be one of those people who immediately thought evil when someone said demon. Frankly, I’m disappointed.” He was certainly dramatic, this strange male. I held back a laugh when he crossed his arms and pretended to be angry.
I narrowed my eyes and moved in a little closer. “You don’t seem particularly evil, but then I hardly know you. And how can I trust you? You may have me summon you and then turn on me.”
He spoke to me as if I were a small child. “That is the purpose of the agreement—to protect both of us and to make sure there are no misunderstandings.” He shrugged. “If you summon me, I’ll have to do as you say.”
“Unless you outsmart me, like you’re doing with Kennet.”
He laughed. “I do not believe that you would be so easy to outsmart. Demons rarely are. Even newborns.”
I frowned. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll summon you like Kennet, whenever or wherever I want?”
“It will be laid out in the agreement that you cannot.”
I shook my head, slid off the bed and walked over to sit at the table, wanting to put some space between us. “This can’t be possible. Someone would have sensed if I was part demon. Caelen would have known, or even Maya. This is all completely absurd.” I glanced back at the male still sitting cross-legged on my bed. Leaning my elbow on the table, I rested my chin on my hand and considered what he’d told me. I could at least hear him out, I supposed. If he could somehow train me to get around the wall Kennet had put up to block me, I could certainly deal with a few hours of Isaiah’s craziness. “Tell me about demons.”
“I suppose you wish to hear the worst. Many of us are indeed monsters, but so are many weres, vampires, shifters and humans. Look at Kennet. He’s a fae noble. Believe me when I tell you, there are even worse fae than Kennet. Don’t get me started.”
“You don’t seem to like the fae much.”
“One problem between us is that the High and Common Seelie Fae believe demons are just another class of their unfriendly relatives, the unseelie. We demons, however, disagree. We are quite unique and it is true we are opposite in several ways.”
Isaiah’s eyes glittered with mischief as he spoke. “The seelie fae love order. We thrive on chaos. They like their seasons and their rituals and their circle of life crap. We like throwing a monkey wrench into the works and watching what happens. Innocents die at times, but that is true for all the races. We get blamed more often because we’re usually the ones stirring things up, but most of us don’t intend to cause harm, only a touch of bedlam or a tiny smidge of pandemonium. Nothing dire. We like to change it up, as humans say.”
He gave me a smile meant to put me at ease, but it only managed to make me warier. “I can assure you, Jackie, that I am no more evil than Liam or Garrett. I know you’ve seen some of what they can do.” Memories of Garrett torturing a black witch and Liam’s cruel tormenting of Kent Brownlow sparked my mind. It was true they weren’t afraid to kill to get information in order to protect innocents.
Something occurred to me suddenly. “Are demons and the fae enemies?”
“For millennia, although things have been quiet for several centuries. Vampires and weres are enemies, and you’ve managed to get around that, haven’t you? Are you afraid things will change for you when the fae unearth your newly discovered bloodline? You remain a sponsored friend, an ally to Cascade and its people. When the fae find out, some may want to rethink the alliance, but they would be stupid to do so. In you, they have a ready-made envoy to the Demon Realm: quite a coup for an intelligent fae leader. And although he’s an arrogant ingrate, Lord Caelen is certainly that.”
Even though his words were completely crazy, I wanted to keep him talking. “I don’t think I’ve ever stirred things up or caused a lot of chaos in people’s lives. I guess my…um…demon genes aren’t that strong.”
He actually giggled. “Demons all over the realm are following your story. You’ve been a thorn in the side of society since the day you started walking and talking. As a so-called human, you were so much trouble not one of your foster parents or social workers could handle you. As a shifter, you’ve beaten a two hundred and sixty-year-old scum of a vampire in a duel, given a three thousand-year-old fae lord the run around, become the master of a cu sith, won the support of the Shifter Council and the Fae Council of Elders and last but definitely not least, you’ve earned the love and respect of a vampire slated to be one of the most powerful vampires on the Mortal Plain. And you think this is all because you’re a sweet, peace-loving healing cheetah shifter?” His tone had taken on a teasing lilt.
“How do you know about Garrett and Liam and Samson and the rest?”
“I read your mind while you were sleeping. It helps with the boredom. Here let me show you what other fun stuff I can do.”
While I was recovering from the shock that he’d read my freakin’ mind, Isaiah disappeared and Liam stood before me in his fighting attire. Isaiah/Liam walked around the room, hair floating around his head, swinging his fae blade, looking and moving exactly like my good friend. Next, Bridgett appeared, slumped in the chair pouting and whining about something. He actually got me laughing from that one. But when Bridgett was gone and Garrett stood next to the bed where Kennet had stood before, I had to turn away and cover my face.
Isaiah appeared again seated at the table. “I see I have upset you. You love him very much.” There was no emotional connection to his words, just a statement of fact.
I couldn’t speak for a moment as I tried to hold back the sob. Finally, when I thought I’d regained some control, I said, “I wonder how he’ll feel being mated to a part-demon?’
“He’s a vampire. He will have to suck it up.” I rolled my eyes as he laughed at his own joke.
This had really gone on too long. “I don’t believe it, you know. I’m sure I’m not a demon, although your arguments have been pretty good.”
“There’s a way to prove it. Two ways in fact.”
“Are you going to conjure up a blood test kit? I’ve had my blood tested by Rob and nothing weird showed up in the results.”
“It wouldn’t. Demon and fae traits don’t show up in a standard blood test.” He stood, waved his hand and a mirror appeared. “Show me your birth mark, Jackie.”
I was shocked into silence for a moment, then smiled as I guessed how he’d known. “You saw it in my mind, didn’t you?” How else could he know? Only Garrett knew.
“It’s behind your left ear, where all demons are marked at birth. The shapes vary according to the level. Mine is a crescent. May I see yours?”
I shrugged, not seeing any harm in him looking at it. “It’s just a birth mark.” I lifted my hair and he came closer for a good look.
“An ellipse: one level higher than my own. But don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you.” He leaned in to whisper, “I’m full blood after all.” He grinned and I glowered, annoyed by his stupid games.
“So let me see yours.” At this point I wanted to get the training started. He moved his brown hair off his seemingly normal neck and there it was behind his left ear, a perfect crescent, the exact same dark shade as mine. I started to sit back down in the chair, feeling a little shaky, but he gently pushed me over to the mirror and stood next to me.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “This probably isn’t what you really look like, right? You can put a birthmark behind your ear anytime you want.”
“No matter what form I take; my birthmark is there. Even if I have no ears, it’s in a spot close to the back of my brain.” He changed to a yellow Labrador retriever and there it was, tucked under the fur near his left ear. When he transitioned into Lord Caelen I found it there again. He changed back to the young man with the average face and nudged at me excitedly.
“Look into the mirror and think about Kennet and how much you want to hurt him. Think about everything he’s done to you and Ethan and those fae prisoners. Think about Garrett and Liam putting themselves in danger to search for you. Think about what he did to Bridgett and what he might do to you. Think about every nasty thing you’ll do to him if you ever get the chance. Don’t hold back your rage. It can’t hurt you. Think of something truly brutal.” His eyes glittered in that creepy way. “Bring up all that anger you’re holding inside.”
“This is silly.”
“You won’t think so when you’re back with your vampire.”
I sighed and stared at the mirror. At first all I could think about was how awful I looked with my swollen red eyes and my messy hair, dressed in the stupid fae gown, but soon I was thinking about what Isaiah had suggested. I thought about what Kennet had done to Ethan and Bridgett and what he’d made me do, allowing my anger to rise to the surface. How wonderful it would feel to kill him the way I’d killed Antoine—to see his face twisted in pain as I plunged Liam’s blade into his heart and his gut, again and again—to watch his head roll across the dirt and see his body turn to dust. Oh, wait. He wasn’t a vamp so his body would just lie there twitching. Even better.
“Come on, little demon, you can do better than that.” He had the nerve to sound annoyed.
I swallowed bile and clenched my fists, my anger flashing on Isaiah and his demands as well as Kennet. It was all too fucking much, this fae lord and his demon servant taking everything from me and then insisting that I obey them. My rage reached super nova levels—and then it happened. My green eyes flashed bright orange as I stared at the furious stranger in the mirror…and fainted.