Bellanore
My boyfriend is supposed to kill my dad.
I don’t know what he’s caught up in, but a demon just said that Robb Aline has to kill Ronath.
My dad.
My demon dad.
Who I also don’t know what he’s caught up in either, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to allow Robb to just go ahead and attack my dad.
Because that’s all it would be. My dad isn’t going to let a teenage werewolf kill him. My dad’s a demon. I don’t even think I could take Dad on myself, and I’m half-demon, half-werewolf.
“Don’t you dare come near me ever again, and if you even think about going after my dad…” I stalk closer to him and jab a finger at his chest. “I will handle you myself.”
Robb just gapes at me. He’s still in shock. Not over the fact that he has to kill a demon. No, he already knew that. He just didn’t realize until now that the demon he’s supposed to kill for whatever reason is my dad.
I take one good long look at him, at his black hair that sweeps to cover his forehead, brushed off to the side so that it won’t hang in his eyes. His eyes are what get me every time. They’re sky blue, and they glow, just like mine do.
I also thought my eyes glowed because of my demonic blood. Why do his eyes glow? Robb’s not holding another secret from me, is he?
Probably.
There’s also the scar over his left eye, the scar he obtained from killing a drow.
A drow who had killed his parents and his brother.
I swallow hard. “I mean it. Don’t come near me again.”
My long, mostly dark strands of hair flutter around me like a cloak as I turn to leave.
“I swear I didn’t know he was your dad,” he mumbles.
I whirl back around and glower at him. “As if that makes it any better!”
“I haven’t gone after him,” he says.
My gaze lands on the trunk. The demon who came to warn Robb that the deed needed to be done had laughed at it for some reason.
My knees collapse, and I throw it open even though I have no business doing that. The items inside make me pause. A dress? A hat? But then I spy some weapons, and I understand all too well why the demon laughed.
None of this will help to kill Dad.
My heart aches, and I grip the side of the trunk, my head hanging there. Robb played me. He got close to me to get close to his mark.
No. His shock at learning Ronath, the demon he’s to kill, is my dad had been the truth. I can sense sins, including lies. It’s one of my demonic abilities. Ironically enough, it’s an ability my dad doesn’t have.
“Yet,” I snap as I lift my head. “You haven’t gone after him yet. You haven’t because you don’t know how to kill a demon, do you?”
He says nothing.
“You want to kill a demon.” I bark a bitter laugh, look at the bat, and laugh all over again. “Or do you have a death wish? Is that it? You want to go after my dad and have him kill you?”
“I swear I didn’t know he was your dad, Bellanore,” he says desperately. “You have to—”
“You don’t get to tell me what I have to do,” I spit out. I stand and turn on him. “Not even before all of this. You never get to tell me what to do.”
He swallows hard. He’s pale, so very pale, and he looks like he’s about ready to collapse.
There’s something he’s hiding from me. Something big.
And a part of me can’t get that dress out of my head. Was it his mom’s? Is that why he has it? Why else would he have a dress?
“I didn’t… Aren’t there two other werewolf students here who have demons for a parent? I was told a couple—”
“Okay, first of all, couple means two, not three, and second of all, whoever told you that is wrong. I’m the only one.” I eye him. “You came to the academy because you knew at least one werewolf-demon hybrid came here. You knew that his or her father was the one you’re to kill.”
“Yes,” he says miserably. “I didn’t want to, though. I never once asked you how to kill a demon, did I? If anyone would know, you would.”
“I don’t understand. Why do you need to kill a demon? Why does that demon want you to kill my dad?”
“I don’t exactly ask demons questions,” he mumbles.
“You asked me questions.”
“Yes, well…”
“I’m not a demon?” My nostrils flare. The anger boiling inside of me is enough to force me to accept that I truly am a descendant of a demon. Not that I’ve ever had an issue with it. I’ve always accepted both halves to myself.
Even if my pack won’t accept me.
A werewolf without a pack. It’s not something that can be. A lone werewolf will die. My best friend, Ellamaria, is in my mother’s pack, in what should be my pack. She stands by me, and that’s enough to keep me from going insane or dying. If not for her, it’s possible that my demonic side would save me.
Or maybe my wolf will one day be lost to me.
I can’t bear to think about that, but I also don’t want to think about a world without my dad. Yes, he’s a demon, and he’s done terrible things. I know that even if I don’t know the specifics of his activities. He had me use my lie-detection ability on one of his business partners, an imp named Draz.
I can still hear the imp’s words later on that same night.
“He’s weaving a tangled web. It’s not something you want to get involved in. You can trust me on that.”
The fear in his voice… It almost makes me want to believe him even if he is an imp in cahoots with a demon.
“Please, for your sake,” he said, “don’t look into what your dad is doing. Don’t look into it. Stop trying to find out. You won’t like what you’ll learn, and if he tries to rope you into it…” And then, he added, “I’m looking out for you,” before he looked over his shoulder, freaked out, and teleported away.
He’s afraid of my dad. My dad is into something really big, and maybe that’s why this other demon wants Dad dead.
“Why won’t that demon just go after Dad himself?” I mutter.
“That demon is… He’s the… He’s the reason…” Robb swallows hard. “The drow who killed my parents and my brother? He didn’t… He did it to gain favor with that demon.”
I gasp. “And now that demon is holding it over your head? Is he threatening the rest of your pack if you don’t do what he asks? You killed his underling. Of course he’s going to want you to step up and take that drow’s place.”
“Not exactly,” Robb mumbles. “There’s more.”
“I’m sure there’s a lot more,” I snap. “What is it?”
“The drow… he didn’t just kill my parents, my brother. He killed my entire pack.”
“You’re a lone wolf?”
He nods.
And I take in his appearance, the fact that he should’ve recovered from the fights already, how he seems so weak and frail despite his muscular frame, a frame that is slowly shrinking some…
Robb is… Is he dying?
I gape at him, unable to ask that question aloud, and then my phone starts to ring. Torn between confusion and fear, I yank it out of my pocket so harshly that it falls onto the floor. Caller ID alerts us to the fact that the caller is my dad.
“Maybe you shouldn’t ignore him,” Robb says.
I eye him and purse my lips. “You shouldn’t tell me what to do.”
“I didn’t. I said maybe.”
I know he did. I heard him, but I’m so confused and upset and torn. What am I supposed to do? Who am I to believe? The imp? Robb? My dad?
Honestly, when I was younger, I adored my dad. Ellamaria teased me that my favorite parent is my dad, and maybe that had been true at one point in time. Then, my mom abandoned me, and yes. Fine. I’ll admit it. My dad was my only parent. He still is. I haven’t seen my mom for far too long.
But lately, Dad’s been scaring me. He tried to get me to walk through fire, but I can’t do that! I’ll burn! Fire terrifies me. It’s Dad’s fault that I have an irrational fear of fire. Not that he realizes it, but when I was five, I saw him walk through flames. Wanting to be like him, I lit a candle and tried to touch it, but I couldn’t. I was afraid, and I got burned. For two years, I had nightmares about fire. If a tiny flame can burn me, how can I walk through fire?
It’s simple. I can’t. Demons might be made from fire, but I’m not. I’m not just a demon. I’m a werewolf, and they can burn.
“We aren’t done,” I inform Robb.
“I don’t want us to be,” he says simply, looking me in the eye for the first time since he learned who his target truly is.
And in his eyes, I see a world of pain and misery that I’ve never seen before in any person.
Shaken, I swallow hard, take a step back, and teleport to a wooded section of the campus on Moonstone Academy. My phone rings again, and I answer.
“Bellanore,” Dad says in his rumbling voice. “I almost thought you weren’t going to answer.”
“I thought about not,” I admit as I begin walking. I don’t have a destination in mind, but I’m too amped up and anxious to stand around and do nothing.
“Why wouldn’t you want to hear from me?”
“Maybe because I don’t want to feel used and abused.”
“What are you talking about?” Dad snaps.
I grit my teeth. “Why did you call, Dad?”
“Not to hear lip service from my daughter, I’ll tell you that much,” he bites.
I just smirk even though he can’t see me. “What do you want?”
“I want you to come home.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know if I like the idea of you being around so many werewolves.”
“Why’s that?” I ask. “The year’s almost over.”
“You need to spend more time with me. You need to start becoming my daughter again.”
“What exactly does that mean?” I ask. It feels as if he dumped a bucket of ice on me. I’m almost chilled straight down to the bone. “I’ve always been your daughter.”
He snorts. “You would run away in a second to be with your mother if she came sniffing around. Admit it. Even though I’ve been the one to stay here with you, the one to try to teach you about your heritage—”
“Don’t forget that some of my heritage is with the werewolves,” I say darkly. “That’s why I’m here. Don’t worry. I’m not afraid that you’ll abandon me like Mom did. I’m here because here is where I want to be, and if you want to teach me, you can try—”
“You need to learn how to walk through fire.”
“Why?” I blurt out. “Why do you want me to learn how to do that?”
“Don’t you see?” he hisses. “It’s about acceptance. It’s about listening. Respect.”
Devotion. That’s what it’s about. Devotion and loyalty. He wants me to have blind obedience and do whatever he asks of me.
“Walk through fire, and then what, Dad? What else will you ask of me? What else do you need me to do?” I challenge.
“You don’t trust me. My own daughter.”
“Do you trust me, Dad? No. You don’t. Let’s be real for a second, okay? If I were to ask if anyone would want you dead, would you tell me the truth?”
“I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“You know full well you can get away with a lie over the phone.”
“Is that so?”
I grit my teeth. He’s known that. I mean, it’s not new news.
“Would anyone want you dead?” I ask.
“Most likely.”
“Why?”
Silence.
When the quiet stretches for a solid two minutes, I shake my head and laugh. “Yeah, so you want me to trust you, but when I ask you a few questions, you won’t answer them. I mean, yeah, I guess a non-answer is better than a lie. Oh, wait. There is such a thing as a lie by omission… Someone wants you dead, but you won’t tell me. Are you afraid I’ll go after the person? Or are you worried I won’t have your back because you did something that gives that person a legit reason for wanting you dead?”
There’s nothing.
And then there’s a click.
Dad’s hung up on me.
I don’t trust him.
He doesn’t trust me.
I don’t trust Robb.
There’s so much distrust going on, and honestly, I don’t know what it’ll take to get to the bottom of it all.
Do I even want to try?