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“You’re being uncharacteristically quiet,” Taryn said the next morning at breakfast. It was just the two of them; Frances hadn’t made an appearance yet. They ate in the kitchen. She’d stayed in her room the day before, pacing a hole in the carpet. After hearing the conversation between Taryn and Frances, she wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.
“I’m fine,” she said stiffly. She wasn’t going to let him know she had heard him. He didn’t intend to help her or her mother. She had been an idiot to trust him. Of course, he was going to keep her alive, he needed her. He would probably promise her anything until she killed Lucien. Then he could take the talisman for himself and get rid of her.
That’s what he thinks. Once the spell was completed, Taryn was going to join his brother.
“I want to know how the spell works,” she said.
He looked up from his toast, “It’s complicated, I’ll take care of it.”
“You’ll take care of it, right. Like you’ll take care of me,” she blurted. She walked outside away from him. She really needed to learn to keep her mouth shut.
“What’s bothering you now,” he sighed, coming up behind her.
“Nothing,” she muttered.
“If this is about night before last, just forget about it. We couldn’t control it. Trust me I am definitely not interested in you.”
Of course not, crazed, toxic succubae are your thing.
Mackenzie noticed a target practice area set up in a clearing.
“I thought you were going to teach me how to handle weapons?”
He seemed relieved that she had changed the subject. He picked up a set of throwing knives and handed them to her.
“I’ll set up the target.”
Mackenzie held one of the knives feeling the weight of it in her hand. Taryn had his back to her as he set the target up. It would be so easy to finish him off here and now. She raised the knife just as Taryn turned to face her.
“You’re holding it wrong,” he said. He stood behind her and raised her arm moving the knife up beside her ear.
“You need to extend your arm fully, then release,” he instructed. On her first attempt, the knife bounced of the top of the target. She tried to focus, but she was finding it difficult with Taryn so close. Even his presence irritated her.
She threw the next knife, which hit the outer edge of the target.
Taryn moved away from her to get a better view. She took a breath and threw the next knife. It hit dead center, so did the next one and the next one, until they were all gone. “Not bad,” Taryn said, grudgingly.
Her victory was short lived; knife throwing seemed to be her only skill. No matter what weapon they used, she couldn’t get the hang of it. They tried more sword fighting, staffs, and even crossbows. Mackenzie noticed Frances watching them from one of the second floor windows, after Taryn flipped her onto the ground for the third time.
She waved at her just to annoy her. She was sure Frances hated her because she was ‘contaminated’ with human blood. Which was exactly how she felt about the demon blood inside her. Contaminated. Unclean.
“I thought the women in your family had no real power. Frances seems to rule the roost around here.”
“She’s my father’s older sister. She tried to take over after my grandfather died. My father wants her dead, so she’s hiding out here.”
“How come you know where she is?”
“I was the one who helped her get away.”
“And Nadine?”
“She comes and goes as she pleases.”
Mackenzie could think of a couple of responses to that but she restrained herself.
“I mean, what was the slap about?”
There was a loud clang as something struck the front gate. Startled, Mackenzie and Taryn glanced at one another, then jogged toward the end of the driveway.
A blue Ford Mondeo had driven into the gate. Steam was escaping from the engine and Mackenzie could make out someone slumped over the wheel through the broken windscreen.
“Call an ambulance,” she said, hurrying towards the car. Taryn pulled her back.
“Are you insane? It’s probably a trap.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, someone is hurt.”
“No human can see this house, it’s protected.”
“Maybe that’s why they crashed, they didn’t see the gate.”
“I’ll check it out, you stay on the property, do you understand?”
She nodded. He opened the gates and moved towards the car.
“Hello? Are you okay?” he called. He tugged on the driver’s door handle but it wouldn’t budge.
Mackenzie stood with her toes against the property line. She wanted to go out and help but after everything that had happened lately it was too much of a risk.
Taryn pulled the handle as hard as he could and the door opened with the sound of crunching metal. He leaned in to check for a pulse.
“Well?” Mackenzie called.
He straightened up and shook his head, “There’s no pulse.”
Mackenzie saw the movement but before she could shout a warning the body in the car lunged at him. It drove a Freddy Krueger style hand into his gut.
“Taryn,” Mackenzie screamed. He was so shocked, he didn’t even react right away, giving the Pariah plenty of time to remove the knives and drive them in again and again. Taryn’s knees buckled and he sank to the ground blood spraying over him.
Mackenzie slipped the knife out of the sheaf on her belt, running at the Pariah. Taryn was right about the spells. The Pariah didn’t even see her until she left the cover of the property. With the element of surprise on her side, she caught the Pariah in the neck with the blade. It lashed out with its clawed hand swiping at her. She leapt back but the claws ripped through her shirt and into the skin on her stomach. She cried out in pain. The knife hadn’t done enough damage; it stopped flailing and tried to finish Taryn off.
The Pariah attempted to crawl away, but he was losing a lot of blood and he didn’t get very far.
“Hey!” Mackenzie screamed at it. It turned to look at her.
“Kill yourself,” she said, with enough force as she could muster. Its hand trembled as it tried to resist, then it swung the knife up, impaling its own face. It fell to the ground.
“Oh, my God, Taryn,” she cried dropping to her knees beside him. She pressed her hands on the wounds trying to stem the flow of blood.
“Help me,” she screamed towards the house. “Just hold on, you’ll be okay,” she said.
Taryn tried to speak but only managed to spray blood over himself. His skin was grey.
Frances and her staff were running towards them.
“Help is coming,” she said. He gripped her arm; she took his hand and held it tightly. “Don’t die.”