Demon Heart (The Darkworld Series Book 3) (10 page)

“You have to wake, Ash,” she whispered. “They can’t harm you―wake up…”

And I did.

Well, that was weird,
I thought, breathing heavily as though I really had run headlong down a hall of mirrors with zombies on my tail. Zombie Ash. Not a good look. I sat up in bed, groaning. At least this dream had left no marks.

A stream of greyish light seeped through a gap in the curtains. I pushed them back. The sun had barely risen, and a thick mist cocooned the forest. My room was on the ground floor, but I still liked the view from the window of the fields running down to the woodland. The early-morning sky was pale grey-white, and the grass sparkled with dew. Sheep lay sleeping in white huddles, and birds circled overhead. Restlessness seized me.
Time to brave the woodland trail,
I thought. Campus was safe again now that the Skele-Ghouls had gone, and Jude wouldn’t be able to get back past the Barriers now he was possessed. I supposed one good thing came out of the situation.

As I left the flat, someone ran into me so hard I dropped my keys in the mud. I picked them up, then took in Claudia’s dishevelled appearance and concluded that she’d just come back from a night out.

“Ash! Shit, what happened! My phone died when I was in Satan’s Pit, I only just got those missed calls.”

“Oh God,” I said. She didn’t know. “Come on, we’d better go somewhere else.”

We walked downhill towards the woodland path, where I’d been going anyway. The weak daylight filtered through the thick canopy, painting zigzag lines on the ground. Birds sang in the trees around us, oblivious to their human company.

I had a feeling of déjà vu as we walked until we reached a clearing―the same one where she’d first told me about the Darkworld.

“Okay. Spill it.” She swayed slightly, like she was tipsy, but her gaze held mine steadily.

I drew in a breath. “Howard got attacked by shadow-beasts,” I said.

“Shit! Is it serious? How bad?”

“It was pretty bad, but the fortune-teller patched him up.” I shuddered at the memory. So much blood, and we’d barely made it in time.

“Crap. Was it in Redthorne?”

“Yeah, he was out with Berenice, and they got jumped. They managed to fight them off, but I think Howard underestimated them. One of them clawed him up, and Berenice couldn’t get him out of there alone.”

“How’d you manage it, then?”

“We used Influence, then carried him back on the bus.”

“Seriously?” she said, her eyes wide.

“Yeah. I don’t know how we did it. But we got back to Blackstone and took him to the fortune-teller. Then Berenice basically told us to bugger off.”

“Nice. I’m guessing she’s with Howard now?”

“Probably,” I said. “He’s in hospital, though.”

“I can’t believe it happened to him of all people,” she said. “I mean, he’s killed dozens of shadow-beasts, not to mention those Skele-Ghouls. Of course he’s never gone up against a true demon, but I suppose none of us have, except you.”

My breath caught in my throat. This was the first time in a while that she’d alluded to the incident with Terrence, when I’d nearly died because he’d got hold of my demon heart, like Jude had. No one except the fortune-teller and me knew the truth about that night in the Lake District, but they did know I’d killed the demon possessing Terrence. Maybe now was the right time to admit the truth. If Berenice knew and had accepted it, and she wasn’t even my friend, then Claudia would surely accept it. She’d know I wasn’t evil―right?

Coward,
I told myself, as I let her carry on talking and missed my chance.

“I’m knackered,” she said, kicking off her heels, apparently oblivious to the muddy ground. “I should probably get to bed before I curl up and fall asleep here and die of pneumonia.”

I rolled my eyes at the melodramatic statement. “Sure,” I said. “I was just going for a walk because I couldn’t sleep.”

“Enjoy it!” she said, and walked off, bare feet slipping in the mud.

Why
did it have to be so difficult to tell the truth? I was usually a pretty honest person, except when it came to keeping my other life a secret from my flatmates and friends, of course. But that was more for their sakes than mine. They didn’t need to know that I was connected to a sinister world of nightmares none of them could see. They didn’t need to know I wasn’t fully human, or that there were dark creatures seeking to possess the human race. Hell, I’d probably be arrested by the Venantium, too, if I told them, though I didn’t think they had an official law against talking about the Darkworld to non-magic-users. Most people would never believe something like that. Actually
using
magic was different, because the Venantium saw it as dangerous activity which attracted the attention of demons. But, at least according to Cyrus and Claudia, both of whom had family members who’d worked for the Venantium, there was no rule saying you couldn’t
talk
about it.

It came to my attention that my feet had wandered off on a tangent along with my thoughts, and instead of walking the woodland trail around campus, I’d instead come out on the other side on the country road that led to town. The ruin of the Blackstone house stared at me from a distance, and the memory of the dream broke through my thoughts again. I had to be imagining it was the same place. History didn’t literally repeat itself, as far as I knew. Even in a world where demons hid among us, unseen.

Just another weird-ass dream.

I turned my back on the house and walked away, towards campus.

After lectures, Leo texted me, inviting me over to his flat. I felt a quiver of nervous anticipation as I rang the buzzer, remembering how we’d been interrupted last time I’d been there. But he greeted me wearing his coat and shoes.

“I thought we could visit Howard,” he said.

“Are you sure he’d appreciate it?” I said, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

“Probably not, but I feel like being nice to someone today. Good karma and all that bullshit.”

More like he wanted to avoid starting our next essay―the deadline was creeping up on us. But I went along to the hospital anyway―and so did Claudia, who joined us as we left the village.

“I’m really sorry I couldn’t help you guys,” she said. “I’d have got there in a second if I’d known.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Leo. “One more person wouldn’t have made a huge difference. I still can’t believe we got away with it. I’ve never used Influence on that scale before.”

“Yeah, sounds like you really went for it. I can’t believe you managed it, either. Are you sure the fortune-teller wasn’t helping?”

“No, she didn’t show till later.”

The fortune-teller was an expert at influential magic, if the way she’d pretended to be my aunt was anything to go by. That kind of Influence was way beyond any of us. She’d essentially manipulated me into living a total lie for eighteen years. I remembered the heady reckless feeling that came with using Influence, the feeling of absolute control and freedom, and felt nausea rise in my throat. If it hadn’t been for the urgency of the situation, I couldn’t have―ordinarily I’d never do that to someone. Never.

Are you being honest?
a voice asked, and the memory of manipulating David’s memories came to the surface.

“Berenice will be there,” said Leo.

“Oh yeah,” I said, remembering something else. “What do you think her deal was yesterday? I mean, when the fortune-teller mentioned Mephistopheles, I thought she was going to pass out.”

“No clue,” said Leo.

“Did she?” said Claudia. “I wonder if that was the demon that attacked her. I know she had a bad experience once―not that she ever told me about it. I sort of inferred it.”

“Sounds about right,” said Leo. “But I think she was just freaked at the idea of the most powerful demon walking around in the human world.”

“
What
?”

At that moment, the bus pulled up the hill and we stopped talking as we climbed aboard. The driver was one of those pedants who counted every penny twice and scrutinised us as though we were going to cause trouble. It was weird thinking of how we’d walked onto a bus last night completely unnoticed. It almost seemed like another bizarre dream.

As we climbed to the top deck, Claudia said, “Most powerful demon?”

“I forgot to tell you,” I admitted. “The fortune-teller had to deal with a shadow-beast attack outside Blackstone last night. And Jude was with them.”

“He’s possessed,” said Leo. “Like, honestly possessed. I’d never have thought it of him, but that demon―Mephistopheles―must have got to him. Apparently he stole that demon heart from the Venantium, too. Something about a demon’s true heart containing most of their power.”

“What?” said Claudia, aghast. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, course I am,” said Leo. “Well, it’s what the fortune-teller said, and she’s usually brutally honest about this stuff. God knows how it happened, but Jude’s a demon’s puppet now.”

“That’s crazy.” Claudia shook her head. “So he’s summoning shadow-beasts?”

“Supposedly. I don’t know, it doesn’t add up at all, but you know the Venantium won’t tell us what’s going on. Maybe we’ll get lucky and run into Madame Enigma at the hospital. I’m wondering what story she told them about Howard’s injuries.”

As it turned out, she’d told them that he’d cut himself on broken glass in the street in Redthorne. The cuts were nowhere near as serious as they’d been the night before, but the hospital had insisted on keeping Howard in overnight regardless. He wasn’t particularly pleased about this.

“I’m fine, dammit!” he said, even though the entire right side of his face was bandaged. Berenice sat at his side, her eyes red-rimmed and her usually immaculate makeup peeling off.

“You don’t look it,” said Claudia. “When will you learn not to be reckless?”

“When monsters stop attacking me!”

“Keep your voice down!” said Claudia, with an anxious look around the room. The few other patients looked either asleep or too far off to hear what we said.

“Don’t yell at him. He’s injured,” said Berenice. “Why the hell are you lot here, anyway?”

“Being nice?” said Leo.

Berenice snorted.

I’d had enough of her crap. “Not like we were any help. You’d both be dead if we didn’t come, so quit whining and actually talk to one another for once, seeing as you’re in the same room.”

Berenice flushed brick red. “Get out,” she snapped.

“Could you keep the noise down over there?” a nurse called from the other side of the room. “Mr. Lloyd isn’t allowed more than two visitors at a time.”

Oh, she means Howard
. I wasn’t in any hurry to stay.

“Come on, let’s leave them to it,” I said. Claudia shrugged helplessly, and Leo took my hand. Berenice narrowed her eyes at me. I shrugged, innocently.

I could almost see the awkwardness hovering between her and Howard as she avoided his eyes, whilst he looked at her with a faintly puzzled expression. Unless that was the pain drugs.

As Leo, Claudia, and I walked back through Redthorne, it seemed quieter than usual in the town centre. A strange feeling descended on me, like the beginnings of a migraine, a fist pounding at my temple. It felt vaguely familiar. My connection to the Darkworld tingled, and I looked around, realising that dark spaces were even more numerous than usual. Voids in the universe unfolded everywhere, revealing blackness beneath the world where dark things crept to stare at us. At me.

I thought of the demon that had spoken to me last night. Demons never offered help for nothing.
Did it really think I’d accept its help?

My fingernails bit into my palm. Darkness followed me, even in daylight. Why couldn’t they just leave me be?

“Your leaders have forsaken you,”
said a harsh, cold voice.

I ignored it, although I felt the eyes on me from across the pavement. Leo squeezed my hand.

“Ignore it,” he whispered.

“Why will no one tell you what chases you? Do you truly trust them? Why do you lie to yourselves?”

“Why won’t you fuck off?” I said, turning around in time to see the violet eyes fade back into the shadows.

Leo squeezed my hand again. “Ash. It’s okay.”

It didn’t feel okay. My head pounded, like a pressure built up behind my skull, and I felt light-headed and feverish.

Something’s wrong.

“Ash, your skin’s ice-cold. Are you feeling all right?” Leo squeezed my hand.

I shook my head. “I have a headache,” I said. But it wasn’t just that. I shivered in the same way that overexposure to the Darkworld usually caused. Like something was freezing me from the inside out. The demon in the back of my mind pushed at the edges of my awareness, like she felt it too.
But I thought we were the same person.

I gripped Leo’s hand, trying to focus on his reassuring warmth. It helped, slightly.

“We’ll talk to the fortune-teller later,” said Claudia. “She’ll explain all this, count on it.”