Illumine (5 page)

glance over towards Ursula just in time to watch her face turn to a

violent hissing mask of rage.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Gabby and I both did it. You know, one

does the first half while the other does make-up, then we switch,"

does the first half while the other does make-up, then we switch,"

she giggled, her smile growing more with each word she spoke.

"And," her voice dropped low, "if you need anyone to talk to

about, you know, al that weird stuff that happened in New York, I

know a few of the student councilors."

Weird stuff. Good to know the rumors were stil flying

around like hawks for the kil. "Weird stuff?"

"Yeah," someone else piped up. I recognized him from

Math, Dalton was his name. He seemed to hesitate for a second.

"But it's al just rumor, right? You didn't realy get bit by a vampire

and take off out the window with wings from your back, right?"

A redhead who I didn't know made a noise. "I heard you

were bathed in dead animal blood. That's why you ran from the

Bio classroom, or so Jessica said."

The blonde alongside the redhead, Jessica I presumed,

shook her head. "No you idiot, I said she ran because the

dissection reflected what was going to happen to her once the ritual

began." Her chest sweled up as she tried to look important. "A

god can only wait so long for a sacrifice."

I listened to al of it, watching as each one speled out a

different rumor. One had me as a hybrid human, another as an

alien, some even thought I was probed by aliens. Any mythical

creature, both the known and unknown, were caled into the air. It

was al I could do not to laugh myself to death. Abigail on the other

hand, was in hysterics.

"What about angels?" one voice caled out. A couple heads

turned as I strained to see who it was that had asked. Across the

bonfire, dressed like everyone else, stood a familiar face. Too

familiar. I already knew without having to stand beside him that his

skin was a dark olive color, perfectly unblemished. His eyes could

be whatever color his heart desired, but grey and black were the

only two I'd ever imagined in my halucinations.

I had gone too far.

"Excuse me, who are y-" Ursula started to snip.

"I asked the girl. Essalie, is it?" The demon gave me the

best harmless smile his vicious features could manage. A wolf in

sheep's clothing.

Al eyes turned from the demon to me. He wasn't just a

halucination this time, I realized. Everyone else could see him, too.

In one decision I had inadvertently placed every person in my

contact directly into his hands. Hands with claws like steel, ready

to rip flesh off like tissue paper off a gift on Christmas morning.

My mouth was dry as I spoke. "Yes, Essalie. Who are

you, again?"

"Who I am is not important."

I shook my head. If he was wiling to interrupt my life to

slaughter those around me, I'd stal him as long as I could in my

only gutsy move. "Oh no, boy, it is. Tel me your name and then

we'l begin the game."

Abigail beside me whispered 'Game?' into my ear, but I

ignored her. My eyes were locked onto the demon, waiting for the

slightest hint of movement. He let out a smal, infuriated sigh and

ran his fingers through the short black hair on his head, but his smile

never faltered. If anything, it only grew larger across his cheeks. "I

never faltered. If anything, it only grew larger across his cheeks. "I

love games. What game wil we be playing, Essalie?" He purred,

letting his s's rol.

"War," I said, picking the first game that came to mind.

"For the last time, you are who?"

His eyes smoldered, seeming to burn hotter than the fire

between us. "Kayden."

Al around us I felt each pair of eyes bouncing back and

forth, a never-ending tennis match of words and hidden exchanges.

"Alright, Kayden. The answer is no, no one has suggested angels.

Pretty sure that's the opposite of sacrifices and buckets of blood.

Especialy when the guy who tried to kil me used a demonology

book, not the Bible."

"Actualy," Jessica snuck back into the conversation,

"there's tons of sacrifice and blood in the Bible. It's just not actively

capitalized on."

The demon, Kayden, cut her off. "Save the Bible Study

chat for Sunday School, little girl."

"Excuse me," Ursula growled, the shiver of fear from

Jessica fueling my own inner fire. "We don't tolerate playground

bulies around here. Or party crashers for that matter. Leo's

buddies wil escort you out."

Two of the footbal players from our school stepped close

to him. Kayden looked from one to the other, a sly smile creeping

on his lips. As one of the players grasped Kayden's upper arm,

Kayden ducked underneath and between the guy's legs, using his

other hand to pul him down face first into the mud.

In another move, he stood in front of Ursula, pitch black

In another move, he stood in front of Ursula, pitch black

eyes piercing into hers. "Essalie," he caled, never looking to me.

"I'd let your little friend here in on the secret you learned the first

time we met."

A could stil grasp onto the beads of courage inside my

chest, but barely. My skin started to turn cold, the hairs standing

up on the back of my neck. Somewhere inside I knew the answer

to my question, but I asked regardless. "What secret?"

When he turned to face me for al of one second, it took al

of me not to scream. His face had transformed into a mask of

horror, scales lining his previously unblemished skin like craters.

Little horns of pure onyx encircled his face as extra nostrils

covered his nose. But I was solely focused on the needle-thin razor

teeth, yelowed from time, and the set of pure black eyes that

encompassed nearly half of his face, the insides bubbling crimson

vats.

Only one eye blinked, specks of blood flicking off his short

eyelashes. "That I pick my teeth with weaklings like al of you."

As fast as the mask had shown itself, he returned to

perfectly normal. No one else seemed as terrified as I was, so I

knew he only let me see the gruesome face. Slowly he stepped

back, his eyes trailing over every person huddles around the

bonfire. The flames had suddenly began to die, glimmers of the

wintry frost of Maine coating the corners of each log.

He was threatening to kil every one of them, just like he

had Chase.

Al because I had associated with them. Because he

couldn't touch me for reasons unknown.

couldn't touch me for reasons unknown.

Rage began to build inside my chest. How dare he try to

take away the only remaining pieces of a normal life I had left? And

for what, so he could eat me? Adrenaline pumped through my

veins, and it was al I could do to not see red. The burn of untamed

energy spread through my body once again, building in my

fingertips like pressure points ready to burst. No more mercy, no

more running. I was done.

"Go ahead and try," I hissed and stepped closer to him.

Behind me I felt the flames from the bonfire burst skyward with a

gust, blowing concentrated heat over my shoulders.

Kayden's smirk slipped, an emotionless mask faling in

place. He opened his mouth to speak when a scream sounded

behind me.

I turned. Jessica was laid out on the ground, eyes roled up

in the back of her head. Her body quivered and shook involuntary,

limbs splaying out every which way. Abigail, Ursula, Leo, and the

others immediately moved to her, holding her down and keeping

her head in place. "Someone cal an ambulance!"

Ursula had her phone cradled against her cheek, giving the

operator Leo's address. First responders would be on their way in

minutes, along with the local Belfast police chief, Jessica's father.

I turned back around. Kayden was gone. But where he

stood the grass was missing, only scorched ground remained.

F I V E

The next morning seemed darker, drearier, almost as if

someone had puled the curtains over the sunlight and left

everything obscured in the holow of an abyss. It seemed to seep

into everyone, myself included.

I stood outside Abigail's locker just before lunch. She

continued to rifle through the same pack of papers crammed into

the corners of her locker, grumbling under her breath with each

shove of stuff. I couldn't help but feel Kayden had something to do

with the gloomy attitude lingering over the school.

No. I was not about to go there. Excusing a poor weather

day on a supernatural creature, if they even realy existed, was not

something I was going to start doing. There was always a real

reason for the way things happened, like physics and psychology.

Kayden was probably just some figment of my imagination

everyone else was engaging with last night out of pity. Or maybe

last night never happened at al.

"So how bad was the third degree when you got home?" I

asked Abigail to try and keep my mind off the creeping thought of

Kayden. And the idea that I was completely bat-shit insane.

"What?" Abigail stuck her head out of her locker, cussing

in a low breath. She waived a hand dismissively at my face. "Oh,

please. Like my Mom cares if I come home. She's too busy trying

to bed some other man to 'give me a father.' What about you? I'm

sure Jayson didn't go easy."

sure Jayson didn't go easy."

Didn't go easy barely touched his reaction. After having the

wonderful pleasure of him being one of the first responders to

show, things weren't realy smooth between us, but more like a

cluster of grunts and the words 'grounded' mixed in with al kinds

of other lovely phrases.

"Let's just say if I go missing in the next few weeks make

sure Jayson is investigated and the backyard dug up," I said. Inside

her locker, Abigail snorted.

"He's just protecting you. You know how it is in the

movies. The older brother's always afraid his cute little sis is going

to choke on the marshmalow or drown in her closet of clothes,"

she cracked in between giggles.

I smacked the back of her head and she swore.

"Seriously? He's more afraid I'm going to choke on air. I think he

even glued my window pane shut the other night just in case." Not

that I wasn't guilty of tripping into things, but at least I could say I

had never falen out of a window open or closed.

Swearing again, Abigail slammed her locker shut, kicking it

for good measure. "Come on, we're going to be late for lunch. And

while we're on the subject, think of a good excuse as to why I can't

find my Bio paper so Whitley doesn't fail me."

"Tel him you had to work the corner last night to get over

your Daddy issues," I suggested to Abigail's glare. "Sorry, I got

nothing. Last night's stil running around in my head."

"Circles or sprints?" She grinned but shook her head as we

walked into the Cafeteria and took our usual seats. Like always,

we were the last two, and no one was in the mood to offer any

we were the last two, and no one was in the mood to offer any

form of communication with me around. Abigail yanked out a

bagged lunch of tuna on wheat, a blueberry muffin, and a mug of

stil-warm cocoa. "Anyone hear any news on Jessica?"

I sat back with a notebook on my lap, listening as Thomas

spoke first. "She's stil in Portland running CT scans and looking for

why she had the seizure."

The girl on his side I met last night, Emily, chimed in.

"Think it had anything to do with that Kayden kid?"

I stopped in mid-Algebra equation and looked up, my

palms suddenly sweating. "What about Kayden?"

"Why don't you tel us, Essalie?" Thomas chalenged,

narrowing his eyes. "You were the only one there who knew him."

"There's no need for the hostility, Thomas," Abigail chided.

I put my hand out in front of Abigail, shaking my head. "I

got this, Abby, thanks. Thomas, what to do think? That I knew he

was going to crash the party? I know him just about as much as al

of you. We've only met once."

"Funny," he said. "You two flickered like two halves of a

flame coming together again."

I pursed my lips. "Your attitude is realy uncaled for.

You're making me out to look like I intended for him to fight with

me and cause Jessica's seizure."

"I'm just a little surprised how wel he knew you." He

leaned forward, implications screaming from his eyes. "I'd love to

ask him just how it got that way when you claim you've only met