Sacrifice (4 page)

I felt another swell of fury. These were my friends, broken because of me. I couldn’t help but picture Seth preying on Royal’s affections, attacking him—
seriously damaging
him—for no other reason than to keep me distracted. And Cassie… I couldn’t fathom what private hell she must be living through, unable to talk about what she’d seen with anyone.

“Enough.” I gripped my books tighter to my chest. “This can’t continue.”

Royal gave me a look with something approaching his old snark. “And you will change things how?”

“It’s time for an intervention.” I eyed Royal and Lucas, daring them to argue. “We have to get Cassie to talk about that night. About what she saw. What she’s feeling. It’s the only way she’ll get through this. And I can’t lose her.”

“So this is all about you?” Royal’s lips twitched in bitter amusement.

“This is about us,” I snapped. “It’s about not letting the Lilitu destroy what we have. This is war, and it’s time to fight back.” Royal’s smirk faded. He nodded.

“Okay. I’m on board.”

The day’s classes squeaked by with agonizing lethargy. Teachers welcomed students to the second term of the year, people reoriented themselves to the day’s schedule, and life at school slowly ratcheted back to normal. Cassie was nowhere to be found at lunch, which hardened my resolve to sit her down and break through this wall of silence between us.

By the time the final bell rang, I was twitching with anxiety to see my friend again. Royal and I had hatched a plan at lunch. It meant I’d go and wait in one of the private study rooms in the library while Royal convinced Cassie to come talk to me. Lucas, who felt it might be best if he wasn’t involved, offered to walk me down to the library to wait.

I took his hand, grateful for the warmth in the stinging cold January afternoon.

“She’ll come around,” he said.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because she’s Cassie. You’re Braedyn. He’s Royal. You’re like the Coronado Prep triumvirate—nothing is going to keep you guys apart for long.”

I squeezed Lucas’s hand in answer, longing for the same confidence.

When we reached the library, Lucas brushed his lips against my cheek. “Good luck.”

“Wait.” I caught his hand as he started to turn away. “What should I say to her?”

“Just
listen
. She’ll tell you what she needs.” Lucas gave me an encouraging smile. “I’ll meet you at the car when you’re done.” I let his hand go, and watched him leave the library.

I walked into the private study room that Royal had reserved for us this afternoon. I sat down at the table. And I waited. I had no idea how long it would take, or what would happen if Royal failed to convince Cassie to join me here. Surely he’d let me know? But as the minutes ticked by, I grew less sure. I was starting to wonder if Royal had, in fact, forgotten we’d planned to do this today, when I heard the doorknob start to turn.

I stood, another wave of anxiety crashing over me.

Royal opened the door and Cassie walked through. When she saw me she froze again—but only for a moment. She turned, seeking escape. Royal blocked her.

“Cassie.”

“No. Royal, let me out.”

“Just talk to her.”

“There’s nothing to say!” Cassie tried to push past Royal. Weak as he was, he blocked her again.

“You saw something at the mission.” I tried to keep my voice calm, but it trembled nonetheless. “You must have questions.”

Cassie stopped struggling against Royal. She turned back to face me, her eyes alive with anger. “Questions?”

“Talk to me, Cassie. Please.”

“What do you want me to say?” Cassie crossed her arms, her body as stiff as her voice. I glanced at Royal. He nodded in understanding and left, closing the door behind him. Cassie looked over her shoulder at the sound. Then she glared at me again.

“Whatever you want to say.” I sat back down at the table, hoping she’d follow my lead.

“What I want to say—that’s pretty funny.”

I just waited, trying to keep my face neutral, despite the feelings coursing through my veins.

“What I want to say is
crazy
.” Cassie paced behind the table, gripping her sides tightly.

“Because of what you saw?”

Cassie stopped and shot me a piercing look. “I—I don’t know what I saw.”

“Don’t you?”

She shook her head, but her anger was fading. In its place, fear blossomed. And suddenly I understood.

“You’re not crazy, Cassie. What you saw was real.”

“That’s impossible.” Cassie’s voice was barely more than a whisper. “I saw—you killed a woman. She had—her eyes—” Cassie shook her head again.

“She was a demon,” I said softly. “That’s why her eyes were pitch black. Why she had claws.”

Cassie’s eyes locked onto my face. “That’s—no. No.” But she looked unsure.

“I know.” I bit my lip. “It sounds insane. It
is
insane. When I first learned they were real—” I shook my head at the memory. “It didn’t matter what anyone told me. I wouldn’t believe it until I saw one with my own eyes.” I met her gaze and held it, keeping my voice steady. “You’ve seen one too, Cass.”

Cassie licked her lips. “It can’t be real,” she whispered. “It’s some kind of mass hallucination thing. I mean, shouldn’t we be talking to a shrink or something?”

“Cassie, if you’ll just talk to me—”

Cassie shook her head. “There are too many things—too many things that don’t make sense.”

I softened my voice. “Sit down. Ask me anything. I won’t keep secrets from you anymore.” I waited, and after a moment, Cassie pulled out a chair and sat. She watched me warily, but she was listening.

“What do you mean by ‘demon?’” she finally asked.

“A Lilitu, specifically. A demon that preys on humans. They’re powerful. They can make themselves invisible. They can mess with people’s minds. And they can disguise themselves as humans, usually very beautiful women. But they’re not women. They’re like vampires, only instead of feeding off blood, they feed off of the spirit of their victims.”

Cassie’s eyes sharpened. “Royal—?”

“Yes. Seth got to him.”

“Seth? Seth is a demon—and you let him get to Royal?!”

“I didn’t know.” I fought to keep my voice even. “Male Lilitu are incredibly rare. Seth was the first we’ve ever seen in the flesh.”

Cassie watched me, her expression growing more difficult to read.

“Do you remember what Seth told you that night?” I asked. “We left you with him at my house. You were supposed to stay with him, but instead you followed me to the mission. What did Seth tell you?”

Cassie’s gaze turned inward. Her brow furrowed. “He—just suggested I tell you how angry I was with you. But once he’d said it, it was all I could think about.”

“He enthralled you.” I felt myself grimace at the thought. “It’s one of their powers. He put a thought into your head and made you believe it was your own.”

“But why?”

“To keep me busy, I’m guessing. So I couldn’t stop his larger plan.”

“At the mission.”

I looked at Cassie sharply. “Yes. Seth wanted to open the door between our worlds, so more Lilitu could come here. When we figured out what he was doing, we tried to stop him.” I bit my lip. “We failed.”

“So, the door is open?”

“Yes.”

“Who is ‘we?’ You keep saying ‘we.’”

“I mean the Guard. They fight to protect human kind from the Lilitu. Lucas is a Guardsman. So is my dad.”

“And when you say fight—?”

“We’re in a war. The Earth is at stake. If we lose, the Lilitu will claim this world for themselves. Human kind will become nothing more than their cattle.”

Cassie fell into silence for a moment. “Let’s pretend for a second that I believe you. You said these Lilitu things can make themselves invisible.”

I felt a lump in my throat, but I forced it down. “Yes.”

“I saw you disappear.” Cassie looked up, straight into my eyes.

“Yes,” I whispered. “I’m Lilitu, too.”

Cassie’s face seemed to go still. I waited while she turned this over in her mind. “So. You can disappear. You can ‘prey on men’—and for now I think I’ll pass on the explanation of exactly what that means. But when you say ‘mess with minds—?’” She eyed me uneasily.

“I’m still learning the ins and outs,” I whispered.

“But you’ve done it?”

I nodded.

“To who?”

I lowered my eyes. “To Lucas, for one,” I said quietly. “Do you remember the car accident we were in the night of Winter Ball?”

“Yeah. Lucas was in a cast for months.”

“It wasn’t a car accident. Lucas was attacked by a very powerful, very old Lilitu. She kidnapped him. We thought we’d lost him. But I was able to locate his mind. It was like I could see out of his eyes, hear with his ears. I was able to figure out where she’d taken him.”

Cassie looked surprised. “So, you helped him.”

“That time,” I said, keeping my voice measured. Cassie’s eyes narrowed; she could tell there was more. “But I’ve also hurt him. He had a secret—” My voice caught. Memories flooded my head, and that sick feeling of guilt welled up in my gut all over again. “I thought it could help me win the battle with the Lilitu. So I went into his mind and I took it. He didn’t want to give it up. I—I pulled the memory out of his head.” I felt my body trembling at the memory. “I will
never
do that again.”

Silence fell between us.

After a long moment, Cassie swallowed. “Royal knows?”

“Yes.”

“How long?”

I couldn’t look at Cassie. “A little over a year.”

“I see.” Cassie’s voice was cold. “Is that everything, then? Or are there any other big secrets you need to tell me?”

“Just one.” I lowered my hands to my lap, clasping them tightly together outside of Cassie’s line of sight. “Parker.”

Cassie’s eyes snapped up. “What about him?” If her voice had been cold before, it was like ice now.

“After he—did what he did to you, I wanted to punish him.” But at that, I found I couldn’t go on.

Cassie’s stare bored into me. “You’re the reason he tried to kill himself, aren’t you?”

Feeling sick, it was all I could do to nod.

“I didn’t ask you to do that,” Cassie said.

“I know.”

Cassie lurched to her feet, agitated. “I don’t want this on my conscious.”

I looked up, surprised. “It’s on me, Cassie,” I said. “You had nothing to do with it.”

“Really? If I hadn’t been your friend, would you still have gone after Parker?”

I stared at Cassie, flabbergasted.

“Well?” Cassie glared at me. I shook my head, no. Cassie turned away from me. “I—I need time to think about this.” She faced me, and in her expression I saw distrust and confusion. “You’ll have to give me some space.”

“Of course.” My voice sounded wooden. I stood, feeling completely useless. “Whatever you need.”

Cassie turned and walked to the door. She put her hand on the doorknob then glanced back at me once more. Whatever she was feeling, I couldn’t decipher it.

Then Cassie opened the door. Royal was waiting on the other side.

“How did it go?” But the hope in his eyes died as he read our expressions. “Oh.”

“I need a ride home,” Cassie said, pushing past Royal.

“Right.” His eyes lingered on mine for a moment, before he turned and followed Cassie out of the library. As he left, he pulled the door closed. He knew me well enough to know I needed to be alone.

Once I’d collected myself enough to leave the study room, I took my time wandering back up to the parking lot. I knew Lucas was waiting for me. It was time to head back home. But as I passed the administration building, I heard a sharp argument.

I paused, at the edge of the administration building’s courtyard. Inside, I could see Amber and a pretty older woman—her mother?—having a tense conversation.

“And I’m telling you we can’t afford to keep sending you here,” the woman snapped.

“What about college?” Amber’s voice was rising in panic.

“Please, Amber, save the histrionics. We’re sending you to Puerto Escondido High, not the salt mines. I got into a perfectly fine college and I graduated from public high school, you can do the same.”

“Have you even talked to Dad about this?”

The woman spun on Amber, her fury visible even from across the courtyard. “Your father and I agree about this. I’d appreciate it if you’d stop fighting with me.” The woman straightened her coat and turned away from Amber. Amber grabbed her arm.

“Wait. I’ll get a job,” Amber said. “I can pay my own way.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You have responsibilities at the house.”

“Responsibilities? You mean babysitting your son?”

“He’s your little brother, Amber, and I’ll thank you not to use that tone with me.”

“Fine. I’ll watch Charlie, just pay me a fair wage. That can be one of my part time jobs.”

“I simply cannot believe how self-absorbed you are sometimes.” The woman pulled her arm free from Amber’s grasp. “This discussion is over.”

Before Amber could respond, the woman had marched past her and back into the administration building.

Amber threw her arms up in frustration—and then she saw me. I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment. I turned and stumbled toward the parking lot.