Second Skin (Skinned) (31 page)

I stumbled backward, waiting for an explosion, a mess of limbs and flesh. Gore and guts flying in every direction. But nothing happened. The night mare looked down at the blade sticking out of its ribs. It grasped the rosewood hilt, hissing as smoke rose from its fingers. It withdrew the blade, an inch at a time, and then tossed the dagger at my feet.

It glowed in the snow, sigils pulsing with silver light.

“Giving doesn’t mean a stab to the heart. We have procedures to follow if a transference is to work. Besides, silver doesn’t harm me, you ridiculous child.”

“Yeah, I got that.” I lifted my chin. My muscles trembled with the effort to stand.

Confusion flitted across the demon’s face. The mask of my father’s face slipped, revealing the demon beneath. It clutched a hand to the gaping hole, the wound that had struck its heart.

It doubled over, letting out a wail of terror.

“I thought of that and made a few dreamscape modifications.” I picked up my dagger, wiped the black demon blood off on my jeans. The worst of the goop removed, I held the blade up for examination. For the first time, I could run my finger along the edge without being burned.

“Pure iron,” I said with a rumbling growl of satisfaction. I slid the knife back into its holster. “Time to tuck you in.”

As I lifted my hands, I envisioned an iron chamber with a single door. The instant I conjured it, it appeared, trapping the night mare within. I stood in the doorway, watching the demon squirm and writhe on the floor.

“Just so we’re clear, iron never rests, and you, my friend, are about to spend eternity in a sleepless, dreamless prison. Without dreams to fuel your fire, you’re just a bit of gas.” As I closed the door, I left the demon with a parting shot: “I hear insomnia’s a real bitch.”

“No! Don’t do this.” The demon struggled to maintain my father’s visage. Gave me an imploring look, driving the nail in when I saw fear in my father’s eyes. “You said the punishment would be swift.”

“I lied.” I slammed the door shut on the enraged demon. It roared from inside as the edges sealed, blending with the rest of the structure until the chamber was a smooth impenetrable fortress. I fused my power with my wolf and the dagger’s magic. I willed the cage into oblivion.

It vanished on a cheerful puff of snow.

I dropped to my knees, my head nearly touching the snow. A crowd of bodies and scents surrounded me as the crew flew to my side. Their voices buzzed overhead as I knelt there. Numb. What had I done? Killed my parents? No. I’d killed a demon.

Alec and Wade seemed as shocked as I was.

“Is that it?” Alec searched the night, watchful of another attack.

“It’s an ancient demon.” Wade shrugged.“Maybe? I think so?”

I straightened, blinking up at him. “What kind of answer is that?”

Alec’s eyes darkened to black. He held out his hand to assist me. I was about to take it when Wade, not to be outdone, offered his hand with the flourish of an old-world knight.

“Here we go again,” Paige snarked, crossing her arms.

I stared at the two strong hands before me, then bit off a curse, and shoved myself to my feet under my own steam. But the world tilted, and it was lights out.

A flash of smoke.

A whirl of lights and smells.

My eyes flickered open to see Rodale hovering over the others. Waking them.

A disturbed laugh sent a chill down the line of my neck. I tilted my head on the cold stage floor. Brit stood a few feet away, holding the Victorian doll’s torso while Matt ripped off its head.

Lovely.

Blood Doesn't Lie

The first day back at school after the Harvest Moon Dance was a bit weird. Staff and students drifted along in the regular routine, but none of us really met each other’s eyes. The official police statement had been conveniently endorsed by Chief Gervais. The phrasing reeked of vamp thrall. Even the story printed in the weekly newspaper had a certain vampy influence. Still, people seemed to swallow that the punch at the dance had been spiked with an unknown hallucinogen.

Although few remember seeing a punch bowl.

Personally, I liked the rumor that everyone had licked the back of a toad. Okay, I might have even started that one.

“It looks so empty now, don’t you think?” Brit asked, shaking me from my thoughts.

We stood in the foyer, just outside the library where the Home Economics teacher and highly dangerous witch, Mrs. Larpane, was painstakingly wrapping and placing the remaining Historical Alberta items into a wooden crate.

I snorted. “Better empty than showcasing a demon’s vessel.”

“I know, but I still feel bad about what we did to the doll. It was a piece of history. And I really liked the dress.”

I had no such qualms. When we’d awoken after destroying the night mare in the dream realm, we’d discovered Kate had sent Matt and Brit to the school to help destroy the night mare hiding inside the Victorian doll. My eyes hadn’t even been able to focus when Matt ripped off the doll’s head. But I’d been fully alert when Rodale told him decapitation of the vessel wasn’t enough.

Details like that tend to knock the sleep out of me.

Before Rodale set about awakening the rest of the kids, we burned the doll in the art room kiln.

Death by 2300 degrees.

Gertrude let out a sympathetic wail. Brit placed the chip bracelet to her plastic mouth for a feeding. “We have to return the Reality Babes today. What are you going to tell Phillips?”

“Already dealt with,” I said, smirking. “I saw him first thing this morning and told him I hadn’t taken the assignment seriously, but if he’d reset Demon Spawn, I would take her on for another week. I have to pick her up after school, before we meet the guys at Conundrum. Don’t let me forget.”

Brit gaped. “You’re going to carry DS around all this week when everyone else is done? You’ll be a social leper.”

Paige and the blonde trio strode passed, all four tipping up their noses as they went by, as if Brit and I stunk to high heaven.

I shrugged. “And that’s different how?”

Brit reached into the diaper bag she had slung over her shoulder and pulled out another pink baby blanket with black skulls. “Here, you’ll need this for DS. Gerty and I insist.”

“Uh…thanks. We’re not worthy.” I bowed over the blanket, accepting it with all the solemnity of a soldier’s widow accepting a folded flag or a bomb squad dude snipping the wrong wire.

The line-up for java at the Conundrum Café order counter was about twenty bodies deep. Kate was back to her abby-normal witchy self, and business was booming. Whip, looking awkward and out of place, but happy, wore a bright fuchsia apron wrapped around his waist and waved at us as best he could with an armful of coffee mugs.

Since Kate had told him everything, her age and wonky powers, he’d been making himself useful. Offering what protection he could.

My wolf approved of his gumption. I just hoped he didn’t end up getting hurt.

“They’re in the dungeon,” he told us, wagging his eyebrows, “waiting for you.”

Kate had requested the entire crew, Wade included, meet for a debriefing on the night mare situation and to formulate a plan of action on the bringing-Blake-back mission. That we were meeting in the lower level of Conundrum was intriguing. Kate was either taking our band of hunters fully under her wing or she had a spell to test.

Though I’d come to appreciate the use of magic, I also understood Alec’s reluctance to dabble. I hadn’t told anyone about the night mare’s interest in my dagger, or the feeling that it had been telling the truth. My father had killed to get it, and then he’d handed it over to me.

The daughter he feared as much as loved.

I ran one hand along the wall as we descended the steep staircase, and in the other I clutched the handle of Demon Spawn’s baby carrier. My arms ached with the constant effort of having to bring her everywhere. At least I’d be getting an upper-body workout over the next week. So far I’d been managing to keep my fears in check.

For the hour I’d had her.

Okay, maybe I never looked DS in the eyes. Didn’t make me an unfit computer-chip-baby mother.

My vision adjusted to the dim light. We entered the altar room, and my breath caught at the sight of the standing mirrors and the bevy of candles Kate had lit. She stood mixing herbs while Wade etched protective sigils into the walls with blasts of energy from the tips of his fingers.

Odd that I now considered a bit of magic comforting. Wasn’t everything good for you in moderation?

“We’re almost finished,” Kate said, when we entered. “Once Wade adds his wards, it will be impossible for Logan to break through. All the sacred items housed here will be safe once and for all.”

I glanced around. “I thought we were protecting just the mirrors?”

Kate shrugged. “The mirrors are only what you can see in this dimension. Beyond this world, they are another thing entirely.”

Brit gave a low whistle, and I agreed. The more we learned about Kate and magic and Redgrave, the more we realized we were just skimming the surface. Kate’s revelation explained why Rodale thought Kate had a weapon housed here, although now I had to wonder how much Wade knew about the sacred objects. And if he was after something himself and if he knew about my father’s private collection. Rodale had hinted she expected Wade to pay up and good.

But with what?

I sent out a tendril, seeking. But Wade detected my presence and blocked me out. I blew him a raspberry.

Kate watched us, grinning. Kate’s whole Wade-and-me- being-mates idea came to mind, and my cheeks grew warm. I made myself look busy by arranging DS’s baby carrier on the floor beside the altar. I tucked her pink blanket under her chin, avoiding meeting the doll’s wonky eye. If Kate’s theory held, I would only be able to share thoughts with pack mates or my one and only, bound-together-for-life mate. Wolven lore couldn’t be that cliché, could it? Sure, wolves mated for life in the natural world, but wolven were not wolves. We were more.

Which meant what, exactly, in terms of falling in love? That I had no choice in the matter?

I gave a low laugh. Over my dead freaking body.

Alec didn’t seem to find anything amusing at all about our current situation. He slammed a pedestal candle down into its base with more force than necessary. I’d been keeping my distance since we’d woken from the dream realm. Even though we’d gone into this thing knowing I’d have to fight the night mare alone, Alec was furious with me for pushing them all away at the last minute.

I’d only been protecting them, my friends, my pack.

What Alec saw as a personal rejection, Wade saw as strength. He’d congratulated me on the iron blade, the cage, the way I’d controlled my wolf. Granted, I hadn’t told him I was unable to shift, that I wasn’t exactly sure what I would have done to the demon if my wolf had been able to respond to my call to attack.

Until I had things figured out—about my wolf, my parents, my role in their disappearance, what Logan and Sebastian were athame—I couldn’t afford to focus on affairs of the heart.

I knew Alec wanted more. But he had his own issues to resolve. The biggie being learning how to channel his shaman talents. Maybe if he learned how to accept his own abilities, he’d understand what I was going through to control mine. If we could get that far, who knows where all that heat and angst would take us?

Kate glided across the room and crouched over DS. I rolled my eyes as she started cooing, “And who is this”—she faltered when she got a direct look at DS’s wacky orange hair and the wacky eye— “interesting creature?” She stood and backed away.

I laughed. “Don’t worry, Demon Spawn and I know just where she stands in the looks department. I’m told it’s part of her charm.” I nudged the carrier with my foot, sending DS wobbling. “Kate, meet DS, my Reality Babe assignment. She’s supposed to teach me responsibility and other fine aspirations. Like the importance of using birth control.”