The Devil's Prey (The Demon Within) (7 page)

W
hen I pulled away, I simply said, ‘Nope’.

When we got to school
, everyone one was rushing to see who made it onto teams this year. ‘Hey, Summer!’ Perry was walking up to me with one of his huge grins.

‘H
ey, Perry. Have you seen the list yet?’  I gave Perry a hug, and I could see from the look on Ethan’s face that he was jealous.

‘N
o, I was just heading over there now when I saw you, and wanted to see if you would come and look, too.’ Perry was smiling at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back. Perry was one of those kids that everyone got along with. He was always smiling, and he always seemed to know just the right things to say when you were sad.

‘S
ure, let’s go. Ethan, Amanda- I will see you later.’ I gave Ethan a quick kiss on the cheek, and skipped off with Perry to the school bulletin board.

‘S
o how are you doing?’ Perry asked me when we were away from Ethan and Amanda.

‘I am doing fine
, I guess.’ I looked down at my feet, thinking how Perry was the first person to ask how I was doing without being prompted.

‘T
hat’s good to hear. You know, if you ever need someone to talk to, I am always here.’ By then we had reached the school bulletin board.  It was crowded already. Some people were cheering, and others were crying because the cheer squad was also on the board. Girls who don’t make it on the cheer squad always cry- it’s quite entertaining to watch.

‘I made the team
!’ people were shouting around me. Once Perry and I squeezed our way past everyone, we glanced up at the names on the list, and of course Amber was cheer squad captain again. Great. The coach of volleyball always ordered the name from the best players to the average players, and right at the top, under the title ‘captain’ was my name.

‘O
h my god!’ I looked down at the list to see Perry’s name, and also Sarah’s, along with half the team last year and some new people as well.

‘Congrats
, Summer, you got captain.’

I had to glance over it twice to ma
ke sure I was not seeing things. ‘Perry, I am captain!’ I was so shocked. I have never been captain before, and yet there was my name under the title. We both made our way out of the crowd, and Perry threw his arms around me in a friendly hug.

‘Perry
, I made captain! I cannot believe it!’ I had to say again, just to make sure that it was true.

‘I
know, Summer.’

‘C
ongrats, Summer, on getting captain!’ Sarah shouted from behind me.

‘T
hanks! I am still shocked!’ I gave her a hug.  Whenever I was not with Ethan and Amanda, I felt normal. Like I was not some wacked out pure fairy…and like the devil was not out to get my blood, along with half the demon race.

I walked into roll call with Perry and Sarah
. Once inside, I took a seat next to Perry in the middle of the classroom. I saw Ethan and Amanda walk into class out the corner of my eye, but I hardly took notice as I was enjoying myself, laughing and catching up with Perry and Sarah for the first time in a long while.

‘O
k, class. Time to quiet down so I can mark the roll.’ We all went quite straight away. Once the roll was marked, we were allowed to talk.

‘Summer
, I haven’t seen you around. It was like you vanished off the face of the earth,’ Perry spoke, smiling at me.

‘W
ell, it sure felt like it, but I am all good now.’ I could feel Ethan and Amanda shooting daggers at me, but I didn’t understand why.

‘A
lright, students, remember to get involved in school activities, as you get extra credits.’ I gathered up my books and left the classroom with Perry and Sarah. Later in the day, we headed over to the hall for PE.

‘Al
right, ladies and gents. Today and for the rest of the term, we are doing track work.’ People groaned over the idea of long runs every lesson.  We lined up, getting ready to run our first 4km which, as always, was going to be timed so we could improve. Everyone was in my PE class- half of the volleyball team, and half the fairies at the house, including Ethan and Amanda. I’d always had good stamina, and hardly ever ran out of breath. I was also fast, but it felt like cheating now, as I knew it had something to do with my fairy heritage. Our horrible teacher told us to go, and we were off. Like always, I was leading everyone around the track at a slow place.

‘Wai
t up, Summer!’ Perry said, huffing and puffing as he tried to get to me. I slowed down my pace until he caught up. ‘Summer, you are so fast- and you aren’t even trying!’ he gasped. He was trying to talk, breathe, and run at the same time, which brought a smile to my lips.

‘W
ell, I am glad you have noticed, since we have been friends since, what… forever!’ It was easy for me to talk and run, but poor Perry was struggling.

‘C
ome on, people. Faster! My grandmother can run faster than you, and she is dead!’ our coach yelled from across the field. I picked up my pace, and Perry followed, but dropped back before we made it two laps. I over took the whole trailing pack of walkers- the people who made up excuses not to run, and were allowed to walk.

‘Good work
, Summer. Keep it up!’ our coach encouraged me as I passed her.  The more we got into the run, the hotter it got. I was wishing that I could use my powers and hide the sun, and maybe even make it rain, but I didn’t know how to control my powers, so that was out of the question. I kept up the same pace the whole way, and soon was on my last lap.

‘S
ummer, last lap! Make it worth it!’

I went faster on my last lap
, and as I came towards the end, I heard a faint voice calling my name.

‘Summer… Summer… Summer…’
I shook my head and sprinted home.  When I finished, I felt light-headed. I was not tired, but I felt sick. I felt something run across my mouth, and I licked my lip, suddenly welcomed by the rusty taste of blood. I wiped my fingers under my nose, and saw blood on my finger. I covered my nose and made my way over to my teacher, who would be able to help me. When I reached her, she was busy with another student who had fallen. I felt light-headed, like I was going to faint, and my nose kept bleeding, which was strange because I’d never have had a nose bleed in my whole life.

Most people were finishing when Sarah came up behind me
. ‘Summer, are you ok?’

I turned around too quickly
, and everything went black as I fainted.

‘Someone get me water. Summer, can you hear me?’ My sports teacher was looking over me as the blackness started to fade away.

‘Yeah
, I am ok…I think.’ I sat up and looked around. Everyone had finished by now, and they were all looking at me.

‘We need to get her to sick bay
, and get her cleaned up.’ I did not understand what my coach was saying, until I looked down and saw a huge bloodstain on my shirt from my nosebleed.

‘Perry
, take Summer to sick bay. Everyone else, go wash up.’ Everyone left but Ethan and Amanda, who just looked at me with weird and unreadable expressions on their faces.

‘
What’s wrong with Ethan?’
I asked Amanda in my mind.

‘
Nothing, he is just upset.’
I put my hand on my head. When Amanda spoke to me, it was loud and it hurt. She gave me a serious look before the teacher sent her off.  When I got up, I had to lean on Perry, as I felt nauseated.

‘Thank you
, Perry,’ I said as we made our way down to the sick bay.

‘No problem. Are you ok
? You ran amazing, but you’ve never had a bloody nose, and you’ve never fainted before. It is weird.’ I just had to smile at him because I was finding it hard to believe as well.

‘I
remember now that I’m not invincible, as much as I would like to be.’ We both laughed as we entered the sick bay.

After the lady made sure I was fine
, I got cleaned up and changed into my normal clothes.

‘Sweetheart
, I notice you have a scar on your stomach. May I ask what that is from?’ the nurse asked me. My body froze up at her inquiry. I had tried healing it several times, but the scar never seemed to get any better.

‘Umm…
it is something I don’t like to talk about.’

S
he gave me a warm smile and waved me off. I was given permission to skip the next class, so I went over to the library to study.  The library was quiet, and hardly anyone was in it. I placed my stuff on the table and walked over to the books. While I was searching for a book on American history, I stumbled upon a book on myths and legends, and it got me curious. I brought it back to my table and opened it up. The book contained everything, from vampires to werewolves to shape shifters.  As I skimmed through the pages, I found a section on fairies, and I couldn’t help but laugh. When I did, the librarian told me to be quiet and gave me a warning. When I looked at the page again, I saw tiny little creatures with wings- creatures they called fairies. I was even more intrigued when they said fairies cannot lie and have thousands and thousands of years’ worth of accumulated knowledge. I smiled to myself, thinking how good that would be in a history test, and suddenly I felt the chill of cold evil sweeping over me.

I looked up to see the devil sitting across from me
, with a huge grin on his face and a book in his hand. I drew a lambo in my hand and threw it quickly, but he caught it.

‘That wasn’t very nice
.’ His voice sent shivers all through my body, and I tensed up. I tried to reach out to Amanda with my mind, but it seemed to be blocked. ‘Please don’t contact any of your fairy friends. I want to have a nice long chat with you.’ He placed the book down, and I saw the chance to run. When I tried to get up, however, I couldn’t move. In fact, I was glued to my chair.

‘W-what ha
ve you d-done?’ I was shaking so fiercely that I was stuttering.

‘That
, my little pure fairy, would be so you don’t move anywhere.’ He waved his hands, and I felt myself pressed even more tightly to the chair. I opened my mouth to scream, but he leaned over the desk and put a knife to my throat.

‘I wouldn’t scream if I were
you. If you want to save your life. If you do scream, my hand might just slip.’ He moved the angle of his hand, and I blinked back sudden tears. ‘Oh, don’t cry. I am not going to kill you.’ He removed the knife, but sat with his legs crossed in front of me. I could feel my body shaking, and I was scared out of my mind.

‘What do you want?’ I ask
ed, my voice still small and timid.

‘What do I want? That is a good question
, little pure fairy, but I think both you and I know what I want. It involves you, in a great big hole in the ground.’ He smiled at his own words, but there was no amusement in his catlike expression. My heart was pounding in my chest and I couldn’t move. I knew that he could see my discomfort and smell the fear radiating off me in waves. I tried to summon power, but it was useless. I was just too scared. I couldn’t look anywhere but at the devil, forcing myself to stare into those piercing black eyes. He was tall and cruelly handsome, wearing a suit and tie with his black hair combed back.

‘
Y-y-you do know th-there are l-l-lots of f-f-fairies in the s-s-school.” I stuttered so bad that I wasn’t sure if he would understand a word I was saying.

‘Yes
, I do know that, but do you see any of them around?’ He waved his hands in the air and looked around the library. I tried calling for Amanda again, but I got nothing. It was like all my powers had been locked away. 

‘So let’s get down to business
, pure fairy. I want you dead. It is plain and simple. You killed my daughter, and your boy killed my best demon, Andy,  so I want you both dead. But if you turn yourself over, along with your little boyfriend, I will spare your lives and make you demons. Hell, I might even keep you both fairies.’ He was about to say more when suddenly he creased his eyebrows together.  ‘Looks like our time is up.’ Just like that, he was gone. I felt the heat come back into the room, seeping over my skin. I shifted in my seat, and realized that I no longer had that lingering feeling of pure evil.

‘You alright?’ a deep but angelic voice said from behind me
. It made me jump.

‘Y-y
-yes. I am fine.’

A boy sat at the desk in front of me, frowning. He looked about a year or two older than me, but I’m not very good at guessing people’s ages, so I wasn’t sure.

‘You don’t look ok.’ Something was odd about him- and it was not the way his electric blue eyes stood out underneath his dark eyebrows.

‘I’m fine
,’ I said, a little stronger, but he still did not look convinced. He ran his long fingers through his hair, which was the exact color of dark chocolate. He kept looking around the library, almost like he was nervous, but I was still too unsettled to remark on it.

‘If you say so. I am Michel
, by the way.’ I waited for him to offer me his hand, but he didn’t. He just kept his hands in his lap. I didn’t respond, trying to calm myself down after that meeting with the devil.