“It’s this way,” he says, leading me through the parking lot.
I imagine he spotted a car with a sign in the window; the owner must work at the mall. Then he wheels and punches me square in the face. I go down because it’s so unexpected. The pain doesn’t incapacitate me, but I can’t process what’s happening. I scramble backward beneath a car and roll out the other side.
“What the hell!”
Is he a psycho, or is this something else? I get a glimpse of his face between the cars as I run, and it’s…odd, wavering. His skin shivers like his face doesn’t fit right, and his eyes are swimming in darkness. Goddamn them. This isn’t Felix. There’s a demon in him, one that whispered about the car but didn’t drive him out here. The thing knew I’d notice. So this is the perfect ambush. I’ve dropped my bag, and I scramble for my radio. I don’t want to hurt Felix like I did the old woman. This isn’t his fault; he was a target of opportunity.
He lashes out. The kick connects to my shoulder, and my backpack bounces away. I need to learn how to fight; the dead won’t always be able to defend me. My arm’s numb now, too. Feels like he dislocated my shoulder. I crawl away, beneath a car, and then I scream. With my good hand, I dig out my phone and speed dial Jesse. I wish I had some mace, pepper spray, anything.
The call goes to voice mail as the demon grabs my ankle and hauls me out from under the car. My phone bounces away. I keep yelling and aim a kick at his junk, but he’s too fast for me, even in a teenager’s body. But my shouts have drawn attention; there’s a woman getting out of her car, and when she sees what he’s doing, she runs toward us, scrabbling at her purse. My vision goes blurry when he punches me in the head, trying to shut me up, but from the sound, I think she tases him. His body jerks, but it’s not enough to drop him with the demon driving, so she hits the button again.
That time, he drops, twitching, and she helps me up. She’s shaking, and I’m one big mass of bruises, but alive. She just keeps saying, “Oh my God, oh my God,” and that pretty much sums up my reaction, too.
A minute or so later, mall security arrives. The guy rolls Felix over, but he’s stopped moving. The darkness swims in his eyes slower and slower, but nobody else seems to notice. Dread swells inside me, heavy as lead. He’s just a kid, a dumb, sweet kid, who wanted to be an eye doctor. Fucking demons. And the worst part is, they even warned me. The other one said I wouldn’t see them coming until it was too late. And while I survived, he was still right.
The guard takes the boy’s pulse, then gazes somberly up at us. “Which one of you did this?”
Nervous, the woman hands over her taser. “He was attacking her!”
“I can see that, ma’am. But it looks like the shock stopped his heart.” He radios in, then starts CPR, but it’s no use.
By the time the EMTs arrive, there’s nothing left to do but call time of death. Jesse gets there ten minutes later, a perk of being a cop. Though I didn’t leave much of a message, he got the gist from the police scanner. I’m sitting on the curb wrapped in a blanket when he rolls up. He takes one look at me and rage goes off in his head like a bomb. I don’t know if other people can feel it, but for me, it’s a constant wash of red, lapping over me like lava.
Yet he’s gentle when he pulls me into his arms. A few seconds ago, the EMTs popped my shoulder back into place, and they’re trying to talk me into a trip to the ER, but I knew Jesse was on his way. I knew it. And the police still have questions. I’ve done my best to answer them, but there are a lot of gaps in my story. They sense it, even if they aren’t sure what they are. When they look at Felix’s life, they won’t find any sign that he was obsessed or stalking me. They’ll see a normal kid, trying to figure out his life. The pieces don’t add up, and only Jesse and me know why.
“It’s okay,” he whispers into my hair. “It’s over.”
Maybe he can tell, somehow, that the demon didn’t get out of the host before Felix died. I can’t ask what that means for a demon. It makes me happy to imagine the thing trapped in his corpse, unable to muster enough power to move, now that the life force has gone. That’s the most fitting prison imaginable, except that it cost this boy his life. The only reason he’s dead is because the demons saw me talking to him. I feel horrible about it.
Once we deal with the preliminary questions, Jesse takes me to the same clinic. At this rate, they’ll think I’m a battered wife. After a few X-rays, the doctor determines I don’t have a concussion and I just need some rest and pain medicine. Afterward, Jesse drives me to his place; I don’t protest. I’m not up to facing Maria or explaining what the hell happened, especially since I’m not sure myself.
Inside his apartment, Jesse draws me gently into his arms. The thump of his heart is reassuring beneath my cheek. “I was so fucking scared, Shan. I know we’re brand new, I know it’s too soon, but I have to say it. I am crazy in love with you. Please don’t ever make me feel that way again.”
“I love you, too,” I whisper.
After that, he whispers not to worry—I’m safe. But I don’t know if I’ll ever feel safe. I can’t trust my eyes or my judgment. Since one demon failed, who’s to say they won’t send more? I can’t live in a bubble, though. I have work tomorrow, and I’ll be damned if I let them turn me into a cowering ball of fear.
“I want to learn how to defend myself,” I say then.
“I’ll find a class for you.”
“If that woman hadn’t been carrying a taser, I’d be dead. Or gone.”
He swallows hard. “I didn’t do enough. I should’ve put a protective detail on you after what happened at the shop. I knew it wasn’t random violence, but I thought I could keep you safe on my own. But I’m not with you all the time.”
“Bullshit. The PD has budgetary considerations. And based on the evidence, they wouldn’t have judged my danger to be acute.”
He sighs. “Goddammit. You’re probably right.”
“Sometimes there’s just nothing you can do, too many factors in play.” If I worked for Twila, this wouldn’t have happened. Felix would be alive, but others would be dead. I can guess and second-guess, but bottom line, this is where I am.
“I feel like I need to tell you something.” Jesse pulls back, serious as I’ve ever seen him.
“What?”
“I dreamed of her last night.”
“Who?”
“The redheaded woman.”
I freeze, unsure of what to ask. “What…?”
“We were in Kilmer…and you were there, too. And we were in this old, creepy house, and you had a bicycle—”
“Oh my God. And there was writing on the walls, letters scratched into the windowsill in the attic. The red-haired woman ran into the woods, and I woke up.” I’m able to finish his description, because last night, I had the same fucking dream.
“What does this mean?” he asks.
“Hell if I know. But I think she must be a real person.”
“Someone we’ve forgotten because of the spell?”
I shrug, my head aching too bad to think on this any further. I’m hurt. I’m scared. But I’m still here. I’ll get stronger and I’ll learn to fight. Whatever’s going on, Jesse and I will figure it out together.
“I don’t have the answers,” I whisper.
“Well, you’ve got me. If it helps any, I checked on the woman from the store. She’s non compos mentis but she’s alive. And I saw on Area 51 that her shop will reopen in a few weeks. Some relative’s taking over.”
“It does make me feel a little better, actually.” I don’t tell him that if I could, I’d swap the shopkeeper’s life for Felix’s. She was old whereas he’d only just begun.
He murmurs in my ear, “You need to rest, so we can go dancing on Friday.”
Maybe I won’t be up to it, but I’ll try. And we’ll probably fight over whether I’m strong enough to start my new job tomorrow. I’m not scared of arguing with Jesse, only being without him. So I’ll muster my strength for battles to come. When he sweeps me into his arms and carries me to the bedroom, the future strikes me like an Impressionist painting, all my tomorrows blurring in a haze of pink and gold, because for me, that’s heaven—Jesse Saldana’s arms.
And even with dark clouds rolling in, a storm on the horizon, there’s no place in the world I’d rather be.