Page 21 of The Book Reader
“You need to leave before I make you.” I say trying not to let the fear wobble in my voice. They burst into laughter.
“You’ll make us? How?” He’s across the room at lightning speed, his hand gripping my face, squeezing hard. His breath smells like blood, and I have to fight not to gag. “Your body is so untouched… What I would give to be able to drink from you. You little witches always taste so sweet. I bet you'd be even sweeter.” He pushes me roughly away, and I fall against the counter.
“What do you want?” I shout, staggering to stand up straight. “I will give you whatever it is you’re looking for… Please,” I beg.
Their leader starts to laugh, his lackeys joining in a half second later. “You're here now… that is all we need,” he grins. He makes a gesture and the other two daemon meander towards me, one on each side. There’s nowhere to run to as they grab my arms, holding me in place. I yank my arms against their grip, but I can practically feel the bruises forming under their fingers.
Once I’m secure, the tall one leans down, lifting Aunt May off the floor, propping her up like a ventriloquist ready to perform. He licks her cheek clean. I shudder involuntarily for her. She has no tears in her eyes but I can feel her fear. Her fear forme. And then she laughs.
“You won’t find it. She doesn’t evenknowabout it,” she says, her words somewhat muddled by the blood running out of her mouth.
He leans closer and whispers something into my aunt’s ear. Her eyes go wide. He drops her to the floor hard before he turns to me.
“Your aunt is so sure of herself,” he tells me, chuckling to himself. He addresses the other daemons. “Take her back to the Underworld. I will follow shortly.”
The Underworld? What?True panic takes over. I squirm in their hold, but it’s no good. They are too strong.
But my aunt begins to laugh. The daemon to my left gives a low growl in response.
“You think it’s that easy? She’s protected, you imbeciles. And not by me either, ” she says. The wind picks up around the house with an ominous moan, and my body starts to tingle. And then I hear Papa’s voice in my head.
“Ari… my little one. No one touches you.”
My powers shift, like they did the night that I found Lucy in the field. My arms lift of their own accord, and I let them,sending both the daemons flying across the room. My top lip curls, and my hands fist. “You broke into the wrong fucking house.” I grit out, letting this new found power fuel my words. “Per tenebras in me, tibi impero, diffunde et disperge”
By the darkness in thee, I command thee, spread and scatter.
The words are foreign ton my tongue. I rip my hands apart, knowing what to expect this time. The daemons start to shake, their eyes bulging, the sound of tearing flesh echoes across the kitchen. They scream, their bodies splitting in half, blood and guts splashing to the ground seconds before their bodies turn into dust. I turn slowly, meeting their leader’s gaze, my head tilted at an angle. His mouth hangs open in either fear or shock or some mixture of both. I move, faster than what should be possible, and find my hands wrapped around his throat, his feet dangling in the air.
“Who sent you?” I bark.
His eyes are wide, and my own burn gold in his reflection.What the fuck….His mouth gapes open still, but I’m beyond bored and pissed off now—how dare he come into my house and hurt what is mine?I punch my hand through his chest, and I wrap my fingers around his heart. This time when I speak, my voice is layered, and many.
“Daemonsdohave hearts,” I smirk, gripping it harder. Squishing it between my fingers, flesh, and blood squelching over them. I twist my hand a little, detaching it from the pericardium with an audible pop, and pull it clean out. His eyes roll back in his head before I drop him to the ground, then he’s dust as well. The only trace of him is the viscera coating my fingers.
I drop to the floor, suddenly too tired to stand. My power fizzles out in a rush, leaving me empty and raw. I pull in a breath,scurrying over to my aunt as the fog over my thoughts continues to lift. She smiles up at me—her mouth now full of blood.
“I’ll heal you. Hold on.” I struggle to my feet, then scoop up a bowl from the floor and rush to the sink to fill it up with water. I might already be too late.Please don’t let it be too late.Once the bowl is full, I run back to my aunt, sinking to my knees. I pull her head up to rest on my lap, then reach for the bowl. She grabs my hand before I can hold it.
“Ari… listen to me.” She coughs, I try to pull away, reaching again for the bowl to start the spell. But her voice stops me. “We don’t have time.”
“We have time! Let me fix this!” I plead.
She shakes her head and pulls at the necklace around her neck. At the end of the chain is a golden eye with a dragon wrapped around it.
“Wear this, Ari, and never take it off.” She coughs, splattering out more blood, her eyes filled with so much pain and sadness. “I wish we’d told you…We just wanted you… safe.” She smiles at me, her hand reaching up to stroke my face.
“Aunt May, you can’t leave me. You’re all I have left! Please, please…” Tears stream down my face, a relentlessness torrent of emotion threatening to drown me.
Her smile is a brittle thing, breaking apart as her eyes close. “The voices, Ari. Make sure you listen to them.” Her voice is barely audible. She takes her final breath, her body going limp in my arms. I want to shake, as if she were just asleep and needed to be woken up.But that stillness brooks no argument. The realization hits me like a tidal wave, a pain so violent it rips through me, making me unleash a guttural scream. I clasp her tightly to me. “No, no, no, no. Not her, too. Please.” I hold her, rocking back and forth, not wanting this to be real, not wanting her to be gone.I pull back just in time to see her disappear from my arms.
I’m covered in dust.
Daemon dust.
Chapter 10
ARIANNA
