Dancing With Monsters (24 page)

“
Nothing that concerns you
now,” Uncle Hes said with warning eyes.

“
The angels, they haven’t
even gone through the portal yet, have they? No one has gone after
April.”

His hesitation to answer, and
switching his eyes over to Nessa like a cat waving its tail in
warning, was enough to answer my question.

“
I know when Nessa is
hiding bad news—I’ve known her long enough that she doesn’t hide
her emotions very well.” Nessa looked away.

I swung my legs over the side of the
bed and gave Uncle Hes a determined look through my pain. I had to
do something other than just sit here.

“
You’ll be no good, at
least not yet.” He pushed against me.

If I couldn’t even overpower Uncle
Hes, then I knew I couldn’t overpower three demons. I cover my eyes
with my hands.

“
Where’s Malachi then?” I
asked with a grim look from both of them.

“
He tried to save April,
and was pulled through the portal with her.” Uncle Hes gave me
another glass of water. “Here,” he said and shoved it towards
me.

“
They won’t be alone for
long. The angels are close to breaking through the
portal.”

Uncle Hes mumbled something towards
Nessa as I let out a breath of air. I knew I wouldn’t be any help,
at least not yet, and it was frustrating. I knew I couldn’t just
rush into the portal without a plan. Demons were tricky and
cunning. They’ve been in shadows for a long time with the passing
of the ages to watch and plan. Now, it was their time—a chance at
revenge.

The landscape was beautiful with
grey-black mountains crowned with snow-capped peaks, blue-violet
skies that sparkled with stars, and the sound of rushing water from
a distant stream.

“
Seth,” said a female
voice.

I turned around to see April standing
in front of me dressed in a gauzy sundress with thin straps. She
smiled and turned around as if she was dancing to unheard music.
She looked carefree, and even though it was her voice, it was
Ezra’s eyes I was looking into.

“
Please tell me I’ve died
and we are together in this magnificent land,” I said and really
did wish it.

“
You are not dead, and
this is the land the three sister-demons have made in the
Shadowlands. We need you here. April will die when they take the
ring from her to make the serum and create their army. They are
close to succeeding, Seth.” Suddenly her body jerked backwards as
if someone had pulled on her outstretched arm.

“
April is sleeping—we are
dreaming—the demons pull at her, Seth…the stone isn’t
useless.”

Her image faded and like lights slowly
diming, the serene landscape that I felt was a promise of a future
Ezra and I both had, disappeared. And then the cobweb-like darkness
surrounded me.

10

April

I knew I wasn’t going to get loose,
but I kept pulling at the metal threads around my wrists until
blood dripped from them. I had to get out of here, and escaping by
breaking free, wasn’t going to work. I was in the demon’s land now,
and with no place to go, no place to run, I had to escape by other
means.

“
You shouldn’t hurt
yourself like that, daughter,” Eveie said, gazing at me with her
bright eyes. I didn’t like her calling me daughter, and ignored
it.

I always thought demons would be ugly,
gross creatures, but at least Eveie wasn’t. She looked like an
exotic fish with her iridescent scales that gleamed like jewels and
her red hair contrasted with all of her glittering lightness—she
looked more angelic than anything.

I knew there was no chance at freeing
my arms and running off in some unknown direction. I was in their
land, and I didn’t know where the portal was exactly. And if I
found it, I had no idea how to work it. I’d have to escape by
another tactic.

“
You’re pretty,” I said
with a surprised look from her.

“
Really,” she snickered.
“What makes you say that?” She grinned as she crossed her arms
waiting for my reply.

I studied her for a few seconds
thinking carefully of what my answer would be. “I always thought
demons would be ugly, but you are beautiful.”

“
Hmmm,” she sounded
surprised as if no one had ever told her that. “Some wouldn’t say
that because beauty is defined in so many ways. Take some plants
for example. Some of the most beautiful flowers are the deadliest
if consumed. So, even though I truly think you find me attractive
in as one would look at art, I’d look closer and wait to make a
compliment until you’ve studied every inch of who I am.”

I thought my kind remarks would’ve
caught her off guard, because how many people say to a demon that
they are attractive. I would have to work harder to charm the
scales off of her if I was to even attempt to reach the heavily
guarded portal.

“
But daughter, I’m glad
you can see some beauty in me because I plan on keeping you
as
I
planned so
long ago,” she said bending down beside me.

“
You’re mother never
wanted you.” Her words surprised me and I gasped as if an iron
spike was being driven through my chest. “Actually, I had no
intentions of biting you. It was a spur-of the-moment decision on
my part that is now paying off.”

I swallowed hard. “You knew who my
mother was?”

Her eyes narrowed.
“
I’m
your mother,
and no one else.” She grabbed my chin making me look into her
eyes.

“
Get away from her!”
Malachi yelled with one eye swollen and the other barely
open.

Eveie turned and hissed at him until
the hissing turned to amused laughter. Malachi had come with me
through the portal. I didn’t think he’d risk his life to save mine,
and now, I felt obligated to save him as well.

“
Oh, little monster, how
paths can cross in the most unexpected ways.” She tousled his hair
as he flinched at her touch. Eveie only laughed as you would at the
antics of kittens playing.

“
It seems like you were
just a boy a few days ago, and just look at you,” she said, opening
her arms to him as if showing him off to an invisible crowd. “You
are practically a grown monster—delicious,” she licked her
lips.

“
But mother,” I said, even
though the words were bitter on my tongue. I had to play this
mother-daughter game with Eveie if I was going to win any trust
with her. “He is useless to us, leave him be.”

“
April, don’t listen to
her!” Malachi yelled, oblivious to my plan.

Eveie gave a scowl and slapped him
across the face.

“
I thought about taking
you—never had a little boy before—but Ebony said to leave you so
you could spread word of the handy work of demons.” She lifted him
to his feet. “You are like a doll to me—like one of April’s dolls
she use to play with.”

Just the thought of Eveie watching me
grow up, made me shudder. All those years of those vivid, blue eyes
watching me, unnoticed, following me, and making me her daughter in
them, should have been disturbing, but it wasn’t. There was
something in her, deep within her that drove her to do what she
did.

“
Let him go!” I yelled.
“You have me now, mother!”

Eveie held him for a second more then
dropped him to the ground, just like a toddler would when done
playing with a doll. Malachi gasped for air as he laid on the
floor.

Eveie turned, and came over to me with
a smile. She untied my hands and took my bloody wrists in her hands
examining them.

“
Medusa string is a wicked
thing,” she said, running her hands over the several gashes that
lined my wrists. “There, and without the use of serpents oil.” She
smiled with a shrug of her shoulders.

I looked at my wrists. “Thank you,” I
said looking into her eyes, and for a moment, a piece of humanity
stared back at me. I wasn’t sure if it was something of Ezra in me
that allowed me to see it, but there was more to Eveie than just
being a village-killing demon.

“
Eveie, what are you
doing?!” A harsh voice erupted behind her. “You were just supposed
to watch her, not undo her restraints so she could escape like a
rat!”

As if being called to attention, Eveie
got up, but stood protectively in front of me. I leaned over to
have a look at the demon.

Wrinkled, white, parchment-like skin,
hung on her face as if it was clinging to it, and could possibly
fall off at any time to expose the bone underneath. Her eyes
reminded me of the deep potholes that littered the parking lot at
Sunrise Acres—muddy-brown, covered with the dull colors of oil that
skimmed the surface of the disgusting water that dripped from the
bus that parked there. Her arms were bony with knobby elbows, and
her fingers were long and stringy that curled around like tiny
snakes. She was dressed in a long, black coat that was sleeveless
and had an arched collar that haloed around the back of her head.
Her hair, if you could call it that, consisted of a few strands of
silver that floated delicately around her wrinkled face.

“
Eos,” Eveie whispered her
name. “She wouldn’t stop trying to loosen her ties, so I took them
off or she would have cut off her hands. Then where would we be? We
need her alive and well to take her energy.”

Eos stepped in front of her and gazed
into Eveie’s eyes as if searching for something. “You have severed
your ties with this monster.” She questioned. “You cannot have any
feelings for her.” Eos stood close to Eveie. “Not that demons are
supposed to have any feelings for little monster children,” she
said under her breath, but loud enough for us to hear. “Very well,
bring her to the garden, and let’s get our power we so
deserve.”

Seth

The angels couldn’t penetrate the
portal, and as each minute went by, our chance slipped away along
with it. At least Malachi was with April, but I didn’t know how
long he could hold out with the demons. He hated them, not that we
all didn’t, but he barely escaped the massacre that took his whole
village. I remembered how often he was questioned by not only the
police-like Custodians of Iethia, but the angels as well. They came
several times the first few years Malachi stayed with us. My mother
hated them, but she had no choice but to let her adopted son go
through what she called an angel-inquisition.

It had always been me and my mother,
and when Malachi came into our family, it was like getting a
present—at least for me. Malachi kept to himself at first and was
slow to be a part of our lives. His family was murdered before his
young eyes, and he would have violent dreams that would not only
wake him, but me as well. His fear for the darkness was so great;
we had to leave a light on while we slept.

Slowly, as all stories do, Malachi’s
faded out of the everyday talk of others, and to my mother’s
relief, it faded from the interests of angels. Malachi was
resilient, and as he grew, the bad nightmares faded. He appeared
like any normal monster, but I knew he had scars inside that would
never heal and I hoped were not ripped open again.

“
I’m worried about
Malachi,” Nessa said, handing me her plate filled with different
greens and topped with what looked like crumbled cheese. “I can’t
eat now, and you need your strength.”

“
Here we’ll split it
because I know you’re hungry too.” I handed back her
fork.

“
Malachi’s strong and
he’ll protect April.” I tried to sound positive, but I felt the
same as Nessa—worried.

She took several bites of the salad.
“Seth, we have to do something because the angels aren’t even able
to work the portal. I heard them say something that it was webbing,
and soon it would be permanently closed at our end. And to top it
all off, Ayil said the stone, your stone the lightstone, is useless
now. She called it contaminated.” She had the salad nearly gone.
“All they told me was to stay out of the way and watch over you.”
She looked at me. “I think you are better since you have that
curious grin on your face—Seth…you have a plan don’t
you?”

“
Not fully ready, but I
know the stone isn’t useless, at least not yet.”

My wounds had nearly healed, but
Nessa’s bruised eye was beginning to turn different colors and she
walked with a limp. I knew she would follow me wherever I went, but
I knew she wouldn’t be strong enough to battle demons, and I wasn’t
sure if I was strong enough to battle them and protect her at the
same time.

Ayil, Uncle Hes, and Rusul were
working on the portal. Yolanda held the lightstone in her hand.
Isaiah and Edan looked like they were trying to create another
portal by use of an etch—another implement used by the Fae to make
portals.

“
If we are going to save
April and Malachi, I need that stone,” I motioned towards Yolanda,
“and go through that portal.” Ezra had told me that the stone was
not useless or corrupted as the angels thought. I felt something, a
connection to it that I couldn’t explain.