Darkness Watching (Darkworld #1) (33 page)

“Believe me,” she said, “I did no more than necessary. I didn’t want to interfere with your lives. I hated to fool your parents, but the only way to get close to you was to trick them into thinking I was a relation.”

“Who are you, then, part of the Venantium’s Family Demon Heart division? Is it your job to screw up people’s lives?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I told you, I have no allegiance to anyone, least of all the Venantium. My aim is to ensure no one can use your heart for evil.”

“So do you have a lot of them?” I said, imagining hundreds of people like me, half-humans. I couldn’t decide if the idea made me feel comforted or scared.

“No. Yours is the only true demon heart. I am certain of it.”

“Do my parents know anything about this? I thought this”―I held up the pendant―”was a family heirloom.”

“It is, in part, but its power skips generations frequently. No one has had the connection to the Darkworld in your family for over a hundred years.”

“You seem to know a lot about it―about me. Why did you have it?”

“I’m an expert in family histories. It’s an obsession of mine. But I also want to help magic-users who desire to remain independent of the Venantium. So I make a point of tracking potential magic-users.”

“Who gave you the necklace?”

“It is, as you say, a family heirloom. But it was always meant for you.
Your
ancestors’ power dwells within it. I could look after it only until I knew you were ready, to prevent those who would use it for evil from claiming it.”

“Demon magic.” I shook my head. My breathing had calmed now, although my anger hadn’t quite abated. “I don’t understand how I can be part demon. I mean, they’re spirits, aren’t they?”

“I thought you’d have read that book. It tells you all about higher demons. Shapeshifters. The Seven Princes.”

“I thought it was just legend. That’s what the book says. I mean, how can they know someone’s a half-demon, and not just possessed by one?”

“There’s no doubt. The Seven Princes exist, although none currently walks among us. One of them is your ancestor.”

“That’s… bizarre.” I shook my head again. “What now, then? I suppose the Venantium will want me dead?”

“No!” she said sharply.

I jumped at her tone.

“No one will harm you,” she said, her words softer now, almost motherly. “Not as long as I am here. Even when my own life was in danger, and I was forced to drop the mask of your Aunt Eve and fake emigration, I stayed here. This house may be abandoned, but I still use it as a place of safety. If your life is ever in danger, you will be safe here.”

I looked around. Underneath all the dust, I recognised the room we were in: the sitting room of Aunt Eve’s lakeside cottage.

“How―?”

“This is the place where your heart has the most power. Terrence was drawn to it, even though he didn’t know why.”

I shook my head. Nothing made sense any more.

“But…” I thought of another question. “How did you know I had the demon magic? I hadn’t seen you in years.”

“I knew. I always knew. I intended to stay here, but, when circumstances conspired against me, I sent you the necklace at the first opportunity.”

“Seems awfully risky, sending it in the post.”

She gave me a slight smile at that. “Magical protection. It’s one of my talents. You might say it’s the reason I’m still alive after spending so much time around fugitives and covert sorcerers.”

She kept silent, whilst I tried to sift through the questions jostling around in my head.

“You said you were an expert in family trees,” I said. “And… Aunt Eve had a copy of my family tree, right? Would it tell me who the demon was?”

I was still having trouble believing I was talking to Aunt Eve. Her face might have changed, but the woman before me still had the mannerisms of the fortune-teller.

“The tree was a fake,” she said. “A necessary deception.” She paused. “I think there’s someone outside.”

I turned to peer out the dust-encrusted window. She was right; someone was walking toward the house.

“Friend or enemy?” I said, as she made for the door.

She stood in the hallway, indicating I should go out first.

“You decide,” she said.

It was David.

slipped the pendant into my pocket as I walked out into the clearing. I didn’t want anyone else to know about it yet―if ever. As far as David was concerned, I was just another unregistered sorcerer.

“David,” I said. He didn’t smile. We looked at each other, as if in a staring contest. He broke away first.

“Where have you been, Ash?” he said. “Everyone’s looking for you.”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” I said. “Didn’t you know what Terrence was?”

“Terrence? He―” His eyes widened as I pointed to Terrence’s crumpled body.

“You killed him?”

“Of course not!” I snapped. “A demon did that. The same demon who tried to possess me. Isn’t that your job, tracking down rogue demons?”

“I’m more in the Admin division.” David looked rather embarrassed. “I’m not high up enough for that yet. Jesus. All along, there was one right in front of us.”

“Maybe you’d have spotted him sooner if you hadn’t been so busy spying on me.”

Perhaps I was being unfair, but I’d had enough. I was bone-tired, freezing, and sick of all the lies.

“Look,” he said. “I’m sorry about what happened. I really do like you. But―”

“But we can’t be friends. I know. Well, good for you. Didn’t you say when we first met that to judge people was sad?”

He started to reply, then shook his head.

I seemed to have cowed him into silence.

The fortune-teller spoke. “I’ll deal with this,” she said quietly, indicating Terrence. “The Venantium need not know, if that’s what you wish, Ashlyn.”

I nodded, my mouth dry. They couldn’t find out about how I’d beaten the demon, otherwise they’d find out what I was. And then I’d most likely be arrested.
Shit, my life’s a complicated mess.

“I won’t say anything,” David gabbled. He seemed terrified of the fortune-teller. I suppose she did look quite intimidating, back in her familiar guise with her fair hair flying and her knowing eyes piercing. Even though I now doubted that was what she actually looked like and suspected that this body was another disguise.

“Good. Now that’s cleared up. I’ll escort the two of you back to your group. And David?”

David gulped. “Yeah?”

“Tell Ashlyn why you didn’t report her to your superiors.”

David looked blank.

“You
know
what I’m talking about.”

Not looking at me, David mumbled, “I ran a scan on your magic, to make sure you weren’t working against us. I had to. I did it in the first week of term, in your room.”

“So you
did
break into my room?” Anger swelled within me, but exhaustion dragged me down. I didn’t want to fight with him anymore.

“Sorry, I had to check. It’s part of my duty to monitor magic-users.”

“Well, it’s none of your business. That’s why you made friends with me, too, right?”

“No.” He shook his head. “Honestly, I liked you, really.”

“Well, you know what, David?” I said. “I really
hate
guys like you.”

And I followed the fortune-teller back through the woods, toward my friends.

“How about this one?”

I rolled my eyes as Cara presented me with Dress Number 45. Like the others, I’d never be seen dead in it in a million years.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Come on, Ash, you can’t own just
one
dress.” Cara rolled her eyes.

“Why not? I like it.”

“You need a new one. This is a
ball
we’re talking about.”

“It’s a fancy name for a Christmas night out, that’s all,” I said. After hearing we could invite outside guests to the Winter Ball, I asked Cara if she still wanted to come and visit. Her initial huffiness at my having unintentionally ignored her for the last few weeks vanished at the prospect of a good night out, and she invited herself to come and stay a few days early, so she could drag me shopping in Redthorne. Term for her had ended a week ago, so the timing worked out pretty well.

I’d used the workload and the problem with David as an excuse for why I’d not been in contact, and, to my relief, she didn’t ask too many questions. I’d had enough of that from Claudia and the others. I was sure they knew there was something I wasn’t telling them. They meant well, but I couldn’t tell them the full story. Not yet. They might claim to be non-judgemental, but after David―well, it was out of cowardice, admittedly, that I kept silent.

Really, after that, I needed to do something normal. Even dress shopping.

Eventually, I caved and bought a cheapish blue dress. I drew the line at new shoes, though. By now, nearly all my money was gone. A good thing it was the end of term.

I saw a few dark spaces in town that day, but I didn’t acknowledge them. Like it or not, I knew it was only a matter of time before someone noticed whenever a demon saw me now. It would bow its head, regarding me not as an enemy, but as one of their own. As their
superior.

I still felt horrified, sometimes, to think I had demon magic. The one comforting thought was that the blood in my veins was purely human―demons didn’t have blood, after all. I’d read every page of the
Seven Princes
book, goaded by nightmares of never growing old, of simply enduring, as demons did. But the book assured me, almost as if the author knew what was on my mind, that human-demons weren’t immortal. Other than the pendant I now wore everywhere, and kept close to my heart, I was human in every way.