Demon Heart (The Darkworld Series Book 3) (20 page)

I tried connecting the woman I thought I knew―as far as one could know someone who went out of their way to be unbearably cryptic―with the writer of the journal. It was impossible. Melivia Blackstone was… well, from what I could infer, pretty useless. I’d seen no hint that she possessed any unusual magic, unless she’d thought that less worth noting down than elaborate descriptions of her horse. The fortune-teller was… until I’d witnessed her struggle to face down Mr. Priestley, I’d always seen her as seemingly invincible. Strong-willed. Melivia in the journal wept to see an injured squirrel. She’d never sacrifice another person’s life, certainly not intentionally. But I couldn’t say the same for the fortune-teller. She’d had no qualms about masquerading as my aunt Eve for eighteen years with no thought as to the impact on the other people involved.

At that thought, something nagged at me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Like a momentary lapse of memory, like something had slipped away from my grasp. It felt important, though. Something I’d overlooked.

Shaking my head, I returned to contemplating the fortune-teller. No single image fitted the woman I knew. The woman behind the counter offering advice. The expert in healing medicines. The fearless fighter. The bearer of some unbearable guilt. I had no idea what she really looked like, but in any case, if she
was
Melivia, her body wasn’t her own. She possessed someone else’s. Like a demon.

Oh God.

If she could pretend to be someone’s close relation with no moral repercussions, could she really take another’s life in order to cheat death?

Or was it an accident? Had she not expected to return from the Darkworld? Had someone else―Lucifer―forced her to? It started to look like the only explanation, although the idea of her being dominated by
anyone
seemed totally at odds with her character. But not Melivia Blackstone’s.

I needed to speak to the fortune-teller. Just to know the truth.

Guys. We need to talk. It’s urgent.
I sent the message to Leo and Claudia. I had to tell someone. I needed reassurance that I hadn’t read the signs all wrong. The letter could be a forgery, after all. But the journal felt solid in my hands. Everything from the slightly singed, yellowed pages to the elaborate binding looked genuine.

How could I know? I’d been fooled enough times recently to regard everything with scepticism. But this… this was something else entirely.

Did the Venantium suspect her true identity? Was that why they’d taken her prisoner?

The past has power. We may not forgive ourselves, but the memory gives us strength.

I paced outside the flat, waiting for Leo and Claudia. Claudia arrived first, yawning as she came downstairs.

“Ash? What’s wrong?”

I held up the journal in a shaking hand. “I’ve been reading this,” I said. “Does it look genuine?”

Claudia took it. “Sure, but why? What does it say?”

A knock on the door. Leo.

“What is it?” he said as I let him into the building. “What’s up, Ash?”

“She started the Demon Wars,” I said shakily. “Melivia Blackstone. This is her diary.”

“Where did you get this?” said Claudia, flicking through it.

“It was in the library. It fell out of the
Sorcerers’ Almanac
.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Never mind that,” said Leo, looking at me. He knew I’d have more reason than that to call him and Claudia out this early in the morning.

I took a deep breath. “I think it’s the fortune-teller,” I said.

Leo blinked at me. “You think what’s the fortune-teller?”

“I think she’s her. I think she’s Melivia Blackstone.” I breathed in again. My heart hammered. “I know it sounds crazy―”

“Um, yeah, Ash, she’s been dead for over a hundred years,” said Claudia. “Why―”

“I know, but listen. There was a note in the back of the diary, and it was written in 1993. The handwriting’s exactly the same. Look.”

I took the diary and opened it to the last page, and the final, scribbled message.
“I hope you will forgive me.

Melivia Blackstone, 1993”

“It’s a forgery,” said Claudia instantly. “Come on. People don’t live that long. Not even magic-users.”

“I know that. I think she went into the Darkworld. I think Lucifer took her there.”

“Lucifer? As in, the Lucifer who’s supposed to be causing trouble now? Or the higher demon?”

“I… I don’t know. But remember what Dr. Philips said? It’s possible for someone to come back from the Darkworld, even after years. It can be done.”

“I don’t know, Ash.” Claudia shook her head. “She might be unpredictable, but I can’t see Madame Persephone killing someone else to come back to life.”

“Persephone,” I said, something else occurring to me. “The Greek myth. She was the wife of Hades. He held her prisoner in the underworld, remember? For six months. Then she could return to the surface.”

“So she’s a fan of Greek mythology. That doesn’t prove anything. Leo, what d’you think?”

Leo wore a frown, as though lost in thought.

“I don’t know,” he said finally. “It looks like a setup. But it would also explain a lot. The fortune-teller talks like she’s out of her own time. You can’t deny that. And it fits with everything we’ve heard about her and Lucifer. She’d have come back twenty years ago, right?”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s what I thought. Well, if it
is
her, then it wasn’t really her fault. She was young and naïve, and Lucifer took advantage. He tricked her into summoning a demon, and it possessed and killed her whole family. Everyone thought she died in the fire, but if she went into the Darkworld and left her body behind, then no one would have known it. They thought Lucifer was dead, too…”

“How old is this guy?” said Leo. “Is he immortal? If he can keep going back to the Darkworld―like a demon―then it doesn’t sound like he can be killed.”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” said Claudia. “But that’s beside the point. Why did he go after Melivia?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. There isn’t much to go on in the diary,” I said. “But I don’t think she’s on Lucifer’s side. She knows what he did now. It’d explain what she said to Jude, about guilt.”

“I just don’t know about this,” said Claudia. “It seems too convenient that the diary would appear right now.”

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” I said. “I think it might have been planted there. If it’s genuine, then it might have been the fortune-teller herself who did it. Maybe… I don’t know. Maybe she wanted me to know this. Perhaps it could help us set her free.”

“Or maybe it was to tell us not to bother. Maybe she thinks she’ll never atone for what she did. Assuming she did it at all.”

“I don’t think she’s the type to give up,” said Leo. “We might not know her, but you can’t deny that much.”

“Yeah. I just wish I knew what it all means. I need to talk to her.”

“The Venantium won’t let us into the cells,” said Claudia.

“I know. But this is going to drive me mad,” I said. “If I could just ask her one question―just find out whether it’s true―”

“I don’t think it’s relevant, to be honest,” said Leo. “Even if it is true, it won’t change anything. Lucifer’s still out there, and so’s Mephistopheles.”

“It
must
be relevant, somehow,” I said. “Why else would I find that book right now?”

“Who knows what that crazy woman’s thinking?” said Leo.

“He’s right. Don’t dwell on it, Ash. You’ll get chance to ask her later. For now, taking down Jude’s the priority, right?”

I sighed. “Sure. You’re right, I guess.”

“Next time you have a crazy theory,” said Claudia, waving her phone in my face. “Can you not wait till a normal hour?”
Oh. Right.
The clock on her smartphone read 4:00 a.m.
Oops.

“It’s not crazy, but sure,” I said. “Sorry. I just freaked out. It seemed so absurd, and yet…”

“No, I believe you,” said Leo, taking my hand. “It’s just like I said. I think we should focus on other things for the time being.”

Claudia cleared her throat. “Well, I’m going back to sleep.” She went upstairs.

“Same,” said Leo. “You can come over tomorrow―well, today, I guess―if you want.”

“Sure,” I said. “Sorry about that.”

“No need to apologise. It’s not every day you find out a friend’s a visitor from the past.”

“It’s not exactly time travel,” I said. “You can only go forward in time, right?”

“Yeah. Kinda feel sorry for her, if she did. Imagine waking up in a hundred and fifty years and finding that hover boots are in fashion and the world’s flooded and everyone you knew is dead. Well, the hover boots would be cool.”

“Definitely,” I said, managing a smile. “Later, then.”

I brought the diary over to Leo’s flat. He found most of the first half as tedious as I had, although my running commentary on how little I gave a crap about Melivia’s wardrobe made him laugh. “As for that loser Edgar Wilbury…” I said.

“What ended up happening to him?” said Leo.

“God knows,” I said. “Probably married some other girl. He’s long dead now, anyway.”

“And I thought I had a messed-up family,” said Leo. “Melivia’s parents were
useless
. Her mum was obviously an alcoholic.”

“How’d you figure that one out?”

“Subtext, Ash. I’m a literature student.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Just joking. I’ve no idea. It was a guess. Anyway. Her dad was never there, either. Now that I can relate to. I’ll bet he was trying to save the world, same as mine. Moron.”

“I’m trying to figure out her brothers,” I said. “I’m guessing they worked for the Venantium, too.”

“Reckon they all did. She was the only one who didn’t know. Let that be a lesson. Always tell your kids you’re secretly a demon killer.”

“How’d
you
find out about the Darkworld, anyway?” I asked.

“Cy told me. I was only about seven, he was nine. He’d overheard Mum and Dad talking about their work for the Venantium. Total accident, oddly enough, even though I was an expert eavesdropper. I hid in the attic, I concealed myself behind furniture, I lurked in the shrubbery and accidentally discovered a wasp’s nest―that one wasn’t worth it, I admit.”

“Did you find anything out?”

“Only that my dad hates wasps as much as I do. But they did tell me about magic, along with a hundred lectures about why not to use it. Which was probably better than leaving me in the dark.”

“Could you actually do magic at that age? I thought you had to be older to get a Darkworld connection.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t until I was sixteen, but I’d been trying to use magic for years before then. Of course, Dad had left by that point―taken off to avenge Mum’s death and become the Venantium’s puppet. But Melmoth was an okay teacher. He didn’t trust magic anymore, but I don’t really blame him. I read all his books, but I knew they had better ones here in their library. Cy told me, but the bugger refused to steal any for me.”

“Is that why you came to uni here?” I said.

“Kind of,” said Leo, with a grin. “Nah. I’m thinking I might have preferred somewhere further away, especially considering everything that’s happened, but it’s a good uni. The course is okay. Nice place. What more d’you want?”

I realised we’d gone way off topic. “Anyway,” I said. “Back to the diary.”

Leo pulled a face. “Can’t we do something else?”

“Like what?”

He kissed me. “This?”

I put the diary down. We could figure that one out later.

For now, we watched Lord of the Rings, lying together on the bed, feet tangled, hands locked together, taking make-out breaks every few minutes―although I refused to take it further. As delighted as I was to have the whole day in Leo’s company, the shock of what I’d discovered still hadn’t worn off, and I just felt like this wasn’t the right time. Not that there was necessarily a defined perfect moment to lose one’s virginity―but now I just felt too shaken up to relax.

No one had ever been able to read me as clearly as he did, and I didn’t even have to say a word. With Leo, I could forget everything that was on my mind, even the fortune-teller. Even the doppelganger returning to my dreams again. I’d still not quite shaken off the chill of the Darkworld gripping me all over, and the voice that was both me and not me speaking, demanding to be set free. But now last night felt as harmless as the dream it was. I held on to him like he was an anchor against the insanity of the world.

Even if the insanity was in my own mind. This was the life I wanted. I’d never let the demon take over.

I settled back, resting my head against Leo, and actually fell asleep for real. And this time, there were no dreams.