Demon Vampire (The Redgold Series) (92 page)

Zack didn't expect such an odd poem to come from his dad. “Where'd you read that?”

“From a calendar at work. It's this month's 'Words of Wisdom.' I thought it might help.” John's choice in comfort phrases weren't the most appropriate, but it had an impact on Zack. John could tell.

“Thanks dad.” Zack smiled and leaned in to hug his father.

John was glad he was able to still counsel his son. Something he thought was impossible at Zack's age. John patted Zack on the back. “By the way.” John looked Zack up and down. “Did you have a growth spurt? You seem taller to me.”

Zack's face flushed a pale, ghostly white. He didn't know what to say. The fact that a demon had slowly changed his body to suit its needs was out of the question. Zack drew a blank.

“Yeah, you did get taller. Hey, maybe you can even try out for some sports next year in high school. I'd love to see you get some trophies on that dresser of yours.” John panned the room. The dresser wasn't even level anymore, it was slouching away from the wall that was propping it up. “Okay, well we can always get you a new one.” John thought about the time when a girl broke his heart in high school. John had punched a tree to cope with the stress. He broke three knuckles in each hand and had to attend the first day of his sophomore year in double casts. “Well, that doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that you're alright now.”

Zack didn't want to say it. He was itching to blurt out the fact a demon was gnawing at the back of his brain. “Dad, I don't-” Zack stopped talking. He wanted to say it. Zack bit his own lip to hold back. A trickle of blood escaped down his chin.

“Zack, you're bleeding.” John quickly got up to get a tissue.

As soon as John left the room Zack closed the door behind him.

John turned around, knocking on the door. “Zack? What's wrong? Was it something I said?”

“No.” Zack said reluctantly. “It was something else.” Something he wanted to say out loud to himself. “I'll take care of this on my own. Don't worry. I just need a little time to clear my head.” Zack was able to hear Salas laughing in the back of his mind. He sat down on the edge of the bed. “Maybe, I am becoming a monster. Maybe I want to tell everyone what I really am inside. Maybe I want to let everyone know what I can do now. Maybe I want someone to recognize me for who I am. To see the monster and not look away when they realize the demon lurks behind my eyes.”

* * * *

The lights were out in Kyli's apartment. There was just enough light to let her flowing purple dress shimmer from the radiant street lamps glowing outside. She walked over to the switch, and turned the room on. Her dark toned dress was long, down to her ankles. It was low cut in the front and back, but a black cat suit underneath covered the rest of her body. The outfit was very flamboyant for her. On the edge of her own eccentric tastes. It fit her extremely well. Tight where it needed to be and loose near the rest. She smiled as she picked up Crystal's picture. He was the dress-maker from the dinner party Zack went to a few weeks ago. She set the picture down.

The door bell rang.

“Coming.” Kyli pressed a switch under the table she was standing next to. The front door, only a few feet from her, clicked open.

David Waterfield was there, Kyli's father. “Have you spoken to him since he ran out that night?”

Kyli sneered at David. “What do you think?” Kyli moved to the couch and sat down in protest. He was there to scold her and she knew it.

“You know you're not doing your job by sitting here alone. We are in an austere position here. You need to be over there, right now. He could-” David was cut off by Kyli.

“Could what? Accept the demon's invitation!?” Kyli wasn't happy thinking about the possibilities. “I know what would happen the more he talks with the demon. I also know what he's capable of.”

“Malio was a fluke. He would never be able to get close enough to kill you.” David was trying to reassure Kyli.

“No, dad. You didn't see what I did.” Kyli recalled the dream in which she witnessed Malio being desecrated by Zack. “The terror he instilled in that hardened and sick vampeal was unnerving. He was a god there. All he has to do is bite someone and they are forced into his dream world. Once there, it's over. The horror is that I can enter anytime he's asleep. Which means that if the demon considers me a threat, it will kill me. I can't defend against what he is. No amount of training could.”

“Are you saying you're not going to finish the job?” David appeared to be unhappy with Kyli's attitude.

Kyli considered her options before she answered. “I'm not saying that father.”

“But you're not saying yes either.” David was pressing the question.

Kyli thought about it. “To be honest, I'm afraid. If he gives in, if the demon continues to feed him info-”

“He is a job, Kyli. Nothing more, nothing less. All jobs have a degree of risk, a chance of death. He is just another job. Assuage him. When you are completely sure he's let his guard down, kill him and that will be the end of it.” David was being harsh with Kyli. “Do you remember that you chose to become an assassin under Marin? That Yugo wasn't going to accept you as you were? That I had to hand pick your current gift?”

Kyli didn't want to admit it. Her father was right. She was the one that wanted to right the injustices in the world. To save people from the evil that men were going to do instead of what they had already done. She enjoyed the idea of being able to defend herself with any weapon, with her bare hands. Even attack people and gain intelligence through their dreams. She had wished all this in her own head. David merely provided her with the means to get there.

“Is it wrong that I like him?” Kyli asked David.

“Did you sleep with him?” David got right to the point.

Kyli didn't answer.

“Then you already know.” David stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “He is a demon host. Within him resides a beast that could burn this world a thousand times over. A mind that can kill with a thought, within a moment. You saw it for yourself. God only knows what actually happens to the victims in the real world. For all we know the demon might take over his body and inflict that actual damage.” David reached into his jacket, he pulled out a file folder with several pictures in it. He tossed it on the coffee table near Kyli's feet. The photos spilled out and spread across the table. They were close up shots of Malio's body. “As far as we can tell, that's what he did to Malio. The demon is somehow able to control the physical form as he maintains a presence in the dream world. While the host and the subject are engaged mentally, the demon is able to command the situation through the host. Meaning that the next time Zack enters your mind, he could kill you, me, Marin, and everyone else directly related to this. You have to understand Kyli, his death equals our safety.”

Kyli zoned out. She knew she needed to kill Zack. “What if I can't do it?”

“If you won't do it. I know for a fact that Marin won't either. His contract was to deliver Zack to Malio and kill him if he resisted. He won't accept another contract on him after that. He is motivated, but he wouldn't risk his own life to feed random orphans. He's a recluse, not stupid. Yugo actually wants to teach him. Cherry doesn't give a damn either way. If everything goes to shit I know I'm not going to attack him. That leaves no one.” David was thinking, counting to see if they had a chance if they didn't execute him soon.

Kyli had an idea. “What about Grey?”

“What about him. He's human, Kyli. His aleatory nature may be assisted by years of proven skill. He may be ultimately trenchant in his methods, but he'd never have the opening to kill Zack. You've seen how he works. Always in the shadows, or in plain sight, undetected. He'd never reveal one of his covers for an assassination. That's not the kind of man he is. This is the demon's game if he chooses to take it.” David was making plans for the worst.

“Salas.” Kyli corrected David.

“Who?” David hadn't heard the name before.

“The name of the demon is Salas.” Kyli said casually.

David froze. “That can't be right. Is that the name you heard? Are you sure?”

“Yes, Zack referred to him as Salas. I'm sure.” Kyli was positive. “What does his name have to do with anything?”

David began to act. He was recalling some distant memory, a conversation he had with someone. He didn't respond.

“What's wrong? What does the name Salas mean?” Kyli wanted to know.

“When I was still young, I met someone that changed my life. This person helped me become the merchant I am today through her extensive knowledge of trade and tastes in certain regions of the world. She guided me as I became older. She was the one that suggested I get married and have a child. She was the one that came up with your name.” David's mind was fevered, he was running over all of the early time he had spent with this person.

“My mother didn't name me? Who did?” Kyli sat up on the edge of the couch.

“She once told me of a possession that had taken away her love. Although she would always talk about this person as if they were the actual embodiment of love itself. That this person, for ten years was the soul of her life. That one day her mind was taken by a demon. I thought she was saying it figuratively.” David said, while he was panicking over the implications.

“Who was it?” Kyli asked, jumping up from the couch.

“Cherry. And she said the demon's name was Salas.” David said with a revelation in his eyes.

“I thought Cherry was only as old as you are?” Kyli had been told the story of how Cherry saved her father from a bad deal about to get worse at the time.

“That's exactly what she said.” David spoke with intensity. “She lied. She knew him somehow.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Kyli was at a loss.

“I'm going to talk with Cherry. You find Zack. Get him to fall in love with you, it will make all of this easier. Then search for a way to kill him without Salas knowing.” David disappeared, without sound or any motion at all.

Kyli knew what she had to do. “I'm just an assassin. I'm just an assassin. This isn't personal. I have a job to do, that's all.” Kyli repeated to herself as she put on a coat. It began to storm outside. “Oh, great. There had to be that too.”

* * * *

Two weeks passed as Zack spent more and more time in his own dreams with Salas. Months went by in Zack's mind. Salas became impatient with Zack, prompting him to begin to face reality once again.

Zack laid on his bed, spread-eagled, supine, slowly waking from his long, vivid dreams. There was a knock on his door. A light, gentle sound that reminded him of someone. Zack coughed, his throat was dry. He hadn't been drinking any blood, not nearly any food either. He had lost a noticeable amount of weight. He looked thin and frail. He appeared weak.

Zack said under his breath. “Come in.” He coughed.

“It's locked.” Kyli's familiar voice called out from behind the doorway.

Zack lifted himself up and out of bed, managing to get to the door and fall over after unlocking it. Zack was drained of energy. He coughed again. “Okay, come in.”

Kyli heard the loud thud to the ground and busted in. The door hit Zack in the left leg. He yelled in pain.

“That's not good Zack.” Kyli knelt beside him, examining his face.

“Wrong body part, Kyli, you hit my leg.” Zack reached for his left leg in pain. He held it despite Kyli still checking out his face.

“Never mind your leg, it's your blood I'm worried about.” Kyli reached into a black messenger bag she had been carrying. She pulled out a bottle of dark red blood.

“But it's my leg that hurts.” Zack complained.

“See, you're delusional. You're thinking like a human. That's why your leg is throbbing right now. You need to drink. Your body is probably eating its own blood supply to stay alive right now.” Kyli lifted Zack's head and popped the top on the bottle.

“But I thought you said a vampeal doesn't have to drink blood to live.” Zack asked as Kyli tipped the bottle back, forcing Zack to drink up.

“Normally, yes. But from what your dad has been telling me. You haven't eaten anything normal either.” Kyli waited for Zack to finish the bottle he was on.

Zack started to feel better. The color was coming back to his face. His teeth were jutting out as he drank. The taste of sweet milk running down his throat was nice. “That's not true. I've eaten.” Zack thought about it. “Just to know, what happens if I didn't?”

“You become weak, begin to die. And Salas takes you over that much quicker.” Kyli popped another top off a second bottle of blood. She could see the wheels turning inside Zack's head. She was getting good at reading his personality. “You can't live with just that, can you? You want to know why, if you are a vampeal, what does your nutrition have to do with the demon? Am I wrong?”

Zack looked into Kyli's eyes. She wasn't wrong. That was exactly what he wanted to know.

“The demon gift makes your heart beat less, but your blood quicker, more efficient.” Kyli went on as Zack finished the second bottle. “In the same way that Salas is able to change your body to suit his needs, your own blood is constantly acting to change you into what it wants.”