Heroine Complex (34 page)

“Shut up,” Shasta snapped. She turned back to me. “Anyway. In order to properly annex your realm, I needed to regain access to the Otherworld and open a permanent portal between here and there. I figured out how to open portals all over the city—”

“Which were smaller and weaker?” I said, catching Maisy's eye and giving her a skeptical look.

Maisy snorted in agreement. “And so unstable that only your mindless little puppy-demons could get through,” she said. “Not exactly as threatening as the big, bad humanoid demons, eh?”

“But threatening in their own way,” Shasta said peevishly. “I mean, yes, we keep them as pets in the Otherworld, but they do adore the taste of human flesh.”

“If you're such an important demon princess and you were trapped here, why didn't these so-called elders try to rescue you?” Aveda said.

She had stopped moving, at least for the moment. I dragged my arm a bit more to the side. Now it was trapped right under my tailbone. The force field pain was starting to make me lightheaded. Tiny white dots danced in front of my eyes and I tried to blink them away.

Shasta's eyes shifted from side to side. “Well,” she said slowly, “they did attempt to open more portals from the Otherworld, but they kind of couldn't because . . . um . . .”

“Because that portal attempt from eight years ago was just that botched?” I guessed, lifting a knowing eyebrow at Maisy.

“So botched!” Maisy crowed in agreement. “It totally shut down their ability to open
anything
from the Otherworld side.”

Shasta glared at her. “You need to remember who's in charge, here.”

Maisy gave her an injured look. “I'm a princess, too. A demon-human hybrid princess.”

“Only because I decreed it,” Shasta said. She gave us a smug smile. “You'll notice I even allowed her to keep her human appearance until the karaoke contest. Well, mostly. I gave her a bit of flaky skin so she could start to feel the glory of being demonified.”

“Allowed me to?” Maisy snorted. “Shast, you know there's a certain amount of time between when you decide to hybridize someone and when the turn fully takes
place. And that we scheduled it so
my
turn would happen during that climactic karaoke moment.”

“Wait.” I looked at them in disbelief, momentarily distracted from my excruciating arm-moving project. “Aveda had already used her fire power to defeat Tommy and Stu's hand at that point. What made you think things would be different with Maisy?”

Shasta gave me a “duh” look. “You sure are inquisitive today, Rude Girl. Maisy was my third hybrid. I figured I'd perfected the hybridization process, so she'd be strong enough to take Aveda out.” She frowned at Maisy. “Who knew my chosen princess would be such a disappointment? After her defeat, I had to figure out how to mask my DNA, just so I wouldn't be found out by your stupid human police.”

“The Otherworld higher-ups are the ones who decreed I become a princess,” Maisy shot back. “They recognized my charisma and sent you that Golden Princess stone to make it happen.”

“So that stone was a directive, too,” I murmured. The puzzle was coming together in a totally unsettling way. But I couldn't get caught up in that. I had to focus on sending my fire blazing in Shasta's direction. I shifted my arm again and braced myself for the inevitable pain. My elbow was jutting out from under my torso now.

“Yes, yes,” Shasta said. “Those stones are the only things the elders have been able to send through my, as Maisy refers to them, ‘puppy-demon' portals. The stones used to be merely informational, but recently, they've started sending me little bits of advice for taking over your world.”

“Or they were trying to give you proper instruction since you keep fucking up,” Maisy muttered. “Exact instructions, in fact: ‘Make the human-demon hybrids, already. No, you can't use an Aveda statue, you have to make them out of actual humans. Hey, here are step-by-step instructions on
how
to make them.' Oh, yeah,” she
said, noting my look of surprise, “there were tons of stones you guys didn't find.”

“So the statues were a sort of prototype that didn't work out?” Aveda said. Our eyes locked again.
We're nearly there,
I thought.
Blabby Demon Almost Queen just needs to talk for a few seconds more. And then my arm will be free . . .

Shasta shrugged. “Well, they did nothing to increase my power, but they succeeded in scaring you, didn't they? I had to round them up and destroy them once I realized they weren't working out, but that wasn't nearly as big a crimp in my plan as Team Aveda getting to some of the stones before I did. Luckily we managed to recover this particular stone when it fell out of that purple-haired brat's pocket at The Gutter.” She brandished the You Need stone at us, then flipped it over so we could see the number.

1

My stomach clenched and my brain started working overtime. The stone must've started at 4—but by the time it came our way, Tommy had already been converted. Stu and Maisy had ticked the number down to 1. Nate and I had assumed that whoever was in charge planned on creating the last hybrid at the karaoke contest. But actually, she planned on doing it now.

We had been wrong about so many things.

“Enough chatter!” Shasta snapped, even though she was the one who had been doing most of the chattering. She tucked the stone into her pocket. “Let's get this final hybrid thing going.” She knelt next to Aveda again and grabbed her arm.

“Wait!” I cried.

Shasta gave me an exasperated look. “What
now
?”

“Um.” I scoured my brain, frantically searching for what else I could possibly use to stall her. My arm was almost free, dammit. If I could just move it a little bit more . . . “If you were trying to take Aveda down before,
then why do you want her as your minion now? That seems like . . . not the best life choice you could make?”

“Not the best life choices are kind of her specialty,” Maisy muttered.

Shasta gave a long-suffering sigh. “Originally, I was trying to knock her out so I wouldn't have any competition for my obvious future role as ultimate San Francisco celeb. I got my hybrids to stalk and attack her, and after a bit, they were even able to follow her patterns, predict where she'd be.” She smiled down at Aveda, her face lighting with exaggerated benevolence. “But now I see that she's the one who can make our cabal complete. And even if she's a little reluctant now, I know I can convince her once hybridization takes hold. She's better than human. She deserves to be part of this. Part of us.”

Aveda tried to pull away from Shasta. “But none of these people want to be part of
you
,” she spat out, gesturing to Maisy and Co. “Not anymore. So why would I?”

“It might be more fun if you were with us, Aveda,” Maisy piped up, picking at her falling-off skin. “We could finally be true best friends.”

“She is not your best friend, Maisy!” shrieked Shasta. She dropped Aveda's arm, scrambled to her feet, and stamped on the ground so hard, one of her heels snapped off. “I am! That was the whole point. We were supposed to be awesome besties taking on San Francisco together. Instead you hogged all the attention for yourself and treated me like a second-rate sidekick!”

Maisy cast a meaningful look at Shasta's broken shoe. “If the cheap knock-off stiletto fits . . .”

I dragged my arm a bit further, managing to free it completely from the weight of my torso. The pain of the force field was burning through my entire body now, a near constant presence. But I had to keep going.

Almost there, almost there . . .

“I think I've had just about enough of your
sass-mouth,” Shasta said, taking a threatening step toward Maisy. Her features turned malevolent.

My palm was facing the ground. I just had to turn it over.

“Let's get back to Aveda!” Maisy said brightly. “That's why we're here, right?”

“Right.” Shasta turned back to Aveda. “I can make you immortal. If I'm interpreting the message on this stone correctly, once I have my four hybrids, I'll be strong enough to open that permanent portal to the Otherworld, the whole demon population will invade, and we'll rule San Francisco together!”

There was a moment of resounding silence.

Shasta stomped the foot wearing the broken shoe, nearly toppling over in the process. “Together,” she growled out of the side of her mouth, prompting Maisy and Co. to half-heartedly echo, “Yes, yes . . . together . . . right . . .”

“No.” Aveda's voice was hoarse with pain, but she still managed to sound like she was dealing with an overzealous—but ultimately harmless—fan. Shasta's gaze darkened.

I managed to flip my hand partway over.
Goddammit.
Ow
. Okay. Just one more bit of movement . . .

“So tiresome,” Shasta said. Her eyes shifted to me. I stilled my hand. “What about you? You're no Aveda, but you showed promise during that little incident at the mall. Are you still test-driving the fire power?”

“No,” Nate growled, finally speaking up. He'd gone so quiet, I'd nearly forgotten he was there. With great effort, he hauled himself in front of me. “Mother. I told you: you can take me. I'll be your final minion . . .”

“We're not minions; we're partners!” chirped Maisy.

“. . . if you let them go.”

Shasta looked thoughtful. “I was thinking more along the lines of you joining me as minion
support
, Nathaniel. You know, help them adjust to their new lifestyle. But there would be a certain poetic justice to you being one
of my actual minions. I still need someone like Aveda, though. She brings me prestige.”

I started to ease my hand all the way over, channeling all the fear and confusion I was feeling toward my palm.

I can do this, I can do this . . .

“You know what?” Shasta said, her tone light with a false whimsy. “I don't see why I can't have both. I just need to make some room.” And with that, she snapped her fingers and Tommy Lemon disintegrated before our eyes.

It should've been a quick thing, disintegration. The turning of someone into dust in the blink of an eye. But this moment seemed to last forever as Tommy screamed and shriveled, his flaky skin crumbling, his eyes caving in on themselves.

“Stop it!” I screamed.

I harnessed the stew of emotions bubbling inside of me and flipped my palm all the way over. My fireball ignited, brilliant and bright. I gritted my teeth through the force-field pain and flicked my wrist, sending the fire flying in Shasta's direction.

I expected to see fear register on her face, but she just smiled. And then she snapped her fingers again.

It all happened in an instant. The bubble-like prison of the force field melted away and suddenly we were back among the crowd, the noise of the busy street crashing into me.

Shasta darted out of the way and my fire flew past her, smashing into Pussy Queen's new sign.

I heard screams, saw people flailing away from the flames. I felt terror rise up inside me, that same all-consuming terror I'd felt at the library so long ago. Back then, I'd been rooted to the spot, unable to do anything but stare as the fear overtook me.

This time I channeled the fear, used it to push myself to my feet. I looked around frantically for Nate or Aveda or Lucy. My gaze finally landed on a fire hydrant. I dove
through the crowd and smashed my still-hot hand against it. The valve melted and the water sluiced out, sending a powerful spray at the flames.

The fire died, but the crowd was still frantic, pushing and shoving as smoke and ash drifted through the air. Smoke clouded my lungs, making me dizzy. As my vision swam and I felt myself listing to the side, I spotted Shasta hauling an unconscious Aveda into her shop.

“Not to worry, everyone!” she called out. “Aveda was just experimenting with her fire power. And now she needs a nap.”

With that, she slammed the door behind them.

And I passed out.

I WOKE UP
in my bed, pillows surrounding me like a fort. For one elated moment, I deluded myself into thinking it was all a dream and the entire household was about to barge in and bury me in their various problems and neuroses and demands. And everything was going to be fine.

And then a barrage of images from the last few hours crashed into me and I knew nothing would be fine ever again.

Shasta kidnapping Aveda.

Tommy Lemon disintegrating on the spot.

And Nate . . .

What was he?

I shook off my grogginess. I needed answers.

I pushed myself out of bed and marched down the hall to Nate's room. I flung open the door without knocking. He was standing next to his bed, his back to me.

“Go downstairs,” he said, without turning around. His voice was low and steady, devoid of inflection. “You and Lucy lost consciousness at different points during the confrontation. I called Scott and we got you back here and you both appear to be fine. Everyone else is down in the kitchen, trying to come up with a game plan to recover Aveda.”

“And you're . . . what? Brooding?” I put my hand on
his shoulder, forcing him to turn. His eyes were cold and expressionless, and he looked at me like I was a specimen he was studying from afar. I noticed a satchel on the bed. It appeared to be stuffed full of black clothes.

“No,” he said. “I'm leaving.”

My grip on his shoulder tightened. “You're leaving now? When Aveda's missing and we're right in the middle of a city-shattering crisis and you owe me about fourteen kazillion explanations? I don't think so.”

He frowned. “You should want me to go. My presence here puts you in danger.” His tone was so flat and clinical and
reasonable
, it made me want to scream. Where was the man who had surprised me with his passion, his depth of feeling?

Or was he a man at all?

I released him and crossed my arms over my chest. “Tell me,” I said. “I will surround you with a fucking wall of fire before I let you leave here without at least telling me what you are and why you lied about it. On a scale of wannabe demon queen to minion, where do you fall? Make me a spreadsheet so I really get the picture.”

His gaze remained steady. “I'm mostly human.”

I glared at him. “Keep going.”

He hesitated and seemed to be on the verge of pushing past me and walking out. Instead he let out a long breath and started talking.

“Like Mother said, she came here years ago.” His voice was still flat. “Her portal-opening spells were experimental and unorthodox, but the demon elders approved of her ambition, and were hopeful she'd be successful in expanding their empire.”

His words were so precise, so carefully chosen. As if he'd memorized a passage from a particularly dull history book and was spitting it back out with no real connection to what he was saying. I resisted the urge to grab him by the shoulders again and shake him. He had to be feeling
something
underneath that stoic façade.

“Before she opened the big portal—the one from eight years ago—she was able to maintain sporadic contact with the Otherworld from Earth,” he continued. “Once she'd determined your realm was suitable for invasion, she began devising a plan to open a permanent conduit between the two worlds. And one of her first experiments . . .” He paused and his eyes drifted to the floor. “ . . . was me.”

“Like she . . . bred?” I couldn't help but shudder. The idea of Shasta breeding with anyone, human or not, wasn't something I wanted to think about.

“Yes. She enspelled a human man, then sent him away once she got pregnant,” Nate continued. He met my eyes and I saw a flash of uncertainty. It disappeared quickly as he resorted back to that infuriatingly calm tone. “The elders told her that if she had a child with one foot in the human world, she'd be able to add its demon powers to hers, thereby strengthening her enough to successfully open that permanent portal.”

“Seriously, ‘thereby'?” I spat out, my anger bubbling over. “Can you cut it with the lecture speak and talk to me like a normal . . .”

“Human?” he retorted. That hint of uncertainty flashed through his eyes again. “I believe we've established that is
not
what I am. But my demon side didn't assert itself like Mother expected it to. I was born—”

“Mostly human,” I finished. I swallowed hard, trying to tamp down on my rage. “So what does that mean?”

“It means I have a small amount of demon DNA. I've done tests on myself. Strangely it was my human side that asserted itself.”

“And do you have a special demon superpower?” Now my voice was starting to take on the same calm, clinical cadence as his. I didn't know what else to do, how else to keep from lashing out at him completely. Maybe if I had all the puzzle pieces, I could put them together in a way that would show me how to kick Shasta's ass. And maybe
then I'd be able to figure out how to shock Nate out of Cold Scientist Robot mode and make him help me with that. I tried to latch onto that sense of purpose.

Just get the facts. Then remind him that this isn't who he is. You
know
this isn't who he is.

“A very minor one,” he said. “It's an enhanced observational ability: I see things in more detail than the average person. It helps with my work, but nothing beyond that. It's nothing like Mother's.”

“Back up.” I held up a hand. “What is Shasta's power, exactly?”

“She can access certain types of Otherworld magic, like Scott. This actually gives her a number of different abilities, among them the power to perform the portal-opening spells in the first place and the power to change her appearance at will. That's why I didn't recognize her—the last time I saw her, she was a wrinkled crone.”

“And do all humanoid demons have a bunch of powers or is Shasta just really freakin' special?”

“From what I know, yes, they all have multiple powers,” he said. “Though magic-based powers are especially prized. That's what makes her royalty.”

I worked that bit of information out in my head. I was amassing Fun Demon Factoids like Pokemon. The key to saving Aveda—and the whole damn city—had to be in there somewhere. “So when the powers were distributed to humans from the demons who came through the first portal—”

“The multiple powers from each demon were split up among humans,” he confirmed.

“Only one per customer,” I murmured.

“And when split up, not terribly impressive. Except for yours.”

I shook my head. Out of all the powers,
I
got the good one? That seemed wrong on so many levels. “Lucky me. So did she still try to add your power to hers? How does that work?”

“She has to make physical contact with me and form a magical bond between us. In theory my power then gives hers a boost. Like I'm . . .”

“A battery?” I filled in. I felt ridiculous, like we were calmly completing some kind of Demon Mad Libs form. I balled my fists at my sides and once again, shoved down the urge to scream at him.

“Sort of. And yes, she did try. When I was a child, she tried to use magic to alter me, to enhance my demon side. She used . . . a particularly painful spell. She tried it over and over and over again and each time it was worse. She tried it for ten years.” As his story got more horrific, his voice got more dispassionate. “That's what gave me the scars on my shoulder.”

My throat tightened. I was still angry and I was holding onto my fact-gathering sense of purpose with all my might, but the image of him as a helpless child forced to endure unspeakable pain brought tears to my eyes.

“How did you escape?”

“She'd mostly given up on me by the time I was eleven. She kept ranting at me about how humans were so weak, so useless. But she turned her invasion plans elsewhere,” he said. “When I was eighteen, she thought she'd figured out how to open the big portal without adding to her strength. Which, as we now know, was incorrect since that portal was unsuccessful. When it snapped closed, it took so much out of her that she passed out for three whole days. I walked out the door and never went back. I gave myself a generic name, made a human life, and went to medical school.”

“You turned to science,” I murmured. “Trying to make meaning out of all this demon crazy.”

“Something like that.”

I shifted from foot to foot. My brain was like a KitchenAid mixer that had been packed with a mishmash of incomprehensible info and turned on high. How could I even begin to make sense of it all?

“So from what Shasta said today, this new demon-human hybrid thing is going to strengthen her enough to finally open that permanent portal.”

“Yes.” He shook his head. “Imagine, if my demon side had asserted itself more fully and her spell had worked on me all those years ago
,
she might've been able to accomplish her goals much sooner.”

“You wanted to work for Aveda because it would help you track all the supernatural goings-on in the city, maybe let you know what Shasta was up to,” I guessed. “But you never went out in the field, never appeared in public, never even allowed yourself to be photographed, because you were worried she'd find you.”

He gave me a curt nod. “And over the years, I allowed myself to be lulled into a false sense of security. Because the demon threat had become so benign and Aveda always took care of it. And frankly, I'd always harbored the hope that Mother hadn't been merely unconscious when I walked away; that maybe she'd died. That those smaller portals were the work of someone else. Like you, I tricked myself into thinking I could be a normal human. And then I actually went out on a mission and that's where she saw me.”

“The benefit,” I said, remembering how Shasta mentioned reconnecting with him. “The one you escorted me to.”

“Yes. I agreed to go to that damn benefit because . . .” He trailed off, trying to maintain control. But I saw emotion flaring in his eyes.

Now was my chance. I had to make him fight with me, yell at me. I had to make him show me he was still the person I thought I'd gotten to know so intimately.

“Because of what?” I challenged.

“Because of you,” he spat out. “Because I couldn't stand the thought of you in danger. Because growing up the way I did, I never knew what it meant to feel alive. I
always assumed I'd spend my entire life not knowing. And then I met
you . . .”

I grabbed his hand. “So don't go.”

He was already shaking his head. “I have to.” He schooled his features back into a look of detachment. “And you're wasting precious time arguing with me.” He freed his hand from mine and turned back to his satchel. “When we started to piece together this new demon threat, I didn't think it was her. After failing so thoroughly to make me into the son she wanted, she swore she'd never again attempt a plan involving ‘weakling humans.' I embraced the theory that she'd died, that this was something else. When Maisy showed so much . . . interest in me, that seemed to settle it. Not even Mother is that twisted.”

He zipped up his satchel and turned to me. “You heard her, Evie: she wants me for her one of her minions. She may have a new and improved version of demon-human ‘children,' but she won't be able to resist the idea of making her first failed project into a success. If I leave now and get far away from here, she won't be able to complete her plan and maybe you'll be safe. All of you. Think of Bea.” His tone wasn't pleading or anxious. It was, once again, cold and logical. It enraged me. And I couldn't hold back any longer.

“Don't you dare use her against me,” I hissed. Heat was zinging into my palm like an overactive Fourth of July sparkler.

Not now,
I snarled at the fire.

I put a hand on his chest and locked my eyes with his, determined to reach him. “You believed in me when no one else did. You always thought I could be a real hero. And now I believe in you. I know you're braver than this. I know you don't want to run away. I know you're suppressing every single emotion you have because you think it somehow makes you stronger. And I also know
that is the biggest crock of tortured hero bullshit ever invented. I know because
I
fucking invented that.” My fist closed around the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer. His eyes were still devoid of emotion. “Stay. Fight with us. Fight with
me
.”

He paused for a very long moment. Then he shook me off.

“Good-bye,” he said softly. And he slung the satchel over his shoulder and left.

I stood there for a moment, wondering if there was any way I could set something very small on fire in order to release the anger churning through me.

I settled for letting out a strangled scream of frustration.

Then I squared my shoulders and marched downstairs. Moping, crying, sulking: none of these things even entered my brain space.

Because even though my heart was breaking, I still had a city to save.