Nameless: The Darkness Comes (14 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six

I woke up with something long and leggy skittering over my mouth. I sat up, spitting and sputtering, and the dark thing faded into the darkness. There’s nothing like tasting demonic viscera when you’re coming to. My life rocks.

The hateful necklace of death was charred, blackened
, and crumbling around my neck. I tore it free and threw it against the wall. Whatever that thing in the other room had been, it apparently didn’t have any hold here. Whether that was because the prize truly was behind Door Number One, or because there was something even scarier in here, I had to find out. I staggered to my hands and knees, still unable to get to my feet. My head was killing me, but the frantic pounding in my chest hurt even worse.

The room
seemed quiet enough. I squinted through the dim light, taking in the small room packed to the gills with junk. Old bureaus and broken chairs were covered in so much dust that I instinctively covered my nose and mouth with my arm. Several mirrors reflected my pale face. One of the reflections was smiling. I looked away.

I looked at the filthy palms of my hands, grimaced, and wiped them on my jeans. Didn’t look like this place had been cleaned in twenty years. Fan-frickin’-tastic. Especially since this whole area of town hadn’t been built until five years ago.

I climbed to my feet and leaned against the wall.
I still felt like I couldn’t get enough air, so I practiced breathing in and out while searching the shadows for movement. Besides the tiny creeping demon and my sinister reflection from a few minutes earlier, I didn’t see anything else, but the room was strangely silent, and I felt immense pressure in my ears.

“So what am I supposed to do?” I said aloud.
The sound of my own voice calmed me. It made me feel less alone.

Funny, that’s what crazy people think.

Something glinted in the ghostly light. My boots didn’t make a sound on the grimy floor as I crept closer. It was a framed picture, and it felt strangely warm in my hands.

A man sat on a
n oversized chair with a child on his lap. They were reading a large, colorful book. I blinked.

Not a man.
My father.

My hands shook.
I gritted my teeth and willed myself to be still.

A shadow oozed from the wall and swirled into the corner of the room.
I ignored it. Tears wet my lashes.

“Daddy?”

He looked young. Handsome and strong. Not tormented. Not like a man screaming into insanity.

Something ghosted over my back, slid its dry resistance between my shou
lder blades. It settled on the Mark.

“Uninvited,” I said, my eyes firmly glued to the picture.

The pressure increased, and the demon’s translucent hand began to feel firmer, more solid. Its coolness felt good against the sting of the Tracing.

“Uninvited!” I screamed and wrenched myself away from the demon. I spun to face a creature with a long horse face and four fingers instead of hooves.

“
Lunaaaa,” it hissed, and my stomach twisted at the human language that obviously didn’t come easily to its tongue. “I waaaaaant—”

“Yeah, yeah, you want
the Mark. My delicious soul. You know what, demon? You ain’t getting it.” I stepped forward until we were face to face. The demon looked uncertain, but I was so angry I could have lit it on fire with my eyes.

“Look, I’m bu
sy here,” I said, brandishing the photograph. “I’m sick of you, do you understand? I’m not here for you. Now be gone, or I’ll call Demon Patrol. I know a guy who knows a guy. Got it?”

The demon hesitated, and I pushed my face into its misty snout.

“Get out of here!” I screamed and bared my teeth. The demon faded away into shadows. I sighed and looked back down at the picture. I ran my fingers over my father’s face. The little boy was frozen in time, but my father adjusted his glasses and smiled at me.

“Hello, Luna.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The picture fell from my hands. I heard glass shatter as it fell to the floor, but I was busy trying to keep myself in check. Was this it? Was I finally going crazy like my father? Was Seth going to find my body next, just as he had found Dad’s?

I heard my name again, slightly muffled.
I closed my eyes, but it was distinctly my father’s voice.

The demonic me grinned from the mirror, reaching a hand from the glass, almost brushing my hair with groping fingers.

What was a demon compared to my real fear? Demons were nothing, just sad beings who had it in for the living. But the things that lurked inside my own brain were what scared me the most. My outer toughness was a lie. It was a shell. I was horrifyingly vulnerable underneath.

I looked down at the shattered glass around my feet.
The shards glistened like stars. I had never seen anything more beautiful.

“Luna!” My father’s voice was a sharp command, and it brought me back to myself.

Demonic Me had stepped from the mirror. Her eyes were black and inky, no whites in them at all.

“
Well, aren’t you pretty.” I reached for my knife, but the idea of slicing what looked like my face made me wince. “Now why don’t you hop on back into Wonderland and leave me alone?”

She didn’t say anything but took a deep sniff of the air.
She smiled, and there were way too many teeth for her face.

“I’d like to be you,” she said.
Her voice sounded vaguely like mine, but it was twisted, contorted. “I’d like to be you very much.”

“
Sorry, babe. The job’s taken. Uninvited.”

I felt her reach for me, searching f
or my strength. The Mark burned between my shoulder blades, and I gasped.

“Listen, lady,” I snarled
, grabbing her wrist. I was surprised she had solidified so quickly. I needed to be careful. “I don’t have time to play. I’m looking for a little human girl, preferably one who won’t burst into flames. Seen her?”

Her tongue flicked out of her mou
th. It was forked. Now that was just disturbing.

“Why should I help you?” She reached toward my face with her other hand.
I instinctively ducked away, protective of my eyes.

“Careful, Luna,” my father warned.
“This one has an especially bad disposition.”

“What a coincidence.
So do I.”

Demonic
Me lunged forward, her toothy mouth wide. I grabbed her hair, slammed her face into my knee, and then banged the back of her head on the floor. I stomped on her once for good measure.

The demon groaned and faded away.

“And she had such a lovely face.”

My father’s grin looked exactly the same as it used to.
It made me want to grin back. I wanted him to brush my hair away from my eyes and tell me that everything was going to be all right. I had always believed him when said that. I wanted him to reassure me now.

“
That’s my girl. You seem to be taking this fairly well,” he said.

I shrugged.
“Yeah, well, I’m taking it with a grain of salt. Either I’m absolutely bonkers or you’re some alternate reality conjured up by this place. Mouth said I’d see a lot of weirdness in here.”

“And who’s Mouth?”

“He’s a…” Demon, friend, pain in the neck, informant. “Guy,” I finished lamely.

“A guy.”

“Something like that.”

“A guy who has some information about this place.”

He had me there. I sighed. “He’s a demon, Dad. For some reason, I think he wants to help me, but I’m not always sure. I mean, he hasn’t done anything to hurt me so far, but he’s, well, you know. A demon.”

“And demons are always bad.”
My father looked wise.

“You tell me
. You saw them, too.”

He looked away from me then, his lips twisting in a way that seemed completely unlike him.
Mouth’s warning sounded loud in my ears: I may see things that are wonderful or horrible, but they’re illusions. This isn’t my father. I had to remember that.

If I’m to believe the words of a demon, that is.

This was confusing.

The look of disgust disappeared from my father’s face, and he looked like his old self again. Interested. Concerned.

“What are you doing here, Luna? This isn’t the place for you.”

I played with my earring while I studied the picture.
I was hungry for my father, for his face and his voice and his words. “I’m here to find any info on Sparkles and her demon and to get Lydia back. I might be here to start the demonic apocalypse, I don’t know. I just want to take Sweet Baby Girl home. That’s it.”

“Why isn’t Seth here with you?
Why would he expect you to get Lydia without him? What kind of father did he turn out to be?”

My stomach jolted.

“He’s…kinda having a bad day. He wasn’t able to come. That happens sometimes, you know.”

My father’s eyes changed to concern.
“A bad day? Is Seth all right?”

Well, he isn’t dead.
I realized my definition of
all right
had changed drastically in the last few days.

“All right enough.
He’ll be fine once I get Lydia back. Is there anything you can tell me about Sparkles and her demon? Where they are? How to take them on?”

My father eyed me, his expression very grave. He looked down at the boy perched on his lap.
He met my eyes again and for the first time he closed the book.

“Sparkles has aligned herself with a very powerful demon.
It’s higher in rank than those you usually come in contact with. More stealthy, more seductive.”

“More seductive?
Have you seen that monster with its demony tendrils sliding their way up Sparkle’s nose? What can possibly be seductive about that freak?”

He smiled and shook his head.
His hair flopped over his face just like I remembered. “Some things never change, sweetheart. You always were quick to jump to conclusions. Very quick to judge.”

I felt my back stiffen.
“I am not quick to judge. I’m open-minded and tolerant. In fact, I’m the very pinnacle of…why are you laughing?”

Tears were running down my father’s face. It was disconcerting.
“Oh, Luna. You do know how to make your old man laugh. You, tolerant? Not quick to judge? Ha, ha, ha.”

I felt my mouth turn down into a frown.
This wasn’t going the way I expected it to.

“Now hold on a minute here,
Dad.
What is so freakin’ funny? For real?”

He chortled.
“Don’t you have a demon to catch?”

My frown deepened, if such a thing was possible.
“In a minute. This is important.”

He wiped his eyes on his sleeve.
The frozen boy on his lap seemed unperturbed by Dad’s mirth.

“It’s been a long time since I laughed like that, sweetheart.
Thank you. You don’t know how much it means to an old man like me.”

I was getting angry.
“I don’t see what’s so funny. And I don’t like being laughed at.”

“I’m sorry, sweetie. It’s just that, well, look at
you. It’s all so black and white. Sparkles is evil, Seth is a worrywart—”

“Sparkles
is
evil! We’ve already established she’s tethered herself to a powerful demonic entity. And you can’t deny Seth is overprotective. What else have you got?”

He blinked innocently.
“Reed Taylor is of the devil…”

I stopped short and narrowed my eyes.
“How do you know about Reed Taylor? I didn’t mention him.”

His smile was sly.
“You didn’t have to. A father knows these things.”

I smiled back, equally as sly.
“My father didn’t know things like that, though. He wasn’t savvy when it came to feelings. He was easily befuddled. You’ve given yourself away again. Who are you?”

“Why
, dear heart, I’m your father.”

“You’re not my father.”
I was surprised at how sad my voice sounded. Even though I had known it from the beginning, known the dead don’t speak to us out of old photographs, it still made my heart hurt. I swallowed hard and brushed my fingers down the side of his face. “It isn’t you.”

My father’s eyes went wide, full of pain.
“What are you saying? You’re breaking my heart.”

I flicked his shoulder and he winced.
“Stop it, demon. I know what you are.”

He looked crafty.
“Why would you say that?”

I shrugged.
“Dad knows why Seth isn’t here with me because I told him at the grave. And just because you look like him doesn’t mean you feel anything like him. Dad always felt warm and safe. You feel like a nutcase. You’re just an imposter. Like everybody else around here.” I leaned against the wall. “Does it kill you guys to be straight up? Is there a reason you always have to slink around and lie?”

He almost looked sorrowful.
“It’s in our nature, Luna. We can’t change who we are. Would you…like me to show myself in my true form? Would that be easier than seeing a demon wear the face of your father?”

I was touched.
Almost. But perhaps his true form has twenty heads with dagger teeth. “No thanks. I’m cool with you looking like Dad. Besides, it’s nice to see him, even if it isn’t really him, you know. If that makes sense.” I looked around. “It’s nice to have something familiar in this place. This is one screwed up house you have here.”

The demon nodded.
“That it is. It’s a place of horrors, as I’m sure you’ve discovered. It really isn’t very pleasant for us here, most of the time.”

“So why stick around? Do you get out much?”

A strange emotion surfaced in his eyes. It unsettled me and I had to look away.

“Not a lot, no,” he answered, and the subject was closed.
He didn’t want to talk about it, and I didn’t want to see that twisted regret and rage in his eyes anymore. Especially not while he looked so much like Dad.

“So what now? Are you going to eat me? Burrow into
the Mark like a parasite? Pretend you’re my father again and sing me a lullaby?”

The demon grinned.
“Your father was absolutely right. You do have a smart mouth. No, Luna, I’m not going to do any of those things. I’m going to help you.”