The Devil's Demeanor (33 page)

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Jordan was now glad he had allowed Erin to
join him on his visit to Leo when he’d suddenly realized he didn’t know where
the boy lived. Erin, however, had many connections and was able to find out. It
seemed Leo actually lived a few blocks from her.

Jordan and Erin walked to Leo’s house,
getting there around four in the afternoon—not too late in the day, and not too
early, either. Mrs. Williams answered the door a moment after Jordan rang the
bell.

“Hello, Mrs. Williams,” he greeted. “We’re
friends with Leo and were just wondering if we could see how he is doing?”

He hoped he sounded convincing when he said
that. The mother looked hesitant, however.

“I’m not sure,” she murmured. “He’s very
sick right now.”

Jordan took stock of the woman’s appearance.
She didn’t look too well, herself. Her brown hair was thin and streaked with
gray; her eyes had dark, baggy circles beneath them; her skin was oily and
pale. Jordan could only imagine the hell her family was going through, not
understanding the mystery of Leo’s mental illness.

“Please, Mrs. Williams,” Erin said, stepping
closer to the woman. “We heard about what happened to Jack. He probably didn’t
have any friends visit him, to comfort him, like your son does. We just want
him to know that he has people who care about him, who want him to get well.”

Jordan was impressed—and slightly
appalled—by Erin’s emotional manipulation. It seemed to work, however, as Mrs.
Williams stepped aside and invited them in.

None of the lights were on in the house, the
only source of illumination being the setting sun coming through the blinds.
Even if Jordan hadn’t known better, he would think something bad had happened
here. It was so gloomy.

Leo’s mom showed them to his room. The door
was closed, so she knocked lightly and then opened it. The room was even
dimmer, the windows facing the east. It took Jordan a moment to realize that
Leo was sitting on his bed, back against the headboard. He was staring at his
visitors.

“Leo, some friends came to see you.” Mrs.
Williams’s voice was so falsely optimistic that it nearly broke Jordan’s heart.

Leo continued to stare—a pale corpse in the
shadows. Jordan could see from the doorway that the boy had lost a lot of
weight since he’d last seen him. Mrs. Williams cleared her throat, smiled at
Jordan and Erin, and left the room. She left the door opened a crack, no doubt
the better to spy on the conversation. Fiercely protective, she was. She
clearly wanted to make sure Leo’s “friends” didn’t upset him in any way.

Erin sat at the end of the bed, never taking
her eyes from Leo. Jordan simply stood behind her. He couldn’t believe he had
let her come along—she would find out about Conner. Jordan had no idea what Leo
would say, if he said anything at all, but if Jordan was right and his cousin
was responsible for this boy’s condition....

Did Jordan really care, though? He had
already talked to Erin about Conner’s possible involvement. The situation was
so strange that he couldn’t deal with it on his own. He was scared, and Dad was
keeping to himself a lot lately. Erin was the only person he trusted.

“Hey, Leo,” Erin said gently. “We just came
to see how you were doing.”

“Who are you?” he whispered.

Erin looked to the cracked door before
saying, “Friends. We go to the same school. We heard about what happened to you
and Jack.”

For the first time, Leo looked directly at
Jordan. And then he jumped in surprise. “Get away from me!” he said in a
fierce, frightened whisper. He didn’t have the strength to say it any louder.

Erin looked at Jordan as she tried to
comfort Leo. “We’re not here to hurt you, Leo. We just want to know what
happened.”

“His cousin happened,” the boy responded,
struggling against her.

Jordan stepped closer. He couldn’t help it.
“What did Conner do to you?”

Leo stopped struggling and went rigid. Tears
spilled from his eyes, yet his face was blank. “Are you like him?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Jordan replied. “I don’t
think so.”

“Your cousin isn’t human. He...isn’t human.”

Jordan stepped even closer. “What did he
do
?”

“He showed us things in our heads. He did it
to Jack first. Then Jack started screaming, only I couldn’t hear it. His mouth
was open but no sound came out. And then your cousin looked into my eyes. And
then I saw...monsters. I was surrounded by them. They whispered my name and
touched my arm. I don’t know how long it went on—it felt like forever—but the
next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital.”

Erin placed a hand to her mouth. Jordan felt
nauseated; he could only imagine what that must’ve been like.

“Every time I fell asleep,” Leo continued,
“it would happen all over again. The doctors kept pumping me full of drugs that
made me sleep, even when I begged them not to.”

“That’s horrible,” Erin said quietly.

“Do you see them when you’re awake?” Jordan
asked. “The monsters?”

“No. Thank God. I remember your cousin
saying something at the arena. He said it to me and Jack, and I think that’s
why Jack killed himself. He didn’t want to see or feel those demons anymore,
with those horrible lips all over their bodies.”

Jordan gasped. He’d seen those demons too,
in his nightmares. “What did my cousin say?”

More tears now. “He said that for as long as
we’re alive, we’ll always see those things. He said we’ll always go to their
world underground! The more times we go there, the harder it will be to come
back. We would be trapped there.

“Yet, here I still am, and Jack isn’t. He
always thought of me as weak, but in the end, he was the weak one.”

Leo smiled then, and it was the most
unsettling smile Jordan had ever seen on a person.

*
 
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*

It was getting dark and Don noticed that his
son wasn’t home yet. He looked at a clock in his study and saw that it was a
little after six. A few times, he heard Conner walking around upstairs. Damn
this house for not having carpets.

He turned back to his printed manuscript, a
red pen in his right hand, continuing with the editing, when he heard voices.
They were coming from the vent in the ceiling. Conner didn’t have a TV in his
room, so it couldn’t be that.

He had someone in his room with him.

Don couldn’t tell what they were saying,
though. His study was directly beneath his nephew’s room, which resulted in a
lot of overheard conversations. Conner, who knew about the vent, used to think
it was funny and would sometimes yell down his dinner order to Don.

He wouldn’t find it funny now when Don burst
into his room to chew him out for breaking the rules. As he quietly made his
way upstairs, he thought of the video he’d found. It had to be Conner who had
recorded it; it was his camera, and it was found in his room.

Conner killed Mr. Leper.

Don could not deny or forget this simple
truth. Nor could he decide how to handle the situation. He couldn’t turn his
nephew over to the police, and he couldn’t very well kill him. Conner deserved
as much of a chance as Don himself.

What about Ethan?
Don asked himself.
Did
you give him a chance?

Don had killed his own brother out of fear.
He couldn’t allow that fear to overcome him again. Conner could live a normal
life, curse-free. Just like Don’s birth father. If only Don knew the secret.

The voices grew louder as he grew closer to
the room.

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*

Jordan and Erin walked back to her house in
silence. Neither of them knew what to say. Jordan didn’t know if she believed
anything she had heard in Leo’s room. It had all sounded too impossible to be
real. Jordan was grateful that she hadn’t assaulted him with questions, though.

They stood on her front porch now, the
motion-activated light shining down on them. The sun had almost set completely,
casting the whole neighborhood in blue.

“I guess you were right about your cousin,”
she said. Her face was that of complete puzzlement.

“I don’t understand what’s happening,” said
Jordan. “I want to talk about this, but I don’t know what
this
is.”

Erin nodded. “I’m trying to understand it,
too. Maybe your cousin hypnotized Leo and Jack?”

Jordan considered that for a moment. “Do you
really believe that?” he asked her.

“No.”

“Do you believe that Conner is a monster?”

“I think you should ask yourself if you
believe he is.”

Jordan blinked at having the question thrown
back at him. “I think he’s sick.”

“Me too.”

“I think he needs help.”

Before Erin could reply, the front door
opened and Erin’s dad stood there.

“Ready to go home, Jordan?” he asked with a
friendly smile.

“Sure thing, Mr. Springer.”

*
 
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*

Don was right outside Conner’s room. The
talking had ceased, and Don heard nothing but movement. And then another sound
that he couldn’t place. Kissing? Was Conner making out with someone?

For a moment, Don was stuck with indecision.
Besides the fact that his nephew was grounded, Don was afraid that if he let
the two teens continue, they would end up having sex. Don and his brother
hadn’t been careful during their first sexual experiences and both ended up
passing the curse to their innocent children. Don couldn’t let Conner do the
same.

He took a deep breath and charged into the
room. He met a most unexpected sight.

There was no girl in this room; only two
boys. One was Conner and the other was...Travis Hooper, Erin’s ex-boyfriend.
The boys had been making out, but suddenly stopped and looked at Don with
shock.

“Oh,” Don managed to say.

“What the fuck are you doing!” Conner
screamed, jumping to his feet. Travis stayed seated.

Don slowly got over his own shock and stared
at his nephew. “What are
you
doing? You’re grounded, remember?”

Conner was gay? Don hadn’t seen that coming.

“Don’t pretend that’s what this is about,”
Conner continued. “You’re mad because I’m gay.”

Don was momentarily stunned by this
statement. Finally, he regained his senses and said, “I’m mad that you have a
friend over even though you know you’re grounded. I don’t care that you’re
gay.”

“Bullshit!”

“That’s enough.” Don pointed a warning
finger at his nephew. “You’re already in enough trouble. Travis, I suggest you
go home now.”

Travis looked mortified but got to his feet
and headed for Conner’s open window, which faced the front yard.

“Front door, Travis,” Don insisted.

Without missing a step, the boy turned and
headed out into the hall. Don watched him go down the stairs and out the front
door.

Then he turned back to his nephew and said,
“Do you want to talk about this?”

“Not with you.”

“So you do want to talk with someone?”

Conner didn’t reply; he looked so angry.

“I’m trying here, Conner. I want to
understand you better.”

“Since when?” the boy suddenly shouted. “All
my life, you’ve treated me like a redheaded stepchild. Like some kind of
freak.”

“That’s not true,” Don said halfheartedly.
Had he really been that transparent?

“I can’t believe you’re lying to my face
like this. It’s beneath you!”

Don had never seen his nephew so angry
before. He suddenly felt a horrible, nauseating vibe coming from Conner.

“Just get out, please!” Conner yelled,
turning his back on his uncle.

Don left and closed the door behind him.

*
 
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*

Jordan thanked Mr. Springer as he got out of
the car. When he turned to face his house, he got a bad vibe from it. The sun
had been replaced by the moon in the sky, giving the house an eerie appearance.
Jordan wasn’t sure if he even wanted to go inside. Mr. Springer was already
driving down the hill, leaving Jordan alone and afraid.

*
 
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*

Don needed air. He stepped out onto the deck
and stared at the woods behind his house. The nausea had vanished now that he
was far from Conner. Now Don knew how Mr. Locke had felt during Conner’s tirade
in the classroom.

Don admitted to himself that making his
nephew even angrier was not a good idea. But he couldn’t let Conner run around,
breaking rules. He needed structure, needed to know there were consequences to
his actions. Don remembered all too well what had happened to Conner’s father.
Ethan had been taken under the creature’s wing, taught to do evil. The more
evil done, the harder it was to break the monster’s grip.