Demon Girl (14 page)

“No,” he said softly. “I admit I take his
wishes into consideration when I speak to you, but my thoughts and
opinions remain my own.” His eyes roamed my face.

“You have never seen yourself without
glamour. And I have.”

I searched his face. I had never been
slightly curious about my past. I figured if my family had been
willing to give me up they weren’t worth my time. My necklace was
my only connection to them, and it was the only connection I
needed. At least, that was how I felt up until that morning.
Learning I was a demon had changed a few things. Maybe I needed to
re think the whole ‘my family suck and I hate them’ thing.

“You have?”

“When you were a baby.”

It took a while for me to be able to speak.
“You knew me?” I asked. “I mean, you know me?”

His face had clouded, voice lowered.
“Yes.”

“I get the feeling you don’t want to talk
about it.”

“Yes.”

“Okay then,” I said slowly. It would do no
good to push him. Besides, I was in no hurry to find out, and I was
not sure if I was ready to hear what he might say. “Another time
then. So, this glamour thing, I need to focus on nothing but
stripping it away, right?”

“The spell was broken the first time you
tapped into your nature. I’m sure of this. Breandan told me what
happened this morning.” The uncomfortable moment had passed, and
his lips curved. “I have never heard of a fairy fainting
before.”

I gaped at him in horror. “He did not tell
you that. I did not faint. I did not!”

“Of course.” His voice was serious, but the
smile was still there. “Remove your glamour.”

I just loved how he said it like I already
knew how. No pressure or anything. Taking a deep breath I cleared
my mind. Emptying my head of the confusion over Devlin took moments
and was easy. Clearing out thoughts of Breandan was hard. Memories
of his hands on my body, lips on my skin were electrifying. The
eyes that turned me inside out, and the smiles that dazzled took
considerably longer to purge. Confusingly, the thoughts of my
vampire-boy were also hard to shake. Tomas’s face kept popping into
view every time I managed to get the thoughts of Breandan under
some kind of control.

Achieving oneness I relaxed into a trance,
and for time unknown I simply, was. As my consciousness floated I
noticed a pulsing deep within me. I strained to touch it. Each time
I thought I had a hold it slipped through my fingers. I tried
again, and again, and began to feel sad; the pulsing glow looked
beautiful and special. I had drawn from the Source easy enough
before, why was it causing me trouble now? I reached and wished it
in my palm, pleading meekly. Nothing. Oh for gods sake! The glow
zapped into me and overflowed from my body to spill my aura into
the air. A feeling of bliss trilled inside me as layers of the lie
tore one by one. My true self clawed its way out.

A drowning woman breaching the surface,
gasping for air, my nature broke free of containment and ran riot
through my body in a frenzied burst.

My first urge was to run to a presence far to
the north. A siren song my entire being hummed with wanting. So
strong was the call, I teetered on my toes and forcibly pulled
myself back to straight. I became conscious to the why the presence
felt familiar. Breandan. Unable to make it go away, I ignored the
need and focused on everything else.

I moved, and my skin stung as if a layer had
been stripped with a knife. There was a heavy pressure at the
bottom of my spine, and something soft thumped hard at my back,
pressing against my top. A larger, burning pain gripped my
shoulders in a vice until my back arched. Stifled, my back was
stifled. Stomach muscles clenching my whole body quivered under the
pain centering between my shoulder blades. The fabric of my top
gave way and I surged forward at the force of the thrust from
behind me. The pain in my shoulders was gone, but the awareness of
more was overwhelming. Craning my head to look round my body
followed until I was doing a crazy spin.

“Wings,” I choked as the golden tips extended
to flutter into my line of sight. I blinked at my own voice, a
resonating sound of chinking crystals. That was
me
talking?

Conall was beside me, holding me up. “Pull
yourself together,” he said.

I held onto the sound of his voice, held on
to his stern command. If he had molly-cuddled me, I’d have curled
into a ball and cried. His matter of fact outlook kept me grounded.
I tried to block out everything but that close to me. My body
responded immediately and every sensation collapsed on itself.

“Oh,” I gasped and took another steadying
breath.

Conall took out a knife, grabbed my shoulder
and with a swift jerk cut a hole in my jeans. Slipping his
fingertip through the hole, he pulled something through and
springing free it thumped against the back of my thigh. I spun, and
tried to catch the thick length of skin protruding from the base of
my spine. Each extra vertebra was under my control right to the
tip. I focused on the extra limb and it curled to hover by my
waist. I clasped it and gasped. It was warm, soft and I stared
dumbfounded at the hard, leaf like tip. It felt strong. The skin
was the same colour as my flesh, but as it tapered the colour got
lighter. Looking down at my tail, I noticed my nails had lengthened
and thickened into talons. I bit my lip and sharp points of pain
had me tasting my own blood. I ran my tongue over my teeth, less
like teeth now and more like fangs. My bottom lip throbbed as it
healed. Then I focused on the heavy weight behind me. The two limbs
curved away from my body and looked like the wings of a dragonfly.
Blood pumped through the veins and goose bumps appeared in the
absence of sun. My wings twitched. How the wind feels through your
hair, such it felt as a gust passed over and under my wings. The
instinct came to me and they twitched again. They spread, out and
out, until I saw the great length of them either side of me. They
beat once, slowly, then again and again. Tremendous power trilled
through me and I leant my strength into the limbs attached to my
back. They beat once more and my heels lifted off the ground.
Shocked, I stopped and dropped back down to the floor panting from
the exertion.

I couldn’t smile or cry or whimper.

And so I screamed.

Something stung my cheek and my scream cut
off. Conall drew back his palm. but this time I caught his hand and
held it. “I didn’t think it would be such a shock. Perhaps we
should have done this differently. Breandan will be furious.”
Conall frowned. “I want my hand back?”

I let him go, and instead held my hand out in
front of me, fisted. I felt my tail doing some odd twisting thing
and found to hard to keep my balance. Once I’d figured out how to
hold it straight, I felt invincible. My wings curled behind me to
rest snugly against my back and I rolled my shoulders. Flexing my
toes in my boots, I wiggled my fingers as my tail curled round my
legs. The tip occasionally brushed the floor.

“You should know wings are not gifted to all
our kind and are great honor. You cannot fly, but you can glide.
The tail will help with your speed and balance.” His head snapped
to peer into the forest. “Breandan is to the–”

“Northeast,” I offered with certainty. It was
weird because like a lens focusing, I could sense Breandan. I knew
the direction he was in and how long it would take me to reach him.
Taking a step away from where he was, my body resisted and fought
to go the other way.

The fairy clapped his hands together beaming.
“We’ve got time. What shall we do?”

I felt amazing, like nothing could end me.
Untouchable. I knew I was fast, I knew my senses kicked ass. How
strong was I now? I glanced at the trees.

“You asked if I had tested my strength…”

Conall’s hands flew to his hips as his head
rolled back. Ponytail swinging wildly his laughter boomed. “You are
delightful. You may throw me.” His hand swept over the forest.

My jaw hit the floor. “I can’t
throw
you.” I deliberately narrowed my eyes. “Are you yanking my
chain?”

“Such a pretty chain, but I’m not yanking it.
Yes, you can throw me. I’ll not be harmed.”

“Really not worrying about you.”

Squaring my shoulders I strutted over to him.
I did ask for it. Placing my hands on his arms I tested my internal
body function calculator. Well hey, I felt pretty damn strong. I
peeked at Conall’s face for courage and to check he wasn’t making
fun. He grinned down at me with all the confidence in the
world.

Bending my knees, I gripped his arms tight
and braced myself. Lift, twist and hurl. The action was so quick I
barely saw my arms move. Conall shot over the trees like a black
comet, and was lost to sight in seconds. Hands covering my mouth, I
bounced on the spot in horror. My ears stretched back then I took
off. I ghosted through the trees at speed with no fear of harm,
franticly burning across the rugged terrain. Through the awning of
leaves my eyes spotted him falling. As I drew closer he gracefully
straightened out, soaring back to the earth pencil straight before
curling his body into a summersault. In a move of power and grace
his feet touched down on the forest floor with an ear splitting
boom.

The ground shook; air rippled out and tossed
fallen leaves. Conall was crouched, one fist and knee on the
ground, in a dirt hole. The earth looked freshly tilled where it
had been forced to make way for him. He sprung up laughing, and
dusted himself off.

I slammed to a stop beside him, and for a
moment my body screamed at me to keep going. I was closer to
Breandan. If I kept running and I would be at his side. Focusing on
the fairy in front of me, I rushed to apologize.

“I didn’t realize.” Breathy with panic my
tail thumped my shoulder repeatedly. “Forgive me. Are you
right?”

My hands flittered around him and he caught
one to kiss it.

“I am proud,” he said bowed over my hand.
“You will be glorious. I’m not heavy, but it was a good
demonstration nonetheless. There has not been a female fairy with a
talent in strength for such a long time.” Conall sounded delighted.
“But then you will be talented in most things.” He released my hand
and tapped me on the nose.

I blinked at the playful gesture. “It was
easy, like throwing a ball. Gods, I’m wicked strong.”

“I wait bated to see your castings.”

My face crumpled. Magic was not something I
suspected would come easily to me. “It’ll be a while before I can
control calling on the Source, and getting it to do what I want
rather than whatever stray thought is passing through my mind.”

“Aptitude will come quickly or not at all,
such is the way of it.”

“You said I’m strong for a female. Is there
anything else I could try?”

“You’re eager.” Conall shook a little dust
off, an efficient brush of his shoulder with an eloquent hand.
“Every fairy is unique, and it will take time for you to learn your
skills.”

“I’m curious, what skills do you have?”

He walked off into the trees. “You ask many
questions,” he said matter of fact and jumped over a huge boulder
roughly my height.

I eyed it, my healthy competitive nature
goading me on. Sense caught up me and I walked around it. Conall
waited patiently on the other side, and once he was visible
continued walking.

I realized we had been travelling for an
awful long time and that the forest had changed. It was sparser,
and the trees swept down into a bowl shape with the land. The
leaves had broadened and become darker, just as the trunks had
become thinner and lighter. As the day drew to a close my eyes
adjusted, and the world tinted to purple and blue again. My
sensitive nose and ears picked up lingering trails, the snuffling
of smaller mammals.

My senses stretched and I honed onto
something,
different.
The ‘being’ sensed me touch her mind
and nudged me away. She was of the two natured, a canine shifter of
some kind. Startled, I scrambled back into myself. It was a shock.
I knew of course there would be other demons Outside, this was
their territory. But still, I was shocked. I sought the comfort of
the familiar.

“Breandan,” I murmured. I knew he was near
but not in my line of sight or range of hearing.

“Yes, he is close.” Conall was beside me.
He’d stopped walking as I skipped on. “He’ll meet us here.” He
motioned with his hand for me to continue walking.

I pushed a hand through my crazy hair and
stepped forward. Entering the glade I saw a colossal building. Grey
stone with marble statues adorned each corner and flanking the
entrance. The slated roof was thatched, golden and half caved in.
Trees and flowers sprouted on the ground inside, this I saw through
the large glassless windows.

“Witch.” Conall called and pumped his hand
cheerfully.

“Hai, Rae?” a sunny voice called across the
clearing.

I gawped at the blonde, blue-eyed cherub
standing in the building entrance. Her hair was plaited into a
messy braid, and she wore a plain blue tunic, and soft brown boots.
She looked like an upper dwell. She grinned at me like we were the
best of friends, and waved me forward.

Skipping ahead, she yapped over her shoulder.
“I’m Ana or the
white witch
if you want to be formal about
it.” She shot a sour look at Conall.

I followed after her, totally bewildered by
her and my surroundings. The building was solemn, and as I walked
through the bold entrance pillars – fairy mouths open in silent
scream – I wondered of its significance.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“A church. An old and secret place,” Conall
replied from behind me.

The plant life from outside spilled in
through the windows, and ivy snaked its way up the walls, clinging
to the grey stone in wild patches. Rows and rows of large stone
steps circled the room. Seats? The building foundation was
naturally steeped into the dirt, growing from the earth itself. My
feet stepped springy, damp moss and crunchy thick grass mixed with
flowered weeds.