Earth Angel (The Kamlyn Paige Novels) (16 page)

            “Just concentrate,” I heard Sari’s familiar whisper in the
distance.

With no other option, I did what he said and
everything else around me began to fade into the background. The woman let out
a loud, violent scream as she snapped her head back. A cloud of black smoke
came streaming from her mouth towards the ceiling where it hung for a while
before falling to the ground like black snow. The floor around the chair burst
into a ring of bright red flames, engulfing everything inside it. As the fire
dwindled, so did the demonic ashes. All that was left was the blonde woman’s
limp, inanimate body.

I fluttered my eyes as I emerged from my
trance-like state. Seeing the still woman before me, I rushed to her side in a
panic. I knew what I’d done wasn’t a simple, routine exorcism and there had
been the slightest hope in me that she would live through it. I untied her arms
and legs from the chair and laid her gently onto the hard granite flooring. I
shook her shoulders gently.

“Wake up.” I repeated, trying to revive her.

“People don’t ever survive, but trust me, Kamlyn,
you saved a lot of lives in doing this,” Sari said as I continued to lean over
her motionless body.

And just like that, my hope was gone. My face fell
in disappointment as I sat back up. I was so sure I had the power to get rid of
the demon while keeping the girl inside alive. What was the point in being half
angel if I couldn’t even save the victim? I turned to look at Sari when I felt
something lightly touch my arm. The woman gasped for air as she sat up, sending
me backwards in shock. I backed away, scrambling to stand next to Sari for protection.
Apparently, I wasn’t very talented I though as I gripped his arm, certain I
hadn’t banished the demon. I was relieved and overjoyed when I saw tears stream
down the woman’s face.

“What happened?” she sobbed, trying to stand up.

Her legs shook frailly beneath the weight of her
body. Sari and I turned to each other. His eyes stared deeply into mine with a
look of amazement. The woman had survived. Without warning, he grabbed my arm
and we were back in the parking garage next to my truck. I rapidly blinked my
eyes, trying to balance myself out from our unexpected transport.

“How’d you do that?” Sari turned to me.

He shook me by the shoulders and whirled me around
to face him. I looked into his desperately curious eyes while he squeezed me,
afraid of him for the first time. I was alarmed I had done something terribly wrong.

“I don’t know. I just concentrated like you said,”
I stammered.

He pulled me in hard against his firm body,
embracing me tightly. I relaxed my tense muscles, taking in a deep breath of
his sweet aroma.

“You saved that woman’s life!” he exclaimed as he
pulled us apart. “No one has ever
killed
a demon and had the person
survive!”

I took a step back and scrunched my face.

“Killed?”

It dawned on me. I hadn’t just sent the demon away.
I had actually caused it to cease to exist, never to harm anyone ever again. I
was overcome with satisfaction in myself. It had been the most rewarding
experience since I started hunting. I learned the name of the demon I’d been
searching for, sent another one to its death, and helped an innocent woman
regain her life again. Overwhelmed, I handed my keys to Sari so he could drive
us to a hotel for the night while I rested. My body and my mind were completely
exhausted from the experience.

I stared aimlessly out the window, unable to shut
my eyes from the excitement of what I’d done. Why was I able to do something a
full-fledged angel couldn’t even do? I closed my eyes finally and smiled to
myself, picturing the confused woman in her apartment. She was probably going
crazy, but at least she was alive. I could hear Sari’s soothing voice humming
softly in the background as I imagined the woman getting her life back in
order.

*

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a warm
soft bed next to Sari. I didn’t even care how I had gotten there without waking
up. I was just happy to be so close to him.

“Sleep well?” he asked as he smiled.

“What time is it?” I responded, turning over to
look out the motel window for a clue.

It was still dark outside so I couldn’t have been
out for long.

“Early still. You can go back to sleep if you
want.”

The events from earlier rushed back into my head
causing my brain to race a mile a minute.

“I couldn’t go back to sleep if I wanted to,” I
smiled back.

As I said it, I regretted opening my mouth at all.
There was nothing I wanted more than to stay in bed next to Sari. Without
thinking, I nudged myself closer to his radiating body for warmth.

“There’s no reason to get going this minute,” he
said in a low voice, turning on his side to face me.

My heart raced as I looked into his round doe eyes.
Ever since I met Sari I had been trying to hide my feelings for him because of
who he was, but it was becoming more difficult the more time we spent together.
My eyes flickered down to his smooth full lips as I thought about what kissing
him must be like. Again, I inched my body closer to his.

“Are you cold?” he asked, lifting his arm to invite
me in.

I hid my urge to squeal with glee as I rested my
head on his chest. His body grew several degrees warmer the instant my body
touched his.

“Are you doing that?” I asked, glancing up into his
face.

“Just trying to warm you a little,” he responded,
wrapping his arms around me.

“You can do anything, can’t you?” I laughed,
closing my eyes again.

“I can’t do what you did earlier,” he retorted.

“Oh, that’s right. So, now that we have the name of
the demon who killed Danny, how do we find her?” I asked, popping my eyes back
open with excitement.

“Kammy, I have something to tell you,” Sari said as
he looked away with somber, guilt-ridden eyes.

I sat up and rested my back against the headboard,
waiting to hear what I already knew was going to be hard to swallow.

“I knew all along who the demon was that killed
Danny…”

I couldn’t have gotten out of that bed fast enough.
I paced around the room as I tried to think of what I could possibly say in
response.

“Why have you been keeping this from me?” I yelled,
glaring down at his remorse flushed face.

He stood up and walked around the bed to stand in
front of me.

“I was only trying to protect you.”

I couldn’t help showing a hint of flattery as my
face softened. I decided to let him explain himself before I condemned him for
his actions. Keeping something like this from me for no reason just didn’t sound
like something Sari would do, as if I really knew who he was at all.

“There was no way you would survive if you went up
against her right now. You need more training,” he pleaded.

“More training?” I questioned. “What about the
amazing thing I just did? I can kill demons!” I reminded him in vain.

I knew once his mind was made up, he was not going
to change it. There was nothing I could do to prove I could take care of
myself.

            “Lamia isn’t a demon, Kamlyn…she’s a goddess.”

I stared into his desperate face with disbelief.

“A goddess? Are you serious? How is that possible?”

He sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. I
sat next to him and silently waited. He opened and closed his mouth a few times
before he started the story.

“Legend says that Lamia was a queen in Ancient Egypt.
She was young and beautiful, irresistible to all men because she was a
descendent of the Gods. She had an affair with the most powerful God of ancient
Greece, Zeus, and bore several of his children. When Zeus’s wife learned of
their forbidden love, though, she murdered Lamia’s children in a fit of rage
and revenge.”

I was overtaken with intense feelings as Sari told
the story with such conviction and emotion. For the first time ever, I was
feeling something other than rage for Lamia…it was sympathy. A tear slid down
my cheek as he continued.

“Lamia went insane with the grief of losing her
children, which drove her to the devouring of others’ children. On top of the
murder of her own kids and her new sickening habit, she encountered another
horrible aspect of her new life…she was no longer beautiful. Zeus’s wife had
cursed Lamia’s beauty, making it only possible to revive when she stole the
youthful lives of children. From then on, she felt it necessary to kill for her
own personal gain.”

As Sari concluded, he cupped my hands inside his.

“So you see, you may be an Earth angel, but she’s a
goddess turned evil who walks among humans undetected. She has powers beyond
your capabilities and imagination.”

I lowered my head in disappointment. It sounded
like I would never be strong enough to overpower her. I’d never come across any
records of anyone killing a goddess…or that they even existed outside
mythology.

“What’s the use in training then if I’m never going
to be able to take her down?” I asked, devastated.

The one task I had built my entire life around, I
would never be able to complete. The revenge I sought would never be fulfilled.

“By yourself, you wouldn’t make it…but with me,”
Sari paused and stood up, bringing me up with him as he held my hands in his. “We
may be able to do it. You just need to ask yourself this question…is this
something you’re willing to die for?”

I looked up at his towering figure and smiled. I’d
never been surer of anything in my life.

“I’m ready, if you can promise we’ll find her.”

Sari wrapped his arms around me tightly, resting
his hand gently on the back of my head to pull me closer.

“I promise.”

“We are the Earth intruders. We
are the sharpshooters, flock of parachuters. Necessary voodoo.”

– Bjork

I couldn’t get to sleep after our conversation. I
stared up at the ceiling waiting to drift into a dream. So many things were
running through my head all at once that my brain couldn’t find a moment for
rest. Was it the closeness of Sari that was keeping me from falling asleep?
Just being near him sent my stomach into spiraling back-flips. I knew deep down
there could never be anything between us, but in the still darkness with our
bodies lying so close together, it was easy to forget what he truly was. Even
though he was part of why my mind was racing, he was not the only thing keeping
me awake.

Now that I knew who Lamia was, her face clouded my
mind. I didn’t care that I wasn’t ready to defeat her. I wanted to find her
right at that moment and rip her head off. It was torture to think she was out
there stealing the lives of some other poor innocent child and I couldn’t do
anything about it. How could I just lay here while she was still out there? I
knew that if I tried to get up to leave, Sari would wake up and stop me. And even
if I did manage to leave, where would I go? I had no idea where the monster
goddess was. A wonderfully tempting thought popped into my head.

I closed my eyes and subdued all the thoughts that
were flying around and pushed them out of my mind entirely. Just as I had
hoped, my mind was carried off to a lingering evil, just not the one I was
searching for. Every time I found a menacing face that was not Lamia’s, I would
open my eyes and start over again. I spent hours searching and only finding the
hiding places of vengeful ghosts, murderous shifters, possessive demons,
blood-thirsty vampires, and even a few things I never knew existed, but no
child devouring goddess.

Before I knew it, the early morning sun was
creeping through the cheap bent blinds and dancing across my face. I opened my
eyes halfway and rubbed them with the back of my hands, realizing I must have
fallen asleep during my search. My eyes stung as I forced them open. I couldn’t
have gotten more than a few minutes of sleep. I rolled over, away from the
blazing sun only to find an empty space where Sari should have been. I climbed
out of bed, sure that he would be back from wherever he went soon. I could use
this time alone to try to make myself look halfway decent. I stripped off my
dirty, worn-in clothes and reached for fresh ones from my duffel bag.

“Morning! Sorry I’m…”

I scrambled to reach for a towel sitting on the
floor to cover myself as Sari came barging into the room. Right away his eyes
averted to the floor and his face turned a bright rosy pink.

“You could knock, you know!” I shouted, mainly out
of embarrassment. “Where were you anyway?”

“I left after you fell asleep to check in with the
other watchers,” he responded without taking his gaze off his shoes.

“Yea? And what did you tell them?” I asked as I
rearranged the towel to hold itself up around my bare body.

Sari turned on his heel to face the window so he
wouldn’t have to stare downward any longer.

“I just told them you were still hunting, you were
safe, and I was keeping an eye out for you in case you got into any trouble
though I’m sure you’re not what they’re looking for.”

“Well that’s good,” I said as I grabbed my clothes
and turned towards the bathroom. “I’ll shower and get dressed. Then we can go.”

Before I shut myself in the bathroom I turned back
to look at Sari. Our eyes met for a brief second before we both looked away
again. I shut the door behind me. I turned on the shower and let the warm water
wash away my embarrassment. When I got out, I pulled on my tight, tattered jeans
and slipped into a black turtle-neck sweater. I leaned in closely to the mirror
as I pulled my hair up into a clip. I examined my face in silence. My eyes were
the darkest shade of gray that I’d ever seen them. I imagined my son’s dull,
lifeless eyes as Lamia devoured his soul and youthfulness. If only I knew where
to find her…