Kindling the Moon (11 page)

“I didn't?” He looked down at the desk, avoiding my eyes.

“No.”

He shrugged. “I don't really have one.”

“Liar.”

Seconds ticked. “I'm an empath,” he finally said, still gazing at the book in front of us.

“You sense other people's emotions?”

“Yes.”

I instantly became anxious. I thought back to when we first met at the coffee shop, and how he must have known everything I was feeling. Crap. In my house, too. Could he tell when I was ogling him, then? What about a couple of minutes back, when I was getting all hot and bothered by our shoulders touching? Exactly how much could someone tell about you by reading your emotions?

He sighed.

“You can tell how I feel right now, huh?”

“Yes.”

I tried to relax and clear my head. “I've heard of empaths, but I've never met one. How detailed is your skill? You can't read minds, can you?”
Please say no, please say no …

“No.”

Paranoia got the better of me. “Are you just saying that because I was thinking it?”

His smile was fatigued, like he'd been forced to explain this a billion times before; he probably had. “I really can't read your thoughts. Just emotions. Simple ones are the easiest. If there are too many at once, it gets garbled. But I can sense you're relieved that I'm not a mind reader, and that you're putting up a barrier to keep your emotions guarded right now.”

“Sorry.”

A long, awkward pause filled up the space between us.

“Can you block it, or do you just sense emotions from everyone you're around?”

“No, I can tune people out. If I couldn't, I'd never be able to leave the house.”

“I suppose that would be … overwhelming.”

“When other Earthbounds find out, they start avoiding me. Relationships are hard.” One corner of his mouth puckered as gave me glance from the side. “The only person who doesn't mind my ability is Jupe. He's … well, an open book, so to speak.” He closed the tome in front of us and smiled at me weakly before pulling the next one off the stack.

A low wave of pity rolled over me, and I let it, even with the knowledge that he could sense it. “Is that why your marriage broke up?”

“It didn't help. It's hard to stay together when you know someone's cheating on you and doesn't care that you know it.”

“That sucks. I'm sorry.”

He shrugged. “I married her after she got pregnant with Jupe. I thought it was the right thing to do, thought we were in love—or at least that we might be one day—but her demonic ability …” A scowl darkened his face for a few seconds. “Turned out, staying together was bad for us and bad for Jupe. So I divorced her eight years ago and took Jupe with me. He's a good kid.”

“It's kinda admirable that you're raising him by yourself.”

“I've had help. I employ an elderly couple who live on a small house on the property. They help take care of the house and watch out for him.”

Housekeepers. Hmph. I knew a man like him couldn't possibly keep a house like that so clean by himself; I tried to erase that thought before he caught my smugness.

“Has Jupe's knack surfaced yet?” Abilities usually didn't until mid-teens, from what I'd heard.

“No, but as much as I hate my knack, I hope like hell he inherits mine and not hers.”

He didn't offer any further information about her ability, so I didn't pry.

“Well, like you said, he's a good kid. You'll teach him to handle it fine.” I smiled, and his tightly creased eyes relaxed.

“I'm glad you like him,” he said. I wondered if that was just a casual observation, or if he sensed that I did. Before I could ask, he cracked open the second book.

“Here's the third demon I found,” he said, going back to our shop talk as if his revelation was inconsequential. As if nothing had changed between us.

And maybe it hadn't.

I flipped on my high beams as I drove out of the gates and began the trek down Lon's rocky mountain. Despite the nice house, I really didn't see why Amanda had fussed over the piece of property. Maybe it looked different in the daytime, but right now it was pitch black, and the seaside cliff's steep road set my nerves on edge.

Lon had given me several decent leads. All told, I'd walked away with four possible albino demons, which was great. Problem was, to find out whether one of them was the particular demon I wanted, I'd have to summon and question each one. I
really
wasn't looking forward to that. Summoning Æthyric beings made me sick as a dog. Half of the ones I'd evoked in the past were utterly uncivilized, little more than wild beasts. Some only spoke Æthyric languages, maybe Latin or some Coptic dialect. The ones that spoke English had been summoned to earth frequently by other magicians, and were pretty savvy about weaseling their way out of negotiations. Some were even strong enough to attempt to break out of my binding triangles if I didn't charge them correctly.

Summoning was tricky business, and it took a lot of skill and smarts to do it without getting yourself killed.

As I rounded a sharp turn, a few raindrops splattered on the windshield and I hoped like hell that I could make it all the way down before a storm hit. I soon forgot about this, however, when the air around me bubbled.

“What the—”

A light flashed above the passenger seat, and half of my guardian's body became visible. Priya's birdlike face flashed and faded, then snapped back with static. I gasped in horror. Priya's body was cloaked in a swarm of small, ghostly entities with grotesque bodies—each had multiple, hairy, spidery legs and two sets of bulging eyes. Their mouths were firmly suctioned on Priya, and through their transparent bodies, a steady stream of energy was being leached.

They had to be the litchen insect creatures that Priya had said were pursuing her.

“Priya!” I screamed, slamming on the brakes.

My guardian's eyes, dazed with terror and pain, were fixed somewhere above my head. It only communicated one word to me before it vanished:
Run!

The car came to a screeching stop, skidding sideways at the end of a hairpin turn.

My hands gripped the steering wheel harder. I tried to think, allowing the full weight of Priya's warning to settle. After several deep breaths, I shakily felt for my deflector charm beneath my shirt … gone! I tucked my chin and yanked my shirt down to be sure. It must have fallen off at some point. I strained to think how or when, but it really didn't matter.

A booming crack of thunder startled me, jerking my shoulders up. It was followed by a sudden downpour of rain that sheeted against my window.

“Keep calm,” I said out loud as I tried to make sense of
my options. I couldn't go back to Lon's. The road wasn't wide enough to allow me room to turn around, and it was tightly bordered by trees and cut rock. Plus I didn't want to get him involved in this, especially not with his kid around. I had to go forward. If I could make it home, I'd erect a serious ward and hole up inside my bedroom.

For the time being, I needed to get the car back on the road, then charge one of the sigils on my arm once I could expend some attention for concentration. I needed something that would help hide me and give me a chance to escape.

I struggled to turn the steering wheel so that I could maneuver around the turn, then let my foot off the brake. Throwing the wipers on high, I had started around the curve when a heavy thump crashed down on the car roof.

For a second, I thought the storm had toppled a branch onto my car, then I looked up. Four dents the size of baseballs protruded through my inner roof.

That was no tree.

The car creaked and moaned. Whatever had landed on my car was now moving.

The cold realization of my guardian's warning exploded inside my head like a bottle rocket. The litchen insects had done their job and hijacked Priya's link to my Heka; their host demon had materialized from the Æthyr … and it had found me.

I rammed my foot down on the gas pedal. The car spun in place briefly, then shot across the pavement, full bore, propelling me across the brief straightaway segment of the mountain road. Whatever was on top of my car made a terrible noise, and the weight shifted to the back of the roof.

The next sharp turn came way too fast. I gritted my teeth and jammed the brakes with every bit of strength I had. As
I rounded the turn, tires squealing, the weight on the roof shifted again. The unbalanced load nearly caused the car to spin out around the curve.

I straightened the wheels out and floored it to take the next straightaway. Midway down the road, the driver's window exploded inward. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away as a spray of rain and glass flew inside.

During that moment of distraction, the car slipped off the side of the road, plowing through bushes and several small trees. I yanked it back onto the pavement, unable to see clearly. The windshield was fogging over and something wet on my face was filming over my eyes; I couldn't tell if it was rain coming in from the busted window or my own blood.

Light darkened in the open window. I cut my eyes to the side and saw what had broken my window; it definitely wasn't a tree branch.

An upside-down face was descending from the roof.

The face was green and smooth as polished stone. A matching green halo misted around its head, neck, and shoulders. Red eyes blinked twice.

I could barely hear myself scream as a hand thrust itself into the open window and locked onto my arm. The car hydroplaned, and everything around me seemed to be moving in slow motion. My body jerked forward against the seat belt.

The sound of the crash was monumental. Deafening. Everything went white. Pain shot through my face—the air bag.

As it deflated, I sat in my seat, stunned. White, powdery dust released from the air bag clung to me and filled the car like smoke; I nearly choked trying to cough it out of my lungs. I glanced around, waving away the haze. The front end of the car was crumpled like an accordion around a tree trunk. The windshield wipers continued on high speed,
as if nothing had happened, and the dashboard lights were still on.

I forced myself to test stiffened muscles, but nothing appeared to be broken. Every inch of my body throbbed as I unlatched my seat belt. Then a ghastly cry echoed around the woods from somewhere behind me. The demon. It must have been thrown off during the crash.

My hands fumbled for the door handle; it took me several tries to open it. I swung my leg out the door, then stumbled out, falling onto my hands and knees in the muddy ground beside the car.

Branches broke in the dark trees just past the wrecked car. I couldn't see it, but I could hear it crashing through the woods, coming for me. I scrambled to my feet, then sloppily ran around my car and took a sharp left to follow the road down the hill.

Soaked from head to foot within seconds, I pushed the rain and hair out of my eyes, pitched forward, and bolted down the steep incline.

The wooded road blurred as I ran; the sound of creaking metal resonated behind me. The demon was trying to find me inside my car. Maybe that would buy me some time. I whirled around the next sharp turn, then sped back up and busted ass.

Several seconds passed before I heard a new sound behind me.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
Dull smacks against the wet pavement … something loped in the distance; the demon had abandoned the car. Once he rounded the curve, he'd spot me on the road. Terrified, I veered sideways and tore into the bushes lining the pavement. I exploded through the underbrush and into the woods, attempting to plow a straight path down the mountain instead of sticking to the zigzagging road.

That might've been a mistake.

The woods were too thick, the ground below rocky and uneven. Branches lashed across my face like barbed whips. I might as well have been a buffalo galloping through the trees—he'd be able to easily hear me now. I tried to concentrate hard enough to activate one of the sigils on my arm, but I couldn't do it while running; it was just too hard.

I stumbled and recovered, and continued to race.

Don't fall, don't fall
, I repeated to myself, as if that would help.

Up ahead, where the woods ended, I broke through and vaulted down onto the dark pavement. Though I'd bypassed one loop of the winding road, there were probably four or five more loops to go. I hustled down the road, listening to the sound of the demon in the woods behind me. I cleared one sharp turn, then went for the next patch of woods again. Either path was doomed; the woods slowed me down, but the road offered the demon a clear shot at me.

I stumbled through the dark underbrush again, crying out as I plunged through a thick spiderweb. My arms frantically brushed away the clinging web as irrational fear made me batshit-crazy for a moment. Scared of a damn spider when a bloodthirsty demon was chasing me down. Ridiculous. Just as I calmed down, the trees opened up again, and I floundered to hurdle myself out onto the road.

As I did, two bright lights lit up the rain in front of me and brakes squealed on the wet pavement. Before I could slow down, I ran smack into the front of a parked car like a line-backer doing drills. One leg slipped out from under me; I fell backward onto the pavement with a brutal thud.

I lay in the mud with my mouth open, unable to move for several seconds. Car doors opened and footsteps raced
toward me. I lifted my head and glanced back to see the demon storming through the woods. With long arms and spindly, webbed fingers, he was swinging himself from tree to tree like an overgrown green monkey.

When he spotted me, he swung himself up higher into a tree at the edge of the road. Mad, crimson eyes glowed in the headlights. The scaly monster sniffed the air, then opened a mouthful of sharp, mangled teeth and bellowed out a bearlike roar.

He reared back in one final swing and propelled his body toward me, muscles straining and taut. My body stiffened, but I couldn't scream. All I could manage to do was roll to one side and cover my face.