Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Then I asked, “What will happen now?”
“I have to kill Dylan,” he answered so quickly.
“Because he knows too much?”
“Because he hurt one of mine.” Kellan jerked away from where he stood and sat beside me. He hung his head forward, and I cradled the back of his neck in my hand. My thumb rubbed at a knot that had formed there. Soothing.
“Is that the only reason why?”
He sighed again deeply. “Messengers are coming. It will take a while for them to find us. Our parents put a blanketing spell over all of us so we can’t be sensed by other beings.”
“What do you mean?”
“Witches, other demons. Messengers. Anyone who does magic or knows about that world.”
“They’ll still figure out it was us.”
“Yes, but it’ll take them some time. We’ll sense them before they know it’s us.”
“And you’ll kill Dylan to keep him from telling them?”
“That’s one of the reasons, yes.” His voice was rough, angered. Kellan was going to kill him anyway, even if there had been no threat to us. And he was going to do it because he played with Gus. He hurt her. He hurt one of us.
“When?”
“Now.” He stood and crossed to his closet. I looked away as he changed clothing. He had been in normal attire, jeans and a blue shirt. Now, he pulled on a black long-sleeved shirt that tightly fit him over black sports pants. They were made of soft material. When he moved across the room, I knew why he chose those clothes. I couldn’t hear him. I could barely see him. They were perfect for what he was going to do that night.
After he put his other clothes in a hamper, the ones that were bloodied from the house, he stopped and looked at me. “Are you going to stop me?”
I was torn inside, and I didn’t know what to say, much less do. All I knew was, I couldn’t move or stop him so I remained there while he left, after he left. Then I curled into a ball on his bed with my eyes wide open and waited for him to come back.
Sometime later, my eyes snapped open. I didn’t know how long I had stayed there or been asleep, but I lifted my head and saw someone in the doorway. It wasn’t Kellan, so I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and asked, “How is she?”
Vespar didn’t move from the doorway. He remained on the top step of the stairs. “He went to take care of Cavanagh?”
“You know he did.” I sighed.
He jerked his head up and down in an awkward nod. Guilt seemed to consume him. “Good.”
“Why didn’t you come to help? She must’ve called you first.”
“I can’t do what he can.”
His answer was simple, but I felt there was more to it. “How is she?”
He answered this time. “She’s… I put her out. I put her to sleep. She can’t handle what she did.”
“She’s not as dark as you.”
“Nor you,” he shot back. “You act like you’re above us because you don’t use your powers, but you’d do the same she did. Probably more. You can’t control yourself any better than Gus can—at least she can control her powers on a normal day.”
I stood now. “Do you really want to be threatening me?”
He opened his mouth, but Kellan appeared behind him. He jerked him backward and threw him down the stairs. As Vespar fell over the last step and stopped on the second floor, Kellan stood above him. “Do not say anything more. You should’ve been there, and you know it. Go to her. Take care of her now. At least do that.”
Vespar looked at me, angry, as I stood in Kellan’s bedroom entrance.
“Don’t!” Kellan warned again and then swept back up the stairs. He took my hand, dragged me inside, and locked his door behind us.
“Why are you—” I started to ask.
He threw me onto the bed. “You don’t either. We are going to sleep. Do nothing, say nothing.”
My mouth hung open, but I closed it when I saw his eyes in the moonlight. They were stark, in pain. Then he threw his clothes to the corner and started to come to bed. His eyes caught mine, saw something in them, and then he cursed before he grabbed a pair of boxers. Slipping them on, he crawled underneath his sheets and then lay there. Fatigued.
It didn’t feel right being there, so I started to get up. “I’m going to my room.”
He caught my hand and pulled me back. “Don’t. Please. I need you here tonight.”
A note was in his voice that I’d never heard before. It pulled at me, and I found myself crawling under his sheets with him. His hand held mine, and he turned his head to rest on my shoulder. As his eyes closed, I felt him fall asleep almost immediately. I stayed awake, watching him for the rest of the night.