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“And no one even noticed.” She broke into a raucous laughter, bending over and slapping her knee. “They couldn’t see a demon right in front of them. All that faith in their little magical borders had blinded them to what was right in front of them. That my Prince is so powerful, even they can’t resist his will.”
Sorrow filled my heart. As much as I wanted to deny it, she was right. No one had noticed my mother’s death. For weeks, this demon had lived among the Nephilim and no one had noticed. Not even my own father. If my mother was still in there, I couldn’t imagine the pain she suffered.
“You’re a monster.” I spoke the words in a hoarse whisper. “You’re evil.”
“It’s all relative, my dear.” Straightening herself up to her highest height, she stared at me through deadpanned eyes. “Maybe, in your next life, you’ll learn that.”
She turned to leave, but I wasn’t done with her yet. Tears began to fall down my cheeks. Hot, heavy things that stung my eyes.
“Mom, please. Listen to me. You can’t let her do this.”
If my mother was still alive inside that body of hers, maybe she’d hear me. She could overtake the demon, save her daughter from the pit. I’d never needed her as much as I did right now. Not even when I was a kid, hiding from Granny’s wrath. She had to listen.
“Get a grip, kid.” She cocked her hip and placed a hand on her waist. “No one but me in here.”
“You’re lying.” I wiped my tears on my shoulder and glared at her. “She’s still in there, listening to every word I say. Admit it.”
“You’re wasting your breath.”
My throat tightened with emotion as I f
ought off the doubts. “And she’s going to defeat you. Come on, Mom. Listen to me. Fight for me. You can do it.”
“Forget it,” she screamed, throwing out her arms. The irises of her eyes swirled with a deep, inky blackness. “She’s gone.”
Silence fell between us as we glared at each other. In my heart, my courage was dying. She’d been my last hope. The one person standing between her daughter and devastation. My shoulders fell and I stared at the ground below my feet, thick with dried up pine needles.
“She’s gone because you killed her.” I blinked through the moisture gathered on my eyelashes. “You took an innocent life and you destroyed her.”
“Ha!” Striding toward me, she reached out a hand. I flinched and expected a sudden blow to the side of my head. Instead, she stroked my cheek with her fingernails and cooed. “Poor Lizzy. She doesn’t understand.”
Venom poured from my glare. “Understand what?”
“A demon can’t inhabit an innocent victim. They’re too pure. Our host has to have a bit of evil already inside them. It makes a great home for a demonic entity to nestle into.”
I pulled away from her stinging touch. She was lying. Demons knew how to spin the truth into something completely unrecognizable. Another lesson from Gabe. She couldn’t be telling me the truth.
“My mother...”
“Your mother was already a little bit evil.” A grin stretched across her face. For the first time, I saw ugly in her. “That’s the only way I could’ve inhabited her. I mean, it’s no wonder, with a grandmother like that. I think your whole family has a little bit of evil inside them.”
My gut clenched and I hunched my shoulders against the pain. As a little girl, I’d imagined my mother as a lovely woman. Like a fairy-tale princess. The kind who would kiss my boo-boos and read bedtime stories. But, she’d been raised by an unloving and harsh woman. She could’ve been just the same. All this time, I had been fooling myself.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Elizabeth did a little jump and pushed her hair out of her face. “With a mother who was not only possessed, but evil, you’re royally screwed. I mean, look at you. There was no way you could escape Hell. You’re as evil and screwed up as the rest of us. Take my suggestion: embrace it and roll with it. Only then, will you become worthy of all you have been given.”
I felt the last remaining strength I had seep out of me. My legs buckled and my head bowed. The ferals began to drag me across the ground, following their giggling leader deeper into the woods.
The only thing I’d wanted during these past few months was to become worthy. Worthy of the Nephilim and the warrior position I held. Worthy of being the daughter to a great leader and kind father. And worthy of being Gabe’s partner. Fighting tooth and nail to become deserving, I’d screwed it up so many times. And it was no wonder. The cards had been stacked against me since the beginning. I’d had no chance. I was fighting a losing battle.
“I’m going to cherish the looks on your friends’ faces when we come marching down on your precious manor...” Elizabeth was chatting away while I stewed in my misery. “...might keep some of those humans around as slaves. They’re handy, when they’re subdued. My Prince might agree to that.”
I thought of Laramie, shackled and chained in the stables, forced to serve the demons. She’d die before then and she’d probably take all the horses with her. Poor Reba. I never got to say goodbye to my beautiful gray horse.
There were so many things I wish I could take back. Things I’d said and done. Time when I should’ve been better. Tried harder. Listened to my father. Followed his guidance. Followed the rules. My life was peppered with such regrets.
A memory flitted inside my head just then. It was of the last dinner Luke and I’d had—our weekly ritual which had fallen by the wayside during my temper tantrum. He’d been excited about something he’d found in a journal, a note he’d made when he and my mother were together. It was shortly after they were married and dreaming of a family together. My mother had been adamant about wanting a little girl with rosy red cheeks and blue eyes. She’d had a dream about it, she’d told my father. And in the dream, her daughter would be the greatest warrior the world had ever seen.
Luke had been so excited to show me, but I’d slammed his book shut and pushed it away. I wasn’t the world’s greatest warrior. Not even close. But he’d taken my hands softly in his and explained that the greatest didn’t mean the strongest, the fastest, or even the most deadly. It was something that came from deep inside. An innate knowledge of one’s self. An urge to do right in the world. To save it.
