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Chapter One
I’ve had a ton of strange experiences in my time, but lying petrified on a floor beside a demon while trapped inside an invisible cage is a first for me. It wouldn’t be so terrible if I didn’t have so many unsettling things haunting my mind. Like the fact that I might be a hybrid, that hybrid demons want me for who knows why, and that Hunter, my best friend, might have betrayed me.
No! I refuse to accept the latter.
Maybe you think I’m living in denial, but you don’t know Hunter like I do.
When I first met him in middle school, he befriended me, despite the rumors that I was part zombie—kids loved to play on the fact that I can talk to dead bodies from every tormenting angle. Granted, kids were teasing Hunter about being part skeleton—he was gangly back then—and he didn’t have too many choices in the friend’s department.
He always stuck by my side, stood up for me, and vice versa. He never treated me any differently, even when we reached high school and Hunter turned into a total hottie that almost every girl swooned over. We hung out all the time, and he drove me to school and walked me to my locker. Girls hated me because of that, and my sucky social status bottomed out. Being with Hunter was totally worth it, though. Even if I had to suffer through his dating phase.
Those were quite possibly the worst years of my life. Luckily, he was never in a super serious relationship, although he flirted—still does—all the time. Yet, he hasn’t had a girlfriend since about mid-senior year. At the same time, he’s never offered me the position.
Perhaps he has been using you.
For what?
Shut up, inner voice!
“Trying to figure out if your lover betrayed you, huh?” the demon’s annoying voice slices through my thoughts. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t say ‘lover’ since it seems to be one-sided.” He lies down on the floor beside me, props himself up on his elbow, and rests his chin on his hand. “You know, that’s one positive thing about being a demon—our ability to turn off our emotions. After you tap into your demon blood, you should give it a try.” He gives a chin nod in Hunter’s direction. “It might save you some serious heartbreak from Mr. Punk Rocker over there.”
“That’s not how he normally looks.” The return of movement to my lips slightly alleviates my fear of being dead, something I feared since my sister died from a petrified curse. “He usually has blond hair. It’s just blue, black, and short right now because I messed up a spell … like always.”
The demon’s red eyes sparkle with something unreadable. “Good, you’re coming out of the curse.”
I attempt to wiggle my arms and legs, but remain a useless lump on the floor. “Why on this secret magical planet would you think that was a good thing? Aren’t demons supposed to want people to die?”
Another sparkle in his eyes. “But you’re not people, are you? You’re one of us.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Live in denial all you want. It’ll only make the truth harder to bear.”
“I have no clue what the truth is.”
He rolls his eyes. “I already told you what it is. You just don’t want to accept it.”
“And why the hell would I believe you, a demon?” I wet my chapped lips, my tongue’s little movement making me feel a bit better. “And an ugly demon, at that.”
Okay, it was a cheap shot, but I’ve been lying on this floor for what feels like forever, listening to him babble on about me being a hybrid, Hunter lying to me, and strangely, where he can buy some good hair products.
“Ugly, huh?” He crooks his pierced brow. “Then why could I read lust all over your face when you first saw me?”
“This appearance isn’t even you.” I avoid answering the question. “The dark hair, the piercings, the red eyes, the toned body …” I trail off as a smirk rises on his face.
“Lust is even dripping from your tone.” He winks at me. “Don’t worry; I won’t tell the punk rocker guy over there.”
“Like he would care,” I argue pointlessly, then shake my head at myself. “And again, none of this conversation even matters because you don’t even look like that. You’re just mirroring the last demon I saw earlier today at the park.”
His smirk magnifies. “Which you found charmingly sexy.”
I snort a laugh. “Ha, not even close. More like unpleasantly hideous. And he smelled revolting, too.” None of that is remotely true, but this demon has been driving me crazy for too long.
The smirk on his face morphs into a snarl. “I don’t smell revolting.”
I smile sweetly at him as I roll over to my side. Score! Movement in my upper body is back!
“Yes, you do.” I take a whiff of the air. “Like dirty diapers and rotten olives.” Actually, he smells like cologne with woodsy undertones. It’s sort of nice. However, I’m going to keep that tidbit on the lowdown.
His eyes flare as he pushes up onto his hands and knees before crawling over to me. “You better watch what you say to me. If I wanted to, I could kill you.”
“But if you kill me, then you won’t get your fee for handing me over to those hybrids. That is … if your story is even true,” I taunt, and he responds with a hiss. I roll my eyes. “Will you freakin’ chill? Technically, I’m not even insulting you; just the demon who was at the park. If you don’t like what I’m saying, you could always change your appearance.”
“And take away your reward of getting to look at me instead of the ugly, little troll?” He leans in, dipping his head toward my face.
I try to angle my head in the opposite direction, but he pins me between his arms and hovers over me, his lips directly above mine.
“Now, admit it; you love how I look and smell.”
Golly, oh, witches; he’s becoming obsessed!
“Again, I stress that you don’t look or smell like you, so why does it even matter?” I argue.
“Because, I do look and smell like me!” he roars, then quickly throws on a neutral expression. “You know, for someone who’s supposed to be special, you sure are an idiot. How you didn’t notice that another demon entered the cage about thirty minutes ago is beyond me.”
I blink at him in confusion. “What?”
Heaving an exhausted sigh, he sits up
and grabs my arm to pull me into a sitting position. Then he reaches for my face, and when I slant away, he fires a deathly glare at me as his hands dart out lightning quick to cup my face.
“Get your gross demon hands off me,” I gripe, sounding funny with my cheeks now squished.
He pushes on my cheeks harder until I have fish lips. “That’s a great look for you,” he sneers. “Fish lips. Rainbow eyes. You’re like a rainbow fish.” He smiles cleverly. “That’s what I’m going to call you from now on. My little rainbow trout.”
“Don’t you dare,” I warn. With my lips smooshed, it comes out sounding like something else entirely.
“I’m not sure what a ‘tote new pear’ is, but I do know that I’m going to call you my little rainbow trout for all of time and eternity.”
“For all of time and eternity? You know the lifespan on a demon is only fifty years, which means your life is half-expired already.”
His expression turns stone cold. “We only live that long because we’re hunted by malicious creatures who think they’re better than us.”
I wiggle my nose, struggling to get my lips to a normal, less fish-like position. “No, they hunt you because you’re murderers.”
“Says who?”
“Says years and years of history in this town. I wouldn’t be surprised if you guys are the ones responsible for the high amount of deaths going on in Mystic Willow Bay lately.”
With eyes like the devil himself, he inches his face closer to mine, his breath fiery hot against my cheeks. “Newsflash, my little rainbow trout, those murders weren’t caused by something this town considers evil, but by someone hiding behind their true colors.”
Hunter’s face flashes through my mind, but I karate chop the image away.
“Maybe you’re right, but that doesn’t make demons any more innocent,” I bite out. “I’m sure you’ve all done your fair share of killings. Plus, you’ve been stealing dead bodies—bodies that don’t belong to you.”
“Don’t belong to me?” he questions. “Then who does a dead body belong to? You?”
“What? No!” I give him an appalled look. “They belong to the people who mourn them.”
“Actually, they don’t. Once someone dies, they cut all ties with the living … including their bodies.” He studies me with his head angled to the side and a ghost of a smirk on his face. “Except for you. In fact, bodies seem to be more in tune with you than the living and breathing.”
