Demon Child

  Demon Child

  Book Three of the Hayle Coven Novels

  Patti Larsen

  Kobo Edition

  Copyright 2011 by Patti Larsen

  Find out more about Patti Larsen at

  http://www.pattilarsen.com/

  http://www.pattilarsenbooks.blogspot.com/

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may no be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author or publisher except for the use of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.

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  Cover art (copyright) by Stephanie Mooney. All rights reserved.

  http://www.stephaniemooney.blogspot.com/

  Edited by Annetta Ribken, freelance Goddess. You can find her at http://www.wordwebbing.com/

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  Kobo Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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  Dedication

  To my sisters, Cat and Caron, for many reasons, including dragging me out of the house and my private world enough to keep me sane, believing in me no matter what and sharing this road with me, judgment free. I love you both so much.

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  Chapter One

  Just my luck, the moment my marshmallow browned to sugary perfection, my hand slipped a little too close and—poof—it burst into flames before sliding from the end of my carefully peeled stick and into the fire.

  Nuts.

  Simon’s glasses reflected the campfire as he grinned at me around a mouthful of white, blackened bits sticking to his lips and teeth. The sight made me slightly nauseated and actually grateful my treat lay crisping to death on the coals.

  I was just happy to finally be free of a month’s worth of grounding. I seriously thought Mom was joking when she told me I’d lost my freedom that morning in the cave where we all nearly died. After all, hadn’t I just saved the coven and the Blood Clan DeWinter from the creature who was part human, part Firblog, part vampire plague and part demon? Poor Cesard had a serious case of multiple personality disorder.

  If it wasn’t for my demon power and the misplaced affection of one Brad Peters, we’d all be drained husks and the critter who was all of the above roaming free, taking over the world.

  But nope. She was serious. So when the last day of my confinement finally arrived and, to celebrate, my best friend Alison and the gang invited me to go camping, I jumped at the chance. Not because I enjoyed camping. Like I had any interest in sleeping on the ground. No, I joined them because I couldn’t stand being in the house with only my sister, my demon cat and my crazy grandmother to keep me company.

  Blame me?

  I worried at first they would want to camp at the party site, the place where former cheer captain Suzanne Collins was taken over by the creature Cesard, the same place he died in the first light of the sun. I knew if it were the case, it would be a deal breaker for me. No way was I going near where the messed up creature crispy crittered. But to my relief, we ended up on the north end of town in a small campground just opened for the season.

  Alison picked our site, naturally. We were right on the edge of the woods, closest to the bathroom. Typical. Although, I wasn’t complaining. Nothing like staggering through the dark in the middle of the night when I really needed to pee.

  Blood made the fire, all happy and Goth over it. I had no idea he was such a pyro until I watched him lovingly shape and monitor its every moment. Sweet Beth brought the food, beaming happily and actually humming under her breath as she laid out the perfectly made sandwiches. Get this. She’d cut the crusts off.

  Our Beth. Had to love her.

  Simon supplied the marshmallows, the same ones we now enjoyed. Or burned to a crisp. I felt like I was free loading, but everyone was having so much fun I figured I’d find a way to make it up to them. Pizza and popcorn movie night, maybe.

  Pain was the only one who seemed subdued, but she’d been through a lot too. After all, she’d somehow managed to break through the very heavy shields holding back her magic and reach Cesard during a séance I was sure wouldn’t amount to anything.

  Alison caught me up on the drive over. “She’s been away too,” she said. “You know. Getting better.”

  I couldn’t tell her or anyone else there was nothing wrong with our friend. Nothing, that is, a little magic couldn’t cure. But I’d been forbidden to do anything about Pain or her problems so all I could do was nod.

  “Is she okay?”

  Alison shrugged. “She freaked out in class and they had to take her away in a straightjacket.” I’d been there. And though Alison was right about the freaking part, there wasn’t a straightjacket in sight. “Do you think she’s okay?”

  And yet, when Blood told a joke, she laughed. When Simon dribbled hot marshmallow on his pants, she wiped it away. She was Pain. Though her blue eyes, when they met mine, seemed to know more than they did before.

  Blood slid another stick of wood onto the flames, stirring sparks. I looked away, my heart in my throat. When the fire first blazed to life, I’d shuddered. I had the double whammy of almost being burned alive and the memory of the magician lighting up as the sun rose.

  “You okay, Syd?” Alison held her stick out to the flames, seeming to have more fun turning her own marshmallow into a charred lump of black.

  “Yeah,” I said, shuddering again, my mind going to the smell of kerosene and choking smoke, people in white robes sentencing me to death while Demitrius Strong smiled his cherub smile. All topped off by the vision of a head coming loose from the owner’s neck and bouncing into the fire at my feet. “Just… need another sweater. I’ll be right back.”

  I retreated into the tent and collapsed on my sleeping bag.

  There was a reason Mom grounded me, I figured. I just wasn’t ready to be around normal people yet. I heard them laughing and talking, uncertain if I was in the right headspace to join them.

  Oh, pull it together, I snapped at myself. They are your friends. You’ve wanted friends for as long as you can remember and now you have them. Enjoy it, Syd. This won’t last forever.

  My demon hummed her agreement. We both knew one of these times something catastrophic would happen and we’d have to move and that would be that.

  I grabbed a sweater out of my bag and peeked outside. My friends looked so happy. So normal. The fire climbed from the middle of the circle they made, sending a glow from Pain’s piercings, shining on Simon’s glasses. I felt a surge of love and affection for them that trumped the mess in my mind.

  They were my friends and I wanted to be with them.

  I leaned back and dropped the flap, pulling the sweater on over my head. Time to press play on the life I wanted to live.

  I heard a soft hiss behind me, a sound like fabric being cut, and turned to look. Before I could spin all the way around, something wet and stinky covered my mouth and nose. I tried to cry out, to fight, my demon struggling with me, but the drug went right to my mind and I spun down into black.

  ***

  Everything seemed off. For one, I couldn’t see a thing, lost in the dark. And the floor shuddere
d and rocked underneath me. A horrible taste filled my mouth, making me gag. Reality morphed in and out, muffled sounds turning sharp in a moment only to fade away again. I felt like I was under water, only to find myself falling before floating again. And somewhere, far in the distance, someone screamed at me.

  What the hell happened?

  My mind tried to piece it together. Flashes of memory came to me in the darkness. The party and Suzanne’s insanity fed by the evil spirit her blood raised. The attacks on the family by the same spirit. The vampire alliance and the séance with Pain. Brad’s birthday gift tied to his latent magic. The battle with Cesard, the demon and the vampire spirit he was bonded to. Around and around they went, swirling so fast my stomach clenched. I was going to be sick.

  The screaming voice didn’t help. If she didn’t quit it soon, my head would explode.

  I was supposed to be camping with my friends. As more reality returned, I remembered the sound of ripping tent fabric, the stink of something wet and cold pressed to my face. A thin slice of terror drove itself through my heart. I’d been kidnapped.

  I reached for my magic. Nothing. I fumbled around the edges of it, unable to focus, the groggy fog bouncing me around far too much. Or was that something else? The bumps I felt… I was moving without going anywhere.

  A car. Or a van. I had to be in the back. Now I understood, I heard the hiss of tires on pavement, felt the rocking of the vehicle beneath me. I tried to struggle, but even that simple physical act was still impossible beyond a feeble flapping of my hands. I poured everything I had into fighting and barely managed to shift my feet.

  The voice’s screams turned to cursing fury. Who was that?

  Someone hovered over me on the other side of the black. My eyelashes fluttered against resistance. Had to be a blindfold. Was that the screamer leaning close? No. Whoever it was, his voice went in and out like my ability to focus, his tone quite normal.

  “… witch and she shall be…”

  What? Who knew I was a witch? Was this some kind of coven joke? I must have grunted aloud because I felt fingers on my face, the brush of cloth on my cheek and I could see again. At least partially. My eyes registered three people, all in black. A van, definitely. A face entered my line of sight, cherub cheeks and clear blue eyes familiar. A fading bruise graced one side, taking up almost half of his face, coupled with a healing split lip. But his faint smile was so sweet I found myself smiling too.

  “Welcome back, Sydlynn Hayle,” he said.

  My mind clicked. Demitrius Strong. Leader of the Chosen of the Light. There was something wrong with him, with this. I shuddered from an image of fire and a group of people in white robes. His face swam a moment then returned to clarity.

  The screaming voice never shut up. In that instant I realized two things. One, whoever yelled at me was inside my head. And two, this man planned to kill me.

  I fought harder, but still without success. My struggles almost made it worse. The more I battled the fog and fuzziness of whatever he drugged me with, the deeper I spun into haze and the edges of oblivion.

  “There is no use in fighting us any longer,” Demitrius said. “Now is the time for true judgment. We offered you release, salvation for your eternal soul, and you set a demon upon us. Now we see how truly evil you and your family have become.”

  Inside my head, my demon stopped screaming and started listening.

  “This time you will face eternal damnation,” he said so serenely it made my skin crawl even through the drug. “You will be bound for all time, never receiving the cleansing of the holy fire, your soul forever in suffering. You will be punished for your evil at last, Sydlynn, and no one will ever set you free of your torment.”

  I forgot how insane he was. Or maybe I chose to. But staying under his power was not an option. I had no idea how he intended to trap me for all eternity, but I knew I wouldn’t like it.

  I scrambled for my magic and still came up empty. I could feel the edges of it, but without the ability to focus I was a total mess. Maybe if I studied harder, learned more. Hadn’t wasted my entire life fighting my abilities and refusing to use my magic.

  No time now for poor Syd. But, well. Poor Syd.

  Let me out.

  That was enough to jerk my whole body in reaction.

  Let me OUT!

  My demon. She clawed and fought and tore at my mind.

  How? The fog. That was it. I only imagined my demon spoke to me. She was part of me. How could she talk? Still, I was out of it enough to ask.

  She growled and howled in answer. It was really starting to hurt.

  “Hurts.” I know that came out of my mouth because I heard it. And watched Demitrius bend over me with his sweet smile.

  “Good,” he said. “I’m so glad.”

  My demon slammed against the walls in my mind so hard I felt a cry torn from me. For one brief instant, everything was completely clear, but from outside myself. Like a bright snapshot just at the moment the flash goes off, I saw it all. Demitrius, his mouth a perfect ‘O’ of surprise, his two counterparts looking terrified. The inside of the plain white van, my own bound body. My mind immediately decided it was time to toss the sweatshirt I wore because it made my skin look sallow even while my demon ripped through my mind and took over.

  I was instantly shunted aside, my mind still in fog. The rest of the scene unfolded as I struggled to fight off the effects of the drug. It was like playing a first person shooter where you don’t have control of the characters. I watched the rope around my wrists burst apart in amber flames before I flickered to black. The next instant I saw the two Chosen on the other side of the van lift suddenly from the bench and slam face first into the floor. I faded out again only to come to as Demitrius lunged for me. My demon slashed out with her power, amber energy pummeling him into the wall.

  I was out longer this time because when reality came knocking I hung in mid-air, my body weightless as the van tipped sideways. Blissfully, I left that scene, had a moment of gray, then came back as my demon saved us from injury, using her power to cushion our fall. Something heavy impacted us, rolled over us. Demitrius snarled as he grasped for us but the haze called me and I missed the rest.

  I was wet all of a sudden. My demon hauled us out the crumpled back door of the van. We were hip deep in very cold water. The current pulled against the legs of my jeans, would have made me stagger, but my demon never faltered.

  I flickered out. When the real world returned one last time, we stood on the side of the road, looking down over a steep bank into a river. A white van lay at the bottom, half submerged in water, the still living headlights shining down to the bottom.

  No one moved inside. For a heartbeat I felt terror, real terror. Had I killed them? Had she? I’d be just as guilty. She slammed me hard with her power.

  They deserve what they get.

  I didn’t have a chance to protest. The fog called me back and this time I felt her pushing me into it, driving me deeper and deeper until the darkness claimed me once and for all.

  ***

  Chapter Two

  I sat up abruptly, wide-awake and crystal clear, expecting the fight of my life.

  So how did I end up at home in my own bed, pajamas on, with the morning sun beaming happily in at me?

  Did I dream the entire thing? Was it some kind of horrid nightmare? Had to be. How else did I make it home and into bed, safe and sound, when my mind told me I was so close to suffering a fate worse than death?

  I almost convinced myself when I happened to look down at my hands. They were filthy, coated in caked mud, one of the nails cracked and peeling, dried blood pooled around the edges. I stumbled out of bed, muscles aching. I limped the first few steps, right leg burning like I’d pulled a muscle before making it to my mirror.

  And gasping at my reflection. I’d heard the expression, ‘looks like hell’ before, but always thought it was some kind of exaggeration.

  I kid you not. I looked like… well. My previously sort o
f tidy ponytail hung half intact, the elastic clinging bravely to a lock of matted hair. A handful of leaves and twigs squashed next to the black tie in another clump of mud. Said dirt plastered a large mass to the side of my face, already peeling away in chunks. Dark circles carved deep caverns under my staring eyes, my face so pale and hollowed out I was sure I died after all and only my ghost made it home.

  I raised one hand to touch the chunk of dirt on my face and winced. Nope, definitely alive. Being dead couldn’t possibly hurt this much. I pulled back the neck of my shirt and winced at the giant bruise on the top of my right shoulder. A flash of the back of the van made me twitch so violently I whimpered from the pain it caused.

  Careful inspection uncovered that I was grubby, bruised and battered, but whole. Safe. At least, in body. Now that I dealt with the physical part of me, I started worrying about the mental.

  My demon. She forced her way to the surface and took over. The very thought of it terrified me so much I had to hug myself to keep from shaking apart. Bad enough she lurked in my head 24/7, screwing up my chances to be normal. But the idea she could actually shove me aside and take over made me want to scream out loud.

  She was quiet for once. Almost smug. I felt around the edges of her, the part that connected to me. She seemed content, at least for the moment. Guilt surged up to smother my fear.

  She did save my life after all. Our lives. I wasn’t the only one with a vested interest in my survival. Ashamed and quivering, I sent her a tentative thank you.

  You’re welcome.

  This was not good. She was still talking to me, using an actual sound that equaled a voice. She’d never done that before. Either hadn’t been able or chose not to. Part of me always thought of her as separate, as though we were two people in one body. Recently, I started to notice her restlessness. How she pushed the edge between us. Ever since we defeated Cesard and I’d used all that demon magic, or let her use it, to be more precise, it felt like she wasn’t satisfied with a secondary role anymore.