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)
Guilt.
“What have you done?” I asked.
Damien reared back a step, surprised, but then another look of resignation flared over his features. “I feel that I should’ve done something to keep your father from arriving. I could’ve sent him somewhere else.”
Kellan turned and faced the group. “That would’ve been useless. Her father went there with the excuse of looking for Vespar and Gus. He stays with the real reason of searching for his daughter. She’s been kept from him since she was given life in her mother’s womb. He wants Shay, and he won’t leave without her.”
Aumae sat up slowly, still weak. “Then he has a different sort of fight on his hands, doesn’t he?”
Damien looked between the two and cleared his throat, stuffing his hands into his sweater’s front pocket. “It doesn’t matter. He’s in town, and he’s watching your half-siblings.”
“It’s a trap.” When everyone looked at me, I nodded. “It’s a trap. He thinks we’ll swoop in to get Vespar and Gus out of there, but we won’t. We’ll leave them. I mean, Vespar was going to kill me. I don’t want to go anywhere near him after that. My dad will never know. He’ll watch them, and we can get away.”
“Uh…” Damien sent me an apologetic smile. “That would be all good and everything, but you don’t know where your half sibs are… They’re being held captive by two humans you went to school with.”
“Two humans?”
Kellan groaned. “Dylan.”
“Exactly.” Damien snapped his fingers at him.
“What?”
“Gus said he was into dark magic. He could’ve used something to keep me from wiping his memory and then decided to go after Vespar and Gus when we were gone.” Kellan shrugged. “It’s what I’d do if I were him and I knew dark magic.”
“What?” I snapped, throwing my arms in the air. They were both acting too casual about this. “Dylan and someone else captured Vespar and Gus? What are they doing—torturing them?”
Aumae shuddered behind me.
“Probably,” Damien answered with a blank face.
“Are you okay with that? They might be getting tortured, and you act like you don’t care?”
“Why do you?” he shot back at me.
“Because torture is torture. It’s wrong. It doesn’t matter what the person or thing did—it’s always wrong. I shouldn’t have to tell you that.” My eyes were cold. He was a messenger, at least half of one. Didn’t we stand for the good?
Flinching, I turned away, but I was aware of Kellan’s sudden intense gaze on me. He was studying me, watching for some reaction, but it didn’t matter. Torture was wrong. I wouldn’t want anyone to go through that. As my eyes shifted over Aumae, I shivered at the memory of seeing her tied down by a violated virgin’s blood. Her skin had crawled over her, boiling from the inside up. Vespar wanted to kill me, but I still couldn’t handle thinking of him going through that same torture.
I lifted my chin and squared my shoulders, turning toward Damien and Kellan.
“We’re going back. We have to.” My eyes went to Kellan. “What do you think?”
“We could use their help against your father.”
“Then it’s decided. We go back.”
“But—what?” Damien shook his head. “I can’t believe this. You’re going back to save two demons? Two demons that were planning to kill you?”
“What do you mean ‘you’re?’ You’re not coming?”
He snorted in disbelief. “Messengers don’t save demons. And I think you’re crazy for even thinking about it.”
“Well, then I’m not the typical messenger, am I?” I was a little hurt by his decision, but it didn’t matter. Kellan and I would handle it. We’d be fine. Then a different thought came to me. “Why did you even come here? You told us about Gus and Vespar. Did you think we wouldn’t go to save them?”
Damien shuffled his feet, from side to side before he responded, “I wanted to warn you about your dad. I never thought you’d go back. You should be going the other way—not headed into the lion’s den.”
“She’s made up her mind. We’re going,” Kellan spoke up and left the room. As he walked past, I met Damien’s eyes and saw concern for a moment. It shocked me, but then a blank mask fell back in place. It didn’t surprise me. I always knew the other messenger was guarded, controlled, but the concern did cause me to pause a moment. What would he be concerned about—about me? About Kellan? Did he think the humans were going to actually beat us?
Damien left right behind Kellan, and Aumae sat up beside me to rest a hand on my arm. She murmured, “He’s not used to being worried about anybody.”
When she got up and followed behind the other two, I sat back in more dismay.
What did that mean? Damien didn’t have anybody close?
“Shay!” Kellan yelled out. “Come on!”
“Coming!” I jumped up and hurried out to the car. We’d just got back from one mission and now we were leaving for another. I had a feeling that downtime would be sparse from here on out.