never say those things to her.”
“Darling, your father isn’t here anymore. He’s dying. His body and soul will be useless to me in a couple more days. He’s not as strong as he looks, is he?” Erik laughed her father’s laugh again. The sound burned in Kate’s throat and stung her eyes. She felt angry tears threaten to tumble down her cheeks, but she forced them back, knowing that she needed to keep pretending. She needed to stay strong enough to hide her fear and sadness.
Erik cleared his throat, pulling Kate from her inner monologue. “Aren’t you the least bit curious about what I’m doing here?” he probed. “I can’t tell you unless you ask, my dear.”
Kate saw no other choice. “Why are you here, Erik?” she mumbled angrily. Her voice was low, tight. But she kept it inside. She could do this.
“I am here because you made me angry,” he started. “You had to send your boyfriend here to check me out. You had to spy on me.” Erik paced around the room. “And your father annoyed me. I could tell he was catching on to my plan. He thought it was weird that I asked you so many questions. Your mother is a much nicer person, my dear. However, it was more fun to take your father’s soul. He was such a fighter, that is, until I broke him.” Erik laughed maniacally. The sound was high pitched and hurt Kate’s ears. She didn’t flinch, though, didn’t look away.
Now, she was angry and defensive. She lifted up her barricades, knowing that she would never let Erik harm her. He had done this out of anger and revenge. He had done this because he could, because Aaron was just collateral damage. Kern may not be angry at Erik for taking his rage out on Kate’s human father. For all intents and purposes, he was still keeping Kate’s body and soul safe or keeping an eye on Rico and Adriana; whatever his purpose was, Kate was sure that it was not to keep Aaron safe also. “Who did you have to pay to weaken his body before you got in?” she spat.
Erik’s eyes blazed and in a fit of anger he rushed toward Kate and smacked her across her face, hard. Tears stung Kate’s eyes, her right cheek stung, and her mouth burned furiously. She bit down on her tongue when he hit her, making sure that she didn’t scream, didn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing her cry out in pain. She would show no weakness. She would be strong, like her father had been.
“So you did pay someone,” she said smugly. “Even with your dark magic you can’t fight a human fairly? I thought demons were stronger than humans, Erik. I thought you were stronger than that.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You know nothing about fighting for your life or what it truly means. You don’t know what it’s like being thought of as a parasite. You don’t know anything at all,” he spat.
“I know a true elder demon should be someone that takes his own souls,” Kate replied, her voice stronger than it had ever been.
Erik rushed at her again and lifted his hand in the air. Kate braced herself but felt nothing. She opened her eyes to see that Erik was still leaning over her. Slowly and deliberately, he moved his hands on the chair’s armrest and pressed his weight onto her arms. Kate almost felt the blood circulation cutting off; it was like putting a kink in a water hose, and the pressure building in Kate’s arms was almost unbearable. She watched in amazement as her fingers and arms began to turn purple from lack of blood. Erik was going to weaken Kate’s body as well. Was he going to attempt to take her soul and discard her father’s body? Kate wasn’t certain that he could do that, but she didn’t know the extent of dark magic either. She wasn’t about to assume that Erik’s magic couldn’t make her darkest nightmares come true.
Suddenly, Erik’s voice rang out around her. “I am no elder demon, Kate. I am a god. I have powers beyond anything that you’ve ever dreamed of. I am almighty. I am immortal. I am omnipotent. I am a god.”
Kate laughed, and was surprised that it sounded hard and gritty. This man was just a power-hungry child that needed to be spanked into submission. Her voice was just as gritty when she spoke. “You will never be any of those things. To be a god you must be loved. You must be cherished. You will never be admired or worshiped. You will never be special; you will always be just like everyone else.”
This time, he did smack her. Kate’s cheek burned even more this time. Kate knew that it was red, knew that it would bruise, but she didn’t care. She watched as Erik took a step back. He composed himself and walked around in circles, admiring his – Aaron’s – fingernails. He began humming a depressing tune to himself. Kate watched as his neck muscles visibly relaxed. She began to see through his façade; Erik’s pride was a weakness. He hated when people called him names. There. At least she did something right.
“You may think that you’re the important one in the room; you may think that I’m here for you, that I’m here for Kern. You’re wrong. I’m here for myself,” Erik claimed. His voice was a raspy whisper, almost as if he was convincing himself.
“What do you mean here for yourself?” Kate asked. She couldn’t help her curiosity. She momentarily forgot her plan to anger Erik, and leaned forward, morbidly eager to hear his response.
“You don’t recognize me do you?” Erik sneered proudly. Kate’s father looked awkward making this gesture. It frightened Kate in a way that worried her; she didn’t know how much more of this she could take.
Suddenly, Erik seemed to melt inside himself, and Kate watched in horror as he fought for further control with Aaron. It almost appeared as if Aaron was talking to himself again, and the sight truly scared Kate. She listened to her father’s kind voice, and Erik’s rough and deep voice fight for control of Aaron’s body. It hit Kate suddenly, knowledge that she should have already known, knowledge that her mind should have connected a long time ago.
Erik was the man that had attacked Kate during her first night in her new town. She should have recognized his deep voice before; she should have remembered his silhouette – the tall, dark figure. A fresh wave of fear washed over Kate. Erik had been here all along. He had known about Kate this whole time.
“How long have you been watching me?” she whispered.
“I’ve been watching you for a while, Kate. Your whole life has been spent under my watchful eye, my shadow. My existence for the past sixteen years has been spent watching you. I know you better than you know yourself. I know your strengths and weaknesses, your darkness, your light. I know who you love and who you hate. I know everything.”
Kate chose to ignore his creepiness. “You’ve been watching me and keeping me safe for Kern?” she asked instead.
“Sort of,” Erik admitted. “I only recently found out who you were and why Kern wants your soul, your pure soul, the only pure soul on planet Earth.”
“Why does he want me?” Kate pressed.
“Darling Kate, I will never tell you why. I will let Kern tell you that, when he deals with you. You know, he should be here soon. He’s busy at the moment, finishing the body and soul that he currently claims, but when he is finished with that one he will claim yours. You will be his final victim.”
“Final victim? Does he plan on dying?”
“No,” Erik laughed. “He will live forever with your soul, with your body. He will be immortal. He will be pure. You will forever be trapped in his body, trapped in his soul.” Erik’s voice was oddly serious now, and Kate grew weary, afraid. She didn’t know this. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to. But she had to know. She had to deal with it.
Kate swallowed but refused to speak, because she knew her voice would betray her this time, and Erik couldn’t see her weakness. Not now.
Erik looked at Kate and laughed hysterically, understanding her fresh discovery, her fear. He did know her, far too well. Kate sat stunned. She could speak no more. He didn’t even need her to speak to read her mind, and it made things worse. However, her silence didn’t do much to entertain Erik, and his laughter quickly faded. He watched Kate sift through her tangled feelings, becoming bored within a few seconds. “Let’s see,” he said suddenly, growing serious. “This little game is getting boring. Let’
s get this party started.”
Kate turned, following Erik as he crossed the living room and walked toward her parents’ bedroom. She could hear the sounds of metal scraping on wood. She crossed her fingers, hoping against hope that this was no torture device, that Erik wouldn’t inflict physical pain on her any longer. She was wrong again, as always. This kind of pain was much worse.
26
Kate stared at Erik while he dragged her mother’s body out of the room. Blaire was tied up like Kate; her head sagged and hung against her lifeless body, resting on her shoulder. Her chestnut curls covered her tired face and lay tangled in the long chains of her silver earrings. She was still wearing her work clothes.
“I tried to get rid of her, Kate. She came back,” Erik said sadly. He clucked, almost as if he regretted what he did, what he was about to do. Kate’s heart began to pound. She wasn’t strong enough to say no when her mother was involved.
Kate kept shaking her head back and forth. “How did she come back? I thought you made sure she was gone!” Kate said accusingly.
Erik swallowed and shrugged instead of speaking. For the first time, Kate saw a real weakness in him. He was upset. He didn’t know what went wrong, and he was still trying to figure it out.
“You can’t control