Chapter 7

   I thought he might have come back after a couple hours, but I didn’t care. My mind was filled with so many emotions, but mostly fire hot anger. I was so angry with him, so angry with them. They had no right to take control like that. To think that they had the right to take control like that…. I screamed in rage and kicked the side of the bed. A sharp pain ran up my foot but I didn’t care. I threw myself face down onto the bed, hiding my face in the soft pillows. I wanted to sleep it all away, but I knew that when I woke up I would be just as disappointed as I had been before.

   I took a deep breath as I felt tears fill my eyes, blurring my image of the wall. I turned away and curled up into a ball. I was one of them. I shut my eyes tight, trying to get rid of the image of my mirror me: my strange demon eyes and my tattoo. I bit my lip too hard and tasted blood in my mouth. That’s when I noticed Rayne’s drawing notebook peeking out from underneath the dresser. My curiosity got the best of me, as I got out of bed and picked up the notebook.

   The notebook felt heavy in my hands; as if I were weighing the guilt I would feel after looking through his personal drawings. But like I said, I was curious. I took another deep breath and opened the cover, flipping to the first page. My breath hitched. Staring back at me was the face of the queen, her eyes looking more loving than they had looked when laid upon me. Her hair slithered around her face, dropping down bellow the page where you couldn’t see, along with her body. I flipped to the next page, and there was a drawing of a small house, half dilapidated and collapsing in flames. The flames he had drawn were long and drawn masterfully, eating away his picture as they did the burning house. My breathing grew faster as I flipped through the pages, his artistry too good for words.

   And then I reached the last page he had drawn in. There were an incredible amount of erase marks on the girls face, as if he couldn’t quite get anything right. Only half of the face was drawn, her hair and nose left out. The eyes were small but yet still large in a heartwarming way. There was a little scribbled note at the bottom, but I couldn’t read the handwriting. I stared at the picture a little longer until suddenly the door burst open. I dropped the notebook in surprise to see Rayne standing there, his eyes wide and body rigid.

   “Rayne.” My voice cracked.

   “I told you not to look through my stuff,” he growled, stalking towards me and picking up the notebook by my feet.

   “I’m sorry, I just-”

   “Got curious?” I thought I heard a hint of amusement in his voice but I didn’t dare decipher that as him being okay.

   “I uh…yeah.” Then remembering our earlier conversation I backed away from where he was standing.

   “I guess I should have stayed away longer.”

   “You were the one mad at me,” I stated.

   “Looks a bit the other way around at the moment,” he said hesitantly.

   “You kill.” It came out as a whisper. “You murder. You’re waging war against the humans, which I grew up with and loved. I have every right to be angry at you.”

   “I never said you didn’t. I just wish you’d stop being so infuriated with me so you could let me explain.”

   “There is no explanation for murder,” I replied.

   “You’re right,” he said. “Then I guess never mind.”

   I licked my lips. “I think you should leave again.”

   He laughed suddenly. “And let you go through my notebook again? I don’t think so.”

   “I got to the end so it doesn’t matter.”

   A sudden red tinged his cheeks, as if he were embarrassed. “Oh.” He still made no movement to leave.

   I exhaled roughly. “Fine, don’t leave. I don’t care. Just don’t talk to me.”

   “No, I have to leave anyways. The queen requests my guard, so Christian is going to baby-sit you until I come back.”

   I raised an eyebrow. “Baby-sit me? I’m not a kid.”

   “Could have fooled me.” I heard the smile in his voice but I didn’t feel like smiling at his joke.

   Instead I walked over to the bed and sat back down, crossing my arms and sitting back down, staring down at the ground.

   “Right, be stubborn and put up your wall of protection. I know that drill.”

   I glared up at him.

   “Just don’t forget who you are,” he mumbled.

   “I never asked to be like this,” I said back.

   “Neither did I.” And then he went out the door. I noticed he had taken his notebook with him.

   I sighed and flopped down on my back on the bed, suddenly exhausted. “You don’t know who I am,” I whispered. That’s when the door reopened. I turned over to see Christian walk in and sit in the chair. He looked annoyed.

   “Something bothering you?” I asked.

   He turned his eyes on me, his eyebrows furrowed. “Just the fact that I have to come back and watch you.”

   I sighed. “I won’t talk if you don’t want me to.”

   He laughed. “Right.” He messed up his hair with his fingers. “Besides I thought you were pissed. Rayne wouldn’t shut up about your little hissy fit.”

   I glared at him. “I don’t understand why you both are acting surprised.”

   Christian raised his eyebrows. “You’re a bit of a mood changer. And you’re not a human anymore, it’s time you learned who you really are.”

   “I am who I am,” I replied. “It’s what I am. I understand I’m not a human, and that I never was. That doesn’t change the fact that I grew up with them, lived my life being one of them.”

   “You were just pretending.”

   “It’s all the same to me.” I watched as his temper flared.

   “You don’t know how it is with us. You’re so inflamed with this waging war that you blame everything on us, the ones that took you away and the ones that are different from you. How much of a fool you’d feel like if you continued this without letting us explain.”

   I took a deep breath and exhaled roughly. “Fine. Make me a fool. Explain to me the possible excuses for murdering the humans.”

   “Did Rayne tell you about the war the humans and the demons had before?”

   I nodded.

   He wet his lips. “The war was because they didn’t trust us. They didn’t believe both kinds could exist in a world together with peace and compromise. They judged us because of the powers we held. They compared us to their silly humans that had tried dominance before. They had no second thoughts on how much more power we had. How much more power we could use against them.” He laughed. “They were so blind by their fear that they didn’t notice how attached we were to them. How amazed. They were fascinating, and loyal.” He shrugged. “It’s true the humans lie, but we could see through them. For a while the lying stopped.”

   “We don’t lie,” I growled, interrupting.

   “Humans lie if it gets them what they want. As does everyone.”

   “So you admit you’re no different.”

   “In mind of course not. Our brains develop the same. We were created from humans after all.” He looked at the wall for a moment. “There was a group of killings. The humans had learned to live with us, learned to put aside their fear for friendship. They finally realized that if they were loyal, we would be as well. But then the killings happened. Almost instantly the humans broke into outrage, pointing fingers at the ones they were believed responsible.” He clenched his jaw. “Us.” Christian looked back at me. “They didn’t even wait for an explanation, for the truth. A demons attachment isn’t just a single unity. It’s a bond, a brotherhood. We. Don’t. Kill. Our. Family.”

   I could hear the anger in his voice, the poison leaking through.

   “They didn’t understand that of course. Human bonds are taken on lighter terms than ours. Our culture was different, always had been. So they attacked us. We were so much harder to kill. More of them ended up dead than us, but we were through fighting with our brothers. No matter how much they hated us, we couldn’t hate them. They were our family. So we ran. We created an alternate world where we would be safe from them.” He sighed. “We’ve lived in this alternate world ever since. We kept our peace. We agreed to stay away from them. But like the humans they were, they broke everything.”

   I was trembling from all the information he was sharing with me. I felt sick to my stomach and terrified. I sat up from the bed, leaning back against the headboard. I heard him take a breath and continue.

   “It wasn’t until a few months ago we felt threat from them. They were pushing into our world, demanding entrance. Demanding a feast of blood.” He laughed, almost mechanically. “They were still blaming us, after the thousands of years kept where we lived our lives in our world. Stayed out of theirs. And here they were, blaming us on first chance.”

   “For what?” My voice was raspy.

   “Attacks. Killings. Anything they could get their hands on.” He looked down at his hands. “And stealing.”

   “Stealing?” I asked.

   He nodded. “We’ve had spies. After they tried attacking us we went out to see if we could figure out why. Apparently they’re having some trouble. Someone has been stealing information.”

   “And it wasn’t you?”

   “We may be smart enough to get past their systems, but we’re not stupid enough to try.” He gulped, and I saw something like fear pass through his eyes. “They’re trying to wage war with us again. They’re building things. Learning from past wars what works to hurt us and what doesn’t.” Christian stared me in the eyes. “Constance I understand that you’re with the humans, and that you believe we’re monsters for waging war back on them, but truthfully we’re done hiding. They’ve pushed us away for much too long and we’re tired of being the ones having to deal with all their mistakes.”

   I looked away from him and laid back down on the pillows, my back facing him. My heart and mind were torn, between human and demon. Between my past and my future. All of this information I could tell was real. Christian wasn’t lying, it was clear in his eyes. But what was I supposed to do now?

Reviews

[r]

Freaking epic!! I love the back story of it!

I have something to point out: the very last paragraph is a different font than the rest of it, thought it'd tell ya just in case you didn't notice, hehe