Never Say Die- Chapter 24

 

Chapter 24

 

 

 

            When it was finally my turn to go up on the stage, my heart was pounding furiously in my chest, but you’d have never guessed from the smile on my face. I made myself comfortable on a stool they had provided and turned my Charisma up a few notches. The opening bid was five thousand dollars.

            I smiled brilliantly at the bidder and blew him a kiss, he looked thrilled as his face turned red with pleasure. The next bid jumped to ten thousand, then twenty thousand and before I knew it the bidding was higher than it had been the entire night and not a dime of my money had been bid yet.

            I looked directly at Flan, You make sure that Rhys is the highest bidder no matter how much it costs. I told her, and saw her nod quickly. The bids continued to rise into the hundred thousands, much to my surprise, a bidding war ensued among the male guests and my guess was that Malcolm had found a way to possess the wealthiest of them all.

            I could really sense his presence now even though it was harder to recognize as part of a possession rather than in person, but that meant that he was fairly close to me. I began to look for someone who was well hidden when they made their bids and it didn’t take long to spot the man in a wheelchair bidding from the corner of the room.

            Seconds after I’d spotted him I caught a flash of red as the lights moved across his face, he glared at me with an evil smile and I knew we had him.

            There’s a man near the stage in a wheelchair, that’s him, keep an eye out. I told Flan and once again she barely nodded in response. The bidding had just reached one million dollars thanks to the possessed man and I was determined that Rhys was going to win this if for no other reason than saving an innocent man from spending millions of dollars against his will.

            They were calling for one million and five when Rhys looked at me in a panic, I nodded to him to go for it but he looked unsure. I heard him saying to Flan, “That’s an awful lot of money to spend when it doesn’t belong to you.” I heard her huff in frustration before making the bid herself.

           “One point five million dollars!”

            “Two Million!”

            “Two and a half million!” Flan countered and on and on it went, coming down to her and the man in the wheelchair. She seemed to be trying to get Rhys in on the bidding in between turns.

            Finally she elbowed him in the ribs and he spoke up, “Five million dollars!” I smiled in relief and blew him a kiss. Many people had turned to stare at him, anyone who knew him was well aware that he didn’t have that kind of money and I was afraid of the suspicion that might arise among his friends but I was going to have to worry about it later because the man in the wheelchair had just doubled the bid.

            The workers eyes were the size of saucers at this point, I could only imagine what they’d look like when the check actually cleared. Flan was quick to take the bid up to 12 million and the man in the chair countered with fifteen.

            Then Rhys surprised us all by yelling, “Twenty five million dollars!” Even the man in the wheelchair turned to look at him this time and the room went dead silent. I could see Aaron at his side obviously questioning his sanity and he replied, “Don’t worry about it, it’ll be taken care of.” I was glad that he seemed to be taking me at my word about covering the winning bid.

            Suddenly the man in the wheelchair became very still and his chin came to rest on his chest, everybody seemed to still be looking at Rhys and nobody else had noticed yet.

            “Can somebody check on the other bidder? I think something is wrong with him!” I called and suddenly the attention of the crowd was drawn to the unmoving man. I prayed that the possession hadn’t been too much for his fragile body to handle, he was no spring chicken and as sad as it would have been, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it killed him.

            It seemed that the night had come to a sudden halt as the paramedics were called, I slipped down from the stage and made my way back to our table, at some point Flan had gone out to the car and gotten my check book.

            “You might need this.” She said, handing it to me with a smirk and I sat down to write out a check for twenty five million, one hundred and fifty five thousand dollars. The ink wasn’t even dry when I walked up to the table where the Orphanage and foster care workers sat.

            “This check covers the bids for myself, Rhys Davis, Flannigan Emery and Hadley Murphy. Take it directly to my bank if you’re skeptical but I promise you that it will clear without a problem.” They took the check without question and each shook my hand warmly thanking me repeatedly for my time and effort.

            “It’s the least I can do for the children.” I smiled graciously and accepted their thanks before heading back to the table.

            “We should probably get out of here, Malcolm isn’t happy and I’ve seen trouble coming soon.” Flan said ominously and Hadley looked conflicted, like she wanted to help Flan but wanted to stay out of our fight at the same time.

            I put my hand on her arm, “It’s okay Hadley, I understand why you don’t want to get involved, this isn’t your fight anyway.” I said quietly so that Rhys couldn’t hear.

            “I know but I feel like we’re hanging you out to dry.” She said uncertainly.

            “I can handle this, don’t worry about it I promise it will be fine, remember who I am.” I tried to sound encouraging but wasn’t sure I’d quite pulled it off.

            “Saydie you’re part of our family, we can’t just leave you defenseless.” She argued quietly.

            “Look who you’re talking to, I’m hardly defenseless, if I have to I’ll call in my dad, does that make you feel better?” I could see that she was absolutely terrified of her coven being wiped out in seconds by Malcolm and I didn’t blame her but I didn’t want her to feel guilty either. “It will all be fine, Flan and I will both be fine. Never say die right?” I smiled at her.

            “Never say die.” She repeated and smiled back.

            Everything else seemed to happen in a blur as Flan began to have visions of what Malcolm was going to do next, it seemed that he was really pissed off this time and was done with subtle hints.

            “He wants to be face to face!” Flan hissed in my ear as we walked toward the car, Rhys was still saying goodbye to a few people at the door and I was thankful that he was distracted.

            “Here or down there?” I demanded.

            “Here!” Flan sounded slightly panicked but managed to keep her cool for the most part as we approached the car.

            “Where at?”

            “I’m not sure yet but we need to keep Rhys with us, Malcolm knows that Rhys is his greatest weapon against you and he’ll do anything he can to get to him.”

            My mind was spinning with strategies and escape plans as I saw Armistead crossing the parking lot toward his bike. “Armistead!” I called out and he turned in my direction before hurrying over as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself.

            “Do you know anything about fighting other demons?” I asked in a rush and he shook his head.

            “Despite the costume I’m really more of a lover than a fighter princess. I’m not entirely sure we demons can even kill each other.”

            “Yeah but given who she is there’s got to be some kind of advantage right?” Flan interjected.

            “I don’t really know, she’s not that powerful but if there’s any dormant powers that you don’t know about, exposure to an upper level demon is probably going to bring it out so be ready for that. He’s had centuries if not millennia to hone his fighting skills and demon abilities, as far as I can tell you’re going into this like a random human off the street with a few demon tricks up your sleeve.” He replied apologetically but I knew he was being honest. “I wish you the best of luck and apologize deeply for not being able to help more but this is not my fight.”

            I nodded, “Of course it’s not and I would expect nothing more from you.”

            “I hope to see you again sometime soon princess.” He reached out and shook my hand before turning away to head back to his bike. With a deafening roar, he was gone seconds later, leaving Flan and I standing alone again by the car wondering what the hell we were going to do.

            “I’m going to follow you guys home alright?” Rhys called from across the lot, on his way to his truck.

            “Okay!” I replied and blew him a kiss which he returned. “Let’s just hurry up and get home.” I said to Flan as we slid into our seats.

            We reached the house before Rhys did and rushed into the house; Flan dragged me into the theater room and pointed her wand at me. In the blink of an eye I was back in jeans and a sweatshirt and so was she.

            “Now what do we do?” I asked as she tried to focus on her visions.

            “He’s coming after you, there’s going to be a battle.” She said in shock looking up at me, terrified of what she’d seen.

            “Do you know who’s going to win?” I asked hurriedly and she shook her head, suddenly looking solemn.

            “Saydie, you need to know that a battle with another demon on the Day of the Dead is really not a good sign.”

            “What does it mean?” I asked not understanding.

            “It means that somebody is going to die.” We stared quietly into each other’s eyes for a moment, each of us praying that the one to die would be Malcolm while having no idea if that was even possible.

            I heard the sound of a car door slamming and rushed to the door to let Rhys in.

            “Wow you changed fast.” He said as I pulled him inside, peering around the yard behind him before closing the door and locking it. He pulled me around to face him and put his hands on my shoulders.      

            “Hey babe is everything alright? You seem awfully jittery since we left.” He looked so concerned and I was so afraid that this was the last chance we’d get to say goodbye but couldn’t bring myself to do it. I had to hold on to the hope that I was wrong and would come out of this victoriously.

            “I’m just worried about that poor old man, did you see if he was alright when you left?” Understanding flooded his face and he pulled me to him.

            “He’s going to be fine, he was cursing up a storm when they put him in the ambulance.”

            “Why was he so angry?” I asked in disbelief.

            Rhys chuckled, “Because they told him he’d lost the auction.” I couldn’t help the smile that came to my lips but it wasn’t much of one.

            Then Flan’s urgent voice reached my ears from the kitchen, “Saydie!” she called sounding very scared.

            I ran to her side as she stood staring out the window, “What’s wrong?” I asked but she didn’t move an inch other than to nod toward the back yard. In the next second many things happened.

            There was a brilliant flash of light, the ground shook and many of my windows shattered. I found myself on the ground in a bubble of light, watching as the force of the blast sent pieces of glass flying towards us but then they bounced harmlessly off of the bubble to fall to the ground.

            I looked over toward the theater room to see Rhys standing in the door frame, he’d thought there was an earthquake.

            “We have to get him out of here.” I hissed at Flan as I pulled her up.

            “You get him out, I’ll stall Malcolm as long as I can.” She said, not daring to look me in the eye. We both stood and she turned to head for the back yard and I ran for Rhys, startling with my sudden appearance beside him. I had so many things I wanted to say to her but this definitely wasn’t the time.

            I yanked on Rhys’s arm, startling him again with the strength that I’d been so careful to hide from him.

            “We need to go now, let’s take your truck, you’re blocking me in.” I said pulling him toward the front door against his will and at an inhuman speed.

            “Saydie you have to tell me what’s going on here.” He said trying to keep up.

            “Give me your keys.” Was all I could say and he handed over his keys without arguing. I started the truck and was speeding down the driveway before he’d even gotten his seatbelt on.

            “Baby talk to me, you’re starting to freak me out.” He was pleading as the needle on the speedometer inched closer to 100mph. “Why are you driving so fast?” He demanded sounding a little panicked.

            “I love you.” Was all I said and I could see that he was clearly frustrated with me.

            Where am I going Flan? I thought hard, realizing that I had no idea where to take him or if she’d even hear me.

            Take him to the rock quarry, it’s the only place where you can keep the other people safe. I jumped at her response, not actually being prepared to communicate over such a distance but I headed toward the quarry like she told me.

            I’d caught the hidden meaning in her response, I could be walking us all into a death trap but at least the rest of the city would be safe. I was potentially sacrificing the lives of the two humans I loved more than anyone in the world in order to protect everyone else and suddenly it felt like I was sacrificing my heart with them.

            Refusing to let my emotions get the best of me in front of Rhys, I focused on the road and what my options were to beat this guy. Honestly the situation seemed hopeless and at best I could only hope to do as much damage to Malcolm as he was sure to do to me.

            We reached the quarry a lot faster than I’d expected and I jumped out of the truck faster than Rhys could see it. He seemed to sense the danger we were in and followed suit, taking my hand as we ran for the opening in the rock walls.

            Once we were inside, I pulled him behind the boulder closest to us, “You know I love you right?” I asked hurriedly.

            “Of course I do but Saydie what the hell is going on? You've been acting weird for a while now, It’s obvious that something big is going on so just spit it out.” he was so confused and you couldn’t imagine the guilt I felt, knowing that I was about to change his life forever.

            I took a deep breath, “Remember that night when we sat under the stars and talked about what else is out there?” I asked, he nodded but remained silent, “Promise me that whatever I'm about to tell you, you'll try to accept with an open mind and understand that I'm trying to keep us both safe?”

            He nodded again, “What-?”

            I cut him off. “I'm what else is out there, Rhys. I'm a demon and I collect souls of people who make deals with the devil but don't follow through with their payments. There is a demon after both of us, his name is Malcolm, he's very powerful and he is beyond furious that I'm with you. He’s also the reason that the old man in the wheelchair collapsed tonight, the demon had possessed him.” my words echoed the hurried panic that I was feeling.

            “Why would he be furious that you were with me?” I looked at him surprised that he was able to look past the demon part to ask logical questions.

            “Because I rejected his marriage proposal.”

            Rhys managed to look impressed. “You did? Why?”

            “Because I'm in love with you.” I replied and a small smile came to both of our lips but the moment was short lived as Rhys realized what I was telling him.

            “You mean he asked you to marry him while we were together? Why didn't you tell me?”

            “Seriously? What was I going to say? 'Hey Rhys, don't freak out but one of the most powerful demons in existence asked me to marry him and I said no to be with you.'?” He seemed to get my point but it was almost like he wasn't processing the supernatural aspect of the situation and seeing it as some other guy hitting on his girl.

            I could see the jealousy raging in his eyes as he stood up suddenly, “Well bring him on, he doesn't know who he's messing with.”

            I pulled on his arm trying to make him come down to my level, “Rhys, listen to me. This isn't like when you knocked the crap out of Mark Whitley at the river, this is an incredibly powerful demon who can kill you and he does not care who he's messing with, do you understand that?” this seemed to turn a light on upstairs and he sank back down beside me.

            “You say he's one of the most powerful demons in existence, more powerful than you are?”

            I nodded sadly, “I live my life too much as a human to be nearly as powerful as he is, despite what others may think, I don't actually want to be evil, I do my job because it's important but more than that, it allows me to live my life my way.”

            “Saydie, how did you become a demon?” It was like something slid into place in his head and I could see him slowly inching away from me and I let him.

            “I was born one...” I trailed off not wanting to overload him with information.

            “That means your parents are demons?”

I sighed, wishing that our possible last moments weren’t being spent explaining my secret.

            “Not my mom, she's human, so really I’m only half demon.” I could see the next question before he asked it. “She has the gift of eternal life.”

            “Eternal-” He started but then his thought process took a new direction. “How eternal has her life been so far?”

            I swallowed hard, “A few centuries?” I tried to smile but he frowned at me.

            “How many centuries Saydie?”

            “Five, give or take a decade or so.” I answered in a small voice.

            “Do you have eternal life too?” he seemed curious.

            “I'm immortal Rhys, demons don't die...” they have to be destroyed somehow. I thought sadly, afraid of the direction this confrontation could take.

            I could see the tightening of his jaw as he took it all in, “And how long have you been around?” I sighed at the question knowing there was no way to make the answer sound better.

            “Around two hundred years.”

            “So your father is a demon then?” he raised an eyebrow at me, the space between us felt like a canyon and it broke my heart to have him find out like this.

            “My dad is the devil Rhys.” I got right to the point with a desperate plea for understanding in my eyes while his eyes bugged out of his head and he choked on his words.

            “Your father is what?” he asked in complete disbelief.

            “Lucifer, Satan, whatever you want to call him, my dad is the devil.” I could see immediately that this was way too much for him to take in. He began to openly back away from me and I reached my hands out to him but couldn't make my feet move forward.

            “You can't run from this, wherever you go he'll find you, please just stay and let me protect you, I promise when it's all over if you want to leave I'll let you. Please just stay, I love you, I can't stand for anything to happen to you.”

            I felt the burning behind my eyes as tears began to stream down my face and I could see his instinct to protect me kick in, no matter how conflicted he may be, he couldn’t stand to see me cry and I was betting on that to keep him near me.

            He came forward a few steps and then stopped, my chest and shoulders were heaving with my sobs, I just needed him to stay with me so I could keep him safe.

            “Please don't leave.” I whispered through my tears, slowly sliding to my knees and prepared to beg as indecision crossed his face.

            “I love you and I will protect you, I promise just please don't leave yet.” I knew that I was preying on his manhood by offering him protection but I was desperate.

            This went against everything he was, in his mind he was my protector, not the other way around, he closed the distance between us and pulled me into his arms. I sobbed tears of relief as I pulled him closer to me, breathing in his smell, listening to his heartbeat, trying to take in every little part of this moment in case it was my last.

            All I could do was say, “I love you.” Over and over in his ear.

            We were both startled when Flan appeared suddenly, materializing out of nowhere; I wasn’t used to her being so carefree with her magic. Rhys half ran and half jumped back about 5 feet, dropping his arms to his sides, “You too?” he asked incredulously. Flan just shrugged, “I think you're going to have enough to take in tonight without worrying about me.” He seemed to accept her short but sufficient answer.

            “Saydie what are you going to do?” Flan asked me, getting right down to business.

            “I don't know let me think for a minute.” Malcolm was going to catch up to us soon and I had to think of some way to keep Rhys safe.

            “Okay Flan what spells can you cast on him?” I begged turning to her with pleading eyes and gripping her arm.

            “I have one that will hide him from sight but it won’t do much good for long if this guy is as powerful as you say he is. My power won’t hold up against someone like him, I’m not that powerful yet.” S**t! I cursed to myself, I’d been counting on more help from her.

            “Cast the spell anyway, cast everything you can think of that might protect him, it'll give us an advantage for at least a little while. And make yourself invisible please, I don't need you getting hurt either. Whatever you do, leave the physical fighting to me, I’m a little more sturdy than you are.” she nodded, closed her eyes and started chanting in a language I didn't understand.  Rhys stood cooperatively still after seeing the pleading look in my eyes and let her work her magic so to speak, I was thankful that he was working with us and not against us but something in the back of my head made me wonder if it was only because he was in shock.

            Suddenly a bright ball of flame lit up the sky, my heart sank into my stomach and I knew this was it, in a split second I was at Rhys's side and squeezed his hand, “No matter what happens to me, never doubt that I love you more than my own life and I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe.” I said and then turned to Flan, not waiting for his response; she had tears streaming down her face as she continued to focus on casting her spells but she didn’t look at me before the two of them suddenly vanished from my sight.

            “I love you Flan, thanks for being my best friend.” I said quietly, fighting the tears back myself before taking a deep breath and preparing to step around the boulder and meet my fate.