The Devil's Prey (The Demon Within) Read online

  The Devil’s Prey

  By Jessica Stark

  Text copyright ©2013 Jessica M Stark

  All rights Reserved

  To my family and friends for all you love, help and support

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 1

  Trying to sleep after the message appeared on my arm was impossible. Amanda and I sat for hours in silence, looking at the four simple words that were now burned into my arm. Every time I moved uncomfortably, bothered by the pain, I could feel Amanda’s worry sweep across the room.

  ‘We have to tell Lauren,’ Amanda finally said. That broke the tension. I looked up to see that she was dead serious.

  ‘No! No way! Do you know what she will do to us? I will be in permanent lockdown for life, because now I know I am the last pure fairy, and every flipping demon in the freaking world wants my blood!’ I hadn’t meant to snap at Amanda like that, but I was not going to tell Lauren. I wanted to enjoy senior year with Ethan, Amanda and Amy- not spend it locked away, being home-schooled. No way in hell.

  ‘Well, what about Ethan?’

  I looked at my arm to see the words, red with blood. I shook my head at Amanda. ‘No, because he will worry…and then he’ll tell Lauren.’ I did not want to keep Ethan in the dark, but it was for his own safety. I could not bear the thought of losing him like he had almost lost me.

  Amanda nodded, although I could tell she was reluctant to go along with my wishes.

  ‘So it’s our secret then? ’ I prompted.

  Amanda looked at my arm, then back to me, and I knew what she was thinking. How was I going to hide this from everyone? I could wrap it up, as most of my body was usually covered anyway, but it would most definitely scar.

  ‘Try to heal it,’ Amanda said softly.

  I knew she was reading my mind, but I wasn’t sure if I could do it. The last time I had attempted healing was on my burn…but that had worked, and it had not left a scar. Why not try?

  ‘Maybe,” I murmured. “Let’s hope so, for both of our sakes, or we will be explaining how the words got there.’

  Amanda did not smile at my sarcasm as I placed my hand on the wounds. I closed my eyes and felt the raw power run through me. It still made me uncomfortable, especially since I was now embracing the full power, and not just half. I felt the power reach my arm, but something was not right. I felt the power bounce back to me. I let go and ran into the bathroom, where I was sick, chucking up what little I had in my stomach.

  ‘Summer, what happened?’

  I looked up at Amanda, and she gasped and took a step back. I grabbed the mirror on the vanity and looked at myself, but dropped it the moment I saw my face. I had gone all blotchy, with bluish-purple patches. I had dark circles under my eyes, and I looked like death itself. I looked at my arm just in time to see it sizzle golden before it reverted back to its original color. I moved back to the toilet bowl, feeling as though I was going to be sick again, and I felt Amanda pull back my hair, waiting for me to finish. When I was sure I was not going to be sick, we made our way into our beds, and I slipped under my covers.

  ‘Summer…what just happened to you?’ questioned Amanda.

  ‘When I did the healing thing, and my power came in contact with the wound, something did not feel right. I think the wound has some power that affects me, so it will stay a constant reminder.’ I shivered and pulled my blankets up to my nose. ‘Do I still look like death?’

  Amanda kept staring at me, and I knew the answer before she spoke.

  ‘It’s the first day at school tomorrow,” I said. “I can’t turn up looking like this.’

  I heard Amanda sigh. ‘Maybe it will wear off.’

  I wanted to be confident that my deathly pallor would disappear, but it was hard to be optimistic after what I have been through over the last couple of days.

  I heard a buzzing go off in our room. It was dark outside, and the whole house was still asleep. I heard Amanda moan and pull her covers over her head. ‘Summer, shut that thing up!’

  I groped in the darkness, trying to find the alarm. When I finally found it and turned it off, the stupid alarm started right up again. Shut up, I want to sleep, I thought- and just like that, the alarm was silent. I grabbed my sheets and rolled over.

  It was only a couple of minutes later when someone came busting into the room.

  ‘Wake up, sleepy heads! Time to get ready for school!’

  Both Amanda and I groaned at the sound of Lauren’s chirpy voice.

  ‘Piss off, will you, and let me sleep,’ Amanda said, half-asleep. We both heard Lauren leave the room, and I sighed. I opened one eye to see Amanda looking at me weird. It took me a second to remember my bluish-purplish face. Had Lauren seen? Did I still look like death? Could I even go to school?

  ‘Urhh…Summer, shut up, will you? I want to sleep. And the answer is no, to all the questions but the last one.’ Amanda rolled over and went back to sleep. I undid the bandage Amanda had put on the night before and noted that the words were starting to heal on their own, which I found weird. I ran my finger along the four simple words. I’m coming for you. They were so simple, but they scared the hell out of me. I put the bandage back on, and drifted back into a peaceful sleep.

  I heard someone faintly calling my name over and over again. It was getting louder every time they said it, until they yelled it out to me. I heard a thud on the floor, and realized I had fallen out of bed. I opened one eye to see Ethan standing over me. I also heard Amanda in the background, having a go at Ethan for waking her up.

  ‘Good morning, love,’ Ethan said to me.

  ‘Fuck off, I was sleeping.’ I grabbed the blanket off my bed and pulled it over me.

  ‘Oh no, Summer. If Ethan got me up, there is no way you are going back to sleep!’ I felt Amanda come over and take the blanket off me.

  ‘No! Give it back!’ I threw a tantrum when she took my blankets away from me. I was huffing and puffing like a two-year-old.

  ‘I always pictured you as a morning person, Summer,’ Ethan said, offering me his hand. I ignored his invitation and got up myself. I felt the stitches in my stomach pull as I stood, and I groaned and carefully stretched both of my arms, yawning.

  ‘What time is it?’ I asked, still sleepy.

  ‘You don’t want to know,’ Amanda replied in-between two huge yawns.

  ‘It’s 6:30am, ladies,’ Ethan said, with sarcasm in his voice and a slight twitch of his lips.

  ‘Shut up, Ethan. Not everyone is a morning person like you,’ a grumpy Amanda said.

  ‘I can see that, by the amount of language you and Summer used when I woke you up,’ he sang, smiling at us.

  I moaned and threw my pillow at him. ‘Can you get out, so we can get ready?’

  ‘Ok, but if you are not out in half an hour, I am coming back in.’ He left the room and closed the door behind him. Both Amanda and I threw our bodies onto each other’s beds and buried our heads in each other’s pillows.

  ‘You know we better get ready,’ I told Amanda, who was falling back asleep.

  ‘I know.’ She yawned. We heard a sl
ight tap on the door, and we were up in a flash.

  ‘You ladies getting ready?’ Lauren called, not coming in. We both sighed, relieved that it was not Ethan.

  ‘Yep, sure are,’ we replied at the same time.

  ‘Good,’ Lauren said, apparently satisfied, and we heard her footsteps as she left.

  I really wanted a shower, but didn’t quite feel ready to face the huge scar on my stomach.

  ‘You know you have to have to face it sooner or later,’ Amanda said, brushing her hair back.

  ‘Can you please stop reading my mind?’ I asked.

  Amanda was still looking at me. ‘What did you just say?’

  ‘Are you deaf or something? I said, stay out of my head!’ I raised my voice a little higher than it should have been.

  ‘Summer, do you know what we are doing?”

  I had no idea what she was talking about.

  ‘You have telepathy,’ she said in my head.

  I stood still, looking at Amanda with a dumb expression. ‘What! How do you know?’ It was a stupid question- of course she would know.

  ‘You are talking to me now, in my head. Listen carefully and you’ll hear it in your head. Use your head to listen, and not your ears.’

  I listened hard to what Amanda was saying, trying to understand what she meant. When she started humming, I could hear it in my head. It was like a tiny angel, whispering words of wisdom in my mind.

  ‘This is so cool,’ I said, but I accidentally spoke out loud, and not in Amanda’s thoughts.

  ‘It is ok, Summer. We will get the hang of it,’ she said, noticing my disappointment. We were now both talking aloud instead of telepathically.

  We both got ready for our first day as seniors. I was about to wear shorts when I saw the scratches and burns on my legs, so I wore pants instead, with Vans and a purple shirt. Amanda wore a dress and high heels. We grabbed our bags and books from the desk in our bedroom, and I paused when I saw that we both had brand new laptop computers as well.

  ‘How cool! We get our own laptops!’ I said inside Amanda’s head.

  ‘You’ve never had a laptop before, have you?’

  ‘Nope!’ We both laughed and headed out our door.

  ‘I think I am getting the hang of this,’ I said out loud.

  ‘Getting the hang of what?’ Ethan asked when we were outside.

  ‘Oh, nothing,’ Amanda answered quickly, coming to my aid.

  Ethan went to grab my bag, but I pushed him away. ‘No, I’ll carry my own things. I bet there are enough rumors about me. I don’t want to feed them,’ I said, and slung my bag over my shoulder. Ethan nodded, and we headed to Amanda’s car. Amanda and I were in the front seat, and Ethan sat in the back.

  ‘You ready for the first day of school?’ Ethan smiled, fixing his hair in Amanda’s rear mirror.

  ‘Yep. I want to try and live a normal life.’ I heard both Amanda and Ethan laugh at my idea, but I wanted my life to be as normal as it could get.

  ‘Well, I am not looking forward to getting up early.’ Amanda shot an evil glare at Ethan, who just laughed at her.

  Chapter 2

  When we arrived at the school parking lot, students were milling around, happily talking to their friends about how their holidays had been. We pulled up into a spot and Amanda parked the car. We sat in the car for a few seconds before we all got out. The moment I opened the car door, I could feel people looking at me. I let my hair fall over my face so no one could see it.

  ‘It’s going to be fine, just be yourself,’ I heard Ethan whisper in my ear. That was easier said than done. People whispered stuff when I walked by them, and I wanted to scream at them.

  ‘Oh my god, did you hear? She tried to kill herself!’

  ‘I heard she also tried to kill her boyfriend and best friend.’

  ‘Well, I heard she thought the devil tried to kill her.’

  The last one caught my attention. I looked around to see who said it, but everyone looked away from me like I was a plague. I felt myself go into a panic fit, and the words under my bandage began burning.

  ‘Summer.’ Amanda’s voice made me jump. She placed her hand on my shoulder.

  ‘I cannot do this,’ I thought at Amanda.

  ‘Yes, you can. Just ignore them and stick with us.’

  ‘Did you hear what someone said?’

  Amanda did not respond, but looked at me with pity.

  ‘Summer, I can take you home, if you want.’ Ethan was so caring. I felt bad, leaving him in the dark, but it was for his own safety.

  ‘No, I can do this.’ I took a deep breath and continued walking. Amanda and Ethan were new, so they had to sign in, and I waved them off before making my way to my locker. When I reached my locker, I felt someone wrap their arms around me from behind.

  ‘Summer, I am so glad you are alright!’ Amy was squeezing me so tightly that my chest began throbbing.

  ‘Amy, do you mind please?’

  She let go straight away. ‘I am sorry! I have just missed you. Your mum would not tell me where you were, and I do not believe a single thing people are saying!’ She kept ranting on and on about how her holidays had been while I put my stuff in my locker.

  ‘That’s nice, Amy.’ I shut my locker to see Amber walking past.

  ‘I know, right? She also tried to kill me. She was out of control! They should have not even let her back in school!’ Her whole group looked at me and laughed.

  Amy went to walk up to them, but I stopped her, and she turned back to me, disapproval etched on her face. ‘Summer, you cannot let them walk all over you like that.’

  ‘It’s ok, Amy. They are not worth your time.’ I sighed at the thought of how easy it would be to hurt Amber, but Amy interrupted me.

  ‘So…are Ethan and what’s-her-name coming this year?’ She really didn’t like the thought of me having two best friends, but I figured she would learn to live with it.

  ‘Yes. They are in the office at the moment.’

  We heard the bell ring, which meant time for roll call.

  ‘Hey, which class are you in?’ Amy asked me.

  ‘Same as you.’

  We both smiled and headed to our roll call class. When we were inside, we took our seats at the back of the class.

  ‘Ok, students, my name is Mr. Timberwood, and I will be your roll call teacher,’ our teacher announced from the front of the room.

  We all laughed at his name, but there was something about him that seemed familiar to me. We heard a knock on the door, and I saw Amanda and Ethan standing in the door way.

  ‘Is this roll call class…umm…365?’ Ethan asked in his familiar, sexy voice, and I heard all the girls sigh.

  ‘Yes. You must be Ethan- and you must be Amanda.’ Our teacher let them into the class, and they both took seats in front of me.

  ‘Ok, students, time to get to know each other. Push all the tables back, and arrange your chairs in a circle.’ We did as we were told and made a circle. I sat next to Amy and some kid I did not know. Ethan and Amanda sat across from me.

  ‘Ok, so you are going to tell us your name, and something about you.’

  Amber was up first. ‘Hi! I am Amber, and I have the best boyfriend,’ she said in that chirpy voice that I hated.

  ‘Ok…not what I wanted from you, but I guess it will do.’ We went around the class until it got to Amy.

  ‘Hi, I am Amy, and I love to meet people.’

  I heard Amber whisper something, but it was not worth getting worked up over.

  ‘Ok, that’s always a good quality,’ our teacher said. ‘Next?’

  I sat there, trying to think of what to say. ‘Hi, I am Summer, and I am the last pure fairy, and everyone wants me dead.’ I saw Amanda cough at my idea, and Ethan looked at her.

  ‘Hi, I am Summer, and I like to-’

  ‘Try to kill myself!’ Amber shouted out from across the room. Suddenly, there it was- the burning sensation of power running through me, the thought of how easy it would b
e to end this once and for all. I knew how easy it would be to kill her in the blink of an eye, and nobody would know. It would be so easy to make it look like nothing happened.

  ‘Amber, you will not speak when someone else is. Now apologize for what you said,’ Mr. Timberwood told her, but Amber just snorted and looked away. Typical.

  Mr. Timberwood didn’t press the issue. ‘So Summer, you were telling us what you liked?’

  ‘I like to play volleyball.’

  ‘Ok, so are you on the team?’ our teacher asked. I just nodded and looked down at my desk.

  ‘What was that all about before? You were thinking about how easy it would be to kill her. Remember, I can read your thoughts.’ Amanda was obviously concerned.

  ‘It was just an idea! Now leave me be.’ We had gone around the whole class, but I was buzzed out and not listening to anything anyone was saying.

  ‘Ok, so I will hand out your timetables once the desks are put back to the way they were,’ Mr. Timberwood told us.

  I got up and moved my stuff, then sat down and waited for the rest of the class.

  ‘Summer, are you ok?’ Ethan asked when he walked past, but I ignored him and kept my head down. I got my timetable to see I had Advanced English first with Mr. Timberwood, then Biology with Mrs. Hampton. Everyone was comparing their timetables to see what classes matched up, but I just sat there, waiting for the bell.

  ‘Ok, I will see those of you I have for first lesson,’ Mr. Timberwood announced.

  The bell went, and I bolted out the class into the bathrooms. I splashed water onto my face and looked at myself in the mirror. I could not even recognize the face I was looking into. I undid the bandage to see the words still on my arm. I sat on the cold floor and put my hands on my head. I took deep, slow breaths, in and out. Suck it up, Summer, I thought.

  I got up, put the bandage back on, and went off to class.

  I knew I was late, as no one was in the corridor. I made my way to the classroom and went inside. I sat alone in the back, and Mr. Timberwood did not take notice of me, which was good.

  ‘Ok, students, for those who don’t know me, I am Mr. Timberwood. I am handing out the book you will be reading. It is called To Kill a Mockingbird. You will have to read it, as there will be an exam on it.’ The books were getting handed out, and someone put the book on my table. I looked up to see Ethan handing them out with Amanda. He smiled at me, but I looked down, trying my best to become invisible.