Evil - Tijan Page 0,30
can’t do more magic. It’d alert too many things we don’t want to come here.”
Things.
Messengers.
I swallowed hard—what I had painted. Then I closed my eyes. “What are you going to do to Vespar and Gus?”
“Nothing.”
I looked at him and saw he was frowning at me. “What? Nothing?”
“Why would I do something?”
“Because this is wrong! What they did was wrong.”
Kellan tilted his head to the side in wonderment. “Shay, we’re demons. That’s what we do. We do bad things. I do bad things, too.”
“But…” I didn’t.
He nodded. “You do, too.”
“I don’t try to hurt people. And I don’t have demon blood, remember? You won’t tell me what I am.”
He gripped the back of my head in the next instant. It happened so fast, I only had time to jump in shock before Kellan pushed me against the wall. He leaned forward as his hand had a tight grip on the back of my skull, keeping me in place. “Even if you don’t share the same blood, you’re one of mine. No matter what anyone might say, you’re mine. Understand?”
Mesmerized by the ferocity in his eyes, I nodded. I couldn’t say anything. His words seemed to penetrate inside of me and squeeze hard. It was like my entire body was under his control. Then, something shifted inside of me, and I gasped, arching my back and thrusting Kellan away from me. I was angry. It was anger and hatred boiled up in me. My hand shot up, and energy burst out of me. It slammed Kellan across the room, then I said, heated, in a stranger’s voice, “Get away, demon! Die.”
Kellan’s face snapped up, and his eyes showed his demon. The pupils were diluted, and the entire orb was black and red. He hissed back, “Do not interfere!” Then his eyes changed, and my brother took control again. He spoke more calmly, “Shay, take control. Shay, stop it. Take over. Put it to sleep.”
My body trembled, and I felt the fight inside of it.
“Shay.” He flung his hand up, and something sparked me. My body hit the wall again, and when I looked back, Kellan was right in front of me. His hand cupped the side of my face. “Shay?”
I nodded. Weak. “I’m okay. What was that?”
He grimaced again and looked even more exhausted than before. “I should check on Leah.”
“No.” I stopped him with a hand on his arm. Something propelled me toward her room. “I can help her. I know it.” I didn’t know how, but I felt it. When I opened her door, Leah was curled in a fetal position on her bed. She had wrapped a blanket over her and didn’t move, not even when I sat on the edge of her bed. With a hand placed on her arm, I closed my eyes, bent my head, and something warm went through me into her. I didn’t know what it was, but it felt right. As it ended, I looked back up and knew that Leah slept in peace.
She looked the same as I had entered the room, but everything had changed. I didn’t know what I did, but I knew she’d be fine. Somehow, her parents’ death would make sense to her, and she’d be all right now.
I went back and closed the door behind me. Kellan stayed where I had left him, tense. Then his eyes seemed to search mine, into me, when he asked, “What’d you do?”
“I don’t know, but I do know that you need to give me answers. What am I, Kellan? You tell me now, or I’ll let loose whatever I have inside of me. Whatever that is, hates you. And I know that it wants to hurt you. It would do it now if I let it. Because I love you, and even though I don’t share the same blood, I am still family to you. I won’t let that happen, but I can’t hold it off much longer. It’s getting stronger, Kellan.”
He nodded, closed off to me. “I know.”
“So what am I?”
Resignation clung to him. “You’re the opposite of what I am.”
“I’m an angel?” Even as I asked that, I was wondering to myself if I actually believed in them. I had thought I was a demon.
Kellan shook his head. “You’re a Nephilim.”
“What’s that?”
“Part of your blood is from a messenger, yes. Part of you is human. That’s the part that’s mine.” He spoke with the same force as before.
It stirred inside of me, but I controlled it. I wasn’t