Cursed Demon Kissed 2 Page 0,17

to speak the truth, Ivy. You have nothing to worry about. He'll corroborate your testimony, and the Martis will have to release you."

Somehow I doubt the truth mattered very much in this trial anymore. I turned to look at her. Breathing deeply, I pulled my arms tighter to my chest. "I can't stand the thought of seeing him. I don't know how someone so good could have done something so evil. It makes me think I didn't know him at all."

Maybe I didn't. The Eric I knew would have never killed my sister. He was kind and caring. He was so careful to preserve life, which is why it made no sense that he killed her. And, he was the only one who knew exactly what happened to her. Half of me wanted the details of Apryl's death, while the other half was too afraid to ask.

Al was watching me carefully. She had a sixth sense and could tell what was going through my mind. "I know that you're having trouble accepting what I saw in my vision," she said, "but Eric didn't kill Apryl. Ivy, you should speak to him when he's here. I don't think he led you to believe the truth in this case. And I have no idea why he took the blame."

I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it. "It doesn't matter anymore." I looked at the guards, signaling that I was leaving. Turning back to Al and Shannon, I said, "I'm going for a walk."

Al had an odd expression on her face. She said, "Do that. Do that and while you're walking think about how you can believe and forgive one friend, but not another."

I spun on my heel, turning to her. Her words felt like a slap across the face. "What? What are you talking about? Who did I forgive for murder?"

She smiled up at me patiently, "You really need me to answer that? You already know who it is. And you forgave him. Completely."

"It's not the same," I rounded on her. "Collin was a slave. He was forced to do the things that he did. And if he killed Apryl, I wouldn't forgive him either!" I stormed away.

CHAPTER NINE

My Martis guards silently kept up with me, no doubt adding violent mood swings to their endless list of stuff that was wrong with me. Everyone knew the girl with the purple mark was deadly. Everyone held the same prejudice that Eric had uttered to me so many months ago - demon blood is vile. It is among the most dirty and dangerous things a Martis can encounter. Valefar have demon blood. It's what gave them life after their soul had been stripped clean from their body.

But that wasn't the case with me. I had been Martis before I was turned. A Valefar nearly killed me, but Collin saved me. Valefar's aren't supposed to have souls, but he did. Collin managed to hang onto a piece of his. It was too small to make him anything but Valefar, but shared with the miniscule amount of soul left in my body, following the attack, it was enough to sustain my life. Together, with the demon blood Collin gave me, I didn't die. I didn't turn Valefar either, but I was tainted. Now, I was neither Martis nor Valefar. I belonged to no one. And the result was a marriage of powers, both Martis and Valefar, into a new type of immortal with a new mark. The discolored swirl on my forehead reminded me that I didn't belong, as if I could forget it in this place. No one stayed around me unless they were forced to. I hated it here, and wanted nothing more than to leave.

After silently fuming, I lapped the building to work off some of the tension that threatened to erupt on the next person I encountered. There were two-faced Martis mixed among the people who resided in this place. On a daily basis, I dealt with them, ignoring their looks. They smiled as they passed me, but I could see in their eyes that they held the same horror of me that the more transparent folks had plastered across their faces. Al was the only one that I was certain was on my side.

Even Shannon was a question mark. She had been my best friend since birth, but I never forgot what she said to me in the old church on Long Island. She'd kill me when I