All Wounds (30 page)

“Why?” Rebecca demanded. “For Syd?”

“At first,” Ryan admitted, looking uncomfortable. “But later, because I wanted to. I’ve never known anyone all the cliques pick on. Even the dorks avoid you, and they accept any old reject.”

“Gee, thanks,” Rebecca said, allowing her hurt to show just a little. She wanted to cry but instead she laughed. To hell with school. She was a Healer.

She didn’t need anyone at school to accept her for anything. She hung out with werewolves and vampires. She was doing something much more important than picking out the latest fashion or trying to follow the latest trend. Still, it hurt to know that she wasn’t just imagining being avoided by everyone.

“Glad you think it’s neat to be excluded from everything.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Ryan said, pulling his hand out from under Rebecca’s. “I mean, you’re pretty cool. Cooler than anyone else at that school.

And I’m real glad no one else sees it because that means I really
am
special.”

“I’m not...cool,” Rebecca said with a nervous laugh.

“Sure you are. Who else has something as awesome as this?” He brushed her hair back from her neck, exposing her Healer’s mark. “People might tease you about it, but I have to tell you, I think it’s sexy as hell.” He buried his face against her neck but she pulled away, laughing and shocked.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Ryan recovering from his admis-sion and Rebecca from her embarrassment.

She composed herself and cleared her throat. She was a mature Healer, not a giggly schoolgirl with a crush embarrassed about a birthmark anymore.

“How are you feeling? Hungry?”

“I like to think of it as ‘thirsty’,” he replied. “And yeah, I could use a drink.”Rebecca smiled and set the box he’d given her aside on the bedside table before she pushed up her sleeve and held it out to him.

Ryan took her hand and pulled her closer to him as he sat up. His hand moved up her arm to her neck. He leaned in as though he wanted to get a closer look at the Healer’s mark he claimed to find attractive.

His lips pressed against hers.

Rebecca’s eyes flew open wide in surprise. She held very still, unsure what to do. She’d never kissed a boy before.

Did she even want him kissing her?

She decided that she did. It wasn’t bad. It was actually kind of nice.

Rebecca shut her eyes and leaned forward a little, hoping she was doing it right and kissing him back.

She tried hard not to think about the fact that Ryan was a vampire now and not a “boy.”

The kiss was over almost as soon as it began, and Rebecca barely had time to open her eyes before Ryan spoke.

“Happy birthday, Rebecca.”

He leaned close again and sank his fangs into her exposed neck.

“Oh!” Rebecca couldn’t help but gasp. She closed her eyes again and tilted her head a little.

The darkness behind her eyes blazed in an instant with flickering light.

A young woman struggled against the hold of a tall, gray-skinned being.

A demon.

It laughed and reached to snare the girl’s head by the hair and jerk it back. “ROBIN!” Rebecca heard herself yell.

“REBECCA!” she heard Robin scream. “REBECCA, HELP! HELP

ME! THEY’RE GOING TO—”

Robin’s scream was suddenly cut off by a vicious backhand from another demon. Robin’s body went limp in the grasp of the demon that held her.

“No!” Rebecca screamed into the vision. “Don’t hurt her!”

“If you want to save your friend, go to a mirror,” a demonic voice growled outside the scope of Rebecca’s vision. “Find one inside a mortal hour, or she, and the others, will die. You for them, Acolyte. We grow weary of waiting.”

Ryan’s fangs disengaged from her neck and the connection broke.

He began to convulse.

Rebecca jumped from the bed and watched him thrash and moan.

Ryan. He’d been bitten by a hellhound. Every time he bit
her
,
she
saw demons.

Saw Hell.

The demons had possession of Ryan.

Rebecca swallowed hard and brought her hands to her mouth, horrified. His thrashing...convulsing...shedding... They weren’t because he was still turning into a vampire, like she and Syd thought. He’d finished that days ago, before the—

Her eyes widened in deeper realization.

Before the demons had attacked the enclave and taken him hostage.

Ryan had been healing then. Had stop shedding, had turned completely.

Then he’d worsened.

Why hadn’t she seen it before? His wound then...his hellhound bite. It had worsened, and it wasn’t healing.

Had they...done something to him? What? How?

Ryan sat up. Beads of bloody sweat dripped down his face. He grinned at Rebecca as he got up.

She took a step back. “Ryan, stay away from me,” she pleaded, holding her arms in front of her.

He didn’t seem to hear. “They’re waiting for you,” Ryan said. “You’re the guest of honor. Isn’t that nice, Hot Stuff? You’re finally popular!”

“You don’t know what you’re saying!” Rebecca cried. “They’ve...done something to you! You’re not Ryan!”

“Of course I am,” Ryan replied as he took another step toward her.

“How about another kiss?”

Rebecca looked around in desperation. A bright yellow object on the chest of drawers next to her caught her eye.

Ryan’s lucky pencil.

She grabbed it and held it tight in her hand, her thumb on the eraser end. “Stay away from me! SYD!”

Ryan laughed. “He can’t hear you. Even if he could, what makes you think he’d come to your rescue? You’re food to him. You think he’d rescue a burger?”

“BILLY! BILLY, HELP ME!”

Ryan laughed again. “Filling his stomach means more to Billy than you do.”

Rebecca took another step back and realized Ryan was herding her toward the mirror portal at the end of the room.

She felt the wall hard against her back.

Before she could blink, Ryan had her pinned hard against it. He smiled.

Her blood still coated his fangs.

“What’re you going to do, little Rebecca?” Ryan taunted. “And do you really think it matters to us? This shell has served its purpose. We have no further use for it. Dispose of it if you wish.”
We? Shell?
Use?!

Ryan grabbed her upper arms, and Rebecca screamed and buried his lucky pencil deep in his chest.

He howled, and for a brief moment his eyes changed, and Rebecca knew it was Ryan behind them.

“Rebecca,” the boy she knew panted. “Run.”

He moved, but it was slow, and Rebecca could tell it was taking every ounce of effort he had to allow her past him. She wriggled against the wall, out from under his crushing weight and started to run for the enclave door.

She hadn’t taken a step before he pulled the pencil from his chest, grabbed her by the arm and threw her across the room.

Rebecca slammed hard into the mirror that served as a portal between worlds. Stars exploded behind her eyes as instant pain shot up her spine.

Before she could get to her feet, gray hands leaped out of the mirror and grabbed her by the throat.

“Consent, or she dies,” a demonic voice growled.

Robin!

The hands were clasped so tightly around her neck, Rebecca couldn’t speak. She managed a nod, and before it was complete, the enclave before her vanished.

Rebecca could hardly draw a breath. She didn’t think she could speak.

A huge, gray, winged being with radioactive green eyes loomed before her, its hideous lips twisted into a smirk. Rebecca tried to shrink back as she recognized the demon Billy had called Armaros, but she couldn’t move.

“Yes,” said Armaros. “You remember me, Acolyte. Welcome to Hell.” The Hell realm. This was the place she’d seen in her mind when Ryan would feed. Where there were other captive Healers.

“Where you will die,” the demon said, hearing her thoughts. “An unfortunate side effect of the acceptance and transfer. But we can’t have you dying just yet, Acolyte. Oh, no. T’would be a waste of all that glorious power you’re about to come into.”

He gestured at her and suddenly the air around her was cooler and she could breathe again.

“Robin,” Rebecca croaked. “Where’s...where’s Robin?” Armaros laughed and changed into Robin for a long moment before taking on his true form once more.

“You should have remembered better our first meeting, Acolyte,” he said. “I am truly surprised the same deception worked a second time. I can only blame your naïveté.”

Rebecca closed her eyes and felt more stupid than she ever had in her entire life, and with as often as she felt stupid, that was saying something. She’d read about demons. They lied, cheated, deceived, coerced...she should have realized they were possessing Ryan. Using him. That they’d lie to get to her.

But she’d been so blinded by her own emotions that she hadn’t noticed.

Hadn’t cared.

How
stupid
could she be? She’d played right into their hands. Given them exactly what they wanted.

Rebecca saw another of the captive Healers to her right. An older woman, with black hair turning gray, tumbling down from a bun. The woman glanced at Armaros.

“Demon,” the woman said, her voice lilting in a French accent. “I don’t suppose there’s any way to make a deal with you in this matter?” Armaros shook his head. “No deals. And you will be silent.” The demon made a gesture and the woman clasped her throat.

“No!” Rebecca shouted. “Don’t hurt her!”

Armaros laughed. “Why not? She has nearly used up the whole of her life-force. She has but a trickle of her power left in her, but a trickle is better than none at all. We will drain that when we drain yours.”

“Why me?” Rebecca asked. “What’s so important about me?”

“Silly girl,” Armaros said with a chastising click of his tongue. “Don’t you know? You’re about to be the recipient of power unparalleled. Did you honestly think that wouldn’t attract attention?”

“I won’t,” Rebecca said, shaking her head. “I won’t do it.” Armaros laughed again. “Do what?”

“Consent to give you my power.”

“Oh, no? What makes you think you have a choice?”

“Free will,” Rebecca replied, though her voice shook and she didn’t sound as sure as she thought she was. “If I don’t want to be a Healer, I don’t have to be. Billy told me I don’t.”

“Never trust an anubi,” Armaros replied. “They are brawn, not brains.

They know nothing. You’re going to come into your power whether you agree to it or not. The only choice you have in is what you do with it. Be grateful, Acolyte! I’m going to relieve you of that burden.”

“Uh, I appreciate the offer, but I’d rather stay alive, thanks,” Rebecca stammered as she took a step back.

“You mistake my words for a service I will render,” Armaros said, and he gestured toward her.

Rebecca was suddenly backed against a hard surface. Bands of wrought iron snaked around her throat, chest, stomach, ankles and wrists.

“They were merely an assurance.”

Though she could now breathe, Rebecca certainly couldn’t move.

She looked around. She was bound against a circular stone slab along with several other women.

Syd! Syd, HELP!

“He cannot hear you, nor has he any idea where you are,” Armaros said, sounding very pleased with himself. “Nor can the anubi sense you. This place is shielded and concealed. You are, Acolyte, completely abandoned.

There’s no one to help you.”

“Don’t bet on it, Hellspawn.”

Syd. Immense relief washed over Rebecca, her skin tingling with instant warmth at the sound of his voice. Whatever happened now, he was here. That strange warmth made her feel as though could face anything with him here.

“How did you...?” Armaros began, then made a gesture.

“Don’t bother with your theatrics, Armaros, they get old,” Syd said as he was seized from behind by three demons. “I came to make you an offer.

Myself for them. A Master vampire is a very tempting drain, isn’t it?”

“Compared to the line of Panacea and every Healer in the mortal realm?

Hardly,” Armaros replied. “How did you find her here?”

“And I’m going to tell you just because you asked,” Syd replied with a snort. “I’d tell you to go to Hell, but it seems we’re already here.” Armaros gestured again, Syd was suddenly strapped down beside Rebecca, just like she was.

“Two for the cost of one,” the demon muttered. “We’ll drain you all.” Syd laughed and shook his head. “Good luck draining me without my consent.”

“You’ll give it, bloodsucker, when her screams become too much for you,” Armaros replied in a growl.

“You’re the one that will be screaming long before you ever touch her,” Syd replied. “Do you think I’m the only one who can find her?”

“Silence,” Armaros spat, and he gestured to Syd.

Why hasn’t he silenced me as well?
And why weren’t they...doing anything else? Why were they just milling around, looking at her and one another?

They’re waiting for your birthday
, she heard Syd in her mind.

She almost smiled, then forced it from her lips just in time. The demons knew Syd could hear her, but they didn’t need to know she could speak to him in return.

But that’s not until tomorrow
, she replied silently.

Time passes differently here. You’l be seventeen in just a few minutes. They’re waiting
for your power to rise. Once it does so within you, they’ll free it and take it for themselves.

Rebecca didn’t need to ask how they planned on freeing it. The huge knife Armaros held in his clawed hand was answer enough.

What about you? What are they going to do to you and the others?

Torture us until we plead for mercy and offer our power in exchange for release
, Syd replied.
That’s consent enough for them
.

Oh, cripes they were in trouble. This was bad.

“Uhnn-uh!”

The demons all froze at the sound that escaped Rebecca’s lips. Armaros smirked.

“It’s begun.”

Rebecca looked down at her middle as much as her bonds would allow her and gasped. A dull golden light shone through her clothes.