Darker Days

Chapter Thirty-three

Suddenly, hell wasn’t such a warm place. The chills racing up and down my spine could’ve kept ice cream solid for weeks. “What?”

He shrugged. “Let’s not be dramatic. What we have is a mutually beneficial relationship.”

“I don’t understand. I’m the terms? My grandfather died before I was even born.”

“My apologies.” He rounded the desk and settled into his chair. “Nasty curse the Darker family had on them. Nasty indeed. The women always died in childbirth. That Wells witch was a vindictive one, wasn’t she?”

“So he came to you to stop it.”

Valefar nodded. “And of course, I agreed—for a price.”

“Me?”

“Your mother, actually.”

“My—”

“I agreed to lift the curse over your family in exchange for the service of Joseph’s child.”

I felt sick. “He wouldn’t do that.”

“You’re underestimating the love the fool had for his wife—but you’re correct. He didn’t want to do it. He agreed—but with a clause.”

“Clause?”

“Little known thing about Darker genetics—they only seem to produce sons.” He waved his hand in the air. “Annoying, but true. He thought he was being tricky. Joseph agreed to willingly hand over his child—only if it was a girl. He never expected it to happen.”

“If we only have boys, how did he just happen to have a girl?”

The demon winked. “Stick with me, baby. I’ve got tricks you couldn’t imagine.”

The office seemed to be getting smaller. “Okay, so obviously Mom doesn’t work for you.”

“Joseph had to hand the child over willingly. Of course when she was born, he refused.”

“And you couldn’t just take her.”

He snapped his fingers, frowning. “Doesn’t work that way. There are rules—even for someone like me.”

“What do I have to do with any of it?”

“I was furious when Joseph double-crossed me, but I’m the kind of demon that can see the bigger picture. I could have dunked him right then and there, but I chose to wait until I knew the next generation was on its way.”

“Dunk him? You mean he’s—”

Valefar frowned. “In the river? Of course. Come on, now, you don’t strike me as dim. Where else would someone who’s gone back on his deal be?” He stood and came around to the front of the desk. “The Darker line owed me an employee. You were kind enough to supply me with one.”

For the first time in a long while, I had nothing to say. Speechless. No point to argue, no opinion to express. Just nada. I wanted to play with the big kids. Make my own choices and finally step away from the kid’s table.

I’d gotten my wish. And although I had a feeling this was the most monumentally stupid thing I’d ever done, it would save Mom. And that was all that counted. I couldn’t go head to head with Meredith on my own. She’d metaphorically spanked me like a prison yard bitch the last time we tried. When the enemy could simply snap her fingers and incapacitate you, you needed to pull out the big guns.

Valefar shooed me to the door. “We’re done here.”

“What about my parents?”

“All in good time, little demon. All in good time. Right now, though, it’s past your bedtime.”

With a snap of his finger, the room shimmied and stretched, then disappeared altogether.

A second later, I was back in my own room, on my bed.

“Lukas?” I was off the mattress and down the hall in a flash, panic rising in my chest. “Lukas, are you here?”

He rounded the corner as I came to the top of the stairs. “What happened? I—”

“Valefar. He must have sent us back here.” I made my way down the rest of the steps. The lights were off, the only glow coming from the clock above the DVD player. Everything was exactly how we left it. Including the hour. According to the clock, only two minutes had passed since we’d gone to the Shadow Realm.

“How did it go?”

Giving him the gory details wouldn’t really help. “He’s going to help us.”

“And?”

I shrugged. “And now we have to wait for Meredith to call.” I sank into Mom’s chair. “I’m sure she’ll leave us hanging—but that’s a good thing.”

“A good thing?”

I opened Mom’s top drawer and pulled out a thick leather-clad book. Thumping it onto the desk, I tapped the cover. “It’ll give us some time to figure out what Simon and Valefar meant about saving you. They both said there was a chance, and that it was right under our noses. All we need to do is find out what it is.”

He sank into the chair across from me and peered over the stacks of paper. “And that’s going to help?”

“Simon’s brother Charles started this. From the dates, I’d bet it wasn’t long after you got re-trapped in the box and Simon was killed. It categorizes and lists every Otherworlder he ever crossed paths with.” I opened the book to a random page. “All the Darkers since have added to it. It’s like an Otherworlder encyclopedia.”

“You think something in there will tell us where to look?”

We were running on time fumes. In less than six hours, Lukas would be pulled back into the box, and I would lose him forever. This was my last chance to save him. “If there’s something out there that’s got the power to help you, it’ll be in here.”

…

I slammed the book closed with a heated snap. All night and we still had nothing. I wasn’t a pessimist by any definition, but I was seriously starting to doubt we’d find what we were looking for in time.

On the couch across the room, Lukas had his nose buried in a book. Every once in awhile, I’d glance over and catch him watching me with an odd smile on his face. He meant what he’d said about going back in the box. He didn’t want to—he’d miss me—but he was at peace with it. He felt he deserved it because of what he’d been planning to do to his father.

“We’ve only got a few hours left,” I said, voice low. If someone else had said it in a similar situation, I would’ve been tempted to slug them. Stating the obvious was a serious pet peeve. But I felt compelled to say something—and that was all I could come up with. I slammed my hand down on the desk and kicked at the chair.

Lukas stood and came to the edge of the desk. “Jessie, you did all you could.”

“I guess no matter how hard I tried, this was inevitable.”

“What was?”

“My family is cursed.”

“Not anymore. Didn’t you say Valefar lifted it?”

“That’s not what I mean. In love. We’re cursed in love.”

“Why would you say that?”

I shrugged. “Simon loved your mother. They had to die to be together. Grandpa lost Grandma not long after Mom was born—even with the deal he made. Mom fell in love with someone she could never really be with. And now—” I sucked in a breath, unable to continue.

His lip twitched.

I wouldn’t say it. The “L” word. The worst four letters strung together to make the most evil word in all history. The best thing about Lukas, though? I didn’t think I had to say it. He knew how I felt without all the stupid words and mushy, overdone sentiment.

“If it hadn’t been for the box, I would have never met you.” Leaning across the desk, he cupped the side of my face and smiled. “I know this is hard for you to understand, but being here, the time we’ve had together… Knowing that the perfect someone for me was out there—it makes it all worth it.”

“How can you even say that?”

I was leaning forward now, so our faces, our lips, were just a fraction of an inch apart.

“I would have been nothing more than dust and bones long before you came into the world—yet I wasn’t. I got to find you.” His lips brushed mine once and he pulled away. “I got to know you. How could I regret that?”

I couldn’t stomach the acceptance in his eyes, so I looked away. Scanning the room for something else to focus on, my gaze found yesterday’s mail. A bill from Citibank, an ad from the local food store—and peeking out from the bottom, something that looked like a postcard.

Sliding the flyer and bill to the side, I picked up the small card. It was decorated with a scantily clad bimbo in a string bikini strolling across the sand. When I flipped it over, the bottom dropped from my stomach.

Sorry I didn’t give you a heads up before I left. I got called on a last minute job that turned into a vacation op. Neck deep in senoritas and margaritas–wish you were here.

-Love Paulson

The postmark said it was mailed two days ago from Cancun, Mexico. Two days ago, Lukas and I had been standing in Paulson’s living room—with Paulson.

“What’s wrong?” Lukas stood.

I wanted to say the postcard was a fake. How hard was it to forge someone’s handwriting? I did it all the time. Or maybe, Paulson had been on vacation and had the hotel he was staying at mail it for him. Maybe they’d forgotten and mailed it late.

But all that aside, Paulson would have mentioned being in Mexico when I’d seen him. He’d been trying for years to get Mom—and me—to go away with him. Strictly on a platonic level, he’d say to Mom, even though we all knew that was crap.

I handed Lukas the postcard. He skimmed it several times before setting it down. “You think it was Meredith?”

“Had to be. When we first met back at the school, she told me she could look like anyone she wanted.”

“But your friend seemed to know you. He mentioned something about the last time he saw you.”

“There are ways around that. Any third-rate psychic could give her that information. Or a demon.”

A demon.

Lukas didn’t get it. “But why would Meredith help us find the box?”

“Sonofabitch! They played me,” I whispered, falling back into the chair. My head was spinning like the Tilt-a-Whirl at the local fair. “I’m such an idiot!”

“I don’t understand.”

“I knew that summoning ritual had to be performed at Simon’s grave. I knew it. The things he used—the name and my blood?” If there was an award for biggest screw up ever, I was a prime candidate. “I walked right into it.”

“Walked right into what, Jessie? What are you saying?”

“It was a set up. He was the one she was talking about. The one who gave her the spell in 1882. Valefar’s been helping Meredith all along.”