Pulse

Chapter 45

Lucie

Things like this were not supposed to happen to people like me. Average, middle-class high school girls who got average grades and had an average face and were barely average height did not get kidnapped by demon wielders. People like me didn't watch those they loved get sedated and shredded up and then have a sack pulled down over their head, dragged off towards a location they didn't know of. People like me stayed home and watched Netflix and did homework when they were feeling scholarly, but, no, they did not get themselves kidnapped.

The sack was pulled rashly off my head, and I inhaled deeply, slipping to my knees in exhaustion. For hours, it felt like, I'd been shrouded in that musky darkness, nothing to comfort me but the earthy scent of burlap and my own sweat. I blinked my eyes clear, searching my surroundings. Wherever I was, it was damp; moisture clung to my skin like clothing. The only light was a lantern being dangled before my eyes. Everything else was black.

The ground underneath me was uneven and rough, not the familiar levelness of a house's floor or flat earth. Straining my eyes even more, I scrutinized the walls around me—they seemed naturally carved, layers of stone climbing to form a ceiling. A cave?

"You awake yet?" came Eden's voice. The lantern moved aside, and she stared at me, the warm yellow light cutting her face into striking angles and planes. Her dark eyes were lit up as if by a flame. "Oh, right. You have been."

The smile on her face made me want to slap her. In fact, I tried, but my hand was brought up short by a chain linked around my wrist, one I hadn't noticed. I craned my head back; the chain travelled all the way to the wall, where it was heavily bolted in. I sat back down with a sigh. Eden's smile inched wider. "You said you were taking me to my brother. Where is he?"

"I've already called for him. He's on his way."

"What's he going to do to me?"

Eden shrugged. "That's his decision, not mine. I merely did what he asked."

"What did you do to Vinny? To Cian?" I demanded. Different scenes flashed before my eyes: Cian slumping boneless to the floor, Vinny screaming as he disappeared into thin air. I didn't want to face the idea that they might not come back.

"Geez," Eden exhaled, setting the lantern down and getting to her feet, placing her hands on her hips. Cast away into the shadows now, she looked exactly like what she was: an eerie silhouette that could not be trusted. "You sure do ask a lot of questions."

"That's because I expect answers."

Eden's lips tightened. "What makes you think you're in any sort of place to make demands? You belong to us now, to the Silhouettes and the fallen angels. No sense in trying to act like it's any other way."

I scoffed, sitting back against the wall. Somewhere in the distance, water dripped, a rhythmic noise echoing and echoing through my ear drum. My curls stuck to the side of my face, my tongue dry in my mouth. My muscles had begun to ache. "I'm not as weak as you think."

Eden's foot swung at my stomach. It connected with enough force to send waves of pain ribboning through my abdomen, the heel of her shoe slicing through my skin and drawing blood. A cough burst from my mouth; I hung my head, wheezing. "Really?" she said. "Hmph."

"Miss King," said a voice that made my stomach hurt even more than it already did, "lay off a bit. We can't kill her yet."

I didn't know what made me sicker: the last sentence, or the fact that it was spoken by Dempsey.

I realized then that the water dripping had not been water at all, but really footsteps, the noise echoing off the walls. I saw his leather shoes first, the dress pair Mom had bought him on his nineteenth birthday. I always used to polish and shine them for him when he muddied them up, which had not been a rare occasion. I remember him coming into the laundry room one weekend, raising an eyebrow at me as I scrubbed grass and dirt from the soles. What are you doing, Lulu? he'd asked me, and I'd replied, Cleaning your shoes. These are not for playing sports in, you know.

My eyes lifted, and there was my brother. He was in slacks, a tucked-in and neatly pressed shirt pulled over his broad shoulders. His hair was neat and trimmed, lips pulled up in a smile as he looked down at me. When I looked at him, I still saw Dempsey—the ebony eyes we both had, the dark freckles against his chestnut skin, the unyielding arms that used to hold me whenever I asked. But then again, I didn't recognize him. There was something different, something cold, something dark. Something that convinced me the old Dempsey I knew had gone a long time ago.

I was stunned. All this time, and he was finally in front of me, yet something didn't feel right. "Dempsey?" my voice sounded strange to my own ears.

He grinned. "Lulu. You've always been so smart. I should've known you wouldn't believe I was dead."

There was an edge to his voice that frightened me. I started, "Dempsey—"

"But I didn't think you were stupid enough to go against me. Teaming up with an angel, Lulu? When Eden told me, I didn't believe it at first."

"Look," I said, shying away from him. This was not the brother whose fiery red truck was a second home to him. He was not the brother who always felt compelled to remind me of safety rules, even though he knew I was old enough to take care of myself. He was not the brother who called every day when he was away at college; no. But was there a way I could bring that brother back? I bit my lip. "I know things changed for you. Things changed for me, too. But that doesn't mean you have to...have to murder people. Come on, Dempsey. This isn't what you want to spend the rest of your life doing."

I was cut off by laughter, coming from both my brother and Eden. It was a sickening sound, one that wrenched at my insides, in the respect it was both familiar and oddly twisted. Dempsey said, "You're wrong in that respect, Lulu. When the fallen angels revived me, my new life began—and I plan to do whatever I want with it. What makes you think that this isn't what I want?"

I swallowed, my gaze pleading. "Because I know you. I love you."

Dempsey smirked, glancing at Eden. He exhaled before looking back to me, kneeling before me and tipping my chin up. The strange thing about his touch was that it was still comforting; as if this new person was wearing my brother's skin. I closed my eyes and fought memories.

"I love you too, Lulu," he said, voice low, "which is why I've brought you here. So that we can be together. Tomorrow the fallen angels and I will change you; you'll be reborn. You'll understand what this new life I speak of is. I'll teach you."

My eyes flew open. In the back of my mind, I'd been wondering what I was here for, and now that I knew, my blood hummed with terror. No. I wasn't ready to die, and I surely wasn't ready to become something so evil. I swallowed. "D-Dempsey, please, let me go..."

Softly, he shook his head. He snapped his fingers at Eden, who pressed something into his fingers. I didn't realize it was a syringe until the needle was already in my veins. "For now, rest a little."

I clawed for something, anything, to keep me awake, but the world fell away.