Abandonment is one word to describe Evelyn Ward's childhood.
Known as an orphan freak and paranoid schizophrenic, she was dragged through years of therapy after admitting to hearing whispering voices and seeing creatures and living shadows.
...
The last time I had seen Zev played through my mind. The words he had spoken before he walked away. 'If you need anything -- whatever or whenever -- just call for me. I'll hear you and I'll be there.'
Standing atop Glade Arch staring into the trees, I called out to him. "Zev!" My timid voice swallowed up by the rain didn't carry far. Zev, please come. I need to see you, my heart pleaded with enough strength to be heard worlds away.
The rain drumming on the pavement and wind whistling through the trees were the only breaks in the echoing silence. The flickering streetlights were the only illumination to the starless night. My hope began to wane. Maybe he had abandoned me after all just like everyone before him. Though it was justified -- it was me who pushed him away -- it broke my heart nonetheless.
"Evelyn?"
I turned to face him. His tall, lean frame clothed entirely in black sparked my nerves to life, and his emerald eyes deep set in his perfect alabaster face sent waves of peace through me. Safety enveloped me at his approach. "You really are a stalker," I breathed, a radiant smile creeping onto my face.
His deep laughter filled me with warmth. "I take it you called because you finally gave in to your burning desire to be with me and you want me to sweep you off your feet and whisk you away from this wretched world?" A charming grin stretched across his face, lighting up his eyes as he joked.
Yes. I could deny it until I was blue in the face, but that was the real reason. Still, I couldn't give in to that desire no matter how strong it's allure. Steeling myself, I stepped back, trying to resist the urge to pull him into my arms and never let go. "Actually, Mr. I Think I'm Funny, I need you to teach me how to fight the demons. Or at least be able to make them leave me alone sometimes. They're always around, and they've only gotten bolder. I just want them to stop."
Austerity coated his jovial mood, wiping the smile from his face. "I can help you but it isn't easy. It would be safer for you to come back with me. The demons have a much harder time getting through the veil in the faerie realm than they do this human realm."
"I can't. I have a life here, and it wouldn't be fair for me to leave everyone behind without a reason."
He nodded, giving in and not pressuring me. "Alright, the first thing to learn is that they feed off of negative emotion. The more fear, anger, sadness or hatred, or any other negative emotion you feel, the more they'll be attracted to you. You have to learn to let go of those feelings or you'll never be able to fight them off."
I suppressed a sardonic laugh. No wonder the demons seemed magnetized to me. My entire life had been nothing but a compilation of terrible events and negative emotions. How could I learn to let go of that?
"The second thing to know is that all faeries have some degree of power. By nature, we are creatures of magic, but you need to learn to control that power. And right now, I have no idea how much power you have, so we'll have to figure that out."
"So then I'll finally be able to learn how to blast the demons to death with magical orbs of light?"
"Well, sort of. Another thing to know: you can't really kill a demon -- they don't have a soul to kill. You can destroy their body and scatter their essence but eventually, they'll come back. The most you can do is drain them of their power and send them back to their hell-realm for a time, but the same does not apply to us. Faeries, though stronger than humans, still have a soul, and if a demon destroys your soul, there is no coming back from that."
I wanted to throw my head back and curse at the heavens. What horrible thing had I done in a past life to deserve this miserable existence? Why couldn't anything ever just be simple?
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Ah, Zev -- ever the charming scoundrel. Will he be able to help Evelyn learn to fight the demons? Or will she be too unable to let go of the pain in her past?
