Darkly Devoted (Book 1, 2, 3)

DD Chapter 15 - Stakes And Fire

Chapter 15

VIVIENNE COULDN'T WAIT to leave the school at three o'clock to head to the meeting place with Nicole. Vivienne found Nicole by the Ferris Wheel as promised. Nicole was holding a pair of paring knives. She handed Vivienne one of them before leading her into the forest. "You'll need that," Nicole said. "We're going to need protection if we're going into the caves."

Vivienne wasn't sure what use a kitchen utensil would be against the demons she had seen. The graceful, petite girl walked with determination in the direction of the mountains, so Vivienne followed despite her hesitation.

"We should be careful."

"There used to be a hidden entrance into the caves here." Nicole pushed her way through the thicket of bushes and tangled roots. "No one knows where it is exactly. The only one who ever tried to enter it was never heard from again. She was Zissa's mother. She was trying to save some of the children trapped after the waters flooded the cave. She was one of the most gifted demon hunters Remin had ever known."

"Is that why Zissa is taking part in the purge?" Vivienne asked. "I can see why this all means so much to her, personally."

"You don't know the half of it," Nicole said. She pointed out a particularly gnarly tree to Vivienne. "Can you pull one of those branches down for me so I can reach?"

Vivienne nodded and decided that if her superior height was all she had to offer, it was just as well. She used all the strength of her body to drag a branch slightly closer to the ground. Nicole stood on her tiptoes and grabbed hold of the branches, touching each one as she went along.

"Are you looking for something?" Vivienne asked, wishing Nicole would hurry up.

"Just watch. Isn't this what you came for? Answers?" Nicole seemed to search forever before she found a branch that was to her liking. She used the paring knife to slowly saw the branch from its connection to the rest of the tree. "These are no ordinary trees. They're Segais trees. Their roots grow deep, so deep they touch the caves. From the lake that makes demons, they make life. So, with them, you can make weapons to help kill the demons."

Vivienne watched with fascination as Nicole pared off the bark from the branch in her hands. She was making one end into a sharp point.

"You can kill a demon if you stick him with that?" Vivienne asked in disbelief.

"No, not really. The only way to really kill one is to set it on fire. Otherwise, it can always heal one way or another. But being stuck with these will really hurt it, sometimes even paralyze it. That way, you can get to work cutting out its heart and setting it on fire." Nicole proudly showed Vivienne her pointy stick. "You can make all sorts of weapons out of this wood — arrows, spears, swords. Most people who aren't too handy. Just make a stake."

Vivienne eagerly nodded. Slowly, she understood why Maglania had given her that Segais gun back in Manna City.

"I should make some too."

"That's why I gave you the knife, silly."

"How do you know which branches are good?" Vivienne asked as she started ripping off leaves from a branch that had fallen on the ground.

"You need to cut it from the tree. It has to be alive when you first touch it," Nicole swatted the branch from Vivienne's hands. "A dead branch doesn't do any good. Your life force keeps it alive once it is off the tree. It's too complicated to explain. Here, let me show you."

Nicole lifted the freshly made stake and pressed her nails into the base. Vivienne couldn't explain what came next. The veins in the wood that transported water up to the leaves lit up like strands of silver and gold. "That's me, my life flowing through the wood." Nicole handed Vivienne the stake and instructed her to pinch her fingers firmly into the base. "You try. Don't worry if it doesn't happen. Only maybe one in ten people can do it, and that's in people born with Remin blood."