Supernatural Boarding School #3 - A Brush of Death ✅

Chapter 47 - Demona

I'd like to thank @SholaHughes for editing. Again. :)

Demona's point of view

Come on, Demona, I told myself sternly. Don't give up. Push through. You can do this. You can definitely do this. Just a bit more...

With a sigh, I gave up. I was out of breath without even moving from my spot in the middle of my room. Cornelia was nodding contently, scribbling something down.

"Is this good?" I asked. Surely she couldn't be happy that I had failed to complete the assignment? She had spelled my room so that I couldn't get out even if I wanted to, making it basically a prison that only she or Mr. Combright could get me out of with their magic. Hammerhead was in the hallway, the door closed so I couldn't see him. He was trying to block my mind control by pushing his own mind control in my direction mentally. So far, it was working.

"If you would be able to do this within a few seconds, like you've been able to do anything else, I would be concerned." Cornelia explained. "This just means that your powers have limits. Sure, you will learn to push past this soon enough, but the fact that you actually need to train to do it means that you're not some all-powerful being. That's good news, Demona. If you were, we would need to lock you up for real."

"Lock me up?" I shuddered. "You mean in a cell next to Jack and Benjamin? No thanks. Even this hospital room is a better option than that."

"Drink something and try it again," she ordered. Cornelia had never been one for small talk.

I gulped down some blood, trying to ignore the fact that it made me want more, and started all over again, trying to take control of Hammerhead's mind. We kept trying and trying until I finally broke through, but only for a second. At that point, Hammerhead and I were both exhausted and no amount of blood could fix that, so we called it a day. Combright came in to talk to me for a moment, checking my aura to see how my powers were progressing. He informed me that they were the same as yesterday, which was a good sign as well.

"When can I see Eros?" I asked him, sinking into my cushions and letting my body rest for a moment.

Combright sighed. "I'm not sure, Demona. If you were to see him right now, I am quite certain that the scene from last time might repeat itself. You don't want that, right?"

"Right," I agreed with a sigh. Who had thought that after everything we'd been through, I'd be the one putting him in danger? I understood how he must have felt all those times he had controlled someone's mind, only to realize what had happened after the fact. It felt absolutely horrible, like I had somehow raped him. I knew that wasn't the case, I knew that it hadn't been my fault and that Eros didn't blame me, but that didn't change how disgusted I was by myself. Poor Eros. I had only been cursed with this power for a few weeks now and he'd been battling it for years. A power that wasn't even his to begin with.

"When can we start to power swap?" I asked, referring to his idea for me and Eros to take turns carrying the power of mind control so that it wouldn't grow too strong for him to handle.

"Maybe..." He hesitated. "I'll ask Cornelia, but perhaps we could start tomorrow. We might not want to wait for your power to grow strong enough to break through Hammerhead's defenses. That would put Eros at risk even more."

"Tomorrow?" I sat up straight, feeling hopeful for the first time in a while. "Really? That soon?" I was more than ready to feel like myself again, to get rid of this power that was both a blessing and a curse. It made me feel strong and powerful and somehow whole, but it also meant I couldn't live a normal life. I couldn't even see my friends and family. Eros could handle this, I felt sure of it. He'd be fine. He was far more experienced at it than I was. And, strangely, he was the stable one in this relationship. He had been for a while now. Who would have thought?