A Demon's Wrath: Part I (Peachville High Demons) Read online

  A Demon's Wrath: Part I

  By Sarra Cannon

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2013 by Sarra Cannon

  eISBN: 978-1-62421-022-8

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  Cover Design by Robin Ludwig Design, Inc.

  http://gobookcoverdesign.com/

  Find Sarra Cannon on the web!

  http://www.sarracannon.com

  To all the loyal fans of the Peachville High Demons series. You have made my dreams come true.

  Two Stones

  The Human World -Present Day

  In my lifetime, I have been known by many names.

  Denaer. The name my mother and father chose for me on the day I was born. In the world of my ancestors, this name meant favored one. Blessed because I was a twin. A shared soul—something very rare and powerful among my kind.

  Wrath. The name the witches of the Peachville coven gave me when, in my rage and my sorrow, I slaughtered so many and forced my way into their world.

  Jackson. My human name. The only name I chose for myself. In this world, the name means God has shown favor. It was the closest I could find to my demon name and at the time, I thought it was ironic that one such as me could be considered blessed after all I’d done and all I’d lost.

  But tonight, on Halloween, the anniversary of the day my brother was taken from the demon world and brought here to be a slave, I knew that I was blessed.

  Below, the sound of laughter and music carried up the stairs and into my bedroom.

  It was the laughter of those I loved most, safe and free after all this time.

  I smiled and pulled my shirt on, my hands trembling slightly as I buttoned each of the small buttons. I straightened my arms, then closed and opened my fists, but they were slightly numb. And sweaty.

  I wiped my palms against my black pants and took a deep breath in and out.

  Tonight would be one I would never forget, and I wanted it to be perfect.

  Two stones weighed heavily in my pocket and every time I moved or took a step, I felt them brush against my leg.

  One was a memory stone made of quartz.

  The other was a smaller stone locked inside a golden case.

  Closing my eyes, I took another deep breath. In order to move toward my future, I knew I would have to face my past. If Harper was to ever really understand me, she would have to also understand my greatest triumphs and my darkest secrets.

  I walked to the window and looked down. This was where she had been standing when I first saw her. Our eyes met and there was an instant connection. Something neither of us fully understood at the time, but that would change us both forever.

  I reached my hand inside my pocket and closed my hand around the cool quartz.

  I searched my memory, trying to decide where it all began. Where my story should start. Then, I let the images of my past flow through me and into the magic of the stone where they would be locked inside for Harper to see.

  How Could I Have Been So Blind?

  The Shadow World - 101 Years Ago

  The flame barely missed my head as it sailed past.

  My eyes widened. “Careful,” I said, scowling at my brother, Aerden. “You almost hit me with that one.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I can’t help it if you’re too slow.”

  Fine. If he wanted to play rough, I’d give him rough.

  I lifted my hand toward the stream that ran beside us. A long, thin rope of water rose up, curling into a circle on one end. I thrust my hand forward and the rope sailed through the air, then slipped over Aerden’s head. I pulled back, tightening the rope around his neck.

  But before I could turn the water into ice, he shifted into a swirling mass of black smoke.

  The water lost its form and splashed against the black rock below.

  Crap. I was never fast enough.

  I followed Aerden’s trail, but miscalculated and realized my mistake too late. Misdirection was one of his many strengths in battle and today especially, I was finding it hard to keep up.

  The sharp edge of his axe pressed against the back of my neck. I tried to shift, but I was too late. Pain held me to my solid form.

  Aerden laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound. He was tense and angry, and I couldn’t make sense of it.

  “What’s gotten into you today?” I asked when he finally removed the blade from my neck.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know what you mean,” he said. “We’re just sparring. It’s not like I was really going to hurt you.”

  I rubbed the spot where the blade had dug into my flesh. “You could have fooled me,” I mumbled.

  “Again?” he asked.

  When I looked up at Aerden’s face, black smoke swirled around him like a tornado. I swallowed, narrowing my eyes at him.

  “You sure you’re alright?” I asked.

  “I’m fine,” he said through clenched teeth. Where his form usually looked clear and distinct when we were sparring, today he looked like he was cloaked in shadows. Dark smoke swirled all around him in fast, uneven circles. “Are we going again or not?”

  He was definitely not fine.

  “I can’t,” I said. “I don’t want to be late for the rehearsal.”

  He kicked a rock at the edge of the water and it burst into flames so hot, it melted and oozed over the side.

  I’d never seen him act like this before, but the closer we’d gotten to the day of my engagement ceremony, the more his attitude had soured. Whenever I tried to talk to him about it, though, he refused to talk about it.

  I bent down to collect my shirt and weapons and happened to look up just as Aerden lifted a large black rock. He reared back and threw it at me with even greater speed than he’d thrown the fireball.

  I barely shifted in time to avoid a major concussion.

  The rock passed through my shadow and I pushed through the air toward him, anger surging through my veins.

  “What the hell was that for?” I asked, reforming and getting up in his face.

  “What do you mean?” he asked, meeting my gaze with a look of steel.

  “I mean, I told you I was done for the day. You’ve been in a crappy mood all morning,” I said. “Do you want to talk about this? Or are you going to keep pretending you don’t care?”

  He turned his face away and walked over to where we’d left a few canisters of spring water.

  “Fine,” I said, turning my back on him. “Don’t talk to me about it. I’m done.”

  He raised his canister above him and guzzled down half the water in a few seconds. He didn’t even look over at me.

  “Aerden, I’m serious about this,” I said, not wanting to leave things like this between us. “I didn’t ask to be chosen for this. I’ll gladly hand it over to you if that’s what you want.”

  He cut his eyes toward me, his lip curled up in a grimace. “That’s not how it works and you know it.”

  I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms in front of me. “So I was right. You are upset about this,” I said.

  He turned away again, but this time, I grabbed his shoulder and spun him toward me.

  Aerden pushed my hand off of his arm and stood, taking two angry steps toward me.

  “Get off me,” he said. His breath was heavy, his chest rising and falling rapidly with each inhale and exhale.

  “Hey, d
on’t put this on me,” I said. “If you’re jealous, you’re going to have to either talk about it or learn to deal with it. You might have centuries before I take over as king, but you only have a few hours until it’s too late for me to say no.”

  His head snapped toward me. “You think I’m upset about you becoming king someday?”

  I stepped backward. “What else would you be so mad about?”

  His face softened and he looked away from me, avoiding my eyes.

  I shook my head, trying to make sense of his anger. What was really going on here?

  I walked toward him and rested my hand on his arm. “Listen, I don’t want to fight with you. You’re my twin brother,” I said. “You’re the most important person in the world to me. I don’t want this to come between us, but if you don’t tell me what’s eating you up, how can I understand?”

  Aerden’s mouth fell open and he sucked in a nervous breath.

  But just when I thought he might finally open up to me, small arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me backward.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before turning to Lazalea.

  “Hey Lea,” I said.

  She giggled and lifted her face to me, her green eyes bright and shining with happiness. “Hi,” she said. “I thought I might find you two out here playing around.”

  I cleared my throat and pulled her arms away from me, but when I turned back to Aerden, I saw his eyes lingering on her soft hands.

  And then I knew.

  The realization of it took my breath away, leaving a heavy feeling in my chest.

  I stared at him and when his eyes flicked up toward mine, I saw what I’d been missing all this time. All these years. How could I have been so blind?

  Aerden wasn’t upset I was going to be king.

  He was upset I was going to marry the woman he loved.

  Torn

  “Come on,” Lea said. She grabbed my hand and squeezed, but when I saw jealousy flash in my brother’s eyes, I realized he saw every touch as a betrayal.

  I released her hand as if it were on fire.

  “Aerden and I were just finishing up a game. Can I meet you later?” I asked.

  Lea’s shoulders fell and worry wrinkled her forehead. “Is everything okay?”

  I glanced toward my brother, who had turned his back on us.

  “Everything’s fine,” I said. “There’s just been a lot going on lately, and I wanted to spend some time with Aerden today since it might be our last chance to do this kind of thing for a while.”

  She shook her head. “Denaer, there’s no time, your mother said she needs to see you right away,” she said, then bit her lower lip and smiled. “She needs to give you something.”

  Aerden’s head turned toward us and I swallowed hard.

  “Hold on,” I told her.

  I walked over to my brother. “I need to talk to you,” I said. “Can we meet up later?”

  “I have a lot going on right now, too,” he said with a shrug. “Let’s just wait and see what happens.”

  I wished we had more time. Why didn’t he tell me he loved her? If he’d said something years ago, or even months ago, maybe we could have done something about it. Maybe we could have switched places.

  Lea’s eyes met mine and she sucked in a breath. “Are you coming?”

  A strange twinge tugged at my heart.

  What choice did I have?

  I took her hand, suddenly torn between duty and loyalty.

  Heart Stones

  When I got home, my mother was waiting for me in my room.

  “Where have you been?” she asked. She wore long red robes with ribbons of silver embedded in the fabric. On her head, she wore a crown of silver adorned with red and yellow stones. It was a mark of nobility, earned through my father’s position on the king’s council. “There’s still so much that needs to get done before tomorrow.”

  “I was sparring with Aerden outside the city,” I said.

  “You know you don’t have time for things like that anymore,” she said with a frown. “You’re going to have a lot of responsibilities coming up.”

  I sighed. “That’s exactly why I wanted to spend some extra time with him,” I said. “He hasn’t been himself lately.”

  I didn’t say anything about his feelings for Lea. I wanted to talk to him about it first.

  Worry flashed in my mother’s eyes for a moment, but it disappeared just as quickly. A smile spread across her face and her shoulders straightened. “You know your brother,” she said. “He’s very strong. He’ll be fine. Besides, Aerden should be the least of your concerns right now.”

  I sat down in a chair beside the window, suddenly feeling so tired.

  “I’m glad you’re here now,” she said. She placed her hand on my shoulder. “There’s something very important we need to talk about.”

  She reached inside her robes to retrieve a small golden case.

  My stomach twisted and I cleared my throat. “What’s that?”

  Mother smiled and held the locket out to me. “Open it,” she said.

  I took it in my hand, expecting the metal to be cool to the touch. Instead, it was warm and smooth. I turned it over in my hands, searching for some kind of clasp, but it was smooth like a stone. “How?”

  “Set it in the palm of your hand, then wave your other hand over the top of it like this.” She showed me the motion.

  I imitated her and the case opened slowly, like the petals of a growing flower. I studied the clear, colorless stone inside. I’d never seen anything like it before. In our world, we had stones of almost every color imaginable, but I’d never seen one with no color at all.

  “Diamonds are one of the rarest stones,” she said. “Rare, but pure and very powerful.”

  “What is it for?”

  She sat down in the chair across from me and put her hand on mine.

  “The exchanging of heart stones is one of the most honored and secret traditions in the engagement ceremony,” she said. “The stone has been cleansed and blessed with a special spell. As soon as you hold it in your hand and think of your chosen mate, the stone will pull the truth of your feelings for her straight from your heart. ”

  I stared down at the diamond. It was small, but I could feel the power radiating from it. The air around us buzzed with it.

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “What’s the purpose of it?”

  “Promising yourself to another is more than an act of obedience,” she said. “Even though this match was arranged for you, the engagement itself must be a choice you both make. The heart stones help you make that final decision to commit your lives to each other.”

  I shook my head, still not understanding.

  My mother smiled. “The princess has been given a matching stone,” she said. “You will each pour your true feelings for each other into the heart stones. Your love. Your doubt. Your adoration. Whatever the stone feels is most important. Then, during the ceremony, you and Princess Lazalea will exchange these stones under a veil of privacy. You will open them in front of each other, each seeing what the other placed inside. She will know your true heart and you, my son, will know hers.”

  The truth of what she was saying hit me like the crushing weight of a mountain on my chest. I couldn’t speak or breath.

  If Lea saw my true feelings, she would know that I didn’t love her.

  “I can’t do this,” I said. I handed the golden locket back to my mother and stood up. I wanted to get as far away from that glimmering stone as I could.

  My mother followed me toward the other side of the room. “You must,” she said, handing it out to me. “It’s part of the tradition.”

  I shook my head and pressed my palm against the cool black wall.

  “Darling, there’s nothing to be nervous about,” she said, patting my back. “What secrets could you possibly have from one another? The two of you have been inseparable since you were shadowlings. She already knows how you feel about her.” />
  I closed my eyes, my heart beating so fast it made my head spin. Yes, Lea and I had been inseparable, but she had no idea what my true feelings were. Of course, I cared for her as a friend, but I knew I didn’t love her the way she wanted to be loved.

  I had watched her affection for me growing over the years and I had truly done everything in my power to make myself feel the same way. We’d been promised to each other at birth and because of it, I resigned myself to a life without love a long time ago.

  But I never wanted her to know that. I wanted her to feel loved. She deserved that.

  Knowing what I now knew about Aerden’s feelings only made this more complicated.

  There had to be a way to make this right.

  “Why?” I asked, turning to my mother. “Why are you just now giving me the stone? Why didn’t someone tell me about this sooner?”

  “Denaer, I don’t understand why you’re so upset about this.” Her face twisted with worry. “The stone must be presented at the last minute like this so that there can be no chance to alter the stone’s truth. It’s tradition for the couple to pour their hearts into the stone on the day before the engagement. It remains secret so that it remains pure.”

  I forced myself to breathe, but my heart ached inside its cage.

  “Does anyone ever open the locket and change their mind?” I asked. “What if someone found out the person they were matched with didn’t love them? What then?”

  She grabbed my hand from my side and pressed the golden locket into my palm. “What you see inside the heart stone can be your greatest joy or your darkest secret,” she said, her gaze piercing through me. “But rejecting a match this important would bring shame to everyone.”

  I closed my fist around the case and nodded.

  I understood her completely. Lea would never reject this match and shame her family. Instead, she would see the truth inside the heart stone. She would have to live the rest of her life knowing I didn’t love her.

  I would become her darkest secret.