Demon Girl by Penelope Fletcher (Completed)

Chapter 4

"Wouldn't call marching up to the closest demon and trying to kill it, nothing," I said. Chewing my bottom lip, I cautioned myself to be careful. "I ran that's all. I just ran."

"Thinking on it, I don't believe you," Ro said.

I shrugged. I couldn't tell them, it was too big.

Alex placed her palms on the table. My eyes darted from hers to the small runes that decorated the back of her hands. "The Wall keeps us safe. It keeps those demons out and us humans in. That's the way it be, Rae. If a vampire or goblin were to lay hands on you-" She shuddered, her eyes becoming hollow with visions of death and gore from years past. "Your life here means something. Don't throw it away."

"The Rupture happened lifetime's ago. Who knows what it's like out there?" I leaned forward and lowered my voice to match hers. "They may have changed, evolved." I thought of Breandan and Tomas. "Y'know, I don't think he Sect have been honest about what they're like."

"Evolved? Demons be animals, dangerous animals driven by need, nothing more." She took a deep breath. "The Doctrine of the Sect is law. Clerics keep the law, and Doctrine says going beyond the Wall is forbidden. The rules keep us safe." She visibly relaxed as she said the words.

Familiar frustration bubbled inside me at her lack of curiosity. "What if that's not how it's supposed to-Forget it," I said and ducked my head. I felt her eyes on my face and I carefully kept it blank, my gaze cast down to the floor.

I couldn't force her to change her mind in a minute, nor did I want to. She was the one making sense and thinking clearly. I was the one making waves, and allowing dangerous beings to run riot unchecked and unopposed.

A voice said close to my ear, "Am I to keep the vampire in your wardrobe a secret?"

I jerked up and Devlin leaned back, grinning impishly. I swear, if I had not spent a lifetime controlling my face and emotions, I probably would have launched myself at him shrieking. Ro had wandered off across the room, and I hadn't seen Devlin sidle up, too lost in my thoughts. How the hell did he find out? He must have seen Tomas carrying me across the Temple, but Tomas was sure we would be moving to fast to be seen. Panicked, I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I didn't know what to say. Oh Gods. Devlin gazed at me, green eyes clear and sharp. I decided the best plan was to deny it. To call him deluded or whatever I had to get him off my back. It was his word against mine, and though I was considered freaky, the mere suggestion I had a vampire in a wardrobe was just crazy. But then hadn't my behavior had been somewhat suspect? I glanced around. Devlin coming over to talk to me captured the attention of the entire class, but no one seemed overly alarmed.

"What?" I said in a perfection imitation of cluelessness, but I knew my face was white as snow and my voice brittle.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody. What fun would that be?"

He was still leaning close over me, speaking right into my ear so no one else could here. To the casual observer it may have looked like he whispered sweet nothings in my ear. My heart sunk. What did he have in mind? Blackmail?

"Why are you doing this?" I asked in a low voice. "Just go away."

I sank further into my seat and turned my head away slightly, clearly giving the message I didn't want to talk anymore. Childish tactics, but confrontation didn't seem to work, maybe ignoring him would. He had that amused smirk that made his face look smug and I found myself detesting his presence. There was something decidedly off about him, and the perfection of his face was making me sick.