“It wasn’t important,” he replied, his voice suddenly sad. “So much time has gone by since I celebrated it that I barely remembered it.”

  “Tell the truth, Evan.”

  He remained silent, running the sponge over my neck before answering. “That was also the day my mother died.” He dropped the sponge and caressed my arms, soothing the shiver that his confession had triggered. “There was a chance for me to see her,” he continued in a whisper, “to say goodbye to her the way I hadn’t been able to before I died. But I was out on a mission. Her soul left her body and I could have spoken to her, but I wasn’t there. And so she passed to the other side. I missed my only chance.”

  “I’m sorry,” I murmured in a tiny voice. A tear slid down my face. I should have realized there had to be a reason he hadn’t wanted to tell me. My stubbornness had hurt him.

  “You couldn’t have known. Besides, like I said, it’s been a long time. It’s not important any more.” I turned to look at him and nodded. He wiped a tear from my face and smiled. “I don’t want to see you cry,” he warned me. “Let’s think of the present. It’s much more . . . comforting.” He raised an eyebrow and pulled me back against him, kissing me tenderly, then took some shampoo and applied it to my hair, his strong fingers gently massaging my scalp.

  I closed my eyes, surrendering to the pleasurable sensation. “I like taking baths with you.”

  “I’m better than a spa,” he boasted. “Full service.” He winked at me and smiled.

  “Will you visit me tonight?” I looked at him hopefully. Every time his gray eyes probed mine, I lost myself.

  “I don’t think I can. I’m going on a mission and won’t be back in time. Sorry.”

  “Oh . . . ” A bitter sigh escaped me. “So you’ll be gone all night long?”

  “And all day too, I think.”

  “I’ll have nightmares.” That always happened when he was gone. When he was in my dreams, he drove off all my demons.

  Evan tucked my hair behind my ear. “I’ll ask Ginevra to stay with you.”

  “No, there’s no need. I’m safe now. I can handle a bad dream. Let’s let her enjoy a little free time.”

  He nodded, though I wasn’t sure he would listen to me, and asked, “Is there something I can do for you?”

  I already had the answer to that. “Actually, there is.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “Would you go up to the attic with me?”

  Evan looked puzzled. The twins were in the attic, still imprisoned in the carbonado cage.

  “I don’t want to do anything rash,” I reassured him.

  “Of course not. Otherwise you wouldn’t need to ask—you would have just gone and done it.”

  “Very funny.”

  “What’s so important up there?”

  “Something I wanted to get yesterday, but then they attacked me and—”

  “When you say ‘something’ you mean a book, I presume.”

  I shrugged, holding back a smile. “You know me well.”

  “Don’t you have two of them on the nightstand?” Evan was probably a little scared to take me there—not because of what the twins might do to me but because of what the carbonado might awaken in me.

  “I’ve already finished those,” I said, thinking about the series on aliens that I’d left in Evan’s room. I bit my lip and batted my eyelashes.

  “All right, I’ll take you up there. Otherwise, knowing you, you’ll probably go on your own.”

  I clapped my hands happily. I couldn’t wait to have my Jane Eyre back. If I had to be alone that night, Rochester would keep me company.

  We climbed out of the tub and got dressed. A big black panther was guarding the door and I smiled when I saw the red patch on its paw. It was Devina and she must have heard everything. Picking up on that thought, she flicked her tail at me and walked off with a low growl. He was mine. Sooner or later she would get it through her head.

  Oblivious to our little battle to mark our territory, Evan took my hand and led me to the trapdoor that went to the attic. He opened it, went up the ladder first, and peered into the darkness. Pulling himself up, he offered me his hand to help me up. The lightbulb was gone—I’d made it explode—and outside a cold darkness had already fallen. Evan opened his palm and a sphere of light came to life, dimly illuminating the room. Angel fire. I stood there staring at it, almost hypnotized by its silvery glow. How could I be so fascinated by something that was such a serious danger to me? Once I transformed, that fire—so pure and radiant—would be the only weapon capable of killing me.

  My heart beat faster. No. The energy making me quiver was coming from elsewhere. I followed my instinct and turned toward the cage at the far end of the attic. The two children were sitting on the floor, leaning back against the bars with their heads lolling forward as though sleeping . . . or dead. I truly hoped that wasn’t the case. That cage was our only hope of living a peaceful life during our last remaining months. As though he’d sensed my thoughts, Evan squeezed my hand. “Well? Where do we start looking?”

  “I-it should be over here,” I stammered. “I don’t understand. It was right here.” Evan stepped forward and helped me look through the storage boxes as the energy that filled the room continued to prickle me. Maybe going up there hadn’t been such a good idea. Fighting the instinct to turn toward the cage, I continued to rummage around.

  “Looking for this?” asked two hoarse voices.

  “Don’t turn around,” Evan warned me between clenched teeth.

  “It must be important if you came all the way up here to get it,” one of the Devas continued. Pages rustled and I turned around. The little boy stared at me. He had my book.

  “Give it back.” I slowly stood up and looked him in the eye.

  “Why don’t you come get it?” he challenged me, his voice eerie. I moved a step closer.

  “Gemma, no!” Evan blocked my way, facing me. I remained calm. “I’ll take care of this.” He raised his hand, bending the air to his will . . . but nothing happened. He frowned with frustration and the Deva grinned, clutching my book in his hands. Evan’s power couldn’t go past the barrier.

  “I’m bored in here. Maybe I’ll tear out some pages. It might be fun.”

  I clenched my fists.

  “Gemma, forget about it. Let’s get out of here!”

  The little boy ripped the corner of one of the pages and Evan shot across the room. “I wouldn’t provoke her if I were you,” he warned, but the boy boldly ripped out the rest of the page.

  “No!” I screamed. My dark power hit him full force, slamming him back against the bars. The sound of the paper being ripped had torn my heart.

  “Gemma, that’s enough,” Evan shouted, rushing back to me. “I have it. I’ve got the book.” He showed me the volume and the torn page, and I blinked, finally breathing again. The Deva fell to the floor of the cage with a thud and didn’t get up.

  “Let’s get out of here.” Evan put his arm around my shoulder and kissed my forehead. I nodded and looked around. It looked like a hurricane had torn through the room. Had I done that? A shudder of terror ran through me at the thought that such a destructive power lurked inside me.

  We reached the trapdoor, where the panther with a red splotch on its paw awaited us. If she’d been in her human form just then she would have had a smug smile on her face. But I didn’t want to be like that. Like her. Like them. I didn’t want to destroy things . . . or people, by stealing their souls. I held Evan’s hand tight, less and less sure I would remain myself.

  “Why does this book mean so much to you?” Evan asked me as I tried to carefully tape the page back in. He stopped me and without saying a word used his powers to repair it. I stared at him, amazed, and he winked at me. “Well? Why is it so important? Was it a present from an admirer?” he joked, but I remained serious, clutching the book to my chest.

  “My grandmother gave it to me. See?” I opened it and showed him the first page, which had her name on it. Gemma.

  “Oh, I thought that was you,” Evan said.

  “It is, but not only. We wrote it together when I was eight. She said that that way the book would be ours. The margins are full of notes, reflections, questions, thoughts . . .”

  “Now I understand.”

  “There are two kinds of books: ones you can’t wait to finish and ones you wish would never end.”

  Seeing how much I loved the story, Evan had once given me his copy of Jane Eyre, a first edition from 1847, which I took special care of. Nevertheless, not even that priceless volume was as precious to me as my own copy, which was irreplaceable.

  “Thank you for fixing it.”

  “Well, you were the one who got it back,” Evan joked, but a second later his expression darkened. “You’re getting stronger and stronger.”

  “Does it scare you?”

  “The only thing that scares me is the thought of losing you.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” I promised, taking his hand to reunite our tattoo. “Samvicaranam,” I whispered, and he rested his forehead against mine.

  “Samyodhanam,” he murmured against my lips.

  Stay together. Fight together.

  “I’ll find myself and you’ll be there too. I swear it.”

  Evan looked at me. He wanted to believe me, wanted to with all his heart, yet part of him couldn’t. So how could I be so sure?

  “I have to go now,” he said softly, and I nodded, still shaken by all those emotions. “Promise me you won’t go back up there.”

  “I wouldn’t even think of it,” I reassured him.

  “A whole day without you. How will I live?”

  “How will I not die?”

  Evan hugged me to him again, his dark eyes transforming, turning to ice. Giving me a kiss on the lips that sent a tingle through me, he vanished, leaving me alone in the silence.

  “I wouldn’t even think of it,” I repeated to myself. But the demon I feared wasn’t in the attic.

  It was trapped inside me.

  PARALLEL WORLDS

  I wandered through the trees of the snowy forest, wrapped in my long red cloak that stood out against the pure white snow like a drop of blood. Its broad hood covered my head. It was chilly and the night was preparing to slice the air with its sickle of darkness, bringing with it cold and death, because not far away one of its Executioners would claim a soul. Evan was on a mission and wouldn’t be there to protect me. I wrapped the cloak around me more tightly, though the devastating cold was not around me but inside me.

  The tree trunks stood like silent soldiers, and yet there was something eerie in the air, a sinister shiver that followed me everywhere, as though death were passing by me time and time again.

  Someone grabbed my wrist all of a sudden. “You lost, Little Red Riding Hood?” I spun around and Evan was in front of me, his silvery gray eyes shining in the darkness like a wolf’s.

  “Evan!” I sighed with relief. “What are you doing here? Didn’t you have to go on a mission?”

  He smiled. “I couldn’t stay away from you.” He kissed my neck and moved toward me, forcing me to take a step back.

  “Orders come first—isn’t that your motto?”

  “You come first—that’s my motto.” I laughed and returned his insistent kisses.

  He pulled back and took me by the hand. “Let’s go.”

  “Where?”

  “Someplace warmer, so I can take off your clothes.” I laughed and ran with him through the trees. As we passed, the forest shed its white mantle and the lake showed us its shimmering waters. I turned around. Winter had disappeared, leaving in its place a crisp spring night. “Come here, Gemma. It’s fun,” Evan called out.

  My gaze found him on Peninsula Trail, a path that crossed the lake. It was so nice to stroll along it, surrounded by the calm waters. It was like being at the ends of the earth.

  “Come back!” I shouted to him. “The water’s freezing.”

  “Come get me!” he dared me.

  Sometimes Evan was worse than a little boy. I laughed and took off my shoes, pulled up the hem of my cloak and dress, and walked down the path barefoot. It was the long dress Ginevra had lent me for my journey through Hell, though I couldn’t remember putting it on . . .

  The water rose to my ankles, the current tickling my skin. “Here I am! I made it! Happy?”

  Evan grabbed my waist and smiled. “I’m always happy to see you, Peachskin.”

  “What?” Why had he called me that? I looked up and found myself staring into Ahrec’s ink-black eyes. The Unholy Soul smiled at me, his tiny teeth jagged like a shark’s. Was I in Hell? I backed up, frightened, but my foot slipped on the mossy rocks and I fell into the shallow water.

  “Come. I’ll help you cross the river.” The river. I had to follow the river to find Evan. Ahrec held out his hand but I let out a scream and backed away. I struggled to my feet and the current pulled off my cloak, sweeping it away from the shore.

  I turned back, running barefoot along the path. Ahrec suddenly appeared right in front of me. Unable to come to a halt, I tumbled onto him. He tried to restrain me, but I broke free and scratched him hard. Blood splattered my face but instead of stopping I continued to tear at his flesh. My nails were as sharp as a panther’s. I slashed open his chest and with a suffocated gurgle Ahrec fell to his knees.

  His eyes had gone back to normal. “Well done, Peachskin.” He fell face-down into the water. A dark red pool spread out around his body and the current dragged him away. I thought of my cloak and stared at my hands, trembling. They were covered with his blood but it wasn’t black, like the blood of the Damned. It was red. I washed them obsessively in the river, getting my long dress wet. What had I done? I ran away without turning back, wanting to return to the car, but I couldn’t remember where I’d parked it.

  I spotted the hideaway in the distance and my heart leapt with joy. As I looked over my shoulder, frightened by a dark presence I continued to sense, I crashed into someone. I looked up, dazed by the impact. It was Evan. “It’s you!” I threw my arms around him.

  “Hey, calm down. Why are you so on edge?”

  “Where have you been?”

  “On a mission. I told you I had an execution order. But I’m here now.” He stroked my head and I let myself breathe. I looked at our hideaway on the shore. Through the window I glimpsed the glow of the fireplace, defying the darkness. Smoke rose from the chimney. I’d thought he was alone there, but from the house came the roar of a group of panthers that pierced the night.

  “Aren’t we going inside?” I asked Evan, puzzled.

  He kissed me on the lips. “No. Let’s spend some alone time,” he murmured, stroking my cheek. “Just you, me, and Devina.” I leapt back, my heart pounding in my chest, but bumped into someone behind me. I spun around, panting.

  Devina smiled and leaned in to kiss me. “He’ll be all mine,” she whispered against my lips. Her honey-colored eyes challenged me, as narrow as a panther’s.

  “No!” I shouted, taking another step back and continuing to stare at them. Evan took her hand and led her to our hideaway. A tear slid down my face when the door closed, leaving me all alone.

  I turned and started running, hoping the darkness would ease my pain, but I felt a strange presence at my heels. Soon the air was full of hostile, deafening hisses. I stopped, exhausted, as the air all around me shimmered and took shape. It was then that I recognized it.

  A Pariah.

  I knew I couldn’t pay attention to it or it would absorb my soul, but I couldn’t help it. Its evanescent figure hypnotized me, circling me slowly, as though in a dance. Whispers filled my head. It wasn’t alone. I looked around and a group of them emerged from the thick of the forest. Though I tried to resist their call, I was mesmerized, at the mercy of some dark power. The first Pariah quivered, excited by my interest. My yearning overpowered me and I reached out my hand.

  “DON’T TOUCH IT!”

  I woke with a start, Ginevra’s voice still echoing through my mind. Raising my hands to my head, I took a deep breath, still shaken. Just another bad dream. Another horribly bad dream.

  The house was quiet. I looked around. Through the half-opened door came a shaft of light that barely illuminated the darkness. In the hall, a panther stood guard outside the door.

  Everything was normal. Except for the fact that my life was a horror movie, I thought. I pushed off the heavy covers and headed to the bathroom. Evan hadn’t come back yet. I went to the sink and rinsed my face. Suddenly I had a strange sensation: I felt drawn to the mirror and slowly raised my face. In the reflection, my eyes captivated me. They were dark and powerful . . . as though they weren’t mine. My heart skipped a beat. There was no trace of their whites—they were two deep pools summoning me, the eyes of the demon within me. Suddenly I wanted to free it. I wanted to touch it. I wanted to be it and absorb its power. I reached out, rested my fingers on the mirror . . . and they sank into it. Looking at them, confused, I noticed that the black eyes in the mirror continued to stare at me as dark bulgy streaks slithered across my face like snakes. It was the demon absorbing me, absorbing my energy. Frightened, I tried to pull my hand back but couldn’t. Something was blocking me. The darkness wanted me for its own. The streaks on my reflection grew darker and darker. It was going to annihilate me!

  Panicking, I tried once more to pull back my hand and the mirror cracked. I tugged on my wrist with my other hand and finally jerked my hand free, shattering the mirror into a thousand pieces. As I stared at my bloody fingers, a voice hissed through the silence: “You cannot escape me.”

  My body went cold. It was my voice. I spun around. In front of me was another me, in flesh and blood. Terror trapped the air in my lungs. “I’m you,” she hissed, her black eyes pools of evil.

  “No!” I screamed.

  A slow smile spread over her lips. “It’s too late. He’s inside you. He’s growing!” A hiss broke the silence and a serpent slithered out of her mouth. I jumped back, but the animal darted forward and lunged at me.