The Demon Dealings

This world is different from how it used to be. There are things that go bump in the night and normal people know that those things aren’t always just your cat. Sometimes those things are out to get you. Sometimes they want your blood, you mind or even your soul.

For a long time we didn’t know how they got in, why they were here or even who they were, the only thing that we knew is that they weren’t like us…

We are not like you.

But before everything started happening there was this common misconception that we could live in harmony. That they wouldn’t always just bite us and drink our blood or steal our souls for the power, or even just for the hell of it.

There was the belief that they were people to. Those demons were just men who did terrible things and the other things, the other supernaturals that couldn’t be explained by human means were things of myth. That is why people like me had to hide. Not that there are many people like me...

Back then not being normal wasn’t accepted and being normal meant being human. But despite everything there is a lot I would give for things to be much simpler like it was before.

But your normal wouldn’t last forever. The shift, the divide between us came with the end of the world and believe it or not, I was there all those years ago. And I was nothing like I am today. I was just a naive girl trying my best to appear normal.

I remember when I first noticed that something was off, that I wouldn’t have to hide forever. I thought it was all a coincidence, that I couldn’t possibly be accepted with the knowledge of what I can do. Of course like I was often times back then, I was wrong.

The first day of school that year was normal. The sun was shining the teens were whining and I was doing my best to appear normal. Which really wasn’t all that hard.

I simply blended in in the grey monotony of high school. While everyone else strove to stand out I tried to blend. It worked for the most part.

"Natasha!" Jane was one of the few people I considered a friend, being quasi popular but not totally in the in crowd helped me remain somewhere in the middle. Meaning I was over looked often.

"Hey Jane." I nodded at her, too lazy to wave. She ignored it, too happy about the first day of school.

"What have you been up to all summer? It feels like forever!" She smiled, apparently happy to see me. I on the other hand was reluctant to even be at school.

"I guess that's what happens when you go to France for the summer." I said jokingly, I sat up and nudged her.

"Well... Europe but its close enough." She shrugged. "How was your summer?"

"It was pretty boring. Didn't do much, nothing exciting like you." It was my turn to shrug at her.

"Come on, you must have done something fun." She stopped our slow stroll to give me a look. Like she was telling me that she knew better.

But then again so did I. I decided to stick with the story knowing my extracurricular activities would not be interesting to someone as adventurous as her. That and she would think I was mental if I attempted to tell her the truth.

"Nope, nothing really… Sorry to disappoint.” I patted her on the shoulder in a mock comforting manner.

"Well, that's no fun." She pouted. “I mean you didn’t even find some cute guy to ogle all summer?”

"Nope. No cute guys for me. What can I say, I am a boring person." I smiled, teasingly at her and continued walking towards my locker.

"Well, I brought you guys stuff from Europe but I want to wait till lunch when everyone is here to give it." We stopped at my locker and I started spinning the combination in.

"Cool, and then maybe we can all hear about your adventures to." I teased again but I'm not too sure that she caught on that time. “I’m sure you’ve ogled plenty of hot guys for the both of us.”

"You could say that again.” She smirked and went off into la la land for a minute. I chuckled lightly at her daydreaming.

She gasped suddenly as if remembering something important to tell me, “Oh my gosh, speaking of hot guys; did you hear about Cade?” She asked rather excitedly.

“What about him?” I could tell that this was going somewhere like: “My future boyfriend” somewhere. And in the back of my mind I wondered how she even knew about Cade.

“He and Jillian split up this summer!” I noted the glint in her eye; she already had a plan although I had objections about Cade.

Cade was the kind of guy that was good to look at. He was good man candy but between the insanely bitchy girlfriend and the crazy ass hole jock friends he lost his appeal to anyone with common sense. Unfortunately that left Jane out.

“Really?” I asked, remaining somewhat uninterested.

“Yes! But that’s not the best part. Apparently they are done for good.” The smile on her face told me that she thought she was going to be the one to win over Cade next but somehow I knew differently. People always say it’s over for good and then they always get back with their ex. It’s inevitable.

However it didn’t stop the impending feeling I had about Jane and Cade. It was one of those feeling you can’t explain but you know that something is going to happen whether you try to stop it or not. That was the feeling I was getting from the Jane/Cade situation.

“So now that he’s unattached you can go get him...” I gestured to his side of the hallway.

“Well don’t sound so excited about it.” She raised an eyebrow at me.

“Well, I don’t particularly like him so I’m really not all that excited for you to become his next conquest.” I shut my locker to look her in the face.

“I don’t have to like him to get what I want from him.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

“Oh come on! Not him. He’ll get you hooked just like he got everyone else hooked.” I threw my hands in the air in frustration.

“We’ll see.” She winked at me.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Your face....”

“Is beautiful.” She made another face at me.

I continued laughing in response.

“I’d like to see your face when I tell you Ian and Carys finally got together.”

“What?!” I choked on my laughter suddenly sobering up from my laughter high.

“I guess he just asked her out this summer out of the blue.” She winked at me as if to tell me that she had something to do with it.

“No way. There has to be more to it than that.” I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Well, that’s what I heard.” She said slowly. Insinuating she’d already seen Carys.

“Wait, you saw Carys before me? Where is she now?” I glanced around but wasn’t surprised to find that Carys wasn’t anywhere to be found.

“Yeah I saw her... But she’s with Ian now.” She said slowly, as if knowing it would set me off.

“She with him already! She’s been with him all summer according to you!” I huffed.

“Hey, I didn’t say that...”

“But you implied it.” I paused. “So what’s the deal anyways? He suddenly asks her out and now he’s keeping her from her friends.” I’m sure I had a look on my face.

“Oh no... Nash. Don’t, this isn’t something that needs to be investigated.” Jane tried.

“Oh, it is but don’t worry. I’ll figure it out.” The bell rang right as I finished my sentence and I turned to leave to my first period class.

“Shit.” I heard Jane mutter before losing her in the crowd.

By the time lunch rolled around I had some semblance of a plan and was ready to confront Carys for her unusual behavior. I’d met Jane in our usual place and found out Carys would meet us at our lunch place.

“Carys!” Jane called to our friend as she and I walked up to her. They hugged and I stood there with my arms crossed.

“You saw Jane this morning but didn’t see me?” I attempted to pout. I think I failed.

“You’re always late Natasha.” She almost scolded me.

“Can we save the fighting for after our first lunch time reunion?” Jane asked slightly annoyed.

“Yeah yeah.” I smiled at Carys and decided to hug it out. I patted her on the back letting her know I wasn’t really mad at her after all.

“It’s so good to see you.” Carys said with a smile. I guess it explained why I saw so little of her during the summer. Boys.

“Yeah well, summer in the boonies was really not exciting at all.” I joked.

“Not like yours.” Jane added with a wink.

“And now we have a new addition to our exclusive little group.” I smirked at Carys who’d brought Ian. She blushed.

“So… spill, how was your summer?” Carys successfully deflected to Jane.

“It was so awesome! We went to Spain Italy and France. Speaking of, I got you guys some things…” As she dug through her bag she babbled on about something or another which I somewhat ignored. I guess I should have been grateful that she wasn’t babbling about Cade, instead about foreign boys.

“Carys,” she had an interesting looking scarf in her hands. “I got you this. To keep you warm on cold nights.”

I busted out laughing as Carys scolded Jane.

“Annnnnndddd Nash, I got you this.” She handed me a necklace. “It’s supposed to be a protection sigil... against the forces of evil... like the dreaded Cade.” I laughed at her joke.

“You might need it more than I my friend.” I patted her on the back dramatically.

“Nope, that is an evil I am willing to accept.” She winked.

“Anyways...” I started awkwardly. “I think we’ve been waiting for the real news... the story about you and Ian.” I wiggled my eyebrows at Carys. I’m sure Jane did the same.

“We need the details.” She gave Carys her full attention.

“Well, there’s not a whole lot of tell...” She trailed off. Ian coughed but we ignored him.

“What do you mean there isn’t much to tell? A guy you’ve been crushing on for years finally asks you out and you’re not totally freaking out about it?” Jane gave her a look.

Carys smiled. “Can you get me something to drink?” She asked Ian.

“Uh... sure.” He left us to our own devices as he went to retrieve his girlfriend’s beverage.

“Knew it.” I muttered.

“Well, we were hanging out at his house because I was bored and what better way to get a guy to like you than to get him to know you, right?” She paused a moment as if expecting Jane to interrupt. “But then his brother comes out of nowhere and asks me if he could talk to me but Ian just suddenly asked me out on a date then and there. That’s pretty much it.”

“That’s weird... It’s almost as if he was making sure his brother didn’t get to you first.” I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Yeah well, whatever it was I’m glad it happened because now I have a boyfriend.” She was very nonchalant about it. It made me wonder if something more had happened that she wasn’t letting on about.

“And there’s my future boyfriend now.” Jane smirked and I looked in the direction she was about to head in.

The school’s resident bad ass and popular guy; Cade. I should have known better. He was rich, influential and he had all the charm a girl could ask for but I for one was not buying it. That didn’t stop Jane, however, from following outside to the cool kid hangout.

If Jane had anything going for her it would be her semi-popular status. She was well liked but didn’t drift to too many circles and therefore was not classified as a wannabe or hussy.

“Where’d Jane go?” Carys asked after she’d successfully detached herself from Ian who’d just returned with her beverage.

“After her future boyfriend.” To say I didn’t approve was an understatement.

“He’s bad news...” Carys shook her head at her friend’s choice. I was glad that she agreed with me despite the fact that I had no idea she knew of Cade’s exploits till that moment.

“I think that’s what she likes about him.” I rolled my eyes.

“I don’t think he’s all that bad...” Ian said slowly.

“Yeah well, you won’t have the pleasure of hearing his exploits when he’s through with your best friend.” I said rather spitefully. I knew Cade was someone I didn’t want hanging around.

“You sound like you know from experience.” Ian asked me.

“I’ve heard girls go on about him. I’ve also heard girls who’ve had their hearts broken by him and somehow they’re still under his spell... I personally don’t buy it.” I grabbed my bottle of water and took a sip from it, hoping to be done with this conversation.

“Well, whatever it is, we’ll be sure to hear about it later.” Carys noted sadly shaking her head.

And we didn’t hear about it later. Which at the time I should have found odd but I just brushed it off, considering it another one of Jane’s conquests. She’d gone off radar before so this wasn’t all that unusual.

But instead of worrying over one friend’s love life I worried over the other.

Ian lived in a quaint little neighborhood, one that didn’t scream “I’m rich!” But it also didn’t scream “I’m poor.” In fact it was the perfect kind of neighborhood that one would live in if they were trying to blend in. Like me, expect I didn’t live there.

His house was a blue two story with a couple of rose bushes out front and what looked to be a dwarf tree of sorts. I’ve never been good with plants... The only thing I knew was that it was enough to make his house esthetically pleasing.

I didn’t exactly notice any of that when I walked up to the house and knocked on the door intending to interrogate Ian to figure out what really had set him off. I found it fishy that after a few years of knowing her he’d suddenly just ask her out. Maybe he wasn’t on creeper level but there seemed to definitely be something off.

But when I knocked on the door Ian was not who answered.

A man dressed nicely for his age, probably in his 20’s, with blonde hair and blue eyes answered the door. I recognized him for a brief second but not enough to remember who he actually was.

“Uh... Hi. Is Ian home?” I asked him slowly.

“Not yet.” He replied shortly. Something about his smile told me that he knew more than I did. “Do you want me to tell him you stopped by?”

“Uh... no. That’s ok.” I paused a second before blurting “It was nice meeting you...?”

“Spiros. My name is Spiros.”

“Uh… cool. Bye!” I took off feeling slightly awkward. I would have to go back the next day and hope that I didn’t have another awkward encounter with Ian’s brother who for some reason seemed familiar to me. I’d probably seen him around. After all he was Ian’s brother.