Nick’s hands went to his head in dismay. “She’s found you then. Both of you! She knows we will raise Krista and find the fourth. She’s playing with us!”
“She’s known where I was all along, Nick,” I cried out, exasperated. “Let’s not forget that she ran off with my boyfriend!”
“Miranda is not the Hybrid Queen!” he bellowed.
“What?” I asked meekly.
“Miranda is not the Hybrid Queen,” he repeated, his voice lower.
“Then who is?” Helen asked, bewildered.
“Her mother,” said Nick, looking at us both.
“Her mother was killed a century ago,” I argued. “Mara told me that when I met her.”
“Who’s Mara?” Helen asked, frowning.
“She’s a nightmare demon, and a friend of my father’s.”
“Well, Mara is misinformed,” said Nick. “So is the whole underworld, apparently. The story states that Lilliana’s mother was a vampire. Not just any vampire but an ancient one. Did you really think that she was going to go down easily?” He eyed us. “There has been a lot of talk about the rise of this Hybrid Queen. Her name came up in one conversation, and a Prophet was found gutted in his home the next day.”
“So, if Miranda’s mother is the one who is causing all of this, then what is Miranda’s role?” I pressed.
“Right now, that is the least of our worries. I am more concerned about your teacher than I am about the queen. As long as the demon is within her body, the queen can control everything here. She knows who you talk to, who your friends are, what you had for lunch…” He turned back toward the driveway. “We have to get in one of these cars and save that woman before her soul is damned for eternity.”
“I’ll drive,” Helen said, running to her car with the two of us close behind her.
I stopped abruptly when my mother’s voice rang from the house.
“I’m coming with you,” she yelled, racing out the door with her eyes already white.
I have to admit; my mother was an expert when it came to eavesdropping.
“How much of that did you hear?” Nick asked my mother as she slid into the backseat next to me.
“I am Puriel, Nicky. I can force the truth and punish wrongdoing. You are going to need a pureblood on your side for this one.” She looked at me, and I saw that her eyes had changed back to their normal shade of blue.
“I hate it when you’re right,” Nick grumbled motioning for Helen to get moving.
****
I forget how I knew where Miss Masters’ house was in the city. She lived nowhere near Midvale. Hers was a tiny house with blue shutters and a beautiful garden. It didn’t look like the sort of place a demon would choose to reside in. This, of course, caused me some concern.
“Dawn, you and your mother need to go to the door. Helen and I will follow,” said Nick as we prepared to get out of the car. “There is a good chance the demon will appear the moment that your mother sets foot inside the door. Like she said, she can pull the truth from anyone.”
Getting out of the car we exchanged anxious glances. Helen and I had no idea what was going to happen. Nick and my mother, on the other hand, looked like this was something that they had done many times before.
My mother and I walked to the door and knocked. Miss Masters answered with an uncertain smile on her face.
“Dawn.” She looked at my mother. “How did you find my house?”
“I Googled your name,” I lied. “I wanted to thank you for your help today in class.” I had no idea what I was doing. I was running on pure instinct, quite unsure about how things might develop.
“My daughter mentioned that she had an episode at school,” my mother interrupted. “I wanted to thank you for taking it upon yourself to take care of her.”
“Oh, you must be Mrs. Weathers. It was nothing. Dawn just took the death of her fellow-student awfully hard.” Miss Masters smiled back at my mother, but there was a note of cruelty in her smile, and I knew we weren’t talking to my teacher anymore. We were talking to the demon.
Filth! Angel! Punishment! Judgment! Puriel!
I flinched at the voices I heard flowing from my teacher’s brain.
“It’s not her,” I whispered to my mother.
The look on my mother’s face was frightening. It was a bit of anger mixed with excitement. The eagerness it gave off was not as warm as I had hoped. Instead, it felt chilly; almost mean.
“Who are you, demon?” she demanded coldly.
Nick and Helen ran up behind us.
“Oh, goody!” the demon said to us through my teacher’s lips. “Two half-breeds, a Prophet, and a pureblood. She will be pleased; oh, she will be so pleased!” The creature clapped its hands together like a child.
“Who will be pleased?” Nick demanded.
“I don’t have to tell you shit!” the Demon spat at him.
“Maybe you don’t, but you have to tell me,” my mother broke in.
Her eyes turned white, and I felt the prickle of ice in my fingertips. I was on the verge of combustion.
“I have no name, angel,” said the demon.
Something in me flipped. I felt the fire surging and realized I was unable to keep it contained. My mother reached back to touch me but instead ignited the flame within me; as she had before. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the creature engulfed in soft white flames. My mother followed suit, and we stood there together, burning brilliantly.
Helen raised her hands to the sky, and I felt the earth shake beneath my feet. The creature stared at us with fear in its eyes. Nick stepped forward, taking the cross from around his neck and pushing it against my teacher’s forehead as he shouted words in Latin. The
