Anger flared up inside me. In the center of the room, the red candle rose up higher, then with a flick of my hand, flew toward the curtains, lighting them on fire.
Agnes went into a rage. She turned her back to me and stepped out of the pentagram, desperately trying to put out the fire. Whatever spell she had cast that held my feet in place was released and I ran toward the stairs.
A stream of bright electric energy shot through the room and only missed me by inches as I jumped out of the way. Agnes moved quickly to block my exit. She'd been unable to put out the fire and flames engulfed that side of the room. Smoke filled the bedroom and I squinted to see. There had to be another way out.
Outside, the music stopped. Voices shouted from below, screams of fear.
“Not exactly the way I planned it,” Agnes said. “But one way or another, you're not leaving this house alive.”
She rose high into the air. Bright blue current ran up and down her body. Even her eyes glowed blue. I stepped back. She was too powerful for me. I didn't know the first thing about how to control my own power.
Her hand shot out and a bolt of energy flew at me. I didn't have time to jump out of the way. I lifted my hands to protect my face, bracing myself for the jolt of electricity. But it never came.
Agnes' eyes grew wide. She threw both hands out in front of her body. An arc of blue lightning shot out at me, but it dissipated before it connected. As though I were protected by an invisible force-field.
“What did you do?” she screamed.
I shook my head. I had no idea what was protecting me, but I didn't have a moment to waste. The fire was spreading rapidly. Smoke filled my lungs and I coughed, then crouched lower, searching for better air.
“We need to get out of here,” I said.
Apparently, Agnes had no intention of letting me go. She roared and sent another bright shock of light across the room. This time, I felt a small jolt run through my body. It reminded me of the way it felt when you touched someone's hand and got shocked with static. Mild, but surprising. I jerked back, fear making my limbs weak.
I fell to my knees, the smoke becoming almost unbearable now. I heard a cackling, high-pitched laughter and looked up to see Agnes gathering a ball of light between her two hands.
“Goodbye Harper,” she said.
My heartbeat roared in my ears. A memory came back to me in that instant. A drawing of a room full of flames. Jackson's voice.
This time the picture was different. This time you were wearing your necklace. Promise me you won't take it off, okay? No matter what.
I brought my hand up to my mother's necklace, then looked back at Agnes.
Just as she leaned back to throw her final bolt of lightning, a dark figure moved through the room. A figure bigger than a man, but partially transparent, like a shadow. It had the body of a gargoyle. A demon's face. I knew that whatever it was, it had come to protect me. I couldn't explain it, but when I saw the black shadow, I knew that it was a part of me.
The darkness circled around Agnes, and she screamed. It pulled her from the room. The glass of the sliding doors crashed as she broke through. Then, she disappeared behind a blanket of red flames.
A Beautiful Demon
As soon as Agnes disappeared into the fire, I ran for the stairs. My lungs burned from inhaling so much smoke, but I pushed my body to its limit. The flames consumed most of the top floor, and the two lower floors were lost in a sea of thick smoke. In the distance, I heard sirens wailing.
“Harper! Harper, where are you?” Drake's voice rose above the noise.
“Here,” I tried to shout. Instead, my voice came out cracked and dry. I coughed and fell to my knees on the second floor landing.
I forced myself up again, grabbing the banister and pulling myself down the stairs. The overhead lights on the first floor cut through some of the smoke. I saw Drake's tall form rushing back and forth, and I reached out to him.
“Harper?”
My hands circled up around his neck just as my legs gave out again. Drake lifted me into his arms and carried me from the house. Outside, the bonfire was going strong, but no one was dancing or cheering. Everyone was backed up across the street from the cabin, their horror-stricken faces watching as Foster's house burned to the ground.
“Agnes,” I said. “Where's Agnes? We have to make sure-”
Drake put a hand over my mouth. “It's going to be okay, Harper. Don't talk. Be still.”
I struggled, my mind racing. She would come for me. Agnes wasn't going to stop until I was dead. Drake carried me across to the other side of the road and laid me down in the grass. I tried to stand, looking back toward the burning house to see if I could find her.
That's when I noticed a flash of bright red on the ground in front of the house. My mouth fell open. Agnes lay in a crumpled heap beneath the third floor balcony, her body broken and still. When the fire department arrived, the paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. Later, authorities theorized that she must have gone into a panic when flames trapped her up on the third floor. She broke through the locked balcony door and jumped to her death to avoid burning alive.
It would be a long time before I told anyone the truth about what really happened to Agnes that night.
I was in the back of the ambulance breathing in oxygen from a face mask when Mrs. King came rushing around the corner to see if I was alright. A blanket was wrapped around my body to shield me from the night air.
“Thank goodness,” she said, placing her hand over her heart. There were tears in her eyes. “I don't know what we would have done if we'd lost you.”
Her emotion touched my heart. I tried to smile, but my entire body ached from exhaustion. She climbed into the back of the ambulance with me and asked the paramedic if she could have a moment alone with me.
“You have no idea just how special you are to us.” She stroked my hair gently and put her arm around me.
“Agnes-” I said, then began to cough again.
Mrs. King pulled the oxygen mask from my hand. Confused, I took in a shallow breath. She placed her palm flat against my chest and closed her eyes. My body began to hum and tingle, and I felt a warm energy flow through me.
“Breathe,” she said.
I took a deep, cleansing breath and felt no urge to cough. “How...?”
She smiled and brushed a strand of hair off my face. “Shhh,” she whispered. “All of your questions will be answered, I promise. But you need to be patient.”
Patience is a hard thing when there are so many unanswered questions. I opened my mouth to ask just one, but she placed her palm against my forehead.
“Rest,” she said. “I need you at a hundred percent, okay?”
I nodded, feeling suddenly very sleepy. My lungs no longer hurt, though, and that was very good.
Mrs. King pulled the blanket up to my chin and smiled.
“You're going to make a beautiful Demon.”
To Be Continued...
INNER DEMONS
Book 2 of the Peachville High Demons Series
December 2010
About the Author
Sarra Cannon grew up in a small town in Georgia where she learned that being popular always comes at a price. Now, she lives in North Carolina with her amazing husband and her teeny tiny Pomeranian, Snickerdoodle. Books and music are her greatest passions. She has never been a cheerleader, but it's possible she knows a few things about casting spells.
Connect with Me Online:
Website: www.sarracannon.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sarramaria
Facebook: www.facebook.com/sarracannon
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/sarra_cannon
My Blog: https://thesweetiechronicles.blogspot.com/
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for purchasing Beautiful Demons and for your support of Indie authors like me. I always wanted to be a writer, and it feels like a dream to be able to do this for a living. I sincerely hope you enjoyed
the book and will continue to follow Harper as she unravels Peachville's secrets.
Please feel free to message me online through twitter, facebook, my website or my blog. I always do my best to answer messages and say hello when I have the chance. If you want to check the progress of the next book in the series or see what's coming up after the final Peachville High Demons book, check my website or blog for more information. I keep a "word count" meter up on both sites and update my progress almost every day.
Thanks again for letting my stories be a part of your life! I appreciate you more than you will ever know.
xoxo - Sarra
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends