The Devil's Due (The Earthwalker Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  There was some clattering of dishes on the other line, and he cleared his throat, “Elyse?”

  “Yeah. I’m really sorry, I know you were expecting me.”

  “No, it’s okay!” Caleb responded instantly. “It totally understandable if you need some space after that.”

  Clutching the phone to my ear, I smiled and hobbled slowly down the sidewalk. “Thank you. I’ll tell you all about it in the morning.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you then. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  I hung up the phone and let out and exhausted sigh, thinking about Aidan’s visit.

  Visits, I corrected automatically. It was the second time he had got the jump on me and I could not allow that to happen again. Seeing Elyse safe and well gave me a sense of closure, even if I didn’t get to share this life with her again. I knew she was going to be okay. That meant I was out of excuses, it was time to train. Realizing that, I had an overwhelming sense of calm because I knew what I was doing now. It was going to be different trying figure things out by myself, but at least I had made a decision.

  I said I was going to fight, and I intend too.

  Chapter Five

  I’ll be Damned

  “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” the instructor asked me. “It’s pretty early to be learning how to grapple. You’re just getting through punches.”

  I nodded vigorously. “I’m sure.”

  As much as I mourned Elyse, I had to get myself in gear. The Demon Lords would wait for no one and I had to be ready for them. I knew martial arts might not be able to help me physically overcome whatever obstacles they might throw at me, but I was hoping the self-discipline and ability to think my way through a fight would translate for the broader picture. Jessica sighed and lay on her back beside me in the weight room of the rec center. “Alright, well there are a couple different holds that I can teach you, but first let’s start with guards. I’ll begin on bottom with my back to the ground and I’ll use my legs to control you. Just mirror what I’m doing and repeat after me.”

  “Yep,” I responded, following her instruction and lying on the mat like she had shown me.

  “Okay, we’re going to start with a closed guard. You’re going to attack me and I’m going to use different positions to gain the upper hand. I want you to come inside my guard, meaning between my legs, and place your hands shoulder width apart on either side of my head. It might feel uncomfortably intimate at first, but I’m going to talk you through it until you get the positioning down. This is the first position. In this scenario, you’re the aggressor. First, I’ll show you how I’d use this to my advantage so you have a better sense of how to escape this type of grapple.”

  I nodded, kneeling on the mat in front of her and crouched over her body, putting my hands in the position she had told me.

  From beneath me, Jessica gave an approving smile. “Now make sure your hands are above my shoulders and not underneath my armpits … good. Now, I’m going to put you in closed guard,” she explained, crossing her ankles behind my back.

  “Cool, where do we begin? Do I just punch until you let go,” I asked incredulously.

  Jessica explained that we’d use two of the grips I’d already learned, the sleeve and collar grips. “I’m going to grab you by the sleeve and the collar. Using my legs and my arms I’m going to pull you into me. I can use a couple of different grips, but the idea is the same, I’m breaking up your ability to move freely.”

  Pressed into her chest, I found that my fantasy of punching her until she let go was useless. I barely had use of one arm, and while I could have punched her in the head, my ability to do real damage had been effectively cut off. Jessica moved her hips so she wasn’t flat underneath me and the dynamic changed. I was off-balance and could feel her gain the advantage.

  “It’s important that you don’t let go of my shoulders. If you keep your head and torso near my stomach, I can hit you until you give. The more you can stand above me, the better it is for you.” She moved quickly until she had thrown one leg across my neck and clamped my arm into a hold. “Now that I’ve got you here, all I have to do it lift my hips.”

  As she raised her hips and turned, the leverage from her body weight bent the arm that she had trapped back against my will. I struggled against the gentle pressure, somehow managing to inflict more pain on myself than I’d imagined. Although this was just a demonstration, it was clear how that exact positioning would have broken the attackers arm if she’d been trying. I tried to get my arm away, but her legs were wrapped too tightly and my arm was too weirdly positioned to move.

  “Augh! Give,” I laughed when she released me. “Ow, that hurt!”

  I sat back on my heels and Jessica smiled. “Do you want to try it from the other position?”

  “YES.”

  We switched so that she knelt over me and I was on my back. I wrapped my legs around her and put my hands in the same positions she’d used. I never thought that laying on my back would put me in a power pose, but the strength of my legs around her torso and grips allowed me to easily maneuver her. Once Jessica was satisfied with my hold, she broke out of it with enviable ease.

  “Again,” she said. Over the next several minutes she walked me through the same technique over and over again, building my confidence until I felt like I had nailed a successful hold. I was positively giddy that I was able to both break the grapple and keep her trapped within my grasp.

  We practiced for about an hour, going over more basics, and I was getting tired. Jessica must have noticed my shift in breathing because she stepped back with a smile and took a seat on the edge of the ring. “Do you want to get some water?”

  Laughing from exhaustion and concession to her inquiry, I walked over to hug the low fountain, drinking long and deep, surprised by how much of myself I needed to refill. Standing back up straight, I went to join her on the mat, cracking my neck along the way. “Thanks for meeting me here. I know the rec center isn’t exactly convenient for everyone.”

  Jessica shook her head, wiping some hair out of her face. “That’s okay, I like coming up on campus every now and then. You said you work here?”

  “Yeah, I staff the front desk sometimes and check out lockers.”

  “That’s cool. You’re doing really well, by the way. Just make sure that when you do those punches we were practicing earlier that you follow through with your whole body. You want to use that momentum to your advantage while keeping your feet firmly on the ground so they don’t flail around as you throw. If you throw it from the shoulder, you’re not getting the full strength behind the punch and it’s not going to land as well.”

  I nodded in agreement and lay back against the mat. “I know, I keep telling myself that when I’m going through the motions, but then I over think it and everything comes out weird.”

  Jessica shrugged, patting me gently on the shoulder. “Give it a couple weeks and the muscle memory will take over. I want your body to become so familiar with these motions that they become automatic, just like riding a bicycle.”

  That’ll be nice, I thought, imagining the feel of punching through the air becoming so instinctive that it happened naturally. Right now, that still felt very far away.

  I sighed, looking up at the ceiling, and rubbed my sore arm. “If you say so. My entire body hurts and I want to go home so I can take a shower.”

  The girl just laughed and stood up on the mat, offering me her hand. “We’ve still got a few more reps to go, then I’ll let you call it a day.”

  “Alright, what are we doing next?”

  Jessica just pointed to the free weights that were sitting in the corner and I groaned. “Seriously?”

  “Yep. I want thirty shoulder presses on each side, then we’re moving on to crunches.”

  I pouted, walking over to the hand weights and picked one up in each of my hands. “Ugh, Jessica, you’re killing me.”

  “Come on, Wynn. You got this. ONE!” she commanded firmly.
<
br />   I lifted up the weight in my right hand, and felt the muscles in my arm flex. “One.”

  “Good. TWO!”

  I breathed out heavily through my nose and continued repeating the exercise. Unlike previous workouts, my arms didn’t shake or burn. The weight in my hand was heavy, but I was able to lift the dumbbell smoothly. Yes, I thought to myself with each rep, I’m finally making progress.

  ~ * ~

  “Do we have to go?" I asked him desperately. “I’m so tired from earlier.”

  Caleb laughed and offered me his hand, throwing his legs over the side of the couch. “Yes, they’ll be expecting us any minute. We need to head out.”

  “Ugh, I changed my mind. I don’t wanna do this anymore,” I whined. It didn’t make any sense, but I was anxious about meeting Ryan’s new BFF. I didn’t want to go through with the stress of sizing up the person who’d replaced me. Everyone does it in some form or another, because in the back of our minds there is always a comparison. I didn’t want to do that with Ryan and me.

  Caleb rolled his eyes at me and stood up from the couch. “You’ve been wanting to get together with them for weeks! Now are you going to come or am I going to have to persuade you?”

  I bit into the smile creeping across my face.

  Things between us had come together so naturally, and I fell into a blissful, happy relationship with a man I could not stop kissing. “Ah! You're right, we need to go. Are you sure this is not going to be weird for you?”

  “Not at all, I’d love to meet your friends. Besides, I already sort of met Ryan. It would be nice to do it officially.”

  I'd forgotten all about the time Caleb appeared during my visit to Aunt Nadia. She and I could see him because both of us had Fae bloodline, but Ryan had been a little confused. I giggled to myself, imagining what it must have seemed like with the two of us speaking to an invisible entity.

  He must have thought we were crazy, I thought to myself ruefully.

  I glanced up at him and smiled, with a playful glint on the corner of my eye. “It’s really weird being able to introduce you to people. No one else could see you before, well except for Nate and Nadia, and now they can. It’s like I’m revealing a secret part of myself to them as if I was hiding you or something.”

  Caleb ran his fingers through his dark brown hair and sighed. “I hadn’t thought about it that way, but I can see how that would be strange. Ready?”

  “Yeah.”

  He took me by the hand as I grabbed my backpack off the coffee table and we headed for the door. It wasn’t quite sunset when we made it outside, and I waited for him to lock up. There was a blissful calm that settled over campus, and I let out a contented sigh.

  I checked the messages on my phone for the address Ryan had sent me. I was still getting used to campus and wasn’t familiar with all the dorms yet. “Where are we going?” Caleb asked me happily.

  “Uh, I think it's these buildings over here,” I told him, pointing to the map.

  He nodded in confirmation, and we walked side by side down the street, the heels of my shoes scuffing on the concrete. The shadows from the street lights swept across the path, reaching out from the darkness. It raised goosebumps on my arms, and my shoulder began to ache as I remembered my recent encounter. It made the trees appear completely black and nefarious in the moonlight, with grasping branches that looked like claw-like arms. I shivered slightly and reached for Caleb’s arm.

  We walked in companionable silence for a few more minutes as I guided him through the buildings, pointing out the ones I had classes in. He nodded in acknowledgment and told me about the work he did on the grounds crew. It was actually pretty fascinating once he started talking. I never knew so much went into it, I always just took it for granted.

  As we came up to his complex, I breathed out in contentment. “I'm glad we're doing this.”

  “Me too.”

  Ryan’s building in Bryant Hall was men's housing, whereas Lacey and I lived in co-ed. That actually made it a little intimidating to me. It was close to the frat houses and party central, and I didn't particularly buy into that culture anymore. Last time hadn't gone so well.

  “Here it is,” Caleb informed me. “What’s his room number?”

  “Uh ... twenty-seven.”

  He opened the door for me when we came into the lobby and went over to the elevator. I pressed the button and folded my arms across my chest, waiting for it to arrive. He glanced over at me in his peripheral vision as my foot began to tap and a smile crept across his face. When the doors opened, he took me by the hand and led me inside, kissing me passionately on the lips.

  When I pulled away to catch my breath, he rested his forehead against me and whispered, “Relax.”

  The elevator brought us to the second floor, and we both exited with guilty smiles.

  All the doors were numbered, so we followed the curve of the hall until we came to twenty-seven.

  “Alright, this is it,” I told him. I knocked on the door and gave Caleb a gentle smile.

  His roommate answered, looking confused and as if he'd just woken up from a nap. He had messy brown hair and bloodshot eyes, with a pressure crease across one cheek. Their apartment resembled most of the cookie cutter, collegiate housing I was familiar with, including bare, white walls and thrift store couches. The room smelled like dirty laundry, and the sink was full of dirty dishes — not that it surprised me.

  “Hey, I'm looking for Ryan?” I asked him hopefully.

  “Oh yeah, he went out with Charley earlier,” the roommate told me. “They should be back soon. I’m Patrick, by the way.”

  “Wynn,” I greeted awkwardly. “And this is Caleb.”

  I saw him give a two-fingered salute behind me.

  “Yeah, he mentioned you’d come by. You can wait for them if you like, I was about to put on a movie.”

  “Really? That'd be great.”

  He gestured for us to come inside and Caleb graciously shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  “You too.”

  “Who's this 'Charley' I keep hearing about?” I asked Patrick curiously. “He went on and on about him the other day.”

  The roommate laughed. “Him? No, that's his girlfriend. Charley is short for Charlene — she's cool.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s not what I was expecting … awesome!”

  “I think it’s pretty recent,” he informed me. “But they’re practically joined at the hip.”

  “Oh, this I’ve got to see,” I laughed.

  ~ * ~

  We were about halfway through an MST3K when I heard some talking outside the door. My senses pricked up immediately as I heard the keys fumbling in the lock for Ryan to let himself inside. The door opened, and Ryan came sweeping in from the hallway, his aura the same cheery yellow I remembered. “Wynn, you’re here!” he greeted me happily. “Sorry, we got stuck in traffic.”

  “I am! Ryan, this is Caleb.”

  He immediately offered his hand and a welcoming smile. “Nice to meet you, Caleb.”

  I quirked an eyebrow when he spoke. “So where’s this Charley you were telling me about?”

  Before he could answer, in stepped the most adorable and cherubic looking woman I had ever seen. She had chin-length, platinum-blonde hair with peek-a-boo teal highlights poking out from underneath. Her wide green eyes looked like something out of a Japanese cartoon, along with a perfect cupid’s bow mouth. She couldn't have been more like a porcelain doll if she'd tried.

  And she was a demon.

  Her smoky, purple aura slunk around her, and her eyes flashed red in a way mortals couldn’t see. Ryan beamed at her like she was some kind of Greek goddess, but my eyes were focused on the demonic aura surrounding her, and I let out an involuntary hiss. That’s her, I realized, the other demon Caleb had been telling me about.

  “Wynn, this is Charley,” he told me happily.

  I felt Caleb tense beside me as his warrior instincts kicked in when confronted with an enemy.
/>   She held out her hand to shake mine, and I noticed one of her arms had been completely covered in a watercolor sleeve tattoo with scenes from Alice in Wonderland.

  Completely oblivious to the tense exchange, Ryan stepped over to the kitchen and said, “I’m gonna get some drinks, does anybody want one?”

  “I’ll take one!” Charlene answered sweetly. Even her soprano voice put my teeth on edge. We both stood there dumbfounded, unable to find the words.

  I clenched my hands into fists beside me, and my voice was soft and dangerous as I spoke to her, “What the hell are you doing here? Stay away from Ryan. Stay away from me, or I will make you regret it.”

  Charley smiled, seeing past me to where Ryan was standing in the kitchen. “Is this her?”

  Ryan grabbed a Coke from the fridge and nodded.

  Charley acknowledged him with a chin tilt and smiled wider, brushing past me into the kitchen. “Good. I like her.”

  She glanced back at me with a mischievous smile that challenged me to cross her. The twinkle in her eye resonated an air of confidence and secret workings. I knew she was up to something.

  Flabbergasted at her reaction, I pointed in her direction and looked at Caleb. “What just happened? Did she use some Jedi mind trick on me?”

  Caleb shrugged, and I followed the two of them into the kitchen. Ryan beamed at her as if she’d hung the moon and she smiled back at him.

  “How long has this been going on?” I demanded.

  “I dunno. About a month or so?” he said, confused at my hostility.

  “Are you crazy?” I spat out furiously.

  Caleb put his hand on my shoulder and guided me towards the door. “Alright, Wynn. I think we need to go.” His voice was calm and polite, but stern as he tried to diffuse the situation.

  Speechless, I snatched my bag off of the couch and stormed out the door. I couldn’t even wait for the elevator to arrive. I went for the stairwell instead and took them two at a time. Caleb was doing his best to keep up with me, but I was on a war path. “Wynn could you please slow down?” he pleaded. “Let’s talk about this.”