Haeven Read online

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  Haeven

  Copyright: S. M. Bowles

  Published: August 2015

  Publisher: S. M. Bowles

  The right of S. M. Bowles to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

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  Haeven

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  The End

  Other works

  Chapter 1

  "One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three...."

  I watched briefly as Evan and his friends all darted away then turned back to my book. It was just starting to get dark while I sat on the deck reading and though my mother had told me dinner was nearly ready I answered with a "Yeah, Mom," and shrugged, "we'll come in as soon as Evan's done his game."

  She looked disappointed but didn't say anything other than, "Make sure he takes his shoes off before he comes in; it's very muddy back there," her gaze swept the length of our yard.

  I rolled my eyes, "Yep, shoes..." I mumbled and buried my face back in my book.

  I was just a few months shy of 16 and nearly 5 years older than Evan. Because of our difference in ages my mom seemed to feel that it was my responsibility to tell him what to do or what not to do and to make sure that he stayed out of trouble whenever she wasn't around. He almost never listened to me though and more often than not refused to do whatever I asked. He rarely got punished for anything either but I would be held accountable whenever Evan did something wrong under my pseudo-supervision. He and I lived in a nearly perpetual state of resentment. In my mind he was the favorite child and could do virtually no wrong where I on the other hand felt that I was constantly being reminded of my short-comings.

  A number of minutes and pages passed and before long my mother came to the deck again. With a voice full of impatience she stated that dinner was getting cold and asked me where Evan was.

  "I don't know," I answered somewhat sharply. I hadn't seen where he or any of the others had run off to. Mumbling to myself I marked my page and stood up to head inside.

  "Uh, uh," my mom shook her head at me, "find your brother first."

  She reached for my book with one hand and spun me around with the other pointing me in the direction of the stairs that led down to the backyard.

  The action filled me with defiance and rather than hurrying down I tossed her a resentful glance then called out, "Evan! Dinnertime! Mom wants you inside!"

  Satisfied with my effort I took a step towards the open doorway but my dad came into view before I could pass through, "What's all the shouting?"

  My mom motioned to me and artfully explained to my dad how she had asked me to run down and find Evan and told him how I responded.

  "Emily, we have neighbors," he met my eyes, "it's not polite for you to be shouting across the yard like that when you could just as easily have done what your mother asked."

  Though I felt somewhat remorseful after seeing my father's expression and knowing I had disappointed him I groaned and grumbled, "Fine," and stomped down the short flight to begin the search for my elusive brother.

  "Evan," I carefully called as I walked along the lawn. "Evan...it's time to come in, dinner's ready."

  I stopped and listened several times but I didn't hear him or any of the others for that matter. I checked all of his favorite hiding places only to turn up nothing. I tried thinking of anywhere else he might have gone off to as I rounded the corner of the house. It had gotten almost too dark to see clearly and I took a fateful step that soaked my foot up to my ankle in mud.

  "This is stupid!" I growled as I tried to shake it from my shoe. "Evan! Inside! Now!" and as I turned full of anger and frustration I happened to glance down. One of the screens to the crawlspace was torn away and I instantly imagined I knew why. I bent down and ducked my head inside, "Evan, I know you're in there. Come on out now. It's time to eat."

  Something seemed to move off to my right.

  "Evan?" my voice came out in a whisper. "Evan?"

  He didn't answer. It was eerily still and quiet.

  "Why am I doing this?!" I stood up intending to leave him be and tell my parents where he was so they could deal with him.

  I thought I heard him moan as I began to walk away and it made me second guess my choice. Taking a deep breath I bent back down, "Evan are you alright?" I asked and began to wriggle myself through the window.

  I stopped once I was halfway in and waited a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. It was dirty and dusty and there were cobwebs filling all the corners and junctions of the support beams above my head. I started to regret my decision and tried not to think about it as I glanced around. I turned myself towards the direction I thought I had heard Evan's groan come from and pulled myself the rest of the way in.

  Realizing where I was terrified me and I wanted to bolt away. Despite the fact that we rarely got along though there was a small part of me that worried more for Evan than for myself so I got on my hands and knees and began to crawl. I thought I saw him move again and it gave me a better sense of where I was going so I cautiously made my way towards him.

  "Are you alright?" I thought I heard him moan again and for a moment he didn't answer. I stopped and whispered, "What's wrong?"

  "I just need to rest..."

  "Oh, God!" I cried out suddenly aware that it wasn't Evan lying there in the dirt and dust. I was about to scream and scramble away but the stranger's voice arrested me in my tracks.

  "Ssh...no...please...please don't!" he desperately begged.

  I'm not sure what came over me but I held my breath and was unable to think or react so I just sat there watching and waiting, wondering what to do next. I could hear him taking short, raspy breaths and though the sound eased my fear it was replaced with anguish when I realized that he was very badly hurt.

  "You need help," I said more to myself than to the stranger and I thought about getting my parents.

  "No!" he insisted, "no one can know that I am here. Don't tell anyone...you mustn't tell anyone!"

  I could hear the pain, the agony in his voice and when I heard it, it seemed to trigger a strange, insistent desire or longing in me and I felt determined to do whatever I could to help him. Without realizing it I began to crawl towards him again.

  "Don't!" he frantically scramble
d away.

  "But I have to help you," I tried to explain. "I want to help you," I couldn't shake the idea that there was something I could do if he would just let me.

  "You can't."

  I felt a rippling across my mind and suddenly forgot whatever it was I thought I was going to do. I shook myself free of the sensation and I began creeping my way towards him again. When I was near enough I reached out to take his hand and tried to tug him toward the window I had come in through. He felt like ice and when my fingers brushed his he unexpectedly grasped my wrist and my mind went blank for moment. Then suddenly I was seeing the world through his eyes and feeling the pain and fear he was feeling. I seemed to know what had happened to him and what it was I would need to do to help him. He slowly, carefully released his grip and let my hand fall.

  "Do you understand? Now do you know why you mustn't help me?"

  "You're...you're a...a...a," I couldn't get the word out as I shook my head in disbelief. I knew there were no such things.

  "Oh, but there are!" he assured me and as I considered the possibility the idea seemed to flare up inside my mind and somehow I knew he was telling me the truth.

  I was horrified yet fascinated by the idea, "Do you kill people?" I thoughtlessly asked. It was the first thing that popped into my mind.

  He was silent for several moments. "I have," he reluctantly replied, "but, no, mostly I do not. Unless..."

  "Unless what?"

  "Sometimes someone doesn't deserve to live," his voice seemed to challenge me.

  Frowning, "I understand," I nodded.

  "Do you? You seem young to have such a bold opinion."

  I looked shamefully away and wasn't sure what to say. It wasn't something I had ever really thought about other than in the vaguest terms but I knew that if someone tried to hurt me or my family I wouldn't hesitate to hurt them back.

  He tilted his head at me curiously and I wondered what he was thinking then he slowly reached out and brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. "You remind me of someone," he surprised me by saying. "What's your name?" his voice seemed to put me at ease.

  "It's Emily," I smiled and answered. "What's yours?"

  "Daemon."

  "What happened to you?"

  "It's complicated," he sighed forlornly and as he said it he began to sway and slump where he was sitting.

  "Oh!" I cried out realizing that our brief conversation had taxed whatever was left of his strength.

  Against my better judgement I inched closer and rested my hand against his cheek, a gesture my mother often used on me and my brother when we weren't feeling well, "Please,” I said, “let me help you. I promise I won't tell anyone about you; I won't tell anyone that you are here or what you are."

  "Emily," he sighed and shook his head no. "You have no idea what you are saying! That thought is not your own! Just leave! If you have any sense, go before it's too late!"

  "What do you mean? Of course my thoughts are my own...I want to help you. I know I do. I'm not afraid if that's what you're thinking!"

  "You're wrong...you don't understand!" I thought I could see tears in his eyes. "It's just a compulsion, it's not an honest feeling. Besides they would never forgive me...it would...I can't...I just can't!"

  There was no way I was going to let him die there, underneath my house. I needed to convince him somehow. Sometimes I found the right thing to say to Evan when I wanted him to do something he was against. I wondered if there was some way to manipulate Daemon into accepting my help. Then something occurred to me that I was sure he hadn't thought of, "Will you die if you don't?" I asked. "Because if you die and they find you here just imagine what might happen."

  He turned away, struggled briefly with what I had said. "My you're..." he couldn't seem to think of an appropriate word. He shook his head and looked away. When he turned back, his eyes were full of longing, “It will hurt,” he tried to discourage me further.

  My heart seemed to skip a beat as I weighed his words, "It doesn't matter as long as I can help you. It wouldn't be right for me to leave you here like this. You're... different...but your life matters just as much as mine or anybody's."

  "You honestly believe that don't you?"

  I nodded, "I do."

  I felt him abandon his resolve, "Come," he motioned me closer as the last of his resolve fell away. He cautiously wrapped himself around me and I bit my lip to keep from crying out when I felt the pressure of his teeth piercing my flesh. My eyes closed and everything, everything seemed to just stop.

  It felt like all my senses left me but then I heard it; my heartbeat. It was strong and fast the thumps coming one right after the other. A moment later I heard a second and knew that it was his echoing mine only at a much slower pace. I could feel him pulling and straining to gather more and more, to take more and more from me and I started to grow weak.

  "He's going to kill me!" I thought and wondered how I could have been so stupid and reckless but just as I was about to give into the idea that I had made a deadly mistake he released me.

  I slumped down into the dirt my eyes looking straight up into the supports and the webs crisscrossing above me. He threw himself down beside me and turned my head so I was facing him, "Emily," he called, his voice frantic and seeming to come from very far away. "Emily," he gave me a gentle shake. "Emily," an even more insistent tone as he gripped my shoulders.

  The world started spinning. I blinked once, very slowly, twice. He took my chin and forced me to meet his eyes, "Emily?"

  "Daemon..." I breathed.

  He urged me to sitting and I thought about how hollow and empty I felt. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "it was too much; I took too much!" He passed his hand in front of my eyes and watched to see if my gaze followed it. My lids felt so heavy and though I tried I couldn't keep them open. Then my head lolled back and I let out a long, shuddering breath.

  "No," he gently slapped my cheek to rouse me. Again, "No!"

  I could feel his hand on my face no longer icy cold and weak but warm, smooth and strong. My eyes fluttered and I saw him tilting his head back and the flash of his teeth as he drew them across his wrist. He kissed me and for some reason I wasn't surprised or revolted by the act.

  Then I felt it, the cool and sweet taste of him as he held the wound he had made to my mouth. It drifted across my tongue and weaved its way down my throat where it turned warm and enlivening. I could hear it again, his heartbeat, only this time it was loud and sure and mine anxious and weak in the background. Something else was happening too; I could feel him racing through me and challenging me, beckoning me to come back and to not give in and let go.

  "Yes," my mind cried and my body seemed to convulse eager for more.

  I raised my hands and clutched at Daemon’s arm unwilling to let him stop. It surprised him and he reflexively pulled away.

  Daemon urged me to sit up, "Emily," he anxiously called as I sat there mesmerized by the sensation of his blood coursing through me. He hugged me close and I cried as I laid my forehead against his chest. My skin was tingling, rippling from my head down to my toes; I could feel all the fine hairs on my arms and legs electrified and standing on end.

  "Ssh," he whispered hoping to soothe my sobs and I could feel his regret behind the utterance as his hand ran up and down my spine. He was shaking with suppressed emotion, "it was the only way," he mumbled, "it was the only way."

  Fretfully I looked up and searched his eyes, "Will I be like you now?"

  He took my chin and looked into my eyes. I could see how worried he was and for a moment I was horrified and ashamed by what we had done. "No," he kissed the top of my head, "no, no..." and there was a hint of relief in his voice. "It was a lot, not enough for that, though. I'm sorry. It's hard to control sometimes. I never...oh...I'm sorry. It's uncomfortable, I know, and it will be for a while..." I saw his jaw clench and he seemed unwilling to say anything more.

  There were voices outside, calling my name. I just noticed them and wondered how lon
g they had been looking for me.

  "You should go," Daemon nodded toward the window, "everyone is worried about you." I was torn. I wanted to stay; desperately wanted to stay.

  "Will I ever see you again?"

  "Maybe," he said then as if just remembering something I watched as he tugged an amulet of sorts from beneath the folds of his shirt. He held it up so it would catch a sliver of the light that was shining in from another of the windows. "This is me," he pointed to the gem in the middle, only it wasn't a gem but a hollow glass ball filled with an amber liquid. "You have given me an incredible gift," he said very solemnly, "if you ever are in need, a need so desperate and you have exhausted every other resource available to you...and only then," he added in emphasis, "open it here," and he showed me the tiny switch to release the ball from the charm, "drink it and call for me. I promise...wherever I am in the world, I will come to you and do whatever I can to help."

  "Thank you Daemon," I said completely bewildered by everything he had said and everything that had just happened. When I reached for it he grasped the back of my neck and pressed his lips hard against mine. I barely had a chance to blink and then he was gone.

  Chapter 2

  "I'm here!" I called to my mother and father as I slithered through the open window.

  They both came hurrying over, "Emily?! What on Earth were you doing in there?"

  "Duh! Looking for Evan!"

  "Evan's right here," my mom motioned him around from behind her.

  "Naturally!" I dusted myself off.

  "What gave you the idea he was under there?" my father asked.

  "The screen was off and I looked everywhere else! Geez, Evan! Why didn't you answer me when I called? You would have saved me a lot of trouble!"

  He had a wicked little grin on his face knowing my parents were more upset with me than him at the moment. He looked up at my mother his eyes full of innocence, "I was just trying to win the game."

  "Of course you were, sweetie," she ruffled his hair.

  I huffed out loud, "Can we just go inside now?"