Surviving Demon Island Part 10

Ryder stood and pushed back from his chair. 'This is bulls.h.i.+t.'

'No,' Shay said, shaking her head and whispering. 'No.'

Olivia didn't say a word. Neither did Trace.

'See what I mean?' Jake said, his voice rising as he stood and lit a cigarette. 'I told you this was all a lie! My mother's dead!'

Lou shook his head. 'No, Jake. Your mother didn't die. She was captured by demons and she!'

'No! She was not captured! Don't say it!'

'Are you trying to tell us our mothers were kidnapped from our homes and used as breeding machines for some kind of evil creatures from h.e.l.l?' Gina asked.

Derek saw the horror and disbelief on Gina's face, on all their faces, could well imagine what was going through their minds. He knew their pain, knew what they were going through, because he'd been there. Only it wasn't his mother who'd been taken by the demons.

'All your mothers disappeared?' Olivia finally asked, looking around at the others.

Gina nodded. So did Trace, Ryder, Shay, and finally Jake.

'Christ,' Ryder said, shaking his head and staring at the ground. 'Unf.u.c.kingbelievable.'

'So some of these demons running around could be our little brothers,' Trace said with a sarcastic smile.

'Oh, that's so not funny,' Shay said, swiping away tears. 'That's not funny at all.'

'I know this is hard for all of you to take in, and believe me, this is not the way I wanted to break it to you. But I had no choice, given that the demons showed up so unexpectedly.'

'Just what exactly was your plan, Lou?' Ryder asked. 'What was this f.u.c.king game all about anyway?'

Derek stood. 'I can tell you that. Our plan was to test you, see if you could handle the physical aspects of becoming a hunter.'

'And if we couldn't?' Gina asked.

'You'd be eliminated from the game and sent off the island without ever knowing what was really up.'

'And if we managed to pa.s.s your test? Then what?'

'Then we'd have told you about the Realm of Light and the Sons of Darkness, and invited you to become a demon hunter.'

'What if we refused?' Jake challenged.

'Then I'd have erased your memory of what you'd been told, and the only thing you'd remember is your time playing the game and that you'd lost,' Lou said quietly.

Gina sat up in her chair, not sure she'd heard that right. 'What?'

Lou hinted at a smile. 'I have the power to give a psychic hypnotic suggestion. Those who leave the Realm of Light or who decide not to join us will have their memories selectively erased. It's perfectly harmless, I a.s.sure you.'

'Who the f.u.c.k are you people?' Jake asked, tossing his cigarette on the ground and stabbing it out with the toe of his shoe. He backed away from the table and crossed his arms over himself.

'Dear G.o.d,' Gina said. 'This is unreal. This whole thing is out of this world.' She wanted to run away, to hide, go home and curl up into a ball and pretend none of this had happened. It was all a bad dream. Her mother hadn't been taken away from her by demons. She wasn't being used as a breeding machine for some evil creatures. She wasn't. Gina refused to think of her mother that way. Fresh tears pooled in her eyes, but she blinked them back, unwilling to open the floodgate of memories to the only person she'd allowed herself to love.

'You are all insane,' Jake said, his hands shaking as he reached for another cigarette. 'I'm not staying here. I want out and I want out now.'

'That is, of course, your choice, Jake, as it is all of yours,' Lou said. 'Your memories of what happened tonight will be erased and the s.h.i.+p will return you to the mainland.'

'I don't want my memories erased,' Jake said, his mouth set in a firm line.

'I'm afraid you won't have a choice in the matter,' Lou said.

Jake looked to Lou, then to Derek. 'You'll force me?'

'It's not like that. We just can't afford to let anyone leave the Realm of Light armed with knowledge about us. You won't be harmed, I a.s.sure you,' Lou said.

Gina closed her eyes for a second. How easy it would be to forget this, to go back to her life the way it was, to pretend this had all been nothing more than a game. She wouldn't even remember any of it, would never know what had really happened to her mother.

She could forget again.

But when had she ever turned her back on a challenge? How many years had she wondered what had happened to her mother, had she wondered who had taken her!because she knew in her heart her mother had been kidnapped!she'd never have abandoned Gina of her own accord. How many years had she wished for vengeance against those who had ripped her mother away from her, and her own childhood along with it, her sense of security and belonging?

'And what if we decide to stay?' she found herself asking.

'Then we'll train you, arm you, and you'll become a demon hunter,' Derek replied with an upward curve of his lips.

'What about our lives back home?' Shay asked.

'You won't have one any longer,' Lou said. 'The life of a demon hunter is a full-time one. But you will be fully supported here. I have the funding to take care of all of you. We travel wherever the demons are, and we're on the road a lot. It's not easy, and it's d.a.m.ned dangerous. I won't lie to you. You have to make the choice yourself to do this. No one will make it for you.'

'Demon killers. f.u.c.king unbelievable,' Ryder said. 'I know, I've said that already.' He shook his head and stood. 'I'm in. f.u.c.king a.s.shole demons. I don't even need to think about it. I need some G.o.dd.a.m.n air. I'll be back.' He stood and left the tent.

Olivia stood next. 'I'd be honored.' She bent her head toward Lou. 'If you'll excuse me, I could also use a few minutes before we hear anymore.'

After she left, Trace stood. 'Better than rock climbing, and I'd like some G.o.dd.a.m.n revenge myself. I'm in, too.' He shook Lou's hand first, then Derek's. 'Looking forward to kicking some demon a.s.s. Now I need a beer.'

Gina cracked a smile as she watched him leave, then looked at Shay, who was probably the most sh.e.l.l-shocked of all of them.

'I don't know what to think of all of this,' Shay admitted. 'For twenty years I thought my mom left on a business trip and just decided not to come back, that she didn't want to come home. She was always so busy. Too busy for a family, really. I watched my dad shrivel up and die over losing her.' Her lower lip trembled and tears pooled in her eyes.

Gina's heart wrenched for Shay, because she knew that anguish. Dammit, she didn't want to feel that pain again, wanted to tune out the empathy, pretend her own heart wasn't breaking all over again.

'And now I find out that somedemons took her away from me and my dad? That she didn't have a choice? That I could have had a chance at growing up with a mother and she was taken away from me? I don't like it. It p.i.s.ses me off, dammit.' Shay sniffed and stood. 'I've spent my whole life wondering what I wanted to be when I grew up. Well, now I know. I want to be a demon hunter. I want to kill them all. I don't have anything to go back to. Count me in. And I need a freakin' tissue.' She turned and left.

Gina only wished she could make an emotional admission like that. Instead, she was frozen inside, still unable to come to grips with the turmoil within. What did she want to do?

'You still want to leave, Jake? Are you going to turn your back on what they did to your mother? Or are you going to stand with us and fight?' Lou asked.

Jake opened his mouth to speak, but then Derek asked, 'Have you seen the weapons we kill these f.u.c.kers with?'

'Uh, no. What weapons?'

'There's another reason we brought you here, Jake. We're quite impressed with your mastery of lasers.'

Gina watched the play of emotions cross Jake's face. Shrugging disinterest at first, then curiosity. 'Are you s.h.i.+tting me? You use lasers?'

Derek grinned. 'We use weapons our own government doesn't even use. Join us, and we'll knock your socks off. No s.h.i.+t.'

'I don't believe you.'

'Gina, tell Jake what happened to the demon I killed out there.'

Gina shrugged. 'Some kind of weapon I've never seen before. He told me to cover my eyes. There was a flash of light. After that, all that was left of the demon was a quivering, smoking blob on the ground.'

'Holy s.h.i.+t!' Jake said, an excited grin sprouting on his face. 'Tell me more.'

'It's pointless to inform you further if we must erase your memory,' Lou said. 'The more knowledge you have, the more difficult it becomes to eradicate.'

Jake chewed his lip and took out another cigarette, looking first to Lou, then to Derek. 'They really took my mom?'

'They really did,' Lou said.

'Join us, Jake,' Derek said. 'We need you.'

Jake nodded. 'I really wanna see those weapons. I'll stay.'

'Excellent!' Lou said, taking Jake's hand. 'You won't regret it.'

Crus.h.i.+ng out his last cigarette, Jake said, 'I need another pack. I'll be back.'

Gina realized she hadn't yet committed, that she was the only one left.

'I'll be back in a little while,' Lou said, slipping out of the tent.

'Gina,' Derek said to her, 'you have some scratches on your neck and the back of your shoulder. Did that demon hurt you?'

'I do?' She touched her neck. 'Oh. No. He only held my hand and then I pulled away. Those probably happened when I was pushed away by one of your hunters. I hit the ground pretty hard. The demon never touched me.'

Derek blew out a breath. 'Good. But still, some of those look pretty deep. Come with me to the first-aid shack. You need a walk and some fresh air anyway.'

He was probably right. She stood and followed him across the beach, grateful for the beacon of his flashlight. Suddenly, the darkness didn't offer the peace it once had. Monsters lurked there now, just as they had all those years ago, the night her mother disappeared.

Oh, G.o.d. Demons were in her house that night.

She shook her head, cleared her mind, refusing to think about it anymore.

The shack was a short distance from the beach, a small, boxy room containing all the medical supplies, one small examination table, and a chair.

'Hop up,' he said, grabbing the kit and setting his weapon nearby.

She slid onto the table and waited, drumming her fingers on the tabletop, feeling every inch of how small this room was with just her and Derek inside. He tore open an antiseptic towel and wiped her face and neck, using slow, tender strokes along her cheek and throat.

'Shook you up pretty bad tonight, didn't it?' he asked as he worked closely.

'Me? No, I'm okay.'

'You don't have to play tough girl with me. I've seen stuff that left me puking in alleys, Gina. And I'm the toughest person I know,' he said with a slight curve of his lips as he straightened and faced her. 'This is some scary s.h.i.+t, and most of it d.a.m.ned unbelievable.'

'Yeah.' She couldn't bring herself to look at him, instead deciding to study her boots.

'I saw my first demon when I was ten years old.'

Her gaze shot to his. 'You did?'

'Yeah. I woke up when I heard a sound in my bedroom, and there it was. Ugly motherf.u.c.ker. Big and nasty and G.o.dd.a.m.n did it stink.'

Eyes wide, she asked, 'What was it doing in your bedroom?'

'Kidnapping my little brother.'

Chapter Nine.

N ow what in h.e.l.l possessed Derek to tell Gina that story? He'd never told anyone about Dominic's kidnapping. The only one who knew was Lou. Maybe it was the lost, lonely-little-girl expression on her face that just tore his guts out. ow what in h.e.l.l possessed Derek to tell Gina that story? He'd never told anyone about Dominic's kidnapping. The only one who knew was Lou. Maybe it was the lost, lonely-little-girl expression on her face that just tore his guts out.

He felt something for her, something way more than he felt for the others, and he d.a.m.n well knew it.

'Demons kidnapped your brother?'

'Yeah.' He opened the antibiotic ointment and spread some on the scratches on Gina's neck.

'Why?'

'h.e.l.l if I know.' Circling around to her left, he adjusted the light to the back of her shoulder and opened a cleansing wipe.

Gina craned her neck to look at him. 'Derek, what happened to your brother?'

'Don't know. Never saw him again.' He swiped away the blood and grit from her wound. It was fairly deep and would need further cleansing.

'Your mom and dad?'

'Dad wasn't around by then. He'dtaken off. Don't know what really happened to him. My mom said my brother died suddenly. She kept telling me I had a bad dream.'

Gina pulled away from him. 'She lied to you?'

'Gina, I can't work on you if you keep moving.'