“I’ve known about your mother and your aunt since I became old enough to look for them. It’s been a few years, only a few years, but I couldn’t risk losing you. Paint me the bad guy for that, I don’t care. I still wasn’t willing to gamble you and throw the dice. I brought you to them when it was safe for me. You would’ve done the same.”

I frowned, wondering what he meant, but his eyes snapped to the right. His body stiffened, and he dropped his hands from me, stepping back. I fell against the counter and would’ve fallen to the floor if he hadn’t caught me with one hand. He whispered in my head, “Something’s coming. Demons. They’re not friendly.”

Then he flung me behind him and sent two bursts of black energy at the doorframe. Two dark figures flew in, but immediately were flung backward. They ripped through the house and into the trees outside. Another black figure soared at us from above and something came over me. My head snapped back, all the way back, and my eyes shifted into yellow. I saw the demon and became furious. Yellow energy emanated from me and shot upward, slamming it away from us.

Kellan leapt after the other two and lifted his hand, catching both of them in a paralyzing grip. They floated in the air, helpless to move or fight back, as he drew them to us.

The third demon was coming back. I felt its approach and then flung my own hand outward, palm extended in the air, and I caught the demon in my grip, too. I had no idea how I was doing it, but I was angry. How dare they try to attack us? How dare they think about hurting us? My fury knew no bounds, and I was ready to tear the demon apart. I wanted to torture him one breath after another. I wanted him to hurt. He intended to hurt us. Then Kellan spoke in my ear, “Don’t kill him. Not yet. We need to find out what they know, why they came here for us.”

I growled, “I don’t care.” And I flexed my hand, bending the demon in half and it screamed. The agony that came from its mouth was genuine and blinding. I smiled, bending it even more, until I felt him ripped from my hold.

Kellan glared at me, flinging one of his demons away. It hit a tree that caught it and used both sides of its branches to tear the demon in half. It turned to dust and fell to the ground. A wind then swept it up and flung it away from us, far away. Kellan took the demon I had broken, still hanging together by a piece and rested him on the table before us. It was quivering in pain, writhing in motion, but the sound was the worst. It was a high-pitched whimper, sniffling. I wanted to silence it then and there, but Kellan clamped a hand on me, stopping me as he floated the other one to sit at the table in front of us. Its leader was still thrashing back and forth on top of the table, but this one stared at us in terror. His eyes were wide, white saucers with nothing in the middle. The entire figure was cloaked in a black robe.

“They’re from the underworld,” Kellan spoke in my ear, holding me back. He wanted me behind him, and he spoke in my head, “Remain quiet. They get information from you the more you speak. They can see into your words. Don’t do anything. Trust me.”

I trusted him, but I wanted to hurt them more. A thirst for their pain had been awakened in me. It was nearly intoxicating, threatening to take over, but I closed my eyes and battled for control. Kellan was right. He’d get the information we needed: why they were sent to us, who sent them, and what they wanted. Killing them wouldn’t help us in the long run, but I wanted to. I wanted to so badly.

He stalked toward them, growing before my eyes. I shrunk behind him, but Kellan took on a menacing stance. A black cloak seemed to shimmer over him, covering him before my eyes, and then I heard him speak in a different language. It sent chills down my back, and I gritted my teeth, fighting myself from lashing out. I wanted to stop the words that he spoke. I didn’t know what he said, but I wanted them to go away. I wanted it all to go away. I couldn’t stand the stench of the demons in the sanctuary’s kitchen. I cringed hearing Kellan speak to them in their own language, and I loathed the reminder that he was one of them, more powerful than they were even.

After a few moments of them fighting him, straining not to answer him, and Kellan striking them with his power, one buckled. The demon couldn’t stop babbling. The words poured out of him as he doubled over, crying, whimpering, begging. It sickened me. The entire thing made me nauseated and I bolted from the room, dashing upstairs to my bathroom. Within moments, I burst through the door and emptied my stomach’s contents into the toilet. I hurled a few more times until something exploded beneath me, under the floorboards, where the kitchen was. Immediately, I felt relief and knew that Kellan had vanquished both demons. Their presence no longer haunted me, overwhelming me with sickness. It wasn’t long before he came to the bathroom door and stood there. “Are you okay?”

I nodded and wiped some vomit from my mouth. “I’m fine.” I collapsed against the wall and sat there with my knees raised before me, my arms dangling from them, feeling lifeless.

“Your reaction was from her. You know that, right?” He sounded cautious, reserved from me.

My stomach twisted again, feeling how he watched his words with me. It was like he was scared of me, hesitant of my reaction. I closed my eyes, pain stabbing my gut at his reaction, but I choked out, “I know.” And I did. My hatred had been tenfold since I had merged with her. Only an idiot wouldn’t have known where it had come from, but another feeling took over me. What was I supposed to do about that? I was a hybrid, half-messenger. And that side was more powerful now within me. Some of these emotions were bound to come out, right…