Caged in Darkness (Caged #1)(51)

Ash sat next to me on the bed and stared at the ground. “Don’t be. You can’t help your nightmares.” He gave me a tiny hint of a smile and started to leave, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the bed.

“That’s not what I meant. I’m sorry that I kissed Liam. No matter how I rationalized it, I should not have done it. Once I knew I hurt you, I shouldn’t have made excuses, because if it hurt you then it was wrong.”

He looked at me when I had finished. His eyes were soft, as he leaned down to kiss me. “It’s fine. I reacted too harshly. I love you, S. Now, get some rest. We can talk about this when you feel better. Okay?”

“I love you too. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I think so.” He folded the blanket over my body and I curled into it. I fell into a peaceful sleep after Ash left.

I woke to my phone buzzing on the nightstand. It was only six at night, but it felt much later. It was Izzy calling, but I couldn’t bring myself to pick up. I hit the ignore button and fell back to sleep. I had earned a break, hadn’t I?

The next morning, I climbed out of the shower and brushed the fog away from the mirror. I let out a shriek at the sight of the angry red blistering on my chest. It was in the shape of a hand; a very large hand. Panicking, I threw on some clothes and ran over to Willows house. I couldn’t be alone right now. The demon had visited me in my dream and left a souvenir; a painful souvenir. He could reach through the veil of dreams to hurt me. Was there anywhere I could be safe?

Willow wasn’t home, Ash was at Griffin’s and I didn’t want to worry Maye. I briefly thought of Izzy, but didn't want to bring up sleep and demons after the way her mother died. It would open up memories and I did not want to responsible for deepening wounds that hadn't had time to heal.

I resigned myself to decorating my room with symbols of protection. It was unlikely that they would stop Asmodeus, but they might slow him down long enough for me to get help.

When I got home, Izzy was waiting for me on my bed with her arms crossed and a caustic look on her face. “Why didn’t you answer my call?”

I didn't have time to deal with drama right now. Ignoring her call one time should not earn me a trip to the land of angry Izzy. A small headache had begun to chip away at my patience. It was irritating that I would have to explain myself right now.

“I was sleeping.” I pinch the area between my eyes, threw my purse to the ground, and grabbed some Tylenol from my nightstand.

“Really? Your excuse is sleep? What if my call had been urgent? What if I was in danger or I was going to commit suicide? What then?”

“Obviously that wasn’t the case or we wouldn’t be talking right now. Honestly, Izzy. I was half asleep and wasn't really thinking about all the bad crap you might calling me over. I have enough to deal with! I don't think should be angry with me over one missed call.” I knew I was whining, but I felt like I was going to have a mental break down. Besides, with the stress I had been dealing with, I needed the sleep.

“Complications? That’s what I am to you?” Izzy shot off the bed in anger, walked to my bookcase, took a book and threw it at me. I ducked, but another soon followed and hit me square in the chest, where the demon had burned me.

“Ow! What are you, two? You are behaving like a lunatic toddler with tantrum issues! Calm down.” I closed my eyes and calmed my breathing, while Izzy did the same.

“I am not behaving like a toddler and I have good reason for acting like a nut job.” Izzy's voiced sounded calm.

“Whatever your reason is, it can’t compare with this.” I pulled the top of my shirt down to expose my chest. Izzy gasped at the hand print. “That’s why I needed rest. Okay? The demon did this and I was exhausted. I’m sorry, but I can’t be expected to drop everything just because you call. You’re my best friend, but I needed to take care of myself.”

Izzy opened her mouth to speak, but Ash came into the room and stopped dead in his tracks. “What the…?” He looked at Izzy in shock.

“What is it? Ash? Hello, earth to planet Ash?” I waved my hand in his face, but he remained frozen.

Izzy cleared her throat. “I can tell you what’s wrong with him.” She smiled. I crossed my arms, waiting to hear how she had suddenly tapped into the psychic network. “He saw ghost.”

“A ghost?” I laughed, hysterically. A small snort escaped to punctuate exactly what I thought of Izzy's statement “That is your explanation?”

“Um, yeah. I’m the ghost, moron.” My laughter came up short and I looked more closely. Izzy form transformed into a mirage of transparency, as she stepped into a patch of sunlight. “Cool, huh? I can look real or I can look like a ghost.” She giggled.

I knew she was serious because of her drastic mood change. She didn’t look quite like Kit, but she was still a ghost. Kit materialized to examine Izzy. Izzy's unnatural acceptance of Kit caused confusion on my part. Through my body with Kit, I was able to piece together enough to know that he was able to communicate with Izzy. Evidently, communication barriers didn't exist in the spirit realm.

“How?” My voice was soft and came to a dead end with my confusion.

Ash walked over to sit on the bed with his head in his hands. Izzy stopped petting Kit and became serious. “It was the demon. That’s why I called you. He came after me. I called, while running away from him. I needed your help.” She shrugged.