Page 55 of Demon Apathy: Sunderverse
Rebecca walked closer—her blue eyes, so much like her children’s, scanning me in a way that made me feel bare down to the bone. “A friend, huh? And why is she here so late?” she demanded.
“Um, I couldn’t sleep and I called her,” Solar explained.
The statuesque woman came closer. From this distance, I could see an array of wrinkles at the corner of her eyes and a downward turn to her mouth, something the magic of Hollywood had never shown on the big screen.
“Did you bring him drugs?” Rebecca asked me point-blank.
“Drugs?! No!” I answered emphatically, pushing away from Solar and fearing the women might call security, which wouldn’t be good. It might ruin everything. I glanced around, feeling trapped. But I hadn’t done anything wrong, and Drevan was here, so I had nothing to worry about. Still…
Abruptly, she turned away from me and faced her son. I breathed a sigh of relief. The woman was intense—no wonder she played the best villains. Tenderly, she placed a hand on Solar’s shoulder.
“Honey, we don’t need to worry. We will find your sister. I promise you.” She spoke as if to a child, her words syrupy sweet, her expression beseeching. “I made reservations for you. Do you remember that wonderful vacation we had four years ago? You and Lunar had so much fun? I think you should go there and relax. I’ll take care of everything here. This is causing you too much distress, my darling boy.”
She moved her hand to his cheek. Solar leaned into her touch, looking at the verge of tears.
“Don’t you think it’s a good idea?” Rebecca asked.
He nodded, and I could practically feel the waves of relief washing off of him as if he were a death row prisoner offered escape to paradise island.
But he couldn’t leave. It would undo whatever little progress we’d made. It would be like taking one step forward and a hundred backward. I could already imagine him sipping cocktails with a little umbrella on top while he relaxed in front of a pearly white beach. Talk about turning into a literal sloth, completely apathetic to anything but his own comfort.
Rebecca glanced sideways in my direction, almost matching Khargon’s death stare.Sheesh, for all I knew, the actress was taking lessons from the demon! They almost had the same patented hatred branded in their eyes. Nervously, I glanced toward the door, thinking it might be time to run out of here before things devolved further.
Except, hell of all hells, Drevan had other plans.
Without warning, he appeared behind Solar and, using the edge of his hand like a martial arts expert, hit him in the back of the head with vicious force. I stared, horrified, as Solar’s body became unhinged, and he dropped to the floor right at his mother’s feet.
20
Ididn’tknowallthe rules of the game, but I was sure Drevan had just screwed up by knocking Solar to the ground and revealing himself to Rebecca Hudson. Terrified, the woman took two steps back, mouth gaping at the sight of her unconscious son.
“Oh, my God!” she exclaimed. “W-where did you come from? Who are you?!”
Drevan smiled at the actress with all the mockery in the world.
I reached a hand out toward him. “What are you doing?”
“I knew you would show,” he told Solar’s mother, ignoring me. “You think it would be this easy to fool me, huh?”
Oh, no! Not again.
Rebecca’s bare feet padded over the rug as she retreated from the crazy-looking demon. “Stay away from me!” The back of her legs hit the coffee table behind her, and she came to a halt.
“Show yourself, you filthy angel.” Drevan took hold of Rebecca’s arm, squeezing hard.
“Let her go. Didn’t you learn your lesson?”
“Stay out of this, Lucia. I know what I’m doing.”
“Ahh, you’re hurting me. Help! Someone help me!” she screamed, just as Drevan thrust a hand in the direction of the glass door that led to the balcony.
A scorching burst of flames flew from his fingertips and hit the glass, instantly melting it. A gaping hole remained and, a second later, Drevan ran through it, dragging the actress with him by the hair, and just like he’d done with Sage mere hours ago, he hurled her over the balcony.
Screaming, I jumped over Solar’s body and ran through the hole. “NO!”
Once more, I attempted to use my telekinetic powers to save the woman, but it was useless. I pressed a hand to my chest. Her blond hair whirled around her panic-stricken face as she plummeted.
“Save her!” I demanded.
