Chapter Eight (Daimonas)

The next day at school, Starling wouldn't talk to me.

And it hurt. He didn't wait by my locker like he did yesterday. He didn't stop to talk to me or walk me to my classes or sit by us at lunch and it was driving me crazy. I needed to talk to him. I wanted to talk to him. I had to ask about Newell and Xed. All three of them had a history that I felt I needed to know about.

"Give him some time," Ana had advised me at lunch as she bit into her lettuce, tomato, and cracker sandwich, "He's probably just reeling. You know, like the rest of us since apparently Starling's a dragon and you're... well, you're something." I smiled uneasily at that, averting my eyes. Kiki just gazed at me with a fascination that kind of scared me as she popped a grape in her mouth.

"I... I want to tell you," I admitted, making Ana raise an eyebrow and Kiki perk up, "But, Newell. He'll get so mad at me."

"You mean the short one?" Ana asked. I nodded.

"Don't tell him that, though. He gets mad really easily." I responded. Ana hummed thoughtfully at that as she popped a banana chip into her mouth.

"They say short people are usually angry people." She mused, making me wrinkle my nose. Julian was short, but then, I guess he wasn't as short as Newell. No one was as short as Newell, except little kids, obviously, which is why he was so commonly mistaken as one. Which reminded me.

"Kiki, how did you know Newell wasn't a kid?" I asked, looking at her. Ana looked at her too with obvious interest. Kiki chewed up her pizza shaped like a turtle and shrugged, picking up her energy drink, which she really shouldn't be drinking since she already bounced off the walls most of the time.

"I dunno. The way he spoke and the way he walked. Little kids like to dance around and be annoying, or hide behind stuff. Newell walked like he owned the place. And my nana taught me to recognize people by the way they walked. You can tell a lot by the way a person walks." She explained cheerfully.

"I guess that makes sense." Ana muttered, but she didn't seem to believe it. I shook my head, looking down at my feet when I felt someone touch my shoulder, making me jump and look up to see Starling standing there. Relief swept through me that he was actually looking at me and talking to me.

"We need to talk." He stated. I nodded and got up, looking at Kiki and Ana, who looked at me expectantly.

"I'll be back." I told him, making them nod. Although, Kiki looked upset that she didn't get to follow us. I got up and went along with Starling out into the hallway and to the bathrooms at the end of the hall. He checked the stalls by kicking them all open again, making me wince when they banged against the walls. He turned to face me, one hand in the pocket of his black jeans. He looked really good in black. He wore a zip up hoodie today under his jean jacket. I'm surprised he wasn't hot, but then, he might be used to the muggy weather.

"I need to know why you're with Xed and Newell." Starling stated. My heart sank that he didn't want to talk to me just to talk to me. He wanted to discuss Xed and Newell. Of course he wouldn't want to talk to me, I thought dumbly. I made him so angry yesterday and ate my apartment keys, which still had yet to digest from the acid in my stomach and were giving me a belly ache.

"Because." I answered quietly. Starling narrowed his eyes and approached me, making my heart jump into my throat as I backed up against the wall, the same as yesterday. I had to stop doing that. I didn't like being backed up against a wall.

"Don't give me that," He scowled, raising an arm to put against the wall, cutting me off so I couldn't run out the door, "I already know about our world. I need to know about your world. So don't treat me like I'm stupid or human, or both. What are you and why are Xed and Newell so interested in you?" I swallowed hard, looking around nervously, hoping someone would burst in and interrupt what was happening, but it didn't happen. I was trapped and I had no choice, but to tell Starling. I wanted to, I really did, but knowing that Newell would be disappointed in me hurt.

"I... I'm a demon," I said at last, making Starling frown and lower his arm to look at me curiously, "They call me a parasitic demon."

"Parasitic? Like, you eat off other people?" He asked, looking me up and down. I shifted uncomfortably, wringing my hands out.

"Well, kind of. Uhm, I feed off energy. I can't help it. It just kind of happens. I mean, I can eat people food and-and--"

"And apartment keys."

"And apartment keys," I admitted, feeling heat creep into my cheeks at the look Starling was giving me that told me he still wasn't going to forgive me for that, "And it fills me up just like a human, but feeding on energy is what gives me my powers. I used to have a host that I lived inside for a while, but... he... didn't want me anymore and so Xed and Newell took me. It's a really long story, but that's the important part."

"So, what," Starling said slowly, narrowing his eyes and making me stiffen again as I sensed his annoyance, "They just took you in from the goodness of their hearts?" He sounded angry at that, but it wasn't true. I already knew that Vladimir had to bribe Newell into taking care of me. They didn't actually want me around.

No one did.

"No," I managed, looking down at my feet, "They were bribed."

"By who?"

"Vladimir." I admitted. Starling spat a curse I didn't even understand, but it sounded terrible, so I just blushed even more as he turned away from me, running a hand through his hair before glaring at me.

"Vladimir's the bastard who put me up for adoption." He snapped when he saw my confusion. I gulped.

"Uhm... I'm sorry?" I tried. Starling made a rude noise that I'm sure meant he was fed up with me.

"Don't be sorry, you didn't do anything," He said at last, still sounding angry, "Vladimir is the one who should be sorry. Newell too, and Xed. All of them. I wanted to stay with Newell and Xed. I knew it was dangerous, but I didn't care because they were the ones I wanted to stay with. Vladimir ignored me most of the time and finally spoke to me one day, only to tell me he was practically selling me to some stupid human couple. I wasn't even allowed to tell them that I was a dragon. I couldn't use my powers or practice them or anything. I had to pretend I was a human all these years. And do you know what Newell told me when he said goodbye?"

I just shook my head numbly. Starling was so angry that I could feel it crackling through the air and making the hairs on my arms stand on end. It was a rage so potent that it could fuel rocket ships, and it scared me. I naturally fed on energy, like humans breathed oxygen, so I was unintentionally absorbing all of it and it was making my blood boil in my veins.

"He said forget about me, like I'll forget about you. He was saying all of this without any regret at all! He was the one who took me in in the first place! Why would he do that if he was just going to throw me off to someone else, who didn't even want me?" Starling demanded. Oddly enough, I understood that in a way.

Julian had taken care of me for a while. He taught me things about cars and trucks and cheeseburgers and commercials. He even tried to help me with reading for as long as he could, but when it finally all ended, he didn't want me anymore.

And neither did Vladimir.

No one wanted me.

And the only reason Newell and Xed had me was because Vladimir was giving them money each month for taking care of me. If they didn't have the money, they wouldn't take care of me and who knows where I'd be? Living in a ditch? Dead? Trapped in another incubator? The thought gave me chills and I shook my head to escape it, looking down at my feet again. I felt Starling frown and he approached me, touching my shoulders and making me twitch.

"You feel it too, don't you?" Starling asked quietly after a while. I looked up to see him looking at me, eyes studying me with such a white hot intensity that I felt it heating the core of my soul. Looking at him, I knew he understood what it felt like to have people just pass you around like you were just an old sofa that no one wanted. They would treat you nice, take care of you, then suddenly they were gone and it hurt so much. Was it something we did? Did we do something to deserve it? What did we do? Was there a way to make up for it? Was there anything we could do to make it all better?

"I don't... I don't want to be alone." I whispered. Starling bit into his lower lip, then surprised me when he wrapped his arms around me tightly. I was caught off guard by the gesture, because just moments ago, Starling had been so angry that it burned me, but now he was treating me gently. I expected to be terrified of the physical contact, but it was nothing like the way those people had touched me.

Starling's touch didn't hurt me. Sure, I was scared of him when he was angry, but anyone would be, and he wasn't always angry. It was when he was being nice, and gentle, when I felt like I could trust him and I trusted him enough to let him hold me. It felt so nice to have someone actually understand what it felt like to be alone, and wishing there was always someone there. It felt nice to have someone hold me for once and not try to hurt me.

"I don't want to be alone either." Starling said quietly. I wrapped my arms around him too, hugging him close and I felt like we stood there forever, just hugging before we finally broke apart. I was surprised to see Starling blushing a little, clearing his throat.

"Sorry I kinda... blew up earlier. I just... years of having people tell me they never existed and knowing they were still out there and suddenly..." His voice trailed. I nodded, tilting my head to look at him.

"But you don't need to be scared of Newell." I pointed out. Starling blushed harder.

"I'm not scared of him."

"But you ran away from him yesterday."

"W-Well, that's because..." He struggled to find a reason and I just smiled.

"That's okay. Newell scares me sometimes too," I admitted, making Starling look down at his feet awkwardly, "But... he really misses you." Starling scoffed at that, folding his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall beside me. I looked up at him, leaning my head against the wall.

"He does," I said, "Last night he kept talking about how he used to teach you your ABCs." Starling paused at that, then laughed quietly, shyly as he rubbed at his neck.

"Aha, yeah," He replied, remembering, "We didn't have very much money... He bought cheap dollar ABC flash cards. Xed used to lean over me and try to learn with me." I smiled at that.

"He does that with me too," I answered, then paused as I remembered the fight Newell and Xed had, and Xed hadn't been there in the morning, which made my stomach knot up, "But Xed..." Starling looked at me, worried.

"What about Xed?" He asked. I shifted a little, nibbling my lower lip as I debated telling Starling about the fight, but I couldn't help it. I needed someone to talk to about it, someone who understood, and Starling seemed to get it. So I broke down and told Starling about the fight between Newell and Xed. I mentioned some things that Newell had hinted about the fight in his weird stupor yesterday. Starling called it being drunk and he said Newell tended to do that and I should never give him alcohol, even if he asks for it, so I made a mental note to do that. I didn't like him like that anyway. He was talkative and friendly half the time, then depressed and miserable the rest and it was so hard to keep up with it all.

I actually preferred mean Newell to drunk Newell.

"Damn," Starling muttered, pushing off the wall, "That doesn't sound good. Xed never left Newell, but it sounds like he might actually stay gone. We need to find him, and fast. Newell, well, no offense to him, but he is a walking target board without Xed. Lots of people hate Newell and they'll do anything to get their hands on him and San Francisco is crawling with people who hate him. He walked into a supernatural melting pot."

"I don't know what that is." I admitted. Starling smiled.

"I'll explain it later. Right now, we need to ditch and find Xed." He stated. I blinked, looking at him uneasily.

"Again? But I got yelled at today for skipping yesterday." I pointed out. Starling shrugged.

"They'll just give us detention, which is always better with someone else, so we'll get it together. Right now, they're safety is more important than ours." He decided, which I agreed with, so we left the bathroom and went back to the lunch room so I could grab my bag. Kiki and Ana were waiting impatiently for us to return.

"You're ditching again?" Ana demanded when she saw me grab up my bag. I looked at her apologetically.

"I have to get my guardians back together, or else they'll be hurt. And they're more important than school." I told her. Ana frowned, glancing at Kiki, who sighed and stood up.

"All righty," She said, slamming her Hello Kitty lunch box shut, "Let's hit the road." Starling scowled.

"Who invited you?" He asked. Kiki snorted, putting her hands on her hips.

"What'd you mean who? I'm a woman and I have rights and if that means following you two on your amazing adventure, then I'mma do it." She announced. Starling just glared at her impatiently and I looked at Ana, who was staring at Kiki before looking at me. She stared for a while, then sighed and got up, crumpling up her paper bag lunch.

"I'm following this doofus to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." She said, gesturing at thumb at Kiki, who gasped in mock offense. Starling looked at me, frowning.

"Is it such a good idea to take two humans with us?" He asked uncertainly.

"Probably not," I admitted with a frown, "But if we can find Xed, he'll keep us safe. He always does..." My voice trailed when I remembered saying that about Xed coming back in the morning. And he didn't. I nibbled my lower lip as Starling looked at me in concern.

"No," I said after while, "I can do it."

"Are you sure? You said you're not good with your powers."

"Practice."

"Let's hope that practice doesn't get anyone killed."

"Thanks." I deadpanned. Starling shrugged. We waited for Kiki and Ana to throw away their food before all went out into the hallway. I was gonna go out the front doors again, but Starling told me it'd be better if we just snuck out one of the emergency exits instead.

"We don't want to alert the staff." Starling told me as he pushed the door open. Gone with the nice air conditioned building, hello muggy outside weather. The sky was dark, though, black angry storm clouds hiding the blue skies and sun. There was a distant rumble indicating that a storm was nearing and that only made my stomach churn nervously.

"Jeez," Kiki gushed as we made our way around the school to get to the street, "This is great! It's just like the movies. The creepy thunder storm, the big show down, and then the love story." She gestured to Starling and I.

"You've got your head screwed on wrong." Starling told her, making me blush. Kiki didn't take any offense and just kept gushing over our, as she called it, amazing adventure. But I'd had enough adventure with Zephyra. We didn't need anything else to happen. We were just going off to find Xed, wherever he'd be.

"Where would Xed be?" I asked Starling as we walked down the street to the bus stop.

"He's a merman. Where do you think he'd be?" Starling asked. I blinked.

"A pool?" I tried.

"We're in California. Think bigger."

"Uhm... The... ocean?"

"Bingo."

"Merman," Kiki exclaimed esctatically, "Mermen exist too?! Oh my gosh, this is like a fairy tale come true, jumping right out of Disney!" Ana shook her head and covered her face, pretending she didn't know Kiki, who was receiving some stares from the humans around us. Starling laughed a bit evilly.

"Oh, no. You've got it all wrong," He told Kiki, who scowled in confusion, "Yeah, sure, Xed's like Ariel in the sense that in the water, he can talk, but he's mute on land. However, Xed isn't a huge merman with no knowledge of anything on land and he definitely doesn't eat scallops or anything... He eats flesh." Kiki blinked, awed by the news.

"Flesh?" She asked to make sure. Starling nodded, reaching into his pocket to take out money for the bus as it came down the street.

"Merpeople eat anything that walks on land. It's like a giant buffet. He can eat a grown man within a couple of minutes. His jaws are like iron and his teeth are all sharp. Think Mega Piranha. His teeth are super sharp and strong. They can rip through flesh and bone in a matter of seconds. And he's almost seven feet tall, so he can just pluck you off the street and eat you whole and no one would ever know what happened to you." He explained. Kiki was getting goosebumps now.

"Anything else I should know to ruin my childhood?" She asked. Starling shrugged.

"I'm just warning you ahead of time. I mean, I don't think Xed would eat you," He said, turning to look at me for confirmation and I nodded in agreement, then Starling looked back at Kiki, who was pouting, "But not all merpeople are like him. Xed just happens to be one of the nicer ones."

"What about you people," Kiki said, poking Starling in the back and making him make a face to get away from her, "Dragons. I take it you're obviously not big scaly things that stalk the night and steal princesses." Starling shrugged as we climbed on the bus, paying for the fee to the nearest beach. We managed to get the back row of seats to avoid everyone else in the middle and front.

"We're a type of shapeshifter," He informed, making Kiki and Ana stare at him with interest, and even I was intrigued because I didn't know much about dragons either, "Sort of like werewolves and merpeople. We can change into the big scaly things you hear about in movies."

"Do you breath fire?" Kiki asked eagerly. Starling scrunched up his nose.

"I can't, but there might be others out there who can. Our abilities differ. I haven't met another dragon, but I only know from what I did some digging to find out. Our senses are extremely heightened, especially sense of smell and sight. And yeah, Kiki, we do like money, like you said before, but not to the point where I'm going to rob dwarves of their mountain." He said, making Kiki giggle. I frowned. I didn't understand that reference, but it didn't matter because Kiki was looking at me now.

"What about you? What are you? You can tell us, right? We won't tell anyone." Kiki added hopefully, clasping her hands together. I chewed on my lower lip nervously, glancing at Starling, who shrugged.

"Why not? Nobody likes them anyway." He said.

"Likewise." Ana told him flatly, making Starling scrunch up his nose. I smiled uneasily at that, then looked at Kiki.

"Uhm, a demon," I said, making her eyes widen, "Like, parasitic demon."

"Parasitic," Ana echoed, "So you feed off... what? Energy?"

"Yeah," I agreed with a nod, "But I don't drain people completely. I just tend to wear people out sometimes. It's not on purpose. It's kind of like how we breath air. It just happens."

"So," Kiki said slowly, "Do you, like, need to eat someone's first born son or something?" I gave her a weird, horrified look.

"Why would I ever do that?" I asked in disbelief. Kiki shrugged.

"Because in the movies, like Paranormal Activity, they say demons like to steal babies and make deals with humans and then torment them for eternity and whatever." She explained, making me frown. I didn't like the way that sounded. Why would I do that someone I didn't even know? And what kind of deal would I make with a human? They would want money in return and I didn't have enough.

"That's what humans say," Starling deadpanned, making us look at him, "Humans overdramatize things and like to put themselves on a pedestal. Of course demons and vampires want your babies, because you're so special." Kiki pouted.

"Hello, human, over here." She said, waving. Ana shrugged, glancing out the window.

"We are pretty annoying. So I don't argue with Starling." She replied. Kiki paused, then shrugged and slowly nodded in agreement. Starling smirked, then looked at me to continue my explanation. I hesitated, knowing that if Newell found out they knew, he'd be so mad at me. I just hoped they didn't run into Newell again and tell him anything.

"Uhm," I said slowly, "I eat human food. Well, I can eat anything, really, but I don't want to eat babies. That's just mean. Uhm, we're usually born asexually, from a single mother. She spits out over two hundred of us at once, but usually only two or four of us makes it out alive. We need to find a host to latch onto to feed from. Like how a human infant needs milk from the mother. We need energy from a host and we need it fast, otherwise, we'll slowly disappear and cease to exist. If we find a host, we usually feed on them for a while and sometimes they won't even know we're there until they unlock our powers and start using them."

"Powers?" Ana asked. I nodded.

"Like, moving things around without touching them. Seeing glimpses of the future. Making things appear out of thin air. Sorta like that. And at some point, we get to a period in our lives where we can form a solid body. Around that time, we leave our host and try to make it on our own in the world. I left my host and managed to get my solid body." I explained. Kiki nodded slowly, furrowing her brow as she tried to take it all in.

"You guys are taking this way too well for a couple of humans." Starling muttered, scooting closer to me. Ana frowned, leaning back in her seat.

"Kiki's always been weird. She's always believed in the supernatural. I'm just too high to care." She admitted with a shrug. Starling wrinkled his nose.

"You're human. That's not good for you." He said, to which Ana shrugged.

"Would you rather me scream my head off sober or sit here and be chill high?" She asked flatly, to which Starling shrugged reluctantly. I wasn't sure what she meant, but it didn't matter to me as we pulled up to the bus stop near the beach. Starling led us across a short parking lot packed with cars and we ended up standing on the beach. I had never been to the ocean before and it was so big!

There was so much white sand that seemed to stretch on forever in both directions. Straight ahead, it became darker as the ocean swallowed it with foamy white waves. Beyond the white foam was just miles and miles of dark blue sea. I was struck in awe by the sight of it. I'd never seen something so... beautiful, so amazing!

"Come on," Starling said, gesturing for us to follow him, "We need to go somewhere a little less crowded before we can find Xed. Chances are he isn't gonna be where there are lots of people." We followed after him along the sand, kicking it up around our feet. Most people were retreating from the beach, though, because of the storm that was rumbling over our heads. People packed up their bags and carried big boards with them as they walked away.

"Surfing," Starling told me when he caught my curious stare, "It's when you ride the ocean waves. I've done it a couple times. I can show you, if you stay in California, that is." I blinked, looking confused.

"Why would we leave?" I asked. Starling shrugged.

"Doesn't seem like Newell and Xed would let you stay very long." He responded. I paused at that, the idea worrying me. But I didn't have to worry about it too long because someone was calling out to us. Starling frowned, stopping abruptly so I smacked into his hard back. I blushed hard, jumping back and almost smacking into Kiki, who squeaked. Ana just gave us a deadpan stare before looking up as a guy approached us, wearing a pair of black skin tight shorts. His dark hair was whipping around his face in the wind, his blue eyes studying each of us before he looked at me.

I got a weird feeling when he looked at me. It made me uneasy.

"Hey, are you guys thinking of going out there?" He asked us, still looking at me.

"No, we're just looking for someone who might be on the beach." Starling answered, looking wary of the man and came to stand in front of me. The man blinked and looked up to stare at Starling for a moment, a frown working onto his face.

"Oh yeah? By any chance... Would his name be Xed?" He asked. Starling stared at him and I blinked, surprised.

"How did you know?" I asked. The guy moved quickly before Starling could even react and held a gun out at me, firing it off so the bullet shot into me silently. Kiki shrieked and Ana gasped, both of them leaping back. Starling looked at me horrified. I winced, looking down at the hole in my chest. It reminded me of the time Vladimir had shot me, but it wasn't quite as painful. Not that it didn't hurt, though. I blinked, looking up at the guy, confused. He looked just as confused.

"Why aren't you dead?" He asked.

"Why did you do that?" I returned. He stammered, trying to find the words, but Starling wasn't going to let him, so he grabbed the guy around the neck without a second thought and snapped it. This time, I cried out along with Kiki and Ana as the man's neck gave a sickening crack. We heard voices shouting and looked up to see a couple of guys dressed in black running from the parking lot, and right for us. Starling stumbled back, looking up at us frantically.

"Run!"