The Demon's Storm by Hope A. Breedlove (read dune TXT) 📕

a dead weight in her shaking hands. A tremor of something--panic most likely--flew through her veins as she opened the cover.
The air around Emmery seemed to turn to mist, as she felt tears flow in her eyes. Not sure why she was crying she blinked the salty droplets away, focusing on the hardcover in her fingers.
Emmery scanned through the pages, reading a few words on each, feeling her heart sink as she hit each new chapter. The legends sounding absurd and yet so ridiculously familiar it made her teeth clench. She couldn’t keep her fingers from clutching at the silver cross hanging over the ink and pages. She trembled, reading as much as she could without getting so terrified she would have to stop, take a breath and begin again, no more willful than before.
Tales of witches, black magic, the devil, and hell. Of damnation and powers beyond any mortal’s imagination. Of soulless beasts whose purpose was to rape the Earth of it’s beauty and heart. To destroy out of willful ignorance. Emmery couldn’t hold back the soft sob that erupted from her throat.
She heard footsteps, picturing the old man finally tearing himself away from his mind captivating literature and sauntering up to the register. But then a shadow loomed over her form, creating a softer light by which to read.
Emmery looked up and met his sapphire eyes. They glowed with an almost silver halo around the irises. They stared at each other, motionless for what seemed like an eternity. She felt the warm tears condense on her cheeks, flowing readily now. A heat grew within her, spreading through her thoughts to her fingertips, but she held it in with great concentration.
Without speaking Allen kneeled down in front of Emmery, not moving his eyes from hers. He reached out, slowly as to not frighten her, and brushed a tear away with his thumb, as well as tuck a loose piece of auburn hair behind her ear all in one practiced motion.
Her eyes followed his every movement, her mind repeating the same word over and over again. Demon.
“Emmery.” His voice was low, dark, full of what she perceived to be emotion, though his face remained stoic.
She felt something deep within her--her soul maybe--burn with a desire she could only explain as a compulsive longing. Longing for Allen. Longing for answers. Longing for the fire inside her to finally extinguish itself.
He pressed the book closed and set it beside her on the floor. Still kneeling in front of her, his eyes found the carved cross dangling from the silver chain. His sapphire orbs danced with amusement and the corners of his lips curved up ever so slightly.
“What’s so funny?” Emmery breathed out, not daring to speak too loudly for fear that her voice would crack. She reigned in her sobs and studied him, waiting for an answer.
“Of all the questions you could be asking me right now, this is the one you choose?” Allen said, almost mockingly. His eyebrows quirked with curiosity and she felt a thin smile form on her own lips.
Allen laughed deeply, and Emmery joined him. Soon her tears were of amusement and not of fright or sadness. She drank in his warm features, so beautiful, so perfect. But she did detect an eccentric light in his eyes. And she thought of the Noventa’s warning.
“Allen?” Emmery said hesitantly, after a moment of silence between them. He looked to her, seeming to know what was coming.
She couldn’t hold it back anymore. “What the hell is going on?” Emmery croaked, searching his face for something other than the truth she couldn’t fight.
“I understand you had a conversation with the Noventas today Emmery.” She nodded. It was obvious she couldn’t lie.
“Do you believe them?” His voice wove it’s way into her mind like a silken thread. She shuttered.
“I-I don’t know.” Emmery turned away from him, her eyes dropping to the book that had been so chaotically thrown to the floor next to her leg.
“I see,” Allen whispered, looking slightly dejected from the corner of her eye. She faced him again, determination running through her.
“Who are you Allen Hale?” Emmery demanded, though her voice wasn’t nearly as powerful as she had hoped it would sound. He watched her, considering the abrupt question.
“I’m just like you Emmery,” he stated, his face steady, leaving no room for doubt. She felt a dull throbbing in the back of her head.
“No Allen. Tell me the truth, I want to know the truth,” Emmery hissed, grabbing the book and thrusting it into his hands, “Tell me these aren’t all just a bunch of myths. Tell me what you really are.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about Emmery,” he said, not even looking at the book he now held. She rubbed the back of her neck, the irritating headache growing larger by the minute.
“Fine. Play dumb for all I care.” She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger.
Surprisingly Allen didn’t retaliate. He just sat there, watching her with a cool face. Just watching.
Gently he handed the black book back to her, closing her hands around it like Tony had with the necklace. “Do you need a ride home Emmery?”
She studied the book, tracing the silver words with her fingers, not wanting to make eye contact with the boy in front of her. She shook her head firmly. “No. I can manage.”
Allen shrugged and stood up in one fluid motion of ease. But before he could leave her head flew up to look at him. “Allen. Are you...are you...”
“Am I what, Emmery?”
She couldn’t answer his question. She couldn’t say it. Her brain simply laughed in her face and her mouth refused to form the syllables.
Allen silently left her to wallow in the questions he had still yet to answer. Questions she feared she would never truly find the truth to.
Emmery clutched at the book with both hands and ran to the front of the drafty bookstore, hoping to catch him before he left. Hoping Allen would listen to her. But when she got to the front door, he was gone. The tiny bell still ringing, signifying his exit.
She looked out the small, misted window, wondering if he was still in sight. But he wasn’t. Allen had simply disappeared.
“Hon, you gonna pay for that?” came a thick New York accent behind her. Emmery turned around and saw the cashier lady with the pink glasses staring at her. She detected a smirk in her tone.
Reluctantly Emmery left the window, realizing Allen was gone for good and walked to the tiny cashier desk, placing the book down on the dust ridden surface.
“Demon,” the woman read the cover, “Hon, you got quite the choice in books.” Emmery feigned a polite smile, payed for the book and snatched it up as fast as she could, receiving a strange look from the lady and ran out the door.
It was still raining.
She looked up at the sky, dark clouds congregating above her. Seemingly following her in her daze. Emmery walked down the street, assuming it was in the general direction of her house. But she didn’t really care if it was.
Emmery figured she had a cell phone. If anybody missed her too much they could call.
She tucked the small book inside of her leather jacket, clutching it to her chest, hoping to save it from the downpour.
The sidewalk was becoming increasingly wet and the gutters filled with dark sludge. As Emmery walked she stared at the rings the drops made as each one hit puddles on the ground. Wondering where it had been, where it had come from, if it would sink into the ground or be resurrected back into the clouds for another storm someday in some other place.
She heard a car pass her and didn’t bother looking up. Emmery just used her peripheral vision. Many cars had passed her, none of them who she was hoping it would be. But this car was different. This care was making a U-turn. She raised her eyes and recognized the silver 4x4.
Jeff Cooper pulled up beside her and rolled down his window, his face a mask of concern. He ran a hand through his dark blond hair, looked her up and down, and bombarded her with a rush of questions. “Emmery? What are you doing out here? You’ll catch pneumonia out there! Where are you going? Are you alright?”
Emmery couldn’t reign any of it in anymore. Her composure--if one could call it that--snapped in half. Tears streamed down her face, warming her shivering skin as they went. She stared at Jeff, her eyes red and sobbing uncontrollably.
“Whoa Emmery, what’s wrong?” Jeff put his truck in park and scrambled out to her, wrapping an arm around her quavering shoulder. She took a deep breath, his cologne mixing with the rain combining to make an exhilarating scent like no other.
“Nothing, nothing. This weather m-must be getting to me, ya know?” Emmery sniffed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. It left a streak of black makeup on her skin.
“Yeah,” Jeff nodded, though she knew he thought she was crazy.
They stood there in silence as Jeff let Emmery cry into his shoulder, the rain pelting down on them. Of course it was raining. It was always raining during scenes like this. Emmery had watched enough movies to know that.
Jeff kissed the top of her head, comforting her. He moved so smoothly, like he’d done this sort of thing a thousand times before. He stroked her shoulders like a veteran consoler, his hands sympathizing with every angle and crook in her back, fitting like a puzzle piece up against her.
Emmery looked into his soft icy eyes and felt that compulsive longing for the second time that day. He smiled at her, and she realized her tears had finally stopped, though water still ran down the length of her face from the rain.
Jeff leaned down towards her. She wasn’t sure what the hell was happening, but if felt...right. Their lips met softly. The burning in her ceased as his cold, wet, fingers found her cheek.
Emmery let herself fall deep into the air of romance that had embraced itself around them and kissed Jeff back. She allowed her eyes to fall shut, to let her senses, her instincts take over. The atmosphere around them suddenly felt hot and they finally broke away, gazing thoughtlessly into each other’s faces.
Keeping the silence in tact, Emmery slid her arms around Jeff’s neck and allowed him to squeeze her against his sinewy body. She rested her chin on his shoulder, sighing deeply. Rays of sunlight peeked through the clouds and danced upon the rain still dotting everything around the couple, creating tiny prisms of light.
Emmery spotted a movement across the street and strained her eyes to see what had made it. A figure stepped out from the shadows created by a narrow alley between two brick buildings.
Allen Hale watched Emmery Ward carefully, scrutinizing the situation he had just witnessed. Then, he faded away into the darkness, but not before she saw his eyes.
His oily black eyes.

Author's Note: This short story is based on a clip from an in-progress novel called "Star Cross'd."