Demon kissed: demon kissed

Chapter 24

Shaking, I rose from my seat, and said, "I could use a pizza. And a lot of soda. No diet crap. Regular Coke. Will someone deliver it all the way out here?"

Collin's eyes turned to me from his chair across the room. "It's still too early. We worked through the night and nobody's open yet." We'd worked all through the night and I still couldn't do the next thing he was trying to teach me. "I'll get you whatever you want, as soon as you get this. You have to at least pull the shadow into your hand."

My tired body slumped upside down in a chair with my head hanging upside down. My feet dangled off the back. "I can't do it. It's too hard." I clawed at my hair, beyond feeling frustrated, and righted my body. The blood flowed away from my head making me woozy. I almost fell out of the chair, but didn't. Collin smiled, leaning back into his seat. His dark hair fell across his eyes as he tried to hide his amusement. He liked my flaws for some reason. Clumsy wasn't the new sexy, so I wasn't sure what he was impressed with.

Irritated, I shoved my hair out of my face. Everything else had been so easy for me, but this wasn't. It reminded me of my failure to call light. Maybe I just sucked at all this stuff. I didn't understand how shadows would come to me. That sounded impossible; until Collin reminded me that the shadows bound me to the ground the night Jake attacked me. If I could call them, I could control them, and free myself.

I hated that I couldn't get it, but I wasn't making any progress.

"Try again," he said as he leaned forward, gazing at me.

"Fine." I pouted. I held out my hand, palm up, pressing my other hand to the ruby ring. Apparently this was the remedial way of calling shadows. I felt the sharp edge of the stone beneath my skin, and rubbed my finger slowly over it. With my mind, I reached for the nearest shadow not really understanding how I was supposed to make it move. It was attached to a lamp and melded with the bookcase shadows. Pressing my eyes tightly closed, I saw the blackness and felt the coolness fill my palm.

Collin's voice brushed my mind, Now tell it where you need it to go. It has to obey you. Demons are not slaves to shadows.

Opening my eyes, I gazed at my palm. A frigid sensation started to crawl up my spine and I startled, almost losing the shadow I'd been coaxing.

"That's what it feels like. Shadows are ice cold. One is responding to you. Now call it into your palm." Collin walked over to me, shivering, feeling the cold through the bond.

I nodded, trying to do what he asked. The cold enveloped me, finally licking at my throat with frost and chilling my eyes, forcing me to blink. I felt molten snow in my palm, but couldn't see anything yet. It felt as if the shadow slid through me to go where I commanded. Why did demons insist on doing things this way? Their powers were great, but they made sure pain was associated with the power. As I gazed at my palm, I saw something pooling in the center like liquid night. I held it there, asking, "Now what?"

Collin stood over my shoulder, excited that I'd gotten this far. "Hmmm. Let's do something easy first. Can you mold it? Make it change shape?"

The coldness licked my throat, grossing me out as I commanded the shadow into sphere. It floated above my palm, as I separated it into a sphere within a sphere—the thing Eric asked me to do with light. "Like that?"

He sounded excited, "Yes. Good. Good. Now shift it back to its natural form."

"What would that be? The pool of ink?"

Collin nodded, "Yes. Shadows are fluid, so they look like liquid when you call them." The sphere melted back into an inky pool. My fingers were numb. The shadows coldness was an unearthly coldness—like a creepy sensation that spreads over your skin, giving you goose bumps when you get creeped-out. It was like that, but a hundred times worse.