Gabe gave me a guilty glance and stepped back, dropping his hands to his side. The tall older ma
n stepped closer to me, pausing when I tried to press myself further into the couch. All this talk about a test and these strange people had me paralyzed with fear. They had to be demons. But I couldn’t be sure they were all as nice as Gabe.
“It’s okay,” the man said, extending a hand. He held it out for a few seconds, but slowly let it fall when he saw I wasn’t going to let him anywhere near me. “My name is Luke.” He nodded at the woman with the long hair. “This is my sister, Esther. You know Gabe, of course. And this young man is Adam.”
I gave a slight nod of my head and he smiled in response.
“Gabe tells us you’re called Lizzy. Is that right?”
Again, I nodded. The room was still tense, but I could feel myself beginning to loosen up. So far, no demon had tried to eat me, so that was a good sign.
“He told us that you saved him. We’re very much indebted to you.”
“Three times,” Gabe interjected. He held up three fingers. “She saved me from getting ambushed by more demons, from the infection, and from getting slaughtered by the townspeople.”
“Three times,” Luke corrected himself with a smile. “So, we thank you.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I looked up at Gabe. He was watching me with a soft expression, but it morphed into something stubborn and hard as our eyes met.
“See,” he said. “She doesn’t need to take the test. If she were possessed, she wouldn’t have tried to save me.”
“A trick,” Adam roared with a wave of his hand. “A clever trick to infiltrate our boundaries. I see the way you look at her. Just because you want to get into her pants, doesn’t mean we should let her through without being sure.”
Gabe struck Adam before I could even blink, knocking him backward into the wall and shaking the entire house. Adam found his feet and ran a hand over his cheek with a wicked grin. The two of them stared each other down for a minute before Esther pulled a lethal looking scabbard from her belt and held it out, cursing at them both.
“I swear, one more outburst from you two and both of you will spend two months in the training facility,” Esther yelled.
That put a sudden end to their fight and both men shuffled to her side, looking slightly guilty. Gabe wouldn’t meet my eye, but Adam did, giving me a haughty wink before I looked away.
“Now that that’s over, we need to make a decision,” Esther said, putting a hand on her brother’s shoulder. “We both want to take care of the girl, but you know we can’t put our people in danger for her. She must be tested.”
Luke sighed, still kneeling in front of me. “I know.” He gave me a sad smile and stood up, offering his hand again. “Come with me, Lizzy. As much as Gabe has argued otherwise, we really must put you through a test to make sure you’re not possessed. If you pass, we’ll be able to get you settled into the barracks.”
I didn’t like the sound of this test, but it didn’t seem like I had any other option. So I took his hand and let the blanket slide to the couch. I was still wearing the white shift they’d stuffed me into for the sacrifice. It was mostly dry now, but I felt naked in the thin fabric that only fell to the top of my knees.
Now that I wasn’t distracted by an argument over my fate, the memories of the goddess and her purple tongue sliding along my flesh came back to me in a rush. Faces of the people I’d once considered family flashed in front of my eyes. They’d tried to burn me alive. I still had the burns on my heels to remind me of that.
I whimpered and took a step back, slamming hard into someone’s chest. Looking up, I saw Gabe’s face towering over me. He wrapped his fingers around my shoulders and steadied me, the warmth from his chest permeating the thin material of my dress.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered into my ear. His breath tickled my neck, sending goosebumps down my back. “They’ll see you’re not possessed and then everything will be okay. No one else will hurt you. I promise.”
The people who I’d grown up with, who’d raised me, had just tried to kill me. It was safe to say I was going to have a lot of trust issues going forward. Putting my life in the hands of a bunch of demons wasn’t exactly on my to-do list. But Gabe’s presence steadied my racing heart. If he wanted me to take the test, I would.
We followed Luke down a hall with dozens of framed photos hanging from the walls and into an old country style kitchen. Everything about this house was absurdly normal. If I’d ever taken a moment to think about how demons lived, I would’ve guessed they lived like Neanderthals out in the caves or in the hills. Not in regular homes with kitchens and fireplaces and couches. Not here.
“Now, Lizzy,” Luke said, pulling a jar of green liquid from the back of a pantry cabinet, “this test isn’t by any means pleasant. You’re going to have to drink this and wait for the results. It can take several minutes for them to show. You might have some side effects in the meantime.”
I looked at Gabe for an explanation. Side effects didn’t seem so bad. A headache was a side effect. Nausea was a side effect. I could deal with that.
“Trust me, it’s best not to ask questions,” Gabe said, pulling out a chair for me to sit in. “Just know that it won’t kill you.”
“It hasn’t killed anyone yet,” Adam corrected, “but there’s always a first time.”
If I could’ve taken Gabe’s dagger and plunged it into Adam’s muscular torso at that moment, I would’ve. Instead, Esther gave him a glare that made him wilt in front of my eyes.
“Here, dear.” She handed me a shot glass full of the thick green liquid. “Drink up.”
I stared down into the glass. It reminded me of the Pepto-Bismol Granny took to relieve her upset stomachs. Except this thing smelled like a mixture of kitty litter and fresh cut grass. I had half a mind to throw it against the opposite wall and stain the perfect cream colored cabinets.