Skaydal - Demon's Forever

Blood Beyond Shadows

✦Dolly✦

I didn’t move. The phone lay on the carpet like something poisonous. The screen had already gone dark, but I could still see the message in my head.

Why did you run?

Four words. That was all it took to turn my room from safe to suffocating. I backed into my bed and sat down hard, while my hands curled into the blanket. For a second, I thought about calling Mila. Then Aria. Then Cassian or Rowan. I even thought about throwing the phone out of the window and pretending none of this had happened. But then there was a soft knock on my door. I froze.

“Dolly?” relief hit me instantly. It was my father. I wasn’t even surprised. He always knew. Always.

“Come in, Dad,” I called out. I watched as the handle lowered, but the door remained closed.

“It’s locked, Dolly. Open the door,”

Right.

I stood too fast and nearly tripped over my own feet. But I managed to unlock the door. My father, Josiah, opened it slowly, as he poked his head inside. When he saw I wasn’t standing in the way, he pushed it open completely. He stared at me, then he noticed my phone lying on the floor.

“Dolly…what happened?” I tried to answer, but my throat felt too tight. He stepped inside and carefully closed the door behind him. “Elias said you left the festival scared,” he said quietly.

“He told you?”

“He is your brother. Of course, he told me,” I looked away and scoffed quietly.

“Traitor,”

“No, Dolly. He is just worried about you,” he corrected, and that only made it worse. I bent down, picked up my phone, and handed it to him without a word. My father took it, tapped the screen, and read the message. His entire body went still. I watched him closely. I didn’t often fear my father, but the look on his face was dangerous. “Who sent this to you?”

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly.

“Was it the man from the festival?”

“I think so,”

“You think so?”

“I saw someone watching me,” I admitted. “Near the old lantern post. I didn’t know him. I didn’t recognize what he was either. He isn’t a wolf…he isn’t a witch, and he isn’t a demon. He isn’t anything I know…or understand,” my father lifted his gaze from my phone.

“And you think it could be from him?”

“Maybe…I don’t know,”

“What did he look like?” he asked.

“Dark hair. Broad shoulders. Grey eyes. Dad…his eyes…they were so cold,” I said, and his fingers tightened around my phone. I sat back down on the edge of the bed. “Dad, I know what you are thinking,”

“No, you don’t,”

“You think someone got close to me,”

“Yes,” he admitted without hesitation. Something I admired about my father was that he never lied to me. Never.

“Because of what I am?” his expression changed, and I sighed softly.

“Dolly,”

“It’s fine. We can say it. I’m not normal. I’m the demon girl Skaydal decided to keep,”

“No,”

“Dad—”

“No,” he repeated, sharper this time. “You don’t get to talk about yourself like that in front of me,” I turned away. My eyes burned, and I hated it.

“I am a demon,”

“You are my daughter,”

“That doesn’t erase the demon part,”

“I never wanted it to,” he snapped. I looked at him then, and he shook his head. My father had been through a lot in his life. He had told Elias and me plenty of stories, and right now, I could see something in him. Something that had survived monsters, prisons, curses, demons, and time itself. “You being adopted means nothing,” he said. “Do you hear me? Nothing. Not to me. Not to your mother. Not to Elias. You are not a child we pitied. You are not a creature we took in because Skaydal needed to prove something. You are family,” a tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it. My father reached for my hand, slow enough that I could pull away.

I didn’t.

His fingers closed around mine.

“You were family the first time I held you,” he continued. “You were family when you cried through the night. You were family when you bit me because I wouldn’t let you eat dirt from Amani’s flowerpots,” despite everything, I choked out a laugh.

“You promised never to mention that,”

“I lied,”

“That’s bad parenting,”

“I have survived worse accusations,” I nodded because I knew how true that was. He squeezed my hand affectionately. “You are not just a demon, Dolly. You are not just some supernatural being with darkness in your blood. You are Dolly Black. You are stubborn. Dramatic when you are tired. Terrible at hiding when you are upset. Loyal to a painful degree. Protective even when you are scared,” more tears filled my eyes. “And you are mine,” he said. “Mine and your mother’s. Our daughter. Elias’s sister. Skaydal’s child, whether you feel that every day or not,” the sound of the door opening made both of us look over to see who it was. My mother, Amani, stepped inside. She still wore her festival dress with her hair hanging loosely around her shoulders. But it was the concern in her eyes that made me look away.

“I heard enough to know someone needs me,” she said.

“Someone always needs you,” my father remarked. My mother ignored him and came straight to me. She sat beside me on the bed and pulled me into her arms.

That was when I broke.

My parents held me as I cried. My mother stroked my hair while my father squeezed my hand.

“I don’t want to be the reason danger comes here,” I whispered. It wasn’t as if they didn’t know my biggest fear. My parents and Elias understood it very well. Because I was different. Because I was a demon. I always feared someone would come and cause danger in my beloved home and town.

“Dolly, danger came to Skaydal long before you were born,” my mother whispered, and I shot her a look.

“That’s not comforting,”

“It wasn’t meant to be. It’s the truth,” she said, and my father smiled. But his eyes remained sharp and filled with emotion. Emotion, I couldn’t quite read or understand. “You are not a curse, Dolly,” she continued. “You are not a mistake. And you are definitely not alone,”

“Who is he?” I asked softly.

“It doesn’t matter,” my father said as he let go of my hand and stood up straight. “You are protected, and he is no one of importance,”

“But we will find out,” my mother then reassured me. “No one comes into Skaydal without being vetted,”

“Right,” I whispered. I knew she was right. If he was a threat, Alpha Grayson will have him removed. That thought helped me to relax. When my parents left me alone once again, I picked up my phone and deleted the message. It didn’t matter.

Right?

✦✦✦