My fingers rippled over the the spines of books as I paced between the shelves. So many books, so many stories, so much history and none of it was mine. Right in this moment I wished more than anything that my life was recorded in a book so I could remember everything I had forgotten, everyone who hadn’t forgotten me,

Kacey’s cousin Delilah sat in a bean bag, completely engrossed in her book. Red streaks ran through Delilahs brunette hair, her dark eyes scanned the page. Delilah was cool, even though it was the middle of summer she still wore black and red stripped fingerless gloves, her finger nails painted black. Her eyes were outlined with black makeup and black eyeshadow. Black and red band t-shirt and black jeans with a studded belt, she definitely wasn’t hard to miss. Although her appearance said a lot, she wasn’t one for talking.

Wandering through the shelves while waiting for Kacey to drop off her books and pick up new ones, I stumbled across the spiritual section. Would they have books about supernatural creatures in here, like fairies? Or maybe I could learn more about Incubus and Succubus.

What were they?

I swore the answer was on the tip of my tongue. So much of this world seemed so familiar to me, but I just couldn’t remember. I remembered they could manipulate peoples feelings, but a specific emotion, it wasn’t anger or love, it was something similar.

“Hey, are you ready to go?” Kacey startled me with her sudden appearance.

“Uh, yea sure.” I tucked my hair behind my ear and we say goodbye to Delilah.

Outside in the summer heat Kacey groaned as she realised that Dinah wasn’t here yet.

“I texted her like ten minutes ago,” Kacey pouted.

“I’m sure she’ll be here soon.” The words come out as a question instead of a statement. The sun was already burning my skin, so I moved to stand in the shade and Kacey joined me.

“So you and Delilah are cousins?” I asked trying to make conversation.

“Not really. Her grandmother left her alcoholic husband to marry my grandfather after his first wife found out they were having an affair.”

“Oh.”

I picked the wrong conversation topic.

“Yea, his first wife found out while she was pregnant, Delilah’s grandmother was also pregnant at the same time with twins. My grandmother got sick while she was pregnant and passed away after my uncle was born. Grandfather married Delilah’s grandmother shortly after and they had four more kids together.”

Definitely picked the wrong conversation topic.

“Sounds like you have a big family.”

Kacey scoffs and shakes her head. “You don’t even know the half of it. I now have eight uncles and eight aunties, well, living ones.”

“It must be fun having so many relatives.”

“Yea,” Kacey mutters, “family events are a nightmare.”

I wonder what my family’s like.

“So how many siblings does you dad have?” I find myself leaning on my knees, curious to know more about Kacey’s family.

“My dad was one of eleven kids, two are siblings through marriage, and one passed away just after I was born.”

“I wonder if I have any siblings,” I think aloud.

“Hmm, I think you have an older brother, maybe two. But hey, until you find your family, I have plenty of family to share.” Kacey chuckled and bumped my shoulder.

I find myself chuckling and saying, “thanks, Kacey.”

“No problem, you can have Dinah if you want.”

I laughed as I said, “Kacey, she’s your sister.”

Kacey scoffed, “it doesn’t mean I have to like her. It just means I have to tolerate her until I move out.” We both laugh as Kacey continues, “you can’t pick your family, but you can pick your friends.” Kacey smiled as she stared at the road.

“Speaking of friends,” a low growl had us both spinning, “you wouldn’t happen to know where my friend got to.”

“Kacey, get back.” The words left my mouth before I even thought them. I held my arm out in front of her as we backed away. The red haired woman glared at us from atop the concrete steps. Blood ran down the corner of her mouth, her skin and clothes were smeared with dirt. It almost looked as if…

She’d been buried.

“She ran off looking for you last night, then some coward jumped me from behind.” The woman eyes swirled black and she bared her pointed teeth.

“I’m guessing she’s not a fairy?” I asked Kacey, whom promptly shook her head.

“I’m a demon, little girl, and I don’t take too fondly to being buried alive.”

“Yea, that would that suck,” I muttered as Kacey and I backed away from the woman as she descended the steps.

“Maybe I’ll bury your friend return.”

A car screeched to a halt behind us. I glance over my shoulder to see a glimpse of red.

Dinah, thank god.

When I turned back to the woman, she was gone.

“Where did she go?” I asked Kacey, but she was just as confused as I.

“Kacey!” Dinah screamed as she ran to her sister. “Who the hell was that freaky woman?”

“Is she one of the ones that was after you?” Claude’s voice startled me. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“Uh, it’s fine, she said something about being buried alive.” I muttered as I tucked my hair behind my ear.

“Well, that’s horrifying. Can we go home now?” Dinah grabbed Kacey by the hand and motioned for us to follow. We all followed Dinah into her car and she drove us back to the house.

At the house Elijah was waiting on the porch for us. I got out of the car and Elijah descended the steps.

“What happened?”

“She just showed up outside the library. If Dinah hadn’t of been late again, this wouldn’t of happened.” Kacey answered as she stalked inside.

“How is any of this my fault?” Dinah yelled back as she slammed the car door shut. “It’s clearly Terra’s fault, since she’s the one they’re after.”

Claude and Elijah wore matching scowls as Dinah looked to them for support.

“What? It’s true.” Dinah retorted as she locked her car and stalked into the house.

Elijah sighed and folded his arms gently over his chest. Claude tucked his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels.

“They’re not wrong,” I shrugged, “she said she was buried alive, would either of you know anything about that?”

Elijah and Claude looked at each other with a confused expression, they turneded back at me and shook their heads.

“She said she was going to bury one of my friends in return.” Wrapping my hands around my waist I began to feel uneasy. I was missing something.

“Well, everyone is just going to have to stay indoors tonight. We’re gonna shut all the windows, and get our hands on some salt.” Elijah gave us a stern nod and then turned to go when Kacey and Dinah rushed out of the house.

“Okay, okay! Everyone is here, what do you want?” Kacey’s voice broke as she yelled into her phone.

“Little girl, are you there?” The woman’s voice growled.

I froze.

“Terra?” Claude touched my arm and then nodded towards the phone.

“Uh, yea, I’m here.” My voice shook as I spoke. The woman cackled through the phone and with a much sterner tone I asked, “what do you want?”

“You, of course.” The woman replied.

“Well you’re not getting her.” Elijah glared at the phone in Kacey’s hand.

“Oh, I think you might change your mind. Who’s phone am I calling from, Kacey?”

Kacey tried to blink back the tears as she shifted on her feet and whimpered, “Lila, she’s calling from Delilah’s phone.”

Elijah exhaled sharply, his face twisted with rage as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Dinah held her sisters hand and patted her gently on the back. Claude however, stared at the phone expectantly, like there was supposed to be more.

“Bring the girl to me at the entrance to the pine plantation in an hour, and I will tell you where I buried your friend.”

“Wait!” Elijah snapped as the phone call ended.

Kacey let out a quiet sob as she dropped to her knees. Dinah hushed her, wrapping her arms around her sister, blinking back tears. Elijah dialled a phone number as he paced back and forth. When no one answered he tried another number. Again, no one answer. Elijah then tried a third number and someone answers.

“Hey Sadie, I need you to come to my house immediately, and can you bring that box under your dad’s desk for me? Thanks Sadie, I’ll see you soon.” Elijah hangs up the phone and then turned his attention to Kacey and Dinah. “Hey, come on now, it’s going to be okay. Delilah is going to be just fine, I promise. Let’s get inside, okay? Sadie is on her way over, once she gets here she’s going to need your support. So you’ve got to be strong for her, okay Kace, Dean?”

The girls nod and Dinah helps her sister up. The two of them go inside the house. Claude waited beside me as Elijah turned his attention back to us.

“It’s okay, Elijah. She might be a demon, but she won’t harm me.”

“We are not handing you over to a demon. Demon’s have loyalty to no one, there is no guarantee that she won’t hurt you,” Elijah replied sternly.

“Then why would someone send her to collect me?” I asked.

“They sent her with a fairy to help keep her in line. The demon was the muscle to stop anything from getting in the way.” Elijah sucked in a sharp breath and shook his head. “Without the fairy to keep the demon in check, she’ll probably just kill you out of spite.”

“You should stay here, Terra.” Claude motioned for me to go inside.

“If you show up and I’m not there, she won’t tell you where Delilah is buried, and last I checked humans don’t last very long at all without air.” I glared at Claude who just sighed in defeat.

“Here’s hoping she had the decency to bury her in a box with some air,” Elijah muttered.

“I don’t think she would have buried Delilah yet. She may be fast for a demon, but it’s the middle of the day, they’re slowed down by sun light. To get from the library to the pines and bury someone who’s presumably still conscious, that’s going to take more than ten minutes.” Claude folded his arms over his chest and stared at Elijah, like he was looking for approval.

“If we’re lucky.” Elijah turned away and walked into the house.

“How fast are you?” I turned to Claude.

“Not as fast as a demon is at night, especially so soon after the new moon.”

“But faster than a demon while the sun is out?” I asked hopefully.

Claude gave me a weak smile.