On The Edge--Chapter 1 memory loss and chapter 2 Call Of Duty

8/14/2019 On The Edge--Chapter 1 memory loss and chapter 2 Call Of Duty

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On The Edge The debut novel by

J E Grayson

“What is your own life worth? Is it worth the end of others? And will it always be that way?” J E Grayson



I was stuck in between two feelings, scared and repulsed. Shocking ripples of disgust moved through me, so strong that I felt like I would throw up but mywhole body was paralyzed with fear. I couldn’t move. I knew that I should runbut I couldn’t look away from the scene beneath me. Couldn’t look away fromthe blood spreading on the floor – I was vaguely aware that somewhere in theback of my mind I was wondering how a person could hold that much blood -couldn’t look away from the mount of lifeless bodies that seemed to grow as Iwatched. At that moment one of the creatures that were attacking looked up. Icouldn’t see his face thanks to the light but he could see me clearly. Acting oninstinct I ran back through the broken doors and into the narrow, twistingcorridors.I was deluding myself that the creature would not follow when - just in time torip up any shreds of hope I'd had - a cool rush of air swept over my head andit landed in front of me snarling wordlessly. I was surprised to see that where Ihad imagined a monsters face I saw a human face. I looked closer ignoringthe instincts that told me to run as I knew I would die so I might as well get agood look, might as well know as much as possible about how I was going togo.The face was human. But only because I really couldn't think of a better description or anything else that it looked closer to; the mouth was more likethe muzzle of a beast than the lips of a man and the eyes were wild with

desire to kill. It lunged forward with its mouth open ready to kill me and I didthe only thing that came naturally, I fought back. It was almost impossible totackle this animalistic strength bearing down on me. Almost. I was going to dieright there and then so I decided to do anything that might work. I kicked justone well aimed blow thanking my lucky stars that it had been a man who hadfollowed me. It doubled back glaring at me. "Clever" it wheezed, a roughscraping sound that sent shivers down my back. “but I have an assassin whowill make you pay for that" I turned and ran not wanting to be confronted byanother one of those creatures. I was running so fast that I barely heard theone order that it barked out to his assassin “Oscar! I don’t care what you do to

her but just make sure it hurts!”I burst out of the doors into a narrow alley way behind the warehouse prayingthat this new monster was not all ready there. But he was. I stopped abruptlyand waited for the death that now looked up at me from his dark eyes he didn'tdo as I had expected, as I had seen the others do before him, which was toinflict a bodily wound and let me die. He just stood there looking like he wasmaking a difficult decision. That annoyed me. It shouldn't. But it did. If I wasgoing to die for no good reason then I might as well die quickly. Or was I notworth that? Did I not deserve a quick and relatively painless death? Had Ibeen such a bad person that this this boy was going to drag it out? I wasalmost insulted that I wasn't worth the time of the horrid creatures to come and



get me themselves and they would send a young human to come and do it.Put it like that and I shouldn't have been scared; an un-armed teen was hardlyan uneven fight against me. But I was terrified of this boy. He was tall and buff but I wouldn't have put him at much older than me. 15, 16 maybe. I hadpunched the odd 15 year old who had tried it on with me, after I'd made itclear that I was 2 years their junior, but I didn't think I had it in me to punch thisone. I realised that I wasn't afraid but something else wouldn't let me evencontemplate hurting him. Not fear. Far from it, oddly it felt closer to love.That there made me think that I was insane. A normal person would havereached that conclusion at the mass murder or the incredible speed. Myimagination was doing over-time. Was this a dream? A hallucination? It felt soreal. But this next part I couldn't have dreamed up.He approached me and hesitantly put his arms around me."I’m sorry," hewhispered in my ear.We stood there for a minute and my brain couldn't even produce a coherentthought with his arms around me."I should kill you, but I don't think I could" hesaid quietly.I didn't know how to respond. In the end I settled for a sobbed "I don'tunderstand,""You probably don't want to," he said. "You were just in the wrong place at thewrong time.""And that’s a killable offense?"I wondered"At this place, at this time it is, yes" He replied.He pulled my face up to look at his."I'm so sorry," He repeated and those

words rang in my ears as I knew they were the last that I would hear. I wasstrangely happy. I wondered why that was as I slipped away from life.

******

I almost felt sad as the familiar dream I had had almost every night since I was13 faded. The dream so real that it was almost a memory. I sighed and got outof bed to get ready for school.

I looked in the mirror and gasped as, just for moment, my face was blocked bysomeone else’s. No, not someone else’s. But mine as it was when I was 13;Short hair that seemed constantly messed up and that still slightly plump lookthat hadn't yet receded from childhood.I gawped at my face, now 15, for a while but then decided that it was stupid.Had I not just been dreaming that I was that age? It was just a left-over imagefrom my dream. I peeped at my face just to make sure it was still 15 and washalf-relived half-annoyed that it was just that long-haired adult-faced self peeping back through her hair.I got dressed and put the face in the back of my mind where it stayed with thedream. The dream so real it was almost a memory. A memory.



Chapter 1 Memory loss

I walked into school that day with all thoughts about dreams and faces lockedaway in the back of my mind. I chatted to my friends as usual before lessons

and trailed off to cooking and textiles for first lesson."J could you do me a favour and go down to reception and pick up someleaflets for me?" Asked Ms. Dennis my teacher.God, why do teachers always pick on me ? Do I have a big flashing sign abovemy head that says "responsible person who can actually be arsed to go to thereception"?"Of course miss," I said getting up reluctantly; I had had a very bad night lastnight and really wanted to just sit and doze whilst she taught a method of cooking that I could do at the age of 9.I walked out of the building not really paying much attention. There was a new

art teacher coming in today whilst Miss. Hanning was on maternity leave, newteachers were always a fun target and you could generally spend the first fewlessons just watching the poor thing being unfairly bombarded. Still it wasmore interesting than actually doing art.I picked up the leaflets that she had described and decided, as I was hereanyway, to change my cooking and textiles lesson for something less... simple .I started to change my time table when the headmaster came in."Just wait here a moment while I find someone to show you around," He wassaying to someone. Ahh a new student. Lots of fun today then."Good morning Mr. Green," I said not really wanting a conversation butmanners cost you nothing."Ah, good morning J. Not feeling like cooking anymore?"Not wanting to slag off my class I decided to give him some guff that he wouldlap up."Yes sir. It’s just that I didn't feel I was reaching my full potential in C&T""Ah, well fair enough. Any Ideas as to what you want to do?""Just deciding now sir"I turned back to the receptionist and got really annoyed when Mr. Green hadn'tfinished."Actually J I'm rather glad you’re here," Fantastic another favour for a teacher."We have a new student here today and I was wondering if you could showhim around?"Well I'd walked into that one. Oh well one student tagging along won't be thatannoying."Of course not sir. Um hang on a second," I turned to the receptionist” could Ido economics please?""Yes there's a slot open on Wednesday afternoon," she said. Perfect, that had to be more interesting. “You can start next week,"The student who had become my ward was standing up next to Mr. Green."Hello," He said "My name is Oscar Duel,"Shit

He was taller now. More like a man then a teenager. But he was exactly thesame in every other aspect. I stopped breathing for a moment and had to



remind myself to start again. My heart started beating so loudly that it was adrum booming in my ears.

Don’t panic I thought to myself. It’s a coincidence.

Yeah right. Just a coincidence that he looked the same? That his voice wasthe same voice that had spoken to me from my dreams for almost two years?I realised that it had been about a second since I should have said something.

“Nice to meet you,” I said. Thank God I can act! “Are you new to the area?”

“Relatively,” He replied. “We’ve had a house here for a few years but we justmoved last week.”

Oh God that voice. No matter how many times I heard it in my sleep it hadalways shocked me. So pleasant and gentle, yet it hinted at something elseunderneath. Darkness. Secrets.

Not the same voice. I thought desperately to myself. Stop thinking of it as theguy in your dreams voice.

“Oscar’s mother is the new art teacher here.” Mr. Green informed me.

“Ah,” was all I could manage. My capacity for keeping a composed outsidewas running out.

“I’ll excuse you from lessons this morning so that you can show him around.”

“Thank you sir,” My voice was growing smaller; I couldn’t take this muchlonger, I needed some sort of reassurance that I wasn’t insane.

I worked up all the strength that I had to act normal as I smiled at Oscar andgestured for him to follow me, after all I had this stinking reputation to uphold.

Once we were outside breathing the cold, winter air seemed to help calm meand my imagination down. Yes, that was it, my imagination. Out here I couldsee that. Out here was a fast-track route to normality. How normal it was toshow the new kid around. I must have been grinning at my reasoning because

Oscar asked me if something was funny. I ignored him and started my tour.“So you’ve seen the reception and the outside of the school, let’s start with theP.E department. You into sports?”

That would be safe. All boys in my year loved sports.

“Yeah I guess, you?”

“I HATE sports, I’m much more of an academic.”

“Thank God, me too,”

Despite my worries I looked at him curiously.



“I always say that I like sports so that people won’t think I’m weird,” He endedwith a laugh so lovely it had me laughing too.

“Well don’t think your normal just ‘cause you’re like me.” I joked.

“Ah screw being normal,” He said. “Different is so much more… interesting,”

“You’ll fit right in with my friends then,” I said. “We’re the biggest bunch misfitsin Wales,”

“You don’t get much weirder than me,” His smile vanished suddenly. “Trustme,”

Ok, I doubted there was anything I could say to that so I drew the attention tothe tennis courts.

The tour around the school passed with a few small conversations, favouritesubjects and such, laughing at the things we had in common. I was just aboutto take him back to get his time-table from reception when I slipped on the iceand Oscar reached down to catch me and when his arms caught me Iremembered what my dreams had been trying to tell me for years. Thebodies, the creatures they were all real. And I was still in the hands of one of them. I started to scream.

He clasped his hand around my mouth I bit down hard. Hard enough to drawblood. But he didn’t let go; his face screwed up in a pained grimace. I realised

that biting was doing no good so I stopped.“Look, I realise what you must think but please don’t scream, it’ll only attractunwanted attention,”

He still had his arm locked around my waist but I didn’t struggle, despiteeverything I had just realised I had to admit that it felt kind of nice.

“If I take my hand away will you scream again?” He asked looking unsure. Ishook my head furiously.

“Good,” He took his hand away as promised and helped me to my feet.

“What’s going on?” I demanded. “Why were you there in that warehouse?What were they? ” I worked hard to keep my voice from shattering the windowpanes.

“Look, do you mind if we do this somewhere less public? My mother wouldprobably let us use a free art room.

All I could do was nod. He looked at me as if to question my stability; After all Ihad just agreed to walk into an empty room with a murderer. We walked insilence across the courtyard. My head felt light. I hardly heard Oscars rushedexplanation to the women I took to be his mother. She was shorter than me



and him but she had an aura that said “I’m powerful but I won’t order youaround as long as you do as I say”. She nodded looking distracted.

Oscar led me into one of the high-ceilinged, dark rooms and closed the door

behind him.“We can have about an hour here,” He mumbled, not meeting my eyes.

I couldn’t speak, and anyway what would I say? I just moved my arms outfrom my sides and let them drop. I found my voice then so I added “What thehell?”

Oscar half smiled and said “What the hell indeed,”

I wasn’t sure if I could speak again but he saved me from trying.”Why don’tyou tell me what you think?”

“Umm… you were there that night,”

He nodded and said “yes”

“You’ve killed people?”

“Yes,”

“You are one of them,”

He shook his head. “No, they’re what we call hunters. They kill excessamounts of people searching for the best taste.”

“Taste!?”

“For want of a better word. You see we, my kind, have a short life span,”

I interrupted him “Your kind ?”

“I’m not going to lie to you, I’m not human.”

“O.K. I’m waiting for the ‘December fools’.”

“No jokes. I mean, you saw in the warehouse. That man with the muzzle? Didhe look human?”

“I guess not. Why are you telling me this? And what are you anyway?” I asked.

“Ah… Do you mind if I answer your second question first? The other one’skind of a sensistive subject.”

“Sure, heaven forbid that I should feel awkward .” I said pleased that I could joke when on the inside I didn’t even know what feel. I was a cocktail of emotions; all scared and excited and anxous and… EVERYTHING. He smiledand I almost forgot all of those emotions for a heartbeat.



“We have a short life span and the only way to prolong it is to suck the energyof a human life out and use it as our own.We don’t really have a name onacount of never revealing ourselves to the human population. A few hundredyears back we were known largely as ‘Demons’. But that was before thesystem.”

“What system?” As he spoke we had sat down on desks facing opposite eachother our legs only an inch apart.

“This is coming on to your first question now. Every one hundred years a newgeneration of Demons emerge from the human ranks. A select number of powerful young teens turning Demon over the space of 15 years. The systemstops these young ones from destroying themselves by electing a family to goand teach them the dos and don’ts of Demon secrecy.”

“So your family is looking after this generation. A generation coming of agehere. And you’re telling me this because…” I gulped. “Because I’m one of you?”

“Yes, you see there’s always one new Demon who’s more powerful than therest. The leader. My mother can see the leaders of all groups in the world.Their face, names and such. So imagine my surprise when she typed thename of the leader of the next generation into Google and your face cameup.”

I was on the verge of hyper ventilating. My sense of sanity was slipping awayagain. My fingers clawed at something, anything that was real. That had beenreal until my world had been tipped like a bucket and emptied replacing theplain waters of everyday life with the inky, poisonous mercury of the Demonworld. The Demon world where nothing was certain and the only promise wasuncertainty. Oscar was still talking but I couldn’t here him. Words were spillingaround in the new murky depths of my brain. “Demon” “Energy” “Leader”“Powerful”.

“Oscar.” I interrupted him. “Could you shut up a minute?”

“Sorry.” He said and did as I said.

A whole generation of life-sucking Demons. How many of my friends? Katie,Niamh, Athena, Sofia, How many? I was trying to cope with the swirlingmercury but it wouldn’t be to long until I started to drown. I was meant to be aleader. What did that mean? Would I have to explain to my friends what wewere? They would just laugh at me. What about my parents? What didsucking the energy out of a human mean? That last one I was sure I knew,after all I had seen it. I now understood that what Oscar had called “Hunters”had not just killed those people. They had sucked the life out of them. Thesouls. I was cut from that cloth. I was a monster. I could see no good in this.

Not one shred of light could penetrate the thick poison that now surroundedme. I was drowning now. I broke down into tears and pulled my knees up to



my chest. I wanted to die. I didn’t want this. I wanted to crawl away into hellwhere surely I belonged.

Oscar guessed what I was thinking. “But don’t you see? This is a good thing.”

His voice sounded almost desperate. “When your Demon there are athousand more colours. A million more experiences. A googolplex of emotionsso strong that a human would collapse. I mean tell me that this ,” he grabbedmy face between his hands. “Isn’t amazing.”

He didn’t need to explain. I felt it. Suddenly I was happier then I had ever beenbefore. I was a thousand miles higher than anyone had ever travelled. Thiswas better than any drug that I had tried. Better than any Friday night car chase with a dodgy boyfriend. I was on a new high; it was fast and constant. Itwas real . And then I wasn’t drowning. Oscar had pulled me out of the mercuryand into the air. Air had never tasted better ever before. I realised that where Ihad seen no light there now was a blazing fire, so bright that it would blind mebut Oscar wouldn’t let the flames burn me.

Chapter 2 Call of duty

In the end we spent hours in the Art department, swapping rooms according tolessons and chatting endlessly. Our talk fluctuated between normal, Likes andhobbies, and abnormal, what I had to do as leader and weather I could stilllive with my mother. The first answer was this:-

As leader of my generation I would normally have to find the rest by tracingthe damage left behind them but thanks to Oscar’s mother we could find thembefore they cause too much harm. In fact in theory we can find them beforethey even change. Taking the excess of the damage down to a minimal or even annihilating it all together. Because traditionally I would need to surviveto save the others I wouldn’t change until later on when, in the past, I wouldhave had a small army of young Demons to protect me. In short I would beabout 19 before I stopped aging and needed to consume the lives of humans.Oscar’s parents were both Demon so he would age until 20 along with his

sister Sophie who was at present 13. The differences between a “GenerationDemon” and a “Born Demon” were small and few; The Born Demon’s brainwould develop extremely quickly reaching that of an adults by about 5monthswhereas Generation Demons would develop faster than humans but don’treach adult stage until about 7. Born would grasp hold of their powers quickly,Generation normally took longer (excluding the leader). Generation’s powerswould be stronger than the average Born but the Duel family were allextremely powerful, possibly the strongest in the western world.

They were powerful for these main reasons:-

Henry (Oscar’s father) was leader of his Generation but had broken off fromthem when he met Alisha (Oscar’s mother) leaving his Generation under the



watchful eye of Adrian (Oscar’s “Uncle”). Henry’s power is to know whendanger was coming, where it was and who was behind it. Alisha was the onlyknown child of two Hunters. Hunters searched the earth for the best life“tastes” killing Demons and humans, consuming animals to affect therehunting senses and appearance. They never cultivated friendships let alonerelationships, making Alisha one of a kind. Her animal instincts were magnifiedand she could see almost every Demon in the world. Talented parents madefor talented children. Sophie (Oscar’s sister) could see things through people’sperspective which sounded kind of lame but Oscar assured me that seeingthings from people’s perspective often meant seeing things that she wasn’tmeant to see; if another family planned an attack on the Duels and one of them didn’t want to, Sophie would see it. Oscar himself was sought after throughout the Demon world and had often been captured and made to usehis powers for the captors purposes (Hence the warehouse). He could sendyou to sleep with just one look, extending that to the point where he put you inand take you out of a coma or paralyses at will. He could even kill with it.

Oscar’s stay with the hunters and his heritage from his grandparents meantthat he could pretty much tell what your power was by just sense. He told methat I could change my environment and the immediate atmosphere by mymoods and feelings. If I got stressed things could smash. Things or people. Iwas going to have to master control fast.

As for my mother, well whatever I was expecting I couldn’t stop a few tearsfrom rolling down my cheeks. My mother would probably be the first person Ikilled. If I was in the house when I changed, she would die. If I was in townwhen I changed, that would only buy her a few minutes maximum. Theparents of Generation Demons were part Demon so they would have a tastebetter than any humans. I would kill her and probably not think twice about it. Ihad been right, I was a monster.

The fact that Oscar was there to dull the pain was helpful for now, but I knewthat soon as I was alone I would collapse. I tried not to let it show through. Ihad only known Oscar a few short hours but the connection I felt with him waslike nothing I had ever experienced; while we talked he had only to smile and I

would forget that I had any problems let alone a Generation of them to add tomy own. With Oscar it was hard to believe that anyone was human, how coulda human look upon a face so perfect? Even now I could see imperfections inhis face, a small scar in between his lips and nose but I could not convincemyself that even that was not how his face should be. How everyone’s facesshould be. What had happened to make me think that? I knew friends of myparents who married their high school sweet-hearts and said that it was “loveat first sight” but I knew what that meant, he knocked her up and her father made them get married. Could I have been wrong? I had always had a cold-hearted approach to the stereotype “love”. Oh I’d had boyfriends in the pastbut I’d never felt this way about anyone. This was not how my world workedwhen it came to love. It went like this: He asks me out, I agree, he takes me



out to a cinema/restaurant, I finally feel like this might just make me happy, hedestroys my trust somehow, I move on almost instantaneously and ring Vicky,Vicky calls some hot bloke in college to give me a ride to school the next dayand all the man I was “in love with” never gets a second glance from me. I hadalways just accepted that love was extinct if it ever existed. I didn’t just havethat approach to love, I was famous for it. People joked that I pretty muchruled this town with and iron heart. How had this changed? How had I becomeworse than some love struck Juliet? This person that invaded my brain everytime I saw him wasn’t me but I liked her. She was…happy. How had I notrealised that I wasn’t happy? I had known Oscar for hours so why did it feellike we had known each other before? Like we had loved each other before? Iwas confused but definitely happy; I realised that this wasn’t a new person butme; how I should be I just needed Oscar here to keep me this way. I knewnow that this man was my life here in front of me, a troubled past with a new,unimaginable future. The final bell went and Oscar smiled.“I’m sorry to have kept you for so long. I’m sure the headmaster won’tappreciate me keeping you from lessons,” He said ending my revelation.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell him someone locked us in a classroom for hours. He shotme a quizzical look.”Trust me in this school that story is quite believable.Students pick on new kids a lot.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

“No problem, just don’t go ANYWHERE alone for about a week.” I warnedhim.

“I’m sure you’ll look after me.” He said jokingly, as if he needed protection.

Oscar stood up and offered me his hand so that he could help me up. I took itand let him pull me up; he kept my hand in his and pulled it up to his face tokiss it gently with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Are you expected back home or do we have a while? It’s just there’ssomething I need to show you.” He asked me and my heart jumped at anyopportunity to spend more time with him.

“I was going to go over my friend Katie’s house to sleep tonight but shecancelled on me this morning so as far as my mothers concerned I have allnight without trouble.” I told him annoyed that the speed of sound was so slowthat I couldn’t say them faster.

“All night? Well that’s good.” He said and my heart almost stopped.“Unfortunately this is stuff concerning your Generation but that won’t take all night.”

I smiled at him and his answering smile made a bubble of new emotions riseup from me. I heard something smash in the corner and turned to see a vaseof flowers that had suddenly grown to big for its container turning the vase into



shards on the floor. Oscar burst out laughing doubling over and I blushed adeep crimson.

“Did I do that?” I asked shocked.

“Yes, you must have been happy about something.” Oscar said betweenlaughing. I scowled as he straightened up. “Oh come on! You have to admitthat that was funny!”

I tried very hard to keep the scowl on my face but with Oscar grinning at me Icouldn’t. “Come on.” I said bowing my head so that he couldn’t see theludicrous smile on my face. “We really need to go back to reception beforethey send out a search party.”

We walked in an easier silence than before – after all I didn’t think that there

was a high chance of my death this time – he held the door open for me and Ithanked him. Mr Green was in his office when I found him.

“Ah, J that took longer than I would have expected,” He said looking downalmost nervously. I almost groaned; one other thing teachers always did to mewas look down. Or at my breasts. Sometimes it was hard to tell which wasmore annoying. Suddenly I realised something; what if that was an effect of my power? Some teachers had commented about my “aura of menace/arrogance” but I had put it down to annoyance or perceptiveness, Iwas very arrogant, but now I thought that it could just be the atmospherearound me changing slightly. I dismissed the thought for now andconcentrated on telling a believable story.

“We got locked in an ICT suite when I took Oscar to sort out a school webmailaddress; we just got let out by some year seven kids that I don’t know.” Thatwas good; I didn’t need an alibi thanks to the schools bad reputation.

“Oh dear, well I’m sure you don’t need to go to every lesson. I mean, fromwhat your teachers tell me you seem to know everything in the curriculum.” Hesaid no doubt trying to flatter me into another favour.

“I’m sure it’s down to the brilliant teaching standards in this school sir,” Thatwas a blatant lie; the school did have some great teachers but the amount of disruptions in class meant that we covered about a terms work every year ineach subject.

“Right well if you could continue to show Oscar the ropes through out theweek that would be good,”

“Yes sir,” I was trying to get a feel of my power, it would be so useful to not dowhatever mundane thing that Mr Green could think of. Unfortunately I wasunsuccessful.

“Um before you go J, I have a small favour?”



“Anything sir,” I said sighing internally. It would be so much easier to just be asrebellious as everyone else in the school and never get asked anything, butno I was the mature one. I always had been. When my mother and father fought it was me who sorted it out. Even when I was little. I didn’t to thinkabout my childhood much because memories that I had worked so hard topush out of my mind always came swirling back, snatching at me with talonssharper than reality, I felt a memory slip through my well worn defences. I wasso tired after everything that had happened today and I didn’t have the energyto stop it so I just let myself sink into the sharp claws.

My father was drunk, screaming words at my mother that I didn’t understand. I was sitting in the corner, trying not to cry; if I cried then he would turn on me. I was only three but when daddy was drunk that didn’t matter to him, he would hit me if I cried about him hurting mummy so these days I stayed silent. I only

spoke when spoken to, the perfect child. I crawled up the stairs hoping that out of sight would be out of mind. I tried to make it up to my room but I accidently stepped on the floorboard that was broken, daddy had promised mummy that he would fix it months ago, it let out a low whine. Daddy stopped shouting downstairs and started to stagger unevenly up the stairs. Coming toget me, I thought solemnly, coming to hurt me. He was at the top of the stairsnow towering over me. He was the angry monster from everybody’snightmares, the creature that lurks around the corner waiting for you to be onyour own, defenceless to kill you. Mummy was downstairs, unconscious. I was alone, defenceless…

I snapped back into reality almost visibly jerking with the effort it took me tobring the memory to an end. Mr Green hadn’t noticed anything.

“You know the open evening tomorrow?” He said. It took me a moment toremember that he wanted something.

“Erm yes.” I was vaguely aware that my teachers had been trying to calmdown the worst miscreants with a new passion recently which could onlymean one thing; a chance to show the school in a good light and get somewell behaved students in for once.

“Well I’m sure that you are aware, and I’m speaking entirely off the record hereJ, that this school doesn’t exactly have the best err reputation in the area,” Hesaid apparently admiring his shoes.

“I am aware of that judgment sir.” I said treading carefully.

“Well I’d like to propose something that might interest you.”

Of course because you know all about me and interests, “What would thatbe?”

“I was rather hoping that you would piece about the good points of the school.”In one night that was going to be impossible.



“Um sir I’m busy tonight but I’m sure I could improvise something.” I wasalready planning out what I was going to say, I loved a challenge.

“That would be brilliant! Thank you J I knew I could count on you!”

Right yeah reliable, mature, over-experienced it was all the same.

“Off you go then,” he said trying to dismiss me flippantly but ruining it with anervous glance at me, hoping that he hadn’t gone too far.

“Thank you sir.”

I nearly ran out of the office; partly because I didn’t want to do anymorefavours for Mr Green but mostly because I wanted to reassure myself thatOscar was real and still waiting outside for me.

There he was, staring into space and looking thoughtful. I wanted to just standthere and stare at him for a while, but I would look like some random moronwho didn’t have a clue and in my book that was a crime; I hated peoplethinking that I was useless. My primary school had once tried to send me to acouncillor, it didn’t go well, I had committed myself to never think about...itagain and this stupid man had asked me all sorts of annoying questions. Hewas supposed to help me but it hadn’t helped at all, it had dragged up all sortsof memories, but the very worst part was when he’d said “I know you must feel so confused, like you don’t know what to do.” I’d screamed and shouted,throwing a full blown tantrum until my mother had came and taken me away,

muttering “I told them it was a bad idea.” I brought myself back to the presentbefore I could remember something that I had successfully kept locked upsince I was little.

“Where are we going?” I asked as we walked up the hill, away from school.

“You know, I’m actually surprised you came; it’s not as if you even really knowme.” He said.

He was right and I knew it but it didn’t matter much to me; part of me stillexpected to wake up and walk into school with the dream secured in the backof my mind like most things seemed to end up. In truth though, most of medidn’t expect any danger with Oscar around. I guess I, and I will never admitthis to anyone , felt kind of safe with him around, like I could trust this personthat I’d only known for a few short hours. I was too damn proud to tell anyonethat fact but that was how felt; like Oscar completed me. Urg, thought a voicein my head, get over yourself! Since when did J Grayson need someone elseto complete her? Do you want to be one of those stupid love-struck idiots whoend up feeling like they’ve lost everything when all they’ve lost is some boy?

“That doesn’t answer my question.” I said.

“You don’t like not getting your own way do you?” He said, flashing me a smilethat made my heart rate soar.



“I guess I’m used to people telling me everything I want.”

“Just telling? What about people giving you what you want?”

“That too, but I put knowledge above possessions so where are we going?”“Just up here, through the gulley.”

“Ah, is that where I find out that everything you’ve told me was a pack of liesdesigned to get me there alone?” I asked teasingly.

“Is that a hint of nervousness?”

“Hmm, call it anxiety”

Oscar laughed and muttered something about “Nerves being more

appropriate.” I was anxious though, I wanted to know where we were goingbut more than that I was worried about what I was expected to do. Was Isupposed to know what to say or how to act?

We walked through the narrow gulley joking a few times but as we got closer to our destination I grew increasingly worried. We came out in the more poshside of town, a few of my friends lived around here in huge houses withexpansive gardens. He led me to a modern-looking house that looked a bitlike a bungalow but it protruded over the edge of a small hill giving a section of the house an extra floor. Just after the house ended the hill became more likea cliff so I couldn’t see what lay beyond it. Oscar took my hand and I forgot allmy worries again.

“My parents aren’t here but I’ll warn you that my sister is home and she’sgoing to annoy the hell out of you.” He said trying to look serious but I couldsee the mischief in his eyes.

“Great, any day now I’m going to have to face severe dangers but, oh no, I’malso going to be annoyed by a 13 year old. Oh have pity on me!” I said over dramatically.

He pulled me through the front door and into the hallway. I looked around; itwas all whites and dark wood panels. The overall effect was a contrast to themodern exterior, it seemed like I had stepped into a manor or small palacedesigned in some far off century, but then, I thought, if Henry was leader of hisGeneration he’s at least 100 years old .

Oscar seemed to be thinking the same thoughts as me. “Yes, its ghastly isn’tit?”

“Hmm?” My thoughts were in another century.

“The decor, it’s so... old . My parents like it but I prefer more modern styles. Iguess that’s a hazard when your Father’s stuck in the 14 th century.”



“14 th?” I almost cried. That was even older than I’d imagined!

“Yeah, tell me about it,” He said, looking almost embarrassed. “At least I don’thave as bad as an old mate of mine, poor Taylor has to live with a Father who

remembers a time where the year had only three digits in it”“Oh harsh,” I said. But I knew neither of them had worse Fathers then me, Imust tell myself that. What was I thinking? I mustn’t even think about it.

“Come on let’s get meeting Sophie out of the way.”

“Oh no,” I mock groaned. “Not a 13 year old! Please.”

He pulled me forward, down the long corridor and through an ornate door. Theroom that stretched out in front of me could rival any banquette hall I’d ever seen. It wasn’t big but it made up for that in grandeur; the bulk of the roomwas taken up by an impressive, dark, oak table that was set with finesilverware and an ornate candle holder. On the wall there was a large portraitof Alisha, Oscar, Sophie and a man I took to be Henry, in the background Isaw images that I guessed were symbols for something or other.

A door on the other side of the room opened and Oscar’s sister glided in.

“You know Mum doesn’t let you skate indoors.” Oscar greeted her.

“Well then it’s a good thing that you’ll be there to stick up for me, Brother.”Shereplied with a cheeky smile.

Sophie was of average height and wore a long black and white polka-dot skirtwith a black belt and white top. She had quite a round face and very bubblyaura. She rolled over to where me and Oscar stood and looked me up anddown before smiling, showing incredibly sharp teeth that reminded meinstantly of the Hunters in the warehouse. At almost the same moment her blue eyes turned to a vivid green.

“Just ignore her, J; she’s trying to freak you out.” Oscar said, glaring at her.“She doesn’t speak English fluently so just use long or unusual words to pissher off.”

“I’m enchanted to make your acquaintance,” I said trying out the theory. To mysatisfaction her face clouded over. She muttered something in a language Ihad never heard before to Oscar who laughed and replied in the same tonguethen he turned back to me.

“Come on, I’ll show you the nicer part of the house.”

The “nicer” part of the house turned out to be Oscar’s own private living spacein the part of the house that was on the hill. This was more like what I

expected from the outside of the house; it was clean and modern with a



slightly minimalistic feel, the only things that weren’t white were either black or dark purple.

Oscar gestured me to sit on one of the white couches with purple cushions

and sat down on an easy chair opposite to me. “So I’m supposed to beteaching what to do and all that jazz but I think you might prefer to go homeand think about what all this means. It’s not like you have a choice but youmight need time to adjust.” I could see that he meant to be nice but suggestingthat I needed anything was a well known mistake.

“Look, I’m a bit of a mysterious girl but there are a few choice things thateveryone knows about me; I do everything on my own, I will help anyone whoneeds me, I don’t stop for anything and –most importantly- I do not needanything from anyone. I don’t need breaks, I don’t need help and I do not needtime to adjust.” I tried not to sound too angry but this was something thatnobody questioned, I did everything without help. Assistance, yes but no help .

He held up his hands in a peace making gesture but his eyes were sparklingwith mischief. “So you think you could be told everything right here, right nowand need no time or breaks?”

This was starting to seem like a challenge, I don’t think I’ve ever turned downa chance to test myself. “I’m confident in that fact.” I said, meeting his gazedirectly.

“We shall see.” Was all he said and then, without warning, he grabbed myhand and pulled me up a down a small, spiral staircase into a dark butimpressive room covered in shelves upon shelves of books. Oscar let go of my hand and stood in the middle of the room, throwing his arms into the air and yelling, “This is the biggest Demon library in the world and the only placeyou can find the complete history, religion, records and pretty much everythingabout everyone who ever lived.”

He walked down an aisle in the same excited manner, at the end of eachcorridor created by the books I could see paintings but I only saw glimpse aswe went past.

“Right then, first we’ll do the mechanics,” He had brought me to what lookedlike a reading corner of a library but with a twist of what I had already come torecognise as Oscar’s taste; minimalistic with a lot of white, black and purple.He pulled out a HUGE book entitled Humans, Demons and Hunters-a

physical comparison. “That will tell you all you need to know about thephysical aspect of us and for the society,” He pulled another big book anddumped it into my arms. He then continued talking at top speed and puttingyet more books into my hands. “The official Government of Demons andHunters basically controls how much we can reveal ourselves to humans andorganises calendar events such as Demon God festivals and things like that.It’s made up of powerful Demons like Lord Minus-he runs the Minus project



but we’ll cover that another time-and Generation leaders. Have you got all thator do you need some time?”

“No I got it,” I said. “Exposure, festivals, Minus and leaders.”

His eyes narrowed slightly and he said, “Ok, something you should knowabout me . If I explained something in detail it means I feel that it’s importantso please don’t shorten it.”

I recited all that he’d said almost word perfectly and watched with greatsatisfaction as his eyes widened with surprise. “Don’t be shocked,” I said “I’man actress.”

“Hmm. Right, well if you read that over the weekend I can give you more ondifferent topics. Or do you need more time than that?”

“I’m a fast reader,” was all I said.

“You’ll accept any challenge won’t you?”

“You’re learning,” This had turned into some kind of contest between us butneither of us knew what to do to win. Eventually Oscar broke the competitivesilence.

“Come on, I’ll give you a lift home.”

“You can drive?” I asked.

“Of course I can!” He said indigently. I raised my eyebrows at him. “Fine we’llwalk.” Oscar looked through the window and laughed. “As long as you likegetting wet.” He continued.

“Alright I’ll risk a trip in your car.” I said with a roll of my eyes. Damn this small,wet country! It’s a popular misconception that the fact that it rained a lot inWales is a stereotype but unfortunately it’s 100% true.

It turned out that Oscar was actually a very good, if slightly fast, driver and thecar journey passed with me directing it.

“I’ll see you in school.” He said as he pulled up outside my house. I suddenlyfelt really tired and just murmured “Night” as I got out.

When my mother asked me why I wasn’t with Katie I muttered somethingabout it being cancelled and she didn’t question me.

I went up to bed with my mind reeling. It was full of everything but mostly itwas just repeating one word.

Oscar. Oscar. Oscar. Oscar. Oscar. Oscar. Oscar. Oscar. Oscar. Oscar.



I felt like I knew him so well, I started drawing up a future in my head with himby my side. I was becoming obsessed with a boy that I had known only oneday but I didn’t care.

I spent hours thinking about him; I already missed him. But then, after fantasies and plans and other cringe worthy things a thought struck me.

What if he doesn’t feel the same way?

Chapter 3 Meet the misfits

“Get up.” A sharp light pierced my eyelids as my mum came in and pulledopen my bedroom curtains. I blinked back against the painful rays that camethrough the door on to my balcony. I groaned and put my arm in front of myeyes to shield them.

“I feel terrible,” I groaned.

“You look it. Aw honey, did you have bad dreams again?” She asked.

“I have bad dreams every night mum.” It was the truth, kind of.

“Do you want to go to school today?”

No, I didn’t but do I have a choice? I’d already signed up for that stupid open

evening thing. On the other hand I really didn’t want to see Oscar. “Yes mum.”Was all I said.

“Okay then. I’ve got to get to work now but I’ll see you later.” She kissed mycheek and left.

On my way to school my mind was, once more, filled with Oscar but contraryto last night my thoughts weren’t pleasant – If embarrassing – ones, howcould one stupid, teenage boy force me to make such a fool of myself? Howhad I acted last night? I seemed to remember behaving like some, idiotic love-drunk puppy.

My anger at Oscar built itself up like a brewing storm as I walked the mile anda half to my shabby, defaced school.

“J!” I was greeted and hugged by my friends.

Victoria, possibly the most flirtatious one in our group-Trust me, that was a bigachievement- came up to me with that look in her eye that I’d come to realisemeant one thing and one thing only; guys.

“Someone saw you walking out of school with a HOT new guy.” She accused

me, “Why didn’t you call me?”



Damn, if anything happened to anyone in this school, Vix would know about it.She runs the schools personal, offline Gossip Girl; if you wanted some infothen you’d better be in Vix’s favour.

“Because there was nothing going on.” I said coolly. Whenever I didn’t tell her something we had this kind of faux-stand off.

“Oh really?” She asked in the same cool manner. We were standing aboutthree feet away from each other with our arms folded and trying very hard notto laugh. “Well if you won’t tell me, I’ll find out soon enough.”

“Good luck finding something that doesn’t exist,” I said walking past her.

“Oh it’s on Deviné .”

The only people who ever got away with using my real name were my friends.Jasmine Deviné how I despised that name, the surname felt like a lead weightaround my shoulders; it was a constant reminder of what I came from. I camefrom a monster. Not that any of that mattered anymore, I was a Demon, Iguess that I would get used to not thinking of myself as human. Well maybeone day.

As the day progressed I became increasingly angry with Oscar; who did thisboy think he was? He just turned up and uprooted my whole life and made mefeel so…so idiotically loved up. I didn’t even know him.

By the time lunch came I worked myself up to a point where I could havewalked up to Oscar and confronted him with a huge “What is with you?”speech and, depending on his response, a previously choreographed slap.

As I walked over to my table at lunch with the kind of pace my friends had firstcome to fear and then tolerate, but before I could make my anger known tothe group my name was called by someone in the other end of the cafeteria. Itwas Oscar. Brilliant.

I turned and prepared to yell a stream of abuse regardless of who saw myoutburst but when I looked up at him smiling like he was pleased to see me, I

forgot everything I had been thinking and once again he filled my mind up,leaving little room for anything else. No room for rational thought or anythought so I just smiled at him.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. The ever present voice in my head screamed, destinedto be ignored as usual. You don’t have to talk to him; you don’t even want totalk to him.

Contrary to what my conscious was telling me I did talk to him. My mind and Idon’t get on very well.

“Hey,” I greeted him. “How was your first proper day so far?”



“Oh you know,” he said waving his hands in a general gesture. “Had tointroduce myself a million times, got asked repetitively if I was good at artbecause of my Mother, oh and I got pelted with water bombs.”

“Yep, that sounds like a typical first day here.” I said laughing. “What did youdo after they soaked you?”

“Oh they didn’t get me,” He said. “I caught the balloons and lobbed them backat them.”

Just then a group of drenched guys walked past. If the water wasn’t enoughindication to the fact that these were the would-be new guy tormenters, thedirty looks they shot at Oscar was. When the guys saw me standing next tohim they instantly changed to the look-at-me-I’m-a-guy-who-can-make-sex-

jokes state that was default for every guy from 10-20.

“You make me

Documents

On The Edge--Chapter 1 memory loss and chapter 2 Call Of Duty