The Devil's Masquerade: The Remedy (The Devil's Eyes) by Jennifer Loren

shaking her head. “I know. He didn’t recognize any of us,” I say to her before focusing back on Ryan who manages to stand while still trying to catch his breath and ease his pain. “Are you alright?” I ask him. He nods but is clearly weak and in need of some medical attention. With Kayla helping Ryan, I run to Catriona and check her bleeding head. “I think you might need some stitches, Short Stuff. Are you dizzy? Do you need me to help you up?” I ask her, only to receive a punch in the gut before she gets up. “Oh yeah, you’re clearly fine. I was only trying to help you.”
    “I don’t need your help, Eli,” She huffs back at me.
    “I don’t need your help, Eli,” I mock back.
    As we make our way back to our cars, we find Amery still stretched out and relaxing on the hood of his car. “How did it go?” He smiles.
    “Motherfucker!” I rage at him, but Catriona steps in front of me and Ryan grabs my arm, shaking his head. “You were supposed to be looking out for us. You know, warn us if someone like, oh say, Nick , showed up to kill us all. The least you could have done was do the one thing you agreed to do, which was watch out for Kayla! You Son of a Bitch!”
    “What are you getting so mad about? Everything turned out okay,” he says, jumping down and looking directly at Kayla. “It all turned out better than expected considering.” Amery smiles wide at Kayla as she looks up at him strangely. He leans down and whispers in her ear, instantly causing her to come out of her trance. When he steps away, he holds a large smile across his face as if he carries a secret that no one else is privy to, except Kayla. I wonder what he said to her when he takes in a deep breath. “I told you, and now we know for sure,” he says back to her, loud enough for us all to hear. He steps into his car and leaves with his usual cocky wave.
    “I hate him! I hate him! Oh how I fucking hate him!” I yell, kicking everything in sight.
    “Eli, let’s go. There is nothing more we can do right now. Besides, Ryan needs to see a doctor and so does Catriona,” Kayla says, patting my chest.
    “I’m fine,” Catriona says.
    “Of course you are, but I will get you a doctor anyway for my own peace of mind,” Kayla says, surprisingly calm. She slides into the car and waits for us to leave, but I know she is far from calm on the inside. I take her hand as we head back and so does Ryan; her grip tells us both she is putting up a good front for everyone else. I want to ask her what Amery said to her, but I respect her enough to give her time. I know she could fall apart any minute and is just counting every second until she can get home and hideaway in her room where she can privately release her pain.

Chapter 10
    Kayla
     
    While we wait for the others to go after Galena, I pace next to Amery and his car. “You want to go in there don’t you?” Amery asks.
    “I hate not knowing. It drives me crazy, I … yes, I like to have control. Something I haven’t had a lot of lately.”
    “I can understand that; I like control, too. However, I have learned that control comes at a price, and sometimes it is more glorious to be in the foggy cloud of ignorance than in the sunny clearing of knowledge,” Amery says as he sits playing with an odd brain teasing game. He works it and reworks it and does it again and again with little trouble of getting the silver ball around its teasing corners and rapid slides to get the puzzle to release the other imprisoned silver ball. I watch him until he looks up and hands it to me. He has done his best to put it back together, trying to make it more complicated for me. I love when people assume they can outsmart me. I may not be an expert at this game, but I paid attention to what he did and play it in reverse. I gleefully hand the game and the bright silver ball right back to him. For a second, he looks surprised, but like most men, he refuses to believe he was outsmarted. So, he quickly