Elena stood next to me, her arm around my shoulders, as I said goodbye to the first boy I'd loved.

It was just us. His dad hadn't bothered showing up. Probably a good thing. I wasn't sure what I would have done to him. He might not be as to blame as I was for Lucas' death, but punishing him would sure be easier.

I felt drained. Elena tried to help, using whatever words she could think of to comfort me. But words were just words, meaningless in the long run.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked gently.

I looked at her, concern shining in her eyes. "I have to tell you something."

Looking back, I had no idea why I told her. Maybe I just needed someone to know, to accept me like Lucas had accepted me.

She smiled at me. It was the last time she would. "What is it, Lexi?"

I poured it all out. About me, about Damian and Lucas. Everything, ignoring the growing horror on her face, because letting it out was more important than her reaction.

I really should have been paying more attention to her reaction.

She backed away from me.

"Get away," she yelled, panic in her voice.

I reached for her, but she swatted my hand away and continued to back up.

I looked around, worried we would attract attention. No one else was around.

"Lanie, listen. I'm still me. I'm--"

Her eyes searched around us, looking for someone, anyone, to protect her.

To protect her from me.

Her body trembled, fear consuming her. How could she be afraid of me?

"I'm not going to hurt you. Please, listen for a moment."

She shook her head vigorously. "This isn't funny, Lexi. Take it back. Please."

Her voice was softer, almost desperate.

How I would have loved to take it back, but the cat was out of the bag so to speak, and I'd irreparably changed things between us.

But it didn't mean I couldn't fix the damage of the truth.

"I'm not joking, Lanie. I know this is a shock, and I know the stories your father has told you, but--"

Her fear snapped to anger. "Stories? Like fiction from books? Demons are evil, Lexi. Evil and mean and destructive. That is the truth."

"You think I'm evil? Mean? Destructive? When have I ever been any of those things?"

She crossed herself. I was pretty sure she'd never even stepped foot in a Catholic church.

"They hid behind beautiful faces and pretty words. They lure and trap. When they have you, you can no longer escape. And you don't even want to."

Her words sounded rehearsed like someone had beaten them into her. She wasn't speaking to me. She wasn't even looking at me.

It seemed she warred between what she'd been told was true with the reality of her experience with me.

I prayed to whatever god or goddess, old or new, that I'd win.

I didn't know what I would do if she turned from me.

"Lanie, I'm not going to hurt you. You're not trapped. If you want to walk away, I'll let you." I took a step forward.

She froze, but her gaze lifted, and her eyes locked with mine.

What I saw in them was foreign. At that moment, I thought there was nothing worse I could see in them.

I was so terribly wrong.

"You're my best friend, and I love you. And I'm only part demon. A smidge." I forced a smile. "It barely even counts."

Her nostrils flared. "Part or whole, it doesn't matter. You can't change what you are."

Something in my mind snapped. Not me. A stranger, an invader, a permanent consequence of taking a life.

It agreed with her all the while wanting to make my hand extend and wrap around her throat. She feared the demon? She should fear me.

I shook my head, trying to clear the thoughts that weren't mine, couldn't be mine.

I struggled with figuring out what I could say to change her mind. The look on her face told me the war was over, and I'd lost.

"I understand," I mumbled. Aggression and anger would only make things worse. "I'd feel like you if our positions were reversed."

It was a lie. There was nothing Elena could tell me that would change how I viewed her.

"You need time to reconcile who you know me as and what you believe my kind is. I can give you that time. Just please, think about it. Don't throw our friendship away because of prejudice and unearned hate."

"Unearned? The more I stand here and think about it, the more clear everything becomes. I was so stupid to trust you."

My mouth dropped open. I had no idea what was going on in her head. Was she creating false memories to try to justify her fear? Changing how things had happened in the past to reconcile the dueling beliefs not in my favor?

Was she so committed to the lies of her father she wouldn't even try to see through them? See me?

"Lanie, I've never--"

"Never what? Hurt me? Betrayed me? Went behind my back and sabotaged my relationships?" She snorted. "Though I should thank you for Lucas. The thought of one of those touching me is almost as vile as being near you."

What the fuck was happening? This wasn't Lanie. This wasn't the girl I'd known for years.

While she'd never hidden her distaste for those like me, I'd assumed it was from ignorance and inexperience.

Was it so great it would overshadow everything else?

I needed to leave, to get away from her. I remained rooted in my spot, searching her face for some break in her resolve to hate me.

There were no cracks.

She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She hit a few buttons and held it to her ear.

I snatched it from her hands, hitting end before it could go through.

"What are you doing?" I asked, now the one afraid.

"My father should know one of you is preying on humans, pretending to be someone they can trust, someone who will help them against the evils of the world, unaware of the true evil--"

Her words stole the air from my lungs. The thing in my cackled, enjoying my turmoil and the conflict between my best friend—former now—and I. Even under the amusement, I could feel its simmering rage.

I stroked the fire. I wasn't strong enough to do this myself.

A surge of white-hot hatred came up my body. I dropped her phone onto the ground and smashed the heel of my boot against it over and over until it splintered into pieces.

"You can threaten me," I said in a low voice. "But don't you ever threaten my brother."

Quicker than she could react, I reached out and grabbed her shoulders. I'd made a terrible mistake. Now Damian and Wes were in danger because I stupidly opened my mouth.

She struggled, but I increased my grip.

The image of the broken cell phone popped into my head, only it wouldn't be cheap plastic trampled into the ground.

The sight of it sickened me and gave me the strength to push down the murderous beast.

I'd do almost anything to protect my brother and keep him from harm. Gleefully slaughtering my best friend, someone I still loved regardless of her feelings, wasn't one of them.

Lucky for us both, there was another option.

"Elena," I said, infusing my voice with power, "look at me."

She obeyed, the fear in her eyes tangible.

Compulsion was a tricky bastard. I found it distasteful at best, borderline evil at worst. Forcing your will on another, wiping their agency, making them your puppet—it was all something I refused to do.

Until then.

I didn't use words. There was no need. Blackness engulfed her eyes as I tried my best to scrub the last few minutes from her memory. Wes had explained the theory before and said it wasn't something I needed to practice to be able to do. Trust your instinct, he had said. It knows what to do.

I let go of her mind, freeing it of my control. My head pounded, and I felt even more drained.

I would never do that again.

I watched her eyes begin to return to normal, her terror completely gone.

She blinked a few times, returning to herself.

She looked at me with confusion in her brown eyes. "Who are you?"

Something had gone wrong. I waited for her memory to straighten itself out.

She looked around the cemetery like she couldn't remember how she got there. Maybe she couldn't.

Her eyes returned to mine, and for a moment, I thought everything had gone back to normal.

"Who am I?"