by Laken Cane
Asa stood behind her, hulking over her, and Michael’s eyes went first to him. He knew what a threat Asa was.
Luke stood on her left, pressing against her, and though Michael didn’t know it, Luke was every bit as dangerous as Asa. More so, maybe, because Asa wouldn’t kill him. Maggie had asked him not to.
Luke, though…
“What makes you think he kills people?”
“Just a feeling.”
“Do you have a fucking death wish?” she asked Michael, though she’d planned on remaining calm and civil. For Maggie’s sake, she didn’t want to start a war with the asshole.
“Maggie’s my daughter,” he said. “I want you to ask her to let me explain.” He hesitated. “I made a mistake. I want back in her life, Krista.”
“I really don’t give a fuck what you want. You turned on her in the worst way. And I swear to you right now that if you don’t leave her alone, I will end your worthless life.”
His girlfriend—Amy—gasped and put a hand to her belly. She took a quick step back. “You threatened to kill him,” she said. “I’m a witness to that.”
Krista didn’t even glance at her. “Do you understand what I’m telling you, Michael?”
“Krista…” He held out a hand. “I made a mistake.” And he wasn’t talking about with Maggie.
“Get the fuck away from me,” she said, and hated so much that her voice was thick with tears.
Luke put his arm around her waist and whispered in her ear. “He’s not worth your tears, Kris. Let me kill him.”
Michael curled his lip, but his disgust wasn’t real. His fascinated interest was. “You’re seeing two men.”
She took a deep breath and regained her control. “Nope. I’m seeing three men.” She shot a glance at Talon, then caught and held his stare. “And thinking of making it four.”
Talon’s eyes widened.
Michael shook his head and looked at Asa. “And you’re okay with this.”
“Michael,” Amy said. “Why do you care? It’s none of your business. Let’s go home.”
Michael ignored her.
Asa snaked a hand over Krista’s ribs and pulled her a little tighter against him. She glanced up at him and shivered at his possessiveness, his danger. He stared at Michael, then looked down at her, and his smile was slow, mocking, and so sexy she thought she might burst into flames. He watched her, but his words were for Michael. “You should listen to your girlfriend.”
But Michael couldn’t let it go. And finally, Krista saw his huge regret. His frustration. His jealousy. And she saw his dawning realization that there was no going back. He was not happy in his new life.
His unhappiness made her grimly satisfied.
It made him reckless and mean. “So she can just go out and fuck any man she wants, and that’s just awesome.”
“She can do whatever she wants to do,” Asa told him. “But she doesn’t cheat on us, and we don’t cheat on her.”
Michael laughed, but Krista knew him. There was despair in his voice. “Cheat! How ridiculous. She’s become a braindead whore. A dog in heat, and you should put her down.”
Shockingly, Talon was the one to reach Michael first. Not so shockingly, he was the one to lose his temper.
Amy screamed as Talon began pummeling Michael. “Your gun, Michael. Shoot him!”
“Asa,” Krista asked. “Can you…?”
Asa let Talon get in a few more punches before he insinuated himself between the two men. “Talon,” he said. “That’s enough.”
Talon almost immediately calmed. Still, there was a blankness in his eyes that wasn’t normal. He stared at Asa as though waiting for something, and when Asa reached out and squeezed his upper arm, Talon swallowed convulsively, nodded, and backed away.
“Why did you go after him?” she asked. “He can’t hurt me, Talon.”
His eyes began to return to normal. “He did hurt you. I lost my temper.”
She nodded. Talon hated bullies. Maybe there was something in his past that sent him into an almost mindless rage when he saw a mean-spirited asshole hurting someone he cared about. Or an animal. Almost certainly there was. Whatever his reasons, he would absolutely go apeshit and beat a motherfucker down.
She took his face between her palms and kissed his lips, gently. “Thank you.” And that was the moment she really let him know she might like to explore something more than friendship with him. The next move would be up to him.
“The neighbors are having a good time,” Luke murmured.
“They won’t turn on us. They like having slayers next door.” She lifted a hand and waved at the old couple across the street.
They solemnly waved back. “Need help, Krista?” the man asked.
She grinned. “We’ve got it under control, Nate. Thanks though.”
“Anytime.”
She dropped her smile as she watched a sobbing Amy lead Michael away. He was bent almost double as he stumbled to the car, but just before he got in, he shot a dark, promising look Krista’s way.
She shivered as a cold chill raced down her spine. Michael wasn’t finished with her, and she would need to be careful.
He’d changed—or maybe she just hadn’t really known him as well as she’d thought. She never would have believed he was capable of betraying his daughter, yet he had.
And sometime in the future, he was going to come after her.
She would have to be ready.
11
Demons didn’t want to bring their bodies with them. Without their bodies, demons had the potential to body-hop for years before being stopped. Now that they were in their own bodies, they couldn’t really hide. And it would take them a while to figure shit out. To work the changes to their advantage.
But the slayers were in their element.
Barbie continued to mainly protect the hospitals, and Krista, Talon, and Luke patrolled the city. They put down demons as they found them, but their mind was on one main thing.
Vogdris.
He hid to recharge, or sleep, and he hid so well they’d failed to find a single nest. “Where are you?” Krista muttered, standing on the fourth floor of a condemned apartment building, her hands on her hips.
The sun had yet to set and apparently Vogdris continued to sleep, because things were quiet. When he awakened and went after souls, reports would start coming in immediately. He was fast, and even though he might have believed he couldn’t be stopped, he didn’t want a fight. He didn’t want complications, and he certainly didn’t want to lose any of the souls he’d gained. He needed to get as strong as he could and losing them would weaken him.
The urgency gripped all of them, as did the frustrating helplessness.
Luke walked down the musty hallway toward her. “He’s not here. Place is full of rats, but no soul-stealing demon lord.”
Talon had taken the lower levels and the basement, and after they checked out the building, they’d check the abandoned building next door. Someone had anonymously called in a sighting, but they got a few of those each day. There was never any truth to them. Still, they would check any lead.
Talon met them in front of the first floor office. “Someone’s been sleeping in a room in the basement,” he said. “But no sign of Vogdris.”
“All right,” she said. “Let’s get out of this disgusting place. I need some fresh air.”
Across the street, a row of occupied houses boasted tiny, overgrown yards full of garbage and toys, air conditioners jutting from upstairs windows, and the occasional dirty-faced child peering at them through a stained window.
As they started to walk to the building next door, a grim, skinny man walked out of one of the houses. He took a long drink of his beer, then crushed the can and tossed it onto a garbage pile against the house.
“Who drew the short straw?” Krista asked.
“I’ll do it,” Talon offered, and jogged across the street to see if the beer-drinker had any information.
“Someone’s at you
r car,” Luke said.
She turned to squint at her car, which was parked along the street a few houses down. “What the hell?” A man leaned against her door, his arms crossed, and even from the distance, something about him was familiar. “I’ll go run him off.”
But when she strode down the street, Luke was at her side. She was only a few yards from the car when she recognized the man.
“Rafael,” she murmured. “What does he want?” Now that she knew what he was, she felt a little thrill of not only fear, but awe. He looked different to her. Felt different. She just had to keep her calm and pretend like he was any other slightly assholish man dogging her heels.
Rafael straightened and watched them come, his body so still he resembled a cardboard cutout of a real person. “Krista,” he greeted, his voice cool as always. “Luke.”
She very nearly curtsied but stopped herself just in time. “Hello,” she said, her voice breathy. “Rafael. How are you?”
Luke sighed.
Rafael lifted an eyebrow, then shot a look at Luke, who studiously ignored him. “Lovely,” Rafael said. “A groupie.”
She crossed her arms, embarrassed. “CIA send you to keep an eye on us?”
“No.”
“Why are you here?”
“I believe the demon lord is close.”
Luke narrowed his eyes. “How close?”
“Close. You’ll need to be ready.”
“We’re always ready,” Krista said. “Are you going to fight with us?”
“I am here to watch.”
“Well, that’s helpful. Are you sure you’re not part demon?”
He curled his lip and shuddered. “Hardly.”
She stuck out her hand. “Thanks for the tip.” She really, really wanted to touch an angel. Who wouldn’t?
Again, Luke sighed, but when she glanced at him, she caught him trying to hide a smile.
Rafael stared at her, then dropped his stare to her hand. “Why are you doing that?”
She raised an eyebrow. “It’s just a friendly gesture.” She poked her hand at him. “Surely you’ve shaken hands before.”
His lips tightened. “I do not touch people. You have a soul-stealer to deal with. Go.”
The angel was a freak. And possibly a germophobe. And thankfully, she was no longer quite as awestruck. Or maybe that was just what she needed to tell herself.
Without another word, she turned to jog back toward the building they’d been about to explore.
Talon met them at the entrance. He nodded toward Rafael. “What was that all about?”
“The man’s a freak,” Krista said. “He won’t fight, but he likes to watch.”
“He thinks Vogdris is near,” Luke told him, and there was something in his voice. He absolutely believed Rafael.
There was a hiss of static from her earpiece, and then the dispatcher reported a demon attack near the city center.
“Soon as we’re finished here,” Krista told her.
“I’ll take it,” Barbie said, her voice coming through loud and clear. “Hospital is boring right now.”
For a second, Krista thought the sudden scream was coming from her earpiece, then she, Luke, and Talon were running away from the building and down the street in the opposite direction of Rafael.
And finally she, too, believed that Rafael was right.
Vogdris was there.
The screams came again, and then they didn’t stop. Long, drawn-out screams, somehow fitting in that mean section of Edgefield’s grimness.
Tremors of painful anxiety shook her, made her feel weak and breathless. It was an unfamiliar feeling, and it was pretty damn awful. Even her breath shook as she panted, and she worried she might pass out there in the middle of the street, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t let fear win, not ever.
But it felt different, and that freaked her out.
Then she was at the screamer’s house, bursting through the door with Talon and Luke, and there was no time to do anything but find a target to hit.
As soon as she entered the house, Vogdris’s power washed over her, and it was like being pinned to a wall while a tornado swirled around her. It slammed her backward and she hit a table before falling to the floor, head hanging, trying to remember how to breathe.
Luke and Talon fared no better.
Vogdris wasn’t even in the room. He was upstairs doing something so awful that a woman could not stop screaming. Krista struggled to her feet and began shoving back against that rush of power. As soon as she felt it give, she blasted it with her own power. She didn’t have to look to know that Luke and Talon were doing the same.
Together, they were strong, and they had a chance.
Silence descended so rapidly that it was disorienting, and she could hear her breath rasping from her lungs, hear her little almost silent moans as she pushed, as she fought her way up stairs she never wanted to climb.
The demon lord didn’t meet her coming down. He came through the ceiling, and the crash shook the entire house. She turned and leaped back down the stairs and caught him couched in the exterior doorway. He looked at her and hesitated.
Power blasted from her hands, raw and red and full of death, and hit him in the face as he paused in the doorway to watch her.
“It’s not nice to stare,” she muttered.
He reeled backward, roaring, and then Luke was at her side, and the two of them combined their power and hit him while was he momentarily dazed. She had no chance to look for Talon, but she felt the absence of his power.
She couldn’t think about the screaming souls surrounding the demon lord, or the person who’d gone quiet upstairs, or even Talon. All she could think about was how to bring more of her power and kill the monstrous soul-stealer.
They chased him into the street. As they pummeled him he stumbled back, arms reeling. A massive beast over eight feet tall and God only knew how many pounds, and more power than anything she’d ever faced before.
It didn’t take him long to right himself. Once he did, he came for her. He wasn’t out of his head or feral or unable to understand anything but violence. His intelligence was in his eyes. Rage was in his eyes. But she didn’t see death.
He wasn’t planning to kill her, but he wanted her for something. Probably something a hell of a lot worse than mere death.
And if he reached her—
Luke yelled and together, they made another push. But Vogdris was prepared. He held up a meaty hand and the power hit his palm, ricocheted, and knocked a chunk out of the house.
She’d never in her life seen anything like that.
And then he touched her. Not with power, but with his fingers. He was there, in front of her—he knocked Luke away, and he touched her face.
He wasn’t caressing her, he was gauging her. He growled, and there was approval in his voice. She hit him again with a blast of power, terrified for Luke and Talon, terrified for herself.
How could she defeat such a power? She couldn’t, unless he lost the souls. He was simply too strong.
It took only seconds—seconds to watch as he swatted Luke away like an annoying fly, seconds to hit him with power, to feel his fingers on her cheek.
She turned to run, but he grabbed her arm, lifted her into the air, and then…
Then she was falling hard to the ground as Triganoth roared out of nowhere and slammed his fist against the side of Vogdris’ head.
Then Trig speared her with an intense stare and shot her a fierce smile, right before Vogdris rammed him and the two of them began once more to beat the fuck right out of each other.
But she was safe.
For that moment, at least, she was safe.
She crawled to Luke, terrified that this time, Vogdris had killed him—but he sat up, holding his upper arm. “I’m okay,” he said, his voice thick. “Bastard didn’t hit me with magic.”
“I don’t think he wants to waste it.” She helped him up. “We have to find Talon.”
“Trig might
wrestle Vogdris back to the red-dark this time,” he said, as they went back into the house.
“And then it’s over.” But she didn’t believe that would happen. There was a bigger chance that Vogdris would kill Trig, but she absolutely couldn’t think about that. “Can you call this in? Tell them to send the paramedics.”
“Coming in,” someone yelled, and two men stuck their heads around the battered doorframe. “That was some crazy shit. Can we help?”
She hesitated, surprised. “Do you know who lives here?”
The man on the left—the beer drinker from earlier—nodded. “A crazy bitch named Letty Clark.”
“Okay. You come with me to see to her, and you,” she said, pointing at his friend, “help Luke search for my partner in this mess.” She started up the dark stairs, calling Talon’s name as she went.
She didn’t expect an answer and was therefore shocked when he replied. “Up here.”
“Luke,” she cried. “He’s upstairs.”
She thumped up the creaky stairs, relief making her legs shaky. She didn’t know what horror she’d find up there, but Talon was alive.
She didn’t burst into the first room at the top of the stairs, but crouched and darted her head around the doorframe to get a glimpse of what waited.
Horror was what waited.
“Fuck,” she whispered, and hurried into the room.
Talon sat against the wall, holding what was left of a woman. “She died in my arms,” he said.
Beer drinker gagged and stumbled from the room, and his friend followed. Krista heard them thumping back down the stairs, and she couldn’t blame them.
“He raped her,” she whispered, then saw the mess on the woman’s face. “And he marked her.”
Talon nodded. “Before she died, she said she’s not the only one. If he’s expelled back to the red-dark, he won’t be able to come back unless someone summons him.”
Krista touched her own mark. “Or unless he successfully marks someone.”
“He marked and tried to bond with her,” Luke said. “But she couldn’t survive his brutality.”
Triganoth slipped into the room. He didn’t touch Krista, but she felt his regard. He stared down at the destroyed woman. His skin bore blotches of blackened skin where he’d been burned, and blood covered his body, his clothes, his hair. “Our king is his greatest fear. If he successfully marks a human, not even the king of the red-dark can keep him in our world.”
