by Terry Spear
Then she saw men in SWAT uniforms dash into the room, guns readied before all the lights turned dark inside her head.
***
Hunter and Alana arrived in the demon world where the storm they had been through had abated though gray thunderheads still blanketed the sky and lightning flashed in the distance. The torrential winds were still blowing the waves against the bulkhead near the city, threatening to breach the massive stone wall. What really got his attention was a tall blond-haired man, who was holding Alana’s astral self against his chest, threatening her bodily harm if a group of six Matusa didn’t back off.
Other demon types watched from a distance as if fascinated by the entertainment, but not moving close enough to get involved.
Hunter felt smug-satisfaction to be holding the physical Alana close to him while the Matusa thought they might have a chance at her astral form.
“Let go of the Kubiteron, human, and we’ll let you live,” one of the Matusa said to the man holding Alana’s astral form, but Hunter knew better.
If the man released her, the Matusa would annihilate him.
What the demons didn’t know was that the Alana the human was keeping hostage was only her astral self.
As soon as the portal lights caught everyone’s attention, they all turned to look in Hunter and Alana’s direction. One of the demons was Tarn’s brother.
They all looked back at the human holding Alana’s astral form as if trying to figure out what was happening. Then as if the proverbial light bulb turned on, one exclaimed, “The Kubiteron is a gate guard!”
Alana’s astral form vanished and Hunter knew she’d reconnected with her physical form as she suddenly looked alarmed and threw her hands up to create a water spell, sending a wall of water crashing into the demons. Before any of the demons could regain their footing and make a move toward Hunter and Alana, he pulled her into the portal and closed it.
And tripped over two bodies that he couldn’t see. “Hell, Samson, Jared, I told you to return to the taxi. What if you missed coming back with us?”
But then he and Alana were dodging behind buildings, attempting to get out of the zoo before anyone discovered them.
Jared said, “We were there in case you needed help.”
Hunter hmpfed. “The only one who needed any help was that stupid human who dared take Alana’s astral form into the demon world and then held her hostage. He’s definitely dead meat now that he doesn’t have her to shield himself from the Matusa.”
“He was a warlock. He might keep them off him for a while, but as many as there were, not for long, I imagine,” Alana said.
Hunter smiled down at her. “I’m sure they all have the hots for you now that you smashed them with a wall of water.”
She shrugged. “Someone had to put them in their place. I bet the warlock wishes now that he had never messed with our kind.”
Jared said, “To think he believed you only to be a meddling witch.”
Alana smiled and Hunter wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She was his meddling witch, but he didn’t like that her astral form could now be pulled through a portal.
“What happened anyway?” he asked.
“She covered his portal with her own because his version wasn’t stable,” Jared said. “Then he pulled her astral body through the portal by casting some kind of electromagnetic field. I saw another version of her astral self here, but it kept fading in and out as if she couldn’t maintain both astral versions. Of course, when I saw her, I thought there was just something screwy about this astral form, not believing she could have another one in the demon world.”
“Yeah,” Alana said. “Now I have to be in three places at once? No way can I be stable in all three places.”
Hunter didn’t say anything for a minute, fighting a smile, then Jared laughed. Hunter cast him an irritated look and Jared said, “I’m not touching that comment. Really.”
Before long, they’d managed to get beyond the zoo and were running flat out for the taxi. But it was gone.
Alana grabbed her cell phone and called for another taxi while Hunter incinerated the portal device. Black metal melted all over the asphalt road. That was the end of the summoners’ portal devices.
Now all they needed to do was return for Celeste and take care of the Matusa, wherever he was. When they arrived in the taxi at the hotel, they found police everywhere, a patrol car burning out of control as firefighters tried to put out the flames and a very pale Camaran demon on a stretcher was carried out as medical personnel hurried her to a waiting ambulance.
She had to be all right. Demons had great regenerating abilities. But she looked like she wasn’t all right at all. They would follow her ambulance to the hospital, and he’d send Jared in to check on her. His gaze shifted to a body bag as others carried out someone who had not been as fortunate.
This has all been the work of the Matusa. Hunter would bet his life on it. Where was the bastard now?
“Samson’s wounded,” Jared said, when the Samuria demon wouldn’t let anyone know about it.
Hunter frowned. “Samson, make yourself visible.”
He did, clutching his arm, his face showing pain, but also annoyance. “It’ll go away.”
Alana shook her head and made him remove his shirt, then tied it over the bite marks. “Maybe we ought to get you a tetanus shot.”
“Maybe one for the gorilla,” Hunter said.
Samson shook his head. “It’s already healing. It just looks worse than it feels.”
From Samson’s expression, it looked like the injury felt worse than it looked. Hunter nodded and said, “It’s nothing more than a scratch.”
Everyone looked at Hunter as if he was crazy. He gave them an elusive smile. “Just think if it had been a Matusa who had clawed him.”
That put the whole injury in perspective. Hunter had nearly died from such a wound and no matter what recuperative abilities demons had, fighting that poison on his own had not been an option.
Alana put her hand over Samson’s injury, closed her eyes, and chanted. Hunter knew she was helping the demon to heal faster, so why did he want to jerk her hand off the Samuria who looked at her as if she was his guardian angel… and his chosen mate?
With her heart in her throat, Alana finished healing Samson to the extent she could, then watched out the taxi window with the others. Indigo leaned against the waiting ambulance as medical personnel carried Celeste into it. Indigo saluted Alana, then climbed into the ambulance. Surprised that he’d been here, she wondered if he’d tried to protect Celeste. She couldn’t help but admire the ghostly Matusa for joining Celeste when she’d been all alone.
Alana knew that Celeste would pull through because of her demon genetics, but she couldn’t help worrying about her and what she was in for next.
“She’ll be all right,” Hunter said, squeezing Alana’s hand reassuringly.
“Until they question her.”
“The Matusa?” Jared asked, hopefully as they watched the body in the bag go into another vehicle.
“We shouldn’t have left her here alone,” Samson said.
“Follow the ambulance. Jared can slip in and see her and learn what’s happened,” Hunter said.
The police were so busy cordoning off the area and searching for clues as to what had happened, that none of them noticed Alana and the others watching the scene along with countless others.
Alana directed the taxi driver to the hospital, and when they arrived, Samson wanted to go with Jared. But Hunter said no. “Jared can move around unseen. He can talk to her if she’s awake. But you appear in the form of a mist, Samson, and in the hospital, it would be a trifle odd.”
Indigo was suddenly sitting between Jared and Samson, smiling. “She’sss going to be okay,” he said.
“What happened?” Alana asked the ghostly Matusa.
Hunter said, “What, Alana?”
“I’m talking to Indigo.”
Hunter grunted.
�
��She’sss smart. She made him confessss. One of the policemen wasss taking notesss outside the hotel. Another wasss recording the conversssation. They’ll know she wasssn’t involved. That you weren’t, either.”
Alana couldn’t give a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure anyone was convinced of their innocence yet. “What about the Matusa?” she asked Indigo.
“Dead. She killed him.”
Alana conveyed what Indigo had said, “The Matusa is dead. Celeste killed him.”
Jared swore under his breath. “Nothing in my demon stats says anything about the Camaran demon that indicates they have combative abilities.”
Indigo sneered at him. “Showsss what you know, Elantusss.”
Alana was glad no one could see the ghost or hear him speaking. “How did she kill him?”
“Her blood, of course,” Indigo said.
“Blood?”
“Not only doesss it act asss an anti-coagulant, it’sss poison to a Matusa’sss blood.”
“All Camaran’s blood?” Alana asked, shocked to hear it.
“Oh yesss. Deadly to a Matusa. They don’t take Camaran for their matesss. Too dangerousss.”
Alana closed her gaping mouth. Everyone was waiting for her to relay the news, whatever it was, and she took a deep breath and said, “Indigo says that the police officers got the Matusa’s confession.”
Hunter shook his head. “I would never have thought one would tell what happened.”
“He didn’t give one to the police,” Alana said. “Celeste was smart enough to get it out of him. The police were outside the hotel room, taking notes, probably waiting for the SWAT to arrive.”
“Okay, that sounds more reasonable,” Hunter said. “The Matusa would have left everything in total chaos if he could have. What about the Camaran’s blood?”
“Deadly to a Matusa,” she said.
Jared began typing the notes into his database on demon types. “How is it deadly?”
“Poisoned and also it won’t allow the blood to coagulate.”
“Bleeds until he’s dead. Remember that Hunter,” Jared said, typing away.
When they arrived at the hospital, Jared went inside. Indigo slipped inside also, and she wondered if he could actually see Jared in his invisible form. Even so, Jared couldn’t see the ghostly Matusa.
She wished she could go with them and offer Celeste moral support. As tense as Hunter was, she knew he hated being left behind, too.
All they could do was wait and see.
***
In the operating room, Jared watched the surgeon sew muscle and tendons back together again and reconnect arteries and nerves where Celeste had been injured. Fascinated, he wondered if maybe he should be a doctor.
Celeste looked sweet and innocent like an angel, but pale as death.
The room was cold, but even more so now, and Jared wondered if Indigo was with him.
The surgery seemed to take forever, then Celeste was wheeled into a recovery room where Jared watched over her. She appeared to be sleeping, though he leaned over to give her moral support and whispered in her ear, “Celeste, we’re all here for you.”
Her eyelids fluttered open and she shivered, staring up at him with half-lidded eyes.
“Jared,” she whispered.
He squeezed her icy hand and said, “Yeah, in the flesh. Well, invisible flesh. I don’t want to shake up the nurse.”
“What happened?”
“You killed Thorst, apparently. At least that’s what Indigo said. If he’s to be trusted.”
Chilly air cloaked Jared. “Indigo’s here also, watching over you.”
Celeste tried to smile, but though the effort was valiant, she could barely force the curve to her lips.
“Rest,” he whispered. “Hunter and the others are waiting outside, dying to see you.”
“The devices,” she said in a raspy voice.
“Destroyed. Samson and I tossed one in the river. On the way over here, Hunter incinerated the second device. He can make them melt into a pile of metal goo or turn paper into fine ash. He’s very good at it. He can do it without igniting anything in the vicinity or underneath the targeted object. He was always destroying summoner books that way. But of course, this is a little different.”
“Alana.”
“She wants to see you. Everyone does. Even Samson.” Jared turned to see a strange mist settle next to the bed. “Hell, Samson, what if someone had seen you? And you’re injured yourself. You’re supposed to be resting in the taxi.” Then he frowned at Celeste. “I had no idea what you were capable of. Just don’t get mad at Hunter and try anything.”
She let out a shallow breath. “I suppose you added that to your demon database.”
“Absolutely. Not that I’d forget what you’re capable of, but for future reference in case any clueless demons, like us, need to know. Anything else we need to know about?”
She gave him an annoyed look. He smiled.
“What happened to Samson?” she asked.
“Got bitten. It doesn’t pay to make a gorilla go ape.”
“Are you okay, Samson?”
“He’ll heal. Like all of us will. Alana helped the healing process also. She would have helped you also if she could have before you were brought here. Do you want me to get you anything?”
“Just a way out of here,” she said, and he squeezed her hand again, and whispered, “Soon.”
After an hour, she was wheeled into another room. There, two police officers came in to see her, and Jared wanted to throw them out on their ears. Celeste looked the worst for wear still, her skin pale while she received blood, her eyes barely open.
“Celeste Sweetwater,” one of the men said, “do you mind if we ask you some questions?”
She shook her head.
“What were you doing in the hotel room where you were injured?”
“Hiding from Thorst,” she said, her voice soft.
“From Thorst.”
“The man who killed the one at the zoo.”
“How did you know about Thorst’s involvement in the killing?”
“I see future events in visions. I saw what he had done.”
The policemen exchanged looks that said they believed in psychic abilities as much as they believed in the Loch Ness monster.
“So, you saw this man killing the other in a vision, but why would you be hiding from him if he couldn’t have known you knew about him?”
She let out her breath in a heavy sigh as if annoyed that she’d have to explain what any imbecile could see. “I tried to stop him. Okay?”
Now the men stared at her with incredulous expressions.
“Stop him, how?” the one asked.
“I went to the zoo. He saw me, but I realized then I couldn’t stop him. I had forgotten my cell phone so I couldn’t call the police. I slipped out the way I had come.”
“Then you must have seen Alana Fainot. She was there and had witnessed the murder.”
“I don’t know if she saw him or not. She… experiences blackouts. She was worried about me and followed me to the zoo. Then, I left, figuring she’d leave, too. But… I guess she was still in one of her states and didn’t leave when I did. You picked her up and questioned her. I was afraid to come in to talk to the police, knowing Thorst would try to kill me for having witnessed the murder.”
“What exactly did you see?”
Jared couldn’t believe it as Celeste explained exactly what she’d seen when the Matusa had killed the summoner. They were taking fastidious notes, one questioning her, then the other. He assumed they’d check every detail and learn that everything she said had truly happened. He admired her for having seen all and was a viable witness, of sorts.
“Why did this Thorst kill the other man?”
She shrugged, then grimaced. “They both were a little crazy. Thorst wanted the device the other had made. He thought he was creating a portal device that could allow demons to be summoned to this world, and then he’d control the
demon. Thorst thought the device might work and wanted it, too. How stupid could they both be? No one can do such a thing. The blue-green lights were like a magician’s showy effects.”
“You disappeared into them. We saw you,” the one policeman said.
She waved her good arm dismissively. “Part of Thorst’s theatrics. Some kind of optical illusion. Camera tricks.” Then she frowned and looked from one to the other of the men. “You don’t really believe a portal can open to a demon world, do you?”
***
As they sat in the taxi in the hospital parking lot the day after Celeste had been injured, waiting for Jared to return with news of her release, although he’d noted that Samson had slipped out also, Hunter contemplated moving Alana to somewhere else other than Baltimore. She didn’t need to be in school. Couldn’t be if she was going to continue to have the trouble with controlling her problem with being called to portals when they suddenly appeared.
Before Celeste was ready to leave the hospital, Alana insisted on visiting her and Hunter wasn’t letting Alana go anywhere on her own. When they reached the lobby, two policemen stopped her at the door.
“Alana Fainot, we need to talk with you.”
Hunter was ready to open a portal and drag her into the demon world, but Alana tugged him with her toward the lobby and said, “Sure. What did you want to know?”
Hunter hoped when they’d questioned Celeste, her story and Alana’s would be the same.
The men introduced themselves and she smiled and said, “Yes, I remember you both from before.”
She introduced Hunter and the men looked like they were remembering her earlier testimony.
“The guy who went with her to Disney World,” Detective Ryker said. “Let me see your ID.”
When Hunter handed it over, the detective frowned, then raised a brow at him. “She’s underage, you know.”
“We just rode some rides, officer,” Hunter said.
The man didn’t look like he believed Hunter, but they all moved toward the lobby area in silence.
Once they were seated in the waiting area, the harder-looking detective said, “Where did you go when you disappeared from the lady’s room at the police station, Alana?”
