Demon of Darkness

by Andrea Pearson

  “Did you find something?” I asked Nicole.

  “Well, yes. But getting it is going to be a bit unconventional.”

  Okaaaay . . . “How unconventional?”

  “The woman who currently owns the device wants us to bring her six different types of blood. Blood from two demons, blood from three different types of Aretes, and blood from a regular human.”

  “What is she going to do with the blood?” Please don’t say one of us has to drink it. I was dying from thirst, but not enough to drink blood. Obviously.

  “I’m not sure—she didn’t say. But we have twenty minutes to do it. And the blood can’t be from impure water.”

  Drat. I was going to suggest that for one of the sources. “Okay, we’ve got three different Aretes here—you’re Wind, Austin is Earth, and I’m Fire.”

  Nicole shook her head. “Austin and I are both Silvers. We’re the same type of Arete now.”

  “Is she really going to be that picky? You were different Aretes originally.”

  “I’d rather not risk it.”

  “Okay. We just need to find two more Aretes, then.”

  “Just one. You and I will suffice.”

  Austin cleared his throat. “Lizzie and I will suffice. You’re not giving any blood.”

  Nicole frowned for a moment, then eased up. “All right. I’m fine with that.”

  “Mr. Russell and I will be the two demons,” Mrs. Russell said.

  I almost argued with her until I remembered she was right. Vampires technically were demons, and she and her husband were vampires. I still hadn’t fully adjusted to that knowledge.

  Nicole nodded. “Thank you. Now we just need an Arete and a regular human.”

  “How much blood are we talking here?” I asked. “And how are we going to transport it?”

  Nicole produced a tiny clear glass container with a lid. “In this. She gave it to me. And we only need a few drops from each person.”

  “A few?” I already knew from experience that more than one drop would be hard to get. It wouldn’t be like the last time, when just a pinprick had been enough to get the effigy to start following me.

  “Yes. That’s the hardest part. We have to fill the container.”

  Thank goodness it was a small one.

  We decided to head to a store, with the Russells following, and wander it until we found an Arete. It ended up being fairly simple—we came across a teenage boy who’d barely Restarted and who didn’t have anywhere he needed to be. He had a regular human girlfriend with him.

  “What do you need us for?” the girl asked once we’d gotten outside.

  Everyone looked at me, even Nicole, who understood the magic better than I did. “We’re going to fix this issue with the water turning into blood. But it requires blood from several volunteers first.”

  The girl raised an eyebrow, but to her credit, she didn’t question me. “If it’ll help my grandma who has cancer, I’m good with whatever.”

  Her boyfriend agreed.

  I looked at Nicole. “Okay, tell us what to do.”

  Nicole produced a little X-Acto knife. “We need a few drops from all of the volunteers.”

  I glanced at Abel, surprised he hadn’t volunteered. He had a faraway expression on his face—he definitely wasn’t with us. It didn’t surprise me. He was probably searching for his mom in his thoughts. The poor guy.

  Austin went first. Nicole made a little cut on his arm after they decided that would be better than the hand, which would hurt more, and they squeezed several drops out.

  I went next. I had to look away when Nicole cut me. Luckily, the knife was very sharp, and it was a quick process. If the knife had been dull, it wouldn’t have been pleasant. Well, it would have been even less pleasant.

  Mr. and Mrs. Russell were ready to go after me, and the teenagers went last.

  Once she had all the blood she needed, Nicole closed the container and glanced at us. “Thank you, everyone. If the water turns back to normal, we’ll know it worked.”

  “Will the blood stay good long enough?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Nicole said. “I’ll keep it in the fridge until then.”

  I nodded, remembering that blood could last up to a hundred days or something like that. Hopefully, the plague wouldn’t go that long.

  4

  We returned to my empty house. Mindy, my assistant, had left a note on the counter saying she’d gone out for food with a friend who was passing through. I shook my head as I returned to the living room couch. Bad timing for a visit.

  Sia immediately jumped up on my lap, not seeming to care that I had visitors. She must have really missed me if all these strangers didn’t keep her away. I cuddled her to my face before setting her on my lap and petting her as we talked.

  “What happens once the blood plague has stopped?” I asked.

  “My question is, why do we need to wait for it to stop?” Abel asked. “Why can’t we get the device now, and start it up when the plague ends?”

  Nicole tilted her head. “Good question. I’m going to assume it doesn’t matter when I do it. Should I grab it now?”

  We all nodded, and Nicole set the container of blood on the end table next to her before digging a small sphere from her pocket. I watched as she opened what looked like an imaginary little door, about a foot tall, in front of her. I’d seen her do this enough to know the door existed, but only to her.

  Nicole picked up the container of blood and set it in a shelf only she could see. She closed the door, then opened it again moments later and reached in, pulling out an odd little contraption which she set on the end table. She stared at the box for a while, nodding occasionally, probably engaging in a discussion only she could hear. And then she closed the door again and tucked the sphere back into her pocket before turning to the rest of us.

  “The contraption will only be able to purify one water source at a time—hardly surprising. And it’ll take time to work. But it will work.”

  “How much time will it need?” Austin asked.

  “A couple of days.”

  I blanched. Just how long would we be without water? A couple of days to clean the water in one source after the end of the plague? What were we going to do?

  Nicole obviously sensed everyone’s panic. “At least something is going to help us. Can you imagine not having any water at all?”

  We all shook our heads, and Nicole continued. “It would take years for nature to purify every reserve in Utah and the surrounding states if we didn’t have magic.”

  Good point. As she said, at least we had something.

  “Can you teach me how to use the device?” I asked. “Or does it need to be you who activates and uses it?”

  “It doesn’t need to be activated at all—apparently, it’s constantly working.”

  “Oh, that’s cool.” I got to my feet. “Let’s test it out, shall we?”

  Not waiting for a response, I filled a bowl with blood straight from my kitchen tap. Disgusting. Then I returned to the living room, setting it on my coffee table.

  Nicole put the device next to the bowl. “I’m not sure if it needs to be in contact with the water. Let’s just see what happens.”

  We all leaned forward eagerly. It took several moments, then I gasped in amazement when the blood closest to the device first turned pink, then went completely clear. I could see the plague fighting with it, though—the water started roiling, shifting as the red fought to overcome the clear. I frowned as the blood drew closer and closer to the device until there was only about a one-inch section of clear water. Just seeing that little bit of clear water, though, made me ache to grab it. I hadn’t been this thirsty probably ever.

  “At least we know it works, right?” I said.

  The others agreed, and we all leaned back.

  “Here’s what I propose,” I said. “Nicole, you and Austin head home. Tonight. Get out of here—” I held my hand up when she started arguing. “Abel and I will place the device.
” I glanced at him. “That is, if you’re okay with helping?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I’m not going anywhere.” His tone of voice was a “duh” one.

  I smiled. “Good. Abel and I will take care of this. Nicole, you’re pregnant. I’m not willing to risk you getting dehydrated and either you or your baby suffering. Plus, none of the coming plagues will be pleasant.”

  She again opened her mouth to argue, but Austin put a hand on her leg, and she fell silent.

  “Coolidge is already gone,” I said, “and I don’t know how these plagues are going to affect everything. It’ll be a lot easier if I know my closest friends are safe.”

  “All right,” Nicole said, “we’ll go home.”

  Austin nodded. “We’ve got the former hounds who need to be taken care of anyway.”

  “And more who’ll be coming,” Abel said.

  “Exactly.” Austin glanced at Nicole. “You’re excited to begin tutoring them. How about we get started on that now?”

  She nodded. They left soon after.

  Mindy got home, and Abel and I filled her in on what had happened while we’d been in Europe. She promised me she’d stay and continue helping—regardless of how “exciting” the plagues got. I was seriously coming to appreciate this woman.

  She turned in, and Abel and I finally had a moment to ourselves. We snuggled on the couch, talking and kissing and enjoying each other’s time. I knew that the next few days would be difficult, but as long as Abel was with me, I’d be fine.

  I hoped.

  By that point, night had fallen, and nothing sounded better than sleeping in my own bed. As I got ready, though, I couldn’t help but feel guilty yet again for what had happened in Holland. If it hadn’t been for me, we wouldn’t have had such a difficult time trying to battle Lord Kenan. I’d pushed hard to attack him, not knowing that his strength had been greatly multiplied in his graveyard.

  Of course, once he left the graveyard, he’d be able to move around freely, beguiling and forcing more and more people to join him.

  I really didn’t look forward to the next few days.

  Abel spent the night on my couch. I gave him a goodnight kiss or two or three, then turned in, relishing the feel of my own sheets and mattress, grateful I wasn’t displacing Nicole. Oh, I really hoped all of this with Lord Kenan would be over before her baby came. She had several months to go, yes, but I still worried. Everything was taking a lot longer than I’d hoped it would.

  On the other hand, though, I’d been under the impression that it would take years to hunt down all the hounds. I’d hoped it wouldn’t—and maybe it would still take that long—but I had to acknowledge that I’d done better than I’d expected. Only two or three months had passed since Alexander had first approached me. And with how many hounds were left—only around forty—I knew now this wasn’t a lifelong gig.

  5

  The next morning, I woke up around seven thirty and prepared to head straight to the Russells’. When I got to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast, though, Abel was there, looking hot in his pajamas, his hair messed up from sleeping.

  I stepped across the kitchen to him, wrapping my arms around him and resting my head on his back.

  “You definitely are a sight for sore eyes,” I said.

  He chuckled, his back rumbling. “I was about to say the same thing.”

  I stepped away. “You haven’t seen me yet. I haven’t done my hair. Or even showered.”

  Abel turned and enveloped me in his arms, burrowing his face in my hair. I cringed and almost pulled away before he said, “I love the smell of Lizzie, and I don’t like the smell of shampoo.”

  I chuckled. “Well, in that case, I’ll stop showering. Especially if it encourages you to hold me like this.”

  Abel laughed, then said, “We do have to interact with other people, so it would probably be a good idea if you bathed at least once a month.”

  We chuckled together, and Abel shared the breakfast he’d cooked with me. Scrambled eggs, toast, and sausage. Yum. Too bad we didn’t have anything to wash it down with. I was getting tired of having a dry mouth and throat.

  After I’d finished, I walked over to rinse my dishes out of habit. I gasped when I turned on the water and watched as it ran from pink to clear. It stayed that way.

  “It’s over!” I said.

  Abel joined me, frowning. “What about the water reserves? Won’t they be blood still?”

  “Yes, they will. But we know for sure the device works because it has purified our water.”

  Able reached over and turned off the water. “Let’s not waste it. We need to take the device somewhere where it can do its thing—help everyone’s water clear up.”

  “Okay. But let’s check in with the Russells first, then go.”

  “How long until the next plague starts?” Abel asked.

  I shook my head. I didn’t know.

  As if on cue, a ribbit sounded from the sink. I shrieked, stepping back. A tiny frog wriggled its way out of the drain and jumped onto the plate I’d just rinsed off.

  I groaned. “Frogs. Frogs are the second plague.”

  Abel nodded, his face grim and a hand resting on my lower back. “Let’s hope the Bible was exaggerating how bad it got.”

  Only about twenty seconds later, frogs started croaking from everywhere, coming out of drains in the sinks and tub and even from the toilet. Mindy shrieked when she joined us in the bathroom where we’d gone to check on things.

  I’d never been grossed out by frogs, but something told me the amount of them we’d be dealing with would have even me feeling squeamish.

  The three of us got to work blocking off all the drains with duct tape, hoping it would keep the creatures from coming inside. We ended up taping the entire bottoms of all of the sinks and half of the tub. I didn’t care if it damaged them—I’d deal with that later. Not having the frogs in the house was more important. No telling just how far these critters would go. And where we’d find them after they died.

  There wasn’t a lot we could do with the toilet. We taped it completely shut—all the way around—and decided to avoid flushing it, since it would clog.

  Abel gathered up the frogs that had gotten inside before we’d taped off the drains and put them in a bucket with a lid while I got dressed for the day, hating having dirty hair. There was no way I’d take a shower with frogs, though.

  We dumped the bucket outside, and I immediately wished we’d never opened my front door.

  Frogs coated the sidewalks, the street, and the grass. The moment the door opened, they went into a frenzy, trying to jump inside. I shrieked, slamming my door shut, knowing I’d crushed several of their little bodies in the process.

  Abel, Mindy, and I surveyed my front yard through the living room window. Most of the frogs weren’t very big, but some of them were quite huge. I was positive those were toads, not frogs, but I wasn’t a zoologist and really had no idea.

  The creatures varied in shade, ranging from light green to dark. I’d read somewhere that brightly colored frogs were more likely to be poisonous. Luckily—if there was any luck to be had here—these frogs were the boring variety of green.

  “What now?” Abel asked.

  “We have to keep working. We still need to check on the Russells, get rid of any hounds who may have come during the night, and place the water-purifying device near the source of our drinking water. This plague will probably last for a while, and if we let it and the rest of them stop us, we’ll never get anything done.”

  “Great,” he mumbled.

  I knew he would be willing to do it all, but I also knew he wasn’t terribly thrilled to walk through frogs. Neither was I.

  Remembering the globe, I ran back to my bedroom and picked it up from my nightstand. A good hound was due to arrive any minute. So, Abel and I opened my front door quickly, slamming it shut behind us—leaving Mindy with the frogs that got inside—and gingerly made our way to the Russells’. We did our best not t
o crush very many creatures as we walked.

  It was disgusting.

  6

  The Russells’ predicament was much worse than ours. They had two bathrooms, along with the kitchen, and no Abel to come up with the genius duct-tape idea. The way Abel and I had blocked my drains seemed to be better than what the Russells were doing, which mostly consisted of them holding dishes over the drains.

  “Do you have any duct tape?” I asked, wishing I’d brought mine.

  Mrs. Russell ran to get some, and Abel and I got to work immediately. By the time we were done, the Russells’ drains looked like mine—coated in tape, but keeping the frogs out.

  The front door slammed open and shut, making us all jump, and a man dashed inside, his expression wild and his body language frantic. Before we could say anything, he ran downstairs. Abel and I glanced at each other.

  “Must be our first ‘good’ hound,” I said.

  We walked down the stairs, finding him slumped across the table next to the trap, his features now relaxed.

  He looked up at me. “Do you realize how much stress you’ve caused me?”

  I could only imagine. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Okay.”

  He gave me a nervous expression, and Abel and I escorted him into the interrogation room, where we invited him to have a seat in one of the chairs. It sure was nice dealing with someone who wasn’t trying to rip my throat out the whole time I was in the same room with him.

  I took the other chair and Abel stood, arms folded. I hoped that with the hound currently being good, I wouldn’t need Abel there, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

  “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed it, but quite a few hounds have been disappearing recently.”

  The man nodded. “Yes, of course we’ve noticed. And we’re grateful for it.”

  “I haven’t been killing them all, though,” I said, encouraged by his friendliness.

  “Oh? You haven’t? What have you been doing?”

  I proceeded to tell him about the spell I learned that wiped memories, knowledge, and guardianship status and basically started them over with a clean slate as non-hound mortal humans. Then I told him about the hounds being housed in Montana, where they’d receive tutoring and help getting back on their feet as completely new people without a history or even a memory of what they’d been in the past.