“I know exactly what you mean.”
It was true. Having Jem over brought her back to a simpler time. She’d be lying if she didn’t admit how much she liked it.
DEMON TRACKING
Darika’s choice of ride was the opposite of her sister’s beast of a motorcycle, though the old Mercedes Roadster was no less flashy. Kira lived like she had a death wish, while Darika was more sedate. But Kyle knew that Darika’s calm exterior guarded her strength. Even now, as she exited the car among all the other students in the parking lot, dressed in a simple red sweater and jeans, she had presence.
That’s because she’s a goddess, you idiot.
If the stories about her were true, she’d wiped out a gazillion demons in her time without breaking a sweat. That taciturn exterior hid a fierce, unflappable core.
She frightened him, though not nearly as much as Kira did.
“Hey,” she said, walking up to where he stood at the base of the steps.
“Hi,” he said. “No Kira today?”
Darika shrugged, tossing her bag to the ground and reaching up to tuck her glossy, dark hair into a low bun. “We had a difference of opinion regarding capturing a demon for questioning.”
“Let me guess—she said that the only demon should be a dead demon?”
Darika’s teeth were white in her umber-hued face, her eyes twinkling with amusement. “Something like that. Is Sera here already?”
“She texted that she was going to be late, but that she’d get a ride. I usually bring her to school.”
“She doesn’t drive?”
Kyle shrugged. “Ever heard the term helicopter parent? Her mom is more of a fighter jet parent. Though I guess Sophia has a good reason to be protective. Long story short, she doesn’t have her license yet. But I’ve been teaching her to drive, so hopefully soon.”
“I don’t have a license.”
He stared at her. “You know it’s a crime to drive without one, right?” Darika lifted a delicate shoulder, and Kyle grinned sheepishly. “Right . . . cosmic goddess powers.”
“You are immortal now, too,” she remarked. “You can also do as you wish.”
“I don’t like to break the law. Force of habit and a misspent youth.”
Darika nodded, her brow furrowing for a moment. “Ah yes, I remember. Several stints in juvenile hall.”
Kyle squirmed, uncomfortable that she knew his entire past. Apart from spending so much time in juvie and bouncing from foster home to foster home, he’d come way too close to becoming one of the Preta shadow demons whose master had very nearly succeeded in bringing hell on earth.
The tug of Sera’s presence jerked him out of his ugly thoughts, but it wasn’t her mom’s car pulling into the lot. It was a blue truck. He frowned, pushing off the railing. Darika followed his stare.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I think that’s Sera, but I don’t recognize the car.”
After a moment, though, he did recognize the person hopping out of the driver’s seat: Jem. An odd feeling came over Kyle when he saw Sera’s old friend at her side. Not jealousy. Something more like unease.
“Sorry about being late,” Sera said in a breathless rush as she walked up to them. “Jem came to the rescue. He forgot one of his books at my house last night and swung by to get it this morning. Mom was already on the warpath. She always gets like this, you know, when things with the d—”
“Sera,” Kyle warned under his breath.
“Deadlines at work get worse,” she said instead, blinking at her near slip as Jem caught up to them. Her eyes fell on the girl at Kyle’s side. “Hey, Darika. This is my friend Jem. Jem, this is Darika. And you remember Kyle from the other day, right?”
Jem smiled widely at Darika and bumped his closed fist to Kyle’s before turning back to Sera. “I’ll catch up with you later, okay? Need to see a man about a horse.”
“You’re so weird,” she said, elbowing him in the side. “Don’t forget about dinner tonight.”
“Dinner?” Kyle asked as Jem disappeared through the front doors.
“His parents had to cancel the other night, and I felt bad about forgetting, and said I’d help him with his geography debate notes.”
“How well do you know him?” Kyle asked.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I told you, we grew up together. Why?”
“I don’t know. It’s a feeling, like something about him rubs me the wrong way. He’s too . . . controlled.”
Sera laughed. “Controlled? Jem’s an open book. Always has been. What you see is pretty much what you get.” She paused, going quiet for a second, her curious gaze fastening to his. Something flicked through her eyes, but it was gone before he could dwell on it. “I’m not into him, if that’s what you’re worried about. And he’s definitely not into me.”
“That’s not it,” Kyle said quickly, a rush of embarrassed heat flooding his cheeks. “And I’m not worried about you being with anyone. It’s just a weird hunch. I could be wrong. I’ve been too on edge lately, with everything that’s going on.”
Darika cleared her throat and reached for her bag. “Did you clear him?”
“He’s human.”
She nodded. “I agree with Kyle that it’s smart to be vigilant, but let’s focus on the task at hand. Our first priority is the safety of the mortals.”
“Agreed,” Sera said after an odd look at the two of them.
Kyle followed the two girls into the school in silence. He knew he shouldn’t have said anything about Jem. He didn’t want to come across as the jealous best friend, and that’s exactly what he’d done. The truth was, he didn’t trust anyone. Seeing someone’s energies didn’t tell Kyle what kind of person they were—it just told him what they were. But just as a mortal could veer toward good or evil, sometimes there were a few bad apples in the ranks of the immortals.
Jem was simply a new face, and that made Kyle nervous. He’d been Sera’s friend for far too long to give up on looking out for her now.
They pushed through the crowds of students congregating in front of the lockers, Darika clearing a path without much effort. He caught up to Sera. “Hey, look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel weird about Jem. It’s just that, after what happened with Jude, new people get my defenses up.”
“I know.”
“And we can’t be too careful.”
She shot him a dry look. “I know, Kyle.”
“So, we’re good?”
“We’re always good,” she said, grabbing her binder from her locker. “Tell me the minute you sense anything. The fouler the better.”
Kyle knew what she meant. They needed a strong demon. The weaker demons tended to be followers, without access to the kind of knowledge they hoped to get. He nodded and collected his books before following her to their first-period class, one of the few they had together. Darika was in another class, but she’d be able to handle herself. Not that Sera couldn’t—but Kyle felt better knowing he was at her side.
It wasn’t until geography that he sensed the tug of something otherworldly on his consciousness. The hairs on his body stood stiff. He scanned the auras of the kids in the room as the eerie sensation winked in and out. Kyle knew within seconds that this was the type of rakshasa they were looking for. He blinked as he lost the trace again. Gritting his teeth, he pushed his awareness out to encompass the whole classroom.
Show yourself, he commanded the creature.
But the demon’s shade was resilient, and the exercise was more challenging than he’d anticipated. Which could only mean one thing: it had to be an upper level rakshasa. Methodically, he stripped past his mortal impression of each student. The demon was so close, he could feel it. His heart pounded as his gaze settled on Jem. Tendrils of energy curled around the boy like dirty mist. Kyle squinted, expanding his senses farther as his breath constricted in his chest.
But it wasn’t Jem.
It was the sturdily built boy sitting beside him: Steven Pete
rs. Kyle frowned. He should have known. Steven had started senior year with a crowd of shiny new friends—shiny new popular friends.
Kyle exhaled and pushed past the rakshasa’s disguise. It took effort, but once he recognized the boy’s shade for what it was, it wasn’t too difficult to see past it. An oily green haze curled around Steven like a shroud.
Without warning, he turned and met Kyle’s stare. For a second, the demon flickered into view, its puckered face obscuring Steven’s human one. His lips peeled away from his teeth in a rotten grimace of a sneer as the boy stood and excused himself to go to the bathroom.
Jerking out of his seat to follow, Kyle froze at his teacher’s reproving hiss. Mrs. Gordon rarely tolerated any kind of disturbance in her class. Kyle should know—she was the homeroom teacher who had sent him to detention on a regular basis junior year.
“You know the rules, Mr. Knox,” she said. “Sit down and wait your turn.”
“Sorry, Mrs. Gordon. It’s an emergency.”
Her glare turned acidic. “I’m afraid your emergency will have to wait until Mr. Peters returns.”
“No can do.”
Amid the stifled giggles from those around him, he tapped Sera on the shoulder on his way to the door. Her eyes snapped to his and he nodded imperceptibly, waiting as she gathered her books and rose.
“Miss Caelum, where do you think you are going?”
“It’s an emergency?”
“Neither of you are permitted to leave this classroom. If you do, your next stop will be the principal’s office and a week of suspension.”
But everything came to a stop as Ilani appeared, her deifyre wings glistening in the morning sunlight streaming through the windows. She carried no weapons, but Kyle knew that she could summon them in the blink of an eye. She bowed to Sera. “Go. I will take care of this.”
Kyle blinked, unaccustomed to seeing the Yoddha alone. “How?”
“I shall make her forget the last few minutes.”
“You can do that?”
Ilani bowed again. “Only if I am permitted to do so. But Lord Devendra has said that Lady Serjana must be protected at all costs. This, I think, qualifies as protection.”
“Thank you,” Sera said. “Where’s Mara?”
“She’s with the Lady Darika.”
He hurried from the room, thrusting his senses outward to pick up the scent of the demon. Now that he’d sensed its true nature, its foul aura was clear, but he didn’t want to lose it. Not when they were so close. Kyle drew a deep breath and summoned his special sight. Though the demon was gone, he could see fading wisps of its essence along the hallway. They had to hurry or it would be lost.
“Quick, this way,” he said over his shoulder as he raced through the deserted corridor and down a flight of stairs.
“Of course it has to be in the basement,” Sera grumbled as they descended yet another staircase, this one dark and narrow, and in an area of the building Kyle had never seen before.
“Don’t like dark spaces?” he asked.
“Who does?” she said, her face tight. “It’s creepy.”
“Why don’t you flash some of your immortal glow, then?” Kyle suggested as they paused for a minute in a tunnel that disappeared into two offshoots in either direction. She obligingly flared her deifyre, illuminating the dark space in a soft, reddish-gold glow. He stared at her out of the corner of his eye, watching the flames tumble from her shoulders in a sparking waterfall. Seeing her in goddess form never failed to amaze him.
“Feel better?” he asked.
“No.”
“You’re a goddess,” he said with a snort. “With blazing swords of fire and light. And you’re afraid of a puny little demon?”
“Fear and worry are two different things. She scowled at him. “I’m worried that that puny little demon is leading us into a trap. And the minute we start underestimating them is the moment we lose. Which way do we go?”
“There,” he said pointing to the right.
They both jumped as a rush of air slammed into their backs, announcing the arrival of Ilani. And she wasn’t alone; Mara and Darika stood with her. “Ilani said you found one,” Darika said by way of explanation.
“Yeah, it scuttled down that tunnel.”
Their heads turned in unison, all four goddesses nodding.
“It’s strong,” Mara murmured.
Kyle exhaled slowly, using his sight to see the spots of dark mist. He didn’t need special abilities to smell the faint odor of putrefying flesh. He gulped down a surge of bile. “That kid doesn’t have much time. I’ve seen what happens with upper demons like that and their effect on mortals. Human bodies can’t sustain their energy. They decay fast.”
Ilani’s lips twisted. “Demons love rotted flesh.”
“Did you know him?” Sera whispered, pale-faced. “Steven?”
“Not really. He was a nobody.”
“The ones demons love the most,” Darika said, grim determination flaring in her face. “Come on, let’s go. Kyle, lead the way and I’ll follow. Sera, you stay in the middle, and the Yoddha will take up the rear. We move as one.”
They sprinted down the narrow, cold corridor, following its mazelike twists and turns. The trail was still strong—until it abruptly disappeared. Kyle drew a sharp breath as he took in his surroundings. The demon had vanished into thin air.
Sera poked him in the side. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s gone,” he said in a furious hiss.
“Gone where?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Portal. That’s the only answer.”
She looked as confused as he felt. Portals had to be created by gods or goddesses, or by him, and even then, gaps between the realms could not be sustained for prolonged periods. “Maybe, but how?” Sera asked. “This is the basement of a school. Doesn’t make any sense.”
“Actually, it makes a lot of sense,” Mara said slowly, her gaze scanning the space. “This school was constructed on what used to be an old burial ground.”
Kyle looked at her then and huffed his surprise. Mara and Ilani were in full battle mode, deifyre flaring and weapons extended. So was Darika. She looked nothing like the composed girl from earlier. Now, eight arms sprouted from her body, holding a plethora of weapons—a trident, a mace, a bow and arrows, a discus, a thunderbolt, and a sword. Her face was fierce, and Kyle blanched at the ferocious look in her eyes.
“Burial grounds?” He couldn’t suppress the shudder that ran through him as he looked around, half expecting to see bones protruding from the earth. “But if the demon did go back to Xibalba, where’s Steven?”
A mortal body wouldn’t be able to survive for long in the Dark Realms. The demon would have abandoned it somewhere.
“Here,” Mara said, illuminating a dark corner of the room. Kyle could see the deathly pale, rail-thin body from where he was and shivered. Demon possession took a brutal toll as it fed on the flesh it contaminated.
Kyle couldn’t help gagging at the sight of the boy’s pustule-ridden body. “Where the hell is the demon?”
“Forget the demon,” Sera hissed. “Is he alive?” she asked Mara, nodding to Steven’s motionless body and clutching her hands to her nose.
“Barely.”
Sera glanced at Mara and made her way to where the Yoddha stood. “He’ll die if we leave him here.”
“I’ve got him,” Mara said, scooping the limp boy into her arms. Her dark eyes met those of the solemn Yoddha-in-training standing behind her. “Ilani, defend the goddesses until my return.”
The younger Yoddha bowed, nodding. Kyle noticed that she was already armed with a blazing sword and a short dagger. Sera’s gaze met his as Mara disappeared down the hallway with Steven.
“You were right about this demon being strong and old,” Sera said to Kyle, her brow furrowing. “If the traces I sensed are right, I think it could have been here long before Azrath.”
Kyle’s eyes narrowed. “Before?”
“Some kin
d of backup plan in case Azrath failed to bring down the wards between the realms.”
“The Demon Lords never really trusted him,” Kyle said slowly, considering the possibilities. “Ra’al must have had his underlings in place for a reason. So . . . this is Plan B for the apocalypse.”
“But how?” Ilani asked. “They can’t portal in and out themselves.”
“The ancient ones can,” Kyle said. “Sera and I faced a churel demon last year that drew its own portal. And if she’s right about this one, then it’s as old, or older, than the one we fought. They’re the right hands of the Demon Lords.”
Suddenly, a sharp, sulfurous scent pierced the stale air of the basement as something rippled along the walls, making the hairs on his body rise in warning. Mordas appeared in his hands in the blink of an eye, even as Sera’s twin blades of fire extended from each of her palms. “It’s back,” she said in a low controlled voice.
“Careful,” Darika warned. “You know what we are here for.”
Kyle nodded. They needed to capture the thing. Not kill it.
Correction. Make that things, he noted, as a dozen pairs of glowing, pale eyes took shape around them, accompanied by a cacophonous noise. The demon had gone to Xibalba and come back with its friends. They were outnumbered and surrounded.
Kyle hefted the black blade in his fist. It wasn’t the first time and it wouldn’t be the last.
He met Sera’s eyes and grinned. “See you on the other side.”
THE BELLY OF THE BEAST
The demons seemed to be coming from nowhere, dozens at a time. The faster Sera and her friends killed them, the more the creatures spawned. Sera’s blades flew with lethal precision as they obliterated demon bodies into puffs of noxious ash. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Darika making headway with the ones surrounding her. Her arms were a blur as they cleaved through the demons’ ranks, but Sera could see the same frustration on her face as more of the little beasts kept attacking.
“Where are they coming from?” she shouted over their shrieks. “Kyle, can you see a portal? See if you can close it.”
His answer was little more than a grunt as he fought off his fair share of beasts. “There isn’t any.”
Dark Goddess Page 11
