Book Two of The Demon-Born Trilogy
L.C. Hibbett
For Richie, Lucy, and Amelia—without whom there are no stories worth telling.
Chapter One
Something was wrong. I could taste it in the air—the sickly, sweet smell of decay. Lucas parked the SUV beside the entrance to an old farmyard and watched me with narrowed eyes. The scene below us was picturesque. Yorkshire countryside rolled out on either side of the village, lush and green in the morning sun. I reached out with my mind, trying to breach the wards surrounding the target, but I couldn’t find even the glimmer of a crack to slip through.
“Are we in trouble, Grace?” Megan’s voice was tight as she leaned forward from the backseat. The past year had softened Megan’s edges, but every now and then, I caught a glimpse of the hard-assed Angel that had intimidated me when I first fell into the world of the Shadow Children. Her glare flicked from my reflection in the rear-view mirror to her brother Mark, sitting beside her. I swallowed as I examined Mark’s pale face. Fifteen years old. Six years too young for active duty, but we had no choice. Emmanuel had nobody else left uninjured to send. I got out of the car and gestured for Lucas and Megan to join me.
“I don’t like this, guys. It doesn’t feel right.” I turned my back to the deserted farm and stared down the slope at our intended location. The high wall was crumbling, and the rusty gates were held together by thick chains. The sign hanging on the towering gatepost was rotting. I dug my fists into my eye sockets and looked at the building again, pursing my lips. “St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. I can’t even see past the concealment, all I’m seeing is a disused hospital. I might as well be Human.”
Lucas grimaced. “Seriously, Grace, this is the location you identified as the source of concentrated energy, but now you’re getting no spark at all?”
“Nothing. I don’t understand it. I was certain.” I lifted my shoulders up to my ears in guilt-ridden confusion. Tension strained the fine features of Lucas’s perfect face. “Sorry, Luc, but if there are Halflings or Shadow Children still trapped inside, I can’t sense them.”
The three of us scanned the property, trying to see past the magical façade, which made the Silent Home appear more like a boarded-up hospital than a prison. A tremor of energy shivered over my skin, and my head snapped up fast enough to strain my neck. I squinted down the narrow country lane for signs of approaching vehicles. My pulse began to race.
“They’re here, they’re here. Cain’s car is here!” Mark waved his binoculars in our direction, and Megan flew across the grass, prodding Mark back into our Range Rover like a mother hen. Lucas signaled that he was going to do a quick lap of the village to check our target. Cain was driving a small white van with a sign advertising painting and decorating services on the side. He bumped onto the verge behind our car, and a rush of nervous energy coursed through my veins as I approached the vehicle.
Cain rolled down his window. “Grace. Good to see you.”
I could tell he wanted to ask me about Cat, but he restrained himself. Maybe he was frightened to talk about her so close to a Silent Home—as if speaking her name could give the Guardians power to drag her back to the hell that had been the first sixteen years of her life. For a fleeting second, I wondered did Cain have any memory of his own childhood years in the Silent Homes. Jasmine’s retelling of the day her grandfather rescued Cain from the Guardians raced through my mind, and I dug my nails into my palm to chase the images away. “It’s really good to see you too, Cain. Nice wheels by the way.”
Cain grinned. “Sam’s idea, he thought Gabriel would appreciate the disguise. You know how much he loves getting dirty.”
“Ha, I bet he was thrilled—any excuse to buy Gucci coveralls. Luc is just giving the village a quick once over, the others are waiting in the Rover. Is Gabriel with you?” I flexed my knuckles in a show of nonchalance. “Or anyone else?”
Cain glanced towards the back of the van and raised an eyebrow. “Gabriel is just making a pit stop to see a Demon in Wales—somebody he used to live with a couple of centuries ago. Gabe thinks she might have some information to help him decode Jonah’s diary because she comes from the same realm as Jonah did.”
“He’s still convinced that book can help us?” I raised a skeptical eyebrow, and Cain gave a gentle shrug. I tucked my hair behind my ear. “Any port in a storm, I guess. It’s not like we’ve uncovered any decent information about the Spirit Eaters since we sent Peter back to whatever hole he crawled out of—a musty old book is as likely a lead as anything else we’ve got.”
Cain rubbed his hands over his eyes and squinted down the hill. “It’s a wild goose chase, Grace. I think even Gabriel knows it at this stage. We all need something to cling to, though. Can’t blame a man for hoping.”
I blushed, thinking of the way I had chased a tall, dark-haired lady down a backstreet in Parisa few weeks earlier, shrinking with embarrassment when she turned around to reveal the face of a stranger, not my missing foster mother. I was in no position to judge Gabriel’s obsession with his old book. Desperate hope was a leveler. “We should get moving. Are the others with Gabriel?”
The sound of the back door of the van opening drew my focus away from Cain, and I struggled to keep my thoughts straight as Sam walked up beside me. It had been so long since I had seen him in the flesh that the urge to reach out and touch him was overwhelming. He leaned against the hood wearing a paint-splattered T-shirt and a pair of torn jeans. It shouldn’t have looked good, but it did. Sam’s eyes met mine, and I was struck by a blast of energy so intense that it hurt. I bit my lip and took a deep breath, watching Sam’s pupils dilate as he did the same. Lucas appearing at my side broke Sam’s hold over me. I exhaled.
“Sam, it’s good to see you, man. Hope that’s the last time they decide to separate our cell. Brutal few months.” Lucas pulled Sam into his chest and smacked his back. I could just about make out Megan’s profile in the back of the car. It looked like she hadn’t finished lecturing Mark. Lucas rested his hands on Cain’s open window and nodded in greeting. Nobody mentioned Moscow.
Cain gave a tight grimace and tipped his head toward the old hospital. “What do you think, Luc? How do things look down there?”
Lucas frowned. “Honestly? My gut tells me to stay away from that place. Grace says it stinks.” He looked to me and I nodded in agreement. Lucas squared his shoulders. “But I think we have to take the risk anyway. They’ve beaten us to almost every Silent Home for the past month. The Spirit Eaters are kicking our asses, and we won’t get a second chance at this. If we wait, either the Guardians will relocate, or the Spirit Eaters will get to it before us. It’s now or never.”
Gabriel suddenly shimmered into sight in the front passenger seat, wearing a pair of coveralls and a peaked cap. The urge to mock the usually immaculate Demon was strong, but the emptiness creeping toward us from the village below distracted me. Teasing Gabriel could wait.
“Do you agree with Lucas, Grace?” Gabriel’s tone was measured, giving nothing away.
I pushed my hair off my forehead. “Luc is right. We can’t pick our battles anymore; the Spirit Eaters are too far ahead. We need to do this. We have to help those people while we still can.”
Gabriel and Cain made eye contact, and Gabriel nodded. “Okay. We go in. Lucas, get the others from your car. Grace, can you find a fracture in their barrier so I can transport everyone?” Gabriel clenched his teeth. “We need the element of surprise. Five teenagers, one old man, and one immortal piece of perfection—it’s hardly the dream team.”
Cain turned on Gabriel. “Are you calling me an old man? I’m not even thirty. You’re fifty times as old as I am.”
“But I look ten years younger, Cain, old man.” Gabriel patted Cain’s arm and smirked at his one fingered response. Lucas jogged back over to the van followed by Megan and Mark. Gabriel slid out of the passenger door and walked around to join us. “Megan, Mark. Glad to see you are wel
l. Grace is just going to attempt to find us a way in.”
Gabriel stared at me and raised his brows. I closed my eyes and turned away from Sam. I couldn’t let myself connect with his energy, not after weeks of unanswered calls—my self-restraint was already bursting at the seams. My awareness flowed down the hillside and past the chocolate box cottages that lined the road until it hit the icy chill of the old hospital. I inhaled sharply. The magic surrounding the Silent Home tasted like metal in my mouth. I let my consciousness creep along the sides of the building, seeking an opening until I finally found a crevice. My arm shot out, reaching for Gabriel. Sam’s strong hand grabbed my other arm and held me close as Gabriel transported us inside.
The interior of the building was nothing like its magically enhanced exterior. We found ourselves standing in the middle of a pristine laboratory. A row of computers flashed and beeped along one wall. Three small cots lined the opposite side of the room. My stomach lurched as Megan sprinted to check them, Spirit Blade burning. She shook her head. They were all empty.
I doubled over as a debilitating wave of nausea struck me. Sam pressed his cool fingers against the back of my neck. Gabriel grabbed my shoulders and heaved me upright. His face was ghostly. “What is it, Grace? What do you feel?”
I shook my head and reached for my weapons, watching the Spirit Blade rip into life with satisfaction. “I can sense nothing. It’s like a vacuum. There’s no life.” I focused on the Spirit Light and battled the feeling of sickness threatening to floor me. Gabriel pressed his lips together and fell into step behind Lucas, letting him lead the team.
Everybody took up their positions, and we moved as one through the empty corridors. Mark’s knuckles were bulging as he gripped his Spirit Blade, but he held his nerves in check. The feeling of panic heightened with every empty bedroom and shared living area we passed. The building was deserted.
Lucas held his arm up when we reached the ground floor and beckoned us into a tight circle under the stairs. His eyes were fixed on a half-eaten sandwich sitting on the unmanned reception desk. “Where the hell is everyone? We normally have to fight twenty Guardians by the time we get to the main floor of a Silent Home. Especially since the Council started beefing up their security detail. Something is going on here. It’s not right. I vote we go back to the house in North Carolina. Let Emmanuel decide how to proceed.”
Sam hissed through gritted teeth. “We should check the garden, Lucas. That’s the only other place they could be. Maybe they have an assembly or something? Exercise time?” Sam’s raised shoulders told me he knew his suggestions were as unlikely as they sounded. His voice dropped an octave. “We can’t just abandon them, guys. Not without trying.”
Lucas looked around the circle at the rest of us, and I nodded in agreement with Sam. One final attempt.
We fell into formation again and shadowed each other along the walls until we reached the exit. Sam tipped his head to the right, and Lucas crept along the narrow laneway leading to the outside space. His back stiffened and he thrust his arm into the air. Spirit Light shot into the sky. I leaped between Sam and Lucas, preparing to defend my team, but there was nobody there. The garden was devoid of any movement or sign of life. It took me a moment to process the look of devastation on Sam’s face as he stared at the vast expanse of rocky soil spread out in front of us.
My eyes began to make sense of the shapes covered by a thin layer of mud, and I threw myself in front of Mark, trying to shield him from the brutality of what we had uncovered, but I was too late. His mouth fell open as he squinted into the field. He grabbed Megan’s hand and crushed it between his fingers. “What is this, Meg?”
Megan turned her eyes on me and shook her head in horror. When Sam finally broke the silence, his words were carved from ice. “It’s a mass grave.”
Chapter Two
I couldn't move. My feet were frozen to the ground. I struggled to make sense of the scene in front of my eyes. I felt as though I had stepped into a page from one of my history textbooks. My foster mother, Eve, had been a good teacher. She believed history was the key to true education—always keep learning, never forget. When she first taught me about the Second World War, I asked her did she think the world would always remember the terrible things that happened. She said the world remembered, but it never learned.
The garden in front of us was a large rectangular field, surrounded on all sides by towering walls. A spray of reddish brown covered the wall closest to us. At the base, the distinct shape of a small handprint had smeared the dark red liquid. I turned my back to the stained concrete and surveyed the rest of the space. There was a scattering of apple trees lining the path that split the garden in two. Pretty trees. Pretty canopies to shade the dead. I crushed my knuckles against my front teeth.
Sam was the first to move. He spun around to face Gabriel and Cain. “What am I looking at? What the hell is this?” Gabriel shook his head and pressed his lips together. Sam sprinted across the garden and smashed his fist into the high concrete wall. He traced his fingers over the tiny bloody handprint. “They trapped them here, didn't they? Herded them into the garden and slaughtered them like animals.”
I crossed my arms over my body and looked down at the ground. I couldn't bear the agony etched into the lean lines of Sam’s body. Gabriel's jaw was pulled tight as he attempted to answer his question. “Yes, it would appear so, Samuel.”
“That doesn't make sense.” Megan's voice was raspy. She stepped in front of her brother as if she could protect him from the conversation. “The piles. The bodies—there's too many of them. There couldn’t have been that many Halflings in one Silent Home. And where are the Guardians? Did they just abandon their positions when the Spirit Eaters attacked?”
Cain's eyes narrowed as he scanned the grounds. “We need to leave. Gabriel, get us out of here.”
“No!” Sam clenched his fist around the handle of his Spirit Blade. “We can't go until we've checked there are no survivors.” Sam squared his shoulders like a fighter in the ring, but when he turned his eyes on me, all I could see was pain. “Grace, can you try and seek any energy. In case somebody survived. Or escaped.”
I glanced at Gabriel's clenched jaw and Megan's fingers digging into her little brother's shoulder. Sam's hair had fallen onto his forehead, and his eyes pleaded with me through a curtain of messy waves. I wrung my hands together. “One try. Then we must go. Okay?”
Gratitude washed over Sam's face and transformed it from terrifying into something raw and beautiful. Lucas, Cain, Megan, and Mark fell into position immediately and began to search the garden with practiced steps. Sam glanced back at me over his shoulder, and my teeth sank into the flesh of my lower lip as hope brushed my skin like a feather. Maybe there was an explanation for all the unanswered calls.
“This isn’t a game, Grace.” Gabriel's glare followed each of the Shadow Children as they picked their way over the broken ground and through the rows of barely concealed bodies. “People died here today. This isn’t an opportunity to impress a love interest. We need to leave. It's not safe.”
I cut my eyes in his direction. “Sam just wants to make sure there are no innocents left behind—nobody thinks this is a game, Gabriel. I can feel the death too, just as strongly as you can.” My shoulders drooped as I gazed at the blood-soaked earth. “I can taste it.”
Gabriel sighed and rested his hand on my arm. “Just get this done so we can leave.”
I closed my eyes and straightened my spine before taking a deep breath, steeling myself for the sweet, pungent odor of dead flesh. At first, I could sense nothing. An absence of life. Even the birds had deserted this place. I drew my eyebrows together and stepped forward onto the rough soil, trying to dig deeper and connect with the energy surrounding the Silent Home. Although the bodies had not yet begun to decay, the stench of badness was overpowering.
A sudden breeze whipped through the branches of the apple tree over my head. I jum
ped back in surprise and my foot connected with something soft. My fingers gingerly scooped the small object up and wiped off the layer of dirt. It was a toy. A small, stuffed teddy bear, worn and mended as if it had been somebody’s favorite. My chin dropped onto my chest, and I sank back against the rough bark of the tree trunk.
The sound of footsteps approaching from either direction dragged me back into a standing position. Gabriel was closing in from my left and the Shadow Children from my right. I shoved the teddy bear into the waistband of my jeans and pulled my top down to conceal it.
“Could you sense anything, Grace?” Gabriel's tone was strained.
“Nothing.” I shot an apologetic glance in Sam's direction. “There's no life here.”
Cain’s brow creased. “We didn’t find anything either. Can you find a gap in the concealment so that Gabriel can get us out of here?”
I tipped my head and let my Seeking energy began to creep along the periphery of the magical barrier. Sam grabbed my hand. “Wait. We should check inside again. There could be somebody in there or something we missed. A hidden room. A basement…”
Gabriel slid between myself and Sam, breaking our physical connection. He shot me a look that left no room for argument. “We are going. Grace, find us an exit.” He turned to Sam. “Samuel, I understand your frustration but—”
“Don't patronize me, Gabriel—you don't understand a god damn thing. You don't have a clue what these people went through. They deserved to be rescued. They deserved the chance to live, but we were too late. We're always too late. And you don't even care enough to check if there's somebody still inside. Maybe if we hadn’t wasted so many months trying to decode that piece of crap book you were so convinced held all the solutions to our problems. Jonah’s History of the World. What a joke.” Sam's eyes flashed, and I winced inwardly for Gabriel, who still carried the disappointment of the book like a weight around his neck.
The Demon-Born Trilogy: (Complete Paranormal Fantasy Series) Page 29
