The Demon-Born Trilogy: (Complete Paranormal Fantasy Series)

by L. C. Hibbett

  We ran. Gabriel led the way, and Emmanuel took the rear, surrounding us all with some form of magical cloak. Gabriel sent a blast of energy ahead of us and one of the intricate stained-glass windows shattered in a hail of breathtaking colors. He sent the shards whirling over our heads and down the corridor behind us as we vaulted over what remained of the frame and out onto the campus lawn. A roar of curses and expletives escaped the building as the glass connected with its intended target.

  I didn’t look back. I pushed my body as hard as I could until I came level with Gabriel. “We need to turn left at these gates, then take a right, then the fourth left, then straight on until we face the water.”

  My heart pounded at the sight of the imposing gates, now pulled closed and heavily padlocked. I braced myself for the climb, but Gabriel thrust his arms forward again, and with an earsplitting shriek, the wrought iron gate tore free of its hinges, flew through the air, and down the path behind us. Screams of rage and pain erupted from the rear, but they were far too close to give me any comfort. Gabriel darted onto the pavement and turned right. I tried to grab the back of his shirt to drag him in the correct direction, but he was too fast. “Gabriel! You going the wrong way. I memorized the route.”

  Instead of faltering, he pushed himself harder, and his long limbs slid over the concrete with unnatural ease. I cursed under my breath and chased after him. Sam and Megan had passed me out. Lucas and Brandon were close behind me, but I could see the sweat soaking through Brandon’s shirt. Emmanuel gave me a stern prod with his finger, and I bolted forward in a desperate attempt to catch up with Gabriel again.

  He nipped and weaved through side streets and alleys until we came to the back entrance of a grand, elegant building in the center of what Lizzie had described as the old quarter of the city. Gabriel pressed his hand against the plain white door and it yielded to his touch without as much as a twist of the handle. He shepherded us into the small narrow hallway and slammed the door shut behind Emmanuel. His voice was tight. “Were we seen, Emmanuel?”

  The Master leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes for a moment. “Not by the  Guardians who were sent after us, no. We managed to shake them off. Mostly thanks to your levitating gate trick.” Emmanuel exhaled and opened his eyes. “But we could have been seen by anyone else. I did my best to conceal us from view, but I have no idea if the cone I created was strong enough to shield us from prying eyes, it’s immeasurably difficult to completely disguise a moving target. And my magic is not what it once was.”

  Gabriel pressed his lips together and tipped his head toward the door at the end of the passageway. Lucas pushed it open, and we trailed past him into a dusty living room. The room itself was beautiful. The intricate plasterwork on the ceiling and the opulent chandeliers screamed of wealth and luxury. I stalked over to the mahogany table and threw my rucksack down, coughing as a cloud of dust rose from the table. I pulled open the zip and began to rifle through the packed contents of the bag.

  “What are you doing?” Sam stared over my shoulder.

  I unearthed my mobile phone from inside a pair of clean underwear and tapped my foot in frustration as I flicked through the permission to access mobile coverage abroad notifications. “Ringing Cat.”

  “God, Grace! We’re in the Shadow City being hunted by the High Council. On their own turf. There are better times to check in with your family.” Megan rolled her eyes and peeked through the net curtains with her Spirit Blade clutched in her hand.

  I entered my password and watched the display, waiting for the signal sign to appear. “Lizzie said we were under attack, Megan.”

  “We were under attack. We just escaped from them. Smashed windows, flying gates, running fast—ring any bells?” Megan’s tone was sharp, but I refused to bite. If she was looking to pick a fight, she could try somebody else. Like Sam. Megan scowled at my silence and stalked to the opposite corner of the room.

   “What happened last night? Did the council think you were lying about the Spirit Eaters?” Brandon asked. He watched Gabriel and Emmanuel set up their spell with wary eyes.

  Emmanuel sighed. “In a nutshell—yes. I think they thought we were lying about pretty much everything. They seemed convinced that the Shadow Children are engaged in an elaborate plan to destroy the Veil.”

  The icon for mobile signal flashed at the top of my phone screen, and I felt the pressure in my chest loosen. Gabriel and Emmanuel finished placing an additional charm over the building. Lucas shot Brandon a heavy look as he went to check on the back window. A notification of three voicemails popped up, and I dialed into my voicemail messaging service. I could feel Megan frowning at me as I pressed the phone to my ear. “I know we were under attack, smartass. I just want to check in. Okay, Megan?”

  “Fine.” Megan began to defrost as her fear abated.

  I felt my breathing relax as I listen to her interrogate Gabriel about how long he had owned the property for, who knew he owned it, and how much he had to pay in tax for an idle piece of prime real-estate. My phone connected to the message server and I pressed it against my ear as the first voicemail began to play.

  My hand shot up to silence the others, and the knot in my stomach started to pull tight again. Sam covered the floor in two bounds and stood by my side. I pressed the speaker button, and the sound of distant shouting filled the air. A male voice came on the line, and I stared at the handset with wide eyes. The man coughed into the phone. His voice was muffled, but it was clear that it was Mathas speaking. He coughed again before continuing. “Grace, can you hear me? There’s been an attack on the house. They’re here. The Spirit Eaters. They’ve come for—”

  End of message.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Megan opened the slip on the side of the slope, beside the flat rock I had sat on with Lizzie the day before. Night had claimed North Carolina, but the usual solitude of Grandfather Mountain was shattered by screams and shrieks coming from the hilltop. Fires, both magical and natural, burned at the peak, and slips and portals lay gaping randomly. I gripped my Spirit Blade and prepared to leap up the rocky path, but Sam slithered in front of me and blocked my way. “Wait, Grace. Someone’s coming.”

  Gabriel pulled both of us behind him and narrowed his eyes on the figures emerging from the darkness. He raised his hand in a silent salute and a short, neat shadow separated itself from the others, who were hurrying toward an open portal. I squinted at the approaching figure and exhaled in relief as Mathas came into view. His arms were pulled tight against his body, and his eyes scanned the periphery like a desert snake.

  Emmanuel and Gabriel stepped forward to greet him. The Master’s voice sounded gravelly as the acrid smoke filled his lungs. “Mathas, we came as soon as we could. I’m sorry, we shouldn’t have left, but I don’t understand how they found us. And the Guardians—”

  “Are assisting us,” Mathas said.

  Blood pounded against my eardrums. “What? No, Mathas, they just chased us through the Shadow City. They didn’t believe us, about the massacre at the Silent Home. They probably think it was all us, some twisted plan to deceive the Council and damage the Veil.”

  I looked at Gabriel and Emmanuel for reassurance. The Master gave me a grim nod, but Gabriel’s stare was fixed firmly on Mathas. His eyes were narrowed. “How did the Guardians locate the house, Mathas?”

  “Elizabeth brought them here, boy, and whatever your theory is about the Guardians, they are up at the house right now, fighting alongside the cell members that were left behind. It’s not looking good. The Spirit Eaters are powerful. They won’t leave until they’ve got what they came for.” Mathas fell silent and stared at the skyline as the air above us grew colder. The Spirit Demons were close, circling.

  Sam’s body tensed. “Is Peter up there? Is he with the Spirit Eaters?”

  “They haven’t come close enough for us to see their faces, but it’s them all right. The Spirit Demons move on their command.” An icy cloud passe
d overhead, and Mathas grabbed my hand and pushed me toward Sam. “You two need to get out of here. One of the other Masters has offered refuge for the Demon-Born. He was the first to raise the alarm today, came back to warn us the Spirit Eaters were coming. He has a portal that will bring you to a safe place. Grace, your sister and your niece are just about to go through with Cain. We need to hurry.”

  Mathas looked at Gabriel, Emmanuel, Lucas, Megan, and Brandon. “You need to get yourselves up to the barn. Those bastards have surrounded the place with fire, and that kid Jasmine refuses to leave without her brother.”

  Gabriel shot up the hillside like an arrow, clearing rocks and bushes in a single bound. Megan, Lucas, and Brandon scrambled after him with their Spirit Blades unsheathed. Sam made to follow them, but Emmanuel blocked his path. “Samuel, you must go to safety, take Grace and leave.”

  “Jasmine needs our help, Emmanuel. She won’t leave without Eli, she’ll never leave him behind. If there’s a fire…” Sam’s strained voice cut into my chest like a broken bottle.

  Mathas grabbed Sam roughly by the sleeve and jerked forward. “Boy, she is in danger because you’re still here. You’re what they’re searching for. Nobody is safe while the Demon-Born are still here.” He shoved myself and Sam in the direction of the nearest portal, about ten yards to our right, and began to make his way back up towards the hilltop. “Go! You’ll find the other Demon-Born when you go through the portal. Master William said he had everything arranged.”

  Mathas increased his pace and started to run back toward the action. As he began to shift into a huge gray wolf, his voice carried back down to where we stood. “Master Emmanuel, your cell needs you.”

  Emmanuel shot us an apologetic grimace as he squeezed our shoulders and nudged us in the direction of the open portal, before opening a slip and disappearing into thin air, presumably reappearing somewhere closer to the action. I called after Mathas. “How did William open a portal? Does he have a Demon? Why didn’t he just open slip?”

  There was no answer. Mathas was already gone.

  Sam grabbed my wrist and began to run toward the portal. I dragged my feet. “I don’t like this, Sam. That Master William was a total creep. He hated us, the Demon-Born, you could tell just looking at him.”

  We closed in on the open portal, and Sam squeezed my arm. “Can you sense the others?”

  “I think so.” I closed my eyes and focused harder on the threads of life flowing from the opening. “Yeah, I can feel them.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I think I can sense Ozzie too. Is that possible?”

  “You think this William guy is sending us to the New York cell? Or maybe Luke’s mom’s already sent Ozzie to William for safe keeping?” Sam peered into the moist, fragrant undergrowth on the other side of the slip and raised an eyebrow. “Not what I expected German headquarters to look like. But if the others are in there?”

  “And we’re keeping everybody in danger by saying here…” I bit my lip and Sam ran his thumb over the inside of my wrist. A sudden blast of light erupted from the mountain top, and the temperature dropped instantly.

  Sam flattened me against his side and hurled us both through the portal in a single movement. The air on the other side of the portal was humid, and my feet sank into the dense soil, but the icy chill from Grandfather Mountain wound its way around my heart and froze my bones.

  I ripped my fingers through the air searching for a hidden magical trigger to close the gap. “Sam, they’ve broken the charms that were protecting the house. They’re coming. Oh, my God. The Spirit Demons are looking for us, what if they can sense we’re still here through the open portal, but they think the others are concealing us? They’ll kill them. Like those people this morning in the Silent Home. They’re going to slaughter them.”

  “Grace!” Sam seized my two hands and held them in his own. “Stop. Stop! You can’t close the portal, it’s not slip. It’s Demon magic. We need to find whoever opened it. Can you find Cat and Cain? If you find them, I can bring them to us.”

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, blocking out the noise coming through the portal and focusing instead on Cat’s energy. She was close. Really close.

  “Hey!” Sam’s shout startled me into opening my eyes. He was staring into the air and waving his arm wildly. I squinted at him, and Sam spread his arms apart. “It just disappeared. Did you do something to make that happen?”

  I shook my head and walked over the ground where the portal had been only seconds before. “No. I just tried to Seek for Cat, nothing else. William’s Demon ally must have closed it from the other side.”

  Sam wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and my body stiffened under his touch. He stepped back and wrapped his fist around an overhanging vine. “Maybe. Did you get a read on the others?”

  I opened my mouth to say something about last night, but let it snap shut again—now wasn’t the right time to try and sort out our messy feelings. Maybe there never would be a right time. I chewed on the side of my thumb. “Yeah, they’re really close. Only a few minutes away. Follow the sound of the flowing water.”

  We walked in silence. Sam gripped his Spirit Blade in his hand, but he didn’t ignite it. The air was warm and sticky against my skin, and the trees grew tall and straight. Their trunks rose up into the sky, higher than my eyes could see. The sound of shouting filtered through the bushes, and Sam and I began to run.

  We emerged from the undergrowth just in time to see a girl not much taller than Dawn throwing herself on the ground in front of Cain and Cat. “Help! My friend needs help, please hurry!”

  Her accent was difficult to place, and her plain, rough clothing reminded me of another era. Cat’s eyes widened, as she stared from the grubby child to Sam and me, emerging from the forest. She grabbed my hand as we scurried after the girl. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be meeting the High Council. The Spirit Eaters found the house.”

  My heart dropped thinking of our failed meeting with the High Council. Another path closed. I decided that story could wait until we had reached William’s cell safely. “Yeah, we saw the fighting. We followed you through the portal. Where are we? Is this girl part of William’s cell?”

  I held on to Cat’s fingers tightly as the sound of rushing water increased in volume. The girl darted ahead with Dawn on her heels, and the trees gave way to a sheer drop. Water rushed through the gorge with breathtaking ferocity and smashed over the razor-sharp rocks down below.

  The skinny blond girl raised a shaking hand and pointed at a large tree perched on the edge of the ravine, and I realized with a sickening lurch that a girl, about the same age, was clinging to an overhanging branch. She had her eyes closed, and her lips were moving at a rapid pace. Terror rolled off her body like a wave of freezing fog.

  “She saw a wild cat—thought it was injured. I told her not to climb up. She’s too soft.” The girl’s grubby face was screwed tight as she looked up at her friend. “She won’t come down with me, and I’m afraid if I drag her like I ought to, she’ll fall.”

  Sam bent down and put a gentle hand on the girl’s skinny shoulder. “It’s okay. Do you have anything that belongs to your friend?”

  “My sister.” The girl’s blue eyes flashed defiantly as she corrected Sam, and she pressed a small piece of cloth into his hand. I tried not to show my surprise as I stared at the dark-skinned girl with a mop of black curls clinging to the tree.

  “I’m going to get your sister down right now, okay?” Sam smiled at the fierce little blond, and twisted his body to face the tree. His spine snapped into a straight line, and I realized with a start that in the blink of an eye Dawn had already scrambled halfway up the tree.

  “Dawn! Come down, please. Sam will get her down.” Cat was doing her best to sound calm, but every muscle in her body was tensed.

  Dawn ignored our cries and scaled the broad trunk like a wiry, copper-haired monkey. When she reached the branch that the other girl was clinging
to, she eased herself slowly along toward the other girl. I strained to hear her soothing words over the roar of the water. “It’s okay. I know it feels scary, but I can help you down. Will you let me hold your hand?”

  Cat pressed her fingers against her mouth, and I wondered did she feel the same swell of pride in her heart as I did. Ebony ringlets bounced frantically as the other girl shook her head and clung on to the branch with renewed panic. Dawn edged a little closer to the curly haired girl, and I stared at the point where the branch joined the trunk, checking for any sign of cracking. I could see none.

  “I’m going to scoot right over to you, and you can hold on to me so my friend can get us down from here, okay?” Dawn stared down at Sam, and he nodded vigorously. “I’m nearly there. All you need to do, is hold onto me. You don’t have to move, you don’t even have to open your eyes, just hold onto me.”

  Dawn leaned forward and grasped the other girl by the arms. I exhaled as the weight of fear lifted from my chest. Dawn turned her head to look at Sam with a look of satisfied concentration. Sam closed his eyes and opened his hands wide, but before he could draw a breath, the sickening sound of splitting wood cut the air. My mouth fell open, and I lunged forward as the branch gave way and both girls tumbled through the air and vanished into the gorge.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Dawn and the petite curly haired girl plummeted down the ravine toward the rushing waters. I yelled at Sam to use his magic to catch the girls, but I knew they were moving too quickly, or his magic too slowly, to have any chance of saving them.

  My lungs emptied as Dawn slipped away from us and spun through the air like a bird falling from a nest, headed straight for the roaring river and the jagged rocks below. Cat’s desperate screams tore at my ears as we watched in powerless desperation.

  Then I felt it. A flicker of life, blazing across the edge of my vision. Ozzie burst through the clearing with a hurricane at his back. I squinted at his small form. He looked exactly as he always had, and yet, he was utterly transformed. In a single leap, he covered the space separating us and planted his feet on the edge of the precipice. He raised his arms in the air, and the world responded with unimaginable force.