by S. A. Moss
Following Pearl’s muttered directions, we navigated our way to the bar, avoiding one end of it and settling at the very far side. Alex ordered drinks for us all—not that any of us planned on drinking, but we needed to blend in and act normal. While he paid, Pearl and I put our heads together.
“See that upper level?” She flicked her eyes to a second-story balcony that surrounded the entire room. “I saw a few of the Fallen up there, but I can’t tell if they’re still there. These darn lights make it so hard to see.”
My gaze followed hers. Spaced apart in the center of the dance floor, two metal spiral staircases rose upward, and a few scantily clad dancers gyrated on the steps. A metal pole rose out of the top of each staircase, securing it to the ceiling, and in between those attachments was a large domed skylight.
I could see more people on the balcony drinking and watching the dancers below, but in the pulsing blue and purple light of the club, it was almost impossible to discern the auras of any supernaturals. Which sucked, but would also hopefully work in our favor, making it harder for them to spot us too.
“Got it,” I told Pearl. “Anywhere else?”
She nodded, accepting the drink Alex handed her without looking at it. “Yes. I saw two in that corner over there.” She squinted. “I think they’re stationed near a door.”
I glanced around, noticing that in a dimly lit corner tucked under the upper level, two auras flickered lightly. And she was right. It was hard to make out in the shadows, but a door stood between them.
“It seems like a good place to start. Can we get closer?” Alex, who’d somehow been able to hear our conversation, piped up. He couldn’t see the supernaturals’ auras, but he could see the door.
Following Pearl’s lead, we headed away from the bar, but I suddenly slowed my pace. “Hang on.”
A large, drunk, and very rowdy group of friends were heading in the same direction as us. Nearing them, I pretended to stumble into one of the guys in the group, then giggled. “Oops, sorry!”
He stumbled too, and for a second I was afraid my brilliant plan of using these humans as cover would collapse when they all went down in a line like drunken dominoes. But he righted himself and grinned at me. “No problem, hon.”
Behind me, I noticed Alex had struck up a conversation with one of the girls as we followed them back to their table. Once we’d made it across the room, we diverted away from the group and Pearl caught my arm again. “Well done.”
“Thanks.” I scanned the room quickly, trying not to be obvious about where I was looking. There was definitely a door in the dark pocket of space under the stairs, and now that we were closer, I could make out the words Employees Only. That seemed promising. But how the hell did we sneak in there?
I turned to Pearl and Alex. “If we’re looking for the offices, they’re probably through that door. Any ideas?”
Pearl bit her lip. “I have one. But you might not like it.”
32
I snorted. “There’s not much to like about any of this. What’s your plan?”
She sidled up to a table that had just been abandoned, setting her drink down. Alex and I followed, huddling close to hear her next words.
Pearl waggled a finger between the two of us. “Well, you could pretend that you’ve both had a little too much to drink and are trying to find someplace a little more—er, private. I’ll wait out here and be a lookout.”
I blinked. Right. Because what demon hunting mission would be complete without a little awkward sexual tension? Not wanting to get in to all the reasons I hated this plan, I focused on the one that didn’t involve Alex.
“No way. I don’t want to split up!”
“We might all be safer that way. Someone needs to stay out here and make sure no other demons notice anything is amiss.”
“But—”
She put a hand over mine. “Don’t think of it as splitting up. We’re just spreading out our resources.”
She was so dignified and composed and… freaking British sometimes it killed me. But that didn’t mean she was wrong. And we didn’t really have much time to sit around debating the pros and cons of one plan versus another. Every second we stayed on this balcony, we risked one of the demons noticing us and figuring out what we were.
I glanced at Alex. “You okay with this?”
He shrugged. “If it gets us through the door, then yeah.”
I took a deep breath. “All right, then. Pearl, if you get a single whiff of trouble, fade out and come find us. Don’t try to fight all these Fallen on your own if things go bad, got it?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
I wished we had earpieces, or walkie-talkies, or hell, just more than one cell phone. But there wasn’t time to lament what we didn’t have. This was a shoestring operation, and if it succeeded at all, it’d be because no one expected us to be dumb enough to try it.
Grabbing Alex’s hand, I tried to do an approximation of a drunken stagger as I pulled him toward the wall. The light got dimmer there, and we could blend into the shadows more easily.
We followed the perimeter of the room until we were close to our target. I couldn’t see the Fallen guarding it, but I could see their auras. They stood about three feet from the wall on either side of the door.
We’d have to deal with them both, but hopefully we could slip through the door into the employees only area first. Then we could take them out without drawing the attention of every Fallen guard in the club.
Leaning my back against the wall, I pulled Alex closer to me and whispered in his ear. “Two Fallen. By the door. Standing a few feet from it, like sentries.”
He nodded slightly. “Got it.”
I swallowed. Now came the part where we had to sell this.
My eyes met his, but in the darkness, it was hard to read his expression. Should we talk about this? Make a plan? Decide just how much tongue action there was going to be before we tried to slip through the door?
Come on, Cam! Just kiss him!
I licked my lips. “Do—”
But before I could finish the thought, Alex bent his head and his mouth met mine.
And then thinking became pretty much impossible.
His lips were soft and warm, and I could feel his breath on my face. His hands pressed up against the wall on either side of my head, and without conscious thought, I reached up to twine mine around the back of his neck. My lips opened and his tongue found mine, taking the kiss deeper. His hands left the wall to cradle my face, and I pressed my body off the wall toward him, seeking more contact. I was vaguely aware there was a purpose for this kiss, a plan.
Oh, right.
Door.
Demons.
Darn it.
I pushed him gently, moving us along the wall. Our lips never disconnected, even as we spun and groped our way toward the door. Wrapping my arms tighter around his neck, my fingers found their way into the short, soft strands of his hair. His hands skated over my body before landing on my hips, guiding my movements and helping me stay upright. My heart thudded unevenly in my chest, sputtering like a car trying to start on a cold morning. I didn’t think he was consciously trying to use his power, but I could feel mortality flickering through my body, lighting every nerve on fire.
And then I felt the door handle at my back.
Reaching behind me, I twisted gently and pulled. Nothing.
Gasping lightly for breath, I disconnected my mouth from his and pulled him closer, twining my arms around him and putting my lips to his ear. “It’s locked.”
His grip on my hips tightened, and I felt more than saw his nod.
“I’m going to have to fade out to slip through it. I’ll open it for you as quick as I can, but we’ll have to deal with the demons fast. Cover my body as much as you can, maybe it’ll take them a second to realize I disappeared.”
“I’ll be ready.” He ducked his head to speak low in my ear, his body caging mine against the door.
I faded out, sens
ing Alex tense up slightly as the solid flesh he’d been pressed up against suddenly disappeared. He kept the shape of his body though, as if he were still wrapped around me against the door. Quickly, I stepped backward through the door, then faded in and grabbed the handle, pushing it open. Alex darted inside—but as the door closed behind him, I caught a flash of movement in my periphery.
A demon faded in a few feet from us. This one looked like a cross between a dog and a human, with an elongated face and pointed fangs. He fixed a leering grin on us—at least I was pretty sure it was a grin. Maybe his face was just shaped like that.
“Not supposed to be back here. Broke the rules.”
He hurled a wave of energy at us, and I quickly threw up a shield. Alex and I both stumbled back a step, but the demon’s face contorted in fury as he realized we weren’t as helpless as he’d thought. He leapt toward me, slamming my back into the wall. Grabbing his hairy forearms, I twisted and swept out my leg, catching his knee and bringing us both to the ground.
“Alex!” I called in a harsh whisper. “Now!”
33
The demon and I rolled, but he was bigger and stronger than me.
He flipped me to my back and pinned me again, his snapping jaws catching my shoulder. Pain shot through me, but I kept my arms pressed between us, stopping him from taking another bite. Alex darted up behind the demon, grasping his shoulders.
I knew the exact moment mortality hit the demon. He sat up ramrod straight, sucking in a wheezing gasp of air, like he hadn’t breathed in so many years that dust had accumulated in the pipes.
Not giving myself a chance to think, I yanked the small knife Sarah had given me from its hiding place at my hip and stabbed the demon in the throat. His breath cut off in a gurgling sound. Dark blood spurted, coursing down my hand. The demon’s body began to pitch forward, and I twisted out of the way to avoid being crushed. His lower body was still on top of me though, and it seemed to grow heavier as life fled his body.
“Um, little help here?” I gasped, looking up at Alex.
He was gaping down at me and the demon, but my words jerked him out of his reverie. Alex shoved the demon off me, flipping him over onto his back. I scrambled to my feet, wiping off my bloody hand on my skirt as best I could. It wasn’t very effective, only serving to spread the mess around.
I locked eyes with Alex. “Well, I guess we know your power works on demons.”
“Yeah.” He nodded, looking equal parts impressed and horrified at the sight of me. “You’re—kind of a badass.”
I shot him a tight grin. As pleased as I was at the compliment, if I thought too hard about what I’d just done, I’d probably barf—and considering I hadn’t eaten in over a month, I didn’t really know how that would go.
“Should we hide the body?” Alex asked dubiously, as I pulled the knife out of the demon’s neck, wiping it on the carpet.
“No time. I think it’s better if we just move fast. Hopefully Boss Man is somewhere back here and we can find him fast.”
I took in our surroundings at a glance. The hall we were in was dimly lit by a few wall sconces. With the heavy door closed, the noise of the club was muffled. No demons seemed to be stationed on this side of the door, and hopefully we hadn’t—
Another flash caught my eye. Two auras slipped through the door, one ahead of the other. I faded out quickly and saw Pearl grappling with the second demon. He suddenly stopped short, staring in shock at his buddy’s body on the floor.
“He came to see what the holdup was!” Pearl cried. “I tried to stop him.”
Her words seemed to break the demon out of his stupor, and he shook like a dog, attempting to throw Pearl off. She clung to him like a tiny English burr, wrapping her body around him. Next to us, Alex cast around the hall uselessly, trying to figure out where the hell we were.
I faded back in quickly, and his eyes snapped to me.
“What’s going on?” he demanded.
“Second demon!” I grabbed the knife from the first demon’s throat—gross, gross, gross—and called to Alex, “Stay close and be ready!”
I faded back out to discover that the demon had managed to free himself from Pearl, and was shooting blasts of energy at her, driving her back toward the door. I leapt on his back, locking my arms around him and pressing the knife to his neck. “Pearl! Help me! We need to make him fade back in.”
Understanding lit in her eyes. She ducked under his next blast, which struck the steel door with a dull thud, and darted toward him. As soon as her grip settled on his forearm, I focused on fading in and dragging the demon with me.
It worked. The demon faded slowly back into the earthly plane just as we did. He was pissed as all hell though, and struggling like a madman to dislodge me. He slammed me back against the wall, crushing me between his body and the plaster. I winced, but didn’t let the knife slip from his neck.
Alex threw his body forward, driving his shoulder into the demon’s stomach to hold him in place. We now had a nice little demon sandwich, even though I was smooshed like a slice of Wonder Bread against the wall. The demon’s body jerked as mortality flooded him, and I pressed the knife deeper into his neck.
“Where is your master?” I cried, with as much authority as I could muster from my awkward position.
“Filthy human! Filthy Guardians!” The demon shrieked, his voice much more high pitched than I would’ve expected.
Okay, this was going nowhere. It’d be nice if he gave us the secret blueprints to this whole place, but it’d be even nicer if we didn’t get caught because of the racket he was causing.
“Duck!” I warned Alex, and he lowered his body a bit, still pressing against the demon. Gritting my teeth, I drew the knife swiftly across the creature’s neck. Brackish dark blood spurted out, his body going limp. Alex stepped away quickly, and the demon slumped to the ground. Feeling a little bit flatter, I was finally able to un-smoosh myself from the wall.
The three of us stood for a second, staring at the two dead demon bodies on the floor. Alex’s back had been hit with a bit of the blood spray, and my hand was again coated in the dark liquid. We were a gruesome sight.
“They really are dead,” Pearl murmured, a note of fear in her voice. I could understand that. As someone who’d been immortal for hundreds of years, death was probably a more terrifying prospect for her than it was for most humans, who lived their whole lives with the knowledge that death was coming for them someday.
Her eyes flicked up to Alex, respect and a bit of wariness in her expression.
He didn’t seem to notice the tension in her demeanor, and instead busied himself patting down the fallen demons’ bodies.
“What are you looking for?” I asked, wiping off the knife—and my hand—on the carpet.
“Not sure. Anything useful. If they’re the security in this place, maybe they have keys or—” He cut off suddenly, lifting a small keyring out of first demon’s pocket. “Ah ha!”
“Brilliant!” If we’d had a key for this first door, the whole thing would’ve gone much more smoothly. Hopefully having unfettered access to whatever back rooms existed in this place would help.
Alex handed the keys to me, and I glanced down the hallway. It took a turn several yards away from us, so I couldn’t see where it led. We were lucky no other demons had come down the hall, but our luck wouldn’t last forever. We needed to hurry. I glanced at Pearl and Alex. “Ready?”
“I’ll stay here,” Pearl offered. “If anyone comes through here and sees the bodies, they’ll know something is wrong immediately. I can stop them from raising the alarm.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but Pearl laid a hand on my arm. “Let me help, Cam. Please.”
I didn’t like leaving anyone to do a dangerous job I’d rather do myself. I was slowly coming to realize the reason I’d always sucked so much at team sports is because I tried to play all the positions myself, even the ones I wasn’t good at. It had never worked out well, and I’d dropped out of th
e soccer league in disgrace. But I couldn’t do all the jobs here. If I tried, we’d all fail.
“Okay.” I nodded sharply. “But if you get in over your head, run, okay? Come find us, or just get the hell out of here. Don’t fight on your own.”
“Immortal, remember?” She grinned, pointing to herself.
“Yeah, well, even that’s no guarantee anymore.” I looked pointedly at Alex. “And I don’t want you disappearing off to wherever all those Guardians were taken. We need you.”
Her smile slipped, her expression sobering. “I’ll be careful.”
I wanted to hug her, but that was probably too touchy-feely for the moment. We were all pretending to be badass covert operatives, and I didn’t want to ruin the illusion by getting sentimental. Plus, my hand and skirt were still covered in blood. She probably wouldn’t welcome a hug from me right now.
So instead, I gripped her arm lightly, then met Alex’s eyes and jerked my head down the hallway. “Shall we?”
“Oh yes, let’s,” he said in a mockingly formal tone, and I laughed in spite of myself.
Leaving Pearl standing over the bodies of two dead demons, we dashed down the hall.
34
Alex and I wasted no time. We darted quickly around the corner without a glance back at Pearl.
A couple of doors dotted the dimly lit hallway. I put my ear to the first one, and when I didn’t hear anything, I tried the handle. Unlocked.
Unfortunately, the contents of the room were very disappointing. It was just a large supply closet. The second door was locked, and unfortunately, none of the keys on the keyring Alex had swiped worked. My nerves growing, I faded out and poked my head inside. It looked like an abandoned break room or something—the room was dim, but a sliver of light from under the door illuminated a couple of couches, a fridge, and a TV. Not helpful.
The third door was locked too, but this time one of the keys worked. I pushed open the heavy door, revealing the landing of a set of stairs.
