by Dianna Love
“He won’t.” Tzader Burke was Maistir of the North American Beladors, and one of Evalle’s two best friends. “He’ll go off on me,” Evalle assured her and hurried forward, weaving her way through miniature Santa stalkers.
If she could just catch one more flicker of change in that guy’s outward appearance, she’d know for sure what she’d seen before hadn’t been an optical illusion created by all the mash of lights around her.
Her special sunglasses shielded her eyes from normal city lights at night, but this place was uber-bright. Give her pitch dark anytime, where she could see without eye protection.
Taking off her glasses would reveal unnatural neon-green eyes, but more critical, it would leave her blind and vulnerable. As dead tired as she was, the glare from the screaming-white strings of Christmas decorations in this park might be tricking her eyes.
Wind whistled through nearby bony branches, jangling leaves that hadn’t fallen and offering an eerie background to the jolly event as Evalle moved away from the crowd noise.
She curled her chilled fingers, working out the stiffness in case she had to use the spelled dagger hidden inside her jacket.
Khaki Guy hadn’t acted like any demon she’d ever gone after.
Decisions, decisions.
There’d been no demon sightings in the Atlanta area for five whole days—until this evening here in Stone Mountain.
Everyone had thought the recent infestation had been put to bed. VIPER was adamant about getting this corner of the country back under control before the trolls made good on their threat and informed the humans that monsters lived among them.
That would be pandemonium.
The man she trailed slowed to watch a family walking toward Memorial Hall, then he kept moving.
If the potential demon-in-khaki-slacks wasn’t raising hairs on the neck of anyone in this crowd, then either this guy was just another park visitor or this group didn’t have a lick of spidey sense. As long as the coalition did its job, these people would continue to go on about their lives, content in their ignorance of anything unnatural in their world.
Keeping pace with her target but far back enough to be unobtrusive, Evalle searched ahead. The only obvious destination in his direct path was the park’s Summit Skyride, where high-speed cable cars zoomed visitors from ground level to the top of the mountain and back.
Thankfully, that attraction had been shut down for the night.
She’d heard VIPER agents rave about the view, but she’d pass. She got nauseated fifteen feet off the ground.
Strangely, she had no fear of heights when she shifted into her gryphon form and flew, but she wasn’t allowed to do that in the human world, even if no humans were around.
The guy slowed when he encountered one of the park’s uniformed personnel near the entrance to the skyride structure.
Evalle held up. The minute that security guard sent her suspect back toward the festivities, she’d return, too.
But that didn’t happen.
Khaki Guy said something to the guard, then continued walking until he stepped up on the platform that led to the parked cable cars.
Evalle picked up her pace, sliding from shadow to shadow so no one would see her using unnatural speed. When she reached the security guard, he stood perfectly still, staring straight ahead. She waved a hand in front of his face. He was breathing, but locked in time like a living statue.
She had all the confirmation she needed that Khaki Man was not what he seemed.
She sent a text to Adrianna that she definitely followed something nonhuman, but she had yet to determine what it was exactly, so stand by for an update.
Evalle shoved the phone in her back pocket and closed the distance.
Demon, troll or other, he was not disappearing again.
Chapter 2
When Evalle reached the platform, Khaki Guy was trying to open the doors on the parked cable car. They were probably powered by hydraulics.
No human could break those apart.
Khaki Guy held his hands back-to-back and pushed his palms out, inching the doors open. The mechanism controlling the gears cried in protest.
Just great.
Now she’d have to call in Sen, the VIPER liaison and a roaring pain in her backside, to fix that before she left. Sen could thaw out the security guard and purge the man’s memory while he was at it.
She called out, “You can’t ride without a ticket.”
Ignoring her, the guy leaned forward, growled in strain, and shoved the doors open with a bang before he turned around. He still looked just like Joe Suburbia, but then he opened his mouth.
Guttural demon voice came out. “Who are you?”
She respected any being’s strength, but she had to clue this creature in before he decided to go toe-to-toe with her. Sometimes clearing up any misconception saved getting her favorite clothes bloody. “My name’s Evalle. If you’ll come quietly with me, I won’t hurt you.”
“I don’t have to do what you say.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. She pulled off her dark sunglasses so he could experience the full effect of her glowing green Alterant eyes, a mark of being half Belador and half Medb. Don’t even get her started on that issue. The fact that she was an Alterant had played havoc with her life for as long as she could remember. “I’m with VIPER and I have authorization to take you in.”
He stared at her, or more like through her, not blinking, which was creepy on a human face. Then he asked, “We’ll go together?”
Did he think she worked on the honor system?
Sure, I’ll give you an address for the hidden VIPER headquarters in the North Georgia Mountains and you’ll turn yourself in while I go home and take a long hot bath.
If only. “Yes, we’ll go together.”
He nodded and turned back to the cable car.
“Hold it. This way, buddy,” she called over to him.
The words flew right past him as he climbed inside.
Just once she’d like a demon, or whatever he was, to cooperate. Evalle pulled out her dagger just to be prepared and walked over calmly, standing in front of the door. “Come on out and let’s go.”
The seats in the car lined the walls, wrapping around the inside. He sat on the far side near the front with his body leaning against the window.
Was he demented?
She’d dealt with a Cresyl demon once that had acted confused, but the Cresyl had been under a spell. A Medb spell come to think of it, from what Evalle had put together since then.
She considered using her kinetic power to lift him off the seat and float him out, but he was acting docile at the moment, which was way better than the alternative.
Agitating unknown beings often turned out badly.
Stepping inside the spacious car, she walked over until she could see his face. He lay hunched over against the window, eyes shut and breathing softly.
Asleep?
At least now she could use her kinetics to get him out of here, but that would be simpler with both hands free. She slid her dagger into the sheath inside her jacket and raised both arms shoulder high with her hands stretched toward Mr. Khaki Pants.
She powered up her kinetics, expecting him to be a lightweight, but she strained to lift him two feet off the floor, then turned to walk him toward the door. If she could get this guy away from the cable car structure and into the woods close by, she could pin him to the ground while they both waited for Sen in a spot where no one would see them.
Once she had Khaki Guy contained, she’d call Tzader telepathically and give him the location. Sen hated Evalle and would dismiss any request from her unless he thought there was a chance she’d committed a crime where he could lock her up in VIPER prison.
She’d almost reached the opening with her captive when power burst all around her in a blast of lightning bolts, knocking Evalle backwards off her feet.
She dropped her guy, who hit hard.
He bounced once and landed on
his feet as he came alive with eyes glowing bright yellow. The bottom of his face warped down and sideways, growing twice as big as it had been before. Jaws opened to reveal two rows of barracuda-sharp teeth when he roared an ungodly sound.
Now that was more like the demons she knew and loved.
He dove at her.
Chapter 3
Evalle shoved up a kinetic wall in an attempt to block the demon diving at her. He slammed against it and visible cracks splintered across the invisible shield.
What the ...
She had no way out except past that snarling jaw full of teeth and those inch-long claws. She rolled fast, toward the front of the car before he crashed through her invisible barrier and pinned her. She locked her hands in a fist and swung both arms, batting a kinetic blast at the demon.
He flew backwards and landed on the floor. Finally. She kept her kinetic wall in place just in case ...
The demon sat up.
Are you kidding me?
And ... now she could see black ears. A Réisc Dubh demon?
She’d read about them, but had never seen one because there hadn’t been any around for something like eighty years.
Sparks crackled and zigzagged back and forth through the air, buzzing close enough to singe the skin on her face and hands.
Where was that power coming from?
A spell maybe, and one that didn’t play nice with her Belador powers, because it was corrupting her kinetics. She’d pull out her dagger, but killing him had to be her last choice.
If her memory was right, Réisc Dubh demons had been created as servants or slaves, and didn’t have a lot of power.
Someone had super-juiced this one.
If she handed this demon over to Tzader alive, then the Beladors had a chance to find out if the Medb had a hand in this. There may not be a telltale burnt lime scent, but she had a strong feeling this might be another game move by the Medb.
The beast that lived inside her body surged to break out, but shifting into a gryphon would bring the wrath of VIPER down on Evalle’s head. They still had not given Alterants permission to shift while in the human realm, even though they knew she and the others were fully in control of their gryphon forms.
Nothing would change until the petition passed to recognize Alterants as a race with rights.
Shifting wouldn’t help right now anyway, because her gryphon form had a wingspan to fit a ten-foot tall shape. This car was too small to allow her to move in that form. She could, however, shift into battle form, just enough to allow her more strength.
Her arms, neck and legs thickened, straining seams on her jeans and stretching her jacket. She wrenched the jacket off and slung it aside as the demon stood and turned to face her.
The khaki pants still fit his lower, human-shaped body, but he’d ripped out of the fleece hoodie. Veins stuck out thick as fingers all over a gray-tinged chest that belonged on someone who bench-pressed three hundred pounds.
Was this really a Réisc Dubh? The black ears were the giveaway, but what was he doing so bulked up?
She’d worry about his actual identity once she had him under control.
That might have been a sound plan if the car hadn’t jerked forward right then, tossing her off balance and slamming her into the demon, who clamped down on her shoulder with sharp teeth.
Ouch, dammit.
She slammed an elbow into his middle and heard a bone crack before he went flying against the window. Her shoulder throbbed and the smell of fresh blood hit the air.
Cold wind slapped her in the face.
Sparks still shot around her like out-of-control electric charges.
Evalle spun around to the open door.
The night sky moved past her, and lights from Memorial Hall were shrinking. The cable car sped up. She sidestepped and grabbed the doorframe. Her stomach lurched at the distance growing between her and the ground. Stars danced through her vision.
Bad time to get light headed.
The headlines would read Deadly Demon Killer Succumbs to Acrophobia, Plunges to Her Death.
Her stomach did another spin cycle.
Her attacker screeched behind her.
Killing him was back on the front burner.
She turned fast, but kept a death grip on the doorframe. He held his head, shaking it back and forth. What was wrong with him? One minute asleep, the next trying to kill her, and now he acted as if he had a migraine.
He started yelling, “Your fault. Your fault.”
She had nowhere to go and didn’t want to see the world growing smaller outside the car so she stayed put.
His shouting hadn’t been so bad, but then he changed it to, “You die. You die.” His body arched and twisted, lifting inches off the floor and hanging there a moment.
This had to be the strangest demon she’d ever met.
He landed hard, as if whatever held him just let go. His chin dipped to his chest and his body moved sluggishly.
Finally, she might get the upper hand.
She risked a quick look forward. They were over halfway to the mountaintop and had a front-row view of the carving straight ahead, which was better than looking down.
Evalle eased toward the front to get away from the open door. Her palms were slick with sweat.
She’d taken two steps when darting bolts of energy burst through the air again. What the hell?
She ducked to avoid one coming at her face. Then an explosion of lights burst inside the car so bright she blinked against it.
When she could see again, the demon was on her.
A boot caught her in the chest, knocking her backwards. She hit the floor and slid sideways out the opening, clawing for anything to grab. Her fingers caught a vertical seat support at the last second, yanking her body hard as she swung into the buffeting wind. If she hadn’t changed into battle form, she doubted her arm could have held against the wind dragging her weight.
Don’t look down now or it’s all over.
The demon kept making crazy sounds she couldn’t interpret as actual words, but if she had to guess she’d say he was engaged in a one-sided argument with someone.
Forcing her free arm against the wind, she struggled to reach for a second handhold.
His head snapped up and those yellow demon eyes stared at her.
He moved forward and lifted a foot above the wrist to her only handhold.
She threw a kinetic hit with her free hand that felt as if she’d slugged a steel beam.
He stumbled back, then dropped down to all fours. Not what she’d hoped for, but in another minute they’d reach the mountaintop platform where she’d be able to stand on firm ground.
Her fingers slipped where they were clamped around the chair leg.
So much for wishful thinking. She gripped it tighter.
He snarled and crawled toward her.
The platform came into view, but Stone Mountain was a volcanic burp that had resulted in a rounded shape. She had to let go before smashing into the structure that would break every bone in her lower half, but not until the top area leveled out. Drop down too soon and she’d miss the fence circling the crest of the mountain and slide off the side with nothing to push her kinetics against to break her fall.
And this creature would escape.
Protecting humans came before delivering evidence of who created this thing.
Evalle dropped her free hand out of sight and called her dagger to that hand, clamping her fingers around the grip when it touched her palm.
The demon opened his jaws, saliva streaming down in long drips.
Yellow eyes on fire.
Her handhold slipped again and her heart tried to climb into her throat.
Getting back inside the car was out of the question. She had to time her jump so she landed safely and on her feet. The last gigantic cable support tower at the top of the mountain came into view. The ground would level off on the other side.
Thirty more seconds and ...
The
demon lunged faster than he’d moved the whole time and chomped down on her injured shoulder again. Pain burned through her muscles.
She swung hard and stabbed him between the eyes, ordering her dagger, “Stay!”
He screamed and jumped back, grabbing at the dagger and yanking. A futile effort. That dagger would only come out when she ordered it to do so.
Her grip slipped to a three-finger hold. She looked down in a panic.
Stone Mountain curved away.
What were those spikes shooting up from the base of the cable tower? The front of the car reached the tower and bounced, causing the car to jerk and sway.
A whip of wind slammed her sideways and snatched her loose.
No, no, no.
She shoved her kinetics at the tower and pushed away from the spikes just in time ... flying backwards. Her back struck the top of the chain-link fence that would have stopped her from falling if she’d come down inside it.
She hit, bounced and landed, rolling.
Downhill.
Wrong direction.
Swinging her arms out, her good one whacked a pine tree with a trunk an inch thick. Enough to grab and flip over to her stomach.
The tree snapped and she was back to scrambling for a handhold anywhere. She bumped over craters in what was otherwise a relatively smooth surface compared to most mountains.
Her shirt bunched and rock raked her exposed stomach. She dragged her hands, fingers digging for any purchase in the unyielding stone.
Lightning strikes had pockmarked the mountain’s face with the sporadic craters, and rough edges raked her clothes and tore her skin.
She slapped at any imperfection in the smooth surface for a handhold. Four fingers snagged another pine tree, this one with a thicker trunk but still only six feet tall.
Good news? It was her uninjured shoulder. She wheezed and panted, dragging deep breaths in and out.
She’d noticed this tiny line of trees beneath the cable lines earlier, when she’d looked up at the mountain from below, and thought it amazing that anything could grow on this slick rock.
Chugging in another gulp of air, she thanked her lucky stars something had grown here.
The damn tree trunk creaked, threatening to give way.
