The Shikari Box Set

by Dora Blume

  “We’ll see.”

  Chapter 14

  “Jess!” Erik called up the stairs.

  “Yeah,” she said as she popped her head in the doorway.

  “Could you go search Bryant’s office? He has a black leather-bound book of old spells. It’s on the second shelf behind his desk. I know there’s one to dispossess a person but see if there’s anything like that for a large-scale area. Also, anything that can ward this place against them. We may have company soon.”

  She nodded, “On it.” She headed to the office. Erik paced outside the door. Sloane asked better questions, he learned the bulk of the demons are college students. All concentrated in one area so they won’t have to be tracked down. He also learned that the meeting Sloane saw was taking place tomorrow night. It would proceed whether they were there or not which was problematic. That meant there was someone else ready to take over if she died. He tensed at that news. He hoped that Jessie would find the spell so they could dispossess them. The woman was thinking of the other woman who would take over if anything happened to her. The first order of business was to rescue the students if possible. Erik thought he could use that against them. Apparently, several groups were meeting in different cities tomorrow to share information. He worried even further when she thought about how many leaders in the order had already been killed. No one mentioned that there weren’t any leaders for the Shikari to call for help. No wonder Bryant said they had bigger issues. They were being killed long before anyone knew what was happening. He became enraged when he learned that his own father could have been instrumental in their plot. So many trusted him because of what happened with his mother. Could that all have been a ruse? After everything that his father had taught him, he couldn’t imagine his father betraying everyone. Erik was crushed. He couldn’t fathom how Sloane would react if she thought Bryant could’ve betrayed them. She tended to shoot first, ask questions later.

  The woman was leaning forward, glaring at Sloane. Erik could hear her trying to manage the pain with her thoughts. Sloane knew how to cause immense pain. Erik didn’t mind though because he was getting the information he needed from her. He was getting images of others involved, Erik was making a mental note so they could be found. She was running through a list in her head of the other leaders. He hoped he could contact everyone to let them know about who was calling the shots. He recognized a few of the faces who were in public office. That worried him but, after this was all over, the Shikari could help the others. It didn’t matter how long it took. The Shikari would stop them, that was their job, their vow, whether some of them actually lived up to it or not.

  Sloane came out of the room. she couldn’t wait any longer. She needed to know what was going on. “What the hell, Erik? You wouldn’t have come in there if some serious shit wasn’t happening. What’s going on? Where’s Mike?” She put her hand on her hip and waited.

  “Well, we believe that the others will be informed of the couple’s whereabouts shortly and they can’t be demons when they get here. Not sure it matters all that much though because she has another in place ready to continue if something happens to her. We need to get this over with so we can stop that meeting tomorrow.”

  “Shit, it’s still happening. I was hoping by getting rid of these two we would stop the festivities. Who will be taking over?” She began pacing the hall.

  “Right now, that doesn’t matter. They need to be dispossessed before the others track them here.” Erik looked intense, so many things were racing through his head while he continued to listen to the thoughts of their captives. He was hoping for any other glimpses of information he could use.

  “Are you absolutely positive they know where they are? I mean, how could they?” Sloane couldn’t believe they would be able to find them that quickly. “The getaway was clean. No one followed us, how could they know?” She stopped pacing to look at Erik.

  “Yes, they know I’m sure of it. They can track them. Mike is sending us help but we need to make sure they have no leader when they get here. I got a lot from her head, I know most of the other demons and what’s happening in other cities. This shit is bigger than we expected. But right now, we need to worry about ourselves and our city.” Erik looked drawn he looked to the floor then back to Sloane. He couldn’t tell Sloane about who the mole could be. He was having a hard time with it himself and although she wouldn’t be as surprised as he was. He didn’t think she needed that information right now.

  “There’s something you’re not telling me.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “Sloane, shit’s about to hit the fan. Go in there and take care of her. I know you want to drag this out but you need to end it, now. We have the information, we need to save our own asses.” He was serious. They needed to be leaving or at least preparing for battle. The time for torture and information was over, now was fight or flight.

  “Alright, alright I get it.” She pulled the knife from its sheath on her hip and went in. She smiled at the woman, “I’ve been waiting for this.”

  The woman said, “Wha…”

  She jerked the knife across the woman’s throat and cut so deeply that her head fell backwards and she bled out in a matter of seconds. She walked out of the room and said, “Happy now?” She walked passed him into the other room and finished off the man in the same manner, not bothering to wipe the blood from the first kill before enacting the second. She came out of the second room, “Okay let’s go.” She headed up the stairs. “Where’s Bryant?” she asked, “He’d want to know what’s going on.”

  “He said he had some errands to run.” Erik looked to the floor but Sloane hadn’t noticed.

  “Jessie’s in his office looking for anything that could be helpful. She was bringing a spell to dispossess the two, but apparently we won’t be needing that after all.” He looked back to the rooms. “She’s also seeing if a house can be warded against demons like they warded against our powers. It’d be nice if we could come up with a mass dispossession before the meeting tomorrow.”

  “Great, that’s what you’re banking on? You’re hoping they have a weakness like we do. That’s a long shot, you know that, right?” She turned to him when she reached the top of the stairs.

  “Yes, but it’s all we’ve got right now.” He studied her.

  “No, it’s not. We have some kick ass help with some awesome powers. Did Ashley make it down yet, she said she was going to call Mike when she made it. She would be helpful. Speaking of which, where’s Mike?” Sloane looked around realizing that Erik mentioned Jessie but not Mike.

  “He went out to get some assistance.” Erik looked away, studying the marble tile on the floor.

  Sloane studied Erik and stepped forward. “Now, I know you’re hiding something. What is it Erik?” She stared him in the eye waiting for his answer.

  “Let’s get the information from Jessie and get the hell out of here before we have company.” His eyes looked away from hers.

  “Erik, you will tell me, right now!” she grabbed his chin and forced him to look her in the eye.

  “Sloane, I can’t tell you right now, it will help no one and we have bigger issues. Mike’s on it, I promise” Erik looked at her then pulled his chin away from her hand.

  She narrowed one eye slightly and studied him. She didn’t like not knowing but if Erik was holding this tight to the information there was a reason. “Fine, but as soon as I need to know you better tell me. I don’t like not knowing what’s going on. You promised, from the beginning that if I was in, I was all in and that meant sharing information. If I find out you and Bryant are keeping things from me, you will experience my wrath.” She turned and continued toward the office.

  “Well at least I’m not keeping anything as big as Bryant.” He muttered under his breath as he followed.

  “Find anything good?” Sloane asked, “Anything that will save our asses? Erik’s convinced there will be something that will save us all in these books here.” She looked back and smirked at Eri
k.

  “I found a few things that could be helpful. There are these symbols that if we write them on the wall and speak this incantation it’ll eject all the demons in the building. Okay, well it says room technically but you think that would work on an entire building?’ she looked to Erik.

  “I’m not sure, what does it say?” She flipped the book so that he could look at it. “Oh, it doesn’t say whether it will work large scale but we have to write it in blood. That could be interesting.”

  “It has to be written in blood?” Sloane leaned over Erik to read. “Well, at least it’s something. Anything else in there like that? Well minus the blood?” Sloane was curious. She hadn’t been privy to that information when they were training. Apparently, neither her mother nor father wished to share information with her.

  “There aren’t any wards like the demons had against us? I’d never even heard of that before today.” Jessie had been flipping through as many books as she could find but had come up with nothing.

  “Well then, we better get the hell out of here before we have company. Grab what you think we’ll need and let’s go” Erik went for the book that they were reading and Jessie grabbed a few others. Sloane headed out of the room.

  “Where are you going?” Erik asked as she opened the door.

  “You guys get your books, I’m headed for the weapons.” She thought her priorities were better.

  When she had duffels full of what she could carry, she headed for the door. Jess and Erik followed. Lights were pulling up the driveway. “Shit, we better find another way out cause they’re here.” Sloane turned and shut the door.

  “Shit,” Jessie peeked out the window and saw at least four cars were headed up the driveway.

  “So, is there anything in those bags we can use?” Erik asked.

  “Yes, but we’ve got more in this house.” Sloane pulled a grenade from her bag, opened the door, and threw it at the first car. She smiled when it landed on the windshield. The occupants stopped abruptly and dove out of the doors before the grenade blew.

  “Really, you just have to draw attention to yourself, don’t you? Now we not only have demons coming but we have cops. What the fuck, Sloane?” Erik shook his head at her.

  “What? I like watching things explode, can you blame me?” she smiled again as she rifled through her bag for the Uzi. She grabbed it out, hoisting it onto her shoulder. Erik moved a restraining hand on hers.

  “No!” Erik looked sternly at her.

  “Why do you always gotta ruin the fun? I never get to play with these anymore.” Sloane pouted.

  “An Uzi is not a toy and we need to get out of here before we have more explaining to do. Come on there are tunnels that lead out in the basement.” Erik led the way downstairs.

  “You guys know I could just freeze them all right? We could take them out at our leisure while they’re frozen.” Jessie followed but thought that her idea was better, that way there were fewer demons and no explanations.

  Erik turned as he thought about what she said and the implications for decimating the demons. “Jessie, you’re a genius.” He turned back toward the weapons room in the basement.

  “Oh, my favorite, are we going to have a stand-off in here? I like it.” Sloane clapped her hands together in excitement. She filled two large duffels but there were still plenty of weapons left here for the taking.

  “Yeah, kind of. Okay, we wait until they start coming into the house, then we start picking them off one by one. If we can dispossess them without hurting them, even better. Jessie you freeze and we’ll dispel the demons.” The light was back in his eye. He figured they could take care of a large part of the problem without having to kill as many of them.

  “Ah, really? We’re going to just send them on their way? I like killing them so much better.” Sloane complained.

  “Seriously, there are people in there Sloane. I know you know that.” Erik handed her a knife. “Send them back if you can.”

  Jessie looked confused, “Why don’t you just use the incantation to dispossess them. Hold on a sec.” She knelt and grabbed a book out of the sac she was carrying. “Here,” She handed Erik the book with the page marked. “This spell destroys the demon essence completely then we don’t have to worry about them coming back. It’s finally a way to get rid of them for good.”

  “How did we not know about this?” Sloane questioned.

  “Probably, because Bryant didn’t want us to know.” Erik said but realized his mistake when Sloane looked questioningly at him.

  “Why wouldn’t he want us to know about something as big as that?” They all looked up when they heard footsteps in the kitchen.

  “We don’t have time for that now. Here memorize this and let’s do this.” He handed the book over to Sloane, so she could read it a few times to herself. Hopefully committing it to memory, so they could get on with it.

  “Alright Jess, when I give you the cue head down the hall and freeze anyone you see.” He stopped and listened for a moment to make sure none of the demons had traveled down the basement steps. He’d closed the door but knew that it would only be a matter of time before the demons found them. Erik headed out and guided Sloane and Jessie up the stairs to the kitchen. Sloane readied her gun but Erik shook his head no. She shrugged her shoulders and mouthed, “What?” Erik nodded to Jessie and opened the door. Jessie froze the four demons in the room. Erik put up his finger to stop them and went out into the kitchen. It was just those four for now so he motioned for them to join him. Erik nodded to them and they each said the incantation over the possessed person. When they thought it worked Jessie unfroze the one in front of her and looked to Erik. Sloane held her gun to his head just in case.

  “Done,” he whispered. “The demon’s gone,”

  Jessie froze him again. They didn’t need any interference while they took out the others. Erik listened to see where the others were in the house. It sounded like there were at least ten others. Erik raised his fingers to show how many and pointed to the living room. Both girls nodded at him. He slowly opened the door to the living room, no one was inside, but he could hear two others in the study, talking about the books. He motioned them forward. Erik opened the door to the study and Jessie froze them. They performed the incantations and left them there frozen. As they turned to head up the stairs where the rest had been searching, Sloane’s phone went off and Erik turned his eyes wide. Superfreak filled the air and Sloane reached in her pocket to hit the side button to silence it. Jessie put her hand to her head, covering her eyes for a moment and sighed.

  “Are you fucking serious, turn that thing off.” He looked panicked as he realized they hadn’t been the only ones to hear the phone. He grabbed them and they hid in the closet under the staircase, “Okay, as soon as they all come downstairs we surprise them and Jessie freezes. Then we take care of them okay?” Erik was trying to whisper so those outside the door wouldn’t hear but realized a minute later that one of them had heard.

  “Did you hear that?” one of the possessed students asked, “I think it’s coming from over here.”

  Erik looked to Jessie, eyes wide and went for the handle. “Now,” he swung open the door and Jessie froze the room. Erik stepped out to see that everyone in the house was currently silent. Four men stood in the living room, one positioned toward the closet they’d just came from. Jessie and Sloane went to work right away, eliminating the demons.

  Jessie walked over to one of the students and began chanting but the guy grabbed her and shoved her against the wall. She hit it hard both fists slamming the wall to her sides. She slumped before regaining her footing. “You can’t freeze me, bitch. I have the mark.” He lifted his sleeve to show her a tattoo on his arm. The guy reached for her again, in a flash she twisted and flung him over her head onto his back against the wall. She leaned down to cut his throat when she heard the whistle of a bullet from a gun. She looked over and Sloane shrugged. “What?” She looked down to the guy, blood oozed from his temple and down
his ear.

  “Nice shot.” She got up and brushed her hands over her pants.

  Sloane looked at Jessie, “I know, right?” She smiled and went back to what she was doing.

  Jessie took a deep breath and continued. When they were finished, they unfroze them individually to make sure they were truly human again. One woman looked around wide eyed at the house. She looked to Sloane, who held a gun in her hand. Her eyes moved to the man on the floor and she began screaming. Jessie reached her hands up and froze her.

  “Shit,” she said.

  “What the hell is her problem?” Sloane asked.

  “Hmm, could it be the dead guy on the floor and the gun in your hand?” Erik said. He walked over and tapped the gun in Sloane’s hand. “Do you think you can put that away for a minute?”

  “No, what happens if another one of them is still demon? I need to be ready.” She huffed.

  Erik rolled his eyes, “No, you don’t. Put it in your waistband or something for now. You’re scaring them. We need to see what they remember. Jess unfreeze this guy, let’s see what he knows.” He stood in front of a blonde man. His round face looked gentle, Erik was curious if it was his innocent looks that made him a target for the demons.

  Jessie waved a hand, and the guy fell forward, catching himself at the last minute. “Hey, wha... what happened?” He looked around the room then focused on Erik.

  “Do you remember why you’re here?” Erik asked in a soft tone.

  “Yeah.” He placed his hand on the side of his head. “We came here to get her.” He looked up to Erik. “Did we get her, I know we were supposed to save her, but she was bad. I think, oh shit, I think I killed someone.” His head whipped around frantically. “Oh my God, I killed someone. Why? I couldn’t stop it but I saw the whole thing. Oh shit, I’m going to jail. My life is over. I’m only twenty years old and my life is ruined.” He dropped to the floor and began sobbing into his hands.