“Wow. I thought you might be bluffing.”
Denny shook her head. “I don’t want anything to do with this demon shit. I just want my sister, my lover, and my life back.”
“I’ll bring your sister to you. Have the book ready for me. You must actually hand it to me.”
“How come?”
“It can’t be found, can’t be stolen, can’t be taken, or it turns to dust. You must voluntarily hand it over.” He looked at her. “He didn’t tell you that, either, did he?”
“Apparently, there’s a pretty long list of things he didn’t tell me. Don’t worry. I’ll have the book. You just bring my sister.”
“She’s not far. I’ll be right behind you.”
Mike followed Denny to her car. Once she was in, he bent over and leaned on the open driver’s window “If you change your mind, or foolishly think you can take me out without your weapons, I’ll kill you, your sister, your lover, your other sister, and every friend you hold dear. Understand?”
Denny nodded. “Just get this thing out of me and never bother me again and I’ll give you whatever the fuck you want.”
***
She’d never driven the Prius so fast. In front of the house, she screeched to a halt and, almost before the car stopped rolling, she jumped out. She raced up the stairs and found Brianna and Cassandra sitting on the floor in Rush’s old bedroom.
“Can you guys get Rush out of there or not?”
Cassandra nodded “Absolutely. We’ve done a cursory evaluation of the demon holding Rushalyn, and its power has waned since our initial encounter. As a duplo, the demon loses power the longer it is away from its other half. I believe we can successfully save her if we have a diversion.”
“Good. Look. Shit’s going down in less than ten minutes. I need you both to focus on your task and––”
Cassandra held up her hand. “This isn’t our first rodeo, hunter. You do whatever you need to do to handle whatever is following you. Let Brianna and me handle this.”
Brianna nodded. “We’ve got this, hon. I promise.”
Denny returned Brianna’s nod before reentering the lair.
“Okay. Okay.” Denny ran her hands over the spines of the books to find the thickest book she had. “Come on, Golden, think. You can do this.”
There.
A book about the history of the supernatural. She ripped it from the shelf and tucked it under her arm. Her heart thumped in her chest. She knew this was a crap shoot. She knew it was a risk, but it was all she had.
“He’s coming. Are you two ready?”
“All over it, hunter.”
“Denny?”
Denny stopped and turned. “Yeah?”
“We have your back. You have to believe that.”
“Thank you.”
Denny stood on the porch waiting. Mike Cockerton finally pulled up in front of the house, and she thought she would faint from relief when she saw Pure in the front seat of the Camaro.
Before Pure could open the door, Mike grabbed her arm and pulled her out through the driver’s side.
“Pure? You okay?” Denny asked. She noticed her voice changing slightly. The warm honey feeling starting at the base of her skull. The Hanta hated Mike Cockerton.
Pure’s wide-eyed stare and her silence told Denny she wasn’t all right.
“It’s fine, sis, really,” Denny said, fighting for control of her vocal cords. “Just trust me.” Everything’s going to be all right. I swear.”
Mike stood with his hand on the back of Pure’s neck. “That the book?”
“It is.”
“Let me see it.”
Denny shook her head. “Pure comes up here first.”
Mike hesitated a moment before nodding once and letting Pure go.
Pure ran up the steps and threw her arms around Denny, but Denny did not return her hug.
“Go upstairs and stay upstairs,” she whispered. “Lock the front door behind you. Do not come out. You understand me?”
Pure pulled away and looked at her. “Denny, your voice––”
“Go!” Denny roared. Pure scurried into the house; the ominous sound of the lock clicking told Denny it was time.
She walked down the steps, one at a time, her eyes riveted on Mike Cockerton, who waited a couple of feet below her. She could feel his excitement––his anticipation at getting his hands on the legacy book. “You’ll need to come upstairs. The lair is in the attic.”
He looked up at the house. “Once I have the book, I can remove the Hanta that plagues you and then I’ll be on my way.” He held his hand out for the book. “I gave you my word.”
When she reached the bottom step, she held the book out to him. “You know, the one thing I’ve learned from my Hanta is that the word of a demon doesn’t mean jack shit.” Denny paused and glared at him. “You’re all lying pieces of crap.” Then she dropped the book on the ground. “You want it so badly, pick it up yourself, motherfucker.”
Cockerton looked down at it for only a moment. “You stupid, stupid bitch. Do you really think I was kidding when I said I will kill everyone you hold dear?” He took a step forward. “I will tear each and every one of your––”
The sound of heavy thundering feet drowned out Mike Cockerton’s sentence. A moment later, Pat Patterson lowered his shoulder and drove it hard into Mike’s chest. The sound of Mike’s bones cracking could be heard as the two men tumbled to the ground.
Mike landed ten feet away and was struggling to get up. Pat winced as he straddled him, hitting him again and again with his meaty fist. “Stay the fuck down, asshole.”
The element of surprise gave Denny the moment’s reprieve she needed and she pulled her real weapons from her vest.
Cockerton howled a preternatural sound, but Pat tightened his arms around him as well. “Calm down, buddy, or this is only gonna get worse. You ain’t goin’ nowhere,” Pat growled into the demon’s ear. “Just calm the fuck down.”
Cockerton struggled for another moment before he stopped fighting and looked over at Denny. “Don’t be a fool, Golden Silver. I will kill every single thing you hold dear, starting with this ape.”
Denny quickly strode over to him, her weapons in both hands. “You’re a piece of shit, and I am sending you to hell.”
Cockerton lifted a leg and kicked Denny in the stomach. As she doubled over, he head-butted Pat’s face. Pat released Cockerton and brought his hands to his face and his broken nose. Blood flowed down Pat’s mouth and chin.
Before Pat could focus back on Cockerton, the demon slammed a fist into Pat’s face, and down he went.
“Mother...fucker.” Denny struggled through the pain to stand up.
“Big mistake,” Cockerton growled, his red eyes visible in the dark. “You sent a human after me? That just shows how out of your league you are, you stupid bitch.”
Denny assumed the stance, her hands clenching her weapons in front of her, but keeping them closed. She could not kill him yet. “You need me for the book.”
“That deal’s off the table.”
“Is it? Pure doesn’t know where it is. Neither does Sterling or Quick. You want the fucking book, you’re gonna have to trust me to take you to it.”
“I think your other sister knows. It’ll take more time to grab her away from the church, but I’ll get her. I’ll get her and fuck her first, just like I did––”
The warm honey became a fire and Denny hurled herself at Mike, her heels connecting with his soft tissue. He countered, she struck, and Denny knew he probably had the upper hand in hand-to-hand combat, but she could not use her weapons just yet.
Not yet.
“Give it up, Silver. All you can do is delay the inevitable. I have your weapons. I don’t know what the fuck those are, but if you use them, everyone you know is dead.”
She knew she could not defeat him this way, but before she could snap her wrist, one massive punch in the mouth sent Denny onto her back, where she lay, semi-conscious, staring up
at the moonlight sky.
She had failed.
Hanging on to the remnants of her consciousness, she felt the Hanta willing her, urging her to get up.
“I’m gonna kill your little sister, you fucking bitch, and then I’m gonna kill all your friends.” He kicked the phony legacy book as he started up the steps. “But first, I am going to tear Pure in half.”
With the edges of her vision graying and blurring, she tried to focus on the hazy moon, but was losing the battle.
She’d fucked this up six ways to Sunday. She’d overestimated her own ability and placed her friends and family in danger. Could she be any more stupid?
Inside, she felt the Hanta prodding her.
She couldn’t get up.
She was pretty certain Mike had kicked her spleen through her liver. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply, and it hurt. It hurt bad.
“Get up.”
Denny wondered if the Hanta could talk. It wouldn’t surprise her.
“Come on, baby, get up.”
Denny’s eyes popped open. “Rush?”
Rush hovered over her, her face a mask of concern. “He’ll kill Pure, baby. You have to get up. You have to get up right now before the two halves of the duplo reunite. Hurry.”
Denny painfully rolled to her side. The sound of the front door breaking resounded through the air.
“Hurry, love. Please hurry.”
Denny pushed herself to her hands and knees. She was sure she had a cracked a rib or three. Pain shot through her temple. “You...okay?”
Rush floated to the steps. “I’m fine. I’m dead. I’d rather your sister and friends not join me. Please baby, go now.”
Denny winced and grabbed her aching side as she stood up. It felt like someone had shoved a glowing fire poker in her side. It burned, it ached, it felt like her ribs were sticking out her side, but she managed to stumble to the steps.
“Hurry.”
“I’m trying. I just got my ass kicked.”
“Get your kicked ass up the stairs.”
Denny knew she didn’t have it in her to go after Cockerton again. There was only one way...one way she could save them all. She knew Ames would be disappointed with her—angry, even, but she didn’t care. She was too injured to do this alone.
But she wasn’t alone. She probably never would be again
In that one split-second decision, Denny closed her eyes and let go. Completely let go. She felt the Hanta step up, as she knew it would. She felt it take over her entire being.
She needed the Hanta Raya––needed it to go after Cockerton.
Her muscles filled with blood and her bones began to heal. She raced up the steps after Cockerton, leapt through the busted front door and saw him making his way up the stairs. She immediately followed and, passing by Rush’s old room, was relieved to see that Brianna and Casandra were gone and Pure was nowhere to be seen.
Denny snapped her wrists forward and let her weapons snap and bite at the air, hungry for action. Fouet and Épée sizzled and crackled as the Hanta’s strength flowed freely through her.
Her pain gone, Denny started after him.
“Stop right there, motherfucker,” she commanded. Fouet sizzled with living energy, moving without Denny’s help, seemingly alive.
Cockerton stopped at the door to the master bedroom and turned. He looked surprised to see the weapons. “You’re gonna need more than those antiquated weapons, Silver. You’re a fool if you think you can stop me. Walk away now or you’re a dead woman.”
Denny stepped toward him, slowly, deliberately. “I was a fool all right, but not for the reasons you think. I’m gonna send you back to hell, you fucking piece of shit demon.”
Cockerton waited, his arms folded across his chest. “It’s going to be a pleasure killing you and your family.”
Denny whipped Fouet and it split the air, leaving a scent of sulphur. “You’re dreaming, butt-munch. When I’m done with you, I’ll be able to feed every dog in this neighborhood.”
Cockerton laughed. “Bring it, Noob.”
Denny snapped Fouet around Cockerton’s ankle and pulled the chain blade, flipping him hard onto his back. She briefly wondered why it didn’t cut through his ankle, but then, she didn’t really care. She would destroy him.
Cockerton didn’t stay down long, but long enough for Denny to get to him. As she brought Épée down toward his neck, he rolled out of the way and sprang to his feet. Épée missed by mere inches. He was incredibly nimble for his size and Denny had to keep reminding herself he wasn’t human.
They stood face to face, Denny with her weapons, and Cockerton with his glowing red eyes and ham-fisted mitts.
“You don’t have it in you, Silver. The killing, the constant deaths, the fear. You can walk away now. Save yourself. Save your family. It’s not too late. You can still walk away.”
“Can I?”
He nodded. “Just hand over the book and no one gets hurt.”
Denny slashed at him with her sword but missed. Cockerton countered with a blow to her chest, staggering Denny backwards, but she didn’t let go of her weapons.
“You don’t even know how they work.” He shook his head. “You’re so outclassed here. I’ll give you one more chance before I kill you, your sister, your––”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you need a new schtick.” Denny snapped the whip and it bit into Cockerton’s ear as he barely managed to duck.
“Son of a bitch.” Cockerton dove at her. Épée sliced through his jacket but did not cut all the way through to taste flesh.
Her weapons barely slowed Cockerton at all. Was it because he was a higher class of demon?
She slammed into a back wall.
He shoved his forearm against her neck and smashed her into the wall again, lifting her off the ground.
Denny couldn’t breathe. She tried to kick him but he rammed his knee into her.
He was too close for Denny to use her weapons even if her body were in a position to use them. Her air was gone. She felt her face turning red, her eyes watering. Denny dropped her weapons, thinking for sure he would release her when she dug her thumbs into his eye sockets.
He did not.
Instead, he buried his right fist into her diaphragm. What air she had left was expelled from her body, her hands now clawing at his forearm. She knew she would lose consciousness soon.
“Fucking rookie. What a joke.”
Before Denny completely lost consciousness, she saw Pure come up behind him. She wielded the base of a lamp which she cracked over his head.
He went down on one knee, his head bleeding from a four-inch gash.
Pure raised the lamp for a second time but his right arm shot out and hit her so hard her head hit the wall. She slid down it, unmoving.
“Pure!” Denny tried to go to her sister, but Cockerton grabbed her ankle and tripped her.
As she fell, her left hand found Épée.
Cockerton straddled her back. She swung Épée in an arc over her shoulder and was able to hit his back with the sword, but it wasn’t enough.
Nothing was going to be enough.
And that was the moment Denny knew she was going to die.
He grabbed her hair, pulled her head back, but before he could slam her face into the floor, an invisible force pushed him across the room and pinned him against the guest room door.
“Hurry.” Cassandra’s voice. “Get out. Everyone, get out.”
Denny rolled over and saw Brianna and Cassandra standing with their arms outstretched. Something happened in that moment. Denny knew she wasn’t alone in this supernatural world. She had just the help she needed to finish this fight. “Get Pure out of here. Lock yourselves in the bathroom. I got this.”
Brianna and Cassandra didn’t hesitate as they dragged Pure back into the bathroom and closed the door.
Denny picked up Fouet and snapped it to life. She stood with her feet apart and both weapons at the ready.
“Like you said, asshole...bri
ng it.”
Cockerton pushed himself up, his chest heaving. “You’re a crazy bitch.”
Denny felt the Hanta’s energy flow across her chest, down her arms, and down her legs. She stood now, hunter ready to take down her prey.
There was no fear.
None.
She was truly the demon hunter, her quarry less than twelve feet from her and she had no doubt he would die. This was her game now. Hers and the Hanta’s.
Game.
“What are you waiting for?”
Cockerton grinned. “Your Hanta is showing.”
“My Hanta is going to kick your fucking ass.”
Cockerton flung himself at her, a growl emanating from his throat.
Denny snapped Fouet around as if she’d been wielding it her entire life. When Cockerton lunged for her, she stepped aside and brought Épée down hard across his wrist, cutting off his hand.
He howled, his hand landing with a sickening thud on the floor.
Denny twisted around and whipped Fouet toward his hamstrings. The chain-blade ripped through his pants, slightly biting into his leg.
“Son of a bitch!” He cried, whirling around. “You fucking bitch!”
Denny laughed a laugh that would never be hers. “Piece by piece, pencil dick, I’m gonna take you out. I warned you your death would not come easily, so come on, motherfucker.” Denny whipped Fouet back and forth; it sliced and sizzled in the air. “Show me what you got before I take it all from you, you pathetic piece of demon shit.”
“You are as foolish as your mother and as stupid as your brother. Azeroth will take you apart and scatter your limbs to the––”
Fouet slashed through the air, nearly severing Cockerton’s arm. He screamed and then grimaced then glared at her.
“Don’t you ever talk about my mother again.” Denny stepped closer. The air around them was thick. “You ever mention her name and I swear I’ll rip your tongue from your mouth and eat it in front of you.” The Hanta grew stronger.
Cockerton lowered his head. “You humans are loyal to a fault. It is why your mother died, you know? Or don’t you know? She was so foolish. She put her life in the hands of the one person who would destroy her. And he did. Stupid, fucking––” Cockerton moved toward her. She surprised them both by leaping in the air and connecting her heel against his temple. He hit the stair railing, flipped backwards over it, and landed on his head, which split like a coconut. Denny looked over the railing as she put Fouet back in her vest.
Darkness Descends (The Silver Legacy Book 1) Page 25
