“There’s a demon in the town square,” I blurted loudly, and the snake-bear demon’s amber eyes fell on me. I swallowed hard, holding on to my veggie lasagna and willing it to stay put in my belly.
A pause. “Who is this?” His voice sounded irritated.
Damn him. I really didn’t have time for this. Ronin cut me a look, making me wonder if his list of vampire abilities included acute hearing.
“Does it matter?” my voice rising. “There. Is. A. Demon. In. The. Town. Square,” I repeated, enunciating each word.
The snake-bear demon stepped forward, a pair of pixie legs disappearing into its mouth. Its eyes never left me as it tilted its head in a way I didn’t like. I felt like it was contemplating whether to ditch the pixies and come after me.
The demon hacked and a green ball shot from its mouth to land on the ground a few feet away from us. It hit the ground and promptly flattened in a puddle of noxious-smelling goop that looked like the digested parts of a few pixies.
“Okay, gross.” Now I was going to puke.
“Is this Tessa?” asked Marcus, a note of casual disdain to his voice.
My queasiness vanished. This guy really knew how to push my buttons. “Just get here. Now!” I hung up and dropped my phone in my bag. No point in hearing his reply. I did my part. If he didn’t show up, he’d have the town to deal with later.
“Tess! Watch out!” cried Ronin as he leaped sideways.
I barely had a chance to look up as the giant snake-bear demon came at me like a raging bull. My night was just getting better.
So, what do you do when a large demon from the Netherworld is charging at you, its eyes gleaming with hunger?
You get off your ass and you run. That’s what you do.
Ronin beat me to it. His long legs propelled him a lot faster than mine did and with an unreal grace, like his supernatural vampire speed on high. Plus, I had my bag to lug along, making it more difficult, not to mention awkward, to run. Adrenaline pumping, I ran as fast as I could, pushing my thighs to their limits with just one thought in my head.
How do you kill a demon? I had no freaking clue.
“Get back!” I shouted, waving my arms around as I, unfortunately, ran toward the crowd of curious townspeople. I came barreling down the street as the crowd scattered like frightened mice with a cat on the prowl.
Ronin was a good fifty feet ahead of me, that lanky bastard.
The sound of nails tearing up the pavement sounded behind me followed by a low hissing so close, it was almost like cold fingers at the nape of my neck. The damn thing was going to eat me.
I threw myself behind a park bench, just as I felt claws ripping the back of my jacket. I fell to the ground and rolled, coming up on my knees and whirling around.
The snake-bear demon opened its maw and let out a sound that was part roar, part hiss, and scary as hell.
“You’re an ugly SOB. Aren’t you?”
The demon hurled itself at me with a bellow, rearing up on its hindmost legs. It plunged at me, jaws gaping.
I wasn’t about to let it eat me.
I kicked out with my legs and struck the creature’s jaws with a crunching impact as my boot made contact. The demon stumbled back, giving me those few precious seconds to get my butt off the ground.
I pushed myself up, pirouetted like a dancer (don’t ask), and started running again. I ran in fear without knowing where I was going. I just wanted to live. Living was good.
Plus, I did not want to die, eaten by an ugly snake-bear demon.
Just when I realized I’d lost sight of Ronin, searing pain assaulted my back, as though someone had just slammed knives into my skin.
I cried out and pitched forward on the hard pavement, tearing up my jeans, the flesh from my knees, and my palms as I tried to brace for impact. Didn’t work.
My book slipped from inside my bag and landed before me.
I braced for the feeling of claws tearing into my flesh and razor-sharp teeth biting my skin. But it didn’t come.
“Take that. And that. You want some more? Here you go. Boom! That’s how you do it!”
I spun around. Ronin had a broom in his hand, and he was smacking the demon with it.
The guy was nuts. But he’d also probably saved my life.
Ronin rushed up behind the demon, and it turned to follow him, its huge jaws snapping in rage. In a burst of vamp speed, Ronin darted back, staying just ahead of the thing’s jaws as he swung the broom like he would a baseball bat.
Ronin flashed me a confident smile. “See that? I’ve got him.” He turned and hit the demon across the head with the broom again. “This way, you stinky bastard. You want a piece of me? Do ya? Do ya?”
Grimacing, I stood and grabbed my spell book while I still could. My back was still flaming with what I could only assume were deep gashes made by the demon’s sharp claws.
Ronin bounced and danced around the demon, hitting it at every turn and laughing like a crazed person. “I could beat you with my eyes closed.” He swung again—
And then the demon caught the broom in one of its front paws and yanked it out of Ronin’s grasp, as though Ronin wasn’t even holding it.
“Oh, shit,” he breathed.
The demon picked up the broom in its mouth, clamped down hard with its powerful jaws and snapped the broom in half like it was a toothpick.
Ronin stepped back and caught up to me. “If you’ve got something in that book of tricks that can kill a demon, do it now.”
Breathing hard, I held my spell book close to my chest and flipped through the pages to look for a spell, which was almost impossible to do while looking up every other second to see if the giant snake-bear demon was about to take a chunk out of my soft flesh.
The demon took a last bite of the broom and then its glowing amber eyes fixated on us.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
“Hurry up,” said Ronin, jogging on the spot and looking ready to bolt again. “It’s looking at us… it’s still looking at us.”
My heart slammed against my ribs. “I’m going as fast as I can. But it would go faster if I knew where to look.” Damn it. I needed more training. “Where the hell is the chief?” Marcus should have been here by now. That he wasn’t told me he didn’t take me or my call seriously.
It also told me he wasn’t coming.
My adrenaline masked some of the pain in my back. If I lived through the night, tomorrow would hurt like a bitch.
“It’s too late for him,” warned Ronin. “It’s coming.”
My pulse skyrocketed at the tension in Ronin’s voice, and I looked up from the book.
The demon pushed off the ground and came at us in a blur of scales, dark fur, and claws. Fury flashed in the demon’s eyes. It was either really pissed or really hungry. Possibly both. We would not survive this.
I had a small freak-out moment. I think I even peed a little.
Damn it. “I need a spell to kill a demon!” I shouted and started backing away, still holding the spell book in front of me like a shield.
A flutter of energy spindled around me and the book opened on its own, like invisible hands flipped the pages, searching for something. After a second, the pages stilled, and the book fell open. I stared at the page titled How to Vanquish a Demon.
“Nice.”
Ronin eyed the book and shook his head. “Witches.” He stepped away from me and said, “I’ll keep it busy while you do your spell.”
I stared at the vampire. “What? Are you crazy? How are you going to manage that? You’ve lost your broom.”
Ronin’s eyes dilated and flashed to black. He raised his hands as talons sprouted from his fingertips, and he gave me a finger wave.
I pursed my lips. “That was unexpected.” I watched, half amazed, half nervous as the half-vampire flew at the demon, his sharp talons extended.
The demon was too focused on me to notice the vampire until he was on him.
The demon let out a shrieking sound of pain as Ronin
ripped into its left eye with his talons, pulling out its eye. Black blood gushed through the hole that once held a red eye.
I wanted to keep watching, but I still had a job to do.
Reading down the list of different spells to kill a demon, I opted for the easiest, the fastest, and the one that didn’t require any additional ingredients that I didn’t have in my possession at the moment.
I found it. “Bingo.”
Chalk in hand, I dropped to my knees and drew a circle—more of an oval really—large enough for a person to step into—me. Not all witches needed to do this step, but seeing as I was inexperienced, I thought it best to protect my ass first and then move on with the spell.
Another loud shriek pulled my attention back on the demon. The snake-bear demon’s face was trickling in black blood. Both eyes had been torn out, and the demon flailed around wildly, striking blindly with heavy sweeps of its arms.
Working fast, I finished drawing the Circle of Solomon, the magical circle of protection against demons, with all the added Latin names and symbols.
I stared down at my handiwork and cringed. “A five-year-old could have done better.” I doubted it would work, but I didn’t have time to draw up another one.
Pulling my eyes away from the worst protection circle in the history of witches, I steadied myself and drew in my will. Focusing on the incoming energy soaring through me and continuing to build, I stepped inside the circle.
My skin prickled, energy rolling all over my body like tiny needle pricks. I wasn’t sure if that was normal or not. Oh well.
Next came the invocation words, the big boys that would hopefully destroy the demon. I looked at the page again, found the words I needed to recite, and took another breath.
A sharp cry of pain pulled my attention back up.
The demon’s snake tail caught Ronin in the chest. He flew at the nearest electrical post, half spinning in the air, and hit hard. He slid to the ground and didn’t move.
“Ronin!” I shouted. Killing the only friend (if I could even call Ronin that after the few hours we’d spent together) I had in this town, was a big no-no.
My breath hissed in through my nose and I stiffened, almost falling as my anger shifted.
My sudden scream had gotten the demon’s attention. It couldn’t see, but it had heard me.
Nice going, Tessa.
Like a bull, the demon pushed off with its back legs and shot toward my voice and me standing in the circle.
Oh. Shit.
A second moment of panic. My mind had gone blank. Fear could do that to a person. Blinking, I stared at the page with the spell, the sound of claws tearing up the payment loud in my ears and making it hard to concentrate.
I opened my mouth and cried, “By my will and the powers of the elements—”
The force of a bus knocked me off my circle, and I landed hard on the ground. I wasn’t sure how I knew what to do, but I just did, as my arms came up and I held on to the demon’s head, keeping it from tearing my jugular.
The creature reeked like it had been spawned in the Netherworld’s bowels, but I hung on. If I let go, I was dead.
The demon screamed and thrashed its head, its jaws snapping an inch from my face as strings of yellow spit fell on my face right before its gray tongue slapped me. I gritted my teeth, grabbing the demon’s head with both hands. I might as well have been trying to push over a car with my pinkies.
My eyes watered, and my arms shook under the weight of the beast. I didn’t have the supernatural strength of a werewolf or a vampire, nor did I have the fighting skills of a warrior or a hunter. All I had were my wits.
And a spell I had somehow mesmerized.
Don’t ask me how. I had no idea. But I could see the words clearly in my mind as though I were staring at them on the page.
With the last of my breath, I wheezed, “By my will and the powers of the elements, obliterate demon!”
Energy coursed through me at my will, and a spark leaped up from my core to the tips of my fingers. Magic boomed, and I felt the power hit the demon with a jolt like a sledgehammer.
The pressure on my chest disappeared as the snake-bear demon fell back. I could breathe again. I took giant gulps of lovely, lovely air and sat up.
The demon staggered, wreathed in a corona of blinding energy. The night was lit like it was midafternoon, and I had to shield my eyes against it. When I could see again, the demon’s body was extending and collapsing, its limbs shrinking and elongating, as though it didn’t know whether to be a serpent or a bear.
The demon struggled and screamed, its limbs and tail thrashing and flailing. Its body rippled and grew as though it had swallowed a pool of water.
And then it exploded in a burst of black demon blood and guts.
I had the good sense to close my mouth and eyes, but I still got hit with it.
I jerked back as the mess of sloppy innards fell on me like a pot of hot soup. But it wasn’t soup. And I won’t even begin to describe what it smelled like.
“I’ll never get the smell out of my hair.” I scooped what I could from my eyes and blinked. When I could see again, a shape leered over me.
Marcus stood over me, a smile on his stupid handsome face. “Looks like I got here just in time.”
I spat on the ground. “Bite me.”
10
“Order! I will have order!” shouted Gilbert as he slammed his gavel on the desk and scowled at the crowd, his face an ugly red. The expression made him into a mass of wrinkles. He sat behind a long table with Martha and Marcus sitting on either side of him.
The Hollow Cove Community Center was packed with two hundred bustling residents. It looked like the entire town had crammed in. Most of them were standing along the back and side walls because there weren’t enough chairs for everyone.
“He looks constipated,” commented Ronin next to me as he popped a gummy bear into his mouth from the bag on his lap.
“There is that,” I said. The vampire looked fine apart from a small purple bruise on his forehead that seemed to get smaller every time I glanced at it. Vampire mojo crap, no doubt. My back still throbbed from where the demon had clawed it, but it was a lot better after Ruth had applied a healing ointment.
The vampire had saved my keister. If I hadn’t been sure we were friends before, that had done it.
I let out a sigh and looked around. Fear was the winning emotion on the faces of all the townspeople, and they seemed to harbor the nervous energy of spooked kittens. I didn’t blame them. Something was happening to their town, and it wasn’t good.
After we’d defeated the demon, I’d stayed and helped Martha and a few others pick up the still unconscious pixies out of the streets and lay them carefully on a spot on the grass where they wouldn’t get trampled. We were careful not to tear or damage their delicate wings. When I was done, I’d rushed back to Davenport House and took a shower the moment Ruth had finished with her ointment and most of the wounds had scarred over. It had been a quick, two-minute shower since my aunt Dolores had practically dragged me out, naked and wet, howling that we were going to miss the town meeting if I didn’t hurry.
“I don’t care if I have to drag you naked myself!” she’d told me. Right. Like that was going to happen. The witch was mad.
A pretty blonde in the aisle next to us kept throwing smiles over her shoulder to Ronin, whose own smug smile kept getting wider and wider, almost to his ears.
“If you keep smiling like that, you won’t feel your face anymore,” I laughed.
Ronin kept his eyes on the blonde as he said, “What can I say? I’m the delectable flavor of the hour. The ladies love a strong, muscled hero.” I couldn’t help notice how his tone had deepened.
News of his battle with the demon had spread like a bushfire in the town, awarding him much attention from the opposite sex. Like right now.
I spotted the same girl I’d seen earlier tonight. Though this time she was glowering at Gilbert like she wanted to spit in his
face. I liked this little girl.
“Who’s the little girl?”
“Oh, her? That’s Sadie. She’s a witch, like you. Both parents were killed by demons three weeks ago. Martha offered to take her in. Poor kid. She looks pretty messed up. She hasn’t said a word since her parents died. They think she witnessed the whole thing.”
My heart clenched at his words, and I felt a deep sadness for Sadie. I didn’t think a person could ever get over something like that. “Damn.”
“Damn is right. When you think about it, this entire town is made up of cast-offs and orphans. It’s a haven for rejected paranormals, those who don’t have a pack or a community. Most of us are here because our own community shunned us.”
Ronin’s smile faded, and I could see a history of pain behind his eyes. I contemplated asking him about his past, but now wasn’t the best time.
“Exciting, isn’t it?” Ronin offered me the bag of gummy bears as his smile returned.
I grabbed a handful. “Not sure giving Gilbert a gavel was such a good idea. Look at him. There’s a manic glee in his eyes,” I said, as Gilbert pounded his gavel like he was hammering a nail.
Ronin laughed, easing my nerves a little. “Maybe they shouldn’t have voted him mayor.”
I choked on my gummy bears. “He’s…” I coughed. “…the mayor?”
“Has been for the last five years,” said Ronin between chews. “Love these meetings. Wait till he and Martha argue about the proper mowing height of grass.” His white teeth flashed. “We’ve got great seats.”
“Keep talking, Ronin,” growled my aunt Dolores on my left side, next to Beverly and then Ruth, “and I’ll give your seat to Brendan.”
Ronin flashed her a smile, one I suspected he used on the ladies. “Yes, ma’am.”
I felt eyes on me and darted my gaze back to the front. Marcus was watching me across the table, his gray eyes narrowed. His lips were pressed tightly, his expression irate as if this was my fault. Whatever this was.
My heart sped up, and I had to strain to keep from shifting in my seat. A rush of fluster ran through me, and I loathed that he had that effect on me. The guy was a jackass. If he thought he was intimidating me with his glare, or his fine looks, he didn’t know me. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared right back until he looked away. I win.
Shadow Witch (The Witches of Hollow Cove Book 1) Page 7
