“Is this some kind of act?” someone asked in the crowd. I looked around at everyone, I didn’t even know this many people lived in Denver until now.
“How did he do that?” Tess whispered to me. “What’s going on?” There was a helplessness in her voice that I hated to hear. Where was Ryan? I figured he would have gone searching for Tess, but she was right here.
“Are you so desperate that you want to resort to this?” Killian asked Fear. Fear’s eyes looked a darker shade of red as he glared at Killian. “Even demons have rules about showing themselves to humans—which is why the mark even exists so that demons can’t wreak havoc on the human world. It’s over, Marcus, your death is here.”
Fear laughed. “Which is why I searched for the Vessel—why I was meant to be Grim!” he screamed. “Satan is a terrible ruler of the Underworld, if I were to takeover, I would’ve let demons do as they wished. Humans have always been beneath us, we shouldn’t have to hide in the ground for their sake.”
Killian shook his head. “I can’t believe I chose to ignore the kind of monster you were before, Marcus, but I won’t anymore.” Fear’s tail shot out toward Killian and he caught it with his hand. They glared at each other. “Besides, do you honestly think Heaven would sit back and do nothing if that were to ever happen?”
Fear’s eyes lit with madness. “I don’t see them doing anything right now.” He ported again and Killian faded right after him. People were freaking out and looking around for them, as was I.
Swords clashed—everyone looked to the library. Killian was Grim now as their swords met on the slanted roof. Everyone was screaming, some were smart enough to run away. But not enough.
“I’m going to enjoy taking your life, Marcus, and when you’re gone, Fear will go back into the darkness where he belongs,” Grim said to Fear.
Fear looked crazy. “Never!” he roared. “There’s no way I’m dying—at least not without destroying the thing you love.”
A thunderous echo came with the opening of the portal. Demons were pouring out—a blackness, some sort of fog glided through the night air. I saw wolf demons jumping out. So many… it was overwhelming to see so many different demons coming out. People scattered, screaming, and trying to put distance between the things that were coming out of the portal.
Tess had my shoulder trying to pull me away with her. “Melanie, let’s get out here!” she screamed at me.
I pulled away from her. “I can’t. I have to help Killian.”
She looked frustrated—she also looked terrified. “Melanie… what are you talking about? Don’t you see what’s happening?” She looked to the rooftop. “Is that Killian?”
I pushed her. “Go home or something. Get far away.”
But she wouldn’t. “Melanie!” Tears pricked her eyes. “Tell me!”
“Demons, Tess, it’s demons! You claimed you believed me when I saw ghosts, well you already know that the skeleton on the roof is Killian. He’s Grim Reaper and he’s been keeping me safe from demons since my birthday last month. The reason I’ve been acting weird lately,” I motioned with my hands to look around us, “is because of all this!” I took a deep breath after letting it all out.
She looked at me wide-eyed and completely stunned. Out of all the things she could have said or asked, she yelled, “What the hell, Melanie? Those two on the roof are scary as hell!”
“Really?” I looked at her in disbelief. “Our town is being attacked by demons and you tell me my boyfriend is scary looking?”
Tess grabbed her head and muttered, “I’ve been friends with you for too long, now even I’m going crazy.”
“Tess-uh,” I dragged out her name with my frustration.
“Can you guys save this conversation for after we deal with the demons?” Penny ported next to us. Tess saw her—Penny must have made herself visible to humans.
“Who the hell are you?” Tess asked, giving Penny the evil eye.
Penny tipped her head back and rolled her shoulders. “The one that’s been keeping your ass safe the last few weeks,” Penny hissed.
“Melanie!” I turned to Ryan’s voice and saw him running toward us. Tess looked the same time I did and her eyes lit up—she saw him.
“Ryan?” she said his name in disbelief.
“Tess?” He looked at her carefully. “You can see me?”
Tears pooled in her eyes, she was about to lose it. “Ryan,” she said again as she ran to hug him.
He wrapped his arms around her. “It’s okay,” he told her. “I went home, but you weren’t there. Mom and Dad were, though.”
“Yeah, they’ve been doing that,” she spoke through tears.
“Doing what?” he asked.
“Staying home.” He looked surprised and met my eyes with a sad smile. He realized it, too, what his parents were trying to make up for.
She looked up at him. “What’s all over your face?” she asked and he pulled away from her quickly.
Penny was shoving Tess to the ground as a demon attacked. She sliced its throat open with a sword and it fell to her feet. “Behind you!” she yelled at me.
I turned just as Ryan stepped in front of me. He locked hands with the demon and his strength was that of a demon—he must be stronger because of his demon trying to get out. Once he tackled him to the ground, Penny took her sword through the demon’s head.
I looked around. Reapers were fighting off the demons easily. They clearly had no problem taking care of demons, but the problem was the portal. They kept coming.
It was loud—people were panicking, kids were crying. My eyes darted around to see if anyone needed help—I didn’t know where to start or look. The demons were running all over the place.
“Stay close, I don’t want to be responsible for any of you dying,” Penny told us.
A group of males walked toward us. Pale skin—I saw the fangs in their mouth as they smiled at us. Vampires. Penny swore under her breath. “Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod,” Tess chanted next to me. Her fear was completely out in the open. I gripped Grim’s cloak. I was scared, but I wasn’t weak. I wanted to stop Fear just as much as Killian—if not more.
I felt my power beneath my skin—vibrating with urgency. Good, it was willing to fight tonight. Penny twirled her swords in her hands and took off after the vampires. They were quick. One was already behind her and kicked her. She grunted and swung her sword out. He moved again with a laugh. Ryan ran—he moved almost as quickly as they did. He grabbed one by the shoulders before hauling off and punching him in the face. He grabbed him again before he took off. Penny killed the vampire he held right before another bit into her neck from behind. She screamed, and it put me in motion.
My skin was lit—golden, and when I got behind the vampire, I placed my hands on the sides of his face and let go of the power. His head exploded and he dropped to the ground before dissolving to nothing. Penny grabbed her neck and Ryan was atop of one of them. The arm that was completely covered in black, dug into the vampire’s chest—he turned to dust. The last vampire was fuming and lunged in our direction. Penny scooped down and picked up her swords she dropped and rammed one into his chest. He turned to dust.
A gunshot went off as Ryan was getting off his knees. We looked in the direction it came from, several men stood together with guns. They shot another demon as it came toward them. Two of them high-fived each other and laughed. They wasted no time in finding a new demon target.
“Isn’t that Big Bill from the liquor store?” Ryan squinted his eyes at the guy with the gun.
Tess rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I think so. Stupid ass,” she hissed. “Which reminds me, we are idiots, too, for not making a run for it. This placing is crawling with monsters.” She looked back at me. “No offense Melanie.” I suppressed an eye-roll because I got the feeling she was talking about Killian. “What’s up with your skin? You’re freaking glowing!” Tess looked at me bewildered.
“Hello, Gorgeous,” a demon said behind Tess. She went stiff as a board as s
he looked to me rather hopelessly. She turned slowly to see what was behind her. The male demon was covered head to toe in nasty, yellow boils. When he smiled, you could see his rotted teeth. Bile rose in my throat as I grabbed a hold of her wrist and jerked her away from him.
He laughed before lunging for us. “Not so fast,” he yelled. I didn’t want to touch his skin—who knew what might happen. I managed to kick him in the knee, he grunted and came at us, but I was already running, dragging Tess with me.
Only while running away from him, we ran into something worse. Dread turned in my stomach as I watched the shadows move around us. “What the—what are those things?” Tess asked, clutching my hand tighter.
“Shadows,” I whispered.
It kept getting worse. People were running away from them, but shadows were slipping inside of them easily. They stopped running and turned in our directions—grins broke out on their face. My panic grew—I never wanted to lose that kind of control again and be stuck seeing from the inside as your body did as the shadow commanded.
I moved in front of Tess as the shadows closed in—my necklace blocked any of them from getting inside me and I sighed in relief. A hand clamped down on my shoulder, I turned to see an unnatural grin on Tess’s face. She gripped me harder to the point that it hurt. Goosebumps covered my skin and it was obvious one managed to jump in Tess. She attacked me. I fell to the ground with her on top of me. “Tess!” I yelled her name even though I knew she couldn’t do anything to help her or me.
The others that were being controlled by shadows were getting closer. I gritted my teeth together and focused on Tess. She was strong. I placed my knee against her stomach, giving me enough room to get my boot between us. I managed to get my boot at her crotch and I put all my force into slinging her off me. She gripped my shoulders to try and stop me, but I still managed to throw her off. I scrambled to my feet. “Shadows are jumping inside humans,” I yelled to any Reaper that was close by, but they were already ahead of me.
A couple of them were already plucking the shadows out and destroying them much like Killian did the one that jumped inside me.
“If I kill you, Fear will be happy,” the shadow said through Tess. She was already up and charging for me again. I dodged her and tried to figure out how I was supposed to get the shadow out of her.
“Tessa,” Ryan called out to her, but she never turned. She went for me again and this time, Ryan was there to stop her. He tried to hold her arms, but he was being too gentle. She pulled away from him easily, and her tiny fist was connecting with his nose before either of us could stop her. I grabbed my own nose and flinched at the sickening crack that came from his nose. He hollered from the pain, but still tried to get a grip on her.
She got away from him and went after me. “Tessa.” I went at her with my own tackle, managing to knock her on the ground. She was thrashing and yelling and trying to bite me, but there was no way I was letting her go after seeing what she did to Ryan’s nose.
Someone picked me up effortlessly. “Hey,” I hissed, ready to start kicking and putting up a fight until I saw that it was Grim.
“Easy there,” he told me in a hurry. Tess was about to take off running when she saw Grim, but his hand was in her chest before she got the chance. He ripped the shadow out and she fell to the ground with a deep breath. He crushed the shadow in his hand.
“Are you okay?” I dropped to my knees next to Tess.
She met my eyes. “Melanie, I’m so sorry,” she started, “that wasn’t me—”
I cut her off, “I know.” I looked up to Grim. “Where’s Fear?”
He sighed, gripping his scythe. “Playing hide and seek, he’s messing with me—”
Fear appeared and rammed into Grim, sending him flying. Grim faded in the process and reappeared next to him. Fear’s tail was in motion—at first, I thought it was Grim he was aiming for, but it was me. Grim yanked his tail away from me and slung him with it.
“Getting tired of protecting her yet?” Fear laughed. “How about all these pathetic humans? The demons will keep coming.”
“Too bad you won’t be around to see me close the portal,” Grim told Marcus. Fear ported again and Grim rolled his shoulders before looking down at me. “I need you to use your power, Love, or get out of harm’s way, or I’ll never be able to concentrate.” He reached his skeletal hand out to me and I took it. Ryan was next to Tess as she continued to apologize for his nose. Her eyes went to Grim and she fell silent, unable to do anything but hang her mouth open.
He was right. He needed to end this. “Go, I’ll be fin—”
My feet were jerked out from underneath me—it happened so quickly that Grim lost his grip on my hand. My chin smacked the blacktop and a metallic taste filled my mouth—blood. My shirt rode up as I was dragged over the blacktop, my stomach was on fire. I was close to getting trampled on by demons, humans, and Reapers. I turned on my back and could finally see what had me—Fear’s tail—and he came into view with a nasty smile on his face. “I’ll make sure he suffers,” he sneered down at me. “I’ll make you both suffer. I only wanted power—who are you to stop me when I almost had Grim! Worthless human! You’re nothing, not even the Vessel—I was tricked by whatever I sensed in you!” He was delirious.
All I felt was hatred. I smiled even when I knew my mouth was filled with blood. “We both know that I am not, nothing.” I glowered at him. “I think you’ve already experienced a taste of what I’m capable of.” It registered on his face and for a second, I thought I saw a hint of uncertainty—fear. “This is the end for you.”
I radiated energy—close to bursting and power came to me as simply as breathing. I was the beacon of light. My scythe materialized in my hand, and I lifted myself to my butt and swung the blade down over his tail. It severed and he cried out. I was on my feet in no time, waiting, surging with power. Grim faded next to me, but Fear was gone again. He looked to me and I smiled. “You’re hypnotic and so fucking beautiful,” he told me and in my head, I pictured Killian whispering those words in my ear as I lay beneath him. He grabbed a piece of my hair that was glowing. “I wish you could see yourself in my eyes.” His essence brightened around him, and his presence had my power tingling all over my skin.
Grim faded seconds before a child screamed—he must have sensed it. I scanned the crowd and for a second, I was too stunned to do anything but study what I was seeing.
Chains.
Chains everywhere.
I was seeing every person and demon’s lifeline. My head spun. They were all different colors. They floated out of people’s chest and every time a Reaper killed a demon in front of me, I watched the chain light like a fuse and in a matter of seconds, they were gone.
One chain stood out to me—it pulsed and I knew why as soon as my eyes locked on Tess. It was her chain and a demon stood above her—female, four arms and four legs with a giant mouth stretched open; big enough to fit Tess’s head in there. I was there within a second and my scythe ripped into her back. Tess sagged in relief when the demon dropped to the ground. She looked up at me. “You’re glowing,” she stated.
“Where’s Ryan?” I asked her.
Her eyes lit up with worry. “He led a bunch of demons away from me.”
“I think he’ll be okay,” I told her. He was already dead. They couldn’t do any more damage to what Fear had already done to him.
I took a good look around—most humans were gone; dead demons lay all over the place. The Reapers were doing good, but the problem was the portal, demons kept coming through it.
“The portal’s a problem,” I said to myself and when I looked to Tess again, I studied her chain. It was long and full of life, yet if I hadn’t saved her life just now, her life would have been cut short… exactly like her brother’s. I couldn’t let that happen.
Tess’s face filled with horror. “Another one?”
I followed the direction she was looking and smiled. A second portal formed. “This one is for us,” I told her
.
Dragons spilled out of the portal and if demons weren’t enough for people to scream about; the dragons gave the rest of them a reason to panic.
“Is that…” Tess lost her words as she watched them.
I saw Rixen in the front, he dropped down and took one of the demons in his mouth before flying back up. Then I saw Sky, the one, and only white dragon. She was bright across the night sky and just like I found her, her blue eyes found me. My glowing skin was probably like a beacon to her.
She landed gracefully in front of me, tucking her wings against her so that I could climb on. Tess was scrambling away. I took one look at Sky and said, “Get her.”
“Melanie!” Tess screamed right before Sky scooped her up. I pointed to where I wanted Sky to take her. We dropped her off on the rooftop of Deb’s Diner.
“It’s better for you to be up here than down there,” I told her as we took off back in the direction of the chaos.
“Melanie!” she screamed.
Chapter Seventeen
Melanie
Sky dived into the demons and plucked one up by the mouth. Blood spewed all over her from the wind as she bit his head off. The body fell to the ground, and I could hear her crunching on the head. “Spit that out!” She tilted her head enough that her eyes looked back to me questioningly. “Who knows what diseases these demons might carry.” She looked amused as she cocked her head to the side as if to say, “I don’t pick and choose my food like you.” Still, she opened her mouth for me to see and the head fell out.
I wrinkled my nose up. “Gross.” I looked up just in time. “Watch out!” I said right before a feline looking female jumped for us. Her body landed on Sky’s head and she bucked and jerked her neck around to get her off. The demon smiled—revealing pointed teeth and just as her claws came at me, I brought my scythe to her neck and with my swing and the added pressure of her jumping at me—it was a perfect cut. Her body and head fell from Sky in different directions. “Who knew we specialized in head-hunting,” I said lamely. I hoped she understood my crack at a joke— since we both just killed a demon by taking off its head. A weird cackling sound came from her throat, and I smiled.
'Til Death We Meet Again (A Grim Awakening Book 3) Page 16
