by May Dawson
The car fishtailed over the roads. The trees flashed by, and my stomach fluttered in my chest at how wildly we were careening over the icy roadways.
“Put your seatbelt on,” Cade groused. “Both of you.”
She glowered at him. “You put your seatbelt on, Hunter.”
But seatbelts were the smart thing, so she pulled hers across her chest as I did the same.
Cade ran his thumb under the canvas edge of his seatbelt, which was already fastened across his chest, giving her the briefest side-eye. Then he turned that side-eye on me, which was where it usually seemed to belong.
“We can’t bring her home yet,” Nix said. “Not until we know the demons aren’t following us. Is there any reason they’d be interested in you?”
“I’ll be safe with Truby,” she said. “I don’t want to go home. I don’t want to risk them following me.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t think some random teenage girl is going to hold a lot of fascination for the demons,” Cade snapped.
“I’m not some random teenage girl,” she said. “I’m Jonathan Truby’s protege.”
“Don’t sound so smug,” Cade said. “That’s not much of a selling point around here.”
She fixed me with a glare, even though she spoke to Cade. “I’ve been working with Truby since I was twelve years old.”
Cade scrubbed his face with his hand and turned his back to her, ignoring her pointedly.
“I’m not going with you Hunters!” she said. “I know what you do to witches.”
“Luckily for you, you aren’t a witch, just a stupid little girl that can be dropped off with her parents where she belongs, just as soon as we make sure they won’t suffer any more for your existence than they already do,” Cade said.
“Don’t be mean.” I touched his knee, giving him a warning look.
Cade quirked one eyebrow at me and mouthed back, “Don’t be mean?”
“You heard me,” I told him.
“We’ll take her with us back to the safe house,” Nix said. “Return her once we can scout the area and be sure the demons are gone.”
“Return?” She crossed her arms, fixing him with an icy look. “I’m not an inanimate object.”
“If only you were, you’d be a lot quieter,” Nix said.
We were heading through town, hurtling faster than we should down the slick streets with bakeries and bars flashing by to either side, when our back tires blew.
Tristan wrestled with the steering wheel, but it was obvious we were going to tip over. My stomach careened through my body as the car rolled.
“We’re under attack,” Nix said, grabbing the dashboard. “As soon as the car stops, everyone out. We fall back together on foot.”
Cade flashed the girl a look. “You too. I know you don’t like it, but stay with us for now.”
She flashed him a dark look, but it looked like a brave act; her eyes were wide with terror. “Fine,” she gritted.
The car rolled over and slammed into the ground, jarring all of us. I slammed forward against the seatbelt, then banged into the glass window.
The sounds of groaning metal faded, replaced by silence.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Now the fight was on the street. Civilians ran for cover as the streets filled with demons who attacked our car. Everything was chaos.
In the melee that followed, a demon managed to grab my coat and tried to drag me into an alleyway. I got my hands around its throat, targeting what should have been pinch points, but apparently I needed Demon Anatomy 101. That was probably a class at the academy. I poured all my magic through my hands into the neck of the demon, which grinned at me with black eyes until suddenly, its eyes went cloudy. I jumped free.
The street was chaos, full of smoke and screaming. A demon lunged out of the smoke near me, its eyes glowing as it searched for me. I backed away, trying to hide in the smoke, but bumped into someone in the crowd.
Emily. I glimpsed her face through the smoke, and I pushed her into the nearest building, glad to find an unlocked door.
Inside a brightly lit, empty laundromat, the washers and driers whirred and tumbled on as if nothing were happening outside. I drew a breath of clean air, grateful to fill my lungs after the smoky street outside.
Something darkened the window, and Emily’s breath froze in her chest.
Her lips moved, but I didn’t hear her speak out loud. Her voice was a tendril whispering across my mind. Deidra.
I didn’t need to look to know it was a demon.
“Get down behind the washers,” I told her in a whisper. “I’ll protect you.”
She hesitated, and I pushed her down along the row of washers, slipping my body between her and the door as it swung open.
An enormous demon stepped into the laundromat, so big that he seemed to fill the doorway. His feet were strangely quiet on the linoleum underfoot for such a big man.
His black eyes met mine, and he smiled slowly, the kind of cruel, broken smile that reminded me of the boar.
I blew out a slow breath, before moving into a fighting stance. I’d been running high on adrenaline for a while now, and I’d been through a lot of fights today. I was getting tired. And I was afraid of getting sloppy.
Because getting sloppy in my world sometimes means getting dead.
As the demon came at me, I raised my magic, which flared painfully top across my fingers. When I punched the demon, I slammed all my magic into it too, and he stumbled back.
He went to his knees, and I thought I had him.
Then he grabbed my wrist and turned it painfully, his own magic flaring across his fingertips, burning my skin as he forced me to my knees. I struck out at him, looking for any opening…
Emily suddenly jumped up from behind the washing machines, shouting a word in Latin, and he lost his grip as her magic crashed painfully over us both. It was just enough of an opening for me to unleash a furious volley of blows and magic that let me scramble to my feet and away from him.
“Capture,” Emily shouted, yanking open the door to one of the industrial-sized washing machines.
I jumped into the air and slammed my boots into his chest, knocking him back, helping him along.
My magic and Emily’s joined together, swirling together in blue and silver, as the demon fought against the magic pull into the washing machine. Then he was gone, and the door slammed shut. The demon’s face was pressed against the glass.
Emily was grinning as she turned to me, full of pride, but the expression died when our eyes met, as if she’d just remembered who I was.
“Thank you,” I said. “That was good work.”
She flashed me a dark look, as if she didn’t need my approval.
“How’d you do that?” I asked. “How’d you talk to me without speaking out loud?”
A genuine smile touched her lips, just faintly. “It’s a simple spell, but it’s flighty, it doesn’t always work. I’m surprised it did.”
“Well, teach me.”
Slow clapping came from the front door of the laundromat. I twisted to find Truby watching the two of us, a smile across his face.
“You’re a great team,” Truby said. “Did I hear you correctly that you were able to use a secretum spell?”
“Where’d you come from?” I demanded.
He winked. “Couldn’t leave my girls behind. Good work, by the way.”
“Yes, Jonathan.” Corson suddenly materialized in the back of the laundromat, right behind Emily. Before I could do anything, Corson had his arm around her and a knife at his throat. “Tell Deidra about your girls.”
Truby narrowed his eyes at Corson.
“I’m on your side here,” Corson told me. “Briar told you, didn’t she, that demons don’t lie? Sometimes we might let someone else’s lie stand though… just for a while. Just long enough to meet our end of a deal.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Truby’s face was stoic as he held his hands out as
if he wanted to calm Corson, to keep him from hurting Emily. But I had the feeling he knew exactly what Corson was talking about. And Corson already seemed calm. He seemed like he was relishing this.
“Who is this girl?” Corson asked Truby. “Who is she really?”
Emily looked at me, her chin lifting imperceptibly. She was fighting to be brave despite the blade’s edge pressed against her neck. I didn’t think Corson wanted to hurt her. I didn’t think Corson cared one way or another.
Briar’s words flashed through my head then. Did you see the baby die?
“Don’t hurt her,” I warned Corson.
“Or what?” Corson’s lips tilted up. “Did you figure it out, Deidra? On your own?”
“I think so,” I whispered. But I didn’t want to say the words out loud.
I felt like I was at the brink of falling apart.
“That’s your…” Corson prompted. He looked from me to Truby. “Go on. Tell your girls.”
Truby’s jaw set. Corson pressed the blade closer into Emily’s throat, and a thin red line swelled across her skin. She inhaled sharply, her face etching with pain and terror.
“Sister!” Truby said tightly. “You two are sisters.”
“Let go of her.” I said, my voice coming out low and fierce. I didn’t know what to do with that information. But I did know one thing.
I was a Hunter, and whoever the hell she was, it was my job to protect her from the monsters.
“Tell them what you did,” Corson prompted. He sounded casual, relaxed. It was a strange counterpoint to the tension in Truby’s frame, to Emily on her tiptoes, her chin raised to try to avoid the blade, to the rage boiling through my body now…
“You parents chose you, Deidra,” Truby ground out. “You almost killed the baby. They knew no one else could look after you with your powers. To keep your sister safe, they gave her to another family. I searched for you, but couldn’t find you. But I found her. Next best thing. She was still your mother’s daughter.”
He smiled at Emily, who had tears in her eyes.
“You have no idea how much I love you both for looking so much like her,” he said. “For being so much like her. Brave and sweet—”
“This is really beautiful,” Corson cut in. “Now you know, Deidra. What are you going to do?”
My warring emotions felt too big for my body, making my muscles so tight they ached. There was only one thing that mattered right now, though, and that was the knife. “Now I’m going to tell you one time—and just one time—to take that blade away from her throat.”
“Oh?” Corson gave me a slow, cruel smile. “Or what are you going to do?”
“Or I’m going to kill you,” I promised.
“And kill your sister and yourself with me,” he said.
“Maybe I’ve learned a few things.”
“Let’s find out,” Corson said.
He sounded genuinely curious.
Suddenly, flames rose all around us, explosions going off around us as the washing machines began to pop and rattle against the floor.
The doors flew open behind me. The guys clattered in.
“Deidra,” Cade’s voice was warning. “There are a lot of civilians around. There’s no way to evacuate them… everyone’s busy trying to pin down the demons.”
“She’s fine,” Nix told him.
“Is she?” Corson grinned. “So if I pull this blade across this girl’s throat…”
The tip of the knife dug deeper into her skin. She closed her eyes, her mouth twisting into a mask of pain, as she struggled to hold back her cry.
“Stop it,” I warned him.
“Deidra.” Nix’s hand settled on my shoulder. “You control the magic. Don’t let it control you.”
“I’m not going to blow,” I promised him. But I could feel the wild rise of my magic in me, tightening my chest, building so hot that sweat beaded along my hairline. It rose as fierce as my fear and my desire to protect my sister.
I wasn’t sure how to hurt Corson without hurting her. She was his human shield.
There was a commotion in the street outside. Thundering feet, heavier than anything human.
Dread curdled in my gut. The boars. Truby’s monsters.
Something slammed into the front of the building, splintering the glass. It rained across us all as we raised our arms to shield our faces.
The boar stood taller than I was, and its rancid scent washed over me as it rose to its feet.
But it ignored me. Its gaze was on Corson.
“These old tricks,” Corson said. He seemed nonplussed.
The boar charged at him, just as Truby’s hand rose, his fingers closing.
The knife flew away from Emily’s throat. I followed its arc through the air until the hilt slammed into Truby’s hand.
When I looked back, there was nothing but smoke and the scent of burning Sulphur where Corson had been seconds before.
My sister was gone.
The magic inside me was still building, tense and hot as rage, and I almost choked on it.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The boar blundered around the room, knocking over washing machines, as Truby’s gaze went distant, ordering it somewhere.
“Are you able to make sure it just eats the demons?” Cade demanded, his boots crunching over the broken glass shards as he moved to the window.
“They eat everything,” Truby admitted. “I can set them on a target—and I did—but there’s no guarantee.”
“Oh, great,” Cade said. “Now we’ve got carnivorous monsters on the loose, dozens of civilians, and we have to rescue the girl.”
“Here’s my surprised face that your sister is a pain in the ass,” Nix told me. But then he studied my face, and he suddenly came close to me. His hands cupped my chin as he raised my gaze to his. “Deidra, do you have the magic under control?”
“I’m fine,” I said. The magic was hot in my head, pounding and thumping, and it curled around my chest so tight that it squeezed.
He stared at me, his brow furrowed. “I can help you, if you let me—”
“I’m fine,” I repeated, pulling away. I looked to Truby. I had a sister, and he’d lied, and none of that mattered right now. Not if she was killed. “Where would he have taken her?”
“He’ll be trying to isolate Deidra,” Truby said. “He wants her. Emily is just bait.”
“Why? You said the demons think I’m special. Why is that?” I shook my head as soon as the words were out of my mouth. “Talk while we move. Where would he take her?”
“We’ll figure it out,” Truby said grimly. “He’s not going to let you miss the chance to follow her. But Deidra…”
His mouth worked, as if he had something he wanted to say to me. I didn’t have time to work through how I felt about him right now. I didn’t have time to feel much at all.
So I opened the door to the side of the shattered window and walked outside into the street.
It was chaos.
A girl with dark hair—the girl from the theater—was fighting a demon across from me. She wore a leather jacket, her braid flying behind her as she thrust and parried with her sword. The demon towered over her, but she was undeterred by his greater size and strength.
Then her twin ran toward him, jumping into the air and slamming her feet into his back. He stumbled forward, and twin number one skewered him with her sword.
As soon as she had pulled it loose, twin number two sheathed her own sword, the muscles in her back working under her tank top as she slid it home, and drew out an ax from the sheath on her hip. She drew back, then cleaved off his head.
Holy hell. Hunter girls in action. I’d never seen that, due to Liam’s attempts to protect me.
They were amazing. I wanted to be them when I grew up.
Twin number one met my gaze, looking at me as if she knew me. She fixed me with a smile as bright as her blade.
“I’m Ellis, and this is Ash,” she said, gesturing to her twin. The two of t
hem were identical twins, both dark haired and in their mid-twenties, with shapely mouths that smiled easily and pink cheeks. “We’ve got your back.”
“That’s good, because I thought the Hunters might all be trying to kill me.”
Ellis shook her head. “We’re family.”
That was a pretty generous sentiment given the Council had ordered the other Hunters to find me in order to convince Truby I could be trusted. I had a feeling there was a preference for bringing me back alive, but that Calla hadn’t been too strict on that point.
“Deidra.” Tristan called behind me.
When I whirled to face him, he pointed at the billowing smoke rising from the top of the highest building in town, the ten-story brick hotel.
“Since we’re family, can I have your sword?” I asked Ellis. I was short on weapons at the moment. “I’ve got a demon to kill so I can save my sister.”
“We’ve all been there,” Ellis said. She balanced the blade on her hand so she could offer me the hilt without cutting herself.
“Thank you.”
“See you around,” she said, as two more demons raced around the corner, pursued by a few of her men. “We’ll hold off the rest of these demons for you.”
Sword in hand, knowing Tristan, Cade and Nix were with me too, the four of us sprinted for the building at the end of the street.
Whether I wanted him along or not—and I definitely did not know—Truby brought up the rear.
The five of us clattered up the stairs in the hotel, past guests who scattered in fear. When we found the door to the roof, I said, “Let me go out alone. Corson wants me.”
“Yeah, that’s why you can’t go alone,” Nix said. “Because that’s walking into his trap. You get that, right?”
I’d walk into any trap if it kept the people I cared about from dying.
I’d already lost too many.
“We’ve got this,” Cade promised. “Together.”
He held my gaze for one long, meaningful beat before he pushed the door open with his shoulder. I cursed and followed him.
The five of us piled out onto the rooftop. Smoke curled through the air, obscuring my vision and making me choke. Through the veil of smoke, I could pick out a dozen demons between me and Corson, who stood at the edge of the roof.
