by A and E Kirk
“It’s the wristbands!” Jayden exclaimed. “That’s why Ayden and I could see the demons underground, but not those above. It was right there in the code. Aunt M’s cypher was genius.” His thumbs started popping in and out of joint, and his eyes took on a glassy, faraway look.
“Jayden!” Ayden snapped his fingers in front of his brother’s face. “What are you saying?”
Jayden blinked. “The traitor shipped the cloaking devices here.”
“Here?” Matthias said. “As in Novo?”
“Yes,” Jayden nodded. “The cloaking devices are built into the same type of wristbands worn by all Novo personnel. It masks their true form and the demonic energy from the sensors.”
Eros held up his wristband. “Aphrodite told me to wear this at all times at Novo. I thought it was just to blend in.”
I rubbed my forehead, thinking. “The demon waiter at the country club was wearing a watch. Razor Rick too. He kept talking into it.”
“A simple augmentation could include radios in the devices,” Jayden said. “It’s brilliant.”
Logan frowned. “And disturbing, because if they’re in other Mandatum compounds, nowhere is safe.”
Jayden’s eyes got glassy again, seeing something we didn’t. “No. Based on the documents on Burke’s computer, Novo is the only facility where the devices were delivered.”
“A test run?” Logan said. “That’s good.”
Tristan growled, “Except for the fact that demons are holding guns on my dad! Let’s go.” He started forward.
“Whoa.” Matthias blocked Tristan. “We have to be careful. No one else can see them so we can’t just attack. And they have weapons. Let’s get a plan together.”
“Take off their wristbands,” I said.
“Affirmative,” Jayden agreed. “That would reveal them.”
“Great plan,” Matthias said. “If we just ask nicely, I’m sure they’ll drop the guns and do as they’re told.”
“Dude, I’ll just get close enough and rip them off.”
“Before starting a gunfight? There are innocent people around.” Matthias held up a hand. “Just wait a minute.”
Mr. Grant said, “No. For the last time, I don’t know where Tristan is, and I’m not going with you. I’ll wait for him here. I don’t need any sort of treatment.”
Two demons grasped Mr. Grant. He struggled and said, “Put that needle away!”
“Hey!” Tristan yelled. “Leave him alone!”
Matthias groaned.
Ayden pushed me behind the group and said, “Stay down, out of the way.”
“There’s my son now!” Mr. Grant smiled and waved. “And my doctor. Hello Dr. Oser! This is excellent. I’ve been wanting you two to meet.”
We all turned to Eros.
Tristan’s skin flushed to an odd shade of red. “You messed with my dad’s head?”
Eros raised his palms and backed up a few steps. “I saved him. You should be thanking me.”
Tristan made a fast move toward Eros.
Ayden got in his way and grabbed his arms, murmuring, “Not now. We’ve got other problems.” He nodded toward Mr. Grant.
Tristan’s jaw clenched, his whole body trembling as his head swiveled from his dad to Eros. He pulled in a deep breath and shot daggers toward the fallen angel. “If you’ve hurt him. If this is some trick, I swear, you’ll be sorry. So. Very. Sorry.”
“No trick. No harm to your father.” Eros shook his head. “When will you trust me? I have protected you all so many times. Just today I saved Aurora from a Sicarius bullet!”
Ayden choked, almost losing his hold on Tristan. “Wait, what?!”
Crap. “I’m fine. I’ll explain later.”
A knife couldn’t cut the tension in the air. Not even a machete. Chainsaw, maybe?
Tendrils of smoke rising off Ayden’s shoulders flared bright.
Matthias said with urgency, “Hold it together, mate. She’s safe. One crisis at a time.”
Ayden gave a frustrated nod.
Tristan, after a final glare at Eros, turned back to the demons holding his dad. “I said let him go.”
The demons didn’t. Instead, one of them stepped forward. “Son, we’re going to take your father where he’ll be safe while we talk to you in private.” It was weird seeing the star mouth full of tongues move and hear regular words come out.
“I don’t think so.” Tristan stalked toward them.
When Matthias grabbed his arm, Tristan twisted away and got in the Aussie’s face.
“My dad. My problem. Would you let them take your family?” Tristan’s eyes went wild, and the clear blue swirled a purple so deep it was almost black.
“That isn’t the point,” the Aussie said.
“That’s exactly the point,” Tristan fired back. “I’ve got this.”
Matthias let him go. Then things happened very fast.
The demon in front said over his shoulder, “Take him.”
The two demons dragged Mr. Grant dragged away. The two other guard demons joined the one in front and raised their weapons, pointing them at Tristan. People around the pool had already backed off. Now many of them squealed and ran for cover.
Mr. Grant struggled and yelled, “I’ll go with you! Just don’t shoot my son!”
Matthias motioned for the Boys to join him. “Let’s do it. We’ll have to explain it all later. As Tristan gets them confused, we’ll take care of the rest. Just make sure he or his dad don’t get shot.”
The Hex Boys nodded and geared up to use their powers, moving behind Tristan. In the distance, I saw more guards, real ones, human ones, headed our way. They had guns too. Oh, no.
Fear knotted my gut. I felt pressure on my chest. My hands started to glow. Eros pushed Heather and me back. I tried to get past him, but Eros stopped me.
“I can help,” I told him.
He glanced at my glowing skin. “I’m sure you could, dove, but it won’t be necessary.” A sly smile slid onto his lips. “They have no idea what they are dealing with. But we will want to back away further while we enjoy the show.”
“Release him!” Tristan said. “Now!”
“Tristan,” Mr. Grant pleaded. “It’s okay! I’m fine! Don’t do anything to get yourself hur—”
A demon nurse jabbed Mr. Grant with a needle. He let out a short yelp then went silent and slumped in the demon’s arms. The Hex Boys started running forward.
Tristan’s arms flew skyward, hovered for a brief, tension-filled moment, then they slashed down as he screamed, “NO!”
A split-second later, all five of the demons' heads exploded.
It was like water balloons bursting. If water balloons were filled with black goo and thick, slimy, jiggly chunks of raw meat.
A bunch of the pieces plop-plop-plopped into the pool, the black goo spreading like ink in the pristine blue water. The rest of the gory pieces splattered on grass, concrete, lounge chairs, glass tables and the colorful umbrellas over them. Some bits rained down on people who hadn’t gotten far enough away.
The term blood bath didn’t even begin to cover this horror show scene.
CHAPTER 49
The explosions and goo showers set off a symphony of screaming. Followed by lots of running and more screaming. Higher pitched. Frantic.
The demons had dropped where they stood. Headless. Necks a pulpy mess. Next to me, Heather crumpled to the ground in a faint. I couldn’t blame her. My legs had a bit of a shake. I would’ve loved to sit down. Tristan’s display of power had been…mind blowing.
Especially for the demons.
I choked a laugh. Ah, yes, macabre, thy humor is thine.
Tristan ran forward, fell to his knees, and cradled his dad’s head in his lap. The human guards arrived at a run, some with guns drawn. Others had powers, and I saw at least two with their hands aflame.
The rest of the Hex Boys surrounded Tristan and his fallen father. They’d recovered from their shock quickly to face the oncoming Novo guards. L
ogan had no less than six arrows drawn, Blake was twirling battle axes, Jayden flashed ice knives hovering at the ready, frozen solid even in the intense desert heat. Ayden fired up his arms. Matthias’s shadow whips coiled like serpents ready to strike. Every Hex Boy had at least a few remnants of demon gore clinging to them.
After flicking a glance at the decapitated demons, then re-sighting his aim on the guards, Logan said to Matthias, “Remember when you said he wasn’t an offensive hunter.”
“Yeah,” the Aussie said grimly. “Might’ve been wrong about that.”
“Stand down!” one of the guards told the Boys.
“Listen up, mates,” the Aussie said in a conciliatory tone. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
The guard eyed the carnage. “Looks like you killed five of my people.”
“Tristan,” Matthias said. “Could you show them what we really killed? And do it slowly.”
Tristan reluctantly raised his hands, then, with no sudden movements, removed the wristband of the closest fallen demon.
I didn’t see anything different, but the guards watching did a double-take, then stared slack jawed. Several gasped. They jumped back as the hellion’s body swirled into a black mist and vortexed into the ground.
“What the hell?” the main guard said.
“The wristbands are cloaking devices,” Matthias explained. “There are a lot more demons hiding out. We’d be happy to explain everything, but while we aren’t wearing any wristbands, you all are, so we’re not quite sure who to trust. If you aren’t a demon, you should be worried too.”
The guards all suddenly looked at each other with suspicion. Some didn’t seem sure where to point their weapons. The main guard muttered under his breath, then took off his wristband.
“Everybody take them off,” he commanded.
Moments later it was clear everyone was human. Tristan removed the wristband from the other nurse demon. It did the mist and vortex routine, the wristband apparently keeping the body on Earth. Tristan watched it, then walked away and promptly threw up.
The head guard pointed to the three remaining corpses and ordered his guys to keep watch but refrain from any contact. "And leave the wristbands on. At least until we get Director Renard down here to witness the transformation,” he said, then added that he wanted the whole incident filmed and documented. He started giving lots more orders. A lockdown being first on the list.
Eros took my arm. “Let us depart.”
“What about the Boys? And Heather?”
“The Hex Boys have a lot of explaining to do. They are going nowhere. As for Heather…” He knelt and lifted her face in his hands. Her eyes fluttered open. He kissed her. Not quite with passion, but not quite chaste either. As he broke the contact, her lips spread in a dopey grin, and she giggled.
“What was that?” I said, annoyed.
“It will muddle her mind for at least a day. Give her peace.”
I scoffed. “Your kisses are that good?”
He raised a brow. “If you doubt me, I’d be happy to show you.”
“No thanks.”
“You have no flair for fun.”
Before Novo disappeared in a pink haze, I saw Ayden lunge toward me, his expression equal parts furious and miserable.
This day officially sucked.
CHAPTER 50
We landed on the high school soccer field. Eros offered to teleport me to some remote, swanky beach where I could luxuriate with him and Psyche rather than return to a Sicarius assassin squad.
“I can handle it,” I told the god with way more confidence than I actually felt. But I certainly wasn’t going to leave my family alone with an assassin in town gunning for me.
Eros shrugged and a moment later I was swatting through pink, cotton candy smelling smoke and racing through the halls to last period, trying to conjure a good excuse for my absence. If I was lucky, no one had noticed.
A commanding voice said, “Miss Lahey!”
Lucky? Nope. Instead, I was so dead.
Principal Clarke strode forward. “After the wild behavior in my office and then you go missing in P.E., what choice could there be but suspension?”
Did escaping an assassin count as an excuse? Guess we’d never find out.
“However, Mr. Cacciatori explained everything, so just a warning for now. But next time, you must inform the office.” She started to leave, then turned back. “Good work, by the way. And thank you.”
I blinked. “You’re welcome?”
She smiled as she lifted up a large, shiny, and very fancy looking shopping bag with the name of a famous fashion designer emblazoned across the center. Guess which one.
Armani.
Ha ha.
So my assassin was still around. Playing games. But I was still alive, which meant he hadn’t won yet. Determined to keep a low profile, I tucked my hair into the baseball cap I'd gotten from Novo. No Armani in sight, but that didn’t mean diddly. He could be waiting for an opportune moment to strike.
“You are welcome also,” a voice whispered close to my ear. I whirled, swinging my backpack.
Cristiano ducked with casual grace. I, however, kept going, twirling too fast and far and losing my balance. He caught me before I went down, his arm around my waist.
I slapped and kicked myself free, then backed away, scuttling fast, trying not to trip. Not easy because despite my recent bravado with Eros, Armani’s sudden appearance rattled me. I was shaky on my feet. I ran a hand along the walls for support, and muttered, “No, no, no,” as I almost went down again.
Armani scowled. “It is time to stop running.”
Me? Stop running? Little did he know, it was my go-to move.
He must have seen something in my face, because his scowl deepened. “No. This has to end. Now.”
A cold sweat broke over my brow, but I’d made it to the corner and could make a run—
The bell rang. Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I screamed, whirled, and swung my backpack again. This time, I hit paydirt. It slammed into Lucian.
“Ow!” My little brother rubbed his shoulder. “What was that for?”
I pushed him back and looked behind me. The hallway had started to fill with students, but the Sicarius assassin had disappeared.
I hugged Lucian. “You’re all right!”
“Not after you hit me,” he said. “Get off me, freak.”
“Where’s Luna?”
“In the car waiting for you with Mom, Selena, and Oron. You ready?”
Time would tell. “Let’s go.” I dragged him through the growing crowd.
“Where’d you get that hat?” Lucian said. “It’s cool. So not you.”
“Ayden gave it to me.”
He grinned. “For a mission?”
“Something like that.”
“I knew it! Luna owes me serious cash.”
I took off the hat and slapped it on his head. “It’s all yours.”
“As guilt payment for beaning me with your backpack?”
“No,” I said. “Just because I love you.”
“Oh, gross!” he gagged. “What is wrong with you?”
I was edgy on the ride home, keeping an eye out for danger. Felt better when we made it inside the house, figuring the protection wards the Hex Boys and Gloria had secured around my home’s perimeter would protect us.
Naturally, I was wrong.
CHAPTER 51
As soon as we got in the house, I used the phone in the dining room just off the foyer. First I tried calling Ayden’s cell phone, then all the other Hex Boys' numbers. Straight to voicemail, every one. Not a habit of theirs I was fond of. I didn’t leave any messages.
No need to worry, right? Sure. That’s what I told myself.
While in the garage picking out enchiladas from the freezer for dinner, I heard Mom in the kitchen talking to a man. Laughing. With Dad? I entered, and stopped dead in my tracks, almost dropping the casserole dishes in my arms. Dad was there. And then there was someo
ne who was definitely not Dad.
Cristiano Cacciatori stood next to Mom holding masses of flower bouquets. At the sight of me, he startled briefly, then his lips lifted into a smile so high voltage it could power Manhattan.
I looked over my shoulder to check if someone else had caught his attention, but nope. His sparkling eyes, now a dark green sprinkled with flecks of shining bronze that seemed to catch the light, were on me. Man, even on the Discovery Channel, I’d never seen a predator so enamored at the sight of his prey.
“Aurora,” Mom said, “why didn’t you mention you were a helper for an Italian foreign exchange student? That’s fantastic!”
My lips had to move a few times before I could manage, “What?”
Yeah, it wasn’t much. My brain really needed to get in gear.
“It is a pleasure to see you again,” Cristiano said with a courtly bow.
I couldn’t scream. I wanted to, but my heart was choking me senseless.
Assassin! Assassin in my house! Run! Everyone run! But no one did, and now he was handing a bouquet of flowers to my mom.
“No!” I managed to squeak out as I rushed over and grabbed them from her.
Mom gave me a look. “Don’t worry? He brought some for you too, honey. The bigger bouquet.”
“And more for your lovely sister,” Cristiano said in the smooth baritone, pulling out yet another bunch of flowers.
Where did he hide them all?
“I must apologize,” he told Mom contritely. “I would have purchased the flowers from your most lovely shop, but I found that it is closed.”
“I’m taking a few days off,” Mom told him.
“Of course,” Cristiano said. “But rest assured, once your establishment has reopened, all of my floral necessities will be purchased from you.” He looked at me. “I am sure I will be in need of many more bouquets.”
Yeah. For my funeral.
I snatched Luna’s bunch out of his hands too. “No! My sister’s not here.”
Armani glanced through the back window. “But I see her in the backyard, playing with yet another sister for whom I brought—”
“That’s okay!” I grabbed all the bouquets. They might have bombs planted in them. Flower bombs. Bombs that looked like flowers. Or leaves. Or…I don’t know! Who the heck knew what Sicarius assassins had up their sleeves.
