“She’s here,” he says. “But she’s not here. There has to be another floor or a basement.” He thinks for a minute then says, “Definitely basement. Prey always foolishly think underground is safer.”
The three men drop their bags where they stand and move as a group first toward the elevator. Darius hits the call button, and when the doors open he peeks his head inside. There are three buttons for floors: a B with a keycard slot next to it, an L with an asterisk, and a 2 for the second floor.
“B must mean basement,” Julius offers. “But taking the elevator down is too risky, gives away any element of surprise, boss. Plus we’d be packed in tight. One shot and she could get all three of us.”
Darius narrows his eyes and nods. They move through the shelves of books across the library to a large, ornate staircase. In the wall directly behind it is a metal door with another Employees Only plaque on it.
The men go through the metal door and find themselves in a closed in stairwell. There is another door directly in front of them, and one to the left a little ways away with a red light and a card slot. Darius walks right up to it and throws his arms across his body to use his power to rip the door from its hinges. It shifts slightly but stays put.
The demon growls audibly. He holds his hand out to the side and it starts to glow.
“Are you sure she’s down there, boss?”
“Yes, I’m fucking sure.” Julius ducks his head and backs away from the riled demon.
“So much for a stealthy arrival,” he says as his hand brightens more. The light is eventually replaced by a ball of fire in his palm. He pulls his arm back and heaves the orb of fire forward as hard as he can.
The electronic lock explodes on contact sending pieces and sparks across the floor. The door swings inward with a hard bang revealing another staircase. The demon and Victus don’t hesitate to head down it. At the bottom are two more doors, one in front and one to the right. Both have a card slot with a red light over it.
Darius pauses, studying each door. He smells the air before turning his body to face the door on the right. He sniffs again and turns back to the other door.
The men are in a much more enclosed area, so when Darius cocks his arm, his palm already full of fire, Damon and Julius backtrack up the stairs to avoid being hit by any of the debris. The demon lets the ball fly, and again the door lock explodes. The boom is considerably louder in such a smaller space. Unfazed by the concussive sound or the smoke and bits of plastic raining down, he pushes the door hanging cockeyed on its hinges. A third staircase is revealed, but this time with only one door at the bottom.
With a lascivious smile, Darius heads down the stairs with a cocky swagger. He’s followed his instinct and knows it’s about to pay off. He gets to the bottom of the stairs and waits for a beat before pulling his arm back ready to fire again.
“Time’s up, girl,” he says with a sneer.
● 62 ●
“Alexa”
Just as Cali, Matt, and I are getting into position — the two of them behind cube three, myself and Milo behind cube four — we hear a loud explosion come from above us near the door to the room. I see Cali pop her head around CCR3 searching for me.
“What the fuck was that?” she whisper-yells.
“It’s Darius. Stay down!” I whisper back at her. I kneel down and grip onto Milo’s collar. His chest rumbles as he starts to growl but I silence him with a finger to my lips.
Another explosion goes off, this time louder and closer. Not even thirty seconds pass before the door to the sub-basement is blown open. I peak out to get a better look. There is a large gaping hole where the electric lock and keycard slot have been demolished. I see a dark figure come through the smoke and pull my head back behind the cube before the smoke fully clears.
I hear someone take in a long, deep breath through their nose then let it out with a loud sigh.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” a vicious voice sings.
Darius. His voice is strong and clear with no trace of an accent. I hear him take a few steps into the room. Something skids across the floor into one of the concrete walls, probably a piece of the door. Two pairs of footsteps enter behind him and move off to his side.
“Listen, girl,” Darius calls out. “I know you’re here and I know you aren’t alone. Come out now, and I won’t kill your little friends.”
He pauses waiting for me to respond. I don’t, I stay completely silent and still. Milo, beside me, doing the same. Darius apparently isn’t satisfied by that because the next thing I know, there is a quick whoosh followed by a deafening boom.
I cover my ears and poke my head up slightly. What I see doesn’t make any sense to me. The first cube is practically completely gone.
Left in its place are small fires made up of shredded books and shelves reduced to kindling. Surrounding that is the metal frame curled in an unnatural twist, the shattered glass panels litter the floor. The larger ladder and the track it was on are nowhere to be seen. The ducts above are swinging slightly from side to side. Live-wires spark every time the ductwork makes contact with them.
“Come on, now. I haven’t got all day!” the demon yells to me again. “Show yourself, or I’ll blow up all of these boxes one by one until there is nothing left. I’ll make you watch as I torture and kill your friends! When I’m through with you, you’ll beg me for death!!”
I’ve found an angle that allows me to watch from my place hidden behind CCR4. Darius looks crazed. His eyes glow, reflecting the light of the fires where cube one used to be. His Victus, the short, fat man and tall, bald man, are off to his left watching, waiting for an order.
I watch Darius’s hand glow, getting brighter and brighter until a flaming ball appears in his palm. My mouth hangs open as I see Darius pull his arm back and launch the ball of fire straight into CCR2. I hear the same boom as before, but this time I see the impact. The cube bursts apart, showering glass, splinters of wood, and pieces of metal down onto the third cube. Right where Matt and Cali are.
I stand and move over so that my voice can carry to my friends. I cup my hands around my mouth and yell as loud as I can.
“Squirrel! Moose! Move now!!”
Matt and Cali dart out from behind CCR3 and run toward me. I see the moment that Darius sees them. His eyes light up, and a sinister smile whips across his face. He pulls his arm back, his palm already reloaded with fire. He directs his throw toward the two of them.
“Watch out!” I yell.
Matt spins around and deflects the ball of fire just in time. It sails back across the room to our right and hits the shoulder of the shorter Victus. He’s launched into the air, spinning in a tight spiral. He smacks into the wall with a thud and slides to the ground.
“Good catch,” Cali says to Matt as they sprint past me and duck behind the fifth cube.
Seeing my friends in such dire, direct danger, makes me angry. I feel it settle like a boulder in my stomach. This creature has taken enough from me, he’s not taking them too. My mouth turns downward and my features set as my fury grows.
I imagine myself returning fire. I look down at my hand still flesh colored and imagine a ball of fire in it. I feel a brief warming sensation before Darius gets my attention again.
“Still nothing? You’re going to leave your friends to fight your battle for you? Just like you left your brother, and I think we both remember how that turned out, don’t we girl.”
I grit my teeth and clench my fist to stop myself from reacting emotionally, but I can’t let that barb about my brother go. I step out from behind CCR4, Milo glued to my side.
“Ahhh, there she is,” Darius says when he sees me. “So, I see, your friends do mean more to you than your brother.”
He’s trying to goad me into reacting, but I won’t let it work. I concentrate on channeling my emotions into my powers. I get a quick flash in my brain of what Darius is going to do next. He’s going to fake like he’s throwing a ball of fire at me, but use hi
s telekinesis to slam me into the wall on my left.
My ears are still ringing from my premonition when I see Darius pull his arm back as if to throw again. Knowing what’s coming next, I don’t hesitate to whip my arm out to use my own power and throw Darius. I see a look of shock on his face before he slams into the wall, his head cracking against the concrete.
The tall, bald Victus is the only one left on his feet at the moment. He’s the one who grabbed Cali. He’s the one who hurt her.
He uses his power to pick up a piece of twisted metal and heave it toward me. I easily deflect it back into the pile of rubble that used to be CCR2. You will not hurt her again! my mind yells. I clench my jaw and let all of the anger I feel show on my face.
I glare at him through furrowed eyebrows and silently dare him to try again. He bares his teeth at me and picks up another, even bigger piece. My attention is on him, so I don’t see Darius move up onto one knee.
At the last second, I see the flames coming toward me. My only option to force the ball up into the ceiling. A section of the maze of ductwork above me falls onto the top CCR3. The glass splinters under the weight and impact.
This all distracts me long enough to allow the tall Victus to launch the piece of metal at me. I duck out of the way, but the metal still slices my left arm as it goes by, the momentum of the steel spins me around. I grab the cut, searing pain runs down to my fingertips. It’s deep. I can already feel the blood seeping into the sleeve of my sweater. I pull my hand away, and it’s completely covered, dripping red.
“Royal, watch out!!” Cali’s voice comes from behind me.
I spin back around to see another two orbs of fire flying toward me. I deflect again, one right back to Darius catching him on his left side just below his armpit. He grasps his body and falls to his knees. Darius had moved in front of the bald Victus to launch the fire at me, and after nicking the demon, the ball of fire catches the soldier directly in the chest.
The other unfortunately goes right into CCR3. The blast is so close to me that I’m launched through the air backward.
I land on something soft which is unexpected. I roll off of it and see I’ve landed on Cali. She’s not moving, her eyes are closed, and has a jagged cut that’s bleeding beneath one eye. I panic not knowing how badly she’s been hurt, or if she’s even alive. I call out her nickname a few times with no response.
I check for her pulse and when I find it I jump to my feet in relief and drag her with my one good arm out of harm’s way. Once Cali is safe with Matt, I duck down low and poke my head out to observe the damage.
The third cube, like the first two, is completely gone. Not one shelf is left standing. Pieces of paper from the destroyed books flutter through the air. More fires and smoke heats the air of the room.
My stomach drops like a rock as I remember that The Book was in cube three.
“No!” I scream. “NO! Oh my god, no.”
What have I done?!
I dive into the debris to see if there is a chance it survived. Ignoring the pain in my left arm, I sift through the charred books on the floor burning my hands on the fires around me. I’m losing hope by the second that The Book is still intact.
There’s nothing here, nothing salvageable anyway. It’s all gone.
The Book is gone. And it’s all my fault.
● 63 ●
I step out of the rubble of cube three and see Darius down on the ground. The short, Victus is just getting back to his feet from the earlier hit to his shoulder. Behind Darius, I see a large pile of ash. It must be the other Victus.
I feel sick to my stomach looking at the ash. That was a person just a minute ago. He was a Victus and came here to kill me, but he was still a person at one time. And now he’s dead, and it’s again my fault.
No, I think. All of this is Darius’s fault.
My hatred for the demon grows in my chest until it is hard and burning. I feel a warmth in my hand, stronger than before. It gets hotter and hotter until my skin is glowing. With a small hiss, a floating orb of fire appears in my hand. It amazes me that even though I can feel the increasing heat from the fires around the room and my hands sting from pawing through the ash to find the remains of The Book, the ball of flames doesn’t burn me while still in my control.
I imagine the ball getting bigger and bigger, growing to the size of a basketball. In my palm, the fire starts to grow. I look at Darius still on the ground, his hand pressed against the burn on his side.
I look at him and then the fire in my hand. I’ve never wanted to kill someone before. But this demon has taken so much from me. I’ve had to leave my family and my home behind, he’s ripped that away from me. He’s taken the life I knew from me. He’s hurt people I love before, and he’ll do it again.
My attention is focused solely on Darius, so I don’t see that the remaining Victus has his feet firmly underneath him again. I hear a guttural yell from Matt come from behind me.
“NO!”
The next thing I know, the Victus is throwing multiple pieces of metal and large shards of glass in my direction. Matt is able to deflect the majority of them, but not the largest piece of glass. It keeps coming at me, fast. There is a blur in the corner of my eye as Matt tackles me to the ground, my fireball gets extinguished in the process.
Matt lands on top of me hard and I get the wind knocked out of me. I choke and cough trying to bring my breath back. Matt is gasping and hissing in pain on top me. He slides off and I can see the glass is sticking out of his thigh. It’s wedged so deep that it must have pierced the bone.
“Milo!” I call out when I can breathe again. My dog is in front of me in an instant. He’s covered in dust and bits of paper, his black fur tinted gray. “Get Moose to safety with Squirrel.”
Milo grabs the collar of Matt’s shirt and begins tugging him backward toward where Cali is behind CCR5. Matt grits his teeth uses both hands to hold his right leg the entire time. Blood is quickly soaking his pants, and he’s got his hand over the glass ready to yank on it.
“Don’t pull it out!” I yell to Matt as Milo drags him out of sight behind the glass cube.
I get back to my feet ready to take on the Victus, but he’s no longer a threat. One of the pieces of metal that Matt deflected from reaching me is sticking out the side of his neck. His black shirt is shiny, obviously drenched in blood. He’s slumped against the wall, his eyes are open but completely lifeless.
Darius is the only one left. He’s looking at me and laughing. I’m in shock, I’m terrified, I feel sick at the amount of blood that’s been shed in this room — my own continues to drip from the fingers of my left hand. The room is bright, lit by the fires everywhere that are constantly threatening to spread and engulf us all at any minute. I don’t find any of this funny.
I stare at him, another fireball at the ready, prickling beneath the skin of my right hand.
“Well, well, well girl,” he says with a tight voice.
The burn on his side must be causing him a lot of pain. Every movement causes him to grimace and grunt. Good, I think.
“You think you’ve won, have you?” He’s stepping gingerly toward me, slowly. “You think because you killed my Victus it’s over? I have thousands more where they came from. And what do you have? Nothing!”
He throws a fireball at me quicker than I thought he could in his current state. I deflect it up into the ceiling. Chunks of concrete and more sections of ductwork fall around us. Darius takes another slow step toward me while I stay silent not saying anything.
“I’m going to burn this whole place down with your friends in it. I’m going to bury your family! I’m going to skin that mutt and roast him on a spit.”
Every word that comes out of Darius’s mouth is making me even angrier. Both of my hands are searing ready to launch ball after ball of fire at the demon in front of me.
The fires around us are getting hotter. I can see the heat dancing off of the glass of CCR4. I take a few steps backward toward the fift
h cube that Matt and Cali are tucked behind. Just as I hoped, my movement draws Darius further into the room with me.
I feel a pressure on the side of my knee, and without looking down, I know that Milo is next to me. He would only return to me if both Cali and Matt were safe enough for him to do so.
Darius’s eyes light up seeing my dog next to me. His next throw, the fire angles downward toward Milo. I use my telekinesis power to sweep the ball back toward Darius. It crashes into the wall behind him next to the door leaving a large crater in the cinderblock.
I take another step backward, trying to draw Darius to me. He’s so focused on me that he doesn’t realize that he’s walking into my trap. I want to get him right next to CCR4. When he throws his next ball, I’m going to deflect it into the cube which would explode right next to him. The blast will knock him off of his feet and then I could finish him off.
My Name Is Not Alexa Pearce Page 34
