I opened my eyes and met my own reflection. I lay my head back against the mirror and panted for several minutes. This was wrong. I was supposed to be the bad-ass demon hunter. They feared me. It wasn’t supposed to be the other way around. Yet, here I was, huddling beside a mirror like an adolescent.
“What are you doing?”
And that clinched everything else. My nemesis had witnessed my breakdown. I’d never hear the end of this. His gaze traveled down the hallway then back to me.
“Did you run into something?” he asked.
“I’m not well,” I admitted. “Ose got to me.”
It was the hardest thing to admit out loud to him. I was supposed to be the skilled one, the actual demon hunter, and I had been compromised by a devil. I expected more ridicule. He stared at me for several moments and closed his eyes with a sigh.
“How long has this been going on?” Esais demanded.
Damn, Adrian had called his big brother. I sighed. “Since the last time we were here at the carnival.”
“Why didn’t you say something? I could have helped. Now you are too far away.”
“Because you sound exhausted just defending yourself. And the others need their talismans.”
“Stop playing martyr.” Adrian pulled his talisman from around his neck and held it out to me.
“That works for now. After you find Tres, come see me. I don’t care about exhaustion. We need you sane.”
I gaped at him holding the necklace out to me. This had to be some sort of trick. With trembling hands, I took it, savoring its warm weight, and slipped it around my neck. My heartbeat slowed, and the lump in my throat dissolved. The world became a little clearer. He helped me to my feet. I picked up the gas can and began splashing each mirror three times as Adrian set the charge. The fire marshal would probably find multiple hotspots in this room, but it needed to burn. I kept my gaze away from the reflections and Adrian. I just focused on the task at hand.
Adrian stopped at the slide and shook his head. “I am not using that.”
“What’s the matter?” I asked. “Too fun?”
He pointed to a small stairway in the corner. Oh, I had missed that the last time. Of course, I’d been a little preoccupied the last time. A shiver ran down my spine. Hell, I was a bit preoccupied now. Good thing I had Adrian to point out the obvious because I would have missed it. To be thorough, I sprayed the stairs behind me as I followed him. This would be a great blaze. Too bad we couldn’t stay to watch it. Since joining up with the Van Helsings, I’d become a firebug.
“How far away do we need to be?” I asked.
“We should probably be outside the park.”
“How much is it going to hit?”
“The funhouse will go up and maybe a few of the surrounding rides.”
I blinked at him. “That’s some device you made.”
He kept his hands in his pockets as he walked, like we weren’t about to commit a felony. “It’s nothing really. The gas main is going to do most of the work.”
Right, he probably had a lot in his arsenal as the weapon maker of the group. I wondered if he had invented anything that wouldn’t kill something. Even when he didn’t want to do the family business, he’d sold his creations to men who wanted to make war. Violence was in his blood, and he hadn’t seemed to escape it.
Marge stood with her arms crossed and her foot tapping in front of the funhouse. “Took you long enough.”
I ignored her. “We should head for the fortune-teller's wagon. She might have Tres there.”
Our footsteps echoed through the empty carnival. I peered into dark corners between rides and behind stands for hidden attackers but found nothing. She had to be holding him in a trap. A large, round figure stood on the steps of the wagon, shrouded in shadows. The light over the wagon flickered on and revealed the fat face of the man Marge had fought with over his daughter.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Lloyd rocked back and forth on his heels on the steps of the fortune-teller’s wagon. He held the limp form of his daughter by one of her arms. A few pieces of trash rolled around the courtyard that divided us.
“Took ya long enough,” he said. “Sorry, but your prince is in another castle.”
“You son of a bitch.” Marge surged forward.
I caught her arm and studied the man in front of me. My vision blurred for a moment when I switched to my aura sight. The alastor’s eyes bored into mine from below its horns. Goose pimples broke over my flesh. The man’s soul was starting to combine with the demon, like the boy’s but to a much lesser degree.
I let Marge go. “This is the one you’re after.”
A malicious grin spread over her face. “Even better.”
“So, you decided to join Ose. What happened to your mission?” I asked him.
He sneered. “Thanks to you, the hellhound is dead. With Ose I avoid punishment and break the chains that hold me.”
“You’ve forsaken your Throne.” I shook my head. “I always knew demons were deceitful bastards, but at least they could have been counted on to be bound by something.”
“Does this really matter?” Marge asked as she closed the distance.
The alastor gave a sharp whistle as she moved. He held the girl in front of him like a shield and shook his head. Six men stepped out from the game booths surrounding the wagon.
“Wonderful, more lackeys.” I put my back to Adrian’s. “Can you handle yourself?”
He pulled out the gun he’d been working on. Now assembled, it looked strange, like something out of a science fiction novel and ancient at the same time. The handle was curved and connected to a chamber big enough for six rounds. The long barrel had a point at the end of it. On the point, two metal tubes traveled back to where the barrel and the chamber met.
“I need to test this out anyway. I’ll help Marge. Keep the rest off of us,” he said.
I covered Adrian as he found a good shooting position in one of the empty stands. Six humans and the alastor, not bad odds. I readied my stance with my sundang and knife drawn. Three closed in on me before the others. My blade flashed in the moonlight as I slashed the side of the first man. The other raised his fist to swing at my head. I sidestepped him and delivered a jab to his spine with my knife. I swung to the side and cut the last man in his abdomen. They fell to the ground, groaning and bleeding. I turned to face the three remaining lackeys.
“Is demon power so important that you would die for it?” I asked.
Two looked at me and each other with uncertainty. They backed away a few steps and took off into the darkened park. The last man pulled out a gun.
Merda.
I ducked behind the man with the side wound, who was getting up. I dropped my knife and swung him to block the gunshots coming in. The explosion of the gun echoed through the night, drowning out the moans of the men around me. My human shield jerked with each bullet that hit him. and he collapsed.
“Adrian,” I called. “Could you handle the man with the gun?”
A shot rang out from behind me followed by a cry from the lackey and a thud. He didn’t get back up. I dropped the man I held and turned to the wagon. The alastor raised the girl’s body in front of him as Marge aimed a kick to his side. From the look on Marge’s face, he’d been using this tactic throughout the fight. Typical of a demon.
I grabbed my knife and stepped over the dead and dying. Marge and the alastor had fought their way down the steps and halfway across the courtyard. I snuck behind him and raised my sword to attack. He spun around, holding the girl between us. Marge planted her boot in his backside. He stumbled and glared at her. The minute he looked away, I sliced through the tendons in his arm. The girl dropped to the ground as his arm curled up. Marge landed a kick to the back of his knee, and he lurched several feet before hitting the ground. She planted her boot on the side of his face, pressing it to the ground.
“Once again,” she said. “Where is my contract?”
“I don’t know wh
o owns it.” He coughed, and the darkness started to pour from his eyes.
I ran forward. “Marge, grab him.”
A tendril formed out of the darkness surrounding him and slapped me. I flew back and landed on my ass. I groaned, getting to my feet. Tomorrow my backside would be covered in purple and green. In the blink of an eye, darkness encompassed me, killing the lights. I could hear Marge’s grunts as she struggled with the alastor. I froze as I tried to pinpoint their location. If I attacked now, I may hit Marge. She was smaller than the body the demon wore but it sounded like they were in a tangle on the ground.
“I have it,” Adrian said from close behind me. “Just give me a clear shot when you get light.”
A white fire flared up behind me with a small roar. Adrian held a flare in his hand. The darkness receded to the corners, and the tendrils around me disintegrated. I started at how close they were to me without knowing it. I dashed to Marge and grabbed her around her waist. We rolled to the side, my momentum tearing her from the alastor. Adrian’s gun roared, and a red light flared in the alastor’s chest where the bullet entered. Lloyd fell limp to the ground.
I stood, panting, and helped Marge to her feet. She rushed to the girl and knelt down beside her. Her hand pressed to the side of her neck before she scooped the child up.
“I’m taking her to the hospital,” she said. “You two do what you need to do.”
She sprinted into the darkness with the girl in her arms. Adrian walked up the stairs of the fortune-teller’s wagon and swung the door open. He sighed, pulling out another charge and placing it on the frame of the door.
“Empty,’ he said.
“He has to be at the asylum. Esais must have missed him.”
“No one knows anything of him. Ose must have snuck him in,” Esais said.
“Figures you’d be listening,” I said.
“You said my name, it caught my attention. I will be waiting for you here.”
“Let’s burn this place first,” I said. “One less place for them to go to ground. This ends tonight.”
I emptied what gas I had left on the wagon, and we hurried back to the fence. Adrian was already halfway up the fence when I started my climb. He stopped at the top to help me up. I hopped down the rest of the way, the shock jarring my bruised backside. I rubbed it as Adrian landed. He sprinted for the car with me hot on his heels. He had already started it up as I slid into the passenger seat.
“Ready?” I asked.
He pressed the button. The gunfire from tonight couldn’t compare to the boom of the explosion. The car rocked from the shock of it, and the sky bloomed a brilliant orange.
“Which way do we need to go?” he asked.
“The police will be coming from the west. There shouldn’t be more than two or three yet. It’s night in a small town.”
He peeled out heading east. The sound of the fire mixed with the sirens. Their response time seemed to be quicker. We’d really caused a disturbance in this small town. After several turns and twists, the sound of the sirens faded, and we both let out the breaths we’d been holding.
“Take this street to the bar. We can act like we’re heading home from there,” I said.
He nodded and turned left. We didn’t see the police car until we were at the next stop sign, mostly because it had lain in wait, dark and silent when we passed it. Its lights flared behind us. Adrian cursed and pulled over.
“We got lost coming from the bar,” I said.
“Right, let’s hope he doesn’t want to search me.”
The cop knocked on Adrian’s window, and he rolled it down. Nancy poked her head in and smiled at us. She giggled, holding her hand to her mouth. Cold sweat broke over me at that action, it was so familiar. An image of a girl in a sundress and metal claws flashed in my head.
“It looks like I will be able to claim the prize instead,” Malantha said with Nancy’s voice.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
The car bucked as it ran over a pot hole. The force lifted me off my seat and caused me to plunge into Adrian. He glared at me but kept control of the wheel. I gave him an apologetic look and sat upright. Behind us, the siren of the police car wailed and the lights flashed.
“Do you really think we’re going to get out of this?” I asked, while buckling my seat belt.
“I’m not going to be taken in, by hellspawn or human.”
He glanced at the rearview, then accelerated until we were practically flying down the two-lane road with only the trees watching us pass. The demon had had two seconds to laugh before Adrian had taken off. It had been almost funny watching her scramble into her car. I guess she hadn’t seen that one coming. Adrian had taken a quick route to one of the farm roads and headed out of town. The dark lay ahead of us and the blazing red and blue behind.
“What if she calls backup?” I asked.
“They’re too busy dealing with the explosion. I doubt all of them have been roused.”
“I meant Ose.”
The corner of Adrian’s mouth lifted in a smirk. “Even better.”
“You think we can deal with both of them at once.”
He spun the wheel, and the car jerked to the right onto a dirt road. I gripped the armrest on the door and slammed my left hand onto the dashboard to keep from sliding. The trees started about ten feet from the road and created a massive wall that traveled on for miles. In daylight it was almost impossible to see the roads until you were right on them. How Adrian had seen it in the dead of night baffled me.
Malantha sped past the turnoff and her tires screeched down the road. She didn’t have Adrian’s reflexes. Still, she could move the car pretty fast. A few minutes passed before she was on our tail again. A cloud of dirt and dust flew back in both wakes of the cars. Tonight, I was glad Texas had so little rain recently.
“So, what’s the plan here?” I asked.
“You have your sword, and I have the gun. Seems simple to me.”
“Wait, that’s Nancy she’s in.”
Adrian shrugged. “An acceptable loss. Exorcism didn’t work last time. We take this demon out permanently.”
“What about the oath?”
“This is not the time to get into morality and ethics. I killed the fat man at the carnival and some of the bikers, yet I’m still fine.”
He spoke the truth. The oath his family swore dictated they must protect humans from supernatural evil. Actually it was a long list stating what they were protecting them from. This meant they couldn’t sacrifice a human just to kill a demon. Bad things were said to happen if they consciously broke the oath. Consciously broke it, so they could try and fail to save someone and only feel guilt in the end. Or in Adrian’s case, the need to work on his next weapon. Nothing bad had happened to him, so the others had been beyond saving. I’d have to ponder later.
“There,” he said and swerved the wheel to the left.
I had enough warning this time and leaned so I wouldn’t slam against the door. My heart raced, and my right hand twitched. I could feel it through my body, the adrenaline. There was a fight coming. Everything grew a little brighter in my eyes. I could hear the gravel grinding against the tires under the wail of the siren. The tree around us shook in the wind. The branches swayed in the headlights.
The road ended in the cemetery on the lake. Adrian slammed the car into the iron gates without bothering to slow down. The rusted metal screeched as it buckled, and we were in with a new hood ornament. Thank god this cemetery was old or the fence would have given us more trouble.
“Grave to your left,” I said as he skidded on the loose gravel. Like I said, old graveyard.
He sped along the main road and fish-tailed the car into a stop by a mausoleum. We both sat there, panting. Our gazes met, and I grinned.
“Nice to know you’re a crack driver,” I said.
He chuckled and stepped out of the car while I grabbed my sword from the back seat. Its touch sent a tingle through my arm. I shivered in anticipation and joined Adria
n in a crouch on his side of the car. He had his gun ready. The police car came to a screeching halt thirty feet away from us. When Malantha opened the door and stepped out, he fired. She ducked behind the door of the car with a muttered curse.
“Drop your weapons, and come peacefully,” she yelled at us.
“Do you really expect us to fall for that?” Adrian asked.
“No, but it sounded fun to say. Why don’t you just give up? You’re not going to win.”
“We have the gun,” Adrian called.
“It’s not going to do much good. Besides I have one too.”
She shifted against the door. I strained my neck to see her peering through the crack between the door and the car. I ducked back down and nodded to Adrian. He motioned his head around the car. He wanted me to go around behind and catch her unaware. I crab-walked around our car and paused to peek around the edge.
“I doubt you even know how to shoot,” Adrian said. “I am clearly at an advantage.”
“If so, why don’t you stick your head up?”
She popped up at the same time he did and fired off a shot. It went wide, not even hitting the car. His shot would have hit her, but she ducked, and it shattered the car window. I crept to the opposite side of the car and made my way around.
“As I thought, you can’t aim,” Adrian said.
“Which brother are you? The bookworm, the baby brother who Daddy maimed, or the one who didn’t care enough to return home? I’m betting on the last. You have that arrogance,” Malantha said.
She was peeking through the shattered window when I approached her from behind. I switched to my aura sight as I continued to creep upon her. My heart squeezed in my chest, but I kept any noise from escaping my lips. Nancy’s soul and Malantha’s were joined. I couldn’t save Nancy with an exorcism. The best I could do would be to give her a swift death. Just a few more feet and her head would be mine.
Malantha swung the gun around and aimed at my head. “I thought you were being a little too quiet. No quips tonight, Gabriella?”
I started to move, and her hand tightened on the trigger. I froze.
“I may not be a good shot, but even I can hit you at this distance.”
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