“Human years translated into more Demonic energy for me. But I was something very different than a Demon. I didn’t know what I was. But that’s when I observed the remarkable imprint I had left on a young girl’s soul. Meanwhile, the Demon killings that had been happening in Villeneuve for a decade and a half were scarcely invisible to me. It was then that I realized what I had to do.”
His blue eyes narrowed once again on me. This time I did not evade his gaze.
“I had to trap all of those Demons back inside that girl,” said Dante. “And then I had to kill her and send all of them back to Hell.”
And this was what it was like to drown. I was breathing, but I was suffocating all the same. The world was closing in around me. I stared down at my hands which were now trembling.
That was it? That was Dante’s plan all along? To kill me and send me to Hell with seven Demons inside of me?
I was nothing but a package.
His words had snapped me so much out of reality that I hardly noticed as Zoey swiped the Demon Dagger out of my grasp. In the time that it took me to blink, she threw herself at Dante, smashing him into the wall with the circular Demon diagram. The blade stopped only centimeters from his throat.
I knew Dante’s reflexes too well. Not to mention he had about a fifty pounds on her. He let her attack. Hell. Maybe he wanted her to.
“Give me one fucking reason why I shouldn’t kill,” said Zoey. “Just one goddamn reason.”
Dante’s face was indifferent, perhaps even craving it. “I don’t really have any reason you shouldn’t,” he said, “other than for you to hear the rest of what I have to say.”
“I think I’ve heard enough,” she said.
“Zoey. No.”
I said that. Apparently. I was moving before my brain had a chance to register what the hell was going on. My hand wrapped calmly around Zoey’s, clutching the Dagger. Reluctantly, her gaze met mine.
“Let’s at least hear the rest of what he has to say,” I said.
I had the ability to summon the Demon Dagger back into my grasp, but it was better to calm Zoey instead. If she had really, truly intended to kill Dante now, she would have done it. Or at least tried.
She sent one last glare Dante’s way and snorted before finally setting the Dagger in my open palm. As she backed away, she put as much fury as possible into each footstep. Dante and I exchanged close-up glances before I finally stepped back as well.
“Bravo,” said Leviathan. He clapped obnoxiously. “Man, ain’t life a bitch. You guys are so much better than Jersey Shore.”
Dante ignored Leviathan. He pressed his fingers together, semi-contemplative. But mostly just empty. “Leviathan was telling the truth when he said that there’s no such thing as a Demon Slayer. It was all an elaborate lie to get you to use my own creation.”
“The Demon Dagger was your creation?” I said.
“Not just the Dagger. You are my creation. You as a whole. Your power, your abilities, everything that makes you a Demon Slayer. Except that you aren’t actually slaying anything per se. All the Demon Dagger does is absorb the Demons inside of you, reducing each of them to a dormant state. Their energy is then your energy—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Their powers are channeled to your disposal, but you’re also subject to their vices. And those vices will only get worse as the Demons awaken from their dormancy.”
“But…why me?” I said. Which was kind of a stupid question because I knew exactly why me. “What did you do to me?”
Dante’s flinched, as if my words, or maybe just my despair, had a sting. “It couldn’t be just anyone,” he said. “You can’t just shove a bunch of Demons—even dormant ones—inside a human host and expect that person to survive more than a couple hours. And then you just have a bunch of loose Demons all over again. And no exorcist would last a second in this town. It had to be you. Your body adapted to their Demonic presence. It’s like snapping puzzle pieces in place. That’s the only reason the power I gave you allows you to adapt their abilities so easily.
“And as for how I did it…I suppose you have your brother to thank for that. It was all part of the Deal. In exchange for what I gave him, he gave me you. That’s an oldest sibling’s right in the Demon handbook. If parents have proven untrustworthy—as your mother had by inadvertently getting you possessed by me in the first place—then the oldest sibling has the right to take action for his younger siblings. Of course, I twisted the rules a little bit, but that’s about the exact same terminology I used when I explained it to your brother. Casey was certainly desperate enough to go for it. I simply told him that I would be using your connection to the Demons against them—which, as you know, is absolutely true. I just may have left out certain details wherein I kill you and send you to Hell with the rest of them.”
Casey gave me to him? His discomfort talking to me at the hospital suddenly made perfect sense. He had given me away to get revenge on his dead girlfriend. Zoey, I noticed, was as appalled. She shook her head, as if she could just shake the truth away.
Dante seemed to enjoy telling me the truth as much as I enjoyed hearing it.
“So what now?” I said. At this point, I was devoid of emotion. Dehumanized. That was the point of Dante’s plot all along, wasn’t it? To use me as an object to get rid of Demons? Demons that were ironically pieces of him? “What’s the point of telling me the truth?”
“The point is that I don’t want to lie to you anymore. I want you to know the truth, as horrible and shitty as it is.”
“Well good job. I know the truth. So now I’m just supposed to go along with this plot willingly? Sacrifice myself for the greater good? Is that what you want?”
I already knew the right answer. I wasn’t about to let Dante guilt-trip me into it.
“Fine,” I said I’ll do it.” The words burned on my tongue. “If it means that no one else has to die…I’ll do it.”
“Monica!” said Zoey
“No,” said Dante. “That’s not what I want. Not anymore.”
“You don’t?” I said. Now I was officially confused. “What do you want?”
Dante stepped forward, placing both hands on my shoulders. I could feel his warmth.
“I want to get out of here. I want to get you as far from Villeneuve as possible.”
31
Envy
“What?” I said. This conversation literally could not get any more confusing.
“Are you serious?” said Zoey.
Leviathan rolled his head back and chuckled. “This just keeps getting better and better.”
Dante’s expression did not budge. “Dead serious.”
“But…after all that…?” I said. “I don’t get it. Why plan all of this, and then just decide to run away?”
“Because I care for you!” said Dante. “I don’t know when it happened. I don’t know how. I can’t even really explain how I feel about you. All I know is that I’ve never felt like this before. And after you disappeared inside that school for five days… Dammit, the thought of losing you, Monica? I thought I lost everything. Screw saving this town. This town is already fucked. I never want to feel like that again, and I won’t lose you again. Not like that. Not because of me.”
“You want me to just…run away with you?” I said. And then, rather stupidly, as if I was actually considering the possibility, I said, “Where?”
“Anywhere! As long as it’s not here. We’ll take anyone you want with us. Your parents, your brother, Zoey…we just need to get out of Villeneuve before Mammon and Lucifer catch on. They won’t wander too far from Pandemonium. That’s their anchor. Then we can find an exorcist. Someone that can cast those Demons out of you before they become cemented to your soul. Before they awaken from their dormancy. But we need to do it quick.”
Silently, our eyes connected. I could sense his sincerity. As I was sure he could
sense my feelings. And my hurt.
“I don’t expect you to listen to me,” he said. “But you should listen to your best friend.”
Dante’s turned to Zoey, his eyes glaring with arctic intensity.
“If Monica stays here, one of two things is going to happen: either these Demons will kill her which is much more likely because Lucifer is the most powerful, and Mammon is the most conniving…”
“True,” said Leviathan.
“…or Monica will kill them,” said Dante. “And when she does, the Demons will fuse back together. Then the Metamorphosis will begin.”
“The Metamorphosis?” said Zoey.
“She’ll turn into the monster I used to be, but complete with a perfectly compatible physical body. She will be the most powerful, dangerous, evil entity on earth. If that were to happen, I would have to kill her before her power spiraled out of control. Which it would. Killing her would be the only humane thing to do at that point. That is, if the real Demons didn’t get to her first.”
“Real Demons?” I said.
“The Demons that work for my father,” said Dante. “I didn’t realize who they were until the quarantine. You’ve seen them. The ones disguised as government agents.”
“Those are Demons?”
“Yes, the real kind. They knew that Belphegor was losing it, about to start his own zombie apocalypse. So they prepared a quarantine with an alternate purpose. They created their own Demon barrier to keep all of the Demons locked in while you ‘killed’ them, so to speak. They installed the security cameras so they could oversee the process.”
“Seems a little too professional for Demons, don’t you think?” said Zoey.
“My father is a little more modernized than your stereotypical horns and pitchfork,” said Dante.
“But what’s the point?” I said. “What do they want?”
“They want to fuse me with the seven Remnants,” Dante murmured. “And the easiest way to do that is through you. I thought using you was my idea, but the more I think about it, it seems like they’ve been leading me towards this all along. They want their Prince back in line for the throne.”
There was perfect silence. Even Leviathan refrained from speaking, whether out of actual speechlessness, or out of some twisted Demonic reverence.
“We’re going with him, Monica,” said Zoey. There was no room for debate in her tone. “I don’t like him, but not as much as I don’t like the other options.”
Zoey was right. Even if my feelings for him were torn now, he would only be worse with seven more Demons on board. Not that I would be in a state to even comprehend this.
“Let’s go,” I said. “After we get our parents and Casey.”
“Deal,” said Dante. That was all the consent he needed. He hastily reached for mine and Zoey’s hands. I took a deep breath, anticipating another stomach-churning instant teleportation.
Leviathan hastily stepped between me and Dante. “Not so fast. I still need something.”
“What do you want?” said Dante, clearly annoyed.
“I just want your girlfriend to kill me with her little dagger.”
“You want me to kill you?” I said. What the hell was with all these suicidal Demons or Remnants or whatever they were?
“My entire Demonic existence is based on envy. No matter what I get…what I become…I am physically incapable of being happy because I will always want something else. I will never be truly happy with who I am. Do you know why I chose to possess this form?” He gestured to himself as if it were a joke. “This nerd was the happiest kid I’d ever seen. I can still feel bits and pieces of his residual happiness, but it hardly resonates enough to have an effect on my own happiness. In fact, it probably just makes it worse. It makes me want a happiness that I can never have.”
“I already told you,” said Dante, scowling. “The Demon Dagger won’t kill you. Just like it hasn’t killed any of the others. If you’re looking for something to put you out of your misery, look somewhere else.”
“Oh no, Dante, this is way more than me wanting to be put out of my misery,” said Leviathan. “I envy you, Dante. I envy Monica. Whatever happens to you two, I want to be a part of it. Even if it means being dormant inside your girlfriend.”
“Well too bad!” Dante snapped. “She already has too many Demons in her already. You’re not going to be another one.”
Levi chuckled in a very unsettling way. And then his face went deadpan. “Did it sound like I was asking?”
In that very instant, Leviathan exploded. His skin became moist and scaly, and he elongated into a serpentine body that nearly filled the whole living room, thick as a shark. Dante, Zoey, and I all sprang in different directions to avoid the writhing bodily mass. Walls cracked as his torso expanded in the now confined space. Webbed claws sprang out, gripping and tearing into every nearby surface. And then a dragon-shaped head with a long snout and tendrils lifted out of the chaos. It tilted to face me, bearing rows of jagged teeth. Fierce yellow eyes narrowed on me.
32
Slaying the Dragon
“Ever seen a shape-shifter in his true form?” said Leviathan in a voice that was more a gargantuan roar. “Kill me!”
“Get away from her!” said Dante.
He jumped out of the debris, racing toward me. Leviathan’s thick serpent torso whipped out, smashing Dante into the wall and out of sight.
“Burn in hell!” Zoey screamed.
I didn’t even know where her voice came from, but the very next second, the living room erupted in flames. Leviathan pulled back his bulky head, screeching.
The fire dissipated. I watched Leviathan’s body reel close together like a snake. I spotted a narrow path to the bedroom hallway. I made a dash for it. Dante and Zoey would have to take care of this Demon. The hallway split both ways, and I instinctively turned right.
No sooner did I start in that direction, the hallway exploded. The impact knocked me off my feet. Debris sprayed and smoke filled the hall. As the smolder cleared, the shattered wall continued to crumble as Leviathan lifted and shook his bulky head from the wreckage. His yellow eyes locked onto me.
“Kill me now,” said Leviathan. “Or I’ll kill you.”
Fuck right. Left! LEFT!
Scrambling to my feet, I bolted down the opposite hall. I could hear his thick dragging, careening after me. This hallway was just as smothered in tacked-up photos and random mirrors all of which I raced past in a blur. Nearly at the opposite bedroom, I made the mistake of glancing back. I turned just in time to witness a mouth full of teeth lunging at me. In desperation, I lunged through the open door.
Before my brain could even register anything, I felt the whiplash. My momentum was jarred to a halt. Then I heard the bone snap. My right leg screamed. I hit the floor hard, Leviathan’s teeth embedded in my leg. Excruciating became unbearable as he lifted me from the ground by my broken appendage and flung me against the far wall. Everything became a spinning blur. I hit the wall with my back—all I felt was the fiery blaze in my leg—and collapsed to the floor in a pathetic heap.
“You should have just killed me,” said Leviathan. “It didn’t have to be this way.”
His muscles became taut, head reared back for one final blow. I had just barely managed to push myself upright to watch him head-on.
Both his head and my arm shot out. The Demon Dagger didn’t even materialize in my grasp until it was already halfway inside Leviathan’s mouth. His mouth came to a dead halt only inches away from my face. His yellow eyes were wide.
The bloody tip of the Dagger was sticking out the back of his skull.
His head crumbled to ash around my arm. The disintegration continued in a synchronized wave down his elongated body like a falling chain of dominoes. The Demon Dagger was already levitated from the ashes. Blue energy erupted, channeling from the remains to the Da
gger, and hit me straight on.
The blackness did not come as expected.
All of a sudden, Zoey was kneeling at my side. Her hand was raised to my forehead, a glowing green aura emanating from her palm. She was chanting something under her breath—words that didn’t seem to fit the English language. Staring past her torso, I noticed Dante enter the room, brushing dust from his now-weathered suit.
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” said Zoey. “I’m just trying to keep her conscious so we can get the hell out of here.”
Fine? Leviathan had nearly bitten my leg off! The fact that the pain had mysteriously vanished could not be a good sign.
“My leg’s broken,” I said, still in a daze. As if to illustrate its lack of mobility, I gritted my teeth and attempted to move it.
My leg lifted from the ground all too easily.
I dropped my leg in shock. I could still see the bloody tattered line in my jeans, but the skin beneath was untainted.
“You can thank Beezlebub for that,” said Dante. He crouched down to meet my gaze with a smirk. “You adopted his vampiric healing ability.”
“Vampiric…healing?” Now that I thought about it, I did remember his wounds sealing shut after I had slashed his face open with Asmodeus’s dismembered hand.
“C’mon, Monica,” said Dante, chuckling. “Haven’t you even tried to figure out your new abilities since the last few Demons you’ve taken down? It probably would have made the past couple days a little easier on you.”
Demonica Page 21
