by Holly Hook
My Death Magic worked on demons.
Thoreau was dying again.
Allunna caught her breath as men shouted from outside. Something exploded. The back window shattered. Thoreau had summoned his men. He continued to wither on the floor as black wings burst from the back of his suit, spread out, and then settled against the mayor's body. He groaned.
I wondered if Death would save him.
"The ATC!" George shouted. "Here we go again!"
Liliana screamed. She was in the kitchen where the men were breaking in. They didn't care that there was a thirteen-year-old girl right there. Several sets of boots stormed into the house. I stepped over Thoreau and raised my sword. It still glowed with Death Magic. I willed it to stop. I didn't want to kill people who were Bound.
These guys had tasers. One fired at Xavier and struck him in the thigh. An electrical buzzing sounded as Xavier trembled and collapsed to the floor, helpless. Rage pumped through me. I swung my sword and struck the man on the side, making a slice across his uniform. He cried out in pain and dropped the weapon, which stopped pumping electricity into Xavier. Before I could look away, I realized he had the green glint of death in his eyes. He would suffer the same fate as the mayor.
"Alyssa," Thoreau managed from the floor. "Stop fighting. Accept your destiny."
Three other men poured in through the kitchen. Liliana screamed at someone to let her go. They didn't care about Thoreau's real form. They must be Bound. One raised a taser at me, but I lunged and struck the man with the blunt end of my sword. I heard his collarbone crack. He clutched the injury and backed into the hall. I hadn't cut him. He would live.
A window shattered somewhere. More agents were breaking in. The cut one groaned. My sword still glowed green.
Xavier groaned. So did Thoreau.
A third agent aimed at me and pulled the trigger. I dodged to the side as the spring shot towards me, missing and striking Allunna instead. She screamed and went to the floor, shaking. The agents might overtake us. I'd have no chance to bite them.
Their blood was mostly scentless. They had skipped eating. Thoreau had told them what they'd be dealing with in this house.
He could track me after all.
I hit the third agent across the front of his thigh, avoiding the fatal cut, but he was tough. He continued to pump electricity into Allunna. War Magic flared from the kitchen. Liliana was trying to fight. Mack shouted at the agents to let her go. Out of the corner of my vision, Xavier tried to stand, but couldn't.
I rammed into the third agent, throwing him against the wall so hard that he made a grunt and slid to the floor, stunned.
Two more ATC guys rushed me from the hallway.
A spring shot at me.
It struck my shoulder, and ten thousand volts of agony surged through my body. I collapsed to the floor, a rag doll, as the agent pumped more electrified death into me. I wanted to scream at them that Thoreau was dying, that they wouldn't be Bound anymore if that happened, but nothing but a pained scream came out. I let go of my sword. Xavier lay there and looked at me with horror and exhaustion. There were too many agents. Too much electricity. They would take us in.
A doggy smell filled the air. A hulking form leaped over me. An agent screamed as teeth met flesh. George had transformed. He had bitten one of the agents. Another guy fired, and then another, but the werewolf was resistant. He growled and charged the second man, biting him on the arm, and went after a third.
I could lift my hand and push myself up. The electricity had stopped. I had to move. It was our only hope.
I peeled the black pad off my shoulder and threw it to the side. Allunna was on the floor, breathing heavily but no longer shaking with the electrical onslaught. The kitchen had gone quiet. Xavier groaned and grabbed my arm. I was so weak that I barely felt it.
"We have to get up," Xavier managed.
I seized my sword, barely able to curl my fingers around it. George growled again and made his way down the hall, going after yet another agent who backed towards the guest room and vanishing inside. He was the bane of the ATC. I had total respect for the guy.
I managed to stand. It was no easy feat. Xavier climbed to his feet. All agents had fled the living room.
"Look at him," Xavier said, eyeing Thoreau.
The mayor lay on the floor, withering from the inside out. The peeling tape sound of mummifying flesh filled the air. Xavier was lucky that he couldn't hear it. My Death Magic was sucking the life out of Thoreau. I was horrified. I was relieved.
And next to him, Allunna didn't look good, either. Her skin pulled against her bones, and she looked like a living skeleton. She was dying because Leon was dying with Thoreau.
I had killed four with my blade. These three, and the groaning agent in the hall.
But Allunna managed to get up. Shooting us a warning glare, she pointed to the front door.
"Leave," she said. "Go for the portal. Find a way to break the Blood Orb. It's our only hope."
I grabbed Xavier's arm, partly for support. George returned to the living room in full wolf form, slobbering. He stepped over the dying agent on the floor.
Xavier faced Janine, who had backed against the wall. "We can't leave my sis--Liliana!" He shook his arm from my grip and raced into the kitchen, stumbling on the way.
The kitchen.
It was quiet, and the back door was open. A breeze blew in.
I ran after Xavier, leaving Janine to watch Thoreau and Allunna wither. The mayor groaned. He was in agony. I jumped over him and left him on the floor. Allunna tried to follow. A part of me hoped that she didn't die.
The kitchen was empty. There was no sign of Liliana or Mack.
From the front yard, an engine gunned as a van drove away.
Panic exploded.
The ATC had Liliana and Mack.
I swore, and Xavier looked at me in horror. I didn't have to say anything else. It was clear that Xavier could hear what I could. He bolted past me, tripped over a chair leg, and went to the door. Gaozu still stood in the doorway, but he got out of the way as Xavier ran past him, vanishing into the yard.
I followed. All of my thoughts flew to Liliana.
One of the ATC vans was speeding away.
George growled again, and bones popped as he changed forms. I ignored him and Janine's screams. I ran out after Xavier, into the painful light, but the leather hat and coat protected me some.
But it was too late.
The ATC van sped towards the corner and made a sharp left turn.
Xavier threw a charge, but the magenta light sailed towards the stop sign and struck the road, bursting into harmless sparks. The van was gone.
And with it, Liliana.
Chapter Eight
Silence fell. Xavier and I stood there, and then little things broke it: the groaning of injured ATC agents, Thoreau trying to rise and failing. Allunna staggered out the front door towards us. Inside, George cursed and scrambled to put some new clothes on.
A headache bloomed between my temples. Clouds had covered the sun, and I had Xavier's coat and hat on, but the daylight was never kind.
Xavier fell to the ground and beat it with one fist.
"I was supposed to protect her!" he shouted. "I swore I'd protect her!"
"Get up," I said. "We'll get Liliana back. Thoreau's dying. He can't Bind her. I don't think the ATC will hurt a kid."
"Are you sure?" Xavier glared at me and propped up on his hands.
"Get up!" I yelled. I wasn't sure. That was the problem.
Allunna stood in George's yard, wobbling. She looked as if she hadn't eaten in a month and there was a faint green glow in her eyes. The Death Magic had spread to her through Leon. Allunna was tough. The Elder War Mages would have died by now.
"We need to take a van," she said. "This is our only chance to get to the Orb."
"My sister comes first!" Xavier shouted. He raised one hand, and a magenta glow surrounded it. "We have to get her back!"
"She
is safe for now," Allunna said. "Thoreau cannot bind her if we have possession of the Orb."
"Are you kidding?" Xavier shouted. He kept the magic going around his palm.
"It's your only hope!" Alluna staggered and grabbed onto a nearby tree. "They will take your sister to the ATC building. The wards around it are too strong for you to get through. The only way you'll get in is to cut through the Infernal Dimension and use the portal on the upper floor."
I knew what she meant. Thoreau would use Liliana to get me and Xavier to do what he wanted. I knew how he worked.
"How do you know this?" Xavier screamed at her.
Allunna was weakening. Leon was dying right along with Thoreau. They were taking a long time. "Thoreau always uses bait. You know that."
I raised my sword. I didn't want to face what was inside the house, but I had to steal that Blood Amulet before someone else used it. "I have to go make sure that he stays dead."
Allunna's glare stopped me. "It doesn't matter what you do," she said. "You won't have the result you want. Thoreau is immortal. I want my revenge. The two of you are going to the Infernal with me, and we are going to stop him once and for all."
"But Liliana!" Xavier said.
"I told you how to reach her," Allunna said. She coughed. The peeling tape sound followed with each of her movements.
The van got fainter and fainter. Liliana was getting further away. We'd never catch up.
Allunna slumped against the tree. She didn't have much longer. I had killed her right along with the others. "You must kill Thoreau. Permanently." She struggled to speak now. "Only then will Death be free to claim Thoreau."
I had to get back into the house and grab that Amulet, just in case.
A strange sound filled the air, like a million bones popping, followed by the flapping of massive wings. Wind blasted against me, and a loud growl filled the air. Behind me, Janine screamed. George cursed. Allunna shook her head like we were a lost cause.
I turned.
I had forgotten about Gaozu.
He stood on the roof now, in full golden dragon form. A pair of red eyes locked on me like giant rubies. The dragon's snakelike body rose from the top of the house, reflecting toxic sunlight into my eyes. Xavier's hat did little to shield me. His wings unfurled, spanning the width of the roof.
I couldn't tell if the look in his eyes was angry or if he was silently pleading for help.
But it didn't matter.
Gaozu sucked in one very long, very ominous breath and prepared to unleash his worst.
I thought he was going to try roasting Xavier and I, but instead, he turned his aggression on George's house. George, who was shirtless and wearing only a fresh pair of jeans, grabbed Janine's hand and pulled her from the building with supernatural speed. Gaozu unleashed a stream of roaring fire against the roof. George crashed into me. Janine seethed and squeezed her eyes shut in the emerging sun.
"Go!" George shouted. "The van! Get in!"
I heard the screams of the injured ATC agents still inside the house. Two of them dove out of the front door as flames caught underneath the shingles. Smoke rose, shielding the dragon from view. Allunna struggled to her feet and reached out to me. The Death in her eyes was stronger now, greener. She looked like a living skeleton, but she was still holding on.
I took her hand and helped her up.
We needed her.
George had stolen several sets of keys from the agents. He raced for the first van in the line and tried them until he found the right one. The driver's side door swung open, and he rushed back, unlocking the back as well.
"In!" George shouted.
The prison area had two benches and a metal floor. I climbed in with Xavier and Allunna, not letting go of either one of them. Janine crawled in with us, hand over her face to keep the sunlight off her eyes. Xavier closed the double doors as the dragon unleashed another round of fire on the house.
I had left Thoreau's Blood Amulet in there. I couldn't go back now. Doing so would put everyone in danger.
"What's happening?" Janine asked.
"I don't know," I said as the van lurched. George was driving us away from here. The guy had just watched his house burn. "Thoreau must have ordered his dragon friend to get rid of any evidence that he was there. He must not want the police to go inside and find him in demon form."
Fire wouldn't bother Thoreau. Neither would the deaths of his agents. But it would keep out any real law enforcement.
But if he died and there was no more head of the ATC, we might get Liliana back. I imagined that the van must be close to the headquarters by now. The agents wouldn't be able to shove her into the Infernal Dimension without Thoreau. It was my hope. Our only hope, in fact.
Xavier sat on the bench while Allunna fell to the floor. He rolled up his sleeve and watched his forearm. The crossed swords were there. I knew what he was doing. He waited for the victory lines that showed that either he or I had killed a demon.
They would confirm Thoreau's and Allunna's deaths.
A minute later, he got it.
Right when George turned the van, two new magenta slashes appeared on his skin, right above the crossed swords mark that we shared.
Thoreau and Allunna were dead.
Janine watched with amazement when it happened. Xavier and I looked at each other as the first sirens sounded off in the distance.
"We did it," he said. "Again."
"We don't know if what Allunna said is true," I said. I wanted to collapse with relief. If she were wrong, we'd know soon enough. We could tell if Thoreau came back to life.
But Allunna had become a mummy on the floor. She smelled musty. There wasn't a trace of life left in the succubus.
"You know," Xavier said as George made another turn. "It's strange that Allunna was telling us to kill Thoreau. If he dies, Leon dies, and she dies."
"Allunna just goes back to the Infernal as a Fire Wraith when she dies," I said. "You heard her." I could no longer see through the succubus's mummified hand. She was back in her lake of fire and Thoreau was probably there, too. I had the feeling that all evil beings became Fire Wraiths when they died. Leon might have joined them. They could have a party.
"This is disgusting," Janine said. Right in front of her, George continued to drive. The sirens got louder and then faded again. Someone had called about the fire and the dragon on top of the house, spewing flames. I didn't envy anyone who had to answer that call.
Gaozu was there to erase the truth.
Was he doing it out of his own free will or was he still somehow Bound to Thoreau?
George drove for what felt like ten minutes before he pulled under an area with less light. I could see him looking left and right through the glass that separated us from him. He got out of the van and unlocked the back door, letting us out.
I was glad. Allunna was face down, but I didn't want to look at her mummified form, knowing that I had done that. I couldn't believe that I was capable of doing such horrible things. I didn't want to believe it.
George had parked us under a bridge in an alley. The sirens were distant now. Fire engines screamed. The man leaned against the van and punched the side. He cursed.
He had every reason. His house was gone.
"How am I going to explain this to the police?" George asked. "They're going to wonder why a dragon just torched my place and what my involvement was. I'm going to have to move. We don't have anywhere to go!"
Janine crept under the darkest part of the bridge. I had no idea where we were. I could see downtown Cumberland from here. The ATC building towered above everything. I wondered if I'd see Gaozu flying over the city as I had in my nightmare, but there was nothing. He may have returned to his human form and hidden again.
Either way, George's place was ablaze. I separated from Xavier and crept to the edge of the safe shadow.
Smoke rose from the suburbs.
There was so much that I wondered if the rest of George's neighborhood was catching fire
.
I wished I had something comforting to say to George, but there was nothing. His home was gone.
It was my fault.
At least one Bound agent was dead. It hadn't been their fault that they had to be there.
"At least we can enjoy our victory a little," Xavier said, slipping his hand into mine. "Thoreau can't hurt Liliana."
I hadn't even heard him come up behind me. I let him hold my hand and rest his head on my shoulder. He needed my support now.
"Well, he can't Bind your sister," I said. "With the mayor gone, we might be able to get her back." I didn't mention the powerful wards now around the ATC building since they upped the security. The dread feeling still curled in my gut like a black snake. "I think George is going to help us more now. He has every reason to go against the ATC."
"He infected three of them back at the house," Xavier said. "If they escaped the fire, they're going to have a problem in about two nights. The full moon is when infected people turn into werewolves for the first time."
I thought of Jamal at the airport and the others George had bitten. I wondered what had happened to them after that. How could George live with the thought of infecting people when he hated being a werewolf?
I had only infected one, and it was killing me.
Even though it was a one in five hundred chance, my best friend was Turning. I felt like the world had orchestrated an evil plan to kick me and everyone around me over and over. It felt like more than a coincidence.
Xavier's grip on my hand tightened with shock. "Do you feel that?" he asked.
More sirens went off. They must have called in more fire departments. The smoke rose, thicker than ever. Other houses must be catching. There was still no dragon taking off into the air, but there was something else: an overbearing sense of dread, like a million Shadow Wraiths approached.
I knew what it meant. I'd felt this before.
