by Terry Spear
“Can I go now?” Alana asked, and was surprised to hear how tired her voice sounded.
Her mother looked even more worried than before, if that was possible.
“Just a few more questions,” Detective Ryker said with authority.
She could tell he loved his job. She knew he’d ask the same questions over again, take more notes, keep recording all she said. As soon as she slipped up just once, he’d have a field day. Begin the questioning all over again. Grind her down until he proved she knew who the man was, that she’d lied about speaking to him, that she’d been in cahoots with him even.
“How did you get from the school to the zoo without your car? No one saw you arrive at the front gates, the ticket booth, anywhere. When the maintenance man reported you were on the premises, security checked for your vehicle. No unaccounted vehicles were in the lot. No busses came to the area, either.”
“I walked.”
“Not from the school. The times just aren’t matching up, though, anyway we see it. Everyone says you were in classes, but they can’t be right. You don’t have a twin, do you?” He glanced at Alana’s mother as if she’d have a better answer.
“No. Alana’s an only child.”
Detective Ryker focused on Alana again. “So how did you get there? Did you start walking, then this man picked you up and you wandered around the animal exhibits before Mr. Bradshaw caught sight of you?”
A tingling throughout her body warned Alana another portal had opened. She couldn’t astral travel out of the interrogation room without sending everyone, including her mother, into a state of hysteria.
“I need to go to the bathroom.”
“In a minute. Now about…”
Alana stood up. “Now. I need to go now.” Like immediately!
Chapter 4
The two police detectives stared at Alana as if she’d asked for a paid trip to the moon.
“I have to go to the bathroom now,” she insisted, not waiting for them to allow it as she walked to the door of the interrogation room.
“All right. A police woman will go with you,” Detective Ryker said, as if warning her she wasn’t going to escape. But she was.
She imagined someone watching through the mirrors had already contacted a policewoman in a hurry.
She cast her mother a sympathetic look, mouthed, “I love you,” then as soon as the door to the room opened, she hurried into the hall saying, “Which way? Which way?”
She was as desperate as she felt, and the policewoman who had rushed to escort her looked hard at her as if she figured Alana was faking she had to go to the bathroom. Her expression changed to concern as desperate as Alana truly had to look.
And she was desperate, feeling as though she was being torn from the place by the strength of a hurricane as she struggled to remain here.
As soon as she was in the restroom’s stall, the woman asked, “Are you sick, honey?”
Alana couldn’t respond while she was on her way out of there. She hated to think what would happen to the poor lady. She would relate how Alana had just vanished in thin air, just like the maintenance man had most likely said she had done at the zoo.
Her poor mother would probably be questioned for hours. Alana couldn’t help it. She just couldn’t have vanished in front of the mirror and the two detectives.
The next thing Alana knew, she was standing before a blue and green light filled portal, the wind whipping about her inside a small hotel room and other than the lights, she noticed the cheerful yellow walls, red carpet, and sunflowers against red skies in pictures on the wall behind the portal.
She stared into the light, mesmerized. She knew that demons came through the portals. That summoners tried to force the demon to do their bidding, and she needed to know what threat existed in the room. Yet she was so drained from energy, all she could do was stare at the lights.
Jared said, “She’s here, Hunter! I told you when all else fails you can make her come to you by opening a portal.”
She whipped around, not believing Hunter and Jared were truly here, although Jared’s comment thoroughly irritated her. Hunter did not control her through summoning portals. At least, he better not think he could.
She saw Samson smiling at her, and her own self lying on a queen-sized bed next to another, both covered with spreads that were red, decorated with huge yellow daisies. Her eyes were closed. Her heart began skipping beats, and she felt dizzy.
“Alana.” Hunter rushed forth to grab her, but she vanished in his arms.
Everyone was staring at Hunter as if he’d lost Alana again, and she would have smiled as she reclined on the mattress, if she hadn’t been so tired.
“Here,” she said weakly. “Close the portal, will you?”
Hunter did so, then turned and rushed to the bed and took her ice cold hands in his. “What the hell happened?”
“I’m in really big trouble.”
His expression was smug amusement and all-knowing, like he could have told her that’s what she always was.
That’s when she noticed the disquieting blonde from calculus class, sitting on the other bed. “Who is she?”
“Celeste Sweetwater,” the girl said with a small smile.
Alana frowned at her and said to Hunter, “What is she doing here?” Telepathically she said, “She can’t learn what we are.”
Hunter couldn’t telepathically speak with Alana, but he could hear her and so he said, “She’s one of us.”
Alana should have been thrilled to have a girlfriend among her friends. But she wasn’t. What was wrong with her? Jealous that she’d been the center of attention all this time, and now she’d have to share the spotlight with a girl who looked older and sexier?
Yeah, that was it. Sexier. And older.
“She’s not a demon,” Alana said to him alone. “I don’t see any demon aura around her.”
“She’s a demon,” Hunter said.
“What kind? Are you cloaking your demon aura or does your kind just not reveal itself in the form of an aura?” Alana asked Celeste.
“Camaron.”
“You can cloak yourself?” Alana asked, then yawned. She couldn’t help it. She needed to sleep… desperately.
“Full Camaron. And yes, I can cloak my demon aura.”
Alana instantly felt sorry for the girl. She had to have been pulled from her world against her will. “What… are you doing here? Were you summoned?”
“Oh yes.”
“What are you doing here then? Where’s your summoner? Is he or she letting you go to school?”
“They were killed by a Matusa years ago. I was… too young to be on my own. So I ended up in foster homes. I moved here from Oklahoma and just started my senior year of high school. Then I saw Samson in calculus class, and you.” She smiled. “I thought we might be friends.”
Rather she had her sights set on Samson. Alana smiled back, glad the girl wasn’t interested in Hunter. But then she frowned. “We can send you back. Both Hunter and I. We can open a portal and return you to your world.”
“No way. Chance getting called back to Earth by some human summoner? I was three when I was pulled here. I have no idea who my real parents were, and I have no memories of living in the demon world. I’ll take my chances here. So what’s the trouble you’ve gotten yourself into?”
“You probably know I astral travel.”
Celeste nodded. “The guys filled me in that you were a gate guardian.”
“Yeah, and I happened to run across a Matusa who killed his summoner at the zoo in the reptile house.”
Hunter frowned at Alana, then looked at Jared. “Tracking any?”
Jared was looking at a small handheld device. He shook his head.
“Is that the new Demon Tracker II?” Alana asked, her interest piquing.
“Yeah.”
“Is it working?”
“Like a charm.”
She scowled. “Good, then you can hand it right over. I’ll know when thi
s guy is after me then.”
Jared snorted. “Hunter said we didn’t need them. Just you because you’re like a Matusa demon magnet. Or words to that effect.”
She gave Hunter a dirty look. He squeezed her hand and cast her a smidgeon of a smile. “It’s true, isn’t it? So what’s the deal with this Matusa?”
For a moment, she couldn’t think of anything but the way Hunter was holding her hand as if he was afraid to let go of her. Grasshoppers hopped around in her belly as she stared up at him. “Alana,” he said quietly and she saw the worried look in his dark gaze.
She cleared her throat. “He said the summoner was building a device that would open ten portals at a time.”
Hunter swore under his breath and was all business at once. “Where is it?”
“How would I know? I was pulled to the portals, never even saw them, the summoner, or a demon. The demon said that the portals collapsed inward and killed the other Matusa. He was the only one who got through. Thorst was his name.”
“He told you his name?” Hunter frowned at her as if it was her fault the demon liked her.
She scowled right back at him. “Of course, he told me his name. He already knew mine.”
Hunter’s face darkened. “How?”
“Well, I didn’t tell him!” She pulled her hand free from his and folded her arms, looking crossly at him. “He saw me at the hall of records, and he saw us fighting… or I should say he was one of the ones fighting my uncle and his warlock companions while we helped them.”
Hunter cursed again. “Great. The Matusa must have been watching for the portals to open then.”
“I imagine so. They had to have been in the same area. So they probably gathered together, figuring they would come through all at about the same time and take care of a bunch of summoners. Only they didn’t make it, and the summoner was just one man.”
“We’ve got to destroy the device. We can’t allow anyone else to get hold of it and summon lesser demons who could be killed in the process.”
“I have to sleep, Hunter,” Alana said, hating that she felt so wiped out and couldn’t help them hunt the Matusa and the device right away.
“The rest of us can go,” Celeste said.
At once, Alana felt resentful. She was glad that Celeste wanted to be on their team as they certainly could use more help, but she was new at the game, and no way did Alana want to be left out. For one thing, she was in the middle of this whole mess.
“We have to go, Hunter. We’ve got to locate the device now,” Jared said, motioning to Alana. “You know. Before she gets herself into any more trouble.” He gave her half a grin.
As much as Jared irritated her with his comment, she knew Jared was right. That Hunter was, too. And even Celeste. Samson remained quiet.
If someone else controlled the portals and he opened them again, Alana would be sucked right into her astral form and dragged to the new portal.
She couldn’t stop Hunter and the others from doing what was the sensible thing to do. She waved her hand at the air in such a tired motion, she could barely lift it. “Go. I’ll sleep and you can tell me what happened.”
“You can’t be left alone,” Hunter said, looking worried again, although his voice was more commanding as if he was ordering her about rather than concerned about her.
She knew better. Yet she knew also that he’d want to lead the team. That was a Matusa way. He would assign someone to stay behind to watch over her. Jared, probably.
“Why not leave me alone? No one knows I’m here. Right? You might as well go as a team and get this done. The more of you there are, the safer it will be.”
“I’m staying,” Samson said, arms folded across his broad chest, looking determined.
Celeste looked like she wanted to object. Alana was all for Celeste and Samson getting together and maybe he could see how much she was interested in him. But then Alana thought better of it.
“Yes, Samson, you’ve got to stay.”
Now Hunter looked even more worried, and she assumed he thought maybe while he’d been away, she’d developed an attachment to the Samuria.
She quickly added, “He’s been implicated in the killing.”
Hunter frowned at her.
Samson narrowed his eyes. “How?”
“Everyone knew you drove me from the school, but not where to. I ended up at the zoo where a man was murdered. I wouldn’t tell them who the man was. You’re new to the school. No one knows where you’re really from. I had to tell them we met at Disney World, no real history between us. So, you’re the mystery man who was linked to the murder through no fault of your own. Sorry, Samson. I couldn’t think of any way to un-implicate you.”
Samson ran his hands over his hair. “Great. Then it’s decided. I stay with you.” At that, he gave her a small smile, like it pleased him no end.
Hunter looked like he wanted to object. But reconsidered. If Samson was seen and picked up, all of them could be considered accessories to some crime that none of them had committed. At least not yet. As soon as they got hold of the Matusa, he’d be dead.
“What about the Matusa?” Hunter asked.
“Oh, the usual,” Alana said. “He wanted me. Vowed to find me and take me home with him. Use me for his own wicked purposes.” She smiled. “But you know how I feel about offers like that.”
Hunter was looking so darkly at her, she frowned back. “What? You know I would have kicked some demon butt if I could have. I was in my astral form. He couldn’t grab me, and I couldn’t do him any bodily harm either. Or at least at the time we both thought he couldn’t grab me. The maintenance man proved otherwise.”
Jared said, “He sounds like he might be the same one who called you, Hunter.”
Alana’s mouth gaped. “Did I miss something?”
“He said you were his and hung up on me. Why call me and warn me? Why not just grab you?”
“Probably because he saw you fighting before the hall of records. Is that why you’re here?” The fog still surrounded Alana’s brain but then for a minute, she had some clarity. “Why are you here?”
“We got the call from a Matusa, and then Samson gave us a ring while we were on the way to the airport.”
“Thanks, Samson,” Alana said.
His chest puffed up. “Your astral form hadn’t returned to your body. I wasn’t sure what to do.”
Hunter looked exasperated that she’d thank Samson and not him and Jared. They’d flown all morning to get here. All Samson did was stand around a hotel room. Or at least that’s all he had better have been doing, Alana thought.
“Why would he call you?” Alana finally asked Hunter. She guessed her thought processes weren’t all that clear.
“That’s what I wondered.”
“Revenge,” she said. “Maybe someone you pissed off in the demon world, and he wants revenge.”
“Could be. You ready to go?” Hunter asked Jared.
“Yeah. Got our devices and…”
“Leave one with me,” Alana said.
“No doing,” Hunter said. “You’re in no shape to join us. Stay put. Besides, you’re probably just as wanted by the police as Samson.”
She snorted, folded her arms, and closed her eyes. “Fine. Go. Get the bad guys. I already had my turn today.” Although she hadn’t accomplished anything but getting herself and Samson in trouble.
She felt lips pressed against her mouth, and she opened her eyes. Hunter smiled down at her. “Sweet dreams, Alana.”
She grabbed his hand and squeezed, her eyes filling with a shimmer of unwanted tears. “Don’t get yourself killed. Again.”
His smile broadened. “If I do, you can beat me back to life. We’ll be back shortly.”
Then he and Jared and Celeste were out the door. “We’ll move Alana’s car from here first and find someplace to hide it,” Hunter ordered. “We’ll take Celeste’s car on the hunt.
Then, they were gone. But not the feeling that more trouble was just about t
o begin.
Chapter 5
Celeste drove Hunter and Jared to the zoo, still shocked to learn that more of her kind were living on Earth world. She wasn’t sure how to feel exactly. Gratified she might finally fit in, or mortified that she would be caught up in a world of danger, much more than she’d had to deal with in the past.
She shouldn’t have been so surprised. If she’d been brought through a portal, why not others?
“He killed the summoner,” Celeste finally said, casting a glance at Hunter. She was used to telling her foster parents about her visions. Well, not anything demon related. That, she’d kept a secret. But she still felt uncomfortable telling Hunter or Jared or any of the others a whole lot about herself.
What if they didn’t like Camaran demons? She had no idea what experiences they’d had with others of her kind. What if they didn’t like what she was able to do?
She still couldn’t believe Hunter was a Matusa, even though he was only half, but was still one of the good guys.
“That’s what Alana said,” Hunter concurred, but he gave her a concerned look, like he suspected she was going to reveal something further.
He’d accepted her readily into their little group of demon hunters once she’d un-camouflaged her aura. Jared was different. He didn’t like it that she was joining them. He didn’t say so, but his scowl told her another story.
“Yes, that’s what Alana said,” Celeste agreed. “But she didn’t see the Matusa kill the summoner. Not actually. She only guessed he had. Then learned from the police that he had.”
“You… weren’t… there,” Hunter said slowly, but he sounded like he realized she might have been, but he couldn’t believe it.
She glanced in the rear view mirror and noticed Jared staring at her, waiting for her to respond.
“Were you?” Hunter asked, when she didn’t say.
“Sort of.” She pressed her spine against the seat back, trying to ease the tension.
“What do you mean sort of?”
“I… envisioned it.”
Jared swore under his breath and began tapping at the keyboard on his laptop.