by Sadie Hobbes
Hope flared in my chest before I quickly squashed it. It couldn’t be Graham.
Manny’s voice came through the door, confirming my thoughts and extinguishing the hope completely. “Addie?”
I could hear the stress in his voice and hurried over, flinging the door wide. Manny stood in the doorway, wringing his hands. Sweat had broken out across his forehead.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Cecelia. She left.”
Cecelia was Manny’s sixteen-year-old daughter. She was a good kid, smart. And usually pretty levelheaded.
“What do you mean she left?”
Manny ran his hand through his dark hair and tugged on the ends. “She asked to spend some time with her friends tonight, and I said no, it wasn’t safe. She went to her room and slammed the door. Lisa went to go check on her. The room was empty, the window open. She went somewhere. I’ve searched the streets, but I haven’t seen any sign of her. Have you seen her?”
“No. I’m sorry, I haven’t. But let me get my jacket, I’ll help you look.”
Relief flashed across Manny’s face before he shook his head. “No, no. You need to stay home with the kids. The demon attacks—”
I grabbed my jacket from the hook by the door. “I’m coming with you.”
Manny finally nodded. I turned back to Noel and Micah, who were watching us with big eyes. They’d obviously heard everything. “Keep the door locked and stay inside. I’ll be back as soon as we find her.” I glanced over at Torr, who gave me a nod.
“Wait.” Noel hurried forward as Micah disappeared down the hall. “I might know where she is.”
“What? Where?” Manny asked.
“I heard some kids talking about a party on the beach. Over by the old boardwalk. I don’t know for sure if she went there. But I know that some kids were talking about going out there tonight.”
I closed my eyes in exasperation. The beach was where I’d first woken up. It was my first memory ever. And it was also isolated and far from help. If the demons attacked, there’d be no one to help the kids.
There’d be no one to even hear them scream.
“Here.” Micah hurried over with the sword I’d taken off the demon last night. I’d forgotten about it. I’d rigged up a scabbard from some scraps of leather we’d scavenged from an old chair a few weeks earlier. I had a vague idea about creating scabbards for Noel and Micah if I managed to get them swords or knives. I slipped it over my shoulder so I could grab it quickly.
Manny’s eyes widened at the sight of it, but he didn’t say anything else. After eliciting a promise that they’d keep the doors and windows locked, Manny and I hurried down the stairs, bursting out into the night.
And I prayed that we weren’t too late.
Chapter 16
Manny and I didn’t full-out sprint to the beach for two reasons. One, we wanted to keep an eye on our surroundings just in case we missed the kids and they weren’t actually at the beach. And two, there was no point sprinting there and then being too winded to fight if we needed to.
It was a good three miles to the beach. The whole way there, I struggled to come up with a reason Cecelia would do something so reckless. How any of the kids could. They knew how dangerous the demon attacks were. They knew they happened at night. Why on earth would they think risking everything to spend some time on a beach was worth it?
Thank God that Noel hadn’t gone with them. But maybe she was still too young. Maybe this was what I had to look forward to.
Next to me, Manny didn’t say anything. But the look on his face made clear how worried he was. Manny was a wonderful father. When he wasn’t working, he was always playing with the kids, laughing with them. If anything happened to Cecelia, it would absolutely break him and Lisa. Blue Forks people didn’t have much in terms of material goods. One good aspect of that was that people realized they needed to focus on the important things like family.
Maybe Noel was wrong. Or maybe she was right, but Cecelia wasn’t one of the kids by the beach. Ahead, I saw the old fairway where I’d first met Noel and Micah. I pictured the demon from that night. He’d been my first kill. There’d been dozens since then. But I remembered every detail from that first attack. The details from all the attacks in between had faded and blended together, though.
“Look.” Manny pointed toward the beach where a glow stood out close to the water’s edge.
The kids had created a bonfire. I growled. Why not just put out a “Hey, demons, here we are” sign?
Manny and I picked up our pace. If Cecelia wasn’t amongst the kids, we couldn’t in good conscience leave the rest of them here. We needed to get them back home.
The sky was pitch black. Clouds had rolled in, blocking even the stars. But thanks to the flames, I counted seven kids. In the dim light, I couldn’t tell if any of them was Cecelia.
Manny grabbed my arm. “She’s there.” He pointed to a figure at the edge of the group, her arms wrapped around herself, looking uncomfortable.
For a moment, my heart went out to her. She definitely looked like a kid who didn’t belong and regretted the choice she’d made. Then my anger returned to the fact that all of these kids were now in danger.
“You see anything?” Manny asked, looking around. I knew he was asking about demons.
“No. I think we got lucky.” I didn’t add in the “so far” on my mind. It was a long walk back to town.
Manny hurried forward and called out. “Cecelia!”
Cecelia’s head jumped up as she turned toward her father, her mouth opening in a silent O. She took a tentative step backward and then held her ground, realizing there was nowhere to go. Manny marched over to her, and I knew she was in for the lecture of a lifetime. The other kids stopped to watch, guilty looks on their faces.
I walked over to the remaining kids. “Okay, we need to get you guys home.”
One of the kids, a tall blonde-haired boy a little bigger than the others, with the confidence and arrogance that came with youth, smirked. “We’re not going anywhere. We didn’t break any rules. We’re allowed to be out here.”
“You’re allowed to, but it’s stupid. We need to get you home before you attract too much attention.”
The cocky kid smiled again. “I’d like to see you make me.”
I gritted my teeth. God, I hated kids like him. If he was this arrogant at his age, God help the world when he got older.
If he got older.
I opened my mouth to tell him exactly where he needed to go and how to get there when a scream cut through the night.
“Demons!”
Chapter 17
I whirled around, my heart beating furiously. Three hulking figures appeared out of the darkness. The smoke obscured their features as they approached the fire.
Damn it. With the ocean at our back and the rocks lining the sides of the beach, we had no clear our avenue of escape.
I pulled my sword from the scabbard. “Get back!” I yelled at the kids. They scrambled behind the bonfire while I stood in front of it.
The cocky kid swallowed hard, standing next to me. His entire body shook as he stared at the approaching demons growing larger.
I flicked a glance at him. “Go. Stay with your friends.”
He did as I told him. Manny raced over to me, after pushing Cecelia toward the other kids.
I kept my gaze on the approaching threat as he reached my side. “I’ll engage them. When you get a chance, you get the kids out of here and back home.”
He shook his head. “I can’t leave you here.”
“You’re not leaving me here. You’re getting those kids to safety. That is the priority, okay?”
He gave me a small nod, pulling his machete from the holder at his waist.
The demons stepped into the light of the flames. Each of them looked as if someone had sculpted them from hard granite. The firelight highlighted the muscles in their arms and legs. The one in the middle was seven feet tall with green mottled skin. But th
e other two were shorter, maybe six feet, their skin more gray than green. I’d never seen them attack in a group before. But then again, I didn’t know anyone stupid enough to go out in a group at night. Maybe that had attracted them.
In all the time I’d been fighting demons, I knew very little about how they tracked humans. How did they find us? Why did they choose the ones they did? I realized that could be really, really useful information right now.
And if I survived this, I would make sure I tracked down Marcus to see if he could shed any light on it.
One of the smaller demons peeled off, trying to circle around Manny and me to get to the kids.
I shifted my sword to my left hand, pulled my knife from my belt, and hurled it at him. The knife point embedded in the demon’s eye. He stopped still and then went face first into the sand.
I let myself have one self-satisfied smile, but that was all I had time for. The large one roared as he sprinted forward, the smaller one close behind.
I darted forward to intercept. The large one swung toward my head. I dropped below him, sliding my sword across his ribs. He screamed as fire erupted from the sword as it made contact.
Shock jolted through me as the fire remained along the blade.
The demon whirled around. “Where did you get that blade?”
I smiled back at him. “I took it off a demon I killed.”
The hilt of a blade materialized above his shoulder. The demon pulled his own blade from his back. I felt lightheaded at the sight of it. I thought I had gotten lucky: I had a weapon, and he didn’t. But could they all do that? Did they all have access to swords?
The demon’s sword ignited, matching mine. Without another word, it lunged toward me. I parried the attack and then slid another hit along the creature’s other side.
It bellowed in a rage, swinging wide. I dove low, rolling along the ground, out of his reach. From the corner of my eye, I saw a demon advance on the kids while Manny held another off. Where the hell did the fourth one come from?
“Get in the water!” I yelled at the kids as I scrambled to my feet.
Cecelia grabbed on to the arm of a girl and yanked her toward the water. The other kids followed suit, all of them diving in. With powerful strokes, they swam away from the shore. Manny struggled to fend off his demon. He wouldn’t last long. The fourth demon chased the kids to the shore and then roared, not following them in.
I rolled to my feet as my demon lurched toward me. Distracted by the appearance of the fourth demon and Manny’s fight, I barely avoided his next thrust. I felt the heat of the sword along my cheek.
I couldn’t help anyone else if I was dead. I had to focus.
Another shape lumbered out of the darkness. What the hell? Where were they all coming from?
The demon stepped into the light. Another big one, its skin green mottled with brown spots. It raced toward me and reached out with both arms as if it would bear-hug me. I dropped to the ground, rolling between his legs and sliding my sword along its knee, cutting the tendons there. With a scream, it collapsed, its leg useless.
I jumped to my feet and dove over the demon as the other two sprinted for me. The one from the water’s edge had apparently decided I was the bigger threat. I kept the fallen demon between us as I saw two more shadows hurrying toward us and down the beach.
I groaned. Seven demons? Come on …
Manny let out a scream.
“Dad!” Cecilia yelled.
I flicked a glance at him and saw the demon struck him along the shoulder. Then an arrow embedded in the demon’s back. It arched its torso with a scream. Manny grabbed his machete, and with one clean swipe, took the demon’s head half off.
The demons in front of me whirled around. I didn’t wait to see who was coming. I thrust my sword through its back, burying it up to the hilt, then yanked it out. And as the creature dropped, I jumped onto its back, using it as a catapult. Swinging with all my might, I sliced across the throat of the largest demon. Its head tipped to the side, and then rolled from its shoulders. The demon’s body dropped.
I touched down on its back, rolling off and getting back to my feet as Graham and Donovan stepped into the light.
Chapter 18
Graham
Graham couldn’t believe his eyes. He had never in all of his life seen anyone fight like that. Addie was graceful and deadly. She didn’t even look winded.
Donovan stood next to me, his mouth gaping open. “You saw that, right? I’m not hallucinating?”
Graham shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around the incredible scene he’d just witnessed. “If you’re hallucinating, then so am I.”
Addie only met his gaze for a moment across the fire before she hurried over to the man she’d been searching with earlier.
After leaving Addie’s place, Graham had decided to do a patrol of Blue Forks. It was his night off from patrol with the Seraph Force, but he was antsy. And he needed to do something. Donovan had joined him. So they’d escorted Marcus to the bridge, and after checking in with Sheila, headed back into town. They’d caught sight of Addie and a man walking and followed them.
They’d lost them for a minute. It was only the scream that had led them to the beach.
His heart had been in his throat when he saw Addie facing off against that group of demons. But then shock had turned to an even deeper shock. She moved like no one he’d ever seen. She was tiny, and yet with one slice, she’d taken off that demon’s head.
And then there was her sword. It had flames coming off the blade. Where had she gotten that?
Addie turned and yelled out to the water. “It’s okay. You guys can come back.”
For the first time, Graham noticed people bobbing out in the water. God, he was all sorts of out of it. The group slowly made their way back to shore. They were just kids. The oldest couldn’t have been older than seventeen.
Addie reached her friend and was checking out his wound.
“Donovan, check on the kids,” Graham ordered, not able to tear his eyes away from Addie.
Donovan nodded and strode toward the water while Graham made his way toward Addie. He inspected her from head to toe but saw no sign of injury. He flicked a glance back at the demons that littered the beach. There were five of them. She had taken on four of them herself.
His mind still struggled to accept it. He’d never heard of that many demons attacking at once. Or maybe demons did attack in groups but no one survived to tell the tale.
So how had Addie survived?
She glanced over her shoulder at him. “He’s hurt.”
Blood stained the man’s shirt, starting at the shoulder. Graham pulled off his shirt, ripping it into strips to wrap around the man’s wound. It was an awkward location to wrap. The injury was high up on the shoulder. Graham used the remainder of his shirt to create a sling because the movement of his arm was going to disturb the injury.
“Daddy!”
A young girl soaked from head to toe hurried over to the man. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around him. “Daddy, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
The man patted her with his uninjured arm. “It’s all right. Everything’s all right now.”
The fire that had been on Addie’s blade had been extinguished. She touched the hilt for a second, a look of surprise across her face before she slipped it into a makeshift scabbard on her back.
“Where did you—”
She speared him with a look, a look of confidence and authority. The look of a warrior. “Now’s not the time. We need to get these kids home.”
He closed his mouth and nodded. She was right. The questions could wait. Getting everyone to safety needed to be the priority. Although he didn’t think demons would attack again tonight after having lost so many.
Donovan had all the kids huddled together. He scanned the area, a hard edge to his face. He looked angry on the kids’ behalf. He’d slipped into warrior mode as well.
“Let’s get ever
ybody back to town,” Graham said.
Donovan nodded, his bow and arrow in his hands again. Donovan was the one who’d taken down the fifth demon, the one who’d attacked Addie’s friend.
She walked over to the demon she’d beheaded and picked up his sword before she slid it into her scabbard as well. The bodies of the demons burst into flames seconds after she’d removed the sword. He stood next to her and watched the bodies disintegrate into ash.
The flames of the bonfire threw shadows across her face. The angle was just right. They made her blue eyes appear to glow.
Graham couldn’t help but think of the paintings he’d seen in Rome of warrior goddesses. Addie deserved to be immortalized in paint exactly as she stood right now.
Beautiful wasn’t a strong enough word. Fierce wasn’t adequate either, although both applied. She was stunning, lethal, and a complete enigma.
Who exactly was Addie Baker?
Chapter 19
Addie
The walk back to town was unsettling. I felt Graham’s gaze on me more than a few times. He didn’t say anything or ask any of the questions I knew he had to have. And I couldn’t tell from his expression what he was thinking. Did he think I was a freak? Was he mad? Impressed?
At the same time, I was annoyed that I was even thinking such thoughts. It didn’t matter what Graham Michael thought. I had saved those kids, and that was the most important thing. That was all that mattered.
And yet I felt like electricity was traveling over my skin. Why did he make me feel like this? He was not the first guy I’d been attracted to. I’d had a few … well, I wouldn’t call them relationships, but they were fun, at least for a little while. But even without touching me, I felt every move Graham made. The air around him felt charged, and I wanted more than anything to move closer to him.
So I made sure that I stayed on the opposite end of the group from him. I needed my wits about me. I needed to be aware of my surroundings. I didn’t know what was up with such a large group of demons attacking at once. But until the kids were safely home, until I was safely home, I couldn’t let my guard down.