Life After: The Complete Series

by Julie Hall

  “What the—”

  “You don’t know what your sword would have done to her.”

  “What are you talking about? The sword only affects evil.”

  “You really want to test that theory on your mom?”

  One heartbeat, then two. “Oh my gosh. I could have hacked her arm off?”

  He frowned. “I don’t think so, but we don’t know exactly what that sword of yours would do to a living person. All we really have is theories.”

  He grabbed my hand and hauled me to my feet. I looked toward my mother. More smoke slid fluidly over her, occasionally slipping to my father as well. She was once again sobbing.

  “I don’t think this is a battle we can fight for them.” Romona’s soft words were laced with sorrow. Her eyes lifted to meet my own. “Some things in life even we can’t protect them from. They’re losing hope. This,” she gestured to the darkness filling up the remaining spaces on the floor, “is a test of their faith, not ours. They’re currently not even trying to fight it.”

  I didn’t want to believe it. “But my parents . . . they’re so strong.”

  “Even the strongest of us can stumble sometimes.” Her eyes were haunted. “We do what we can, but their choices, their free will, their faith dictates the outcome of some battles. The condition of the barrier out there has already given us a clue to their current state of mind. When despair hits, sometimes we forget we’re not alone.”

  “But that’s what we’re here to do. To help.”

  I could see from Romona’s expression that this was as hard for her as it was for me. “They need to reach out for help, or at the very least hold on. The struggle isn’t against flesh and blood, but against the forces of darkness. Forces they can’t see for themselves. For us to be able to fight for them, they have to stand firm and resist. When they give up, Satan’s forces are given an entry into their lives. Without their resistance, we’re impotent against this type of attack.”

  I realized I still clutched Logan’s hand. “You think this is all their fault?” I asked, my voice quivering.

  “I’m saying they’re beat down and not thinking straight. We’ll do what we can, but we can’t do—”

  A sonic boom cut off the rest of Romona’s sentence. I ducked and covered my ears with my hands, half-worried they’d come back bloody from perforated eardrums. My eyes swung to the windows.

  The noise had come from outside. I could just barely make out the hunters on the front lawn through the thick layer of demon fog. They were all in various positions of cover, some with their arms thrown over their heads, others crouched low to the ground. Kevin’s whole body engulfed Kaitlin, who huddled in a ball on the ground.

  It was then I noticed reflective pieces of something littering the ground at their feet. It glittered like pixie dust.

  A demon to the right of the house let out a scream. The hunters jumped to their ready positions and pulled their weapons. The demon rushed forward, unfettered, into the yard.

  And I knew.

  The barrier had fallen.

  We didn’t bother with stealth mode anymore. This time we left right through the front door. I didn’t know if my family noticed us open and close the door.

  I didn’t have time to care.

  With the barrier down and hundreds of demons surrounding the property, our team was literally being swarmed. We slowed our steps and took a quick moment to assess the situation from behind the large bushes that flanked the front entrance.

  Not all the demons were attacking. At least half of them stood still, doing that weird hissing whisper chant that caused the foggy substance to pour from their mouths. If that was the only thing we had going for us, our situation was truly dire.

  “I’m going to help Kevin,” Romona yelled. Before either of us had a chance to reply, she took off, running to where the lanky hunter battled three demons.

  “I honestly don’t know if I wish Bear were here or not.”

  Logan cleared his throat and sliced a glance across the yard. “Okay, no Battle Bear . . .” his serious look slipped for half a blink, “so we’re fighting this tandem style.”

  “Huh?”

  “Turn around. We keep our backs to each other so nothing can sneak up on us.”

  That sounded as good a plan as any. I was only half-turned when Logan yelled, “Duck!”

  He pushed my head down with his left hand and swung his sword around with his right. Liquid splashed my back at the same time the creature let out its angered cry.

  Ew.

  That was my cue.

  I spun around and finished the creature off with one stroke of my blade.

  I didn’t know how long we’d been fighting. I only knew my muscles shook with fatigue and the attacks were relentless. No amount of training could ever have prepared me for an onslaught like this. I didn’t know how my fellow hunters were faring.

  What I knew for sure was Logan still fought at my back, and I only knew that because I hadn’t been attacked from that side yet.

  No sooner had the thought flitted through my brain than I was knocked over from behind. With a grunt, I landed on my side, but quickly rolled out of the way of a spiked appendage that embedded into the soft ground rather than my body.

  Ouch, that would have seriously hurt.

  I bounced to my feet and sliced through the limb that had tried to impale me. Its owner let out a piercing sound of pain before stumbling back and disappearing into the madness surrounding us.

  Logan!

  Another demon rushed me before I was able to check for him, but I quickly reduced it to smoke and ash. I turned in a circle and finally spotted Logan’s limp body to my left.

  I started toward him immediately, exhaling the breath of air I hadn’t realized I’d been holding only when he got to his knees. He shook his head once as if to clear it, and then with fear-filled eyes, swiveled his head quickly until our gaze locked. He released his own breath of relief.

  With eyes on me, he didn’t see the creature rear up behind him, but I did. A warning scream broke through my throat, but before the air could even be expelled through my lungs it was already too late.

  I watched as Logan grabbed for a sword that was no longer there. As he turned to face his opponent, he was backhanded in the face and sent flying through the air at least ten feet. He landed face-up on a hardened walkway, his head snapped back and connected with stone.

  This time he didn’t stir.

  The demon advanced on Logan with single-minded intent, its jaws already open wide in anticipation of ripping into his flesh. I sprinted after the monster, which was easily two or three times my size. Focused on its prey, it didn’t notice me coming.

  At the last moment, I jumped, landed on its back, and stabbed my sword straight through to its chest. With all my strength, I pulled my weapon down and sliced through its body in a move that would have disemboweled it had it not charred to ash first.

  The fight took place close enough to Logan’s prone form that some of the demon’s remains settled on his chalky skin. With fighting all around us, I didn’t have the luxury of checking his wounds. I needed to get him somewhere safe so he wouldn’t become demon fodder.

  With every bit of my strength, I dragged Logan toward the house. With its walls at our back, that left only one side to defend. I had to drop his weight and battle standing over top of him twice before I reached the siding next to the garage. With Logan relatively safe, I fixed my attention to the conflict raging in front of me.

  Like water running over a dam, darkness and whispered hisses still dripped from the jowls of the immobile demons. The fog continued to move steadily, weaving in, out, and around the limbs and bodies littering the ground in its undeterred trudge to reach my family.

  The rest of the demons maintained their relentless attack. I’d gained a momentary reprieve hidden in the shadows of the house, but I couldn’t just stand there and watch while my friends and fellow hunters struggled.

  Scanning the grounds
, I considered my next move. The demons’ flesh was black on a night backdrop, making them nearly invisible. I was so going to have a conversation about night-vision goggles with Hugo when we got back.

  Through flashes of darkness the hunters fought on. Our body armor captured whatever light it found and reflected it. Most hunters fought in pairs like Logan and I had been . . . but then a flash of blonde caught my eye off to the right.

  Kaitlin battled a demon on her own. Her movements were so fast they blurred, but the demon she faced matched her blow for blow.

  I blinked and she was down, blindsided by another demon who came in from her right. She tried to get to her feet but was tackled by both demons at the same time and buried beneath blackened flesh.

  Her scream rang out a moment later. My feet desperately wanted to take off, but I cast a quick look behind me. Logan was still unconscious. How I could leave him completely unprotected?

  A heartbeat lapsed as I made my decision. He wouldn’t want me to abandon Kaitlin. Her terror-filled scream filled the air again.

  I only got one step before one of the creatures was thrown off her and into the street. I came up short to absorb what my eyes were seeing.

  Morgan’s sword cleaved the head of the other demon clean off its body. His gaze swept the war zone and came to a sudden stop on me.

  Kaitlin lay unmoving on the ground at his feet. He quickly hefted her into his arms and ran straight for me. Conflicted and confused, I positioned myself on guard.

  Morgan tried to move past me, but I held my blade up to thwart him. With the help of the flames I could easily see his expressionless face. There was no mockery in his eyes, no hatred written across his features. He stared back at me with a face cut from stone.

  “Let me put her with Logan so you can protect them both.”

  “What are you doing?” I demanded.

  “Audrey, move!” he yelled, finally showing emotion. “I’m trying to keep her safe!”

  “Why?”

  “Does it really matter right now?”

  I supposed he was right. I stepped cautiously to the side, keeping one eye on him and the other on the chaos in front of us. Whether from confusion or curiosity, it wasn’t long before the movement in my peripheral vision snagged my full attention—Morgan gently set Kaitlin’s motionless body down next to Logan. Once she was out of his grasp he scrambled away from her in haste.

  “Will she be okay?” I asked.

  “She’s been fed on. She blacked out.” His shoulders lifted and fell with angry breaths. His eyes remained fastened to Kaitlin’s immobile form. “You need to get your people out of here.”

  “We can’t. In case you didn’t notice, we’re the only ones here to fend them . . . you, off.”

  “Which is exactly why you need to leave.” His deadened tone chilled me.

  “We can’t,” I repeated.

  He stared at me then, his face once again a stone mask.

  “Then you are all bloody fools.” He uttered something under his breath and shadows leap from the ground and cocooned his body. I didn’t even try to hold back my gasp. Through the darkness he was almost invisible. He ran a rough hand through his hair before racing back into the mass.

  What the heck was that?

  I stared in the general direction in which he’d disappeared, in stunned silence until a demon rushed me. My weapon whipped up so fast even I couldn’t track the movement. The demon was toast. Burnt toast, to be exact.

  A familiar mechanical sound caused my heart to jump to my throat.

  Oh please, no!

  To my left, the panels of the garage door ascended as it opened. The chugging sound of the motor lifting the door might as well have been the sound of impending doom.

  With the barrier down, I had no idea how the demons would be able to affect my family or their vehicle. The last time they’d taken the car out while under attack, they’d almost gotten into a wreck—even with their protection in place.

  This time there wasn’t even a way for me to follow to help ensure their safety.

  An ear-piercing roar forced my attention away from the garage and into the darkened night. Black on black made it near impossible to make out, but unless my imagination was filling in the blanks, whatever was up there looked like a dragon. It was far larger than any demon I’d laid eyes on, and it cut through the sky like a missile.

  Satan was here.

  At the last moment, the red beast spread its wings, dipped low, and landed on the roof of a house half a block away. Its shape contorted and shrank, and although it was impossible to clearly discern what it had morphed into in the low light, I could make an educated guess. The figure leaned against the chimneystack that jutted from the roof, lounging as if unaffected by the surrounding violence.

  So, he’d come to watch his handiwork after all.

  With determination, I shifted my attention back to my family. The garage door was fully open now, and Mom fumbled with the keys in the box next to the door. She was having trouble locating the right set with her shaky hands.

  Suddenly, the house door swung open and Dad appeared. His arrival surprised her, and she dropped the set of keys she held. She bent over to retrieve them, but dad went down on a knee and placed a hand over her own to stop her movements.

  I watched in dismay as the enemy’s fog poured into the garage from both the interior door and the backlog pooled around the house itself. It slithered straight for my parents, my mom specifically.

  “Love, what are you doing?”

  Her shoulders sagged even further. “I was going to drive to the county hospital and wait. I think there’s a good chance that’s where he’ll end up.”

  “I don’t think—”

  “I have to do something!” Mom wailed and placed her hands over her face. Her body shook from the force of her sobs.

  Dad immediately engulfed her in his arms. Worry was etched on every inch of his face.

  I snuck a quick glance behind me to where Logan and Kaitlin still lay unmoving. The foggy substance covered parts of their bodies, but since it didn’t seem to affect us the way it did my family, I tried not to add that to my list of concerns.

  I sucked in a large breath of air and instantly wished I hadn’t. Man, that stuff stank like bad demon breath. Like demon breath after they’d eaten a truckload of rotten eggs. I choked a little on the stench, and for their sake, was glad Logan and Kaitlin weren’t conscious.

  Dad rubbed a soothing hand over Mom’s back. “Okay. If you think it will make you feel better, we can go. Just let me drive, all right? I don’t want you handling a vehicle right now.” He lifted her face and waited for her to nod. She did.

  He pressed his lips together, then gave her his own fortifying nod. He helped her stand, then took the keys in her hands. “Just let me grab my wallet. I’ll be back in a second.” Dad slipped back into the house. Mom moved toward the car. Her back was to me, head bent and shoulders hunched.

  Watching the drama unfold in the garage was a stupid idea. I realized that a moment too late, when I was knocked over and a stabbing pain raked down my back. I bowed my spine to escape the agony.

  A demon was on me, pressing my face into the soft earth. Its talons squeezed my sides, unable to puncture my body armor. It screeched, and its steamy, maggot-filled breath blasted the back of my neck.

  I was about to become demon chow.

  My right eye had a view of the opening of the garage. I couldn’t even take comfort in my family being safe inside. The distraction of hunter blood in the yard was probably the only thing that had kept them off the demons’ radar so far. It wouldn’t be long until they were discovered. It was a miracle they hadn’t already been noticed.

  Nasty spittle dripped on my cheek and in front of my face as the creature on my back salivated in anticipation of his snack. Bones popped as it extended its mouth. I imagined it probably looked a lot like a snake dislocating its jaw before swallowing its prey whole.

  Adrenaline punched through my
system, and I thrashed beneath the monster’s weight.

  I spotted my sword several feet in front of me—too far to reach—and cried out in frustration. I was seconds away from being sucked into a vortex of blackness from the demon’s bite. Once those teeth pierced my skin, I’d be less than useless.

  I was not going down this way! “Get off!” I screamed.

  “Audrey!” Someone yelled my name and dropped my sword within reach. Shortly thereafter the beast on my back grunted in pain.

  I didn’t waste a moment.

  I wrapped my hand around the sword hilt and awkwardly shoved the blaze in a general upward direction. It wasn’t the most technical of moves, but it did the job of dislodging the demon holding me down.

  Gritting my teeth through the pain, I jumped to my feet.

  The demon had turned and was battling another hunter. Only the wild arc of his blade was visible. With waning strength, I plunged my weapon into the creature’s back. I pulled it out and then cleaved off one of its lower appendages, causing it to fall to the ground.

  A sword came down and hacked off its head. Black substance sprayed into my face. It was easy to forget how gory a demon kill could be when my own sword quickly reduced them to a pile of burnt nothingness.

  Kevin stood over his kill, his chest heaving. “You okay?” he asked. I wouldn’t say he looked good, but considering the situation, he didn’t look too battered.

  “Yeah, I think so. Do I have any flesh left on my back?” I turned to him so he could inspect it for me.

  “Your armor protected you. There isn’t even a tear.”

  A shiver wracked my body. Thank the Lord for this magical covering.

  “Audrey, I’ve got them.” Kevin motioned to Kaitlin and Logan behind him. “You protect the garage.”

  I nodded and took off.

  “Mom, wait!”

  My mother’s delicate figure appeared just outside the garage, but my brother’s voice stopped her. She faced him, her eyes red-rimmed, face lined with worry.

  My heart stopped beating.