Liam cupped his hands around his mouth as Saxon flew away. “No cows either!”
Saxon returned twenty minutes later in a rusty blue pick-up truck.
“Score!” Liam pumped a fist and hopped into the open back. “Who’d you have to compel for this?”
“I promised to bring it back,” Saxon said, leaning his head out the window.
Liam shook his head. “Always a Boy Scout.”
By the time we arrived at Bones Crossing, the sun had made its descent and the moon cast an eerie glow over the deserted town.
“Couldn’t we have managed to arrive during daylight hours?” Tate complained.
“Sure, if Liam hadn’t been desperate to try the alcohol in every bar we passed,” Leto said.
Liam burped. “Hey, I’m not driving the truck. If you didn’t want to stop, you should’ve told Saxon to keep driving.”
“I did,” Tate huffed.
The truck bumped its way along the main thoroughfare. The heart of town seemed to consist of a single strip of buildings with a few residential buildings scattered among the two or three blocks on either side of the main street. As reported, the doors and windows were boarded and bricks were set at the base of each door. Saxon pulled over and parked the truck.
“Were they locking themselves in or something else out?” Liam asked.
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Leto said.
I spotted patches of crimson on a few of the doors and my stomach tensed. “I think that’s blood.”
Tate’s nose wrinkled as she peered at the blood. “Someone needs to take a closer look and that someone should not be named Tate.”
Liam and Saxon played rock, paper, scissors for the honor. Liam groaned when Saxon managed to cut his paper.
“Why do I always lose?” He started toward the nearest splotch of blood on the building labeled only as Supplies.
“Didn’t you win?” I asked. “I would’ve expected you two half vamps to throw down over the chance to examine blood.”
“It’s old blood,” Saxon said with an air of nonchalance. “Not too exciting for us.”
We watched from the middle of the abandoned street as Liam scrutinized the red stain.
“Well?” Leto prompted.
He craned his neck to address us. “It’s been smeared.”
“And here I thought they’d used it to paint the siding,” Leto said.
Liam turned to face us. “No, I mean it’s been deliberately smeared. Someone put it there on purpose.”
“Like a protective mark or something?” Tate asked. Suddenly the witch’s curiosity was piqued.
“Not sure.” Liam swiveled back to the smear. “Send a few photos to Nita.”
“I will, but it’ll probably take two hours for her to get them.” Tate clicked a button on her phone.
“Plenty of time for exploring then,” Leto said. “We should investigate some of the residential homes and see which ones had evidence of children.”
“And then what?” I asked. “It seems pointless unless someone left a note explaining their absence.”
Tate finished her photo montage and tilted back her head. “The sky seems so much bigger and brighter here.”
“You should see the sky from the mountains where I’m from,” I said. “You’ve never seen sunsets like the ones there.” I smiled at the many memories that involved a color-soaked sky. As if reading my mind, sparks of light began to streak from the heavens.
Tate smiled, admiring the view. “Pretty,” she said.
“Do you think it’s a meteor shower?” Liam asked. “I’ve never seen one of those, but I hear they’re nice.”
Saxon joined us. “Shooting stars? Aren’t we supposed to make a wish?”
“I know what I’d wish for,” I said, thinking of my father.
“Me too,” Liam said.
“Forget it, Liam. Hot vampire twins are not going to show up here,” Saxon said.
Slowly, I started to walk backward, my heart spiking with fear. “Um, guys?”
Saxon shot me a curious look. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s not a meteor shower.” I pointed skyward. Although the unusual beams of light still filtered to earth, there were other creatures mixed in—scorpions, insects, and toads fell like raindrops. Instead of flattening like water when they landed, they scattered across the ground.
Tate jumped back as a scorpion hit the ground directly in front of her.
“Now would be a good time for magic,” Saxon said.
Tate paled. “But magic to do what?”
The scorpion’s body cracked and began to rise and reform in a new shape. The result reminded me of a giant man-shaped boulder with rusty-brown coloring and a solid build.
“Any kind of offensive magic,” I said.
“I find all your magic offensive,” Liam quipped and I was suddenly torn between stabbing the monster and stabbing my teammate.
“Gods have mercy,” Saxon said, his face draining of color as he watched them continue to fall from the sky.
My heart stuttered. “What?”
“They’re Tzitzimime,” he said. “Celestial demons. Their name means ‘monsters descending from above.’ Their claim to fame is threatening to destroy the world.”
“Wait. I thought their name meant ‘dangerous beings,’” Tate said.
“Can we nitpick over etymology later?” I demanded. “The more pressing question is—how do we fight them?”
“Weapons would be a good start,” Liam said. His fangs elongated and he unsheathed his sword.
Saxon unfurled his dark wings. “Flight might give me a slight advantage here. Once they hit the ground, they don’t seem able to lift off again.”
Leto rolled up his sleeves. “Ready to shift on your command, Saxon.”
“Go!” The hybrid launched into the air.
I focused on the two elements within reach—air and earth. I concentrated on their power and pulled as much energy to me as I could muster. Earth magic seemed particularly potent here. As I absorbed the waves, energy thrummed within me and I realized that I felt…different. Stronger. It had to be the location—maybe there was a ley line running underneath—because I hadn’t experienced a surge of power like this before and I’d accessed plenty of earth magic in the mountains.
“A little help, Callie!” someone yelled.
I couldn’t see any of my teammates amidst the chaos. Our opponents continued to fall from the sky, starting as scorpions, insects, and toads and emerging as monsters. I spun a fraction of the pent-up energy into a glowing orb and released it into the nearest cluster of monsters. Bright blue light momentarily blinded me and I quickly prepared another blast. My father had taught me how to do this when we needed to clear away boulders that had fallen across the pass and blocked our only route through the range. As far as I was concerned, these monsters were pretty close to falling boulders.
Another blast and two monsters crumbled into dust. I couldn’t spare a glance for my teammates, not if I intended to live through this. As I prepared another orb, one of the monsters stomped toward me.
“You might want to back off,” I said, holding the glowing orb aloft. “This one’s gonna hurt.” He continued to advance, although I could tell by his gait that he wasn’t particularly nimble. “Do you understand me, friend? Back. Off.”
“We speak every language that has been or ever will be,” he thundered.
“You sound angry about that,” I said. “Not a fan of linguistics?”
The monster lumbered to a stop within two feet of me. “Not angry. I like language.” His English was stilted but understandable.
“I bet you only grasp tourist English though. Like you can ask me where the bathroom is, but you can’t tell a joke.”
Resentment simmered in his starlit eyes. “I can tell jokes.”
“Really? I’d love to hear one.” My stalling tactic seemed to work. While he contemplated a joke, I poured my energy into a second orb.
The monster pushed back his incredibly wide shoulders, ready to share. “What do you call a fake noodle?”
Before I could hazard a guess, the monster’s head flew toward me and skidded to a stop at my feet. Drops of blood covered my front and I looked up to see Liam poised behind the still-standing body.
“Oops,” he said.
“The bastard died before he could finish the joke.”
“I’m sure you can look up the punchline later,” Liam said, rather unhelpfully. “Back to saving the world. I see Leto’s got himself trapped in a circle.” The werevamp darted off, swinging his sword as he went.
It seemed the more monsters we fought, the more that landed on the ground. They were the falling star version of Hydra heads.
Crap.
“Stop killing them,” I yelled, running after Liam.
“What? Now you want to make friends? A little late for that.” Liam leaped onto the back of one of the monsters and grabbed him around the neck. The monster tried to pull him off, but Liam seemed to have an unbreakable grip.
“I think killing them is what’s summoning more,” I said. “We need to find a way to contain them without killing them so they stop multiplying.” I desperately tried to remember my father’s lessons on Ancient Greece but to no avail. “What was the method the Greeks used to stop Hydra heads from multiplying?”
“They chopped off the heads and burned the stumps,” Tate called.
I spun around to locate her. The witch was busy with a pair of giant toad monsters. They had bulbous eyes and slimy green skin. Better her than me.
“Then we need to contain them long enough to set fire to them,” I said. They only fell like stars; they didn’t burn like them.
“You’re sure that’ll work?” Tate asked.
“No, but it’s worth a try.” At the very least, it would stop more from coming.
“We need to do something,” Liam said. “Because plain old fighting isn’t working.”
I watched as Tate crafted a magical lasso and tied the giant toad monsters together with it like a witchy Wonder Woman. The monsters knocked together and slumped to the ground. It reminded me of the Abaasy demon when it fell to the floor and Tate…
I jogged over to her. “How many can you freeze at once?”
The witch gave an incredulous laugh. “You can’t be serious. I don’t have that kind of magic.”
“If we can freeze them without killing them, then they might stop multiplying,” I said.
Saxon flew down to join us. “It’s not a terrible idea if you can manage it.”
“Incoming,” Tate said. Her hand shot out and, with it, a small orange orb that exploded a few feet away.
“No more killing,” I said firmly.
“I’m trying to keep them from killing us,” Tate shot back.
“If you can’t freeze them, then maybe transport them to a void?” I asked. “Somewhere they’re not touching the earth?”
“Sure, why not?” Liam asked. “Sounds super easy. Just round them up like cattle and off they go.”
“If we could transport them to a void, then we could send all the demons back to a pocket dimension instead of hunting them for years on end,” Tate said.
Good point.
Tate grimaced. “Leto’s in trouble again. Saxon, can you swoop down and pluck him out of that monster mash?”
“On it.” He flew off to rescue the wolf.
“There has to be another way besides fighting them,” I said. “The more we kill, the more we’re overrun.”
“As much as it pains me to say it, Callie’s right,” Liam said.
I scowled at him. “It pains you because I’m a woman proposing a better idea than stabby stabby with sharp sticks?” I made a feeble stabbing motion.
“No, it pains me because you’re new and green and still seemed to have a decent idea, even though you have no clue what we’re up against on a regular basis.”
“This trip is giving me a pretty good idea,” I said.
Saxon returned to our group with Leto back in human form. “They’re on the move,” Saxon said. “We can’t let them leave here.”
Tate surveyed the chaotic scene. “Whatever I do, I can’t handle all of them at once. There are too many.”
I moved closer and clasped her hand. “Maybe I can help you.”
Liam smirked. “Ladies, I like where this is headed.”
“We can combine our magic,” I said. “I’ll add my energy to yours and see if that’s enough.”
Tate nodded, her focus on the Tzitzimime as they marched toward town. “I think your theory might be right, Callie. They’ve stopped falling from the sky now that we’ve stopped killing them.”
“I’d love to get in on this action,” Liam said, “but you know what happens when I’ve used too much of one of my halves.”
I frowned. “The other half gets lazy?”
Mock laughter followed. “It’s one of my inherent flaws, of which there are blessedly few,” Liam said. “Too much fang and I can’t shift. Too much shifting and I can’t fang. So I basically have to choose between fur or fang in a fight, or just use weapons.”
“You’re right. That is a flaw.”
“Hey, at least I know how to use my abilities,” he shot back. “One day in training made it clear you don’t know the first thing about your own powers.”
I lifted my chin a fraction. “I know enough.” I also knew better than to let Liam get the better of me, so I decided to drop it. If we wanted to get out of this alive, the focus had to be on the demons, not each other.
“Stand back and let the women work,” Tate ordered. For once they didn’t argue. “We need to make sure we include every demon in the spell. If even one is left mobile, it’ll be an issue.”
I faced the Tzitzimime with Tate’s hand clasped in mine and summoned all the energy I’d been storing since the fight began. Before Tate could say another word, magic burst from us, so powerful that it knocked us off our feet. My back hit the ground, causing pain to radiate from my tailbone.
“That’s going to bruise,” I muttered. I shifted to a seated position and squinted at the monsters. “What on earth?” My question should’ve been ‘where’ not ‘what.’
“What happened?” Tate asked. She sat up slowly as though coming out of a trance. “Where’d they go?”
“Does anybody know if they can teleport?” My heart seized at the thought of all those demons escaping into the world.
“No, they can’t,” Saxon said and flew over to investigate the scene. He crouched close to the ground where dozens of demons had stood only moments ago.
Liam sprinted to join him and gaped at the ground. “Are these scorch marks?”
I scrambled to my feet, alarmed. “Scorch marks? What do you mean?” I helped Tate to her feet. The witch still seemed slightly subdued.
“Are you sure they don’t have teleportation abilities?” Leto asked. “That would explain the scorch marks.”
The three of us headed toward Saxon and Liam.
“That’s not the explanation,” Saxon said and I immediately felt a stabbing pain in my chest.
“Well, they’re not frozen,” Leto said. “So what are they?”
Saxon observed the dozens of piles of ash in the vicinity. “They’re dead. You reduced them to ash.”
A loud whoop erupted behind us. I heard Liam slap hands with someone and say, “Victory is ours.”
I remained fixed on Saxon. “I don’t understand. We were freezing them.” Nausea threatened to expel the contents of my stomach. I wasn’t sure why I was so upset. We were perfectly happy to kill them a few minutes ago.
“I didn’t manage to finish the freeze spell before the magic was triggered,” Tate said. “I thought maybe our will would be enough to make it happen.”
“Well, you made something happen all right. Complete annihilation.” Liam danced a jig in a circle.
“If they’re dead, then shouldn’t more be coming?” Leto asked.
Saxon wore a solemn expression, which was in sharp contrast to Liam’s dance of delight. “No, because it looks like Callie’s theory was correct. Burning them was the trick, like with Hydra heads.”
We all looked up at the sky at the same time. The stars twinkled normally again and I began to relax.
“Sheesh, Callie. Why didn’t you tell us how scary your magic is?” Liam nudged me with his arm. “I might’ve shown you a little more respect.” He followed that remark with a burst of laughter. “Okay, not really, but we can pretend.”
“You obliterated them,” Leto said, sounding as shocked as he looked.
“We obliterated them,” I said, nodding toward Tate. “It wasn’t just me.”
“Oh, but it was. Our Tate is skilled, but she’s never done any magic like that,” Leto said.
“Maybe it was our combined magic,” Tate said. I could tell she was trying to help me more than she wanted to claim credit. Her greenish pallor told me that she felt as nauseated as I did right now.
“Maybe,” I said softly. My legs crumpled beneath me and I landed hard on my ass.
Saxon dropped to the ground beside me, his brow creased with concern. “Callie, are you okay?”
“I think it was a lot of magic for me,” I said.
He offered his hand and helped me to my feet. His grip was strong and sure and I longed to sink against him and have him wrap those wings around me. I craved their comfort like I craved a hot shower and a warm blanket right now. Instead, I let go of his hand the moment my knees straightened. I needed neither a crutch nor a crush right now. There was too much at stake. I could see that now.
“It explains the blood we saw on the buildings,” Tate said. She seemed to be recovering from her stupor.
“What does?” I asked.
“It’s believed that smearing blood would keep the demons from harming anyone,” Saxon said.
“That means the residents knew they were coming,” I said. “But how?”
Liam picked up a long stick from the ground and began to swing it like a mock sword. “Could’ve been any number of ways. A local psychic. A shaman.”
“Or they were warned by the one who summoned them,” Tate said.
Double Down on Demons (Pandora's Pride Book 1) Page 12