Death Wish

by Brooks, Harper A.

  “What the heck does that mean?” I said, my nervousness getting the better of me.

  “Explain,” Cole told him.

  “A demonic pregnancy can be confirmed by the sudden death of the mother or the evidence of a speedy gestational period.”

  “Speedy what? What the hell does that mean?”

  Cole threw me a look, and I clamped my mouth shut.

  “So, there’s no way to tell for sure without waiting,” Cole added.

  “Unfortunately. But by then, it could be too late. Has she shown any signs of a demonic pregnancy? High temperature? Fainting spells? Weakness? Expanding stomach?”

  Fainting, yes. But I figured that was just from the shock of it all.

  From Cole’s thoughtful expression, he was considering the same thing.

  “There has to be some way to know for sure without waiting,” he said. “Some kind of test.”

  “A demonic pregnancy doesn’t show up on a typical piss-on-a-stick pregnancy test,” Wyatt shot back. “Since the gestation is only three months compared to the normal nine, we should know for sure within a couple of weeks. She should be showing by then. You’ll just have to hope she survives even that long.”

  I let out a slew of curses. Only three months? Kay was in some serious shit.

  And I had to help her.

  The sound of a car pulling up grabbed everyone’s attention. Especially Angel’s who leapt up and raced to the door, knocking into Cole and almost sending him toppling over. She didn’t bark, though.

  “That must be Sean,” Wyatt said. “She knows the sound of his truck.”

  A door slammed. I walked over to one of the boarded windows and peered between the two-by-fours. A young man, probably in his early twenties, was looking over Cole’s Jeep with brown paper bags in his hands. He must have recognized it because he shook his head.

  As he dug into his pocket for his keys, my eye caught movement behind him. A dark ghostly figure stretched across the ground, out of the shadows of the surrounding woods, and my heartbeat sped up. It was as if it grew from the darkness. Then another emerged from the right part of the forest, moving toward the trailer. Toward Sean, who appeared oblivious to their presence.

  Slowly, the moving shadows grew and solidified, pulling themselves off the ground and taking shape. Like I had seen on Laurence with his possession, their faces were twisted and mangled, with protruding brows, glowing red eyes, and lipless mouths, but unlike the full-demon, these creatures had no distinct shape to their bodies. They were constantly changing forms and shifting as they moved.

  “Uh, Cole. We have a problem,” I said, my throat tight.

  In the next second, he was at my side, peering through the small space of the window, too. His body tensed.

  After yanking one of the guns from his belt, he started loading it.

  “What? What is it?” Wyatt’s panicked voice came from behind us, followed by the distinct click of his shotgun being loaded again.

  Angel barked furiously at the closed door. Every hair stood up on my bare arms.

  “Sean’s here.” Cole gripped the door’s handle. There wasn’t a hint of fear on his face. Instead, I saw determination and a bit of excitement. This was his area of expertise after all. “But he’s not the only one.”

  “What are those things?” My voice rose with my fear. Whatever the answer was, I knew it couldn’t be good. “More demons?”

  Clicking the safety off his gun, Cole turned to me, and for a second, I could have sworn his blue eyes flashed red. Like Xaver’s.

  I jumped back, unsure of what I really saw. My insides froze over.

  When he spoke again, his voice was deeper, more ominous. Almost like an animalistic rumble.

  He only said one word.

  “Halflings.”

  Halflings.

  That’s all he said, but the word sent a chill through my very being.

  “Those are Halflings?” But wait… Wasn’t Cole a Halfling, too? He certainly didn’t look like a ghostly creature with a contorted face and needle-like teeth. The red eyes—I must have imagined it in my moment of panic. Now, as I looked at him, they were as blue as the Caribbean Sea. Nothing menacing or scary about them.

  His grip on the front door tightened; he seemed to be straining to not open it and run out guns blazing.

  “You should stay here, Jade.” Even though his voice was low, still that strange rumble, there was no doubt Wyatt had heard him. And besides, he must have looked pretty silly staring at the empty place in front of the window so intently. Wyatt either likely knew something was up or figured Cole was off his rocker. “You don’t know how to take these things down. Leave it to me and Wyatt. When Sean gets to the door, let him in. Make sure he locks the door behind us.”

  One, how the hell was I supposed to make sure of anything if Sean wouldn’t be able to hear or see me. And two, I wasn’t some helpless damsel here. I could not only defend myself, I could fight.

  “So, I’m supposed to just leave this up to the boys, then?” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Of course.”

  His entire body shook. No, vibrated, right in front of me. Was it from the mounting annoyance I could see in his gaze, or something else? I really wasn’t sure.

  “You don’t understand,” he said in a rush. “These are Hell-dwelling Halflings. Fully corrupted by the Hellfire power and the demon part that they were dragged back to Hell to do nothing but obey. Mindless puppets who will stop at nothing to carry out their orders. Nothing.”

  I stared at him for a second as his words sank in.

  “But aren’t you a—”

  “Not like me,” he added in haste, then grumbled, “Not yet anyway.”

  That spoke volumes in itself. So, if Cole tapped into the demon half of him by using his fire gift, it would turn him into one of those…things. He’d be dragged off to Hell, forced to live out the rest of his damned existence as a demon’s minion?

  Tough break.

  Now the need for guns and magic bullets made more sense.

  “I still have my weird glowy hand,” I said finally. “It worked on Xaver. It should work on his babies, too.”

  “Can you guarantee it’ll happen again?”

  “Uh…”

  He shook his head. “We can’t risk it.”

  “But they can’t hurt…”

  The rest of the sentence died on my tongue. Could they hurt me? It was getting harder to keep up with who could see me and who couldn’t. Xaver had tossed me across the bakery like a sack of dirty laundry, so it was possible the Halflings could, too. Especially since they had demon blood in them.

  God, this was getting complicated.

  “They may not be able to hurt you, Jade, but they can certainly drag you back to Hell with them.”

  I stiffened. That was a horrifying thought.

  Why had I complained about my boring afterlife before? I certainly had my hands full now.

  After a long second, I gave him a firm nod in understanding, and he threw the door open. It crashed against the trailer’s exterior in a loud bang. Wyatt rushed outside after him, Angel hot on his tail. Gunshots along with the dog’s ferocious barking rang out in the early morning silence.

  I peered through the gap in the window again. Two more demon Halflings had joined the fight. The young man named Sean scrambled up the porch steps in the chaos, spilling the contents of his bags all over the ground.

  “Get inside and barricade the door!” Cole’s demanded, seizing Sean by his shirt and half-throwing him toward the trailer. A second later, Sean burst through the door, cursing.

  “Are you kidding me?” he gasped as he locked every one of the six deadbolts on the door. “That’s it. Pop’s going into a nursing home. I’ve had it.”

  When his gaze drifted my way, he paused.

  A strange wave of energy passed over my skin, raising the hairs on my arms. Something zipped up my spine, and like when I had used my light power, my temples throbbed.

  But only for
a second. As fast as it had raced through me, it was gone.

  What the actual fuck was going on with me?

  I glanced at Sean to find him staring, his eyes large saucers compared to the rest of his face. His entire body trembled.

  “Oh shit,” I breathed.

  He leapt back so far, he crashed into a leaning pile of books and boxes, toppling over with them as they fell.

  “Wh-Who are you?” Face pale, he scrambled to stand again, but only knocked over another stack of his father’s stuff.

  “No way. You can see me, too?” I threw my hands up in defeat. “Really? Really?” I shouted to the ceiling. Another living person could see me. This was getting ridiculous. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  When Sean finally stood again, he looked around the room wildly and reached for the closest object he could find. Obviously, it was a book. He hurled it at me.

  I didn’t move—shouldn’t need to. But when the book smacked into my chest and pain radiated from where the surprisingly dense thing hit, I gasped in surprise. As if it hit something solid, it clattered on the floor in front of me.

  I froze, not sure what I had just seen or even felt.

  Sean was just staring at me, waiting for me to do something. Attack him. Something.

  Instead, I examined my hand. It appeared like it always did to me. Without thinking, I reached out, and my hand collided with the rough surface of the two-by-fours covering the window.

  Rough. Jagged.

  Ow. Splintery.

  I stared at my finger, now with a nice chunk of wood sticking out of the tip and a droplet of blood welling up.

  Blood.

  My blood.

  Oh.

  FUCK.

  More gunshots exploded from outside, jarring me back into the chaos unfolding around us. A piercing howl resounded, followed by Angel’s ferocious barks.

  I couldn’t just stay in here. I had to do something.

  Wait. If I could bleed, maybe I could die. Again. Should I hop in and help, put myself at risk?

  I shook my head, pushing away those thoughts. There was no time to debate this. I knew death. It didn’t scare me, and people were in danger.

  “Do you have a gun?” I asked Sean.

  He stayed planted in place, too stunned to move.

  I groaned. “Sean—that’s your name, isn’t it? Sean?”

  Not even a nod.

  “Look, Sean, I don’t have time for this. I need to help Cole and your father.”

  “Y-You appeared out of nowhere.” He gasped, his chest heaving. “Just materialized out of thin air!”

  Another carnal shriek blared from somewhere near the house’s boarded window. More shots. My head fogged at the thought of the two men dying outside while I was stuck in here, dealing with this deer in headlights.

  “I’ll explain later,” I snapped, knowing full well I couldn’t. I needed him to focus on my words first. “I’m a friend of Cole’s. I won’t hurt you.”

  Whatever was going on, it had made me suddenly solid on this plane. Maybe that meant I could manipulate a weapon, too.

  “I can help them.” I held out my empty palm. “Do you have a gun?”

  He held out a shaky finger, pointing to the fireplace mantel. Under a slew of papers was a cigar box. I ran to it, shoved the crap off the top, and opened it. A dirty-looking revolver sat on a velvet pillow.

  Still a little unnerved that everything I was touching wasn’t going right through my grasp, I fumbled with the cool metal as I checked the chamber for bullets. It was loaded.

  Problem was, I’d never handled a gun before.

  Not that I remembered anyway.

  Yet, the moment I held the revolver in my hand, a twinge of familiarity vibrated through me. Like before, when the sorcerer, Tristen, had wrapped his hands around my neck. That same unsettling shiver ran from my head to the tips of my toes.

  Damn, this was getting weirder by the second. And I didn’t like it.

  Sean was watching me with a mix of apprehension and fear as I went to the door.

  “Grab yourself a weapon. Something to defend yourself if this gets bad. And lock the door behind me.”

  His wide-eyed expression said it all.

  “Do you understand?”

  He said nothing. Only remained frozen in place.

  I didn’t have time for this.

  I kicked open the door and rushed outside where the sudden commotion was such a contrast to the silence inside, I recoiled for a second.

  In the center of the front yard was a giant crater, a gaping hole that was so deep, I couldn’t see the bottom from where I stood on the porch. If there was a bottom, that is.

  Remembering what Cole had said about the Halflings dragging people to Hell, I swallowed hard.

  Two Halflings had Cole pinned against his Jeep, snarling in his face and chomping on his arm until he released the gun. All he had were his fists to beat off the beasts. Wyatt was crouching behind the tireless Buick tucked deep in the tall grass, trying to reload his shotgun with fingers that were slick with blood. A jagged gash marked his forehead, spilling more blood into his eye.

  A third Halfling was crawling his way on all fours, making sniffing and huffing noises as if it were catching his scent but without a nose.

  These things were ugly S.O.B.s.

  Wait there had been four. Where was the—

  A vicious growl came from above me. I whipped around just in time to see the blackened creature leap off the trailer’s roof and hurl itself at me.

  The size of a large animal, maybe a Great Dane or a small bear, the weight of it surprised me. Especially for a ghostly shadow half-demon. It certainly was more ferocious than any dog, though, even Angel. It snapped its yellow-stained jaws at my arms and neck as it tried to swat my gun away with its claw-like fingers.

  Those sharp nails slashed across my forearm, sending pain like fire through my muscles, and I gasped. It was the kind that took your breath away, and I hadn’t felt pain like this in so long. I definitely didn’t miss it, either.

  Knowing it was trying to disarm me, I clutched the gun even tighter and bucked my body to dislodge the thing from its place on top of me. After getting one arm free, I whipped the gun across the monster’s face, gaining another horrid squeal from it. But it was distracted enough for me to spin and throw it off my back.

  At the corner of my eye, I spotted Wyatt firing another shot at his encroaching Halfling. He hit his mark, right where the heart should have been, but instead of it doing much damage or even slowing it down, the bullets only threw him back a few feet. More of an annoyance than anything else.

  It stalked toward Wyatt again. He fumbled to load another round.

  I guess Wyatt didn’t have any of those magic bullets in his guns, like Cole did.

  Turning toward the Halfling on the floor, I aimed at its head and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit, but just like with Wyatt’s shot, the creature only bared its teeth at me and growled.

  Not good. I was going to have to get a hold of one of Cole’s weapons to really make a difference in this fight.

  As my foe started to climb back to its feet, I spun and kicked it back down. Then, I sped down the porch toward the Jeep where Cole was still struggling to bat away his demons.

  Just before I reached him, though, there was a flare of reddish-yellow light and a rush of heat that blew my hair back and stung my eyes. I skidded to a stop in time to see both Halflings fly back, black smoke billowing from their already blackened bodies and the smell of burnt flesh filling the air.

  Cole’s head whipped toward me, finally sensing me standing there, and what I saw scared me more than anything I had ever reaped. Red glowing eyes—as red as the embers of a fire—stared at me without any hint of recognition at all. His breaths were so ragged, his shoulders and chest heaved from the effort, and his skin appeared gray, sickly almost, as if he’d been deprived of water for days.

  “Whoa, Cole.” I couldn’t help it. The words came
out on their own with my shock. “Are you okay?”

  He blinked, staring at me, as if he were seeing me for the very first time.

  Beside his feet was the loaded gun with spirit-repelling bullets, though. Exactly what I needed.

  He clenched his hands into fists, and they glowed red.

  Uh-oh. Was I really going to have to fight him, too?

  I held my hands out in surrender. “Cole, it’s me. Jade. We’re on the same side, buddy. Why don’t you extinguish those bad boys, and come back to earth here with me. We’re on the same side.”

  His head cocked, studying me.

  Wyatt’s gun went off behind me again, making me jump.

  Shit. He was going to run out of bullets soon.

  I didn’t have time for this.

  As I snatched the gun off the ground, Cole’s hand clamped around my wrist. His touch was searing, and I screamed, launching my fist for his face. The moment my knuckles met his cheek, white light erupted from my palm, sending him sprawling back into the Jeep hard enough to break the glass. He landed in a heap by the tire.

  Suddenly, it was as if someone had plunged a spike through my temples. Gasping from the sharpness of the pain, I rested a hand on the hood of the car. My vision blurred, and I blinked rapidly to prevent everything from going black. Heat climbed up my neck, along with the threat of losing consciousness.

  Was this going to happen every time I used this new power? It seemed like my reaction afterward was getting worse.

  I gave myself a hard slap on the side of my face. Anything to urge my mind to stay present. Slowly, things came back into focus.

  A chorus of half-demon wails filled the air, their jaws extending in an unnatural way. All at once, they rushed at the hole in the center of the yard. The two Halflings that Cole had been fighting leapt over the Jeep, no longer interested in Cole or me, and dove headfirst into the pit, followed by the one stalking Wyatt and the fourth I had clocked in the head with my boot.

  The moment the last one disappeared, the ground filled in where it had been missing until the hole was completely gone. The grass, the rocks, everything was there undisturbed as if there wasn’t an opening to a Hell dimension there a second ago.