by Danica Rayne
“But why would you want to follow a demon lord?”
He laughed, first slowly, and then it grew louder, more intense, and soon he was bellowing so violently that it echoed off the walls. Chase’s chest rumbled as he joined in.
“Silly slayer,” Lawrence said. “Why wouldn’t I follow the Master? Why wouldn’t I destroy the pillars so he can come through and grace us with his powerful presence?”
“But they’ll invade our world,” I said. “Lawrence, they’ll destroy us.”
“Well, not me, and not Chase, either. But the rest of you, sure. Even your boyfriends, since they’ve clearly fallen to the dark side.”
“The dark side?” I asked incredulously. “What the hell, Lawrence? What’s your problem?”
His eyes flashed with fury. “My problem? My problem? I’m not the one with the problem. It’s all those filthy, wretched humans…” His hands balled into fists, his face growing red like a tomato. “Do you know what those jerks did to me? All my life, they tortured me! They killed me inside.” He grabbed another beaker from the back table and smashed it against the wall, shattering the glass. “And now,” he said in a voice devoid of emotion. “They will pay. Every single one of them will pay.”
“Lawrence,” I said. “I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. They shouldn’t have treated you that way. But they were just kids. Kids bully sometimes. Lots of kids have gone through the same thing. But you can’t punish all of us for something a few jerks did as kids.”
He stormed over and grabbed my hair, his grip so strong I felt a twinge of pain. “How dare you,” he hissed. “How dare you belittle what I’ve been through?!”
“I’m not belittling anything! I’m sorry you went through that. It must have been horrible. But why can’t you leave it in the past? I didn’t have friends, either. I know what that feels like—”
“Shut up!” He yanked on my hair, plucking a few strands out. It took everything I had not to cry out. He moved his face close to me, his eyes so possessed with fury he looked crazy. “You’re comparing your childhood to mine? You think you know what I’ve been through? Spoiled girl from New York who had loving parents. My mother?” He scoffed. “Let’s just say her boyfriend loved touching. And if that wasn’t crappy enough, I had to deal with the jerkwads at school!” He released my hair and smiled evilly. “But not anymore. No, this time I will win.”
“Please, Lawrence, not all humans are like that. You know that.”
“Says the girl with four supernatural boyfriends,” Chase whispered. Then his lips brushed across my cheek.
“Chase, I swear if you lay a single finger on me—”
“What?” He chuckled. “Can’t say no to me now.”
Ignoring him, I focused on Lawrence. “You can’t hate humans that much, Lawrence. There has to be a part of you that feels something for them.”
His eyes blazed. “I feel nothing.”
“You’re rotten,” I said. “That’s why the demon lord chose you. Because you’re rotten through and through. Both of you are. Has Chase been Demon Kissed, too?”
“No, but he’ll get what he deserves. We both will.”
“You won’t,” I stressed. “I’m going to stop you.”
They bellowed. “And how exactly do you plan to do that?” Chase snickered. “Your boyfriends are out cold. You can barely stand. You’re powerless here. Pathetic.”
“Just like your mother,” Lawrence said.
My gaze flashed to his. “Why did you mention my mom?”
“Because you’re a failure, just like she was.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you know?” He raised his head toward the ceiling like he was losing patience. “Has that stupid aunt of yours taught you nothing? What kind of slayer has she raised?”
“A useless one,” Chase sneered.
“Shut up and tell me about my mom. Right now.”
“Feisty, feisty.” Chase’s lips once again swept along my cheek.
“Fine. You’ll die soon enough, anyway.” Lawrence leaned back against the table, crossing his arms across his chest. “Did you ever ask yourself why the Master decided to open a portal now? Why he was able to tear down the pillars?”
I swallowed the huge lump in my throat. He was right. The guys and I were so focused on finding a way to stop the demon that we didn’t wonder why all this was happening now after so many years.
“Because your mom made an oopsie,” he said, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “She made a big oopsie.”
My heart was beating so hard I could barely hear myself think. I managed to ask, “What did she do?”
“I don’t know the details, but the incompetent slayer accidentally tied her energy to the four pillars protecting Edgewood. With her death, they weakened, and once they’re weak, it’s very easy to tear them down. Hence the hellhound.”
My heart beat even more rapidly. I was starting to get light-headed.
“You don’t believe me?” His boisterous laugh echoed off the walls. “Contrary to what you think, parents aren’t invincible. Parents make mistakes. Parents suck.”
My eyes once again flashed to his. “My parents didn’t suck.”
“They left you, didn’t they? You’re an orphan.”
“They were murdered!” I hissed. “By your master. He ordered them to be killed!”
“All of which wouldn’t have happened if they didn’t have you. See how selfish they are? See how selfish all humans are?”
“You’re sick,” I said. “You’re both sick. You’re the rotten humans who should be eradicated from this world, not everyone else.”
He and Chase laughed to each other. “Speaking of which.” Lawrence snapped his fingers. “I think my little pet is feeling hungry.”
“No, Lawrence,” I whispered as something started to take form toward the left side of the back of the room.
“Yes!” Lawrence’s whole face shone as the form grew clearer. “Come on, buddy.”
A black dog-like creature appeared. He was very large, more than half the size of Lawrence, who was a pretty big guy. He had dark skin, red eyes, and sharp fangs dripping with green saliva. He seethed at me, baring his fangs, the green saliva dripping to the floor and leaving a burn mark.
“You know what to do, buddy,” Lawrence said.
“No!” I cried. “Think of what you’re about to do. Billions of lives will be lost!”
“Billions of useless lives.”
The hellhound opened his mouth wide, and green fire mixed with orange, yellow, and red, shot out of his mouth, aiming straight at the wall.
Intense pain shot through me and I cried out. It wasn’t physical pain, though, it was beyond that. Something I, as a slayer, could only feel. Because the barrier protecting the world from the supernatural was coming down.
There was something else I felt as well. My mom. I could even see her face in the fire. Her eyes were sad, hopeless. I knew how she felt. Disappointed in me.
Yelling as hard as I could, I mustered everything I had inside me, pushing away the drug that coursed through my body. Away and away, until it was gone completely, making me regain my slayer abilities. I jabbed my elbow into Chase’s face, hearing his nose crack, then I smashed him to the floor, knocking him unconscious.
Lawrence threw himself at me and slammed me down.
“Make him stop!” I ordered as I struggled against him.
“The order’s been given. Silly slayer. Nothing can stop the hellhound now.”
My hands felt along the floor, grasping for anything I could find. My fingers closed around a glass shard. I slashed Lawrence’s chest, making him yell out and roll off me. I shoved my boot into his face, tossing him away, before rushing to where the hellhound was still spraying fire at the wall.
Swinging my hand back, I chucked the glass shard at the hellhound, stabbing him in the neck. Releasing a whimper, his mouth snapped shut, extinguishing the fire. He slumped to the floor, dead.
La
wrence’s chuckle once again echoed off the walls. “You’re too late!” He laughed like a crazy person. “You’re too late!”
Strong wind swept through the room, causing papers and small items to fly all over. I ducked when a test tube nearly struck my face. The wind was growing wilder, and soon I heard a whooshing sound.
“He’s doing it.” Lawrence’s eyes couldn’t shine any brighter. “The Master is opening the portal!”
The wind was so violent I had to squint my eyes. A purplish-blueish circle appeared in the center of the room, growing bigger by the second.
The portal. It was open.
“The Master is not strong enough to come through,” Lawrence said. “But he will be as soon as he sends his followers through.”
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” I marched to Lawrence and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him a few inches off the ground. “You ruined everything.”
He grinned in that sinister way. “No, I made it all happen.”
I rammed him against the wall, over and over until his head fell forward and he slid to the floor. I rummaged in his pocket and pulled out the rectangular item he had used to knock out the guys, pressing down on the button.
Immediately, they stirred to life, their breathing labored, their eyes fluttering. Groaning, they each woke up and stared at their surroundings as though they had just slept for years and had no idea where they were or what was going on.
“Holy crap!” Liam was on his feet, gaping at the portal.
The others were staring at it with identical panicked expressions.
“The portal’s open,” Kayden gasped.
“The portal’s open!” Chase was awake, too, squealing like a little kid on his birthday. I raised my leg and shoved my boot hard into his face, knocking him unconscious.
“Alivia!” Ryker ran to me and threw his arm around my waist, yanking me away from the portal.
“No!” I kicked against him. “We need to close it.”
“Who knows what’ll come through that?” He dug his fingers into the back of my neck and stared into my eyes. “We need to leave, Alivia. We need to regroup and figure out our next move.”
“Ryker’s right,” Kayden said. “There’s nothing we can do right now.” He stared at the portal. “This is bigger than all of us.”
I stopped struggling and turned toward the portal. How long would it take before something came through? Before an entire demon army came through? The guys were right—the five of us couldn’t take this on by ourselves.
“Call Dr. Caldwell and tell him to meet at my aunt’s house,” I said as I rushed out of the room, the guys following. “I think it’s time we ask for help.”
Chapter Eight
The air outside was different. The others could feel it, too. It was like we had a new kind of pollution in our city.
It was well into the night now, all of Edgewood quiet and peaceful. But it wouldn’t remain like this for long. We needed to find a way to close the portal. Immediately.
“How did this happen, Alivia?” Ryker asked as we ran toward Aunt Bea’s house. Kayden had tried to super-speed us over there, but he was wiped out from the knockout.
“It was Lawrence.” I stopped for a minute, resting my hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. I was pretty wiped out, too, my words coming out in heavy breaths. The others stopped, relieved by the break. “He was the one ordering the hellhound to destroy the pillars,” I continued. “He’s following the demon lord. Did you ever hear of a Demon’s Kiss?”
“A Demon’s Kiss?” Kayden asked as we started moving again. “I don’t know. It sounds a little familiar.”
Liam pulled his phone away from his ear and stashed it into his pocket. “Finally made it through to Levi. He said he’ll meet us at your house, Alivia.”
“We’re all going to meet at my house,” I said. “And when I say all, I mean—”
“Alivia,” Ryker warned.
“We’re past that point, don’t you think? Ryker Dalton, Finn Caldwell, and Kayden Caldwell, you are all invited into my house.”
Even though my lungs were on fire, I forced my legs to move faster. Sweat poured all over me, but I ignored it. The guys were pretty sweaty, too, and Finn seemed to be struggling the most. I didn’t know what kind of body he had, but I knew from the pictures in The Book that wendigos didn’t have a lot of muscle. But his face overflowed with determination.
Finally, we made it to my house. I dashed to the door, unlocked it, and led the others inside. Both Ryker and Finn hesitated for a moment, their uncertain eyes meeting mine. I motioned for them that it was okay, that I trusted them with everything I had. After all we’d been through, there wasn’t a single doubt in my mind that I’d be safe with them in my home.
My legs turned to stone when I discovered Aunt Bea standing in the middle of the living room.
She was dressed in her Star Wars pajamas, her face a mix of confusion and fear. “Alivia, why do I feel like…something just doesn’t feel…right. What…?” Her mouth clamped shut as her eyes swept over the four guys standing behind me. “Who they hell are they?”
“I don’t have time to explain.” I ran upstairs and returned a minute later with The Book and Mom’s journal. I asked Finn to hand me the World of the Unnatural from his bag, which he had managed to grab before we fled Caldwell mansion. “We’re in big trouble, Aunt Bea.”
I dropped to my knees before the coffee table and opened the World of the Unnatural.
Aunt Bea’s eyes were still planted on the guys. “Trouble?” she asked absentmindedly.
I wasn’t naïve to think she wouldn’t figure out what they were. She had hunted with Mom after all, probably took down a vampire and werewolf, maybe even a wendigo. But now wasn’t the time to explain.
“Yes,” I said as I flipped through the pages. “A portal between our world and the demon world has been opened. If we don’t close it soon, a demon lord will come through.”
Her eyes snapped to mine. “What did you just say?”
The doorbell rang.
“Who could that be at one o’clock in the morning?”
“It’s Dr. Caldwell. Can one of you guys let him in?”
“Dr. Caldwell?” Aunt Bea asked incredulously as Liam ran to get the door. “Alivia? Alivia!”
My head sprang to hers for a second before focusing back on the book. Damn, the part that discussed restoring pillars and closing portals was written in that ancient language. I pushed it aside and opened The Book.
“Alivia, what the hell is going on?”
“The air feels wrong,” Dr. Caldwell said as Liam ushered him into the living room. “There’s something evil in the atmosphere. I feel—” He stopped short when he spotted Aunt Bea standing there. “Oh hello, Bea.”
She stared at him for a second. “Hey, Levi. What are you doing at my house in the middle of the night?”
His eyes moved between the guys and me.
“Okay.” I got off the floor and faced them, taking a deep breath. “We don’t have time to explain in detail, but a demon lord managed to knock down the pillars and opened a portal between our worlds.”
“What?” Aunt Bea exclaimed.
“Are you sure?” Dr. Caldwell asked in a serious tone. “Are you absolutely sure?”
“How the…?” Aunt Bea’s baffled and slightly freaked-out eyes flicked between the males in the living room. “Alivia, watch what you’re saying in front of—”
“They know.”
“What do you mean they know?” she shrilled.
I winced. “Please don’t freak out. There’s time for that later. Right now, we need to figure out how to close the portal.”
“Are you saying that…” Her eyes once again flicked between the guys and Dr. Caldwell. “You’re…” She scanned them carefully and gasped. “No…”
“Yes, Aunt Bea. They’re supernaturals. All of them. But they’re good supernaturals.”
“Good supernaturals!?”
“There’s such a thing, okay? But we’ll get to that later. Can you help us?”
Aunt Bea kept her shocked and wary eyes on Dr. Caldwell for a few seconds before focusing her attention on me. “Okay, what’s going on? I want the truth.”
Lowering myself to the couch, I took a deep breath. “The truth is, the guys and I found out a demon lord planned to open a portal into our world. He succeeded.”
Dr. Caldwell’s face turned completely white. Aunt Bea covered her mouth with her good hand.
“I know.” I puffed out my cheeks. “This is bad.”
“A portal hasn’t been opened in many years,” Dr. Caldwell said. “What’s changed?”
“How do you know so much about portals?” Aunt Bea locked accusing eyes on him, totally in cop mode.
“You can say…I have an interest in the supernatural.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What are you?”
He watched her for a few seconds, as though deciding if he could trust her. Then he sighed. “I’m a bear shifter.”
Aunt Bea gaped at him. Now she turned sheet white. “There are supernaturals in my home. Alivia, you invited supernaturals into my home?”
“I understand how this must seem to you—” Dr. Caldwell started.
“Guys! Can we focus on the bigger picture here?” I asked. “Demon lord???”
“Alivia’s right.” Kayden turned to Dr. Caldwell. “Levi, it’s pretty bad.”
With a panicked gasp, Aunt Bea staggered to the couch, her eyes so wide they could swallow all the furniture in the room. Her chest rose and fell wildly, her hand once again going to her mouth.
“Aunt Bea.” I sat down near her, taking her hand.
“Alivia…this…this is something far bigger than anything I encountered when I was slaying with your mom. I know nothing about portals or demon lords. I…” Her lower lip quivered. “I have no idea what to do.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “That’s why I asked Dr. Caldwell and the guys to meet here. We’ll put our heads together and figure this out.”
She laughed lightly. “What kind of parent figure am I? My own niece is calming me down when I should be the one soothing her.” She tucked some hair behind my ear. “The worst thing I thought you’d ever have to face was a wendigo. I never in my wildest dreams thought you’d have to shoulder the burden of portals and demon lords all on your own.”