by Danica Rayne
My eyes flicked to Finn, who lowered his head in defeat. Every part of me itched to comfort him, and it took a tremendous amount of willpower to remain planted where I was.
“But I’m your guardian,” Aunt Bea continued in a confident tone, though her lower lip still trembled a little. “I’m not going to crumble under all this stress. You need me now, and I sure as hell am going to do all I can to help you. So let’s put our heads together and stop that bastard demon lord.”
The corners of my lips lifted. I loved my aunt when she was a badass.
“If I may…?” Dr. Caldwell asked.
“Go ahead,” she said.
“Can I borrow a pen and paper?”
I got them for him.
He scribbled down some words, then turned to Kayden. “Run to the house and get these books for me.”
With a nod, Kayden disappeared in a blur.
Aunt Bea blinked after him. “Vampire?” Her startled eyes shot to mine. “Alivia, what are the rest of them?” she hissed.
I winced. I wished Kayden would have waited until he left the room. I was so not in the mood to get into this right now.
“You know they can hear you? They’re standing like two feet away.”
“But I’m your aunt and it’s my job to protect you. I want to know who they are, what you’re doing with them and—”
Kayden appeared in the room with three leather-bound books. He deposited them on the coffee table. Dr. Caldwell slid the first one off the pile and flipped it open, nodding to Kayden to look through the next one. “See if you can find anything on demon lords and portals.”
“I’ve already searched through them all.” Kayden took the book. “Nothing.”
“Perhaps you overlooked something.” He thought for a bit. “Tell me everything that happened. How the portal was opened, who opened it. Don’t leave out any detail.”
We did as he asked, giving him as many details as possible without divulging what the five of us meant to each other.
“Demon Kissed, you say?” Dr. Caldwell mused. “The demon lord must have kissed one of his demons, who then slipped into our world and kissed Lawrence, transferring the power of his lord to him. So that a human can do his dirty work here.”
“Why not just send the demon to do the dirty work?” Ryker asked.
“Because my girl would have taken him down,” Aunt Bea said.
“She’s right,” Dr. Caldwell agreed. “He knew the slayer would never suspect a human, even if he was Demon Kissed.”
“I did sense something off about him,” I admitted. “So did Kayden. But we didn’t know what was wrong.”
“And the other boy?” Aunt Bea asked. “Chase? That jerk you saved from a demon in the theater backyard?”
“Yeah, that’s him. I guess he banded with Lawrence and joined the dark side.”
Aunt Bea frowned. “He must have remembered something from that night. Had a taste of darkness and craved more.”
“Rotten through and through,” I said.
Aunt Bea nodded. “Prime bait for a demon lord.”
Dr. Caldwell flipped through his book. “Something like this hasn’t happened in years. Why now?”
“Um…” I swallowed. “Lawrence told me why. But I don’t believe him. I bet he was just messing with me.”
His eyes lifted to mine. “What did he say?”
“That the pillars got weak because of my mom.”
“Because of your mom?” Aunt Bea asked.
“He said she made a mistake. Accidentally tied her energy to the pillars protecting Edgewood. And when she died, they got weak. That’s why the hellhound was able to knock them down.”
Dr. Caldwell continued to turn the pages with profound determination. Kayden did the same. I got on my knees before the coffee table and flipped through the last book. There was a lot of information in here, mostly about supernatural creatures, very similar to The Book. I turned page after page until I came across the word “demons.” My eyes quickly skimmed over the text, my eyes absorbing the words faster than my brain could process. But there wasn’t any information on how to open portals or close them or stop a demon lord from entering.
Dr. Caldwell snapped the book shut. “How did Lawrence know where the pillars were located?”
“We think he got the info from a book at the library,” Liam responded. “And then he burned the building so we wouldn’t learn it.”
“Could have just stolen it and hid it or something,” Ryker muttered.
“He probably wanted to make sure it was gone for good,” Kayden said.
“But one of the locations was wrong,” I explained. “That’s why he couldn’t destroy the last pillar, because he was led to the wrong location.”
“Wrong location?” Aunt Bea asked.
Finn pulled the book off the table and turned to the riddle. Dr. Caldwell scanned the words. “The four locations of the pillars.”
“Except, this one is wrong.” Kayden pointed. “You and I see only the surface, but there’s something hidden behind the words. Something only slayers can see.”
Both Aunt Bea and Dr. Caldwell looked at me.
“The real location,” I said. “We didn’t know Lawrence sent his hellhound to spy on us. He learned where the last pillar was and sent his hellhound to destroy it.”
“And the demon lord opened a portal,” Dr. Caldwell finished.
I nodded.
He turned a few pages. “Is it written here how to close the portals?”
“I don’t know. It’s in an ancient language.”
He studied the words for a long time, then muttered, “I wonder…” He reached for Kayden’s book, flipped through the pages, then handed it to me. “What do you see?”
I stared down at the words. “It talks about the portals that were opened hundreds of years ago. And it says that slayers joined together to close them.”
“That’s what I see as well,” he said. “But is there something else?”
I studied the words carefully. “I don’t…” My mouth closed when the words suddenly moved, switching places with other letters, some jumping across the page. In a matter of seconds, different text sat before my eyes. I gasped.
“What is it?” Aunt Bea asked.
“It’s…it’s not English.”
I grabbed the World of the Unnatural and scanned the page with the ancient language. The text was identical.
“It must be an incantation,” Dr. Caldwell explained. “A spell, one only you can see.”
The meaning of the words settled in my brain. “It’s only temporary. The slayers back then used it to buy time until they could figure out a stronger spell.” I raised my eyes to him. “I didn’t know the slayers had magic.”
“They didn’t.”
“So you’re saying…”
He nodded. “They enlisted the help of a witch.”
My eyes immediately met the guys’. Mom had used dark magic to deactivate the spawn point. At least, that was what we assumed. Magic did exist after all.
“No.”
My eyes snapped to Aunt Bea. “What?”
“Absolutely not.” She yanked the book from my hands and tossed it onto the coffee table. “You are not dabbling into witchcraft.”
“Aunt Bea—”
“I don’t want you to have any part of this!”
“But it’s the only way to close the portal! At least until we can find—”
“What? A witch? Absolutely not!” She gathered the books and dumped them into Dr. Caldwell’s arms. “Thanks for all your help, Levi, but Alivia and I will take it from here. Please take your boys and leave my house.”
“What’s your problem?” I shouted.
“My problem?” She whirled around to face me. “I don’t want you anywhere near this stuff!”
My chest rose and fell so violently it hurt. “Is this because of Mom? Because she used dark magic?”
She pressed her lips together.
“I know about the Dark
Eye! I don’t know what it is, exactly, but I know it’s dark magic.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t know anything about any Eye, but I do know that your mom dabbled in dark magic, and that it destroyed her.”
I swallowed. Wetting my lips, I asked, “How did it destroy her?”
“I don’t know! But whenever you use dark magic, it darkens your soul. Your mom…” Her voice cracked and her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t even think she crossed over.”
“Crossed over? You mean…she’s still here?”
“No, Alivia, she’s not still here. But her soul has been darkened and when a soul is dark, it doesn’t move on. She’s stuck in the supernatural world.”
I collapsed on the couch, my mind reeling.
“I begged her not to do it,” she said. “I insisted there had to be another way. But all she wanted was to run away from her life, to try to live like a normal person. She didn’t care about the consequences. And now she’s paying the price.”
I just sat still like a statue, my head still reeling.
“If I may?” Dr. Caldwell asked.
“What?” Aunt Bea snapped.
“The incantation? It may not be dark magic.”
She gaped at him. “What?”
Dr. Caldwell flipped through another book and held it out to her. “This is a symbol of dark magic.” He pointed to an image with a black bird on the inside of an open palm. “Alivia, do you see this symbol near the incantation?”
I looked down at the page. “No, I don’t see anything like that.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s not dark magic,” Aunt Bea said.
I jumped to my feet. “What else am I supposed to do, then? Let the demon lord come through?”
“No. But this is not your problem. I’ll find a way—”
“It is my problem! I’m the slayer of Edgewood. The pillars are down because of me. I led the hellhound right to the last location. I need to fix it.”
“No, you’re sitting your ass down and you’re going to say inside where you’ll be safe—”
“I’m not staying inside while Edgewood gets destroyed. You don’t get to call the shots, Aunt Bea. This is my call. And I’m doing the incantation. It’ll give us time to figure out what to do next.”
“Alivia—”
“If you’re not going to support me on this, then please get out of my way.” I nodded to the guys. “Let’s go.”
“Alivia!” she called as I headed for the door. “Alivia!”
The only reason I twisted to face her was because of the tears in her voice.
“Alivia…I’m being thrown back in time when I had the same conversation with your mother. I lost her, Alivia. Please, I couldn’t bear losing you, too.”
My eyes filled with tears. “I understand why she did it. It wasn’t just for selfish reasons. She wanted to keep supernaturals away from Edgewood, for good. She thought she was doing a good thing. The right thing. Just like I’m going to do the right thing.”
“It destroyed her.”
I wiped my eyes. “That’s what being a slayer means. Making sacrifices, just like those slayers did years ago. They closed the portals to ensure the world stayed safe. Just like I need to close the portal to make sure Edgewood stays safe.”
Before she could say another word, I walked out the door.
Chapter Nine
I could hear them before I saw them. Supernaturals of all different kinds wreaking havoc on the citizens of Edgewood. All came in through the portal the demon lord had opened.
The guys, Dr. Caldwell, and I stopped a block away from the school, where police were trying to gun down the supernaturals. I had never seen so many before in my life, and some of them were creatures I couldn’t identify.
Dr. Caldwell sniffed the air. “The spawn point has grown stronger. Supernaturals from all corners of the world are flocking here.”
“Then we’d better not waste time putting up the temporary block,” a familiar voice said behind me.
I whirled around. “Aunt Bea?”
She stood next to me with a determined look in her eyes. “I’m with you in this, Alivia. One hundred percent. As much as I want to keep you safe, Edgewood needs you.”
“Thanks for being on my side.”
“How do we get past them?” Liam asked.
“We fight,” Kayden said. “We destroy them all.”
“Humans and supernaturals working together to take down a threat.” Aunt Bea smirked. “Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine a scenario like this.”
“Aunt Bea, your arm.”
She stared down at it and shrugged. “One arm is all I’ll need to protect my niece.”
“Aunt Bea—”
She dashed toward a goblin, withdrew a small mace, and slammed it into him, knocking his head off his body.
The rest of us charged at the supernaturals, Liam yelling one of his war cries. Dr. Caldwell leaped high in the air and transformed. His body grew larger, hairier, and then a large brown grizzly bear was on the ground, biting into a demon with sharp teeth and mauling its face.
A few seconds later, a medium brown wolf was at my side, growling and revealing sharp fangs.
“Ryker,” I said.
He nodded before launching himself at another supernatural. I withdrew my daggers and joined in the battle, slaying any creature that crossed my path. It was a little difficult to concentrate completely because my eyes kept trekking to Aunt Bea to see if she was in trouble. I couldn’t comprehend how she fought with only one arm. I’d never seen her so kickass.
A minotaur crashed through one of the walls of the school building, heading straight for Liam, who had just thrown himself on a harpy, sinking his hands on her and melting her skin.
“Liam!” I raced over and somersaulted until I was at the minotaur’s hooves. He had a war axe slung over his shoulder, and his gaze landed on me with hunger.
He was at least seven feet tall, and the horns on his head were long and looked extremely sharp. He lifted the war axe high and slammed it down on me, but I rolled away just in time and his axe smashed into the ground.
As the minotaur tried to wrench the axe out of the ground like Excalibur, I twisted my body and kicked off the ground, throwing myself high in the air and somersaulting backward, landing on his back. I assumed he would continue trying to free his axe, but he reached behind me and pulled me off his back, his hand clutching my leg while the rest of me dangled in the air. He had snatched me with so much force that my daggers had slipped out of my hands. When I tried to reach for the one hidden in my sleeve, he swung me in the opposite direction, making it impossible for me to see clearly. My hand reached in all the wrong places.
“Alivia!” one of the guys called, but I was too disoriented to tell whose voice it belonged to. The minotaur tossed me in the air and swerved his head as though he wanted to ram his horn into me, when in the last second a medium brown creature tackled him to the ground. I landed on the ground with a painful thud, but I quickly jumped to me feet and watched how Ryker wrestled with the minotaur. He stabbed his horns into Ryker a few times, making him cry out in pain. I was still a little dizzy, but I forced myself to retrieve my daggers and aimed it at the minotaur. I waited until the right moment to launch it, making sure not to accidentally hit Ryker.
The dagger pierced his back, but I guessed it didn’t damage any organs because the minotaur didn’t back down, not even a little. I reached for my spear and called out, “Ryker, I’m getting on your back.”
He gave me a quick nod before focusing on his enemy. I threw myself onto Ryker, wrapping my legs wound his middle and grabbing on his fur before I got tossed off. His movements were so jerky and volatile as he battled the minotaur.
Holding the spear in my hand, I waited for the perfect opportunity to get him in the chest. He slowed down, but he still had a lot of fight left, giving Ryker such a massive kick with his hoof that we were thrown a few feet away. He twisted his body, landing
on his stomach and not his back so he wouldn’t squash me. He bound to his feet and raced back to end the fight.
I jumped off Ryker’s back, once again landing on the minotaur. Luckily, he was too preoccupied with Ryker to pay me any attention. I scooted over on the minotaur’s back until I sat right behind his horns. Using one of my daggers, I cut into the flesh around one of his horns.
Releasing an ear-splitting yell, he shook his body with so much force that I grabbed onto his horns and squeezed my legs around him or else I would be hurled off. Tightening one hand on his horn, I used my other to remove the free horn. Blooding poured out, dripping down my hand, but I ignored it. When I was done with the first, I started on the second, but by then the minotaur was so weak it didn’t take long for Ryker to go on his back feet and use his front paws to pitch him down. I leaped off before I got trampled. Ryker sprang onto him and bit into his flesh.
“Alivia!”
I turned to see a tall creature made of earth and mud. A golem. It was towering over Aunt Bea.
“Aunt Bea!”
There was no way she could take down such a huge creature with only one arm. I raced over, but I knew I wouldn’t make it in time. She was too far.
Just as it was about to smash her with a fist, something charged at it and bit into its arm. Finn. His sharp teeth snapped the arm in half and hurled it aside. Then he did the same to his other arm and his legs, forcing the golem to fall straight on his back, where he disintegrated into the earth.
By now I had caught up to them. Aunt Bea was staring at Finn, horrified, mouthing the word, “Wendigo.”
“It’s okay, Aunt Bea,” I said. I nodded to Finn. “Thanks.”
He inclined his head before attacking another creature.
Aunt Bea grabbed hold of my shoulder, her eyes still wide and horrified. “Alivia—”
“He’s good,” I said. “He’s one of the sweetest—”
“Bea!” a voice shrilled.
We both twisted around to find an officer trying to shoot an ogre. The bullets pierced the creature’s skin, but it only slowed him down.