by Dora Blume
“Looks like it fell off him.” She held the stone next to the blue flannel. “At least he put to match.” She slid the necklace into her pocket with the others. “I have to say; I’m getting quite a collection of precious stones.” Sloane clapped her hand together. “Now for the fun part.” She bounced as she walked back toward the entrance. “Where are they? I want to get my hands on them. One of them has to be the guy who knocked me out. He wasn’t any of the others.” She bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited.
“Okay, they are in the room on the left. They are still talking about the plan. I’ll fill you in when we are sure there’s no one else. Jessie, you freeze them, and we’ll secure them. Then you need to sit down. You’re getting pale.” Erik reached his hand to brush her cheek, his concern evident in the lines of his face.
He took Jessie’s hand and led her to the other side of the door. He squeezed her hand and reached for the handle. He nodded toward her, and when her eyes met his, he opened the door. She raised her hands to freeze them. One man froze at the board, hand outstretched pointing at a picture there. The other man whipped around toward the door, realizing his friend had stopped mid-sentence. He reached for his belt, but Mike was faster. He lunged toward the man, hitting the end of his gun against his temple. The man’s knees gave, and he slumped to the floor.
“Hey, I wanted to do that.” Sloane protested.
Mike’s eyes shined as he looked to her. “You don’t get to have all the fun.”
“Hmph,” she crossed her arms over her chest. She walked over and bent before the slumped man. His face was soft. She ripped the necklace from around his neck. “How many of these guys have these damn things? Someone in the order has to be giving them to the demons. We need to find out who the hell that is and make them pay for it. I’m sick of these assholes having an advantage over us.”
“They’ve always had an advantage; they’re demons.” Erik pointed out.
“Whatever, you know what I mean.” She scrunched her nose up at him.
Mike grabbed the man at the board. Jessie pulled over a chair, and Mike pushed him into it.
“I’ll go grab the zip ties they used on me.” Sloane strode out of the room. She was back a moment later with a handful of heavy-duty zip ties. She handed them to Mike. “Erik, you and Jess want to go wake up the guy being held in the back?”
Erik looked to Mike, “Actually, I should probably stay to listen to this guy’s thoughts when he comes to. Mike, you want to get the guy out to the car?”
“Yeah, no problem.” He walked out the door.
Erik glanced over to Jessie. She was as white as a sheet. She was leaning with one hand clutching her arm. He could tell she was in pain and had lost a lot of blood. He took a few steps toward her and cupped her cheek with his hand. “Jess, you need to go to the car, too. I know you’re trying to be strong, but you’ve lost a lot of blood. You look like you’re about ready to fall flat on the floor. Sloane and I can take care of this.” He gazed into her eyes, and she nodded. She followed Mike out of the room.
Sloane looked over to Erik. “You ready? Cause he’ll wake up as soon as Jessie makes it to the back room.”
“Yeah, you?”
She licked her lips, “Always.” Her eyes were alighted with anticipation. She looked over to the man strapped to the chair. He wasn’t the guy who’d knocked her out, but he was the one who was with him. She waited for him to unfreeze so that she could ask him questions. She took her butterfly knife out of her pocket and began flipping it open and closed. She looked to Erik, and he was shaking his head. She tapped her foot and when the guy unfroze a smile spread across her face.
“Well, hello there.” She said moving to stand in front of the man.
“What? What the fuck is going on here?” he shouted.
“You’re tied up like a good little demon, and you’re about to tell us all about the plan you and your buddy were discussing.” She looked up to Erik, and he nodded.
“I’m not telling you anything, bitch.” He spat.
“Oh, you’re not?” She feigned innocence and batted her lashes at him; then her eyes turned dark as she looked into his. “Good, I don’t like it when you’re too easy to break. I’d like to have some fun, first.” She trailed the side of the knife up his arm. Not cutting yet, just to get her point across. The demon's eyes were wide as he watched the knife move up one arm and down the other. “I do enjoy drawing blood from demons.” She pushed the knife down on his forearm and watched as the blood pooled, then spilled over the side of his arm.
“I’m not telling you, shit. By the time you’re done with me, it’ll be too late, anyway. You can’t stop it. We’ll destroy you, worthless hunters.”
“Oh, you think so? Well now, I know it’s happening soon. See, you're so cooperative. Too bad I may have to cut up this pretty face of yours to get what I want.” She ran a finger down the boy's cheek as she leaned forward, her cleavage in the demon's face. His eyes watched the hand with the knife but when she leaned with her face only inches from his. “I think you’re going to tell me exactly what I want to know.”
He raised a brow, “Oh yeah?”
She moved the knife to his leg and stopped with the tip pointing down toward his thigh. “Yeah.” She plunged the knife in, and the man screamed out. She was sure to stab just off to the side as to not hit an artery. She didn’t want him to bleed out before they got their information. She glanced up to Erik, and he nodded, letting her know he’d gotten the information.
“Now, tell me what the hell is going on, or I’m going to give you matching scars.” She pulled the knife out of his leg and poised it on the other side pointing down in the same spot. She began adding pressure until she knew he could feel the tip entering his leg.
“Bitch don’t fucking stab me. Are you fucking crazy?” he yelled.
Sloane smiled wide. “Yes, I do believe crazy is a word used to describe me often. Now are you going to tell me what I want to know, or am I going to keep putting holes in you with my knife?” She inched the tip down further.
“It’s at the school,” He cried out as Sloane slowly pushed the knife further into his leg.
“Which school? There are hundreds of schools in Denver?” She inched the knife down infinitesimally.
“Mullen, they’re at Mullen. We know Shikari have the local kids go to high school there, so we went after your kids. There’s nothing you can do about it. We’ve already possessed most of them. It’s fucking perfect. You won’t kill your kids to dispel us.” The demon threw his head back and laughed.
Sloane looked to Erik. “We good?”
“Yes,” he said through gritted teeth. Sloane read the incantation, and the man’s eyes went wide, but he slumped when the demon exited in a mass of black smoke. “You want to take care of the other one. I’m going to go let Jess and Mike know what’s going on.”
“Sure,” she knelt next to the other as Erik strode out of the room. She said the incantation and grabbed a towel that had been sitting next to the sink in the back. She walked over and tied it tight around the guy's leg to help slow the bleeding. She hadn’t hit an artery, but he was still bleeding. She would need to get him to a hospital soon. She should feel bad that the young man had to suffer the injuries of the demon, but she didn’t. He would recover and not remember anything about what happened. When she was finished, she went to find the rest of them. She knew they were needed to help with the other issues happening in Denver. The demons had been pretty slick to go after the Shikari members kids. It would be harder for them to take out any demons they needed to when they wore the skin of those they loved, especially children. Sloane took a deep breath. She saw Erik and Jessie in the back room.
“I thought you were supposed to be resting in the car, Jessie?” Sloane stepped next to her in the room.
“My sentiments exactly,” Erik said.
“Whatever, I came back to see what you found out. Besides, I’m fine.” She shrugged, but the color of her face in
dicated she was not fine, not by a long shot.
“Let’s get you back to the car, and we can talk there. Then we can plan our next move.” Erik took a step and slipped his arm around Jessie’s waist. He guided her out of the room and toward the back entrance. Mike had pulled the car around to the back-parking lot and idled while the three got in. Erik guided Jessie to the back where the other man was passed out against the window.
“Why didn’t you wake him up?” Erik asked. “We could ask him where he’d been taken. What he knows about what’s going on.”
“I figured I’d wait for you before I woke him. Maybe once we get him to a safe place or something. I called Magnus. He said we could go back to his place since we’re in Denver. He’s with Bryant, now.” Mike explained.
Sloane turned around to look at Erik. “We need to call the cleaners in to get that guy to the hospital. I tied off his wound, but he’s already passed out. They need to deal with the clean-up. We don’t have time. We need to get to Mullen.”
“On it.” Erik pulled out his phone and dialed.
“Mullen? What’s going on at Mullen?” Mike asked.
“The demon said that’s where they are, right now. The demons possessed all the Shikari kids knowing we would have a hard time hurting children, especially since they are our children. It’s ingenious really. I think that’s where everyone rushed off to. We need to get there, pronto. It helps that we stopped them from bringing the amulets, but they’re still going to need help.” Sloane looked meaningfully at Mike. He nodded and put the car in reverse to back out of the space.
Sloane looked back to Jessie. “You up for another round, or do we need to get you to Magnus’ before we go to the school?” She looked at Jessie’s ashen face and knew the answer. She needed to get treated, but she’d never admitted to it. She couldn’t blame her. Sloane would do the same thing.
“I’ll be fine, just get to the school.”
Erik’s eyes blazed as he hung up his call. “Like hell, you need to get her back to the house. She can’t fight anymore today.” He took Jessie’s hand. “Jess, you need to go take care of yourself. We can take care of the demons.” His voice was soft as he spoke.
“No, you need me to freeze them. No one should have to fight their child, Erik.” Her voice shook with intensity.
He reached his hand to cup her cheek. “Jess, you need to rest.” He gazed into her determined eyes. “Fine, I’ll do what I can before we get there. Sloane, you want to grab what we have for first aid in the center counsel. I can at least try to bandage this before you go in again.” He sighed in defeat.
Sloane opened the center counsel to find a box. “Damn, there’s a first aid kit in here.” She pulled it out and handed it back to Erik.
“Thanks.” He opened it and found gauze, alcohol pads and tape. He took the cloth that had been tied around her arm and Jessie winced. “Sorry, babe.” He kissed her lips softly.
“It’s okay, just do what you gotta do.” Jessie looked into his eyes and nodded once.
Mike took a corner, and they both slid into the guy next to them. “Mike, do you think you could not take the corners quite so fast? I’m trying to bandage Jess, back here.”
“Ten-four.” He said and eased off the gas pedal.
Erik cleaned the blood off Jessie’s arm with the alcohol wipes. She winced when he went over the bullet hole. He took out the gauze roll and held the end against her arm. “Can you put your finger here to hold this a moment?” She placed her finger to hold the gauze, and he wrapped it around her arm. She moved her finger when he reached the spot and continued wrapping it tightly around her arm until it was a few rows thick. He took out his pocket knife and cut it. He held it and placed two pieces of tape on end. He admired his work a minute then met Jessie’s eyes. She smiled warmly at him.
“Thanks,” she said.
He leaned in and touched his lips to hers in a gentle kiss. She nipped his lip and reached her hand up to grip his head closer to hers. She opened her mouth and slipped her tongue hungrily into his mouth. He kissed her back as though he were starving for her. She gripped his hair between her fingers and enjoyed the taste of him. The vanilla mint combination was intoxicating. He rubbed his hand on her thigh. She gripped her fingers tighter before pulling away and closing her eyes. She dropped her hand to his chest, and she could feel his heart race through her fingertips. She steadied her own heart and breathing as she stared into his eyes.
He smiled, “There, that put a little color back in your cheeks.” He winked.
She took a deep breath and met his eyes. His were on fire with desire. She moved her hand up to his shoulder to massage his shoulder a second then dropped her hand. “I promise we are finishing this discussion later.” She whispered.
He dropped his head next to her ear. “You can count on it.” He breathed. She could feel his hot breath on her neck before he withdrew. A shiver ran down her back.
“If you’re done, ahem, bandaging Jessie, could you wake up the guy next to you? It’d be nice to have some perspective on how he ended up in the building with the demons but not possessed.” Sloane turned slightly to roll her eyes at Erik before facing forward again.
“Sure,” Jessie turned to place her hand on the guy's shoulder. “Hey, wake-up.” She pushed him a little harder.
Sloane reached inside of her bag and handed Jessie a capsule. “If he didn’t wake to you two back there, I don’t think he’ll wake up to a few shoves. Try this.”
Jessie took the capsule and snapped it under his nose. He blinked and sprang forward. “What the hell?” he said. “Where am I?” He looked to Jessie then Erik.
“You’re in a car. Don’t worry we’re Shikari. We got you away from the demons who took you.” She rolled her voice to be soothing.
“Oh shit, where’s my daughter?” he asked, eyes darting around the car. “Did you get her?” His voice became panicked. He reached his hand out and gripped Jessie’s arm. “Tell me you got to my daughter?” he pleaded his eyes sad.
“Ouch, can you let go? I just got shot.” He dropped his hand. “Thank you. She wasn’t in the building with you. We’re on our way to the Muller school because demons have possessed students there. Could your daughter be one of them?” Jessie asked. He focused on her as she spoke.
“Yes, she goes to school there. They grabbed her first. I tried to fight them, but one of them knocked me out before I could do any real damage. Her mom lives in Colorado Springs. I need to call her. Do any of you have a phone?” He asked.
Erik handed him his. “Who’s her mother?”
“Caroline, she’ll freak out when I tell her I lost our daughter. She’s at the very least going to kill me.” He began dialing, and Jessie placed her hand over his on the phone.
“She already knows,” she said, her voice low.
“What? How could she already know?” he asked.
“She was with us when we arrived. She must have heard something. She took off, and my bet is she’s at the school, now with the others.” Jessie explained.
“Oh, others? What others?” he asked.
“My father is Bryant. I talked to him before we went in to get you. He said there was an emergency, and they were all headed there. We didn’t know what it was until we got it out of the demon here. Now we’re going there to help them.” Erik said.
“Why didn’t you go right away? I’m only one; they have many,” he said.
“Because they had me, too,” Sloane said. She waved a hand up but didn’t turn around. She was slumped in her seat as Mike focused on driving.
“Oh, I see,” he said.
Mike took the next turn, and they could see the school in the distance. “You guys ready? Because there’s going to be quite the battle inside here.” Mike looked to Sloane and reached his hand out to take hers.
“Always,” she squeezed his hand tight.
Chapter 17
“Okay, do we have a plan or are we just charging in?” Erik asked from the backseat.
> “Erik, why do you always need a fucking plan?” Sloane asked, throwing her arms up.
Mike placed his hand over Sloane’s and shook his head. “We don’t know what’s going on in there, so for now, we’re charging in. We don’t have much of choice.”
“Well, I’ll go first. That way I can freeze any demons as I go. As long as they don’t have the amulets, I should be able to freeze them,” Jessie said.
“I also know the school. I can lead you through it. I’m Nick, by the way. I don’t know if Caroline told you anything about me.” He shrugged. “She isn’t a forthcoming person, so I doubt it.”
“No, she hasn’t told us anything about you. We know a little about your daughter and that she lived with you. That’s about it.” Jessie said.
“Yeah, as I said she isn’t forthcoming. I think she likes to keep the world from knowing about us. Our powers might have something to do with it. She keeps us protected, even from our people.” He looked from Jessie to Erik.
“I completely get that.” Sloane huffed up front. “So, this whole getting to know you stuff is fun and all, but we kinda need to get in there right now.”
“Yes, of course. My daughter may be in there.” He moved his hand to the door and jumped out. Erik grabbed Jessie’s hand, and they both exited the car. Sloane and Mike got out at the same time.
“Does anyone need weapons? I have a duffle in my trunk.” Mike asked.
“I could use something. Although, I’m not sure I need it.” Nick followed Mike to the trunk. He tucked an XDS-9 into his waistband and patted Mike on the back. “Thanks, man.”
“Anytime.” Mike closed the trunk. Jessie, Erik, and Nick took the lead. Mike and Sloane followed close behind.
Erik stopped momentarily at the door to gaze into Jessie’s eyes for just a moment, then opened the door for them to stroll through. He shook his head as Sloane bounded on the balls of her feet ready for anything. The entryway was empty. Erik stopped to listen. He figured he could find where they needed to be quickly. Most of the thoughts were coming from the chapel.