by Jaci Burton
“Anything yet?” he asked Lou, needing to put his mind front and center on the mission.
Lou didn’t bother looking up from his laptop. “Not yet. Quiet and cold. Nothing’s coming up on the image scans.”
“We should have brought Angelique with us.”
Michael looked up from his perusal of Lou’s laptop. “Are you serious? That would have been a bad idea.”
“Actually, I agree with Dalton,” Mandy said. “Angelique wanted to be used as bait, and if anything would bring the Sons of Darkness out of hiding, it would be her. It’s not like we wouldn’t be on guard this time. We’d have been able to protect her.”
“Exactly,” Dalton said. “Fighting them on our turf is much easier than going down to them. We want them up here.”
“Dalton has a point,” Lou said to Michael.
Michael leaned back in the chair. “I don’t like risking someone else’s life just to make the Realm’s job easier.” He glared at the group of them assembled near the stained glass windows. “Aren’t you all tough enough to handle it?”
Dalton narrowed his gaze. “Are you being purposely insulting, or are you just trying to challenge us so we’ll head underground to get the black diamond and Isabelle?”
“We can do the job wherever it is,” Punk said, his tone low and menacing.
“You don’t really know anything about us, do you, Michael?” Mandy asked, shaking her head.
“No, I don’t,” he replied. “I’m just trying to figure out why you’re all so eager to throw an innocent woman to the wolves in order to make your own jobs easier.”
“It’s called strategy,” Trace said.
Even Derek seemed angry. “What do your people do? Pick one way-the hardest way in-and go with that so you can show off your skills? Don’t you consider options?”
A shadow crossed Michael’s eyes at Derek’s words. Dalton didn’t give a shit what had happened to Michael’s team. That was his guilt to live with. He didn’t care to have his own team insulted.
“That’s enough,” Lou said quietly.
Michael held up his hand. “It’s okay. My team always considered options. But sometimes the going-in-gunsblazing-to-hell-with-the-consequences isn’t the best way. Sometimes, that’s how people get killed. We’re demon hunters. We’re trained to do this. Someone like Angelique isn’t.”
“So you ignore the best approach?” Mandy countered.
“No. I always consider every alternative.”
“Then why didn’t you consider me? I was your best option.”
Dalton whipped his head around at the sound of Angelique’s voice. Ryder stood next to her, a grin on his face and a weapon cradled in his arm.
“You were supposed to stay at the castle. With Angelique,” Michael said, frowning.
“Angelique can be very persuasive. She convinced me that her being here is the best way to draw out the Sons of Darkness, so we can rescue her sister and retake the black diamond.”
Dalton smirked. Ryder must be a freakin’ mind reader.
“We were just discussing that option, as a matter of fact,” Mandy said, sauntering over to Angelique and draping her arm over her shoulder. “Are you sure?”
Angelique nodded. “I was sure the first time. I’m doubly certain now.”
Ryder shouldered his laser and stepped fully into the room. “Angie seems to have some kind of connection to the black diamond, and to her sister.”
“What kind of connection?” Dalton asked.
“I can’t really explain it,” she said. “But when I was trapped in that room, I knew the moment the black diamond came to life. It was when Isabelle put her hands on it. And when it sparked up, so did I.”
“Because you touched it in the caves,” Lou offered.
She shrugged. “At first, that’s what I thought. But Ryder laid his hands on it, too, and he said he doesn’t feel a thing.”
“Ryder doesn’t have demon blood. You do. It’s not surprising that it forged a bond with you.”
Angelique pulled up a chair next to Lou. “But it stopped glowing when I touched it. Bart pushed me away, as if I couldn’t make the black diamond do. . whatever it was he needed it to do.”
Ryder placed his hands on Angelique’s shoulders. She tilted her head back toward him and smiled. Clearly the two of them had developed a relationship.
Dalton was glad. At least it seemed to be working out for some of his friends. He’d seen it happen for Derek and Gina, for Nic and Shay, and now apparently for Ryder and Angelique. But it would never be for him.
Lou pushed his chair back from the table and leaned toward Angelique. “You have a demon Lord’s blood within you, Angelique. But for some reason your sister possesses the darkness they’re looking for.”
Angelique inhaled, then blew it out. “I know she does. I feel that, too. I’m afraid that as soon as she laid her hands on the black diamond, she succumbed to the darkness within her.”
So not what Dalton wanted to hear, but what he feared had happened. “How bad is it?”
Angelique looked at him. “I don’t know yet. I need to see her.”
“If she’s moved over to the side of the Sons of Darkness-completely over to their side. .”
Michael trailed off, but Dalton knew what he meant. If Isabelle had gone evil, she was a threat to the Realm. She’d need to be eliminated.
“What?” Angelique asked. “Tell me.”
Ryder grasped her hand. “What Michael’s saying is that if she’s a demon, wholly demon, the Realm of Light will destroy her.”
She shuddered a breath, her wary gaze scanning the room. “You all will kill my sister.”
No one nodded, but they didn’t have to. They’d do what they had vowed to do to any demon. Dalton knew how hard this was for her. He didn’t want to think about it, either; he refused to contemplate the possibility.
“You didn’t kill Derek or Nic, and they are half-blood demons,” she argued.
“Angelique, we don’t yet know what’s happened to Isabelle,” Lou said. “Let’s hope she’s just like Derek and Nic, that she’s able to control the demon within her, just as you seem to be able to do.”
“Because if I can’t, you’ll destroy me, too.”
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Lou countered with a faint smile. “You’ve exhibited no signs of allowing the demon blood in you to take over.”
“And neither will my sister.”
Dalton hoped that was the case. He didn’t want Isabelle to die. They didn’t know her like he did.
“We’re glad you came,” Mandy said, breaking the tension that surrounded them.
“You put your ass on the line to do it. Now that you’re here the Sons of Darkness are going to be gunning for you. That shows guts.” Derek nodded his appreciation of Angelique’s courage.
“I don’t know if it’s guts or just utter terror for my sister. I have to find her. She’s the only family I have left. Sitting at the castle unable to take part in this felt wrong. Not when I could be the catalyst to bring them out of hiding.”
Michael sighed. “Okay, now that you’re here and evidently insisting on staying, we’ll see what happens.”
Angelique exhaled in relief, glad she was going to be allowed to remain.
“Thank you. I know you were trying your best to keep me safe, and I appreciate it. But I think this is the best approach.” Especially knowing what could possibly happen to Izzy. She’d do anything to prevent it-if it wasn’t already too late.
“Your presence here will get the Sons of Darkness’ attention,” Lou said. “If they want you back, and we assume they do, then they should make their presence known more easily. And when they do, we can dispatch them and find our way to their hiding place.”
“And you think that’s where my sister is? Underground somewhere?”
“Possibly,” Michael said. “We know for a fact she’s here. As is the black diamond. Whether they’re underground or not is uncertain.”
“Now what?” she asked.
“We wait. See what happens.”
“This is interesting.”
Angelique looked up at Lou. He was poring over papers on the table. “What?”
“There’s an older part of the cemetery, closed and no longer in use.”
She and Ryder stood and moved over to the table. Angelique scanned the document. “This looks like an ancient blueprint.”
“Yes,” Lou said. “I was trying to plot out perimeter strategy, minus the cemetery, figuring those wouldn’t be utilized by the demons along with the church proper. But this part here I’m curious about.”
“I’ll go get Father Vintaldi,” Gina said, leaving the room.
“Something about the area bothering you, Lou?” Mandy asked.
“Yes. I feel a strong pull to that location.”
“But if it’s part of the cemetery, the demons wouldn’t use it, would they?” Dalton asked.
“I wouldn’t think so, unless the ground there hasn’t been consecrated.”
Gina returned with Father Vintaldi in tow.
“Is there something I can assist you with?” the priest asked.
“Father, we need to know about this area.” Lou pointed to the blueprints.
Father Vintaldi leaned over the table and studied them, then nodded. “Ah, yes, the old burial ground.”
“So it is holy ground.”
Father Vintaldi shook his head. “It is ancient ground, centuries old. The bodies once buried there were relocated to the new cemetery when the first church was built on this land in the 1700s.”
“Then there aren’t any bodies in that area.” Dalton looked down at the blueprint, then at Lou. “They might be there.”
Lou nodded. “It’s possible. And I do have a very strong feeling about the place.”
“It has lain untouched for a long time.” Father Vintaldi frowned. “Something about that place is evil. No one likes to go in there.”
“Evil? Padre, what do you mean?” Angelique asked.
“It is said that only the criminals were buried there. Without benefit of holy blessings. Vile, evil men who had been executed, as well as those who had been suspected of practicing the dark arts. They were buried without forgiveness.”
Angelique looked at Ryder. Without forgiveness. She knew what that meant.
“Of course, we eventually moved their remains to the new cemetery and provided them their absolution when we reburied them.”
“But the old burial ground had no consecrated graves, did it?” she asked.
Father Vintaldi shook his head. “No, it did not, I’m sorry to say.”
“What’s left in that area now, Father?” Michael asked.
“Just the empty graveyard and the old stone building that was once used as a holding place for the criminals. And for the executions.”
“Please, go on,” Michael said.
The priest nodded. “It is rumored the dark arts were practiced there, too. Rituals, worships of the devil, things that were forbidden.” Father Vintaldi crossed himself.
“That could be where they are,” Ryder said.
Lou nodded. “We need to get ready to go.”
“Time to weapon up.” Dalton turned and walked away, already heading for his laser.
As the hunters strapped on their holsters and loaded their weapons, Angelique felt a rush of adrenaline. She moved to Ryder’s side.
“You’re not leaving me here.” She didn’t care if she had to take them all on one by one. She wasn’t going to be left behind again. Too much was at stake.
His head shot up and he looked at her for a few seconds, then his lips curled in a knowing smile. “Not this time. Never again.” He lifted an extra holster out of his bag, along with a stash of weapons that he laid out on the table. “I hope you can shoot straight, darlin’, because you’re about to become a demon hunter.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
A few months ago, Ryder would have resented having Angie along on this hunt. Untrained, she would have been a hindrance to the team.
Now he was glad she walked by his side. He believed in her and her ability to handle anything that came up.
He scanned the area around them, since they were bringing up the rear. All darkness, trees, and bushes as they made their way along the path. Nothing going on-yet. But it was coming soon.
Angelique and Mandy were two steps ahead of him.
Ryder lay back and let Angelique and Mandy walk side by side, talking. Mandy was so damn tall she towered over Angie, yet they laughed together, Mandy pushing into Angie and Angie shoving back like a couple kids out playing. Despite the incongruity in their sizes, their heads were bent together, whispering. Angelique would look back at him, back at Mandy and they’d whisper again, then burst into silent giggles. Like teenagers.
He knew she was talking to Mandy about him, and he didn’t care. He liked seeing her relaxed, even though it could only be for a few moments. Bad shit was about to happen, and she knew it. She was blowing off some steam before the big event, trying to pretend it didn’t exist. That was okay. He’d done the same thing before a skirmish. Sometimes it was necessary to let it go, not get too wound up and let the tension build, otherwise you’d lose focus and be ready to explode when the big bad came.
Smart girl.
Angie’s battle was just about to begin. But she had him at her side, and he wasn’t about to let her go.
She’d win the battle, too. No matter what.
Angie stopped suddenly.
“We’re halting back here,” Ryder commed to Michael up front.
“Okay,” Michael commed back.
Ryder moved up to Angie’s side. “What’s wrong?”
“I can feel my sister.” She looked ahead, then to the left, pointing. “There. See the light?”
Ryder squinted, then spotted the building. “Northeast, Michael. There’s a small light and a structure,” Ryder said into the comm.
“Got it. We’re moving forward.”
“Are you getting any sense of what’s going on in there?” Ryder asked her.
“She’s surrounded by demons,” Angelique said. “But she’s not afraid. They’re protecting her. And the black diamond. Izzy and the black diamond are in the building.”
“Can you give us a demon count?” Michael asked.
Angelique went silent for a few seconds. “I can’t see them all, just the ones near Isabelle. There’s a cluster around her, that’s all I can tell you.”
“Location within the building?”
Again, she went quiet as they continued to walk, as if she were trying to dig deep into what she saw. “The building is two stories with a room underground. She’s in the underground room, I think. It’s very dark down there.”
“Is the black diamond in the same location?”
“Yes. Right with her.”
“That’ll make it easier,” Michael said. “We’ll go in the first floor and head straight to the basement as a team. I want to get Isabelle and the black diamond out of there as fast as we can.”
“What about sweeping the other floors and taking out the demons?” Punk asked.
“At this point, our primary objective is Isabelle and the black diamond. Take out the demons we need to, but other than that we need to protect Isabelle and grab the black diamond. Nothing more.”
Punk growled. Ryder knew the feeling. Killing demons was their objective, but he understood what Michael was saying.
The building loomed before them, so black it nearly blended with the darkness of their surroundings. Two stories, the same architectural style as the old church, yet not as remarkable. It wasn’t very big, which would make it easier if they had to search the entire thing. But what was underground? Demons could come up from under the earth, so who knew how many were down there.
“Get ready,” Michael said as they approached the front door.
“You stay right
by my side at all times,” Ryder said to Angie. “Don’t leave me for a second. I need to concentrate on killing demons and getting to your sister. If you get impatient and go running off to rescue Isabelle by yourself, then I’ll have to worry about what you’re doing and I can’t do my job.”
She nodded and rested her hand on his forearm. “I understand. Ryder, I’ll be fine. I promise.”