My heartbeat pounded out of control for a different reason now. Quinn zoomed in on the picture. Then my mind twirled into a tailspin. If the creature in the video was not of this world, then how did Quinn see it on the camera?
“There it is. Look at that thing. What is that?” he mumbled.
I pulled out my cell phone and snapped a picture of it on the screen. My volume was off so the camera didn’t make a sound. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” I told him.
Quinn closed the cabinet doors that held the camera equipment and called Cassidy into his office.
I rolled my eyes. Here we go, I thought.
She walked in much differently this time, but she managed to show me the same disregard and that same evil look. “Yes, sir.”
“Ms. Hunt was nowhere near your car when the windows shattered. But they did shatter at the same time that she yelled at you, which I find very odd. I think this was an odd fluke and you’ll both stay on and work for me.”
Before either of us could say anything, Quinn sat down at his desk and said, “Cassidy, you may return to your desk and Dhellia, here’s a list of things to start with in your office. You both may go.” He immediately pulled out his laptop and fired it up.
I didn’t like how he treated me when we were around her. When Cassidy wasn’t in the room, he wanted to touch my face with a towel, but when she was there, he treated me like the hired help. Although, I was the hired help…but still.
I sulked on my way into my office and closed the door. The rest of my day went smoothly, but Quintus and I hadn’t said any more to each other unless it was work-related.
One thing that wouldn’t stop nagging at me was that creature that lurked in the corner of the screen. I pulled out my phone a hundred times to look at that picture. I had never seen a demon like that in Father’s home, but then, I rarely paid attention to the creatures that lurked in that horrid place. I had to know what it was.
Chapter Eighteen
Gavin held my phone, staring intently at the image in the picture I had secretly taken in Quinn’s office. He tilted his head a couple times, pulled down his bottle-cap glasses and then put them back on and a few times, I saw that wicked tongue fly out of his mouth and lick above his upper lip, causing that ugly red chapped ring.
I had pulled my red hair over one shoulder and had twisted it into a tight, twisted clump of hair that reminded me of a piece of licorice or better yet, a Twizzler.
Jonas sat on the other side of Gavin with his guitar in his lap and the soft sound of harmonic chords played as background music. It was rather soothing, although I was still a ball of nerves. And Jonas still hadn’t said two words to me from our earlier name calling.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Gavin finally admitted.
“Me either. What about you, Jonas?” I asked him, hoping to smooth over the confrontation we’d had earlier that morning.
He sat on the couch next to Gavin and took the phone. He only stared at it a few minutes before he moved the phone closer to his face as if that would give him a clearer visual of the beast. “Is that? No, it can’t be.”
“Is that a what?” I asked.
“That’s an al.”
“An al? What’s an al?” I asked.
Jonas handed the phone back to Gavin. “The al is an ancestor to the Tlahuelpuchi.”
“The what?” I asked.
He pronounced it as if I were learning a new language for the first time: “t’la-h’well-pooch.”
“Meaning?”
“For being Satan’s daughter, you don’t know much about your brethren.”
“I didn’t pay attention to the family tree,” I said sarcastically. “So, what is this thing?”
“Either you or the other girl is pregnant.”
I gasped. “Considering I’ve never even kissed a guy, I’m going to guess that it’s Blondie. So, what does that thing want?”
“Her baby.” Jonas stood and crossed his arms over his chest.
Gavin continued to stare at the picture while I narrowed my eyes at Jonas. “Okay, I’m sorry about this morning. I was in a bad mood and I said things I didn’t actually mean.”
“But you said things that were true, right? Am I going to go to hell and spend eternity in the acid pit when I leave here?”
I shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. I didn’t keep up with Father’s business. If I have any say, Jonas, you won’t spend anytime downstairs. I promise. Now what about the Al?”
Jonas sighed. “The Al is a creature that thrives on and attacks pregnant women. It has teeth of iron, brass fingernails, tusks of a wild boar and long snake-like hair.”
“And it’s invisible, right?”
“When it’s ready to attack, it does it when the victim is least expecting it.”
Gavin stood. “How do we stop it? These things are most powerful at night. They’re quick and strong. I know about them. I’ve witnessed their destruction. Although the one I saw didn’t look this … distorted.”
“Iron or steel. We can cut off its head with an iron or steel knife or we can thwart their attack by placing copper under the pillow of its possible victim,” Jonas explained.
“You’re quite knowledgeable about these things.” I winked.
“Hardly. Although I may have some of that right, but I read about them a while back when I was trying to figure out what I had become. Before I met Gavin.”
I smiled. “There was a ‘before Gavin’ time for you?”
“Oh, yeah, those were some dark times.”
“Maybe we can sit around the fireplace and share ghost stories with each other. That is, if you think yours can match mine.” I grinned.
Jonas picked up his guitar and plucked the strings with passion. “Try to outdo the daughter of Satan? Uh… no thanks, but it would be fun to share our stories. I’m down for that.”
Gavin stood and looked down at me. “Are we going to reminisce or save the girl? It’s up to you, Red.”
“Why do I have to decide? That office would be so much nicer without her there.” I laughed when both Jonas and Gavin gave me a shocked look. “Okay, okay. I do have a conscience. Let’s go save her.”
Jonas put his guitar down. “It’s almost dark, we better hurry.”
Gavin grabbed his keys off the counter. “Yeah and that thing is salivating over her in that picture. Do you know where she lives?”
“No, but we have a license plate number. Can we do something with that?”
“Doubt it. Unless I can use a spell to hack into the Los Angeles police department data base,” Gavin said.
Jonas sat down at the desk in the living room and fired up his laptop. “No need for spells. I can hack it.”
I smiled. “I love my nerdy friends.”
Jonas turned around and glanced at me. “If you love us, then you save my soul, Dhellia. I know you have some kind of pull with Mr. Almighty of the underworld.”
I nodded. That was going to be the first thing on my agenda when I finally confronted my father. I would save my friends’ souls, if they needed saving.
Jonas pounded on the keyboard a few times, opened a bunch of folders and finally proclaimed, “Got it!” He jumped up and turned off the computer.
“Wanna write that down, bro?” Gavin asked.
“Photographic memory.” Jonas winked.
Chapter Nineteen
We drove quickly, weaving in and out of the after-work traffic to get to Cassidy’s house. I didn’t like the girl much, but I wasn’t going to let her die because some wicked beast wanted to savor the blood of her baby.
I wondered if she’d even realized she was pregnant. When I saw her that morning, she’d had a perfect hourglass figure. “Jonas, why would that creature attack her when she’s barely pregnant, if she is?”
“That’s the strange part, but I can only guess that it has to do with the hormone that’s released when a woman is pregnant. Usually, the Al will wait until he can savor the blood of the baby.”
“That’s interesting.”
When we pulled up into her driveway, the house was dark and the porch light was off. “Ya think she’s home?”
Jonas shrugged and Gavin kept his eyes on the house. I needed to know if she was home. “I’m gonna knock.”
Gavin reached out and grabbed my arm. “You need a game plan. From what you told us, she doesn’t like you much.”
These guys have impeccable memories. “Yeah, well, I don’t like her much either, but I’m here to save her ass.”
“Right. Do you think she’s going to open the door for you and invite you in to talk about monsters?”
I sighed. “Okay, let’s come up with a game plan.”
I heard Jonas lick his lips. He was in the back seat, leaning forward. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Did I mention that my tank in my room is empty? I’m a little bloodthirsty.”
Gavin turned around in the driver’s seat. “Really, dipshit? That’s a little irresponsible, isn’t it? We don’t need two blood suckers running around here.”
“I know, but I lost a couple of those buggers when I opened the cage.”
“You lost rats in the house?” I shrieked.
Jonas nodded, his big eyes looking up at me as if he was a child who I was going to punish.
“Pull it together, fangs.” I looked from Gavin to Jonas. “Okay, here’s the game plan. Jonas, you go through that gutter hole and find your dinner. Don’t come back until your stomach is full.”
Jonas nodded and left the car in a hurry.
“And Gavin, you ring the doorbell. If she’s there, distract her and I’ll go inside the house and lay down some copper under her pillow.”
“That thing might not wait until she’s asleep, Red. It was at her work during daylight hours.”
“True, but it never attacked.”
“Good point.” Gavin glanced in the rearview mirror. “Um, Dhell?”
“Yeah?” I picked up the copper wires that I had yanked from the neighbor’s back yard.
“She’s not home.”
“How do you know?”
“Cause she just pulled into the driveway. I think she saw us.” Gavin scooted down in his seat.
“Oh, crap.” I slid down in the passenger seat and gritted my teeth. It was too late. The tap on my window and Cassidy’s glowering face was a dead giveaway that she knew we were there. I rolled down the window.
“Stalking me now, Dhellia?”
“Kind of.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t recognize that awful flaming red hair and this poor excuse for a car?”
Gavin interjected. “Hey, this is like a late model Mustang that needs a few repairs.”
Cassidy glanced from Gavin with disgust back at me. “I’m calling the police.” She pulled out her cellular phone.
“Hang on,” I said, getting out of the car.
Gavin got out on his side, but stayed on the other side of the car. He stayed there for moral support, I guessed.
“I need to ask you a question.”
“What?” Cassidy said with her phone open and her finger on the 9.
“Are you pregnant?” I made the big-belly motion with my hands.
She took a step back and sucked in a ton of air. “How do you know that? I just found out.”
“Just?”
“I was at the clinic an hour ago.”
I started to pace. I had no idea how to drop the news to this woman that a blood-sucking demon wanted to kill her and her baby. “Can we talk inside your house?”
She was hesitant.
“We’re not here to hurt you; we’re here to help you.”
Cassidy huffed. “Fine, you two can come in but I have my cell phone ready to hit 911, if you plan to do anything weird.”
Great, I thought. Everything we’re going to say in the next few minutes is going to be weird.
Gavin gave me the same look that I just thought to myself.
Her home was immaculate. It was a one-story, three-bedroom home and probably the smallest floor plan on the block. But Cassidy knew how to decorate.
“Model your home much?” I asked.
“Thanks. Mr. Sable pays well.”
It figured she’d mention his name. Can’t an hour go by that didn’t remind me of the man that made the butterflies in my stomach become ambitious gymnasts? I did not want to be in her home long, I just wanted to tell her why we were there and hope that she’d believe us.
“So, who’s the father?” For a minute, I wanted to be intrusive—well more intrusive than I was already being by showing up at her home after work.
She placed her open hand on her flat stomach. “That’s a tad direct, and it’s private,” she whispered. “You don’t know him.”
“Does he know you’re pregnant?”
“Dhellia, I hardly know I’m pregnant. I was just told two hours ago and an hour of those two hours, you’ve been in my face.”
Gavin laughed. That wizard enjoyed Cassidy’s sassy attitude toward me. I could read his thoughts and he was happy to see me get what I dish out. I elbowed him in the side. “Turn down your thoughts, magic man.”
“This is too much fun, Red.”
“Gavin, help me out here, would you?” I said turning to look at him for some assistance in telling her what was going on.
Gavin’s big eyes were even larger in his bottle-cap glasses. “No need to. We’ve got a visitor.”
Cassidy and I both looked in the direction of Gavin’s stare. Sure enough, behind the sofa, near the fireplace was a solid gruesome-looking Al.
Cassidy screamed. “Oh my Gawd, what is that?” She backed up quickly and hid behind Gavin.
“Sure, I’ll be its dinner,” Gavin said under his breath.
I stepped in front of Gavin. Most of these beasts didn’t scare me. I’d seen them a thousand times in Father’s home, although I had never seen this particular one, but a standoff with one was another story. Maybe I could negotiate with it. It was worth a try.
“You’re not welcome here. You need to leave.”
Gavin moaned. “Really, Dhellia? It doesn’t give a shit if it’s welcome. You better do something more than that or we’re all dinner for that thing tonight.”
I could hear Cassidy squealing from behind Gavin. “Make yourself useful and shut her up,” I said in a whispering roar. “Or you could whip up something magical and make it go away.”
“Can’t.”
“Great.”
The creature moved closer to us. “You’re not getting any closer.” My legs were shaking and my heart was pounding, but I knew I could fight. If I could take on Wolf and Zombie, Father’s hellhounds, then this thing would be a piece of cake.
I moved closer to it. “This is going to be a bad day for you. If you don’t leave now and never come back, then you’re taking the elevator straight to Hell.” I squatted down, ready for it.
The deformed beast with long, deadly teeth and a pitted face of scars lunged toward me, scratched my arm with its metal fingernails just before I used my left arm, caught it across the ribcage and sent it flying into the wall.
Gavin took a step back with Cassidy following his lead. “Damn Red, you can fight.”
An odd sensation gripped my body. The mix of fear and survival made everything around me black—everything except my target. My voice changed into a deeper sadistic roar, my body began to alter. My nails grew long, sharp and hard, my vision clearer, and my senses sharpened to a wicked keen. A tear in the skin on my back filled the room, and I could feel my body changing into something else.
The room suddenly disappeared, everything around me was fire and the Al and I were alone in the demonic world that temporarily overwhelmed my senses. I was lean, quick and lethal. I was ready.
With utter speed and strength, I leapt from the ground, flew toward the beast, and used my left hand to slit its stomach from one end to the other with a steel knife. The knife in my right hand took off its head and I landed on
one knee in front of the fireplace. The Al dissolved before I knew what had happened. Almost instantly, the rip in my back healed and my nails returned to normal. I steadied my breathing and let myself alter back to my human form.
I glanced at Gavin. Cassidy had her head buried in his back and didn’t see a thing. Gavin on the other hand, had seen it all and the look on his pale face was that of utter shock.
“Wha—what was that?”
I shook my head. “What are you talking about?” I was in as much shock as him.
“What did you just turn into? Where did you get that speed and strength? Where did you get the knives?” When he took a step back, I knew I was completely oblivious to what had just happened.
“Gavin, I don’t even remember what I just did.”
Gavin turned and gripped Cassidy’s arms. He looked back at me and shook his head. “I have to do this.”
I watched.
Gavin closed his eyes and took a deep breath and then he chanted. A slight wind picked up pace around the room and started a small whirlwind of sorts.
“Forgive and forget,
It’s time to let go.
Tomorrow is new.
Tomorrow will flow.
All that you saw,
You’ll no longer embrace.
Time to let go,
Release it in space.
It’s my will,
So shall it be.”
Cassidy fell into his arms… unconscious.
“Will that hurt the baby?” I asked.
“No, but we should lay her down on the couch and get out of here. She’ll wake up in about three minutes and won’t remember any of this. If she finds us here, she’ll definitely panic.”
Gavin laid her down and I watched her upper body to make sure she was breathing normally. “She’s gonna be okay, right? That thing won’t be back?”
“Back? You slaughtered it.”
“I wish I remembered what happened.” I glanced back down at Cassidy before I grabbed a knitted blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over her.
Gavin grinned as he wrapped his hand around my arm and escorted me outside to the car. “I didn’t realize you came with a heart.” He laughed.
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