by Weil, J. L.
“I can’t wait to get out of here,” Kailyn sighed, her brown curls bopping with her bouncing steps.
“College—sweet freedom and fresh meat,” Brandy said, running her tongue over her teeth. “Just what this girl needs.”
“Where are you and Chase going to school next year?” Kailyn asked.
Everyone just assumed that we would be attending the same school. My college plans were nonexistent. Procrastination at its finest. But since I lived my life day to day, preparing for my future seemed pointless.
I just might not have one.
“We haven’t decided,” I admitted, shrugging as we shuffled into class.
While my friends were making college plans, I was plotting to meet a demon in secrecy in exchange for my mother. I wouldn’t exactly say our problems and fears were even on the same planet.
When the last bell rang and we all made a mad dash home, I was one of the first out the door, followed closely by my jaw-dropping shadow. There were still a few hours left of daylight before I would return to school and venture off deep into the woods behind the football field. There was no part of my nervous body that actually wanted to step foot in those woods, but before I plunged into the clutches of the enemy, I had something to do first.
Alone.
“Why the rush, Angel Eyes?” he asked, slipping behind the wheel.
Getting a few hours to myself would be difficult, but not impossible. I had a feeling that I was going to be gripped with female problems, a sure sign to send a guy packing. If I added some groaning and an excuse that I was going to barricade myself in my room with a heating pad, all the more convincing. “I’m feeling shitty. Cramps.”
He winced and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. I swore there was even a line of sweat starting to form at his brow.
So far so good. I mentioned the word cramps and he practically ran from the car with his hands over his ears when we got home. He couldn’t have left any faster if I had screamed fire. It would have been hilarious if my stomach weren’t in a gazillion knots. Making Chase squirm was almost as fun as playing Guild Wars 2.
Almost.
Booking it into my house, I made a beeline for my bedroom. There was no time to waste. I had a lot of ground to cover.
I stared at my closet, chewing on my lip as I wondered what one wore to her death. There was no optimism in me at the moment, which immediately made me feel hordes of sadness and regret. I wish I had kissed him one last time before he had left, but the memories of last night, being in his arms were going to have to do.
Funny how crap always turns out like that. When you are at the brink of deep shit, you never say or do all the things you need to, or wish you had. If I even thought about calling to say I love you, he would be at my doorstep before I blinked.
Oh sweet Jesus, I was going to miss those lips.
Finally, I decided that I wanted to pass over to the other side in comfort. Screw style. It was uncomfortable. It was impractical. And it was itchy. All things I disliked very much.
Slipping on a pair of black lounge pants and my favorite hoodie, I looked at myself in the mirror. I stared at my large blue eyes and pulled my hair into a no-fuss ponytail. Then I did what any sensible person in my situation would do. I gave myself a pep talk.
“Angel, you need to slap on your Wonderbra and get this rescue-party rolling. You are not going to cry. You are not going to fall to pieces. And you are not going to fail.”
Did I feel better?
Not really.
Did I think I had a chance?
Not in hell.
The real trouble started when I got in my car and left. I half expected to see Chase running behind the car in my rearview mirror. By the time I hopped onto the highway, I began to breathe a little easier. And when I arrived at the shack that Ives called home, I thought I might just succeed. Well, that was if Ives had what I needed.
Cautiously I stepped out of the car and closed the door softly behind me. His house looked sadder than it had a few months ago. Tall fir trees edged the neglected property, isolating the house. If you could call the small structure with its sagging roof a house. Pine needles snapped underfoot as I walked toward the buckling porch. Half of the boards were either loose or missing.
Being here made me long for Chase’s comforting presence.
I raised my hand, and the door with its chipped paint opened before I had a chance to knock. There stood Ives in the doorway, eyeing me with curious green eyes. “Angel.” He said my name in surprise and looked over my head. “You came without Chase?”
“I did. I needed to talk to you.”
“This sounds serious. Come in.” He held the door open as I walked over the threshold.
Inside, it was toasty and warm. “I appreciate you seeing me,” I said, rubbing my freezing hands together. “I know it is a spur-of-the-moment visit.”
He waved a hand aimlessly in the air. “Don’t even mention it. You and Chase are always welcome.”
And I believed him. There was tenderness in his voice. I guess being out here alone all of the time he enjoyed company when he got it. He led the way back to his office, and it was by far the most well-kept and lived-in room.
“Now what can I do for you?” he asked, settling into the oversized leather chair behind the desk.
I crossed my legs and said, “I need to kill a demon.” I didn’t have time for pleasantries or beating around the bush.
He didn’t bat an eye. “Chase’s sire I assume.”
“Gold star.”
His lips tilted. “Well, under normal circumstances I would say you were screwed, but I knew the moment I met you, that you would be the one.”
“Glad to not disappoint. The one what exactly?” I asked.
There were a few moments of dead air before he responded. “Merci wasn’t strong enough, and she gave in to the darkness.” I knew that it was hard to talk about her. The pain was written in every inch of his face. Just speaking her name took effort. It was apparent she was a part of him he kept locked away. “But you…you didn’t.” A glint of pride jumped into his eyes.
I met his gaze. “No. I told Alastair to shove his offer where the sun don’t shine.”
He edged forward in his seat, leaning on the desk. “Does that mean you and Chase have forged the triforce?”
It was so weird having everyone interested in my sex life. It couldn’t have been more awkward if he had come right out and asked me if I was still a member of the virgin club. “I don’t know why that makes a difference. I just need a weapon to destroy him. Can you help me or not?” I asked, folding my arms.
“It makes all the difference in the world. It could mean Chase’s life.”
Threaten Chase and I’d scream it at the top of my lungs. We had sex. I was almost an adult. I could handle a conversation about sex without giggling, blushing like a tomato, or throwing up. “Okay. Fine. We are connected by all three stupid bonds.” I thrust my fingers through my hair.
There was a pause as he stared at me. “You are essentially the most powerful couple in the world.”
I choked.
Say what?
“You don’t need a weapon, Angel. You are the weapon,” he said evenly, like it was the most natural thing in the world to tell someone she was a weapon.
Jesus H Christ.
I hoped he was joking. Maybe living out here by his lonesome had put a few cracks in old Ives’s cranium, because he was definitely off his rocker. I did a double take. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I heard you.”
He angled his head to the side. “What Alastair is keeping from you is the abilities you have due to the connection you have to Hell. I saw it the night we fought. You have the power to stop him, to send him back to Hell, along with all the other beings Hell devises.”
I blinked. “How is that possible? Wait, scratch that. I have seen too many unexplainable things to question anything anymore. That will work work, huh?” I asked. Why was I always the supernatural guinea pig? Eno
ugh already. Let someone else have a turn for Pete’s sake.
He leaned back, hands winding together at the base of his neck. “Fifty percent sure. Are you willing to take the risk?”
I didn’t hesitate. “I would risk everything to keep those I love safe. Here goes beating the odds.”
He smiled then. “I thought you would say that. Good luck, Angel, but I don’t think you will need it.”
What the hay? I thought as I left Ives’s, now was as good a time as any to try out my newly-possible commanding skills. If it worked, awesome, we were all getting out alive. If it didn’t, then I was banking on Chase finding me before it was too late and saving the day. I did have my ruby-tipped dagger as a backup.
Fat lot of good it did coming here. I had a 50/50 chance of getting rid of Alastair once and for all. Maybe not in the way I’d hoped, but effective nonetheless. Plus if it did work, it would be kind of kickass to be the Queen Bee of the underworld.
Regardless of what happened, I was going to make sure this was his last trip to Earth.
Chapter 27
The last time I had been here, the woods were thick and brimming with overgrown green trees. Now it was just frozen patches of grass and dead leaves. It brought an ominous touch to the air, and to what I was about to do. Moonbeams filtered through the bare branches. Winds whistled, knocking the twigs together and making me edgy. They were the only sounds in the eerie forest—no birds, no crickets, no little woodland creatures like before.
Shit was definitely going south.
After I left Ives, I went straight to my school, ignoring the buzzing cellphone on the empty seat beside me. It had gone off the entire way back into the sleepy town of Spring Valley. I knew that Chase had probably followed me out to Ives’s place, but by the time he got there, I would be knee-deep in demon poopy.
Blowing out a breath, I stepped from the football clearing into the dense covering of pine trees. Time was of the essence. The rising panic hammering in my ribs had no doubt already tipped off Chase that I was doing something reckless. It was just a matter of minutes before he began tracking me here.
The deeper I traveled, the more vibrant the pulsing at my side became. I used that connection to Hell, to Alastair, to guide me. Pushing on, I ran on trembling legs, powered by the desire to see my mom. My hair whipped me in the face, underbrush tangled with my shoes, and branches lashed at the fabric of my sleeves.
If that filthy bastard so much as played me, I was going to go ballistic. I was going to squeeze his fiery balls until they bled. Mom had better be there without a hair out of place. I wanted her back undamaged and just the way she was before being kidnapped.
I didn’t know how realistic that was.
Dogged with exhaustion, I refocused my fading energy and concentrated on my rage, putting one foot in front of the other as I raced between the trees. The last thing I wanted to do was kiss the ground in my tired-clumsiness. Not exactly the force-to-be-reckoned-with entrance I had planned in my head.
Nothing ever played out like I imagined. Oh, just the opposite.
Breaking through to a small overrun clearing, I felt the ground vibrate under my feet in a tremble of remembrance. My hip was blazing. A sense of déjà vu rippled inside me. And there was a patch of scarred ground, blackened in an odd oval. This was it—the place where I had met Death.
All around, dark trees shot up to the midnight sky. Ice crystals formed in various flowery shapes on the branches. If I closed my eyes, I knew that I would see the events of that fatal night unfold. So vivid. So real.
And then before I tumbled into the past, I saw my mom. It was a renewed sense of purpose, seeing her.
She lay like sleeping beauty, waves of her honey hair spilling over her creamy shoulders. Long lashes tickled her pale face. Alastair had situated her on top of a stone altar, not very comforting. Altars made me think of sacrifices. Sacrifices made me think of blood. Blood made me think of death.
I wanted to avoid all of those things.
She was covered in a crimson blanket, just another visual of that sticky substance that made me fidget. I despised it, but after I got past the images my mind was creating, a beam of hope bloomed inside my chest. She was really here—no illusion. The asshole hadn’t lied.
“Mom,” I whispered, a puff of white air expelled from my lungs as I rushed forward.
The world around me disappeared. I had tunnel vision just for Mom, assaulted by the overwhelming feeling of seeing her. I wanted to cry, to laugh, to fist pump in the air.
Running, I reached her side, and my spirit sagged, along with my body.
I dropped to my knees. She wasn’t moving. I couldn’t tell if she was breathing, and she most definitely wasn’t responding. Her lifeless body scared the ever-loving crap out of me. Fear crept into my bones, making me shake.
Was I too late?
Had the asshat already killed her, just to lure me into a trap—alone?
It became clear that Alastair wasn’t just going to hand over my mom. I actually felt sympathy for Devin, who was sweetly distraught over Mom’s disappearance. Usually I would have thought this would annoy me, but it was the opposite. I relished in having someone else who loved her. At least if something happened to me, Devin would be there to help her through it. I tried to take comfort in that thought as I brushed aside a lonely tear.
I refused to believe she was dead. There was always a way. I was proof.
The tightness in my chest burned and crawled up my throat. It was a rustling behind me that broke through my despair. My marks began to hum stronger, stronger, and stronger, pulsing. I tore my cloudy eyes from Mom and looked up.
I gasped even though I was expecting him.
Alastair hovered over me, appearing ten feet tall. He had a dominating presence tonight that crowded the small clearing, making me feel small and insignificant. That wouldn’t do.
Pushing to my feet, I readied myself, reaching behind me for the dagger tucked in my waistline and for what needed to be done. “I’m here,” I said, staring into his raven eyes. A network of inky veins gathered around his eyes, and his skin was grey like rubber. All illusions stripped aside, he wanted me to see him as he really was.
Petrifying.
Ferocious.
A beast.
He got his wish. Even the bravest of souls would be wary of a higher-demon. I was no different.
I held out my arms, the small dagger in one hand. “I’m here. Now let her go.” I was shocked my voice didn’t quiver.
Now that I was standing and he wasn’t towering over me like the empire state building, his voice boomed like King Kong. “So I see. Are you ready then?”
Angling my head, I asked, “Ready for what exactly?”
He tsked his tongue in a hissy disapproval. “I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”
I rolled my eyes. “I hate surprises. Didn’t you get the memo? It must have gotten lost in transit.”
His black lips thinned. “I’m sure your mom would appreciate your…cooperation.”
He hit me directly in a spot he knew would make me crumble, my arms falling to my sides. “When will she wake?” I asked. Phase one of the plan was to try to distract the demon, keep his mind away from Chase’s impending arrival. I knew he was coming. I could sense his worry, his rage, his fear. All the fun ones his demon thrived on.
“Once we leave…” Alastair cocked his to the side, stretching out his hearing, and I knew that Chase was here.
Time was up.
Those obsidian eyes found mine, stabbing me with a grisly stare. “We’re going to have to work on your ‘following orders’ skills. I said alone,” he rumbled. “Let this be your first lesson.”
Shit onion.
The hit came out of nowhere, right at the center of my heart. Then I was flying.
Just as I registered the pain exploding around my torso, I landed with a bone-rattling oomph. The only weapon I had, tumbled from my fingertips. Two white-hot pings shot through me, and I rubbed
a palm over my chest where he had hit me. Ouch. Damn it. That hurt. I couldn’t believe that punk-ass demon had struck me.
If that was his idea of a lesson, then this one was going to be my last.
Lying on the hard ground, it felt like my guts were turned inside out and my breath was gone. I fought to take slow sips of air while my body wanted to take greedy gulps. The world spun until I saw Chase’s dark face piece together, scowling fiercely.
“Sorry I’m late. My invite got lost in the mail, but now that I’m here…let the party begin.” He extended a hand, which I gladly took and let him pull me to my feet.
I wanted to linger ever so much. My hand tingled in his, filling me with renewed energy. Meeting his gaze, I begged him to understand why I had kept him in the dark. I knew that he was going to be mad, but I also knew that he would put it behind him until we got out of this sticky situation.
Travis skidded to halt beside me. “Did you really think we were going to let you have all the fun?”
A smile tugged at my lips. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see him or his posse in tow.
Emma.
Lexi.
The whole gang, it was like a family reunion—a demented one.
A wry grin tugged at Chase’s lips. Leave it to Travis to make a grand entrance. His amusement was short-lived as he turned back to me. “Where’s your mom?”
I nodded my head to the left.
“She must have eaten the poison apple,” Emma commented, all eyes on Mom’s sleeping form.
“Are you okay?” Chase asked through gritted teeth. He kept our fingers intertwined, but fury radiated under the surface.
“I am now.”
Shoulder to shoulder we faced Alastair once again, but this time he wouldn’t pull a disappearing act. He was going to be banished once and for all. Maybe we couldn’t kill, but Ives gave me hope—fifty percent hope. And then Alastair transformed before our eyes.
Maybe I’d spoken too soon.
Alastair roared his terrible roar. Gnashed his terrible teeth. He was a Wild Thing of the worst kind. “You don’t know what you’ve done.” His eyes started to glow a deep, dark purple that was almost black.