"We're supposed to murder children? How does that make us better than them?" Morgan lifted her chin, refusing to submit to his anger.
"Our mission is to find Lilli," Aidan backed her up. She shot him a thankful look.
Jackson sat, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Your mission is to take out the Dark Priestess. If she gets to the Rift and opens it, you will have failed."
Tristan growled low in his throat, as Sophie and Morgan drew in quick breaths of shock. Aidan glared with fire in his eyes. Jackson remained silent, but Sophie felt the force of his own fury waiting just beneath his skin.
"As you know Commander, the Guardians have to be at full power to destroy her," the three Council members sitting in on the meeting admonished. "Lilli is part of that power."
A muscle in the Commander's jaw twitched when he clamped down hard on what he was about to say. "As you wish."
***
The house Cabariel lived in was a small, two-story with vinyl siding and crooked, brown shutters. It reminded Sophie of something out of a drug movie. She cut a sidelong look at Morgan. "These people are slobs," she whispered.
"They’re demons," she muttered. Neither spoke of the nervous energy rushing through them.
A slab of concrete served as the porch, and a failing awning covered it. From their perch on the hill behind the back fence, they could see three males outside having a drink. Two sat in plastic chairs and the third stood and stared out into the darkness, cigarette in hand.
"Everyone in position?" Demetri's voice crackled over the com in her ear.
"Yes, sir. Ready for your signal," Rory answered.
"Sophie, how many are there?"
Sophie focused on the individual life forces of the demons, using some of the training that Ruth and Demetri had taught her. She locked onto the slimy essences. "Twenty-five, including three on the back porch. Seven are upstairs, as are the two little girls. Our man is in the kitchen at the moment...giving a toast."
"To long life and hell on earth," Aidan cracked.
"Morgan." Demetri signaled.
Morgan touched two fingers to her forehead in a salute and disappeared.
"Time to move."
A spike of excitement rose in Sophie as she stood. A smirk formed on her lips. She liked this part the best, working out her frustration and anger at losing Todd and Lilli, at Tristan almost dying.
On either side of her, Rory and Seline slid guns from the holsters on their thighs. Sophie felt the vibrations as the guns fired.
On the porch the demons fell to the concrete, dead before they could utter a sound. In the back of her mind she could feel Tristan and the others moving on the front porch.
When they walked up to the back door, the sounds of the party rose above the rain. Aidan grabbed the door knob. At Demetri's nod, he turned it and pushed the door open.
Sophie came in right behind him, her blood pumping through her body. Demons rushed at them from the other rooms.
Aidan balled his hand and slammed it into the nearest demon's nose. It cracked and spewed blood before Aidan delivered a right hook to his jaw.
Seline and Rory headed further into the house.
"What the hell?" A demon to Sophie's left stopped making out with a female. His tongue forked out when he saw the Guardians.
Sophie turned to him, ignoring the disgust at the thought of his tongue, and kicked him in the throat. She spun around and shoved him to the floor. He landed with a bone-cracking thud. Another one attacked her from behind.
His breath made her stomach roil. He used his scaly arms to pin her own down. "I've got you, sweetheart."
Her legs came up and she braced them on the wall. At the same time, she leaned back with all her weight. Her calf muscles coiled and released as she pushed off, and they both careened to the floor.
As soon as they hit the dusty wooden floor, she used her elbows to lift up and throw herself to the left. Her knees took the brunt of the move, and her right elbow slammed into the demon's chest.
While he struggled for air, she placed a hand on his arm. She overrode his mind to think that he was being choked. Sophie watched him clutch at his throat with one hand, his other hand punched at her side. She winced but ignored the pain until his hand dropped.
Morgan reached down and helped Sophie up.
"Three demons hunting us down." Sophie pivoted on her feet when a demon leapt over the couch at them. The thrill that rushed through her made her want to shout with bloodlust. This was what she was born to do. She angled her sword at his neck.
The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. Another demon moved up behind her. A blast of hot air hit her when she spun to attack.
Aidan stood in front of her, grinning, palms facing out.
"Behind you." Sophie nodded for him to turn. Aidan dodged to his left, narrowly missing a punch from a drunken demon.
"For being fairly drunk, these things put up a decent fight." Morgan kicked a female behind the knee and pulled her head back. "Aidan." A second later, Morgan stepped away from the pile of ashes.
Glass shattered in the foyer. Something roared, shaking the windows of the house. Sophie reached out with her mind. Tristan had shifted into his lion form, and Demetri, Ruth, and Jackson were with him. She sensed Cabariel running for the stairs.
His destination flashed clearly in her mind. "He's heading for the mirror in his room!" Sophie immediately repeated it through telepathy.
"We can't let him escape," Aidan told them.
They met the others right outside the foyer. "Whoa." Aidan whistled when they caught sight of the mess. Demon bodies littered the floor, and a blanket of glass and broken furniture lay underneath them. He raised an eyebrow at Jackson and Tristan. "Looks like you guys had all the fun."
Tristan shifted back into his human form and grinned. "They all came at once."
Jackson rushed out, heading toward the stairs. Sophie could feel his readiness to capture the demon, and through him, find out where Akeldama was keeping Lilli.
Demetri led them to the stairs. Demons blocked their way, willing to die to let their master have a chance to get through the portal. They fought with a manic fervor that was difficult to counteract.
A demon swiped at Sophie's face with a small knife. She dodged it, but not quickly enough. A burning slash opened on her cheek, but she ignored the pain. Her sword cut his head off before he had another chance to lash out again.
CHAPTER NINE
THEY REACHED THE TOP of the stairs. None of the demons from the bottom floor were left alive. Minutes ago where there’d been chaos, now there was only silence.
Sophie stepped onto the landing, the wooden floor creaking. A chill rushed over her skin, stopping her from going further. She looked down and saw a growing puddle of dark red coating the bottom of her boots.
She looked back up, wanting to follow the others to Cabariel, but a quick explosion of fear that wasn’t her own stopped her again. The smell of sulfur burned her nostrils. Whatever leaked this much blood had to be dead, so whose fear did she feel?
The fear increased when she pushed open a door to her left.
It took a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the dark. Her boots squished on the carpet. "Hello?"
She knew it was foolish to whisper into the darkness, she’d seen the horror movies. Her hands scaled the walls until she touched the switch and she flipped it on. "Holy..."
Two girls huddled on the floor, identical down to the horror on their faces. In between them lay the source of the blood. A woman killed halfway through her transformation. Her face, half covered in scales, was frozen in anger. One eye was gentle green, the other was a red haze. The contents of her abdomen littered the white dress she wore, a demonic embryo lying next to her.
Sophie took a cautious step forward. She never let her eyes stray from the scene.
One of the girls hissed, and Sophie froze. A steady stream of their fear wove through her mind. She watched them both clutch at their m
other's hands. "I'm not going to hurt you." No matter what the Commander said, she wasn't going to hurt children, even if they weren't human.
The girl that hissed cocked her head to the side. Blonde hair fell across her shoulders. "We'll hurt you."
The simple truth in her words shot ice up Sophie's spine. They may look like normal children, but that normality encased demon children.
Darkness teased at her senses.
"What's this? A Guardian? Here?"
"Leave, Inohan," one of the girls said.
The fear from the girls engulfed Sophie, and she spun around. The demon was at least six-and-a-half feet tall and covered in sinewy muscle. Her hands curled into fists at the hunger in his red eyes.
"Daddy left you here, sweetlings, and Mommy finally got what she deserved."
"You aren't going to touch them," Sophie said and stepped in front of the girls, her back to them. She didn't know if they would attack, but she got the feeling this was an "enemy of my enemy" moment.
Inohan's lips curved. "This is new. A Guardian caring for demon children." He snarled, showing pointed teeth.
"Yeah, well, you learn something new every day."
The demon moved so fast that she didn't have time to react. He pinned her arms behind her back, digging his claws into her left arm and right side. Hot pain fired up her nerve endings, and she bit down on her lip to keep from crying out.
"You are just one Guardian. You can't best me. I will feed on your mind, and then I will feed on their flesh."
Pressure flared in her head. Soophiee, Inohan whispered into her mind. Some of her mental walls cracked.
It was her turn to fear as the demon slithered into the cracks of her mind. She struggled against his grip, lifting her knee to connect between his legs. He deflected it with a laugh. "Shh." He sniffed the side of her neck.
Her body shook. If he pushed fully into her mind, he could make her believe anything he wanted. He could force her to kill her friends.
Sophie, open up your mind to me. You're not all goodness and light. Even now you're glad that Lilli is the one captured and not you. Is that kind of selfishness a part of all the Guardians?
She fought the guilt from her brother's death, but it was useless.
You are here fighting me, and losing. You had a chance to defeat Akeldama. She was right in front of you. Inohan licked her cheek in a long stroke.
Fury ripped through Sophie, and she struggled fiercely against his tight grip.
You did nothing to fight her. You. Ran. Away.
The guilt swallowed her, leaving her mind wide open for him. The needy tentacles of his mind enveloped her.
Sophie! Tristan's voice sounded faintly.
"He cares for you. How sweet." Inohan pushed his hatred into her mind. She screamed, and the agony of it fired through her nerve endings.
Just when she thought she would surrender to the pain completely, Inohan's grip loosened. Sophie fell to her knees, coughing through the pain.
Inohan roared. His skin ripped and green-black scales rolled over his body.
Her head pounded with each beat of her heart, and she inhaled again. The air felt like razor blades against her throat.
He won't hurt you anymore.
"No, Tristan." She peeked and saw Tristan standing behind the demon. His yellow-green eyes narrowed at Inohan. "You have to keep Cabariel from getting through the portal."
Tristan ignored her as Inohan unfurled his leathery wings. Sophie didn't like the murderous look in Tristan's eyes. This wasn't going to end well.
In a move so fast that Sophie almost didn't see it, Tristan punched the demon twice in the face. Inohan's face jerked to the side, but the rest of his body didn't move. He sneered and wiped the blood from his scaled lips.
"Keep your hands off her!" Tristan growled.
"When I'm done with you, that's exactly where my hands will be." Blood dripped down Inohan's teeth.
Tristan's eyes narrowed.
"I will use her mind, then her body." Inohan sent Sophie a lustful look. "And you can't stop me."
Tristan growled again, a rumble deep in his chest. It was the scariest sound she'd ever heard him make. He started to shift into something she'd never seen him use before. Bones snapped and elongated, and he was now a few inches taller than Inohan. White hair covered his body, and razor sharp teeth appeared in the long muzzle that formed. Sophie gasped. He looked like an albino Anubis.
Inohan pounced. White fur and black scales flew through the air. The opponents tore at each other, animalistic sounds coming from the fray.
What's going on? Morgan's voice filtered into her mind.
Sophie didn't want Cabariel to escape. The others had to stay and capture him. They couldn't get distracted by this mess. We're fine. Found another demon. Tristan's taking care of it.
Ok.
Sophie struggled to stand. She hated feeling helpless, and she couldn't let Tristan fight him alone, even if he'd shifted into an awesome werewolf. The fight was over before she could blink. Tristan stood in front of her, holding Inohan's head in his hands. Inohan's body crumpled to the floor.
Tristan's animal eyes watched her. He breathed heavily, slowing regaining control. Once he did, his eyes changed back to gray. He cast the head aside and shifted back to his human form.
She couldn't tear her eyes from his as he pulled her to stand.
"What did he do to you?" The worry in his eyes softened the snap in his words.
"Just my mind." She glanced around the room and noticed the girls were gone. She wondered if Tristan had spotted them when he came in.
"Just your mind?" Tristan shook his head. "I felt it through the connection. What he did to your mind hurt you. A lot." He rested his forehead on hers, and tender hands framed her face. It was an alarming difference from his behavior with Inohan.
"My ribs, that's all. When he pinned me to the wall."
"Why didn't you call for help?"
"I didn't need any help." She wasn't sure why she was being so stubborn about it. He was just so close and she couldn't think straight.
Did Cabariel make it through the portal? Tristan asked as he ignored her comment.
His fingers hooked on the hem of her shirt. His face betrayed none of what he was thinking, and Sophie couldn't make herself reach out with her mind to find out. Despite her resistance, heat rose between them as their powers started to meld.
She almost screamed when Aidan's voice penetrated the haze. We've got him! Little thing tried to run through the portal, but I tackled him.
More like tripped and fell on him, Morgan said.
Sophie refused to look at Tristan. She couldn't breathe right now, and the reason was a close tie between Tristan and her injured ribs.
"Next time, call for help. I won't trade your life to stop one demon."
"You don't understand, do you?" She pushed him back a few steps. "This is for Lilli, not one stupid demon."
“I know it’s not, Sophie, but we have to be smart about this.”
She ignored him, feeling his stare on her back, as she left the room.
CHAPTER TEN
"C'MON, LET ME HIT HIM just once," Aidan begged. The jet carried them swiftly back to the Manor, everyone sitting with exhaustion or having their injuries tended to.
Chain blessed by the Council bound Cabariel's wrists and ankles. He was tranquilized with so much medication that Sophie wondered if he would ever wake up. They couldn't get answers if he died. His back was to her, but that didn't matter. His hatred for all things human pricked her skin, even in his sleep.
The portal, a mirror big enough to fit six people side by side, rested against the left wall.
"You got to tackle him, didn't you?" Morgan pulled Aidan back to sit with her.
Sophie winced when Allison put pressure on the small wound that Inohan had left on her ribs. She glanced over Allison's shoulder and the shock hit her. The heat in Tristan's stare sparked her own anger and desire. They weren’t connected, the ment
al wall between them was stronger than it had ever been. It would’ve worried her if she wasn’t so mad at him.
"Sorry," Allison murmured.
Sophie tore her gaze from Tristan's and smiled weakly. "It's okay."
Seline tossed water bottles to each of them, a rare gesture of kindness. "You really kicked demon ass today."
Jackson ignored Seline's comment. "If anyone is getting a shot at him, it's me."
"No one is getting a shot at him." Demetri cast the boys a hard look.
"We are going to interrogate him properly so we can get all the information about Lilli's whereabouts. Or do you want to just take your anger out on him and get nothing?" Ruth spoke low, but with enough firmness that Jackson and Aidan both shut their mouths.
Morgan whispered to Aidan, took his hand, and leaned on his shoulder. This seemed to calm him. Sophie was surprised that she’d reach out to him like that.
There was no one to help Jackson that way. Sophie knew she and the others tried, but they didn't have the connection with him that Lilli did. They needed to find her soon, and the demon that could have a lead was right in front of them.
When they landed, Sophie passed her weapons to waiting hands. Several of the staff and warriors congratulated them on their mission. She tried to smile and feel like she'd done something worthy of praise, but weariness set in. Her legs shook as she climbed the stairs to her room.
She got in the hottest shower she could stand, letting the water ease some of the tension in her muscles. She knew the water wouldn’t wash the Inohan’s stain in her mind, but she could try. The hot water stung her bruises and cuts, but she let it flow over them anyway. It had been a close call. She knew Tristan was right about that, but it didn't make it any easier to swallow. She hoped to God it hadn't been a mistake to not tell Demetri or the others about the demon twins.
Tristan's serious face entered her mind. What was she going to do with him? She was sure they could work this out, they could learn about each other, but how were they supposed to do that? Between demons, hunting for Lilli, and trying to stop Akeldama, it was impossible to spend normal time together.
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