by Deanna Chase
The way he said it chilled me to the core. Worse, he was right. As it stood, I was no match for a fifth-level demon like Vald. And if the witches did have a plan, I was willing to bet it didn’t include me. Or Pirate. My poor dog. Tears burned the back of my eyes. Pirate had trusted me to keep him safe.
Focus.
I couldn’t let this get to me, or I wouldn’t be good for anyone. “Okay,” I told Dimitri, easing him off me. The crisp night air crept between us. “I might be more of a liability than a help at this point. I’ll stay out of the way of anything big. But we need to at least see what’s happening.”
From the way Dimitri was scowling, I could tell he didn’t like my idea one bit.
Yes, well I owed it to the Red Skulls to go back. Part of me wondered if I was meant to help the witches in some way. That’s probably why they’d tried to give me the potion. Vald had been chasing Grandma and the coven for thirty years. It couldn’t be a mistake that tonight, the night I arrived, he chose to attack.
Besides, I was half cold, half sweating and not used to standing around. “So are we going to help save these witches or what?” I ducked around Dimitri. The cold night seized me, gelling the sweat and making me wish I had a lot more on than Frieda’s tube top. I took my best guess on the direction of the coven and started walking.
Dimitri captured both my wrists in one hand. “Not on your life.” Heat crept up my arms and I had an acute awareness of the crushing power he held in check.
“Do not fight me on this.” I bit at every word, locking down my frustration until I could barely stand it anymore. Dimitri’s fingers held my wrists firm and that was all it took. I let out a shout to rival any battle cry. I had to. If I didn’t let the frustration boil, I’d start crying. I couldn’t afford to fall apart now or someone could get hurt—or killed—and it would be my fault.
He yanked me against his chest, infuriated. “Has it occurred to you I’m trying to save your life?” he asked, his face inches from mine. “It’s my job to protect you. The witches have a plan. You don’t. If that really is Vald back there—and my guess it is—he could suck out your soul before you could even form a thought. There’s no foreplay. No warning. It’s gone. And so are you.”
Fear clenched my gut. “Look, if something happens to them, I have no one.” I pushed out of his grip. “And I don’t trust you.”
He watched me like a predator. “You don’t need to trust me. You just need to listen to me.”
Fat chance. “I’m a demon slayer.” I was the only one that could—potentially—set this right.
He shook his head, a wry smile not quite reaching his eyes. “Not yet, you aren’t. Have you ever tried to steal a demon’s essence? Thrown a switch star?” His eyes narrowed at my obvious bewilderment. “Name one of the Three Truths.”
“I eliminated the imps,” I said.
His expression hardened. “I rescued you in the swamp.”
It figured. Frieda had said he was a griffin. And a griffin had certainly saved us from those imps. “Fine. Then you’re coming with me. You can protect me when we get back to the bar and get everyone out.”
He stood in front of me, a wall of muscle and grit. “Without you, everyone is doomed.”
I shot him a dirty look. “My point exactly.”
Maybe I didn’t have any business going back there and maybe Grandma and the Red Skulls could handle themselves. Lord knew it would have been easier to run, hide until I’d done my homework. But I didn’t have the luxury to wait. I had my power. I had Dimitri and I’d never forgive myself if something happened to the Red Skulls or Pirate while we stood around and did nothing.
I blew out a breath and faced the man looming above me in the moonlight. At that moment, he reminded me of an enraged mountain lion, as cunning as he was dangerous, with a territorial streak a mile wide. “I’m going and you’re going to help me.”
He didn’t even have the courtesy to blink.
I shoved past him. “If you’re not going to help, you can get the frick out of my way.”
Endless trees loomed in every direction. I took my best guess at a direction and set off.
“Lizzie. Hold on. You can’t.”
On the contrary, I could and I would.
Besides, when Dimitri first took Grandma and me to the coven, he’d been worried about the troll hit men after us. Maybe I’d get lucky and only find assassins. What would the old Lizzie have had to say about that?
He caught up with me, lingering a step behind, casting his long shadow over mine in the moonlight. “Don’t go back there. It’s…dangerous.” He sounded worried.
“Déjà vu,” I said. “We already had this conversation.”
“There are things at work that you cannot understand.”
Okay. That ticked me off. “Believe me, I understand enough.” And frankly all of it was unbelievable.
I pounded my way through a thick swash of fallen leaves. “We’ll get along much better once you stop patronizing me,” I called out to the shadow behind me. “So, you’re not human. So you have more magic than I do. I get it. That’s not helping me.” Even if he was my protector, he couldn’t protect me at the expense of all those other people.
If I was ever going to figure out what I was meant to do, it would be because I was trying to make a difference, not because I was out wandering around in the woods.
I couldn’t hear him behind me, which was creepy, but I knew he was there. Finally, he said, “It’s complicated.”
“Yeah, well so am I, buddy.”
All things considered, I thought I was handling my new life pretty darn well. I may have had to put up with demons, imps and a crazy grandma but I didn’t have to put up with any b.s. from Dimitri. I tromped through the underbrush, kicking at it as I went. Maybe I’d sic Ant Eater after him.
Just move. And listen for the screams. Or barks. Please be okay, Pirate.
I had to find my way back, or this would all be for nothing. I forced my anger away, opened my mind. I had to start using some of the magic that had screwed up my life or I’d never be any use to anybody. I felt the cool breeze of the night on my face. My mind reached out in front of me like fingers through water. I could almost hear it. I shifted direction. This could be it.
Calm down. Feel this. Let go.
“Give it up, Lizzie.”
Ignore him. Feel. I started to jog through the trees, their branches whipping against my arms and shoulders. My breathing fell into a steady rhythm. I saw the coven like a dot of light in my mind.
My feet dodged fallen tree limbs and roots. I didn’t even need to look down anymore, I realized with a start. This felt right.
Dimitri might think he could keep me from Pirate, but there was one thing he hadn’t counted on. I had an inner compass. I could sense it. I knew it like I knew my way home. Excitement, satisfaction, pure joy swelled inside of me. This is what I was meant to do.
“Stop!” Dimitri tore through the woods, hot on my heels.
No way.
Hold on, everyone, here I come.
So I didn’t drink the protective potion. I made a mistake. Now I was about to make things right.
“Lizzie, no!” Dimitri yelled as I felt the earth give out beneath me.
I fell. It was like falling in a dream, until I hit the ground hard. My head rang with the impact. Pain shot through my ankle, my shoulder. I laid on the rocks and dirt for a moment. What happened? I stared up at the rock walls surrounding me, illuminated by the bright moon and stars above. I’d fallen into a crack in the earth. Grass and weeds clung to the top, about five feet up. I wiped the dirt from my forehead, tried to stand. “Crimeny!” Pain seared my ankle.
I could hear water trickling. I turned around and saw the entrance to a cave. I knew what this was, a cave fissure. It had been a passageway until part of the cave collapsed and formed a ravine of sorts. Thank you, Discovery Channel.
Dimitri appeared at the top of the hole. Oh goody.
“Make yourself useful and get me out of
here.”
“Don’t move, Lizzie.”
Yeah, right. I didn’t have the luxury of slowing down. I tested my ankle. It hurt like heck, but I had to keep moving.
“Listen to me,” he said, serious as death. “Look to your right. Turn slowly.”
I didn’t like that tone. I turned. The fissure ended about six or seven feet to my right, the rock forming a vee. And in that vee…Oh no. I saw movement. I squinted, my heart slamming in my throat. A big, black snake coiled in a nest of fallen leaves.
“Oh yikes.” I jerked back and it hissed, its white mouth illuminated in the moonlight. Cripes.
“Wait,” Dimitri said. “Wait until it calms down.”
That could take a while. I tried not to breathe too deeply.
“That’s it,” Dimitri said. “That’s it. Now back away.”
I gulped and took three steps back.
“Slow,” Dimitri cautioned. “Easy. That’s it. Easy. I’m lowering my shirt. Grab on to it and I’ll pull you out.”
I kept my eyes on the snake, its fangs jutting from its gaping mouth.
“That’s it. Okay. Reach behind you.”
My hand caught hold of the black T-shirt, still warm from his body.
The snake reared back, fangs out. Not good. “Fast! Fast! Fast!” I wound my fingers around the cotton of his shirt and scrambled up the rock wall, my injured ankle burning with the effort. Dimitri gripped my hand in his and pulled me to safety. I let him have his T-shirt back and stood there, catching my breath. Yow. That was close.
Dimitri’s gaze slammed into me. I’d ticked him off, or at least worried the snot out of him. Good.
I shook the dirt and leaves out of my hair. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he enjoyed standing there shirtless. Of course he looked fabulous. His chest—well-muscled, but not overdone—gave him an air of understated sexiness. A swirl of black hair traced its way down his lower stomach and down toward his…oh my. I blame my overt interest at a time like this on either head trauma or years of reading Johanna Lindsey, probably both.
He saw me watching him and his lips quirked into a predatory grin. “We can do something about this attraction if you’d like.”
“Yeah, let’s make out. That’ll solve everything.” Besides, if he thought I wanted to touch him after what he pulled, he’d better think again.
I stared out at the trees surrounding us, trying to get my bearings. “I should have ducked into the cave,” I said. Then I might not have needed him at all.
“Bad idea. There are bats in there.” He pulled his shirt over his head. “Three of them have rabies. Guess which three you would have found?”
My ankle throbbed. I leaned against a tree for a second. I planted my hands on my knees and blew out a long breath. “Why?” I asked, not even expecting an answer anymore.
“Simple. You’re a demon slayer. That means you’re attracted to danger, problems, things that need to be fixed.”
Oh, I had a problem alright. He was standing right in front of me.
“Think of it as a slayer skill,” he said, “a very valuable one. You need to be able to sense evil. Your powers give you an understanding of the nature of whatever it is you need to face. Now, if you were trained properly, you would have been able to make your way back to the coven. And I would have let you go. But, sadly, you are untrained. Uneducated. Underdeveloped. When you tried to focus on finding your way back, instead you began sensing every potential danger and running right for it, with no distinction between the supernatural and a cottonmouth snake.”
Boy, he sure knew how to make a girl feel good. “So you’re saying my supernatural compass is broken?”
He considered the question. “Not broken. Untrained. Weak. Immature.”
“Got it.”
“Coarse. Unpolished.”
“Zip it, Obi-Wan.”
He raised a brow. “I’ll help you strengthen your powers. Then you can use this ability to your advantage. You’ll be able to sense evil, even before it closes in on you or those you care about.”
Very tempting. I gritted my teeth. So if I’d known my magic from a hole in the ground, I might have even prevented whatever had happened tonight. Talk about a guilt trip.
Okay maybe he could protect me. A bit. “Can I get the express version before we go back in there?”
He barked out a laugh. “There are three demon slayer Truths that are absolute. Live by them and you will tap into unimaginable power.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. I could do this.
He looked down at me, his expression intense. “Look to the outside. Accept the universe. Sacrifice yourself.”
“That’s it?” I asked.
He frowned. “What do you mean, ‘that’s it?’ Demon slayers spend a lifetime pondering the Three Truths.”
I didn’t have that kind of time. “Get me back to the coven.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Not until we’re done here.”
“Oh, we’re done.” He could play hide and seek in the woods all he wanted. I had more important things to do.
He was having none of it. “It all starts with the Three Truths.”
“Yes, it will,” I agreed. “Later. Now we figure out what happened. We find my dog.” He was stalling me. I knew it. I’d seen it at naptime at Happy Hands. I recognized the signs.
I planted my hands on my hips, wishing I had a clue which way to head. Which sparked an idea…
Dimitri needed me safe. I had no idea why he cared so much. At the moment, it didn’t matter. That was my bargaining chip. And I’d use it on him like I used Goldfish crackers on my three-year-old preschoolers.
“Hey,” I said, tugging at his black shirt, right above a bulging bicep. “If you don’t take me back to the coven right now, I’m going to jump back in with the snake.”
He seemed almost amused. “It left.”
“What?” I reached out with my mind. Blast. He was right. Worse, I didn’t even have a desire to jump into the hole, which meant even the rabid bats had wandered off. Just my luck.
I cleared my mind, focused my thoughts. I could feel danger to my left, fifty yards. I limped as fast as I could in that direction, hoping my ankle would loosen up. Or fall off.
His humor faded. “Where are you going?”
“Over here,” I huffed, pain slicing through my foot. “Look to the Outside, right?”
Whatever I find, please don’t let it be too horrible. How far was I willing to go?
“What are you trying to pull?” Dimitri’s voice betraying a hint of concern. “Okay. Hold it. Lizzie!”
But still, he let me hobble closer to…it. Arrogant jerk—why didn’t he stop me? I didn’t have time to be fighting everything in the woods. I struggled to see something, anything in the darkness ahead. It was no use. I couldn’t see more than four or five feet in front of my face.
Still, I hurried as fast as my ankle would allow. I had no idea what I’d find. An angry bear? Axe murderer? Deer stampede? I supposed it didn’t matter. Whatever it was, I headed right for it.
“Wait!” Dimitri blocked me. “Don’t.”
I lifted a brow.
He stared me down.
“Take me back or I’m never speaking to you again.” I practically spit venom myself. He looked as angry as I felt. “I don’t even need to go in. You can go. But we need to head back now.” I stared him down. “Do what I say or whatever it is you want from me, you won’t get it. I promise you that.”
He stood there, indignant.
“You wanna go again?” I asked. “I sense something nasty back behind that tree over there.”
A muscle twitched in his neck. “Fine.” He gripped my shoulders, too tightly. “I’ll take you to the coven. But you’re not going to like what you see.”
Chapter 8
It looked like someone detonated a bomb inside the Red Skull biker bar. Crimson smoke poured from the rickety two-story structure. I felt a wave of pain for the witches, for how scared they
must have been when the coven had come under attack, for what they had undoubtedly lost.
I covered my mouth with my hand, as if I could somehow block the acrid sulfur burning down my throat with every breath. Dimitri squeezed my shoulder. It felt good to have him there. I wouldn’t have wanted to be alone at that moment. The forest around the house had fallen silent—not a cricket dared to chirp. The air felt heavy, foreboding.
A strange vapor curled from the edges of the Employees Only door at the back. It hissed from every window frame and—I gasped—it billowed from the open window of Frieda’s second floor room. It was eerily similar to the mist I’d seen filtering out of the Yardsaver shed earlier tonight, when Grandma had communed with the demon Vald.
I checked out the storage shed and saw it had melted at the edges. A trail of charred grass and cooked asphalt led from the shed to the bar. My heart skipped a beat. “Holy Hoodoo.”
Dimitri’s shoulder brushed mine. “I wouldn’t call it holy.”
Pirate was nowhere in sight.
Every idiot demon slayer instinct I had ordered—no, screamed—to race into the house and face whatever lurked inside. Dimitri had been right about one thing. I was enthralled with anything and everything that could snap my limbs or chop my head off.
As if he could sense my fear, Dimitri leaned closer. “Having second thoughts?” he asked, his voice edged with concern.
Um, yeah. I watched as shimmers of light danced in the upstairs windows. How about third, fourth and fifth thoughts? At least Dimitri was starting to treat me more like an ally than a ward to be protected.
Maybe I was getting through to him. I could use a partner right about now. A low moan sounded from somewhere inside the house, and I fought the urge to run far, far away. If I had this much trouble even looking at the house—imagine how Pirate must be feeling if he was still inside. Hang on, little guy.
Now that he wasn’t trying to hold me back, Dimitri could turn out to be my ace in the hole. “Let’s,” I choked. Embarrassed, I cleared my throat to make it work right. “Let’s circle around front to see if we can learn anything.”
I may not know a lot about this supernatural world, but I prided myself on my logic and my ability to stay focused. I’d done pretty well for the past thirty years, and I’d held my own against the demon in my bathroom. I wasn’t about to take any unnecessary risks, but I had to think I could handle this too. Or at least try.