Demons & Hellholes_A Grimmer Legacy novel

by Eleanor Rousseau

  I giggled. He was so inappropriate. He nodded, and then they ducked around the corner. I followed because I had nothing else to do.

  Two guards stood over by a door. Then were just raising their guns when throwing knives appeared in their throats. That was weird. They collapsed as blood began to drip down their necks.

  “Nice,” murmured Avon.

  “There’s another spell in the doorway,” I said as my head was just starting to clear from the last one.

  Grant knelt to snag the two throwing blades, wiping the blood off on the dead men's shirts before pocketing them. “You gonna be alright to take it down?” he asked.

  “I’ve got this.” I dropped to my knees and pressed both hands to the door. Come on, good magic. I shivered as it rushed through my system, this one was stronger than the last one. Once I had the last drop it took me a moment to get my bearings.

  “You got it, little one?” asked Avon.

  I nodded and pushed unsteadily to my feet. Avon took my arm as he led me through the door. “Have I ever mentioned that I hate stairs?”

  “You want me to carry you again, dove?” asked Grant, grinning.

  “I think I’m okay.” And if the world stopped spinning I’d be great.

  I held onto Avon as we walked up the stairs and he rested a hand on the small of my back. It was a good system because he would probably stop me from falling. “That doors got magic on it too,” I told him as we past the next flight.

  “Don’t worry about that one, just wait until we’re on the right floor,” said Avon. I nodded and wavered on my feet suddenly. He gestured for Grant ro go first before scooping me up in his arms.

  “Hey,” I protested.

  “Your pupil are dilated, you’re high as a kite,” he informed me.

  “Maybe I’m just drunk.”

  He nodded “Either way, you're not at the top of your game and these are fairly steep stairs. Is the safety on your gun?” he asked.

  “Of course.” I patted his cheek gently with the side of my weapon.

  “Yeah, that doesn’t really reassure me.”

  I rested my cheek against his shoulder. “Where are we, again?”

  “In the Warlord's stronghold.”

  “I told my brother I’d kill the Warlock once, he said I need therapy.”

  Avon smirked, “I’m sure both are true.”

  “You’re so mean, I think it’s because you’re a demon,” I told him.

  “You’re probably right. This is the door, think you could lift the spell?” he asked, placing me carefully back on my feet.

  “Of course.” I dropped to my knees again and tugged gently at the magic. It leapt right at me, knocking me onto my back.

  I lay there for a moment, trying to ignore the sparks moving through my body. “You alright, little one?” asked Avon, running his fingers lightly down my cheek. A golden spark jumped from my skin to his and he jerked his hand back in surprise.

  The magic whispered that the demon tasted good. I had to admit that I had suspected as much.

  Damn freaky Warlock magic.

  “Little one?” prodded Avon.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You stay here with Grant while I take care of the guards out there, okay?” he said softly

  I nodded and pushed myself up so I was sitting, “Be careful.”

  “Always.” He squeezed my shoulder before stepping back and kicking the door open with a loud bang. I winced and rubbed my hand against my temple.

  “Just hold on a little longer, dove,” Grant murmured.

  “I’m good, really good.” I rested my head against the wall behind me.

  He chuckled, “Yes you are. You wanna try to get up?”

  I nodded and offered him both my hands.

  “Here we go.” He hauled me up and I used his body to steady myself. “You gonna fall over it I let go?”

  I took a moment to gain my balance then shook my head. “I’m alright.”

  The door beside us opened and Avon stepped through, taking my hand with his left hand, the one that wasn’t carrying a bloodied sword. I caught the sharp scent of blood and screwed up my nose in distaste.

  My eyes were drawn on his face. “Avon.” I stepped closer, touching his cheek, careful to avoid the large claw marks there. Seeing him like this did go a way towards sobering me up.

  “It’s fine, I’ll heal it later.”

  “It could get infected,” I told him.

  He smiled, “Daemon, remember, little one? We don’t worry about little things like infection.”

  “Was is a werewolf? Those suckers are nasty.”

  He pulled my hand gently from his face, “They are indeed. Come on.” He tugged me into the large room, past two corpses who I managed to avoid looking directly at.

  Metal shelves filled the large space, filled with boxes of God knew what. “How will we be able to find it?” I asked softly.

  “It’s not on any of the shelves, it’s in the back room.” He began to lead us through the room, weaving through shelves.

  “This all seem a little easy to you?” asked Grant.

  “If I wasn’t with you, you boys would have been cut down. Few witches can disable those kinds of spells the way I did. Even Warlocks would have trouble.”

  We reached a door and he turned to me “What makes you so special, dove?”

  “I’m wicked powerful,” I told him, waggling my fingers at him.

  “Bring that power over here and open the door,” said Avon.

  I pressed my hand to the handle, it melted instantly, as did the whole locking mechanism. “Oops.” I pushed the door open. “He’s gonna know it was me.” I frowned.

  “There’s no way he could know that for sure,” Avon assured me as he stepped into the room. “Camera’s,” he murmured and Grant let two throwing daggers fly. Both hit the cameras with shocking precision.

  Avon walked across the room and swiped his sword, cutting into the wall. He tore the drywall away and revealed a huge safe. Grant stepped forward and started to help him make a whole big enough to walk through.

  “This one’s all you, Dove,” said Grant.

  I stepped forward. “There’s a lot of magic around this one,” I murmured.

  “Don’t strain yourself, take your time.” Avon squeezed my arm

  I holstered my gun and pressed both hands against the cool metal. The magic quivered eagerly beneath my touch, leaping through my skin. I moaned softly and leant my head against the safe door.

  After I caught my breath I gathered the magic and tapped it against the door. The entire front wall just disintegrated into a slimy metal mess. I crawled back in an attempt to avoid the stuff. Luckily the use of magic had cancelled out the effects of consuming it so I was clearheaded.

  “Sorry, that was a little over the top.”

  “It’s alright, little one, are you okay?”

  I nodded, “I’m fine now.” I let him pull me to my feet.

  “You two wait here,” he said.

  “What if there are more magic traps?”

  “Can you sense any?”

  I concentrated but shook my head, biting my lip.

  He leant down and kissed my hair before walking inside. “He’ll be crushed when you leave,” said Grant softly.

  “Maybe I won’t.”

  “You’re from two different worlds. His world is one of death and pain, you're a Grimmer, you fight for the good guys.”

  “Sometimes I don’t even know what I’m fighting for.” This job in particular was making me feel conflicted. Why did the Grimmer’s need it more than Avon? It wasn’t like we knew how to use it.

  I suppose anything was better than leaving it in the Warlocks hands. Him I had no doubts about, he was pure evil and I knew that from experience.

  Avon stepped out of the safe with a bundle of cloth in his hands. “Let’s go.”

  THE DOOR HAD JUST COME into our line of sight when it burst open. Two mages, a vampire and a werewolf, in wolf form,
all spilled out, Avon pushed us back, “To the window, there’s a fire escape.”

  We ran. I reached the window and shoved it open. “You two go first I can mess with the escape.”

  Grant dived through after taking out the wolf with a knife. Avon hesitated and I shot the vampire. “Go!” I barked, firing two more shots. The first had missed the heart and vampires didn’t go down easy, even with holy water burning his insides.

  Avon jumped through and I was a fraction of a second behind him. I slammed the window closed and pressed a hand against the fire escape. “Head’s up!” The floor melted beneath me and I dropped one floor, landing with a bone rattling thud right next to Grant.

  They flung the liquid metal from them as we ran down, luckily my magic didn’t affect it’s temperature. We jogged two streets down before removing our jackets and shoving them into Grants backpack so we wouldn’t be recognised on the street. Avon also managed to fit the artefact in there somehow.

  We circled around to the parking lot where we had left the stolen truck and piled in. We drove in silence until we reached another motel across town. “Grant-” Avon began.

  “On it,” he hopped out of the truck and headed over to pay for our room.

  There was a brief silence before Avon finally asked, “Where’s home?”

  “I can’t leave yet.”

  “I’ll have Grant take it off as soon as he returns.” His hands were clenched around the steering wheel.

  “That’s not it. I didn’t have time to say anything but there was a spell on the window. I need to take it off you both.”

  He nodded, “Oh, okay.” He opened the door and I climbed out after him. Grant reappeared with a key and led us to another room with two double beds.

  “I need you both to lay down on a bed and take your shirts off,” I said.

  “I like where this is going.” Grant whipped off his shirt immediately.

  Avon rolled his eyes but took off his shirt too. When I pointed to the bed they both lay down. I climbed on as well, kneeling between them. “You’re lucky it wasn’t a fast acting spell.”

  I rested a hand on each of their chests. Grant’s skin was slightly cool to the touch whereas Avon’s felt almost feverish. Interesting. I concentrated on the magic in their system. It was a very complex spell. I closed my eyes so I could concentrate.

  Small, nasty magic spheres had been spread out through their systems and were working to shut them down from the inside whilst shining out a bright beacon, presumably so they could be found and punished.

  First things first I worked on blocking the beacon. Then, one by one, I worked on destroying the sphere’s. It took time and more effort than I would have hoped but eventually they were clean. I collapsed with a tired sigh on the bed between them.

  “I felt what you just did! That’s crazy,” murmured Grant.

  “I didn’t notice they were there until they were gone,” mused Avon.

  I hugged a pillow and let my eye fall shut. “I’m just- I’m gonna take a nap, real quick,” I mumbled.

  Chapter Seven

  I woke up with my cheek pressed against smooth, bare skin. I blinked tiredly up at Avon. “Where’s Grant?” I asked, I didn’t sense him nearby.

  Avon rested with one hand behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. “He went out to celebrate, which translates to ‘get laid’.”

  I smiled but then became serious, “Avon, why do you need the Axitross?”

  “You don’t need to know.”

  “I’d like to. Please.”

  He glanced down at me and sighed suddenly, “My father’s a demon, he keeps my mother as his consort but she’s not happy there, she could never be happy there.”

  “You weren’t thinking of a trade?”

  He clenched his jaw. “No. I’m not strong enough to take on my father, you saw him, but with the Axitross I stand a chance.”

  “We broke out of his lair, why couldn’t you get her out?”

  He smiled, just a little. “We never would have gotten out without you and we were only able to do so because you took him off guard, the chances of that happening again are astronomical.”

  I propped myself up, looking down at him. “And you’ll use it responsibly? You won't hurt innocents in any way?”

  A confused little frown crossed his face and he tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Of course not.”

  I nodded, “Okay... I think, maybe it’s time I went home.”

  Shadow’s filled his gaze “Of course. Grant should be back in a few hours.”

  “Would you come find me when it’s all over, to let me know you’re okay?”

  “Sure.”

  “Promise me.”

  That small frown was back, “I promise. Why wouldn’t I?”

  I frowned, this was harder than I would have imagined, not to mention stupid. “Because I don’t think you’ll like me for much longer.” I blinked.

  He sat up, “I can’t imagine I’d ever have a reason to not like you.” He leant closer and kissed me. I parted my lips at his urging and leant into the kiss. His hand grasped my hair and I moaned softly.

  He pulled back, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. That was really bad of me,” he breathed.

  “No worse than what I’ve done. Avon...” I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t admit what I’d done. He’d hate me and he was a Daemon so he might do a lot more than just hate me.

  It was irresponsible for me to even consider telling him but I really wanted him to know that I wasn’t currently some mindless drone.

  “I’m going home now, okay?”

  “Okay, I’ll drive you.”

  I shook my head, “I’ll walk it, I know the way.”

  He studied my expression, “Don’t be silly, I’ll drop you off wherever you want.”

  I met his gaze, “I need to walk it.”

  “At least let me walk with you.”

  I closed my eyes for a moment. “Please let me go.”

  He took my arm, “Don’t leave.”

  I leant forward, brushing my lips lightly against his. Then I climbed off the bed and walked to the door, “I’m sorry, Avon.”

  There, I’d told him, not in so many words but he knew I wouldn’t be able to disobey a direct order if I had been under Grant’s glamour.

  He didn’t come after me, although a part of me had hoped he would.

  MY BEDROOM DOOR WAS open so Jay walked right in, and vanished the moment he passed through the doorway. There was a knock on the front door and I heard Maya answer. “I told you,” I heard her say.

  Jay walked back to my door, this time being careful to stay on the other side. “I explained everything to dad, he’s not mad, as least not at you, would you please talk to me?”

  “I don’t wanna,” I said, keeping myself buried beneath my covers.

  “It’s okay that you weren’t able to get the artefact, I just need to know what happened so I can take the appropriate action.”

  “Do nothing.”

  “Do nothing? I can’t just do nothing. This is serious. How did you learn to put a transportation spell on your doorway?”

  I walked to the door, pouting, and began to close it.

  “Stop!” He sighed heavily. “I brought you a bucket of ice cream.”

  I opened the door again. He pulled a large tub of ice cream from behind his back. It was mint choc chip, my favourite. Jay was the oldest of my siblings, and with fourteen years on me we hadn’t had much in common growing up but he had always gone out of his way to try and understand me.

  I pressed my fingers to the door frame. Let him in, but just this once, I whispered to the spell. Then I walked back to my bed.

  He followed, sighing in relief when he wasn’t teleported back outside the front door. Then he came and sat next to me at the head of the bed. I leant against his chest and he opened the ice cream.

  “You had Caz convinced you were sleeping with the Demon Blood. It’s okay if you were, I trust you. I just want to
make sure you’re okay and the fact that you’ve spent the last three days locked in you're room would suggest that you’re not.” He placed a spoon in my hand and kept one for himself.

  “I didn’t sleep with anyone, give me some credit.” I scooped out a small amount of ice cream.

  He chuckled. “Okay, but something happened.”

  I sucked on the spoon for a moment. “I did like him. He was a good person, I don’t care what the file said it’s true.”

  He sighed heavily, “You let him have the artefact.”

  I sniffed, “It was the right thing to do.”

  “Are you sure? Is there anyway he could have been playing you?”

  “As far as he knew he didn’t need to and I don’t get played.”

  “How does he intend to use it?”

  “Just to fight a Demon, he has no intention of putting innocence at risk. I told him to come find me when he was done with it, if I can I’ll take it from him then.”

  “You think he’ll actually come find you?”

  I nodded, “He will. I left my phone with them and it’s got all my contact details on.” It had been in my jacket pocket which I had left stuffed inside Grant’s backpack.

  “Did you do that on purpose?”

  “Not at first, I realise it when I was halfway out the door but I didn’t want to have to deal with mum or dad calling me.”

  “And how did you do that?” he gestured to the door.

  “I’ve had a close look at some similarly constructed spells recently but it only works when I’m in the room to power it.”

  “It’s impressive.”

  “It seems to keep the riffraff out.”

  “So, what’s your plan?”

  “I’m gunna eat more ice cream.” I demonstrated this by eating some more ice cream.

  “I’m talking long term, honey.”

  “I’ll just buy more ice cream.”

  He chuckled, “Come on, girl, you can do better.”

  “I don’t want to face everyone just yet, they’ll know I failed.”

  “Unless I tell them the Axitross was destroyed unexpectedly.”

  “That would be a lie,” I informed him.