“I’m allergic to Spandex.” Denny threw her shirt on, then adjusted her vest and checked her weapons.
“You know, those glowing weapons of yours are really fucking sexy.”
“They’re the only reason you slept with me, huh?”
Cassandra laughed. “Golden Silver, there are a thousand and one reasons why I slept with you.”
Denny bent over the bed and kissed Cassandra again. “Good to know.”
Taking the front of Denny’s vest in her hands, Cassandra looked deeply into her eyes. “You be careful out there. And when you’re done, look up the book by Paige Sanders called Witches, Warlocks, and the Wiccan Way. If you’re going to do this gig, you need to truly understand the whole of the supernatural world and not just your part of it. I can help you, Hunter. We can help you. Let us.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Do you want clean clothes for your hunting?”
“Nah. I’ll just get them gross again, but thank you…and thanks for, well, for all of this.”
Cassandra smiled softly. “Remember what I said, Hunter. Brianna is a fool. You are an amazing lover. Simply amazing.
With Cassandra’s final words echoing through the night air, Denny returned to the shadows to make good on her promise to the last demon standing.
In the final hours of darkness, she couldn’t find even one demon skulking around before calling it a night and heading over to Ames’s house.
“Well, I don’t have to ask you what you’ve been up to,” Ames said when he opened the door. “Still looking for junk food, eh? I decidedly warned you about that.”
“I’m sending a message.”
“To whom? Your Hanta? Because believe me, it won’t matter why you think you’re doing all this killing. The Hanta only knows it’s being fed. Grab a shower. Breakfast will be ready once you get the guts out of all your cracks and crevices.”
“But I think I––”
“Go. I don’t want you dropping demon bits on my newly polished floor.”
Half an hour later, Denny emerged, clean and hungry.
Ames set a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her with orange slices and sourdough toast. “You’ve been out on a rampage.”
“A what?”
Ames sipped his chicory coffee. “A rampage. It’s what hunters call it when they serial kill in one night. You’ve been out doing pest control. Why?”
“Liderc is doing Asmodeus’s dirty work. He sent multiple trackers. He had buddies who came after me. They all paid the price.”
Ames lifted an eyebrow. “All of them? How many is all?”
Denny shoveled a forkful of scrambled egg into her mouth, ignoring her lack of manners. “A dozen? I left one to tell Asmodeus I was coming for him.”
Ames lowered his mug. “Coming for him? Who are you? Iron Man? Jesus, Goldy, are you trying to get yourself killed?”
His reaction surprised her. “I thought I was doing my job.”
“Your job is to hunt down nefarious demons and kill them––not to go all Tasmanian Devil on any demon within arm’s reach, and sure as shit not to go after a prince. Have you lost your mind?”
“Maybe I have, but if he’s hunting me, then this has become personal.”
“And personal agendas are what get demon hunters killed. I taught you better than that.”
Denny ate in silence.
“Is that why you’ve been hanging around that coven? Looking for a summoner?”
Denny stopped in mid-chew. “How did you know about that?”
Ames leaned on the counter. “Demons are one thing, but witches and demons together are tricky business. Dangerous business. I’ve not taught you anything about the dangers of a summons.”
“She said she could sum––”
“And that would be a very foolish thing to do. Have you any idea, any at all how many times a witch has summoned a demon only to be obliterated once the demon appeared? They disdain witches, Goldy, on a level you cannot possibly conceive of. What’s more, they hate being summoned, so do yourself and your little witch friend a favor and back on away from that stupid notion. There are reasons few hunters employ witches, and that’s just one of them.”
Denny finished her eggs and snapped off a corner of toast. “Fine. Geez.”
“Any witch who agrees to summon anything for you clearly wants in your pants or wants a power you cannot contain, because trust me, when a demon and a witch do happen to get along, hell on earth is an understatement. The havoc they could wreak.”
Her jaw hung open. “My pa––”
“Cassandra Adams has quite a reputation, Goldy. I suggest you crack open a book or ten to learn why we don’t befriend the covens.”
“Why don’t you just tell me?”
Ames sighed as he put his cup in the sink. “Because that is a road you must travel on your own. Each hunter must learn to navigate the supernatural waters they find themselves in. You are no exception. Just be sure you think from above your shoulders and not below the waist.”
“I could use her wisdom. She’s my friend, Ames.”
Ames’s face contorted with sadness before he bowed his head and sighed deeply. “What about my life story did you not hear?” Raising his head, his eyes were filled with tears. “My wife summoned a demon and it destroyed my family. My family, Goldy, was torn apart by her wisdom. I lost my son because of her craft. Before you lose people you can never get back, use my life as a warning.” Ames started for the stairs. “Come down when you’re finished; I have something I need to show you.”
Denny finished her toast as she watched him disappear.
Brianna’s words echoed in her mind: Cassandra eats women like you for breakfast.
Yeah, something like that.
She’d eaten her, all right, but not for breakfast.
Suddenly, Denny wondered if Cassandra’s appearing at the scene last night was more than mere happenstance. What had her mother said about not trusting anything that was a coincidence? That coincidences are nature’s way of warning us that something is about to happen.
Something.
Did that always have to be a bad something?
The more she thought about it, the more she believed that Cassandra had been following her, that her showing up was anything but coincidental.
Denny started down the stairs pondering the last dozen bad choices she’d made.
Falling into bed with Cassandra was probably one of them.
Denny’s head ached from so much reading, but it had to be done. Her life, as well as those of her loved ones, depended on her being the best demon hunter she could be, and one of the best ways of becoming that was to have a better working understanding of her own demons.
Plural.
A demon resided inside her, yes, but there were other demons she needed to contend with as well.
She quickly sat up when she read a passage from a book on Malaysian demons. It would appear from what she’d read that someone from her ancestry had formed a pact with a djinn, and that the act of passing the Hanta Raya was a legacy known as Saka. If not passed down to a new hunter, it would take on the guise of its last master and continue to hunt until it found a new master. If the Hanta is not passed down to a new hunter before the current one died, the hunter’s death would be long and painful and also possible the hunter would return as the unliving.
“I’ll be damned,” she muttered. Calling Ames. “A fucking zombie? Is my mother dead but she doesn’t even know it? Is she a…fuckin’ zombie?”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t bullshit me here, Ames. I’ve been reading up on the Hantas. It says––”
“That the hunter who doesn’t pass the legacy on will die a long, horrible death and return as the unliving. I know.”
Denny stared out the window, her stomach twisting. “That’s why she’s catatonic, isn’t it? It’s her long, painful death.”
“Your mother is alive, Goldy, she is not a zombie. Yeah, she is living with
the pain of never getting to see her kids grow up, of never feeling her arms around the ones she loves, but it is not a painful death. It is a painful life if anything. Think about what you know.”
“She did give the Hanta to me. It came to me that night in the hospital.”
“But she coded in the ambulance, and then again when you were in the room. She had, in essence––”
“Died.” Denny closed her eyes. “She’d already died. Twice. That’s what coding is, right? Little deaths.”
The phone was silent.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Dashing your hopes that she might one day wake up isn’t something I wanted to do. She isn’t going to wake up, Goldy. She…she can’t.”
The words pierced her heart like glass shards.
A loud sigh escaped Denny’s lips as her heart broke even more. “And the zombie thing?”
“Happens to some––not all, but it does happen. I won’t lie to you, Goldy.”
“Odds?” Denny grabbed her pen.
Ames hesitated. “Eighty-twenty, more or less.”
Closing her eyes, she shook her head. “I’ll kill her before I let that happen.”
“Can we talk about this in person?”
“Sure. Of course. Is there anything else I need to know that you’ve not shared? I’m a big girl now, Ames. A true hunter. I am educating myself. I have good weapons. I need to know it all no matter how hard it hurts.”
“I understand that. Right now, just tell me you understand why I’ve kept this to myself.”
Denny pinched the bridge of her nose. “I do. Really I do.” Denny hung up and started to turn out the lights when she saw print slowly appearing in the Kill Book. Sitting back down, she waited patiently for the blood ink to become readable.
Peyton again.
“Damn, Dude,” she muttered. “You make the rest of us look like slackers.”
The ink was now solid and described a macabre scene much like the one Denny had faced the other night.
“Son of a bitch.”
Peyton shared a nearly identical story to hers––an incubus tracking his movements––surrounding him––attacking him––and being defeated by him. Peyton needed to hear Denny’s story, so she sat down, drew her own blood, put it in a cartridge and began detailing her evening with the demons. She was very detailed––something she hadn’t been earlier, but she refused to let Peyton outshine her. So far, he’d killed nearly twice as many as she had. He was good.
She wanted to be excellent.
When she finished, Denny opened the fountain pen and removed the cartridge. She needed to improve at the demon hunter protocol––needed to do what Peyton did–– but better. So much of what she’d accomplished so far she hadn’t done well at all.
If this guy Peyton could take the time to fill out the Kill Book, then so could she.
Denny wrote on a post-it, “Kill Book Now,” and stuck it eye-level on the roll-top desk. Then she set the fountain pen where she could more easily see it and put the syringes next to the note. From now on, she would not be lame at the paperwork.
“There you go, Peyton. Just so you know, you’ve got competition.”
She locked her lair, went downstairs and made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before donning her leather vest, jeans and Doc Martens.
Denny drove slowly through town as dusk settled in.
Her first stop was to the assisted living facility where her mother lived.
“Hi Mom,” Denny said, kneeling in front of her. Princess, her mother’s aide, had pushed the wheelchair up to the television that she always kept on the History Channel.
“I’m figuring a lot of shit out, Mom. I know why you’re like this now. You’re...in some kind of stasis.This Asmodeus fuckwad seems to have some sort of vendetta against us. Well, I’m not going to let him win. I swear to God, if it’s the last thing I do, I’m taking that S.O.B. out.”
Denny rose, kissed her mother on the forehead, and whispered “I love you” before heading back out to the parking lot.
When she was ten feet from the car, she stopped cold.
“A Prius? Seriously?” Denny shook her head. “I need a much cooler car.” She made a mental note to ask Sterling for the checkbook. “An ass-kicking hunter needs an ass-kicking car.” Hopping in, she could not deny the change that was slowly happening to her. The Hanta’s presence was beginning to take root inside her, transforming her.
As she drove through the city, her plan became solid and she knew she would have to attempt it, regardless of how dangerous it may be. This wasn’t just about Quick any longer. This was about protecting her whole family, starting with her mother.
Her family needed her. Her friends didn’t even know they needed her, and the city of Savannah desperately needed her.
Denny stopped a few houses down the street from Brianna’s and got out.
Brianna’s safety was important to Denny, but she knew the real reason why she came by here every night. Rush had told her one of the witches would make a good partner for her. While she thought it would be Brianna, if that were so, why had Brianna so easily given up on Denny? Why had she moved on to someone else without so much as a conversation? And why was Brianna so angry with her when she’d been so understanding before, during Denny’s darkest hour?
Leaning against the small car with her questions weighing her down, Denny froze as the front door opened and Brianna escorted a tall, slender woman out to her car. Denny was too far away to make out the woman’s face, but when the two of them hugged, Denny recognized the meaning and feeling behind it.
It was time for her to stop torturing herself. Brianna had something else going on. End of story.
As she pulled out, Denny was surprised when a single tear rolled down her face. “Over before it started. There’s a theme there. Maybe I should pay attention.”
Denny dialed Cassandra’s number and waited for her to pick up.
“Hi, gorgeous. Is a late night call going to have an even later booty call?”
Denny hesitated a moment before replying. “Actually, this is business. I want to take you up on your offer. Can you summon the Magyar tomorrow night?”
“I can certainly try. You know the dangers. You still want to go ahead with it?”
“I do. I know that Ames thinks it’s a bad idea, but this is my family to protect and I need to do what I need to do around it. I can’t just sit by any more with my thumb up my ass.
“Then I’ll round up the women who can best handle a demon of that level.”
“Good, but not Brianna.”
“Excuse me?
“Not Brianna. I don’t want her there.”
The line was silent a moment.
“I see. I’m going to choose to believe that you don’t want her there because she’s seeing someone else and not because you’re still hung up on her and fear for her safety.”
“You can believe what you will. I just don’t want her there.”
“I understand.”
“I just need a face-to-face with that prick.”
“It’s not an exact science, but I believe we have the power to summon him to us as safely as possible. I think it’s a wise move.”
“You do? Why?”
“Your little Iris appears to be a very big power in our coven. It’s no wonder he wants her––”
“Then she’s strong?”
“No, Denny. I’m strong. Iris is powerful. Big difference. She has a lot of raw power and potential, but she doesn’t know what to do with it yet. She has a lot to learn, but for a summons, we need only that power. Trust me. Your Magyar will show once he senses her power there. Lust is an amazingly potent force.”
“Perfect. The coven, then?”
“Ten o’clock. We’ll be there. Without Brianna.”
“Without Brianna. Thank you.”
The line was quiet for a moment.
“Hunter, you need to move on. She has.”
“I know.
Thanks for everything.” She hung up and then looked at the Google map on her I-phone and drove straight to the D.A.’s house.
Time to tie up loose ends.
Time to end that story.
Once the Hanta was engaged, Denny easily made it over the eight-foot high sheer stone fence surrounding the District Attorney’s home. Motion detectors, flood lights, and various alarm systems kept an ever watchful eye on this property.
“Who are you so afraid of?” Denny whispered, easily avoiding the detection of the motion sensors. The Hanta allowed her to move so quickly, so stealthily, that she was able to get close undetected.
Once at the back of the house, she brought Epée to life, cut the handle off the door and walked on in.
“Big, big mistake, Golden Silver.” D.A. Carol launched from the darkness and knocked Denny out the doorway and down the steps.
Denny jumped back on her feet, staring down the barrel of a Colt forty-five.
A gun?
She grinned. “So you’re gonna make it look like the crazed sister of a man––an innocent man––you put away came after you? Is that it?”
“Yep. You’re not as dumb as you look. See ya, Silver.” He squeezed the trigger and a flash of light filled the room.
Denny shook her head, the light temporarily blinding her. She didn’t have time to figure out what the hell that was. She needed to get to the gun.
The bullet missed and Denny was up the stairs and on him in no time.
“Motherfucker––” she growled, punching his face repeatedly with her left hand while her right hand wielded Epée. “You framed him!” SMASH. “You put a good guy in that shit hole?” SMASH. “I ought to kill you right here.” SMASH. “Right now.” SMASH. Denny beat his face bloody. She broke his nose, his front teeth, and cracked his eye socket.
She was emotional, and that made her vulnerable. The Hanta had risen and was moments from complete control. “God damn you, motherfucker! Stop. Messing. With. My. Family!” As she hit him again, she realized he wasn’t possessed…at least, not at this moment…that’s why he used a gun.
“Please...”
“Begging is pathetic. You are pathetic.” Denny split his eyebrow open. Blood was everywhere. She knew she should get control of the Hanta, but God, she was so angry. “Come after my family, you bastard.” SMASH. “Oh, hell no!” Denny raised Epee with both hands. “I’m gonna enjoy eating your darkness you sack of shit.”
The Demon Within (The Silver Legacy Book 2) Page 19