Once again, the Hanta took over and, with stronger arms and legs than Denny truly had, got them to shore much faster than she could have.
Swimming to the nearest land, she realized she was at the furthest point of the bay. It would take her easily thirty minutes to get to Cassandra’s and another fifteen if she swung back by the motel to get Epée. That was too much time.
With no phone and no wheels, she made it to a small boat slip and found three guys smoking cigars and drinking on the back of a twenty foot boat called Endless Dream. She walked over and asked if she could use a phone.
No one answered. They just stared at what could only have resembled a drowned rat.
“Look, some guy just dumped me in the bay and I need help. Please.”
“I’ll call the cops for you, lady, but...well, no offense…”
Denny shook her head and took off for the nearest house. She didn’t have time for the cops or time to explain to people why she was soaking wet.
The summons was to start in less than an hour. She would either get an answer at the first house, or she would break in and use a landline.
When a gentleman around fifty years old answered the door, Denny was all Hanta. She knocked him out, grabbed his land line and tried calling Cassandra.
No answer.
Brianna.
No answer.
Iris.
No answer.
Then she remembered the coven rules. All phones off in the house.
She had no way of warning them.
Looking at the time on the phone, she knew Ames was at the studio teaching.
She dialed one more number.
“Lauren––I need your help.”
Lauren, as usual, listened patiently to Denny before saying with steel determination, “I know exactly who we need. On my way.”
When Lauren picked Denny up in front of the wharf, she’d brought Victor, Pat Patterson, and two other unsavory looking characters.
Patterson was a football player who had once been an adversary, but was now a good friend of Denny’s. Denny had no idea who the other two were.
The car, a souped up Lexus SUV with rotating chrome wheel covers, two sun roofs, and tinted windows, was straight out of Gangster Land––just like the guy wearing the hoodie behind the wheel.
“This is Snake and Scar, brothers from another mother,” Lauren explained.
Both nodded silently.
“They’re twins. I figured we needed some muscle.”
“We? There’s no we. This is serious shit, Lauren. Life and death shit.”
“Denny, your forehead…”
“How come you’re all wet?” Patterson asked.
Denny shook her head. “Someone tried to drown me. Long story.”
“No kidding? Jesus, Denny, every time you turn around, people want to take your head off. What’s up with that?”
Denny shot Lauren a withering stare before turning to the twins. “Look fellas, while I appreciate the help and all, this is...well...pretty dangerous stuff that’s gonna go down.”
“Den, relax. No one is going in there with you, but we can at least watch the perimeter so someone has your back.”
“Destination?” Snake asked from behind the wheel. A man of few words.
Denny directed them to the motel so she could retrieve Epée, and then gave him Cassandra’s address.
“Please hurry.”
Snake ran three red lights getting to the motel, where they found a manager waving his arms and griping about the broken window.
“Denny, your forehead.”
That was the first time Denny realized she’d been cut. No wonder the guys on the boat stared at her. Denny wiped some of the blood from her face before running into the motel room and grabbing Epée. She started out the door when the manager reached out to stop her.
“You can’t just take that. This is a crime scene.”
Denny’s eyes flashed red. “You want to try to stop me?”
The manager stumbled away as she scrambled back into the Lexus. “Hit it, fellas.”
Snake drove like a pro. All she could really see under the hoods was their tattoos.
Snake had several snakes crawling up his arms, while Scar had, well, scars. Tattoos of scars. That might appear odd to someone not living Denny’s life.
“What the hell happened to you?” Victor asked, looking at the cuts on Denny’s face.
“Ambushed. Long story. There’s going to be trouble at Cassandra’s. Big trouble.”
“Well, that’s why Lauren brought big boys. You okay?”
Denny shook her head. “I came this close to drowning. And whereas before you got here I was scared, now we’re just pissed.”
Victor stared at her. “We?”
Denny nodded. “We.”
“Well, that’s a first.”
“Yes, it is. And it won’t be the last.”
When they pulled up to Cassandra’s, the house was dark.
“Shit. Nice driving, Snake. I still have ten minutes to spare. You guys stay here. Keep the car running.” To Lauren, she said, “I appreciate the ride, but your part should end here.”
Lauren shrugged. “We’re here and we’re not leaving until we see this thing out with you.”
Victor and Patterson nodded like two bobble-head dolls. “What she said.”
Denny leapt from the car and ran into the house without bothering to knock. She nearly ran Iris over when she entered.
“Whoa, cowboy.”
“Where’s Cassandra?”
“They went to your house like you told ’em to.”
Denny felt the blood drain from her face. She’d never told them to meet her at her place. Even running all the lights, they’d never get there in time. “Stay here. If they call, tell them to get out of there. No time for questions, Iris. Just do it.”
Back in the car, she gave the address to Snake and told him to give it everything he had.
He did.
And when they screeched to a halt in front of Denny’s house, she knew she had no choice but to rely on those in the car for help. She was out of time and out of options.
“Okay, this is the deal. They will kill you, so do not, under any circumstances, come in the house. Stay out here. Don’t let anyone else in, and no matter what you hear, do not, I repeat, do not enter my house. Make sure no one follows me in. And if a really big, bad-ass looking motherfucker rolls up, run like hell.”
“We got these,” Snake said, pulling out a Beretta.
“Those won’t even slow him down.” To Victor she said, “Get Lauren out of here. She makes me more vulnerable.”
“Roger that.”
When Denny took the porch stairs two at a time, she found Rush waiting at the door.
“Jesus, baby, what in the hell is going on? This place is like a revolving door.”
“Long story. Where are the witches? Are they okay?”
“They got here and there was a note on the door telling them to meet you in the cemetery.”
“Fuck. Which cemetery?”
“The note said ‘my favourite cemetery’.”
“How long ago?”
“Ten, fifteen minutes? The note said to start without you. I’ve been looking all over for you. That’s why I wasn’t here when they arrived. I felt…oh Christ, baby, I felt like you were dying.”
“Close, but no cigar. The witches are in trouble!” Denny leapt off the porch and ran back to the car. “Bonaventure Cemetery, and blow every light.”
Snake did, but even as they pulled up, Denny could feel the psychic energy flowing through the air. It felt worse than hot and muggy. It felt oppressive, thick, heavy.
Like she was too late.
“Okay, here’s what I need. I need you to go back to my house and guard the perimeter. No one, and I mean no one, gets by you. And yeah, use those guns if you have to.”
“Got it. But Denny, what would they want with your house? Aren’t they after you?”
As
Denny jumped out, she said to Lauren, “What we saw in that room. My room. They want to burn it to the ground. They want to erase it all. Now go––and be careful.”
“You do the same.”
Denny locked eyes with Lauren. “Thank you for this.”
“Be safe, Golden Silver.”
Taking off with Epée in one hand and Fouet in the other, Denny doubted she would ever see her dear friend again.
She followed the feel of the energy until the circle of witches was in sight. To her dismay, Brianna had come with Cassandra and now stood opposite her in a circle filled with grey smoke.
Knowing her new friends were now in danger, Denny felt like she was moving in slow motion, wading through quicksand to reach them.
Denny could barely make out the image slowly coming into view inside the circle. The figure surrounded by the darker smoke was emerging.
Liderc, the Magyar, responding to the summons.
“God damn it.”
Flicking both of her weapons open, Denny inhaled deeply and took off running toward the circle.
“It’s a trap! Run! Scatter! Go!”
The women did not hesitate and took off in several different directions, leaving the Magyar to finish appearing in the mist, light bow at his side. Denny kept her eyes on Cassandra, who looked over her shoulder as she took off running.
“Where you going, ladies?” He pulled the crossbow to him and took aim at a large woman fleeing, her black hooded cape flowing behind her. “The rave’s just started.”
Denny had no choice but to hurl Fouet at him, hoping to distract his aim.
The near-perfect shot hit him in the temple, knocking him off balance. His bolt flew errantly past the woman and gave Denny the time she needed to close the gap and launch herself at him.
He caught her out of the corner of his eye and half-turned, his crossbow swinging wide. He clocked Denny in the forehead, knocking her eight feet away and busting open the gash she had received earlier. Blood dripped into her eyes, hindering her vision.
As he reloaded, Denny rose, half-blinded, to one knee. She touched the face of her watch so that she had Epée in one hand and Scudo, her shield, in the other. She managed to get the shield up just as the bolt of light hit it and disappeared.
The Magyar looked as stunned as Denny as the bolt vanished inside the shield.
When he found his voice again, he greeted her, all arrogance. “Finally joined the party, eh, demon hunter?”
“Better late than never, asshole.”
The Magyar kept the crossbow pointed at her. “You’re a rookie, Golden Silver. You and your pathetic little shield will fall at my feet. Then I’ll get the Hanta, the girl, and the respect I deserve.”
The girl?
Iris.
Denny finally understood. She was part of his plan, not Asmodeus’s. There were two plays going on at the moment—the one to kill her Hanta, which was Asmodeus’s plan, and the Magyar’s attempt to get Iris in order to create a progeny more powerful than he. And Denny had brought the Magyar right to Iris’s doorstep.
“Bring it.”
Liderc raised the crossbow. The light from it lit the area all around him. “Why fight it, Hunter? Why are you bothering at all? One quick yank and the Hanta will be gone from you forever. You’ll be free.”
“Yeah. Like you’d let me live.”
“I care not whether you live or die. Hanta removal has a fifty-fifty chance of killing the host, so why not bare your chest and make this easy? Roll the dice. Surely you did not ask for this curse. Surely you’d rather have your own life back.”
Denny slightly lowered her shield. “Because I’ve never done anything the easy way in my entire life. So if you want to go head-to-head with this demon hunter, then here I am. You better bring your A-game.”
The Magyar barely lowered the crossbow. “Are you threatening me? What is the matter with you? You can be free of the Hanta. You can have a human life again.”
An odd grin made one side of Denny’s mouth curl up. “What makes you think that’s what I want?” She took a step toward him. “Maybe I like it. Maybe kicking asses like yours delights me.”
Liderc raised the crossbow and fired. When Denny knocked the bolt away with Epée, the look of surprise on Liderc’s face made Denny chuckle. “Not the naïf you expected, huh?” She took another step. “That the best you got?”
“You’re a fool, Silver. That demon inside you is so much stronger and more vile than you could ever imagine. You let it control you just once, and you’ll never get your life back. I’m giving you the chance to live demon-free.”
“Really? What are you, the demon whisperer?” Denny took one more step. “Asmodeus wants him to suffer, to drown. Setting me free and killing him now is not part of your master’s plan.” And that was when she realized that Magyar would simply call it self-defense––that he had killed the Hanta because it was coming for him during the summons.
A brilliant strategy.
“He’s gonna be so pissed at you if he finds out what you’re trying to do.”
The Magyar raised the crossbow and shot again.
Denny stopped it with her shield and took off in full sprint for him. He could not get the next bolt loaded fast enough and had to use the crossbow to block Epée as she swung it toward his head.
The resulting clash sparked and sputtered like live wires, sending Liderc reeling, but still clutching his bow. The light from it dimmed slightly.
Denny smashed him in the face with her shield and took a fist in the gut for it.
It didn’t faze her.
She lifted Epée over her head and started to bring it down on him when he put a foot on her chest and shoved her good ten feet away. She landed with a thud on her back.
Liderc sat up, loaded a bolt and took aim, waiting for Denny to sit up.
She knew he had her dead to rights with little she could do to stop it, but little was all the Hanta needed. She sat up and barely managed to deflect the bolt with the shield. The force knocked the shield back, and the Magyar sent another right for her chest.
Denny tried to dodge, but the bolt nicked her collar bone and careened away.
Rising to one knee, Denny held Epée in front of her as the Magyar stood.
She was in trouble. Her shoulder throbbed from the bolt, her forehead was still bleeding, and Liderc had her dead in his aim.
“I’m taking your Hanta, Silver. It may kill you, it may not, but I’ll let Fate decide your end.”
Denny tried to stand but the bolt coming toward her threw her off balance as she dodged, allowing the bolt to find its target, embedding in her left shoulder.
“No!” she growled, trying to grab the shaft of the bolt made of light, but her hand passed right through it.
Suddenly, she could see a light string attached to the bolt being pulled taut. Liderc was going to rip the Hanta from her.
“Bull’s eye.”
“Motherfucker.” She dug in and leaned back.
But the line slowly pulled the bolt from her. She could feel the bolt being extracted from her shoulder, and she definitely felt the Hanta struggling to remain within her, as if he was a vital organ being removed.
“No. No. No.” She growled.
“Oh yes, rookie. Feel the fight? A millennium of power inside you fighting to remain within the legacy hunter. He’s dead and he doesn’t even know it yet. Don’t you worry. It’ll only hurt for a moment.”
Denny trembled as the Hanta fought to stay within her. Denny brought the Epée down on the line, stunned when it sliced right through it and nothing happened.
Nothing.
She tried again, and this time, Epée hit the light and bounced out of her hand.
“Why are you fighting it? Let it go. You didn’t ask for this, Golden Silver. Didn’t ask, didn’t want it, don’t deserve it. You can have your life back. Your life.”
Denny dug her feet in and tried to keep the Magyar from pulling the Hanta free.
Fr
ee.
She could be free.
She could let the Magyar rip the Hanta from her and be done with all of this.
She could have her life back…a life where her friends and family weren’t in danger.
Her mother’s face suddenly came into view. Gwen hunted, fought, and killed, and still lost...or had she? What might happen to them all without the Hanta? Without his power? Without his knowledge.
What had Ames said?
There was more to this gig than hunting demons.
So much more, and Gwen knew it. It’s why she fought the good fight. Could Denny do any less?
Denny thought back to the night Sterling told her that Gwen had been wedged in the wreckage that had been their car––that the person who pulled over to help had run back to his car to get his phone, leaving Gwen in in car. When he returned, she was no longer trapped.
Gwen had survived.
Wait.
Gwen had survived.
Denny sat straighter, realizing for the first time, how and why.
The Hanta.
Had the Hanta saved her mother that day just as he had saved Denny earlier?
If so, her mother was alive because of it.
It… he… had saved her life. Was there more to this legacy thing than she realized?
And in that split-second moment of absolute clarity, Denny stopped fighting the Magyar and instead, made a run for him, following the string of light attached to his crossbow.
The look on Liderc’s face was priceless. Not in a million years had he expected her to attack. Fight, yes. Beg, maybe. Release, most certainly.
But attack?
Not even remotely.
Lowering her shoulder, Denny hit Liderc so hard the crossbow flew from his hands.
Weaponless herself, Denny landed punch after punch in his face, bloodying him until the Magyar hit her sternum so hard, she landed fifteen feet away on her back.
“You are as crazy as they say you are.” Liderc leaned down to pick up his crossbow. “Very crazy and soon, very dead.” Liderc walked casually over to Denny. “I gave you a chance, Golden Silver, but you have tried my patience. This is over. ” Holding the crossbow two feet from Denny’s face, he grinned. “This won’t hurt a bit.”
The Demon Within (The Silver Legacy Book 2) Page 24