by Mina Carter
I was saved from answering that by a knock on the door. Well, I say knock, it was actually more like a frantic hammering. Like a mutant woodpecker with rabies.
I smelled the blood before the door crashed inward, bringing both Rafe and me out of our seats, hands spread ready to cast. Well, Rafe had both hands spread ready to cast. I on the other hand, only had one hand spread for casting while hellfire crawled over the other. No sense hiding what I was now that Rafe had figured it out.
But the figure who burst through the door was not an enemy. He was a beat up wolf. He didn’t make it more than a step into the room, grabbing at the door handle as he slid to his knees on the lino.
“Darius,” he gasped, blood trickling from the corner of his lips. “He has Lucas.”
Twin urges warred within me. The first was to rend and destroy, to lash out everything around me in retaliation…and the second was to panic over losing someone that might actually mean something to me. That was one that I didn’t want to admit to myself.
Lucas was my wolf. Okay, I’m not buying the line that he’s my mate. I am just not the settling down type of girl, even if somewhere deep inside there’s still a five-year-old who dreams of being a princess on her wedding day. What woman doesn’t have that five-year-old inside somewhere? I’d told mine years ago I already was a freaking princess but she didn’t care. It had nothing to do with what the denizens of hell called me, and everything to do with finding my own prince charming. I stuffed those thoughts back down in the box where I kept them in the back of my mind, alongside the ones that kept thoughts of happy families and houses with nice little picket fences, and snarled again.
Lucas was mine and no fucking asshole blood sucker was going to take him from me. Even if I had to bring down the apocalypse myself.
An hour later, concealed in some handy woods outside the big bad vamp’s lair… which turned out to be quite a nice little two-story spread out in the countryside beyond Boring’s limits…I was still simmering. Simmering is perhaps an understatement because Rafe slid me a sideways glance.
“What?” I demanded.
“Might want to dial it back a little,” he commented, nodding toward the ends of my hair, which were steaming and smoking, the locks curling back on themselves as my hellfire tried to break free. “Element of surprise, remember?”
The growl broke free from my throat. Before I was aware of thinking it, I was up out of cover, striding toward the house, Rafe hot on my heels.
“Screw the element of surprise.”
My voice was lower than it normally was, my demon blood manifesting into an almost deeper than hearing sound. It was my outdoor voice… The one that any nicely brought up little demon girl only used to scare the complete and utter crap out of someone.
So far I hadn’t had any cause to use it topside.
Now I planned to employ it without prejudice.
I stormed toward the house and up the neat drive. A flick of my fingers sent the two SUVs parked in the driveway in front of me flying sideways, tumbling over and over in the lawns either side of the drive and leaving a gap for me to walk through.
It was broad daylight but that didn’t matter.
Books and films usually restrict vampires to the nighttime, but that’s where they got it wrong. Some vampires are only around and about in the nighttime, sure, but that’s more a psychological hang-up. Like vampiric OCD or something. It’s not an actual rule really. More a guideline. And it seemed the arseholes that followed Darius didn’t follow the guidelines.
As soon as I broke from cover, the shadows of my anger and vengeance wrapped around me. They practically came out the woodwork. Heads popped up on the rooftop, vamps slithering around the walls from the leeward side of the building… The little suckers even broke through the lawn, clawed hands reaching up through the air in the best zombie impressions I’d seen outside of a horror movie.
Yes, we do get cable downstairs. Movie night’s a big thing. So much so that the removal of movie night privileges is one of Uncle’s favorite punishments. You can disembowel a demon every night for centuries and they won’t bat an eyelid, cursing you all the way, but threaten to cut off their cable and popcorn, and they like totally freak out. Go figure.
Another gesture and the three vamps trying to crawl up through the lawn exploded in multicolored glittery clouds. Even I blinked at that one. In hell, blasting anybody with hellfire tends to end one way… Redecoration in shades of red and scarlet, blood and guts optional extras. But topside, with my hellfire mingling with my mortal magic, the effects were unpredictable.
Way unpredictable.
A small grin flirting on my lips, I took aim at one of the vamps on the roof. A bolt of magic hit him square in the chest. Sure enough his scream was cut off by a poof, and he disappeared in a shower of orange and pink sparks. Butterflies circled through the dust in loops and spirals, making the other vamps sneeze.
“Neat trick,” Rafe grunted by my side, his hands moving as he blasted the vamps that were coming up on our other side.
His magic was peach, I realized suddenly. I’d seen him sling spells when we were overrun with bloodsuckers, rather than sneaking up on them with the element of surprise on our side, but it hadn’t registered. Now that we had the upper hand, I was noticing more and more. Like he rolled his shoulder to make it click before he pretended his hands were guns and “shot” two more vamps from the hip.
Hastily, I unfolded my hands from the gun shape I always used and gave him generic “magic” hands by the time he turned around, the light of battle in his eyes. “Are we doing this or what?”
I grinned, his mood infectious.
“Oh… we are so doing this.” Taking the lead, I charged up the drive and around the corner of the house. A large garage was set back from the house, and my demon senses tingled six ways to Sunday, telling me we’d find Lucas in there. Storming up toward it, I used another blast of hellfire to take the huge double doors off their hinges and stomped inside.
And that’s when it all went to shit.
Chapter 10
Two steps inside the garage I slammed into what felt like a wall.
“What the fuck?” I hissed, stepping back only to slam into something behind me as well. I was trapped. A growl in my throat, I flicked my fingers and hellfire poured from them, finding the edges of my prison. A circle glowed on the floor for a second, the shape and symbols around it very familiar. Unwelcomely (is that even a word?) familiar.
A demon trap.
Fucking great. Caught by the oldest trick in the fucking book.
I snarled and looked farther into the dark interior of the garage. I had excellent night vision, but I couldn’t see into it. Must be something about being up top now. My human side reasserting itself.
“Well now, what do we have here?” a deep voice asked, and a figure formed out of the shadows in front of me. Tall and handsome, he was cookie-cutter vampire, right down to the monochrome fancy threads.
“Fuck me… not an invite there… Don’t you guys own anything but black?” I asked, making out like being caught like a fly on a collector’s pin was no big deal. I flicked a glance up and down him with a sneer. “Bit of pink would be just your color. Lime green maybe?”
“Silence!” pretty-boy vamp ordered with a snarl, waving his hand. At his gesture the shadows parted. Magic-wrought. I hid my surprise behind a blank face. I have a great resting bitch face. So much so, I’m banned from playing poker down in hell. They can’t tell if I’m pissed off, about to disembowel someone, or simply thinking about my shopping list.
But this… this was something big, and I didn’t want pretty boy to see me rattled. It was something a mere vampire shouldn’t be able to do, not and obscure my vision anyway. Which meant he was more powerful than I’d anticipated.
“Darius, I assume.” I didn’t ask, I stated, studying my fingernails as though they were the most fascinating things on the planet. Tsking under my breath, I pulled the knife from the small of my
back in a flurry of movement and used it to clean out from under my nails.
“Indeed,” he smiled as the shadows pulled back further to reveal not just Lucas bound in chains that glowed with power, but Rafe as well. Shhhhhhiit, I’d just lost my freaking ace in the hole. “And you would be?”
I blinked and hid my smile. If he didn’t know who I was, and let’s be honest, there really was no reason that he should… then we still had a fighting chance. And by fighting I meant that, as soon as I could figure a way out this fucking trap, I was going to disembowel him slowly, asshole first.
“I don’t think you’re ready for that conversation, handsome.” I smiled.
Humans smile to show each other they mean no harm, as a way of ingratiating themselves into social situations and saying, “Hi, I’m a nice person. You can trust me.” Demons don’t. My smile was simple but terrible, a visual representation of the pleasure I would derive from torturing him slowly until, finally, his spirit gave up the fight for life.
He laughed, striding forward to study me as I’d studied him.
“Full of spirit and bravado,” he said, eyes full of sick lust as he clocked my curves. “But a minor demon, nothing more. And one stupid enough to walk right into my trap. But… demon blood is powerful.” He licked his lips as behind him, Lucas started, his gaze riveted to me. Shit, that was our little romance down the drain now the truth was out. That stung more than I’d expected. “The boys and I are so going to enjoy you, my sweet.”
I wasn’t his sweet anything, but I didn’t bother to reply. Instead, I marshaled power and gently began testing the edges of my confinement as he turned and strutted around the dusty floor of the garage like it was some grand palace.
“And just like that…” he announced, his voice a little high pitched and weasely for my liking, “all my plans have come to fruition. Bring them forward!” he snapped, motioning to the lackeys who held Lucas and Rafe. My heart leaped to my throat as the wolf was dragged forward. He snarled with defiance, making sure the two vamps holding him had a job on their hands, but he’d obviously been worked over and… my gaze narrowed on the puncture marks on his neck… and they’d fed on him.
A silent snarl rose to my throat and I doubled my efforts on the demon trap. Such a fucking simple thing to be caught by, there had to be a way out. I was the princess of fucking hell, for Grandfather’s sake… it shouldn’t be able to hold me. No way, no how.
“You thought a mere wolf pack and one, aging second-rate warlock could stop me?” Darius droned on. The guy was obviously way fond of the sound of his own voice. “I am Darius, spawn of Lucius, sired by Judas himself!”
“So… you’re like the bratty kid trading on his granddaddy’s fame?” I cut in. The vampire whirled, fury in his eyes and I raised both my hands. “Just asking, dude. Totally know where you’re coming from… I got a grandfather that won’t give me the time of day either.”
“Silence!” he roared, which was just freaking rude if you ask me. Asshole vampires. I went back to testing the demon trap as he carried on.
“First Dingle and Knob Lick, now Boring, then—”
I snorted, cutting him off again. He turned around with a sigh. “What?”
“Dingle? Knob Lick?” I sniggered. “You’re kidding me, right? Or are you just taking over places with dirty names?”
“Silence!” he roared again. Dude was seriously going to have to look into upgrading his vocabulary. “Or I’ll have your tongue removed. You don’t need to talk for what we have planned for you.”
I didn’t laugh at the threat and just about managed to look scared. It seemed to placate the vamp asshole’s mood because he grunted and turned back around to grandstand again. “Now Boring… and then Assjacket!”
I managed to restrain my snigger that time, so the only sound that emerged was the tiniest little snort, like a very, very small pig. I like pigs. We have them in hell. Not hell pigs or anything, because, frankly that would be weird, but just pigs. Uncle Luce likes them too. He has two of his own. They like to snuggle and get back scratches.
Something clicked to the left of me where I had tendrils of power, both mortal and demon, extended to find a gap in the trap. I smiled. Game time.
“Now, you see… I have this problem with all that. I mean, I’ve been to Assjacket and it’s a shitty little town on the surface of it, but they have this diner that does the most awesome chocolate cake, so… sorry, sunshine but I’m going to have to shut you down.”
All eyes turned to me, and Darius began to laugh, his face wreathed with amusement as he stepped forward to the edge of the trap. “Oh, yeah, little demon… what you going to do about it caught in that?”
I smiled again. “Not a lot caught in here. It’s a good trap, well drawn and powerful. It would hold even some of the most powerful demons.”
Darius puffed himself up, obviously pleased at the praise. Narcissistic twat.
I smiled as I reached down inside myself. Two wells of power opened up within me and I realized I had a choice. If I opened myself up to the darkness, I could claim my heritage and blast them all to hell. Literally. The need itched at me. I could give myself to the need and it would all be over. I’d be powerful enough to beat this asshole and all his little cronies and free the people I l…lo… I stopped myself. No matter how dire the situation, it was no call for using the L-word. I like them, that’s all we need to say.
The demon on my shoulder tsked at me. Now, with most people, the demon on their shoulder is there to tempt them. Mine? I get the asshole that’s got morals and ethics. Common sense. And believe me, that last one… that’s the total fucker that kills all the fun. But right now? I needed that common sense because if I went darkside? We didn’t need to worry about Nabzon or the mom ruling hell.
“And there’s your problem…” I said as sweetly as I could muster. Now I’d cracked the trap and had a link to the outside world, I sensed E-dub lurking unseen in the space between the living world and the shadow world the reapers walked in. He manifested an eye long enough to wink at me and I grinned as I tightened my grip on my magic.
“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jynx Morningstar. Princess of hell, Lucifer’s niece, Lilith’s daughter and you know what, sweetheart?” I winked at Darius. “I’m not just a demon.”
I stepped from the circle, lifting my hands to mix hellfire and mortal magic the same shade of violent orange as E-dub. Now I had the trick of it, it was easy to mix the two in perfect harmony.
“Noooo! Kill them all!” Darius screamed, flying toward me, mouth open and fangs descended in his rage. I hit him with a fireball where it hurt, right in the crown jewels. He flew across the room to hit the back wall, curling up in his own private world of pain.
“Get him out of here!” I yelled, blasting Rafe’s and Lucas’s chains. Lucas didn’t look so hot but I didn’t have time to think about that as what seemed like every vampire in existence piling into the garage. E-dub launched himself out of the shadow-world in his full hellcat form as he threw vamps around with huge paws to slam them into walls.
“For upstairs’ sake!” I chided him with a shout. “Stop playing with your food and kill them!”
The hellcat blinked at me, paw as big as a wheelbarrow on the back of a squirming vamp trying to get away. With a yawn, he bent down and ripped the bloodsucker’s head clean off, spitting it toward me. The grisly orb bounced twice and came to a stop in front of me.
“Cute,” I said, blasting two more vamps and turning them into pink clouds with tweeting birds. Then I threw fire at the one trying to sneak up behind the cat. “Less playing and more killing, please!”
He gave me a mock salute and dived back into the fray.
I have no idea how long the fight lasted. My world narrowed down to whatever bloodsucker was dumb enough to get into my line of sight, and my hands began to blister at the sheer power flowing through them as I threw fireball after fireball. Finally, there were no more vamps. I stood in the middle of a circle of d
estruction, head down, chest heaving as I listened to E-dub crunching on what I assumed were vamp bones in the darkness behind me. Vamp blood was usually fatal… seemed that didn’t hold true for the hellborn. I was covered in the damn stuff.
With a gesture, I cleaned the blood off my skin and clothes and strode from the garage. The sunlight all but blinded me and I lifted a hand until my vision cleared. Then wished it hadn’t.
Lucas lay on the ground, Rafe kneeling next to him, blood covering his broad chest and the pallor of death already on his cheeks.
“No…” My breath caught in a gasp of pain. It couldn’t be Lucas lying there. That wasn’t supposed to happen.
The gravel of the driveway crunched under my feet as I raced toward the two, dropping to my knees next to Rafe. My hands waved helplessly over the horrendous wound across Lucas’s chest. There was so much blood. My eyes felt hot, my chest tight as I struggled for breath suddenly.
“What happened?” I asked, grabbing the shirt that one of the gathering crowd of wolves offered and wadding it against the big gash. Almost instantly my hands were covered in blood.
“Vamp took a slice out of him,” Rafe replied, his expression tight with strain. His hands were on the big wolf’s shoulder, peach light surrounding them, and I could tell he was deep within, trying to fix the damage. “Lucas took his head off but he was too close, got splattered with blood. I need him to shift, but the damage is too great. He’s dying…”
“No, he can’t!” I whispered, sliding closer with tears in my eyes as I looked at Lucas. “Come on, you big, stupid mutt… you have to change and let Rafe help you.”
The slightest smile curved the wolf’s lips and, with obvious effort, he opened his eyes to look at me. Already they were beginning to pale as the life drained out of him. “It’s okay, beautiful. It’s all good.”
“No, you freaking don’t!” I gasped as his head dropped back, eyes closing. I felt the shadows crowding in and the presence of death stalking around us.