The creature, Aswang, ducked and squeezed sideways through the doorway. Its beastlike voice grated on my eardrums. “She smells good.” It made a slurping noise as it sucked excess saliva back into its mouth and swallowed.
“Yes, she does,” the Demon purred. “I want her to scream, Aswang. It’s so much more pleasurable for me when they do. Make her scream for me.”
“Yes, Mistress. Let her run. I can hear her heart, she wants to run. I like to chase.”
“Yes, yes, Aswang. Wonderful idea. I’ll release her. Make her scream.”
They didn’t know me very well. I had no intention of running or screaming. I felt my anger building again, that was a good thing. I also heard running footsteps coming from behind me. Aswang stepped closer to me and I felt the Demon release me from her spell.
A scream did rip from my throat, but not the terrified scream the Demon was looking for. This scream was fueled by anger. I felt Johnathan and Halli coming up behind me. I did something I’d never done before. I pictured what I wanted to happen, infused it with a massive amount of will and sent a stream of pure laser-like energy from my outstretched hand. The white hot light continued to pour out as I flung it around my head like a whip and then out until it connected with Aswang’s neck. The monstrous head fell to the floor with a grizzly thud, bloodshot eyes frozen in a bewildered look. The headless body stood for a moment longer, unaware its controlling force had been severed. In slow motion, it collapsed like a felled tree.
An inhuman screech exploded from the Demon’s throat. “You killed my Aswang! You will suffer for eternity for this!”
I still had the line of electricity flowing from my hand. I whipped it at the screaming Demon. From behind me came two flaming balls of energy, one slightly larger than the other. She blocked all three of them and sent them shooting back toward us. I erected a large shield that spanned the width of the hallway while simultaneously releasing my attack spell. The energy absorbed into the shield, causing it to glow for a few seconds.
The Demon slithered back into the room and Natalie screamed. I dropped the shield. Johnathan, Halli, and I ran to the door. Natalie stood on her twin-sized bed, backed up against the wall, arms outstretched, palms out. Tears streamed down her face. Her eyes were insane, frantic. Screams tore from her throat like the entrails of a deer downed by a pack of ravening wolves.
The Demon reached for her, smiling as the ecstasy of Natalie’s screams entered her ears. She tilted her head back, drinking in the terror.
“Bind!” I yelled, sending the full force of the spell to the Demon’s hands. It worked! I thought, a little shocked. She’d been able to block every other spell we’d thrown her way. Her scale covered tail thrashed around the room, knocking the sparse collection of things off the top of the small dresser.
A loud, angry hiss came from the Demon’s mouth. Her head whipped around and she spat venom from her fangs. I blocked the steaming liquid with another hastily constructed shield. Lucky for us. The venom ate through the wood of the floor and everywhere else it touched. Smoke twisted up from the damaged floor.
With her hands bound, she lurched toward Natalie. Halli stepped forward, channeling rod outstretched—aimed at Natalie, not the Demon. Natalie flew into the air and hung there as if from a hook on the ceiling.
The Demon’s arms slammed into the wall where her prey had been. She turned her head and spit venom at Halli again. Halli did some sort of fancy ninja flip and avoided the deadly spray.
The Demon rose up on her snake tail and her fingernails scraped one of Natalie’s legs. She screamed just as Alec and Seth came skidding to a stop outside her door.
“Mom!” Alec burst past us, elbowing us out of the way. He didn’t bother with magic, he just barreled into the Demon, wrapping his arms around her torso like she was a tackling dummy. Alec and the Demon crashed into the wall below his mom. Deadly venom flew from her mouth, splashing over Alec’s shoulders and back. He let out a scream as it burned through his jacket and shirt, but, he didn’t let go of her. He wrestled her to the floor; her tail whipped around maniacally.
Seth and Johnathan both leaped at the same time, landing on the dangerously flailing tail—pinning it to the ground. Halli pointed her blasting rod at the Demon’s head and muttered, “Shut!” The Demon’s mouth clamped shut, her blood red lips sealed over her sharp teeth. This set her off on a whole new tangent. The boys were having trouble holding her.
“Halli! Get Natalie out of here,” I yelled. Alec’s sobbing mother floated across the ceiling until she reached the door. Halli gently lowered her to the floor and led her out into the hallway where all that was left of the creature there was a pile of smoldering black ichor.
“Stay here,” I heard Halli say.
Halli returned to my side as I tried to figure out what to do next. Locking her in a circle was out of the question, none of us had time to draw one as we fought for our lives.
“Do something!” Johnathan yelled.
I looked at Halli, her eyes burned with anger and frustration.
“Get ready, Hal,” I said. “Boys, let go on three. One. Two. Three!”
They let go and jumped out of the way. Halli blasted her with blue fireballs and I sent bolts of energy into her flailing body. She rose, singed hair smoking, and slithered toward us dizzily. The boys added their fire power to the fray and pushed her back against the bed. Johnathan sent a powerful fire ball into the bed itself and the mattress burst into flames. It took our combined might to keep her on the bed. She writhed in agony as the flames took hold of her sheer gown and then her skin and scales. They reached her hair. The skin of her face blackened yet, still she fought to get to us. We continued to pound her with an arsenal of blasts and power.
We watched as her head finally caved in, her tail gave one last twitch, and then the burning corpse slumped to the bed, entirely consumed in flames.
When we were sure the Demon was dead, Johnathan called back the magical flames and the fire was gone. Only the smoldering mess of what had been the Demon remained as the charred ichor turned to vapor and escaped back to the Netherworld.
“What a mess,” Alec said, breathing hard.
“Yeah,” I looked at him. “How are we going to explain this?”
“We should just get out of here before security arrives,” Johnathan said. As if on cue, the fire alarm started blaring.
“What about my mom?” Alec knelt next to the hysterical woman out in the hallway.
I knelt next to him and hurriedly healed the wounds on her arm and legs. She looked up at me, recognition finally dawning as her sobs slowed. “Paige? Alec?”
Alec draped an arm around her shoulders. “Yes, Mom. It’s us and a few of our friends. You’re safe now. The monsters are gone.”
She touched his face tenderly. “You’re amazing.”
Johnathan looked down the hallway. “I hear them coming. We need to get out of here.”
“We’ll have to take her with us,” Alec said, standing.
“No. I have to stay here. I need to be in here.”
“But, how are you going to explain this mess? And being out of your room?”
Natalie stood with Alec’s help. “That’s the beauty of being clinically and legally insane. I don’t have to explain anything.” Her pale and trembling lips turned up in a half smile.
Beams of light from several flashlights appeared at the intersection of hallways. Alec hesitated, gripping his mom’s hands.
She squeezed his hands and whispered, “Go, Alec. I’ll see you later.”
“Let’s go. Back to the hotel,” Johnathan urged.
We all portalled to my and Halli’s room, and for once, Alec was the last one to arrive. He slumped to the bed. “I think I need some healing.”
I took a closer look at him. He was pale and shaking. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead and upper lip. “You don’t look so good.” I moved toward him.
Green projectile vomit exploded from his mouth, all over me, right before
he lost consciousness.
eth, help me get his jacket off,” I said, remembering the venom that had spilled down his back.
“I’ll go get Joe.” Halli ran for the door.
Seth and Johnathan stripped Alec’s jacket and shirt off. I leaned over him, to make sure he was still breathing. He drew in ragged, gurgling breaths. “Help me turn him on his side before he chokes.”
A strangled gasp escaped my lips when I saw the damaged skin of his back. The skin the venom had touched sloughed off in great, black globs of deadness. I moved to lay my hands over the worst of the mutilation.
“No!” Joe ran into the room through the open door. “Paige, don’t touch it.”
“How am I supposed to heal him?” My voice came out a couple of octaves higher than normal.
“Get some wet towels. We’ll cover his back and then carry him into the shower. We have to make sure all of the venom is washed off before healing him. It’ll do him no good if you become infected, too.”
Halli, Seth, and Johnathan ran to the bathroom to wet some towels.
“Come on Alec, hang in there,” I whispered.
A small, long-fingered hand with thick, dirty fingernails held something in front of my face. “Surpy, not now!” I pushed his hand away.
“M’Halli’s friend,” he addressed me. “Is helpful… for the Demon spit. Take it.” He pushed the vial even closer to my face.
I raised an eyebrow at him. “What is it?” I asked as I took it from him.
He smiled and his slimy, blue tongue slipped out to lick his thin lips. “Is salve. My mama made it for me. It will help, I promise. I gots bit by a Haunt. Mama’s salve saved my life.”
“Okay, I’ll rub it on after we shower him. Thank you, Surpy.” I patted the ugly little creature on his sparsely covered head.
Seth and Johnathan carried Alec into the bathroom and deposited him in the already running shower. His body heaved as more of the green vomit exploded from his mouth. His friends held him in a sitting position, his back to the cascading water.
“That’s good enough.” I reached over and turned the water off. I looked for a dry towel before realizing we’d used them all up. I took my jacket off and used it to dry his back, sickened as the blackened skin fell off in chunks.
I started to lay my hands on the worst of his wounds when Surpy’s head popped up next to me. I jumped, nearly falling off the side of the tub.
“Use the salve, m’Halli’s friend. Use it first.”
I looked at the Imp sideways with a scowl.
“Try it,” Joe said.
I used my teeth to pry the cork out of the little metal vial. I poured a small amount into my hand. The sickening smell of rotten fish wafted into my nostrils and I nearly gagged. “Are you sure this hasn’t gone bad?”
“What? No way. It always smells like that,” Surpy answered. “Is made of Naiad tears.”
I wrinkled my nose and shook my head. I rubbed the smelly stuff on Alec’s back, wishing I had some gloves. Instantly upon meeting the open gouges in his skin, the salve started to bubble into green foam.
“Is it supposed to do that?” I asked.
“Yes! Is working!” Surpy clapped his hands and jumped up and down.
Hissing noises escaped from where I’d rubbed the salve. I shrugged and rubbed the rest of it on the remaining wounds. I hated to admit it, but the stinky stuff seemed to be working. Alec’s breaths quieted and returned to normal. The bubbling and hissing continued, but at a decreased level.
Alec’s drooping head raised up, wobbling like a bobble-head doll. “What happened? Why’re we all showerin’ together?”
“Just sit still, Alice. You’re hurt,” I said. “That Demon’s venom has done quite a job on your back.”
“Hmm. Tha’s why it feels like I’ve been skinned back there.”
“Yeah. That’s why it looks like you’ve been skinned.” Seth wrinkled his nose in disgust.
“Paige’ll fix it, won’t ya Paige?” Alec muttered.
I swallowed. “I’ll try my best. You might have a few more scars you can use to impress the ladies with, though.”
The green, hissing foam evaporated, leaving the ravaged skin in much better shape than it had been. The skin was now, instead of decaying black, a red color around the open wounds. I laid my hands on his back, covering as many of the wounds as I could at one time.
Joe touched my arm. “These are deep. You’ll want to heal them from the inside out so as not to leave any pockets.”
I nodded. I drew in a deep breath and closed my eyes. The damage was more extensive than I’d imagined. I pictured what I wanted my spell to do, then, infusing it with my will, I said, “Sano.”
I felt the power draining out of me as the magic worked to heal the deep wounds. I tuned out the sound of Alec’s grunts of pain. I tuned out Surpy’s incessant chatter and Johnathan’s bouncing legs as he perched on the closed toilet seat. When the area my hands covered was sufficiently healed, I moved them to a new spot. All in all, I had to perform the spell three times.
When I finally opened my eyes and removed my hands from his back, I was surprised at what I saw. The horrible looking gouges from moments before, were now just pink scars that looked weeks old. I smiled. “Feeling better, Alec?”
He let out a breath. “Much. Thank you.”
All three of the boys still had small cuts on their faces, hands and arms—anywhere their bare skin had rubbed up against the Demon’s scales. Halli healed any of the deeper ones. The rest were left to heal on their own.
Johnathan helped me up as the exhaustion of spent magic set in and the adrenaline wore off. We made room for each other on the two queen sized beds, Joe choosing to sit in the chair next to the window.
“So,” Joe said. “It looks like you found them.”
“We definitely found them,” Alec huffed. “They were in my mom’s room.”
The explanation of what transpired took only a few minutes. When I described to Joe what the Demon looked like, the blood drained from his face.
“That was a Greater Demon. You’re all lucky to be alive.”
Alec shrugged. “We’ve faced Greater Demons before. She wasn’t our first.”
Joe shook his head. “Wow. You kids are amazing. Good job. How’s your mom, Alec?”
“She seemed okay. I’d like to go visit her one more time before we leave. But, visiting hours aren’t until seven tonight.”
Johnathan said, “I really feel like we should go sooner than that, Alec.”
“Then go without me. I’ll catch up to you after I make sure my mom’s okay.”
“Maybe…”
A thought occurred to me. “Alec, they might not even allow her to have visitors after what just happened. You should be prepared for that. And you can’t just portal in there in the middle of the day. I’m sure they will have moved her to a different room, too.”
His face turned hard. “They won’t stop me from seeing her… one way or another.”
Not even Joe challenged his statement.
espite Johnathan’s feelings of foreboding, we decided to all stay in Provo until Alec could visit his mom one more time. Joe felt that we should all at least stay in the same town until we figured out what Brone was up to.
It was 2:30 in the morning before the boys went to their room. Halli and I crawled under the covers of our beds and let the exhaustion of the night’s activities take us away.
Even though we didn’t plan on staying the next night, we kept the hotel rooms so we wouldn’t have to find somewhere to hang out until visiting hours at the hospital.
I slept until noon—when Johnathan knocked on our door. “Paige? You awake?”
I wrapped the pillow around my head and groaned.
“Paige?”
Halli jumped from her bed and opened the door. “Hey, Johnathan.”
“Hey, Hal. I see Paige is still sleeping.”
“Trying to,” I mumbled, peaking at him with one squinted eye.
The growling sound my stomach made convinced me I was hungrier than I was sleepy. I sat up and laughed when I saw my reflection in the mirror across from the bed. “Wow, talk about bed-head. It’s a good thing you love me, Johnathan. I look like a Troll this morning.”
He sat next to me on the bed and stared at our reflection. “You look like an angel, as always. Now go get ready. I’m seriously starving.” He gave me a little shove.
“Fine. Give me five minutes.”
“You can come, too, Halli.” He said as I headed for the bathroom.
The temperature had dipped far below what it had been the previous days we’d been there. My jacket was in the hotel dumpster, ruined after using it to dry Alec’s unhealed back. Without saying a word, Johnathan removed his jacket and draped it around my shoulders. I could have just used the warming spell, but being wrapped in Johnathan’s scent was much better. He barely even noticed the cold anymore anyway, even without using the spell. Increased body temperature was one of the things he’d retained from his time as a lycanthrope.
“Did that creature have to come with us?” Johnathan scowled at Surpy.
Halli looked down at the Imp skip-hopping close beside her. “Yeah, he’s kind of attached to me.”
None of the other people we passed seemed to notice him at all. It made me wonder what they saw when they looked at him. Maybe they saw a homely child. Or, maybe they saw nothing at all.
We ate at McDonald’s—they had the best fries. Surpy sat huddled next to Halli in the booth. He wrinkled his nose at the food—even the fries. “What is this yuck?”
“It’s food. Good food.” Johnathan took a huge bite of his burger.
“What kind of food do you like?” Halli asked him.
“Mmm. Fish. Just the heads and guts, the rest is yuck. And, I likes rats… mice’ll do if there aren’t any rats. My favorite thing, though, is bat wings, cooked over a fire ‘til they’re all crispy-cruttered.”
Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2) Page 21