by May Dawson
They squeezed off two more quick shots, terrifying in such close confines. There was a mask over their face, and they were a lean and narrow silhouette.
Their eyes widened now that I was so close. They turned and ran down the stairs. When I reached the top of the stairs, they squeezed off a series of quick shots that made me step back.
I had to take them down, though. Because if I didn't find out what they'd done to the boys and Olivia, I didn't know if my men ever wake up again.
My mother stepped out of the bedroom behind me. "I'll cover you."
I glanced down the stairs, but there was no time for self-doubt. I ran down the hall, stopping to slap my hand against the door. This could be an attempt to lure me away from the boys. I quickly muttered my spell to keep them locked in, safe, until we came back.
My mom held her sword awkwardly, but I wasn't going to criticize. I was afraid to have her come with me, but the odds were a lot better if someone had my back.
"Let's go." I clattered down the stairs as fast I could. There were two choices when I reached the bottom of the stairs; I could peek out from what limited cover the stairs offered, or I could move fast and hope my momentum carried me through any potential danger. I didn't know if our unwelcome house guest had set up a trap at the bottom of the stairs.
I went with speed. I jumped down the last steps into the living room, rolling fast behind the couch. The house seemed quiet. I nodded to my mom to follow me and quickly we went room-by-room, searching. There was no one in the kitchen and nowhere to hide. Nowhere in the book-lined dining room. No one in the room where my sister slept. My heart hammered in my chest as I quickly checked the machines, but my sister was the same as ever: heart beating steadily as she hung suspended between life and death.
"Is she okay?" My mom asked softly. "I shouldn't have left her..."
"You couldn't know there was an enemy in the house." My words were a whisper barely audible in the room. I didn't want to tip off the person who had entered our house.
I smelled gasoline, the scent faint but sharp.
Whoever it was, they knew what my power was. But they didn't know just how flimsy my fireball skills were. Could it be the Company again? Who would go after us like this?
I heard a distant, muffled thud. They were outside the house, preparing to light it on fire. Maybe they were trying to lure me outside. Whatever their end game, I had to protect my men, and that meant protecting the house.
I took a few quick steps to my mom, leaning close to whisper in her ear. "They're going to try to burn the house down. Call 9-1-1."
We didn't often invite anyone into Hunter business, but a fire left no room for our pride.
She nodded. "What's the plan?"
"They want me to go out there." I tilted my head slightly, indicating the front of the house. "You get out of here with Ash and call 9-1-1. Someone has to be able to tell the firefighters where the boys are in case I don't..." I trailed off.
"No," my mom said. "I could distract them while you go out there..."
"Please listen to me," I said. "Just this once?"
My mom nodded. I kissed her cheek quickly, brushing my lips over her petal-soft, just-beginning-to-wrinkle cheek.
Her eyes widened slightly, and then she grabbed me in a hug.
"No grudge." There was no time for the long conversations I wanted to have with my mom; in case this all went sideways, she had to know she was forgiven. I squeezed her back and then quickly let go.
We had to move. I couldn't be sure that I would stop the plan this enemy had set in motion. I switched the ventilator over to battery power, and then held my breath as I pulled the plug. There was a faint moment of terrifying quiet in the room. Then Ash’s chest rose and fell, and I could exhale too.
I unhooked the IV bag from the pole and threw it onto Ash’s chest, gathering her up in my arms. My knees buckled because I had to carry her so awkwardly, in a cradle hold instead of across my shoulders, but I stumbled toward the door.
Mom hurried to grab the ventilator. She groaned at the weight, but neither of us hesitated; we hurried together down the hall for the garage. I looked back over my shoulder to make sure Mom was ready as I shifted Ash into one arm so I could get a hand on the car door, and I pulled it open. Then I bundled my sister quickly into the backseat.
"Keys on the dash," I told my mom, because that was always how it was. We were always ready for a quick getaway. "Get out of here fast. Don't look back."
"Promise," my mom said.
She got into the car, slamming the door shut. My heart was in my chest because there were so many other things that could have gone wrong—the car could be rigged with explosives or the brake lines could be cut or our attackers could have sabotaged us some other way—but there was only time to act, not to fret. I'd made the best call I could to get my mom and sister to safety and have a chance at saving the boys.
I jumped up the stairs to the house, hitting the button by the side of the door that made the garage doors rumble to life. The car engine turned over smoothly, loud in the confines of the garage. The night sky opened up in front of my mom. She gunned it before the doors were even open all the way.
I ran back through the house. The smell of gasoline was strong enough now to make me gag. I tossed the gun, quickly unbuckling the holster, throwing it all on the couch and dragging a blanket over it. I was afraid that the gun going off would light the fire up. I didn't want to leave a gun behind for our enemy to find easily though.
Feeling lighter now without the weight of other weapons, I gripped the hilt of my sword with both hands.
If I were the one lying in wait, I'd expect my enemy to exit out the back, so they could slip around and attack from behind.
So I threw open the front door, throwing my shoulder into it, all my weight and momentum.
I slid across the gasoline-soaked front porch, which was slippery beneath my bare feet, and jumped off the porch.
The figure stepped in front of me. They held the gun out, steady on me.
"I knew you'd go out the front." The voice was amused. "You can tell you've learned everything you know from those morons."
"I'd be careful about who you call a moron," I said.
The figure stretched out a hand. A bright orange flame danced across their palm.
The front of the Rover smashed into them. They were thrown up on the hood. The flicker of spark disappeared in a wisp of smoke.
"Because you didn't even bring anyone to watch your six," I said. "Moron."
My mom threw open her door. She squinted at the figure sprawled across her hood and the spider-web of cracks across the windshield.
"Sorry, sweetie," she said apologetically. "I was trying to listen, but you had a sword and they had a gun and that did not seem like good odds."
I shook my head. "You never listen to me."
"Honey."
"I've got like, a mission from God, superpowers, and everything, and you're still such a mom."
"I'm still such a mom," she agreed.
I grabbed the legs of the figure and yanked them down off the hood, letting the body slam hard into the gravel. They were still and motionless, one arm flung up. The masked face was canted to one side.
I slid my fingers under the mask and peeled it up, revealing a feminine jaw, pale skin, a pointed little nose, wild wisps of dark hair piled on top of her head, as if she had thrown her hair up into a get-things-done messy bun while she plotted to kill us.
Dani.
Chapter 14
"And you wonder why we have a cell in the basement." I slammed the door shut on Dani's unconscious, but breathing, figure.
My mother crossed her arms over her chest. "I wonder when it became we."
Why the hell had Dani attacked us? I wondered if she was under some kind of spell. If that were the case, there could be more enemies on their way.
Really, it was probably best to operate under the assumption there were always more enemies on the way.
Despite my racing mind, I told Mom, "Don't act like they corrupted me."
"I'm sure it was mutual," she said. "Believe me. You didn't have to deal with Todd Corrigan's mother."
My first boyfriend. His mom had thought I was a shameless hussy, even though at the time, I still carried a My Little Pony backpack.
"I just meant Hunter life," I told Mom. "Don't make it weird."
She leaned against the wall, the sword she'd carried from Levi's closet to the car still gripped lightly in one hand. A faint smirk played over her lips.
"What?" I asked her.
"We're a pretty good team," she said.
"We always were," I admitted. Always before Ash died, that was. "Thanks for the save."
"Not that you needed it." Her tone was teasing, and she shook her head. "Bringing a sword to a gun fight."
She was impossible. I quirked my lips to one side in response to her fond exasperation. My mother would never stop criticizing me, apparently, whether it was for visible bra straps, never answering my cell phone, or abandoning my handgun.
"She didn't care if we lit the place on fire," I said. "I did."
But I loved her anyway, so I grabbed my mom in a quick hug. "I have to head down the road to get help. Can you babysit the boys?"
"Of course," she said. "But how are you going to head down the road? The car's a mess."
"A cracked windshield won't impact my driving very much," I promised her. I didn't have far to go.
My mom hugged me tight, burying her face in my hair. I could have sworn I felt her breath hitch in her chest. I pulled away, gripping her by the biceps so I could look into her face. I expected tears, and I meant to be strong for my mother.
But my mother just delivered yet another zinger. "I know. That's what worries me."
I sighed.
“Where are you going for help?” she asked.
“Olivia’s house. Her brothers might have answers.”
“The McKennas?” Mom’s eyebrows arched up in surprise.
“It’s the last place I want to go,” I said. “Well, second-to-last.”
I was least interested in getting help from the Council. But in the end, I needed to make sure my boys woke up. There was nowhere else I could think of to go.
I’d swallow my pride and beg anyone for help if it was what I had to do to take care of my guys.
The car was still idling in the front yard. I climbed in and pulled my seatbelt across my lap, then had to shake my head at the futility. I was such a rule-follower...even though the windshield was a spider-web of cracks. I could only see by leaning my head against the glass on my car door, which gave me a narrow window of vision where the cracks hadn't spread yet. I carefully backed up onto the driveway and headed down the long road. It was strange to think that these boys who lived so close and had been such good friends had gotten us into so much trouble.
I hoped there was still some shred of loyalty, or some Hunter code, that would make them help me. After all, if their champion was going to face ours in combat, Levi would have to be conscious. Although maybe this was the only way the McKennas would have a fighting chance.
I'd just keep those thoughts to myself as I appealed to them for help, though.
I turned the car up their driveway and then turned around in front of their barn, preparing for a quick departure if this didn't go well. The McKennas might just tell me to go to Hell.
Yale and Zane cantered on horseback across an open field beyond the house. Damn, I'd always wanted a pony, how come we hadn't come here when we were still on good terms with these boys?
I got out of the car, leaving my sword behind, and turned to face them. I left the car door standing wide open and the keys in the ignition.
I raised my hands as they drew up a few dozen feet from me. Their horses snorted and panted, as if they'd raced hard once they saw my car.
"What do you want?" Yale asked, his voice harsh.
"I want your help."
Yale's lips twisted in a bitter smile. "Your demon come back to bite you?"
"No," I said. My demon's sister had come back to bite me, but I would rather not go into that now. "We were attacked. The boys—and Olivia—are under some kind of spell."
Zane and Yale exchanged a glance, then quickly slid off their horses. Zane was already reaching to collect Yale's lead.
"Get over there," Zane said. "I'll tie up the horses and call Nash."
Yale nodded. "What kind of spell, girl?"
"They're unconscious," I said. "They passed out. But my mom and I were in the house too and nothing happened to us."
Yale was already running around the front of the car to pull open the passenger door. He hopped in and I did too. As soon as our doors slammed shut, I gunned it down the road and toward the house.
Yale frowned at my windshield and put a hand out on the dash to brace himself as I clipped some tree branches that lined their driveway. "What the hell happened here?"
"My mom," I said. "We've got our attacker in the cell, but she’s unconscious too."
Yale shook his head.
"That's why I had to come to you," I said, because it felt like it needed explanation. "I thought, maybe, for Olivia, you would help."
"For Ryker and Levi and Jacob, too." There was a hard set to his jaw. "I didn't intend for any of this to happen between our families."
"Yeah, too bad there's nothing that could happen to change it," I said. "No take-backs, huh?"
He took my meaning—it was pointed enough—and pulled a face in response.
"Not when it comes to the Council," he said. "We'll have our mediation whether we want it or not."
"You all have a funny definition of mediation.”
"And things will be okay." He said it like he wanted it to be true, not like he believed it.
"Have you seen a spell like this before? People just falling asleep mid-conversation?"
The first rays of morning sun hit my windshield, turning the cracks into a hazy glow. I leaned against the window, trying to see, but one tire slipped off the road. We bounced along half on the embankment. I yanked on the wheel and we finally were jounced back up as I managed to get all the tires on the road again.
"Christ," Yale said, sounding like Jacob for a second. "No, I haven't seen it, but I've heard of it. It's a Grimm spell.”
“Grimm spell?”
“The Grimms, like the fairy tales? They wrote about a bunch of shit that more-or-less happened."
"Sleeping Beauty!" I said triumphantly, which made Yale shoot me the same look again that he'd just given me when we went off-roading.
"Yeah," he said.
"Why did it impact the boys and not us?"
"It's a vulnerability through our runes." He frowned. "But not many people can use that kind of magic. It would take a powerful witch."
"Well, we have one of those on our lengthy list of enemies, apparently." I said it glibly, even though I was troubled. I remembered Dani throwing herself into Nimshi's arms—once she was done kicking his ass—and helping us trick our way past her parents so we could steal back Nim’s soul. Had she been playing us this whole time? Or was someone manipulating her with magic? Had we started this when we left her behind? I couldn't shake the feeling that this was our mistake, coming back to haunt us.
"How do we fix it?" I asked, because that was the important thing.
Yale was silent, staring out the front of the windshield, even though he couldn't see a damn thing.
"Yale?" I asked. "Give me some good news, or tell me the bad. One or the other."
"It's just that the details are a little sketchy," he said.
"How did it get to Olivia?" I thought of my friend's unmarked arms; she
couldn't be a Hunter, so she didn't share their tattoos.
"She has a basic rune on her chest," he said. "It's an anti-possession mark."
"Anti-possession?" My mind raced, thinking of Ash in her hospital bed, of the fear that if we brought her back from the Far, she'd come back with a demon. "How well does that work?"
"Today it doesn't seem like it's such a great idea," he said.
I turned down our driveway and parked in front of the house. Yale was already jumping out of the car, but he stopped when he reached the slick, gasoline-splattered front porch. "They were going to burn the house down while you slept."
"Yeah," I said. "Lucky me, I'm a light sleeper."
That wasn't true. Something had woken me from that dream. Something or someone had reached into my subconscious and yanked me out, in time to have a chance to save my boys. That flash of gold tugged at my mind.
"Shit," Yale said. "You guys really don't need more enemies."
"Tell me about it." I followed him into the house.
My mom paced in the hallway. "I'm so glad you're here.”
"What happened?" I asked.
"Nothing," she said. "Nothing. That's what's wrong. They're so still and quiet.”
"And Lord knows a quiet Alexander brother is eerie and unnatural." I agreed. I squeezed her arm comfortingly as I passed her. "Don't worry. Yale's heard of the spell before, we're going to get everything fixed."
"Let's go see them and then I think we might need to check on your witch," Yale said.
I stopped and turned back to face my mom. "Hey, there are more Hunters on the way to help. Let them in, don't run them over, okay?"
Mom gave me a thumbs-up.
God, I loved her. I was glad she was in my life again.
There was probably something deeply wrong with me that I had renewed hope in our relationship after my mom ran someone over with a car, but I am what I am.
Yale and I ran upstairs.. For a second, I dared to hope I'd walk in on them and they'd be fine, but Olivia was still on the floor—my mom had slipped a pillow under her head and tucked a fleece blanket in over her shoulders—and my boys were all on the bed.