by Terry Spear
“You are so beautiful, Celeste,” her mother said.
“You take after your mother,” her dad agreed.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you, and I didn’t think we’d feel this…bond,” Celeste said, wiping away her tears.
“Always between family members, even distant ones,” her mother said, glancing at the Camaran family smiling at the reunion.
“This is Wendell and his parents,” Celeste said, “and they’ve put me up until we could find you. Though Alana’s dad said I could visit there anytime. Pappalios is a gate guardian and lives a few houses down from here.”
“We want to take you home with us, and well, you can decide what to do after that. We…we don’t want to lose you again,” her mom said.
“I’m of age,” Celeste said, worried that they were going to keep a tight leash on her, afraid she’d just vanish again. “I have a job offer with a leading group of psychics.”
Her mom smiled. “Your dad and I started the organization.”
“You knew?”
“Yeah, honey. We have need of a researcher, and we think you’ll have our combined talents. You’ll fit right in. Pay’s excellent. You can live with us until you want to find a place of your own.”
Celeste glanced back at Wendell. He was smiling. He must have known!
“You’re an adult. No rules, Celeste. We’re just so glad to have you back home.”
“I might have half human friends visit sometimes,” Celeste said.
“Anytime.”
“And I might return to Earth world to see them too. Alana’s dad said he’d help me get to Alana’s mother’s home. Alana’s a gate guardian too.”
“Absolutely,” her mom said. “You have to know we gave up hope of ever seeing you again. When we saw all the news clips of those on the train, and the one of you, we couldn’t be certain it was you. Not until we started connecting the dots. That Alana and Hunter were half human and had brought over human-raised demons to search for their families. You don’t know how much we prayed that you were our missing baby daughter.”
“Why don’t we go inside and have something to eat?” Wendell’s dad asked.
Wendell hurried to wheel Celeste into the house before her dad could. Her parents smiled at each other. Yeah, Celeste had her first boyfriend. Would he be the one for her like she knew Hunter was for Alana? Maybe not, but he would be her first real boyfriend.
She and Wendell had discussed how they had to locate Mikey, or Bengal, or whatever his real name was, and eliminate him. Their first “guardian” duty on this side of the world. He wasn’t ever going to return to Earth world and hurt another demon again.
She was glad Wendell had just as much of a sense of adventure, though he’d asked if they could take along another Matusa to help even the odds. Hunter? She’d ask.
But she didn’t think they would get good publicity if everyone learned they were a vigilante group now too.
They would have to learn where Mikey had been left off in the demon world. He might have already left the area. It could take years to locate him. But they’d find him.
Someone knocked on the front door, and Wendell’s dad hurried to get it. “Probably the reporters wanting more news.”
They all waited for him to come back to the table, but then they heard more footfalls than just his. Celeste couldn’t believe he’d bring reporters in to talk to them while they were eating dinner.
What shocked and thrilled her was that they weren’t reporters, but her friends had returned, all but Jared. Her eyes were laden with tears again. She felt like a traitor for not wanting to return with Alana.
Alana smiled brightly at her and hurried to give her a hug. “We’re so sorry to interrupt your meal. But we had to tell…” She looked at Celeste’s mom and said, “Ohmigod, you found your parents!”
“This is Alana,” Celeste said, then hurried to introduce everyone. “Where’s Jared?”
“He found his parents. They’re living in Amarillo, but they intend to move to Baltimore to be close to us and help with creating demon tracking devices and other high-tech gadgets. They all came home to see family though.”
“That’s wonderful.” Celeste still felt like a traitor.
“Now that you’ve found your family, what do you want to do?” Alana asked her.
“Stay here.” She expected Alana to be upset with her, but all she did was smiled again and gave her another hug.
“But you’ll visit sometime.” Alana said it as if it were a given.
“Join us for dinner, if you would,” Wendell’s dad said.
“Oh, we can’t stay. Dad’s fixing us dinner, and we’re leaving first thing tomorrow. But we just wanted to share the good news about Jared, and we’re thrilled about your good news too.”
“Do you mind wheeling me out to the back porch so we can talk for a moment?”
“Sure, just tell me the way.”
Everyone began talking about what Hunter and Samson did in Earth world as they helped other demons, and they were glad to give Celeste and Alana a moment alone together.
When they were on the back porch, and Alana had shut the door, Alana asked, “This is what you want?”
“Yes, more than anything. It’s not the same for you and the others. They have family they love in Earth world. I have all of you, but my family is here.”
“And a boyfriend,” Alana said, smiling.
“Maybe not as much of a sure thing as you and Hunter, but time will tell. I hate to abandon you and then have to ask you a favor.”
“We will be sisters, always.” Alana sat on the step next to her. “You can ask me anything.”
“Wendell and I want to kill Mikey, Bengal, or whoever he is. After he nearly murdered the two of us, he doesn’t deserve to live. What if he returns to Earth world? What if he does this to demons in this world?”
Alana nodded. “We’d have to learn where he ended up in Seplichus.”
“Right.”
“He might have left the area.”
“True. Why didn’t you just kill him after what he did?”
“Anna was a witness. Hunter wanted her to believe that Mikey was a real demon, and tell her friends how dangerous he was. If he’d killed him, she would have thought Hunter was the danger, the demon, like Mikey had said.”
Celeste frowned. “Omigod, what if Mikey’s seen the news about us? Knows where we are? That your dad is a gate guardian? What if he tried to force him to send him back to kill you and Hunter? Me, for not dying? Wendell, same thing.”
Alana opened her mouth to speak, then clamped it shut. “We need to tell the world who he was, what he looked like, how evil he is. The people here will try him. We’ll have to return to the abandoned house and learn where the portal went through to the demon world, and then we can give that information to my father. He can spread the word.”
“All right. I guess that’s the best idea. Especially since I can’t walk for a while.”
“But we need to warn your family and friends of the danger you and Wendell could be in, that any of them could be in for being close to you.”
“Okay. We…we thought we could just ask Hunter if he could help us kill him and that would be the end of it. But I can see how this could go sideways. Are you sure you’re not upset with me for staying here?”
“I’m so happy for you.”
“My parents have a psychic research facility, and I have an important job there.”
Alana smiled. “We only wanted you to be happy wherever you are.”
“I guess we should go back and tell them the news about Mikey.”
When they returned to the dining room, Hunter looked glad to see Alana was fine. Celeste wanted a mate like that.
She explained about Mikey, aka Bengal, and how dangerous he was.
Wendell was frowning at her, like he wished they had taken care of it on their own. But they couldn’t. Not when the guy was a Matusa demon. And not when he could hurt any of their family or f
riends.
“We’ll take care of it,” Hunter said.
Alana raised her brows at him.
“I should have killed him when I had the chance.”
“Learn where he ended up in Seplichus, and we’ll make sure he has a warm welcoming committee,” Celeste’s dad said. “Attempted murderers don’t have any place in our society.”
“Agreed,” Wendell’s dad said.
“Okay, well, we’ve got to run. I’m so happy for you, Celeste, and when I come this summer, I’ll be sure to visit you,” Alana said.
“Me too,” Hunter said, “since she’s not going anywhere without me.” He held up his ring, just to let Celeste’s parents know they were mated.
“Me too,” Samson said.
Nobody had invited him for the summer, but Celeste expected where Alana went, Samson and Hunter went. She wondered about Jared now too.
They said their goodbyes, and Wendell’s dad saw them out. “You don’t have to do this alone. Everyone will help you with this. I know that look in your eye.”
Hunter grunted. “I wanted to keep the other students from following into the same footsteps as Mikey. But I did Celeste and Wendell a great disservice by allowing the demon to live. I always correct my mistakes. Always.”
“You don’t have to do this alone. You’ll have a ton of people at your back. Let us know when you find him. Please.”
Hunter gave him a stiff nod, but Alana knew that look. Hunter had to fix his mistake, and she prayed he wouldn’t get himself killed doing it.
“When do we find him?” Samson asked.
“You’re to protect Alana at all times,” Hunter told him, as they headed back to Alana’s dad’s estate.
“No way. We stick together.”
Hunter scowled at him. “You always say you’re Alana’s protector. Now you’re mine? I’m a Matusa!”
Samson smiled, then frowned. “And you’re bound to get yourself killed.”
When they returned to her dad’s house, Alana told him what had happened. He was thrilled that Celeste had found her family, but not happy at all about the business with Mikey. Bentos was quiet, taking it all in. Alana thought he would believe it was Hunter’s job to do just as he said he would do.
“You tell me where he is in our world, and I’ll go after him,” Bentos finally said. “Your job is to take care of those who are in Earth world.”
“Your job isn’t to take care of them in this world.”
“He went after your friends. He’s bound to go after you and Alana. You’re family. Family protects family.”
Hunter let out his breath as they sat down to eat a dinner of steak, potatoes, and spinach. Her dad hadn’t lied about loving steak. “Okay, look, I’ll open a portal, and see where it leads to. But if he’s in the vicinity, I won’t have time to return to Earth world, to fly to Dallas, to come here, and seek you out with the news.”
Bentos smiled. “That works for me. I’ll go with you.”
“Back to Baltimore?”
“That’s where my wife and son are. You want to meet Rolling? I’ll show him to you. But we’ll take care of this other business first.”
“That’s a deal,” Alana said. Hunter had wanted to see his half brother. And she wanted Hunter to have backup against Mikey. Who knew what powers he might possess?
* * *
Hunter couldn’t believe his dad was negotiating with him, wanting to fight his battles, and his mate was siding with his father.
“And, we can be mates, now,” Alana said, holding onto Hunter’s arm, leaning over to kiss his cheek.
He smiled darkly. Now she was good at negotiations. “It’s a deal.”
“Jared should have been here to see this,” Samson said, chowing down on the steak.
“I’m going with you,” Pappalios said. “To see my wife, and protect Alana.”
“You know, I was thinking, I need to get Uncle Stephen to teach me how to create a barrier spell like he does, to keep me from being pulled to a portal,” Alana said.
“Can you learn it?” Hunter asked.
“Not all spells. It’s like some are good at math, others great at computer technology, some at artwork, we never know which skills we can learn unless we try. And then of course there’s tons of practice that has to go into it too.”
“Well, let’s ask him when we get back there.”
After dinner, they packed their bags and discussed what they would do. They planned to pick up Uncle Stephen so that he could work on the barrier spell with Alana while also visiting with her dad and mother. In the meantime, they needed to tell Jared what they planned to do.
Then everyone peeled off to their rooms except Alana and Hunter.
They were settled on the couch, and he had his arm wrapped around her. “You know it’s still your choice. After graduation, we can be mated.”
“College?” she asked, lifting her brows.
He smiled. “No, high school. And that’s only if you graduate on time.”
“I promised to be mated to you now. Unless you’ve changed your mind?”
Hunter chuckled darkly. “Never.” He lifted her off the couch and carried her to her bedroom. “This has been too long in coming.” Then he carried her into the bedroom, shut the door with his hip, and set her down on her bed.
“You are—”
“Beautiful,” she finished for him, pulling off his shirt. “And you are—”
“Hot.”
She laughed. “True. I was going to say you were mine, before you said it and irritated me.”
He chuckled. They were soon in bed, loving each other like a mated couple should, and he thought he’d never be mating his lovely Kubiteron in a bed in the demon world—in her dad’s home, no less.
Alana couldn’t have loved Hunter more. She so appreciated that though she’d made the offer to be his mate now and forever, he’d still given her the option to wait until…well, the graduation date he was still calling for. Not that she could have waited all the way through college either.
No more calling her via a portal to stoke her ire. Though she hoped to get that under control soon too.
She wondered why she’d put this off for so long? She loved Hunter as much as he loved her.
* * *
The next day, they finally arrived back in Baltimore. Alana’s mom was thrilled to see Pappalios and Alana return safely. She was happy to see her brother too. Uncle Stephen had been telling Alana the spell over and over again on the flight from Dallas to Baltimore to protect herself from a portal call. But she didn’t know if his protection worked, or they just hadn’t run into any portals opening on the earth below them during the trip.
Jared had been talking away to Samson in the seat behind them on the plane. His parents had stayed behind to visit for a couple of weeks with family. But Jared had to help Hunter on this mission. Pappalios would open a portal to Dallas when Jared’s family wanted to return there.
For now, they would unpack and settle in before they headed over to the abandoned house out in the country, to see where they ended up.
Bentos left to visit with his wife and son, promising that Hunter would see his half brother after they took care of Mikey.
“He’ll take you to him,” Alana said, squeezing Hunter’s hand.
“Hopefully the kid is more like me than my father,” Hunter said.
Alana’s mom smiled at them. “I hear you’re properly mated.”
“Yeah, we’re going to Hunter’s apartment tonight,” Alana’s said.
Jared cleared his throat.
“Well, technically Jared’s apartment,” she added.
“And Celeste is finally home. I’ll miss her,” her mom said.
“We all will, but she’ll return.”
* * *
Right after lunch, Bentos returned to the house. “Ready to scout out the demon world?”
“Yeah, I sure am,” Hunter said.
“I’m going with you,” Alana said.
“You
were supposed to stay here with your uncle and dad and mom,” Hunter said, frowning.
“If he’s a fire demon, you can use my help.”
“We can all go. Accept for your mom. She stays home,” Pappalios said.
Alana was glad for that. Her mother dealt with some nasty poltergeists. She didn’t need to face demons too.
“Let’s go.”
They took Jared’s Jeep and Hunter’s truck.
Bentos and her dad sat in the back seat of Hunter’s truck, while Hunter drove, and she navigated, in case he’d forgotten where the house was located.
Jared followed behind with Samson and Uncle Stephen.
When they reached the site, they saw a group of teens gathered, wearing black cloaks that looked like they’d picked up black graduation gowns early.
“Omigod, he’s back,” Alana said, “and he’s casting a fireball this way!
Someone in his little demonic group of so-called hunters must have used a summoning spell he’d given them and called him right back.
“We’ll take care of him and anyone else who wants to join him,” Bentos said, his voice filled with dark purpose.
Hunter tore off of the dirt road, trying to avoid the fireball hitting his pickup.
Alana was conjuring a water spell to put it out, afraid the blast would hit Jared’s Jeep before he was aware it was coming when Hunter moved out of its path.
He didn’t have time to turn the Jeep, and Samson and Jared jumped from the vehicle. Her spell helped to reduce some of the fireball, but she couldn’t put it all the way out.
Uncle Stephen was working some kind of a reverse spell and sent the fireball back to the Matusa. But he was a fire demon. He couldn’t be hurt by the fire.
Alana figured her spell wasn’t as effective through the glass windows of the truck. She and the others scrambled to get out of the truck.
Fourteen or fifteen kids standing around Mikey, wearing black robes and carrying scythes, scattered as the fireball headed back in Mikey’s direction. They thought their demon was all powerful, but they didn’t know who they were messing with.
Mikey threw a new fireball, but held it in place and spread the fire out into a wave. Then he hurdled it toward them. But it moved slowly.