Demon Slayer

by Linsey Hall

  She looked at Declan. “Where are we headed exactly?”

  “He said the demon just arrived at the northern edge of the city and is approaching the cathedral from that direction. Somewhere in there, as close to the cathedral as you can get.”

  She nodded. “I know a spot. It’s close.”

  I strode to her and took her hand. She held out her other hand for Declan, who took it. A second later, the ether swept us up in its grip, hurling us through space toward England.

  Moments later, we appeared in a windy, cobblestoned street bordered on either side by ancient buildings. There was a pastry shop to my left and an old pub to my right. It was dark here, the stars sparkling in the sky above. The roads were lit with a golden glow from the street lamps, and I looked up, searching the tops of the buildings.

  My eye caught on a series of spires that rose above the roofs. I pointed. “That way. We aren’t far.”

  We took off, racing down the quiet city street, our boots silent on the cobblestones. I couldn’t feel the demon yet, but he was so awful I knew that his dark magic would precede him.

  A few moments later, we spilled out into a big open space in front of the cathedral. There was a lawn separating it from a row of shops on one side, and a tall blond man stood in the shadows of a narrow old building.

  “That’s him.” Declan turned and strode toward him, holding out his hand. “Michael.”

  Michael shook his hand. “Declan. That was quick.”

  “We had good transport.” He nodded to Mari and me. “These are my friends, Mordaca and Aerdeca.”

  Friends? That was a bit of a stretch—potential fuck buddies more like—but I didn't correct him.

  I shook the angel’s hand, taking in the strong signature of magic that felt like a ray of light had filled me up from the inside. He was handsome too. Almost too handsome.

  I glanced at Declan.

  Yep, I preferred the fallen-angel type, that was for sure. A little dark and rough around the edges.

  I shook the thought away and looked back at Michael. “So you felt the demon arrive?”

  Michael nodded. “Just minutes ago. I’m sensitive to dark magic such as his, and he appeared within the city walls somewhere north of here.”

  “Why would he choose this place?” Declan asked.

  “The cathedral isn’t a normal Anglican cathedral,” Michael said. “It’s a place of worship for supernaturals. There are a lot of them buried here. All types”

  “So maybe he’s looking for one,” I said. “He is a necromancer, after all.”

  Michael grimaced. “If he tries to raise them…”

  “Not good,” Declan said.

  Suddenly, I felt a dark prickle on the air. And the stench of dead bodies. “He’s coming.”

  “Let’s ambush him before he gets into the cathedral.”

  Michael pointed to the tea shop behind us. “The top floor of that shop is great for long-range attacks.” He pointed to two massive bushes near the lawn. “The leaves on those bushes provide good cover too.”

  “I’ll take the shop,” Mari said.

  “It’s unlocked,” Michael said.

  “Thanks.” Mari turned and slipped inside the building.

  “I’ll take the bush on the left.” I sprinted for it, slipping inside the dense coverage. I peered out, getting a good view of the whole lawn and the streets that approached from the north. I drew a dagger, holding it lightly. Ready.

  Heck yeah, this was a great hiding spot. That angel really knew his stuff.

  Declan slipped inside the other bush, and Michael’s white wings flared wide. He launched himself into the sky and perched himself on a roof, disappearing into the shadows.

  I drew in a deep breath and worked to repress my magical signature. I frequently kept it on the down low, but I didn’t want a single bit of it escaping to alert the demon to my presence.

  As for the demon, either he didn’t care to control his signature, or he couldn’t. I’d bet the latter—he was so damned evil he couldn’t wrap it all up.

  A cool night breeze blew my hair back from my face as I waited. I focused on the dagger in my hand, ready to hurl it as soon as I saw the bastard.

  When he stepped out from a narrow street, that same leather bag was gripped in his last remaining hand. I shifted left to get a clear view, and hurled my dagger.

  It glinted under the glow of the streetlights, flying straight and true. The demon only had eyes for the cathedral, so he didn’t even see it coming.

  How easy is this?!

  The dagger slammed into his chest.

  Then turned to dust.

  I nearly shrieked my indignation.

  What the hell kind of magic was that? He hadn’t had that ability before. Declan had cut his damned arm off, for fate’s sake.

  The demon didn't even stop walking.

  A flicker of movement in the tea shop window was the only indicator of Mari. A half second later, an arrow flew through the night and smashed into the demon’s back.

  It turned to dust.

  Crap.

  A lightning bolt shot from the sky, and I’d bet good money it was from Declan. It was impossible for the demon to not notice the lightning, but all he did was grunt and keep going.

  The bastard had new magic, no question.

  And now he was going to be nearly impossible to beat.

  As he passed me, I squinted at him, catching sight of a new pendant around his neck. It was totally different than the one that had broken earlier and led us to him.

  That had to be it.

  I needed to get that thing off him.

  The demon was about twenty feet away from me, headed toward the cathedral. I sprinted out after him. Declan broke away from his hiding spot at the same time. Clearly, he had the same plan in mind.

  The demon didn’t even turn to look at us, though he must have sensed us coming.

  Instead, he chucked something over his shoulder and kept walking, his long strides eating up the ground.

  The package landed about ten feet in front of me, exploding in a cloud of dust that billowed twenty feet in the air.

  I coughed, stumbling backward, rubbing my eyes. When my vision cleared, I caught sight of a body shambling toward me through the dust. It was gaunt and dead-looking, with decomposed flesh revealing part of its skeleton. One eye peered out of a decayed face. The other was long gone.

  “Freaking zombies!”

  14

  I drew my mace from the ether, searching the billowing dust for other monsters. I’d never seen a magic bomb like this.

  Two more staggered out of the dust, moving faster than a dead body should be able to. Which was zero miles per hour. That was how fast a dead body should move.

  Declan was closest to the zombie on the left, and he drew a sword from the ether and swung it in one fast stroke aimed straight at the zombie’s middle. He cut the monster in two, right as the creature reached its claws out for him.

  I lunged for the one on the right, swinging my mace at his head. It crashed into the zombie’s skull so hard that the head popped off. Raggedy blond hair waved in the wind as its head flew like a basketball toward an invisible hoop.

  Cool.

  Gross, but cool. The body collapsed, but another zombie came right for me, darting in from the left. He was dressed like a farmer and looked like he’d died sometime when people thought bathing was a bad idea. He slammed his arm into my shoulder. Pain flared.

  Damn he was strong.

  I spun, ducking low to avoid the zombie’s second blow, and swung my mace, making sure to keep the chain short. The spiked ball slammed into his middle with such momentum that it tore right through him. His top and bottom halves crashed to the grass.

  Wow, fighting zombies was almost as fun as it was terrifying. They were so decayed that I could do way more damage with one strike.

  More zombies appeared out of the fading dust, and I could hear someone running up from behind. I glanced back. Mari.
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  She pulled an arrow from the quiver at her back, nocked it, and fired. I turned to follow the projectile, watching as it slammed into the throat of one of the zombies so hard that it went straight through. Mari had chosen an arrow with particularly big quill feathers, and they cut through the rest of the neck.

  The head toppled off and hit the ground.

  A zombie staggered up to her from behind.

  “Look out!” I shouted.

  The creature swiped out a hand as she turned and hit her hard in the head. She spun away, falling to the ground. The zombie lunged toward her, but she was on her feet before I’d taken two steps to her. She drew a sword from the ether and sliced it across the zombie’s neck.

  A figure dived from above, a flash of white wings.

  Michael.

  The angel grabbed a zombie by the arm and yanked it up into the air so he could grip the leg as well. Then he yanked the creature in two. I darted left to avoid the falling body debris.

  Declan was quick with his sword, beheading two zombies in swift succession. I paired off against one that had been six feet tall in real life. He was strong and fast, landing a nasty blow to my arm and leg. Had adrenaline not been racing through my veins, I’d have been limping for sure.

  Soon, the battle was over, the dust settled.

  I sprinted away from the body parts that were slowly disappearing. “If we hurry, we can catch him.”

  Mari, Declan, and Michael raced alongside me. My leg ached from the zombie’s blow as I ran, but I ignored it. We cut across the lawn to the sweeping steps that led up to the cathedral.

  Would he raise all the dead in the church? In the graves beyond?

  Could we even fight them?

  Exeter was a partially human city—if the dead started roaming around here, we’d never be able to cover it up.

  I took the stairs two at a time and then shoved my way through the heavy wooden doors that led into the massive cathedral. The vaulted ceiling rose a hundred feet above me, stretching endlessly into the distance. Candles flickered high overhead, thousands of them inside massive chandeliers.

  Frantic, I searched the cathedral.

  “There!” Michael pointed. “The clock is different.”

  “Clock?” I spotted it then, a blue circle high on the side wall. It only kind of looked like a clock, with various dials and little golden dots that indicated something other than time.

  Light glowed from it, projecting on the floor. Within the pool of light stood the demon. He turned to look at us, an ugly scowl creasing his face.

  I ran for him, my friends at my side.

  “It’s an astronomical clock,” Michael said as we ran, clearly never out of breath. “It’s ancient, and is meant to provide information about the solar system instead of time.”

  Why the hell was the demon interested in an ancient astronomical clock?

  As we neared, I realized that it was projecting an image onto the floor. Black with bright white dots. It had to be the solar system, or an image of stars or something.

  The demon was studying it—memorizing it.

  The huge blue astronomical clock was built into the wall over an old wooden door. There was a small hole cut into the bottom of the door, about eight inches across. A small black blur shot from the hole, launching itself onto the demon with a shriek.

  The demon howled and lunged backward.

  The black blur was a cat with smoky fur—the hellcat from Grimrealm?

  No way.

  But it was. Flaming red eyes flashed as the cat bit into the demon’s neck. The demon roared, shaking the cat off, then ran away from the clock. The cat hurtled after him.

  “I’ll snap a pic of the clock’s projection,” Mari said.

  “Thanks.” We’d need that. I wanted to know what the demon knew, but there was no time to stop and study it. I picked up the pace, racing after my prey.

  The two angels easily kept up with me, which was a rarity.

  The demon had a good lead on us and was already disappearing through a small wooden door at the back of the church.

  “The crypts,” Michael said.

  Of course.

  I ran for the door, racing down the stone spiral staircase.

  The crypt below was almost as impressive as the cathedral above. High, vaulted ceilings soared overhead, and thousands of sarcophagi dotted the space.

  “Ah, shit.” There were so many bodies for the demon to raise. How fast could he do it?

  “It’s the biggest supernatural crypt in the world,” Michael said. “There’s nothing in the human world to compare.”

  “Figures he’d come here.” I searched the space, but it was so big and many of the sarcophagi were huge. They created a maze-like interior that was easy to get lost in. And the demon had definitely made himself scarce.

  A moment later, Mari appeared behind us. “Whoa, this place is huge.”

  “Do you hear that?” Declan asked. “To the left.”

  I heard a faint noise from the far left corner and started toward it. Everyone followed close on my heels. A few steps later, the horrifying stench of death rolled over me. I gagged.

  It reeked worse than the demon himself.

  We had to be getting close.

  We cut through a narrow corridor formed by massive sarcophagi. The sound of stone scraping against stone was my first warning. When the lid of a huge stone box crashed to the floor, I jumped, whirling to face it and drawing my mace from the ether.

  A skeleton wearing tattered velvet robes climbed out. Jewels glinted on the ragged fabric, and a crown tilted off its head.

  “I’ve got this one.” Mari stepped forward. “Keep going.”

  “I’ve got your back,” Michael said to Mari.

  “Thanks, guys.” I wanted the demon.

  The skeleton climbed out of the sarcophagus and charged Mari, but she was fast, drawing a sword from the ether and then swinging for his head.

  I hurried down the corridor, Declan at my side.

  More stone scraped against stone, the lids of the sarcophagi slowly creaking open. It was the demon’s doing.

  We reached the end of the corridor as a dozen sarcophagi lids crashed to the ground. I caught sight of the demon standing over the most impressive burial site of all, a stone sarcophagus the size of a car. His hand glowed blue as he hovered it over the body within. The light shined brightly all around, illuminating the entire crypt in a pale blue haze.

  It was the source of the awful stench.

  “Behind you!” Declan called.

  I turned from the demon, facing off against a dozen skeletons and bodies in different states of decomposition.

  They were a distraction, providing cover while the demon did what he really wanted. I’d have to get rid of these guys first.

  Declan was already fighting, moving swiftly through the crowd of oncoming bodies. Most were ancient—just skeletons—but they were fast and strong. The demon’s death magic animated them, transferring his strength to them.

  I gripped the chain of my mace and charged the skeleton closest to me. He wore a suit of armor that gleamed brightly in the blue light of the demon’s magic. Black holes gaped where his eyes should have been, and his stare sent a shiver down my spine.

  He charged, raising a sword high. When he neared me, he brought the blade crashing down. I darted left, avoiding his steel, and turned to face his back. I swung for his head, my mace clanging against his armor. It left a dent, but bounced off.

  Holy fates, that was serious armor.

  He spun, an eerily silent enemy, and swung his huge sword again. I ducked low, feeling it whoosh over my hair.

  He was quick on the return, landing a nasty slice to my arm. Pain flared. The ancient blade was still sharp.

  Damn, I was going to need a tetanus shot; these guys had some seriously old weapons.

  Since my mace couldn’t penetrate his armor, I’d have to get him out of it. I charged and slammed my shoulder into his chest with all the stren
gth I could muster. He fell backward and crashed onto the stone floor.

  I kicked the helmet off his head, revealing a partially decayed face and sweep of sandy hair. This was too close for my mace, so I stashed it in the ether and drew a sword, swiping my blade through his neck and severing his head. He lay still.

  Mari and Michael had joined us and taken up the fight against the corpses. Behind me, Declan continued to fight the skeletons. He killed one, buying himself a brief second of free time. He used it to turn toward the necromancer and throw a blast of bright white flame.

  Whoa.

  I’d never seen fire like that.

  It smashed into the demon, who howled but didn’t stop his evil work.

  “Heavenly fire should have killed him,” Declan muttered.

  Heavenly fire?

  Damn. I’d only heard of it as a myth. It should burn through anything.

  That damned charm around the demon’s neck was our biggest problem. Followed shortly after by whatever he was doing to the body in the sarcophagus.

  Quickly, I took stock of the battle. My three friends were holding off the skeletons well enough, along with that strange black cat who kept appearing. The small creature had leapt onto a skeleton and was trying to tear its head off—successfully.

  I ducked behind a column. Though I hated to use my ghost suit around strangers, I needed it if I wanted to get close to that demon and remove his protective charm. Any hesitation was pointless now—we were at the end of the line.

  We needed to kill that demon.

  I ignited the magic in my suit, disappearing immediately.

  As silently as I could, I darted toward the demon, dodging around a skeleton who didn’t realize I was there. As I neared the sarcophagus, I caught sight of the body inside.

  It was ancient, all the clothes decayed and the skeleton lying on bare stone.

  The demon looked up as I neared, growling.

  Holy fates, did he see me?

  His nose twitched.

  Shit, he smelled me.

  His dark magic flared, another wave of noxious stink rolling off him. More stone scraped against stone.

  How the hell was he raising the dead so fast while also doing something crazy with the body in the sarcophagus? He was way too powerful.