by Dora Blume
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I realize that you’re focused, but some people are staring at us. I thought I would pretend you said something funny, so they’d stop staring. It worked.” She looked to the two, and their attention was back on each other. She didn’t think they were the demons she felt, but it was good to keep up appearances.
“Oh good,” Erik lead her into the building. As soon as she saw the coffeehouse, she grabbed his arm and led him in the direction of the coffee shop. She loved that they could both work and grab a coffee.
“Can you hear where she went?” Sloane asked as she joined the line.
“Yes, they’re upstairs.”
“Any chance they’ll be out of your range if we stay here?”
“I’ll be able to hear what’s going on as long as we’re in the building.”
“Perfect, I can enjoy my coffee and maybe a little breakfast since I only had ten minutes before we left this morning.” She smiled, her arm still wrapped in Erik’s
“You’re unbelievable,” he shook his head.
“What? We get to blend in and enjoy some food while you listen to what’s going on. I personally think I’m a genius. Plus, aren’t you the one yammering on about needing breakfast to function or some such nonsense.” She punched his arm playfully and smiled.
“I do love me some breakfast.” He focused on what they were thinking upstairs. “Holy shit,” Erik said under his breath.
Sloane looked over to him concerned, but she didn’t want to say too much. They were still in line and the woman ahead of them had already turned around to roll her eyes at Erik. Sloane grabbed Erik’s hand and looked into his eyes, warning him of saying anything out loud.
Sloane walked up and ordered for both of them. Erik followed her to wait for their drinks. Sloane could tell by his blank expressions that he was concentrating hard on what was going on upstairs. When they finally got their drinks and reached a table, Sloane leaned forward, getting closer to Erik before she spoke. “What’s going on?”
“They have a school here. They’re possessing high school students. One of the kid's parents is possessed. I can hear her thoughts along with the demons. She’s screaming, not my child, in her head.” He explained, then his eyes glazed over, focusing.
“Are you fucking serious? They’re going after high school kids. That’s insane.” Sloane said in disgust and shock.
“Yes, now please wait, so I can get all of the details I’ve seen a picture of the inside, but I’m hoping one of them will give me more about the school and where’s it’s located.”
“Okay,” Sloane sat back and sipped her latte. She poured her granola into the yogurt and began stirring. She was happy to be eating something. She didn’t like the news that Erik shared, but she knew she needed to let him listen. He needed to learn all that he could if the demons were going after kids. She questioned how in the hell they would be able to do that, weren’t the parents noticing? Then she thought about her teenage years. She left home at sixteen after a traitor killed her mother. Her father didn’t know anything about her when she was a teenager. Many parents are in the same boat, teenagers are volatile and transitioning. Maybe their parents chalked any weird behavior up to being a teenager and hormones. She could see how that could be explained.
“It sounds like they are leaving,” Erik said.
“Did you find out any more?” she asked.
“Yeah, apparently the school isn't in Denver it’s in Colorado Springs. I’m not sure where exactly and none of them thought about it. We need to follow them. We need to dispossess the one woman who is still present inside the demon's mind. That's not typical for a possession. Usually, the demon completely drowns out the host's mind. This woman is screaming in its head. I think we need to figure out why that is. It’s bothering the demon as well, and they may do tests on her if the other demons find out. Plus, they’re after her daughter because she’s a leader at her school. If we save the woman, they may not be able to get her daughter. She plays a major role in their current plan.” He got up from the chair as the three women were walking by the coffee shop.
Sloane accompanied Erik as he followed the woman. They split off when they got out of the building. Erik stayed a safe distance behind the woman with the daughter. Sloane followed the woman from the bar. She figured Erik would be able to dispossess the one woman while she could work on one of the others. When the woman got to the parking lot, Sloane came up beside the woman and matched her stride to hers.
Looking over to the woman she said, “Hey do you think you could help me with something?” The woman glanced over and shrugged. Sloane led her behind a large van. When she turned, Sloane hit her in the side of the head, and she slumped down quickly. Sloane said the incantation and then sat the woman on the ground against the van. She knew that she shouldn’t leave her there when she didn’t know how long she would be out for, but at least a demon did not possess her. She wouldn’t know what had happened and would be confused. She thought that would be perfect for the current situation.
Sloane looked around to make sure there weren’t any cameras around in the lot. There weren’t, and there weren’t any people in the immediate area. She walked quickly back in the direction of their car. She liked that she’d gotten rid of one demon today. She wanted to dispossess all three of the women but knew at the moment it wasn’t possible because they all headed in different directions. She was surprised the demon hadn’t sensed she was Shikari. It was too easy to take the woman out. They were usually better than that. She couldn’t help but look around. She felt like she was being watched. She quickened her pace. She had a feeling another demon was watching her, and they were aware of what she’d done. She smiled wide sending a message. She stopped at the railing before the next stairway. She leaned against the railing and looked around her with her cocky smile. She wanted to send the message that she was ready for them and to challenge whoever was watching her.
Sloane waited a few minutes to see if the demon planned on challenging her. When she was finished waiting, she headed back toward the car. She took the steps two at a time, figuring that Erik was most likely finished with his demon. The third demon must’ve been the one to see her. She knew that they shouldn’t have left one alone and should’ve tried to go for all three. Now the third one would go and tell the others of their presence. They no longer had the element of surprise, but the demons had to know there were hunters in Denver. There were hunters everywhere. They would need to be a little more careful in the future, now that they knew what she looked like. She didn’t know if the demon had seen Erik, but she figured she had seen both of them.
Sloane got to the car, and Erik was leaning against it. “Did you take care of the other woman?”
“Yeah, you?” she responded.
“Yep, we need to go the other woman saw us both,” he said
“Damn, I was hoping she only saw me,” Sloane said.
“Nope, she’s up there.” Erik pointed to the top of the parking ramp across the street.
“Oh shit,” Sloane said.
“Yeah, she called reinforcements, and they’re headed here now. We should be going.” he moved to the driver's door and opened it. Sloane followed his lead and quickly got in the car.
“So, do you think Magnus will loan us another car now that they know this one?”
“Maybe, do you think they’ll be able to trace where this car came from?” Sloane asked.
“Probably, they seem to be into everything including hacking or possessing people to help them with what they need. Considering the people who work at the DMV, I wouldn’t doubt if they were all demons.”
Sloane laughed, “Ain’t that the truth.”
“I’ll call Magnus and let him know.” He grabbed his phone from the council and dialed Magnus.
“Hey, just so you know we’ve been spotted, and they may trace your car,” Erik spoke into the phone.
“Okay, we’ll go to the address, here Sloane ca
n you punch this address into your phone,” he handed her the phone so that she could type in the address.
“Mmmhmm,” she said a few times, “Got it. Thanks, Magnus.” She hung up the phone.
“So, follow the navigation. Magnus has a few other properties here in Denver.”
“Yeah, makes sense, you don’t want demons showing up to your actual residence.” Erik made the next turn sending Sloane against the door.
“Do you think we need to be in this big of a hurry? I mean, do you think they were able to follow us that quickly?” Sloane reached for the handle above her head before Erik took another turn.
“No, not really, but I like to drive fast,” he shrugged.
“Awesome, I’d like to not have bruises on my arms from your driving. Slow down taking turns okay, bro.”
“Did Magnus have any other instructions for us when we got to the house?”
“Yeah, he said to change cars there, then head back to the house. He wants to know what happened,” Sloane said and stared out the window at the passing city.
“They’re going after kids, huh?” she said.
“Yeah, at first, I thought they were going after young kids, but it’s high schoolers. It seems that they are looking at other schools, too. We need to figure out where, so we can take care of that as well,” Erik explained.
“I still can’t believe it. It seems so crazy, I mean before what happened in Minneapolis, I thought that the demons were so sporadic and that they didn’t organize. There were only ever single attacks, and small organizations among them as far as we knew. Now there seems to be a grand design among them all. They are well organized and making things happen all over the place. I don’t get how that happened, and no one noticed before this. It just doesn’t make sense. Something had to have happened to change the demons. I don’t get any of this.” Sloane huffed.
“Yeah, I know. Some new things were changing, but there was a group covering it up. Mom dying was the beginning for us. Someone in the Shikari helped them. They killed off anyone who found out about the traitor group. It surprised us all, after all of the years of devotion we’ve all been taught, that one of our own would turn on us and begin this war. We need to eliminate the traitors in the order, which could mean killing our people. I’m not sure how we’re going to accomplish that. How do we ask others to kill people they love? This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.” Erik rested one hand in his lap and clenched the other around the wheel. He let out a heavy breath.
“I’m going to message Jess and let them know what’s going on. We need to regroup asap.” She started typing quickly on her phone. After the news about them targeting high schoolers, she felt a renewed energy and focus. They had an idea about what the demons were doing here. They had direction and some idea of what to do next.
“Jess responded, shit and said they'd be there in forty-five minutes.” Sloane looked to Erik; he was pulling into the driveway of another house. The garage door opened and Erik drove in.
A tall, dark-haired man walked toward them from the house. Erik and Sloane got out of the car once they parked. Erik moved to the trunk to grab out his duffle.
“Hi, I’m Scott, I hear you’re in need of a new car.” He smiled at the two. He was a tall, robust man with dark brown hair. His eyes were soft when he glanced at Sloane.
“Yeah, we ran into a few demons that are probably tracking the car as we speak,” Erik said.
“No worries, they won’t find it here, and we’ll have new plates on the car in a few minutes. For now,” he tossed Erik a set of keys and started walking to another stall in the garage. He hit a button, and the door opened. An Audi A8 was in the garage. “I think this will do for you two,” he smirked.
“Yeah, that'll do,” Erik said in shock.
“I figured you two might need the tint since they saw you as well,” Scott said. “It’s all yours; you better get on to Magnus. He’ll be waiting for a report. He may not seem like it, but he is the head of Denver. If you need anything, I am always here in service of the order.” He winked at Sloane and headed back toward the house.
“Well, that was nice of him,” Sloane said.
“Yeah, I’m surprised he didn’t ask what was going on. You’d think if he were part of the order he’d want to know.” Erik said.
“Maybe he will find out from Magnus, anyway. Let’s listen and get back to tell Magnus about what we learned. Considering this is all going on in his city, he should know. We may also need to relocate to Colorado Springs, if they are attending a school there, we need to go check out the school.”
“Yeah, but we also need to stop them from getting the students here in Denver, too. We may need to split off or elicit some assistance from local Shikari like Scott here,” Erik said. He walked to the car and got in the driver’s seat. Sloane watched as he rubbed his hands along the steering wheel and whispered, “Nice,” before starting the car.
“Having a cargasm over there?” Sloane joked.
“It is a very nice car,” he responded.
“Yes, but we have to get going. So, let’s see what she can do.” She smiled.
“Yes, lets,” he smiled and threw the car in reverse to back out of the garage.
He began speeding down the streets toward where Magnus lived. They arrived quickly and sped toward the house with a new determination in their step. Erik didn’t even bother to knock, he walked right in and headed toward the basement where Magnus’ man cave was located. Sloane followed, she was surprised that Magnus was the leader of this area. He certainly didn’t seem like he’d be the leader.
“Magnus?” Erik called as soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He hadn’t ventured too far past his room, so he wasn’t sure what was all down here.
“Hey, come on back,” Magnus yelled from down the hall.
They continued down the hall until they reached the last room which had a desk and several bookcases filled with old books.
“Hey, so I hear you had some interesting encounters at our university,” he said lightly.
“You could say that,” Sloane responded quickly and Erik gave her a sharp glance.
“Yeah, um, they are going after high school kids now. There’s a boarding school in Colorado Springs, they’re focusing on but have possessed students in Denver, too. I’m not sure what’s so special about this school in Colorado Springs, though.” Erik explained.
“We need to split up, some heading to Colorado Springs to find out about the school, and some to head off the operation here before they recruit more kids,” Sloane said quickly. She didn’t like how Erik was leaving her out of the mix.
“So, how many Shikari members are in the area? We have to have a group in Colorado Springs already, right?” Erik asked. “I mean, we are everywhere.”
“We have a few members who live there, but I think it may be you, Erik who needs to go.”
“Me, really, why?” Erik seemed confused.
“It’s because you will be able to locate the school faster than the others will,” Sloane said knowing the answer already. “There’s no one there with the skill to read other thoughts.”
“No, no one around here has that ability. I can copy your power when you are around but not long range. You would be able to find the school faster than anyone,” Magnus explained.
“If we joined with Mike and headed there that would be our best bet because he can track the demons once you locate them,” Sloane added.
“I can deal with the ones here in Denver, while you guys head down to Colorado Springs.”
“That sounds good, but we should check in with the rest when they get here, see what they think,” Erik said remembering that Bryant and Jess would be joining them shortly.
“I’m going to run up to my room before the others get here. We can all meet in the main room to decide what we’re officially doing.” Sloane left the room quickly and took her phone out of her pocket. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to see Mike, well she was ready, bu
t she wasn’t sure how he would react to seeing her. She figured it’d be easy to be with each other, when they had other things to focus on. She wanted to spend time with him alone, so she could talk to him about what is going on between them. She didn’t think the moment in the kitchen was a big deal. She didn’t think anything of it until he started distancing himself and freaking out over it. She just reacted at the time. It wasn’t a big deal in her eyes, but she needed to talk to him, regardless. She went upstairs and waited. She decided the time for avoiding her was over, and she was going to make him talk to her, in private as soon as he got there.
Chapter 5
She looked outside and saw the car pulling up the driveway. Her heart began pounding in her chest, and her palms became balmy. She wasn’t expecting them to be here quite so quickly. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Hell, with it, she thought. She was going to talk to him, this avoiding texts and calls bullshit was over. Sloane watched as Jess got out of the driver's seat and stretched her arms over her head and elongated her entire body. Mike got out of the back seat followed slowly by Bryant in the front. Bryant headed straight for the door. He was all business. Sloane held the door open and stepped out into the blazing sun.
“Hello father,” she stretched her vowels when she spoke.
He looked at her and asked, “Where are Magnus and Erik? I would like to speak to them immediately.”
“They’re downstairs; If you follow the house all the way to the back, there is a staircase on the right, then go all the way to the back. It’s the last room on the left.” She returned her focus to Mike who was staring at her pointedly. Jess looked between the two of them and walked quickly up to the house.
“I think I’ll follow Bryant to go find Erik.” She walked swiftly into the house.
Sloane watched her go and turned back to look at Mike. He had a pained look on his face but walked toward her slowly, like he was walking to his death.
“Seriously, I just want to talk to you.” She stood with her hand on her hip.