Demon Hunted

by H. M. Sandlin

  “Yes sir,” the whiny man from earlier said. “We’re working on…”

  “Quite,” Blake yelled. “You will have the sacrifices, or you will be part of them. Understood?”

  The man must have nodded because Blake went on. “I want all of you to be ready when I say. All magi are to be prepared to use whatever force necessary to do what I want. You humans are expendable. If you survive the fight and do what I ask, you will be treated nicely when the wrath demons take over. If you don’t survive, it is no matter to me. But don’t let me see you hiding during the fight, or I have a much worse fate for you.”

  Silence fell across the room again, and Ian pulled me back to whisper in my ear. “We need to leave.”

  He was right. We didn’t want to get caught down here with this many people against us. I quickly followed him back through the tunnels. When we got to the summoning room, I paused. I went to the shelves and took a small handful of herbs and crushed them in my hand.

  Whatever it was crumbled when I touched it, so it was easy to sprinkle across the other herbs. “Maybe now their summoning spells won’t work. It might keep that girl in the cage from having another demon pushed into her.”

  Ian nodded, and we continued into the other tunnel. When we got to the fork in the tunnel, I glanced down the one with the prisoners. I hated leaving them. Ian grabbed my hand and squeezed, leading me away. We walked out of the crypt and shut it again, making sure no one would realize someone had snuck in.

  We didn’t talk until we reached the car. As Jabari drove us back to the compound, we discussed everything we learned. We knew my dad had been telling the truth. There were guardians in league with the wrath demons.

  “We need to save them,” I said.

  “I know,” Ian replied. “We’ll get them out of the cages as soon as we can.”

  “What about the humans working for the demon?”

  “We can’t do anything for them. They chose their side.”

  “What if they didn’t realize what they were doing? Most people don’t think demons are real. They probably didn’t realize what was going to happen to them. He’s going to make them his slaves.”

  “All humans will be his slaves if the demons win,” Jabari said. “And it will be partly their fault. They chose to side with demons instead of their own kind. That isn’t the type of person you save.”

  I wasn’t so sure, but I let the matter drop. I would try to figure out a way to save them if I could. The people in the cages were more concerning. They hadn’t chosen to be used by a demon.

  “So who is this Blake guy?” Ian asked. “He’s obviously a demon disguised as a human in this town, but I haven’t heard anything about him.”

  My head shot up as a thought rushed through it. “I think I might know who it is. Beth’s boss is named Mr. Blake. That’s all I know about him besides the fact he’s an ass. His employees can’t find work anywhere else in town if they quit. The other businesses like his are scared of him.”

  “I’ll ask Kellan to find out more about this Mr. Blake. It sounds like he could be the leader of this uprising. At least in this realm. I’m sure there’s someone else in Vammoriel telling him what to do. Only one of their princes or the king could start a war across realms.”

  “Princes?” I asked.

  “In Vammoriel, there are several princes for each class of demon. They’re the most powerful, besides their king, and they control their demons. If they can’t keep them under control, another demon will take over by challenging and killing them.”

  “That’s harsh,” I said. Something my father said about having to control demons made me pause, but I couldn’t remember exactly what it had been. I would have to ask him next time I saw him. Maybe one of the pride demon princes could tell us more about what was going on with the wrath demons since the princes were supposed to be the most powerful.

  I didn’t say much more to the guys as they drove home. I couldn’t stop picturing the girl in the cage. She needed us to help her as fast as we could. I wanted to help the others, too, but I felt a connection with the one girl. What was happening to her was awful. Hopefully, we would be able to free her from the demons once she was no longer a prisoner.

  We need to save chloe

  Kellan told us to meet him at his house in Maglearos so we could talk privately. He was waiting when we arrived, and he brought food. I sat down to eat, starving after using so much magic and let Ian and Jabari explain what happened. Kellan listened quietly. When they came to the part about the cages, I looked up at Kellan.

  “We need to save them. Quickly. They won’t last much longer.” I couldn’t stop picturing the girl. Thinking about what was happening to her made me sick. It also made me wonder if that’s what happened to Beth. Maybe my magic had pushed the demon into her. I voiced my concerns to Kellan, but he assured me that wasn’t the case.

  Beth may have gotten some demon powers, but the demon himself was back in Vammoriel, and he still had most of his power. This girl, Chloe, had the full essence of each demon in her.

  Kellan asked a lot of questions about the man we heard talking. “I think we need to start with finding him,” Kellan said. “I’ll get someone I trust to work on finding, Mr. Blake, and I’ll get Beth this picture to see if she recognizes him too.” Kellan was looking at the picture I sent to his phone. It was a little blurry but not as bad as I feared.

  “How’s she doing?” I asked quietly. I hadn’t heard from her.

  “She’s dealing with it,” Kellan said. “It won’t be an easy road, but she’s strong. She’ll be ok.”

  “Thanks for helping her.”

  “That’s what we do. That’s the whole purpose of The Guardianship, to help people.”

  I looked away. I knew Kellan wanted me to become a guardian, but I wasn’t ready to make that type of decision. He turned his attention back to Ian and Jabari, and they continued their discussion. He didn’t want to believe that guardians were siding with wrath demons either. Without knowing who to trust, it was going to be hard to find back up.

  “If Mr. Blake is as powerful as his followers believe, we’ll need at least six strong guardians, probably more, and they need to have strong magic. Weapons won’t do enough damage on their own,” Ian said.

  “I think I can come up with six guardians that I trust,” Kellan said.

  “When can we rescue them?” I interrupted.

  “We should be ready by the day after tomorrow. Don’t tell anyone about this. We’ll have to be careful to send guardians out at different times so we don’t make anyone suspicious. I’ll start sending them out tonight. We’ll figure out when you’ll all meet after I talk to everyone. We’ll try to conduct the rescue mission while Mr. Blake isn’t there. That way, the prisoners won’t be in as much danger. I’ll have a bus standing by to take everyone somewhere safe.”

  “Where will you take them?”

  “I think we’ll have to bring them here. Even though we may have traitors inside the compound, it’s better than leaving them unprotected outside the walls. We’ll send them to different compounds once we’ve checked them for injuries. The girl you talked to is the only one that I think they’ll try really hard to get back. She’ll need to be sent somewhere safe immediately.”

  “Why do you think they’ll want her so much?”

  “They’ve spent a lot of time and effort putting those demon essences in her. They won’t want to give up trying to break her so they can use all those powers.”

  “What can we do to help her? Where can you send her?”

  “I have an idea,” Kellan said. “I know a guardian that might be able to protect her.”

  “Who?” Ian and Jabari asked.

  Kellan didn’t answer right away. “Someone I trust,” he finally said.

  Ian and Jabari exchanged concerned glances. There was something going on between the three men, but before I could ask, Kellan stood up.

  “I need to get to work on this, or we won’t be able to help th
em in time. I’ll let you know when the plans are set,” he said and turned to leave. Jabari looked at Ian once more and then hurried to leave with Kellan.

  “What was that all about?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure that the guardian Kellan is talking about is a good fit.”

  “Why?”

  “He went through a lot and has become a bit of a hermit.”

  “What did he go through?”

  “He was captured by a group of dark elves. He barely made it out alive. It changed him.” He sighed sadly.

  “He’s your friend?”

  “Yes. We were closer before it happened, but we’ve stayed in contact. His name is Asher. He doesn’t live very far from here. He would be a big help if he came with us. I don’t know if he will though.” I laid my hand on Ian’s arm. He couldn’t change what happened to his friend even though he wanted to.

  I thought about the girl in the cage. If Kellan thought this guardian would help her, then he would. I trusted Kellan. I glanced around, looking for Molly. She still hadn’t shown herself to Kellan. Whenever we were with someone else, she took off. She would show back up at the cabin hours later. I hated when she left, but I knew I was safe. She wouldn’t leave me if she thought I was in danger.

  We spent our time preparing for the upcoming fight. When Kellan stopped by two days later to let us know the guardians were in position, I was relieved. I couldn’t wait to get those people out of there. I grabbed my stuff and headed for the door while Ian talked to Kellan. I threw everything in the car.

  I waited impatiently while they finished talking. Kellan wished us luck and reminded us to call him when we had everyone out. He would get the compound ready, once the prisoners were almost there. He didn’t want to set anything up early or the rogue guardians might find out about it and try to stop the rescue.

  After we left the compound, Ian pulled out his phone and called someone. I could only hear his side of the conversation, but it sounded like someone was watching Mr. Blake, keeping an eye on him until we finished.

  In town, we met up with Jabari and another guardian name Evelyn. Everyone else was already hiding near the crypt. There had been no movement for the past hour, according to one of the guardians. We decided to go in right away while Mr. Blake was busy.

  He was in a meeting that we were hoping would take a few hours. Being a demon, he might have the ability to transport from one place to another quickly, so we needed to hurry and keep anyone from calling him.

  We snuck down the tunnel slowly. Everyone went to the cages except for two guardians. They would keep an eye on the other tunnel and send us a signal if anything was happening there. We had a guardian stationed outside to keep watch too. We made it to the cages without any problems.

  I heard the others gasp as we walked in. My heart clenched as I saw them again. They looked even worse. Guardians spread throughout the room, a couple bending over the locks to pick or break them. I hurried to the last cage, and my stomach dropped.

  She wasn’t here. Chloe was missing. I stepped into her cage, searching for anything she might have left to help us track her. I wasn’t giving up. I told her I would be back to help her. I refused to break that promise. I couldn’t find anything in her cage, and I kicked the side in frustration.

  “We’ll find her,” Ian said, coming to stand next to me.

  He turned away and dug his hand into his pocket to grab his phone. I watched as the guardians started sending people through the tunnel. Most could walk slowly, but a few didn’t have enough energy. It would take a lot of work to heal these people.

  I overheard Ian telling someone we would be right there and to wait for us. Ian went to a couple of guardians, and they followed him over to me.

  “We found Chloe. They’re getting ready to do another summoning on her.”

  “We need to hurry,” I said, trying to run past him.

  “We need to be careful,” Ian replied, grabbing my arm and stopping me before I could race through the tunnel. “If we rush into this, they could hurt her.”

  I slowed down and looked at the guardians coming with us. They were waiting to hear the plan from Ian.

  “What do we do?” I asked.

  “We’ll go quietly down the other tunnel and meet up with the guardians there. Then we’ll assess the situation and decide on the best way to save her. You need to promise to do exactly what I say. If they’re in the middle of a summoning, we may not be able to stop it. It could put Chloe in more danger or release the demon, and then we would have a much bigger fight on our hands. We don’t want to endanger the rest of the prisoners either.”

  I promised to listen to him, and we headed down the tunnel. When we got to the other guardians, we stopped, and they told Ian what was going on. I snuck farther down the tunnel and peered into the summoning room.

  Chloe was kneeling in the center of a circle with her eyes closed tightly. Around the circle, four magi’s stood, chanting. I recognized one of them from the compound. He was a guardian.

  The words they chanted were similar to what I said when I summoned my father. Inside the circle, the air was starting to swirl. I turned and ran into Ian. I almost let out a yell, but he put his hand over my mouth to silence me.

  “We need to stop them before they call the demon,” Ian whispered in my ear. I looked back at the guardians with us. There were six of us in all, Ian, Jabari, me, and three others. One stood out. He towered over me and seemed to fill the entire tunnel with aggression when he caught sight of the girl in the circle.

  “Let’s get this done now,” he growled. He was scary enough that I backed away. This must be the guardian Kellan wanted to protect Chloe.

  Ian nodded his head, and the guardians jumped into action, running into the room and going for a different magi. I ran to the circle, waiting for it to break so I could grab Chloe. The swirling air was starting to turn foggy. It wouldn’t be long before the demon arrived.

  I needed one of the summoners to be taken down but they fought back. The guardians should have been able to beat them easily, but instead, they were barely making any progress. Toward the back of the room, I saw someone trying to slink away, and I ran after them.

  It was a skinny man, and as soon as I grabbed him, he squeaked. I knew him. It was the whiny guy who did all the kidnapping. I dragged him with me to the other side of the room, close to the tunnel. He tried fighting back, but he was too weak to hurt me after all my training. I was waiting for him to use magic on me, but he never did. I looked down at him. He was terrified.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I asked, shaking him a little when he didn’t answer.

  “Don’t kill me,” he squeaked.

  “Why not? You were going to kill them.”

  “It wasn’t my choice,” he whined in his high pitched voice. “I have to do what they say, or they’ll kill me.”

  “I won’t kill you if you stay right here,” I told him, realizing he was only human. He hadn’t used magic on me because he couldn’t. I turned back to the fight and watched as the guardians tried to defeat the summoners. Chloe had opened her eyes and was watching me. She glanced warily back at the smoky air behind her.

  “Hurry!” she yelled to me.

  “They’re trying,” I yelled back.

  “You can help. Use your power. Your friends won’t be able to stop them in time. They have protection from the demon. Your magic can help.”

  I looked down. Ian didn’t want me using magic unless I had to. The other guardians would know it was from me since there were so few of us. I looked back at Chloe. I couldn’t watch her get hurt. I raised my hands and looked at the closest summoner. I let my demon magic fill me.

  I sent a small wave of it at the back of the summoner where he was exposed. My magic hit him and came back to me. Chloe wasn’t lying. He was protected by demon magic. My magic let me know what he was vulnerable to. Surprisingly, it was fire.

  I created a ball of fire, making sure it wasn’t pragaras gaisras. I didn�
��t want to burn the entire building down. I let the fire erupt from my hands and hit the summoner’s back. He let out a yell and arched backward. The guardian fighting him looked at me quickly before looking back at the summoner.

  “Use fire,” I yelled to him. “That’s his vulnerability.” The guardian nodded at me and brought up his hands to finish the job.

  I moved to the next summoner, checking to see if his weakness was fire too. When my magic brought back the answer, I wasn’t surprised. He was also vulnerable to fire.

  “Everyone use fire. It’s their vulnerability,” I yelled.

  I watched as the circle weakened. The first summoner was out. I ran into the circle, grabbing Chloe’s arms and dragging her backward. The smoke in the circle started to dissipate, and I watched as the guardians took down the rest of the summoners.

  Chloe clung to me as I shifted my weight. She was extremely weak, considering I gave her energy only a few days ago. They must have done something to her to cause it. She could barely stand. I changed my grip to take more of her weight, and I tried to guide her out of the tunnel.

  We barely made it a few steps before Ian was at my side. “Here, let me take her.” He reached out, but she shrank away from him, tucking herself into my side. Ian looked at me helplessly.

  We needed to get out of here quickly, before Mr. Blake figured out what happened. Chloe was too traumatized to let Ian near her though. It would take forever for me to get her out. Ian looked over his shoulder and called his friend, the huge one who radiated anger, Asher.

  I shook my head at Ian. I didn’t think Chloe would do any better with his friend. I watched as Asher walked over to us. He completely ignored me and bent down in front of Chloe. He murmured something to her, and she looked up at him. He must have used some type of magic because I couldn’t hear what he was saying even though he was right next to me.