Demon 04 - Deja Demon (41 page)
Read Demon 04 - Deja Demon Online
Authors: Julie Kenner
“My God, Kate,” Stuart said, even as the ground beneath Ben started to shake, the blood-soaked earth bubbling and rising.
I looked at David. This wasn’t over. In fact, it was just beginning.
“Get out of here,” I shouted to Stuart. “Do you want to get killed?”
“Monster!” Timmy screamed as a scaly, clawed hand shot out of the blood-soaked muck. I lashed around, leading with the sword, but it was no use. The demon shot out of the ground at superhuman speed, then crouched at the top of the playscape, scales cracking and wings trembling with delight as it looked down at Father Ben.
“Just like your little friend Cami,” the demon said, its voice low and croaky. “How I have longed for this day. For my revenge.”
“Abaddon,” I said, holding the sword at the ready and moving slowly toward my daughter.
The demon hissed, then smiled, its parched skin cracking with the effort.
“Allie,” I said, my voice low and urgent. “Get out of here. Get you and Stuart and Timmy out of here right now, or I swear you’re grounded for life.”
“Kate,” Stuart said, his voice shaky with fear. “What the fu—”
“
Now
,” I screamed. “Do you want to die? Do you want Timmy to die? Get out of here now!”
Now
,” I screamed. “Do you want to die? Do you want Timmy to die? Get out of here now!”
“Come on, come on,” Allie said, ushering them up the hill as the demon cackled.
“Don’t even think about it,” David said. “Your battle is with us.”
“Battle?” Abaddon said. “You mean massacre.” He turned to sneer at David. “I have waited a long time for my revenge. You brought cardinal fire into my lair and thrust me back into hell. Eviscerated my followers. Destroyed my plans. I have much to avenge.”
“Good luck with that,” David said, his voice hard.
“You burned in the fire, too, did you not?” the demon continued. “Burned, burned, even as your walls came tumbling down. So dangerous,” he sneered, “for children to play with fire.”
As if to illustrate the point, the blood-soaked soil burst into flame, then burped forth another demon, this one to land naked on two feet in front of me, his scaly body an amalgamation of goat and man, his arms webbed as if to form wings.
A long, thin claw reached out to me. “You,” he said. “You foiled my army once. You will not defeat me again.”
“Goramesh,” I said, the word as heavy on my lips as the sword in my hand. I lashed out, aiming to drive the blade through the bastard’s heart, but getting him only in the gut. Shouldn’t matter, though. I had the sword, and this was all over.
“You shouldn’t have come,” I sneered. “Or didn’t you hear the prophecy?”
He crumpled to the ground, wings covering his back like an injured insect.
“I think I like this sword,” I said, to nobody in particular. “Your turn,” I said then to Abaddon as David and I moved in tandem to attack the demon.
“No,” he said, wings stretched wide as he soared into the sky. “I don’t think so.”
A rumble sounded behind us and I turned to find Goramesh rising, his cackling laughter echoing through the trees and filling the night sky with cawing crows.
I stared, dumbfounded, my hand clenched tight around the apparently useless Sword of Caelum.
“
Fool
,” the demon hissed, then rose into the air. The two demons circled each other, and then, as David and I watched helplessly, they each nose-dived toward the playscape, colliding with and being sucked into the body of Father Ben.
Fool
,” the demon hissed, then rose into the air. The two demons circled each other, and then, as David and I watched helplessly, they each nose-dived toward the playscape, colliding with and being sucked into the body of Father Ben.
As I watched, horrified, the body rumbled and stretched, as if a battle were going on inside.
“The sword, Kate,” David cried. “Stab him with the sword.”
I lunged to do that, cringing even as I hurled the sword blade over hilt to land deep in Ben’s midsection.
The wound opened, and out poured a black, oily goo.
I left the sword embedded in Ben’s body, and David rushed forward to pull it out, stopping in the act of tossing it back to me as he watched the goo shimmy and shake, then take solid form, a single demon rising, at least eight feet tall with a wingspan of equal breadth.
I pulled out a spare knife and stood ready for battle, but it didn’t matter. The demon was no longer interested in playing, and in a split second, it took off, disappearing into the night sky. A demon, corporeal in its true form.
And, if Father Ben’s dying words were true, invincible.
"Ben,” I whispered, tears streaming
down my face as I clutched Ben’s body, now removed from the posts. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
down my face as I clutched Ben’s body, now removed from the posts. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Shhh,” David said, loosening my grip on Ben and pulling me close to him.
I buried my face in his chest, taking what comfort I could from his arms, tight and strong around me. “I messed up,” I said. “He’s dead because of me.”
“He’s dead because of evil,” David said. “No other reason. ”
“I should have saved him. That’s my job. That’s what I do. And he’s my
alimentatore
. I should have—”
alimentatore
. I should have—”
He pressed a finger to my lips. “Hush now,” he said, and though my mind kept whirring, thoughts lost in a foggy haze of pain and regret, my lips stayed silent.
We stayed that way for an eternity, David holding me close. Me trying to pull strength from him, finding comfort in his touch, if not absolution. I’d lost people before—friends, fellow Hunters. But the loss of Ben, with his death so vile, and mere minutes before we’d arrived, seemed to rip my soul in two.
When I finally felt strong enough, I pulled back, then noticed the sword on the ground beside us. I reached for it in anger and frustration, prepared to hurl the thing into the bushes.
“No,” David said, stilling my hand. “You might get another opportunity.”
“The damn thing doesn’t work, anyway,” I said. “We never even had a chance.”
“Maybe there is no prophecy. Maybe that’s not the right sword,” David said. “But maybe it is and we’re just missing a piece. Don’t throw away the one bit of hope we have, Kate.”
“Hope,” I repeated harshly as Ben’s body lay lifeless beside us. “I don’t even remember what that is.”
A sad smile touched David’s lips, and he stroked my hair, his own eyes reflecting the hope I desperately needed to find. “It’s time, Kate,” he said. “You need to go home.”
Stuart
.
.
Another shock of loss rippled through me, and I was certain I didn’t have the strength to face my husband now.
“You can do this,” David said, reading my thoughts. “It’s time for you to go.”
“I can’t,” I protested. “I can’t leave him here. Not like this.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he promised. “I’ll call
Forza.
I’ll handle it.”
Forza.
I’ll handle it.”
“But—”
“I’ll handle it,” he repeated gently. I knew that he would. Though San Diablo might not have a disposal team, they still existed for emergencies. And covering up the death of a priest definitely qualified.
“I should be the one,” I said, my voice small. “I should—”
“You should go home to your family,” David said firmly. “I’ll take good care of him. But now, sweetheart, it’s time for you to go.”
It was well after midnight
when I walked through the front door to find the house dark. My breath caught in my throat, and for a moment I had the horrible feeling that the place was empty. That Stuart had left and wasn’t coming back.
when I walked through the front door to find the house dark. My breath caught in my throat, and for a moment I had the horrible feeling that the place was empty. That Stuart had left and wasn’t coming back.
I swallowed a strangled cry, determined not to lose it.
“Ben?”
Stuart’s low voice ripped through the dark, sending shock waves of relief through me.
I hadn’t lost him
. Not yet, anyway.
I hadn’t lost him
. Not yet, anyway.
“Dead,” I said, moving into the living room.
I found him sitting on the couch in the dark. A bit of moonlight filtered in through the back door, casting him in shadows, his expression unreadable.
“Stuart,” I began. “I’m—”
“I almost quit the campaign,” he said, his voice calm, his words startling.
“What?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for weeks. I thought I’d quit, and we’d be close again. Because for the last few months we haven’t been. Something has been driving us apart. Not completely. Not horribly. But it’s been there, like a wedge, threatening to break apart everything.”
I nodded, knowing exactly the wedge of which he spoke.
“I thought it was me,” he continued in that calm, collected politician’s voice. “I thought I would quit. I thought I’d fix it.” He lifted his head, and I could see a glimmer of the whites of his eyes. “But it wasn’t me, was it, Kate?”
“No.” I drew in a breath. “No, it wasn’t.”
“Right,” he said, his voice monotone.
I wanted to shake him. To scream that he should be raging at me, furious and demanding explanations. Breaking furniture and swearing. But he wasn’t. He was calm. And somehow that steady, stable voice scared me more than any of his raging ever could.
“What’s going on, Kate? Allie’s too broken up about what she saw to tell me a damn thing. So
you
tell. What was that? What did I see? And what the hell was Allie doing with that man?”
you
tell. What was that? What did I see? And what the hell was Allie doing with that man?”
I started to sit on the couch next to him, then changed my mind and moved to a chair. I drew in a breath and faced him. “That man is her father,” I said, biting the bullet and jumping straight into the fire.
“David Long?” he said, the suggestion in his voice clear. “You and David Long? And you never once told me?”
“Not David Long,” I said. “I didn’t meet David until a few months ago.”
“Then, what?”
“It’s David’s body,” I explained. “But Eric’s soul.”
“Dammit, Kate,” he said, his voice finally edging toward fury. He stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. “You think this is some kind of a joke? Some asshole teacher is taking advantage of our daughter and—”
“Not an asshole teacher,” I said. “Her father. I swear to God, Stuart.” I crossed myself. “As God as my witness, I’m telling the truth.”
“This had better be good,” he said, his voice harsher than I’d ever heard. “Talk. Now.”
And so I did. Starting all the way back with my childhood. “That’s all I knew,” I said, reaching my teenage years. “I’d grown up in the
Forza
dorms, studying, training. And when I was old enough, I started hunting, too.”
Forza
dorms, studying, training. And when I was old enough, I started hunting, too.”
“And Eric?”
“My partner,” I said. “At first. Then my husband. And we wanted a family, but life expectancy for Demon Hunters isn’t off the charts, so we retired in L.A. And then when I got pregnant, we moved to San Diablo.”
“And the story about Eric being mugged? Dying in San Francisco?”
“True,” I said. “Or, at least, I thought it was at the time. It turns out it’s more complicated than that. But I swear to you, when we met, I was out of the demon-hunting business.”
“This is a lot to take in, Kate.”
“I know,” I said. “I’m sorry. I’ve been looking for a way to tell you, but—”
“Maybe you should have looked harder,” he said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Maybe I should have.”
“Does Allie know?” he asked, then immediately answered himself. “I guess she better. Otherwise she thinks he’s just the chemistry teacher.”
“She knows,” I said. “But she’s only known a few months.”
I backtracked then, explaining how I’d first encountered Goramesh, how I’d been sucked back into demon hunting in order to keep my family safe.
“Doesn’t sound all that safe to me,” Stuart said. “Timmy and Allie were in that graveyard,” he said, referring to a huge battle at the end of last summer. Stuart hadn’t known I’d battled a demon; he’d only known the kids had been thrust into danger.
“It’s not just about us,” I said. “It’s the whole world. It’s good and evil. Life and death. Stuart, you saw that thing tonight. That’s a demon, and now he’s walking the earth, with nothing but death and destruction as a goal. And I’m one of the few people on this earth trained to stop him.”
“And here I was impressed when you managed to make a cake that didn’t sag in the middle.”
I managed a small smile. “I can take out a demon,” I said. “Doesn’t mean I can bake a cake.”
He sat down again, his expression pensive. “The Halloween toy,” he said. “Not from an Italian friend, I take it?”
“Not exactly.”
“Mmm.”
“Stuart?” I dragged my teeth over my lower lip. “What are you thinking?”
“That all this is a bit much to take in. That you should have told me everything ages ago. And—dammit, Kate—I’m jealous as hell that you’ve been spending time with Eric.” He cocked his head. “
Only
spending time. Working with him. On all this demon stuff. Right?”
Only
spending time. Working with him. On all this demon stuff. Right?”
“Yes. Of course. How can you even ask that? You’re my husband.”
“But so is he,” Stuart countered.
“I would never be unfaithful to you,” I said. “I would have hoped you knew me well enough to know that.
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