Drop Dead Demons (13 page)

It was an oblong, basketball stadium kind of space. Maybe bigger. The domed ceiling, some thirty feet high, gave it an illusion of greater grandeur.

Stalactites hung from above looking like the gnarled fingers of an ancient giant. They pulsed with inner light that bathed the room in an eerie glow reflected in the pool of clear aqua blue water below. Liquid dripped off their tips, and small ripples fanned out on the pool’s steaming, lightly bubbling surface. The entire space was warm and humid with a faint aroma of sulfur.

Matthias wiped sweat off his brow. “The pool started bubbling and the place has been a sauna ever since this bloody runt broke through.”  

He gestured across the cave at a massive metal, net-like structure that fed out from the ceiling to the floor, some twenty feet in front of the portal. Made of wide latticed-metal strips, it weaved together in a variety of colors from bright silver to dull steel, shiny bronze and glittering copper. Part medieval castle drawbridge, part net. Only instead of butterflies, it caught monsters.

“Ripped through it like it was friggin’ paper.” Matthias pointed at a huge gaping hole in the center. “Never seen that before. And tough to kill. Kept breaking my lines, making a run for it. But may have something to do with Rose, so we keep it alive for now. Maybe we can use it against him.”

The metal structure looked like it could hold back a tank, but the hole said otherwise. Through it, I had an uninterrupted view of the far stone wall.

At least I think it was stone. Currently, it shimmered in and out of focus, blurring periodically like it was trying to transform into something else. Or it was trying to dissolve.

When Logan cut off the wind around the demon, the creature dropped onto its side. Matthias immediately pounced on one of the mid-sections. Muscles bulging and straining through the barely-there remains of his tattered shirt, he quickly had the squirming demon hogtied with dozens of shadow whips.  

Matthias smiled a grin that dimpled his red cheeks.

“This one was almost a challenge,” he said to Logan, then turned to me. The dimples disappeared. “Quit touching things you shouldn’t.”

I rolled my eyes. “Shut up. I’m the one who found you so you owe me.”

From atop the demon, the Aussie cracked a whip at my feet. I jumped back with a yelp and glared at him.

“Stop it!”

He did it again.

“Ow! You got my toe!”

“I was aiming for your face.” His dimples were back. “This time I won’t miss.”

As Matthias lifted his arm for another “crack” at me — jerk — the beast squealed and struggled beneath him, forcing the Aussie to bend his knees surfer style to ride it out. The demon flung its head side to side. Thick webs of drool slung across the cave and stuck to the walls like just-cooked spaghetti.

Logan stepped in front of me and into a shooting stance, slowly readying his bow with six arrows. “Aurora, get to safe ground.”

Like I knew where that was in this labyrinth of Crazytown.

The creature’s low growl amplified to frenzied-screech levels in zero point scare-me-silly seconds. Rock cracked and pebbles crumbled off the walls. In a colossal burst of power and rage, the pinchers broke through the shadow whips and snapped open.

Click, click, click.

Matthias yanked back to tighten the whips around the legs, but in a blind fury the demon twisted and bucked, nearly folding its body in half and flinging the Aussie up and across the room. He bounced off the hanging stalactites with a hideous
crunch
, cartwheeled through the air, and landed with a dull
thud
, kicking up a cloud of dirt.

He didn’t move.

The whips around the monster’s legs unfurled and the ground shuddered as the hellion heaved to its feet with a ferocious roar.

“Stay back!” Logan told me and started shooting arrows, but before he could get a decent hit, the demon swung its tail around and smacked him into the air. He ricocheted off a side wall like a rag doll and thumped to a stop near the Aussie.

Logan didn’t rise, either.

Just when I thought my stomach couldn’t plunge any lower, the beast turned on the boys’ prone bodies, letting out another sonic-boomified, spittle-splattering screech. I fought the instinct to cover my ears against the ear-piercing pain, and instead waved my hands above my head, jumping up and down, shouting.

“Hey! Over here!”

The hellion swung its massive head. The quivering nose dropped to the ground and shoveled back and forth, advancing on me, a bloodhound on the scent.

I spun and bolted.

A claw slammed down in front of me. The thing was seven feet wide and dug its pointy ends into the dirt, blocking my path. I spun, changed direction.

Another claw slammed down, blocking. I ran from side to side, forward and back, but at every escape, a giant claw dropped like a prison door. When the cat played with its food, being the mouse sucked.  

The jaw opened so far it practically unhinged. I saw fangs. Long ones. A burst of air brought steaming layers of air scented with the putrid stench of rotted meat. A skeletal arm, still dripping with shredded, decaying flesh, wedged between two of the monster’s back teeth. 

My stomach lurched.

The mouth
snapped
shut, nose scooted along the ground and slimed onto my toes. The head lifted then cocked to one side as it studied me closely. Long whiskers tickled my neck. Its tongue flicked out. I cringed. Tried to squeeze through the claws. Felt heat and pressure around my body. If my explody power would just get the heck in gear it could save my sorry—

Too late. The demon made contact.

“You can’t kill it.”

“Oh, I can kill it.”

I squinted at Matthias and stepped in front of the demon which had rolled onto its back, feet waving aimlessly in the air. It even wiggled back and forth, like it was giving itself a good back scratch.

It had been doing this lap-dog routine ever since its tongue slurped up my side with a disgusting amount of vomit-o-licious saliva. I’d screamed, batted the monster away, waiting for the beast to wedge
my
severed arm between its serrated snappers, but instead, a cold, wet nose had butted under my armpit, flopping my arm up and down until I finally figured out it wanted me to pet the short, wiry hair on its snout.

It had growled when I tended to Logan and Matthias who woke up quickly. Water dumped in his face helped Matthias come alive.

Now, upside-down, the multitude of glowing eyes watched me while the…green and purple tongue — ew — unfurled onto the ground, dirt sticking to it like fly paper. A happy chittering tickled from her throat. She nuzzled my hand.

How did I know the centimole was a female? I didn’t. But since I was already surrounded by way too much testosterone, it made me feel better. 

I nudged her off and pointed a warning finger. “Lick me again, Fido, and I won’t stop him from killing you.”

Matthias snorted. “Like you can stop me.” Then he looked at me with disgust. “Fido?”

I shrugged. Clueless as a puppy, the panting demon flumped back onto her belly and playfully batted at the ground before she trapped something black under some of her front legs and used her teeth to tear it apart.  

“Matthias!” Ayden’s frantic voice echoed through the cave before he rushed in. “Forget the portal! We still can’t find Aurora and Lo—” He stumbled when he saw us. “Oh, thank God.”

“We’re fine,” I said.

He gathered me into a rib-breaking hug and slapped Logan on the shoulder.

“What happened? I would’ve been here sooner but Caviezel found me and had a fit about the books. I had to clean up or get detention so I called Blake and Jayden to—” His eyes focused over my shoulder. “Why is there a demon here? And why is it using Matthias’s coat as a chew-toy?”

“What?” The Aussie jerked toward the pile of slobbered black fabric then shoved a fist through the air. “Come on! I should get to kill it for that alone.” 

“No!”

Matthias pointed an angry finger at me. “Yes!”

“No.” Ayden stood next to the creature. “You can’t.”

Matthias gave him an ugly look. “I should’ve known you’d take her side.”

“Oh, grow up.” Ayden his ran his hand under the demon’s neck. He fished around, then pulled out a circular piece of metal, a tag of sorts hanging off a chain that none of us had noticed. Within the metal something swirled. 

Ayden gave Matthias a tired look. “You can’t kill it, because a blood contract has been activated.”

Matthias’s head flopped back. “No. Bloody. Way.” He heaved a dramatic sigh then turned on me, furious. “I can’t believe you ran off and made a blood contract with a demon!”

“Yes, Matthias,” I smiled sweetly. “In between Tristan’s jogging with me at four a.m. to the Ishida’s where Ayden and Jayden take over my weapons and hand-to-hand combat training right before Ayden drives me to school where I’m stuck with you all day until everyone but you heads over to Blake’s for weight training, homework, and stealth tactics with Logan after which Ayden drives me home where my clandestine-operation-running aunt locks me in the house, I ran off and made a blood contract with a demon!” I huffed a breath. “By the way, what the heck
is
a blood contract?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ayden led me toward the cave opening.

I resisted his pull on my arm. “But a blood contract sounds serious. I’d really like to know what kind of danger I’m in.”

“School’s almost out,” Ayden said. “You’ve been gone too long. Luna covered with your other classes. I’ll be
so
glad when Tristan’s back. But now I need to get you back so Blake can take you home, because the real danger is your parents if they find out you’ve been missing.”

Or see that D on my last homework assignment. Hopefully, Jayden could tutor me tonight.

“But we need Blake down here so he can map those new tunnels,” Logan said.

“He’s right, mate. We had no idea about those. They could lead to the treasure.”

Ayden’s jaw ground shut. “Then Matthias, you can take her.”

“Too busy.” Matthias slicked clumps of hair off his forehead. “Besides, she’s your
girlfriend
. You’ve got to play the part even when it’s not fun anymore.”

Ouch. I think he nicked an artery. 

Ayden slammed an elbow into the Aussie’s shoulder. “Shut up!”

“Forget it. I can get myself home.” I turned to walk away.

“Not a chance.” Ayden grabbed my wrist and pulled me around. “Don’t listen to him. It’s not that I don’t want to—”

The floor rumbled. Ayden shoved me behind him and turned to face the portal, arms alighting with flames.

The wall still shimmered, but now, as if made of a thin, rubbery membrane, it was stretching toward us in three places. As if some
things
were determined to break through.

It stretched farther and farther until, with a wet
thwap
, two demons burst into the cave.

The size and shape of chubby ponies, they flew on leathery wings and dripped pus-green goo off flayed, hairless skin. They had manes and tails of blazing fire which reflected in the shiny orbs of their bulging black eyes.

Logan’s arrow took out one in a hail of splatter just as Fido flipped her head up and snapped massive jaws around the second, easy as catching flies. She crunched a few times, swallowed, then flumped back down to rip on Matthias’s jacket, drool now tinged with pus-green soaking into the wool. 

A third demon, finally
thwapped
through, but the wall suddenly re-solidified and cut the creature in two. Its head tumbled down the wall, streaking the sticky green slime from its severed neck. Before the still-flaming body part hit the cave floor, one of Fido’s antennae claws flicked out, snapped it up, and brought it back to stuff into her mouth. It was gone in one gulp. She didn’t even chew.

Ayden’s arms snuffed out. “What is going on?”

“Hell if I know.” Matthias let his whips disappear. “I came down here because the warning sensors activated. Then that thing,” he scowled at the centimole, “crashed through and ever since the portal’s been unstable. I think it broke it.”

I peeked over Ayden’s shoulder. “Broke the portal to
hell
?”

“To the Waiting World,” Ayden said. “It’s like the transfer station to hell.”

“Whoa.” I backed up. The Waiting World was my least favorite neighborhood. “Should we be standing so close? What if it sucks us in?” 

“Good thinking,” Matthias said. “You should get closer.” 

I backed up further. “So it’s not supposed to be doing…that?”

I pointed to the wall which kept changing form, blinking in and out from solid stone to a shimmering swirl of liquid, as if a giant blender was trying to make a sedentary-rock smoothie.

“No,” Ayden said as we all stared through the hole. “It’s supposed to be solid rock ninety-nine percent of the time. But then, without warning it can open, the rock disappears for a few seconds, and a demon, or two, can get in.” He eyed the centimole chomping on Matthias’s jacket. “Usually, the net contains it until we get here to send it back.” 

I stared at the hypnotic blur of the wall. “How do you open the portal to send the demon back?”

“You twit,” Matthias scoffed. “Nobody can open a portal. We kill the demon as usual and it disappears back to hell. As usual.” He rolled his eyes. “Open a friggin’ portal. You’re such a moron.” 

“Well, how am I supposed to know, Captain McSmarty pants? It’s not like you guys tell me anything.”

Logan shrugged, “Truth is, Aurora doesn’t even need a portal to travel to and from the Waiting World.”

He said that like it was a good thing.

“Good point.” Ayden paled and moved me back. “But since it puts her body into a coma in
this
world, while she runs for her life in the Waiting World, let’s keep her far, far away.”

“Sounds good to me.” I backed up even further. “Can it really suck us in like Blake said?”

“There have been stories,” Ayden said. “Portals are unpredictable and uncontrollable. Once the Mandatum finds them, we mostly just monitor activity and contain what comes through.”

I kept backpedaling because if the Waiting World was just on the other side of some
unstable
supernatural doorway, far, far away was even too close for me. My tension ebbed when, in a few moments, the wall became solid with only a few spots of liquid blur. 

“Looks like it’s stabilizing.” Ayden sounded relieved.

“The net is going up for repairs.” Logan pointed to the large metal net that was rising and feeding into the ceiling. The broken pieces in the middle sparked and sizzled, already starting to reattach. “It fixes itself up there,” He told me. “Comes down when it’s done. I’ll stay to make sure it rolls all the way up. I’ll keep this demon too.” Logan nodded at the centimole. “Don’t want it running around school.”

“Fine.” Ayden led me out of the cave. “We’ll send Blake to help.”

The centimole started to follow us, the jacket hanging from her slobbery mouth.

Ayden said, “Aurora, tell it to stay.”

“Why?” I glanced back nervously.

Ayden sounded grim. “Because if you don’t give it an order to obey, it will follow you and potentially eat anyone in its path.”