Drop Dead Demons (40 page)

“I’m not having fun!” 

The switchback trail was near vertical, considered one of the most difficult hikes on the mountain.

“But you are keeping up. At least your training’s done some good.”

I was proud of myself for staying on Matthias’s tail. With minimal wheezing. But it wasn’t an accident. The guys had taken me up here several times.

Matthias stopped so fast I bumped into his back. He slapped a hand over my mouth, and ducked us out of sight off the path. “Quiet,” he whispered, then snatched up a broken branch and shimmied it over the ground.  

I heard voices just as the man and woman came around a sharp corner of the trail. The size difference was comical. Blake’s Uncle Reece who could be mistaken for a grizzly, and Logan’s mom, the petite dance instructor who barely breeched five-foot—in heels.

“So you lost the trail. Big deal.” Logan’s mom patted Reece’s elbow, because that was as high as she could reach. “Maybe it was just some random hiker who didn’t know that he shouldn’t be going through your property. Maybe checking out the hot springs. Probably already gone. Too bad. I was in the mood for a rumble. Retirement can be so boring.”

“A random hiker couldn’t lose me,” Reece said with indignation. “No, this was a hunter. A good one. I’ll alert the others and restart tracking tomorrow.” After they passed us, he pointed to the ground. “Look, Matthias and that Lahey girl were up here recently. Are they dating now?”

Matthias muffled a pained noise.

“She’s supposed to be dating Ayden. Bancroft isn’t happy. You know he’s been complaining. Personally, I think it’s been good for the boys. Logan’s come out of his shell somewhat.”

“I agree,” said Reece. “A break from Mandatum and hunting is healthy. Although, there is a theory…”

The voices faded.

“They must be tracking Jenny.” Matthias headed up the trail and I followed.

“Should we warn him?”

“He’ll already know.”

We picked up the pace and after a dozen more switchbacks, reached the top. A small, flat meadow surrounded by towering trees with a sheer cliff on one side, a heart-stopping drop into a rocky gorge of raging rapids. He walked close to peer over the edge. My knees tingled, suddenly weak. Heights. Not my thing.

“Be careful.” I leaned over, resting my hands on my knees. “Where’s Jenny? How is this helping control my ability?”

“Over here.” Matthias gestured for me to join him. “I’ll show you.”

“No thanks.”

“Want help or not?”

“Fine.” I trudged over, using sideways baby steps. Sweat oozed from my pores. 

Matthias held out a hand. After a moment’s hesitation, I took it.

His other hand snapped around, gripped me hard, and with a great heave, he threw me off the cliff.

Freefall.

Arms and legs flailed. Nothing to stop me. In seconds I’d be dead. Murdered by the Aussie.

Before I’d plunged a few feet, breath deserted my lungs. My throat closed. The white water below, the jagged rocks jutting through like spiked teeth of a ravenous monster, all rushed toward me, and I didn’t even have the luxury of screaming.

I’d trusted him, and now I was going to die.

Icy wind whipped my face, but inside heat flashed. Pressure squeezed my body. My hands, grasping at nothing, began to glow and light shot out, hitting the water below, blasting it into the air like a geyser and shattering rock. But all I got was wet. Nothing stopped my fall. 

I picked up speed, dropped closer to the river, the spray of the rapids tingling against my burning hot skin. Too frozen with fear to even close my eyes for the impact, I still flailed my limbs in a useless attempt to stop the splatter of my body on serrated stone poking through the river’s rushing currents.

My hands glowed hot again. Maybe I could blast my way to China?

Something slipped around my waist. Tightened. With a violent wrench on my gut, my body jerked once, and I glided into a smooth arc over the raging rapids, cold water spraying my face as I sailed just inches above the jagged rocks of the gorge.

Suspended by a black rope, it swung me like Tarzan back up and onto the cliff where I was dumped in a quivering heap on a barren patch of rocky soil. I tasted dirt.

Frantic wheezing and choking finally expanded my lungs. My vision cleared. Matthias stood several yards away near the top of the cliff, feet planted wide, holding the other ends of the two ropes still wrapped around my waist. The ropes which had caught me mid-fall, and carried me to safety.

But not ropes. His shadow whips. And the Aussie looked extremely pleased with himself.

“How dare you!” I raged.

I tried to get up but failed. My legs were boneless. I flopped over.

The whips still squeezed around my torso. With a feral growl through gritted teeth, I made it to my knees and seized them with every ounce of strength I could muster. Beneath my glowing hands, the whips sizzled. I lifted them high above my head and yanked down with a fury, whipping the Aussie’s weapons in an undulating snap right back at him. I felt heat and tingling across my shoulders, down my arms, then sparks fed out my hands and onto the black lines.

It was as if I’d lit a fuse.

White light crackled along the dark lines that tethered me to Matthias, devouring the darkness at a rabid pace. When it reached the end, an explosion of light and showering blue white sparks broke the contact between us and catapulted Matthias backwards through the air.

I groaned and rolled around clutching my belly. The whip had stopped my fall but it felt like my stomach had been wrung out by the hands of a giant, twisted till my guts wanted to spurt forth. Hair and dirt stuck to my sweat-streaked face. And I stunk. But considering the alternative, I was in great shape.

My mouth split into a crazed smile. “Take that, you Aussie dingo.”

I hoped that was an insult. I expected a snappy, remorseless comment from the heathen who nearly killed me, but there was only silence. That…wasn’t right.

“Oh, no.” I pushed to my hands and knees. “No, no, no, no.” Crawling was my only mode of travel, but it got me to Matthias’s prone, motionless form.

He was face down so I rolled him over. Shook him. He didn’t move.

“Don’t you dare!” Fighting panic, I laid my ear on his chest.

Th-thump, th-thump.

“Thank God.” I leaned over his face. Was he breathing?

“Try to give me mouth-to-mouth, and I will throw up.”

I sat back on my heels and let relief wash over me.

“You wouldn’t be the only one.” I blew out a heavy breath. “Jeez! You scared the dickens out of me.”

He sat up on his elbows, grimacing. “Since when do you care?”

“Are you kidding?” I whacked his chest. “No one would ever believe I killed you by accident. Your dad would lock me up in the clink faster than you could say, ‘Shrimp on the barbie.’” My hands patted over his torso. “And he still might if you’re hurt. Is there any damage? Burns?” 

“Get off!” He slapped my hands away and checked himself out. “Seems fine.” His head fell back and he spoke loudly. “Told you it would work.”

“You didn’t tell me anything!” My fists pounded on him. Sparks flew.

“Ow, those sting!” He pushed me off.

I studied my hands. The power was fading, but they still glowed. And felt…buzzy.

“Serves you right!” I railed at him. “You tried to kill me!”

“If I’d tried, you’d be dead, and I wouldn’t have to listen to you babble.” He sat up as I flopped down. “It was nice payback for the newspaper thing, but truth is, I just had to test my theory.”

“By almost killing me?”

“Yes.”

I barked a laugh. Then stopped, because I saw he wasn’t kidding.

“Stay away from me.” I scooted back.

“Relax, drama queen.” He dusted himself off and sat up. “I just needed you to think you were going to die so your power would kick in. You’re welcome.”

“You’re insane.”

“No, lass.” Jenny sauntered out of the forest. How he could walk with the weight of all those weapons was beyond me. “He just wanted me to see how you operated.” He eyed Matthias. “Looks like that might’ve stung a bit, boyo.”

The Aussie scowled. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

“And you didn’t tell me she could grab your whips.”

“Yeah, mate, didn’t know that until just now.”

“She’s just full of surprises.”

Matthias flopped on his back. “I’ve always hated surprises.”

I gave them both dirty looks. “Think you two could tell me something I don’t know?”

Jenny tipped his hat back on his head. “With hunters, our abilities are tied to our emotions.”

“I
know
.” Gee, so much for the expert.

“At its core,” Jenny said, “your power is tied to your will. In your case, it comes out when you’re in fear for your life. Your will to survive.” He squatted down next to me and turned to Matthias. “But if the demon she protected last night was any indication, I’d bet good money it’ll kick in if someone she cares about is threatened too. Her will to protect loved ones.”

“See!” I shouted at Matthias. “You could have demonstrated without putting me in mortal danger.”

Matthias twisted his lips in a demented smile. “Not nearly as much fun.”

“Whatever. So how is all this brilliant knowledge supposed to help me control the explody thing?”

“Explody thing?” Jenny said.

I nodded. “It’s a technical term.”

“I see. Well, lass, that’s what I’m here for. And it’s time to find out.”

Jenny yanked me to my feet. As he turned and walked away, he flipped a knife, more of a dagger, high into the air. While the glinting blade rotated in the sunlight, he shrugged his shoulders and let his trench coat fall to the grass. The arsenal strapped to his body was in full view. He held out an empty palm just in time for the dagger to fall into it.

In a blur, he spun around and threw it.

At me. 

The knife rocketed at high speed. My adrenaline spiked, but either fear froze me too long, or I was just too exhausted to move, because my reaction faltered, muscles slowed. I started to dive right, but knew my sluggish response had cost me. I wouldn’t beat the blade.

I raised my arms to at least deflect it from a dead shot between my eyes.

Matthias kicked my feet out, and I went down hard. “Jenny!” he yelled.

I sat up, breathing hard and fast. “Stop trying to kill me!”

“Would’ve just nicked you.” Jenny was unperturbed as he walked over, kicked the knife into the air and caught it. “Come on, girl, show me your skills.”

He walked away, jerking his head for me to follow.

Yep. Nothing but good times ahead.

In no time, I was dripping blood, sweat, and tears.

Okay, not blood. And the tears? So far I’d managed to hold them back despite the mega-level frustration. But there was definitely sweat. Gallons of it. Not my dream day, but historically, I was more of a nightmare kind of gal anyway.

It wasn’t all that dramatic. Jenny kept having me try to conjure up the blasting power. And I kept failing, producing nothing but a couple of sparks.

“Want me to throw her off the cliff again?” Matthias offered.

What a generous fella.

However, Jenny decided that I needed some adrenaline pumping action so we worked on some hand-to-hand combat. I didn’t completely suck. The most fun was practicing various fighting techniques with Jenny’s short swords. 

But when I tired — telling myself it was the serious lack of sleep issue — I quickly lost little things like speed, agility, and overall cognitive function. And then the hits just kept on coming.

Jenny jabbed an elbow to my back. I flopped onto the rocky ground. And stayed there. Not really caring that dirt coated my sweat-stained cheek and drool dribbled from the side of my mouth. Exhaustion claimed every muscle. And any part of me that wasn’t numb was a flowing tide of pain.

“Get up.” Jenny dug a boot toe into my hip. “We’re not done yet.”

“I am.” My slurred words displaced a little puff of soil.

Jenny slipped his foot under my stomach and flipped me over. I groaned. Then I groaned again because the groaning hurt. And on went the vicious cycle of pain.

He jabbed the sword tip into the sand and crouched down, one hand on the hilt of the blade. “The only excuse for quitting is being dead.”

I rolled my head sideways and spit out sand. “Does wanting to be dead count?”

Jenny’s smile was diabolical. “You tell me.”

The sword was suddenly swinging a graceful arc toward my torso.

I screamed, rolled out of the way, and once on my feet, threw the short sword that was somehow still in my hand.

Jenny bent his knees and leaned back in a contortion odd enough to qualify as some advanced yoga move. The blade passed him harmlessly.

“That’s more like it.” He pointed his sword at me, his mouth split into a wide grin. “
That
I can work with.”

I dropped to my knees. I think it had something to do with the fact I could no longer feel my legs. 

“No slacking, lass. The fun’s just starting.”

“Again. I am not having fun.”

But I made it to my feet. Something cold was thrust in my hand. I blinked. Focused. A dagger.

Jenny slapped my shoulder, almost knocking me down. “Next, I want you to—”

I didn’t care. Without looking, I rotated my arm and threw the knife. Just to shut him up.

Twang
.

I had to squint to be sure, but darn if the knife hadn’t buried its tip in the trunk of a tree. A goofy, lopsided grin curved my lips.

“I did it.”

“That you did. Now go again.”

And once I started, I didn’t feel like stopping. Especially when I kept hitting target after target. Energy started buzzing inside me. Suddenly, I wasn’t tired.

Jenny produced an endless supply of sharp things. Daggers, short swords, scythes, hatchets, machetes, some circular pointy thing. We walked through the woods finding new targets. Jenny occasionally provided a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

My insides were hot and vibrating. I was giddy. It was like on a long run when endorphins overrode exhaustion, and I felt I could run forever.

Jenny dropped a hand on my shoulder and tossed an apple high. When I reached for my next weapon, nothing was laid in my hand. But muscle memory kept my body moving, my arm reeled back, and my hand shot toward the apple. Energy rippled down my arm.

Light blasted.  

The world exploded.