The Guardians: An Urban Fantasy Romance (18 page)

She giggled. “Yes, all of those things. Let’s do all that stuff.”

He nuzzled her nose with his affectionately. “Then we’ll go to other places. We’ll eat barbecue in Texas, and ride roller coasters at Disney World. We’ll go to the beach in California, and to the space needle in Seattle.”

She laughed, hanging on to his neck and throwing her head back with giddy joy. “Yes, yes!” she said with another laugh. “You sure know how to plan a future, Jackson Bennett, Jr.”

“That’s because I’ve been planning mine since I was a kid. Now, maybe I have someone to plan it with?”

Their eyes met and she fisted her hands in his shirt. Their lips hovered, inches apart, allowing the tingle of anticipation to grow and swell between them until they both trembled from want. “Maybe, Jack,” she whispered, lips curving in a coy smile. “Just maybe.”

All of a sudden, he jerked and cried out, clinging to her as his legs crumbled and his body sagged. Addison tightened her hold on him, thrown off balance and sent down to one knee from the forceful pull of his body weight. Her teeth clattered together, causing her head to rattle when her knee hit the pavement hard.

“Oh, my God, Jack!”

Panic gripped her as she glanced down and found a dark stain spreading fast across the front of his shirt. He grit his teeth, panting for breath as he reached behind him and yanked a large and curved, ornate knife from his left shoulder blade. With a grunt, he threw the bloodstained weapon onto the sidewalk.

She helped him to his feet. “Are you okay? What the hell was that?”

He reached for the chain hanging around her neck and yanked it free of her shirt. His jaw clenched as his eyes locked on the ring. She glanced down—the seal engraved into it had begun to glow.

“Demon,” he growled, his sharp gaze darting to find where the knife had come from.

Swallowing past the lump of fear in her throat, she eyed the glowing ring. “I’m guessing not your garden variety demon since this thing just lit up like a Christmas tree.”

He shook his head. “One of the ten,” he confirmed. His breath sounded fast and he seemed a bit gray.

Addison eyed the wound in his back and cringed. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Fine.” Before the word was even out of his mouth, another knife came hurtling out of the darkness. This time, Addison was ready. Throwing one hand up, she used her telekinesis to halt the flying weapon before it could embed between her eyebrows. Plucking it from the air, she held it by its hilt, squeezing it tight.

“Okay, whoever that is, just show your face already!” she bellowed into the darkness. Far more confidence echoed in her voice than she felt. “You know who I am and why I’m here, so let’s get this shit over with already.”

A few seconds later, the figure of a large man appeared from the shadows. His girth went beyond extreme and bordered on circus freak. His skin glowed, ghostlike in the moonlight, and several chins rested against the lapels of a crisp, white dress shirt. A gigantic paunch pressed against an elaborate, embroidered vest, and large, sausage-like arms stretched the sleeves of a black suit jacket. Black hair had been oiled and slicked to the back of his neck in a ponytail. Every one of his thick fingers boasted a large, gaudy gold ring set with a precious stone—rubies, diamonds, emeralds, moonstones. The chain of a gold pocket watch could be seen along his vest, with even his belt buckle made of gold.

“Are you kidding me with this guy?” she murmured as he sidled toward them down the street. His ruddy cheeks and smirking mouth did nothing to take the coldness from his dark, beady stare. He gave her the creeps.

“That would be Mammon,” Jack said, curling his upper lip in disgust. “He’s one of the seven princes of Hell. His vice is excess—greed, hoarding, and the love of money. Everything he does is excessive … thus the gold, and the clothes, and the gut. The guy likes to eat and wear expensive things.”

“I see our Guardian friend here has made the introductions already, young lady,” Mammon said in a deep, bass-filled voice as he paused just in front of them. He looked her up and down, then shrugged one shoulder in a nonchalant motion. “The way Eligos was carrying on over you, one would think you were more to look at.”

Her fist curled at her side and her vision grew dark and hazy with rage. She took a deep, calming breath. “The way my friends carried on about Eligos’ ten, one would think you’d be more fearsome. I have to say, I’m not impressed.”

Mammon smiled, parting his fat, worm-like lips with a deep chuckle that jiggled his belly. Reaching for the lapel of his jacket, he opened it, giving her a pointed stare as he revealed the row of gleaming, gold knives just waiting to be thrown. “Nothing would bring me more pleasure than to impress you. But first, my one and only offer. Name your price for the Seal.”

“Do you think I’m stupid?”

“No,” Mammon replied, circling them at a meandering pace.

Despite her earlier taunts, Addison was scared out of her wits. She knew demons were deceptive and could appear in any form they wished. She wasn’t itching to see this guy in his true form, or experience his power.

“I do know that you’ve spent your life on the bottom rungs of society,” he said. “You’ve lived poor, hungry, a Spartan existence that has always left you wanting more. I could change that for you, girl. I could give you wealth beyond your wildest dreams. No number is too high; all you need to do is claim what is already yours.”

Mammon waved one hand, and in an instant, the entire street filled up with hundred dollar bills. The piles appeared inches high, from curb to curb, an endless sea of money as far as the eye could see. Bills fluttered from the rooftops, a few brushing against her face as they drifted to the ground.

Addison’s eyes widened at the sight. She’d never seen so much money in her life. Yet, it still wasn’t enough to persuade her.

Glaring up at Mammon, she took a step closer to him, hands on her hips. “Fuck you,” she hissed, “and your money.”

Mammon sighed, causing the money to disappear as fast as it had materialized. “Very well, then. I’m afraid I cannot allow you to live.”

Quick as a blink, he had three of the knives freed from his jacket. The speed with which he threw them shocked her so much, she didn’t realize one of them had struck her until she felt the slow trickle of blood running between her breasts. She looked down to find a red line of blood welling in a shallow cut where the ring used to be against her chest. She dove for the ring, which lay on the ground, the chain still attached to it and wrapped around the blade of Mammon’s knife, embedded in the earth.

Everything happened so fast.

Mammon reached down with one of his massive arms to push her aside. The force of his strength sent her flying down the street several yards. Pulling on the power she was just coming to understand, she pulled up and levitated, just saving herself from being bashed against the gravel road. Allowing herself to pull on the slow burn of anger turning her blood to molten fire, she flew at Mammon, who was charging at Jack, two more knives unsheathed.

Before she could reach him, Jack opened his mouth and a barrage of sound waves rippled out toward the large demon, sending him crashing to the ground a few feet away. The impact of his bulky body left a small crater in the ground, but Mammon surprised her by finding his way back to his feet quickly. It would seem size didn’t matter when one was a demon—speed and agility must be programmed in.

Mammon let two more of the knives fly—one sent arcing toward each of them. Addison reached out to stop the one hurtling at Jack, but wasn’t fast enough to halt the one coming at her. Another slash, this one across her cheek, was her reward. Jack had his pistol free from his waistband, charging at Mammon. She took the opportunity to retrieve the ring, still on the ground with the chain wrapped around Mammon’s knife.

Slipping the ring back around her neck, she allowed her feet to leave the ground again, hoping to surprise Mammon with an aerial attack. She came at him from behind, her hands extended to yank him away from Jack, but the demon sensed her coming.

Mammon used one of his blades deflect a white beam from Jack’s gun, and drove his elbow into Jack’s chest, sending him sprawling to the ground again. Then, he turned on Addison just as she was about to wrap her hands around his meaty throat. His palm seemed to grow as it came toward her, becoming larger and larger until it grew big enough to wrap around her waist like an iron shackle. He squeezed her in a bruising grip, almost cutting off her air supply as the rest of him expanded and morphed along with his oversized hand. His hair came loose from its binding, the black tendrils writhing about his head like a nest of snakes. His beady black irises expanded until the whites got eaten up by the dark color. His ruddy complexion melted away, revealing skin the shade of an apple, with shining reptilian scales along the surface.

Addison writhed and struggled in his hold as he continued to shift and transform. His nose became pig-like, his teeth jagged and uneven. A set of curved horns sprouted from his head, splitting the skin and stretching up several feet. His clothing tore away and hung from him in shreds as the folds of his arms and stomach broke loose, leaving his upper body exposed, his torso covered in demonic markings and tribal style tattoos. More of the gold everywhere on him, piercing his nose, his lips, his ears, nipples, and even a large diamond the size of her fist nestled in his navel.

He opened his mouth to laugh, and billowing black smoke curled from his nostrils. The stench that emitted from the deep cavern of his mouth caused her to quiver with a forceful retch. The combination of sulfur, decaying flesh, and rotting garbage proved enough to almost steal her consciousness.

She struggled for focus, closing her eyes as she once again pulled on the instincts she had been keeping at bay her entire life. Reniel was supposed to be training her to fight, but they’d never gotten that far before being attacked. She was on her own here, and she would have to wing it.

The boiling feeling in her veins began again and she let it grow and swell to near- unbearable limits. She screamed when it ripped from her in a torrent of blackness and destruction, slamming into Mammon and sending him rolling into a nearby building. The stone of the building cracked and caved where his massive body struck it, the demon slow to get to his feet, dazed by the powerful blow. Addison refused to give him the chance to get back up. Advancing on him, she balled her hands into fists, trembling as her power seemed to form there, concentrating in the tips of her fingers.

When she reached for Mammon, the adrenaline that surged in her felt so heady, she almost got high from it. She didn’t know where the strength came from, but deep down knew she’d always possessed it. She grasped Mammon by his horns and began to drag him across the pavement.

“You stabbed my boyfriend and interrupted one of the most romantic moments of my life, you pig,” she muttered as he growled and grunted, attempting to fight against her hold.

“Addison!” Jack’s voice rang out from somewhere behind her. “No!”

She only just registered his protests as she swung Mammon with all her might and sent him flying off into the distance. He soared up over the rooftops, tumbling head over heels, before righting himself, levitating with masterful skill, his arms outstretched. His laughter echoed over them, a coarse sound that grated across Addison’s soul like fingernails over a chalkboard.

“Don’t fight him, Addie,” Jack said, staggering toward her with the pistol hanging from his good hand. His injured shoulder seemed hunched, his eyes clouded by pain. The wound had to be more serious than she’d thought. “He’s too much for the two of us without backup. You have to use the ring to dispatch him so we can get away.”

She nodded, glancing down at the glowing ring. Reniel had said she’d know what to do when the time came, but she was at a loss.
Don’t fail me now,
she prayed,
not when I was just starting to believe you might care a little bit about me.

Mammon hovered over them, his arms still spread as if in a welcoming gesture. “Is that all you’ve got, girl?”

Addison’s fists clenched so tight, she could feel her fingernails biting into her palms, drawing blood. “Try me, piggy,” she growled, hoping to entice him closer. Maybe if she made contact with him, instinct would take over and she could dispatch him with the ring.

“Challenge accepted,” Mammon growled. “Let’s see if you have what it takes to protect the people you love.”

He lifted his massive arms, and in response, several more of the golden knives appeared from thin air. In puffs of smoke, they materialized one by one. There had to be at least a hundred of them by her count. Without warning, Mammon extended his hands, sending the daggers hurtling straight toward then. Addison leapt in front of Jack in a flash and threw her hands up to stop them, but there were too many. While most of them halted in midair, held aloft by her control, three slipped through, one of them embedding in her thigh.

“Addie!” Jack bellowed, reaching out to steady her as she staggered backward, her knee buckling from the agony. Red hot pain exploded in her thigh and traveled throughout her veins, burning as if someone had hooked her up to an I.V. full of acid.

She reached for the knife and yanked it out, biting back a scream of pain. A black substance oozed from the tip. “Poison?” she whispered. The pain didn’t register as sharp now, but it lingered. Now she knew why Jack was in such bad shape. “The knives are poisoned.”