The Last of the Demon Slayers (7 page)

I found a rubber band in my pants pocket and used it to pull my hair back into a ponytail.

As much as I wanted things to be normal, we had bigger things to consider, like the dead banshee out back and exactly what kind of trouble my father had gotten himself into. Dear old dad showing up and the creature attacks had to be connected somehow.

Before tonight, we’d gone months without being ambushed. Of course we’d been hanging out at Dimitri’s villa in Greece. I tried to remember exactly why we’d insisted on coming back to the States. Oh yes, because I needed more than an idyllic life on the islands – sleeping in, sunbathing, watching the witches build small castles – literally – out of the black sand. The Red Skulls never could do anything halfway. Of course it had been hard to explain to the beach patrol.

Even that seemed like fun compared to this.

“Can we go back to Santorini?” I asked, stuffing the remains of my dinner into a Burger King bag.

Dimitri looked thoughtful. “Do you want to return?”

“No,” I answered on a sigh.

It was his destiny, not mine. I wasn’t quite sure where I belonged.

As much as I loved Dimitri, I couldn’t just take up the life of a griffin housewife. Not that we’d ever talked marriage. That was the problem with him – with us. Our past was fiery. Our present was toe-curling, but our future was anything but certain.

I couldn’t live in a griffin clan on Santorini. I’d tried. And I didn’t think he wanted to spend the rest of his life tearing around on the back of a Harley, hunting demons.

Who would?

Creely slapped both hands onto our table, rattling everything on it. “You got any beer cans?” She reached for my Diet Coke, and shook it. “Good enough.”

“Hey,” I protested, “I still have a little more in there.”

“I can fix that,” Creely said, drinking it in a swig.

“Gee, thanks.”

But she was already jogging back to Bob, Pirate and a group of witches who were building a beer can tower by the bar.

“You see what I put up with?” I was about to get up and get another soda when the ashes of the rope twitched in Grandma’s jar.

Holy Hades. “Look at that.”

The particles in the jar rolled over each other as if blown by an invisible wind. They twisted faster and faster until they shaped themselves into a paler version of the silver rope. One end poked against the glass, reminding me of
a blind snake, arching and finding its way. It stretched up into thin air, as if looking for something, and then wound back around itself, forming a noose.

“Unreal,” I murmured
.
Of course so was a zombie crow.

We stared at it, waiting for it to do something else, like
I don’t know – make rope animals. I was up for anything at that point.

I wished Rachmort were here to see this. He not only had generations of experience mentoring slayers, he was also a necromancer who specialized in lost souls and spiritual apparitions.

Maybe there was a way to contact him. I’d have to talk to Grandma once she finished building the Budweiser tower of Babel.

Dimitri didn’t say a word about the reconstituted rope, which was telling. In our half year together, I’d learned he didn’t like to state the obvious. We both knew it was evil.

We watched the jar to see what it would do next. Yet once the rope made itself whole again, it seemed content to wind itself around the bottom.

Across the bar, the biker witches let out a collective hoot as Ant Eater launched a dart at the wobbling tower of beer cans.

“So listen to this,” I said, in a futile attempt to ignore them. I told Dimitri about my dad, the zombie crow and everything else he’d missed while he was out on patrol.

He placed his hand over mine. “I wish I could have been there.”

I nodded, swiping at a few tears.

“We’ll fix this,” he said.

The kicker was, he meant every word. Leave it to Dimitri to save the world.

I could do it on my own, but thanks to this man, I’d abandoned the notion that I should.

Single kick butt demon slayers who were mad at the world and did everything on their own were fine in the movies, or in books. But in real life, I needed a partner. I wanted Dimitri by my side. Not because I had trouble handling things on my own, but because I wanted someone to share this life with.

I ducked as a dart hit the wall between Dimitri and me.

“The beer can tower is that way,” Dimitri said, yanking the dart out of the wall and taking aim himself. His shot went wide. The Red Skulls cheered anyway.

The witches were getting rowdy, which meant it was time for Dimitri and I to turn in. It was either that or try to control them.

Ha.

We stood. “Thanks for killing banshees for me,” I said.

Dimitri brushed a kiss along my shoulder and let me step in front of him. “You do a pretty good job yourself.”

We waved at the witches, who toasted us and started giving us bedroom tips as we headed for the second floor.

Dimitri placed a protective hand on my back as we navigated the narrow stairs, lit by broken light bulbs. “I don’t want to judge my girlfriend’s family before I meet them, but let’s just say I have a few questions for your dad.”

Join the club.

I waited until we reached the top of the stairs before I leaned close. “You’ll never believe what Grandma discovered. Turns out I’m half angel.”

“Angel?” He nearly sputtered.

“Now why is that so hard to believe?” I asked, enjoying the sight of my mighty griffin nearly speechless.

He leaned back against the brown paneled landing, “I’m…”

“What? Shocked? Amazed? Freaked out? Take your pick. I’m still trying to decide.”

He took my hand and drew me close. “I always knew you were special,” he said, caressing the soft spot at the base of my palms. “But angelic?”

“Bona fide,” I said, running a finger down his arm. Maybe that’s why I’d always been so keen on following the rules.

We began walking down the hall toward our room. We had the third on the left, according to Grandma.

“Now tell me,” I said, “What do you know about angels?”

He seemed to search for the right thing to say. “I’ve never met one.”

“Until now,” I teased.

He tried to appreciate the joke, but was still too shocked. “Most view angels as agents of the divine, representatives of everything good.”

I snorted. “Instead of the things we usually run into.”

His mouth twisted into a smile. “You could say that.”

“Grandma says dad is a fallen angel,” I added.

”A being who has willfully turned away from the light.”

He came up with that a bit quickly. “Wait ‘till you meet him.” And until I was through with him.

We stopped in front of our room.

“It’s extremely convenient that your dad didn’t tell you what he’s done,” Dimitri said.

“He said he’d tell me in person. He didn’t want any supernatural eavesdroppers.”

“We’ll see.”

“Dimitri, he’s my father. I have to help him.”

And if I couldn’t, if I failed, would I have the courage to slay him?

“Your father tried to compel you to go see him,” Dimitri said.

I really didn’t want to talk about this. “What a power,” I said, trying to lighten things up. “It’s every parent’s dream come true.”

Dimitri didn’t take the bait. “You understand what’s at stake here, Lizzie. He wants you badly. He’s holding the threat of his damnation over your head.” He paused, as if he didn’t want to say the rest. “He didn’t search you out until he needed you.”

“I know.” It hurt to admit it even to myself: if my dad truly wanted me, he would have found a way to see me during the last thirty years. “But maybe this is a fresh start, a way to re-connect.”

Dimitri frowned. “I hope so. I want that for you, Lizzie. But just remember, he may be your dad, but that doesn’t mean you’re similar souls.”

“It doesn’t mean we’re not,” I reminded him.

For as long as I could remember I’d wondered what my real dad was like. I’d given up on the idea of perfection a long time ago. I wasn’t a child.

I’d also learned in my time as a slayer that things weren’t always as they appeared. Sure my dad hadn’t been there for me in the past, but he needed me now and I owed it to him and to myself to at least give him a chance.

Dimitri’s expression remained dark. He’d gone into full protection mode. Heaven help us. “It also says something about him that he’d rob you of your free choice,” he said.

      
“Kind of like the time you chained me to a tree?”

He looked unimpressed. “That was for your own good.”

It sure didn’t feel like it at the time.

I flicked the light switch in our room and was disappointed when the room remained dark. Grandma must have forgotten to hex our place. Or maybe the light-em-up spell didn’t have an off switch.

“Lizzie.” He brushed a lock of hair from my forehead, “I’m always behind you. No matter what.”

He truly was my rock, my other half.

“But I wonder if it is a good idea to get involved with your father.”

He was the bane of my existence.

I leaned against the door jamb and looked up at him. “You did it for your family.”

Dimitri went to hell and back to end the curse on his sisters. Then he fought a rival family’s army in order to keep them safe. He’d sacrificed years off his life to train me as a demon slayer, even when he barely knew me, so I could help the people he loved. He wasn’t in any position to tell me what I could or could not do for my estranged father.

A muscle in his jaw twitched. He realized it too, even if he refused to admit it. “I want more for you,” he said, towering above me in the narrow doorway.

“Believe me.” I ran a hand down his chest, stopping above the place where the creature had bitten. “I have everything I need.” Despite the mess with my father and the banshee, I was happier than I’d ever been in my life. For the first time, I knew what I wanted – this life, him.

Did he even know what having him meant to me?

His eyes narrowed down to tiny slits as he weighed the options. “If we do this, I want to protect you.”

“You already do.”

“It’s not enough,” he said, moving closer.

Yum.

“I’m always willing to accept more emerald necklaces,” I teased.

“That’s not what I meant,” he said, gruffly.

“Leather jackets?” I asked as he nipped at my neck.

He brought his body flush against mine. Double yum. Heat pooled in my belly. “Well if this is some kind of one-on-one body guarding, then I’m all for it.”

      
He touched the emerald at my throat. “Will you accept more of my protection?”

      
“I can’t.”

Dimitri’s powers were different from mine. While I could levitate, he could shift and fly. When I slowed down time, he could speed it up. It made us formidable. But it also made us weak. When I’d fallen, he’d gone down with me.

It gnawed at me that I could expose him and get him killed.

“We need to each maintain our own strength,” I told him.

“Don’t risk, don’t get too close,” he said, completing my thought with a scowl.

I flattened my back against the hard wooden door jamb. “It’s not like that.” I could see he was hurt, and I hated it.

      
It wasn’t fun, but it was the responsible thing to do.

And there was also a deep, dirty secret I didn’t even like to admit to myself: when our relationship ended – and I knew it would – I didn’t know what I’d do without Dimitri. I didn’t need to make it any worse by entwining my powers with his.

      
“You think I’m going back,” he said, accusing, but not denying he was needed elsewhere, away from me.

      
“Your destiny is in Greece with your sisters.” No head of a griffin clan had ever left their homeland for long. Griffins were conquerors. They craved land and security, and Dimitri had left his holdings wide open. Even being here could leave his sisters open for attack. I cared about him, and them, too much to ignore it.

      
He ran his hands through my lavender hair. “Why don’t you let me decide what’s best for me?”

Stubborn man. “You always do.”

Then he leaned in and kissed me and for a second I wanted to pull back and have our conversation. I wanted to tell him I did know what’s best and I could handle myself and I didn’t really need him but instead I yanked him closer and ground my body against him and never wanted to stop.

His arms wound around me with a resolute, almost bruising strength. He slanted his mouth over mine, deepening the kiss, pulling me against him until suddenly I was on top of him and we were inside the door and on the bed.

“Are you okay?” I tried to move away from his injured side.

“Hush.”

He lay over me, heavy and strong and I kissed him wildly. He had way too many clothes on. I nipped his lower lip and he groaned. Yes, yes. He was mine.

I slithered away from him long enough to help ease his shirt off and toss it over his shoulder. Then I went to work on his belt buckle, a little too eager for my own good, but who cared? My body was on fire. Everything in me screamed for this man. For the second time tonight, I knew exactly what I wanted.

And I’d have it as soon as I could master the buckle. “Is this thing welded on?”

Meanwhile Dimitri was at work on my neck, layering hot kisses until I feared I’d melt from it all. “You’d think you’d have enough practice by now.”

I gave up and ran my hand along the hard ridge below his buckle. He groaned into my ear.

“And you’d think you had an incentive to help.”

“I was busy,” he gasped, solving my problem with two tugs and a tumble out of bed.

He landed with a thud.

“Are you okay?” I sat up to see my powerful griffin on the floor.

“You’d better be naked by the time I get back up there.”

I happily obliged.

He rewarded me with a wet mouth on one breast and then the other, his tongue tugging at my nipples, hot, hungry and oh so skilled. I didn’t care if he dragged me down with the dust bunnies as long as he didn’t stop.