The Sight Seer (23 page)

Chapter Forty-t
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The front door squeaked loudly when Rafe opened it and we all froze, waiting for something to fly at us. When nothing did, Rafe let out a soft sigh of relief and stepped inside, his sword already summoned. He gestured for us to follow, shutting the door quietly behind Evan.

It was pitch black and deadly silent in the lobby.
The only noise I heard was the rapid beating of my heart. I tried to breathe quietly, like the boys were doing, with only mild success. Then a bright silver light flared up and I gasped loudly, nearly jumping out of my skin.

The light had come from Evan, who was standing about two feet to my right.
He was cradling the flickering, unnatural light against his chest with his right hand. The silver color illuminated his features in a freakish way, making him look more demon than human. He made it even worse be giving me a wide grin when he saw how I had reacted to the sudden light.

“You could have warned her,” Rafe said protectively.

“Sorry,” Evan said. “Next time I will say, ‘Gabi, I am calling upon the elements to light a fire in my hand, so do not be alarmed—’”

“Oh shut up,” I said, grateful he couldn’t see me blushing in the darkness.
“Sorry I’m such a demon hunting newbie.”

“It’s silverflame,” Rafe explained
. “Another bit of magic, like the matches I showed you. Most of us use these.” He pulled out what looked like a sparkler and snapped it in half to create two glowing silver wands. “But some people like to show off and summon the flame without using any tools.” He passed me a stick and I clutched it in my sweaty left hand. Lifting it higher, I looked around the lobby. It was just an empty, dusty room. There wasn’t even one piece of furniture left.

“Hey, if you’ve got it, flaunt it,” Evan said, posing with one hand on his hip like a runway model.
“Now come on, let’s keep moving.” We followed him to a set of stairs and began climbing, Evan in the lead, me in the middle, and Rafe watching our backs. I kept my free hand on the dusty railing, trying to keep my footsteps light.

“Which floor?” Rafe breathed softly behind me.
I had been wondering the same thing—were we going to check every single floor until we found Davenport and my sister?
              “I’ll let you know,” Evan replied. He didn’t sound concerned at all. I shot Rafe a look over my shoulder and he shrugged. Rolling my eyes, I faced forward again, hoping Evan knew what the heck he was doing.

He stopped at the fifth landing, holding his hand up so I wouldn’t crash into him.
We waited a moment so I could catch my breath, and then he opened the door and stepped out. The hallway was carpeted and, like everything else, covered in dust. Each step we took caused a cloud of dust to rise up, and my nose was itching halfway down the hall. Most of the apartment doors were open but appeared completely devoid of both furniture and life from what I could see.

Just when I was starting to think Evan had taken us to the wrong floor, there was a whisper of movement and all three silverflames went out.
I instinctively took a step backwards and crashed into Rafe. He guided me to the wall without speaking, keeping his body in front of mine. Discarding the useless silverflame stick, I slid the knife out of its sheath and clutched it tightly in both hands.

“Oh
, how creative,” Evan grumbled from somewhere to our left. I felt more than heard Rafe take a step towards him. “Blowing out the lights; like that doesn’t happen in every single horror movie.”

Davenport’s voice floated through the darkness.
“Then you should know which character is the first to die.”

The n
ext words were whispered in my ear. “The girl.”

Without thinking, I slashed out in front of me in a wide arc and was rewarded with a cry of pain.
“Not this girl, you dick,” I snarled. As he stumbled away, cursing, I heard Rafe chuckle. I smiled despite the fact that my heart was beating double time in my chest.

“Alright, this darkness is getting real old real fast,” Evan declared.
I heard him snap his fingers and then the lights—all the lights, from the hallways to the individual apartments—came flooding back on. “Oh look,” he said mildly, standing with his hand raised above his head. “I found out what was wrong with the electricity. It was turned off.”

“You alright?” Rafe asked me.

But I was too distracted by the sight of Davenport standing at the end of the hallway to answer. His hand was wrapped around his bleeding forearm and I felt a flash of triumph, knowing I had been the one to inflict that wound. The blood that flowed from the cut was a dark, almost black-red, further proof that he was no longer completely human (as if the green skin and completely black eyes weren’t dead giveaways). Following my gaze, Rafe took a step towards Davenport, raising his sword.

“Where’s the girl, Matthew?”

The half-demon, half-human smirked. “Come now Rafe, it wouldn’t be much fun if I just told you.”

“This isn’t a game!”

“No, dear boy, it isn’t.” He tilted his head sideways, studying us. “I will tell you this. The girl is fine for now, but I cannot say the same for you.”

The surge of hope I felt from his words was extinguished when I heard a shuffling noise come from behind me.
I whirled around. “Boneless,” I whispered as the demon twins walked towards us in their weird, halting gait.

“Revenge,” they hissed, their yellow eyes blazing with pure hatred as they stared at Rafe.
“Revenge.” The twins weren’t identical anymore—the one Rafe had stabbed in the eye now sported a black, gaping wound. Just when I thought these things couldn’t get any uglier!

Rafe smiled grimly.
“Ah. There you are.”

“My twins told me something very interesting,” Davenport said, eyeing Rafe.
“They said they wounded a hunter, fatally, and yet here you are, completely whole. How can that be?”

I swallowed hard, hoping no one could read the panic on my face.
But with everything that was going on, no one paid much attention to me. Rafe kept his eyes trained on the demons and it was Evan who spoke up. “Well, Davenport, you know how stupid these things are, being one yourself.”

The former hunter’s eyes flashed with anger.
“You know nothing, Evan.”

Evan’s knife appeared in his fingers.
“Actually, I do know that I’m going to kill you tonight. But first I’m going to make you pay for what you did to Alex.”

“You will not succeed.”

“Sheesh, were you always this dramatic?” Evan shook his head. “Rafe, can I count on you not to get killed by those hideous freaks of nature while I take care of this bastard?”

Rafe was still smiling, a scary, deadly smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
He was almost completely unrecognizable, and if I didn’t know better, I’d be scared of him. “Evan, I’m going to kill them so quickly, you and I will have to fight over who gets to deal with Davenport.”

“In your dreams.”

“Enough!” Davenport roared. He sprang forward, moving faster than humanly possible, and the fighting began.

He went for Evan, but the hunter’s hands shot up, creating a shimmery shield that resembled a giant soap bubble.
Davenport hit it hard and flew backwards, but still managed to stay on his feet. Evan crowed, which only made the half-demon angrier. I was pretty certain that baiting a homicidal maniac wasn’t the best of ideas, but I doubted Evan would listen to me. Besides, he was so into the battle, throwing spells at Davenport in rapid succession, that he probably wouldn’t have had a moment to spare for me.

Unable to get close to Evan with that shield up, Davenport was repeatedly hit by spells.
With a snarl, he threw his arm in front of his face to protect himself and then took off running to his right, disappearing around a corner. Evan let out a shout of protest and chased after him.

Rafe, meanwhile, was fighting the twins.
Their fixation on Rafe was near obsessive; they had completely walked past me without sparing me a single glance. I stood with my back against the wall, wishing there was something I could do besides grip the knife still dripping with Davenport’s blood in my sweaty hands.

But what
could
I do besides distract Rafe and get him stabbed again? I was no hunter, and something told me the twins were too smart to sneak up on and stab from behind. As I watched, they worked in unison, driving Rafe back with well-timed strikes. He was on the defensive, blocking their fists and legs as they punched and kicked. A few times they were able to break through his defense and I winced in sympathy at the sound of flesh hitting flesh, even if Rafe himself stayed silent.

As they pushed Rafe towards the end of the hallway, where Davenport had been standing moments ago, something on the carpet caught my attention.
Looking down, I saw their shadows dancing in front of me and my breath caught.

When we had first encountered Boneless One and Two, the moon had been a small crescent that was constantly blotted out by a thick blanket of clouds.
There had been no shadows for me to notice then. Now, thanks to Evan’s trick with the electricity, I could see that there was something peculiar about the twins’ shadow.

Yeah,
shadow
. As in there was only
one
. There were two bodies fighting Rafe, but they formed one singular dark mass on the floor. Rafe had wondered if they counted as one or two demons and now I knew—they were two halves of the same whole. And the shadow was the key.

At least, I hoped it was.
Dropping to my knees, I took a deep breath before plunging the knife into the carpet, right in the middle of the shadow.

It was like sticking my hands in a bowl of ice water.
My fingers instantly went numb, but I somehow managed to maintain my grip on the knife, digging it in farther. Thick blood, more black than green, spurted in the air like oil from the ground, making my grip slippery. But still I held on, knowing this was the chance Rafe needed to win.

He had finally gone on the offensive, swinging his sword at the Boneless nearest to him.
To everyone’s surprise, the thing just stood there as Rafe’s sword cut right through its shoulder, stopping somewhere in the middle of its chest. Besides making a gurgling sort of noise in the back of its throat, it did not move. The other Boneless let out a loud scream so full of anguish and rage that it made my teeth hurt, and Rafe quickly dislodged his sword and jumped back. But the other Boneless was frozen in place as well, and could only watch as its twin fell to its knees and slumped over.

Rafe’s gaze jumped from One to Two, confusion on his face.
He probably thought this was a trap—why would they just stop attacking?

Then Rafe saw me kneeling on the floor, hands stained with
dark blood, and his green eyes widened, flashing with fury. With a loud shout, he beheaded the still standing Boneless, and then did the same to the one on the ground. Green blood splattered around and on me, but I paid it no heed as I watched the shadow. It flashed once and then vanished completely. I let out a sigh of relief, sitting back on my heels as I shook out my cold fingers.

“Gabi!”
Rafe grabbed me, hugging me tightly. “Are you okay?! What happened?”

My voice was muffled against his chest.
“The shadow.”

He pulled back to give me a quizzical look.
“What?”

“They were sharing a shadow.”
I pointed to where the dagger was. “So I figured the shadow was like the puppet master, controlling them. When I stabbed it, they froze, so I guess I was right?”

Rafe’s mouth hung open as he listened to my jumbled, mumbled explanation.
When I finished, he shook his head. “I thought you had been hurt. Instead, you were figuring out something I would have never noticed in a million years.”

“That’s not true—”

“Yes, it is. God, Gabi, you are amazing. Do you know that?”

“Yes,” I said coyly, “but I don’t mind if you keep telling me that.”

Laughing, he pulled me to my feet, not even minding that my hands were covered in disgusting, hot demon blood. His laughter died as he scanned the abandoned hallway. “Come on, let’s go find Evan before he manages to get himself killed.”

“And Chloe,” I reminded him, slipping my hand into his as we turned the corner and walked deeper into the nest.

Chapter Forty-three

We kept up a steady pace, with Rafe constantly scanning the hallway for more demons. It was too quiet and I kept expecting something to jump out at us at any moment. Signs of Evan’s fight littered the walls and floor every few feet—broken plaster here, still-smoldering carpet there. No human blood, which I hoped meant he was still holding his own.

No sign of my sister, either.
I gave each apartment a cursory glance, wishing I could thoroughly explore each one. But there was no time. I knew Rafe would never leave me alone, not when there could be other demons lurking about, and I couldn’t ask him to abandon Evan like that. I had to pray that Davenport was telling the truth when he said Chloe was unharmed. I didn’t know why he would reveal something like that, but I would cling to that small sliver of hope for all it was worth. Because if I didn’t, I’d go crazy.

We turned another corner in time to see Evan and Davenport disappear into a room at the end of the hallway.
Rafe took off at a sprint, dragging me along with him as I struggled to keep up. The plaque on the wall stated that it was the weight room, but like all the other rooms we had passed, it was devoid of any equipment.
Which was probably better
, I thought. Who wanted Davenport throwing hundred pound weights or treadmills at our heads?

Evan wasn’t flinging as many spells as before, relying more on his knife as he tried to get close enough to Davenport to stab him.
His shield had also disappeared, and blood ran from a wound on his left shoulder. He looked exhausted, his blue eyes shining brightly and his skin chalky white, but he still managed to give us a fierce grin. “What took you so long?”

“Hey, I had two to deal with.
What’s your excuse?” Rafe replied, raising his sword and crouching into a battle stance.

“Oh, you know, I was being polite and saving a piece of the action for you.
No one wants to hear you whine about being left out!”

During their banter, I wisely backed away, giving the room a brief glance.
My stomach dropped and I let out a scream. “Chloe!”

My sister was curled up in the corner, hands tied behind her back.
I ran to her, falling to the floor and shaking her by the shoulders. “Chloe, wake up!” She looked like she was sleeping, but I wasn’t fooled. Her skin was deathly pale and two shining trails of dried tears ran from her closed eyes to the tip of her chin. To my relief, she was breathing steadily, and besides a painful-looking bruise on her cheek, she seemed otherwise unharmed. But the bruise, already turning a dark shade of purple, was enough to get my blood boiling. I wished I were a hunter like Rafe so I could be the one to kill Davenport. Pulling my sister into my arms, I whispered into her ear that everything would be fine as I turned my attention back to the battle.

Even against two hunters, Davenport was still holding his own.
I wondered if he had been putting on an act earlier, deliberately acting weak so Evan would hit him with everything he had and tire out. That’s not to say Evan hadn’t hurt him. Besides the cut I had managed to successfully land on Davenport’s arm, he was also bleeding from a head wound, the dark red liquid getting into his eye and causing him to squint. He was limping as well, but he still managed to dance away from Rafe’s sword swings.

When they cornered him, Davenport surprised everyone by laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Evan demanded, taking a moment to check the wound on his shoulder.
“You happy about dying?”

Davenport spread his arms wide.
“I just find it so ironic that we’ve come to this point. I went through all the trouble of tracking you down and using that girl as bait, and look at us, fighting like a pack of rabid dogs. I had such high hopes for the two of you.”

“High hopes?” Rafe asked, looking disgusted.
“You wanted us to be part of your half-human, half-demon army?”

“No, stupid boy, I wanted you to help me destroy Silver Moon!”
Davenport’s face was lit with an intense, passionate look.

Rafe blanched.
“Why would you want something like that?”

“Because he’s insane,” Evan said, enunciating each word with great exaggeration.

Davenport shot him a nasty look. “I realized early on that you were a lost cause, Evan, but not you, Rafe. After everything they’ve done to you, why do you still insist on serving them?”

Rafe didn’t answer and I wondered if he was actually listening to this idiot.
Yes, Silver Moon treated Rafe badly, but Davenport was a thousand times worse!

The former hunter wasn’t finished.
“Calling you worthless, useless—”

“That’s enough,” Evan snapped, stepping protectively in front of Rafe.
“Shut up, Matthew. Just shut your damn mouth, alright? Everything you say is a lie. You betrayed us, hurting Alex in the process, and Rafe and I will never, ever follow you.” His hands clenched into fists. “So stop with your preaching and your moaning about how the organization is evil. You broke the rules, Matthew. You mixed your blood with a demon’s; what did you expect was going to happen? Of course they would hunt you down. And now Rafe and I will finish what they were unable to do, and then I will gladly deliver your decapitated head to HQ. Maybe they’ll let me keep it; I need a new soccer ball.”

Davenport tilted his head back, studying Evan.
“Are you done?” he asked, sounding like he was talking to a child.

Evan flushed.
“Yeah, I’m done talking. Now it’s time to kick your as—”

His words were cut off as Davenport
vanished
and reappeared behind Evan. Rafe let out a startled yell, but he was too far away to do anything. A long, serrated knife appeared in Davenport’s hand and he shoved it into Evan’s back, twisting cruelly.

Evan managed a startled gasp before falling to his knees.
His blood gushed freely from the wound, and he stared at it in surprise. Rafe came charging and Davenport removed the knife to block Rafe’s sword. Evan let out a strangled cry of pain before slumping face first on the floor.

“Evan!” I screamed, horrified.
The blonde didn’t move and I knew I had to get over there and attempt to heal him, even if I didn’t know if my powers would work again.

Davenport sneered.
“How appropriate. Alexandra’s spine was broken two years ago, and now Evan suffers the same fate. But he’ll bleed to death before you get him the help he needs.”

“Shut up, you bastard,” Rafe snarled, pushing against Davenport’s knife with all of his strength.

I gently lay Chloe down and began inching towards Evan, hoping Davenport was too absorbed in baiting Rafe to notice me.

“Why do you fight it, Rafe?” Davenport asked.
“You know you’re so much better than this. You proved to all of them that you can fight without the Sight, and yet you’re still their dog. Why is that?” He pushed Rafe away and took a few steps back, studying him carefully. “Especially when they were the ones who killed your parents.”

Rafe froze, his face draining of color.
He lowered his sword, resting the tip on the floor as he stared at Davenport.

“Rafe, what are you doing?” I demanded, fully forgetting that I was supposed to be invisible.

Ignoring me, he asked, “What are you talking about?”

Davenport smiled.
“So you still don’t know?” He laughed, a cruel sound that sent shivers down my spine. “That was a setup. A chance for Silver Moon to rid itself of a pair of hunters who refused to follow their rules. You were never supposed to be a hunter, Rafe. Not without the Sight. But your parents, especially your father, didn’t listen and fought for you. And that, Rafe, is why they’re dead.

“Because of you.
”

Rafe took a step backwards, shaking his head rapidly.
“N-No.”

“He’s lying,” Ev
an moaned from the floor. “Why… are you listening to him… you idiot?”

“And now you know why I despise Silver Moon,” Davenport said.
“Why I’ve tried so hard to destroy them. Why I had to become the very thing I spent all those years hunting. It was the only way, Rafe.” He lifted his hands, clenching them into fists. “For the first time in my life, I feel alive! Don’t you want this? Don’t you want this power? With it, you can finally have your revenge. You can find the demon that slew your parents, and you can destroy both it
and
Silver Moon.”

The sword slipped from Rafe’s hands, falling to the floor with a loud clang.

“Rafe!” I got up, determined to shake some sense into him. “What the hell are you doing? Are you actually listening to him? This moron mixed his blood with a demon’s! He’s batshit crazy! And you’re nuts if you’re actually going to believe a word he’s saying!” I took him by the arm and jabbed my fingers into his shoulder when he wouldn’t look at me. “Rafe! Think about it! Why would the Silver Moon members kill their own hunters? Just to prove a point? That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, especially when you proved yourself as a hunter!”

“You don’t know them, Gabi,” Rafe said, shaking his head.
He refused to meet my eye, which made me even angrier.

“Well, what I
do
know is that I’m going to kick you in the ass if you don’t snap out of this right now! Evan needs your help, and you’re standing here listening to this monster spin his web of lies! Come on, Rafe!”

Something flickered in Rafe’s eyes; I was finally getting through to him.
A little bit more and he’d finally regain his senses.

Only, Davenport must have seen what I saw because he pulled that vanishing trick again and reappeared in front of me, grabbing me by the throat and squeezing tightly.
He vanished once more, taking me with him to the other side of the room, away from Rafe. It felt like running through a windstorm; my hair, clothes, and even skin were pushed back as the air slammed into me with the force of a Mack truck. Davenport’s black orb-like eyes were blazing with anger as he lifted me off the ground. A pathetic whimper escaped from my lips as I tried unsuccessfully to kick him. White dots started to appear in my vision and I wondered if this was how I was going to die.

Rafe’s sword caught the light, the silver metal shining brightly for a brief second before it cut through Davenport’s arm and severed it at the shoulder.
He screamed as a crimson waterfall sprayed all three of us. “Get your fucking hands off my girlfriend, you asshole,” Rafe snarled, angrier than I’d ever seen him. He lifted his foot and kicked Davenport square in the chest, sending the demon flying.

I fell to the ground, gasping for precious oxygen as I rubbed the bruises I knew were
already forming on my neck. Behind me, I could hear Rafe hacking away at Davenport, but I refused to turn around. I would never sleep for the rest of my life if I witnessed that horror. Instead, choking, I stumbled to Evan’s side, putting a hand on his back, over the wound. “Evan!”

“Hey, sweetheart
…” His voice was so weak I barely heard it.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to help you,” I said, my words raspy.
“Just hang on, Evan.” I tried to recall the night Rafe had been hurt and what I had done to heal him, but nothing came to me. There was a faint vibration deep within my chest that seemed familiar; I clung to that, praying it was something that would help.

“Gabi
…” He moaned once and then opened his eyes. They were clouded over with pain and my heart lurched. He didn’t look good; if I didn’t do something, we were going to lose Evan. “You can’t…let Rafe…believe what Daven…port was saying…Not…true.” He coughed, blood spraying from his mouth. There was more Evan wanted to say, but with his strength gone, his eyes fluttered shut.

“Oh, Evan,” I whispered, tears dripping from my eyes and landing on his prone body.
“Please,” I chanted over and over, “please, please, please. Let me help him.
Please
!”

The vibrating intensified and my hands started glowing with a bright
, white light. All of sudden, images of me healing Rafe came crashing back and I knew what I had to do. It was so simple, I could have laughed. Instead, I rolled up my sleeves and got down to business, healing the hurt so I could save his life.