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The house was dark when we pulled in and Damian’s van was gone along with Steve’s truck and I slowed to a stop in front of Tom’s car. Valerie and I exchanged a glance and she reached for the door. I grabbed her arm.
“Not yet,” I said and pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed. Holding the phone to my ear, I waited, feeling the unease snake into my skin. The call dropped to voicemail and I ended the call, trying another line.
“Hello?” Raven’s Irish brogue came through the line and I exhaled.
“Hey, Raven, where is everyone?”
“You aren’t the only one who can decide to grab a fine dinner out on the town,” she said over the background noise.
“So nothing weird happened at the house?”
“No. We decided to let Damian and Naomi experience Wild Willy’s while it’s slow.”
I let out a laugh. “Wild Willy’s is never slow.”
She laughed too. “I know, right? Anyhow, we’re just getting ready to head out.”
“Okay, see you in a few.”
I folded the phone. “They went out to eat.”
“I heard,” Valerie said and we both stepped out of the car.
The chill tonight wasn’t as biting as it had been the past few nights and I was hoping that meant spring wasn’t far off. I waited on my side of the car for her to join me before heading toward the front door. Halfway down the path, my intuition prickled and instead of running from whatever stalker had invaded our property, I stopped and mentally told Valerie to stop as well. Taking a moment, I glanced at her and willed the protective bubble around both of us.
We both turned, slowly enough for me to get a whiff of her perfume, the sweet scent grounding me and reminding me I wasn’t the only one facing off against whatever it was. When we faced the approaching beast, Valerie threaded her fingers through mine, pulling my attention to our hands and then her eyes. I smiled and gently squeezed her hand, giving her the strength to not scream at the sight before us.
The rabid vampire bear stood on its hind legs and roared. This wasn’t a human I could intimidate, nor was it a demon or vampire that had a sense of reason. This was a killing machine and it was hungry.
I let out a snarling roar of my own, wishing the beast into dust. A swirl of fire engulfed the beast like a destructive tornado until all that was left was fine gray ash.
“Impressive,” Valerie said.
The protective field still encompassed us and I turned toward the house, flipping my phone open again and redialing, keeping Valerie by my side.
“Raven, everyone is with you, right?”
“Yes, we didn’t want to leave anyone at home alone.”
“Good call.” I folded the phone and closed my eyes. “Can you smell them?” I whispered as my nostrils filled with a foul mixture of brimstone and blood. Her hand tightened on mine and I opened my eyes, focusing on the downstairs window and the grin that met my gaze.
I pointed. “Come here.”
His smile fell into shock as his body stepped out of sight.
“What are you doing?”
“Leaving one alive.” I glanced at her and when the door opened. I inhaled, putting a duplicate layer of protection around the fiend stepping out of our house. And then I let loose, killing every non-living, pseudo-living and live being from our property line to the ocean breakers at the bottom of the small cliff outside the rock wall. Mini-fire tornados engulfed flesh, leaving the physical property intact as if nothing happened. The only hint of destruction was the gray dust raining to the ground.
The lone demon standing on the stoop stared at me, his face paling, and the first hint of fear gripped his eyes. I released control of his physical form as well as the protective cocoon around him.
“Let your friends know that I’m coming after them,” I said.
He waved his hand and the spark of contact hit our protective barrier. I think he thought he could toss me around like a rag doll, but I was truly supercharged. In kind, I waved my hand toward the gate, tossing him halfway across the lawn. He scrambled to his feet, the front of his jeans now soaked with piss.
“And whoever has the gall to step on this property will end up being roasted alive. Understand?”
The demon nodded, turned tail, and ran out the open gate. I turned back to Valerie with a smirk dancing on my lips.
“You should have torched him as well.”
The venom in her tone pulled my gaze to her and my heart dropped into my stomach. I searched the collective memory banks for some retribution, for some redemption and there was none. Demon red eyes peered out from Valerie’s beautiful face and I dropped her hand, stepping away.
She had been right next to me all night. And then it occurred to me, she had gotten up and gone to the bathroom. The thing possessing Valerie opened the blazer, showing me the bloodied shirt covering her right side.
“The bitch passed out and I took over.”
I couldn’t destroy her, but I could contain her and I created a force field box around her. One that would stun but not kill the body this prick inhabited.
“Inside,” I said, pointing to the opened door. I blocked my thoughts, focusing on the blood, wondering if this shit knew she had the power to heal. My chest hurt as I forced her across to the chair at the head of the table, tying her arms to the hand guards and her legs to the legs of the chair.
I backed into the wall across from her, forcing my breath in and out, keeping the need to scream and tear my hair out at bay.
“I’ll let her go if you’ll be a dear and let me in,” it said.
I covered my mouth, wondering what the hell Damian was going to do. He destroyed the last demon nest without a thought, but this was Valerie. The girl he saw grow from an infant to the beautiful woman before me.
I regained my composure and stalked right up to her. “Get out of her you bastard,” I growled, but I didn’t know the first thing about exorcism. I did know if I could get the shit out of her, then she had more of a chance of survival than anyone on earth. Hell, she might be unconsciously mending as I stood and stared.
The door opened and the family filtered in, chatting away until the tiger growled. Naomi stepped around the car seat she had the presence of mind to put down before she changed and Damian’s gaping stare met mine.
“She went to the ladies room right before we left,” I said. “I... I didn’t know. When I got here the house was infiltrated and I destroyed all but one. Well, two.” I waved at Valerie. “And after the last one ran with his tail between his legs, this one...” I ran my hand through my hair. “This one decided to make its presence known.”
Naomi hissed, pacing a trail blocking Valerie from her children.
I met Tom’s gaze and signed for him to take Jen, Steve and Raven upstairs along with the babies. He nodded and Damian didn’t stop them when they disappeared upstairs.
“I couldn’t...” I said after everyone else left. Damian’s thoughts were sporadic and stinted. He collapsed on the closest ottoman and glanced at the broken lines of salt all over the house. His jaw tightened and he got up, crossing into the kitchen and disappeared with the salt container. When he came back, he fixed the last three entry points and drew a line across the lowest stair. The last grains fell and he chucked it across the house, roaring with the same frustration that pounded my muscles.
He grabbed another container and circled the chair. Slamming the container on the table before coming even with me. His shoulder faced me and then his hand shot out, clamping around my throat as he slammed me against the wall. Fury lined his face and Naomi rubbed against his leg, trying to calm the wild beast raging inside him.
I didn’t fight back. Whatever he did to me, I deserved it. I was supposed to protect her and I failed in epic fashion.
His grip loosened and his chin dropped to his chest.
“Don’t,” I whispered as the power coiled into a tight ball inside him.
“I have to.”
“No. You don’t. Valerie is still in there. You can’t kill her.”
He shook his head. “She’s not.”
“What if it was Naomi,” I said and the muscles in his jaw jumped. “There has to be a way.”
“She’s already dead.”
“No. She just passed out and that gave that thing an opportunity to get in.”
“But,” he started.
“I don’t have everything,” I whispered and his eyes narrowed. His grip loosened more and he finally dropped his hand as understanding dawned in his eyes. “But I don’t know the first thing about exorcism.”
“Neither do I,” he said.
Naomi continued to pace in agitation.
“You may not know about such things, but I have a potent banishment spell we can try.”
Both Damian and I turned toward the stairs where Raven stood, leaning on the railing, her squinting gaze meeting mine and averting Damian’s blinding aura.
“Bullshit,” Damian said.
Valerie cackled from the seat, her gaze bouncing around the room from the aggravated tiger, to Damian and me, and finally landing on Raven. “Your pathetic spells won’t work on me,” she said, her voice transitioning between demon and Valerie’s in an eerie stereo quality.
Raven flipped her hair back with her hand and gave the demon inside Valerie the evil eye. “You’d be surprised at what my spells can achieve,” she said and turned, heading upstairs to gather what she needed.
“If this doesn’t work, I’m flying her out to the middle of the Atlantic and leaving her there,” Damian said.
I couldn’t help staring at him and then I said two words that made Valerie pale.
“Salt water.”
Damian nodded and I closed my eyes, hanging my head. If he did that, hypothermia would kill her before she had a chance to do anything else. There were limitations to the healing power, and while I liked to think what gifts we had made us invincible, the reality was we still had vulnerabilities. A surprise shot to the heart would kill us, same with a bullet in the brain, our human frailties existed, and there are some people and things that could get the drop on us no matter how diligent we were. Valerie could heal her wound, but the cold water would stop her heart.
I pulled up a chair next to the bound demon and sighed, nodding to Damian.
If what Raven cooked up, didn’t work, Valerie would have to be sacrificed.