Promise (31 page)

"Aw, shit!
Alexis
,
back in the car
NOW
!" Tristan roared.

But I couldn't move.

Evil! Daemoni! Evil!

Someone grabbed me from behind and held me in
a chokehold with one arm against my neck and a powerful hand clawed
around my head. I didn't know if I gagged from the pressure against
my throat or from the stench of rotten meat, vomit and feces.
Flames exploded in Tristan's eyes. He swam in my vision, but I
thought I saw him take a step toward me.

"
Don't!
Just a little twist of my
wrist and she's dead," said a sickening, scratchy, barely human
voice that sounded far away though it was right in my ear. My pulse
thundered in my head, nearly drowning everything else out. Whoever
held me stiffened behind me.

"And one little twist of
my
wrist and
you're
dead." I had no idea how she got into the closed
garage, but I recognized Mom's voice. It sounded like I'd never
heard it before. Low and vicious.

I was shoved to the ground, cracking my head
on the Mercedes' bumper on my way down. In an instant I was in
Tristan's arms. Each breath tore through my burning throat. I
buried my face in his chest, trying to flush the reek out with his
scent. There was a stomach-turning cackle and I turned to stare
with fascinated horror.

The sordid creature barely resembled a human.
Its eyes glowed red fire in its round, lumpy head and twisted,
pointed teeth filled its misshapen mouth. I thought it might have
been grinning, but if that was a smile, it was the kind that gives
you nightmares. Black blood trickled down its neck where Mom held a
blade, the point pierced into its skin.

"What do we do with it?" Mom asked, ignoring
the creature's cackle, except for a slight dig with the knife.

"Take it upstairs and we'll see what it
thinks it's trying to do. I'll be right behind you." Tristan
carried me up the stairs as we followed Mom, who held the knife at
the creature's throat. My head throbbed with each step and I could
feel a lump forming on my forehead.

A strange popping sound came from the living
room and Mom froze at the top of the stairs. The creature skipped
away from her, cackling again. Tristan stopped right behind her and
stiffened. The creature was not alone.

"What an excellent gift you've delivered,
Seth—two generations of Amadis royalty and your heart all at once."
This voice was smooth and clear, possibly appealing if I hadn't
felt the evil rolling off the man who stood in the middle of the
dark living room. The creature crouched at his side. "I couldn't
have imagined it being this good."

"Your imagination has run away from you if
you think you can get away with this, Edmund," Tristan said calmly.
He set me on my feet on the landing and both he and Mom took
protective stances in front of me as the man took a step closer to
us. Terror gripped my heart as I realized how weak and vulnerable I
was, unable to do anything but watch. Moving only my eyes, I
glanced down the stairs, wondering if any others lurked in the
shadows.

"I admit it's risky, but the rewards will be
worth it," the man replied.

Hurricane shutters blocked out almost all
light from the windows, but my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I
still couldn't see the man's face, but I could see the outline of
his hulking figure. He stood nearly as tall as Tristan and much
bulkier. I had to remind myself of Tristan's power because, I
thought, if it came down to brute strength, I didn't see how he
could win. My heart raced as I realized the inevitability of the
situation—Mom and Tristan would have to fight for our lives.

"You're an imbecile if you think you'll be
rewarded for shedding their blood," Tristan said. "The Daemoni
would not welcome the war that would ensue."

"Yes, I said it was risky. But after all is
said and done, I would be personally responsible for ending the
Amadis for good.
That
will be rewarded."

I shivered at the menace in the man's smug
voice.

"If you live through it," Tristan said
pointedly.

"Which you will not," Mom added. "God Himself
would not allow it."

The man shrank back at Mom's words and didn't
reply. We all stood in silence and I knew they each calculated how
to proceed. The wind picked up intensity outside, shaking the
shutters. The storm seemed to be coming faster than expected. It
would be foolish to try to escape outside into it. The trapped
feeling caused the panic to rise even higher, tightening my
chest.

Edmund's eyes darted back and forth between
Tristan and Mom as he moved a few steps to our right and his
creature scurried next to him. Tristan moved, too, while Mom
remained still. Edmund and his creature moved back to our left.
This time both Mom and Tristan moved with him. They angled
themselves to take him from both sides without leaving a wide
enough gap for him to get to me.

"So why don't you just make this easy for all
of us, Seth?" Edmund finally spoke as they continued their macabre
dance. "You come with me and I'll leave them alone."

"
Never!"
Tristan snarled.

Edmund nodded at me. "You can bring her
along, if you'd like."

A deep, guttural growl rumbled in Tristan's
chest. He and Mom both took a step forward, their only reply.

"Then you'd rather fight it out." Edmund made
a tsking sound and the creature's shape transformed. It fell on all
fours, became longer and taller in the darkness. It paced like a
guard dog in front of Edmund, its eyes glowing red fire, a low
growl in its throat. I shrank back while Tristan and Mom positioned
themselves to fight. "Or maybe I just take her and let you chase
me."

Edmund leaped into the air, seeming to fly
over Tristan and Mom. He landed right next to me, as they spun
around. Tristan swore profusely. The dog-thing stayed behind them.
It crouched to attack. It continued to growl and even in the
darkness I could see its lips pulled back, sharp fangs glinting in
the little bit of natural light seeping in at the edges of the
windows. Edmund grabbed the back of my neck tightly and pulled me
to him. My mind and body numbed in terror.

"
NO!
" Tristan growled roughly.

He lunged at the bulky man, knocking Edmund
hard against the wall, pulling me with him. My hip smacked
painfully against the baluster at the top of the stairs. At the
same time, the dog-thing jumped at Mom. She spun at it. Her arms
whacked it in the side like a bat hitting an oversized, misshapen
ball. It sailed across the room, landing with an inhuman cry. It
was back on its feet in a second and charged at Mom. She crouched,
ready for it. They simultaneously leaped toward each other. While
still in mid-air, Mom grabbed its head and twisted it with a snap.
The thing fell to the floor with a thud.

Mom landed lithely on the balls of her feet
and whirled around to Tristan, the hulk and me. Tristan and Edmund
glowered at each other in a standoff. Tristan held his hand up,
palm facing Edmund but nearly two feet from him. He held the hulk
flat against the wall with his paralyzing power. Edmund's hand
still clutched my neck.

"LET. HER.
GO!
" Tristan roared. His
eyes blazed with bright flames.

"You are such a traitor." Edmund smirked, his
own eyes glowing blood red.

He slowly raised his free hand just an inch
from the wall, fighting Tristan's power with evident difficulty.
Mom stepped forward. Edmund was just able to twitch his finger. She
flew into the loveseat, held there by an unseen force. Anger blazed
in her eyes as she struggled against the power holding her, her
shoulders and neck straining.

It pissed me off.

My heart pounded in terror but the anger rose
above it. Just enough to give me the force I needed. It all
happened so quickly, but it felt like slow motion as my mind
registered every move, every detail. I wrapped my hands around the
baluster and yanked it from its anchor. I lifted it as high as I
could and slammed it down on the arm holding me. It wasn't much
compared to Edmund's strength, but enough to distract him. He
turned to look at me, his eyes wide. His mouth formed a silent O.
He apparently never expected
me
to fight back. Tristan
seized the opportunity and pounced. I freed myself from the hand
before it tried to close back on me. I stumbled sideways and caught
myself on the opposite rail to avoid falling down the stairs.

Tristan came down on the Daemoni, jabbing his
elbow into Edmund's upper back. His knee landed in the back of
Edmund's thigh. The femur snapped loudly. Edmund fell into a heap
on the floor, howling with both pain and rage. Tristan grabbed his
dark hair. I turned away as he slammed Edmund's head against the
concrete floor. The crack made my stomach lurch and echoed in my
ears. I looked back as Tristan dragged him over to the creature's
body.

He leaned over and snarled, "Don't fuck with
me unless you can finish it."

Pop! Pop!
The man and the creature
disappeared.

I thought the world stopped. The pounding in
my chest abruptly halted. My breath caught in my throat. I
collapsed to the floor, unable to restart my heart or make my lungs
work. Mom caught me before I rolled down the stairs. She sat on the
top stair and pulled me into her lap. I felt her power flow through
me. My lungs filled with air again. My heart started with a jolt,
pounding against my ribs. She held me for a long time, or maybe for
only seconds, rocking back and forth.

I'd nearly stopped trembling when Tristan
lifted me into his arms. My tense muscles finally loosened and I
fell against him. He carried me over to the couch and sat down with
me in his lap. I curled against him and closed my eyes. The recent
events started to replay like a horror movie against my eyelids. I
couldn't keep them closed so I stared wide-eyed at nothing in the
semi-darkness. The sound of footsteps rushing up the stairs yanked
me out of my near-catatonic state.

My heart raced again with renewed fear. My
body automatically prepared for fight or flight. Stefan and Owen
flew into the living room, dripping wet. I slumped back against
Tristan as they surveyed the scene.

"Oh, thank God," Stefan said breathlessly.
"We thought…"

"Daemoni were outside," Owen said. "They
started to fight but fled instead. We thought maybe they got to
you."

There
were
more
. I
shuddered.

"I wondered what happened to you," Mom said
casually. She sat in the loveseat, her legs folded under her,
looking, somehow,
relaxed
. Like what happened was just an
everyday pain-in-the-butt, like having to deal with an annoying
door-to-door salesperson.

Owen eyed the broken baluster on the
floor.

"What happened to your stairs, Tristan? Is
this what happens when there's no one to spar?" He chuckled.

"Alexis did it," Tristan answered with a
that's-my-girl grin.
How can they be so carefree?
Owen's
eyes grew wide.

They traded stories, talking as if they'd
just won an exciting football game. Owen knew something was wrong
when Mom disappeared from our cottage, so he hailed Stefan. They
scoped the outside before coming in and found two Daemoni watching
Tristan's house. They fought briefly before the Daemoni fled.
Stefan and Owen ensured they stayed away before coming inside.

I stopped wondering
how
people…or
whatever they were…could appear and disappear in Tristan's house
and wondered instead what the point was of it being our safe
place.

"They will come back," Stefan said, now
solemn. I stiffened. "Owen, go out and shield the house."

Owen disappeared.

"They won't be back today," Tristan said,
giving me a squeeze.

"You probably should've killed them," Mom
said, her voice grim, with a tint of sadness. "There's no hope for
them anyway."

"There's no way to burn the bodies with that
storm raging out there," Tristan said. "If we did it inside, the
fumes would've killed us. Besides…I wanted to send them a
message."

"They'll take it as a challenge," Mom
said.

"The Daemoni won't officially. These were
rogues. Many rogues will take it as a warning. But, you're right.
Some will take it as a challenge."

"So they will be back," Stefan repeated.

Tristan's jaw clenched and he nodded.

The bottom of my stomach fell out and a
feeling of despair washed over me. The false sense of safety and
security for the past couple months blew away with the raging wind.
We were doomed.

"They'll never leave us alone, will they?" I
whispered. "We'll never have any peace."

Tristan didn't answer except by wrapping his
arms around me and holding me closer.

"Solomon made a good point that night at
Sophia's house," Stefan said. "When you two are married by the
Amadis, Tristan, you become a member of the royal family. That
means we all become loyal to you—not just Alexis. Right now, our
first priority is Alexis's safety. If we had to make a choice, we
would have to leave you to protect her."

"That's how it should be," Tristan said.

"Yes, but when you are married, we are bound
to both of you. We do not have to make a choice. Increased
protection is automatic for you both."

"We've already discussed this," Tristan said
flatly.

"You have to see the benefits, Tristan,"
Stefan pressed. "Once you become a member of the Amadis royal
family, the Daemoni may decide to leave you alone. Coming after you
would be hardly any different than going after Rina, Sophia or
Alexis. It is not allowed."

"That doesn't seem to stop them," Tristan
pointed out.

"I think they came for you, Tristan," Mom
said. "He definitely didn't expect me."

"How come they don't just…
know
?" I
interrupted. "I mean, you and Rina know things, Mom. If they're
really Hell's demons, wouldn't they have some way to just know
things, like you coming here—read minds, predict the future?"