Demons Amongst Us (The Book of Demons Saga #2) (8 page)

“Tell me more about it,” AnnaBeth said
continuing to walk along the small path in the park.  Alex could tell she was trying to remain calm.  There was something she said that seemed to completely unnerve her.

“
Um..Ok,” Alex said, thinking back for a moment before she answered, “I couldn’t see anything.  Just darkness.  I was trying to move my legs but I couldn’t.  I remember trying to scream, but nothing came out.  Then Sam woke me up, and I just felt so sick.”

“I see,” AnnaBeth said, hiding the worry from her face
as best she could.

“What does it mean?” Alex asked.

“Oh, nothing,” AnnaBeth said, forcing a smile with a wave of her hand.  She didn’t see any reason to alarm Alex.  What was done was done and there was no use dwelling on such things.

“AnnaBeth,” Alex said firmly,
stopping her and grabbing the her by the shoulders to look her in the eyes.  “I don’t need you to keep secrets from me.  Tell me what has you so upset.”

“Very well,” AnnaBeth said with a sigh.  “I suppose you should know.”

Alex gave her a small nod, signaling for her to continue, despite the not so sure expression that had taken over her face. 

“Come,” AnnaBeth said, grabbing Alex by the hand and pulling her over to a bench.  “Sit, I will tell you about the history of your kind.”

“My kind?” Alex asked, her brows raised as she sat down on the bench.  “You mean humans?”

“Not exactly,” AnnaBeth said, taking the seat next to her and pulling out the same small book that had the picture of the Hope Diamond drawn in it. 

“Are you trying to tell me I’m not human?” Alex asked.

“Well, you are,” AnnaBeth said.  “Sort of.  You are a very special kind of human.”

“Ok,” Alex said, trying to process the information.

“There have been only a few of you born throughout history,” AnnaBeth said.  She flipped through the pages of the small book until she came to a page with writings in a strange language, and a hand drawn picture of a man. 

“This is the last one that lived,” AnnaBeth said, showing the picture to Alex, “do you recognize him?”

“No,” Alex said, shaking her head and looking up at AnnaBeth.  “Am I supposed to?”

“Well,” AnnaBeth said with a smile, “perhaps not by his picture, but you should certainly recognize his name.  He is Alexander.  He lived nearly two thousand years ago.”

“
You mean Alexander the Great?” Alex said, her brows raised even higher on her forehead.

“Exactly,” AnnaBeth said
.  “There is a reason he is known as great, Alexandra.  And there is also a reason you share a name with him.”

“Alexander the Great was like me?” Alex asked, still shocked by the information.

“Yes,” AnnaBeth said casually, flipping through the pages of the book again.  She stopped on a page of drawings containing some pictures that Alex definitely recognized.  “Now, these are called the Magi.”

“I know,”
Alex said, her face turning white as a piece of paper at the sight of them, “I had the displeasure of running into them.”

AnnaBeth’s eyes snapped up
to Alex.

“You’ve met the Magi?” AnnaBeth
asked as her eyes searched Alex.

“Yeah,” Alex said, holding out her arm to show AnnaBeth the scar that was there.  “That’s how I got this.”

AnnaBeth’s face paled as her gaze fell to the puckered scar that was on Alexandra’s wrist.

“You didn’t,” AnnaBeth said, her voice was dry and barely more than a whisper.  “Please tell me you did not freely give them your blood.”

“Well, I don’t know if I would say it was entirely freely,” Alex said, growing uncomfortable with AnnaBeth’s concern.  “They had Sam, I had to do what they wanted.”

AnnaBeth stood from the bench and began to pace, muttering to herself in the strange language her sisters often spoke in. 

“Is everything Ok?” Alex asked.  AnnaBeth paused her pacing momentarily to look at Alex, but she said nothing and continued her nervous reaction.

“AnnaBeth,” Alex said, “seriously.  What’s up?”

Alex grew increasingly concerned when AnnaBeth completely ignored the second question.  The woman had been the pinnacle of calm and collected since Alex had met her, but now she was completely freaking out.  Alex was on the brink of freaking out herself when finally AnnaBeth stopped pacing and turned to look at her.  The fear was clear on her face.

“Things are much worse than I thought,” AnnaBeth said quietly, still avoiding Alexandra’s eyes, as if the grass of the park had suddenly become extremely interesting. 

“Why?  What are they going to do with my blood?” Alex asked.

“It’s what they have already done with it, Alexandra,” AnnaBeth said, her voice still low and soft. 

“Ok,” Alex said, tossing her hands up, “What have they done?”

“They have resurrected their master,” Ann
aBeth said,  “the Ancient.  We are all in a lot of trouble.”

#

“We must change our plans,” AnnaBeth said as she and Alex entered the hotel room where Sam and Balthazar were waiting for them to return.  There was an urgent unsettledness in her voice that Sam immediately picked up on.

“So, we aren’t stealing the Hope Diamond?” Sam asked a little hopeful.  He’d had his misgivings about this line of action, though he hadn’t wanted to say anything for fear of looking wimpy to AnnaBeth.

“Of course we are,” AnnaBeth said.  “But Alexandra needs significant training before we return.”

“Ok,” Sam said, “so, what? A couple more days?”

“No,” AnnaBeth said.  Sam was becoming uncomfortable with the sudden seriousness that had overcome the once perpetually cheery woman that he was developing some pretty heavy feelings for.  “The kind of training she requires will take years
.  Many, many years.”

“Years?” Alex said
, her voice raised a couple of octaves.  “We don’t have that kind of time.  We need to get back now.”

“Alexandra,” AnnaBeth
said sharply, “you are nowhere near prepared to face the darkness that awaits you there.”

“Well,”
Alexandra shot back, “I’ve faced them before, and I think this time around I can do much better.”

“You do not understand,”
AnnaBeth said, “the Magi are the least of our problems.  They have resurrected their master, Alexandra.  Even if you had been training since birth, as you should have been, you would be no match for him.”

“How do you even know they have resurrected him?” Alex said, hoping AnnaBeth was somehow wrong.

“The dream,” AnnaBeth said.  “The one you told me about.  It was him.  Calling out to you, reaching for you.”

The silence was deafening.  Alexandra’s heart thumped rapidly in her chest.  The only thought in her head was how she was way under qualified to be doing this.  They were also terribly underprepared.  Sure, they had managed to get a hold of the museum blueprint, and knew where all the pertinent security measures were, cameras, guards and the like.  But still, she had never stolen anything in her life, and Balthazar’s reasoning that the diamond truly belonged to him anyway did nothing to ease her anxiety.  She followed behind Balthazar, keeping close to him and trying as best she could to not make a sound.  He seemed to be far more comfortable doing this and Alex couldn’t help but feel a slight jealousy of him for that.  He was always so confident, in even the most stressful situations. 

They hid in the shadows around the
particular museum building they were about to break into, dressed in all black to help them blend into the night.  They crept along the long side of the front of the museum, coming right up the front steps.  Balthazar could smell Alexandra’s fear, could feel her looking wildly around as if they were about to get caught.  She was so busy looking around she nearly ran into him when he stopped to turn around.  He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into his body.  He bent his neck, bringing his lips to her ear.

“Calm down,” he said softly, “there is no one around.  I would smell them if they approached.”

He pulled back to look down at her and she nodded her understanding.  He could hear her heart beat already calming and he felt rather pleased with himself.  There was a beautiful stained glass window that sat high above the columned entrance to the museum that was to be their entry point.  Even though Alex was prepared for the leap, it still nearly took her breath away as Balthazar used his demonic abilities to jump up on the small ledge that ran under the window.  Alex clung tightly to him, praying that she wouldn’t fall.  Balthazar tightened his grip on her, sensing her fear of falling.  His concentration was split between the task at hand and his overall concern for Alex. 

Balthazar lifted a claw to the beautifully colored glass and began to slice easily through it. 
The grating sound made Alexandra’s skin crawl and she clenched even tighter to Balthazar, trying to block the sound out.  Once he had made a large enough cut in the glass, he gave it a light push, using his speed to catch the pane before it shattered on the floor inside.  He set Alexandra down inside and was glad when his senses picked up that her fears were once again lessened. 

Once inside the building, they were only a short distance away from the room that held the Hope Diamond. 

#

As Gary turned the corner of the first floor of the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian he let out a wide, lazy yawn.  He was two weeks away from retirement and he was more than ready to leave this job behind.  It was quite possibly the most dreadfully boring assignment he had ever had.  At first, he thought it would be the ideal job.  After a lifetime of serving with the FBI and other
special police task forces, he was offered this position to ease him into his retirement.  He had always loved museums, and the Smithsonian, being a top-notch place, was one of his favorites.  So he had signed on without a second thought.  One month into the job he had realized his mistake.  There was never any action, the only sounds throughout the wide halls were his footsteps echoing as he made his rounds.  The exhibits had lost their luster after only a couple days.  The one exhibit he still enjoyed visiting was the Hope Diamond.  It was the most beautiful piece of jewelry he had ever seen.  The sparkle it gave off was unlike any other, and he was one of the few people to be lucky enough to see it without any others interrupting his view.  It was never more beautiful than when it twinkled in the case spotlight in the middle of the night.  He wasn’t supposed to go see it, except for during his regularly scheduled course that was laid out by the director of the museum security, but nobody would ever know the difference.  They never did.  Most people thought the room would be cloaked in some sort of elaborate laser based security measures, but that was far from the truth.  All the security was located within the small pedestal glass case that held the diamond. 

#

“Wait,” Alex said in a harsh whisper, grabbing Balthazar’s arm as he reached for the glass case.  His brows shifted inward, in a silent question as he looked back at her.

“I’m sure there is some sort of an alarm,” Alex whispered.  “Be careful.”

Balthazar nearly rolled his eyes.  Alexandra was actually telling him to be careful.  Alexandra.  The most clumsy, unrefined, careless person he had ever met.  She picked up on his imaginary eye roll and shot him back a scowl.

“There is no need to instruct me, girl,” Balthazar said
.  Alex’s lips tightened and she put a hand on her hips, silently stomping her foot.  Balthazar gave her the slightest of smirks and reached once again for the glass case.  As soon as his claw touched the glass, he froze.  Alexandra watched him for a tense moment before she realized he wasn’t moving.  Her eyes followed his gaze to the entrance of the room, where an old man dressed in a security outfit stood staring at them, jaw slacked.  They all stood there for a sliver of a moment, staring in shock at each other. 

Gary blinked his eyes a couple of times, unsure of whether what he was seeing was real, or just his boredom getting the better of his imagination.  When the realization finally hit that there were actually two people trying to steal the Hope Diamond his training kicked in.  He reached for the gun at his hips but was shocked when a clawed hand wrapped around his throat before he had even put his hands on the hilt.

“Balthazar,” Alex shouted at the demon lord from across the room, “
don’t hurt him!”

“His intentions were
to harm us,” he said, his voice as cold as the North Pole, while his eyes burned a whole through Gary’s face.  Gary’s hands came up, wrapping around the wrist of his attacker. His eyes were wide as he tried to pull free.  He choked out an unintelligible word as Balthazar’s grip tightened on him. 

“Balthazar,” Alex screamed at him again, as if she thought he was ever going to
take a command from anyone.  “Put him down, please.”