Demon's Daughter: A Cursed Book (27 page)

I wondered what was on Dad’s face. If he was as scared as I was. Other people were coming out of their campers, curious to see what was going on.

“What are you?” I barely heard my father say.

“Something you cannot comprehend,” Isabel said in her dual voice. “Give her to me.”

Dad took another step back and gripped his carving knife tightly. “No.”

Fury was on Isabel’s face, but I couldn’t tell if it was her own rage, or the rage of the thing controlling her.

“Then this shall be on your head.”

Isabel turned and held out her hands to the air.

For a second, nothing happened. For one, perfect second, I thought Isabel was just a mentally ill woman.

Then the world split open like a raw, bloody wound, and creatures poured out.

There were dozens of them. Some of them were red and humanoid. Others were grey and sickly. There were black wisps of smoke, huge dogs, bulky brutes, and things that moved too fast for me to see. As soon as their feet touched the grass, they scattered and began killing everyone they could.

I saw the red monsters tear out people’s innards with their claws. The grey ones ripped apart whoever they could and stuffed chunks of torn skin into their hungry maws. Smoke-monsters forced themselves down human throats and made them attack their loved ones. Dogs leaped and tore limbs clean off. The brutes grabbed anyone in range and used their massive fists to turn people into pulps of red flesh. Some of the campers were dragged toward the hole in the world, gripping at tufts of grass as desperately as they could. Flames curled around RV’s and tents, turning the night black and red with smoke and fire.

It was literally Hell on earth.

The thing inside Isabel threw back her head and laughed.

My father rushed her and stabbed her in the back with his carving knife. The sound she made was definitely from her, a short bark of pain. Isabel whirled before Dad could pull the knife out. The thing inside her was furious, but it made Isabel smile.

“You are brave, mortal,” she remarked with her two voices. “But foolish. You can kill this body, but you cannot kill me.”

Isabel tore the knife from her back, and sliced it across my father’s throat.

Her movements were so quick I almost didn’t have time to register what happened. One moment my father was standing there facing off with Isabel, then there was a spray of red liquid across her face, and then Dad was lying on the ground.

Mom screamed like someone was tearing her heart out. Dro started to cry. I ran for the door, just as monsters kicked it in.

I skidded to a halt when I saw them. I stumbled but didn’t fall, moving back to Dro. The monster was human-shaped and had dark red skin, and blood in its disgustingly wide smile.

The monster shrieked and launched itself at me at the same time I swung the hatchet that I still held. Its claws grazed my shoulder and chest, just as the hatchet connected with its upper arm. The monster was surprised that I attacked it, though not half as surprised when my mom charged it with a furious roar, a butcher knife in her hand.

She and the monster tumbled out of the camper. She stabbed wildly at it, lost in a grief-stricken rage.

But it wasn’t enough.

Another red monster appeared behind her and tore her off the one she was trying to kill, throwing her onto the ground. The monster she attacked sprang up like its wounds were nothing more than papercuts. One of them trapped her arms over her head while the second straddled her body. The one near her head sank its teeth into her throat while the one pinning her slashed its claws wildly across her chest, cutting her to ribbons. Mom screamed again, but it was a scream of pain as the monsters ripped her apart.

I was frozen with shock and fear until I heard Dro sob. I whirled to face my little sister. Tears streamed her pale face. She looked terrified. So was I, but I couldn’t let it show right now. I had to get her out of here, or the monsters would kill her too.

I grabbed her shoulders and shook her once so she would look at me.

“Back window, run!”

Dro jumped, but ran for the back of the camper. I was right behind her when another monster came in.

It crashed through the broken door and didn’t stop when it saw us. I shoved Dro further back toward the window, hoping she would focus on escaping. I had to buy her time. The red monster slammed into me and knocked me onto my back, blood smearing its chin. My mother’s blood.

I bit back a scream and tried to push it off, but it was stronger than me. It picked me up like I weighed nothing. I kicked and thrashed, hacking at it with the hatchet. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dro half out of the back window, hesitating.

“Go!” I screamed, slicing the hatchet into the monster’s face.

I didn’t know if she listened to me or if she made it, because the monster threw me out of the camper door. I hit the ground hard, rolling on the grass and getting fresh bruises. The hatchet nicked me a couple times, but I wasn’t seriously hurt.

Until the monster jumped on me and tried to rip off my arm.

I screamed in pain as it pulled harder and harder, muscles and tendons stretching to the point of snapping. My finger clenched around the hatchet. I slammed it up into the monster’s chest, then into its face. It finally recoiled and let me go. I couldn’t tell if I’d killed it or not. I clutched my arm and winced, rolling to see what was going on in the camp.

I wish I hadn’t looked. I would never forget what I saw.

Everything was burning. Everyone was screaming. Blood was everywhere. I could almost taste it like I tasted the heavy smoke in the back of my throat. Adrenaline and fear were the only things that kept me moving. I got to my feet and started looking for my little sister, running through the slaughter. I ran from the people I used to know, even when they reached out and begged for help.

I screamed when someone grabbed my ankles and pulled me down. I twisted, kicking and screaming at my attacker. But it wasn’t a monster. It was one of the campers. Blood painted his chin and was splattered on his cheeks. Both of his legs were ragged stumps of shredded flesh, missing at the knee. He was way too pale.

“Please,” he gurgled through bloody lips. “Please kill me.”

I couldn’t move. I was too scared. One of the big dogs suddenly appeared at his side, huge teeth chomping down into his stumped legs. He was dragged away from me. I don’t know if it was him who screamed, or if it was me.

I heard a familiar scream through all the chaos and twisted on the grass. I saw Dro by the tree line in the grip of a red monster. I got up and ran as fast as I could. She cried and struggled, and I ran faster. It wasn’t long before she saw me.

Dro’s icy blue eyes were wide and terrified. “Connie!” she screamed.

The monster hit her across the face, sending her sprawling onto the grass. I ran faster.

It was turning when I slammed into it, sending us both onto the ground. I tried to hit it with the hatchet, but it was so much stronger than me. It punched me in the chest and knocked me onto my back. I rolled on the ground to avoid its claws. It snapped its sharp teeth and hissed at me. Somehow I found my footing and swung the hatchet again. This time I hit the monster in the arm with the weapon, black blood gushing out of its wound.

The back of the monster’s hand cracked against my face, sending me crashing onto the charred ground. I panicked, my breathing ragged. I’d lost the hatchet and was looking for something, anything, to fight back with–

The monster screamed.

I twisted on the ground, and saw that it was on fire. Not a normal, red and orange fire, but a fierce, white-hot flame that I knew was a hundred times hotter than any bonfire I’d ever been close to. The heat was sweltering, a thick, humid air that coated my throat and made it hard to breathe.

The white fire was burning the demon, turning into black ash.

The white fire was coming from my sister’s hand.

Because my sister was on fire.

It burned around her like a bonfire, but she wasn’t being hurt. Not even her clothes were being singed. Tears streaked her face. She looked at me, crying and consumed by flames.

“Help me, Constance.”

I was confused, scared, and hurt, but her words still cut me to the core. Finally she couldn’t contain the blaze anymore and collapsed onto the ground, the fire suddenly going out from her. The grass around her was engulfed in flame.

I surged forward, carefully dodging the line of white fire as it cut along the grass. I hauled her up, the heat from the ground making it hard to breathe. She was barely conscious. The fire didn’t seem to have harmed her physically, but now wasn’t the time to wonder why.

I draped Dro’s arm over my shoulder, found the hatchet and picked it up. I navigated us behind the burning grass, and carried her to one of the only cars that wasn’t on fire. I wasn’t old enough to drive, but we had to get out of here as fast as we could. I put Dro in the front seat and got into the driver’s side. Dad showed me how to drive a couple times, getting me ready for my license. I wasn’t an expert, but my feet could reach the pedals. I fumbled around for the keys, finding them in the compartment by the coffee holders. I started the car and looked up, and saw Isabel.

She was staring at me beyond the fire Dro had made. She couldn’t get through now, and she was furious. The look in her eyes promised vengeance. The fire had spread too far and she was trapped behind it, along with the monsters. None of them could walk around that fire.

I glared at her with just as much hatred. If I saw her again, I was going to kill her.

I started the car, shifted, and drove into the forest, turning my back on the massacre…

Chapter 15

There wasn’t anything more to say after that. When I looked up, all the men were staring at me. Max looked horrified, the angels were unreadable, and Warrick was looking at me sadly again.

I straightened my back and ignored it all. I didn’t need their pity. What happened at Owl Creek happened years ago. I was stronger now than I was back then. The only thing breaking me down was losing Dro, and I had every intention of getting her back.

“After that we ran,” I finished. “We tried to find out what she was, why she could do the things she could, but we never stopped running.” A thought occurred to me. “That’s probably how she kept track of us, and found us here.”

“What do you mean?” Warrick asked.

I looked at him. “Isabel had been following us back then, keeping an eye on Dro. She must have found a way to be possessed by a Higher demon because she was stronger than your run-of-the-mill human. I could feel the power she had whenever she was around. Maybe she made a spell to have the demons sense Dro, then set them on us whenever she felt we were close.”

“You think she can do that?”

I glanced at Max, quickly considering his question. “Yeah. I don’t know what she’s fully capable of, but I know she’s a dangerous bitch.” I looked away from him, thoughts still churning through my mind. “She’s being all buddy-buddy with the demons of her own free will. And that it’s been making her powerful. Really powerful. The demon she’s serving is giving her more strength than she needs.”

“Do you know which demon it is?” Sephiel asked Max.

The kid shook his head. “Whenever I look, all I get is a vision of the shadow-guy. But I don’t think he’s anyone I want to shake hands with.”

Sephiel said nothing more, going back to his own thoughts.

“We need to get more weapons,” I said. “Can you guys get us some?”

Sephiel nodded at me. “We shall return shortly.”

He glanced at Rorikel, who frowned, but blinked out of existence with him. I looked at Max again. He was hesitating.

“What about Drake?”

The name burned in me again. “She probably hired him after he escaped the border. Probably offered him more money for Dro than the Blood Thorns did for me.”

“Drake is mine,” Warrick said, making me turn my head to where he was sitting next to me on the mattress. There was no humor on his face.

I narrowed my eyes. “How about we call it first come, first serve?” I was half serious.

He didn’t even blink. “No.”

I frowned. I was going to make sure I got some literal kicks in Drake before Warrick killed him, but getting revenge wasn’t my real concern at the moment. Saving my sister’s life was.

The air shivered and the angels returned with an arsenal. They had silver knives, holy water, salt, sage, silver bullets, handguns, a sawed-off shotgun, rock-salt shells, full body weapon rigs and clip-on flashlights. The only thing we were missing was a tank.

“Holy shit,” said Max. “Did you guys raid the angel armory or something?”

“More or less,” smirked Sephiel, placing the weapons on the bed next to me.

I stood up and went for one of the rigs, sliding it over my shoulders and clicking together the buckles around my hips and thighs. I adjusted the shoulders straps so they were tight, then grabbed all the knives I could and slipped them into the rig. There were two sheathes at my ribs, two on my hips, and even a sheath for my hatchet. A girl could never have too many blades when she prepared to hunt demons, but I decided to slip a bottle of holy water onto my belt. You never knew when it could come in handy.

While I put on my lucky jacket, Warrick was going for the sawed-off shotgun and filling it with shells. He took a handgun and loaded it while I glanced at Max. His eyes were closed again, so I assumed that he was pushing his ability to find out more about the shadow-guy. Or more likely, trying to see what was happening to Dro.

Sephiel suddenly asked, “Why do you use a hatchet?”

I looked at the auburn-haired angel, who’d been staring at me. “It was my father’s,” I said. That was all I was going to say.