Drop Dead Demons (3 page)

The hellion hunched in a low squat. It was a hulking gorilla covered in cracked obsidian glowing from within because of the lava coursing just underneath the surface. Like a walking magma flow from an overactive volcano. Each breath exhaled embers.

I looked at my crowbar and still zip-tied wrists. Looked at Matthias’s unmoving form. Looked at the eight foot tall hellifed flaming ape.

“Rose!” I dropped the crowbar and slammed my hands on the trunk. The Mandatum hunter gone-rogue didn’t emerge, so I fumbled keys from Matthias’s pocket and popped the trunk.

Empty. Not good. Very bad actually. My head swiveled. No sign of Rose, but the volcano demon had climbed onto a silver SUV several rows away. 

“Matthias!”

I turned to my only dim light of hope and kicked his side like I was trying to make a fifty-yard field goal. The amber light in the parking lot couldn’t hide the paleness of his skin.

“Wake up now and you can torture me later,” I said.

Nothing. Well, if that didn’t get a rise out of him…

The demon pounded his chest. Flecks of lava showered down.

I hunched over, and with muscles strained to the breaking point, dragged the Aussie toward the snowplow. I hunkered us both behind the blade of curved steel attached to the front of bright yellow truck, then used the sharp edge of the front bumper to saw the zip-tie binding my wrists.

Metal crunched. The demon landed on the roof of an SUV parked on the other side of Matthias’s car. 

I jerked. My hands slipped and the bumper’s metal edge sliced shallow cuts into my arms. The demon gripped the edge of the car, fingers melting through the metal as it lowered its head to search below. For me. It roared in frustration. I sped up my frantic sawing.

A shadow and heat ghosted over me from above. The snow plow shuddered and shrieked as the demon crunched onto its roof. The windows exploded under the weight. Glass sliced down.

When the demon spotted me, a blast of hot, sulfur stinking air blew back my hair as the creature’s roar broke the sound barrier. Its fists slammed the roof with a squeal of metal. Lava splattered and pooled. The demon hopped up and down, swung its arms from side to side, knuckles dragging sparks along the metal, and made several low-pitched snorts that sprayed an impressive amount of lava snot.

I wasn’t nearly as thrilled to see it as it was to see me.

The zip-tie broke with a sharp
snap
. My hands flew apart. Freedom.

Blood oozed from small scrapes on my wrists. I ran out and grabbed the crowbar, then staggered away from the snowplow, hoping to keep its attention off Matthias. The demon huffed a few times, shook its head with fury. Crusty bits of black rock flew off. It closed its eyes and leaned back to pound its chest again, grunting and snorting and generally going all jungle-fever, making a big show of force and giving every impression it was about to attack.

So consumed with his big, bad display of gorilla power it didn’t see me reel back my pitching arm, and hurl the crowbar, spiraling the rod of metal through the air. Just like a spear.

Hey, two could play the jungle-fever game.

I’d shown a natural propensity for throwing sharp objects and this time was no exception. The crowbar rocketed through space and buried dead-nuts into the center of the demon’s belly. As if popping an enormous zit, liquid spurted and boiling magma poured from the wound.

Nice.

I nodded and gave myself a mental pat on the back, wishing there was someone around to appreciate my greatness and—

Aw, crap.

In seconds, the metal crowbar simply turned red hot, curled around itself, and melted, disappearing into the glowing guts of the gorilla, becoming a harmless part of the churning hot mass. A layer of hardened rock shored up any sign of the wound. The demon wasn’t so much injured as just royally ticked off.

He raked a hand up his belly, gathering up a clump of himself, and threw what took me way too long to realize was a sizzling fireball of molten lava.

Headed right for my chest.

I spun backwards and leapt into the bed of the navy blue pickup truck behind me. A violent shudder rocked the vehicle as the lava ball hit the side. A thundering
boom
followed. The truck jumped then listed to one side, as hot lava melted and popped one of its tires. 

I stayed low until Flaming Kong belted out a repeat of his blow-drying battle cry and flung another orb of lava. Illuminated against the backdrop of the night sky, it sailed a smooth arc directly at my hiding place. I shoved aside a bag of aluminum cans and latched a solid grip onto the handle of a snow shovel. I stood and swung, putting my whole back into it.  

I’m sure it would’ve been a homerun, but hard to prove because instead of hitting it out of the park, the lava ball splattered into fiery orange bits, the intense heat warping the shovel’s metal blade.

The demon kept throwing fast balls, and I kept swacking them until the shovel curled and warped into something resembling a twisted piece of abstract modern art.

And became utterly useless.

I leapt from the truck, scrambled across the tops of two sedans, slipped on their polished surfaces wet from the mist, fell, scrambled to my feet, leapt onto an SUV, stumbled to my knees, slid over its hood. When another lava ball whistled behind me, I lurched up, grabbed the hook hanging off the tow truck’s tow bar, and swung Tarzan style — seemed appropriate — over a VW bug, and when I was clear, let go, and sailed through the air.

I thumped to the ground in a blurring spin. Which stopped when I tumbled into a high-gloss orange Harley Davidson motorcycle. Which crashed it into the Harley next to it. Which crashed into the next, and the next and…you get the idea. A colorful array of matching helmets also toppled into the clattering mess.

The Aurora Lahey Disaster Domino Affect brought down seven motorcycles in all. Maybe eight.

Great, I’d have hell’s demons
and
Hell’s Angels gunning for me now.

The molten monkey bounded from above, landed in front of me, and took a swing with his big hulking, lava infused arm.

I dropped low and dove under a fallen Harley. Metal screeched and sparks flew as the demon tossed aside the motorcycle like it was an annoying afterthought. He leaned his face in close, fangs dripping molten goo, heat so intense I thought my skin would melt off the bone. Between his glowing eyes, a series of tiny red lights blinked in a circle the size of a quarter.

Strange, but no time to contemplate the oddity.

I grabbed a helmet painted with, of all things, orange flames and rammed it across his dribbling jowls. The clever move was supposed to slow him down enough for me to run, but he snatched the helmet one-handed and lifted it up, me still clinging on — not sure why — sneakers dangling several feet above the ground. He flung me through the air.  

I landed in a flatbed truck, on a pile of chains laid in a neat coil. That was gonna bruise. Wish I could ice it up, but the demon kept coming, throwing a lava ball for good measure.

I rolled to the side. The truck’s rear window shattered. I smelled the odor of burning hair and squealed with panic. After swatting steaming, red-hot sludge from my curls, I gripped a length of chain from the pile, hefted it up, twirled it over my head, and flung it hard. 

It unfurled in the air. The demon bellowed with rage as the links whipped around him several times with a loud
sizzle
, effectively wrapping him up, confining his arms and legs. He tried to walk, but fell to the ground in a thick, hot heap.

I fist pumped the air. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

Except...as I watched him struggle, the chunky metal links were slowly melting, giving way. His tether wouldn’t last long.

“Oh,
come
on!” I slammed my palms on top of the truck’s cab.

If only my super-duper, demon-annihilating explody power would kick in, I could zap him back to hell in a blink. But no. It remained mercilessly MIA, which left me out of options.

So I leapt to the ground and ran for what I hoped didn’t end up being a colossal mistake.

Through the restaurant window I saw Blake’s massive bulk and flung my arms in frantic motions.

He was too busy flirting with the waitress to notice. I was too far away for him to hear my shouts. The ground trembled as the demon shook off the last of its chains like a wet dog. He roared and bounded after me.

I raced for the corner of the building, but my sight blurred and weightlessness swept over me as my Divinicus demon tracking power kicked in.

My vision tunneled and left my body, zooming forward and around the corner.

A wolfish creature the size of a rhino galloped in long, supple strides, head dropped, ears flat, its body laid low. Smoke flared from the end of its pointy muzzle, nostrils. Round, deep set eyes glowed a pupil-less silver. The darkness seemed to lap against the monster, flattening the thick layer of wiry fur mottled with colors of dirty water, dead leaves, and weak tea. Curved, spiral horns spiked out along its spine and tail, ready to skewer me if the foot-long fangs happened to miss. 

My vision snapped back to my body. The sudden return of weight to my limbs disoriented my equilibrium.

I didn’t fight the fall. Instead, I turned it into a slide on my side just as I came to the corner. The wolf demon came up through the ground, not bursting from it in a hail of dirt, but more like it was liquid that simply poured up from beneath the earth. It leapt through the air, a gaping mouthful of serrated teeth ready to chomp me in half. With my body so low to the ground, its feet only clipped my head, but if the Nex vision hadn’t warned me to duck, I’d be dead.

The feral creature landed in a crouch, shining eyes scanning the ground like a silver laser beam. It saw me. A low growl rumbled the ground under my feet. It lifted it snout and howled a lonely lament.

Calling the rest of its pack? Not good. 

It dropped its head, licked its lips, and charged.

Even worse.

My feet scrambled to find traction on ground shaking from the pounding gallop. He was fast, and the fangs and claws would gouge through my guts before I had a chance to get my sprint on. An oily stench of rot seared my nostrils as he raced closer.

From the parking lot came a vicious scream. Spewing a fiery stream of lava spit, the molten monkey bounded from the shadows, bringing a wave of heat rolling over my body. I dived sideways. A blast of scorching air hit my back and launched me further, the punch and subsequent hard landing spitting the air from my lungs. I wondered if my intestines would be ripped from my belly before or
after
my flesh burned to a crisp.

The wolf demon blurred across my path and hit the fiery ape like a freight train, catapulting them both into the forest amid a snarling spray of red. Trees split and uprooted in their path, the sound of violent destruction continuing even after they disappeared into the night.

How sweet. They were fighting over me. Over who got to
kill
me, but a girl has to take her attention where she can.

I rolled to my feet and ran with a hearty limp back to the restaurant window. I slammed my body against it, arms splayed high.

The waitress screamed. 

Blake grinned.

“Babe! The guys are trying to find you, but I knew you’d come back for me. You look so funny.” The rich tan of his skin paled as he squished his face up against the glass. “How about me? Still irresistible, right? Take my picture.”

Yep. I was dead.

Blake’s eyes swirled from his normal hazel to bright copper, which meant his powers were working. Which also explained how he literally walked his pro-wrestler bulk through the window without breaking it. He controlled anything made from the earth — like glass. After I’d explained my eventful evening in breathy, shrill tones, and embarrassingly wild hand gestures, Blake’s features darkened, and he slipped into serious demon hunter mode, calling Logan on his phone to have the rest of them meet where I’d left an unconscious Matthias.

As I fought to keep up with his jog through the parking lot, I pointed toward the fiery spurts and savage sounds of the demon battle raging out of sight in the forest.

“Did they come through the hell portal?” And if yes, did that mean there were more on the way?

“No.” Blake pulled me along next to him, acting as a formidable barrier between me and the demons. “There wasn’t an alert. Portal’s been inactive since before you moved here.”

“Shouldn’t we deal with them first?”

“They’ll probably kill each other,” he shrugged and kept moving forward.

As we reached the far end of the parking lot, I said, “And if they don’t?”

He didn’t answer. Too busy crouching low to study the empty ground behind the snowplow blade. Where Matthias was
supposed
to be.

“Do you think this Rose guy took him?” I asked. Hmmm. Not sure I’d be too disappointed if that was the case. “Or maybe he just left.” Humiliated by how I brilliantly thwarted his evil plan then saved his life.

“I can see where you dragged him here, but nothing else is disturbed around this spot. And no footprints but yours.” Face in a rare expression of grim concentration, Blake scratched his mess of short cinnamon curls. “It’s like he just vanished.”

Dreams do come true.

Blake dipped his fingers in the dust and brought them to his nose. “Smells like…springtime.”

“I know, right? That’s Rose.”

“The dude you say disappeared from—”

“The trunk.” I still had the keys so I popped it open.

I stared into my former prison which wasn’t as empty as I’d anticipated.

Emotion bubbled. Overflowed. Then, fists flailing, I launched my attack.