Drop Dead Demons (31 page)

Run! Now! Before they realize what you carry! Run! Now!

The words danced in my head, over and over. Filling the darkness.

Someone cradled me against a solid chest. Voices nudged me awake.

“Place her on the bed.”

“No. It’s old. And a dead lady slept in it.”

“She wasn’t deceased when she slept in it. She perished at her desk.”

“Close enough. I’m keeping babe.”

The arms around me tightened.

“Fine. Logan, more water.”

A squeaky creak. A rush of water. I tried to talk.

“Babe moved!”

“I told you her vitals are fine. Give her a moment. This will help.”

Cold water splashed on my face. I sputtered. Tried to slap it away.

“Babe’s awake!”

“Calm yourself.”

“
You
calm yourself, logic boy,” Blake said. “I’m a passionate guy. I get to be upset. Especially when my best girl collapses after making words magically appear in a book.” Blake jiggled me. “Babe?” My eyes opened. “She’s back!”

He was big on announcing the obvious.

I blinked, expecting pain considering the brain malfunction I had before I blacked out, but…

“I’m okay.” I patted Blake’s shoulder.

He started to set me in a chair, but I squirmed onto my feet. Bounced on my toes. I was feeling strong and kind of…tingly. I didn’t want to sit. Or stand still.

Logan held out a pewter goblet. “Jayden says the water’s fine so drink up.”

I raised it high and downed the fresh tasting cold liquid in one gulp then slapped the goblet down on the table.Jayden put a hand on my forehead. “No fever. Any pain? Nausea?”

“Nope.” I pushed him away, stretched, wiggled my body. “But Elizabeth’s diary sure packs a wallop. Wow.”

“How did you know her name was Elizabeth?” Jayden said. “After you touched the book, words appeared on the page and we only just read that it belonged to—”

“Elizabeth Grace Flint.” I tilted my head sideways to crack my neck. “Nathan’s sister. He built these caves for her to hide from the Mandatum because she knew too much.”

“About what?” Blake asked.

Run! Now!

“So hot in here, huh?” I gathered my hair up and fanned the back of my neck. “About the usual stuff. Scandal, sex, a cover-up. And the fact that the Mandatum murdered the last Divinicus.”

“You’re making no sense.” Jayden was frantically flipping pages in Elizabeth’s diary. “The Flint files mentioned a sister, but there’s nothing in here about murder.”

“Trust me. There is. Because whatever’s in there,” I pointed to the book, “is in here.” I pointed to my head. I waved off Jayden as he opened his mouth. “When I touched the diary—”

“The words lit up like invisible ink coming to life,” Blake said.

I rocked on my heels. “Right. Then all the info rushed out and straight into my head.”

Logan glanced at the other two boys. “Elizabeth. She was a Scriptor?”

“You’re reasoning is sound,” Jayden nodded. “They’re the only hunters that can communicate the written word into another’s mind.”

“But across different time zones, and after they’re
dead
?” Blake shook his head. “I’ve never heard of a Scriptor doing that.”

“You’ve never heard of Ernest Hemmingway, either,” Logan said.

Blake made a face. “That jerk from third period?”

I scanned the room like a stone skipping on water until my gaze settled on a far wall. I ran to it and slapped my hand over one of the Latin carvings. Stone rumbled, the smooth surface cracked in a rectangle, and a drawer slid out from the wall. I pointed to the leather bound books stacked inside.

“These are more of her diaries during the years that she was here in Gossamer Falls. But those — Blake lift me up.”

Hands on my waist, Blake raised me up to sit on his shoulders. I braced a hand on the wall, put a foot on his shoulder, pushed off his head with my other hand, put my other foot on his other shoulder, and managed to stand up surprisingly steady. At this height I could touch some of the higher writings. I ran my hand over a carving to my left. More rumbling and another drawer unrolled from the rock.

“More diaries,” I teetered on tip-toe, Blake remaining rock-solid beneath me. “This and another level have ones from when she was living with the Divinicus. In Europe mostly, but they traveled a lot for security reasons. And those,” I pointed to the uppermost levels then moved my finger around the room “are the diaries written by or about all the other Divinicuses — or is it Divinic-i? — over the centuries. A complete history.”

Jayden’s eyes tracked slowly over the room. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat before speaking in a hushed, reverent tone. “You’re telling me that we have…the
Divinincus Nex
Chronicles
?”

I patted the stone. “Guess so.” 

“But that’s impossible.” Jayden’s thumbs popped in and out of joint. “You’re talking about something the Mandatum guards with the utmost secrecy and security.”

“Whatever.” I shrugged. “Moving on. Blake, catch.” I jumped into the air, legs straight, toes pointed, and dropped into Blake’s waiting arms.

“Nice, babe. We could be cheerleaders together.”

“Sure.” I popped from his arms to my feet, darted over to the tall stone bookcases, and swiped my hand over the spines. “These are re-creations of all the books Elizabeth ever read. Including, but not limited to, Mandatum stuff. Things like history, accounting records, personnel files. Things that would be in—”

“The Mandatum archives.” Jayden was barely breathing as he wandered in a daze to the aisles of books, neck craned to stare at the sky-high shelves. “She stole these? For that alone they would come after her. How could we not know this was missing? It would be catastrophic to the society. And how did she get to all this top secret information? Only a very few on the highest levels have access.”

“She didn’t steal it,” I said. “She re-created it. She had a photographic memory of everything she saw or read. Books, documents, images, people. Even anything auditory like conversations or music. Whatever she experienced was in her head forever and she spent years writing it all down. Well, not always
writing
, exactly.” I rotated my fingers around my temple. “Sometimes she could kind of think it onto the paper. I’m not quite sure how that works. Yet. I’ve got to read, read, read. More, more, more.”

“No way a normal Scriptor could do that,” Blake said.

I grabbed a book, but before I could open it, Logan snatched it from my hands. “Maybe later.”

I frowned. “Why not right now?”

“You seem a bit…wound up,” Logan said. “I’m still confused. She was a fugitive hunter?” 

“Maybe. I need to read more, but…you’re right. Later.” I glanced at the books, then closed my eyes, fingers pulling at my hair. “She…she…”

Run! Now!
So much jumbled in my brain, desperate for release. Lines of information, sayings, titles, names, locations, they kept popping up faster than I could piece them together.
Run!
 It felt like spiders crawling under my skin. I scratched my palm.

“Babe, you alright?”

“Sure. Fine.” I breathed deep. Fisted my hands. This was
awesome
. For once I knew more than they did. I could finally get a handle on all my Divinicus Nex crap. I had knowledge, and access to more. But first I had to…to…what? Sort through what I already had. Organize the information ricocheting around inside my head.

“Not a fugitive.” I tucked my hair behind my ears, concentrating. “Elizabeth was with the Divinicus for years as his biographer.” 

Jayden nodded. “Every Divinicus has one, but why did she come here and create this?”

I filled my cheeks with air then blew it out, shaking my hands to relieve the tingling. “The Bellator set this up with Nathan Flint because the Mandatum was going to kill the Divinicus’s kid.”

“What!” Jayden shrieked.

“The Bellator,” Blake said patiently. “That’s the hot girl hunter who has the special supernatural connection with the Divinicus. They share an emotional and physical bond, and she becomes his lifetime protector and companion. Really dude, try to keep up.”

Jayden’s hands clenched into tight fists, which he shook at Blake. “Of course I know what a Bellator is!”

“Then quit asking stupid questions.”

“But Aurora is talking nonsense!” Jayden almost screamed. “The child of the Divinicus and Bellator is sacred.”

“Exactly,” I said. “Which makes a child created from Elizabeth’s affair with the Divinicus blasphemous.”

Jayden’s head trembled from side to side like he was short circuiting. “Elizabeth couldn’t be pregnant with the Divinicus’s baby because the Divinicus is only ever sexually intimate with the Bellator.”

I rubbed my eyes. So itchy. “Which is why Elizabeth was a dead woman walking. Broke all the rules when she fell in love with the Divinicus. Even though the Bellator was heartbroken, she couldn’t let them kill the baby.” I rapped my knuckles on Blake’s shoulder. “Help me get more books down.”

“Maybe you should grab Ayden.” Logan gave the big guy a push.

“Yeah.” Blake shot me a strange look before jogging out.

“But I need— Ugh.” I wiped my sweaty hands on my jeans. Images suddenly flashed in my head, showing me where I’d get the answers to my questions. “Column forty, row five, volume seventeen twelve.” I tittered a laugh. “Oh, that’s so much better than tracking a demon.”

“Aurora!” Jayden slapped a hand over my mouth. “We agreed you’d kept your abilities a secret.”

I pushed him off. “Secret, schmeetrit. Don’t you see? That’s why the spirals react to my touch. This place was made for the Divinicus.” Grabbing his shirt, I yanked our faces close. “This place was made for
me!
” I laughed. “Isn’t that great?”

“Perhaps you should sit,” Jayden said.

“No way. It’s awesome! This is
my
sanctuary now. The last Bellator didn’t want to kill a pregnant woman or her soul mate’s child, so she had a place made to hide and protect all of them. Not just
her
Divinicus, but every one after him. So I could be free. Wow. Bellators fix everything. Where’s mine? I’m thirsty.” I ran over to the sink, turned on the faucet, shoved my mouth into the stream of water, and guzzled. Then I stuck my head under the flow. “Ah, feels better. Weird that an underground cave is so hot.” I pulled my head out and shook it to fling off the excess water. “Look, I’m a dog!”

Ayden came running in. He looked good. Really good.

Color in his cheeks. Hair gelled and mussed to perfection. Jeans fit just right and that awesome leather jacket with the scars and imperfections from his being a big, bad, sexy demon hunter. Not to mention that knowing smile flip-flopping my stomach.

Although, he wasn’t wearing it now.

Frowning, he glanced at his brother. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing.”  I ran over and snaked an arm around his neck. “Especially now that you’re here, sugar lips.”

My fingers slid into his hair, pulling his mouth against mine. He tasted yummy. Minty. And all mine. But he pulled away.

I planted a bunch of kisses on his face and neck. “Helloooo, gorgeous.” 

Blake said, “She must think you’re me.”

Ayden pulled my head back and lifted my lids with his thumbs. “Her eyes are red. Did she take something?”

“I gave her water.” Logan smacked Jayden. “You said it was fine.”

“It’s not the water,” Jayden said.

“Maybe it was when babe got hit with the book?”

“Who hit her with a book?” Ayden sounded like he was ready to hit someone. I kept kissing him.

Logan whacked Blake then told Ayden, “No one. Blake meant the information from the book somehow hit into her brain. All the sudden she just
knew
stuff.” 

“Then babe started acting like she was on some high-octane caffeine, sugar-rush combo with an adrenaline chaser.”

Ayden listened with growing anxiety as the boys’ related events, which was
boring
, so I pushed away and skipped down the aisle.

“Aurora!”

I raced ahead of Ayden and climbed a bookcase, swinging off it one-handed. “Look, I’m a monkey!” 

“Come down!”

“But I haven’t figured out what went wrong yet.” I grabbed back onto the shelves. “The Bellator smuggled a pregnant Elizabeth — let’s call her Lizzy, makes her sound spunky — to her brother, Nathan, in Gossamer Falls and later, the Bellator and Divinicus also planned to escape here. To this place.” I swung off a shelf again to gesture toward the room.

Below, Ayden growled, “Aurora, quit doing that!”

“Spoiled sport.” I latched back on. “Nathan built this as a hideout. Eventually, he would’ve gotten them all new names, new documents, new lives. But…”

“Did they get discovered?” Blake asked.

“Don’t encourage her,” Ayden said as he and Logan climbed up after me.

“I don’t know.” My foot slipped. Chin cracked against stone, but I caught myself from falling. Tasted copper. Blood. Had bit my tongue. Didn’t hurt. I kept climbing. “She writes about it. Must be here.” I scuttled across the shelf and then up, up, up!

Jayden pointed to the walls. “I thought you indicted that her diaries were in those drawers over there.”

My head jerked around. “Oh, right!” I jumped down.

“Jayden!” Ayden was annoyed.

“Sorry. But this allegory is fascinating.”

Blake steered me away from the wall. “Got her.”

“No!” I struggled against the big guy, looking over my shoulder at the masses of information just waiting for me to absorb. “There’s still so much I don’t know.”

“Come on, babe.” Blake pulled me along. “Tell us what happened next to Nathan and Elizabeth.”  

“Lizzy,” I corrected. I scratched the back of my hand. Then my scalp. Lots of itches. “Nathan hid her child, but the Mandatum captured and tortured Nathan to insanity before he told Lizzy where he hid the baby so Lizzy hid here until…” I glanced over Blake’s shoulder at the corpse. “She looks sad.”

“Probably because she’s dead,” Blake said.

When Blake turned to glance back too, I slipped out of his arms. 

“Babe!”

Ayden scowled. “Blake.”  

“She tricked me.”

“So alone and scared. “ I zoomed past the skeleton, grabbed a midnight blue gown, and held it against me in front of the mirror. “Nathan captured. Her child missing. She searched for years, using the sanctuary as her base.” I grabbed a hat dripping with feathers and veils, and plopped it on my head. “Hiding out in the tunnels, selling off pieces of the treasure when she needed money. But no baby. Eventually, she couldn’t travel and…she died. And that’s all I know until read, read, read!” I twirled and nearly fell.

Ayden caught me. “Not happening.”

I stamped my foot. “But I have to.”

A sudden, sharp pain blossomed in the back of my head. I rubbed it, trying to relieve the building pressure, a vise tightening around my skull. Didn’t help. Got worse. Pinpoints of light edged my vision. My knees gave out.

A gaggle of noise made things worse. The guys were talking. Getting louder. Arguing. Every word an icepick chipping away at my skill. 

“And there’s no way to get her out!” Ayden shouted. “You were supposed to be looking for an exit!”

“There’s one in the back.” I pointed toward the mini-apartment. “Another elevator.”