Drop Dead Demons (5 page)

Something crashed and thundered out of the forest. I whirled. The lava demon opened its cavernous mouth and let out an ear-shattering roar, pounding his chest with triumph.

I panicked, jumped one way then another. Ready to run for cover. But where? Find a weapon. But what? He’d proven invincible. What could—

Logan shouted, “Pull!”

The albino’s bow and arrow, made of compressed air, materialized pale and glimmering in his hands. Feet planted, he pulled the weapon taut, knuckles brushing his cheek, alabaster eyes swirling bright and penetrating. 

Without looking, and not even stopping the intense conversation with his brother, Ayden’s hand lit up, and he casually tossed a fireball over his shoulder.

Logan released his arrow. It rocketed through the air and pierced Ayden’s flaming orb just at it reached the demon. The explosion rocked the earth under my feet and the molten monkey shattered into fiery smithereens, raining through the air, scattered over a wide area.

The chunks of splattered demon jumped and quivered, and after several seconds, gathered together in a dark tornado that vortexed into the ground.

Just like that, the demon was gone. Easy peasy.

Logan’s bow dissipated. He straightened and grinned like a five-year-old. “So cool.”

I stared at him. “I hate you.”

He blinked, smile fading. “What’d I do?”

“What was that?” Mom cried.

“Sounded like an explosion,” said Aunt M.

“M, I told you to get off the phone.” Mom’s voice was rising. “But she’s right, Aurora—”

“No,” I laughed. “Just the Dumpster…dumping…stuff.”

“Maybe you should come home now,” Mom said with renewed tension.

A trembling hand reached out of the car trunk. Matthias had regained consciousness, and although a little shaky, was climbing out of the trunk. The fact that he could move was a problem I needed to rectify.

“Gotta go, Mom. See you in thirty. Love you.”

“Love you too, but it’s twenty-seven now. And I’m not kid—”

I clicked off and headed for the Aussie.

Blake moved to block me, hands palms out. “Easy babe.”

“Ayden, wait!” Jayden grabbed at his brother’s jacket.

Ayden shook off his twin and pushed past even Blake to get to Matthias. Ayden’s eyes tracked him like he was prey.

He grabbed the Aussie and yanked him out.

“You set me up!” Sparks flew off Ayden’s shoulders. “You had me take that meeting with Bancroft tonight. You knew I couldn’t back out because I couldn’t tell him I had a date. You wanted me out of the way.
This
was the vitally important thing you had to do?!”

Then he swung a solid right hook. When it connected with Matthias’s jaw, a sharp
crack
resounded. The Aussie spun and went down.

“Yes! A training exercise!” Matthias was on the ground rubbing his jaw, sitting behind Blake who’d put himself between the Aussie and Ayden. “Just like the ones we all went through. If you were acting like a hunter instead of a lovesick dingo you’d be fine with it!”

Ayden railed, “She wasn’t ready for this!”

“Obviously,” the Aussie said dryly.

“It’s usually done at the end of
extensive
training. This was too soon.” Ayden’s eyes had a predatory squint and a dangerous glow. “She still has nightmares from her attack in the alley by people she
trusted
. So your little stunt just made her worse.” 

Worse than what?

“Okay, we don’t need to bring up my personal history.” My insides were shaky enough as it was.

“She’d better get over it, mate. Fast.” Matthias was equally heated in his fury, but unlike Ayden he didn’t actually smoke and almost spontaneously combust. “We’ve got hunters and traitors and demons coming at us and we’re flying blind. We don’t have the luxury of time.”

“He has a point,” Jayden commented.

Ayden whirled, eyes dancing with bright embers. “No one asked you, Jayden!”

“Of course, I wasn’t agreeing with the dingo reference.” Jayden seemed unfazed at the outburst. “Just the fact that we’ve all been through it. And the Mandatum was far more abhorrent in its treatment of us. So Matthias must have been fairly easy on her because she has no dislocations, protruding or broken bones, lacerations, contusions, or fractures. Not even a shattered patella.”

Logan flexed his knee. “That was painful.”

Ayden turned his ire on his brother. “How in the
hell
could you let this happen?”

Now Jayden looked fazed. As in hurt.

I put a hand on Jayden’s shoulder. “Ayden, it wasn’t his fault.”

Jayden tucked his long black hair behind his ear. “We went looking for her almost immediately. But Matthias happened to call and said he’d cover the parking lot, so the rest of us dispersed in other directions.”

“Except me,” Blake waved. “And I’m the one who found her.”

“I found
you
,” I said.

Blake pursed his lips. “Potato, Romano. Same difference.”

Logan looked up at the big guy. “Do you ever hear yourself?”

Blake beamed. “I’m my biggest fan.”

“Your
only
fan,” Ayden said.

“Hurtful, dude.”

“The good news,” Matthias ranted on, “is that she actually got the drop on me, so if you guys would train her for real, she might have a shot at
not
being the weak link that gets us all killed.”

Was there a compliment in there somewhere?

“Nice work, babe,” Blake grinned. “Gave him a roundhouse kick, right? I told you a woman’s real strength is in her lower body.”

“Yeah, right.” Tristan jogged up. His butterscotch blond hair stuck up like he’d been electrocuted, and his earnest sky blue eyes looked tired, but otherwise the freckle-faced, boy-next-door look was intact. “We all told her that. Now let’s wrap this up because—”

“But I’m the strength training guy, so I’m the one she listens to.”

“Are not,” Tristan said. “She hardly tolerates you. But let’s hit it before—”

“Nope.” Blake wagged a finger. “She just has to make it look that way so Fireboy doesn’t have a meltdown. We’re trying to find a way to let him down easy. As always, babe, you’re my hero. Nothing hotter than a gal that can kick some serious boo-tay.” He ruffled my hair. “Wanna make out?”

Ayden slapped the big guy’s hand away. “Back off. She’s been through enough.”

“Quit wasting time.” Tristan glanced over his shoulder. “If we don’t hurry the—”

“Exactly,” Blake said. “And I’m her reward, Fireboy. You’ve really got to know when to fold ‘em and let the lady fall into the arms of Team Blake.”

“Team Moron, more like it,” Ayden muttered.

“You’re all morons,” Matthias growled. “Quit babying her.”

Then they started arguing, the volume rising, and my head started to pound where I
did
have a
contusion
, thank you very much. Stupid wolf.

“Shut up!” I waved my arms. “So this kidnapping wasn’t you guys turning me into to the Mandatum to save yourselves and your families.”

It was dead quiet.

Then Ayden exploded. He raged on Matthias. “See! Now she thinks we’re
all
in on your harebrained scheme!”

I flipped a thumb toward the jerk, a.k.a. Matthias. “Mostly him because he hates me,
and
he can’t afford to lose any more family.”

There was another creepily quiet moment, then Matthias erupted, turning swirling onyx eyes on his team, livid and roaring like a bullet train at warp speed.

“Who told her!” The lights in the parking lot flickered. One exploded into a shower of glass and sparks, then another. “Who bloody broke the code and
told her?
”

“Rose told me,” I said before Matthias started splitting atoms. “Nobody broke any codes. Jeez. Who’s the moron now?”

The Aussie’s eyes cleared slowly, reaching a dull, dolphin gray before I could be sure he’d powered down from going nuclear. Self-preservation warned me not to wade into the toxic dump of Matthias’s cold, dark past. At least for now. Instead, I needed clarification for something I didn’t want to believe.  

“Let me get this straight.” I massaged my temples. “You’re telling me you’ve all been kidnapped as part of your training?”

“More than once.” Jayden’s nod was crisp. “A surprise attack executed by an experienced team. It’s a test to evaluate your readiness for real world scenarios.”

“Which you failed,” Matthias kindly pointed out.

“But very few people pass the first time,” Logan said with a reassuring smile.

“
We
all did,” Blake said happily, then looked confused when Logan slapped his shoulder. “Ow.”

“Okay.” I dug my thumb and forefinger into my eyes. My vision had sparklers of light around the edges. “I get it. So we’ll up my training, and I’ll be ready next time.”

Matthias looked wary. “What kind of game is she playing?”

“No games.” I blinked. “I don’t like it, or
you
, but I get it.”

Ayden spoke softly, “Aurora, you don’t have to do this.”

“Yeah, I do. Matthias is right.” Wow. That tasted like battery acid, mixed with jalapeno cyanide and shoved down my throat with a spiked spoon. But I always griped that Matthias didn’t treat me like a real team member and now that he was, I didn’t get to complain. Be careful what you wish for, Aurora. And don’t whine when you get it.

I took a deep breath. “If I’m part of the team—”

“I never said that.”

“Shut up, Aussie.” My voice was venom. I wouldn’t complain. But I could still be ticked off. And I didn’t have to like him. “I
am
part of this team, whether you like it or not. I’ll do whatever it takes to be an asset, whether you like it or not.” I stalked up close and looked him in the eye. “And
you
, like it or not, can either help or get out of my way.”

Sirens wailed. In the distance, lights flashed a frantic red and blue.

Tristan glared at us. “Like I’ve been trying to tell you, police and rescue are on their way.”

“No!” Matthias looked stricken. “You’re always supposed to make sure no one calls the police!”

“A few people need medical attention for some minor injuries when the demon fighting rumbled the building and brought down a few shelves.” Tristan narrowed a look at Ayden. “
And
I was distracted because I had to take care of more memory erasing on Herman’s friends because
someone
used their powers in front of
civilians!”

Ayden’s jaw clicked shut. Teeth audibly ground. “But you didn’t hear what they said.”

“I
did
hear! And wanting to be the macho, jealous boyfriend isn’t a good enough reason to break the rules.”

“Shut up!” Matthias sliced a hand through the air. “My dad can
not
find her here.” 

Tension rippled through the group.

I cocked my head. “But your dad’s the sheriff. He’ll cover this up, right?”

Matthias turned to Ayden. “She can’t talk to him.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Let’s get you home.” Ayden snatched my hand and dragged me along as we sprinted for his car. “I’d really like to avoid that syringe.”

My smile was bleak. “She really is kidding.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“Hey, guys.” Logan stood over by where the molten monkey was last seen.

He picked up something and held it high as he walked back. It was a round black metal disc, the size of a quarter. Around the edge a series of red lights blinked in a moving circle.

Logan looked grim. “We’ve got a serious problem.”

As Ayden’s car screeched to a halt at the far end of my block, I jumped out.

“Wait!” Ayden killed the engine, got out, and moved to the back of his car.

“We’ll miss curfew!”

“I know but,” he pulled something out of the trunk, “here.” He handed me a bouquet of flowers. “I meant to give it to you earlier but— Oh.” We both noticed the flowers were tattered and broken. His face fell. “Guess they got knocked around when I was driving…fast. Sorry. Where’s Blake when you need him?” He snatched them back and rummaged in the trunk. “At least there were some chocolates here somewhere. Just give me — Found them! Oh, crap. That, uh, that’s not good.”

“It’s okay. It’s the thought that counts.” I kissed his smooth cheek. It felt newly shaved and had a fresh, clean scent. “Thank you.”

He looked like he wanted to say something, but then took my hand, and we raced along the fortress of fences lining the backs of houses on my block. Ayden had one hand fired up as our unsettling — at least for me — torch in this moonless night. It helped guide our way through the mist which poured out of the forest on our right and added to the already creepy vibe chattering my jaw.

“About this tracker,” I said, referring to the metal disc with the red lights that Logan found on the ground. It had been embedded in the lava demon, and when the guys had zapped him into smoke the disc had been left behind.

“Don’t worry.”

“But you guys said that it’s a tracking device exclusively used by the
Mandatum
. So if the demon was sent here after me, doesn’t that mean the Mandatum could have hunted me down? And that they’re ready to attack?” I glanced up half expecting black-ops helicopters overhead. 

“Someone else could have gotten hold of one of those trackers and planted it on the demon,” Ayden said over his shoulder.  “Could be anyone. Even Rose.”

I knew he was
trying
to make me feel better.  

“Besides, Jayden disabled it.” He cut the flames as he stopped and opened the back gate to my neighbor’s yard. “If he and Tristan can track where it came from, might be a blessing. Give us a lead on whoever is after you.”

The bright side to every assassination attempt.

“Okay then.” I exhaled. “Last one in gets rotten egg status.” I pushed off his chest and dashed through the backyard.

“Aurora, wait. You shouldn’t…”

I raced across the yard, burst through my neighbor’s back door, and headed for the stairs. Despite my less than stealthy entrance, I heard a distinctive
click-click.

Hmmm. Nothing like the cocking of a deadly weapon to boost the old adrenaline.

And stop you in your tracks.

I stared down the dark, menacing cylinders of two double-barreled shotguns. Which made this double the fun. And I’d be double the dead.