Hellfire (27 page)

Ginny’s smile disappeared. She
nodded. “That’s the first human possession we’ve seen.” She stopped and frowned
at Alton when they reached the SUV. “But he was drunk, Alton. And there were
two demons filled with the rats’ life force.”

“I know, but remember, they’re
evolving. When they first showed up, it was inanimate objects of the earth.
They could only take over stone, metal, or ceramic. Then they moved to family
pets and wild animals, and I was with Dax and Eddy when we discovered they’re
taking on plastic avatars. That’s still of the earth, but definitely
processed.”

“From rats to humans is a
pretty big leap to make so quickly, even if it was a drunk human.”

Alton opened Ginny’s door for
her. She climbed into the Yukon and buckled herself in. He stood there in the
open door, watching her as she latched the seat belt over her trim hips, but
his mind was spinning a thousand directions at once—and not a single direction
was good. “In some ways,” he mused, “that’s even worse. Two demons working
together were able to take over a human’s mind and body. That’s more than an
evolution of abilities—it’s showing more conscious thought.
More
cooperation.”

“Well, we knew they were
beginning to cooperate when they started bundling together in the cavern and
turning themselves into über-demons.”

Alton backed away and shut her
door, but he leaned his elbows on her open window. “I know. It’s another step
forward for them, though. And it means none of us are safe, if they develop the
ability to possess someone who’s sober.”

Ginny’s eyes opened wide. “How
do we fight that?”

Alton shook his head. “I don’t
know, but we need to figure out something. I have a feeling the gloves, if
there ever were any, are off.”

He circled around the front of
the Yukon and climbed into the passenger seat. Ginny flashed him a tired smile.
“I take it you’re not interested in more barhopping?”

He shook his head. “No. I’m
worried about Cathedral Rock. There’s another vortex there, which means there
might be another portal allowing demons through. We’ve closed the portals at
the airport vortex, Bell Rock, and Boynton Canyon, but we haven’t even checked
the one at Cathedral Rock.”

Ginny stuck the key in the
ignition and turned to smile at him. “Let’s worry about it tomorrow. I’m not
too concerned about that one.”

“Why not?”
Alton paused in the process of fastening his seat belt. The big grin on Ginny’s
face seemed out of place with the current discussion.

“Because
Cathedral Rock is a girl vortex.”
She started the engine and eased out
into traffic. “Remember that discussion we never had about boy and girl
vortexes? Well, I read about them. The actual source of the vortex is on the
creek at a place called Red Rock Crossing. It’s got lots of feminine energy.
You know—kindness, compassion—the good things women are known for.”

“I see.” Alton bit back a
smile. He settled into his seat and watched Ginny while she navigated the
narrow streets on her way back to the road that would take them to their rented
casita, back to Eddy and Dax and, hopefully, an uneventful evening. “So you
think the demons might avoid this particular energy source?” He chuckled when
Ginny flashed him a wide-eyed, innocent look.

“Well, wouldn’t you?” She
blinked. “All that sweet goodness should be absolute poison to any right-minded
demon.”

Alton rolled his head to one
side and played along. “It might, Ginny m’love, if all feminine energy were
nothing but sweet goodness, and if there were such a thing as a right-minded
demon. There’s no such creature.”

She turned and headed out the
rural road that would take them home. Then she deadpanned, “You’re such a
killjoy, Alton.”

He leaned back in the seat and
folded his arms over his chest. In his best Johnny Cash voice he said, “I know,
but when you’ve got a talent, you learn to work it.”

Her soft laughter shivered
over his shoulders as he settled back for the short ride. The evening hadn’t
gone anything like he’d planned, but they’d worked well together. They’d made a
difference, and they’d learned more of their enemy’s abilities.

In battle, at least, they were
a perfect team.

And now they were headed back
to the casita where all he could think about was the fact they’d be sharing a
room again tonight. He stared at the headlights sweeping over the road ahead
and carefully blocked his thoughts.

No wonder they’d not gotten
very good at their telepathy. They spent more time blocking thoughts than
sharing them. He wasn’t certain he wanted to think about the implications of
that, the fact that they still didn’t trust each other with their deepest
thoughts, but at some point in the not too distant future he and Ginny really
needed to learn to communicate.

Of course, they’d need to
learn to trust each other, even when they weren’t surrounded by demonkind. That
might be the most difficult lesson of all.

Ginny parked the Yukon in
front of the casita. There was a light in the main room but the rest of the
little house was dark. Her mind had been spinning all the way from town, and
she really wished her thoughts didn’t keep bringing her back to the same crappy
conclusion.

Alton reached for the door
handle. She put her hand on his arm. “Wait.” She glanced toward the house and
back at Alton. His face was hidden in shadow, but light from the front porch
reflected in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Dax.
I’m worried about Dax.” She shifted around and leaned her shoulder against the
back of the car seat. “Today he said the way we described the demon king
sounded like we were describing his demon body, the one he gave up. What if it
is his body? What if the demon king has targeted Dax? Maybe there’s still some
sort of link between the ex-demon part of Dax and the body he used to have, and
maybe that’s why he’s the one the demon went after today. Not because he was
left alone near the portal, but because he’s more susceptible to the demon’s
powers. Does that make sense?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Alton
shifted around and faced her. “I wasn’t thinking of that so much, but I have
been worried that, in his weakened state, Dax might be easier for a demon to possess.
If demons could take him over, they’d have his demon powers along with his
considerable strength. He’s not himself right now. What happened today weakened
him.”

Ginny sighed. “I hadn’t
thought of that, but that’s another part of the same problem. We need to talk
to him. He’s got to be aware of the danger he could be facing.”

“I agree.” Alton leaned his
head back against the seat. “Dax is my closest friend, besides Taron. We have
fought together and faced death together. I don’t want anything to happen to
him.”

“I don’t want anything to
happen to any of us. C’mon.” She got out of the Yukon and followed Alton into
the casita. Eddy was sitting by
herself
in the front
room with the television on.

“Hi, guys.” She waved them to
a couple of empty seats. “It’s not looking good. Demons have hit the nightly
news.”

Alton sat beside her on the
couch. Ginny took a seat on the footstool in front of him. “What’s going on?”

“Unexplained animal attacks.
The local shelter is full, but after a couple of hours in the cages, vicious
animals are suddenly just fine. Ravens swarmed a couple of outside restaurants,
attacked customers, and broke windows. A few of them were killed running into
cars or getting shot by armed citizens. Toxicology tests show nothing unusual,
though there’re reports of some sort of toxic chemical being released.” She
turned and shrugged. “Oddly, people say it smells just like sulfur.”

“Go figure.” Ginny shook her
head. “I wish we knew how many were left out there.”

“Demons?”
Eddy sat back and stretched her long legs out over Ginny’s lap. “More than we
had in Evergreen, I think.”

“Alton! Look…that’s the bar we
were in tonight.” Ginny scooted forward as the newscaster described the fight
in one of Sedona’s more popular nightspots.

“The young
African-American woman who was attacked left the bar before police arrived.
Witnesses didn’t recall if she’d been injured or not, but everyone has
mentioned the sulfuric odor.” He raised his head and sniffed the air. “I can
still smell it. It’s very faint but it reminds me of the smell of striking
matches. Everything appears calm now, but toxicology tests are being run to
determine whether some sort of hallucinogenic chemical is responsible for the
strange behavior of local animals and now, a visiting tourist. Back to you…”

“Ginny! You were attacked? Are
you okay?” Eddy grabbed her hand and gave her a quick once-over.

“I’m fine.” Ginny shrugged and
pulled her hand free of Eddy’s grasp.
“Really.
He
caught me in the shoulder, but there wasn’t much power behind his swing. I
don’t think the demons had very good control of him.”

Just then Dax wandered out of
the bedroom. His hair was mussed and he looked half asleep. “What’s going on?”

Eddy waved at the screen.
“Demon attacks made the nightly news and Ginny and Alton were in a barroom
brawl.
Just the usual.”

“We’re fine, Dax.” Ginny stuck
her tongue out at Eddy. “Eddy’s exaggerating.”

Dax sat down on Eddy’s side
opposite Alton and gestured at the television where the news had moved on to
sports. “They know they’re demons?”

“No, but they’re going to
figure out something’s not right before too long.” Eddy grabbed his hand. “How
are you feeling?”

“Better, but still not up to
full strength.” Dax linked his fingers with hers and turned to Alton. “What did
you guys come across in town?
Other than a fight in a bar.”

“He really knows how to show a
girl a good time.” Ginny elbowed Alton’s thigh.

Alton ignored Ginny. “We came
across rats,” he said. “Demons had taken over a bunch of rats and had a woman
cornered in an alley. She’d killed two of the rats but the others were moving
toward her in formation and a crowd had begun to gather.”

“Alton and I took care of the
rest of the rats and demons,” Ginny said, “but the demons that escaped before
we got there took over a human.” She focused on Dax. “He was drunk, so his
defenses were down, and the demons had probably grabbed the life force when the
rats died, but still, there were two demons working together in him. They
didn’t seem to have much control, but Alton says it’s a sign of their
continuing evolution.”

Dax leaned back in his chair.
“That’s not good.
A human?
If they can control a
human, they’ve definitely evolved.”

“The question is,” Eddy asked,
“what are they evolving to? Do they have a plan?”

Alton shook his head. “The
only one who appears to have a plan so far has been the demon king. Are we
still in agreement that he was drawing lesser demons to this dimension for
their energy?”

Shrugging, Dax glanced toward
Eddy. “He was definitely absorbing their life force during that fight in
Evergreen,” he said. He turned back toward Ginny. “If we destroyed an avatar
and the demon got free in the form of that black, wraithlike smoke, the demon
king would pull the wraith toward him and inhale it.”

“And he’d get bigger and
stronger almost immediately,” Eddy added. “That’s when we realized he wasn’t
actually gathering a demon army. It was as if he needed the demons stored in
this dimension for his personal use. To stay here, they needed an avatar. When
he needed their energy, he’d set up a situation where the avatars were broken
and the demon’s soul set free, at which point the demon king was able to siphon
off their energy. He needed to catch demons in their mist form before they
could be drawn back to Abyss.”

“At first, we were actually
helping him.” Alton glanced toward Ginny. “We’d destroy an avatar, but
sometimes missed the demon. Then we realized they were drawn to him, like metal
to a magnet. It was scary to watch. Every time he swallowed down another demon,
he got stronger, more lifelike. At first his avatar—the gargoyle—was stone. By
the time we fought him on Mount Shasta, he was alive—supple, breathing, and
bleeding.”

Dax was shaking his head.
“If you can call that acidic muck leaking out of him blood.
Pretty nasty stuff.
The biggest difference now, though, is
that those lesser demons were mindless creatures. Pure energy, definitely evil,
but there didn’t appear to be any real cognitive thought involved in their
actions. Now we’re seeing intelligence.”

Eddy wrapped her fingers
around Dax’s hand and frowned. “Dax, you said that the longer the demon king
remains in Earth’s dimension, the more of his intelligence he regains. Could
the same thing be happening with the lesser demons? Obviously, if the demon
king was originally an intelligent creature from Eden, he’s got more to start
with, but what of the lesser demons? What do you know of them? What kind of
demon were you?”

Dax stared down, as if he
focused on their linked hands. “I probably started out as a lesser demon long
ago, but by the time I was cast out, I had become a fairly formidable creature.
I know I was intelligent enough to question my existence, but, for whatever
reason, I retained my intelligence when I was given this body by the Edenites.”

“But, you had to learn to use
it, just as the demons are learning to use their avatars.” Eddy touched the
side of his face. “You learned very quickly.”

Dax smiled, turned, and kissed
her palm. “If you’ll recall, I had Willow feeding me info the whole time. I had
my powers and knowledge stored in the tattoo, and I still had the remnants of
memories from the human who first owned this body.” He smiled.
A smile that was all for Eddy.
“Plus, I had you.”

“That you did.” Eddy curled
her fingers against his lips.

Ginny watched the emotion
flare in Dax’s eyes, noticed the dreamy look in Eddy’s, and felt a tight clench
in her stomach. She wondered what they were remembering, what shared events had
drawn them so close so quickly.

They’d known each other less
than two weeks, yet they loved as powerfully as if they’d been together
forever. Ginny wished she had Eddy’s certainty. Wished she understood her own
feelings better.

Dax seemed to catch himself,
as if he suddenly realized he and Eddy had an audience. He glanced at her.
“Things have changed, though. The demons have changed, and they’re doing it
without any help that we know of, unless the demon king is somehow able to
affect their behavior.” He turned his attention to Ginny and Alton. “Alton,
remember how you described the demon king, as if he looked the way I used to?
Eddy and I are wondering if I was targeted, if he…”

Alton glanced at Ginny and
they both nodded. “Great minds think alike,” she said. “Alton and I were wondering
the same thing, if maybe the fact he’s got your old body makes you more
susceptible to his demon strength.”

“Exactly, and it’s got me
worried.” Eddy leaned against Dax’s shoulder. “I want to get this guy back to
Evergreen for at least a couple of nights, away from that soul-sucking bastard.
Dax needs to recuperate before we face him again. He’s tried his demon powers,
but he’s definitely not at full strength.”

Dax’s expression was almost
sheepish. “I know I’m not carrying my weight, but Eddy reminded me I haven’t
had this human body very long—and I was dead just a few days ago.”

Eddy’s eyes sparkled with
unshed tears. “I don’t ever want to go through that again. You’re not a cat. I
don’t think you get nine lives.”

“She’s right.” Alton nodded
and reached for Ginny’s hand. His long fingers wrapped around hers and he
squeezed. “It looks like we’ll be fighting demons for a while. We’ll need you
at full strength.”

He dropped her hand and stood
up, as if he had too much energy to sit in one spot any longer. “Look…Ginny and
I were planning to check the vortex at Red Rock Crossing tomorrow, the one near
Cathedral Rock. There might be a portal there that will get you to Mount
Shasta, and if there’s one to Abyss, I want to close it. Tomorrow morning okay
with you?”

Dax gazed at Eddy for a long
moment. Ginny wondered if they communicated silently. When Eddy nodded and
stood up, tugging Dax with her, Ginny was certain of it.

“Works for
us.
Get us up early.” Eddy wrapped both arms around Dax’s waist. “I hate
to leave you guys here on your own, but he needs to stay away from that damned
demon. Just long enough to get his strength back.”

“No problem.” Alton turned
away and stared out the window toward the dark desert.

Ginny watched Dax and Eddy
leave. When the door to their room closed, she turned to Alton and caught him
watching her. Irritation rolled off of him in waves, and he was frowning. She
raised her chin, folded her arms across her chest, and stared right back at
him. “What’s wrong?”

He let out a frustrated gust
of air and glared at her. “Everything’s fine.
Just perfect.
You’re going back to that important job of yours while I hang around and fight
a bunch of fucking demons by myself. Other than that, I’d say it’s all good.”

A bolt of panic flashed along
Ginny’s spine. “Taron’s coming Friday. He’s got a crystal sword, right? Just
tell him you need his help. He’ll stay.”

“Not quite.” Alton shook his
head. “Taron’s got crystal but it’s not sentient. Besides, we need his voice,
not his sword. He’s the only link we’ve got between us and the council and we
need him there.
Communication, Ginny.
You know that—it
was your idea. It’s the only reason he’s coming, to fill us in on what’s
happening in Lemuria. He can’t stay.”

It felt like the room was
closing in on her and it was hard to breathe. Her heart pounded unsteadily in
her chest and her damned hands wouldn’t stop shaking. “I have to go, Alton. I
don’t want to lose my job. I don’t…” She stood up, clutched at the scabbard
with DarkFire, and hugged it against her chest, against her pounding heart.

There was no glow at all from
the dark crystal.

“So you’ve said.” Alton
grabbed his scabbard and his voice had gone cold and flat. He stared down that
long patrician nose of his like she was nothing but scum on the sole of his
boots.

“Think about this, Ginny, when
you worry about your damned job—I gave up my home, my family, my entire world
to join this fight. And no, I’m not complaining, but I sure hope your
dispatching job’s worth it.”

She cringed beneath the lash
of his gaze, the condemnation in his voice. “You chose this fight, Alton…I
didn’t. I…” She swallowed back the lump in her throat. How could she defend an
indefensible position? “Where are you going? Aren’t you coming to bed?” Damn.
She hated sounding so needy, but she was scared and pissed off and he didn’t
seem to understand what was going on in her head at all. And she didn’t want to
be alone. Not tonight. Not after all the changes in her life—changes she had no
control over, changes that made her feel like a volcano ready to blow its top.