It Happened One Doomsday (8 page)

Greyson straightened the front of his leather motorcycle jacket. His eyes glowed bright red. “This
is
a jacket,” he slurred, then swatted the maitre d's arm out of his way.

It barely seemed like Greyson put any effort into the motion at all. But the maitre d' staggered back as if he'd been thrown and collided with a waiter carrying a tray of glasses. The deafening crash of breaking glass turned heads throughout the restaurant.

“Okay, time to go.” Dru left Nate behind and darted over to Greyson, took his arm, and turned him toward the door. He didn't resist. His face looked paler and more haggard by the second. “You're going straight back to the shop,” she ordered. “Come on.”

Greyson shook his head, not in denial, but as if he was trying to clear it. “Something's . . . not right. Dru?” Sweat tricked down the side of his forehead. “What am I doing here?”

His confused words sent a chill down her back. They might not even have time to make it to the shop. She tried to remember which crystals she had with her, in her purse.

Greyson swayed, and Dru hurried him out. She glanced back at Nate, who was eye to eye in an argument with the maitre d'.

Far beyond, across the restaurant, Dru saw Jack stand up and crane his head to look. Even from this distance, she could see the worry wrinkling his forehead. Beside him, the white-haired investors took their eyes off Tonya long enough to turn and peer severely toward the commotion.

She reached one arm up to Greyson's broad shoulder and gently pushed him out through the door. “Keep walking. Outside. Deep breaths. Sit down, if you can.”

Nate caught Dru by the arm and yanked her back. “Where do you think you're going?”

“Nate, let go.”

Greyson, heedless, stumbled outside.

Dru tried to pull away but couldn't. “Look at him. He needs my help.”

“He needs to be arrested.” Nate sounded worried. “Listen, he's drunk. Or on drugs. I'm not letting you go anywhere with him.”

She stared Nate in the eye. “If you don't let go of my arm, this instant, Greyson could die. Do you want that on your conscience?”

“Die?” He blinked. “You can't be serious.” Still, he released her arm.

Dru ran out the door and into the parking lot.

“Why don't we call an ambulance?” he called after her, but she kept running.

Ranks of shiny Mercedes, Lexus, and BMWs lined the pavement. Well-dressed couples came and went, some chatting, some holding hands.

She peered in every direction. No sign of Greyson.

A skinny valet with a bad complexion gestured toward the corner of the building. There, a path led around to the softly lit gardens tucked away behind the restaurant. Greyson leaned against the wall, his silhouette hunched in pain. As Dru watched, he lurched into the garden and disappeared from sight.

“Thanks!” Dru said breathlessly to the valet as she ran after Greyson. “Big tip later!”

Behind the restaurant, the garden felt hushed and close. Wide stone pathways meandered through the fragrant garden flowers, wet from a recent dousing with sprinklers. Empty wrought-iron chairs and tables sat scattered about. In the center, a hot-tub-sized lily pond glimmered under warm lights, crowned by an arched wooden footbridge.

Greyson, his back turned, leaned heavily against the wooden railing at the foot of the bridge, making it creak ominously. With a groan, he sank to his knees.

Dru ran over to him and took his stubbled chin in both hands, tilting his face toward the light. His irises glowed like hot coals. His skin was flushed red, deeper than a sunburn, the color of brick. He grunted in pain, revealing a row of sharp teeth.

It was happening. Happening right now, right in front of her. Greyson was transforming into a demon.

An ice-cold rush of fear shot through her. Her mind raced, searching for a solution.

He gazed up at her with pleading eyes. “What's happening to me?”

Dru dug frantically through her purse for crystals. “Greyson, listen to me carefully. I need you to look into my eyes and focus on your breathing. Keep it slow and steady for me. Can you do that?”

He did. Great, billowing breaths. Too powerful to be human.

She knew she had a quartz wand in her purse. A simple quartz wand, maybe three inches long. But she couldn't find it. Just makeup, receipts, several pens, spare key fob for Nate's new Prius, a Groupon she'd never used. In anguish, she dumped her purse out on the wet stone pathway and sorted through the mess with shaking hands.

Greyson heaved out a tortured breath and dropped to all fours. His hands clawed into the mulch and dirt, veins bulging. His skin darkened.

His AC/DC cap tumbled into the flowers and vanished, revealing the stubby horns on his head. They were twice the length they had been a minute before.

She found her quartz wand. About the size of her thumb, six-sided, and pointed at both ends. One of the most-powerful tools she had for smoothing out magical turmoil. She couldn't hope it would stop Greyson's transformation, but it might be enough to slow it down.

“Okay, let's sit up.” She helped him into a kneeling position and held out the quartz crystal in the palm of her hand. “Put your hand over mine. Come on.”

Greyson lifted his hand up from the ground, trailing dirt and fibers of mulch. It seemed like an enormous effort.

His hand wavered in midair. His fingers had become thick and knobby. His nails had grown into sharp black claws.

She was losing him to the demon.

“Greyson,” she whispered. Tears stung the corners of her eyes. She had failed him. He was fading away before her. “Greyson, look at me. Please.”

He tilted his head up. His eyes had become twin slits of glowing red menace. No pupil or white anymore, just one continuous glow, as if the inside of his skull were a blast furnace and his eyes were windows into the searing fire.

“Dru,” he said, his voice hollow and raw. “I'm burning up . . . I can feel it . . . Scorching through me . . .”

“Just give me your hand,” she repeated in a whisper. She edged the quartz crystal toward him.

With an effort, he placed his hand heavily on Dru's palm. His skin was hot to the touch.

The moment their hands met, a current of energy jolted through her, far more powerful than that first spark when they'd met. Waves of invisible force welled out of him, awash in rage, loss, and fear. Greyson's emotions overwhelmed hers until she couldn't tell where his feelings ended and hers began.

The onslaught of emotions threatened to overpower her. But she forced her voice to stay even and soft. “Greyson. Stay with me. Focus on me. Focus on my touch.”

He gritted his teeth, fangs bared. “It
burns
.”

“Stay with me,” she said. “Don't give in to it. Don't slip away.” In her palm, the quartz wand grew cooler, quickly turning cold as ice.

A crystal had never done anything like that before, not for her. Greyson seemed to have all the power of a sorcerer within him, but it was untapped. A vast depth of pent-up energy that flowed out of him and into her, amplifying her crystal magic.

She had read somewhere about the phenomenon of meeting someone, one singular person in the entire world, who could elevate your hidden talents to an incredible level. She couldn't remember where she'd read it, or why it was so dangerous, but she had no time to stop and consider all of the ramifications. She just had to go with it. Combining their powers was her only chance to save him.

“That's it,” she said, trying to encourage him. “Let the healing energy in.”

Greyson's eyes squeezed shut in pain.

“Open your eyes,” she said. “Keep looking at me.”

He did. She forced herself to stare into his fiery red gaze and hold it, not shrink back in fear. Any instant, he could tip over the edge and become a monster. If he did, she would be dead, and he would never be human again.

She wouldn't let that happen. She
couldn't
.

He'd come to her for help. Trusted her. Believed in her. She wouldn't let him down. She held his gaze until her eyes brimmed with stinging tears.

Like a block of ice pressed into her skin, the crystal spread a cold numbness across her palm. “Greyson. Stay with me.” She repeated it over and over. A mantra. A meditation. A plea. “Stay with me.”

She put her free hand on top of his, trying to cool the infernal heat radiating through his skin. Trying to calm him.

Just when she thought she couldn't take any more, the quartz wand cracked. She felt it as much as heard it, a sharp sound like an old-fashioned camera flashbulb popping between their fingers.

Greyson gasped. His head sagged.

“Greyson?”

He heaved great breaths. But with his head hanging down, she couldn't see his face.

Was he human? Had the crystal done its work?

“Greyson! Look at me.”

Slowly, he raised his head and opened his eyes. Bright, deep, and incredibly compelling. Gazing back at her with a mixture of disbelief and gratitude.

She stared in amazement as his symptoms began to fade away. His skin lost its grayish tone, becoming tan and smooth. His fangs receded. His horns shrank down and disappeared into his thick black hair. In moments, he was normal again. Human.

“The quartz did it,” Dru breathed, elated.

“No.
You
did it.” An exhausted smile hitched up one corner of Greyson's mouth. “You and your sorceress ways.”

“I don't know how. I've never done anything like that on my own before. There's something between you and me that . . . Never mind. Just take a breather.” It was too much to process all at once. It was as if she had done actual, serious magic. Like a real sorceress. Her heart still pounded from the flood of sensations. “That was too close.”

He kept hold of her hand. “Don't let me go yet. I'm not all the way back.”

“I won't let go.” She shook her head. “I'm right here.”

Greyson put his other dirty hand—now completely normal—on top of Dru's. It felt strong and sure.

Footsteps slapped across the stone walkway toward them. Nate, at a dead run. “Dru!
Dru!
Are you all right?”

Greyson stood up unsteadily and pulled her to her feet. She turned toward Nate, arms out.

But instead of embracing her, he advanced on Greyson. “You!”

“Nate, hey!” Dru tried to catch his sleeve. “We're okay! Everything is okay.”

“It will be when the police get here.” Nate pulled out his phone.

Greyson lurched toward him. “Now, just hang on—”

“Back off!” Nate shoved Greyson back a step. Or tried to, at least, without much effect.

Greyson swatted Nate's hand away, making him stumble. Nate's shiny new phone hit the flagstone pathway with the unmistakable sound of breaking glass.

The broken phone tumbled and came to rest face up at Dru's feet, its dark screen fractured like thin ice. Distracted by the phone, Dru didn't notice Nate reach into his other jacket pocket until it was too late.

With one savage jab, Nate planted his stubby Shock Wand in the center of Greyson's chest. Writhing blue arcs of electricity erupted from the tip and scorched outward like fingers of lightning.

Greyson's body went stiff, arms jerking and trembling. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell to his knees. Nate kept the crackling wand planted against Greyson.

Dru's hands flew to her mouth. Shattered bits of quartz tumbled from her palms, twinkling like stars in the flashes of electric-blue light.

“Nate!
Stop!
” Dru watched in horror as Greyson's skin grew scaly and dark. Every muscle in his body rippled and flexed. Thick black horns sprouted from his head, longer than before, curling over like a ram's.

His leather jacket swelled and split at the seams. The body underneath wasn't human. It was a monster. Greyson—or the thing that had once been him—glared at Nate with baleful glowing eyes. He opened a mouth full of fangs and roared.

Greyson had become the demon.

9

BEHIND RED EYES

Dru wasn't a big believer in worst-case scenarios. There was always a solution. Always some way out.

Until someone turned into a demon.

In one swift motion, the dark creature sprang to his feet and whirled on Nate, seizing him by the throat in a meaty fist. With ease, he lifted Nate up, leaving his feet kicking in the air. The Shock Wand clattered to the ground and rolled away.

Nate, choking, beat his fists against the demon's thick arm. When that didn't work, he clamped both hands on the thick wrist and tried to draw in a breath. It came as a high-pitched whistle.

The demon just bared his fangs at Nate and growled.

Frantically, Dru scanned the scattered contents of her purse. There had to be something in there she could use.

She found a gray-silver cube. A galena crystal. It had burned Greyson before. It might work again. She grabbed the mirror-sided crystal in one fist and ran into the demon's line of sight, waving her arms. “Hey! Over here!”

The demon took one look at Dru and tossed Nate aside like a discarded bone. He landed with a resounding splash in the lily pond.

A freezing fear spread through Dru's body as the demon advanced on her with pounding footsteps. She backed up, crushing flowers beneath her heels, until her back pressed against the brick wall that surrounded the garden, its rough surface still warm from the vanished Colorado sun.

The demon loomed over her, silent but for his powerful breaths. He put two clawed fingers beneath her chin, lifting it. His eyes burned in a terrifying face.

Dru swallowed down her fear. As slowly as she dared, she reached up, as if to cup the demon's hand in her own. But hidden in her palm was the dense cube of the galena crystal.

She hesitated, then jammed it hard against the back of the demon's hand.

The effect was immediate. Searing white energy arced out from the space between their hands, swirling up the demon's arm and into his heart. He howled in pain and leaped back into a crouch.