Angie Fox - ADS 03 - A Tale of Two Demon Slayers

“Oh yeah,” Grandma said, thumbs dug into her belt as she looked me up and down. “Every ounce of courage you’ve got.”

Two hours, eighteen new weapons and a decimated rose garden later, a hand touched me on the shoulder.

I nearly jumped a foot.

“Relax, Lizzie. It’s me.” Dimitri stood behind me, looking all studly in a black T-shirt and jeans, his black hair damp and curling at the ends. He was a six-foot-six reminder of everything that was good in the world.

“Where have you been?” I could tell there was something big on his mind.

“I’ve been making inquiries. We have an issue,” he said, his gaze darting to Grandma, who was sitting on the ground in front of the stone house, mashing leaves with a mortar and pestle. “Do you have things handled on your end, Gertie?”

“Oh yeah,” she said. “Can’t you smell the turtle knees toasting?”

He looked at her like he didn’t quite have an answer for that one. I knew the feeling. “Do whatever it takes,” he said, and turned back to me. “Lizzie, I need a word.”

“Good,” I replied. It seemed he’d taken to heart our conversation at the ruins. If we were going to make it as a couple, we needed to be honest with each other, even when it wasn’t happy and fun. “So tell me. What’s going on?”

He took my hand. “Come with me. We need more privacy than we’re going to get here.”

Could he have been referring to Sidecar Bob, who was fashioning a barbecue pit out of the bottom half of a wine cask, or Frieda, who was mixing spells in the other half?

“You can go on into the house. Don’t mind that,” Grandma said, pointing to the pinkish haze around the stone armory. “A couple of the brownies got into Battina’s instant-evaporation spells. They’ll be okay once we put them back together.”

“Thank you for the offer. I know how busy you are,” Dimitri said. “But I have a place where Lizzie and I can talk in private.”

We headed up the gray slate steps to the villa. “Don’t apologize,” he said when he saw my mouth open. “I understood the consequences when I invited them in. Frankly, after all that’s happened, I’m glad for the extra support.”

“We are talking about the Red Skulls,” I said, recalling his less-than-cordial relationship with them in the past.

“I love you, and therefore I must love your clan. It is the griffin way.”

I had a feeling I’d be counting on that a lot in the future.

The opening beats to Grandma’s favorite Kiss song vibrated through the house. Before we could “Rock and Roll All Nite” with the biker witches, Dimitri took me to the old library off the foyer, a round high-walled room flooded with natural light. I hadn’t noticed on my first visit that the ceiling of the room was made of glass. It was set in triangular pieces to resemble a sun.

Dimitri closed the heavy oak door behind us. It gave us a measure of privacy, even if it didn’t completely block the bass beat on the other side of the wall.

“We’ve been surveying the grounds, and it seems the security situation is more dire than I imagined,” he said. “If things don’t change soon, I fear for all of our lives.”

I nodded. I knew.

“Therefore…” A dark look crossed his face and I could see the muscles in his neck tighten. “Amara and I must leave immediately in order to consult with the Dominos clan on Rhodes.”

That I didn’t know. I fought to keep my voice even. “You’re going?” We didn’t know what was after us, and he was taking off…

“With Amara?”

He looked almost pained. “The Dominos council is assembling right now. It’s the only way.”

“No, it’s not.” We weren’t backed into a corner. Not yet. “There are a lot of ways to approach this.” My stomach churned. “We can all stay. We can fight.”

“Or we can ask for the help we need,” he said evenly.

“I don’t believe it.” Now was not the time to leave. “It seems like every time I need you, you go off to fight some battle and I have to pick up the pieces.” I watched my words strike home and guilt dampened my pity party. I knew I wasn’t being fair, but I was hurting. I didn’t want to be alone here. I didn’t want him leaving with her. This felt wrong.

He closed the distance between us. “We’re in a precarious situation here. Diana and Dyonne aren’t regaining their strength. They’re weakening, Lizzie. The entire estate is in danger, and you along with it. It would be foolish not to employ every single one of our resources.” He stood taller. “Including the Dominos clan on Rhodes.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I know. I’m just not sure if I trust them.” Since they’d been helping Dimitri’s family, his estate had been invaded by imps, his line had almost died out and his sisters were losing power.

Dimitri wrapped an arm around me. “I know you’ve had your differences with Mara.”

There he went with the Mara again.

“It’s not her,” I said. Ironically, I didn’t question Amara’s loyalty.

Amara had been with Dyonne and Diana since they recovered. She knew them and the estate, and she even had a gift for predicting what may come next. I’d seen firsthand how she’d tried to use her powers to help us.

“I just have a bad feeling about the entire situation.”

Maybe I was too independent minded, but I didn’t understand the idea of accepting protection from a griffin clan I’d never met.

“You can bet I’ll be keeping an eye on Talos,” I added.

Dimitri pulled me closer. “I believe Talos may be pursuing his own interests as well. So far, I haven’t been able to determine what. But he is sworn to protect this house. I don’t think he will fail us at that. Be cautious, but know Talos can and will assist you.” He looked down at me. “I also talked to your grandmother. She and the Red Skulls know more about wards than any group I’ve ever met. They’re going to put up some barriers for us.”

“Thank you,” I said. I was touched that he’d trust my family with his home and his sisters. “They’re also building me a cave of visions,” I said against his chest.

I could feel him darken. “I don’t like it, Lizzie.”

“Grandma said the cursed imps were made by Vald. I need to see who is controlling them now.”

He was torn. I could see it on his face. “Be careful. And try to wait until I come back. It won’t be long.”

Yes, well I didn’t know how long we had. “I’ll try,” I said, snuggling into his arms, inhaling his clean male scent.

Despite everything, it felt good to be here with him.

His breath tickled the hair on the top of my head. “At least we’re talking about it this time. That’s what you wanted, right?”

“I just wish none of this was happening.”

“I know.” He kissed me on the top of the head. “To tell you the truth, our journey to the Dominos clan is a last resort, like your cave of visions. But you’re at risk, along with my sisters. I don’t see any other way.”

“I get it,” I said. Logically, I understood why he felt he needed to do this. But logic didn’t calm the churning in my stomach or the fear that gripped me at the thought of handling things here by myself. Even if I could avoid the cave of visions until he returned, there was no way I could control thirty-eight biker witches. Even now, I could hear them whooping and hollering outside on the front lawn. “Sorry in advance for your trashed estate.”

With a hint of a grin, he said, “Just try to keep them out of my study. We don’t want any of them to get slimed.”

I was glad he could joke about it, but in all seriousness, my family could and would destroy his house. It was on me to keep them in line, like a busload of crazed toddlers.