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

Problem was, I didn’t like where my thoughts were leading. If I was supposed to be some amazing demon slayer, I didn’t see it. And worse, I didn’t know how the rest of my life was supposed to fit.

How could I keep expecting those who loved me to risk their lives for mine?

Why did they have to give up their wants and needs for me?

The Red Skulls had traveled halfway around the globe on a boat, just so they could be here when I trained. Dimitri had let me into his life and family, only to have his home and all the precious things he fought so hard for trashed, for me.

At least the Red Skulls were used to being on the run. Dimitri didn’t want that. It was unfair and I knew it.

How could I love him and not put him first?

Rachmort was right. I did have to think. Because so far, I’d only been considering myself. I wanted Dimitri. I wanted him with me in Las Vegas, while his family needed him here. Now I wanted him to follow me around the world, fighting other people’s battles, when I could tell he wanted to settle down here, on this estate, with the family he’d fought so hard to protect.

I drew a ragged breath as the truth stung me like acid.

He’d sacrificed so much for me. Maybe it was time I did the same for him.

If I was going to be a powerful demon slayer, someone who could protect innocent people from the scourge of hell, I had only one choice.

My heart squeezed. My life would destroy any hope he had of rebuilding his.

Perhaps it was time to let Dimitri go.

Now I really did want to be alone. I set off down the path where I’d lost my switch star. Maybe an answer would hit me somewhere along the trail. Maybe I could find a way to have a normal life, at least one with Dimitri.

Maybe I’d just keep walking.

The kicker was, I’d wanted this knowledge.

My right hand rested against the remaining switch stars on my belt. Fallen leaves crackled under my boots.

From the very beginning, when I’d first learned I was a demon slayer, I wanted to know what it meant. Information, to me, is king. It’s the ultimate form of control. If you know what you’re doing, you don’t mess up.

Now it seemed like the more I learned about myself, and especially this journey I’d begun, the more I wished I’d left things alone.

I ducked around a low-hanging tree branch, its large thick leaves fanning in every direction.

I’d always been one to help other people. I liked taking care of the kids at Happy Hands. I liked being the planner among my small group of friends back home. I liked taking care of Pirate. But this insistence Rachmort had about me being the one to save them felt like too much. It was more responsibility than I could have ever imagined.

And as odd as it sounded, I wished someone would have at least asked.

I walked until I reached the clearing at the Callidora. The tips of my boots stopped on the packed-earth path right in front of a tangle of weeds pouring from the clearing.

Get a grip. It’s only strewn rocks in a clearing.

If I’d been more of a demon slayer, or at least a kick-butt heroine, I’d have barged ahead, consequences be damned.

But I was too practical. And I didn’t even like to think of the word damned .

She will be lost at the Callidora, the first time in joy, the second time in death.

I couldn’t do it. You just don’t risk that kind of prophecy. At least I don’t.

I turned to head back, when I heard something rattling in the foliage on the other side. I crouched behind the nearest tree, my left shoulder against the rough bark, my right hand holding a switch star.

A moment later, Pirate burst out of the clearing ahead, followed by a significantly larger dragon. The beast flew behind Pirate on paper-thin wings. It had grown from the size of a small dog to Great Dane proportions and it wore the dancing-doggies-and-fire-hydrants adjustable collar and retractable leash Pirate had selected the last time we were at Petco.

Pirate dropped the end of the leash and jammed his nose into the air. “Hold up, Flappy. I smell trouble.”

The dragon let out a squeak and crouched behind Pirate.

“Oh now that’s ridiculous,” I said, standing.

“Lizzie!” Pirate exclaimed dashing straight for me. “I thought I smelled you! At first I thought it was wishful thinking, but it is you!” he said, leaping over tufts of grass.

I saw the moment where surprise and joy gave way to the realization that I’d seen Flappy.

His ears lowered slightly and he lost a bit of steam. “Now I know what you’re thinking,” he said, as if doggie diplomatic skills were going to get him out of this one.

“I’m thinking you still have a dragon,” I said, eyeing the fire-breathing ugly duckling as it fluttered clumsily after my dog.

“Now that is true,” Pirate said, spinning twice before launching himself at my leg. “But look at him. He needs me!”

I scooped up my dog and we both watched the doe-eyed dragon flounder across the clearing. His mottled body was far too big for his head—and his wings. Flappy dipped up and down like a baby bird, with the leash trailing behind him. I felt the insane urge to go out there and retrieve him, which was (a) ridiculous and (b) impossible, since the dragon probably weighed as much as I did.

“Why the leash?” I asked, hitching Pirate under my arm. I could tell he’d been finding many things to eat other than his Healthy Lite dog chow.

“Flappy’s a pet. And that is my best leash.”

Yes, but this was a dragon. It was unnatural. “Don’t you think it’s a little cruel?”

Pirate looked up at me in that guileless way that only dogs can manage. “You put me on a leash.”

“Good point,” I conceded. Still, the dragon had barely made it through half of the clearing. If we were in the middle of an imp attack, the poor thing would be ashes on the ground. Which was another reason we couldn’t keep the animal.

As if I’d wished it on us, I could feel something lurking nearby. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

“Pirate,” I said.

“Ouch. That’s too tight,” he said, struggling against my grip.

We needed to get Flappy.

Frickin’ dragon.

But I wasn’t about to walk out into that clearing.

“Flappy!” I hissed, taking cover behind the tree with Pirate.

“He don’t speak English,” Pirate said struggling against my grip. “In fact, I can’t talk to him at all. Which is weird. Let me go and I’ll get him lickety split.”

“Hush,” I whispered.

I couldn’t tell where the danger was coming from, only that it was growing stronger by the second. The baby dragon’s eyes widened as he fluttered its wings harder. Pirate’s entire body was stiff with the need to run out there and get his pet. I knew the feeling, which is why I held him tight.

The threat was coming from low on the ground. Behind us!

I swiveled around the tree until we faced the woods. “You two stay down,” I said as Flappy finally made it to the safety of the trees. The pets had a reunion as I stood slowly. I never did like throwing from a crouched position.

It was like a dot in my mind.

You want me? Well come and get me .

I moved from tree to tree, stalking it. I refused to be afraid anymore.

Then it hit me—I really could control my powers if I wanted. I chose to hunt instead of be hunted, and now I was suddenly tracking my attacker. It was a heady feeling.

Don’t get cocky.

Rachmort’s gold cord caught against my utility belt and I ripped the thing off and left it on the ground. My heart sped up as I caught a glimpse of my stalker rushing through the trees. It was a dark-haired woman, like the one I’d seen when I found Diana’s Skye stone.