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

I braced myself as the plane sped down the runway and took off with a lurch.

the obvious intelligence behind its stare make this creature

“Ohhhh…Lizzie,” I heard from the bag at my feet.

“It’s okay, baby dog,” I said, wishing I could do more.

The bag suddenly became very bumpy. “You said flying. Right. Okay. Well, I don’t like this kind of flying. Did you feel that? It’s like a rattle. Oh, and now a jiggle. I don’t think the bolts are tight on this airplane, and ooh biscuits…”

“Think of it like a Harley,” I said, resisting the urge to unzip him. We didn’t need a dog loose on the plane, even if FAA regulations didn’t strictly forbid it.

“I can’t, Lizzie. I just can’t. It’s not natural,” Pirate protested, as I reached down into the bag and found a wet snout.

The plane jolted and Pirate retreated to the far end of his bag, muttering under his breath. I was going to owe him a trip to Burger King for this one.

Dimitri touched my shoulder. “Lizzie.”

I leaned back into my seat. “It breaks my heart to do this to him,” I said, eyeing the bag. He was better off in it. I knew he was. Still it would make me feel better to hold him.

“Lizzie,” Dimitri said. “I need to tell you something while it’s loud in here.”

He looked as intense as I’ve ever seen him. “You know what you were asking before? About my business? Well, the situation didn’t unfold as I’d hoped. I’m sorry I have to explain it so quickly, but—”

We both cringed as we hit an air pocket and the plane dropped sharply.

“When I needed to find a demon slayer—you,” he corrected. “When I needed to find you, I used old griffin magic. I don’t have time to explain it all now, but basically, I traced a thread of your power and I used it to find the rest of you.”

I tried to digest that. “Wait. Before I was even a true slayer?” Dimitri had been the first one to find me.

“Yes,” he said.

My stomach twinged. I knew he was powerful, but it still humbled me every time.

“It’s a form of protective magic that I used for my own purposes. And I’m sorry.”

Oh no. “What do you have to be sorry about?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.

He looked guilty. “When protective magic is used to expose instead of to guard, it makes the subject particularly vulnerable.”

“You mean me. It makes me vulnerable.”

“Yes,” he admitted. “I was desperate,” he said quickly. “I needed to find you.”

Wonderful it had worked out for him. But what about me?

“And now?” I asked.

“Someone else could use it too,” he said. “I’ve kept the thread well protected, hidden in something we griffins call a light box. It never leaves my study. Only someone tried to break in last night. Diana drove the creature off.”

“Creature?” As if we hadn’t run into enough creatures. “What kind?” I demanded. “Is the magic safe?”

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I don’t know. Diana didn’t get a good look. And she hasn’t been able to inspect my office. My wards are too strong for her.”

“Great. Nice work.”

“I made inquiries today. All day. There were a few who knew I was using the thread to find you.”

“Like Grandma?”

“No. I never told her. Although she suspected when JR blew into town.”

“What? So now you’re calling in the werewolves?” Sure, JR was Dimitri’s friend, but his pack had also tried to kill me. If I was somehow exposed, I’d rather keep it to ourselves.

“Lizzie, it’s not like that.”

“Well, what is it like?”

“I’m trying to explain,” he insisted. “We don’t have much more time.”

He was right. The plane had started to level out.

Dimitri noticed it too. “I only told trusted allies. JR. Max.”

“Max?” Dimitri despised Max.

“We used the thread to help track you down when you went missing in Las Vegas. Besides, as a hunter, he’s sensitive to your energies. I needed the help. Now, do you want to hear how it went?”

“Of course.” And I would have appreciated knowing before now.

“From what I found today, I don’t think you’re compromised. Yet.”

“Gee, thanks.”

He ignored my sarcasm. “We’ll know for sure once we get to my home. I’ll take you to my study, show you the light box, and then you can watch me destroy it.”

“You didn’t have any right to create it in the first place.”

“I know,” he said softly. “Do you want apologies or information?”

“Both are overdue.”

“We couldn’t do anything about it before now. It would have only fed into your fears. You were feeling weak already.”

“Thanks for reminding me.” Here I was, worried about visions of danger, when he had my rear end out there for the world to see.

Then I asked him the worst question of all. “So what happens if somebody did steal it?”

Dimitri swallowed hard. “The possibilities for destruction are limitless.”

I spent the rest of the flight lavishing attention on Pirate and ignoring Dimitri. Once the plane leveled off, we couldn’t discuss the risk Dimitri had taken with me. We didn’t know who could be listening. And I certainly didn’t feel like talking to him about anything else.

Pirate nudged my wrist with his cold nose. “Lizzie. Did you hear me, Lizzie? I said B-five.”

I tried to shake off my dark thoughts and focus on the travel-size game of Battleship on the tray table in front of us. A weak overhead light shone down on our game, while the rest of first class slumbered in the pockets of black that was night on board an airplane.

Inhaling, I flicked my eyes to the expectant Jack Russell terrier making swirls on the window with his stubby tail.

“Hit,” I said, trying not to smile. One must not grin when losing the battle.

“Ha!” He danced in place. “I knew it. I knew you liked to play ’em high. You’ve been playing ’em high all night.”

“Now that you’ve got most of my ships—” I began.

“Again,” he added with no small amount of glee.

I threw one hand up in a mock gesture of surrender and placed a round red peg into my largest battleship. “We should really be getting some sleep.”

“Oh no. No way I’m sleeping when I’m winning. Besides, I’m not going to shut one eye with that weaselly looking thingamabob ready to jump us.”

I followed Pirate’s narrowing eyes past the sleeping Dimitri to the gremlin, legs splayed and snoring on the seat across the aisle. “I think he’s out.”

Pirate twitched his ears like he did when he was thinking hard. “He could be faking. A watchdog can never be too careful.”

Times like this, I wished I could borrow some of Pirate’s energy. “I could have sworn I wore you out before the flight.”

“Um-hum,” Pirate said. “Good for you I can power-nap.” He studied the flip-up game board in front of him. “B-six.”

“Hit.”

I let Pirate obliterate the rest of my fleet before I leaned my seat back and closed my eyes, satisfied. Pirate had adapted rather well to air travel. My job, at least in that department, was done.

As far as the rest of it?

There was nothing I could do at the moment about my mother’s invisible bar or the supernatural risk Dimitri had taken—or for that matter, my sunken battleships. Tomorrow. I needed to be fresh for tomorrow.

It took me a while to fall asleep, and I doubted Pirate closed his eyes at all. From time to time, I’d wake and listen to him sniffing at the stale cabin air and feel him quiver as he watched the gremlin.

We landed in Athens and then boarded a puddle jumper bound for the island of Santorini. The Aegean Sea swirled like a rich blue cloud below us. White waves crested over the surface and streaked out from under the ferries and pleasure boats crisscrossing the Cyclades islands. All told, there were more than two hundred spots of land dotting the Aegean.