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

Dimitri took my hand and I eased closer into his embrace. “Diana, why don’t you tell Lizzie what you saw in my study?”

Diana shot me an anxious look in the rearview mirror before she said, “Dyonne and I were returning from the stable when we saw green glowing slime pouring from the windows.”

Dyonne nodded, her hands on the wheel of the ancient white Mercedes. “Dimitri’s private little joke, since he’d green-slime Diana and me whenever we’d try to snoop through his record collection.”

Dimitri shook his head at the memory. “You two never did learn.” He sobered. “Just because someone attempted to break in doesn’t mean they succeeded. At any rate, I hope they used more magic, rather than less. The lock on that door is good, but no match for an expert thief.”

“Less magic?” I pondered the thought. If we didn’t have a magical creature on our tail, I didn’t know what it could be.

Dimitri tipped my chin up. He looked at me intently. “I’ve kept the magic well protected. You know that, don’t you?”

“Sure,” I said, not convincing anybody.

His jaw flexed, even though he tried not to look affected. “Our big problem—the one I tried to address before we left—is that someone learned the magic existed. I wanted to know who. Since we didn’t have time to complete a thorough investigation, I’ll be just as glad to destroy it.”

He should have done it before now. Of course, we’d been busy saving Las Vegas from a demon invasion.

“You shouldn’t have created it in the first place,” I said.

He watched the narrow two-lane road ahead. “I know.” He didn’t say what we were both thinking—if he hadn’t, he never would have found me. And if he hadn’t found me, his sisters would be dead.

Through the rearview mirror, I could see Dyonne chewing at her lip. Great. I’d made her feel guilty about something she couldn’t control. “Don’t get me wrong,” I said. “I’m glad he did everything he could, it’s just—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dyonne said. “Believe me, I’d be ticked too. Thank goodness the study is warded”—she eyed Dimitri through the mirror—“very well, to keep things out.”

“Exactly.” Diana braced an arm on the seat and twisted around. “He doesn’t even get ants on the windowsill. Sure, somebody might have tripped the slime, but that doesn’t mean they were able to make it past the door. Dyonne and I couldn’t even slip inside to see what was going on. We could only take pictures of the tracks in the slime outside the door.”

“Tracks?” I asked. “What kind of tracks?”

Dimitri looked guilty. “It’s difficult to say.”

Diana pulled an envelope out of her purse and handed me a stack of photos shot from various places in a long hallway. All showed a large wooden door from different angles, and around it, a moat of slime.

“The goop doesn’t hold shapes well.” Diana steadied herself as Dyonne steered us around a sharp curve. “It gives off a sharp electric charge. I don’t know how anybody could have gotten past it.”

“I do,” Dyonne muttered. “It had to be someone with more ability than you or I. That’s not hard.”

I winced. The sisters hadn’t exactly been given the opportunity to practice offensive magic. From what Dimitri had explained, they’d spent their entire lives trying, hoping, failing to defend themselves from the curse that would kill them.

The wind whipped through the open windows of the car as we passed the remains of an old fort. The weathered stones rose high on two sides, collapsing into a kaleidoscope of flowering brush. Vivid pinks, yellows and purples gave the sun-bleached ruins an enticing air. It was as if colors burned more intensely in this part of the world.

“It’s going to be okay, Lizzie,” Diana said. “We wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Not after you saved us. And thank you. I know I told you on the phone after I woke up. Still…” She paused, as if the two words weren’t enough. “Thank you.”

“I was glad to do it,” I said. And I was. Diana and Dyonne deserved to have their lives back, to be happy for once. They’d lived in the shadow of death for so long.

Even though I wouldn’t be riding any horses up the grand staircase of their house, I didn’t blame Dyonne and Diana for enjoying every minute they’d been given.

In a lot of ways, I envied them. I hadn’t enjoyed life enough lately. Granted, I’d been busy saving the sisters, and then tied up preventing Armageddon on the Las Vegas Strip. But now…maybe now I could finally stop and smell the olive blossoms. Or at least have a minute to think.

Before I could ponder too long, Dimitri jerked upright. My head tumbled off his shoulder and I had to brace myself against the seat to keep from sliding backward.

“What is it?” I asked, drawing a sharp breath as I spotted the sprawling white villa.

“Step on it,” Dimitri ordered as Dyonne hit the gas and made a hard left into the long, cypress-lined drive.

Batlike creatures streaked across the sky, arching at sharp angles. They dove, disappearing behind the trees, only to swoop back again. My demon slayer senses kicked into high gear. The winged monsters practically radiated evil. No doubt they were primed to attack.

They stalked the smooth white walls of the villa. The house was classic Greek, with hot-pink flowering bougainvillea bushes and blue shuttered windows. It was an immense structure flanked by a lone tower rising off the right side. Green sludge bled from the spire like it was an open wound.

I gripped the seat in front of me, unable to take my eyes off the oozing window and the largest of the things hovering inches beyond it. “That’s your study, isn’t it?”

One look at Dimitri’s grim expression told me I was right.

“They smell like imps,” Pirate said, jumping into my lap.

“No,” I said, fighting the dread, while at the same time recognizing the leathery bodies, the bent frames, imagining the sharp, razorlike teeth. “Imps don’t fly.”

“Yeah, and you also said dogs don’t talk.” He wheezed a wet doggie sniffle against my leg.

That seemed to be the theme of my life lately.

We’d run into imps before and found them blood-thirsty and twisted beyond all redemption. And what the imps represented made my stomach plummet. Imps served as minions of the devil. They were spawned from demons, which meant whoever had spread the word about my exposed magic had intimate knowledge of who could hurt me the worst.

My emerald necklace hummed as the bronze chain unclasped itself and snaked down my neck. Even though I knew Dimitri’s gift did nothing but protect, I still stiffened as it wound its way around my right shoulder, the metal stretching and moulding to form a hard bronze epaulet with a teardrop emerald gleaming at the center.

Into battle we go.

I should have been terrified, and I was. But I also felt cheated.

Was it so terrible to want a nice, normal vacation with my boyfriend? Just once? Didn’t I deserve a magical getaway without eight different brands of demonic creatures?

I mean, here we were racing straight for a traditional Greek villa. It stood postcard perfect at the edge of a black volcanic rock cliff overlooking the impossibly blue Aegean Sea. Emerald green hills rose on the other side. And other than the leathery black creatures soaring above the cliffs, it looked pretty darned nice.

Could I even enjoy the towering beauty of the cypress-lined drive? Look for more than a moment at the fountain in the middle of a small lake? No. I had to fight minions of the devil.

Fate couldn’t resist one last dig. I jumped back as Dimitri’s crisp blue shirt landed on the floor in front of me.