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

I turned and saw him removing his white undershirt as well. “What are you doing?” I asked, mild annoyance giving way to a sudden preoccupation with the broadness of his chest. Once he removed his tailored clothes, everything about him seemed larger and more potent.

“Shifting,” he said, his hair spiking at odd angles. Dimitri hated to ruin his clothes with an unplanned shift.

Okay, I could see his point. If the imps attacked from the air, he could be a more effective fighter in griffin form.

The car jumped a pothole and I tumbled against Dimitri, bracing my hand on the most perfect abs this side of the Mediterranean.

“Any change in the imps?” he asked, depositing me on the seat next to him. A lock of black hair fell over his forehead as he reached for his belt buckle.

“No. But they seem to be circling in a pattern.” They weren’t attacking. Yet. “You going to take off your pants too?” Just my luck I wouldn’t be able to enjoy that either.

Dimitri braced one hand in front of me and caught himself on the seat back a second before Dyonne slammed on the brakes.

“No time,” he said. Dimitri had his car door open before she’d even come to a full stop. “You ready, Lizzie?

“Oh yeah.” I was right behind him, slamming the door on Pirate before he could protest. I unhitched a switch star, ready for the onslaught. Holy moley, I craved it.

It disturbed me as much as it fascinated me.

Don’t think, just act. I dug my fingers, hard and white, into the handles of the switch star.

Dimitri planted himself next to me, unwilling, it seemed, to shift with battle so close. I didn’t see any weapons on him but certainly wasn’t foolish enough to think he didn’t have his defenses in place. His breathing was hard and focused. As I watched, his skin took on a fine sheen, almost like a glow.

It felt good to be fighting next to him as an equal. For so long, he’d tried to protect me. At first, I was grateful for the support. But after I’d learned more about what I could do, it was downright insulting. I may not have known everything about the magical world, but I could hold my own.

The imps circled above us, holding to the same formation I’d detected earlier. “Why aren’t they attacking?” They had to have seen us.

One by one, they dove for the window. Each time, they’d bounce off with an audible zing , like big leathery insects on a bug zapper. Only these things didn’t die. They’d circle and dive again. And again.

The protective charm Dimitri had cast over his office didn’t show signs of breaking. Then again, what did I know about magic windows?

“Maybe they don’t want a full-out battle,” he said, thinking, his eyes widening when something clicked into place. “Maybe they just want you.”

Holy Hades.

They didn’t need to attack me outright. They’d be able to hurt me bad if they managed to get to the magic Dimitri had used to trace me. I had no idea how to defend myself against an internal assault.

“Come on!” Dimitri gripped my arm, heading for the house.

“Wait.” I opened the car door and Pirate fell out.

He popped right back up and scrambled against my bare leg. “I’m fine! Nothing to see here.”

“Now,” Dimitri ordered.

“Come on,” I said, grabbing Pirate around the middle.

He squirmed against me. “I can take an imp.”

I propped Pirate under one arm and my mom’s wooden box under the other. It wasn’t the most effective fighting pose, I’ll give you that, but I wasn’t about to let either fall into the wrong hands. As to what I’d do when it came time to fry a few imps…well, I’d figure it out.

I hated to admit it, but most of the success I’d had as a demon slayer had been when I let go and let my instincts guide me.

“This way,” Dimitri called as he ran for the front door of the house.

I about tripped up the slate stone porch as Dyonne and Diane started to shift right in front of me. Claws erupted out of their hands and feet, and thick lion’s fur raced up their arms. Red, purple and blue feathers cascaded down their backs and formed wings as bones snapped and their bodies expanded. “We’ll head around the—” Dyonne’s intense voice ended in a snarl.

Even though I knew in theory that these two women could morph into griffins—with the bodies of lions and the heads and wings of an eagle—it still shocked me to watch their bodies grow to the size of two monster trucks. Diana took off on a set of massive wings, with Dyonne right behind her.

“Lizzie!” Pirate leapt out of my grasp and followed Dimitri inside the house. “I smell them, Lizzie!”

I was right behind them, through the bright blue door and into an arched entryway. To the right, a set of white stone steps seemed to grow out of the house itself. Dimitri gripped the iron banister as he took them three at a time. Pirate raced out front. I followed a step behind. Higher and higher. My Supernova cross-trainers slapped against the hard white stone. I hated imps.

I could see them in my mind’s eye—with their weasel-like faces and bodies of thick, hastily constructed people. Purple eyes glowed from under dark, furry brows, and dark hair clung to their twisted torsos.

One screeched on the floor above as glass shattered.

No!

We dashed around the corner and down an arched hallway, up a small flight of stairs and down another hall toward a pool of slime at the far end. Dimitri slopped straight through it, reaching back for me. I missed his outstretched hand and got the shock of my life. Fire shot straight up my legs and zapped me up the spine and down to my fingertips.

“Mother fuddrucker!” I twisted sideways and knocked Pirate backward and out of the line of fire, but not before I heard his yip of pain.

“Lizzie!” Dimitri grasped my arm and the shock waves stopped as quickly as they’d begun.

I twisted around. “Baby dog!”

Pirate’s fur stood on end and he walked in hazy circles on the gray slate tile. “Buttons always talked about his electric fence and I said, ‘Oh I can handle an electric fence,’ but if that’s an electric fence…”

I pulled Dimitri through the muck, my entire body throbbing from the original impact. “Pirate, are you okay?” He didn’t look so good.

He blinked twice, one ear straight up, the other curling under. “Urkle.” He tried to shake off, but it turned out as more of a neck and shoulder wiggle. “Why don’t I guard the rear?”

“Yes,” I said. “Do it.” We didn’t want him anywhere near the imps. Last time, he’d gotten cut up pretty bad, although I had to admit, he’d held his own.

“Lizzie.” Dimitri ran a hand along my back, maintaining contact—which seemed to be a pretty good idea, since I had muck on my shoes. “Pirate’s clean. We need to go. Now.”

We waded back through the slime to the thick wooden door of Dimitri’s study. I could hear the imps’ heavy, wet breathing on the other side.

“Touch me at the waist,” Dimitri said. “Don’t let go until you have absolutely no contact with the slime.”

No kidding.

He turned the key in the antique lock.

I gripped the hard muscles above his dress pants as he pressed his thumb to a point right above eye level and pushed. The door groaned open and I gasped at what had become of his office. Burn marks singed the floors, stone sculptures lay crushed and broken, papers scattered everywhere.

A blackened imp hurled itself against the red slate floor to the left of Dimitri’s antique wood desk. The floor echoed and plumes of smoke rose each time he threw himself down.

I pushed my way around Dimitri. “What the—?”

“They’ve found the safe.”

A gray-streaked imp hissed from its perch on the windowsill.