Angie Fox - The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers

“That’s it,” he said, running his fingers through my hair.

I fought it. I’m not sure if some part of me wanted the power or the anger, but I couldn’t let it go. “I think she might have taken Phil with her.”

His breath hitched, but his stream of comfort remained unbroken. “I’m not going to lie to you. Your fairy godfather may be gone forever.”

Tears clouded my vision.

He made me look at him. The tiny lines around his eyes crinkled as he seemed to see me straight down to my soul. “It was his choice,” he said, tracing his thumb over my lower jaw, “he’s a fighter, Lizzie, like you. Phil made it possible for you to be standing here right now. Now it’s up to you to take what he’s given you. Ask yourself, Lizzie. What are you going to do with his gift?”

I knew what I should say, but I didn’t want to say it. “I don’t know.”

His eyes refused to leave mine. “Accept what I’m offering you.”

I could barely find my voice. “What is this? Magic?”

He guided a stray lock of hair from my forehead and tucked it behind my ear. “Some would call it that. I prefer to think of it as a reminder.”

The tears flowed freely now. I looked into his beautiful face, so full of love and understanding. I felt his warm hands, steady on my shoulders and I knew what I had to do. I closed my eyes and in my mind’s eye, I saw my black anger, my hostility, the frustration I felt at my complete and utter failure to save the one person in my life who’d always been there for me. I took it and merged it with the blackness that was Serena’s power. But it was too heavy. And it didn’t want to leave.

“Let me in,” Dimitri said.

I could feel his unwavering presence in front of me and it took everything I had not to wrap myself up in it like a warm blanket.

“Lizzie.” He folded my hands in his. •

What? “No.” I wasn’t about to tangle him in this. It was my mistake and I’d fix it.

“I’m part demon slayer, Lizzie. And a big believer in fate.”

Oh my word, his things happen for a reason speech flooded my mind. I couldn’t believe how he’d actually forgiven me for tainting his pure griffin blood and now I was equally speechless that he’d take on vengeful black power with me.

I rested my forehead on his shoulder “It’s—” I began, desperate for his help, terrified that if I let it loose, it would consume him in front of me.

“I know.” Fingers on my chin, he guided me up to him and kissed me, warm and deep. The intimacy of that one kiss shocked me. I let it flow over me, opening myself completely for the second time that night. I shivered as some of the awful, heavy burden flowed from me into him. He took a sharp breath when it hit him. I almost panicked. I instinctively tried to pull back, but he clutched my hands and squeezed.

“Together, now,” he whispered against my lips before kissing me long and hard.

I let him in. As his power surged into me, and mine into him, I let him see all of me—the good, the bad, everything. I was exhausted from hiding, from fighting, from doing everything on my own. I let go of the need to keep control, and from the one thought that had terrified me from the start—that if he saw everything, he might not want me anymore.

He savored me, pushed me, blanketed me and comforted me in ways I’d never imagined. If we got through this, please let us survive this , I didn’t want to be alone anymore.

“Ready?” he whispered, hot against my ear.

Goose bumps shivered down my arms. “Yes.” As long as I had Dimitri, I’d be ready for anything.

We used the power like an immense blowtorch. I visualized it as clear as if we stood at the edge of hell itself. We harnessed the power of Serena, countless succubi and the whole of the energy generated tonight and aimed it straight at the gates of hell, incinerating countless demons and subdemons on the surface layer. Then we did our best to seal the whole thing from the outside. Let the locusts dig their way out. I poured out my entire arsenal until I’d spent everything.

Dimitri held back. His eyes glowed green, then orange.

Oh no. I couldn’t handle it if he’d corrupted himself. “What are you doing?” I demanded.

He fired backward into the dam. “I’m opening up a pathway for the ghosts,” he said, groaning with the effort.

Dang it, he shouldn’t have tried to do that on his own. “I thought ghosts had to go to the light.”

“That’s one way,” he said, releasing a breath that I hadn’t even realized he was holding. He blinked a few times, recovering, as his eyes went from orange to a rich chocolate brown. “It’s usually the only choice. But you had a trace of Phil’s goodness in that mass of power. I used it to open up a pathway to help them.” He gazed down at me, so warm and sure. “After all, if one of your preschoolers was afraid to take on a flight of stairs, would you wait until they found the courage, or would you carry them?”

Like he carried me—the sheer relief of knowing I wasn’t alone was almost enough to make me want to curl up on the floor and sleep for a year. Instead, I drew even closer to the man who’d saved me in more ways than one.

I used my thumb to swipe away a trickle of sweat on his neck, marveling that he’d stuck with me—that he’d chosen me—through everything. “How do you know so much?” I asked.

He pulled me close. “Stick with me and you’ll find out.”

I held him, running my hands down his back. Pain shot down my fingertips and I noticed for the first time that they throbbed. I swallowed hard and risked a glance. My hands were whole again, except for raw sores on the ends of my fingers.

Before I could even think of what to say, Dimitri lowered his mouth to mine and I stopped trying to think. I sank into him and savored his warmth and his goodness.

The man had saved me in more ways than one.

He pulled back slightly, long before I was ready to let him go. “Now about that emerald,” he whispered.

We found it under a chair near the control board. I dragged it out and glowed with relief when I felt the heat of the green stone against my fingers. It shone with life and energy.

Dimitri took it and placed it in the center of my palm. “I offer you the protection of the Helios clan, freely given, freely taken.”

Its energy whispered to me. The familiar warmth rested against my skin where it belonged.

A thin, bronze chain snaked from the tip of the teardrop and circled my wrist. “I accept.” My body ached from exhaustion, not to mention sheer relief. Still, I couldn’t help but grin. “Freely.”

Something hard loosened inside of me as the chain wound up my arm and circled my chest, until the emerald hung from my neck, where it belonged.

“What did you do to me before?” I asked him.

He kissed me on the forehead. “I helped you find your strength. You had it all along, Lizzie. We all do. It’s just sometimes we forget.”

“Yeah,” I said, leaning against the rock that was Dimitri, “I was a little stressed out.”

“That’s why I’ll always be here.”

He was right. I could always lean on Dimitri. He brought out the best in me, whether we were reclaiming my soul, or walking along a moonlit path with gargoyles circling overhead. He was mine again. And he was whole.

I found my empty utility belt in a pile of filth that was probably a demon about twenty minutes before. My switch stars were nearby, along with the powders and crystals I kept in the pouches attached to the belt. I was in the middle of capturing an entire pile of sandy pink granules when a tiny creature screeched from under a small mountain of ash.

Soot flying, he burst from the wreckage, a furless hamster-type creature. I started to reach for him until I saw he had fangs and black dinosaur-type spikes along his back. “What the… ?” He shrieked and, as fast as his scrabbly legs would take him, made a beeline for the back pouch of my utility belt.