Angie Fox - ADS 01 - The Accidental Demon Slayer

Tough tootsies. I was half cold, half sweating and completely tired of standing around. “So are you going to help me get Pirate or what?” I ducked around Dimitri. The cold night seized me, gelling the sweat and making me wish I had a lot more on than Frieda’s tank top. I took my best guess as to the direction of the coven and started walking.

Dimitri captured both my wrists in one hand. “Not on your life.” Heat crept up my arms, and I had an acute awareness of the crushing power he held in check.

“Do not fight me on this.” I bit at every word, locking down my frustration until I could barely stand it anymore. Dimitri’s fingers bit into my wrists and that was all it took. I let out a shout to rival any battle cry. I had to . If I didn’t let the frustration boil, I’d start crying. I couldn’t afford to fall apart now or someone could get hurt—or killed—and it would be my fault.

He yanked me against his chest, infuriated. “Has it occurred to you I’m trying to save your life?” he asked, his face inches from mine. “The witches have a plan. You don’t. If that really is Vald back there—and my guess is it is—he could suck out your soul before you could even begin to look for your little dog. There’s no foreplay. No warning. It’s gone. And so are you.”

Fear clenched my gut. “But I’m a demon slayer.” I was the only one who could—potentially—kill the jerk. That had to give me some kind of an edge.

He shook his head, a wry smile not quite reaching his eyes. “Not yet, you aren’t. Have you ever tried to steal a demon’s essence? Thrown a switch star?” His eyes narrowed at my obvious bewilderment. “Your grandma didn’t even tell you about the Three Truths did she?”

I shook my head.

“Dammit!”

So he had a point. This was bad. Maybe I didn’t have any business going back there and maybe Grandma and the Red Skulls could handle themselves. Lord knew it would have been easier to run, hide until I’d done my homework. But I didn’t have the luxury to wait. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to Pirate while I stood around and did nothing.

I blew out a breath and faced the man, looming above me in the moonlight. At that moment, he reminded me of an enraged mountain lion, as cunning as he was dangerous, with a territorial streak a mile wide.

And he wasn’t going away. “I understand where you’re coming from,” I told him. “Heck, under other circumstances, I’d agree with you. But in the last twelve hours, I’ve lost my home, my job, my friends, my clothes…” Did he really need me to go any farther? “Hell’s bells, I’ve lost any sense of what is normal in the world. I’m not losing my dog!”

He didn’t even have the courtesy to blink.

I shoved past him. “Fine. If you’re not going to help, you can get the frick out of my way.”

Endless trees loomed in every direction. I took my best guess at a direction and set off.

“Lizzie. Hold on. You can’t.”

On the contrary, I could and I would.

Besides, when Dimitri first took Grandma and me to the coven, he’d been worried about the troll hitmen after us. Maybe I’d get lucky and only find assassins. What would the old Lizzie have had to say about that?

He caught up with me, lingering a step behind, casting his long shadow over mine in the moonlight. “Don’t go back there. It’s…dangerous.” He sounded worried.

“Déjà vu,” I said. “We already had this conversation.”

“There are things at work that you cannot understand.”

Okay. That ticked me off. “If you’re even thinking about turning into mystery man again, you can forget it.” I needed as much information as I could get right about now. If he couldn’t be honest with me, then I didn’t need him.

Of course I couldn’t let it go. “And another thing,” I said, pounding my way through a thick swash of fallen leaves. “I know you’re not human. And you know what? I don’t care. I don’t. But if you’re going to do a light show with your eyes and then practically fly through the woods with me, then you can drop the act, okay? It’s not working.” Lies, all lies.

I couldn’t hear him behind me, which was creepy, but I knew he was there. Finally, he said, “It’s complicated.”

“Yeah, well so am I, buddy.”

All things considered, I thought I was handling my new life pretty darn well. I may have had to put up with demons, imps and a crazy grandma, but I didn’t have to put up with any b.s. from Dimitri. I tromped through the underbrush, kicking at it as I went. Maybe I’d sic Ant Eater on him.

Just move . And listen for the screams. Or barks. Please be okay, Pirate .

I had to find my way back, or this would all be for nothing. I forced my anger away, opened my mind. I had to start using some of the magic that had screwed up my life or I’d never be any use to anybody. I felt the cool breeze of the night on my face. My mind reached out in front of me like fingers through water. I could almost hear it. I shifted direction. This could be it.

Calm down. Feel this. Let go .

“Give it up, Lizzie.”

Ignore him. Feel . I started to jog through the trees, their branches whipping against my arms and shoulders. My breathing fell into a steady rhythm. I saw the coven like a dot of light in my mind.

My feet dodged fallen tree limbs and roots. I didn’t even need to look down anymore, I realized with a start. This felt right.

Dimitri might think he could keep me from Pirate, but there was one thing he hadn’t counted on. I had an inner compass. I could sense it. I knew it like I knew my way home. Excitement, satisfaction, pure joy swelled inside of me. This is what I was meant to do.

“Stop!” Dimitri tore through the woods, hot on my heels.

No way.

Hold on, little guy, here I come .

So I didn’t drink the protective potion. I made a mistake. Now I was about to make things right.

“Lizzie, no!” Dimitri yelled as I felt the earth give out beneath me.

I fell. It was like falling in a dream, until I hit the ground hard. My head rang with the impact. Pain shot through my ankle, my shoulder. I lay on the rocks and dirt for a moment. What happened? I stared up at the rock walls surrounding me, illuminated by the bright moon and stars above. I’d fallen into a crack in the earth. Grass and weeds clung to the top, about five feet up. I wiped the dirt from my forehead, tried to stand. “Crimeny!” Pain seared my ankle.

I could hear water trickling. I turned around and saw the entrance to a cave. I knew what this was, a cave fissure. It had been a passageway until part of the cave collapsed and formed a ravine of sorts. Thank you, Discovery Channel.

Dimitri appeared at the top of the hole. Oh goody.

“Make yourself useful and get me out of here.”

“Don’t move, Lizzie.”

Yeah, right. I didn’t have the luxury of slowing down. I tested my ankle. It hurt like heck, but I had to keep moving.

“Listen to me,” he said, serious as death. “Look to your right. Turn slowly.”

I didn’t like that tone. I turned. The fissure ended about six or seven feet to my right, the rock forming a vee. And in that vee…Oh no. I saw movement. I squinted, my heart slamming in my throat. A big, black snake coiled in a nest of fallen leaves.

“Yaak!” I jerked back and it hissed, its white mouth illuminated in the moonlight. Cripes.

“Wait,” Dimitri said. “Wait until it calms down.”

That could take a while. I tried not to breathe too deeply.

“That’s it,” Dimitri said. “That’s it. Now back away.”

I gulped and took three steps back.

“Slow,” Dimitri cautioned. “Easy. That’s it. Easy. I’m lowering my shirt. Grab on to it and I’ll pull you out.”