Angie Fox - ADS 01 - The Accidental Demon Slayer

A cockroach landed on my shoulder. “Off! Off! Off!” I leapt and flung it away. The thing shot to the other side of the Dumpster. I hoped.

However bad it was in here, it had to be a million times worse for Grandma.

I swallowed hard. “Grandma?” I focused on her ten-ton diesel voice, the way she cocked a grin. “I don’t know if I had to come in here to tell you this, but, well, I’m here now.” The garbage shifted under me, and I had to adjust my stance.

“I want to let you know I’m working on things, getting better.” I rubbed my arms. I felt so alone. “I miss you like crazy.” I paused as tears welled behind my eyes. “Then again, I’ll bet your butt is nothing like Dimitri’s when he throws a switch star.” I smiled and let the tears fall. “Even so, I would have really liked to have you as my teacher.”

I scanned the darkness for something, anything to show she heard me. “I’m doing pretty well with the Truths. They sure helped me pitch Ant Eater on her rear this afternoon.” I couldn’t help but smile. “Thought you’d enjoy hearing that.” I sighed. “But the whole idea of sacrifice is so hard for me. Sacrifice myself . I don’t know. I like myself. I don’t want to change. Maybe I don’t know how.” I wiped my eyes on my sleeve. “But I’m working on it. I am.”

Muffled voices sounded outside the Dumpster. No, I needed more time. “Grandma, while I’m here, I need to tell you something else.”

Why did this have to be so hard?

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry I thought you were crazy when you showed up at my house. I’m sorry I made you drag Pirate into this. I’m sorry I got grossed out by the raccoon liver and the animal pelts, and I’m sorry I didn’t drink the protection potion you worked so hard to give me. I should have told you. I tried to tell you. But when that didn’t happen, I should have told somebody else. If I hadn’t messed things up, you might still be here instead of—” I couldn’t even say it. I didn’t want to think about Grandma being taken by Vald. She must have been so scared.

“I’ll bet you tried to kick him in the balls.” My voice hitched with tears. “You probably got him a few times. Knowing you.” I wiped at my face. “Well hang in there. I’m coming.” I laughed despite myself, and self-consciously smoothed my hair behind my ears. My fingers touched the edges of the bronze helmet. “I’m sorry I let Dimitri do this to me. It’s, he’s…complicated.” The emerald glowed warm against my fingers. “Still, you might end up liking him. I do. I just wish I knew what he wants out of all this.” I couldn’t shake the idea that he might not have my best interests at heart.

“But don’t you worry about that. You be strong. You fight. I’ll come for you soon.” Or die trying.

I’d promised her I could do this. I launched another switch star into the dirt. I squinted my eyes closed as the cool night breeze blew back a wave of dust. Hells bells. For the last five hours, I’d blamed the werewolves and their loud partying for my lack of aim. At three A.M., they’d finally settled down and I’d run out of excuses.

A pair of boots crunched behind me, and I could sense a trace of sandalwood in the air. Dimitri.

Keep your distance .

Repeat as necessary.

And uncurl those toes immediately .

It had become my personal mantra, except for the toe-curling part. That was simply an annoying side effect—one I’d conquer soon enough. I stared out at the trees at the edge of the practice field, willing myself to stay strong until I could look at Dimitri without wanting to wrap myself around him like Pirate on a pork chop.

“What are the Three Truths?” he asked, smooth as silk on naked skin.

I gritted my teeth. “Look to the outside. Accept the universe. Sacrifice yourself.” I threw another switch star. This one skipped over the field in front of us like a flat stone on a pond.

He moved in close behind me. “Focus, Lizzie. Lives depend on this.”

Like I didn’t know that. “Thanks for the pressure.”

I could feel him like a solid wall behind me. Sexy, powerful and completely not helping. He snorted. “You don’t understand the Three Truths or you’d have released more of your powers.”

I knew that. I knew all of it. Except how to put everything together . And here he was trying to tear down my walls when I needed everything I had just to keep myself together.

“Look, hot stuff,” I said, turning to look him straight in the eye. Darn it. He did look concerned. If anything, though, it made me even more frustrated. “I’m doing the best I can. And I think it’s darned good considering last week I had a home, a job and a bunch of friends waiting to celebrate my thirtieth birthday. Now I’m supposed to automatically understand three mysterious Truths while doing a hit job for a bunch of werewolves before my grandma gets slaughtered by a demon.”

The lines around his eyes crinkled as he grinned. “Hot stuff?”

Oh no. We did not want to explore that right now.

I planted my hands on my hips. “How are you helping me?”

He flashed a crooked smile. “I tossed you in with Ant Eater.”

I gaped at him. He left me alone with that psycho on purpose? I couldn’t believe it. “Then as protectors go, you stink.” Damn the man. “And stop grinning at me.”

“You looked outside yourself,” he pointed out.

At the risk of life, limb and dog.

He took me by the shoulders and I felt everything, down to the night breeze on my cheeks and his warm fingers through my lumpy dress sleeves. The raw, almost exposed part of me wanted to cover up and run for the hills. The part of me that wanted to jump his bones turned a few cartwheels. So much for my iron control.

He drew me closer. “I’m willing to bet you reached for the death spell only when you looked to the outside. You stopped worrying about yourself and focused on the problem.”

Easy for him to say. “I almost killed Pirate and Ant Eater.”

“You wouldn’t let that happen,” he said, his lips inches from mine.

Oh lordy. Why was I getting turned on during a discussion of my particularly horrible afternoon?

“You accepted the universe.” He brushed his lips against my forehead until my toes curled like the traitors they were. “You did,” he insisted heartily. “Nothing happens by chance. The tools and the people to aid you will appear. You found what you needed this afternoon. And I am the person you need. You found me on the road,” he said, eyes twinkling.

That was a nice way of putting it.

“Accept help, Lizzie,” he said, too earnest to resist. “You need to be open to the universe if you expect to rescue your grandma. And you’ll definitely need it if you want to defeat Vald.”

Fear tickled my stomach. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

His eyes searched mine. “You have to kill him, Lizzie.” It felt like he was on the verge of saying more when he abruptly let me go.

Dimitri shoved a hand through his thick, dark hair. “You can do it when you sacrifice yourself. Look beyond what you think you know,” he said earnestly. “I’ve seen you, Lizzie. You’ve spent your whole life burying your instincts. Step back from that. Search for who you really are. Trust yourself.”

“Okay,” I nodded. Trust myself. I bent over and stretched my hands to my toes, wrapping my fingers around the ends of my second-hand cleats. He might as well have told me to fly.

“Take this,” he said.

I straightened and found him holding a blue Gap bag out for me. “This is from the universe.”

Inside, I found khaki pants and a white button-down shirt. “Dimitri!” I couldn’t believe it. “This is perfect.”