Angie Fox - ADS 01 - The Accidental Demon Slayer

“Touché. But JR’s my friend and he’s going to need all the help he can get,” Dimitri said, clicking an ammo clip into one of the pistols. “He could be in trouble when the pack recovers from that paralyzing spell. No telling which side is going to wake up first.” He stuffed the gun into his shoulder holster. “With any luck, we’ll be on the road by then.”

“You mean we’re not taking him with us?” At least a dozen werewolves littered the ground around the trailer. It was impossible to know who was friend or foe until they woke up. And then it would be too late.

I didn’t want to know what would happen if Rex’s people got to JR first. Would they execute him like Rex did to their former alpha, Fang? Or would it be something even more horrible?

“We can’t just leave him here.” Call it selfish, but my conscience wouldn’t allow it. In my book, you didn’t leave your friends to get stabbed, slaughtered or eaten. “We have to save him.”

“We did,” Dimitri said, regret plain on his face as he placed two loaded pistols and a knife next to the fitful werewolf.

Dimitri located a beat-up Yankees cap in the corner of the trailer. JR’s, I assumed. He brushed the dirt off the brim and placed it on his friend’s head. “If he’s found with us, they’ll execute him on sight.”

He stood up to his full height, all business. He’d never looked more large or deadly. “You killed pack, Lizzie. You’re their enemy now—and JR’s.”

In what universe did that make sense? “Do the words ‘self-defense’ mean anything to these people?”

He shook his head ruefully. “I’m afraid not.”

I fumbled with the keys, shoving them into tiny locks and working the layers of cuffs away from JR’s thick wrists and ankles. In another life I would have been nervous. Lord knew we had reason. We still didn’t know if Pirate and the Red Skulls had escaped. I might be unchaining a crazy werewolf. And any time now, an army of hostile werewolves would wake up and find their alpha’s jugular slashed and their second-in-command with a large switch-star hole through his forehead.

No way around it. I should have been scared as a hamster at a rattlesnake convention. But I wasn’t. I was pissed. It wasn’t my fault Rex died. He’d been gunning for me from the start. He saw me as a weak link the minute we set foot in Shoney’s. Frankly, he might have been right. But I’d grown into my powers, and it was Rex’s own friggin’ fault he’d been too busy scheming to notice.

Rex had no right to mess with me or the pack. I yanked the chains from JR’s chest and his eyes flew open for a moment. “Eep!” I pitched backward and landed hard on my rear.

I might have had the demon slayer bit down, but I had a lot to learn about hard-ass.

Dimitri leaned past me. “JR.” He shook him. “Hey, buddy.”

JR squinted up at us through bloodshot eyes. Thank goodness they were brown instead of the sickly red they’d been before.

The wolf shuddered.

Dimitri squeezed my arm. “Good job, Lizzie.”

JR broke into a coughing fit. He gulped several breaths. “Talk about a hangover. I feel like the worm in the tequila bottle.”

“Don’t try to talk,” Dimitri told him.

JR waved him off, winked at me and nearly passed out again. “Oh good. You found her,” he said. His eyes focused on the chains hanging from the trailer ceiling. “This isn’t the bar.”

He still thought we were at the Red Skull. Good. He didn’t need to remember what had happened to him after that.

“You had an accident, but you’re okay. Your pack will explain.” Dimitri shook his head. “I hate to do this to you, buddy, but Lizzie and I have to split.”

JR coughed, catching his breath. “Something I should know about?”

“While you were out cold, the pack had a problem,” Dimitri said, diplomatically.

JR knew without us telling him. “Rex.”

“He’s dead.” Dimitri said.

“Good,” JR said, grunting as he pulled himself up.

“But, listen, we think Rex poisoned half the pack. And,” Dimitri said, clearly dreading what he had to say next, “Rex killed Fang.”

JR nodded, unable or perhaps unwilling to speak.

“I got Rex with a switch star,” I said to fill the silence. He needed to know someone tried to do something. “It was too late.”

JR kept nodding.

“Take this.” Dimitri gave JR a silver dagger. “These too,” he added, handing him the pistols he’d taken from his backpack.

JR’s eyes locked on something past my shoulder. “Go,” he grunted.

I followed his gaze out into the cemetery. Lights bobbed up the path.

With any luck, it meant the witches had safely fled. A bubble of satisfaction welled in my chest. If those wolves were looking for reinforcements, they were out of luck.

But I also knew there’d be no way to explain the wolves crumpled among the graves, or the executed alpha. Or Rex with his head cleaved in half. We had to get out of there.

Dimitri tossed the backpack over his shoulder and jumped from the trailer. I was about to follow when JR’s heavy hand gripped my arm. He squeezed once, twice. “Thank you,” he said thickly. I had a feeling he didn’t say it too often.

“Glad to help,” I told him. And I was.

Dimitri and I dashed through the dark cemetery. The werewolves could see a lot better and move faster, but if we had enough of a jump on them, we could make it out of there with our hides intact.

We raced past the lonely graves scattered over the far side of the cemetery. They were much older and—I stumbled through a thicket of weeds—untended. The families had probably died out.

Dimitri came to an abrupt stop before a blue granite structure. “Here.”

The name said Flier . A black Harley leaned against the back of the grave.

I climbed on behind Dimitri, pressing myself flush against his back and holding on for dear life as the bike pitched forward. My handsome protector introduced me to a whole new kind of terror, zigzagging between trees, over logs and past the few graves that reached beyond the confines of the cemetery.

My brain rattled over every rock and hole we hit. Dimitri wasn’t the best driver under ideal conditions. Now? I did everything I could to stay on.

Dimitri pitched the bike up a steep embankment and onto the road, a narrow strip of asphalt winding into the forest. He gunned the motor, and the wind whipped at our faces as we sped off into the night.

We’re coming to get you, Grandma .

We’d done more than play pack politics tonight. I’d learned I could face off in a battle and win. I could live by the demon slayer Truths and trust myself, get outside myself enough to release my powers, even if I didn’t fully understand them. It had to be enough.

Grandma had looked terrible when she appeared to me. She didn’t have much time left. I couldn’t afford to wait. We’d meet up with the witches at the Dixie Queen ’s casino. Then I’d learn what I needed to do to find Vald. It probably wouldn’t be too hard, I thought with a shiver. The demon wanted me.

Ant Eater told me I’d know it when the witches arrived at their new hideout. Somehow, I’d instinctively understand how to find them. I reached out with my feelings, searching for the comfort that everything was all right. Instead, I sensed dull emptiness and fear. No telling whether it came from the coven or from my own dark thoughts.

I gripped Dimitri tighter, feeling his warm skin through his black T-shirt. For a moment, just a moment, I allowed myself to take comfort in his closeness. I knew I shouldn’t want him. He was nothing but trouble. But I couldn’t help it. I needed a little good in my life after Rex, after the werewolves, after everything that had happened since Grandma pulled up to my front door on her pink-and-silver Harley.