“OH MY GOD!” Olivia squeaked, and I followed her horrified stare to the two six-foot long bodies slithering up the stairs toward us. I had never seen or heard of a lamprey demon until this moment, but I knew that if I survived this, they would be starring in my nightmares. The creatures advancing on us resembled eels, but they were bigger around than my thigh with large unblinking eyes on either side of their heads. But it was their mouths – round and funnel-shaped with row upon row of curved teeth – that made my bladder feel like it was about to empty.
“You two take the one on the left. I’ll deal with this one,” Jordan shouted, already moving forward to meet one of the advancing demons, her blade dripping blood from her first kill.
Without a weapon, I was helpless to do anything but watch as Mark and Olivia followed Jordan. The demons struck first, and the air was filled with gurgling hissing sounds and grunts as my companions fought them off. Olivia’s whip sailed through the air and wrapped around one of the thrashing bodies while Mark tried to get around it to come at it from behind. Beside them, Jordan was finding her demon a lot harder to kill than the first one. It dodged her blade and struck back with a speed I would not have expected from its thick body, missing her by inches.
Behind me, one of the huddled boys made a mewling sound, and I turned to look back at them just as a demon flew at me from above. I twisted to one side, feeling it brush against my arm as it went by. I stumbled and regained my footing, but not fast enough to jump out of the way as the demon came at me again. A scream ripped from my lips as sharp pain seared through my right calf and I stared in horror at the sucker-like mouth clamped onto my leg. I kicked and pulled frantically at the demon, but its mouth was attached like a leach. The demon convulsed and swallowed and fiery tendrils of pain shot up my leg.
Oh God, it’s sucking my blood! It’s sucking my blood!
Metal flashed and the thing latched onto my leg jerked and went slack. I reached past the knife protruding from the demon’s head to pry its mouth from my calf. It hurt like hell when the dozens of sharp teeth ripped from my flesh, and I was afraid to look at the damage to my leg.
Mark shouted at me, and I looked down to find him and Olivia locked in a struggle with their lamprey demon. “Sara, the knife!” he yelled.
I reached down and yanked the knife from the dead demon then limped down the stairs to the others. Jordan looked like she was getting the upper hand in her fight and the demon in front of her bled from several long gashes. Olivia and Mark were barely holding onto theirs while keeping its mouth from latching onto one of them. Olivia had a cut on her cheek and her right arm hung limp and bloody by her side. If not for the whip around the demon’s neck, the thing would have broken free of them. Instead of using his knife on the creature, Mark had thrown it to save me.
“Watch out.” Ignoring Mark’s reaching hand, I grabbed the knife in both hands and slammed it into the head of the demon. It took three blows to bring the demon down, and Mark and Olivia sagged against each other when it finally hit the floor.
Mark panted, looking around fearfully. “Did we get them all?”
“I think so. I don’t see any – ” I broke off when noises in the dark theater alerted us to the presence of at least two more demons.
“Where the fuck are they coming from?” He shouted, grabbing the knife and moving between me and the approaching demons. “A little help here, Jordan.”
“Let me take care of this bastard first.” Jordan brought her sword down in a graceful arc and sliced cleanly through the neck of the demon. She gave a triumphant smile and kicked the dead demon for good measure before turning to meet the new threat. “How many?”
“At least two, it’s hard to tell in here,” Mark called to her.
I scanned the dark theater. “What should we do?”
Jordan replied without looking back. “We’ve got this. You get the hell out of here.”
“Are you nuts? I’m not leaving you guys in here with those things.”
“Sara, you and Olivia are bleeding and neither of you can fight. The last thing I need right now is to be worried about keeping your asses safe.”
I looked at Olivia’s pained expression, then down at the dead demon on the stairs. Smoke curled from it where the silver tip of the whip touched its sickly gray skin.
“Here they come!” Mark yelled. “Oh Jesus, there are three of them!”
I pushed Olivia aside and grabbed the handle of the whip, yanking hard to unroll it from the dead demon’s body and sending the creature thumping down the stairs. Whip in hand, I spun around as Jordan and Mark were attacked. Mark went down, stabbing at one demon that was ferociously trying to latch onto his neck. Jordan moved fast, but the demons were just as fast. No matter how good or fast Jordan was, she was outnumbered this time.
I put my fingers to my lips and let out a sharp whistle. “Hey, you fat ugly worms, come and get me.” One of the demons turned my way, and I gripped the whip handle so tight my knuckles turned white. “Yeah, I’m talking to you, you overgrown maggot!”
The demon made a sound somewhere between a hiss and a shriek and came at me. Oh shit! This ranked way up there on the list of the stupidest things I had ever done, and that was a pretty big list.
I struck out with the whip and felt it connect with the demon’s body, leaving a long smoking gash along its side. It wasn’t enough to stop the demon, and I dropped the whip to fend off the thing with my bare hands. The force of its body hitting mine sent us both tumbling down the stairs and knocked the breath out of me when my back hit the bottom landing. The demon recovered fast and struck, and my hands came up just in time to grab it and keep its nightmarish jaws away from my throat. It thrashed its powerful body, and I grunted as I fought to hold it away from me. No way could I fight this thing off alone. I was totally screwed if help didn’t come very, very soon.
“Sara! Are you okay?” Jordan bellowed.
“Could . . . really use . . . some help!” I panted.
The demon twisted violently, and I suddenly found my body pinned beneath it. “Argh!” I pushed with all my strength at the head mere inches above me. Drool dripped onto my face and neck, and I nearly choked on the fetid breath invading my nostrils. As I stared into the deep funnel-like mouth with its rows upon rows of undulating teeth, I swore there was no way I was going out this way. I had not survived all I’d been through just to be taken down by an overgrown grub with teeth.
Static sizzled across my skin and crackled through my hair. My whole body felt like there was electricity buzzing just below the surface, building in intensity and looking for a way out. Instead of fearing it, I welcomed it and fed it with more power. Heat spread through my arms and filled my hands until they began to glow like they did for a healing, and the air around me sparked and filled with the thick smell of ozone.
The demon began to writhe and thrash frantically as it tried to tear away from me, but my hands were welded to its head. Tiny bolts of electricity leapt from my fingers, and it felt like I held a lightning storm in my hands. Power surged forward into the demon until the creature began to swell and glowing cracks appeared in its skin. I watched its fishlike eyes bulge in terror a second before it let out a gurgling shriek and exploded, raining me with hot, stinking blood and guts and thousands of demon bits. Stunned, I stared at my raised bloody hands for few seconds before I rolled over onto my side and puked up my popcorn lunch.
Jordan was the first to reach me. “What the fuck?” she swore when she caught sight of me and what was left of the demon. “What happened? What did you do to it?”
I held up my hand and shook my head as Mark and Olivia crowded behind her, staring at me covered from head to toe in demon guts. There was no way to tell them what had happened. Even if I could share my secret, I wasn’t even sure what I had done.
The doors below us slammed open, and Niall and Seamus burst into the theater. They came up short when they saw Jordan, Olivia, and Mark standing over me lying on the floor, covered in blood and guts. Their sharp eyes quickly swept the scene and took a count of the dead lamprey demons littering the stairs and the four of us, bloody but standing. Well, most of us were standing.
“Sweet Mother!”
One of the twins crouched beside me. “Are you alive beneath all that, lass?”
I raised an arm and tried to wipe some of the gore from my face. “Yes, but right now I kinda wish I wasn’t.”
He grinned and held out a hand to me, easily pulling me to my feet. I wasn’t the only one who blanched when demon pieces slid off me and slopped onto the carpeted floor. I looked around at the expressions of shock and revulsion and then at the wide area spewed with black demon blood and guts. I had seen a lot of strange and awful things in the last few months but exploding demons definitely beat them all.
I am so glad I don’t have to clean up this mess. I imagined the expressions of the theater’s cleaning crew when they saw this and a giggle burst from me, earning me confused stares from the two warriors and the three teenagers standing a few steps above me. Something in their expressions struck me as incredibly hilarious and I couldn’t help myself, I started to laugh. The harder they stared, the harder I laughed until my stomach hurt and tears ran down my cheeks.
“What’s wrong with her?” Olivia asked, her voice quivering.
Jordan narrowed her eyes at me. “I think she’s hysterical.”
“N-no,” I stammered, straightening. “Can you imagine being a janitor here and having to clean up this?” I waved at the gore around us. “Talk about a realistic zombie movie.”
The twin who had helped me up shook his head at me as he put his phone to his ear. “It’s Niall. We need a clean-up crew. Bloody lamprey demons in the movie theater. Hell, your guess is as good as mine.” He looked at us. “No, they’re all okay, just a little beat up. No, they took out the lot of them on their own. Some civilians were hurt, too, and we’ll need to treat them. It’s a pretty big mess so put a rush on it.”
He gave them directions and hung up. Pursing his lips, he studied the carnage at his feet. “Someone want to tell me what in bloody hell did this?”
I was still fighting back laughter, which probably made me look slightly unhinged, so he addressed the others. Jordan shrugged and pointed at me. “Ask her. I was busy keeping one of those bastards off my ass when she did . . . whatever she did.”
“Same here,” Mark added.
“All I saw was Sara and the demon falling down the stairs,” Olivia supplied. “I saw a white flash and suddenly the demon exploded everywhere.”
Niall looked at me, and I shook my head. Whatever he was thinking, he did not push the matter and instead pulled off his coat. “Remove your coat, lass, and try to wipe off your face and hair as best you can. Then put this on. It’ll cover the worst of the mess.”
I did as he instructed and let him put his much larger coat on me. Jordan, Mark, and Olivia did what they could to clean up as well. All we could do after that was wait for backup. Niall and Seamus managed to lock the doors to keep the civilians out, except for the two boys who were sitting in their seats now and staring at us like we were a satanic cult about to sacrifice them. I didn’t know if the Mohiri had something to modify memories. If so, these two were going to need a strong dose of it.
The cleanup crew wasted no time, and fifteen minutes after Niall’s call, the employee door to the left of the screen opened and they filed in. The eight-man crew could not hide their surprise as they took in the number of dead demons as well as what was left of the one I had exploded. Their initial reaction passed quickly, and two of them headed for the teenage boys who had witnessed everything while the others began to assess the situation.
“You weren’t kidding about the mess. We’ll need to bring in another team,” one of the men said to Niall. “Paulette is waiting in the van to take the trainees home. Looks like they all could use some medical attention.”
“How did they get here so fast?” I asked Seamus, and he told me they kept teams in the major cities in every state. It made it easier to respond to situations like this one.
Before I knew it, we were shuffled outside to a black van where a tall blond woman gawked at my bloody hair and clothes before she started ushering us into the vehicle. I hung back while everyone else climbed in, wishing I could change my clothes before I crowded in with them.
Without warning, coldness slammed into my chest, leaving me almost gasping for breath, and I had to hold onto a stair rail for support. Not now.
“You okay?” Seamus asked, and it took me several seconds to nod. He helped me into the van’s second row of seats and got in behind me. We had plenty of room because everyone gave me a wide berth.
As soon as the van started Jordan raised the question on everyone’s minds.
“What the hell are lamprey demons doing in a movie theater? Don’t they live in sewers?”
“Yes,” Seamus responded. “I’ve never heard of them attacking humans in the open like that.”
“Do you think they were after us?” In my experience, bad things like this did not happen by coincidence, especially not to me.
“I doubt it,” Niall said, but I noticed a slight pause before he spoke. “Lamprey demons are not known for their intelligence. They are more like leeches, and they’ll latch onto the nearest warm-blooded creature. They attacked a few humans, too, so I don’t think they were targeting you specifically. You were just the last unlucky ones left in the theater.”
The ride home was a lot less fun than the one to Boise. When the van pulled up to the main entrance, Tristan came out to meet us. He asked if we were okay and walked with us to the medical ward where a small team of healers waited. One of them ushered me into a room with an attached bathroom where I immediately stripped and showered. I couldn’t help but shudder as the water ran off me in black streams until I was clean. I dressed in a hospital gown and lay on a bed while a healer tended to the bite on my leg. She cleaned the wound and applied a special salve that drew the pain from the wound even before she had finished dressing it in a light gauze bandage. Then she gave me some of the dreaded gunna paste and told me to get some rest before she left the room.
Tristan entered the room a minute after she left, and he gave me a quick hug. “How are you feeling?”
“These guys have good drugs. Not even feeling an ounce of pain.” He did not look convinced, so I gave him a reassuring smile. “Trust me; I’ve been hurt a lot worse than this. It takes more than a bloodsucking demon to keep me down.”
His expression was serious. “It must have been very frightening.”
“Are you kidding me? Have you seen Jordan with a sword? That girl is scarier than a dozen demons worms.”
Tristan laughed softly, and some of the tension left his body. “Niall told me about the demon that exploded, and he said no one could tell him what happened. Do you want to tell me about it?”
I started by telling him what I had done to the bazerat a few days ago, followed by my fight with the lamprey demon. “I honestly don’t know how I did it,” I confessed. “It feels like my healing power – only different if that makes sense. It’s like it’s amped up on steroids, and I don’t think it likes demons.”
“Elementals are very powerful beings and natural enemies of demons. It is very likely that you are beginning to come into some of those powers. Unfortunately, we know very little about them.”
“Aine said she would visit me. I hope she comes soon because I could really use some answers.”
“Well, I doubt she will come tonight, and you need to sleep so your body can heal.” He stood and tucked the blanket around me. “I’ll come back later to check on you.”
I tried to sit up. “Can’t I go to my room? I’d sleep much better in my own bed.”
He gently pushed me back down. “The healers want to keep you all here overnight for observation. The bacteria in a lamprey demon’s mouth are very potent, and we need to watch for signs of infection.”
The healer came in then and gave me a glass of sweet smelling liquid to drink. I looked at it warily, and she said, “This is takhi juice. It will help you sleep and fight infection. Drink it all.”
I drank it obediently, and Tristan nodded in approval. “Sleep now and we will talk about it tomorrow. Is it okay if I come back to sit with you tonight while you sleep?”
I smiled sluggishly, already feeling the effects of the takhi juice. “Okay.”
My dreams were filled with zombies with large round sucking mouths full of teeth. I tossed fitfully and tried to wake up, but the sleeping potion held me in its grasp. First, I felt like I was freezing and warm thick blankets were laid over me. Then my body felt like it was on fire, and I cried out until someone pressed a cool wet cloth to my face. A few times I almost gained wakefulness and heard people talking softly nearby, but I was pulled under again before I could open my eyes.
After what seemed like forever, the flames subsided and all I could feel was the warmth of a hand encasing mine where it lay on the covers. There was comfort and safety in the touch, and I reached for it instinctively until the strong fingers entwined with mine. I sighed as the nightmares were banished, and I sank at last into a deep healing sleep.
* * *
I awoke slowly, listening to the sounds of people talking and moving around outside my room. My body felt stiff, my throat was parched, and my head pounded with a fierce headache. I moaned and lifted a hand to rub my forehead.
“Here, this will take care of your headache.”
I turned my head toward Tristan who sat by my bed, holding a glass of brownish liquid. After the sleeping draft from last night, I was hesitant to take any more medicine.
He smiled as if he read my mind. “You had a bad fever last night from the demon bite, and you are dehydrated now, which is causing your headache. I promise this will only ease your pain.”
My head was pounding, and his words were all the reassurance I needed. I accepted the glass and downed the contents, then lay back on the bed. “I heard someone here with me last night. Was that you?”
“I came in a few times. Your fever made you very restless.”
“What about the others? Are they okay?”
He took the glass from me and laid it on a table. “Olivia also had a fever from her bite, but Mark and Jordan were okay. They have all been released. Once you are feeling better, you may leave, too.”
“I feel better now.” I tried to sit up, but he pushed me back down.
“Give it a few more minutes. While we wait, I want to talk to you about your training.”
I groaned. “Are you trying to torture me after the night I just had?”
He did not laugh as I expected him to, and his expression grew serious. “You could have been hurt a lot worse than you were or even killed last night. You have to learn to fight and to harness your Mori’s power so you will be better prepared the next time you face danger.”
“I think I did all right.”
“Yes, but we don’t know exactly what you did or if you can summon it at will. We live in a dangerous world, and I need to know you can defend yourself before you go out into it. So I am making changes to your training routine.”
I fidgeted with the blanket. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing bad, I assure you. We are just going to try you with another trainer and see if a different technique works better for you.” He patted my hand. “Don’t look so worried. I have a feeling this will be just what you need.”
Why didn’t I feel as confident as him? “When do I start with the new trainer?”
“Tomorrow. Today, just rest and get your strength back.”
It was noon before the healers finally let me leave the medical ward. I was ravenous, which the healers said was normal after such a fever, so I headed straight for the dining hall after I showered and changed. Lunch was over by the time I got there, so I begged a plate from the kitchen staff and ate alone in the dining hall.
“Hey, Sara, what are you doing in here by yourself? Aren’t you going to the arena?”
I looked up at Michael who stood in the doorway. “What’s going on at the arena?”
“Some of the warriors are dueling.” His eyes flashed with excitement.
“Dueling?”
“For fun. They do it every now and then, and it’s so awesome to watch. Come on, I heard Tristan is joining in this time.”
I carried my plate to a bus tray and followed Michael. I hadn’t seen Tristan fight yet, and I was eager to watch him in action. A man who garnered the kind of respect he did had to be more than a good leader. I bet he was an amazing fighter, too.
“Everyone’s talking about what happened to you guys last night.”
I gave him a sidelong glance. “I bet you’re glad you decided not to come with us, huh?”
He nodded quickly. “Yeah. You could have been killed. Why would lamprey demons do something like that?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
The arena was half full when we entered, and I saw the other trainees sitting and standing together near the door. Looking past them, I caught sight of Niall and Seamus standing with Tristan in the middle of the floor. I felt a surge of pride when I saw Tristan holding a long slender sword and looking every bit the fierce warrior.
We weaved through the crowd to the other trainees. “What did we miss?” I asked them.
“Tristan is wiping the ground with the others,” Terrence replied without taking his eyes off the older warriors. “And here comes his next victim.”
I watched as a Korean man approached Tristan, carrying a similar sword. Something about him seemed familiar, and it wasn’t until he reached Tristan and the twins that I recognized him as one of the warriors I’d met in Portland. His name was Erik, if I remembered correctly, and he was in the unit that had helped clean out the mansion where Remy’s cousins had been held. He had also accompanied me here along with Nikolas and Chris, but I hadn’t seen him since I arrived.
The twins moved back to give the dueling warriors room, and Tristan and Erik saluted one another. Tristan’s eyes gleamed like I had never seen before, and I realized he was looking forward to the fight as much as the spectators.
They came together in a clang of metal, and I caught myself holding my breath more than once as they parried and thrust, dancing around each other with deadly grace. Erik was a skilled swordsman, and once or twice I thought he was going to get the better of Tristan until I realized that Tristan was just toying with him. Tristan might not hunt as much as he used to, but he was as good a warrior as anyone else there, which he proved when he suddenly disarmed his opponent.
I clapped and cheered with everyone else. Tristan’s eyes met mine in the crowd, and I gave him two thumbs up. “Wow, he’s so good!”
Josh’s face glowed with excitement. “You haven’t seen anything yet. The main attraction is just about to start.”
“What could be better than that?” I asked a second before I felt a soft telltale flutter against my mind. You have got to be kidding me. I fumed as the last person I expected to see walked through a doorway at the far end of the room. All eyes were on the commanding figure who strode toward Tristan, muscles rippling beneath his T-shirt and a sword grasped in his right hand. His mouth was curved into a brotherly smile for Tristan.
Around me, the trainees and younger warriors were riveted on Nikolas and Tristan, and their excitement was almost palatable. All I could feel was anger. I couldn’t forget how I felt when I found out he’d left after dumping me on someone else like I was their problem now. I shouldn’t care what he did, but for some reason it bothered me more than I wanted to admit.
No longer entertained, I turned to push back through the crowd, but Olivia grabbed my arm. “Where are you going? You don’t get to see Nikolas fight every day.”
“I’ve seen him fight plenty.”
Terrence turned to give me an appreciative look. “That’s right. You’ve seen him in action. Man that must be something.”
“It is,” I replied grudgingly.
The ring of steel on steel stopped me when I would have taken another step, and I stood there for half a minute, refusing to look until I heard small intakes of breath around me. Unable to help myself, I turned back toward the room.
It was immediately clear which of them was the superior swordsman – not that I was surprised after seeing Nikolas fight more than once. Tristan was a fine fighter, but where he moved with the smooth grace of a fencer, Nikolas’s movements were like a lethal dance, so beautifully controlled that you could not take your eyes off him. His long blade glinted in the sun shining through the tall windows as he rained blows on Tristan, keeping his opponent on the defensive and circling him like a lion preparing for a kill. If I didn’t know this was a friendly duel, I would have been afraid for my grandfather’s life at that moment.
Nikolas saw an opening and moved in, bringing the tip of his sword to Tristan’s chest and just like that it was over. Tristan smiled and bowed, then slapped Nikolas on the back as everyone clapped. The two men stepped aside to let the next pair duel, but it was anticlimactic after the thrill of watching them. I couldn’t help but notice that my companions were more interested in watching what Nikolas was doing than the current fight.
“Someday, I’m going to be that good,” said a worshipful voice beside me.
I turned to face Jordan, who stared at Nikolas like he was a rock star. “Good and when you are, you can kick his ass. In fact, let me know so I can be there to watch.” She looked at me like I was nuts, and I shrugged. “Spend a month with him and you’ll sing a different tune.”
Jordan started to respond but stopped when her eyes went to something behind me. I turned to see Tristan and Nikolas walking through the crowd toward us. My jaw clenched. I had plenty of choice words for Nikolas, but this was not the place to share them. His expression as he approached was neutral, but when our eyes met I saw the familiar arrogant gleam and it fed the angry embers smoldering inside me. Did he really expect me to greet him as if all was well between us?
Tristan stopped to talk to someone, and as soon as he and Nikolas turned their heads away from us, I was out of there. I ducked through the crowded room in an effort to put as much distance as possible between me and Nikolas. If I confronted him now, I might start yelling at him and end up looking like an idiot in front of everyone.
At the door, I looked back and saw Nikolas wearing a surprised scowl as he searched the room. Not very nice when people just take off like that, is it? I thought with intense satisfaction and left before he saw me.
If I knew one thing about Nikolas, it was that once he set his mind on something it was almost impossible to shake him. I had seen the look in his eyes, and he was not going to let me give him the slip that easily. He also had an uncanny ability to find me, which was great when I was in danger, but not so much when I wanted to avoid him.
I set off for the main building, hoping that the people in the arena held Nikolas up long enough for me to make my escape. I felt like a sulking child, running away from him, but between last night and the shock of seeing him again, my emotions were all over the map, and I just couldn’t deal with him right now.
I took ten steps before I realized the only place I could hide in the main building was my room, and I had no desire to spend the afternoon cooped up inside. Changing direction, I headed to the menagerie instead, and I let out a long breath when the heavy door closed behind me. Hugo and Woolf ran to the front of their cage and began to whine. “Hey, you two,” I greeted them as I unlocked the door to their cage with the key Sahir had given me. “Looks like you get me for the whole afternoon.”
