A Demonic Bundle (28 page)

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Authors: Lexi George Kathy Love,Angie Fox

BOOK: A Demonic Bundle
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Chapter Seventeen
T
he djegrali came out of the drinking fountain near the main entrance. It seeped out of the bubbler, overflowed the basin and oozed onto the floor. Clawed hands reached for Bunny out of the deadly mist.
“
Bun-n-ny
,” the demon wraith moaned.
Bunny dropped her purse and ran. She hit the front door and threw her weight against it. It was locked.
Damn. And the keys were in her purse behind the reception desk.
Double damn.
Snick,
she heard the deadbolt turn, just like that night at the beach house. Bunny Dalvahni, supernatural locksmith. Maybe not the most impressive of talents, but pretty handy when you were locked inside a building with a spectral psychopath.
A foul wind raised the hair on the nape of her neck. The thing was upon her. She pushed the door open and stopped. Audrey and Nicole were still talking on the sidewalk, oblivious to the danger. If she ran outside the demon would follow her and hurt them. She couldn’t let that happen.
She whirled back around. The djegrali loomed over her, a misty, swirling thing out of a nightmare, with twisted limbs and a gaping beak of a mouth. Behind it, three smaller, murky shapes rose out of the drinking fountain.
Great. Papa demon had brought his baby demons to show them how to hunt. And she was Lesson Number One.
“I am angry with you, little rabbit.” The horrible, grating voice that Bunny remembered came out of the thing’s pointed mouth. The grotesque head lowered. “You have been keeping secrets from me. You are one of them now, and you did not tell me.”
Bunny gazed up into the hideous face and nearly fainted from fright. The noxious waves of concentrated evil that emanated from the djegrali were overpowering, not to mention just plain stinky. The demon smelled to high heaven, like old garbage or spoiled meat. Her will and her resistance started to slip away under the combined effects of terror and revulsion. In a flash, her memories of the night of the attack returned. The crack of bone and joint as Mr. Pringle’s head distorted into something unrecognizable and his elongated jaws sprouted row upon row of sharp teeth. The mind-numbing fear that robbed her limbs of strength and the terrible, searing pain as the beast ravaged her throat. And then Rafe was there and the pain was gone.
But that was then and this was now. Where was a demon hunter when you needed one?
Her rescue came from an unexpected source.
Hellooo,
Smart Bunny said.
Stop mooning about Rafe. You’re fixing to die. Move your ass, Cottontail. NOW.
Smart Bunny was right, of course. Rafe wasn’t here. She might not be able to outrun the djegrali. It was smoke and spirit, after all. But she had to try.
Bunny darted into the stacks. To her surprise, she
really
darted. Dalvahni woo woo again. Maybe she had a chance against this thing after all. She streaked like a rocket through adult fiction, large print, and zipped around and around the waist-high display of children’s books.
Pfft,
she blurred past nonfiction and the shelves of audiobooks. Newspapers and magazines fluttered like leaves in a windstorm in her wake.
She was fast, but so was the demon. She felt him behind her. His breath was like black frost on her skin.
Too close, too close
, Bunny thought, picking up speed.
“Run, little rabbit, as fast as you can,” the demon said with a horrible chuckle. The sound of that voice was petrifying, a satanic Tim Curry in
Legend
or Darth Vader on crack. “I will still catch you.”
Books flew off the shelves, pelting her like hailstones. Bunny shrieked and covered her head. Artwork and pottery whizzed past. She ducked the missiles and kept running, dodging the bookshelves that crashed around her like dominoes. Her lungs burned and her legs ached. She couldn’t keep going at this pace much longer. A rasping cry startled her. The demon’s three evil henchmen circled the stacks above her like vultures, watching and waiting, savoring her terror and exhaustion and the kill that was to come.
She heard the harsh rumble of the demon’s laughter closing in behind her. The monster was playing with her and enjoying the chase.
“Don’t you want to hear my plans for you, little rabbit? I’m going to use your body as my vessel. Humans are so weak and easily broken. But you are Dalvahni and strong. With your powers and mine, I will be invincible. I am going to kill your lover and the other warrior and then this world will belong to the djegrali.”
Hear that? Garbage Breath is going to take over the world,
Smart Bunny said.
Stop shrieking and running around like a little girl and kick this bastard’s ass.
“And how do you propose I do that?” Bunny said, gasping for breath. “In case you haven’t noticed, I
am
a girl and I don’t have any weapons.”
What am I, your mother? Do I have to do everything for you? Think of something and make it fast. You’re out of time. Garbage Breath is right behind you.
Bunny took a flying leap over a heap of fallen bookcases and landed on the other side. She looked over her shoulder. The demon was right on top of her. It roared in triumph and reached for her with scaly hands. She yelped and did a forward roll. Something hot and razor sharp raked across her back. She rolled behind the front desk and scrambled to her feet beside her desktop computer. The demon stalked to the end of the reception desk on huge, taloned feet. He loomed over her, a roiling nightmare of beak and claw. A flutter of white caught Bunny’s eye and drew her gaze downward. Garbage Breath had a tiny piece of paper stuck on his big old demon butt, acquired, no doubt, when he chased her through the stacks.
Suddenly, Bunny knew what to do.
“Stay back.” She brandished her Honeywell bar code scanner at the demon with her right hand. With the fingers of her left hand she hit the keyboard. The screen saver disappeared and the open cataloging program popped into view.
The djegrali threw back its hideous, misshapen head and laughed. The three smaller demons fluttered around Garbage Breath like tattered black flags. They were laughing too.
“Foolish rabbit, I am
morkyn,
one of the elders of my kind. Surely you do not think to defeat me with so pitiful a weapon?”
“Surely
you
realize you’ve got a bar code sticker on your ass and that this—” she waved the gun-shaped object in her hand—“is a bar code scanner?” She pressed the head of the scanner to the strip of white paper that dangled from the demon’s filmy carcass.
Are you sure you want to delete this item?
the computer asked
.
“Oh, yeah,” Bunny said.
She pulled the trigger. The scanner beeped and the demon disappeared.
“Ha!” Bunny crowed, jumping up and down. A feeling of power surged through her veins. “That’s what I’m talking about!”
With an inhuman howl of fury, the three smaller demons swooped down upon her like avenging black crows.
Bunny heard a hoarse shout and then a high-pitched, metallic whine. To her astonishment, a large double-headed axe spun through the air and chopped the demons to bits. With a high keening cry of agony, the djegrali disintegrated into a thousand peppery particles and vanished.
Rafe materialized in front of her. He lifted his arm and the whirling axe returned to his hand. He looked very pale and there was a stark, haunted expression on his beautiful face. She’d never seen him look like that . . . so open . . . so vulnerable.
He was dressed in some kind of weird, medieval outfit she’d never seen. No . . . wait. She’d seen it once, the night of the attack. She’d opened her eyes and remembered thinking he was an angel, a warrior angel, with his flaming hair, stern features and blazing eyes.
Her gaze traveled from the vest covering his hard chest to the leather breeches that clung to his muscular legs. It was an outlandish getup, something from another age. He should have looked ridiculous, but he didn’t. He looked comfortable and at ease in the strange clothes.
And dangerous. Very, very dangerous.
He also looked pissed.
His face went from white to a deep mottled angry red. “Are you insane?” he shouted. “What were you thinking, woman? You could have been killed!”
“Don’t you yell at me, Rafe Dalvahni.” Bunny’s chin quivered. “I’ve had just about all I can take for one day.”
“Bunny, by the gods, Bunny!” He dropped his axe and grabbed her in a crushing embrace. He ran his hands over her body as if he wanted to reassure himself she was all right. “Never do that to me again. I thought you were dead. How could you have been so foolish?”
Suddenly, she was furious. She gave him a hard shove and he released her. She stepped back, her chest heaving.
“Let’s see, what were my choices?” She looked around the library. “Nope, nobody here but me.
You
weren’t here, were you?” Hot tears spilled down her cheeks. “You left. I didn’t think you were coming back. Ever. You
left.
”
“I know.” He stepped closer. “Look at me, Bunny.”
She shook her head. “If I look at you I’ll give in and you’ll break my heart again. I won’t let you do that to me, Rafe. I won’t.”
He towered over her. She could feel the heat pouring off his big body and smell his warm, spicy scent. God help her, she could talk big all she wanted, but she was a complete and total idiot when it came to this man. She closed her eyes so she couldn’t see him, for all the good it did. She didn’t have to see him to feel him, to
know
he was there. She tingled all over when he was near. He filled her senses and made her dizzy with longing.
He was a great big Dalvahni roller coaster and she was a thrill junky.
“Do not weep,
cara
,” he said. “Please. It breaks my heart.”
“You don’t h-have a heart.”
“Yes, I do, and it is yours.” Gently, he placed his fingers beneath her chin, his skin warm against hers. “Look at me, Bunny. I want to see your beautiful eyes when I tell you I love you.”
Her eyes flew open. “What did you say?”
“I said I love you.” He brushed feathery kisses across her tear-damp cheeks, her eyes and lips. “I love you with every fiber of my being.”
“I don’t believe you.”
He grinned down at her. “I have it on the best of authority that a Dalvahni warrior does not lie, even to himself.” He traced her lips with the tip of his finger. “I have been a fool.”
“A stubborn fool,” Bunny murmured, the fragile beginnings of happiness welling up inside her.
He nodded. “Yes, that too.” He tugged her close and wrapped his strong arms around her. “I love you, Bunny Nicole Raines Dalvahni.” His lips brushed her hair. “Do not leave me to wander the gray reaches of time alone. I love you. Send me away and I will only come back to stand outside your door and howl like an abandoned cur.”
She chuckled against his chest. “The neighbors would complain.”
His arms tightened around her. “Then take me in, Bunny, for their sake if not for mine. I need you. I want you. I cannot live without you. And I do not mean to try.”
Bunny could not believe this was happening. But it was real. She could see it in his eyes and in his expression. He loved her. She’d never felt so much joy. Her heart was bursting with it.
What’s the big deal?
Smart Bunny said.
You knew he loved you.
“Yeah, but now
he
knows it and that makes all the difference,” Bunny said.
“What did you say?” Rafe asked.
“Nothing.” Bunny stepped out of his arms. “I love you too, Rafe. I think I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you. But what about the baby? I couldn’t take it if you bolted again.”
Rafe went to his knees and pressed his face against her stomach. “I will never leave you again or our baby. You will both be so tired of me you will beg for a reprieve.” He lifted his head and looked up at her. “I can do this, Bunny. I can be a good father. I know I can.”
She cupped his cheeks in her hands and gave him a misty smile. “I never doubted it for a moment.”
“Bunny,” he breathed. The next thing she knew he was on his feet and she was in his arms, and he was kissing her as if his life depended on it. And maybe it did, ’cause her life depended on him too.
They heard a noise and broke apart. Nicole stuck her head through the front door.
“Thought I heard something and came back to check on you,” Nicole said. “Can’t be too careful, you know. There are some real creeps out there. But I see you got your man with you, so no worries.” She batted her eyes at Rafe. “Nice outfit. You look good in leather.”
Good grief, Nicole was flirting with Rafe. Bunny couldn’t blame her. Rafe was irresistible.
Yeah, you’ll probably have to carry around a big stick for the rest of your life to beat the women off him,
Smart Bunny smirked.
That’s what you get for marrying a super sexy, demon-hunting hunk of burning love. But no worries. He loves you and these Dalvahni dudes never do anything half-assed. If he says he loves you, it’s the real deal, forever and ever, amen. Sucks to be you, huh, chicka?

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