Demonfire (13 page)

“I ran into Dax on my weekend
hike.” Eddy sent him a quick smile. He smiled back as if all the lies made
perfect sense. “We actually knew each other in college, but we haven’t seen
each other in years. He surprised me when he looked me up at Dad’s yesterday. I
didn’t expect to see him again so soon.”

Dax reached across the table
and took her hand in his. “How could you expect any man who met you not to want
to see you again as soon as he could manage?”

Ginny’s eyes went wide. “Oh.
Wow…uhm, is it warm in here?” She laughed. “Anyway, like I was saying, stuff’s
really gone crazy around here, and I didn’t know where you were. I thought you
might be working—you know, covering all the stories—but there hasn’t been a
thing in the paper.”

Eddy slammed her hand over her
mouth. “Oh, crap. I forgot to call Harlan! Ginny, we need to leave. I haven’t
even checked in at the paper since I got back. I had Dad call, but it’s been
one thing after another and…” She grabbed her wallet out of her pocket, left
money on the table for their lunch, and bumped Ginny with her hip.

Ginny scooted out of her way,
but not before she grabbed the last of the fries. “I can tell you’ve got other
things on your mind.” She turned and looked directly at Dax, but he wasn’t sure
what she was thinking. “Call me, or I will never speak to you again.”

Eddy grabbed Dax’s hand. “I
promise, sweetie. Honest. Or you can catch me at Dad’s, okay? See you later.”

“Nice to meet you, Gin—”

Eddy pulled Dax out of the
café before he could finish his sentence. “C’mon. The newspaper office is just
a couple of blocks away.” She untied Bumper, and then they headed north along
the main street.

“Eddy, look.” Dax pointed to
shattered pottery in front of a small gift shop.

There were more piles of dust
and pottery shards along the way. Remnants of broken figurines.

“Those were stone squirrels,”
Eddy said, pointing to the front of one store. “Those were ceramic birds. I
think they used to hang on chains in front of a store across the street.” She
took a deep breath and stared at Dax.

“I smell it too,” he said,
studying the carnage. The stink of sulfur was faint, but still lingered. “It
almost appears as if the avatars fought one another, which wouldn’t be unusual
for demonkind.” He shook his head.

“Where are they now?” Eddy
clung tightly to his hand.

“They’ve found new avatars or
returned to Abyss. I know of no one here with the ability to actually send them
into the void.”

“No one but you. What about
Alton?”

“Alton carries the crystal
sword,” Dax said. “It’s supposed to kill demonkind, but only Alton can wield
it. If another tries to hold it, they risk almost certain death.”

“I’ll remember that,” Eddy
said. “How come he didn’t use it at Mr. Puccini’s house? You killed the demons
there, didn’t you?”

“I did.” Dax paused and looked
steadily into Eddy’s eyes. “Just as Alton senses demon about me, so will his
sword. He can’t use it near me, or the sword will try and kill me. He told me a
Lemurian’s sword is sentient. It can speak. His has not, but it has the
potential. Until then, there’s no way for Alton to tell it that I’m not the
enemy.”

“Then how can you fight demons
together?”

“Very carefully, Eddy. Very,
very carefully.”

“Clean out your desk, Marks.
You’re fired.”

Dax clutched Eddy’s hand
tightly in his and fought a powerful desire to punch the overbearing slob who
was Eddy’s boss right in his beefy red nose. Eddy didn’t say a word. She merely
nodded and turned away from the man.

Dax let go of her hand and
took Bumper’s leash, while Eddy silently walked into a small cubicle near the
front door. Her boss stared at Dax, doing his best to intimidate him. The
tattoo pulsed in white-hot pain across his torso. Dax figured if he could
tolerate the pain of a demon’s curse, there was nothing this idiot could do to
hurt him.

Except when he hurt Eddy.
Standing here, unable to come to Eddy’s defense made his heart actually ache.
There was nothing he wanted more than to wipe up the ground with this buffoon,
but he’d promised Eddy.

This was a promise he’d
happily break, if only he could.

Harlan, she’d said his name
was. He owned the newspaper Eddy worked for, and he hadn’t given her so much as
a minute to explain why she needed time off this week.

Not that she could tell him
what was going on, but he’d started cursing at her the minute she walked in the
office. He was still cursing. Only now, Dax realized, the words were directed
at him.

“Are you deaf?” The man
planted his hands on top of his desk and leaned forward, as if he wanted to
come after him.

Dax sort of wished he would.
He felt a surge of anger pulsing through his chest. Demon anger.

“I said, what the fuck are you
staring at?”

Dax took a deep breath and
glanced at Eddy. She was filling a small box with items from her desk. There
were tears on her cheeks. The anger inside Dax pulsed hot and heavy. He turned
around and glared at Harlan again. “I was merely wondering if you were as
stupid as you look. I guess you are.”

He felt Willow stir within his
pocket, reminding him there were more important things than dealing with Eddy’s
jerk of an ex-boss. Tamping down the sense of demon fury, Dax tuned out
Harlan’s cursing and turned his back on the man. “C’mon, sweetheart. Anything I
can carry?”

She shook her head, a short,
sharp jerk that told him how close to the edge she was. He knew she loved her
job. He also knew he needed her more than this newspaper did. Evergreen needed
her.

Dax opened the door and
followed Eddy into the sunshine. She walked out with her back straight and her
head held proudly, even though Dax knew she was hurting. He was so proud of her
he wanted to cheer.

As soon as they were outside,
he stopped and took the box out of her arms. Then he leaned close and kissed
her, right there in front of the people on the street and the cars going by.
Her lips were soft, wet from her tears, salty. He licked his tongue across her
lower lip and then backed away. She gazed at him, looking bewildered and lost.

“I need you more than Harlan does,”
he said. He rested his forehead against hers. “The man’s an ass. Are you okay?”

Eddy nodded. “I just never got
fired before.” She sniffed.

“You’ve never been recruited
to save an entire town before either. It’s been a pretty busy week.”

She laughed, though it sounded
more like a sob. “I’ll try and remember that. It puts things in perspective.”

Dax tucked Eddy’s box under
his arm, raised his head, looked up the street, and then down. “We need to buy
clothes for Alton. Where?”

She sniffed and straightened
her shoulders. Dax recognized the moment when she found her control, put Harlan
and his foul temper behind her, and looked forward. His own anger, demon anger,
slipped away and disappeared.

“C’mon. The feed store is this
way.” She smiled at him, looped her arm through his elbow, and tugged him along
with her. Bumper trotted beside them with her tail curled in a perfect blond
arc over her back.

“Feed store? I thought we were
shopping for pants.”

Tuesday afternoon—day three

“Remind me never to try and
explain a feed store to a demon.” Eddy fixed herself a glass of ice water. Dax
took it out of her hand before she got a single swallow.

He took a sip and glanced at
Alton. “What would you assume one would buy at a feed store?”

Alton shrugged. “Feed?”

Eddy took her glass from Dax.
He smiled and said, “I rest my case.”

Eddy sighed. “Do the clothes
fit, Alton?”

“Yes, they do.” He held his
arms wide, showing off the dark blue plaid flannel shirt with the sleeves
rolled up to his elbows, the crisp new blue jeans Eddy’d been absolutely
shocked to find with a size thirty-four waist and a forty-inch inseam, and the
sturdy work boots and heavy socks that added at least an inch and a half to his
already impressive height.

With his blond hair tied back
and a Sacramento Kings cap on his head, Eddy thought he resembled a very tall,
very lanky cowboy, which meant he shouldn’t stand out all that much in her
small town.

Except for the sword, which he
wore strapped to his back. “Any way to disguise the sword?” She walked around
behind him and stared at the crystal glimmer shining through the leather
scabbard on his back.

“I can use a glamour to fade
its presence, but I can’t actually hide it. Not until we can communicate.”

Eddy crossed her arms over her
chest. “Dax mentioned that. Does your sword actually have a mind of its own?”

“It does.” Alton reached over
his shoulder and stroked the silver hilt. “I have to keep it sheathed because
it really wants to kill Dax, and there’s no way for me to explain, at least not
yet, that he’s one of the good guys. At some point, if it ever feels I’m
worthy, it will give me its name, and we’ll be able to converse.”

“You’re not worthy yet?” Eddy
laughed when she asked him, but it wasn’t all that hard to imagine the sword as
more than a mere weapon. The blade was crystal, as clear as glass, but faceted
like a diamond. The hilt looked like sterling silver, but there were jewels set
into the pommel. Sapphires? It was much too beautiful to look all that
functional, though the blade looked razor sharp. “How long have you had it?”

“Many thousands of years, but
I’ve never drawn blood with it. Closing the portal to Abyss was the most I’ve
ever asked of my sword, and it performed perfectly. However, it was obviously
not all that impressed with me, or it would have spoken.” He shook his head.
“Though I’ve kept it close at all times, I’ve never had reason to show it my
worth.”

“That’s just weird, that you
have to prove yourself to your sword.” Eddy planted her hands on her hips as
she studied the thing. “How will you know?”

Alton shrugged. “It will speak
to me.”

“Hi there, this is your
crystal sword talking? Like that?”

“Just like that.” He smiled,
and then he stretched his long arms overhead and yawned. “I’m going to need
some sleep before we get into any serious demon hunting. I was up all night
arguing your case before the Ruling Council of Nine. Even Lemurians need their
rest, and I’ve not slept since yesterday.”

“We all need rest.” Dax folded
his arms over his broad chest and leaned against the kitchen counter. “I’ve
come to realize this body needs to be replenished on a regular basis. Sleep,
food—things I could do without for long periods when I was a demon.”

Eddy noticed the lines of
strain on his face seemed deeper than they’d been earlier, and she knew the
pain from the curse must be growing stronger. Willow buzzed across the room and
hovered in front of Dax before settling on his shoulder.

A trail of blue sparkles
covered the front of his shirt and then slowly faded, almost as if Dax absorbed
their energy.

Eddy flashed the little sprite
a smile.
Thanks, Willow.

Willow sent a burst of
sparkles toward Eddy.
I wish there were more I could do
,
she said.
He suffers so.

I know.
Eddy tried to catch Dax’s eye, to see if he needed her, but he seemed to be
staring at something outside the kitchen window.

“Dax?” she asked. “What are
you looking at?”

He jerked his head around,
blinking. “Sorry. I was thinking. Trying to figure out how much the curse has
affected my abilities.”

“You zapped Mr. Puccini’s
turkey without any trouble.”

“That I did, but the fire and
ice are only a fraction of the demon powers I should have.” Absently, he rubbed
his hand across the front of his chest. “I’m wondering if I can still
disincorporate and take on an avatar.”

Ed glanced up from the paper
he was reading at the kitchen table. “You can do that? Even with a human body,
you can still turn to mist and slip into statues and stuff?”

Dax shook his head. “I don’t
really know. I could as a demon, but I don’t know for sure if I can anymore.
Since I’ve been given this human body of flesh and blood, I wonder if I can
animate living things. I haven’t tried it yet, though I think I know how to do
it.” He laughed. “At least in theory.”

Bumper snored and rolled over
on her back. All eyes in the kitchen focused on the dog. Eddy raised her head.
“Could you enter Bumper?”

Dax shot her a pleased glance.
“Quite possibly. I imagine I’d need Willow’s help. It will take more energy to
reduce this corporeal body to demon mist, but it should work.” He knelt down
beside the dog. Bumper opened one eye and stared at him.

“Whatdaya think, girl? You
willing to give it a try?” Willow buzzed by and hovered just over Bumper. Blue
sprinkles glittered against the dog’s curly blond coat. Bumper groaned and
closed her eyes again.

Dax raised his head and
grinned at Eddy. “I guess that’s an affirmative. Maybe tonight, after I’ve
rested. I’m afraid to try it now, when I’m too tired to think clearly.”

“Probably a good idea.” Eddy
glanced away from the dog and caught Dax studying her. She wished she knew what
he was thinking, what he felt. She smiled and then looked away, unwilling to
let him see everything in her eyes. She had the feeling that he read her like
an open book, while she was completely clueless about what was in his thoughts.

It was disconcerting, to say
the least.

“What’s the plan for tonight?”
Ed looked up from his stack of newspapers. He’d spread them out across the
kitchen table between Alton and himself. They’d picked up dailies from a couple
of neighboring communities and were looking for articles mentioning strange
current events—like demons roaming through other towns. “At least it still
looks like the only demons are right here in Evergreen,” he said. “There’s no
mention of any strange activities in any of the papers.”

“What about the
Record
?” Eddy glanced over his shoulder.

“A brief mention of the
missing statue turning up in your house after vandals destroyed the place, and
another report of damage at the nursery when someone must have gotten in and
destroyed a number of stone garden decorations. Pigs, deer, birds…that sort of
thing. Stuff Harlan probably took directly off the police reports.” He raised
his head. “Just in Evergreen, though. So far it looks as if we’re the only ones
with a demon infestation.”

“Let’s hope so,” Alton said.
“We really need to see how bad it is. Taron said many demons had come through
the portal, but he never gave me a number. That was my mistake, not to pin him
down, though with some demons getting sent back to Abyss when their avatars are
destroyed, and others teaming up, it may be impossible to ever get an exact
count.”

“Will we ever know if we get
all of them?” Eddy glanced toward Dax. He merely shrugged. Not the answer she
wanted.

Alton said, “We need to patrol
the town. Thing is, we’ll have to split up. Dax and I can’t work together.
Though I’ve not killed with it before, I know my sword has a strong affinity
for demonkind.” He grinned at Dax. “I’d hate like the nine hells to behead the
wrong demon.”

“Thank you.” Dax dipped his
head toward Alton. “I’d hate it even more if you beheaded the wrong demon. I’ve
grown quite fond of this head, which means you’re going to work with Ed while I
stick with Eddy. I suggest we wait until dark before we go out. Demonkind
should be active then, so we’re more likely to find them.”

He shoved himself away from
the counter, pulled a folded map out of his rear pocket, and spread it open on
the kitchen table. It was one of the maps the local visitor’s center handed out
to tourists.

Dax pointed to two areas
circled in red. “Let’s split this up. Eddy and I’ll take this area here, west
of the freeway, as well as the north end of town. Alton, you and Ed take the
southern and eastern sections, here. Look for evidence of demon activity—check
any stores that carry ceramic or stone creatures that could become avatars.”

Eddy pointed to a large green
section. “That’s the memorial park. There are a lot of stone statues at the
cemetery. Can the demons use those? Some of them are pretty big.”

Dax rubbed the back of his
neck. “They handled that bronze statue without any trouble.”

“What about angels?” Eddy
realized she was rubbing her neck exactly like Dax. They were all feeling the
stress. She stopped and crossed both arms over her chest. “Can demons use angel
statues for avatars? That just seems wrong.”

“As far as I know, Eddy, they
can animate anything of the earth, no matter what form it’s in, as long as it
represents a creature, real or fantasy, that can walk, fly, slither…whatever.
We know there’s a pretty good-sized stone gargoyle flying around.”

“Crap. You’re right. Then we
really need to check out the cemetery. Which reminds me.” Eddy took a deep
breath. “Dad, when Dax and I were out today, the gargoyle was right where it
belonged on the parapet of the old library. There was no way to get close
enough to see if the demon was still in it or not, but we both could sense its
malevolence. It feels evil. If you see that thing anywhere, take cover.”

“That’s why I want to go out
after dark,” Dax said. “I realize it’s going to be more dangerous then, but if
the demon’s still using the gargoyle as an avatar, we’ll have a better chance
of seeing it fly. I want to know where it goes when it’s out and about, and
what it’s doing. If possible, I want to destroy it.”

Alton frowned. “Why the
interest in the gargoyle?”

“Besides the fact it’s the one
that hit me with the curse?” Dax rubbed his hand across his chest. “It seems to
be smarter than demons in general. So far, most of the ones we’ve come across
have been pretty stupid…mindless, actually. Merely acting on instinct. The
majority of demons are like that, even on Abyss. The ones that think, the smart
ones, are the troublemakers. I think the demons in the statue that attacked us
at Eddy’s house were functioning on a higher level. That wasn’t an arbitrary
attack. They were looking for me—I’m certain of it—but they didn’t fight very
intelligently. I’m wondering if they might have been directed by another
demon.”

Alton asked, “The gargoyle?”

Dax nodded. “It was waiting
for me at the portal. Somehow it either knew I was coming, or sensed my
presence. However it knew, it was prepared with the one thing that might
actually stop me.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Without asking, Eddy
unbuttoned the top buttons of his shirt and pressed her hand to the writhing
tattoo. The heat was almost more than she could tolerate, but the thought that
Dax lived with this horrible pain was worse. She’d do whatever it took to help.

The tattoo felt like as if it
were trying to crawl off his chest. She pressed one palm against the snake’s
body and held the other right over the fanged head, forcefully holding the
damned thing still. Within a few minutes, the heat had cooled to a healthy body
temperature, and the tattoo no longer moved.

She swept her palms over the
snake’s now quiescent body and let out a deep breath. “It’s getting worse,
isn’t it?”

Dax nodded. “It is, but I can
do this. With your help, Eddy…” He wrapped his fingers around her hand and
gently squeezed. “We only need a few more days….”

He didn’t need to say more. He
only
had
a few more days, and they were flying by
much too quickly. Then he would be gone, whether they’d beaten the demons or
not. Eddy slowly fastened the buttons on his shirt and raised her head. She
caught her dad looking at her.

She didn’t meet his eyes. Instead
she glanced at the Lemurian. “Alton, why don’t you take the guest room and get
some sleep? Dax can stay in my room with me. I want to be able to control the
pain so he can rest.”

“Eddy? Honey, are you sure?”

She glanced at her father and
smiled. “Yeah, Dad. I’m sure.”

He nodded slowly. “Okay.” He
sighed and gave Eddy a small smile. “I just wanted to be certain.”

She held his gaze for a long,
very grateful moment. “Thanks, Dad. I appreciate it. C’mon, Dax. I’m beat.” She
caught his fingers and tugged lightly.

Willow buzzed around the two
of them and then landed on Alton’s shoulder. Eddy snapped her fingers for
Bumper. The dog raised her curly head, yawned, blinked slowly, and then put her
chin back down on Alton’s booted foot.

Alton continued to study the
map. Ed made a show of looking over his shoulder. Dax seemed totally unaware of
the undercurrents in the room, or the fact that, for the first time since
they’d met, he and Eddy were going to be totally alone.

Eddy hadn’t really appreciated
her king-sized bed or the fact her room had its own bathroom until now. She
paused beside her big bed and touched Dax’s arm. “Go and get a shower. You’ll
sleep better.”

He looked at her as if sleep
was the last thing on his mind. She felt a little curl of heat in her belly and
shoved him toward the bathroom. Sometimes it was necessary to remove
temptation.