Demonfire (24 page)

Nodding, Eddy finally tore her
gaze away from the door.

They’d covered about three
blocks without seeing anything out of order before Ed finally spoke. Eddy’d
been waiting for “the talk.” Her father rarely criticized her, but she knew he
was worried. There was no way to hide her feelings for Dax.

No way that she wanted to. She
loved him. For however long he had left, and long after he was gone, she was still
going to love him. Some things couldn’t be changed.

“It’s not going to be easy, no
matter how this battle pans out.”

There was no point in
pretending she didn’t understand what her dad was saying. “I know. It’s already
hard.”

“Any way that you can back off
how you’re feeling? Put some distance between the two of you?”

Eddy shook her head. They’d
paused under a big ponderosa pine shading the sidewalk. Around them, the sounds
of the neighborhood were as they’d always been: birds, the occasional barking
dog, cars passing, lawn mowers going.

Eddy raised her head and
stared into her father’s sad eyes. It was obvious he worried about her. Just as
obvious he wasn’t going to try and change her mind. “Dad, if you’d known,
before you and Mom got married, how young she’d be when she died, would you
have called off the wedding?”

Smiling, Ed slowly shook his
head. “Every day with your mother was worth the pain of losing her. Not only do
I have you, I have the memories of our life together. But Eddy, we had years.
You and Dax only have days. Knowing that…”

“Knowing that, Dad, I’d still
do exactly what I’m doing now. I know it doesn’t make sense, but even knowing
he’s not really human, I love him.”

He wrapped his arms around her
waist and hugged her close. She felt the kiss he planted on top of her head. “I
know you do, sweetie. He’s a good man. Worth loving. I just hate thinking of
what it will be like for you when he’s gone.”

She looked up at her father
and thought of all the things he could have said, but hadn’t. Instead, just as
always, he’d known exactly what she needed to hear. She laughed, well aware it
sounded more like she’d choked off a sob. “It’s gonna be really shitty, Dad,
but there’s not a thing I can do about it. Not a damned thing, except not waste
a minute while he’s here.”

“As long as it works for you…”

She nodded, tucked her hand
through his elbow, and started walking. Swallowed back the huge lump in her
throat. “It’s going to have to work, isn’t it?”

“Yep.”

Arm in arm, they continued
down the street.

Dax and Alton strolled north
along the main street. Bumper trotted alongside with her head high and her tail
curled over her back. Willow remained in Dax’s pocket, entirely out of sight.

They crossed the small park in
front of the old library building. The gargoyle sat on its parapet, as innocent
and innocuous as could be. The area was filled with the laughter of
children—what appeared to be an entire group of preschoolers with a couple of
harried-looking teachers. An elderly couple fed the pigeons, and half a dozen
tourists walked by, obviously traveling together, pointing to their maps and
speaking in a language Dax didn’t recognize.

Reluctantly, Dax and Alton
continued on in search of a quieter spot. There were too many potential
witnesses here for Alton to try a compulsion.

They finally found a quiet
corner behind the library.

“Will this compulsion of yours
affect Ed and Eddy at all?”

Alton shook his head. “No.
They’re too immersed in the battle, too aware of what’s going on. Just give me
a moment. I need to try and cover a much larger area than I’ve done before.”

He closed his eyes, raised his
hands, and appeared as if he prayed. Almost five minutes later, he lowered his
head and his hands and took a deep breath. “That should do it, at least for a
few days.”

Dax nodded. “I have a favor to
ask of you, my friend.”

Alton raised an eyebrow and
looked at him.

“When I am gone, can you take
any memories of me away from Eddy? I love her, and I will treasure my memories,
knowing they are more than I ever deserved or expected. Eddy deserves more. I
don’t want her to grieve when I’m gone. It’s not fair of me to leave her alone,
but I have no choice.” He looked into the dark green eyes of the Lemurian,
hoping that somehow, some way, he could convince him. “I don’t want to think of
Eddy missing me.”

He glanced away, wondering.
Was his a totally selfish request? Was he assuming too much? Maybe Eddy didn’t
love him the way he loved her. Maybe she wouldn’t miss him at all, but if she
felt anything at all the way…

“Is that fair to Eddy?” Alton
rested his hand on Dax’s shoulder. “I think it should be up to Eddy whether she
wants to remember you or not, don’t you?”

His shoulders slumped. He
stared at the scuffed boots he wore, her father’s boots. “I don’t know, Alton.
This is all so new to me. Emotions…love. Worrying about someone besides myself.
Can I trust you to do what you think is best?”

“You honor me, Dax.” Alton
spoke solemnly. Then he gave Dax’s shoulder a light squeeze and turned him
loose. “That’s something I can promise.”

Dax tried not to think about
the endless future without Eddy, but the days were speeding by, he hadn’t ended
the demon threat, and eternity in the void was looking like the only option
left to him. Eternity without Eddy.

He might as well be back in
Abyss.

“Let’s go back by the library
and check on the gargoyle. Can you use your powers to keep people from
remembering me if I engage the demon in battle?”

“I can try.”

Only the elderly couple
remained in the small park. They sat on a stone bench under a tree at the
corner farthest from the building, feeding a flock of milling pigeons. The
space in front of the library was empty.

Bumper growled. Blond curls
rose all along her back. Dax put his palm on her head to calm her, and looked
up into the malevolent eyes of the gargoyle. It glared down at him from its
perch on the parapet. The expression on its stone face was one of haughty
arrogance, a confidence born of past battles, the knowledge it had bested Dax
on more than one occasion.

Dax felt a shiver race along his
spine, an awareness that he was being studied as closely as he studied the
demon. Would it try and fly away, even under the brilliant morning sun? He
glanced around. No one seemed to notice him.

“Alton? Can you hide us?”

The Lemurian nodded. “I can
muffle sound and make us appear vague and unnoticeable, though we won’t
entirely disappear.” He stepped to one side, looped Bumper’s leash through his
belt to hold the growling dog close, and spread his long arms wide. A
transparent bubble of energy formed, enclosing the vacant library, the
gargoyle, the dog, the sprite, and the two men.

All sound beyond ceased.

“I can hold this for but a few
moments. No sound will escape, though determined outsiders can see through it.
Work quickly, before I grow too weak to hold it.”

Willow zipped out of Dax’s
pocket, and drew what energy she could from within the bubble. He felt the
burst of strength racing from his head to his fingertips, raised his hands, and
sent a blast of fireshot at the gargoyle.

The creature rose up on stubby
legs, screaming its banshee wail. Wings unfolded. Its eyes glowed red, and it
focused on Dax as swirling flames rolled off its stone chest.

Bumper tugged at her leash,
snarling and growling and then frantically whining her frustration at the
leash.

Dax drew more power, but now
he threw an icy mist. Immense cold following extreme heat should crack the
stone. All it seemed to do was piss off the demon. Dax focused more energy as
Willow fed it to him. The creature stumbled and fell back upon the parapet. Dax
hit it again, with flame this time, but his power was waning. Willow’s glow
dimmed. The tattoo across his chest began to writhe and twist. He felt the cold
slice of a forked tongue beneath his chin.

Willow’s light faded entirely.
Dax’s fire sputtered and died. The gargoyle rose to its stubby feet once more,
and while its stone head sagged as if the creature were weary and hurting, it
was still intact, still strong enough to take its position on the parapet.

It spread its wings in a brief
show of defiance, then folded them across its back and once again took on its
original guise of an innocent gargoyle protecting the abandoned library.

Agony raced through Dax. The
tattoo moved! The subtle rhythm of the snake’s body was impossible to ignore as
it slowly writhed the length of his. He looked down in horror as the denim
covering his thigh bulged and shifted over the squirming length of the snake.

Staring at the rise and fall
of denim over his thigh, Dax reached deep inside for his demon. Nothing.
Vaguely, through his own screaming desperation, Dax sensed Alton swaying beside
him. He knew the instant the Lemurian fell. The surrounding bubble popped out
of existence, and the sounds of the world returned. Bumper’s leash tore free of
Alton’s belt, and she took off running. Dax pressed his hands to his chest. The
snake’s head rose to meet him, but he wrapped his fingers around its powerful
jaws and held them shut.

Again he called on his demon.
This time he sensed contact, a surge of power. The muscles in his biceps,
shoulders, and chest bulged as he and his demon forced the snake’s head back
against human flesh. Burning agony shot along the tattoo’s length.

Black spots flickered in front
of Dax’s eyes. He tightened his grip around the snapping jaws with both hands.
The tail twitched and slithered over his thigh. The thick body undulated across
his groin, over his belly.

He turned his face away from
the flickering tongue and gasped. Willow lay on the freshly mowed grass, her
light extinguished, her tiny wings spread wide—a tiny butterfly as still as
death. Alton lay beside her, unconscious.

Dax couldn’t tell if the
Lemurian breathed or not.

The pain grew. His strength
faded. His demon retreated. Was it cowed by the gargoyle? He’d not thought it
possible, hadn’t wanted to admit it could happen, but the tattoo was winning.
Without Eddy’s strength to hold the creature at bay, there was no way for Dax
to stop its cursed attack.

Blinded by pain, he raised his
head and caught the gargoyle’s gaze. Weakened by the attack, the creature still
clung to its resting place atop the library, glaring at Dax with undisguised
malice. Dax returned its evil stare, even as his legs collapsed beneath him.

He fell to his knees, still
gripping the snake’s head in both hands. The gargoyle’s red eyes boring into
his were the last thing he saw before blackness overtook him.

Eddy and her dad walked
briskly along the main street of town. They’d been through the neighborhood,
and all had seemed perfectly normal. No demon activity to speak of, and no
stench of sulfur. It had seemed like a perfectly normal morning, but Eddy’s sense
of unease grew stronger with each step she took.

“Let’s go by the library. I’m
worried about Dax.”

Ed nodded. “Me too. We should
have given them a cell phone. I don’t like being out of contact like this.”

Eddy forced a smile. “I’m sure
they’re fine. What can happen to a DemonSlayer, a Lemurian, and a
will-o’-the-wisp, as long as they have Bumper?”

Ed laughed, but he picked up
the pace.

Eddy recognized Bumper’s
frantic barking before she saw the dog streaking toward them, leash flying in
the air behind her. “Ohmygod! Bumper!” She raced toward the dog and managed to
grab the trailing leash. “Where’s Dax?”

Bumper yipped once and tugged
Eddy back up the road at a full run. Ed ran beside them. “She’s taking us to
the library. Hurry!”

Eddy wasn’t about to waste breath
talking. She unclipped Bumper’s leash and gave the dog her freedom. Bumper
raced on ahead, but seemed to know not to let Eddy out of her sight. The three
of them rounded the corner at almost the same time.

Dax and Alton were sprawled on
the freshly mowed lawn. It wasn’t until Eddy fell to her knees beside Dax that
she realized Willow lay on the ground as well. “Dad, check Alton and Willow.”

She ripped Dax’s shirt open,
heedless of buttons flying everywhere. The snake reared up with glowing eyes
and jaws spread wide. Without thinking, Eddy grabbed the creature by the throat
and held it mere inches from her face.

The forked tongue lashed out,
and she fought the power beneath the scales. Pain lanced her hands, raced up
her arms as she absorbed Dax’s agony.

She’d finally realized how her
touch worked. She pulled the pain into herself, controlled it somehow with her
touch, but the agony she felt right now was merely a fraction of what Dax must
be suffering.

She was vaguely aware of Alton
sitting up beside her, of Willow’s wings beginning to flutter as Ed scooped the
tiny will-o’-the-wisp up in his hands. Bumper had stopped barking. Now she
merely paced around the small group, whimpering and growling as Eddy battled
the snake.

It glared at her with a
malevolence powered by pure evil, and it was all Eddy could do to hold the
thing by the throat and keep it from striking at either Dax or herself. The
flesh above Dax’s heart, where the snake had ripped itself free of Dax’s body,
was a bloody open wound.

Determined not to lose, Eddy
tightened both hands around the snake’s throat and forced it back against Dax’s
chest. She hated the thought of hurting him, of pressing against his ragged and
torn flesh, but there was no other way. Nothing she could do that wouldn’t cause
him more pain. As long as he was unconscious, she could only hope that he
wasn’t able to feel it.