The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers (20 page)

Something had happened to him. I could feel it like a black hole at the very
core of him. "What's wrong with you?"

He gave a predatory grin. "I'm mourning the one that got away."

I'd never seen a cambion turn, but he felt close. I stole a glance at
Grandma. She seemed to be thinking the same thing. And it worried the snot out
of me that she wasn't even saying it.

"You need to leave," I said to Max. I didn't want him around
anyone when he went over the edge. Besides, he was going about this the wrong
way. Picking the demons off one by one would likely get me killed and push him
over to the dark side. And it wouldn't do any good if they kept bringing more
in. It'd be like attacking a roach infestation by stomping just the ones you
see. Only these roaches were huge and evil and wanted to kill us. We had to
attack them at their source.

"Slayer…" Max warned.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "There are too many of them, Max. What
good is it going to do to kill one?"

Max raised a brow. "Want to tell that to the family of the man she
kills?"

"Damn it." I reached for my switch stars, despising him for saying
the one thing that would get me off track. Whatever life we saved was as
important to somebody as Grandma or Uncle Phil or my own adoptive family was to
me. "I'll go." I raised a finger in warning. "If you let me do
the killing."

Grandma looked ready to punch somebody.

"You'd better be gone by the time I get back," I warned.

Max and I shoved past the witches in the hallway. "What, Lizzie?"
Frieda protested. "Are you working for him now? We need you. And besides,
your Uncle Phil needs you. His soul's in trouble and you're gonna run off?
Don't let that devil on wheels use you."

I pinned her to the wall with a glare. "He stands up to his enemies. I
know you can respect that." I raised my voice to be heard loud and clear.
"I'm leaving, so you guys need to clear out. Now."

"What? Are you just shoving us aside?" she demanded.

"When you're a liability?" I said to her, and the group,
"yes."

That got me some attention and a few middle fingers.

Like they weren't used to being on the run.

"You're making about as much sense as tits on a tree," Frieda
snapped over the jeers of the rest of the bikers. "Well, you can kiss my
go-to-hell. Leave. It'll serve you right if we get attacked again."

Max's eyes flared. "You need to get the griffin out of Vegas."

As if I hadn't thought of that.

"This attack didn't come because of Dimitri," I said, keeping him
moving. "The succubi know I'm in Vegas. The coven is a perfect target.
They can get to me and steal energy from the witches to bring more demons
in."

Max stopped cold.

Dimitri had just made it back to the thirteenth floor. Despite his weakened
state, my honorable griffin had been schlepping luggage for the battered witches.
His shock at seeing Max quickly morphed to disgust.

Max's face hardened. "There's your energy leak."

"Dimitri is leaving too," I said, hoping I was right.

Dimitri stepped around me, blocking Max. "Not with him around." He
shoved Max into the wall.

Max scowled. "You are the reason for all of this!" No question he
was a killer. I had no doubt he'd attack anyone who got in his way.

Dimitri's hair had gone white, and he'd grown leaner, bolder than I'd ever
seen him. "I'm not the one keeping them in my basement."

"Enough." I stepped between them. "The question is what we do
about it."

"Attack," Max growled as he stormed past me.

"Wait!" He couldn't mean… I tried to see it from Max's
warped sense of justice. If the griffin is feeding them, giving them power…
Kill the griffin
.

Max leapt at Dimitri, sending them both flying down the hallway and
into—

"The wards!" Ant Eater hollered, as goo splattered and Dimitri's
head hit the far wall with a resounding crack.

"Not good." Grandma yanked me by the arm. "We're leaving.
Now."

She had to be kidding. "I'm not going to leave Dimitri and Max to be
ravaged by the she-demons."

Dimitri held Max's head underwater as Max brought his fist straight into
Dimitri's gut. "Let him go!" I screamed. Dimitri slammed against the
wall, bounced off and drove straight back at Max. "Stop!" It was like
watching two dogs fight. I had to stop them, but I couldn't jump in the middle
without getting bit. Hard.

"Go!" I told Grandma.

"Aw, hell. But the wards—" Fear burned in her eyes.

"That's why you need to go!" I said, herding the Red Skulls down
the corridor. I could feel the demons circling, looking for a way in. For the
second time that evening, I shoved Grandma through the doorway. The witches
might like to talk smack, but they were smart enough to get out of the way of a
demon. One by one, they rushed for the door.

Meanwhile Dimitri and Max had worked their way closer to the flickering
wards. "Dimitri! Stop!" If I could only get Dimitri and Max out of
here before the succubi broke through.

Dimitri had to listen. "Dimitri!"

I made a dash for them, not knowing what I'd do when I got there, but sure I
had to stop this somehow.

"Hold it!" A bullet exploded the ceiling above my head.

I spun around and couldn't believe what I saw. "Sid?"

His pudgy face shone with sweat, and he aimed a small silver revolver
straight at me. "Back up now or I'll bust a cap in that sweet ass. Come
on. All three of you."

"What are you doing, Sid?" I said, as calm as I could manage with
my heart hammering in my throat.

"Back up." Sid thrust the revolver to my chest and yanked me
against him. Fairy dust rained down around us, and I nearly choked on the
stench of stale bubble-gum. No question, Sid was stressed. Good.

Dimitri rushed for Sid, Max on his heels. Sid tried to drag me into an open
doorway as an explosion rattled the far end of the floor. Heat seared me down
to my underwear.

"Duck!" Sid hollered as the far wall burst into silver flames. I
crouched, my elbows in the water, my hands flung over my head as sparks burned
fist-size holes in the ceiling above. A soaring inferno devoured six Skeep
posts and a potted fern at the end of the hall. I shielded my eyes against the
intense glare until it exhausted itself. The flames licked away the last of the
Skeep posts and fizzled out.

"You knew—" I began. Wait, of course he knew the end of the
hallway would explode. And, my stomach flip-flopped, he said the demons were
coming.

"Ward failure," Sid muttered, shoving away from me. "Looks like
Battina cast a backup system. Smart lady. That means you got about two
minutes." He stuffed his gun down the back of his pants and used his
sleeve to wipe the fairy dust from his forehead. "I already told you I'm
making it out of here alive."

The thin ward belched smoke and super-energized air. The hallway felt like
the desert at noon, and with each step I caught a jolt of static electricity.
Lovely, considering we stood in knee-deep water.

"Lizzie! Get back!" Dimitri ordered.

I pitched myself against the wall, not even hearing the piercing shriek of
the switch star until it buried itself in the wall to my left.

Max was still going to attack?

I'd switch-star him myself if we didn't need him.

Blood poured from Max's temple and tangled in his golden hair as he sloshed
down the hallway. His eyes glowed red like a demon's. "You're feeding the
devil himself," he said, his face stiff with concentration. "You need
to die."

Max the brave, the unstoppable, the lone vigilante lunged for the man I
loved.

We had to immobilize him and get him out of here. No way we could face what
was coming, even with Max.

Dimitri thrust out a fist and caught him by the throat. Max slammed into the
water. He shot to his feet, but Dimitri caught him in midair, hurtling him down
again. Shock ricocheted through me. How strong was Dimitri? Even after he'd
been drained.

Max had bested demons. He was half damned himself.

"Stop, Max!" I ordered. "Think! We need to leave now!"

His jaw set in a snarl. "First things first." He glared at Dimitri,
hate burning in his eyes. "You are a scourge, a plague." Max breathed
heavily, water dripping off him.

Max attacked again. Dimitri spun sideways and grabbed the last switch star
from Max's belt. He held it down at his side, as the red blades began to churn.
I gasped. I knew Dimitri had slayer in him. I'd put it there myself. Still, it
was an entirely new thing to see the blades churning like they would for me.

Max had to know it was over.

He didn't. Max launched himself at Dimitri and they toppled sideways, the
switch star burying itself in Max's side.

"No!" I choked.

Steam hissed from the wound. Thick blood surged like a pot boiling over,
searing the star, melting it as if it had been dipped in acid. Max's eyes
widened. He let out a choked gurgle before collapsing headlong into the water.
Blood bubbled to the surface.

I cringed at the smell of it, like singed copper mingled with the
overwhelming scent of sulfur. At the same time, I refused to believe it. He had
to be only half dead, half… holy heck. I rushed to Max's side. His blood
sizzled at my skin.

"Max!" I dug through a wad of seaweed, felt for a pulse, trying to
ignore my own blood rushing through my ears.

My limbs weakened and my insides churned. Bent on my own misery, I
practically fell sideways when a wave of energy slammed into me. It surged
through me, filling me to the core. My strength surged, along with my
determination, and an immense desire to kick butt. My demon slayer mojo had
never kicked in so strong before. Then I knew.

Max was dead.

His captured demons rejoiced in an immense wave of power. It pounded in a
heady, almost addicting rhythm. I reached out blindly, bracing myself against
the wall as the force of seventeen starving demons threw me off balance. I
yanked my hands back and braced them on my hips. It took immense concentration
to stay that way. I felt the demons' strength growing, expanding. They fled
Max's prison, ready to devour Vegas and their newfound freedom.

Dimitri's eyes shot from yellow to orange to red. His skin paled and his
muscles withered. We had nearly twice as many demons free in Vegas and they
were draining him, killing him right before my very eyes.

Demons pounded on the wards until the magic gave way. My demon slayer
instincts screamed for me to run headlong into the fray, face the new succubi
threat, drive them out as I slogged through the wasteland of Max's demon blood.

Too bad they had me outnumbered by about forty to one.

Energy rolled down the hall like a wind. I forced myself to stand tall.

As if giving life to my greatest fear, succubi shrieked through the charred
holes in the ceiling. Wave after wave, they roiled upon each other until all I
could see was black, leathery bodies. The stench of sulfur made it almost
impossible to breathe. They surged, red eyes burning with hunger.

Max was dead. Dimitri was dying and I'd be next.

"Sid!" He wanted to be a badass fairy, well, here was his chance.
"Sid!" I forced every bit of will, every bit of strength and
desperation I had into that one word. "Sid!"

For a moment, the world seemed to slow. I tried to call out again, but
couldn't. And an instant later, I knew why. Time began to slowly rewind itself.
The weight lifted from my body. I shifted backward to Dimitri, back to Max's
body, backward until Max and Dimitri fought to the death.

Sid's voice echoed in my ears. "Told you that you needed my help. Brace
yourself. I'm not too good on landings."

With a pop and a sickening heave, time lurched forward once again.

Dimitri thrust out a fist and caught Max by the throat. Max slammed into the
water. He shot to his feet, but Dimitri caught him in midair, hurtling him down
again.

"You are a scourge, a plague." Max breathed heavily, water
dripping off him.

"He'll kill you!" I yelled, directing every bit of will I had at
the hunter.

Max, the suicidal jerk, ignored me.

"Dimitri will kill you!"

Max's mouth quirked at the corner. "Impossible."

"He's part slayer, Sherlock. And answer me this—if you die, what
happens to the starving demons you're holding?"

Max touched his side, almost as if he remembered.

I took advantage of the break to squeeze in between them. I laid my palm
flat against Dimitri's chest and tried to work him backward. He didn't budge.

"If you don't stop now, Dimitri, you're going to kill him. His demons
will eat you alive."

And then they'll come for me.

Dimitri's eyes—brown, still brown thank goodness—seemed to
remember.

"So both of you. Step back!" I ordered, voice cracking. To my
amazement, they did.

"Dimitri," I said to the impossibly handsome, thick-skulled,
entirely too focused griffin on my right, "listen to me. You have part
slayer in you. Push it and Max dies." Dimitri stared at Max, his eyes
widening slightly.

Max barked out a laugh. "It's not enough."

I wanted to wring his thick neck. "Think hard. Remember. You know it
is."

Max unsheathed his last switch star.

"Do it and you die, Max."

Max's face, tight with concentration, gave nothing away. "Yes, well I
don't care."

I didn't doubt that for a second. On some level, I think Max wanted to die.
"That's all fine and dandy, but I'm not fighting seventeen extra demons
just so you can take the easy way out."

Max could do whatever he wanted—after we stopped the succubi, saved
Dimitri and Phil, and kept me from, well, I didn't know what the dark mark was
doing to me.

I glanced at the wards. Battina had done a good job. Barring an attack from
Max's seventeen starving demons, I think we had a minute.