The Hunt (9 page)

She cut across the football field, heading for the
school building. It wasn’t too far way. As she circled around the bleachers opposite where she’d been sitting, she heard a shriek. She whipped back towards the field – and saw all the cheerleaders running towards her. Not jogging or trotting. Running full out. Squealing, shouting, crying, howling.

‘Is it still back there?’ one of the girls yelled.

‘I don’t know, I don’t know, just get inside!’ Jenna shouted back.

Jess grabbed Eve’s arm as the crowd surged past. She kept racing for the school, pulling Eve with her. ‘What happened?’ Eve cried.

‘It had a face!’ Jess exclaimed, running faster. Eve stumbled, trying to keep up.

‘Wait. That’s the guys’ locker room!’ Eve yelled.

Too late. Victoria had already shoved the door open and the cheerleaders rampaged through, Jess still clinging tightly to Eve’s arm.

‘I knew this day would come,’ Eli Belfer called. He had on his sweatshirt and a pair of boxers with red and pink kisses. His feet were bare. ‘I’ve dreamed about it!’

Luke rushed over. ‘What’s going on?’ He tightened the knot on the drawstring of his grey sweatpants. His chest was bare.

‘The animal – it’s out there. The one that killed Kyle and Ms Taylor!’ Vic burst out.

‘It wasn’t even … It had a face!’ Jess added. She kept saying that. Eve wasn’t even sure what she meant.

‘Girls, girls. You didn’t have to make up a story to come in here,’ Bill Salvatore told them. ‘We understand that you’ve been dying for a peek.’

‘No, it was real,’ Victoria told him. ‘If we wanted a peek, we would have gone to the nearest college, where the guys have actually matured.’

‘You really saw something?’ Dave asked from a bench in front of one of the lockers. His face looked almost grey, and Eve knew he was thinking about Kyle.

‘Yes!’ three or four of the girls answered at once.

Eve knew that she had to get back out there. Her eyes met Luke’s, and a second later they were running from the locker room.

‘I’m coming!’ Jess called, racing after them. It sounded like the whole football team and all the cheerleaders were coming too.

‘Where was it?’ Eve cried, her hair whipping across her face as she ran.

‘Down by the far goalpost,’ Jess answered. ‘Be careful,’ she added as they tore across the grass. ‘It’s huge.
Huge as a horse. But furry like a dog. And with a face!’

Luke skidded to a halt at the goalpost and started scanning the area. Eve and Jess stopped next to him and started looking around too. ‘Is it gone? I think it might be gone,’ Jess said breathlessly.

‘Maybe all that squealing and screaming scared it off,’ Luke joked. ‘It scared me a little when you came into the locker room.’

Eve glanced over at him, and her eyes snagged on his broad shoulders and tight abs. He was seriously hot.
So not the time
, she told herself, forcing her gaze away from his bare chest. She turned in a slow circle, looking for the creature. Everybody else was wandering the field searching for the beast too.

‘You said it was as big as a horse, but hairy like a dog?’ Luke asked Jess. He sounded doubtful.

‘Uh-huh,’ Jess answered. ‘And it had this horrible face. Not a dog face. A little like a monkey’s. And its eyes were red!’

Supposedly
, Eve suddenly thought. ‘Jess, do you think …? We were kind of freaking each other out with those stories about Creepy and the cannibals. Do you think maybe you guys just saw a regular dog, a big one, but since you were already scared you—’

‘No,’ Jess said firmly. ‘It wasn’t a dog.’

‘There’s nothing out here,’ Bill called from partway down the field. ‘It’s like I said. They wanted a look at our chiselled bodies, but they were too shy to say so.’

‘I’m not shy,’ Jenna answered loudly. She reached over and pinched his butt. ‘He does have nice glutes,’ she added.

‘Does anyone want to test mine?’ Eli shouted. ‘My butt is available for pinching, squeezing, whatever. Just form a line. No shoving. Everyone will get a turn.’

‘It really was here,’ Jess said to Eve and Luke. ‘And it wasn’t … It wasn’t anything you could find anywhere on Earth. The red eyes. It was like they had a fire in them, way down inside.’

‘I believe you,’ Eve assured her. Luke nodded.

It was confirmed. They had another demon in their town.

‘Friday night. Woo-hoo!’ Eve muttered to herself as she got in the car next to her mom. She and Luke and probably Jess – she was still working on getting a yes from her parents – had decided to meet up for more research and woo-woo practice. Luke had been really psyched about the diary entry written by Eve’s greatgreat-great-grandmother. He was eager to find out what else Eve could do with her powers.

Usually Eve and Jess and the rest of the girls did what they called ‘the prowl’ on Friday nights, just the whole group of them going out together, doing anything that was fun. But what with Ms Taylor’s body being discovered yesterday and Kyle’s death, Deepdene was mostly shut down. People were doing only what was necessary – popping to the grocery store, the drugstore, places like that. Hardly anyone was going out to eat or to the movies or do anything else social. They were too shaken up, too afraid to leave their homes.

‘You look nice,’ her mom said. She raised one eyebrow. ‘So nice I’m starting to worry about the next AmEx bill.’

‘I didn’t go too crazy this month,’ Eve reassured her. She ran her fingers over the delicate heather-grey wool of her new sweater. She hadn’t been able to resist it when she’d spotted it while window-shopping on Main Street. The way it criss-crossed in front made the fabric drape perfectly.

‘Just as long as you don’t spend so much time shopping that you let your grades slip. You’ve got to keep your focus on—’

‘Getting the grades to get into college,’ Eve finished with a little sigh. Since she’d started high school a few
months ago, Eve and her mom had had this conversation many times. She flipped on the radio, hoping her mom would take the hint that they didn’t need to have the college talk again. It seemed to work. Her mother started humming along instead of lecturing.

Eve’s lips twitched as she wondered how her mom would react if Eve told her it wasn’t the shopping that was taking up her studying time. It was the demons.

This demon is going to be so much easier to deal with than Mal was
, Eve thought. It was at least part dog, for starters. It wouldn’t be as clever and devious, would it? Eve flexed her fingers. Whatever the doggie brought, she felt ready to face it. She was more in control of her powers than she’d been the last time she’d had to kill a demon.

Don’t get too cocky
, she warned herself. Y
ou’re still talking demon. And at least two people are already dead
.

Her stomach soured. People were already dead. She knew Jess and Luke would want to be with her for the fight, but they didn’t have her power. She couldn’t imagine her world without Jess. Jess had been there for almost every important moment of Eve’s entire life, and vice versa.

And Luke … They hadn’t been friends all that long
at all, but she didn’t even want to think about the aching hole that would be left inside her if anything happened to him.
Don’t think about it then
, she told herself.
Think about something good
.

The first thing that popped into Eve’s head was Luke again. But this time, Luke and luuurve. Had Jess been right about him? Did he have the hots for Eve?

When she thought about it, it did seem as if lately Luke had been looking at her a little more. But maybe that was just because the Deepdene Witch was going to have to jump into action again, and he was worried about her.

He’d held her in his arms outside the office yesterday. But that hadn’t been about Eve. Not really. It was about giving comfort to someone who was scared and shocked. And it had weirded them both out a little.

Still, remembering the moment sent a rush of warmth through Eve’s body. She’d wanted to hold on to him for ever. Was that just because of being scared and shocked?
You’re not trying to decide if you like him; you’re trying to decide if he likes you
, she told herself. Within about a week of meeting Luke, Eve had known she was never going to
like
like him. He was a player, and falling for a player could only lead to a broken heart.

But if he luuurves you, he wouldn’t be a player any more
, a little voice whispered in her head, a little voice that sounded annoyingly like Jess in know-it-all mode.

‘Players don’t fall in love,’ Eve said aloud.

‘What?’ her mother asked.

‘Nothing,’ Eve answered. She was sure her mother would think luuurve would be a major distraction from doing everything that needed to be done to get into a good college.

They turned onto Margery Lane, and a few moments later her mother pulled to a stop in front of the rectory. ‘Have fun,’ she said.

‘I will.’ Eve climbed out of the car and started for the church next door. They’d decided to meet there. With a demon on the loose, they thought the extra protection of the church’s gargoyles was a good idea.

But as she walked towards the safety of the church, a sense of
wrongness
filled Eve. She had the itchy feeling that someone was watching her. She didn’t hear any footsteps, but still she could have sworn someone – or something – was following her.

She took a quick glance over her shoulder and didn’t see anything but shadows in the growing darkness.
It’s the dark that’s making you nervous
, she told
herself.
And the shadows
. Malphas’s demons had sometimes taken on the form of shadows.

You’re almost there
, she thought. She was halfway across the church courtyard now. She tried to keep thinking about Luke. That had been a good distraction from bad thoughts before.

He’d known that she would want hot chocolate when they went to Java yesterday. That meant he’d noticed things about her. Noticing usually indicated some level of like. But Luke was the kind of player who liked all the girls he flirted with. He wasn’t just trying to get something over on them.

The disturbing feeling of being followed hadn’t disappeared when she started thinking about Luke again. Actually it was a little stronger.
No one’s there
, Eve told herself. She wanted to check again, but didn’t. That would be giving in to her nerves.

Almost as soon as she had that thought, she heard a rush of footsteps coming towards her. Fast. Before she could yell or turn round something clamped over her mouth and an arm pressed against her throat. She could take only the shallowest of breaths.

The platforms of her boots skidded across the paving stones as Eve was pulled across the courtyard. She gave a jerk, trying to break free. The grip on her
didn’t loosen at all. God, it was strong! An image flashed through Eve’s brain – her body, covered in claw marks and bites, all her blood drained.

Not gonna happen
. She slammed her elbow back, using every particle of strength she had. Her attacker gave a grunt. The arm around her throat let up a little. Eve twisted her head and managed to bite one of the fingers covering her mouth, tasting salty blood. Fingers, so it wasn’t the dog that had been at the school. Unless it could change forms. Mal and the others had been able to.

The creature hissed with rage as Eve managed to slide down its body and out of its grasp. She spun round to face the demon – arms outstretched in front of her.

Trench stood a few feet away, his body crouched in a fighting stance. Trench? The reporter? Was he the demon? He was always lurking around somewhere – at the funeral, at Java, at school. Why hadn’t she put it all together?

The man growled and slowly advanced on her. Eve gasped, fear filling her mind.

But she couldn’t afford to be afraid.

She shoved all her thoughts away, squeezed her eyes shut and focused on her power. As she concentrated it
quickly grew bright, brighter than the moon. When Eve felt it fill her body – toes to head to hands – she let out a scream of fear and anger and shot out two bolts.

She opened her eyes in time to see Trench fall to the ground. Eve backed away a step. Trench’s body was spasming, his coat smouldering. He managed to turn his head towards Eve. His eyes glistened with hatred and rage. Well, Eve had plenty of rage too. Demons! Why couldn’t they just go limp and
die
?

She thrust out her hands again, aiming at Trench. Lightning edged in flames flew from her fingertips, arced through the air and struck him. He let out a howl as his coat caught fire.
Deserved it
, Eve thought wildly.
That thing was ugly
.

He began rolling over and over to put the fire out. The second blast hadn’t killed him. Far from it. As soon as the fire was out, Trench leaped to his feet. He reached behind him and whipped out a wickedlooking sword. He raised it over his head.

Before he could make another move, Eve let her power fly, her hair storming around her face, each strand electric. Trench jerked the sword towards the orange-tipped lightning bolts hurtling towards him. He laughed as the bolts hit the steel of the sword
and exploded into a shower of harmless sparks.

Eve jerked her hands down, aiming at Trench’s legs, and blasted again. Faster than she would have thought possible, Trench dropped to the ground and rolled over and onto his knees, slashing the sword out in time to intercept her lightning bolts and repel them.

All right. See what you can do with this
, she thought as he gracefully regained his feet. This time as she threw her power out she moved her hands from side to side, sending bolts at Trench from many directions almost simultaneously.

One glanced off his shoulder, causing him to release an agonized groan. But the rest he intercepted, his body bending forward, then arcing back, as he swung his sword quickly enough to meet each bolt. The metal turned a glowing red around the edges.

Could she melt it? Was that possible?
Remember Annabelle. Anything’s possible
, she told herself.

Maybe. Maybe when she was fully juiced. But the level of power in the reservoir had gone down. Eve took a breath, gathered all that remained. This time she didn’t try to hit Trench’s body. This time she aimed at the sword. The bolts crackled and spat as they hit the steel – then they shattered into sparks.