The Last of the Demon Slayers (24 page)

“We need to surprise them,” he said, looking out at the castle. “And what better way then by letting them feel secure?”

Maybe he did have a point.

He nudged me. “Take a deep breath. Relax. We have a few minutes.”

Oh sure. Let’s whip out a game of Parcheesi. Or those ice cream cones.

“What’s the plan?

“You are definitely my daughter.”

“Why? I don’t see how you have a plan.”

“Oh, I do. Here we go,” he said, excited and proud. “I sift us in -”

“What do you mean sift?”

“I can disappear in one place and re-appear in another. As long as the places are fairly close together. And in the same dimension. I’m an angel,” he said, as if that explained everything.

“Gotcha.” We let the ‘fallen’ part slide.

“Can demons sense you sifting?” I asked.

“Of course. That’s why we throw out our light crystals and start shooting.”

“Oh great.”

“You have a better plan?” he asked.

“Unfortunately, no.”

“We cut Rachmort out of his bonds, or if he’s not attached to the wall, we take him lock, stock and barrel.”

“And we sift out,” I finished.

“Yes.” He practically clapped.

“Where?”

“I have a place I use when I’m here-” he began.

No good. “Zatar will know about that.”

“A secret place,” he assured me. “Of course Zatar will track us in an instant. The demon dust should slow him down. That’s where we count on Rachmort to give us a portal.”

It made me nervous. “I don’t know, Dad.” A lot had to go right - even if Rachmort was alive and conscious.

“You have a better idea?” he asked.

“No.”

I hated to admit it, but his plan was all we had. It was as simple as we could make it. Plus, if Dad was right about sifting and where to find Rachmort, we might be able to pull it off.

Unless we sifted into a room full of demons.

Focus.

I couldn’t control that. The only thing I could do was trust Dad and fight like Hades. I leaned my head against the dingy gray wall.

Oh for my days as a preschool teacher when the little demons left school at noon.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the castle. Suppose we did make it out of here in one piece… “What’s Zatar going to do to you if he discovers you broke Rachmort out?”

He didn’t answer. He just kept looking out over no-man’s land.

“Dad?” I pushed.

“It won’t be good.”

“Now I know where I got my gift for understatement.”

He turned to me. “You know what? I don’t care. For the first time, I’m meeting Zatar head on. I need to do this, Lizzie.”

“It’s brave. And stupid.”

“Kind of like you trying to be a demon slayer without any training.”

“How did you know about that?”

“You’re starting to get a reputation.” He broke into a smile. “This is…” he began, searching for the words. “I was going to say hell, but it’s not.” He looked at me with such warmth that I melted a bit. “This is not how I would have ever chosen to get to know you, Lizzie. But right now, I can’t think of anybody else I’d rather have with me.”

Warmth crept into my belly. “Me too.”

Sure, it wasn’t a normal father-daughter relationship, but somehow it fit, although I could have done without the demon castle and purgatory.

He grew serious. “I never wanted to go, Lizzie. I wanted to raise you. I left because I didn’t want you exposed to this world. You deserved better.”

See, that’s where he had it wrong. I hadn’t wanted
better
. I’d just wanted to fit in.

“I’m glad I have you now,” I said, looking out at the massive gray walls. I took a deep breath, feeling the weight of the neutralizers against my stomach.

“Here,” I said, drawing out one of the guns. I didn’t need to carry both of them anymore.

Dad grinned as he took it.

“Listen, can you sift me in and out from here?” I asked. Not that I wanted to break into Zatar’s compound by myself, but… “If he’s going to sense you or hurt you –”

“No chance.” Dad tried to stuff the gun into the top of his pajama pants and when that didn’t work, he gave up and held it low at his side. “Don’t you see, Lizzie? I have to go in there. I haven’t felt this hopeful in a long time. If we get Rachmort, we have a good shot at winning this.”

“Brave and stupid.”

“Like father, like daughter.”

I couldn’t help grinning. “In that case, I have some cutters for you,” I said, sliding them out from my hip.

He hefted them before clipping them to his pants.

“And a crystal.”

He shoved it in his pocket and held up his neutralizer. “Ready?” he asked, offering me his hand. I took it and he squeezed tight. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Eighteen

I’d expected sifting with a minor angel to be like flying. Or maybe like passing through a warm, inviting curtain of air. Instead it was like a big sneeze.

“Hold on,” Dad cautioned.

No problem there. I clutched his hand and covered my weapons as the pressure built. I wasn’t about to let my neutralizer or anything else fly out of my possession and into the abyss. Not this time.

“Brace yourself,” Dad said, “Aaa…”

Boom!

We slammed to a knee-rattling stop inside a pitch black chamber. The smell of sulfur was enough to knock me sideways. Definitely a demon’s lair.

My eyes watered and my nose tickled and I let out a sinus-rattling, “Aaa-cho!”

Dad gripped my hand tighter.

“I got it,” I said, attempting to extricate myself. His fingers closed around mine in a vise grip.

What? Was he losing his nerve?

“Let go.” I forced myself out of his hold.

No doubt Zatar knew we were here. He’d be barging in at any moment. I tossed my crystal to the floor, watching it shatter into brilliant blue spheres of light.

We were in a round chamber with gray stone walls and a ceiling that stretched higher than the light afforded by the crystals. There was one door to my right, zero windows. It wasn’t the best defensive position. If I had to guess, I’d say we were probably in one of the turrets.

Zebediah Rachmort sat tied to a heavy wooden chair. His white Einstein hair burst into an even bigger mess than usual. His hands bent at an unnatural angle behind the wide back of the chair and blood dried on his fingers and crusted around the chains at his wrists.

“Keep your back to the wall,” I told Dad. I’d learned that one from Max.

I approached Rachmort carefully, aware this could be a trap.

“Who is it?” He struggled to turn. “Get away from me!”

My mentor wore a dirty gold waistcoat over a formerly white shirt and rumpled brown pants. His eyes were dull and glassy. I’d never seen him like this. Rachmort was the kind of guy who always looked like he was about to tell a joke. Of course I’d never seen Rachmort in the clutches of a demon.

“Hush, it’s me,” I said. His shoulders sagged in recognition. “Hold on. I’m going to see if you’re wired.” I ran my hands over him, looking for magical traps.

He strained to see me. “You have to get out of here. The demon wants you!”

“I know,” I said, speaking low, purposefully calm. “Believe me, we won’t be wasting any time.”

He was clean.

I grabbed Rachmort around the arm. “Sift us, Dad. Now!”

Dad braced his hands against the gray stone, fear written on his face. “No,” he shook his head. “Not yet. I need more strength.”

“What?” He had to be kidding. That wasn’t part of the plan. “How long?”

“A minute,” he insisted, “at the most.”

Yeah, well I didn’t know if we had that long. I couldn’t believe Dad didn’t warn me about a sifting delay.

“At the most,” I warned him.

I reached for the cutters at my hip. Maybe I could get us out of here. If I could get Rachmort unshackled, he could open up a portal.

“Lizzie,” Rachmort said, struggling to see me, “this whole thing is a trap,” he insisted.

“Yeah, I kind of figured that,” I said, working my saw into the bands at his wrists. Maybe Zatar would get cocky and take his sweet time.

Or maybe he’d attack us any second.

“Did you know these cuffs are made of a titanium alloy only found in purgatory?” Rachmort asked, excited and a little breathless. The professor was back.

“Tell me later,” I said, struggling. Dang. If these cutters were the sharpest around, I’d hate to see the dullest. Or maybe we were dealing with enchanted metal. Cripes. “If I get one hand loose, can you zip us out of here?” I asked.

“Yes,” he nodded sharply.

Now where was my Dad? I spotted him against the wall.

“We need you over here.”

Rachmort cleared his throat. “You do realize that I trained you so you could stay out of this place.”

“Or survive it.”

“He’s here!” Rachmort shouted.

A second later, Zatar, Earl of Hades shimmered through the door. Showoff.

The photograph in Dad’s book had been spot on. Zatar had the scaled body of a lizard and face of an angel. Silver and white wings of an angel sprouted from his leathery back.

He was flanked by six lesser beings on each side. They looked human, but I knew better.

Zatar gave me an intimate, smoky look like that of a lover. His wild golden hair fell across one eye and I almost forgot what he was.

Then he smiled, showing sharp bloody teeth. “Impeccably done.”

I wasn’t sure if he was referring to my sifting or Rachmort’s job as bait. Either way, we weren’t going to stick around to find out. Dad had frozen a few feet away. I ran straight for him, the neutralizer slapping at my belly. I grabbed Dad’s hand, then snatched hold of Rachmort’s arm, still chained to the chair.

“Now!” I said, bracing myself for my Dad to angel us the frick out of there. I hadn’t even fired a shot. Who cared? We were leaving.

Why weren’t we leaving?

“Dad?” I pleaded, panic rising.

His eyes were wild. “I can’t sift. It’s not working.”

Wrong answer. “Make it work!”

His mouth gaped. “I can’t.”

H-e-double-hockey-sticks.

I couldn’t fight Zatar. I’d barely made it out of a fight alive with a lesser demon and that was when I had my switch stars.

Zatar grinned like a school boy. “This is so much more fun than a dreg.” He lowered his chin and shot green darts out of his eyes.

My dad screamed.

      
The demonic darts shimmered with an unearthly energy and streaked straight for my neck.

      
I reached deep down and put on the brakes, slowing the moment enough to get a good look. I’d seen these things once before – in my bathroom when I first learned about my powers.

      
Grandma had called them vox, part of a demon’s energy. Zatar’s vox shone like large, thick glow sticks. And they were sharp on the soul as broken glass.

      
I reached out and touched the closest one. It sizzled on the end of my fingertip. Hot, like touching a stove.

Sweet switch stars. This was going to hurt.

I winced as I grabbed the vox around the middle. Then I fired it lawn-dart-style at Zatar’s head.

“Biiiiittttch!” The demon screamed as I fired another and another.

He threw one of his minions out in front of him. The vox smashed into its temple and it exploded into a million flecks of light.

Another blasted apart on the wall behind Zatar as he twisted to the side.

My hands seared with pain as I fired and fired, catching more minions, but not Zatar. The demon was too fast.

My arms sizzled from the energy in the air and every hair on my body stood at attention. My mouth tasted like sulfur and no doubt my hands had already begun to blister.

Zatar frowned. “Damned demon slayer.”

I fought the urge to collapse. Okay. That was something. My body throbbed in protest, but I’d done it – I’d ticked off the demon.

It was a small victory for my sanity. I had to bury my fear, my hurt, my utter terror that this thing could not only kill me but trap my soul forever. Because if I thought on that too long, I’d be just as frozen as Dad.

“Your dregs didn’t work either,” I shouted over the buzzing in my head.

Two humanoid creatures lay dead at his feet.

Make that three. The last body teetered toward Zatar and he shoved it away. “You’re the one,” he said as his bodyguard fell in a lifeless, soulless heap. “Excellent.”

He fired again, and this time the vox flew faster, blazing white at the tips.

This time, I couldn’t slow them down.

Holy hell. I ducked the first one.

“Dad, watch out!” I hollered as the second nearly clipped him.

We couldn’t keep doing this.

“Unchain me!” Rachmort demanded.

Oh sure. Why not? It’s not like I was doing anything.

I caught the third one, searing my hand.

“Ow, ow, ow!” I aimed straight for Zatar’s head. The remaining minions opened up with their own and I dove to the floor, knocking Rachmort’s chair over with me as red vox sailed over our heads and burst into the wall behind us.

Rachmort grunted as he slammed into the floor. “Unchain me!”

“I’m,” ignoring the searing pain in my hands, I dug for the neutralizer, “busy!” What I wouldn’t give for a half dozen switch stars.

“I told you, she’s mine!” Zatar shouted, shooting his vox and frying the demons on his left. They fell into a sizzling heap.

I used the momentary distraction to grab my cutters off the floor.

“Slice at a right angle,” Rachmort ordered, head cocked around his shoulder.

“Do you ever stop teaching?” I asked, making my cuts clean and quick.

I got his left hand out and stuck the neutralizer in it.

He got off a half dozen shots. They bounced off Zatar. Two creatures to his right went down. But not Zatar.

Never Zatar.

Dad cowered against the wall.

“Shoot, Dad!”

Zatar let loose with a blaze of vox.

Rachmort threw up his hand.
“Caladai taniom abberaat!”

A fiery silver portal sprang up between us and the demon. The vox slammed into it, blazing scarlet. I didn’t care if the portal swallowed them or destroyed them or sent them to Santa Claus as a Christmas gift. We were leaving.