A Demon in Dallas (13 page)

Without pause for thought, I lunged for the door and managed to reach it before the demon. I sprinted through the narrow corridor, through the first room, ducked under the beam and ran up the stairs.

“Silvia!” I shouted as I ran. I could hear the demon on the stairs behind me, but I didn’t stop or look over my shoulder to see if he was gaining on me. I burst through the door at the top and ran around the bar. Silvia was lying in a heap in the middle of the dance floor. I ran over to her and knelt at her side. She was conscious, barely, but there was a cut on her temple trickling blood.

Jumping up, I held out my stake. “Who’s there?” I said into the darkness. Barbatos moved around the bar. When he saw Silvia’s body on the floor, his mouth curved up into a smirk.

“Oh dear. Looks like the witch had a nasty accident.”

“Who’s helping you?” I demanded to know. I kept my eyes on the demon, but used my peripheral vision to search the bar. “Is it the warlocks?”

The demon threw his head back and laughed. In an instantaneous flash, he’d crossed the room and was standing in front of me, his black, soulless eyes boring into mine.

“Who did this to you, Silvia?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the demon.

Just when I thought she was about to answer me, the demon began to shriek.

“Raven, help me!” he wailed. The desperate, pleading voice that left his mouth was Matt’s. “Help me!”

Matt’s ear-piercing scream from the sewer two days ago was the next thing to leave the demon’s lips. Gooseflesh rose on my arms and I took a step back, nearly falling over Silvia’s body. Those words, that scream had haunted me since I’d left the sewers. I’d failed Matt.

“Help me, help me, help me!” The chanting went on and on, louder each time until I had to place my hands over my ears to block out the wail, which was so loud it was painful. Mouth agape, the demon’s face contorted, twisted and transmuted until he was hideously unrecognisable.

“Why didn’t you help me, Raven?” Matt’s voice bellowed. “You could have saved me! I’m dead because of you!”

“No!” I shouted fiercely. “I don’t believe you. Matt is not dead!”

Silvia had begun to drag herself up from the floor. She was clutching at my leg, trying to get me to pay attention to her, trying to tell me something. I tore my eyes away from Barbatos’ face, which was beginning to look more and more like Matt’s.

“Do not engage with him,” she instructed. “He will lie to you, try to trick you.” Silvia began muttering an incantation and instantly the demon’s head swivelled in her direction. His face filled with fury and he took a purposeful step in her direction. I reached down, grabbed hold of Silvia’s arm and dragged her to her feet. I’d just managed to push her behind me when the demon lunged, his fingers slicing through air, the nails as long and sharp as talons. I raised my stake to protect myself, but the demon moved back quickly. He flicked his hand as though he was swatting an irritating fly and I flew backwards with such force that my back slammed against the far wall and I crumbled to the floor.

I could do nothing but look on in horror as the demon stalked across the room to Silvia and struck out with those sharp claws. Blood spurted from her neck and she fell to the floor, choking as her blood pooled around her.

“No!” I shouted helplessly. The demon merely cackled.

I looked on in disbelief as a slim figure stepped out of the darkness. “It’s about time that interfering old hag got what was coming to her,” Cassandra drawled.

“You!” If Cassandra was here then… “Where is Connor?” I demanded, getting quickly to my feet and glaring at her.

Cassandra crossed to the demon and stared at him in admiration. “Connor is…incapacitated, shall we say? It seemed Oliver’s wolves were too strong for him to fight on his own. You shouldn’t have left him, Raven.” She threw her head back and laughed.

I shook my head. She had to be lying, had to, but I didn’t call her on it. I needed answers. I gazed at the demon. “Barbatos? I thought that you and Oliver were an item.”

“Oh, please,” Cassandra snorted. “Do you really think I wanted anything to do with that idiot? He was pathetic. A waste of space. But he served his purpose.”

“And what was that?”

A wicked gleam flashed in Cassandra’s eyes. “It was I who told him about Barbatos and the book. I needed to cover my own ass with my coven. I had to make them believe that I was doing everything in my power to get the book back.” She chuckled, clearly pleased with herself then continued, “That’s what the location spell was for. Did you enjoy our little parlour trick?” Cassandra looked down at Silvia’s body and curled her upper lip. “My coven is filled with idiots. But, with the book, I’ll be so powerful that they won’t even matter. They won’t be able to touch me. Do you know they never even suspected that it was I who stole the book in the first place?”

“You,” I repeated, looking from Cassandra to the demon and back again.

She smiled smugly. “Of course. Who do you think summoned Barbatos?” She patted his arm. “He has always been under my control.”

I cut a quick glance at the demon to gauge his reaction to that declaration and to say that he was pissed off would be an understatement. His face was contorted with rage and undeniable hatred. So why didn’t he kill her? There could only be one reason.

“Where is the book now?” I asked.

Cassandra grinned. “It’s safe. In fact, it’s quite close.” After she spoke, I noticed her gaze flick momentarily to the embroidered, cotton purse that was slung over her left shoulder and draped across her right hip. Surely she wasn’t carrying the book with her. When I chanced a glance at the demon, he was staring at her with the same confusion in his eyes as though he couldn’t believe she’d be that stupid. But maybe that was the whole point. What better place was there to hide something than in plain sight?

Panic flickered across her face when Cassandra realised that she’d inadvertently given away the grimoire’s location.

The demon held his hand out palm up then closed his fingers as though he was clutching an apple. Cassandra screamed and fell to her knees, her hand shooting up to press against her heart. Calmly, the demon ripped the purse from her shoulder and rifled through it. If the smile on his face was any indication then he’d found the grimoire. His next action confirmed that. He made a twisting motion with the same hand and Cassandra screamed again and fell backwards, her body becoming instantly limp. Her wide, unblinking eyes were turned in my direction. The demon looked across the room, eyebrows raised as if he’d just remembered I was in the room.

I watched in horror as he lifted his hand again and made the same twisting motion and couldn’t contain the scream that ripped from my lungs when pain lanced through my chest. It felt like my heart had been caught in a vice. So this was it. This was what dying felt like. My life didn’t exactly flash before my eyes, but in those few short seconds that the demon tortured me, I did think about how it had all gone so terribly wrong.

I saw Connor’s beautiful face telling me he’d forgiven me. I saw Matt, Silvia, even Malaki…
Malaki
. The angel’s face kept flitting through my mind’s eye. Over and over. Malaki had told me to call him when I had found the book. Had he meant that literally? As the demon crushed my heart in his outstretched hand, I knew I had one shot. I only hoped it would work because I didn’t want Malaki’s name to be the last damn word on my lips before I died. I squeezed my eyes shut against the pain, but opened my mouth, sucked in a breath and screamed out the angel’s name.

“Malaakkkiiiiii!”

I opened my eyes just in time to see the demon’s forehead furrow in confusion, then there was a blinding flash of light and Malaki appeared before me. He took in the scene then made a swishing movement with his hand that sent the demon sailing backwards and the blinding pain in my chest lessened to a dull throb.

“The purse,” I gasped out. “The book is in the purse.”

Malaki lifted his head to the ceiling and closed his eyes. A split second later there were more bright flashes of light as three more angels appeared in the room. I watched, hardly able to move as they crossed the club’s dance floor, took hold of Barbatos’ arms and lifted him to his feet. Malaki checked in the purse and pulled out the book. He turned over the cover and flicked through the pages. Nodding to the other angels, he instructed, “I have what you wanted, vanquish him.”

What you wanted?

One of the angels placed a hand on the demon’s forehead and a moment later his eyes flew open and an unearthly scream left his lungs. A bright white light burst from his mouth and his eyes, getting brighter and brighter as the seconds passed. Then the angels stood back as Barbatos’ entire body exploded in a ball of light. I had to close my eyes and turn my head away because looking at it was as difficult as looking directly at the sun. When I next opened my eyes, Barbatos was gone.

“What about the girl?” one of the angels asked. “She’s seen too much.”

The second angel nodded. “We kill her too.”

My eyes widened and my mouth fell open. “What?”

“No,” Malaki argued. “The girl is mine.”

All four angels stared at one another silently. Though they were making no sound and their mouths weren’t moving, I was sure they were conversing. They must have come to an agreement because the three angels disappeared in another bright flash, leaving me alone in the room with Malaki.

“What the hell?” I put a hand on the floor to help me get to my feet and I screamed as my wrist gave out and a searing pain shot up my arm. The earlier adrenaline must have prevented me from realising that it had been broken when I’d slammed back against the wall. My chest still felt tight from the demon’s actions and, as the adrenaline began to wear off, I realised my entire body was shaking as though I was in some kind of shock. The pain in my arm was the most difficult thing to cope with. It was truly unbearable. A wave of dizziness hit me and I began to feel nauseated.

I let my head fall back against the wall and, as my eyes grew heavy, I was sure I saw Connor’s face.

Chapter Eleven

Irate voices woke me from my slumber. I wanted to shout at the offenders to shut the hell up so that I could get back to sleep. However, something was niggling in the back of my mind and telling me that I needed to get up. It wasn’t time to sleep. I tried in vain to open my eyes, but they were so heavy. I couldn’t even remember where I was. My mind was drawing a blank. I was comfortable, I knew that much. There was a soft pillow under my head and it smelt divine, covered in my favourite scent in the whole world—Connor. It smelt of Connor. I snuggled into it, inhaling deeply.

Wait a minute.
Connor
?

Forcing my eyes open, I gazed around the room and the owners of the raised voices became instantly clear. Malaki and Matt.

“Matt!” I sat up too quickly and a burst of dizziness overwhelmed me. Holding my head in my hand, I groaned.

“Hey, take it easy.” When I turned to my right, Connor was looking down at me, wearing a worried expression.

“Connor, you’re alive!”

A slight frown creased his forehead, but it disappeared quickly and his mouth curved up into the most beautiful smile I’d ever set eyes on. “Sure I am. How are you feeling?”

How
was
I feeling? I looked down and realised I’d been lying on a booth seat in the back of the club. The soft pillow was Connor’s sweatshirt. I stretched, testing out my muscles. “Uh, I feel surprisingly good.”

Matt knelt at my side. “Malaki worked his mojo on you,” he explained. “Fixed your wrist too.”

It was only then that I remembered what had happened. I bent my wrist cautiously but it felt fine. It wasn’t broken anymore. Not even tender. The tight feeling in my chest had dispersed too.

I looked up at the angel, who had appeared at Matt’s side. “Thanks for the help,” I said gratefully.

Malaki nodded. “Does that make us even?”

“Hell no!” I glared at him mouth agape. “Not even close!” Matt chuckled and I turned my attention back to him. “How are you? Did they hurt you?”

He shrugged. “Nah, nothing I can’t handle. Thanks for bailing me out, by the way.”

I frowned. “I did?”

Connor reached over and placed a hand on my forehead. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? Don’t you remember what happened?”

“Of course I remember.”

“You found the book,” Matt acknowledged, cutting a glare at Malaki. “So the angel’s
friends
let me go. We were just having a little chat about his shitty persuasion techniques.”

Malaki rolled his eyes dramatically. “I told you it had nothing to do with me. This is bigger than you or I. It was out of my hands. The other angels are baying for blood. They’ll do whatever it takes to get their hands on the grimoires.”

What the hell? Had I heard him right? “
Grimoires
?” I repeated, my voice sounding quite hysterical. “As in
plural
?”

Malaki sighed then scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter if I tell you. You’re all involved now, anyway.”

“Not through choice,” Connor muttered.

“There is a war brewing between angels and demons.”

“Isn’t there always?” Matt asked.

Malaki shrugged. “Well, technically yeah, but this is bigger, something that the supernatural world hasn’t seen for many millennia. We’ve noticed that the demons are increasing in numbers here on earth. They’re escaping the underworld. So we’ve been trying to collect the grimoires so that the demons can’t get their hands on them to raise Lucifer, ‘cause yeah, that would be bad.”

“How many grimoires are there?” I asked.

“Twenty,” Malaki stated firmly. “Maybe.”

Matt scratched the top of his head. “
Maybe
? What the hell do you mean by maybe?”

“There might be more, we’re not exactly clear on numbers. Most have been lost for centuries and we don’t know how many have been destroyed.”

I eyed him warily. “How many have you found?”

Malaki smiled and thrust his hands into the front pockets of his pants. “Four,” he announced proudly.