Demon Hunters 1: Blood Sacrifice (Stand Alone Series) (Demon Hunters.) (16 page)

Alyssa opened her eyes and staggered to her feet. The heat around her made her skin feel like it’d peel away. She was in a cavern diffused with red light. Her gaze searched the area. She was alone.

“Face me, Retribution!”

“Face you! Lying, conniving, human.”

Alyssa spun to find the demon towered over her. “I learned from you.”

“I offered you the world. You threw it back at me. I offered to cherish you. You rejected me. All you had to do was say ‘I am yours. My soul I give to you,’ but you wouldn’t. If you give yourself to me freely I will not make everyone your life has touched on pay in blood and scream for every second you’ve defied me. What is your choice, human?”

“Right now, my body will be in sanctuary. That gives me the edge. Add to that, you’ve given me a strong incentive to beat you. You don’t understand me. You throw me down, I’ll get back up. You tell me no and I’ll tell you try and stop me. You threaten my friends, and I’ll ask how slowly do you want to die. Don’t screw with me and don’t screw with my friends. You can return to hell and stay there for as long as me, or any of those my life has touched on, draws breath.”

Retribution threw back his head and laughed. “Puny little human. There’s no way you can make that work. You haven’t the power.”

“I don’t.” She pulled the cross from her throat and wrapped the leather around her left hand so it dangled in mid-air. “But he does.” Her hand clenched into a fist and she held it in front of her at head height. “And I believe in him every bit as much as I believe in you.”

“You lie!”

“Look into my eyes and tell me if I lie. I’ll probably be the worst of sinners, and I’ll never be able to forgive my enemies, but if I have to choose someone then it certainly won’t be you. This is my body. My soul. There’s no room in it for you.”

“No!”

Alyssa advanced on Retribution. “Yes.” She paused and thought of what Blake had told her about praying. It was worth a try. “Please God, help me. Help me send this demon back to where he belongs.”

“No!” The demon burst into flames, the heat skyrocketed. He pointed at Alyssa. “You will kneel to me. You will claim your soul as mine.”

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.”

“You can’t win. While you’re stuck here, Nathan’s on his way. I showed him where you were before I came for you. Your blood will stain the ground and bring me forth. You’ll all die.”

Alyssa hesitated. She had to warn them.

Retribution grinned, the flames dying down. “Death is so final for humans.”

Alyssa took a deep breath. Until Retribution was gone none of them were safe. She tried to think of the lines that came next.

“I can feel him drawing closer. His anger is a thing of beauty. Tangible. And he’s going to destroy you. I will enjoy every second of your destruction.”

Never. She wouldn’t let it. The words she sought filled her mind. “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done.”

The demon shrieked and flames exploded around him. “You’ll die in agony. All of you. I’m going to tear each of you apart. Shred you.”

Alyssa forced herself to ignore his threats and continued to pray. The flames around the demon grew higher. Until she finally said, “Amen.”

The flames flared up until the demon couldn’t be seen. She shielded her face from the heat, dropping her arm when they died back. There was nothing. No demon. No sign he’d ever existed. She looked around, turning, but couldn’t see him. Nor could she smell the scent of him.

She grinned, triumph filling her for a second until she realised she had a problem. There was no green and white sign flashing the word exit. Panic started to rush in and she closed her eyes. She took a deep breath to calm herself before she opened her eyes. Another deep breath and she called, “Blake! I need you!” Her words echoed around the cavern. “Blake!”

She took a step forward and everything went hazy. The next thing she knew, she lay in the grass, a lantern to one side and Blake centimetres from her. She closed her eyes in relief.

“Allie Cat.”

She reached up to Blake and stopped as she saw the blood on her hand and arm. She was surprised to see the thin cut still bled. Blake pressed an already bloodstained cloth into her hand.

“You’re never to do that again, my Allie Cat. When you called my name…” Blake swallowed hard, and pressed her closed hand to his cheek, leaving a red stain behind.

“I couldn’t find my way out.” She reached out to him with her other hand and saw the leather necklace was wrapped around it, the cross dangling. She dropped her hand.

“I was worried about that.”

“Blake.” She closed her eyes and tried again. The words tumbled over themselves. “I love you.” She opened her eyes.

Blake smiled and gently brushed her hair back from her forehead. “I love you too, Allie Cat.” He lightly kissed her. “But you’re really going to have to work on this bad habit you have of scaring the hell out of me.”

Alyssa smiled wryly. “I’ll try, but don’t hold your breath. You know what it’s like. Curiosity often makes me forget to look before I leap.”

“Allie.” Scarlett came over to kneel beside her. “The demon? Has he gone?”

Alyssa stilled. She frowned. A smile erased it. “Yes. Yes! He’s gone.”

Scarlet rose to her feet. “Good.”

“Oh, no.” Alyssa sat up and Blake had to quickly move out of the way. “Nathan! The demon told Nathan where to find us.”

Scarlett stared at Alyssa for a moment. “Let’s pack up and get out of here.”

Alyssa put her necklace back on before she allowed Blake to bind her hand and clean up some of the blood on her. The rest packed and got rid of the blood on the ground. They’d barely finished when a car raced towards them out of the night. Alyssa started to head to the four-wheel-drive, but Blake clasped her shoulder so she couldn’t move.

“Let’s face him, Allie Cat. We need to deal with him so we can get our lives back.”

Alyssa nodded and even though she wanted to run, she stood by Blake’s side. She watched as Nathan climbed out of the car. He seemed to be alone, but well armed. He pointed two guns at them.

“You’re wasting your time,” Blake said. “The demon’s been returned to the world it came from.”

“Then I can shoot each of you and be done with it,” Nathan said.

“Give it up, Nathan. You’ve lost.” Blake didn’t take his eyes off Nathan. He gave no indication Riley and Alex silently closed in on him.

“What I want and what I’ll have is Allie for a sacrifice. There’re plenty of demons down there. And plenty of ways to make money.”

“You’ve lost. It’s done. Stop obsessing and do something useful with your life,” Scarlett said.

“Useful! Is that the reason you gave yourselves to justify leaking the information of our financial situation to the press?” Nathan demanded.

“Forget about it, Nathan. It’s over and done with. Put it behind you and try and make some money honestly,” Scarlett said.

Alex and Riley leapt from the shadows and attacked Nathan, which sent his guns flying. Alyssa raced forward and grabbed them. She reluctantly gave them to Blake when he came to stand beside her, his hand out.

As soon as Nathan was tied to a tree, Riley said, “We all passed along the information your company was belly up.”

“I’m surprised it took the vultures as long as it did to swoop in to pick through the carcass,” Alex said.

Scarlett grinned. “I can see why they left his carcass alone though. Not worth the effort. Come on. Let’s go home.”

Riley grinned at Scarlett, “You do realise Father Joe’ll have you saying penance for that comment.”

Scarlet nodded. “Yes, and I really will try and feel regret for having said it.”

“You can’t leave me here,” Nathan roared.

Alyssa stared at him. It was hard to believe that only a week had passed since she’d climbed into his car. It felt like she’d lived a lifetime. She took her cleaned knife from its sheath and strode towards Nathan. His boyish face was filled with panic. She felt no pity. She also felt no anger.

“What are you going to do, Allie? I did my best to make it easy on you. Surely you remember that.”

Alyssa squatted in front of Nathan, still holding the knife. “You will leave my family alone. You will leave Erin alone.”

“You can’t harm me. If you use that knife on me it’ll be the last thing you do.”

Alyssa shook her head. “Still issuing threats? You’re done. Don’t you get it? And if I did use this knife on you, I wouldn’t let you live.”

“Allie Cat, what are you thinking?”

She ignored Blake. “You will stay out of my life.” She pointed at Nathan with the knife.

“If you kill me, Brian will make sure you pay.”

“And he’d fail just like you have.” She stabbed the knife into the ground, well away from Nathan. “I don’t need this anymore. Thanks for letting me borrow it. It was a great help in sending the demon home.”

“No!”

Alyssa smiled. “Yes. Guess you should be more careful what you leave lying around.”

“Bitch!”

Alyssa shook her head slowly. “I really should feel pity for you, Nathan. The day’ll come when you’ll have to pay for your sins and I wouldn’t be in your shoes for the whole world. Not even if it came gift wrapped and was placed in my palm.” She rose to her feet, walked away from him and ignored the abuse he yelled at her.

Blake dropped his arm around her shoulders as she reached his side. “You had me worried for a minute there.”

Alyssa laughed. “I wasn’t even tempted.”

“You ready to go home, Allie Cat?”

“Yes.”

Nathan screamed, “I’m going to make sure every single one of you pays.”

Alex took a couple of steps towards Nathan. “I’ve already rung someone to come and collect you. And I know we don’t have enough proof to press charges. That it would only be our word against yours, but our family will keep you under surveillance. Everything you do, everywhere you go, someone’ll be watching you. And when you slip up, we’ll use that proof to make sure you serve time.”

Nathan glared at them. The light from the lantern Alex carried sent shadows dancing across his wary face, but he fell silent. Even when they turned, walked away and climbed in their vehicle, he stayed quiet.

“Is it safe to leave him here? What if he escapes?” Alyssa asked. The lantern sat on the floor in the back of the vehicle, casting shadowy light on them.

Riley shook his head. “I’m not that bad at tying knots. Don’t worry, someone’ll be here within a couple of hours to get him. He’s not going anywhere.”

“That’s good. And I’d rather not stick around that long.” As Alex started the four-wheel-drive she leaned against Blake, who had his arms around her. Her gaze went to Scarlett in the front passenger seat. “I heard what you said to Nathan. I bet it felt good.”

“Stop corrupting my cousin,” Blake murmured against the top of her head.

Alyssa turned to Blake. “Now what?”

“Now we take you home to your parents,” Blake said. “Although we probably should clean you up first. The blood might upset them.”

Alyssa closed her eyes before she spoke. “Don’t toy with me, Blake.” Her eyes opened when she felt his hand cup her face.

“I’m sorry. But that isn’t negotiable. You will return home and,” he pressed his fingers against her lips when she would’ve spoken. “And you will go to uni next year like you planned. If your parents ground you, we’ll work around that. But I’m thinking even they’d at least let me take you to church on Sunday.”

Alyssa grinned and threw her arms around Blake. “That better not be the only place you’re planning on taking me. If they ever let me out of the house for anything other than uni.”

For answer, Blake’s lips lightly brushed across Alyssa’s.

“I hate to interrupt such a touching scene.” Riley grinned at them.

“I’m sure, you do, Ry,” Blake said dryly.

“Does this mean you’re back in the family business?”

Blake looked at his arm. His mark now travelled several centimetres beyond the crimson tattoo barbs. His eyes went to Alyssa’s hair and the crimson lock that streaked through it. “What do you say, Allie Cat?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. How do you feel about me putting myself between demons and the rest of the world?”

“Well, I guess it’d be okay if I was standing there beside you.”

Blake turned to his brother. “There’s your answer, Ry.”

Riley held out his left hand and Blake clasped his hand to his brother’s forearm so their wrists touched. He grinned. “Welcome back, brother.”

Thank you to all those who put in long hours helping me improve this story and pointing out the areas that needed work. You know who you are, I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you.

Avril is an Australian fiction writer who lives with her family on acreage in South East Queensland. She writes mostly young adult speculative fiction, but has been known to dabble in other genres. You can find more information about her at her website
www.avrilsabine.com
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Book 1: Pliethin

Book 2: Wyvern

Book 3: Surety

Book 4: Knight

Book 5: Mage

Book 1: Blood Sacrifice

Book 2: Retribution

Book 3: Tainted

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