Demons in My Driveway (8 page)

But even the goodbyes were understated. No long, lingering looks or desperate embraces. They wandered in, had a drink or two and a bite to eat, then went back home.

Or, in the case of Andrew and Daniel, picked one of the huge tents we always had set up and went to bed for the night. Kam grabbed another tent and gave up her room to Sara.

No one offered an explanation, and I didn’t ask. As much as I’d wanted to be alone and have some peace earlier in the day, I was content to have my friends around me, not asking for a thing, simply spending time with me and with each other.

And whatever was coming, I was refreshed and ready for it.

In the end, Maurice and Riley and I were the only ones left around the fire. They spoke in low voices so they wouldn’t wake anyone. I could only make out a few of the words, but they didn’t sound important. Pancakes. Cinnamon. Juice. Spatula.

My eyes grew heavy and I dozed, lulled by their voices. No one woke me to put me to bed. For once, Maurice let me take care of myself.

I didn’t dream. Hell, I didn’t move. Several margaritas, a warm fire, a cozy blanket and exhaustion outweighed the discomfort of sleeping sitting up in a folding chair.

When I opened my eyes, the sun was creeping into the sky behind me. Riley slept in a chair across from me, apparently never having left.

Of course not.

Even with people sleeping in tents around me and a fire-breathing pigmy dragon at my feet, Riley kept me safe.

I stretched, wincing at the aches in my back and neck. And bladder. I had drunk a lot and hadn’t moved since about ten o’clock the previous night.

It was early, and everyone slept. I didn’t see Maurice in the house. He could’ve been anywhere, since he could move through a network of closets to other locations. He was probably gathering things to make breakfast.

Closet monsters rarely slept.

I cleaned myself up while I was in the bathroom. The only thing I could do with my hair was to pile it on top of my head and call it a loss. I washed the charcoal smudges from my face and swapped out my smoky shirt for a fresh one.

Always thoughtful, Maurice had made a fresh pot of coffee before he left for wherever. I poured myself a cup, then wandered through the living room to step out on my front porch and watched what was left of the sunrise.

I nearly dropped my coffee cup.

A fanged face peered out at me from a fresh portal shimmering in my driveway.

“About time somebody showed up. I’m running out of dark, here, baby. Would you grab me an umbrella or something? I’m sort of allergic to the sun, if you get what I’m saying.”

Chapter Eight

The floating face wasn’t an aswang. At least, I didn’t think it was. It didn’t snarl, gnash its teeth or threaten me. In fact, it sounded more like a young Frank Sinatra than anything supernatural. If it weren’t for the fangs and aversion to sunlight, I’d have thought he might be human.

Fangs. Aversion to sunlight.

“Ah, shit.” I set my cup on the railing and eyed the disembodied face.

“A little help? A guy could fry in seconds.” He grinned, emphasizing his fangs.

I turned on my heel and went inside without answering.

The first thing I did was grab my multi-dimensional cell phone from Talia and send her a quick test.

New portal open.
Not yours.
Vamps?

I hit send, then banged on my mother’s bedroom door. “Darius.” I banged harder. “We’ve got another portal. Up and at ’em.”

Sara opened her door first and blinked at me through bleary eyes. “Demons are back?”

I shook my head. “I think he might be a vampire.”

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. “What the hell kind of life am I leading that vampires are a relief?”

I turned toward the kitchen and smacked into Maurice. He grabbed my elbows to steady me. “Vamps?”

“I think so.” I stepped around him. “I’ll get Kam and Riley. Keep everyone away from the portal.”

Darius stepped out of my mother’s room, a shirtless mountain of dark muscle. “I’ll keep an eye on the portal.”

“Good. I’ll be out in a minute.”

His jaw flexed as if he were about to say something, then stopped himself. It occurred to me what it must cost him to treat me differently than he did my mother. He was accustomed to taking charge. This truce we’d come to had to be a huge challenge.

I was grateful to him for making the effort.

Out back, I stood over Riley, hunched up in the camp chair and snoring softly. He only snored like that when he had hay fever or a cold. Maybe the smoke from the campfire had clogged his sinuses. I reached toward his hair to move it out of his face, then stopped. My heart gave a hard squeeze, and I placed my hand on his shoulder.

“Riley.” I nudged him. “It’s show time. We’ve got another problem.”

He sucked in a long breath, then opened his eyes and stretched. “Problem?”

“Portal. Darius is already out there. I’ll get Kam.”

Our gazes locked for a long moment, each buried in the past. The expression of longing on his face clawed at my heart and made me think of all the times I’d answered that same expression with passionate kisses and intimate touches. My face grew hot and I looked away. Shaking the memories loose, I stepped away toward Kam’s tent without looking back.

“Good gobbledy gook, you two need to sort your shit,” Kam said when I stuck my head into her tent.

“If we live through the end of the world, I’ll put you in charge of my love life.”

Kam ran a fingertip over a gem in her bare wrist, her expression calm and focused. As if she were Cinderella getting ready for the ball, everything on her—hair, clothing, shoes—changed. Her loose hair tucked itself into a tight bun at the base of her skull, and a dark green cap unfolded out of nowhere onto her head. Camouflage pants and jacket grew like vines over her arms, legs and torso. Clunky black boots laced themselves along her shins.

I preferred Cinderella’s dress, but this was still impressive.

“Army fatigues?” I quirked an eyebrow.

“In case I need to do battle. Way better than wrestling that aswang in my poodle skirt.”

I yawned. “How the aswang got in my poodle skirt, I’ll never know.”

She cocked her head at me, forehead wrinkled. “What?”

“Never mind.” I sighed. Riley would have understood the old Marx brothers reference.

We left Andrew and Daniel to sleep, since neither of them possessed any supernatural strength. Andrew could read auras. As helpful as that sometimes was, it wasn’t much of either an offensive or defensive skill. Andrew owned an herbal shop and Daniel was a nurse’s aid.

Always keep your healers out of harm’s way if there’s a battle.

I’d learned that playing online roleplaying games with Maurice.

On the way through the house, we passed my mother. She stood with her arms folded, pacing and looking out the front window.

“What are they doing out there? Zoey, you’re not going outside? At least stay on the porch.”

I paused and hugged her. I may not have agreed with her methods, but I could respect her fear. “I’ll be fine, Mom.” I hooked my pinky through hers.

She gave me the stink-eye. “Do you lizard swear?”

I sighed and drew the traditional pattern over my chest. “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye, and may a lizard eat my gizzard.” I winked. “Happy?”

She looked unconvinced, but didn’t say anything else to try to stop me.

By the time Kam and I made it out the front door, Talia had arrived through a second portal. She held my ladybug umbrella in front of the vamp portal and waited for the disembodied head to come through as a complete person, now that he was protected against the face-melting rays of the sun.

He was dressed entirely in black, I’ll give him that. But there ended my vampire expectations.

Expensive-looking leather shoes stepped through the portal, followed by dress pants and a dress shirt, unbuttoned farther than was generally accepted as tasteful. Gold chains—including a large, diamond-encrusted cross—draped from his neck and shifted against his skin. I feared for the thick patch of hair, lest it get caught in all that bling.

For someone with an aversion to the sun, his tan was impressive—if a little on the orange side.

“Let’s get you in the shade, darling.” Talia’s dark lips twitched on one side. “Talking to you won’t be easy if you’re a pile of ash.”

She led him up the steps toward me. Fairies didn’t attack as he passed into the invisible mushroom circle, so at least we knew his intentions were good.

Once he was in the safety of the porch overhang, Talia closed the umbrella.

The man was about my height, muscular, and had thick, dark hair slicked back from his face with shiny goop. He stuck his hand out. “Papa Dino. You must be that Aegis everyone’s been yapping about.”

Did I call him “Papa,” “Dino” or both? “How is my name ending up in another world, exactly?” I shook his hand and opted for not calling him anything until someone else did.

He shook a little longer than the social norm, making it awkward. Sweat had beaded along his slicked-back hairline, and his fangs protruded more than I’d thought a moment ago. “Word passes between the skins of the world.” He swallowed hard and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry. It’s been decades since I crossed into the human world. I’m not used to the smell of all of you.”

Talia took his arm and led him to one of my rocking chairs. “Everybody needs to step back a little, please.” She murmured in his ear and dabbed her flimsy skirt material against his temple. “He just needs a minute.”

Riley and I stepped away, since we were the only humans outside. “Do we stink?” I asked him.

Riley shook his head. “I don’t think that’s it. I think we probably smell delicious.”

I cringed and lowered my voice to a whisper. “Maybe he needs to be outside the circle. If we’re going to make him hungry, we’re not safe.”

Despite my attempt at subtlety and quiet, the vampire waved his hand at me, dismissing my concerns. “I only need a moment to readjust. I’m not some kid off the streets, you know. I’m the patriarch of all vampires.”

He murmured something to Talia, and she ran into the house. She reemerged carrying a small jar of Vicks VapoRub. “Thank you, darling,” he said. He unscrewed the lid, then dabbed a little of the eucalyptus-scented ointment across his upper lip. After a deep breath, he smiled, and his fangs retracted. “There, you see? Good as new.”

I’d read somewhere—or maybe I’d seen it on television—that cops and coroners sometimes used the same method to mask odors at especially gruesome crime scenes. It could all be bullshit, of course. Television was responsible for teaching me all sorts of things that were wrong.

Papa Dino pulled himself from the rocking chair and strode across the porch to us.

Riley grabbed my arm and pulled me a few steps back, and I didn’t resist. I had to admit, up to that point I’d enjoyed vampire movies and novels, and had always thought the idea of vampires was hot. But faced with the real deal, the idea of having my throat ripped out and my blood drained far outweighed any vague sexual fantasy I might have had. In fact, I kind of resented the loss of that particular fantasy.

He stopped, realizing I was backpedaling to maintain the size of the gap between us. “I apologize for my...lapse in character,” he said. “I assure you, princess, I’m fine now. I had a four-egg omelet and a side of breakfast potatoes less than an hour ago. I’m not really hungry, and I haven’t had human blood in at least a century.”

As reassuring as that was meant to be, it didn’t help much.

Wait.
Princess?
Is he kidding me?

I tilted my chin in an effort to appear brave. “Why don’t you explain what just happened so I can figure out whether I want to trust you?”

Dino frowned and looked at Talia. She shrugged.

He scratched the massive patch of dark hair spilling from his open shirt. “How is it you don’t know about this, doll? I thought you were the Aegis everyone was talking about.”

Yesterday, this had been a sore spot. Today, it didn’t bother me a bit. I wasn’t sure what had changed, but I no longer felt insecure for my lack of knowledge. I didn’t need to know everything. I had people around me all the time—people who never left me in the dark for long. I wasn’t isolated in the woods somewhere, dependent solely on myself. I had a team.

And then I realized what was up with the impromptu gathering last night. Maurice had brought everyone around to remind me of the vast knowledge and skills I had access to in the loyal friends who loved me.

Mom had
needed
to know everything she could, because she’d been alone.

I was never alone.

My friends willingly offered themselves as a library, an army and an endless supply of positive energy to refill my tapped emotional resources.

Because that was the other reason Maurice had sent for them. I’d let my empathic walls degrade while living in cramped quarters. Much of my energy had leaked out, leaving me raw, testy and on edge. Maurice had brought all those people here to refill my energy with love and laughter.

I went inside myself to check my protective walls and found I was right.

My energy had been refreshed and brightened. No wonder I wasn’t on the verge of snapping anymore.

Maurice
,
you sly dog.
I’m going to build you the biggest walk-in closet you’ve ever seen.

I smiled at the vampire. “Listen, Dino. Papa. Papa Dino. If you say you’ve got this hunger thing managed, I’m okay with that. Talia is vouching for you.” I looked at Talia to confirm this and she gave a nod. “So, how about we skip it for now and go straight to working out this portal thing.”

The vampire pulled out a silver case from his shirt pocket, flipped it open and took out a cigarette. When he snapped the case shut, I saw a cross engraved on the lid, and made a mental note to ask somebody about the cross thing later. Because, seriously.

Dino flicked his thumb over his index finger, and held the resulting flame to the cigarette between his lips, then blew on his fingertip to put out the light. He took a drag and blew out a series of smoke rings. “Talia has kept me up on the portals to the demon world opening for no apparent reason.” He flicked ashes over the railing into my flowerbed. “Now it appears someone’s broken through and has access to my world. This is the only one they’ve opened from my world. I can close it, but that won’t help us solve the mystery of where the portals are coming from.”

I saw the wisdom in that. As much as I wanted the portal—and this weird Jersey Shore/Frank Sinatra hybrid of a vampire—gone from my property, I was afraid of what might come next if we didn’t figure it out. “Talia told you about the aswangs?”

He nodded. “I don’t expect we’ll see that happening this time.”

Riley folded his arms. “How can you be sure of that?”

Dino eyed Riley with a mixture of surprise and disdain. “The aswangs of my world all settled in one village, and they never venture out of it. They are given no blood. Without it, they’re dull creatures capable of only the most basic, simple lives.” He took a drag. “You’re safe, reaper.”

Riley didn’t look convinced. “Just the same, I’ve already called the local O.G.R.E.s to help keep an eye on this thing.”

Dino frowned in annoyance. “If it helps you sleep, friend. Do what you have to do.” He flicked his cigarette over the railing and it popped out of existence before landing.

Neat trick. I wouldn’t have to stab him with a wooden stake for setting my shrubs on fire.

Talia hooked her arm through Papa Dino’s. “Let’s take this inside, in the meantime. We have much to discuss.”

“I’d rather wait until reinforcements get here to guard the portals,” I said.

Talia flicked her wrist, and the portal to her world closed in on itself. “There. Mine’s gone. If a crazed aswang comes through Papa’s door, it’ll combust in the sun. Nothing’s coming through there in daylight, I guarantee.”

I exchanged looks with my team. Darius, still standing near the portal, nodded and stepped closer to it, clasping a hand over the other wrist, feet apart, in the stance of bodyguards the world over.

Without a word—which always surprised me on the rare occasion that it happened—Kam followed his lead, and placed herself on the other side of the portal, same stance, looking official in her ridiculous camouflage.

Sunlight or not, my people didn’t leave things to chance. And they had my back.

Which was why the last of the three, Riley, came inside. As much as we needed eyes on that portal, nobody was going to leave me alone with the queen of the demons and the vampfather. Plus, Mom and Sara were in there.