Demonspawn (34 page)

I slowly put my head through the front door.
The TV was on, but there was no one in the living room. Everything
looked normal enough. I couldn't hear anything. I stepped all the
way through and unlocked the front door.

“You're just full of cool tricks,” Victoria
said. “William? Are you in here?”

The only thing I could hear was the news on
TV. But Victoria had better senses than I did. She put her nose to
the air and sniffed a few times, like a bloodhound.

“Oh no,” she said.

“What? What's wrong?”

“Stay behind me.”

She slowly moved through the living room. As
I took a step behind her, my right wing clipped the couch. I popped
my wings out without even knowing. Didn't even feel my shirt rip. I
was so mad at myself. It was like premature ejaculation.

I followed Victoria through the living room
into the long hallway that went through the whole house. The
kitchen was near the back. I got a sniff of what Victoria smelled
as we got closer. And it wasn't good.

The scene set itself as more of the kitchen
came into view. An open freezer door. Raw meat spread over the
floor. A man in plain clothes on his hands and knees licking the
blood and juices from the meat. When he heard us he looked up like
a wild animal. Long fangs, bright red eyes.

Detective Bill Sloane.

“Oh, William ,” Victoria said quietly.

Bill snarled, then dove right at us. I
vanished, but it turned out I didn't need to. Victoria moved almost
faster than I could see. She stepped in front of me and easily
knocked Bill to the ground. She jumped on top of him and pinned his
face to the floor.

“William, come on,” she said. “Tell me you're
in there somewhere.”

He responded with another snarl. He reached
up and raked a claw across her face. She cried in pain, and it was
enough of a distraction for William to throw her off. She crashed
onto the kitchen table, which shattered under her.

Bill turned his attention to me.

He took a step forward. I lashed out with one
of my wings. I actually caught William off guard. He staggered
against the back door.

But that was all. As many tricks as I had, I
wasn't any match for a vampire. Luckily, I didn't have to be.

Victoria was already at my side. The gashes
on her face had already healed. She had two splintered table legs
from the kitchen table.

“William.
Bill
. Please, talk to
me.”

She sounded almost desperate. In the back of
my head, I knew Bill was gone. Victoria knew far more about
vampires than I ever would. But this was our fourth feral in just a
few days. Bill wasn't coming back.

He took a split second to size us both up.
Maybe my wings threw him off, but he decided Victoria was the
weaker target. He charged her. She easily drove one of the table
legs into his shoulder. She kept a grip on it and drove him to the
floor.

“William, listen, you're a vampire now. But
we can get through this, okay? Just tell me a part of you is in
there.”

He tried to reach for her throat. She leaned
up a little, still keeping her weight on the table leg. Blood
spilled from his shoulder. I was careful in walking up to the two
of them. I retracted my wings and pulled them inside my back.

I touched Victoria on the shoulder. “I don't
think that's William anymore.”

She gave me a quick glance. I'd never seen
her so upset. She studied Bill's face.

“You're right.”

Before I could say anything else, she reared
the other table leg back and drove it into his chest. Bill opened
his mouth to scream, but nothing quite came out. He closed his eyes
and slumped lifeless. Not dead, but in a coma.

I'm not sure how much time passed before we
went into the living room. It felt like forever. Some deep part of
me still kept thinking.
We should be leaving, getting out. It's
dangerous to stay here. If a neighbor heard, trouble will come.
But Victoria sat on the couch, and I sat next to her.

She was quiet, sitting there staring straight
ahead. I would have never thought it possible, but I think I was
more together than she was. I risked putting a hand on her
shoulder.

“Victoria? Are you alright?”

“I thought William and I would work together
for decades,” she said. “I, uh, I actually thought I'd go over his
house. Have dinner. Hang out. Maybe even give him advice on getting
a wife.”

I didn't know what to say. “I'm so
sorry.”

“You always think there will be enough time.
Maybe being a vampire can spoil you. But there's never enough
time.”

That got me thinking about Cindy. I had to
tell her how I felt.

“Listen,” I said. “I know you're hurting. I'm
freaked out myself. But what are we gonna do? We have to
leave.”

She nodded. “Yeah. He's always taking work
home with him. Let me look around first.”

“Okay. What do you want me-”

I didn't finish. Bill's living room was gone.
I was somewhere else. Another living room full of people. Loud
music, people bumping into each other.

I stood up. “What the fuck?”

Victoria grabbed me. I came back to Bill's
home for a moment, then I was once again in that unfamiliar living
room. “Alex? What's wrong?”

I saw Alicia. She was on the other side of
the living room talking to some other girls. They were laughing,
having a good time.

Then a voice. Two guys were talking to each
other. I couldn't see them.

“That one, right over there. The hot
blond.”

“Yeah. She's smokin'.”

“Did you bring the shit?”

“Yeah. Go upstairs and get in a room. I'll
bring her up in a minute.”

I was back at Bill's. Victoria had both hands
on my shoulders, holding me steady. She was worried.

Then I was right in Alicia's face.

“Hey. What's your name?”

“Alicia. But my friends all call me
Leese.”

“Well, Leese, you want something to
drink?”

A hand reached out and handed her a beer.

I was seeing through someone else's eyes.

Someone who had eyes on my sister, with bad
intentions.

“Alex? What's going on? Talk to me.”

I gripped Victoria's arms to keep myself from
falling. I wasn't sure if it was the suddenness of those quick
flashes, or what I saw, but I felt sick. It didn't last long,
though. My demon senses always keep me close to the ones I love,
and they were telling me my sister was in trouble.

“Alicia,” I managed to say.

Victoria simply nodded. “Go. I'll take care
of things here.”

“Go? Go where? I don't know where she is. I
just saw-”

I was panicking. Luckily, Victoria
wasn't.

“Relax. Call Cindy. Maybe she knows where she
is.”

I nodded and started hitting numbers on the
cell phone.

“Hello?” She sounded like she was in her
car.

“Cindy?”

“Hey, Alex. Where you at? I'm gonna pick up
Dave and Tina and Jenny. You coming out with us?”

I hadn't seen my other friends in forever.
But that was the furthest thing from my mind.

“Where's Alicia?”

“She won't be coming out. She had a party to
go to.” She picked up on the tension in my voice. “Everything
okay?”

“No. Do you know where?”

“Uh, her friend Stephanie's house. I think
she lives a street over.”

I did know Stephanie. And I knew where she
lived. Cindy was right, she wasn't far from my old home.

But I was so far away.

“Alex, what's going on?”

“I can't talk now, Cindy. But I'll catch up
with you later.”

I hung up and looked at Victoria. She nodded
and gave me a small smile. “Get moving.”

I gave her a quick hug and ran through the
front door. As soon as I was clear, I popped my wings. I didn't
even care who might be watching. I took off.

I made serious time. For the first few
minutes I followed roads, as that was all I was used to. Then I
started taking a shorter flight, cutting through the night sky.

Flying was amazing, but I couldn't let myself
enjoy it. I beat my wings in a steady rhythm. My first flight
through the city wasn't very long. This one was a lot longer, and I
was afraid I wasn't gonna make it. I really didn't have any idea of
what I was capable of.

I made it without breaking a sweat.

I passed over my old house and over
Stephanie's street. It wasn't very hard to find the party. A
million cars parked along the street, with groups of teens heading
in and out of one house.

I flew low through the trees that were in
pretty much every backyard. I heard a few dogs barking at me as I
passed over. I landed in Stephanie's backyard and pulled my wings
in. I walked around the side of the house and walked through the
open front door.

Typical house party. Teens everywhere. Loud
music blaring. Beer being passed around, and who knows what else. I
scanned the living room.

I saw the stairs going to the second floor. I
fought panic as the scariest thoughts imaginable filled my
head.

I pushed my way through a few groups and hit
the stairs. It was quieter on the second floor, with only people
coming in and out of the bathroom. There was only one closed door
at the end of the hall.

It was locked.

I pulled my hand back and knocked a few hard
times.

“Is anyone in there?” I called.

A voice from the other side “Yo! Get your own
fuckin' room!”

I recognized the voice from my quick
flashes.

I vanished and stepped inside.

Two guys, probably twenty years old, were on
a bed with Alicia. She wasn't unconscious, but moaned like she was
having a bad dream. One of the guys was holding her hands above her
head. The other was pulling her jeans off.

I reappeared, and as I did, threw shadows
across the room. They turned around to see me.

“What the fuck, man?”

“How did you get in here?”

I didn't answer. I lunged forward and pushed
the one fumbling with her jeans to the floor. I shoved the other
against the back of the bed. I went right to Alicia and put a hand
on her shoulder.

“Alicia?”

She looked at me with glazed eyes. “Alex?
Where are we?”

I got hit hard with something on the back of
my head. I fell on top of my sister. Then, before I knew it, I was
lifted to my feet and in a full nelson. The dude was strong.

The other guy started punching. One good shot
in the stomach almost forced the air out of me. My body wanted to
fall, but the guy behind me held me up easily.

“Leave him alone,” Alicia said from the bed.
She tried to move, but she could barely pull her jeans up.

I got punched two more times. One hit me
straight in the jaw. The other connected right where Heins hit me
earlier in the day, on the side of the cheek.

That's when I snapped.

I didn't need any demon tricks. Didn't need
to throw people around with my wings. Pure rage carried the day on
this one.

I felt for one of the guy's fingers on the
back of my neck. I grabbed one, and twisted. I heard a snapping
sound as he screamed in pain.

I rushed forward and had my hands around the
other guy's throat. I forced him against the wall. He tried to
break my grip, but I squeezed tighter. I felt the fight start to
leave him.

An arm wrapped around my neck. I was dragged
backwards. Thank God for that, as I might have killed someone.

The other guy had recovered, and was trying
to help his friend. My hand happened to fall on an alarm clock on a
nightstand as I was pulled back. I ripped it from the wall. I
gripped it with both hands and swung it wildly behind my head. I
hit him square in the forehead. He collapsed to one knee. I turned
around and hit him two more times. The last time sent him to the
floor in a ball.

There was a strange growling. I realized it
was me. Or something inside me, trying to get out.

I wrapped the alarm clock cord around his
neck and started to pull for all I was worth. I was totally out of
control.

Out of the corner out my eye I saw his buddy
struggling to get to his feet. His face was still red from when I
choked the hell out of him. Right as he took a step toward me I saw
a leg come up and kick him right in the balls. His eyes nearly shot
out of his head before he crumpled against the wall.

Alicia was on top of him, clawing and
punching away. Whatever they'd given her, it must have started to
wear off. Or, like me, anger was pushing her.

“You mother fuckers!” she shouted. “Touch my
brother? I'll fucking kill you!”

That was Alicia. She was nearly raped, and
she was worried about me.

Ironically, seeing her lose control made me
start to calm down. I started thinking clearly again. I needed to
get my sister away. These assholes didn't matter.

I loosened my grip on the alarm clock and
hooked Alicia under the arms. It was tough pulling her away.

“Alicia, relax. It's okay. They're done.
Let's go.”

“You're damn right, they're fucking
done.”

She started to let me pull her away. But not
before getting one last kick in to the other guy's balls.

She started to fall when we made it to the
bedroom door. She wasn't quite ready for a marathon yet. Tears
rolled down her face. She managed to pull her jeans up, but didn't
have any shoes. I'd buy her another pair later. I just wanted to
get her away.

I wrapped her arm around my neck to help
support her. We walked through the house, getting quite a few
looks. When we made it outside I stopped.

The gang was just pulling up in a minivan
that Jenny was driving. It was her, as well as Dave, Tina, and
Cindy. They had come to rescue us. I hadn't seen the crew in so
long.

Alicia and I were quite a mess. Thankfully, I
was in worse shape than she was, at least physically. Her clothes
were messed up, and her face stained with tears. My face was
starting to swell a little from the few beatings I'd gotten in one
day. And now that I was calm, I was starting to feel the pain.