Pax Demonica (23 page)

“They can’t touch you,” I shouted to him. “Remember they’re not corporeal. Just keep moving—and stay on the right tiles!”

I heard no answer, and I met Allie’s eyes. “Sound barrier?”

“I would, wouldn’t you?”

I scowled, but I had to agree.

That meant that all we could do was wait.

And wait.

“I’m going in,” I said when at least five minutes had passed. “I can remember where he stepped. This is taking too long.”

“
No
.” She grabbed my arm as I stepped toward the fog. “For one, it’ll be poison, you know it will. And for another, you can’t help him. It has to be his blood, right? So he has to make it there.”

And then, as if the chamber understood us, the fog lifted and my heart soared when I saw Eric standing right there by the pillar, his knife held over the soft flesh at the base of his thumb. I saw the flick of the knife, saw him wince, and then I saw him squeeze his hand over the top of the pillar.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then I saw the veins fill with red. Faster and faster the blood flowed, finally reaching the base of the pillar.

I expected the taps to close, the blood to stop flowing. I expected, I don’t know, angels singing. Trumpets announcing the triumph over hell.

Instead, a blood red light burst out of the top of the pillar and the blood began to flow faster.

“Eric!” I cried.

“It’s not me,” he said. “Goddammit, Kate! The wrong blood just brings the end faster! God
dammit
.” He waved his arms. “Go! Get to the exit! It’s ramping up. We’re going to have a hell of a time getting clear before the blood rises and sucks us under. Go, dammit, go!”

“Go where?” I asked. “The world is ending.”

“Father Donnelly. Father Corletti. They’ll figure something out.”

“How?” Allie asked as a tear snaked from her eye.

I grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Don’t you dare, Alison Crowe. Don’t you dare go soft on me now. We have a job and we are damn well going to do it. You’re my daughter, dammit. You’re Eric’s daughter. You’re a Hunter through and through, and you are going to act like one. Do you hear me?”

She nodded, but she said nothing.

“I said, do you hear me?”

Eric skidded to a stop beside me, and Allie tilted her head up to look at him.

“Your daughter,” she said slowly, and then her eyes grew wide. “Mom!” she cried, even as she grabbed hold of Eric’s arm.

“Dammit, Allie,” Eric said. “We have to go.”

“
No!
” The word was fierce. Determined. “What if Curtius wasn’t a hybrid? The documents are old, right?” She looked between me and her father. “What if he was descended from a demon? Not bound, but
of
the demon? I mean, what if a demon was in his blood?”

“So what?” I said. “That still doesn’t help us because—”

But I couldn’t finish the sentence. I couldn’t, because I knew what she was thinking. And God help me, I feared that she was right.

“It’ll work,” she said, and before Eric or I could stop her, Allie had taken off running for the pillar—only she wasn’t bothering about the dance.

Arrows flew at her. Crows swooped for her. Serpents rose from the lines of blood snaking between the tiles and coiled around her ankles.

She dodged everything. Killed any creature that got in her path.

And she made it to the pillar unscathed.

“Dear god,” Eric murmured, his voice so low I barely caught it. “Father Donnelly did it.”

“It wasn’t you who was the experiment,” I said, my voice thick with tears that I was determined not to shed. “It was your child.”

And as we watched, our little girl—our sweet, innocent teenager with the demonic lineage—sliced her palm and then slapped her bloody hand down on the top of the ceremonial pillar.

Immediately, golden light burst from the column, then flashed out and illuminated the room, vaporizing everything demonic that remained, from the skeleton remnants to the blood, to the final bits of mist. The flow of blood from the pillar ceased.

Most importantly, the pillar itself started its slow descent back into the ground.

We’d won.

But as I looked at my daughter and her confused, tear-streaked face, I knew that we had lost, too.

I just hoped we hadn’t lost everything.

Allie sat in the back of the
Forza
sedan
, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and the door open beside her.

“Nothing has changed, Al,” I said from where I stood outside the car. “You’re the same girl you’ve always been.”

“Yeah,” she said softly. “But now I know who that is.
What
that is.”

“Don’t think that this gives you an excuse to ignore your laundry and grow science experiments in the bathroom. Saying ‘the devil made me do it’ isn’t going to fly as an excuse, young lady.”

As I’d hoped, she laughed. But the sparkle faded quickly. “We need to talk, Mom.”

“I know.”

“And I need to talk to Daddy.”

“I know that too.”

“But not now. Please, can I just pretend that part never happened? Not for forever. Just until we get back home. I just—I just want to be me a little while longer.”

“Oh baby,” I said, crouching just outside the car and holding tight to her hands. “You’ll never be anyone else. But yes. I think it’s time to slide into real vacation-mode, don’t you? Forget everything. Eat pasta. Go all-out with the tourist stuff. Okay?”

She nodded. “Considering everything, I
totally
think I deserve a massive shopping spree.” She smiled then, and I almost melted with relief when I saw the sparkle in her eye.

“Yeah, sweetheart,” I said, overwhelmed by the strength, resilience and, yes, predictability of my teenage daughter. “I think shopping is definitely on the agenda.”

I tilted my head to catch Stuart’s eye. “Sightseeing, too. What would you think about a day at the
Castel Sant’Angelo
?” I asked as he moved to stand beside me.

“I can’t think of anything better,” he said, pulling me close.

I thought of Eliza in the hospital. Of Eric getting debriefed by Father Corletti right that moment as Allie and I waited our turn. I thought of everything that had happened and everything that had been revealed.

And yet despite all that, I was content. Yes, there were still some really Big Issues to deal with, not the least of which was huddled in front of me under her blanket. And, yes, I had a new cousin to get acquainted with. And of course there were still badass demons out there, just itching to stir up trouble. Heck, I even had the potential of a second career hanging over my head like a blinking neon sign just waiting for me to make a decision.

But at the moment, none of that mattered. Right now I just needed my family.

The job could wait.

The worry could wait.

And, yes, the demons could wait.

With any luck, they might even wait until tomorrow.

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“This book, as crammed with events as any suburban mom’s calendar, shows you what would happen if Buffy got married and kept her past a secret. It’s a hoot.” —Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse series

Kate Connor is your average, everyday mom with two kids, a husband, and one very big secret … she used to be a Demon-Hunter. Now retired, she’s more interested in the domestic than the demonic. So when she catches sight of a demon in Wal-Mart, she tells herself it’s some other Hunter’s problem. But when that demon attacks her in her kitchen, retirement is no longer an option.

Now Kate has to kick a little demon butt, figure out why the creatures are trying to take her out and take over her home town, and at the same time take care of her 2 year old, deal with a hormonal 14 year old, and try to keep her past a secret from her daughter and her husband.

She’s a little out of practice, but hey … if she can juggle two kids and an impromptu dinner party, ridding the town of demons should be a piece of cake. Like the saying goes, Carpe Demon … and Kate intends to do just that.

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“Ninety-nine percent of the wives and moms in the country will identify with this heroine. I mean, like who hasn’t had to battle demons between car pools and play dates?” —Jayne Ann Krentz, New York Times bestselling author

After fourteen years as a stay-at-home mom, Kate Connor has finally rejoined the workforce. But unlike most working moms, Kate can’t rearrange her home obligations to fit the needs of her job. Well, not easily, anyway. And not without a few little white lies.

Because the truth is, no one in her family has any clue that she’s returned to the job of her youth. Which means no late nights working beside her husband at the kitchen table while the kids watch television. Although, when you think about it, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Because when your job is fighting demons, taking your work home with you is a really, really bad idea …

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Once again, Kate Connor has a problem. Several, actually.

For one thing, her daughter has figured out that mom is a Demon-Hunter—and wants to be just like her when she grows up.

And there’s that nagging suspicion that her dead husband has come back to life in the body of another man. Plus, her living husband still doesn’t know her secrets.

Not to mention the fact that she’s acquired a mystical item that the entire demon community seems hell-bent on reclaiming.

It’s all in a day’s work for this stay-at-home mom. But one thing is for certain: sometimes life in the suburbs really can be hell.

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Kate Conner is an expert at multi-tasking. Wife, mom, Demon-Hunter. She can stuff hundreds of Easter eggs for the neighborhood fair and still have enough energy to pummel a demon back into the ether.

But Kate’s life has gotten more complicated…

Her first husband has returned from the dead in the body of her daughter’s chemistry teacher. Different body, same hot desire for Kate. Her daughter now obsesses about becoming a Demon-Hunter the way she used to obsess about boys.

And her current husband is suddenly very suspicious of his wife’s extra-domestic activities. What is she doing and who is she doing it with?

And the threat has gotten bigger…

A powerful high demon has returned to San Diablo, seeking not only the key to invincibility, but revenge upon Kate—and Kate’s family. And just in case that wasn’t trouble enough, there’s a new kind of evil in suburbia. The walking dead kind.

And they don’t mind making house calls…

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Demon-Hunter Kate Connor is having a very bad month.

Her resurrected first husband houses the soul of a demon.

Her current husband is being overly attentive to the point of smothering.

Her toddler son has entered a tantrum phase.

And her teenage daughter is still determined to be the next, best demon slayer. Worse, she’s determined to get her learner’s permit the day she turns fifteen.

That’s a lot for one woman to juggle, even a Demon-Hunter. Add saving the world to the mix, and things are about to get complicated…

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When daughter Allie finds herself knee-deep in demons, Demon Hunter Kate Connor must come to the rescue in this first short story featuring not only Kate, but fourteen year old Allie, too!

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When orphan Kate goes to Rome with her family, she’s hoping for a little R&R. The chance to bond with her husband, spend quality time with her kids, and visit her pseudo-family at
Forza Scura
.

In other words, this suburban mom is doing the tourist thing, and intending to do it up right. But while Kate may want to take cheesy pictures and buy overpriced souvenirs, the demon population has other plans. And soon Kate and over-eager daughter Allie are thrust into the middle of a demonic feud.

Now Kate is going to have to call on both her hunting skills and her mothering skills – because if she fails, Kate and family might just find themselves sightseeing in hell.

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www.demonhuntingsoccermom.com
to learn more!

Don’t miss any of these titles in this bestselling series!

Zoe Smith might look like your average, ordinary elementary school librarian, but she’s about as far from normal as a girl can get. Because Zoe is descended from a line of superheroes … and as her twenty-fifth birthday approaches, she has to decide if she’s going to embrace her heritage (including all the wackiness that comes with X-ray vision and her extraordinary senses) or submit herself for mortalization and be that average, ordinary girl. Considering how lousy she’s done so far on all the Council-imposed tests, chucking the whole superhero thing might be very best thing … especially when she realizes that sexy, private investigator George Bailey Taylor is more than a little interested in her—and he’s more than a little convinced that Zoe is one-hundred percent “the girl next-door”.

An ex-cop turned PI, George Bailey Taylor’s had one hell of a life being bounced around from foster home to foster home. All he wants now is a normal life with a normal wife in a normal neighborhood. The typical American dream—and when he meets Zoe Smith, he’s certain she’s the typical American girl. Except she does have an overprotective brother who seems able to appear and disappear at will. And a creepy cousin who’s always lurking about. And why does everyone in her family pretend to actually talk to the pet ferret?