Prey (16 page)

“I don’t know.”

Drake removes his over shirt and readies himself for a brawl. “Well, somebody better figure out something quick because in a minute or so they’re gonna hit this place like storm troopers.”

Alex takes one last glance around before settling his eyes on Jade. “I’ll handle them.” To keep the demons from overhearing his plan, Alex whispers, “Jade, as soon as I distract the one upstairs, run into your room and grab one of your body spray bottles—preferably one that’s full. Once you guys are out of the house and a safe enough distance away from here, spray all of it on you. That should mask your scent and make it harder for them to track you.” Alex turns to Drake and gives him a stern stare, “I’m going against my better judgment and giving you a chance…Guard her with your life.”

“No hands could be in safer…” said Alex. “Not even yours.”

“Alright, after I go for the one upstairs I’m pretty sure the rest of them will come. Once you guys hear the other demons barge in, blow out of one of the upstairs windows. It’ll be on you, Drake, to take her as far away from here as you can. When you get a mile or so away, stop somewhere and load up on the body spray and then get back on the move.”

“What about you?” Jade asked. “You can’t take all of them on by yourself.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. I’m not ready to leave you just yet,” said Alex, hoping to ease her worries. “Get to your Uncle Rick’s old house, okay? I’ll meet you there as soon as I can. Make sure you two use some form of transportation to get there.” Alex turns to Drake. “Don’t use your powers unless you have no other choice.”

“Why?” Jade asked.

Drake explains, “Because every time an angel or demon uses their powers it creates a traceable energy that other angels and demons can pick up on.”

Seeing the discomfort in Jade’s eyes, Alex gives her a smile so endearing it could make anyone’s heart melt. Just as he’s about to climb the stairwell he tells her, “I’ll see you again real soon. I promise.” Tears run freely from Jade’s reddish-eyes. To keep his mind focused on what he needs to do, Alex forces himself to turn away from Jade and advance up the stairs. Jade takes hold of his arm and tries to stop him.

“No, you can’t do this!” she vehemently exclaimed. Drake wraps one of his muscular arms around Jade’s waist and uses his free hand to cover her mouth. Neither Drake nor Alex like doing this to her, but they know there’s no other way. Demons and angels possess extremely sensitive hearing. Jade’s irate shouting could give away their plan. Alex turns around and bravely walks up the stairs.

CHAPTER 18

Alex makes it to the top of the stairwell and prior to heading to the room where he believes the intruder is held up; he takes one last heartfelt look at Jade. Looking at her put a great deal of doubt in his mind about going through with this current plan, but he ignores this doubt and moves forward.

Drake and Jade wait for the signal that’ll mark their phase of the plan. Jade’s watery eyes are fixated on Alex as he walks out of sight.

Upstairs, Alex has neared the bedroom door. Not wanting to give up the element of surprise because of a miscalculation, he presses his ear to the door, hoping to verify that this is the room the demon is held up.

A single fist punches through the door and grabs hold of Alex’s sweatshirt. Alex places both hands on opposite sides of the doorframe and vigorously tries to pull away. A second hand bursts through the door, also grabbing his sweatshirt, making it even more difficult for him to break free. The owner of the two hands pulls Alex through the wooden door. Alex is hurdled across the medium-sized bedroom and is thrown head-first through the bedroom’s closet door. Alex sits up and swipes himself free of debris and splintered wood. When he regains his composure he initiates the next step of their plan.

“Go now!” he shouted to Jade and Drake.

Hearing the signal, Drake and Jade take off running up the stairs. Just in case they come across any unanticipated trouble along the way, Drake takes the lead. Once they’re safely at the top of the stairs their roles flip. Jade leads the way to her old bedroom.

In the other room, Alex has managed to get back to his feet. He shakes his head to alleviate his dizziness. Alex spots his attacker, who just so happens to be Trent, one of the demons responsible for the Starbucks massacre. Still dressed in his fashionable suit, Trent stands at the bedroom’s door, carefree and relaxed.

“So I take it you’re the disobedient angel I’ve been sensing, huh?” he said, smirking.

Stepping out of the closet, Alex replies, “I guess my reputation precedes me.”

Trent tips his head and pulls his glasses to the tip of his nose, allowing him and Alex’s eyes to meet. Trent then takes off his glasses and suit jacket, tosses them to the ground. As he rolls up the sleeves he tells Alex, “Funny…I thought I was gonna have to wait until after our mission was complete before I’d get my share of fun in.”

Alex’s eyes flare up.

Trent continues, “I’ve never done it personally, but I’ve heard that killing an angel is one of the most gratifying things a demon could do. I can’t tell you how excited I am to experience the feeling for myself.”

Trent’s eyes suddenly turn black and then bright red. Alex’s eyes also turn black. Without further delay, the two charge at each other, colliding in the center of the room. With their arms interlocked, they struggle against the other’s strength. The two are so furiously engaged, they tussle all around the medium-sized room, crashing repeatedly into all of the room’s walls.

Despite all the noise they were making, Alex could still hear the other three demons bashing their way into the Harris home, which was followed by the shattering sound of glass that came from Jade’s bedroom. Everything appeared to be going just as they planned.

Unfortunately, the one thing Alex hadn’t planned for was the ferocity of the four demons. The monstrous beings are so rage-driven that instead of using the stairs to gain access to the second floor, they simply jumped from the first and crashed up through the second-floor’s floorboards.

Alex knows the demonic evils are closing in on him. While tussling with Trent, Alex catches a glimpse of the other three demons out in the hallway. And even though the view he had of them was short, he had no doubt they were coming his way.

To avoid being cornered, Alex uses all of his strength to throw himself and Trent out of one of the bedroom’s windows. The two not only take out the window pane, but a good portion of the wall as well. It’s only when their bodies slam into the grassy lawn that Trent and Alex release their holds on one another.

Both men are dazed after the impact. Alex’s haze wears off first. He slowly rises to his feet, trying to regain his composure before Trent can pick up with the attack. Luckily for Alex, a sharp piece of wood fragment from the window’s pane has pierced Trent’s stomach, which is causing him to bleed out badly. Trent removes the object and sprawls out on the lawn, allowing his body time to rejuvenate.

Before Alex has a chance to react to this unforeseen opening, his concentration redirected to an overhead noise. He takes his eyes off of a slowly recuperating Trent and looks up. Alex sees the three demons leaping out of the opening he and Trent created. One-by-one, the three demons touch down on the grassy-turf.

Among the three evils is Trent’s older brother, Zavior. The other two Alex intuitively knows as Jasper and Ezekias. Jasper is another evil spirit that is occupying the body of an average-sized male who appears to be in his mid-thirties. Ezekias is one of several rogue angels Gabriel talked about earlier. There’s no doubt that the rogue angel is now a demon of Hell.

The evil beings surround Alex, cutting off any path for escape. Trent is back on his feet, fully healed and fuming. With his back against the house and demons facing him from every angle, Alex has found himself in the precise predicament he had been trying to avoid. He’s encased by four powers equal to his own and all are carrying strong desires to do him bodily harm. All of the demonic entities, except for Zavior, have revealed their inner demon. Surrounded by glowing red eyes, sharp teeth and hideous faces, Alex nervously readies himself for a fight.

“I definitely should’ve planned this out better,” Alex said to himself. Taking an aggressive stance, Alex takes a deep breath and says, “Okay…Let’s do it.”

CHAPTER 19

While Alex’s plan hasn’t worked out so well from a personal standpoint, it does exactly what it was intended to do for Jade and Drake. Blocks away from the Harris home, Drake is running from alley to alley, carrying Jade in his arms. He maintains this incredible pace until he feels it’s alright to stop. Stopping nearly a mile away, Drake sets Jade down as the dirt kicked up by his running settles. Jade is just about to apply the body spray to her clothes when Drake suddenly stops her.

“Wait, I have an idea,” said Drake. “Don’t spray it just yet.”

“Why not? What’s wrong?”

“Give me your jacket. I have a plan to throw them further off your scent. Are you wearing an extra shirt?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Good. Take off your top shirt and give it to me.”

Jade places her trust in Drake hands. She hands him her jacket as he requested. She then takes off her extra shirt and turns it over to him. Drake takes the jacket and hides it behind a nearby dumpster. He tightly grips Jade’s shirt, looking around for the best place to set it. Within a blink of an eye, Drake temporarily disappears out of view, returning seconds later.

“Where did you just go?”

“I took your jacket over to the next block. By spreading out your scent we’ll buy ourselves more time. You can put the spray now. Remember, make sure you get every inch of your body; hair, shoes, pants…Everything.”

Jade applies the body spray as Drake instructed. When she’s done applying the final touches, Drake places his hand out for the nearly empty bottle. Curious as to what his plans are, she places the container in his hand. As quick as a heartbeat, Drake throws the spray bottle towards the sky. The lightweight bottle rockets through the air, shooting pass the trees. The bottle arches across the sky, soon vanishing out of sight.

Drake turns back to Jade and explains his action. “That’ll give them another trail to follow, just in case they get wise to what we’re doing.” Jade nods her head in acknowledgement. “You ready to go?” Drake asked.

“What about Alex?”

Drake raises an eyebrow. “What about him?”

“We can’t just leave him.”

“The plan was to get you away from them and to safety, Jade. So far I’ve managed to do both rather easily. I’m not about to make things difficult now.

“You’re right,” Jade started, “you got me out of there in one piece. I’m thankful to you for that, but now I’m asking you to go back and help Alex?”

“Try to understand, Jade, that even if I wanted to help that punk, I wouldn’t,” Drake coldheartedly confessed. “I would do just about anything for you, babe, but not that. If I went back to help him then that means I’d have to leave you alone, and I’m not about to do that.”

Jade asserts, “They’re going to kill him! We’ve gotta do something!”

“If I go back I could be killed, too. Even worse, it would needlessly put you in jeopardy. I can’t let that happen…Sorry.”

Jade rolls her eyes and aggressively bumps her way pass him.

“Where you going, Jade?”

“I’m going back. Just because you’re too scared to help him, doesn’t mean I am.”

Jade makes it a few steps through the alley before Drake uses his quickness to cut off her path. “Let’s get a few things straight,” said Drake. “The only thing that scares me is back in Hell, perched on his throne. Second, I could care less if your friend walks out of that house or not. I’ll give him credit for what he did, but that doesn’t mean I give a damn about what happens to him. But you I care about, and that’s why neither one of us is going back.”

Drake lifts Jade up and places her over his shoulder. Jade voices her discontent by shouting and punching at Drake’s lower back.

“Put me down, Drake!”

“I’m doing this for your own good, Jade. It’s what the angel would’ve wanted.”

Jade continues to struggle against Drake’s domineering grip. Her efforts are pointless. Drake takes off with a tremendous burst of speed. This time Drake won’t stop running until him and Jade are at a bus station, where they’ll then travel to her uncle’s farmhouse in Wakarusa, IN.

CHAPTER 20

In the backyard of the Harris residence, an unfair fight of three against one has commenced. The odds would’ve been four to one but Zavior has chosen to be a spectator instead of a participant. Up until this point, Alex has handled every confrontation he’s faced fairly easy. However, this time the number of opponents, in addition to their unrelenting attacks, is simply overwhelming. Every time he engages one of the demons, two others jump all over him.