The Curse Defiers (32 page)

Then David was gone and Collin was with me, pressing our marks together. Power surged through my hand and into my body and I cried out, unable to take it all in. The stars filled my vision again, and then I was swept back to the beginning when the universe began. Only this time, I wasn’t alone. Collin was with me. An explosion of energy and light ripped through my consciousness, hurling me through time and space as I witnessed the birth of the stars, violent eruptions that filled the black expanse with clouds of reds and oranges, blues and greens. The beauty was almost too much to take in as the massive power of the explosion filled me, consumed me, and then hurled me to the birth of our own star, our own planet. Once again, I was the first drop of water to join with the molten lava on the surface of Earth. Time raced by, and I experienced the birth of Ahone and the other gods, the evolution of the earth, the creation of humanity. It all came to a screeching halt at the gate to Popogusso. I stood in front of it, wearing the ring and holding the Sword of Galahad. Collin was next to me, brandishing a spear, and I was chanting in a language I didn’t recognize. Suddenly I was infused with an overwhelming power, and the gate to hell erupted with a blinding white light.

I knew my purpose.

I was the alpha and the omega.

Demons would fall before me.

Collin released my hand, severing our connection, and we both gasped for breath. He fell on his back, next to my side. “My God, Ellie. I was there. At the birth of the universe. I was there watching it with you.” He pushed up on his elbows. “How can you see that and be the same?”

I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t. Especially after seeing the last part.

“I can usually feel your emotions, but this time I only had a vague sense of being with you, like I was looking over your shoulder. Did you feel me through our connection this time?”

“No.” I sat up. “
No
.”

Tsagasi appeared next to us, his face grimmer than usual, holding the ring between his thumb and finger. “You’re not done.”

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-S
EVEN

“The demon that calls itself the Great One has escaped and is returning to the body of its deceased host,” Tsagasi said. “If you hurry, you can catch it.”

Myra.

She might be dead, but I would destroy the thing that killed her.

I took the ring from the little man and put it on my left hand. Then I scrambled to my feet and retrieved the Sword of Galahad.

Collin jumped up, still wielding his own weapon. When he started to pick up a sword from one of the fallen Guardians, Tsagasi stopped him.

“You don’t have time to waste. My friends and I will collect them while you pursue the Great One.”

Collin nodded, but I turned back to the little man. “Are all of these weapons warded?”

“No.”

“Find me one that is. David needs it.” I had no idea what we were about to face, but I wasn’t leaving the man I loved unprotected.

Tsagasi waddled over to a group of bodies and pulled a short sword from the pile. “Here. This will work for him.”

David took the weapon, and the three of us took off running for the parking lot, but it soon became apparent that David’s injuries were slowing him down. “Go without me, Ellie. Get the wanker,” he said, holding his side.

“Sorry, Doc.” Collin grabbed his arm and pulled him along. “You’re one of us now.”

We climbed into the front seat of Collin’s truck, with me in the middle, and Collin sped down Highway 64 toward the bed and breakfast.

“I saw this thing when they held me prisoner,” David said, shouting to be heard over the wind rushing through the windows. “I know what it does. I know how to stop it.”

“How?” Collin asked, his grip tight on the steering wheel.

“It’s a demon that mimics its host. It kills the host and stores the body in the victim’s home. It leaves a token that stays with the body, a stone that hangs from a cord around the victim’s neck. It helps slow down decomposition. But once the body has decomposed too much, the demon must retrieve the token and find a new host within twenty-four hours.”

“And if it loses the token or doesn’t find a new host within that time frame?”

“It dies.”

Tears filled my eyes. “I visited the demon in Durham, not Myra. How could I not know? Why didn’t the mark on my palm give her away?”

“The marks on her door,” David said. “In essence, they cocooned her, protecting her from detection.”

I cast a glance toward Collin. “You said they’d figure out ways to hide themselves from us.”

He nodded, his mouth pressed into a tight line. “And when we saw her at the university, the pendant with symbols hanging from her neck probably prevented us from knowing she was a demon.”

I couldn’t let myself think about the fact that this thing had killed Myra. That I’d slept in the house where Myra’s body was hidden. I’d tried to keep her safe, and she’d ended up just like Momma and Daddy. Had she suffered? Did she blame me? Did Steven play a part in Myra’s death and possession? Or was it a coincidence? Rage burned in my chest. David was right—there were no coincidences in any of this.

The blackness Claire had seen was the evil stench from the demon. Claire’s ghost—the one who was so desperate to help me—was Myra. When was the last time I’d seen the real Myra? Apart from the protective markings on her door, how had I missed the fact that she’d been replaced by that thing that called itself my mother? But I
had
noticed. I’d just attributed the changes in her to the stresses of her move and her new job. Could I have saved her if I’d paid more attention? I sucked in a deep breath to regain control of myself. I could grieve later. First I had to kick a demon’s ass.

When we pulled up next to the house, Claire was pacing the porch in a skimpy robe, tears streaming down her face.

I jumped out of the truck, heart racing. Had something happened to Drew? “Claire. What’s wrong?”

“Ellie,” she choked on my name. “My ghost . . .” Her voice quavered. “It’s Myra.”

“I know,” I said, letting several tears fall. “She’s dead. She’s been dead for weeks.”

“But you just saw her! How?”

“A demon.” Those two words explained it all.

She threw her arms around me. “I’m so sorry.”

“I think the thing that killed her is in the house right now. It’s here to get her body.” I wiped my tears and lifted my chin. “And I’m going to make sure it never leaves.” Collin had helped David out of the truck and both of them were heading toward us. I grabbed David’s arm to stop him. “David, you stay outside.”

He started to protest, but I moved my hand to his chest. “I need you to stand watch in case it tries to escape, and I need you to protect Claire.” I spun around to face my best friend. “Claire, ask Myra if there’s anything else I should know before going in.”

Collin, who was standing next to us on the porch now, handed me the Sword of Galahad, keeping Allison’s sword in his own hand.

I lifted my gaze to his face, needing his reassurance that we could do this.

“The Sword of Galahad belongs to you, Ellie. Now let’s find this thing.” Then he held the door open and waited for me, holding his sword in his right hand.

“Ellie,” Claire said, her voice still shaking. “She says to look in the attic.”

I sucked in a deep breath. The location made sense, and now I knew exactly where to look, but the stark reality of the situation still ripped a hole in my heart. How could Myra have been dead in my house without me knowing about it? What kind of daughter was I?

“Lead the way,” Collin murmured as we edged past the kitchen toward the living room. He turned from side to side, checking the shadows as we made our way to the staircase. “Is there anyone else here?”

“Five researchers.” I cringed. “They rent the bedrooms upstairs.”

“Shit.”

We picked up the pace as we headed down the hall toward the staircase leading to the attic. The house was old enough that it had been built with an actual staircase and not a pull-down ladder. Which meant the demon had easy access. I flicked the light switch at the top of the stairs, but the room was still encased in darkness. My breath caught in my chest.

“Ellie, what’s wrong?” Collin whispered next to me.

“It’s dark.” I shook my head, feeling stupid, but I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to handle a dark room again. After a couple of seconds my eyes adjusted to the dim interior, and two small dormer windows let in enough light to show the outline of the room’s contents. “Let’s look around.”

The attic was a graveyard for every discarded thing in the house. My father, a notorious pack rat, had saved just about everything we’d ever owned. Halfway across the room, we found a small pentagram, the corners dotted with the bodies of dead animals—birds, mice, and squirrels. We’d smelled something bad off and on for a couple of weeks, and this explained it. A human body would have smelled worse. Which meant there was only one place Myra could be.

I picked my way to the back of the large space, Collin following silently on my heels, until we stopped in front of a chest freezer.

“Ellie, this thing is plugged in and running.”

I bit my lower lip and nodded. I wasn’t surprised. The demon would have wanted its host’s body to last for as long as possible. Freezing Myra’s body would have given it an indefinite amount of time. I grabbed the handle.

Collin placed his hand on mine. “Let me look.”

I shook my head, trying to work up the courage. “I owe it to her, Collin.”

He removed his hand and I lifted the lid. The freezer light blinked on, and there at the bottom was her bruised and broken body, a vacant look in her eyes.

“Oh, God.” I took a step back, sucking in deep gulps of oxygen. I was going to pass out. “Myra.”

Collin pulled me to his chest. “We’ll get the piece of shit that did this. I promise.” His arm dropped and he leaned into the freezer as I turned away.

He stood upright and closed the lid. “Ellie, she didn’t have the stone around her neck that David mentioned. The demon’s already been here.”

I closed my eyes and tried to hold back tears.
Damn it.

“Let’s go back outside. I don’t feel comfortable leaving Claire and David alone. David may have a sword, but he’s not in great shape to fend off a demon.” He put an arm around my back and I let him lead me to the staircase. But halfway down the stairs, Collin tensed. “Do you smell that?”

“Smell what?” I shook my head, trying to keep it together.

“Sulfur.”

My eyes widened and raw anger surged through my body. “It’s still here.”

“We don’t know that, Ellie. But don’t do something stupid if we find it.”

Instead of answering, I raced down the stairs and stood in the middle of the hall, spinning around in a circle. “I don’t smell it.”

When Collin reached me, he lifted his face in the air and just stood there for a moment. “Over here,” he finally said. He moved to the second bedroom on the left, his hand on the doorknob. “I hope we don’t scare the shit out of one of your boarders if I’m wrong.”

That was the least of my concerns. I stood to the side of the door and lifted my sword. My tears were gone, driven away by my strong need for revenge. “Open it.”

Collin flung the door open.

Demon Myra stood in the middle of the room, her hands wrapped around the throat of a woman who was on her knees in front of her. The demon had pulled back the rug and scratched a pentagram into the wood floor. Candles encircled the space. When the woman tipped her face up, I could see that it was Sarah, a researcher from Virginia. Duct tape covered Sarah’s mouth, and her eyes were wide with terror. Tears streaked down her cheeks.

“Let her go,” Collin said, raising his sword.

“I need her,” the demon hissed.

Collin moved several more paces into the room.

Myra’s eyes flashed red and she released a low growl as she lifted Sarah to her feet. “If you come any closer, I’ll kill her
now
.”

I had to remind myself this wasn’t Myra, the woman I loved. This was a monster.

“You have two choices,” Collin said. “You can kill her and I’ll kill you. Or you can let her go and I’ll let you jump out the window.”

“
What?
” I shouted. There was no way in hell I was letting that bitch go.

Instead of answering, the demon shoved Sarah toward me. The poor woman stumbled, struggling to get her balance with her hands tied behind her back. She tripped on the folded-back rug and I caught her before she hit the floor face-first. The demon kicked over several candles and then leaped for the window. Glass shattered, and a gust of wind rushed in as the demon dropped to the grass below. Within moments, flames started to lick up the drapes.

Sarah collapsed against me, sobbing in terror. I pulled the tape off her mouth and then untied the shoestring binding her hands.

“We can’t let it get away!” I shouted. “We have to go after it!”

But the flames on the drapes had spread to the wall, and the bed linens were burning too. The fire was spreading fast.

“Ellie, we need to get her and the other guests out of here.” Collin grabbed a pillow off the bed and started to beat the flames. “Go wake up the boarders. I’ll try to buy us some time.”

I almost screamed in frustration.
Goddamn it
. He was right. My need for vengeance was curbed by the need to save the people I could help.

I led a still-shaken Sarah into the hallway and was already banging on the bedroom doors when Claire and David came racing to the top of the stairs.

“We saw the smoke. What happened?” David shouted.

“The demon started the fire,” I said. “And it’s spreading fast.”

A door down the hall opened and one of the researchers stood in the doorway, wearing pajama pants and a T-shirt. “What’s going on? I smell smoke.”

As if on cue, the smoke alarms kicked in, emitting their high-pitched, eardrum-piercing tones. The other researchers appeared in their doorways, noticed the smoke, and raced for the staircase.

“David, we have to hurry!”

He nodded, then wrapped an arm around Sarah, who was crying hysterically, and asked the man in the doorway to help her downstairs.