Chapter 30
CHAPTER
THIRTY
SAMANTHA
Dastien sped through traffic like it was his job. He was usually really safe, but my heart raced as he wove between cars.
“Don’t worry,” Tessa said. “I can smell your fear, but werewolves have really good reflexes. He won’t wreck.”
“Easy for you to say,” I said, teasing her. “Fast healing werewolves are super annoying sometimes.”
Tessa huffed, and the tension in the car went down a notch or two.
“Is your life always like this?” Phoenix asked as Dastien ran another red light. There was barely any traffic, but still, I wasn’t enjoying this car ride. At all.
“No,” I said, almost automatically, but Tessa shot me a look. “Come on, Tess. It isn’t always this bad. At least not for me.” I shrugged. “The pack usually calls me out on something every month or so. Sometimes not for a couple months, and then we have a heavy month with two or three calls. But for the most part, it’s an exorcism they need me to perform.”
“There was that demon in New York,” Tessa said from the front. “And the one that we hunted in Mexico.”
“Right.” Way to be super helpful, Tessa. “I mean, okay. Yeah. There are exceptions, but at least seventy-five percent of my calls with the pack are simple exorcisms. Which is more like what I did in the apartment. Not like what I did with your sister. That was different. That was an excellently planned and executed plot from my father. Same with Van. Usually, these things have nothing to do with me.” I looked at Tessa. “Right?”
“That’s fair. Dastien and I travel quite a bit investigating all kinds of things, and the FBI has asked for our help a few times. This kind of danger is more our speed. I think there have been only a handful of actual monsters that we’ve needed Sam’s help with.”
Max howled and started to go wild in the back. Garrett let out a string of curses.
“ Stop ,” Dastien’s power rolled through the car, nearly stealing my breath, but the scuffle in the backseat stopped instantly.
“You okay back there?” Dastien asked, his voice sounded deeper, rougher, more growly than I’d heard before.
“Yeah. Yeah. I’m good,” Garrett said. “ Damn it , but I’m holding on.”
Tessa twisted to look at us. “Another Wayfarer just died.”
Damn it. I was supposed to be helping them, and I’d done nothing. “I’m so sorry. I told them to wait for us, but I should’ve made that an order. I knew that group was ready to fight whatever was killing their pack, and now?—”
“It’s not your fault,” Garrett said with a grow in his voice. “Those guys wouldn’t have been able to back down. They knew they weren’t supposed to engage, but their wolves were in control, pushing them to check the house. We’re getting close. Who’s going wolf?”
“You and I are,” Dastien said to Garrett. “Tessa stays human to do any talking and coordinating.”
“Good. I can’t hold this shape for long. My wolf wants free.”
“The other SUVs are right behind us. Whatever this is, it ends tonight.” Dastien’s gaze caught mine in the rearview mirror. “You point us at it, we fight it. You need to open a portal, you tell us where, we move. I don’t want you getting hurt. That helps no one. Got it?”
I nodded. “Got it.” I wasn’t sure that was how it’d go, but I appreciated the sentiment.
Dastien pulled to a stop in front of a house. It looked to be in the same neighborhood as the other house. “Hunter said it was close to the yellow house, but this feels really close.” We’d driven around a lot, but this felt familiar.
“Yes. We’re maybe a minute’s drive.”
We might’ve even walked past the house. “Okay.” Maybe I hadn’t noticed it because the other portal had been too close by? Because there was definitely an aura here. Smaller, but noticeable in the wee hours.
We all got out of the SUV, and Dastien and Garrett immediately started stripping off their clothes.
The other SUVs parked and the rest started doing the same, while the wolves that had changed already raced to the house.
“Whoa,” Phoenix said. “What are they doing?”
I kept my eyes turned away from the guys. They didn’t care. From what I knew, werewolves didn’t have a hint of...wait. No. It wasn’t that they weren’t modest. It was more that switching forms meant getting naked. No one stared or got creepy about it. They put clothes back on as soon as they shifted back to human. That was just part of being what they were, who they were.
But I didn’t need to see all that. “They’re going to shift. Can’t do that with their clothes on.”
“Well, they could,” Tessa said. “But it gets tricky. You can get caught in the clothes. That isn’t something you want when you’re going into a fight.”
I went around the other side of the SUV, letting my power roll through me, and studied the front of the house.
Demons were everywhere. All kinds. All sizes. It was a cluster . But none of them should’ve been able to kill a wolf.
Everything went silent for a moment, and then there was a howl.
Followed by more howls.
The wolves raced off around the side of the house to help their pack members.
Wolves were fast. There was no way a human could keep up with them, even Phoenix. Instead, we ran behind them with Tessa hanging back to protect us.
“Do you know anything?” I asked Tessa. “Is Dastien telling you anything?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Can you still see?” I asked Phoenix.
“Yes,” he said.
Weird. I wondered if Eli had done something to Phoenix, but that was for another day.
“Can you Tessa?”
“No. It was gone hours ago.”
That was more typical. Something was going on with Phoenix, but I couldn’t worry about that right now.
“There are so many demons climbing out of the house.” Phoenix sounded worried. “Are they drawn to the fight or…”
“Could be that, but there’s another portal open in there.” No wonder I had to wander around the neighborhood so much. I’d been so confused by why it’d taken so long to find it, but now it made complete sense. There had been two portals the whole time. This one was just smaller, so I hadn’t noticed it. I fixed the bigger one, and thought I was done.
Exhaustion was my only excuse. I’d been so wiped when I finished with the first one, and it was so big and complicated with layered spellwork, that I’d thought it was the source of everything.
I was wrong, and wolves were dying tonight because of my mistake.
There were howls and growls and snaps of breaking branches around the back of the house. I slowed to a walk as we slid through a hole of broken bushes the wolves had made on the side of the house.
The wolves were fighting, but there wasn’t anything to see.
Where was the monster?
A wolf was lifted into the air and flung at the house. He crashed through a window, and I hoped he was okay.
It was just glass. He had to be fine.
But based on the movement of the wolves, they were fighting blind, too. Which wasn’t easy.
“I don’t see anything,” Phoenix said. “Did it go away?”
“Neither do I.” Why couldn’t I see it? Dark magic? A curse? I wasn’t sure, but I could feel magic pushing along my skin, making it itch and crawl like ten thousand spiders were swarming every inch of my body.
I couldn’t fight what I couldn’t see. “Maybe I can change that.” I held my hands up in the air. “ The Lord gave me eyes to see and ears to hear, and in His name, with the power of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus, the son of God, Who came into the world to save us, I command you to show yourself.”
There was a roar and a ripple, and my heart picked up.
I knew that roar.
I knew it.
It plagued my nightmares.
“ Eli! I need you! ” I screamed through all the realms.
I gripped the bond I shared with my father and started knotting it furiously. One. Another. A third. Please, God. Let this be enough. If Astaroth started draining me through our tie, I wouldn’t make it through this fight.
The roar came again, then a laugh.
That was the sign.
He knew I was here now.
He felt me.
“What the hell was that?” Phoenix asked, his eyes wide.
I couldn’t say the words. I couldn’t answer him. I didn’t want to say it. I didn’t want it to be true.
“Please tell me that isn’t what I think it is.” Tessa sounded scared, and she had good reason to be terrified.
“Don’t follow me.” My voice sounded hollow and airy. “Get as far away from me as you can. I’ll lead him away, and then…” And then, I wasn’t sure.
There was only one other thing that was important. “ Run .”
I turned and started sprinting down the side of the house, knowing that he would chase me. He wouldn’t let me go now.
There were shouts around me, but I threw myself into the front yard as if the hounds of Hell were chasing me.
Because that was as good as the truth.
Tessa and Phoenix called for me to stop as I sprinted down the street, but I couldn’t stop.
I was so beyond screwed.
I hit the street, and the pavement rolled like a wave under my feet. I nearly tripped, but I caught myself.
My father was powerful. His influence—spiritual, mental, physical—could be felt in every realm. He wasn’t visible to mortal eyes, but he could interact with the mortal realm more than any other demon. A person would have to be an oblivious, brain-dead moron to not feel his presence.
This demon was one of his creations. It wasn’t him exactly. This monster held a fragment of him in it. A big enough fragment to do a lot of damage and kill .
I was stupid. I’d taken it as good luck that my father hadn’t found the portal in the yellow house, but now I was wondering if he’d influenced whoever opened it.
And worse—it never occurred to me that he was already through it.
Or at least, that one of his forms was here.
Phoenix sprinted next to me. I knew he could run faster than me, especially since I hadn’t been training, but he kept pace with me.
“You have to get away from me.”
“No. I really don’t. Why isn’t Eli here yet?” The jerk didn’t even sound winded.
“I have no idea. He must be busy.” He’d said he was busy, but he usually came when I was in this much danger.
Footsteps crashed after me. Right behind me.
My father was fast, and I wasn’t much faster. But I did have a head start. I couldn’t let that slip away.
I slid as I turned down another street—not slowing down. I didn’t dare slow down.
Thud.
Dirt and gravel rained down on me, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t hesitate. I kept sprinting as fast as my legs would carry me, cursing myself for letting Mom, Chris, Cosette, everyone talk me out of training. I shouldn’t have taken any days off.
If I made it out of this alive, I promised myself I would work out every day, no matter what. Wait. No. Two times a day. More. Anything to get me back to where I’d been. To get me better than that.
I needed a plan. Something. I didn’t know what, but Phoenix was in danger.
I glanced to the side. He was still running right next to me. We were sprinting down the middle of the street, passing houses of sleeping people, blissfully oblivious to the evil running behind us.
I glanced at my watch. It was closing in on three in the morning. Astaroth’s peak power.
Panic swelled inside me, making it harder to breathe, and my pace slowed just a little. “I don’t know what to do.” I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t keep this up.
“Then, we keep running. I can do this until dawn. I can carry you if I need to and still keep it up.”
“I…” I wasn’t sure if he was joking on that last part or not, but I didn’t think we’d have time to test that out.
My father was going to catch me.
My legs were already burning, and there was no way I could?—
Something slammed into my back, and I hit the pavement hard.
“Samantha!” Phoenix yelled and then grunted as my father batted him away as if he were nothing.
“ Phoenix!” The scent of blood hit me. My blood. I hadn’t felt it at first, but my face burned with pain, and I knew I was screwed.
Worse—I didn’t know if Phoenix was okay.
Panic started to take over.
My breaths came in short gasps.
A claw dug into my ankle, and it popped painfully as my father’s beast started dragging me across the pavement.
I blinked away the pain-induced spots in my eyes and tried to look back. I searched the street for Phoenix and spotted him. He was crumpled on the ground. “ Phoenix! Wake up!”
Where were the wolves?
Where was Tessa?
Maybe this was better. I told them not to follow me. If they were here, they’d just get hurt.
But where the hell was Eli? He should be here by now. “ Eli! I need you right now! I’m not kidding around! ”
Steam rolled off my father’s monster as he coalesced into a black, evil-looking beast. His eyes glowed red, and his mouth was like my father’s—too wide, with too many sharp teeth, grinning in a way that liquified my insides with fear. His massive paws scorched the ground with every step, dragging me back toward the house.
Back to the portal.
This couldn’t happen. I had to fight.
Get your butt moving, Sam.
I groaned in pain as I forced myself up a little just enough to twist my torso and keep my face from scraping along the pavement.
Better. Now, do something.
I needed to make him let me go. That was step one.
I kicked my good foot at the claw gripping my other ankle.
The claw tightened, and I gasped trying to breathe through the pain.
No. This wasn’t happening. I couldn’t let this happen.
I twisted my body a little, trying to find something to grasp, but there was only rough concrete. My nails cracked, and I screamed as I tried to get free.
This was useless. I needed something—anything—to slow him down, but there was nothing for me to grab. Nothing to stop him.
My fingers bled and my face ached. Frustration and fear tangled frantically together as I tried to get free because I knew where he was heading.
Back to the house.
Back to the portal.
Back to Hell.
I couldn’t let that happen. I’d rather die now.
Even if I went through the portal alive and somehow found my way back, I couldn’t survive it again. Mentally or physically. Years ago, the first time my father took me to Hell, my body had been a mess. Wrecked. So sure, they weren’t wrong about not training too hard too soon, but he caught me so fast when I wasn’t training.
Too fast.
Living-nightmare fast.
I wasn’t ready for this. It was too soon. I’d just saved Van. I couldn’t go back. I really, truly couldn’t. I wouldn’t survive it.
Panic thickened the air, and it was nearly impossible to get a full breath in.
I didn’t have super strength, and I couldn’t heal fast. I wasn’t fully Nephilim. My father hadn’t given me any extra abilities that would help in a situation like this. All I could do was see, interact with, and control the spiritual plane.
My only hope was to find some way to make him let go and to run faster this time.
I had to get free.
And I had to close the portal, but I couldn’t do it with him breathing down my neck. Not if it was anything like the portal that had been in the yellow house. I needed time.
“Stop thinking stupid things,” my father’s monster half-spoke, half-growled at me.
He couldn’t read my mind, but he knew me. He was letting me know he knew exactly what I was going to try to do, if I could just figure out how to do it.
He gave my ankle a jerk, and my hip bounced on the pavement.
I screamed from pain, but I heard a clang.
My bag. I was still wearing my belt bag. Thank you, God. I’d never taken it off.
I wasn’t used to having it. I rarely needed it, but for this trip, I had it. But what was in it?
Think, Sam. Think.
What made that clinking sound?
The jar. The jar.
It had my own mixture of salt-selenite-sage dust and falling ash from a priest’s incense thurible. It existed on the mortal plane but held supernatural powers. It was one of the few things in my arsenal that could cross into the spiritual realm. A few grains of it and lesser demons lost their hold on this world, sending them back to Hell.
I wasn’t sure it would work on someone as high-ranking as my father—even if this was just his stand-in monster. It might just really, really piss him off. And he was already pretty mad…
Screw it. I needed him to let go of my ankle. I had to be able to run.
I unzipped the bag and reached in. My hand hit the cool glass.
Thank you, God. It’s here. I can do this.
I needed the dust to cover him. If I opened the jar and threw it, the dust would just land on me or the ground or something else. I could blow it onto him, but not while he was dragging me like this. I had to change my position. I had to sit up.
I dumped the powder into my palm and closed my fist, dropping the empty jar with a clang.
My father’s monster looked back at me. Its massive inky-black body rose above me and its twisting black horns blocked everything else from view. “What are you doing?” A glob of it’s black spit dripped onto me, burning my cheek.
No time left. I screamed as I forced my already aching body to sit up. I laid my palm flat and blew the dust at him.
The grains hit his face and turned to embers, burning him.
He dropped my ankle, and it hit the ground. Hard.
My father’s monster roared with anger and pain as he swatted at the embers, trying to put them out, but I was frozen. Watching him.
This was it.
This was my chance.
Run.
I had to run.
Move, Sam.
I scrambled up. Pain ricocheted from my ankle up my leg, but I gritted my teeth and kept moving. I couldn’t let it slow me down.
Fear and adrenaline quickly numbed the pain, and I ran—hobbling but still moving fast.
Wait. No. I was dumb. I was going the wrong freaking way. I was trying to lead it away from where Phoenix was, but I needed to get back to the house. I couldn’t risk trying to open a new portal. He’d pull on my power. He’d drain me. He’d drag me through.
Or if I got him through it, managed to stay on the mortal side, and closed it—he’d just come right back through the portal in the house.
I had to get back to the house.
And I needed time in the house before he got there.
If I could beat him back to the house and close the portal, every demon in a two-to-three-mile radius would get sucked back through. Including my father’s monster. Because he didn’t have dominion in this realm. He wasn’t supposed to be able to come through the portal. He wasn’t supposed to be here.
I knew there was something weird about the way the portal had fought me in the yellow house. This had to be it. There was a spell on it, and I bet my life my father had been keeping it open.
I had to get rid of this one the same way.
Close it, and I’d get rid of him.
It was the only way to end this.
My father roared through the monster behind me, and I knew I couldn’t outrun him. Not like this. Not with my ankle totally wrecked.
I’d used the one trick in my bag with the powder. I needed something else to buy time. I needed to?—
Oh, wait. My bag.
Wow.
A crazy, hopeful, dear-God-please-let-this-work idea formed, and oh wow.
Wow .
Chills broke across my skin.
This was it. This was why I needed it.
Thank you, God! I sent the praise up to Him because I wouldn’t have asked for it if He hadn’t seeded that knowledge in my head.
I hit the end of the block and turned the corner. There was a tiny spot in between two cars parked on the street. I dropped to the ground, pulling the chalk from my bag.
Thank you, God. You knew. You always know.
I drew a circle around me, drew four Orthodox crosses around it, and said a quick prayer. It’d been forever since I’d done this, so hopefully I didn’t forget a step.
Whatever. It had to be good enough.
I wasn’t sure where Eli was or if he was coming or even if God was listening to my prayers. But I wouldn’t stop trying.
“ Please, hear me, God,” I screamed across the realms. “There are people in danger. My father freed one of his monsters into the mortal realm. I need help. Send Elilaios or whoever. But now. Please! ”
Astral projecting like this wasn’t the best idea. It left my body vulnerable to being injured, a demon taking it over, or any number of things, but it was all I had.
Being separated from my body wore me out when I kept my spirit visible on the mortal plane. I couldn’t stay this way for more than a few minutes at a time without growing weak, which wasn’t ideal in the middle of a fight with my father when I was already weak.
But if this took longer than a few minutes, there was a good chance my father would win either way.
I couldn’t think like that.
Circle done, protection symbols drawn and working. It was the best I could do right now.
I closed my eyes and slipped from my body.
My spirit-form darted across the street. “ Hey, Astaroth! You’re going the wrong way! ” I rarely ever used his real name, but this time I wanted his full attention on my spirit.
He roared, part of his horned bear-like face still red and smoking from the embers, as he ran across the street. He didn’t care about how his body dented every parked car, how each step took melted the asphalt, or how every bit of him destroyed anything he touched.
I was much faster in this form. I wasn’t inhibited by the confines of my mortal trappings. I could think go to the end of the street and be there.
My father was recovering from the dust, and I hoped he wasn’t seeing clearly or he was too angry to realize I was moving faster than I could in the mortal realm.
If he did, I’d figure out what to do next, but I wasn’t giving up.
I pictured the end of the block and told my body to go there.
Too quick for my eyes to register, I flew down the block.
My father roared and picked up his pace.
I visualized the house on the next block, and my spirit-form flew there.
I didn’t want to risk jumping way too much or I’d risk giving myself away. So, instead, I ran. And ran. And I forced myself to go slower even though I wanted to push my body to go as fast as I could.
My power wasn’t endless. I needed to make sure I didn’t drain myself too quickly, just in case my father figured out what I was doing. I needed to seem real enough to lead him far away from the house. Then, I could snap back to my body, get to the house before him, and close the portal.
Wait. Why was it so quiet?
There were no more stomping feet behind me. No more roaring. No more crashing of cars. Hissing of melting asphalt. No more anything.
I glanced over my shoulder, but he wasn’t there.
He was gone.
I stopped running and turned in a circle.
Where did he go?
Maybe Eli showed up and took care of him and I didn’t notice?
That seemed highly unlikely.
But he was gone. He wasn’t following me.
I didn’t know where he’d gone to, but it was pointless to tire myself out.
My heart raced, my breathing was heavy, and I knew my physical body was laboring and starting to struggle. I must’ve been weaker than I thought.
I closed my eyes and felt the pull toward my body. The tug was there, and I couldn’t ignore it. The air rushed around my soul as I flew toward my body.
I opened my eyes, but instead of feeling at home in my body, I really, truly couldn’t breathe.
A clawed hand tightened around my neck.
Motherfucking shitballs.
I’d messed something up. The circle hadn’t held.
He found me.