Chapter 23 #3
I hustled to keep up with him, fetching up against the cool wood of the counter.
This was not what I wanted to happen. I was hoping for a clean catch, not this frantic chase through narrow aisles and dismal sightlines.
I paused at the counter as Brandon jumped back over it.
His charge had scared the ghost out from hiding.
They were chasing each other around the back stock shelves, Thomas now throwing things at Brandon, forcing him to duck.
The expression on Thomas’s face was awful, a mad light in his eyes, mouth pulled back in a snarl like he was some rabid dog.
I almost instinctively flinched. A man with that sort of expression wouldn’t hesitate to use violence.
Despite the throwing of bottles and Brandon trying to lay hands on him, the fight was weirdly silent. The ghost didn’t even try to talk, and Brandon was so focused on latching on, he wasn’t saying anything either.
I didn’t think adding myself into the mix would help any, so I parked myself at the counter’s only entrance. I had no faith I could wrestle Thomas to the ground, but I was game to try. I could at least slow him down long enough for Brandon to sit on him.
Brandon rounded an endcap, reaching for Thomas, but at the last second, the ghost evaded his reaching fingertips. Keen on escaping, the ghost blazed in my direction, scrambling under the counter’s top flap and trying to run past me.
Not happening.
I tackled him from the side, fingers catching and hooking into the back of his shirt, and I became dead weight, dragging him to a stop.
Eli caught up in the next second, rearing back, and with her flesh arm, she punched Thomas dead in the chest. Well, physically she punched him, but I saw the aura around her fist, and really, she basically hit him with a bazooka of power.
I winced just being this close to it and it wasn’t even aimed at me.
Still, the raw power flew over my skin, leaving goose bumps and this eerie staticky feeling in its wake.
The kid screamed in pain as he flopped like a fish in my grip, then slumped, passing right out. I couldn’t blame him. That had to hurt like hell.
Eli’s punch had worked its magic, though, and the ghost was forced out of its host. I couldn’t react fast enough to catch him, and he was out of range in a second flat. He stood there, shaking, his dark aura fizzing like a static burst, unstable but there.
And with him out of Thomas’s body, I knew who this was. “Joey Halfacre?”
His eyes met mine, and the rage in them was a rage that couldn’t be caged, the heat scorching like a sunburn against my skin.
The energy he threw off felt like sandpaper against my own aura, and it kept getting wilder, flaring.
A dervish would throw off this kind of intense energy, and he stood in the center of it.
Everything within range of him and not nailed down went flying.
I ducked a little, one arm up to protect my face, and winced when several sharp corners from product boxes hit my skin.
Ow, fuck, I was going to be covered in little bruises and cuts.
It was getting worse, his energy escalating, and I could barely see Joey at this point.
Dark energy whipped around him like he was in some kind of cloud.
How to shut him down? We had to before he tore this store apart, and us with it!
His mouth dropped open in an unnatural way, like his jaw was no longer hinged correctly, and the voice coming out of him sounded like a distorted siren, awful and piercing. “This is my town. My town! Gold rides an iron horse!”
Definitely Joey Halfacre. The slogan sealed it.
On some internal level, I panicked, because I was seriously not the right person to even try to tackle this man. Hell, Eli might not be able to fully deal with him. Could I even hold him?
Dammit, we needed Seiji. Stat.
Eli flexed her hand, staring at him, but she was also signaling something to Quinn? I couldn’t quite see from this angle.
Brandon was still behind the counter but had the Super Soaker pointed at the back of Joey’s head. I hoped he didn’t use it. Joey would scatter, and I wanted him locked down. No one wanted to hunt him down again after this.
Joey’s head turned, and I think he realized he was surrounded. Oh shit, he was going to bolt—
I barely braced myself before he flew in my direction, and despite my best effort to grab him, he hit me with the same kind of finesse as a freight train. I gasped out a breath as I went flying backward, hitting the ground with my right shoulder, and fuck, ow, that hurt.
“Mack?!”
I heard Brandon but didn’t have the breath to reassure him. Owww. Felt like my solar plexus was flexing, trying to release enough to draw in a breath.
I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t breathe, come on lungs, work, dammit!
Oh, shit, I knew why I couldn’t breathe.
This damn demonling had blocked my aura with his own energy.
God, this felt violating, like I was bathing in dirty engine oil.
If I could have breathed enough to do it, I might have thrown up.
But trying to draw air into my starved, gasping lungs took all priority.
Two hands I knew better than my own gathered me up, and I felt holy water poured over my throat and chest. The second the water hit, my solar plexus released. That bastard’s aura was cleansed with it, and I drew in a deep, gasping breath.
I leaned against Brandon’s warm chest, focusing on breathing for a second.
I was so, so glad I’d put on the amulet Gwyn had made me.
Wow, that decision had instantly paid off.
The demon might well have tried to possess me.
He’d be far more powerful in my body, after all.
Hell, he could have stopped my heart if not for the amulet.
Brandon’s hand swept over my cheek, tilting my head up to look me over frantically.
I finally had enough breath to say something. “I’m okay. I’m okay now. Where’s—”
“The bastard flew out the door once he took you down. Eli and Quinn are chasing him.”
“Then let’s get outside, cher. I want to witness his takedown.”
I wasn’t in any position to race outside, but I hobbled over quickly, still rubbing my chest. Fucking ow. That was going to take a while to settle, clearly. Brandon kept an arm around my waist in support as we hustled out through the front door.
In the minute I was down, a lot had happened. Seiji had somehow arrived on scene and a showdown was now happening right in the middle of the street. He’d thrown down an energy barrier via three throwing daggers, now embedded in a triangular formation in the pavement.
He could drive a metal knife through asphalt? Day-um.
Seiji stood on one side of the triangle, Eli on another, Davina planted on the third side, with Joey Halfacre neatly caught inside the barrier.
He kept hitting the walls, screaming obscenities, but whatever Seiji had made kept him pinned.
Seriously, what was that? The barrier glowed, almost like dust motes?
Just these pretty little flickers of light that were somehow strung together strongly enough to form a solid wall.
I had this feeling I could spend a solid year picking Seiji’s brain and still only know a thimbleful of what he did.
Eli caught sight of me and called, “You okay?”
“I’m good.” Give me another minute, and I might drink some holy water to clear the residue, but I’d be fine. Would it look stupid and childish to squirt some water from the gun into my mouth…? Probably. Ugh, fine, I’d wait until I could grab the stash out of the SUV.
“I’m not okay,” Brandon snarled, sounding fit to be tied. “I want to stab this asshole in the nuts.”
Seiji didn’t do more than glance our way before drawling, “Please leave nut stabbing to the professionals.”
I snickered. Oh, he was in a mood, this one.
Seiji drew the katana at his side, then, with a single finger, started drawing on it. Kanji, I could tell. Huh, he could use his finger like a pen? It was drawing in lines of pure white light. The quick, confident way he wrote the characters showed he knew what he was doing.
Eli flicked her fingers out, eyes on Seiji. These two had a plan already? I didn’t think I was down that long.
Seiji lifted his sword like a samurai warrior, in an overhead grip, both hands on the handle. “Eli, ready?”
“Go!” she encouraged.
Swear to god, they’d pre-choreographed their movements.
Seiji closed the distance in three steps, sword swinging down, and despite Joey throwing up both arms to block his attack, it didn’t do a bit of good.
Seiji’s sword sliced right through him like a hot knife through wax.
The second the blade touched Joey, the dark aura surrounding the ghost fluctuated, visibly wavering like it was a heat wave, and then split entirely.
My god. Had Seiji just cut through the spectral energy Joey had spent literally a century building?
The sword went right through and away, Seiji returning it to its sheath with a click. I barely clocked the motion, honestly, as the second his sword was away, Eli moved. She dove in, once again punching Joey Halfacre with full strength.
Only now, without the dark aura protecting him, she could actually do damage because the spirit of the man was exposed. I saw her fist, her power, hit Joey, and her fist glowed supernova bright.
The second her power touched Joey, he screamed like the damned soul he was, his soul literally splitting apart. His spectral energy spun out of control, like a mini whirlwind ripped him to shreds, and a second later, all I saw of him was a little bit of spectral energy floating off with the wind.
Thank. Fucking. God. He was finally done! After so much time trying to even locate the damn man, it was a huge weight off our shoulders to have him dealt with. Also, he fucking deserved that ending after everything he’d done! As one of his victims, I felt vindicated.
Also, holy hell, if an almost-demon required this much power to take down, I was absolutely never tangling with one without Eli and Seiji. I chose life.
A wild cheer went up from all around us. Oh. Shit. People surrounded us on all sides. They’d kept a respectable ten feet back, fortunately, but we’d definitely had an audience. This was going to be all over social media, wasn’t it? It had probably been live streamed too.
Seiji jogged to me, brows gathered in concern. “Mack, Eli said he hit you dead-on? Oh, I can see the energy of it. Let me clear that out.”
“I appreciate it, but the possessed boy is still in the pharmacy.”
“I’ll handle him next. You won’t take but a second.”
Indeed, that seemed to be the case. Seiji swiped a hand through my aura, and I felt the difference immediately. That stuck feeling, like something was caught in my throat, finally cleared out. “Better, merci.”
“No problem. Let’s go help the poor kid who got possessed.”
He’d likely need a stay in the hospital, just for observation, but hopefully he’d bounce back. I felt bad about making Eli, Quinn, and Booker deal with this crowd, but Hannah was already moving across the street to help them.
Eh, they had it. I’d better help Thomas. He was more the priority anyway.
Although, Jesus, how was it barely ten a.m.? Felt like it should be midnight with all that had happened today. This day was going to feel a decade long by the time it was finally over.