Chapter 19
Kris
When told about Gramps and how famous he was in the demon slayer community, I’d expected the battle plan against Annabelle to be something more elaborate than Catch it like a Pokémon, try not to die.
But, well, here we were.
They’d planned out a strategy while finishing dinner, and though some of details had gone over my head, it did seem plausible?
Mostly because Gramps had the ability to temporarily cage Annabelle, assuming he could catch the demon off guard enough.
That was the trick, the element of surprise.
Gramps wouldn’t come in until the others had herded Annabelle his direction.
Still, I wished we had more people, firepower, something.
Anything to make this less trauma inducing.
My bond twinged already with unhappy vibes, and I couldn’t exactly blame it.
I would give anything to have this battle be over already.
My nerves felt stretched thin under my skin.
I was very nervous about being involved myself but even more concerned for Zhen, who was the tank in this group.
With his speed, he could bait and flee, and he was determined to do so if necessary to maneuver Annabelle to the right spot.
Him being in arm’s length of a demon he couldn’t battle stabbed icy terror right in my heart. I almost couldn’t breathe around the fear sometimes.
To be fair, everyone was preparing what they could.
Most of the Barre men were frantically rebuilding the box to stuff Annabelle into.
Gramps had apparently called them, given explicit instructions.
They knew they didn’t have much time. So Ben, Uncle Jake, Rhett, and Uncle Ty were all in the workshop crafting in a frenzy. I wished them luck.
I’d stayed out of the way and mostly listened as they worked out a battle plan.
It was interesting how they grouped themselves with ease and very little debate.
Clearly, they’d worked alongside each other countless times and knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
It took them barely ten minutes to concoct a plan.
But Gramps had emphasized one rule over and over: Don’t let the demon touch you.
That was one of the problems with fighting demons; we had to do it from a distance.
A single touch and it could possibly take possession of us, and holy mother I could not put into words how bad that would be.
A normal human was bad enough, but one of these guys?
Lethally armed and dangerous? So epically bad.
Annabelle was dangerously close to that ley line.
And the huodou couldn’t stop it anymore.
I had to own the idea that I might be up close and personal with this doll at some point.
I might have to fire and keep firing, to lay down cover.
I didn’t know how I’d breathe around this fear still stuck in my throat, but I’d better find my spine before battle broke out.
I wouldn’t be Zhen’s weak link out there.
And I might be terrified, but I’d survived terrifying things before. Right?
Right.
Come on, pep talk, kick in soon. I need my battle face ASAP.
River arrived shortly after the plans had been laid out, which led to a quick briefing for her.
Reed and Morgan arrived not long after River, which had been something of a surprise.
Reed’s sister had volunteered to help drive, so they’d switched drivers, letting both Reed and Morgan sleep on the way in, getting them rested and ready to go by the time they hit the city. All of us were grateful for her.
She didn’t stay, though, getting on the first flight back home. Reed’s sister wasn’t a combatant and was not equipped for this showdown. No one blamed her, and we all agreed it was smart to get out while the gettin’ was good. At least someone could.
I texted Jasha and warned him shit was about to go down. He promised to hole up in the shop for the night and not move since it had the most wards. Aside from leaving town altogether, that was the safest call he could make, and he was determined not to leave the rescue cats unguarded.
It neared eight p.m. now, and we couldn’t wait until morning to move. Honestly, it might be best for us to have this fight at midnight, when most people were safely at home or work and not on the open road, but we were out of time.
After half a day of watching Annabelle from afar, unable to engage, you’d think ants crawled under his skin.
He drove right now because making him passenger princess would have been the tipping point that sent him straight into a padded room and jacket.
I kept one hand on his leg to soothe our bond but also myself.
I would never admit to Zhen how scared I felt.
How unnerving it was to actively hunt something no one had ever been able to exorcise.
My life was on the line if this plan didn’t work.
Zhen’s life was on the line. My newfound family’s lives were on the line.
If I thought about it too much, my hands started to shake.
I’d had to put myself into a happy place just to eat dinner.
I didn’t think going into a hot-and-heavy fight on an empty stomach was a smart idea.
I had to believe with this many hunters and experts, we’d prevail. I had to believe or I’d shut down and crawl into a corner until this was over.
I could tell nerves were getting to other people, too, as the morbid humor flew fast and furious in the car.
The twins were in the back seat. I’d given Jo Jo the keys so he could shuttle people in my Volvo, and Dad was driving the rest in.
We made quite the caravan as we raced for what would become our battleground.
Right now, we were following Guo, who led us in.
If not for streetlights and the flames escaping his mouth in vibrant tendrils, I’d not be able to see him at all. He blended into the night perfectly.
I just really, really didn’t like the direction.
“Zhang fu,” I whined, because I deserved to whine about this, “why are we heading in the direction of the haunted Walmart?”
“I don’t like this either,” Zhen admitted.
Ethan leaned forward between the seats. “Haunted Walmart?”
“There’s a Walmart adjacent to one of the ley lines, dangerously close,” Zhen explained, and even his side profile displayed his concern.
“It’s become a gathering spot for spirits, the ley line acting as a sort of portal between the three realms. If you’re even remotely sensitive, you can see them, that’s how strong the energy is there. ”
Evan let out a low whistle. “That’s not good. If the demon inside Annabelle succeeds in getting there, it can absorb other spirits to gain more of a physical body. I’ve seen a Rakshasa do that before. Fuck me. Zhen, you owe me a two-four after this.”
“That’s reassuring,” I muttered, horrified by the mental image now playing through my head. Kind of like a horror show, soundtrack from Jaws included.
My subconscious liked to fuck with me, what could I say?
Zhen was now muttering under his breath, “Maybe the spirits will have the good sense to evacuate if it enters the building? No, wait, I can’t depend on them having common sense, ghosts don’t have that most of the time. Shit.”
An idea struck me. “Honey, you’re going to put me in the Golden Cage, right?”
“No, actually, I got the new cage ready. It’s just the poles, talismans, and protections, so setup should be easy. It’ll take two minutes, max. You won’t need the top since we’ll be inside.”
“Oh, thank god, I’ll be able to see three-sixty. I worried about that. Do I set it up like I did the Golden Cage?”
“I mean, I still used tent poles for the base, so yeah.”
“Beautiful. That makes me feel better, but I still have my question. What if we put a ghostcatcher near me? The arch will act like a beacon to me and send them to safety. I can try to call the huodou, have them help herd any stray ghosts my way and through the catcher.”
Zhen took a hand off the steering wheel and kissed two fingertips before touching my forehead. “Bless the brains. Bless it.”
I was quite pleased with myself, not gonna lie. “So it is a good idea.”
“It’s fucking fabulous. In fact, we should have Dad put one up too since he’s another anchor point.”
Gramps had come up with a sort of star, multi-prong attack formation.
Apparently, this wasn’t only theology at play, though theology had a part in it.
By forming a six-pointed star, we could draw upon higher divine smite, in essence.
The Star of David was powerful against demons, and we were using every trick we could, even if half of us weren’t Christian.
By utilizing the star formation, we had two points, north and south, as anchor points.
The anchors served two functions—one, guard against Annabelle trying to run that direction.
Two, serve as a defense for any fighter who got in trouble and had to fall back.
“Ah, something to note,” Zhen tacked on.
“Your new cage has gotten a significant upgrade. Gramps drew all sorts of holy symbols onto the fabric of the tent top as well as the poles in Sharpie. Dad watched him do it and made oohing sounds. Actually, Dad jumped in to help when invited, talking shop with Gramps the whole time.”
“Now I’m super excited about it.” Those two knew more than Zhen did about wards, after all, and if Dad was excited, it had to be badass.
Anyway, the other points of the “star” were comprised of the fighters.
Each point had two fighters. Gramps and Tiffany were with Dad at the southern point, opposite of me, and poised to leap into the fray when needed.
Mostly, though, we all agreed Gramps was the one who needed to handle putting Annabelle back into the warded box.
He was the only one with the right experience.
Guo fell back to run alongside my window, so I rolled it down and called to him, “Everything okay?”