Chapter 25 Allie
ALLIE
The house had become a war zone.
I had fought zillions of demons, but I’d never seen anything like this—dozens of them pouring through the hallways, crashing through windows, tearing through the place that had become my home.
They were in human bodies, mostly, but some had come in their true form and were skittering around, joints bending in ways joints aren’t meant to bend, sharp teeth bared. Cold, flat eyes.
“Allie, down!”
I hit the floor as Jared’s blade sang over my head, taking out a demon that had been lunging for my back. I whipped around and finished it off with a jab through the eye, releasing the demon that had invaded the body back to the ether.
“The portal,” I gasped, scrambling to my feet. “We have to get to the portal.”
“Kind of busy here!”
He wasn’t wrong. The first floor had become a battleground—Marcus with his twin short swords, carving through demons with the brutal efficiency of someone who’d been doing this for decades. Cutter back-to-back with Aunt Laura, who hardly ever fought, but was doing a solid job.
Eddie was in the midst of it, too, way more spry than he should be for his age, and he was darting through the fray, tossing holy water vials like grenades.
As for the students, they were holding their own, and I was pretty damn proud.
“Allie!”
I turned to see Mom rush into the room, a knife in one hand and Timmy clutched against her hip with the other. He was crying—not the screaming terror I’d expected, but quiet, hiccupping sobs, his face buried against her shoulder.
“Status?”
“They’re not trying to hold ground,” Marcus said. “They’re buying time.”
“For Samarek.”
“Has to be.”
Mom’s jaw tightened. She scanned the room, and I saw the moment she made a decision.
“Zane.”
Eliza covered him as he turned toward Mom. “Yeah?”
“I need you to take Timmy, Mrs. Micari, and Mindy. Get them out of here. Take the back stairs, go through the garden, get to Eddie’s shop downtown. Mindy knows where it is. Don’t stop for anything.”
“No,” I said, rushing to join them. “Samarek’s down there. We may need Zane here.”
She nodded. “You’re right,” she said, then called Ren, Mindy, and Ana over. She gave them the same instructions, then sent them hurrying off, swearing they’d keep Timmy safe.
Zane’s face went carefully blank. “You don’t trust me. That’s why you wanted me gone.”
“If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have tried to entrust my son to you. But Allie’s right. We need you here. You, too,” she said, looking at me. To Jared, she said. “I need you in charge here. Keep them safe.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he said, and she grinned, then looked at me and the others.
She turned to Zane. “Let’s go.”
Something shifted in Zane’s face, and he nodded. “I’ve got your back.”
Mom smiled. “I know.”
“Fran and Elena?” he asked.
I saw it on Mom’s face—the surprise and respect at his concern.
“I sent them away last night. They’re at Disneyland by now. Come on,” Mom said as she turned back toward the chaos, her face hardening into something I recognized—a Hunter. A woman who had been fighting demons since before I was born. And I was weirdly, awesomely proud to be her kid.
“Allie, Zane,” she said “With me. Jared, stay here and keep them away from us.
“On it,” he said.
“Where?” I asked.
“The basement.” She checked her knife, grabbed a second one from the weapons rack by the door. “Whatever’s coming through that portal, we end it tonight.”
Daddy slid in to join us, and we moved toward the basement, the battle raging on behind us as we hurried forward toward the ancient and terrible thing that was clawing its way into our world.
I gripped my stiletto tighter and followed my parents into the dark.