He glanced in her direction but quickly turned back to the fight. She whistled again and patted her thighs. “Come on, boy. Come on. Come get me.”
His head snapped in her direction. He snarled, drool dripping from his mouth to the ground. Instead of waiting for him to charge, she bolted down the alley to her right. Relief flooded through her when she heard paws padding against the pavement. She never thought she’d be happy to have a demon chasing her.
She pressed on her earpiece. “Is Kennedy High still in use?”
“I think so,” Jeremiah answered.
“Good. Have a squad meet us there. Don’t use portals. I don’t want to scare him off.”
Kennedy was built next to a multi-denominational worship house. When the school needed more room, they offered to buy some land. Someone on the board of the church realized they’d make more in the long run if they rented out the land instead of selling it outright. Part of that expansion included a pool. A pool that sat on holy ground that was resanctified weekly.
She’d tried to lure a demon there before. It hadn’t ended well for her or the host. It would be different this time. There was no alternative.
Someone screamed in frustration behind her, but she didn’t stop. Saving Nathaniel was too important. Besides, it had to be the fae that screamed. Thomas wasn’t the screaming type. She wove through streets and alleyways, always just steps ahead of the demon-ridden werewolf.
A weight hit her back just as Kennedy High came into view. She flew to the ground and slid across it from the momentum she’d built up. Thick claws dug into her back and she yelped in pain. She couldn’t let this happen. Couldn’t let the demon get the best of her. She bucked, trying to get out from under him, but he held on, refused to be moved.
“Get off me you cursed mutt!” She pushed against the ground with all her strength, twisting as she did so. He fell to the side as her movement knocked him off balance. They crouched, sizing each other up. She eased her hand to her belt and grasped the flask of holy water. She flipped the cap off with her thumb.
With a flick of her wrist, she splashed the contents onto Nathaniel. He fell back with a howl and she took off for the school again. It bought her enough time to get a small lead on him. When he started to chase her again, she was even more convinced Nathaniel’s demon was low-level.
Low-level demons worked on rage, thought only about what they wanted at that precise moment and what they needed to get it. They weren’t thinkers or planners. All the demon in her friend knew was that it wanted her, so it followed. It never crossed its mind that she might be leading it somewhere.
At the school she fumbled with the chain on the door, finally found the padlock and unlocked it. She let the chain fall to the ground as she yanked open the door of the school and ran inside with the demon right on her heels. Fortunately a werewolf in hybrid form looked like the wolfman from all the old horror movies so he had paws and claws, neither of which were good for traction on linoleum floors. She gained a little more ground, put a little more distance between them. The layout for the school was easy to recall and she headed straight for the pool.
She slid into the room and ran to the far wall. Bending over, she put her hands on her knees and panted while she tried to catch her breath. Her head throbbed, her vision blurred. Damn demon. Nails clicked in the hallway outside the room and she drew her blade. Pressing her back against the wall, she let all the fear she felt for Nathaniel, for Thomas, and even for herself come to the surface. The scent of it would bring the demon right to her.
It scrabbled into the room and slid to a stop when it saw her. It sniffed the air, then crept forward. She didn’t have to fake her yell when it launched itself at her. Heavy paws pinned her shoulders against the wall. Snorted breaths fanned the hair around her face. Her lip curled at the rancid smell. It pressed its full weight against her body and she suddenly knew a lot more about her friend’s anatomy than she cared to. The demon seemed to be hesitating and she wasn’t sure why, but she intended to use it to her full advantage.
“Sorry, Nathaniel.” She brought her knee up in one quick motion, putting all her strength and speed behind it. The demon howled and released her shoulders as it bent over in pain. Dropping her sword, she used both hands to push the demon toward the pool.
The creature was in the water before it even realized what happened. She arched her back and rocked forward on her toes to keep from following it into the water. Ignoring the howls and screams coming from her friend, she turned her back on the pool and pulled the other flask out of her pocket. As she filled her mouth with the whiskey, she walked back to the wall. She put the flask away and bent to retrieve her sword from the floor.
The horrible sounds stopped just as she turned to face the pool. Nathaniel, completely human again, was half out of the water with his back arched at an impossible angle. He opened his mouth as if to scream and black mist poured from his mouth. It collected in a cloud above his head, hanging in the air for a moment before sweeping toward her.
When it was a yard away, she spit the whiskey, spraying the cloud. A high-pitched keening filled the air and her blade flashed red as it sliced through the cloud. Once, twice, three times. “Go back to whatever dark god you came from,” she said with a growl that would have made Nathaniel proud if he was coherent enough to hear her.
The keening grew louder, higher pitched until pain lanced through her ears. She belatedly threw her hands up to cover them. The windows behind her imploded and she dropped to the ground, hunching her shoulders in an effort to protect her head. Tiny shards sliced her skin as they flew past. Finally, the cloud fell to the ground in a fine powder.
She stood, wincing at the pain that wracked her body and pierced her ears. Her equilibrium off, she stumbled to the side a bit. She pulled a flask of water from her pocket and used it to drench the ash. That wasn’t supposed to be necessary but there was nothing wrong with being cautious. The demon dealt with, she turned her attention to its former host. She found him floating face down in the water. Panic lodged in her chest and made it hard to breathe.
“Oh, hell no. I did not just save your ass from a demon so you could drown.” She dropped the sword and snatched the communicator out of her ear.
Thomas came through the door just as Juliana dove into the pool. The elemental was right behind him. Other agents surrounded the building. All the windows were shattered, the broken glass littering the floor crunched under his feet as he hurried to the side of the pool to help his mate with her friend. She looked surprised when Thomas lifted the wolf from her grip and passed him off to the elemental.
Thomas came back, grabbed her hands and lifted her out of the water. She staggered to the side and grunted in pain. The sweet scent of her blood flooded his senses. Even as his heart skipped a beat in worry for her, his mouth flooded with saliva. It had been a long time since he’d tasted her, so long.
Juliana turned to check on the wolf and Thomas caught a brief glimpse of her back. It was enough for him to see that was the source of most of the bleeding. The wolf coughed and Thomas glanced over to see the elemental had him rolled on his side. Given Juliana’s relaxed stance, he assumed she’d done what she’d intended and freed her friend of the demon.
His bride stumbled away from him. He reached out to help, but she righted herself before he reached her. She kept her back turned from them as she slid her sword into its sheath. As if she could hide an injury like that from him. Thomas clenched his jaw but forced himself to be patient. They would take a portal directly from here to the infirmary and she would be taken care of.