“Which means what exactly?”
“Which means we’re going to have to try out different methods under a more controlled atmosphere. We’ll test several silver weapons.”
Ugh. That meant the cold room again. “It’s going to be really hard to wield weapons in that arctic chamber.”
“I’m not going to chance it getting away. That’s a risk I’m unwilling to take. But we do have new weaponry. It would give us a chance to try it out on this demon.”
“And I’ll be the one to do that, right?”
He stopped, looked at her. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
She cocked her head to the side and grinned. “Aww, Mike. You care about me. You really do.”
“Of course I do. You’re a valuable demon hunter. Losing you would put a huge hole in our team. Do you know how long it takes to find and train new hunters?”
She laughed. “I’m touched. Really. I’m near tears at the depth of your caring.”
He rolled his eyes. “What I’m trying to tell you is that I’ll be going in with you.”
She frowned. “That takes all the fun out of it.”
“I’m sorry you won’t be able to fight the demon on your own, but you need backup. And we’ll have our tech team on alert in case we need to take it down in any other way.”
“Meaning?”
“Knock it out if it gets out of control, or to a point where we both can’t handle the situation. The last thing I want is that demon getting past us, escaping and killing our techs and scientists, then dematerializing. Or worse, taking you with it to wherever the hell it goes.”
There was no point in objecting. Michael was right. They had to have fail-safes in place to protect everyone in the center. “Okay. But I still want to be the one to battle it.”
Michael’s lips curled in a wry smile. “I’ll do my best to stay out of your way.”
“So what do we have in the way of weapons?” she asked, turning to the toys laid out on the tables.
The weapons room was her favorite place. It was like the mall of her dreams. Racks of lasers, guns, swords, and all the high-tech weaponry and accessories she could ever want. Lots of new things, too, all spread out on a few tables in front of them.
“We’ve converted a few of the standard ultraviolet lasers that we’ve used in the past on the other demons.” He picked up one of the rifles that looked like the ones they used to fill with the blue liquid that shot out UV light and melted demons down to nothing but gelatinous matter. “Now, instead of UV light, this will inject bullets of liquid nitrogen.”
Mandy picked up the rifle, examining the cartridges filled with silver liquid instead of blue. “Wicked. So the bullet will explode inside the demon-and then what happens?”
“Freezes it from the inside out. Putting the ice in its bloodstream and attacking its internal organs with a shot of liquid nitrogen should stop it dead in its tracks.”
“But will that kill it?”
Michael shrugged. “Don’t know. That’s what we’ll have to find out.”
“Cool.”
“We also have coated swords with pure silver. We know stabbing demons makes them dematerialize, but we don’t know if that means they’re dead, or if they just disappear to go lick their wounds. However, we do know that beheading the Sons of Darkness is pretty effective.”
Mandy lifted the lightweight sword, standing back from Michael to swing it in a few wide arcs. “I like this. If you lop its head off, surely it won’t grow another one.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking that would probably do the job, too. But not handy on the street, so I’d like to keep that option as a last resort.”
“Good point. We can’t really walk around beheading people in the downtown business district, can we?”
“Uh, no.” He led her over to another table. “Similar to the rifles, these are more compact guns with the same kind of liquid nitrogen bullets. Easier to conceal inside a coat or jacket. You can choose any size and weight and we can manufacture bullets sized to accommodate the weapon, plus add a silencer.”
Mandy nodded. “This is really impressive.” She chose a forty-five caliber. “Got bullets made up for this one?”
“Already loaded up with an extra clip to the side. There’s a holster next to it if you need it.”
“I won’t.”
She was admiring the weaponry when lights flashed and alarms sounded. She jerked, instantly on alert, and started grabbing weapons.
Michael picked up his comm, listened, then frowned.
“Drop the temp in the entire compound. Secure the area. Now!”
He turned to her. “Demon has escaped the cold room. Killed a tech and two guards.”
Mandy didn’t say a word, just tucked extra clips into the side pocket of her camos, then shouldered the rifle by the strap and ran like hell out of the room and down the hallway Michael right on her heels.
“You take the north. I’ll come around on the south side,” Michael said.
Mandy nodded, not even stopping in her dead run down the hall toward the room where the demon had been held.
When she got there, she grimaced at the bodies on the floor, the blood, the guards standing over them holding their weapons, then she was off around the corner, shivering at the rapid drop in temperature as the compound went to subzero in an effort to keep the demon from dematerializing.
That bastard was not going to get away.
She tried doors along her way. They were all secure, the compound having gone into lockdown as soon as the alarm was set off.
By the time she made a complete circle and ran into Michael, she was utterly out of breath, sucking in frozen oxygen and confused as hell. Where was the demon?
“Emergency exit door,” Michael said, turning on his heel. She followed right behind him, hitting the stairs two at a time as they punched through the exit door and up the stairs to the second level.
“What’s up here?” she whispered over Michael’s shoulder.
“Nothing. Storage. All the rooms should be secure.”
“I’ll take the south end.”
He nodded and she pivoted, lifting her weapon and moving as fast as she could despite the extreme chill making her shiver all over. But if the subzero temp slowed her down, it would slow the demon down, too.
As she rounded the corner, she saw a flash of … something. She sucked in a breath and ran, hard, sliding around the corner.
The demon crashed into her and slammed her against the wall, knocking the breath from her. She lost the gun, watching it slide down the hall and just out of her reach.
Shit.
But she still had her rifle. Unfortunately she couldn’t pull it over her shoulder because the demon had her pinned to the wall.
Fury thawed her frozen body out, gave her some strength. And James was weakened by the cold that affected the demon more than her, allowing her to give it a good, hard thrust and make some space between them. When she did, she lifted her foot and planted a boot in its midsection, shoving it away.
James landed on the floor and she went for her rifle.
Stunned or winded, she didn’t know which, the demon lay there, unmoving, staring at her.
She aimed, her finger on the trigger.
The demon scrambled to get up, then froze as she got it in her sights.
“You’re dead,” she said, her finger hovering on the trigger.
But as soon as she started to pull, the demon’s face disappeared. She was transported back to that awful night in Italy, when they’d stood in front of Lou and were forced to fire on him, kill him.
She blinked, trying to obliterate the vision from her mind. She lifted her head for a second, clearing the sight, then refocused, but all she could see was Lou, fighting the demon inside him, begging them to destroy him.