His head shot up and he looked at her for a few seconds, then his lips curled in a knowing smile. “Not this time. Never again.” He lifted an extra holster out of his bag, along with a stash of weapons that he laid out on the table. “I hope you can shoot straight, darlin’, because you’re about to become a demon hunter.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
A few months ago, Ryder would have resented having Angie along on this hunt. Untrained, she would have been a hindrance to the team.
Now he was glad she walked by his side. He believed in her and her ability to handle anything that came up.
He scanned the area around them, since they were bringing up the rear. All darkness, trees, and bushes as they made their way along the path. Nothing going on-yet. But it was coming soon.
Angelique and Mandy were two steps ahead of him.
Ryder lay back and let Angelique and Mandy walk side by side, talking. Mandy was so damn tall she towered over Angie, yet they laughed together, Mandy pushing into Angie and Angie shoving back like a couple kids out playing. Despite the incongruity in their sizes, their heads were bent together, whispering. Angelique would look back at him, back at Mandy and they’d whisper again, then burst into silent giggles. Like teenagers.
He knew she was talking to Mandy about him, and he didn’t care. He liked seeing her relaxed, even though it could only be for a few moments. Bad shit was about to happen, and she knew it. She was blowing off some steam before the big event, trying to pretend it didn’t exist. That was okay. He’d done the same thing before a skirmish. Sometimes it was necessary to let it go, not get too wound up and let the tension build, otherwise you’d lose focus and be ready to explode when the big bad came.
Smart girl.
Angie’s battle was just about to begin. But she had him at her side, and he wasn’t about to let her go.
She’d win the battle, too. No matter what.
Angie stopped suddenly.
“We’re halting back here,” Ryder commed to Michael up front.
“Okay,” Michael commed back.
Ryder moved up to Angie’s side. “What’s wrong?”
“I can feel my sister.” She looked ahead, then to the left, pointing. “There. See the light?”
Ryder squinted, then spotted the building. “Northeast, Michael. There’s a small light and a structure,” Ryder said into the comm.
“Got it. We’re moving forward.”
“Are you getting any sense of what’s going on in there?” Ryder asked her.
“She’s surrounded by demons,” Angelique said. “But she’s not afraid. They’re protecting her. And the black diamond. Izzy and the black diamond are in the building.”
“Can you give us a demon count?” Michael asked.
Angelique went silent for a few seconds. “I can’t see them all, just the ones near Isabelle. There’s a cluster around her, that’s all I can tell you.”
“Location within the building?”
Again, she went quiet as they continued to walk, as if she were trying to dig deep into what she saw. “The building is two stories with a room underground. She’s in the underground room, I think. It’s very dark down there.”
“Is the black diamond in the same location?”
“Yes. Right with her.”
“That’ll make it easier,” Michael said. “We’ll go in the first floor and head straight to the basement as a team. I want to get Isabelle and the black diamond out of there as fast as we can.”
“What about sweeping the other floors and taking out the demons?” Punk asked.
“At this point, our primary objective is Isabelle and the black diamond. Take out the demons we need to, but other than that we need to protect Isabelle and grab the black diamond. Nothing more.”
Punk growled. Ryder knew the feeling. Killing demons was their objective, but he understood what Michael was saying.
The building loomed before them, so black it nearly blended with the darkness of their surroundings. Two stories, the same architectural style as the old church, yet not as remarkable. It wasn’t very big, which would make it easier if they had to search the entire thing. But what was underground? Demons could come up from under the earth, so who knew how many were down there.
“Get ready,” Michael said as they approached the front door.
“You stay right by my side at all times,” Ryder said to Angie. “Don’t leave me for a second. I need to concentrate on killing demons and getting to your sister. If you get impatient and go running off to rescue Isabelle by yourself, then I’ll have to worry about what you’re doing and I can’t do my job.”
She nodded and rested her hand on his forearm. “I understand. Ryder, I’ll be fine. I promise.”
He was still going to worry about her. The Sons of Darkness were unpredictable, and there were a thousand ways things go could wrong. No matter what the objective was, Angie was coming out of there alive. That was his primary objective.
“Everyone ready?” Michael asked.
When Michael received all the affirmatives, they moved out from the cover of trees and to the front of the building.
“Ten bucks says the front door is unlocked,” Punk said.
“You’re on,” Trace shot back.
They crowded around the door and Punk turned the knob. He cast a smug smile over his shoulder and, with his palm, pushed the door open into pure darkness.
“Shit,” Trace whispered.
The hunters surrounded Angelique. They moved as a tight group into the entryway. The musty smell from lack of use permeated the air around them, so thick in their nostrils you could almost see it.
It smelled like death in here. But was it old death-or new? Ryder moved closer to Angie.
“I’m okay,” she whispered, though he knew she had to be worried.
They moved as a unit, their only objective to find the door that led to the lower floor. The main level was deserted, not a sound heard other than their booted footsteps on the dusty stone floor. There weren’t even footprints marring the thick layer of dirt and dust on the floor. It seemed untouched and completely unoccupied, which meant that no demons had even been up here.
“This way,” Michael said. “I see a door.”
He opened the door, then turned to them and nodded. “Stairs leading down. Be ready.”
They walked, single file, down the broken cement stairs. Angie held Ryder’s hand as he negotiated the hazardous steps in front of her. As soon as they reached the bottom, she squeezed his hand. He stopped and turned to her.
“What’s wrong?”
She pressed a hand to her stomach. “I feel Isabelle. She’s really close.”
“Can you tell anything about her state of mind?”
She shook her head. “No. It’s. . clouded now, like she’s aware I’ve made some kind of connection with her and she’s trying to block me out.”