“I was glad to do it,” I said. And I was. Diana and Dyonne deserved to have their lives back, to be happy for once. They’d lived in the shadow of death for so long.
Even though I wouldn’t be riding any horses up the grand staircase of their house, I didn’t blame Dyonne and Diana for enjoying every minute they’d been given.
In a lot of ways, I envied them. I hadn’t enjoyed life enough lately. Granted, I’d been busy saving the sisters, and then tied up preventing Armageddon on the Las Vegas
Strip. But now…maybe now I could finally stop and smell the olive blossoms. Or at least have a minute to think.
Before I could ponder too long, Dimitri jerked upright. My head tumbled off his shoulder and I had to brace myself against the seat to keep from sliding backward.
“What is it?” I asked, drawing a sharp breath as I spotted the sprawling white villa.
“Step on it,” Dimitri ordered as Dyonne hit the gas and made a hard left into the long, cypress-lined drive.
Batlike creatures streaked across the sky, arching at sharp angles. They dove, disappearing behind the trees, only to swoop back again. My demon slayer senses kicked into high gear. The winged monsters practically radiated evil. No doubt they were primed to attack.
They stalked the smooth white walls of the villa. The house was classic Greek, with hot-pink flowering bougainvillea bushes and blue shuttered windows. It was an immense structure flanked by a lone tower rising off the right side. Green sludge bled from the spire like it was an open wound.
I gripped the seat in front of me, unable to take my eyes off the oozing window and the largest of the things hovering inches beyond it. “That’s your study, isn’t it?”
One look at Dimitri’s grim expression told me I was right.
“They smell like imps,” Pirate said, jumping into my lap.
“No,” I said, fighting the dread, while at the same time recognizing the leathery bodies, the bent frames, imagining the sharp, razorlike teeth. “Imps don’t fly.”
“Yeah, and you also said dogs don’t talk.” He wheezed a wet doggie sniffle against my leg.
That seemed to be the theme of my life lately.
We’d run into imps before and found them blood-thirsty and twisted beyond all redemption. And what the imps represented made my stomach plummet. Imps served as minions of the devil. They were spawned from demons, which meant whoever had spread the word about my exposed magic had intimate knowledge of who could hurt me the worst.
My emerald necklace hummed as the bronze chain unclasped itself and snaked down my neck. Even though I knew Dimitri’s gift did nothing but protect, I still stiffened as it wound its way around my right shoulder, the metal stretching and moulding to form a hard bronze epaulet with a teardrop emerald gleaming at the center.
Into battle we go.
I should have been terrified, and I was. But I also felt cheated.
Was it so terrible to want a nice, normal vacation with my boyfriend? Just once? Didn’t I deserve a magical getaway without eight different brands of demonic creatures?
I mean, here we were racing straight for a traditional Greek villa. It stood postcard perfect at the edge of a black volcanic rock cliff overlooking the impossibly blue Aegean Sea. Emerald green hills rose on the other side. And other than the leathery black creatures soaring above the cliffs, it looked pretty darned nice.
Could I even enjoy the towering beauty of the cypress-lined drive? Look for more than a moment at the fountain in the middle of a small lake? No. I had to fight minions of the devil.
Fate couldn’t resist one last dig. I jumped back as Dimitri’s crisp blue shirt landed on the floor in front of me.
I turned and saw him removing his white undershirt as well. “What are you doing?” I asked, mild annoyance giving way to a sudden preoccupation with the broadness of his chest. Once he removed his tailored clothes, everything about him seemed larger and more potent.
“Shifting,” he said, his hair spiking at odd angles. Dimitri hated to ruin his clothes with an unplanned shift.
Okay, I could see his point. If the imps attacked from the air, he could be a more effective fighter in griffin form.
The car jumped a pothole and I tumbled against Dimitri, bracing my hand on the most perfect abs this side of the Mediterranean.
“Any change in the imps?” he asked, depositing me on the seat next to him. A lock of black hair fell over his forehead as he reached for his belt buckle.
“No. But they seem to be circling in a pattern.” They weren’t attacking. Yet. “You going to take off your pants too?” Just my luck I wouldn’t be able to enjoy that either.
Dimitri braced one hand in front of me and caught himself on the seat back a second before Dyonne slammed on the brakes.
“No time,” he said. Dimitri had his car door open before she’d even come to a full stop. “You ready, Lizzie?
“Oh yeah.” I was right behind him, slamming the door on Pirate before he could protest. I unhitched a switch star, ready for the onslaught. Holy moley, I craved it.
It disturbed me as much as it fascinated me.
Don’t think, just act.
I dug my fingers, hard and white, into the handles of the switch star.
Dimitri planted himself next to me, unwilling, it seemed, to shift with battle so close. I didn’t see any weapons on him but certainly wasn’t foolish enough to think he didn’t have his defenses in place. His breathing was hard and focused. As I watched, his skin took on a fine sheen, almost like a glow.
It felt good to be fighting next to him as an equal. For so long, he’d tried to protect me. At first, I was grateful for the support. But after I’d learned more about what I could do, it was downright insulting. I may not have
known everything about the magical world, but I could hold my own.
The imps circled above us, holding to the same formation I’d detected earlier. “Why aren’t they attacking?” They had to have seen us.
One by one, they dove for the window. Each time, they’d bounce off with an audible
zing
, like big leathery insects on a bug zapper. Only these things didn’t die. They’d circle and dive again. And again.
The protective charm Dimitri had cast over his office didn’t show signs of breaking. Then again, what did I know about magic windows?
“Maybe they don’t want a full-out battle,” he said, thinking, his eyes widening when something clicked into place. “Maybe they just want you.”
Holy Hades.
They didn’t need to attack me outright. They’d be able to hurt me bad if they managed to get to the magic Dimitri had used to trace me. I had no idea how to defend myself against an internal assault.
“Come on!” Dimitri gripped my arm, heading for the house.
“Wait.” I opened the car door and Pirate fell out.
He popped right back up and scrambled against my bare leg. “I’m fine! Nothing to see here.”
“Now,” Dimitri ordered.
“Come on,” I said, grabbing Pirate around the middle.
He squirmed against me. “I can take an imp.”
I propped Pirate under one arm and my mom’s wooden box under the other. It wasn’t the most effective fighting pose, I’ll give you that, but I wasn’t about to let either fall
into the wrong hands. As to what I’d do when it came time to fry a few imps…well, I’d figure it out.
I hated to admit it, but most of the success I’d had as a demon slayer had been when I let go and let my instincts guide me.
“This way,” Dimitri called as he ran for the front door of the house.
I about tripped up the slate stone porch as Dyonne and Diane started to shift right in front of me. Claws erupted out of their hands and feet, and thick lion’s fur raced up their arms. Red, purple and blue feathers cascaded down their backs and formed wings as bones snapped and their bodies expanded. “We’ll head around the—” Dyonne’s intense voice ended in a snarl.
Even though I knew in theory that these two women could morph into griffins—with the bodies of lions and the heads and wings of an eagle—it still shocked me to watch their bodies grow to the size of two monster trucks. Diana took off on a set of massive wings, with Dyonne right behind her.
“Lizzie!” Pirate leapt out of my grasp and followed Dimitri inside the house. “I smell them, Lizzie!”
I was right behind them, through the bright blue door and into an arched entryway. To the right, a set of white stone steps seemed to grow out of the house itself. Dimitri gripped the iron banister as he took them three at a time. Pirate raced out front. I followed a step behind. Higher and higher. My Supernova cross-trainers slapped against the hard white stone. I hated imps.
I could see them in my mind’s eye—with their weasel-like faces and bodies of thick, hastily constructed people.
Purple eyes glowed from under dark, furry brows, and dark hair clung to their twisted torsos.
One screeched on the floor above as glass shattered.
No!
We dashed around the corner and down an arched hallway, up a small flight of stairs and down another hall toward a pool of slime at the far end. Dimitri slopped straight through it, reaching back for me. I missed his outstretched hand and got the shock of my life. Fire shot straight up my legs and zapped me up the spine and down to my fingertips.
“Mother fuddrucker!” I twisted sideways and knocked Pirate backward and out of the line of fire, but not before I heard his yip of pain.
“Lizzie!” Dimitri grasped my arm and the shock waves stopped as quickly as they’d begun.
I twisted around. “Baby dog!”
Pirate’s fur stood on end and he walked in hazy circles on the gray slate tile. “Buttons always talked about his electric fence and I said, ‘Oh I can handle an electric fence,’ but if that’s an electric fence…”
I pulled Dimitri through the muck, my entire body throbbing from the original impact. “Pirate, are you okay?” He didn’t look so good.
He blinked twice, one ear straight up, the other curling under. “Urkle.” He tried to shake off, but it turned out as more of a neck and shoulder wiggle. “Why don’t I guard the rear?”
“Yes,” I said. “Do it.” We didn’t want him anywhere near the imps. Last time, he’d gotten cut up pretty bad, although I had to admit, he’d held his own.
“Lizzie.” Dimitri ran a hand along my back, maintaining
contact—which seemed to be a pretty good idea, since I had muck on my shoes. “Pirate’s clean. We need to go. Now.”
We waded back through the slime to the thick wooden door of Dimitri’s study. I could hear the imps’ heavy, wet breathing on the other side.
“Touch me at the waist,” Dimitri said. “Don’t let go until you have absolutely no contact with the slime.”
No kidding.
He turned the key in the antique lock.
I gripped the hard muscles above his dress pants as he pressed his thumb to a point right above eye level and pushed. The door groaned open and I gasped at what had become of his office. Burn marks singed the floors, stone sculptures lay crushed and broken, papers scattered everywhere.
A blackened imp hurled itself against the red slate floor to the left of Dimitri’s antique wood desk. The floor echoed and plumes of smoke rose each time he threw himself down.
I pushed my way around Dimitri. “What the—?”
“They’ve found the safe.”
A gray-streaked imp hissed from its perch on the windowsill.
“Get down!” Dimitri smashed me onto the cold hard floor, his body falling on top of me as a monster on the windowsill flung a leathery arrow at us.
I winced as it clattered against the wall behind us and fell to the floor.
“Get up. We need to separate. They’re hurling curses.” Dimitri dragged us sideways as another arrow whizzed past.
We rolled to the left as I dug my slimy tennis shoes off without untying them. Then, for lack of options, I tossed one at the window imp. It smacked him right in the forehead, the goo zapping him backward out the window.
“Ha!” I pushed away from Dimitri, aiming a switch star at the imp currently making a big char hole in the floor. The bronze on my shoulder made it harder to throw. Still, I cleaved the imp in half, the two sides of its hairy black body sizzling as three more imps poured in the window.
Dyonne caught a claw on the outside ledge, tearing part of it off as she snapped her eagle’s beak through the window. But her head was too wide and the imps too fast.
One of the imps from the window leapt onto Dimitri’s antique desk, and the wood disintegrated on the spot.
“Holy Hades!” My stomach flip-flopped, shocked, as the imp fell into a pile of ash.
Dimitri’s eyes widened. “Kill it!”
His forehead glistened with sweat as he worked some kind of incantation over the broken window.
Right. I leveled a switch star at the thing’s head, slicing it open, as the other two from the window leapt into the study. I caught one of them as it took cover behind a potted ficus tree in the corner. The imp fell forward and the tree wilted and turned to dust before my eyes. Another one landed on the oriental carpet by a massive fireplace. The carpet curled and blackened.
Sweet Mary. Everything they touched aged and died.
“Lizzie!” Dimitri yelled as the last imp hurled a curse directly at me. I dodged as it struck my bronze-clad shoulder, bouncing off.
I gasped, panic shooting through me. But the bronze had protected me. Thank God.
The imp launched itself straight for my head. I grabbed a switch star and stepped backward to throw, when an electric shock radiated through my body. A momentary panic seized me. I’d stepped on a gooey tennis shoe. I flung the switch star hard. It zinged sideways as I fell, the imp crashing straight for me.
“Lizzie!”
I forced every bit of focus I had on the switch star hurtling back to me. It sliced straight through the imp as I rolled sideways, scrambling to avoid the body.
“Jesus!” Dimitri tackled me, crushing me against the hard floor with his weight. “Lizzie.” He yanked me upward, inspecting me before hauling my body against his.
I shoved against him. “What are you doing? Where are the imps?”
“Outside.” His chest heaved against me and it felt, well, nice. “For now. I sealed the window to keep out anything demonic.”
He pulled away, his face a maze of worry, “Lizzie, I thought I’d lost you.”
Before I could tell him that would be hard to do, he wrapped me in a crushing kiss. He was all heat, fire and tongue. I kissed him back, hard. Either one of us could have been dust on the floor, like the plant or the desk. By the sheer grace of the heavens, we’d survived.
I could not lose this man, this life. Not yet. He was solid and strong against me. Ribbons of pleasure wound through me. I felt his relief and his love and, yum, him against my leg.
He groaned, or it might have been me, as we luxuriated in being alive and whole. Way too soon, Dimitri pulled away, looking as dazed as I felt.
I ran a finger along his jaw. “Mmm…That was almost worth getting zapped.”
Dimitri frowned. “No, it wasn’t.”
“Oh yeah? Let’s make sure.”
I tipped my lips to his and delighted in his swift and utterly complete surrender. I’m not sure how long we kissed. I didn’t care. He was my port in the storm.
A small boulder crashed through the open window, bringing us back to reality.
I stiffened, ready for attack, and saw Diana, in human form, perched on the windowsill. Oh my goodness. It was at least a fifty-foot drop.
“Don’t worry about us,” she said, shaking out her mass of dark hair, easing a leg inside the window as Dimitri murmured an incantation to allow her to pass. “We were happy to drive off the rest of the devil’s spawn while you two made out.”
“Where’s Dyonne?” Dimitri asked, evidently used to this kind of behavior.
“She’s going the long way—around the house, up the stairs.” Diana shivered as if she found the whole thing a complete bother. “Dyonne also has to stop by her room on the way up.” Diana winked. “She lost her dress.”
“How did you manage to keep yours?” I asked.
Dimitri always shifted back naked. Not that I was complaining.
Diana lifted the skirt of her yellow sundress and showed me a loop under the hem. “I tie it to my tail before I finish shifting.”
“It’s dangerous,” Dimitri added, making it clear they’d had this discussion before.
Diana rolled her eyes. “Pshaw. I haven’t done it in any
griffin battles. Let the imps try to grab it”—she wiggled her rear—“or my tail.”
Speaking of such, “How did you touch those things? They turned everything in here to dust.”
“Griffins have Skye magic,” Diana said. “Cursed imps can hurt us, even kill us. But they can’t…well…” She waved a hand over the ashes on the floor.
Dimitri wrapped a protective arm around me. “Cursed imps can only disintegrate things that owe their existence to the earth—the carpet, my plant, my desk.” He cringed slightly. It had been a nice desk.
“And people like me,” I said.
Dimitri nodded. “For all your powers, it’s still a matter of dust to dust.”