Demon Hunters 3: Tainted (Stand Alone Series) (Demon Hunters.) (8 page)

Cassidy woke starving. She stretched and slowly rose from the bed, yawning as she made her way to the bathroom. Once she was finished in there she considered grabbing a bowl of dry cereal then remembered Gabe’s offer to cook. Striding to the spare room, she flung open the door.

He was stretched crossways on the double bed, lying on his back. The sheets were pushed off the end and he wore a pair of black boxer shorts. One arm was above his head, the other flung across the bed.

She stared at him for a few moments, her lips curving into a smile as she thought of what he’d say if he knew she stood there admiring him. He’d never let her forget it. “Gabe.” He continued to sleep. She raised her voice. “Gabe.” Frowning she came into the room and leaned over him, about to touch him on the shoulder to shake him awake.

He came up off the bed, reaching for a knife on the floor beside him and looming over her. Cassidy felt a rush of energy. She twisted the knife from his hand, throwing him to the side. Rising above him, she held the knife at his throat, sitting astride him as her other hand pressed against his shoulder to pin him to the bed.

Gabe blinked then smiled. “Guess I should have warned you. Think you can move that knife from my throat. I shaved before I went to bed this morning. It was risky enough with a razor and a painted mirror let alone a sharp knife.”

Cassidy threw the knife to the floor, but kept him pinned to the bed. “I called you.” She refused to acknowledge the mirror comment. It was none of his business why she’d painted them.

“I thought you’d sleep longer. You looked dead on your feet this morning when we got home.”

“This is my house, damn it.”

“Next time throw something at me.”

“A shuriken?”

Gabe laughed and his hands went to her waist. “Maybe I better not teach you how to use any more weapons. I think you’re dangerous enough as it is.”

Cassidy released him, pulling away from his hands. “Then you better remember that.” She could still feel the warmth of where his hands had been.

Gabe grabbed her wrist before she could move too far away. When she sent a glare his way he spoke. “I’ll sleep through anything except something coming into my personal space. My family usually throw a pillow.”

Cassidy tugged her arm from his light grip. “I’m not your family.”

Gabe sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, his gaze roving over her. “Nope. You certainly aren’t.” He grinned as he rose to his feet.

Cassidy took a step backwards. “You said you’d cook if you stayed.” She looked away when he stretched then rubbed his chest. “You know where the kitchen is.” She fled. No, she corrected herself, retreated. She stared at the painted mirror in her bedroom. She ran a fingernail through some of the paint and caught a glimpse of hazel. She blinked. It wasn’t time to remove the paint. She turned away from that small glimpse of her eye and leaned back against the mirror. Closing her eyes, she sighed. What the hell was she meant to do? About anything.

“What do you want for breakfast?”

Cassidy opened her eyes to see Gabe standing in the doorway. He was bare-chested, but now wore black jeans. She forced her eyes to move past his chest to meet his green stare. “I don’t care. Anything but dry cereal.”

“Why dry cereal?”

“Because I always forget to buy milk.” Her mum had forgotten to buy milk. It had been the beginning of the end. And then milk just hadn’t seemed important to remember.

“We can get some when we go out later.”

“No.”

“No? You don’t want to buy milk?” When she shook her head, he asked, “Then what am I meant to have in my coffee?”

“Buy cream. Or there’s ice cream in the freezer. It saves adding sugar.” She pushed away from the mirror and strode towards him, stopping when he didn’t move.

“So, no milk allowed in the house. You want to tell me why?”

“No. Now get out of my way.”

Gabe stared at her a moment longer before he stepped back. “Do you have a spare house key?”

Cassidy had started down the hall. She stopped and turned to face him. “Why?”

“I want to grab my gear from Gran’s house.”

“You know I never actually said you could stay.”

“Of course you did.”

“When?”

Gabe grinned at her. “When you didn’t slam the door in my face when we came here this morning.” He strode towards her. “Breakfast, then I need to get my gear. Think you can drop me over there? I’m sure I can get a lift back. Or should I ring one of my cousins to pick me up?” He draped his arm around her shoulders, taking her to the kitchen with him. “One of my bible bashing cousins. Although they’re probably all at church today.”

Cassidy rolled her eyes, pulling away from him. “Just what I need around here,” she muttered. “Fine. We’ll take my car. But you better not have much. It doesn’t have a lot of space.”

“A couple of duffel bags and a handful of weapons.” He pulled a carton of eggs from the fridge. “French toast? With ice cream instead of milk?”

Cassidy stared at the eggs in his hand for a moment before she nodded. “And put a shirt on. If oil from the pan splatters you, it’ll burn.”

Gabe sent her a knowing look. “Would it make you feel better if I covered up from head to toe? Maybe a full ninja outfit.”

“I’m not prancing around the kitchen without a shirt.”

Gabe’s eyes dropped to her shirt then back to her eyes. His voice lowered. “I dare you.”

Cassidy met his gaze, her heart pounding in her ears. She eventually tore her eyes away from his and turned her back on him. “Call me when breakfast is ready.” She strode to her bedroom and closed the door. This time she locked it. Leaning against the door, she pressed her hand against her heart, willing it to slow. She should tell him he couldn’t stay. There was no way in hell she wanted to risk killing someone else. It might not be by her hands, but she knew what Remedy would do if she gave into a single one of her impulses. She groaned as she slid down the door to sit on the floor. Banging her head against the door once, she closed her eyes as her fingers spun the ring she still wore.

It had better be soon. She didn’t know how long before she lost the battle against temptation. Tonight she’d ask Remedy how to track down their enemy. And she needed the words of the ritual. She couldn’t help thinking about the pages her father had read from. The ones Remedy had burned until they fell around him in ashes. The binding ritual better be shorter than that one. It had taken him far too long to speak those words. And yet it also hadn’t been long enough. Pain arrowed through her as she again heard him begging for help. I’m so sorry. Her eyes remained closed as she waited for Gabe to call her.

Late that afternoon Cassidy sat in her car at the front of the demon hunters’ house. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. Why hadn’t she told him she’d changed her mind? Talk about crazy. And it wasn’t Gabe. She needed to be locked up and the key thrown away. She almost cheered when Gabe stepped outside carrying a duffle bag and a rectangular case that she worried might be too long to fit in her boot. Beside him was Riley carrying another duffel bag and a timber toolbox.

Pulling the lever, Cassidy looked in the other direction. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. Especially not someone who might try to talk her out of her plans. When the boot closed again she looked over to see the two hunters clasp left hands against arms so their marks met at the wrist. Riley clapped Gabe on the shoulder and when they broke apart, handed over several gift vouchers to major supermarkets. She couldn’t resist smiling at the sound of Gabe’s laughter. Riley waved and headed inside.

Gabe hopped in the front seat after tossing a duffle bag on the back seat and held the gifts cards out to her with a grin. “Didn’t I tell you they’d give me food, but not money?”

“Are you really sure you want to stay at my place?”

Gabe tossed the cards into her glove box. “Having second thoughts?”

“No.”

Gabe stared at her intently. “Really?”

She reluctantly smiled. “I’m way beyond second thoughts.”

Gabe grinned. “Good.”

“How can having more than second thoughts about something and still doing it be good?”

“Because you didn’t jump in blindly. You at least thought about it first.” He checked the time on his phone then tucked it away. “Think we can get my gear back to your house before we do any hunting? I’d rather not carry an arsenal around with us all night.”

Cassidy started the car. “What do you do if the cops catch you with any of it?” She reversed out onto the street.

“Pray they never do.”

She glanced at him. “Seriously?”

“I’ve got licenses and I’m supposedly in living history groups, but some of this stuff wouldn’t pass inspection.” He shrugged. “I don’t usually cart that stuff with me, but sometimes I risk it.”

“And the rest of the hunters?”

Gabe laughed. “Very few of them use weapons that are illegal in Australia. Or were you asking about the overseas ones?”

Cassidy slammed on her brakes having nearly run into the car ahead of her, that had slowed for a red light, during Gabe’s comment. “Overseas?”

“You didn’t think it was only Australia that had demons, did you?”

She shook her head. “I hadn’t really thought.” The traffic in front of her started to move again. She swore. “Isn’t there anywhere safe?”

“You could become a nun and live your entire life in a convent.”

Cassidy sent him a look. “Get real.”

“No,” Gabe lowered his voice. “You certainly don’t belong in a convent.”

Cassidy fell silent, thinking it was safer than where the conversation was going. Gabe chuckled, remaining quiet for the rest of the drive. When they reached her home, she parked the car in the garage and left him to bring in his own gear. She retreated to her bedroom and dropped to the carpet to do push ups. Just because she had demon energy to draw on didn’t mean she could let herself get out of shape. She needed every advantage possible when fighting demons.

Half an hour later when she was lying on her back staring at the ceiling, sweat soaking her shirt, Gabe knocked on her door. She pushed herself to her feet and unlocked the door, half opening it.

Gabe’s gaze travelled over her, pausing at her sweat soaked shirt before he handed her a folded piece of paper. “Learn it.” He strode towards the spare room.

Cassidy opened the page and read over some of the words. She stared at them a moment longer before she raced after Gabe. “Is this-” She held the paper up, her question breaking off in mid sentence when she saw the weapons on his bed.

A strung bow lay across the large case, which contained two swords, a dismantled crossbow was on the quilt near two full quivers and sitting on the end of the bed was the open tool chest. Cassidy ran her fingers over the variety of blades in the many open, velvet lined drawers. She didn’t know what half of them were called, but she recognised a shuriken.

“You were saying?”

Cassidy raised her head to stare at Gabe. “Do you know how to use all these?” At his nod she dropped her gaze to the weapons again. “Every single one of them?”

“Yeah.”

“Why do you need so many? I thought you said you only had a handful of weapons. This is far more than a handful.”

“Occasionally I like to get up close and personal.” He gestured to the swords. “So I use them. But mostly I like ranged weapons and you can’t exactly gather them up during a fight if you run out.”

His comment reminded her of the reason she’d run after him. She held out the paper. “Is this the ritual?”

“Yeah.”

“Where’d you get it?”

Gabe started tidying his bed. “I wrote it out before I went to sleep, but I wanted to check it was accurate, while I was at Gran’s, before I gave it to you.”

“How did you check?”

“We’ve got a lot of books about demons.” He unstrung the bow and placed it in the case with the swords before he turned to look at her. “I won’t be able to say it for you. You’ll have to learn it yourself. And it’s not exactly something you’re going to be able to read from a page while you’re doing it.”

Cassidy stared at the paper in her hand. What the hell was she doing? She was crazy. An image of her father calling Remedy to him came to mind. Crazy must run in her family.

Gabe took a step towards her. “Cass?” When she finally met his gaze, he reached out to her, his fingers brushing across her cheek. “You don’t have to bind him. He can’t enter your house as long as you keep all the entrances salted. You’re safe here.”

“Then I’ve let him make my home a prison. No thanks.” She raised her hand that held the paper. “I’m going to learn this off by heart.”

“Just don’t read it out loud. We were warned against that.” Gabe grinned. “I always wondered what it’d do. Not sure I’ll ever have the guts to find out though.”

“Gabe?”

“Yeah?”

“What happens to sinners when they die according to your family?”

“They go to hell. Which wouldn’t be a very good place for a demon hunter to go since that’s where they send the demons they banish from earth.” He smiled wryly. “Be kind of like throwing a cop in a jail cell with everyone he’s caught.”

“Are you sure this works?” She shook the paper once. “Absolutely positive?”

“Yeah. It’s worked several times before. That’s not what you should be worried about. Holding onto the demon until the ritual is finished will be the problem. He’s not going to stand there quietly and let you trap him forever.”

Cassidy nodded and turned to stare at the doorway, waiting for Remedy who she’d felt enter the house. She tucked the paper into her pocket, not wanting to risk him taking it from her. She stared at him when he stood in the doorway.

“What are you planning?” Remedy’s gaze remained on Cassidy.

“I need to know how to find our enemy. As soon as I learn the ritual I’m going to hunt him down and bind him.” At least she hoped she could. But even if she failed, it had to be better than sitting around waiting for him to come after her.

“All this so you can kiss a boy,” Remedy sneered.

“No, all this so I can be free.”

“And what will you do with your freedom?” Remedy asked.

Gabe joined Cassidy, standing beside her. “I have a suggestion.”

Cassidy turned towards him. “What?”

“Kiss a boy.” Gabe grinned.

“Don’t you think of anything else?”

“Sure I do. Like how sharp my blades are and how many arrows I have left and,” he glanced towards Remedy. “How many demons I can banish in a day.”

“It would take very little to kill you, boy.” Remedy moved to stand in front of Gabe. “I could snap your neck in seconds, but the thought of prolonging the agony holds great appeal.”

“Enough.” Cassidy pulled Gabe back and put her hand up when Remedy would have followed. “How do I track our enemy?”

“I can’t help you against him. And if you were to call me to your side when you faced him we would both be lost. You don’t understand the power you’re going to face. We have roamed the earth for many years. The longer a demon abides here the stronger they grow.”

“How long have you both been on Earth?” Gabe asked.

“Since a Roman called us forth to slaughter the family of his enemy,” Remedy said.

“Holy hell.” Cassidy stared at Remedy, her mind struggling to grasp how many centuries that would be. “You weren’t kidding about forever.”

“What’s your enemy called?” Gabe asked.

“The name he was summoned to answer, translates to castigate.”

“He was a punishment?” When Remedy nodded, Gabe asked, “What did the man do wrong?”

Remedy glanced at Cassidy before his gaze focused on Gabe, his lips twisting into a mirthless smile. “He touched what was not his to touch.”

Gabe grinned. “Possession is nine tenths of the law.”

“Don’t play word games with me, boy.”

“Can we get back to my question?” Cassidy interrupted before things could get out of hand again. “How do I track Castigate?”

“Share a hunt with me.” Flames leapt high in Remedy’s eyes.

“No.” Gabe grabbed her shoulder, spinning her to face him. “Don’t. He wants to posses you. Take over your body. There’s never a guarantee he’ll give it back.”

Cassidy was torn. “What else can I do?”

“I cannot take you to him. I have already told you this.”

Cassidy faced Remedy, Gabe’s hand still on her shoulder. “Don’t avoid the question. What other options are there?”

Remedy stared at her before he nodded. “You are learning, Cassidy. A memory. A short meeting of minds so you can learn his signature.”

She felt Gabe’s fingers tighten on her. There had to be more to this. “Short? Set a period of time.” She nearly grinned when she felt Gabe’s grip on her relax.

“An hour of your time, no more, maybe less.”

Cassidy nodded. “How do we do this?”

“Lie on my bed,” Gabe said. “I’ll set a timer and if he hasn’t let you go, I’m pouring holy water over you.” He released her to rummage in his duffle bag, pulling out a water bottle that had the label ripped from it. Someone had drawn a stick figure saint on it with a black marking pen. “This entire bottle.” His gaze met Remedy’s.

“Noted.” Remedy gave a sharp nod before he turned to Cassidy. “Are you satisfied with the terms?”

“You’re not to mess with anything else in my head while you’re in there. Show me what I need to know to hunt Castigate and then get out of there.”

Remedy’s lips twisted into a smile. “I wonder if this is what it feels like to be a father. You have learned so much.”

Cassidy saw red. Pools of red. And somehow she had Remedy against a wall, her dagger pressed at his throat, no memory of the action that brought her there. “You’re not my father. He’s dead.” The words were a low growl.

“You should know since it was by your hand.”

“You tricked us.” She screamed the words.

“I was the one forced to that building. A demon cannot be summoned once he’s already on Earth and has completed his task. I was free. Castigate forced that on me by giving your father my name. I had no oaths to fulfil, nothing owed to another. I was free.” Flames consumed the black of his eyes.

“Because of you my father’s dead.” She pressed the blade harder against his throat and felt blood drip along her throat too. Gabe spoke behind her, but none of his words made sense.

“Because your father didn’t question the information he was given he’s dead. It is always the way. You humans blame us for your own failings.”

“You and Castigate are to blame.”

“You know nothing. Nothing.” Remedy’s hand wrapped around her throat. “You want the truth? Would you recognise it or are you too caught up in your own miseries?” He flung her back.