Demonfire (18 page)

“Just what I thought. They’re
still working their way to the cemetery. She said they’ve killed a couple of
dozen demons so far, but they can hear sounds that make them think there are a
lot more at or near the cemetery, which is just west of their location. They
want us to join them before they go in. She and Dax don’t want to attempt to
enter the place on their own. It’s a pretty good hike for us, about twenty
minutes or so.”

Alton stared toward the west,
as if he were trying to hear the banshee howls and growls of demons, but the
night was quiet. “Do you think we should go back for your vehicle?”

“No.” Ed shook his head. “We’d
miss any demons along the way.”

“I agree.” Alton started
forward with what appeared to be a new sense of purpose. Ed had to stretch his
legs to keep up with the long-legged Lemurian.

“The whole point of this
exercise is a foot patrol to see what we’re dealing with. Hopefully we’ll find
your missing bear between here and there.” Alton started to sheath his sword,
stared at it a moment, and kept it in his hand.

As many demons as they’d come
across, Ed figured that was a pretty good move. He rested his pry bar over his
shoulder as if he were carrying a rifle. He and Alton swung to the right and
headed north on Lassen Boulevard. “We can cross the tracks at West State
Street,” he said. “That’ll take us to Fir, which’ll get us over the freeway to
the cemetery.”

It was unusually quiet in
town. Even the small bar on the corner was dark. They passed a few piles of
ceramic and stone pieces. “Looks as if Eddy and Dax have been this way.”

Alton merely nodded, and
continued scanning the alleyways and side streets they passed, but all was
quiet.

They were almost to State
Street when a scream cut through the night. Close by, human, not a banshee
howl. Ed and Alton both stopped. It was difficult to tell from what direction
the sound had come.

She screamed again. Ed was
certain it was a woman. “This way!” He held his pry bar like a spear and raced
down the street to a small minimart just around a bend in the road.

Alton quickly passed him,
running full tilt with those long legs of his. He held his sword out in front
of him. The crystal blade shimmered with its own light, but even with such a
brilliant beacon, it was all Ed could do to keep him in sight.

Alton rounded a corner and
disappeared just as the woman screamed again.

It appeared they’d found their
bear. Alton skidded to a halt at a point where the main route they’d been
following jogged to the left. Streetlights illuminated the corner. A small
group of people had gathered, but most of them were all on the far side of the
road, away from the action.

A young woman had wedged
herself behind a large garbage Dumpster. Armed only with what looked like a slat
from a wood pallet, she was trapped against a wall with the huge demon-powered
grizzly shoving at the metal container and taking swipes at her with his paw.

She swung at him with the
broken slat, but claws at least six inches long barely missed her as the
creature forced its broad shoulders between the Dumpster and the brick wall.
She retreated as far as she could, still poking ineffectually with the slat.
The massive concrete bear appeared to be moving the Dumpster, widening the gap
where the woman was trapped with the force of his powerful shoulders.

A couple of young men were
trying to help, but the rocks they threw merely bounced off the concrete hide.
From the sound of their curses and the lack of cooperation between them, Alton
thought they appeared to be more than a little inebriated.

The grizzly’s jaws gaped wide,
but there were no grunts or bestial roars. Instead, an eerie, banshee-driven
wail echoed off the surrounding buildings and raised the tiny hairs along
Alton’s spine. The creature swung its huge head in the direction of the two
young men.

One of them glanced up and saw
Alton as the bear took a swipe in his direction. The kid screamed and ducked.
“I’m outta here,” he said, scrambling away on all fours. The other young man
was right behind him.

Disgusted, Alton worked his
way around behind the bear and stabbed at it with his sword. The bear deflected
the blade, swatting it away with its huge front paw. Screaming its banshee
howl, the huge creature reared up on hind legs as thick as tree trunks and
pivoted, towering over Alton’s tall frame as if he were but a child.

At least Alton had turned its
attention away from the woman. She’d wedged herself between the Dumpster and
the wall, as far out of the bear’s reach as she could go.

Ed was still trying to catch
his breath, but he swung his iron bar at the backs of the bear’s concrete legs.
The iron rang out like a church bell as one leg shattered. Ed scrambled out of
the way. The creature dropped to three legs, barely missing Alton. Alton
stabbed again, piercing the creature’s chest this time, but for whatever
reason, the crystal sword penetrated but didn’t shatter the concrete.

The grizzly screamed again. It
turned toward Alton with its jaws spread wide. Multiple rows of razor-sharp
teeth reminded the Lemurian of pictures he’d seen of ancient sharks, but this
was no fish.

Screaming in that eerie,
otherworldly wail, the bear whirled once again, pivoting on three legs as
easily as it had moved on four. It swung a huge paw at Ed. Alton reared up over
it like a matador sticking a bull and drove the sword between the creature’s
concrete shoulder blades, burying the crystal blade to the hilt.

The bear jerked back and swung
in a circle on three legs. Alton tried to hang on, but the hilt of the sword
ripped from his hands. The woman screamed when the bear faced her once again.
Alton had no time to consider the stupidity of his actions. He leapt to the
bear’s rough, stonelike back and clung there, scrabbling for a good hold on the
sword’s hilt.

Enraged, the bear twisted and
turned as it tried to shake him loose, tossing Alton about as if he clung to
the back of a rodeo bull. Finally it stood on one hind leg, moving with
impossible dexterity in spite of the missing limb, roaring and screaming that
bloodcurdling banshee wail.

The crowd of spectators was
growing. Alton was vaguely aware of shouts and cursing, words of encouragement,
the distant wail of sirens. As the bear dropped back to three legs, Alton
pulled the blade free of the creature and swung in a mighty arc.

The bear’s massive concrete
head fell to the ground, and the body crumbled beneath Alton’s legs. Four
separate demons emerged in a thick, black sulfuric cloud. Once again Alton
swung the sword. His blade passed through three of the demons, exploding each
in a burst of flame.

The fourth paused in midair.
Then it turned, as if consciously considering an attack in this form. Alton
slashed the crystal blade through the stinking mist. A brief flash of flames
and the mist disintegrated until only the sulfuric stench and a pile of
crumbled concrete and stone remained.

Alton sheathed his sword and
slipped between the metal Dumpster and the wall. He held out his hand, and the
woman ran to him, sobbing now that the danger had passed. Gently Alton lifted
her in his arms and held her close, running his hand along her spine.

She was long and lean, and he
felt each vertebra as his fingers soothed her. She breathed in short, choppy
gasps, obviously terrified but, for the moment, trusting him as she curled
close against his chest. It was a unique sensation to hold her close. Women in
Lemuria would never allow a man to touch them so, but then a woman in Lemuria
would never have been in jeopardy such as this one had been.

Nor would a Lemurian woman
have had the courage to try and defend herself against demons with only a scrap
of wood as a weapon.

“It’s okay,” he said, talking
softly. “You’re safe now. The creature is gone.”

Ed stood beside him. “Alton,
the police are coming. What do you want to do?” Then he peered closer at the
woman in Alton’s arms. “Ginny? Is that you, sweetheart? Are you okay?”

She struggled in Alton’s
grasp. Reluctantly, he set her feet on the ground. She stepped away from him.

“Ed? Where’s Eddy? What are
you doing here? What happened? Who is…?” She raised her head and looked
directly at Alton. For the first time, he got a good look at her face. He could
have sworn his heart stopped beating. She was utterly beautiful, with skin much
darker than Eddy’s and golden eyes that reminded him of the stone called
tiger’s-eye.

He knew that Roman soldiers
wore the stones when they went into battle, and somehow that trivia seemed
terribly important to him at this moment. Tiger’s-eye for protection, to help
focus energy on the fight.

Nine
hells!
He needed to focus.

What was he doing, staring
into those mesmerizing eyes? Ed tugged anxiously at his sleeve.

“Alton? How the hell are we
going to explain this? The police are almost here.”

“We’re not.” Alton waved a
hand in front of Ginny’s eyes. She blinked and turned toward Ed.

Alton held both hands out to
the crowd of men and women who had gathered to watch his battle with the demon
bear. Without a single word exchanged between them, the two young men who’d
fought the grizzly stepped in front of the group and swung roundhouse blows at
each other. Within seconds, there was a full-scale brawl on the corner—men
fighting men, women rolling on the ground, fighting other women.

Ed shot Alton an inquisitive
glance. “Effective,” he said. “Ugly, but very effective.” Then he took Ginny’s
arm. “Ginny? You need to go home now. You’re just half a block from your place.
We’ll walk with you.”

Ginny jerked her head back and
forth in a definite negative and tugged her arm free of Ed’s grasp. “Ed, what
the hell is going on?” She glared at Ed and then turned her attention on Alton.
“Who are you? What was that thing that attacked me?”

She should have forgotten.
Alton stared at his fingers and then at Ginny. He’d just wiped away the memory
of her attack. At least he thought he had.

Obviously she had a very
strong will.

Ed frowned at Alton. Alton
shrugged. Once again he concentrated on the young woman. Passed his hands
across her eyes. Strengthened the powers of his mind to block everything that
had happened.

She turned her head slowly and
gazed at Alton. Frowned, as if trying to place him. “What are you doing to me?”
She stared at him, her eyes unfocused and confused.

Fighting him. Still strong
enough to fight his powers.

Alton felt caught there in
time, as if the world around them ceased its spinning, as if the demon threat
no longer existed. He was not an immortal, not a Lemurian here on a mission of
such otherworldly importance. No, he was merely a man, enthralled by the soft,
confused gaze of the most beautiful woman he’d ever beheld. She blinked, her
lips parted.

Alton took a step back. What
was he thinking? She was human. Not even royalty. He was a Lemurian warrior,
the son of Lemuria’s leader. The heir apparent.

Ginny blinked, still obviously
confused. She shook her head again and looked at Ed.

Ed tugged gently at her elbow.
This time she allowed him to lead her as they turned away from Alton. Ed walked
down the street with his hand wrapped around her arm, supporting her. Alton
followed closely behind.

Two patrol cars raced by as
the three of them disappeared into the shadows along the side street leading to
a quiet neighborhood.

“She lives here,” Ed said. He
nodded toward a small duplex set back from the street. “Let me get her inside.
Then we need to find Eddy and Dax.”

“No. Wait.” Ginny stopped and
planted her feet. Frowning, she gazed up at Alton. “You never told me what that
thing was. That bear wasn’t real, was it? What the hell’s going on? Ed? Who is
this guy? What’d he do, that funny thing with his hand?”

She brushed her hands over her
face, scrubbed at her eyes. Planted her hands on her hips and glared at Alton.

Standing behind Ginny, Ed
shrugged helplessly and shook his head. They couldn’t let her remember what
she’d seen.

Alton wasn’t sure it would
work, but he reached for Ginny, lifted her up to her toes, and leaned over and
kissed her. Their mouths connected, hers slightly parted in shock, his firmly
covering her soft, full lips, and he poured the strength of his hypnotic powers
into her startled mind.

She fought him for but a
second, until the strength of his mental touch calmed her, confused her, left
her breathless and wondering who she was kissing and why. Alton felt her
confusion, sensed her blossoming desire, and realized he could end the kiss at
any time.

Slowly, reluctantly, he moved
his lips over hers for one, last taste and then set her gently back on her
feet. Ginny blinked, touched her fingertips to her mouth, and then turned away.

Ed gently took Ginny’s arm and
walked with her into her house.

Alton waited impatiently. He
refused to think about the kiss, but it had been the only way he knew of to
overwhelm her strong will. He couldn’t risk her recalling that she’d almost
been killed by a concrete statue of a grizzly bear.

One that was powered by not
one, but four demons. Four of the evil beings, cooperating…demons, working
together.

It was worse than he’d
thought.

So was his reaction to the
woman.
Ginny.
Her name was Ginny, and his kiss had
made her forget.

Unfortunately, the taste of
her lips, the soft curve of her breasts against his chest, the taste of her
sweet mouth were all he could think of. He’d never reacted to any female on
such a visceral level, especially not one so inappropriate. He had no time for
a human woman. None at all for one with a will as strong as Ginny’s.