Demonfire (20 page)

The sounds of battle, the
acrid stink of sulfur, and the screams and wails of many demons dying faded
away as she held her hands to Dax, as she willed him to be strong, for the
curse to sleep once more. She didn’t turn around, didn’t allow her
concentration to waver. She was vaguely aware of her father’s shouts, of
Alton’s battle cries.

Bumper’s barking was a thing
of joy, as if she’d finally found her true calling in life: herding demons.

Dax’s eyes opened, clear now,
and focused. He reached up and grasped Eddy’s wrist. “What happened? The
gargoyle…?”

Eddy glanced to her right, to
the point where the gargoyle had fallen. It was gone. There was no rubble, no
sign it had died. “It got away, I think. That last curse it sent might have
weakened it. Are you okay?”

He took a few deep breaths,
closed his eyes, and exhaled. “The pain is gone. Unfortunately, so is my
strength. Thank you, Eddy. I’ve never experienced anything like that, even when
I was a demon.” Dax tried to sit up. Eddy pulled her hands away from his chest.
She noticed with relief that the tattoo was once again merely colored art on
Dax’s chest. The eyes were flat, the tongue no longer flickering. Her hands
still burned, though, and she felt the shape of the fangs against her palms.

She rose shakily to her feet
and offered Dax her hand. He took it and slowly stood. Willow hovered, flitting
about them until Dax finally held out his hand. She landed in his palm and
glared at him with her tiny hands fisted against her hips. It was obvious she
was reading him the riot act.

Then, when she was done, Willow
buzzed away in a flurry of blue sparkles.

Dax raised his head and gazed
at Eddy with horror. “Willow says the snake came alive, that you had to hold it
with both hands to keep it from crawling off my body.” He grabbed her hands
with both of his and turned them palms up.

The skin was blistered but not
broken. “Did it bite you?”

She shook her head. “No, but I
felt the fangs. The serpent’s tongue actually slithered between my fingers. It
acts as if it’s trying to crawl away. Dax, what happens if it does? What if I
can’t hold it in place?”

He lowered his lips to her
hands and kissed one palm, then the other. When he raised his head, Eddy was
positive there were tears in his eyes. “I can’t let you do that anymore.”

“What happens if it crawls
away?” She tugged her hands free of his. “Answer me, Dax. I deserve the truth.”

“I will die.” He gazed toward
the sounds of battle, where Ed and Alton, with Bumper’s assistance, had
destroyed almost all of the avatars and their sulfuric demons. The gargoyle was
nowhere to be seen. The cemetery had grown silent.

“I don’t understand. I thought
the tattoo only held your demon powers.”

Dax turned back to her. He
looked defeated, as if he’d reached the end of his strength. He spoke in a
monotone. “I’m a demon, Eddy. My demon powers are who and what I am. If the
tattoo succeeds in gaining sentience and crawling off my body, it will take my
powers with it. Those powers are all that keep this body alive. I’ll be just
another demon, a black smudge of sulfuric stink. Something for Alton’s sword to
destroy.”

Eddy shook her head. “No, you
won’t. I’m not leaving your side. If I could hold the snake back tonight, as
powerful as it was after the demon cursed you again, I can control it for as
long as I have to.” She grabbed his hands and held on. “You’re mine for three
and a half more days, Dax. Don’t forget that.”

She heard the crunch of boots
on gravel and turned around. Alton and her dad were walking toward them. Bumper
bounded alongside, obviously delighted with the battle they’d just fought. From
the silence and the grins on the men’s faces, it appeared it was a battle
they’d won.

“Dax? Are you okay?” Alton
sheathed his sword as he drew near. His concern was obvious as he stepped up
close to Dax.

“Good to see you standing,
son.” Ed wiped his hand across his forehead. “Whatever that damned thing hit
you with sure knocked your pins out from under you.”

“I’m fine, thanks to Eddy….”

Dax turned and stared at her,
and once again, Eddy wished she could read his mind.

“Did you get all of them?” She
tore her gaze from Dax’s face and looked beyond the two men, but it was too
dark to tell if anything moved.

“We did.” Alton frowned and
gazed toward the cemetery. “It’s gone quiet. What’s happened to the demons that
were gathering over there?”

“I don’t know.” Eddy turned
toward the now silent cemetery. “I can’t tell from here. We’re too far away.”

They walked toward the silent
memorial park, following the beam from Dax’s flashlight. When they reached the
berm, he swung the beam across the parklike grounds.

Eddy ran to the top of the low
rise. “Look! The statues are back in place!”

Angels stood guard by the
mausoleum door, and cherubs rested upon headstones. Everything appeared as it
should.

There was no sign of the
gargoyle.

Standing on top of the berm,
she planted her fists on her hips and shook her head in disbelief. “We’ve been
here for almost an hour watching them. Every single one of those statues was
animated. Could the demons still be in them, waiting?”

“There’s one way to find out.”
Alton strode forward, far enough away that he could safely unsheathe his sword.
He held it aloft and crossed over the berm. When he reached the first stone
angel that stood beside a grave, he swung his sword in a shimmering arc that
decapitated the angel.

The head landed on the grass
and rolled to one side. Blank eyes stared blindly toward Eddy and Dax. Nothing
flew forth from the hollow body. There was no scent of sulfur, no black mist.

Nothing.

Eddy clung to Dax’s hand.
“Where’d they go? I remember that angel. It flew overhead, and the eyes were
glowing red.” She turned and gazed up at Dax.

He shook his head. “No idea,
but the gargoyle is gone as well. Somehow, it has to be the key. We have to kill
the damned thing, but I have no idea how to defeat it.” He held up his free
hand and stared at his fingertips. “I gave it everything I had, tonight. It
wasn’t enough.”

Eddy glanced at Alton. He
shook his head, answering her question before she even had a chance to ask. “I
don’t know.” He reached over his shoulder and lovingly caressed the hilt of his
sword. “It’s a powerful weapon, but I’m not even sure if it’s killing the
demons I strike, or merely sending them back to Abyss. If only it would speak…”

“I’m convinced they’re dying,
Alton.” Eddy looked to Dax for confirmation. “Aren’t they going back to the
void? They flame out when he hits them. The smell of burned demon and sulfur is
the same as when you hit them, Dax. The sword has to be destroying them.”

Dax shook his head. “There’s
no way to prove it. Even if they’re not destroyed, they’re gone. Into the void,
back to Abyss…it’s not important. With the portal closed, either works. We can
only do our best and hope it’s good enough.”

They all looked at one
another, but there were no firm answers. Ed yawned, and it was obvious he’d
reached the end of his strength. Willow perched on Alton’s shoulder. Dax turned
and began walking back toward town. Eddy grabbed his hand and walked beside
him. Ed and Alton followed, while Bumper, still unleashed, bounded and bounced
around them as if this was the greatest event in her life.

“Eddy, will this road take us
through town, near the library building?”

“It can.” Eddy glanced at Dax.
The sparkle was back in his eyes.

“I want to see if the gargoyle
is back in its place where we saw it today. If it returns there to rest…”

“You’re thinking maybe you can
sneak up on it?” Ed moved up beside them. “Maybe if we went after it during
daylight hours…”

Dax nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking.
Alton with his sword, me nearby with whatever powers I can muster.” He squeezed
Eddy’s hand. “I’m sorry. I’m not proving to be a very powerful DemonSlayer, am
I?”

“I disagree.” She squeezed
back, wrapping her fingers tightly around his. She didn’t say any more. As far
as Eddy was concerned, there was no room to argue.

Ed was practically asleep on
his feet when they finally reached the library building. “Eddy? Stay with your
father, please?” Dax glanced at Ed and back to Eddy, hoping she’d understand.

She nodded. “We’ll wait here.”
She called Bumper to her and put the leash back on the dog. “C’mon, Dad. I’m
beat. Will you sit with me?”

Ed didn’t say a word, but he
didn’t complain when she sat down on a park bench in front of the old library
and patted the spot beside her. Eddy set her crowbar on the ground by her feet.
Ed leaned his iron pry bar against the seat and sat heavily on the wooden
bench.

Eddy glanced over her shoulder
and mouthed something to Dax. He wasn’t sure what she said, but the look in her
eyes gave him a fresh burst of strength. He realized she’d quickly become the
most important thing in his life. The reason he fought. The reason he would
continue to fight, no matter how hopeless the battle might seem.

His gaze lingered on Eddy, on
the curve of her lips, the line of her jaw, the long sweep of her throat. It
required a conscious act of will to turn away, but somehow he found the
strength to focus on the job.

How had she become so
important to him in such a short time? He shook his head. It didn’t really
matter how, only that she had. He realized he was smiling when he and Alton
walked across the worn patch of lawn to the front steps of the library.

Dax flashed the beam from the
flashlight across the corner pieces. Both platforms were empty. The gargoyle
had not yet returned to its resting place. Disappointed but not entirely
surprised, Dax flipped the flashlight off. The soft glow of a nearby street
lamp illuminated the sidewalk well enough to see.

“What now?” He spoke quietly.
There was no need to worry Eddy any further.

Alton stared toward the bench
where Eddy and Ed waited. Then he turned and quirked one eyebrow at Dax. “Now I
think we go back to Ed’s and rest,” he said. “Tomorrow we need to see where the
gargoyle is hiding out when he’s not where he belongs. You said he was here
this morning, right?”

“He was, but in daylight the
streets are busy, people are around. I couldn’t very well climb up there and
engage him in a fight.”

Alton smiled his agreement.
“True, but if I’m with you to do a little manipulation of what people see and
remember…”

Bumper growled.

“Dax?”

Eddy?
Dax turned and raced across the lawn with Alton right behind. Eddy held on to
her father’s arm. Both of them stared at a grotesque figure standing not twenty
feet away, staring right back at them. It stood perfectly still for a moment
longer. Then it seemed to straighten up on bowed legs and made a low, keening
sound that raised the hairs on Dax’s arms.

He’d seen the creature in
flight and this morning when it was sitting in place on the corner of the
library building. He’d seen it lying on the ground after he’d hit it with his
freezing mist, but he’d never seen it stalking its prey on the ground.

The gargoyle turned its head
and surveyed the area around them. Then it began to move slowly toward the park
bench. It walked awkwardly, dragging its stone wings, using its front legs or
arms or whatever they were to pull itself forward while the hind legs hopped
more than walked. Its eyes glowed an unholy shade of red, and saliva dripped
from a gaping mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth.

It stopped when Dax and Alton
moved into position, one on either side of the bench. “Eddy? Can you and your
dad slip over the back of the bench and get out of our way? Alton and I will
have a better chance with just the two of us.”

He heard movement, but didn’t
want to take his eyes off the creature staring so steadily at him. He felt the
snake writhing across his chest. The pain seemed to grow with each beat of his
heart. He forced it down. Buried it, for now.

Alton moved farther to his
right. “I’m going to see if I can get around behind it,” he said. After a few
more steps that took him away from Dax, he drew his sword. It pointed toward
the gargoyle, not toward Dax, and Alton breathed an audible sigh of relief.

Bumper whimpered. Dax heard
Eddy whisper quietly to the dog. Willow buzzed close by and settled on his
shoulder. He felt the pulse of energy as she drew all she could out of the air
and sent it into his body.

And still the gargoyle sat and
stared. It seemed larger on the ground than it had looked flying overhead, at
least six feet tall when it stood, with wings that spanned more than twice that
distance when it stretched them out to either side.

Dax wished he could search its
mind, but he sensed only hatred. There was no real intelligence, as far as he
could tell, but that didn’t feel right. There had to be intelligence in some
form directing the attacks, yet the gargoyle appeared oblivious to Dax. It
ignored Alton’s cautious movements as he circled around behind the thing.

Dax set the flashlight on the
park bench with the light still pointing toward the gargoyle. When the beam
moved, he knew Eddy had picked it up.

“Keep the light on him,” he
said. Slowly, Dax shifted his position to the left, almost preternaturally
aware of the way the creature’s eyes followed him. At least now it wasn’t
looking toward Eddy and her father.

“Dax?” Alton’s calm voice
carried softly in the stillness. “If you can freeze him, I can probably get
close enough to try and decapitate the thing. That’s worked with the others.”

Dax nodded. Pain rippled over
his thigh, across his chest. The tattoo was moving. He felt the life pulse of a
separate entity, the struggle of its body as it tried to slither away from the
cells that locked it, ink to skin.