Horde of the Demon Priest (Demona Book 3) (13 page)

Demona gave a single nod in response. “That, I can understand. The guy is just bad news. He seems all right at first, but underneath all of those mysterious layers there is something genuinely evil and manipulative. Like this is all a game to him.”

They continued to walk again when the weather changed back to plain rain. Things in town seemed to be quieting down as the predawn light began to creep across the sky. They made their way to where GLC had been battling the demons. Demona was happy that nobody seemed to be out that early in the morning.

Maybe we can preserve some people’s sanity. If they see the demons and everything else, they are going to think they’ve gone mad. That this is still more proof to support the idea of a highly contagious virus with psychotic symptoms, one of which they would think includes schizophrenia.

After turning onto the street that Demona had originally come from, they found most of the group scattered. Thankfully, it appeared that the battle was over and the demons were gone. Kerrick instantly walked to the group of TGHC agents standing on the side of the road over one of their injured. Demona spotted her friends. Ileana supported Kearne, who walked with a limp. Kaleb only had a few scratches across his face.

Then, Demona spotted Felix. She ran to him and threw her arms around him, relieved to see him alive. She pulled away and looked him over to make certain he was unharmed. She looked into his eyes and saw her emotions reflected back at her. He was equally relieved that she was safe as well. He looked her over to make sure that she was in one piece. Felix leaned in and gave her a kiss like no other. Demona ran her hands through his thick brown hair and pulled away.

“I love you,” Demona said.

“I love you too. I’m so happy to see you,” Felix replied.

She saw Felix’s eyes grow wide as he looked past her. Demona thinking that another demon was about to attack prepared to use her magic to defend Felix. When she turned around she found Ileana and Kearne locked in an embrace and kissing. Demona couldn’t help but laugh at the look on Felix’s face.

“I guess that cat’s out of the bag,” Demona said.

Kaleb moved toward them. “We have to stop them!”

“No, it is okay. I’ll explain everything to you guys later,” Demona said.

Felix narrowed his eyes as he looked at Demona once again. “You knew about this?”

“Yeah, just for a few days.” Demona shrugged. “Believe me I wanted to tell you, but it has been difficult to find time. Plus, I didn’t think it was my place to tell anyone about it.”

Chapter 13:

The Refugees

The small group went to aid their fellow GLC members. After finding some shelter in a closed down movie theater, Ileana used her internal fire to radiate heat so that she could provide warmth to all of the defenders that had become chilled when the cold rain fell from above. Many of the GLC members were huddled around her rubbing their hands together, while their teeth chattered and their bodies shook.

Kearne’s leg was now healed; thanks to one of the GLC defenders who was also a faith healer. He was now helping other members, with leg or similar injuries, into the building that needed to be supported by someone. He assisted them into the small theater and to the rows of seats where they could prop their legs up on the row in front of them and rest. Demona observed the drastic change in Kearne’s personality since he admitted that he was now human. He was less arrogant, more caring, and willing to participate.

Maybe he has found his place.

Demona handed Felix a roll of gauze which they had found in the theater’s storage room. Felix took it from her and gently wrapped it over the cleaned wound on his fellow defender’s arm. They were taking turns administering first aid to the injured. For now, Demona assisted Felix, by handing him the items he required as he needed them.

After Felix finished he stood and turned to Demona. He kissed her gently on the cheek and pulled away, while still holding her. “I am glad you’re safe. I don’t know what I would have done.”

Demona gave him a small smile. “I know. I’m fine. You’re okay. Let’s just hope our luck stays this way.”

Felix nodded with a smile. “Thank
Aleph
that we’ve managed to stay relatively unharmed.”

Demona nodded her head vigorously in complete agreement.

Kaleb walked into the dark theater and down the side aisle in their direction. “I think we got everyone out of the weather. Has he said anything?” Kaleb asked, referring to Kerrick.

Demona chewed on her lip. “Yeah, Darius sent them.”

“I never thought I’d say these words, but thank you Darius. Without TGHC’s agents I don’t think we could have made it through this,” Kaleb admitted.

“It’s true. Though, somehow I think this is all going to come back to bite us in the end,” Demona replied. “I guess we should see how TGHC’s people did.

After they had returned to the battle ground, Kerrick had gone off to check on the other agents. He was essentially their leader and it was his responsibility to coordinate with the agents and take care of anything that needed to be done. Demona beckoned to Kerrick where he stood among a group of TGHC members.

Kerrick walked over to them. “How’s everyone?”

“Everyone’s alive. We’ve got several people that are injured, but nothing life threatening. How did the field-agents fair?” Demona asked.

“A few minor injuries… Any idea how many demons there were?” Kerrick asked.

Felix ran his fingers through his messy brown hair in an attempt to tame it. “After talking with everyone we estimated their total at around thirty. We banished at least seven out of those.”

“Our guys killed at least four and trapped two in vials. Including the one Demona and I dealt with,” Kerrick said.

Demona shook her head and pressed her lips together. “That means we have at least seventeen demons to deal with… somehow. At least for now we can catch our breath and go back to headquarters.”

The morning light was beginning to spill into the opened double doors from the outside. The once massively dark room was beginning to grow a few shades lighter as the rays shone into the theater. The bright morning light did not reach far before it was swallowed up into the darkness.

Kaleb peeked out of the theater door and returned to his friends. “Looks like the rain stopped. We need to get out of town before people begin to question our presence.”

“I’ll give Itzig a call when we’re out of town and let him know there are a few houses on the block that may need their attention,” Demona added.

Kerrick and the TGHC field-agents said their goodbyes and slipped into a dark alley as they entered into the center of town. Demona suspected that there were probably several secret Terra Hollow access points in the area, but was uncertain. She was tempted to follow them, but knew not to extend her stay in Melville any longer than it needed to be.

If only it were that easy for us to slip out of town unnoticed. Aleph, help your faithful followers out of town safely.

The rest of GLC split into smaller groups and made their way to different road blocks in order to exit town and meet back at the RVs. Most of them were dragging themselves along with exhaustion from the fight. At least for the moment the demons were nowhere in sight and they could all make their way through town safely. The demons seemed to have become more organized since the last time they encountered the iya demon.

Several hours later, all of the GLC members had reconvened at the RVs. Luckily they were all able to exit town without question. It was time for them to go back to headquarters and to rest and recuperate before the next time they were called to fight the possessed.

Felix yawned and quickly covered his mouth. “I’m tired.”

“Tell me about it. I can’t wait for a nap when we get back,” Demona replied.

Several of the other defenders that accompanied them in the RV were too exhausted to speak, but nodded in agreement. They slumped in their seats or leaned against the wall to hold themselves upward. One defender’s head bobbed as he nodded off to sleep.

With the peaceful silence of their ride back to headquarters, Demona reached into her pocket and selected Itzig’s name in her contact list. She let the phone ring.

“Hello,” Itzig answered.

“We’ve all made it out of town. There are some houses in town that you might want to send officers in to check out. We didn’t have time to check to see if anyone was injured or possessed in the area, we had to get out of town quick.”

“I’m guessing things didn’t go well?”

Demona hesitated before giving her response. “Well, we didn’t lose anyone if that’s what you mean. There are still a lot of demons out there somewhere.”

Itzig sighed. “It’s a good thing you all got out of town when you did. New orders just came in; our police department is being quarantined that includes all personnel. They’re sending us into town with the rest of the residents.”

“You can hide out at headquarters if you want,” Demona said. She noticed the quizzical look on Felix’s face at her words.

“I can’t. I have to help the department from the inside. If I’m not in town someone will notice. Just tell my Aunt and Uncle I’m fine and not to worry. And if you guys have to enter into town again, be extremely careful. They are calling in the National Guard to take the place of our officers. The CDC is still running things, and now they won’t hesitate to take any trouble makers out.”

“What? Why?” Demona asked.

“The CDC is convinced there’s an undetectable virus spreading, because of the recent increase in cases. They’re not waiting for tests to confirm its presence any longer.”

“Geeze, thanks for the warning. I will pass it along,” Demona said. She ended the call and looked at Felix. “Things in Melville just got a lot more serious.”

The two RVs pulled up in front of the headquarters and the weary group made their way to either the infirmary or their own tents to get some much needed sleep. Demona and Felix drug themselves toward the tents, each supporting the other as they leaned together and walked in silence. Demona gave Felix a hug before they each went to their respective tents. She promised to fill him in on Kearne and Ileana’s relationship, as well as the events that had unfolded while she was separated from him during the fight. For now, she just wanted to sleep and let her body thaw under her thick woolen blanket.

Demona found her tent and dropped onto her cot. She flung her blanket over herself and wrapped it tightly around her. She was exhausted, more than she had been used to. Her body now experienced more fatigue than it had while she was a vampire. Not to mention she had been soaked to the bone.

Despite how tired she was, she was unable to fall asleep. Instead, the conversation she had had with Kerrick played through her mind. She was still uncertain how she felt about the information he had given her. In some ways she was still angry at Kerrick for what he had done, but in other ways she was able to sympathize with his situation. Of course, regardless of how she felt about Kerrick at the moment, his situation made Demona despise Darius even more.

Demona eventually drifted off into a restless sleep. She dreamed of the day her parents were killed. The scenes she had witnessed of her parents being murdered. How Darius had controlled her mother’s actions so that she plunged a sword through her father and then allowed herself to be killed. Then, she dreamed of her own experience of being killed by Darius when he viciously attacked her. These memories often haunted her dreams and were almost as vivid as the flashbacks she used to have before finding out the truth.

She was startled awake by the sound of a dog barking. She found herself stuck in the wool blanket, which she had become tangled in during her nightmarish slumber. She heard another bark. At first it took Demona a few moments to decide if it was real or from her dream. When she was certain that the sound she was hearing was real, she promptly sat up.
There are no dogs in camp.

The dog’s barking became frantic.

Demona threw the blanket off of her body and slipped on her boots and coat. She bolted from the tent and looked around for the source of the incessant noise. She noticed that several other people had emerged from their tents wondering what was going on. They looked in all directions searching for the dog that had interrupted their sleep.

Demona spotted movement coming towards her in the dim lighting of the heavy cloud covered sky. The object of the movement became larger as it grew nearer. Then, as it was not even twenty feet from her she was able to distinguish the characteristics of a large, shaggy, dark dog. It seemed to blend in very well with the blue, gray surroundings.

The dog seemed strangely familiar to Demona, but she could not recall where she had seen it before. She was positive she had seen it before, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not remember where.

The dog turned in a circle and then ran towards the headquarters’ entrance. She spun around and barked at Demona with spunk. The dog was putting so much emphasis on its barks that its ears flopped up and down with each noise. The dog turned and walked a few paces ahead before turning around once more and began barking at Demona. Demona just stood watching the goofy dog’s actions, but it was impatient. It came back to her and began running circles around Demona as if herding her in the direction of the entrance.

“Do you want me to follow you?” Demona asked. She took a step forward.

The dog turned around and threw its head back as if to make certain that Demona was following. When the dog saw that she was indeed following, it wagged a stubby tail and ran on ahead. Demona and several of the other curious onlookers followed the dog at a sprint. They reached the entrance and watched the dog run past the guards out into the field.

“How did the dog get in?” one of the guards asked.

Demona shrugged. “Beats me.” She followed the dog a short distance out of the entrance.

The dog stopped and stared straight ahead out into the field with one leg pulled up to its chest as if pointing into the foggy gray field ahead. It wagged its tail vigorously and barked. Demona drew closer to the dog and looked out into the field in the direction the animal was facing. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the vast sea of gray ahead, but once she had she noticed figures slipped out of the misty surroundings and walked towards the headquarters.

“Everyone get back!” Demona yelled. She ran back to the entrance and informed the guards that something or someone was coming their way. Panic rose in her as she thought that the possessed may have found them and was about to overrun Roost Haven. The guards sounded an alarm and a bell rang through camp. Everyone that was asleep was now alert and anyone that had been completing their chores was running to their stations.