The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers (26 page)

She shrugged. "Past is past," she said, shoving me out the door.
"Truth be told, I didn't mind you showing a little backbone."

She led us into the drippy room. "Grab some barriers," Grandma
plucked a handful of sodden quilt strips from a line above her head and shoved
them at Dimitri. "The demons won't be able to detect you until they see
you. Tie them at your pulse points, where your blood flows the hottest. Grab
extras, as many as you can carry."

I hoped these things had cooled off a bit. I grabbed the end of a strip and
felt like I'd dunked my fingers in a pot of liquid nitrogen. "Son of a
daisy eater!" I yanked my hand back. There went my Wicked in Westchester
fingernail polish, along with the first layer of skin. Holy hoo-doo. "What
did you put in these things?"

Grandma's lack of reaction betrayed her as much as the flush that crept up
her neck. "I used an antidemonic spell."

"Oh hell." Fighting not to cringe, I turned my palms up.

Grandma ignored the angry red burns on my fingertips as she gripped my wrist
and studied my marked palm. The swirling
6-6-6
had eaten its way deep
into my skin, like a heavy scar, the edges still wrinkled and pink.

"You knew about this?" she shot at Dimitri.

The muscles in his jaw worked. "Of course I knew," he said, his voice
clipped. "I stayed with Lizzie."

"Tell me about the mark," I said, before this turned into a boxing
match. "I'm counting on you to be straight."

Her fingers bit into mine. "You want straight?" Her blue eyes
burned hot and angry. "Here's straight. What the fuck were you
thinking?"

I snatched my hand away. "I didn't do this."

Grandma searched my face. "You sure?"

I held my palm over her, daring her to push me. "I think I would know
if I chose to absorb demon powers or a devil's mark or whatever the frick is
happening to me."

She shoved her chin forward, glaring at my upturned palm.

Grandma pursed her lips, blowing a long breath out of her nose. "I
can't believe I'm saying this to my grandbaby." She shook her head, her
anger draining. "I don't know how or why you did it, but facts are facts.
You opened a pathway."

"There's no way to prove that," Dimitri countered. "We don't
know they've tagged her."

Grandma raised a brow. "She reacted to my spell."

"I'm also invisible to demons now," I said, remembering the way
they couldn't detect me when they hadn't seen me in the theater.

Grandma backed off like a doctor after a physical. She reached for a handful
of Kool-Aid red quilt strips and scrubbed her hands. "When were you going
to tell me about this?"

Like my favorite learn-on-the-job witch was going to tell me anything.
Besides, I'd been trying to get her away from me, not involved more.

"Look, we aren't here for protection." At least I wasn't. I
glanced over at Dimitri, tying strips of fabric to each of Pirate's legs.
Something inside me fractured a little. I couldn't even help my dog. "We
need to channel Phil."

"Ha! Is that all?" She tossed the strips onto the bed. "Can't
do it. Not after what happened when we called up Bloody Mary. They can see
us," she snorted, "me, anyway. It'd be suicide."

Maybe she could teach me. I wouldn't normally risk it, but we were running
out of options here. "The demons are gathering because they have a portal
open. They're planning a power surge tomorrow night."

Surprise brushed across her features. "You don't know that," she
said, sinking onto the edge of the bed.

"Lizzie heard it herself," Dimitri said, tying a strip to Pirate's
tail for extra protection. "Once they have six hundred sixty-six demons
here, they'll be able to open the portal wide. All hell's going to break
loose."

Dimitri shoved a handful of strips into his pocket and sat next to Grandma
on the drippy bed. "Phil is the key to stopping the demons tomorrow night.
We need to find him."

Her eyes widened. "And Pop said he'd never amount to anything,"
she said, almost to herself. " 'Course that was the day he took apart
Dad's barbecue pit to make me a suit of armor. Kids can be cruel, 'cept for
your Uncle Phil." Grandma gave an uncharacteristic sniff, buried in a
cough.

We'd get him back. "I have the focus object," I said pulling out
the bow tie we'd used in our disaster of a ceremony at the Paradise hotel.

Grandma took it, careful not to touch me. "Don't I wish we could make
use of this again," she said, twirling it around her finger. "Still,
you know what happened when I tried to channel Phil the last time. Serena
spotted me faster than green grass through a goose."

Sure, we failed before, but that was before I had my mark. What good would
my extra power be if I didn't use it? "I can do it."

"What?" Grandma and Dimitri said in unison. Oh good. They finally
agreed.

It made perfect sense. "The demons can't see me." Grandma could
tell me what to do. I was the only one who
could
do it.

Dimitri looked like he wanted to clamp his hand over my mouth. "It's
too dangerous," he told Grandma. "We don't even understand the
mark."

She nodded. "And Lizzie's not a witch."

Hello? Over here. "You let me in the coven."

Grandma looked me up and down. "You're too young," she said.

"I'm thirty."

"You don't know how," Dimitri added.

"Grandma can teach me."

"Lizzie—" Dimitri began.

Enough. "Will you two stop agreeing? We know we have to act soon or
we're fried. Now is the time. Phil needs us. Dimitri, you need this."

He shot off the bed. "Don't you even think about sacrificing yourself
for me."

Mistake. "Okay, what about Vegas? The West Coast? The entire planet is
screwed if they get that portal all the way open. This isn't going away on its
own and I—me—I have the power to stop it."

Grandma raked the quilt strips through her hands.

"You know I'm right," I said.

"Six hundred sixty-six. All coming tomorrow night." Grandma had
gone completely still. "Damned if I ever thought I'd see the day."
She swiped at the corners of her eyes. "Fine. We'll do it your way. But
you have to do exactly what I say."

With a grunt, Grandma launched herself off the bed and yanked open the
outside door. "Frieda!" she hollered. The blonde witch rushed up in a
jangle of plastic jewelry. "Get Scarlet." She glanced back at me.
"Prep the Cave of Visions. Have Sidecar Bob fetch up those armadillos from
last night. We're doing a channeling."

Relief surged through me, mixed with acute paralyzing fear.

How was a demon slayer on a permit supposed to stop Armageddon?

Dimitri looked as though he'd been punched in the stomach.

Grandma turned to us. "I wish I knew how to find some help for you,
sport, but you're it." She checked her watch. "Ceremony starts at
nine o'clock."

That gave us an hour and a half to get ready. "Is that a magic
time?" I asked.

"No. That's about how long it'll take Frieda to get to Wal-Mart and
back."

"Lizzie." Dimitri touched me and I pulled back. Something bad was
happening to me. Back on the bike, he hadn't been able to drain me, but what if
I could do it to him now?

The hurt registered in his eyes.

Grandma watched our exchange with an inscrutable expression.

Ant Eater ducked her head in the door. "Scarlet needs the skull for the
cave, Frieda wants to know how many guppies you need, and—wait," she
leaned her head out the door, "and if you want fancy or plain guppies, and
Sidecar Bob needs Pirate to help him unwrap eighteen dozen Twinkies."

My dog hopped up like the place was on fire. "Twinkies? I can help with
the Twinkies! I know all about snack cakes."

"Fine. I'll be there in a second," Grandma said. "Now you two
get."

"Come on." Dimitri took my hand and led me outside.

The warm desert air felt wonderful, especially after the antidemonic stench
in Grandma's cabin. I could still smell the acid of the protection strips
Dimitri carried in his front pocket.

He tugged me onto a rocky trail that ran alongside the stables. Horses
whinnied beyond the age-stained walls and the odor of fresh manure ran strong. Gargoyles
circled in the moonlit sky, their staccato calls piercing the night.

"You need to be as powerful as you can for the channeling,"
Dimitri stated, as if he was telling me to eat my vegetables.

I nodded. I knew I'd need everything I had.

"If I can take from you, I can give to you."

"What?" I stammered. No way was I going to be like the succubi
draining him, even if we could find a way for it to work.

"I'm a griffin. We are protectors. What good am I if I can't protect
what's mine?"

I wasn't going to debate the "mine" part, just the obvious point.
"I'm not taking anything from you," I said, running a hand along the
rough-hewn boards as we walked.

"Regardless of what you think of me now," Dimitri said, "I
came here to help you. You need to learn how to accept it." Dimitri
scanned the horizon. "And me."

"I don't know, Dimitri." He'd already risked too much.

"You created the connection when you gave me part of your essence. Now
that I know it's there, I can feel it. Trust me, Lizzie. Let me redeem
myself." I felt for the raw spot between us as he tugged me into his arms.
"Let me save us." His voice rumbled with promise.

What do you say to a man who is willing to give everything to you?

"Yes."

The corners of his mouth tugged up, and he drew me in for a long, burning
kiss. He smelled like sweat and work and rock-solid man.

I rubbed up against him and felt him stiffen.

Closing my eyes, I fought the urge to pull back.

I hated the demons for draining him, and now I was supposed to do the same?
I felt my dark mark pulse. It wanted him. I did too, but not at the expense of
who he was.

His lips brushed the tender spot at the back of my ear, my throat, my mouth.
To think, if I failed, we might not have any of this. My kiss faded and he felt
it. He drew back, a questioning look on his face.

"How will we know when to stop?" I asked.

He squeezed my hand. "I'll know," he said, his voice rough around
the edges.

Hand in hand, we walked the trail, pebbles crunching under our boots.

"You don't need to do this."

Dimitri slid his arm around me as we wound down into a rocky canyon.

The dark mark pulsed with anticipation. I hoped he could trust me with his
power. "You don't know what could happen if we try this." I slid my
marked palm away from his. "I'm evil. Or at least I'm turning evil. I
don't know." None of this made any sense.

He tipped my chin up. "Is that what you really think?"

I didn't know anymore. It certainly hadn't been good for Max's last slayer.

Dimitri regarded me with a mix of amusement and chagrin. "I'm not going
to lie to you. The devil's mark is usually a bad sign."

"Thanks," I said, breaking his gaze. What kind of person was I to
need a little support here?

"Hey," he said, forcing my eyes back up. "Answer me this:
Have you done anything evil since the mark? Anything the old Lizzie would
regret?"

Things had certainly been different, but not anything Satan would get
excited about.

And the way he looked at me… let's just say I never thought it would be
possible, before I met Dimitri. He simmered with all of the things he'd like to
do to me and that I probably shouldn't have enjoyed… but I would.

His mouth quirked. "I think the mark is your way of drawing closer to
the danger than any of us would dare. It's in your nature to give, Lizzie. Even
when you don't realize it. It can be your great weakness, or your strength.
We'll see."

"And you think?" I asked, hoping there was a glimmer of the old
Dimitri left, the man who believed in me more than I could have ever hoped.

"I know," he said, kissing the tip of my nose, "you're
stronger than this."

I caught his mouth and kissed him long and deep, this man who knew I was
good. I knew there was good left in him too. "Are you ready?" I
whispered.

"Always," he said, slipping his hand into my marked palm.

"Evil is a choice. Drawing yourself close to the darkness, well, that's
what you do, Lizzie. True, you're a demon slayer. But I've never heard of any
other slayer looking at things quite the way you do."

"Great, I'm unique." My whole life I'd been training to fit in,
and the one place I might actually belong, I learn I'm different from them too.

Dimitri smiled at that. I tried to return it. I scarcely deserved the man.

I leaned up against a flat rock, sheltered by a red rock overhang. The night
was silent except for the sound of our footsteps. "I'm sorry I lied to
you."

"About what?" he asked, arms tense as he leaned next to me, facing
the expanse of the canyon.

"After hell. I didn't want you to know I saved you because I didn't
know what I felt about my life, about you, about anything. I couldn't
commit."

He kept his eyes on the canyon ahead. "And now?"

Well, of course it would be different now. If he'd still have me.

"What? You're not mad? I infused you with enough of my essence to save
your life and screw up your griffin heritage and that's it?" He had to be
angry, because frankly, I was angry. It was stupid and wrong and even though
I'd save his life all over again I'd at least give him the courtesy of telling
him what I did. I'd trust him enough to level with him. "I left you open
for a succubi attack. I should have been honest sooner, and that's my mistake.
But don't sit here and pretend you're not upset at all about this. At least
respect me enough to tell me what you're thinking."

"So now I'm the one who screwed up?"

"I don't want to pussyfoot around this." Not if he was going to
risk everything for me.