He’s not the man I saw with glowing eyes, that’s for fucking sure.
“What the hell?” I hold out my hand, creating a shield of energy to keep him from advancing toward me any more. The guy runs toward it, eyes clouding over. He crashes against the wall of energy and then staggers back, tripping over his own feet. He falls hard against the ground, head whacking the pavement. He doesn’t get up and come at me again. Instead, his body starts to shudder, and black ooze drips from his mouth, collecting in a puddle on the ground that then starts to boil, billowing up as steam. It moves like a dark cloud, slipping through the air vents of the building next door.
“What the hell?” I repeat, staring at the man on the ground. The black veins on his face start to fade, and I shake myself. I rush forward and drop to my knees, putting my fingers to the man’s neck. The bad feeling is back, and I don’t need to feel the lack of pulse to know this guy is already dead.
Goosebumps break out over my skin, and I’m overtaken with the urge to run far, far away. I stand up, breathing fast, and back away from the body.
Holy shit.
Eyes on the body, I blindly bring my hand up and into my purse with the intention of getting my phone to call the police. My fingers brush over the feather, and something other than fear floods through my veins. I look at the air vent on the side of the building and then back at the body. Whatever was in him—whatever killed him—is loose and hiding inside the building.
I need to find it and kill it.
I run my fingers over the spine of the feather once more and then bring my hand out in front of me, telekinetically ripping the vent from the brick. I hike the strap of my purse up over my shoulder and conjure an energy ball, gently tossing it into the air vent. It feeds directly into the building, and I climb through, dress bunching up around my waist as I drop down several feet.
I splay my fingers and the energy ball spreads out, lighting up the room. I’m in an abandoned laundry mat, and half the washers are hanging open. Dust covers the old green tile floor, and the place smells like mold and dirty clothes.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” I whisper to the darkness. Something rustles through a tangle of long-discarded clothing several yards ahead of me. “Gotcha.”
I throw the energy ball, and a rat the size of a small cat goes sprinting away. Dammit.
“Sorry, Mrs. Rat. I hope you didn’t have giant babies in there.” I conjure another energy ball and walk through the laundry room and into a hall. It splits three ways, and I pause, looking up and down each way. “Where are you, fucker?” I let my eyes fall shut, listening for any sort of call to let me know to go.
But instead of some sort of intuition guiding me, my phone rings. I scramble to silence it. It’s Kristy, and she’s probably wondering where the hell I am. I answer at the last second, knowing she’ll keep calling if I don’t answer.
“Hey,” I whisper. “I can’t talk right now.”
“Where are you?”
“In an abandoned building. Long story. Also, there’s a dead body in the alley behind the bar.”
“What? Did you take something?”
“No, but I did have a hot dog.”
Kristy sputters something I can’t make out. “Where are you?”
I inch forward, directing the energy ball to move a few feet ahead of me. “The building next to the bar. I got in through an air vent.” Suddenly the floor creaks in front of me, and it’s like all the air got sucked out of the room. I can’t breathe, and my body starts to go cold.
The sound of horse hooves on pavement echoes around me, and my stomach painfully twists. I pitch forward, phone clattering to the ground, bracing myself from the pain. Gritting my teeth, I press my hands over my knees and force myself up. Something is coming closer and closer, and the sound of hooves turns into a low growl.
“Oh shit.” I look up just in time to see a huge dog-like creature with yellow eyes lunging at me. I throw my hand up and magically throw the thing into the wall. It snarls, pulling its lips back over its fangs, and gets up, shaking its head.
It comes at me again, and I thrust my hand forward once more. The dog-creature is shoved back, but it’s like I’m moving something incredibly heavy and it takes great effort just to throw the thing away from myself. Pain hits my stomach again, like someone shoved a knife, hot out of the fire, into my gut.
Another creature comes down the hall, growling. I plant my feet on the ground and hold out my other hand, ready to take them both on. The creature I’d just thrown into the wall gets up again, but doesn’t advance. It stands perfectly still, yellow eyes locking with mine.
It looks like a Mastiff, but instead of sleek fur, it’s covered in coarse skin and wiry hairs, much like an elephant. It opens its mouth, revealing teeth three times as long as normal dogs’. Stringy saliva drips from its mouth.
“Don’t even think about it,” I warn, giving it another shove. It’s hard to hold the shield with this pain in my stomach, and I’m trying hard not to break my concentration and look down at myself, because now it feels like warm blood is dripping from an open wound in my abdomen.
The first dog-creature lets out a high-pitched whine and turns, running away from me.
“That’s what I thought.”
And then the other starts sprinting toward me. The creatures jump into the air at the same time, crashing into each other. A puff of that oozy, black smoke clouds around them, and the bigger of the two lands on the ground first, with its teeth clamped around the other’s neck.
It’s not killing it, but absorbing it. The two merge together as one, doubling in size.
“The fuck?” My heart speeds up and I send a final shockwave of energy forward, throwing the creature back.
And then I turn and run as fast as I can down the hall.
Chapter 12
I skid to a stop, throwing my hands out to keep my balance. Pressing my back up against the wall, I let out my breath and look down the hall behind me.
What the fuck just happened?
Two demonic dogs just merged into one bigger demonic dog.
Holy shit.
I bring my hand to my chest, feeling my heart racing. Calm down. I need to calm down. It’s pitch black all around me, and the air is still and stale. I need to conjure an energy ball so I can see what’s around me, but it’ll be a dead giveaway to where I am, though I’m sure that thing can sense me somehow, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it can see in the dark. Dogs can. Demons can.
Demonic dogs certainly can.
Holy shit.
The world spins around me a bit, reminding me that I’m not one hundred percent sober yet. I’d say I’m never drinking again, but if I make it through the night, I’m going to need a big glass of wine.
I plant both hands against the wall and take in a steadying breath. Pressing my lips together, I lean forward and listen. The dog-creature is here somewhere, lurking and waiting.
And so is the black ooze.
Wait a minute…if the dog-creature is a demon, why hasn’t it attacked anyone? There’s a freaking bar right next door, pretty much offering up drunks like Happy Meals. As far as I know, there haven’t been any reports of people mysteriously missing in this area, and no carnage has been found.
If the creature isn’t holing up in this building, using it as hunting grounds then…fuck. It’s protecting something, and I’ve stumbled upon something that doesn’t want to be found.
But it’s all good, right? Two birds and one stone and all. I’ll kill that huge, demonic dog and then go after whatever it’s protecting. It can’t be anything serious.
Hah.
The Game of Thrones theme song sounds through the building, scaring me half to death. Right. I dropped my phone, and I’m sure Kristy is calling me back, wondering what the hell I was talking about. Dammit. If she comes out to investigate, she’ll be walking right into a trap.
Kristy is a strong, smart witch, but doesn’t have the same powers I do. Naomi and Nicole
can manipulate energy and might stand a chance…if they weren’t drunk.
“Shit,” I whisper. Inhaling deep, I push off the wall and conjure strings of magic around my hands. They glow a brilliant blue, lighting up the hall like it’s motherfucking Christmas. “Come and get me, asshole!”
I move down the hall, not sure where I’m going. I have no plan other than trying my best not to die. Though, if I can not die and get to my phone, I can tall Kristy and tell her to stay away.
“Look,” I start and slowly move my fingers, twisting the strings of magic around them. “I don’t know what you’re guarding, but I’m sure we can work something out. But let’s talk first, okay?”
My heels click against the dirty tile. I’m getting close to the entrance to the laundromat again, and that same weird feeling starts to sink heavily in my stomach.
“Are you shy?” I flick my wrist and send little balls of magic floating into the air in front of me, lighting my way. “There’s no need to be shy. I won’t bite.” I stop and look around. “I’ll just blow you up with magic as soon as I get the chance,” I add under my breath. “Where the fuck did you go?”