The Demon's Grave (39 page)

My fingers curled around the stump. I wanted to shove it into the flames, but there wasn’t time. On my knees, I swung back blindly.

Missing, I used the momentum to stand and gripped the club in both my hands to keep swinging. JWD leaned back, avoiding one as it collided hard into Blondie’s fractured chest.

“Into the fire!” I shouted at Aidan and he charged.

Together, we caught Blondie under the arms and pushed him toward the wall of flames. The one eye watched me and his hand snaked around my wrist. The merciless heat burned my face but Blondie was a lot lighter than I anticipated.

The hand snapped, cracking the wrist in half as he flew toward the flaming wall. It took me a second to realize the hand still clung to my arm. A shriek pierced the night, high pitched and grating as Blondie disappeared into the fire.

Turning, the club in my free hand, I saw Aidan had reached JWD first. A swift kick had left the corpse without a working leg and Aidan had his ankle. He was dragging JWD toward the fire.

The zombie grabbed Aidan’s arm, fingers curled as if to strike for his eyes and he pulled at my friend to bring him down.

Warmth roiled my insides, building just likes the flames and the scalding ants reminded me of the peculiar savior I held within. My test with Damien must have been positive and there was no time to think if that was a bad or not.

Thrown off balance, Aidan was forced to release JWD and fall to the grass.

Raising my club, I swung without aiming. I didn’t worry about accuracy this time. With all my weight, I threw the heat from my warming stomach, up into my limbs and into that single strike.

I wasn’t a little girl anymore, he couldn’t hurt me.

Neive had to be tied-up and gagged. They hadn’t bothered with me because of my arm. As we sat next to the car, they busied themselves with the bonfire.

I held my injured arm, wishing over and over for the pain to go away. Tears weren’t working and I thought I’d used them all up.

I was shaking from the shock. It only made my shoulder hurt more.

Neive wanted me to run, but I didn’t. Fear and uncertainty kept me sitting next to my sister. I couldn’t leave her either.

With all eyes averted, I picked at Neive’s knots instead. It was extremely hard to do with only one good hand.

I’d run, but not without her.

The flames of their bonfire strained to reach the darkening skies. Mom and Dad would be worrying about us. They’d come and save us, wouldn’t they?

We were far enough away from the fire to be denied its warmth. Goosebumps raced up and down my arms and bare legs.

In front of the warm fire, Aunt Nell raising her left arm up to the sky. She eased opened the worn spine of her black book. Words that I didn’t recognize began to roll off her tongue. At the end she finished with, “
…‌Dismal is the Demon’s Grave. Dismal and dark to what I crave. With one soul of blackened sin. One with power…‌
” The rest was muddled in the back of my mind.

The next thing I knew, the sky rumbled with dark, swirling clouds. Lightning streaked followed closely by the ground-shaking thunder clap.

It was enough to make us both jump. Piercing pain ripped through my arm and I cried out. Luckily, my voice was disguised by the noise above.

My fingertips were scraped raw against the rough fibers of the rope. Having to sit next to my sister prevented me from taking more than a fleeting glance at the knot at a time. Our captors weren’t completely dumb. They’d check us from time to time to make sure we were silent and complacent.

The knot had loosened a little, though it wasn’t enough. When the redhead stalked toward us. I was quick to drop my hand, trying to seem fidgety. He came for me anyway, cold eyes focused and unwelcoming.

He picked me up under the arms and I began to cry. The pain rolled through my shoulder, preventing me from struggling.

I heard Neive’s frantic screams below as she wriggled on the ground to stand.

Aunt Nell’s haunting words rippled through the air seeming to affect everything. The darkened sky began to leak rain and the fire grew stronger. A breeze flowed through the surrounding trees, shaking the branches above.

JWD walked me past my aunt and I pleaded with her, hoping that maybe whatever evil possessed her would snap at my voice.

JWD lifted me high over his head, above the flames.

The fire prickled my skin. My throat was raw and I kicked, trying not to twist. My arm felt as if it were about to fall off. The white-hot pain was making my head swoon.

“Remember to toss her in the center,” Blondie grumbled.

I looked to the fire and gasped. The pain no longer mattered. I didn’t care if I had to carry the pain for hours. I didn’t want to die in that heat! I twisted and JWD almost lost his grip as he held me high.

“Wait!” My aunt bellowed, stopping both of the men.

“Not yet. If you put her in too soon, he won’t come.” The anger in her voice was hypnotizing. “If I hadn’t opened my eyes you two would have botched it!” She sounded furious, I had never heard my aunt like this before.

Blondie grabbed me from JWD, holding me at arm’s length and I swallowed the bile. Grinding his teeth together JWD turned his furious gaze back to my sister. With excellent timing, Neive wriggled from her bonds and stood up, free. She took off at a run.

I howled for Neive to keep running, to find our parents.

Winding a foot back, I kicked with the heel of my bare foot and caught something soft between Blondie’s legs.

He shouted, dropping me.

I fell, stunned. It was Neive’s voice that launched me forward. Gripping my arm I ran after JWD, but my aunt grabbed the back of my t-shirt, dragging me back. “Now!” She shouted. “We cannot open the portal without her! Now!”

I twisted in the grip and swung my good arm for her face. As I clawed at her eyes, a nail caught her eyelid and she let me go. Warm blood smeared my fingertips as I raced into the trees, the high-pitched screams following.

I turned just in time to see JWD, with Neive in his arms, swinging her around like a doll and smiling. The bleeding had started around her mouth again.

Ducking into the trees, I was momentarily forgotten and kept still, afraid to move or breathe.

Neive shouted words that I only heard our father use when he was extremely mad.

“Just have this one!” JWD told Nell. Blondie was still on the ground clutching his groin.

“Then use her. But now!” Aunt Nell commanded.

My eyes caught Neive’s dark ones from the brush. I ducked down to avoid being seen, fear holding me in place. I wanted to save her, but I didn’t know how.

JWD didn’t hesitate, there wasn’t any dramatic suspense, he just threw her into the air as if she weighed as much as a puppy.

She never screamed, but I did, tears streaking my face.

I couldn’t see her. The flames had completely engulfed her body through my tears.

The flames shot high, several feet higher than the woods. Blue sparks crackled upward, twisting as if caught in a vortex.

My voice had alerted JWD and I turned and ran deeper into the trees. The helpless panic propelled me through the forest, ducking and weaving.

Clutching my arm tight to my chest, I never looked back.

* * *

The club slammed into the back of JWD’s head.

The crunch was sickeningly powerful. A spiderweb of cracks split down the center of the skull, but didn’t cave it in. I felt the heated anger in my stomach burst, leaving me weaker when I raised the club to swing again. The club felt as if it had gained fifty pounds.

JWD gargled a shout, his jaw was opened unnaturally wide. Raising an arm for protection, I gloated in satisfaction even when JWD began to form words, his tongue thin and loose, but I heard little before the thunder cut him off. “Jus’ lie…‌”

The zombie staggered into Aidan who rolled out of the way. The corpse caught a tree before it could he could collapse. Spinning its irregular head towards us, it emitted a growling hiss and repeated in a powerful voice. “Jus’ lie ‘im!” A voice I wouldn’t think a corpse could have. Wouldn’t his voice box have shriveled by now?

I looked to Aidan for help.

Aidan’s eyes were round as he repeated. “Just like him?”

That’s when JWD dove at me.

My club punched JWD in the jaw.

His fingers were inches from my face. JWD’s skull snapped backwards and a sour, rotten smell gagged me.

Aidan picked up JWD’s leg. With a violent tug, and bared teeth, Aidan hauled the creature toward the forest fire.

Before JWD could sit up and attack, I slammed the club down onto his head, chest, legs‌—‌whatever I could to keep him down. Each blow crumpled the living corpse, twisting it at impossible angles.

The righteous violence no longer coursed through each swing. I was numbed, like I was watching someone else drive each hardened blow. Someone else could do something like that without emotions, not me.

It was like I was on auto. I wasn’t going to give him a moment of hope.

I remembered that crude smirk when he stalked out of the trees with Neive under his arm.

My next strike burst the zombie JWD’s left eye like jelly. I should have felt sick, I should have stopped but I couldn’t. As I lifted the club again and again it seemed to gain weight with each swing. Gravity dealt half of the blows as I followed Aidan to the scorching fire.

It wasn’t until Aidan dropped JWD’s leg that I swung the club away from me and into the brush.

Reaching down, I swatted at the flailing arms. I curled my fist around the tattered jacket, the letters on the sleeve hidden by my palm. With a jerk, I sat him up and peered into the shattered, smiling face. The infamy of his memory seemed silly, almost exaggerated.

Broken and helpless, he resembled what I should have empathized with.

I wish I could tell you that I felt a little remorseful for that final shove, that a part of me regretted it later, but that would be lying. Forgiveness was the furthest thing from my mind. He might have been human once, but he wasn’t much of one any more.

With Aidan’s help, we flung the corpse of JWD into the flames.

Blue sparks snapped and roared to the sky. They were the same hues I’d seen with Neive.

JWD’s final shriek was cut off.

Somehow I’d thought there’d be more satisfaction, but I felt nothing.
Dismal is the Demon’s Grave.

The clouds overhead rumbled and I realized Aidan was staring at me. Panting, he reached up and curled his fingers around the clinging severed hand on my arm, Blondie’s hand.

I had to pull away before the fingers snapped loose. Bone scraped skin, but didn’t cut.

Lifting the hand with missing fingers up for me to see, Aidan tossed it into the flames. The flesh flared in repulsive sizzles.

“The door,” I croaked, seeing the black surface shimmer just over the lower flames near the gorge. The fire was approximately four feet, which was small compared to the rest. The grass could only sustain it for so long, and sitting out in the rain, it wasn’t nearly as protected as the body of flames in the trees. There wasn’t a tree and from where I stood there was only one option.

Aidan ran his grimy hands through his hair, slicking it back against his scalp. “Maybe we should walk down ‘til we find where it hasn’t reached.”

“Or,” I offered, “we can run through it.”

Aidan’s face pinched. “You’re joking.”

I shook my head and saw the disbelief on his face. “It’s not at its hottest yet, it’s a new fire, right?”

“Well yes…‌”

“And we’re not exactly dry,” I said, facing him. The flames reflected off his electric eyes, making them appear almost white.

I pointed to the trees. “Do you really think Damien will make it easy for us if we walk down the forest line?” I knew I should be scared of those flames. They had devoured JWD and Blondie like tinder. The fact that we had made it this far, survived most of the swamp, made me feel invincible somehow. The scrapes, bruises, and gashes were all worth it. Never in my life had I felt like I conquered something so great. I wasn’t about to let fire stop me.

Reaching over I took Aidan’s hand, gripping his chilled fingers. I didn’t want him to hesitate. “On the count of three.” I watched his face change until his grip tighten, reassured.

He tried to smile, failing. “Ready,” he rumbled in a voice that had been inhaling smoke.

“One.”

We readied our stances.

“Two.”

Aidan raised his free hand to his head, against his hair and I did the same.

“Three!”

Together we took off. Right foot, left foot. Long strides fought every ache we’d endured.

The fire intensified the closer we drew.

Scalding heat ready to peel flesh grew insanely hot and I felt my stride falter. This could be a bad idea.

Aidan tugged my hand and I jumped.

Steam hissed and I breathed out as the feverish heat burned my lungs. I smelled burnt hair before we landed on solid, untouched soil, within the trees.

We staggered together and I spun to snag Aidan’s shirt, gripping him to make sure he was real. My heart pounded so hard it made me dizzy. Blinking, I could see the ash tipping my eyelashes. I gave myself a once over, to make sure I wasn’t on fire.

After a long pause, Aidan broke out into delirious laughter. He wrapped me up in his arms with a ferocious, “
Whooooo
!”

Stunned it took me a second to realize why we were celebrating. We had just walked through
fire
.

Laughter bubbled up before I even knew I was laughing. I returned the hug, clinging to him as if he might let me go. “The door! Before it disappears!”