The Savage Grace: A Dark Divine Novel (17 page)

Daniel caressed his finger along my face. He pecked a few kisses behind my ear and then whispered, “There,” turning my head slightly toward an arched doorway, guarded by two more freaky scarecrows. A sign, painted in garish letters the color of blood, read, library of horrors: enter at your own risk. A yellow X of caution tape blocked it off from the rest of the party.

“See if you can get him to follow you in there,” Daniel said. “I’ll be waiting.”

“You think he’ll go for it?”

“He’s a horny, hungry, teenage boy. Believe me, he’ll go for you. Undead or not.” Daniel gave me one last kiss, and then we broke apart. “Just don’t let him get close enough to realize who you are before you’re alone. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt.”

I watched him quietly maneuver through the party and then slip into the library. I turned my attention back to Pete just in time to see him make a move for the vampire-costumed girl. He put his hand on her shoulder, making her jump. He leaned in close to her face.

“Don’t look into his eyes,” I whispered.

But she must have, because only a matter of seconds later, she was holding his hand as he pulled her through the crowd of dancers. She didn’t seem to notice his talonlike fingernails—a classic sign of an Akh.

I started to go after them, but before I made it more than two quick steps, someone else stepped out in front of me, blocking my path. He wore a long brown trench coat over what looked a Lone Ranger costume: blue shirt, leather pants, cowboy hat, and a black eye mask that was supposed to obscure his identity. But I’d recognize his bright green eyes—and belt buckle—anywhere.

“Talbot, what the hell are you doing here?”

“I want to help you.” By the smell of his breath and the whiskey bottle in his hand, I could tell he’d been drinking.

“I told you I didn’t need it. Daniel and I are taking care of things.” I tried to step around him, but he countered my movements.

“But there’s more going on here than you think. There’re other—”

“Yeah, I know. This place is crawling with Gelal and Akhs. You taught me how to recognize their scent, remember?” I looked over his shoulder so I wouldn’t lose sight of Pete and the girl. They were still making their way through the crowd, presumably toward the exit door on the other side of the room that led to the grounds behind the farmhouse. So much for getting a chance to lure Pete to the library.

“Yeah, I do remember,” Talbot said. “And that’s why I should be the one here with you. This is what we do, you and me. We’re the demon hunters.” He opened his trench coat and showed me his long steel sword taped inside. “Daniel is completely untrained.”

“Something tells me Daniel doesn’t need training.”

I pushed Talbot away from me. “Go home.” I marched past him, looking at Pete and his prey as they went out the exit door. The girl was angled so I could see her face for the first time—and despite the curly blonde wig, I recognized her.

Katie Summers.

This
must have been the party she’d invited me to. The party her friends from the city—who were presumably the tranced-out dancing devil girls—had heard about.

I swore and tried to go after them, but Talbot caught me by the hand, trying to stop me from getting away.

“Grace, you need me.”

I did not have time for this. “I said go home!” I shouted, and punched him across the jaw with all my might. He let go of my hand and stumbled backward into a dancing girl. The two fell to the ground, tangled with each other. His bottle of whiskey sloshed all over them.

I pushed my way through the gyrating crowd as fast as I could, which didn’t feel fast enough. When I made it to the door, I flung it open and dashed out into the dark farmyard. Even adjusting my eyes to night vision, I couldn’t see Pete or Katie among the hay bales, scarecrows, and other freakish Halloween decorations. The heels of my boots sank into the moist ground as I headed toward the dilapidated barn, and I realized I should be looking for footprints. I scanned the ground and found two sets of prints headed for the wall of cornstalks just beyond the barnyard.

Great,
I thought.
They’ve gone into the corn maze.

I pulled out my cell phone and typed out a text to Daniel:
Corn maze. Pete’s got Katie.
I hit the Send button, but the text didn’t go through. Crap! Cell-phone reception had always been spotty in the farmland that stretched between Rose Crest and Apple Valley.

A noise that sounded like either a girl’s laugher or a whimper echoed from somewhere in the maze. I hit Send one more time, then stuck my phone into the pocket of my leather jacket, hoping it would eventually go through. I jogged into the maze. The hay-strewn ground made it impossible to make out footprints, so I had to follow Pete’s smell and the whimper-laugh, which sounded every few seconds, the best I could. I took two rights, two lefts, three more rights, and then rounded another left and almost ran smack into someone wearing tattered, black robes. I jumped back and almost let out a yelp, but then I realized it was just a dummy dressed like the Grim Reaper. A very real spider was busy spinning a web in the curve of the Reaper’s scythe, and some sort of sticky bloodlike substance smeared the dull metal blade.

I was about to turn back, thinking I’d hit a dead end, when I heard that pitiful laugh again, coming from just beyond the Reaper. That’s when I noticed the dummy was blocking the entrance to a square-shaped clearing in the maze. I ducked under the spider and the scythe into the opening to find more ghoulish dummies lurking in the square. One figurine looked like he was supposed to be both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and an orange-painted knockoff of Frankenstein’s monster loomed in the corner. Just beyond a dummy of a totally inaccurate werewolf, I saw Pete Bradshaw holding Katie in his arms.

At first it looked like a lover’s embrace, but I knew better. Katie’s eyes were locked with his, and his talonlike fingernails scratched at her neck, leaving row after row of bloody cuts. With each tear of his talons, Katie would start to whimper, only for the sound to shift into a strained giggle. Like Pete was using his psychic powers to convince her that she liked it.

My stomach already felt ill from the sight in front of me, but as Pete raised his blood-smeared fingers to his lips and licked them—the way I’d relish a spatula covered in brownie batter—I almost lost the stale taquitos from April’s freezer that I’d eaten for dinner.

I took three deep breaths to keep from hurling, then walked right up to Pete with my hands on my hips. “No fair!” I said in my whiniest voice. “I want a turn.”

Pete’s head snapped in my direction, his pointy teeth bared and his lips smeared with blood. Katie’s head lolled back over his arms. “Go away,” he snarled.

“Whatever.” I grabbed Katie’s limp body and yanked her out of the way. “Why should she have all the fun?” I made sure Katie could stand on her own two feet and then pushed her aside. “Get lost, girl.”

Katie stumbled forward and then started walking in a lazy circle, like she was in a trance—which I guess is normal since she was. Hopefully, she’d stay dazed through what I had to do next.

“This one’s mine,” I said, stepping closer to Pete.

“I am?” Pete asked. He looked me up and down, taking in the tall boots, fishnet tights, little pleather shorts, lacy cami, mysterious eye mask, and my tough-girl leather jacket. He cocked his head in appreciation. “I am,” he said.

“You better be.” I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him close like I was about to kiss him. “I was promised a trance when I came to this party. Now give me what I want.”

“My pleasure,” he said, and clasped his taloned hands on either side of my face. “I always loved the feisty girls.” But just as he was about to look me in the eyes, I clamped my eyelids shut and kneed him as hard as I could in the groin.

Pete’s hands fell away from my face, and he wailed as he doubled over, coughing—proving that even the undead feel it where it counts.

I didn’t get much time for satisfaction before Pete roared and came charging at me with his fangs and talons bared. “I’m gonna kill you for that!”

I swung out of his way, and he tackled the werewolf dummy instead of me. He tore off one of its limbs and threw it to the ground.

“Really? Are you sure?” I asked. “’Cause I’m pretty certain this is actually the part where I kill you.”

“What?” Pete asked. His lips dropped over his Akh fangs.

I pulled out my stake from my jacket’s inside pocket. “Yep. That’s pretty much what’s going to happen.”

Pete screamed and lunged at me. I twisted out of his path and sent a kick into his back. He stumbled toward the Frankenstein statue. I was feeling pretty good about having him cornered, and my ability to be done with him soon, when a dazed Katie Summers stumbled and swayed right into him.

“No!” I shouted as he grabbed her by the neck, his sharp fingers wrapping around her throat. She didn’t even try to scream, but I could see the panic behind her glazed-over eyes, as she tried to fight her way out of her trance.

Pete propelled her forward by his grasp on her neck. “Let me pass or I’ll rip her throat out.”

I scrambled out of his way—what else could I have done—and let him drag Katie by the neck to the clearing’s exit. He was going to escape into the depths of the maze. I lifted my stake to throw at his back as he crouched to climb under the Grim Reaper’s scythe, but then he stopped and turned halfway toward me, making it impossible for me to aim at his heart.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve got your scent. We’ll find you when I’m done with her.”

We?

Pete let out a cackle that sounded more like the screeching of a bird … but then the metal blade of the Reaper’s scythe came crashing down on his head. He screamed and let go of Katie. She sank to the ground, seemingly unconscious, just as Daniel burst out from behind the Reaper’s tattered robes and into the clearing.

I practically cheered when I saw him.

Pete screeched with anger.

Daniel smacked him in the head again with the scythe. It looked painful, but the blade was too dull to do any real damage. Daniel cast the weapon aside and grabbed Pete with his bare hands. Pete clawed at his grip and then went for Daniel’s neck, but Daniel pushed him away just in time. Pete whirled around and made a lunge at me instead. He sent a clawed hand at my face, ripping my mask off.

It fell to the ground, and my first instinct was to try to hide my face, to keep Pete from recognizing me, but really, what was the point now? Part of me
wanted
him to know it was me who was taking him down.

A shrill laugh escaped Pete’s lips. “As if I didn’t know it was you.”

“What?” I asked. As far as I knew, Pete should have thought I was your average mild-mannered pastor’s daughter. Not a demon hunter.

I jumped out of the way as Pete sent another clawed swipe at my face.

Daniel grabbed him from behind.

Pete struggled in his grasp. “They said you’d come for me!” he snarled. “They were waiting for me outside the hospital when I was reborn. They told me that all I had to do was kill that nurse and you’d eventually come looking for me. And they’d be waiting.”

“Who?” Daniel asked.

“My new family.” Pete broke free from Daniel’s grasp and tried to flip Daniel over his shoulder. Daniel was too quick and sent several punches into Pete’s side.

Pete grunted in pain. He stumbled away to the corner near the Frankenstein monster, holding his rib cage. At that moment he looked just like the old Pete Bradshaw. Not like some monster we’d come here to kill. For a second I wondered if I could still do it.

“Who are you talking about?” I asked, afraid I might already know.

Pete took in a deep, ragged breath through his nose. “Can’t you smell them coming? The people who want you dead.” Pete let out a sharp scream and ran at me. He looked like a rabid bat, claws extended, fangs bared. He was going for the kill.

As much as I hated to do it before getting a real answer, I thrust my stake deep into Pete’s chest. I let go, and he fell into the wall of brittle cornstalks. He clawed at the stake with his talonlike nails, scratching sparkly jewels from the hilt. He got purchase on the handle and pulled it out of his chest. It made a sound like something ripping through a paper bag. He looked at it with disdain and then threw it at my feet. A wicked smile curled on Pete’s lips, and he laughed.

“They’re gonna kill you,” he said, as his body burst into dust.

I clamped my hands over my face, not only so I wouldn’t inhale little Pete particles, but also because I couldn’t believe I’d actually killed Pete Bradshaw.

“What did he mean by … ?” Daniel started to ask, but a loud growling noise cut him off. Both our heads snapped toward the origin of the sound. It came from somewhere behind the Grim Reaper.

Another growl followed—from the opposite side of the clearing, beyond the tall cornstalks. Then more growling from outside all four walls of the square-shaped clearing.

“What the … ?”

The brittle cornstalks rustled and swayed and the growling grew closer.

“They’re coming through the corn,” I said.

And we were literally boxed in.

Pete had said that I should have smelled them coming, and now I did. Rotten meat and sour milk.
Ahks and gelals,
I thought, as dark figures burst through the cornstalks into the clearing. I recognized a few of them right away from my time imprisoned at the warehouse.

Shadow Kings. At least ten of them. Surrounding us

from every direction. “Guess what?” I said to Daniel. “This was a trap.” “I see that,” Daniel said. The circle of monsters slowly closed in on us, their

growls melting together into a collective noise that made my eardrums rattle. I snatched up my dusty stake, and Daniel and I stood back to back, our weapons raised.

TEN NOT-QUITE-BUT-ALMOST-HYPERVENTILATING BREATHS LATER

The beasts closed in on us, slowly, as if savoring the drama of it all.

“Now would be a good time to pull out some of your true alpha mojo,” I said to Daniel. “Maybe convert some of these guys to our team?”

“Good idea. Except none of these guys are Urbat. My mojo doesn’t work on Akhs and Gelals. Caleb is certifiable, but he isn’t stupid. He’s not going to risk losing any more of his followers to our side.”

“Dang. So what do we do now?”

“Fight like hell,” Daniel said, and lunged out with his stake at a Gelal who’d broken from the circle and come barreling at us. I was amazed at how fast Daniel moved. The Gelal went flying, clutching at the gaping wound in his chest.

“Watch out for the acid!” I yelled, just as the dead Gelal exploded into acrid green ooze that could melt through just about anything. Daniel moved quickly again, shielding both of us from the rain of burning acid with his long black jacket.

“Oh man, I really liked this coat,” he said as the green slime ate holes through the leather.

“Me, too. But better that than your face,” I said.

“Good point.”

The growl of the demons shifted into a loud screeching, like a chorus of vultures. They chomped their teeth and clacked their claws in our direction. Daniel and I stood, ready for the next one who’d dare break away from the circle.

“I’m just glad you got my text,” I said. “Or else I’d be facing these guys alone.”

“Yeah. Nine against two isn’t the worst odds ever,” Daniel said. “Wait, what text? I didn’t get a text from you.”

“But then how did you know to come to the maze?”

Daniel shrugged. “I just
knew.
”

“Huh. Gabriel says you and I are connected … Oh crap. How do you feel about the odds of nineteen against two?” I asked, as I noticed a second wave of ten more demons waiting in the stalks of corn. Ready to join the fray when needed.

Daniel swore. “Caleb’s been busy.”

The high-pitched screech of the monsters reached a deafening crescendo, and I had to clamp my hands over my ears to keep my eardrums from bursting.

And then, as if someone sucked all the sound out of the clearing with a vacuum, it fell completely silent—every beast cutting off its cry at the exact same moment.

One of the beasts pointed a long claw at us, a Gelal from the smell of him. “First we kill you two, and then we kill every last human at this party,” it said. “And then this city will know that the Shadow Kings rule.”

“Can you say ‘overdramatic’?” I asked.

Daniel snorted. “Yeah, but I don’t think he’s kidding.”

“Kind of wishing we hadn’t told the boys to stay inside. A little backup would be nice.” Even if we shouted at the top of our lungs, they’d never hear us over the noise of the party. “Well, ready or not,” I said as the first wave of nine beasts came rushing at us in a flurry of claws and teeth.

Daniel sprang into action immediately, pulling his coat off and using it to entrap two of the monsters at once, and then flung them into the wall of cornstalks in a move he must have picked up from a Jackie Chan movie or something. He staked both of them before they even knew what had happened. I realized he’d been holding back with Pete.

Daniel went after another one, and I had two demons of my own to deal with. I kicked one away and staked the other.

“Wait,” I shouted to Daniel. “Can’t you call the boys, like psychically? They always knew what you wanted when you were the white wolf. And you knew I needed you here.”

Daniel kicked a demon, sending him flying into the dummy of Dr. Jekyll. “I don’t really remember how I did it.”

“I don’t know. Maybe just think real hard about what you need them to do.”

“I’ll try.” Daniel pointed behind me. “Watch out—”

I felt a sharp stab as a Gelal raked its claws into my back. Screaming in pain, I used my own weight to flip the beast over my shoulder. It scrambled away from me, and my stake sank into the soft ground instead of flesh as I tried to stab it. “Ahh!” I yelled, trying to regain my balance.

Daniel went after the Gelal and wrestled it to the ground.

The sound of rustling cornstalks made me look up just in time to see the ten more beasts come through the corn barrier into the clearing.

“Now would be a great time for that backup,” I yelled, as an Akh came at me with vicious swings of his taloned hands.

“I’m working on it,” Daniel answered. I heard him grunt, but I wasn’t sure if it was in response to the force of taking out another demon, or a cry of pain.

I staked the Akh, and then tried to turn toward Daniel to check on him, but another Gelal must have noticed my distraction. I caught the sight of it out of the corner of my eye, launching in my direction. I flinched, knowing I wouldn’t have time to block its blow, but its body suddenly lurched backward like a dog caught at the end of its lead.

I saw the glint of metal protruding from his chest, and I realized it’d been skewered on the end of a sword. Talbot’s sword, I saw, as he came bursting through the wall of cornstalks. He swung his arm with a forceful movement, flinging the dead Gelal off the end of his sword and onto the ground.

I jumped back to avoid the acid spray. “I told you to go home.”

“Good thing I didn’t listen,” he said, seeming far more sober than just a few minutes ago. “I thought I heard someone asking for backup.” He stepped out of the way, and Brent, Ryan, Zach, and Slade pushed their way through the cornstalks, all with weapons ready. They rushed right into the clearing and joined Daniel in the fight against the fourteen beasts that remained. Talbot followed, taking off the head of an Akh with the swing of his sword.

Not to be left out, I charged into the mix, sending another Akh I recognized from Caleb’s warehouse into Ryan’s outstretched stake with a roundhouse kick.

“Now that was awesome,” Ryan said, as the Akh burst into dust in front of him. “I always hated that guy.” He spun around and went charging after a Gelal that had Brent backed into a corner. I felt like a proud mama for a moment, watching my boys sticking up for each other.

I heard a female shriek from the other side of the clearing, near the exit.

“Look what I found,” screeched an Akh.

He stood over Katie Summers, clacking his taloned nails together. Katie screamed again, throwing her arms in front of her face as she lay on the ground.

“Looks like a tasty treat,” said the Akh.

“Stop him!” I shouted at Slade, who was closest to them.

Slade jumped into action, knocking the Akh away from Katie with the swing of one of his tattooed arms. He reached out to help Katie up, but then a Gelal jumped on his back and knocked him to the ground. Slade tried to roll away. Before he could, the Gelal pinned Slade down by sitting on his chest, and the Akh who’d tried to attack Katie grabbed him by the face with his long talons.

“Don’t look him in the eyes!” I shouted.

But it was too late, the beast had locked eyes with Slade, trapping him in a motionless trance. The Gelal, teeth bared, went for Slade’s neck. Before the beast could bite, I threw my stake like a javelin across the clearing, and it skewered the Gelal in the back. It burst to acid on top of the Akh.

The Akh scrambled off of Slade. It screeched like an injured bat as it scurried away into the cornstalks and disappeared into the maze.

I ran to Slade and pulled off my jacket. I used it to wipe the Gelal acid from his arms. He blinked at me, moaning as he came out of the trance. I was about to ask him if he was okay when I heard another shout from Daniel. This time I
knew
it was from pain.

I spun in Daniel’s direction and watched as his stake fell from his hand. He clutched at his right shoulder, where his silver-bullet wound was exposed by a gash in his shirt. A Gelal stood in front of Daniel with blood dripping from its claws. The demon had raked its claws over Daniel’s already-tender wound.

Daniel tried to crouch to snatch up his stake, but he was too slow, and the Gelal kicked it away. The stake went flying into the depths of the cornstalks. The beast lunged at Daniel, and Daniel dropped his hand from his bleeding shoulder to grab the Gelal by its shoulders. I could see the pain on Daniel’s face as the two grappled in hand-to-claw combat. For the first time in this fight, Daniel, weaponless and injured, actually seemed vulnerable.

I reached for my own stake with the intention of throwing it to Daniel, but found that it had almost completely disintegrated, lying in a pool of Gelal acid.

“Heads up!” Talbot shouted. He elbowed an Akh in the face and then flung his sword at Daniel with all his might. It sailed through the air, spinning point over hilt, toward Daniel’s face.

I was about to shriek, but Daniel whipped out his left hand and caught the sword in midair by its handle. In a move just as quick, he brought the blade down on the neck of the Gelal and lopped off its head. He spun away from the spray of green acid, and I felt my jaw drop as I watched Daniel, with moves fluid yet forceful, slice through three more demons before they even had time to react.

“Wow,” I said, my heart beating quickly in my chest.

“That was killer,” said Ryan, watching with just as much awe as Daniel finished off a forth demon.

The other monsters in the clearing hadn’t failed to notice Daniel’s prowess with the sword, and I watched as the four remaining Akhs and two Gelals backed away. They clawed their way into the wall of cornstalks and disappeared. I could hear their footfalls as they ran at top speed through the stretches of the maze.

“Should we go after them?” Zach asked. Ryan and Brent looked just as eager to pursue their old gang mates. Slade, looking a bit dizzy himself, sat on the ground next to Katie, his hand on her back as she held her head between her knees like she was trying not to pass out again.

“No,” I said. “I don’t want you getting separated in that maze with them.”

“Aw, come on,” Ryan said, practicing swinging his stake the way Daniel had handled the sword.

“My guess is that they’re already gone by now.” Talbot lifted his cowboy hat and wiped his forehead.

“All the same,” Ryan said. “If we chase them, they’ll be less likely to regroup and come back.”

“Fine then,” I said. “Zach and Ryan, you two can go. Stick together and be safe, all right?”

Ryan and Zach went after the probably-already-long-gone demons, whooping and hollering like a couple of lost boys chasing pirates. Brent groaned about being left behind.

“I should go with them.” Slade stood, but he didn’t seem the most stable on his feet. But maybe that’s because Katie was clinging to his legs for support.

“You can stay,” I told Slade. “Looks like Katie isn’t letting go any time soon.”

She looked at me then with eyes that still made her seem a bit dazed and confused. Her mascara smeared in long streaks down her face. “Grace? Is that you? I thought you weren’t coming to the party.”

I sighed, relieved that she obviously still wasn’t quite with it if that was her biggest question. Maybe she wouldn’t actually process anything that had just happened. “I changed my mind. Can’t pass up a good party.” I shrugged.

“This was some party,” she said slowly, bobbing her head up and down. She seemed positively high. “Wait, why did you follow me out here? Did you …
kill
… that guy who was trying to make out with me?”

Uh-oh.

Daniel stepped forward. He tucked the sword behind his back, but he couldn’t cover up the bloody tear in his shoulder. “I think someone may have slipped something in your drink, Katie. We followed you to make sure no one took advantage of you.”

“Daniel?” She leaned forward, squinting at his eyes behind his mask. “You came, too? I thought you had pneumonia?” She tapped her fingers against her forehead like she was trying to think really hard. “Did you just chop off some guy’s head?”

Brent busted up laughing. I gave him a quick glare.

“Okay,” I said. “I think Katie’s had enough partying for one night.” I motioned for Slade to pick her up. “Take care of her, will you?” I asked him.

Slade looked down at Katie, still clinging to his legs, and then back at me. A stricken look crossed his face. He leaned toward me and whispered, “Um. To be clear, are you asking me to kill her and dump her body?”

“What?
no!
Why on earth would you think that?”

Brent cleared his throat. “To a Shadow King, ‘taking care of someone’ has a very different connotation.”

“Oh …
oh!
” I was going to have to be more careful with my vocabulary choices in the future. “No, I mean, make sure she gets back home okay. Keep trying to convince her that everything she saw was the result of special party Kool-Aid so she doesn’t go spilling all of our secrets. You know, that kind of taking care of someone. Take Brent with you.”

Slade nodded. He and Brent pulled Katie up and hitched their arms around her back to help her walk.

“You saved me, didn’t you?” Katie asked, patting her hand limply against Slade’s cheek. She giggled and waved her hands like someone who’d enjoyed a good joint. “Did you see all the pretty green ooze?”

“Yeah, it was pretty,” Slade said. Brent snorted. Slade glanced back at me with the look of someone being punished.

I watched them walk away, leaving me with Daniel and Talbot. Not the three best people to be left alone together.

Especially with weapons.

We were all quiet for a moment, tension building thick between us. Finally, Daniel approached Talbot with the sword in his hand. Daniel stood in front of him, their eyes locked, like they were trying to read each other’s thoughts. I was reminded as to how much bigger Daniel’s stature was now than before. Talbot, who had never seemed small to me, suddenly did, compared to Daniel. Or maybe it was just the way Daniel carried himself now—like an alpha. One whose pack had just defeated a rival’s attack.

Daniel extended the blade of the sword toward Talbot, and then he flipped it upside down and offered him the handle. “Thanks,” Daniel said. “You really saved us back there. We might not have gotten out of that without you.”