Page 93 of Dead Serious Case 5 Madame Vivienne

Danny growls and grabs me, shoving me behind him. “Don’t you touch him.”

“You’ll get your turn, human.” The demon’s mouth curves. He flicks his hand and Danny is thrown back and pinned against the wall. He struggles to move but he can’t seem to free himself.

The ghosts mutter angrily and surge forward, but the demon simply blows in their direction and they dissipate like desert sands caught in a violent wind.

“Oh, hell no.” Dusty steps in front of me. “If you want him, you’ll have to go through me.”

“Hmm.” The demon cocks his head and looks at Dusty as if he doesn’t quite know what to make of her. “You’re something different.” He hums, giving a small flicking motion with his hand, and Dusty stumbles back as if she’s been struck.

She turns towards me, mouth open, eyes wide in shock. She holds up her hands and looks at them as they turn to dust anddisintegrate. “Tris,” she says in a small scared voice. She takes a step towards me and collapses into a pile of ash, which then blows away.

Before I can open my mouth to howl in grief, the demon grasps me by the throat, lifting me clear off the floor. My legs kick and I try desperately to suck in oxygen, but he simply watches me. It feels like my skin is trying to crawl off my bones to escape the touch of his fingers.

The room around me dims as I struggle against his grip. This is it, this is how I die. They say that in that moment, you see your life flash before your eyes, but it’s not true. My only thought is Danny.

I blink.

There’s a bright light. It glows brighter and brighter. The demon shrieks and releases his grip, dropping me to the floor. Hitting the ground with a painful thud, I suck in a great big lungful of air and cough as my lungs contract.

The pure white glow surrounds me and the others. For a moment, I think I’m imagining things, but there’s a shape at the centre, a form. It’s a person. They slowly come into focus and as they solidify, I open my mouth and a strangled cry escapes.

The figure looks at the demon, his expression cool. “Keep your hands off my son.”

“Dad?” I whisper hoarsely.

He turns to me and smiles. “Hello, Jelly Bean.”

23

The demon stares at my dad in distaste.

“You smell like a higher being.” His red eyes skim over me and then to Danny, who’s slid down from the wall and crawled over the debris to get to me. Then his eyes flit to Harrison and Sam, who also seem to be surrounded by the light emanating from my dad. “You may be able to protect them, but you cannot harm me.”

“I can’t,” Dad says calmly, “but I know someone who can.”

The moment the words leave his lips, there’s a violent swirl of lavender-coloured smoke and two figures appear, one of them familiar.

“Lucien,” I croak, my throat sore from almost having my larynx crushed by a demon who I’m pretty sure wanted to eat me.

“Hello again.” He nods, and for a huge hulking wolf of a man, there’s something surprisingly comforting about him.

My gaze drops to the woman at his side. She’s about my height, I’d guess, and slim. I’d probably put her in her thirties, not much older than me, and she’s really pretty, with long dark wavy hair, smooth skin, and whiskey-coloured eyes. She’sdressed casually in jeans and trainers, a leather jacket over her hoodie.

Her gaze quickly skims over all of us. The corner of her mouth quirks slightly and she sends me a little wink before turning towards the demon—like a naked eight-foot-tall man standing at the edge of a glowing pit is something she sees every day.

“Well, looks like I turned up just in time.” Her accent is American, which surprises me for some reason.

“Who are you?” The demon’s eyes narrow on her. “I don’t know what you are. You smell human, yet you are something… other.”

“You demons, you’re all the same.” She rolls her eyes. “Smell this, sniff that. You’re like a pack of dogs.”

“Hey,” Lucien says indignantly.

She sends him a look and turns her attention back to the demon. “Okay, since you’ve been stuck in that trap for, what, a century and a half? I’m going to cut you a little slack because you may not be aware of certain current events. With that in mind, I’d like to officially inform you that the Hell dimensions are under new management. That would be me. I’m the new management... Olivia Beckett-West.” She gives a little wave.

“I will enjoy crushing your bones in my teeth.”

“Demon scum,” Lucien snarls, “kneel before your queen.”