Page 16

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

SAMANTHA

First things first.

I’d cussed. Or partially cussed. I almost never cussed, but that didn’t make it excusable.

I closed my eyes, dropped my chin, and took a breath.

Sorry, God. I didn’t mean to say that. It slipped out because I’m overwhelmed, but I’m going to try not to do it again. I’ll probably fail, but I’m trying. Guide my steps. Show me how to take care of this evil that is surrounding the city. Lead me to where I would be most effective in getting rid of it. Thank you.

I blinked my eyes open and took another look.

Yep. Still bad.

Phoenix was already at the bottom of the stairs and hadn’t heard me, but all the werewolves who were by the three SUVs lined-up on the tarmac to pick us up—not just the ones we flew with, but others were there, too—all looked up at me, frozen, waiting for me to let them in on what was killing their pack members.

“What is it, Sam?” Tessa called up to me.

I tugged out my earbuds so I could hear her better.

“What do you see?” she asked, a mix of nerves and hope in her voice.

The horizon shimmered with an iridescent red haze. There was a small bit that was darker, grayer, that gave me a nauseating feeling when I looked directly at it. But there was no mistaking what that was.

“The source of your problem is that way.” I pointed to my right. “The mother of all portals to Hell is open.” I was going to have to be careful. My head was full of fears and doubts right now, and they’d be stronger—much stronger, more overwhelming, so much heavier—in a place the enemy had control of. I had to get my head on right.

Phoenix was here. He wasn’t leaving. I would do my job, and we’d go home.

I wasn’t sure I could make myself believe in the happily-ever-after yet, but I had to let myself lean on him. No more fear. No more worrying.

He was one-hundred-percent sure, and he’d never given me any reason to doubt him. I had to trust him.

“The fact that I can see it from this far away is a really bad sign,” I said. “Especially given how it’s daylight and all.”

“You can close it, right?” Dastien stepped toward the plane’s stairs, and his eyes were bright. His features were a little more prominent, and I knew he was struggling with his wolf for control. “Would that take care of whatever is killing the wolves?”

I wiped a hand down my face. I wished I could tell him that I could close it and all our problems would be solved, but I was going to have a mess to fix first. And that might not take care of whatever came through the portal.

“I don’t know yet. All I know is that some moron who didn’t know what they were doing opened a really big, really powerful portal.” Or maybe they knew exactly what they were doing but didn’t care. Which was way worse. “I don’t know what—or how many of whatever it is—came through. But yeah…the aura it’s giving off isn’t good. I’m going to have to deal with that first, and then we can figure out what to do next.” I took a breath to center myself, and then I relaxed my vision, letting the spiritual realm rise up so I could see.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen a portal that powerful before, but now it made sense that wolves were dying. Something really, truly evil must’ve come through.

“ Fudge. ” I’d been hoping it wouldn’t be something so bad, but that had been a truly stupid, stupid hope.

Just looking at the portal exhausted me. I didn’t want to admit it, but Phoenix had been right. I was still tired from the battle I’d had in Hell. It would take another week or two to get back to where I was before I saved Van—maybe longer—but evil didn’t have sick days. Which meant I couldn’t either.

Maybe it wasn’t just one thing killing the wolves. Who knew how many things had come through at this point. And that didn’t take into account all the bad things that would be drawn to it. Something that size—miles wide of evil—would attract evil from the surrounding states.

This was a cluster ?—

Wait. No. I wasn’t going to panic.

One breath, one step, one thing at a time.

“Are you okay?” Phoenix called up to me from the bottom of the stairs. He had one foot on the stair, like he was ready to come back up and get me, but he didn’t need to do that. I was coming.

I started down the stairs. “Yeah. I’m fine.” It was a small lie for now, but it wouldn’t be soon. I hoped. “We’re going to start with the portal. Close it down.” I was talking so that they knew the plan, but mostly, I was thinking aloud. “I can’t go around kicking things back to Hell only to have them come through again with a mind bent on killing me.” My feet hit the tarmac, and I was officially in Charleston.

“I need to sit shotgun.” I walked up to the large SUV that was in front of all the others and opened the front passenger door. I took off my backpack, tossed it on the floor, and hopped in, letting the werewolves figure everything else out.

I wasn’t trying to be rude, but I had to focus on what I needed to do.

A hand gripped my shoulder, and I jumped in my seat, spinning to see who’d touched me.

Phoenix’s hazel-green eyes widened. “It’s just me.” He lifted his hand away.

I took a breath. “Sorry. The werwolves know not to touch me when I’m working. I don’t want to pass along my sight to them accidentally. The last thing we need is a wolf losing it right now.”

“All good, but you don’t have to worry about that with me.”

“I know.” He was pretty perfect for me.

He studied my face. “Are you sure you’re okay?” His deep voice held more than a hint of worry in it.

“I’ll be fine. I promise.” I left out the fact that he was right about me—that I wasn’t ready for a big fight. If I told him that, I knew he’d insist we go back home, and I couldn’t. Now that I’d seen the open portal, I had to close it.

It wasn’t just the portal, though. The look on the werewolves’ faces when I said I could see what was wrong, like I was their only hope, told me exactly how desperate they were for help. I couldn’t abandon them.

The SUV doors opened, and Tessa and Dastien climbed into the way back. Max slid into the middle row with Phoenix. Garrett got into the driver’s seat and turned to me. His eyes were dark but had a faint glow to them, telling me that his wolf was close. He’d slept most of the flight, but from the little he’d told me, he was ready for a fight he could win. “Tell me where to go, and I’ll get you there.”

Right. He was from Charleston. That was why he was driving. “I don’t know exactly where we’re going, but it’s that way.” I pointed. “I’ve never been here before, so I’ll leave you to figure how to get to where I need to be. Just head in that direction, and I’ll correct you if you end up going away from it. Just be patient with me. It’ll be a little trial and error. I might not give you a ton of notice on turns, and we might do some backtracking.”

“Copy that. I got you.” Garret started the car and slowly made his way out of the small private airport. His grip was tight on the steering wheel.

“What’s that way?” I pointed again just in case he’d lost track of where I wanted to go.

“Depends on how far that direction. There are some retail and business stuff that way. Lots of residential.”

“Which way to the water?” I knew Charleston was on the coast, but I had zero clue about where I was.

“That way,” Garrett said.

“That tracks,” I said.

“Why?” Phoenix asked.

“Well, there’s this thing where people think that salt water isn’t great for demons. And it’s not. It’s been used as a clarifier since forever. Sometimes it can be used in witchcraft, but usually by people who call themselves white witches.” This is where Claudia and I sometimes disagreed, so I quickly moved on. I wasn’t saying this to spark a debate or anger anyone.

“Salt is a neutralizer. It clarifies things. Preserves things—keeping them from spoiling. Rotting. Putrefying. Both metaphorically and literally. And salt is how you make holy water—you add salt and prayer to regular water.” There were some grunts in the car, as if I’d just revealed a fascinating bit of information. Which—given the company—it might be.

“So, all of that makes people think that demons can’t be in salt water or water at all. But that’s not true. Jesus cast the demons into pigs, and they ran into the water. The pigs died, but the demons…” I shrugged. “They were already dead. They stayed. And in Revelation, the demons that rise up come from the ocean. So, I tend to find more activity in older cities with more history and by water. But a portal can’t be in the water.” Wait. Was that right?

I thought for a second to make sure that was true. What would it take to open a portal on water?

A mortal would have to do some incantations, sacrifices, usually done with a version of a written spell on the ground. Maybe if they did it on the ocean floor? Or if they had like a float that could be anchored to a spot. Leaving a boat for long wouldn’t be practical, but a float could work.

Either way, someone would have to be truly determined to do open a portal in the water, but I never said never unless I wanted it to bite me in the butt. “Maybe it’s not impossible for a portal to be in the water, but I haven’t seen it yet. It can pull some power from it though, so being by the water tracks for me.”

“It makes sense to me because most of the activity we’ve seen has been in that general direction,” Max said. “We’ve been focusing our people there the last few nights, but…” There was sorrow in his words.

This was why I had to be fine. Because there was something bigger going on than my exhaustion and fears.

There was loss, anger, grief. “I’m sorry for all the wolves you’ve lost.”

“Thank you,” Garrett said impossibly softly. “We’re really hoping for a miracle from you. I was with Jax when he died. What killed him was something big. Something terrifying. We couldn’t see it, but it threw Jax around like he was nothing. It had to have claws because he was shredded, and there wasn’t enough of him to heal. I don’t know why it didn’t attack the rest of us. God knows it wasn’t anything we did. We all could’ve died, and…”

“I don’t know what we’re facing yet, but I’m going to do my best to find it and figure out how to stop it for good.” I wished I had something more reassuring to tell him, but nothing I could say would help Garrett right now. Only figuring this out and ending it would help.

I leaned forward, closer to the windshield, and scanned the horizon.

After a few minutes, I pointed again. “No. This isn’t exactly right. We’re veering away. No. We need to go that way. More to the right.” I spun in my seat, looking out all the windows. “Can you get off this?”

“Sure.” He pulled off the freeway at the next exit. “Might be best to stick to surface streets. Gives us more freedom.”

“Great. I’ll try to give you warnings on turns, but just bear with me.” I leaned over the dash, searching. The haze seemed lighter and the edges faded the closer we got to it, but I started to see more and more demons on the streets—hiding in the shadows, hovering in doorways, hanging from the trees.

Yeah. This was the right way. The demons were moving away from here, which meant these were fresh releases. They’d want as far away from the portal as they could get.

Something caught my eye. A flash of red and the burn of power along my skin. “There.” I pointed. “Take the next right.”

He did, and we turned into a neighborhood.

Man. Why did it have to be a neighborhood? Innocent people lived here. Innocent people that I was sure were having a string of “bad luck” since that portal opened.

“Slower, please.”

Garrett slowed. He was really good at following directions, which I appreciated. “Thanks.”

“Of course. Am I still going the right way?”

“One sec.” I looked out the side window, then twisted to see the other side. It was hard to tell because the aural haze of the portal had lightened as we neared it, making it feel more ethereal.

“Hang on.” I closed my eyes. The haze was tricking me. I couldn’t rely on it. I couldn’t tell where the center of it was. If I relied on my eyes, I would lead us in circles.

I breathed in. And out. And in again.

And then I felt it.

There was a pull along the spiritual realm.

“Left.” I opened my eyes, and we drove another block.

Something caught the corner of my eye. Demons were running down a street, and demons didn’t run. Not unless they were trying to get away from something. Something like a portal they’d just escaped through. “Turn right. Here .” I pointed.

Garrett slammed on the breaks and made the turn.

“Sorry,” I said, even though no one made a sound of complaint.

We went a few blocks, and then I knew we were close. But I couldn’t feel things as much inside the car, and it was hard to see the epicenter of the haze from my seat. I needed out of the car. “Can you pull over?”

“Is it here?” Garrett moved in his seat, trying to see what I saw, but he couldn’t. No one could. At least not unless they touched me. “Should we shift? I don’t see anything, but?—”

“We’ll stay in our human forms,” Dastien answered for me. “But be ready.”

“It’s not here, but it’s close. It’s hard to see the exact the center, but it’ll be easier on foot.” I just needed to be able to feel my way to the portal. “I’m going to put on my headphones. I might not be able to hear you. You’ll have to snag my attention another way, but don’t touch my skin unless you want to see some crazy stuff.” I snagged the cord that was still hanging around my neck and shoved one of the earbuds in my ear.

“We won’t touch you,” Dastien said, and I turned to look at him. “You do what you gotta do. We know the routine.” His eyes grew a little lighter, a little brighter, and I trusted him to know when—or if—he needed his wolf.

Tessa gave me a nod, and I knew she had the routine down. Maybe we’d never done it exactly like this, but we’d been through a lot. By now, it was normal to have the two of them along. But at the same time, whenever I thought something was old hat, that was when things went crazy.

Please don’t go wrong today.

But nothing ever went smoothly or to plan. I’d just have to take it one thing at a time.

“Sounds good.” I needed to focus, and I could let Tessa, Dastien, and Max coordinate how they followed me. “I’m just going to feel my way around to the portal. I’ll let you know when I find the right house.”

“I’ll make sure my wolves who aren’t familiar with you know the rules,” Max said.

“Right.” I’d forgotten there were two other SUVs of werewolves trailing behind us.

I twisted in my chair and looked at Phoenix. I didn’t know what to say to him or what to explain. I wanted to let him all the way into my world, but how?

His eyes were really green today, taking over the hazel brown center. I wasn’t sure if that meant something or if it was just the army green color of his hoodie, but I wanted the time to find out.

“Hey.” He said the word with such calmness and peace that I ended up taking a big breath. I hadn’t noticed I’d been holding it as I stared at him until I let go.

“Hey,” I said back.

“I’m good. I promise. This isn’t my first time doing something like this with you, and I promise. I’ll be there as back up. The others might be ready to fight something, but I’m going to be watching you. ” He gave me a wink.

A laugh slipped free before I could stop it.

“I’m happy to keep reassuring you as much as you need, but I promise. I won’t run. You don’t need to check on me. Keep doing your thing, and I’ll be with you.”

“Okay.” I faced forward again. Here goes nothing. I put in the earbuds, cranked my music, and took a breath.

God, help me find the source of this. Lead me to where I can help the most. Guide my steps.

I snagged my belt bag but left my backpack in the SUV and got out. It was full daylight, but there were lesser demons hiding in every shadow, peeking out of every window, infesting the whole area with evil.

Man, that was annoying. If I sent them through a portal now, they’d just find their way back to the open portal and through it again. I’d only have an hour or two before they recovered and came back to this side. But I needed to get the portal closed quickly, hopefully before dark. We had a couple hours before sunset. Maybe it could be done.

If I found and closed the portal, a lot of these demons would get sucked back into the vortex of the closing portal, but not all of them. I was going to have to ask Mom if there were any nearby priests in our network. If so, maybe they could handle any aftercare issues.

Demonic whisperings seeped through the music in my earbuds, and I shoved them deeper into my ears. I hated when the demons whispered at me. It was distracting and disturbing, not to mention annoying.

I took a few steps, but the shadow-like demons seemed to take two steps toward me with every step. One grabbed the back of my neck, and I spun, reaching into my bag for the spray bottle. “ Back off ,” I yelled through the spiritual realm. I sprayed the demon, and it started to scream.

Other demons nearby drew in closer.

“Oh, heavens to Betsy .”

I was pretty sure I heard someone snicker, but I ignored it.

Holy water usually drove them off, but the portal had to have been open for a while. They were confident. Daring. And that made them dangerous.

Garrett stepped into my eye line. “Everything okay.” I couldn’t hear him exactly, but I read his lips.

I ignored him, and glanced back to Tessa, who motioned to her mate. Dastien would fill Garrett in.

I mouthed thank you to Tessa, and she mouthed back you’re welcome . And then motioned me to keep going.

Okay. Back to work.

Where was I?

Right. If I got rid of the demons on the block now, they’d get angry. They’d come back through the portal and head straight for me.

But if I left them, then I’d have a ton of demons circling me while I tried to work. Demons that had gained power from feeding off mortals’ anxieties, fears, anger. They’d get in the way, which would be counterproductive.

Okay. That settled it. I had to send them to Hell. Now. But then, I’d have to find the portal before they came back for me. Which would keep me motivated to move fast.

I didn’t sense my father behind this, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t. Hopefully, I wasn’t making a decision that would weaken me even more before I faced the portal that caused this whole mess.

Whatever. I had to deal with this. I’d just have to hurry once I did.

Done. Plan made.

Okay, Sam. Get it done.

I relaxed a little, then opened the door to the spiritual realm a little more, letting myself fill with power. They wouldn’t be able to ignore the power. They’d be drawn to it, even if they didn’t want to be. They couldn’t help what they were.

I stared at my feet and counted my breaths. I just had to wait long enough for them to gather.

After a minute or so, I could feel the werewolves moving around me, getting restless. Maybe I should’ve explained what I was doing—I’m sure I looked like a doofus just hanging out here with my eyes closed while they’d been running around with their pack members getting picked off every night—but that wasn’t how I worked. I just did what needed to be done. I couldn’t worry about everyone else.

I shut the werewolves out, focusing only on the demons that were getting noisier by the second.

I felt them gathering closer, closer, closer.

And then I looked up. I scanned the area around me. Easily a hundred of them were here, surrounding me, so that all I could see was them.

Their dark, pointed faces shoved in close to mine. Eyes glowing bright red and dark ooze dripping from their sharp teeth. Some of them had more defined features, with reptilian-like skin and forked tongues. Those hissed at me loud enough that if I didn’t have my music on, the sound would’ve been deafening. The smaller, spider-like ones with tiny heads and long spindly legs were there, too. I could hear some of them muttering in demonic—cursing me, telling me to kill myself, telling me that I was dumb, weak, worthless.

I listened and waited. I wanted to know if they knew who I was, what I was, or if my father was behind this, but after a few minutes, I had no new information, and I’d had enough.

I pointed to the ground in front of me.

“ Aperta !” The portal opened, and the force of it sucked them in. There were the muffled screams and hisses and demonic cursing as they tried to get away, but I wasn’t having that. “ Claudere !”

The force of the portal closing pulled the rest of them into it.

I took a moment in the sudden silence to scan the block. I turned in a circle, looking everywhere before deciding this was good enough. There might be some that were hiding, but that was much better than having them acting boldly and yelling in my face. Plus, it gave me the tiniest boost of energy.

Yes. This was better. “Much better.” But now I needed to move it or they’d be back with vengeance on their minds.

Tessa gave me a questioning look, but I didn’t have it in me to answer her. I had to stay focused.

I lifted my hand in the air and pointed which way I was going before I started walking.

I wove through an alleyway between houses, down a block, but after a few steps, the demonic activity felt lighter this way.

Nope. I turned around, backtracking and bumping into Phoenix in the process. “Sorry,” I said automatically, but I was already moving on. I spotted a garage with a few demons spilling from it.

I watched it for a moment, then went around to the front of the house.

I didn’t want to just bust into a random person’s house, but the longer I studied it, the more I knew this one had to be it.

It was a pale-yellow craftsman style house. It had white trim around the windows, and a darker wood door. On any other day, the house would be cute with its white picket fence and a swing in the massive tree in front of it. But not today. There were too many demons peeking out at me. Too many coming from the house out into the street. They’d stopped when they saw me— which was how I’d missed it when I walked by it the first time—but this was it. There was too much activity for it to be anything else.

I pulled out one earbud. “Sorry. I was still sorting it out. There are so many things floating around here that I was having trouble finding the exact source.”

I caught Phoenix’s gaze for a second. I wanted to explain to make it less weird, but then I spotted a demon behind him. Hanging on Garrett.

I turned a circle, scanning everyone again.

Damn it. He wasn’t the only one.

I’d been so focused on finding the portal that I hadn’t noticed that something was wrong with some of the werewolves. I’d been filtering them out of my vision, and now one guy had a fully-attached demon. That wasn’t good.

That was super not good. How was I supposed to go into a fight with compromised back up?

I couldn’t.

I really, truly couldn’t.

Which meant, I had to deal with this first.

I met the eyes of the wolf that had a full attachment, and his eyes flashed bright.

One second he was standing there, the next he was a wolf, leaping right for me, teeth ready to rip my throat out.

I started to drop to the ground, but I knew I was going to be too late.

Son of a forking biscuit.