Refuge (Relentless Book 2)
Refuge: Chapter 5

“I HEAR THERE was some excitement in training yesterday.” Tristan peered at me over his glass of red wine. It was our first time talking since we met two days ago, and we were having dinner in his apartment. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about suddenly having a grandfather – especially Madeline’s father – but I was trying to get past my reservations and give us a chance to get to know each other.

I looked up from my salad, prepared to defend my actions. I wasn’t surprised that Celine had complained about me. She had made it clear from the first time she opened her mouth that she did not like me. I still stood by my decision not to kill the bazerats, even though they were demons. Being demons did not make them inherently evil like vampires. The world is full of demons and many of them are more of a nuisance than a real threat. I used to live in a house infested with imps, and though they were sometimes annoying, they had never shown any real malice.

Roland hadn’t agreed with me when I told him about the bazerats last night. Werewolves have more of a black-and-white view when it comes to demons, even if my friends made an exception for me. Roland thought I should have killed the bazerats, and it rankled me that he seemed to be siding with Celine. We’d argued about it for at least thirty minutes before we agreed to disagree for the sake of peace. He was actually more interested in how I’d zapped the bazerats and knocked them out than whether or not I’d killed them.

“Did you really throw a knife at Celine and urge the other trainees to refuse to complete the task?”

My mouth fell open. “I did not throw a knife at anyone. I tossed it on the ground. And all I said was that I didn’t believe in senseless killing. Okay, I might have told Terrence it was easier to kill something than catch it, but that’s it, I swear.”

Tristan’s laugh took me by surprise. “Celine always did have a flair for the dramatic. She is a skilled warrior and a good trainer . . . most of the time.”

“I must have gotten her during one of her off times.”

“Celine is . . . well, let’s just say she has a better rapport with men than other women.” He set his glass down. “I can speak to her if you’d like.”

“No, I can handle it on my own. She’s no worse than some of the girls I knew in high school.”

His eyebrows rose. “High school sounds like a rather perilous place.”

“You have no idea.” I went back to my salad, feeling a little more at ease. Tristan was surprisingly easy to talk to, and it almost felt like I was hanging out with a cousin instead of a grandfather.

“How are your new pets doing? Sahir tells me you named them.”

“Hugo and Woolf. They’re really smart and already know some commands.” I was always happy to talk about the hellhounds. “I just wish they didn’t have to stay locked up in that cage all the time. They need fresh air and space to run around.”

His brow furrowed. “I’m not sure that is a good idea. We don’t know if we can trust them not to kill the first person they see.”

“I go in the cage with them every day and they are gentle with me.”

“They have imprinted on you and you are their master now. They would never harm you.”

“They’ve stopped growling at Sahir when I’m there.” I leaned forward earnestly. “I really believe they just need to get used to being around people. I can’t bear to think of them locked up for the rest of their lives.”

“I’ll talk to Sahir and see what he says. I cannot make any promises.”

“Thank you.” I was confident that once he saw they could be trusted around others, he would give them more freedom. “You have miles and miles of woods out there, perfect for them to run in. I could take them out every day without bothering anyone.”

Tristan laid down his fork. “It is not a good idea for you to be out in the woods alone.” I started to protest, and he said, “I know you are unhappy with the restrictions placed upon you, but we are only trying to keep you safe after everything you’ve been through.”

“But everyone thinks I’m dead, including the vampires.”

“You will have to forgive me for being a little overprotective. I believe that is a grandsire’s right. Just be patient a little longer until we can be certain this Master is not still searching for you. We are monitoring activity around Maine, and so far it is very quiet there.”

“I could have told you how quiet it is in Maine.” I shrugged at his questioning look. “I have werewolf friends there, remember? Anyway, trust me; no one wants the Master to think I am dead more than I do. I can’t even go for a walk without one of the warriors escorting me back in irons.”

He laughed. “I’ll tell them to lay off the irons. In the meantime, why don’t I arrange for a day out for you? How about a day trip to Boise? With supervision, of course.”

“Okay,” I conceded, excited about the possibility of a change of scenery, even if it was only for a day.

He got up to take away our salad plates, and my eyes wandered around his apartment, which had a decidedly masculine décor. It made sense since he had been a widower for so long. There were some softer touches like a pale-blue throw on the back of the couch and a number of framed photos and paintings on the mantle and walls. One photo in particular caught my eye, and I knew immediately who the blond woman was because I had seen the faded picture of her that my dad used to carry in his wallet. Madeline was stunningly beautiful – even Celine could not compare – and the happy smile she wore did not reconcile with my image of the woman who had hurt me and my dad so much.

Questions that had hovered in the recesses of my mind for weeks finally pushed their way to the forefront. My dad and Madeline met in college, according to Nate, and they’d dated for several years before they married. They were married for two years before they had me, and she left when I was two. In all those years with Madeline, didn’t my dad realize she was not aging at all? How did Madeline hide her strength and control her Mori without him ever suspecting she was not human? Or had he known what she was all along? I bit my lip and looked away from the photo. There was no sense pondering over questions that would never be answered.

Another picture got my attention, a painting of the same blond girl from the portrait in Tristan’s office. “Is that your sister?” I asked him, and he turned and followed my gaze to the painting in question. “Nikolas once mentioned his friend, Elena, who died a long time ago, and he said she was Madeline’s aunt.”

He laid a plate of salmon and rice in front of me and took his seat again. “Elena was my younger sister, much younger. I was almost two hundred years old and quite surprised when my parents told me they were having another baby. It is not unusual for Mohiri siblings to have many years between them, but my parents love to travel and they are not what you would call the most affectionate people. They were already here exploring America by then, and I decided to come here to be with them when the child was born. Elena was the most captivating little baby, and of course I adored her immediately and spoiled her excessively. When she was five, my parents decided they wanted to continue their travels, and it didn’t take much convincing to get them to leave Elena with me.”

“A warrior raising a little girl?”

He cut into his salmon. “My sister, Beatrice, would have taken Elena, but she was in South America at the time. I lived in a family compound in Virginia back then, and it was more of a community than this one. There were other children for Elena to play with and women to go to when I needed advice. It was a lot more suitable for a child than travelling the world, and Elena had a very happy childhood there.”

“Nikolas told me very little about her,” I said softly. “But it sounded like he cared about her a lot.”

Tristan nodded. “I am not surprised he mentioned her. Nikolas came to our compound when Elena was nine, and he spoiled her like the rest of us did. She was like a little sister to him, and he took her death very hard. He blamed himself even though I and everyone else told him it was not his fault. My sister was beautiful and used to people doting on her. She was precocious and charming, but she was also willful, and I blame myself for that. She never should have left the compound alone, and she died because of it.”

“Why did Nikolas blame himself?”

“As I said, Nikolas loved Elena like a sister, but Elena, she adored him and she constantly tried to get his attention. By the time she was sixteen, most of the boys in the compound believed themselves in love with her, but she only had eyes for Nikolas. He knew how she felt and he always deflected her attentions gently, but she was determined to have him and nothing would dissuade her. Her schemes to get him alone grew more creative every day until even I began to tease him about us one day being brothers if he was not careful. If only I had known the lengths she would go to be with him, I might have intervened before her games got out of control. I might have saved her.”

“What happened?”

“Elena knew how protective Nikolas was of her. She concocted a plan to sneak away from the compound, and she had her friend Miriam go to Nikolas and tell him Elena had run away. Miriam confessed later that they were hoping the thought of losing Elena would make Nikolas realize his true feelings for her. But Miriam could not get to Nikolas because he was giving a report before the Counsel at the time. By the time she found him, four hours had passed and she was in a panic because it was nearly dark. Nikolas raised the alarm, and a group of us rode out after Elena. We picked up signs of vampires, and we split up to cover the area faster.”

Tristan paused, and I saw raw pain on his face as he continued. “It was Nikolas who found her. What they did to her . . . it was beyond inhuman. After they had finished their fun, they burned what was left of her until my beautiful little sister was unrecognizable. They left her horse unharmed and tied to a tree, a message to us that her life meant less than an animal’s.”

“God . . . ” I had seen what vampires left behind of the people they killed. I also knew they took special delight in killing young Mohiri.

“Nikolas took her death as hard as I did, and he blamed himself for not making her understand that there could never be anything romantic between them. He stayed out for months until he had hunted down every vampire in a hundred-mile radius. I tried to convince him that he was not at fault and that no one blamed him for her death, but he would not listen. He was different after that, harder. A year later, I left Virginia and came here to build this place, and he came with me. We both wanted something that did not remind us of Virginia, which is why we made this into a military stronghold instead of a community.”

“I’m sorry about your sister,” I said, not knowing what to say about someone who’d been dead for so many years. “It’s no wonder Nikolas gets so overbearing and angry with me all the time.”

“Sara, do not compare yourself to Elena. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my sister with all my heart, but I was not blind to her faults. Elena was beautiful and spirited, but she was also spoiled and selfish. You have done some reckless things in the past, but you are also very loyal to your friends and you have a kind heart. Sahir tells me you bring raw meat treats for the wyvern when you visit the hellhounds, even though that creature would likely try to kill you given the chance.”

“He can’t help what he is, and I know he must get lonely in there, especially not being able to fly. Don’t worry, I don’t expect him to eat out of my hand or anything, and I’ll be keeping my distance. I like my body parts where they are.”

We laughed and turned the conversation to other things. He wanted to hear more about my life, so I described what it was like growing up with Roland and Peter. And Remy. I told him about Roland’s recent trip to the cave and how much it meant to get the message from Remy.

We were in the middle of our dessert when I remembered something I’d been meaning to talk to him about. “I saw Desmund again last night.”

“Did you?” He took a sip from his wine glass. “And how did it go?”

“Better than I expected. We both like books and Tchaikovsky, so he thinks I’m not a total lost cause. We even played a game of checkers.”

Tristan’s eyes widened. “You got Desmund to play checkers? I haven’t seen him play anything but chess since I’ve known him.”

“I don’t know how to play chess, so it was checkers or nothing at all.” I dabbed my napkin to my mouth then laid it beside my plate. “Honestly, I think the only reason he played with me is because he’s lonely. Why does he stay up there all alone like that? I mean, I can tell he’s not well, but he’s not that bad, is he?”

Tristan settled back in his chair. “You might be the first person in a long time to feel some kind of empathy for Desmund. He goes out of his way to frighten most people away.”

“Why? He’s obviously intelligent, and he can be nice when he wants to be. Why does he drive everyone away?”

“Desmund is not the same man he was before he became ill. He was charming and outgoing and one of the finest warriors I’ve ever met.”

During my time with Desmund last night, I had seen tiny flashes of the man Tristan described, and it was sad to think of how much he had changed. “What happened to him?”

There was a short pause before he answered. “It was a Hale witch. Desmund and his team were in Algeria hunting a nest of vampires that had wiped out over half a village. The witch took offense to them being in his territory even though they were there to help his people. Desmund confronted him to draw him away from the rest of his team, and he took the brunt of the witch’s attack. He spent many years in confinement before he was stable enough to be released. It’s a testament to his strength that he has come this far, but I fear he will never be the man he once was.”

I couldn’t respond because I was reliving my own battle with a Hale witch, remembering the horror of that vile magic burrowing inside my head like a maggot. My throat tightened at the agony Desmund had gone through, and I felt a surge of admiration for him having taken the brunt of the witch’s power to save his team.

“Are you okay?”

I summoned a smile I didn’t feel. “It just brought up some memories I’d rather forget.” Now I understood the cold nausea that had overcome me when I’d touched Desmund’s hand and the sensation of things crawling over my skin. It felt like the same abhorrent presence that had invaded my mind. What I couldn’t understand was how the witch’s magic could still be alive inside Desmund over a century later. I’d thought Hale witches used their magic to damage their victim, but what if it was more than that? What if they were able to leave some of their magic behind?

“It must have been frightening.”

“It was. Now that I know their magic doesn’t work on me, they don’t scare me as much.”

He nodded approvingly. “You’ve become stronger because of your experience. That is one of the marks of a good warrior.”

“I don’t know about that,” I replied wryly. “You do remember seeing me in training, right?”

“I take it your training with Callum is still not going well?”

“No, and I’m pretty sure he’s almost fed up with me.” My shoulders slumped. “I know what he wants me to do, but I honestly don’t know if I can do it. I’ve spent my whole life keeping my Mori under control. The one time I let it out, it almost destroyed me.”

“And now you’re afraid of it.”

“Yes,” I admitted.

He took his time folding his napkin and laying it beside his plate as if he was searching for the right words. “We are taught from an early age how to contain our Mori and to replace a balance between ourselves and our demons. It is second nature for us to tap into their power, but even then, we sometimes struggle with control. Your power gives you incredible control over your Mori, and now we are asking you to loosen that control. I can see how that would be very difficult for you, and I’ve been thinking that we may be going about your training the wrong way. Perhaps we should try some other techniques on you.”

“Like what?” I asked hopefully.

“Maybe pair you with a trainer more sensitive to your particular needs. There is one in India who relies heavily on meditation. Janak’s had some success with a few troubled orphans we have sent to him.” By troubled, I knew he meant the orphans were suffering from psychological problems caused by their demons. The older an orphan was before they were found, the more likely it was that their Mori would torment them into insanity.

Tristan smiled and pushed out his chair. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure something out. For now, why don’t we go into the living room and see if I can’t teach you a few checker moves to try on our friend Desmund when you see him again?”

* * *

Over the next few days, I found myself settling into a familiar routine. After a disappointing morning training with Callum, I visited the menagerie. Hugo and Woolf were always excited to see me, and I spent our time together teaching them to walk beside me properly and to heel when commanded. I was determined to show Tristan that they were well-behaved enough to be trusted out of their cage. I understood Tristan’s reservations – they were hellhounds after all, bred and raised to kill – but I also saw gentleness in them and I refused to condemn them to a life of confinement.

Alex continued to crouch in the back of his cage and watch me like I was a juicy steak whenever I passed him. Even the nice chunks of red meat I brought him didn’t soften his attitude toward me. Once I forgot to keep an eye on him and I didn’t see him move closer to the bars until it was too late. My reward was a blistering four-inch burn on my arm, which required a dose of gunna paste and a trip to the medical ward. Mohiri medicine was very advanced, and by the next morning, the burn was nothing more than a patch of reddened skin that quickly faded. But I had learned my lesson. After that, I was extra careful not to let the wyvern catch me unaware. I still gave him his daily treat, but I made sure to throw it from a safe distance.

I took to spending a lot of time in the main library and accessing the stronghold’s vast database, reading up on demons, vampires, witches, shifters, and anything else I would have learned about if I’d had a normal Mohiri education. Remy had taught me a lot, but I was just coming to realize how much about the supernatural world I did not know. It was going to take months to catch up to the other trainees in that area.

I also looked for anything I could replace on Hale witches. I knew the likelihood of me replaceing a way to help Desmund was slim when the Mohiri had tried for centuries to cure people like him. But I felt compelled to try. More than anyone, I understood what Desmund had endured and I could not forget the feel of the terrible sickness inside him. I searched through every article I could replace that referenced Hale witches, and I was frustrated that there wasn’t a single mention of how their power worked. I despaired of ever replaceing a way to help Desmund.

Three days after my dinner with Tristan, I got the nerve to go visit Desmund again. I entered the library and let out a gasp. Books were strewn all over the room and an overturned lamp lay on the reading table with pieces of broken lamp shade on the floor. Scattered around the chairs near the cold fireplace were ripped pages. I picked one up and made a sound of dismay when I saw that it was from Daniel Deronda, the same book I’d been reading the last time I was here.

My eyes fell on a partially charred piece of wood that had fallen from the fireplace, and I immediately recognized the beautiful antique checkerboard. Tears burned my eyes. Why would Desmund wreck the library he loved and destroy the checkerboard and this particular book? Was he angry at me for some reason, maybe for the way I had run away? With his illness, it was almost impossible to know what went on in his head or what would set him off.

The scene from the library troubled me long into the night. When I entered the dining hall for breakfast, I was tired and barely aware of the people around me until Olivia slid into the chair across from me.

“How can you look so glum? I would have thought you’d be happier than anyone else?”

I frowned at her grinning face. “Happy about what?”

She rested her elbows on the table. “About going to Boise. God, I haven’t been to the mall in a dog’s age. This whole credit line is awesome, but buying clothes online is just no fun. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah,” I replied, though I hadn’t used my line of credit yet. But a day in the city? I felt Olivia’s enthusiasm infecting me at the thought of getting away from here for a day. My gaze moved around the room until I found Tristan sitting with Celine at his usual table. He smiled at me, and I smiled back before I looked at Olivia again. “When are we leaving?”

Olivia laughed. “That’s more like it. You’ll have plenty of time to finish your breakfast because we aren’t leaving for another hour.”

At ten minutes before nine, the trainees who wanted to go to Boise gathered in the common room closest to the main hall. I walked over to Michael who was in his usual spot with his laptop.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us, Michael? We’re going to a movie after the mall.”

He looked up, a spark of interest in his eyes. “What movie are you going to see?”

“Mark found a zombie marathon playing at Overland Park Cinemas this afternoon.” I beckoned him with a finger. “Come on, you can’t honestly tell me that your computer is more fun than that?”

He made a face. “More fun than hanging out with Jordan for a whole day.”

I snorted softly. “Listen, I’ll be her bosom buddy if it gets me out of this place for a few hours.”

“Let’s not get carried away,” drawled Jordan as she sauntered past the door. “Bus is leaving in five minutes, with or without you losers.”

I pulled on my jacket. “Last chance.”

Michael went back to his laptop. “I’m good here. You have fun.”

I shook my head. If ever there was a boy who needed to get out and have some fun, it was Michael. “Who are you always talking to on that thing anyway?”

“No one,” he said almost defensively. “I play World of Warcraft with a bunch of guys online. We like to talk strategy.”

“Ah.” I had never been one for gaming. There was enough craziness in this world already without having to go look for it in a game. But to each his own.

The bus was actually a large black SUV with tinted windows. As I walked toward it, the front passenger window rolled down, and I groaned when I saw the red-headed warrior grinning at me. Seriously? There wasn’t a single other warrior they could send to chaperone us besides the two of them? Tristan, we are so having a talk when I get back.

Olivia and Mark were in the back seats so I took the middle row with Jordan who promptly popped in a pair of ear buds and ignored me. That was fine by me. I settled back against the headrest, too excited to be going somewhere, anywhere, to let her bother me.

An hour later, Niall pulled up in front of the Boise Town Square mall and Seamus turned in his seat to smile at us. “Okay, kiddies, here is the drill. You have two hours to shop or browse or whatever it is you kids do in these places. Just remember that whatever you buy has to fit in here on the way back and I’m not sharing my leg room. If you behave yourselves and don’t go wandering off ” – his eyes met mine – “then you get to enjoy a movie and dinner. Any questions?”

Jordan opened her door and slid out. “Nope.”

The four of us entered the mall together, but the other three immediately split off, going in their own directions. This obviously wasn’t their first time here. I fingered the Visa card in my back pocket and thought about what I needed: a heavier coat, warmer boots, and some new gloves. Idaho was definitely a lot colder than Maine, and there was no way I was going to stay cooped up inside all winter.

It took me a little over an hour to get everything I was looking for, and I spent the rest of the time wandering around while I waited for the others. It didn’t take me long to spot one of the twins following me at a discreet distance, and I gritted my teeth, doing my best to ignore him. I was pretty sure the others didn’t have a personal bodyguard tailing them. With my track record, I guess I wasn’t surprised they were worried I might give them the slip, but they really had nothing to worry about. I’d promised Nate I would try to lay low and stay out of trouble, and I meant to stay true to my word after what I’d put him through.

I was walking past a jewelry store when an item in the window caught my eye. It was an antique chessboard that looked strikingly similar to the one Desmund and I had played on. The middle-aged salesman eyed me dubiously when I asked to see it, and he watched me like a hawk as I opened the box and examined the playing pieces. It contained a set of checkers and a full chess set.

I reached for my credit card. “I’ll take it.”

“It’s four hundred dollars,” he said in a haughty tone.

“Yes, I know.” I handed him the Visa card, and his eyes narrowed a little when he saw the name on the card.

“What is the Westhorne Institute?” he asked, peering at me over his glasses.

I tapped my fingers on the glass counter and met his gaze squarely. “It’s a special school where they send rich kids with anger management issues and problems with authority.”

“Excuse me?”

I stifled a sigh and pointed over my shoulder to the large warrior I knew was visible through the window. “See that red-haired guy out there? He’s my chaperone. You want to talk to him instead?”

He glanced behind me and swallowed nervously. “That won’t be necessary. Would you like this wrapped?”

I was still smiling when I met the others at the exit. The three of them were lugging multiple shopping bags each, and they eyed my two bags in disbelief.

“I don’t need much,” I said, earning a scoff from Jordan.

“When you have unlimited credit, you don’t buy things you need.” She shook her head. “What a waste.”

Olivia walked through the door ahead of us. “Don’t mind her.”

“I don’t.” I was not going to let Jordan spoil my day out.

The twins dropped us off in front of the movie theater. “You should be able to get enough zombie gore in four hours,” said Niall dryly. “We’ll pick you up here at five. Decide where you want to go for dinner and remember, we like big juicy steaks.”

“You mean you’re going to trust us to be on our own that long?” I asked in feigned shock.

“Even you couldn’t get into much trouble in a movie theater in the middle of the day,” Seamus replied with a snicker. “And we’ll be out here waiting for you.”

We loaded up on popcorn, candy, and drinks at the concession stand and found four seats in the back row just in time for the start of 28 Days Later. I’d watched it at Roland’s with him and Peter two years ago, but it was way creepier on the big screen in a dark theater. I even jumped once or twice when Olivia did, and we laughed at each other. It felt so good to do something as normal as going to a movie.

It got to the scene where the car breaks down and the girl gets under the car to fix it and you want to yell at her to not be so freaking stupid. All of a sudden there are rats and zombies all over them. Down in one of the front rows a girl shrieked and people twittered. I shook my head. Please, like you didn’t see that coming.

A man screamed and people laughed even harder. A second man cried out. The laughter died. I leaned forward in my seat to try to see what was going on down front, but it was too dark. People started to stand, and there were more screams.

A few seconds later, pandemonium broke out and people began screaming and shoving and climbing over each other to get to the exits.

“What the fuck?” Mark uttered as the four of us jumped to our feet.

Olivia moved closer to him. “Guys, this doesn’t look good.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Jordan growled, her eyes wide and glowing with excitement while everyone else screamed in fear. She nudged Mark who was next to her. “Move it! We’re sitting ducks here for whatever is down there. We need to get to the aisle where we can fight.”

“Fight?” Mark shoved me and Olivia toward the stairs. “We don’t even know what it is. And in case you haven’t noticed, we didn’t exactly come dressed for battle.”

“Fucking amateurs.” Jordan pulled off her leather jacket to reveal a short thin sword strapped to her back. From her boot she pulled a long silver knife, which she handed to Mark. “Always come prepared,” she said with a wicked grin when she saw me trying to figure out how she had hidden that sword under her coat without cutting off something vital.

Even more surprising was the silver-tipped whip that Olivia pulled from her purse and uncoiled with a snap and a practiced flip of her wrist. I watched her move to a spot a few feet from Jordan with her feet apart and the whip in front of her. Mark gripped the knife and stood on Jordan’s other side. The three of them were suddenly transformed from teenagers enjoying a day out to young Mohiri warriors prepared to do battle.

I stared helplessly at my empty hands and kicked myself mentally for getting caught without a weapon. It wasn’t so long ago that I wouldn’t leave home without a knife inside my jacket, a knife that had saved my ass on more than one occasion.

“Stay behind us, Sara,” Jordan ordered sharply. “We’ll try to get to the exit on this side. Keep your eyes peeled everyone.”

None of us questioned her orders and, as one, we moved down the stairs. Below us it was utter chaos, but I was less frightened by the screams than I was by whatever was causing them. What the hell attacks people in a crowded movie theater in the middle of the afternoon? Most supes, even the dangerous ones, hide from humans and don’t show themselves in crowded public places like this. Even Eli had pulled me into a dark alley before revealing his true nature to me.

Whatever it was, it was apparently going after anything that moved, so we tried to go as quietly as possible down the stairs. By the time we hit the middle landing, we were the only people on our side of the theater except for two teenage boys who were crouched behind some seats. I motioned for them to come with us, but they just shook their heads and huddled closer to the wall. All I could do was hope they would be safe there until we dealt with the threat or someone came to help.

In a matter of minutes, the theater had all but emptied except for our small group, the two boys, and a few stragglers limping for the door. People yelled outside, but inside the theater the only sounds were the zombie moans from the movie, which in our current situation didn’t seem quite so entertaining anymore.

The movie hit a quiet scene, and silence fell over the dark theater.

Somewhere in the lower rows of seats, a popcorn bag rustled. Closer, there was a rattle as a drink cup full of ice tipped over onto the floor. My nails bit into my palms, and my heart sped up like a freight train. Shit, shit, shit. How do I keep ending up in these situations?

Olivia cried out, and I jerked my head to the side just as something shot out from beneath the seats on our right and leapt into the air, coming right at our faces. In the flickering light from the movie screen I was able to make out a long, pale gray body and a flash of teeth, just before a blade whistled through the air and cut the thing in two mid-flight. Black blood sprayed, and I almost gagged on the putrid stench that rose up around us as the creature’s severed halves landed at Jordan’s feet.

“What the hell?” Mark bellowed, jumping back from the writhing parts. “That’s a goddamn lamprey demon!”

“Yeah, and they never go anywhere alone.” Jordan kicked the top half of the demon down the stairs and brandished her bloody sword again. “Incoming!”