Page 93 of Death Wish

The demon threw his head back and roared, his thunderous voice filling the forest and shaking sleeping birds from their nests. Smoke radiated from his gray, cracked skin as if it were burning, and the pungent scent of sulfur and hot coals wafted through the air.

He was a massive beast, as tall as the trailer behind him, with two horns jutting out of his forehead and twisting at the peaks, like a deranged half-bull creature. He even had the cow-like snout with big nostrils. Two fangs poked out of his bottom lip. The two legs he stood on resembled a goat’s, hairy and hooves and all.

I hadn’t been able to get a good look at him in Kay’s apartment, but it was safe for me to say he was ugly as sin.

He lunged at me, only to have his feet planted in place. Seeming confused, he looked down.

He was standing in a demon trap, one I had drawn in spray paint before we’d started the summoning.

His face contorted in fury. “You summoned me here?” he barked. “You spilled sacred blood for me?”

The word “sacred” threw me for a second, but since blood was one of the keys to keeping humans alive and demons didn’t exactly bleed or live like they did, I guess that made sense.

“You have my friend,” I said, trying to keep my shoulders pulled back and my spine straight even though my head still whirled with the blood loss. I locked eyes with him to mimic strength. Fake it until you make it, baby. “I want her back. Bring her back.”

He laughed. Actually laughed at me, his voice a horrible grating sound, like nails on a chalkboard.

I ground my teeth together, and my anger coiled tighter inside me. Really want to piss me off? Laugh at me. That was the way to get you on my shit-list mighty quick. I aimed my gun, wanting nothing more than to blow his face off and shut him up for good.

His laughter got louder. “You think that human weapon will hurt me?”

I was hoping it would.

My finger hovered on the trigger. Someplace in the back of my head, a tiny voice whispered that shooting him right away might not be the best idea. Only he could bring Kay out of the Hell pit, and if I got him angry enough, he wouldn’t exactly want to bend to my will.

“She’s mine.” Xaver’s gaze hardened. “She’s carrying my spawn. She doesn’t belong to this plane anymore.”

A fiery ball hurled across the yard and hit Xaver in the center of his chest. The skin there sizzled.

“Bring back my girlfriend, asshole!” Laurence shouted, hands up with another small fire ball hovering between his fingers.

Xaver’s gaze swept across the yard and spotted Laurence, Wyatt, Sean, and their weapons for the first time. But instead of fear, his expression only reflected amusement.

“More human weapons?” he bellowed and laughed again. “And you with your puny fireball spell…” He pointed one talon at Laurence. “You think fire will kill me? I was made from fire!”

His laughter grated on my nerves. My finger itched on the gun’s trigger, but before I could make a move, three more fireballs were launched Xaver’s way and hit him in the shoulder and side of his face. He howled in pain.

Laurence’s face was all determination.

Xaver growled and leapt Laurence’s way, only to find his feet were still cemented in place. That only enraged him more.

“Here’s the deal, Xaver. We have you trapped and will be keeping you that way until you give us Kay.” When I said it that way, it sounded like we had the upper hand, didn’t it? “So, I suggest you do the smart thing and bring her to us now. Or you’re going to be living a very lonely existence here in a human’s backyard.”

A sickening grin curled up the corners of his mouth. “I have all of eternity,” he said. “The Medium girl, on the other hand, does not.”

Oh shit. There went our leverage.

“How about you give us the girl or we’ll kill you?” Wyatt shouted up at the demon, shotgun at the ready. For an old man, he was no joke. But could you even kill a demon? Was that even possible?

“You can try,” was all Xaver said.

The gunshot popped off, the echo ricocheting throughout the woods around us. Wyatt’s smoking barrel told me it was him who’d fired.

At first, Xaver didn’t more. The bullets had buried themselves in his stomach, but no pain showed on his face. For a moment, I thought he had been right and we were screwed, but then his skin bubbled and blackened around the wounds.

Xaver peered down at it, shocked. “Holy Water?”

“There’s more where that came from,” Wyatt replied. “We may not be able to kill you, but we can make living hurt like hell.” He raised the shotgun again. “Now, give us the girl.”

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