Page 32 of Midlife Vampire Unexpected

“Jane, are you in there? “I asked.

She looked at me with the demonic grin on her face.

“Depends on who’s asking.” She chuckled at me with a deep throaty chortle.

“Let me talk to Jane,” I said. “I want to make sure she’s alright. Because if she isn’t, I will kill the body and leave you without one.”

Jane’s eyes lit up with flames of irritation as she glared. “This is my body now.” The demon insisted.

“In that case, I’ll kill you,” I said, drawing my gun and cocking it against the demon.

Chapter 22

Jane flew at me in a screaming rage, flames coming not only from her eyes, but from her hands as well.

I didn’t dare risk taking a shot at Jane. No matter what the demon said, I was sure she was in there. We had to find a way to get the demon out.

The demon plowed into me, lighting the back of my clothes on fire. He left me rolling around in the dust as he ran off in Jane’s body. The wolves chased after him, howling as they skirted around the edge of the cemetery. I lay there for a moment, feeling my skin burning where the fire had sizzled it off. It hurt like a motherfucker.

It was one of the risks of being a cop. Sometimes you got hurt.

I pulled myself up on my haunches and took survey of how I felt. My clothes were fairly tattered, but they covered me still. I needed to catch up with the wolves and Jane. They weren’t going to be able to subdue her on their own. If Thrain. the demon overlord got here and we didn’t have his renegade demon, we’d all be in trouble.

When I caught up to them, Antonio had collared her at the edge of the cliff overlooking the town. She stood towards us with her back to the sheer drop. Antonio growled, looking ready to spring, even though I had a pretty good suspicion he wouldn’t. Going over the cliff would kill Jane as well as Antonio.

“You’ve got nowhere to go,” I said.

“There’s always some place to go,” Rar’goth said. “I don’t necessarily need this body.”

“We need that body,” I said. “It’s our friend.”

“Leave me alone and I’ll let her live,” Rar’goth said.

I knew at this stage we were stalling for time. The witches pulled up by the cemetery. I could already feel their energy in the air. They piled out and ran through the gate towards us.

“Chammas. Tilian. Huguenot.” They chanted, murmuring the words through the air, whispering them on the breeze. The demon looked over; his gaze suddenly confused.

“How could they know that chant? How do they know those words?” Rar’goth asked.

“Let me take a wild guess. They talked to Thrain.” I suggested.

“No!” The demon yelled, looking back over Jane’s shoulder at the steep drop and then back towards Antonio.

He was trapped and he knew it. I had a pretty good idea he was going to make one last play for it. As I moved to the side of the of the clearing, away from Antonio, I saw the demon make a rush. Jane bolted past Antonio toward me. I clasped my arms around her, using my superhuman vampire strength to clinch her wrists to her side. Leaning forward, I muttered sorry as I sank my teeth into her neck, taking enough blood out of her to give her, what I knew would be the euphoric feeling from the poison in my veins. It would also weaken the body enough that the demon would not be able to escape.

I drank carefully, focusing on keeping a steady rhythm and counting so I would not take too much from her. I looked up slowly, wiping the blood from my mouth before I had to make eye contact with any of my Coven.

I held Jane’s body tightly as the witches ran up to us. Their chants created sparkling threads of light that bound her arms and kept her hands and wrists together.

“Sorry, Jane,” I said quietly, imagining what she say if she could see the way we were having to treat her body right now.

“She’ll be all right,” Hilda said. “The harpies are on their way. Thrain is coming, too.”

The witches continued to chant in a steady rhythm, making sure every moment was filled with the melody of their magic spell.

Suddenly a loud crash of thunder and bolt of lightning scared the bejeezus out of me as it erupted from below my feet. Out of the middle of nowhere, a massive stone portal appeared. Steps led up to a large circle of stone.

“What the fuck?” I murmured. “I guess this is a portal of the demon king.”

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