Chapter 19
Monday Night, January 10th
Larry scanned the ground for signs of the footprints that he had seen earlier near the tree line. There had been several sets, and some of them had been on the smaller side, which he knew meant that they were from children, women, or both. He had assumed that Harper was alone with the children, but he admitted to himself that it was possible that there were one or two others with them. There were just too many sets of footprints to explain otherwise.
Jerry followed behind his partner, scanning the trees for signs of anything unusual as Larry continued to search the ground. Jerry thought again of what he had seen, or thought he had seen as they had entered the forest. He was sure that one of the figures standing there had been Anna. And one of the others there had been wearing some kind of uniform, though Jerry couldn’t have said what it was. Things were getting odder by the minute, and Jerry didn’t like it. His children were out in the cold, and he was fairly certain that they were running from something. He didn’t like the thought of anything pursuing his children. And when he was sure his children were safe, he and the children’s pursuers were going to have a rather serious discussion.
“See anything?” Jerry asked as Larry continued to follow the footsteps in the snow. They were lucky that the snow wasn’t falling as heavily in the trees, or there would have been no signs for them to follow.
“They’re definitely heading toward McCallister’s house,” Larry answered. “And it looks like someone’s following them. And something.” Larry pointed at the strange animal tracks that looked like the paw prints of a huge dog. “These are the same prints we saw next to the driveway the other night,” Larry said as he looked back at Jerry.
“But we still don’t know what the hell is making them,” Jerry said as he looked down at the animal tracks in frustration. He didn’t know what had made the tracks, but he could tell that whatever had made them was huge. But it wasn’t just the size of the tracks that frightened him. Whatever owned the tracks was chasing his children.
“Let’s head in that direction, then,” Jerry said as he pointed in the direction in which the multiple sets of footprints and animal tracks ran. “We need to pick up the pace, but keep an eye on the trail to be sure it doesn’t veer off.”
Larry groaned once before he nodded. He was already starting to breathe hard. The snow wasn’t as deep in the trees, which made the going a little easier. But he wasn’t used to any level of exercise, so even the thought of chasing something for five miles through trees and over snow-covered ground made him exhausted. He followed behind Jerry as his partner jogged through the trees in the general direction of James McCallister’s house. Larry had met the Ambrose’s neighbor a handful of times and thought that he was a pretty upstanding sort of guy. He was sure that James would help the Ambrose family if they came to him for help. The only thing that worried Larry was the fear that the family wouldn’t make it to McCallister’s house. But he kept his thoughts to himself out of concern for his partner as he continued to scan the ground for the trail they were following.
Jerry stopped suddenly and Larry almost collided with him. “Why are you stopping?” Larry asked. But as he looked past Jerry at the slight clearing of the trees in front of them, his question was answered.
The snow in the clearing had been churned up for several yards in every direction. It reminded Larry of the way the snow in the park near his parents’ house would look after he and his friends played football in the winter during his childhood. Scattered throughout the clearing were other signs of a struggle – broken branches, scrapes across the trunks of several trees, and several patches of some kind of greasy black soot. Larry had no idea what the soot was from, but he was sure that a fight had taken place there.
“What the hell happened here?” Larry asked as he looked around the clearing for some kind of clue as to who the combatants were. He walked forward a few steps as Jerry walked along the perimeter of the clearing.
“Larry,” Jerry said softly as he spotted something. “Over here.”
Larry moved over to where Jerry crouched in the snow, staring down at something on the ground. Even before he had reached his partner’s side, Larry could see that the object of Jerry’s interest was bright red against the white of the snow. He crouched down next to Jerry and saw a small pool of blood. It had already begun to freeze, which Larry knew meant that it had been there for several minutes. He had no idea if the blood was human or animal, but he didn’t like seeing it. And he could tell from Jerry’s expression that his partner didn’t like it either.
“There are some tracks leading away from the clearing over there,” Larry said as he nodded in the direction in which he had seen the tracks. “Let’s keep moving,” Larry prompted.
Jerry stood still for a moment and didn’t respond. For some reason, the blood made him think of Dinah, though he had no idea why. His mind told him that the blood could have been from just about anything. He knew there were wolves in the woods near his house, and they were predators. The blood and even the churned up snow could have been from the pack bringing down some kind of game. The fact that there wasn’t more blood or even the carcass of some animal somewhat discounted his theory, though it was still possible. But Jerry’s heart told him that the blood had come from his eldest daughter. He could feel that she was injured, and he could feel that she had gone in the direction that Larry had indicated. And he could feel that she wasn’t alone. Vaughan was with her.
“Sid, I’m sure it’s not one of them. It’s probably from an animal or something,” Larry said, though he didn’t sound convinced.
Jerry kept his thoughts to himself as he stood up to follow Larry across the clearing. He didn’t want to worry his partner unnecessarily, and telling Larry that he could feel where his children were would only worried his partner further. Larry knew that he was under a lot of stress at that moment, and sharing the fact that he had some kind of psychic ability would have made him wonder about Jerry’s mental health.
They moved another few hundred yards through the forest before they came to another clearing in the trees. The snow there had been churned up just as badly as the first clearing and even more piles of the strange, greasy soot were scattered throughout. Again, a spot of bright red against the snow drew Jerry’s attention. He ran over to it as Larry spotted it a split-second later. This time, the blood was in several small pools in a haphazard line. And as Larry leaned in, he could see that a few of the larger pools were still steaming in the snow.
“This just happened, Sid,” Larry said as he inspected the spots of blood. He stood up and moved to the other side of the clearing, where another, smaller pool of blood had fallen in the middle of several sets of footprints. He felt Jerry move to stand next to him as he followed the tracks. Jerry followed behind his partner and scanned the trees for signs anything unusual. His senses were fully alert and he could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up as the familiar knot formed in his stomach. He had had the same feeling several times in his long partnership with Larry and he knew what it meant. They were in danger or would be shortly.
He looked down briefly to see that there were no more pools of blood next to the footprints, but the occasional red drop still fell along the trail that they followed. He got the same feeling again that the blood had come from Dinah and tried to push the thought away. His focus needed to be on the danger he and Larry could be facing at any moment.
Larry stopped suddenly and raised his rifle. Jerry tensed instantly, looking for signs of whatever had caused such a reaction in his partner. But then he heard what Larry must have heard. Low growls, the ringing sound of metal against metal, and the slushing sound of things moving through snow reached Jerry’s ears.
“Straight ahead – about a hundred yards,” Larry said softly as he started to move with his rifle still raised.
Jerry didn’t need to respond. Larry’s insti
ncts were uncanny when it came to any kind of conflict, and his sense of hearing was better than anyone else Jerry knew. He moved next to Larry with his own rifle raised as they scanned the trees ahead. It was the same direction in which he could feel the presence of Dinah and Vaughan, and he could sense that they were frightened. But what terrified Jerry was the sense that he was getting from Dinah. She was not only frightened. She was in pain.
He picked up his pace and saw Larry do the same thing. They were lucky that the sounds of fighting ahead were as loud as they were. Otherwise, Larry’s heavy breathing would have given them away. Jerry tried to ready himself for what he was about to see, even if it meant seeing one of his children grievously injured. But he knew that he was only fooling himself. No loving father could see their child in pain and not be affected. He only hoped that he could make it to her in time.
Harper pulled Dinah along, practically carrying her as they fled through the trees. He would have carried her completely to keep her from the pain of running, but he needed his other arm free to defend them if they were attacked again. Vaughan and Cody were doing everything they could to hold off their pursuers, but there were just so many of them. Harper couldn’t remember seeing so many of the demons at one time in thousands of years – not since the battle for the fate of the last Solas. He knew this could only mean that the world was in greater danger than he originally thought. And it wasn’t just the world that was in greater danger – the danger to his family was greater than he thought, as well.
He had done what he could to close Dinah’s wounds after their last skirmish, but there hadn’t been time to heal her completely. And she had already lost a lot of blood. He could feel her leaning heavily against him and her breathing was labored. He risked a quick glance over at her face and was alarmed at the gray-tinged skin he saw there. He needed to do something to heal her fast or she wasn’t going to make it to the McCallister house.
“Vaughan!” Harper yelled over his shoulder. He heard a grunt before the sound of something hitting the ground.
“Yeah?” Vaughan shouted in response. He ignored the demon that he had just slain and looked around him for signs of the demons who stalked him in human form. They had swords of their own and were harder to defeat - much harder. If one of them were to take him by surprise, he knew he would be hard-pressed to defeat them.
“I need to stop for a minute to help Dinah,” Harper yelled back. “Can you and Cody keep them off of us for a minute or two?”
“We can try,” Vaughan answered without much confidence.
He wasn’t sure how long he could keep them from his uncle and sister, but he would do what he could. He had begun to tire slightly, though he was sure that he could keep fighting all the way to Mr. McCallister’s house if he had to.
Vaughan ran up to his uncle as he was gently placing Dinah on the ground. Cody trotted in from the trees and whined once when he saw Dinah’s ashen face. She had taken a few minor wounds in their last encounter with the demons, but that wasn’t what scared Vaughan. It was the three large gashes along her ribs that made him fearful for his sister’s life. He could see a few spots where white peaked through the bloody red mess, and he knew that this was where she had been cut to the bone. The wounds were no longer bleeding as freely, and he guessed that this had been his uncle’s doing. But he knew that such terrible wounds could not remain open like that for very long before Dinah would die.
He shuddered at the thought of losing his sister, his protector. And with the shudder came a stab of guilt. Vaughan had managed to completely evade injury in the two battles they had already had with the demons. He knew that a great deal of this was due to sheer dumb luck. But it hadn’t been luck that had saved him when one of the demons had landed on his back. It had been Dinah. She had pulled the demon from him and slammed it into a tree, breaking its back. But another demon had used her moment of distraction to strike a glancing blow with its claws along her ribs. She had screamed once in pain before slamming the creature across the face with the large tree branch that she had been using to fight. Her assailant’s neck had snapped with the sheer force of her blow, and so had the tree branch. But he had seen immediately that she had been grievously hurt. Uncle Harper had tried to heal her as much as he could, but another wave of demons had descended upon them and they had been forced to flee, barely managing to escape. Dinah had risked her own life to save his. And now he would try to return the favor.
Vaughan heard the sound of movement through the snow, and he turned around to see what had caused it. He heard Cody growl next to him as the dog saw the same thing that he did. Walking through the snow and directly toward them were three of the demons in human form. Two of them had taken the shape of women and one of a man. They were all identical in their unremarkable features and each held a sword of black metal in their hands. Behind them walked at least a dozen of the demons in their natural, dog-like forms. He had fought the creatures several times that day, but still couldn’t look at them without a twinge of fear coursing through him. There was no way that he and Cody would be able to stop all of them. But he had told his uncle that he would try and that’s what he would do.
Vaughan raised his sword, which glowed softly with a white light. He looked down at Cody, who looked back at him with a look that seemed to reassure him. The look said that he wouldn’t face these demons alone.
Jerry jogged toward the sounds of fighting with Larry following close behind him. The sounds grew louder as they approached, and Jerry grew less concerned about anyone hearing them. He was practically running by the time they reached the clearing ahead and what he saw there made him quicken his pace.
Vaughan was fighting against three people dressed completely in black. But they weren’t just fighting. They were fighting with swords. And Vaughan was moving so quickly that he was practically a blur as he struggled against his three assailants. Cody was a glowing white streak nearby, darting through a group of what Jerry at first thought were wolves. But when he looked more closely at the creatures, he saw that they were something darker and more terrible. He had seen such creatures in movies. They represented the dark forces that he had learned about while growing up in New Orleans. They looked like demons.
“What the hell is going on?” Larry asked as he lowered his rifle and stared at the battle taking place in front of him.
“My son’s in danger. That’s what’s going on,” Jerry said as he raised his rifle.
Harper sensed the presence of his brother-in-law a second before the sound of gunfire erupted. He sensed the presence of Larry, as well and Harper had never been so glad to see either of them. He knew that it would be futile to shout over the noise of the fighting and the loud reports of gunfire, so he reached out to Jerry’s mind, instead.
Brother, I need your help!
Jerry looked over at where Harper was crouched over something. When he realized what it was, his stomach dropped, and the shock of hearing Harper’s voice in his mind was pushed aside. Harper was crouched over Dinah’s prone form, and the gray color of her skin left little doubt that she had been seriously injured.
“Larry!” he shouted as he ran over to where Harper kneeled in the snow.
Larry took another shot and dropped the last of the people with the sword that were confronting Vaughan, who looked over and smiled gratefully before running over to help Cody. Larry looked at the creatures again and felt a shudder run through his body. They were things out of a nightmare.
“Larry!” Jerry shouted again. “Snap out of it!”
Larry looked over at where his partner was standing in the snow. He could see Harper crouched over the still form of Dinah, and Larry’s heart sank as he saw how terrible she looked. He ran over to stand next to Jerry and looked down to see Harper’s hands moving over Dinah’s body. His hands were glowing and he seemed to be murmuring something, though Larry couldn’t hear what it was. As Larry watched in awe, th
e color of Dinah’s skin began to take on a healthier shade and he could see her breathing strengthen.
“Keep them off of us,” Harper said suddenly. “And do what you can to help Vaughan and Cody.”
“Pick your shots carefully,” Jerry said as he aimed his rifle at the battle that raged on the other side of the clearing before taking a few shots. “We don’t want to hit Vaughan or Cody by accident.”
“What an excellent suggestion,” Larry said drily. “Maybe you could ask them not to move so damned fast and I might be able to honor it.”
Jerry couldn’t help but smile at his partner’s sarcastic response. He knew that Larry wouldn’t take the shot unless he was one hundred percent sure that he would make it. He was an even better marksman than Jerry was, though he would never have admitted as much to Larry. They each picked their shots carefully, but Vaughan and Cody moved through the demons so quickly that it was difficult for them to take more than a few shots. The few demons that did break for the spot where they stood were quickly taken down by Larry and Jerry.
Harper suddenly helped Dinah to her feet and both Jerry and Larry smiled to see her conscious again. She still didn’t look good and leaned heavily on her uncle, but she was awake and managed a wan smile when she looked over at her father and his partner.
“Alright, let’s move,” Harper said as he leaned down and picked up his spear while continuing to support Dinah’s weight.
“What about Vaughan?” Jerry asked with obvious concern, ignoring the fact that Harper was carrying a giant silver spear in his hands. Jerry felt conflicted. He wanted to get Dinah to safety as soon as he could, but he couldn’t leave his son to face the demons alone.
“Vaughan and Cody will be fine,” Harper said as he looked at Dinah to see if she was ready. When she nodded, he looked back at Jerry and explained, “They’re too fast for the demons to catch. They’re safer if they’re not with us.” He started moving in the direction of the McCallister house. “They’ll cover our retreat as best as they can, but I’ll need your help. I can’t fight and help Dinah at the same time, so you’ll have to protect us both.”
“He’s right, Sid,” Larry said as he started to follow Harper. “You saw the way Vaughan and that dog moved. They can take care of themselves.”
Jerry didn’t want to listen to Harper or Larry. It didn’t matter what he had seen. Vaughan was only a child, and his son. He couldn’t leave without him. He saw Dinah stumble slightly and his concern was shifted back to his daughter. He was faced with the kind of decision that no parent should ever have to make – to willingly place one child in danger to save the other. But Dinah couldn’t defend herself at that moment, and though he hated to admit it, Vaughan clearly could. He had seen his son move with the strange glowing sword in his hands like he had been born to carry it. And the speed at which he had moved left little doubt that what Harper and Larry said was true.
“Alright,” Jerry said reluctantly. “Let’s go. I’ll lead. Harper, you follow me, and Larry will cover us from behind.”
Jerry moved into the lead and Harper followed as quickly as he could while supporting Dinah. Larry followed, scanning the trees for signs of pursuit. As they moved through the woods, they were completely unmolested. They could hear the continued sounds of fighting off in the trees, but Vaughan and Cody had managed to lead the demons away from them. Jerry could feel the presence of his son somewhere to his right. Vaughan’s fear had diminished a great deal and Jerry felt the sense of exhilaration coming from him. He felt a fierce pride as he realized that his son had finally found his strength.
After several minutes, they came to the edge of the trees and could see the lights shining from the McCallister house just beyond the woods. Jerry felt a surge of relief at the sight, and ran over to help Harper with Dinah. They had gone no more than fifty yards before they heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the trees. They all turned to see the source of the noise and Larry raised his rifle. But it wasn’t the demons.
“Here they come!” Vaughan yelled as he sprinted from the cover of the trees with Cody running just behind him. “And there’s way more of them this time!”
Jerry could see the mass of black shapes moving through the trees. There were more of the creatures than he could count and they were heading straight for him and his children.
“Harper, get the kids inside!” Jerry shouted as he released his hold on Dinah and moved to stand between the oncoming demons and Harper. He didn’t have to say anything to Larry. His partner moved to stand next to Jerry and raised his rifle.
“There are too many of them, Jeremiah!” Harper shouted back. “We’ve got to make it to the house. The demons can’t reach us there. It’s protected!”
Jerry had no idea what his brother-in-law was talking about, but it didn’t matter. The demons were moving quickly and he and his family weren’t. Something had to slow them down. Vaughan and Cody reached Jerry and Larry and turned to face the demons as the two agents started firing at the demons.
“Vaughan, get in the house!” Jerry yelled over the steady stream of gunfire.
“No, dad,” Vaughan yelled back. “Cody and I will get any of them that get past you.”
Jerry wanted to argue with his son, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. Vaughan was right.
“Alright, but we keep to Harper and Dinah!” Jerry shouted.
He started slowly backing up as he continued to fire into the oncoming horde. Larry had known instantly what Jerry had meant and stayed next to his partner as they slowly backed away from the rushing demons. They were hitting and dropping demons with every shot, but there were so many of them that the minute one fell, three seemed to take its place. Jerry thought that there must have been nearly a hundred of the horrid creatures and more continued to pour from the trees. He couldn’t think of a way for them to stop them before they reached the house, and he wondered what protection an old farm house could provide against so many of the creatures.
“Doesn’t look good, Sid,” Larry yelled between heaving breaths, echoing Jerry’s thought.
Some of the demons began to move to either side, and Jerry knew that they were being outflanked. Before he could say anything, Vaughan and Cody moved to either side and sprinted off to engage the demons. He saw several gray streaks follow behind each of them and realized with dismay that they were wolves. But just as he was about to break off his attack on the demons and aim at the wolves, they did something completely unexpected. They began helping Vaughan and Cody attack the demons. Four of them had moved to support Vaughan and three had done the same for Cody. Had it been any other day than this one, Jerry would have thought he was misinterpreting the actions of the wolves. But based on everything he had seen in their flight through the woods, he quickly accepted their help as an unexpected boon and returned his attention to the demons.
He heard the sounds of footsteps on wood behind him and knew that the commotion had finally brought someone from the house. Jerry turned his head briefly to see who it was and he saw James McCallister run onto the porch and raise his rifle.
“We’ve got backup behind us, Larry,” Jerry shouted just before a gunshot erupted behind them.
Larry jumped when he heard the shot, but nodded as he processed what Jerry had said. Had Jerry not said anything, Larry would have thought they were surrounded and turned to fire behind him. Instead, he kept firing into the demons, stopping only briefly to change to his fifth cartridge. He kept mental note of each time Jerry had changed a cartridge and realized that they were already through half of the ammunition that they had brought with them. He looked behind briefly to see that James McCallister had a more traditional rifle and he wondered how long he could continue to support them from the porch.
“Come on!” James yelled. “You’re almost there!”
James continued to fire into the demons, and both Jerry and Larry realized that he was only picking off the ones that
got past them. And he had picked the relatively higher ground of the porch to fire from, which suggested to the two agents that James had some type of professional training. Jerry wondered at that moment if there was more to his neighbor than he thought.
Larry felt his breath continue to come in heaving gasps and he felt a kind of tightness in his chest. He wasn’t used to such heavy exercise and he mentally chided himself for not taking his health more seriously. But he also had to admit that he couldn’t think of a proper exercise regimen to prepare someone from an attack by a horde of demons. The rather incongruous thought of a demon attack training course at the academy popped into his head, and he smiled at the thought such a class would have on new recruits.
Cole stepped back onto the porch when he heard Vaughan yelling. He had gone inside for a moment to be sure everyone was okay, and Mr. McCallister had gone to get more ammunition for his rifle. What he saw when he stepped onto the porch caused him joy and dismay at the same time. The rest of his family had made it, and they had somehow met up with his father and Larry. But Cole could see the masses of demons about to pour from the trees and knew that his family couldn’t possibly hold off so many.
Cole saw Mr. McCallister come running as the sound of gunfire erupted from his father’s and Larry’s guns. The teacher raised his rifle and started firing at the demons who managed to break through the screening fire of the two agents. Harper was dragging Dinah, who was obviously hurt, and Vaughan and Cody were protecting the sides of his father and Larry as the demons moved to try to surround them. They needed help.
“Louis, stay here!” Cole shouted before running from the porch.
“Cole, wait!” James shouted after him. “It’s too dangerous! The house is the only safe place!”
Cole didn’t know what Mr. McCallister meant, but it didn’t matter. He closed the distance between him and his uncle quickly and threw his sister’s other arm over his shoulder. He heard her grunt in pain and he could tell from the heaviness of her body that she didn’t have much strength left. He heard the wolves reach out to him, asking how they could help. He looked at the forms of Vaughan and Cody moving out to either side of the group, and asked the wolves to help them. They quickly acknowledged and within seconds, he saw their streaking forms move to support his younger brother and their dog.
“I told you I’d see you in a bit,” Dinah said softly as she struggled for breath while continuing to move as quickly as she could.
Cole smiled as he answered, “Yeah, but you didn’t tell me I’d have to carry your heavy behind through the snow.”
Cole looked over and saw his sister smiling, but she didn’t have the strength for a response. He saw Aidan run from the house and leap from the porch. She ran over to where he and Uncle Harper were helping Dinah and stayed near them, backing through the snow and watching the demons with an occasional growl. He was amazed again at how protective the strange little dog was.
“Hurry up now!” James shouted from the porch as he continued to pick off demons with his rifle. “They’re going to cut you off!”
Cole looked to either side and saw that Mr. McCallister was right. The demons were moving to surround them and Cody and Vaughan were no longer able to stop them. He looked at his younger brother and could tell that he was beginning to tire. He also saw numerous tears in Vaughan’s clothing and suspected that at least a few of them had caused some minor wounds. He couldn’t keep up the fight for much longer. He was backing up from the demons now, as the four wolves supporting him stayed between him and his attackers.
Cole looked over at Cody and saw him glowing brightly as he dashed between the demons and used his powerful jaws to tear at hamstrings and then throats. The three wolves aiding him did their best to keep up with him, but he was faster than they were. But even he was beginning to show signs of tiring, and Cole could see a patchwork of bright red spots on Cody’s white fur, though none of the wolves with him showed signs of injury.
“Vaughan, Cody!” Cole yelled. “Get to the porch! Now!”
He looked over and saw his younger brother stop for a moment and nod in response. Vaughan turned and swung his sword one more time, taking the head from a demon that had slipped up on his right before turning and running for the porch. He saw the wolves with Vaughan wait a moment before turning to follow him. When Cole looked for Cody, he saw him run for the porch, herding the three wolves ahead of him as demons tried to catch them, but failed.
“Dad! Larry!” Cole yelled behind him. “Come on!”
Jerry and Larry picked up their pace as they continued to fire into the waves of demons. Jerry felt the click of his rifle and knew that his last round had been spent. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and pulled his pistol from his holster and started picking off the demons who continued to advance. He saw Larry do the same a few seconds later.
James covered the retreat of Vaughan, Cody and the wolves, and tried to pick off the demons that got past Jerry and Larry, but there were so many of them, and he knew he was almost out of ammunition. He fired another shot at a demon that had nearly closed on Vaughan and turned back to the opposite direction to check on Cody. A wall of black fur flew at him and he barely had time to raise his rifle in front of him. One of the demons had broken through his covering fire when he had turned his attention to Vaughan and had reached the porch.
The demon hit him with enough force to throw him back nearly a dozen feet. He hit the ground hard and the wind was knocked from him. His rifle flew from his hands and he reached up to grab the demon’s throat to keep it from closing its jaws on his neck. With his other hand, he tried to reach for one of the long knives at his belt, but the creature was too strong. He had to use both hands to keep it from biting the life from him, but he knew that he could only hold it back for so long.
Tina stood in the doorway with a baseball bat, watching the horrible scene in the snow unfold. She was worried for all of them, but felt powerless to do anything. Jason was still unconscious on the couch and Billie and Louis were huddled on one of the chairs, their arms around each other as they stared at the door with huge eyes. She would do what she could to protect the children and Jason if any of the demons made it past the gunmen, but she knew there wasn’t much that she could do if they did.
She saw James fire at the demon chasing Vaughan, but she also saw the lone demon break away from chasing Cody and head straight for the porch. She watched in horror as it tackled James and saw him struggling against it. Something snapped in her at that moment. All of the fear and anger that the creatures caused in her, all of the pain that they had caused to people that she had come to feel responsible for, caused a reaction in her that she never could have imagined.
She ran from the doorway and yelled a wordless challenge of rage at the demon that was trying to kill her fellow teacher. It looked up in surprise a moment before she swung the bat at its head with all of her one hundred fifteen pound weight. She saw its head snap to the side as the bat shattered into splinters. The shock of the impact ran along the shattered bat and into the grip, numbing her hands instantly. The demon shook its head and she saw with dismay that she hadn’t hurt it – only stunned it.
But the moment of distraction was all that James needed. He pulled the knife from his left hip with his right arm and stabbed it up and under where he guessed the creature’s heart to be. He felt it stiffen in response and saw its yellow eyes widen in surprise before its weight fell on top of him.
When Tina realized that the demon was dead, she reached down and pulled at the creature while James pushed it to the side. He was covered in the greasy black blood of the creature, and had a nasty gash on his right shoulder, but looked otherwise okay.
“Thanks,” James said with a smile as he looked up in surprise at his rescuer.
James put his knife back in its sheath and ran over to pick up his rifle. “Get back inside now, Tina,” he said soothingly to the pretty young teacher. “Yo
u’re gonna be the last line of defense for the little ones. There’s a set of golf clubs in the hall closet to replace your bat.”
Tina was dazed for a moment and at first didn’t process what he had said. But then she looked at him and smiled before turning and heading back into the house and straight for the hall closet.
James returned to his position at the front of the porch and continued firing at the demons, but the battle had become a losing one. He was almost out of ammunition and he could see that Jerry and his partner had switched to their handguns. Harper and Cole had nearly reached the porch with Dinah when James saw a group of four demons break from the rest of the horde and slip past the screening fire of the two agents. They were headed straight for Cole, Dinah and Harper, but James couldn’t get a clear shot. He knew they would be safe if they reached the house, but he also knew that the demons would get to them first. He thought of a promise that he had made to an amazing woman several years ago and made a decision.
He threw aside his rifle and pulled the twin long knives from their sheaths on his hips. He jumped from the edge of the porch and ran straight for the demons angling toward Harper and the others. He let his mind go into the familiar trance of battle and saw time slow down as he approached the demons. The creatures had no idea that death had come for them.
Harper watched James throw his rifle and charge toward them with two long knives in his hands. At first he was confused, but when he sensed the demons behind him he felt a surge of gratitude. As James ran past, Harper noticed something behind his left ear. It was something that he hadn’t seen on another person in hundreds of years. And when he saw the way James fought the demons, the speed at which he moved and the skill with which he used the twin blades, his gratitude was replaced with suspicion. James McCallister was definitely not who he appeared to be.
They finally reached the porch and Tina ran forward to take Dinah and guide her into the house. Aidan followed them inside for a moment, whining in obvious distress, before returning to the porch to face the oncoming horde. Vaughan, Cody and the wolves ran onto the porch a moment before Jerry and Larry reached the steps, stopping with their guns raised. James finished the last of the demons that he had engaged and turned around and jogged back to the steps.
Jerry had seen the last moments of the battle between James and the demons and he watched the teacher’s approach warily. There were definitely some things about his neighbor that he didn’t know. The only other person that Jerry had seen move like that had been Vaughan. It had been more than any human being, even an Olympic athlete, could have done.
Jerry wanted to ask James how he could have possibly moved so quickly and defeated so many of the demons with relative ease. But it was not the time for such questions. He had many questions for James, Harper and even his children. But if he wanted the chance to ask any of them, they had to survive first.
“Now what?” Larry asked quietly as he stared out at the masses of demons, which had all suddenly stopped moving.
Without any kind of warning, they had not only broken off their attack, but had fallen back to several dozen yards from the porch. It was as if they had disengaged from the battle based on some silent command and all they did now was stand there and watch their quarry. There were still several dozen of them, and they covered the ground in every direction for at least thirty yards.
“What are they doing?” Jerry asked in confusion.
“I was hoping you knew,” James asked as he reached down to wipe the black blood from his blades in the snow before returning them to their sheaths. “It’s like they’re waiting for something,” he added.
“Or someone,” Harper said softly as he walked down the steps to stand beside Larry.
As if confirming Harper’s words, the demons in the center moved to either side. There was a lot of jostling and growls and it was far from an organized move. Again, it seemed as if something was compelling them to move. When the last of the demons had moved aside, it became obvious that it wasn’t something that compelled them. Harper had been right – it was someone.
Cole recognized the man from the night when the wolves had attacked the demons in the forest. It was the man who looked like he could have been his Uncle Harper’s twin. He heard several of the others on the porch gasp as they recognized the similarity between the man and Harper. But before Harper could explain the eerie connection, three people in much more human outfits walked up to stand next to him.
Jerry recognized one of the people as Anna, the young woman that had disappeared somewhere near his house. The other two were men, one of which wore the uniform that Jerry had seen earlier but couldn’t place.
“What the hell is animal control doing here?” Larry asked as he identified the second man’s uniform. “Those are a hell of a lot of animals to control,” he said with a snort. “He might need backup,”
Jerry smiled at his partner’s irrepressible sense of humor and his habit of laughing at his own jokes, but the smile quickly faded. He had sensed the wrongness coming from the demons the moment he had seen them. But it made sense that such foul-looking creatures would feel so foul. What confused him was that he felt the same sense of wrongness, only much stronger, coming from the four people who stood behind the demons. But it was the third person in normal clothing that seemed to emit the most powerful sense of evil, eclipsing the others in the same way that the other three eclipsed the demons.
“That’s Tim Matheson,” Jason said softly from the edge of the porch.
None of them had heard him walk up and Cole turned to look at him in surprise. He was standing on his own, but he still looked physically exhausted.
“Who’s Tim Matheson?” Cole asked.
“That man over on the right,” Jason said as he pointed at the man that Jerry had sensed as putting off the greatest aura of evil. “I went to high school with him here in Evergreen,” he explained. “He was the school bully and terrorized me for four years. I haven’t seen him since graduation. I always assumed he had ended up in jail or dead, but I suppose this makes almost as much sense.”
“He’s no longer the person you knew,” Harper said softly to Jason. He had spoken softly, but everyone standing on the porch had heard him clearly. “He has become something darker, Jason. I feel the same wrongness coming from him that I feel whenever I face the ancient enemies of my people.” He didn’t have to explain what he meant. His hatred of the demons was clear from the tone of his voice. “He and the two others near him have become pawns of these creatures,” he added.
Harper turned and looked at each of them briefly as he said, “They cannot be saved, so no matter what happens, you show them no mercy. Understood?”
Everyone nodded silently, though they all thought the same thing. Killing creatures like the demons or even the demons in human form was not the same as killing another human being. But each of them knew that Harper was right and that any hesitation when facing the three people before them could mean the loss of the person next to them. And this was something that none of them would risk.
The man who Jason had identified as Tim Matheson took a few steps forward as the demons moved out of his way. The demon that resembled Harper so strongly was the only one who grudgingly moved, as if he resented the leadership role of the human.
Harper knew how the demons felt about humans. They felt them to be an inferior species that they tolerated as a means to an end. Until recently, Harper had agreed with the demons’ view of the inferiority of humans, but his views had begun to change when he had begun to live with his sister’s family. As he thought of the people who weren’t a part of his family standing near him, he realized with more than a little shock that he would give his life for any one of them, with the possible exception of James McCallister. There were secrets that James was keeping, and Harper wondered if those secrets were something that could bring harm to his family. If he discovered that to be the case, he would kill James
himself and without hesitation.
“You continue to surprise us, son of Nuada,” Tim said with a smile. “We’ve underestimated you too many times.” He hadn’t raised his voice, but the sound of it reached them all nearly fifty yards away.
Harper stepped forward and the others realized that Tim had been addressing him, though none of them knew what son of Nuada meant.
“Many have underestimated me, human,” Harper said quietly. “And it is usually the last mistake they make.”
Harper spoke no more loudly than Tim had, but the group on the porch guessed that his voice had carried the distance between them and Tim just as easily. There was an obvious, but faint sense of disdain in his response to the leader of the demons, and from the brief look of anger that crossed his face, Tim had heard it.
Tim chuckled before responding, “I’m sure they have. And it’s a mistake I intend not to make.” He was silent for a moment before adding, “But I haven’t come here to fight any of you.”
“This is one hell of a misunderstanding if that’s the case,” Larry said with a grunt. “That or you really need to work on your social skills.”
There was a brief chorus of chuckles that managed to break some of the tension within the group. Even Harper managed a brief smile.
“Yes, well,” Tim said with a slight smile and a shrug of his shoulders. “It’s rather difficult to control creatures whose only desire is to cause as much chaos and destruction as possible.”
The demon that looked like Harper clenched his fists and glared at Tim, but made no move to interrupt him.
“I only need to take the children with me for a short while,” Tim explained. “I assure you they will come to no harm. And if the rest of you cooperate, neither will you.” He sounded incredibly reasonable and again, many of them found themselves starting to believe him.
James stepped forward and stood next to Harper as he answered, “These folks are guests in my house, Tim.” Tim raised his eyebrow and James answered, “Yes, son. I remember you well, though it saddens me to see what you’ve become.” He reached to his belt and drew both of his knives. He held them down at either side of his body, but there was no mistaking the gesture for anything other than what it was – a promise of what he could and would do. “I’m afraid that the only way you’re taking any of these children from my house is over my dead body.”
“Save your pity and your empty threats for someone else, old man,” Tim answered with a sneer. “You think the worst that can happen to you and the fools who stand with you is death? I can make you scream for hours on end and bring you to the point where you will beg me to kill you and then offer up the others to save your own life.” The menace in his voice had replaced the persuasion that had been there just a moment before. “No, there are worse things than death, I assure you. And if you continue to resist us, I will show you all of them. Each and every one of you will see the horrors I can cause.”
Silence was the only response to his threats as each of them formed their own ideas of what he meant. Harper was the only one who didn’t have to imagine what could happen. He had seen what the demons did to Aes Sidhe and humans who resisted them. He knew that whatever the people near him imagined, it would have paled by comparison to what the demons would actually do.
“You know that this house is protected from you and these things,” James said with a grim expression. “You won’t be able to break through, no matter what you do. We can wait you out if we have to.”
“Ask the Aes Sidhe next to you what happened to their house that was protected as yours is,” Tim said as he cocked his head in the direction of Harper. “You cannot stand against us. This fight is over. Whether or not you survive what comes next is entirely up to you.”
Larry leaned in and spoke in a whisper to Jerry, “If this doesn’t go well, we pull back and guard the front door from the porch. If the house is really protected in some way, that’ll be our best bet.”
Jerry nodded silently, as he had been thinking the same thing. He knew that he had four clips of ammunition for his handgun, not including the half clip or so already in it. He guessed Larry to have about the same. It wasn’t much against the number of demons that stood before them, but he and Larry could hold them off for a few moments, at least. He hoped that James was right and that the house was somehow protected.
Tim took another step forward as he said, “I know what you are, James McCallister. And I know of the others nearby who are like you. I can tell you that even together you have no chance of keeping the children from me.” He paused for a moment as he looked at each of them. “Well? What is your answer?”
Harper didn’t like what the evil human had said to James, the apparent recognition of the man as something other than he appeared. It only heightened Harper’s suspicion of their neighbor and what his motives in helping them were. But unfortunately, it wasn’t the time for answers, and his suspicions at that moment did nothing to resolve their situation.
Harper knew what the children, Jerry, and even Larry would say if he asked them what they wanted to do. None of them would willingly give up any of the others for any reason. And the other humans who stood with them had all chosen to stand with him and his family. They had already risked their lives several times over and he knew that they would no sooner give up the children than he would. His mind made up, Harper walked forward several feet with his spear held at his side.
He began to glow brightly in the blowing snow as he faced the demons for a few moments. The tension was palpable as Harper stared at Tim in silence, the glow surrounding him growing to the point where the rest of the group near him had to look away.
“Here is your answer, demon,” Harper said quietly.
Harper shouted a string of words in a language that none of them had ever heard before, and as he said them the glow around him flashed once and when the others looked at him again, he was surrounded by blue flames.
“No!” Jerry screamed as he saw his brother-in-law engulfed in flames and would have run to him if Larry hadn’t grabbed his arm.
“Easy, Sid,” Larry said quietly. “Look at him, the flames aren’t touching him.”
Jerry looked closely at Harper and saw that he was right. The snow was melting for several feet around him, but the flames themselves hadn’t touched Harper. Even his clothes looked to be intact, other than the dirt that had caked on his pants during their flight through the woods, which had burned away.
Louis heard the words his uncle had shouted and he understood what had been said, though he had never heard them before. His uncle had been calling on the strength within him and willing it with the words he used to take the shape of the blue flames. Louis had seen the lines of glowing energy move through his uncle’s body and those lines struck a chord in him. He felt something stir within him and knew that it was in response to what his uncle had done. He looked down at his hands and saw similar lines of glowing energy flowing through his arms.
Harper raised his arms suddenly and pointed them at Tim. A line of blue flames erupted from his outstretched hands and flew at the evil human, as a deafening roar passed in their wake. Harper twisted his hands and the flames arced into the lines of demons along the path toward Tim, vaporizing the ones that it touched. The demons near the ones that were destroyed began to frantically clamber to get away from the killing blue fire, clawing over each other as they tried to escape. But more than a dozen of the creatures were not quick enough and disappeared in the flames.
Harper twisted his hands again and the arcing flames reconnected with each other and flew straight at Tim. Just before the flames would have struck him, Tim raised his right arm and held up his hand, his palm facing forward at the oncoming flame. The flames stopped as if they had struck a wall. The other people standing near Tim stared at the flames, but didn’t flinch as they struck the invisible wall.
Harper’s shoulders flexed and the flames intensified, pouring fr
om his arms in a wider path. Tim continued to hold his hand up, and the flames continued to hit the invisible wall, splitting to either side, but unable to penetrate the demon leader’s defenses. The flames continued to pour against the wall for several seconds more, before Harper’s shoulders slumped and he lowered his arms. His shoulders rose and fell rapidly as he tried to catch his breath. He had poured nearly everything he could at the human, but couldn’t penetrate the defensive barrier that he had thrown in front of himself.
Tim slowly lowered his hand as his smile grew. “You are all fools,” he said to them with a chuckle. “And now you will die. And when we have finished with all of you, and the children have watched you die, I will take them.”
Harper looked back and held the gaze of each of them for no more than a second. “Tina will stay with Billie and Louis. The rest of us will hold them off as long as we can and then move into the house,” he told them quietly. “James is right. The house is protected and we will use its shelter as long as we can.” He was quiet for a moment before he added, “Thank you. All of you.”
No one responded. There was nothing that anyone could have said that hadn’t already been said by each of their actions. Cole looked at Vaughan, who was standing on the porch with his sword in his hand. Vaughan smiled shyly when he made eye contact with Cole, who smiled in return. Jason looked back at Tina, who stood on the porch with her arms wrapped around Billie and Louis as they stood in front of her. Jason smiled at her and took his necklace off before tossing it to her. Tina returned the smile through tear-filled eyes and fastened the necklace around Billie’s neck. There was nothing said between them, but they each knew what the other felt.
“I’ll try not to shoot you, Harper,” Larry said sincerely as he held out his hand.
Harper chuckled and took the hand of one of the only humans that he had considered to be a true friend in nearly two thousand years. “I’d appreciate that,” he said as he looked Larry in the eye.
Tim laughed softly as he turned around to look at the other humans behind him. They stared back at him, but didn’t otherwise respond. He turned back around and said, “How touching. However, I’m afraid it changes nothing.”
The demons surged forward at that moment, though no word or gesture had been made by their leader. There were still several dozen of the creatures, and each of them had nearly identical looks of rage and hunger on their grotesque faces as they quickly closed the distance between them and the group standing on the porch.
Harper stepped forward as Larry and Jerry started firing at the charging demons. He raised his spear and waited until they had closed to within ten yards before sprinting forward to meet them. To his surprise, James sprinted forward with him, his pair of long knives in each hand. They met the oncoming demons at the same time, Harper’s spear swinging in wide arcs and James’ swords flashing in the snow-diffused moonlight. Where each of them passed, demons fell. None of the creatures could get past them, but there were so many of them that they began to pour around them and break for the rest of the group waiting on the porch.
Three of the demons leapt from the snow and on to the porch, but Vaughan was there to meet them. His sword glowed brightly as he danced between the demons and slashed at them one at a time, their claws often missing him by mere inches. Within a few short seconds, all three of the creatures had fallen to his blade.
Another three demons leapt onto the porch where Cole stood and he remembered what it had felt like to assume the form of the bear. Within seconds, he had again transformed into the huge brown animal, though he could feel that his movements were more sluggish than before. The first demon landed on the porch a few feet from him and he swiped one of his large paws at the creature, sending it flying from the porch before the other two had landed.
A lone demon broke past Harper and charged the porch steps. Jerry and Larry both pointed their weapons at the creature and fired, but the only sound was the clicking of empty clips. They reached into their holsters simultaneously, but they both knew that they wouldn’t be able to reload in time.
Jason stepped from his spot between them and raised his hands, shouting in the same language that he had used before, though this time the words he used were different. The snow in front of the demon suddenly coalesced until a sheet of ice had formed in front of its charge. It hit the wall of ice with a wet crunching sound and fell to the ground. Jason yelled something else and more of the falling snow merged into a solid blanket to cover the demon in an icy tomb.
Jerry and Larry snapped clips into their handguns, but didn’t fire for a few seconds as they looked in shock at what Jason had done. Jason fell to one knee then, but looked up at the two agents with a weak smile.
“Don’t stop shooting, guys,” he told them. “I’m pretty sure I can’t do something like that again.”
Without a word in response, they resumed firing at the demons that managed to get past the whirling forms of Harper and James. For a moment, it looked like the group would manage to defeat the demons, but then Jerry and Larry saw the awful truth – more of the demons were running from the cover of the trees and straight for the porch. There were at least another two dozen of the creatures and they were nearly out of ammunition.
Louis watched as his family fought the demons and began to push them back. He saw Cole clear the porch of the last demon that had faced him and then saw Vaughan leap at another demon that had sprung for the porch. Vaughan kicked the creature mid-air and then swung his sword at its chest. The demon flew backward and into the snow, where it lay still. Vaughan rebounded from the creature and landed on the porch, his sword still in his hand.
But then three more demons landed on the porch and charged Vaughan as one. He dodged away from the first two, but the third tackled him and bore him to the ground. Aidan ran from next to where Louis stood and leapt on the demon’s back, sinking her teeth into its black fur.
Louis heard a roar of pain and turned to see a demon close its jaws on the leg of the bear that was his older brother. Another of the creatures faced him, grappling with him and appearing to gain the upper hand.
Louis heard the clicking of his father’s and Larry’s guns and knew that they had run out of ammunition again. When they did nothing, he knew that they had used the last of their clips. Jason was still kneeling on the porch and Louis knew that he wouldn’t be able to do what he had done again. The three of them would be defenseless.
The wolves formed a wall of fur around him, Ms. Waverly and Billie, but Louis could still see what was happening over their heads. He had heard what the evil man, the one Mr. Holt had called Tim Matheson had said. His family and their friends were losing the battle, and Louis knew that it would mean the death of all of the people around him, and that he and his siblings would be taken.
Louis recalled what he had heard from his uncle and how the lines of glowing energy had responded. He could still feel the same tingling energy passing through him and suddenly he knew what he had to do.
He pulled away from Ms. Waverly’s arm and ran from her before she could reach for him. The wolves moved to block his escape, but he jumped over their heads with a strength and agility that amazed him. He dashed past the kneeling form of Mr. Holt and leapt over the frozen mound of the demon that had been struck by his teacher’s magic. He stopped no more than a dozen yards from where his uncle and Mr. McCallister continued to fight against the demons and raised his hands.
He shouted the words that he had heard his uncle use, repeating them exactly. He heard the strength in his own voice and how loud it seemed, even though it was coming from a child. The tingling sensation in his body grew and he saw the same blue flames spring to life around him. He willed the flames into his arms and then hurled them at the demons around him, killing them instantly. He turned around and faced the porch, sending lances of blue fire to opposite ends of the porch, incinerating the demons that were attacking his siblings. He was careful not to let
the fire touch Vaughan, Cole or Aidan and kept it away from the porch itself. It obeyed his will completely and only went where he willed it to go. With the porch free of demons, Louis turned back around and saw his uncle staring back at him.
“Louis, no!” Harper screamed at his nephew. “It’s too powerful!”
As his uncle’s back was turned, one of the demons tackled him, sending him sprawling into the snow. The sight of his uncle being harmed by one of the demons infuriated Louis, and he sent a lance of fire from his left arm directly at the demon that had landed on him. The demon disappeared beneath the flames as it roared past and continued into the line of demons charging toward them from the trees. Louis used another lance of blue fire to clear the demons around Mr. McCallister, who stopped fighting and looked back at him in awe.
He sent the flames in every direction, hunting for demons and annihilating them wherever it passed. They tried to run from the flames, several of them turning around and heading back toward the woods. But the flames were faster. It ran them down and killed every last one of them.
When Louis had finished with the demons, he called the flames back to him. He reveled in the strength and power that flowed through him. He felt invincible. No one and nothing would hurt his family again, because nothing could stand against the power that he now possessed.
He looked at where Tim Matheson still stood with the other three figures that looked like humans. They stared at him with blank expressions, all except for Tim. Tim looked at Louis with a slight smile on his face. It was an expression that Louis had recently learned was called smug. What Louis didn’t know was that Tim had just figured out which of the children he needed to take. He didn’t need to bother with all of them, just the one who was channeling such huge amounts of magic before his very eyes. But to Louis, it meant that Tim did not fear the power that Louis held, which meant only one thing to Louis – he needed to make Tim fear him.
Louis raised his arms again and hurled the flames at Tim. Just as he did before, Tim raised one hand and an invisible wall met the onrushing flames, blocking them completely. Tim smiled mockingly at Louis as he casually blocked the flames as he had the ones from Harper.
But unlike his uncle, Louis was not tiring. Louis knew that he could harness even more of the power if he wanted to, so that was what he did.
He willed more of the power flowing through him into the flames pouring from his outstretched arms. The blue fire around him grew in intensity until it burned white hot. He directed the even more powerful flames at Tim and saw him raise his second hand in shock as the full force of Louis’ intensified fire hit his defensive wall. For a moment, the wall was able to withstand the flames, but the strain on Tim’s face was obvious. The flames continued for a moment more before the wall blocking them collapsed and Tim and the three others with him disappeared as the flames poured through.
Louis screamed in exultation and released the flames, though the power continued to flow through his body. He thought about releasing it, but the exhilaration and euphoria that it brought made him want to hold onto it forever. But through the intense pleasure that the power brought, Louis could feel a strange fuzziness in his head and the feeling that something was squeezing his chest from the inside. A part of his brain screamed at him that these were warning signs from his body, that something was wrong. But he didn’t care. The power was everything and to release it would leave him feeling empty.
He saw his Uncle Harper run up to him and kneel down to look him in the eyes. His uncle’s mouth was moving and the expression on his face was one of concern and fear, but Louis couldn’t hear what was being said. He saw his father lean down behind his uncle and the concern on his face matched his uncle’s. His father was trying to say something to him, as well. But Louis could hear nothing beyond the surging in his ears that the power caused. He saw tears form in his father’s eyes, and he wished that he could figure out what was making his father so sad. The demons were gone and their family was safe. So, why did his father and uncle look so concerned?
Uncle Harper said something again, but Louis still couldn’t hear him. He could only see the concern in his uncle’s eyes. He remembered enough of his mother to remember that she had had the same blue eyes as his uncle. The beautiful blue orbs that were the twin of his mother’s drew him in and kept his gaze.
Louis, you must let it go, he heard his uncle’s voice in his head as the blue eyes pleaded with him. It will kill you if you don’t let it go. Please, Louis.
He knew that what his uncle said was true. The part of his brain that had screamed the warning a moment ago continued to scream it, and he knew that it was right. He had to let go of the power, or he would die. But he was afraid that if he let it go, he would never be able to hold it again. And that thought terrified him. Holding on to the power was like nothing he had ever felt before and the feeling was amazing.
But his uncle was right. If he continued to hold it, it would kill him. He looked at his father again, and tears were now flowing freely from his eyes, which were huge with concern. Louis hated to see his father cry.
Finally, and with great reluctance, Louis released his hold on the power. He looked at Uncle Harper, who smiled at him with relief. And then everything went black and Louis knew nothing.