Blood Moon's Servant: A Paranormal Thriller Page 27

  You’re doing great, Charles said, his voice now loud and clear. You’re not going to hurt her. Take a breath and back away. And whatever you do, do not let go of that knife.

  Don’t listen to them. Alex’s words were raw with panic. Damien forced him backward into a corner of Peter’s mind. She’s a parasite, an infectious blot on your life.

  You’re the parasite, Damien snorted. You feed off everyone around you until you bleed them dry.

  Who the hell are you? Alex shrieked, all semblance of calm gone.

  I’m Damien Gray. I believe Max mentioned me? Darkness hounded Alex and squashed him into a miniscule crevice of Peter’s mind.

  Alex cursed wildly and abandoned Peter’s thoughts. A black wall of darkness chased him away. Peter collapsed to the ground with the knife still clutched in his fist.

  That was awesome! Charles congratulated Damien on a jubilant burst of victory. He had forgotten, if only for the briefest of moments, that Damien was a Dark and they were still sworn enemies.

  Chris dove for Kimmy, blade in hand. He plunged it deep into her chest with way more strength than an eleven-year-old ought to possess. Kimmy slid down the side of the squad car and crumpled into a heap on the ground. Blood gushed onto her uniform. Peter leapt to his feet and threw Chris off of her.

  Alex materialized out of nowhere. He plucked Chris off the ground and dove into a navy-blue SUV that had rolled up in near silence. Charles staggered forward with horror lurching in his gut. Alex had freed the pilot and sent him to retrieve their getaway vehicle. Charles made a wild grab for Nova. His hand grazed her pantleg as she leapt into the back seat beside Chris. The SUV sped away before she even slammed her door.

  The night was once again filled with the chirping of crickets. The peaceful sound was unnatural in the wake of the battle.

  Peter cradled Kimmy in his arms, his face taut with grief. Charles nudged his shoulder. “Get into the squad car and drive.” Peter ignored him. Charles went to snatch Kimmy from his arms. Peter clung to her with his face scrunched as if he was struggling not to cry. “Dude! She’s an angel! She can heal herself. Hell, I can help heal her, but we need to follow Alex. He’s trying to murder Zack and Amy and whoever else happens to be with them at the time.”

  “She’ll be okay?” Peter stared at him in wonder.

  “Yes. Put her hand over the wound.”

  They laid Kimmy in the back seat. Charles placed a hand on her stomach and began using his own life force to begin the healing process. Peter jumped into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

  Someone pounded on the passenger-side window. Charles jerked his gaze from Kimmy and gaped out the window in shock. A girl stood bathed in the glow of the blood red moon, her fiery auburn hair cascading down her back in wild waves. Jessie stared at them with shock in her emerald green eyes.

  Peter yanked open the passenger-side door. “Get in. You shouldn’t be out here by yourself.”

  Jessie shot him a look with more weight than any words. Anywhere is safer than in a car with you. Charles beckoned with a finger. She scrambled into the front seat in a state of frazzled confusion. Peter careened out of the tiny airport parking lot and hit the sleepy country roads way too fast.

  “What’s happening?” Jessie shrieked over her shoulder.

  “We’re following Alex!” Charles screamed back. “Why are you here?”

  “I followed you from campus. I thought you were in trouble with the way you left the cafeteria. It looked like Kimmy had arrested you.”

  Charles fought the insane urge to laugh. Jessie to the rescue.

  “How much did you see back there?” Peter took a sharp right turn and careened onto the highway.

  “Chris stabbed Kimmy!”

  “Alex was coercing him.” Charles gave himself a mental pat on the back. He had told her the truth without mentioning anything supernatural.

  Sirens split the night in two. Flashing lights appeared behind their car. An officer pulled level with them and waved Peter toward the shoulder.

  Jessie swiveled in her seat and gaped out the back window. “Why are they trying to arrest us? We’re in a squad car.”

  Their police radio crackled, and a male voice barked orders. “Car six-thirty, pull over to the side of the road. I repeat, car six-thirty, your identity has been compromised, and you must surrender your vehicle.”

  “They think we stole a squad car!” Peter clenched the wheel in an iron grip and sped up.

  Jessie reached into the back seat and snatched Kimmy’s badge off her uniform. She fiddled with the controls for the radio and spoke in a brusque, business-like tone. “This is Officer Kimmy Wolf of car six-three-zero. Tell your men to stand down, or you’ll find yourselves on the way to court for assisting a fugitive.”

  Charles’s eyes were as wide as they could stretch. “Geez, Jessie! Do you have any idea how much trouble you could get into for impersonating a cop?”

  “Do you think it will work?” Peter’s knuckles were turning white.

  Charles glanced out the window. Their police escort had dropped out of sight. “I don’t know. But if we pull over now, they’re going to think we stabbed a cop to steal her car and impersonate her.”

  Jessie flicked on the siren. Peter drove even faster and managed a manic grin. “Cool! I’ve always wanted to be on the other end of a police chase.”

  Forty-three

  ALEX FOUGHT TO keep his hold over Chris as a thousand screeching sirens wailed in his head. Chris’s thoughts were tumbling over one another like clothes on an endless spin cycle. He had stabbed Kimmy. Why had he stabbed Kimmy? Alex had made him do it, but how? It was he, Chris, who had plunged the knife into her chest. Why had he stabbed Kimmy? Alex made a disgusted face. The eleven-year-old’s thoughts were pathetic. He longed to break their link, but it was the only thing keeping Chris from flinging himself out the window.

  “What did you make me do?” Chris sobbed. Alex motioned for Roy to step on it. They burnt rubber as they accelerated onto a quiet suburban street. “Let me out!” Chris dove for the open door.

  Alex pressed his lips into a disapproving frown. Nova’s whirling emotions had obliterated the calm she had been channeling to Chris. Alex passed her a chloroform-soaked rag. “Make him shut up, or I’ll do it myself.” The last thing he needed was Zack’s idiot younger brother attracting attention during their drive.

  Nova pinned Chris to the seat and pressed the rag to his face. He sobbed once and went limp.

  “You’re not going to kill him, right?” Nova dropped the rag with a look of revulsion.

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “Just kill Zack. Chris never did anything to you.”

  “Shut the hell up.” He flicked on the radio and blasted gangster rap as they careened onto the highway.

  A broad smile spread across his face as he alerted the local police to a disturbance at the airport via a concerned neighbor. He implanted images of two hoodlums making off with a squad car in the heads of a middle-aged couple and let the law take care of the rest. “Take that, Jenkins. You’re headed back to jail for stabbing your cop girlfriend.” Kimmy was going to die, Charles and Peter were about to get arrested, and he, Alex, was off to happily murder Zack.

  They cut the four-hour drive in half and roared up to Amy’s house at a quarter to three. The Super Dark was waiting out front like a well-trained guard dog. Alex sighed. Max was nearly as useless as Nova.

  “So, your Damien Gray. I’m Alex Cardelle.”

  “I know. I’ve met you before.”

  Alex jolted with shock. Damien’s eyes were different, but… “Holy crap, it’s you.” A lifetime ago, Damien had been close with someone Alex had cared for very much. He struggled to get passed it and ignore how hard it was. “Look, bro. We fought on the same side before. Let’s do it again. Wouldn’t it make a nice change to wind up on the winning side for once?”

  “If you so much as think about harming the humans in that house, you’ll answer to me.” />
  “Oh, I’ve thought of it at length.” Alex sneered. “How would Amy look⸻” Damien slashed at him with darkness. He ghosted aside. “Oh dear. It seems I’ve hit a nerve. I could have shown Amy mercy, but if you want to do this the hard way, far be it from me to stop you.” His brief friendship with Damien was nothing compared to the Blood Moon’s needs.

  “Touch her and you die.”

  Alex laughed. “You’re so much like Zack. I’m sure you’ll become smashing friends in the afterlife.”

  Chris vanished from the back seat. Alex spun in a circle to see where Damien had stashed him.

  “What you doing, Alex? Trying to dance?”

  “What did you do with him?” Nova sprung at Damien like an angry rattlesnake.

  Damien stumbled backward. Alex slashed his chest with darkness. Damien threw up his hands. Nova screamed as a black gust of darkness hurled her into the SUV’s metal frame. Alex ghosted her into the ground before Damien was able to capture her. He zipped around to the back of the house with superhuman speed and wound up next to Nova as she popped out of the dirt.

  Damien appeared on a whoosh of darkness. Alex found Chris in an upstairs bedroom and sucked him through the house in the nick of time. He lifted Chris into the air and used the boy as a human shield. Damien hurled a javelin of darkness and nearly impaled Chris. His face went ashen.

  “What’s the matter, Gray? Afraid to use your powers? Wonder what your new besty would say if you accidentally killed his brother?”

  A screech of tires tore through the quiet night. Alex scanned the street with darkness and cursed under his breath. The angel, the mage, and a couple of useless humans had arrived to take him down. Anxiety snaked through his gut. His police deterrents had been thwarted. Alex charged for the house with Chris, his human shield, in tow. He would kill as many of them as possible before making his escape.

  Holy light tangled around his ankles. He tripped and landed in the dirt. The ground rose up and blew into his eyes, and every rock in the yard hurled itself at his head. He choked on the dust, inhaling some as he coughed. Alex threw up a shield of darkness to protect his face and soared high into the air. An avalanche of rocks chased after him and beat mercilessly against his body. He was trapped in the midst of a hailstorm of pain.

  “Charles!” Peter’s shout was raw with fear. “Look out!”

  Alex looked down into the face of his sworn enemy. Charles’s gaze was locked on him, his eyes gleaming with hate. Alex smirked. He hadn’t known Charles was capable of fighting back. His victory would be short lived, though. Nova was creeping up behind him with a noose of darkness in her hands.

  Alex pumped a fist. Nova would distract the mage while he took out the angel. He forced darkness down Kimmy’s throat and lodged it in her windpipe, flashing his teeth in a shark’s grin as she choked. Murdering cops via suffocation was his specialty. He pinned Kimmy to the ground and wrapped his hands around her neck. Peter was busy keeping Nova from murdering Charles. Alex was free to fulfill his promise to Kimmy. “I found you,” he whispered in her ear. “No one here can save you.” Holy light burned his hands where he touched her. It was worth it to watch her die.

  Pain erupted within him, scorching his mind and obliterating all thought. His nerves stung like invisible razor blades were playing them like a guitar. He stared down at his arms as his skin burst open and blood ran down his wrists. The same thing was happening to his chest, back, and stomach. A jolt of fear rocked him to his core. He was bathing in his own blood.

  He released Kimmy and dove for cover beneath the rotting front porch. Since when did angels go around causing that much damage? Things had changed while he had been in prison. Alex felt eyes on him. He looked up and gulped. Damien stood on the porch, staring down at him with undisguised hate. The Super Dark was the one with the horrifying blood power. A distant part of him felt a pang of betrayal.

  Alex looked around for an escape and forgot all about Damien. Peter was gently holding Nova at the edge of the yard. Fury exploded within him like an atomic bomb. She wasn’t even trying to resist. His sister’s loyalty was better won through love than fear. Peter had always had a certain power over her, a connection with her Alex had never understood. Why did she let humans exert such control?

  Charles and Kimmy were closing in on either side, and Damien just stared as he bled. “Let’s make one thing clear,” Alex spat, the air around him rippling with rage. “I enjoy the sight of others’ blood. I do not enjoy the sight of my own.”

  Kimmy’s pretty face was a mask of rage. “Well, Alex, unlike you, we don’t delight in torture. We’ll make your death as painless as possible.”

  “You went too far this time,” Peter chipped in. “The OSC, whatever that is, has given Kimmy permission to⸻”

  Alex laughed a wild, mirthless laugh, and a small, distant part of him registered the madness. “You are so stupid! You don’t even know what you’re talking about. You were enlightened, what, two days ago? You are a child.” He shot a spear of darkness at Peter, aiming straight for his heart. Holy light, magical energy, and two different types of darkness blocked his path. Anger exploded within him, so violent and so blinding it threatened to cause an aneurysm. Why did everyone love Peter Jenkins?

  “It’s over, Alex.” Nova trembled where she stood.

  “Oh, no. This isn’t over until I say it’s over.”

  Charles fixed him with a level stare. “If you try escaping through the ground, I’ll make sure it crushes you.”

  Alex raised a skeptical brow. When had Charles grown a pair? He was going to wipe that stupid smug look off his know-it-all face. “I’m not here to escape, Banks. I’m here to kill.” He made a dark link with her as the clock tolled three. Lara, revenge is calling.

  Forty-four

  DAMIEN STRUGGLED TO think through his mounting anxiety. He had to escape before Alex showed up, or all of them would die. Empty threats were a concept Alex had never understood. Damien took a breath and weighed his options. He could use darkness to free himself, act now, and answer to the OSC later. But he liked Amy and Zack. Traumatizing them was out of the question. Besides, he wasn’t Officer Kimmy Wolf. He couldn’t get away with enlightening humans left, right, and center.

  He huffed out a frustrated sigh and shot Amy a suspicious frown. Max should never have been able to get his hands on her pistol, let alone take control of both weapons. Either Amy had grown laughably stupid, something she had never, ever been, or she had decided to help him. Why was she risking everything for Max of all people? Damien gritted his teeth and skewered him with a narrow-eyed scowl. This was all his fault. Amy and Max shared a connection he had never understood.

  Pressure mounted inside his head. Time was running out. Alex would be breaking down their door in under five minutes. Damien needed to free himself, move Amy and Zack to safety, and stop Alex from killing anyone he came across, including Chris, Alex’s underage hostage and the brother of the guy he was guarding. Talk about a doozie of a to-do list. He set his lips in a grim frown. He had to use his powers, there was no way around it. Maybe he could do it without them noticing? He sent tendrils of darkness into Amy’s, Zack’s, and Max’s minds. The darkness worked like a supercharged sedative.

  Zack sagged against the armrest, Max slid onto the floor, and Amy slumped into Damien’s lap. “Sorry,” he apologized as he laid her on the couch. “This is for your own good.”

  He sprinted outside as Alex and company sped up in a navy-blue SUV. Damien took one look at them and blanched. He had forgotten about Nova. He was outnumbered, and he was going to lose. Best case scenario, he kept them outside until Kimmy and the others arrived.

  He made a dark link with Charles. You might want to hurry up a bit.

  We’re almost there. Charles’s voice was taut with tension. Don’t let him in that house!

  What do you think I’m doing this for?

  Alex and Nova vanished, a trail of shifting ground in their wake. Damien tore around the house in hot pursui
t with a battering ram of darkness. Chris rose up into the air in front of Alex, and Damien narrowly missed impaling him. He gasped in a breath and pressed a trembling hand to his pounding heart. That had been way too close.

  Nova sprang forward and surrounded him with spikes of darkness. Alex made a break for the house. Damien flung spike after spike back at Nova. The little girl was good.

  Alex fell to the ground with his ankles wrapped in holy light. Kimmy zoomed past Damien atop a glowing white lightning bolt. Alex paled at the sight of her.

  Kimmy had arrived with an entourage. Damien watched Charles, Peter, and Jessie scramble from Kimmy’s squad car through his dark link with Charles.

  “Wait, no.” Charles grabbed Jessie’s arm. “You have to stay here. This is way too dangerous for you.”

  “You are so old school!” Jessie yanked her arm free. “This is the twenty-first century, Charles. Women go to war.”

  Damien grinned to himself. No wonder Jessie and Amy were close. The girls shared a certain fire. Charles. Help Kimmy with Alex? He made sure the thought came across as a request, rather than an order. Charles was sensitive to those things.

  Charles used his affinity for the elements to make the ground attack Alex. Damien wrapped a net of darkness around Nova to segregate her from the worst of the battle. The girl was as vicious as her older brother, but she was a child and Peter wanted her safe.

  Jessie was fighting as hard to join the battle as Nova was struggling to escape her net. Dude, Damien said through the link, she’s not enlightened. She can’t be allowed to see this!

  Don’t you think I know that? Charles flung his arms around Jessie and kissed her, with passion. Jessie gaped at him in stunned disbelief. “Please. Stay here where it’s safe.”

  She tottered back to the squad car with an enormous grin spreading across her face.

  “Come on, Hot Lips,” Peter said as he and Charles charged for the battle. “Less smooching, more rock throwing.”