Diary of a Demon Hunter 4: Doubly Dying Read online

  “Tell me about it.”

  * * *

  “She used blood from the vial,” said Auren. “If it had been her blood, I could probably unlock it.”

  “That’s a helluva spell,” agreed Mrs. P. “It might take a while, but it can be broken.”

  “We don’t have time,” said Raphael as he stood up.

  Sarah was tending to Margie, but the rest of them had convened at the elevator. Actually, they had chased Rafe to the elevator. The magic of the symbol threw up a wall every time someone tried to cross it.

  “If I know Maggie, she’s put other symbols on the upper floors.” Rafe studied the symbol again. “She’s too damned smart.”

  “We can’t get through, no matter how we shape-shift,” said Auren. “She covered all forms.”

  “No, she didn’t,” said Mrs. Pottersworth.

  Everyone looked at Mrs. P.

  “I’m not really an Elf,” she admitted with a smile. “I’m a dragon.”

  * * *

  Maggie made one more stop before heading toward the location given to her by Celeste.

  The portal was in a graveyard on the other side of town. Maggie felt time ticking away second by second. Worried that her friends might already be searching for her, she knew she had to get into Heaven before they found her.

  Unlike the cemetery where her parents were buried, this one was large, well-kept, and offered the impression of a lovingly tended park. She hurried toward the small chapel. Inside it were the crypts and in one was a walkway into the highest realm any creature could obtain. Well, most creatures. Some beings, by either their born natures or unrepentant natures, would never reach the domain of the God and the Goddess.

  How Abatu had squirmed into the pearly gates was still a mystery to her.

  The chapel was low-lit and very quiet. Maggie’s boot heels rang on the marble floor as she walked quickly to the correct crypt.

  In curling script was a quote from the book of Mark: There are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.

  “Yeah,” said Maggie as she fit the token into the circle beneath the words, “but I bet you didn’t count on a demon being the one in power.”

  The token clicked into the slot. Maggie felt a hum of energy then a bright light encompassed her.

  * * *

  “Ah,” said the statuesque blonde. “The ex-fiancé.”

  Behind the glossy black desk, she sat in a huge leather chair with her bare feet propped on the glass top. She was dressed in a silk robe, uncaring about the amount of cleavage showing or that the material threatened to reveal if she was a real blonde.

  “Ex-fiancé?” Raphael felt his heart drop to his toes.

  “Traded me your beautiful ring,” she said. She held up her right hand and he saw the purple glow of the demonfire gem. His guts clenched. Even though he had given Maggie an ultimatum, he had believed they would work out their relationship. Obviously she had no qualms about using the symbol of his love as a bargaining chip. Maggie had abandoned him.

  “What did she get in return?” he asked.

  “I’m Celeste,” said the woman, ignoring his question. “And you are the yummy Raphael.”

  “I know who I am. And I don’t care who you are. Where the hell is Maggie?”

  She laughed. “I’m a neutral being, Raphael. I do not give aid to either side. However, I am a woman who loves her comforts. I’m amicable to a trade.”

  “You’ll give me information, if I give you something you want.”

  “The demonfire led you here, didn’t it? What part of yourself did you add to it?”

  Raphael grimaced.

  “Maybe you attached strings to it -- the same way you attached strings to your love. You made her feel like she didn’t deserve you.”

  “How the hell could you know that?”

  “Perhaps she told me,” said Celeste as she slid her legs off the desk and gracefully rose from her chair. “Weeping and repentant, she sought out my comfort and advice. And I told her no man who would tell her what you did deserved another second of her consideration.”

  “Liar.” Raphael watched Celeste slink around the desk. “Maggie doesn’t cry. She chose vengeance over love and killing Abatu over trusting me.”

  “Really?” Celeste stood in front of him, her blue eyes raking his body. “Is that what she said?”

  “It’s what she did.”

  “You two have such communication problems.” Celeste tugged on the sash of her robe and the material parted to reveal her lush body. “Ask me what I want, demon.”

  “I don’t need your help. I know where she went.”

  “But you don’t have a token, do you? And you don’t know which portal she used. And you don’t have your beautiful ring, either.”

  Raphael gritted his teeth. Finally, he said in a low voice, “What do you want?”

  “You.”

  “No.”

  Celeste peered at him. “What else do you have to offer? Don’t bother with prisms or paranormal weapons. Maggie tried that route, too.”

  Raphael was silent. He had nothing else to offer her and she knew it. As a demon and an indentured servant to the High Council he had done much worse than using his body to get what he wanted. The longer he tried to bargain, the longer it would take to get to Maggie.

  “I want a Heaven token, a portal location and the ring.”

  “Hmm. That’s a lot of wants. What do I get?”

  “I’ll take any form and you get one sexual act.”

  “Two sexual acts.” Celeste’s blue eyes went molten with lust. “First, you will eat my pussy. Second, you will fuck me with your cock. And you will make me come both times.”

  “And the form?”

  “I want your demon form.”

  “Fine,” said Raphael. “The bargain is made.”

  Celeste let her robe drop off her slim shoulders. Rafe turned into his demon form, incinerating his clothes in the process. He dropped to his knees as Celeste leaned against the desk and spread her legs.

  He parted her labia and ran his tongue on tender flesh, flicking her clit before sliding down to encircle her entrance. Celeste obviously loved sex; she immediately got wet and squirmy.

  “Mmm,” she moaned. “That’s right, baby. Oooooh.”

  Rafe pretended that he liked what he was doing. How many times had he engaged in a sexual act because it had been his job? He thought that when Maggie had broken his bond to the High Council, he would never again have to offer himself as a prize.

  Yet, here he was… giving in to the salacious demands of another Otherworlder who sought only to assuage her own needs. She didn’t care about him or Maggie or the world.

  “Slow down, big boy,” she murmured as Rafe sought out her clit. “You are good. Too good.”

  He ignored the directive. As a demon, he was only required to meet the terms of their bargain. Time had not been a consideration in her request.

  “Oh! Oh!” Celeste grabbed his skull and tried to move his face away from her pussy. “Not yet, damn it!”

  As her fingers uselessly pushed on his firm, gray skin, he re-doubled his efforts.

  She shattered. Her scream could’ve been anger or joy… he didn’t much care. Rafe climbed to his feet and lifted her to the desk.

  Celeste looked both dazed and furious. “I told you to take it slow!”

  He positioned her ass close to the edge and fitted his cock inside her. Her arms wound around his neck as he began thrusting.

  “I can last all night,” she purred. “I can make myself wait and wait.”

  Rafe smiled. Celeste had no power over her own body. When she’d made her demands, she had given him control of her pleasure. While he fucked her, he morphed two thin extensions from his cock. One wound around her clit and the other flattened and curled just under her entrance to pound at her G-spot.

  Within moments, Celeste went over the edge. Her pussy sucked at him as her fists f
lailed against his back. “Goddamn it!”

  “You don’t sound pleased.” Rafe withdrew from her and stepped away. He morphed into his human form, clothes and all. “The bargain is met.”

  “It could’ve been enjoyable for you,” she said as she took off the ring and threw it to him. “You could’ve made it last much longer than ten minutes. And you could’ve come!”

  “You didn’t include my enjoyment in the terms of the deal,” said Rafe, his tone flat.

  “I get it. I’m just a means to an end,” she said. She rounded the desk, opened a drawer, and withdrew the gold coin. “You sure do know how to make a girl feel special.”

  “I would do anything for Maggie.”

  “With the exception of loving her without stipulations.” She tossed him the coin, her lips curved into a mean smile. “Memorial Park Cemetery. It’s east of town. Go to the Rose Crypt and seek out the center tomb on the right wall.”

  Rafe flamed out of the room and re-appeared in the alley next to the club. Eltar, Auren, Mrs. P, and Deb waited for him.

  “What took so long?” asked Auren.

  “She wanted to bargain with me,” said Rafe. “I have what we need. We need to go to Memorial Park Cemetery.”

  “Better back up, dearies,” said Mrs. P. Having watched the woman transform into a dragon when she busted out of the mansion, everyone hastily backed up.

  In one instant, Mrs. P was a sweet grandmotherly Elf and in the next, she was a dragon -- a very, very large black, scaly, fearsome dragon.

  Everyone climbed onto her back and held on as she rose into the night sky and flew toward the Memorial Park Cemetery.

  “What’s going on?” asked Auren as the dragon landed on the wide road that cut through the cemetery.

  Shuffling corpses were headed toward the main street. Next to them were at least forty bodies in various positions of getting out of their graves. More scrabbling, scratching, and creaking noises resounded throughout the grounds.

  “Zombies,” said Deb. “Someone’s calling them.”

  “Why?” asked Eltar. “They can’t really do all that much.”

  “Distraction, maybe. Keep the humans busy until the demon hordes arrive,” said Raphael. “Abatu is making his move.”

  “I’ll stay here and try to minimize the zombie problem,” said Deb.

  “I will accompany you,” offered Eltar.

  “Me, too,” said the gravelly voice of Mrs. P. “A dragon may come in handy.”

  “I’m going with you,” said Auren to Rafe. “I can’t do shit about zombies, but I may be able to help Maggie.”

  “Let’s go,” said Rafe.

  They took off toward the Rose Crypt. Please, prayed Rafe to whatever deity might be listening, let us get there in time.

  * * *

  As Maggie walked the streets of Heaven, she realized what an irony it was to be alive in a place meant for the dead. It was beautiful here. The grass was green, the flowers beautiful and plentiful, and the trees offered picnic shade.

  The buildings were low and flat and white. Everything was clean and perfect, even the blue, cloudless sky. The weather was perfect, too.

  Yet everywhere she had gone felt wrong and empty. She hadn’t run into a single human soul or an angel or even a demi-god.

  Where was everyone?

  “Abatu!” she yelled. “Get your sorry ass out here!”

  No answer.

  Had he already conquered Heaven? Had he started his attack on Earth? Her heart beat in dread. She dropped the bag with her weapons. From a small satchel attached to her belt, she removed an oval-shaped crystal.

  “I have your daughter!” she yelled. “C’mon, Abatu!”

  “You really must want to die,” said a silky voice.

  Maggie whirled around. Abatu had chosen his demon form: He was seven feet tall, sported red skin and red eyes, two thick horns jutted from his bald head and his long, whip-like tail flicked behind him. Red fur coated him from his waist to his black, cloven hooves. He looked every inch like the Hollywood version of Satan.

  Fear chilled her, but she’d come too far and sacrificed too much to chicken out. She held up the crystal and said, “You want her? Come and get her!”

  Chapter 6

  From the diary of Maggie Mortis…

  “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned, forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”

  ~ 1 John 4:18

  “If sweet, sweet God loves you so, then I will make you worthy of His love. But it’s only in the face of horror that you truly find your noble self, and you can be so noble. So… I will bring you pain, I will bring you horror.”

  ~ Gabriel in Constantine (Warner Bros. 2005)

  * * *

  Abatu wasted no time in attacking Maggie. The red lightning emitted from his hand. She dove out of the way, but the bolt razed her left arm, singeing her demon-proof suit and burning her skin.

  “Shit!” Holding on to the crystal for dear life, she darted away, looking for shelter. She ducked into a building, only to find the door locked. Doors locked in Heaven? What the fuck!

  “Heaven’s on lockdown,” said Abatu as he trailed after, apparently in no hurry. “Ever since I revealed my presence, everyone shit their collective pants and ran away.”

  “Aw. Did they hurt your feelings?”

  Abatu laughed. “Of all my heirs, Maggie, you’re the one I hate the most. You don’t know how to show respect to your elders.”

  “I don’t respect you,” she called over her shoulder. She was hauling ass up a gentle sloping hill. What are you doing, moron? Running away was stupid. Abatu would catch her eventually. At the top of the hill, she stopped. Her body shook violently as she removed the precious vial of blood from her weapons belt. She managed to unstop it.

  She held it at the ready as she turned around.

  Abatu strolled up the hill. He grinned, his white jagged teeth a sharp relief against his red lips. In the blink of an eye, he appeared next to her.

  “Give me the crystal.”

  “No.” With the opened vial clenched in her fist, she threw the blood at Abatu. In her other hand, the crystal burned her palm. Pain radiated down her arm.

  He disappeared.

  As horror pulsed through her, Maggie watched the blood speckle the grass. The green blades died instantly. Damn it!

  Abatu reappeared on the other side of her. “You’re not a threat to me, Maggie.” He raised his arms as if to encompass the whole of Heaven. “The God and the Goddess have abandoned their own domain in fear of me. You are nothing but a buzzing fly… one that I need only to swat.”

  Maggie felt an immense pressure in her skull. Pain slammed into her mind and drove her to her knees.

  “Give me the crystal.”

  She shook her head, but of its own accord, her arm rose to offer up the sleeping child of Abatu.

  The demon pried it out of her hand.

  Maggie was forced to the ground, her face pressed against the earth. She could smell the essence of roses planted just a few feet away. She could feel the dirt grinding against her cheek. She could hear the faraway call of her name.

  “You have given me the world,” he said as he cupped his prize. “With the blood of my child, I shall --”

  The invisible hand crushing the life out of her eased enough for her to lean on an elbow. She stared at Abatu, but she was in too much pain to enjoy his shock.

  “What have you done?” he roared. His hands smoked then flamed. As the acrid smell of burning flesh scarred the air of Heaven, Abatu’s hands turned to ash. The crystal fell to the soft earth.

  The magical fire raced up his arms.

  “No!” he screamed. “No!”

  Maggie couldn’t form words. Though her vision was no longer graying and she could breathe again, she wasn’t yet capable of speech. But she was capable of tears and those fell freely as she watched the fire engulf Abatu’s torso and legs.

  A smile pulled on her lips as s
he watched her family’s enemy turn to dust. But Abatu had not left this realm yet. His eyes glowed red and Maggie realized she wasn’t going to live after all.

  * * *

  Rafe and Auren ran down the clean-swept street toward the two people on the hilltop. Maggie was on all fours, one hand outstretched toward the disintegrating Abatu.

  “Maggie!” Rafe screamed. “Maggie!”

  Twin red beams emitted from Abatu and struck Maggie.

  “No!” cried Rafe as he watched Maggie collapse.

  Ten seconds later, they reached the hilltop. Abatu’s corporeal form was nothing but ash, which was carelessly tossed away by the gentle breeze. As Rafe dragged Maggie into his arms, Auren sifted through the ash.

  “She did it,” murmured Auren. “He’s gone.”

  “Maggie? Baby?” Rafe tapped her cheek, but she was limp and unresponsive. He put an ear to her chest and heard no heartbeat. She wasn’t breathing. Her body smelled charred and her torso had taken most of the damage. The demon-proof suit had not withstood Abatu’s final, brutal attack.

  “Ow!” Auren dropped the crystal she had found among the ashes. “It’s hot. It’s got… oh, crap. She put the poisoned blood onto the crystal holding Abatu’s daughter.” She looked at Rafe. “She knew he’d take the stone.”

  Her gaze swept Maggie’s damaged palm. “It must’ve hurt like hell to hold it while she waited for him to take the bait.”

  Rafe barely heard her. Grief slammed into him. “She’s gone, Auren.”

  “No,” she said softly, her voice breaking, “she can’t be gone. She’s… she’s invincible.”

  “Do not worry, my child,” said a lyrical female voice. “She is merely sleeping.”

  He raised his eyes to two figures who were surrounded by light so bright, their forms were merely golden outlines. Auren’s mouth dropped open and she knelt before the God and the Goddess.

  “Rise, daughter,” said the God. “You are welcome here.”

  “I am but a demon,” said Auren.

  “It is true you were born a demon,” said the Goddess, “but your choices reveal your true self. You have entered Heaven to save your sister. You have chosen an act of love.”