My love. Like every time I saw him, a wave of pleasure tore over me.
Gavin, however, did not seem the least bit happy to see me. He looked at the two of us—Graham leaning over to kiss me, my lips covered with whipped cream—and he staggered backward.
“Gavin, he didn’t . . .” I was cut short by something hot against my throat. Graham held a knife to my neck. I could sense it was the same blade he’d used to kill the girl from the past, the girl who’d gone before me.
“Not another step, or I’ll kill her. You know I will,” Graham warned. “I was wondering when you’d show up,” he added.
I held my breath to keep still. Why is Graham acting like he expected Gavin?
“You’re a little late, though,” Graham continued. “It’s already done. We’re just enjoying dessert now, as you can see.”
Graham opened his mouth, and a long serpent tongue snaked out and licked the whipped cream off my lips. My stomach churned.
Gavin’s face turned dark, and his eyes went wild. He clenched his fists, and was visibly straining against his instinct to lunge. It was killing him to see me in Graham’s arms. I tried to shake my head, to let Gavin know that Graham was lying, but it made the knife dig deeper. I felt the warm trickle of blood on my collar.
“What a pity that you broke the Covenant for nothing,” Graham said. “You couldn’t save her, and now you’ve doomed yourself.”
What is he talking about? What is the Covenant? And why is Gavin doomed? I wondered. How is Gavin even there? I thought he couldn’t enter a demon seat . . .
“Let her go,” Gavin hissed through closed teeth.
“I think not,” Graham answered. “I’m rather enjoying her.”
Gavin roared with equal parts anger and anguish. As he did, his wings burst out from his back. He began to pace, menacingly.
In response, Graham morphed. His skin turned red, slick, and scaly. Scarlet, almost translucent wings sprang from his shoulders, and the muscles on his arms doubled in size. As his shape shifted, his hand on my throat relaxed, and I darted out from under his arm.
Gavin flew across the room, grabbing Graham. They slammed into the wall, sending metal weapons flying. I ducked under the table, narrowly missing being sliced by a passing dagger.
I peeked out and saw that Gavin had Graham by the throat. He lifted the demon, walked toward me, and slammed Graham’s face into the table. I screamed and retreated, as forks and spoons clattered to the floor in a noisy rain around me.
The entire table lifted above me. I looked up and saw that Graham was holding it over his head. He threw it at Gavin, and it splintered over my angel’s broad back. I ran into the fireplace. It was warm, but offered cover from the objects swirling around the room.
Graham started taunting Gavin as they circled each other. “I knew you’d choose love over duty. Not that I blame you. She was quite delicious.”
Gavin raised his lips in a silent snarl.
“Was it worth it?” Graham continued. “Was the love of a worthless human worth your own undoing?”
“The only worthless thing in this room is you!” Gavin spat.
“Not for long, thanks to you.” Graham smirked. “You didn’t think my family would take our punishment forever, did you? We’re jinn, not lowlife incubus! And, finally, we’ll have our honor restored. In fact, once I kill you and the little Abbey girl here, I bet we’ll even get promoted to—”
ARRGGHHH! A guttural scream erupted from Gavin as he charged toward Graham. Graham leapt, and they collided in midair with a sonic boom that rattled the chandelier. Both tumbled around the room, smashing into the walls, the ceiling, then back down to the floor. Every impact left a huge crater behind.
In the flurry of fists and flying, it was hard to tell who was winning. Gavin grabbed Graham by the shoulders and flipped the demon foot over face. From the floor, Graham bit Gavin on his Achilles’ heel. In response, Gavin smashed Graham with a kick in the chest.
They then started pulling weapons off the walls. Gavin launched a javelin into Graham’s thigh. Graham laughed and yanked it out. Graham threw a huge spiked hammer at Gavin. It bounced off Gavin’s forehead like a pinecone off a bear. Human weapons seemed no more dangerous to them than a human throwing a plastic lawn chair in someone’s way—a nuisance, but nothing deadly.
I looked across the room at the Archangel sword. Its flames had gone out, but the glass box was open. I didn’t think Gavin saw it, and Graham didn’t know I had unlocked it. Every time I thought about running over to it, another weapon whizzed across the room. I couldn’t figure out how to get to it without getting killed.
They continued to fight, but eventually, Graham started to tire. His movements slowed, his reflexes weren’t as sharp, and he was taking far more hits than he was delivering. Finally, Gavin landed a powerful punch to the jaw that left Graham motionless on the floor not two feet in front of me. It looked as if Gavin had won. Tears of relief streamed down my cheeks.
I peered over Graham’s back at Gavin. He was bloodied and battered.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“Right as rain,” he said, twisting his lips into a half smile. “You best get out of here before he wakes up. Let me finish him off.”
I shook my head. “I won’t leave you.”
“Won’t leave me, eh?” He raised his eyebrows. “What was that whole scene in the driveway, then?”
“I mean I won’t leave you again. Ever. I promise. I was just coming out to tell you.”
“You were just coming out?” he said incredulously.
“Yeah, I had this under control,” I said.
“This? This?” He motioned around the ruined room. “You had it under control?”
“Well, you came in at a bad time,” I protested. “I was in the middle of a new plan.”
“You were in the middle of something,” he cracked.
I was about to answer when I saw a small glint of light at my feet. Graham had edged over toward the fireplace, reached into the fire, and pulled out a long, flaming fork. In a flash, he was on his feet, seemingly fully recovered, a glowing three-pronged spear leveled at Gavin’s heart.
“Sorry to interrupt the love story,” Graham said with a sigh. “But I believe I have a Satan Trident with Gavin’s name on it.”
He hurled his body toward Gavin, and the fight was back on. And it was now decidedly in Graham’s favor.
Gavin jumped, deflecting the trident away from his chest, but it sliced his shoulder. The blow caused his wings to seize up, and he fell to the ground, his face contorted in pain. I realized that with his own immortal weapon, Graham could very well kill Gavin right in front of me. I had to do something. I had to go for the sword.
Gavin curled into a ball on the floor. Graham stood over him, ready to deliver another blow, when suddenly Gavin’s legs uncoiled against Graham’s chest, sending the demon flying backward, directly toward me. Graham crashed into the stone mantel to my left. The fireplace started to crumble from the impact.
I bolted through the dust and falling mortar toward the opened display box and freed the sword.
“Gavin!” I hollered. “Catch!”
I threw it in the air, and in one swift motion, Gavin leapt up, caught it, and sliced it at Graham. Graham returned the volley with his trident. They dueled, ferociously stabbing and swiping at each other. Sparks flew as the metal armaments connected, filling the air with sharp clangs.
With the fireplace destroyed, the fire jumped from its hearth and onto the thick floor rug. Soon, flames engulfed the entire room.
“Run, Maren, run!” Gavin yelled between thrusts. “Get out of here, now!”
A thick, noxious smoke filled the room, swallowing Gavin and Graham. My eyes burned so badly, I wondered if they might start to boil in their sockets. My throat seized up suddenly, making it impossible to breathe.
I didn’t want to leave, but my body’s need for air overrode all conscious thought. I fumbled for the wall. I would slide my fingertips along the solid surface until I found a doorway. When I hit a solid plane, I picked a direction and ran. I hoped I’d guessed the right way.
If not, I was going to die.
I burst out of the dining room, choking for air. As I sprinted down the hall, the heat from the spreading fire licked at my calves. The clanking of the sword and the trident followed me, and the entire building shook with every supernatural collision.
I might have needed to leave Gavin—for now—but I was not leaving without my grandmother. I raced out the front door, down the driveway, and back toward the car, calling her name, but couldn’t find her anywhere. Graham had lied; he’d never let her go. I looked back at the great house. She must still be somewhere inside.
Shards of glass showered over the side yard as a couple of windows exploded. The fire was moving from the east wing toward the rest of the massive house. If I was going back in to get her, I needed to find her quickly. But how?
I walked up the drive, studying the house from the outside. Was there a clue somewhere? Could I find anything different or out of place?
I scanned the windows for a sign. I followed the pattern of ivy climbing the walls. Nothing. I looked at the sloping sections of roof. And then I saw it. One of the more than twenty chimney stacks did not look like the others. While most were blackened by soot at the top from years of use, the one on the far end of the house—thankfully, the farthest from the fire—was not. It was clean.
What does it mean? I willed my brain to work faster, to find an answer somehow. My body was shaking from adrenaline, and my mind raced. You wouldn’t have a single chimney cleaned and leave the rest dirty. A lack of soot must mean that chimney never had a fire in it. Why would someone build a large brick fireplace, then? A vision popped into my head of a huge tunnel connecting the three floors—a secret passageway to hidden rooms! It was the perfect way to conceal something or someone; no one would ever notice extra rooms tucked in this giant mansion. The fireplace must be the only way in and out of them.
I ran along the wing while counting windows, then back to the front door. Smoke swirled around its edges. I took a deep breath, said a quick prayer, and ducked inside.
I sprinted down the main hallway to the right—away from the ballrooms and dining rooms, toward what I hoped were the living quarters. Eight doors down, I crossed the hall and entered a room without any windows. An elaborately carved canopy bed loomed across from a large open fireplace. The hearth was spotless, no evidence of soot or ash. I stepped inside and looked up the chimney. All I saw was darkness.
As I ran my palms around the interior, the house shook from another supernatural collision. Small pieces of mortar fell onto my face. I needed to hurry.
About a foot above my head, concealed in the shadows of the flue, I discovered a single wooden beam jutting out about a foot from the back of the wall. I reached up on my tiptoes and felt the bottom of another beam slightly higher and to the right. Could it be some kind of ladder or crude staircase? I pushed at the bricks around me, hoping lower steps might magically appear to assist me. Nothing budged. I knew I was at the right place; I could feel it. I just had to get myself up.
I stood sideways against the wall, set my palms on the first plank, and jumped, trying to hoist my body onto it. I missed. My hip slammed into the bricks and I scraped to the floor.
I cursed at the ground. “How about a little help?” I called out to no one in particular. There was no answer. I realized ancestral memories might show me things, but they wouldn’t do things for me. I was on my own.
I looked around the room for something to drag into the fireplace to stand on, but decided against it; once I was up, it would give me away. I needed every second I could get if I was going to find my grandmother before Graham found me.
I rubbed my hands together to psyche myself up. I had to try to climb up even if it meant possibly bashing my face in. I wrapped my wrists around the higher post, did an awkward, painful pull-up, and swung my legs sideways. It worked. Once I caught my ankle on the bottom beam I was able to use that leverage to shift my weight and squirm up until I was standing on the narrow beam. I looked above. As I hoped, there were more posts anchored to the wall, spiraling up in front of me.
I kept my shoulder against the wall, and tried not to think about how small the steps were. I ascended the chimney as fast as I dared, turning the corners carefully, and never looking down.
The climb was longer than I anticipated, and inky black. The chimney was tight enough that I could use both hands against opposite walls for balance, but it was far too confining for my comfort. I took deep breaths and tried not to think about what would happen if I somehow got stuck.
Near where I imagined was halfway up, the wall next to me disappeared into a deep, open rectangle taller than I was. I thrust my toe into the air until I felt the solid floor of a tan alcove beneath my foot. I stepped over and swung my body into the space—and hit a wall. The wall was made of something softer than brick—probably wood—so it didn’t hurt too badly.
With shaking arms, I pulled myself forward. Once I was safely standing, I groped the panel in front of me. It was definitely made of wood. It had to be a door! I braced my legs, twisted the ring, and pushed. The door swung inward, and I landed in a heap on the floor of a dimly lit room.
“Maren!” I felt thin arms fold around me.
“Grandma!” I stumbled to my feet and hugged her tightly. “Thank goodness I found you! Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“No dear, but . . .” she faltered.
“What?” I searched her face for some sign that Graham had harmed her. If he had . . .
“That boy, Graham, he’s not what he seems. He’s a . . .” Again, she paused as if not wanting to scar me with the awful truth.
“He’s a demon,” I finished for her. “I know. That’s why we came here looking for you.”
“We?”
“Me and Gavin.”
“Gavin, your tutor? What does he have to do with any of this?”
A low sonic boom reverberated around the room. The floor quivered.
“It’s a long story,” I said, hugging her tightly. “Let’s get out of here first, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
We turned toward the chimney opening—the only way in or out of the windowless secret room—and froze. I had been followed. A small gray cloud of smoke slunk across the floor. I inched out over the opening. The bottom of the chimney tunnel now flickered beneath me. The fire had spread. There was no going back down.
I ducked inside. “We’re going to have to go up to the roof,” I said. “Can you make it?”
“Aye,” she confirmed. “Lead the way.”
We climbed back into the chimney and up the crude wooden stairs as fast as we could. A couple of times, I heard a slip and a gasp, but my grandmother managed to stay close behind me.
As we climbed, the holy battle continued, shaking the house to its foundations. I tried not to rush, but I didn’t want the chimney to crumble while we were still in it, either.
Finally, I could taste the fresh air. The smoke stack was considerably smaller than our passageway, but we managed to slide out of it one at a time. The roof of Campbell Hall was big enough to land a helicopter on. And really, really high up. I searched for a ladder or fire escape or some other way down. There was nothing.
“What do we do now?” I asked my grandmother.
Jumping was out of the question; no one could survive the fall.
“We wait,” she said.
“For what?”
“A miracle.” She drew me close, and we stared out over the dark forest. It was a beautiful night. I wondered if it might be our last.
Please, God, I prayed, help us out of this mess. I’ll do anything, give anything . . .
A tremendous explosion rocked the entire area. We fell to our knees, and clung tighter to one another. I shut my eyes and braced for the worst. Patterns of red light flickered before my eyelids. For a brief second, I wondered if I was dead. Sirens pierced the cold night air.
The fire brigade was screaming up the drive.
My grandmother and I were safely back on the ground, tucked between two red and yellow fire trucks. Wrapped in a standard-issue emergency blanket I didn’t think we needed, we watched as Campbell Hall tried to survive its own war from within. Repeated explosions shook the ground. Fireballs jumped off the roof. The firemen knew they were helpless against such a blaze, so they too watched as, one by one, the walls crumbled. I gnawed the inside of my cheeks and waited.
Finally, a figure emerged from the smoke and rubble. He walked slowly, as if bruised but not beaten. I knew instantly from his silhouette who had won.
I ducked under the yellow police tape and ran toward him. Gavin was smudged with black sediment and a fair amount of blood, but otherwise, he seemed fine. I dove into his arms and covered him in kisses.
After a minute, he set me down. He was carrying something shiny in his hand, and held it out to me.
“I thought you might want this.” He smiled. It was my rose necklace.
He slipped it over my head and kissed the crown of my hair tenderly. I felt whole again.
“Graham’s dead, right?” I asked, startling as another blast reverberated across the lawn.
“For now,” Gavin said with a nod.
I didn’t want to know what that meant. I was done with demons. Forever.