Demonfire (37 page)

Dax pulled more energy from
Willow. Power surged through him and erupted from his fingertips in wave after
wave of fire, searing the creature with roiling flames that rolled off its
grotesque body.

A few small trees and shrubs
burst into flame, lighting the darkness. The cursed tattoo slithered to life,
beginning its writhing dance across his flesh. Dax ignored it. He felt Willow’s
strength falter. He called on her for more. Somehow, she gave it.

Eddy arrived, gasping and out
of breath, but she circled around behind Dax to get to Ed. Alton moved into
position beside Dax, sword in hand, ready to strike.

Bumper growled but stayed
back, out of the way of the fire. The serpent pulsed against Dax’s body, and
agony ripped through him as it pulled itself free. The tongue slashed beneath
his chin. He had mere seconds before the snake buried its fangs in his throat.

Then he felt Eddy’s hands
grabbing the serpent. She stood behind him with her arms around his body,
holding the snake, preventing it from attacking.

Protected now for however long
she could hold it back, Dax continued throwing flame at the gargoyle. It had
almost doubled in size since the day before, and like a giant living torch, it
lunged toward him.

Alton leaped forward and swung
his sword, but the creature knocked it aside, twisted around, and landed fully
on Alton, crushing the Lemurian to the ground beneath his huge body. Then,
moving almost too quickly to follow, it leapt to its feet, reached up, and
snatched Willow out of the air. Huge talons impaled and crushed her tiny body.
Her blue sparkles disappeared. Dax’s flames died.

The gargoyle popped the sprite
into his mouth, chewed obscenely, and swallowed. Eddy cried out in protest, but
she still held on to the serpent as Dax backed them both away. Another loud
shot rang out. Ed leaned against the side of the Jeep and fumbled with the
spent casings as he struggled to reload the shotgun.

He’d obviously aimed wide to
draw the creature’s attention. It worked all too well. With its leathery hide
smoking but no longer flaming, the gargoyle launched itself at Ed before he
could reload. Dax pulled out of Eddy’s grasp and raced after the gargoyle.

He had no weapons, and he
sensed that his time was almost over, but he was sure he had what he needed:
focus and his will to complete his mission, to save Ed Marks. To leave Eddy in
a safer world. He threw himself at the gargoyle and landed on its back between
the huge wings. The creature’s hide was slippery with its corrosive blood, and
it burned through Dax’s clothing and into his skin.

Bumper rushed at the creature
and sunk her teeth into its back leg, biting deep in spite of the burning
blood. The gargoyle kicked hard, and Bumper went flying. Her body bounced off a
stunted tree and lay still.

Flames still flickered from a
few burning trees and shrubs, but in their wavering light, Dax couldn’t tell if
the dog lived or died. The serpent on his body came to life once more as he
wrapped his arms around the gargoyle’s throat. Ignoring the slithering reptile,
Dax squeezed with all the strength left in him.

It wasn’t enough. The gargoyle
reached around and plucked him off its back as if he were nothing more than a
nuisance. A very small nuisance. It held him high, staring into Dax’s eyes with
much more intelligence than Dax ever expected the creature to possess. The
cursed tattoo chose that precise moment to sink its fangs deep into Dax’s
throat. Agony seared his flesh. Corrosive venom poured into the big vein in his
neck.

Then the gargoyle lifted him
high in its powerful talons and twisted his body, snapping bone and tearing
muscle.

Dax winked out.

“No!” Eddy screamed. Dax hit
the rocky ground in a twisted, bloody heap. He lay without moving. The gargoyle
ignored Eddy completely and turned its attention back to her father. She looked
to her right, to Alton for help. He lay still, either unconscious or dead,
barely visible in the flickering light from a few burning shrubs. Bumper had
stopped barking. Eddy couldn’t see her anywhere. It was too dark.

But she could see the crystal
sword. It lay beneath Alton’s body, glowing brightly. He’d warned her not to
touch it. Had told her she could be killed if she ever tried to wield it.

At this point, she didn’t give
a damn.

She’d lost her bat when she’d
tried to quell the cursed serpent on Dax’s chest. Now she reached for the
crystal sword. She wrapped her fingers around the jeweled hilt, surprised by
the perfect fit. She tugged, and it slipped from beneath Alton’s body, lighter
than she’d expected.

She spun around, held it high,
and raced toward the gargoyle. The creature hovered over her father, arms
spread wide and talons extended as Ed crouched down low beside the wrecked
Jeep. He grasped the useless shotgun in both hands like a club.

Eddy didn’t pause, didn’t take
time to think. She merely leapt at the gargoyle to gain the height she needed,
and swung the crystal sword.

It made a clean pass through
the thick neck and came out the other side. The creature’s head wobbled a
moment, and then toppled neatly to the ground as Eddy collapsed beside it. She
didn’t have either the energy or the will to go after the thick, sulfurous mist
that poured out of the body and disappeared into the night.

A body that shattered into
fragments of stone and toppled to the ground.

Dax blinked and saw nothing.
Felt nothing. No heartbeat. No need to breathe. Darkness was absolute, silence
complete.

Damn. He recognized this
place. He was back in the void.

He’d failed. He searched
memories and realized the last thing he recalled was the horrible pain when the
serpent sunk its venomous fangs into his throat and the gargoyle mangled his
human body. The body he no longer had.

If he could have, he would
have sighed. When he failed, he did one hell of a job. No chance at Paradise
now. No opportunity to tell Eddy again how much he loved her. At least he had
his memories, but time had no meaning here, and he’d brought fear with him,
too. Was Eddy okay? Had she escaped the gargoyle? And what of Alton? Was he
killed when the creature crushed him?

And Willow. Poor Willow. Gone.
What a horrible end to a loyal and faithful friend.

He wanted to weep, but there were
no tears. Not here.

He sensed change. Darkness,
and then light, swirled about him, and he was back in his borrowed body, healed
now, sitting at a long table surrounded by men in white robes. Blinking, he
gazed at the silent faces until he saw one that stopped him cold. It was his
own face, smiling back at him.

“It’s you,” he said,
recognizing the soldier. Sensing his familiar aura of courage. His focus.

The man nodded. “Yes,” he
said. “Thank you. You fought bravely and with honor. Because of you, I’ve gained
Paradise.”

“Because of me?”

“Because of you.”

His image faded and was gone.
And just as quickly, Dax sensed the void in himself, the space the other had
occupied. It wasn’t painful, and there was no sense of loss, but he knew he was
alone now in this body that was suddenly all his.

But why? There was no need of
a body in the void. He raised his head, and his gaze connected with the man
sitting closest to him. Though he’d never seen him before, it was a face he
recognized. Somehow, he knew the white-haired gentleman was one of the elders
who had offered him the chance to battle demons on Earth.

Was it only a week ago?

“We have made a terrible
mistake,” the man said. “Because of our error, you failed. It was not your
fault. It was ours.” He bowed his head. Then he raised it again and once more
looked at Dax. “To atone for our wrong, we offer you eternity in Eden. You are
welcome in Paradise, even though you’ve not completed your part of the bargain.
It’s only fair.”

A mistake?
“What kind of mistake?” Dax met the eyes of each man at the long table. Every
one of them looked away. Suddenly his mind was spinning. He felt hope.
Unbelievable but true.

“What if I said I had already
found Paradise?” Heads turned in his direction, and he forced each man to make
eye contact. “What if I were to ask you for something else to ease your
troubled souls?” He put his hands on the table and smiled at all of them, well
aware of the feral quality in his eyes.
Focus
, he
thought.
It’s all about focus.
“Gentlemen? Are you
at all interested in a deal?”

Eddy sat beside Dax’s body and
held his cold hand in hers. Though he’d died horribly, he actually had a
peaceful expression on his face. There were two deep puncture wounds in his
throat, and his back had been badly twisted, but Alton had helped her
straighten him out so that now he looked merely asleep.

Asleep. Not dead. She’d run
her fingers through his thick hair and straightened the tangled strands. She’d
used her dad’s clean handkerchief dipped in some of her bottled water to wash
the soot and blood off of him.

She glanced up as Alton walked
out of the darkness, carrying Bumper. “Oh.” Eddy’s free hand went to her lips.
She was not going to cry. “Is she…?”

“She’s alive. Still a little
stunned, but she was trying to get up and walk.” Alton sat down beside them and
set Bumper on the grass beside Dax. She rested her chin on his chest and
sighed.

Ed sat down beside Eddy. “I’ve
looked all over and can’t find a trace of Willow. I was hoping I was wrong,
that I didn’t really see her die, but I can’t find her.”

Eddy wiped her hand across her
eyes. None of this seemed real. She glanced over her shoulder, just to make
sure the gargoyle was really dead. The crumbled pile of stone hadn’t moved. “It
hasn’t sunk in yet, what’s happened.” She ran her fingers through Dax’s hair
again. “I keep thinking he’ll wake up and tell me there was a big mistake, that
he’s okay.”

She laughed and sniffed back a
sob. She’d promised herself she wasn’t going to cry when he was gone, but damn,
it was hard. “The demon’s not dead, you know. I blew it. I had the sword, and I
saw the mist escape, but I just couldn’t get to it.”

Alton wrapped his big hand
under her chin and turned her face to his. “You saved all of us, Eddy. You
managed to do what none of us could—you destroyed the demon’s avatar and sent
him back to Abyss. Yeah, he may return, but we’re still alive to fight. We
wouldn’t be, without your bravery.”

“Thank you. I just…I wanted to
do it for Dax. I wanted him to succeed at his mission. That was all he asked
for, to complete his mission with honor.”

She wanted to lie down beside
his still body and hold him until he was warm again. It didn’t feel right, that
he should be so cold and still. She touched his throat, slipped her hand
beneath his shirt, and wondered if the curse had died along with Dax.

For some reason, she needed to
know. She unbuttoned the top buttons on his flannel shirt. There was no sign of
the snake’s head. Frowning, she undid the rest of the buttons, all the way to
his waistband.

“Eddy? What are you doing?” Ed
gently rubbed her shoulder.

She shoved the flannel shirt
open and ran her fingertips over the fresh colors across his chest. The snake
was gone. In its place was a new tattoo, some sort of a bird. She wasn’t sure
what it was. “Alton? Dad? Do you recognize this?”

Alton nodded. “It looks like a
phoenix. The symbol of rebirth. But how…?”

Eddy felt the tears come. This
time she didn’t try to stop them. “Don’t you see?” she sobbed. “It means he
made it. He got into Eden. He’s been reborn in Paradise.” She grabbed his hand
again, and she could have sworn it felt warmer. He’d made it. Thank goodness
he’d gotten his dream.

Bumper whined. Alton ran his
hand along her rumpled coat. “You okay, girl? You took quite a wallop when you
hit that tree. I bet you’re a little sore.”

I’m okay,
but the demon ate my body. I think I’m stuck in Bumper for good
.

“Willow?” The familiar
flutelike voice filled Eddy’s mind. She snapped her head around and stared at
Alton, who looked right back at her with a stupid grin on his face. Then she
stared at Bumper. “Is that you?”

It’s me. I
got my consciousness free just in time to hide in Bumper, but I have no body to
return to. Bumper says she’ll share. She doesn’t mind.

Eddy heard what could only be
a sigh.

I’ve
always liked Bumper. At least I’m still a blonde. And Eddy, Dax is back!

Stunned, Eddy looked at Dax’s
hand. She’d been so sure the phoenix meant he’d made it into Paradise, but…did
his hand really feel warmer, or was that her imagination?

She stared at his throat. The
puncture wounds were gone. A pulse beat, slow and steady. “Dax? Dax, wake up.”
She leaned over him, crawled across him, straddled his body, and held both his
hands against her breasts.

“Eddy? He’s not…”

“Yes he is, Dad. Yes. He is.”
She leaned down and kissed his perfect lips.

He kissed her back. She burst
into tears. She felt his hands come up around her back, felt the steady beat of
his heart beneath her chest, and cried even harder.

Bumper barked and licked his
face. Alton sat beside them with tears streaming from his eyes, and Ed just sat
back and grinned. Still sobbing, Eddy scooted down Dax’s legs and helped him
sit up. He folded her in his arms and rested his cheek against the top of her
head.

Finally, she managed to get
herself under control. “What happened? I thought you were dead. I saw the
gargoyle literally break your body; the snake had his fangs in your throat.
Damn you, Dax! You scared me to death!”