Ascension (16 page)

Two men were walking down the street. One had a limp. Neither man was very tall, and they both lumbered unnaturally. They did not portray the steady walk of a human or even the stumbling of a drunk. These two lumbered just the way demons did.

Belinda crouched down. Her dress slogged in the mud but there was no help for that. It was never easy to get to her sword out from under a heavy gown. She’d had a discreet pocket cut into most of her day dresses and could slip a hand through to a properly placed weapon. Ball gowns would show such a pocket and so, she had to crouch, lift her skirts and grapple for the weapon. Pulling the ties to the skirt there, in the muddy, London, street within feet of the homes of people she knew, did not appeal to her. Most of them would be out for the evening, but she didn’t risk it.

She wrapped her hand around the hilt and waited.

The demons could see better in the dark than humans, so Belinda kept her weapon behind her back. As they drew closer, she made out the gray skin of treboxes.

They were on the hunt for a capture. One of them held a black bag big enough to hold a human. The memory of being stuffed into a similar bag flashed through her mind. It had been difficult to breathe in the heavy sac and her kidnappers had thrown her around.

Over the years, she’d converted the terror of that night into anger. “Hello, gentlemen. How can I help you?”

One gurgled a response. “Come quietly and you will not be harmed.”

She exposed her weapon and sliced through the air between her and the demons. The blade swooshed through the quiet night. The bubble of excitement in her belly and the speeding of her heart buoyed her spirits. “I tried that once, and you lying bastards almost drowned me. I think we will do it my way this time.”

“You don’t want to play with us, girl.” The demon tried to sound confident, but he paused and hesitated belying his trepidation.

“Oh, but I do,” she cooed.

The one who held the sack jumped straight up in the air and came down with the bag at her head.

Belinda sliced the bag in half and then ducked avoiding the trebox tackling her. She spun, but the skirt slowed her movement and the follow-through of the sword only nicked the demons ribs. Still, it was enough to make the creature hiss and grab his side.

The second trebox leaped forward onto her back. His wiry arm rapped around her neck until breathing was not possible.

Belinda pushed off her feet and fell back with the full force of her weight, knocking the wind out of her attacker.

His arms loosened from around her neck.

She jumped back to standing and stabbed the still-gasping demon through the chest.

Carriage wheels moved toward them, as she pulled her blade from his grey body.

A shot rang out. Demons never used guns.

She turned.

The second trebox lay dead, only a couple of feet behind her.

Thor stood on the carriage, reins in one hand, gun still smoking in the other and eyes wide. “Are you all right, my lady?”

Gabriel was already jumping down with his dirk in one hand and his gun in the other.

“I’m fine.” She looked down at her gown. “Though my dress is ruined. Thank you, Thor. That was a very good shot.”

Thor sat, reloaded his gun and looking around for other demons. “It was nothing.”

Gabriel asked, “Are you are all right, Bella?”

“Yes.” She pointed at the dead demons. “This is just how it happened three years ago. Though, I was not in a darkened street. I was standing waiting for my carriage outside a ball.”

“How odd.”

Her breast swelled with pride. “This is a much better outcome. I quite enjoyed it.”

Gabriel nodded. “You have certainly turned the tables on them, Bella. We will have to get them off the street. I cannot imagine what would happen if these two were discovered in the west end in the morning.”

“Perhaps it would be best if we dumped them in a less conspicuous place. Though they go to ground more quickly than a person does. Their bodies will be nothing but an oily spot on the ground in a day or two.”

“Interesting,” Gabriel said. “I know just the place for them.”

She watched him heave one trebox onto his shoulder and walk off down a narrow alley. He returned a few minutes later and did the same with the other.

“Where do you suppose he has gone to, Thor?” she asked.

“There’s a trash bin down that alley. I imagine his lordship is putting those things in their proper place.”

Excitement hummed in her belly. The night had gone better than expected. The ball, the battle—Belinda was happy, truly and genuinely.

Thor jumped down with his pistol still in his hand and handed her into the carriage.

Gabriel made his way back onto the main street. He climbed into the carriage. “Ready to go to the office, my dear?”

* * * *

Belinda stomped her foot against the office door.

Jamie opened the door down into the office. He looked at Belinda’s dress then up at her face. “Everything all right, Belinda?”

“I have been to a ball.” She laughed and walked down the steps. She couldn’t account for how happy she felt. Killing that demon in the street and Thor and Gabriel finding her, it seemed as if the clock had been turned back. She savored the notion that it was what should have happened years earlier. For the first time, she didn’t regret that night at all. If she not for her captured and near death, she would never had become a demon hunter. The idea was preposterous. She was meant to be a demon hunter.

“Jamie, Is Reece here?” she asked.

From behind her, he said, “Yes. In the main room.”

Reece leaned over the table studying maps.

Gabriel lightly gripped her arm and pulled her to the right. He stepped into a shadowy corner of the room and pulled her close. “Are you all right, Bella? You seem oddly happy and after the events of the evening I’m a little worried that you’re having an episode of some kind.”

She giggled. “I’m very well. Better than I have been in a long time.” She reached up and touched the side of his face. “I am a demon hunter, Gabriel. I do not want to be anything else. If becoming your wife means that I can no longer hunt demons, than I will decline your proposal. This is my condition.” Saying it out loud was as if a large, heavy foot lifted from her chest. She smiled up at him and hoped he could understand.

He leaned his cheek into her palm, turned his head and kissed the sensitive flesh of her hand. “I am not surprised.”

She smiled. “Shall we talk about this later?”

Over her shoulder several hunters were milling around or engaged in some task. “That would be for the best.”

She was about to turn and leave him when he gripped her arm tighter. She looked down at his hand on her elbow and then up at his startling eyes.

“I love you, Bella.” His voice was only a whisper.

“I know you do, Gabriel. I’m grateful that you do, and I love you. Our feelings for each other are not the issue, are they?”

He released her. “No. I suppose not.”

She leaned forward and kissed him quickly on the mouth.

Belinda turned her back to Gabriel and walked fully into the war room. “Reece, why have you summoned me?”

Lillian entered from a back hallway that led to some storage rooms. “Belinda.”

Belinda rushed into the arms of her friend. “Lilly, I was so worried. Why did you leave so suddenly?”

Lillian looked from her to Gabriel who stood a few feet behind. “I had to help someone. Then I had to take her to Scotland.”

At the mention of Scotland, Lillian’s eyes lowered and she shuffled from foot to foot.

“A new student?” Belinda prodded.

“Yes. But, Belinda, I have to tell you something.”

Concern for her friend surged into her chest, forming a knot there. “Lilly, you know you can tell me anything. What is it?”

“Not here.” She lowered her voice and looked from side to side. “May I come for tea tomorrow?”

Belinda was certain her eyes were as big as two moons. Lillian had never come to tea. Ever. She never did anything that brought her into Belinda’s world of the
haute ton
.

“Of course,” Belinda said, with as much calm as she could muster.

Lillian squeezed her arm. “I do not believe I have met your fiancé, Belinda.”

What on earth could have happened in Scotland? Lillian was always straightforward and direct. Her friend’s secretive behavior was worrisome.

“Forgive me. Lillian Dellacourt, may I introduce Lord Gabriel Thurston, the Earl of Tullering.”

Gabriel stepped forward bowing over Lillian’s offered hand. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Dellacourt.”

She laughed. “You shall learn in short order that such formalities are a hindrance to our cause, my lord. It is difficult to remember a title while being attacked by a demon. I hope that with time, you will call me Lillian.”

He gave a nod and released her hand. “I shall be pleased to have you call me Gabriel when our friendship is indelible, Miss Dellacourt.”

She smiled and turned toward the table and Reece. Her voice returned to the familiar sarcasm she always used with him. “Well Reece, you have us all here. You managed to get your prisoner. What have you learned?”

Reece’s attention did not shift from his maps. “They use the sacrifices to call the master. That thing did tell me that before he died.”

“Your prisoner died?” Gabriel asked.

Reece looked up. “He bashed his head against the wall until he passed out. He breathed for several hours, then died. He must have damaged what little brains these things have. I believe he could not live with what he had already told me.”

“And what was that?” Belinda asked.

Reece pointed to a spot on the map, just outside of Southwark. “They gather here each new moon. Each cell has a quota of sacrifices to make or they are not welcomed into the master’s presence. Though, I have the impression that the master cannot actually materialize in this world. He appears to them somehow. All of this is in preparation for his actual coming on the next new moon.”

Gabriel said, “That is quite a lot of information. I shudder to think of how you obtained it.”

Belinda’s stomach churned.

Reece Foxjohn met Gabriel’s eyes and Belinda thought she saw him cringe just slightly. “I believe you would, my friend. I know that I shall not sleep for some time.”

Gabriel kept eye contact with Reece. “If the information is good, it will have been worth it. In war, we all do what we must.”

Reece nodded and then looked away, though his eyes looked less haunted. He needed someone he respected to tell him he had done the right thing. Gabriel had given him that whether he knew it or not.

Reece scanned the room until his gaze settled on Belinda. “What on Earth happened to you?”

“Trebox attack in London. I believe I was meant, once again, to be a sacrifice.”

Concern narrowed his eyes. “Quite coincidental, that you should be targeted twice and in London’s better neighborhoods.

“Yes. It is strange.”

“You are unharmed?”

“Only my gown was injured.” Her face warmed at all the attention given to her. “What is the plan for this evening?”

Reece cleared his throat. “If you are up to it, I think we may be able to stop a group sacrifice. I learned that they always take place after midnight and before dawn. I know where they will be tonight. Tonight is the full moon and the prisoner told me they worship on the full moon with a mass offering and smaller ones on the quarter moons.”

Gabriel pulled a watch from his pocket. “We had better get moving.”

Reece nodded but didn’t move. He stared at Gabriel. “I sent a note to the Company about you, my lord.”

“Oh?” Gabriel stepped forward.

Belinda got the impression that there was something very male happening between the two, but she had no idea what it was. Posturing, certainly, but why, she couldn’t fathom.

“I am required to report any new recruits.”

One side of Gabriel’s mouth turned up. “I am a recruit?”

“Not exactly.” Reece gave a short laugh. “I received a message this evening.”

“What did it say, Reece?” Belinda asked. She was oddly concerned that Gabriel’s time with the Company was at an end. It was not fear of going hunting without him. She had done that hundreds of times. No, it was fear of what would happen when she returned from the hunt. She would lose him. Her stomach flip-flopped.

Reece looked at Belinda, smiled and then looked back at Gabriel. “It said that Lord Tullering showed himself to be a true hero of the crown in France. It said that his lordship’s file was full of acts of valor that were incomparable and that if his lordship wished to join the cause, the Company is happy to have him. They did suggest that when time permitted, Lord Tullering should have a proper education on all things demonic.”

Belinda’s heart flooded with relief.

“It is interesting that this
company
of yours has access to my military file. A file that is confidential and not revealed to very many. In fact, I have never even seen it.”

Reece smiled brightly. “That is interesting, isn’t it?”

“Fascinating,” Belinda whispered, to herself.

Both men looked at her.

“Are we ready to go then?” Lillian asked. “It is getting late and we need to stop those killings.”

Belinda watched the darkened streets glisten with a light rain as they drove through London.

Four demon hunters traveled in two carriages. Jamie drove the first and Thor followed closely behind. Across from her, Gabriel rubbed his temple and looked out the window.

“You look as if you have discovered a new problem, Gabriel.”

He turned toward her and gave her a brief grin. She might have missed it if she hadn’t been watching him so closely.

“I am more and more intrigued by this Company of yours.”

“Because they have access to your military records?”

“Yes, something else too, but I cannot quite put my finger on it. Perhaps your tea with Miss Dellacourt will enlighten us.”

“I cannot imagine that it would. What is it that you think Lillian might tell me?”