Nathan, for his bulk, was shockingly silent as he moved past me. A sword I’d been too distracted to notice earlier dangled at his hip—the same sword he’d had when we first met. Trying to live up to the ninja stealth-mode I’d mentioned earlier, I moved up alongside him.
On the main path, there were five of them. One wore armor, a distinct orange glow emanating from just inside the breastplate. I clasped the pendant around my neck.
Is that where he got it? From guys like this?
The rest wore rags or nothing at all. They didn’t look like the same type I fought before—these were less gargoyle and more mutant bull-hyenas with the mange—but they were still ugly. The academic in me wondered about breeding and how many different demonic species there were, if there were any females—I hadn’t seen any that looked the part. I knew the stories about Lilith being the mother of demons, but was that true? Just another in my long list of questions about Lucifer’s world.
He still hadn’t answered my question about the golden fiddle.
“Where are they going?” Nathan whispered in my ear.
I didn’t reply, just slipped out of the cover of the trees to follow them down the path. The cemetery was closed, so what was there to go after here? Unless they were looking for something. Forest Hills Cemetery wasn’t as old as some of Boston’s others, but it was still old enough to possibly hide some ancient artifact. Excitement buzzed through me, more at the prospect of finding an artifact than stomping demons, which told me I needed to sort out my priorities.
Nathan tried to move past me, to get to them, but I stopped him. “I wanna see where they’re going,” I said quietly. “It could be important.”
He frowned, but nodded. His hand stayed on his sword hilt, though, and I was reassured by that. I kept my hands out in front of me, but didn’t summon my magic just yet. They would probably feel the power shift and then I wouldn’t find the treasure they were after.
I mean, I wouldn’t be able to reappropriate a dangerous item.
We followed them down winding paths, and without light, it took me a minute to realize we were headed for Lake Hibiscus. The twists and turns seemed unnecessary since there was almost a direct path to the lake from where we’d started, but maybe they were lost. Or they knew they were being followed and trying to shake us.
Along the shore of the lake, candles glittered in the darkness. Four girls sat in a circle, their heads bowed, hands linked. They looked young, maybe early high school age. And the demons were headed straight for them. My stomach dropped.
“Oh no.”
I ran. Magic leapt to my fingertips and one of the demons whirled, setting his burning ember sights on me. I had to get to those girls. This would’ve been a great time to have Izumi along, but it was just me and Nathan and neither of us would reach them in time. Panic engulfed me.
“Hey!” Nathan bellowed, his voice booming across the surface of the lake. “Run!”
The girls jumped up screaming, and the demons changed their targets. Why hadn’t I thought of that? I flicked my hands out, trying to call my fiery chakrams, but nothing happened. Growling in frustration, I imagined the popping balloons. The one closest to me exploded, drenching both me and Nathan. The four girls screamed more, but the idiots weren’t running.
Nathan’s sword sliced neatly through one’s neck and he spun, deftly dodging another that swiped at his head. He’d done this before, more than my measly one time, and his experience shined through. Meanwhile, my flames weren’t answering my call and another demon was charging at me.
Well, I wasn’t obsessed with old films for nothing. The eighties had nothing on Bruce Lee. Unlike last time, it wasn’t a constant barrage of them. We were down to three—two, now that Nathan took out another one. I needed real-world practice and I wasn’t sure how many of these demon-hunting missions I would get to participate in.
Especially once Lucifer found out I was actively hunting them without him.
I kept my hands up, power pulsing around them, and ducked a wild swing. A blast of force from my palm sent the demon flying into a tree, but he jumped up and came back for more. He lowered his head, pointing sleek black bull horns at me. Footsteps behind me had me spinning away in time to miss the blade aimed at my head, and I watched as the horns of the first speared through the gut of the second. Shifting my weight, I readied a kick to see if I could throw my power out through my foot when I heard a throat clearing.
Standing near the teens with his arms crossed, Nathan shook his head and gestured to the two demons, who were trying to pry themselves apart. I huffed and flicked my hand, blowing up both demons in a shower of nasty black goo.
“I just wanted some practice,” I complained, stomping up to him like a petulant child. Then I turned my gaze to the actual children. “Do you even understand what just happened here? What would’ve happened to you if we hadn’t been here?”
The brunette with the darker skin that the other three clung to nodded, though her lower lip wobbled. “Demons.” She swallowed and cleared her throat, her voice slightly louder. “My mom said—but we didn’t believe her. We thought she was just trying to keep us inside at night.”
“Yeah, we just wanted to do this spell and Jasmine thought it was the perfect night to do it,” a petite blonde added. “We didn’t know… we didn’t know it wasreal.”
My heart melted a little. “Who is your mom?” I asked the brunette, Jasmine.
“Camilla Greene.” Her voice trembled on the name, and I felt pity for her. “She’s the coven leader in the Roslindale area, even though most of our coven is made up of witches from Dorchester and Jamaica Plain. Are… are you gonna tell her?”
“No.” At my response, the girls’ shoulders drooped with relief. “You are.”
“What?” they said at the same time.
I leveled them with my best responsible adult stare. “My mom is the Salem Coven leader, and she’s been trying to reach your mom and the woman that runs the East Boston Coven.”
A black-haired girl in the back peeked above her friends’ shoulders. “That’s Alana Everett.”
