Eliza covered him as he turned toward Mom. “Yeah?”
“I need you to take Timmy, Mrs. Micari, and Mindy. Get them out of here. Take the back stairs, go through the garden, get to Eddie’s shop downtown. Mindy knows where it is. Don’t stop for anything.”
“No,” I said, rushing to join them. “Samarek’s down there. We may need Zane here.”
She nodded. “You’re right,” she said, then called Ren, Mindy, and Ana over. She gave them the same instructions, then sent them hurrying off, swearing they’d keep Timmy safe.
Zane’s face went carefully blank. “You don’t trust me. That’s why you wanted me gone.”
“If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have tried to entrust my son to you. But Allie’s right. We need you here. You, too,” she said, looking at me. To Jared, she said. “I need you in charge here. Keep them safe.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he said, and she grinned, then looked at me and the others.
She turned to Zane. “Let’s go.”
Something shifted in Zane’s face, and he nodded. “I’ve got your back.”
Mom smiled. “I know.”
“Fran and Elena?” he asked.
I saw it on Mom’s face—the surprise and respect at his concern.
“I sent them away last night. They’re at Disneyland by now. Come on,” Mom said as she turned back toward the chaos, her face hardening into something I recognized—a Hunter. A woman who had been fighting demons since before I was born. And I was weirdly, awesomely proud to be her kid.
“Allie, Zane,” she said “With me. Jared, stay here and keep them away from us.
“On it,” he said.
“Where?” I asked.
“The basement.” She checked her knife, grabbed a second one from the weapons rack by the door. “Whatever’s coming through that portal, we end it tonight.”
Daddy slid in to join us, and we moved toward the basement, the battle raging on behind us as we hurried forward toward the ancient and terrible thing that was clawing its way into our world.
I gripped my stiletto tighter and followed my parents into the dark.
26
ALLIE
The basement had turned into a literal nightmare.
The portal had grown; the gaps between the “door” and its “frame” were wider now, and I wondered what had fed it. Not blood—not unless some innocent had been secretly brought in and sacrificed. I shivered at the thought.
No, more likely it had been feeding off fear. Either way, the gaps were wide, the door ready to swing open unencumbered.
I peered down into the oily darkness of the gap and drew in a sharp breath when I saw that something—someone—was down there beneath the disgusting membrane that had grown in the space.
The Knocking Man,massive and dark, pressing against the barrier between worlds. Not human. Not even close to human. Something ancient and terrible that had been waiting for this moment for a very, very long time.
“Samarek,” Dad whispered.
The demon moved. Pressed harder. And then a hand emerged, fingers too long, the joints bending in directions they shouldn’t, the skin the color of dried blood.
“My bride.”
The rough, cruel voice came from everywhere and nowhere, reverberating around us. “At last.”
