“Relics?” I asked.
Jacob leaned forward, lowering his voice. “In the lower level of the academy we have some pretty powerful magical objects. Some we stole from the Shades to keep humanity safe, and some were given to us by the archangels of Avalon. Either way, none of them should be in Shade hands.”
“Who makes these calls? Obviously, humans can’t see the demons.” I looked at Marlow, sensing she would have the answer since she was our team demon scanner.
She held up her handheld scanner. “Every streetlight in town has one of these, and we get an alert at the academy when a demon is scanned in a public space.”
Drea nodded. “We also monitor 911 calls for anything that sounds suspicious as the scanner technology can be easy to fool.”
I frowned. “If this might be another relic heist, why aren’t some of us staying back to protect the school?”
Skye tossed her glossy highlighted brown hair over one shoulder. “Because what if it’s not and humans get hurt? We have to answer the call. Always.”
Geez. This was already sounding pretty dangerous for my first official hunting mission, but I wasn’t going to back out now. If those shadow snakes and creepy bat things were flying around Central Park, then I was going to slice and dice.
CHAPTERTWO
Adry twig snapped under my foot, and I winced. Marlow’s head twisted in my direction, and she shot me a warning look. I glanced to my right at Jacob, but he just shrugged like it was okay I had made a noise.
The demon outbreak we got called in on was at the south end of Central Park, and the others were fanned out around the zone we thought the demons were in. It was a thickly wooded area, and I couldn’t see Drea, Dash, or Skye, but I knew they were just on the other side of these trees. The plan was to close in on the group of demons from multiple angles to keep them contained to one area.
I mouthed “sorry” to Marlow and we continued forward. I made an effort to look where I stepped as we picked our way through the trees. The group of demons we stalked were in a wooded area of the park set away from some of the busier pathways, which was a small blessing. Since it was spring, the park was blooming with life, which meant New Yorkers had already started to emerge from hibernation to celebrate the death of winter with a stroll through Central Park. The last thing we needed right now were spectators.
Marlow stopped suddenly as the needle on her scanner went wild. The screen that usually identified what level demons were near us kept displaying different numbers as if it were confused. Lights that previously had been blinking green turned red. She pointed the device ahead of her a little to our left and it really went berserk. The red light intensified and flashed rapidly as one of the dials started to spin.
I didn’t need to be an expert hunter to know that her scanner was telling us there were demons close by. The reeking stench of sulfur and oil was evidence enough for me. I put a hand in front of my face, scrunching my nose at the putrid smells. Jacob’s wings popped out and I knew it was because he sensed the impending doom as well.
Marlow shoved the scanner in the holster that was attached to her utility belt and pulled out her phone, quickly typing a text to the rest of our team spread out of sight within the woods around us. While she updated the others, I looked in the direction she’d pointed the scanner that had made it go crazy. Shadows flickered through the trees. If I didn’t know better I’d probably explain it away as light filtering through the leaves as they swayed in the breeze, but Ididknow better. There was no doubt in my mind that those shadows were our targets.
I strained my eyes, trying to pick out what type of demons they were exactly. Maybe bird or bat-like? Without taking my eyes off the darting shadows up ahead, I put my fingers to the tattoo of the light sword on my bicep. It was the strangest thing to feel the handle of the sword materialize in my hand right before the blade elongated and peeled itself off my arm.
Marlow leaned over. “We’re waiting for the signal, and then we’re to attack,” she whispered in my ear.
I nodded, keeping my gaze fixed on our targets. Just because the demons were a lower level didn’t mean they were benign. Besides the fact that they could cause temporary paralysis or blindness to Watchers—among other things—when level one through three demons swarmed humans, they caused unbelievable amounts of emotional distress. Sometimes severely enough that they caused madness in their victims. And the most disgusting of all was that these smaller demons liked to target children because their innocence made them most susceptible to demonic influence. Just thinking about that made my stomach churn with revulsion.
These demons were truly the things that went bump in the night. I was looking forward to killing a bunch of them.
I held my body tense as we waited for Drea’s signal. Jacob rocked on his heels and Marlow stood rigid with her sword in her hand. It was several minutes before our leader’s loud piercing whistle broke the relative silence.
Pumping my legs, I shot forward through the thick trees like a bullet. Jacob shot up into the air. Marlow and I raced and reached a small clearing where large stones jutted from the earth. We both skidded to a halt, our eyes widening as we took in the swarm of demons in front of us.
Shadow demons the size of small dogs but shaped like insects from my worst nightmares scurried over the gray rocks. Above them, a whirlwind of what I thought looked like rat demons with bat wings flew in circles, creating a mini tornado of demons so thick I couldn’t see through it.
Whoa.That wasa lotof super creepy demons.
My stomach dropped. Just beyond the trees I could hear childlike laughter. Past the cluster of demons and through the thick foliage, I saw a park full of small children playing.
Not today, hellspawn.
Skye and Dash suddenly appeared and leapt into action, taking point as the battle warriors of the group. They charged into the tornado of demons and started to slash left and right, carving a path for the rest of us.
Marlow shook herself, and then tugged on my arm. “Come on, let’s do our thing,” she said, right before releasing a battle cry and slicing into the demon nearest her, which looked like a tarantula but with more legs.
One of the shadow demons scampering around the rocks changed its trajectory and headed right toward me. Its multiple legs helped it shoot across the uneven terrain faster than I would have thought possible. I swiped at it with my light sword when it was close, but the hell-beast jumped at the last second, landing directly on my face.
When it’s wiry legs dug into my hair, all logical thought left me and I dropped my sword, screaming and swatting at it, but my hands moved right through it. It might only look like a shadow, but I could feel the spindly legs of the demon on my neck and cheek and scalp, yet I couldn’t rip it off.
Suddenly, the blade of a light dagger came at my face, stopping only inches from my eye. The demon let out a high-pitch squeal and then evaporated like mist.
