Her eyes flicked away and softened as she said the last bit. Krystan and Travis became more than a working team while Calan and I were stuck in a hell dimension. The commitment and affection they had for each other was more than I’d ever hoped for her.
Krystan had spent most of her life yanking Travis’ chain, and vice versa. She still wasn’t quite used to the one eighty their dynamic had taken. So I did what any good friend would do when sensing a vulnerability.
“You loooove him, you want to maaarrry him,” I said while making obnoxious kissy sounds.
She narrowed her dark eyes at me. “It’s enough I’m having the guy’s baby.You’rethe one getting married. How are you doing? We’re only a week away. Are you psyched?” She grinned evilly.
“Oh yeah, I’msuper psyched,” I said, shooting her a glare and feeling instantly uneasy. I proposed to Calan when we were trapped in the Stygian. He tried to die on me, so I forced him into a commitment he had to keep. He was impeccable about keeping promises, and by his word, he pulled through.
She vigorously rubbed a pinky in her ear. “I can tell you’re lying.”
“You don’t need a supernatural lie detector to tell that. I was being sarcastic. Can’t your superpowers tell the difference?” I wiggled my fingers at her.
Krystan gave me a knowing look. “Yeah, but you aren’t just being sarcastic, you’re trying to convince yourself it’s cool. Lying to yourself counts enough to set off my buzzer.”
While Calan and I were away, Krystan and Travis had been in a supernatural blast that left them both with minor supernatural abilities. Whenever someone lied, Krystan said it was like there were a couple of bees in her ear.
“I loved Calan and I want to marry him more than anything.” I lifted my new blade. “But my future mother in law should have thought about the dangers of gifting me this while giving me the third degree on the bridesmaid dress you were wearing before launching into wedding favors, then tealights of all things. I almost turned the gift right around on her and stabbed her with it.”
“Come on,” Krystan said. “You had to know when you agreed to let Regina and Phillip foot the bill for the wedding, there would be strings attached.”
“I did.” I let my voice trail off into a mumble. “I just didn’t know I'd want to hang myself by those strings.”
I’d also been putting off a certain conversation with my beloved husband-to-be and time was fast running out. Calan had gotten it into his mind that he wanted a red checkered suit for the wedding. How he managed to even find one—scratch that, the internet was a deep, scary place that produced anything the mind could concoct without questioning whether it should.
“So the guy wants to wear a hideous suit, what’s the big deal?” Before she even finished, she barreled on, “Okay, yeah I just heard myself. Doesn’t he know weddings are for chicks and he should be docile and simply show up on time in the suit of your choosing?”
I shook my head. “The idea of a wedding is still relatively new to him. And I didn’t want to be that girl...”
“A bridezilla?”
“Exactly, this day is about the two of us,” I said, trying to believe myself.
“And a lumberjack suit.”
I grimaced.
An oversized shaggy Krampus materialized behind Krystan. “Shit,” I cursed, pushing Krystan to the side and out of the way before those sharp claws could slice through her. I swung my blade, but the Ururu dematerialized again. My blade passed through empty space where the demon had just been.
Well damn, no wonder they were good at hide and seek. Turning back to Krystan, I was relieved to see she hadn’t fallen over. If anything happened to her or the baby, I’d never forgive myself.
I hit the button on my walkie. “The Ururus can phase, I repeat, the suckers have the ability to phase.” Before I could ask for backup, the Ururu materialized again and grabbed Krystan. Her bat hit the ground. She yelped in surprise as her feet lifted off the ground.
My stomach dropped what felt like a thousand feet as the panic hit me. I couldn’t use my kukri without hurting Krystan or the baby. The monster was going to rip her to shreds while I stood by and watched.
Krystan winced as blood trailed down her arms where the claws dug in. I reached out, yet I was unable to stop what was happening.
A blue light blossomed around the Ururu and Krystan and they both froze. Whipping my head around I saw Calan on the base of the stairs, his arm stretched out, brow furrowed in concentration as he held the monster in his power. Travis raced by Calan, jumping off the last few stairs.
Logic broke through my panic-induced paralysis. Travis and I worked fast to pull the talons out of Krystan’s arms.
“Hurry,” Calan said through clenched teeth.
Travis caught Krystan and they stumbled back just as the blue light went out. The Ururu took a step to close the distance between him and my friends, but I leapt in the middle and shoved my knife into his ribs.
The Ururu clutched at his wound when I pulled the knife out. It stumbled back, knocking a bookshelf over, causing a domino effect as three more shelves went down. Slamming back onto its ass, the Ururu looked down as his own blood pumped out, matting his fur in crimson red. Looking up at me with those glowing blue eyes, he said in a strange gravelly tone, “Othanos will find you. The sacrifice will be made.”
What? Did he just mention Othanos?
