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“Basically, she drains me like a vampire?”
“Yes…” He frowned at me, the muscles in his jaw tense.
This was the same plot line I’d heard over and over. The demon would kill me. It didn’t seem that shocking, but I could tell he didn’t want to tell me something.
“What aren’t you saying?”
He ran both his hands roughly through his hair and turned away. I wanted to wrap my arms around his torso to comfort him, but I stuck my thumbs in my pockets to keep them still.
“The blood fix is only temporary.” He sighed. “A year at best, if she drained you completely. She’d have to keep you alive to rejuvenate herself each year.”
“Are you saying…?”
The only thing worse than being a host to a demon, was being a literal blood bag to a filthy rotten deceiver that thrived on blood and violence. Margaret Thatcher’s demon had avoided the Nephilim for centuries. She could easily hide me away in some Black Hills cave to use as her fountain of youth. And with my newly extended life period, she could torture me for centuries. No quick death for me.
I wanted to throw up the few bites of dinner I’d managed to get down. Stumbling to the side of the stables, I held on to the rough wooden panels as the world spun around me.
Gabe pulled me into a tight embrace, his arms circling my back and keeping me from collapsing. The smell of sweat and soap filled my nose as I pressed my face into his chest. His hands ran over my hair, much like the way I’d comforted him when he was sick in the shack.
The hardest part about being in his arms was knowing that he simply thought I was overwhelmed with panic. That the idea of the goddess slowly draining my blood had turned me into this weepy young woman. But that wasn’t all that made me tremble.
I’d already made up my mind. Tonight, the goddess and I would meet one last time and end this bloodshed. Either I’d kill her or she’d take me. It was as simple as that.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Staring at the ceiling above my bed, I listed all the reasons I shouldn’t move ahead with my insane plan to confront the goddess myself.
One – I didn’t want to be a demon’s dinner for the next millennium. There was a pretty good chance I’d lose, and she’d take me to a place no one would ever find.
Two – I’d just found my long lost father, and it would kill him to lose me again.
And three – Gabe.
Despite the anger I’d felt toward him these past couple of weeks, he was still everything to me. If I closed my eyes, I could still taste him on my lips, and feel his hands as they roamed my body. I didn’t want to leave him.
Raquel’s soft snores from across the room brought an unexpected smile from me. There were a thousand reasons for me to go through with the plan, and that also included Gabe, Luke, and Raquel. If I did this, it ensured their
safety.
Even if I didn’t kill her, the demon would be satisfied with having me, and retreat back to its home in the Black Hills where it had survived for hundreds of years. No more innocent humans will be killed because of me. The Nephilim hadn’t been able to kill the goddess for so long. There was no reason to think they could do it now.
So, it was all up to me.
Sliding out of bed and padding across the floor, I pulled on some clothes and a pair of boots. It was super early in the morning. Too early for my guard to be on alert. I could get into the woods before anyone even realized I was gone.
Buried deep in my armoire was the silver dagger I’d stolen from the weapons storage last night. It was a match in every way to Gabe’s dagger, which I’d taken from him the day I helped him in the forest. I didn’t dare take any of the other weapons. My skills weren’t that advanced yet and the more I stole, the more likely I’d get caught. I stuffed the single dagger in my back pocket and prayed that it would be enough. One stab to the heart, and the goddess would be no more.
Sure enough, no one stopped me at the edge of the lawn. I wasn’t sure where I would meet the goddess, but my feet carried me forward like they knew instinctively where to go. There was a thread that pulled at my insides, a feeling that I’d had all my life, but never realized until now. The Hell Gate was where the demon would find me. That’s where we’d end this thing.
As I walked through the thick ponderosa pine, I saw movement out of the corner of my eyes. The deceivers were watching me, tracking my every move. They flitted between trees with unimaginable speed, never pausing long enough for me to get a good look at them. They didn’t bother me as I trekked further into the forest.
It seemed like only seconds later and I was nearing my destination. The forest floor had become rockier and the trees sparse. Stepping past a large boulder, I feasted my eyes on what I knew was the Hell Gate. A gaping hole in the Earth’s crust sat before me. Rock and dirt made up the walls of the hole and descended at least twenty feet before leading to a dark cave. Light didn’t dare enter its yawning darkness. It was a carnivorous black mouth full of stalactite teeth that led to hell. Evil emanated from the dark like stink from a rotten corpse.
I looked around. No Nephilim were standing guard. They must be on patrol. It was better that way. No one else needed to get hurt.
The prickly feeling on the back of my neck told me that Margaret Thatcher was near. I turned to see her crouching on the ground five feet behind me. She tilted her head and leered at me, displaying her rows of broken teeth.
“Mine.”
