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“As in it’s not fucking working. Could I be any clearer?” Cain snapped.
As they argued, I noticed more people exiting the buildings on my street, heading for us, their gaits stilted, almost jerky. Okay, now I really wanted to leave.
“Use mine.” Williams pulled a very similar token from his pocket and handed it over.
Cain held it out and waited before growling, “No fucking way both our tokens are malfunctioning. There must be something preventing the magic from working.”
“Fuck.” Williams’s lips pinched. “We still need to get out of here. Back in the vehicle.”
Williams swung himself into the driver’s seat, and I literally got tossed in the back. Cain took a second longer, since he had to shrink his scythe first before slipping in. As the detective put the SUV into drive, the homeless dude lurched and threw himself in front of us—like, literally on top of the hood—and began clawing his way to the windshield, his face doing that same rippling thing I’d seen with Enzo. More terrifying? His fingers exploded into claws that scratched at the windshield and scored gouges in the glass.
“Oh, fuck.” Even in a crisis my vocabulary sucked. I dared anyone to find a better thing to say, though.
“Buckle up,” Williams advised as he gunned the gas. We shot forward fast and hard. Only for a second, then Williams slammed the brakes.
Since I’d not had a chance to clip in, I found myself propelled into the passenger seat, face-first. “Oomph.” I rocked back into my seat and groaned.
“Sorry about that, but I had to lose our hood ornament. Let’s get out of here.” Williams headed for the corner of the block, only to come to a rapid stop once more. At least this time I didn’t get flung because I’d gotten my seatbelt on. I did get a bit of whiplash, but that probably beat him slamming into the cube van and car that suddenly pulled across the road, blocking our exit.
“Hold on,” Williams muttered as he slammed the SUV into Reverse. He drove backwards for only a few seconds before wrenching the wheel and spinning us.
I screamed. In my defense, I hated roller coasters or any kind of ride that flung me around.
The SUV shot forward, but we weren’t fast enough. Another pair of cars blocked the other end of the street, leaving us with no space to drive around.
Williams braked to a stop in the middle of the road. He and Cain said nothing, so I did.
“What the fuck is happening?”
The detective murmured, “It would seem the demons set more than one trap. We’ll have to go on foot.”
“Stick close,” Cain advised as he spilled out of the SUV and opened my door.
I hopped out and hugged myself because of the chill in the air that came out of nowhere. “Why is it so cold? And what’s going on with the sky?” The sun suddenly stopped being so bright. A glance overhead didn’t show clouds, but a dark haze did spread.
“This is bad. I think we’re dealing with a daemessorum,” Cain grimly announced.
“A what?”
“A daemessorum is the demon version of a witch. Very rare. It’s been centuries since one crossed into our world,” Cain explained.
“I take it that’s bad.”
Williams glanced at me. “The last one took a full complement of reapers plus a battle witch to take it down.”
“Meaning we’re screwed. Lovely.”
“Not yet. We need to get far enough from its influence. Once we do, the talisman should work, and we can get you to safety.”
“I like that plan.” I approved of any strategy that kept me from dying.
The street kept darkening, but no lights came on in any of the windows. The silence was eerie. If I ignored the odd wheezing. A glance behind showed the homeless dude, despite being tossed from the hood, hadn’t given up. He’d risen from the asphalt, shedding his outer flesh to show off the demon possessing him.
Williams aimed his gun and fired. Bang. A single shot in the head took it down and acted as a clarion because, in the silence that followed, an eerie chittering filled the air as the people—a.k.a. possessed by demon victims—emerged from the buildings. They tilted their heads back as if they belonged to one hive mind.
I didn’t watch many horror movies for a reason. Scary shit. And I didn’t appreciate the fact I was living through my very own impossible scenario.
“Move.” Cain grabbed my hand and tugged. We ran for the barricade of cars, and the drivers responded by emerging from the vehicles and tearing at their flesh. I did my best to not gag as they peeled off the human bodies they’d stolen to leer at us with pointed teeth.
