Wednesday afternoon—day four

Dax tried to listen, but Eddy’s voice was barely audible. She was on the phone in another room next to the kitchen, but Dax couldn’t hear her well enough to know who she spoke with. He wasn’t sure where Ed had gone, but he’d stepped outside a few minutes earlier. Alton sat beside Dax. He finished his sandwich and pushed his chair back.

Dax grabbed his hand before he stood. “Once again, I owe you my life, my friend. Thank you.”

Alton stared down at their joined hands and shook his head. “I did nothing. I failed. I can’t draw my sword, without fear of harming you. I couldn’t contain the battle within the sphere…”

“A battle I’d already lost.” Dax glanced at their clasped hands and felt more discouraged than he had since the beginning. “Quite an army we make, eh? What can we do to beat this thing?”

If only they could destroy the gargoyle…

Alton tightened his grasp on Dax’s hand and then released it. He sighed. “I thought, when I made the decision to leave my people, that I could help you, but so far, I’ve done nothing but fry a few demon spirits and muddy some memories. Not very warrior-like. Right now, I intend to get some rest. We will try again this evening.” He shrugged. “What more can we do?”

Eddy walked into the kitchen and stopped behind Dax’s chair. She rested her hands on his shoulders. That simple contact seemed to give him a sense of calm he’d been unable to find with her in the next room.

“I think that’s a good idea, Alton.” She lightly rubbed Dax’s shoulders. “I just talked to Ginny. She’s getting all kinds of calls at work about what she’s calling ‘woo woo’ stuff. It sounds like there are rumors flying about everything from the water system being poisoned with hallucinogenic drugs to an alien invasion.” Eddy laughed, leaned over, and kissed Dax’s cheek. “No mention of demons. If they only knew.”

She turned toward Alton. “She remembers you, Alton. I thought you said you’d made her forget. She asked about my dad’s friend with the long blond hair. The one who kissed her.” Eddy’s eyes crinkled up with her big smile. “Is there something you’re not telling us?”

Alton flushed a deep rose. “I had hoped it would make her forget.”

“Obviously it didn’t work the way you planned.” Eddy’s laughter bubbled over.

Dax leaned his head back against her belly and gazed up into her twinkling brown eyes. He never grew tired of watching her, of her touch, her scent. Her smiles. He swallowed back a million things he suddenly wished he could say, and concentrated on Eddy’s conversation with Ginny. “I’m sure Alton was thinking only of our mission,” he said, winking at the Lemurian.

Eddy grinned at Dax. “I’m sure he was.”

Alton grunted and changed the subject. “Any talk of calling in the army? Help from neighboring law enforcement?”

“Not yet.” Eddy shook her head. “Luckily, folks here tend to take care of their own problems. There haven’t been any deaths or serious injuries, thank goodness, so I guess no one’s totally freaked out yet. I’m wondering if things are going underreported simply because people don’t believe what they’re seeing.”

“Could be.” Ed walked into the room. “I just saw Mr. Puccini. We chatted about the weather and the vandalism at Eddy’s house, but he didn’t say a word about the turkey cornering him on the front porch. Looks like Alton’s hypnosis is still working.”

“Good.” Alton grabbed his scabbard with the crystal sword and slung it over his shoulder. “I need sleep,” he said. Bumper stood up and wagged her tail, ready to follow him. Willow buzzed across the room, did a little loop in front of him, and then zipped down the hallway. A pale scattering of blue sprinkles blinked out in her wake. Alton nodded and then followed the dog and the sprite.

Eddy grabbed Dax’s hand and tugged him to his feet. He reached for his plate, but Ed already had it in his hand. “Go,” he said. “Get some rest. I have a feeling we’re going to have a busy night.”

Eddy kissed her dad’s cheek and headed down the hallway, but the wink she gave Dax left no doubt what was on her mind.

Dax turned to wish Ed a good rest. Ed’s dark eyes, so much like his daughter’s, held him in place. Dax closed his, unable to meet the man’s direct gaze. He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and found Ed still watching him. “You know I love her,” he said. “I would do anything not to hurt…”

Ed rested a heavy hand on Dax’s shoulder, interrupting him. “I know,” he said, “Sometimes life hurts, but we do the best we can. Dax, my daughter is smart enough to know what she’s gotten herself into. As much as I hate to think of her in pain, I would never try and make her choices for her.”

Dax couldn’t help but wonder, if he had been in Ed’s shoes, how he would feel about his daughter loving a demon. One scheduled to disappear in a few short days.

“I have much to learn,” he said, “and so little time to learn it all.” He sighed and glanced out the window at the bright sun, the deep green of the trees around the house, the blue of the sky. All so beautiful, so foreign, and, for him, so entirely temporary. With a long sigh, Dax turned away from Ed and walked down the hallway to the room where Eddy waited.

 

“Take off your shirt.” The shades were drawn, leaving the room in shadows. She stood beside the bed with her arms folded over her chest. “I want to see what that snake did to you.”

Dax shrugged out of his shirt. The top two buttons were missing, so it only took him a few seconds. Eddy’s eyes went wide, and she stepped up to him. “I can’t believe it’s right back where it belongs.” She ran her fingertips over the tattoo, from the snake’s broad snout to the point where it disappeared beneath his jeans. “What about on your leg?”

He glanced up at her and grinned. “Is that an invitation?”

She blinked. “What?”

“You’re asking me to take my pants off. I merely wondered…”

“I hadn’t really thought about it like that, but now that you mention it…” She reached for his shoulders and ran her hands over the curves of muscle and lumps and bumps of bone, from his collarbones to his biceps. Suddenly her smile faltered. Brown eyes glistened with tears. “I can’t do this. I can’t treat it like play, as if everything’s okay. Dax, you scared me so badly today. When I saw you and Willow and Alton lying on the ground…”

“It’s okay. I’m okay now. Your touch saved me.” He put his arms around her and pulled her close. She leaned her cheek against his chest. Her lips rested on the snake. Her tears glistened against the brilliant colors, and he thought of how brave she was, how powerful her love was.

“We’re both exhausted and we need to rest. The battle took a lot out of me…saving my life took a lot out of you.” He kissed the top of her head, and she tilted back and raised her lips to his. When he took her mouth, she was everything he could have asked for. More—she was answers to questions he’d never known to ask. Love and kindness, humor and tears, bravery that was so much a part of her that she could stand beside him in battle despite her fears.

She could love him in spite of the fact she knew he’d be gone in mere days. She was more than he, stronger and truer, and yet he knew she loved him. Knew it though she’d never spoken the words.

She’d faced the demon’s curse to save him. There was no greater testament to her love.

No greater love. He felt her smile against his mouth. “I agree,” she said, kissing him. “We need to rest, but we really have to make love first.”

“We do?” He nibbled her lower lip.

She nodded and kissed him again. “Of course we do. It seems to contain the demon’s curse when we make love. I’m thinking of making love as taking proactive steps to prepare for tonight’s battle.”

“You are?”

She kissed him once again. Then she reached for his belt buckle. “I am. I need to see if the tattoo is where it belongs. Then I need to make sure it stays there.”

“And you intend to do this how?” He watched her fingers move over the belt buckle. Watched as, tooth by tooth, she slipped the zippered fly on his jeans open.

She ran her fingers under the elastic band of his knit shorts, and he almost groaned from the light touch of fingertips against his flanks. Then she was shoving the fabric down over his hips, baring him entirely.

Dropping to her knees, Eddy traced the brilliant edges of the tattoo with her fingertips. “I can’t believe it’s back where it belongs,” she said, stroking gently along the design. When she followed the sensitive areas her fingers had touched with the light brush of her lips, Dax almost collapsed. He reached back and grabbed the oak headboard to steady himself as she tugged his jeans down to his ankles, untied his boots, and slipped everything off of him.

She shoved the pile of clothing, socks, and boots to one side and ran her hands up his long legs. Then she paused, kneeling before him, her hands resting on the jut of bone at his hips. He stood there, entirely nude, his body so hard and ready for her touch he practically quivered beneath her steady perusal.

He wondered if the demon would rise to meet her, wondered what Eddy thought when she looked at this human body. Did she realize the demon still existed? Did anyone understand how much of him was human, how much demon?

How much of him was purely Dax, a combination of the two?

In spite of his demon side, Dax felt a stronger connection to the man who had died so bravely while clothed in this shell.

Stronger even than the connection to his demon self, but wasn’t it better to connect to a hero than a demon interested only in self-preservation?

Dax wondered, would he be as brave as that hero when his time came? Would he be able to walk away from Eddy, from all those he’d already grown to love, without faltering? Had that other man, the soldier who died in battle, left behind a woman? Children? People who loved him?

When Dax thought of leaving Eddy, his heart actually ached. He reached for her, touched the thick, dark hair that tumbled over her forehead, and ran his fingertips along the line of her jaw as she gazed up at him.

“I love you, Eddy.” He hadn’t meant to say the words, hadn’t wanted to burden her with the emotions churning in him, but they spilled out, and once they were said, he couldn’t stop himself. “I never knew what love was until you. I never understood how it felt, what it meant. Make love with me. Love me.” He reached for her hands. She placed hers in his, and there were tears sparkling in her brown eyes.

Dax tugged lightly, and she came to her feet. “I love you too, Dax.” She clung to his hands, her fingers gripping his so tightly her knuckles turned white. “I love you so much. I tried not to, but I…”

He leaned over and kissed away the words. She turned his hands free and wrapped her arms around his waist. The worn denim of her jeans teased the sensitive underside of his erection, and the taut peaks of her nipples pressed through her T-shirt, hard against his chest.

Dax had to be inside her, now.

He reached down and looped one arm beneath her knees, the other across her back, and lifted her.

“Dax!” She grabbed his neck and her sandals fell to the floor, but he managed to drop her on the bed and cover her body with his in one quick move.

“No more talking. You’ve got too many clothes on.”

She giggled and twisted beneath him. He slipped the T-shirt over her head and dragged her jeans and panties past her slim hips until she was as naked as he was. She squirmed beneath him, laughing and grabbing at his hair, his shoulders, his back, pulling him close even as she pretended to push him away.

He kissed her breasts, her belly, the line between her groin and her thigh. Then he dipped his head between her legs and ran his tongue lightly along her damp slit. She arched against him with a cry of pleasure, so he did it again. Then he drove his tongue deep, licking and suckling as she squirmed and whimpered beneath him.

Her fingers twisted in his hair, and she arched her hips against his mouth when he found the tiny bundle of nerves with his lips and suckled her. He used his fingertips to separate her petaled folds and slipped first one and then another finger deep inside.

She was wet and slick and so very hot, and when she climaxed, he felt the muscles clasping his fingers, pulsing in rhythmic waves as she found her pleasure. She was still grinding her hips against him, still whimpering when he slipped his fingers free of her sheath, moved up her body, and placed the thick crown of his penis where his mouth and fingers had been.

She parted for him, welcoming him inside her liquid heat with sighs and soft sounds of pleasure. He thrust hard and fast, and at the same time he covered her mouth with his, swallowed her cries as he filled her. He felt the hard curve of her womb, the taut mouth of her cervix riding against his sensitive glans, and he dreamed an impossible dream, of someday planting his seed deep inside, of filling her with his child, one born of the two of them.

Eddy, growing round with his child. Could anything be more lovely? Only the sight of her nursing their babe. The image swelled beneath his heart until he saw a tiny fist against her breast, perfect cherry lips encircling her rosy nipple.

Demon and human? Or would a child of theirs be entirely human? This body was human, the seed he gave her, human…. But it was not to be. Eddy had already said she took pills to prevent pregnancy, and he would be gone in three more days.

It was good that she prevented creation.

What kind of father created a child and then abandoned it?

That was something he wouldn’t do. Ever. He couldn’t allow himself to dream the impossible. Even to begin to imagine a life with Eddy—to imagine creating life with Eddy. It was not to be. His life was finite and his days poorly numbered.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate now, couldn’t cherish each moment with Eddy as long as those moments lasted, couldn’t love her, find fulfillment loving her. Eddy’s channel pulsed around his thick shaft, and he plunged in and out, matching her rhythm with his own.

He kissed her again. She opened her eyes when the kiss ended, and then she pressed her fingertips against his tattoo. He felt a cooling wash of energy, as if she poured all the love in her heart through her hands, into the curse.

Into Dax.

Instead of the steady drain of power he’d felt since the demon’s curse, this time he experienced something more, a new sense of strength, as if Eddy channeled his demon powers through herself and gave them back to him, cleansed of the curse.

He straightened his arms and raised up on his palms, wrapped his arms around Eddy and lifted her as he knelt back and sat on his heels. Her legs went around his waist, and she leaned into his embrace. Hips thrusting, heart singing, he held her close while her fingers danced over the angles and lines of the snake tattoo.

It glowed in the twilight of the room, a deep golden glow that made him think of a halo. There was no sense of evil about it, none of the sinister malevolence, the stench of corruption Dax associated with the curse. Eddy healed whatever evil it contained, and once again she held the curse at bay.

Dax thrust deep and steady. By himself, this time, without the demon. As he loved her, as he tied the two of them even more deeply together, he gazed into Eddy’s shining eyes and felt hope rise in him once more.

 

She wanted to remember everything about this act of love. Everything about Dax. The way he felt, the smooth flow of powerful muscles and hard bone as he lifted her, filled her, loved her.

The way he smelled, an enticing blend of clean sweat and some other scent she couldn’t identify. It wasn’t soap, or shaving lotion or anything remotely familiar, yet it was intoxicating, addicting…and unique to Dax.

His touch, his kisses, the trace of an accent she’d never been able to identify, the power of his muscles, the sweet sound of his laughter.

She knew that for the rest of her life, every man she met would be compared to Dax—and every single one of them would come up short.

He made love to her as if she were the only woman on Earth. He treated her as an equal, deferred to her in so many things, and yet she knew he would gladly give his life to protect her.

Was giving his life to protect her. Three more days. Could she possibly save enough memories in three short days to last a lifetime?

She was going to have to. Eddy pressed her lips to the glowing tattoo and willed it to behave. She sensed no threat from the curse, at least for now. What she did sense was her own growing climax, a shiver of need and fulfillment racing through her nervous system, building a power of its own, screaming for release.

Dax reached between them and brushed his fingertips across her needy clit. She bit her lips to contain the scream that even her father might hear.

Now, wouldn’t that be embarrassing?

Dax stroked his fingers over her once more, and then again.

Eddy screamed.

But no one heard. Dax’s mouth covered hers. His tongue thrust in time with a final, powerful thrust of his hips. He swallowed her scream with his own silent cry of completion.

Perfect memories, she thought as her body pulsed and clenched, released, and tightened once again.

Absolutely perfect.

 

The loud knocking on the bedroom door brought Eddy awake much too fast. She grabbed her robe off the end of the bed and raced to open the door. Alton stood outside with his fist raised to knock once again. His hair hung in blond tangles down his back, and he looked as if he’d just been awakened as well.

“Your dad said to wake you. Ginny called. She’s getting reports of statues and stuff massing at the freeway exit south of town. Almost as if they’re trying to prevent people from leaving.”

“Crap. We need to get down there. But why’d she think to call here?” Eddy grabbed her jeans off the floor and looked around for her T-shirt. Dax was already zipping his pants as he grabbed for the clean shirt he’d borrowed from her dad.

“I guess you told her your boss at the paper had hired you back. She figured you’d want to know for a story.” Alton turned to leave. Then he stopped and said, “Dax? Ed’s packing sandwiches.”

“Thank you, Alton.” Laughing, Eddy shut the door behind him. She needed to get dressed, and Dax was the only audience she really wanted.

He’d found a brown plaid flannel shirt. It hung open and unbuttoned as he reached for his boots. The tattoo across his chest still glowed. He glanced up as Eddy leaned back against the closed door and said, “Even in an emergency, Dad’s going to make sure no one goes hungry.”

Dax paused in the midst of pulling on a boot. “I have to agree with Alton,” he said, nodding seriously. “That is a very good thing.”

They were both laughing as they left the bedroom, but in the back of her mind, Eddy wondered when they’d find anything to laugh about again.

 

They’d all piled into Ed’s Jeep for the short drive to the exit south of town. Cars were lined up near the on-ramp. Lights flashed from a couple of highway patrol black-and-whites, and a group of about half a dozen sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrolmen stood off to one side.

Ed pulled in behind one of the flashing black-and-whites. Eddy grabbed her camera and climbed out of the backseat. Local law enforcement officers were used to seeing her at the scene of any accident or disturbance, so she slung the camera over her shoulder and carried her tape recorder, notepad, and pen.

“What’s up?” She stopped beside a couple of the local guys. Milton, the taller of the two, shoved his hat back and scratched his bald head.

“Hey, Eddy. Haven’t seen you in a while.” He pointed toward the on-ramp, where dozens of stone statues and ceramic garden gnomes sat in silent rows across the lane. “Craziest thing. Got a call that the ramp was blocked, and came out here to find this mess.”

“I just don’t see gangbangers lining up little animal statues.” Bud, Milton’s partner, laughed out loud. “Shit. This is just nuts. Who’d do something stupid like this?”

Alton, Ed, and Dax joined the group. Eddy noticed that Alton wore his sword in the scabbard across his back, but her view of it appeared to fade in and out. He must have used some sort of hypnotic compulsion or glamour to hide it. Neither Bud nor Milton took any notice, but as intent as they were on the mess blocking the road, they might not have needed hypnosis to miss Alton’s sword.

“Milt, Bud,” she said, snagging the deputies’ attention. “I want you to meet a couple of old college friends who’ve been visiting.” Eddy nodded toward Alton and Dax.

Alton held out his hand to Milton. “Interesting roadblock you’re using.” The men all chuckled. Bud scratched his head and grunted. Alton added, “Dax and I would be happy to move this mess out of the road for you.”

Eddy jerked about and caught Alton’s eye. He merely smiled at her. Then he winked. Before she could figure out what he was up to, Alton raised his hand and made a sweeping gesture that encompassed everyone in uniform.

Milton blinked. Bud stared blankly at the massed figurines. Then he looked toward Alton and smiled. “Why thank you. That’s very kind of you. We’ll let you take care of things.”

He and Milton turned away, climbed into their car, and drove off. The highway patrolmen followed suit. Moments later, Eddy heard the scream of sirens. Lights flashed. Highway patrol and sheriff’s cars raced back toward town.

Alton remained focused on the cars parked along the on-ramp. He repeated the gesture, passing his hand through the air in the direction of the cars backed up along the road.

Engines roared to life, and people began backing their vehicles up, turning around, and leaving. Eddy took Bum per’s leash from her father as the last car disappeared. Alton’s talent definitely made things easier for them, but she wondered what was going on in town that would require a code-three response from all the law enforcement Alton had just dismissed.

Alton glanced at Dax. Dax nodded, and the two of them split up. Dax went to one side of the silent group of innocent-looking stone and ceramic pieces blocking the road. Alton moved to the other.

When he reached over his shoulder and unsheathed his sword, Eddy gasped. The blade spun in Alton’s hand and pointed directly at Dax. Alton’s shoulders strained, and the muscles bunched along his arms as he firmly grasped the hilt in both hands and directed the blade at the silent army of statues and gnomes.

After a brief struggle, he regained full control of the sword. “Bastard,” he muttered, staring at the shimmering blade held upright in front of his face. He made a sweeping slash through the statues, beheading all of those within his long reach with a single stroke.

Without pausing, he struck again. And again, until the ground was littered with rubble. Dax held his hands at the ready while stone and ceramic heads clattered to the asphalt. Eddy clutched Bumper’s leash in both hands, holding her tightly as the dog strained to go after the first moving target.

A bird chirped nearby. A truck passed by on the overpass, and the road rumbled with the rattle and clank of empty trailers. Alton destroyed the final figurine. He and Dax took a step back from the mess and silently stared at the beheaded and shattered statuary.

No demon stench escaped. There was no sign of black mist. No rows of razor-sharp teeth or glowing eyes. Alton raised his head and glanced at Dax. “Nothing here. What’ve you got?”

Dax shrugged. “No scent of demon at all. I don’t get it.”

Eddy’s cell phone rang. She flipped it open and took the call while Dax and Alton shoved the rubble to the side of the road with Ed’s help.

Ginny’s frantic words made Eddy’s blood run cold.

“Dax! Alton…Dad! Hurry. There’s a riot in town. The statues from the cemetery are gathering near the library. People are showing up armed to the teeth to fight them. Ginny said it sounds like it’s absolute chaos!”

Alton took the passenger seat beside Ed. Eddy, Dax, and Bumper piled into the small backseat. Eddy was still fastening her seat belt when Ed gunned the motor. “What do you make of that?” She nodded toward the pile of broken statues and figurines as Ed backed up and spun the Jeep around.

“A decoy?” Dax glanced at Alton. “Could the demons have enough intelligence to stage a false attack, one that would draw all of us away from town?”

Alton nodded. “One of them could.”

“The gargoyle.”

Dax’s softly spoken statement sent chills racing along Eddy’s spine. She turned to Dax and caught his serious gaze. “Working together’s one thing. What’s this mean, if they’re using decoys, actually planning and organizing an attack?”

Dax just shook his head and grimly glanced away. He didn’t need to say a word for Eddy to realize this was something altogether new. Something none of them had counted on.

Instead of being weakened in the fight with Dax this morning, the gargoyle appeared to be growing stronger. More cunning.

Already a powerful opponent, it had just taken the war to an entirely new level.

The Jeep bounced and rattled over potholes in the road as Ed gunned it along the short distance into town. Dax’s fingers wrapped around Eddy’s hand. When she glanced at him, his expression was bleak.

“Are you in pain?” she asked. “Is the tattoo burning?”

He shook his head and parted the top two buttons on his flannel shirt. A soft, golden glow still surrounded the quiescent tattoo. “Your love appears to have conquered it, if only for a little while. There is no pain at all, though I sense the curse, almost as if it lies in wait.”

“I’m sorry.” Eddy ran her fingers over the brilliant colors. “I wish I could do more.” She blew out a gust of air in frustration. “There is something going on with the gargoyle. Something that doesn’t make sense. It’s not anything like the other demons, but I can’t figure out why. How come it’s so smart and they’re all so stupid? It’s like they’re two different species of evil.”

Dax nodded. “When I was a demon,” he said, “I thought as a demon. I lived for the moment. Eat, fuck, kill. All that concerned me was the need to survive. Survival was my life, my only goal for eons. Life continued without change, one day after another. I didn’t think of politics, of other demons. I had no friends, no real language to speak of, as there was no need to communicate. I went on that way from my beginning. Then a time came when I knew, somehow, I wanted more. I had no idea what it was, only that there had to be something more than eating, fucking, and killing.”

He looked down at their clasped hands as the Jeep rattled along the bumpy road. Then he focused once more on Eddy. “With that realization, I began to change, to evolve into something other than a demon. Something no longer suitable for Abyss. That’s when I was cast into the void. That’s when the Edenites found me.”

“What are you saying?” She was almost certain where this was leading. She wanted to be wrong, but Dax was shaking his head. Agreeing with her unspoken thoughts.

When he looked at her, his expression had grown, if anything, even more bleak. “What if someone on Earth, or even Eden, was so evil, so vile and depraved, that when he died the leaders of Abyss, whoever they might be, sought him out? What if they recognized absolute evil and did exactly what the Edenites did with me?”

Chills raced along her spine. Raised the tiny hairs on her arms. Bumper whined, as if she picked up Eddy’s tension. Willow’s head poked out of Dax’s pocket, and Eddy focused on the tiny sprite as the reality of their situation hit her. “You’re saying we’re not fighting a mindless demon? That creature might be something with human intelligence, with the ability to plan and organize?”

Dax nodded. “How else could it have known the precise moment when I was to enter your dimension? It could have already been here, waiting for me. Aware I was coming, for whatever reason. Possibly all is not so perfect in Eden. What if there are factions there, at war with one another? What if there is intelligence beyond what I know at the upper levels of Abyss? I know nothing of the politics of my world, nor do I understand the realm of Eden. Someone chose me. What if someone else, someone just as powerful, chose another soul? An evil soul. The gargoyle seems to gain strength as each day passes. For all I know, it carries powers far beyond any natural demon. Far beyond mine.”

“Could it be drawing on the demons whose avatars are destroyed? Somehow absorbing them into itself?” Alton turned around and leaned his arm across the back of the seat. “What if, instead of those demons without avatars returning to Abyss, they’re being absorbed by the gargoyle? What if it’s taking on the powers of the ones we miss? That would explain its growing strength over the past few days. I don’t know for certain that my sword is killing the ones I hit. I’ve been wondering if I was merely sending them back home to Abyss.”

“Or to the gargoyle. What if it’s able to grab the souls of the ones we actually do kill? Grab them before they vanish into the void? If that’s the case, even the ones we kill provide more energy for the creature.” Dax squeezed Eddy’s hand as Ed parked the Jeep at the tail end of a traffic jam blocking the main street in town. The cars ahead of them were all empty of people. A few vehicles sat with motors idling and doors flung open.

“Listen,” he said.

Shouts and curses, a woman’s scream. Dogs barked. Bumper strained anxiously at the leash. Eddy wrapped the leather strap around her wrist and tightened her fingers through the loop for good measure. She quickly got out of the vehicle. Dax and Alton took off at a full run and raced toward the commotion.

Eddy, Bumper, and Ed ran after them.

The scene that greeted them ranked really high on the impossibility scale. Eddy skidded to a stop and stared at the battle lines drawn across the intersection of Lassen Boulevard and State Street. On one side stood townspeople—both men and women, and a few older teens. Thank goodness there were no young children in sight. Many in the crowd of more than a hundred were carrying hunting rifles and shotguns; others held axes, shovels, and pitchforks. A group of collared priests and ministers from the various local churches had gathered off to one side. Some had their heads bowed in prayer, though one priest stood apart with hands raised, as if he was attempting an exorcism. An acolyte stood beside him, holding a cross.

Across from them, stretching from storefront to storefront and filling the entire road, were row after row of stone angels and other guardians of the dead from the cemetery. Eddy noticed a few small ceramic and stone dogs and cats. She frowned as she tried to place them until she remembered those had graced some of the plots. Now, instead of standing protectively over their masters’ graves, they barked and growled and snarled their banshee howls while the stone angels stood impassively behind them.

In between, lined up as if they actually hoped to quell any potential violence, were the highway patrolmen and the sheriff’s deputies. Milton appeared to be arguing with a large man at the head of the human group, while the others were lined up, facing the encroaching army of statues.

All of them looked more than a little confused.

Eddy caught up to Dax and grabbed his arm. “What are they waiting for?” she asked, pointing to the demon angels. Eyes glowed red or yellow in the growing darkness. The sun had already set, but there was more than enough daylight to see that this group was entirely animated, unlike the statues they’d just destroyed at the other end of town.

“I believe they’re waiting for night to fall. The demons will have more power under full darkness.” He shook his head and sighed. “We haven’t seen any deaths or serious injuries so far, but I’m afraid that could change.” Dax swept his hand toward the seething mob. “With all those weapons, someone is bound to be hurt. The gargoyle will use any death as a sacrifice. We have no idea how much power he could gain.”

“Where is the gargoyle?” Eddy had been searching the skies, but there was no sign of the creature.

Alton and Ed scanned the evening sky as well. Milton’s argument with the man who appeared to be leading the townsfolk grew louder. Bud was back in the patrol car, talking into his radio. One of the highway patrolman conferred with his partner. Another was on his radio, but his head moved from one side to the other, as if he didn’t know which group posed the biggest threat—the citizens of Evergreen or the cemetery statues.

“Alton? Can you do anything at all here?” Dax rubbed his hand across his chest. Eddy wondered if the tattoo was coming to life. If it still glowed. Dax glanced at her and shook his head. They’d grown so close, so quickly, he probably knew what she was thinking.

“I can try,” Alton said, “but when emotions are this high, it’s not quite as easy.” He raised his hands and narrowed his eyes in concentration.

For the briefest of moments, a mere fraction out of time, Eddy heard nothing. An unnatural silence settled over the entire area. Then an earsplitting banshee howl rolled over the small town.