She stepped over the smoking remains of their master. Lorelei plunged her hand into the soot and ash. The mob let out a collective gasp as she pulled forth Baal’s iron crown and held it aloft over her head. The succubus gave the masses a long, imperious glare.
“Lady Lorelei,” one of them whispered. Then more. Then more. The whispers became shouts. “Lady Lorelei! Lady Lorelei!”
Lorelei held up a firm, open hand to silence them. The crowd hushed. Fearsome demons groveled and knelt, humbling themselves before her. Her gaze fell across the entire sweep of assembled foul things, and over Alex and Rachel.
Her beauty frightened him. He loved her dearly, yet here she left no pretense over what she truly was. Triumphant and terrible, Lorelei looked over a legion of demons that had called her name and then fallen silent at a single gesture of her hand.
“This crown,” she called out loudly and clearly, “and all that it symbolizes…belongs to the last one of you standing.”
Shocked eyes went wide all around them. None dared move.
Lorelei cast the iron crown far into the crowd.
Pandemonium erupted. Rachel didn’t pause to watch the chaos as demons shoved, trampled and rent one another in their rush to recover the crown. The angel flung her arms around Alex and Lorelei, turned and bolted.
The portal waited just a short distance away. The demons that blocked it now hurried forward, already fighting one another, disregarding the angel and her charges. They thought only of the iron crown.
Onyx neared collapse. Molly was made of sterner stuff, but she knew her lover couldn’t be much better off. They held the portal just long enough for Rachel to come flying through, stumbling to the ground with one arm around Alex and the other around Lorelei. The witches dropped their hold on the portal, staggering backward as the warp in reality shrank into nothing before them.
A second later, the witches were both on the floor as well. It seemed like a pretty comfortable place for everyone.
Rachel promptly saw to Alex’s wounds. She got to her knees, gingerly took up his charred hands, kissing one, then the other. She held them with her head bowed in prayer. For a long, slow moment even she wasn’t sure of what might happen, but the charring faded and flesh grew back. There were scars and discolored patches, but muscle and skin returned. “Thank you, Lord,” she breathed as tears streamed from her eyes to fall across his wrists. “Thank you.”
“Wasn’t…?” Alex croaked. He coughed, looking around blearily. “Wasn’t the building on fire?”
“No,” Molly said. She lay flat on her back, waving a hand over her head. “No, I kinda blew all that out.”
“Right,” Alex nodded, “right.” He paused to breathe again. “Where’d the SUV come from?”
“We don’t know,” Onyx panted. “We were gonna ask you.”
“Alex?” a voice called. “Hey, y’all in here?”
Alex forced his head up to look down the hallway. He saw Wade advance warily with a rifle in his hands. Taylor came with him, armed with a pistol. “Hey, are all y’all a’right?” Wade asked. Seeing two strangers among his friends sprawled on the floor, he opted to keep the rifle pointed more or less toward them.
“Woah, Wade,” Alex waved. “Put it down. They’re cool. They came to rescue me.”
“We came to rescue you!” Taylor said.
“Wow,” Alex blinked. “You guys…really?”
The succubus sat up from the floor only to find herself face to face with Rachel. “I get him for Christmas and Valentine’s,” the angel said firmly.
“Now is not the time,” Lorelei whispered.
“Christmas and Valentine’s,” Rachel repeated. “Maybe I’ll share him, but I’m just sayin’. No cutting me out on those.”
Lorelei sighed. “Done.”
“Uh, hey,” Taylor thought aloud, “shouldn’t we get the hell out of here? Won’t there be cops or firefighters?”
“Not at a party like this,” Molly spoke up. “They take care of that shit in advance. We shouldn’t just hang around, but no. I doubt there’ll be cops.”
“We can take care of cops,” said Onyx. “And I’m not leaving ‘til I’ve had a chance to talk to him,” she added, waving a hand at Alex.
“Are we sure there aren’t more bad guys?” Alex asked.
“Pretty sure,” Wade nodded. “Drew and Jason were checkin’ the perimeter of the house, though, just t’ be positive.”
Lorelei looked over to Alex. “Where is Lydia?”
* * *
“Come to me,” the blonde whispered, beckoning with one finger from behind the bush.
Drew blinked, looking to her with suspicion. He hadn’t seen her before. She didn’t look like a vampire, though; her skin wasn’t pale enough, nor was she in black. “You okay?” he asked.
“Found something?” Jason said, looking around the corner of the house.
“Come to me,” Lydia repeated. The battered, disheveled beauty lured Drew closer. His rifle dropped low as she worked her charms. He was strong-willed, this one, and brave. It was all she could do to keep him mesmerized. If she could lure him in, though, and seal her enchantment with a kiss…
“Hey!” Jason yelled. He turned his gun on her. “Drew, what’s up with this?”
“I think…I think it’s cool, Jason,” Drew murmured.
“Jason,” Lydia smiled reassuringly. “Put down your gun. You have rescued me. Let me reward you.” She reached out to Drew, gesturing for him to come near. “Let me reward you both.”
Drew’s eyes fluttered. He stepped closer. Jason lowered his gun. Drew moved in, his face leaning forward toward hers as his eyes closed and his lips parted. Then he heard a sudden electrical buzz, followed by a flump.
The kiss never came. He opened his eyes. Jason stood between Drew and the woman on the ground with his stun gun in his hands.
“What the…what are you doin’, man?” Drew blinked.
“Dude! You punched out a demon tonight! A fucking demon, man! And now you’re gonna go all slack jawed and stupid for this chick?”
Lydia groaned, trying to rise. Jason zapped her again, leaving her sprawling out in the grass.
“Hey!” Drew protested. “You don’t know she’s a bad guy!”
“Bitch is that fine, wearin’ a dress like that full’a bullet holes outside a broken window? That’s a white devil, man!”
“You’re a white devil!”
Jason’s jaw dropped. “Yo, I thought you was my nig, man?”
Drew’s eyes flared. “What did you just call me?”
Chapter 18:
“Drew just hit me.”
Wade took the cell phone off his ear to frown at it. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do nothin’! ‘cept probably save him from this crazy blonde freak here.”
“You know what you did!” Drew’s voice was loud enough to be heard over the phone.
“Oh. You said that word again. Jason, ah’m a white Southerner and ah’m offended when ya go sayin’ that shit.”
“Oh, Drew’s just pissed ‘cause he botched his save versus skank!” Jason snapped. “Anyway, we got a woman here who just tried to seduce us both,” he went on. “Beat-up crazy hot blonde outside a blown-up house full of vampires, and here we were both ready to double-team her right here in the bushes. She’s unconscious now, but I’m not sure what to do with her.”
“Right,” Wade nodded. He looked to the others in the hallway. “Hey, Drew and Jason say some blonde chick just almost seduced ‘em both outside. They got her captured now.”
“Ugh. Lydia,” Alex groaned. He was still on his back. “I threw her out a window earlier.”
“They mustn’t allow her to speak,” Lorelei warned, her fatigue plain in her voice.
“She’s knocked out now.” Wade said. “Also, Taylor an’ I saw a whole mess of half-nekkid people runnin’ around downstairs, too, away from the fight. They didn’t look like vampires. Didn’t seem like much of a threat, either.”