Kiss Of The Alpha : A YA Paranormal Romance

Chapter 193: Chapter 193

Heather

Brent pushed his number, and my brother answered on the forth ring. "What the fuck, Heather? It’s after three in the morning."

"Are you at home?"

"What?" He still sounded half asleep.

"Wake the fuck up. Are you at home?" I paused,

only for a split second. "Now. Answer me now." If he wasn’t, then I was going to have Brent keep calling my parents’ phones until one of them answered or I got there.

"Uh." I could almost see him wiping his eyes. We shared the inability to wake up quickly. We both needed a second to adjust, but we didn’t have that now. "Yeah. Shit. Sorry. Yeah. I came home after class. I saw your press conference. I wanted to see you. Make sure you were—"

Thank God. "Go wake up Mom and Dad."

"No way in hell. Mom is a beast when she gets woken up."

True. But not tonight. "Wake them up. Then go downstairs and get the big canister of salt from the panty. Bottom shelf on the right." I couldn’t hear him moving. "This is life or death, West. I’m on my way, but you have to fucking move. It’s three twenty-nine. I have a feeling when the clock hits three thirty, you’re going to have some nasty visitors. You’ve got less than sixty seconds and no time to run." I put as much force into my voice I could. "Move fast."

"Shit. You’re not fucking with me right now."

"Jesus fucking Christ, West! Does it sound like I’m fucking with you right now? This is not a joke. Move it!"

I heard the sheet rustling. "Mom! Dad!" He pounded on the door. "Wake up! Shit’s about to go down."

The sound of his feet hammering steps echoed through the phone. "Salt. Salt. Salt. Shit. I don’t see the salt."

"Bottom self. On the right." That was where Mom always kept it.

"It’s not there."

I took a breath. "Then she must’ve moved it." Where would she have put it? "Look on top of the fridge. Or beside the stove."

"Got it! What do I do? Shit, Heather. I saw the news footage. Please don’t tell me—"

We didn’t have time. "Go into the Mom and Dad’s bedroom and pull their bed into the center of the room." The stairs squeaked as he ran back up.

"I’m putting you on speaker." The phone clattered. "We’ve got to move the bed."

"You’re going to have them do a circle?" Shane asked over my family’s talking.

I glanced at him by the rearview mirror. "Unless you have a better idea?" I hoped he had something more, but if not, this would do. For now.

"No. That’s pretty solid. If they had some holy water or something—"

The sound of furniture squeaking along the hardwood floors filled the car.

"I have holy water," Mom said.

There was a huge bang, and Mom yelled. "What was that?"

The clock on the dash read 3:33. My stomach bottomed out.

"It came from downstairs. I think it’s here," West said. "We moved the bed. What now?"

"Use the salt to draw a circle around it. Do not leave any gaps. Make one full circle and then go around again to make the line thicker. Mom and Dad, you get on the bed."

"How far away are you?" West asked.

"Five minutes," Brent said. "Maybe less. She’s driving as fast as she can."

My hands sweat as I gripped the steering wheel. I was already doing 80 in a 35 and I’d go faster if I thought I could handle the turns without killing us all.

"What’s that smell?" Mom’s voice confirmed my fears. "Oh my God. What’s that smell?"

Shit. I was too late. "West. Are you done?"

"Not yet."

"Finish it. Now. Then get on the bed."

"Okay. Okay. Just need one more second. I’ve drawn one circle, but it’s super thin. Going around—"

"There’s no time. That smell is the demon. You better be drawing that circle from inside!"

Mom’s whining scream sent chills down my spine.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. No more."

The line went dead.

"Whose voice was that?" My voice sounded too airy, even to my ears.

"Stay calm. I’ll call again," Brent said.

This time, the call went straight to voicemail.

We hit a straightaway and I gave the car more gas. Whatever the speed limit was supposed to be now, I didn’t care. My family was on the line. They didn’t have magic. They had no weapons. And they couldn’t heal like I could.

If something happened to them...

Brent called West over and over again, and the sound of his voicemail message echoed in my ears.

It took forever to get there.

I screeched into the driveway, threw the car in park, and jumped out. Donovan and his group weren’t far behind us.

Brent moved fast, tossing me my bag of vials as we ran into my house. The door hung off the top hinge and the screen was shredded.

Mom’s prayers carried down the stairs and I took my first breath in what felt like hours...

Then I heard the hissing.

I climbed the stairs three at a time, only slowing before hitting my parents’ room. Clutching a vial, I was ready to throw as I stepped to the doorframe.

And froze.

Mom, Dad, and West huddled in the center of the bed, watching a figure slam itself into the salt circle. Mom was clutching an icon and rosary in one hand and throwing holy water from a small container at it with the other.

The demon ran at them again, and then bounced back, like it was hitting a wall.

If not for the sulfur burning my nose, I might not have noticed the figure was a demon.

It looked like me. My hair in a ponytail. Wearing the sundress with yellow flowers that I’d worn to the press conference. But the eyes...

Its eyes were two solid red orbs.

It hissed, and a wave of demonic energy rolled over me, making me dizzy. I gripped the doorframe. This one was much stronger than the last demon, and if I let it, it could suck the soul straight from my body.

Or my families’ bodies.

I lifted my vial of brew number two as I entered the room. Brent was at my side and the others slipped into the room behind us.

"That thing doesn’t look anything like the last one," Xander said.

"This one’s a major demon," Cosette said. I didn’t turn, but I hoped she had her sword ready back there.

"Mistress wants you dead." Its head tilted to the side as it studied each of us. Assessing us.

"Feeling’s mutual." I said a prayer, and threw the vial, but the demon didn’t flinch as it shattered. "Shit. Twos are duds." Clinking sounded behind me as the brujos readjusted.

It swiped off the black sludge dirtying the sundress, and then shot me a look of pure rage that had me stumbling backward.

"We need more room to fight."

It stood there, slowly inching forward, as its red gaze darted among us.

I wasn’t sure why it hadn’t attacked yet, but that wasn’t going to last. Once it was done assessing what we were and how to kill us, it was going to.

I backed out of the room, not wanting to turn around, but we needed to draw it outside. Not everyone could fit in my parents’ bedroom. We were going to need everybody in this fight, and I wanted that thing as far away from my family as possible.

It started to move faster. "Run," I whispered.

The wolves heard and everyone else followed them. I quickly backed to the stairs—not wanting to turn my back to it—and then it leaped at me.

I jumped to the bottom of the stairs in one go.

My hands touched the floor as I hit the ground. The demon scrambled after me, knocking down picture frames. It lunged, almost slashing my ankles, but Brent grabbed me, tossing me out of the house.

A boom sounded as it tore through the wall. We only had a few seconds before it was on us again.

Cosette stood ready with her sword and this time, her skin was definitely glowing. "This one will be faster than the other. Get ready to try the new potions."

Adrian, Donovan, Serena, and Xander had already shifted. Claudia waved her hands over them, drawing a few glowing knots. The saint’s ruby ring glimmered on her finger. "Hopefully this will keep the demon blood from burning you."

Shane and a pale-looking Raphael stood shoulder to shoulder. Shane held his first and middle fingers out, ready to flick some spell. A bead of sweat ran down Raphael’s face, and I had a moment to wonder if we should’ve left him on campus before he stumbled back a step.

As I dug out another vial, Brent’s change ripped through our bond. Claudia drew another knot, and I felt her spell wrap around him.

Shaking off drywall dust, the demon appeared in the doorway.

"Stop!" I threw all my will in to the word. All I had to do was freeze it, and we could end this before anyone got hurt.

It stopped moving and I let out a breath as I turned toward Cosette. "It worked. Hurry and—"

Panic surged to me from Brent, but that was the only warning I got.

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