Awakening

Glass exploded inward and across the lobby floor.

Sophie clapped her palms over her ears as the ringing shrieked at a deafening level. She heard boots crunch the glass as men in black uniforms swarmed into the station.

We’re so dangerous they sent the SWAT team after us!

Rory shoved them into the hallway. “Whatever you do, don’t stop running. They will not hesitate to shoot you.”

Sophie’s heart pounded as they ran. Rory spoke fast into his ear bud as he gave Demetri new directions.

The black-booted men searched through the hallways in silence. While Sophie couldn’t hear them, she could sense their thoughts. Inside their minds was a determination to find them and an order to shoot to kill. They weren’t possessed by demons, which made them all the more dangerous. Any one of the Guardians would hesitate to use their powers on a regular human.

Sophie stifled a hysterical giggle when she saw the irony. Was that Akeldama’s plan all along? She wanted them to die by the people they were trying to save. Who better to do the job than an elite team of snipers?

The hallway felt endless as they ran.

“On the left. A staff only doorway,” Tristan said.

Rory reared back and kicked the door in.

The booted steps sounded much closer.

Jackson and Aidan pushed Sophie and the girls toward the doorway.

Don’t argue, just go! Aidan snapped when Morgan hesitated. I can’t fight them and worry about you, too.

Morgan’s argument subsided when two men rounded the corner. They pointed their guns toward them

“They aren’t really going to shoot us, are they?” Aidan nudged Morgan into the stairwell.

The men’s triumph crowded Sophie when they yelled, “I’ve spotted the suspects.”

Tristan shoved her onto the stairs. Gunfire echoed.

The bullet hit just above Tristan’s head, and Morgan screamed. Sheetrock rained down.

“Move!” Tristan pushed them faster down the stairs.

Within seconds they’d reached the basement door.

Rory jerked on the handle. “Locked.”

“They shot at us,” Morgan whispered. She looked at Aidan, eyes wide.

Footsteps pounded. The men were getting closer.

“Out of the way.” Jackson shouldered Rory aside. With a quick mental push, the door blew open.

“Go.” Rory waved for them to hustle. They rushed into the basement and toward the rickety door to the outside.

Rory led them through the doors. Motion exploded behind them. Jackson, Aidan, and Tristan were on their heels as the SWAT mobilized after them.

“Stop right there!” someone yelled.

They followed Rory into an alley on the side of the station. He stopped at the edge of the street and spoke low and furious through his mouthpiece. He looked over his shoulder at them.

Sophie was sure they looked like a mess, each one heaved to draw in air. How could they be intimidating?

“I need the guys to cover us while we wait on Demetri and Ruth.” Rory nodded at the SWAT team that raced toward them. “They should be here any second.”

Jackson, Tristan, and Aidan formed a line behind Sophie, Morgan, and Lilli and faced the kill squad.

The guys’ eyes hardened, and they each let their powers show. The concrete groaned, then split. Jackson levitated the pieces in front of them. Aidan’s flames danced up and down his arms. Tristan growled low and his eyes shone yellow.

The squad hesitated. A few of the men stumbled back when Tristan growled again.

Sophie understood their fear. The growl had the hair on her neck standing up.

A squeal of rubber shrieked through the night. Demetri brought the van to an abrupt stop in front of them. The side door opened, and Ruth poked her head out. “Get in.”

Rory helped the girls in. “Get your butts in gear, guys!”

The SWAT members shook off their fear. Bullets ricocheted off the side of the van.

Before Rory had the door shut, Demetri peeled out and gunned the gas.

Sophie stumbled to the built-in benches just as Demetri cut a hard right followed almost immediately by a hard left. Through the back windows, she could see the SWAT team run back to the police station.

“We got away!” Morgan shouted.

“Don’t get excited yet, Morgan.” Ruth loaded her gun from the passenger seat. “That was too easy.”

“How was that easy?” Aidan snapped. “They had trained snipers after us.”

Sophie wanted to echo that sentiment, even though she knew Ruth was right. How did they escape a police station full of possessed officers and an elite team of snipers?

“Akeldama must have something else in mind.” Demetri sped through the streets without hesitation, cutting corners and taking alleyways in a zigzag pattern.

“Something much, much worse. Ruth, pass me another magazine.” Rory reached out his hand. Ruth passed him a cartridge over her shoulder. She never took her gaze off the road.

“Where are we going? You only told us the plan for getting Sophie out of jail,” Jackson said.

It was then Sophie noticed the jagged cut on his forearm. “Jackson, you’re bleeding.”

He glanced down, dismissed it, and repeated his question.

Demetri’s gaze cut briefly into the rearview mirror and then back to the road. “We’re taking you to where Akeldama can’t follow.”

Jackson frowned at his evasive answer.

Sophie wanted to know where the Demoness couldn’t go.

“We’re getting closer. Maybe we can make it before they—”

Something slammed into the van. It rocked to the side on two wheels, still speeding down the pavement.

“—find us,” Ruth finished.

A shriek sliced through the air.

“You opened your mouth too soon, sis.” Rory watched a claw tear through the wall beside his head. He blinked as it ripped back out, taking a piece of the wall with it.

Sophie peeked out the back window to see they’d left the city behind and now drove on a highway through a forest. In this empty area, she felt the oppression in the air. “I hate to say this, but there are hundreds of those things out there.” Unending hunger sharpened in her mind.

Another hit was followed by scratching and a thump overhead. As if the creature had landed on the roof.

Demetri bit out a curse and swung the wheel, sending the van into a turn. Sophie braced her palms on the wall beside her and closed her eyes. Her stomach flipped and then flipped again. She’d always hated carnival rides, and this was beginning to feel like one from hell.

When the van finally stopped, she breathed deeply through her nose and then out her mouth. The others looked the same, except for Aidan, who had a wild light in his eyes.

“You like carnival rides, Aidan?”

He grinned at Sophie. “I’m the first one on them.”

She nodded until the demons’ minds crushed in on her again. It was unrelenting pressure, all focused on one thing.

Ripping them to bite-size pieces.

Tristan noticed her pale face and rubbed a hand down her arm. Their gazes met, and she felt safer. He was there, solid and close, and she knew he wouldn’t let the demons get her if he could help it.

“Hang on.” Demetri gunned the engine again. The van shot forward.

Sophie screamed when the demons hammered at the vehicle.

Morgan locked her fingers in both Aidan’s and Jackson’s, her mouth set. Each time a demon plowed into the van, she flinched.

“We’re being attacked full force,” Ruth spoke into a radio as the demons shrieked and screamed. “It looks like hundreds. Forgo the rendezvous point and head to our coordinates.”

The van tilted up on its side at a successful hit from a demon.

Tristan grabbed Sophie and held her to his chest as the van rolled.

The windshield shattered, glass flying, and the van skidded upside down into a ditch.

She and Tristan landed on their sides, and she blinked against the raw pain in her ribs. It took a few moments to be able to focus through the agony.

Morgan leaned against Aidan, who wiped a cut above his right eye. Jackson unfolded himself from a corner of the van.

“That wasn’t so bad.” Rory shook his head and glass shards fell out.

Another demon hit. The van rocked up and slammed back down.

Aidan cursed. “Enough already.”

It grew quiet outside. Everyone stilled.