Kindling the Moon (Arcadia Bell #1)(27)

As it deflated, I sat in my seat, stunned. White, powdery dust released from the air bag clung to me and filled the car like smoke; I nearly choked trying to cough it out of my lungs. I glanced around, waving away the haze. The front end of the car was crumpled like an accordion around a tree trunk. The windshield wipers continued on high speed, as if nothing had happened, and the dashboard lights were still on.

I forced myself to test stiffened muscles, but nothing appeared to be broken. Every inch of my body throbbed as I unlatched my seat belt. Then a ghastly cry echoed around the woods from somewhere behind me. The demon. It must have been thrown off during the crash.

My hands fumbled for the door handle; it took me several tries to open it. I swung my leg out the door, then stumbled out, falling onto my hands and knees in the muddy ground beside the car.

Branches broke in the dark trees just past the wrecked car. I couldn’t see it, but I could hear it crashing through the woods, coming for me. I scrambled to my feet, then sloppily ran around my car and took a sharp left to follow the road down the hill.

Soaked from head to foot within seconds, I pushed the rain and hair out of my eyes, pitched forward, and bolted down the steep incline.

The wooded road blurred as I ran; the sound of creaking metal resonated behind me. The demon was trying to find me inside my car. Maybe that would buy me some time. I whirled around the next sharp turn, then sped back up and busted ass.

Several seconds passed before I heard a new sound behind me. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Dull smacks against the wet pavement … something loped in the distance; the demon had abandoned the car. Once he rounded the curve, he’d spot me on the road. Terrified, I veered sideways and tore into the bushes lining the pavement. I exploded through the underbrush and into the woods, attempting to plow a straight path down the mountain instead of sticking to the zigzagging road.

That might’ve been a mistake.

The woods were too thick, the ground below rocky and uneven. Branches lashed across my face like barbed whips. I might as well have been a buffalo galloping through the trees—he’d be able to easily hear me now. I tried to concentrate hard enough to activate one of the sigils on my arm, but I couldn’t do it while running; it was just too hard.

I stumbled and recovered, and continued to race.

Don’t fall, don’t fall, I repeated to myself, as if that would help.

Up ahead, where the woods ended, I broke through and vaulted down onto the dark pavement. Though I’d bypassed one loop of the winding road, there were probably four or five more loops to go. I hustled down the road, listening to the sound of the demon in the woods behind me. I cleared one sharp turn, then went for the next patch of woods again. Either path was doomed; the woods slowed me down, but the road offered the demon a clear shot at me.

I stumbled through the dark underbrush again, crying out as I plunged through a thick spiderweb. My arms frantically brushed away the clinging web as irrational fear made me batshit-crazy for a moment. Scared of a damn spider when a bloodthirsty demon was chasing me down. Ridiculous. Just as I calmed down, the trees opened up again, and I floundered to hurdle myself out onto the road.

As I did, two bright lights lit up the rain in front of me and brakes squealed on the wet pavement. Before I could slow down, I ran smack into the front of a parked car like a line-backer doing drills. One leg slipped out from under me; I fell backward onto the pavement with a brutal thud.

I lay in the mud with my mouth open, unable to move for several seconds. Car doors opened and footsteps raced toward me. I lifted my head and glanced back to see the demon storming through the woods. With long arms and spindly, webbed fingers, he was swinging himself from tree to tree like an overgrown green monkey.

When he spotted me, he swung himself up higher into a tree at the edge of the road. Mad, crimson eyes glowed in the headlights. The scaly monster sniffed the air, then opened a mouthful of sharp, mangled teeth and bellowed out a bearlike roar.

He reared back in one final swing and propelled his body toward me, muscles straining and taut. My body stiffened, but I couldn’t scream. All I could manage to do was roll to one side and cover my face.

10

A shotgun blast revived me.

The green demon landed at my feet, belly-flopping against the pavement with a boom that scattered a puddle of muddy water over me in a wave.

Frantic, I shuffled against the asphalt like I was trying to pedal a bike and backed up from the pile of quivering flesh. It groaned and moved. I stumbled to my feet and slammed against something warm and solid behind me.

“Lon!”

He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and pulled me back. His other arm held a Remington Model 870 shotgun.

“Get away from him, Jupe!” he shouted.

Jupe’s wiry form darted in front of the headlights and headed for us.

“Take her,” Lon commanded, thrusting me into Jupe’s arms. Lon aimed at the demon and blasted him again in the back. The shot boomed in my ears and echoed through the woods. The beast jerked and let out a wail.

Jupe clung to me in fear, repeating “Oh shit, oh shit” several times before asking, “Is it dead, Dad?”

Lon took a step forward. Dark, brackish blood began pooling around the demon’s torso; it groaned and attempted to get up. “Not yet.” Lon’s face was composed and focused as he racked the shotgun.

“No!” I yelled, breaking away from Jupe. “Don’t kill it!”