Tirade (Heven and Hell #3)(6)
Author: Cambria Hebert

For bait.

To get to Heven.

I wondered constantly if she was okay. Yes, I could hear her voice when I wanted. I knew that she wasn’t in immediate danger… but that stupid expression played through my head like a broken record. All good things come to those who wait.

Is that what was happening? Was Beelzebub waiting, planning… plotting?

I thought about Logan. My little brother who had been through far more than he should ever have to endure. His body was broken—he was weak and probably traumatized. Heven told me about him constantly. I knew she wasn’t lying because I knew what bad shape he was in. If she was going to lie, she would have said he was doing better. I knew that once the demon left his body, he should’ve died. But he didn’t. Because Gemma healed him. Sort of.

She closed the dagger wound in his body, she breathed air into his deflated lungs and gave his heart strength to beat, but not even Gemma and all her healing mojo could totally reverse what that demon did to him.

As honest as Heven was being with me about Logan and his physical state, I knew she wasn’t telling me everything. She was only trying to protect me. Something I couldn’t be mad about because it’s all I had done for her since we’d met. I hadn’t realized how suffocating being protected could feel.

I was beyond grateful that Logan was staying at Gran’s farm. Gran thought Logan got sick and I went to our parent’s house to try to talk some sense into them—to find a way to bridge the gap between them and my brother. Gran thought I was fighting to take my brother home where he belonged. But really, I was the one fighting to get home.

I knew Logan was being cared for. If anyone could take care of Logan the way he should be, it was Gran. Heven sat with him day after day, talking with him, relaying our conversation back and forth and trying to build a relationship with hopes they would be close.

It made me feel guilty.

Guilty because of everything Logan put her through, everything he did and said to her when I wasn’t looking. Guilty because of her mother. Heven still had no idea Logan was the one who put her mother in the hospital. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her. It wasn’t because I thought she would refuse to watch over him while I couldn’t, but because I knew that she would. She would do it for me just as I would do it for her. The fact was that her knowing would make it harder for her to do what she was doing.

I had to get out of here.

I looked back at the force field once more, wondering what its weakness was. There had to be a weakness. Even the strongest adversaries had weaknesses. I just had to figure out what it was and exploit it.

Heven

My foot hovered over the brake and I wanted so badly to press on it. But I didn’t. Slamming on the brakes would jerk that gothic-looking freak even closer to me. I took a deep breath and willed myself to stay in control. Don’t let it know you’re afraid.

It reached for me and I floored the gas, throwing it backward into the seat. It hissed, making it sound inhuman (which, yeah, it was), and I prayed it wasn’t one of those demons with a snake for a tongue. Afraid of keeping up the breakneck speed I was driving at, I took my foot off the gas. The car began to decelerate and the demon grinned. He grinned like he had caught me, and he leaned forward (did I mention his teeth were black like his skin?).

There was one good thing.

With his grin I could see that he didn’t have a snake for a tongue.

But his teeth looked like pointy black daggers ready to rip the fragile flesh right off my bones.

I grabbed my reusable steel water bottle and slammed it into its face. He screamed and it was the kind of sound that would peel paint off walls. The car swerved into the oncoming lane. I heard the angry honking of another car and jerked the wheel back, just in time to avoid being in yet another car accident.

The demon launched itself at me, coming up into the front of the car, and grabbed the steering wheel, careening the car all around. The tires squealed and my head bounced off the driver’s side window. For a second, black dots swam before my eyes and I let go of the wheel. The demon took advantage and seized control of the car, stomping his foot down over mine and driving like a bat out of hell.

Frankly, right now, I would prefer to be facing off against a bat.

He swerved around another oncoming car, narrowly avoiding sideswiping it. Though, I think he was disappointed in his poor aim because he began speeding again. He was going to crash this car, kill me and steal the scroll.

I would not die like this.

If I died, Sam would be trapped in hell forever, Logan would be all alone, and the rest of my family would be left unprotected.

I elbowed the demon and sent him sideways and took back the steering wheel. I guided the car to the side of the road as the demon grabbed my arm and dug in its filthy claws. Blood began to drip down my skin and I cried out, jerking the car to a halt. The sudden stop sent the demon into the dashboard and I reached into my pocket and pulled out the fork. There was no hesitation when I rammed it into its side.

He began screaming. I was so close that spittle from his mouth fell onto my arm as I opened the car door and all but fell out onto the shoulder of the road. I scrambled up and reached in, pulling the demon out into the dirt. He was clutching my bag and I tore it from its grasp and ran, wanting to put some distance between us.

The demon chased me, and as I turned to look over my shoulder, something whizzed by my cheek. It was the fork.

Clearly, it hadn’t been strong enough this time.

And I couldn’t outrun this one, either.

He slammed his body into mine and we both went down. Unfortunately for me, I broke his fall. He grabbed my bag, yanked it away and began riffling through it. I thought back to something I learned while in Italy and I took aim with my foot and kicked him hard… right in the man parts. He doubled over, thrusting the bag outward. I reached inside to pull out my dagger and I rammed it upward, right into his chest.

He made a grunting sound before he disintegrated. I stood there, breathing hard, as the wind carried away what was left of him.

Note to self: forks are not good weapons to use against all demons, but kicking them in their man parts works every time.

A burning pain in my arm caused me to look down. Along with the rips in my skin from his claws, I had burns from where the demon’s spit got on me. It didn’t help the wounds were also splattered with black demon blood. I used the hem of my T-shirt to wipe the blood away, but my arm continued to burn. I walked back to Gran’s car to grab my water bottle from the floorboard of the backseat and used what was left to rinse off the area in case any poison was left on my skin. I didn’t see any, but I wasn’t going to leave it up to chance. I inspected the interior of the car for any demon blood or damage from his claws and was beyond thankful when everything appeared to be okay. No way did I want to explain to Gran how I messed up yet another one of her cars.