Fil snorted and this time the Demon just smiled.
“Oh, no, nothing like that,” it said dismissively. “But now I have the chance to tell you all how much I appreciate your kind assistance.”
Dag’s gut clenched as he realized something was very, very wrong.
“Assistance?” Kylie demanded, fisting her hands in the front pockets of her jeans. “You think we helped you out today?” She looked at Dag. “He’s a meshugener.”
“Oh, no, I can assure you I am quite sane,” the Demon practically purred. “Quite intelligent, too. I had to be in order to plan out this little distraction so convincingly.”
“Distraction,” Dag snarled. He had a bad, bad feeling.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll read all about it in the news, but I really couldn’t have done it without you.”
Kylie shook her head. “Zayn vort zol zayn a brik, volt ikh moyre gehat aribertsugeyn. If his word were a bridge, I’d be afraid to cross it,” she muttered. “You’re trying to tell us that you didn’t really set this up and attempt to massacre all of these people because you wanted to. You just thought it would keep us busy while you did something more important. You couldn’t have just sent us to the movies?”
“I never said this little event wasn’t fun,” the Demon taunted. “And delicious.” It licked its lips, and Kylie made gagging noises. “I’m merely saying that this is not the only city in the world, and that death tastes sweet all over.” It gave a sigh of pleasure that raised growls from all four Guardians. “But enough chitchat. I’m afraid I must be going.”
Dag tensed at the statement and leaped, forgetting the knife at Wynn’s throat, forgetting the poor odds, forgetting everything but the need to seize the Demon before it could escape.
He was too late.
They all were. The Guardians crashed together in the spot where Nazgahchuhl had stood, nothing there but an empty space and an extremely ticked-off witch who told them all in no uncertain terms to get their fat asses off her.
Knox scooped her up in his arms and cradled her to his chest, crooning reassurances at her until she slapped him upside the head and demanded to be set back on her feet.
“I’m fine,” she insisted, loudly, as the others gathered around in concern. “The scratch on my neck doesn’t even need a bandage, and that flying monkey barely dropped me six feet. Quit worrying. About me, anyway. If anyone wants to worry about what the Demon meant by his psychotic little spiel, I’d be happy to join you.”
Suddenly a scream rang out from the middle of the auditorium floor, and Dag turned to see that the spell the Demon had cast to freeze everyone in place had ended as abruptly as the creature had disappeared. Instantly, he and the other Guardians shifted to human and looked to their mates.
“Anyone know how we’re going to explain this?”
They all turned their gazes to the room filled with dazed and injured humans, as well as the bloody remains of the dead and the scattered ashes of destroyed demons.
Kylie sighed and pulled out her cell phone. “I have no idea. But you know what? That’s why we have mayors, and why mayors have public relations specialists. I’m calling 911. We did the hard part, now someone else can clean up the mess.”
Chapter Twenty
Az der soyne falt, tor men zikh nit freyen (ober men heybt im nit oyf).
Rejoice not at thine enemy’s fall (but don’t pick him up, either).
That night, over Indian takeout, they watched the news. The lead story on the local station was of the terrorist attack at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center.
According to eyewitnesses, a hallucinogenic gas had been deployed in the auditorium during an important speech by noted philanthropist Richard Foye-Carver. Assailants had then stormed the room, killing seventeen people and wounding more than a hundred others. Carver’s representatives assured the media that his security team had gotten him to safety, but that he would be canceling his public appearances for the near future out of legitimate concerns for his safety.
“I’ll give them concern for his safety,” Kylie mumbled before biting savagely into a hunk of naan.
Beside her Dag chuckled. “Down, girl. We still need to see what the Demon was really up to. Then we will decide how you are going to kill it.”
That pacified her for the moment. Barely.