Chapter 40

Iwent to the door and jerked it open, peering out into the sunlight. The Spanish moss hung from the trees all around us, giving a little shade from the midday sun.

Robert stood at the edge of the property line, his dark hair pulled back in a low ponytail, his blue eyes locked on the door of the house. "Bree."

"Robert!" I was running down the steps, running to grab my friend, when several sets of hands grabbed me and yanked me to a stop. I'd only noticed Robert, not the creatures with him.

Because there were others with him—dark shadows flitting closer and closer.

"Oh, those are baddies!" Nancy yelled. "Don't get near them unless you have to. Jeepers creepers!"

Robert nodded. "I am Evangeline's husband, Bree. You cannot truly believe I'd side with you, now that I have her again?"

The shadows around him snickered and slipped a little closer, pausing at the edge of the sidewalk, their long tongues tasting the concrete, then flicked through the air.

My heart did a terrible, weird dive right to the soles of my feet. Robert had been my one friend through all of this, from the very beginning. "But you can't?—"

His eyes seemed to look straight through me. "I am bringing you a message on her behalf. She knew you wouldn't hurt me. She saved me when Remy attacked me. Not you."

"She might not hurt you, but I can." Crash stepped between us. "You would side with that bitch, after all she's done to…everyone? You would side with her against Bree?"

Robert's face darkened. "That is my wife you are speaking of, Blacksmith. Watch your tongue."

A hissing erupted around Robert; the demons were getting riled up. From behind me, Alan and Phillipa yelped. "Those are the creepers!" he said.

"They can eat ghosts, and hurt the living," Phillipa reminded us.

"Stay in the house, all of you!" I waved my hand at my friends. But mostly to Gran, Corb, Alan, and Phillipa.

"What does she want?" I turned back to Robert. There was a glimmer of emotion on his face, in his eyes, that I wanted to believe was sorrow. But it was gone so fast I was sure I was just seeing things. My friend…he was gone then?

"She offers everyone you love protection in the coming war. If you come with me now."

If I…if I left my friends. Then they would be safe? Even if I believed it, it wasn't a good idea—the end of the world would still be the end of my friends.

Crash had his hand on my arm before I could so much as take a step in any direction. "No. She's not going with you."

"It is not your decision," Robert said. "Is it, Fae King? Or have you taken over speaking for her, as her husband did?"

"Rude," Alan muttered from behind us.

Right to the heart, Robert struck a blow that he had to know would sting. But Crash didn't let me go, nor did he as much as stutter when he spoke. "I know her. I know she would cast herself on the flames if it meant those she loved wouldn't burn. So the answer is no. I am not willing to stand and let her sacrifice herself for me."

"No," Eammon said. "I won't let her either."

"Me either," Suzy said.

"Nor will I." Eric's voice.

"Nope," Sarge said. "Not going to happen."

Penny, Winnifred, Kinkly, and Damian all added their vote, until every single one of my friends had spoken.

Robert's eyes never left my face. "It is still your choice, Bree. Will you come with me and save your friends?"

Even if I'd wanted to, I would have had to fight every friend I had to do so. Besides, could Robert really be trusted? And again, the stakes were so much higher than just my friend's lives, just my life.

I wasn't sure anymore. I had trusted him from the beginning, but Evangeline had clearly done something to twist his mind. Still, I couldn't believe he understood the truth about her. There's no way he'd still back her if he did, which meant I had to try and convince him. "I don't think she would keep to her word, Robert, even if I agreed to come with you, which I won't. She's not your wife. She was never really Evangeline. She's carried a demon in her since she was a child."

The creeper demons around him gave low rumbling hisses and moved toward us.

"Let me at 'em! Let me at 'em!" Nancy yelled.

I pulled the dagger free from the sheath at my side. "Robert. Call your new friends off."

Robert shook his head. "I can't. That's not how this works, Bree. You don't get to call the demons off, you don't get a breather, a break—you make decisions, and you see where the chips fall. This is the battle your life has been moving toward all these years."

The demons kept pressing forward.

I pointed my blade at them. "And where are the chips falling, Robert?" I had to keep him talking—I felt it in my bones that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't fully on her side. Or was that just what I wanted to believe? Either way, I had to try.

Because he was my friend. Plain and simple. Even now, he was my friend.

"The chips are not going to fall where you think they are."

His words seemed to set off the demons and they launched themselves at us. I caught the first one just under the jaw, driving Nancy in deep.

My friends rushed forward, and with Crash at my side, I started pushing the demons back.

"Aim for the left side of the head!" Damian yelled. The creeper demons redoubled their efforts, tucking their heads low in an attempt to protect their left sides. Three of them jammed themselves between me and Crash and dragged me toward Robert.

I twisted and fought, but one of them had my wrist of the hand that held onto Nancy. "Oh, snap! They are fast little bastards!" yelled the demon in the dagger.

We reached Robert and I managed to kick one of the creepers off my leg, which gave me more leverage in my upper body. Robert watched as I fought my way free of all three of them. Then he grabbed my hand and yanked me close enough that his mouth was right at my ear.

"You are my friend, Bree. Always."

Then he grabbed my hand and started to drag me away. Toward Evangeline. I couldn't even fight him, I just couldn't behind the shock of what was happening.

Crash let out a yell behind us, I turned and looked over my shoulder as the creepers were flattened, almost like a bunch of frying pans had hit them all at once. He sprinted toward us, his sword out.

Robert didn't turn around, instead he just kept dragging me along. All the way to Oglethorpe Square.

"Robert, let me go!" I punched and kicked at him, but I couldn't bring myself to use Nancy on him. Not yet.

"I am," he said, turning his head to me. "I am letting you go."

He stopped and pulled me close again. "You have to trust me, one last time, Bree. Trust me."

I blinked up at him, knowing that I did trust him, even now. The man I'd gotten to know would do anything for me, for this city. I nodded. "Okay."

He smiled, but his mouth kind of wobbled like he wasn't sure he could do…whatever it was he had to do. "Kill her quickly, your blade is enough. When I move to drag you, fight me."

I nodded and tightened my hand on his, flexing my fingers. "We got this, Robert. And we'll both deserve a strong whiskey after."

"I have her, Eva."

It was only when he called for Evangeline that I realized something…the day had slid into dusk. Just dark enough for a vampire to stroll across the square to us—she'd been hidden behind Ogelthorpe's statue. Her long skirts were of the deepest red this time, so dark they could have been black in the right light.

"Oh, my love. I knew you wouldn't fail me," she said with a smile. It was creepy as duck, watching her face that looked so much like mine, smile at him. Because I could see now that she was a puppet doing as she was told. Smile now. Laugh now. Speak now.

"Our friends are dealing with her friends?" Evangeline tipped her head to the side. "It's a pity about Remy, but I think his injuries will have him hiding for a long time. I could have used him still."

Robert tightened his hand on mine. "I don't think they are far behind, my love."

She made this stupid little mew face, like she was a coy maiden and not some ancient demon. "Then we should go."

Yeah, that was my cue. I dug in my heels and threw myself backward. Robert let my hand slip from his, and so he had to throw himself on top of me. The wind knocked out of me, and I might have peed a little, I'm not sure. Robert in his whole form was a helluva lot heavier than Robert as a skeleton.

I clawed at the ground, staring back the way we'd come. Robert grabbed at my arms. "You are coming with us, Bree!"

"Not today!" I yelled back, throwing an elbow behind me, catching him in the face.

He grunted and loosened his hold a little.

Enough that I squirmed further as I tried to escape his grasp.

I could see Crash now, sprinting toward us. His sword out.

"Keep fighting." Robert barely breathed the words. I heard them, though.

I twisted around and kicked at him even as he grabbed my legs and yanked me toward him in a rather compromising-looking position. He leaned forward and put one hand around my neck.

His fingers were not tight. He pinned me to the ground more than he squeezed my neck. I stared up at him, and he smiled.

"Quickly," he reminded me. "Very quickly."

He put his other hand around my neck too. Making it look like he was choking me. I squawked, trying to find words, because if Crash saw him…like this….with his sword….

"No!" I screamed, finally getting it out, echoed by Evangeline as Crash's sword flew forward. He'd thrown it, because he was too far away to do otherwise.

And the world slowed as it buried itself deeply into Robert's chest, right through his heart. He blinked down at me, blue eyes fading. "Trust me. Quickly."

Evangeline was screaming. I had to do what he'd told me to do.

I flipped him off me and managed only to get to my knees before Evangeline was turning to flee. One chance. I had one chance at this.

I threw Nancy, end over end, right at Evangeline's back.

The blade caught her on her left side, burying itself in deep through bone and muscle. She pitched forward.

I wanted to grab at Robert, who lay on his side. Not in the skeletal form he usually returned to after an injury.

"Quickly." He pointed at Evangeline.

Stumbling to my feet, I ran to where she lay, unmoving. Maybe not quite dead? I wasn't sure. "Nancy, is she dead?"

"No." His voice was muffled. "The demon is keeping her alive."

With a grimace, I went to my knees beside her and forced myself to put my hands on her back. Phillipa had made me promise to try and save the "real" Evangeline.

That was so ducking stupid, why had I agreed? Because I was an idiot with a heart that was too soft.

"Nancy, can we separate the demon from the person?"

"Pfft. You really going to try and save her? Just send her back to hell. You can do that!"

I kept my hands on her, and dug in deep with my connection to the dead. Evangeline was a spirit, a ghost. If I could find her, I could maybe…maybe separate them.

She groaned.

"Hurry!" Nancy yelled.

There would be nothing nice about this. I yanked Evangeline's spirit free as hard as I could, like ripping duct tape off that had been in the sun for years, she stuck and then slowly, slowly I peeled the two entities apart. As I held my left hand—still aching from where Evangeline had snapped my wrist—above her body, the demon that had lived inside of her fought and thrashed, like a fish on a line that was not strong enough.

"Nancy, how do I open something to send the demon through?"

"How the hell should I know?"

The tree above us creaked and groaned and I looked up. The tree had a demon resting in it. One I'd avoided for as long as I could remember.

"Don't suppose you have a portal to hell there?"

The demon laughed and crawled down the tree, touching a knot that opened up a black hole. "Here. If you can manage. Best show I've had in years."

Sweat rolled down my body in rivers, soaking me right through as I fought against the demon that had held tight to Evangeline for so long, shoving the creature away and toward the opening to hell.

I could do this. I had to do this.

"Keep going!" Nancy yelled.

He was not the only one who spoke though. "There will be others, Sentinel, Guardian of Savannah. You think I am the only monster hiding in the shadows, making plans? You think you have defeated me? Then you are more the fool!" The demon was fully free of Evangeline's body now, and she fought like a real nasty piece of work. She slashed at me, a long talon slicing down the side of my face, drawing blood. But I didn't flinch. Didn't move.

I couldn't if I was to see this through. I had to stop her, had to make sure she didn't hurt anyone else.

Inch by inch, I stood, and half dragged, half shoved the demon toward the portal. The demon in the tree watched, and the little bastard was eating popcorn of all things.

Nancy was right. Demons were not all made of the same stuff, any more than any other supernatural creature.

I shoved the demon hard, forcing her through the portal until it was just her claws clinging to the sides as she shrieked.

"I am not finished! I am not done with you!"

My limbs shook, my muscles were done, but there was no one who could help me. I did this, or we all died. I did this, or I failed.

Fighting was going on all around me. I could hear Crash yelling at me to hang on, that he was coming to me.

But it wasn't Crash who made it to me first. It wasn't at all who I thought it would be.

"You can do this, Bree." Alan said, his voice quiet. "You were always stronger than you knew, stronger than I knew. You just have to believe." He stood just in front of me, nodding. "So stop playing around like a lazy cow, and get the job done."

A surge of fury shot through me. "Damn it, Alan! Don't be a dick!"

With a sob that sounded a bit like a screech, I gave the demon a last shove and fell forward onto my knees. The combined effort forced her to release her hold on the edges of the portal. I felt the portal shut and slumped forward, unable to feel my fingers, unable to feel anything. There was a flurry of movement, and then I wasn't alone anymore.

I sensed more than saw Crash at my side. But my eyes were drawn to the soul in front of me, crouched over the figure of Evangeline. Alan stepped away, giving us all space.

The little girl looked like Phillipa, only she wasn't Phillipa. She straightened and turned to face me, her long strawberry blonde hair in perfect ringlets.

"Hello," she whispered. "Am I dead? Why aren't we at the seashore?"

I just stared at her. That she was a little girl told me she hadn't ever really grown up. The demon had taken control of her, and Evangeline had been buried under all that darkness. This was why Phillipa had asked me to try and save her sister. Not just for love, but to try and make things right.

"It's a long story," I said. Her blue eyes turned to me, and she smiled.

"Are you my mother's sister? You look so like her!"

I shook my head. "No, no we aren't related."

Crash put his hand on my shoulder. "What are you seeing, Bree? Or is it a who?"

"Evangeline," I said. "Your sister is waiting for you. You are free to go to her now."

The smile that crossed her face was brilliant. Then a flash of light appeared, and she was gone. As if she'd never been.

Crash helped me to my feet. I needed every bit of help—I was shaken to the core. Evangeline was gone. Truly gone. And so was the demon. "Bree, are you okay?"

I shook my head. "Robert, is he…?"

I wanted to ask if he was dead, but really, wasn't Robert already dead? Which meant he was going to be okay.

Crash's face turned to a glower. "I can't believe he turned on you. After everything…he tried to hurt you."

Slipping my hand into Crash's, I shook my head. "He didn't. That wasn't it at all." Because if I understood anything, it was that Robert was my friend to the end, bitter ending or not. And I should never have doubted that.

Both my knees ached from hitting the pavement, they'd be bruised like a sunset in a couple of days. But it barely registered, because the ache in my heart was far worse than any set of bruised knees.

I limped my way over to where Robert lay on his back, staring up at the darkening night sky. "Bree."

"Robert, why would you do this? Why would you make Crash angry enough to hurt you?—"

"We were bound…one death wouldn't happen without the other. That's why I taunted Crash." He winced. "I'm just taking my time dying this time around is all. The wound to Evangeline, and Crash's sword to me…it is enough to end this curse of mine."

I didn't understand, not at first. "What do you mean?"

"Bree…" Crash was at my back, as if he thought he'd need to catch me. "He's dying."