GAME ON - GoM 2

8

Harry cleared his throat behind them, growing impatient. Alex was about to go around the corner of the house when the light in Markus' office was turned on, reflecting on the backyard. At the same time, Claire suffocated a cry. Harry and Alex held her up.

"Two demons are in that room," the girl mumbled. "But they just woke up something else in there. Something very strong and very angry. Could it be...?"

"The Cross," Harry replied. "So now we're sure he's keeping it there."

Claire straightened up and tried to smile at Alex. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, sure," Alex grunted.

"C'mon, Corban," Harry said.

She held Claire's eyes a heartbeat longer, to make sure the girl wouldn't collapse within the next minute, and tiptoed around the corner. The other two followed, sticking to the wall. On that side of the house, the living room was a whole floor above them, so no one could see them from the large windows opening to the backyard.

They were almost at the office window when a furious blast of red light flashed from there and Claire halted with another muffled cry. Alex hurried to hold her up, oblivious to the music and noises from the living room and the rough laughter from the office.

"Oh, boy..." the girl muttered. "They shouldn't dare it."

"You know what happened?" asked Harry, surprised.

"No, but the Cross just tried to kill one of the demons."

"Alright, enough already," said Alex. "We know what we came to find out, so now we're getting the hell outta here."

"What!?" Harry did a decent job at keeping his voice down. "Only two demons and a window between us and the Cross! And you wanna bail? No way! I'm breaking in!"

Alex distracted one of her hands from Claire to poke Harry's chest, pushing him half a step back. "Right there, Bormstone. There's more people in here, and we don't know who they are or why they're here. You ain't endangering them just 'cause you can't get a grip on your hothead."

"They're safe! All we gotta do is break the window, shoot the demons and grab the Cross! The others won't even notice we're here!"

"Break the window? Did you bring a damned ram?" Alex replied, growing angrier. "You have no idea how we build houses around here, right? That's one-inch-thick shatter-proof glass, you moron! I can walk to Seattle and back before you even scratch it!"

She turned to Claire and signaled to head back to passage way. She knew the hunter felt like strangling her, his tough-guy pride bleeding over a woman scolding him like that. Oh, well, boohoo. Grow up. She followed Claire around the corner of the house, hearing him grunt behind her. The girl halted sharply a step before reaching the front yard and stuck her back to the wall. Alex stepped up to cover her and glanced out the corner.

George was there, kissing with a smoking-hot brunette that got him pinned between her and the side of his car. Before Alex even processed how she felt about the view, one of the techs came out the front door and poked George's shoulder.

"Hey, Carson. Ritmann needs you in his office."

George didn't seem bothered at the interruption. "Hold that thought," he said to the woman, and walked into the house.

As soon as he closed the door, the demon turned to the woman and murmured something. She scoffed. And Alex clearly saw her eyes glowing red. The woman was the third demon Claire had sensed! Alex snatched the crossbow from the girl, forcing the shotgun into her hands. Then grabbed two arrows from Claire's quiver.

"Get ready to run for the woods," she growled.

She drew the crossbow as she stepped past the corner, into the demons' sight, with her arm stretched out toward them. Harry followed her, shotgun ready, but Alex didn't need backup. In a split second, she shot an arrow to the woman's throat, drew and shot the other demon in his chest.

"Run!" she snarled, as the demons crumbled down, groaning.