The smell of demons in the morning

Excerpt from Dead of Winter:

I took Father Joe’s face in my hands and smacked him once
to make sure he was listening. I wasn’t going to have time to repeat
myself.

“Pay attention,” I said. “We don’t have much time and I don’t
know how long I can hold off the demon. You have to get Drew.”
I pointed to my son. “Take him, then go across the hall and get
Harry. Do it as fast as you can then get out of the house. Don’t
wait for me. Understand?”

He nodded though his eyes were still glazed. He reached under
his jacket and pulled something out.

“Wait,” he said, pressing the thing into my hand. “Holy water.”

Sure. Why not?

“Thanks. Now go. Hurry!”

Father Joe got up just as Remiel unleashed his fury on both
of us. I tried to protect Father Joe but I knew I wouldn’t be able
to shield him entirely. He was going to take an awful hit and I
couldn’t stop it.

From out of nowhere, Hutch came running across the room.
He grinned from ear to ear and looked as determined as an incontinent
cat in the Sahara Desert. He let out a howl and leapt
onto Remiel’s back. Then he bit the demon on the neck, vampirestyle.
It was Remiel’s turn to howl. When he opened his mouth,
Hutch hooked his index finger inside the demon’s open mouth
and pulled. I know, I know. It sounds ridiculous, a ghost miner
pulling a grade school prank against a shape-shifting demon. It
was probably much like the first human in history to eat a chicken
egg. At first it was something you would only do on a dare, but
then it you realized it was a good idea. And it would go great with
bacon. Hutch fought dirty but I wasn’t going to complain about
it. His attack knocked the demon off balance just enough that
his metaphysical cannon blast missed Father Joe and slammed
into me instead.

Everything went dark. The next time I opened my eyes, Father
Joe and Drew were gone and Hutch rode Remiel around the
room like a demonic bucking bronco. He still had the demon
hooked and was sort of steering him around the room. It was
the funniest damn thing I’d seen in a long time and I laughed.
I couldn’t help it.

Hutch looked up at the sound and grinned. “I got a tiger by
the tail here, Allysen. I got him but I can’t let go. What should
I do?”

“Hang on,” I yelled to him. “I’ve got an idea.”

He nodded. “I told you this would be excitin’, didn’t I?” Then
he frowned and smacked Remiel on top of the head. “Dammit,
bitch, I told you to quit bitin’ me.”

I pulled the top off of the bottle of holy water Father Joe gave
me and motioned for Hutch to bring the demon closer. When he
did, I tossed the water at the creature. Remiel shrieked and hissed
giving Hutch time to jump off. He rolled on his shoulder, stood
and brushed himself off while the demon continued to scream.
“Are you okay?” I asked Hutch.

“Am I okay? Damn, girl, I haven’t had this much fun in years.”




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