Playing With Fire by C.J. Archer

Author:C.J. Archer [Archer, C.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: YA paranormal romance
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

I picked up my skirts and ran down the stairs. "Let him in! The demon is coming!"

Sylvia was ahead, but not yet at the door. I could hear footsteps drumming on the stairs behind me. Samuel.

"Open the door!" I shouted at Sylvia.

The door flew open and crashed back on its hinges before she got to it. Jack charged through and slammed it shut, just as the demon hit it from the other side. The door shook, but held, thank God.

I raced to him. He caught me in his arms, lifting me off the ground.

A violent shock drove us apart just as quickly, but at least I had that fleeting moment of feeling his arms around me, telling me without words that he was all right and he was glad to see me too. It was only a moment, but it was something and it was ours. I rubbed my arms, now damp too, but it did nothing to ease my twitching muscles or the heat swamping me.

"Did it get you?" Tommy asked, grasping Jack by the shoulders and inspecting him. I don't know when he'd arrived, but he and Samuel were both there. Bollard wheeled Langley in too, just as the demon slammed against the door again.

Sylvia screamed.

"Stop that," Langley snapped at her. "You'll frighten the servants."

I suspected the servants would already be terrified if they'd seen that thing running out of the woods. No animal looked like a short, naked, malformed human. It was going to be hard to convince them they'd seen a wild dog.

The demon snarled and growled just beyond the door. Then it did the oddest thing. The growling stopped, and it whimpered like a child.

"In," the small voice cried. "Let in."

"Oh God," Sylvia crouched down next to her uncle's chair, her hands at her throat. "Is there someone out there with it?"

"I doubt it," Jack said, eyeing the door. Water dripped off his hair and clothes, forming a puddle on the tiles at his bare feet. He didn't seem to notice.

"Perhaps it's using the voices of the spirits it consumed to trick us," Samuel said.

Or perhaps the little ghost children wanted to get away from the demon just as much as we did. A shiver slithered down my spine, pushing the heat out of me. I hugged myself and edged closer to Sylvia and Langley.

"Why is it here?" Sylvia wailed. "What does it want?"

"Perhaps it's hungry," Jack said.

"I thought there was enough deer and other wildlife in the woods to keep it satisfied," I said.

The demon slammed against the door again. Wood splintered near the hinge.

"Get back!" Langley shouted. "Away from the door. Now!"

We did, just as the demon threw itself against the thick wood again. How much longer would the door hold up?

Sylvia began to sob. "Do something."

"Your fire," Tommy said to Jack.

He nodded, grim. "I can't open the door. There's a chance it'll get in before I can summon the flames." He looked at the windows on either side of the door, but dismissed those for the same reason.

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