Page 31 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade
Was Jessica dead?
Just then, something sinister in size and shape rose up behind Mina. Before I could so much as blink, another demon was there, ripping her off the floor and away from Jessica.
“Mina!” I yelled, trying to get to her, only to have something or someone yank me back. At first, I thought it was Stevie, but then I realized she wasn’t in a position that it could have been her. Twisting, I looked behind me but saw nothing.
“Look out!” yelled Colleen, sounding as if she was right next to me.
No one was there.
A lamp went flying past my head. Had I not been yanked back, I’d have been seriously hurt. A black shadow whizzed by me and whatever had pulled me before did it again, keeping me from making contact with the shadow.
A familiar moaning sound sent a chill through me as I twisted to look at the basement door, already knowing what would emerge. When the first stitched-together monster appeared, my stomach dropped.
There was a huge boom, and the front door came crashing in.
A man appeared who was well over six feet tall and had a head of long dark hair and a squared jawline covered in dark stubble. He was dressed like something out of a Victorian movie and had a face that was almost too beautiful to look at. He glanced around the entranceway, surmised the situation, and then stared right at Krissy. His eyes darkened to the point they looked solid black. “Invite me in!” he shouted, his accent eastern European, his voice commanding.
Every bone in my body said the man was far more than he appeared to be. If he needed an invite to enter the home, that ruled out a lot of stuff, leaving behind something else we didn’t need to deal with on top of the freaking apocalyptic circumstances we had going on at the moment.
A vampire.
“No, don’t!” I shook my head, but Krissy nodded, almost trancelike in his direction.
“Come in,” she said, her voice barely rising above the chaos as she held Emily to her.
The man went right at a demon that had Mina in a chokehold. The vampire ripped him away from Mina. Her limp body hit the floor. The vampire took one look at her on the floor and turned his murderous glare onto the demon. He tackled him and the pair crashed through the living room stained-glass window.
Two more men ran into the house but these ones I knew—kind of.
I gasped, my gaze locking with the man with the beard. “Shaggy Professor?”
ChapterEleven
Astria
There wasa crashing noise behind me. Something grabbed me and lifted me off my feet. It threw me. I ended up landing on the table and sliding across it, clearing the clutter with my body as I went. It hurt, but I’d had worse injuries in my life. I rolled partially onto my side only to find a robed man there. He had a symbol burned into his forehead and was about the color of dried glue. It was evident sunlight hadn’t seen him in a very long time. He opened his mouth, revealing a set of jagged teeth.
I gasped.
Another robed man appeared next to him. They were nearly identical. He grabbed for me and I slapped at his arm.
Torid went nuts, barking like mad as he dove at one of the monsters.Astria, ru-uunn!
Twisting, I found myself face-to-face with my family’s curse and knew my luck in Grimm Cove had finally run out. A stitched-together monster was there, staring out at me from milky white, soulless eyes. Spit dripped from the corner of its mouth, and it had pink clumps of something stuck to its chin and on the front of its tattered shirt. When I realized what the substance was—brains—I gasped and jerked back, ready to do what my Aunt Rachael had taught me to do whenever the monsters popped out of the woodwork and attacked—run.
Its left arm was about four inches longer than its right, not to mention one arm was distinctly male while the other was female, complete with manicured nails and all. It swiped the hand with the long nails out and at my head.
Since I couldn’t go back any more than I already was, I prepared to be struck and closed my eyes. No hit came. I peeked out to find Shaggy Professor there, holding the monster’s arm with one hand, without issue.
I’d been hunted by the monsters from the age of four. I knew just how powerful they were. Shaggy Professor made dealing with one look effortless.
There was so much lightning outside suddenly that it basically lit up the entire house.
Shaggy Professor snarled. “You’re not touching her!”
The monster swung its other arm around, aiming at him.
My normal “run” response didn’t win out. The idea of the man being hurt because of me left me doing something I normally didn’t do. I twisted on the tabletop and brought my feet up, kicking the monster in the face as hard as I could. It lurched backward.
