Inner Demons (Book Eight of the Silver Society)

Chapter Twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE

It took Arnie entirely too long to snap out of his vision. He had no idea who was attacking his friends, but he knew how injured they were. His shoulder was bleeding from an empathic wound as he ran from his house. He was grateful that Dawn Keller, his birth mother and legal guardian, wasn't home. He hated worrying her.

"At least I didn't take on Jesse's injuries," he mumbled as he raced toward Alex's house with no plan other than to burst in and somehow save the day.

He made it about three blocks from the house before he ran into Alex. "Hey, Arnie," Alex said with a smile.

"Alex, thank God! Something's wrong at your house! Melissa and Jesse are hurt!" Arnie explained.

"Slow down, Arnie," Alex said. "Everything's going to be alright."

"Arnie, get down!" Aideen's voice suddenly shouted.

Arnie didn't question the command. He hit the ground. That was when he realized Alex was in two places at once. His second body landed where Arnie had been, slashing at the space with a sword that only missed because Arnie's reflexes had kicked in at Aideen's warning.

Arnie's eyes widened in shock. He took a second to catch his breath before Alex attacked again and he had to roll to safety to avoid being impaled.

Aideen kicked the sword out of Alex's hands. "Who are you?" She demanded.

"I'm Alex," he taunted her.

"Bull. Alex would never hurt Arnie. Tell me your name."

"I don't feel like it."

"Tell me your name, Demon! That's an order from a Reaper!"

He laughed. "I don't answer to you, Little Reaper."

"Everyone answers to me."

Aideen didn't seem to sense the energy the demon was raising as it taunted her, but Arnie did. He jumped in front of her as the demon attacked.

"Arnie!" Aideen screamed as he flew backwards into a tree. He landed hard and struggled to remain conscious.

"You don't want to tell me your name? Fine!" Aideen decided. "I hereby proclaim you Bob the Demon. As I have named you, I will now cast you out, Bob! I banish th-"

Before she could finish, the demon vanished, most likely using Alex's body splitting ability to escape. Aideen ran to Arnie's side.

"Let's get you to a healer, Arn," she said gently.

"Missa..." He mumbled.

"Fine, Melissa can heal you."

"No... No, she's hurt, Deenie. So's Jesse. I think Alex hurt them."

"You mean Bob hurt them. Because Alex would never hurt any of us, especially not Jesse and Melissa." She sighed, trying not to worry about what shape their friends might be in. "It's okay, Arn. I'll heal you myself and then we'll go find them." She began focusing entirely on healing him.

Suddenly, she felt a spell coming toward her. She deflected it as she heard a gun fire. She looked up to see Evan standing over Alex, who had a bullet in his shoulder.

"You shot me?" Alex demanded indignantly.

"It was a warning shot," Evan replied. "Next time it'll be in your chest."

"First the sparkly warlock stabs me, now this gun-toting lunatic shoots me... You all really are a nuisance." He popped the bullet out of his shoulder with magick. The wound immediately began to heal. With that, he vanished again. This time he did not return.