Night of the Living Demon Slayer by Angie Fox Page B

loose another black soul out into the world. Carpenter would have some more clean-up to do, but at least the voodoo cult wouldn't be able to get it back.
    I'd done my job. I'd rid them of their prize. Now I just had to worry about finding the necromancer. And more. I stiffened as I saw lit torches in the distance, heading straight for me.

Chapter Six

    The torches drew nearer. I braced myself, focusing my strength and my will. No getting around it, I was rusty when it came to the power of levitation. It was the one ability I'd never felt comfortable with, and as a result, had never truly mastered. My stomach felt heavy and my toes tingled as my feet lifted from the ground.
    Ignore the wobble.
    I rose as quickly as I dared. I had to escape and get my bearings.
    Shaking, I grabbed hold of a thick tree branch twenty feet up and managed to swing a leg over the rough bark. It wasn't pretty, but I was up there. The branch crackled under my weight and my heart gave a jolt. Maybe I was too used to falling out of trees during levitation training.
    There wasn't much time to dwell. I sucked in a breath as four shirtless men charged into the clearing carrying torches and machetes. Red and yellow paint streaked their faces and bodies.
    The leader wore a thick stripe of purple down the bridge of his nose. He skirted the body of the fallen alligator, his breath coming in harsh pants. A charm made of bones and feathers slapped against his chest. "Brother Bode said he saw a woman. Spread out and search."
    I clung to my tree branch, trapped, hoping to Hades none of them thought to look up.
    One of the men passed directly under me. He stopped at the watery edge where I'd killed the alligator. "I smell death."
    Who were these guys?
    I strained my neck to see out past where they'd come. Thick foliage blocked much of my view, but I could make out enough. I clutched the bark in shock when I realized Carpenter hadn't simply led me to an isolated island on the bayou. Darkness stretched past the clearing below, but not far beyond it, a massive circle of torches blazed.
    If that was the Alligator Man's congregation, we'd parked ourselves right in their backyard.
    The men below me moved with ease as if they knew this part of the swamp well. Voices drifted up from the dark. "I have his boat."
    "Leave it." The man with the bone necklace ordered. "We already have him."
    Oh geez. They stopped directly below my tree, circling together as they planned.
    "I see no girl."
    "Perhaps Brother Bode saw a spirit."
    Drums began a hard, steady beat in the large clearing ahead. Voices echoed over the bayou, in a French dialect I'd never heard.
    "Come. It has begun. The ceremony is more important."
    "The girl?"
    "If she indeed exists in the mortal plane, she is of no use to us. We have the necromancer."
    The leader stalked toward the massive circle of torches beyond the trees, toward the hard beating of the drums. All but one followed. The last man paused over the dead alligator. "Shall we take the vessel?"
    The man in the bone necklace turned. "No. Give it back to the earth. It has served its purpose."
    He took a long look over the clearing before he led them away. I counted four as they retreated and kept an eye on them until I could only make out torches, and not people.
    The biker witches would have held back one or two witches, just in case. I didn't trust these people to do any different. Unless I really didn't matter to the church.
    "Ha," I said under my breath. Let them count me out. They'd realize their mistake soon enough.
    As long as I didn't fall out of this tree.
    I drew upon my power and jumped, levitating just enough to make it to a thick branch, high on the other side of the clearing. I landed with a thud, my palms burning as they scraped against bark. I winced. It was better than taking my chances on the ground.
    I leapt two more trees until I reached a small land bridge over the bayou. It was too far to jump, so I lowered myself carefully down on to