by Trudi Jaye
He lets out a breath. “You believe in demons, but not magic?”
I hesitate, observing his serious expression. “Well, now that I’ve met you, I also believe in people who can turn into giant cats.” Even as I say the words out loud, an uncomfortable itching sensation creeps down my skin. I don’t know why I never extrapolated out, never wondered if there was more than just glowing paranormal creatures out in the world.
But I didn’t. This is all coming as a shock to me.
Blade shifts slightly, his gaze roaming the room before coming back to me. “The world is filled with many creatures, good and bad. Many of them have their own forms of magic.”
I don’t know how to process that information. I turn back to my microscope and look again at the bright colors of the knife under the lens. It’s moving like a virus or bacteria. It’s beautiful, but it scares me at the same time. This is proof; evidence that there’s another world out there, one I know nothing about.
Not all bacteria are bad, I remind myself.
“Have a look,” I say, gesturing to Blade.
He walks over and carefully leans over the microscope.
“Not so close,” I say. “Yes, that’s better.”
He stays there for a few moments, not moving. “It’s beautiful,” he says softly. “Like it’s alive.”
I nod, my own thoughts swirling around in my head. I don’t know what to think or how to explain what I’m seeing through the microscope. But it does mean one thing.
“If it’s magic that makes your knife work on demons, I can’t replicate that,” I say.
“Maybe not exactly. But you could study my knife and figure out how to make a new one.”
“I doubt it.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t have magic.”
“I think you need to talk to Damien about that.” Blade leans against my workbench and gestures around him at the boxes, metal shapes, weird collected items, and half-built sculptures that are stored in my spare room. “This room seems pretty magical to me.”
“This is logical and scientific.” I make a face at some of the boxes of junk. “Mostly.”
“It feels like you’ve got a purpose, like you’re trying to achieve something with all this equipment,” says Blade, his expression thoughtful.
I look around the room, trying to see it through his eyes. “You’re right. I saw two demons when I was younger, and both times they killed someone I loved. People told me I was crazy, that I didn’t see them. But I knew I did,” I say the words slowly and carefully. Smoothing one finger over the wooden workbench next to me, I try to calm my raging thoughts. “I’ve always just wanted to prove what I saw was real. And to save other people from the demons.” And to prove that I didn’t kill my parents, and that I’m not insane, and don’t deserve to go back to Ravenwood.
But I’m not going to tell him that.
“It must have been hard,” he says softly. He’s gazing down at me, his expression intense. The little golden flecks in his irises make his usually bright green eyes seem gentler somehow.
I swallow, trying to ignore how close his body is. I can smell him; a blend of freshly squeezed citrus and shaved cedar that’s making it hard to concentrate. The little demon inside me is bouncing around like a maniac. “It wasn’t easy,” I acknowledge.
“And the sculptures?” says Blade, nodding in the direction of the half-formed creature I’m currently working on.
“That happened by accident,” I say, suddenly embarrassed. The sculptures show a less organized, less logical part of my brain. I sometimes wonder where inside my head they come from.
“How do you mean?”
“I used to play around with some of the junk I found in metal yards when I was searching for parts. I’d make silly creatures to amuse myself. I gave one to this guy who ran a junk yard as a thank you. A customer saw it and asked if I could make him another one. The rest is history. They’ve been getting bigger and bigger over the years, but there’s a steady stream of buyers online for them. It pays my bills.” I shrug, trying to make light of it.
“They’re amazing,” he says.
I clear my throat and try not to blush. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Blade looks away, staring down at his knife, still in the microscope.
“I don’t get it,” I say suddenly, trying to change the topic. I take a step away from him. “For years, I didn’t see anything else. Why haven’t I seen more demons since those first two?”
“They’re not everywhere,” says Blade. His eyes darken as he watches me move away. He pushes himself off the workbench where he was leaning, and stands up fully, taking a step in my direction. It’s like he’s a cat, and I’m a mouse. “You might have been living in an area without any demons. They’re attracted to metal and tend to congregate around metal deposits. That’s why there are so many more in the cities.”
I saw that suggestion in the research, and the places I chose to hunt for them were always filled with metal. But to have it confirmed is a funny feeling.
“I called them using my voice last night,” I say softly. “I sang to them. I realized that’s what I was doing before the demons attacked.”
“Singing?” Blade frowns. It’s obviously news to him.
“Something so innocent,” I say, crossing my arms across my stomach to stop the sudden chill. “I stopped singing… did you know that? Not consciously. But life stopped making me feel like singing.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s what I figured out last night, before I went out,” I say.
“You should have talked to me about it, instead of rushing off on your own.” Blade undoes the grip on the microscope and removes his knife.
I ignore his mini lecture. “Does the knife call demons too?”
“It’s for when a demon finds me.”
“Have you ever had to call a demon?” I ask curiously.
He shakes his head. “I usually only deal with demons who have come out of the woodwork, who are causing problems, possessing or killing people.”
I nod. That makes sense. “I wonder how the magic changes the metal,” I say musingly as I watch him play with the knife, flipping it between his fingers. His hands are quick and strong.
“Metal conducts magic, I know that much,” says Blade. “There have been a few studies to prove it.”
My eyes widen, and I freeze. “Research studies?”
“Sure. I don’t know much about them, but I know the basics. The SIG would have access to all of them.”
“What other studies have there been?” It never occurred to me that there would be people researching this kind of thing, that I don’t have to do it all myself.
“The big one is where they discovered that, like normal energy, demon energy doesn’t just disappear. It has to change form into something else. Even when they die, demon energy has to go somewhere.” He gestures to the knife. “When I kill a demon, it goes into the knife.”
“What happens to it?”
“It’s a special kind of energy. I store it for the SIG, and then every so often, Damien sends someone to pick it up.”
“You can’t use the demon energy?”
Blade shakes his head. “It’s very unstable. Only certain people can handle it properly, and even then, it’s dangerous.”
My head is spinning with what he’s so casually telling me about this other supernatural world. All I know right now is that maybe I need to consider Damien’s job offer more carefully. They have the resources to do research that I could only dream of. Resources to maybe do all sorts of things.
What if they could convince Ravenwood’s psychiatrists to change my designation as a criminally insane patient? They know demons are real; I wouldn’t have to prove that part to them. A tingling starts in my stomach.
“Do you like working for them?”
“The SIG?”
I nod, barely able to contain my excitement. I don’t know why this didn’t occur
to me before now. I guess I’m so used to hiding from the authorities, it was just habit.
“I don’t work directly for them. I’m more of a consultant.”
“What is it you do?”
“For the SIG? I keep an eye on supernatural people in this region. Make sure they toe the line, don’t hurt the humans. We can’t interfere with human laws or politics, so it’s easier to stay out of it altogether by making sure supers stay under the radar.”
My happy little bubble bursts at his words. If they can’t interfere in human laws… “So supernaturals have to stay out of the way of the humans? What happens if they get… arrested… or something?“ I’m trying to sound casual, but it’s hard when I’m so desperate to know the answer.
Blade shakes his head. “If a super ends up in the human legal system for whatever reason, there’s nothing we can do. We have no jurisdiction. There are supers in jails and institutions across the country. Humans don’t know about the SIG, and the powers-that-be want it kept that way.”
My heart feels like it’s shriveling up inside me. I’m still trapped. “But what about your friend Detective Cappello? He knew about demons.”
“Cappello is part shifter. He’s not strong enough to shift into his animal, but he has a few of the instincts, and he knows about supers.”
“Can he see demons?”
“I doubt it.” He shrugs. “He uses his shifter abilities to help him on the job, but that’s about it.”
“How?”
Blade sighs, and crosses his arms, leaning against the worktable again. “Heightened smell and hearing. He’s also an extremely fast runner and very agile for his age, despite the spell web.”
“The spell web? Damien talked about that before.” At the time I nodded and agreed, but I still don’t understand it.
Blade can obviously see my confusion. “It’s a spell covering all supernaturals. It sucks a little bit of magic from every single supernatural in the world to keep it going.”
I shake my head, unable to comprehend that these things even exist. “How do humans not notice all this?”
“The magic of the spell web ensures that humans can’t see us. And generally, supers have a human form, so it doesn’t require too much convincing. On those occasions where there’s a giant jaguar fighting a demon in a university square, it works overtime on the minds of the humans.” His eyes glow with amusement.
“So that’s why none of the other students seemed to see anything when you fought the demon? Why they walked around you like you weren’t there?” It’s a relief to have that explained to me. “I wondered if I really was crazy when no one but me could see the demon.”
Blade nods. “It can be disconcerting to be around humans when something like that happens. What they think they’re seeing can be strange. You have to just go along with it.”
“That just proves I must be human after all. I’ve never seen any of this, any of these other supernaturals.” I hesitate. “Except you, when you fought the demon.” I hesitate again. “And the demons.”
“The trouble with your theory is that demons are harder to sense than all the other supers put together. It proves the opposite. You’re definitely supernatural.”
30
“Hazel, the time has come. I need you to procure a demon for me.” Professor Hasselblatt is looking at me with his expectant face. “We can’t proceed any further with this research until you do.”
I glance up from the filing he gave me five minutes ago when I arrived for work. He’s still at his desk in the corner of the lab, and I don’t think he’s done anything else in the last five minutes except watch me.
“I’m not sure….” All of Blade’s words are spinning through my head. How dangerous demon energy is and how the SIG have specialized people to handle it. How magic is real. How everything is so much more complicated than I thought it was.
“You have to!” The Professor stands up, his hands on his desk. “It’s the basis for all my research. I won’t get my grant money if you don’t get me a demon.” His whiskers are shaking, and he looks like a giant angry hamster.
I know how much this means to the Professor. He’s been in this horrible little lab for years now, his reputation in tatters and all respect gone. He’s obsessed with a topic of research that no one else believes in. I’m not sure exactly what he’s seen, or how much he knows, but he’s convinced he’s right. Based on what Blade has told me, I’m guessing that he’s got some kind of supernatural blood in his ancestry too.
I lift one hand to brush my hair back off my face, and freeze. The blue glow is back, making my hand seem like some kind of alien being attached to the rest of me. I check the Professor to see if he’s noticed. His face holds the same anguished expression of a few moments ago, nothing like shock or surprise.
Is it because of the spell web?
It’s a strange concept, something I don’t quite have my head around yet, but perhaps only supers can see my glowing blue hand? Hiding it all the time might not be necessary. I let out a small breath, relief for that small mercy at least.
“I won’t get my new lab at Connor’s head office,” says the Professor in a low voice. “The university will throw me out, and I’ll end up on the streets.”
I could give him the large demon I’ve got at home, but the idea of that particularly nasty monster being out again is definitely not appealing.
Maybe I can call a small demon, like the one inside me, one that would be easier to control, so it doesn’t hurt anyone? And then invent some new device that will ensure it can’t get out and do any harm? The tiny bottles don’t seem so secure.
Something wriggles around inside me, and it feels like my little demon is agreeing. I frown momentarily. The little demon seems harmless, and often acts like it’s trying to help me. Perhaps demon energy isn’t as dangerous as they’re making out. Surely if I’m careful, I can get the Professor a demon?
“I’ll do my best, Professor,” I say.
My brain immediately starts whirling with ideas.
“I need you to start immediately. I can’t do any of the work necessary if I don’t have one of your demons.”
I nod absently, trying to figure out how I might make it happen. Perhaps Blade will help me? Even as I have that thought, I rule it out.
Blade might tell Damien, and I’m pretty sure Damien doesn’t want me calling any more demons.
But then Damien ran off, leaving Blade and me to muddle through on our own. If he really was bothered about what happened to me, he’d be here now, helping me control the demon or—preferably—helping me get it out.
He doesn’t get a say in what I do. And if Damien can’t help with getting the Ravenwood psychiatrists off my back, there’s no way I can work for the SIG.
Yet again, I’m on my own.
Except this time, I can find another one, I know I can.
Excitement bubbles.
I lift my hand to close the file drawer, the glowing light turning it blue. I should probably be trying to figure out how to get unpossessed, not trying to find more demons for the Professor. I pause, my brain ticking over. Maybe I could kill two birds with one stone? Get the demon out of me and give it to the professor to test on?
My demon immediately starts racing around in agitation, giving me a bellyache. He’s clearly unhappy with my idea. I shrug, giving it up for the moment, but filing the thought away for later.
The Professor is still staring at me, an expression on his face that could only be described as hopeful.
I stand up. “I need to look for a few things in the back room.”
The Professor nods, his face stretched in a smile. “Just tell me if you need anything. I’ll be out here.”
I stride to the junk room, a part of me thrilled by the challenge of capturing another demon. It’ll just be a small one. It’ll be fine.
The wooden box is still where I left it on the table. I rummage through the contents, examining the bottles, but they all seem empty. I know how
they capture a demon, but I can’t just go out and call another one. I need a way to hold them prisoner outside the bottles, so we can test them. Until I can figure that out, I can’t turn a demon over to the Professor.
Putting out my hand, I smooth it over some of the old machinery that’s stacked inside boxes on the shelves. Everything looks different now; my perspective has completely changed in only a couple of days. I have so much new information bouncing around inside my head I don’t know how I’m going to process it all.
I move past the jars filled with liquid and organic samples that are no longer recognizable, and on to the metal-filled shelf. There are boxes with screws and bolts and indecipherable pieces of machinery, strange and unusual fastenings that belong to some long-forgotten piece of equipment.
Without really knowing how or why, I gather a range of these pieces into my hand and walk to the table. I place them on the marred wooden surface and then turn back for more.
This time I go for the “almost machines.” The broken-down devices that have found their way here, unloved except in the Professor’s mind. And mine I suppose. I’m just as crazy for this kind of thing as he is.
There’s an old device that looks like some kind of handheld alloy detector. I flick the switch, and nothing happens. I put the device on the table and keep searching. There’s another microscope similar to mine at home in another pile and underneath a long flat device that seems to be a scale.
I pull the scale out as well, trying to think through what I might need. Something that will be strong enough to hold a demon, but bigger than the small bottles I’ve been using. A device that will keep them under control so they can’t escape while we’re testing them for the energy they can provide.
My brain swirls with ideas, many of them based on what Blade and Damien have told me. There’s so much I don’t know, so much I’d like to learn. Those SIG research papers for a start. I wonder if there’s a way that I can access them without having to work for the SIG? It would add to what we’re doing, maybe help promote the research beyond what would be possible without the extra information.