Dark Hunt

by Richardson, Kim

  A low growl rumbled in the Greater demon’s throat. The glow in its black eyes intensified. “You talk too much, angel whore. I’m going to enjoy ripping out your tongue.”

  I stifled a shiver. I knew it meant it. “You’re stupider than you look if you think after all this,” I said, pointing my blade, “that they’d let you off the hook. If it sounds like too good a deal, you aren’t looking at the fine print. You always look at the fine print before you sign a contract. You think you won’t be vanquished by the summoner? Why keep you around when you know its darkest secrets?”

  I knew I hit a nerve when Degamon lost its smile. “You know nothing, angel-born. And today you will die, never knowing who killed your parents in that house fire. And you’ll never know why I was sent to hunt you.”

  I felt like my heart was going to explode. “So, tell me! Tell me why!” I shouted. My anger flared at the look of amusement on the demon’s face.

  Degamon licked its lips. “I’d rather not. I only wanted the Unmarked. And if a few of your friends die along with you, well, that’s hardly my fault, now is it? You chose to bring them along for the feasting.”

  I made a rude gesture with my finger. “Feast on this.”

  The Greater demon sneered and then lunged for me again. Breathing hard with effort, I let my instincts flow and managed to avoid Degamon’s killing blow. I dropped to the ground and rolled, tears in my eyes at the searing pain and fatigue in my body. How many minutes had gone by? Two? Three? Not nearly enough.

  Sweat poured down my forehead and stung my eyes. I wasn’t fast enough to stop Degamon as the giant demon tackled me.

  My breath escaped me as I rolled onto the dirt floor, the demon’s teeth and claws flipping and shredding and biting.

  A foot slammed into my stomach and I cried out. The air shot out of me as the demon kicked me again and again. I hit the ground and rolled as I spat out a mouthful of blood and dirt.

  Before I could move, Degamon brought its fist down onto my face. Black spots exploded behind my eyes. I heard the demon laugh as I crawled on all fours like a beast, trying to get away.

  Something grabbed my leg and yanked me back. Struggling against the demon’s grip, I felt a sharp pain at the back of my neck. Crying out, I kicked, and by the souls, I hit something solid.

  With my legs free, I rolled to my feet, staggering as a wave of nausea hit me. I could make out Degamon moving toward me, but I couldn’t see Tyrius or Jax, as my vision was plagued by a darkness on the edges.

  I was going to die. My soul would be devoured by this Greater demon. I would never find out why my parents were killed. I would never know why I was Unmarked.

  Terror like I’d never felt before took over. I covered my head as Degamon’s claws swept upon me, and I kicked and punched blindly. Every movement was met with tremendous effort. My muscles burned with exertion. How much longer did I have? Minutes? Seconds?

  Degamon pulled back and sneered. “Give yourself over to me, and I promise a quick death.”

  “You mean like what you did to Cindy?” I panted. My gaze fell on the young woman’s face. Her lifeless eyes gave me the creeps and I looked away. “No thanks. I’d rather go down fighting. I might not be able to defeat you”—not with the Seal of Adam, I thought—“but I can, sure as hell, give you a few thrashings to remember me by.”

  Degamon gave me an incredulous look. “You angel-born always want to play the hero. But what about your friends’ deaths? You want them to suffer too?”

  At that moment, I heard a faint whimper. When I turned my head, I saw Tyrius still in the corner, two igura demons taking turns cutting him. Black blood trickled from his black coat. He was wet with it. I could see the bundle on the ground that was Danto, face bloodied and swollen. He hadn’t moved an inch from where Degamon had thrown him onto the floor.

  And when my eyes focused on Jax, a lump of fear knotted in my guts. Piles of ash heaped near his feet. He’d managed to kill a few igura demons, but he was limping. He swung his weapon tiredly at another two iguras that advanced on him. His strikes were too slow and too few.

  “Give yourself away freely, and I will spare their lives. They don’t need to die. Just you.”

  My breath escaped my lungs in a slow groan, lips trembling so hard I had to clamp down to keep the sound inside. My clothes were sticky and wet with my own sweat and blood. I was so tired.

  “It would be more honorable to give in and die,” encouraged Degamon. “Rather than letting innocents die. Unless… you forfeit your life, and I will spare them.”

  A chill went down my spine. “Liar!”

  Defiance and rage mixed in my blood. This wasn’t fair. I swung my free arm, and it met with a red face with burning coals for eyes. The darkness rippled, and Degamon’s gaping features appeared. But there were two of them. Damn it. I blinked my blurred vision until I could see more clearly.

  How long did I have before another wave of the archangel-curse-induced visions took over? Degamon reached for my throat, and I flung myself backward. I felt a tug at the front of my shirt, the demon’s claws just missed my chest.

  My head throbbed, the Seal of Adam seizing control of my mind again, and I shook it to get rid of the multiple Degamons in front of me. The shadowy figure that was the actual Degamon laughed as it stepped toward me.

  “Does death scare you, angel-born?” it mocked. “Knowing that I will devour your soul, and you will never be reborn again?” The demon’s laugh of delight shocked me. “I should find that liberating. Don’t you agree? A real, true death.”

  “Screw you,” I aimed my soul blade at one of the Greater demons. “Why kill us?” I gasped as my wrist throbbed. But I just couldn’t let it go. Could I keep it talking for another twenty minutes? “You said you knew,” I pressed. “I’m dead anyway, right, so what does it matter if you tell me? Why do we need to die?”

  “Because you were a mistake,” said a familiar voice in a tone of intense satisfaction.

  There was the sound of shuffling footsteps, and I looked up to find the archangel Vedriel strutting toward me.

  29

  The archangel Vedriel stepped from the shadows like he owned the goddamn planet. He was dressed in the familiar dark leather gear, wearing the same egotistical, punch-worthy grin. I guessed archangels didn’t go shopping much. A long sword swayed behind him as he crossed the room, tangling in his long white locks that spilled down past his waist. His fair, glowing skin was a stark contrast against his black gear. His perfect features were held in arrogant dominance. He might be a powerful archangel, but to me, he’d always just be a conceited elf.

  The Seal of Adam throbbed as if aware that its maker was in the room.

  The remaining four iguras hissed and spat at the archangel as they cowered away from him as well as from Tyrius and Jax. When I met Jax’s eyes, I saw the fear and confusion that echoed my own. Jax’s face had gone pale—so, so pale.

  It was obvious Vedriel had summoned Degamon, when, with only one look from the archangel, the Greater demon stepped clearly away from me. He controlled the demon. Damn. What the hell was this? How could an angel, an archangel, warrant our deaths?

  Anger twisted my gut, and blood pounded in my temples, the force almost making me vomit. I found my voice.

  “You?” I accused the archangel. “But—how—why?” I swallowed hard. “How could you do this? How could you summon a Greater demon to kill your own descendants!” My soul blade was a welcomed weight in my hand. It shone, coated with the blood of the iguras. And I wanted to cut the smile off the archangel’s face.

  “Why?”

  Vedriel made his way over to the chair and sat, straight, shoulders back, looking down on us like a king gazing down at his court. “Because I must.”

  The iguras wailed and thrashed. Degamon was watching the archangel with a mixture of ire and fear, like it wanted to kill him but had no choice but to resist.

  The sound of boots scraping the ground reached me. I jerked a quick glance to the si
de to see Danto pushing himself up, his teeth showing in a snarl, and his black eyes glittering in deep hatred. The archangel Vedriel had all but confirmed that he had ordered Cindy’s death. My death.

  I slid my gaze back to the archangel and raised my right wrist. “Thanks for the gift.”

  Vedriel crossed his legs at the knee. “Well, at least, now you can’t say that the Legion never gave you anything.”

  “You’re an archangel,” came Jax’s voice. It was strained and higher than usual. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

  Vedriel pressed his hands together at the tips. “It makes perfect sense.”

  “How’s that?” I staggered as another wave of dizziness hit me, figuring it was marginally more dignified than passing out and falling to the ground. “Enlighten us, Archangel.”

  “With pleasure,” Vedriel mused, playing with the shredded pieces of fabric from the arms of the chair. “Don’t you know what you are? I would have thought you would have figured it out by now.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I said, shivering violently as I looked over my shoulder at Jax and Tyrius, who were watching the exchange with a collective horror. Danto was pale, stiff, and looked like he was about to be sick.

  “I don’t speak Archangel,” I said, looking back. “Spit it out. What?” The adrenaline was gone, and fatigue and nausea pulled at me. The igura demons were moving quickly around us, making me dizzy. My body was a solid ache, and part of me just wanted it to be over.

  “Did you never wonder why you felt the presence of demons?” said Vedriel with a hateful smile. “Not just angels can sense the presence of demons. Demons are drawn to each other. They can sense other demons.”

  My mouth dropped open. “Liar. I’m not a demon. Stop playing your mind games.” My blood chilled at the thought, and I could barely feel my legs.

  Could it be true? Was I a demon? It would explain a lot…

  Vedriel laughed. “Am I? No. I don’t think so. I can see it in your eyes. You know exactly what I mean.”

  A throaty growl sounded, and I felt Tyrius’s large black panther body lean up against me, supporting me, as though he knew I was about to collapse.

  I shook my head, the nausea increasing a hundredfold. “No. No. No. You’re a liar. Liar!” I shouted.

  Vedriel leaned forward. “Don’t you know what you are? You are shadow and light. A shadow rises and light meets it. Creation and destruction. Angel and demon.” The archangel’s smile widened at the fear he saw on my face. “You are Horizon’s super soldier. An experiment. A mistake. A mistake that I’m going to rectify.” His pale eyes narrowed with anger that made my gut tighten and my archangel curse throb. “You became too powerful, see? Too unpredictable with your growing abilities,” continued the archangel. “With equal amounts of angel and demon essence flowing in your veins, you are unmatched. The Legion couldn’t have that. Think of the risks. Think of the threat you pose. You have all the strengths of a demon but none of their weaknesses—all packaged in the body of an angel-born. A very dangerous combination. You needed to be removed.”

  “But I’m not an experiment… I—I was born,” I stammered, refusing to look at Jax and Danto, whose eyes were on me. “I wasn’t made in a lab. My mother gave birth to me. My father witnessed it. He told me. I saw pictures!”

  “Yes,” said the archangel. “Just like all the other mothers; they gave birth to their own children. But they were unaware of the changes we made to the fetus. They slept while we injected the fetus with the demon and angel essence.”

  “You sneaked in at night and did things to a few pregnant women?” I shouted, spitting hair out of my mouth. “Do you know how sick and twisted that is? You sick bastard!”

  Vedriel’s pale lips pulled back in a sneer. “It was an experiment. But now the experiment is over.”

  My teeth chattered. My body trembled from the shock, the fever, and the spent adrenaline. Pulse pounding, I became light-headed. Steeling myself, I set my will around my core, searching my body for answers and finding them. It was true. I’d always known it.

  I was a thing. A monster. The Legion had created me.

  If I wasn’t angel or demon, what was I? What did that make me? A freak.

  “The Legion allowed this?” Jax’s voice sounded just as angry as mine. “Can’t be,” he said, shaking his head. “How could they do this to those innocent babies?”

  “Not all the Legion, of course,” Vedriel cocked his head to the side. “Only those who needed to know. Those who… participated.”

  I felt like a wraith, a thing. Maybe I was a demon. I gripped my faithful soul blade. “Why go through the trouble of summoning a demon? Why not kill us yourself?”

  Vedriel shrugged. “Politics.” His pale eyes moved to the back of the room where Degamon and his iguras waited. “Didn’t want word to reach the wrong archangels. Sometimes to get things done, you need to be more creative.” The archangel’s expression was laced with a threatening warning. “You and the others,” commented Vedriel, “are a waste of space and breath, a stain on the world. Unworthy of your birthright. You are not true angel-born. You’re a mutation. A curse on the world.”

  I gritted my teeth, silent tears finding their way down my face. I couldn’t help it. It hurt.

  “You killed my parents.” I shook from the fever and a deep rage that bubbled through my veins like a hot sauce. My pulse pounded as I let the pieces fall into place. “Why?”

  “Because, just like you, they became meddling fools.” Vedriel picked at his nails. “Too close to the truth, and we couldn’t have that, now, could we? Your parents saw the changes in you, and they grew worried. They knew something was wrong. With you… and the others. They were asking too many questions. Talking to too many others. They needed to die.”

  I could still smell the charred remains of my house, the scent of ash and smoke and of burnt flesh. My parents had died because of me. Because of what the Legion had done to me.

  “So you had them killed. You bastard!” Spit and tears flew out of my mouth.

  And then I was moving. My legs pushed off the ground fast, surprising even me. The last of my strength pulsed through my muscles, giving me what I wanted, what I needed.

  “Don’t do it!” came Jax’s voice, but I didn’t care. I was going to kill that SOB, or I was going to die trying.

  I saw Vedriel stand up and brush a strand of white hair from his perfect face. I blinked as a sword appeared in his grasp. I didn’t care how strong he was, or how stupid I was being. I just wanted revenge. Revenge for my parents. Revenge for all the others. Revenge at what had been done to me.

  Without pause, I sprang, bringing my blade around. The archangel swept his sword up defensively as he plunged onward. Vedriel came at me, whirling with cold grace, an onslaught of a flashing sword and hair. With all my strength, I took my blade high and blocked his attack. Another strike came at me, and I ducked under it, coming up blade first.

  Vedriel backhanded me with his other hand. Blood filled my mouth as I staggered back.

  “I’m going to make you pay for what you did that night,” Vedriel snarled. “You should have never summoned me like some subservient demon! You insubordinate fool!”

  “Go to hell!” I lost myself over to the rage, to the grief, and became one with my soul blade. I knew I was going to die, but I would die avenging my parents.

  Vedriel’s cold fury-twisted face was all I saw as he came at me again. Everything moved with the slow elegance of a dance—the dance with death. I twisted, evading the killing thrust of the archangel’s sword, but he moved like nothing I’d ever seen before, like the wind from a storm. And I was tired. So tired.

  The archangel came around, closing the distance to deliver his own strike, but he didn’t use his sword. Instead, he thrust out his left palm—and touched my shoulder.

  There was a flash of white light. I couldn’t get out of the way as something far more brutal than lightning hit me. I felt my feet leave the ground,
and then I was soaring backward in the air and crashed to the ground. I dropped my soul blade as pain like nothing I had known erupted through me. I tried to scream, but the air to fill my lungs wouldn’t come.

  “Only a fool thinks they can defeat an archangel.”

  Through my broken vision, I saw him prowl toward me. “You made a real mess of things,” said the archangel. “I didn’t want to have to get involved in such, mortal matters, but you left me no choice. I have to kill you myself.”

  In a flash of light, my very bones shattered as my body rose and then slammed onto the hard floor, again and again. I was crushed beneath another wave of torturous agony.

  “Stop!” someone shouted. No, not someone—Jax.

  I was dying. Hell, I had no idea it would hurt so bad. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have thrown myself at the archangel without a plan. But it was too late.

  Vedriel’s face materialized through my tears. “You think you’re worthy of the name, angel-born? Sensitive? You think you deserve anything at all, mortal? You’re garbage. A mistake. Foul. A creature that should never have been.”

  Vedriel sneered as another volley of white lighting struck me. My back arched as I screamed in agony. I heard a pop and felt some of my ribs crack.

  “You are the last super soldier,” Vedriel breathed. “And after I clean up this mess and kill all your friends, the mortal world will be right again. The Council will never know what happened to their angel-born. Soon they will forget,” Vedriel raged. “What are you, compared to our kind, that you think you’re worthy of us? Mortals shouldn’t have powers. What are mortals but bags of meat, blood, and bones? You’re animals. You’re nothing but meat for the worms.”

  I wanted to spit in his face, curse him, but I was being ripped apart from the inside out. I thrashed as I tasted blood in my mouth.

  “Monkeys,” mocked the archangel. “The lot of you. All scheming, filthy monkeys.”