by C. S. Wilde
Had he been human, he would have tripped a long time ago.
“Night vision, if you can call it that,” Jal explained from ahead, guessing why he moved so slowly. “One of the benefits from being a child of the dark.”
“No shit.” Liam picked up the pace. “It’s just … I’d never noticed how accurate it could be.”
They went on for an eternity until they arrived at a huge dining room. Moonlight swam through a skylight in the ceiling, painting the walls with a melancholic silver.
Some thirty demons gathered on a long table near the end, eating roasted meat with their bare hands.
“This is Blood and Dagger,” Jal said. “I used to be a part of this gang. They made me who I am today.”
“So, they’re good demons?”
“That’s pushing it,” Jal snorted. “Let’s say they’re good enough. By the way, we won’t use your real name. News travels fast, and we have to keep your cover in the Gorge safe, yes?”
Liam nodded.
A big demon who sat at the center of the table raised his head and looked back at them. He shot Liam and Jal a wide smile as he stood. His eyes were slightly narrowed and gray, the same color of his long hair tied in a topknot.
He approached them with open arms and trapped Jal in a brutal hug that took the demon’s feet off the ground. “I’m so glad to see you, old friend!”
Jal tapped his back starkly. “So am I.”
The big demon put him back on his feet. Jal turned to Liam with a smile so wide and pure it looked misplaced on a grownup face. “Barry, this is my mentor, Eizo. He taught me everything I know.”
“Pleasure, Barry.” He shook his hand.
“Likewise.”
“I was hoping we could discuss a strategy to make some alliances with the wolves,” Jal whispered close to Eizo’s ear. “I hear the Order just got a new weapons shipment. Word on the street is that soon they’ll eradicate any In-Betweens who are left.”
Eizo eyed Liam up and down, clearly not trusting him.
Jal chortled. “Don’t worry about Barry. He owes me a favor,” he said, as if this was enough.
Perhaps it was.
Eizo watched Jal with a curious frown. “Why would I risk my life helping Suther? That stupid boy isn’t half the wolf his father was.”
Jal’s eyes widened. “But he’ll need help, even if he’s too proud to take it.”
“I can’t help him.” The demon crossed his arms. “I can’t help anyone, not after that madman took twenty of my pack. They left to follow him as if all the centuries in Blood and Dagger meant nothing to them.”
“What?” Jal shook his head, his mouth hanging slightly open. “Bill? Eirik? What about Takeshi?”
Eizo’s face crumpled with a mix of fear and sorrow. “Eirik is still here, but he’s not in a good shape.” He laid a heavy hand on Jal’s shoulder. “We’ll have to sit this one out, old friend.”
“Are you serious? You’re the demon who took ten holy blasts for your werewolf wife! You never abandoned the In-Betweens, and you won’t start now.” Jal’s breaths were becoming uneven. “Where’s Gemma? She needs to talk some sense into you.”
“Haven’t you noticed, old friend?” Eizo growled and pushed his chest against Jal’s with the fury of a bison. “Where’s her scent?”
Jal sniffed, but by his puzzled glare, he couldn’t find it. “What happened?” he asked, his tone shrunken. Fearful.
Eizo pressed forward. “She’s dead!”
Liam’s hand went to the gun strapped under his jacket. The demons at the table stopped eating and watched them with a warning.
“Hells, I …” Jal attempted, but his voice disappeared.
“He killed her right in front of me.” Eizo’s eyes glinted with tears. “He took my people, and he took Gemma! You haven’t seen him, Jal!”
Him.
Eizo was talking about Master.
Jal’s throat bobbed up and down in a hard swallow. He stepped back. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know Gemma was gone.”
“You have no idea—” Eizo’s voice broke, and he sniffed back tears. “I have to protect my crew. They’re all I have left.” He gave him his hand. “Join us, Jal.”
“I can’t. I have people of my own to look after now.” He glanced at Liam, then ran a hand through his silky black hair. “Eizo, listen to me—”
“No.”
“Listen!” Jal grabbed him by the lapel of his shirt, but the bulky demon didn’t move one inch. “What do you think Master will do when he kills the In-Betweens, angels, and all humans? Do you think he won’t come after you?”
“Gemma defied him. She was a warning, Jal. He could’ve killed all of us, but he was merciful. He’ll be merciful again.”
Liam probably shouldn’t interfere, but he had to say something. “You don’t seriously believe that, right?”
Eizo bared his teeth. “Stay out of it, Barry.” He pushed Jal away. “Master is darkness, and he’ll bring the Hells upon Earth. Everything that’s going on with the Order and the In-Betweens is nothing compared to what’s coming. Nothing!”
“Eizo,” Jal’s voice broke. “I’ve looked up to you my entire life.”
“You didn’t see how he killed Gemma, Jal. If you had, you would be scared, too.” His hand closed into a fist, and a tear slid down his cheek. “I want to live. So should you.”
With that, he went to join the demons at the table.
Liam turned to leave but Jal stood there, frozen in shock. He walked back and took Jal’s arm. “Come on, buddy.”
Jal didn’t move. His muscles were stone under Liam’s grip, his breathing ragged. “Eizo is the bravest demon I’ve ever known. And he’s terrified.”
The pain embedded in his words sent a bitter taste down Liam’s throat. “Jal, there’s nothing for us here.”
The demon blinked, only now turning to Liam. His eyes glistened. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn’t.
“No matter what you do, you’ll kneel before him,” Eizo shouted from the table without turning to them, his strong back highlighted by moonlight. “So will the entire world.”
17
Liam
Hells Gorge never stole large quantities of blood from the banks of the Order. Instead, they spread out the robberies, which made them harder to track.
Liam and Archie warned Jophiel, and in turn he warned his contacts at the Order. But when they searched the system, there was nothing wrong.
Talahel’s goons must’ve hacked into the files because the robbed amounts showed as delivered to covens that were actually starving. There were fake forms, signatures, everything.
Talahel knew how to cover the demon’s tracks.
The Order had proof that blood was being delivered, and yet vampires still fed illegally on humans. Which meant that when the bloodsuckers claimed they were being starved, no one believed them. The system never lied.
It was cruel and genius, really.
Selling tampered wolfsugar to force the shift on werewolves had been harder. Suther’s dogs weren’t buying anymore. They weren’t stupid. But without pure wolfsugar to help his packs tame the wolf, especially during the full moon, there would be an army of raging beasts in the city in no time.
And Talahel would be waiting for them.
Days passed too quickly. Liam and Archie weren’t even close to meeting with Master, and meanwhile, a genocide loomed on the horizon.
Eizo’s words rang in his mind frequently. “The In-Betweens are only a distraction.”
So, what was the end game?
“Caralho, Liam,” Pedro, one of the Gorge’s demons, whispered beside him, jarring Liam from his thoughts. “You sleeping with your eyes open or what?”
They both sat atop a pile of scrap at the corner of the warehouse, watching a white van drive into the vast space.
Late night wrapped the warehouse in darkness. The few lamps hanging on the walls added an eerie ambiance.
Liam clicked his tongue, dismis
sing Pedro’s remark. “You know why Hauk summoned all of us here?”
“No. And I know better than to ask.” He snorted. “Just smile and nod, man. It makes everyone’s life easier, right?” He went to punch Liam playfully on the shoulder, but Liam grabbed Pedro’s hand in the air the way a python snatches its prey.
Liam raised one eyebrow and observed him.
The man resembled a mouse, both in stature and semblance—his nose was too big, his front teeth protruding. This was the darkness shaping the demon like it had tried to shape Liam. Or perhaps, Pedro had been ugly his whole life.
Who the fuck knew.
Liam was much taller and stronger than him, not only in size but also in his essence. Overpowering Pedro was too easy.
“Careful, babaca,” he said as he squeezed Pedro’s wrist harder, crushing tendons under his grip. “Quer morrer?”
Pedro winced and hissed through his teeth. “Porra! Let me go, asshole!”
Liam watched him for a moment longer before releasing his wrist. Hells, he had thoroughly enjoyed that.
Pedro rubbed his reddened wrist, his entire face a shade of purple. “Since when do you speak Portuguese?”
“None of your business.”
Pedro eyed him up and down, not with anger or resentment, but with respect. He gave him a small nod. “You’re a badass motherfucker, Liam.”
Good.
He needed his fame to grow in the Gorge. It was the only way to get closer to Hauk, and in turn, to Master himself.
Archie parked the vehicle in the middle of the warehouse and got out. Hauk followed from the passenger’s seat.
From the looks of it, this was just a routine blood theft. But Hauk had requested all fifty members of the Gorge to be here tonight, so there had to be a reason.
Liam’s gut warned him no good could come out of this, and his gut was rarely wrong.
Hauk and Archie headed to the back of the van and opened the tailgate. A group of ten humans walked out: four women, six men.
Archie did his best to hide his shock under a mask of disinterest, but Liam easily caught it. He could only hope Hauk wouldn’t.
Before the old man had left at sundown, he’d told Liam that Hauk ordered him to drive some blood supplies, and that he would be right back. Archie had no clue he would be transporting humans.
This must have been a hard blow, but his father had been playing the game for a while. The shock that had been there only a moment ago disappeared.
“What will you do with them?” Archie asked casually, hands in his pockets.
Hauk glared at him. “Are you questioning me, Archibald?”
“Of course not. Just curious.”
The demon’s mouth curved in annoyance. “Curiosity killed the cat.”
Hauk’s attention then went to Liam, who returned Hauk’s gaze with cold, calculating eyes. The demon grinned, clearly pleased. He beckoned him, Pedro, and all of the Gorge’s demons to come closer until they formed a half-circle around the van and the humans.
“Change of plans,” Hauk said. “The Order is doing a fine job at eliminating the In-Betweens. Our association with them is over.”
Talahel wouldn’t be pleased. Without demons, no one would tamper with wolfsugar or steal blood from the records. A smile twitched in Liam’s lips.
Hauk went on. “It’s time for phase two, brothers and sisters.”
“Phase two?” Pedro asked.
As if on cue, a tall, slim figure broke the mantle of night outside and entered the warehouse. The temperature dropped so fast Liam thought he might freeze.
“Is that a Possessor?” he asked Pedro quietly, focusing on heating his own core.
Pedro clanked his teeth. “Nasty motherfuckers.”
When Liam was a Selfless, he never ran from a battle with an Obsessor—though many in the precinct called him crazy for it. After all, human flesh tended to be weak and young demons could be powerful.
Most of the time, however, he let Obsessors do their own thing, since they enjoyed cozy human bodies as hosts. Killing their “home” made little sense. After a while, they just jumped onto the next human and that was that.
But Possessors, their evolution, were an entirely different animal. These bastards could not only possess someone, but they could change their host’s form, often swallowing the human and adding them to their own bodies.
The thing stopped beside Hauk, its entire body hidden underneath a long black robe that pooled at its feet. Only darkness glanced back at Liam from under the hood.
Hauk bowed his head slightly at the Possessor, then strolled lazily along the row of humans. He stopped before a man in a suit. “We drugged a co-worker who would’ve gotten the promotion you deserved.”
The man stared back at the demon, unafraid.
Hauk disregarded his petulance. He approached a young woman who wore a green sweater. “We faked a test note so you could graduate.”
She lowered her head and whimpered, but he had already gone to the next man.
“We beat up the lab technician in charge of the paternity test so he would change the results.” A pleased laugh rolled in his chest. “All of that does not come for free.” He spun around, hands behind his back. “You all agreed to a contract. We granted you the favors you sought, and now it’s time to pay up. Tonight, you will give your souls to the dark.”
Shit.
Higher demons could close deals with humans in exchange for their souls, so when the mortals died they were stripped of the choice. According to Jal, the demon’s darkness infected the human’s essence and created a link between both.
It was a skill fairly easy to learn, or at least that’s what Jal said. Weaker demons—“Like you, Liam,”—could do it too, but the bond was frailer.
Jal used to make deals to send the worthy to the Heavens and the evil to the Hells, because only the demon who had cursed the soul could choose the person’s fate upon their death.
Who knows, maybe the girl in the green sweater could’ve become an angel when she died—Liam sensed she had potential. But since she had struck a deal with Hauk, she had given her final choice to him.
Hellsdamned, the girl had doomed her immortal soul for a stupid grade. How old was she? Twenty, twenty-two?
The Possessor raised a bony hand with skin the color of milk. The creature pointed at the man in the suit, then hissed words that rang ancient and rusted under its breath.
A black fog burst from the Possessor’s fingertip and penetrated the man’s nostrils, ears, and mouth. He thrashed as the fog entered him, but it only lasted a moment. The black cloud dissipated, and the man took a deep breath.
“Is that it?” he asked.
The Possessor nodded, a pitch-black void underneath its hood. Then it focused on the girl with the green sweater.
Was that thing sealing the deals? Hauk might have closed the contracts, but the Possessor was the one signing them.
Did this mean these souls now belonged to it?
Hauk approached Liam from behind while watching the scene ahead. “Your partner has a light stomach.” The demon pointed at Archie, whose skin paled as he watched the poor girl be damned.
He shrugged. “Still stronger than most.”
“Indeed.” Hauk watched the Possessor perform its task. “I will take some of my most trusted members to meet Master in a few days. You mentioned how much you’d like to see him. You’re off to a great start, Liam Striker. Keep up the good work, and you might be one of them.”
Liam bowed his head, faking gratitude and awe. “It’ll be my honor. You won’t regret this.”
“You’re not in yet,” Hauk spat, his mouth twisting in a bitter way. “But keep doing as you’re told, and you’ll be rewarded.”
“Right.” Liam nodded to the humans. There was a reason why Hauk was here. “What do you want me to do with them?”
His stomach twisted, and his skin felt clammy and cold. Liam had only prayed once in his life, but he prayed again now. He prayed Hauk would
n’t order these innocents to die.
And yet, those lives were already lost.
“Once the Possessor is done, you’ll drive them to their homes,” he said.
Liam frowned, trying to hide the relief that washed over him. “We’re not killing them so they can become demons?”
“So dedicated to our cause.” A sense of pride filled Hauk’s scrawny features. “We’ve marked them. That’s enough for now.”
An earthquake shook Liam’s core.
Marked them for what?
18
Ava
Ezra returned from the Legion with bad news.
The priests of the Gray fed as many vampires as they could, but their efforts came up short. The hunger often took over and sent vampires hunting in the open, leaving them vulnerable to the Order’s attacks.
Danger also surrounded Suther’s werewolves. A full moon approached, and without wolfsugar, many wouldn’t be able to control the beast. The moment they roamed the streets or parks, Talahel’s soldiers would smite them.
Now Ava understood why the Sword had ordered so many weapons. He was preparing to eradicate the wolves, who, according to Ezra, were the only ones still capable of making a dent in his forces.
She hoped, prayed, that these were all the bad news, but Ezra wasn’t finished.
The number of deals between humans and demons had suddenly skyrocketed. The Legion had to fight Talahel’s goons, keep its army fed and safe, and now they also had to save unaware humans from dooming their souls.
Impossible tasks, especially with their shrinking numbers.
“You should go train with Jophiel,” Ezra said quietly, fear imbedded in his tone. “Just in case.”
The message was clear: Prepare for the worst.
So she did.
At the Legion, Jophiel showed her battle stances and techniques, and he nearly broke Ava with endless exercises to make her stronger and faster. But when it came to moving blocks of stone with her mind, Ava failed spectacularly.