by C C Solomon
The demon stopped in front of a two-story house with a well-manicured front lawn and then began to walk onto the property. It headed to the back of the house and then paused in front of steps that appeared to lead to a basement. It turned to us and pointed to the steps before backing away into the nothingness of nightfall.
I looked at the steps leading down to the darkness of the basement. The entire house was unlit. If this was a movie, I’d be yelling at the screen to go back home. “Yeah, I’m not going down there.”
Faith looked around the lawn behind us. “I’m going to have to agree with you on that one.”
I stepped back. “Glad we could agree on something.”
“Except…”
I sighed. I already knew what she was going to say. “We came here to find out what was going on and bring some sort of proof of it back to Monica. Let’s go in.
Faith nodded. “I let Felix know where we are. They can go in if we aren’t out in five minutes.”
I had almost forgotten she was part of the goody-two-shoed Six and had a telepathic connection to Felix. I scrunched my face in concern, still looking at the steps. I so did not want to go into a fight if I didn’t have to. And believe me, if anything attacked, we would be fighting.
“Don’t tell me you’re scared?” Faith leaned in wiggling her fingers at me.
I scoffed. “Look, you aren’t going to peer pressure me like some teen from an old slasher flick. I’m just being justifiably cautious.”
Faith gave me a very doubtful look. “Uh-huh. I thought dark fae weren’t afraid of anything.”
“Not sure who told you that lie. However, I am not scared. That thing could be leading us to our deaths. Just because it was shaped like a child doesn’t mean it was good. You didn’t see its earlier shape.” However, she had a point about us getting to the bottom of this. I needed the information Monica had on my family. I was getting my answers and gaining my throne.
I opened my hand, and my sword appeared. Up until now, I’d had it cloaked in invisibility magic. Most warrior fae kept their swords near them or in a location they could easily conjure them. There was no way I was coming here without my girl with me. I wasn’t sure we were going to need to get down and dirty tonight but I sure as hell wasn’t walking into that basement with my hands in my pocket looking like a Final Girl in a horror film.
Faith tapped her fists together, and her tattoos became etched in a golden glow. She could do more than just kiss or sex people out of their energy. Succubi had strength, and Faith’s tattoos somehow gave her even more.
We descended the steps on tip toes, crouching at the door at the bottom, which had a window above the doorknob. I slowly moved up and peeked inside.
It was dark, but there was definitely something going on. This part of the basement was cluttered and unfinished and I could see a wall on the opposite end with another open door leading to what I assumed was a finished part of the bottom level.
However, the décor wasn’t my focus. In the middle of the concrete floor was a man hunched over on the ground digging into a smaller body and…eating. My stomach churned as I watched the man greedily gobble down the insides of a person’s torn up stomach. I looked at the victim on the floor and fought a building rage. The victim, a female, couldn’t have been more than thirteen years old. She looked up at the ceiling with vacant eyes and an open mouth with a slack jaw. She was surely dead.
I pulled out my phone and briefly filmed the gruesome scene as my proof for Monica.
Faith yanked on my shirt and I ducked down to her crouching level. “A man is eating a child,” I whispered.
Her eyes blazed with anger, swirling with orange, red, and yellow. She shot up and before I could stop her, she kicked the door open, breaking the lock.
Faith charged in like a raging bull, me on her tail, cursing. We didn’t even get to fully assess the situation. There could have been others in the house and we’d be outnumbered and eaten.
She raced at lightning speed and grabbed the man by the back of the neck, raising him in the air. I flipped a switch near the door, dimly lighting the room. There didn’t seem to be anybody else there, just boxes, old furniture and other knick-knacks.
The man, who Faith now had by the throat, looked human except for the bloody mouth and clothes. He was of average height and build, no more than forty years old, a full head of blond hair and angry blue eyes.
He drew his legs up and kicked Faith in the chest, releasing himself from her grip and knocking her to the ground. He by-passed Faith and sped towards me at an inhuman speed. Guess he thought I was the weaker of us two. He would soon find out otherwise.
He whipped around me, and I spun, already prepared for his trickery. My sword swiped out, and I sliced him in the arm hitting bone. He zoomed backwards to avoid another hit, yelling out in pain as he grabbed his arm. When he opened his mouth to scream, I could see that his mouth was full of pointed, bloodied teeth that practically split his face open.
He pressed his back against the concrete wall, looked from Faith, who was now standing by my side, then to me, as if to decide which one of us was the lesser of two evils. His eyes moved behind us, and I glanced over my shoulder seeing a darkened staircase that probably led to the higher floors.
“You aren’t getting out of here in one piece,” I said before running towards him, sword pointed outward with both my hands gripping the hilt.
He zoomed to the side and then past me, a blur of movement that I wasn’t fast enough to catch. Damn, this guy was quick. Seriously, what the hell was he?
Fortunately, he didn’t get to the stairs because Faith was able to punch him in the throat, sending him sliding back on the floor. I had to admit, I was pretty impressed with her succubus strength and movement. At least she could match his speed, which was very much not my thing.
Faith wasted no time and grabbed the man by the throat again before slamming his head against the hard floor.
I moved forward, glancing over at the dead teenager. Renewed rage built in me as I returned my attention to the man. I pointed my sword at his head as he squirmed to get out of Faith’s release, gurgling for breath. If he broke free, he’d be met with a nice stabby-stab to the forehead. But first, I needed to at least ask him some questions before we sent him to the worms.
“How could you?” Faith shouted, squeezing his neck.
If she squeezed any harder, she’d decapitate him with her hands. That wouldn’t get me my answers or my missing memories. “What are you?” I asked through gritted teeth.
He glared at me with hate-filled eyes like I was the one who was crushing his windpipe.
Faith dug her knee into his stomach forcing him to cry out. “Answer her!”
He didn’t, just continued to glare.
I kicked him in his injured arm, and he winced. “Talk.”
He was still playing it quiet, guess I would have to apply some mild torture. I stuck him in the thigh with my sword and he let out a guttural noise that was cut off by Faith’s grip.
“There’s no good cop, bad cop here,” Faith growled. “We’re both assholes, so it’s in your best interest to talk.”
His cry sounded very human, and his blood came out red. Faith had to use her muscle to keep him down, so it was possible he was supernaturally strong along with being incredibly fast. However, he didn’t use any magic against us so he wasn’t a witch. Could he have been a were? His eyes still looked very human, and the eyes were the first giveaway of a were. He could have been a ghoul. They did eat human flesh, and he also had sharp teeth, although his mouth was wider than most ghouls. Plus, he didn’t have fully black eyes. Also, he was eating more than flesh. In fact, he was eating everything. Organs, skin, muscle. Trolls and gremlins did that along with some demons and some really nasty fae.
Hell, he really could be anything. We were still learning about all the types of supernatural creatures in the world. Ten years in, and there were some paranormals things that were still coming out of the p
roverbial woodwork. Honestly, it didn’t matter to me. That would be Monica’s problem overall. Right now, we just needed to document what was going on in this town because her angels were too busy having so much fun to do that themselves.
I took out my phone with my free hand. “Say cheese,” I said before taking his picture. I glanced over to Faith. “I’ll show his picture to someone who might know what his kind is. You can kill him now.”
Faith didn’t even hesitate. She squeezed his neck until it caved in. She then ripped his head off and tossed it across the room, where it bounced before coming to a stop next to a few old paint cans. “We should burn this whole place to the ground.”
I nodded, feeling a similar anger but trying not to let it get the best of me. Hmm, I was growing up. “Normally I’d agree with you but we need to let this town’s leadership know this is going on. They are no longer a crime free town.”
I looked back down at the body. The demon’s headless body began to quickly deflate before our eyes like a balloon. The insides of his body seemed to have liquified and were now leaking, along with his blood, out of every orifice of his body including the open wound in his neck. I jumped back in disgust and surprise, quickly taking a picture before it all went away.
Faith jumped up and jogged back as well, avoiding the growing bloody puddle. “The fuck?”
We looked in silence as the body continued to deflate until it was as flat as, well, a pancake, leaving only empty skin behind.
Faith looked up at me with raised brows. “What just happened?”
I put my sword back in the sheath on my back, and it went invisible again. “He melted like the Wicked Witch of the West.”
“Is this what happened to the skin suit we saw yesterday?”
I honestly wasn’t sure. “It seems like whatever these creatures are, when they die this is what happens. Seems so unnecessary. They could turn to dust like vampires. Who wants the leftover skin?”
Faith brought her hand to her face, presumably to rub her eyes because she looked exhausted, but she quickly caught sight of her bloody hand used to kill the guy and dropped it. No need to give herself a monster blood facial. “I need to get the hell out of here. This fuckin world, man.”
I rolled my shoulders back. She took the words right out of my mouth.
Faith looked over my shoulder at the dead teenager. “I thought there were no kids in this town.”
I refused to look behind me. I’d seen enough. “He could have kidnapped her. Let’s call the authorities and get out of here.”
Faith headed to the door and I followed. “What are we going to tell them? That we followed a demon child here?”
“Yep. I don’t have the creativity to come up with a lie. They need to know they have a kid killer here and demon spirit things are haunting the town. Or maybe it’s just me?”
“So, if it led you to a body yesterday and to a crime today, is it really a demon? That would seem to be the opposite of what something evil would do.”
We walked outside back to the backyard, and I bit back my reminder that not all demons were bad. “Why it came to me, I don’t know. Why you can’t see it, I don’t know.”
“Seems we have more questions than answers now. We need to find out where that kid comes from. They probably have a family that needs to know.”
I didn’t say the other alternative. That this kid had no family. There were a lot of orphans. “I’m sure the police will work on that. The biggest thing is to figure out what the hell he was and make sure there aren’t anymore.”
I wanted the hell out of this town and back to my life. I had information now. It was time to get out.
Chapter 10
When the police arrived, Sheriff Dante was front and center. He looked at the crime scene then walked over to us with a look of full-on suspicion. He made a show of giving a big sigh and adjusted his belt before finally speaking. “Glad I told you not to leave. Seems you might be set on making trouble after all.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering if he was really serious. “Making trouble? Seems we are highlighting an issue—a pretty big issue—that you need to investigate. You should be thanking us.”
He chuckled.
I didn’t see what was so funny. A kid was dead.
“Everything was fine here until you came. You’ve been here two nights, and already we have two crimes. I don’t believe in coincidences.” He gave me a long stare down that I guess was supposed to intimidate me, but I’d been glared at by much worse, so I wasn’t afraid.
“Are you accusing us of something? Because if you are, then arrest us. Although, I’m trying to figure out what kind of evidence you have. In both situations, we brought something to your attention. If we were the perpetrators then we could have easily kept quiet.”
Dante looked back at the body bags being carried out of the basement as he scratched his patchy beard. “I don’t know. Maybe you lost all that attention after winning that big fight we’ve all heard about and wanted to find something new to get into to get back in the lime light. You come here and make up some trouble, then act like you can fight it off and become stars again.”
I really wanted to pimp slap the dumb off of him because that was truly the stupidest thing I’d ever heard. Before I could say anything, Azrael spoke up as they joined us. “Do you feel good about that particular theory? Is that the path you want to go down? If so, I’d really question your effectiveness as any type of leader.” The angel crossed their arms and gazed down at Dante like he was a mere peon. For all Azrael’s laid back nature, they could also be extremely pompous and they were going hard now. For once, I didn’t mind it.
Well, that seemed to rile Dante right up. “You—you don’t tell me how to do my job. I have to explore all theories.”
“Yes, I see. Well, by all means, keep pursuing that theory that makes the least sense instead of the obvious one that points to a possible demon problem.”
Dante looked Azrael up and down with a face of disdain. “You all think you’re such hot shit just because you got in a little fight and won. A lot of us have been fighting for the past several years, and before that we fought in other ways. I’m a former marine and been in two wars back in the Pre-World. Y’all ain’t better than anyone here.”
Sounds like someone had a chip on their shoulder that really had nothing to do with us. He was probably jealous of the six’s fame long before Faith and Felix showed up here. We were dead in the water from the start with this guy.
Felix raised his brows and threw out his hands in surrender. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Look, man, we aren’t here to cause trouble or argue. We don’t think we’re better than anyone. We just want to help with any problems this town has going on. We’re on the same side here.”
He was such a damn peacemaker. I noticed a colorful bit of movement approaching us and turned to see Yasmine dressed impeccably in a brightly colored shift dress. Most people threw on jeans and a T-shirt when called in the middle of the night, not dresses and heels.
“I’m so very sorry you had to experience this. Like I told you before, this kind of thing never happens, and now it’s occurred twice since you’ve been here.”
Felix shifted uncomfortably in his stance and leaned forward. “In case you’re thinking it, it wasn’t us. We’re good people.”
Dante muttered something unintelligible, but we ignored him.
Yasmine patted Felix on the arm and gave a slight smile. “I know you’re good. And it seems you helped us fix a problem we didn’t know we had. I’d hate for you to leave because of all this. We typically don’t have such horrible events like this. For all your troubles, allow us to extend your stay a few days. No charge.”
There was no way I was staying in this weird town another day. I had to get on the campaign trail. Azrael could stay, and Felix was off for the summer, so he could too.
“We’d love to stay,” Azrael spoke up with a wide grin.
I wanted to punch them in their perfect teeth.
I lifted a hand. “Actually, I–”
Faith grabbed my hand and yanked it down. “We are going to have to make some arrangements at work, but we would love that.”
Someone called for the mayor, and Yasmine pointed to one of her people and told him to call the inn and extend our stay.
“Are we done here, Sheriff?” Faith asked with a toothy smile.
He looked over to Yasmine who was already on her way to address an issue then looked back to us with irritated eyes. “For now.”
I looked at the others, my lips tight with anger, then turned around and walked away. Those fools could stay, but I was getting the hell out of this creepy place. I felt them coming up close behind me and I teleported away to my room to get some distance.
I grabbed my suitcase and began to pack what few belongings I had brought with me. A minute later, I heard the crew in the living area but ignored them.
“Can we at least talk about it?” Felix asked, taking up the doorway to the bedroom. I could see bits of Faith and Azrael behind him.
I paused, putting my hands on my hips. “Why are we staying?”
Azrael hunched forward and wiggled past the bit of space between Felix and the doorway. “There’s a mystery to solve here.”
“We killed the bad guy. We’re done.”
Azrael looked up at the ceiling and shook their head as if I said something totally ridiculous. “You’re here to get information for Monica.”
“And I’ve done that.
They shook their head. “We do not yet know the full extent of this situation. The skins belong to the bad guys. We found two. Might it be possible then that there are more? And who killed the first one? And why do you have a demon that seems to want to help take down these creatures? One that can only be seen by others when it’s in human form. Let us not forget, no one saw him at the restaurant.”
I shrugged and flopped down on my bed. I’d forgotten that the demon was more than likely the crying child I’d seen the other night. It would make sense since we were led to the first crime that way. “Maybe he’s someone who knew me from the underworld? I was quite popular.”