by Tee, Marian
Table of Contents
Demon Lover (Supernatural Alphas)
About the Book
Demon Lover
The Woman and Her Child
The City That Never Sleeps
The Vision That Broke | A Soul Seer's Heart
The (Half) Angel Who's | (Sometimes) Up To No Good
The Demon in The Forest
The Devil and His Apple
The Warden in the Bad Place
The Master Who Bullies Her
The Man Who | Went to Hell and Back
The Pet Is | Where She Belongs
The Scent of a Rival
The Master and His Pet | Are...Reunited
The Angel and the Demon | Have a Talk
The Hunt for the Thirteenth Boy
The First One Tells A Story
The Apartment Wherein | She Sees
The Truth Always Burns
The Bodies That Disappeared
The (Second ) Mandrake | Shows the Way
The Gray Area of | Good and Evil
The Showdown Isn't In Sundown
Author's Note
Vampire Love
Soleil
Rhapsody
Some girls play around while their boyfriend's away. Others cry. Me? I just hunt down ghosts and demons while waiting for my vampire Master to come back. Welcome to my life.
Twenty-something Zari Baltimore is the new girl once again, this time in the New York branch of Agenthia Nu Exista, which translates to The Agency That Does Not Exist.
AGNEX is known throughout the world as one of the best demon trapping agencies, and it's also for that reason that most other trappers hate Zari's guts.
Because the Master she loves and has been, well, ghosting her for four years?
He's half-demon... so yeah, can you spell conflict of interest?
About the Book
This is a fucking joke, her Master snarled in her mind sometime later.
Just bear with it, Master, Zari managed to say soothingly while struggling to keep her face straight. It was so unlike Alexandru to rant - he was usually cool and charming 24/7 - but then again, he was also used to living and working in less crowded towns and cities.
Such places, she thought humorously, didn't require her Master to pretend he was without powers that allowed him to move faster than, say, the New York subway.
Alexandru's mood visibly improved when they were finally aboveground, but then she saw how his lip curled every so often, and when she realized why that was...
Alexandru was puzzled at the way his pet had suddenly burst into laughter. "What's so funny?"
"You," Zari managed to say between giggles.
"I beg your pardon?"
A fresh peal of laughter escaped Zari. I just can't believe how everyone thinks you're this great and mighty hunter...
"I am that," Alexandru pointed out reasonably.
"Indeed, Master," Zari agreed obediently, "but I wonder if your most ardent admirers also know what a spoiled little boy you are?"
"I beg your pardon?"
Her Master's voice practically dripped with ice this time, but it only made Zari laugh anew since his attitude completely proved her point.
"Your lip keeps curling up every time you smell pee—-"
"That's what normal people do," he retorted.
"And when you accidentally touched that wad of gum stuck by the train doors—-"
Alexandru couldn't help wincing at the rather gross memory of his fingers encountering a substance whose origins he never wished to know.
Zari, seeing her Master's expression, was tempted to laugh again, but since they had already reached their destination...
She pointed to the pawn shop across the road. "That's Station 4."
Trick or Trade was the registered trademark AGNEX used to run their service-and-supply stations, and Zari couldn't help feeling uneasy at seeing the place practically crawling with trappers.
Not normal procedure?
No, Master.
Mm. Alexandru observed the way the trappers watched their approach. They appear more hostile than usual, pet.
I'm hoping it's because they found out I'm living with you in Sky Tower while they're doing daily commutes from Brooklyn.
Demon Lover
by Marian Tee
A Supernatural Alphas Novel
Copyright 2020 by Streak Digital Publishing
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
The Woman and Her Child
Prologue
THERE USED TO BE A time when we lived in harmony with all living beings. The humans called us sybils while the otherworlders used another term. Soul seers, they called us, and it was this name our hearts chose for us.
In those days, living beings sought our visions for the greater good.
But those days didn't last.
The Demon Duke of Sulphur, having learned of the prophecy of his death at his own son's hands, sought to decimate our numbers. A handful would be spared their lives, but they shall only live to feed the demon and him alone, their visions to be used to turn the world into his playground.
It was then we decided to scatter, and we learned to hide in constant motion.
Day after day, always running away, desperate to avoid being caught, but still the demons found us, still they killed our kind, one soul seer dying after another.
Until there's only you that I can trust.
My darling daughter Zari.
The pain and grief in my heart is immeasurable. This is not the future I dreamt for you, but I have no choice.
To save your life and give you the future you deserve, your heart must break again and again, and only then will your shoulders be strong enough to carry the burden of our entire race.
I wish I could be there to see your soul shine, but I know the end is nigh, and the only thing I can do now is to give you one last gift.
A shield, my brave and beautiful child, one that I will carve in my final moments, infused with all the love that your father and I have for our most precious girl.
This shield will be with you to the end, yours alone to wield, and so powerful it will be that not even the fires of Hell can burn through its armor.
The City That Never Sleeps
Chapter One
THE KEY MOARTE INFESTATION Scale. 22-year-old Zari Baltimore absently tested the words out in her mind as she got off the 5 train at Bowling Green and sprinted towards the nearest exit leading up to The Battery. From there, it was a few minutes' walk to her destination, one made even shorter because of her brisk pace...which everyone else around her easily matched.
It was just one of the many things she loved about the city, and with 449 days of residency now tucked under her belt, Zari was pretty much convinced that New York City was her spirit animal. The City That Never Sleeps might not be her forever home, but for now, it was what she needed.
With millions of people around her every minute of the day, she never had to worry about faking anything. She could be sad if she wanted, bawl out her miseries like a kid, and no one would notice. Everyone was just too busy and stressed, just too much in a hurry to go through their to-dos to care about anything else.
And that was exactly how Zari liked it, both for her sake and her job's.
Speaking of which...
Zari's steps came to a silent halt as she peered up the century-old building that AGNEX had ass
igned her to inspect for paranormal activity. Registered historic site, warehouse turned restaurant, Jazz nights on Thursdays, and spoken poetry on Saturdays.
Today, however, was Tuesday; it was that one day of the week the place was closed, and by the looks of it, even security seemed to have been given the night off.
After taking a couple of photos with her phone, Zari circled to the back and used the card key she had been given to gain entry.
A couple of seconds passed, and the scanner showed no signs of green-lighting her passage. While waiting, she tried to get a better feel of her surroundings. It was darker here, with no street lamps to cast away shadows and all the other things that went bump in the night. A lot more quiet, too, and - despite its unparalleled access and views of the Hudson River - remarkably empty of people. No tourists contorting themselves to capture the best night selfies, no homeless person camping out on the pavement - just nothing except this terribly oppressive silence that was marred only by the sudden beeping sound of the card reader.
Finally.
Zari shoved the card key back into her pocket and gave her arms a quick rub down to get rid of the goose bumps. While her mind had long adjusted to the otherworldly aspect of her work, the rest of her was an entirely different matter. The human body was physiologically designed to freak out on all things "unnatural", and this place was supposedly haunted...
A thick, ominous swath of darkness swelled up to greet her as soon as she let herself in, and Zari's heart started to race. An icy cold breeze brushed against her skin, and she was unable to keep herself from jumping a little as the door slammed shut on its own behind her.
Definitely haunted, but as to whether this was an ordinary infestation or not...
That part was where her soon-to-be-published study would come in, and with that in mind, Zari took her phone out and clicked on the app that she and Raffy had been working on.
The Key Moarte Infestation Scale
Part I: Ambient Paranormal Activity
1 point: Involuntary manifestation, e.g. cold spots and a permeating smell that is distinctly associative to the entity
2 points: Basic manifestation, e.g. disembodied voices and footsteps
3 points: Intermediate manifestation, e.g. movement of object or property without human agency
4 points: Verifiable motive behind manifestation
Taking her flashlight out of her pocket, Zari switched it on, and the light beamed straight down an empty kitchen hallway...just as something to her left skittered. She swung her light towards it right away, and this time she found her target, the light shining directly on the face of a child, blood streaming down from the empty holes of his eye sockets.
"Martin," Zari whispered.
A moment later, the boy started to run.
Fast.
So damn fast.
That before she knew it, his cold, dead arms were already wrapped around her waist, and the sound of his sobs were wrenching her heart into pieces.
SIRENS HAD BEEN WAILING nonstop for a while now, and despite the police strictly keeping everyone away from the crime scene, the crowd had only continued to swell by the minute, their numbers almost evenly split between paps and morbidly curious passers-by.
So far, twelve bodies - Martin's included - had already been unearthed from the nearby park. All boys, their ages ranging from six to ten, and just like Martin, they had their eyes ripped out before being buried alive.
Since Admin was responsible for alerting the authorities, Zari, seated on the front steps of Warehouse 57, was able to observe the whole scene unfold, alone and undisturbed.
There were supposed to be thirteen bodies in the mass grave Martin had led her to, but only a dozen had been found. #13 was still missing, and Zari had a feeling the number was not a coincidence.
On the train ride back to Hudson Yards, Zari typed a quick email for Raffy and tinkered some more with their app in hopes of keeping herself busy. And for a while, she succeeded. For a while, she forgot.
But once she was off the train and walking five stories up to her subsidized studio apartment—-
She tried.
She honestly tried.
But as soon as she was inside, the door locked, and her home security activated—-
Despair surged up, and Zari was already crying just like young dead Martin even before her knees had hit the hardwood floor.
It had been four years since she had last seen him.
Three years since he seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.
And a year since anyone had last heard from Alexandru.
Most people thought him dead now, but all of them were wrong.
She would know if he were.
She couldn't not know, and it wasn't just because he was her Master and she was his pet.
She would know because she loved him, and he loved her, and God...
A sob rocked her body as Zari slowly curled herself into a ball. She closed her eyes, and another sob shook her to the core as memories of him instantly flooded her mind. She remembered how the sheer gorgeousness of him could easily take her breath away, remembered how the velvety wickedness of his
charm was always enough to make her blush, and most of all she remembered...
How good it felt, Zari thought painfully, just to be with him.
She remembered that one day he had visited her when she was still studying in LSL, and he had flicked her forehead hard enough to make her yelp in pain. 'What was that for?' she had demanded, and her Master had right away answered back in a mocking tone, 'Because you're too cute. Is that all you've learned in this school? Being cute and turning me on?'
Zari squeezed her eyes shut, but her tears refused to stop. It was those little things, just countless, silly little moments that she shared with Alexandru, just the little things really...
Those little things that kept her heart breaking even as she refused to lose hope.
I've kept my promise, Master.
I'm the one who can save lives now.
I'm strong...just like I promised.
So please keep your promise, too.
Come back.
I miss you so much.
Please come back.
Please.
The Vision That Broke
A Soul Seer's Heart
Chapter Two
IT WAS A VIOLENTLY stormy night in Chalys, savage winds whipping out of the silvery Woods of the Wraiths before slashing a destructive path into the rest of the kingdom. From the lofty heights of the angel-run territory of Ciel to the remote shores of Aquarius - no ducal territory was spared, and as rain that tasted of vengeance and fury struck their roofs, whispered rumors began to swirl about.
From elegant townhouses in the city to noisy pubs hidden in the back streets, the storm had heated debates arising between otherworlders of all walks of life. The storm, the older ones believed, was a harbinger, fulfilling an ancient prophecy about the return of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The younger ones, however, dismissed this. There were no such horsemen, and the storm, mysteriously vicious its strength might be, was still just a storm.
Zari, however, was one of the few residents of the kingdom who cared naught about the raging storm that battered against the fortified walls of her school. She was too busy raiding the wine cellar, and once she had a bottle of Brimstone's finest whisky hidden under her shawl, she wasted no time running up the steps and locking herself in her room.
It took a while for her to figure out how to uncork the bottle, and a strong scent immediately filled her room.
She poured herself a glass. "Cheers, Master." She drank the whole thing in one gulp and poured herself another...and another...and another until she was so maudlin and her senses properly befuddled, that Zari, in between drunken hiccups and chest-heaving sobs, finally mustered the strength to speak of the words that had been haunting her for weeks.
I had a vision, Master. And in it, all I could see was death. It was all around me. S
o much death, and I don't know if I have the courage to change things, knowing what might...
Her throat tightened.
I'm scared, Master.
I'm so stupidly scared.
I wish you were here to tell me I'm strong enough to do what's right.
I wish...I just wish you were here.
The (Half) Angel Who's
(Sometimes) Up To No Good
Chapter Three
ZARI WOKE UP THE NEXT day with a pounding headache. Kinda like someone with a hangover, but in her case, it was because she had ended up crying herself to sleep.
No shame, Zari reminded herself as she dragged her body out of bed.
Crying was as natural as any other bodily function, and as her therapist liked to say, she could simply think of it as peeing out her sadness. The analogy still grossed Zari out to this day, but since it did make sense...
Nothing to be guilty about, she thought determinedly to herself as she stepped into the shower. Optical peeing was therapy, so nowadays she did it whenever the urge struck, which - more often than not - was when she was alone at night, and the pain of her Master's absence got to be a little too much.
After changing into her self-imposed work uniform (turtleneck in some neutral shade, jeans, boots, and a trench coat with more pockets than anyone could ever need), she went about locking up and was out of her apartment building a few minutes past seven.
With time to spare, she got herself a bagel and coffee but still made it to the office one full hour ahead of the daily roll call.
#workaholic mode on, Zari thought, never mind if she hadn't really ever switched off.
Like most other buildings in Hudson Yards, AGNEX's New York office was housed in a stately old stone building and - according to Google Maps - the listed address of an investment firm. It was why, when asked by strangers about her work, Zari would always offhandedly say she worked in "finance".