Demons: A Hunter's Novel, Book 1

by Felicite Lilly

  "It's Demon magic. You shouldn't be able to see it. Not unless you are a Demon." He said. I had a sinking feeling this had something to do with the entourage following me.

  “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

  Call me a coward but I was scared of dealing with what lay up ahead, mostly because I couldn’t see what was coming. I would lose myself again, not that I was afraid of that, but I was afraid I would have to walk away from him again. I could never do that again.

  “Stop over thinking this.” Az knew me well. “Just trust me.”

  “I do.” I paused pulling my hand back, but leaving the paper in his hand. “I better hit the road. Thanks for the heads up.” I said, avoiding his gaze.

  I turned, fully meaning to leave without another word. I heard him let out a heavy sigh.

  “Nothing’s changed, Laney. My offer still stands.” His last words to me when we had our huge blow out break up six months ago, as I stood almost identical to how I was standing now, was I would give it all up, for you. They floated over my torn heart again, without ever being spoken. Still trying to pull the broken pieces back together.

  I said the only words I could.

  “I could never ask you to do that.” I shut the door behind me and heard something being thrown against the wall.

  Once I was further away from the glamour, its spells and Az, I could feel the excess energy. I could feel all the things following me that I hadn’t felt before. All the things I had blocked out because I was trying to numb the pain that leaving Az had brought.

  Now that the pain was back, so were all of my other senses. And they were telling me to run. Why fight it? I ran all the way home. Let the fuckers keep up.

  ~III~

  “This is a place where I don’t feel lost, this is a place where I feel at home. I built a home for you, for me…”

  – The Cinematic Orchestra, To Build a Home

  I settled in at home with my hoard of supes setting up camp outside, which was weird in and of itself. I couldn’t figure out how they weren’t trying to kill each other. Supes were known for not getting along and they couldn’t have been more than a mile away from one another. Which just ratcheted up my tension. Apparently, I was more interesting than the fight they presented each other.

  I etched Azrael’s symbol on the wall as I had promised. I started my nighttime routine by feeding my plant, Bob. He probably hadn’t been watered in a couple weeks. Exhibit A, the brown leaves. I was neglectful of pets. Hence the reason I didn’t have any besides Bob. Bob was enough for a black thumb like to me to keep alive.

  I laid down on the couch afterward, pulling my hair into a messy bun. I heaved my homemade quilt off the back of the couch. I had made the “quilt” after one too many shots of tequila. It was a quilt of t-shirts and extra fabric I had around. The t-shirts were the ones I had accumulated while Az and I had been together. I called it a quilt loosely since it had uneven cuts and stitching. I pulled it up over my legs and laid back, staring at the ceiling.

  I should have gone to the Hunter Council or, at least, to Cade to find out what was going on, but I was procrastinating. I was Queen of Procrastination. Thus, the staring at the ceiling. Was I trying to work anything out? I may have looked like I was, but no. Just staring and letting my mind ease. As I said, Q.P.

  I heard my front door open and didn’t move, because I already knew who it was by the incessant whistling coming from the doorway. Well, there went my procrastination plan.

  Cade sat down on my windowsill sideways with one leg propped up in it and looked out the window longingly. I wondered if the Council let him out to play or if he had snuck out. I knew once you were on the Council you stopped doing the actual hunting and were kept on a very tight leash. I thought it was the stupidest rule because the Council contained the best of our members, and that is why I wasn’t on the Council. That and I couldn’t be trusted.

  “How is life with the Council? How is dear old Dad?” I asked sarcastically, sitting up.

  I missed my friend. The one that used to fight at my side, not the one who was this politician sitting in front of me.

  “Everything is going well. Your Father has made strides in many of the supernatural communities –”

  “Oh please! I don’t want your political tagline. I guess I deserve it for asking.”

  I lay back down on the couch, throwing my arm over my face. I was already exhausted. Cade cleared his throat.

  “Procrastinating Delaney?” He knew me well.

  Cade was an imposing Hunter. He was a giant, standing at 6’8” and lanky. Muscular his body looked as though his height had stretched his muscles thin. He had shaggy brown hair and brown eyes that lit up when anyone told a stupid joke. What do you call a two kneed fish? A Tuny fish! These were the things that friends knew about each other. Cade knew me well, but not as well as Azrael.

  I didn’t feel right calling him Az anymore. Not with his position. But I wasn’t sure I could break myself of it, either. I had still seen glimpses of my Az in Azrael.

  While Cade knew my personality and my strengths and weaknesses, Azrael knew all of me – every nook and cranny. Even the ones I hid from everyone but him.

  “Always.”

  “What are you procrastinating doing, exactly?” He looked at me with his hard stare, trying to squirm it out of me. I don’t think he was expecting me to actually answer.

  “Talking to you, mostly.”

  “About what?” He said in surprise.

  I guess that was fair. I hadn’t been very open recently. Something about him shifted, too. He looked nervous. He knew something. If I tried, he would tell me what he knew. I was like the big sister he never wanted. I was only a few months older than him, but I never let him forget it.

  “What do you know about my tails?” I asked. Cade got up from the window and pulled me to my feet, and turned me around.

  “You have a tail? Let me see.”

  He was trying to make a joke like I had suddenly sprouted a furry tail out of my butt and was now trying to see said tail.

  “You’re a dick, you know that?” I said as I swatted him away from me.

  “Yep.”

  “There are tails, as in more than one following me.” Cade frowned. Good to know. He knew about my Hunter tail, but not the others.

  “Who else?”

  “Demons, Vamps, Fey, Drovers – those were the ones I felt. There could be more.”

  “I felt them but I didn’t know they were following you specifically, I just thought the neighborhood was going to crap. Why are they following you?” He said, talking more to himself now than me.

  “Oh, apparently I’m like an ice cream cake at a weight watchers meeting to supes now. Didn’t you know?” I couldn’t hide my sarcasm. It was my favorite fall back to stupid questions.

  “I’m low on the totem pole, they don’t share much with me yet.”

  “You think I’m stupid?”

  “Sometimes.”

  I laughed. Cade was a softy when it came to me. I used that soft spot more often than I should have, but that small amount of guilt wouldn’t keep me from using it now.

  “What’s going on, Cade? Don’t you want to make sure I’m safe?” I asked seriously. He knew I was laying on the guilt, but he was helpless to stop me. I saw his resolve crack.

  “I know the thing with Azrael is why the Hunters started following you, but now I’ve been hearing other things. They don’t know that Azrael is the Demon you were involved with, but they knew you were into something.”

  “What other things are you hearing?”

  “There is something big about to happen, and it has something to do with you. You should really talk to your Dad.”

  It had become a problem ever since Cade had gotten on the Council. Now instead of talking to me he always resorted to using my Father as a shield. I hadn’t talked to my Father for seven months. Before that it had been a rocky relationship, at the best of times. My Father was head of the Hunter
s’ Council. As his daughter I was always expected to act a certain way. So, of course, I did not. Just like the preacher’s daughter is the worst sinner. Although I had become a great Hunter, I was also their worst offender.

  The Council had figured out I was doing something wrong, hence the tail I was still dealing with, but by the time they had figured out something was going on, Cade had warned me and I had ended it with Az.

  “Yeah, because Janesh has been knocking down my door to talk to me, you know to resolve our issues.” (My Father’s name was pronounced Yan-esh, the ethnic pronunciation) I let my sarcasm hang along with the fact that I had called my Father by his first name, because I would be damned if I called him anything but.

  “He set a tail on me instead of talking to me, Cade.”

  Cade’s mom and dad were more parents to me than my own Father had ever been. They called me on my birthday. The only birthday celebration I had ever had from my Father was when I turned 9 and was entered into the Hunter training center. My Father had bought me my first blade. He had treated me like I was in a Hunter military boot camp since I was 5, so it wasn’t that big of a deal to me.

  My Father and his ways were all I’d ever known. My mother had died when I was born. It’s probably why my Father could barely stand me: I had killed the one person he had loved in life besides himself.

  “You know it’s a Council decision, Laney.”

  “Yes, and he is head of us all. Did you vote for the tail, or against it?”

  “Don’t. This isn’t about me, Laney.”

  Normally, for whatever reason, when Cade and I talked about serious things, he would use my full name, Delaney. But he had called me Laney twice now, which was a big red flag to me. Cade was really trying to get me to talk to my Father. Why? Next he was going to be calling me Lane to try and sway me.

  He had always shortened my name as an endearment. Especially when he was trying to get me to do something he knew I didn’t want to do. Like when I went with one of his really dorky friends to our Hunter equivalent of prom. It was called The Coming, which was creepy and ominous, but it was also something us kids had laughed about to no end. With the obvious jokes that would come with that name. Oh, I’ll be coming! Childish? Maybe. Funny? Definitely.

  “I’m still his daughter, Cay. He should’ve talked to me.” Cade just smiled, realizing I had used his name shortening back on him.

  “Come to the Council meeting. See what’s going on.” Cade pled.

  Maybe it was just too much to keep arguing or maybe I had been fed paint chips in my sleep, but I agreed.

  “Fine.”

  Cade stood up and said, “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 6.”

  “That’s at night right? Cause I won’t be up by 6 am.” Cade smiled at me annoyedly and turned to leave.

  He knew to get out while he still had my agreement. If he gave me too much time, like two minutes, he knew I’d change my mind. Cade disappeared out my front door. I sealed my humble abode up so I didn’t get any more visitors for the night. I needed my beauty sleep. The only opening I left was for Az. Just in case he found something out and needed to get to me.

  Right, I left it open in case Az had information for me. Sure. That’s what I kept telling myself as I fell asleep, anyway.

  ~IV~

  “What would I do without your smart mouth, drawing me in and you kicking me out?”

  – John Legend, All of Me

  I stood in my living room early the next morning trying to decide what to wear for the Council meeting. I desperately wanted to pull out my old club gear. Like my silver sequined backless crop top. Maybe I could pair that with my blood red mini skirt and my thigh high black boots. I could see my Father’s face turning the same red color as my mini skirt. Unfortunately, the same mini skirt would stay at the back of my closet, with my super skinny jeans, because I was 30 now, not 20 and the stabs at my Father had become verbal long ago.

  Now, if I walked into a Council meeting wearing that kind of outfit I couldn’t chalk it up to my youth – I’d just give myself a bad name, not my Father. Not only did I want to refrain from that, but I still needed information from my Father so taking immature shots at him probably wasn’t the best idea.

  I went to my closet and pulled out my tight black jeans and black t-shirt. I got my bag of weapons out and made sure my blades fit comfortably in my shoulder holsters. Once they were secure, I pulled out my black leather jacket to wear over my blades. The Hunters’ unofficial color was black – but the leather jacket, as far as I knew, was strictly my own style.

  Most Hunters wore a wool pea coat, during the winter anyway, so their weapons were easily accessed. Luckily, I had a very unique tailor who had made very hard to see slits in the back of my jacket. Each slit had a durable rubber inlay so the cold weather couldn’t get in. I could get my hands easily in if/when I needed to get by blades out, which was often.

  After I laid my gear on the chair in my room I headed to the kitchen to make holey toast. It was my favorite. I took a shot glass and, using the rim, carved out a hole in the middle of a piece of buttered toast. Then I cracked an egg into the hole, while in a hot pan, and cooked it. It’s hard to mess up, and delicious. It was a staple of my food pyramid. I made it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for weeks after the break up.

  Cade had visited me daily after he found out I had broken it off with Az, saying he had to since no one else knew what was going on with me. Cade, at one point, had gotten on me about what I was eating. I simply replied to him “At least I’m eating.” That shut him up.

  As I stood in the kitchen waiting to flip my holey toast, I felt hands slide up my legs under my night shirt to my belly, thumbs skimming under my breasts. I knew those hands better than my own. My need for them a constant obsession.

  I had spent countless nights pretending my hands were his, and I don’t care who you are, nothing substitutes for the real thing. His hands on me now felt like a phantom limb. If it weren’t for the heat radiating off them, I would’ve believed I was imagining them, again. I flipped the toast and said without turning around:

  “Don’t start something you can’t finish, Azrael.”

  His fingers stilled, most likely because I had actually remembered to call him Azrael. He got over it quickly, though, and moved his fingers down my hips, kneading the skin there. I wondered how he thought he had any right to touch me that way. It could be because I was leaning into him like a cat in heat. I wanted this Demon holding me with every cord of my being, but I felt as though the push and pull would always be a losing battle.

  “Your gear’s out, where’re you going?” He whispered into my hair.

  “I have a Council meeting tonight. Trying to figure out why the fuck I’m being treated like an Al-Qaida member at a UN ball.”

  “You’re going to speak to him?”

  Azrael spat out him with such disgust you would have thought he actually had a giant hunk of dirt in his mouth. Azrael had more animosity toward my Father than I ever had, which was strange since I had 26 years on him.

  “I have to.”

  “You don’t have to do shit. Last I checked you don’t do anything you don’t want to.”

  Okay, that was hitting below the belt. That was so far below the belt I felt the hit on the bottom of my feet. The last thing I had wanted to do with Az was to break it off with him. I think he knew it, but he used it against me. He was still pissed about everything and I couldn’t do anything to ease that pain.

  “Your control freak is showing, Azrael. I’m doing what’s necessary.”

  At that, his hands dropped from my hips. I hadn’t realized he was getting me worked up before I lost contact with his skin.

  “You always have.”

  Again, below the belt, if I had known we were fighting dirty I would’ve prepared my best sarcasm. But it was also true. I had always done what I felt was necessary. It had been pounded into me since I was a child and some things just stuck.

  I had been fighting p
arts of the system for as long as I could remember. It’s the whole reason I started sleeping with Az in the first place. But it was not why I fell in love with him. He had always been on my side, our side. He had supported me when I probably didn’t deserve it. He held my hand, let me cry on him, let me sleep on him – he was my best friend. What I thought had been necessary when I broke up with him could have been wrong, but I couldn’t risk his life for our love. He was more important to me than that.

  “You’re right. You should record that for later use – I don’t say it often.”

  I moved away from him into my bedroom to put on my jeans. I could never be around Az for long without having my clothes fall off at least once, and I already had so little on, I feared what might happen. Especially because he was now standing in my doorway leaning on the frame and looking delicious – I could feel my underwear already slipping down my legs.

  “How long have you been using my blade to kill supes?” I said trying to put some distance between us by shoving the heaping mounds of our problems in front of us.

  “As long as I’ve had it. I used it to kill my way up the ladder. You should have some fantastic numbers.” He looked so fucking proud of himself. I was livid.

  If anyone followed the trail of Demon blood to my blade they would see it followed Azrael and figuring out he and I had history would not be difficult after that.

  “What if the Council had pulled me in?”

  “You’re fast on your feet. You’d have figured something out.”

  “Do you even give a shit anymore?”

  “I’ve always given a shit. It’s better to deal with high numbers, than no numbers at all.” He bit out.

  He had been protecting me. If it was even possible, I fell a little more in love with him. Even if I was pissed off at the way he had gone about it. He was right. As a Hunter if I had not been killing anything I would’ve been brought in and “evaluated”. Which was a nice way of saying: being mentally and physically brainwashed to make sure I wasn’t being controlled by any outside forces.