by Aly Westman
Copyright © 2019 by Alyssa Monsigneur
Editor: EDC Editing
Cover Designer: GlassCrocodile Covers
ISBN- 978-1-090-40121-2
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in and form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the publisher, except in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by the copyright law. This is a work of fiction. All events, names, and characters have been created by the author's imagination. Any connections between characters, peoples, places, events, are purely coincidental.
Huge thank you to the wonderful Amy Naylor. It’s one thing to chase your dreams but to help someone achieve theirs is an act of true kindness and love. Couldn’t have done it without your support and constant push for me to keep writing.
Chapter 1
I closed my eyes as I pretended I could hear music, a guitar, strumming gently, my favorite song by The Beatles, Blackbird. Over and over again the song lyrics were repeated in my mind. I knew better than to speak them out loud. As they repeated I tried to cling on to the man’s voice who used to sing them to me. My father. I tried to imagine him, and his deep, soft voice as he sang me to sleep. His honey colored hair and bright blue eyes. He loved me...and that was the only thing that kept me going nowadays.
Lost in the memories that took me away to a better place I found myself softly humming the tune. I froze as footsteps sounded above my head. My body shivered as I stood waist deep in brown, murky water, though I didn’t shiver from the cold. The drain smelled like rotting garbage, but the water was surprisingly warm today and I was somewhat grateful for that. It made the smell even worse, and the air a bit humid, but anything was better than standing in cold water. It must be midday.
There were some voices from up above and I held my breath, listening. They were still far enough away I could only make out the rise and fall of words. The grate above my head didn’t offer very much light or viewing of the outside world. So I stood and I waited...waited for them to finish their meal and then bring me back up for more...fun.
As the voices began to fade I closed my eyes and tried to picture my father again. Everyday this got harder and harder to do, but I really forced myself. I may have forgotten my mother, as she had died when I was very young, but I refused to forget him...not after what he went through.
“Ava.” My father’s voice was frantic. My back ached as I tried to get in a more comfortable position but...to no avail. Had I fallen asleep at the kitchen table? “Ava, baby girl, please open your eyes. Open them Ava,” he pleaded.
My eyelids were heavy but slowly I was able to open them. “Dad?” My mind registered a few things all at once. My hands were bound behind my back, this wasn't the kitchen, or even my house for that matter, and my feet were tied off at the bottom of the wooden chair I sat on.
I frantically looked around the room, my body responding to danger as my arms pulled at the ropes. The room was a square. No windows no doors, just a small square box.
My eyes met my dad's bright blue ones. He was in a similar position as I was, with hands and feet bound to the chair he was on.
“Ava look at me,” he demanded, meeting my eyes. “It's going to be… shit. Ava.” His eyes went from in charge to destroyed. He hung his head down.
“Where are we? What's happening?” I asked frantically.
“You need to stay calm. Stay focused. Ava something bad is going to happen, okay?”
I stared at my dad. The man who raised me, who taught me how to defend myself, the man that showed me how to experience life. He was so strong, but now he seemed...broken.
“Dad...please...what's going on.”
A man appeared with a snap, like the sound of fingers snapping together. I screamed. One minute there was nothing and the next he was there, hand wrapped around my father's throat.
“Where the fuck is the prince?” the man sneered. He had black oily hair slicked back. He had to have been in his late thirties. And his eyes...when they focused on me, they were as black as night. Probably as black as his soul.
My father spat at him. Literally spat in the man's face. I cringed as the man brought back his fist, a scream stuck in my throat. He brought it down with experience, my dad's head snapping back with a loud crack. Something was definitely broken.
I wanted to cry, I wanted to yell at him, but all that would come out of my throat was a pathetic whimper.
Black eyes turned on me and my heart froze as my body began to shake violently with fear. A sly sadistic smile spread across the man's face. My body screamed to run but I was glued to the seat, bound. I could feel the tears running down my face.
“Stop!” Dad shouted, his voice still filled with demand even though he was in obvious pain.
“No. They brought her for me to play with.” The man's voice made my skin crawl and my stomach lurch. A dirty hand reached out and grasped my chin. The metallic scent of sulphur filling my nose. “Perhaps that will make you talk? Eh? Perhaps if I taste this sweet rose of yours...mmm yes, perhaps if I fuck with her then you will be willing to tell me where the prince is?” The man leaned forward, my stomach lurched and bile filled my mouth as his tongue darted out.
“Enough!” My dad screamed just before the man's dry tongue could touch my cheek. “I don't know, honestly I don't.” My dad will always be the dependable one, the rock, the mountain that couldn't be moved. He taught me how to be tough, how to fight, how to shoot, how to live off the land. But in that moment I had never seen him as weak as he looked now. I wish I could burn this moment from my memory forever. My dad's head hung down as he spoke. “I don't know where the prince is...but she does. It's a triggered memory. You can't hurt her! She has to be relaxed, safe, it's the only way the phrase will trigger the memory.”
“What phrase?” the man hissed.
“Bite me,” Dad shot back, determination and strength returning to his fiery eyes.
“With pleasure.” The man lurched forward, mouth hung open, teeth bared. The world shifted for me, my ears numb, my eyes blurred, as I watched this creature rip through my father's flesh, shredding the man I loved, piece by piece.
I sank a little deeper in the water, resting on my knees as my legs became tired. The water lapping around my chest. I hadn't known what that man was, only that he wasn't human. When he was finished with my father he turned and looked at me. I will never forget how his black eyes shone with such ecstasy. Only one name came to me from those black eyes, demon.
My body lurched and my stomach dry heaved whatever it thought might be in there. I thought it would know by now that you can't throw up nothing, oh but it tried.
There was shuffling up above, more than the usual. The voices turned to murmurs and hushed tones. I frowned, tilting my head to the side. I had no idea how long I remained with them, the demons, but long enough to know this was not normal. I sank further, shielding myself in the disgusting water. Its surface now just under my nose as I kept an eye on the grate above me.
Silence…it was so quiet I could probably hear them breath if I strained hard enough. I held my breath, listening.
There was a whistle whizzing through the air followed by a smash and then the sound of something pressurized being opened.
Feet pounded against the floor, shouts came from everywhere, commands, and I recognized the voices of the six demons that held me captive.
“Yeah bitch, we about to end you.” An unfamiliar voice came close to the grate. Curses and shrieks came from the demons as someone laughed through it.
As the shrieks died down, the noise from steps above slowed comin
g and going. “Corey, perimeter check,” someone ordered, his voice was full of authority, but what struck me the most was that his voice was human. I don't know how I knew, how I could tell the difference, but I just knew.
“I count three,” a soft smooth voice spoke further away from my grate.
“Damion said he cleared two as they came out,” the authoritative one answered.
I stood and pushed my hands up on the grate, trying to position them right so I didn’t cut myself on the spikes the demons had welded to the other side; an attempt to get me to stop banging on it.
“No.” My voice croaked. I pushed harder a few nails slicing into my skin, though I was numb to the pain.
“Listen,” the soft one whispered. Feet pounded around me as I tried to force noises out of my raw throat. I could hear them circling my grate a few times before dropping down to their knees.
There was some groaning as the grate moved slightly. “Get Damion and Corey. Now!”
Soon more heavy boots pounded above me, I wasn't scared. There wasn't anything humans could do to me that demons haven't already done three times over.
With a few more groans the grate lifted and was shoved aside.
The first thing I saw were blue eyes and I became undone. My legs buckled and I would have fallen into the brown water except four sets of hands reached for me, soft gentle hands that promised protection, not harm.
“Hey there,” the authoritative voice said as he pulled me from the others and set me on the floor in front of him. His eyes skimmed my body from top to bottom as I sat there. He had light brown hair and these baby blue eyes that seemed to see everything, right down to my soul.
It had been so long since I had seen eye colour other than black, normal eyes; I reached a hand out and laid it against the deeply tanned skin of his cheek.
The guy wore a black shirt and plain jeans. His arms and chest were filled, muscular. And firm! I ran my hand along his chest, marvelling in the feel of warm human skin beneath the thin shirt. Human warmth, it had been so long. That's when my eyes landed on the gun, tucked into the holster under his arm.
My eyes met his, frantic.
“You're okay. You're okay.” He spoke as if talking to a rabid animal about to attack.
I shook my head. “Six,” I forced out.
He frowned. “Six?” I nodded. “Are you Evangeline?” he asked.
It took me a moment, that name sounded familiar but at the same time so foreign, I didn't recognize it.
I heard movement and I paused, my ears straining to listen. “It's just Quinn,” he answered, nodding behind me. “He's one of us, he is just going to check you over.”
I could feel Quinn behind me but I was pissed. He wasn't listening! I tried to think how to form the words, it had been so long since I spoke it was hard to get my dry tongue to move the way I needed it to.
I threw my elbow behind me with as much force as my frail body would allow. I forced my body into action, releasing some adrenaline into my system. I wasn’t about to let these guys get in the way of my rescue.
I made contact with a hard wall, though I knew it was Quinn from the humph that sounded as air left his lungs. Without giving them time to think I jumped forward and grabbed the gun from my rescuer’s holster.
The metal was cold and much more heavy than I remember, but I still held it the way my daddy taught me.
There was a yelp of surprise and everyone in the room shuffled away but I was fast to my feet, spinning around and pressing my back to the wall.
In front of me four guys stood, hands held out, eyes bulging.
My rescuer stood to my left, Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed hard, sweat dripping down the side of his face.
“Really Seth?” The guy beside him spoke quietly, his voice was the soft one from before. Quinn. His long hair was a mix of blonde and browns, pulled into a tie. “You let her take your gun?”
“Yeah Quinn, I just handed it to her, thought meh, why not?” Seth shot back sarcastically.
I caught movement to my right and raised the gun back up towards it by instinct. I was so caught up listening to Quinn and Seth I forgot about the other two. I didn't mean to point the gun at them, it was just the movement that had me on alert, my finger hovering over the safety.
“Easy,” the guy on the far right whispered, again, talking to a rabid dog. Man, these guys didn't trust me… but I guess I was holding a gun.
He had thick black hair that was a bit of a shaggy mess on his head. And golden brown eyes that almost seemed blonde...could eyes be blonde? His skin was almost ivory, standing out next to his hair. He wore a long sleeved shirt but still I could see the muscles coil beneath as if ready to move at any moment. Between his soft pink lips was a sucker, he used his tongue to move it around.
“Ah fuck, we take down five damn demons just to be shot by a girl. You really suck Seth. I hate you,” the last guy huffed. He had dark brown hair and soft green eyes. His hair was short, almost buzzed right off. He had a headphone set wrapped around his neck and a scowl set on his face. Like the others though, he was ripped in the muscle department, these guys were built for battle.
I wanted to ogle more, to stare into their coloured eyes, I had missed seeing something other than black for so long. I could spend hours just looking into their faces, even though they looked shocked, it was an emotion. I had been deprived of human emotion and I just wanted to soak it up right now. But it wasn’t safe, I had a job to finish. I raised the muzzle up pointing it between green eyes and Quinn’s heads. They froze as Seth and black hair jumped into action. But I was determined and quick. The safety flicked off and I pulled the trigger with force. I was ready for the kickback but it was still too much for my weak body to hold, so I was thrown to the ground.
“Holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck.” Green eyes spun around. “Quinn?”
Quinn waved him off. “I'm fine, she missed.” Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief.
THUD. They all turned and looked at the demon now laying on the ground. The demon that had been standing behind them ready to attack; the demon that they had missed.
“Six,” I forced out.
“Holy. Shit.” Black hair pulled a red lollipop from his mouth with a pop and looked at Seth. “Daddy? Can we keep her?”
Chapter 2
They spoke amongst themselves as the largest one, Seth, drove. I think it was amongst themselves that is…maybe it was to me? They talked about a safe house, about an uncle, about many things but I barely even heard. My eyes were too busy staring out the window at the passing lights. Watching random people, human people, walk along crosswalks and wait in line for city buses. And as the city streets faded and became flat lands with tractors roaming fields and then eventually thick trees with deers grazing along the roadsides, all I could think about was life really did go on.
People lived without care and in ignorance to the dangers around them. The image of my father’s throat being ripped out replayed over and over again in my head and I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream at them! How could you not see? How could you not know that demons do exist! And if demons were real then what else exists? What else lurks around us, ready to pounce? So many people die year after year in bizarre or unnatural ways and what, we just write it off? Accidental maybe? Who the fuck knows. How can someone live knowing they have no chance...Humans are not the top of the food chain.
The soft one, Quinn, took me by the hand and led me towards a small cabin. He was talking but my ears were numb. I was done. My body was tired. Why was I even here? For whom did I live for? My mother? She’s been dead since I was a toddler. I had no siblings. My friends were probably just like those people standing at the bus stop, moving on with their life.
My heart was heavy. It’s a cliché saying and I never really understood it until this moment. My heart wasn’t just heavy, it was sinking. Filled with a ton of bricks weighing it down and making it impossible to take in another breath.
With every blink all
I could see were black demon eyes controlling me. With every movement I felt their tongues licking my skin, lapping up blood as they freely cut me. I was glad to be out of there. I don't know how many times I was brought to the edge of death only to be dragged back to life by those monsters.
I was glad Seth pulled me out of that water. I was happy Quinn, Corey, and Damion brought me out to the middle of nowhere, to their safe house. Because now I had a place to die, in peace. With no pain. I was finally able to be set free.
I followed Quinn into the cabin, not taking time to look around. He opened a bedroom door and I spotted the furthest corner that overlooked the room. Out of habit I walked to it, hearing his objections behind me, but ignoring everything as I sat down and curled up. I rested my head against the wall and closed my eyes. My body too weak to think of what had happened. My mind too numb to piece together what will happen. My heart...my heart too broken to even want to beat any further. Everything went black and I was okay with that. I was safe...safe to die.
******
Quinn slammed his hand against the wall, causing everyone at the table to drop their food and stare at him. “She’s going to die,” he said, he was beyond frustrated.
Damion ran his hand through his black hair. “When do we go to the hospital?”
“No hospital,” Seth grunted. “Ty–”
“Fuck Seth, Ty said no hospital but does he know? He can't exactly see her!” Quinn shouted. The room fell silent. The only time Quinn got worked up about something was when he knew he was losing the battle. If something was lost then that was fine, it was gone, and he could walk away. But it was looking at something right in the face and watching it slowly fade to nothing, that’s what killed him.
Seth stood up, taking a deep breath. “She seemed quite able when we got her. What has happened?”
Quinn flopped into a chair and looked up at him. “Nothing, that's what. She refused to drink, won’t eat. Hasn’t voided, which is seriously bad. It means she's dehydrated. Fuck, Seth, she won't open her damn eyes. She sits on the floor in the corner and has...she has resigned herself to death. She won’t let me touch her. But...Even if we take her to a hospital, I don't think it will help.”