“You’re gonna pay for that, bitch. You think you can get away with knocking us off one by one?” one of the vamps growled.
“Well, I was kinda hoping,” Rayna shrugged.
“And hey, look at this. It’s a three for one deal. Revenge on the demon who kills her own kind, and a side dish of hunter too.”
The vampire jumped towards us and the others followed his lead, attacking from all sides. I brought my blade up and pushed it through the first vampire’s chest. His skin cracked in an instant and in a flash of exploding light, his body turned to ash that disappeared in the wind.
Rayna and Marcus fended off the demons from the first group while two more jumped me, pushing me to my knees, their talons digging into my back. The pain was sharp, but their weight suddenly vanished.
Marcus stood beside me, his hand extended and the vampires floating in the air in front of him. He swung his arm and the bodies moved through the air, hitting a brick building and sliding to the ground. Marcus nodded to me and moved on to another demon.
The two vampires pulled themselves up and moved with supernatural speed. I ducked the first as his talons swung near my face. I brought my blade around and plunged it deep into his chest. As I was showered with ashes, I turned to face the second vamp, but his talons were already coming at me. They sliced my cheek, and the power in his strike forced me to the ground. Blood flowed over my lips and I sputtered as the demon fell on me.
He pinned my arms down as he leaned down and licked a stream of blood from my face with a pale pink tongue. Saliva dripped from his polished white fangs onto my skin, sliding down over my neck. I grimaced and pitted his strength against mine, but as he tried to get closer to my throat, I knew I was losing the advantage.
Suddenly, Rayna appeared above us. She landed on the vampire’s back and her weight pushed him against me. I felt the tip of his fangs press into my neck, but the vampire’s body lit up and a wash of heat covered me before they pierced my skin.
Rayna fell through the shower of ash and landed on top of me. She was straddling me and the stake pushed against my chest. We stared at each other for a moment. I hadn’t been expecting help from a demon.
“You’re welcome,” she said, with an arched brow and a smile.
“I had it covered.”
“Sure you did,” she laughed.
“Get off me,” I said, pushing her to the side.
She rolled her eyes and jumped to her feet, going to stand beside Marcus.
“Well, I think that’s enough excitement for one night,” Marcus announced.
“Yeah, I’d say so,” I agreed, brushing the black and white ash off my clothes.
“Are you alright?” Marcus pointed to my face.
I reached up to touch the tears in my flesh. They were deep cuts, but they would heal quickly enough on their own.
“Yeah, of course,” I said with all the confidence I could muster. “Now, answer my questions,” I demanded.
Marcus eyed me and shook his head “It’s late; there will be time for answers later. Should you be interested, I’d like a chance to talk further with you. You can find us at this address.” He pulled a notepad from his pocket and scrawled something on a blank page, ripped it off, and held it out. I stared at it a moment before taking it. “I think we could help each other,” he added.
“Is that so?”
“I hope you’ll consider this offer. I give you my word it’s a friendly one.”
He and I both knew when a hunter gave his word it was his bond. You never gave your word unless you could keep it.
“We’ll see.”
Marcus nodded and I watched them walk away down the alley, their footsteps silent as the shadows slowly made them disappear.
I looked at the paper Marcus had given me. 2151 51st St. Suite 404, it read. That was a few miles from my place, and in the nice part of downtown. In this city, it wasn’t far from the slums I lived in to the high-class white-collar neighborhood. This address had dollar signs written all over it.
I spent the remainder of my walk trying to wrap my head around what just happened. What was Rayna, anyway? She was killing demons, which made it seem like she was one of the good guys, but I’d never had a demon help my cause before. And why was a famous hunter letting the Circle think he was dead and associating himself with Underworlders? He said the Circle wasn’t everything it was made out to be, but I didn’t know what that meant. Nothing he said made sense.
When I reached the rundown building I called home, I was just thankful to have made it there alive again. My head hurt with all the new thoughts and questions I had, or maybe I had just been hurt worse than I’d thought. I needed sleep, but I smelled like blood and deep fryer oil. Although I knew what would happen when I went to sleep, I didn’t care. After the night I’d just had, not thinking for a few hours would be welcome, even if it meant a nightmare.
~~~~~~
Chapter 5
I lay awake in bed with the alarm clock showing quarter after seven – an unholy hour to be awake on a day off – when I heard the lock sliding out of place on the front door. Mom was home from work.
I sat on the edge of my bed for a few minutes and tried to decide if I should mention last night’s events to her, but I couldn’t make up my mind what was best, so I pushed the thought away.
Mom sat in the kitchen with a fresh cup of tea, plucking the tea bag in and out of the cup. She was staring at a stack of bills and looked as tired as always after a night shift.
“Long night?” I asked.
She looked up at me and her eyes opened wide with panic. “Oh gods, Chase! What happened?”
She rushed towards me. She gently turned my head from side to side as she looked me over. I’d forgotten I still had gashes and blood all over my face.
I forced a smile and pulled her hands away from my face. “It’s okay, Mom. I’m fine. I ran into a few demons last night. It’s nothing.”
“You look awful!”
“I’m really fine,” I assured her. I pushed away from her and went to the table and pulled two of the bills out of the pile and put the rest back. “I already paid these ones.”
The look on her face was both loving and sad. “You’re too young to have these troubles.” She tried unsuccessfully to smile.
“We’re in this together, Mom. Stop worrying so much about me.”
“It’s my job to worry. I’m your mother. Now, let me see these,” she said, tracing her finger near the claw marks on my face.
“No Mom, they’ll heal fast enough on their own,” I said, but it was too late.
I felt the rush of cool water running over my wounds. It hurt for a moment before a tingle moved over my face. Her magic slid through my body and goose bumps ran up my arms. The skin pulled itself over my face, knitting itself closed over the deep wounds. The feeling of water washed over my whole body for an instant before receding.
I touched the freshly healed skin and smiled. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” she said and kissed the top of my head. “Now I need to get some sleep and you need a shower. You smell like fries.” She ruffled my hair and left the room.
The smell from last night had indeed gotten worse, so I took her advice. After half an hour under the water I’d finally gotten the smell out.
There were a lot of problems with living in the slums. I could deal with the noisy neighbors. I could handle the random gunshots during the night, but the lack of water pressure was at the top of my list of complaints. This was clearly a sign my life wasn’t normal.
I stopped in front of the mirror to take a look at the damage. My mother’s magic had made the bruises disappear, but the dark circles around my eyes were something her magic couldn’t fix. The scrape on my forehead was gone and all that remained was a light red scar. My nose was still tender from its encounter with Rayna’s fist, but the claw marks along the side of my face had healed completely.
Hunters were quick healers in the first place, and all the
se wounds would have been gone in a few days, but Mom’s magic brought it to a whole different level. I had to admit she did nice work.
I put on a pair of jeans, a long sleeved dark green shirt and a pair of black sneakers. After slipping on a holster with sheaths for my daggers around my waist, I was ready to go.
I was trying to wrap my head around the idea that there were Underworlders out there that weren’t completely evil, but though Rayna had saved my life, I was still having trouble with it. After years of being told one thing, it made it hard to believe otherwise, and the last three years of being subjected to the Underworld’s attacks didn’t help.
More astonishing than her saving me, Rayna hadn’t tried to kill me. Now that was a twist I never saw coming. Although we fought, I couldn’t help but wonder: if I hadn’t jumped at the chance to attack her, would my nose still be aching?
Considering all the strange things Marcus had said, I figured it might not hurt to stop by that address. It would give me a chance to see what they were all about; plus, I had a strange urge to know more about Rayna. If there were people who could be trusted, I was interested. A hunter on my side would be great, but about the demon, I wasn’t so sure. She might have been helpful once the night before, but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself.
~~~~~~
Chapter 6
The clouds were gray and gloomy, and the air was moist. I loved the scent of the air before a storm. Stonewall was famous for two things: the summer storms, and its namesake stone wall that encircled the entire city. It had been built sometime in the seventeenth century to keep out the demons of the forests, or so the legend goes. I wasn’t sure how a three foot high wall was supposed to keep anything dangerous away, but who was I to judge history?
I’d lived in Stonewall all my life. With a population of a few hundred thousand, it still had a small town feel to it with all the benefits of a large city. The Circle’s headquarters was just outside of town, so I’d only lived inside the wall these last few years, but I’d never been anywhere else before.
The buildings in my area were all run down, their red brick abused with graffiti. Boarded up windows and burnt out neon signs decorated the once-thriving but now forgotten landscape.
Homemade candy stores, classic barber shops, and family owned bakeries with secret recipes for funnel cake once drew people from all walks of life. Old town folklore and legends had kept tourists coming in the hope that they might see something supernatural, but interest in myths faded as years went on and the city grew larger. The remnants of what once was had faded, and all that remained were a few broken streets in the center of a thriving city.
The new sector of downtown was another world. Tall modern buildings reflected the sun all day from the bottom floor to the top. Coffee shops occupying every corner had people bustling in and out at all hours. This was the new heart of Stonewall.
The sun wasn’t shining today and every other person had an umbrella in hand. They too knew a storm was coming.
I reached Marcus’s just as the rain started to fall. The building was a prism of dark glass reaching into the sky and I took cover from the rain under a canopy that stretched off the entrance.
A few steps led to the buzzer panel and I searched for 404. Many of the suites had names beside them, but I wasn’t surprised 404 was only labeled occupied.
I stared at the button. I’d walked here with every intention of pushing it, but now I was having second thoughts. I slid my hands into my pockets and tried to figure out what I would say, but my thoughts were interrupted.
“You actually have to push the button for anybody to let you in.” Down the steps was Rayna, staring up at me
“I know how it works. What are you doing here?”
“Umm, I live here.”
“Right.” I didn’t know what else to say.
Her eyes were the remarkable green I remembered. Her hair was wet and strands of black and red stuck to her pale face. She was wearing a body-hugging black t-shirt and tight dark jeans.
“Eww. Stop staring at me,” she said.
“I wasn’t, I was just…”
“Move it,” she demanded.
She pushed past me with a bag in one hand and a coffee tray in the other. Fumbling with the keys, she tried to unlock the door. I watched her struggle until she dropped them and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Shit,” she said.
“Need some help?”
“Don’t look so pleased,” she snarled.
I unlocked the door and opened it for her, which only earned me a glare with a side of eye rolling.
In the building’s lobby, a large marble fountain spouted water into the pond that was home to several different breeds of fish. The fountain’s stone matched the tiled floor, an off-white smeared with black.
I wondered how much someone had spent on the array of modern art that didn’t look like anything but daubs of paint and twists of wire. Huge plants hung from the ceiling, draping themselves over each other, some long enough to meet the colorful potted flowers below. The ding of the elevator doors sounded as I admired the apparent wealth.
“You coming, or are you going to start picking flowers and singing?” Rayna asked.
I took another quick glance around the room and made my way to the elevator.
“Quite the place,” I said, but Rayna’s response consisted only of her rolling her eyes, again.
The fourth floor might not sound very high up, but it turned out the condos were all three stories, like houses piled on top of each other. Rayna led me to a corner suite with a huge white door, turned the handle and went in.
The far wall was nothing but windows and the room was split into two parts. The kitchen and dining area was filled with dark oak cabinets and the counter tops matched the marble in the lobby. I stared with envy at the other room, which was dominated by a black leather living room set and a large flat screen TV that hung over the fireplace.
There was one large painting in the room with a thick brown frame that wrapped around the canvas. The war scene displayed a group of dark armored warriors and an army clothed in silver. Black wings adorned the backs on the first faction, and their enemies had white ones; the wings wrapped themselves around the fighters as they battled. The picture looked antique and out of place.
I turned as Rayna reappeared at the top of the staircase with Marcus trailing behind. He moved with the grace of a man half his size and I’d underestimated just how big he was. His dark skin melted into a plain gray hoodie and black pants, both of which he filled out fully.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” Marcus said with a perfect white smile. He extended his hand towards me and although I didn’t return the smile, I did shake it this time. His grip was solid and his skin calloused and rough. It was the hand of a hunter used to holding a weapon. My father’s felt the same way.
“I don’t know why I came…” I said. I’d come to get answers, but at the moment I couldn’t think of the right questions.
“Well, I’m glad you did,” he said.
He offered me a seat on the couch and I took it, the plush leather molding itself around me. Rayna was taking fast food out of the brown bag while Marcus picked up one of the coffees.
“Would you like anything?” he offered.
“No, I’m fine.”
He nodded and took a sip of the coffee and made a disgusted face. “Half coffee, half sugar; that must be yours.” He slid the cup to Rayna.
He reached for the other cup and Rayna laughed. Her laughter was warm and soft. I realized they really were friends, but it didn’t seem right to me.
Marcus ignored the food and looked at me, spinning his coffee in both hands. “Where should I start?”
“I remember my father telling me stories about when you fought together. You could start by telling me why you stopped.”
“Yes, I used to hunt with your father. As for what happened to me, well, I learned some things that changed the way I felt about the Circle. As
I said last night, things are not as simple as we were taught to believe.” He gestured at Rayna.
“How does she fit into all this?” I asked.
“I’m sitting right here,” she said, her voice icy.
I didn’t have a chance to reply before Marcus spoke “I think it would be best if, for now, I spoke with Chase alone.” Marcus was calm and his voice neutral.
Rayna turned that chilly tone on him. “Don’t you dare send me away because he’s here; I will not be treated like a child.”
“Rayna, you know that’s not it. I just need a few minutes with Chase. Please.”
She rolled her eyes and glared at me as she walked up the stairs. Hearing a door slam, I turned to Marcus. “She doesn’t like me much.” I smiled, but he didn’t look impressed.
“You would be best not to taunt her Chase. We’ve welcomed you into our home. To treat her as less than an equal is unacceptable.”
I laughed and stood from the couch. “She’s a demon, the likes of which I’ve never seen before. I think you owe me some answers before you start demanding anything from me.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Marcus said. “Come with me.”
Marcus went to the stairs and for a moment I thought about leaving, but I still wanted answers.
Upstairs was a long hallway lined with doors. One revealed a large bathroom, another a bedroom, and one was closed with music blaring from the other side. Another hallway branched off to the right, but Marcus continued forward up another flight of stairs.
The third floor was a massive library. Full bookshelves covered the walls, leaving just enough space for a gas fireplace. I could see over an iron railing down to the first floor living room, but the books kept my focus. All the cloth and leather covers looked well-aged. Creased spines littered the large dark table and desk, and the musky smell of old books filled the room.
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