The Demon Inside Me

by Christopher Nelson

  Tink looked at me, confusion obvious on her face. The building was ancient enough that a touch of hellfire would burn it down in minutes, if hellfire could get close enough to touch it. "Churches are symbols of faith, as long as they're actual churches and not just fronts," I explained. "Even a church that looks this decrepit is stronger than a host of demons because of the faith of its congregation."

  "Decrepit?" The angel's hand twitched.

  "Most churches are sanctuaries. Full demons simply can't see inside, or do anything to the building. Duke Road Rash out there could obliterate the countryside in a square mile around the building and this place would be untouched. He'd need to mobilize an army to breach the sanctuary."

  Tink nodded and started patting her pockets. She was probably looking for a pen to take some more notes. "So is there an equivalent for your type?"

  "Not very often," I said. "Demon worship isn't exactly as popular as worship of your choice of deity. And no, neo-pagan gatherings don't count."

  The building shuddered again. The Duke was still pissed. "Your friend is persistent," the angel said.

  "Not my friend. My friends don't try to kill me."

  "I've tried to kill you," Tink pointed out.

  "You're not exactly my friend."

  She reached for her knife. I took a long step away. Before she could reach me, the older man returned from the inner sanctuary. "Ah, please, avoid unnecessary bloodshed. I will insist that you clean up after yourselves."

  I turned toward him. He had to be at least in his late fifties, if not his sixties. Balding with a gray fringe, dressed in a shirt and tie in this weather, a smile on his lips, and the authority to order this angel around? "You're the pastor," I guessed.

  His smile grew. "Jason Pruitt. Pleased to meet you." He held out his hand and we shook. The idea of a halfblood demon shaking hands with a pastor amused me. Tink shook his hand as well. "Please, call me Jase," he added as he let go of her hand.

  "Call me Zay," I said. "And you can call her Tinkerbell."

  "Anna," she snapped.

  Jase chuckled and nodded toward the angel. He was standing well apart from us, thick arms crossed over his chest, giving me the occasional pointed glare. "This is Caleb DeMarco, my senior deacon. He is also pleased to meet you."

  I locked gazes with him. His lip curled. I rolled my eyes. "Very pleased, I'm sure."

  "Please, rest in the sanctuary for a moment. I'll bring you something to drink."

  I followed his gesture and walked into the sanctuary. Unlike the rest of the building, it was in acceptable condition. A dozen pews lined the center aisle on either side, capped with dark wood that was polished and free of dust. The pulpit was made of the same dark wood, and so was the lectern that Pastor Pruitt would stand behind while preaching. Seeing it brought back the recent memory of the lectern at the lodge covered in layers of human skin. From Tink's expression, she was thinking of the same thing. I looked over my shoulder at the angel. "It's a little warm in here. Don't you guys have central air?"

  He closed the doors to the sanctuary. "I'm not concerned about your comfort."

  "You should be. I'm a guest here. Didn't they teach you manners in basic training?"

  Translucent wings unfolded from the angel's shoulders. Tink started to say something, but I stepped between her and the angel before she could say something that would get her in trouble. I could cause enough trouble on my own. The angel pointed at me. "Demon, I advise you to remember whose territory you're invading," he said. "Jase may have offered you sanctuary, but I will cast you out, if you give me an excuse. Any excuse. What'll it be, demon?"

  I gave him the finger.

  The wings solidified in an instant, flexed, and launched him into the air. The sword appeared in his hand and he pointed it down at me. Without another word, he dove for me. I stood my ground. The blade hissed past my face. Tink gasped and I felt something drip down my cheek, warm and wet. Blood, of course. I turned to where the angel was hovering, at the opposite end of the sanctuary, sword still in hand. "That is your only warning, demon."

  "Warning for what?" I asked. "Aren't you supposed to be the good guy here? You're doing a lot of posturing and threatening. What would your pastor here think of you assaulting a guest who he offered sanctuary?"

  The angel's face tightened and the blade swung in line with my heart. I grinned, showing teeth. If he actually caused me serious injury and broke sanctuary, he'd be the one cast out, and he could play with the Duke outside. That would get one of them out of my hair, at least. I lifted my arms and held them spread wide, letting my wrists hang limp. His restraint broke and he dove toward me, blade in line with my heart.

  Tink stepped in front of me, knife in hand. The angel's wings beat the air, once, pulling him up short with the sword almost touching her chin. "What are you doing, girl?"

  She knocked the tip of the sword away with her knife, then stepped forward and grabbed a hold of the angel's shirt and pushed the tip of her knife to his throat. "That's my line, shiny," she snapped. "You're threatening my demon. Mine. Not yours. The only one allowed to hurt him is me. You can either back off, or you can learn to talk through a second mouth, and that's just the start. Am I clear on this?"

  The angel's wings folded and he thumped to the ground. Tink didn't let go. His silver eyes met mine. "She's a little on the fearless side, isn't she?" he asked in a more conversational tone.

  "Emphasis on little."

  She looked over her shoulder at me. "Don't make me regret what I just did, demon."

  The doors to the sanctuary opened. I looked over my shoulder. The pastor rushed in, his eyes gone wide. "What is this?"

  "The demon was being rude-"

  "-being threatened by your-"

  "-trying to kill my demon!"

  The pastor rubbed his eyes and sighed. "Let's go to the kitchen. It's easier to clean tile than carpet."

  We all sat at the kitchen table, Tink and me on one side, the pastor and his angel on the other. I clutched my cup of soda and tried to stay awake. Stress and blood loss was getting to me, and so was the heat. Even though my shirt was barely more than ribbons and sleeves at this point, I was sweating.

  "You don't look too good."

  "Well, Pastor Pruitt-"

  "Please, call me Jase, I said."

  I nodded. "Jase. We've had a bad day, as I'm sure you've noticed."

  He nodded as well. "Your wounds, quite honestly, don't look survivable. If you were a normal human, I'd be calling an ambulance."

  "At least the ambulance would be air-conditioned."

  "Feel free to go outside," the angel snapped. I glared at him. He crossed his arms and glared right back. He was on the swarthy side, but other than that, the only noticeable aspect to his appearance was the silver eyes. I was sure they were normally gray, but he was still on guard.

  "I'm not taking a step outside as long as that Duke's still out there," I said. "If you want to go out and shoo him away for me first, though, I'd be quite happy."

  "That demon outside? He is gone."

  "What?"

  The angel snorted and shook his head. "Didn't you notice the building stopped shaking several minutes ago?"

  I looked at Tink. "Call Rashid. The demon's probably after him. Hurry!"

  She didn't argue, just jumped up and ran out of the kitchen. "Is this Rashid a friend of yours?" Jase asked.

  "Not exactly. He did try to kill us, but he wasn't too rational at the time." I rubbed at my chest, which still resembled ground beef. "The Duke arrived shortly after, which made him a little less interested in dying."

  "If you tried to kill him-"

  Jase gestured at the angel. "Caleb, let him talk. Zay, I think you should start at the beginning."

  I did. I told him about the contract that Tink had forced on me, the murder at the construction site and our narrow escape, the massacre at the lodge and our second narrow escape. When I finished, Caleb looked at Jase, looked back at me, and declared, "I don't believe
you."

  I sagged and spread my hands wide. "So I just came here just to annoy you?"

  "I wouldn't put it past you," Caleb said. "Lying is second nature to your kind."

  "He's not lying." Heads turned to regard Tink as she walked back into the kitchen. "Rashid picked up, thankfully. He already found shelter and he's going to lie low for a couple of days. He's already getting protective runes in place. He thanked you for the warning. Maybe not in so many words, but the sentiment was there."

  "I'll make sure to bill him for the shirt next time I see him," I said.

  She snorted. "I'll buy you a new shirt. Whiner."

  "What about my car?"

  "Don't you have insurance?"

  "Insurance doesn't cover acts of God," I reminded her. Before either Caleb or Jase could argue the point, I added, "Besides, I blew it up. Making a claim would be fraud."

  She sat down next to me. "Whatever. So, he's not lying, even if he is a demon. Angel, you need to be a little less paranoid. Do you really think that he'd stage all this? Walk in here all torn up and bloody, and blow up his car just to annoy you? I don't even know you, but I can already tell, you're not worth the effort to annoy. It'd be too easy."

  Caleb's mouth moved, but only made an incoherent noise. I snickered. That got her attention. "Don't laugh, demon. You're the idiot who blew up your own car. How do you expect to get us home now? You don't think ahead at all, do you?"

  "I'm sorry, Tinkerbell," I said. "Would you like to rewind and stay in the car long enough for me to park properly? If you don't remember, we already had hellfire chewing through the back. I'd say we had about twenty seconds before it hit the gas tank."

  "He wouldn't have hit us at all if you had been paying attention to your driving instead of patting yourself on the back for blowing him into the ground. Road rash is a mother? Nice. Very nice, demon."

  "Weren't you holding the wheel at that particular moment?"

  Her cheeks colored. "Don't try and blame this on me!"

  "I'm pretty sure you were. So while I was busy introducing the demon to the wonderful taste of asphalt and further pissing off the Department of Transportation, you were sitting there applauding my mighty works, admiring my ability, and otherwise giving me massive appreciation for saving your life-"

  She slammed her knife through my hand, pinning me to the table. I screeched like a rabbit being jumped by a tiger, then swore viciously at the bitch. Only after the first few words left my mouth did I remember where we were.

  Jase cleared his throat. "I can forgive the turn of phrase, considering the circumstances, but I beg both of you, please remember where you are. Caleb, could you show Anna where our cleaning supplies are?"

  The angel didn't move. "Sorry, Jase, I wasn't listening. What did you say?" He smirked at me. Smug bastard.

  Tink wrenched the knife out, drawing another screech from me, then pointed the bloody blade at Caleb. "Don't piss me off. My demon, remember. I'll hurt him as much as I want, but don't think I'll have any second thoughts about doing the same to you. Show me where the cleaning supplies are."

  I put my face down on the table and left my wounded hand outstretched. It throbbed as I bled. The door opened and closed, then I heard Jase's chair scrape as he stood up. "An interesting relationship the two of you have," he said.

  "You're telling me," I said. "Girl can't take a joke."

  He chuckled and I heard a cabinet open and close. "I assume that like Caleb, you have regenerative powers?"

  I looked up. He set a first aid kit down on the table and pulled out a roll of gauze. "Not in here, I don't. The sanctuary suppresses my powers. Once I'm out of here I'll be able to heal it."

  He took my hand and wrapped gauze around the wound. I winced. I was able to slow the bleeding, but not stop it. The gauze soaked red. "I'm surprised," he said as he wrapped another layer. "I was expecting something different."

  "The blood?"

  "That, and more."

  I chuckled. "You've got a member of the Choir here. I'm sure he's spent many years telling you how dangerous and terrible demons are. I'm impressed, and thankful, that you let me in. I was hoping for an empty church, to be honest. Less chance of involving others."

  "Caleb would say that a demon wouldn't be concerned about such things."

  "Caleb would be right. I'm a halfblood, though." He frowned. "Half demon. My mother was a succubus, my father a human. I take after my dad in most respects."

  "Interesting heritage."

  "There isn't much to it," I said. "Mom liked going after young guys. You could call her a super-cougar, except she can look as young or as old as she wants to. One of her favorite pastimes was cruising bars in college towns. At least, that was the story my dad told me. Apparently he ran into her while he was a grad student, they got drunk, and she liked him enough that she decided that she wanted to have his kid."

  Jase's lips twitched. "Just like that?"

  "Just like that. She's a little flighty. By the time I was born, she wasn't into the idea quite as much, so she pushed me off onto Dad. The fact that he had knocked up a succubus who was about three hundred years old was a bit of a shock. She gave him the whole story, paid eighteen years of child support in advance, and took off. She checked in from time to time, of course. Just to make sure I was developing properly."

  "Why are you telling me this?"

  I shrugged. "Confession?"

  "I'm not Catholic." He smiled. "So your father knows the whole story? The entire story?"

  The way he emphasized it made me pause. Before I could ask him what he meant, Caleb and Tink walked back in, arguing over something. I closed my mouth. Humans weren't to know about the War, especially how it had ended. Not unless they were closely involved with one side or the other. That was why my dad knew. Demons mature much faster than humans, and so do halfbloods. It had been a lot of pressure on Dad, having to move around every few years and bumping me up grades in school to make sure that the world at large didn't get too suspicious of me. I suspected that Mom had been working behind the scenes to smooth things out.

  By the time I was thirteen, I was full grown, a college graduate, and independent. Dad wasn't too heartbroken over that. He had been a little resentful that he had to put his career and dreams on hold for so many years. He let me go, and I disappeared for the next few years under Mom's care to learn the demonic side of my nature. After that, I was released into the wide, wide world at age twenty.

  The knife tapped the table next to my hand. I flinched. "I said, what are we doing next?" Tink demanded. "Stop daydreaming!"

  "I'm not daydreaming," I said. "I've lost enough blood and ichor today that I can't even stand up. I wonder whose fault that is."

  "Suck it up."

  I groaned and put my head down again. "You come up with a plan. I'll tell you whether it's a good one or not."

  "Start walking back to your apartment?"

  "Not a chance, unless you want to carry me."

  "Call a cab?"

  "I'm broke. How about you?"

  She made a sound of frustration. "Didn't bring a lot of cash with me."

  "I also don't think that I'd make it outside right now," I said. "I meant it when I said I lost a lot of blood. I need some time to rest."

  Tink flopped down next to me. "You're such a wuss."

  I turned my head enough to glare at her. "Give me your knife. I'll let you lose some blood so you can feel this way too."

  She pushed my hand out of the way and sprayed the tabletop with something that smelled of lemon. "No thanks."

  "I'd be glad to extend our hospitality," Jase said. "We do have a room where you can sleep, if you'd like. Rest here for the night, and I'll drive you back tomorrow morning."

  "I wouldn't want to impose that much," I said.

  "Then don't," Caleb snapped.

  "But I'd gladly take you up on the offer, if Tink here agrees."

  "Stop calling me that. But if this lazy demon needs his beauty sleep, that's fine."


  "Jase," Caleb said through clenched teeth. "He's the enemy."

  "He's not our enemy," Jase said.

  The angel tensed, then his shoulders drooped. "It's your call. I'll stay as well. I don't trust him."

  "I couldn't have guessed," I said.

  Tink finished wiping up my blood and wiped her knife off as well. She dropped the bloody cloth on my head. "If you want my bond that he'll do you no harm, you can have it. I can scribe a magically binding agreement if you'd like."

  "You're a mage?" Jase sounded curious.

  "We want none of your demon-tainted magic here." Caleb wasn't, of course.

  "I haven't tainted her, consorted with her, or hardly even touched her," I protested. "The closest I've gotten is almost seeing her naked. Almost. I almost got stabbed for it. If anyone's being hurt by this association, it's me. She likes hurting me!"

  "You're going to get hurt some more."

  Jase slapped a hand flat on the table. "That's enough, all of you. Caleb, your concerns are noted. Anna, stop threatening Isaiah. Isaiah, stop antagonizing them. Understood?" Three heads nodded. "Caleb, you must be charitable. He bleeds just as I do, so what concern is it if he's half demon?"

  Caleb took a deep breath. "You're right. I apologize, Isaiah."

  I waved my good hand at him. "No harm, no foul. Sorry for annoying you."

  He gave me a small smile that told me while he accepted the apology, he still didn't trust me worth a damn. Typical angel. I forced myself to sit up. Jase smiled at me, then turned to Tink. "Anna, will you be uncomfortable sharing a room with Zay?"

  "Yes."

  I rolled my eyes, but refrained from commenting. "I'll sleep on a pew, or a piece of floor, if you don't mind."

  "How long has it been since you ate?"

  "For me? A couple of days," I said. Jase's eyebrows rose. "I was unconscious for the better part of two days, and as soon as I woke up, Tink dragged me out. All I've had is a cup of coffee and this soda."

  Caleb mumbled something that may have been a comment on the resiliency of demons. I chose to ignore him. So did Jase. "We'll get you something to eat as well. We don't have anything here right now, but Caleb can run out and get something later. Once we're sure that the demon from earlier has disappeared."