“Larkwrari demon.” Akil helpfully provided the correct pronunciation, the word rolling off his tongue with an ancient accent I’d never fully pinned down. Given his bronze skin tone and hazel eyes, people often assumed he was Italian or perhaps from somewhere further afield, somewhere hot and exotic. They were right about that. Before he’d come out as full-blood demon, very few had witnessed his true appearance and lived to describe him in detail, although there were a few pixelated images currently going viral on the internet. The women swooning in the audience would run screaming if they knew him as Mammon, Prince of Greed.
“Yes. That was two months ago,” Jenny said. “Are we likely to see more events such as that one in Boston Gardens?”
“It’s highly unlikely. That situation was extreme...”
I bowed my head and turned my back on the TV. I’d been at the Gardens during the ‘event’ they spoke of. In fact, Akil wouldn’t have been able to save the city without me. But where he’d walked into the spotlight afterward, I’d slunk into the shadows. I hadn’t seen him since. Nor had I seen or heard from Stefan, the half-demon who had caused the tear in the veil which protects this world from the netherworld, thereby letting the Larkwrari demon through. When it was all over and I realized I was on my own, I’d agreed to work freelance for the Institute as long as they stayed out of my life. So far, so good. On the surface, everything was fine, but scratch off the veneer, and I still struggled to cope with the emotional fallout from that day.
Jonesy, my cat, leapt onto the kitchen counter and nudged my arm with a rumbling purr. I tickled behind his ear. “I know, buddy. Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.” I’d abandoned Jonesy once before, around the time Akil had torched my old apartment building in an effort to flush me out of hiding. Yeah, not all demons are good. I’d yet to meet a good demon, and yet the people seemed to buy what Akil was selling.
Two booms against my front door frightened Jonesy enough for him to skitter off the counter and dart under the coffee table. They were the kind of knocks the police give you before kicking your door in.
I already knew who stood outside my apartment. His radiating warmth seeped beneath the door and crept inside my lounge. The framed modern art adorning each of my apartment walls served a purpose: the anti-elemental symbols locked down elemental power. Plus, he couldn’t get in without a personal invite. Even knowing I was protected, I still felt a trickle of fear raise the fine hairs on my arms. I liked to call it fear because the alternative—desire—didn’t sit well with my human half.
“Go away,” I called. The Akil on the pre-recorded TV interview was still busy charming his audience. He had them laughing now, smiles all 'round. Even Jenny had warmed up to him. A dash of color brightened her cheeks. I grabbed the remote and switched off the TV.
“Muse, this is important,” Akil said, his voice muffled behind the closed door.
“Then call me.” I moved a few steps toward the door and stopped. “I tried to call you, and you ignored me.” That had grated. It had taken me weeks to pluck up the courage to call him so we could meet and talk about Subject Beta, about the princes, about everything he should have told me before, and he’d blanked me like one of his fangirls.
“You need to open this door.” That delicious voice eased beneath my defences and wove into my thoughts.
My chest tightened, and I clenched a fist over my heart. I had the essence of a demon shrink-wrapped around my soul, a vengeful necrotic parasite feeding and polluting my insides. I preferred to call the thing a parasite because, if I used his name, it made it too real, too fucked up. Akil probably had the means of removing it. When he’d tried, I’d shut him down. Letting him help felt too much like trusting him, and that was something I could never do again. I had no desire to trade one demon’s hold for another. Occasionally, the dark thing hitching a ride in me decided to make its presence known, and now was one of those times.
“Akil, please... just go.” I winced as the dark pulsed out of time with my heart.
“I need your help.”
Dammit. He knew just how to push my buttons. “You’re a capable guy. Figure it out.” I moved close enough to the door that I could reach a hand out to open it, but I held back, fingers twitching.
“I have. That’s why I’m here. You don’t need to invite me in. Just open the door.”
I wasn’t inviting him in. I’d tried that once. He’d subsequently attempted to kill me. We had a complicated relationship.
I reached for the door handle as my demon unfurled inside me, awakened by Akil’s presence. Her purr rumbled through me, making her desires perfectly clear. Everything about Akil flicked her switches, but I was the one calling the shots. Plus inside my apartment, she could no more manifest outside my skin than he could call his power. The symbolic artwork on my walls held her back.
When I opened the door, the verbal assault I’d prepared fizzled away in a gasp. Akil’s torn claret shirt hung askew, and his suit pants were blood splattered. He had scuff-marks across his cheek and forehead. Blood dribbled down the side of his face. His normally hazel eyes brimmed with liquid fire. All of that I could have dealt with, but it was the young girl cowering behind his leg that surprised me the most. Her wide chocolate eyes peeked out at me as she clutched a stuffed rabbit to her chest, its faux fur matted with blood.
“What did you do?” I growled at Akil.
He narrowed his flame-filled eyes at me and then crouched down to face the little girl. Akil, his hands clasped around the little girl’s upper arms, looked her in the eyes and said, “I’m sorry you witnessed... that. I had no choice. Muse will protect you. She’s more formidable than she looks.” I gasped, open mouthed, at the both of them.
The little girl blinked and clutched her bunny tight against her chest.
“I must leave you now.” He smiled and toned down the fire in his eyes. He couldn’t do much about the blood and his general disheveled state, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Do as Muse says. Promise me.”
“Okay. Will you come back?” she asked in a tiny, mouse-like voice.
Akil took too long to answer. I glared at him. “Yes, he’ll come back,” I snapped.
Straightening, Akil gave the girl a slight shove in my direction. She took a few steps inside and peered over her rabbit at my lounge as though looking at an alien world.
I flung my attention back to Akil. “What the hell, Akil?” I hissed, reining back my tone to avoid rousing my neighbors.
“Do the right thing, Muse.” The softness of his tone set off alarm bells in my mind. “I know you will.”
“You can’t just turn up after two months and dump a little girl on me. I don’t know how to look after children. What am I supposed to do? Who is she? Why do you look like you’ve gone ten rounds with a Hellhound?”
Akil ran a hand through his mussed hair, and I saw it tremble. How could I not? Akil didn’t behave like this. He was the suave bastard on TV, not the beaten-up wreck at my door. “Just keep the demons away from her.”
I gulped back a rising knot of panic. “What? Why are demons after her? She’s just a little girl.”
“As were you. Once.” He glanced down the hall. A door-lock rattled; one of my neighbors had decided to investigate the commotion in the hallway.
“Akil...” I warned, lowering my voice to a stage whisper, “are you telling me she’s a half blood?”
He met my stare. “Do the right thing.”
“Is everything all right, Charlie dear?” my neighbor, Rosaline, asked, her English accent neat and clean. I poked my head around the door and gave her a sweet smile. A delightful sixty-something widow, she couldn’t help caring too much about the lost cause next door – me. We’d bonded over tea. She made a mean lemon drizzle cake.
“Everything’s fine, Rosa. I was just talking with my friend here... Not to worry. I’m sorry if we disturbed you.”
“No-no...” She grinned and gave me a quaint royal wave. “As long as you’re okay, my dear. Oh, woul
d you mind taking a look at my television? I can’t seem to change the channels. All I get is the Discovery channel, and I’ve had just about enough of rampaging wildebeest for one day.”
“Yup, sure thing. Will do...” I waved and watched her plod back inside her apartment. When I turned to face Akil again, he’d made himself scarce.
I uttered a curse and then remembered my young guest and cursed again for swearing in front of a child. The little girl didn’t seem to hear anyway. She wore a slip of a dress, several sizes too big for her skinny little body. Her socks were mismatched, and her black patent leather shoes scuffed. I moved around her. She blinked wide doe-eyes up at me. Her flushed cheeks, pink lips, curly mouse hair, and oval face suggested an age of eight or nine years, and I inwardly cringed. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with her. Thankfully, the demon smacking into my apartment window distracted me from that thought.
I jerked around and saw a dark shadow slam against the window, leaving oily imprints on the glass and rattling the frame. Another clattering boom against the adjacent window snapped my attention across the lounge. Claws scratched at the glass, setting my teeth on edge. I couldn’t quite see the demons—too human to focus on their ethereal forms—but whatever they were, they didn’t appear to be able to break through. My symbols worked their magic. I had a few seconds of smug satisfaction and then I heard a raucous cry coming from my bedroom. Jonesy blurred across the floor with a yowl, and following behind came a heaving cloud of black smoke. I’d left the bedroom window open.
My demon came to me like a blast of hot air from an oven. She’d already been lurking at the back of my mind, now she butted up against my skin. The protection symbols prevented me from summoning all of her. I couldn’t use my element, but I had enough fire in my veins to see the prehistoric creature inside the miasmic shadow. I’d seen it before. They patrolled the night sky in the netherworld, and they also made an appearance in most dinosaur reference books. Palaeontologists called them pterosaurs, better known as pterodactyls. Demons called them venatores – hunters.
It teetered forward on its winged arms and legs, claws scratching against my hardwood floors, and cast its beady-eyed glance around. It let out an ear-piercing screech. The little girl squeaked behind me and scurried into the corner of the room where she ducked down and tried to hug herself into a tiny, insignificant ball.
I pinned the hunter in my sights and snatched a kitchen knife from the rack. We were equally matched in height—which isn’t saying much—although its claws and beak full of razor-edged teeth gave it the distinct advantage. It screeched at me, the brittle sound like a clatter of cymbals.
“I already have demon blood on my boots,” I growled. “I’d really prefer it if I didn’t have to wash it off my walls as well.”
It swung its elongated head and tried to get a fix on the girl behind me. Skittering to one side, it flapped its wings and snapped its jaws, unconcerned by my threat. Another of its companions slammed against the lounge window, jarring the glass. The hunter jerked its head, acknowledging its companion’s idiocy. I used its distraction and bolted around behind it. Attacking it head on would get me a face full of sharp teeth. Snatching its left wing, I used my own momentum to swing around behind it. Its beak swung around after me, the two of us pirouetting before I plunged the kitchen knife into its leathery hide. I still had hold of its wing and yanked as it bucked away. The knife slid out with a sloosh. Blood spurted. Its beak snapped at me, close enough to taste the fish-oil stench of its breath. I recoiled, ducked, and as it snapped over my head, I thrust the knife into its neck and tugged its throat out with a grunt of exertion. The hunter whipped around, wings flailing and claws tearing at the gaping wound. It stumbled and staggered about the lounge, rearranging my furniture, and collapsed across my coffee table.
I dashed for the bedroom and slammed the window closed. Outside, the dark sky writhed with hunters. Any witnesses would see a cloud of black smoke against the night sky. Nothing too alarming.
I stepped back from the window and became acutely aware of the cooling demon blood plastering my top against my skin. I grimaced and walked gingerly back into the lounge, clothes chaffing. The hunter still lay sprawled across my coffee table, its blood dripping off the edges and pooling on my floor. How to dispose of a demon in Boston? Call the Institute, but that would mean answering a lot of questions about who my little guest was.
She’d gone. The corner she’d been cowering in was empty, and my apartment door hung ajar. I lunged for the door and remembered I was covered in blood. Quickly, I tossed the knife into the kitchen sink and tore off my clothes while retrieving some jeans and a tank top from my bedroom. I was still tugging on my boots and doing up my fly as I stumbled from my apartment and hurried down the stairs.
Akil had left her with me, and within the space of five minutes, I’d lost her. If she got outside, the hunters would tear into her. I staggered down the last few steps and brushed by Lacy, another of my neighbors.
“Hey, Charlie, are yah okay?” her Boston accent chimed.
“Yeah, all good...” I tossed a wave over my shoulder, heading for the main door and then stopped and turned. “Did you see a little girl come by here?”
Lacy gaped at me. She was dressed for a night out in matching tartans and lace up Doc Martin boots. Her faux fur jacket was so white it would have glowed under UV. Not much shocked Lacy, but she’d lost her voice now. I’d forgotten to wash the blood off my face. She gestured at me, mouth open. “Is that...?”
“Oh, it’s not real.” I grinned brightly. “I was playing dead with my... erm niece. Y’know. Ketchup.” Family members played dead with ketchup and kids, didn’t they? I was sure I’d seen it on TV.
She screwed up her face, not believing me for a second. “Yeah, she went outside. Do you need some help?”
“Nope. I’m fine. We’re fine. Which way did she go?”
“Toward Sidewalk Cafe.”
“Thanks.” I didn’t wait around for more questions and just hoped I’d remembered to shut my apartment door. If anyone saw the demon draped over my coffee table, I’d have a whole lot of explaining to do, not to mention losing my deposit. I’d only been in the apartment a month and was technically meant to be making a good impression.
Early Friday evenings in Boston were as busy as weekday rush hours. I lived in the heart of South Boston, a rejuvenated district currently undergoing something of a popularity revival. Southies liked the friendly neighborhood atmosphere of the place and feared the desirable ambiance had attracted too many well-to-dos who would spoil what made the place special. I couldn’t comment, being a newbie myself, but I did like the close-knit community. It felt like home, and for me, that was a damn miracle.
The many cafes and bars of East Broadway were opening for the evening, but the sidewalk was still clear enough for me to spot the little girl weaving her way through the tourists and after-work crowds. I glanced up at the sky and immediately saw the flock of hunters passing overhead. They had all the finesse of the black smoke from Lost, and I winced. If this went public, my boss at the Institute, Adam Harper, would lock me down and take away my freelance status. I had to control this. Dealing with Demons was, after all, my day job.
I didn’t have my Beretta Pico sidearm or my Enforcer ID. I just looked like a crazy half-dressed woman with blood on her face chasing down a little girl. Could the situation get any worse? Breaking into a run, I raced through the crowd, muttering apologies as I brushed a few arms and bumped a few shoulders. I caught glimpses of the girl’s ringlets and shiny black shoes, but she was quickly pulling away, able to thread herself through the crowd unnoticed.
A hunter’s clattering battle cry trilled above, right before it dove toward the sidewalk. Someone screamed, also noticing what they’d see as a peculiar cloud rushing downward. I saw the hunter, its wings tucked in, beak open. It would slam into the little girl and make short work of her fragile human flesh. I couldn’t let that happen. I summoned my demon’s stren
gth, releasing my mental hold and allowing her influence to flood through my body. She broke over me, pooled fire in my heart, and flushed my veins with ethereal energy. Still running, I lifted a hand and called to the heat slumbering in the buildings on either side of the street. Boston, like all cities, was a reservoir of heat. Human activity generated more than enough heat for me to play with. Answering the call, my element sloughed off the buildings and flooded the earth at my feet. Spooling it around my arm, I cast it outward, sending a whip-like tendril of fire over the heads of the crowd. Flames licked over the hunter and washed over the body of the beast, embracing every inch of it. It screamed an air-shattering cry and then tumbled out of the sky and thumped against the sidewalk, narrowly missing the unsuspecting crowd.
I didn’t have time to explain to the gawping people what was happening. They would already know it was demon related. The news and events of late had prepped them, but that probably didn’t make it any easier to witness.
I dropped off the sidewalk and ran along the road, casting another bolt of fire into the sky where a second writhing mass of darkness dive-bombed the fleeing girl. “Hey!” If I could get her to stop, I could turn and deal with the hunters in one go.
She veered left down a narrow, one-way street. The malicious black smoke funneled after her. A quick glance behind told me we were virtually alone. I called all of my demon and let her ride over my flesh, consuming every part of me. My one ruined wing burst from my back. My element draped me in flame. I stopped, planted my feet firmly on the cobbles, and thrust my hands skyward, launching with them a storm of orange and blue flames. The hunters scattered, but chaos fire has an intent all of its own, and they soon found tendrils of flame licking up their limbs. Jagged fragments of pain thumped me in the chest. I grunted. My power stalled. Damn parasite. With a snarl, I doubled my efforts. The black cloud burst apart from within and lit up the sky in a mass of fire strikes. Burned hunters slapped against the road. Some bounced off cars, setting off half a dozen alarms. I’d never been very good at subtle.
Devil May Care: A Muse Urban Fantasy (The Veil Series Book 2) Page 28