Black Annis: Demon Hunter (Dark Urban Fantasy Book 1)

by Aubrey Law

  BLACK ANNIS

  DEMON HUNTER

  by Aubrey Law

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Copyright © 2017 by Aubrey Law. All rights reserved.

  PROLOGUE

  There was a time when Black Witches ruled the night and their eternal Vampire enemies kept themselves hidden or suffered certain death. The Werewolves also feared the wrath of a Witch's Black Magic and not even the fullest moon would bring the monsters out of hiding. In those ancient and terrible days the immortal Witch Queen Amelia was the most dreaded woman alive. She married herself to a foreign prince to acquire a glorious castle and together they had a single child. Annis was her given name and she was not born immortal like Amelia. The Witch Queen's only daughter inherited her mother's dark soul but she remained a mortal human like her father. Annis was a shameful disappointment to Amelia and the lone daughter was harshly disowned by her heartless mother. The Witch Queen desired an immortal child but she was never able to become pregnant again. In her rage Amelia eventually killed her husband and she disappeared into the shadows. Annis was consumed with hatred for her mother and gave herself completely over to the powerful darkness of Black Magic. She will never be a true immortal but Black Annis can still walk the world forever by using her rare gift of Possession to snatch a new body away from anyone she desires.

  Leicestershire, England. July 1, 1616

  "You can disappear. Take the gold and travel the world. She will never find you. Not after we are done with her." The handsome High Priest Gregor smiled and tempted the young woman with his impressive offer. His muscular arm struggled to hold up the leather bag that was stuffed full of coins. "What is your answer?"

  Her mystical blue eyes were locked on the shiny coins and she trembled with every word from her quivering lips. "Double your payment," said the apprentice. "And I will show you what you want to see. I will show you where Black Annis sleeps."

  The silver-armored High Priest glared at the young woman and walked in a circle around the wooden chair where she sat. "Silence your treacherous tongue, Witch. Be thankful you are not roasting at the stake as we speak. There will be no increase in payment. Not one piece of gold more. You will lead us to Black Annis and accept the Church's offer or you will be thrown in the dungeon with the Tormentor."

  "And if she escapes capture and finds me?" said the young Witch. "She will never rest until I am torn to shreds. But not just me. Her vengeance will be upon every member of my household. She will destroy my entire family bloodline."

  Gregor dropped the heavy bag of gold coins on the floor and his hands illuminated with white hot Holy Magic. "Do you see my power, Witch? I can bind her Black Magic long enough for the Executioner to snap her neck at the gallows. She will be powerless when she is hanged. Black Annis shall not escape her punishment."

  "It burns!" said the apprentice Witch. "Stop this pain!"

  "I will stop when you agree to the offer." The High Priest intensified the searing heat that flowed from his hands and blistered the weeping woman's skin.

  She screamed and her body collapsed to the cold floor that was covered with scattered gold coins. "The cave! Annis sleeps in the cave!"

  The Dane Hills

  When they came at midnight to snatch me from my bed I wasn't prepared for a fight. The deep dark cave that I'd called home for a hundred years was finally discovered and I knew there was only one way they'd found me. Regina, my apprentice, had opened her fucking mouth to the Priesthood and broke her sacred vows to me. I imagined the amount of gold they'd offered her was enough to tempt any God-fearing woman to stab her own faithful husband and children’s father in the back with a poisoned dagger. But the bond to my apprentice was infinitely more serious than any human marriage or family ties and her betrayal meant death for every person she'd ever cared for. Regina, my loyal companion, how could you have done this? Do you not know what they will do to me? Have you no concern that my body will be tortured and hanged by the Church? My eyes were beaten shut and my mouth gagged by that self-righteous bastard Gregor. The powerful High Priest and his gang of henchmen transported me on horseback to the Church's dungeon. Gregor's Holy Magic had stunned me into submission and they'd stuffed me inside of a burlap bag like a captured wild animal. I rode in silence and prepared to meet the Inquisitors and Tormentors that were zealously waiting for my arrival. Take the precious gold, Regina. Take the gold and run for your life because I swear on my blood as a Black Witch that one day I will find you or your descendants.

  Church of Saint Guthlac. July 18, 1616

  "Please spare my life! I have a son and a daughter! You are killing an innocent woman!" I passionately lied and pleaded with them to release me but I knew they would not. The Priesthood had finally caught me and now my flesh body with all its pleasures was about to be destroyed. Time spent in the darkness of the dead's realm surely had its rewards but nothing was sweeter to me than the joys of lust and butchery experienced as a blood and bone human. Soon I would depart from this world but one day I would return and have my revenge.

  Just do it. Snap my neck and get this over with. The rope was snug under my chin and my death was sure to be quick. My spinal cord would sever and I would feel no pain. My executioners could have roasted me alive and for showing me this mercy I vowed not to completely wipe out their family bloodlines.

  "Annis of the Dane Hills, you have been found guilty of murder, Witchcraft, and forsaking the Holy Faith. You have given yourself over to Black Magic, and by its incantations, charms, and conjurings, and by other abominable superstitions, caused the ruin or death of many good people. Do you have any last words?" said the bald and black-robed Judge.

  "You infectious Hell-hated boar-pigs!" I hissed. "A pox upon you!"

  "Hang the hideous Witch!" shouted the High Priest Gregor from among the restless crowd gathered to witness my destruction. The hooded Executioner pulled the pin and opened the trapdoor of the gallows. My neck was broken instantly as the savage audience cheered my death. My naked corpse was burned to ashes in a pile with the other condemned Witches. As my dark soul entered the Lake of Fire I prepared to face the hordes of demons that awaited me and I began to patiently endure the infernal torment until the day of my escape.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Los Angeles. 2017

  "Seize her!" shouted the priest. The naked woman ran for her life down the dimly lit corridor away from the corrupted holy men that desired her affection. She fled as fast as she could and didn't look back at the group of attackers that chased after her with their unspeakable intentions. "Do not allow her to open that door!" warned the priest.

  The exhausted woman paused and stared at the strange fiery red symbols that illuminated the massive metal door. She had a choice between facing a furious gang of armed men and opening the bizarre black gateway in front of her. She chose the door.

  Hellgate Six

  Can it be? The gate opens? Woe to whoever you are on the other side. As much as I want to thank you, I'm afraid you've made a terrible mistake and your body is now mine to possess. After four-hundred years in the lake of flames I am ready to be free of this burning darkness. Now the world will remember why they fear the night. I, Black Annis, am returning to the land of the living.

  Her bones were strong and her muscles were conditioned well. My Black Witch spirit entered into the unfortunate woman and forced her soul out of her own body. Or so I thought. She was no ordinary female and her capacity
to resist the eradication of her existence was impressive. She fought me harder than I’d ever expected but in the end I won control of her physical being. What I didn’t see coming was an overload of her empathy that invaded my mind and I began to experience her consciousness. I became aware of the pain, suffering, and terror my actions had caused to countless victims over centuries of time. I was overwhelmed with emotion but I knew the feelings would fade away and the darkness of my heart would be restored. Tears flowed from my eyes which weren’t my own and the sadness was simply another remnant of the woman whose body I'd just stolen. I exhaled a deep breath and shut the Hellgate before any other unholy spirits could exit.

  "Bring her to me!" said the priest. The men who obeyed his orders surrounded my location with knives out and their copper-scented blades were no strangers to blood.

  "I'm really going to enjoy this." I ignored what little traces of sympathy I felt for them. Maybe the naked woman I'd possessed was their sex slave and she'd escaped their capture. Maybe that's why I felt no resistance in beating them to death. They swung and slashed their weapons but I evaded every attack. The malicious pack of furious men was startled when I blocked or avoided all of their attempts to harm me. The sinister blend of my new body's excellent physique and my own ancient brutality proved to be deadly. I easily incapacitated the entire mob, knocking out their teeth and rupturing organs with the surgical precision of my strikes. Unleashing centuries of rage, I dislocated their bones from their sockets and triggered internal hemorrhages using only my bare hands and feet. With heightened speed and strength I devastated my enemies and they collapsed to the cold floor with punctured ribs that disabled their breathing. I tore the priest and all of his helpers to pieces within seconds. My hatred for the Priesthood meant desecrating them was pure bliss and there was no objection from my new body’s ability to empathize. Drenched in blood, I began searching in and out of the dark rooms looking for a way up to the surface.

  After finding nothing but dead ends I paused to gather my thoughts. Freedom was mine again and this time I would not be so easily caught or executed. This body I’d stolen was uncommonly strong and with my experience in dealing death I would be difficult to destroy. I continued to sense her former thoughts, her feelings, and her identity. Ashley was her name and I knew she would have enjoyed breaking the bones of that pathetic priest and his henchmen. She would've known they deserved it and I saw nothing had changed after four-hundred years. Their holy Church and Priesthood were still perverted beyond measure and perhaps I would be fortunate enough find a few more of them to butcher before I exited the dungeon. I wasn’t surprised at all that these insidious bastards had a secret lair for sexual torture and other vile hypocrisies. At least I was open about the monster that I was. They tried to hide their true intentions behind false titles and illusions of holiness. I wondered after four centuries, had the mighty Church been exposed for its atrocities? Regardless, I would do as I pleased and any priest who tried to stop me would beg for a quick death. Black Annis would be feared once again.

  "Who goes there?" asked a wandering priest wielding a knife. "You! How did you escape?"

  "How did I escape? Allow me to demonstrate." I swiftly kicked and buried my foot deep into the priest's chest. He lost all breath as he slammed against the wall and fell straight to the concrete floor. I stomped him and shattered his frightened face with my heel. "How many more of you are here?" I asked and continued to brutalize him without mercy. "What’s wrong, old man? Can you not speak with a broken mouth?"

  "Try that on me," said a familiar tone. I recognized the demon's voice and I prepared to fight an opponent whose limbs and teeth would not break so effortlessly.

  I laughed. "Do you really wish to die today demon? Because I can allow you to live if you beg for your life."

  "Confident bitch aren't you? Do you realize how quickly I can open you up and rip out your spine?" The demon tensed his enormous muscles and extended his black claws.

  "Please show me." I taunted him with a smile.

  "With pleasure!" The infuriated demon charged at me with talons and teeth ready to rip my flesh in half. I gracefully spun around while grabbing the dead priest's blade and sliced the demon's throat as he tripped over my leg. I stabbed the stumbling demon in the back of his head and broke off the knife's handle leaving the buried blade behind in his skull.

  "Clearly you did not realize who the fuck I am.” I stared at the demon's convulsing carcass and wondered how many of the devils had been released through the Hellgate. To see human priests working in open cooperation with embodied demons was unthinkable. Had the world changed that much in my absence? If demons roamed freely in this new society then my murder spree was just beginning. I hated the foul beasts more than anything else within all of creation. The demons had tormented me endlessly for hundreds of years during my time in the Lake of Fire. I was powerless to stop them in their own infernal territory but in this world I was capable of crushing and killing them like the filthy cockroaches they were.

  CHAPTER TWO

  A brass key that was dropped by the dead priest fit inside the locked door and I opened it. The people inside all looked at me like they knew me with their bloodshot eyes and barely any clothes on to speak of. The small room was full of nude and half-dressed women who were prisoners to the Priesthood. I felt some sympathy for them but I would still be taking whatever I needed to cover my naked new body.

  "Ashley!" said a red-haired topless woman. “Is it really you?”

  I shook my head. "Not anymore." Fortunately I found a black priest's robe left behind in the room and slipped it on over my exposed skin. I was sickened by the scent of the man who'd abandoned it but the garment was comfortable and carefully made. My long dark hair flowed over my shoulders and matched the raven color of the robe. "Which one of you can show me the way out of this dungeon?"

  "I think I know the way out," said the red-haired woman.

  "And your name is?"

  "It's me. Sonja," she said. "Ashley, you know my name. Why would you ask me that?”

  "Ashley is gone. My name is Annis and if you want to survive then you'll stop questioning me." Sonja seemed strangely familiar as I stared at her bare breasts and enchanting emerald eyes. "You and Ashley were friends?" The young woman was certainly beautiful but that didn't explain the intense arousal I experienced when looking at her. I suspected she and Ashley were intimately bonded and their relationship may have even been sexual. Blurred memories of caressing her face, kissing her lips, and tasting her tongue appeared in my mind.

  Sonja slowly nodded. "Yeah...we were definitely friends. I don't know what's going on with you but I'm damn sure ready to get the hell out of this place."

  "Then show me the way." I scanned the room and all the other women appeared ready to leave and end their nightmare at the hands of the priests.

  "Hey, I take it that's not your own blood?" said Sonja.

  “Not a drop.” I proudly smiled. "All priest and demon blood."

  Sonja raised an eyebrow. "You killed a demon by yourself? How is that even possible?"

  "Centuries of practice," I said. "Sonja, can you remind me of your age?" I estimated she was about twenty-four based on her physical appearance but sensed she was naive as a child to the realities of Black Witchcraft.

  "You don't remember anything about me? Did you hit your head when fighting?" said Sonja. "I'm twenty-five. Same age as you, silly."

  Silly? I'd been called many things in my lifetime but that word was never included in the dark and damning list of adjectives used to describe me. 'Silly' must have been a term of endearment the two lovers shared. "So you are familiar with demons?"

  She sighed and nodded. "Of course. Most people are these days. Since the Hellgates were opened."

  I laughed. “Interesting.” I always knew it was a matter of time before humanity stumbled upon the Hellgates and obviously they'd been foolish enough to start opening them. The Church had clearly failed to protect the portals from t
he rest of the world but that was fine with me. I would enjoy cleaning up the Priesthood’s mess and sending the demon hordes back to Hell in buckets of blood.

  Speaking of demons, two more of them suddenly arrived to secure the room that I wasn't supposed to find.

  "Who unlocked this door?" said the first demon.

  "Me," I said. "Is that a problem?"

  The demon's fiery orange eyes burned with anger. "You dare speak to me with that tone?”

  I nodded. "What are you going to do about it?"

  He looked at the second demon in disbelief and smiled. "You just made yourself into our meal for tonight. Disrespecting a demon is punishable by death. The rules were carefully explained to all of you upon your arrival to this place."

  I was amused at his threat to eat me. "Whatever, cockroach. I see your kind still enjoys tasting the forbidden flesh of humans. Didn't your demon Master tell you eating people is against his rules?"

  "How could you possibly know of that?" said the second demon. "Who are you?"

  I smiled back at them. "I am your death. That's all you need to know."

  Lesser demons were easy kills for me. Their notoriously nude bodies were coated with thick layers of crimson-colored muscle and built with almost unbreakable bones. However their internal organs were extremely vulnerable to magic just like any common animal or human. I snapped my fingers twice and exploded the black hearts of both demons. The devils died instantly and dropped to the ground as their forked tails still slithered around like snakes.

  "Holy shit!" said Sonja. "You made that happen?"

  "Not all demons can be killed so simply," I said. "But yes I made that happen. Are you impressed?"

  Sonja gasped. "That was so freaking badass!”

  "Put on some clothes." I didn't mind seeing Sonja topless because she was perfectly formed but the sight of her bouncing breasts was a distraction. Ashley’s former affections for Sonja still flowed in my new body’s blood and I could sense the ecstasy they once shared. "All of you get dressed if you can find something to wear and follow me. We are leaving this dungeon. Or you can remain here to be eternal sex slaves and possible demon food. I really don't care what you decide."