by E. L Friel
Instantly she moved her hand away from his cock, knotting it in his hair, then tugged his head away from her neck. In the sliver of moonlight peeking through the clouds he could just make out the glimmer in her eyes.
‘Only if you beg me,’ she whispered with a hard smile.
He smiled in answer then nipped at her bottom lip. Game on.
Suddenly Ariel was rolling out from under him, yelling. Shit. He spun off her, turning his side to take the brunt of whatever blow he could sense coming and reaching for his blade simultaneously. Damn. How had he let himself get so distracted that he’d forgotten about the Suckers partying beneath the pier?
Before he could even swing around and block the blow he saw Ariel – a dark blur spinning in front of him and the slash of her blade, severing the air around them and making it sing.
They were being attacked by two Suckers. Ariel’s Shadow blade sliced through the first one’s neck, severing his spinal cord. A head thumped like a meteor into the sand at Jax’s feet. He stared down at it in shock. That was one way to kill them he guessed. He glanced around for Ariel but she had vanished.
The second Sucker had come to a flying stop at the sight of her friend’s head in the sand. Her eyes were enormous pools of red and she was whipping her head left to right, trying to figure out who her invisible attacker was and how her buddy had ended up headless.
Spotting Jax she lunged forwards, but before she could get close she was flung up into the air as though lifted by an invisible current. Her arms were yanked behind her back and then Ariel suddenly re-appeared. She was holding the Sucker from behind, her Shadow blade pressed to the girl’s neck.
‘Any sudden movements and you’ll end up like your friend,’ she growled, nodding at the head lying by Jax’s foot.
The girl froze instantly. Jax couldn’t help feeling a rush of pride.
Ariel had bargained with Jimmy for the blade back. He wanted five grand for it, but she figured if she killed the Original she’d have money to spare and could pay him back. If not, well that wasn’t a scenario she wanted to contemplate. Having two moneylenders on her back rather than one wasn’t that appealing. She was pleased to have the blade back though as it had belonged to her father and parting with it in the first place had been one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do. And besides, with the blade she was fairly sure she had the advantage over the other bounty hunters.
She pressed the blade closer against the Sucker’s neck and felt it bite through the first layer of her skin. She needed to be careful. It would be as easy to slice through the girl’s neck with this blade as to slice through a gossamer thread.
‘We have a few questions we’d like to ask you,’ Jax said, stepping closer.
Ariel rolled her eyes. Jax was treating it like a job interview. There was a way of making people talk Ariel knew from long experience, and it was never by playing good cop.
‘Tell us where your maker is,’ Ariel hissed, pressing the blade through another layer of skin until she felt it bite against cartilage. She had always been much better at playing bad cop.
Chapter 11
‘Have you ever killed one before?’ Jax asked her as they scouted out the perimeter of the house.
Ariel glanced at him over her shoulder. ‘Of course I’ve never killed one before,’ she said. ‘No one’s killed one in years. Because they aren’t supposed to still exist.’
Jax made a noise in the back of his throat. She ignored him. They were in Hancock Park. The Sucker had given them a thorough description of the house that the Original had adopted as his lair. Ariel stared up at the front of it, hoping this was the right one. It fit the description, but if the Sucker had lied to them they were screwed. They couldn’t go back and ask her again because after their little Q&A, Ariel had cut off her head and Jax had weighted it down and sunk it to the bottom of the ocean. It turned out that there was a way to kill them after all.
Jax’s hand found hers in the darkness and he pulled her back into the shadows of a neighboring yard. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I’m going to go first. You wait out here.’
She dragged her hand free of his grip. ‘I don’t think so,’ she told him. ‘I’m the Shadow. You’re just a Blade.’
He scowled at her. Ariel shrugged and rolled her eyes, though it was dark so she doubted he could see. The fact was though that she was also the one with the Shadow blade. Jax’s puny looking knife wasn’t going to be any good.
‘Don’t roll your eyes at me,’ he growled in annoyance. ‘I can see you, you know.’
Ariel scrunched her nose up. She kept forgetting what good senses Blades had, better than your average human. He was better than your average human at a lot of things it had to be said. ‘Listen, demons can sense you like catnip,’ Ariel explained patiently, hoping he’d take the hint. ‘You wait here and I’ll go take a look.’
She could see him pursing his lips, but she didn’t bother to wait for his answer, she just slipped from his side and started edging her way through the bushes towards the house. She didn’t want Jax accompanying her on this. She didn’t want to put him in any danger.
The house was a monstrous affair. It was as if someone with a split personality had designed it. It was half modern, half craftsman and totally hideous. Not that Ariel was in a position to throw stones, but after spending time around Jax she was starting to appreciate the finer things in life, especially when it came to appearances.
Just then something brushed her leg and she jumped around, blade already slashing.
‘Goddamn!’ she hissed, as Jax ducked out of the way. ‘I told you to stay back and wait,’ she glowered, her heart slamming into her ribs. ‘I could have killed you.’
‘I’ve been doing this for fifteen years,’ he said by way of answer. ‘And I’m still here. You demons can’t be that good at sniffing me out.’
You demons? What was he saying?
‘We’re a team, in case you’d forgotten,’ Jax said, glaring at her through the darkness. His eyes were wolf-like in their intensity, luminous in the darkness, reminding her briefly of how he had looked when he had her at his mercy in his bed.
‘How could I forget,’ she whispered harshly.
‘You want the bounty on this guy or not?’ Jax asked, sighing impatiently.
It was Ariel’s turn to glare and purse her lips.
‘You’re going to need my help, admit it.’
‘Fine,’ Ariel huffed. ‘But if you screw this up for me I’m going to be dropping your head to the bottom of the ocean.’
She saw the flash of his teeth. He was grinning at her. She almost punched him. Don’t grin, she thought silently to herself. She wasn’t joking. She’d drop his head to the bottom of the ocean and deliver his body to the Brothers to collect a reward.
Even as she thought the thought though, guilt spiraled through her, making her swallow uncomfortably. She elbowed Jax aside. His abs were like blocks of granite though and he refused to budge. She shoved against him with all her weight, making him stumble backwards, and then burst out of the bushes.
‘You always rush on in?’ Jax demanded, grabbing her elbow and hauling her back under the cover of the bushes.
‘You always hang back and let the girls go first?’ Ariel countered, knowing exactly what to say to push his buttons and quite enjoying doing so. If it was possible, Jax’s jaw seemed to clench even tighter and his scowl to become even more scowley.
‘You go around the front. I’ll take the back,’ he whispered, letting go of her arm and striding out from the shadows. ‘Let’s circle around, meet at the north east corner and decide the best way in.’
Whatever. Ariel shook her head and watched him slide noiselessly up to the fence and then hop it like a black panther. Damn he was athletic for a human. Just watching him move made her smile and her stomach knot. She inched along around to the front of the house, trying to still her heartbeat and feel into her senses. Maybe he was right and she was rushing in. She was known for her impulsiveness
and sometimes it had got her into sticky situations.
From all she could remember, Originals were ancient Suckers. They had supposedly been killed off by a group of Blades and demons working together to put them down. This had been a few years back. The Blades had tried to close the portals to the other dimensions and banish every demon from the human realm. There had been some prophecy, some stuff and nonsense about a Blade who was meant to sever the realms, divide the dimensions and bring peace back to the human world. Ariel snickered, that hadn’t exactly worked out. Sears weren’t known for their accurate readings of the future. Ariel tended to think of them as like tarot card readers, mostly making it up.
The Originals had wanted to take over LA or something equally as apocryphal; it was of course all hearsay now, and the last decade had seen an influx of all sorts of demons from various dimensions to take their place. You put one species down and it was never long before others swarmed in to take their place. LA on the surface might still appear to humans to be the center of all things celebrity and Hollywood, but all you had to do was tap the surface and you’d find a writhing quagmire of demon filth beneath. Half the actors in movies were demons. Even some of the most prominent A-listers in town were Shapeshifters. They were fully infiltrated into every strata of life, including the police and politics.
The police thought the murder rate was up because of drugs and guns and gangs, but it wasn’t. It was up because Suckers and Saw Demons and Chameleons and all sorts were roaming around at night treating the city like their own personal Disneyland.
Chapter 12
Jax could not believe anyone as stubborn as Ariel had ever lived. She was the personification of defiance. But he realized he hadn’t stopped grinning since their last exchange, despite the fact they were about to sneak up on one of the fiercest demons to have ever existed. A part of him was tempted to call Cy for back up, but that would just lead to questions from Cy about who Ariel was, and then there was the fact that no doubt Cy would try it on with her, which Jax most definitely did not want to witness.
He thought back to the photograph on Ariel’s refrigerator door. The twinge of jealousy he’d felt at seeing it there, followed swiftly by a sharp shucking pain in his gut as he considered all she’d been through. Maybe the loss she’d suffered explained her sharp edges, the brusque exterior she showed the world. He understood that. He understood too why she was uncomfortable with the idea of someone watching her back. She didn’t want to feel responsible again for another person’s safety. It made him warm to her even more. Eight years was a long time to mourn though. Was she over him, he wondered? His gut twisted at the thought that Ariel might still be in love with the guy. But what did he even care? Was he even thinking of Ariel as more than a casual fling? He didn’t know. He had never had a casual fling before, wasn’t sure of the protocol. He just knew that his life had become about a lot more than the hunt since she’d sashayed into his life.
A sharp crack brought him back to the present. He’d stepped on a twig and the noise sounded out like a gunshot in the stillness of the night. He winced, his ears pricking, alert for any other sounds beyond the steady hum of traffic and sirens that made up LA’s white noise. The house was shrouded in an eerie silence but he could sense something lurking, something dark and unpleasant. Jax wondered where the owners of the house were. He remembered that a decade back, when the group of Blades had killed a dozen or so of these Originals in a fight that was still talked about, they had been living in a house in Beverly Hills.
Jax slipped his blade out of its sheath, wondering briefly what the point was. By all accounts it wouldn’t pierce through Original skin. The Blades from the past had had to use shadow steel. But even though he knew he was drastically under-armed, he wasn’t about to walk in there without any weapon whatsoever. Who knew what other kinds of demons might be hanging around? Slowly Jax started edging around the house, looking for any signs of life or a way in. The windows and doors all appeared locked. He was just rounding the back of the house when he heard a scream that stopped his heart.
In the next instant he was sprinting towards the source. His arms pumped, his heart was pounding in his chest like artillery fire. Ariel. That was his only thought. Goddamn it. She hadn’t waited for him. Of course she hadn’t. Why had he thought she would? This was a woman who did everything on her own terms and who hated anyone telling her what to do.
As he rounded the front of the house he saw a window by the front door had been jimmied open. Jax skidded to a halt, spitting up gravel. Goddamn it. Had she broken in without even waiting for him? His breath rasped in his throat. Another scream sent him racing to the window. With panic starting to gnaw at his insides he placed his palms on the ledge and squeezed himself through the gap. Another scream tore through the house as Jax rolled to the floor inside the house.
He was inside a large atrium style hallway. A chandelier blazed above him. He spun left to right, taking in the expanse of space, the marble floors, the faux Greek statues decorating alcoves and the portraits on the walls.
Jax held his breath and tried to silence his still thundering heart so that he could hear better. There it was again, the sound of a woman screaming. Though now it was less a scream and more of a whimper. A growl emanated from the depths of Jax’s throat and rage flooded his system. If Ariel was hurt in any way, shape or form he was going to bring death down on the whole demon world.
The noise was coming from what sounded like a basement. Jax ran towards the curving staircase, spying a doorway standing ajar. He pushed it open with his foot and the foul stench of decaying flesh rose up and hit him full on, making him rear back and cover his mouth and nose.
Another gut-wrenching scream spiraled up from the darkness and Jax pushed the door open wider and stepped into the narrow stairwell. Letting his eyes adjust to the pitch black he began to inch his way down, the stench rising up around him, making his eyes water and his throat sting. Ariel. Her name was on the tip of his tongue. He was desperate to call out, to let her know he was coming. But surprise was still his only weapon. Shit. Whose stupid idea had this been? Why had he gone along with it? Why hadn’t he tried to stop her?
He reached the bottom of the stairs and pressed back against a damp stone wall. Candlelight flickered around a corner, casting long, wavering shadows against the wall. Another long wailing scream pinned him to the stairwell, a realization suddenly dawning. It wasn’t Ariel screaming. Relief swept over him making his heart beat wildly, his gut come untwisted. But then, whoever it was that was screaming, started to cry - wracking sobs that were broken by soft pleas.
Jax took a step towards the light, his resolution strengthening even as his fingers flexed around the hilt of his blade. This might just be the stupidest thing he’d ever done, but he couldn’t just stand there, hiding. Not again. He took another step and the shadow on the wall leapt at him.
Ariel materialized in front of Jax, pushing him back into the gloom of the stairwell.
‘What are you doing?’ she mouthed.
He jerked his head at the flickering candles and the sound of a girl now quietly sobbing and raised his eyebrows. What did she think he was doing? Ariel glared at him a moment longer, then thrust something at him. Jax glanced down. It was a deodorant can. He shook his head at her not understanding. What the hell? She shoved something else his way. A lighter.
OK, now he understood. He grinned at her. A homemade flamethrower was far more sensible than a flimsy blade.
‘I need his head to get the bounty,’ she whispered in his ear. ‘From what I remember they’re not flame retardant though. Use that to hold him at bay.’
‘On three,’ Jax said, feeling the buzz of adrenaline whipping through his veins like wildfire.
‘Three,’ Ariel yelled before he could even start the countdown.
Ariel flew around the corner and into the space, pulling up short at the sight of a naked girl chained to the floor in the center of the room. Blood swept in rivers around her, sweeping
towards a drain set into the stone floor. Though the girl was curled into a ball and only the curve of her spine was visible, Ariel winced at the deep bite marks along her arms and back.
Motherfucker, she thought, rage bubbling inside her gut. Suddenly something blurred in front of her face and she was sent flying into the wall. The air was knocked from her lungs. With a grunt she threw herself sideways as the thing came at her again. He moved so fast she couldn’t even see his face, couldn’t get a read on him, his size or his build. The only thing she had registered was that he was fast. And insanely strong. She suddenly started having second thoughts about the whole enterprise.
As something whistled in the air by her face she faded and ducked, rolling beneath an arm and coming up silently beside the girl on the floor. Ariel wanted to reassure her that she was going to be OK now, that she was there to help her, but she couldn’t because her blood had frozen in her veins and her throat had closed over as she stared up into the face of the Original.
He couldn’t see her. Or could he? He was looking right at her as if he could. Ariel held her cloak of invisibility tight, straining to keep it in place. He was smiling, an eerie, terrifying smile that made Ariel’s heart burst in her chest. He only looked about twenty-five years old, though she had no doubt he was thousands of years older than that. His skin had the smooth, pore-less appearance of molded plastic, and looked like a hide that had been stretched tight over his skull. His eyes were sunk deep, red embers burning in their depths. He was about six foot, slight of build, with long black hair that hung over his shoulders and down his back.
Ariel sunk low into warrior pose and then leapt forwards, swinging her blade up in an arc.
The Original sidestepped her so fast all she felt was the soft whisper of wind at her side and then she was sent flying into the far wall, face first.
Someone caught her, an arm locking around her waist, stopping her from smashing into the wall. It was Jax. He hauled her to his feet and when she staggered upright he pushed her behind him.