by K. A Knight
“We need to find out what’s going on and stop them before there is no one left to fight them. I haven’t been in this world long, but I know about people who crave power, they won’t stop here,” she mutters.
“How do we stop them?” I frown. “I am chained and we are locked up.”
She grins then, and if she wasn’t my mate, I might even be a little scared of that smirk, instead my cock pulses, making itself known. Just then the door opens and we both jump to our feet. I try to push her behind me, but she crosses her arms and strolls around me with a shit-eating grin aimed at the eagle waiting there.
“Veyo,” she greets. “I would like to thank you for your lovely hospitality.”
“I’m glad you have enjoyed your stay, skinwalker. Are you ready to talk like civilised people now or shall I lock you back up again?”
“The test shows that Will is…not the father!” I lean closer with wide eyes as the woman jumps up from the seat and starts attacking an older woman as a shocked man watches on and the crowd cheers. “This show is something else,” I whisper, shaking my head. “Are humans really like this? Do parents not claim their young? You must be tested? Are they fighting to the death? What are the rules?” I wonder out loud.
“This is helping him think?” comes a snarky response from the fallen in the corner who, whenever I look over, keeps pulling blades from more places and showing me them in a threat. What an amusing man he is.
I am in a bad mood, though, mainly because I got here too late and my dragon wants to kill people. Right now he is pacing around in the cage in my head, snarling at me and blowing darkness. I really need to feed him, to keep him calm enough so we can think of a plan to get our mate back.
Our mate.
I knew she would have others, she was too strong not to, so I don’t care about that as long as they are honourable men. These men…I guess they will do. One is clearly insane with a strange blade obsession and a wall covered in other images, the other watches us both, cataloguing everything. He is powerful, but also soft. I guess it will be up to me to save our mate.
“I’m hungry,” I tell them, looking over. “I require sustenance or I will end up ripping the souls from everyone and eating them instead.”
“Fucking hell,” Griffin snaps and leans forward. “Fine, your fucking majesty, we will feed you, and then when we come back you will help us get our mate.” Each word is spit like it hurts to say.
“Thank you, I appreciate the title as well, but I am no longer a king. Sir will suffice.” I nod at the fallen, and he throws himself forward with a snarl, but he’s thrown backwards into the wall by the forest god who points at both of us.
“Behave,” he warns, his voice filling the room like a banshee roar.
I frown. “I am confused, why is he angry?”
The forest god rubs his head as if it pains him. “Why me?”
We file out of the house and I stare at the metal contraption which is lower than the one Jean Claude provided for me. “We will not all fit in that.”
“Then fucking fly, you dragon prick.” Griffin throws his hand in the air and clicks something, then lights flash and a beep sounds. I start to change to protect us before the forest god stops me with a look and opens the back door.
“Get in, dragon.”
I snort. “I ride in the front.” I open the other door and try to cram myself in—my knees are up by my head, which is bent due to the low angle.
I grumble as the car rumbles to life and we take off into the city. I reach out and start pressing buttons on the dash, music blares out, changing every second as I flick between things. Griffin starts to slap my hand away, so I slap him back, and I hear Nos sigh in the backseat.
“Little Monster, can I kill them?” he mutters, before he raises his voice. “Children, stop, or there is no food for anyone, and when we get Dawn back I will tell her.”
A forest god telling our mate on a dragon and a fallen. How amusing.
We end up at a place where the fallen explains they make burgers, whatever that means. I am led inside, and there are children everywhere, screaming and running around in maddening circles as parents ignore them.
“Sheep,” I mutter.
“Finally, something we agree on,” Griffin mumbles, and then shows his teeth to a little human girl who stops before him. She grins at him and he huffs and pushes past her, but she follows after the fallen.
He leads us over to a white machine. “Order here,” he snaps at me, and crosses his arms, glaring at the child who stares back.
I look at the contraption and clear my throat. “I require food, meat.”
Nothing happens, so I try again in a louder voice. “Meat.”
Frowning, I look at the fallen, but he is still glaring at the child. “Squire, I require meat, lots of it, please.” I tack on the last part, remembering my manners. The fallen sighs and presses something, and I nearly jump back as what looks like items of food scroll down the screen.
“Meat, I require meat!” I yell at the machine, but all it does is blink, scrolling through a list of items, something called a salad. “Confusing device, give me meat!” I roar, shaking the machine and ranting.
When I am done, I look over to see four humans in funny little hats gaping at me from behind a counter, and then a child starts to cry and it is followed up by more and more of them.
“Someone get the man some meat,” the fallen drawls, “before he has a tantrum and kills everyone.”
The servers jump into action, and in under a minute a plastic tray is offered to me with shaking hands piled high with meat. “Many thanks, squire.”
“Y-You’re welcome,” he stutters. “How would you like to pay?”
I blink at him and then smile. “Fallen, pay the man,” I call, and then turn away, finding a table away from as many people as I can. All the adults glare at us openly, but the children have finished crying now. I have to squeeze myself into a slippery seat, then I rip into the meat. “Delicious, so much better than a chargrilled goat,” I mutter.
Nos sits opposite me, snacking on something that looks like leaves. He places a tray of the same before me and then Griffin who slips in beside him.
“Eat it, it’s good for you,” Nos instructs us, his eyes on the fallen. Griffin throws it in the bin, while I simply throw mine at the fallen who snarls and narrows his eyes on me.
I go back to eating, but notice a small human near my table looking at my food with big eyes. I lean my head down and growl, my dragon mostly in charge now. He squeals and runs away. “Dragons don’t share food,” I mutter.
“Fucking hell, only I could get stuck with a tree lover and dumb shit over there,” Griffin grouses.
“You are dumb.” I sniff, lifting my head.
“Brilliant, dragon, truly brilliant come back, did your momma teach you that?”
“My mother tried to eat me.” I frown.
“What a way to kill a conversation.” Griffin laughs.
“I did not kill anything, yet, but I will gladly. Starting with you,” I snarl.
Nos leans forward. “No killing each other over food, remember why we are all here and together.”
“Dawn.” I nod.
“Fucking mate of mine.” Griffin rolls his eyes and I narrow mine on him. “Don’t worry, I only tried to kill her once,” he retorts, and that is how we end up getting kicked out of what Griffin called a fast food place as I try to murder him for hurting my mate.
The dragon almost made me crash my car on the way home, and when we get back to my house, he plops himself on the sofa and goes back to watching the shitty sheep’s show. Nos and I share a look and he sighs, then he stands in front of the TV, blocking the dragon’s view.
“We need a plan and to start finding Dawn, anything could be happening to her right now.”
His words hit us all and the dragon finally gets serious. “I will change and rip the souls from everyone in the city until we find her.”
“Your plan is rubbish,
no wonder dragons are almost extinct,” I scoff, and spin in my chair, turning off the TV. “Now, here is what we are actually going to do. We go to Victor, get all the information on The Others we can, then we put an alert out to all other supes. Nos, contact your people again, see if they have anything else for us. We suspect the council, yes? Well, I have a way in, I am their good little servant, after all, so I’ll check that out.”
“What will I do?” the dragon asks, watching us.
I share a look with Nos as if to say, can I lock this prick up in my basement? I can already feel the darkness swirling unchecked in my brain from being away from Dawn. At least while she was here I could take it out on her and she helped keep it in check, but now it flows through me and I never know what it’s going to do next.
Nos sighs and sits down. “We need to get serious. We all know the council is behind this. I will do as you suggested as well as stay outside of the chambers of the council in case anything goes wrong with you. You find her and get her out, Griffin…”
“I hear a but coming,” I prompt, clenching my fingers into my palm to push back memories of the last time I lost someone to the council.
“But we need someone who can take the council down. Yes, we could kill them and then we would all be executed, including Dawn. If they are truly behind this, they aren’t doing it with sanction from the sleeping council. I suggest we involve them, let the councils fight between themselves and that is when we extract Dawn.”
“You know she’s going to want revenge. If you haven’t noticed, she’s a little bloodthirsty, our mate.” I grin, remembering her covered in blood and grinning at me. What a woman, and to think I tried to fight it, fight her.
“That comes after.” Nos nods.
“Then that is what I do,” the dragon adds, and we both look at him. “I know some witches I can trust, they will find the location of the sleeping council.”
“Which has been hidden for thousands of years,” I point out, but he ignores me.
“And instruct them on what is happening and make them come here to deal with their own council’s disobedience,” he finishes. “It will not be easy, but you’re right, if it is the council it is the only way to stop them.”
“It has been coming for a long time,” I mutter, and they both look at me. “Oh come on, we all know the council is corrupt and full of assholes. All they want is power, they don’t care how they get it. We wanna fuck the system, then let’s do it. I will be your biggest supporter.”
“Griffin!” he shouts, eyes flared in panic as they grab him. He fights them, but it’s no use, there are too many. From the smoke comes a man in a suit. “Run! Take her!” he screams helplessly, his eyes on me as I hesitate, and the man in the suit smirks.
“Grab that one, bring him to me, oh, and the female.”
“No!” I yell, grasping Gabriel’s fallen sword and rushing the man.
Pushing away the memories, I cut my palms with my nails, focusing on the flash of pain and my own blood to fight the madness, clinging to that little bit of sanity I have. “Are we doing this?” I look around at them both. “For her?”
The dragon lifts his head stubbornly. “Whatever it takes. They are nothing but old men sitting in chairs in their castle.”
Nos inclines his head. “If they have taken my little monster, they die. I will send word to those I have spoken to that we have a suspect for the disappearances and let them know to be ready. The council falling will cause uproar and a scramble for power. We need that sleeping council to stop an all-out war between the races.”
“War is always on the horizon.” The dragon sighs. “You are right, we can’t fight all the races though. We put the sleeping council in place before extracting our mate. Fallen, can you protect her in there?”
I grin then. “Have you ever met her? She doesn’t need my protection, they will need it from her.”
My resting place is sealed with the strongest magic on Earth to protect us from those who mean us harm. A last defence while we slumber. I can’t break it, so I simply bypass it.
“Sire?” comes a trembling voice, as the servant flattens himself onto the cold, stone floor where our sleeping bodies are housed and protected beyond anything else in this world. He must have been the one tasked with watching us on this day, ensuring our bodies remained secured and our surroundings cleaned. He lowers his face, unable to look at me as I float through the cracks and fill the room like black smoke. I know what he will see—nothing but bright red eyes flaring in the dark. A nightmare beyond anything this world is accustomed to.
And I am awake again.
“Sire?” he whispers, undoubtedly feeling my malice. “Y-You are not to be awake for another two hundred years.”
“I am aware,” I reply, my voice floating around the room, making him shiver and compress himself further.
“Sire, would you like me to fetch Master Xaph?” he inquires with a whimper.
Of course it is that winged bastard who is awake and in charge right now, the only one of us whom I hate. Not that we care for each other, we are simply together due to power and position, but that goddamned angel and I have always butted heads. Probably due to what we are, it is ingrained into us to detest one another. He will not take this lightly, he will see this as a slight against his power.
I sigh at the discussions that are to come, aching to race into the world and locate the female whose call awoke me, but this must come first.
“Go,” I order, and he scrambles up, still bowed and not looking at me he goes to fetch the angel.
I reform myself as I wait, holding out my arms to watch as they fade from black mist to a corporeal body. Cracking my neck, I confirm I am all there, my golden and black armour in place—another thing the angel hates about me. He thinks gold should be his colour and red mine.
I walk across the floor on bare feet, passing the burial areas where the others are still sleeping, and settle into the throne. Throwing one leg over the golden arm, I lean back and wait, preparing myself for the imminent argument.
I wonder idly what year it is. I keep up to date for the most part with the knowledge funnelled to us, but the last time I was truly awake and in charge, the Romans were in power. They were quite amusing, so much anger. I did like the Vikings best though, easily feeding from their battles. So much hate and rage, not to mention blood. I almost shiver at the memory of how much power I syphoned from them.
The angel felt otherwise, and where I tried to start wars, he attempted to stop them. You see, the world can be nothing without balance, just as an angel sits on this throne, so do I.
A demon, one of war and pain. Not just any demon.
The demon.
Most supernaturals are created through their bloodlines and reproducing, but I wasn’t. I was simply here one day when this world was first created. Called by the need for balance. I have walked through the ages, seen it all, always alone. Constantly feared, the very ground burning under my feet, and the stories of my power spread and were repeated, sometimes in different names.
My favourite is that of the ruler of the underworld. Though the pictures of me were eerily close sometimes—my own fault, I find amusement in scaring the humans of this world.
I go by many names.
Lucifer.
El Diablo.
Hell Spawn.
Evil.
The Snake.
What will she call me?
“Papa!” comes my little girl’s scream. I jerk up in bed. Antoinette is awake by my side and staring at me with fear in her dark brown eyes. Her curly brown hair is up in rollers and askew from sleep. Yanking away the covers, I grab my gun and stumble from our farmhouse in just my sleepwear.
“Ella!” I shout, gazing around at the dark night. Our cows are asleep in the field, as are the sheep. The trees are moving with the breeze, and I shiver from the cold mountain air. The darkness seems somehow stronger tonight, the mountains behind us casting shadows along our land. Something is out there, some
thing evil, I can feel it. I felt it once before, in war, but this is so much more, and my little girl is out here somewhere. “Princess, where are you?” I yell, loading my gun as the mud squelches under my bare feet. To the right are the fields and crops, and I search them as far as I can see, but nothing moves out there. To the left is the barn, the candle burning in front of the fogged windows. I narrow my eyes on it, stepping closer.
The barn doors fly open then smash closed with the breeze, and I notice the light in it then. Racing towards the structure, I slip in the mud before scrambling back to my feet, then I freeze when a high-pitched scream comes from inside, so filled with pain that I don’t know what to do for a moment.
The horses whinny in fear as well, a predator is in there...so is Ella, I know it. Moving forward, I raise my gun and check behind the doors. The light is from the very end, so I move as quickly as I can past the stables and horses, which are rearing with screams.
“Ella!” I shout again.
A laugh cuts through the barn, the eerie sound raising the hairs on the back of my neck, and then I see it. A little, pale hand is stretched out on the hay, covered in blood, still clutching the figurine I made for her yesterday from hair and buttons.
“Ella?” I cry, stepping around the wooden partitions to see my little girl.
Dropping the gun, I fall to my knees with a grief filled scream, clutching her broken body to me. Her face is pale, her eyes open and unseeing. I have seen enough death in my time while fighting the war to know what it is. Blood saturates her nightgown, her little legs covered in mud, her once pale blonde hair streaked with her death.
“Ella, princess,” I cry, tears flowing down my cheeks as I hug her to me. She is so cold, she always hated being cold. “No, no, no.”
A laugh comes again, the light flickering overhead, and I still, something…whatever, whoever is still here and watching me. I slide my hand across the hay to reach for my gun just as the barn doors fly open behind me.