Hunting Darkness (City of Darkness Book 1)

by Maggie Alabaster

  I snorted. "You'd have to fight Damien for the honour every night."

  "Whoever cooks, gongs," Seamus suggested. He sliced up the pie, placed pieces on each plate and put one at my place on the table.

  "I see you have it all thought out." I sat and shifted my rear to get comfortable.

  "I usually do when it's the important things, like this." He grinned.

  I chuckled and picked up a fork. "So, about earlier…"

  He set down the other four plates and sat beside me. "You were just being honest."

  "And you were being a jerk," I said bluntly. "I know that's not nice, but I can't sugarcoat it. If there's something screwing with your head, it's putting us all in danger. And if you can't handle rejection, you're not mature enough for a relationship." I was harsh, and expected him to retaliate.

  Instead he said, "You're right. That wasn't me. For one thing, I'd prefer not to spoil my friendships for the sake of a crush. I mean, I know you don't like me that way." He blushed slightly. "But we're mates. Buddies. Pals."

  "Yes, yes, I get it." I pushed my pastry aside with my fork and let the steam rise from the pie filling so it could begin to cool. "We are. So, did you just wake up feeling like Superman?" Did we have a thunderstorm the night before, or just a rain shower? A stray lighting strike might work in the comic books. Maybe a nuclear reactor failure? The shade wouldn't be the first demon to take advantage of an accident.

  "Maybe the Hulk would be a better comparison," I teased.

  "Hey!" he protested, but grinned nonetheless. It faded quickly. "I didn't notice any change until I saw the spider." He hesitated before adding, "Do you think I might lose it again, like I did before?"

  "You're behaving rationally now. Maybe whatever it was has passed." That would make this a lot easier. A few people behaved in a ridiculous manner for a while, but then everything went back to normal.

  Take that, shade!

  He perked up. "Yes, I am. See, I'm all right to go out and work tonight. All I need is a bit of demon hunting."

  "You heard Malachai," I said calmly.

  His brows knitted. "He doesn't have to be right about everything," he snapped. "Just because he's our team leader, doesn't mean he gets to decide every step I take and… "

  Silence hung between us for a few moments.

  "Uh-ha," I said. So much for this being temporary. "Or you could do as he says and get some rest." I poked around in my pie for a piece of chicken. While I chewed, I said, "Don't worry, we'll figure this out." Hopefully. Otherwise Seamus might be off the team. Wasn't that the point though? To cause a disruption to the world at large, but to the Demon Hunters in particular?

  Why seek me out otherwise?

  I tapped my fork against my lip.

  "What?" Seamus asked.

  "I'm just wondering how widespread this might be. I mean, if they're just trying to cause problems with us, all they'd need is to mess with you. The rest of us are going to see trouble everywhere." Maybe the pedestrian Damien and I followed had merely been a coincidence.

  "I'd prefer if they stay out of my head," Seamus muttered.

  "Better your head than mine," Damien said as he entered the room.

  "I pity the demon who tried getting into your brain, Damo," Freya remarked. She pulled out the chair beside Damien and sat.

  "No demon could handle such awesomeness," Damien said.

  "Keep telling yourself that," Freya replied with a smile.

  "You wound me." Damien pressed a hand to his chest.

  "Don't tempt me," she joked.

  "Now, now children." Malachai took the last seat.

  I watched Seamus as I ate. He said nothing, but his eyes flickered from one team member to another. His brows knitted and he looked anxious. I didn't need telepathy to know he was worried about hurting any of us in a fit of irrational behaviour. Or—being hurt by us. If we all felt the effects at the same time, we could kill each other.

  "Seamus has agreed to rest," I said carefully.

  He twitched, but didn't speak. The tension in the room grew thicker. I turned my attention to finishing my meal as quickly as possible. The sooner I got out and figured out what the hells was going on, the better.

  6

  After a rain shower, the night air was muggy. Streetlight sparkled off the road and turned the city into a glittering crown.

  A car passed, whooshed through puddles and sent droplets of water cascading behind it like a handful of diamond chips.

  The familiar beauty of a Sydney night should have soothed my nerves, but they jangled inside every fibre of me. I stayed near the shadows where possible, away from lit shopfronts and places where people walked about, late night shopping or going to dinner or a show.

  I kept my distance from everyone. A woman with a sword strapped to her back was a novelty, even in this city.

  A group of men and a woman a few years younger approached, heading in the direction I'd come from.

  I stiffened and hurriedly turned a corner. I stepped into a darker street before I stopped and pressed my back to the wall.

  The group laughed and joked as they passed by. No one so much as looked in my direction. In moments, they were out of sight and earshot. Or maybe their chatter was drowned out by my pounding heart.

  I sucked in a breath and berated myself for being so jumpy. "Irrational behaviour," I muttered. "It's stupid." I pushed myself off the wall and drew myself up. Maybe it's opposite week.

  Seamus was acting contrary to the way he usually did. Evidently, so was I. I would not normally hide around corners to avoid people. Or talk to myself out loud. Maybe it was instinct. They could have been demons. Nothing I'd seen as they walked passed suggested that though.

  No, it was just me. Or the demon whammy influencing me.

  Neither was good.

  I turned to step back out onto the busier street and almost missed the demon who walked out a door at the end of the alley and into my path. He swung a hefty arm at my head and missed by a hair.

  "Fuck." I leapt back and pulled out my sword. Any closer and I might have been knocked out cold. That would suck. I would be dead without even seeing it coming.

  Breathing hard already, I took in the demon. He—I assumed, judging by the heavy beard—was at least two heads taller than me. At least he didn't have two heads, but the one he did have was pretty hideous. His eyes were twice the size of a normal person, as was his nose. That was elongated, like a shortened version of a trunk. His body was wider than mine by half again at least, and all muscle. A sleeveless shirt showed biceps the size of my thighs. His hands and feet were enormous, almost out of proportion with the rest of him.

  Buying shoes and gloves to fit must be a bitch.

  "Elephant demon?" I suggested lightly. "No, elephants are too cute for that." He was anything but cute. Ugly as a hat full of bums, as a friend of mine used to say.

  The demon snorted, blowing droplets out his nose. "Not all demons have an animal counterpart. Some of us are original." He squared his shoulders with pride.

  A face only a mother could love.

  "If you say so," I said. "Do you need a tissue?"

  The demon grunted, which I took for a laugh. "If I did, I would take them off your cooling body, after I smashed your head in like a watermelon."

  "You remind me of a guy I saw on one of those blind date shows," I said. "He didn't get lucky either."

  Another grunt. "I thought Demon Hunters were all action. You do nothing but talk."

  I chuckled. "Yeah, I've been told that. It's just part of my charm." Usually, I used the time to size up my opponents and look for weaknesses.

  Tonight, however, I didn't want to fight. He was huge and I felt woefully unprepared.

  Irrational thought.

  I knew how to do my job. Had done it hundreds of times. Hunt down demons who would kill people.

  Kill them first.

  Simple.

  Yet doubt hung in the back of my mind. What if he was too much for me?
r />   Irrational thought.

  I shook my head. A club-like hand and arm swung at my face.

  I ducked.

  "Is that all you've got?"

  He grunted, pivoted with more grace than I would expect from someone his size, and swung again. A blow glanced off my shoulder. Pain seared through my arm, almost bad enough to make me drop my sword. A touch lower and I would have a broken shoulder.

  The demon laughed, a low rumbling from his chest. "I thought Demon Hunters were strong, tough. A trophy for the demon who kills one. You're not worthy of being scraped off the bottom of my shoe."

  "Hey, that's a low blow, asshole. You should definitely wipe me off if you step on me."

  What in the world was I saying?

  "Not that you'll get the chance." I wanted to lunge, to drive my sword into his torso, through all the muscle and fat.

  I hesitated, frozen for a moment.

  Not frozen, I told myself as I sucked in a breath, letting him tire. I would have to be faster than him, stay out of his reach. Let him be on the offensive until he wore himself out trying to bash my head in.

  "Says you," he replied. "You look puny to me, and alone."

  "Puny? Who uses words like that?" I ducked back of reach as he swung one arm, then the other in quick succession. "Unless you're trying to describe a special part of your anatomy. Can't be big everywhere, I suppose."

  The demon roared in fury.

  Good, I hit a nerve. The angrier he got, the more likely he'd make mistakes. I could use as many of those as I could get.

  He ran at me, arms flailing. I dropped to a crouch and rolled out of the way. I just regained my feet before he turned and ran at me again.

  This time, I caught a blow to the side of my head. Pain blurred my vision. Breath hissed between my teeth. I blinked to clear my eyes and managed to avoid another strike on the other side of my head.

  "By the way," I said, fighting the darkness which threatened to engulf me. "I'm not alone. You just can't see the rest of my army."

  The demon snorted again through his enormous proboscis. Drops of mucus landed on my bare arm, stinging my skin. Not just snot then. Where they landed, my skin began to smoke slightly.

  "Acid of some kind? You are full of surprises, as well as shit."

  "You're one to talk," he said derisively. "You are very much alone. Except for me, you'll die alone. I'll enjoy hearing your last breath."

  "You must be a blast at parties."

  "I'm the life of the party," he replied, "and the death."

  "Yeah, I believe the latter." My head pounded. The skin on my arm blistered and peeled in a matter of moments. The stinging subsided. A distraction then, I decided, rather than a weapon. Nature certainly created some interesting creatures.

  He came at me again. I threw myself sideways and landed heavily on my already injured shoulder. Agony drove the breath from my lungs before I managed to roll to avoid his enormous foot stamping down hard, aiming for my head.

  I pulled myself to my feet and slashed at him with my sword. It was an act of desperation, something I hadn't done since my training days.

  Gods.

  "I've decided to let you live," the demon declared. "At least for a little longer than I intended. Playing with you is so much more fun than I expected. When I left my house this evening, I thought it would be another dull night, looking for vagrants and other stray humans to feast on. This is turning out so much better than I imagined."

  "Haven't you been told not to play with your food?" I ground out.

  "Repeatedly," he replied. "It's such a cliché. Besides, I like playing with my food. It makes the meal so much more worthwhile."

  I grimaced. After all the years of fighting demons, I didn't want to end up in his digestive system. "That's disgusting."

  "Thank you." The demon swept a low bow, but kept his bulging eyes on me the entire time.

  Not as stupid as he looked then.

  Maybe.

  "Wow, happy to be revolting. That's a new low." My hand tightened around the sword.

  "So much talk." He stalked around me, forcing me to turn slowly to keep up with him. "So little hunting and fighting." He clicked his tongue. It sounded like an insect rubbing its wings.

  "I suppose you could say I'm not really worth the effort to kill," I said.

  He chuckled. "Not really, but no one needs to know that but you and me. To everyone else, I'll proclaim this as a great victory. I'll parade your head around to all my friends." He puffed out his chest.

  "So, you'll lie."

  He shrugged, burly shoulders rising and falling slowly. "A harmless lie, which will elevate me in the eyes of everyone I know."

  "You really are full of shit." My best bet, I decided, would be to try to find a way to distract him. Then I'd run. I hated the idea, but it would be better to live to fight another day than to take a fatal pounding. Assuming I could outrun him.

  He stopped moving. His hand flexed. "Enough of this," he growled. "You're starting to bore me."

  "Short attention span? Colour me surprised."

  A car approached, headlights dazzling me. I threw a hand over my eyes and jumped back.

  A thud and squeal of brakes echoed through the alley. The demon flew into the air and slammed into the windshield. The glass shattered, spraying shards in a thousand different directions.

  I closed my eyes and turned my face.

  Grunt.

  I opened my eyes.

  The demon's legs protruded from the front of the car. He kicked them, weakly at first. With a jerk, he pushed himself back, slid down the bonnet, and landed on the ground like a hundred kilogram bag of manure. Blood trickled down his face. He wiped it with the back of his arm and rose.

  He just managed to steady himself on his feet when his head went flying, severed from his body with a single blow.

  "What the fuck?"

  "I told you I was ready for work." Seamus stepped out from behind the rest of the demon as it fell. He gave it a revolted look before he lowered his sword.

  "Yeah, I hope you're insured." His poor car, a beaten up old shit heap, but a car nonetheless, was a mess. "On second thought, you better find a Demon Hunter mechanic for this one, or they'll start looking for whoever you hit and ran."

  His face fell. "You're welcome?"

  I blinked at him. "Yeah, sorry. Thanks. I mean, I had it all under control." I slumped back against a wall. That was a flat out lie. I wasn't sure I would have been able to run, even if I had distracted the demon for long enough. What the hells was happening to me?

  Whatever it was, I didn't like it.

  "Um, Juliet."

  "What?" I looked in the direction he was pointing. The demon's head was rolling slowly back toward his body. Before I could move, it resumed its place on top of his neck and fused, skin knitting and smoothing over. Blood dried, caked, and crumbled away.

  "What the fuck?" I swore.

  The demon shook, rose to his feet, and grinned.

  "Round two."

  7

  "I've heard about demons you have to burn to make sure they stay dead, but I've never seen one."

  Did Seamus have to sound so fascinated? Damien was rubbing off on him.

  "Yeah, the world is full of wonders," I said dryly.

  "It really is," he agreed.

  I wanted to tell him to get into his car and drive away, that I could handle this by myself.

  I didn't.

  I wasn't sure I could. The first round had been bad enough.

  "Watch out for his mouth," I warned. "He likes to talk people to death. Isn't that right, big boy?"

  The demon grinned. "Two Demon Hunters. This is my lucky night."

  "Hey, just out of curiosity, how many times can you do that? Reattach your head, I mean. It's a great trick, but surely it's limited." I eyed him carefully. It was possible his brain wasn't in his head. Reattaching limbs was one thing, but the brain was too complicated to be severed and then work again, just like that. Well, u
nless there was a shit-ton of magic involved, which I couldn't rule out. The paranormal world held more wonders than I could get my head around in a whole lifetime.

  "As many times as it takes," he replied, an extra hint of swagger in his voice. "How about you?"

  "Oh," I waved my free hand. "Once it's off, it's off." I glanced sideways at Seamus. "Aim for his chest."

  Seamus nodded. "His chest, got it."

  The demon's expression faded into a frown.

  Gotcha.

  I danced toward him, sword raised. My aching shoulder protested every move. I kept my distance but moved steadily, trying to draw his gaze with me. Broken glass crunched under my boots.

  "I look forward to knocking your head off," the demon declared. The bravado sounded false now; an edge of nervousness laced his tone.

  "Good luck with that." I jerked back to avoid his swinging fist and slipped on the glass underfoot. I fell and rolled, winced as shards pierced skin on the backs of my hands.

  They dug into my knees before I jumped back to my feet.

  "I don't need luck." He came at me, harder than before, his body thrown behind one more blow. He slammed into me. His chest took me in the cheek and drove me back. I flew across the footpath and into the side of a building.

  Someone cried out in pain. I realised it was me. My back pounded against brick, rough and unyielding. I slid down. My jacket scraped, then rose up my back. My shirt went with it, bare skin, flesh, rubbing against the wall. I hit the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of me.

  The demon landed beside me. He looked over at me and grinned.

  Then Seamus was on him.

  He threw himself down onto the prone body of the demon, straddled him, sword raised above his head. He drove it hard into the demon's back. Steel squealed as it ground into concrete under the hideous creature.

  The demon gurgled. Dark blood caught me in the face. I squeezed my eyes shut.

  The pain threatened to swamp me, drag me down into some dark depth I might never return from. At least I was aware of my death. So much better than being knocked out cold and then killed.