Stalked by Demons

by Trudi Jaye

  And it pops again. More energy is gone.

  But how much demon energy is still inside me?

  I don’t know.

  The screeching starts again. This time it’s so agonizing that I break through whatever was inhibiting me before, and scream. I clench my hands and smash them into the mattress underneath me. It feels like my sanity is being held together by a thread, and that thread is rapidly breaking apart, even as I watch. The screeching fills me up, and then it’s overflowing, seeping out of me into the air. There’s nothing more to give.

  My consciousness starts to fade away, and I’m floating on a wide ocean. The sky is blue above me, and the water is blue all around me. It’s calm and peaceful here.

  And then suddenly an annoying bright-green insect is buzzing around my head. I try to flick it away, but it only buzzes louder. It sounds like it’s calling my name. It just won’t leave me alone. I try to ignore it, to wish it away, but it becomes more insistent. Louder.

  Hazel.

  Wake up.

  Hazel.

  The ocean disappears. I open my eyes and look straight into Blade’s bright-green eyes. He called me back somehow. He saved me. I blink. Agonising pain spreads over my body again. The knife is still in my leg, Blade’s hands are still wrapped around the handle.

  “Just one more time, Hazel,” whispers Blade, like he can’t bear to say the words any louder. “Then it’ll all be out.”

  I shake my head. I can’t. I won’t.

  “I have no choice,” he says, his expression strained.

  The screeching starts again. The pain.

  I’m hollow. I’ve been sucked dry. I can’t even scream. My insides must be visible through my skin, it’s so thin and papery.

  I can’t do it. I can’t survive this anymore. I gasp in tiny agonizing breaths, wishing I had enough in me to make it through this.

  But I don’t. I’m going to die.

  And then a little song starts inside me. A thin wavery sound, like whoever is singing is unsure how the tune actually goes. It’s “Eternal Flame” the lullaby I sang at the ranch.

  It’s the little demon, trying to soothe me. It’s still inside me, so small it can hide deep inside, somewhere the magic of the knife can’t get to it. I take a deep breath and let the song flow over me. Then another breath. The little demon is rescuing me, keeping me from the terrible stinging magic of the knife that’s violently sucking the raw demon energy out of me.

  For the first time, I’m grateful I have the little demon inside me.

  The screeching dims to the background, and the ragged edges of the agonizing pain are smoothed out.

  Pop.

  It stops.

  I slump back into the bed.

  “I’m going to pull the knife out,” says Blade. “I didn’t hit anything major.”

  I clear my throat. “How can you tell?” I ask croakily. My head feels clearer now, like I can actually think again.

  “I’d be able to tell,” says Blade grimly. “A hunter needs to know whether the prey is fatally wounded.” Without waiting, he pulls the knife out, and my body spasms upward from the pain. Immediately something is pressed tightly over the wound.

  “We just need to keep the pressure on,” says Blade. “Do you have any painkillers?”

  I nod. “Bathroom.”

  Damien immediately disappears.

  “Thank you,” I whisper to Blade.

  “For what? Stabbing you?” His voice is bleak and I can tell he’s already trying to blame himself.

  “For saving me,” I say firmly.

  46

  I open my eyes, blearily. My leg is throbbing, the blood pounding through my veins like jackhammers on a side street. I moan, but it doesn’t help.

  It takes me a few moments to remember where I am and what happened. Morning light is filtering through the edges of my curtains, and I squint against the brightness. I look around the familiar landmarks of my bedroom. The dresser, the chair, the piles of clothes. My books on a shelf. I wrap the familiarity around me like a blanket. It soothes my battered senses.

  The sunlight indicates I’ve slept through the night at least. I look around for my glasses and see them on the bedside table. I’m just putting them on when there’s movement at the door and Blade enters, his face grim.

  I smile at him. I’m still here, and that’s a good thing.

  “How do you feel?” he says in a soft voice.

  “Terrible,” I reply without thinking. “My leg is killing me.”

  His eyes widen and he glances toward my leg. “We should—”

  “It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt like it did last night. It just aches.”

  “Show me,” he says, coming closer.

  I lift the bedcovers off my leg, and he drags a chair over by the bed, sitting down and leaning in, examining the bandaged wound.

  “It seems okay,” he says eventually. “I can’t see any more bleeding. It’s not infected.”

  I lean forward, trying to see what he can see. “You’re sure?”

  “It’s fine. Again, I have excellent senses.” He shrugs. “Part of my charm.”

  I let out a breath. “Thank you,” I whisper.

  Blade shifts his position in the chair, moving closer to me. “Do you remember anything about what happened last night?” He takes my hand, almost like he hasn’t noticed he’s done it. The feeling of his warm skin against mine is soothing and causes delightful tingles up my arm.

  “You mean how I signed an employment agreement with the SIG?” I say. And how I made an agreement with Connor.

  “Yeah, that.” He looks down at the ground, his expression troubled.

  “Is that how you were recruited?”

  He glances up into my eyes. “I’m not technically an employee like you. But no, I’ve never seen Damien do anything like that before. It was… disturbing.”

  I shiver. “Why does Damien think I’m so important?”

  Blade shakes his head. “I don’t know.” He lapses into silence, still holding my hand.

  I don’t know either, and I don’t like it. It feels like Damien knows more than he’s letting on. I’m going to have to make him tell me. How am I supposed to be an effective demon energy researcher if I don’t know all the facts?

  And what about Connor? Am I going to be able to work for the SIG and continue working for the Professor? Because Connor seems like the kind of asshole who’ll keep his promise to tell the authorities at Ravenwood where to find me if I don’t give him what he wants.

  I’m so close to figuring all this out. I don’t want to go back to Ravenwood—especially not for something I didn’t do. I glance at Blade, who’s staring down at the carpet like it’s going to answer the riddles of the universe. For a split second I consider telling him who I really am. Asking for his help.

  Except he’s a fiercely honorable guy. And his first loyalties lie with his family, and then the SIG. I’d come a distant third. Maybe even further down, I don’t really know that much about him and the rest of his life. And he’s already said the SIG doesn’t get involved in the human justice system, so there’s nothing he can do to save me, even if he wanted to. I’d end up thrown in the deepest darkest cell at Ravenwood—

  A thought swirls in my head. What did Damien say last night? That I was too dangerous for them to consider ignoring me? That my choices were to join the SIG or die? If I ended up back at Ravenwood, drugged up and delusional, would they let me live? I shiver. I don’t think so, not after the way Damien acted last night.

  So I have to keep it from the SIG as well. At least until I can figure out a way to escape this whole situation.

  “Why did Damien say that your brand of charm didn’t work this time?” I ask eventually. I can’t help thinking of the pity-kiss. Was that an attempt to get me to join the SIG? It makes me want to pull my hand away from his. Almost.

  Blade blinks and looks at me as if I’ve brought him back from some very distant thoughts. He hesitates. “I’m also the S
IG recruiter for the region. He wanted me to recruit you.”

  “Is that what you were doing?” I ask. My hand trembles in his.

  Blade shakes his head. “No, I hadn’t had a chance to talk to you about it, not really.”

  “You weren’t trying to charm me into it?”

  “Did I seem charming to you?”

  I shake my head. “No, I guess not.” Does wanting to kiss him again count?

  The door opens again at that moment, and Damien comes in. Blade pulls his hand away and leans back.

  “You’re still here?” I say scowling.

  Damien clears his throat. “Look, about what happened—”

  The little demon stirs inside me. “Why did you blackmail me into joining the SIG?” I demand.

  Damien blinks and halts in his tracks. “It was for your own good. This is the only way I can give you the protection you need.” I notice he doesn’t deny that it was blackmail.

  “I’m not a child.”

  “No, but sometimes you act like one.”

  “Only because you treat me like one,” I mutter, trying not to sulk. It’d only prove his point.

  “I honestly have no idea how you made it this far on your own.”

  His statement isn’t a question, but I glance at Blade and then answer him as if it was. “I grew up off the grid in a community of survivalists. No electricity except what we made, no shopping malls, no Internet, nothing. Maybe there weren’t that many demons in the middle of the forest.”

  “It’s possible,” says Damien, his tone thoughtful. “It could have also been because your parents were hiding you from someone. They might have been doing it on purpose.”

  I remember my father’s secrets. “My father was a supernatural, but he hid it from me. He saw the demon before it attacked us.”

  Damien nodded. “He was probably in on it, whatever was happening.”

  I shiver, but not from the cold. There’s too much going on, too many games being played around me. “What am I, what can I do, that my parents would go to those lengths to keep it a secret from me?” I ask.

  “I don’t know. I’ve been reading up on other chalices. It’s a bit sketchy, but I do know that your specialty is demons and other forms of energy. You can kill them and absorb their energy… but you already know that.”

  I nod, wondering how soon I can read those same documents.

  “I’m leaving now. I need to get back. In the meantime, Blade is your superior. You do what he tells you.”

  I lean forward. “I need to keep working with the Professor,” I say quickly, as Damien turns to go. I have to do it, or Connor is going to mess with everything.

  Damien is already shaking his head. “I need you—”

  “I’m not going to do anything either you or Blade says, unless you let me work with the Professor. I’m telling you now.” I cross my arms over my chest. The demon is fidgeting inside me, like it knows this is important.

  Damien glances at Blade who shrugs.

  “Fine,” he snaps. “Keep working for the old man. But only a few hours a week, and when something comes up for the SIG, it comes first.”

  I nod, too relieved to argue his terms.

  “I knew you’d be an annoying employee,” he says as he stalks out the door.

  “And I knew you’d be an annoying boss,” I call out as he disappears down the hallway.

  “I think he likes you,” says Blade with a half smile. “He’s not normally that lenient.”

  “Lenient?”

  Blade nods. “Lenient. Seriously. But he’s right. You need to do what I say. You keep getting yourself into dangerous situations. Almost getting killed.”

  “Like when I saved you? Twice?” I manage to keep the smirking to a minimum.

  Blade’s lips flatten out. “I said thank you. And I meant it. But this is different. Being a SIG agent is dangerous enough without you acting rashly all the time.“

  “Then I want you to teach me some fighting skills. Maybe how to use a knife.”

  Blade shakes his head. “No. That’s too dangerous. And my knife wouldn’t absorb demons for you. It’s tied magically to my family.”

  “It’s not just about absorbing demons. I need to know how to protect myself. What if I promise to do whatever you say?” I ask. “Like a proper little new recruit?”

  “That would help.”

  “Would you teach me, then?”

  “You have so many more talents. You don’t need to learn to use a knife. That’s close combat. You can just sing, and they die.”

  I shake my head. “I’m never absorbing another demon. Not if you’re going to stab me every time to get them out.”

  “You’ll get stronger,” says Blade. “And we’ll find out more information. We’ll figure all this out.“ He’s staring at me like I’m the only person in the room. Hell, the only person in the city. I have to say, I rather like it.

  “You’ll help me?” I ask.

  “I’ll help.”

  A warm, fuzzy feeling spreads through my body.

  Maybe this will work out after all.

  47

  “We don’t have much time. You need to start now,” says Damien, his voice sounding distant and crackly over the phone. It’s less than twenty-four hours since he left my apartment.

  “What?” I say stupidly. I’m sitting next to Blade, wearing my oldest sweats and finally trying out my PlayStation. My leg is still killing me, and I haven’t been able to get past the sofa. The phone is lying next to me, on speaker so Blade can hear too.

  “I have your first assignment.”

  I look at Blade in alarm. “What’s he talking about?” I can barely walk on my bandaged-up leg, and I still feel woozy from having so much demon energy inside me.

  Blade shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

  “We don’t have time for theatrics. There’s a huge increase in the number of demons in your region. Something’s up, and I need you two to find out what.”

  “You’re sending me on a mission?” I say.

  “You can’t,” says Blade. “She’s not ready. She barely knows how to use her power. She’ll get herself killed. She’ll get me killed.”

  My first reaction is to be offended, but then I look down at my leg and remember going up against the demons in the forest. “He’s right. I’ll get us both killed.”

  “You’re demon hunters. You’ll figure it out.”

  “Can’t you send someone else?”

  “There’s no one else.”

  “Can’t you come help us, then?” I know I sound whiney, but I can’t help it.

  “There’s a major situation here in New York. I can’t leave.”

  “What kind of situation?” asks Blade.

  Damien ignores his question. “I trust you to sort this out, Blade. Lives are at stake.”

  “Yeah, my own,” mutters Blade, but he doesn’t say it with any conviction, and I know Damien has won.

  “I don’t know what I’m doing,” I say, trying to get him to see sense. “It’ll be like putting Bambi up against those things from the Alien movie.” I gesture with my hand as if something is bursting out of my stomach.

  “You’ll be fine. You’ve been fine so far, right?”

  I don’t even know where to begin answering that question.

  Damien correctly interprets my silence. “Learn from your mistakes,” he says.

  “Or think before you act,” adds Blade. His voice has a sarcastic edge to it, and I hit him on the arm.

  “The best way to train a demon hunter is to drop them right in it,” says Damien. “Go investigate this build-up before a demon kills someone.”

  “Do you have any information for us? Reports on the extra demons, where it’s coming from?” asks Blade.

  “San Jose. That’s all I know.”

  “Is this why you recruited me?” I ask.

  “No, it’s not why I recruited you. You need to be part of the SIG because that’s the only way I can protect you.”


  “Some protection. You’re sending me out to hunt demons.”

  “I don’t need to protect you from demons. You can do that for yourself. There are other forces at work here.”

  “Like what?”

  “I can’t tell you. At least not right now.”

  I let a frustrated huff of breath out. “So I’m supposed to just go out and kill the demons, like a good little agent?”

  “As far as I can understand, that’s your superpower.”

  “Lucky I can sing, then, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t think you’d have been a chalice if you couldn’t,” says Damien drily. “Any other questions before I go?”

  “When will you be back out this way?” I blurt.

  “I’m not sure. But Blade will take good care of you. He knows what he’s doing.”

  “But—”

  I’m too slow. Damien hangs up.

  ***

  Thank you so much for reading Stalked by Demons!

  What’s going to happen next for Hazel and Blade? Will she be able to figure out her powers? What’s going to happen next time she comes up against a demon? Who is Connor, and what does he really want?

  Find out the answers in the next book - Dancing with Demons, due out 3 July, 2020.

  Pre-order here.

  Everyone wants a piece of Hazel.

  After all, she's a rare type of supernatural who can hunt, control and kill the most dangerous and unpredictable of demons. Even maybe use their energy for herself.

  But it turns out there's more to being a professional demon hunter than Hazel expected—and there are much darker secrets in her past than she could ever have guessed.

  When a new demon infestation threatens the city, Hazel must work with Blade to battle their common enemy. But old habits die hard, and she soon finds herself at the mercy of a foe much, much worse than ordinary demons…

  Get Dancing with Demons now.