Demon Hunter

by Jacquie Underdown

  Again he nodded. Again the pulse.

  “It must be the shock or...or a concussion,” she said.

  “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  “Maybe I should go to the hospital.”

  He removed the object from her face. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary. How does your face feel now?”

  She pressed her fingers to her cheek, then her head. The pain was gone—completely. Sammy’s eyes widened. “It doesn’t hurt.” She nodded to the cylinder Jonty was shoving back into his pocket. “Is that anesthetic?”

  He shook his head. “It’s a healing accelerator.”

  “Are you saying that thing has healed my face?”

  He nodded.

  “I…” She closed her eyes for a brief moment. “I think I’m going mad. First I find myself on a balcony, half-naked, with a man I barely know, who pushes me off an eight-story high building. And then I’m saved from plummeting to my death by you. And now...now you’re telling me you have placed that thing against my face for thirty seconds and it has healed me!”

  Jonty shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah. That just about sums it up.”

  Her forehead wrinkled. “Doesn’t that sound even the tiniest bit strange to you?”

  “Not to me.”

  Sammy’s jaw clenched. She could barely speak. “Who are you? What the hell happened to me tonight?”

  Jonty held her gaze, but didn’t say anything for a long moment. Eventually he sighed and said, “My name is Jonty Jager. I guess you could say that I’m a…soldier.”

  “For who? What country?”

  He drew a deep breath in. “For Earth.”

  Sammy shook her head and groaned. “I don’t even know what that means.”

  “I, and others like me, travel where we’re needed, when we’re needed, to ensure peace is maintained on a worldwide scale.”

  She glowered at him. For one, world peace didn’t exist—Sammy’s line of work reminded her of that every day—so how could he be required to maintain it? And secondly… “How am I possibly a threat to world peace?”

  Jonty frowned deeply. “That I’m still not sure about.”

  “And what about Adam?” Her voice grew louder, more high-pitched. “What is he? What did he want from me?”

  He rubbed at his forehead. “Maybe if you tell me about yourself, I might be able to determine what you have to do with all this.”

  Sammy shrugged. “I’m no one special. I’m just an ordinary girl from an ordinary family. My dad’s a school teacher, my mum’s a nurse. Hardly high risk occupations. I’ve never had trouble from anyone in my life. I don’t understand any of this.”

  “Who do you work for?” he asked.

  “A charity—Helping Hands. We fundraise and coordinate volunteers to help children in orphanages. Adam just started working with us this week. He seemed genuine and acted as though he cared about what we’re doing and the children we’re helping.”

  Jonty nodded. “For starters, Adam would find your line of work repulsive. For him to even be at a charity indicates he had an ulterior motive.”

  “A few colleagues and I just got back from Cambodia. We volunteered at an orphanage there for three months. Could that have anything to do with it?”

  Jonty shook his head. “Doesn’t seem likely. I think it’s you, Sammy. You’re the key in all this.”

  Sammy lowered her head in her hands and rubbed her face. This was too much to take in. Last night she was eating spaghetti with her parents and little sister, laughing and chatting about inconsequential things, and barely twenty-four hours later she was very nearly murdered and discovered that she could be the key to some situation that threatened world peace.

  It didn’t seem right. She had dedicated her life to helping others through her work and her volunteering efforts on weekends. She even fostered abandoned dogs and cats until they were placed in new homes. Sammy didn’t have enemies. She didn’t do anything that threatened anyone.

  Her ears rang with any eerie high-pitched squealing. She felt dizzy, as though she could fall head-first onto the floor.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I think I’m overwhelmed by everything. What has happened to me tonight is very surreal.”

  “I understand this situation would be difficult for you. And I’m sorry you’ve been caught up in all this.”

  She gripped Jonty’s wrist to steady herself. The mere contact of his skin on hers brought a sense of calm to her body. And then the calmness transformed into a heat that intensified the longer she held him. She gasped as the heat morphed again into a pleasurable throbbing that flowed to her breasts, to the deep muscles of her belly, to her sex. Jonty’s eyes widened. He felt it too, she was certain of it.

  “Are you doing that?” she asked, wanting to break contact with him, but enjoying the sensation so much she couldn’t bring herself to do it. His energy surged through her, reaching every sensitive region of her body from the inside.

  He shook his head and stepped closer. “No. It’s a natural exchange.”

  True. It wasn’t like what happened with Adam, where she had no control over the sensations and they somehow felt corrupted, forced. This feeling was light, wholesome, and right.

  “How?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s never happened to me before.”

  She slid her hand from his wrist to his hand and entwined her fingers with his. The feelings intensified. “What does it mean?”

  Jonty peered at her, mouth slightly open, and shook his head. His gaze trailed downward from her eyes to her lips. Sammy could feel his intention through his gaze: he ached to press his lips against hers. She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, granting him permission.

  He leant in slowly and she breathed in the delicious, masculine scent of his skin. And when he pressed his lips to hers, so sensually, and she tasted his tongue as it slid into her mouth, every ounce of self-control departed her body. This man was intoxicating, breathtakingly, dizzyingly so.

  He snapped his head back. Sammy’s eyes shot open. Jonty was shaking his head, his lips twisted in revulsion.

  She pressed her hand to her chest, tried to stop the aching in her heart that his expression and rejection caused.

  He took a step back. “I’ve got to go.”

  “What? Where? What if Adam comes back for me?”

  Another step backward. “You’ll be fine. I— This was a big mistake.” He ruffled his hands through his hair. “A big mistake. Just pretend like tonight never happened—like you never met me.”

  Chapter 4

  Just like that, Jonty retreated from Sammy’s life.

  She remained atop the bench staring at the space in front of her. I wish this night would end already.

  Sammy scooted off the bench, marched to the front door, and locked it. Her apartment was well-protected, but without Jonty’s presence, a cloud of fear settled in her mind and she began to quake. The fear bit at her ankles, and she quickened her pace as she gathered her pajamas from her closet and went to the bathroom to shower. All her anxieties about what happened with Adam, what she felt and what she saw, only now began to surface. She wondered if she should ring the police. Perhaps they could provide her with protection.

  Peering at her reflection in the mirror, she touched her cheek. There was no pain, no swelling, absolutely no sign that anything untoward had even happened. The police would be no help, not without some level of evidence.

  She undressed quickly and kicked her dress into the corner, willing to never wear it again. It reeked of Adam. As Sammy stepped into the shower, she shuddered. A layer of goose bumps spread along the length of her arms. Her body remembered the danger she had encountered tonight, or perhaps sensed a new danger.

  Sammy hurried under the steaming stream of water and scrubbed her body with soap to remove all traces of Adam’s mouth, fingers, and intentions. She shuddered again as an image of his face and snarling mouth flashed in her mind’s eye. “What’s wrong with m
e?” she said to the silent room, her voice echoing off the shower walls. I must be in shock, or delirious.

  Bed seemed like the appropriate place to be; in bed and asleep, lost to unconsciousness, where reality couldn’t find her. Hopefully when she woke tomorrow it would have all been a dream.

  Sammy turned off the taps, wrapped a towel around her torso, and rushed to her bedroom. Once dressed in a pair of black silk shorts and a singlet, she lay back on her bed and closed her eyes. But nervous energy was buzzing through her body so much her muscles twitched, and sleep seemed impossible to achieve.

  If only she had been provided with more answers to the peculiar series of events tonight. To Adam. To why she was thrown off an eight-story high balcony. But despite all that, what she wanted the answer to the most was why Jonty stirred her in ways she had never been stirred before. And why did he seem so repulsed by her when they kissed?

  I am seriously delirious. I was thrown off a balcony and I’m worrying about him.

  She sighed heavily as a loud knock sounded at the front door. Sammy’s heart rattled against her ribcage. She rolled off the bed, grabbed her red silk gown from the closet and wrapped it around her shoulders, drawing the belt tightly around her middle. On tiptoes, she crept toward the door. Another knock came. She almost gasped, but threw her hands over her mouth to stifle the sound. She padded up to the door, to the peephole. Holding her breath, she peered through.

  “Are you going to let me in or will I have to break the door down?” It was Adam, staring, his face even more contorted through the distorted glass of the peephole.

  She jumped back from the door. Her stomach surged and gurgled toward her throat.

  Another knock came, so much more violent than the last. The sound ripped through her silent apartment and her body. She opened her mouth to scream, but was muted when someone grabbed her from behind. A rough hand held her around the waist. The other was forcefully cupping her mouth. She tried to scream again, but it couldn’t find an outlet beyond her throat.

  “Shhh, Sammy. It’s me Jonty,” came his hushed voice. A voice which, in that moment, sounded ethereal.

  “Promise you won’t scream if I uncover your mouth?” he said into her ear, so soft, so close, she could feel his warm breath.

  Sammy nodded.

  Slowly, he removed his hand and she spun to face him.

  “It’s Adam,” she said, eyes wide.

  Jonty grimaced. “I know. Go wait for me in your room. I’ll deal with it.”

  She shook her head, unable to move her muscles, as though she was firmly grounded in cement. “But I’m scared.”

  The locks on the door began to jiggle off their hinges. They snapped their heads in the direction of the sound.

  He pointed toward her room. “Go. Now!”

  There was an enormous thud—the door flung open and crashed onto the floor. Adam and two other men charged inside.

  “Run!” roared Jonty, poised to attack.

  Sammy sprinted toward her room. All she wanted was to get through the bedroom door and lock it behind her.

  Blows, grunts, and cracks sounded behind her, but she tried to push the sickening noises away, unable to confront what she could only imagine would be taking place.

  How will Jonty be able to defend himself against three men?

  Sammy changed direction, her body buzzing. I need to help him. She dashed to the kitchen, opened a utensil drawer, and rummaged through it until she gripped the cold handle of a butcher’s knife. Only then did she lift her eyes to the scene that was taking place in the lounge room.

  One man was slack on the ground, his head loosely hanging ninety degrees in the wrong direction. Another sat against the wall in a pool of his own blood, a long shard of glass protruding from his chest. All that remained was Adam and Jonty delivering gut-wrenching kicks and blows to one another at a rapid pace.

  Jonty jumped and landed a flying kick to Adam’s chest. Adam flew backward through the air. He smashed against the wall and fell prostrate on the ground, chunks of plaster and dust showering him. He lifted his head, shook the white powder from his hair, and saw Sammy. His black eyes narrowed, and a snarl ripped from his throat. He jumped to his feet and lurched toward her.

  Chapter 5

  Jonty charged at Adam. Sammy, with a trembling hand, held the knife out in front of her, standing her ground. There was fierce determination in her exquisite eyes. She is definitely courageous.

  Adam roared and lunged at her.

  This is my moment. Jonty threw his whole strength at Adam, smashed his shoulder against him and threw him off trajectory. Jonty ripped the knife from Sammy’s hand as he jumped and spun. Adam plummeted to the hard floor. Jonty landed with both feet on Adam’s chest, making his body jerk upward. Without any hesitation, every muscle engaged to its fullest capacity, he plunged the knife directly between Adam’s eyes, ducking his head to avoid the spray of warm, coppery blood. One final breath wheezed from Adam’s lungs as life hastily departed.

  Jonty stepped off of Adam’s limp body, sucking in rushed gasps of air. He wouldn’t look at Sammy, couldn’t look at her, until he had cleaned up the mess. One by one, he stuck travel devices onto each body and sent them back to the time period they should never have left. Their bodies would be dealt with there. Not here. Not in front of innocent human beings. Not in front of this woman who had disobeyed his order to hide and, instead, risked her life to help him fight.

  Only when the last body had vanished into the unseeable future did he raise his eyes to meet Sammy’s. Her beautiful blue eyes, wide, frightened. She hadn’t moved an inch. He stepped toward her, a strange aching permeating his limbs.

  “Are you okay, Sammy?”

  She nodded, then shook her head. A solitary tear ran down her cheek. He caught it with his thumb and tenderly wiped it from her face.

  “No. No, I’m not okay. I’m really, really not okay.”

  His chest was tight, his heavy heart weighing him down. He reached for Sammy and wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her close and stroked the loose strands of hair from her face. Trembling, she nuzzled into the curve of his neck. She smelt so good, and her warmth felt incredible. But he shouldn’t be thinking like this, not now, when she was upset by all she had witnessed tonight. And especially not with a girl from the past—from this time.

  Jonty breathed in the floral scent of her hair as he glided his hand down the curve of her spine. His breaths grew heavier. He couldn’t control it. This intimate contact made him want her in every way a man wants a woman.

  “You were incredibly brave tonight, Sammy.”

  “I didn’t feel that way. Deep down, I was petrified.” She looked up into his eyes, her own wide and glossy. “But I would’ve killed him if you hadn’t.”

  “I sensed that.”

  “Death is the best thing for a man like that. He was evil to the core. I could see it in his face when he ran at me.”

  She shivered, so he wrapped his arms tighter.

  “Thank you, again, Jonty. Twice now you’ve saved my life,” she whispered against his neck. Her warm breath on his skin melted him.

  He grimaced. I should not be feeling this way.

  He took a step back and unwrapped his arms from around her. All the air in his lungs rushed out of his mouth and his shoulders rounded forward—her absence having an immediate deflating effect on his emotions and body.

  He grimaced again, pawed his fingers through his hair. “We need to get out of here. There’ll be more coming for you, I’m sure of it now, and with that gaping hole in your wall where the door once stood, we’re not safe.”

  Chapter 6

  The hard part was getting to the safe destination. It involved thrashing Sammy’s four-cylinder car through the choked streets to evade any possibility of being followed. Thankfully, Jonty was as agile with a steering wheel between his hands as he was with a knife.

  They checked in at a discreet hotel, just on the fringe of the city, under a pseudo-name, Mr.
and Mrs. Jenkins. Jonty pushed open the door to the room they would be sharing.

  “Here we are, Mrs. Jenkins. It’s not the Hilton,” he said, grinning.

  She stepped over the threshold. The room was large, filled with dated furniture in peach and cream tones, which complimented the worn grey carpet. A king-sized bed covered with an ugly, floral duvet sat in the middle of the room. But it was clean, smelling of bleach, and fresh flowers adorned the bedside tables, filling the air with their beautiful aroma. “No, but it’s good enough.”

  Jonty placed the few belongings Sammy had packed just inside the entryway and locked the door firmly behind him. Sammy laughed deliriously. Locks hadn’t proven to be much good when it came to Adam and people like him.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked.

  “The futility of doors.”

  He pursed his lips and looked into her eyes. “Sammy, you’re safe with me. I promise I will not let anyone hurt you. But doors do help, at least to slow down the defectives.”

  She rolled her eyes. “A locked door didn’t stop you from getting into my apartment without me even knowing.”

  He grinned. “No. I guess not.”

  “I do feel safe with you…”

  “But?”

  “I need answers.” She paced across the carpet, back and forth, using large hand gestures as she spoke. “I need you to tell me what’s happening. I just witnessed three men die in my living room, and then you made them vanish into thin air.” She stopped, planted her hands on her hips, and looked at him. “And I want to know why, all of a sudden, I’m on the most-wanted list.”

  Jonty released a long sigh. “I’ll tell you what I do know. But there are some things I can’t explain, I can only guess at. And you may not believe the truth of the situation anyway.”

  Sammy frowned. “After what I’ve seen tonight, I’m sure I’ll believe anything.”

  He reached for her hand, clasped it in his, and led her to the bed. They sat on the end, side by side. Her fingers tingled. Pulses of erotic sensation surged up her arm, across her chest to the sensitive peaks of her breasts, and downward between her thighs.