Half-Demon Huntress (Harlow's Demons Book 2)

by Jen Pretty

  He pulled the door open and my birth-giver walked in like she was the queen of the world. She had a wicked grin on her face that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I had never been afraid of my mother, just abandoned, but the feral look in her eye warned some primal part of me that something was wrong.

  She crossed the room and reached inside her jacket.

  “Stop!” I yelled, but it was too late.

  She pulled out a gun, aimed and fired. The bullet caught Julian in the forehead.

  “That is from our master,” my mother said in an echoing tone that confirmed my fear.

  A demon possessed her.

  I jumped to my feet, but I was a moment too slow, and Nick slammed into her, pinning her to the floor as he pressed his sculptor stone to her chest. She writhed and screamed, her voice sounding like many people screaming all at once.

  My heart was beating so fast I thought it might explode and I covered my ears to block out the noise. Whipping around, I found Julian still sitting on the couch. His head was tipped back, and blood ran in rivers down his face from the hole in his forehead. His eyes stared at the ceiling, unseeing. I clambered back onto the couch, kneeing Rory in my haste and pressed my hand to the hole to stop the bleeding.

  Blood was everywhere. I ran my hand around the back of Julian's head and found a giant gaping mess there instead of a skull. I threw myself backwards away from the disaster that had become Julian’s beautiful face. The gore and fragments coated the wall behind him like some macabre modern art.

  “Fuck, that’s gross,” I said. Rory had me wrapped up in his arms or I would have fallen off the couch. A sob ripped out as my gag reflex kicked in and I covered my mouth to stifle both. Julian was immortal. He would come back.

  I told myself that over and over until Rory's tattooed hand smoothed down my hair and said, “Of course he will.”

  I had been thinking out loud again, but it didn't matter. Julian would come back.

  The screaming stopped, and I glanced behind me at my mother laying on the floor unconscious and Nick standing over her, tucking his sculptor stone back into his shirt. Al and Celia wore similar shocked expressions but hadn't moved from their places on the armchairs.

  Nick glanced at me and then to Julian for a moment before his eyes returned to mine. I realized that tears had sprung and traced lines down my face. Wiping them away I pushed off Rory and huddled closer to Julian. Surely, he would be back soon. I could wait for him.

  The tears continued as I got lost in my thoughts. There was movement around the room, but I stayed focused on Julian, waiting for him to come back.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  The day wore on. Nick set food in front of me and I ate it. I couldn't taste it but I washed it down with water and coffee and waited. My mother finally woke up and left. I didn't look at her. I knew this wasn't her fault, but she had killed Julian. Sort of. Temporarily anyway. I wasn't in the mood to be forgiving even if she was demon-possessed. I wanted to wait in peace.

  Al and Celia left, too, but Rory sat beside me watching TV on low volume all day. The noise kept me from losing it as Julian's body cooled. Soon it was too cold to touch. The feeling was giving me the creeps, so I ended up pressed up against Rory, though he didn't seem to mind. He ate and chuckled at whatever he was watching and was just there.

  By nightfall, Nick had left, too, and the suite was growing darker by the minute. The whole day had gone by. At some point, I had wiped the blood off Julian's face though it still looked pale and dead.

  I was picking at my fingernail. So focused that I didn't see the first time Julian's hand twitched, but I thought I felt the movement so the second time it moved, I was staring right at it.

  “Oh, shit!”

  Rory startled at my exclamation. “What is it?”

  “He moved,” I whispered.

  “About time, the lazy arse.”

  I glanced at Rory, but his eyes were still on the TV, and a bag of popcorn was in his lap. Where the hell had he got popcorn? Room service in fancy hotels was over the top.

  I watched Julian for another half hour as the wounds on his head closed up, and his colour returned. I knew the moment he started breathing again and marveled as his skin returned to its usual colour.

  Finally, his eyes flickered open, and a groan rose from his chest. He tipped his head sideways on the couch, his eyes unfocused for a moment and then they latched onto me, and one corner of his lip curled in the secret smile and all my muscles relaxed; even ones I didn't realize were tense. This was the worst day of my whole history. This was worse than being possessed… almost.

  “Hi,” I said.

  His hand crept over to link his fingers with mine. He swallowed hard a couple times and licked his lips before replying.

  “Sorry about that.”

  “Did you just apologize because my mother killed you?”

  He coughed and cleared his throat a few more times. “Yeah, I guess. It was probably gross.”

  “It was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. Never do that again.”

  His smile shone like a campfire, making his eyes twinkle, and my heart beat faster. He pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me with a groan. I pushed to move off him, sure I was hurting him after he was dead for the whole day, but his arms wrapped tighter. I couldn't have moved if I wanted to.

  Rory’s chuckle reminded me he was still in the room, but he rose and sauntered to the bedroom, the tattooed wings on his back shifting and bunching with his movement. The shower turned on, and then the bathroom door clicked shut, leaving Julian and me alone in the suite.

  Julian's shirt had dry blood on it, so I carefully unbuttoned it and pushed it open. I pressed my ear to his chest and relished the sound of his heart beating. How had this half-demon got me so caught up in him? I didn't have an answer, and I didn't care. There was something about him that kept pulling me back.

  “Did you want to know what's in the boxes?” he asked after a long comfortable silence.

  “No,” I whispered. A reminder of how stupid I was to blame him for everything that happened in New York was not what I wanted right now.

  I ran my tongue up his neck, and he shivered then caught my lips with his. He clung to me like I would try to escape, but I didn't want to go anywhere. That wasn't true. I wanted to kill Collin. I hadn't wanted to kill anyone before. Okay, maybe a couple people, but not as bad as I wanted to kill Collin. He was on my shit list.

  I turned so I was straddling Julian’s lap and continued kissing him and running my fingers up and down his chest until the shower turned off and Rory came waltzing out of the bedroom. He whistled when he saw us, and then hummed a tune while he raided the cart of food he had ordered from room service.

  “Why is he here again?” I whispered to Julian.

  “Because you wouldn't let me go home, love,” Rory said from across the room. Damn half-demon hearing.

  “What do you mean? I wouldn't let you?”

  “When a fine woman says stay, I’m not going to tell her no.” Rory joined us on the couch and clicked on the TV. I felt awkward still sitting on Julian, so I slid off to sit between them.

  “Well, you don't have to stay. I’m sure someone is wondering where you are,” I said, stealing some French fries off his plate. I was starving all of a sudden and realized I hadn't eaten all day. The fries were cold but yummy.

  “Nope, I’m yours now.” He smiled and took a bite of his burger.

  I froze, my stolen French fries halfway to my mouth. “What do you mean ‘mine’?”

  “Just what I said.”

  I glanced back at Julian who was biting his lip and stifling a laugh.

  “What the hell does he mean?” I asked Julian.

  “He means you are his leader,” Julian said with a chuckle.

  I looked back at the tattooed bartender. He was munching away, watching a sitcom, as if this wasn’t the weirdest thing in the world.

  “I’m not a leader,” I
said.

  Julian picked lint off his pants which was dumb because they were ruined anyway. Rory kept watching his show and eating his food like I hadn't even spoken.

  “I’m not!” I stood up intending to storm off in a huff, but Julian grabbed me and pulled me back down to the couch.

  “Calm down, Harlow. It’s not a big deal,” Julian said.

  “Yeah, I’ll just be with you all the time, darlin’,” Rory said.

  “All the time? Why?”

  “I’m your first lieutenant.” Rory smiled and saluted me.

  I did not need a freaking lieutenant. “This is insane. I’m a gargoyle huntress. I work by myself. Can you even swing a net?”

  Rory finished the last bite of his burger and then jumped to his feet. He shook himself like a dog and wings popped out of his back. It was as if his tattoos came to life.

  “Holy shit,” I whispered.

  The wings were grey and spanned almost ten feet on either side of him when he spread them out.

  “I’m immortal, too. Like Julian.”

  Julian cleared his throat. “He is much younger, though.”

  I glanced back at Julian and noticed he was wearing his blank face. It was weird the way he pulled that face out whenever he was in front of apparent half-demon stuff. He had been relaxed around Rory until now.

  I sat back on the couch and just admired Rory’s wings for a moment. Even if I didn’t like flying ‘air-demon’, I could appreciate how beautiful the fragile black wings were. Rory’s tattoos contrasted beautifully against his wings like modern art.

  Rory's shook again, and the wings pulled in and disappeared.

  “How do you do that?” I asked.

  “Put them away?” At my nod, he continued. “I'm not sure, really. No other half-demon can do it, but it's handy for living above ground. I don't need to hide them.”

  Okay, so my first lieutenant was neat and gorgeous. I felt a bit guilty for the second thought, but Julian hadn’t acted like it was a big deal that drunk-Harlow dragged him home with us.

  I realized that the guys had started a conversation about football, and I didn't much care about that, so I slipped off the couch and into the bathroom to take a shower. My clothes were all wrinkled, and I smelled a bit off from sitting on the couch all day. I had taken the time to wash Julian's blood off my face earlier, but it was still spotting my hair and my shirt.

  I started the water in the tub and then slipped back out to grab a few beers. Tomorrow we would kill Collin, or stop him anyway, though my blood lust was growing every time I thought of how he sent my mother to kill my boyfriend.

  Hmm. Was he my boyfriend? This was getting old. I would call him my boyfriend for now and see how that went.

  I set the beers on the side of the tub and slipped beneath the freaking hot water, cursing at the insane but delicious temperature. The scent of lavender had filled the room and helped me relax and ease my tight muscles.

  I thought about the next day, going through various scenarios in my mind. If Collin had a bunch of demons, I'd have to focus on them entirely. If he had mostly demon possessed half-demons, that would be the job of the sculptors, and I would concentrate on Collin. I was pretty sure he would have both, and I would have to fight everyone. I prayed it didn't turn into a bloodbath like Nick was planning for. Dead people weren’t part of the plan.

  When the water cooled and the beers were empty, I pulled the plug and climbed out of the tub. I was so relaxed that I couldn't keep my eyes open, so I pulled on a giant t-shirt and tugged my hair up into a ponytail. Good enough.

  I stumbled out of the bathroom and flopped down on the bed. It seemed like too big a job to get under the blankets, so I lay like that until I heard a dark masculine chuckle and Julian's strong arms scooped me up. He pulled the blanket back through some magic and slid me underneath. I tried to cling to his warmth, but he uncurled my fingers from his clothes and disappeared into the bathroom. Probably for the best. He was bloody still, and he smelled.

  I tried the wait up for him, but my eyelids were so heavy they closed against my will.

  “Harlow,” Julian whispered as his warm body pressed against mine.

  “Mmbla,” I said, incoherently.

  He laughed and rolled me over to face him. His arm slid over my back and pulled me into his warmth. I woke enough to put my head on his chest. He smelled like soap and Julian. His heartbeat was steady and reassuring after a long day without it, and I fell back to sleep a moment later.

  I had no nightmares that night, though maybe I should have after what I had witnessed. That should have been a sign that something wasn't quite right, but I had too many other things on my mind to think about the reason Julian's presence had so much power over me.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  The smell of coffee woke me. Okay, the sound of Rory yelling “coffee” woke me, but once I smelled it, there was no more reason to sleep, so I staggered up and traced the delicious scent until someone thrust a hot mug into my grabby hands. Thank God for coffee.

  I sipped and sighed a few times before my body demanded food, too. I obliged it with a bagel and cream cheese and some scrambled eggs. Bacon was suspiciously missing from the breakfast tray again. My first lieutenant was gonna get an ass-kicking if he didn't lay off my bacon. Luckily for him, he had sent all my dirty laundry to the dry cleaners the day before, and I now had lots of clean clothes to wear.

  Rory was off the hook this time, but next time there would be hell to pay. Bacon is sacred.

  “The rest of the team will arrive shortly,” Julian said.

  He was watching a news channel and I glanced over while I stuffed my bagel in my mouth. The TV was showing a burning building in downtown Jackson. I crossed the room and sat beside Julian on the couch. His arm came around my shoulders, but I couldn't drag my eyes from the screen. The fire was massive; flames raged far up into the sky above the three-story apartment building. It wasn't like an ordinary fire. At least not one I had ever seen. It looked familiar. Not the building, but the fire. The flames. The way they lapped at the sky and consumed the building, and the surrounding ones.

  I had a flicker of memory and knew precisely where I had seen flames like that before.

  “Those are the flames of hell,” I whispered. I had seen them when the demon possessed me. He let those flames consume me. They lapped at my skin the same way.

  A wave of panic washed over me, and I jumped to my feet.

  “It’s okay, Harlow,” Julian said, rising and grabbing my arms before I could get away. My pulse slowed for a moment. Was it okay?

  “How do you do that?” I asked, shocked out of my panic attack.

  “What?” he asked. By now, Rory had crossed the room to stand beside me. I glanced at him, but he had his eyes set hard on Julian.

  “He uses his mojo on you?” Rory asked.

  I pushed Julian's hands off me and the panic washed back in. “What mojo?”

  Nobody answered for a moment, but Julian's careful expression flashed anger when he looked at Rory.

  Julian scowled and said, “I’m not doing it on purpose.”

  “Not doing what?” I was getting angry now. At least my anger had a focus. I shoved Julian away from me. Well, I tried. He barely moved at all.

  “You see, darlin, some half-demons,” Rory said scowling at Julian, “can affect your emotions. The evil ones use it to make you afraid or give you pain.”

  “The good ones use it to take away your fear or help you relax,” Julian said in a rush.

  I eyed him. I knew I should have questioned that I seemed to relax when I was around him. “Stupid, Harlow,” I chided myself.

  “I don’t do it intentionally,” Julian repeated, running his fingers through his hair and messing up his coiffed style. He and I couldn't get this shit together. He had so many secrets.

  “Do you ever just tell the truth?” I asked him before storming back into the bedroom. I had a demon who was much worse than Julian to catch, and now I was feel
ing extra bloodthirsty.

  Ten minutes later, I stepped out ready to take on Collin. I counted my amulets and checked the integrity of the chains securing them to my neck. I'd rather hang myself than lose them again. My net was a comfortable weight in my hand. I was not sure if I needed it, but I felt more like a little ass kicker with it in my hand.

  “Let’s go,” I said to the large group of people clustered in the suite. Most of them turned and funneled out of the room except for Lincoln who had arrived while I was giving myself a pep talk. He wore a huge grin and raised his eyebrows at my appearance.

  I had the thin tight leather pants on and a tight, low-cut, tank top with the Ghostbusters logo on the front. With my net slung over my shoulder I knew I looked tough and hot. Take that, bad guys.

  “You ready for this Harlow?” Lincoln asked as we walked together down the hall towards the waiting elevator.

  “I’m ready for this to be over.”

  Standing at the door of the elevator was a familiar face. Alric, whom I had met when Julian and I were travelling across the country on his motorcycle, stood there in full army fatigues. He had helped us once before in a town overrun with gargoyles. That time he was dressed the same, but I would never forget him in a tuxedo in his mansion.

  “Good morning for a mission,” Alric said as we approached.

  “Good as any,” I replied.

  Lincoln chuckled, and we crammed into the tiny space remaining in the elevator. All told, we had four sculptors and two other hunters plus a few more half-demons including Alric and my mother. The new faces were all introduced but their names didn't matter. I was ready to knock demon heads together and didn't have time for details.

  They all discussed strategy in the back of the now-crowded limousine. I tuned them out and focused on my enemy. Collin was mine. So were any demons he had summoned.

  We had enough hunters with Nick to take care of any gargoyles and help fight off the half-demons until I stopped Collin so the former leader of Jackson could take over the power again.

  Rory slid into the seat beside me, shoving Lincoln out of his way. I couldn't help chuckling at Lincoln’s expression as the tattooed half-demon shoved him over, taking his place beside me.