by Mason Sabre
“You couldn't kill an innocent girl,” Yvette chimed in, making Nina pity her. Poor Yvette. This would be their argument forever.
“The point is that someone got one of my demons out.” Nina wanted to get them onto the matter at hand.
Henry clasped his hands together in front of him and rocked back on his heels, feigning dramatic delight. “How fun. But I am confused ... Enlighten me. How is this my problem?”
Nina let out a sigh, her eyes darting from Yvette to Henry. “I need help to catch him. He shot a bunch of people in a store. He is a chaos demon.”
“He got out on your watch?”
Nina nodded reluctantly. It stung inside when he said it out loud—even more so when she had to admit it.
“Very well.” Henry slotted the book back onto the shelf and stepped away. The house was like one room that led to another room that led to another. He left them both there, walking away from Nina again.
“Seriously?” She chased after him, pushing her wings back again. She was not designed to walk through a house such as this. She followed him through one room and then another and then another. “Henry, stop.”
He acted like he couldn't hear her, not even flinching when she or Yvette called his name—even when Yvette called him a stubborn bastard. He reached a single, old, wooden door. There was a set of stairs behind it and he strode up them, his long legs enabling him to go two at a time.
Nina raced after him, the wings giving her a width that made it almost impossible to fit along the narrow staircase, but she managed it, her wings and feathers folding in against the walls on either side.
Henry was standing beside an old radio, except when Nina got closer, she realised it wasn't old at all.
“What are you doing?”
He turned it on, flicking a switch at the front and bringing it to life with a loud crack and then a mixture of static and dead air in between.
“Henry?”
He put his finger to his lips to shush her as he turned the dial on the radio. As she listened, her eyes darted over the rest of room properly. Her mouth gaped open. All over the walls were maps and pictures … snapshots of a woman. “You have some weird perversion going on?”
Yvette entered the room behind Nina, her eyes grazing over each picture. “It’s his obsession. Stalking.”
“I am a vampire. Vampires stalk. Now both of you, shut up.” Just then voices crackled to life on the radio. They were quiet and muffled, but as Nina’s hearing began to distinguish between the sounds and break it all down, she realised that this radio signal was linked directly to the emergency services. “The police?”
“You wanted help.”
The voices blared out, frantic, as Henry increased the volume. Shouts and yells and screams. Something had happened in the park.
“I think perhaps we have located your demon,” Henry said. “Now, say thank you.”
Chapter 4
It took a lot of energy for Nina to shield herself and appear Human to anyone looking at her. But one look at her wings, and the Humans would either scream mother of Mary at her or fall at her feet. Either way would hinder and piss her off. Not that they didn't know angels existed … it was just that they didn't see them often. And when they did, it usually brought death or war—often both. Finicky morons had been Henry’s offering to that one.
She had to lose her dress, too. It almost pained her to take it off, like she was losing part of her identity. She swapped the skirt for a pair of slacks she had borrowed from Yvette and added soft shoes to her feet. She felt out of place and out of sorts with it. The blouse was the hardest part because, though no one could see her wings, they were there. Much to Yvette’s dismay, Henry had taken the blouse and cut six holes in the back to accommodate where the wings spanned out of Nina’s back.
“I look like an idiot,” Nina said as she slumped in front of the mirror, her hand pressed to her stomach, missing her bodice. “I feel like one, too.”
“You look Human,” Yvette reassured her.
Henry was resting on the backrest of a chair, his foot on the arm. “So, she looks like an idiot then?” Both women shot glares at him. “Well, if she looks Human ... Never mind. We need to go.”
Henry had been all for letting Nina walk around with her wings out. He didn’t care if the Humans got upset about it. “Let them,” he had said with a shrug. But that was a sure way to alert those above as news reports flooded in about an angel in Eastbourne, England.
The park was about a mile from the shop. It wasn’t hard to spot as Yvette rolled the car closer. The sirens and alarms, cars, and crowds. She had to park up far away otherwise they would never get back. “How do you propose we get to the bodies?” Yvette asked, staring out ahead of her. There wasn’t much room for anything. Nothing like a good murder and slaughter to bring out the onlookers with their cameras.
“We have to lie,” Nina said from the back of the car. She was leaning forward, pushed into an odd position by her wings. She opened the door just to give herself some space.
“We lie?” Henry quirked a mocking brow. “Angels lie?”
“Well, isn’t that how it is done down here? I mean, you’re a vampire. Vampires are masters at deception.”
Henry shifted in his seat to look at her. “Deception yes, lies no.”
“It is the same thing.”
“No, it is not.” He turned to Yvette. “Yvette, I am so sorry that I upset you when I suggested you work as an exotic dancer to pay your keep.”
Yvette’s eyes widened and then her expression softened. “Thank you.”
Henry shrugged. “See?” He held his hands out, pointing to Yvette. “She thinks I apologised for what I said. I did not. Deception is a skill, dear Nina. But we will not do that. We will glamour them."
“You will glamour them?”
Henry paused. “There is an echo in here,” he said, scowling at Yvette. But then that was Henry. He had a way of making anyone feel like an idiot when they spoke to him. “Do you propose that I ask them politely if I may take a look at the dead?” He didn’t wait for an answer but got out of the car instead and flung the door closed, leaving Nina and Yvette to either stay there or follow him. He walked with his hands thrust into his pockets, like he didn’t have a single care in the world. “Excuse me. Sir,” he called to one of the officers standing near the barrier.
“Shit. Come on.” Nina squeezed her way out of the car. To anyone looking, it must have seemed strange. They wouldn’t see her wings and so wouldn’t see why it was so much hard work just to get out. Yvette jumped out, taking Nina’s hand and helping her out of the car.
When they neared Henry, the officer in front of him was staring at him with a blank gaze, eyes glazed. That was it. Henry had taken his mind.
“Nina,” Henry called without looking away from the man. “Could you be so kind and come over here for me?”
“What is it?”
He held his hand out to her. “I need you to spread the glamour. There are too many people.” He indicated to the crowd gathered around. So many of them.
Nina’s heart sank as she stared out across the sea of people. The police had placed barriers all around, and for every metre of police tape, there were about two or three onlookers. They created a mass, all of them watching, sick, twisted, and waiting to spot something of the bodies. What was wrong with these people?
“If I use my power, I could get spotted.”
“If you do not use your power, we are not seeing the bodies,” Henry pointed out flatly.
With a heavy sigh, she took his hand, his long fingers lacing between hers. She sent a silent wish upwards that no one would look just as she pulled her power into herself and sent it into Henry. His glamour spread out like a silk cloth covering the crowd. Layer by layer, the people’s eyes fixated in one direction, the chatter amongst them coming to a quiet lull until there was nothing at all, except for the sounds of the machines that were running, the engines still turning over.
“
You need to hold that there,” he said to her, letting go and ducking under the barrier. “Yvette, you need to stay back.”
“Me?” she asked, holding a hand to her chest.
“Henry is right,” Nina said, turning to her friend. “There is too much blood. You must be able to smell it. You won’t be able to hold yourself back.”
“And we do not want you dining on the demon,” Henry added.
“Sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. Go.”
The bodies were in the children’s play area. “Oh Jesus,” Nina breathed.
“I think they are beyond Jesus’ help now,” Henry replied, bending down to look at them. Nina worried the blood scent would affect Henry, but he had assured her he was beyond that kind of craving he couldn’t control. He certainly seemed to be proving that now.
Two bodies lay in front of her—one male and one female. The scent of copper and urine was thick in the air. Nina couldn’t take her eyes off the woman. She couldn’t help the hint of sorrow that struck her chest. The lives that had been lost here, and for what? Arioch’s fun and games. He wasn’t even here now. These bodies were her fault— the lives lost were on her head.
The woman was lying across the bottom of the slide. Her head would have been back, if it was still attached, but it had rolled a few feet away from the body. Her chest was torn open, bits of flesh hanging from her ribs. Her ribs themselves had been cracked open the way a surgeon might do to get to the heart. Her heart and lungs now lay on the outside.
“She had been alive when he did this.” Henry stood over the woman, head angled so he could get a better look. “See the way the blood spurted.”
“You’re an expert in blood?”
He stood up straight and glared at her. “I am a vampire.”
“Sorry.” She went over to stand with him. “He feeds on their screams. The longer they are alive, the better. It wouldn’t have been the woman giving him the chaos; it was the man.” She went over to the man’s body, careful where she stood so as not to walk through the blood. There were soft lumps in it, bits of flesh and bone splattered across the ground. As she bent to take a closer look, she followed the trail with her eyes. The blood went from where she stood all the way to the man and then splattered up against the sides of the climbing frames. “I think there were three victims.” She touched one of the fleshy parts. It was still warm. “I think this was his vessel, which means he is free. Again.” She turned to Henry. “Taste it for me.”
“Pardon me?”
“Can you taste the blood for me? Make sure that this was his vessel.” She rose, hand on her hips as she stared at Henry. “It’s blood. You drink it all the time.”
“It is dead blood. You have no comprehension of how foul your request is.”
“Please.”
The expression that went across Henry’s face would have made any mortal woman run for her life. Good job Nina wasn’t mortal.
“This will be my honour redeemed. I will owe you nothing.” He crouched down, bending his long legs, and then swiped a finger through the blood on the ground. He grimaced before bringing it to his mouth. Smacking his lips together, he tasted it. His eyes were glowing, the blue in them almost alive. “Demon.”
Nina brought her hands together and pressed them to her mouth as if she were praying. She needed prayers at this rate.
“He has another vessel.” The man lying on the ground had simply had his neck broken. He was lying face down in the blood of the others—his face at least—his body was lying on its back. “He must have been the one to watch. Arioch would have fed on his terror. Look at his hands.” They were bound, so were his feet. Arioch would have slaughtered the woman and fed on the terror and anger of the man. “Taste his blood, too. You can get his memories, right?”
“One more and then my debt to you is fulfilled?”
Nina stared at him, debating. If she said yes, he would likely leave, then she would be stuck alone. She was always alone. Even in the busiest of times in her life.
Henry took a step back, and she knew if she didn’t answer him, he would leave anyway. So what choice did she really have? “If I say yes, will you see this through?” She didn’t want to show him her vulnerability in this, but she didn’t want him to leave, either.
Henry sighed, his shoulders sagging. “Goodbye, Nina.”
He walked back the way they had come. “Henry, wait, please.” She took a panicked step closer to him. “After this, we are clear. You will owe me nothing.”
“But …?”
“What do you mean?”
He came back to her, stepping through the blood like he had memorised exactly where it was and exactly where not to stand. “There is a but in your voice, I can hear it.”
She smiled weakly at him, turning away so he wouldn’t see the shame flush her cheeks. “Will you stay as my friend? Help me?”
“I am not a monster. Despite what the locals might say.” He lifted the Human man’s wrist as he spoke and then brought it to his mouth. His fangs extended as he opened his mouth, but his eyes stayed on Nina the whole time. He bit, making a popping sound as his teeth pierced the flesh. She could tell when blood rushed into his mouth, because he groaned the way someone would in that pre-orgasm moment. As he sucked in the blood, his eyes grew brighter. Vampires’ eyes always lit up when they fed, like it was possible to see their soul inside.
“God …” He brought his mouth away from the Human’s wrist, blood trickling down his chin. “Shifter,” he said breathlessly. That was the other thing with Henry—he breathed. He breathed, and he had a heartbeat. He was an unusual sort of his own kind. His eyes flickered from one side to other as he licked his lips. “Yes, shifter.” He tightened his grasp on the Human’s arm, his eyes darting around as if he was watching something moving in the stillness of the evening. “He went that way.”
A shifter? Shit, that was bad. Shifters were fucking strong, and fast. But it made sense when she glanced back at the woman on the slide, the way she was torn open … it was neat, done with claws. Not even Human hands that held demonic power could have done it. The edges were just too clean. “He’s using a shifter?” The sign above the play area confirmed that this was a shifter place. In the evenings, at least. Parks and countryside trails had hours. Evenings for those of the Other kind and daylight for those who were Human. There was a crossover sometimes when the light was fading for the day and night was crawling in. This was why there had been Humans in the park. Poor them. Wrong place, wrong time.
Henry let go of the arm, tossing it over the body and stepping over the dead man. “I believe you have a problem.”
Nina stepped back, giving Henry space. “What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “How are you an angel, one of the Seraph no less, and yet you do not know things like this?”
His words stung her. It wasn’t his fault—he was right. She should know these things. But the goings-on of shifters were boring as far as she was concerned. She hadn’t ever wanted to live like the Seraph, with all of their teachings and trainings. Living the same way generation after generation. She wanted difference, change.
“What do you think happens when you mix demon with shifter?” Henry asked her, arms crossed over his chest, eyebrows raised.
“They have a shit ton of strength.”
“I might not have worded it quite so coarsely, but yes.”
The expression on his face said there was more to this. He had that expectant look —just waiting for the penny to drop. “There is something else?”
“Did you know a shifter has two parts to themselves?”
“Well, that isn’t hard. Everyone knows that.”
“Yes, but the man calls to the animal, and the animal calls to the man. They work on a metaphorical plane, creating balance within the shifter. If you add something else …?”
Oh shit. “You get unbalance?” This was why, when Humans became shifters, there was a problem. Shifters were born with this divide, but Humans we
re not. Making it created havoc within them until they found the balance—unless, of course, they never did, which was usually the case, because Human and animal tended to fight each other until one was dead, and a shifter could not live without the other side. “He will create chaos. The shifter will lose their sanity.”
“Exactly. And what else do you know about the shifters?”
“They change shape?”
“Yes, but what if you were to be bitten by one, say?”
Nina’s heart thundered in her chest as an image of a shifter-demon biting someone sprang to mind. “They spread their disease.” She imagined a wolf, big, wild, tearing into people, madness and chaos in his eyes—and all of his victims rising. “He can spread the chaos by biting someone?”
Henry smiled in response, not a happy smile. One of a teacher and his student.
“Do you think you can track him?”
“I am not a dog.”
“I know.” She raced in the direction that he said Arioch had gone. “But you said he went this way. Can you track him? You’re a vampire … you have skills. You hunt. You must be able to find things like this.”
“I chase fear, not shifters,” he said with a bored sigh.
Frustrated at the situation, Nina kept her mouth closed as Henry started to walk the perimeter of the bodies. He stopped just at the edge of the rubber surface that was down to stop children hurting themselves when they fell, to where it broke off to tarmac. Except, it was the flower bed he stopped in front of. “I cannot detect scents the same way the lycanthropes can, but I can tell you he went this way.”
“You can smell him?”
“No. The flowers are broken.”
Nina followed Henry’s gaze. Lots and lots of roses, but there was a gap between them, and some of the heads had been snapped off. Someone had gone through them, creating a path of bloodied, broken flowers. It dripped off the first few buds. “If he is a shifter, will he feel the pull of the body he has taken?”
