Araton

by Brenda Trim

  Araton followed the direction she was pointing in and first noticed the yellow police tape then saw the rest. The blood gleamed in the moonlight. He expected to smell death permeating the area like in the house, but all he smelled was Hell. Rotten eggs and sulfur. Made his stomach turn while tensing his muscles.

  “That doesn’t fit the rituals. There are always bodies. Did your colleagues take them away?”

  Lia shook her head as she leaned down and looked at the pentagram. “They would have, but my chief said they were out searching for the people that were killed here. Murders in this location are not a common occurrence. Why here? Sure, wars and deaths occurred here, but it’s not like some other places in the Quarter.”

  “Demons always have their reasons. Although, they don’t make sense most of the time. The bigger rituals, like bringing Lucifer to this side, will be done in locations aligned with evil. What the fuck?” He blurted and knelt next to her to get a better look at the symbols.

  “Who else were they bringing over from the depths? I’ve never seen archdemons brought over so publicly,” Araton growled as he stood up and scanned the area.

  Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he realized supernaturals had been here. He made a mental note to remind Dante and Zander to inform their citizens the need to report immediately when they see shit like this. They might have been able to stop the demons if they got here fast enough.

  “What are you talking about?” Lia asked. He hadn’t realized how close they were to each other. Her sweet scent replaced the rancid ones and made his cock twitch in his pants.

  Jumping to his feet, he took a couple steps away. There was no time for sex. Demons were roaming the city. “The demons rarely open a portal for their brethren to cross over in such an open location. They don’t want to be interrupted.”

  “Well, it doesn’t sound like they’re very smart. Maybe they assumed it was safe with so few people out and about right now. Can you tell if their spell was interrupted or not? We need to find them if new demons crossed over.”

  For the first time since meeting her, he agreed wholeheartedly. “They’re definitely here. The lack of bodies is still a mystery, but the energy of this site is still so high I’m shocked the pentagram isn’t lit up anymore. In fact,” Araton replied then held up his hands before throwing Heavenly energy at the spot.

  Natalia shrieked and jumped back while patting her head. “Asshole,” she grumbled as she watched closely while the white energy consumed the blood and cleared the stench.

  “Is this a normal night for you? Cause this shit is unreal.” Lia walked around the entire circle of his energy and stopped halfway back to his side with eyes like wide saucers. “Crap. Someone’s coming. You need to make that go away. Now,” she commanded him.

  It wasn’t often that he was given orders like that. Especially not from a female. He was certain he half fell in love with her at that second before he pushed those feelings aside and glanced over his shoulder.

  “I’ve already used my power to shield us from view,” he assured her. The people heading their way moved with grace and efficiency telling him they were supernaturals. “But, don’t worry they’re like Dante and the Dark Warriors.”

  She squinted as she looked at the group of seven crossing near one of his favorite restaurants. Okay it was more of a café with about four items on the menu. But he could live on beignets, so he considered them a food group.

  “How can you tell they aren’t hu…like me?”

  Araton stepped closer to her and allowed her scent to surround him. It wasn’t so bad explaining things to her after all. And, with this knowledge she would be able to protect herself from danger in the future.

  Pointing over her shoulder he said, “See the way their steps are smooth? Supernaturals have an innate refinement to their moves. And they move faster than humans, as well. If you look close enough you can see how their eyes have a subtle glow.”

  “Got it. So, they’re the good guys,” she remarked as her shoulders slumped ever so slightly. “I didn’t find any clues that would help us identify who did this. Which makes sense now. Humans always leave clues behind. How do you start an investigation like this?”

  “We tease out scents so we can identify who is responsible. But, honestly, we follow demonic signatures. For us we never find a fingerprint or smoking gun that points the way. It’s all about the…fucking hell,” he cursed when he caught the scent on the breeze. “Get out of here. And, call Dante,” he blurted and tossed his cell phone to Natalia. She caught it and immediately hit the contact.

  But she didn’t move. She stood next to him which made him reluctant to leave her side. The way the supernatural heads lifted into the air told him they smelled them nearby. Dousing the rest of his Heavenly energy, he released the concealment spell on them and had his flaming sword in his hand.

  “Dante. Araton said you need to get to Jackson Square. I think there’s something wrong with some of your people or whatever,” Lia told the Cambion Lord. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised she understood without him telling her more.

  The second he got a clearer picture of those coming for them he realized they were possessed by upper level demons. He’d never heard of that happening before. A vamp bared its fangs and sprang into the air.

  Araton lifted ten feet into the air and took off toward the vamp. With ease, he sliced his head from his shoulders. A scream from Lia iced the blood in his veins and made him turn sharply. The move pulled a muscle in his wing which forced him to land.

  He was thrusting his weapon at a half-shifted female that looked like a creepy mix of a panther and human. With her superior reflexes she ducked and kicked out a leg that clipped one of his ankles.

  A gunshot brought his head up and he watched as Natalia held a pistol in her outstretched hands and kept pulling the trigger. The creature approaching her paused and jerked as each slug hit its chest.

  One more swing and the possessed shifter was crumpling to the ground. Without pausing, Araton headed right for Natalia. He had to protect her. At her side, they stood back to back and battled the possessed as they lunged at them.

  If Araton could move freely he would take care of them in no time, but he could not risk Lia. Clicking reached his ears and he wasn’t surprised when the female cursed and tossed her gun to the cement. “I’m out. You have a weapon I can use?”

  “You can’t handle an angelic sword of fire,” he informed her. “Stay close to me.” In rapid movements, he jumped forward and swung his weapon and sliced a vamp across the chest then before he could think he was leaping over Lia and landing in front of her to lop the head off another supernatural.

  The pheromones of a sex demon filtered through the air and he turned to find an incubus trying to seduce Natalia. Araton pulled her behind him and held her in place. Steps sounded all around them. There were still four and he couldn’t be in enough places at once.

  “You can stop that anytime. I’m not stupid enough to walk over to you, asshole,” Natalia called out over his shoulder, making him laugh.

  “I don’t know how you are resisting an incubus’s thrall,” he called out.

  “What can I say it’s a gift,” she said as she threw something. When the sound of a rock echoed, he realized she must have picked it up.

  “You’re sexy, too,” Dante called out as he rushed from the alley next to the church behind them. Aison and Slate were with him and Araton was able to focus on the incubus.

  “This is new. You guys get bored in Hell?”

  The incubus took a step toward him, but his movements were no longer smooth and graceful. “We’re close to freeing Lucifer. Our new plan will work perfectly,” the incubus boasted.

  “You failed. That’s why he isn’t here with you now. I’d remind you how futile your attempts are, but that would be a waste of breath,” Araton growled with the wonderful sound of battle raging around them.

  His next swing made the creature cry out when it couldn’t move out of th
e way fast enough. With jerky moves, he came at Araton again. Did this incubus possess a cambion that needed to feed? He expected more from the being.

  With ridiculous ease, Araton plunged his flaming sword into its chest and smiled at the scream that echoed through the night. Turning he watched as the rest were quickly dispatched.

  “Please tell me this isn’t going to be the new norm,” Dante blurted. “How did this happen?”

  “I have no idea,” Araton replied. “I destroyed the symbols before looking for any differences in the spell used. I didn’t anticipate this.”

  “How did the demons manage to possess and control such strong beings?” Aison interrupted.

  “I don’t think they were able to keep control. At the end mine wasn’t as smooth as when they walked up. I think Lucifer is trying everything he can to break through. You need to issue warnings to your citizens to remain on guard,” Araton advised.

  “I will call Zander right away,” Dante replied. “You need to get her home. She’s going to fall over.”

  Araton looked away from the cambion and watched as Lia swayed on her feet. “I’m fine. I want to be part of this meeting. You can’t leave me out.”

  “I can and will. You’re not fine. You need rest. You’re not an immortal. How you have survived the night I have no idea, but you aren’t dying on my watch. Let’s go,” he told her.

  Grumbling, Lia said, “You will wait to have this meeting until I get some rest. Then I will be back at that house in the Garden District whether this jackoff agrees or not.” The steel in her spine was fucking amazing. It reminded him a bit of Mack. After meeting that formidable female, Araton should have known better than to underestimate her.

  With that she marched to her car while he followed behind. He’d make sure she got home safely then meet up with his brothers. They all needed to research what this could possibly mean before they got back together later.

  He was not going to keep watch over Natalia throughout the day no matter how much he wanted to. This woman was getting under his skin and his attempts to keep her out weren’t working very well. The knowledge that he would see her later made it easier to part ways when she reached her house.

  Chapter 7

  Lia parked the car and looked over at the stately manor. Despite needing the sleep, she hadn’t been able to rest over the past few hours. Instead, she had spent the time looking up vampires, demons and angels on the internet. It was impossible to know if anything she discovered was true about the supernaturals she was once again about to face.

  Anticipation had her jumping from the car and heading to the front of the white house. The wrought iron gate was low and so familiar it was easy to forget she was going to see creatures that shouldn’t exist. The columns and balcony above the porch were elegant, and a sight she’d seen during her nightly patrols for years. And, not once had she suspected that what lived inside was anything other than affluent people.

  The hinge on the gate screeched as she opened it. Her heart hammered in her chest as she walked up the short path. The second she stepped onto the porch Araton suddenly appeared next to her, making her scream.

  The front door was yanked open and Dante stood there with a scowl on his face. “Oh. It’s just you guys. I thought demons were breaking even more rules.”

  “No. The human isn’t accustomed to our world and shouldn’t be here,” the sexy angel barked while keeping his stunning gray eyes trained on her. A breeze ruffled his blond hair like a lover’s caress.

  One corner of her mouth lifted at the errant thought. So what if the sun highlighted his unearthly good looks. It didn’t mean she should fawn all over him and lose her senses. There were honest to God demons roaming the earth intent on killing people. She couldn’t ignore that.

  “You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you. Anyone would startle when someone appears out of nowhere,” she countered and strode into the house.

  Araton’s footsteps echoed behind her. She was surprised to see Slate and Aison at the end of the hall waving to her. “I won the bet,” Dante called out behind her.

  Turning around she caught the cambion’s eye and had to admire how good looking he was. Especially when he smiled. Too bad she was attracted to grumpy angels. Dante no doubt had some mad skills being half of a sex demon.

  “We took bets on when you would arrive. I said you’d be here before breakfast,” Dante informed her as he shut the door and headed to the others.

  “I’m surprised it took you this long,” Araton murmured from beside her.

  “I had to do some research,” she admitted.

  “And did you find anything?” Aison asked.

  “There’s all sorts of information on the internet, but I doubt any of it is accurate,” she replied and stopped just outside the room. Unlike the formal parlor this room was kitted out like a command center. Most notable was that there were no windows.

  When she’d passed the parlor earlier, she’d noticed there was some kind of metal shield in place. At first, she wondered why they’d want to keep the sun out and then she recalled that the sun would turn vampires to ash.

  “Natalia. Good to see you again. You look much better than the last time I saw you,” Micah said with a wave from where he sat at a computer.

  “It’s amazing what a shower will do for you. Have you guys discovered if there are other demons in town?”

  “There are always demons in town. What I want to know is where you’re keeping the fucker you caught earlier,” Araton blurted as he walked to the big conference table and grabbed a beignet. A cloud of white bloomed in front of his face when he took a bite and landed on the front of his shirt.

  A laugh escaped her before she could stop it. “It’s good to know even angels can’t avoid the wrath of the beignet,” she said when he lifted an eyebrow at her.

  Shrugging his shoulders, Araton took another bite. “I’d have squeezed lemons on them to avoid the mess, but there weren’t any available. No matter. I will never turn down one of these.”

  “Lemon on a beignet? That’s blasphemy,” she teased him and grabbed one for herself. Standing with her feet shoulder width apart, she leaned forward and took a bite. As a born and bred she knew better than to get the powdered sugar on her clothes.

  “It’s fucking tasty. I promise you it is nearly as good as it is without,” Araton replied around a mouthful of sugared dough.

  Needing to look away from the way the angel looked at her, Lia turned back to Dante who now had a cup of coffee in his hand. “As Araton pointed out we found another demon possessed supernatural before returning home last night. He’s being held in a room in the basement.”

  “You have a basement?” she blurted. Not that it really mattered in the scheme of things, but it wasn’t common. New Orleans was built on swamp land which made basements a tricky thing being below water level.

  “Magically reinforced to keep the water out,” Aison informed her matter-of-factly.

  “You guys will be good friends to have around,” she observed. “Okay, so do we need to bring this Zander in on the conversation or can you tell me what you learned and what the plan is to deal with this.”

  Dante nodded to Aison who typed into the computer. A large screen slid down from the ceiling and a second later several people appeared on the screen. At the front of the group was a guy with shoulder length black hair and Sapphire blue eyes. There was a young woman next to him with curly brown hair and clear blue eyes and one next to her that was obviously a combination of the two.

  “Zander, this is Natalia Olsen. She’s the human cop we told you about earlier,” Dante introduced.

  “Och. ‘Tis good to meet you, Natalia. This is my mate, Elsie and our daughter, Izzy. My brathairs, Kyran and Bhric, have joined us along with several others. Evzen here is the Guild Master for the Sorcerers and Hayden the Omega for the shifters. I won’t bother with introducing those not on screen. It’s better to get to business,” Zander said in a Scottish accent.

  “We
have one second to acknowledge how hard this is. It is a major shock for a human to discover supernaturals exist,” Elsie added. “This world isn’t an easy one to learn about. Feel free to call me anytime you have questions.” Lia was immediately at ease with the woman. She had an open personality which she appreciated.

  “Discovering vampires and demons exist isn’t all that surprising but getting used to it isn’t easy. I have a thousand questions about stuff and will ask them eventually. Zander is right. We need to focus on what to do about these fucking demons threatening my city,” Natalia replied.

  A feminine laugh out of screen made her smile. “Now that’s my kind of woman,” a woman with short spiky black hair and a sleeve of tattoos poked her head next to one of the brothers. “I’ll be there soon to help you kill those demons.”

  “I wasna aware we were heading down there, Firecracker,” the brother murmured as he looked at the woman. His hard expression softened telling Lia how much he adored this woman.

  “Like I’d miss a chance to kill some more of these motherfuckers. And, Harlow has never seen NOLA. I’m Mack by the way.”

  Lia nodded. “It’s good to meet you, Mack. New Orleans is the best city on the planet. Harlow will love it.”

  Araton leaned forward and jumped in the conversation. “Harlow is their baby and a dragon shifter from another planet. Were you able to get information from the possessed vampire?” The angel asked and shifted the conversation to the man that seemed like he was their leader while she stood there gaping at him. Dragon shifter? Wicked cool.

  Zander crossed his arms over his chest and was tapping his bicep with the fingers on one of his hands. “I was able to compel him to talk, but it wasna the demon talking. Rather it was the vampire. He told us the demons forced their way inside their bodies and that they’ve been fighting the possession ever since, but havena been able to do much because they are stealing most of their power. The vampire said there was a plan for a house in the quarter.”

  “I bet it’s the site we went to last night. Perhaps they already tried and failed. Ayil and Abraxos did what they could last night to eliminate the evil energy and are back there now. They weren’t certain they managed to get rid of it,” Araton added.