The Demon Inside (Hell's Creatures Book 1)

by Katerina Degratte

  If I stayed, I would have to talk to Luke later to arrange some way to pay him back for everything. He didn’t have to extend kindness and allow me to stay. Maybe I could be a waitress if he had space for an extra staff member. Or find a job elsewhere—not that venturing far seemed all that appealing.

  My mind goes back to Gabriel, his tortured piercing blue ocean eyes and tossed dark hair. He looked like an angel but acted like a jackass. Even if he agreed to the help, how could I help him with his predicament? Expel the demon, show him he can be good. The power of the light... All that angel pamphlet jazz.

  Even if things go as planned, what then? Would the angels accept someone that was once part demon? Thinking to the top dogs, and their strict rules, it seems next to impossible.

  Only if we were reborn. If the angels were started anew.

  How can I help him? The demon, as awful as he is, has been a personal crutch for him for practically his whole life. How does one work around that? Maybe Luke has a place I could try putting him in an angel holding cell? That would just leave him and the demon to chat away for days, as he’d be cut off from anyone else. That’d only do more harm.

  Maybe it’s better he just rejected the idea because I don’t have the slightest clue what I’m doing. Who would pass our primary instinct with their kind?

  “Mind if I join you?” Think of the devil, he appears; I hear Gabriel’s footsteps walking towards me.

  “What are you here to trade more insults?” I don’t turn towards him, still gazing at the sky.

  “I’m sorry about that, I was an asshole.” He apologizes as I bite back a snarky remark. “Do you mind if I sit next to you?” He sounds uneasy, Luke probably set him up to this.

  “Don’t let me stop you.”

  “Here.” He tosses some sort of perfume or cologne bottle over to me. No label. Sketchy. I look questionably at it, smelling it to try to get some idea of what it is. An attempt to make up so he can poison me later?

  Bad Aura.

  “Luke gave it to me to give to you, it’ll help better cover up your scent, so you don’t have demons on your ass every time you walk out the door.” He explains, squinting at the bright sky as well. “Not that you’re doing much to hide your essence as it is.” I ignore the pointed look he gives my outstretched wings.

  At least I won’t be expected to stay indoors all the time like some house pet. Not that there was much worth seeing around here. This City was... well, ya know.

  “There are a few nice things about this wretched town.” He says as if reading my mind, or my lack of enthusiasm; I wasn’t trying to hide it.

  His temperament is pleasant, differing from the narcissist he was earlier. Luke probably just put fear into his soul. “A bookstore around the corner from the diner, a pet store, even a few pet adoption places around. Though they’re always overfilled, with how little regard people have for their pets. Especially during the holidays.” His expression turns. Maybe he has some humanity after all. “And the convenience store down the way gets broken into regularly, so you’d be better off avoiding that place.” What is he now, my personal guide? Not that he was by any means bad to look out, but he had far too many... issues; an avalanche of them.

  Who knew the demon dweller could care about the existence of anything? I bite my tongue from saying that aloud. “You seem to take an interest in that, why don’t you volunteer?” Seeing his conflicted look, I add in, “Could be good for you.”

  “I try to keep to myself most of the time, so I don’t inevitably hurt someone.” That might be a tiny part of the issue. “I used to.”

  “How long ago was that?” I ask genuinely curious, the sight of him volunteering seems impossible to put together. Gabriel and puppy dogs don’t seem like a compatible image.

  “Dated this one girl back in high school. Beautiful as can be, like you in that way.” That flirting thing would get nipped in the bud as soon as possible if it continued. Despite that, I feel myself slightly smiling at the comment. What a prick. “Had the purest soul of anyone I’ve ever met.” His face turns stoic, as if fighting back tears.

  “What happened to her?” He has my full attention. I’m not sure I even wanted to know, but it was like one of those horror movies you couldn’t stop watching no matter how gory it got.

  He opens his mouth to say something, but just as quickly shuts it. Touchy subject. Finally, he says something, leaving me on the edge of my seat. “Life became too much for her to deal with. Suicide.” Poor girl, a wave of sadness brushes over me. It’s always tragic when someone feels so bad to resort to that.

  I’m at a loss for words. “I’m sorry, Gabriel.” My angel instincts get the best of me, and I wrap my arms around him; his body stiffens at my touch before giving into the hug. It lasts several long seconds before I pull away, only a slight lingering touch left between us.

  “It’s when my demon started getting more of a hold of me.” I give him a questioning look, so he explains. “There were some guys I punished for her death. High School Football Heroes. I only regret not punishing them before they defiled her.” His voice cracks as he shakes his head, his thoughts caught in the past regret. We cannot change the paths of time. I didn’t want to imagine the cruel things they must have done to that girl. Disgusting jocks.

  “How did you manage to not get caught?” I already knew how from the vision I watched with Theresa, but he wasn’t aware of that. His godlike power of erasing people from existence. Rare. Not something that should be in the hands of a half demon. Could he do it on any whim, or was it more complicated than that? If I got too mouthy, would he do that to me? Seems far more tempting than the inevitable carnage. Likely less tortuous in the long run.

  “Erased from existence.” Just maybe, maybe the good in him could somehow be brought out more to outshine the bad. “He started wanting more, hungering for more, the times I would black out, and he would take over becoming more frequent as time passed on.” Oh.

  “You don’t remember any of that?” I ask, unsure, but trying to understand his state.

  “Not a single thing. My anger just takes over, and I wake up to see some dead body around, or several. The bile comes out, then I clean up the mess. Sometimes it’s women, men, children; he really doesn’t discriminate. A kill is a kill.” I taste bile in the back of my throat, as that thought swims in my skull. Maybe a little more info than I needed. “One-time Luke thought taking me to a priest for an exorcism was the way, he was desperate to help me as the killings got more frequent. That just ended up with a church full of dead people and me sleeping for a week from the strain of wiping that many people from existence.”

  ……. What?

  “Please, spare me the details. The less I know about all the killings your demon has done, the easier all this is.” I pinch the bridge of my nose, stopping him from going into more detail about the butchering.

  “That part was a joke. The ending bit.” He smiles trying to get a crack, but just can’t. Not funny and in poor taste considering the circumstances. “Can’t you just kill me? So, I can avoid this happening again. Please, it’d be for the best.” He pleads, and I can’t help but agree? Maybe?

  “No.” I reject the idea despite trying to convince Theresa of the same thing only a few days ago. “I came here to help you, not kill you. Earlier, you said you didn’t want my help.” I say it plainly, instead of adding all the colorful words in his edition of the incident. “Were you reconsidering?” I fail at suppressing the hope from my voice.

  He sighs. “It can’t hurt to try. I don’t get how you would help me though. Seems impossible.” He looks hopeless. I had to say something to suppress his pessimism, or things wouldn’t go well.

  “We’ll figure it out. First off, though, well get to know each other better, by you showing me around to the places in town,” I offer.

  “I’m not sure a volunteer pet place is the best for me, with how much your cat hates me.” He laughs. She didn’t like Luke either, so maybe it was a demon t
hing. “What’s her name, anyway?”

  I think about it for a moment, not exactly having named her yet with all the events going on in the time I’ve known her. “Maori.” I tell him, settling on the name. It suited her. “She’ll get used to you, when she first saw me, she skimmed my leg running off.”

  “Yet you still kept her as a pet?” He looks amused and surprised.

  “She came back when I needed her most, pouncing the bad guy so I had a chance to get away.” I retell the story of how I acquired my cat. Or more accurately, how she claimed me as hers.

  He seems confused. “But Luke had to come in and save you.”

  “The guy threw her against the wall, nearly shattering her bones. I wasn’t just going to leave her there to die.” I explain if he could even manage to get it with that thick skull of his. Clearly, it was common sense.

  “So, you were willing to risk your life for a street cat when you could have easily found a replacement around the next corner?” His words ring in my ears, sending a jolt of annoyance up my spine. Why help him? Animals weren’t just replaceable objects.

  “Not every street cat puts itself in harm’s way for a passing stranger.” I argue. “Besides not every cat is the same.”

  “I guess not. There’s cat’s, then there’s that demon of a cat you have.” I shoot him a glare. “Despite the circumstances, you gained yourself a little protector, something you could use in a city like this.” I shrug.

  “Put on some of that stuff Luke gave you, and when we get back to the ground, please put your wings away so as to not grab any unwanted attention.” Bossy. But, he has a point, I guess. “Don’t need me running to your rescue.”

  I scoff. “You wish you got the chance to play Prince Charming. In our situation the roles seem slightly more reversed.”

  “I could pull off a flowing princess gown and heels. Just you wait.” An angry demon in a pretty dress. That’d be a sight to see.

  A shrug. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” I call him out on his bluff.

  “How did you even get up here in the first place?” The question comes to mind, not actually seeing him come up here, as I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts.

  “If you must see.” With a wince of pain, he extends his own wings. Almost identical to mine in shape, besides the sharper corners. But jagged. Meaner. The color darker, starting at an almost black shade of grey at the top, fading down to off white tips, Beautiful. “What?” He asks, catching me staring, I have to pull my hand back.

  “Nothing.” I shake my head. “I just wasn’t expecting you to have wings.” No matter how infected by the darkness they were getting, unlike the very few and in-between cases I’ve seen, the wings were almost embracing the change instead of displaying the usual sickly appearance the taint could give them. Must be the demon part. Or the killings. Were they always like that?

  Chapter 9

  Gabriel

  “Maybe we could run away. Just you and me. Leave this deserted town behind, no more bullies, no more Damien.” I smile at the idea, my arm wrapped around the most beautiful girl.

  She laughs, a joyful sound. Her laugh would make anyone laugh, and the beautiful crooked smile showcased on her heart-shaped face would make anyone fall for her. Pushing a strand of faded cobalt hair behind her ear, and her green cat-like eyes sparkle with mirth. “You know we can’t do that Gabriel. We still have another year to finish, and I’m trying to get that academic scholarship for school.” To study social work, help others. Get our own place. Adopt a kid in our early 30s, because I couldn’t risk passing on my venomous genes. We’ve talked about the plan a million times. She knew exactly what she wanted. I loved that.

  “I know.” I hang my head, pouting.

  “You look so cute when you’re pouty.” She ruthlessly teases, pinching my cheek. She puts her rose petal soft hands on either side of my face, I lean into her touch. “Gabriel don’t look so glum. We’ll move out of this town soon. Just another year.” Forever optimistic. The light in the dark. She runs her finger on my bottom lip, enticing me.

  I lean in, kissing her as if for dear life. As if it were a last kiss, little did I know. Pulling away, a hint of a smile is sure to be on my face. “Fine, but only for you.” We were so lost in each other’s eyes, the promise of each other, that I didn’t notice the four guys coming up behind us before it was too late. A blow to the head, and I’m knocked down on my knees.

  “No, stop!” I hear terror in her voice, those animals grabbing at her like she was their plaything. Burning rage filled my veins as I attempted to fight against the two holding me. I strain, trying to kick and scratch my way out---but I’m not strong enough. As they overpower me, and I feel the syringe hit my neck. Everything fades…

  My eyes blink back open, hoping this was all a bad nightmare. My head pounds, like nails being drilled into my skull.

  “Wakey-wakey.” To my horror this isn’t some deluded distortion of reality.

  I find myself on a cell floor in an abandoned building. Everything coming back to me, walking with the love of my life, getting struck down. Was she okay? I look frantically around, to see four players from my high school’s football team. With... oh god no! “Get the fuck away from her!”

  Troy, a buff guy with an army haircut, but a brain the size of a pea glances over me, getting in my face. “Finally, you’re awake, and the real fun can get started. And there’s nothing you can do about it, freak boy.” It wasn’t only father that hated me; I was far too easy of a target at school as well. People frankly were assholes.

  One of the brutes, a blond with a chubby face, tears off her purple and blue sundress to reveal creamy skin, and a lacey teal thong. She attempts to cover herself and kick them away to no avail.

  “Don’t hide yourself from us, bitch.” The blond attempts to grab one of her arms, but she scratches his eye. “You’re so going to fucking regret that!” A red head, and Troy grab her arms, tying them behind her. her perfect perky breasts on display, heaving and shaking in fear.

  Monsters. The blond forces her to her knees, unbuttoning his pants, quick to pull them and boxers down to his ankles. “See what you did to me?” Sicko. He shoves his dick in her face, slapping her across the cheek a few times on each side, as she attempts to flinch away.

  “Please don’t do this,” she cries, tears cascading down her face.

  “I love it when the bitches cry.” The red head smirks.

  “Why are you doing this?” she screams, her face smeared in streaks of eyeliner and mascara.

  ‘Take them.’ I hear a voice in the back of my mind. A darker, more demented character than my own. ‘Let me take over and I can help.’

  The blond grabs her chin, the obvious leader of the pack of… “You should have kept your nose to yourself, instead of trying to taint us.”

  “How?” I question wildly to the voice. Not sure if the stress from the situation is just making me hear things, or if the jocks were fucking with my head.

  She pleads and cries for help, as I scream for them to stop, scratching at my chains, wishing there was some way I could help her.

  ‘Let go. Give over to me,’ he whispers tauntingly. ‘Your girlfriend will be better off for it.’

  She begs and screams, but no one would hear us from here; probably why the scumbags chose such a discreet location.

  “Kill them.” I give in. The change is painful as my eyes nearly burn from their sockets, my throat running raw, knees feeling weak, stomach clenching. My form changes itself until it’s me no more. It’s something crueler and stronger.

  I rip the jail cell walls open with a force unthinkable. The demon’s come out to play.

  “What do you think you’re doing freak?” One of the waste of space dwellers shouts, trying to hide his fear. I catch a glimpse of my appearance in broken glass shards on the ground. The blood-red eyes and fangs. No wonder I terrified him. Blond.

  I zoom up to him, ripping his heart from his chest, before another word can sl
ip from the confines of his mouth. Maybe that killing was too merciful.

  “Stop! Don’t kill us. We were only playing man.” Troy, the idiot from earlier spurts before I smash his skull in, painting the walls red with his blood. Playing my ass.

  “Gabriel!” I hear her cry in the distance, but it’s too far away that it doesn’t quite register.

  A simple swish of the wrist, and the third vile being’s body is thrown across the room. His neck twisting in a way that he would never recover from. I take the chance to spur the rest of his limbs in a disgusting position. His body now is the equivalent of one of those Halloween skeletons people hang on doors. Adjustable limbs.

  “Any last words before I kill you?” I look towards the last one.

  A whimpering idiot. “Please don’t kill me. They dragged me into this. They said I’d be booted from the team if-” Excuses. “I’ll give you anything you want.” He backs up. “Money, girls, drugs, a car--- you name it dude. Just don’t kill me.” He was such an idiot. The desperation in his eyes was delicious. He was standing aside on lookout, instead of joining in on the other ‘fun.’

  “Maybe we could work something out.” His shoulders sag in relief at the news. “After all, it’s not like you touched her. You were just the lookout.”

  “Anything you want,” he offers, wanting me to spare his life. No doubt so he can tell daddy or someone about all that happened. It being the steamy gossipy steak it is.

  “Come here,” I beckon him forth.

  He seems hesitant but walks forth anyway. I beckon him closer and closer until he’s standing in front of me.

  “Tear your eyes out.” I demand of him.

  “What no! Dude you’re crazy.” He tries to get away, but I’m too fast as I grab his arm.

  “TEAR YOUR FUCKING EYES OUT!” My eyes catch his, as he watches transfixed.