by Dora Blume
Sloane waited a few minutes to see if the demon planned on challenging her. When she was finished waiting, she headed back toward the car. She took the steps two at a time, figuring that Erik was most likely finished with his demon. The third demon must’ve been the one to see her. She knew that they shouldn’t have left one alone and should’ve tried to go for all three. Now the third one would go and tell the others of their presence. They no longer had the element of surprise, but the demons had to know there were hunters in Denver. There were hunters everywhere. They would need to be a little more careful in the future, now that they knew what she looked like. She didn’t know if the demon had seen Erik, but she figured she had seen both of them.
Sloane got to the car, and Erik was leaning against it. “Did you take care of the other woman?”
“Yeah, you?” she responded.
“Yep, we need to go the other woman saw us both,” he said
“Damn, I was hoping she only saw me,” Sloane said.
“Nope, she’s up there.” Erik pointed to the top of the parking ramp across the street.
“Oh shit,” Sloane said.
“Yeah, she called reinforcements, and they’re headed here now. We should be going.” he moved to the driver's door and opened it. Sloane followed his lead and quickly got in the car.
“So, do you think Magnus will loan us another car now that they know this one?”
“Maybe, do you think they’ll be able to trace where this car came from?” Sloane asked.
“Probably, they seem to be into everything including hacking or possessing people to help them with what they need. Considering the people who work at the DMV, I wouldn’t doubt if they were all demons.”
Sloane laughed, “Ain’t that the truth.”
“I’ll call Magnus and let him know.” He grabbed his phone from the council and dialed Magnus.
“Hey, just so you know we’ve been spotted, and they may trace your car,” Erik spoke into the phone.
“Okay, we’ll go to the address, here Sloane can you punch this address into your phone,” he handed her the phone so that she could type in the address.
“Mmmhmm,” she said a few times, “Got it. Thanks, Magnus.” She hung up the phone.
“So, follow the navigation. Magnus has a few other properties here in Denver.”
“Yeah, makes sense, you don’t want demons showing up to your actual residence.” Erik made the next turn sending Sloane against the door.
“Do you think we need to be in this big of a hurry? I mean, do you think they were able to follow us that quickly?” Sloane reached for the handle above her head before Erik took another turn.
“No, not really, but I like to drive fast,” he shrugged.
“Awesome, I’d like to not have bruises on my arms from your driving. Slow down taking turns okay, bro.”
“Did Magnus have any other instructions for us when we got to the house?”
“Yeah, he said to change cars there, then head back to the house. He wants to know what happened,” Sloane said and stared out the window at the passing city.
“They’re going after kids, huh?” she said.
“Yeah, at first, I thought they were going after young kids, but it’s high schoolers. It seems that they are looking at other schools, too. We need to figure out where, so we can take care of that as well,” Erik explained.
“I still can’t believe it. It seems so crazy, I mean before what happened in Minneapolis, I thought that the demons were so sporadic and that they didn’t organize. There were only ever single attacks, and small organizations among them as far as we knew. Now there seems to be a grand design among them all. They are well organized and making things happen all over the place. I don’t get how that happened, and no one noticed before this. It just doesn’t make sense. Something had to have happened to change the demons. I don’t get any of this.” Sloane huffed.
“Yeah, I know. Some new things were changing, but there was a group covering it up. Mom dying was the beginning for us. Someone in the Shikari helped them. They killed off anyone who found out about the traitor group. It surprised us all, after all of the years of devotion we’ve all been taught, that one of our own would turn on us and begin this war. We need to eliminate the traitors in the order, which could mean killing our people. I’m not sure how we’re going to accomplish that. How do we ask others to kill people they love? This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.” Erik rested one hand in his lap and clenched the other around the wheel. He let out a heavy breath.
“I’m going to message Jess and let them know what’s going on. We need to regroup asap.” She started typing quickly on her phone. After the news about them targeting high schoolers, she felt a renewed energy and focus. They had an idea about what the demons were doing here. They had direction and some idea of what to do next.
“Jess responded, shit and said they'd be there in forty-five minutes.” Sloane looked to Erik; he was pulling into the driveway of another house. The garage door opened and Erik drove in.
A tall, dark-haired man walked toward them from the house. Erik and Sloane got out of the car once they parked. Erik moved to the trunk to grab out his duffle.
“Hi, I’m Scott, I hear you’re in need of a new car.” He smiled at the two. He was a tall man and quite robust with blonde hair. His eyes were soft when he glanced at Sloane.
“Yeah, we ran into a few demons that are probably tracking the car as we speak,” Erik said.
“No worries, they won’t find it here, and we’ll have new plates on the car in a few minutes. For now,” he tossed Erik a set of keys and started walking to another stall in the garage. He hit a button, and the door opened. An Audi A8 was in the garage. “I think this will do for you two,” he smirked.
“Yeah, that'll do,” Erik said in shock.
“I figured you two might need the tint since they saw you as well,” Scott said. “It’s all yours; you better get on to Magnus. He’ll be waiting for a report. He may not seem like it, but he is the head of Denver. If you need anything, I am always here in service of the order.” He smiled and headed back toward the house.
“Well, that was nice of him,” Sloane said.
“Yeah, I’m surprised he didn’t ask what was going on. You’d think if he were part of the order he’d want to know.” Erik said.
“Maybe he will find out from Magnus, anyway. Let’s listen and get back to tell Magnus about what we learned. Considering this is all going on in his city, he should know. We may also need to relocate to Colorado Springs, if they are attending a school there, we need to go check out the school.”
“Yeah, but we also need to stop them from getting the students here in Denver, too. We may need to split off or elicit some assistance from local Shikari like Scott here.” Erik said he walked to the car and got in the driver’s seat. Sloane watched as he rubbed his hands along the steering wheel and whispered, “Nice,” before starting the car.
“Having a cargasm over there?” Sloane joked.
“It is a very nice car,” he responded.
“Yes, but we have to get going. So, let’s see what she can do.” She smiled.
“Yes, lets,” he smiled back and threw the car in reverse to back out of the garage.
He began speeding down the streets toward where Magnus lived. They arrived quickly and sped toward the house with a new determination in their step. Erik didn’t even bother to knock, he walked right in and headed toward the basement where Magnus’ man cave was located. Sloane followed, she was surprised that Magnus was the leader of this area. He certainly didn’t seem like he’d be the leader.
“Magnus?” Erik called as soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He hadn’t ventured too far past his room, so he wasn’t sure what was all down here.
“Hey, come on back,” Magnus yelled from down the hall.
They continued down the hall until they reached the last room which had a desk and several bookcases filled with old books.
“Hey, so I hear you had some interesting encounters at our university,” he said lightly.
“You could say that,” Sloane responded quickly and Erik gave her a sharp glance.
“Yeah, um, they are going after high school kids now. There’s a boarding school in Colorado Springs, they’re focusing on but have possessed students in Denver, too. I’m not sure what’s so special about this school in Colorado Springs, though.” Erik explained.
“We need to split up, some heading to Colorado Springs to find out about the school, and some to head off the operation here before they recruit more kids,” Sloane said quickly. She didn’t like how Erik was leaving her out of the mix.
“So, how many Shikari members are in the area? We have to have a group in Colorado Springs already, right?” Erik asked. “I mean, we are everywhere.”
“We have a few members who live there, but I think it may be you, Erik who needs to go.”
“Me, really, why?” Erik seemed confused.
“It’s because you will be able to locate the school faster than the others will,” Sloane said knowing the answer already. “There’s no one there with the skill to read other thoughts.”
“No, no one around here has that ability. I can copy your power when you are around but not long range. You would be able to find the school faster than anyone,” Magnus explained.
“If we joined with Mike and headed there that would be our best bet because he can track the demons once you locate them,” Sloane added.
“I can deal with the ones here in Denver, while you guys head down to Colorado Springs.”
“That sounds good, but we should check in with the rest when they get here, see what they think,” Erik said remembering that Bryant and Jess would be joining them shortly.
“I’m going to run up to my room before the others get here. We can all meet in the main room to decide what we’re officially doing.” Sloane left the room quickly and took her phone out of her pocket. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to see Mike, well she was ready, but she wasn’t sure how he would react to seeing her. She figured it’d be easy to be with each other when they had other things to focus on. She wanted to spend time with him alone, so she could talk to him about what is going on between them. She didn’t think the moment in the kitchen was a big deal. She didn’t think anything of it until he started distancing himself and freaking out over it. She just reacted at the time. It wasn’t a big deal in her eyes, but she needed to talk to him, regardless. She went upstairs and waited. She decided the time for avoiding her was over, and she was going to make him talk to her, in private as soon as he got there.
Chapter 5
She looked outside and saw the car pulling up the driveway. Her heart began pounding in her chest, and her palms became balmy. She wasn’t expecting them to be here quite so quickly. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Hell, with it, she thought. She was going to talk to him, this avoiding texts and calls bullshit was over. Sloane watched as Jess got out of the driver's seat and stretched her arms over her head and elongated her entire body. Mike got out of the back seat followed slowly by Bryant in the front. Bryant headed straight for the door. He was all business. Sloane held the door open and stepped out into the blazing sun.
“Hello father,” she stretched her vowels when she spoke.
He looked at her and asked, “Where are Magnus and Erik? I would like to speak to them immediately.”
“They’re downstairs; If you follow the house all the way to the back, there is a staircase on the right, then go all the way to the back. It’s the last room on the left.” She returned her focus to Mike who was staring at her pointedly. Jess looked between the two of them and walked quickly up to the house.
“I think I’ll follow Bryant to go find Erik.” She walked swiftly into the house.
Sloane watched her go and turned back to look at Mike. He had a pained look on his face but walked toward her slowly, like he was walking to his death.
“Seriously, I just want to talk to you.” She stood with her hand on her hip.
“I know, that’s the problem,” he said.
“Oh yeah, talking to me is a problem? You had no problem talking to me a few days ago in my bedroom; now you won’t answer a simple text to let me know where you are. What the fuck, Mike?”
“Talking to you can be a problem, Sloane. You don’t listen, you never listen. Besides, your actions the other day made it all too clear. The only discussion you’re interested in is the one we have in the bedroom, as you so kindly pointed out. Now that I know where we stand, we can move on, separately.” Mike closed his eyes after he spoke. Sloane turned around as she heard Joleen coming up behind her. Sloane sighed heavily.
“We need to take this upstairs,” she said when she turned back to Mike.
“This is exactly what I’m talking about. We just began to have a real conversation, and you want to go to your room. No Sloane, I’m not going to be your secret in the night. I’m not that kind of guy. If that is what you are looking for, love, find yourself another bloke.”
“No, will you stop? I mean we have company,” she said as Joleen reached them.
“Well hello, and who might you be?” Joleen asked.
“Oh, hello love, I’m Mike.” He moved forward and shook Joleen’s hand.
“Well, it’s wonderful to meet you, Mike,” she said. “Well, I can see you two have something important to discuss. I’ll get Penelope on making lunch for all of us.” She flitted toward the kitchen.
“Okay Sloane, she’s gone what do you have to say? What could make your actions from the other day okay? Please explain that to me, because as far as I’m concerned, you made your stance very clear.” His voice low and hard. Sloane had never heard his anger so clearly before today.
“I’m sorry about the other day. I shouldn’t have moved away from you in the kitchen. I was startled, it felt like Jess was intruding on our private moment. It also scared me. We’ve only been together for a little while. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to hide anything from the others. I just didn’t know what to do at the time, so I moved away from you. I didn’t even think about it. I’m so sorry if I hurt you, it was just a little thing.” She took a step forward and ran her fingers along the scruff on his cheek. She could tell he hadn’t shaved in a few days. The dark hairs prickled her hand as she cupped his cheek.
“For me, it wasn’t little. You rejected me in front of Jessie. I just don’t get why? I understand you being scared, I’m scared too. You left me, remember. I guess I’m afraid you’ll do it again. We had been so close when we were younger. Then you take off, and no one knows where you went. Now, we’re together again. It feels like we’re picking up where we left off, but I’m afraid it won’t last. When you moved away from me, it felt like you were ready to run again. You’re so good at running away, and I don’t want to lose you again.” Mike stared into Sloane’s eyes and took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry. I know I’ve hurt you in so many ways. I know I left, but I also know you knew where I was the whole time I was gone. Why didn’t you come to find me?” Sloane asked.
“I knew you needed space after your mom. I wasn’t sure you wanted me to find you. I figured you’d find me when you were ready, but you never did. I wasn’t sure you wanted to be with me anymore.” Mike looked to the ground and swallowed hard.
“Oh baby, of course, I want to be with you. We were both young, and I didn’t know how to deal with everything. I had to leave to figure out how I felt. But I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere.” Sloane placed her finger under Mike’s chin raising it until his eyes met hers.
Mike’s eyes glistened as he stared at her. “You want to be with me?” he whispered.
“Yes, what more do I need to say to make you believe, I want to be with you?” Sloane moved a step closer. She wanted to throw herself at him but knew she needed to wait for him. She moved another step closer, so that she was within an arm's distance from him. She wanted him to go
the extra step. She didn’t want to force him into it.
She took another tentative step and waited. She could feel him, his heat radiating off his body. It called to her, but she stood firm. He needed to take the extra step; she’d never push him. Before she knew it, he wrapped one arm around her back and pulled her into him. He crushed his mouth to hers in an intense meeting of their mouths. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stroked his curls. He responded by pushing her against the house and moving his hands down and hitching up each thigh with both hands. He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He moved one hand to her front, toying with her nipple. He broke their kiss to trail kisses along her chin and down her neck. He moved her shirt aside to nip her collarbone.
“Ahem” Erik stood in the doorway. “Um, I would say get a room, but we have work to do so, get it together.” Sloane glared at Erik.
“Hey Erik,” Mike said as he stepped away from Sloane, pulling her shirt back in place and smoothing it out.
“Seriously, worst timing ever,” she said and glared at Erik.
“Come on Sloane; you know we have work to do. We need to explain what happened and we need to be on our way to Colorado Springs,” Erik turned and headed back into the house to meet with the others.
Sloane looked up into Mike’s eyes. “Later,” she breathed and reached her mouth up to brush his. He responded immediately by grasping her mouth with his and nipping her bottom lip. She let out a little gasp and reached for his hand, interlocking her fingers with his before turning and heading for the house. Later would not come soon enough.
