by Ariel Marie
Demon.
Colin growls and moves to stand in front of me. I look around sensing another demon dropping from the sky and then a few more land on the ground. Before I know it, there are five demons standing in the parking lot surrounding us. Five on two odds, not too bad for my first demon fight in the human realm. I’m ready for this. I haven’t worked out since I got to the human realm and my muscles had been screaming to be worked out.
“What are you doing here demon?” I ask the one who spoke, stepping from behind Colin to stand next to him. I’m eyeballing the ones closest to me trying to decide which one I’m going to behead first. Colin growls loudly again and places his arm on my abdomen as if to push me behind. I stay his arm.
“He wants you, Princess,” the first demon says. This time Colin growls even louder but I can’t look at him because I don’t want to take my eyes off of the demons. I can feel his Alpha power shooting off of him in waves. He’s close to shifting.
“Who wants me?” I need more information. I need to keep him talking. The demons live in the Underworld, which is ruled by Hades, but the Demon King rules the demons. Hades is the ruler of all in the Underworld and the Demon King is Hades second in command. But for the last millennium or so, Hades has disappeared leaving the Demon King in charge of the Underworld. There are different creatures of the Underworld that the Demon King rules.
The other demons begin moving closer causing Colin and I to shift our stance so that we are standing back to back and the Demons now have us surrounded. Where is Alec? I tighten my grip on Dawn.
“Melomouzor, the Demon King, wants you princess,” the demon replied stepping closer. He’s going to be the first that will meet my sword. My eyes connect with the dark-skinned leader whose red eyes are locked on me.
“For what?” I ask, trying to draw out more information. I shift my body getting in a defensive position. This is definitely not good if the Demon King is after me. I am completely lost on why he would want me.
“It is not my place to question the King, Princess. He wants you. We are to bring you to him.” The demon lets loose a low growl as he takes another step closer.
“Over my dead body,” Colin snarls. His hands have shifted to his wolf claws. His forearms are now covered with midnight black hair. His power is radiating from his body.
“That can be arranged!” another demon says as they attack. I sidestep the first demon and was able to flash behind him swinging my sword. His head rolls away from his body. His body instantly begins to disintegrate. Detaching a demon’s head is one way to ensure that it is dead. Colin is engaged with fighting two of the demons.
Using my Fae power, flashing in and out, swinging my sword gracefully as if I were dancing, the demons are no match for me. All the years of training have definitely paid off. Colin swipes at the second demon he is fighting and with one powerful swipe of his claws, he was able to sever the head from the body. He turns slightly watching me finish off the last demon with a quick slash of my katana to separate the head from the body.
The higher-level the demon the longer it takes for its body to turn to ash. These are not taking that long meaning that these are lower-level demons. The back of my neck tingles, I turn to see Colin staring at me. I’m not sure who has more blood on them, him or me. He’s breathing hard. He stares at me for a second, his gaze traveling from my head to my toes, before speaking.
“Those are some skills you got there.” He nods, respect showing in his eyes.
“Guardians aren’t to be fucked with,” I respond proudly. I can feel my mouth turn up in a lopsided grin. I place my sword in its sheath on my back. The heat of his lust-filled gaze hits me. He blinks when he notices that I’ve caught him staring, his guard goes back up. A fluttery feeling passes in my stomach. There may be hope for me!
“We need to find Alec.” He turns jogging towards the front of the building. I don’t mind following, I get a good view of his ass.
* * *
We find Alec coming from across the street. He ran into some demon action of his own. He followed a demon across the street that he had spotted lurking near the building watching Tina’s apartment. He wasn’t able to get much out of him before he beheaded him. The demon got in one good swipe on Alec’s leg. He came from across the street limping and grimacing. Colin ran up to check on Tina and she is doing fine. Upon hearing how we were attacked outside her building, she promises she will definitely go stay with her pack.
The other Legion members, Dante and Reed, show up when we are getting in the car. Colin speaks to them for a few minutes, giving them a rundown on everything that is going on. I guess it’s a requirement for the Legion to be huge, gorgeous males with muscles for days. Dante looks of Italian descent with his black hair, and Reed has bright red hair, I can’t tell if he’s Irish or Scottish. Dante goes in the apartment building and Reed stays by their black Tahoe.
Colin gets in the driver’s seat, starts the car and pulls off. Silence fills the truck. That’s fine by me. Why would Melomouzor want me? Enough to where he would send five demons to catch me. How are the demons able to come to the human realm so freely? We were told bedtime stories when we were children about the Demon King, Melomouzor, and how he tried to take over the human realm centuries ago. I don’t remember all of the details of the story. Plus parents usually tweaked the real tale to make it less violent so children would not have nightmares.
“Why does Melomouzor want you?” Colin asks, finally breaking the silence in the car, looking at me in the rearview mirror.
“What?” Alec exclaims.
“I don’t know.”
“You have got to be shitting me!” Alec shakes his head.
“I’m not sure what Melomouzor wants with me.” I shake my head, not knowing the answer. I’m still in shock at the fact.
“We need to know why the demons are able to come to the human realm. They shouldn’t be coming here. If Melomouzor is starting to send demons back to our realm, something is going on. He’s trying to start something. Why did someone open the portals to allow the demons to cross over?” Colin pulls up to my grandparent’s home. He shuts off the engine and turns to me. “We need to find out why he wants you and if it’s related to the missing supernaturals.”
“Don’t you think I want to know why he’s after me? I prefer not to have my name added to the victim list!” I scoff at the thought of that! “Look, do you guys want to get cleaned up? We might have some extra clothes for you.” I motion to the blood all over their clothes.
“We keep a spare set of clothes in the truck, just in case we have to shift without taking our clothes off.” Alec hops out, limping to the back of the truck and grabs a black duffle bag.
We walk up to the house and I let us in. I call out to Henry to tell my grandmother to meet us in her study. I show them to the closest bathroom with the instructions of how to get to the study. I don’t feel like walking to my bedroom so I flash there. Pulling my hair in a high bun I jump in the shower for a five-minute scrub down to get the dried blood off. I dry off and grab a pair of yoga pants and a pink t-shirt with a Disney princess on it and some tennis shoes. Ironic, I know, since I’m a real life Princess. Everyone needs to feel young sometimes. I flash to my grandmother’s study at the same time my grandmother walks through the door and startle both Alec and Colin.
“How many times do we have to tell you to walk around the house and not flash? You’re going to give someone a heart attack, Lina!” My grandmother scolds me with her hands on her hips. I roll my eyes as she walks all the way in the study.
We sit around her study and inform her of the memories I retrieved from Tina and the demon attack. My grandmother actually looks shocked and disturbed. She jumps up and quickly walks over to one of the smaller bookcases against the wall and pulls a book out. The bookcase slides to the left and built into the wall is a hidden safe. She places her finger on the fingerprint scanner and a series of three green lights blink. She brings out an ancient book that has a dark c
over with silver engraved words written in an ancient language that hasn’t been spoken in over a thousand years.
She places the book on the table. We gather around her. The book has some strange locked device that is keeping the book from being opened. There is a latch that is attached to the back of the book and it wraps around the front cover. In the middle of the latch there is a small keyhole. My grandmother pricks the tip of her finger with a small dagger and squeezes a large drop of blood into the little hole that is part of the ancient security. There is a click when the blood disappears into the keyhole. The book is open. She turns to a page and she begins speaking.
“This is the Black Book of the Ancients. It holds the history of the ancients of the supernatural world. I have guarded this book since my mother bestowed it upon me.” She looks at me. “It was supposed to be passed to my first-born daughter, but since your mother is no longer with us, the responsibility will fall to you next. Lina, since you are my descendent your blood will open the lock.” I’m shocked, I’ve never even heard of this book.
“Grandmother, why have I never heard of this book?”
“Because it was not time for you to learn of it. The Black Book of Ancients can be a dangerous book. It has the written history from the past and sometimes will dictate what is to come in the future.”
“Who wrote the book?” Colin asks, trying to get a closer look at the book.
“No mortal or immortal has written in this book. The book is said to be alive and history writes itself in the book. As time goes on and history is made the stories will appear in the book. Our family has guarded this book for centuries. Colin, I am trusting that you and Alec will not share with anyone that this book exists.” They both nod. She looks at the page she paused on, then flicks to another page. She holds her right hand up and uses the ancient language of Fesau, “Usape proteti norelipi”. A hologram appears over the table, showing the ancient world. As she speaks, we begin to witness her story unfold.
“The Demons used to have access to the human realm. They were allowed to roam the lands on Earth as long as they abided by the laws that were set. Melomouzor, the Demon King, always tested those boundaries. Hades has never kept a tight leash on Melomouzor. Melomouzor felt that he could do what he wanted and he wanted to take over the human realm. He was power hungry and felt that the humans were better off as slaves to the demons. The demons became more aggressive and more dangerous. They began disobeying the laws. The first law stated that no human should be killed for sport or pleasure.
“Melomouzor loved to torture the humans and animals of this world. The amount of humans he would kill started to increase. He allowed his demons to use humans as toys and would allow the unnecessary killings of humans. He began to get tired of torturing and experimenting on the humans. He realized that his demons were not the strongest beings. Even humans, when they fought back, could kill a demon and he didn’t like that.
“So he moved on to capturing supernaturals, studying them, torturing them and killing them. He wanted to create a stronger demon, stronger than any other supernatural creature. He wanted to try to take the strongest aspect of each supernatural and make a super demon. With an army of super demons, he would conquer our realm. When word got out on what he was attempting to do, our ancestors realized that he had to be stopped.
“Ten of the strongest ruling supernatural families from around the realms sent a representative for a secret meeting in Ingora to try to determine the best way to stop Melomouzor. The Fae, the Witches, the Werewolves and the Vampires, all were represented at this meeting. After many hours of debating on the best course of action to defeat Melomouzor, they knew the only way to protect mankind and all supernaturals was to permanently send him back to the Underworld. Banishing him where he could not come back to the human realm and his demons would have to stay in the Underworld as well.
“They met with the Goddess Durga, the fierce demon fighting Goddess, in the land of Agslyae, the holiest of lands. She told them of the blood sacrifice that they would have to make in order to banish him back to the Underworld. Each Ancient eagerly promised to give their blood to get Melomouzor bound back to the Underworld.
“They went to the Mountain of Agesha, where they entered the Sacred Temple of Eosis. The Ancients worshiped Durga and offered their gift of their blood as a sacrifice for Durga. She accepted their sacrifice and worship and she attacked Melomouzor. She is the strongest Goddess of War and he was no match for her. She cursed him and his demons back to the Underworld. According to the Black Book of Ancients there is only one way for Melomouzor to come back.”
She pauses and looks at everyone in the room. While she was telling the story, we all had a seat at the table. We were all captivated by the story that unfolded in front of us.
“He will need the blood of the descendants to reverse his banishment.”
Chapter Ten
~Colin~
He will need the blood of the descendants. Shit! We are totally fucked! We’ve been trying to figure out who is related to whom by looking at the Ancients. It made it easier to start when the Black Book of the Ancients listed the names of all of the Ancients who were at that meeting and donated their blood. So far we have narrowed down a few of the recently missing. Serah is a descendent of the Abshia Ancient, Matewa Petra. Kevin Rhode, the other recent missing werewolf, is a descendent of the Gador representative, Talon Hamutana.
Azura was able to look up the Ancient Witches and was able to determine that the two most recent witches who went missing are descendants of the Ancient Witches. Athena Ivy, a twenty-two year-old witch who has been missing for two and a half months, is the descendant of the Fesau’s representative, Areta Romana. The older witch that is missing is Imoran Vlajamar, a seventy-five year-old witch, who has been missing for about a month and a half. We are able to trace him to Taikaroa Matene of Duyaji.
It’s getting late. There are plates and glasses everywhere on the table. We have been at this for hours and it’s close to midnight. Lina is currently sitting on the sofa speaking to her brother on her cellphone exchanging information since he has been working on the Fae disappearances. She looks exhausted. Twin smudges have appeared underneath her eyes, her bun that was on top of her head has fallen to the back of her head. My eyes are glued to her. She is the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. Alec must have noticed where my attention has been.
“What’s up with you and her?” He asks in a low voice, sitting down next to me on the couch. They don’t have sensitive hearing like we do, so he knows that they cannot hear us.
“Nothing,” I glare at him fighting to hide my growing feelings for her. My wolf is scratching at my abdomen, trying to get out to go to her. My wolf wants to take care of her. He is totally infatuated with her.
“Then why can’t you take your eyes off of her?” He snorts, not disturbed by the glare I’m shooting at him.
“It’s nothing. She just looks tired. I think we should call it a night,” I try to explain as my eyes slowly travel back to her direction.
“And you care why? You’ve never paid this much attention to any woman. You haven’t taken your eyes off of her all night. You barely look at any of the females in our pack who have been dying to get your attention.”
He’s right as usual but I won’t tell him that. Women usually throw themselves at my feet. Every woman I’ve been with knows up front that nothing will come of our time together. I have never felt the need to settle down with one woman. But Lina, I can’t stop staring at her. She’s the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.
Mine… Mate. The voice whispers in my mind.
“You stare at her like she’s your mate or something.” I tear my eyes off of her to turn to him.
“What? You know I can’t take a mate,” I remind him. My eyes follow her as she gets up to pace still speaking to her brother on the phone. She occasionally will look over at me and I try to keep my feelings from showing on my face.
“No, you just made th
at choice. There are plenty of females who are dying to try to mate with you. What about Malia? She’s been trying to get her claws in you for years. She would make a good Alpha’s mate. She’s from a strong family, she’s always at our house helping out and it doesn’t hurt that she is one sexy female. She even knows how the house runs.”
“I don’t want to talk about me and Malia.” I break off the conversation as Lina hangs up her call and she looks over at Alec and me. We walk over to her and Azura.
“Keegan says that they have talked with the family and friends of the Fae who are missing. They really did not know much. One of them was here in the human realm when he went missing. The others, they believe, went missing while in Faery. I explained to him about the Ancients and Durga and they are going to try to trace if any of the missing are related to the Ancient Fae. He’s coming here tomorrow morning.”
“Did you tell him about the demon attack and Melomouzor wanting you?” Azura asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Hell no! If I tell him that now, he will flash here and haul my ass back to Faery before I can even blink! Gran, you know how he is.” She shakes her head and shudders. “I’ll just wait for him to get here and we can tell him the rest. I’m sure my father will want an update. I’ll call him in the morning.”
“We’re going to head out. I need to update the rest of the Legion on what’s going on,” I say and Lina leads us to the front door.
“Alec, are you going to be okay? You sure you don’t need a doctor?” Lina asks Alec noticing that he is still limping.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” His crooked grin appears. “Once I get back to our place, I’ll shift and go for a run. It’ll be just like new. Good night, Princess.” He nods his head and limps off to the truck. I’m stuck standing at the door like a fool, looking at her. She smiles slightly at me and literally takes my breath away. My wolf whines, wanting to get closer and get a whiff of her skin. I’m not even sure what to say to her.
