Night Lurks

by Amber Lynn

  “Very bold words. I know you’ve already given some girl in here a tumble. It is making you smell delicious. You think you would be able to go again so soon?”

  “My stamina is legendary. You got a place close by we can experiment with it?”

  “You don’t think the bathroom will work, isn’t that where you took your appetizer?”

  “Sure. I just thought you might be a little bit classier than that. If you are game, I have a stall already picked out.”

  “You are so cute. Let’s just go back to my place. You promised to make me scream and I am a bit of a screecher to begin with so privacy would work better.”

  The conversation comes to an end. It only lasted about five minutes. I have never tried to pick someone up at a bar, but I would think there would be a little bit more to it. Don’t you want to do a little more research on a potential sexual partner?

  I see Jake and Candace walk out of the bar with her draped around him and she is nibbling at his neck. I almost thought that a visual would have made the sitting around waiting for action less boring, but I don't think I would have been happy seeing just how well their conversation was playing out.

  They walk over to a small black convertible that Candace hops in. Jake follows suit and she quickly starts the engine and peels out of the parking lot. She must be a little hungry to be in such a hurry. Alex waits a couple of seconds and then he sets off after her. The chase is on.

  Chapter 20

  It isn't a fight unless the clones show up

  The chase only ends up lasting a few blocks. Candace doesn't like to go far for her food. We slow down a little to watch them get out and go into a two-story home. Alex circles the block and parks in front of a house a few lots down. I cannot tell if Sebastian is close, but he mentioned there was some kind of spell or magic trick that kept him in the room he was stuck in and that could also keep me from using all of my senses. If he would just drop his wall, this search and rescue business would be a lot easier.

  “I haven't caught your name my little wolf. It would be nice to know what to yell when things start feeling good.” There is no slowing down the hungry succubus.

  “I will be sure to tell you it once you tell me why you just grabbed that knife. I can tell you right now, pain isn't going to be involved in this little romp,” Jake replies. Not good. It is time to move in. I open my door and draw my gun. If I need to break doors down, it is more likely to assist than a knife. I have enough huge guys around that they can probably complete the task for me, but they are running a little slow.

  “I don't think you have a choice.” I hear Jake scream and pick up my pace. Okay, maybe he didn't scream and it was more of a quiet groan, but it did indicate he was in pain. “Who is about to come in here after you? I know they followed us from the bar.”

  “Eat shit, you freaking psycho. Stabbing me is just going to bring yourself more pain.”

  Great. We have a guy wounded. I don't bother with the gun or getting someone bigger to take care of the door. I just bulldoze right through it. Without knowing what kind of knife was used I am really worried about Jake's welfare.

  “Oh don't be so dramatic,” Candace says as I halt my progress and find her and Jake in the living room of the house. A quick visual check on Jake shows him bleeding from his forearm and no knife sticking out of him. He shouldn't have a problem recovering from that. He is sitting on a couch and she is in a chair next to it. “As you have ascertained, he will be fine. You, however, probably won't be. If I were placing bets, I would guess you are Nyx. I found out your name today and I was going to swing by your place to check you out. You are so thoughtful for saving me the trip. Now, I can just kill you in front of Sebastian and watch the pain in his eyes as you die.”

  “Keep dreaming, Candace. The only person dying here today will be you,” I tell her and feel the air change as the rest of my crew gathers behind me. This many people rushing in at once causes a nice gust. I grab my new knife and put my gun away. As I am doing that, I sneak a Candace no move ball out of the holster. I don't want to totally show my cards just yet. Not that she would particularly know what was in the small packet, but I really want it to be a surprise.

  “And just what are you going to do? You are a very sick angel with all of that dog and vampire running through you and you aren't even of age yet. Your powers are strong, but they aren't enough for a full strength demon.” She stands up from her chair and starts walking closer to me. “You know my name, so I can only assume you know what I am. Showing up with this many guys must mean you are all protected against my charms. Too bad. There are a couple of your friends that I wouldn't mind testing out. The wolf hovering at your back would be my first choice.”

  “You already had the fun of sampling one of my mates. Even if it was years ago, you aren't getting another opportunity,” I tell her knowing that it is Alex she is talking about.

  “I think you are confused. I am not aware of anything here that will stop me from just killing you and then having a really fun party with the guys before I eventually take out the rest of the garbage.”

  I roll the ball in my left hand. I really want to throw it, but I am afraid she will move. I need to get close to her and either hit her with the freeze ball or just knife her. I kind of wish I would have been thinking ahead and brought a paintball gun. The ball looks like it would fit in one and shooting it at her instead of throwing might work a little better.

  “Just like when you underestimated the bond between me and Sebastian, you are wrong again.” A quick look of surprise appears on her face. She changes to her nonchalant look so fast I might have missed it.

  “You guys have been playing in dream land. I should have thought of that, but I really didn't believe you were that connected even if he claimed you share an unbreakable bond. No matter. Let's not stand around here all day. Odds are looking a little against me, so let's have some fun.”

  She waves her hand and Candace clones start appearing. A quick count reveals ten of them and the original.

  “Alex, I hope you actually packed a weapon this time,” I whisper and try to focus on the real Candace. She and the clones have started moving around. In this instance, having a large space to fight in is working against me. I tend to prefer big fighting spaces, but when it allows my opponent a chance to confuse me, I am not happy.

  “Don't worry. I think the clones are more for distraction than combat tools. We will take care of them and you go after the real prize.” I feel the air current around me charge and then hear a loud growl. I guess his weapon of choice is wolf teeth.

  Once his change is complete, the melee begins as he leaps on to the nearest Candace. Jake being the closest and only person behind the real she demon tries to jump on her, but she throws him across the room instead. He hits the wall hard, but bounces back up. One of the clones sees a moment of weakness and starts attacking him.

  I figure if I can take care of the real Candace, the clones will stop bothering us. She thinks with the clones causing havoc, which they are, it would be a good time for her to exit the room. At least that is my take on it as she starts inching closer to the door and takes off in a run when she hits the doorway. I look around to make sure the guys can handle the fake demons. Everyone looks to be doing okay.

  “We got things here, go get her,” Alex commands as he gets his clone pinned to the floor. Well, if he says so. I take off in a run trying to follow the strongest smell of root beer. She is the second demon I have met and she still doesn't smell like sulfur. I don't think I like the fact that they are different for me.

  I follow the smell up a set of stairs and to a closed door. “Candace, why don't you just give yourself up?” I hear many footsteps coming up the stairs and I am a little surprised at the fact that the guys have finished off their fight, but it isn't like I hang around with second fiddles.

  No sounds are coming from the room that I am pretty sure Candace is hiding. I check the knob and I am not zapped by anything. That's a good
sign. I turn the handle and find it unlocked. I motion the guys with my free hand to stand back and fling the door open before moving to position myself to the side of the door jam. Nothing comes flying towards me, so I peek around the corner. It looks to be the room I have seen Sebastian kept in on a couple of occasions now. Candace is up against a wall holding him with a knife to his throat. Yup, I would say it is the same room.

  I start walking into the room and stop when I get within ten feet of the duo. It is a much larger room than my dreams led me to believe.

  “I could have just zapped me and Sebastian out of here, but I think killing him in front of you is the better idea now. Then I can just vacate the building while you mourn over his body.” Demented is too kind of a word for this chick.

  I raise my knife up and take a good look at it. I haven't studied it yet and I originally thought it was just like any other blade, but words are swirling around on it. I think they are words, anyway. I don't understand them. I continue to look at the blade and say, “I bet you will be in for a real shock if you thought our bond was surprising. I happen to be in possession of a blade that I was told would kill anything.”

  “You are lying. No one gets access to the Panoptic knife. It is just a myth told to lure people to their death in order to find it.” She may say that, but she does look a little worried. Her jitters are causing her to press a little too hard on Sebby's throat and I see a bead of blood make an appearance.

  I just need to get him away long enough to throw the magic bag at her and then this can all be over, as long as Hilda didn't add a little something extra to her batch. I cannot actively tell Sebastian to duck because I think she can pick that up as a demon, but I can think about it. If Sebastian is smart, he will figure it out. The idea has been thought, but he isn't dropping. He had better hope she just has an extra tight grip on him and he isn't ignoring my brilliant plan. Yes, him dropping to the floor would be brilliant.

  Fine. We will do it the hard way. I start taking steps closer to them. The ball is ready to be thrown, but I try to keep my focus on the knife. I want her to believe that it is the only thing she has to worry about. Alex and the guards stay back and let me do my own thing.

  “I think you are close enough there. I am glad you wanted to get an up close shot of your mate dying.” A second knife appears in her left hand. If she has the ability to conjure stuff up like that, I can think of a lot of places she could have used it to engage me in a real battle. So far, I am finding this whole situation a little boring. Until of course she takes that knife and stabs it into Sebastian's side.

  He makes no noise, but that is more than enough to piss me off. I take another quick step and throw my freeze ball at her feet. Sebastian makes a pretty good shield for her and her little toesies are the furthest thing away from his body.

  Alex sees the action and hurries over to grab Sebastian out of the she demon's grasp while she is trying to figure out what is going on.

  “I cannot move my legs. What have you done?” She tries to lurch forward, but I watch as some pretty pink colors swirl up around her body and hold her in place. The colors stay there showing me the spell is working. That is a nice little addition I am sure Hilda added for effect.

  “Sorry, I am pretty sure I already mentioned that you were the only one that was going to be dying today. If I forgot to let you in on that little secret, I cannot really say I feel bad about it. Is he okay?” I ask turning to check on Sebastian. Candace isn't going anywhere at the moment, so I can take a minute to make sure nothing permanent was done.

  “Thankfully, she wasn't using the knife you claim to have. Just how in the world did you find it?” Sebastian says from the wall opposite of where Candace is frozen. Alex has him seated and is looking at his stomach.

  “You have missed a lot, mate. If you didn't spend so much time blocking me out you would be all caught up,” I say leaning down and taking his face in my hands to give him a nice thorough kiss. It hasn't been that long, but I did really miss it.

  I pull back and rub my nose against his before standing back up. “I was only blocking to protect you. I didn't want her going out to find you and bringing back another prisoner.”

  “You should know I can handle myself. I am a kick ass paranorm, after all. Finding out that I am part angel only helps matters. I don't know what super powers I will end up getting from that strand of DNA, but I am sure they will be epic.”

  “Angel? Really? Are you sure about that, because that wasn't on the list of possibilities?”

  “I had a nice short chat with a guy claiming he was one and he had gold wings that matched mine. The annoying one over there also mentioned it when we were introduced,” I say nodding my head in her direction.

  “I will say you keep things interesting, love. Why don't we finish up here so we can get home and figure out exactly what that means,” he pushes Alex away a bit and moves to stand up. The process doesn't get very far and he chooses to remain seated. Candace's knife may not have killed him, but he isn't healing instantly like he normally does. He is going to need some tender loving care and I know just the person to give it to him.

  First things first, I turn around and walk over to Candace. The pink stuff never made it up and over her head, which is too bad. She can still talk if she wants. Right now, she looks to be busy trying to figure a way out of her predicament. I have a perfect solution for that and I roll the handle of my knife around in my hand ready to use it.

  “Buttercup, I thought we agreed to meet at the bar. I showed up and you were nowhere to be seen,” Ben says appearing in his annoying way. Doors people. They were invented for a reason. He takes a look around the room and his eyes focus in on the succubus. “It looks like I have really missed a lot. How in the world did you not only find Candy, but also manage to subdue her. I know quite a few people who have tried and no one has succeeded.”

  “Benny, you are here. Thank you Lucifer. This stupid angel freak is trying to kill me. You are stronger than me, do something about her. Then if you would be so kind as to release me, we can have a great time killing her and her stupid friends,” Candace says trying to wriggle out of her hold. It isn't working out too well for her and I am overjoyed by that fact. I hope that Ben notices just how much she likes me.

  “Ah. Candy, you aren't supposed to be able to tell her she is an angel. The only way that is even possible is if she received a visitor without telling me. Really, Buttercup? This is where our relationship has ended up. You don't call to tell me that you found out the biggest news of your life. I thought we were closer than that.” I am pretty sure he is the one that just sent us off last night without an explanation on why he was staying behind. If he missed out on the big news, it is his own fault.

  “What are you talking about Benjalarico? You cannot honestly be on friendly terms with an angel. Are you serious? Are you making plans to bring her home and introduce her to the Great Ruler? I really want to be there to witness that one. She needs to be taken care of. Something like her shouldn’t be allowed to fully mature. It cannot be long until she comes into her full powers. If that happens, we won’t be able to stop her.”

  It seems like these two are fine running their own conversation. I cannot say I am thrilled to hear Candace’s side of it, but I am a little bored from not even getting a good fight in and they are somewhat amusing. If I didn't need to stick around to make sure the succubus doesn't leave the room, I would gather my gang and head out.

  “Candy, I would say we can discuss this further later, but sweetheart, you finally messed with the wrong girl's boyfriend. I don't know Nyx's plans for you and I don't know that I will be able to help you out of this,” Ben says as he walks over and gives her a kiss on her forehead. The look in her eyes indicates Ben wouldn’t be living if she could shoot fire from them.

  “What the fuck is going on here? She has the Panoptic knife and is fixing on killing me dead with it. Dead, Benny. As in never being able to play naughty prisoner to your big, bad prison wa
rden ever again. You aren’t just going to stand by and let her get away with this. We have something special.” At least she believes me about the knife now. I didn't need to hear about their make believe prison games.

  “You are something very special and a real gem to our kind, but sadly I cannot go against what Nyx wants. I need her to be kept happy. Buttercup, is there any way you would be willing to let her go?” he asks.

  I look over at him and I don’t feel the need to even answer that question. I am lucky that my people didn’t take any more damage and he wants to know if I feel like sparing her life. She needs to pay for those stab wounds and for causing me a day of grief.

  “Even if I attempted to call in my favor? I do understand where you are coming from in this situation, but she is one of my underlings, so I have to at least make an attempt to save her. I wouldn’t be a good leader otherwise.”

  “If you called in the favor, I would have to ask for the second alternative and I would pick the alternative even if it was stripping down naked right here and letting you poke me with your love stick. I don’t think I can let her walk out the door. She is a menace and the fact that you think she is a gem has me thinking about taking you out at the same time.”

  “That’s what I get for not thinking before I speak. I was trying to comfort her because I know how you are and I know how this is going to end for her. Demons aren't really familiar with death. We cause it, but we don't tend to experience it, so I can imagine the turmoil going on in her head right now,” Ben answers and moves away from Candace. “I should probably leave the room for this. Even if you don’t believe it, I do have a heart.”

  “We have known each other for a while now, and I cannot believe you do the things she does. Before you go, I would like to know if you do the same kinds of things. Is torturing and killing innocent people the way all demons get off?”

  “Oh Buttercup, there are some questions that you really don’t want to know the answers to. I am a reaper demon and I work very hard to convince people that they should sell me their souls. Granted, I give them something in return for their troubles, but it is essentially my job to corrupt the innocent.”