The Shadow Minds Journal, #1

by Kia Carrington-Russell

  “Alexa said she can’t come tonight,” Destiny began as we approached the club.

  “I have a feeling that she is still with Doc, do you think she is having issues with her sleeping?” Tahmeed asked as her throat widened to empty the remains of her bottle of Champaign... that she had opened only moments before. She threw it into the back of the limo and smiled as she wiped away a few drops from her mouth. I figured out quickly that my tolerance to alcohol was much greater than when I was human. That was apparent for the others as well. Tahmeed was the most formidable in that department.

  “Maybe she had a major hunt that’s taken a few days,” I said as we began walking to the entrance. I had the same suspicions as the others. But it was nothing that we would advise of one another even if we were having issues with the demons that sought after us when we slept.

  “Who knows,” Tahmeed said shrugging her shoulders. “Maybe she’s hunting. That or she’s the one being hunted. She’s been odd lately. Maybe she is near compromised.”

  There was a silence. I had no interest in talking about this anymore. It wasn’t something we usually spoke about. It wasn’t the demons we hunted during the day that killed us usually. Although of course it happened. Eventually, it was those demons who waited in the dark of our sleep that would possess our body and take it for themselves. That was the implied ending for all of us, unless we found them first which had been a failure for generations before us.

  “Enough of this talk! We didn’t get dressed up to talk about depressing shit! We’re all on our own here, her fate is only hers. Let’s drink instead. It’s her battle not ours,” Destiny said bubbly as she readjusted her hair while we approached the glassy entrance.

  Destiny wore a short purple dress that didn’t leave much to the imagination, it curved her bountiful chest and curvaceous hips splendidly. She wore knee length black boots and so many bangles you could hear her like Demon Claus coming a mile away. Her blonde, bountiful curls had been straightened into a high pony tail and her usual blue eyes were ivory tonight with black and greens of make-up smeared onto her face in a hauntingly beautiful allure with black lips.

  Tahmeed was a little more modest in the sense that she went out in one of her demon forms which was fully naked but covered in an ivory plated skin. Her usual tanned skin completely vanished and her usual brown eyes were completely swallowed in black with no pupils to show. She had a very specific species of demon she liked to take to bed. From what I heard, they were rough and her skin was an armor that could take that kind of... pounding. She was the shortest of us three but made it up in the height of her heels which were an excessive six inches. She walked in them flawlessly. The fashion of the rich and famous was elaborate in comparison to what I was used to wearing in my human life. I had certainly seen quirky wardrobes since my ‘career’ change and being involved with the media and the humans and demons who marvels in such pleasurable things.

  I defiantly wore a simple leather black dress in comparison to the recommended blue one. I knew the exact dress Haymen was suggesting because he had sent it to me a month ago in a neatly wrapped box with a red bow that was the same size. It had sat under my bed ever since.

  The music was suffocated by the glass domed entrance. The line-up of humans trying to get in stretched past the corner but to our credibility I hadn’t waited in line once since I’d been turned.

  “Vi!” One of them called out. It was a young male whose hair stuck to the side in one of the latest styles with feathers poking through, “You were amazing today! I love you, so much!” he said as if to reach out and touch me.

  Destiny pulled me tighter into her and looked to the group of men. It wasn’t just one but a whole bunch of them who looked at me starstruck. “No touching tonight, boys, she’s mine,” she winked and continued pushing me to the entrance. She had stopped me from giving them a piece of my own mind. Humans were disgusting in their excitement of having to touch and make contact. Looking was never just enough. I didn’t mind being admired from afar but don’t gasp at me close and try to touch me. No one was ever to touch me unless invited. I wondered if that was my own true feelings or the energy of one of my demons. But humans touching me was something I detested.

  Tahmeed finished another bottle right before the entrance before throwing it a fair distance away into a side street bin, and triumphantly getting it in. Was that illegal, yes. Did anyone care if Tahmeed did it, no. Onlookers looked at her with awe, if you were daring to come to this club as a lower demon or human you wanted to make sure that you were entirely obsessed and crazy to even dare come in here because there were usually deaths and little traces to how and who.

  The bouncer saw us and pressed his hand against the glass. It reacted with his touch, a plain human bouncer, to claim it being ‘fair’ for all species. The glass opened through the side where we could walk straight in. The dome glowed red for a second, it was scanning to make sure we didn’t hold any weapons. The process began two years ago when ownership changed. It was a way to stop the weapon and human trafficking that used to happen in here when the mafia was involved. After running it for so many years it was investigated that the humans were being sold and fed to demons. This was once the bloodiest and reputable dangerous club to go to and now the most high classed where everyone wanted to be. Mostly because the demons thrived in a place where so much human blood had already been shed. That, and it wasn’t in the center of the city or the red light district. It was a complete world of its own. The bouncer checked above his head where a small green dot flickered. He smiled and looked back at us.

  “Enjoy your night at Ravish, ladies,” he said letting us through. Despite its ugly dome like entrance as soon as the two wooden doors were opened by the fellow security guards, the music poured out and the lavish red walls were revealed. Small lights on the ceiling led the way through the dark hallway, music of scratchy and heavy pounding alike encased us. I turned to Tahmeed who was downing another bottle of Champaign. I raised an eyebrow at her as if to say, ‘where did you even hide that?’ She winked and polished it off as we walked into the next set of open doors.

  Demons from all over the city, of all species danced through the club and naturally more than half had taken on a human form. Demons found it almost entertaining to do so, for those who could. For some reason humans thought they were more civilized or ‘safe’ in this form. It was a decoy often to allure humans in for their own intent. Tahmeed swept the room with her eyes and found exactly what she was looking for. Coming in at seven foot, a little small for his kind, and shoulders that I am surprised fit through the frame of the door, she beelined the red looking beast. His blue teeth flashed at her. Either he was a regular patron of Tahmeed’s or no words had to be spoken between them as to what they both expected that night. Within seconds, Tahmeed was lost to the crowd of ravers.

  “Well shit, that was fast,” Destiny said. “She could’ve at least had one drink with us and played hard to get,” she smiled while linking her elbow with mine. “Just you and me.” Destiny was touchier than I liked. She seemed to be the only Guardian who acted in such a ditsy way but the others including myself allowed it. It was harmless for the time being.

  Caged dancers hung above our heads, their sequenced and glittered bodies not leaving much to the imagination, especially when I looked up into those glassed cages that levitated in the air.

  “Breakfast,” I said under my breath.

  “What?” Destiny asked absentmindedly as she looked for two available seats. As soon as we approached the bar, two women were asked to leave. The women in silken silver hair and an unnatural glow like the moon were not happy to be ushered along.

  “My two favorite girls,” the barman who was used to Destiny’s flirting, said. He gave no further attention to the two he just requested to leave. She smiled as she took a seat at the long modular glass bar. Within it tiny fish circled. I watched the all black obsidian man next to me coax the human male he had with him to try one of the fish. Good lu
ck to him. There were small holes drilled into the top of the bar where patrons could take one at a time. The demon traced the movement of one of the small fish and caught it efficiently with two fingers; he scraped it out. The fish floundered to be in the water again but his grip was firm, much like the hold he had over the human who looked no older than twenty.

  The bartender in front of him lined up a trail of salt which could be snorted after the fish was eaten.

  “I don’t know, I haven’t done any demon drugs or anything like that,” the human said nervously. I watched curiously as to whether the human was dumb enough to try. That fish would outlast him and possibly his internal organs, if his demon weren’t kind enough to put measures in place first. If he had, well the fish was definitely an aphrodisiac, where in most cases you would dance and have sex for days without realizing or remembering what happened. Snorting the salt afterwards, made the fish react, almost instantly as it scorched its skin and it flamed up within.

  The demon that reminded me of obsidian looked at me. His skin was leathery black and his eyes were yellow slits in his head that seemed too small for his body. He had one elongated nail on his pinkie which I realized he was tapping on the bar. I had never fought an Obsidian before but I heard they could make your greatest nightmares seem like reality. If an ally however–they could, if they wanted, make your greatest fantasies seem real. I very much doubted anyone saw that side of them. They fed off the horror and pain of others and I very well might be watching as he coaxed his next victim.

  “Pretty,” is what he purred at me with a voice that was far more heightened than his blinding darkness. The longer I watched the more I felt like I was being swept into the depths of his allure. It was almost transfixing.

  A drink was pushed into my hand, snapping me out of my daze and leaving me to my own affairs.

  “Don’t stare too long,” Brady the bartender said to me. He was cute, with red hair and few freckles across his face. Very much averagely human. “And before you ask, no he’s not going to murder that boy, he comes into town now and then, picks up his fun, and sticks to his own business. If that kid is stupid enough to mingle with him in the first place then I’m sure he knows what he’s getting himself into.”

  “Come on Vi, don’t go all work on me now. Tonight is our night, and you need to get laid, seriously, what has it been two weeks?” The reality of it made me swallow, hard. That was the odd thing about becoming a Guardian. I had a phenomenal allure to appease my appetite, to kill, and have sex. Unrelentingly so, and as soon as one of us somehow managed to get to the two-week mark we were hell to live with and it affected our work. Of course, I had to keep in the back of my mind that those who I slept with died within three days.

  “Yea but I’ve got to deal with those bodies lining up behind me. Someone’s surely going to come a knocking and question why,” I said getting a laugh out of Brady. I threw back my drink and requested another one. I was hoping the drink would knock back the edge of requiring a regular sexual partner. Well, that’s the technical term. I just wanted to fuck the shit out of someone. There was so much anger and frustration in me just from my appetite not being met. If time allowed it and a there was a suitable partner, I would relinquish my job momentarily and just fuck for a week straight, hoping it would drill this constant frustration out. I felt like a dog on heat as my eyes acutely scanned every male in this room and my eyes even trailed over a few women out of wondrous curiosity.

  “Oh please that’s just a rumor, and besides, you can’t help it. Who knows maybe it’s a backlash of one of your demon’s blood. But let me tell you just as much, you can’t live going without,” she said sipping on her cocktail as she actively scanned the room. “No offense but you’ve been a bitch to live with for the last week. You need to sort that shit out.”

  I smiled and picked up the skewer with my small olive to my new drink. “I’d hate to see your mean side,” I said with a smile and ate the olive. She charmed one back and slid off the chair. She grabbed my hand to lead me onto the dance floor.

  “Let’s go make a spectacle and dance. We can’t let Tahmeed have all the alluring attention.” I looked over the numerous dancers trying to find her and instead Destiny pointed across the room, where against the wall Tahmeed was showing her impatience of having to wait for a demon, she all but beelined before walking through the door.

  “Time. Twelve minutes,” I said to Destiny who looked over at Tahmeed with a smile. We had only been here for twelve minutes and Tahmeed was already trying to drag him away. She was a woman that did not mess around. The music pounded around us but she made sure to speak loud enough for me to hear.

  “Darling, we live in the world and are a mixture of demons, this isn’t a fairy-tale. We are and act exactly like our demonic counter parts. If there’s a thirst then no one is to deny any demon theirs for the taking and the need for it to be quenched,” she said taking a sip of her pink drink. She watched others out of the corner of her eye, on the hunt for something new. The reality was, she was right. And I knew the consequences if I didn’t squash this building frustration now.

  Chapter Three- Vivian

  A handful of free drinks from men and demons alike with terrible pick-up lines, I found myself finally feeling the buzz of the alcohol. The music vibrated and pulsed on the dancefloor as I danced with Destiny who was flicking her golden locks back and forth. Tahmeed had left about an hour ago and we already had two demons thrown out from the club who had offered us drinks which were laced with interesting drugs and concoctions. I could smell it as soon as they offered it to us. I didn’t react well. Before I ended their lives, the bouncers thought it best that they drag them away.

  I threw my hair back and then something glorious on my left caught my attention. The dark skinned muscular angel charmed a smile that was all but to die for. He was talking to his friends which was a surprising mixture of demons, humans and only one other angel. As he laughed and spoke to them, his eyes were definitely on me as he took another sip.

  “Wow that is some eye candy and he’s coming over here now,” Destiny said with a promiscuous smile. I wasn’t a woman to play coy and so I watched him as he approached. I wasn’t going to pretend to not be interested. I wasn’t one to play such games.

  “I didn’t actually think the angels and demons sex thing was true,” I said to Destiny. “Wouldn’t both find the other revolting?” I said, keeping the beautiful specimen in the corner of my eye.

  “That’s not our battle or war; we’re just the middlemen,” Destiny mused before making herself very busy with the neighboring dancer. That’s when all tonnage of the handsome muscled man walked up to me. His wings were tight on his back to make sure no one touched them, because of all their ‘angelicness’, if anyone were to touch their wings without permission, it was a death sentence and one that was not pardoned. Another thing about these oh-so-holy specimens that was yet another contradiction to their ‘good’ persona.

  “Vi, I assume, from all the media I’ve been hearing these past few hours, your hair makes you unmistakable,” he purred into my ear, instantly disregarding my personal space. If it were unwarranted I could’ve just as easily pushed him away. His white wings expanded past his shoulders and melted down into an orange, the feathers explicably clean and looked rather silky. The very reason why they fetched such a high price on the black market, commonly used for fashion, spells and channeling. But to successfully catch one was a feat in itself, but to do so without consequence was a near miracle.

  “And yet, I don’t know your name. And to not put a name to such a pretty face would be so cruel.” And it was a very pretty face. Strong jawline, luscious pink lips and soft orange eyes. And that natural touch of something magical and all things good. It just made him divinely fuckable.

  “I heard you’re bad for my kind and even yours,” the angel said yelling over the music, instead of giving me his name. He swept in closer once again so his rock-hard body was against mine as we danced. He place
d his hands on my hips possessively and I knew the deal was sealed. We both knew what we wanted and why. I could tell from the look in his eye, of all masculine hotness and desire. The attraction of something we shouldn’t have drew him in even more, as it did I. “I’ve been told that you have a reputation of being called the Widow because all those you sleep with die from unnatural causes within three days.”

  “Scared to tangle with something dark?” I asked.

  “Well I’m here dancing with you, aren’t I?” He replied with an arrogant smile.

  “I’ve never fucked an angel before,” I said with wild curiosity.

  “I bet you haven’t with those manners. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to fuck a demon. A beautiful one at that.”

  I snaked in front of him and wrapped my hand around his balls. “I am not a demon.” I said arching an eyebrow and watching him squirm. He stood into the grab further, standing over me with his chest close to my face. He smelled of fresh air and sea, of flight and freedom. He grabbed my ass tightly cocking his eyebrow.

  “No you’re not, but you are contracted to the underworld. A demon slayer at best. But tonight, I can make you feel like you’re so much more.”

  “Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is,” I said loosening my grip and stroking it up him making sure to feel out his impressive size while I did so. And I knew from what I felt he was ready for this just as much as I was. Sleeping with demons now seemed no fun in comparison. I loved the thought of fucking something considered so ‘pure’. It was true, all those I had slept with to date were now dead. I still didn’t have a reason as to why, bad luck I supposed for them. There was a line-up of corpses behind me and I wondered if an angel would be different.