by Lanie Jordan
“There’s no need,” she said easily. She pointed to the demon. “See its neck? There’s a device wrapped around it that prevents it from making any sound over a certain decibel. If it does, it will give the demon a slight shock. It’s not exactly fun for the demon, but neither is it all that painful. Trust me,” she added, her tone wry, “I know. It’s just a quick, low voltage zap.”
I didn’t mean to laugh, but it just came up. “You’ve been shocked with one?”
“Once, when I was new. On accident.”
I grinned at her, then looked back to Linc. The grin slid away as the demon stepped completely out of its room and stalked (there was no other word for it) toward Linc. Linc, with his hands in his pockets, stood less than ten feet from it, looking as relaxed as ever. The demon stepped closer and closer, until it looked like it was only inches from him. It raised its hand to the glass, looked around like it expected something to happen, then banged its fist on the partition.
Linc didn’t flinch. I, on the other hand, bolted out of my chair.
Dr. Cherry put her hand on my arm. “He’s perfectly safe, Jade. I assure you. Neither of you would be here if it wasn’t safe.”
“Sorry.” I didn’t retake my seat. Instead, I stood, staring out as my boyfriend stared down a demon.
The Sharphynx banged on the glass a few more times, then it just paced a short line in front of Linc, never taking its eyes from him.
After two more minutes, Dr. Cherry called Linc back. “You okay?” he whispered in my ear.
“I’m good.” Well, I was better than I’d been minutes before, seeing him being stalked by a demon.
Dr. Cherry smiled. “When you’re ready, Jade.”
I nodded and started out. My steps were slow. I wasn’t afraid of the demon, but I couldn’t help but be a little wary. I’d seen one of its kind break out of a van, a secured room, and then come after me.
When I was closer to the partition, the demon stopped pacing and watched me intently. Its head moved side to side and I could see its nostrils flaring, and then it slapped its hands on the glass.
I looked into its eyes. It stared back at me, its own eyes narrowing.
My stomach lurched. It wasn’t just a Sharphynx, I realized a second later, seeing the recognition in the demon’s eyes. It was the same one.
“Yeah, you remember me, don’t you?” I whispered. “I remember you, too. You killed Celina.”
CHAPTER 04
I took another step forward, my fingers instinctively curling.
The Sharphynx—this Sharphynx—had attacked Celina the day Greene recruited me. It’d been the first demon I’d seen since my family’s murder. I tried not to think of Celina very often, because it still made me mad, and sad, that I hadn’t been able to do more to help, that I hadn’t been able to save her and she’d died. But here, now, standing only feet from the demon that killed her, I had no choice but remember her. To see her face in my head, covered in so much blood I didn’t even know what color her hair had been. To see the gaping hole in her shoulder.
To see the pain in her eyes. The fear.
I tried not seeing my family that way, but I couldn’t stop those images from forming in my head anymore than I could stop the ones of Celina. Was that expression—the pain, the fear—the same one my mom and brother had worn when they’d been attacked?
“Jade!”
I blinked, just now realizing the Sharphynx was pounding away on the glass in a futile effort to get to me.
I wiped my face before clearing my throat and turning around. “Yeah?”
Linc and Dr. Cherry were on their feet, both wearing similar expressions of worry. Dr. Cherry leaned closer to the intercom. “Are you okay?”
“Sorry.” I took a steadying breath. “This isn’t just another Sharphynx. It’s the same one from my first Phase.”
“Yes, it is,” she said, motioning me back into the room.
Linc shot her a quick glance, his face paling slightly.
I cast one last glare over my shoulder at the demon. When it saw me walking away, it started scratching and beating on the glass again. It started to make that screeching sound but stopped after a few seconds with a strangled sound and growled instead.
Back in the room, Dr. Cherry gestured me to retake my seat. “How did you know it was the same Sharphynx? They don’t all look alike, but they’re very, very similar in appearance.”
“I recognized it,” I said, my tone flat. “You should have told me. You should have warned me.” If she had, I would have been prepared. I would have been more prepared, at least. Maybe I could have stopped those images from popping into my head. Images I didn’t want in my head.
“I’m sorry. I heard about your past with this demon, so I didn’t want to bring that up. Honestly, I didn’t believe you would recognize it as the same one.”
Linc took my hand and squeezed it. His eyes stayed on mine as he mouthed, “Are you okay?”
I didn’t answer, only nodded.
She pointed to the screen of her tablet that showed weird lines all over it. “You’re not the only one with a good memory. We have the demon wirelessly connected to monitors, and once it saw you, its blood pressure rose, its pupils dilated. It recognized you, too. That’s…fascinating, to say the least.”
Linc frowned. “Don’t tell me that’s something else that’s new.”
“No, not new,” she said slowly, trying, it seemed, not to frown. “But it is rare. Demons don’t typically hold grudges, I guess you’d say. But this one, apparently, has.”
“She got away from it when it almost killed her,” Linc said. “Heck, I’d probably hold a grudge, too.”
I slapped his arm. “Thanks.”
“It’s a good point,” she said. “You both know some demons are more aware than others. They’re capable, to a point, of planning and executing an attack, of setting a trap and then luring their victims into it. Others are like TV monsters, not quite mindless, but they only have one focus, one goal: attacking and killing. The ones like the Coralux—the Sharphynx—are thinkers, therefore, they can hold grudges, even if it’s not common.”
I frowned. “Just someone—or something—else to add to my list of enemies.” A list that was growing exponentially.
“Perhaps, but I believe its grudge is just a grudge. I don’t think it’s anything more than that. It’s possible it doesn’t want you more than it’d want Linc here, if he’d been the one to escape it. We’ll test that again another day—with a different Sharphynx. For now, I think it’s time for another experiment.”
One of the doors on the demon side of the partition opened and a man—an agent, I guessed—came out. He held something in his hands and pointed it at the demon. The demon glared at the man, as if debating whether it wanted to attack, but then it slinked away and went back to its room. The man waved to Dr. Cherry, then disappeared behind his door again.
She had two more demons brought out and used Linc to gauge their reactions first. They reacted badly to him, but no worse than they reacted to me when it was my turn.
Dr. Cherry made a few sounds and typed notes on her tablet, but she mostly kept quiet. “Okay, time for another one. A hybrid.”
Linc did his stand-and-look-pretty thing while the doctor and I stayed in the observation room and watched. The last and final door opened and a demon came out, fangs bared. It looked like a vampire almost, except it was bigger and meaner looking. It had a violent reaction to Linc the second it stepped through the door and tried scratching through the glass to get to him.
I watched as it attacked the window, again and again. “It doesn’t want him,” I said quietly.
“I’m sorry?”
I glanced at Dr. Cherry. “Do you see the demon’s face? It’s attacking the glass, like it’s trying to get Linc, but its eyes aren’t on him.” They were on me.
She picked up her tablet and opened a different program on it. A live video feed of the demon room appeared on the screen. She pressed a few butt
ons, zooming in on the demon’s face. After a second, she flipped the intercom back on. “If you wouldn’t mind taking a few steps to the right, Linc.”
He did as she asked and moved aside, but the demon didn’t follow or even acknowledge him. It just continued to claw at the partition.
Dr. Cherry nodded. “It seems you’re right. You don’t have to go out there if you’re uncomfortable, Jade. I think we can safely assume it’s you the demon wants.”
“Will it help if I do?”
She glanced at me. “It’s possible we could learn something from its reaction, but I’m afraid it’s not likely to help you.”
“But it might help someone else?”
“It could, at some point, yes. Everything we learn is something we didn’t know before. There’s no downside to having as much information as possible.”
With my eyes on the demon now, I nodded. “I’ll go out, anyway.” I wasn’t just here for myself, was I? Not here, at this super-secret CGE-owned facility, but why I was here, training to hunt demons. It wasn’t just about me. Not anymore. I glanced at her again, tried to smile. “Information is good, right? Greene—Director Greene—said you guys make discoveries for things when you’re looking for answers to something else.”
“We do, yes. But still. It’s already having an adverse reaction to you, Jade. Its secure, and it can’t hurt you, but this can’t be easy for you.”
“It should be,” I whispered.
“Staring in the face of a demon? It’s not easy for anyone.”
“Call Linc back. I’m still doing it.”
As she nodded and called for Linc, I stared at my hands. I was surprised to find them shaking. Why was this so hard? It shouldn’t’ve been. It was just a demon. A caged, violent demon. The Sawthorn hadn’t liked me, either, so I’d dealt with this kind of reaction before. But it was…different, maybe. I hadn’t known why the demon had come after me so viciously before. I did now. That should’ve made it easier, not harder. Right?
Get over it, Jade.
“When you’re ready, Jade.”
I nodded again, then stepped around the doctor and Linc. Linc touched my arm, leaning in close. “You okay? You’re kinda pale.”
I didn’t quite trust my voice. I was afraid it would shake as much as my hands. “I’m good,” was all I managed.
Slowly, I stepped out and walked to the glass. The demon locked its eyes on me and stopped moving entirely.
“Can you move to your left a few steps and then back, Jade?” I heard the doctor say.
Following her instructions, I stepped to my left three steps. The demon’s eyes followed my movement carefully, and when I moved back, it did the same.
“Closer now, please,” she instructed.
I let out a breath and moved closer. The demon started scratching again, like it was trying to dig through the glass. But its eyes never left my face. No, my chest. Or more accurately, my heart. Was this demon a thinker, or was it a mindless ones? I didn’t recognize it from my Demonology text or from my DD research last Phase, so I didn’t know anything about it. Did it know where my heart was because it knew human physiology, or could it hear my heart pounding? Or, even more likely, was it because it remembered its placement from other attacks?
I took another step closer, until my nose was all but pressed against the glass. The demon’s eyes locked on mine again. A red glow circled its irises like something from a bad vampire movie. But it wasn’t CG effects. If this demon was like others I’d read about, then it wasn’t blood lust like from most vampire lore. It was a warning. To hunters and scientists who knew the signs, it meant the demon had its prey in sight. To demons, it meant the same thing, with an added warning not to mess with it. Some demons were ferocious, like an abused dog who attacked anyone or anything that got near its food. They didn’t like sharing.
The demon’s blood pressure would be high. The range would be so high that it would cause most humans to have a stroke. There was so much pressure built up behind the demon’s eyes that the blood vessels were popping, which is what gave it the red glow. Well, it’s what gave it the red color. I had no idea why they were actually glowing. I hadn’t read about that yet.
For another three seconds, the demon just stared at me. And then it pounded, scratched, kicked, and bit at the glass. The first hit had me wincing and nearly jumping back. It attacked the partition like its life depended on it. Hard, fast, vicious attacks. I rested my palm against the glass and felt it vibrating from the hits. I swiped a hand down my face. “Uh, how indestructible is ‘nearly’ indestructible?” I asked, trying to keep my tone neutral.
“Why do you ask, Jade?”
“I can feel the glass shaking. Not a lot, but it’s vibrating.” And the last time I’d had a shaking door at my hand, I’d fallen through onto a demon. I wasn’t in any hurry to repeat the process.
“Step away from the glass. Now.” Her tone was calm but hard.
I didn’t need told twice, so I moved away. The demon’s attack became even more frantic, like it realized its prey was getting away and it couldn’t let it happen.
“Come back into the observation room,” she called out.
I backed away. We learned in class to never turn our back on a demon if we had a choice. I had a choice now, and indestructible or not, I didn’t trust the glass—or the demon—so I kept my eyes on it the whole time. And as I watched, a blur of something shot out of the ceiling and hit the demon in its shoulder. The demon didn’t notice or care, just kept attacking the glass with all its force.
Safely back in the observation room, I saw something else hit the demon. Its movements became slower, jerkier, until it crumpled against the glass.
“Tranqs?” I asked, turning back to Dr. Cherry.
Her eyes were unreadable but she nodded. “Yes. It’s too agitated. The tranq is for its safety as much as ours.”
On the ground, the demon lay unmoving, eyes wide and fixed on me. When I listened closely, I could hear it letting out a continuous low growl. It might’ve been down, but it wasn’t out.
I shook my head at the demon, glanced at the doctor and Linc. I smiled, though it was far from a happy smile. “So.” Shoving my hands into my pockets, I rocked back on my heels. “I’m betting that was an adverse reaction.”
Linc made a face, held up two fingers spaced half an inch apart. “Just a little one.”
“What was that demon?”
“As of right now, it’s an unnamed hybrid that was recently discovered in northern Florida.” She paused. “We’re still researching its DNA, trying to learn more about it. One thing we do know, that we have discovered, is that you both share vampire DNA.”
“Why do you sound surprised by that? We already know I have vampire DNA.”
“Yes, but that demon isn’t a vampire hybrid, at least not like the other vampire hybrids. It has the vampire DNA, but it’s dormant, so to speak. Because of that, I was sure it wouldn’t react any differently to you than it would anyone else.” She glanced at the demon as two people came out to carry it away. “Apparently, I was wrong.”
I frowned. “How can it have vampire DNA if it’s not a vampire hybrid?”
“That’s something we’re still trying to figure out. It’s something you and the demon have in common.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but then closed it when I realized I had nothing nice to say. Being compared to a demon didn’t sit well with me.
“The vampire that attacked you last year, do you recall if it went after you specifically or if you were the easier target?”
“I don’t remember.” I remembered Felecia standing in front of me and me seeing the vampire behind her and telling her to move, but I didn’t remember much after that. Except pain. A world of pain.
“That’s fine. A vampire is on my list to bring out today, so we’ll see.”
I nodded and shoved my hands in my pockets. “What about the other three demons you brought out? Do we share DNA?”
“Well, the
Sharphynx doesn’t. I can’t be sure if its reaction to you was entirely from memory, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was. We’ll need to test it again with a different one, obviously. The second demon I had brought out—the Leecher—shares DNA with you, though it, along with the third demon—the Webber—didn’t have any reaction to you. At least nothing out of the ordinary.”
I nodded. “Well, at least we can rule out two demons, right?”
“And add another,” was Linc’s comment.
“I think it’s still too early to say. I’ll want to check with other demons of the same species before I make any concrete judgments.”
Linc frowned. “But the second one didn’t react to her. Only the last one did.”
“True, yes. But it could be just a mix of certain DNA that causes a reaction—be it good or bad. They all have very different DNA, so I’ll need to run—”
“More tests,” I finished for her.
“I’m afraid so.”
Normally, when someone said something like that, they sounded or looked apologetic. Despite her words, she didn’t. But she was a scientist, wasn’t she? She probably liked testing things. Keeping that in mind, I didn’t sigh or groan or do any of the number of things I wanted to do (like throw a huge fit) and reminded myself that I’d signed up for this. The good, the bad, the…demony extras. I couldn’t balk now.
*~*~*
Doctor Cherry ran more experiments. She had a Sercoon brought in—a demon species I’d encountered last Phase. It, like the ones from before, didn’t show any kind of adverse reaction toward me. Instead, it just pressed its body to the glass, tilted its head to the side, and studied me like it recognized me but couldn’t place how. After another minute, it poked its finger through one of the holes until I gave in and petted it. Then it made a weird purring sound at me.
The Sercoons had been added to the unofficial official friend list. The next demon was quickly added to the foe list. It’d tried sticking its tentacle things through the air holes in an attempt to strangle me.
