Daemon Persuasion

by S. K. Gregory

  She couldn’t decide if he was serious or not, so she played along.

  “I wouldn’t want you to be attacked.”

  She walked with him to the motel, listening while he cracked jokes.

  “This is me,” he said, stopping outside room 17.

  “Thanks for getting me here safely.”

  “Is this the part where I promise to call you?”

  “Only if you mean it, ‘cause I don’t want to have to sit by the phone for days.”

  “You’re crazy, you know that?”

  “It’s all part of my charm.” He leaned in towards her and kissed her.

  “A plus for kissing,” she said.

  “Excellent, what did I score overall?”

  “C plus. Definite room for improvement.”

  “I’ll try harder next time, assuming there is a next time?”

  “I’m actually going to head to San Francisco,” she said, “I’m supposed to see a friend there.”

  “As luck would have it, I live in San Francisco.” He checked his pocket and pulled out a business card.

  “Take my number, I’ll be heading back soon, we could have dinner.”

  She took the card, “I’d like that.”

  They said goodnight and Luke went inside. Mackenzie walked away, smiling to herself.

  Arms encircled her from behind, almost jerking her off her feet. She struggled as she was dragged towards an old Mustang. Images of the Pariah filled her mind, but her attacker didn’t have talons that she could see. She was sick of being dragged around. She threw all her weight forward breaking the hold. She staggered forwards ready to run but blinding pain exploded behind her eyes. Before she blacked out, she caught sight of her attacker. Taryn. Guess their truce was over.

  Mackenzie felt as though her head had been split in two. She cautiously opened one eye, then closed it quickly, the bright light blinding her. When she was finally able to open both eyes, she found herself roped to a chair in Cray’s hotel room.

  “I’m never going to catch a break,” she muttered.

  “Good, you’re awake,” Cray said.

  She glared at him. Taryn was posted at the door standing guard. It was daylight outside. She had been here all night.

  “Wish I could say it’s good to see you,” she said.

  “Who are you?”

  “The Queen of England,” she said darkly.

  “Enough crap. Who do you work for? Are you a Duke?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “We’ve been watching you, we saw you go into that shack out on the road. There are powerful spells around it yet you walked right through them. Now who the hell are you?”

  She couldn’t tell him she was Sebastian’s daughter, he’d kill her for sure. The spells must have been put in place so no one could question Ed about the talisman. If her father put them there then maybe that was why she could pass through them.

  “Persuade her, Taryn.”

  Taryn moved towards her. She began incanting in Latin, calling for the Shadow. She had no choice. It seeped out of the vent above the bed and oozed down the wall like black sludge. She gave the command for it to attack and Taryn was thrown backwards into the door. He hit it with a grunt and fell to the floor. She turned it on Cray but he was ready for it. He incanted a few words of his own and the Shadow evaporated.

  He was breathing hard, his face red, “That’s impossible. You controlled it just like he could. Who are you? Tell me!” he screamed, grabbing her hair and pulling her head back.

  “Stop, I’ll tell you,” she gasped.

  “Tell me.”

  “I’m his daughter,” she cried.

  The anger in his face changed to confusion. He let go of her hair and walked to the window.

  Taryn was out cold on the floor. Cray was silent as he digested the information. Mackenzie struggled against the ropes trying to get her arms free. She had no idea what was at stake here, but knew that if she didn’t find a way to defend herself, it was possible he would make her evaporate—or worse.

  Why couldn’t she have inherited something useful like flame throwers for fingers? Finally, Cray turned to face her. She expected anger but was shocked to see sadness instead.

  “Did Seb know about you?” he asked.

  She shook her head. He kicked Taryn in the leg and he jerked awake.

  “Untie her.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Untie my—niece.”

  “How long was I out?” Taryn said, confused by the turn of events. He obediently crossed the room to Mackenzie.

  “You’re letting me go?” she asked.

  “I’m untying you. We need to talk.”

  Before Taryn could reach her, the window exploded inwards showering Cray with glass. Hands elongated with claws at the end grabbed at him, pulling him backward through the shattered glass.

  Taryn reached for Cray, doing his best to break the hold those monstrous hands had on him. She heard him shout, ‘Pariah,’ followed by cries of horror and explosions.

  “Help,” she screamed.

  The door crashed open as Taryn fell through it.

  “Untie me, Taryn.” Mackenzie yelled, rocking the chair back and forth in a desperate attempt to loosen her bonds. He got to his feet.

  “Don’t leave me here,” she cried. Panic ripped through her. She didn’t want to die here, ripped apart by goddamn demons.

  Taryn hesitated halfway to the door. He swore, turned and snapped the ropes, freeing her. Mackenzie froze as one of the Pariah entered the room. She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. She thought she’d seen strange things in her life, what with the shadow at her beck and call, but this—this was beyond any human comprehension. It’s form resembled a woman but it had a mouth full of razor sharp teeth with black saliva dripping from them and tribal markings across its face.

  It gnashed its teeth and lunged for them.

  “Taryn,” Mackenzie cried.

  He grabbed her around the waist and spun her out of the thing’s reach. The world turned red then black and Mackenzie found herself standing outside in the parking lot. The ground dipped below her and she would have fallen if Taryn hadn’t been holding her.

  She looked to him for answers but he had a stricken look on his face. She followed his gaze to Cray. His body lay on the ground almost torn apart. One of the Pariah was hunched over the body, chewing on his flesh. His chest had been ripped open, blood covered the ground. Mackenzie turned away, bile rising in her throat.

  The Pariah had realized their prey had escaped and were advancing on them. There were two of them. The other one was male with black eyes, fangs and more of the tribal markings.

  “We need to leave now,” Mackenzie said. “Taryn?”

  He was still staring at Cray. She grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

  “Do you have the keys to the car or can you do your little disappearing act?”

  “Not over long distances. The keys are in Cray‘s pocket.”

  “I can hotwire it, come on.”

  They raced across the parking lot to the Mustang. The door was unlocked. Taryn ripped off the cover on the steering column to get at the wires. Mackenzie got in the passenger seat and set to work hotwiring it. The Pariah closing in, but they didn’t move very fast. Their movements were slow, more like an ape. The male climbed over cars rather than walking around them.

  “Hurry up,” he urged.

  “I am,” she snapped.

  The male leapt onto the front of the car, pressing his horrible face against the glass.

  The car roared to life. Taryn slammed it into reverse and the male tumbled backwards onto the asphalt. Taryn accelerated, leaving them behind.

  They covered about three miles before Mackenzie took a breath. She was trembling so badly, her hands jerked in her lap.

  Once they were outside of town Taryn slammed on the brakes. Mackenzie grabbed the dash for support.

  “What the hell?” she yelled.

  “Get out,” Taryn sa
id.

  “What?”

  “Cray asked me to get you away from the Pariah. I did my job, now get out. You’re on your own.”

  “You can’t do this. I don’t know what I’m up against, I’m not a demon.”

  “I don’t care.” He leaned across her and opened the car door.

  “Cray was my uncle. He would want you to help me.” A long shot, but worth a try.

  She saw him tense, “When it comes to the Kings and their brotherhood, think fraternity not family. Cray hated Sebastian. End of story.”

  She climbed out of the car, “You’re a bastard,” she said slamming the car door.

  He drove off leaving her standing in the middle of a tree-lined road with no idea of what to do next.

  Mackenzie sat down on the ground and put her head in her hands. It was all too much. She couldn’t handle it. She should have left it alone, stayed in LA. There was no one to help her now.

  Even if she had to hitchhike, she was getting the hell out of town.

  Chapter 9

  Mackenzie walked along the hard shoulder with her thumb out. A truck drove by, honked at her and kept on going. It was the third vehicle to pass her in the last hour.

  A cool breeze touched her face in spite of the hot sun directly overhead. She felt exposed out here on the road, the only weapon she had was a switchblade but she didn’t exactly want to get that close to a Pariah to use it.

  She hoped one of them caught up with Taryn and ripped his face off for leaving her. Another car came along, a dark blue sedan. This one slowed down. The car stopped a few feet ahead of her. She jogged up to it.

  “Luke?”

  “Mackenzie, thank God you’re okay. Get in.”

  She climbed into the car, “How did you know to look for me?”

  “I heard the car screech off in the parking lot, I went back to check on you and you were gone. I was worried so I’ve been driving around looking for you.”

  “I’m okay. Thank you for finding me.”

  “I’m just glad you’re okay. Do you want to tell me what happened? Are you involved with a gang? Is that why all the secrecy?”

  Mackenzie laughed at the thought, “No, I’m not in a gang.”

  “You can tell me, you know,” he said.

  “Can we put some distance between us and East Falls first? I’ll tell you what’s going on.”

  He started the car and they drove back to the truck stop she had been at earlier. They parked at the back of the building. Luke went inside and got them some food and coffee.

  While they were eating, Mackenzie told him the edited version of what had happened. She told him she came looking for her father, that he was in trouble with his family and they were looking for him. Beyond that, she was at a loss. She couldn’t exactly tell him demons were after her.

  “I don’t get it. Why are these guys chasing you? Do they think you have whatever it was your dad took?”

  “Whatever my dad took is long gone. It was in the shop when it burned. My dad was in it too. He died.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  She shrugged, “I didn’t know him so...”

  “Still, it’s a hard thing to hear. I don’t really speak to my family, my brother especially, but if something happened to them, I know I would be upset.”

  He finished his food and tossed the wrappers in a trashcan.

  “So, what do you want to do now?”

  “Honestly? I just want to go home.”

  “LA? Well, I’ll tell you what. I have to do some things but when I’m finished I’ll drive you home.”

  “Sounds great.”

  “I’m just going to make a phone call. Be right back,” he said. She watched him walk into the truck stop. Could she trust him? She didn’t know and that was the problem. So much had happened in the last few days and in this town, she wasn’t sure she could trust anyone. But one thing she did know for sure, she hadn’t told Luke where she was from. The second he was out of sight, she got out of the car and took off into the woods.

  Once in the woods though, she became lost in a matter of minutes. She really was a city girl.

  “Mackenzie,” Luke shouted. He was closer than she would have liked. He didn’t sound angry though, just worried.

  She walked deeper into the woods. The trees became thicker and it was hard to get past them. Brambles caught at her clothes.

  “Mackenzie?”

  He had caught up with her.

  “Luke, I thought I saw something out here and I got kind of turned around.”

  “The car’s this way.” He gave her a curious look.

  “How did you know I was from LA?” she blurted.

  “What?”

  “Just answer the question.”

  “The license plate on your car. It was from LA, I just assumed you were too.”

  She could have slapped herself, “Right, of course.”

  “Mackenzie what is going on?”

  She saw a movement from the corner of her eye and moved out of the way just in time as a Pariah took a swipe at her.

  It was the female from before.

  “Oh my God, what is that?” Luke cried.

  “Run, Luke.”

  They tore through the woods, stumbling and tripping over tree roots. MacKenzie felt a limb rake her face. The Pariah was close behind. Any second Mackenzie expected the thing to grab her. She leapt over a tree log but landed badly on her ankle and she went down, engulfed in a pile of dead leaves.

  Luke saw her fall and skidded to a halt. He turned back to her and pulled her up, “Keep moving,” he ordered. Ignoring the throbbing in her ankle, she held onto his hand as they ran.

  They made it to the car, but as Mackenzie pulled open the car the Pariah grabbed her. Sharp claws dug painfully into her arm as she was thrown to the ground. She scrambled backward, trying to stay out of its reach while grabbing for her knife. It launched itself at her, its sharp teeth going for her throat.

  Mackenzie opened her eyes. Lying on the concrete parking lot, vision blurred, she realized someone was working on her arm. She remembered blocking the Pariah’s teeth and the excruciating pain that had precipitated the black out.

  With a painful twist of her head, she located the Pariah a few feet away, curled in a fetal position, its eyes fixed and staring.

  Turning her head back, she realized it was Taryn working on her arm and she tried to jerk away. “What’s going on?” she mumbled.

  “Stay still,” Taryn ordered.

  Her eyes scanned the parking lot. Luke was leaning against the car with his arms crossed. Something was wrong. Luke was far too relaxed. Taryn wouldn’t even look in his direction; he busied himself packing items into a medical kit.

  “You can sit up now,” Taryn said.

  “Is it dead?” she asked.

  “Yes, an iron knife is the only way to kill them,” Taryn said.

  Luke snorted and Taryn shot him a dangerous glare.

  “Private joke?” Mackenzie asked climbing to her feet. The ground shifted beneath her. Taryn and Luke both took a hold of her arms to steady her.

  “I’m good,” she said, shaking them off, “Somebody want to clue me in here?”

  Neither of them spoke.

  “Fine, what do we do about that?” she asked pointing at the Pariah.

  “We need to bury it,” Luke said.

  Taryn went to the trunk of his car and pulled out a shovel. He tossed it to Luke who caught it with one hand. Taryn lifted the body and flung it over his shoulder. They walked into the woods and Mackenzie followed them. They were lucky no one had seen what had happened.

  A couple of hundred yards in, Taryn tossed the body onto the ground where it landed with a squelch. Mackenzie avoided looking at it. When Luke made no move to dig Taryn grabbed the shovel and started digging himself.

  Mackenzie caught Luke’s eye. She gave him a ‘what the hell’ gesture. They stepped away from Taryn, out of earshot.

  “Who are you really?”

&
nbsp; “My name isn’t Luke. It’s Lucien Duke,” he admitted.

  “You’re a Duke? And you know Taryn how?”

  “He’s my wayward little brother. And a traitor to the Duke name.”

  Mackenzie stared at Taryn as he dug furiously in the dirt. Brothers?

  “So, you were playing me?”

  “No,” Luke or Lucien said. He put a hand on her cheek and she found it hard to look away from his eyes. “I wasn’t playing you. You’re caught up in something that you don’t understand. I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

  She wanted to believe him. He seemed sincere, and he did come back to help her. Unlike Taryn.

  “Are you going to help me or not?” Taryn snapped.

  Lucien sighed; he moved over to the hole and tipped the body into it, hitting Taryn in the process. He climbed out of the hole and shoved Lucien into a tree. They stood facing each other, eyes blazing and fists clenched. They were definitely brothers.

  “God, you two are pathetic.”

  She winced as pain ripped through her arm. She was going to have a killer scar when it healed. A nasty thought crossed her mind.

  “Pariah aren’t poisonous are they?”

  They broke their deadlock stare, “No, they’re not poisonous.” Taryn said. He set to work covering the body.

  “I’m sorry about that. I told you we don’t get on,” Lucien said. He pulled a knife from a sheath at his back.

  “Here, you should take this. It has an iron blade.”

  She took it and tucked it into her belt of her jeans.

  “We should get out of here. If the other one tracks the scent, it’ll be looking for us.” Taryn stalked ahead of them out of the trees. They took his car.

  Taryn drove for about an hour before stopping. A few hundred yards off the highway nestled in a secluded copse of trees, sat a squat dilapidated shack. The windows were covered in boards, weeds were growing wild around it and the door was barely on its hinges.

  Their shoes crunched loudly on the dead leaves as they walked through what once had been a yard. Hardly the Hilton, Mackenzie thought. The only things that had lived here recently were wild animals. She hoped they had long since moved on to better accommodations.

  “We’ll stay here for tonight,” Taryn announced.

  “Here? It doesn’t look too secure,” Mackenzie said.