by KD Jones
“I can’t just walk off and let the demons have their way.” Something inside of her was insistent that she defend her purpose.
He moved closer to her and gently cupped her cheek. “You are a person first, not some weapon to be used.”
She took his wrist and pulled it from her. “What difference does it make if the arkangels use me to fight for them or you use me to get something from my grandfather?”
“I didn’t...”
“Please, don’t lie to me. Grandaddy Moneybags paid you a reward for finding me and helping to introduce him to me.”
“He did pay a reward for finding you, that’s true.” He didn’t even try to deny it. “You have to understand, when I contacted him about you, I believed it was the best thing for you. Abraham has a huge business and could give you a better life.”
“I’m fine with my life. Yes, I work in a diner, yes, I can only afford part-time school, and yes, I fight demons, but all those things make me who I am. I don’t need my grandfather’s money.”
“Are you going to at least get to know him? You might change your mind.”
“I’ve got plans to have dinner with him and my grandmother tomorrow night. What’s she like?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never met her.”
The sound of the club door opening got their attention. They both looked down and spotted a group of giggling college girls leaving. She didn’t glance at Ari, who was now standing way too close to her. His heat was enveloping her, making little shivers go up and down her spine.
“I’m surprised your bird boy isn’t here.”
“I am here, demon boy,” Michael said as he floated from the sky down to the rooftop.
“How did you know I was here?” Cass asked.
“I tracked your cell phone.”
“Ugh!” Cass rolled her eyes in frustration. “I’m tempted to toss the damn thing.”
Michael walked over to the other side of her. “What are you doing here?”
“Two girls from the other night were drained of blood a few blocks from here. I saw them here before with a blood demi-demon.”
“Why didn’t you stop the demi-demon when you saw them together?”
“The girls were fine and he had used his healing saliva to cover the bite marks. It seemed harmless, so I let him go.”
Michael glared at her. “You can’t trust that a demi-demon will be on the up and up. They’re known for their deviousness.” He glanced over at Ari but didn’t apologize.
Ari snorted. “You’re one to talk.”
Cass looked back down at the club entrance as another couple came out. “You don’t have to lay into me, Michael, I know it’s my fault those girls are dead.”
“No, it’s not,” Ari insisted. “I saw them, too, and I agreed with your assessment at the time. The demi-demon did not seem to pose a threat. We were also looking for a full blood demon who had been in the club that night.”
Cass appreciated what Ari was trying to do, taking the blame off of her. That didn’t change the fact that she really needed to find this killer before he struck again.
“Let’s focus on what we need to do right now. Ari, you go inside the club and see if you can find the demi-demon.”
“I can go,” Michael offered.
“No, if the demi-demon senses you, he’ll run. He won’t run from Ari right away. You can fly over to the building on the other side of the club.”
“Very well.” Michael spread his wings and leapt into the air.
Ari walked over to the fire escape but turned back to her. “Be careful, Cass. Wait until Michael or I are with you before facing this demon.”
“I’ll be fine,” she insisted, ignoring the nerves she felt. At least she wasn't completely alone in all this, but a part of her was resentful that Michael and Ari didn’t think she could handle things on her own. Images of the dead girls came to her mind. Damn it, human lives were at stake and she was sitting here feeling sorry for herself.
The door to the club opened and this time the blood demi-demon walked out with two women hanging on him. This guy must really like threesomes. She pulled on her powers and raced down the fire escape, jumping at the bottom. She halted in the alley and waited for the demi-demon and his entourage to walk by. She felt a wave of air behind her and knew it had to be Michael.
“Shhh...I’m waiting for them to pass.”
He moved silently up beside her and when the blood demi-demon moved past the alley, they both walked out together as if they were a couple. Michael even put his arm around her shoulder to act the part, like he had at the hospital. They followed at a safe distance so they wouldn’t register as a threat, but at the same time would still be able to act quickly if the demi-demon suddenly attacked the women—the clueless women. She listened as the girls went on and on, trying to flirt with the man.
“Jasper, you are just too funny,” the blonde woman said.
“Not to mention sexy,” the brunette added, leaning into the man and pressing her breasts against him.
Well, at least now she knew the demi-demon’s name. She looked behind her and caught sight of Ari coming up quickly. She leaned closer to Michael. “How do you want to do this?”
“The direct approach is always best.” Before she could stop him he yelled out, “Hey, blood demon!”
The demi-demon turned to look at them and finally sensed danger. He released the women and took off running. Cass ran to check on the girls, but they were fine, so she kept going.
“Michael, have Ari fix their memories!” she shouted over her shoulder.
She didn’t wait to see if he did what she asked. Pulling on her powers, she took off running with super speed and had no problem catching up to the demi-demon. Blood demons were fast, but not faster than her.
“Stop!”
Of course he didn’t listen to her, but kept up running. He wasn’t too graceful, either, because while trying to look back at her, he bumped into a car, making the alarm go off. Great, now they were going to draw the attention and possibly the cops. Time to put a stop to this guy’s mad dash.
She moved faster and jumped into the air, landing on the demi-demon’s back and forcing him to the ground. She rolled off him quickly, getting to her feet and removing her jacket so she could move around easier.
“Who the hell are you?” the blood demi-demon demanded, getting to his feet.
“I’m your worst nightmare.” Cass had searched for Buffy-like lines she could say while fighting the demons. Maybe this one wasn’t the best.
The demi-demon swung at her and it was like she was watching it in slow motion. She easily moved out of the way, then ran around him and shoved him from behind. “Is that all you got?”
He punched her in the stomach but it wasn’t too bad, nothing like what Michael put her through in practice. The demi-demon came running right at her and she used his momentum to flip him over her head. Holding onto him, she went with him and landed on top of his stomach. The impact knocked the air out of him. She pulled the knife from her pants leg and placed it at his neck. His struggling stopped immediately.
“Okay, okay, what do you want?”
“Why did you kill those girls from the other night?”
The look on his face was genuine shock. “I didn’t kill anyone.”
Michael and Ari arrived. Ari looked at her position on top of the demon and raised an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes at him and focused on the demon.
“Did you or did you not suck the life from them?”
“Hey, I don’t kill people. I may be a blood demi-demon, but I can live on food just like humans. I only take a little to keep me strong.”
She eased up her hold. “If you didn’t kill the two girls the other night, then who did?”
“It had to be the full blood demon. He’s been coming around my territory and I’ve tried warning him off, but he’s a scary bastard. I kind of let him get away with whatever.”
Cass looked up at Ari. It had to be the demon the
y had spotted at the club but disappeared before they could talk to him. She stood up and lowered her hand to help the demi-demon up to his feet. “Who’s the demon?”
“Karl. He’s due back to his circle in a few days.”
“Tell us everything you know.”
*****
He stood on the rooftop watching the group of four standing on the abandoned street. He didn’t need to feed again so soon after his last victims, but he liked to survey the area for his next prey ahead of time. Karl was curious who the female was that would attack a demi-demon. She was fast, faster than a human, and knew how to fight. This night had just gotten more interesting.
Chapter 11
“Well...that sucks.” Cass waved at the demi-demon as he took off, probably leaving the city.
“Should we have let him go?” Michael asked, looking restless.
“He’s not causing any harm. It’s my call.” She looked at Ari. “Was the demon, Karl, inside the club tonight?”
“I didn’t see any other demons or demi-demons in there. Could have come earlier and left before we got here, though.”
“I guess we should tell Father Raphael what’s going on. I had hoped to handle this without adding more stress on him.” Cass wrapped her arms around herself. Glancing around, she didn’t see anyone, but she still had a feeling that they were being watched.
Michael narrowed his eyes. “Is that why you didn’t tell me about the dead girls? You didn’t want to add stress on me?”
Heat flooded her cheeks. “I wanted to handle this on my own. I would have, too. I caught the demi-demon and held my own.”
Michael looked like he wanted to argue more with her, but Ari interrupted them. “I hear police sirens. We should go. Do you want me to take you on the bike?”
“No, I’ll run back,” she told them, grabbing her jacket and taking off. She would have loved riding on the back of Ari’s bike but being that close to him wasn’t a good idea. No, she needed to keep her distance from him physically.
Cass arrived at the church first, which was a surprise. Michael landed a few second later and Ari’s motorcycle revved up to the curb a few minutes later. He must have pushed his bike to break every speed limit to get there.
Going up the steps, she used her key to enter the church. The guys followed behind her as she led the way to the living space at the back of the church. Leeza was coming out of the kitchen with a cup of hot tea on a tray. She looked up at Cass and gave her a welcoming smile.
“Was it busy at the diner? You’re coming in a little late.” Leeza kept walking down the hallway leading to Father Raphael’s room.
“Sorry, I got off early and had to go look for a demi-demon I thought was involved in a double homicide.”
“Oh no. I’m glad you had Michael and Ari with you then.” She gave Ari a curious look.
Michael wasn’t letting things go. “She went on her own without telling me.”
Cass rolled her eyes. “I don’t work for you, Michael.”
Ari joined in the argument. “You could have been ambushed and killed. It’s not safe to go out on your own right now.”
“What’s going on?” Father Raphael asked, sitting up in his bed.
Leeza went to help him by putting pillows behind his back, then handed him the cup. “Cass went hunting a demon on her own.”
“She what?” Father Raphael almost spilt his tea.
Cass sat on the end of the bed. “It would have been fine. Turns out I was looking for the wrong guy—demon.”
“What kind of demon?”
“Blood demon. Two girls I recognized from the other night when I went out with West were found dead just a few blocks from the dance club. They had been hanging out with a blood demi-demon. I went back tonight to see if I could find him. He showed up, but he didn’t kill the girls.”
“How do you know that?” Leeza asked.
“I beat him up a bit, questioned him, and he said that it could have been a full blood demon who has been hanging out in his territory. I did sense the full demon at the club that night, but couldn’t find him. I decided that the demi-demon was innocent and let him go.”
Father Raphael didn’t look convinced by her assessment. “He could have been lying to you.”
“He wasn’t,” she told him emphatically.
Leeza looked at her, then at Father Raphael. “What do you do now?”
“I keep hunting the blood demon. He’ll be returning to his circle soon, so we only have a few days to catch him before he does anything else.”
“Don’t go out without someone going with you,” Father Raphael told her.
“It would be better if we split up. Michael, Ari and I can take shifts patrolling the area surrounding the club. If he’s trying to claim the demi-demon’s territory, he won’t be far.”
“I don’t like this plan, it leaves you vulnerable,” Ari said, standing by the doorway.
“Look, I won’t confront the demon directly. I’ll call you and Michael first.”
“Who gets what shift?” Michael asked.
“I’ll check the area in the morning. I don’t have any classes, but I do have to work the lunch shift at the diner and I agreed to meet West for dinner.” She hated lying about who she was meeting, but Father Raphael and Michael were adamant she keep her distance from her grandfather for some reason.
Michael volunteered for the afternoon shift since he had to work at the diner that night. She glanced at Ari.
“I guess I’ll check over the area in the evening. There are a couple of places that demons have been known to hang out in. I’ll go in and see if anyone knows about this Karl guy.”
Michael snorted, “Don’t all you demons know each other?”
Ari actually growled low as he glared at Michael. “First, bird boy, I’m a demi-demon and no, we don’t know everyone in the demon community. Just like you don’t personally know every angel there is in existence, just like Leeza doesn’t know every human in the city.”
Oh, burn. Cass fought to hide her smile. Michael did deserve it after his comment about demons.
Leeza put her hand on Cass’s shoulder, “I can’t help hunt the demon, but I can come over after the morning shift at the diner tomorrow and be here with Father Raphael the rest of the day.”
“What about your classes?”
“My chem class was rescheduled and my anatomy class is an online lab I can do from my laptop.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Father Raphael grouched.
It had been really hard on him to have to depend on others to help him do everything. She knew he was also bothered that he couldn’t help her with hunting this demon. This whole situation was tough on him.
“We’ll be able to concentrate on what we need to do if we know you have someone here with you,” Cass told him gently. It must have worked because he nodded.
She looked at Leeza. “Ready to go home?”
“Yep, let me check the kitchen to make sure I put everything away. Then I’ll grab my purse and keys and I’ll drive us.”
“I’ll be waiting outside.” Cass stood up to follow her out of the bedroom. Leeza went off to the kitchen, but she could feel Ari right behind her.
Once outside, she turned to look at him. “Thanks for coming tonight, you didn’t have to.”
No matter how hurt she had been with Ari, he was always there for her. She was lucky to have him as a friend. She missed him, but she was still hurt from him lying to her about being engaged. Cass wasn’t sure if she was ready to forgive him completely, but maybe she was ready to hear him out.
“I will always be here for you Cass. I should have told you about Tara.”
“Why didn’t you?”
How could she fault him for wanting to protect his brother? Yes, he was a complete asshole for not telling her about being engaged and for leading her on. She would like to tell off his parents for basically trading their oldest son’s life to make things easier for themselves. Her own father used her bi
rth as a tactical maneuver against the demons. Okay, so they both had sucky parents, but should that determine how they lived their lives?
“I guess if I had a brother, I would do anything to protect him as much as you want to protect yours.”
“Cass…” He reached for her but she pulled away.
“We can work together to fight demons. We can try to rebuild our friendship, but there won’t be any other kind of relationship between us.”
He looked at her for a moment, and she didn’t turn away or try to hide her eyes. He nodded. “I will accept that...for now.” She watched as he strode over to his bike and got on. Looking back at her, he winked and took off. She wished she could have gone with him.
“Are you ready to go?” Leeza asked coming out of the church.
“Yeah, I need some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, a hot bath, and a good night’s sleep.”
“That sounds like a good idea. I’ll join you for the ice cream. The bath, you’re on your own.”
Chapter 12
The next evening
Cass was waiting for her grandfather to send someone to pick her up. She didn’t need it and had told him that she would rather take a taxi, but he insisted. So, here she was, standing outside her apartment building. The sun had set about an hour ago and it was starting to get a little chilly. She was tempted to run back upstairs to grab her coat. She’d initially chosen not to put it on because it didn’t really go with the white sundress she was wearing. Her hair was pulled up in a simple ponytail and she had on a pair of white slide-on dress shoes. The whole outfit belonged to Leeza, and Cass felt extremely out of place wearing it, but it was the perfect outfit for dinner with the family.
The sound of a car pulling up had her turning back toward the street. “You have got to be kidding me.”
It wasn’t just a car, it was a fucking limousine. The driver got out and walked around to open the door for her. “Hi, I’m Cass Knight.” Then she just felt stupid; of course the driver knew who he was picking up.
