Demon Day

by Penelope Fletcher

  My heart rate pumped double time and I struggled to come to terms with what was happening.

  Clerics were on Pride land.

  I stilled, my mouth dry, and heart heavy, “Unless they died before they could raise the alarm.”

  The rumble that thundered from Alec’s chest was not human. “I’m going to Change,” he rasped and hunched over, stripping off his trousers and leaving them in a crumpled heap.

  The shrubbery crackled, and through the tree line, I saw them. They were too close. I glanced at Alec, back already snapping, and joints popping. His spine exploded out with the extra vertebrate of his tail, and was covered over with a sweep of skin and hair. His mouth was closed and he quivered with the effort of not crying out.

  They could not find him here like this. If they did....

  In a burst of speed, I darted forward quickly locating the two Clerics trawling the undergrowth from the backs of two freakishly large stallions. Snuffling the floor at their feet were bloodhounds. None of them reacted to me. I had moved so fast they hadn’t seen me, nor had their dogs scented me yet.

  Behind the backside of one horse – entangled in a net and dragged carelessly across the floor – was the body of a young shifter, a tiger. The bubble of disgust and anguish started in my stomach, rolled up my torso, forced its way out my throat, and exploded in my mouth. I screamed, long and loud. I was so horrified by the dead shifter youngling it was easy to project the fear and terror into my voice.

  The Clerics heads snapped to me, guns coming up to point in my direction. I bolted. The dogs sprang at me; barking, and jaws snapping.

  I kept my speed fast enough to avoid capture, but slow enough so they would be tempted to give chase. Hearing them urge their steeds into gallops I kept going, knowing I was headed somewhere high, somewhere near water.

  Damn it, yet again I was running from the Clerics, and yet again, I was terrified, but gods help me I would not let them take Alec like they had taken Maeve.

  Leaving the forest treeline, I sped out of the tall grass, smelt the lake up ahead. Chest heaving from panic rather than physical exertion, I scowled when I saw Clerics were posted along the opposite bank. I careened to a stop, spinning round. The crimson red of the blazers were visible behind me, bouncing up and down wildly, so I changed direction and darted back into the grass.

  A fierce growl pierced the morning air, Alec calling for help.

  Fueled by the need to get to him and ensure his safety, I ran faster, no longer worried whether those pursuing me would not be able to see me let alone catch me.

  Alec launched himself on a Cleric, ivory teeth bared until they disappeared into the man’s exposed throat, throwing his head back to rip it out. The horse pranced madly as the Cleric rolled from his saddle and was dead before he hit the floor. Alec was already a pace away, leaping on the next trespasser who was a woman, mounted on a huge black stallion. Her hood was up and cast a shadow over her profile. She raised her gun as the horse danced beneath her, neighing loudly, and kicking his forelegs when Alec pounced back and forth, snapping at his fetlocks.

  There was a loud crack, the smell of gunpowder. Alec screamed – the sound oddly human.

  “No!”

  I threw myself toward them when the horse kicked Alec away and sent his body hurtling through the air. He twisted and landed on his paws, but his legs buckled and his brawny body hit the floor. He scrunched his eyes shut and shuddered, blood on the ground from his wounded side.

  Falling to my knees, I clasped his head in my hand and patted him softly. I was relieved when his eyes slitted open then focused, jeweled irises trained on the Cleric behind me.

  I shot a glare over my shoulder and the Lady Cleric pulled on the reigns so the horse backed up, her gun was pointed at Alec’s face. I froze, but my tail thrashed behind me like a whip.

  “Back away from him and get down on the ground,” she said calmly.

  I did not move trying to think fast, but coming up with blank spaces and images of Alec’s brain splattered all over the floor. I let go of his head and pushed him down when he struggled to stand. He whined, fearful for me, and I rubbed him behind the ear.

  “Don’t worry,” I muttered in a voice too low for the Cleric to hear, but by the way his ears swiveled forward Alec heard. “I’m thinking of a plan.”

  Standing I stepped away from Alec, eyeing her distrustfully. “I’m not your enemy.”

  Another horse trotted up behind me, with a haughty faced Cleric. Neither of them looked familiar to me, nor particularly memorable in any way.

  “Leave Brother Ryan’s body, it’ll just slow us down,” he said tonelessly. “Leave the shifter, the tiger specimen is enough for now. And we have the other two. Take the fairy.”

  I feinted to the left then darted right, vowing to come back for Alec as soon as I had gotten help.

  I’d taken no more than three running steps when something whizzed past my face, and something else slammed into my lower back. Pain lanced through my body, my muscles seizing up. My limbs left my control and I dropped like a stone. The pressure and pain increased until it seemed my whole world was made of electric fire.

  Everything went black.

  Chapter Four

  I was cold, I was groggy, and I was mad. A sharp, metallic aftertaste stained my mouth, and the smell of urine, and dead things clogged my nose. Opening my eyes I was relieved, and infuriated, to meet two sets of pretty brown eyes set in sun browned heart shaped faces.

  “She’s waking up,” one of the faces said. “Give her some room to breathe.”

  The girl was pretty. A button nose, wide eyed, and a cute crop of dark brown hair. She crouched close by me, almost protective. A purple bruise decorated the side of her face and her pouty mouth looked swollen.

  I tried to move my arms to crawl back, but I winced. My body was not fit to do much but lie still. No matter, I did not want to lie there like a dead thing, so I shifted up onto my elbows, but further movement was hindered by a chain connected to a rusty manacle at my throat, my skin was swollen from the contact.

  Uncomfortable on the hard ground, I scooted a little more before settling. Then I took in my surroundings.

  The ceiling was low and dirty and the room wide, crumbling red brick. Candles with sticky wax overflowed onto the wall casting glowing arcs of light. Rows of manacles and snaking chains were nailed into wooden panels on the floor. Dark, shiny patches of red stained the gray concrete I sat on, and explained the dead smell. The shadowy corners made the walls curved, a room of death and shadows.

  I shuddered, and my eyes settled on the brown eyes girl again. Oh hell. I was seeing double.

  “What– Where–” I made a rude noise, squeezed my eyes shut to hold back the tears.

  Panicking would get me nowhere. I had to remain calm and not see double. Whatever had happened, the Priests would find me and save me from this…this…place.

  I opened my eyes but little had changed, expect one of the brown eyed girls was grinning broadly.

  “You’re not going mad, fairy. There are two of us.” She nodded her head to the second brown-eyed girl, who stared at my wings with a mixture of fascination and disgust. “That is Nimah, my younger and spoilt twin. I’m Amelia.”

  I blinked and shook my head. I could have sworn she said fairy. “Hai,” I said relieved at least I was not seeing things even if I was hearing things.

  “Why can we smell our Alpha on you?” Nimah asked and tilted her head back proudly, as if she expected nothing less than a full and immediate answer from me.

  I’d knocked something important loose in my brain, I was sure of it. “Where are we?” I asked. I directed the question at Amelia.

  She beamed at me; happy I had chosen to finish our exchange before indulging her sister. “We’re in the humans dungeon under the place they train the Hoods.”

  Biting my lip, I cocked my head. “Hoods?”

  “The humans who wear the red hoods,” she said and trembled. “The ones who protec
t the Wall.”

  Why did she speak as if human was something foreign to her? “We’re at Temple?” I said, beyond relieved. I mean, I had never heard of, or seen this place before, but it meant I had made it back alive. That was the last time I ran in demon territory. For a while, I was afraid I had stumbled onto some of them, the demons.

  Thank gods I was safe.

  Judging by the lack of light, and the shape of the walls we were deep underground. Perhaps a Cleric had found me and not wanted to alarm the other Disciples by taking me to Sanctuary. Intuition told me that was unlikely, since I was manacled. Maybe they were being on the safe side? After all I was a human, but maybe they were afraid a vampire had glamoured me, or something.

  “What is going on exactly?” I asked, failing to keep panic from my voice.

  The tight ball of fear in my gut was painful. Movement close by in the shadows made me tense. I squinted then there was a hitch in my breathing.

  A small, gangly figure was curled up in the corner, huge eyes with black holes for pupils, swallowing the whites of his eyes. His lips were small, and pouty, and his bone structure delicate. He was clothed in a threadbare tunic. Stained and torn it hung loosely from his shoulders and was bunched up in his fisted hands. He was bald and frighteningly skinny. Hunched over, I could see the vertebrae in his back jut from beneath his sallow skin. His fingers were boney and his cheeks sunken. He stared at me. But gods his eyes were huge, dominating the top half of his face. Cuffed to the wall, his manacle chain was coiled by his legs.

  “Fairy?”

  I frowned, shifting my attention back to the girls. “Why do you keep saying that?” I lowered my voice. “And is that … is that a….”

  “Goblin, yes. A half-breed I think. We call him Runt.” She beckoned to him. “Come here, cutie. C’mon.”

  If such a thing was possible, the goblin-child’s eyes widened to perfect circles, and he shuffled closer to the wall, turning his head into his shoulder to hide his face. He made a faint keening, snuffling noise.

  Amelia shrugged. “He doesn’t talk. They have zapped him one too many times, I think. He is afraid of his own shadow. He won’t even let us try to treat his sores. He just eats and drinks once a day then sits in his corner. It is sad really. It would be nice to have someone else to talk to. My sister can be a total bitch.”

  Nimah whacked her on the arm, scowling. “Bite me, I’m sitting right here.”

  “I know you think the whole world revolves around you, but believe it or not even though your name was mentioned, I wasn’t talking to you.”

  “Why are you horrible to me? Even when we were cubs you were mean to me.”

  “What part of ‘not talking to you’ don’t you understand?”

  I cleared my throat. “Uh, girls….”

  “What?” they said and turned to me simultaneously.

  My head swam, and I blinked a few times before squinting. “You called me a fairy….”

  They shot strange looks at each other. The younger sister made a sweeping motion with her hand to her twin. “Go ahead; I know how you love to baby the broken ones.”

  “Touch your ears,” Amelia said.

  Frowning, I did as she said, confused as to what she was getting at. I touched my ears pointing out of my hair. I froze and my fingers twitched over the tip of my ear that was decidedly pointy. Then I was aware of the two limbs resting across my back and then floor. I was aware of the tail curling about my waist. My heart pounded and I squeezed my eyes shut. “I– I feel sick–” I gasped; memories hit me in the gut and bombarded my mind. My eyes shot open. “Alec!” I shouted and stood. I spun round and launched myself at the door, a moment after I remembered the iron manacle. I jerked to a stop and lost my footing. I fell hard and smacked my head on the floor. I felt the skin at my temple split.

  “Be still, fairy. If you make too much noise they’ll come.” Amelia touched my shoulder and I shrugged her off violently.

  Surging up to my knees, I crawled away from them and put my back against the wall.

  I remembered everything. I was protecting Alec and had been tagged by the Clerics. Me dropped by tazer probes … how could I be so stupid? Why was I not focusing on what was going on around me? How the hell did they get so far into the Pride? Something was no right here and I needed to find out what.

  “I need out of this hole,” I growled.

  “Oh, don’t worry,” Nimah said. “No doubt they’ll be back for you soon. You’re the new plaything.” She shot me a dirty look, and tipped her nose up. “Now you seem to have returned to yourself answer my question. Why is the scent of our Alpha on you?” She crossed her sinewy arms over her chest tightly. Unlike Amelia she had a heavy fringe that fell into her eyes. “I thought I scented Alec, and you seem to know him, but that’s just crazy talk. Why would his scent linger on you? For it to be so strong there would need to be prolonged skin to skin contact.” She glared at me. Was this shifter-girl the one Alec confessed he wished to Claim? But he had told me she didn’t know he existed.

  “Oh, shut up, Ni. Leave the poor girl alone.”

  A startling thought occurred to me. “I’m a demon,” I said and blinked. I was still struggling to adjust, and though these girls seemed to need some answers from me, I was still running a few things through my clouded mind. Where was Alec now? Was Breandan looking for me, and how long had I been down here? Oh gods. How long had I been down here? Conall would be going nuts. And as for Breandan…. Yeah, I was in big trouble.

  “Yes,” Nimah promoted, jarring me out of my horrified thoughts. “You’re a….” I said nothing, still shocked and confused. Witheringly, she looked at Amelia.

  I looked too. I could use some direction.

  “Fairy,” she said.

  At the expression that twisted my face, they both tensed and shuffled closer together. They waited for my shriek, or yell, but it never happened. The twins watched me, heads cocked together. It was like there was a mirror but the reflections differed slightly. Amelia’s face was a smidge rounder and Nimah’s eyes were a fraction darker.

  “They must have hit you with a high voltage to screw with your memory so badly,” Amelia said after a terse pause. “Don’t worry, it’ll get clearer soon.”

  “She’s still hasn’t explained why she smells like members of our pack,” the young twin said bluntly.

  Running a hand down her hunched back in comfort, Amelia’s voice was hard. “Give her time. She has been through a lot. Remember how you were when we first got here?”

  The younger twin wiggled, to get her sister to back off, but she kept stroking so she stilled.

  My hands flew up and out. “Unguh, they did hit me too hard.” I smacked myself on the forehead. “You’re Byron’s missing daughters, aren’t you?”

  “So you do know our father.” Amelia shifted forward, a light coming on in her eyes. “He’s coming for us?”

  I nodded. “Yes. We had a deal. I’m going to rescue you.” As I said the words, I flushed. “I mean, uh, I was going to rescue you before I was caught, of course.”

  Nimah was watching me, distrust plain on her face. “I don’t believe you. Our father would never ask the fairy-lord for help. And involve one of his concubines? I don’t think so.”

  I spluttered, “Concubine? Give me a break. I’m not Devlin’s concubine. My name is Rae, and I’m–”

  The door shuddered.

  Nimah and Amelia instinctively slid closer together. Both turned their gaze upon me and I saw panic in their eyes. Even Runt had turned to look at me, and if possible, his face was even paler than before.

  The door swung open and slammed against the back wall. Three figures in crimson blazers with black tails stood in the doorway. Hoods pulled over their heads, the light, and my eyesight was enough for me to make them out. All were much older than us. Men. One had sunken eyes and a crooked nose. The other was fair and stunningly handsome, for a human. The last was stockier in build and rougher in appearance; stubble was visible on his ja
w and his blazer looked rumbled. I thought I saw a faint trace of guilt flitter across his expression, but then it was gone, and his expression was blank.

  Amelia shuffled forward and crouched in front of me. She arched her back and hissed, sounding like a cat, a cat that was pissed. Nimah came up on my other side.

  “Good thinking, Melia,” she muttered. “Throw our lot in with the fairy stupid enough to get caught.”

  The Clerics stepped forward and I figured out my next move. The iron had drained my strength, no doubt. I was weak, disorientated, and the stench of the metal made me retch, but I had been trained in combat by these Clerics. I knew how they would move and fight. If we could overwhelm them, we could escape. I may not get another chance. I had to try.

  They needed to come closer. Close enough so that they were in punching distance. Close enough, so that I could snap their neck in one of the three ways I had been taught in Martial Arts. Damn, close enough so that I could bite and scratch the crap out of them if needs be. I had never killed anyone before, and I did not want to start now. But hell would freeze over if they thought I was going to die without taking at least one of them with me.

  The Cleric with the crooked nose pulled something out from behind him. A silver blade. Nimah and Amelia recoiled then both growled, seeming to fill the dungeon with the noise of an entire shifter Pack.

  Runt wailed in the corner. It sounded different than his usual sounds. A warning?

  The Cleric brandishing the silver knife stepped forward and the shifter twins recoiled again, both taking hold of my shoulders to keep me with them. The touch was like a full body hiccup and I shrugged them off. I hated strangers touching me. The moment their hands left me the two other Clerics grabbed hold of my feet and dragged me toward the door. Amelia made a high, strangled sound, enraged.

  Still, they dragged me, and I dug my hands into the earth around me, snarling. I kicked my legs, and had I not been iron drained and bound they would have flown with such a force they would be dead. As it was, I was like a child struggling under the hands of her stronger parents.