Demon Seer

by Sadie Waters

  Demon Seer

  Ember’s Flame Book One

  Sadie Waters

  Copyright © 2020 by Sadie Waters

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover by Sparrow Book Cover Designs

  Created with Vellum

  For our front line heroes who’ve worked tirelessly to keep us safe.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  A Note from Sadie

  Also by Sadie Waters

  Chapter One

  Waiting for the elevator was almost as annoying as waiting on the barista at Ember Morgan’s favorite coffee shop to stop chatting up cute guys and actually take her order. She folded and refolded her arms, staring at the light atop the contraption, second guessing whether or not she should take the stairs.

  “It’ll be here,” Carson reassured her over her left shoulder, and Ember had the distinct feeling of deja vu before she realized she’d likely had this exact conversation with him on more than one occasion as the elevator always took forever, and she was always impatient.

  “I still don’t understand why we don’t just take the stairs,” Ryan said on her other side, shifting on his feet even more abruptly than Ember and her unruly arms.

  “Because we want to blend in.”

  Jake’s response would’ve made more sense if they weren’t currently dressed in black leather and obviously doing their best to obscure more weapons than would’ve been permissible even if they happened to live in Texas--which they didn’t. Before Ryan could say anything in response, the relieving ding of the elevator had Ember muttering, “Thank God,” and they all stepped forward.

  A couple dressed to the nines occupied the space in front of them, and Ember screeched to a halt, the guys bumping into her from behind. She waited for the pair to unlock their faces from each other and make their way off of the elevator, the impatience building again, and then hurried in with a huff, her men doing the same, though Carson seemed amused at her frustration, and Jake was as mellow as he always was, which was starting to be more than a little irritating to Ember. Once the four of them were aboard, she pressed the button for the top floor and refolded her arms, ignoring Carson’s snickers.

  The building was only fifty stories high, and most of the time, Ember didn’t seem to notice the floors shooting by when no one had called the elevator between the lobby and the penthouse, but she was in such a hurry at the moment, it seemed as if the lift was just that--and the person doing the lifting was an eighty-year-old man with twigs for arms. She checked her watch, not even sure why she cared what the time was--the elevator would get there when it got there. Still, it had been almost fifteen minutes since she had gotten the call from Ruby that she needed to come home, something that never happened, and she desperately wanted to know what was going on. The fact that the other Xana wouldn’t tell her more wasn’t too surprising to Ember. It wasn’t as if Ruby was known for being calm and collected under pressure. Ember wrapped one long strand of blonde hair around her finger over and over again, pulling a little harder than she should, and tried to breathe.

  The forty-ninth floor crept by, and Ember darted forward before the ding had even finished reverberating through the elevator and the doors were fully open, all three of her men following her down the hall. There wasn’t far to go. Their apartment was the only one on the floor and thus the door was only a few steps away. Still, she was in a rush, and under the circumstances, she was using every bit of the Flyer power she had left on hand, which wasn’t much. She’d definitely need a recharge from Ryan later--assuming whatever Ruby wanted wasn’t going to occupy the rest of her night.

  The apartment door was unlocked, which bothered her, even though she knew Ruby could handle any human that might try to invade her personal space, and it wasn’t likely any Scale would dare attempt to meet a team of Sorcha in their private quarters. Still, remembering Ruby’s trembling voice on the phone, it was unsettling to simply push the door open without having to use a key or any sort of superpower. “Rube?” Ember called, stepping into the foyer and rushing through the short hallway to the sitting area adjacent to the kitchen. “Rube?”

  Ruby didn’t say anything only stood, one arm, folded across her slight frame, holding the other at her elbow. “Good. You’re back.” Her eyes flickered across the four of them. “All of you.”

  “What’s going on?” Carson asked as Ember pondered why Ruby would be surprised she’d brought her team back with her. They almost always went everywhere together, particularly at night when the Scales were out and about. “Are you all right?”

  The fact that Carson was inquiring about Ruby’s well-being was a pretty good indicator that she was shaken as it wasn’t exactly like him to notice when anyone was upset, except for possibly Ember, which would’ve also been about the only other being he would’ve cared about assisting in such a predicament.

  “I’m okay,” Ruby nodded. “Just… confused. And… a little dumbfounded.” She ran a hand across her forehead and pushed her unnaturally bright red hair off of her forehead.

  “What is it?” Ryan asked, crossing over to her and putting a comforting hand on the petite girl’s back. “You sounded really upset on the phone.”

  “I am. Tonight, I saw something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before--in any of my lives.” She rested her hand on Ryan’s arm for a moment before she sank back to the couch.

  Ember caught Ryan’s eyes before she looked at Carson and then Jake. Taking a few steps forward, she dropped onto the loveseat across from where Ruby was sitting. “What did you see, Rube?”

  Before she could answer, Ember heard the faint rumble of the guest bathroom toilet flushing and the rush of water into the sink. Her eyebrows knit together, and she turned her head expecting to see someone from Ruby’s team emerge from the bathroom. Instead, a man she did not recognize stepped out, and while it was obvious he was doing his best to appear calm and collected, he looked even more shaken up than Ruby. “Who the hell are you?” Ember asked, standing. He paused in the hallway, his eyes glued on Ruby, as if he wasn’t sure whether he should try to run, or if she could save him.

  “This is Zach,” Ruby said. “He’s the one I wanted to tell you about.”

  Chapter Two

  It took Ember a second before she could say more, but when she did, it was with the consideration that she needed to try not to sound angry. Whoever this guy was, he was clearly a human, and he looked like he was just barely holding his shit together. Slowly, he walked over toward where the group
had assembled, now all standing around the sitting area. Ruby grabbed Ember’s arm hard as she moved past her on the other side of the coffee table to take Zach by the shoulder, and Ember assumed that was her friend’s way of reminding her she had a tendency to be a little rough around the edges.

  “Em, Lane and I were out on a routine mission when we stumbled upon Zach.” She cleared her throat, smoothed back her hair, and let it be known to all that she was attempting to choose her words carefully. Ember got the idea that meant that Zach had no idea what he’d gotten himself into--which begged the question of why he was there. Most of the time, if a human was involved, it was because they were either already a Scale victim, or they’d been rescued just in time, unbeknownst to them. Rarely did any of them ever see a Xana or an Ink in those circumstances, but if they did, there were methods for taking care of that. Their kind, Sorcha, liked to blend in with humans as much as possible and rarely let anyone see them in their “work clothes.” Yet here Zach was standing in a room with five of them wearing black leather and armed to the teeth.

  Ember forced a smile. “Hi, Zach.” She reached for his hand, hoping he didn’t notice the weapons on the inside of her jacket, her hip, and strapped to her calf, though she imagined he probably couldn’t miss all of them. Of course, Ruby was armed, too, and he seemed okay with how close the red-head was standing to him.

  Hesitantly, Zach’s right hand moved forward, though his eyes stayed glued to Ember’s palm for a moment before he finally grasped her hand. He was dressed like a college student, though he looked a little older than a typical undergrad, his hoodie, flannel and jeans proclaiming he was just an average Joe. His hair was brown and stood up quite high on top of his head like he had taken his time fixing it before he went out to do whatever he was doing before the incident. One of his red Converse was untied, and his handshake was a little weak for Ember’s taste, but he wasn’t unattractive. She imagined whatever lay beneath the layers of shirts probably had nothing on the three guys standing behind her, though he wasn’t exactly a twig either.

  “Zach Parker, this is Ember Morgan,” Ruby said, her voice indicating she thought Ember should’ve had the decency to introduce herself. “And these are her… roommates.” That word didn’t quite fit, but Ember let it go. The guys stepped forward as Ruby said their names, all polite but skeptical. “Ryan Hale, Jake Harris, and Carson.”

  “Carson?” Zach questioned as the much larger man’s hand enveloped his. He’d muttered “nice to meet you” to both Ryan and Jake, but the question mark was there with Carson, which wasn’t a surprise to Ember.

  “That’s me,” the bear of a man growled, letting go of Zach’s hand.

  “Is that your first name or your last name?” Zach asked, tucking both hands back into the pockets of his jeans.

  “Yes,” Carson replied, and Ember elbowed him in the ribs, not hard enough to hurt him, but it wasn’t a tickle either.

  “No one knows his full name,” Ruby said in a hushed voice. She cleared her throat again, and Ember kept her smile on her face, but she hoped her friend realized, now that the introductions were over, she still needed an explanation. “Lane suggested I bring Zach here because of… what happened.”

  “And what did happen?” Jake asked before Ember could get the words out of her mouth. He was standing to her left and folded his arms, his head cocked to the side, the spikes of his frosted hair catching the light in such a way that it took Ember a second to pull her eyes off of him.

  “Well, that’s the thing,” Ruby stuttered, letting go of Zach to fold her hands. “He saw… something….. And Lane wasn’t sure how that was possible, so he wanted me to bring him here to see if you guys had any ideas.”

  “He saw something?” Ryan repeated, stepping around Carson so that they had now formed a semicircle. “What do you mean, Rubes?”

  “I mean… we were in pursuit, and when we caught up to the… perpetrator, he was in attack mode, and… Zach saw him.”

  “Saw… what?” Ember asked, still confused. But she wasn’t looking at Ruby. She wanted to hear it from him--from the human. If what Ruby was saying was true…. No, there was no use in finishing that thought because they all knew that what Ruby was saying was impossible. Humans were incapable of seeing Scales unless they were asleep or in a twilight state, and it was clear that Zach had been on the street at the time, that he’d been awake, or at least Ember assumed so. “What did you see Zach?”

  The man took a step backward, running a hand through his hair as he did so. Ember watched as it lay flat and sprang forward again in one fluid movement and would’ve been impressed with his products under different circumstances. “I don’t know,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t think it was anything, really. I mean, this guy came out of the shadows.” His jade-green eyes caught Ember’s for a moment, and she could see he was afraid to talk about what he had seen, which made her think maybe, somehow, what Ruby and Lane were claiming was true. “He was wearing a costume, or something. I was waiting for a bus. I normally Uber, but… I dropped my phone earlier, and it cracked. I couldn’t get the app to work right. And I could’ve gone down to the subway, but my mom says it’s not safe this time of night….”

  He was rambling, and Carson’s impatient sigh let him know it. “What did this person look like?” Ryan asked, his tone calmer than Carson’s, also not a surprise.

  Zach shook his head. “I didn’t get a really good look at him. He was tall. He had on a mask or something, His skin was all pale, ripped up at the cheeks. I mean, the mask. And his hair was long and greasy. He had on those claw things, like Freddy Krueger. Anyway, he jumped out of the shadows by the bus stop, came at me, and when I turned around and screamed, that is… shouted, he looked startled and then ran off. The next thing I know, Ruby and this other guy were there.”

  Ember stared at Zach for a long moment, knowing she’d have to talk to Ruby about this alone. She heard Carson scoff before he fell back onto the sofa behind him. There was no question he thought this was all some sort of a mix up. Her eyes flickered to Jake, who looked as bewildered as she felt, but she could tell Ryan believed what Zach was saying, even if he couldn’t explain it.

  “Okay,” Ember said, plastering a smile on her face. She took a step backward and would’ve tripped over Jake’s boot if he hadn’t caught her. “Thanks,” she muttered to him. “Uh, why don’t you guys make yourselves comfortable… I mean, make our guest comfortable… while Ruby and I have a little chat on the balcony.”

  “Sure,” Carson said, pulling his phone out of his pocket as if the conversation were over, and he was on to better things. “Want some water, Zach? Maybe a stiff drink? Or maybe you’ve had enough of those for one night?”

  “Excuse me?” Zach asked. Ember didn’t wait around to hear the rest of the conversation. She knew Ryan and Jake would take care of him. Instead, she grabbed Ruby by the arm and took off for the balcony at as even a pace as possible. So far, Zach didn’t seem to be questioning the humanity of the persons he was with, and it was in their best interest to keep it that way, if possible. She opened the sliding glass door and stepped out into the night air, taking a deep breath, wondering what in the world this guy had gotten them into.

  Chapter Three

  Ruby pulled herself up onto the narrow ledge that separated the pair of them from the busy New York City street several hundred feet below them. The wind caught her red hair and sent it flying out behind her, like a cape on a superhero, which in a lot of ways she was. All of them were.

  Ember preferred to stand. “I’m going to need to know exactly what happened, Rube.” She folded her arms and tried to look unagitated, though that would be nearly impossible considering how irritated she felt at the moment about the entire situation.

  “Like I said,” Ruby began, swinging her legs back and forth as if she were a small child, “Lane and I were in pursuit, the other girls already in position to cut this bastard off as soon as he crossed through Washington Square. We’d seen him sneaking
out of an apartment over on Greenwich and figured he was moving in on a second victim, but he didn’t make it that far. I mean, maybe he did later, but he picked Zach out instead, I guess. We came up on them, and Zach was literally screaming and trying to get away--like he saw the jackass.” She shrugged, her legs stilling, and Ember cocked her head to the side, trying to decide which question to ask next.

  She shook her head. “Rube, I’m gonna need a little more than that. Were you visible?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Both of you?”

  “Yeah, Lane hadn’t needed to go transparent yet, so I didn’t either. He was flying, though, pretty fast, and I was struggling to keep up with him.”

  “And Tinsley and Jessie weren’t there?”

  “No. Tins was down the street a few hundred yards, Jess a half mile behind her. Lane thought if he got past Tins, Jess could cut him off.”

  Ember nodded, keeping up with Lane’s thinking. She would’ve probably done the same if she came across a Scale unexpectedly like that. “Who were you pursuing when you stumbled upon this guy? Did you ID him?”

  “We weren’t in pursuit yet, just moving from a faulty location to one we hoped would be more suitable. I’d never seen this guy before, and I don’t know if Lane or the girls got any more info after I left. I don’t think he’s one of Lil’s.”