by Jen Pretty
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
The wings were grey and spanned almost ten feet on either side of him when he spread them out.
“I’m immortal, too. Like Julian.”
Julian cleared his throat. “He is much younger, though.”
I glanced back at Julian and noticed he was wearing his blank face. It was weird the way he pulled that face out whenever he was in front of apparent half-demon stuff. He had been relaxed around Rory until now.
I sat back on the couch and just admired Rory’s wings for a moment. Even if I didn’t like flying ‘air-demon’, I could appreciate how beautiful the fragile black wings were. Rory’s tattoos contrasted beautifully against his wings like modern art.
Rory's shook again, and the wings pulled in and disappeared.
“How do you do that?” I asked.
“Put them away?” At my nod, he continued. “I'm not sure, really. No other half-demon can do it, but it's handy for living above ground. I don't need to hide them.”
Okay, so my first lieutenant was neat and gorgeous. I felt a bit guilty for the second thought, but Julian hadn’t acted like it was a big deal that drunk-Harlow dragged him home with us.
I realized that the guys had started a conversation about football, and I didn't much care about that, so I slipped off the couch and into the bathroom to take a shower. My clothes were all wrinkled, and I smelled a bit off from sitting on the couch all day. I had taken the time to wash Julian's blood off my face earlier, but it was still spotting my hair and my shirt.
I started the water in the tub and then slipped back out to grab a few beers. Tomorrow we would kill Collin, or stop him anyway, though my blood lust was growing every time I thought of how he sent my mother to kill my boyfriend.
Hmm. Was he my boyfriend? This was getting old. I would call him my boyfriend for now and see how that went.
I set the beers on the side of the tub and slipped beneath the freaking hot water, cursing at the insane but delicious temperature. The scent of lavender had filled the room and helped me relax and ease my tight muscles.
I thought about the next day, going through various scenarios in my mind. If Collin had a bunch of demons, I'd have to focus on them entirely. If he had mostly demon possessed half-demons, that would be the job of the sculptors, and I would concentrate on Collin. I was pretty sure he would have both, and I would have to fight everyone. I prayed it didn't turn into a bloodbath like Nick was planning for. Dead people weren’t part of the plan.
When the water cooled and the beers were empty, I pulled the plug and climbed out of the tub. I was so relaxed that I couldn't keep my eyes open, so I pulled on a giant t-shirt and tugged my hair up into a ponytail. Good enough.
I stumbled out of the bathroom and flopped down on the bed. It seemed like too big a job to get under the blankets, so I lay like that until I heard a dark masculine chuckle and Julian's strong arms scooped me up. He pulled the blanket back through some magic and slid me underneath. I tried to cling to his warmth, but he uncurled my fingers from his clothes and disappeared into the bathroom. Probably for the best. He was bloody still, and he smelled.
I tried the wait up for him, but my eyelids were so heavy they closed against my will.
“Harlow,” Julian whispered as his warm body pressed against mine.
“Mmbla,” I said, incoherently.
He laughed and rolled me over to face him. His arm slid over my back and pulled me into his warmth. I woke enough to put my head on his chest. He smelled like soap and Julian. His heartbeat was steady and reassuring after a long day without it, and I fell back to sleep a moment later.
I had no nightmares that night, though maybe I should have after what I had witnessed. That should have been a sign that something wasn't quite right, but I had too many other things on my mind to think about the reason Julian's presence had so much power over me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The smell of coffee woke me. Okay, the sound of Rory yelling “coffee” woke me, but once I smelled it, there was no more reason to sleep, so I staggered up and traced the delicious scent until someone thrust a hot mug into my grabby hands. Thank God for coffee.
I sipped and sighed a few times before my body demanded food, too. I obliged it with a bagel and cream cheese and some scrambled eggs. Bacon was suspiciously missing from the breakfast tray again. My first lieutenant was gonna get an ass-kicking if he didn't lay off my bacon. Luckily for him, he had sent all my dirty laundry to the dry cleaners the day before, and I now had lots of clean clothes to wear.
Rory was off the hook this time, but next time there would be hell to pay. Bacon is sacred.
“The rest of the team will arrive shortly,” Julian said.
He was watching a news channel and I glanced over while I stuffed my bagel in my mouth. The TV was showing a burning building in downtown Jackson. I crossed the room and sat beside Julian on the couch. His arm came around my shoulders, but I couldn't drag my eyes from the screen. The fire was massive; flames raged far up into the sky above the three-story apartment building. It wasn't like an ordinary fire. At least not one I had ever seen. It looked familiar. Not the building, but the fire. The flames. The way they lapped at the sky and consumed the building, and the surrounding ones.
I had a flicker of memory and knew precisely where I had seen flames like that before.
“Those are the flames of hell,” I whispered. I had seen them when the demon possessed me. He let those flames consume me. They lapped at my skin the same way.
A wave of panic washed over me, and I jumped to my feet.
“It’s okay, Harlow,” Julian said, rising and grabbing my arms before I could get away. My pulse slowed for a moment. Was it okay?
“How do you do that?” I asked, shocked out of my panic attack.
“What?” he asked. By now, Rory had crossed the room to stand beside me. I glanced at him, but he had his eyes set hard on Julian.
“He uses his mojo on you?” Rory asked.
I pushed Julian's hands off me and the panic washed back in. “What mojo?”
Nobody answered for a moment, but Julian's careful expression flashed anger when he looked at Rory.
Julian scowled and said, “I’m not doing it on purpose.”
“Not doing what?” I was getting angry now. At least my anger had a focus. I shoved Julian away from me. Well, I tried. He barely moved at all.
“You see, darlin, some half-demons,” Rory said scowling at Julian, “can affect your emotions. The evil ones use it to make you afraid or give you pain.”
“The good ones use it to take away your fear or help you relax,” Julian said in a rush.
I eyed him. I knew I should have questioned that I seemed to relax when I was around him. “Stupid, Harlow,” I chided myself.
“I don’t do it intentionally,” Julian repeated, running his fingers through his hair and messing up his coiffed style. He and I couldn't get this shit together. He had so many secrets.
“Do you ever just tell the truth?” I asked him before storming back into the bedroom. I had a demon who was much worse than Julian to catch, and now I was feeling extra bloodthirsty.
Ten minutes later, I stepped out ready to take on Collin. I counted my amulets and checked the integrity of the chains securing them to my neck. I'd rather hang myself than lose them again. My net was a comfortable weight in my hand. I was not sure if I needed it, but I felt more like a little ass kicker with it in my hand.
“Let’s go,” I said to the large group of people clustered in the suite. Most of them turned and funneled out of the room except for Lincoln who had arrived while I was giving myself a pep talk. He wore a huge grin and raised his eyebrows at my appearance.
I had the thin tight leather pants on and a tight, low-cut, tank top with the Ghostbusters logo on the front. With my net slung over my shoulder I knew I looked tough and hot. Take that, bad guys.
“You ready for this Harlow?” Lincoln asked as we walked together down the hall towards the
waiting elevator.
“I’m ready for this to be over.”
Standing at the door of the elevator was a familiar face. Alric, whom I had met when Julian and I were travelling across the country on his motorcycle, stood there in full army fatigues. He had helped us once before in a town overrun with gargoyles. That time he was dressed the same, but I would never forget him in a tuxedo in his mansion.
“Good morning for a mission,” Alric said as we approached.
“Good as any,” I replied.
Lincoln chuckled, and we crammed into the tiny space remaining in the elevator. All told, we had four sculptors and two other hunters plus a few more half-demons including Alric and my mother. The new faces were all introduced but their names didn't matter. I was ready to knock demon heads together and didn't have time for details.
They all discussed strategy in the back of the now-crowded limousine. I tuned them out and focused on my enemy. Collin was mine. So were any demons he had summoned.
We had enough hunters with Nick to take care of any gargoyles and help fight off the half-demons until I stopped Collin so the former leader of Jackson could take over the power again.
Rory slid into the seat beside me, shoving Lincoln out of his way. I couldn't help chuckling at Lincoln’s expression as the tattooed half-demon shoved him over, taking his place beside me.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked me.
He was wearing all black today, but his short-sleeve shirt exposed his tattoos, making him look like a biker or gangster.
“I’m sure Julian and Nick have it all organized. What did they say?” I asked, checking the strings on my net to ensure they were tight and secure.
“They aren't my leader, you are,” he said, ceasing all other conversation as the rest of the passengers stopped what they were doing to gawk at us and eavesdrop.
“What?” I said in a voice I hoped suggested they should all mind their own business.
“He said you were his leader?” my long-lost mother asked, as if she had any right to question me.
I pointed my net at her. “You don't get to ask me questions.”
“He said you were his leader?” Lincoln parroted.
Son of a bitch. “I don't want to talk about it.”
“Too bad, Har. How are you his leader?” Lincoln pressed Rory back so he could glare at me.
“How should I know? I don't even know what that means. Can we discuss this later? I’m trying to channel my inner warrior Goddess.”
Lincoln’s eyes scanned my face for a few more moments before he sat back and turned back to the conversation he was having with another sculptor.
Slowly the conversation all resumed. My mother's eyes lingered on me long after the rest of them remembered their manners, but she finally looked away, too.
I closed my eyes and counted to twenty in my mind then took a few more deep breaths and looked back at Rory. He was tough, and he could fly. “You are with me,” I said.
“Yesss,” he whispered, and I felt his adrenaline pumping through his veins. His muscles twitched and jumped beside me like a racehorse in the starting gate, ready to go. It was infectious, and when the limo pulled to a stop, I was ready to fuck up a whole herd of half-demons. Well, at least smack them with my net and maybe freeze their asses.
We funneled out of the limo in a shitty area of town. The apartment buildings were decrepit and falling apart. People stood in the shadows of the street corner, eying us. I hoped the limo would make it out of the area with its tires and stereo intact.
Alric carried a tire iron and popped up a sewer grate. The half-demons disappeared down the hole, jumping in like it was a swimming pool and not a hole into a disgusting mess of the underground world where people left dog poop and dirty needles. Apparently, there was a ladder because everyone else climbed down in a more normal way. When it was my turn, Rory wrapped his arms around me, his now bare chest warm against my cheek and he stepped off the road letting us fall until we were below ground and then his wings shot out and slowed us to land gently in the disgusting little stream of water that ran at the bottom. My boots were waterproof, but only to a certain height, so I prayed it didn't get any deeper.
The whole team was silent now, most stealthy enough not to make a sound as I splashed through the water.
I attempted to go into stealth mode, but it wasn’t possible. I was just a noisy walker. Whatever.
I didn't recognize the tunnels at all for an hour. We splashed along, taking what could have been random turns. Al and Celia led us through the maze and scared away any rats that might have been lingering. Thank God. I didn't need those creepy rodents sneaking up on me.
Finally, I saw a dim light up ahead and our pace slowed. I recognized the corner as the one we hid behind the first time we came down here and had to hide from a pair of half-demons in the tunnel. Rory’s hand came up and rested on my arm, stopping me so the rest of the team could get ahead of us. Julian looked back at me with a look of sadness and determination on his face before his mask slid into place and he became the stone-faced half-demon leader of New York. Then he disappeared around the corner followed by the rest, leaving Rory and me alone in the darkness.
“You know, sweetheart, he’s not bad for a half-demon,” Rory said.
I shook my head. “Not the time or place,” I whispered. There was never a time or place for this conversation. “And stop calling me sweetheart.”
He chuckled.
I waited impatiently. The group would take on the first line of defense, and then I would make my way around them and go after Collin. We knew he would be somewhere farther in the tunnel system, protected by the half-demons and probably possessed half-demons.
Edward Fireside, the former leader of Jackson, was fighting, too, and would be ready to take over power when I froze Collin, or they captured him. I wasn’t clear on how the power of leadership transferred, or what that even meant, although I was getting the idea from Rory that it was not just a title. There was some kind of hierarchy like in a wolf pack.
The sounds of yelling echoed down the tunnels. I moved to head that way, but Rory stopped me.
“Wait a few minutes, so they get a head start,” he whispered.
I bounced on my toes. A lot of my important people were in there fighting… Lincoln, Julian, Nick. It was hard to hear the sounds and not run into the battle to help. It was an unexpected reaction. I had always been more of a ‘run away’ type person, but this day I wouldn’t run. I would stop Collin and whoever else he had summoned to help him.
Finally, Rory released my arm and whispered: “Go.”
My muscles slammed into action, bunching and stretching as I raced forward at speed granted me by the very demons I was about to fight. The whoosh of wings reached through the sound of the wind in my ears as Rory slid above me through the tunnel towards the sounds of battle.
The tunnel opened into the large dining room where I had met Ann, the woman who had helped me rescue Julian from Collin’s clutches. Instead of people eating though, wicked looking half-demons fighting each other and our team with weapons and their bare hands crashed around the crowded space. Our group had grown substantially since we last saw them and I ground to a halt, unsure who was good and who was bad.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
I scanned the room. Rory pressed into my side and watched my back as I tried to decide which way to go and how to get there. The half-demons filled the room. I would have to fight my way through, and as we have already established I'm not much of a fighter.
I spotted Julian. Blood stained his hands and splattered all over his face. He was a force of nature, like a lion in a room full of lambs. He tore and ripped at the other half-demons, leaving them in piles in his wake.
Lincoln and the sculptors were huddled together, jumping forward to exercise the demons from the men and women as the team incapacitated them.
The other hunters were following Nick as he slashed and stabbed his way through the mass of half-d
emons towards a far door.
I remembered the back hall that Ann had showed me when we went to rescue Julian and slipped around the writhing horde of violence into the small galley kitchen and out a door into a dark hall.
I felt Rory at my back. Not through any traditional sense, but some sixth sense told me he was still there. It was reassuring to have him with me. I crept down the hall until I heard someone crying.
Pausing for only a moment, giving half a thought to the idea it could be a trap, I then moved forward and found Ann next to a body. There was a stab wound on the dead man's chest and blood pooled around him.
“What happened?” I whispered, but I knew already. Nick had brought a knife to a demon fight.
Her gaze shot up and caught mine. She slumped again, realizing it was me. “They killed him.”
“Your husband?” I asked.
She nodded, and fresh tears streaked her face.
“Shit,” I whispered. I wanted to sit and console her, but I didn't have time. “You should get out of here while you can. I have to go. I’ll get him for this.”
Ann wiped her face and nodded, then kissed her husband one last time and ran back the way we had come. I prayed that she made it out alive.
Rory and I stepped around the strong-looking man whose name I had never known and continued down the tunnel.
The silence deepened the farther we got from the fighting, and a chill went up my spine. I knew up ahead we would find Collin and demons. This was my job. I would get it done.
The tunnel opened into a large empty room. It had low lighting, but what I saw sent chills down my spine.
“What is that?” Rory asked.
I scanned the room. “It used to be gargoyles,” I whispered. Hundreds of broken gargoyles lay in heaps around the space. They were useless now that someone had set the demon free.
I thought back to all the chairs in the cafeteria. There were probably close to a hundred. Did that mean there were a hundred half-demons possessed by demons?
We tiptoed through the mess, and I scanned the broken demonic faces of the gargoyles. My net was still in my hand. I dropped it since we now knew most, if not all, the gargoyles were free. I wouldn’t be gargoyle hunting today and would need both hands to deal with this situation.
