Hunting Darkness (City of Darkness Book 1)

by Maggie Alabaster

So much for getting used to my heightened senses.

  I looked over to him through my lashes. His eyes were black again. The skin on his face was red and blotchy, mouth set in a furious line.

  I felt nothing, but Freya cried out and swore.

  "I agree, enough is enough," Kannen said calmly. "Let's just put Clive down and we can leave you in peace."

  "Fucker, he does what I say," Clive snarled. All pretence of being a mindless lackey was gone. He bared his teeth at Kannen and his hands were curled as though ready to gouge his eyes out with his fingernails.

  Kannen leaned toward him a savage look on his own face. "Don't call me fucker," he growled. "You're delusional if you think he's under your control. Look at him." He waved an arm at Haigwood.

  Indeed, Haigwood didn't look as though he was under anyone's control, including his own. His mouth was twisted to the side. A vein in his forehead throbbed, all but ready to explode.

  "Dear, oh dear, I thought you lot would have sorted this out by now." Smith appeared at the doorway. He leaned against the frame, crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side. "I was looking forward to relaxing with a beer."

  "Where have you been?" Kannen asked.

  "Making sure Damien is all right." Smith straightened up and stepped inside. "He is, by the way, thanks for asking."

  "We're not here for a coffee chat," Clive said darkly. For the first time, he looked rattled. A frown creased the centre of his forehead.

  Why? I mused. Is it Smith that's got him worried?

  I bit my lip. My teeth pierced my skin. I tasted blood.

  "I prefer beer," Smith replied easily. "Ah, Haigwood, there you are. You're not looking well, mate. That would explain why my stone is burning. I think it's time to put an end to this, don't you?"

  "We were just talking about that," Freya said. "We've decided to kill Clive." She pointed toward him. "He's the one behind all of this."

  Smith peered at him. "I thought he looked dubious when I first met him. I didn't think he was very intelligent though."

  "He's not," I supplied. I saw what Smith was doing. He was trying to anger the demon, to get some sort of response from him. "He has delusions of grandeur. Probably a tiny penis too."

  Clive narrowed his eyes, but glanced down briefly before glaring at us. "Far from delusions, but by all means, pretend you're not terrified. No one is fooled. Certainly not me. As for my—"

  "Clive?" Haigwood's eyes were normal again, but wide with surprise. "What the hells is going on here?"

  Clive's mask snapped back. He raised a shaky arm and pointed at Smith. "He put me under a spell. That wasn't me talking."

  Haigwood turned to Smith, who put his hands up.

  "I did no such thing," Smith said. "It's a good idea though, I should have tried that when I first got here. Then I could have made him—"

  Kannen elbowed him in the side. "You're not helping."

  "Excuse me? I'm very helpful, I'll have you know." Smith frowned at him.

  "Says you," he muttered.

  "Of course I do. Ask anyone."

  Kannen shook his head in response.

  Haigwood shook his head. "I'm surrounded by crazy people."

  "Yes, you are, sir. I'll have them removed at once," Clive said helpfully. "Maybe you should have a nap." He patted Haigwood on the arm. "You'll feel better after a nice rest."

  "A nap sounds good," Haigwood agreed.

  "Juliet," Smith said. He caught my eye and gave me a meaningful look.

  For a moment I couldn't grasp what he was getting at.

  "I don't—" Then it hit me.

  Before anyone could move, I threw myself, with my demon speed, at Haigwood. I grabbed the cord holding the stone around his neck and pulled. It might have resisted human strength, but with the blue magic liquid coursing through me, it snapped.

  "Ouch, what—" Haigwood jerked back.

  I pulled the cord out of the front of his shirt and the stone with it. Close up, it looked harmless, earthy green shot through with black. As I watched, the blackness writhed with it, back and forth as though searching for a way out.

  Ice cold hate, I felt that. too. The stone pulsed with it. My palm went cold. The shade within was reaching out to me, trying to possess me as it had possessed Haigwood.

  "Smith." I put out a hand. He tugged his obsidian off from around his neck and threw it to me. I almost missed, but at the last moment I grabbed its cord, twisted my hand and pulled the obsidian into my opposite hand.

  "No, don't!" Clive's frantic warning was all I needed.

  I brought the two stones together.

  The world disappeared in a flash of light.

  26

  The air turned to ice.

  I blinked. The darkness which engulfed me was absolute.

  I strained to hear, but the heavy silence was unbroken.

  "Is anyone here?" The breath left my mouth, but the words died on my tongue.

  I tried again. "Hello?"

  I rubbed my hands on my arms to warm myself, but the cold seeped into my bones. Could blood freeze? If I was here for much longer, I might well find out.

  I gradually became aware of a pinprick of light in front of me. It grew, slowly but steadily. When it became the size of my thumb tip, a shadow passed across it. Whatever it was, it flickered like a person on the other side of dancing flames.

  "Hello?"

  The shadow flickered again.

  "Juliet?"

  "Kannen?"

  The spot of light grew. It was hazy around the edges, but shapes formed and solidified.

  Kannen's face.

  Freya's face.

  I sat up.

  Both were a couple of metres away, flexing arms and wriggling fingers. Freya winced at something, but nothing seemed to be broken.

  Smith lay near the door, a pained expression and trickle of blood on his face. He sported a gash on his forehead.

  Haigwood leaned against a wall. He looked dazed, but unharmed.

  Clive sat beside him. He groaned. "What have you done?" he growled. He wasn't looking in my direction.

  I followed his gaze. There, standing near the window, like gates to the hells, were three shades.

  No wonder it was cold in here.

  I rose slowly, wobbly on my feet. Nothing was broken, but I would hurt for a while. The blast from the pair of stones, and the magic inside, knocked me back a few metres.

  "What do you want?" My voice sounded shaky to my own ears.

  "What do you think they want?" Clive growled. "They're shades. They'll kill us all if we don't kill them first."

  I regarded him. His eyes were wide with unbridled fear. His mask, any pretence of control, was gone.

  "I offer you first," I told him.

  He looked horrified.

  "Now see here—" Haigwood started.

  "We wish you no harm." One of the shades slid forward, bringing the chill with it.

  Haigwood stumbled back.

  "Well thank the hells." Clive sagged with relief.

  The shade turned. "I wasn't addressing you. We wish these others no harm. They are innocent in all of this. But you—" The shade drifted toward Clive. "You imprisoned us in that stone. You forced us to influence him."

  Part of the shade rose, like a dark arm, and pointed toward Haigwood. "You made us amplify his anger, for your own agenda."

  I gasped. "All three of you were in there?"

  "Indeed." Another of the shades spoke. "Further, this creature forced others of our kind to do his bidding, under the threat of our destruction."

  I glared at Clive. "The one who warned me. You made them do that?"

  Clive shrugged, but he looked ready to soil himself. "It was just a part of the plan."

  "Your plan," I spat, "could have gotten people killed."

  "That was the idea," he sneered. "I was only doing it for the betterment of demonkind. Including you," he said to the shades. "You would have benefitted too. And I would have let you out once the humans were
eradicated. I swear, I would."

  "How long?" the shade who had yet to speak, asked.

  "How long what?" Clive asked.

  "How long were we trapped in the stone?"

  "Uh, not long." His voice trembled. "Just a year or two. Or three?"

  "Three years?" Kannen sounded disgusted. "You kept demons captive in a piece of stone for three years?"

  Clive's throat bobbed. "It was for a good reason. It would have been glorious." He drew himself up and forced a smile. "It still could be."

  "You're not putting them back," Kannen said darkly.

  "I couldn't if I wanted to. The magic needed to do it was powerful. It took three witches the first time."

  "You had help?" I was aghast, but quickly realised the pointlessness of that response. Of course he'd had help. He was probably planning this for years. "Who are these witches? Where are they?"

  Clive swallowed audibly. "Dead," he said finally. "Doing the spell killed them all."

  "I'm sure you were devastated," Kannen said dryly. "Or was that just another part of the plan?"

  He licked his lips. "Their deaths were regrettable."

  Kannen snorted. "I doubt it."

  Smith rose from the floor. The blood on his face had already begun to dry. "Any more confessions to make?"

  "If I do, will you spare me?" Clive asked. He looked so hopeful I almost laughed. "Technically nothing I've done was illegal."

  "Only because people don't know to make laws for shit like this," Kannen pointed out.

  Smith gave Kannen a look before he turned back to Clive. "We'll think about it," he said. "What else is there?"

  I put a hand on Kannen's arm before he could step toward Clive or Smith. He looked ready to rip off both their heads. Kannen gave me a wan smile and a nod.

  "I found Haigwood just before this place went bankrupt," Clive declared. "I started the fights, which brought it back to life. It was the perfect way to practice making humans into demons, and see how long the change lasted. Unfortunately the longest was three days. Until now." He smiled proudly at me.

  Kannen might have to get in line behind me before anyone got their heads ripped off, especially Clive.

  "How did you have the magic for that?" Smith asked. He looked furious.

  "My mother was a witch," Clive said. "I inherited some skill from her."

  Smith curled his lip. "Does she know her son is an asshole?"

  Clive looked affronted. "I—"

  "We have heard enough," one of the shades said. "We are prepared to hand down our sentence on this demon-witch hybrid."

  "But—" Clive's face turned white, with a tinge of green. He nodded toward Smith. "He said…"

  Smith raised his hands and stepped back. "I said we'll think about it. Realistically, they're the ones you trapped. They have more say than the rest of us." He smiled and offered the shades a bow and a flourish with one arm.

  "What is your verdict?" He straightened and gestured for them to speak.

  In unison, the shades said, "We sentence this creature to imprisonment inside the stone."

  "Do you have the power to—" The words died on my lips as Clive disappeared and the stone, still in my hand, became heavier. "Well shit, I suppose you do."

  I held the stone up to my face and peered closely. Where before the stone had been green and black, it was now green and blood red. The red pulsed across the stone and back again. I imagined I could hear the sound of Clive screaming from inside it, slamming his fists against his prison walls to try to get free.

  "I can't really say he doesn't deserve it," I remarked.

  "He will remain in there for the length of time he incarcerated us," a shade said.

  "Three years." Kannen sounded satisfied.

  "Three years," the shade agreed. "For each of us."

  Nine years, stuck in a stone. That was certainly a new kind of hells I hadn't heard of before.

  "We must leave now," the shade added. "We wish you peace, and apologise for any distress caused by any of our people. We will speak to them, to let them know we are free again. Thanks to you."

  The shade bowed to me and slid away, through the wall and out into the night. The other two did likewise.

  "I guess we'll keep this stone to make sure no harm comes to it before his time is up." I curled my fingers around it. At the first chance I got, I'd hand it to Malachai. I never wanted to see the bloody thing again.

  Speaking of Malachai…

  "Have any of you got your microphones in still?" I asked.

  Freya nodded. "Malachai heard everything. He's outside with Seamus and one of the other teams. He sent for them, just in case we needed backup."

  I nodded. "Thanks for having faith in us," I said loud enough for him to hear. In spite of my words, I smiled. He had our back, as he always did.

  "He says you're welcome," Freya supplied. "Damien is fine. He has a sore head, but he's free of any sign of demon behaviour." She shot me a concerned look.

  I sighed. "He said it had been temporary for everyone else. Maybe he was mistaken and it is for me too. And if it's not, I'll deal with it." I cursed silently. The one person I could ask was now trapped in a small, circular piece of rock.

  "I'm not a mind reader," Smith said as he stood near my elbow, "but I can tell you, he wouldn't have even tried to reverse the spell he put on you. People, witches, and demons like him only think one way. "How can I fuck things up for everyone else?" They don't stop to think about how to undo their mess."

  I nodded. "You're right, of course." Even if he had, he made it clear he wouldn't have offered me an antidote. He was hells bent on his ridiculous plan and all it entailed.

  "Um." Haigwood's voice broke through my thoughts. "I'm not exactly sure what's going on here."

  Smith stepped over to him, put an arm around his shoulders and led him to the door. "I'll tell you all about it over a few beers, mate. Your shout." He grinned over his shoulder.

  "It was nice working with you. I'm sure we'll do it again."

  "Probably," I agreed. "Thanks for your help." I would miss him, but I had a feeling he wouldn't be far away.

  "It's all in a day's work," Smith nodded and disappeared down the corridor.

  I exhaled. "I don't know about anyone else, but I need a long soak, a bottle of wine, and a ton of chocolate. All at once."

  Freya hooked her arm through one of mine, while Kannen did the same with the other.

  "That sounds like the best idea I've heard all day." Freya enthused.

  "All year," Kannen added.

  I sighed. "As long as you get your own chocolate." Kannen elbowed me in the side and laughed.

  "I might even join you in the bath," he said.

  "I'd like that," I replied softly. Maybe we could do more than sleep.

  Epilogue

  The stone was cool to the touch. Had it been colder when the shades inhabited it? Malachai would have to ask Juliet, although she'd only held it in her hands for a matter of moments.

  He turned it over in his hands and peered at the swirl of red inside. It moved, twisted and turned.

  "Can you hear me, I wonder?" he asked softly. If Clive could hear, no sign showed on the side of the stone. "I don't envy you," Malachai went on. "Being trapped in there would certainly not be pleasant. Well, I assume not. Perhaps you have a palace in there, and a bevy of servants."

  He smiled at the folly of the idea, but he didn't want to think about anyone being stuck in a stone, totally aware and incapable of eating, drinking, or sleeping. Not even a genocidal maniac deserved that fate.

  Maybe.

  Malachai rose and stepped over to the wall. He pressed a brick in the wall with his palm.

  It slid back. The one beside it did the same a moment later. There, in the newly revealed hole in the wall was a safe. He tapped a sequence of digits in the number pad and the door clicked and popped open.

  "You'll be safe in here." He started to put the stone inside.

  Before he could place it down
on the cold metal, he stopped and withdrew his hand.

  As if watching from inside while someone else controlled his body, he shut the safe and stepped back to let the wall close over it.

  Inside his head, he screamed at himself to stop. He tried to force his hands away, but they wouldn't cooperate.

  He slipped the cord over his neck and let the stone rest against his chest.

  "There, safe and sound." He tapped the stone and glanced around.

  In the empty sitting room of Demon Hunter headquarters, no one was there to see his eyes turn red.

  About the Author

  Maggie Alabaster is a reverse harem and fantasy romance author.

  She lives in NSW, Australia with one spouse, two daughters, dog, cat, rabbits and countless birds.

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  Also by Maggie Alabaster

  City of Darkness

  Book 1 Hunting Darkness

  Academy of Modern Magic

  Book 1 Digital Magic

  Book 2 Virtual Magic

  Book 3 Logical Magic

  Clockwork Correctional Academy

  The Toymaker

  The Alchemist

  The Aeronaut

  Summer’s Harem

  Book 1: Shimmer

  Book 2: Glimmer

  Book 3: Flicker

  Wild Magic

  Jingle All the Way

  Collections

  Hearts of Darkness

  Once Upon a Fairytale Night

  Wicked Souls reverse harem collection

  Also by Maggie Alabaster and Erin Yoshikawa

  Caught by the Tide

  Book 1–Pursued by Shadows

  Book 2 Pursued by Darkness (coming soon)

  Book 3 Pursued by Monsters (coming soon)