Beauty and the Beast (Demon Tales 1) (3 page)

Hairy demon, does not like stinky
demon.
And even as that thought developed, another one wound
its way into her mind.
Hairy demon might just be my key out of
here.
Cally pressed herself against the wall and watched the
by-play between the two demons.

“None o’ your business, Brigg,” Helki
replied, spitting at the feet of the hairy demon.

Brown eyes passed over her again, resting
for a brief moment on her wounded hands. Cally felt the sudden urge
to hide her bruised wrists, as a ridiculously ill-timed bout of
shame washed over her body.

“What do you want with a pathetic human,
Helki?” Brigg asked in a deep voice, so gravelly that Cally felt it
vibrate all the way to her very bones.

Wait. Pathetic?

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” her captor
taunted, laughing like an impertinent child.

The hairy one—Brigg—stepped more fully into
the room. His eyes rooted on Cally. She felt like a mouse trapped
in a corner by a cat. He was paying little to no attention to
Helki, and for some strange reason, Cally was scared and excited by
this fact.

Helki placed himself in the way of the
advancing beast, his dirty hand pressing hard on the Brigg’s
shirt-covered chest. But Brigg ignored Helki as if he were nothing.
Eyes the colour of chocolate pinned her, held her captive. Thought
fled her brain and her heart throbbed madly. Cally swallowed the
hard lump of fear lodged in her throat and considered what she
should do. The hilt of the knife turned warm in her fist. Cally was
wracked with indecision. Run? Or attack? Neither option seemed very
good.

If she slashed out at Helki, as she had
planned, would the hairy one stop her? But if she didn’t react,
would she get this chance again—a weapon in hand and her legs free
to run? She doubted it.

The hairy demon dropped his chocolate eyes
to her hands, a frown crossed his face.

Had he seen the knife? A whiplash of
oh
shit
cracked in her mind, and Cally almost sagged with fear.
Then he gave a gentle, almost unseen, shake of his head—clearly
telling her
no
. Cally trembled with fright, but she knew she
had no option. A week she had been here, on the floor, weakened by
hunger and pain. She had been kept a prisoner too long to
successfully fight two demons. She must make a choice. Cally nodded
shakily in reply to the demon’s silent
no
.

I won’t attack him. But the other…

I have to.
Adrenaline surged like a
raging bull through her insides. Desperation filled her body, and
tears burned her eyes. She surged forward and sunk the knife into
her stinking captor’s back. She cringed at the gruesome sound of
tearing skin and the sickening grinding feeling the bones made
against the blade. She had never, never done anything so abhorrent,
but she couldn’t bring herself to care about hurting the vile
demon.

Roaring with animalistic pain, he spun, his
hands coming down around her throat faster that it took for her to
snatch in a breath. The horror of the situation fell against
Cally’s chest. Her captor’s teeth had grown—elongated—and his eyes
glowed bright red.

Oh, God!

His hands were too tight, throttling her
until her head pounded. Cally dropped the small knife, reached up
and gripped his wrists, but his arms were too strong for her to
budge. She tried to twist, to kick out, but nothing released the
pressure on her throat.

“Helki, release her.” The big demon’s deep,
baritone voice sounded calm. Urgency flooded Cally’s heart, when
Helki didn’t respond to the calmly delivered order. Cally’s vision
began to swim, her chest burned to suck in some air.

“Back the fuck off, Brigg!” No longer the
strange gnomish thing that the demon had been for the last few
days. No, now his face had stretched and changed. Bones jutted out
within his cheeks, making him look gaunt, giving the word sinister
a whole new meaning. “She’s mine, and I’ll do what the fuck I want
with her.”

Black winked at the side of her vision, her
throat burned as if she had swallowed fire. Coupled with the
pressure, it was just too much to bear. Cally could literally feel
her life slip away. Her pulse-beats slowed under the attack, and
breathing became a thing of the past. She could no longer muster
the strength to fight, and her body hung heavy.

Shifting her eyes away from her would-be
murderer, Cally sent a pleading look towards the hairy demon. Brown
eyes, like the darkest coffee, stared back. But unlike the hot
drink she saw nothing but cold, unfeeling hatred when he stared
back at her.

A pitiful sob broke from her crushed throat
just seconds before the winking black covered her vision and
claimed her completely.

He should just back off, he knew it. The
voice in his head knew it, but Brigg couldn’t seem to make his legs
work and turn in the opposite direction. Helki was not a demon to
fuck with. He and his crew were the lowest of the low, they had
their grubby fingers in many pies, not any of them good.

But seriously, had his humanity slipped that
far away that he wouldn’t even help a woman in need?

But she is a human…

Delayed from action by that thought, Brigg
was torn by indecision.
What’s one more dead human, huh?
But
even as he allowed that thought to flit through his mind, the
pretty human looked directly at him and begged silently for his
help. A deep ache throbbed in his chest at the sight of her
beautiful blue eyes filled with pain and fear. Brigg could no
longer ignore the clawing need to help her.

Just shoot me now…

When her lids fluttered down covering the
blue that was so much like sapphires, Brigg jumped forward as if
someone had shoved a lightening bolt up his ass. He grabbed Helki
by the shoulders, and threw him away from the woman. She fell to
the floor and Brigg winced when her head smacked the ground.

Helki recovered quickly and the sound of his
mocking laugh filled the foul room. The disgusting demon walked
around Brigg, tisking his disapproval. “Now, now Brigg, that was
silly.” Helki looked at the human woman as she lay unconscious on
the disgusting floor. “But I’m really glad you didn’t let me kill
her. I’d be in a shit-load a trouble if I had done that,”

Wondering just how he was supposed to walk
away from this cluster–fuck, Brigg took a step closer to the woman,
still wondering why exactly he had felt the urge to rescue her from
Helki. His body worked as if alone, pulled by a need brought on by
the woman. No matter how much Brigg hated the idea, he was going to
stop at nothing to help the little human.

Helki watched him advance closer to the
girl, and Brigg decided in that moment—all or nothing. Rage was a
living breathing thing inside him, the more Helki’s eyes fell on
the human, the more his temper rose. He couldn’t explain it, he
hadn’t felt anything for anyone for years. Since his eighteenth
birthday, Brigg had prided himself on not needing anyone. But he
couldn’t deny his all-consuming stupidity the moment he laid eyes
on the beauty.

Stupid, stupid, Brigg. She probably would
not thank a beast like him for helping her. Well, deal with it
human, I am your only hope.

“Leave, Helki. She’s no longer your
concern.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Brigg blocked Helki’s
path to the woman, who was right at this minute stirring as if
regaining consciousness.

Stay asleep human, you won’t like what’s
about to happen.

Helki’s booming laugh reverberated around
the cave. “You have gotta to be fucking kidding me, Brigg!” Helki
shot forward, placing his slightly smaller, but no less
intimidating body right in front of Brigg. His fangs still present
in his mouth along with the distorted features of a long-changed
vampire. “Step aside, Demon—or I’ll be forced to kill you.”

Jesus Christ!
Brigg almost fainted as
a wave of putrid stench flew from the vampire’s mouth. “Fuck,
Helki, Wash much?” He pushed Helki back.

Helki roared in disbelief, his eyes flashed
to red, his fangs punched out even more, letting Brigg know that
the shit was about to hit the fan.

“I’ll give you one last chance, Brigg.”
Helki’s voice had turned gravelly. His red eyes flicked to the
little human, sparking the strange protective urges once again
within Brigg’s body. “Back off, Brigg.”

A slight mewling noise rose from the
helpless human, her leg jerked a little. Anger filled up his veins
at the thought of her being laid out on the stinking floor and
Brigg knew that there was no way that he would walk away and leave
her for the likes of Helki.

Damn human! Why couldn’t she be a pretty
rain demon
? He would relish tackling Helki, just to feel these
emotions for a female demon—not a bloody human. But as he flicked
his eyes backwards and saw her jet black hair splayed on the floor,
and her pretty pale face, he knew without a doubt that he was going
to help her.

“No can do, Helki.” Surprise was a flitting
emotion in Helki’s eyes, but it didn’t last long. Hatred and
sadistic pleasure filled the vampire’s vision a split second before
he launched himself at Brigg.

Dodging fast, Brigg managed to evade Helki’s
seeking claws, not wanting to be impaled by the poisoned talons.
Brigg ducked again as Helki took another swing. Red eyes followed
Brigg and fanged teeth dripped with venom, waiting to sink into his
skin.

“Just leave, Brigg!” Helki hissed through
his disgusting mouth. “Just leave, and we’ll forget this
misunderstanding.”

“What do you intend to do with her?” Brigg
asked, wondering why the little human had made Helki react so
defensively.

Helki gave a slow grin, and his eyes fell
upon the pretty human as if she were made of gold. Brigg’s heart
gave a thud in warning.

“She’s my ticket to becoming more!” Helki’s
cryptic words sent Brigg cold. “And no one—not even you—will stand
in my way.” Helki surged forward and locked one of his hands on the
human’s foot. Rage punched through Brigg’s control like a fist
through a paper wall. Taking a well aimed swing, Brigg punched
Helki in the side of his head, knocking him away. Giving no
quarter, Brigg stomped closer to Helki and blocked the vampire from
touching the human again.

“I can’t let you have her, Helki. You’ll
have to go through me.”

Helki laughed, licked his fangs and launched
himself at Brigg. Claws slashed at Brigg’s back as the vampire held
on like a monkey. Brigg roared as the poison from the vampire’s
claws burned, white hot under his skin. Brigg’s temper flared along
with the need to end this now. Lunging forward, Brigg slammed the
vampire onto the wall, dislodging him and his claws. Relief was
short-lived as Helki made moves to get up again.

Brigg brought up a fist and planted it into
Helki’s face, earning a pained grunt for his effort. Helki slashed
again, slicing a dirty claw into Brigg’s shoulder. With a shout of
pain, Brigg thumped the disgusting Vampire again. Blood splattered
onto the wall of the cave as Helki’s nose buckled under Brigg’s
fist. He punched again, threw Helki away and watched as the vampire
slumped against the wall, blood the colour of his eerie eyes
spilled down his face. The vampire tried to get up, his cruel eyes
locked on the little human. Brigg threw his booted foot out and
rammed it into Helki’s gut. The sound of breaking ribs bit into
Brigg’s ears the moment before Helki slumped unconscious on the
filthy floor.

Not even taking the time to check his
injuries, Brigg spun and picked up the small human female, her
petite body not offering much weight to carry. He swallowed his
puzzling compassion and concern for her, he had done what he had
needed to do.

But what now?

Looking down at her pale and bruised face,
Brigg felt a strange pang in his chest. Who was she? He tightened
his grip on the little beauty, and stepped out of the toilet room,
leaving the bleeding Helki to regain consciousness in his own time.
A small voice told him to leave her, to put her back, that she was
not his problem. But a much louder, more insistent voice told him
to keep her.
Mine
. Brigg snorted in disagreement, ignoring
the small fact that even if he wanted to, he couldn’t put her
down—not now that she was in his arms.

Brigg entered the large room full of demons,
the little human hung in his arms, her head laid on his chest. And
damn, but it felt nice.

A few eyes turned his way, but most kept
down and out of his business. Being one of the larger demons, Brigg
rarely found trouble beating down his door. At the far side of the
room his brother, Torc, stood chatting to some friends. Brigg
cleared his throat and waited for his younger brother to turn
around. When he did, the smile on Torc’s face sagged when he saw
what Brigg was holding.

“What’s that?” Torc pointed at the human as
if she were a bag of shit.

“It’s a female,” Brigg replied.

“Uh, yeah, I get that… You going all cave
man on me now? Knock ‘em out and love ‘em, is that your new
technique?” Despite his brother’s light words, Brigg could see the
disgust in Torc’s eyes.

“Nah, I just rescued her from Helki.”

If his brother’s smile had sagged before,
now it literally fell from his face—a melting waxwork.

“What?” Bewilderment filled Torc’s eyes as
he looked down at the human. “Is she—Is
that
a human?” Brigg
would have laughed at the plain disgust in Torc’s expression, if he
wasn’t feeling a tad impatient to get clear of the caves before
Helki gained consciousness.

“Yes—”

“Yes?” Torc replied, not giving Brigg a
chance to finish what he was saying. “What the fuck do you want
with a human?”

Understanding exactly the feeling of hate
towards humans, Brigg allowed the look of disgust to go ignored.
How was he supposed explain that she elicited powerful feelings
from him? How was he to explain the instant need to help her? He
couldn’t, so he ignored his brother’s questions and continued with
what he wanted to say.