Demons: A Hunter's Novel, Book 1 (3 page)

“Right.
The Hunters. Don’t you want to know what’s going on?!”

I
did. Of course I did.

“I’ll
give you my number and I’ll etch your sign. Don’t send your goons again.”

His
sign was a symbol I could put up on my walls that would breakdown the barrier
and protecting symbols that every Hunter kept on their homes and only a Hunter
could etch it into a Hunter’s wall. It would allow Az to enter, anytime. It was
my branch to him.

“My
symbol’s changed.”

Of
course I knew that, he had moved up in the ranks. He drew it for me with his
blood on a blank piece of white paper. It was the only way a Demon could draw
their symbol for an outsider to know what it was. He handed it to me and I felt
as though my whole world was burning around me.

Demons’
symbols are meant to be of darkness and pain. Az’s symbol before was a twisted circle
around a blade. Now his symbol was a circle cut in half with the same blade
lying between the two halves and the halves of the circle were filled with his
blood, so dark it looked black. The circle spoke of continuity and safety. Before
it had been twisted, it was still whole and not completely broken. Az’s circle had
been severed. No longer whole. No longer what it used to be. No longer what he
used to be.

“Has
it ever.”

Unless
I was misreading it – which I knew I wasn’t – he now sat at the right hand of
Mastema, also known as the Devil. Mastema was the original fallen Angel but had
twisted into something dark and raw. Just as my Az had.

“You
did a number on me Laney. Just put my symbol up. Do this for me.”

Az
knew with that little plea, I would give in immediately. All it took was
do
this for me
and I was his. I felt an overwhelming need to do what I could
for him when I could do it. And this I could definitely do.

“Okay.”

I
grabbed a notepad that had his name embossed on it with a glittering white ink
that looked like it was moving – apparently working so close with Mastema had
its perks – and wrote down my phone number. I handed it to him.

I
wondered how good of an idea this was anymore. If he was this high up, how
could he not know what was going on? If he had tortured the lower Demons, and
they said it was coming from a higher up, which would have to be Mastema,
wouldn’t he have shared it with Az? I was up shit’s creek without a paddle and
there was a waterfall up ahead.

I
tore the piece of paper off the notepad but hesitated handing over the small
slip with my number on it. He grabbed my hand with the paper in it, and ran
small circles with his thumb over my knuckles. I tried to pull my hand away
before I started to read anything into it. Az held my hand in place along with
the piece of paper.

"Embossed
letterhead, with your name on it. Nice perk." I said. Azrael looked at me
confused.

"You
can see my name on there?" He asked gesturing to the paper still being
held between our hands.

"Uh,
yeah? Weird ink though." I said, as he continued to study me. "What's
wrong?"

"It's
Demon magic. You shouldn't be able to see it. Not unless you are a Demon."
He said. I had a sinking feeling this had something to do with the entourage
following me.

“Maybe
this isn’t such a good idea.”

Call
me a coward but I was scared of dealing with what lay up ahead, mostly because
I couldn’t see what was coming. I would lose myself again, not that I was
afraid of that, but I was afraid I would have to walk away from him again. I
could never do that again.

“Stop
over thinking this.” Az knew me well. “Just trust me.”

“I
do.” I paused pulling my hand back, but leaving the paper in his hand. “I
better hit the road. Thanks for the heads up.” I said, avoiding his gaze.

I
turned, fully meaning to leave without another word. I heard him let out a
heavy sigh.

“Nothing’s
changed, Laney. My offer still stands.” His last words to me when we had our
huge blow out break up six months ago, as I stood almost identical to how I was
standing now, was
I would give it all up, for you.
They floated over my
torn heart again, without ever being spoken. Still trying to pull the broken
pieces back together.

 I
said the only words I could.

“I
could never ask you to do that.” I shut the door behind me and heard something
being thrown against the wall.

Once
I was further away from the glamour, its spells and Az, I could feel the excess
energy. I could feel all the things following me that I hadn’t felt before. All
the things I had blocked out because I was trying to numb the pain that leaving
Az had brought.

Now
that the pain was back, so were all of my other senses. And they were telling
me to run. Why fight it? I ran all the way home. Let the fuckers keep up.

“This is a place where I don’t feel lost, this is a place where I feel
at home. I built a home for you, for me…”

– The Cinematic Orchestra, To Build a Home

I
settled in at home with my hoard of supes setting up camp outside, which was
weird in and of itself. I couldn’t figure out how they weren’t trying to kill
each other. Supes were known for not getting along and they couldn’t have been
more than a mile away from one another. Which just ratcheted up my tension. Apparently,
I was more interesting than the fight they presented each other.

I
etched Azrael’s symbol on the wall as I had promised. I started my nighttime
routine by feeding my plant, Bob. He probably hadn’t been watered in a couple
weeks. Exhibit A, the brown leaves. I was neglectful of pets. Hence the reason
I didn’t have any besides Bob. Bob was enough for a black thumb like to me to
keep alive.

 I
laid down on the couch afterward, pulling my hair into a messy bun. I heaved my
homemade quilt off the back of the couch. I had made the “quilt” after one too
many shots of tequila. It was a quilt of t-shirts and extra fabric I had
around. The t-shirts were the ones I had accumulated while Az and I had been
together. I called it a quilt loosely since it had uneven cuts and stitching. I
pulled it up over my legs and laid back, staring at the ceiling.

I
should have gone to the Hunter Council or, at least, to Cade to find out what
was going on, but I was procrastinating. I was Queen of Procrastination. Thus,
the staring at the ceiling. Was I trying to work anything out? I may have
looked like I was, but no. Just staring and letting my mind ease. As I said,
Q.P.

I
heard my front door open and didn’t move, because I already knew who it was by
the incessant whistling coming from the doorway. Well, there went my procrastination
plan.

Cade
sat down on my windowsill sideways with one leg propped up in it and looked out
the window longingly. I wondered if the Council let him out to play or if he
had snuck out. I knew once you were on the Council you stopped doing the actual
hunting and were kept on a very tight leash. I thought it was the stupidest
rule because the Council contained the best of our members, and that is why I
wasn’t on the Council. That and I couldn’t be trusted.

“How
is life with the Council? How is dear old Dad?” I asked sarcastically, sitting
up.

I
missed my friend. The one that used to fight at my side, not the one who was
this politician sitting in front of me.

“Everything
is going well. Your Father has made strides in many of the supernatural
communities –”

“Oh
please! I don’t want your political tagline. I guess I deserve it for asking.”

I
lay back down on the couch, throwing my arm over my face. I was already exhausted.
Cade cleared his throat.

“Procrastinating
Delaney?” He knew me well.

Cade
was an imposing Hunter. He was a giant, standing at 6’8” and lanky. Muscular
his body looked as though his height had stretched his muscles thin. He had shaggy
brown hair and brown eyes that lit up when anyone told a stupid joke.
What
do you call a two kneed fish? A Tuny fish!
These were the things that
friends knew about each other. Cade knew me well, but not as well as Azrael.

I
didn’t feel right calling him Az anymore. Not with his position. But I wasn’t
sure I could break myself of it, either. I had still seen glimpses of my Az in
Azrael.

While
Cade knew my personality and my strengths and weaknesses, Azrael knew all of me
– every nook and cranny. Even the ones I hid from everyone but him.

“Always.”

“What
are you procrastinating doing, exactly?” He looked at me with his hard stare,
trying to squirm it out of me. I don’t think he was expecting me to actually
answer.

“Talking
to you, mostly.”

“About
what?” He said in surprise.

I
guess that was fair. I hadn’t been very open recently. Something about him
shifted, too. He looked nervous. He knew something. If I tried, he would tell
me what he knew. I was like the big sister he never wanted. I was only a few
months older than him, but I never let him forget it.

“What
do you know about my tails?” I asked. Cade got up from the window and pulled me
to my feet, and turned me around.

“You
have a tail? Let me see.”

He
was trying to make a joke like I had suddenly sprouted a furry tail out of my
butt and was now trying to see said tail.

“You’re
a dick, you know that?” I said as I swatted him away from me.

“Yep.”

“There
are tails, as in more than one following me.” Cade frowned. Good to know. He
knew about my Hunter tail, but not the others.

“Who
else?”

“Demons,
Vamps, Fey, Drovers – those were the ones I felt. There could be more.”

“I
felt them but I didn’t know they were following you specifically, I just
thought the neighborhood was going to crap. Why are they following you?” He
said, talking more to himself now than me.

“Oh,
apparently I’m like an ice cream cake at a weight watchers meeting to supes now.
Didn’t you know?” I couldn’t hide my sarcasm. It was my favorite fall back to
stupid questions.

“I’m
low on the totem pole, they don’t share much with me yet.”

“You
think I’m stupid?”

“Sometimes.”

I
laughed. Cade was a softy when it came to me. I used that soft spot more often
than I should have, but that small amount of guilt wouldn’t keep me from using
it now.

“What’s
going on, Cade? Don’t you want to make sure I’m safe?” I asked seriously. He
knew I was laying on the guilt, but he was helpless to stop me. I saw his
resolve crack.

“I
know the thing with Azrael is why the Hunters started following you, but now
I’ve been hearing other things. They don’t know that Azrael is the Demon you
were involved with, but they knew you were into something.”

“What
other things are you hearing?”

“There
is something big about to happen, and it has something to do with you. You
should really talk to your Dad.”

It
had become a problem ever since Cade had gotten on the Council. Now instead of
talking to me he always resorted to using my Father as a shield. I hadn’t
talked to my Father for seven months. Before that it had been a rocky
relationship, at the best of times. My Father was head of the Hunters’ Council.
As his daughter I was always expected to act a certain way. So, of course, I
did not. Just like the preacher’s daughter is the worst sinner. Although I had
become a great Hunter, I was also their worst offender.

The
Council had figured out I was doing something wrong, hence the tail I was still
dealing with, but by the time they had figured out something was going on, Cade
had warned me and I had ended it with Az.

“Yeah,
because Janesh has been knocking down my door to talk to me, you know to
resolve our issues.” (My Father’s name was pronounced Yan-esh, the ethnic
pronunciation) I let my sarcasm hang along with the fact that I had called my Father
by his first name, because I would be damned if I called him anything but.

“He
set a tail on me instead of talking to me, Cade.”

Cade’s
mom and dad were more parents to me than my own Father had ever been. They
called me on my birthday. The only birthday celebration I had ever had from my Father
was when I turned 9 and was entered into the Hunter training center. My Father
had bought me my first blade. He had treated me like I was in a Hunter military
boot camp since I was 5, so it wasn’t that big of a deal to me.

My
Father and his ways were all I’d ever known.  My mother had died when I was
born. It’s probably why my Father could barely stand me: I had killed the one
person he had loved in life besides himself.

“You
know it’s a Council decision, Laney.”

“Yes,
and he is head of us all. Did you vote for the tail, or against it?”

“Don’t.
This isn’t about me, Laney.”

Normally,
for whatever reason, when Cade and I talked about serious things, he would use
my full name, Delaney. But he had called me Laney twice now, which was a big
red flag to me. Cade was really trying to get me to talk to my Father. Why? Next
he was going to be calling me Lane to try and sway me.

He
had always shortened my name as an endearment. Especially when he was trying to
get me to do something he knew I didn’t want to do. Like when I went with one
of his really dorky friends to our Hunter equivalent of prom. It was called The
Coming, which was creepy and ominous, but it was also something us kids had
laughed about to no end. With the obvious jokes that would come with that name.
Oh, I’ll be coming!
Childish? Maybe. Funny? Definitely.

“I’m
still his daughter, Cay. He should’ve talked to me.” Cade just smiled,
realizing I had used his name shortening back on him.

“Come
to the Council meeting. See what’s going on.” Cade pled.

Maybe
it was just too much to keep arguing or maybe I had been fed paint chips in my
sleep, but I agreed.

“Fine.”

Cade
stood up and said, “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 6.”

“That’s
at night right? Cause I won’t be up by 6 am.” Cade smiled at me annoyedly and
turned to leave.

He
knew to get out while he still had my agreement. If he gave me too much time,
like two minutes, he knew I’d change my mind. Cade disappeared out my front
door. I sealed my humble abode up so I didn’t get any more visitors for the
night. I needed my beauty sleep. The only opening I left was for Az. Just in
case he found something out and needed to get to me.

Right,
I left it open in case Az had information for me. Sure. That’s what I kept
telling myself as I fell asleep, anyway.