Demons: A Hunter's Novel, Book 1 (4 page)

“What would I do without your smart mouth, drawing me in and you
kicking me out?”

 – John Legend, All of Me

I
stood in my living room early the next morning trying to decide what to wear for
the Council meeting. I desperately wanted to pull out my old club gear. Like my
silver sequined backless crop top. Maybe I could pair that with my blood red
mini skirt and my thigh high black boots. I could see my Father’s face turning
the same red color as my mini skirt. Unfortunately, the same mini skirt would
stay at the back of my closet, with my super skinny jeans, because I was 30
now, not 20 and the stabs at my Father had become verbal long ago.

Now,
if I walked into a Council meeting wearing that kind of outfit I couldn’t chalk
it up to my youth – I’d just give myself a bad name, not my Father. Not only
did I want to refrain from that, but I still needed information from my Father
so taking immature shots at him probably wasn’t the best idea.

I
went to my closet and pulled out my tight black jeans and black t-shirt. I got
my bag of weapons out and made sure my blades fit comfortably in my shoulder
holsters. Once they were secure, I pulled out my black leather jacket to wear
over my blades. The Hunters’ unofficial color was black – but the leather
jacket, as far as I knew, was strictly my own style.

Most
Hunters wore a wool pea coat, during the winter anyway, so their weapons were
easily accessed. Luckily, I had a very unique tailor who had made very hard to
see slits in the back of my jacket. Each slit had a durable rubber inlay so the
cold weather couldn’t get in. I could get my hands easily in if/when I needed
to get by blades out, which was often.

After
I laid my gear on the chair in my room I headed to the kitchen to make holey toast.
It was my favorite. I took a shot glass and, using the rim, carved out a hole
in the middle of a piece of buttered toast. Then I cracked an egg into the
hole, while in a hot pan, and cooked it. It’s hard to mess up, and delicious. It
was a staple of my food pyramid. I made it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for
weeks after the break up.

Cade
had visited me daily after he found out I had broken it off with Az, saying he
had to since no one else knew what was going on with me. Cade, at one point,
had gotten on me about what I was eating. I simply replied to him “At least I’m
eating.” That shut him up.

As
I stood in the kitchen waiting to flip my holey toast, I felt hands slide up my
legs under my night shirt to my belly, thumbs skimming under my breasts. I knew
those hands better than my own. My need for them a constant obsession.

I
had spent countless nights pretending my hands were his, and I don’t care who
you are, nothing substitutes for the real thing. His hands on me now felt like
a phantom limb. If it weren’t for the heat radiating off them, I would’ve
believed I was imagining them, again. I flipped the toast and said without
turning around:

“Don’t
start something you can’t finish, Azrael.”

His
fingers stilled, most likely because I had actually remembered to call him
Azrael. He got over it quickly, though, and moved his fingers down my hips,
kneading the skin there. I wondered how he thought he had any right to touch me
that way. It could be because I was leaning into him like a cat in heat. I
wanted this Demon holding me with every cord of my being, but I felt as though
the push and pull would always be a losing battle.

“Your
gear’s out, where’re you going?” He whispered into my hair.

“I
have a Council meeting tonight. Trying to figure out why the fuck I’m being
treated like an Al-Qaida member at a UN ball.”

“You’re
going to speak to
him
?”

Azrael
spat out
him
with such disgust you would have thought he actually had a
giant hunk of dirt in his mouth. Azrael had more animosity toward my Father
than I ever had, which was strange since I had 26 years on him.

“I
have to.”

“You
don’t have to do shit. Last I checked you don’t do anything you don’t want to.”

Okay,
that was hitting below the belt. That was so far below the belt I felt the hit
on the bottom of my feet. The last thing I had wanted to do with Az was to
break it off with him. I think he knew it, but he used it against me. He was
still pissed about everything and I couldn’t do anything to ease that pain.

“Your
control freak is showing, Azrael. I’m doing what’s necessary.”

At
that, his hands dropped from my hips. I hadn’t realized he was getting me
worked up before I lost contact with his skin.

“You
always have.”

Again,
below the belt, if I had known we were fighting dirty I would’ve prepared my
best sarcasm. But it was also true. I had always done what I felt was necessary.
It had been pounded into me since I was a child and some things just stuck.

I
had been fighting parts of the system for as long as I could remember. It’s the
whole reason I started sleeping with Az in the first place. But it was not why
I fell in love with him. He had always been on my side, our side. He had
supported me when I probably didn’t deserve it. He held my hand, let me cry on
him, let me sleep on him – he was my best friend. What I thought had been
necessary when I broke up with him could have been wrong, but I couldn’t risk
his life for our love. He was more important to me than that.

“You’re
right. You should record that for later use – I don’t say it often.”

I
moved away from him into my bedroom to put on my jeans. I could never be around
Az for long without having my clothes fall off at least once, and I already had
so little on, I feared what might happen. Especially because he was now
standing in my doorway leaning on the frame and looking delicious – I could
feel my underwear already slipping down my legs.

“How
long have you been using my blade to kill supes?” I said trying to put some
distance between us by shoving the heaping mounds of our problems in front of
us.

“As
long as I’ve had it. I used it to kill my way up the ladder. You should have
some fantastic numbers.” He looked so fucking proud of himself. I was livid.

If
anyone followed the trail of Demon blood to my blade they would see it followed
Azrael and figuring out he and I had history would not be difficult after that.

“What
if the Council had pulled me in?”

“You’re
fast on your feet. You’d have figured something out.”

“Do
you even give a shit anymore?”

“I’ve
always given a shit. It’s better to deal with high numbers, than no numbers at
all.” He bit out.

He
had been protecting me. If it was even possible, I fell a little more in love
with him. Even if I was pissed off at the way he had gone about it. He was
right. As a Hunter if I had not been killing anything I would’ve been brought
in and “evaluated”. Which was a nice way of saying: being mentally and
physically brainwashed to make sure I wasn’t being controlled by any outside
forces.

I
had only fought when I had come across supes in my path over the past six
months. I stopped seeking out the fight. Which for me was unheard of. My
numbers should have been a red flag, which they were but in the other
direction. It just never registered with me to think it was Azrael using my
knife. Hell, nothing really had registered since I had left him. I half thought
he would have destroyed it. I was way off my game these days.

I
bent to pull my jeans on, without thinking about my former lover being in the
room. Az was standing behind my ass before I could blink. The way he was
standing there was causing my hormones to stir in the most body-dripping way.

“God
I’ve missed this.” Az said. I looked back to see him staring at my ass. Apparently
he had just missed my ass and not me. He met my eyes. “For old time’s sake?”

I
know I shouldn’t have even thought about it, but my body was winning this
battle and who was I to stand in its way? My head nodded my agreement before my
brain had a chance to vote. It was all the signal he needed. He knew, like
Cade, to act before I changed my mind.

He
slid his hands around my ass and pulled my underwear until it tore. He tucked
his fingers in the moisture that had pooled between my legs.

“Already
dripping.” He said.

It
didn’t take much for Az to get me going. Mostly because I knew what was to
come. The second he had come up behind me, I was ready. He bent, sliding his
fingers over my clit and nipping at my shoulder blades with his teeth.

As
he continued to tease me with his hands, I wondered if he had learned any new
moves while he had been away from me. The thought of it made me feel murderous.
I could live the rest of my life without ever knowing if he had slept with
anyone else. Of course, even if he had slept with someone else, you couldn’t
improve perfection, could you?

Az
pulled his fingers out of me and stepped back, my body temperature immediately
dropped ten degrees. I stood and watched with eager eyes as his clothes disappeared.
This was the sight I had dreamt about for all of these months: Him hard and
ready with not a thread of clothing on him. He was glorious in his bare form.

I
sat on the edge of the bed and Az stepped to me, pushing me on my back. He
pulled my legs over his shoulders and slid into me. I saw bursts of light. I
think I may have seen an Angel or piece of heaven. I may have died. I had been
too long without him. It was hard, fast and out of this world. He pounded into
me relentlessly and I loved every minute of it. He pounded so hard I was
probably going to have an outline of his balls on my ass. Wouldn’t that be a
souvenir? I could feel my orgasm building and slipped over the edge as his
filled me with his cum.

Breathing
hard he said, “I missed you screaming my name.”

I
hadn’t realized I had been screaming his name as he pounded, but I always lost
control with him. The freedom was liberating and disconcerting. I could never remember
anything when he took me that high.

“I’m
sure you got some details of the screaming I’ve done over the past six months.”

I
didn’t know what my problem was. The only man I’d ever loved just gave me an
incredible orgasm and now I was pushing him away? Fuck. Me. Oh, wait, he had. That’s
why I was pushing him away. Because nothing could come of this. Except more
orgasms and death.

Life
was not worth living if it didn’t have him in it. But if I was with him he was
already looking at a death sentence. I’d have to pull Paul out of retirement
again. He was my vibrator. Not as good but he got the job done.

“You’re
a fucking bitch sometimes, Laney.” Then he was gone, without another word or any
piece of clothing on.

Did
I have any redeeming qualities left in me? Or had I lost them all on my way to
this bottom feeding life I’d come to live? I hoped I had some good left in me
somewhere.

I
lay on my back sated, but alone. I thought of all the mistakes I had made in my
life: fighting my Father on so many things, not fighting him enough on others,
allowing the Hunters to control every aspect of my life, not being honest with
myself. But hurting Az had been the thing I regretted most in my life.

I
pictured the scene the night I walked out on Azrael. I could still see myself
standing in our old apartment, making dinner that last night. I could still
smell the food, feel the heat from the stove, hear my rapid breathing because I
was terrified of what I had to do, all of it. As I pictured it all happening, a
fold of blinding white light opened and swallowed me.

“What I’ve done, face myself, to cross out what I’ve become, erase
myself, And let go of what I’ve done.”

 – Linkin Park, What I’ve Done

The
light faded and I found myself watching the last meal I had made Az unfold. Only
instead of being a part of it, I looked around to find I was standing against
the wall of the kitchen. A bystander watching the past.

I
watched as I struggled to cook the chicken on the stove. I could smell the chicken
as it charred. It made me want to take cooking classes. I had made his favorite
– chicken enchiladas. It was another one of those things I could cook without
screwing up too badly. Burn the chicken? Yes. Burn the chicken and play it off
like it was supposed to be part of the recipe? I was a pro.

I
wondered if I was standing in a dream. Had I fallen asleep? Or maybe I was
dead. Maybe I had died in my sex-coma. Wouldn’t be the worst way to go.

I
could clearly see the tension in my body as I cooked Az dinner. The pain was already
plainly written in every wrinkle of my face. Az walked in our front door,
already pulling off his jacket and hanging it on the coat rack behind the door.
It was strange watching it all happen instead of being a part of it.

I
held my breath and listened as the pain spread-out before me.

“That
smells amazing, Laney. What’s the occasion?” He was more carefree then.

“I
just wanted tonight to be special for you.” The real reason I had done it was
to do a good thing before doing the worst.

“Why
tonight?”

I
could tell – seeing his face from this angle – he already knew something was
very wrong – I had pretended back then he didn’t know me.

I
remembered how I chose my words then, so very carefully. I stepped in front of
Az and slid my fingers down his jaw. I saw Az close his eyes and shudder. Az
swiped his hand and the room froze.

Well,
the me cooking froze. The me touching Az was still able to move. I had
forgotten he could freeze time for short periods. His eyes opened, searching. It
was nice touching Az without having to worry about the repercussions. I was
doing two things at one time, cooking and touching Az. Don’t tell my
procrastinating side she’d be piiiiissed.

“I
can feel you. I know you’re there. I feel like I know you – but …” Was he
talking to me? The past me, or the present me? Nothing else was moving but past
Az and present me. I waved my hand in front of his face. There was no response
from him so I suppose I was physically invisible to him but he could still
sense my energy? What a strange dream.

“Yeah.
You know me.”

Az
opened his eyes wider, alarmed. He brushed my side as he walked around me. I
just stood and watched, enjoying the time I had to see him.

“Laney?
What’s going on?” I was pleased he knew my voice. Of course he knew my voice. The
six month absence hadn’t started yet. Even now, I would never forget him. His
voice, the memories, the way he felt to me. I’d miss him if I hadn’t met him.

“I
don’t know. I don’t even know how I got here. I think I’m dreaming.”

“Me
too. What’s the last thing you remember?” Well, that’s not the question I
expected. I expected him to start freaking out, at least a little bit.

“I
was laying on my bed. You had just ridden me hard and left – because I’m a
total bitch – and I thought about how much I regret pushing you away. Regretted
this night.”

“I
can’t see you, but I can feel you. Maybe I’m going crazy.” He drug his hands
through his hair. It was his nervous tell. He wasn’t telling me something. Heaven
help me.

“If
you’re crazy, then what am I?”

“A
voice in my head.”

“I
miss you so much.” I said sincerely.

“What
are you about to say, Laney?” He was studying past me. Should I give him the
truth or some of the truth? If this was just a dream, as I thought that it
definitely was, then why not the truth?

“I’m
about to break our hearts. About to do what I think is necessary.”

“I
knew something was up.” Az’s eyes dropped away from past me. “You never cook my
favorite meal unless you’re in trouble or saying sorry.”

“Yeah.
I’m kind of doing both.” I said as I stared at a happier me, if only for a few
more moments. “I’ve never mourned anything more in my life. I miss you every
day. I want to call you, I want to love you, but more than anything – I want to
keep you safe.”

“How
fucked up are we now? Wherever we are.”

“Pretty
bad and it’s all my fault.” Wow. I really was giving him the truth. But why
not? If I felt better when I woke up, then it was worth it.

“You
can’t protect me from everything. You do realize I’m a Demon. I work for
Mastema.”

“No
need to remind me. In the future, you sit at his right hand.”

“What?!”
He started pacing agitatedly and I almost couldn’t track him with my eyes he
was moving so fast.

“I
know, right?” How surreal could this conversation get? Az stopped moving and
clasped his hands on top of his head.

“Do
you still love me?”

“Not
even in the darkest corner of my world could anything ever change that.”

“Keep
that in mind when I show up and remind you of this conversation.”

What
the hell was he talking about now? This dream was getting too weird for even my
head now and that’s saying something.

“I
better go, before I get a cramp from being frozen like that.” Az laughed at my
comment. It was warm and thick and I hung onto it like the last life boat on
the sinking Titanic.

“I
love you Delaney.”

“You
more.”

I
felt the world moving around me. It felt similar to riding a roller coaster and
going down that first big drop. Your heart ended up in your throat and you were
screaming a moment later. When I opened my eyes again I was out of my dream
world and back where everything made sense. Well, most things anyway.

It
shouldn’t be dark out but it was. I just fell asleep and it could only have
been mid morning then. I was still tired, too. I looked down and saw I was
still lying naked on my bed.

I
heard someone in the kitchen. I grabbed my robe, which always had a blade
stored in the pocket, and secured it tightly around my frame. I crept down the
hall in search of my intruder.

Cade
had the kitchen faucet on and was crouched in the sink scrubbing at his eyes
with dish soap and water.

I
stowed the knife back in my robe pocket. He didn’t need any surprises when he
couldn’t see.

“What’s
wrong with your eyes?” Cade jumped at the sound of my voice like I had just
stuck a needle in his ass. At least I had tried not to scare him.

“I
came to pick you up for the Council meeting. Little did I know you’d be naked
and spread eagle on your bed when I got here.” He finally turned off the water,
“The vision is permanently burned into my retinas, thank you.”

“Kind
of like the time you walked in on your parents screwing on the kitchen table?”

“That’s
it. I’m going to kill you.” He turned the water on in the kitchen sink again
and splashed his face with more water.

I
left him to it while I went to my room and got dressed. I threw on my gear and
went to the bathroom. I had no idea where the day had gone. I must’ve been
wiped and tired from all of the shit on my plate. It was the only explanation I
had for losing all that time. The dream had made me feel better, at least that
was some consolation for losing the day. I hadn’t realized how much I needed
those things off my chest. Thank God it was just a dream. Cade knocked on the
bathroom door.

“You
ready?”

“In
a sec.”

“We’re
going to be late!”

“They
can’t start without you.” I came out as I said that, and it looked like just in
time. Cade hated being late, and I was perpetually late to his perpetually
early. He was about to boil over. Cade’s face morphed then and he sniffed the
air.

“Have
you had a very strong Higher Demon here?” Why, yes. Yes, I have. And it was the
best sex I’ve had. Ever. Right, like I would ever tell Cade that. And if I did,
I’m pretty sure I would have to buy him a lifetime supply of soap. Some things
were meant to stay private.

“Nope.
Probably one of my tails. Let’s go.”