Page 5

CHAPTER FIVE

R ubbing my belly absent-mindedly, I stare at the building while slowly growing more and more apprehensive about my decision to drive over here.

I know I’m only putting off the inevitable by hesitating, but it doesn’t make it any easier to force myself into moving. I’m completely out of other, saner avenues for dealing with my problem, leaving me only this terrible option left. Obviously, I’m desperate. Only a truly desperate or crazy person would do something like this. And at this point, staring at the large black, red, and gold sign above the door, I think I may actually be both of those things.

‘Fletcher Hunting: Demon Recovery and Termination Specialists.’

“Demon hunters,” I grumble to myself, shaking my head. “What the hell am I thinking?” I huff out a breath then take another sip of my water, silently cursing the fact it’s the last few drops from the bottle. Empty again already. I’ve been so thirsty these last few days, as if everything else isn’t already irritating enough.

Two days ago, I left my coven’s health clinic with the worst news a witch could possibly get and began my search for the demon who did this to me.

My first stop was the hotel Ash took me to, figuring they’d have a record of his room booking at the very least, maybe even some contact information I could talk them into giving me. I was prepared to flirt or cry if necessary to get the information, but the person at the front desk had been entirely unsympathetic. It was obvious neither of those tactics would have worked on them, so I didn’t bother. Not only did he outright refuse to give me Ash’s info, he also all but ordered me to leave the premises for simply asking. When I’d quietly snuck about and asked other staff members if they’d seen him instead, none of them had seen the man I described.

What’s weirder is that I’m pretty sure they were all telling the truth about it.

I got my first glimmer of hope at Midnight Masque, but it was ultimately another dead end. Several witches said they’d spoken to an attractive and charismatic man named Ash, but then they all described him differently. Not small differences, which could be explained by drunken misremembering, but big ones. Blond hair, red hair, bald! Tall and lanky, thick and muscled. One girl even said the Ash she met had cat eyes! Cat. Eyes. I’ve only ever met one man named Ash, but there are clearly a bizarrely endless number of attractive men who share his name.

Honestly, by the end of my lacklustre night of investigation, I was both exhausted and half-convinced the universe itself was laughing at me. I left the club feeling like crying, cursing the demonic bastard for doing this to me and then pulling a vanishing act. It’s bad enough I’m hungrier than an underfed glutton, but the nausea’s starting to drive me to homicidal thoughts because I can’t keep anything down. I should be resting, but I’m finding myself chasing this guy all over the freaking city, like I’m not feeling the worst I’ve ever felt in my entire life!

How far am I going to have to expand my search? To the continent, the entire world, across all of the freaking realms of existence? Considering he’s an otherworlder, there’s every possibility he’s not on Earth anymore. If he isn’t, how can I get safely to the demonic domain, let alone track someone down in such an unfamiliar place? Obviously, I can’t do that. How freaking dare he impregnate me and then disappear like he never existed at all, ultimately leaving me in a situation I can’t fix or deal with on my own?

This entire situation is so fucking unfair.

I said as much, and worse, to Suvi when I called her in the middle of my frustrated tantrum while driving home. It’s how I’ve found myself here now, sitting outside the office of a reputable group of licensed demon hunters, hoping they can do what I’ve utterly failed at over the last two days. Usually, the demons who hunters track down are the murderous kind. They’re the ones who make it onto the Council’s kill or capture lists, but Suvi had insisted they take on personal jobs too. That if I was going to trust anyone outside of us to help with my situation, it should be them. Then she’d pointed out how they most likely wouldn’t even need to kill him once they’d tracked him down, so why wouldn’t they take on such an easy job?

The way she had said ‘most likely’ had not been at all reassuring, but I’m out of water and nearly out of daylight too after delaying for as long as I possibly could. Knowing I can't put this off any longer, I bottle up my nerves, grab my purse, and climb out of the car. It’s a quick walk over to the building from where I parked. I lift my chin, pretending like I’m not dreading this with every fibre of my being while heading for the main door.

It’s wide open, so I walk right in, pausing in the entryway as I look around. For an office used by demon hunters, I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this. The space is pretty big, and most of it’s empty, with the far left corner of the room having an opening which I assume leads to a few private offices or something. The walls are a rather plain shade of off-white, bare other than for a few pieces of abstract art and two floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

I slowly walk past a desk near the main door, noticing the computer’s keyboard is so dusty I doubt anyone uses the supposed workspace. To the right of the room is a tall, large empty table; the sides of it reach all the way down to the floor, meaning that even if it did have chairs around it, you wouldn’t be able to put your legs underneath. It’s a little strange, honestly. The only part of the room which looks used is the centre of it. There’s a coffee table, surrounded by a black sofa on one side and two matching chairs at each of the shorter ends of the table, leaving the other longer side empty and open to the space.

I glance around again unsurely, making sure I haven’t missed anything, because where’s all the demon-hunting stuff? I can’t believe there’s not even one little sword displayed on a wall or something. Did I get the right address? Feeling a little paranoid I’ve walked into the wrong building, I double-check the address on the message Suvi sent earlier, but it’s definitely the right place.

Shrugging off my concerns, I cross the room and pop my head around the open corner, immediately spotting the back of a tall blond-haired man standing in the room at the end of the hallway thanks to the lack of a door between us. He’s clearly too preoccupied with whatever it is he’s doing to have noticed my arrival, but if he’s back here alone, then surely he must be one of the demon hunters?

Here goes nothing…

“Um, excuse me?” I call out to him, trying not to sound as frightened as I feel while taking a small step closer.

“Just a moment?—”

He snaps his head around suddenly, cutting off his words as he glares in my direction with a bizarre intensity considering we’re total strangers. Before I can question it, he’s already moving, quickly pulling a short sword with a black blade from his hip as he lunges at me, aiming right for my neck.

Naturally, I respond to the action as any reasonable person would. I fucking scream at the top of my lungs.

Startled and now fully in panic mode, I throw my hands up and send a strong wave of raw power at him. It’s energy I really shouldn’t be expending right now considering my condition, but it sends him back a few feet, buying me precious time. I take the opportunity to dash back into the main room, my mind racing as it tries to figure out what the hell is going on.

Can he sense the baby!?

Even if he can sense them, why would he attack me? An unborn baby, demon or not, clearly wouldn’t have made any official lists that would give him the right. I mentally take my earlier complaints back; I preferred this office when there weren’t any swords in sight.

He whirls around the corner, and I place a protective hand over my belly, my other hand reaching for a heavy-looking object on the bookshelf beside me. I toss it at him, aiming straight for his face, expending more magic to try and make sure it connects.

Unfortunately for me, the shady fuck is fast and filled with magic of his own. He easily dodges the attack as I keep rushing across the room, trying to keep various bits of furniture between us as I make my escape. I’m watching him carefully, waiting for the right moment to bolt back outside and to my car, when the fucking psycho lifts the couch separating us one-handed like a freaking bridge troll. He tosses the piece of furniture to the side as if it weighs nothing, sending it crashing into one of its matching chairs. Then he’s stalking toward me slowly, like he knows he’s got me cornered now and doesn’t need to rush.

“Succubus,” he snarls, the sheer hatred in his voice causing my eyes to widen and my heart to race even faster than it already was.

A succubus is a kind of demon, so that definitely means he can sense the baby…or at least, the baby’s demon-ness. Unfortunately, he seems to be under the impression it’s me he’s sensing. Apparently the sight of what he thinks is a demon in his office is enough for him to attack like a damn unhinged maniac.

“Look, buddy, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but?—”

“Shut up!”

“I’ll leave!” I shout back at him, feeling desperate. “I’ll go, and I won’t come back. Please, just let me go,” I plead, throwing my hands back up in a pose of surrender. Despite my plea, I’m still internally preparing to use whatever’s left of my magic to fight this guy if I have to. I’m torn between trying a quick-cast spell or simply flinging more raw energy at him again in order to save time. The latter is probably a bad plan considering the little energy-sucker growing inside of me. The blond man shifts his body as if to move and attack me despite my pleading, so I grit my teeth and reach for my power.

“Rio!” a furious voice shouts as another man hustles into the room, using the moment of surprise to step between me and the angry psycho.

While I appreciate the newcomer’s interference, I still keep hold of the energy I’d reached for, despite the strain and discomfort it causes. Just in case he suddenly switches sides. It feels like the mental equivalent of drawing back the string of a large bow and holding it there for so long your arms begin to ache with the effort, but the string’s also a part of me too, leaving me feeling weirdly stretched in a metaphysical sense. Ugh.

“Why the fuck are you defending her, Daion? You’ve lost your mind putting your back to that thing. She’s a goddamn succubus!” Rio rages at the man standing between us.

“I’m a witch, you neanderthal,” I hiss furiously.

“She’s not a succubus,” Daion says at the same time.

I throw my hands up higher, feeling both exasperated and vindicated all at once. No shit, genius. Thank whatever deity’s listening that this guy isn’t a total psychotic moron like the first one.

“The fuck she’s not?—”

“She’s pregnant. That’s what’s causing the energy you’re sensing. This woman is a witch; she just happens to be carrying a demon’s child,” Daion explains calmly but firmly, clearly cementing himself in my mind as the brains of this operation. Though, he seems to have plenty of brawn going for him too. I’m pretty sure those arms could snap me in half like a twig.

I peer around his large arm to get my eyes on Rio and see his reaction to the news. He still looks murderous, cold blue eyes instantly on me as he notices I’m sneaking a look from behind his friend. It doesn’t take a lot of thought to decide I don’t trust this guy one damn bit. So much so, I consider using this as an opportunity to sneak off while they argue between themselves, but I’m here for a reason. I need a demon hunter’s help, and even if Rio’s clearly insane, perhaps Daion could be reasonable enough to work with?

Suvi did seem sure this was the place to come…

“How can you be so calm about such an abomination?” Rio questions, causing my back to stiffen. “We should kill them both before that— that thing poisons this world with its existence.”

If I wasn’t standing so close to Daion, I probably would have missed the tiny flinch he gives at his friend's words or the way his shoulders flex with tension. He doesn’t move from his place between us, obviously choosing to keep protecting me. His reaction, which can only be honest for how instinctive yet repressed it is, allows me to finally release my hold on the magic I’ve been struggling to cling to. He knows what’s happening, and he doesn’t want to hurt us. He’s seemingly offended by the mere idea of attacking me and the demon growing inside of my body. Not a common response among witchkind, but I’m grateful to have found it. Maybe my bestie did know what she was talking about when sending me here.

I slump from the sheer relief of releasing the magical hold, almost falling into Daion as he also retreats a step closer to me. He places a hand on my bare shoulder to push me back behind him fully, tucked safely out of Rio’s sight. The contact of his rough, calloused hands against my skin makes me shiver. I suck in a sharp breath, feeling as if I’ve been lit up from the inside by a flame.

“No,” is all Daion says in response once he’s ready, his voice having dropped low and commanding in tone. He widens his stance, truly prepared to fight his own friend to protect me if he has to.

Gratitude warms me, even as the more cautious part of my mind begins to wonder why he would defend me. Witches who consort with demons aren’t exactly looked upon favourably by most of our people, and I’m nothing more than a stranger to him.

The seconds drag by slowly for an agonisingly long moment before I hear a growled huff of frustration. It’s followed by the clinking metallic sound of what I really hope is his sword being put down onto the table.

“Fine!” Rio finally responds another second later, his agreement making Daion relax ever so slightly. “But she needs to leave. Now.”

“Look, clearly your friend hates me for existing, but I really need your help,” I begin whispering to Daion, because despite his psychotic friend, what are the chances I’ll find someone else with the skills I need who doesn’t despise me for this baby?

I’m ready to keep pleading my case when the most delicious smell hits my nose, making whatever I was about to say vanish from my brain. I breathe in deeply, ignoring the admittedly enticing scent of the man in front of me, snapping my head to the right, towards the smell that’s distracted me. My stomach growls. There’s someone new standing in the doorway. His eyes are darting between his friends, me, and the state of the room in obvious surprise. I find the source of the tasty aroma coming from the bags in his hands, eyes fixating on them.

“What the actual fuck, you guys?” he asks, clearly bewildered.

While I simultaneously blurt out, “Food?” Suddenly, I’m feeling ravenous. I’m apparently so hungry that all of my self-preservation evades me as I take a step in his direction.