Authors: M. R. Merrick
“The only Underworlders I’ve come across have tried to kill me.”
“Your name is feared by many in the Underworld. Your father has created quite the reputation for himself, so they fear you as well,” Marcus said.
I smirked. “As they should.”
He shook his head. “That wasn’t a compliment. You will come to learn that the Circle is not pure good nor the Underworld all evil. There are those who belong to the Underworld, such as Rayna, who have no use for the needless killing you associate with demons. There are also those in the Circle whose intentions are not completely honorable. There is something of human frailty in all of us.”
“You can’t be Marcus Starkraven. He was a good man who believed in the Circle.”
“Did you ever meet this Marcus?” he asked.
Marcus had hunted with my father when I was little, but I’d never met him. I looked back to him and shook my head.
“Then do not presume to know what I was like. Now, as always, I still believe in the cause of protecting the innocent. As for the Circle, a person in your position shouldn’t be defending them after what they did to you.”
“What would you know about what happened to me?”
Marcus shrugged. “I know a great deal about you, and the Circle. The Circle is not all it’s made out to be, Chase. When I learned that, I found other ways of fighting the battle.” He looked at Rayna.
“And what are you, anyway?” I asked her. “I’ve never met a shifter that could change only their eyes.”
“Obviously you haven’t put much time into learning anything about Underworlders, except for how to kill them,” she said.
“There is more to Rayna than you see in her eyes. I wouldn’t suggest you presume anything about her either.”
“What…” I began, but Rayna cut me off.
“Hey boys, we’ll have to save twenty questions for later. We’re about to be very busy.”
Before I could ask, I felt the telltale shiver move down my spine. A silhouette atop one of the buildings caught my eye. I adjusted my grip on the dagger as two more figures joined the one on the roof. Together they leapt off the building, seeming to float to the ground, landing silently and with the utmost grace. Three more vampires emerged from the shadows behind us, their clear skin and descended fangs reflecting the dim moonlight.
“You’re gonna pay for that, bitch. You think you can get away with knocking us off one by one?” one of the vamps growled.
“Well, I was kinda hoping,” Rayna shrugged.
“And hey, look at this. It’s a three for one deal. Revenge on the demon who kills her own kind, and a side dish of hunter too.”
The vampire jumped towards us and the others followed his lead, attacking from all sides. I brought my blade up and pushed it through the first vampire’s chest. His skin cracked in an instant and in a flash of exploding light, his body turned to ash that disappeared in the wind.
Rayna and Marcus fended off the demons from the first group while two more jumped me, pushing me to my knees, their talons digging into my back. The pain was sharp, but their weight suddenly vanished.
Marcus stood beside me, his hand extended and the vampires floating in the air in front of him. He swung his arm and the bodies moved through the air, hitting a brick building and sliding to the ground. Marcus nodded to me and moved on to another demon.
The two vampires pulled themselves up and moved with supernatural speed. I ducked the first as his talons swung near my face. I brought my blade around and plunged it deep into his chest. As I was showered with ashes, I turned to face the second vamp, but his talons were already coming at me. They sliced my cheek, and the power in his strike forced me to the ground. Blood flowed over my lips and I sputtered as the demon fell on me.
He pinned my arms down as he leaned down and licked a stream of blood from my face with a pale pink tongue. Saliva dripped from his polished white fangs onto my skin, sliding down over my neck. I grimaced and pitted his strength against mine, but as he tried to get closer to my throat, I knew I was losing the advantage.
Suddenly, Rayna appeared above us. She landed on the vampire’s back and her weight pushed him against me. I felt the tip of his fangs press into my neck, but the vampire’s body lit up and a wash of heat covered me before they pierced my skin.
Rayna fell through the shower of ash and landed on top of me. She was straddling me and the stake pushed against my chest. We stared at each other for a moment. I hadn’t been expecting help from a demon.
“You’re welcome,” she said, with an arched brow and a smile.
“I had it covered.”
“Sure you did,” she laughed.
“Get off me,” I said, pushing her to the side.
She rolled her eyes and jumped to her feet, going to stand beside Marcus.
“Well, I think that’s enough excitement for one night,” Marcus announced.
“Yeah, I’d say so,” I agreed, brushing the black and white ash off my clothes.
“Are you alright?” Marcus pointed to my face.
I reached up to touch the tears in my flesh. They were deep cuts, but they would heal quickly enough on their own.
“Yeah, of course,” I said with all the confidence I could muster. “Now, answer my questions,” I demanded.
Marcus eyed me and shook his head “It’s late; there will be time for answers later. Should you be interested, I’d like a chance to talk further with you. You can find us at this address.” He pulled a notepad from his pocket and scrawled something on a blank page, ripped it off, and held it out. I stared at it a moment before taking it. “I think we could help each other,” he added.
“Is that so?”
“I hope you’ll consider this offer. I give you my word it’s a friendly one.”
He and I both knew when a hunter gave his word it was his bond. You never gave your word unless you could keep it.
“We’ll see.”
Marcus nodded and I watched them walk away down the alley, their footsteps silent as the shadows slowly made them disappear.
I looked at the paper Marcus had given me.
2151 51st St. Suite 404
, it read. That was a few miles from my place, and in the nice part of downtown. In this city, it wasn’t far from the slums I lived in to the high-class white-collar neighborhood. This address had dollar signs written all over it.
I spent the remainder of my walk trying to wrap my head around what just happened. What was Rayna, anyway? She was killing demons, which made it seem like she was one of the good guys, but I’d never had a demon help my cause before. And why was a famous hunter letting the Circle think he was dead and associating himself with Underworlders? He said the Circle wasn’t everything it was made out to be, but I didn’t know what that meant. Nothing he said made sense.
When I reached the rundown building I called home, I was just thankful to have made it there alive again. My head hurt with all the new thoughts and questions I had, or maybe I had just been hurt worse than I’d thought. I needed sleep, but I smelled like blood and deep fryer oil. Although I knew what would happen when I went to sleep, I didn’t care. After the night I’d just had, not thinking for a few hours would be welcome, even if it meant a nightmare.
I lay awake in bed with the alarm clock showing quarter after seven – an unholy hour to be awake on a day off – when I heard the lock sliding out of place on the front door. Mom was home from work.
I sat on the edge of my bed for a few minutes and tried to decide if I should mention last night’s events to her, but I couldn’t make up my mind what was best, so I pushed the thought away.
Mom sat in the kitchen with a fresh cup of tea, plucking the tea bag in and out of the cup. She was staring at a stack of bills and looked as tired as always after a night shift.
“Long night?” I asked.
She looked up at me and her eyes opened wide with panic. “Oh gods, Chase! What happened?”
She rushed towards me. She gently turned my head from side to side as she looked me over. I’d forgotten I still had gashes and blood all over my face.
I forced a smile and pulled her hands away from my face. “It’s okay, Mom. I’m fine. I ran into a few demons last night. It’s nothing.”
“You look awful!”
“I’m really fine,” I assured her. I pushed away from her and went to the table and pulled two of the bills out of the pile and put the rest back. “I already paid these ones.”
The look on her face was both loving and sad. “You’re too young to have these troubles.” She tried unsuccessfully to smile.
“We’re in this together, Mom. Stop worrying so much about me.”
“It’s my job to worry. I’m your mother. Now, let me see these,” she said, tracing her finger near the claw marks on my face.
“No Mom, they’ll heal fast enough on their own,” I said, but it was too late.
I felt the rush of cool water running over my wounds. It hurt for a moment before a tingle moved over my face. Her magic slid through my body and goose bumps ran up my arms. The skin pulled itself over my face, knitting itself closed over the deep wounds. The feeling of water washed over my whole body for an instant before receding.
I touched the freshly healed skin and smiled. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” she said and kissed the top of my head. “Now I need to get some sleep and you need a shower. You smell like fries.” She ruffled my hair and left the room.
The smell from last night had indeed gotten worse, so I took her advice. After half an hour under the water I’d finally gotten the smell out.
There were a lot of problems with living in the slums. I could deal with the noisy neighbors. I could handle the random gunshots during the night, but the lack of water pressure was at the top of my list of complaints. This was clearly a sign my life wasn’t normal.
I stopped in front of the mirror to take a look at the damage. My mother’s magic had made the bruises disappear, but the dark circles around my eyes were something her magic couldn’t fix. The scrape on my forehead was gone and all that remained was a light red scar. My nose was still tender from its encounter with Rayna’s fist, but the claw marks along the side of my face had healed completely.
Hunters were quick healers in the first place, and all these wounds would have been gone in a few days, but Mom’s magic brought it to a whole different level. I had to admit she did nice work.
I put on a pair of jeans, a long sleeved dark green shirt and a pair of black sneakers. After slipping on a holster with sheaths for my daggers around my waist, I was ready to go.
I was trying to wrap my head around the idea that there were Underworlders out there that weren’t completely evil, but though Rayna had saved my life, I was still having trouble with it. After years of being told one thing, it made it hard to believe otherwise, and the last three years of being subjected to the Underworld’s attacks didn’t help.
More astonishing than her saving me, Rayna hadn’t tried to kill me. Now that was a twist I never saw coming. Although we fought, I couldn’t help but wonder: if I hadn’t jumped at the chance to attack her, would my nose still be aching?
Considering all the strange things Marcus had said, I figured it might not hurt to stop by that address. It would give me a chance to see what they were all about; plus, I had a strange urge to know more about Rayna. If there were people who could be trusted, I was interested. A hunter on my side would be great, but about the demon, I wasn’t so sure. She might have been helpful once the night before, but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself.
~~~~~~
The clouds were gray and gloomy, and the air was moist. I loved the scent of the air before a storm. Stonewall was famous for two things: the summer storms, and its namesake stone wall that encircled the entire city. It had been built sometime in the seventeenth century to keep out the demons of the forests, or so the legend goes. I wasn’t sure how a three foot high wall was supposed to keep anything dangerous away, but who was I to judge history?
I’d lived in Stonewall all my life. With a population of a few hundred thousand, it still had a small town feel to it with all the benefits of a large city. The Circle’s headquarters was just outside of town, so I’d only lived inside the wall these last few years, but I’d never been anywhere else before.