SKIN (Demon Chaser 4)

Copyright
©
July
2014, Charlene Hartnady

Cover Art by Melody Simmons

Copy Edited by Kimberly Reichmann

Produced in South Africa

Published by Charlene Hartnady

PO BOX 456, Melrose Arch,

Johannesburg, South Africa, 2176

[email protected]

SKIN is a work of fiction and characters, events and
dialogue found within are of the author’s imagination and are not to be
construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, either living
or deceased, is purely coincidental.

With the exception of quotes used in reviews no part of this
book may be reproduced or shared in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including but not limited to digital copying, file sharing, audio
recording, email and printing without prior consent in writing from the author

The dark closed in from all sides like
thick black smoke. An impenetrable wall. Gaby couldn’t remember a time when it
had been so dark that she found herself tripping over her own feet. Not even on
a moonless night. But maybe it was the panic doing strange things to her.

What scared her the most was that she never
panicked. Like, not once in her whole life. It was like an icy cold fist had
grabbed a hold of one of  her hearts and refused to let go, which resulted in
the organs having to beat twice as fast but with much less strength. Her
breathing was sharp and choppy making her feel slightly faint. To make things
worse there was a not entirely sane sounding voice resonating inside her head that
repeatedly shrieked for her to keep running.

There were brutal killers on her tail,
which was exactly what she had wanted. Gaby was fully prepared for this, she
excelled in one to one combat training. Had taken out much worse with one hand
tied behind her back.
Literally.
  With many frustrating, boring weeks
behind her, she should’ve been enjoying herself.

Rising to the occasion,
damn it
.

Instead she tripped for the umpteenth
time and landed face first in the dirt. It hurt. She touched her fingers to her
chin and pulled them away barely able to make out her hand which she knew would
be smeared with blood.  Maybe she’d been trapped in this human skin for too
long and it was starting to affect her. Making her weak.

Why had she left her gun at the
apartment? It was company policy to always carry your assigned fire arm when on
a mission. She should’ve been fired for the amount of times she’d given the
bird to company policy, but damn she wished she’d stayed in line just this
once. Hell, she had only left the apartment to walk a half a block to the local
seven eleven. Sure it was late, but it was a great part of town and she was a
Demon Chaser. She could handle anything. To become a part of the Demon Control
Agency you either had to be born into it or fight your way in.

 Blood. Sweat. Tears.

Mostly blood and lots of it. Gaby was
the first and last of her kind ever to make it. She was hard core, she was
badass. She was so dead since her wobbling legs could barely hold her to stand
let alone drag her any further.

She turned to face the men who chased
her. The bloods were just toying with her. They could’ve had her immediately. The
chase was so much more fun for them though.

Bracing her legs, she thought to herself
that it was good that she now found herself in a part of the alley that was lit
by a nearby streetlamp. At least she could see.
Since when did she need
light to see?

There were three of them, all demon
bloods, she guessed them to be fifty or sixty years of age. Barely shaving yet.
She took a deep breath. The cold fist clenched tighter in her chest as the
bloods moved closer. The biggest of the three stepped in ahead of the rest, he
tilted his head and sniffed the air.

“Mmmm...smells good.”

What looked like the youngest smirked.
“What does? Her blood or her pussy?”

“Both. The sweet, sweet scent of human
blood and that musky, tangy scent of”—he licked his lips—“pussy. I’m not sure
which one I want first.”

This made no sense, now that they were this
close they should be able to smell that she was a skin shifter.

“Well, I hate to disappoint but I’m not
a human and if you think you’re getting anywhere near me you’re sadly mistaken,”
her voice was surprisingly strong.  To make matters worse, they didn’t seem to
recognise her, so they couldn’t be the demons that had raped and murdered Macy.
The whole reason she was on this mission in the first place was to get the
bastards responsible.

All three laughed.  The bigger one spoke
again, obviously the ringleader. “You are definitely human and so screwed you
have no idea. This is going to go down one of two ways”—he held up two fingers—“you
stay calm and relaxed. We can all mess around for a while. We
will
bite
but it’s going to feel oh so good for all of us – you included.” He paused, “Or,
you can try and fight. Now, there’s nothing that turns a vampire on more than a
good old fight. We’ll fuck harder and suck harder and I can’t guarantee that
you’ll survive. Which is it to be?” His eyes gleamed.

“Listen dickhead. I also have two things
for you, firstly I’m not human and secondly I’m a Demon fucking Control Agent
so get the fuck away from me.” She’d never felt fear, yet knew she was
experiencing it right now. It was a feeling she never wanted to have again. These
three demons were sick bastards, they needed to be exterminated. Jerks like
this were the very reason she’d joined the agency in the first place. Most
species of demon were stronger than humans and could therefore easily dominate
and hurt them. These young bucks needed to be taught a serious lesson.

Her legs still wobbled though and her
chin burned where she had scraped it. To add to that, she needed a street light
to be able to see and the demon bloods were still convinced that she was a
human. Gaby was in serious trouble, all of her demon senses seemed to have abandoned
her. Chances were good her strength would fail her too, but damn it she would
fight them to the death. Her only hope was that they killed her before getting
their dicks or their fangs anywhere near her.

“Oh shit, Ed. I don’t know about doing a
Chaser. This could have repercussions,” said the demon blood that had been
silent up until now.

“Listen to your friend, turn around and
walk away.”

“And what? You’ll forget all about us.
Won’t remember what we look like or that my name is Ed?” The ringleader scowled
at his buddy as he said his own name. “Nah, remember I gave you two choices,
looks like that privilege has just been revoked. Good news boys, we can be as
rough as we want. I’m going first.” He stepped towards her and snarled
revealing long deadly fangs, the sound of a zipper being opened drew her eyes
to his pants. His erect cock jutted forward. “No drinking until after we’ve all
had a chance to fuck her. Don’t want to kill her by accident.”

A scream built inside her as she turned
to run. A large hand clamped over her mouth. Gaby tried hard to bite but the
fucker was too quick. The other two flanked her, grabbing her by her upper arms
with their vicelike grips. Within a blink they had her slammed up against a
dumpster on the far side of the alley. Out of site, in the shadows. Gaby
screamed into the hand because it hurt like a bitch, but also because as hard
as she tried she couldn’t move. She clamped her legs shut even though it seemed
futile.

“Pull her back a bit, I want at those
tits she’s been flashing.” It was the ringleader that spoke. She’d remember his
voice. Right now she was in survival mode and would do anything to stay alive
just to be able to get these sons of bitches later.

What Ed had referred to as flashing was a
jogging top which had a built in bra. Sure it was tight, showed off maybe an
inch of cleavage but could hardly be called sexy. It was practical. The two
guys pulled her back a few inches so that the dickhead about to rape her could
fit his hand between her and the dumpster.

He squeezed her breast. “Nice, seriously
big and they’re real. Andy keep a hold of her but take her mouth as well
please. I’m going to need both hands.”

At least he was being polite about the
whole thing. Would he say thank-you after he finished fucking her? The guy on
her right slid his hand in the place of Ed’s before she could manage to make a
single sound let alone scream. The fuckers were fast.

There was a sound of ripping and the
cool evening air touched her now completely exposed chest. Using both hands, Ed
cupped both her breasts squeezing hard. She screamed but it sounded muffled and
ineffective against the tight hand. Her eyes grew hazy and wet drops cascaded
down her cheeks. Her nose was running.
So this is what it feels like to cry.
She didn’t like it. Gaby grit her teeth until she tasted blood and forced
herself to stop. Even when Ed squeezed and rolled her nipples to the point where
she thought they might tear off, she managed to keep her emotions under
control. They were going to do this whether she liked it or not. She’d be
damned if she would give them the pleasure of seeing her lose it.

“Quit playing with her, Ed. Fuck her
already. I don’t like this one bit.”

“You’re such a pussy, Garrick. It’s not
very often a man gets to touch tits of this quality. I just hope her pussy is
nice and tight. Let’s find out.” He opened the top button of her jeans and
pulled her zipper down. The realisation of what was about to happen truly hit
as he started to pull her pants down. The bastard was a true sadist because he
took his time doing it. One torturous inch at a time.

“I think the lady isn’t interested,” soft
spoken, evenly delivered, the newcomer sounded deadly.

More than likely a human who would be
dead within the next few seconds. She couldn’t allow herself to feel hope.
There was definitely something seriously wrong with her because she couldn’t scent...anything.
Yeah sure, she could smell the cloying scent of garbage, she could smell the males
surrounding her. The problem was that she couldn’t smell anything beyond the
surface, like the fact that the males were demon bloods. They should smell
distinctly like their demon species, but didn’t. Gaby had no idea if the
newcomer was demon or human. She should be able to tell.

“Get lost puppy this is no concern of
yours.” Ed could care less about the newcomer, he even took her pants down
another inch. Any further and there would be nothing left to the imagination. “A
lone demon wolf is no match for three bloods so get your tail between your legs
and fuck off.”

“I said she’s not interested, so best
you get your filthy hands off her,” still softly spoken, but even more deadly.
This time she did feel hope unfurl but the ringleader was right, one demon wolf
was no match for three bloods. At least he wasn’t a human.

“Garrick, you hold the girl while Andy
and I take care of this.”

The hand left her mouth and Garrick took
hold of both her arms. Gaby managed to turn her head enough to see the profile
of the newcomer and sent up a silent prayer of thanks. He was a big SOB.
Hopefully brute strength would be enough to take out the bloods.

There was a cracking sound and a
distinct tearing of clothes, the already big silhouette grew even larger. The
newcomer was erupting, his demon wolf taking over. Even though he could become
a wolf, he partially shifted staying somewhere between wolf and man.

Andy went at the wolf and was rewarded
with a long clawed swipe that had him flying. Ed was much quicker, he ducked
and managed to get in two solid punches before gracefully side stepping another
swipe. He got in three more punches and crouched easily missing another slow
punch. The demon wolf seemed to not feel the blood’s punches. The wolf swiped
again but this time the ringleader ducked, the wolf took advantage stepping in
and side kicked him in the knee. There was a crunching sound and the blood’s
leg bent the wrong way at the joint. Ed screamed.

Hissing and snarling, Andy threw himself
at the wolf. Gaby could imagine how his fangs would be bared. How his face
would be twisted and contorted revealing a glimpse of the demon inside. This
form of attack was a mistake, the bloods were faster but the wolf was stronger.
The big hairy brute threw his arms around the blood in what almost could be
misconstrued as a friendly hug, only the sound of bones cracking could be heard.
The sidekick screamed.

Gaby could still hear what sounded like
thick dry branches snapping and had to fight a cringe. She didn’t cringe damn
it. On any normal day it would be her inflicting the damage.

One hand on his shoulder and another on
his head, the wolf pulled trying to decapitate the blood but the ringleader was
back, fully recovered from his knee injury. He knocked Andy to the side, easily
side stepping a swipe from the wolf. The sidekick landed in a heap on the
floor. It wouldn’t take long for him to regenerate. At this rate, they’d play
tag team with the wolf until he tired out and then they’d take him out. It
would be useless to try and break free from the man holding her. This was so
fucked up.

The ringleader gracefully ducked
avoiding a weighty punch. Compared to the blood, the wolf moved in slow motion.
She wished she could somehow help the guy. The blood got in two well-placed
punches and the wolf grunted stumbling back. Damn, she’d expected him to have a
bit more stamina. Gaby held her breath as the blood moved in. The wolf had yet
to gain his composure, it would be over in a second if he fell.

The blood eased in closer, his arm
drawing back to deliver the final punch, one that would put the wolf on the
ground so that he could tear the creature’s throat out. The wolf was taking a
step back, still trying to balance himself. Gaby had been involved in enough
battles to be able to decipher exactly what was happening and what the likely
outcome would be.
It didn’t look good.
The punch landed, square in the
middle of the wolf’s jaw. If she’d had time to think, she’d have wondered why
the move had not had much impact. Why there had been no noise on connection?
This should have been the punch that ended it for both the wolf and herself.
Except, the wolf wasn’t nearly as off balance as what he had seemed, he
couldn’t be, since he was arching back, his body perpendicular with the floor. Fully
in control, the wolf growled as he swung back up, his brow connecting hard with
that of the blood’s. The ringleader’s nose crunched on impact, he flew back
landing hard.