A Mate for York (18 page)

Demon Chaser:
Skin

Chapter
1

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 firearm 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 hardcore, 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 recognize 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 that
were 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 that 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 streetlight 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 that 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 sight, 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
it 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 realization 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
only 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 when 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 could almost 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 off 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.

Skin
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