Wicked Demons 2

Copyright © 2015 by Reece Vita Asher

All rights reserved.

Cover art by CCR Book Cover Designs
(www.CCRBookCoverDesign.com)

Formatting by L. K. Campbell Design
(design.lkcampbell.com)

'Wicked Demons 2' is dedicated to the men who
better themselves so that we may flourish.

The aroma of freshly ground coffee permeated
every centimeter of the small cafe. While it seemed like a short
lifespan, the time Andi had actually been waiting amounted to three
Sinatra songs. A barista called Andi's name and she grabbed her
latte off the counter.

"Thank you," she mumbled, too deep in thought
to make eye contact as she walked out.

It had been nearly four months since Andi's
encounter with Michael and Toryn, the demon lovers who managed to
leave their individual marks on her heart. She had half expected
her life to change. Blow up. Implode.
Something
. But she
went back to work at her legal firm as if nothing had happened.
Planted basil in her indoor window boxes like any aspiring domestic
chef. And she still paid her mortgage on the first of each month,
as if she hadn't found out that she was a fire demon.

While nothing outwardly changed, however,
Andi couldn't help but internally fixate on the matter.

The city was a hush of its usual enthusiasm,
a subdued observer to Andi's inner quandary as she walked the
twilight streets lined with Spanish moss and cobblestones
whispering of a bygone era. Clutching the edges of her chunky black
sweater to her chest, Andi quietly thanked the forgiving nature of
Southern winters in Savannah.

What really boggled her emotions was the
revelation that someone in Andi's family had hidden her true
nature. Someone else, too, was a demon like her. But who, her
mother or father? The most pressing question, however, that left
her wandering in thought this night involved how to flush out the
demon without exposing her secret to the humans in her family tree.
She couldn't just ask them to fill out a demon questionnaire or
say, "I'm so hungry I could feed from someone using my demon fire
powers. Ever done that?"

Andi walked and walked until she passed a
cathedral for the third time. It was a massive beauty in the
evening light. Pale yet warm, hard yet welcoming.

Something made Andi ascend the front steps.
Her hand still played along the rail, doubt rising quickly, when a
fair-haired man opened the door. A half-smile thawed his otherwise
somber presence. There was a familiarity about him, though Andi had
made it a point, a quasi-new rule, never to ignore doubt. And right
now, she doubted her own ability to gauge the innocence of others.
It was best to remain vigil.

"Would you like to enter?" he queried in a
low voice, his green eyes sparkling.

Her heart sped. Andi didn't know if it were
even possible. She was, after all, a demon. Would "the powers that
be" grant her safe passage across the threshold? Or would they burn
her to a crisp like sulfur on a matchstick?

"I..." Her demeanor faltered. "I'm not
sure."

Filing through her memories, Andi tried to
recall visiting a church.
Any
church. Oddly enough, every
scheduled visit had been thwarted by an illness or sudden change of
plans. She and her sister, Bronwen, had one time vowed to attend a
'singles mingle' at their local church years ago, but they were
struck with food poisoning before leaving the house. Another time,
one Christmas Eve with Aunt Margery was spent nursing a sprained
ankle from slipping off the porch step on the way to Mass, so they
never went. Come to think of it, she had planned to visit her
cousin's church just last year, but they had to pick her mother up
from the airport at the last minute instead. And so on, and so
on.

Every memory ended with a "Whoops, didn't
work out this time!" scenario. Funny how Andi had never noticed the
pattern.

She stared at the gentle-eyed priest.

"I was just leaving, but you are welcome to
come inside," he added. "There is still twenty minutes left for
confession."

Forcing a smile, Andi shook her head and
forced her legs to walk down the steps.

"You may think yourself unworthy of His love,
but He shines His light on all who trust in Him. A light so
powerful even those cloaked in the darkest of shadows can find."
The large door thudded shut and the man of God was gone.

Turning back, the downward bow of a female
saint in the colossal window made Andi feel tired and weighted down
by her worries. It was time to go home.

The walk was longer than she anticipated,
having wandered farther from home than intended. Starving, Andi
reached her two-story Victorian. It looked a number of shades
darker in the shadows, though the color was officially a
medium-to-light 'wild mushroom', which was a ridiculously elaborate
term for 'tan'. Andi loved it, though. There was something about
the delicate architectural details and small sitting porch that
calmed her nerves and soothed the wanderlust that once rode her
heart from city to country.

Andi half skipped down the long hall from the
foyer and stormed her kitchen to inhale leftover spaghetti and
garlic bread before slipping into her striped pajamas. At least a
small part of her felt satiated. Her mind, however, still hungered
for answers.

After turning the gas logs in her bedroom on
low, she tucked into bed. The white fireplace had been converted
when she renovated the home after purchasing it. The idea of a real
fire so close to everything she held dear -being her ass, books,
and bed sheets- had scared her. The humor was not lost on her that
she happened to be a fire demon scared of fire.

A pile of books and magazines lay stacked on
her night table, ready for service. Many nights, Andi simply laid
in bed, flipping through home decor ideas or reading some of her
most coveted literature. Tonight was no different. She was ready to
read herself into a dreamless sleep.

And she almost succeeded.

It was just before midnight when a cluster of
bumps and crashes roused Andi from her reading. This had become an
unnerving trend this last month. Leaping out from beneath her cushy
white down comforter, she ran downstairs with an umbrella in hand,
ready to strike someone or...stay completely dry.

Rounding the marble kitchen counter and
crossing to the back door, she unlatched the security bolt and
slowly poked her head outside. The night air was cool as it ran
down her loose night shirt, causing her nipples to stretch against
the fabric.

A clatter by the trashcans, located between
her and the neighbor, caused the hair on her arms to stand straight
up.

Andi forced her breath steady as she left the
safety of walls and locks, and crept to the edge of her house,
trying to talk herself into being brave.

"You can do this, Andi," she mumbled to
herself. "Jesus, it's just a raccoon or the neighbor's cat. Get a
grip."

But it wasn't the neighbor's cat Periwinkle
or a scavenger.

Her breath caught in a hiccup. Two figures
grappled under the low wattage of her would-be security light,
alternating shoves and body-slams between the house and the
neighbor's decorative wooden fence. She squinted to catch sight of
their faces. One remained a stranger, but the other! A sense of
dread clung to him like an aura. Desolation followed him like a
shadow.

"Toryn?"

Toryn's many teeth had turned to sharp, tiny
daggers, each one wielding a death wish. And his broad shoulders
made the other man look childlike, though the stranger was
obviously no weakling. Yes, there was something about Toryn, the
way he was made, what he was, down to his wild nature and pained
expression that made Andi want to claim him for herself.

It also made her want to run the other
way.

Andi's eyes were large and stressed as she
tried to think of something to do. Tried to search for something in
sight that would stop the stranger's malicious attack. The men
grunted as they brushed past her in a whirlwind, and she saw that
the unfamiliar man had something in his hand. Something shiny.
Possibly a gun or a knife.

It took very little time for Andi to remember
that she was her own weapon. Dropping the umbrella, she waited
until Toryn was flung through the air, smashing a spare chair into
kindling, and then leapt between her fallen lover and the
intruder.

"Stay away from him!" she warned.

The ginger-haired man grinned, slipping the
knife back into a small sheath. His lips were a bit crooked, and
something knowledgeable entered his expression.

In a strained voice, he said, "Of course. We
only want you. Come, and I will leave him be."

Her eyes shifted from the man to Toryn and
back again quickly, not wanting to lose sight of the bastard for a
second.

Why did he want her? And who was the "we" he
was speaking of? Andi didn't really want to go anywhere with this
man, not even on a bad first date in public, with good lighting and
an armed guard. She didn't plan on taking one step by his side, but
she also had to try to save Toryn, who was looking, to be honest,
like crushed ass at the moment.

"You'll leave him alone if I go with you? Not
just for today, but always?"

He held one hand over the wound across his
sweaty, solid six pack, and outstretched the other, gesturing to
Andi. "Would I wish to stir the beast once more when the beauty
already walks at my side?"

Andi crinkled her nose. "That was a real
skeazy way of saying yes."

Laughing lightly, he dropped his arm and
stared at the blood seeping from his wound.

Toryn was roused by the noise and struggled
to stand up. "He is a hunter. Witchcraft is in his veins."

"Yes," the man answered. "Do you wish to burn
me at the stake?"

Looking at the poor condition Toryn was in,
she nodded her head. "Right about now? Undoubtedly."

He laughed again, but stopped when he noticed
the blood running smoother and quicker from his body.

Andi stepped closer. "I can help you with
that."

"No," Toryn growled.

Raising a flat palm in Toryn's direction to
quiet him, Andi closed the distance between her and their foe.

Looking into his deep set eyes, she
whispered, "Heat fixes everything." Laying her hands across his
chest and stomach, she called on that boiling darkness within. The
one that came so easily to her in the woods. And it answered.

The heat lashed out through her palms and he
began to whimper, though the pain of fire beneath his flesh built
his moans and protests into a scream before he could prepare
himself to hold it back. Andi was scared that he would draw
attention from the neighbors and hurriedly let go.

"Leave!" she yelled. "But know that next time
I won't give you this choice." As the man, who now looked younger
than he had a second ago, met her gaze with a mixture of fear, awe,
and determination, she implored more gently, "Please, don't come
back."

Saying something under his breath that she
couldn't understand, he closed his eyes and fell backwards,
disappearing before he hit the hard earth beneath.

"What. The. Hell?" Andi's lungs felt too
enormous for her chest after her muscled relaxed from the stress.
Spinning to face Toryn, she said, "Shit that was loud. We need to
get inside before my neighbors call the police."

Just as she shoved Toryn up the back steps to
the porch, she heard a shuffle and turned to find her elderly
neighbor peeking out her back door.