Chapter One #2
The guys get off their horses and I watch as Kai ties his reins to a nearby low branch making sure that his horse won’t wander off.
After double checking how he’s tied it off, I dismount Dave and do the same.
Before turning to the other guys and watching what they’re doing.
I refuse to be a burden or slow everyone down but the short of it is that the closest I ever got to camping was sleeping in a tunnel under a nearby road when the step bitch’s mood was too bad for me to even consider going home.
That was nothing close to this though, it was my threadbare coat and curling up as small as possible hoping I didn’t meet anyone unsavoury.
Not that I couldn’t protect myself from most attackers but I’d still had rather not dealt with them at all.
The guys all start to do their own tasks without needing to communicate.
They’ve clearly been in this situation before and just get on with the tasks that they usually do.
I sort of just stand there, feeling a little bit lost. Give me something to fight and I’m more than capable and excited even but faced with something that I don’t know how to do and it makes me feel incredibly inadequate despite how illogical that may seem.
Hunter pauses in walking towards the woods and studies my features, his head tilting to the side slightly, I plaster on a bright smile.
“Ok guys,” He says loudly gaining the others attention.
“Kai, Jax and Sage you guys go and find fire wood and start the fire. Mav and Levi clear the area and I will go and see if I can catch us some breakfast or lunch. We need to figure out the time thing here.” Hunter says and I catch the confused look that the others who were already doing those tasks give him before he not so subtly darts his eyes in my direction and they seem to understand that he’s done it for me.
“Thank you, Hunt.” I say quietly and he bends down to kiss me.
“Anytime Sweetheart.” He mutters against my lips.
“Erm Hunt I think you should check the Demon Realm book first to see what we can eat.” Maverick says and Hunt’s eyes widen.
“Shit, good call.” He replies moving over to his horse and pulling his book out of the bag attached to the saddle.
“That’s handy,” He mutters, “it’s worked out in neat chapters so I don’t need to scour the entire thing.
” After a couple of minutes of reading he nods to himself and then transforms into his wolf, coming up to me to rub his soft fur against my side.
For some reason it hadn’t occurred to me that he would be hunting in his wolf form but it does make sense.
“Come on Little Star, let’s get this fire lit, the temperature is starting to drop.” Jax says coming up beside me and wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
By the time we’ve gathered all of the wood that we need for a fire and set one up in a circle of stones from the river, it’s starting to get really cold and the light is starting to fade. I guess that answers the question about whether it gets dark here or not.
“Hunter’s been gone for a long time.” I comment starting to get worried about him being out in the forest at night with all manner of unknown predators out there. Having said that he’s a pretty damn dangerous predator himself.
“He won’t be long now it’s getting dark. He’s always the one to do the hunting whenever we’ve been in similar situations in the past. It started out as a joke because of his name but it turned out he really is the best out of all of us at it.” Jax grins as he throws another log onto the fire.
Kai enjoyed it far too much to light the fire and my own fire wanted to come out to play as well, since we haven’t been taught how to control our gifts properly yet and are working with the minimal information we have been given and instinct, I decide it’s probably best to clamp down on my urge to play with my fire and not set the surrounding forest alight.
It was definitely a good call since Jax had to put out a small fire caused by Kai when his fire had a mind of its own a set a pile of nearby debris on fire.
Of course Jax has as much training as the rest of us so even though the fire was small enough that a small pot of water would’ve put it out Jax ended up dropping the equivalent to a large bucket on it.
It got the job done though.
I’m pulled from my thoughts as Hunter appears in his wolf form still, he seems to have complete control over his change which is reassuring or he’d be wolfing out at any opportunity.
In his humongous jaws are at least six rabbits, one for each of us.
It’s kind of reassuring to see something completely familiar.
He places them down by the fire and the others immediately pick one up each and start preparing them ready to cook.
Hunter quickly changes back and comes to sit on the logs that we have surrounding the fire like a kind of seating, bringing the last two rabbits with him.
“Can you teach me?” I ask, I don’t even have a vague idea of where I’m supposed to start with this.
“Of course.” He grins, his eyes lightening up.
He patiently shows me how to properly prepare the rabbit for cooking over the fire. He gets his done in minutes and so do the others, clearly having done this before, but I am determined to do it myself with his guidance.
It takes me at least twice as long as the others but when I’m done I grin widely.
“Well done, Titch!” Maverick says. “Kai threw up at least once when we were first learning how to do that.” He smirks. Before going back to reading his demon realm book.
“Hey!” Kai says throwing something at him but not denying the accusation.
I’ve never had rabbit before and I’m pleasantly surprised by how delicious it is.
It definitely satisfies the gnawing hunger tugging at my stomach.
After we’ve eaten I pull out my Demon Realm book and start reading.
I know we need to read it all but right now I skip chapters to get to the one about towns and villages here.
Levi and Mav have made a sort of lean to thing that will give us a small amount of protection from the elements.
If we’d have known in advance that we’d end up in the middle of the woods we would’ve absolutely come more prepared with tents, warmer clothes and more food.
There’s fuck all we can do about it now though.
We settle down for the night, Levi and Hunter taking the first watch and the rest of us lying together for warmth in the small lean to that they’ve made.
“I think it might be a good idea to venture into town tomorrow. We’re going to need proper supplies.
From what the book says the main thing is to not look any supernatural that is higher up in the hierarchy than you are here, in the eye.
If you do its considered as a challenge to fight to the death.
” Maverick says just before we settle down completely.
“Yeah I read that bit too but how exactly do we know if someone is higher up than us?” I ask, not as disturbed or weary as I probably should be.
I sort of love how brutal the Demon Realm is.
“It doesn’t say. Maybe its instinctual? Most of the other stuff has been so far.
Nicole said that Levi is a higher demon so he should be ok with most other supernaturals, I’m guessing but maybe not all and do we really want to be giving away Levi’s rank as a higher demon?
That might bring more problems.” Maverick muses.
“So we could just not look anyone in their eyes?” Kai suggests. “It might provoke people to want to start something with us anyway but if it comes down to that it’s better to shock them with how strong we actually are.”
“That’s a good point. We can just look at their foreheads or something when we get the things we need.” Levi says.
“Ok this is all very well but how are we going to pay for all of the stuff we need?” Hunter asks.
“Fuck, I can almost guarantee that they don’t accept any money from the Earth realm.” I say, not having thought about currency at all.
“Well that’s pretty much got us fucked then.” Maverick says, frowning heavily.
The fact is, that we need those supplies if we’re going to survive in this unknown land. Yes we do have the book but honestly its written almost like an accompaniment to a lesson so it doesn’t go in depth enough for it to be truly useful.
“It’s late, there’s nothing we can do about it now anyway, lets try and get some rest and see what tomorrow brings. The least we can do is brain storm more, with brains that aren’t as tired as they all are now.” I suggest lying down.
I doubt that anything is going to miraculously help fix our money issue in the morning but I am choosing to believe that Nyx is the one that sent us here so she wouldn’t completely abandon us with no guidance at all as to what we’re supposed to do next.
Everything happens for a reason.
“That’s a good idea.” Levi says, leaning over me and flashing his demon eyes before he kisses me thoroughly making my cold toes curl and my nerve endings fire.
“Damn it Levi that’s not fair.” I pout making him grin wickedly, this time flashing fang.
He knows how much I love seeing them in all their supernatural forms. If I’m honest I’m really missing them and my own glamour is starting to feel incredibly restrictive, this is the longest that we’ve had them on for since our gifts were unbound.
“What’s not fair Darling?” He smirks, still hovering above me.
“You know perfectly well what.” I retort raising my eyebrow, and smirking.
I wrap my legs around him pulling him down on top of me fully, his eyes widen as I do, before they blaze with heat, my lips meet his in a hot and needy kiss.
As his lips trail down my throat, rough fingers grasp my chin and turn me to face Hunter, his eyes blazing with need just like Levi.
His lips connect with mine, his tongue fighting against mine in a sensual dance, a deep growl building in his chest that instead of frightening me only increases my own need for them.
My hands reach out finding their chests and moving underneath the fabric of their shirts as I drag my nails down over the taught muscles of their chests, they both release growls, Levi nipping my neck and making my back arch as Hunter nips my lip making me gasp.
God I need less clothes between us.
Beneath the haze of lust that has completely encompassed me, Hunter and Levi, I’m vaguely aware of yelling. I just can’t find it in me to give a flying fuck nugget what they’re yelling about, far too busy enjoying myself.
“LEVI!” Kai yells loud enough that it breaks through the fog of lust.
Levi chuckles kissing me once as Hunter does the same and I sigh. Our gifts must have started going haywire.
“What the fuck!” Hunter exclaims and I squeak as I follow his gaze and see the ground at least seven feet fucking below us, black inky shadows writhing beneath us.
“Shit!” I exclaim, “Which one of us is doing that?”
“I think it’s Levi it’s like the shadows that I saw last time you guys got hot and heavy.” Jax says smirking, obviously finding this situation highly amusing as he shares a look with Kai.
“How the hell do I convince them to let us down?” Levi asks and as soon as he’s voiced it the shadows slowly start to let us down until we’re completely on the ground.
“Well that was efficient.” I say into the silence and making everyone smirk.
“On the plus side your gifts behaved themselves for a bit longer than last time so at least we’re getting some control over them.” Maverick chuckles.
“Oh yeah, fantastic control. My shadows just lifted all three of us up seven feet off the ground and none of us noticed.” Levi says sarcastically but amused.
“Actually they didn’t move you until we said out loud that we should probably stop you before your gifts decided to come out to play.” Kai says.
“Seriously? That would suggest they almost have a mind of their own.” Levi muses as we all settle back down again.
“Dude I swear my wings have a mind of their own. Maybe it’s a demon thing?” Kai answers him, nudging Hunter out of the way and cuddling into me.
“Maybe. It’s something else that we need to look into. Alright its late. Everyone get some sleep. Jax and Kai, I’ll wake you for your shift to watch in a couple of hours.” Levi instructs.
The guys all move around me, snuggling in close. Surprisingly it doesn’t take me long at all until I’m falling asleep, despite me being worried that the Creep will make an appearance in my dreams again. I have every faith that Kai will follow me if he does.