Demon’s Mark (Demon’s Mark #1)

Chapter 1

Selma

At twenty-seven, Selma’d long since learned that staring at monsters brought nothing but pain.

Which is why, when she saw three of them herd a woman toward a deserted alley behind the grocery store’s parking lot, she ducked behind her car, shopping bag filled with last-minute ready meals clutched to her chest thanks to Mr. Jones’ insistence that she work late yet again.

But the monsters didn’t pay her any mind; their focus was solely on the girl between them. She was stumbling along the pavement as if drugged, headed toward the secluded spot seemingly without a shred of worry about the three males accompanying her.

Selma gave her a guilty glance as she fumbled with her keys to unlock the car door, her palms sweaty and shaking with the violent drumming of her heart.

She knew the monsters could bend a human’s will and make them see things that weren’t there—or not see things that were. They hid their grotesque appearance behind human skins, which was why no one else seemed to notice the scaled, horned creatures who walked among them.

No one except her.

Or maybe she was just crazy. Or unbalanced, as a multitude of doctors in white coats had told her concerned parents before she’d learned to pretend she didn’t see the monsters anymore.

At least the woman wasn’t putting up a fight. Whatever they’d done to make her follow them, she likely wouldn’t remember what happened to her. She might not even realize it while it was happening.

Selma drew in a deep breath and focused on the key in her sweaty palm—but before she could look down, the girl turned her head, catching her gaze.

Large, panicked eyes locked on hers, and though the rest of her face remained slack and docile, those eyes spoke clearly that that woman was aware of what was about to happen to her.

A large, clawed hand came to rest on her shoulder and pulled her into the alley. Her eyes widened even further, the plea in them impossible to ignore. Then the darkness swallowed her, leaving the parking lot desolate once more.

Fuck. Selma stared at the gaping mouth of the alley, her heart thudding unevenly in her chest. Had she come out of the shop ten minutes later, she’d have been none the wiser, and guilt wouldn’t have been gnawing at her to do something.

What was she supposed to do against three monsters?

“Shit,” she muttered, easing the shopping bag and her purse to the ground as she fished out her phone.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“Hi, yeah, I saw three men drag a woman into an alley behind the shops on the corner of Smith and 31st, by the parking lot. Please, can you send the police?”

Selma spoke fast and low, not wanting to risk the monsters hearing. They were far enough away she couldn’t hear them, but she knew all too well that some of them had enhanced senses.

“Can you see them, ma’am? Are they hurting her?” the voice on the other end asked.

Selma blinked at the question. “No, I can’t, but it was obvious what they were going to do to her. She was fighting them.” Or she would have been, had she been capable. “Do you need me to move closer so I have eyes on them?”

“No, don’t put yourself in harm’s way, ma’am. The police are on their way now. They’ll be with you in twenty minutes. Can I ask your name, please?”

“Twenty?” Selma croaked. “You can’t be serious—they’ll have…” She trailed off as images flashed before her mind’s eye of what it’d be like for that poor girl alone with those three for a full twenty minutes.

“Fuck!”

“They’re coming as fast as they can, I promise,” the voice soothed. “Your name please, ma’am?”

“As fast as they can” wasn’t going to save that poor woman.

Dread soured in her stomach, adrenaline and fear making her hands shake as she hung up and slid the phone back into her purse.

Forcing herself not to think, she moved toward the alley.

Maybe she could distract them long enough for the police to show up.

A metal pipe lay among bricks and rubble in the entry. Selma bent to pick it up, feeling just a tad better at the cold, heavy weight in her hands. She clutched it hard and pressed her back against the brick wall, peering around the corner and into the darkness.

She couldn’t see anything but a couple of overflowing dumpsters, the faint light from the parking lot dying just a few feet into the alley. But from deep within, soft grunts echoed.

This time, Selma didn’t have to force herself not to think. She slid into the shadows without hesitation, propelled forward by an equal mix of horror and fury. For a few moments, she didn’t think about what the monsters could do to her, only what they were doing to that helpless woman.

A bit of light spilled in from the city’s fluorescent skyline where the alley widened into a dead end, letting Selma’s eyes catch up to her ears.

The three monsters were standing in a semi-circle facing the wall, the broad brute in the middle moving his hips rhythmically back and forth as his comrades chuckled every time the girl made a noise.

“Fuck, go faster, Cres. I’m busting out my fucking pants here,” the monster on the left groaned, pawing at his crotch.

But Cres never got to answer, because Selma stepped forward and swung her impromptu bat with as much force as she could, cracking the metal pipe against his horned skull.

The strike sounded like a gong through the alleyway and vibrated up through Selma’s arms and into her teeth.

“What the fuck?” The monster on the right whirled on her, mouth open as Cres let out an inhuman snarl. He pulled free from the girl, finally revealing her body as she sagged to the ground, and rounded on Selma.

His eyes were acid-green with slitted pupils, and his bared teeth were sharp as any predator’s. Revulsion honed Selma’s terror to a fine point. Suddenly, she was his full focus.

“You’re one very dumb little girl,” Cres hissed, reaching for her weapon.

Selma snatched it away just in time and delivered another whack, this time to his shoulder. “Get away from her!”

“Now, now… don’t be like that, baby,” one of the other monsters purred, his blue-scaled mouth twisted in a nasty smile. “We’ve got plenty of time to play with you as well.”

“No thanks.” She swung again, hitting Blue square in the face. “Get out of here now! The police are on their way!”

“Son of a bitch!” Blue staggered for a moment, bringing one clawed hand to his face. “Little cunt broke my fucking nose!”

“Feisty thing.” The other beast, whose horns curled in a strange pattern behind his head, grinned. “Calm down, pretty girl. Relax and it won’t hurt… that bad.”

A dark fog rose around Selma. It felt like thick, clammy soup clinging to her skin, setting every hair on her body on end as it tried to penetrate through her nostrils and mouth.

Magic.

This was what they used to make their victims docile and believe their lies. Some had tried it on her when she was a little girl screaming at their gruesome features. It hadn’t worked then, and it wasn’t working now, but she lowered her bat anyway, relaxing her pose.

“Now there’s a good girl,” Curly purred, stepping toward her with his hand outstretched. “Give me that nasty stick, why don’t you, and then you and me are going to have some fun.”

“Leave her alone!” Someone shouted from behind the monsters, followed by a metallic clang when a garbage can lid connected with Cres’ horned head. It seemed their victim had managed to shake their filthy magic while Selma distracted them.

Cres snarled and spun around, backhanding the woman to the ground, but that was all the time Selma needed. She raised her weapon again and aimed straight for Curly’s temple, putting all her strength behind her swing.

He let out a groan like a wounded animal and staggered back, stumbling over his feet and falling on his ass as he clutched his head.

“What the…?” Blue stared at her through narrowed eyes, for the first time taking up a cautionary stance as she rounded on him. “How did you break through his magic?”

Selma didn’t answer, choosing instead to press her advantage. She leapt at him, but this time he was prepared. He easily side-stepped her swing, and when she tried again he twisted to block her, grabbing the metal pole in one huge, clawed hand.

She pulled, but he was so much stronger. With an easy yank, he ripped her weapon from her hand and tossed it into a dark corner of the alley, leaving her defenseless.

It was as if all the anger that’d propelled her into action seeped out through the soles of her feet as the blue-scaled monster rounded on her, lips curled in a snarl.

Out of sight, the woman she’d tried to save fought against Cres on the ground. This time, it seemed the monster hadn’t deemed it necessary to drug her with his magic.

“Not so feisty now, huh?” Over Blue’s shoulder, the curly-horned monster reappeared. Thin trails of blood trickled from his pointed ears, but that was the extent of the damage she’d managed to inflict.

She’d been a fool in thinking she could save anyone from these monsters. She’d never even been able to save herself.

“Hope you like it rough, bitch, ‘cause we’re gonna make your cunt pay for every blow you got in with that pipe,” Blue growled, reaching for his belt buckle as Curly rushed forward and pinned Selma’s shoulders to the wall before she could twist away.

Rough, cold brick bit into her back as they moved in, blocking the faint light from the city. She screamed and tried to force her body to keep fighting, but there was nothing she could do to prevent their clawed hands from ripping the clothes from her body or pushing up between her legs.

As a child, her fear of the monsters had been childish. She’d feared they’d eat her, that they’d hide in the dark underneath her bed or in her closet and devour her in her sleep.

Adulthood had brought a different understanding of their intent. She’d seen the hunger in their eyes as they chose their prey, and it was rarely to feed.

Her nightmares had long since morphed into this—into gruesome rape at the hands of the monsters who’d haunted her her entire life.

Selma screamed until darkness swallowed her.