Chapter 4 #2
The last page had things he’d thrown in for her. New gloves and some coconut leather. Her clothes had started to fall apart. She signed the bottom of the form, and Marko traded it for a ration card. She wouldn’t have to share her meals with the hound anymore.
“I’ll be seeing you tomorrow,” Marko drawled. “Don’t come back tonight. I’m closing up shop early today.”
Elsie frowned. She’d have to keep the demon in her room for at least the night, then. Even if Rosco approved her request, they’d be out of luck without access to registration.
“Thanks Marko, you’re the best.” Elsie gave the surly man a smile, then turned to the hound. “Let’s go.”
Wheeling the cart around, she steered it toward her room with one hand while holding the leash with the other. A member of another squad walked in their direction, then pivoted and went right back to where she’d come from.
Elsie chuckled. She could get used to his repellent qualities. Random soldiers typically felt the need to greet her wherever she went. Those she knew a little better would ask for tales about her latest mission.
Maybe with the demon around she’d get some peace. She turned one last corner and pulled the cart to a stop. All the rooms in the hallway belonged to the field captains, which meant it was generally quiet until someone’s birthday came around.
She’d lived in this same room since she’d arrived.
Mordane had decided it was safest to put her in a room surrounded by captains, rather than risking the behavior of soldiers corrupting her innocent young mind.
They hadn’t even made her join the other recruits in the barracks when she’d started her apprenticeship.
“Home sweet home,” she said, glancing up at the huge dog before opening the door. She unclipped the leash, and he walked inside without being told.
Elsie deposited the cart in the middle of her room, then watched the demon survey her cramped space. She had a twin-sized bed, a little bookshelf filled with her practice of the ancient language, and a closet to hold her clothes and shoes.
A tiny desk held her sewing machine, and a flowerpot containing a marigold plant that had survived the past fourteen years. The orange and yellow petals glowed with remnants of her mother’s magic.
The hound crowded against a wall, but there was hardly room to move.
Maneuvering the cart against the door, Elsie situated the cot, skirting around the demon until he took a few steps back to watch her set it up.
She unrolled the sleeping bag and set it on top, then tossed on the blankets and pillows.
She’d be able to reach out and touch him in his sleep.
‘Mother, protect me,’ she sent up a prayer, hoping this one wouldn’t be met by the same silence as all the others.
“If you’re going to shower, you need to change into your human form,” she said firmly, grabbing the bag with uniforms inside. “Figure out what fits you. We’ll organize when we get back, this room is too small to have your gear lying around everywhere.”
Tossing everything else against a wall, she opened the door and left the cart out in the hallway.
It was stifling inside, but at least they had some measure of breathing room.
Besides, the arrangements were temporary, as long as she didn’t get herself into trouble for taking matters into her own hands.
Ignoring the silent hound, Elsie opened her closet and picked through her clothes, noting that her options were slim.
Marko’s extra fabric saved her another trip to the supply room.
Fighting demons was hard on a wardrobe. Thanks to her mother, she wasn’t doomed to wear the hunter uniform like everyone else.
She rarely wore the uniform, even on missions, which irritated almost everyone she hunted with, especially those outside her squad. Elsie figured the caliber of demons she hunted would scent or sense her regardless of her attire.
She picked out a warm, long-sleeved blouse and a pair of hip-hugging pants with pockets on her thighs for additional small weapons. Swapping out boots for sneakers, she gave a satisfied sigh. Elsie only had one pair of sneakers. They were difficult to find, so she only wore them at the compound.
When she closed the door, she almost choked.
Standing with his back to her was the demon in his human form.
The first thing she noticed was the riot of black curls reaching to the dark skin of his shoulder blades.
The second was that apparently demons kept their clothes on when they shifted.
He was in the middle of peeling a filthy, tattered black T-shirt off when he looked over at her, a sneer on his face.
Caught staring, Elsie continued looking at him for several more seconds before she could force language out of her mouth.
“Sorry, you surprised me,” she said, looking away. Nudity wasn’t generally a problem for hunters, but this was different. She wanted to look at him. She wanted to study those dark eyes and took an involuntary step closer.
“My name is Elsie.” She stopped herself from taking another step.
His back was covered in raised welts and open wounds, which were surrounded by deep bruises.
She studied him for several seconds, noticing how tenderly he moved and how delicately he treated his swollen arm.
Probably broken, which explained the limp in his demon form. Gods. She’s the one who’d broken it.
“Why aren’t you healing?”
“I am.” His voice was low and surprisingly deep.
Elsie chewed the inside of her lip. If he was healing, these wounds had started out much worse.
He pulled on one of the olive-green T-shirts provided with the uniform, then dropped his pants without checking if she was still watching.
She was, with the critical eye of a rookie healer.
The injuries extended down his lower back, curling around his hip and continuing down his left leg.
She had a feeling she’d find them all over his chest and stomach as well.
“This is unacceptable,” she murmured. The state of this demon’s body was stirring up a surprisingly deep anger. She’d already have issued a beat down to anyone who’d done the same to one of her squad mates.
“Clairemont needs to be fired for what he did to you.”
“Why bother? You enjoyed your turn,” he said dismissively.
Elsie had no response that wasn’t a lie. She had enjoyed how far he’d pushed her, and how hard she’d had to fight.
The hunters were supposed to be the good guys, but his wounds were nothing more than vile torture. Only a coward would beat a creature incapable of fighting back.
“Clairemont is such a bastard. How often did he do this to you?” she asked.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, it matters.” It shouldn’t. She shouldn’t care. She couldn’t imagine a single member of her squad would be disturbed by what she was seeing right now. They were demon hunters, and he was a demon.
“Every day.”
“For how many days?”
Elsie wasn’t sure why, but it felt important to her.
She hadn’t exactly been lied to, but no one had been forthcoming with the truth.
If her promotion meant anything, they’d no longer keep her in the dark about the shadier practices that impacted lives.
Those of their enemies, but especially the lives of her comrades.
Her lips twisted into a frown. It was a bit like being woken by a bucket of ice water.
“I lost count.”
He pulled on a pair of camo pants, cinched the belt in place, then turned to face her. A shaggy dark beard with a matching mustache hid most of his face, and thick lashes fringed brown eyes that weren’t quite as dark as she’d originally thought.
His gaze started with her messy hair, strands falling loose from the braid she’d plaited hastily that morning.
He slowly took in every inch of her, but he wasn’t lewd.
His eyes lingered in all the wrong places for that.
Sure, he stared at her thighs, but also her hands and the muscles in her arms. It felt more like he was getting a measure of her strength.
“You’re smaller than I expected.”
“You had expectations?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Someone a little more intimidating. They called you a reaper, but there’s no ethereal magic on you.”
The sneer returned to his lips, but Elsie couldn’t drop her gaze. The inner fire shone in his eyes, and she was beginning to recognize it as the telltale sign of his anger.
“I’m not able to access my magic.” She touched the seal on her throat. He followed the movement, but there was no curiosity in his expression. “I didn’t know about you, and I didn’t ask for a companion.”
He rolled his eyes in response.
“It’s true. We weren’t even here. My squad has been in the field for the past three weeks. We got back last night.”