37. Seth
Chapter thirty-seven
Seth
I ran off the rest of the adrenaline as I sprinted through the woods and deeper into the thick of it. My anger and bloodlust having got the better of me. The hunt was needed, but I needed the information more. Time was ticking away. The humans grew closer to their deaths each day. Erin’s potentially not too far behind. If she was The Key, that meant she’d be used to bring the Demons into power—domination. And it was unclear if that meant she too would be slaughtered and sacrificed once they were done with her. A growl escaped my lips as the image of how we’d found her in Erebus’s lair loomed in my mind.
I tore through the forest, increasing my speed as the trees and brush rushed past me. The wind whistled through the woods, bringing with it the chill of the night. Images of Erin continued to haunt me. Her smile. The tears she shed. The distant brokenness that drifted in and out of her as she plastered on a smile the day we reunited after all those years apart. It hadn’t reached her eyes. It took months—years—for the glimmer to return, the sunshine that had been buried deep within. Hours of running. Lifting. Goofing around. Dancing; endless coffee runs, late nights, painting, reading, and everything in between.
Then he took her. Erebus took her from me. And that light began to dwindle. She became haunted once more. The beautiful grey-blue depths of her eyes shone a little less. The hollows under them deepened. She’d become leaner, stronger than ever, and not just because of her Nephilim strength. Her training had gotten better. She worked at it constantly. But…I didn’t know if it was enough.
I blinked and her dismembered body with dark, empty eyes flashed behind my lids. I barreled through thickets growling, an empty clearing before me. A dreary meadow, having seen better days. My dagger was at the ready.
An ear-piercing roar erupted across the meadow. A Demon came barreling out of the trees, deranged, and foaming at the mouth. I braced myself for impact as it ripped its way through the tall grass toward me, only for it to stop short, two figures slamming into it from the sides.
Silence.
Its roar bellowed through the clearing, the leaves on the surrounding trees shook as it fell to its knees. A third figure waltzed into the clearing. I blinked and the scorching red imploded through my vision once again.
“Erin? Libby? What the actual hell are you two doing out here? And with him, ” I growled deeply, the sound vibrated my chest. “Some fucking errands.” I kept my feet planted, even as the thought of slicing Josh’s throat for risking Erin’s life flicked through my head.
Erin stepped forward in Josh’s defense, arms outstretched, palms facing me. She jumped over the overgrown monster’s arm and nearly face-planted in the process. “Seth, chill out.”
My voice rose. “Chill out!? Erin, you aren’t fucking trained enough to be chasing after Demons, let alone one that’s the size of a freaking tank! You could’ve gotten yourself killed. What the fuck were you thinking? Did Josh fucking put you two up to this?!” I yelled, stomping a foot in his direction.
Erin planted herself directly in my path, throwing her hands on her hips as lightning crackled from the tips of her fingers, fire blazed in her eyes.
“You want to fucking try that again, Seth? How dare you fucking pull that shit when you’re out here alone and by the looks of your ink-stained clothes, fighting the hellhounds without anyone else. So, don’t you fucking dare sit there on your soapbox, you fucker,” she struck her finger against the center of my chest, the lightning extinguished. “And don’t you dare pin this on Josh. This whole thing was my idea. We weren’t getting anywhere and after seeing Josh’s methods”—Erin quickly flicked her eyes in his direction—“I thought it might be useful to have him in on this.”
That was it. I fumed. “He answers to me , Erin. Not you. You don’t have the experience necessary to go off on some Demon hunting escapade. And Libby”—I glared at her. She ignored me and eyed her nails—“should’ve said something to me about whatever this mess is.”
Erin scoffed. “Oh, really? So, what? I’m just meant to sit on the goddamned sidelines while your ass goes out and risks your life behind my back? Or while you send Derik to do it for you? Really?” Libby’s head shot up; her eyes narrowed. “Clearly you have a case of hypocrisy, Draven.” My heart ached, a knife wedging itself in. She almost never called me by my last name.
“That’s not what I meant,” I grumbled.
“Sure as hell fucking sounded like it.” Erin growled.
Josh clapped his hands. “Ladies and Mister Draven. I understand the lot of you would easily stand around all day insulting each other with various profanity but we must get a move on. I can only hold this creature for so long,” he motioned to Erin and Libby. “Ladies.”
Libby crouched down next to the Demon, not yet touching it. Erin did the same as she planted herself directly in sight of the Demon, weight on the balls of her feet. Josh yanked a dagger from its side and threw it in Erin’s direction, she caught it without removing her attention from the Demon before her, its eyes slowly beginning to open.
At least she didn’t slice her hand trying to catch it.
Ice crept into my bones as she began to speak, her voice hollow, deadly, cold. Something I’d never before heard from her. “Wakey, wakey, creepy ass Demon. We need some answers.”
I froze. Where the fuck did this come from?
It blinked and a smile equivalent to that of a demonic toy, crept along her face. The grey-blue of her eyes darkened, her pupils narrowed. Her teeth were bared and her flames erupted from her palms. The Demon seemed to pale, before its own teeth flashed. “You vermin! You are trash, how dare you! You bow to me! ” The Demon spat at Erin.
Her grin widened; a cold laugh escaped with it. “Might want to save your breath there, Demon. As it’s limited.” She leaned forward, elbows propped on her knees, and ran her dagger along its face, pushing it into the skin as she went, a thin, faint line of black ink trailing. My eyes widened. The Demon began howling, screaming; its body began to convulse. “Now you see, my friend over there,” Erin pointed her dagger towards Josh. “He will make you absolutely miserable, your worst fears brought forward. Unless, that is, you cooperate and tell us what we need to know.”
The Demon continued to convulse; a whimper fell from its mouth. Erin flickered her gaze to Josh, her head nodding. Her eyes then landed on me, fear lined the outer rims. I looked closer, her skin a shade green, as if she were on the verge of puking.
It’s an act.
A terrifying one.
What’s your plan here, Erin?
My attention snapped back to the Demon as its mouth foamed, body shaking, the ground around it moving from the vibrations. Erin’s attention returned as well, her mask falling back into place. “It’ll stop. All you need to do is answer a few questions for me and you’ll be free to go back to your handler, Demon.” The Demon screamed once again, piercing my eardrums as I fought the need to cover my ears, Erin and Libby’s hands twitched as if fighting the same urge. Josh remained unfazed.
It roared out in pain. “Okay! I’ll do it. Just please. Make it stop!” The Demon begged.
Erin snapped her fingers and the Demon’s screams stopped, replaced by ragged panting. It moved to sit up, Erin wagged her finger. “Ah, ah.” The Demon visibly shook.
What the hell did Josh show it?
The Demon stopped moving, eyes clouded and darting around frantically. Erin patted its massive head. “Good boy,” the iced smile crept back into place. “Now, what can you tell me about the humans your lot took? And don’t leave out any details.” She sang a siren in the forest.
The Demon panted; voice trembled as he spoke. “I…they…we took thirteen of them. Eight females and five males.”
“Yes, we are aware, go on,” Libby added, her voice low, devoid of its usual singsong tone.
The Demon’s clouded eyes shot in Libby’s direction, not seeming to realize she was still there. “O-okay. The humans, they worked for a factory, all of them out here. That’s how we found them.”
“Why them though? Why did that have anything to do with you taking them?” Erin poked the Demon’s face with her dagger, barely missing his eye.
“We searched for them,” his voice became strained, as if fighting to speak. “We were searching for The Key. Erebus told us we must find these humans. The descendants. The descendants of some deceased human girl, he said her name was Leonora. That we would know. As their births would have fallen on the day of the blood moon.”
“There are anywhere between two to four blood moons a year. Countless children are born on those days. Why these thirteen specifically? How could you know the difference between them, these descendants, and any normal human being?” Erin questioned him.
Interesting.
We’ve been searching for weeks…and never has anything been mentioned about these ‘descendants.’
Or Leonora…
A vein in the Demon’s neck twitched, his face wincing in pain as he ground out, “Their scents. The energy that radiates off of them. There was rumor that they were more than human, and Erebus ran with it. They all happened to be at the same place.”
Erin’s eyes narrowed. I stepped toward the Demon, shoving my foot down on its head before Erin could begin her next line of questioning. I let my voice drop, the promise of death rumbling from my throat. “Where does Leonora come into this then? What significance would her bloodline play?”
And how the hell is some assignment from a college history class tying into all of this?
The Demon whined. “All I’ve heard was a theory. I don’t know. Erebus had told us of a legend. One that described this Leonora as a unique individual. A traitor to her kind.” I pushed the heel of my shoe further, the Demon let out a wail.
“Out with it, Demon.”
I snuck a look at Erin, she was beginning to shake, her mask falling. The Demon kept his clouded eyes trained on me; its neck twisted at an unnatural angle.
“She…she was a Demon, who chose the enemy. She abandoned the Demons, and in turn fell to become half-human as punishment by our ruler. Her father,” the Demon sucked in a ragged breath. “She had been the strongest Demon of our kind and stripped herself of that power for an Angel. Her descendants…they were not of her bloodline but the bloodline of the thirteen Demons who followed her betrayal.”
“Was she killed?”
The Demon’s voice strained. “No one knows. Not even Erebus.”
Erin scoffed. “Of course he doesn’t. That’s fucking convenient.”
The Demon shook as his eyes darted back to Erin. “That’s all I know, I swear.”
“Where are they?”
The Demon’s eyes began to bug out of their sockets as he wailed once again.
“Josh, stop it!” Erin shouted, shooting up to her feet. Josh’s eyes widened, bordering panic.
“It’s not me, Miss Snow. I swear.”
“Then what the fuck is happening?” She shot down to her knees next to the Demon, clasping her hands on its shoulders in an attempt to shake it from its lying position.
“Erin, that's not going to do anything! He’s convulsing!” I shouted as she frantically rocked the Demon’s body back and forth on the ground. I lunged forward to pull her away, motioning for Libby to get back as well, when the Demon exploded. I threw myself at Erin, doing what I could to wedge myself between her body and the flying Demon carcass.
Black sludge sprayed throughout the meadow, dying the entirety of the area a deep ink. Scraps and chunks of Demon flesh lined the clearing. Several pieces clung to my back, slowly oozing down my sides as I pushed myself off of Erin, both of us breathing heavily. Libby’s eyes were wide, the emeralds shining against the ink that coated her face and hair. Josh stood a few feet back, Demon flesh in his hair, black goo stained his white V-neck, his black blazer seeming to blend in.
“What the flying fuck was that?!” I shouted, to no one in particular. My eyes darted along the stained meadow, searching for the source.
“The flying part was the Demon,” Erin quipped next to me. I turned my head, staring at her, my mouth hanging open.
“Really? This is when you decide to make jokes?”
She showed a small smile, her lip quivering. I let out a sigh. “It’s what I do best.” Her voice shook.
“That was fucked,” Libby said, her singsong tone returned.
“Quite,” Josh added, as he brushed the Demon chunks from his hair.
“Now what?” Libby asked as she sat next to Erin, tucking her knees underneath herself and wiping away a few fleshy pieces that snagged Erin’s gear. Erin swatted Libby’s hand away.
She’s reacting…a lot better than I would expect…
Erin regained her composure. “Now, we find those humans,” she flashed Libby a smile as she stood, pulling Libby up with her. Libby’s back stiffened briefly; her eyes clouded for a nanosecond before Erin released her. A glint of mischief gleamed in the corner of Erin’s eye.
My gaze narrowed.
What are you not telling me, Snow?