his back as he stood up. He was used to sleeping rough, but after a cold night on a metal work bench, he felt that maybe a night in a soft warm bed was due. He’d thought the bench, being off the ground, would have been the warmer option if he covered it with a blanket or two. He had been wrong. Though naturally warmer than humans, he’d still felt frozen all night long.
He’d be sleeping on the porch if he decided to stay there again. Or maybe Bree could take the stick out of her ass and invite him to stay inside the house, like she had everyone else. Demon dismissed the thought before he could get angry about it. She had a right to have who she wanted to in her house and if his own people, on both sides of his family tree thought he was an abomination, why shouldn’t an old witch?
She had graciously allowed him to sleep in any of the outbuildings on the property. There was an old unused barn he’d hoped to use, but the Vasily family was already sleeping there, and it seemed like they multiplied every time he saw them so he’d decided against trying to share with them.
That left a little shed, empty save for the metal workbench that took up one long wall. In the past it might have been used for potting or hobby crafting by some witch, but the emptiness and the musty smell spoke to years of idleness. That had been fine with Demon, and he’d even thought that the table would be a boon, keeping him off the cold ground. When in fact all it had done was let the cold completely surround him.
Yes, tonight he’d be taking the tarp he carried in his side saddle and turning it into a tent on the porch, and if Bree complained, he’d just remind her that it was always handy to have a guard dog on the porch.
After stretching he walked outside to bright morning sun shining, turning the colors of dying autumn world into a beautiful golden tableau. Demon closed his eyes against it in pain. Why did the morning have to be so damn aggressive?
The yard was already full of people, obviously this was a rise and shine household. Demon walked over to his bike and retrieved his toothbrush and paste, intending to find a garden hose to take care of his hygiene the best way he could. He wasn’t about to ask Bree for the use of her bathroom, lest he somehow taint it for those who might come after him.
He walked around the house, watching the people around him as he went. They had paired off and were sparing with whatever powers they had.
The Vasily were up and outside the barn, they’d dropped their human façade and were showing their true selves, which he had to admit was a little bit horrifying. They looked like a human and a gorilla had had an ugly baby with hair like his uncle chimpanzee. And to top that off, they had razor sharp teeth that gleamed in the daylight like some type of white metal. He watched as they wrestled, huge limbs pulling and pushing. One got thrown into a fully grown tree and the tree cracked instead of the Vasily.
Demon made a mental note as he brushed his teeth, arm leaned up against the house, that if he decided to piss off one of the Vasily, he was going to do it over the phone.
A large group of Fae stood over to the side, he wasn’t sure if they were training or what, they just seemed to stand around shimmering vaguely before appearing a few feet away from where they had been before.
Yeah, if the Vasily took on the Fae, he was betting on the great apes.
Demon took his shirt off, disregarding the early morning chill, and splashed himself with the cold well water, scrubbing his face for good measure. Not much could bring you to full alertness like a face full of frigid water.
The witches were also out and practicing, and they were doing everything from levitating knives to kicking up sandstorms.
Sidney’s sister was the one making sandstorms and he was impressed. If she built up her little twisters much more she’d have a full blown tornado. That was always handy to have around. Bree and Cord seemed to be off to the side staring at each other. He knew Cord was a mind reader, so who knew what the two were doing.
Then there was Sidney, she was working with another woman, one he hadn’t met before. They seemed to be fighting by throwing small pieces of nature at each other and trying to deflect what the other threw at the same time.
Demon walked over to the tree line and found a spot of sunlight that had already warmed the ground, there he settled himself in to watch the two fling leaves at each other.
Sidney looked just as good as he remembered, and he appreciated the fact that leggings were the fashion now, because they clung to every curve she had, and she had a fair amount. The loose sweater she had on with it, on the other hand, could have been better. She probably should have just worn a tank top, or even a sports bra, to work in this morning. Sure it was chilly, but once you worked up a sweat it was fine. The sweater was covering entirely too much of that supple body for Demon’s liking.
She had her long auburn hair in a ponytail, exposing the curve of her neck. He remembered how she tasted just there, how warm and soft her skin had been. He remembered how she’d felt under his hands, and regret hot and sharp washed through him that he hadn’t gotten to feel and taste more of her. But he could hope to remedy that in the future.
His mind then went immediately to his brother while his eyes feasted on the woman he’d been with. Man, Red was fucking up. He wasn’t sure what was happening with him, but the man sure was doing a great job of fucking up his own life.
He’d lost this woman, who albeit gorgeous, seemed like a genuinely good person, much better than Red deserved. He had lost the respect of his town, and he was working hard on losing the respect of his own kind.
Demon had finally talked to Donny-O the night before, after the meeting with the witches, he’d wanted to hear both sides. And it was exactly like the witches had said it was.
The club had taken a vote and then Red had said fuck it and done what he wanted to. Which was A) work with the monster who tortured people, a fact Red had firsthand experience with himself B) agreed to turn on the community he’d lived in his whole life and C) violate the club charter by directly going against a majority vote. Yeah, it sounded like he had everything well in hand as club president.
Donny-O had said the guys didn’t like it. Part of the club was saying they should follow Red even if he was wrong, because he was the President, Part of them were saying they had to protect the town. And a smaller, but just as serious portion of them were talking about getting their families and taking off so they didn’t have to face fighting against either their own kind or turning on the other people of Three Rivers. What a clusterfuck. He wasn’t sure even he could have fucked up being President that fast.
“What are you looking at?” the young witch who was working with Sidney asked and Demon’s attention snapped back to what was going on around him. Sidney turned around to see who the girl was talking to.
“Oh nothing, just some kids playing catch with pinecones,” he smiled lazily at them both.
Sidney rolled her eyes, “Ignore him.”
“Oh, I’m hurt, all this time away and you want to ignore me?”
“All this time? It was a week,” Sidney said.
“Well, it was a very busy week for me,” Demon said, hopping up from his spot under the tree.
“Yeah, me too,” Sidney conceded looking back at the girl she was practicing with, “And I’ve got to keep practicing if I’m going to be any help this coming up week.”
“Planning on throwing a lot of pinecones at the bad guys?”
“Leave her alone asshole, she just got unblocked and she’s working on her control.” Sidney shot the younger witch a silencing glare.
Demon looked at her more seriously, “You have had a busy week.”
Sidney nodded at him. He stepped closer to her, “How about we go somewhere else and talk about our week, I bet you mine was even more exciting than yours.” He reached up and touched her arm, and the electric shock coursed through him, undiminished by their time apart.
She looked at him and he could tell she felt it too, “I can’t,” she said softly, looking back down, “I need to do this.”
He stepped back from her, dropping his hand, “You’ve got to take a break, how about lunch?” he saw her starting to waver and added, “I’ll even go buy it and bring it back, so we won’t have to be subjected to your cooking?”
She laughed and nodded, giving him one more glance before turning back to the witch she was with.
Demon grinned as he walked away, he might be an asshole to move in on his brother’s ex but god damn it he knew that look she’d just given him and that was the look that said he was going to be a very happy man later. It was that little sideways smile and eye flicker that meant, ‘I may try to be good, but I’m just waiting for you to convince me to be bad.’ He knew that look well, that was a look he could work with.
Then his face soured, he was going to have to go ask Bree if he could use one of her showers. Damn racist old people, why did they have to make things so difficult?
***
Demon toweled off as he walked through the house looking through the collection of rooms as he went, unconcerned about encountering anyone, as everyone was outside playing soldier.
Or so he’d thought until he walked past a small parlor full of old people. His towel immediately fell out of his hands and he rushed to pick it up and wrap it around his waist.
“Uh, hi,” he said as six sets of eyes turned toward him.
“Don’t worry about it son, I’ve seen more of those than you’d expect,” an old lady tittered as she poured herself a glass of sweet tea from the pitcher on the table.
These were the Old Ones, the ones who had been around since Jesus walked the Earth, maybe longer.
“Shonda, don’t embarrass the boy,” an old man laughed, “and pour me some of that tea.”
“Get your own tea Baylon, we got divorced over 500 years ago, you’ve got to get used to doing things on your own,” she turned back to Demon with a smile, “But I’ll pour this nice young man some tea. Come on in boy and have some,” the woman said and Demon could swear she was giving him the eye.
She sat back down on the sofa and scooted to the side, patting the spot beside her.
Demon came in and took the glass of tea that had been poured for him, but stayed standing. Naked in front of a group of old people wasn’t the most comfortable thing to be.
“So, uh, you guys aren’t out there practicing… uh, doing whatever you guys do?” Demon asked. He knew the old ones existed and that they lived in three Rivers, he just wasn’t exactly sure what they did or how they lived so long. Being that he was the town outsider meant he didn’t always know what everyone else just knew. Information friends just commonly talked about, like how the cook at the corner store got sent to prison and the burgers just hadn’t been the same since, or how the three thousand year old residents kept themselves looking like spry octogenarians.
“Oh no darling, we don’t fight but we can do… other things, and do them very well,” she raised her eyebrows at him, much to Demon’s semi shocked bemusement. Now he’d been with older women, but he was drawing the line at anyone over a thousand years older than him. A man just had to have standards.
“No son, we don’t fight, we heal,” said one of the other men. “That’s how we live so long, we can heal almost anything.” That made sense to Demon, if you could have only one ability, that wouldn’t be a bad one to have.
“Hell, Ronald there, has even been dead a couple of times and we cured him,” the man in question seemed to be half asleep, head lolling against the winged side of his chair, drool just starting to dribble out the corner of his mouth.
“Yeah, still not so sure that was the right thing to do, look at him Baylon, he’s never been the same,” Shonda said, jabbing a finger in the air in Ronald’s direction.
“So, you all are here for moral support,” he asked.
“This one is pretty, but dumb,” another lady said looking at Shonda, “Best leave him alone, you don’t want to take advantage of someone who isn’t all there.”
“Didn’t we just say we were healers? All you youngins go out there and get ripped up, and we’ll be sitting somewhere nice and comfy not too far away, healing you up as you fight.”
“Though you probably won’t need that will you son,” Baylon said, and started sniffing the air, “He smells like angel Shonda, but kinda like dog too.”
Demon looked around to see if anyone else was nearby.
“Oh yeah, they got that big taboo on mixing, best not mention it again Baylon,” Shonda said, “But maybe one day you’ll show me your wings, won’t you honey?” Then she winked at him and before he could stop her, she’d slipped a hand up his towel and pinched his ass.
Demon left the room feeling a little off center. It wasn’t every day he got sexually harassed by a lady who had been around since the dawn of time. And who knew, if things didn’t pan out with Sidney, he could always reconsider his previous standards. A man did have to have standards, but he also needed to know when it was time to drop them. Besides, how many people in the world could say they’d had sex with a grandma to the 85th power?