Evie
“Do you have food?” I ask the man, who pushes me away, and I fall to the ground. The demon doesn’t even look back as he walks away, and I look down, bursting into tears as rain pours down on me, and I sink further into the mud. My fifth birthday was two days ago, and the last time that I had eaten. My parents screamed as I accidentally set their rug on fire. They said I wasn’t human, that I was unnatural, and I had to leave. I screamed and screamed at them to not leave me, but they did.
“Hey, are you okay?” a woman asks, running over and picking me up off the floor. She holds me close, folding her cloak around me as I cry, and she rubs my back. The woman waves her hand, a blue light covering her hand, and I hear a door open. The woman carries me into the warm room, putting me down on something soft but I’m too scared to open my eyes.
“Hunny, you are safe now,” she says soothingly.
“I’m alone now,” I whimper.
“No, not anymore,” the woman says. I open my eyes, seeing a dark-skinned woman kneeling in front of me. She has long black hair, a weird mark on her right cheek, and a big smile. She has on a long dress; big grey eyes, and I don’t think she is a demon. I don’t know what she is, but she seems nice.
“I’m scared.”
“I know, but if you will trust me, I won’t leave you alone. The world isn’t good all the time, but I think if you can do one good thing, it’s a step in the right direction,” she says and stands up. “Do you like hot chocolate? I have some I can make you and then get you a meal.”
“Yes, please,” I whisper, and she smiles before walking away. I was never alone from that day on, even when I thought I always would be.
“Here, stop here,” I say to the taxi driver when a street light flashes in my eyes, and snaps me out the horrible memory. My human adoptive parents left me here on my fifth birthday, and never looked back. I guess I was lucky they thought I was a demon, even though the blue hair should have tipped them off, and they left me here where the Protectors couldn’t find me. The taxi driver instantly puts the breaks on and stops the taxi. He gives me a questioning look at where we’ve stopped. It looks like an empty field, but only supes would be able to see what it really is. I pay him, getting out of the taxi and watching as he turns around and drives off. I smooth down my tight, red dress, hoping that the dagger on my thighs can’t be seen. I hate dresses. The wind pushes my hair in my face and reminds me that I left my hair down, so it covers up the knife attached to my back. One bonus for having waist-length hair. Weapons aren’t really allowed here, but everyone brings them. It’s too dangerous not to. I have to wait ten more minutes for the Protectors’ car to turn up. Connor gets out first, shocking me a little to see him looking normal. And hot. Very fucking hot. His blonde hair is styled to the left, he has on black trousers and a loose blue shirt with a few buttons undone. I can’t see any weapons on him, but I’m not stupid enough to think he hasn’t hidden weapons somewhere.
“Wow,” Connor whistles, looking me up and down but my attention goes to the stranger that gets out of the back seat. He has messy black hair, a white shirt that is undone except for two buttons at the bottom, so I can see all the black ink covering his chest. It stops just before his neck. I lift my eyes to his green ones, that remind me of Trex. This must be the brother who I can’t remember the name of.
“You didn’t say she was fucking gorgeous, Con,” the brother muses, eyeing me up like a snack. The door smacks shut, just as Trex walks over.
“That’s because she is working with us, Nix, not here to fuck us,” Trex says, making me laugh, and his eyes narrow on mine.
“What is funny?” he asks as I roll my eyes over his tight, dark-green shirt–the way every button is done up–and his black trousers. He still looks too formal, but it will have to do.
“Your denial that you want me. I can see it,” I grin, and he scowls at me. “Anyway, boys, try to keep your mouths shut in here. Demons aren’t fans of Protectors.”
“It is our job to keep them in line, so I expect not,” Trex replies dryly.
“Keep in line, yes. But you guys send them to hell so much for just living, they hate you,” I tell them honestly. Most of the time, the demons are unfairly accused, and there is no trial to find out what happened, they are just sent back to hell without questioning. I turn around, walking to the small gate and pushing the wooden revolving gate which lets us through the barrier.
“Fucking hell,” I hear Nix curse behind me as the field disappears, and the demon underground appears. There are metal containers piled everywhere, the ones at the bottom are open with shops inside and the market in front of them. Other containers lead into diners, clubs, and other rooms. Music blasts from a nearby speaker, and people walk past us like we aren’t even here, dressed in similar clothes or cloaks. All sorts of people live here, but the demons run it. Mainly overlord demons who are meant to be banned from earth. Let’s hope the Protectors don’t see any of those around. There are five demon undergrounds as far as I know, and I should know because I grew up in them. When you are hunted by Protectors like demons are, demons became your friends and allies.
“Not a word about this place,” I warn them, knowing it’s likely they are going to die in hell, anyway, and never get a chance to tell anyone, so I’m not too worried. I only want to get my ass back out of hell with the princesses, not them. “This way.” I nod my head to the left and walk down the stone pathway. I keep my eyes down as I pass many people, not wanting anyone to know I’m here with these Protectors. I know too many people here, and so many wouldn’t take it well to see me walking Protectors into their homes. Hopefully, no one will notice they are something more than humans. We finally get to the building we want. It’s the only one around here that is made from bricks and concrete. It used to be a school, I think, but it’s been changed and now houses a nightclub for the most dangerous demons.
“Don’t drink or eat anything in here that I don’t give you, trust me,” I stop to warn them before walking up to the entrance. Two demon bouncers are outside, and one holds his arm in front of me to stop me. I can’t see their faces, only their cloaks and their red skin, letting me know they are likely very powerful demons.
“Password,” the one who stopped me asks.
“Sempiternum daemonum futurum oriri,” I say quietly, and he lowers his hand, letting me in with a glance. Connor walks closer to my side as we walk in the house, and down the long corridor that leads to the club.
“What did that mean? And how do you speak Latin?” Connor asks curiously.
“All demons speak Latin, some more than English, and I grew up with demons. Do you not bother speaking to them before you kill them?” I ask him, and he doesn’t reply. “I said ‘demons will rise’ in Latin, because the people here believe it.”
“You think of demons as people,” he says as he figures out my feelings on demons. They are people, they have feelings, they fall in love, and protect their families. Demons are better than humans in my experience. The only demons that aren’t people are overlords, and we are about to see one. Overlords are said to be thousands of years old, but I don’t know if that’s true. I doubt it, it’s likely a rumour.
“That’s one of the biggest mistakes of your kind, that you don’t see them as people,” I sneer at him and walk faster so that I’m ahead of him. I push the wooden doors open at the end of the corridor and walk into the night club as the loud music blasts against my ears. I look around, seeing demon women dancing with human men on the dance floor. They are succubus demons by the looks of their blue skin, black hair, and seductive bodies as they seduce the human men in suits out of their money. A female waitress, a lower-class demon with red skin and black eyes stops in front of us, offering us a drink from the tray she is holding.
“No. Do you speak English?” I ask her, and she pauses, giving me a worried nod.
“Good. I’m looking for Seth,” I ask, and her eyes widen. She goes to run away, and I grab her arm, stopping her.
“Tell Seth that Evie is here, he will want to see me,” I explain to her and let her go, watching as she runs away.
“Seems not just Protectors run from you,” Trex sarcastically comments. Asshole.
“She will tell him I’m here. Seth usually has company, so we will have to wait,” I reply calmly, not rising to Trex’s taunts.
“I think it’s time for a drink, and time we got to know each other better. We are going to hell after all, we should at least know some things about each other,” Nix says, walking to the bar without asking for my permission. I think I like him, he seems like an asshole. I follow him over, stopping him when he lifts a hand to order.
“Let me order, unless you want to wake up in a demon’s bed with your soul missing,” I say, lifting my own hand, and the demon bartender runs over. The bartender is young, with big blue eyes and a tired expression.
“Four normals, Jack Daniels if you have it. In fact, leave the bottle,” I tell him, and the bartender stares at me for a second before running off.
“Has that happened to you?” Connor asks with wide eyes as he waits at my side as the bartender gets our drinks. I walk over to an empty booth with a table, sliding into a seat. The guys sit next to me, Connor on my left and Nix on my right. As suspected, Trex sits as far away from me as possible.
“Not personally, but I know someone it did happen to. He died the next day; it was a shame. I liked him,” I say with a grin, that seems to worry them all. Luckily for them, the bartender comes over with four shot glasses, and a bottle of Jack Daniels.
“I’ve opened a tab, pay later, assassin,” the bartender says, bowing low, and walking away. I reach for the bottle, but Nix is quicker, grinning at me as he opens it.
“Too slow, love,” he says.
“Not another nickname. It’s bad enough what he calls me,” I point a finger at Connor, who leans closer, picking a strand of my blue hair up, twirling it around.
“But, Blue, it suits you,” he says seductively. Then he asks in a more serious tone, “How did you get your hair like this? Is it dyed?” I pick up the drink Nix poured for me, downing it before answering him. I’m tempted to lie, but there really isn’t much point. These guys won’t survive long, anyway.
“I’ve always had blue hair. I had a witch friend, who said the only way to get my hair this colour was to use the blue rune when I was too young, and for far too long. I must have been almost killed as a baby or something, and I called my rune subconsciously,” I tell them, and Trex stares at me as he downs his shot, pouring himself another one. I feel them all staring, but I just hold my hand out for the bottle, and Trex hands it to me. I don’t bother with the glass, just drinking from the bottle and putting it on the table, loving the burn of the liquor down my throat.
“I’ve heard of someone who has white hair. He used the white rune when he was four years old to heal himself from a deadly attack, and it turned his hair white and he couldn’t change it,” Trex says, and for a moment, we stare at each other. For a moment, I think he might be redeemable, and not a total asshole, but then he keeps talking. “It’s likely your parents knew what you were and tried to kill you for it.”
“The blue rune is holy fire. Holy fire only kills demons, so I wouldn’t have called it to kill my parents. It’s more likely demons tried to kill me and my parents, and I survived somehow,” I tell them, and a deep voice clears his throat from the end of the table.
“You called me, Evie darling?”