Читать книгу A Friend to the Darkness - Katherine Rathbone - Страница 2

It was weeks before I saw my new acquaintances again. This time was the middle of the day. I was walking my dog down by the river, enjoying the solitude, contemplating going for a swim. I decided it was probably too cold still. Maybe next week. The cold didn’t stop my dog, and I settled down on the riverbank to watch him play in the water.

“Hiya, Katie.” It was Sebastian’s musical voice. I leapt to my feet, and looked wildly around. He stepped from behind a tree, and gave me a knowing smile.

“Uh, hi.” I stammered. I’d almost convinced myself I had dreamt that night.

“Watcha doing down here?” He asked curiously.

“What are you doing here?” I shot back, trying not to let my nerves show. He smiled, and sat down, removing his boots. He rolled his pants up to his knees, and his long shirt sleeves up to his elbows. Without looking back at me, he waded a short distance into the water, before bending down and letting his arms drift in the current.

“Is that shirt silk? Won’t you ruin it if it gets wet?” Why did that pop into my head?!

He straightened, and turned to smirk at me. “Why? Do you want me to take it off?”

“Gross.” I snapped and looked away from him. “Come, Rufus.” I called to my dog. “We should go.” But the traitorous mutt splashed over to Sebastian instead. Sebastian laughed delightedly and patted my dog enthusiastically.

“Hey buddy!” He exclaimed, rubbing behind Rufus’ ears. “Oh, you’re a good boy, aren’t you?” He splashed down into the water, and wrestled and played with Rufus, giggling like a kid the whole time. I have to admit, it was pretty adorable. In spite of myself, I relaxed and smiled as I watched them.

Sebastian glanced over at me, a wide, genuine grin on his face. He looked a bit embarrassed, then shot me a guilty grin. “There’s no dogs in Hell. I love dogs.” He gave Rufus one final pat, then stood and came over to sit by me, dripping wet.

“You ruined your shirt.” I pointed out.

“Should have taken it off, I guess.” He absentmindedly rubbed his chest. We both watched Rufus sniffing around the nearby bush for a while.

“So what are you doing here, Sebastian? Come to take my soul to Hell?” I tried for a joking tone, but my voice wavered a bit on the last part.

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, and said seriously, “Contrary to popular belief, Lucifer and the rest of us don’t actually want your souls in Hell.” I snorted. He smiled and shook his head. “Cynical, aren’t we?” I shrugged. He was quiet for a while longer, before asking, “So, what did your friends say when you told them about the other night?” He glanced at me sideways.

I didn’t meet his eye as I replied bitterly, “What friends?”

He seemed taken aback. “I dunno, the cult maybe?”

I laughed. “They kicked me out before I even met you guys.”

“Seriously? Why?” He sounded shocked.

I blushed. “Because I said that if Lucifer wanted my soul, he’d have to work for it.”

Sebastian laughed again. “Seth did mention that you said that. Good for you.”

“Does he own your soul? And who is Seth?” I was curious.

“Seth is my brother, and I don’t have a soul. I’m a creature of the underworld. What you see is what you get.” He spread his hands and smiled charmingly.

“So when you die, you just… stop existing?” I was vaguely horrified.

“Yep. But I will live forever. Unless someone or something kills me.” I nodded thoughtfully.

“How old is your brother?” I asked slyly.

He smirked at me and met my eyes. “Younger than me.”

“Is he cute?” I grinned cheekily.

“Sweetheart, we’re all beautiful.”

“Just your family, or demonkind?” I shot back.

Sebastian laughed uproariously. “You do think I’m good looking.” He teased.

“Eh, if you’re into that kind of thing.”

“Demon thing?” He sounded cautious.

“Classic good looks, a jawline that could cut glass, and a smile brighter than my future.” I teased. He looked embarrassed. “Hmm, not to mention those muscles. Is that how you torture people? Make them watch you work out?”

He shifted uncomfortably, and looked at me wide eyed. I grinned at him, and gently punched his arm. “I win that round.” I smiled at him. He smiled back and shook his head at me.

“Aren’t you afraid of me? Of what I might do to you?” It was his turn to be curious.

I shrugged. “You only live once. And you don’t seem rapey. Plus, my dog likes you.”

“Your dog likes me? You risk your eternal soul, because your dog likes me?”

“There’s not many humans he takes to like that. I can’t think of a single better reason to ‘risk my eternal soul’.” I mocked him.

“I could literally tear you to pieces.” He raised his hand and showed me his talons.

I grabbed it and studied them closely. His skin was warm. “You won’t.” I said confidently, giving his hand back.

He flexed it, looked from it to me, and asked, “How do you know?”

“Who would look after my dog if I died?”

“What?” His face was so confused.

“You like my dog. If you killed me, there would be no one to look after him. You said there’re no dogs in Hell, so you can’t take him with you. And if you hurt me, I wouldn’t let you play with him anymore. So you won’t.”

He cocked his head at me. “I’m a demon. Who’s to say I care for anything?”

I shook my finger at him. “You can’t fool me, mister. I saw how you looked at him.”

He shook his head at me again, and said quietly, “you’re remarkable.”

“Not really. I just say what’s on my mind. No filter. Probably the reason I don’t have any friends.” I shrugged, and tossed a rock into the water.

“Their loss.” He murmured. I snorted again. He rolled his eyes, before standing and dusting himself off as well as he could. “Do you have plans for tomorrow night?”

I stood as well, before replying, “Literally just told you I have no friends. So no, I have no plans.”

“Can you sneak out?”

I grinned. “What mum doesn’t know, doesn’t hurt her.”

“Meet you here, then? Say, 11?”

“It’s a date.” I winked, and turned to walk away, calling Rufus as I went.

“What do you drink?” He called after me.

“I’m sixteen.” I turned back to him, grinning. He raised his eyebrows, not saying anything. I laughed. “Bourbon.” He nodded and disappeared. That was going to take some getting used to.

As 11pm the next evening drew nearer, I became more nervous. Was Sebastian going to bring friends? Or was it just me and him? He had known I was joking when I said it was a date, right? Right? I should’ve asked for details. I climbed silently out of my window, and made my way to the river.

When I arrived at the spot where I had seen Sebastian, there was a small group of people gathered around a fire. I approached them before I realised they were all human. From my school, no less. Shit.

“The fuck are you doing here, weirdo?” Some arsehole had noticed me.

I raised my hands, and said, “Leaving, don’t worry. Just meeting someone.”

“Pfft. Who would come down here to meet you?” His tone was derisive.

“Katie? Is that you?” Sebastian’s voice came from the path behind me. Wide eyed, I spun to look at him, worried that he was showing himself to these cretins.

I had no cause to worry, though. He appeared human, same hair, same eyes, no horns, no red skin, and no talons. He grinned at me. I shook myself. “Hey, you!” I walked over and took his warm hand. “Later, losers.” I threw over my shoulder to the group around the fire, who were staring, mouths agape. I pulled Sebastian down the path, out of sight.

“Hey.” He grinned at me, and looked at my hand in his. He… shimmered, and he was back to his usual form. I primly snatched my hand back.

“Hey.” I muttered, blushing.

He looked at me seriously, and raised an eyebrow, before looking back along the path we had just come down. “They seem like total jerks.”

“They are.” I replied shortly.

“We can fuck with them, if you want.” He studied me closely.

“That’s tempting. Are you here alone?”

“I brought Sera, and Seth wanted to meet you as well.”

“Well in that case, let’s forget about those wankers.”

He nodded, and held his hand out to me. I regarded it suspiciously. He rolled his eyes. “Take my hand, Katie.”

“Why?” I demanded.

“Just trust me.”

I snorted. “Never trust a good looking guy who says ‘trust me’.”

He sighed. “I’m not a guy, I’m a demon.” He pointed out.

I laughed, and took his hand. In the next instant, the landscape had changed, and we were standing at a secluded stretch of riverbank. There were two other demons seated at a small fire. I recognised Sera, and assumed the other had to be Seth.

“Holy shit, did we just teleport?!”

Sebastian laughed at my wonder. “Sure did.”

“You guys have heaps of cool tricks, hey!” I exclaimed. He laughed harder. Sera and the other demon got to their feet. I wandered closer.

“Hi, Sera.” I ventured shyly.

“Hi, Katie.” She smiled briefly at me.

Sebastian placed a hand in the small of my back. “Katie, meet our little brother, Seth. Seth, this is Katie.”

“Hey.” He held out a hand for me to shake. I took it mechanically. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” He smirked at me.

“All bad, I assume.” My voice wasn’t as steady as I had hoped it would be. Where Sebastian’s voice was musical, Seth’s was low, deep and impossibly sexy. I’m pretty sure I was blushing. Sebastian hadn’t lied when he told me they were all good looking. Seth’s features were sharper than Sebastian’s, but he was equally, possibly even more, beautiful than his older brother. His eyes, horns and talons were a deep cobalt blue, and his shoulder length, lustrous black hair swept back, held out of his eyes by his horns.

“Want a drink, Katie?” Sera was smirking at me. I realised my hand was still grasping Seth’s. I snatched it back and coughed.

“Yes, please.” I took the cup from her, avoiding Seth’s eyes. I drank it all down in one go, and held it out for a refill.

“Oh great.” Seth sounded bored. “A messy teenaged drunk girl. This will be fun.” He rolled his eyes at Sebastian.

“Listen, buddy.” I stepped close to Seth and jabbed a finger in his chest. “I’m Australian. Drinking is our national sport. I could drink your demon arse straight back to Hell, bitch.”

He glared at me, and the night went silent. The flames in the fire died down, and he loomed over me. I refused to take a step back, and kept glaring him in the eye, craning my neck further back the taller he got.

I put my hands on my hips, looked him up and down, and said in a mocking tone, “Compensating for something there, buddy?”

Sera gasped, and Sebastian burst into laughter. Seth looked taken aback, then resumed his normal size and laughed too. He looked over my shoulder at Sebastian and said, “Maybe you’re right. She might be remarkable.” He smirked at me, said, “Wouldn’t you love to find out?” and leaned forward as if he was going to kiss me. I stepped back first. Dammit. He grinned and swaggered over to his spot by the fire.

Sebastian clapped his hand on my shoulder. “That round goes to Seth, I believe.” His eyes twinkled.

“Mmh.” I grumbled, and sat by the fire, away from Seth. I took a sip from my refilled drink. “So are all demons brothers and sisters? Lucifer’s children?” I asked curiously. My companions exchanged guarded glances. Sera answered.

“Um, no.” She swallowed. “Lucifer doesn’t have children. Our father is... a different demon. We’re not all related, but we do call each other brother and sister, which gets confusing, I guess. These guys are actually my brothers, same parents. And we have another sister too, Sebine.”

Seth hissed, and Sebastian glared at her. “We, uh, we don’t get on with her.” She added quickly, avoiding her brother’s gaze.

“Family can be tough.” I offered. They nodded, and gazed into the fire, lost in thought. I sat quietly, sipping my drink. Eventually, Sera offered me a smoke, and asked,

“So, tell us about your life.”

I coughed, and looked around. “My life? It’s boring as… Well, it’s boring!”

“Aha, you were going to say boring as Hell!” Sebastian exclaimed. “Which happens to be our life. Therefore, yours must be more interesting!”

I rolled my eyes at him, and began to talk. They all seemed surprisingly interested in my day to day life, asking me probing questions, telling me to clarify things they didn’t understand, and even offering me advice. It wasn’t very good advice, granted- it involved a lot of disembowelling people, but at least they offered. We laughed, and talked, and drank, and smoked.

I was pleasantly buzzed, when I noticed Seth and Sebastian exchanging glances. Suspiciously, I asked, “Can you read minds?”

“Hmm? What?” Sebastian asked.

“Can you read minds?” I repeated, glaring at them. “Have you been reading my mind?!”

“What? No, we can’t read minds!” Sebastian exclaimed.

“Then how did Sera call you, that night we met?” I challenged him.

“That’s different.” Sera replied for him. “We can hear prayers addressed to us and Lucifer. It’s really hard topside, so we can’t like, have a conversation by praying to each other.”

“What are you two doing then?”

Seth smiled lazily. “We’re brothers. We don’t always need to speak to communicate.”

I glared at him and sniffed. Seth grinned. “Do you want to know what we were talking about?”

I tossed my head. The answer was a resounding yes, but I didn’t want him to know that. “Whatever.” My tone was nonchalant. Finally I was getting the hang of chatting with these guys.

Sebastian barked a quick laugh. “Seth here was asking if he should ask you something. I was strongly suggesting he didn’t.”

I raised my eyebrow at Seth. He smirked back at me.

“Well?” I snapped. “What do you want to ask me?”

He straightened, and smiled at me. It was almost predatory. He captured my eyes with his cobalt ones, and I felt my pulse quicken. “Sebastian doesn’t think I should ask.” God, his voice was so sexy. I raised an eyebrow at him. He snorted, looked away from me for a second, then back into my eyes. “Wanna fuck?”

I blinked. “Wanna die?” I snapped back at him.

He smiled widely. “You wouldn’t even know how to kill me, Human.”

I smiled back coldly. “I’m pretty sure those knives that Sera is carrying would do the trick.”

He chuckled, and held his hand out to her. With obvious misgivings, she pulled a knife from behind her back. He took it, and walked over to me, holding it out. “This knife?” He smirked.

I took it from his hand and admired it. It was beautiful. There were two curved blades made from a smoky grey material on either side of a leather bound handle. I balanced it on my finger, watching the way it held steady, right in the centre.

“So, wanna fuck?” Seth asked again.

I got to my feet and grasped the knife, looking him in the eye. “No.” My voice didn’t even shake a little bit.

“Aw, why not? Don’t you think I’m pretty?”

“I guess you’re kinda pretty. For a really old dude.” I conceded.

Sebastian and Sera roared with laughter, and Seth spluttered.

“Katie wins that round!” Sebastian was still laughing. Seth sniffed.

“In demon terms, I’m roughly the age as you.” He pouted.

I smiled and held out my hand. “Friends?”

He regarded it for a moment, then shook it firmly. “Friends.” He agreed, with a grin. His face became serious, and he kept a hold of my hand. “Just so you know, we punish the wicked, not… not good people. I wouldn’t have… you know… hurt you.” He mumbled. I gave his hand a quick squeeze.

“I didn’t think you would.” I reassured him.

“Sure.” He scoffed, taking his hand back. “You thought I was going to eat your soul.”

“Can you do that?!”

He rolled his eyes at me. “No.”

“Oh.” I was disappointed. There were more than a few people that I’d like to see my new friends chow down on. Oh well. I offered Sera her knife back. She shook her head and smiled.

“I have a feeling you might need that. You keep it.” She stood and pulled her top up, revealing rock hard abs. She removed a sheath from around her waist and handed it to me.

“Damn, girl! That isn’t going to fit me! You’re as fit as…” I trailed off, realising I was about to say ‘Hell’ again.

“Don’t be daft.” She sounded uncomfortable. “Of course it will fit.”

I was surprised to find she was right, and I threw my arms around her in delight. “Thank you!” I exclaimed. She patted my back awkwardly, before gently pushing me away.

“That’s ok. No need to, uh, hug about it.” She sounded embarrassed.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” I stepped back. “I didn’t mean to overstep.”

Sebastian waltzed over and gave me a quick squeeze. “You didn’t overstep. Sera just isn’t a hugger.” He smiled at me, and she shrugged.

Seth smirked. “I’ll have a hug.” I flipped him the bird without looking at him, and asked if anyone else wanted a drink.

And that was how most of our weekends went over the next couple of months. We fell into an easy routine of chatting and laughing together, down by the river. As the weather warmed, we often swam too. Demons love to swim, apparently. I found myself itching for the weekends, to discuss books with Seth, movies with Sebastian, and life in general.