Читать книгу A Friend to the Darkness - Katherine Rathbone - Страница 7

The next time I saw them was in a shopping centre. I was walking, lost in thought, when I heard Sera’s voice. “Hiya, Katie.”

“Hey guys!” I gave Sebastian a quick hug, and nodded at his more aloof sister. I turned to Seth, who smirked and drawled,

“Do I get a hug?”

“I’m not hugging you, you creepy old man.” I scolded. A middle aged woman walking past jumped, looking quickly from me to the unusually good looking teenaged boy I was talking to, and shook her head in confusion. We all laughed at her.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked.

“Asking you if you want to catch up tonight. And getting snacks if the answer is yes.” Sebastian grinned at me.

“Absolutely!”

Night had fallen as we made our way out of the shopping centre, my friends walking with me to the spot where I was meeting mum when she finished work. We were laughing and joking, when a woman’s scream cut through the night, from the alleyway we were approaching. Sera eased a knife in its sheath, glanced at us, and disappeared. She reappeared in a moment, and said curtly, “Get her out of here.” Seth reached for me, but I danced out of his grasp and ran to the alley.

“Fuck that!” I yelled over my shoulder. I’m sure all three of them growled as they ran after me.

Inside the alley, I stopped short. There was a woman, beaten and bruised, her clothes torn, her face tear stained. She was surrounded by no less than six leering men, one of whom had his cock in his hand. My friends passed me, and stood arrayed across the mouth of the alleyway. Sera casually flipped a knife up into her hand, and said, “Dear one, how about you take this lady somewhere safe.”

The woman pushed past the men, and bolted towards me. I held out my hands to her, but she shoved me to the ground, hissing, “Stay the fuck away from me” as she ran on by. Sera glanced back at me, and said gently,

“You probably don’t want to watch us work, dear one.”

I did, though. I wanted to see these arseholes punished with all the fury of Hell.

The guy with his cock in his hand swaggered closer to Sera. “You wanna play, pretty girl?” Gross. Sera gave him a cold smile, and started to grow. Her talons appeared as she slowly dropped her glamour. Her skin resumed its familiar red hue, and her sky blue horns appeared to erupt from her head. The world was silent, and the air felt thick. The creep looked to Seth in panic, who grinned widely at him and dropped his glamour all at once, looming to match his sister. When the rapist looked at Sebastian, he was already looming above him, his true form revealed.

I grinned savagely as the creep went white and staggered backwards. “Hey now, we don’t want any trouble!” He mumbled nervously.

Sera tilted her head, and regarded him in the same way a bird of prey regards a mouse. “Neither did she.” Her voice was emotionless. He giggled nervously. Almost casually, she stepped forward, coming down to her regular size, reached out, and tore his cock off.

Pandemonium broke out. He screamed and screamed. His companions tried to run past him, but Seth and Sebastian blocked their path, snapping necks and crushing spines. One guy managed to get past them. As he ran past me, ignoring me, I stuck my foot out and he went sprawling. Sebastian looked at me questioningly, then laughed gleefully when I gave him another savage grin. Seb crushed the guy’s skull.

It was over almost before it began. My friends shooed me away to meet my mother and get home, saying that Lucifer was summoning them and they had to go, that they were in big trouble. They looked guiltily at the carnage surrounding them. “I mean it’s not like they were getting in, anyway. We haven’t messed with history too badly.” I heard Sebastian reasoning as I left.

I told mum I had a headache when we got home, and went straight to bed. I didn’t sleep much, though. I didn’t feel at all bad about witnessing the gruesome demise of those six guys, and that worried me. I should feel something other than a savage euphoria, right? Around three am, I prayed half- heartedly to Seth, not sure if he’d be able to come to me. I just wanted someone to bounce those thoughts off.

To my surprise, he appeared immediately. He looked tired, though. “Are you ok?” I whispered concernedly. He stared at me in surprise, then clapped his hands over his mouth, trying to hold in laughter. He quickly took my hand and we teleported to the same park bench where I had met Sera and Sebastian, where Seth gave in to his mirth and roared with laughter.

“What’s so fucking funny?” I demanded.

He brought himself under control, wiping his eyes, and replied, “Oh, nothing. It’s just that Lucifer is ready to tear my horns out- and the others, too- because he’s worried that we’ve scarred you for life. Yet you summon me to ask if I’m ok!” And he burst into peals of laughter again. I rolled my eyes at him, and gave him a moment.

Eventually, I snapped, “Are you done?”

He wiped his eyes again, and said “Yes”, with a little snort. Then more seriously, “Yes. Are you ok, Katie?” He looked at me questioningly.

“I don’t know.” I spread my hands. Seth nodded.

“I bet that was pretty confronting. I’m sorry we showed you that side of us.”

“That’s just it, though!” I exclaimed. “I’m not bothered at all! I don’t feel at all bad for them. Does that make me a monster?”

He looked at me thoughtfully. “What about her?”

“What?”

“The woman. How do you feel about her?”

Tears pricked my eyes. “I feel terrible for her. I wish I could help her.”

“There is your answer, dear one. You see things in black and white. There is no grey area for you. They did something evil, and they were punished, so your mind refuses to let you dwell on it. If you start feeling that coldly towards innocents though… Well, then you’d probably best stop hanging out with demons.” He smiled slightly.

I nodded thoughtfully. “I didn’t think you guys were allowed to kill humans.”

Seth winced. “We’re not. Lucifer is ropable.”

“Then why did you?”

He looked at me with possibly the most serious expression I’d ever seen him have. “Because of you.”

“Me?” I was confused.

He looked at the ground. “We almost didn’t come up here tonight. If we weren’t there, if you’d left the shopping centre and got to that alley by yourself…”

I shuddered.

He looked up, skewering me with his cobalt eyes. “We all thought the same thing. ‘Fuck, what if that was Katie?’” He paused. “It enraged us, and we lost control. We care about you, dear one.”

I smiled tentatively, and reached out and squeezed his hand. “Thank you. What did you do with them? Did you leave them there for someone to find?” I asked curiously.

He shrugged. “Mt. Everest.”

“What?” I was confused.

“We took them to Mt Everest. Near the summit but away from the trail to the top. There’s so many dead bodies up there, we figured a few more wouldn’t hurt. That’s why I’m tired. It’s easier to take a dead body than a live person, but it’s still a long way.”

I nodded thoughtfully. “It’s really nice, knowing you guys are looking out for me.”

He grinned, and gave an elaborate bow. “Demon cavalry, at your service ma’am!”

“Well then can a demon take me home? I’m so tired, and I’m about to be carried off to Hell by the mozzies.”

He returned me to my room, and I slept like a baby for the rest of the night.

The next weekend, Sera and Seth were alone by the river when I arrived. “Hiya, Katie!” Seth called.

“Hey!” I flopped to the ground. “Ugh, why don’t you guys pick me up from my room? Why do I have to walk when I have friends who can teleport?” I complained.

Sera smiled. “It’s good for you.”

I poked my tongue out at her. “Can I have a have a drink?” I asked, eyeing the bottle of bourbon.

“You have to work for it first.” Seth smirked.

“But I had to walk so faaaar.” I whined. “Hang on, what do you mean, ‘work’?”

“Your cast is off, your arm has had plenty of time to heal, time to get back to your training.” His tone was businesslike. “Sera and I will pick you up from your place when your mum is working late, just like before. You’ll be kicking Sebastian’s arse in no time.”

“Ok.” I sighed, then added, “Where is Seb?” Seth smirked and looked at Sera, who coughed and looked embarrassed.

“He’s ah…. He’s with… a um, a pet.”

“What, is he keeping a dog somewhere? That’s adorable.”

Sera shifted her feet and looked more uncomfortable. “A human.” She admitted quietly.

“Like me?” Seth guffawed, and Sera glared at him.

“You’re not a pet, you’re our friend.” Sera clarified.

“What’s the difference?” I was confused.

Seth grinned widely at me. Sera still looked uncomfortable. “Pets… they… I dunno, they kinda worship us. It’s fun to have them do stuff for us.”

I looked from Seth’s grin, to Sera’s uncomfortable face, and thought I probably didn’t want to know more.

But I needed to know more. “Do you force them to? Like how Lucifer tried to force me to get him a drink that one time?” My heart thudded as I waited for the answer.

“No.” They both looked at me steadily.

“Ok then. Let’s train.” They both looked relieved that I dropped the subject of pets.

They pushed me hard, and over the coming weeks, I started feeling really strong. I decided I liked the way my body felt, and took up running on the nights when mum was home. My aim with the knives improved, and I started to feel like I might be able to defend myself with my favourite double bladed knife, the one Sera had given me at first. Against a human, at any rate.