Chapter

Chapter 5

Michael was in predator mode, bypassing several low level demons that didn’t grab his interest when he suddenly slowed his pace near an old house. There… he felt it… a demon with a fair amount of power was lurking somewhere inside among the stench of rotting corpses.

A wicked smile appeared on his face. Michael approached the front door and politely knocked.

An elderly man wearing a stained shirt and frayed dress pants opened the door as far as the latch chain would allow. He eyed the well-dressed man up and down. “Whatever you’re selling, I ain’t buying,” he slurred and brought a bottle of cheap liquor to his lips intending to spit it in the salesman’s face.

Michael suddenly hit the door with his palm, breaking the chain lock and reached for the disguised demon. In one fluid movement he jerked him out the door, tossing him into the front yard like a rag doll.

Kane frowned when the old man looking every bit in his late eighties practically cart wheeled across the grass and slammed against the trunk of a tree. When he crumpled to the ground like any senior citizen would have, Kane started to stand up thinking maybe Michael had either lost his mind or made a horrible mistake.

He slowly lowered back into a crouch when the arms and legs of the body reminded him of a contortionist as broken bones righted themselves and popped back into place. The old man persona literally melted away revealing something that looked almost like a human sized bat, minus the wings.

“Gonna do that right here in public are we,” Kane breathed knowing Michael was usually a hell of a lot more discreet than this when fighting demons.

The creature looked like it was made out of worn leather, its skin stretched taut over a wiry body showing a thin but defined muscle structure. The upper body appeared almost too wide for its legs to hold it upright and its fingers and toes sported long black claws. Its head was the worst, no hair whatsoever with two long pointed ears and what appeared to be a pig-like snout above two tiny rows of sharp teeth.

“Holy shit batman,” Kane whispered and almost laughed at his own humor. Yeah, it was an old and cheesy joke but he didn’t care… this was the perfect moment to use it.

Michael arched an eyebrow when the demon leapt at him, pushing him back against the front wall of the house with a bone jarring thud. The brick crumbled around them and Michael smirked in its hissing face.

“You’re just the snack I’ve been looking for,” Michael said and let the smirk widen so the demon could see his elongated fangs.

“We will see who eats who vampire,” the demon’s voice was full of conceit.

Grabbing the demon by the neck, Michael rolled against the wall but had to quickly release it when the demon’s mouth opened and clear liquid began to drip hitting the sleeve of his coat. The liquid burned through the material like acid making Michael hastily discard it. He tossed the coat aside and watched, fascinated when the acid ate huge holes in the thick material.

Michael jerked his gaze back towards his opponent and growled knowing that’s exactly what the demon had been up to when it had started to spit in his face.

The demon laughed and suddenly came at him, this time swiping its sharp claws through the air. Michael winced when they caught him on the arm and he could feel an intense burning where they made contact. Grabbing the demon, they tumbled down the steps and back out into the grass as they rolled, both trying to gain dominance.

The demon’s acid was eating through his skin but he was healing just as quickly as the wounds could start. Michael let himself enjoy the pain and the fact that picking on the more powerful demons was definitely a learning experience and a hell of a lot more fun than the quick kills.

Michael caught the demon by both wrists in a tight grip and twisted until the bone shattered and crunched under his fingers. The demons head snapped forward with intent to bite but Michael beat him to the punch by grabbing the head and sinking his teeth into the demons neck. The demon screamed and tried to scratch at him with its broken hands doing very little damage.

He hadn't had time to completely drain the demon when somewhere below the pitch of the scream he heard a soft whimper from behind him and jerked his head back to look toward the source of the sound. Michael’s black eyes widened and some of the amethyst resurfaced within them when he saw a young boy standing under a street lamp holding a soccer ball and wearing a sport uniform.

Michael relaxed his hold on the squalling demon when he noticed that it was him the boy was staring in horror at… not the deformed monster in his clutches.

Kane quickly rose to his feet glaring at the demon that had reverted back to its human disguise and was now crawling across the grass. “Don’t even think about it ugly,” he hissed softly hoping the demon would hear him.

The kid couldn’t have been more than ten years old and since this was a rather safe neighborhood by human standards, he was probably on his way home from a friend’s house. He regretted the fact that the humans weren’t aware of the demon population. If they were, then they would know to keep better watch over their children this late at night.

A feral snarl erupted from Kane’s throat when the demon ran toward the child obviously deciding the boy would be a good hostage to put between him and the vampire he was losing the fight too. Kane moved at the exact same moment Michael did. He traced from the roof hitting the sidewalk and took up the child just as Michael tackled the demon to the ground and pushed its ugly face into the pavement.

“I don’t think so,” Michael couldn’t control his rage… it was one of the reasons he despised demons. Their need to prey on children was sickening to him and those that had taken the lives of the innocent deserved the most painful death imaginable.

His fury only fueled his blood hunger and Michael bared his fangs in a primal smile before sinking them into the back of the demons neck. He growled in satisfaction when they actually grazed the bone of its spinal cord.

The demon thrashed on the ground, acid dripping from its claws in a vain attempt to get away. They made deep grooves in the sidewalk accompanied by the hissing noise associated with the corrosive substance.

“Shhh, it’s all right. I’ve got you,” Kane murmured softly and pressed the frightened boy’s face against the arc of his neck so he wouldn’t see any more than he already had. Just the sounds that the demon was making was probably enough to give a grown man nightmares… no need to add a visual.

He wanted to make sure Michael had everything under control before he left with the boy but that’s when the ground began to shake causing a few windows to break and street lamps to explode. Car alarms began to beep and honk and some of the homes trembled in their foundations.

Kane held the child a little tighter and backed into the shadows when the last of the amethyst light died in Michael’s eyes and the darkness that was left changed to blood red. He shook his head knowing there was more than just one monster in the yard.

Michael closed his eyes and pulled back refusing to take the remaining life force from the creature. He took a moment to savor the sound of the demon whining pitifully beneath him, still weakly clawing at the pavement. Feeling no pity, Michael bit down and snapped its neck. When he stood up and looked down at the demon, he noticed its body still twitching and its eyes still wide with fear of the unknown.

“You don’t deserve a quick death,” Michael said quietly, his rage evident in his expression as he raised his boot and slammed it down on the demons deformed skull.

He smirked seeing the eyes were still open but this time it was a true death stare.

He jerked his head around suddenly feeling like he’d forgotten something important. That was when Michael noticed the trembling of the earth around him. He glanced up at the tree next to him watching it sway even though there was no breeze to be felt. Michael closed his eyes and listened past the alarms to the humans within their houses as they called out to each other in fear.

He prophesized that the stories they would share over their morning coffee wouldn’t be about the demons that lived among them but about the dishes that had shattered on the floor and the threat of an even bigger earthquake coming. An earthquake would be a blessing compared to what was really coming for them.

Looking down at the demon in disgust, Michael was disappointed not to feel as big of a rush as he’d wished. He stepped in its neck as he walked across it and back onto the street in search for his next victim.

Less than a block away, Kane placed the boy down on the sidewalk and knelt down in front of him, keeping his hands on his shoulders to keep him from fleeing. He let the pupils of his eyes enlarge as he held the boys frightened gaze.

“You’re not scared anymore,” he said calmly and smiled when the boy’s expression softened. He’d have to hand it to the kid because even while face to face with a demon, he hadn't screamed or cried hysterically… though none of that would have saved him anyway. “What’s your name son?”

“Aaron,” the boy said as a warm feeling settled over him.

“And how old are you Aaron?” he asked.

“I’m ten. I just had a birthday,” he smiled faintly.

“Ten is a good age,” Kane said and tapped the boy under his chin playfully. “But right now, I need you to forget what you just saw. I don’t even want you to remember me. It’s time for you to head home… okay?” Before he let the boy go Kane added, “From now on… let’s refuse to be out walking by ourselves after dark… got it?”

Aaron nodded and started jogging in the same direction he’d been heading in the first place.

Kane heard the sirens closing in the distance and took a deep breath hoping Michael’s little earthquake hadn't actually hurt anyone. He doubted it and figured a couple people must have dialed 911 in their panic. Tracing back to the abandoned house, he frowned at what was left of the quickly rotting demon still laying in the yard.

He huffed at Michael’s messiness and grabbed the demon by the foot, making a face at how its skin felt like the skin of a baked chicken. How in the hell could Michael stomach sinking his teeth into something like that? Dragging it up the steps and into the house, he dropped it on the floor and shut the door behind them. Trying to take shallow breaths, he almost gagged at the stench of rotting flesh coming from deeper in the house.

Kane walked into the living room area of the house and paused finding the reason for the stench. Two vampires had been pinned… no… more like crucified to the wall with parts of them actually gone. The corpses were beginning to dissolve and Kane wondered briefly why the demon even bothered with the useless torture after it had killed them.

Passing through the living room, Kane entered the kitchen and sighed sadly. On the kitchen table was the body of a woman. It looked like she’d been tortured slowly, tied down to the table top. Again parts of the woman were missing and Kane wrinkled his nose in disgust at some demon’s eating habits.

He was about to leave the house through the back door when he caught a light whiff of saline in the air reminding him of the scent of tears. Turning to the wooden door the scent seemed to be drifting from Kane opened it and eyed the stairs leading down into a deep basement.

Not wanting to waste his time, Kane opened his mind to any other minds that were still functioning in the area. If there was something alive down there then he would be able to hear its thoughts. He stood still willing to give it a few seconds but when nothing came he turned to leave. That was when he heard something… a faint whimper, but he couldn't tell what direction it was coming from because it was echoing in his own mind.

Not having a choice, he descended the staircase not knowing what awaited him. The smell of decay got worse the further down he went and Kane readied himself for the possibility that he would have to put some tortured soul out of their misery. When one of the old wooden steps creaked, he heard the whimpering sound again and it quickly escalated into a muffled sob.

In an instant, Kane was standing at the bottom of the stairs and his rage surfaced when he saw two small children tied up and gagged sitting against the cold damp wall. They were young… younger than the boy Aaron. He swallowed his fury not wanting to frighten them any more than they already were.

Wasting no time, he quickly approached them and started untying the knots around their wrists and ankles. When the sobbing changed from mental to vocal and got worse, Kane knew he had to do something to calm them down.

“There’s no such thing as monsters,” Kane said soothingly, the pupils of his amethyst eyes enlarging. “I’ve come to help you get home.”

“Are you a cop,” the girl asked tearfully when Kane removed her gag.

Kane smiled, “Not a cop, but I know one and I’m going to call him right now.”

Reaching into his pocket, he flipped open his cell phone and brought up Chad’s number in his contacts list. He put it on speaker so the children would hear.

“Officer Sexton,” Chad answered.

“Chad, this is Kane. I just found two little ones in the basement of an old abandoned house.”

“Damn,” Chad whispered then asked, “Do they need an ambulance?”

“No, too scary… but I think a slow drive to the hospital in a cop car would be fun.” Kane ruffled the boy’s hair then winked at the little girl. “It should be up to them if you turn on your sirens or not.”

“Okay, I’m at Moon Dance visiting Envy. Give me the address and I’ll be right there with the officer we’ve chosen to specialize in situations like this.”

“As for where we are, just follow the 911 calls that came in a few minutes ago about a minor earthquake. Some of your patrol cars are already in the neighborhood but we don’t want them… we want you. Wear your badge,” Kane instructed. “These two have been through a lot and I want them to feel safe.”

Kane closed his phone and busied himself untying the knots from around the boy’s ankles. As soon as the rope slid to the floor, the boy jumped on him and wrapped his arms around Kane’s neck. The little girl did the same thing and Kane held onto them returning their tight hugs.

His thoughts darkened and he heard thunder in the distance. Michael might be out of control right now but if he hadn’t killed that demon… these two wouldn’t have been found until it was too late. He glanced around the partial brick and dirt walls seeing that the spider webs were the only other signs of life. Getting a better hold on the kids, Kane stood up and they both lifted their heads to look at him.

“I want you to forget what really happened down here. When the police arrive, tell them a husband and wife team grabbed the both of you but they are gone now. You don’t know what they look like because they wore funny looking bags on their heads and the whole time neither of you were scared nor mistreated. You played games and ate lots of candy… remember?”

The children nodded as flashbacks of grownups wearing funny looking bags on their heads slipped through their mind.

Kane traced through the house so they wouldn’t see the dead bodies. He kneeled down on the grass and smiled softly when they refused to let him go. A few minutes passed before he saw a set of headlights coming down the street with a single light flashing on the roof of a car.

He frowned lightly when Chad pulled up driving Evey and wondered where Trevor was but decided to inquire later. As Chad got out, the familiar blue and red flashers from a patrol car pulled up and parked directly behind him. The officer grabbed two blankets from the backseat of the squad car before joining Chad.

“Are these the children you found?” Chad asked squatting down in front of them.

Kane couldn't resist, “No… there two are mine and Tabatha's. They grow so fast don’t they?”

Chad rolled his eyes knowing he’d deserved a stupid answer to a stupid question.

The children looked up from Kane’s shoulders and blinked at the bright red and blue lights. The officer, who was a female werewolf, squatted down and wrapped the blankets around the children who still had a death grip on Kane’s neck.

“These are the Williams siblings,” the female officer exclaimed. “They’ve been missing since yesterday morning.”

Kane caught Chad’s gaze and informed him, “Yeah, they told me all about the two silly grownups wearing funny bags on their heads. They’ve been busy eating candy and playing games… though it wouldn’t hurt to feed them soon.”

“And the bag heads?” Chad asked knowing it was a code word for demon.

Kane glanced over his shoulder at the house. “The clues are in there,” he said letting Chad know there was a mess to clean up after he got the kids out of here.

Chad nodded, “We’ll take care of it after we get the kids checked out and call their parents.”

“I want my mommy,” the little girl said with a pout.

“Can he come home with us?” the boy asked holding on to Kane.

Kane shook his head, “I can’t. You see, my brother is lost and I need to find him before he gets himself into trouble.”

“Are you a super hero?” the girl inquired.

The female officer smiled at the innocent question while Chad chuckled.

“No, Kane’s not a super hero,” Chad answered. “But he’s the next best thing.”

“Kane,” the boy whispered and smiled. “I’ll make sure to tell mommy and daddy about you.”

Kane smiled imagining how happy they were getting ready to make two very worried parents. “The quicker you go with the pretty lady here, the faster you will get to your mom and dad.” He gently nudged them toward the female were. “And within a few minutes you will forget about me.”

By the time the kids looked over their shoulders at him… Kane was gone.