The Trouble with Demons Read online

  Anyone else might have shaken at the tone of his words they were spoken as darkly as any demon might, but Hunter wouldn’t be cowed. Then he smugly realized he now knew the Kubiteron’s name, even if she refused to give it to him. “Who are you?”

  The redhead’s temple wrinkled and he fisted his hands. “Her uncle. I ask again, where is she?”

  “She and a friend of mine are searching for my father. They hope he can cure my illness.”

  “That doctors cannot remedy?”

  “Nor could your niece’s healing skills.”

  Her uncle’s eyes narrowed. “What do you know about us?”

  Nothing, until now. The uncle and his cohorts were not demon, yet his question provoked more uncertainty. Hunter dared not reveal he was half demon if these people did not believe Alana was one. “I know only that Alana tried to help me with… prayer and it didn’t work.”

  “You are not a…” The uncle did not finish his statement.

  Demon? Or was there something else her uncle thought he was? Some other dark being? Hunter only knew of demons. Jared kept warning him Alana was half demon, but the other half wasn’t exactly human. If not human, then what?

  Hunter motioned weakly to the chairs sitting against the wall. The pain still streaked through every nerve, and his body barely responded to his commands. “You’re welcome to wait for them.”

  Her uncle scowled. “How did you imprison her? You appear too weak to do anything.”

  “Imprison her?” Hunter feigned innocence, though he wasn’t sure any demon, half or otherwise, could pretend such a thing and get away with it.

  “She said you called her to you.”

  Hunter furrowed his brow, which wasn’t difficult given the excruciating pain he was in. “Called her to me?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Crissie touched Hunter’s hand, and he squeezed hers, glad—despite not wanting to meet her initially—that he finally had. She seemed genuinely concerned for his welfare. And he wondered how different his life would have been if his real mother had raised him. Though thinking of such a thing was probably self-defeating.

  “You are not to take that tone of voice with my son!” his mother said, her voice almost reaching passable demon tenor.

  Suddenly, Hunter’s human father stalked into the room. “What’s the meaning of this?”

  The men moved aside. For an instant, his father stared at Crissie. Did he recognize her? Either he did, or he guessed who she might be as much as he looked both upset and worried. She stood her ground. Hunter couldn’t have felt any sicker than he already did.

  “Who are all these people?”

  “They’re looking for a friend of mine.” Hunter knew whatever was said now would be the hardest for his father to hear, but there was nothing Hunter could do to prevent it.

  Alana’s uncle said, “Hunter says my niece is looking for his father.”

  His adoptive father looked at Hunter, hurt and indignation in his eyes. “Is this true?”

  “Yes, Dad. Alana and Jared have gone in search of my birth father, hoping he might be able to provide the cure for the poison in my blood.”

  “That’s utter nonsense.”

  “It is not,” his mother said. “If anyone can save him, it’s his flesh and blood father.”

  “You believe this, Son?”

  “Yes, Dad. Nothing my birth father can do will change the way I feel about you, Mom, and Dara. But maybe he can give me a chance at life.”

  “Alana is returning here?” her uncle asked.

  “Yes.”

  Her uncle took a seat. “Then we’ll wait. I want the whole truth of the matter.”

  “If my son says your niece is looking for his birth father, then you can take his word for it.” His father turned to Hunter. “I hope you know what you’re doing. I have to get to the morgue. I’m already late. Your mother will be by later this afternoon.” He gave the men a disgruntled look, slid a glance Crissie’s way, patted Hunter on the shoulder, then left.

  For an hour, Hunter’s birth mother ran a cool cloth over his burning temple. She talked about her life, repeating several times how a day hadn’t gone by that she hadn’t wondered what had become of her son and how she wished she could have raised him as her own. He felt a pang of regret that she’d wanted what they’d lost and never even married.

  Through soggy eyes, Hunter watched Alana’s uncle and his men cast each other annoyed looks. Her uncle crossed the floor to the hospital window and stared out, but the eldest man barely took his eyes off Hunter. Under his scrutiny, Hunter almost had the urge to squirm. Almost. But demons didn’t squirm. Certainly not Matusa demons.

  Worse, his hope was fading that Alana and Jared were still all right. He reproached himself for not letting her know that just hearing her words helped to set his mind at ease.

  Her uncle rose from his chair again, looking like a redheaded demon, his eyes hard. “Where is she?”

  The room seemed to swirl, and Hunter knew he was losing it. A sprinkling of stars flashed before his eyes; a strange humming sounded in his ears.

  His mother leaned over and whispered to him, “It’s him, isn’t it?”

  Him? Hunter thought he was dying. He stared up at her. “You felt it, too?”

  Tears in her eyes, she nodded. “I think because I had you, I’m still connected to him. Do… do you want me to try and bring him here?”

  Alana’s uncle and the other men stood watching them, their postures tense and on alert. They ought to be. Who knew what would happen when Crissie opened the portal and called Hunter’s father forth? If his mother was right, he would kill her and anyone else who witnessed the murder.

  He squeezed her hand, part of him knowing he needed his father’s help, part of him hating his father for leaving his mother and causing her so much pain. “Let me do it. If he didn’t want you to—” His voice cracked.

  His mother raised her hands. “I love you, Hunter. I always have.”

  “You’ll need to leave,” he said to Alana’s uncle, but the men didn’t budge.

  To open the portal, his mother mouthed the words silently. The gray-bearded man tried to decipher her unspoken words. He said to Alana’s uncle, “She’s not a…”

  Wind blew through the room, catching the door and slamming it shut with a bang. The portal’s shimmering blue-green light appeared.

  His mother called his birth father from the demon world. And like a mirage materialized into something solid, the man appeared.

  Blonde-haired and blue-eyed like Hunter, he saw the family resemblance at once. Bentos scanned the room quickly like any demon would, determining the strength of his opponents. He quickly discounted Hunter, the sickly half demon and his mother. But his focus on the men in the room lingered longer than Hunter thought necessary.

  Finally, he pivoted his attention to Hunter. “You are my son.”

  “Where’s my niece?” her uncle demanded.

  Hunter closed his eyes, unable to prevent bloodshed should Alana’s uncle enrage his father.

  The demon looked at her uncle, his eyes as hard as crystal. “You are Alana’s uncle?”

  His father had seen Alana? Sure, she must have told him Hunter needed his help. But then why didn’t Alana and Jared return with him? He was certain there’d been trouble and his imagination was already running amuck. “Is she all right?” he croaked out.

  “Yes, I’m Alana’s uncle and Hunter said she’d gone to look for you. So where is she?”

  “She found me and sent me to see my son. Once I heal him, he can help me return her to you.”

  “What’s happened?” Hunter knew he shouldn’t have asked, knew he shouldn’t have left themselves open for more questioning. But he had to know that she and Jared were all right.

  “Nothing that we cannot fix.” Bentos moved toward the bed, silently, like a panther, dark and foreboding.

  “What do you mean? What’s happened?” her uncle persisted.

  Bentos st
ood over Hunter and raised his hand to silence Alana’s uncle. “Calm yourself. The young lady is fine. We will bring her back shortly.”

  Hunter wheezed, short of breath. His father ran his hand over Hunter’s chest, never touching, chanting silently, his lips moving, his eyes focused on the center of Hunter’s being.

  Taking his first steady breath, Hunter began to breathe freely again. His father clasped his hand over Hunter’s forehead and continued to mouth words, drawing out the fever. Touching his arm, Bentos turned in such a way as to hide his demon actions from the others, then extended his claws and dug into Hunter’s arm.

  Hunter felt no pain, only heard his father’s soothing words spoken to him repeatedly. Then the streaks of red running up his arm faded. Fresh blood dribbled on the sheets, and the new torn skin looked as raw as when the other demon had sliced it to ribbons. But the excruciating pain was gone, just a light burning. Bentos continued to chant, running his hand over Hunter’s arm until the wounds began to close.

  “You are healed, Son.”

  “What magic is this?” the gray-haired man asked, moving in closer to see the results of Bentos’s work. “Are you the one who imprisoned Alana?” He motioned to the portal. “What kind of an evil warlock are you?”

  “Warlock?” Bentos gave a caustic laugh. “Come, Son, we’ll bring Alana back.” He glanced at Crissie, tears brimming in her eyes. “We made a beautiful son, did we not?”

  She didn’t say a word, just stared into his eyes.

  Bentos gave her a sinister smile. “Next time, summon one who is not so dark.”

  Hunter could have hit his dad for being so insensitive to his mother, but he couldn’t help being grateful to him for saving his life. Still, he scowled at his father, gave his mother a warm embrace, then took his clothes into the bathroom to change.

  “You will take us with you to get Alana,” her uncle demanded.

  “The path is too dangerous,” Bentos argued, his voice eerily threatening. “You would not live long.”

  “A boy barely off his death bed and one man is safe?”

  “No, but safer than the likes of you.”

  Hunter jerked on his clothes, not liking the sound of the men’s elevated voices. When he entered the room, he whispered in his mother’s ear, “Close the portal immediately after us. Don’t let them follow us or they’ll surely die.”

  He hoped his mother could hold out against the men and not succumb to their pressuring her to reopen the portal again. Most of all, he hoped Alana and Jared were safe.

  As soon as his mother reopened the portal, Alana’s uncle and the other men moved toward it. The older man raised his long, bony fingers and began to chant.

  What was he doing?

  Bentos’s eyes flared red, he growled a demonic curse, then jerked Hunter through the gateway to the demon’s world.

  Chapter 11

  “Like father, like son,” Bentos said to Hunter as they stepped into the demon world, then released his arm.

  The portal instantly vanished.

  Hunter studied the buildings, black glass or stone facades stretching to a gray sky. Shadows lurked in darkened alleys, but otherwise, he was amazed to see the city looked like any other.

  “What do you mean by that?” he asked menacingly. He wasn’t a full Matusa, didn’t have their dark heart, or at least his human half tempered his own.

  “You’ve fallen for a witch.”

  Hunter gave his father a glower. Anyone else would tremble at the look he cast him. His father’s lips curved upward slightly.

  “You should have gotten in touch with me sooner.” His father led him down the narrow street.

  “I didn’t even know who my mother was.”

  “She didn’t raise you?”

  “No.”

  Bentos made a disgusted sound. “I thought she wanted a child after having summoned me.” He tilted his square jaw up. “I want the Kubiteron.” His father’s darkened eyes revealed he meant every word.

  “She can’t be yours. She belongs in Earth world.”

  “She belongs with a Matusa. You know how rare it is for Matusa females to be born? We have to find mates in the other demon forms. But everyone fears us. So what do we do? We take what we want, or our lineage will die out.”

  Like Hunter cared. It could be the best thing for demon kind. “Why didn’t you ever return to Mom?”

  “She summoned me. She’s lucky I liked the way she looked, took pity on her, and left her with child. However, I did not think she’d give up my son. Had I known…” He gave a shake of his head. “Most summoned Matusa kill the summoner. None of us appreciate that a human thinks he or she can summon us and enslave us.”

  “She loved you!”

  “Evidently, she still does. But it is her fault, not mine. You cannot force another to love you.”

  Hunter shoved his fists in his pockets. “You’re incapable of love.”

  Bentos gave him a smug smile. “What do humans know about love? They say they will love their selected mate forever, ‘til death parts them. A few years later, the one dumps the other. This you call love?”

  “My parents have always loved each other.”

  Bentos grunted.

  “I thought demon parents felt something for their offspring.”

  Demons of various kinds peered out shop and office windows at them, but when Hunter caught their eye, they faded into the background. Symbols that looked like Japanese were etched into the stone on all the buildings, but he didn’t have a clue what they said.

  “We do care about our offspring. Why do you think I came to help you?”

  “You wanted Alana and thought by saving my life she’d agree to have you.”

  Tossing his head back, Bentos laughed. “I could have her whether I saved you or not. As far as demon parents and their offspring go, a half demon child must seek his parents. Not the other way around. In your case, you didn’t want to see me until you had no other choice.”

  Hunter had to agree. He considered the normalcy of the city streets, darkly amused that he’d envisioned fires and molten lava, men and women chained to rocks. Unspeakable horrors. Except for the eerie shadows hovering in the alleyways and the strangely smoky gray sky, the place looked similar to Dallas.

  “Surprised?” his father asked. “Not unexpected. Artists’ renditions of the demon world equate it to hell. The place we live in is no more a hell than the human’s world. If you do not believe me, just watch CNN. Killings, muggings, famines, disease, greed. Half your politicians are more untrustworthy than the demons of this world.”

  “Demons are notorious liars.”

  “And politicians are not?”

  A large gathering of Matusa hovered around the outside of a stone building, and Hunter straightened his shoulders, preparing himself mentally for a fight. “What’s happening?

  “Alana is still inside the court of records building, it appears. As you can see, several Matusa are waiting patiently to claim her.”

  Having never had to deal with a pack of Matusa, Hunter felt his resolve faltering. “What are we going to do?”

  His father’s brows rose. “We? I like that. Matusa normally do not stick together. They usually do not fight one another, except over a female, but they don’t offer to help each other in times of trouble, either.”

  “Except you offered to help me.”

  “Yes, well, when I learned you were the one who thrust Ferengus back into our home world over a Kubiteron, I knew you were worthy of being my son. Not all half demon children are.”

  Wondering if his father had spawned more half human/demons, Hunter stared at him. “You have other children?” He couldn’t suppress the surprise in his voice.

  “You have a half brother.” Bentos paused when the Matusa guarding the entrance of the stone building turned to look at them.

  “In Dallas?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is he worthy of your acknowledgement?” Hunter haughtily asked.

 
His father seemed amused. “He hasn’t come looking for me yet, so I think not. But he’s only sixteen. Maybe when he’s eighteen like you, he will.” Bentos lifted a shoulder.

  Scanning the crowd, Hunter turned his attention to the potential threat in front of them. “I don’t see Ferengus.”

  “He’ll be inside with Alana.”

  His blood percolating, Hunter stormed toward the building, the other demons parting to let him pass. He figured one of them would try to stop him, or kill him for the way he acted. But then again, maybe it was his father’s presence that made them show some respect.

  When he shoved the door aside, he found a long black marble hall empty. Though as soon as they entered it, a tall thin man joined them from a side room.

  “Treikal,” Bentos said, bowing his head slightly in greeting.

  Amazed to see his father acknowledging a lesser demon with such courtesy, Hunter couldn’t help staring at the slight man. Like Jared, the demon was an Elantus. Powerful, but below that of the Kubiteron in strength.

  “Your son?” Treikal’s eyes glistened with admiration.

  Bentos slapped Hunter on the back, which made his eyes heat. “One to be proud of.”

  “The Kubiteron is in the hall of records.”

  Bentos lifted a brow.

  Treikal sauntered down the hallway and Bentos and Hunter followed, though Hunter wanted to race to the room, instead of crawl at a beetle’s pace.

  “What’s she doing?” Hunter asked.

  “Waiting for you and your father to rescue her.”

  “What about Jared?”

  “Safely at her side. She tried to leave the court of records, but Ferengus stopped her. She’s very clever. She returned to the records room and began searching for her father’s name to buy her and Jared time.”

  “And Ferengus?”

  “He is hovering over her. Her eyes have been glowing red ever since he came to claim her. He loves it.”

  “She won’t be his,” Hunter growled.

  Treikal gave Bentos a sly smile. “Your son takes after you.”

  “He is worthy of being my son.”

  Changing the subject, Hunter asked his father, “What’s my brother’s name?” He didn’t appreciate that anyone would say he’d take after his father because he’d abandoned his mother so cavalierly. And he didn’t care whether his father thought he was worthy or not.