Claimed by the Demon Knight: Book One (2 page)

If one were able to move his hair from his backside they’d see thick, shiny snake scales linked directly over his spine, circling around onto his chest over each rib. He stood at just over eight feet, weighing in at around 400 pounds, body ripped but not to the point that it looked like he had been taking steroids. Not like those existed in Hell. Neither did weighing scales for that matter. He got plenty of exercise from just hunting. Hidden behind pink tinted thin lips were two rows of humanesque teeth, but it was the canines that were unnaturally large. Silver eyes resembled that of a cat, the pupil currently dilated.

If an ordinary human were to see him, they’d properly pass out from fright, or flee in terror.

He sank into a low, comfortable crouch on the edge of the dark bluff that loomed over Boulder, reaching out for the one he sought. The one he was going to kill. He waited for the image of that blue flame that stood out in such bright contrast against the others, the one that burned, shiny and tantalizing, and lured him in.

The witch.

He looked down at the town far below, colors fading, caught in the edge of night. Traces of memory still lingered, vague sounds and images, from some distant forgotten lifetime. He had felt it the first time he'd crossed over. This world held an odd familiarity, one that always lingered  at the edge of his awareness, and which he purposefully ignored as irrelevant. He never put it together, the meaning behind the feeling that he was still fairly young for a demon, so very recently alive, human and that he had evolved quicker than most, not unlike the Witch counterpart he loathed so much.

He adjusted the sleeve of his vest, rolling it back up from where it had slipped down his arm. He wondered why he had ever bothered to put his uniform on at all in his desolate homeland. Modesty? Unlikely. He could have dispensed with clothes entirely if he'd wanted to. None of the creatures there would have cared either way and neither did he. Not that there would have been anybody around to see him anyway.

Somewhere in the vast plains of sand, there were probably other younger demons slowly coming into their own, on their own progressive journey. He wondered if maybe someday they'd replace him, that someday in the distant future he would die a weak, old devil. Would he even grow old? He wasn't sure how it worked, nor had he ever given it much thought, until now. Every demon he'd ever encountered had either died as something else's dinner, usually his or it had been destroyed in battle.

And once a sentient being dies in Hell, they are wiped completely from existence. There was no ascending to the Cycle of Rebirth for them.

Wait. The hell was this shit? Tenuxhal did not age. He lived by the sword. And when he died, it would be fighting in battle.

Dammit. He rubbed his hand roughly down his face, over his sharp nose and strong cheek bones, as if he could physically scrub away the distracting thoughts. His eyes closed as if he had a sudden migraine attack before opening again seconds later.

These were the kinds of thoughts that had been invading his mind, circling like hungry predators and drawing ever closer for all these long months, going around and through and over again. Sometimes he thought of killing the young witch and other times he thought of this dismal, depressing shit. His mind just kept dwelling on pointless things, obsessing, and confusing him. It was all but driving him out of his fucking mind.

And when he was confused and upset, he did what he did best. He got angry.

S
he didn’t care that it was only 8:45 p.m. and a Saturday night, or that the august sun, though resting lightly on the horizon, was still technically out. She was so ready for bed, and nothing in the world was going to disturb her sleep. She had asked her family not to call or even text her unless it was an emergency. Besides, they were most likely walking around window shopping along some strip mall, or her mother was looking at men Elsi’s age, hitting on them and then asking whether or not they’d like to date her virgin daughter. A tactic her mother loved to pull on her while they were out in public together.

Elsi still hadn’t actually had a boyfriend, Oh they seemed to like her well enough, not that she’d ever noticed a year ago, and she did like boys. It’s just that the ones she knew she only saw as good acquaintances. And honestly, who had the time to meet a nice human boy and start dating when you spent that many hours teleporting all over the place, fighting demons and renegade angels, and saving the world from one of the greatest evils to ever grace the planet Earth while trying to make sure your favorite outfits didn’t get destroyed in the process?

Well, she had time now.

Tomorrow was Sunday and her schedule was clear. She might head out to the main center of town, go shopping for a new dress and wedges or just laze around at one of the outdoor food vendors and people watch for a bit. She might even meet a cute boy there. Or she might not. And that would be fine. She was far from desperate, just curious. Either way she was determined to have a great day. Falling onto her back and yawning widely, with thoughts of the warm sun and lapping waves, she fell into a comfortable sleep in minutes.

~~~

E
lsi bolted upright. Something was wrong. The hair on her arms were standing on end and what felt like a sharp bolt of electricity had shot through her spine.

She reached out, feeling for the source of disturbance with her ever shaky spiritual energy and...bingo. Demon.

A powerful one too. Damn it all to hell. She turned and looked at the glowing numbers on her smartphone; 8:59pm. Seriously? Did demons have watches? Did they time it so they could screw with her perfectly laid plans? Well, screw them back. It wasn’t her job anyway. She huffed in irritation and twisted herself around, pulling the covers with her, and burrowed into her pillow, determined to ignore the demon’s presence.

A minute passed and the feeling itched at her. It really was a strong demon. And once again her damn sense of responsibility was going to ruin her plans. Well shit. She could probably be there and back in less than 20 minutes. She might even get a much-needed workout from it and sleep better for it. There. She’d gone and talked herself into it like the wiz brain that she was.

Well then she’d just sleep in an extra half hour in the morning. Ah tomorrow. Nothing was going to ruin her Sunday.

~~~

T
wenty minutes came and went and Elsi was pissed.

This was not how she wanted to spend her evening, at all.

The demon had indeed been a powerful one, even more so than she had first suspected because it had popped into the world way out at the furthest edges of Boulder. It had taken her nearly eight minutes just to teleport from rooftop to rooftop, her ability to shift through long distances reduced to that of only a twelve meters. The only bright side was the lack of people and buildings in this more rural part of town. There were only a few houses scattered loosely nearby. Elsi had finished up in the small industrial park; which would be empty on a weekend evening, all the workers probably home, some even in bed, which was exactly where Elsi wanted to be.

Damn it.

Well, she was getting her workout. No question about it. This demon was an ugly nasty little piece of work, not strong in the physical sense, and not terribly large, only about five feet, but wily and quick and armed to the teeth. Its grotesque body had extra limbs in peculiar locations and bones seemed to be sticking out all over the place. And the stupid thing had been leading her on an exhausting chase, darting here and there, launching chaos infused spikes at her, like some sort of supersonic hedgehog on speed.

The most infuriating part of the whole escapade was that it had left her fucking panting. She was seriously out of shape. At least she made sure to slap on a red lip stain before leaving the house in her typical and boring black dress, blue diamond staff in her left hand. She’d always feel naked if she wasn’t wearing at least some makeup.

A sharp quill nicked her shoulder, and she cursed soundly. That was it. She was done with these games. Movement to her right, another volley of quills, and Elsi teleported upwards, quickly flying over the dangerous projectiles, coming down right on top of the little shit, sapphire colored diamond staff arcing down and slicing easily into the demons hideous, skull like face.

The demon began to sizzle and disappear as its energy began to dissipate into oblivion, where all demons would join in the end. Elsi threw her head back and sighed loudly in a mixture of relief and frustration. She had leaned forward after landing, hands on her knees, and caught her breath. She was furious at herself. How was she going to protect anything in this sad state? How was she going to maintain a balance of living an ordinary life and still keep her body and powers in top fighting form? She shook her head. She still wanted her witch powers and her Wisp ability. She had some things to think about it seemed.

For all witches, all of whom are always female, their Wisp form was their most powerful one, but it could take years of practice before they could hold the form for longer than a few minutes at a time. This is due to the fact that it literally drains their energy. When calling upon the form from within, a bright light would erupt from where the heart is located and wrap around their entire body, leaving only their eyes uncovered. To a person looking directly at a witch in her Wisp form, it would look like a woman wearing a tight body suit that glowed one particular color. Even her hair, however long or short, would change color and flow out behind her like smoke.

Elsi always thought she looked like a superhero while in that form. Her Wisp not only made her more powerful and faster, but it gave her confidence an extra boost as well. Always a plus.

She straightened out, tensed her muscles, and smoothed down her plain, black knee length dress, a staple outfit for witches. She prepares to start shifting her energy through the living worlds, teleport the eight minutes back home, probably ten with how she felt now, when she thought she sensed an ange-no, a knight.. You’ve got to be kidding me.

Elsi tilted her head and frowned. This wasn’t just a demon. It had to be miles away, but this energy felt familiar... She growled in frustration, as she struggled to put her finger on the new energy pressure.

It was weak but getting stronger, distant but closing in fast. Elsi blinked. Fast was an incredible understatement. The owner of this dark energy was breaking the sound barrier and he was coming in hot. Elsi could feel the pressure in the air growing steadily, pressing in against her body, easily as strong as hers from this distance, may be stronger, as the energy bullet closed in.

A second passed and she was suddenly aware of just how quiet the street around her had become. Not even a cricket chirped. It was as if Boulder itself was pulling itself into the shadows, huddling in fear. The hairs on almost every part of her body stood on end, and a powerful wave of energy poured over her, crashed through her, a warning, dangerous and angry. Memory flashed and her head snapped up, every muscle suddenly fully alert. This was demon energy and definitely not an angel. So... what else could it be but... a Demon Knight. Were there even still Demon Knights? She thought most if not all had perished in the war back in Hell.

Elsi’s brain was suddenly an utterly scrambled mess. But instinct was a powerful tool and as her hindbrain kicked in; her body took a defensive stance, her pure blue diamond staff, three feet in length, rising up tip to the sky in front of her. She squinted up and across the sky, towards the side of town that the last of the light from the sun still touched, trying to visually, almost frantically, to pinpoint the source of the power. That much power, from that much distance. And it was still growing. Then she saw it, a tiny dot against the sky, growing larger until it was close enough that she could just make out...

White.

Long white hair and silver eyes.

Memories stirred like an angry hornets nest.

Holy fucking hell.

It couldn’t be. But it was. Tenuxhal.

She doubted her senses. She doubted them entirely. Tenuxhal had died, severely injured by Elsi and mortally wounded. The last Elsi had seen of him, he’d been flat on his back, unable to move, turning as pale as his dark red skin would let him, vast quantities of his black blood soaking into the sands of Hell. Elsi had barely spared him a glance as she sped past to rescue her friend and challenge Beelzebub. She couldn’t. She had important people to save.

This. This was not him. It couldn’t be Tenuxhal. He. Was. Dead. Or as dead as a demon could get.

Almost entranced, Elsi watched as white suddenly shifted to red, flaring out like a flame. The information trickled lazily through her brain, thick as molasses and slow. Then time seemed to speed up again as realization hit her and she snapped back into reality.

Infernal Tempest. A tight ball of pure, deadly energy that glowed as bright as the sun and a demon’s staple weapon.

An eerie whine had reached her ears a split second before the deadly beam of energy struck, the inferno exploding a few meters from where Elsi had just been standing, leaving a monstrous crater in the middle of the road and devastating the buildings around it. Fortunately, there was no one around to see or hear the explosion, and either she or another witch would come around soon to clean up the mess before any regular mortals saw, as if it had never happened in the first place.

When the dust finally settled, Elsi wasn’t there. She’d shifted a few meters away, just out of range a fraction of a second before the destructive power would have obliterated her. It was an odd feeling, but as close as it had been, she felt sure that Tenuxhal hadn’t actually meant to hit her.

Nope. That was probably just a friendly hello from an old friend, a warm greeting considering the nature of the person behind it. Tenuxhal could have just sent her a card. “Hi Rhoads. I’m still in Hell. Having a shitty time. Wish I could see you, but I have to go die somewhere.” Elsi would have wholeheartedly preferred that.