Heart of a Demon (The Dark Angel Wars 1)

Chapter One

Three demons appeared out of the early morning mist, stalking through the ponderosa pine like deadly lions on the prowl. They called out to each other, screaming words in languages too complicated for the human mind to comprehend.

If anyone else had spotted them, they would’ve thought it was simply a group of young men hiking through the forest. Their bodies resembled humans. Sinewy muscles, flowing locks of hair, and dark eyes. But even their humanoid faces couldn’t fully mask the evil crawling beneath the surface. It was thick in the air and gave off the faint scent of rotten meat.

I watched from behind a tree as the first demon drew a sword from his belt. This one was different from the other two. The sight of him glued me to the spot, unable to look away. Normally, when I caught a glimpse of a demon in the woods, I’d turn tail and run back home. It was safer that way. But this one moved with a grace I hadn’t seen before, and left me curious.

He swung his sword with a practiced patience that had years of experience and training behind it. Even from this distance, I could see his green eyes burning with quiet rage in his handsome face. He was outnumbered and alone. If he hadn’t been an evil creature, I would’ve felt sorry for him.

The two demons that slowly circled him had black eyes that occasionally flashed red. They stepped carefully, their muscles tensed like predators daring their prey to bolt. Their every move reminded me of a PBS special I saw last year that featured hyenas from the African plains. I could even imagine the same eerie laughter spilling from their mouths. They were out for blood, waiting for the green-eyed demon to make the first move. Baring their teeth and growling, they watched him with hunger written plainly on their faces.

Suddenly, the demons locked in battle, disturbing the peace of the Black Hills National Forest surrounding us. Granny would’ve whipped me if she knew I was this close to them. Even though I was twenty-one years old, she’d still take her flyswatter to the back of my legs for disobeying the town law. We don’t go into the demon’s territory, she’d tell me. All you’ll find there is death.

But no one knew the forests like I did. I’d grown up in the Black Hills all my life. From the moment I could walk, I’d been exploring them on my own, venturing out a little further every year. It was the only time I felt completely in control of my own life. Most of the woods surrounding our little unincorporated town of Hanna, South Dakota were harmless. It was the woods to the south that held the danger. So naturally, that’s where I longed to explore.

The green-eyed demon swung his thin blade at the first attacker that charged him, slicing cleanly through its arm. No longer attached to its owner, the arm fell to the ground and burst into a cloud of dirt. I pulled back and pressed myself into the hard bark of the pine tree. I’d seen demons battling in the woods before – but never stuck around long enough to witness it.

When I was six, Granny caught me returning from one of my expeditions to the south woods. After she tanned my hide with the wooden spoon from our tiny kitchen, she warned me that demons were constantly battling in the south woods for dominion. Two demon clans wanted control of this land and had fought for hundreds of years to keep it.

When I asked Granny why this land was so special, she shrugged and shook her big mane of gray hair, pieces of it falling into her eyes from a loose ponytail. She didn’t want to waste time thinking about the demons crawling in the south woods. She had better things to do, like putting food on our table.

I took a deep breath and peered around the tree again, drawn to the battle. Green Eyes was still fending off the two hyenas, his sword keeping them from getting too close. For the first time, I noticed the turkey carcass on the ground next to his feet. A fiberglass arrow with neon green feathers stuck out from the turkey’s chest.

That was strange.

I didn’t know demons hunted for their food like that. I imagined them catching their prey with bare hands and tearing their throats out, not bothering to kill the poor animal before chowing down. The few dead animals I’d run across in this forest had looked like that. The mountain lion I’d found last week was ravaged, torn to shreds by something much stronger than it.

I shuddered at the thought. What was I doing, standing so close to demons that could tear me apart like that mountain lion? I had to get out of here.

The battle had moved too close for me to just dart away. If I moved from behind the tree, they’d see me. My only hope was that they’d finish each other off before anyone caught a whiff of the stranger watching them. I held my breath and waited.

The black eyed demons had run out of patience. Frustrated growls rumbled in their throats as they circled Green Eyes one last time. He held his sword vertically in front of his face and closed his eyes.

I wanted to shout at him to stop playing around. These hyenas were going to rip out his throat. Even I could tell they were going to pounce at any moment. But I pressed my lips closed and bit my tongue.

The demon with the missing arm jumped first. He sailed through the air with alarming speed, swiping his claws at Green Eyes’ legs. A second later, the other demon rushed forward, his mouth wide open in a snarl. Their bodies blurred, moving too fast for the human eye. All I saw were three bodies tumbling across the forest floor, as silver metal flashed and swiped.

If I hadn’t been standing ten feet away, I would’ve thought it was a fight between a pack of wild dogs. The snarling and growling would scare away anything within a ten mile radius. I’d bet a hundred dollars that even the women in my town could hear this racket, and were already saying silent prayers to the goddess for her protection. The goddess would drive away the evil, as she’d done for the past two hundred years for our people.

An

unearthly scream punctuated the flailing of bodies and once again the three demons stood still. Green Eyes held his sword extended in his left arm, as if he had just finished swiping it through the air. A moment later, the one-armed demon burst into a cloud of dirt. From within the debris, a black cloud emerged which pulsed and grew, throwing tiny tendrils into the air.

For a moment, I was afraid the black cloud would engulf Green Eyes and he’d be lost to the black mass swirling around him. But, I didn’t have to worry long. The cloud began to shimmer and shrink. It fell to the ground as if an invisible vacuum had sucked it down. In less than the span of a second, it disappeared, leaving Green Eyes and the last demon to glare at each other over the hilt of the sword.

With a steady hand, Green Eyes shifted the blade to his right hand and stepped closer to the remaining demon. The muscles in his back rippled as he held the sword high, advancing another step. The black eyed demon retreated two steps, the fury in his eyes replaced by uncertainty. He and his friend had clearly misjudged the strength of this demon. The only way out was to make a run for it.

It lunged behind the nearest tree and began to sprint, stretching its legs to gain more speed. He made it ten feet before the silver blade of a dagger sunk into his back, right where his heart should’ve been. I didn’t even see Green Eyes throw it, he was so fast. The demon fell to the ground, writhing in pain. A moment later, he too burst into dust. A shadowy cloud took his place and was soon sucked into the ground.

I wasn’t sure what I was witnessing. I knew demons were insanely strong and fast, but I didn’t know they could kill like that. Green Eyes moved and fought like a warrior. He wasn’t like the wild demons that stalked these woods. He was something else altogether.

Green Eyes went to fetch his dagger. I allowed myself an extra moment to look him over. Short cropped brown hair fell into his eyes as he bent to retrieve the knife from the forest floor. A determined frown sat on his sculpted lips and strong jaw. The slightest bend in his perfect nose indicated that it had been broken at least once, and a very long time ago.

For someone who probably spent a lot of time outdoors, he was surprisingly fair skinned. His strong legs shifted underneath a worn pair of dark-wash jeans. The sword’s sheath was strapped across the back of a thin black t-shirt that hugged his muscular torso. Three claw marks had torn into the cloth, exposing his skin underneath.

I would guess he was just short of thirty years old, although demons could look any age, from what I’d seen. They came in many different sizes and shapes – fat, thin, tall, short, ugly, and beautiful – but none I’d seen so far was as sexy as this one. The heat in my belly made me want to slap myself. It was dangerous to fall for a demon. All they brought was pain and death.

It was time to go home. I wanted to put as many miles between myself and this demon as soon as possible. If I could make it to the outer borders of our town, the goddess would protect me from him and his kind. Granny would never have to know I’d broken the town law. Again.

Waiting until the demon bent down to retrieve his turkey and the bow he’d abandoned, I crept out from behind the pine tree and silently made my exit. I made it three steps when my foot landed on a dry branch. It snapped. The crack of the branch echoed through the silent woods like a gunshot.

I was caught.

My heart began to beat wildly, threatening to burst from my chest. I whipped my head around to see Green Eyes crouched on the ground next to the turkey, his unsettling gaze on me. He slid his eyes slowly up my body until we made eye contact, his stare burning with anger and curiosity.

I couldn’t look away. In my head was the most inexplicable desire to move toward him and let him do his worst. My foot even moved in his direction, before he blinked and the spell was broken.

What are you doing? I screamed inside my head. He’ll kill you. Run. Now!

Turning from the demon, I burst through the forest as fast as my legs could go, knowing that any moment he would be on me. I’d seen him move with inhumane speed against the other demons. All it would take was one millisecond before I was toast.

After what seemed like an hour, I slowed my pace and looked over my shoulder. Nothing was following me. I’d made it to the border of our lands, which the goddess kept demon free. No one could hurt me now.

Walking the rest of the way into town, I circumvented Granny’s gas station so she wouldn’t see my sweaty and panicked state. The last thing I needed was for her to get suspicious of my mornings alone. The moment that happened, I’d be back to working twelve-hour days at the Pump N’ Go, selling lotto tickets and gas to the tourists. Working full time was bad enough.

Rubbing my hands along my arms, I couldn’t help but think about Green Eyes again. Why didn’t he kill me? I was easy prey to a creature that could move like that.

But when I looked in his eyes, I hadn’t seen evil, like I expected. There was anger and suspicion, but no hate or malice. Just grim determination. And something else that I couldn’t put my finger on, but had made my stomach flutter.

Either way, we wouldn’t bump into each other again. Not if I wanted to live to see my twenty-second birthday.

Chapter Two

Granny and I walked to church the next morning dressed in our Sunday best. Pearls and lace, pressed jeans and low heels. Only our finest for the goddess and her weekly worship sessions.

My best friend Kate caught up with us outside the tiny church, with its peeling ivory paint and cracked cement stairs. She pulled on my elbow, drawing us a few steps away from the older women who encircled Granny like vultures after roadkill. I already knew what Kate was going to ask. She’d been hounding me all winter long to talk to Granny and request the open college slot.

Every few years, the town sponsored one of the girls to leave and attend college east of the river. When that girl graduated, another would take her place. It just so happened that this spring, Rachel McKoy would graduate with her degree in finance. She was going to help run the tiny bank on Main Street, putting her degree to good use. I wanted nothing more than to go away to college, to live a few years on the outside. Even if it was only for four years, I’d come home to Hanna knowing that I’ve had a few years of my own.

“No, I didn’t ask her yet.” I sighed as Kate raised her eyebrows at me. “But I will. Today. Today is the day.”

She looped her arm through mine and pulled me close. “You’d better, or else I’ll ask Granny for you. This is your last chance, Lizzy. Next year, Erin Beckman graduates from high school, and you know they’ll give it to her in a heartbeat.”

“What about you? Are you sure you don’t want it?” I’d asked her the same question a million times, but the answer was always the same.