Chapter 3
Damon crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the tool shed used by the caretakers of the cemetery. This area was lacking in hunters because it was in the very corner of the massive graveyard and fairly secluded. It also seemed to be a refuge for a lot of the Spinnan that had survived this long, almost as though they were trying to regroup and hide.
He had promised to let Alicia practice fighting and, all in all… this was an excellent place for her to do it… as long as he was there acting as the referee. These Spinnan were weak compared to most of the things running around the city right now, but still he only allowed Alicia to fight one at a time.
Every time a brave Spinnan would try to tag team her, he would shatter them before they got close enough to distract her from the one she was fighting. Destroying the monsters coming at Alicia was giving him a sense of satisfaction and Damon was quite enjoying himself. She wasn’t half bad… for a beginner.
He’d also noticed a drastic drop in the creatures since the explosion a few hours ago and concluded that someone had found and destroyed the nest. Personally, he wouldn’t have minded getting a look at the demon that had spawned these creepy critters but he shrugged it off. It was probably just as ugly as these things were anyway.
Hearing footsteps and the sound of voices coming from the boundary of trees down the short hill he was standing on, Damon stepped around the corner of the shed and went to investigate. This edge of the cemetery was lined with tall, stately pines that separated it from a suburban neighborhood.
Being this close to houses, Damon was curious as to why no one had heard anything during the night and come to investigate. There were a few times he thought he’d seen the shimmer of a barrier around the property but dismissed it as part of his imagination. If a barrier had been put in place, then maybe the demon hunters weren’t as useless as he’d assumed.
He was almost to the tree line when two men emerged from it, but they stopped when they saw him. Seeing the white outline of a structure through the trees, he summarized that the main maintenance building was probably on the other side of them and these men had just shown up for work.
These guys couldn’t have used any of the major roads to get there… they’d been blocked off. Add to that the fact Damon hadn’t heard any car engines approaching told him the men lived within walking distance of this cemetery.
“Good morning,” Damon said closing the distance between them so he could put them under his thrall.
The two men frowned at him. There had been a lot of strange things going on in the graveyard the last couple days and it made them suspicious of anyone who looked like trouble… and the guy walking toward them fit that description to a T.
The one with a white tank top under his unbuttoned uniform shirt spoke in an authoritative manner. “Can we help you? Visitors are not supposed to be hanging out near the equipment.”
Damon nodded, focusing his vibrant amethyst eyes on them, almost smirking when their expressions mellowed out into a dazed state. “Actually, I’m here to help you by letting you know that you have already finished your work for the day. Your employer said to go back to the maintenance shed and relax until your shift is over. You do not remember seeing me and if anyone asks… you worked hard all day.”
The second worker with his uniform shirt buttoned up and looking more professional glanced over at his co-worker. “It’s time to try out that TV you hooked up in the shed.”
“Yeah, let’s go catch Jerry Springer,” worker number two said in a stupor.
Damon smirked and waited until they were completely out of sight. Once the humans were gone, he turned to start walking back up the hill when he saw an impressive mound of dirt go flying into the air. When he made it back to the top of the hill to check on Alicia’s progress, his expression darkened.
She was now fighting not one… but three Skitters at the same time and it looked like she was having a hard time of it. A deep growl rumbled in his chest when one of them knocked Alicia to the ground with a bone-jarring thud.
Alicia lay there staring up from where she’d been thrown. Everything had been going good until Spinnan number two and three decided to show up and have a tag team. Damon had been helping her out and when nothing happened to the other two right away she’d looked around for him.
Not finding him anywhere, she’d felt a little bit of happiness and frustration at the same time. Happiness because she thought he was allowing her to fight it out… and frustration that he wasn’t there to witness her kicking all three of their asses. Lifting her head up off the ground, she was about to push herself back to her feet when the Spinnan suddenly froze. They stood there for a second before abruptly shattering like glass.
Alicia covered her face with her arms to avoid getting hit with the debris. Thankfully, all of the bits and pieces had blown outward and away from her. When she lowered her arms, she found Damon standing there, straddling her lower legs and looking just as angry as ever. She flinched when he suddenly held his hand out offering to help her up.
“Damn it Damon, I could have taken them if you’d just given me a chance,” she said while grasping his hand.
Damon gently pulled her to her feet and flush against his chest. Alicia was about to protest when she saw the tightness of his jaw and the hardness in his amethyst eyes. Her temper vanished realizing she had unintentionally scared him.
“The rule is one monster at a time,” Damon growled, gearing up for an argument he intended to win. He was taken by surprise when Alicia wrapped her hand behind his head, making sure to thread her fingers through his hair before pulling him down for a mind-blowing kiss.
When they finally pulled away from each other, Damon growled again and pushed Alicia back against the side of the shed he’d been leaning on earlier. The growl would have sounded threatening to most, but to Alicia it was sexy as hell.
“You’re not allowed to do that,” Damon instructed softly.
Alicia looked up at him with feigned innocence shining in her eyes. “Not allowed to do what?”
Damon brushed his cheek against hers, his lips barely touching her skin before hovering near the shell of her ear. “You’re not allowed to distract me.”
“Oh,” Alicia whispered seductively. “You mean like this?”
She rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him again, this time their tongues twining intimately with each other. When Damon pushed his thigh between hers, she spread her legs and pressed down. Liking the sensation, she started rocking back and forth on him. Her eyes slammed shut when Damon lifted his leg and her feet left the ground.
“This is a first,” Alicia panted when their mouths separated.
Damon smirked, “You started it.” His smile vanished and his eyes darkened to a deep amethyst, “Now I’m going to end it.”
Alicia couldn’t help but whimper and wrapped her legs around his waist, rubbing against the erection she could feel growing behind Damon’s zipper.
Damon roughly pressed her against the shed wall and unabashedly ripped her shirt open. His hands found her breasts, tantalizing the hardened peaks beneath the lace before unfastening her jeans.
Alicia lowered her legs and let Damon slowly push her jeans down. She stepped out of the denim around her ankles and lifted her legs around his waist again. Damon smirked while he worked his zipper open and freed himself from the confines.
Shifting their positions, he exhaled harshly as he thrust his hips upward at the same time he brought Alicia down on his erection. Alicia cried out and her head connected with the concrete wall behind her. Damon rolled his hips at a punishing pace, making sure she fully understood what it meant to distract him.
Alicia opened her eyes and grabbed on to Damon’s shoulders, pulling him closer to her. His head dipped and he sucked a nipple deep into his mouth. Alicia gasped at the sensations and arched against him. As hard as he was driving into her, it felt like her body was convulsing with each thrust.
A sound behind Damon made her glance up and her eyes went to half-mast when she saw a Skitter running up behind them. Apparently, the demon thought they were vulnerable and sought to take advantage of the situation.
“Skitter at twelve o’clock,” Alicia whispered breathlessly.
She watched the creature shatter with Damon’s power and moaned loudly when he started thrusting harder. He was like a man possessed… hard, fast, bordering on pain and she loved it.
“On the right,” Alicia warned.
Another Skitter met its maker and Damon lifted his head from her breasts. Taking her wrists in his hands, he pinned them to the wall behind her and bared his sharp fangs.
“Come for me,” he growled when he felt Alicia’s soft walls start flexing around him in the same rhythm he was pounding into her.
Alicia ignored his demand and turned her head to the side to avoid looking him in the eyes. She was trying to hold on as long as she could because despite what other people might think… making love in the middle of a cemetery was hotter than hell. The fact they could be caught by anyone at any time made it all the better.
“Do it,” Damon rumbled viciously against her ear.
He was barely holding on by a thread but, like her, he wanted it to last and come to completion at the same time. They were both so turned on by the idea of being caught and killing demons while doing it that neither one of them were in any shape to last much longer.
Alicia cried out and finally gave in… turning her gaze back to Damon’s heated one. The coil in her belly was wound so tight that she was sure it would break. More movement from behind Damon made her look over his shoulder and she gasped.
“Behind you,” she managed in a ragged whisper.
Damon smirked and extended his power toward the attacking Skitter. At the same moment it shattered, Alicia’s body tightened around him like a vise and she screamed her release to the sky above them. Damon followed a few heavy thrusts later, filling her with his seed… once again claiming her body and soul.
They remained pressed against one another, breathing heavily as their heartbeats began the process of slowing down. Damon was so proud of his little hellcat, she was just as demented when it came to sex as he was… and that was what made it so damn hot.
Finally, Damon pulled back a little and gave her a soft smile. They both moaned when he removed himself from her and let her legs drop from around his waist. Looking her up and down, he had to admit she made one sexy-as-hell vision.
Her shirt was ripped down the front with the lacy cups of her bra pushed down to reveal her bare breasts to the morning sunlight. It was the first time he realized that she wasn’t wearing any panties… nor were they tangled in her jeans still bunched on the ground.
“How do we explain the shirt?” Alicia asked when she looked down at herself.
“We don’t,” Damon answered with a smirk.
*****
Warren and Devon circled around the Skitter that had crossed their path. It was hissing viciously at them and swiping its long claws. With a shared look, both jaguars attacked. Devon managed to grab one of the arms between his fangs while Warren was able to get a back leg. The Skitter began screaming when they started pulling in opposite directions.
Putting more strength behind it, Devon abruptly jerked his head to the left. The arm gave and Devon backed away with the dismembered arm in his mouth. Warren dropped the leg and took a few steps back when Devon pounced and sank his fangs into the demon’s neck.
Warren sat down and started cleaning himself when he heard the unmistakable sound of another Skitter just beyond a cluster of trees. Looking back at the skitter that Devon was finishing off, he decided that everything was in good hands and went to investigate.
Devon saw Warren leave out of the corner of his eye and quickly killed the Skitter before jumping off its back. Dropping the head, Devon shook himself and turned in the direction Warren had gone. They’d tag-teamed since joining up with one another and Devon was having a blast.
He’d gone a few feet when another Skitter dropped from a tree directly in front of him. A deep growl erupted from his throat and he hunkered close to the ground preparing to pounce. His feline eyes narrowed when he noticed that this one looked extremely agitated.
They stared into each other’s angry eyes before the Skitter hunkered down in mimicry of what the jaguar was doing. Devon growled and leapt toward the demon, intent on killing it quickly. The Skitter leapt at the same time and the two collided in midair.
Devon’s claws swiped at the Skitter but missed, however the Skitter’s strike directly at his head was dead on. The Skitter landed unharmed on all fours while Devon’s unconscious body landed with a thump… knocking him out cold.
The Skitter hissed victoriously, ambling over to the jaguar and grabbing one of its hind legs with a long clawed hand. Dragging the huge cat across the cemetery behind it in the opposite direction its partner had gone, the Skitter approached a small crypt. Opening the door, the Skitter placed the jaguar inside before backing up and staring down at the animal for a moment.
Its head tilted at an odd angle as if it was deciding the best way to kill its prey… instead, it simply backed out of the crypt. The creature returned moments later dragging two of its dead brethren through the damp grass. Dropping them beside the unconscious jaguar, it moved back out of the crypt and shut the door, locking it with the loosely hanging bolt lock.
Without looking back, the Skitter ran at top speed across the cemetery, avoiding the demon hunters scattered across the property. Making its way to a side road, it stopped and appeared to take a deep breath before its body began to shift.
Within the passing of a few seconds the Skitter was gone and in its place stood Trevor.
Rolling his neck and shoulders before dipping down to pick up the clothes he had discarded, Trevor calmly stepped into Evey’s view. He’d backtracked to the cemetery and parked her there before re-entering the graveyard saying he was checking on the progress of the battle. Once he was out of sight of his car, he’d shifted into one of the Skitters and put his plan into action. Now all he needed to do was get dressed and finish his self-appointed mission.
Trevor combed his fingers through his hair in agitation… he didn’t like what he’d just done but still allowed the small smile to form on his face. When Evey opened the driver’s door for him, he closed the distance between them. Trevor paused when he heard a fox whistle coming from her.
Looking down at his naked body, he wondered what Ren was thinking when he’d given Evey such a human personality. It was a good thing the car had no idea what he’d just done… otherwise he’d been in a world of shit.
“Such a magnificent specimen,” Evey’s voice teased.
“You hush,” Trevor growled and quickly dressed. He slid behind the wheel knowing he would only have a couple of hours before Devon woke up. This would have to be fast if he wanted to get away with it.
Trevor was silent as he drove Evey to another secluded spot and shut off the car. He sat there for a few minutes with his eyes closed wondering if he was doing the right thing.
“Is everything all right Trevor?” Evey asked softly.
“I’m fine Evey,” Trevor said. “I need you to do something really important for me. I’ve got a secret mission that I need to finish. No one else in PIT is to know about this… its top secret.” He cringed at what he was about to say next, “Storm doesn’t want any reports filed on this and you can’t say anything to anyone.”
Evey was quiet for a moment, “How long will you be?” she asked.
“Only a couple of hours,” Trevor answered. “It won’t be too long.”
“Be careful,” Evey said then the dash lights went dark.
Trevor got out of the car and started walking down the street. Once he was out of Evey’s sight, he shifted once more… this time into Devon Santos and jogged the rest of the way to Chad’s place. Walking into the house using the spare key Envy had forgotten to take back from him, he made his way through the quiet apartment.
He knew Chad would be asleep and bypassed his friend’s room to Envy’s closed bedroom door. Pushing it open, he walked in and stared down at Envy’s sleeping form. His eyebrows furrowed into a sad expression when he caught the scent of salt lingering in the room. He felt bad for making her cry but he was handling his jealousy the best way he could.
Back at the graveyard… there had been one fleeting moment where he thought about killing Devon. With Devon gone, would Envy have turned to him in her grief? He had forced the tempting thought from his mind. It startled him at how quickly the evil temptation had appeared in the first place.
He could never hurt Envy like that and it scared him that he’d even remotely considered it. Besides… watching her mourn another man would be just as bad as watching her love another man. And as much as it killed him, Trevor knew Envy loved both of them. He hadn't been lying a couple hours ago when he’d pointed that annoying little fact out to her.
Moving silently, Trevor slowly stripped off his clothes and crawled in the bed behind Envy. If this was what it took to steal a couple of moments alone with her… then he refused to care who she thought he was. He agreed with the concept that there were no rules when it came to love or war… and right now he felt like he was in the middle of both.
Envy felt the mattress sink down behind her and instantly turned toward Devon, hugging him very tightly and hiding her face against his chest. Her mind had been filled with thoughts of Trevor for the last hour and it left her feeling very guilty.
Now that she’d seen PIT in action, she realized Trevor had been keeping secrets from her because he had no choice. She’d been heartless enough to break up with him over something he couldn’t control… even wrongly tasered him for it. How could she have been so mean?
His heartbreak now was her fault and she wasn’t going to punish him for it… if anything, she needed to try to become his friend again and maybe his heart would mend. She rubbed her head against Devon's hand where he was caressing her hair so tenderly.
“You’re back,” she whispered, wishing the heaviness in her chest would ease.
“What’s wrong Envy?” he asked softly.
“Nothing,” Envy lied and loosened her hold on Devon so she could pull back and smile up at him.
“Then why have you been crying?” he watched as Envy frowned up at him in confusion. Before she had a chance to deny it he reminded her, “I can smell the salt from your tears. You can’t hide your feelings from me.” He had to know if she was going to sic Devon on him later for what had happened when he’d brought her here.
Envy’s eyes widened. That was the same thing Trevor had said to her. Did both of them know what she was feeling better than she did? The knowledge that they could both read her so well left her feeling a bit exposed.
He felt her tense but before he could catch the expression on her face she pressed her cheek to his chest again. “Did Trevor say or do something to upset you on the way over here? Because if he did, I swear…”
Envy quickly pushed away and looked up at Devon almost angrily, “No, you promised me that you would never hurt Trevor no matter what.” Her heart thudded in her chest not ever wanting to see them fight again. If one of them were to get hurt… she would hate the other no matter which one it was. She knew that now.
Trevor almost quit breathing as he stared down at her defending him. She had made Devon promise to never hurt him… and Devon had agreed for the same reason he hadn't killed Devon tonight.
“As for the tears,” Envy lowered her voice getting a handle on her high-strung emotions, “I had a dream that one of those monsters in the graveyard had you and I was crying when I woke up.” Well… that was also the truth.
“It was just a dream,” he whispered and hugged her to him. Trevor squeezed his eyes shut wondering if the link she shared with both him and Devon had caused the very accurate dream. Not wanting to think about it he rolled Envy over to her back and gazed down at her before slowly lowering his lips to hers.
Envy moaned softly and arched her back, pushing her breasts against his chest. She wound her arms around his neck only for him to take hold of her wrists and gently press them down into the mattress.
Their mouths separated and Envy tilted her head back when Devon’s lips began a long, torturous trail down her neck and across her collarbone. Smiling into the sensation, she parted her legs and wrapped them around his waist to pull him closer until she could feel Devon’s hardness press inside her.
Trevor stopped and looked down at her, hovering there for only a moment before thrusting forward. He didn’t care who he looked like… this was his body and this was right where he wanted to be. Hovering above her, he made love to her like a driven man who had become lost within his own insanity.
Envy bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out and waking her brother. She gripped Devon trying to match his rhythm but quickly found out there was no way she could keep up with him tonight. It was all she could do just to hold on as he brought her so many times it made her high.
Trevor quickly claimed her lips when she forgot they weren’t alone in the house but he wouldn’t give her a chance to regain her sensibilities just yet. He held a tight rein on his own control, not giving into to the same high until over an hour had passed.
He allowed himself to watch her sleep for a few minutes before leaving a soft kiss on her lips and slipping from the bed.
*****
Warren was starting to get concerned. He’d been searching the graveyard for Devon’s scent for the last hour. When he wandered away from his brother earlier, he figured Devon would be right behind him and ready to fight. Warren had killed three more Skitters before he fully realized that Devon was still nowhere in sight.
He’d even sent out a piercing feline cry, basically the jaguar’s version of checking in with each other. There was no responding cry. Going over the last place he’d seen Devon, Warren found the signs of the fight but no Skitter and no trace of Devon. It took him a few more minutes but when he finally found Devon’s scent. It led him toward an old crypt.
Approaching the building carefully, he sniffed around the perimeter before pawing at the locked door. He growled at the lock and two solutions popped into his mind. Devon had either been put in there or the door had slammed shut and somehow locked during a fight.
Shifting back to his human form, Warren wrenched the door open, breaking it away from its hinges with the scream of old metal against heavy wood. His eyes widened when he saw Devon lying in the middle of the floor with two Skitters heaped on top of one another next to him.
Devon’s eyes opened slightly when the door banged open but he immediately shut them when the morning light invaded, burning his retinas. He felt like he’d just drank Kat’s entire stock of Heat and got into a losing fight on top of it.
“What the hell happened in here?” Warren demanded softly.
Devon growled low in his chest and shifted back to his human form. Bringing a hand to his head, he slowly sat up with Warren’s help and took a good look around.
“The last thing I remember was getting into a fight with another Skitter after you left,” Devon answered. “I must have trapped it in here and killed it…” he looked over at the heaped Skitters and frowned, “…killed them. One must have knocked me good in the head before it went down.”
“I think that’s enough fighting for now.” Warren said at length. “We both need some sleep.”
Devon nodded and let Warren pull him to his feet. “Great, we’re naked,” he muttered.
”Just call us the streak,” Warren smirked. “Wanna slowly stroll out of here and see how many cat calls we get, or do you wanna race?”
“The count of three,” Devon responded with a raised eyebrow.
When they got back to the vehicle, they put on the change of clothing they kept stashed there just in case.
“Drop me off at Chad’s place. Envy’s there, so I’ll just crawl into bed with her,” Devon said as he leaned back in the seat. “Also, do me a favor.”
Warren looked over at him as he drove. “I won’t tell anyone so it doesn’t get back to Envy.”
Devon smiled at his elder brother’s uncanny ability to always know what someone was thinking. Sometimes it made things not so awkward.
“Thanks,” Devon said. “I hate it when she worries.”
A few minutes later, Warren pulled to a stop in front of Chad’s apartment and looked over at Devon. “Get some sleep and just call me when you’re ready to come back.”
Devon shook his head, “Don’t worry about it, either Chad will drive us or I’ll call a cab.”
Warren waited until Devon opened the front door and was inside the house before he drove off. He didn’t want to say anything to Devon, but finding his brother like that had sent up red flags. The way the door had been locked from the outside was a bit too planned out making him wonder if someone or something else didn’t lock him in there on purpose.
Shaking his head, Warren decided not to think about it anymore today… he was exhausted.
Devon moved silently through the apartment toward Envy’s room. Opening the door, he smiled at the vision of her angelic face relaxed with sleep. Removing his clothes, he slipped into bed behind her and curled up against her back, wrapping an arm around her waist.
She snuggled closer before relaxing against his chest and tilted her head back. Her breathing returned to the long breaths associated with a deep sleep and Devon relaxed. He decided to let her sleep this time instead of waking her up to let her know he was there… he would have to remember to take better care of her sleep habits from now on.
*****
The seventh floor of the hospital was peacefully quiet. It had been a long and boring shift as the nurses did their rounds to the various patients. The soft rhythms of the life support machines beeped steadily, creating enough background noise to keep the darkened floor from feeling eerie.
“Long ten hours huh?” the security guard asked one of the nurses at the station.
“And then some,” the nurse said with a smile, “You going to the corner deli for lunch?”
“Yeah,” the guard answered. “You want anything?”
The nurse nodded, “We were talking about it earlier. I’ll get an answer from everyone and let you know before you go.”
The system monitoring the patients suddenly started lighting up and the nurse jumped to her feet. Blue led lights flashed sporadically making the nurse grab the phone sitting next to her.
“Doctor Gordon and Doctor Harris to the seventh floor stat,” she announced before hanging up the phone and rushing out from behind the desk.
More nurses came from the smaller stations at each end of the sprawling floor, each one trying to cover a set of rooms in order to see more patients in a shorter time. The security guard brought out his radio and called main floor security. It wasn’t long before the two doctors on duty along with a small army of ten more nurses rushed the floor to help.
Panic and mayhem started to bloom among the staff as the patients began dropping like flies. They stayed with the people as long as possible before moving on to the next one, barely taking a moment to note the time of death for each one.
As the staff moved down the hall, they realized that whatever was causing the patients to die seemed to be moving closer to the ICU also located on this floor. Though they were all thinking the exact same thing, none of them voiced that fear… it was only a coincidence after all.
The security guard was waiting at the elevator when the police arrived. He was disappointed that only two officers had answered the call but it was better than nothing. With the earthquake about a week before, added to all the people showing up dead and dismembered, he could understand the lack of available cops.
Screaming erupted down the hall and the officers pulled their guns as they ran forward. Two nurses went sailing across the hall, hitting the wall hard enough to crunch bones. They fell to the floor leaving long smears of blood behind on the pristine white paint.
“What the hell?” the security guard whispered.
The officers tightened their grips on their side arms and slowly moved down the hall toward the bodies. More staff members began flying from the doors while others attempted to run for it.
The security guard stared wide-eyed as a dark figure emerged from the last room next to the entrance of the ICU. It was fading in and out of their vision as it moved. Its face couldn’t be seen beneath the ragged black cloak, but a long bladed scythe could be seen clearly in one of its ridiculously long-fingered hands.
It moved down the hall toward them, grabbing up nurses and flinging them aside like rag-dolls. The officers opened fire while backing away from the specter. The scythe came down in a long arc slicing one of the officers in two. Blood sprayed across the floors as the officer fell but the creature kept advancing on the officer still firing his gun.
Blood sprayed again, this time across the security guard’s face as the second officer was cut down. He vaguely registered the elevator ding, signaling that someone was coming up but he was frozen in fear and couldn’t move.
A man appeared in the corner of his vision… young, with a long trench coat and punkish dark hair. He lifted a hand toward the creature and it was sent flying down the hall. It screamed, using the scythe to stop its flight and seemed to stare at the newcomer before vanishing into the floor.
“You okay?” Ren asked the traumatized man.
The security guard abruptly collapsed in a dead faint. Ren sighed heavily and took out his cell phone. It was a good thing this hospital was close enough to some of the city paranormals or he wouldn’t have had the power to scare the thing into not attacking him too.
“We need a huge cleanup crew and the best demon exterminator on the roster.”
