TALIA*
They always said demons came out at night.
They weren't wrong.
I crouched on the rooftop of a derelict apartment building, a soft drizzle blurring the neon skyline of downtown Chicago. The city pulsed beneath me... cars, laughter, sin. I could taste the filth in the air, the shadow of something foul slipping between alleyways.
Demon scent.
My fingers tightened around the grip of my silver-bladed crossbow, the one Dad forged for me before he disappeared. A gift wrapped in iron and vengeance. It hummed under my palm, ready to take another supernatural bastard down.
For weeks now we had been tailing this particular demon after he went rogue. He carelessly drained humans and killed everywhere he went. Just this morning Cara was able to get a-hold of his location, and now... here we are.
Below, the demon slithered through the crowd masked in glamour, just another slick-suited man to anyone else. But not to me. My instincts screamed otherwise. Something inhuman clung to his outline, a ripple beneath the surface, like static on skin.
A soft chime rang in my earpiece.
"East quadrant secure," Cara's voice crackled. "You got eyes on the target?"
"Yeah," I muttered. "He's slinking toward Wicker Alley. Classic." I paused. "Tell Caleb to circle from the west. We box him in."
"On it."
I exhaled, adrenaline and something darker swimming through my veins. I wasn't just chasing shadows. I was chasing history. Every time I ran a hunt, I hoped... no, prayed... it would lead me to the one who took my father.
Or at least tear another piece from their rotten world.
I leapt from the rooftop, boots landing silent on the wet pavement. The demon twisted just as I raised my bow.
But he wasn't fast enough.
The bolt sliced through his glamoured chest, cracking the illusion like a mirror. He screeched, stumbled, then dropped to his knees, snarling through blackened teeth.
"You Light Chasers never quit," he spat.
"Nope." I aimed a second bolt at his heart. "That's sort of our thing."
But before I could let it fly, something changed.
The alley dimmed. A pressure, like a thousand invisible hands, crushed the air. The demon choked and dropped dead before the second bolt ever flew.
I turned, heart hammering.
And that's when I saw him.
Kael.
He emerged from the shadows like he belonged there... tall, dark, and carved from sin itself. His eyes burned an impossible crimson, haloed with gold. Midnight hair swept across his forehead. And his lips… they quirked like he was amused by the panic in my stance.
But I wasn't panicking. I was.... dammit ,I was feeling.... Something warm and familiar curled inside my chest, flooding my stomach with butterflies and dread.
Not again.
"Hello, hunter," Kael murmured, his voice the kind of sound that slithered under skin and whispered into bones. "Still pretty with that scowl."
"Stay back," I warned, cocking the crossbow.
He didn't listen.
A voice in my mind whispered... He never did.
"You shouldn't be here," I growled. "You're breaking the Accord."
Kael stepped over the demon's corpse like it was trash. "The Accord doesn't apply when you're being hunted."
"This wasn't your business"
"Wasn't it?" He leaned closer. "You reek of rage. You kill because you're told to. But you're not just a killer, are you, Talia?"
My fingers twitched on the trigger.
"Don't pretend you know me."
"But I do know you," he said, voice dropping to something uncomfortably intimate. "I knew you before you were this. Before the Light Chasers twisted you into a weapon."
And just like that, it came again... that feeling. A warmth I couldn't explain. Like seeing him pulled at something older than memory, something that didn't belong to me… but to someone else inside me.
Tanya?... Was that her name?.
No. I didn't believe in reincarnation. That wasn't in our doctrine. The Light Chasers believed in steel, training, and war not past lives and star-crossed bullshit.
Still, I hesitated.
And Kael seized the moment.
In a blink, he was in front of me. I tried to step back, but his hand grazed my arm. A shiver jolted through my entire body. The alley spun. My knees gave out.
And everything went dark.
-----
When I woke, I wasn't in the alley.
I was somewhere… luxurious.
A grand room, filled with shadows and soft velvet. Gold and crimson decor, incense lingering in the air. The kind of place you'd expect a prince .... or a demon lord to keep his secrets.
Kael sat in a chair by the window, a book in hand, though his gaze now rested on me.
"You fainted," he said simply.
"You drugged me," I snapped, trying to sit up.
"You fainted," he repeated, clearly amused. "Though I admit I did catch you. You're welcome."
"Where am I?"
"Neutral ground. My estate. No one can find you here, not even your precious Light Chasers."
I hated the relief that bloomed in my chest.
well.... at least he wouldn't be able to get his hands on Cara and Caleb.
"What do you want?" I demanded. "A hostage? Bargaining chip?".
Kael set the book down and crossed the room in long, unhurried strides. He knelt by the edge of the couch where I lay, his hand brushing a strand of hair from my face.
"No," he said, eyes searching mine with something too deep to name. "I wanted to see if you still looked at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you don't know whether to kill me... or kiss me."
I opened my mouth to snap back, but nothing came out.
Because damn he was right.