Onyx: Crimson Forest, #2

by Tarisa Marie

Chapter 1

Only a couple of months ago, I thought my life was as boring and uninteresting as they came. I worked two jobs, resided in Seattle with my best friend in a petite apartment, and came home to view TV reruns in my free time. That all changed immensely when I got the call about my mother’s death. I had no idea that one call could change my entire life so incredibly much. I went from leading the most boring, regular life, to living with four immortal beings in a house warded against other supernatural beings in Saskatchewan, Canada of all places in the world.

Kade! my brother’s boyfriend Kai shouts. I’m not sure exactly why he shouts when Kade has the ability to hear a whisper from a mile away, but maybe it’s just habit.

Kade rushes into the house in a blur and stops in front of Kai, looking at him with concern on his brow. What?

Kai quirks a single brow. It’s your turn to run the perimeter. Did you forget?

Kade scoffs and rolls his eyes in annoyance. What the hell do you think I was out doing? He shakes his head and turns back around.

Kai shrugs and then a cocky grin emerges on his lips. I thought maybe you were tending to your vegetable garden.

I roll my eyes at Kai as well. Kai has been making fun of Kade for planting a garden in the backyard for the last three weeks. I have to admit that it was unexpected. Why would a vampire, who doesn’t even eat human food, plant a vegetable garden? I never took Kade for a gardener. I’ve seen the guy tear apart vampires who were intent on killing he or I; I’ve watched him spar with Kai and my brother Daniel, leaving both of the men pretty scuffed up and Kade not even having wrinkled his shirt.

Kade sighs and shakes his head, his back still turned to Kai. Maybe you should try a hobby other than running that mouth of yours. You’re lucky May likes you or I’d go a little harder on you in sparring practice. Don’t think I’m not going easy on you, kid.

This seems to actually rattle Kai a little. Kai is extremely young in the terms of the Bryxx society and he has his mind set on becoming a professional level black hunter, the highest ranked, most dangerous demon guards that the Bryxx have, but he has a tremendous ways to go before he gets there. Not that Kai’s not a good fighter, but he has nothing on Kade who is ranked a level black.

Daniel slowly enters the room, looking groggy with disheveled hair and a pajamas still on. He eyes Kai with a warning glare. Could you please try not to piss off the vamp? Unlike you, I do value your life.

I know Kade would never hurt Kai, no matter how lippy the guy can be, but Daniel and Kai don’t trust Kade as much as I do. They were raised to hate vampires, to kill them, not befriend and trust them.

Kade crosses his arms and turns to eye Kai sternly. I’d listen to him.

Kai gives Daniel a look I don’t understand before nodding to the checker board in the corner of the living room. How about if you win, I’ll stop harassing the vamp for the rest of the day. If I win, you take my shift running the perimeter tonight.

Daniel scoffs. You’re on, Kai!

I shake my head and enter the kitchen to make some breakfast. Kade beats me there, and by the time I get into the kitchen, he’s standing in front of the stove with a jug of milk in one hand and a box of cereal in the other. Let me guess...cereal? he asks with a wink. It’s all I’ve been eating for breakfast the last two weeks. You’re sure you don’t want me to fry you up something better?

I would like two eggs and a package of bacon, please! Kai calls from the other room, eavesdropping.

Kade glowers towards the voice and the turns back to me with a grin. So?

Cereal, I confirm. It’s quick and easy and I need to get to work on my father and I’s research while he goes to bed for the day.

My dad made a deal with the demons to save my life when I was born. When I was young, they cashed in on his end of the deal and took him away. A few weeks ago, when they thought I was dead and they’d broken their end of the contract, they were forced to destroy the contract, therefore releasing my dad from their grasp. His human body was destroyed years ago, so they were forced to make him into one of them. Of course, they gave him as little they could and only gave him the abilities of one of the weakest types of demons. He’s so weak, in fact, that he can’t bear to stay awake during daylight hours and his abilities are basically nonexistent, the only ability he truly has is immortality.

I have to admit that it’s weird to see my dad walking around appearing so young. He appears the same age he did when he ‘died’ all those years ago, making him appear twenty-eight years old, only a handful of years older than me. I also have to admit that it’s strange that Kade is literally centuries older than my dad.

Kade pours some cereal into a bowl and then adds some milk before handing it to me. I’m going to be out running the perimeter for a couple hours until Daniel switches off with me. When I get back, I’ll join you in the office.

I nod once and take the cereal bowl from him before heading downstairs to our makeshift office. I find my dad hunched over the thick book in front of him, his hair tousled. Hey, any progress? I ask and pull the second chair up next to his.

He raises his head slightly and then shakes it. Not a thing.

Well, you should head to bed, I’m ready to go here, I encourage him. My dad, Kade, and I have been looking relentlessly for some sort of cure or way to neutralize my blood so it’s not appealing to vampires, so that it isn’t so valuable and I no longer have to hide away. I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life holed up, so I’ve been spending every day digging through every book on Bryxx and demons that Kade has been able to get his hands on through his friend Henry, who has been secretly sending them to us from the community.

My dad stretches and appears extremely exhausted. He pushes his chair back and stands up. Will Kade be joining you?

Yeah, not for a bit though, it’s his turn to run the perimeter, I share and pull my chair closer to the large desk.

He spends too much time out there. The other two should take more shifts. He’s out there from ten in the evening to six in the morning, and then from ten in the morning to noon, and four to six in the afternoon. That’s twelve hours a day he spends out there while the other two are only out there for six hours a day. Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to split it three ways equally?

I debate this. Kade doesn’t need sleep and he feels better when he’s out there himself. He’d be out there even more if the other two would let him. Although Kade would never say it, I know he thinks Kai and Daniel are inadequate protection. Even when they’re on duty and he’s not, he’s still outside pacing, on edge, and alert.

Dad yawns and blinks slowly a few times before turning to the stairs. I hope you have more luck than I did, May. I need to get some rest, I’m tuckered.

Yeah, me too. Have a good sleep, I mutter, already beginning to read the book my dad started. The plus side to all this reading is that I’ve learnt more than enough about the Bryxx and the demons. I must get too into my research because before I know it, two hours have passed and Kade is pulling up a chair beside me.

Any luck? he asks, not sounding optimistic.

I shake my head. No, just a bunch of sigils in this book. I don’t think it will be any help.

Kade wets his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue and then pulls the book from me. Sigils, huh? They can be extremely powerful. Never draw one.

I’m about to ask him why I would ever want to draw a sigil when one of them catches my eye. I’ve seen it before. I stop him from flipping the page and point to it. This one is in my family’s house, in my mom’s room.

Kade scoots the large book closer to me. Are you sure? It’s one of the sigils for entrapment. It’s used to hold a demon in a small area. Like a cage of sorts.

I’m one thousand percent sure. I wouldn’t forget it. Who would want to hold a demon in our old house? The thought makes my bones chill. Could there be a demon trapped in our old farmhouse? If so, why? It would explain why my mother lost her mind, well, maybe. I only just noticed the sigil. I doubt if it’s been there long. That is, unless maybe I can only just see it now and it’s been there for a long time.

Kade looks from me back to the symbol on the worn page. That’s worth checking out... he mutters. Maybe I’ll get Henry to go take a look at it.

Why would it be there? I ask, already knowing the answer.

Well, if someone or something wanted to keep a demon there, they’d draw that. It’s very powerful. It even traps vampires and caranti demons. You don’t happen to know what symbol was placed in between these two lines do you? He points to an empty space in the drawing and I immediately realize that part of the symbol from the house, is different from this one. The one from the house had something extra, a cross with a wavy line through it and a sort of hook shape. I grab a pen from the desk drawer and draw it on the paper.

It was like this...or close to it anyway, I might be forgetting something, I only briefly looked at it and that was two months ago.

Kade looks it over and then flips through the large book methodically. After a moment, he stops at a page and places the symbol next to one that is nearly identical. It’s a holding cell for a demon descended from the demon Markel. Kade’s face pinches and he flips through more pages. I’m going to call Henry and get him to look into this. He pulls out his phone and chats with Henry before returning to the research. Henry is going there now before a meeting he has with my father. He sounded intrigued.

Not ten minutes later, Kade’s phone rings and I glance over to see Henry’s name on the display. Kade picks it up. Hey, Henry, you’re on speaker. Did you find anything?

Uh, yeah. I sure did. I’m going to need you to you to come to Montana as soon as possible and break me out of this ward. Well, I’m going to need someone who’s not a demon to break me out of this damn thing, actually.

Kade sighs and rubs his forehead harshly. What the hell did you do? Did you get too close to it?

Henry chuckles without humour. I’m not stuck in the one you told me about. I’m stuck in one on the porch, right in front of the door. I guess it makes sense that a family with deliciously smelling blood would ward their house against demons.

Kade’s brow wrinkles. I’ve been in the house. I was never trapped in a ward, he argues. Are you sure?

Henry scoffs. I’ve been a vampire for centuries. I know what a ward feels like, Kade. I can’t very well have anyone find me stuck here, nor can I call your father or one of the Bryxx to come help me. I need May here. She’s the only one I can trust with this.

Kai and Daniel have no idea that Henry isn’t Bryxx, we’ve avoided telling them that tidbit of information as per Henry’s request. Not that Kade would trust them with that information anyway. For Henry, letting that information into the wrong hands means his death, so only Kade, me, and a handful of Henry’s close friends are in the loop, me being the only non-demonic of the group as far as I know.

I wonder why Kade has put Henry on speaker when Kai or Daniel have strong enough hearing to listen to this conversation from upstairs or even across the yard. Kade’s hearing extends much further, so I assume that he knows that they’re out of hearing range.

Kade cusses and I see the rare slip of his calm facade. It’s not safe for her to travel there. The Bryxx, the demons, it’s like walking into a fire.

Henry is quiet a moment. Well, I can’t make you do anything, but if I don’t get out of here soon, I’m toast.

Can’t you compel some nearby human to come help you? I ask, recalling that vampires have extremely strong persuasion skills.

No, because I’m trapped in this thing, my abilities cannot extend outside of it. If there were a human in the area of this four by four-foot space I’m stuck in, then yes, that would work.

I look to Kade. We have to help Henry. We both owe him our lives. He’s saved both of our asses in the past.

I set my pen down on the desk. We’re on our way, I assure him.

Kade glares at me and stiffly crosses his arms across his chest. "What?"

We owe him. Big time, I remind Kade who seems to be scrambling for words.

He opens his mouth and then closes it again. Yes, but we can’t put your life in danger. I will go alone and compel a human to remove the ward, he tells me in an it’s-not-up-for-discussion tone.

I grit my teeth while I sternly mutter, No, you won’t. I don’t want you to go there alone. What if you somehow get stuck in a ward too? Hell, if Henry can, then you can. We don’t know how many there are or where they are. I’m not letting you go alone and I owe Henry, too. It’ll be fine. We will drive to the farm, get him out, see what’s up with the other sigil, and then get out of dodge. It’ll take fifteen minutes.

Kade eyes me carefully, clearly not liking this but also not about to force me to do anything. I respect him for that. He swallows visibly. Fine. It’s going to be quick. We’ll tell the others we have a lead we’re following up on but they should stay here and watch the place. Someone needs to check the wards and refresh them every few hours so they don’t fall down and we have to start from scratch. That would be a pain in the ass.

Henry, we’ll be there soon. Well...in however long it takes to get there, I promise him and stand up.

I’ll round up the pilot for the private plane. We’ll be there in a few hours, Kade agrees reluctantly, tacking a sigh at the end of his words. He ends the call and faces me. I don’t like this.

"And you think I like you going? This is dangerous for both of us. What do you think the Bryxx will do if they find you so close to the community after just banishing you? I’m not dumb, Kade, I know just how unwelcome you are there."

Kade sighs and seems to accept that we’re both going, but he still very clearly doesn’t like it.

We head upstairs and grab a few things we need before Kade shouts for Kai and Daniel. They both enter the house through the patio door in the kitchen.

Where were you? I ask them.

Kai smirks. Running the perimeter together, he informs me, but I’m not sure I believe him. Something is off about his expression.

I squint at him, hoping I can put a finger on it.

Kade snorts out a laugh. "Right. You expect me to believe that when I could hear what you were actually doing?" he scolds.

Kai’s amused expression fades to surprise. "You could hear what we were doing?" he asks awkwardly.

"Yeah, loud and clear. Vampire, remember? I can hear for miles. Sounds cool, but you hear a lot of things you really don’t want to hear. Usually I can block it out, but since you decided to neglect your run, someone had to make sure we weren’t under attack."

Daniel swallows and scratches his head. "Shit, sorry, Kade. I didn’t think you could hear that well."

Kai’s cocky grin returns. I’m not. It was worth it.

I finally realize what they’re talking about, what they were doing, and I gape. Seriously, you two? Ew! Kade’s probably scarred for life.

Kade shrugs it off. "Like I said, I hear a lot of things I don’t want to. I’m used to hearing people...canoodling." The thought of what exactly Kade is forced to hear makes me cringe and I decide that it’s not bad being deaf by their standards after all.

Anyway...what did you want? Kai asks Kade and crosses his arms impatiently as if he has somewhere he needs to be.

Kade waits a few moments before speaking. I know he does this just to piss Kai off. He then wets his lips slowly. May and I have a lead, and we’re flying out to check it out right now. We need you to stay here and keep up the wards and make sure this place is safe for May upon our return. Can you do that?

Kai nods. Of course. Yeah, sure. You sure you don’t want one of us to come with you, though? More protection. Only one person needs to be here to check the wards.

Kade shakes his head. We’re not going anywhere super dangerous. Most of the time we’ll be in the sky in a plane and the rest should be a breeze, he lies, knowing that if either of them think I’ll be in the slightest danger, they’ll try to make me stay here.

You sure you don’t want to stay here, May? Daniel asks, his eyes sad and worried. You shouldn’t leave the wards. One of us can go with Kade instead. My brother brushes a strand of hair behind my ear.

I shake my head quickly. "No, I’m going. I have to do this. This is about me after all. I can’t just stay here while my limited life slips by. I need to do something. I haven’t left this house in three weeks. I’m going stir crazy." I explain this in a tone that clearly portrays that it’s not up for discussion. None of them will force me to stay here. They all know the risks, but they also respect me and my decisions. They know I know the risks and that making me stay here or do something against my will, is only going to make me miserable and loathe them. I respect them more than they know for letting me make my own decisions about this sort of stuff, when I know very well that they could