Hybrid Misfit

yes, Hades did exist-I was a shivering coward. I still well remembered the words of the captive demon upon our forced meeting. Human bitch, know that when I escape I shall tear open your body and feast on your innards. I shall abuse every orifice in your body and create new ones. I shall… Needless to say, the demon the government captured and used in its experiments wasn’t happy they’d donated his DNA to mere humans. When they’d accidentally killed him when testing his reaction to an injection of angelic blood, I’d breathed a sigh of relief, because I’d had no doubt the confined one would live up to his promises. But apparently his death was not the end.

With a mental shake, I forced myself not to let my mind stray as I paid attention to what happened before me.

“Foolish Ifrit. The abomination cannot be allowed to live.”

Hey, he’s talking about me. I think.

Simon growled drawing the attention of the demon.

The demon flicked its forked tongue and narrowed its eyes. “You keep interesting company, is dreki. And here we thought your kind extinct. My master will be most interested in knowing of your existence. Now, do the smart thing and hand the female over. You wouldn’t want to draw the annoyed attention of the one I serve.”

“Perhaps it is you and your master who should tread cautiously,” Gene replied. “The girl is under our protection. So, if you want her, you’ll have to go through me and my friend here first. Somehow, I think the prognosis for your success and continued stain upon the world isn’t so good.”

The demon looked as baffled as I did. Gene, with his flowery words, had confused the subject. Simon cleared it up with a simple, “Touch her and die.”

I must be a sick puppy, because his simple announcement totally raised my arousal level.

The demon gnashed his teeth and his eyes flared bright, but he stayed his hands-make that big, nasty claws. “Have you forgotten the words engraved on both the walls of Heaven and Hell?”

“Whence walks the one tainted unnaturally with the essence of darkness and light, the world shall tremble and the planes known as Heaven and Hell cease to exist out of time. Hail beautus unus, suus cruor vadum attero fines finium…” Gene recited some strange passage that started in English and then went all gibberishy. It made absolutely no sense to me, but seemed familiar to them. Just another thing that I didn’t know since I hadn’t gotten my membership card to join the club of Fucked Up Beings. Great.

“She must be destroyed like the rest of her brethren in the great cleansing.”

“No.” Simon bristled in front of me. “She’s different than those tainted creatures. Look at her and see her humanity. She is not like those twisted ones.”

The beast hissed and snaked a slimy tongue in my direction. “She is the seed of our destruction and now that I know her scent, I shall not stop the hunt until she breathes her last.”

“Then you’ve signed your death warrant,” said Gene shaking his head.

Simon didn’t reply; he acted. The other night, busy fighting for my life, I’d not watched Simon in action. What a mistake.

If it was possible, he seemed bigger all of a sudden as he charged the nasty demon. His shirt strained around muscles that bunched and rippled. I caught a glimpse of long, almost silvery claws, extending from his fingers that he used to slash at the creature.

My would-be knight and the evil villain battled, their weapon of choice: claws, which they wielded like a many pronged sword. The clicking sound and grunts as they jousted back and forth held me riveted, until I noticed Gene standing still.

“What are you doing?” I hissed. “Help him before he gets hurt.”

Gene turned to me with a look of surprise. “You don’t actually think that thing can hurt him do you?” He chuckled. “Simon’s just toying with him.”

I fumed. “I don’t care. What if someone calls the cops? Or the slime ball gets a lucky shot?”

“Fine, I’ll help, but just so you know, I’ve had a protective shield around us since the fight started to prevent any humans from observing.”

Really? I looked around, saw nothing. A growl brought my attention back to the fight.

With a flurry of slashes and pivots that at times seemed physically impossible, Simon finally struck a killing blow, one that made the demon’s eyes widen as it sank to its knees, black ichor gushing from the fatal wound in its chest.

I rushed over to Simon and hugged him while furtively checking for injury, thus did I hear the demon’s last whispery words-even though I wish I hadn’t.

“Protect her if you will for now,” it hissed. “But know we will return for we are Legion, and we will kill her before she destroys us all.” Then the light in the demons eyes went out, rendering them dark and lifeless. A swirling black mist surrounded the demon and with a gagging sulphuric stench, the corpse disappeared, taking my previous arousal with him.

Reassured Simon was in one piece, I stepped back from him and, placing my hands on my hips, I glared at both men. “Does someone want to explain to me what the fuck just happened? Why does a demon from Hell want to kill me?”

“The information you are asking for isn’t the kind of conversation to be had over dinner. Do you mind if we adjourn somewhere more private?” Gene asked with a creased brow that told me without words I wouldn’t like what they had to tell me.

I wanted the security and familiarity of home and family. While Claire was still at work, Lana was home and would provide an extra pair of ears. “Fine, we’ll go back to my place. I’ve got hard liquor to soften whatever it is you’ve got to tell me.”

“Huddle up then,” Gene ordered. Simon tucked me under his arm, his warm solidity reassuring. Gene grabbed us in a hug and in a shake of Jeannie’s pony tail we were outside my apartment complex. They followed me upstairs. I led the way, my arousal slowly seeping back as I walked up the stairs, conscious of my short skirt and the view I knew they were enjoying. What they had to tell me must be serious, because Gene didn’t crack a single joke.

We walked in to find Lana, with her feet soaking, watching Jaws-a favorite of hers. She especially enjoyed grossing us out by saying she’d do the shark if she could ever figure out how to change into her tail. Another siren issue she was dealing with along with Thalassophobia.

Her eyes widened as she took in my two companions. I smirked at her and gestured absently at them. “Lana, meet Simon and Gene. Our dinner plans got waylaid because of a run in with a demon.”

“A what?” Lana’s screech followed me into the kitchen where I pulled out a bottle of whiskey and poured myself a shot. I downed the burning liquor, before grabbing a few more shot glasses and carrying everything out to the living room.

Simon and Gene sat at opposite ends of one couch with a tempting spot between them just right for me. I bypassed the invitation and sat beside Lana.

I poured everyone a generous dollop of whiskey and raised my glass, saying. “Salut.”

My friends followed suit and we slapped our empty glasses down on the table. Fortified by the alcohol, I spilled the encounter with the demon to Lana, whose eyes grew rounder and rounder.

“Ah shit, Beth. That doesn’t sound good.”

“We’ll protect her,” rumbled Simon.

“Excuse me,” Lana said and I almost smiled knowing they were about to see why it was best to leave annoyed sirens alone. “But, first off, you just met Beth and I have a hard time understanding your motives in wanting to protect her in what is surely a deadly endeavor. Second, you both seem to know an awful lot about what she is and what’s going on, which I find pretty freaking suspicious.”

“Which we will explain if you give us a moment,” interjected Gene. He shut up though when Lana, with a high pitched, hummed note, glared at him. I snickered.

“And finally, exactly how are two guys supposed to stop the hordes of Hell if what the fiend said was true?” When the boys didn’t immediately answer-probably too cowed to reply-she let out a shrill whistle that would have probably caused a school of fish to commit suicide.