Kait Ballenger - Immortal Hunter

Fuck.

The bastard paused again and turned around.

David didn’t have time to think. He threw himself on to the demon. His torso collided with the lanky physician’s, and he knocked the monster to the ground. He shoved the blade of his knife against the hell-crawler’s throat. The demon struggled beneath him. It wriggled an arm free and clocked David square in the cheekbone.

David’s head snapped back from the force of the blow. His vision blurred. Though the demon’s chosen body was human, the monster’s strength was still of supernatural proportions. The demon possessing the doctor packed one hell of a punch. Damn, that would hurt in the morning.

The hell-spawn seized the free moment, bucking David off and scrambling to its feet. Vision still blurred, David followed suit, quickly regaining his footing. He slashed his knife through the air, backing the demon into a corner between the Dumpster and the wall of the alley.

The demon laughed. “You think a blade will hurt me, hunter?” It put both arms out in a welcoming gesture. “By all means, carve up this nice doctor I’m wearing. You won’t cause me any permanent harm.”

David frowned. Now he was pissed. He hated demons, especially smart-ass ones. He slashed across the demon’s face. A sharp hiss echoed through the alley as the blade seared through its skin. The creature clutched its cheek as steam billowed off the burning wound. David slammed the demon against the wall, pushing his knife flush against its throat.

He smirked. “A blessed blade, you sulfur-sucking fucker.” David pushed the knife harder against the demon’s skin. “And that’s ‘exorcist’ to you.”

The demon swore. David choked back a laugh. What kind of dumbass was this thing? He wasn’t one to brag, but with a reputation like his, the demon should’ve known stepping foot inside Rochester put him smack-dab in the middle of David’s hunting territory. If there was one thing demons hated more than anything, it was dealing with exorcists like him. He sent them back to hell every time—and every demon he’d ever encountered had been desperate to escape Satan’s hellhole for good. It was no easy feat to get here, so they sure didn’t want to be sent back.

David leaned the slightest bit harder into his blade, drawing blood. Another hiss sounded as the cut on the demon’s neck burned and smoked. It writhed against David’s weight.

First for the personal business. “What were you doing at Allsún’s bedside, you freak?” David growled.

A small smile curved the demon’s lips. “Who?” it taunted.

With his free fist David punched the demon in the face. From the crunch beneath his knuckles, he could tell the physician’s nose had broken. The poor guy would have to deal with the pain of the injuries David inflicted, assuming he was still alive, but it sure beat the alternative. David threw another punch, and blood gushed from the demon’s nostrils.

He needed answers, and he needed them now. “Don’t get cute with me, princess. You know exactly who I’m talking about.”

The demon’s eyes shifted from a human brown to a burning bloodred. Its anger showed in the hint of its true form. “You mean the delicious girl I plan to gut from the inside out?”

“If you touch a single hair on her head, I will skin you alive and pour holy water across your open wounds until you’ve sizzled to nothing more than a piece of smoking, rotting flesh,” David hissed. His blood was boiling. The thought of Allsún hurting any more than she already was sent pure rage coursing through his veins. He’d already failed to protect her once. He wouldn’t let it happen again.

The demon grinned through the blood pouring down its face. “And kill this sweet doctor I’m wearing, a man who has saved countless lives? I don’t think so.”

David growled. “You underestimate my hatred for you hell-whores.” He shoved the knife harder against the demon’s throat. More smoke burned from the wound. “Tell me why you’ve been riding her doctor or I’ll exorcise your sorry ass back to hell right this second.”

The demon didn’t respond.

“One last chance.”

The demon grinned. Blood from the doctor’s nose gushed into its mouth and stained its smile a putrid shade of crimson. No answer.

David clenched his teeth. Fine. If the demon wanted pain, he’d give it pain. He cleared his throat and began to recite the exorcism ritual. The Hebrew words fell from his lips with familiar ease.

The veins underneath the demon’s skin darkened until the varicose lines covered the doctor’s whole body. The demon’s eyes blazed an even more fiery red, and he shook in uncontrollable jerks. David didn’t stop chanting, not even to catch his breath.

The demon let out a strained cry. “All right already,” it interrupted him. “Don’t exorcise me and I’ll tell you what you want.”

David waited. The little shit had called uncle sooner than he’d expected.

The demon coughed blood as the blue-and-purple veins covering the body it possessed slowly faded. “She’s the last Fae creature outside the Isle of Apples. I came to kill her, and I would have, if you hadn’t been permanently glued to her bedside.”

Fuck. David fought back a long string of profanities. As if Allsún didn’t have it rough enough already—lying there unconscious while her injuries healed. Now this demon knew what she had been hiding for years, her half-Fae bloodline. Her pixie bloodline, to be more specific. As earthly angels, the Fae were the demons’ only true natural enemy. As one of the last of her kind remaining on earth, Allsún was a danger to them, and she’d gone into hiding several years ago during the last mass exodus of Fae from Earth.

David forced himself to remain calm for Allsún’s sake. He couldn’t let the demon know it was on to anything big. “Who sent you?” he asked.

The demon shrugged. “It’s just me.”

David let out another low growl and slid the edge of his blade across the demon’s throat.

The monster yelled in agony. “I’m on my own. I swear it. I possessed the hospital janitor, and I was riding him for some fun when I came across her. I knew what she was right away, so I decided to toy with her and possessed the doc. I wanted to say I was the demon to kill the last faerie on Earth.”

David met the demon’s eyes and assessed the worthless piece of filth. From its mild strength he could tell it was no head-honcho. Just another lowly bottom-feeder. Probably a Belial demon, if he were to wager a guess. A Belial would be dumb enough to go after someone as valuable as Allsún without orders from its superiors.

“Did you tell anyone else about her?”

The hell-spawn shook its head. “No, no one. You have my word. Just let me go.”

David scoffed. “Your word is worth less than a dead man’s ball sack. I know you demons chatter like gossiping schoolgirls with one another, so unless you can tell me something useful about the demon that murdered that poor infant girl two weeks ago, you’re taking a one-way trip back to hell.” David began to recite the ritual again, his words slow, deliberate.

The veins throughout the doctor’s body bulged again, and the demon shrieked. “Send me back to hell and I’ll tell every demon there about her!”

David froze. Rage filled him as he considered the demon’s words. He was so not in the mood to play around with this sulfurous piss-ant.

The demon grinned from ear to ear. “Looks like you’re just going to have to let me go, exorcist.”

David laughed. “In your dreams.” He punched the demon in the gut. The demon/doctor let out an audible “oof.”

He would exorcise the demonic piece of shit as painfully as possible. He reached for the chain around his neck, pulling the Star of David he always wore from underneath his shirt. He pressed it into the demon’s forehead as he mumbled the ancient words of the ritual.