Page 7 of A Shadow of Betrayal

“Meyer, that's not very safe. You come here when the sun is not even up yet,” he chides, worry glinting in his dark blue eyes. I wave him off and smile.

“I’ve done it every day for the last eight years, and I’m perfectly fine,” I tell him, taking a few steps away from him, smiling at him once more before pivoting on my heels and rushing to the other table. I pour the grumpy old man his coffee and pretend I can't hear him complaining under his breath about the younger generations being lazy and the worst employees ever.

Gritting my teeth, I fake a smile, trying and failing not to roll my eyes as Mark calls out that table five’s food is ready. Looking out the big windows that line the diner, I desperately hope I'll see Jill and Lisa walking down the road, but it only holds a young mother pushing a stroller and a—I pause, my brows furrowing as two men dressed in black clothes run across the street, their faces set with determination and anger just before one of the men grabs a dangerous-looking blade and throws it, sending the odd-looking knife flying through the air before it lands in the meaty flesh of a…

“No, no, no, no!”

A large Demon roars in pain when the blade the man just threw hits its side. It rises on its hind legs as the other man grabs a sword from its sheath strapped to his back and attacks the monster. I rush towards the windows, trying to see if one of the men fighting the monster is Creed, but both men are smaller in stature and have light brown hair.

“Meyer?” a soft voice says at my side, but I ignore it in favor of watching the spectacle in front of me. I shake my head in awe as the young mother walks down the street, her eyes never straying toward the epic battle happening only fifty or so feet from where she is.

“This isn't happening!” I whisper in horror as I watch the men fight one of my nightmares in broad daylight. “I’m hallucinating—or still asleep or—” The Demon roars in anger, this one an odd gray color and smaller than the one I saw last night, as the second man leaps at the beast, using his blade as a handhold and flipping up onto its back before yanking the blade from the Demon, making black blood spray across the sidewalk.

The man grinds his jaw in concentration and brings the dagger down on the back of the Demon’s head as it bellows in rage, swiping at the man still on the ground with his sword and taking him off his feet.

“Meyer?”

The Demon crashes to the ground, falling on top of the man that had been taken off his feet, and I gasp when the other man jumps from the lifeless body of the monster, shouting something I can't hear or understand.

“Meyer!” I jump when the voice grows impatient and turn to find Lisa standing beside me with an annoyed look on her young face.

“Sorry, what?” I ask, looking back to where the man is struggling to push the dead Demon off his friend.

“I said Jill and I are here and are taking over,” Lisa snaps, and I nod, not looking at her as I blindly hand over the coffeepot and yank the apron from around my waist.

“Right. See you on Wednesday,” I get out, rushing for the front door and running outside as Lisa yells something after me.

FIVE

Meyer

Looking up and down the practically empty street, I rush across it, then sprint toward the man now kicking at the dead Demon on top of his friend.

“Damn, fucking piece of shit!” he shouts, yanking at his light brown hair, obviously panicking at not being able to help his friend. “Jordan? Answer me! Can you help push the fucker off you?”

When there is no reply, the man goes even wilder, grabbing a long sword from where it's strapped on his back and hacking at the Demon in front of him. Black blood sprays across his face, and the closer I get, the younger the guy looks. Damn, he can’t be more than sixteen or seventeen.

What is this young kid doing out here?

“Hey!” I shout, closing in on the young man. He looks up, his startled brown eyes finding mine, before he quickly looks me up and down in surprise.

“Uhhh?” he says, but I shake my head.

“I’ll help; push on that shoulder. I have this one,” I instruct, stepping up to the big Demon and trying to ignore how my heart rate rises at being this close to one of these things. Even dead, they scare the shit out of me.

The boy nods, relief filling his young features as he starts to shove at the Demon. “Don't touch the fur near its spine,” the boy huffs out as I put my entire weight into pushing the monstrous-looking creature off of the other guy, happy for once that I'm taller with some weight behind me. Slowly, we roll the Demon to its side and uncover the still form of yet another young man, though this one appears to be older than the one standing next to me.

“Jordan!” the boy shouts, falling to the ground and putting his fingers to the other guy’s neck, his shoulders sagging in relief after a tense moment. I notice his hand covered in several rings, most of them holding a familiar black stone. Frowning, I count four onyx rings on one hand and three on the other, along with several silver bands with odd-looking symbols on them. Glancing down at his friend, I find several similar rings, along with a few onyx necklaces around his thick neck.

Holy Crap, that's genius! I've used the stones to help protect the house, but never thought about wearing them.

“He's still alive!” the guy practically shouts as I kneel next to him and check on the unmoving man myself. I run my hands over his arms and legs, checking for any breaks before moving to his chest, then finally his head, where I find a giant gash at the back, his light brown hair soaked through with blood.

“I think he hit his head too hard,” I say and look up when the boy snorts in amusement.

“You think?” he mutters under his breath while bringing a phone to his ear, pauses for a moment, and starts talking. “Damion? Yeah, we killed the one in McCall, but Jordan is out cold.” There's a moment’s pause as the boy listens to whoever is on the phone, and he nods. “Yeah, he's alive; he just hit his head and will need some medical attention.”

I slowly stand and brush the rocks from my knees, looking at the dead Demon and taking a step back as I reach into my jacket pocket and palm the small blade that I stashed there. “Yeah… there's another thing. There's this chick here...” the guy continues. My eyes dart back to the boy's brown eyes, now looking up at me in confusion. I glare at him and take another step back, no longer wanting to be next to him, while shaking my head, my eyes widening in a warning.

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