Page 22 of Deal with the Devil

Hellen grimaced, tucking her phone away into her pockets. There was a peculiar look crossing her face before she exhaledheavily. “Vampires. Fledglings, when they’re young…they don’t have control, they eat chunks out of a victim. But she looks like she was healed over and over, like a personal buffet for a fledgling vampire.”

Vampires?He furrowed his brow. “But Kyle was a human, he walked in the daylight, and when I smashed his face in, he died.”

“Maybe he’s not the fledgling...” Hellen paled suddenly as she stood up from the desk. “If she’s been bitten, repeatedly... Knox.”

Knox pulled out his phone and dialed Zavros’ number. The muscle answered with one ring, “Boss?”

“Where’s the girl?”

“She’s still here with me, boss,” Zavros went silent suddenly before he made a questionable gasp. “Uh, boss?”

“Where are you?” Knox sprung out of his seat, racing around his desk. Hellen on his heels, they broke through the door and flew down the halls.

“In the healer room, I came to take—Hey! Oi! Keep those chompers to yourself!”

“Zavros! Get out of there!” Knox flew through the halls, Hellen on his heels. They rounded the corner just as Zavros stumbled out of the office, one of the chairs held out in front of him like a cartoonish lion tamer. The elf girl shrieked as she lunged out of the doorway. Fingers as long as knives, hair greased back against her scalp, eyes wide and bleeding, she lurched after Zavros.

“Back! Back I say!” Zavros tried to corral the feral girl back inside the room. She clawed at the metal chair, ripping it apart. The silver legs of the chair whined as she carved through them like butter. Zavros grabbed one of the legs and thrust it into her collar.

Knox got to Zavros just as she screamed, knocking the two men across the floor with the air waves. They tumbled and rolled, the chair clattering to the floor. Knox had three seconds to catch his breath before the elf fledgling launched throughthe air. She pinned his back to the ground, fingers slashing his face. Her mouth opened, unhinging like a snake. Two pairs of fangs snapped at him as she struggled to get her mouth wrapped around him in any way she could. Knox grunted, unable to cast with both hands and feet preoccupied.

“Zavros,” Knox pleaded as he tried his damndest to get the girl off him. The ogre groaned behind him. Knox spared a look and found a sharp leg of the chair protruding from his chest. With a yelp, Knox called out to Hellen. “Hellen! Help him!”

“I’m trying!” She raced for him only to be shoved back by a swiping paw of knife fingers. Hellen tumbled across the floor.

“For dragon’s sake!” Knox grunted, grabbing ahold of her neck. “Sorry, this is going to suck, little one.”

Opening his mouth, magic building behind his molars like fire does a dragon’s breath, he summoned the fear. It crept through his veins, scraping and digging claws into his body as the spell built up. The fledgling cried out as he held her tight. The blood tears pouring from her eyes turned to gushing waterfalls, her hands stabbing at him in a desperate attempt to pull away.Too late.

A blast of pure purple magic light engulfed the fledging. He threw her away from him and watched her tumble and roll away. Her body contorted back and forth. Legs kicking, arms thrashing, she grabbed for her throat. Boils and knots built under her flesh, her body breaking out in hives worse than death. Her jaw clacked together rapidly.

Hellen crawled over the floor to Zavros healing the wound as the ogre worked to peel the metal from his shoulder.

“Where are the others?” Knox scrambled to his feet.

“They were cleaning up Kyle’s body.” Zavros winced, gasping for air as Hellen finished closing up his wounds. “I came to double check on the girl. Fully regret that decision now.”

“What’d you do to her?” Hellen hissed, glancing at the fledgling.

“A taste of her own medicine.” Knox bent over, hands against his knees. He glanced over his shoulder toward the creature screaming in pain. She tossed herself onto her stomach and clawed trenches into her back. “If I stop it, will she come for us again? Why didn’t she launch at us already? Why wait? Is Zavros infected?”

“No, no, boss, she didn’t get ahold of me. Thankfully, she’s tiny and I was able to keep her away but... she’s strong, boss, and she just launched at me out of nowhere.”

Hellen wheezed, sitting back on the floor. “I hate to say it, Knox...but I don’t think Kyle was feeding on her, I think...I don’t know what to think, but maybe she was feeding from herself.”

Knox stared at Hellen in frozen horror.What the hell was going on here?He sharply glanced at the fledgling as he heard a whimper from her. She was belly first against the hardwood, sobbing regular tears. The elf begged, “Please...please...make it stop.”

Her fingers were back, and her gaze was big and green, pleading with him. Knox snapped his fingers, rescinding his spell. Inch by inch, her body relaxed down against the floor. He crept closer, still not trusting that she wouldn’t just change back. The elf girl reached toward him with a trembling hand. Then, she said something that broke his already broken heart.

“Please...help me.”

Chapter eight:

Amelia

“And so, I wasall like—Amelia, are you listening?” Evelynne giggled, leaning over the counter of Mumford Books and Drinks. The new name of the bookstore she’d been employed at for over a year now. It was a mighty step up from serving fast food through the drive through. It's hard when only four books are out, and royalties are paid ninety days after a sale. She was a new writer, a baby author, she’d gotten lucky with her first book. Her literary agent was looking for fresh blood and thought her murder mystery was a hoot. She’d grown since then as a writer but growing wasn’t enough. She needed to do much better.

However, she was comfortable where she was for the moment. While she was working to pay the bills, she was writing on the side. And the last week she’d been writing non-stop. She had a story, and it was demanding to be let out.

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