Demon and the Fox - 8. When a Pretty Girl Cries

Malachy slipped back inside the abandoned coffee shop and saw Jackson and the Colemans—Charles’s family—but he couldn’t see Hazel anywhere.

The werewolves were huddled together around the table, Charles with his arm around his mother’s shoulders, and Mr. Coleman discussing quietly with Amanda and Jackson. The uneaten Chinese takeout food and candles littered the center of the table.

“He joined our pack out of the blue, when you think about it,” Mr. Coleman was saying to Jackson. He sat between Jackson and his daughter, and he was tapping the table with his left hand as he spoke. A golden band circled his ring finger. Mr. Coleman added: “Almost as if your father only accepted him because he wanted you to have a friend. But Kevin Snow always did have hidden intentions, isn’t that why we’re here in the first place?”

Jackson didn’t reply anything. He looked over at Malachy and they exchanged a nod.

“Nicholas.”

“Jackson.”

Malachy secretly thought his relationship with his girlfriend’s brother was hilarious. He kind of liked poor old Jackson. He always tried so hard to be formal and business-like.

Jackson rose from the table, smoothing down his suit jacket, and came face to face with Malachy.

“Where’s Reed?”

Malachy shoved his hands in his leather jacket’s pockets. “He left. Where’s your sister?”

Jackson lifted his chin, seemingly analyzing the question. Malachy failed to see what there was to analyze.

Still staring at Malachy with intense pale gray eyes, Jackson sighed, and conceded. “She’s in the back. Said she needed to think by herself.”

They exchanged a nod again. It was all about exchanging nods. Then Malachy crossed the room, his gaze swerving to the beady curtain that gave to the back.

As he pushed past the curtain he saw a small plastic table and formica chairs, a row of lockers that ran between the turquoise beads and the white door that led outside, and stacks of empty cardboard boxes on the cracked linoleum floor. Hazel had brought a big red candle back here and she held it in her hands as she sat at the table with someone else.

“Nick!” Hazel was startled.

The person sitting across from her was a woman who looked like she was from another era—or at least out of place. She wore high heeled gray suede boots and a pure white cashmere dress.

Hazel caught him staring. “You can see her?”

Malachy assessed the situation at once. He considered the woman’s creamy, ageless complexion, and the graceful way she crossed her legs and steepled her manicured fingers.

She couldn’t be a Reaper. That Cyan kid was New York City’s Reaper.

“You have a spirit guide?” he said to Hazel. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t—I…” Hazel put down her red candle and turned to the woman. “How come he can see you?”

Without a word, the woman in the white dress uncrossed her legs and stood. Her hair fell down to the middle of her back, as silky and thick as a Geisha’s hair, but hers was golden blonde, like caramel. A delicate silver and violet hair piece adorned her head. Very 1920’s, like something out of The Great Gatsby.

“My name is Rebecca.” Her voice was quiet and melodious. Her blue eyes had violet specks in them. They were just a little wide apart, but that added to her charm.

She was extending her hand.

Rebecca, Malachy thought and he repressed the urge to smile. So she was the Rebecca. Not just any spirit guide. This was their leader. And she had little Hazel Snow on her list. Small world.

He took her hand. Her skin was infinitely soft. “Nicholas Russell,” he said.

She smiled, pink lips revealing perfect white teeth.

“Of course you are.”

Hazel pushed herself away from the plastic table. “What’s going on here?”

Yes, Rebecca, Malachy thought, what is going on?

Spirit guides weren’t supposed to appear to people that weren’t on their lists. Seriously, now, this woman sent Shay to Purgatory for breaking the rules, and now she broke them herself?

“This young man,” Rebecca turned to Hazel, “isn’t who you think he is. You should stay away from him.”

Hazel just kept looking more and more confused.

“Nick?”

Malachy crossed the distance between them and held Hazel’s hands. He looked into those gray eyes he liked so much. They could be so soft when she looked back at him, and they could be as cold as steel when she was determined. Hazel was strong, but vulnerable—even though she would never admit to that last one. Malachy had a weakness for people like that.

“Don’t listen to her, Hazel. Spirit guides are tricksters. Dishonest. Wicked. They like to toy with people’s minds. She’s not worth our time. Do you trust me?” He searched her eyes.

She nodded without hesitation. “I do.”

Malachy went on, pressing her hands in his, “Whatever advice she gave you tonight, it doesn’t matter. I’m sure we can figure this out together. I care about you. I care about your brother, your pack. I may not be a wolf, but I’m a good fighter. Let me stay and help. We stick together no matter what.”

Hazel freed her hands from his, but only so that she could throw her arms around Malachy and hold him tight. She stood on the tip of her toes and glanced at Rebecca over Malachy’s shoulder.

“I was never sure about your true intentions, Rebecca. I don’t want your help anymore. Go away,” Hazel snapped. “Leave us alone.”

Malachy smiled into her neck as he held her tight. Her short, silvery blonde locks smelled nice; floral and sweet. He didn’t want to let go.

“Ah,” Rebecca said quietly, “young love. I am not too shocked. This isn’t over, you know?” A shiver ran down Malachy’s spine as he felt her intense blue stare on his back. She was talking to him. “Lance is saving you a cell in Purgatory,” she said.

Malachy tensed. But he didn’t give Rebecca the satisfaction of granting her words with a reply.

Instead he whispered fiercely in Hazel’s ear. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

She tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled away a little, only so she could kiss him. She kissed him hard and deep and it was electric. He felt it in his fingertips. He let his hands feel her small waist, and the curve of her spine as she leaned into him.

“I believe you,” she whispered as they pulled apart. Her soft words made him feel warm and safe. “It’s okay. She’s gone now.”

Malachy stepped away from Hazel and saw that there was no one else in the room with them. He took Hazel’s hand.

“Let’s go join the others,” Malachy said, and led her through the beady curtain.

The five werewolves looked up from their conversations as Hazel stepped forward.

Charles had taken off his glasses to massage his temples. “Did you take a decision? What should we do? Do you really think we can win against Kevin?”

Hazel pulled herself a chair between Amanda and Mrs. Coleman. She was hesitating, like she wasn’t too sure what to say.

Malachy felt for her, and he wanted to reach out to her, maybe even find something to say to reassure the Colemans. But it wasn’t easy to stop thinking about Rebecca.

Lance is saving you a cell in Purgatory.

His thoughts dissipated like smoke when someone knocked at the door loudly. They all jumped, looking at one another.

Jackson was the first to move. He hurriedly stepped toward the door, saying, “I’m sure this is Kyle. He’ll clear everything up.” Jackson sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

Seeing Hazel’s pleading eyes, Malachy gave a slight nod and went to fall into step with Jackson. What if that was Kevin Snow behind that door? Jackson was too careless. He needed to be protected.

But Jackson was right. It was Kyle. He stood tall and broad-shouldered in front of his smaller and slimmer best friend, but Kyle looked very much like a shameful puppy who had wronged its owner.

The wind was so strong outside that Kyle’s carefully gelled hair was all over the place now.

“Kyle,” Jackson said.

“Jackson.”

Malachy repressed the urge to roll his eyes. Hell, this was like a damn soap opera.

Kyle reached out, like he wanted to touch Jackson’s arm. But then he seemed to think better of it.

“Listen, man, I have something to tell you.” Kyle said. “It’s important.”

“Let’s go talk outside.” Jackson stepped out and made to shut the door behind him, but Malachy’s hand flew up to hold it open.

“I’m coming, too.”

He leaped out on the sidewalk after Jackson.

Kyle protested, “Why’s your sister’s boyfriend here, anyway?”

Surprisingly, Jackson defended him. “Nicholas is family now.”

“Oh come on, they’ve been together what, two weeks?”

Malachy retorted, “I thought you had something important to say, Kyle.”

…

The almost full moon shone bright in the sky. The lampposts cast their yellowish glow upon the sidewalk. Kyle and Jackson stood close to the building, in the shadows, right next to the blinded windows of the closed coffee shop. They had been talking for over fifteen minutes now. Malachy had stepped aside, but he was still listening, his arms crossed, his legs itching—he didn’t like standing still too long. He was actually kind of bored. The conversation was going around in circles.

“I never wanted this!” Kyle said heatedly. He didn’t remind Malachy of a shameful puppy anymore. More like an angry barking dog. “Your father was always threatening to kill me if I told you the truth.”

So it turned out it was true, all of it. What Sasha had said. Kyle had betrayed Jackson and reported everything to Kevin Snow. In fact, Kevin had been paying Kyle for years now, to befriend his son and report every insignificant detail of Jackson’s life.

The drama.

“What was I supposed to do?” Kyle waved wildly with his hands. “And you’re still my friend. I don’t even have any other friends. But he would’ve killed me. You know he would’ve done it. What was I supposed to do?” Kyle must have asked Jackson that question at least a hundred times by now.

“You could’ve told me!” Jackson lashed out. “I would’ve protected you from my father.”

“I’m telling you now, Jack. I came back to warn you. I didn’t know you already knew! Kevin told me to stay out of it, to pretend I’d been at my apartment feeling sick the whole night.”

Jackson’s gray eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you?”

“I’m not a monster! I know he’s gonna kill me after this.” Kyle’s eyes glistened. “But I don’t want all those people in there to die, or get hurt.”

The door opened wide then, startling them.

It was Amanda, her long brown hair getting blown by the wind wildly as she stretched out her arm to hold the door open.

“Kevin’s here with Elena, and the Blackburns,” she said at once. “They came in through the back door. Come quick.”

Elena was Hazel’s mother. The Blackburns were a couple the same age as Hazel’s parents; Hazel had told Malachy about them. A power couple that lived in a penthouse and led a double life once a month. They were what was left of Kevin’s pack.

Jackson was pale. “Maybe they just want to talk.”

“They’re wolves.” Amanda said. “I don’t think they just want to talk.”

As the three of them rushed back inside after Amanda, they saw that she meant wolves literally. Malachy had heard of it; werewolves who could transform even when it wasn’t the full moon. It was known to be easier on the day before and after.

Right now Kevin was a huge gray-eyed silver wolf. Elena’s bristled fur was a shade darker. The Blackburns were two big brown wolves with gleaming yellow eyes.

Malachy’s heart started to hammer in his chest as he witnessed the brown wolves taking hold of Hazel in the middle of the room. The table with the candles and Chinese food was knocked over. Each wolf bit into one of Hazel’s arms and she screamed, but couldn’t get away without tearing her arms off.

As this happened, the Colemans went to stand behind Kyle and Jackson for protection.

“Is this what you want, father?” Jackson yelled as he took off his jacket and threw it away. “You want a fight?” He also took off his pants and kicked them aside.

Next to him, Kyle was also throwing off his shirt and jeans.

Malachy felt mixed emotions. His heart reached out to Jackson, because he knew all too well what it was like to hate your father, and to want to fight him. Malachy had wanted to fight his own father, too—maybe even kill him—a long time ago. Only the Plague had beaten him to it.

At the same time, Malachy thought it was amusing that the boys had taken the time to strip down to their underwear. He might have laughed, in other circumstances. But Hazel was getting hurt, so he was nowhere near laughing.

Malachy wanted to reach out to help Hazel, but his eyes were riveted on Jackson and Kyle as they transformed into wolves. Fascinating, he thought, how quickly their bones broke and snapped back into place. How their skin hardened and got covered with fur. Their eyes kept the same color but became the eyes of animals. Their teeth grew long and sharp. Kyle’s wolf form was dark brown—almost black. Jackson’s coat was as silver-white as his father’s.

Kevin Snow snarled and growled—a deep, enraged growl that made Malachy’s bones feel cold. Malachy snapped out of it and produced a blade from his inside jacket’s pocket. It was a little dagger he’d found in Nick’s bedroom, simple but sharp and well-made. He liked Nick’s long black sword better, but he couldn’t exactly carry that one around. Though Malachy wished he had it right now.

Oh well, the dagger would have to do.

Malachy threw himself at one of the brown wolves holding Hazel hostage. Malachy stabbed the wolf’s flank and pulled back just in time as the wolf tried to bite his arm. But his canines bit into empty air. The wolf’s blood spilled on the floor. At least the wolf had let go of Hazel. She knocked the other wolf’s jaw with her knee and slipped away, nursing her arm.

On the other side of the room Kevin Snow had gone for Kyle as Elena stayed back.

Malachy stood up straight as he heard a gut-wrenching yelp. Kyle. Kevin had bit into the dark brown wolf’s neck and torn it apart.

“No!” Charles shouted.

“Kyle!” Hazel screamed at once.

Now Jackson jumped on his father. The two silver wolves fought. But Malachy feared for Jackson. Kyle was strong, stronger than Jackson probably. If Kevin Snow had defeated Kyle so quickly, then that made him a dreadful adversary.

Hazel’s arms were bleeding. The Blackburn wolves left her alone for now. Instead they faced Malachy together. Malachy smirked.

These silly dogs didn’t know what they were up against.

Malachy breathed out, and let his surroundings disappear except for his two adversaries. The male’s flank was bleeding, and the female had a broken jaw. He felt proud of Hazel for that.

But the wolves could still fight. The bigger one—the male—attacked him from the front and the other wolf went for Malachy’s back. They were trying to surround him.

Without looking, Malachy heard the wolf’s claws brushing the floor behind him and he knew exactly where she was. He raised the blade, looking at the male in front of him. But at the last second he twisted his torso and blindly stabbed the female behind him, lightning-fast. His aim was perfect; the blade drove in deep inside her mouth as she’d been about to tear open his ribs. Her teeth grazed Malachy’s wrist as he pulled back the dagger.

His gaze had already flicked back to the male as the female wolf fell limply behind him with a thump. The male’s flank was already hurt and his anger made him clumsy. His attacks were easy to duck; his claws and fangs never hit home. Malachy rolled to the floor and pierced the wolf’s other side, closer to the heart this time. He pulled back, leaping up to his feet. The brown wolf fell next to the other one.

Hazel held her bleeding arms as she looked at the two silver wolves fighting across the room. Jackson and Kevin.

A lit candle had rolled on the floor when the table had been knocked over, and it caught at one of the old wooden chairs. Flames were starting to lick up the chair’s leg, but no one was doing anything about it.

No one was doing anything about it because Kevin was killing Jackson. He was killing his own son. He had already sunk his fangs into Jackson’s neck, and now he had him on the floor, vulnerable. Jackson was growing weak.

“Do you want me to help him?” Malachy asked Hazel.

“Yes,” she cried out, “please.”

The big silver wolf was getting ready to strike again. Malachy ran across the room while Hazel rushed over to the Colemans.

“Run!” She told them. “Run away, now.”

They didn’t need to be told twice.

Kevin wasn’t like the Blackburns. He heard Malachy coming and whipped around, snarling. His claws caught at the cracks in the floor.

“Hello, Dad,” Malachy joked, holding up his bloody dagger. “Not how I imagined being introduced to my girlfriend’s father, but—”

The silver wolf attacked. But his teeth merely grazed Malachy’s stomach as he slipped to the side. Malachy smirked; Kevin wasn’t that much better than the Blackburns, then.

Kevin tried a different approach. He went for Malachy’s leg. But he might as well have been in slow motion. Malachy saw him coming a mile away. The wolf was fast; Malachy was faster. His right hand stroke and before Kevin’s teeth could close in on Malachy’s leg, he got stabbed in the eye. Kevin let out a horrific growl of pain, so loud that Malachy’s ears buzzed. He twisted away from Malachy with the dagger still in his eye, blood staining his silver coat.

Malachy didn’t pity him much, but he still went after Kevin to grab his dagger and pull it out. He may not have cared about Kevin, but he didn’t like that Hazel was witnessing this. Malachy struck one last time to end Kevin’s suffering; he drove his dagger deep in the silver wolf’s chest and drove back just as swiftly. Malachy could feel the room heating up.

He could smell the smoke and hear the fire crackling. He jumped to his feet and spun on his heel. The fire had spread to two chairs now. Hazel was too shell-shocked to do anything. And Malachy glimpsed the bristled wolf—Elena—running away through the back.

Mother of the year.

Malachy wiped his dagger against his jacket’s sleeve and sheathed it back in the inside pocket. He looked down as Jackson and Kyle were both shifting back to their human forms.

Jackson crawled to his best friend, coughing. His neck was hurt, but it was nowhere near as bad as Kyle.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Malachy, holding a hand up against his mouth, trying not to breathe in too much smoke. “Through the back.”

Kyle was choking on his own blood. His throat was torn up. There was nothing that could be done. Hazel was crying. And coughing. Something gripped at Malachy’s heart.

“Get out of here Hazel!” He told her.

Jackson added, “Get our clothes! We’ll be right behind you!”

Hazel snapped out of it and nodded firmly. She piled up Jackson and Kyle’s clothes in her arms and ran to the back room after looking at Malachy one last time. He gave her a reassuring glance; he would get her brother out.

“Come on Jackson,” said Malachy bluntly.

“No! Help me get him out of here.”

Malachy sighed, but he nodded and went to put one knee down next to Kyle. Together they lifted him up, each holding one of Kyle’s arms around their shoulders. They walked slowly with the added weight, but they found their way to the back after Hazel.

She was holding the door open for them. It led to a service alley with garbage and recycle bins. A truck was parked nearby but it was empty. The backs of other buildings lined the other side of the alley, and it was dark. Jackson and Malachy staggered down worn-out steps and carefully laid Kyle on a grassy patch.

“No,” Jackson said, “no, no…”

Kyle was passed out. Malachy was pretty sure he was dead, actually.

Hazel fell next to her brother. She was crying, clutching the boys’ clothes in her arms. Malachy looked around, scanning the small street, making sure no one was coming their way. He couldn’t hear any fire truck sirens so that was good. He hoped the fire would do some good damage before anyone noticed. That would be for the best; the least material the cops had for an investigation, the better.

He wished he could make that fire stronger. Damn it, Malachy thought, where’s this fox spirit kid when I need him?

Jackson was holding Kyle’s hand.

“Don’t die on me,” he sobbed, “not like this. Not like this, Kyle. Not—”

“Jackson,” Malachy said.

Two pairs of gray eyes looked up at him. Malachy couldn’t stand the sight of Hazel with tears streaming down her face like that.

“I happen to be a necromancer. Do you want me to bring Kyle back?”