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Fake Demons

Griffen

The little nurse rushes to my side asking about injuries, but I’m watching Finley fight this man. He isn’t the Fin who grew up around Kage, Avery, and me. His brown hair has turned snow white. Black pointed ears with white tips sit upon his head, along with a matching tail. His eyes glow red, and when he snarls like a beast, he has four dog-like canines protruding from his mouth. He has three sets of small horns protruding from his forehead. His fingernails are long and sharp.

His appearance doesn’t faze the nurse like it does the rest of my team.

“Get out of my way, fake demon!” The blonde changes as well.

Top fangs gleam in the light. His hair is snow white with two small horns and two large horns protruding from his forehead and his eyes glow purple with black, taking over the whites of his eyes.

I hear the nurse gasp and immediately throw her tiny body over mine.

Just when I’m about to shove her off, Fin lets out a yelp, flying toward us both. The little nurse reacts quickly, dodging Fin’s body, but I’m too slow, so I take on his dead weight. With a snarl, I sit up, shoving him off of me.

“Damn it, Fin! Shift!” the little nurse shouts at him. Next thing I know, the giant black hellhound is standing over top of me.

“Rory! You belong with me. You’re a demon princess.” Blondie is trying to see the little nurse who is blocked by Fin’s large, flaming body. It’s not fur, but fire. As it moves, I can see the hound’s skeleton.

The little nurse laughs. “Well, my being a demon explains some things. I have some questions for you since you seem to know me.”

She walks around snarling Fin. She pats his head, but the flames just caress her skin.

I am sweating from the heat coming off of him. The moment my hand got close, my glove was burned away, and my flesh was seared.

“Who are you, and why do you want me?” She asks, her head cocked to the side and her hands planted firmly on her round hips.

I wonder if she has love handles. I shake that thought away.

“Did you create the mutt?” He counteracts, but the little nurse frowns at the man in nothing but a short silk navy nightgown with constellations on it.

“Nope. I’m not answering that. My question first or this goes no further,” the brave woman demands.

Around me, all fighting has stopped, and the flames have disappeared, only leaving scorch marks.

Booker comes in to help Avery pull me from underneath Finley’s hound form.

The blonde sighs. “Fine, but he goes back to human and not either of the other Infernal forms he has. This hellhound is impressive, though. He is the largest I’ve ever seen.”

The little nurse smirks at that and then gives Finley a nod. He lets out a whine but does as she commands. The man we love, the man we thought we had cremated, stands before us.

Who’s ashes do we have then?

He turns to us with sadness in his eyes. “I’m sorry.” That’s it before he turns his back to us to stand naked beside the little nurse, placing his hand in hers.

“My name is Shane Malphas. You are Lyroria, and your twin is Josephina.” He says this in such a matter-of-fact way that he cannot be lying.

“I don’t have a twin,” she replies adamantly.

“You do. To answer your second question, you are betrothed to me by your parents. Pure-blooded demons are extremely rare. Yours is the house of Amon and mine is the house of Kokabiel. There are eight houses in total.”

“So why is Finely a fake demon?” I ask but get ignored.

I need to sit. I’m losing a lot of blood from the gashes in my legs and arms. I didn’t completely escape his blade while dodging.

“I want to know that answer. What are Infernals? Why is my Fin a fake demon?” The little nurse rephrases my question.

Her Fin, huh?

“Fake demons happen when a pure-blood Infernal gives them their blood. They become our servants, half-demons who need tiny amounts of our blood to fuel their healing and powers. Now there have been accounts of human-made Infernals given an elixir who craved blood. They are worse than humans because all rational thought has been removed, leaving nothing but bloodthirsty zombies. The elixir made from demon blood rapidly depletes the host’s life force, leaving nothing but ash. The sun speeds this process. Hence fake.” Shane’s lip curls in disgust. “Now back to the mutt.”

A deadly growl leaves Finley’s throat. The little nurse places a hand on his cheek and whispers something to him. We are too far back for me to hear what. He seems to relax, though. “Yes, he had my blood and became this. What is he?”

“I lied when I said he was a fake. He is a hellhound Infernal. More specifically, a Cambodian. He had a dormant hellhound gene already residing within him and when you turned him, bringing him from the brink of death, it was activated. Which means he is more devil than human now, thankfully. You should name him before another pure-blood tries to take him from you.” The blonde Infernal suggests.

We will let no one take Finley from us again. We lost him once. I won’t allow that to happen again.

“How do I do that?” The little nurse is quick to ask.

“Give him a demon name. Now you both are coming with me.” His form goes back to human.

“As it was said before, I’m not going anywhere.” She tilts her chin defiantly.

“For now, we should leave them be my prince.” The big redhead who didn’t fight at all tells Shane.

The demon prince appears ready to argue, but the bronzed one places a hand on his shoulder.

He sighs and then addresses us. “I am Kelak, and this is Axton. We serve the prince and do not need to mettle in human affairs.” With those words, the three disappear in a flash of purple flames.

Sirens sound, steadily drawing closer. We need to leave. Now. “You two come with us,” I demand, looking at Finley and Rory.

“We should go with them. That demon prince douche will have a harder time getting to either of us if we are with them. ¿Qué dices, Girasol?” Finley asks the little nurse.

“I think, you think, I can understand you when you speak Spanish. News flash, oh hellhound of mine, I have no clue.” This little woman drips sarcasm as a second language. She is going to be a handful for me.

“Aye! ¡Que lasta mí! Mi amor, te amo, pero te juro que eres demasiado.” Finley blows out an expurgated breath to keep from cursing.

Avery laughs, leaving Booker to hold me up. “Well, since she is too much for you, little brother, I’ll gladly help you out with her.” He slaps Fin on the shoulder, which causes him to grin from ear to ear. “Let’s go home where you belong, mi perrito perdido.”

Finley growls at being called Avery’s little lost puppy. Interestingly, he has always called him that from day one, but now it holds a new meaning for our lost boy.

I look at the little nurse. “Please come with us.”

“Fin and I will follow you on the bike.” I nod, knowing this might be the only way we can get her close enough to trap her.

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