Demon's Blood (Emily Book 3)

By Ashley McCook

‘I turned my attention back to Asmodeus, "I challenge your champion and therefore your House, Asmodeus, Lord of something or other, Demon of the Dunces or was that Darkness...sorry, I can never remember..." I giggled, "So yeah, you want my name? I'm Emily Carson. Hi, Dad. Baby girl's come home. Did ya miss me?"’

So the last two years have felt a little like being in a spin-cycle. My twin brother, Seth, and I discovered that we have Demon DNA and were more than a little underwhelmed to meet our Demonic Dad, Asmodeus. I snogged a Werewolf and a half-Vampire, fell in love with a Fallen Angel called Sariel (so I have a thing for ‘unique’ guys; sue me), discovered that I was some kind of messenger for an Archangel ... and then my life really went to Hell.
Now Asmodeus has Sariel. And my mum. I’m afraid that I’ll never see them again. I’m afraid for my friends when Asmodeus finds out that they’ve been helping me. I’m afraid that I can’t be the warrior that the Fallen need me to be. I’m afraid that I’ll give in to the call of my Demon Blood. I need a miracle. Or a really big sword.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ashley McCook
• Release date: Mar 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301072590

Ashley McCook

I live on the beautiful North Coast of Northern Ireland with 1 dog, 3 cats and 2 children! I love reading, watching scary movies and living near the beach. I hate talking on the telephone (I never know what to say!) and getting lost. My passion is writing stories that take you away from reality for a few hours, about characters that you can relate to and places that seem familiar.My ambition is to create more hours in the day so that I can have more time to write!

Book preview

PROLOGUE

I was lost. Unanchored and drifting through each day; even though I joined in with conversations, laughed at the right moments and chose a reasonable 'I-am-fine' expression along with a fresh t-shirt every morning. Outside I was coping but inside I was falling apart.

Why had no-one told me that falling in love would hurt this much?

Not sleeping properly didn't help my mood; most nights I managed a few hours before waking from a nightmare that I never quite remembered but which left me shaken and afraid. And it wasn't as if I could slip out of bed, head downstairs and make a cuppa to calm myself - we were staying in anonymous motels (the kind that don't ask questions when you arrive at midnight and sneak people in the back door) or camping out on the floors of sympathetic acquaintances - so I stayed there in an unfamiliar bed or on a hard floor and waited for dawn to come and another day to start. I suppose I was lucky that I had an escape of sorts and I could zonk out and take up residence in the wonderful world of 'Inside My Head' for a few hours.

I did that a lot. Zonking out, I mean.

In my pretend world the sun shone, my heart was light and I knew for certain that if I turned around HE would be there. And he would smile - that cheeky grin that set off explosions of butterflies in my belly - and he would reach out and pull me into his arms and I would close my eyes and feel safe and loved and not scared again.

And I was scared.

I was very scared.

Finally meeting our dad, Asmodeus the Demon Lord, was a real disappointment - an eye-opener, sure, but mainly a disappointment - but we'd still been a family unit then. And I'd met Sariel.

The realisation that we could never go home again had been hard but I'd known that mum, Seth, Grandma and Gramps were all safe so I'd been able to accept it and get on with things. And Sariel had been with me.

Not being able to trust mum any longer because of the hold that Asmodeus had over her and having to leave her behind was devastating; but there’d been the distraction of getting to Italy and standing before the other Fallen Angels to keep my mind occupied. And, even when I didn’t think that I wanted him to, Sariel had been watching over me.

The knowledge that if we wanted mum back then we would have to take Asmodeus on again was daunting; but we had friends with swords and big brains so I was fairly optimistic. And Sariel had been holding my hand and telling me that we could do it.

Falling in love with someone that I never believed in a billion years might feel the same way had been a rollercoaster of emotions. And that someone was Sariel. And he loved me back.

For one perfect night I listened to my heart instead of my head and the universe allowed me a glimpse of a future that I'd never realised I desperately wanted. Waking up with Sariel was like finding a missing piece of my soul.

And then Asmodeus took him away from me.

The universe imploded.

And I was left alone.

Here, Emily. Drink this. Someone handed me a fresh coffee. Someone-else put an arm around me and gave me a squeeze. My dream world receded a little and the real world rushed back in for a moment. I looked around at the tired, concerned faces of my friends.

Ok, so I wasn't entirely alone. In fact I had friends - old and new - crowding in on all sides; friends that I now had to look after alone. They meant well with the crowding and the coffee and the hugging - they wanted to support me, I suppose; to get me through this….whatever it was. According to Uriel I was grieving Sariel's loss but that just didn't gel with me - it had holes and inconsistencies like any badly constructed theory: How could I be grieving when he was still alive? When neither of us had wanted to split up? When I was still so certain sometimes that I could sense him all around me - especially in my mind where we had always connected so completely. How could I grieve for something that wasn’t over? I still loved him with every beat of my seventeen year old heart. It didn't matter that I was young, inexperienced, call it what you want, I knew what I felt and none of the pained grimaces or uneasy glances that my friends exchanged above my head were going to change that. I loved Sariel.

Move up, you're hogging the warm bit, Dylan wiggled in beside me on the end of the picnic table that was still in the sun. I looked up at him in surprise and shuffled up a little, knocking into Jude who gave me a grumpy frown and then went back to watching Seth where he was working out with Don and Adrian. Seth was shirtless, tanned from the weeks we'd spent in Italy and gaining muscle from all the training we'd done. Jude had a smile on her face that said very clearly, 'Look at that fine man and he's all mine!' I looked away, feeling nauseous. Jude tended to have that effect on me.

Dylan was cradling a coffee and staring at it intently, chewing on his bottom lip a little and frowning. I knew the signs - he wanted to say something but, being Dylan, wasn't quite certain how to approach it.

What's up? I asked, elbowing him gently.

Huh? He looked at me in fake surprise. Um…nothing. All good here, thanks.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, irritated by him and trying hard not to be. Dylan was Dylan - an awkward genius but a good friend. He hadn't been asked to get stuck in the middle of this situation and getting annoyed at him was irrational; he'd never understand it. I know you want to discuss something, D. So let's hear it.

Dylan glared at his coffee for another long moment and then turned back to me. I don't know how I would feel if someone took Annie away from me, he said and I felt my heart drop into my trainers. I know you must be really sad. Understatement of the century, but I just nodded. You love Sariel like I love Annie so I really don't understand.

Understand what? I tried not to sound cross but the question came out sharp and loud, making the others turn to look at us.

Dylan swallowed and bit his lip again. I don't understand why you've given up, he said finally and looked up at me from under his lashes.

I was suddenly hyper-aware of everything; - the heat in the air, the aroma of the coffee on the table in front of me, the buzzing of an insect inspecting what remained of our picnic lunch and the sudden silence as the others waited, stunned, for my reaction. Annie's hand had flown to her mouth, Jude's eyes had widened, Uriel had looked up from behind a newspaper, and Adrian, Seth, Don and Lisa were staring wide-eyed at Dylan and me. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, swallowing hard to get rid of the lump that had suddenly come into my throat and the tears that were stinging my eyes. I'm dying here, I wanted to shout at him, don't you understand? He's gone! He left and without him I have no strength, no energy and no fight left in me. I covered my face with my hands for a moment, willing the tears back into their ducts.

A hand landed on my shoulder and I jumped, surprised to hear Aaron's voice coming from behind us, Leave her be, Dylan. She's in no shape for this.

Dylan frowned and turned on the bench, No, sorry but I won't leave her alone. We can't do this without her. I mean, she's this fabulous ‘key’ or ‘messenger’ or something, so you guys should be pushing her too but I don’t really give a shit about that. I gaped. Dylan just swore? I just want to understand why, when she holds the ability and power to get her mum and Sariel back, then why isn't she doing it? He looked back at me, his dark brown eyes puzzled and angry. Like I said, I don’t know how I would feel if someone took Annie away from me but what I do know is that if there was something that I could do to get her back then I wouldn't sit around moping about losing her, I would get off my arse and go get her!

Yeah, said Jude, unable to keep the sneer out of her voice, Do you seriously think that Sariel allowed them to take him so that you could sit around and wallow in self-pity? She made a face, Or maybe you just don't love him enough to face Asmodeus again, is that it? Are you scared of big bad daddy, Emmy wemmy? She made a fake sad face and blinked rapidly, miming wiping a tear from her right eye.

That was it, I lost all reason. It felt as though there was a swarm of bees inside my brain, buzzing furiously as a maelstrom of anger rose from somewhere deep inside me and my arm moved of its own accord. I watched amazed as my hand slapped Jude on the side of her face with a smack that sounded like a gunshot. The melt-down that had been threatening for such a long time kicked itself into high gear as my brain shorted for a second and I bounced to my feet sending everything on the table in front of me flying. Can't you all just leave me alone!? I screamed, fury almost blinding me as I stumbled from the bench and ran towards the run-down motel that we were currently calling home. I cannoned into the wall and couldn't go any further; my breath was coming in short gasps and my vision was marred by vibrating patches of red and black which I figured meant that I was either having a stroke or a panic attack. I closed my eyes and did what I always did in a crisis - I reached out for Sariel with every fibre of my being; and despaired when I found nothing but a wall of red that pulsed with heat and fear and pain and anger. I ricocheted away from it and back to the sweet oblivion of my imaginary home where I found myself sitting in my favourite chair and looking out at the sun striking sparks off the ocean, calmed by the feeling of Sariel's presence behind me.

If you're so certain he's there then turn around, my inner bitch whispered into my ear and I choked back a sob. Damn but the truth stung - I missed him and it hurt and I was scared but I could do something about it. He'd told me so himself on that night in Italy when Asmodeus had sent Daeshan for him: Be strong, he'd said and his voice in my memory was as clear as it had been that day, You are the glue that is holding everything together and Asmodeus knows that. He wanted to tame you, to bring you into his House and instead you almost killed him but he still can’t believe that you could do all that alone. He thought your mum was your strength so he took her. That didn’t work and so he is taking me...You’re better than that. You’re stronger than that. Go forward; Uriel will lead you where you need to go. Find out what you’re here to do and do it. He sighed and gave me one last, fierce kiss that made my lips tingle and my heart break. Thank you for giving me something to fight for. I love you.

The shackles holding all my hurt locked inside the deep pockets of my heart disintegrated and I slid down against the wall of the motel, my head in my hands and my sobs echoing across the rough patch of dry dirt that served as a car-park. One by one hands reached for me, stroked my hair, patted my arms, snaked around my shoulders, and caressed my face.

He told me to be strong, I said in a voice that cracked and shook so much the words seemed to rattle in the air like peas in a can. I took a deep breath, calmed my breathing, felt the oxygen fill my lungs and my body relax a little as I opened my eyes, looked up at Dylan and smiled at him, then turned to Jude who now sported a red hand-print-sized mark on her face - I opened my mouth to apologise but she shook her head and grinned. He told me to find out what I was here to do and do it, I told her and she nodded, blinking furiously as I looked around the others seeing their shaky smiles and a few tears wiped from watering eyes. I found Seth and grasped his hand, Asmodeus took mum away to make us weak. And when that didn't work, he took Sariel too. He's an idiot. Taking away people we love was a mistake. I felt a new emotion stirring inside the chambers of my soul - I was getting angry and after so many days of sorrow and hopelessness, angry felt good.

I stood up, helped and supported by my friends, embraced by my twin and feeling energy returning to my limbs, and I wiped my eyes. The pain in my heart was still there, the great gaping hole in my soul hadn't miraculously healed, the mountains we had to climb were as high as ever before and there was still a viper of fear coiled in the pit of my stomach. But that was okay. Because my mum was counting on me to save her and Sariel had given up his freedom because he believed that I had been gifted for a reason - if nothing else, I owed it to him to find out what that was and act on it if I could. Dylan might be a nerd and Jude might be a pain in the ass but they were right - this wasn't the time to wallow; Asmodeus was waiting to get his Armani-clad, Demonic butt kicked.

I looked up at Uriel, Ok. I'm ready now. Who do we need to see first?

CHAPTER ONE

I trailed a finger across the dove grey feathers of his Angel wings, making each filament shiver and flicker with shades of silver and dark violet. I felt the curves and hollows of his muscular shoulders move under my fingertips as I slipped into the circle of his arms and raised my face for his kiss, thrilling at the spicy-sweetness of his mouth and the heat of his body on mine.

I closed my eyes as he trailed delicate kisses down my neck and across my shoulder, melting under his touch as his mouth blazed a hot path back to my neck and his breath tickled my ear as I waited to hear him say those four precious words again;

Do you smell pee?

What?

Dammit.

I opened my eyes and blinked, rousing myself from the day-dream and trying to focus on reality. My friend Dylan had obviously been the one to speak since he was making the kind of face that suggested he could certainly detect the offensive odour even if Uriel and I couldn’t.

Our friend Uriel (a mixture of Fallen Angel, Playboy pin-up and kick-ass action heroine) was a few feet away, rolling her eyes and staying out of the conversation. I sighed. How do you explain to someone who's just getting to know them, that one of your best friends has a nose which would put the most talented sniffer dogs on the planet to shame? Of course, the fact that we were standing in the middle of an impromptu cardboard city half-way down an alley somewhere in downtown New York made the details of Dylan’s olfactory abilities a moot point.

D, I said softly, reaching out a hand for him to help me up and then dragging him a little further down the alley. You’re being rude.

He frowned. No, I’m not. I’m asking a question. What’s rude about that?

I really don’t think our current surroundings should be expected to give off the scent of lavender and white satin, do you?

Dylan curled his bottom lip in annoyance. He folded his arms and made a little pouty face.

I joined Uriel in rolling my eyes and pointed to the woman curled against the wall to our left. She was wearing a mixture of winter and summer clothes in multi-coloured layers and her small dark eyes watched us from beneath a thatch of tangled and matted grey hair. I don’t think Josie here really cares what her surroundings smell like so long as she has some clothes to wear that keep her warm. I seriously doubt, however, that she and her friends want to be reminded of their current situation by a teenager wearing an Abercrombie and Fitch hoodie.

Dylan sighed and dropped his arms. He knelt down in front of Josie. Sorry. Didn’t realise I was being rude. I sometimes open my mouth before engaging my brain. It truly is a most disgusting habit. Oh, and the hoodie was a gift, I mean I’m normally a jeans, t-shirt and Pac-a-mac guy myself although I have to say I’m starting to bond with the whole hoodie thing. I think it makes me look much less weedy. What do you think?

For goodness sake Dylan, Josie isn’t interested in doing a wardrobe critique! I smiled an apology to Josie and her friend Rowley who had befriended us for the past three hours we’d spent waiting in their alley.

Josie waved away the apology. You think he’s the only guy to complain? Don’t hurt no more. We got used to it. Wanna slug? She held out a bottle wrapped in a grimy plastic bag and I shook my head.

Maybe later. I think my date just got home. A light had gone on in the apartment on the third floor across the street and Uriel was frantically signalling me to come up beside her again.

You wanna get a new guy, kiddo. Not right for a pretty girl to be hiding in alleyways with the likes of us waiting for her guy. Not right. Josie took a deep swallow of her liquor, shaking her head.

I grinned and dragged Dylan back up the alley to stand along the wall behind Uriel. She was watching the road beyond carefully, her eyes narrowed. When I give the word you move, fast as you can to the building door. It’ll be open. Go up to the third floor, room 303. Go in and sit down. She’ll be waiting.

Wait. You’re not coming? I looked from Uriel to Dylan in surprise.

Uriel shook her head. No, this is something you have to do alone. We’ll be waiting here.

We will? Dylan looked around him anxiously and wrinkled his nose again.

Uriel looked at him for a moment and then turned back to me. Please feel free to get it over with as quickly as possible, she told me tonelessly and I grinned. Now, remember what I told you. She looked up and down the road again. GO!

Uriel gave me a push out into the street and, with Dylan’s stage whispered ‘Good luck,’ I was gone, running across the road and ducking into the door that Uriel had pointed to. It was open like she’d said and creaked alarmingly when I pushed it wider and let myself inside. It was dark in the foyer of the building and I waited for a moment to allow my eyes to adjust. Dylan would’ve had sensory overload in here, I thought, rubbing my nose as the reek of the place hit me; urine, mould, damp plaster and the underlying putrid stench of decay.

I could make out the outline of the stairs and made my way gingerly towards them, almost jumping out of my skin when a light came on above me, on the next landing. I gulped and looked around; obviously it was on a timer or a motion sensor or something, right? I climbed the stairs to the third floor wincing as lights came on in front of me and winked off behind. Looking over the hand rail was a big mistake – the foyer was in darkness, no longer visible at all. It was like looking down into a deep dark pit. I imagined people climbing down there into the darkness and never being seen again. (Why, oh, why had my family been horror movie addicts?)

I stood in front of room 303 for a long time, staring at the door and hoping for some x-ray vision that would help me see inside. Needless to say, that didn’t happen and so I took a deep breath and stepped forward, reaching out to grasp the handle. The door swung open before I touched it. Great, just what I needed – more weirdness. I stepped forward into the room beyond.

Inside was text-book creepy; from the single low watt light source in the tiny hall to the dark shadows in every corner and the hulking shapes of either furniture or mad, hunch-back scientists dotted around (There’s that horror movie imagination. again) I resisted the urge to either a) double up laughing or b) run screaming from the room before something with fangs, slime or an assistant named Igor reached out of the dark and gobbled me up. Before I could decide which would be the best course of action a lamp snapped on in the corner of the room, illuminating a woman who was watching me with an expression of intense curiosity. She indicated a seat opposite her own and I talked myself into striding over and sitting down as though sitting down in creepy apartments in front of weird people I didn’t know was something I did every day. Well, ok, just recently it was top of my list of ‘things I do way too often’ but even on my sub-list of ‘weird people I have met in weird places’ this stood out as being particularly abnormal.

So you’re Emily Carson? The woman studied me as she slipped a match from its box and struck it. She took her time, letting the flame flare and hiss for a moment as she tapped a cigarette on the table and then lit it, shaking the match once or twice to kill the flame. I wrinkled my nose as the smell of sulphur dioxide filled my nostrils. It reminded me of the fireworks displays on Guy Fawkes Night back at home in Dean’s Lynn. Home was very, very far away and I had a brief flash of home-sickness, wishing I was back there again in the time before I knew all manner of things I really didn’t need to know and all manner of people I really didn’t want to know. The woman sat back and took a deep drag of the cigarette before blowing a cloud of blue-grey smoke around us. I gave her full marks for the whole drama of the performance but I really didn’t need her secondary smoke getting into my lungs.

I smiled as brightly as I could which under the circumstances possibly only produced a slight Elvis-like curl of my top lip – I wasn’t in the mood to play nice. I wasn’t in the mood to play at all, to be honest. Things needed to be done, decisions needed to be made and I could sense that we were running out of time. According to Uriel, however, this woman was important and I had to try to act like a well-behaved teen (was there such a thing?) and be patient. Unfortunately patience wasn’t one of my strong points but I swallowed all the ‘hurry-up-and-get-on-with-it’ noises that I wanted to make and let the woman study me down the column of her cigarette; how much of me she could see through all the smoke was debateable.

You’re weedier than I expected, she drawled finally, tapping some ash into a small, battered bowl on the table.

I’ve actually bulked up, I told her through clenched teeth. Lots of Demon butt kicking training going on. I gave her a grin that practically covered my whole face. In return she raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips a little. Strike one, Emily.

So, why don’t you tell me all about yourself, Emily? Oh, how rude of me…I can call you Emily, can’t I? The woman smiled prettily and her eyelashes fluttered for a few seconds.

I had the urge to snap back a few interesting retorts but I bit my tongue and chanced another smile. Of course. She nodded and sucked hungrily on her cigarette a little more, squinting at me through the smoke. Why don’t you tell me what you already know and I’ll fill in the blanks, I suggested.

She grinned. Being cautious? I shrugged. Clever girl, but then that’s part of your attraction, or so I’m told. You may not be much to look at but apparently your intelligence is considered quite impressive. Her brief glance up and down my face told me that so far neither my looks, nor my intelligence had impressed her. Like I cared! I didn’t rise to the bait and

Reviews for Demon's Blood (Emily Book 3)

[Gemmah Rush-Nicol · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

four words
where is book four!
i loved the story of emily demon royalty and her fallen love!