Dusk of Demons

By Jessica Proffitt

Seventeen-17-year-old Shiki lives in modern- day Japan.

But he does not live in the world we take for granted.

Shiki is one of the many people dubbed “Demon Hunters” that roam the world in search of Demons: the rapists, murderers, and the scum of the Earth. With his Familiar, Tsubaki, at his side, Shiki spends every night protecting all he loves.

But when news of a sister he never knew he had comes to his attention, Shiki will leave all he knows to find her.

With allies next to him and enemies literally around every corner, how will Shiki’s story end when his greatest fear and biggest joy merge into his worst nightmare?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662453380

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Dusk of Demons

Jessica Proffitt

Copyright © 2021 Jessica Proffitt

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2021

ISBN 978-1-6624-5337-3 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-5338-0 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 1

Beautifully chaotic.

The perfect words to describe my view of my beloved Japan from the top of Tokyo Tower. It’s almost 3:00 a.m., but the city is still so alive. I guess growing up on its streets made me love it as much as I do.

Shiki, it’s time to go. You have school tomorrow, and I have patrol for the next few hours. They don’t come out at daybreak, you know that, Tsubaki says, jumping down next to me with her catlike grace.

I know. You have the same classes I do. You want to crash at my place? I doubt ‘Dad’ will mind, or notice, I say with an edge in my voice. I look over at her, her red hair with white tips covering her left eye, which I know is a beautiful green. She’s some three hundred years old but doesn’t look a day over twenty in this form.

N-no thanks, Shiki. I really need to head home too, she says looking down. ’Kay, see you in a few hours then, Tsubaki. She jumps off the Tower and lands in the semi-darkness of the streets below.

It takes about twenty-five minutes to get to my house, running along the roofs. I land on the small balcony outside my room; I slip into the sliding glass door without a sound. My room is nothing special, a futon that’s never made, a desk I never use, a pile of textbooks on the floor, my uniform hanging on the wall, my bag by the door. I strip off my shirt and shoes and fall face-first into my futon. I fall into sleep, and all I do is remember how Dad said I killed Mom when I was born. How he remarried another American woman, like my mom, when I was ten. How her nine-year-old daughter said I was a freak and that I was cursed by the gods because of my two-tone eyes. Now she won’t even talk to me. When I was twelve, Dad and my stepmom, Alice, had another little girl, Shigure. How Tsubaki found me when I was thirteen—I had just killed my first Demon—and how I was so scared that I just killed something, how my hair grew a foot and black at the ends, how dark purple spots grew on my skin. How I learned the beautiful necklace my mother gave me locks away my power and lets it out when I need it or want it.

I wake up to the sound of my phone’s alarm. I roll over, phone in hand, and see my skin’s back to one color. I run my fingers through my red hair, nice and short again.

I run a finger over my necklace; I never take it off. It looks almost like a flower stem held together by magic. Like it’s made of glass and if you touch it too hard, it might break. After I started fighting, I tried to destroy it, hoping to take my powers with it. That didn’t work out so well. I have the scars to prove it.

I get up and get ready for the day. Our school has a uniform. It’s just very casual. Blue, gray, or black pants; a gray jacket; and any undershirt you want. I dig my wallet out from under my futon blanket, to see how much I have. Looks like melon bread and soda for lunch today.

I’m the last one out of the house today; we live on the third floor of a five-story apartment building. I lock up and walk/run the two and a half miles to the school. Tsubaki’s at the front gate in her human form. Tsubaki has powers like me, and she has three forms—her Familiar form with long red hair with white tips, the form she was born to look like that had all the abilities of a cat; her Weapon form; and her human form, brown hair down to her shoulders and green eyes, and her earring that goes from the top to the lobe of her right ear. That is the one thing she never takes off.

Morning, Tsubaki, I say coming up to the gate.

Good morning, Shiki. You know you forgot to tie your hair back again today.

My hair is almost down to my shoulders, so I like to keep it tied back if I can when I’m at school.

Oh crap! I’m never gonna hear the end of this, I say thinking if of what my English and History teachers are going to say; they hate the fact the I have long hair.

Hold on a sec, Tsubaki says, pulling something out of her skirt pocket. The girls’ uniform is a lot less casual than the boys’—a skirt in one of three colors that comes just above the knee and a blue-and-white sailor’s top. Nothing else.

Tsubaki pulls out a hair tie and says, I always bring one, just in case you forget again.

I take the tie and say in a jokingly thanking tone, Thank you, Tsubaki! You’re a saint!

She rolls her eyes. You’re welcome, Shiki.

I hear the first bell ring. Shit! We better hurry! I take off running for the school.

* * *

The day is slower than normal, maybe because I got less than four hours of sleep last night.

Gods, will this day ever end? I say to Tsubaki at lunch, taking a bite of my melon bread.

The school day will, but the work day will begin shortly after. Try to get a nap when you get home, Tsubaki says, going over our work for the night.

I lean back against the entrance to the roof and ask, So how many tonight?

She looks down at her papers, leafing through them.

Looks like eight. Five level blues, two browns, one green. The blues will be working together. The browns and green will be a few miles apart. So says our info. She sips her soda. And he’s never been wrong She adds.

Yeah, it’s gonna be a long night.

I close my eyes.

The bell rings.

Chapter 2

After lunch, I get called to the headmaster’s office. He says I haven’t gotten anything higher than a C+ the past few months and asks me if there is anything going on in my life that might be affecting my grades. Worst of all, he wants Mugetsu to come here and discuss ways to help me at home. Little does he know that Mugetsu doesn’t give a damn about me, and the reason my grades are so low is because I barely have time to sleep let alone study. I’m surprised that I got a C with the little bit of studying that I do!

An hour later, the final bell rings, and Headmaster Akurami says, "Now, Jyoho-san, I really hope you understand how important this is. Something in your home must be done to improve these grades."

I stand and bow. I do understand, Headmaster Akurami. I will try to do better. I will. As for my father, he is a very busy man; I will try to bring him down here. Please have a good day, Headmaster.

He lets out a heavy sigh and says, "Same to you, Jyoho-san."

I walk to my shoe locker with a headache that’s almost blinding. I see that Tsubaki is waiting for me.

I heard that you got called to the headmaster’s. Here, she says, handing me a bottle of cold water and some Tylenol. I gratefully take both.

Yeah, he said my grades are too low, and that I need to bring Mugetsu here too. That’s going to be fun, I say, changing my shoes into my blue-black high tops.

I’m sorry, Shiki. I could tutor you whenever we get some free time if you want, she says as we walk to the door.

Ha! Free time, I don’t even know what to do with free time. I sleep in what little bit I do get. I laugh. Looking back on it, the last time I got more than three or four hours of sleep, I was fourteen, and I slept for seventeen hours. I had a seriously bad chest injury. Tsubaki never left my side and erased my family’s memories of it ever happening. I don’t think I can ever repay her for that.

Yeah, I don’t know what I would do with free time, she says with a light blush on her cheeks.

So when and where tonight? I ask, pretending I don’t see her blush.

Um, when, let’s see, she says pulling out her papers. When will be about 10:30 p.m., but where, it doesn’t really say. Somewhere in Shibuya. We’ll meet at the Tower at nine, sound good? she says.

Yeah, I guess so. Well, I’m here. See you tonight, Tsubaki, I say.

See ya, she disappears.

I walk to my apartment, and my nose is filled with the mouthwatering smell of curry. I’m home, I say as I take off my shoes in the entry hall. I hear the tap, tap, tap of Shigure coming to meet me. She is five and a half and is the only one in the house that doesn’t think that I’m possessed. I really love her. No one knows this, but sometimes at night, if I’m home, she comes to my room and lies with me. She says that she has nightmares and that I ward off the demons that attack her while she sleeps. More than once, I have come home to her lying in my bed crying, waiting for me to come back. She is the one and only reason I stay in this house.

Welcome home, big brother Shiki! she says, holding out a small dinner bowl with a plate on it.

Hi, Shigure. I’m home. What do you have there?

She sits down on the entry hall steps. I sit beside her.

Well, you took a really, really long time to get here, so everyone ate without you. So I saved you some of my curry! she says, handing it to me with a big smile. Inside, there is a little less than half of a bowl of yellow curry and rice.

Thank you so much, Shigure. I’m about to put a bite of curry in my mouth when her stomach growls. Her face turns red, and she gets this panicked look like she doesn’t know what to do. She’s still hungry, but she saved it for me, knowing it’s my favorite.

I’m not hungry. Really, I’m not! Please eat it. She looks like if I say no, she’ll burst out crying.

Are you sure? It’s really good, I tease.

Yes, I’m sure! Now eat it before it gets too cold! she beams. In three big bites, I eat it all, and just to make her laugh, I lick the blow clean as best I can.

I pick up the dishes with one hand and Shigure with the other and walk to the kitchen. I sit Shigure at the table and wash out my bowl. I look at the clock on the wall, and it reads 7:45 p.m. I didn’t know it took me so long to get home. I turn, and Shigure is asleep at the table. I walk to her room and lay out her futon and go get her from the table and lay her down. Closing the door behind me, I walk to my room and see a note.

Dad and Alice are out for the night, and my stepsister, Beth, is staying at a friend’s house till Monday. Shigure has been home alone for who knows how long; at least they made her dinner.

Shit. I pull off the note, grab a change of clothes, and go shower.

I have to leave Shigure alone tonight. When I get out of the shower, I look at myself in the mirror, at the deep scar on my chest, the one that will never fade, and the smaller ones on my arms and stomach. When I get back to my room, I see Shigure curled up on my futon, her stuffed fox held tightly against her chest. I pull the blanket up over her, walk out onto the balcony, and say, Tsubaki, come to me.

She appears on the railing of the balcony in a servant’s bow. "How may I be of service, Shiki-sama?" she asks in a pleasing voice.

Put a sleep charm on Shigure and protection spells on each door.

She bows and gets to work on what I asked. I hate having to use charms on her, but I need her to stay asleep tonight.

Master, what you have asked for is done She steps away from Shigure.

Don’t call me that. Let’s go. We walk out the sliding glass door. I lock it behind me, and we’re off.

We’re halfway to the Tower when Tsubaki says, Oh, I forgot! Our info was a little off. It’ll just be the Blues tonight. The others won’t be here for another two weeks!

I think over how long it will take to kill five of the lowest-ranking Demons in our world, factoring in different speed levels, weapons, and teamwork. It’s still going to be a long night with five of them.

Maybe.

Woo-hoo! We might get to sleep in this weekend! I say, doing cartwheels over the roof, timing my jump perfectly to stick the landing on the edge of the next building. Tsubaki whistles at me in approval. I take a deep mocking bow in her direction. I look up at the building I just jumped off, and Tsubaki is standing on the edge, her red-and-white hair blowing in the light autumn breeze. When she closes her eyes, she looks as calm as an angel. In the next instant, she’s twenty feet in the air. She does a backflip, three, four midair turns, and lands on the edge of this building in her three-inch knee-high boots in a beautiful ballerina pose.

"Wow! I say, clapping my hands, eyes wide with amazement. How can you do that in those boots? I mean, I know you wear them all the time, but that landing was awesome!" I walk over to her.

"I’ve been doing