III

“You two know each other?” Ashleigh asks.

“She’s from the bayou. We collaborated on my first mission here in New Orleans. Didn’t go well, did it, Katya? And now she calls on me for help whenever she needs to get out of sticky situations with Demons.”

“You didn’t exactly help me that last time,” Katya spits.

“What are you doing here, Katya?”

“Money.”

“Cemetary tours and exorcisms don’t pay well enough anymore?”

Katya looks down at the ground, orange dyed curls covering her face from view. Even in ACUs, she had her hair out and her top open. She looks up and her black violet eyes meet Sauda’s.

“I’ve got people to take care of, you know that, and tourist money isn’t cutting it.”

“We don’t really have too many jobs for a medium, but the more Castors, the better.”

“No. It’s different now Sauda… I specialize in Death,”

“You use magick now Katya!? No.” Sauda throws up her hands and walks away. “No Demon-Castors, Ashleigh. Or have you forgotten Yemen?”

“I’m not a Demon-Castor!” Katya yells. “I cast with runes, but I don’t use blood or sex. I didn’t sell my soul… but I can control ghosts and corpse’s but they’re not alive—just animated for a while. I can… become incorporeal and phase between solid things. But I didn’t sell my soul.”

“Earth, fire, and water. They’re all elements of life. Katya’s element is just death,” Ashleigh explains.

“Dark Castors, and Light Castors,” Malik explains, “but that doesn’t make them bad… and Ashleigh is our little air bender. The Avatar—”.

Ashleigh hits him in the arm as he laughs.

Sauda can feel the headache building between her eyes. She rubs the bridge of her nose. Closing her eyes as she tries to massage the pain away and think.

“Okay,” Sauda says,” I’m going to go pledge the Demons in, and then take a shower. We’ll go back over this at PT tomorrow.”

She walks to where Jordan and Dix wait with six people. Sauda stands in front of them at a table that has a knife, a bowl, and pre-written blood contracts on tan parchment paper.

“Everyone knows how this goes?” Sauda asks. “Your pledging fealty like you would do to your Demon ruler in whatever region of hell you’re from.”

They all nod their heads, not getting the hang of “yes sir” yet.

“All right. Line up.”

Sauda watches as each Demon joins a line in front of her, waiting to share some power with her as their new leader. When they had their first meeting about Demon recruits, they had no clue how to keep any Demons in check if they were to get out of control. It wasn’t until the very first recruit heard rumors of what they were doing and came to them begging to do anything, including signing away their loyalty, that they got that idea. Now every new Demon who came to them had to pledge and sign a blood contract. Blood contracts and pledges were a serious thing and turned a lot of Demon’s away. Sauda needed more than just a promise to be a good petty demon.

Sauda picks up the knife, slicing her forearm in a neat line. She presses her thumb in the blood that wells up, leaves a print on the contract, and then holds her arm and the knife out to the Demon first in line.

The green-skinned woman smiles, yellow reptile eyes blinking. Up close, Sauda can see that her skin is covered with iridescent clear scales that show bruises underneath.

Sauda smiles back at her, handing her the knife in her hand first and then holding her arm out.

“Quickly, before the wound heals,” Sauda says.

The reptilian Demon takes the knife and slashes herself across the palm. Deep red blood swells and she lets it drop on the paper.

Sauda can feel a tingle as the contract takes hold, but it’s not over yet. The Demon let’s more blood fall into the cup. Later, once all the Demons have signed, drank from Sauda, and pour some blood into the cup, Saida will drink from it. Solidifying the bond between master and servant.

The woman greedily grabs at Sauda’s arm. When she feels Sauda pull back, she looks up. Her yellow eyes with multiple lids can look sad, she did not understand, but Sauda melts at her puppy dog eyes.

“I don’t want to go back,” She whispers.

Sauda nods at her, relaxing and pushing her closer to the girl. “Drink up.”

Sauda holds back the wince and moans as she laps up the blood on the quickly closing wound. When done, she smiles, blood covering her teeth, and moves to the side.

Sauda repeats each step for the other five demons, who don’t rush but move with the same determination and desperation.

Finally, all the looks of being saved are replaced by euphoria as Sauda drinks the cup of mixed blood. With this last step Sauda gains some of their essences, adding it to her strength and in return, they add to their powers.

She didn’t know if it was another power boost for her or them, but it made them all glow. Sauda can see the bruises on the reptilian Demon healing in the blink of an eye. Before they were all low-level Demons with hardly any abilities and now, they were bumped just went a notch.

“Off to basic. Enjoy.” She turns to Jordan. “I’m going to shower. Save me a seat in mess.”

Everyone clears the room, leaving Sauda to go to her quarters on base. Her legs shake as the power boost leaves her feeling high and weak. The euphoria has her shaking as it takes several tries to open her door, get in her room, and take her clothes off.

The walk to the shower takes longer than ever and she flops herself down on the toilet to turn on the water, just turning on the hot side only.

The bathroom quickly fills up with steam and when she stands up, she can barely make herself out in the mirror. Her red Demon eyes, which she usually has to drag out in the most murderous situations, stare back at her but she is too exhausted to tighten the fist to pull that power back in.

The scalding water feels great against her skin and the feeling from the bonding makes her relax into it, enjoying the freeness of being powerful and naked.

She reaches for her body wash but pulls back, tightening her body, getting ready to fight without knowing why. The spot between the bottom of her neck and the joining of her shoulders feel like a hot poker is being slowly jabbed into it. She can feel it, that someone was behind her.

Slowly, acting as if it were normal, she picks up her body wash and looks around in front of her for a washrag, ignoring the blue rag on the pole beside her.

“Damn,” she chuckles, “forgot the rag.”

Bracing herself to run as soon as she got out of the slippery tub, she pulls back the curtain.

Her heart jumps out of her chest.

Across in the mirror, she met the pair of red eyes that she thought were her own, but her brown ones are wide in her face next to the red ones.

She doesn’t have time to be careful as she sees the tip of its waxen finger touching her back. She hops out the shower, the extra power she received causing her to fly into and through the door, shattering it.

She falls into her bedroom, landing on her shoulder, popping it out of place and a piece of wood pierces her side. The world is in a daze for a moment as it spins.

Sauda struggles to get her head together and stands up. The creature comes closer to her. Since it’s not trying to be discrete, it uses its power. It sucks the life out of her while making a high shriek.

She looks at it, the Shade, and knows that if she doesn’t move, she will surely die. She can feel her life being drained as she tries to scoot away.

The Shade in front of her was just as terrifying as the only other ones she’d ever seen. Humans would have called it a Grim Reaper, and for all intents and purposes, they were the death bringers of Demons. Now every person who’s seen the Harry Potter movies would call them Dementors.

A skeletal creature wearing tattered robes that flies around, killing, sucking the life out of whatever they can to sustain their own life. Sauda has seen them attack and kills her older sister, tearing her world apart. Her heart beats faster, threatening to bring back those painful memories. Every second that the Shade was draining her was a year of her life. She couldn’t let it take her life.

She struggles to her feet, clenching her teeth as blood pours around the plank of wood in her side. She tries to run and again her power sends her through the door, unable to control her legs. She hits the wall on the other side of the hallway, pushing the plank further into her side. Sauda screams through the pain but doesn’t stop. She runs through the halls, unaware of where she’s going, only thinking of getting away. She doesn’t dare look back.

She runs for what feels like hours until she spots Adorna and Katya running towards her.

“What is it?” Adorna stops Sauda, pulling her behind her to block her then letting her claws rip from her fingers to fight. “All your Demons fell sick and Katya said something about death.”

Sauda leans up against the wall, holding her side. “A shade,” Sauda says, collapsing to the floor.

Adorna’s pale, scared face is the last thing she sees before she blacks out.