IV

Jordan sits down a tray of food on a table and wheels it over to Sauda so she doesn’t have to leave the bed. She sits up, the wound in her side pulling, as Jordan fluffs up her pillows.

“Thanks,” she tells him.

Adorna stands against the far wall, staring at the door as if waiting for the shade to come through it. She fully transformed into her demon form, her wings stretched out and her black-tipped limbs almost ripping her PT shorts off.

Adorna is just as on edge as Sauda is, and everyone can tell, though only Sauda and Samuel Dean know why.

Samuel Dean, Sauda’s hellhound familiar, lies at her bedside. He is so large that Sauda can just reach down to pet him without bending over or laying down. She runs her fingers through his black fur, feeling the rumble of his purr as she tries to calm her beating heart.

When she woke up, Samuel Dean was already there wrapped around her body, squishing her.

She doesn’t even touch the food and just continues stroking her familiar.

“We did a preliminary search of the entire compound but found nothing,” Jordan says, “Once Dix checks on all the soldiers then we’ll do a deeper search.” He stands in front of her, arms folded, worry marking his face. He’s seen Sauda beat up before, but never beat up and scared.

“The Shade is probably long gone,” Adorna says.

Her lovers sit in a chair next to her, Ashleigh sitting in Malik’s lap, both of them waiting for their shared girl to let them cuddle her.

“What I want to know is how it got topside, why here, why Sauda, and where the fuck are the other shades.” Adorna continues to stare at the door.

“Dix, incoming,” Jordan says, moving to sit in a chair.

Just like Jordan smelled, Dix opens the door to the infirmary and comes in with Katya on his tail.

“Everyone’s tucked in, Captain, confined to the barracks. All the humans are fine and the Demons are recovering from whatever happened. Katya and I did the rounds personally, and she said she couldn’t ‘feel death’. So I’m going to assume that means no one is dying. Whatever attacked you is gone.”

He sits down in the remaining chair and Katya stands behind him, looking everywhere but at Sauda.

“I called the Major, and he’s on his way from DC,” Dix says.

Sauda nods at him. “Thanks.”

Since they started building up their resources, Dix and Sauda started working closely together. Dix became the human liaison, bridging the gap between humans and Demons, and there was a lot he needed to learn from Sauda about Demons.

“Katya,” Sauda says.

Katya looks at her and then quickly away.

“Why so fidgety? You had nothing to do with this, right?”

“No! Oh God, no! If it wasn’t for me finding Adorna, you’d be dead—why are you naked?!”

Sauda looks down at her breast and then looks at her team around the room, who also seems to realize that she’s naked.

“I’m a Demon. You’ll get used to it,” Sauda says.

Jordan hands her a robe, and she puts it on. Katya visibly relaxes.

“Most Demons have never worn clothes before, so you will see a lot of naked bodies as they get used to their uniforms,” Sauda explains.

“Back to the problem at hand,” Adorna wraps a hand around the back of Malik’s neck and Ashleigh wraps a hand around the stem of a smaller wing. “How’d the hell did a shade get up here, and why is it alone?”

“What do you mean?” Jordan asks.

Jordan, even as a shapeshifter and not technically human, he still had limited knowledge of the Demon world. Sauda, however, spent every summer since she was three with her father in his realm of hell, and there was still much she didn’t know but Shades she knew very well.

“Shades run in packs. If you only see one, then it was probably sent ahead to scout. As soon as they smell life, they all swarm and attack. I’ve never seen or heard of one attacking alone. Before,” Adorna says.

“These shades are bad?” Dix asks.

“It felt like it was dying, but not alive to begin with it,” Katya says, wrapping her arms around herself. “Even from so far away, it felt cold, and then it burned like dry ice.”

“You felt it draining my life away.”

“Are you dying right now?” Dix asks.

“No,” Sauda smiles at him, “it just drained some years off of my life.”

“How’d it get up here? Did someone cast it?” Ashleigh asks.

“Shades aren’t like that, they can’t be cast. Only controlled,” Adorna says, “but they killed the last Demon powerful enough to control the Shades.”

“Who killed him? Maybe that Demon is controlling the shades now,” Jordan says.

Adorna looks over at Sauda and just shakes her head. “It’s your story.” Everyone looks at Sauda, waiting.

“My dad killed La Muerte but not to take over control,” Sauda says and she says no more, looking at the room, waiting for them to continue.

“If your dad didn’t kill the guy for his shades, then why’d he kill him?” Jordan asks.

“Her. My father killed her, because La Muerte killed my sister. Tried to kill me.”

Everyone is quiet as they take in what Sauda says.

“And how do we know that your dad didn’t try to kill you just now?” Katya asks.

Jordan bursts out laughing and Adorna smiles. Dix just looks away like he wouldn’t expect anything less of her father.

“My dad gains power through me, and he feeds off the rage of humans I cause, and I make many people mad. I’m like a buffet for him.”

“She’s the most powerful half-demon alive, and there’s only a handful of them alive. He also enjoys bragging rights. She’s also the only child he has that visits him just for the hell of it.” Adorna smiles. “Neither one will admit it, but she’s a very filial daughter. He loves her more than anything. He won’t kill her.”

Adorna rests further into Malik and Ashleigh wraps her arm around her. She sighs.

“Call him. If someone new took over the Shades, he’ll know. Even if he doesn’t, he’ll find out. They tried to kill his favorite spawn. Heads will roll.”

Sauda pulls out her phone and hits the number two on the speed dial.

“My child,” Andras answers the phone, “Though I enjoy your calls, I am awfully busy right now.”

“Someone tried to kill me.”

“That’s nothing for a Demon, and you’re still alive. Bravo.”

“Daddy…”

Sauda’s voice cracks as tears threaten to fall. She clears her throat, looking down to avoid the eyes of everyone in the room. “It was a shade.”

There’s silence on the phone, and then it disconnects. Sauda sits on the table and looks at her people.

“I bet ten bucks that he broke his phone,” Jordan says, no traces of a smile on his face.

“One hundred says he shows up in the next five minutes,” Adorna counters.

Sauda doesn’t have time to place her bet when her phone goes off. She puts it on speaker.

“I broke my phone,” is the first thing Andras says.

Adorna just passes Jordan money. Where she pulled it out of, Sauda will never ask.

“I’ll get some information and then I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

“Andras. If someone is after me and using Shades like the last time they tried to take over, do you think you can leave Ethiopia?” Sauda asks.

The phone is silent. Sauda can only imagine the thoughts banging around her father’s head or the emotions it’s bringing up.

Twenty-six years ago, the old master of the Shades, La Muerte, attacked Sauda’s father’s kingdom, causing him to miss her birth. He spent three years tortured in a grave until Sauda first transformed into her Demon powers, killing her abusive stepfather. The rage three-year-old Sauda experienced was enough to power Andras up and bust him free. However, it wasn’t enough to protect his eldest daughter as she died at the hand of Shades in front of the young Sauda.

“Damit!” Andras yells, his voice octave deeper than normal.

“Find out who did this, send me help, and I’ll kill him for you,” Sauda says. “He tried to kill me so I got first dibs.”

“Fine,” Andras growls, “Adorna… don’t let her die.”

Adorna nods and then remembers that he can’t see her over speakerphone. “I got her.”

“I will get you all the information I can and I’ll send you someone I can trust—”

“Are you sending Raum?” Sauda hasn’t seen him in a year since he disappeared from Ethiopia.

“I’ll try… listen... if I think it’s too much for you, I will kill them myself. If you get in over your head, don’t be prideful and ask for help. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

Sauda lets her father hang up, and she steps out of bed, stepping over Samuel Dean. “If my father doesn’t kill whoever it is, are you going with me?,” Sauda asks Adorna.

“I’ll go too,” Jordan adds.

“Negative.” Adorna shakes her head. “Not you, Sauda. For you, I’ll go. Sugar, you can’t go.”

“Why?” Jordan asks.

“Shades are deadly. They suck years of life out of Demons in minutes. Humans would be dead within seconds,” she explains.

“I’m not human.”

“You’re close enough. Even a Shapeshifter has a short life range.”

Sauda raises her hand before Jordan can complain or insist on coming. “It’s too dangerous. Even if that battle is top-side, if they use shades, we can’t protect you. You, Dix, Malik, and any other humans stay out of it. That’s an order.”

“I say we use some Demon recruits we have. That way we have backup and it’s not just us two going in,” Adorna says.

“I agree,” Dix says smiling, “So far, there is this group that’s amazing at combat. They excelled in Basic, and we’ve been putting them through courses that integrate military tactics and their specific demon traits.” Dix crosses his arms and leans back, looking like a proud papa. “Extra human strength, agility, and eyesight make for exceptional soldiers. We’ve just started training with human partners.”

“The American government got their hands on super soldiers,” Adorna smirks, “there’s no way they don’t abuse that power.”

Sauda’s phone beeps and she picks it up to look at the text.

“What the fuck?!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Andras sent Kang Dae.”

Adorna bursts out laughing while Sauda chucks her phone back onto the bed. Even Samuel Dean lets out a huff, sounding like a laugh.

“Your father really knows how to make you angry,” Adorna laughs as everyone else looks confused. “Every time you ask for help, he sends you ex-boyfriends. You better be lucky you only ever dated two people.”

“We never dated,” Sauda says. She walks away from the hysterical Succubus.

“Where are you going?”

“To put clothes on. I’m not greeting him naked.”