Bringing herself back to her present predicament, Aurora leaned toward the glass peeking in to see that the human couple had not come back out of the far room. Reaching up she sighed when the door easily opened and she slipped inside, running soundlessly across the carpet and out into the hallway.
Once at street level, she made sure to keep to the well-lit areas just in case Samuel reappeared for another fight a fight she wasnt so sure she could keep winning. She didnt really keep track of where she was going or how long she walked all she wanted was one night of peace to rest.
When was the last time shed truly slept without the fear of being accosted because of what she was? It had been before she was dragged into the rift. And the only moment of happiness shed found since coming out of the rift was with a man in the subway tunnel.
She reached up and touched the necklace she was still wearing and was caught between melancholy and the thrill of the stolen moments of bliss. It was a memento, something to remember him by because she knew shed never see him again.
Aurora jerked her gaze up to the fence she was walking beside and looked around tucking the necklace back inside her shirt. For the first time since coming out of the rift, she didnt feel any demons near her. Wrapping her fingers around the tall chain link fence, she stared across the parking lot at the huge building it surrounded.
She didnt know how to read the words that were lit up in red across the top, so for the lack of demons in the area she pretended it read Sanctuary and smiled. Within moments, she had scaled the fence and made it to the roof of the building.
Moving silently out of habit, she curled up against the only door leading into the interior because it had a small overhang that would keep the sunlight from waking her too soon. Another smile appeared on her face as she felt safety here a place where she could finally rest.
She lay there with her eyes closed and stretched her senses out feeling all of the boundaries surrounding this place. She didnt know why or how but she felt like she was on an island in a sea of demons and they couldnt come out of the water to get her. Opening her eyes, she inhaled sharply when she did indeed feel the demon energies around the perimeters of the barrier.
Aurora felt their rage and frustration as they tried to break through and couldnt help but smile they would not get her this night.
Chapter 3
To say Skye was confused was an understatement. Hed somehow gone from one prison into another, not realizing until it was too late. When he was unexpectedly freed from the trap that had imprisoned him and Misery together, hed stalked the she-demon knowing she planned to release the demons that had been pulled into the rift.
A large part of him actually hoped that Misery would succeed in her quest, but not for the reasons that some might believe. Just because he was a demon didnt mean he liked his own kind.
For centuries, hed held onto the hope that Aurora was still alive in there somewhere and was trying to find her way back through to this world. However, when he saw what crawled out of the rift Misery opened, his hopes had crashed down around him and he was still in mourning. There was no way that Aurora could have survived among all of those monsters.
He had been trapped with only one demon Misery and hed still been able to feel the outside world. Being so close to freedom had lent him the hope he needed to retain his sanity. But Aurora she had been trapped in another world with countless demons, many of them masters.
Aurora had been an innocent, white and pure. But to the demons she would have been seen as the enemy the same enemy that hunted, persecuted, and trapped them.
Now the city was full of demons and Skye had been forced to blend in and disappear among the human populace. Along with the multitude of demons, hed also seen a small army of demon hunters that were taking out the demon clans one at a time usually just as theyd established a territory. There were many other demons that had already claimed a stake and were trying to lay low, attempting to blend in the same way he had.
Blending in with the humans was something Skye had learned how to do very early in his life and hed shared that knowledge with Aurora.
When hed first met her, hed known they would need each others protection. Where as demons often mistook him for a Fallen, there was no mistaking what Aurora was unless she learned how to suppress her true lineage.
His heart had spilled out on the ground when he returned from his vision quest to find the village and almost everyone in it gone. The human species was no stranger to war a resilient race in its own right. There had been a few survivors that had fled the massacre to hide in the forest and it was through them that hed learned what happened.
The villagers cried that demons had appeared among them to eat their souls then the gods had descended from the sky to destroy the monsters saving them even though there were many casualties from the sudden battle. Even as they mourned their dead they were thankful the gods had saved them.
With the village completely destroyed, he and the other village warriors gathered the survivors and traveled to another village. It was on the second night of sleeping under the stars that Skye noticed a stranger among them a little girl. No one had questioned her presence, thinking she was a refugee from another village that had fallen in the wake of the massacre she called herself Misery.
On the third night, Misery pulled him aside and told him in explicit detail what had truly happened to his village and that the Fallen were responsible. The thing that disturbed Skye the most was that she knew he wasnt human no matter how much he suppressed his power. She claimed that it was his sadness that gave him away.
By the time they made it to the next settlement, Skye was in constant fear of Misery telling the humans what he really was and that same fear kept his mouth shut.
Over the next few weeks, Misery kept the villagers in a constant state of terror by playing pranks on them. Late at night, she would walk through the village in her rotted form causing mass panic by sneaking up on those that were unfortunate enough to be caught out at night. Some of them were able to reach safety but the others werent so lucky.
The last straw was when three warriors who had been the best of friends their entire lives killed each other in a bloodbath that painted the entire village square red.
The villagers finally began blocking their doors at night and refusing to venture out until the sun was high in the sky. It wasnt long before a stranger began visiting the village and purchasing goods from the market. Skye recognized what the man truly was and began to keep to himself staying away from all the villagers and leaving Misery to her own demise.
That plan of self-preservation failed when Misery began beating on his door in the middle of the night demanding he let her in. Hed ignored the childs voice and slipped out of his dwelling through the back exit. Skye knew the she-demon had been discovered by the stranger a Fallen who had gotten wind of a demon in the village.
Unfortunately, Misery followed him and in turn led the Fallen directly to him. Skye took refuge in a cave and hid hoping beyond all hope that Misery didnt find him. His heart dropped to his feet when Misery ran into the cave to hide. The Fallen must have seen his chance and placed some kind of barrier around the cave, trapping them for all eternity.
Unfortunately, Misery followed him and in turn led the Fallen directly to him. Skye took refuge in a cave and hid hoping beyond all hope that Misery didnt find him. His heart dropped to his feet when Misery ran into the cave to hide. The Fallen must have seen his chance and placed some kind of barrier around the cave, trapping them for all eternity.
Skye shook off the memories of those agonizing centuries in the cave and continued walking casually through the streets of Los Angeles. He had nothing better to do except to simply wander through the maze of tall buildings and dark alleys. It was late, dark, and most of the humans were sleeping, save for those that thrived on the night.
Demons also roamed the streets, hungrily searching for those humans that stupidly believed the darkness was their home.
He was still astounded at the size of the city, having never seen anything like this when hed roamed the earth centuries before. The humans whose minds he touched had lent him the knowledge he needed to understand what he was seeing. Never had he believed the human race could progress to such a level. Before his time in the cave, human dwellings had been nothing more than small huts made out of mud and straw, but now they had towers that reached into the heavens.
What frustrated him the most were that the stories surrounding demon occupation in history had been chalked up to legends, myth, and folklore. If the humans only knew their worst nightmares were reality society would most likely crumble or they would blame their government for conducting experiments on the human genetic makeup.
Suddenly wanting to get to safety, Skye shimmered through the streets, avoiding the few pedestrians coming in and out of focus like the flashing of a strobe light.
He stopped at the mouth of a shadowy alley and looked into the darkness for a moment, then glanced over his shoulders to make sure no one would see him. Once he was certain the coast was clear, he walked into it with no hesitation. The buildings rose high around him, giving the effect of the darkness swallowing him up. It had taken some time, but hed found a hideaway in the basement of the huge downtown library.
His gaze easily found the bars covering the basement window at ground level in the absolute darkness. Crouching down next to them, Skye peered in making sure none of the library workers were still on duty and snooping around like they had been for the past week.
Silently removing the bars, he slowly lowered himself into the deep concrete room before turning and sliding the bars back into place. He took a deep breath knowing he would be safe for another night. Turning back to the main area of the basement, he weaved his way through the almost countless rows of bookshelves that was home to some of the older volumes such as rare first editions until he came to a sitting area that hadnt been used in who knew how long.
An old sofa sat in a small clearing in the bookshelves, the back of it pushed against a windowless wall. More shelves stood tall around it with open boxes of books sitting here and there. A single floor lamp sat next to the sofa, which Skye never bothered to turn on since night vision was one of the perks of tainted blood.
Skye had sought sanctuary here many times since his escape from the cave and so far he hadn't been disturbed. Though he didnt need to rest that often tonight Skye was exhausted. Hed made more than one valiant attempt to leave the city. However, someone or something had erected a barrier around it in every direction, making escape impossible. He knew there was a way out he only had to find the key.
He wanted to rage at Misery for causing all of this since it was her fault to begin with. She was a powerful demon with the mentality of a brat. Hed been trapped in that cave with her for so long that when he finally felt freedom hed taken it not knowing that freedom was a lie. He wasnt completely ungrateful though at least this cage was bigger and the scenery was better.
Misery had made good on her plan to release the demons back into this world but hed watched some of them try leaving as well. They had all been released from one prison or another, only to fall right into another one with what appeared to be no chance of escaping. It was almost like two worlds had collided and created a bubble.
Skye walked closer to the sofa with the plan of reading a book that hed picked up from one of the random shelves. The library people had inadvertently helped him learn how to read, which was much easier than hed expected. Basically, hed touched their minds to gain knowledge and could now read the thicker books within minutes.
His perfect lips hinted at a smile when it dawned on him that it took longer to turn the pages then it took to read the stories. If he could seep knowledge from peoples minds then why couldnt he try to do the same with the books? Laying the book on the top of the nearest box, Skye held his hand over it and closed his eyes.
Dean sat on top of a nearby bookshelf watching the hybrid with curiosity. The mans long pale hair lifted and floated around him as if he were standing in a soft updraft. He raised a dark eyebrow when that updraft illuminated around him in amethyst color and the hybrids body swayed relaxingly. It was beautiful to watch.
Skye slowly inhaled as he drifted through the books, one moment being a pirate on the open seas and the next moment so in love with a faraway princess that he could taste her lips and feel the cloth of his pants tighten with need for her. His attention was quickly taken as he soared through the sky on a black dragon then was killed by a wizard that was more powerful than he was.
Figures, Skye complained as he took a step back from what was obviously the fiction section.
With a sigh, he moved to sit down and frowned when he noticed another set of clothing and a pair of sturdy black tennis shoes. Who in the world kept leaving things down here in the basement? He knew the workers came down here from time to time but he made sure none of them knew about him using the sofa and books.
Skye cursed silently when he realized his exhaustion had caused him to overlook the other presence nearby. He looked around frantically, turning full circle, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Swallowing, he slowly approached the clothing items and reached out to touch them only to quickly pull his hand away suspiciously.
Dean decided to remain invisible and see what the hybrid would do. He was a skittish one, but hell being trapped with Misery for a few centuries would have driven a saint crazy. Dean couldnt stand her for more than a few seconds and his patience level was pretty good at least he thought so.
He looked down at the box of books the hybrid had just scanned and almost smirked at the classic novel about the worlds most famous vampire sitting on top. Ah, the ironies of life. He glanced back at the hybrid when he moved away from the gifts.
Who are you? Skye demanded feeling the hair on the back of his neck lift from someone elses gaze. Hed felt that caress before it was the eyes of the Fallen that had been stalking him.
Dean, Dean whispered, making sure not to startle him. When the silence started to stretch Dean frowned, Unless you want to be referred to as Boy I need a name.
What do you want? Skye asked in a cold voice. His gaze darted around the room since the voice seemed to be coming from inside his head instead of a direction.
Just to talk, Dean shrugged even though the other man couldnt see it. He pulled his feet up and rose into a crouch seeing the fight or flight light shining in the hybrids eyes.