Among Demons : A Siren's Voice

Ch. 16 : Unexpected News

The next few hours were filled with overwhelming emotions that were clearly spilling from both my sister and Lora. Though Dev was reacting to Lora’s distress, they both seemed very upset with whatever it was that they were talking about.

I had given Lora my cell so she could communicate with my sister while Marcus and I gathered up all the important paperwork we’d found in one place. Marcus had put in a call to our clean-up crew, giving them our location and firmly delivered a couple other orders as well. So while he paused every so often to answer a text or call, I kept myself focused on the papers we had gathered, scanning through them carefully.

Within the first few pages I found the listed information of Hunters that had worked in this underground hideout.

Aliases, unique physical descriptions, and the amount of time they had spent working as a Hunter. Some had a bit more information listed under their names, showing any criminal activity that was already on their record or the type of Demon they preferred to Hunt, as well as the type of weapon they typically used. The other, more specific bits of information, like their age, last names, and any familial connections that also worked for the Hunters were all redacted. It was annoying, and even after trying to carefully remove the thick black bar from the information that was covered, I never succeeded. There was even a score chart type thing in one corner of the page, showing the initials of some Hunters on one side and a tally of kills on the other.

A feeling of disgust and bitter sadness filled me when I found this, my jaw ticking a few times in an attempt to calm down.

It didn’t work.

The musical giggle I heard that next second though, worked completely, ridding my body of all tension. My gaze found her easily as I let out a sigh, releasing the last of the filthy emotions that clung to me, chuckling when I saw her smiling at my sister. It looked as if they had both managed to push away any and all dark emotions during their little chat. Though, whatever they had talked about looked to have been something pretty upsetting, since I could see the faint trail of dried tears on Lora’s cheeks.

It made my chest tighten, seeing her upset, but I shook it off as best I could and tried to refocus on the papers in front of me.

In the next few pages I found some more addresses listed as empty warehouses, abandoned buildings or broken down cabins in the middle of nowhere. A few more Human names listed as Suppliers/Merchants were found in some overly detailed papers, though I didn’t fully trust this information since it could very well be falsified in order to incriminate innocent people. It was something my sister and I had had to deal with a few times before, which only made things more complicated at times. Hunters had learned to list out families that were outspoken allies to Demons as accomplices in order to pass off punishment to them. Sometimes even going so far as to doctor paperwork that they would use as their ‘evidence’. Thanks to personal experience and the many times I’ve had to search through altered documents, I was able to separate the papers we’d found into distinct piles.

Not long afterwards, our team arrived and started the process of cleaning up the place. A few also began to administer medical treatment to the still surviving Hunter, since none of us really knew much about first aid. And I was completely against wasting one of our potions to help heal him. My sister, Lora, Marcus and I all trailed out after the injured Hunter who was being carried out on a cot, leaving the rest of our team to clean up and lock the place tight.

We hiked back out to where we left the car after talking a moment to speak to our people, thanking them all as they continued to filter towards the underground opening.

Once back at the cars and out from the cover of the trees, I looked up at the sky and frowned a bit, amazed that so much time had passed as we hiked. The sky was darkening up again, with the breeze that blew past us hinting at the coming end to the warm summer days we’d been having.

The drive back to the office was quiet, with all of us lost in our own thoughts that made the world outside the vehicle blur. It felt like a long drive too, though the sudden late afternoon traffic helped with that. We had been so consumed with that underground prison, the Hunters sudden attack, and the small stack of useful paperwork that we had found.

Arriving back at the office, I hung back with my sister, showing her the main points I had found while Marcus and Lora walked on ahead of us. Devin agreed with me on a couple thoughts and began to plan out our next move from there, pulling out her cell once we’d hashed everything out. My sister and I shared a lot in common when it came to how we wanted to protect our people and how we chose to run things in regards to her title and role as Matron. It made things flow so much easier between the two of us, since I was her Second-in-Command as well as her true Lieutenant.

I helped her out as we slowly approached the large building doors, speaking through her phone's speakerphone to our scouts. We had decided to send out a few small teams to find each location listed on the documents we’d found and set up surveillance for a couple days. Strictly telling them to report back any type of movement they see straight to us and to take pictures if anything suspicious was spotted. Adding on a final order for our more skilled scouts near the end; allowing them to take action if any Demon hostages were found during surveillance.

“Nick!” I paused and looked behind me as I joined the others waiting for the elevator, spotting Sammy rushing in through the doors behind us.

“Hey!” I answered back, smiling for a second before I realized that she was frowning deeply. “What’s wrong?”

Something unpleasant and heavy dropped into my stomach at the worried look in her eyes. My chest twisting with something foreboding that warned me about what it was that she was going to tell me. My own mind raced with the many possibilities, ticking them off one by one in rapid succession, trying to figure out what it could be.

But nothing truly stuck out to me.

She huffed a bit once she reached us, her heavy looking bag clearly weighing her down as she rushed to me. I glanced back as the light ding of the doors alerted me to the arrival of the elevator. The others hesitated for a second, looking between me and Sammy before stepping back to give us some privacy. Marcus stepped into the open elevator space and nodded to me, pushing the emergency shut off we liked to use to halt the elevator completely on any floor we wished.

I smiled in thanks before locking eyes with my sister, my biggest support, and nodded for her to join my side. My gaze then moved on to Lora, automatically locking with hers as a silent question flitted through her ringed eyes. I smiled reassuringly, trying not to show any of the twisting emotions I was feeling before turning back to Sammy.

“I…” Sammy breathed, looking to be stuck between anger and deep concern as she looked at me. “Well… I was filing some paperwork for the guys at the station just now…” She started, hesitating some more as she visibly tried to find the right words to say. “And one of my old friends was there… she works for the parole board… and she said that…” She glanced at Devin who was now glaring at the floor, her hand snapping out to grip the sleeve of my shirt, clearly already understanding what Sammy was trying to say. “She told me that… Holly was let out yesterday… released early on good behavior…”

Everything fell away from me in an instant, making me feel dizzy and out of breath at the same time. I stumbled a bit as my mind processed what I was just told. My sister stepped closer and firmly grabbed onto my elbow, her deep purple and green ringed eyes whirling with emotions I didn’t want to see. Or feel.

“Fuck.” I breathed, shrugging myself free from Dev’s grip and motioning that I needed space.

“Nick?” Devin called out to me, her voice heavy with worry.

“I’m fine.” I choked out, stepping back towards the door, needing fresh air. “Just… need a second.”

Soft muttering rang out from behind me for a few seconds before I stepped outside, the door finally closing and blocking the noise away from me.

An image of her, the woman I had spent so much of my time with. The girl I fell for, dated for all of High School, introduced to my one and only family, married and planned a future with. I trusted her completely. Brought her into my world, where all of my close friends welcomed her warmly. My sister had tried her absolute best to grow close to her before we married. And even after Holly found out that my sister was not only a Demon but not genetically related to me, Devin still did her best to keep the peace. And yet…. Holly, my wife… the woman I loved… turned around and had my sister kidn*pped, tortured and killed.

It had only been thanks to Verilla, a young Sorceress we knew, that had managed to pull my sister's literal Soul back into her body. She’d repaired Devins Demon Core, the source of her powers and the resting place of her Soul, and brought her back to us.

But I had learned the whole truth before my sister was even found in that damned warehouse.

The truth, that Holly had willingly, happily, joined hands with another b***h with connections to the local Hunter group. She had allowed those murderous bastards into our home, planning an ambush, and called my sister to her. And from what little my sister could recall, my Ex had even gone to that warehouse afterwards. Threatening Dev, blaming her for things that had nothing to do with her. And had later admitted that she was looking forward to my sister's death.

Once my sister woke up from the land of the dead and healed enough to face her tormentors, my Ex was imprisoned as an accomplice and co-conspirator.

She was meant to spend a minimum of three years behind bars, thanks to the fact that this was a first time crime and Holly never physically involved herself in my sisters torture or death. And though I had heard of the possibility that she could be let out early, being a first time ‘criminal’, I still thought it would take a bit longer before she was actually released. Hell, I had convinced myself that I wouldn’t hear anything about her until at least two years, if not a year and a half.

But she was out already.

“Fuck.” I muttered again, pacing by my car as I tried to decide what to do with myself.

I wanted to go out on my own for a bit. To take some time and just think through my own emotions. Work through them and find a way to calm myself. But I also didn’t want to leave, not when Lora still needed support and help in finding her missing nephew.

Her situation, her sadness and the obvious pain over everything she had gone through was stopping me from jumping into my car and leaving. I felt close to her. Connected to her pain and understood that sense of loss and confusion she was going through, even if our situations were different. And I wanted to stay nearby, to help her in any way I could. To alleviate even just a tiny weight that was pressing down on her, making her question and doubt the people around her. Just BEING there for her, I knew, would help her. But right now, feeling what I was feeling… I was of no help to anyone.