Among Demons : Rebellious Huntress

Chapter 8 :Humans & Surnames

*Wren Fenir*

I followed my brother into the large and currently empty meeting space that was being used to gather all of our people before their personal interviews.

We were using one of the larger classroom spaces that was normally fully occupied by Shifters taking yoga, dance and self-defense classes. But we had helped rearrange those classes for a few days to allow us to use this room for our intended purpose. We had already met with our Enforcers and conducted the interviews with them just yesterday. My brother was satisfied that the people responsible for the outward physical protection of our new village all cleared his initial suspicions and doubts. It was important to not just him, but me as well, since we didn’t know many of the people that used to answer electronically to others in Seattle that work directly with the Matron. And now, becoming the newly appointed leaders of our Village, Atlas and I felt we needed to meet our people, get to know them and introduce ourselves to them too.

Today we were set to gather and meet with the Scouts and two days from now our Informants.

Atlas and I arrived here early so we could look over the dossiers of the Scouts and plan out the order in which they were going to get called up for their interview. His girlfriend Verilla joined us, using her powers as a Sorceress to pick up on any negative or nefarious intentions. She was also the one helping to organize the snacks and drinks being provided so everyone gathered wasn’t left feeling so anxious and stressed.

“Is this all of them?” A woman's voice asked, popping up from behind my brother and I.

I turned and found our childhood friend Arianell, her gaze focused on the file folders sitting on the table in front of us. She’s the only female Wolf Shifter we have ever met in our lives and has been our friend since before we lost our parents. Nell, as we call her, was raised in an orphanage and was never adopted since it was mostly Human run. She’s currently twenty-four, putting her between my brother Atlas and I since he’s twenty-five and I’m twenty-three and acts more like a sister than a friend. She’s also a serial dater and tends to constantly change her looks every time she breaks up with one guy, waits a couple days, then finds another one. I don’t judge her or think it strange since I had been on the same boat not too long ago. Except for the hair and clothing change, that’s just her.

Right now, she’s sporting a shorter hairstyle than the last time I saw her, with her black-brown hair hanging about an inch above her shoulders and the ends dyed a bright green color. It looks like she’s letting her bangs grow out again and she altered her style of make-up and clothing too. The last time we talked she had been in nothing but pastel colors with flowers, leaves and animal prints, her hair going down her back and much lighter make-up on her face. Now, her make-up looked more like a rocker, with thick black lines, deep green painted over her eyelids and a deep red lipstick. Her clothes were all black and grey too, with a stretched out cropped hoodie, baggy jeans and military style boots.

“Yeah.” I answer her, stepping to the side a little to allow her a closer look. “We have a lot more Enforcers and Informants than we do Scouts.”

She nodded again and moved the files around on the table, spreading them out to show how few there actually were.

“Being a Scout is a bit more complicated than the other Ranks, so that makes sense.” She crossed her arms over her chest and popped a hip out, still looking at the files. “You have to be able to blend in whenever and wherever, have the skills to break in or sneak in to places that are most likely guarded and know how to gather information, video evidence or take pictures without ever exposing your presence.” She sighed and shook her head. “It’s a lot more work than being an Enforcer, who simply trains and waits to be called. Or an Informant that only gathers bits and pieces at work, in passing or through rumors and gossip.”

I frowned a bit at her over simplified explanation of each Rank, but said nothing. Enforcers do so much more than simply train and laze around while waiting for a call-to-arms, so to speak. And Informants aren’t as cowardly as she made them sound either, with many of them going out of their way to pinpoint hidden threats, identifying valued bits of information and even helping to conceal, hide and protect other Demons who have escaped captivity.

“Nell!” Verilla shouted once she turned and noticed our surprise arrival.

Both women beamed at each other and rushed in for a hug while my brother and I got to work, both of us leaning over the table and beginning to open the files one by one.

There were only fourteen files to look through and most carried a typical background check and detailed documents explaining their family background, the cases they’ve successfully worked and any and all other vital information they managed to pass on to their Handlers. Many of our Scouts are Demons who are experts at hiding their ringed eyes and tend to use their silver-tongued people skills to worm their way into places that end up containing all manner of dangerous or critical information. But three out of all the files in front of us revealed that Humans had joined amongst the Ranks.

I could feel the doubtful emotions spilling from my brother beside me when we opened the first file that had a Human picture staring back at us. I wasn’t as suspicious as Atlas was, but still agreed with him that the Humans were going to be the first to be interviewed. We couldn’t risk the safety of our people now, not when our Village was just beginning to fully grow and fill in the many vacant spaces. As Lieutenants my brother and I need to make doubly sure that everyone working beneath us doesn’t pose a threat in any way. And having Humans within our Ranks is the top most suspicious thing we’ve come across so far.

Thankfully, my brother visibly relaxed a bit after reading through the background of the first Human file. It turned out that the man in the file came from a Demon family and was actually the only Human born to his parents. He joined as a Scout after having seen his older sister be attacked and taken when he was a boy. It was written that, after she vanished and remained missing for months, their whole family went out to search for her and it had been him, being the only Human, that had snuck through and found his sister in the back rooms of a club. She had been a Succubus and her kidnappers had been selling her out to any man that wished to ‘try out’ a Demon like her. Sadly, after his sister was rescued she couldn’t cope and decided to take her life a year after she returned home.

The next file had an older woman who was raising her two Demon children alone after their father left when she refused to abandon her children that surprisingly came out as Demons, when both parents were Human. It stated in her file that she was an outspoken protector of Demon children and would fight and argue with other Human adults during School Board meetings in an effort to sway the leaders to provide better funding for the schools with the largest Demon child population.

“What the f**k!” Atlas growled suddenly, his hands gripping the third and final file we had left among the Human stack.

“What is it?” I leaned closer and froze, my eyes locking on the small picture of a familiar smiling face that I wasn’t expecting to see here.

Clipped to the top right corner of the top page inside the file sat a little picture of the Human woman I met at my aunt's house. Her caramel brown hair was pulled back a bit by what looked like clips on either side of her head and looked to be a bit shorter than it is now. Those ice blue eyes of hers carried the same playful flicker of mischief in them that I clearly saw when I met her. She also looked a little younger in this image than she did now, making me wonder how old she was when she was recruited as a Scout.

“What the f**k is an Evans spawn doing here?” Atlas asked, his wolf still growling along with his words.

“What?” That question shocked me even more and I quickly scanned over the section of the page where her name was listed.

Name: Evans, Morgan

Age: 20

Handler: Fenir, Dolph

My shock grew once I realized that our uncle was her sponsor and Handler, but the main focus remained on that highly recognizable last name. A name that every Demon in this city has heard of at least once. A name synonymous with danger, Anti-Demon rhetoric and the occasional disappearance of Hunters that we manage to show and prove to police to be active threats.

“She’s friends with Allie.” I told my brother, wanting to soothe a bit of the anger that was still rumbling in his chest. “And uncle Dolph is her sponsor, so there's little chance that she’s a threat.” I turned to look at Atlas who was still gripping the file with tight white knuckles. “You know our uncle would never risk the safety of our cousins or Leonie, so this Human is more than likely worthy of a bit of trust.”

Atlas scoffed, but relaxed a tiny bit, saying, “I’ll make sure of it.”

I rolled my eyes and reached out to take the file from him, sighing when he refused to let go for a few seconds before finally letting me take it.

Flipping the page, I found out that Morgan started working as a Scout when she was just seventeen and still in High school. And the many listed pieces of information she had turned over to our Uncle had not only benefited our people, but saved and protected many who were being Hunted or targetted by her family. There was even a list of the Demon paraphernalia that she had exposed to our Enforcers who went out to look for it then confiscated it. And each delivery of deadly Demon items was listed to be delivered to a member of her family…

I was about to flip to the last few pages that detailed the cause or motivation for her enlistment, but the first few Scouts begin to walk in through the double doors. So I set the file aside so I could read it at a later time and stepped up beside Atlas to greet them as they walked in.

Everyone that walked in was accompanied by their Handler who was a long standing and trusted member of our community. And they all wore the uniform that is a mandatory need when out on assignment, so Hunters and other Anti-Demon Humans wouldn’t be able to identify or track them. I greeted a few old friends that I had gone to school with, amazed that so many of them had decided to join the Ranks. More of them had appeared when we met with our Enforcers, but most of the Scouts present now were also familiar faces that had gone to school with Atlas or I, or were related to someone we knew from school.

As the minutes ticked by and the room became filled with people in black, I looked out towards the door, waiting to see her.

Finally, as the countdown to begin the meeting started to close in, I looked over to see my uncle walk in beside the tiny Human. My gaze zeroed in on her as she confidently walked into the room. Her uniform hugged her body sinfully, showing me every one of her curves and making my mouth run dry. Koa started tapping his front paws in my head, excitedly staring out at her from my eyes, his tongue swiping out over his jaw while he drooled. Her expression was far more serious than it had been the night I met her, matching her firm yet smooth movements. A small grin curled her lips when a few other Scouts greeted her, calling out her name or breaking away from their groups to hug her. Her eyes moved over me and my brother briefly, her shoulders heaving a heavy breath before she returned her focus to the Scouts she was friendly with.

“That’s the Human snake?” Nell muttered, once again appearing between my brother and I from seemingly nowhere. “She doesn’t look like much.”

I frowned at her, taking a step away from her closeness and struggling to keep my mouth shut. Thankfully, V joined my brother's other side, hugging into him as she looked out at the Human we were all staring at.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover, Nell.” V chastised softly, a strange flicker of emotions passing over her ringed eyes. “I’m not feeling even a flicker of hostility from her at all.” She smiled and looked up at Atlas who was much more relaxed now, even though he looked stunned by his girl's words. “Do what you have to do so you can see for yourself that you can trust her. All I ask is that you give her a chance, ok?” Atlas nodded and leaned in, pressing a kiss to V’s forehead while she smiled even brighter.

Atlas stepped forward then, calling the room to attention and explaining how the interviews were going to be conducted. Nell walked off still looking at Morgan with judgement in her eyes, but we all just let her move away, not wanting to have a discussion like this so openly and in front of all of our Scouts.

As my brother spoke, Verilla inched over, taking the spot that Nell had been in while her eyes focused on me. I felt a little weird with her heavy gaze on me, even Koa tucked his tail between his legs and backed away a little, feeling just as confused and unsure. The smile that appeared a moment later only added to my confusion, urging me to back away like Koa had, even though he was in my head.

“You’ve met her already, right?” She asked me, clearly enjoying the reaction she was pulling from me.

“Yeah.” I answered, getting a little annoyed with that sudden knowing look in her eyes. “Why?”

She shrugged, still smiling. “Oh, no reason.” Then she turned and moved to stand beside Atlas as he finished his speech, lacing her fingers through his.

‘The f**k?’ Koa grumbled, plonking his ass down and snarling lowly in annoyance.

I just shook my head, feeling just as lost as my wolf.