TRICK OF THE LIGHT: Chapter 1

Angels had telepathy, which was useful for impressing an uneducated shepherd by pushing God’s word directly into his primitive mind, and demons had empathy—very good for feeling out what a human would trade for his soul. A human empath could feel a demon’s emotions, which were similar to a human’s emotions—if he was one helluva bad human—only multiplied ten times over. And the telepathy helped as well—hearing a demon’s recruitment plan forming in its head or its murdering intent. Unless you were a high level angel or demon and then it all went out the window. No one could tell what you were up to. It was a peculiar balance the universe had come up with—if angels and demons had those powers, then so did the humans.

It gave Eden House and its demon hunters an extra edge. To destroy demons and bring Eden back to Earth…as if demons were the only thing keeping that from happening. But men were men. Try telling them anything, especially as the occasional angel reinforced the belief by showing up and giving an order or two. Free labor, not even angels would turn that down.

Now me? How did I know a demon in human form? Griffin and Zeke had asked me that when they became aware what they’d found out regarding the world around them when they were eventually recruited by Eden House wasn’t precisely news to me.

Demons were real. They were here. For once movies and TV hadn’t lied.

I told them the truth. My family had been gypsies and travelers since…since before anyone could remember. We’d seen a lot in our travels and we passed on our stories to relatives when the reunions came around. And then I told them a lie, but a small one. I also told them that my family, my ancestors had been pagans before a Druid had ever danced naked under the moon. I said we’d worshipped the gods of nature when they were the only gods known to man. Honestly, I, personally, wasn’t into worship. Respect and reverence, yes, but not worship.

But regardless, hear about and see enough demons over the years and you knew one when you saw it. You didn’t need any fancy psychic empath abilities. You just knew. The blinding good looks, the waves of unnatural charm they put off, the sly glint in their eye…the scales and tail tended to tip you off as well, when they were caught.

Like now.

Suddenly the human form changed under their hands flickered. It was trying to go back to Hell, but it couldn’t. When a demon was physically anchored to this world, it was stuck and it couldn’t take you to Hell with it unless you’d consented, sold your soul. At least Heaven had given that one advantage when it had tossed the rebels to the pit. That and an age limit on selling what God gave you. More of a maturity level really. One didn’t want little Billy selling his soul to go to Disney World.

When escaping didn’t work, the demon shifted to its true form. Serpentine with thrashing wings and tail, it was patterned like a rattlesnake, but in swamp green and dull black. It opened its mouth and hissed, showing uneven jagged teeth of dirty glass, but nowhere as brittle. “Pathetic, motherfucking humans,” it snarled. “Death is what….”

I stuck the single-barreled shotgun, a Remington and a beauty, under its pointed jaw and pulled the trigger. The slug changed a snake skull into something a little more avant-garde. Black blood flew splattering Zeke and Griffin on their faces, necks, and chests. “Trixa,” Griffin groaned. I had ruined his gray-blue silk shirt and fawn colored ostrich skin jacket. When Eden House had hired him away from sweeping my floors, there’d been a definite upgrade in salary. And it showed. The man liked his clothes.