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It was a dark and stormy night...
Wasn’t that how it always started out, a story of doom and gloom? Bella smirked in the darkness, thinking about the comic strip with the dog writer that always started his book that way. If he’d met her, his story would definitely be a bestseller, she thought. Lightning cut a wide swath through the sky and lit up the room for just a moment, illuminating the terrified family holding each other on the wide sofa. An older-style home with a contemporary renovation, there was a huge flatscreen TV over the fireplace and a shit ton of metal and glass art.
Some of pricey art pieces were shattered on the floor and the pristine white of the long chair they sat on was covered with soot and blood. She would say it served them right, but Bella had some compassion, not much, but some. Her services were requested weeks before by the woman of the house only to have her husband scoff and call Bella a grifter. She liked the sound of the vintage word, but a hustler she was not, so she left without another word, only to have the very same man call, frantic when shit hit the fan.
The father’s head and arm were cut, still oozing a bit, even though pressure had been applied to it earlier and the mother was about the same. Their two children were just frightened, not a scratch on them because of the parents fighting like wild animals to protect their young. Such love and dedication, she never knew what the fuck that even felt like. From the time she could understand what her name was and how she was different... well, she was alone.
Her body was crouched low to the ground, and her gaze never wavered from the darkest corner of room where the family stared. A low, hissing growl came from the blackness and the little girl, held tight by her mother, whimpered before looking in Bella’s direction. She lifted a finger to her lips to quiet the little girl, who seemed to firm up her shoulders and give a stiff nod. Bella smiled. That one had some grit, she liked the young ones who chose to be fighters, there was enough danger out in the world that she would need it.
The low sound came again, even more deadly than before. Bella took her blades from each boot, the energy charged within them so powerful they seemed to vibrate in her grasp. Bella had to be careful, this one was one of the deadlier things that’d come out of the bowels lately. She frowned, wondering why the influx of unnaturals was happening lately. There wasn’t any way to kill the she-demon with finesse. She wanted the children. The parents would be torn apart, so when the lightning struck again and the demon struck too, jumping from the corner with claws extended, Bella rolled in front of the sofa as the mother screamed and held her children tighter.
With her blades raised, she sliced into the soft underbelly of the demon and the loud hiss of burning flesh combined with loud angry shrieks of the demon’s pain. It scrambled backwards, dark eyes now watching Bella because the she-beast knew who she was and was afraid.
“Give them to me, it was promised!”
“Who promised you, Lumia?” Bella demanded to know. “Who said you could have the children and gave you entrance into this world?’
Lumia was of the wives of Hell, shared by the dark lord Samael and the devil himself when the mood struck him. She appeared to humans as such a beauty that people should’ve noticed it wasn’t normal. But then again, people saw what they wanted to see, and right now Lumia wasn’t in the guise of a woman with alabaster skin and ruby red lips that glistened with temptation and sin. Her hair wasn’t the shimmering black waves of onyx that seemed to defy gravity as it moved. She was in her true form with the lower half of her body that of a serpent and her wet hair matted with moss and slime.
“Entrance?” Lumia laughed and her long fingers moved in a stiff tic-like manner. Bella could hear the bones crack with each movement. “The door is opened... just enough... a little crack, to let us in.”
Bella frowned. She would deal with that tidbit later. Instead she focused on the next question.
“Who summoned you?”
Lumia’s gaze moved past her to settle on the father and a long finger extended in his direction. “Him, he gave me leave to take them as my own.”
“Frank, what did you do?”
“Jess... I...”
The mother recoiled from his arms like his touch had turn to acid and it burned to feel him hold on to her and the children. Bella noted she held onto the children tighter, as if knowing she was their only protection.
“He... no longer wants a family... children.” Lumia drew out the last word in a hiss. “He wants his freedom, vowed they would be mine as he lay in my arms.”
“Frank wouldn’t,” his wife Jess shook her head in adamant refusal. “Look at you, just look at you!”
Lumia smiled and, with a flip of matted hair, became the beauty that Frank took to his bed.
“But I am not always in my true form,” Lumia smiled, revealing perfect white teeth that seemed even more predatory than the sharp, jagged teeth of her demon self. “He lay between my legs and promised me your flesh and that the children would be mine. A deal made under the guise of beauty, my husbands taught me well.”
“You bastard!” Jess’s expression was one of pure rage. “I will fight you for my children. Take him, he’s a waste of skin.”
“Didn’t want to pay up for some alimony or child support did ya, Frankie Boy?” Bella said dryly and inclined her head towards Frank. “You heard her, take him instead, seems like a good idea to me since, well, the fucking part... you know each other in a biblical way.”
“I want them!” The last word was a loud screech that echoed in the room and caused the lamps to flicker frantically, and then the bulbs shattered.
Bella flicked a cold gaze at her. “But you’re not going to get them, are you? You know who I am, you know I’ll send you back to Samael with the white meat of your body showing or maybe I'll just send him your charred bones. I can go either way, makes no difference to me.”
“I’m not afraid of you, Nephilim,” Lumia snarled. “There is one of you and legions of us.”
“Yet, you all fear me so much you try to kill me every few weeks to claim a bounty none have managed to gain,” Bella pointed out. “Make your choice, bitch. Die here, or take his carcass to your husband. He may like the gift of such a fucked up dark soul. Frank here wanted to give you his family to live footloose and fancy-free, and you can’t get much more evil than that.”
“I’ll take him—for now.” Lumia held out her hand and an invisible force pulled Frank to her.
“No, God, please no, I’m sorry!” Frank held out his hand to his family and his wife’s angry eyes didn’t even blink while he was dragged away. “Jess!”
Lumia wrapped her arms around him and drew Frank close. “Delicious. You will keep us entertained for a little while... The tide is turning, Nephilim, very soon we will finish this tete-a-tete.”
Bella used her sword to salute the demon goodbye. “I look forward to killing you.”
Frank’s screams echoed as Lumia pulled him back into the darkness, and Bella didn’t worry about the portal for now. It could be anywhere and demons like Lumia were powerful to be wherever they needed with just a thought. Besides, Frank made the deal so he bound the demon to him. It also had to be painful as fuck to be taken away alive. He was very much a beating-heart human, being dragged to Hell while still attached to every nerve ending of his body.
Every part of him would burn in pain in a world they weren’t meant to see until they were dead. With Lumia gone, the lights came back on, and Jess let loose the tight grip she had on her children. Bella had a moment of jealousy course through her, fleeting but there nonetheless.
“What do we do now?” Jess asked, looking at Bella.
“Sell this place and move on with your life.” Bella looked down at Jess’s daughter, who smiled around the thumb she sucked. “Make a life for them and yourself, get a decent boyfriend, who knows, do whatever you want.”
“Oh trust me, this was enough to make me switch teams, men are the worst,” Jess said with a caustic laugh. “I cannot believe this was his way to try to get rid of us. Now I see how those million-dollar insurance policies came into play.”
“Please tell me you at least had the sense to have one on him,” Bella said. “Trust me, he’s not coming back.”
“I might have been in love, but I’m not stupid.” Jess pulled her children into her arms again. “I will be able to provide for them and send you a check with your fee in a few weeks.”
“Sounds good.” Bella turned to leave. “Don’t forget to pay me, I don’t like putting my life on the line for free and I doubt you want me back here.”
“You saved us, trust me, I won’t be like Frank,” Jess promised.
Bella nodded and went through the front door and down the steps, and within minutes she was soaked by rain. It was a good thing she drove a convertible. And remembered to put the top up this time, Bella thought as she got behind the wheel. It cost a pretty penny to dry out last time and while she had more than enough money to cover the cost, being frugal was still engrained within her.
You’d think she would slow down as she took the wet, winding roads towards home on a dark, stormy night. But Bella drove like she was immortal and in a way she was. Being the daughter of a human and an angel had a few perks. Yet when she drove through the gates of the old manor house on the hill, Bella was never more alone.