Runaway Devil

"You're a long way from home, brother," the stranger said. His voice was deep but silky soft. I caught a glimpse of him through the leaves, he was big but something about him seemed gentle. He didn't have an air of danger or authority about him. He didn't smell like war or violence. I suppose that worked as an advantage. If you're not seen as a threat then you aren't treated like one. People let their guard down around you.

"As are you. Who hired you?" Alec was not playing any games. When two bounty hunters cross paths while tracking the same target, things could get messy.

"You mistake me for someone's dog, brother. I do not work for anyone." A rogue angel was a dangerous angel. He didn't answer to anyone, no strings pulling him. There was a strange formality in the air around them. They wanted to kill each other, but their tones reminded me of a war room meeting. They were civil but with venom beneath the surface. "And I'm certainly not looking to kill her."

"Then what do you want with the she-devil?"

"Are you familiar with the idea of humans keeping dangerous, exotic pets?" I did not like where this was going. The deep, dark feeling in my gut made my upper lip curl and my fangs inch out. Alec remained silent, but his energy shifted. The somewhat relaxed way he held himself faded and aggression took its place. I could feel his displeasure rolling off of him in waves. "So many want to kill her just so they can say that they killed her. I don't see the value in that."

"I understand," Alec said. His voice bled agitation and his eyes glowed, the only light in the underbrush. The stranger raised his pretentious brow in a challenge. Alec took a step to the right, the stranger mirrored it. They circled each other like animals in a cage fighting for space. I grew tired of Alec's subtle approach but continued to watch silently. "You want to add her to your menagerie." Alec spat the words at him.

"Oh, you're wrong again, boy. She would be my only pet," the angel said. The longer Alec interacted with him the more he seemed wrong. The angel's eyes were open too wide, he barely blinked, and as the conversation progressed, he kept flicking his tongue over his lips. Revulsion rose in my throat and all I wanted to do was burn his soft spots with my cigarettes. I was not going to sit in a tree while this skank drooled about keeping me in a cage.

The angel passed right under me and all the hair on my body stood on end. I dropped with a soft thump behind him, cigarette already in hand. I looked at him with glowing golden eyes as he spun and smiled. I would even go as far as to say that it was charming. "Ah, hello. I'm glad I could finally meet you, pet."

His voice made me angry, inexplicably irritated. I held the cigarette between my lips loosely and stepped closer, standing directly in front of him. "Got a light?" My voice was gravelly, more animalistic than he was expecting. His eyes lit up like a child who was gifted candy, he could barely control his excitement. He starred at my lips for a moment before his eyes crawled all over me. I could feel his stare as if he was touching me. He slowly shook his head.

"A light?" I nodded impatiently, he wasn't going along with the bit. Alec was suddenly behind him, his chest pressed to his back. He reached forward, over the angel's shoulder, and lit my cigarette with his two forefingers. The angel's eyes widened as he stared at the open flame. "You're... you—" Alec grabbed the angel's face, his palm covering its entire center, and slammed him to the ground. I crossed my arms, leaned my weight on one hip, and smoked. Alec's arms were corded with flexed muscle like he was holding himself back. He took a natural backseat on this one. This angel was looking to make me his pet, which gave me the full right to take the reigns.

I sauntered towards the groaning angel and crouched next to his head. His eyes drooped and his mouth hung open, Alec knocked something loose in there. Not only did Alec turn his brain to mush with one throw, but he had the air knocked out of him. His chest rose and fell rapidly, his lungs kept trying to fill themselves without allowing any air out. "What was that about a pet?"

I ashed in his open eye. He let out a choked growl, spittle collecting at the corners of his mouth. I stood swiftly and circled him with a scrutinizing gaze. His legs were long, I stepped over them as I continued. He was covering his wounded eye with his hand, trying to sit up with the other. I rounded him, stopping behind his stabilizing arm and kicked his elbow in the wrong direction. The snap was sickeningly loud, his white bone stood out against the dark, rich soil. Alec stood over him with a scowl, his brow set in a hard, mean line.

The angel growled in a language I was unfamiliar with, his face red and the veins in his neck bulging. "Let me see if I'm understanding this correctly," I kept circling him, every time I stepped out of his eye line, he yanked his body around so he could see where I was. "You wanted to hunt down an exiled war criminal, who has done pretty well in the human realm—if I do say so myself— and make her your... pet?"

He was beyond words, his fury had him in a fiery grip and wouldn't let go. "You fucking brat, you're going to regret this," he said.

"Will I? Really? Are you sure about that?" He lurched towards me. He had finally gotten his breath back, and he was ready to punish me for my transgressions. I mentally rolled my eyes. I stepped back as he stood. He loomed over me with a solid foot of height on me. I looked up at him with bored eyes. He was huffing and puffing with his chest almost touching mine. I whistled sharply between my teeth and before he could react, Balan was on him.

His talons clawed and ripped at the angel's face. Balan tore it to shreds, flaying it to ribbons. Strips of flesh hung from his head and blood splattered everywhere. I cringed and stepped back before a drop landed on my boots. The angel's screams turned gurgled as he sank to his knees. This angel was no fighter. He had no business coming after me. What did he expect would happen if he did find me? I would bow before him go willingly? Give me a fucking break. I was insulted.

Balan backed off when I approached, giving me the final kill shot. "A little tip for you, big guy. If you have to tell people you're dominant, that you're in charge..." I grimaced in what was once his face and whispered, "You're not," I lightly pushed his shoulder and he sank to the ground. He wasn't quite dead yet, his chest fluttered with his final fighting breath.

I dropped my cigarette on his groin and slammed my heel over it, forcing my full weight down. He made a wet, pained sound. So he could still feel pain, that was good. I slipped my knife from my thigh holster and grinned. It plunged into his flesh like a hot knife through butter. I began at his crotch, making sure to get the vulnerable bits. I pulled it all the way to his collar bone, his innards steaming and slipping. Dark slimy ropes of intestine spilled out of him. I butchered him like the pig he was.

I stared at him for a moment, split up the middle, and diminished to a pile of flesh. I wiped my knife on his pants and slid it back into its holster. A flash of metal caught my eye, from his pocket. I probed at it with my finger, but as soon as figured out what it was, I stepped back. I didn't need to or want to touch it. But that didn't mean Alec wouldn't need to. He saw I was finished with the angel, and took that opportunity to investigate. He grabbed and pulled it from the angel's pocket. He held it up in the morning light. I looked anywhere but directly at it.

The choke collar made my stomach squeezy, as much as I hated to admit it. The idea of being forced to wear it, and being paraded around like a prized animal. To be a pet. To be a slave. My pride would never allow it. But it's not like it would've been my choice. To have that control forcibly taken from me and to be vulnerable like that... I shook the thought from my head and shivered.

Alec was deathly quiet. I felt his eyes boring into me, he was trying so hard to read my emotions. But my wall was too thick and too sturdy. I gave him nothing. The jingle of the collar drew my attention back to the body. He had pulled it over the angel's ruined face. It squeezed around his neck, much too small for him, spilling more blood from the ribboned flesh. A man like that didn't deserve to rest in peace.

Neither of us said a word. Alec burned the body and I lit another cigarette with the flames. The smell of charred meat stirred the animals in the surrounding woods. Whatever was left of the body would be eaten before midday.