I collided with him, the force sending me spiraling backward to the floor.
Draydon stood, frozen.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Was there anyone here when you guys arrived? Anyone besides the dead?"
"No–" I started but stopped myself when I remembered the handsome stranger who scared the shit out of me from the shadows.
I was about to correct myself when the lights flickered, and the man appeared standing in front of Draydon.
"Oh, boo hoo. You don't remember our little get together Scarlett? And to think I was going to ask you for a second date." His words came out smooth, and his smile was mischievous.
I scrambled to my feet, unsure of what the hell was happening at the moment. Or who the guy actually was and why he wanted to harass me. But in reality, it seemed like everyone who came across my path wanted to harass me.
The universe couldn't cut me a single break, and all for what? The half-demon blood that I didn't even know how to use? Seemed like I got the short end of the stick, every time.
"You know this demon?" Draydon asked me without moving a single muscle. He didn't even dare turn around to look at me when he was talking because he didn't trust the demon and I didn't either.
"No." I mumbled. "He appeared here at random when we first got here, but I got a little, um, distracted and it slipped my mind."
"A demon appeared in front of you and it just slipped your mind?!" Draydon's tone was low but I could tell he was angry.
"She was busy getting laid. Which, I honestly don't blame her. She had her hands full, and her mouth." He winked at me and his gaze felt like razors on my skin.
His essence was harsh and prickly.
"What are you even doing out of the underworld?" Draydon didn't skip a beat. "You're a top-level demon, I can smell it on your skin."
"Actually that's cologne, but I consider it a compliment either way." The demon smirked. "The name's Asher, and alas, I would much rather be down below living my best life, but I was assigned to princess here."
He said the words a lot more angrily than I'd expected. "Believe it or not, there are actually people who want to keep her safe. Not that she makes it easy for us." He rolled his eyes.
I didn't understand what the hell was happening. What was going on? Who were the bad guys, and who were the good guys? Why was everything always so fucking morally grey all the time?
It made it hard to actually draw lines between right and wrong. But I was starting to think that right and wrong didn't even exist.
In the middle of a countrywide meltdown, where people were no doubt offing themselves in every street, the universe threw another curveball my way.
"Who?" The words fell out of my mouth surprising even me.
Draydon and Asher both turned their attention to me.
"Who from the underworld wants to keep me safe?" I stood my ground, and my voice didn't even quiver this time.
I didn't want to know, I needed to know. Someone out there was looking out for me, and I needed to know why.
"You're kidding, right?" Asher looked amused until he realized that I was being serious. "Oh you're not. You poor thing. Do you even know who you are?"
The confusion in my eyes gave me away and Asher let out a loud cackle, clapping his hands together as he laughed.
"This is priceless. The princess of the underworld, the next in line for the fucking throne and you don't even know who you are?"
The words didn't feel real. He couldn't have been serious.
"Well, up until a few days ago I thought I was human." The words fell from my lips as mumbles, and part of me hoped that Asher hadn't heard them, but the universe wasn't one to give me many breaks so of course he did.
"Oh honey, if you're human then I'm a unicorn." He ran his fingers through his slick hair and leaned his shoulder up against the wall. I watched as he pulled a cigarette from his pocket and slid it between his lips. "Don't expect me to be shitting glitter anytime soon."
He held his index finger out in front of him and it ignited, consumed by flame. Without batting an eye, he held it to the cigarette and lit it.
"Horrible habit, I know, but what is it going to do, kill me?" He held his hands out, waiting for laughter or applause.
Draydon and I exchanged looks.
"I said, what is it going to do, kill me?"
The joke was more pathetic the second time around.
"Tough crowd." He murmured before taking a drag and releasing the smoke into the air in the form of a puff.
My brain could hardly process what the hell was going on.
"So what? You're just stalking me then?" I spat the words out.
"Oh heavens no." Asher feigned a sweet voice. "Protecting, more like. Think of me as your guardian angel, except a hell of a lot less judgmental. Have you met those fuckers? Talk about judgmental pricks."
Vampires, witches, angels, demons, hunters. The list of supernatural creatures now actively involved in my life was getting too damn long. I was almost losing count.
But protector or not, Asher stood in the way, clearly placing himself between us and the route to get to my mother.
"Thanks for stopping by, but I have more pressing matters that I need to tend to." I took a step forward and so did Asher.
"Yeah, about that, I don't think the big guy would really want you unleashing your mother just yet." He took one final puff of his cigarette before putting it out on the wall leaving a small circle of ash marked on the pristine white behind.
"Oh yeah? Why not?" I clenched my fists and noticed that Draydon's body straightened rigidly too.
"How the hell am I supposed to know? While I am devilishly handsome, I'm not the big guy himself. I don't make the rules, you're going to have to ask him that yourself."
I'd failed my mother once, I wasn't going to do it again by letting someone keep me from keeping her safe.
Just as I was about to make a move, Draydon sprang forward, pulling a small wooden rod from his pocket. As he pulled it out, it grew bigger into a full-sized staff.
He charged at Asher and hit him with the rod in the middle of the chest. Asher crumbled to his knees clutching the spot it had touched, and I swore I could hear the sizzling noise.
It had to be more holy wood.
"Fuck!" Asher got to his knees, and I could tell that something inside him snapped. Draydon had made his way back to my side and we both watched as Asher's eyes once again spread to all black, but this time red veins spidered underneath the skin around his eyes. He held his hands at his sides and the walls started to rumble. The lights flickered on and off again, and the look on Asher's face was almost unrecognizable.
In a split second an ominous black cloud seeped out of Asher's mouth. I didn't know what it did, but I would have bet any amount of money that it wasn't good.
It felt like time slowed. The seconds ticked away, and I watched the cloud rush toward Draydon.
I had a decision to make.
I didn't know Draydon very well, but I knew his character. I said I'd listen to my gut, and my gut said that he was able to be trusted.
I didn't know much about demons, or hunters, or anything supernatural really, but I knew that for some odd reason the universe wanted to keep me alive. The powers that be were determined to keep me captive in the hell that I called existence, and that was why I took a step forward and placed my body in-between Draydon’s and Asher’s.