[Rhett] The discussion with the Master of the territory was on my mind. There was something strange about him. Normally, the powerful people I talked to gave me a lot of pushback and didn’t want to deal with me, but had to. There was always something begrudging in our interactions.On more than one occasion that night, I sensed he found me amusing. Obviously, he had an amazing sense of humor. More than that, though, was the discussion of the creature and the demon.He seemed to think it would be easy enough to get a human to talk with us. How could he not see that a human who knew about demons, as much as one would have to be to recognize a lesser one, would be more religious? I shook my head as I walked the darkened streets.Victor was a fool. A religious human would never help a warlock and a vampire. They believed we were evil, and, while I was evil to some extent, he wasn’t. The darkest thing about Victor was his need for blood and the way his vampire morality occasionally took over.I didn’t really know what to think of him. I suppose I like him. In general, I wasn’t a fan of most men, but I would willingly spend time with him. Especially if I got to spend more time with Echo.Harmony was fun and interesting to mess with, but nothing had prepared me for Echo. With a smile, I put my hand up to my face where she had smacked it. Damn, she was a hell of a woman. My previous thought about her being too innocent and light for me was overshadowed by the memory of her resisting my magic and slapping me so hard I lost my senses for a moment.Choosing to get involved with the leaders instead of just watching or guiding them to what they needed to know was a lot more fun. If I hadn’t decided to ally myself with the werewolves after Saleh warned them about me, then I would have missed out on being a part of this.My darkness was having a lot of fun. Though I didn’t like how it took me over during dinner with Victor, Echo, and their wolf. It told them about my past, something I never wanted to share with anyone who knew me. Not even Lila knew about it.Not only had it outed me as a member of a hunter family, but it told them how I ran away from my family like a child. It enjoyed embarrassing me. My darkness had been endlessly entertained by Echo slapping me and scolding me. It wanted to explore what else it could get her to do in regards to me.There was nothing I could do in revenge. It wasn’t harmed when I was, even though it felt every emotion and sensation. The damned thing liked it.You’re being a baby again, Rhett. You saw how the girl pitied you. This will make it easier for you in the future.“Shut up. I don’t want people to pity me. I want them to revere me. You took that away. I don’t care if she hits me and doesn’t like me. Hatred is better than pity any day,” I growled quietly as I pushed past a group of people who were taking up most of the sidewalk as they wandered the streets.It was Thursday. What the hell were they doing out at this time of night on a Thursday? Sure, anyone could be out at any time wherever they wanted, but I wanted to wander the streets mysteriously and they were getting in my way.People were meant to see me and wonder who I was. I wanted them to be so curious, it stuck in their mind. It should become one of those stories people told that others either didn’t believe or became excited about because no one ever believed them when they talked about it.Being an urban legend was fun. I stayed away from town for a few decades once just to reset people’s knowledge of me. The ones who had met me couldn’t figure out how I was still as young as when they last saw me. The ones who were meeting me for the first time thought me strange. The ones who messed with me received a quick lesson in judging people on sight.Yes, part of it was residual crap from when I was human. Back then, I received both pity and disparagement from people. My anger grew as I remembered the look in Echo’s eyes after my darkness revealed my past.I was almost so distracted that I didn’t hear it. The faint scuffling down a very narrow gap between buildings was barely audible from the street. There had been an alleyway here once, but the owners of the buildings on either side both expanded their buildings decades ago.Few people could get in the gap here and the buildings on the other side, where the rest of the alley had been, were knocked down and rebuilt as a singular building some time ago. Almost no one knew of the hidden space inside the block of buildings. I remembered, though.With a glance up, I dissolved into shadows and reappeared on top of the building. I walked along the lip of one building casually. My coat flowing a little behind me with the breeze created by my movement.At the corner of the roof, I looked down into the alley. Two figures struggled with each other in the dark. One didn’t seem to have very good control of itself and the smaller one was really putting up a fight.There was no way the larger one got in by any other method than jumping down from the roof. It was way too big to fit down the narrow opening. Even if the smaller one was screaming as they fought, which it wasn’t, no one could help. It would take a very thin child to get through that gap.“What do you think?” I asked my darkness.It’s the creature. We should attack while it’s busy. Then it can’t escape us.“Valid point,” I replied.I pulled one of my guns from the holster on my hip. The one on my left shot concentrated magic and the one on my right shot seeds of darkness. It was a great way to track something if it got away.Carefully, I aimed at the thing and shot. It didn’t react when the seed of darkness hit, but I wasn’t far behind. I dropped down, landing safely to the side of the creature.Brushing my coat aside, I put my gun in its holster. Of course, the thing didn’t have eyes and its victim was weakly struggling in its arms. I scoffed at the situation and began pulling off my gloves.Mostly, I wore them for show. My darkness could easily get through them. They weren’t special. I didn’t know if anything was watching from a distance, so I would act as if it was. Confidence in the face of monstrosities always throws your enemies off. That was something I learned when I was human.The creature tossed the now limp body aside. I didn’t wince at the sickening thud the small body made. Instead, I focused on the creature.It was disgusting. The upper part of its head was twisted and squeezed. The only part of its face that was normal was the mouth and jaw. Though the mouth had two fangs poking out of it like a hungry vampire and the chin was coated in blood.“Didn’t your parents ever teach you that your food goes in your mouth, not around it?” I quipped.Sure, it was lost on the creature, but practice makes perfect. It didn’t reply, instead it lunged at me. I grabbed it by the front of its cloak and tossed it against a wall. The thing screeched when its back hit the wall.I was pretty sure this was a parasite thing that was attached to the person. Perhaps something more than that. It almost looked like the person wasn’t in control of its body. With the head being so disfigured, I was fairly certain whoever it was wasn’t alive in any sense.The thing attached to its back was in control. It intrigued me. There was obviously no intelligence there, as the creature drooled blood-filled saliva and prepared to attack again. This was revolting.As it charged me this time, with its hands forming claws, I gripped the cloak and my darkness dissolved it. I could finally see what I was fighting. The human body part of it was completely nude. Six spindly legs gripped the body. There were pincers at the ends of the legs that dug into the skin and seemed to be gripping the bones of the ribcage.I could tell there was no blood flowing, because there were several open gashes that weren’t bleeding or healing. Something wrapped around the neck. It looked similar to the root Victor had shown me in thickness and makeup, but it was black and glistened slightly.Moving quickly, I got behind it and kicked it into the wall opposite it, trying to keep it away from the body that it tossed away. As I’d assumed, the hump on the creature’s back was some sort of insect.The thing was almost as big as a toddler. Bugs never fazed me when I was human, but I think even I would have screamed if I saw that.The body of the thing was slim, with a long abdomen. On the thorax was a marking that looked almost like a melting skull with horns. The exoskeleton of the bug was the same mottled blue and white as the body of the corpse, with the marking on the thorax being a darker color that seemed black edged in red. I could see where my seed of darkness had seeped into the shell.Because of the size of the surrounding buildings, the moon’s light couldn’t reach us. Luckily, I could see clearly in the dark because of the dark spirit inside of me. Also unluckily, because I didn’t want to see the thing.Its wings fluttered briefly before it turned around. What was my end game here? Was I going to kill it? Should I capture it and take it to someone who had cells that could hold it?That would be Victor. The cells the werewolves had were meant for wolves. The ones the fae had were meant for fae. And the ones the witches had were meant for witches. Victor was the only one with the foresight to create cells that could hold any creature.It attacked again. I dodged the sloppy lunge. Victor said a vampire fought it. I was betting it was quite strong when it got ahold of something. I didn’t want to be the something it got ahold of. It stank.There was no reason to keep the thing alive if the host was dead. Well, more dead. It didn’t talk, and it was fighting like a cornered animal without thinking strategy, only trying to damage me. We wouldn’t learn anything from it if it were alive.I pulled out my other gun. This one shot magic and was quite deadly. I waved a hand over it, charging it with fire magic. Unlike my other gun, these bullets were piercing.Before the creature could turn, I shot it. The thing didn’t shriek or react in any way. A singe mark marred the exoskeleton, but there was no other indication that I had done anything.The creature turned and came at me again. Once more, I dodged, and I brought the butt of the gun down on the shell. Nothing happened. Not a single craсk. Fuсk, this thing was tough.If it were a bug, though, there was one thing I definitely knew. Beetles were softer on their undersides. The vampire was dead. The bug wasn’t fleeing. I could keep fighting all night, but I didn’t really want to.When it charged me again, I let it get hold of me. The smell of it almost made me sick. It tried to bite me and ended up getting its nasty slobber all over the shoulder of my coat. I sneered as I positioned my gun under the vampire’s ribcage.“You were probably an asshole, like most vampires,” I said as I pulled the trigger, then shot three more times.The creature didn’t shriek. It just slid down my body, falling in a heap at my feet. It looked like the beetle was still attached to the corpse. I put my gun away and brushed at my clothing, making sure that thing didn’t get any of its nastiness on me anywhere else.With a wave of my hand, I sent a message to all the leaders of the supernaturals with the location of the thing. Someone would heed the message and come deal with it. A small groan drew my attention to the body the thing had tossed aside.I walked over and looked down at the heap of person and nudged it with the toe of my boot. “You alive?”It didn’t answer. Crouching down, I started manipulating the body until it was lying flat. The features were small and delicate. Definitely female. She was so dirty I couldn’t tell the color of her skin. Filth matted her hair, and it looked like she hadn’t eaten in a while.Is it alive?“Looks like it. Probably not a teen yet,” I said.Will you leave it for the others to deal with?“Do you want to look after a kid?” I asked.I’m not the one with a soft, squishy side. You’ve been pining for someone to love you. Make that one your woman.“I might have been born a few hundred years ago, but I don’t do kids. She’s a kid. There’s no telling what she ran from to end up here. What if we raise her?”Do you think she will stay with you? She might run away.“Then she runs away. It’s just until she’s an adult. Plus, if we send her to public school, we can find the bullies and really mess with their ѕhit. Imagine terrifying teenagers,” I laughed.My darkness laughed with me. Playing harmless tricks was fun, but picking out victims to be the target of my darkness’ torment was even more fun. Bully kids often had bully parents. It would lead to more and more people for us to fuсk with.I picked up the girl. She stirred a little in my arms, but settled down. Vampires were closing in. I couldn’t stay here any longer.The shadows swallowed us up, transporting us to my home in the forest. As I climbed the steps to the front door, it opened for me. I looked down at the ashen child in my arms as I stepped inside.“Welcome home,” I told her as the door closed behind me. I was going to need to use my magic to make another bedroom.