Shadows Unbound (Book One in the Shadows series)

A Half Demon

Grace looked out the window of the diner she was staking out. She knew something was going on. She knew that her brothers were maybe a couple towns away on a case, but she had a case herself. She would finish this tonight and then hopefully meet up with the guys. Vampire scum, she thought. Vampires had just killed her boyfriend who was a hunter himself. He died maybe three months ago and she was ready to kill the one that had killed him.

Christy walked along the street, kicking a stone ahead of her. She ignored the traffic rolling down the hill on her left; the cars weren't important. What was important was her thirst, and her rumbling stomach, telling her to get fueled and re-hydrated as soon as possible. Which, when she reached the next town over, was exactly what she was going to do, even before she found another job. But another job would definitely be second on her to do list

Grace looked up as the doorbell rang and a customer entered the diner. She frowned as it wasn't the thing she was hunting. She smiled and took their order and went back into the kitchen. Christy walked into the diner and instantly found a table near the door. She sat in the chair facing towards the door, not the one facing away, so she could see anyone and everyone who entered, and also make a quick getaway should the need arise. Picking up the menu left on her table, she studied it.

Grace walked back out from the kitchen and walked over to the new person.

"Hello, my name's Grace and I'll be your waitress tonight" she said with a smile as she put down a glass of water.

She noticed the girl had scars on her neck that looked like windigo scratches. She shook her head and tried not to stare. Christy glanced up and smiled. She might be a hunter of dark, night time creatures, but that didn't mean she had lost her ability to act human around other humans.

"Hi, Grace," she smiled. "What food would you recommend?"

"I think the chicken club salad is the best thing here. Add a little salt to it and it's even better"

Grace said testing to see if this chick knew what was going on or if this was the chick the guys saved three years back. Christy twitched at the word salt, but only slightly. She nodded.

"Then I'll have that," she said, closing the menu and putting it away from her. "With a hot chocolate, please," she added with a smile.

Grace noticed the twitch right away. Either she was a hunter or she was a demon. "Christo," Grace said under her breath. If she was a demon she'd flinch. It was the oldest trick in the book.

She flinched again, and instantly got to her feet. "I should go," she said, grabbing her thin jacket from the back of her chair where she had hung it earlier, and hurrying towards the door. Grace grabbed a handful of salt and jumped at the girl and shoved it down the girls throat. Demons were just as bad as vampires. Christy gagged, falling to the floor and retching. "What'd you do that for?" she asked weakly, as she attempted to crawl out of the club.

"Wait, you're not a demon?" Grace asked, getting up to her feet.

"H....Half," Christy muttered, spitting salt out into a napkin.

"Half demon? How is that even a thing?" Grace offered the girl a hand up but still kept her guard up. Demons lie just to get out of things, this might not be any different.

"I....dunno," she muttered, letting the other girl help her up onto her feet.

"So are you on our side or their side of this apocalypse bullshit?" Grace asked. She hated saying that since her brothers were the ones to start it, but it was still something she had to fight.

"I'm on.....my side," Christy stammered, still trying to clear all of the salt from her mouth.

Grace shook her head and went to get the girl some water. She had been so stupid and now she had probably lost her chance at the bloodsucker. She took the water out to the girl and sat her down. Christy took the water and drank deeply.