A Friend to the Darkness. Katherine Rathbone

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      Sera spread her hands. “Whatever you want.”

      I looked at the demon in front of me. “Kill your companion.” I told him.

      He grinned gleefully at me, and sprang to his feet. Sebastian and Chris moved away from the other one, and “my” demon attacked him. They fought briefly but viciously. “My” demon was killed, and the other one came towards me. Chris moved to protect me, and Sebastian stopped him. “Katie’s got this one.” He spoke confidently, glancing at the others.

      “I’m not sure that she does!” I argued. My friends just grinned at me.

      The demon was injured, and I was a lot faster. It wasn’t long before I found an opening and sliced its throat open, covering myself with hot blood. I grinned ferally at my friends as it sank to the ground, proud of myself. They cheered. Sera and Chris disappeared with the corpses, and reappeared quickly.

      “That’s our girl!” Sebastian picked me up and swung me around. I laughed at him. He put me down, and looked at himself. “Ew, gross!” He was smeared with the demon’s blood. “Let’s get rid of that, shall we?” He took my hand and we were in the river. I spluttered and splashed, struggling to stay afloat.

      “A bit of warning would’ve been nice!” I yelled at him. He laughed, grabbed my hand again, and we were back with the others.

      I found a log and sat, catching my breath. “So what the fuck was that?!” I asked incredulously. The others looked to Chris.

      “Hmm? Oh, that. Yes. It’s ancient name magic. From the very beginning of time. It binds all creatures of the underworld. Everything that makes them… them… is taken out, and all that remains is the overwhelming desire to serve their new master.” He smiled at me.

      I blinked. “That’s pretty horrific.” I added thoughtfully, “So I could do it to anyone from the underworld? Like, say Lucifer?” The others looked terrified. I laughed at them. “Just joking. I would never hurt you guys. But all that power did feel pretty incredible if I’m being totally honest. I wanna get me an angel.” I grinned.

      “What have we done?” Sera asked no one in particular, looking at the sky.

      “We have created a power hungry monster.” Sebastian shivered theatrically, and grinned at me.

      “But, no, seriously. Consider for a moment. What if she does get Lucifer? Imagine having Katie as the Queen of Hell!” Seth said in mock horror.

      “I’d make an awesome Queen!” I laughed. “I’d combine the two Hells, and take on Heaven. I’d kick God the fuck out and rule all of creation!”

      “Fuck! Don’t even joke about that!” Chris was genuinely nervous. Sebastian and I laughed at him. Seth rolled his eyes, and Sera studied me quietly.

      “Come on, guys, your Queen requires your help.” I joked, grinning. “I need to find Rufus!”

      They rolled their eyes and helped me, teleporting here and there, all of us calling for Rufus. Predictably, it was Sebastian who found him.

      “I’ve got him!” He yelled from a distance. I expected him to teleport back to me, but he didn’t appear. The others did.

      I looked around at them. “Has Sebastian stolen my dog?!” I asked incredulously. They shrugged, all of us peering around for Sebastian. Eventually he came into sight, walking and carrying Rufus in his arms. Rufus was grinning a doggy grin and gazing at Sebastian adoringly.

      Chris laughed, “I don’t think he’s entirely your dog any more, Katie!”

      “What are you doing?” I asked Sebastian with a laugh.

      Sebastian looked embarrassed, and put Rufus down. I clipped his lead back on, and looked at Sebastian, waiting for an answer. “I didn’t think he’d like to teleport.” He mumbled, looking even more embarrassed.

      “Fuck, you’re adorable!” I laughed and gave him a hug.

      “You hear that, Seth?” Sebastian said over my shoulder with a smirk, as he caught me in his arms. “I’m adorable!”

      I wriggled free and shoved him good naturedly. “My dog is not the way into my pants!” I scolded with a grin.

      “What is then?!” Seth and Sebastian shouted together, grinning. Chris looked uncomfortable.

      I laughed at them.

      “Oh, before I forget. Mum wants to know if you guys want to come for dinner for my birthday again.”

      “Again?!” Sebastian cried. “Didn’t we just do that?”

      I rolled my eyes at him. “Happens every year, dickhead.” He poked his tongue out at me.

      “We’ll all be there. Katie. Let us know the details.” Sera smiled.

      I smiled back, and turned to head for home. I turned back and gave them a curtsey. “Goodbye, my Lords!” I said with a smirk.

      “My Queen!” They said mockingly in unison, bowing.

      “Oh yeah, get used to that!” I told them.

      They laughed and disappeared, and I walked home with Rufus, feeling safer than I had in a very long time.

      Twelve.

      I was heading out from school, on my way home, when someone grabbed my arm and called my name. I silently cursed myself for forgetting Seth’s first lesson, yanked my arm out of their grasp, and spun to face them, ready to fight. It was Lachlan, a guy from a few of my classes. He raised his hands in surrender and said with a grin, “Woah! I come in peace! Jonno really did a number on you, didn’t he?”

      I stared at him emotionlessly, and an image of Sebastian and Lucifer holding me while I cried popped into my head. Lachlan grinned at me for a bit, and as I kept staring at him his grin faltered.

      “Ah, sorry. I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

      I raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you want?” I asked tersely.

      He shifted his feet nervously. “Um, well, you know, school finishes up in a couple of weeks. Some of us are having a, um, break up party I guess. It’d be cool if you could come.”

      “The weekend school finishes?”

      “Yeah.” He gave me a grin that I think was supposed to be dazzling.

      “I’m busy.” I turned to keep walking, and he grabbed me again. I looked from his hand to his eyes with an incredulous look on my face. He took his hand away and laughed, a little nervously.

      “Aw, come on. Don’t be like that. Come.” He wheedled.

      “Like what?” I demanded as I put my hands on my hips.

      “You know.” He gestured to my aggressive posture. “So… psycho.”

      I tilted my head, and looked СКАЧАТЬ