Unholy (Crazy Like You~Book 2)

Chapter 4

Perfect... Just perfect...

I could sense them before the door creaked open, even before my eyes adjusted to the artificial light strewn through the rest of the house I could sense the group of them. A sickening energy surrounds each of them, one more powerful than I,  yet not quite as distinctive.

Peaceful, that's the only word I can find to describe it, though it brings me anything but.

I allow my head to lift as the door opens, the muscles in my neck scream in argument, as do the strained ones in my back, but none of it matters.

I've got to admit, I certainly didn't think them desperate enough to bring in help from a couple of humans... Especially... These two...

"Mark..."

I speak his name first, murky brown eyes wide and alight with a delicious shock. His jaw hangs open, and the small quiver in his lower jaw almost brings a real grin to my face.

"Sean..."

Looking over to him... Any urge to smile drops, transferring to an unpleasant weight atop my chest. He doesn't look surprised, so much as... completely enraged... Sea foam eyes light up with a fury I'd only ever seen from Anti ... And Sean, he looks so much like his old demon. Not just the face, of course that's the face I'm used to. But-... The anger, the burning passion, the curled sneer of his lips, the tension of his shoulders, the—

His hand whips across my face with a sickening crack, the force causes my head to reel to the side. The stinging sensation that is left behind is almost relieving, almost familiar.

I take a second to revel in it, then another, allowing my tongue to travel over cracked lips and the ache in my jaw to fade. I put up a grin as soon as it's possible to do so without pain. Moving my head back into place causes a small crick in my neck to recede.

"Missed you too..."

~~~~~~~Jack's POV~~~~~~

I may have lost control... Just for a moment...

All I know is I saw him. He still has Mark's face oddly enough, though I didn't question that until now, it was just those eyes... The distasteful, red. The color of a coming war, the color of all the blood he's spilled, the same color I continue to see when I close my eyes.

I only come back to the moment at the sting of my hand, and the noise of contact. My hand screams in argument as I instinctively reel it back to strike again, only to be pulled away. I don't need to look behind me to recognize Mark's arms around me, I can feel his warmth, and smell his familiar musk, that grounds me just a bit more.

"Missed you too..."

I feel my eyes narrow into a glare. He moves his head back, so he faces the group of us, and strangely enough he looks docile if not a bit pissed off. I hear the semblance of words behind me, a few familiar voices, however I can't make out any words. A certain fog settles over my mind, a certain ringing in my ears. A soft taunt of anger, and just a small impression of old fear. I almost want to blame that on my previous demon, all those memories he'd left behind, but I know this is all mine... and I hate it...

~~~~~~~~~Mark's POV~~~~~~~~~

"You're working with him!?"

I hate how high pitch those words come out, a mix of confusion and ultimately anger lacing each syllable. Emma shoots me a look of what I can only call disapproval.

"We aren't working with him Mark... We're using him..."

She speaks as though it's the easiest thing in the world, I feel my frown deepen.

"Really feeling like part of the team here guys..."

Both sets of eyes move back to the demon behind us, I almost cringe at the small snigger that escapes him... I hate seeing that look on my... his face...

"Why does he still look like me... and better yet... How the hell is he alive!? I felt him die!"

I mutter the first part detestably quiet, only to nearly shout the end. Honestly, it's like having some evil twin, if not for the grayish color of his skin and dark circles under his eyes we look the same. His normal business-like stature is toned down, he slouches, occasionally moving to stretch out his shoulders no doubt sore from his hands being bound behind him. He wears a dirtier variation of the clean suit I'd usually seen him in. Same white button down, though stained and most of the buttons missing leaving it only half buttoned up his chest, same dark slacks, though a few tears litter them, as if a struggle had taken place, and his black shoes are scuffed in multiple large areas.

"He did... die I mean... we brought him back..."

"You can do that?"

She doesn't seem to anger at my interruption, merely giving a meager nod.

"It takes a lot of power... It took many of us to do it... with a few casualties but yes, it's possible. And as for his appearance..."

She pauses, looking back at the demon who listens to the conversation with an expression of boredom.

"I have no explanation... When we brought him back, that's what he looked like..."

"It's for your own benefit, trust me..."

He speaks up after another second, the hoarseness of his voice only making it deeper and somehow darker.

"Few creatures, other than demons ourselves, can bear to look at a demon's true face... This is the form I took when I died, so I'm stuck in this form until I can take refuge in another human..."

"Which we won't allow..."

Nate speaks up from the doorway, almost startling after how quiet he'd been. His voice is low but not unpleasant and matches the look of distaste that seems stuck on his face. Dark shoots a glare back at him, clearly the two have had more than a few arguments before Sean and I arrived.

Speaking of, I glance over to Sean. He has hardly moved, still standing still in the grip I'd put on his arm. Gentle yet firm, keeping him from completely losing it on the demon, who oddly enough avoids looking at the Irish man. I give his bicep a small squeeze, a small question to which he responds with a second's glance.

I suppose that's all I can get for now.

"Alright, introductions out of the way."

Emma interrupts the tension, her authoritative tone gaining everyone's attention, even Sean's oddly enough though he remains seemingly out of it.

"Let's begin shall we?"