The Desire of a Hybrid

Chapter 41- Fugitive

We landed right near the window in Carmen's bedroom, purple curtains brushing against the back of my head as my feet settled on the floor. The lamps were off but the moonlight from outside helped to illuminate our new location, allowing me to find the switch and light up the room. 

I turned to Carmen. She was still leaning on me but her eyes had widened and she had an expression of stunned disbelief, her face paling despite of her Mediterranean tan. I'd never shifted with a human before, so I wasn't sure if she was just shocked or the trip had made her feel queasy or ill. 

"Are you okay?" I asked her urgently, trying to gauge her reaction. 

There was a pregnant pause before her reply. 

"Yes. Yes I'm fine. But what...how...how did you do that? A second ago I was facing those men and now I'm...home." 

"I can't explain everything now. We need to go. They're tracking us. Pack a bag of necessities and let's get out of here." Satan could pinpoint where his minions go using the shifting ability if he thought it was necessary, and I suspected that was where the Hunting Demons had run off to. It wouldn't take them long to ask him to find us, and I knew that he would agree in an instant. 

Carmen nodded and scurried over to her wardrobe, wrenching out a battered backpack and stuffing it with clothes. She had a tiny handbag she'd kept over her shoulder even during the apartment scare, containing essentials such as her phone and purse. But I knew that she'd left her passport in her suitcase, and that wasn't good news. It meant they now knew who she was. 

She couldn't be my dirty little secret any longer. 

And I also didn't have any clothes. I only had my phone which could be traced, and a wallet full of track-able credit cards. It was lucky I kept cash reserves at my safe houses; otherwise I would be a demonic fugitive with no access to any money. But I needed to get there. Right now I had nothing. 

It was times like these that reminded me of how alone I really was. What allies did I have to protect us? The bridges I'd burned living the life of a demon had really come back to haunt me now. 

Carmen had just finished packing her bag when I heard a noise coming from the entrance. I let out a curse and pulled her close to me. 

"I know you've got a lot of questions, but right now I need you to trust me," I said in a whisper, before blinking three times in a row.

She let out a gasp, noticing her body had suddenly disappeared from her view. "Shh. I know, I know. But you need to be quiet. This is the only way to get past them." 

I took her silence as an answer and we crept out of the room, holding her hand in a tight grip so that she stayed invisible. Three of the hunter demons stood in the living room in front of our exit, surveying the scene without their arrogant leader. Maybe Satan had kept him behind for failing him. 

We flattened ourselves on the wall furthest away from the three figures and edged our way slowly to the door. I was very conscious of how easy it would be for us to be discovered. One accidental sneeze, a light cough, a stumble into a piece of furniture, and it would all be over. I just had to hope that neither of us fell to nerves or a bout of clumsiness. 

One of the demons went to go have a snoop in the kitchen as we neared the exit, meaning that there was one less enemy to spot us. But in reality it wasn't enough of a help. I'd forgotten about the obstacle that was the door. They would definitely hear us trying to open that. 

Carmen's apartment was on the first floor, which meant that we couldn't jump from an open window because the sound would draw too much attention, and Carmen might get injured herself- causing even more complications. The only way we could get out was through that closed, locked door. 

Our chances seemed to become slimmer and slimmer by each passing moment. 

We edged our way round the corner of the wall, adrenaline pumping, with the hunter demons still oblivious to our whereabouts as we arrived next to the exit. I felt the sensation of cold, slightly rusted metal against my arm and realised that Carmen had managed to get the keys out of her small handbag without a rustle. I felt myself glowing in pride. She was remarkably strong in tense situations. Other women would've given in to the pressure a long time ago, and yet here she was. Still here with me. I felt myself beaming. 

I took the keys from her and was about to get to work on the lock when a loud crash sounded from next to me. The door blocking our exit was suddenly blasted a foot into the apartment by a powerful kick, and in came Rex with a furious glare, his other lackey standing in the hallway next to the lift. 

"Well?" He demanded, his eyes blazing. "Where are they?" 

I beckoned Carmen along with a tiny ray of hope surging me forward. If we could just get through the opening then we could make it, but I knew that in reality Rex was standing too close. He would feel me brushing against him to get past. 

"They're not here," one of his minions replied, a sense of fear colouring his tone. "He must have shifted again." 

"Impossible," his glare darkened. "Satan put his shifting pattern on my phone. I would've got an update." 

I scowled. It seemed like Lucifer was growing stronger every single day: even technology was becoming a tool for him. 

"They're not..." 

Rex lurched forward, and in doing so, almost knocked into my arm. He grabbed the demon by his neck as we silently raced out of the door, my heart beating out of my chest. We'd just got lucky in a situation that could've gone either way: if I hadn't moved my arm back...

I didn't even want to think about it. The fifth Hunter Demon was still waiting outside so we veered off to the stairs and crept down them. Our footsteps made slight echoes but the suit was concentrated too much on the row that Rex was making in the apartment, and we got away with it. 

Finally we reached the entrance of Carmen's apartment complex. 

I gave her the keys and she unlocked the door as I tried not to wince when I heard it click. She pushed the door open and we were finally free to the mild summer-night, but I didn't give myself the time to enjoy the freshness. As soon as Carmen had put her keys back in her handbag, we found ourselves jogging away from the prison we'd escaped from. I kept us invisible as we ran but it was wearing me out. I wasn't used to using this power for bursts of great length. It was meant to be a secret privilege rather than the necessity it had become recently. 

We sprinted for about ten minutes before we came to an area of shops, and I found myself blinking three times to reduce the sheer weight of the power on my shoulders. 

I stumbled and was forced to slow to a walk. 

"Are you alright?" Carmen asked, alarmed, as she picked up one of my arms and wrapped it around her shoulders to try and support me. She flinched under my weight but helped me keep on nonetheless.  

I felt exhausted as we stumbled towards a nearby taxi rank. "I can't use that power for too long. It drains me." 

She nodded and gave me a sympathetic look. "Where to now?" 

"I have a secret safe-house that no one knows about. We'll take a taxi there." Darcy's file and some of my money reserves were there: it was the only place that held any kind of security for me, and not a single soul knew I owned its location. 

"And you'll tell me what I want to know there?" 

I pressed my mouth into a firm line, but I knew I couldn't hide anything from her for any longer. She was too involved now. My world of danger had clashed with hers big time. 

"Yes. I'll tell you everything."