My Guardian Shadow

Chapter 2

The cabin was dark and stuffy despite its size. Granted, my presence usually darkens areas so that part was most likely on me. There were two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. The bedrooms sat in the back of the cabin while the kitchen and living room were at the front. Crosses were hung over every doorway in the place. I felt them before I saw them. The walls were adorned with antlers and animal heads of those you'd expect in a hunters cabin: deer, elk, and the occasional moose oddly enough. 

Charles' wife was making a stew in the kitchen while he sat on a couch looking up at me with a coffee table before him. He had tossed his robe away and was wearing a flannel shirt with jeans. On the coffee table, was the dagger and the book he had earlier, opened to a new page. I looked around and found no trace of the little girl anywhere. I hadn't seen her go into any of the bedrooms so I assumed she might've still been outside. 

"Your daughters gone," I stated, interrupting Charles' reading.

"She's in the backyard. She's fine," he said as he continued to read from his book. "That circle of yours needed blood," he looked up at me, "and our dog had some to spare."

"Quite the family man isn't he?" I directed my question to his wife in the kitchen.

She flinched and went on with her cooking as Charles glared at me. 

"Did I say you could talk to her?" 

"Did I say you could pull me from my afterlife to serve you in killing heathens?" I shot back.

"Ah yes, 'cause dragging your ass out of hell was such a pain. You should be thanking me for getting you out and welcoming you into my home," his glare hardening.

Before he could react I snatched the dagger from the table and spun it around in my hand before pointing the blade at him.

"Very welcoming, considering you're the only one who wants me here," I spun the knife around some more. "Amazing how bold you people become just by having a weapon."

Charles snatched his book and recited some words from it I couldn't understand. Immediately, I felt the blade be torn from my grip as it fell to the floor, embedding itself in the planks. Charles walked around the table and pulled it free and looked me in the face. He shivered but had a defiant look in his eyes. 

"This blade isn't yours anymore, Ashriel. It's mine. While I breathe, you can't so much as hold this knife," he said waving it in my face. His smile was broad and cocky. "With this seal on it. You can only attack my enemies. Anything that can do me harm is your prey."

"Those exact specifications?"

"Yes. They may change once we get to work," he said as he took a seat back on the couch. "Not so cocky now that I got you by the dick, huh?" 

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that when you're not sucking your own cock?" I asked, trying to make my voice colder. 

"Charlie?" his wife's voice rang from the kitchen. "Dinner's done. Can you go get Lilith?" 

Her voice was quiet and sounded like she was afraid to just speak. I couldn't blame her. Her husband was yelling at a shadow demon while her daughter buried their dog. I wanted to kill Charles even more by the minute. 

'I've killed for a lot less,'  I thought.

"She's a big girl, Honey. She'll get dinner when she's all done," Charles said as he rose to grab his food. 

"Please dear?" she pleaded. "She's too young to be out this late, let alone what you're making her do."

"She eats when she's done and that's final!" Charles snapped.