Hunger (Damnation Book 1)

Epilogue - Portia

I wait at the entry to the alley and watch people on Bourbon Street. I'm the look out tonight because I'm too new to get an assignment of my own. I hear a muffled scream and the sound of a bullet sliding through the silencer. Slade and Cotton walk out to me and I fall in step behind them as we head to a bar. I look down at my own hands and wonder whether I'm ready to have blood on them. I wonder if I'm ready to kill someone in cold blood. I'm shadowing my brothers, learning what it's like to kill on command for someone's soul. I've always been in the revenge business, but I've never killed anyone personally.

We walk in and despite only being nineteen, the bartender hands me a shot. I take it quickly, ignoring the burn as the fire slides down my throat. No, I don't know if I'm ready, but I'm going to make myself ready.

Rosaline is gone now. This is my chance. I'm the only daughter now and I'm going to take it. I've always done what our father wants me to and I'm not going to stop now. Slade laughs and pulls me out onto the dance floor. Cotton takes a seat at a booth in the corner, like the aging assassin he is as I dance with my more carefree brother. We are all demons of wrath, but that doesn't mean we don't know how to have fun.

It's hard to let go, though. That stupid whore keeps popping into my head. She's been gone for half a year and now, Daddy is still going to pay her way into that stupid college. I know because I saw the invoice on his desk before we went out tonight. I never expected her to leave like she did. I thought she would end up dying in that stupid cage or at the hands of one of those angels. But that just goes to show you have to expect anything from anyone. I mean the devil was once an angel. If he can fall so far, why can't we?

"What the hell is bothering you, little sister?" Slade yells over the screaming music.

"Bitches," I yell back.

He throws back his head and gives a full, hearty laugh. "Bitches, man," he jokes. "Nah, just chuck it in the fuck it bucket and move on. You'll get revenge. It's what we do," he says before finding a pretty little blonde number to dance with.

I shrug and begin dancing alone, purposely pushing Rosaline from my mind and pulling a very cute demon to the front. I'll get my revenge soon enough. For now, I'm going to pretend I'll finally get my wish.

Cotton pulls me from my revere; Slade joins us a second later. "Powers nearby. Let's bounce," he orders.

We walk outside and I shiver as I feel the presence of a very powerful angel nearby, one I haven't met before. I cling to Slade as we drive like the wind out of the quarter, outrunning whatever might be chasing us. Our lives are forever in danger, but I don't care. I'm going to get what I want and damn anyone that tries to get in my way.