Fall From Grace (5 page)

 
Beyond the barn is a little winding trail that links our property to the Alessa Gorge, the infamous conservation area that provided the stones for our ambitious town square build. A few steps from my house and there are trails that go for miles; it's one of the few things I will miss when I leave here. It's quiet, typically empty, and Harve is able to run free like a maniac. He gets impatient sometimes as I'm a lot slower, but never really goes too far ahead. He'll stop and pick up some branches, gnaw on them until I catch up, and carry them beside me until he gets bored and takes off again.

 
I'm feeling a bit better as I go, gulping in fresh air and sweating out the booze. I crank the tunes in my ipod and start to belt out the lyrics. The trails on this side of the water are typically empty, so I feel pretty safe in doing so. The Gorge runs through the whole park on a zig zag starting from the north west and ending in the lower south east corner, but the 'good' trails, which are filled with hikers, or people who claim to be, are in the west end. We stick to the solitary northeast so I can sing to my hearts' content. Some people clean their house naked, I sing while I run, it's more sanitary.

The forest is mostly pines and amazing sky scraper-esque spruces. The path is well-worn dirt, crappy in the rain but it's been dry for a few days so pretty decent now. There are a few larger patches of fields to the left and right along my path, and as I peek through the foliage I can see some spring flowers starting to bloom. I love this time of year.

I round the edge of a thick grove of trees, belting out a
Katy Perry
tune when I see something that makes me do a double take. A slight flicker of movement. Fox? Oh God, is that a person? How loud was I singing? I strain my eyes to see where I thought I saw it and boom. It only took a split second that I didn't quite pay attention as my leg catches on the tip of one of the long branches Harve is carrying in his mouth. Total face plant.
 

Now don't quote me on this, but chances are pretty good that my eyes went wide in horror as I grasped for balance, stumbled forward a few times and felt the dirt fly up as I landed face first into the path. I don't recall it perfectly, but I'd say the tumble looked about as ungraceful as you could imagine. I look up to see Harve just standing there staring at me thinking – you're taking a break now? I slowly flip onto my back and I peel myself up off the ground to assess the damage. My pants are nice and dirty, a small hole near my right knee with a skin burn to match. It hurts to touch, but I don't think anything is broken or sprained. My elbows are aching a bit but I think my knees got the brunt. All in all, not too bad as far as face plants go.

I look around to see if anyone is coming over to check on me - praying silently that I'm still alone. I do a 360 but the woods are silent, utterly silent, I don't see or hear anything at all, not a bird, a squirrel, or even a mosquito. It's dead quiet. Kinda odd. I look at Harve to see if he suspects anything strange but he's just lying in the grass, panting and letting his tongue loll out. I don't know whether to trust in his canine senses or admit he's the worst guard dog ever. It must have been a fox, or even a big bird.
 

Something definitely feels odd though. I feel a creepy tingle in my spine like when you are coming home to an empty house at night and it takes you a few minutes to find the lamp in the dark. That small panicked heat that inches up the back of your neck before you get the lights on and everything is actually all normal and non-scary. Looking around I see absolutely nothing, and Harve is now licking his dink so I guess there is no imminent peril headed for us. Yup, my day has gone from crappy to craptastic in one fell swoop. No pun intended.

ASHER GREY

I don't think I will ever get used to this. It's been over a century and I still revel at the amazing sensation of letting loose and pulling all the elements to my fingertips. It's better then sex, better then drugs, better then... well I guess that covers all the GOOD stuff. I mean L.A. was great, California girls are beautiful, and they are SO easy to manipulate, Hunter and I barely had to try. Perhaps it has less to do with our stellar charm and more to do with our flush bank accounts, but we like to tell ourselves that charm is the clincher. They easily gravitate to us and we reap the benefits. But I'm anxious to get home. Back to New York and the dirty gritty city. I've missed it.
 

Between the millions of humans and lack of personal space, it's quite hard, as you can imagine, finding a spot to 'play' in the metropolis. After being cooped up in L.A. for a few weeks I needed the release, so I made a few stops at various secluded areas on the way home. The desert was pretty wicked with the windstorms I created but this one spot is really great, more my style. Huge trees and lots of Shit to play with. What was it called, the Alessa Gorge? Whatever. It's massive and desolate, I haven't seen a soul. Just the way I like it.
 

Its taken me a number of decades to control my 'gifts' so that I don't 'accidentally' cause a tornado when I'm really frustrated, like in the DMV, or Seniors Day at the Piggly Wiggly. When I was really pissed off, it was worse, but that hasn't happened in like... oh wait it sorta happened last week at Voyeur in West Hollywood, but that guy really deserved it.
 

We ran across this Ethorn demon sitting at the bar sniffing and clearing his throat with a vengeance which one might chalk up to a bad case of allergies, but I knew better. 'Skin' demons get a sexual high from the scent and taste of human flesh and this guy was acting like he was in the midst of a three way and about to make a meal of his drinking partner.
 

Now when I say taste, I mean, they just have to 'lick it' to be satisfied. I know. Toads. Normally there are tons of places to fulfill
that
creepy fetish, this is America after all, but sometimes some jackass will take it too far and rip off a limb or tear a nose off in the middle of their orgasm equivalent. I could tell this guy was about to lose it on the chick beside him so I took care of it in the easiest way I knew how. A quick lightening taser to his back and he was out like a shot. I couldn't help myself, but like I said, he deserved it. I'm not sure he deserved waking up in the middle of the desert with no pants on but I digress.

It isn't like I've ever cared one way or another over what happened to the humans, but this asshole sparked something inside me that made me want to hurt him. Really bad. I guess some humans are ok, but honestly, I don't really get why we keep ourselves a secret instead of letting them know where they really rank here in the Terra Wick.

The Register claims we need them to 'keep the balance', Blah Blah, insert commonsensical spiel here, but sometimes I wonder if slipping into another dimension might be less annoying. Strike that, I wouldn't trade humans for the Castra demons either. Those termites would eat your eat your eyeballs for a snack as soon as look at you. And they actually do.

Whatever the case, I've been around the block a few hundred times and have been in better control of myself these past few decades; I guess I had the time to work on my inner demon 12-step program. Maybe I've been around too long, who knows. All I know is that right now I'm completely bored.
 

I thought a trip to L.A. might get me back on track to my fit full life of nasty vices, but I don't feel any better. I haven't gotten a real high out of scamming a human in what - two decades at least? I'm starting to think I'm going through a demon mid-life crisis. Is that even a thing?
 

Feeling a swish of cool air and flicking a 3 ton boulder across the meadow does help and I find myself genuinely content for the first time in awhile. Maybe I'll stick around town for a bit; I feel a strange attraction to this area, drawn to the energy or something. Must be the plethora of nature and earth. I feel most myself surrounded by mounds of dirt; so it's weird that I live in New York right? I can't figure that one out either, but I suppose it's a pretty scummy city on the best of days and there's something about it that just makes me feel like I've come home.

Stopping in my tracks, I can sense it before I can hear or even see it. A slow tingle runs up my entire spine as my fingers begin to vibrate with an electricity, a warm sensation that can only mean one thing. Another demon. I'm sure of it.

I stop my breath and stand as still as the tree beside me. We can go for quite awhile without breathing, not sure how long really, but I tried it once and after a few hours I sorta forgot what I was doing and automatically started up again. It's a very natural body movement, pure habit.

I peer around the spruce to my right and that is when I see her, she's about 100 yards away running along a path that snakes through the woods and into the clearing before me. I can see every detail as distinct as if she was right in front of me (another demon perk), and man is she sweating bullets. And reeking of vodka? She's got a behemoth dog trailing after her and belting out some tune of which I can't even tell what it is; definitely not blessed with great vocal chords. I quickly scan her features, see if I know her; dark hair, good body, pretty face, but not one I can recall, thank God. I would hate to run into an old girl friend in a secluded spot like this. Especially if I really ticked her off, which is a very high likelihood.
 

I can't seem to put my finger on what type of demon she is though. She's definitely of my blood, but it's like a piece of the puzzle is missing. Maybe she's a newbie, incomplete in 'the change'? We all have a sort of 6th (or in some cases 10th or 11th) sense about other super naturals and her presence is glowing like a Vegas billboard, but confusing the hell out of me. Strange.

She doesn't even seem to sense me near. Nor does her huge wolf dog. At least I hope it's a dog. I've heard stories of these hell hounds from the Drema Wick that can sever your limbs in 2 seconds so that you can't run away when they start eating you. Fun eh?

This chick is panting like a beast but radiating a glow unlike any demon aura I have seen before. I can't tear my eyes away. Without thinking about the consequence of her seeing me, I absently lean forward and accidentally break a twig off a tree. Opps, she's down.
 

I stifle a laugh as she crashes in a heap, the behemoth animal skidding to a stop and plopping down beside her as if she just decided to take a break. She lays there like a slug for a few minutes before pulling herself together and sitting up on the dirt path. Crap, she's looking around for something, did she sense me too? Rule #3 in our demon handbook - we HATE surprises. I'm kidding about the handbook, this isn't some lame TV show, but if we did have one, surprises would be right up there on what 'not' to do to a fellow demon.

If I accidentally startled her, she might feel threatened and lash out with her powers - Lord know what they even are. She could turn my skin into scales, boil my insides to liquid, or worse, do something to my, ahem, manhood so to speak. So. Not. Cool.
 

Peeling herself up off the ground, she turns back from where she came and starts off on a slow limp. She seems completely unaware and unfazed by me at all. Wait, limp? She's demon, that fall wasn't barely enough to cause a wince. Definitely still going through 'the change' but she really should be able to feel me by now, I'm only about 50 yards away and it appears she has no idea I'm even here. Interesting.

I followed her all the way back to her house just outside the park perimeter, keeping my distance but moving noiselessly behind. It was pretty slow going with her skinned knee but I greatly enjoyed her tirade against that poor dog. Those particular curse words made even me blush a little. She ended up in a big old restored farmhouse and made her way into the kitchen to bandage up her injury. I guess people don't need to worry too much about privacy in the country; there were so many uncovered windows, I could make out the Star Wars band-aid she used.

I watched for a long time, fascinated by her. I even tuned into her conversations with her Dad and I just don't get it. She seems so clueless? Why is she living with a human parent? Her mother must be the demon donor but there were no pictures, no mention of her at all. Did she abandon her? This does tend to happen sometimes. It isn't easy for a supernatural to conceive a child and sometimes it comes as a bit of a shocker. An inconvienience they'd rather leave on the doorstep of The Register before they make their way back to the casino. But demon babies are so rare, and to have one with a human is pretty unheard of. I mean we tolerate humans and sometimes have relationships with them, but it's somewhat frowned upon due to the complications of keeping our existence a secret.
 

Demon parents don't have the same relationship with kids as human parents do. It's more a partnership of obligation with no huge emotional ties. They're raised as mini adults and home schooled with the focus on our demonic roots and exploring our gifts. We endure insane physical & mental training in order to properly harness the power and yet it's still an uphill battle as we constantly change and evolve. We reach our full power potential around 18 (post puberty) so normally that's when the 'parents' fly the coop and we are left with an enormous ego and too much free time. We grow up pretty fast and don't need the same coddling as humans do. Perhaps we view it as a weakness and don't want to be compared to a human, who knows. I've never been a parent, so all I can go on was my relationship with my Father and dysfunctional doesn't even begin to cover that one.
 

A few things I
did
learn from watching this girl: a homework procrastinator to the extreme, drinks way too much coffee, enjoys a wicked amount of junk food, and it seems she was a little bit of a party girl the night before. Dad didn't take it too easy on her though, punishment included scrubbing every toilet in the house and garbage detail. Nice.