Nightfall (Nightfall Book 1)

Arkemoz wasn’t sure how he felt after what had happened, but he knew he didn’t like whatever it was he was feeling. He wasn’t disappointed exactly, not when he could tell from how shocked everyone was that Aegis had gotten beaten like this, but he couldn’t help but feel discouraged.

Azralis had been taken. Even ignoring the fact that they hailed from the same clan, this was terrible news. They still didn’t know what those vampires wanted with demons, aside from drinking their blood, but it definitely wasn’t good. And the fact that they’d managed to capture her—a very strong, old demon—only spoke of how well organized this group was.

A group involved with angels capturing demons alive. It made a shiver run down Arkemoz’s back at the thought.

He was standing off to the side of the building that contained the transdimentional portal, watching cars come and go as various members of Aegis drove away to a different headquarters once they were given medical treatment, their bracelets were checked if whatever enchantment there was on them was still working, or both.

Denise had already left a while ago, as they were encouraged to get to that other base as fast as possible, and she had offered to take Arkemoz there, but he’d declined. He was worried about James, and he didn’t want to leave without making sure he was alright. Rubble had fallen on the vampire’s arm earlier, and despite James’ assurances that he was fine, Arkemoz was still concerned about him.

Much more than Arkemoz would have expected, honestly. With everything else that was going on, it was just odd that what Arkemoz was most worried about was James. He wasn’t sure what to make of it, so he didn’t spend much time thinking about it, but it was always there, in the back of his mind.

“Hey, Arkie, you okay?”

The demon flinched, blinking up at James who was suddenly standing right next to him. He hadn’t seen him coming at all, which was strange because the demon had thought he’d had everyone still here within his line of sight. Though he supposed he hadn’t exactly been paying attention with all those heavy thoughts on his mind.

“Of course I am,” Arkemoz replied, looking away as he suddenly found it impossible to keep up eye contact. He wasn’t sure why, though, because he wasn’t lying—he had a normal amount of blood once more and his wounds had long since closed. “Are you?”

“Sure,” James replied, shrugging and smiling, though it looked a bit off. Arkemoz was still not that great at noticing subtle facial expressions, but even to him the smile didn’t seem very sincere. “Let’s get ourselves a car, huh?”

Arkemoz frowned, but he didn’t protest when James started walking towards the building with the portal, following him silently. Given that James tended to talk a lot and now he was being silent, the demon could tell something was wrong, but then again many things were wrong. If James was upset, he had reason to be.

At the very least James seemed to have no problem moving his previously injured arm, so that was at least something positive. Arkemoz kept a close eye on the vampire as he briefly spoke to the person guarding the cars before continuing on inside and walking over to the car they’d gotten here with.

Once Arkemoz joined him and climbed inside, they both stayed silent while James turned the car around and drove outside of the parking lot, but the demon could only handle it for so long. The air was tense and serious, which was something he wasn’t at all used to with James, and it was making him uncomfortable.

“Is there something wrong?”

Arkemoz almost expected James to laugh at him for that. There was quite a lot wrong at the moment. But James just sighed, the leather on the steering wheel creaking as his grip on it tightened.

“What if we just….” James grimaced, looking right at Arkemoz. And the demon couldn’t help but flinch at the fear in James’ eyes. He was smiling, but that did nothing to disguise it. “What if just went somewhere else, huh?”

James turned his eyes back to road, visibly swallowing. Arkemoz frowned at him, almost as confused as he was worried. “What do you mean?”

James shrugged in an almost exaggerate way. “Uh, I don’t know. What if we just didn’t go to that other Aegis base and risk you getting nabbed too, and instead just holed up somewhere? Or finally showed you some of the fun stuff you can do on Earth. What do you say?”

Arkemoz frowned at James, finally understand what the vampire was saying. “You mean abandon Aegis and the captured demons.”

James didn’t look at him, only sighing one more time, his shoulders sinking. “Do you think we even have a chance at beating these bastards? I mean, look what just happened.”

Arkemoz scowled further as he pondered the question. What those vampires had done had certainly been devastating, but they had managed to kill many of them. This had clearly been very well planned, and Aegis hadn’t even know there were traitors in their midst. Arkemoz certainly wouldn’t take this as a clear sign that Aegis had no chance, though the odds weren’t in their favor.

“I don’t know much about vampires, but I do know angels,” Arkemoz said, looking directly at James. He hoped he’d sound confident because the vampire seemed to need it. “I do not know what they want here, but they are not unbeatable. If nothing else, they always underestimate their enemies. Angels are very powerful, but they are few, and that’s their biggest weakness.”

“We don’t have that sword, anymore,” James argued, albeit weakly.

“That doesn’t mean we should give up.”

“I don’t—” James cut himself off with a huff, shaking his head as he once again turned his attention solely to the road. “No, you’re right. That’s exactly what I’m suggesting, isn’t it?”

As James’ head slumped forward a little, Arkemoz felt his heart clench. He wanted to hug the vampire, but he couldn’t do that in the confines of the car. And he also felt strangely like he couldn’t do it, as if something was blocking him from it.

So Arkemoz opted for something else that was much less alien to him—he gently put his tail next to James’ leg, brushing it with the tip in a way that he hoped would offer some comfort. It wasn’t quite how demons exchanged affection, as that was usually done by wrapping the tail around the waist, or around the other’s tail if two demons were mated, but he hoped it was better than nothing

Unsurprisingly James flinched at first. Arkemoz almost drew the tail back, but before he could James smiled softly first at it, and then at the demon. And then Arkemoz almost gasped as James put his hand on the tip of his tail, ready to automatically rip it out of his hold until he realized that James wasn’t trying to squeeze it.

Arkemoz relaxed. Of course, why would James want to hurt him? That was a ridiculous thought, though after the way other vampires had treated his tail so far, Arkemoz wasn’t too surprised at his instinct to get away.

“I just don’t want anything to happen to you, Arkie,” James said, looking sad as he once again turned his attention to where he was driving. He didn’t stop touching Arkemoz’s tail, though. “And as you can see, Aegis isn’t doing much to protect you.”

Arkemoz narrowed his eyes. “If I wanted to be protected, I would have stayed in Hell.”

James said nothing to that, possibly because he didn’t know anything about the hell dimensions, but he looked very unhappy with the situation. The thought of how much James seemed to care about Arkemoz’s well-being made him feel strange—all warm and fluttery. Was that good or bad?

But mostly it was confusing because Arkemoz wasn’t sure why James cared so much. No one in Hell had liked Arkemoz much, so not only being tolerated but also cared for was an almost disorienting experience. Arkemoz was fairly certain the creatures of Earth also felt things more deeply, judging by his own experiences with his half-human body. He wished he had the time to make sense of everything.

“Well, if you’re not leaving, I guess neither am I,” James replied, not sounding satisfied in the least. But currently Arkemoz was paying more attention to the words he’d used, rather than the tone.

“Are you saying you are not leaving only because of me?”

James’ eyes snapped over to Arkemoz’s, widening as he sputtered.

“What? No.” Then he cleared his throat, looking back on the road. He was still holding Arkemoz’s tail, and he was not letting go. “Well, maybe.”

Arkemoz had no idea what to make of that, but he thought it would be best not to ask, as James seemed uncomfortable. He didn’t need to, however, because after a brief moment of silence James spoke again.

“It’s just that between all the demon kidnappings, freaking angels, a dragon…. It feels like we’re playing a whole different game all of a sudden.”

Arkemoz scowled. He still hated metaphors, but at least he understood this one. “Is this not common for Aegis?”

James chuckled, gently stroking his thumb over Arkemoz’s tail. It was surprisingly pleasant and relaxing. “Not for me. It was all a few vampires here and there, a werewolf or two, and the occasional rogue witch, or whatever. And now we’re dealing with angels and demons.”

Arkemoz looked away. He knew James wasn’t complaining about him, but it still felt that way. It was ridiculous, and yet it made him feel…not good.

“It’s just all a bit much, you know?” James continued, rubbing his eyes.

Yes, Arkemoz did indeed know. That was exactly how he’d felt when he’d first arrived on Earth. How he still felt whenever he discovered something new, which was often. And frustratingly, he never seemed to have the time to learn or explore anything. He did want to, though, which meant he would have to stand with Aegis and fight. If angels wanted demons, Arkemoz didn’t doubt that they would find him sooner or later, no matter where he went.

“I’m sorry about Azralis, by the way,” James said, giving the demon a sympathetic side glance. “How are you holding up?”

It took Arkemoz a second to remember that a sibling bond was something much more profound here then it was in Hell. Only then did the question finally make sense. “Oh. I’m fine. We barely know each other.”

Even that might have been an overstatement. Not only did they not know each other, they had barely even met. Arkemoz wasn’t even sure if they had spoken to each other before today. Or was it yesterday? The sun was already peeking over the horizon now, the forests surrounding the road casting long shadows over it.

“Right. Hundreds of siblings.” James tilted his head to the side quizzically, not taking his eyes off the road. “How exactly does that happen? Is demon pregnancy only like two months long, or…?”

Arkemoz wasn’t sure what time had to do with it given that Hell didn’t have a concept of it, but he supposed James would be used to thinking this way. “We don’t age. Some of my siblings have taken part in battles that had happened in this dimension thousands of years ago.”

James nodded slowly, clearly having some trouble making sense of it all. Arkemoz couldn’t blame him, seeing as most earthly concepts confused him even more than that.

“I always think of you as young, but you’re ancient, huh? No wonder you’re not scared.”

Arkemoz narrowed his eyes. He might have been young by demon standards, it was difficult to estimate, but he wasn’t sure what James was trying to imply with that last comment. Wasn’t the vampire ancient by human standards as well?

“I am scared,” Arkemoz replied, almost shocked at how easy it was to say. In Hell, fear wasn’t something that anyone would admit to feeling. There were whole training programs designed to eradicate it, but Arkemoz had managed to avoid most of it, as it was designed specifically for fighting angels, and he’d never wanted to take part in that.

James’ grip on his tail tightened, but it wasn’t at all painful, more comforting, as the vampire looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. “You don’t look scared.”

“Angels have spent millennia killing my people. Only a fool wouldn’t fear them,” Arkemoz replied, gritting his teeth. It was actually much more than millennia. Demons had existed when the mortal universe was still young, and Earth barely existed, but he wasn’t sure if James would be able to imagine that. “But that doesn’t mean I can hide from them or avoid them. Not for long. And if I have to face them, then I will.”

A moment of silence followed. It wasn’t tense like before, but it did make Arkemoz realize how self-centered he was being with this. “I can’t hide, but…. You might manage, if you wanted to.”

James looked at him with wide eyes before scoffing and shaking his head. “And leave you to deal with this mess on your own? Yeah, right.”

Arkemoz frowned, not sure what to say to this. He appreciated the support, of course, but things like this really confused him. Why did James only care about helping Arkemoz? He didn’t seem to even consider that this might end with his death.

Before Arkemoz could manage to come up with a reply, though, James continued. “Besides, Nathan said that the angels want vamps to take over. Whatever that means, and however they want to make that happen, that’s bad news. If they succeed, it’s bad news for the entire world.”

“And yet you were in favor of hiding if I wanted to as well,” Arkemoz pointed out. Perhaps James had just needed validation from him? Somehow Arkemoz doubted that, but it was possible.

James opened his mouth only to close it a second later. There was something Arkemoz couldn’t quite place in the vampire’s eyes as he turned his gaze to the road, though. “Yeah, well, I’d get bored hiding out alone.”

The chuckle that followed suggested that this was a joke, but the vampire’s tone hadn’t sounded very amused. Still, Arkemoz wouldn’t push further. James didn’t look like he wanted to talk about this, and neither did Arkemoz.

Once again, he was reminded that James was still holding his tail as his thumb brushed over the tip. Arkemoz was already dreading when James would eventually let go, knowing he would miss the touch. It was very comforting.

“Well, if we’re not ditching Aegis, I guess we’re going after Azralis first. Before they can do with her whatever they wanted to do to you.” James looked over at Arkemoz, his face suddenly determined. “And I might have an idea.”