Happy Endings Read online

  “Ravera,” I warn. “Hands to yourself.”

  “Just looking,” she says, but Ravera is known to just take what she wants.

  “Mine.” I pry it from her fingers.

  Ravera is a witch, which means that she can do simple spells, but her main focus is potions. I am a mage, which means that I can easily work with magic, illusions, spells, elements, and demons, but I have an affinity for fire. It is the main type of magic that I am able to connect to and can use with ease. I don’t need to draw a spell symbol for it and only need to speak its name in order to control it.

  We walk into the next room, and I turn on the lights. The room is nearly empty with black walls and a gray floor and ceiling. There are no windows and only one door, to cut down on distractions. I shut and lock the door, which makes the detectives look at each other uneasily.

  “You’re summoning someone?” Ravera asks, suddenly realizing what this room is used for.

  I nod as I walk farther into the room. “I am.”

  “You’re letting us watch?” she asks, thrilled.

  “I am. Please stand with your back against the wall and be quiet. Do not talk to the demon unless I give permission, and do not disturb me.”

  In the corner of the room, I pick up a bowl that is full of powder and a piece of chalk I bought in the kids’ aisle at the Dollar General. Using the bright pink, star-shaped chalk, I draw a perfect circle on the floor and then create the symbol for the demon realm in the middle. I pick up a knife, which was lying next to the bowl, and press it against my palm, cutting my skin just enough to allow blood to bubble through. I hold my hand down, and a few drops of blood drip out and splatter onto the floor. Then I kneel on the floor since my skin has to make contact with the summoning circle. I press my hands down onto the circle and feel my magic rumble within me.

  “Havoc, I call upon you,” I say, skipping out on all the mumbo jumbo I had to spout when I first learned how to summon demons and the like.

  Silence.

  “Goddammit, Havoc, I know you’re there,” I snap, knowing he is doing this just to avoid me. Demons are not always known for being the most compliant of beings. And the ones I deal with seem particularly stubborn.

  I can feel the magic bubbling under my palm as the circle glows white. Yet I can feel Havoc persisting and fighting against my summoning, which means that this isn’t going to go as planned.

  “Havoc!” I snap. “You lazy son of a bitch. Get out here.”

  The ground begins to shake, and the floor breaks away as a hand reaches out from the deep recesses of the earth. The hand hooks the edge of the floor and drags itself up, and I realize that this is going south very quickly. Havoc doesn’t display such theatrics when he is summoned.

  “Goddammit,” I say. “Havoc, I’m going to make you scrub my toilets!”

  Instead of Havoc, a minotaur pulls itself out of the ground which is shifting back to how it was before the summoning. He stands slowly, rising tall above me and faces me with a huge smirk on his bull-like face. His fur is white but for the black highlighting his ears and eyes. His horns rise from both sides of his skull, and there is a deep nick in one of his bovine-like ears, which flickers in my direction. The thick white hair runs down to his chest where his bull-like features fall away to human flesh and bare skin.

  “Hey, baby,” the minotaur says, and I sigh.

  “Hey, Iya. Where’s Havoc?”

  He puffs out his chest. “He sent me instead.”

  “I see that. And what is he doing that is so important?”

  “Reading a book.”

  I stay kneeling, which is never the best position for the completely naked Iya. He has no issue with everyone seeing his genitals, and trust me, I can see them just fine. “I see. And did you tell him he is an asshole?” I ask.

  “No, he said I’d get to see you, so I gladly came,” he says with a grin. “I told him I’d gladly ‘come’ just for you.”

  “Yay for me. Go back.”

  “I refuse,” he says, winking at me.

  I grumble. Dealing with Iya is never easy. “You are filth. Iya, I’ll force you back. Go peacefully.”

  “Maybe if you do something for me first. Trust me, I’ll make it worth your time,” he says with a suggestive eyebrow lift that makes me shudder. He doesn’t seem fazed.

  “Nope.”

  He cocks his head. “You know you want a piece of Iya.”

  I stare at him in annoyance. “Iya, I force you to return,” I snap, and he’s knocked down to his knees.

  “Wait! Please! I just want to penetrate you! I will treat you kindly!” The ground opens up, and he claws at the circle as he’s pulled back through it and dragged away.

  “Well… that was fun. Might have to bleach my eyeballs now,” I say.

  “How can you control such a powerful demon?” Ravera asks.

  “Clearly, I’m struggling because he’s an asshole,” I say.

  “Iya the Minotaur… he’s a very high-level demon,” she says, clearly impressed.

  I raise an eyebrow. “Oh no, I wasn’t talking about Iya.”

  “The demon you are trying to summon is higher than that?” she asks with wide eyes.

  She clearly doesn’t understand what I can do. I walk over to the corner where I have the one thing that will get Havoc to listen. I pick it up and toss it onto the summoning circle.

  “A Hershey bar?” Sam asks, rightfully suspicious.

  “Yes, a Hershey bar. The asshole wants a Hershey bar,” I say. “Havoc, get your ass up here.”

  Chapter Two

  I touch the summoning circle and feel Havoc grudgingly give in. The lights go out, and the candles around the room light instantly as Havoc appears before me. I stand and look up at the tall demon. Unlike Iya, Havoc looks human. It is rare for a demon to have a human-like appearance, but the higher the level, the better chance they appear and act human. But there’s something about his aura or the way he carries himself that makes everyone aware that he isn’t human.

  He doesn’t need to have the head of a bull for people to know that he’s a demon. He’s dressed in all black, his coat covered in black feathers that reach down to the ground. His hair is a rich black, which contrasts sharply to the white horns that rise up, twisting softly. His eyes are slit like a cat’s and the most vibrant blue I’ve ever seen. He’s an attractive man that women can’t seem to get enough of. He holds a pale hand out, and I set the Hershey bar in it.

  “This better be good, I was enjoying myself,” he says as he tears the plastic wrapping. His eyes are on the two humans and the witch who is close to losing her mind.

  She panics, knowing exactly who he is, and rushes for the door. He shifts into a black raven and flies over to the door where he shifts back. To her, it appears as if he moves that quickly, but I know otherwise. His ability to shift into a raven is smooth and effortless, unlike how a were shifts. When they shift you can see their body changing, morphing, but Havoc’s change is almost instant. And when he appears again, he is always fully clothed, sword still at his side. I once asked him how he keeps his clothes when he shifts and he asked how I could light fire with my words and we just never questioned it again.

  Magic is weird.

  Ravera slams into him and cries out when she realizes her exit is blocked by his presence.

  “Where oh where are you going, little witch?” he asks as he grabs her chin and yanks it up. He runs a finger over her lips as he stares down at her. She struggles to string some magic together, but his aura is so suppressing she can’t even get the words out. Her familiar, a cat, jumps out of her purse and starts clawing at him.

  “How cute,” he says as he picks the cat up by the scruff of the neck. It growls as its tail whips around in anger. I walk up to them, return the cat to Ravera, and then push her away from him.

  “Havoc,” I say in warning as I keep a hand pressed firmly against his broad chest.

  He grins at me, clearly aware of what he’s doing. He just
likes to play dumb. “What? I could tell you were annoyed with her anyway, what’s the harm in a little fun?”

  “Honestly, not much, I was enjoying it. But the last person you played with, pissed their pants, and I had to mop the floor afterwards.”

  Havoc laughs, and the detectives jump, startled. They had been dead quiet, trying to pretend they didn’t exist. Hoping to get Havoc’s mind off them, I hand him the candy bar he left behind when he shifted into a bird. He bites into it as he stares Ravera down.

  “What do you want, child?” he asks as he shifts his attention to me. “Did you miss me? That has to be it, right? Everyone misses my gorgeous face.”

  “Immensely.” I’m not sure my voice could get any drier. “These detectives want to know if you can read something for them.”

  Sam holds out the paper with a shaking hand and when Havoc takes it from him, he whimpers which makes Havoc grin.

  “Havoc, stop torturing them,” I say.

  “Hmm…” he mutters as he looks around, but I notice that the menacing aura falls significantly so they can actually function. Once the humans remember that they can breathe, they let out a huge sigh of relief and Ravera stops shaking. Havoc peers down at the paper and scans it.

  “Out loud.”

  “So many rules,” he says. “It’s a contract… it’s written in Dulan but… Old Dulan. Which I don’t know.”

  “Can you figure it out?”

  “Hmm… I suppose I can decipher some of it. It’s a contract through an organization called… Velmah de Rizen.”

  “Velmah de Rizen…” I think about it for a moment. “They were an organization back in the late 1700s who started by burning witches at the stake. As nonhumans started increasing in society, they began burning anyone they suspected of not being a human. They claimed they were Hunters but they refused to conform to a society which had begun to welcome nonhumans. Their idea for saving the world was to hunt them down and kill them. It was like a cult at the time, wasn’t it?”

  Havoc holds up a finger and nods. “Ah yes. I remember them. They had you tied up a time or two because they thought you were weird,” he says, then laughs heartily at the memory.

  “And you just watched both times,” I remind him.

  He grins, flashing his fangs eagerly.

  “How old are you?” Sam asks as he thinks about the math. Thankfully, he seems poor at it because he doesn’t come up with an immediate answer.

  “Doesn’t matter,” I say. “So, what is the contract for?”

  “It is for a person to join the organization by the name of… Victor Belmont,” he says, eyes still scanning the document.

  I raise an eyebrow. “Belmont… he’s dead. Has been dead since 1810, so why would Ether have this?”

  “Was Ether human?” Sam asks.

  I shake my head. “He was not. He was a werewolf.”

  “This organization is no longer active?” Ian asks.

  “No, I killed all of them around two hundred years ago,” I say.

  Havoc gives me a sharp look.

  I sigh. “Havoc killed like three of them, I killed all of the rest.”

  “Liar. I tore their heads from their torsos and bathed in their blood,” Havoc says, like it’s a fond memory.

  “No, you saw a pretty lady and was off wooing her when they all attacked me while I was in bed. You arrived just after I’d taken care of them and you killed off the three scouts wandering about. Remember that?” I grimace at the thought of him wandering off with women again.

  The demon stares at me thoughtfully. “Hmm… I do remember that lass. Her breasts were nice and round, but her nipples were huge! You could have hung your coat on them! I was trying to do that when you kept calling for me to help, but I had to see.”

  “Did it work?” I ask, curious despite myself.

  “She smacked me, but I think the coat hung there for a few moments first.”

  I can’t help but snort, slightly amused. “Lovely.” The detectives don’t seem impressed. “Anyway, to answer your question, they should all be dead.”

  “Could someone be killing again in their name?” Ian asks.

  “If you don’t mind, I want to see the bodies.”

  “They’re spread out throughout the nearby districts.”

  After the war between humans with abilities and humans without was over, there was also a shift in power. Each state still has law enforcement, like the police, who help keep peace, but there are no longer cities to protect. The cities shifted and changed into districts, where each has what is referred to as a boss. The “boss” of the district is generally whoever is fit to run it, usually someone of magical descent. They can run their districts as they please as long as they aren’t radical. The boss is generally the most powerful person in the area. People respect power because it keeps them safe from things outside of the district. The district bosses of each state belong to a council which meets when decisions have to be made. If one boss is not fit to run, the council can usurp them and find a new boss that will be a better fit.

  “Show me the closest body,” I say.

  “We will need to get you permission to see the body.”

  “Fine, get it as we head there,” I say as I grab the broom and sweep away the chalk.

  “Aren’t you sending him back?” Ravera asks.

  “Why’s that?” Havoc asks as he starts walking for her.

  “Come on,” I say as I wave to Sam and Ian. They head through the door as Havoc smiles at Ravera, who is no longer looking at him in fear. It is definitely a different emotion. Probably lust. I grab him by the hair and yank him after me. “Come on.”

  “This pretty little lady was just about to give me something I wanted,” he says.

  Ravera always has enjoyed playing with things she shouldn’t touch, and Havoc is more than happy to grant that wish.

  “Don’t care. Seduce girls on your own time,” I grumble.

  He laughs and follows after me as we step into the café. Everyone looks up at the sight of Havoc, but most are used to him, even if they’re still secretly terrified of him. Or terrified he’ll set his eyes on their girlfriend.

  “Yoko!” I call.

  “Coming!” she says as she peeks out of the kitchen. “Hey, Havoc!”

  “Hey doll,” he says with a wink. “Want to come home with me?”

  “Still engaged,” she says as she holds up her hand as proof.

  “You’re just worried that if you go home with me, you’ll realize how insignificant your fiancé is,” he says.

  “Um… I’m standing right here,” Baron, Yoko’s fiancé, says as he rings someone out.

  “Did I ask where you were standing?” Havoc asks.

  Baron shifts uncertainly. “No, but—”

  “Why did you choose such a weak creature?” Havoc asks curiously, even though Baron is taller and broader than him. Even so, I know that Havoc is more powerful.

  Yoko shakes her head, used to Havoc’s harassment. “I should’ve chosen you? You sample women like appetizers, and then throw them away like trash.”

  “I do, don’t I?” he asks with a grin.

  “That’s really not something to be proud of,” she says as she picks up a tray.

  I wave Havoc toward the door. “Yoko, we’re going with these two, we’ll be back in a few hours. If you need anything, call.”

  “Going out for a happy ending?” Yoko asks, and I laugh. The other two are not as impressed.

  Together, we head out to their vehicle, and I get into the back seat. Thankfully, Ravera decides she’s had enough and heads off.

  “Miles?” Havoc asks.

  “What do you want?” I ask.

  “Chocolate,” he says.

  I pull another chocolate bar out of my pocket and hand it to him. He rips it open and begins to break off each square, savoring every bite. Sometimes I feel that if it was between saving my life and a chocolate bar, there wouldn’t be a debate. Or a pretty woman. I’d be left there to die
. Ever since I gave him his first piece way back when, he’s had an odd addiction to the stuff. He says that there’s nothing that tastes like it in the demon world.

  Quite honestly, I’m not sure why I leave my life in Havoc’s hands when I really think about it.

  “You seem very concerned about this organization,” Sam says as he looks back at me from the passenger seat.

  He has no idea what he’s getting into if the organization has returned. “We can pray that it’s a copycat because if it’s not, we all need to worry.”

  “You think you’ll be able to tell by seeing the body?” he asks.

  “I can hope.”

  “So… you are a mage?” Ian asks, and I see him glance at me in the rearview mirror.

  “I am.”

  “So when you summon a demon such as… him, you can control him?” he asks.

  “Of course. I would never summon a demon I couldn’t control. Any mage with an ounce of magic can summon. Someone with the lowest level of magic can even summon someone from a much higher level than them if the demon wants to be summoned. You have to have a stronger spirit than the demon in order to summon it if the demon doesn’t want to come over. But if you are low level, you can possibly summon Iya, for example, because Iya loves to make messes. He would come because he wanted to, but the summoner wouldn’t be able to control him.”

  “How would you get him to return?” Sam asks curiously.

  “Find someone strong enough to force them to.”

  “Generally you?” he asks.

  “Yes.”

  “But what makes demons different from the others?” he asks.

  “Demons are very powerful, and most are very mischievous. Not all are bad, but they do like to cause chaos,” I say. “But what makes them different is that they generally have a mind of their own. The more human-like ones are smarter, which makes them more deadly. They are power hungry and bloodthirsty, so it’s good that demons stay in their realm and can only come up when asked of them.”