Chapter 1 - Safe House

24th of May, 2018

The wound was beginning to seal, but still leaked blood from time to time. The pain was still too great to fly, even though his wings were still too weak anyway.

Kristen Hunter turned from side to side, kicking at nothing and snarling like a great beast while he slept. Nightmares had plagued him since he was only 4 years old, barely able to control his demon anatomy consisting of horns, wings, a tail, and fangs. He finally awoke, breathing out smoke from his nostrils, calming the raging fire contained within him. His breathing ragged, Kristen slowly sat up and dragged himself over to the lake on his hands and knees, taking in mouthfuls of fresh, icy cold water. He was slowly regaining his strength the three days he'd been resting out here in Briar Reserve near the lake, waiting until his wings were able to carry him back to a demon safe house.

Demon safe houses were usually normal-looking households. They lived on a normal human street and looked quite modern, except for the fact the blood, fire and demons were always cloaked with an invisibility glamour. The owners were demons themselves that lived like normal humans: Going to work, taking their kids to school or daycare, going out for drinks, having friends over. But they kept to themselves, only allowing sick, injured or hiding demons refugein their walls.

Kristen gently touched the bullet wound in his shoulder, wincing at the pain that shot through him. He sniffed at himself and cringed at how horrific the stench was. Quickly undressing he slipped into the water, scrubbing at his face with his fingernails and washing away the blood that still coated him. Kristen couldn't remember the last time he'd felt safe enough to bathe. He had always had to keep moving from one safe house to another since he was 14 when the Demon Hunters had found his parents and tortured them while he'd been at a party in a bar, lying about his age and getting drunk. He'd wandered home to find his parents almost unrecognizable, mangled bodies upstairs in the closet, faces still contorted in pain. Kristen began to shake uncontrollably, tears like shooting stars rolling down his cheeks. The memory of the last thing he'd said to them burned in his mind...

You're the crappiest parents anyone could have asked for! I hate you! I hate you, I HATE you, I HATE YOU!

He began sobbing hard, pulling his knees in and hugging them tight to his ***** body, dropping his head to his knees and then lifting it up a short time later, screaming across the lake so loud all the chitting and chattering of the crickets, bugs and all the night animals seemed to stop in fear of his voice. At the end of Kristen's scream his voice broke and he cried the hardest he had in a long while. About an hour later he silently got up and stared at the moon, seeming to search for an answer to some question that he could never answer. He trod back onto the lush, soft green grass, still dripping wet. He shoved his underwear and pants back on buckling up his belt and walking over to a tree branch he'd used as a temporary clothesline, taking his now clean white shirt and sky blue retro batman hoodie off the branch and shoving it violently back on over his head. Kristen stalked back to the makeshift bed he'd made out of leaves and grass, like a bird's nest. Laying down and closing his eyes, he shut all thoughts of his parents back away in the vault at the back of his mind, thinking instead about how he was going to manage getting back to a safe house with the state that his wings were in. Kristen drifted off the sleep thinking about the possibilities.

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