Page 16 of Capturing Sin

And I just let him go.

“Fuck!” I snarled, darting to check on Rhia instead.

It was against hunter code to let a demon escape, but I’d always choose protecting lives over taking them.

Moonlight cast a chalky complexion to her skin, dotted with raindrops like the night already mourned her loss. In vain hope, I pressed a hand to the wound in her throat.

Blood and ragged flesh met my fingers.

I heaved, stomach cramping at the slick sensation. Bile stung my throat, burning as I retched beside the downed hunter.

I spat thickly, clenched my jaw, and pushed my fingertips to the other side of her throat, even as the logical side of me knew she should have bled more from a neck wound that size.

No flutter answered my touch.

I let my hands fall away, wiping the blood off onto my trousers before the wet sensation could make me vomit again.

Rhia’s eyes were frozen wide with the terror of her final moments.

My head bowed with the weight of another death on my conscience.

Another person I couldn’t save.

If I’d been faster, or stronger, maybe things could have been different this time.

Drawing a shallow breath, I ignored the metallic tang and sour bile tainting the air and grabbed my phone from my pocket. I dialled the number for clean-up, quickly rattling off the location and details.

My uncle was many things, but he wasn’t stupid. If the authorities found too many suspicious bodies, they’d start digging into what caused such strange wounds.

Now another person would be listed as missing; another family would go without closure. We could hardly tell Rhia’s parents that a demon had murdered their child, or how the same monsters had killed their son too.

It was why she’d joined the hunters in the first place: witnessing a soul demon suck the life from her brother. A familiar story amongst the organisation that ruled my life.

Biting the inside of my cheek, I scrounged up the courage to really look at her.

She wasn’t much older than twenty, but laugh lines rimmed her bloodless lips. A cut diamond glinted on her dainty ring finger, even though protocol demanded we hunt bare of any accessories or identifiers.

Guilt carved deeper into my chest. Somebody out there loved her. Waited for her to come home.

Would they have fought the demon to save her?

Car brakes squeaked, and I stood, shoving back the depressing thoughts.

The hunters were nothing if not efficient. A van blocked the end of the alley, parking straight over the pavement to lower the risk of being seen. I lifted Rhia’s cooling body into my arms, thankful I’d kept up with most of my training, and carried her away from the violent scene.

The vehicle’s side door slid open, and I wordlessly handed Rhia over to the stout man in coveralls lurking inside.

“That’s the second of ours tonight.” His upper lip curled. “No monster to dispose of too?”

My throat closed off, leaving me with a blank stare to offer in response. He sighed and, with a harsh slam, closed the door, and the vehicle peeled away.

I lingered in the alley, stewing in my guilt. In the what-ifs.

Not all demons were good. In fact, most I’d encountered were attacking people.

How many more would die with fangs in their throat?

If feeding on Rhia had hurt that demon, she’d still be alive. The compound my uncle was pushing to develop incapacitated demons. If it was in human blood, death by fang would be a thing of the past.

---