Page 7 of Thane's Demon
The name followed me through the room in hushed murmurs, an unspoken warning. Men stepped back instinctively as I passed, some bowing their heads as if acknowledging something holy in reverse. Others kept their gazes fixed on the floor, terrified to accidentally meet mine. The demon inside me purred at the recognition, feeding off the tension that thickened with every step I took through the thrumming darkness.
One voice rose above the rest, low and careless, belonging to someone too new to understand the danger in this world. A young recruit leaned toward his friend and whispered something in Mandarin, assuming I would not hear, but I translated it in my mind.
“I thought he was just a man,” he said, trying to mask his uncertainty with bravado.
The demon reacted instantly, a sharp ripple of hunger and amusement crawling beneath my skin, pushing me to show him exactly how wrong he was. Without hesitation, I reached out, grabbing the front of his shirt and lifting him effortlessly off the ground. His eyes widened in terror, the moment stretching long and tense as the surrounding noise seemed to dim. Everyone within reach turned toward us, their gazes locked and unblinking. I brought him close enough that he could see the faint glint of blue light flickering in my eyes, a warning he had no name for but understood instinctively.
“Say it again,”I rumbled, my voice low enough that only he and the demon tearing at my insides could hear it.
“Please… I didn’t… mean…”
“I want to hear you say it,”I growled again, and he tried to swallow, but his throat locked tight. Panic poured off him in waves, thick and overwhelming. His friend shifted forward, as if he might defend him or beg for mercy, but the fear radiating from him told me even he knew it was too late. I let my aura roll out slowly, not enough to break the kid, but enough to smother the air around us and crush the sound from the world. The recruit trembled violently, forcing out my name.
“Hei Mo.”
I grinned when I finally released him, dropping him onto his knees, where he gasped for breath he could not seem to draw fast enough.
Satisfied, I stepped back, watching the way the crowd retreated further from me, carving out a clearing in the room without a single word exchanged. The demon inside me curled in contentment, savoring the taste of fear that still lingered on the recruit’s skin and in the air around him.
A slow clap broke the tension, echoing from the balcony above. Xue Long descended the stairs with calculated grace, his finely tailored suit catching the light while his expression hovered between approval and apprehension. He always dressed like a man auditioning for power. His ink-black hair slicked neatly away from a sharp, angular face, his cheekbones carved like he could cut himself on them. Dark eyes that tried to convey authority but could never hide the flicker of dread deep within.
His skin held that pale, porcelain smoothness, typical among Shanghai’s elite. But the faint shadows beneath his eyes betrayed long nights spent pretending he wasn’t terrified of the monsters he employed. Even his posture, straight and refined, had the brittle edge of someone who knew he could shatter if pushed the wrong way. He carried himself with the confidence of a man who believed he commanded this place, but the quiet falter in his heartbeat betrayed him. He felt the truth in the air, a truth he could never escape, no matter how he tried to hide it. He feared me, more deeply than he feared anyone else.
“Hei Mo,” Xue said, his voice smooth but carefully controlled, “Always a pleasure to watch you work.”
“It was not work,” I replied, letting the words settle heavily between us.
He offered a thin smile and motioned for me to follow him. We walked down a private corridor, the noise of the club fading behind the thick soundproofing until only the rhythm of his unsteady breathing filled the space. My demon fed on his unease, curling around my spine in dark satisfaction. Xue tried to mask it, but I could taste fear as easily as most men tasted their food. It coated the air around him in a bitter, almost sweet tang.
He brought me into his office, a dimly lit room cluttered with expensive furniture and lacquered cabinets. The place was meant to impress, to project wealth and authority, but the effectwas suffocating rather than grand. Heavy velvet curtains draped over the windows, blocking out the city's neon glow and trapping the stale scent of cologne and old cigar smoke.
A jade dragon statue sat coiled atop a polished credenza, its eyes catching what little light there was and gleaming like they could see straight through a man’s soul. Framed calligraphy lined the walls, phrases about power, prosperity, discipline. Most of the characters were smudged from humidity or careless cleaning, cheap reproductions pretending to be priceless originals.
The desk at the center was an oversized slab of dark wood, lacquered to a near mirror finish. Its top was covered with papers and gold-trimmed folders stacked in uneven piles across its surface as if he wanted to look busy rather than actually be so. A low leather sofa sat pushed into the corner, too stiff to be comfortable and too pristine to have ever been used. The whole room vibrated with the insecurity of someone trying too hard to disguise his fear with luxury.
He moved behind his desk with a calm he attempted to project but could not fully manage, and my demon growled in quiet amusement at the effort.
“I have a new job for you,” Xue said, reaching into a drawer and retrieving a manila file folder. He slid it across the polished wood, though he hesitated just a fraction before letting it go, as if fearing to get too close to me should I suddenly reach out and snatch it.
The file settled directly in front of me, and something in my chest tightened. It pulsed faintly beneath my fingers, calling to my demon with an almost magnetic force. I flipped it open, revealing a grainy photograph, an identification, a location, and a name that meant nothing to me. But it would. The demon stirred restlessly, sensing that something in these pages mattered, even if I did not yet understand how.
“When do you want it done?” I asked, keeping my voice flat.
Xue watched me, his eyes calculating.
“Tonight.”
My demon purred with anticipation, pleased with the violence promised in that single word. I closed the file slowly, already feeling the pull of the night curling around me, already sensing that this job was going to change everything in ways I could not yet see. Again, the feeling that Fate had me in its cosmic grasp was something I couldn’t shake.
It clung to me like a shadow, whispering that the path ahead would not be simple, that the threads being woven around me were older and darker than the city I hunted in. Something was shifting. Something was aligning. And whether I wanted it or not, I knew I was already standing at the edge of whatever storm was coming.
Tonight wasn’t just another job.
It was the beginning of something I could no longer outrun.
The question was…
Would my demon fight it?
