The Demonhunters

This is somewhat of an “otherworldly” story.  It takes place somewhere, could be Earth or another planet, I haven’t really developed that part of the story fully so it’s open for interpretation at this point.

Never thought I would carry the title “Demon Hunter”.  But it’s become my professional title lately.  If the nasty creatures would just stay down in the bowels of hell where they were spawned, my life would be a whole lot easier!
Of course, that would mean I’d have to give up my partner.  Yes, I work with him. He’s an angel.  Dantei  is his name.  Did I mention he’ gorgeous?  They all are.  Angel, that is.  He’s tall, 6’7’’.  They have to be, to accommodate the long set of freaking wings tha hang off their backs.  They are awesome, the wings that is.  They glow like a pearl; Dantei’s have a a pale bluish color at the base of each feather,  They look incredibly delicate but are actually very tough. 
So he also has an aswesome chest and set of shoulder to operate those things.  He has dark hair that falls almost to his shoulders.  When the sunlight hits it, there are strands of deep purple and blue in it; it almost makes him glow.  Speaking of blue, he has the bluest eyes; they remind me of a tropical sea you could  just swim asway in. 
Yes, he is gorgeous, but he’s also damn good at what he does.  He destroys demons.  Together we make a pretty epic team.  We didn’t always get on so well.  In fact, wwhen we first met I thought we might end up enemies more than friends.  For the most part we’ve worked through all that.  Now I consider him my friend.  More than that, he is my family, I trust him like no one else.  He has my heart.
There’s the catch  He’s an angel.  I’m human.  Oh there’s an attraction there alright!  But there’s a rule somebody layed down eons ago that forbids Angels from carrying on with us humans in that way.  If they do, they fall from grace.  I’m not exactly sure what happens but it must be terrible, the few times Dantei s spoken of it, the anguish in his face has haunted me!  So we just “deal” with the attraction there for now.
The first time I ever saw Dantei, I was living outside of a small town, Ridgeville.  Quiet place, country setting, dry climate.  Mostly poor farmers.  The own consisted of a store, the local bar, a blacksmith.  That was about it.  Your average Podunk town.
I had lived alone there ever since my mentor, the man who raised me, had died.  Traif.  He had been a master in the art of Tae Rue, a form of marshal arts.  By the time of his death, I had become the master, taking his place. 
Tae Rue is all about speed and agility.  Being able to fly with no wings.  Striking hard and fast, with deadly force, then moving your ass out of the way.  You learn to protect yourself, but it really is about finishing off your opponent quickly,; these fights tend to be over in a few seconds.  It is unlike any of the other martial arts.  The training is all-consuming, intense, incredibly hard and disciplined, and very rewarding.
I was in top physical condition.  I am 5’7’’, 120 lbs.  There isn’t a man in this land that would even think of taking me on!  There has been a few that thought they might try, the results were enough to discourage  even the rebels from the south. So my village had been relatively safe from marauding tribes that wreaking havoc on the rest of the countryside.
I was at home one morning, working out.  A knock at the door interrupted me.  I never had visitors so I was a little shocked to say the least.  I opened the door to see the town contanople standing outside my door.
I opened thedoor and stared at him.  His name was Rhinewald.  He cleared his throat; I could tell he was nerveous. 
“Hello, I’m sorry to impose on you this morning, Ms DuCharme, would it be possible to have a word with you?”  I couldn’t imagine what he would want to talk to me about, but I opened the door, gesturing him inside.  He followed me down to the arena.  My whole life had been about the practice and the art of Tae Rue, I wasn’t into the social graces of entertaining or having friends over.  In fact, this was the first visitor I could ever recall having been inside my home.
I had been doing my dailey moves in the arena, a large dirt floor, pounded smooth by all the practices I ahd done there.  He followed  me down nd I motioned to a bench against one wall.  I moved  to the middle and began my moves, slowly and fluidly, from one to the next.
“Please, speak your mind Constiple” .  He watched me for a moment, I could see the respect a awe in his eyes.  I tried to shut it out.  Being proud was a fault.  Being sure of yourself was one thing, but do not strut in prideful ways. 
“I don’t know if you are aware that the Priest from the church, Father Carreth, has been kidnapped.”
“How do you know?” I interrupted.
“How do I know what?”
“How do you know he’s been kidnapped”
“Ms DuCharme, it was broad daylight, day before yesterday.  He was at the church when a wagona dn a team caamee tearing through the south end of twn.  They pulled up to the side door of the church, kicked through the door and hauled him out!  He lost a shoe as they drug him away  Then they tore out of own.  We received their demands this morning.”  Rhinewald hung his head, I could tell this deeply bothered him.  I turned to face him.  I knew Father Carrett, he was a good man.  He had been good for the community.  They had take someone who meant something to a lot of people
“What are their demands?”  I asked.
“They want the first-born male children from the town folk. “  At this Rhinewald’s eyes teared up.  I remembered he had a son, a fist born.  The anguish it was causing him was real.  But I still didn’t kknow what this had to do with me
“Why do you tell me this?  I felt for him, but really, what could I do?
“We…we have heard you are a Tae Rue master.  We were hoping you would join forces with another of the town’s ..ahh..gaurdians and bring back Father Carrott.”
I didn’t speak for a moment.  Then I asked, “Who is this other person?”
“He is very qualified at what he does, I can assure of that.  Yes, the ah.. elders held a meeting and decided that with your help and his, we might  be able to get Father Garrett back without paying their demands.  His name is Dantei.  He is an angel.
That caught me by surprise.  I stopped in the middle of the move and walked closer to him.  “an Angel?”  I had heard they lived among us at times but I had never seen one.  “Why do you think the two of us could do this?”
“Ms DuCharme, you are trained to fight demons.  He is a demon destroyer.  Naturally we thought the two of you together stood the best chance of rescueing  Father Garrett.  We will pay you!”
He threw this in as enticement, but this was a poor community, it couldn’t be much.  “What could you pay me?”
He looked down at his hands, “The cross by the alter.  It is 14 k gold. It is worth a lot of money.”
“Phsss, I don’t need that cross, what am I supposed to do?  Melt it down?  A holy symbol of the church?  I’ll tell you what I will take in payment,”  I paused for a moment, then looked him in the eye.  I want the gray gazing crystal that sits behind the church by the old fountain.”
It was a round stone, a crystal.  It sat outside by this fountain that no one ever visited, I knew what it could do though.
“That rock?  You want that rock”  He sounded very surprised.
“Yes”  I didn’t explain myself.
“Yes, Yes of course you can have it.  Not a problem.  So we have a deal?”
He held out his hand to me and I shool it.  Then he handed me two leather scrolls, “This is all the information on other, similar incidents like this that have taken place.  Perhaps it will give you some insight.  The second scroll is for operating expenses, some coin and a pledge you can use if need be.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.  Meet at the South drawbridge at 7:00 am”
“Alright , tell him I’ll be there.”
Once he was gone, I layed out the scrolls and read every word.  The rebel forces had definitely been busy over the last 6 months.  They ahd kidnapped 7 holy men.  They had killed 4 of them.  The odds were against Father Garritt .
I immediately began to get my things together.  I traveled light, but I always checked everything over thoroughly.  In the middle of a death grip with a demon, was not the timeto find out the protective coating on your clothes had worn off, or that you suddenly couldn’t remember the words to your own magik.
After that, I practiced.  I pushed myself hard.  I could hear old Traif’s words in my head.  Endurance, aeobic, weights; by the time the sun was setting, I was drenched in sweat but ready.  I was headed for a bath!  I made it ice and hot; soak those overworked muscles.  Lathering my hair, I wondered when the next time I would have this luxury would be.  Out on the road, personal hygiene tended to take a back seat.
As I drained the water, I decided I might as well give myself the royal treatment.  Fumbling through my cupboard, I found my bottle of special lotion.  An old knome made this especially for me.  I didn’t know what was in it, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to; but it was awesome!  Soon I had the skin of a newborn babe.  It would stay that way fr days.  When I finally crawled into bed, I was asleep befor I hit the pillow.
Next morning I was up, dressed, had breakfast and was walking out the door by 6:30.  I didn’t hurry, but kept a steady stride to my walk.  It never looked good to appear hurried.
I hadn’t thought too much about the angel, but now my curiosity began to grow.  As I approached the bridge I could see him standing there.  Dantei.  I should have asked about his looks.  We were definitely not going to go unnoticed walking through strange towns!
I have been called beautiful.  I don’t know, the only mirrors I have are for practicing.  It’s not like I ever go out anywhere or try to be noticed either.  But I have seen the shcok and appraisal in men’s eyes.  It is even more shocking to them when I have them pinned and am about to disembowel them.  They discount you because of your looks, and because I am a woman.  This can work in my favor.  Usually though, I play down my looks.  I have a bolero hat that I sometimes wear to cover my face in shadow.  But the angel standing on the bridge resembled some greek god, there was just no way  we would pass unnoticed.
He turned, watching me approach.  His brows were drawntogether in a scowl.  As I came up to him I met the gaze of those eyes.  I felt the pull of his magic immediately.  I was able to block it with myown.  This made his eyebrows raise slightly
“Well the constiple said you were uncannily good.  So far he hasn’t over-estimated you.”  I stopped and looked up at him.  “I am good.  But he asked me to work with you as a team.  If you have any doubts,  Mr Dantei, now would probably be a good time to air them”.
“I’m sorry, Rayne is it?”  I knodded.  “I didn’t mean to give theimpression I doubted your abilities in any way.”  Then he began to pace slowly in front of me.  “I have heard from the Angel of this sector that you are a force to be reckoned with.  Your name alone makes most demons clear out before you arrive.”
“Well I don’t know about that.  But I have been doing this my whole life.  Father Garrett is well loved around here.  There is no sense in this violence, we cannot  let it continue.”
Dantei went on to explain that he had been flying around the area, scoping things out.  He had located the spot where they were holding him.  It was 15 miles as the crow fly, 45 by the road.  I just stared at him.  How did he expect me to fly there?  What a silly plan!
He eyed the sword I carry at my side, it hangs to just above my right ankle. 
“That might be a problem when we land, you may have to hold it up.”  I looked at him like he was touched, what on earth was he talking about?  He could see by my face that obviously I wasn’t following him. 
“With your permission, I think it would be fastest if you allowed me to carry you.  We can sneak in above their defenses, then land and catch them by surprise.  We can be there in 10 minutes.”
I chuckled, and was knodding yes, that sounded like a wonderful plan.  If one was crazy!  That constiple was so dead when I got back!  But before I knew what was happening, he scooped me up in his arms and we were in the air.  Without a moments hesitation, I threw my arms around his neck and buried my face there.  The only sound was the wind whistling past.  When we didn’t immediately plummet back to earth, I dared a peak.  I had never flown before, it was breathtaking!  A small sound escaped my lips, he turned towards me and smiled, “What do you think?”
Looking around me I couldn’t believe where I was.  “It’s unbelievable! So beautiful, I’ve never experienced anything like it!”
“I’m glad you like it.”  As we grew nearer to the spot, he had me pull my sword up onto my lap.  I kept a death grip around his neck with one arm.  He smiled, “Don’t worry, I won’t drop you.”  Then the ground was looming up at us and he lowered himself to theearth and set me down.
Immediately there was a cry to my left.  I crouched down and was moving, he signaled that he would cover the other side.  They had seen us come in, and understandably were a bit freaked out.  This worked to our advantage.  There was a lot of chaos; everyone had been taken by surprise by this.  I saw Father Garrett then, huddled in a corner of a cave, his legs and hands bound, his mouth gaged.  The sight of this filled me with anger, and I motioned to Dantei that I was going in after him.  Rushing in, I quickly took out two men that had been trying to block me.  Someone was rushing me from my left but then I heard a strangled sort of cry, it stopped and I didn’t even turn my head.  I reached the Father, pulling my knife from my boot, I quickly removed his restraints, he pulled the gage down from his mouth.  Once he was free, I turned to figure the best way out of there and there stood Danei.  No one was left standing.  I couldn’t believe it, we had taken them all and it had been so easy!