Breed of Envy (The Breed Chronicles, #02) (35 page)

I didn’t squirm, but I did stand up and shift the demon in my arms for cover, like it’d protect me or at least cover more of me. And when Brian kept staring, I turned away.

Peter had his tablet in hand, rapidly typing on the screen. He paused when he was finished and looked around. There was a minute delay before his eyes went back to the screen and he nodded to himself as he typed again. “Okay,” he said after he’d typed his new message. “Dale is trying to find somewhere to park closer to here, then he’ll be along to help carry the demons back. Jade, you think you can keep that one contained until then?”

Since ‘that one’ was currently snoring in my ear again, I didn’t think that’d be a real problem. My hand was running in circles over the demon’s back. I stopped and dropped it to the side when I realized what I was doing. “Yeah,” I said, nodding and fighting a grin. The snore was oddly human-like and almost soothing.

Dale showed up about twenty minutes later. He eyed the two unconscious demons on the ground, then did a double take when he saw me. “Did I miss something?”

I shrugged my free shoulder.

Adam grinned. “We’ve got ourselves a demon whisperer,” he said. “We’ll tell you about it later.”

Scratching the side of his head, Dale shot me another look, shrugged, and then went to help Peter and Harry with the first demon. Adam, Linc, and Brian carried the second while I followed behind with mini-demon.

The trek out of the swamp wasn’t nearly as long as it had been going in, but because everyone was carrying a demon, it still took a while with awkward steps to avoid things, grunts when someone lost their footing, and muttered curses about ‘damn dead weight’.

It shouldn’t have amused me, since I was carrying the least heavy load, but it was fun to watch the others struggle. Apparently, Sercoons were a lot heavier than they looked. Of course, if baby demon was any indication, I should’ve known that. He had to weigh at least twenty pr thirty pounds. It wasn’t that heavy, but walking through water and mud, trying to go up little hills, all while avoiding walking into any trees, made him (or her) seem that much heavier.

By the time we made it back to the van, my shoulder and arm were asleep and tingly with numbness. My shoes made squishy sounds with every step, and I was pretty sure the demon was drooling on me.

Dale spun around after loading the first demon into the van. “Okay, what the heck is that sound?”

I dodged his look and pulled a Linc by studying some far off place. I didn’t whistle under my breath (dead give away), but it was close.

“Jade?”

I turned around slowly, trying to make sure I kept my face expressionless. “Yeah?”

Peter had his arms crossed over his chest. “Want to tell him what the sound is?”

“Uh, it’s just…me.” He gave me a try-again look. “Fine. It’s the little guy. He’s snoring.”

Dale scoffed. “A snoring demon? Now that’s a new one.”

Once the bigger two demons were safely in the back of the van, Adam faced me. “Guess it’s his or her turn.” He shot Dale a smile. “You’re up.”

Dale eyed me warily. His eyes flicked over the demon, but he didn't say anything for a minute, just stared. He let out a huff of air, then made a grab for the demon. He had it picked up before it stirred and let out a growl. “Oh, hell no.” He shoved the baby back into my arms and stepped away quickly.

Behind him, Adam chuckled. “Scared of a little demon, Dale?”

He made a sound. “Never before, but that baby gives me the creeps.”

“It's just a baby,” I said, feeling like I had to defend it. No one else would. “It's not going to hurt you.”
Yet
. I could see them all thinking it.

“Yeah, well then, you put it in there with the others.”

“Fine.” I walked to the back of the van. The parents were already secured in the cages. I studied them for a second.

“What, are you going to try to ride back with them?” Brian asked, disbelief in his tone.

“No. I'm just trying to figure out which is his mom.”

Adam, Linc, and Peter all laughed. “Only you, Hall,” Linc said.

I glared at him and then went back to studying the demons. The one on the right seemed more feminine, maybe, or at least a little smaller. I shrugged. “Come on. Time to go to mommy, little guy.” Its little arms tightened around my neck, so I leaned over, closer to its mom so he could see her. He sniffed the air again and his eyes went to my face like he couldn't decide what to do.

Behind me, Brian made impatient sounds. “Come on. Just toss its butt in there.”

Ignoring him, I pried the demons arms from my neck and put him next to what I hoped was his mom. He looked at her, then stared up at me for another minute before curling into his mom’s side. I shut the cage door and angled my body away from the guys so I could give the little guy a wave without the others seeing me.

“I can't decide if this has been the coolest hunt or just the most odd,” Adam said. “Maybe both.” His head shook. “We come for two demons, get three, and find out one of Prospects is a freaking demon whisperer. Cool, but odd.”

Peter walked to the other van and motioned for us to follow. “We're all alive and in one piece. Plus, we got what we came for. So all in all, I say we just call it a good hunt.”

Everyone seemed to agree with that assessment and piled in the back of the van while Dale got in the front of ours and Harry walked to the van with the demons.

Almost immediately, Adam swiped my pillow from me. I raised my eyebrows at him. “Can't handle a little bumpy trip?” I asked, remembering last Phase when all of them acted like the trip hadn't bothered them at all.

He glared at me. “I had my head nearly bashed in, Demon Whisperer. I can use it.”

“I don't mind. Unlike you guys, I'm nice.”

He scoffed, which tempted me to snatch my pillow back from him and make him ride out in discomfort. But I
was
nice. I proved it by letting him keep the pillow and only kicked him in the shin.

“You've got a mean streak,” he said.

Beside him, Linc nodded. “You're just now noticing that? I’ve known since the day she joined.”

Smiling to myself, I closed my eyes. Casually, I said, “Keep it up.” I opened one eye to see their reaction. “Maybe I’ll whisper a few commands to those demons, then we’ll see how mean my streak really is.”

Linc just shook his head, like he didn’t think I’d do it. Adam just continued to glare. Through the small window on the panel that separated the cab of the van from the back, I saw Dale look into his rear view mirror. Him and Peter exchanged unreadable glances.

For a second, I had the weird thought that maybe they’d actually believed my threat. But that was insane, wasn’t it? It wasn’t like I could actually control demons—even the Sercoons, though they seemed to react to me weirdly. It wasn’t that weird, I told myself. I was just the only girl of the group and the only one who hadn’t really tried scaring them. Plus, I hardly looked that intimidating. They’d just sensed that I wasn’t trying to hurt them. That was all.

But I couldn’t shake the feeling—however illogical I knew it was—that Peter and Dale really believed I could, or would, control a demon.

*~*~*

When we got back to the CGE, Greene was waiting for us out front, along with some agents and scientists. A few small groups of Prospects hanging out at the track spotted the vans and stopped what they were doing to watch our arrival.

Peter was the first out. He went to the other van, opened the back, and then stepped away. The two bigger demons were still knocked-out cold, but the baby demon was watching everyone warily from behind his mom. It reached its hand out through one of the bars when it saw me and waggled its three claw-fingers. I walked up to it and took its hand.

I hadn’t realized what I’d done until the agents all pulled weapons from their belts and the scientists took steps back. I blinked at them. “Sorry. It’s okay. It won’t hurt me.” I didn’t know why I was so certain of that. So far it hadn’t attacked me, but there was nothing that said it wouldn’t now.

“She’s the Demon Whisperer,” Adam said happily.

Greene eyed me, then looked to Peter. Peter shrugged. “It seems to be…attached to her,” he said slowly.

“It’s not attached to me,” I said. “I’m just not as threatening as you guys or something.” Suddenly, I felt like I had to defend
myself
. Now I was kind of paranoid that everyone would think I liked demons. I didn’t, not really, but babies were babies, damnit.

Even if they did grow up to be monsters.

“That is entirely possible,” Greene said with a short nod. “You were the only female in the group, so I suppose it is possible.”

I wanted to believe he meant that, since I’d used that exact reasoning myself, but there was something in his tone, something that said he wasn’t telling me the truth, or at least the whole truth. He seemed to like keeping things from me, so I wasn’t sure what to believe.

Or maybe I was just being paranoid. Today had been an all around weird day.

Still holding the little demon’s hand, I squared my shoulders and faced the small group of scientists. “You guys aren’t going to hurt it, are you?” I asked, hoping I wouldn’t regret the answer.

One of the scientists stepped forward. She had black hair and light brown eyes. Giving me a small smile, she shook her head. “No. I’m Sylvia Longstrum. I’ll be one of the scientists in charge of researching the demons, and I assure you, we will do our best not to hurt it—or any of them. Having a baby around might actually help our research and teach us more about the dynamics of a demon family. They’re rare, and getting close enough to study one is even rarer. Demons, like wild animals, are generally more protective of their young and fight harder for them, so getting close without being seen or observed is nearly impossible. This might prove to be helpful.”

I glared in Brian’s direction. “See? Told you we shouldn’t have killed it or just left it there.”

Brian gave me a shrug that clearly said
Whatever
and didn’t say anything. The shrug was answer enough. Even knowing the scientists were okay with it, he still thought it was probably a dumb idea to have saved it.

Linc, as his new routine of avoidance when it came to disagreements, was looking elsewhere and pretending we didn’t exist. I almost yelled at him, but unfortunately, some of the Prospects who’d been on the track started to wander over. Half a dozen of them spotted me holding the demon’s hand before I had a chance to drop it. They gave me weird looks, which weren’t at all unexpected but still annoying. I clamped my teeth together to avoid saying something that’d just draw more attention to myself. Of course, considering Rachel and her lot were among those who saw me, I wasn’t sure that was even possible.

Well, that’s going to go over well
, I thought with a sigh.

Greene watched the small crowd approach. He motioned to the agents and the scientists. “Let’s get them inside, please.”

“Need help with the baby?”

Greene and the scientist lady—Sylvia—smiled down at me. “Miss Hall, is it?” she asked. I nodded. “I think we can handle it, but thank you.”

The demon baby looked at me, its big, brown eyes wide with confusion. I shoved my hands into my pockets to keep them still, otherwise I probably would have grabbed its hand again. The poor thing was probably terrified. Who could blame it? The small crowd that had gathered seemed to multiply. All around me, kids were whispering or muttering, and most of what I was hearing wasn’t that friendly.

I couldn’t blame them, either.

And if I was being honest with myself, I didn’t know why I had suddenly turned into a demon advocate. They were creatures who, for the most part, lived to kill.

So why had
I
formed a bond with one?

Shaking my head, I turned and walked away. I’d barely gone two steps before the baby demon started making a terrible sound, a mix between a high-pitched cry and mewl of a cat. And then I heard banging sounds and vicious swears.

I kept walking until I heard my name called. Slyvia motioned me back. She had a wry look on her face. “Maybe we could use some help after all. If he keeps that up, he might wake his parents or himself. Think you can use the Knock-Out Gloves on him? You might be the only one here who can get close enough without getting hurt.”

I hesitated and then whispered, “It won’t hurt him?”

She shook her head and whispered back. “Just touch him with a finger. That should be enough to knock him out. Otherwise, we’ll have to find other means to do it.”

I nodded and put one of the Knock-Out Gloves back on. Behind me, I heard more whispers, but this time, they were about me. “What is she doing?” and “Is she insane?” were among them.

Ignoring them, I walked up to the cage and made shhh sounds at the demon, though I needn’t have bothered. As soon as I was close, it stopped the sounds and crawled back to the bars, reaching through to grab me. “Sorry, little guy,” I said, and held out one finger with my gloved hand. The baby grabbed it immediately, holding on for dear life. I swallowed back a lump. Its eyes started to get droopy and it blinked heavily as it bobbed side to side. It took another minute before the baby succumbed and passed out across his mom.

Carefully, I tucked his little hand back into the bars to make sure it didn’t get stuck or hit.

When I turned back around, everyone was staring at me. A few expressions held impressed looks; others weren’t so reassuring. A few Prospects backed away from me wordlessly. Backed away might’ve been generous. They scattered. One moved so fast that she tripped over the guy behind her and landed on her butt.

I almost laughed—not because the chick fell, but because of the general stares I was getting.

I sighed. If they hadn’t thought I was weird before, they definitely would now.

*~*~*

“There you are.”

I glanced over my shoulder and found Linc standing in the doorway. “Here I am.”

He didn’t move. “What’s wrong? What are you doing in here?”

The suspiciousness in his tone had me biting back a growl. “Working out,” I muttered.

After getting all the weird looks from everyone earlier, I’d just needed some time to myself. I’d gone to the catwalk for a while, but even that hadn’t helped much. So I’d headed up to the gym. I figured an hour on the punching would help calm my nerves, but so far it hadn’t.