Blue Flames

Bonus Chapter 1: First Meeting

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"The demon has struck again," Harvey said from the front seat. "And this time, it's in the middle of a busy street. You should see this."

I accepted the phone. We were driving to the Order's headquarters. I needed to have a word with George, and this case was proving to be a nice distraction from the fatal monotony into which my life had fallen.

Charles was driving the car, Harvey next to him while I took the backseat. Harvey's phone displayed a video. I pressed play.

The screen showed a shaky footage of a gory fight between a small, blonde individual and what looked like a horde of demons. The blond head turned. It was a woman. One who moved like she was born with a blade in her hands.

A slow smile stretched my face. Well, well, well. Who was this little firefly? "This is the human?"

"Yes," Harvey replied. "Quite a good fighter, isn't she? Very intriguing."

That was an understatement. Watching her weave her way through a pack of demons was fascinating. Her body moved with an agility that belied years of ruthless practice. She didn't fight like a human, she fought like an immortal.

I leaned back in my seat and played the video again. Intriguing, indeed. Her weapons of choice were mostly blades. That, in itself, was telling. Most humans relied a lot on guns, even when faced with an immortal who wouldn't be harmed by a normal bullet. It was a psychological thing, humans subconsciously felt safer with a gun.

This little human didn't even have a gun on her. Watching her dance with the blades, I wondered how spectacular she would be with a sword.

Darkness had fallen by the time we reached the Order's headquarters. Harvey left to take care of some matters, and Charles and I made our way inside.

There was a big number of young immortals among the agents of the Order. The Order was an institution I had put into place to handle rogue immortals and cases that straddle the line between the human and the immortal world. How long had it been since the last time I checked on how it was going? How long had it been since I'd last walked through these doors? Years. Decades. Guilt nipped at my good mood. I shouldn't have left things unsupervised this long.

Immortals stopped and looked as we walked through the front doors. Faces paled, breaths caught, and people bowed their heads.

George would have ample warning we were coming. Charles and I got into the elevator. The people who'd been waiting for it didn't get in with us. Sometimes I wondered what they thought I'd do, devour them in a fit of unprovoked rage? But other people's fear never bothered me, it was even necessary sometimes. Immortals needed a bigger monster to stay in line.

"What do you think about the human?" I asked Charles. He was young, and his youth often gave him a perspective I needed.

"She's a good fighter, from what I've seen," he replied. "But I spoke to Jesse. He confirmed she's just a human. Maybe someone trained her well? An immortal?"

"Hmm, perhaps." But my instincts told me otherwise. Or maybe it was just my wishful thinking; wanting there to be more to her than what met the eye in order to break this long spell of ennui.

The elevator doors opened. We made our way to George's office. His receptionist stood wooden behind her desk, her skin chalky with fear. The receptionist downstairs must have warned her of our arrival.

George opened the door to his office as we approached. He stepped aside and bowed his head. "Sire."

"George," I said, walking past him inside. His office was dimly lit, the glow of the floor lamp in the corner the only light.