What Lay in the Dark

16. The Young and the Restless

"Ailia," a voice called. I looked around to find Detective Waters approaching me. "Do you mind if I walk with you?" 

"I need to get to work," I replied, checking my watch. It had been a week since Ashleigh's body was found and the presence of the Detective hovering over us all the time had become quite annoying.  

"That's fine. We can walk to your work." 

I nodded and we began walking down the street towards the newspaper office. 

"I wanted to talk to you about your boyfriend." 

"What about him?" 

"Egan has a habit of showing up where he's not wanted. If something bad happens here, you can almost guarantee that he'll be involved somehow." 

"What's your point?" 

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into. Egan's up to something. He's been up to it for years. I don't know what it is, but I highly doubt it's good. I want you to be aware of that." 

"I appreciate your concern, but I think I know Egan well enough." 

The Detective stopped walking and turned to me, "I'm closing Ashleigh's case as a suicide. You and Egan are free to leave town but remember; your boyfriend gets himself into a lot of suspicious activity. I'll be watching him very closely wherever he goes. You should keep that in mind before getting yourself involved." 

I nodded and Detective Waters left. I watched her walk away and wondered how much trouble Egan was really in. 

 

"I'm going back to Ireland." Michael announced. "Demonic activity is picking up. I need to get back there before it gets out of control. He sat opposite me at the table with a serious expression on his face. He looked around the room, "Is Egan around?" 

"He's still working," I told him. 

"Good. Ailia, listen to me," Michael leant forward. "Demon hunters can't be trusted." 

"You're a demon hunter," I countered. 

"Ailia, people like me are capable of nearly anything. If telling you not to trust me is the best thing I can do to help protect you, I'm going to do it. You've only met a handful of demon hunters and they're eccentrics compared to the rest of us. Almost every demon hunter works alone, because we just can't trust anyone." 

I looked down. 

"Ailia," Michael reached forward and placed a hand on my arm. "I know you love him, I get that. And if I have to leave you with a hunter, I'm glad it's him, but you have to know the life you're choosing is fragile. Your world might fall to pieces at any moment. Any one of them can change completely at any time. You need to understand that." 

I nodded, taking in his words wondering how true they really were.  

"And make sure to keep the creepy, scarred guy out of your head." 

I smiled. "Samuel's not that bad." 

"He's too powerful, Ailia. You don't want him to know what you're thinking. And I really don't like him." 

"Let's be honest, you don't really like any of them." 

Michael shook his head. "There's something about him in particular that gets me." 

I shrugged. 

Michael sighed. "Anyway," Michael placed a sheathed athame on the table. "This one never really worked for me. I thought you might be able to get some use from it."