Demon's Lure by L. Rowyn

Author:L. Rowyn [Rowyn, L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction
Publisher: Delight in Books
Published: 2018-04-21T00:00:00+00:00

Dinner at the farmhouse was lovely.

Mostly it was delightfully normal. It was clear that the husband, Sky, had made some special treats in honor of “feasting a hunter”. But the meal was just for her and the family – Sky, his husband, two wives, an enby spouse, and eight children ranging from toddler to almost-grown. They bickered, like any family, and then remembered they had a guest and stopped bickering to be on their best behavior. Sunrise’s own family had never been this large, but it was all ordinary and familiar.

The children wanted to hear demon hunter stories. Sunrise told them one of Coyote’s, because he’d had all the best stories. Then she went ahead and told the story of being captured by Bright and rescued by Mouse, and skipped the part where Mouse was actually a demon. After all, both Bright’s original story and the new one they were planning agreed on that much, so there was no reason not to tell it.

Of course, then Sunrise had to make up something about where Mouse was now, and why she was in a rush. Sunrise instantly regretted everything. She made up a bit about Mouse going on ahead to get some more hunters, because she travelled faster, and then they’d meet in Indigo-of-the-Hill. Fortunately, the family didn’t press for details.

The most chilling part was after dinner, when one of the mothers, Dew, went outside to look for two of the pre-pubescent kids. Sunrise was in their family room when she heard a high-pitched voice say, “We just came out to feed the hunter’s dog!”

Sunrise bolted out the door, to find Bright wagging its tail as a little girl patted its head, then threw a stick for it. Bright bounded after the stick, snatched it from the air, and ran back to play tug-of-war with the child.

“I guess they’re not doing any harm,” Dew said, sighing. “Where did you find your dog?”

Sunrise had to restrain herself from yelling at the kids stay away from that. “It sort of found me, and now I can’t get rid of it,” she said, ruefully.

Dew chuckled. “She must have been someone’s dog. She’s well-trained.”

“Drop it!” The little girl told Bright, yanking on the stick. The demon released the stick with a whine. The girl threw it, and Bright gave chase again.

“…you’d think so, wouldn’t you.” Sunrise watched Bright run back, but this time the demon went to her. It dropped the stick at her feet, and then sat up on two legs in a begging pose, tongue lolling. She crouched to pat it and scratched behind its ears. “Good girl. There’s a good girl,” she told it, and threw the stick again.

She retired soon afterwards, telling the family she had to leave before dawn. Before Sunrise went to sleep, she carefully wrote down what she’d told people was her story so far, to make sure she didn’t forget what it was supposed to be.

She woke to a tap on the window. It was still full dark outside.

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