Dark Descent: The Arondight Codex - Book One by R Nicole (best books to read all time TXT) 📗

“What are you interested in?”

“Uh, men?” I made a face and started to turn away. That’s when he curled his fingers around my wrist. “Let me go, or I’ll have security forcibly remove you.”

“I’d like to see them try.”

Wrenching my arm away, I edged towards the bouncer who was scanning the crowd. Raising my hand, I waved.

“We know you can see us, Scarlett,” the guy drawled, his voice rasping. “We’re watching.”

My heart dropped, and my breathing stalled. For a full five seconds, I was positive I’d died from shock until he tried to grab me again.

“That’s enough of that.” The bouncer appeared from the midst of the flashing strobe lights and grasped the blue-wigged guy around the scruff of the neck. “You’re out of here, you little shithead. No grabbing the staff.”

The guy laughed as he was dragged through the startled crowd and blew me a kiss. Punters on the dance floor parted, letting the pair through, while I stared after them. I was shell-shocked. Did that just happen? First there was that creepy lady at the kebab shop and now…

“Scarlett!” Jackson pushed through the crowd and stood in front of me, attempting to protect me from the danger that’d already passed. It won him points, though, always did. “Are you okay? Who was that guy?”

“Just a dweeb that got handsy,” I said, watching as the bouncer shooed the blue-haired demon down the street. “He was off his face.”

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” He picked up my hand and began to examine my arm.

“It happens.” I shrugged him off.

“Wow, what an arsehole. If I had seen him—”

“You would’ve gotten your lights punched out,” I said with a snort.

“By that guy?” Jackson waved his arms wildly.

“I’ve never seen you punch anyone, like ever.”

He rolled his eyes. “I could, you know.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

Gathering the glasses from the windowsill, I stared outside, scanning the street. Busses flashed past on the High Street, people were walking back and forth, a cluster of police wandered through the shuttered market stalls, and a street vendor was selling baked pretzels from a little cart on the corner. It was a typical Saturday night in Camden Town.

I didn’t catch a glimpse of a blue wig, which to be honest, wasn’t much of a relief. I’d seen how that black smoke puffed about, so there was no telling where it’d puffed off to.

What was a girl to do? Picking up the dirty glasses, I turned back to the insides of 8-bit. Get back to work, that’s what.

* * *

After my first shift back at 8-bit, after what I was dubbing ‘the incident’, I opened a note on my mobile phone and began to document any demon encounters and sightings.

I wasn’t sure why since it wasn’t like I could rock up to the local police station and hand it over as evidence, but maybe it had something to do with control. I couldn’t protect myself, the Naturals had dumped me without any knowledge on how, so all I had was my own two eyes.

I saw a demon every day. Sometimes I caught two. There was one on the bus, holding the railing like any other commuter. He’d even gave his seat to an elderly man who’d climbed on at Regent’s Canal. There was another in the dairy section of Sainsbury’s comparing cherry and blueberry yogurts. I brushed by another in the market. When Jackson and I went to see the new Marvel movie at the Odeon Cinema, there was one sitting two rows down and five seats across.

They didn’t always see me, but when they did, they smirked like they knew a big secret that I didn’t. They never approached, not after that guy tried to grab me at 8-bit, and didn’t attempt to harm me. It was almost like they were following my every move and wanted me to know it. Psychological warfare.

After the man who worked in the Off-license made a lewd gesture at me while his eyes rolled and his teeth snapped, I had to suppress the urge to Google exorcisms. I was at my wits’ end.

I was standing outside of Camden Town tube station, the wintery night chilling me through my leather jacket, when I decided I had to go back. My first thought was of Wilder and the way he’d just disappeared after all that trouble he went through to get me away from Romy to have five minutes to talk. He’d argued with Greer about being present for my test. Then… he’d just dumped me.

I was angry, hurt, and pissed off. I was all the things I should’ve been when I was still inside the Sanctum.

“I can’t do this shit anymore,” I muttered to myself.

Pulling the troll doll out of my jacket pocket, I held it in my palm. Its plastic face smiled its cheesy grin, its painted eyes stared blankly back at me. Curling a finger around the tuft of purple hair, I thought about Wilder. Was he on the prowl tonight? I shivered as his image came to mind.

C’mon, I silently urged the toy, Lead me back to him again. Just like you did last time, you little heat-seeking missile. I held it for so long, the only heat it generated was from my hands.

I wasn’t ready to give up though, so I scanned my Oyster card and descended into the tube, retracing the route I’d taken when I’d first searched him out. I walked down laneways, I circled museums and galleries, I went to an antique bookstore in Soho, I passed the stage door of a theatre in the West End, I crossed a church cemetery, and traipsed the Tower Bridge. I stomped by the Tower of London but I never once caught a glimpse of the elusive Wilder.

I did see more of my white-eyed friends, though.

They were dancers at the theatre, shadowy figures traversing laneways, an elderly woman on the tube, the priest at the church, a random person passing me on the bridge. They