The Hunt by Amy Meredith

rectory. She wasn’t sure they should have given Payne anything. Who knew who he really was? Who knew if any ancient order of demon hunters even existed? Still, at least two people were dead, and if there was even a possibility that Payne could help them figure out how to kill the demon responsible, they had to work with him.
    Jess sidled up to Eve. ‘You’re wearing your gorgeous new sweater. And those tights that make your legs look like they keep on going for ever,’ she whispered.
    ‘So?’ Eve whispered back, keeping her gaze on Payne.
    ‘So I’m just wondering if there was a Luke factor in the decision to look so hot. That’s not what you were wearing at school today,’ Jess said, speaking directly into Eve’s ear.
    ‘What? No!’ Eve forgot to whisper, and Luke and Payne both stared at her. She waved her hands. ‘Never mind. Nothing.’
    Jess reached over and pulled one shoulder of Eve’s sweater down a tiny bit. Then she gave a satisfied smile.
    Eve pulled the sweater back up. But she knew Jess had already seen what she wanted to see: the strapof Eve’s makes-my-on-the-small-side-breasts-looksuperb bra. Which she’d worn because … because it was on the top of the pile in her dresser. Although she supposed she could have worn the same bra she’d worn to school that day.
    To be honest, she also supposed Jess could be exactly right about why she’d worn this outfit. It might not have anything to do with what was on top of the pile.
    Why am I even thinking about this now? she asked herself. A guy who tried to kill me less than an hour ago is sitting right over there! Eve returned her attention to him. A moment later he looked up.
    ‘This raises many questions,’ Payne said. The papers they’d let him read talked about the Deepdene Witch and her ability to kill demons with fire from her hands. ‘I need to know more.’
    Says the guy who just tried to stab me with a sword , Eve thought. Should she trust this man? She glanced over at Luke for a second opinion. He gave a slight nod.
    ‘I’m a descendant of the Deepdene Witch,’ Eve told Payne. ‘I had no idea that was the deal until just a few months ago, when my “powers”, I guess you’d call them, started showing up.’
    ‘For months Eve was blowing out light bulbs and TVs and computers. Doors would slam without anyone touching them when she was around,’ Jess jumped in. ‘We thought maybe she had a poltergeist.’
    ‘Really?’ Luke asked, surprised.
    ‘It fitted,’ Eve replied. ‘Until I started shooting lightning out of my fingers. That felt like me, like something I was doing, not like something some crazy spirit was doing to me.’
    ‘I experienced the lightning for myself,’ Payne said. ‘Was tonight typical?’
    ‘I’ve never used my powers to attack a human before. Clearly they don’t work the same way. Which is lucky for you, or you’d be dead,’ Eve admitted. ‘When I shot the bolts at a demon, the demon went up in smoke. With the master demon it took a bunch of blasts, but eventually I got rid of him.’
    ‘That’s probably why you get the demon vibe from Eve!’ Jess cried. ‘Because she zapped Mal. She probably got Mal-ness all over her.’
    ‘Nice image. Thanks for that,’ Eve said, a shudder of revulsion rippling through her.
    Jess gave Eve’s shoulder a rub. ‘Sorry.’
    Payne stood up from his pew and rejoined the group. ‘Who is Mal?’
    ‘Malphas is a demon who shows up in Deepdene every hundred years,’ Luke told him.
    ‘He was awful. He kissed people to suck out their souls,’ Jess added. ‘All the people who lost their souls went crazy.’
    ‘Their souls went back to them when Eve blasted Mal away,’ Luke said. ‘Right before he … we don’t really know if he died or if he’s just gone for another century – anyway, right before Eve turned him to smoke, he vomited up globs of light. It seemed like those were all the souls he’d stolen. They flew off to where they belonged.’
    Eve was