Demon Blind, page 1
DEMON BLIND
M.J. HAAG
Copyright © 2023 Melissa Haag
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the express written permission from the author.
ISBN 978-1-63869-023-8 (eBook Edition)
ISBN 978-1-63869-025-2 (Paperback Edition)
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, are coincidental and not intended by the author.
Editing by the Proof Posse (aka Dawn, Jackie, Heather, Roxanne, Mirjam)
Cover design by Shattered Glass Publishing LLC
© Depositphotos.com
Version 2023.01.10
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue
Author’s Note
More books by MJ Haag
To everyone who needs glasses to survive.
(especially my hubby!)
I see you…even if you can’t see me!
MWAHAHAHA!
CHAPTER ONE
APRYL
I could smell the food. The scent teased my nose and tormented my empty stomach. Sam, the young woman in front of me, shuffled forward a step. I did the same and peeked at the long blurry line that snaked down the street.
So many of us still waited to be fed. It made sense, though. Yesterday, the fey had served stew with actual meat chunks in it and warm rolls with butter. My stomach growled at the memory.
Even the threat of attracting the attention of the troublemakers, had they still been there, wouldn’t have been enough to keep me away today, and it seemed like the rest of Tenacity’s residents agreed. Hopefully, the fey had anticipated a bigger turnout and made enough for everyone.
“Apryl, do you see the one at the end?” Sam asked.
Tucking my chin into my poofy jacket, I kept my gaze on my feet and tugged my hat lower over my ears.
“I try not to look,” I said just as one of the fey walked close to our section of the line.
I only knew it was one of them because the woman behind me shuffled away. Mentally rolling my eyes at her reaction, I hoped the fey hadn’t heard what I’d said. It was my standard response whenever someone wanted me to see something. I had nothing against the fey. But I couldn’t say the same for anyone else.
While the handful of survivors who outright hated the fey were gone, it didn’t mean the remaining survivors were ready to welcome the fey with open arms. Just the food they brought. Hypocrites.
I didn’t care that the fey kept most of the supplies collected during the supply runs since, from what I’d heard, they did all the work. And it didn’t make a difference to me who was preparing our food or why the fey were actually here. They wanted women? Good for them for having a libido while the world was going to hell. Maybe that was their jam. Didn’t know. Didn’t care. All I cared about was keeping my head down and my mouth shut so no one would know I couldn’t see shit.
“I think he’s watching you.”
He. One of the fey.
“They watch anything with boobs,” I said, parroting what I’d been told since I’d never been able to confirm it for myself.
Sam took another step forward. “If that were true, he’d be looking at me too. This one is interested in you specifically.”
“Probably my hair,” I said, reaching up to make sure it was tucked into my hat. “Or my darker skin tone.”
She made a humming noise, conveying her doubt.
“He hasn’t glanced at Danielle once.”
Danielle was darker than me, so Sam had me there.
“Are any looking at you?” I asked, redirecting the focus away from me.
Most people took a look at me and assumed I was shy because I didn’t talk a lot or make eye contact. Some people, like Sam, thought striking up a conversation was being kind. It wasn’t. But walking away would draw more attention to me. So I stayed put and did my best to get her talking.
“A few,” she said. “But, like you said, they’ll look at any female. I don’t know how Brooke and Terri do it. The idea of having sex with one of the fey? No thanks. Human-sized didn’t feel good. I can’t imagine fey-sized.”
“Not even for three meals a day and a warm place to sleep?” I asked, more than a little curious.
Since I’d heard about the housing restructuring, it was a question I’d been asking myself. Could I sleep with someone for the sake of survival? That was an easy, “Hell yes.”
However, the fey were interested in women who could have their babies. And although I could physically do that, procreating wasn’t something they would want me for. Not with my crappy eyesight and a world full of zombies who were getting smart enough to blend in with their surroundings. But the human men? They were a different story. They weren’t interested in starting families at the end of the world. No, the threat of imminent death only solidified their need to sleep around.
“I think I already found my three meals and a warm bed,” Sam said. “But without the sex.” Sam shuffled forward another few steps, and I hurried to catch up.
“What do you mean?”
“You know how they’re rearranging things here? I asked June if I could live with her and Tor to see what it’s like living with the fey without getting anyone’s hopes up.”
Damn it. Why hadn’t I thought of that?
“Do you think you’ll still need to go out for supplies?” I asked.
Yesterday's news was causing me a fair amount of anxiety. Matt and June, our little safe haven’s co-leader team, had announced more than just a change to the assigned living arrangements. They were mandating equal work contributions as well.
“I don’t see why I wouldn’t. They were clear that there’d be no exceptions. June said that she and Matt will be in the rotation, too, since there are two of them now.”
My stomach churned and not from hunger this time.
Although Matt had been clear during the announcements that everyone would need to take a turn—no making excuses and no slacking—I’d held onto the hope that there would be exceptions. The idea of leaving the wall when I couldn’t see more than a foot in front of me scared the shit out of me. The likelihood of me surviving out there was almost non-existent.
Too bad for me, obviously.
I only hoped the fey were as good at keeping people alive as Matt and June claimed.
“Do you know when they’re going to announce the new schedules?” I asked Sam, hoping I’d have a few days yet.
People were currently focusing on figuring out who they wanted to live with. My housemates already thought I was a freeloader since I hadn’t been able to help in any useful way. I couldn’t see the wood to chop it or food to gather it, even if I was dumb enough to leave the safety of Tenacity’s walls. And because of that, my housemates had made it clear I needed to find somewhere else to live.
I had a very small window of opportunity to find someone willing to take me in before the new supply run schedules started and people realized how useless I was.
“No,” Sam answered. “Emily, the woman from Tolerance who’s been helping coordinate the fey and human activities, has been talking to a lot of people about skills. I overheard June and Matt talking about using Emily’s notes to help evenly divide talents.”
“I’m not following,” I said. “What does sewing have to do with getting supplies?”
“People with specialties might not be put on the supply rotation as often if they have a necessary skill. They’d be teaching instead. Emily and Matt want to ensure knowledge isn’t lost. That’s why Cassie is teaching her fey husband how to doctor and Mary is teaching the fey how to cook.”
It wasn’t enough that the fey were strong, fast, and could kill infected with little effort; they now needed to perfect human skills, too? The level of my inadequacy climbed, and I wished I had a useful skill.
“Do you think there are any other fey-human couples looking to adopt a female?” I asked.
“I don’t know. You can ask Emily. She’d be happy to help you find a couple.”
I almost snorted. If I showed even a hint of interest in anything fey related, she’d try setting me up with one. And I knew how the fey talked. They gossiped more than women in my granny’s knitting circle. Just one slip up in front of a fey and everyone in Tolerance and Tenacity would know I was legally blind and absolute deadweight because no one wanted to pass down a genetic flaw like mine in a world full of silent danger.
The wind gusted more delicious food scents at me, distracting me from my thoughts. I inhaled deeply, acknowledging my nose was a blessing and a curse. What I’d lost in my eyes, my nose tried to make up for. Right then, though
“Is the line moving slower today to you?” I asked Sam. It was my way of asking what was happening without asking it.
“Yeah, it’s a little slower. I think people are trying to talk to the fey when they get up there.”
“What? Why?”
Sam chuckled lightly. “Don’t look so panicked. I think people are just trying to be nicer after yesterday. No one else wants to get kicked out.”
“That group didn’t get kicked out for forgetting to say thank you,” I said.
“No. They didn’t. But it doesn’t hurt to be nice.”
I silently disagreed with her. Being nice would hurt a lot if it resulted in anyone realizing my blindness.
I just needed to find a way to contribute before the schedules were posted and I was exposed.
CHAPTER TWO
SCATH
Apryl, the shy female, had returned. Something about the way she never looked at anyone had caught my attention when I first saw her several days ago. She kept her gaze down even when speaking to someone, which didn’t happen often. I watched her, too curious about why she didn’t meet anyone’s gaze. Was she afraid?
Many humans were afraid for different reasons. They feared starvation, going cold, each other, and us. I sighed and wondered what her fears were. I wanted to remove them, one by one. I wanted to be the one who would earn her gaze. But how?
Fallor caught me staring at her and nudged my side.
“I think she is like Terri. You will scare her if she looks up.”
“She won’t look up,” I said.
“Then, why stare at her?”
“She is pretty.”
“There are many pretty females. Sam is one,” he said, noting the female speaking with Apryl.
“She is,” I said. “But Sam looks at us and smiles and has no interest in a male. Like Emily.”
Fallor grunted. He had tried to gain Emily’s attention many times, but she was blind to his care for her. That did not mean he had given up, only that he was waiting for her to see him.
“Now that Tor is June’s, you should offer to carry Emily here when she wants to visit.”
“She is not ready. She told Hannah that she wishes to see all of us with females before she opens her heart.”
Fallor would be waiting a long time then since only a small number of my brothers had won females of their own, even though Tenacity had plenty of young, single women. Despite our efforts to help and show we were good, capable males, most females feared us because we were so different from them.
Self-consciously, I rubbed my pointed ear and scanned the line. However, no one appeared to be watching us, which was disappointing when my brothers and I watched the females so earnestly. A man had once said my brothers and I had the eyes of a snake, an unpleasant creature according to the few humans I’d asked. Another human said our grey skin blended too well with the shadows, making us creepy. I didn’t want to be viewed as an unpleasant creeper. I wanted a female to look at me without fear in her pretty, rounded eyes.
I just wanted a female to look at me.
My gaze landed on Apryl again, and the need to see her lift her gaze to meet mine gripped me. I wanted Apryl, the female who looked at no one, to be the female who looked at me without fear. I wanted her smiles and gentle touch.
She would be mine before the moon rose tonight.
“You’re starting to smile,” Fallor said. “Stop.”
Suppressing my triumphant grin, I checked whether any of the humans in line had noticed. Many of the humans thought we had teeth like predators, and they grew nervous if they saw us smiling. Teeth were teeth. Blunt or sharp shouldn’t matter; how we used them should. And we didn’t bite people. Yet, they still feared us.
My attention drifted back to Apryl. Would she fear my teeth? I hoped not, but acknowledged she probably would.
Swallowing a disgruntled growl, I told myself to have patience. Emily was working hard to help the females lose their fear of us. Dinner dates where females would speak to us. Drawing classes where females could stare at us. Massage sessions where we could touch females.
I very much wanted to eat with a female, but not many had volunteered. A few females showed interest in the drawing classes, but only if we kept our pants on. Angel said it was because the pearl-clutchers couldn’t handle the size of our equipment. I didn’t know what touching jewelry had to do with my cock, but Angel was honest, and if she said we needed pants, then we did.
Watching Apryl move forward in line with the rest of the humans waiting for food, I wondered if she would volunteer for the dinner dates. She wore no ring and was considered an adult. I confirmed that by asking Matt. And she did not seem to fear us as strongly as some of the others. When Eitri had passed her, she hadn’t cringed away like the woman behind her had.
That didn’t mean Fallor was wrong, though. None of us had understood how deeply Terri had feared us until she began to trade with Turik. But even when Terri hadn’t looked at Turik, she’d spoken to him. That was how he’d won her heart. With words.
That was a good place to start with Apryl.
“I think I will go talk to Apryl,” I said to Fallor.
“I wouldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“She is in line for food.”
“I know. That means she will not walk away from me.”
“It also means that she is very hungry. Emily explained ‘hangry’ to us. Do you want to risk that Apryl is angry when you speak to her for the first time?”
I crossed my arms and studied her as I considered his wise words. Extreme hunger could make a woman angry in an irrational way, and I wanted Apryl to be rational when I spoke to her and told her… What should I say to her?
Females could be as easily angered by words as they could by hunger, and I didn’t want to anger Apryl. I wanted to win her heart and her body. I wanted to watch her belly round with a child–like Angel’s belly rounded. And that would never happen if I made Apryl angry. Angel told Tor that an angry woman does not want sex.
No, I had to say the right words when I approached Apryl the first time.
“You are right, Fallor. I will wait,” I said.
“Wait and watch,” Fallor said, nodding toward the fey who were serving.
Our brothers gave closed-mouth smiles to the humans and received uncertain smiles in return. Emily said it would take time for humans to see us as something other than killers. I didn’t understand how they saw us as killers when their own kind was quick to hurt each other. We removed the heads of the infected to protect the humans that remained, not because we enjoyed killing.
The humans struggled to see the difference. Truthfully, the humans struggled to see many things, and I was not the only fey waiting for an opportunity to speak with a female.
June said we needed to know a female’s mind before we could win a female’s heart and touch her body. So I knew I couldn’t tell Apryl that I wished to touch her soft curves and gently lick her pussy while she slept. She wouldn’t like that. My words needed to be about her mind.
I thought back to the questions Emily approved for the dinner dates. We were supposed to ask the females about what they liked. Colors. Foods. Clothes. Weather. Things like that.
Sighing, I uncrossed my arms and studied all the humans who passed through the line. A small female child hugged her mother’s leg as they neared the serving tables. I recognized the pair and glanced at Noru. His gaze darted to Abi and Greyly, and his hand dipped to the doll sticking from the waist of his pants.
