It was freezing inside the warehouse. 

An October chill crept through the broken windows and missing doors, pushing the cobwebs that hung from the rafters. Bright floodlights held the darkness of night at bay, flooding the large, empty space with a strange yellow tint. The air, sharp and acrid, was choked with the smell of dust and winter. Stiff and achy, I shivered, hands tied behind me, feet and wrists bound to a rickety wooden chair. Less than five feet ahead, Dorian was tied to his own chair. His suit was torn, ruined by blood from the accident, but his wounds had long healed. We were out of the frying pan, stuck in the fire.

"You've been out for a while." Dorian's features were saturated with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Where are we?" I winced, feeling the split in my lip widen. "What are we doing here?"

"I don't know. I can't get free."

"Dorian, listen, if anything happens--" Voices approached, growing louder. "Don't do anything stupid," I hissed.

"You mean like bargain for your life?" he whispered back.

A broad-shouldered man stepped through the warehouse door, brushing rain from the collar of his trench coat. Though his weathered face held traces of youth, his dark hair was peppered with gray. His grim features and well-worn clothes gave him the look of a traveler, someone who had no home to return to once his business was over. 

"Good. You're awake." His English accent was heavy, rich with a dialect that said he and Dorian were from two very different regions. He smirked. "Fancy a cuppa?"

"Who are you?" I snapped.

"Not your enemy, darlin'." His head flicked in Dorian's direction. "But I am his."

"He's a hunter," Dorian calmly replied.

I frowned. "You know him?"

"I know his kind." He turned to the hunter. "Let her go. Your business is with me."

"First things first, mate. I need answers." The hunter's gaze slid to mine. His large, dark eyes were hard beneath the humor. "The name's Joshua. I'm looking for someone--Opal St. Martin." Removing a carton of cigarettes from inside his jacket, the same brand as Opal's, he tapped them against his palm. "Where is she?"

I shrugged. Dorian said nothing.

Joshua sighed. "My partner out there--he thinks we should kill you both and call it a day, St. Martin be damned. But she's one of ours, even if she can't finish a job to save her life."

"We saved her life," I retorted. "You should be thanking us."

The hunter took a drag from his cigarette. "Is that why she hasn't killed you lot? I find it hard to believe she's in your debt."

Dorian grinned. "Opal would kill me if she could. She just hasn't found a method that sticks." 

"You seem convinced. Guess I'll just have to see for meself." He reached behind him, pulling a silver handgun from his waistband in one fluid movement. He raised the gun and fired, shooting Dorian point blank in the chest.

"No! Stop!" I was sick at the sight of Dorian wheezing in pain. But the hunter fired again. I felt the blood spray as he put a bullet in Dorian's brain.

I had tunnel vision watching Dorian's head droop, his body limp with death. But I'd seen him shot and killed once already. He would survive this, and come back to me.

The hunter tucked his gun away, smiling in satisfaction.

"Asshole!" I struggled against my bonds, enraged by his callousness. "You didn't have to do that!"

"I'm a Hunter. I kill monsters--part of the job description. Now I'll ask again. Where. Is. Opal."

"Why does it matter?"

"Because she's one of us. Because she's had one job and for years she's failed at it." He shook his head. "Bloody embarrassing."

"Dorian's not a monster. He's not the one you should be looking for."

"Oh? Then tell me, luv. Who am I looking for?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

"I wonder..." Joshua reached inside his trench, removing a deadly-sharp hunting knife. "Has Opal tried decapitation? Bit hard to come back from that, innit?"

"Wait!" I sighed. "Dorian has a demon half. He's the monster. He's the one you're looking for."

"Sure about that?"

"I'm not lying."

Joshua scratched his chin with the knife. "So if I kill the demon..."

"Then Dorian dies too. Probably."

"Two birds, one stone. I like the sound." Joshua tucked the knife away, grinning.

Something small clattered against the floor. Joshua and I looked down, watching the silver bullet that rolled to my feet. Dorian groaned, stirring as he swam closer to consciousness.

"Look, you got your answers," I said. "Now let us go."

Joshua tutted. "I ain't in the business of harmin' humans--if human is what you be. You're free to go. But this one's coming back with me to London."

"You can't. I told you--"

"He's not a monster, yeah-yeah-yeah. But he's the reason the monster exists--and he's a killer. Dorian Gray's been on every hunter's radar since the 19th century. It only makes sense takin' him in." After a final drag from his cigarette, Joshua cast it away. "Did I mention he murdered my brother? It was Opal's job to put him down, but looks to me like she's got a soft spot. So have you."

"And?"

"And I'd be careful of that. You're neck deep in supernatural quicksand, luv. Take it from me: a soft spot will get you killed. Or worse. Dorian Gray deserves to die. A life for a life."

"Two lives," I corrected. 

"Monsters aren't living." Joshua turned on his boot heels and strode away.

But he would be back soon. Maybe this time he'd bring his partner with him - a risk I couldn't take. If we were going to escape, it had to be now.

I rocked my chair side-to-side until it tipped, muffling the sound of my pain as I hit the floor. Praying the hunters hadn't heard the noise, I sat up from the wreckage, removing the loosened ropes from my wrists and ankles.

"I really need to start carrying a paintbrush," I muttered, grabbing a small, sharp piece of wood and dragging it across my palm. On my hands and knees, I drew a large window in blood, praying I was doing the right thing.

"Dorian, I know you can hear me. Just this once... I need you." Fingers crossed, I sat back and waited.

Moments later, black smoke drifted through the window...

Dark Dorian straightened the lapels of his leather jacket, surveying the warehouse with a smirk. "Quite the pickle. Lucky for you, I live for a spot of danger."

"I don't have time to explain. You're just going to have to trust me." I got to my feet, brushing the dust from my knees. "I don't know how but hunters have found us. They want to take the other Dorian back to London."

"And I should care, because..."

"If they find a way to kill him then you die too, remember?"

"Oy." Dark Dorian rolled his eyes. Walking to his better half, he bent at the knees, observing his unconscious double. "Am I really that ugly?"

"Uglier." I walked behind Dorian, crouching to undo his binds. "You can change your face but you'll never be like him."

"I am him, or have you forgotten?"

Voices chimed outside the warehouse. Any second now Joshua and his partner would return.

"A little help?" I growled. 

Dark Dorian brushed me aside and finished off the bindings. Before his double could fall, he caught him in both hands and dragged him to the portal, tossing him through headfirst.

"After you," he said, hands extended to the window.

I walked to the edge - and paused. "You're coming too, right?"

His face hardened. "If I don't handle the hunters, they'll handle us. Isn't that why you called me?"

"I called you to help! Killing them won't do any good. They'll just send more."

"Let them come. Like I said, 'spot o' danger' and all that."

Joshua re-entered the warehouse. He and his thinner, blonder partner stopped short, gaping. Dark Dorian's back was to them. They couldn't see his face shift to its demon form, but I had a front row seat.

Slowly, I shook my head. "Don't."

"They're dead men walking."

As Dorian strode forward, the blonde pulled a gun from his long coat, and fired. I covered my head, cringing as Dark Dorian took six shots to the chest.

"Bloody sharks. This jacket cost a fortune." Wrenching the gun from the astonished hunter, Dark Dorian tossed it aside. 

The hunter reacted with his fist, striking the demon's chin. But Dark Dorian hardly flinched. Fuming, he headbutted the hunter and broke his nose; blood streamed down the blonde man's face as he staggered back.

I called out to Dark Dorian but he ignored my attempts to stop him. Dark Dorian punched him again and again, over and over until the Hunter fell and didn't rise. He had landed by the gun, which Dorian took hold of - and fired twice.

"Wilson!" Joshua's hands were balled in useless fists. "Bloody coward! You killed him!"

"This from the man who stood by and did nothing as his partner's life was ended." Dark Dorian's grin slipped to the side. "I'm feeling generous. Any particular way you'd like to die?"

"Like a man." Joshua lifted his chin. "Something the likes of you could never understand."

"Touché." 

Joshua turned to me, his gaze pleading. "Tell Opal I'm sorry... And I forgive her."

Dorian seized Joshua by the throat with one hand, lifting him high off the floor. The Hunter's legs thrashed as he struggled, both hands gripping the fist that choked the life from him.

"Dorian, please!" I wrung my hands in misery. "You don't have to do this!"

"Don't I? He'd do the same given half the chance." 

The veins stood out on his face, spittle foaming at his lips as Joshua turned blue.

"You can be better than him! Better than this!"

Like grey clouds giving way to white, some of the rage in Dark Dorian's face cleared. Perhaps, for the first time, I'd actually gotten through to him. Dorian and his grip seemed to falter - long enough for Joshua to produce his hunting knife and stab the demon.

Growling in rage, Dorian lifted him even higher, squeezing until I heard bones crack. Both hands covering my mouth, I gasped as Joshua's body dropped in a lifeless heap at Dark Dorian's feet.

Breathing hard and fast, shoulders heaving, Dorian turned to face me as he plucked the knife from his stomach.

"You're welcome," he said, stepping over the body like it was nothing like it was nothing to him.

Hey, everyone! If you enjoyed what you read then pretty please VOTE and add Immortal Sin to your reading list! More Amelia and Dorian ahead! 🕸️⛓️🧥