Chapter 1

LUNA

The Old Hag. The city of Paralese seemed to be constructed around the ancient pub turned modern club. No one had dared to tear down the structure. What used to be a crumbling wooden and hay cottage, now housed my great-great-grandmother. Several generations removed became entombed in cement and steel to protect it from the superstitious residents who still had the mentality of torches and pitchforks for the creatures they'd never come close to understanding, even as they lived amongst us.

The peace between us and them was tenuous at best. Demons. Witches. Spirits. All manner of preternatural creatures lived within the old high walls of the city. We'd grown tired of being relegated to the shadows. Taking over had been easy enough. The mortals had no defenses against us. The long line of my female descendants had carried through for generations on end, keeping people on the edge of fear and submission.

Nightmares were our business and I was the most powerful Hag to take on the role as Sleep Demon of Paralese. Every town and city had one. It was my extreme pleasure to carry on the role although, the line would die with me. At the end of my long-life, my banishment, I'd leave the position open for a wandering demon to take over. A quirk of nature—maybe fate. I was the first Transgender Hag to be born in known history.

Who knows, there may have been others—a secret kept to preserve tradition. The city had no idea the danger they were in every night when they went to sleep peacefully in their beds. We didn't do sweet dreams around here.

They'd tried everything to banish me. Even offered me sacrifices—maybe a distraction. Yet nothing was sweeter than the fear that fed me nightly. Their pain and suffering, the way they cowered from the visions none of them could escape.

"Mistress!" Gailie, my pixie assistant, fluttered about.

She'd been gifted to me a century ago, after a particularly stupid insult. The pixie was loyal and to repay that devotion I allowed her more freedom and offered more mercy than I normally possessed.

"Yes?" I turned away from my view of the city that awaited my cruelty.

"Paralese Council has issued an offer… a new gift."

I sighed and snapped my sharp teeth. Gailie flinched as she rushed to hide behind a large mirror in the corner of my sleeping quarters above The Old Hag. I briefly smirked at her fear. A century and she still awaited death because she knew quite well my punishments were far crueler.

"I hope you told them to go fuck themselves."

"Aye, I did, but in a much more diplomatic manner."

"Diplomacy is for the weak."

"Very true." Her voice trembled.

Stone floors were frigid beneath my bare feet. My talons scraping ominously. The bony protrusions along my spine shifted as I crossed the open space of my home. Several stories beneath me the party raged on. The scents of sex, blood, and sweat rose on air tinged with the terror of the mortals who were lured there as meals and playthings. It was all my deranged comfort.

"What are they offering this time?" I asked as I shook out the sheer fabric of my tunic, exposing the sickly gray of my skin.

Scars littered my body which told stories of battles long won. It was far different from the form I wore when I traversed the city, morphing into a beautifully ethereal woman. I despised the visage that hid my true nature. Although, some anonymity was needed in order to blend when the need arose. The gift to shift to something more pleasant lowered guards—allowed for surprise attacks.

"A virgin."

My hissing laugh broke through the quiet. "What a useless archaic sacrifice. Humanity is so stuck in the old ways."

"They seem quite certain this one will work as the others hadn't before." She softly spoke as she appeared from her hiding spot.

"What's so special about this one?" I wasn't even mildly curious. I'd thrown the other one into a feeding frenzy of vampires without a second thought. The carnage on display had bored me and I'd left them to their meal.

"I'm unsure. They claim she's the most beautiful in the city. Quite sheltered. Her father has kept her literally in a tower."

"A spoiled princess not worth the flesh used to create her."

"I'm sure. Mistress, should I return their call? A bit of amusement for you."

I lapsed into silence which wasn't unusual. Days, weeks could pass without me saying a word, communicating in hisses and monosyllables. Usually, Gailie would bring me something pretty to torment to alleviate my boredom. When you had a long existence ahead of you, you had to make that time at least enjoyable.

"The princess would probably break too easily."

"Of course, I'll call and deny their gift."

She began to leave, barely a streak of movement, but I stopped her. Something in my gut told me a little one-on-one torture session, no matter how short, may rid me of my current restlessness. Of course, I spent most nights sending the residents of Paralese into the depths of their worst fears. Occasionally, I even visited some in person, old school, to sit upon their chests to witness the tears and pitiful whimpers for myself. While the princess might not be a challenge, she could provide some amusement.

"Have you changed your mind, Mistress?" Gailie asked. Her tone implied an impatience to leave—to fly away to whatever safety the pixie could find.

"Why not, I'm curious as to what the humans consider worthy of sacrifice. Make the arrangements," I ordered and returned to the balcony and the humid Summer night. The full moon and stars were barely visible beyond the pestilence of human ingenuity. Pollution. Over-population. If nothing else, the pests did know how to breed. I awaited the day the Earth finally shook off the mortals for what they'd wrought with their selfish needs.

My long, forked tongue traced along the edges of my sharp teeth. A plan began forming. My lips spread wide into a sinister smile as the sirens echoed throughout the city. A human failsafe to hide them from my nightly punishment. I shoved my hand into a large cauldron, the stinging cuts of mirrored shards sliding along my claw tipped fingers and palm. Bringing out a handful, with palm up I lifted them to my mouth, blowing across them to watch as they scattered through the muggy air like glittering drops of rain.

Each one would find their way to someone. The shards and slivers would embed themselves in skin and eyes, the effect waiting until they laid their heads down. Found the so-called safety of their beds. Unsuspecting of the nightmares that awaited them. Their screams and whimpers would float to me for hours, feeding me as food never had.

Tradition and bloodlines were important to all the Old Hags still existing in the modern world. A few had broken with the job we were born to do, roaming all realms in search of something different. No matter how far they spread out or how they fought their purpose, we could never escape it. So ingrained in our natures, that fear and pain were integral to our survival.

Sleep paralysis demons were one of a few species in existence who didn't have mates. We bred when needed to carry on our lines, nothing more or less. I discovered long ago that the blood of the Paralese Hags died with me. There was a sense of failure in that. Not that I had to worry about that for the foreseeable future. We had long existences to cause suffering. My reign could last centuries before I was required to find my replacement.

I shook my head, ridding myself of the maudlin thoughts. Rarely did I look into my future. A seer had offered their services a time or two, but my secrets were meant to be kept. Allowing a stranger to see too closely behind the curtain endangered everything I protected. The only constant was Gailie because she served a purpose. When she no longer did, I'd rid myself of her without mercy or regret. Hags had lonely lives. We were built for reclusiveness.

Hissing a sigh, I returned inside. I shifted to the more pleasant form to blend among the creatures below. Beauty that made all others pale in comparison. Weak. Normal. So human. I changed into leather pants, boots, and a vest that highlighted the leanness of my shifted form. Maybe I could seduce a female to torment in the hours before dawn. The pain was always sweeter up close and personal. The salt of her tears on my tongue. Metallic blood bursting on my tongue tasting the fear that made the thick liquid so much richer.

With a wave of my hand, the door slammed and locked behind me as I took the spiraling staircase. The sounds of music blended with screams as I drew closer to the party going on below. Pride filled me at what I'd created out of the archaic rites of my lineage. Modernized to keep it all going long after I was gone. I strolled through the remnants of the old cottage which had housed countless generations of Hags before me. Protected by steel and stone, a testament to the females whose blood burned in my veins.