Jo Allen

So, today I filmed a video full of bookish facts about me. 

Yes, I am trash for Harry Potter and all things fantasy and my love will never die.

Beck was getting ready for her usual night out, slipping into her favourite leather pants and the ripped red crop top that showed snippets of her laced bralette that always got her a multitude of looks. With her toned stomach on show, shining skull jewel dangling from her navel, she pulled on her boots, also leather, and walked out of her studio apartment grabbing her jacket on the way.

The mirror in the hall got her attention because well, she saw herself in it. She paused to study her choice of outfit and smiled. She knew she looked good. At that moment her next door neighbour opened her door holding a bag of rubbish.

As soon as the feeble looking old lady caught sight of her she sighed. “I keep telling you, you’re going to attract the wrong sort of guy if you keep dressing like that dear.”

“Don’t worry Mrs. Jones, if anyone tries anything, I’ll just break their arms. Not like I haven’t done it before.” She put her hands on her hips and sent a winning smile to her favourite neighbour. Whenever she needed anything, Beck made sure to help out and Mrs. Jones in turn repaid her with baked goods, not that she expected it but after months of telling her she needn’t repay her for anything, she gave up and just graciously accepted the sweets.

Mrs. Jones chuckled, “Well when you put it like.. just be careful dear.”

“Don’t worry, I will be. Here let me take that for you, I’m heading that way anyway.” She took the bag of rubbish from her hand and set off down the hall. “Catch me up on The Real Housewives of New York in the morning.” She called back, waving.

“I’ll have the coffee ready, you just come over whenever you like.” She replied before turning back inside her apartment.

Little did Mrs. Jones know that Beck was never careful. In her line of work there was no such thing. By day she was a debt collector, and not the legal kind. But by night she hunted demons. Not just any kind of demons, the real nasty ones who manage to claw their way out of Hell to torment the world of the living in every way they can.

Just last night she found one tunnelling under a house and eating its foundation. They could digest just about anything which made them all the more disgusting in her eyes. Goyrel demons they were called. Definitely the worst kind of her brethren.

Indeed, Beck herself was a demon. The spawn of Lucifer himself. She however is part of a higher class of demon, more humanoid in design and mentality. High or Smar Demons have the mental capacity to choose between right and wrong. And most of them enjoy the mortal world more than the depths of hot and steamy Hell, where the scent of burning flesh and screams of sinful humans are inescapable.

She breathed in deep when she thrust open the doors of the apartment complex and got her first judgemental look by a middle-aged woman with her gawking husband walking past. She never understood how it was her fault that men can’t keep their eyes in their heads.

With her low heels clicking on the sidewalk, she set off to visit her favourite place. Scythe’s Bar. She just loved it when humans named things after anything supernatural to sound edgy and she’d done a bit of work for the owner so she got to drink there for free. She wasn’t sure how much money she got back for him but her level of care lowered every time she got another free drink.

Scythe’s was a tough crowd, in a human sense but who was a demon to judge a few rough nuts who liked to drink and loved their motorcycles? They were all good guys and she hung around just in case some not-so-good guys came in and tried to take the place over. No one could dodge a bullet quite like her, so they left the protection of the bar in her hands.

A little way down from the entrance a man whistled and called out to her, “Hey pretty girl!”

“Keep dreaming arse cake.” She replied without even looking at the man.

All she heard was a muttered “Fucking bitch”. Men like him really hated being rejected; like calling out to a woman you don’t know from the opposite side of the street is so charming.

She never let it phase her though. After all, if anyone ever tried anything she could quite literally break them in half if she wanted to. The best advantage of being demon blooded is a beastlike strength that few humans in the world possessed. She’d once broken a nose with a small pinch because the man wouldn’t stop looking at her breasts when they were talking.

She gave up on dating humans though. The last one eventually found out what she was and reported her to the Zealoutics. Zealoutics is what she called the biblically inclined finatics who believed in the big man in the sky. He’s real alright but he’s an arsehole, always using Lucifer as a scape goat.

Beck thinks he forgets that Lucifer is actually a fallen angel and in turn, Smar demons actually have the same physical abilities as the precious angels The Mighty holds so dear. Other than a certain curse put on them. And yes he calls himself ‘The Mighty’.

She’d only ever met him once, when she “accidentally” almost killed an angel after he started attacking her. Apparently, the angel mistook her for a lesser demon and shrugged it off as a misunderstanding so Lucifer wouldn’t break the peace treaty between angels and demons.

As she let the thought of Lucifer and God leave her mind, she thought she saw someone peek from behind a building over the other side of the street, but when she turned there was nothing there. She narrowed her eyes and a voice got her attention.

“Hey Beck!” An excited Dane, a hard arse looking teddy bear was heading to the front of Scythe’s from the other direction.

Head jerking back to face in front of her, “Well if it isn’t my favourite Dane.” She said, a cheeky smirk on her face.

“Don’t kid yourself, I’m the only Dane you know.” He said, mirroring the smile.

“Doesn’t mean you’re not my favourite.” She said with a wink. “Come one, I’ll get you a drink.”

Dane followed her up to the bar where her favourite little bartender was working. She was such a quaint young woman, Beck felt a sort of comradery with her, being the only other female in the bar most of the time. Tanny could handle herself though. She’d been living in the Bronx since birth and it helped being Dane’s little sister.

“Hey Tanny, how’ve you been babe?” Asked Beck.

The bartender placed two drinks on the bar, clearly, she saw Beck and Dane at the entrance. “Oh, you know, the usual, dealing with this lot not to mention the new boyfriend.” She smiled.

Dane choked on his drink. He obviously knew nothing about this new man in his sister’s life. “What new boyfriend?!”

“Now, now, no need to get all big brothery, I can take care of myself.” And she wasn’t lying. A few weeks back they’d gone out clubbing, A.K.A Beck’s excuse to check out lower demon levels in the area, and someone tried pulling Tanny away when she had gone to get drinks. She turned when she heard the “Get your mother-fucking hands off of me!” and just in time to see the tiny human fully latched onto to a man with her arm around his neck in a choke hold.

As Dane began to argue with his little sister, the bell above the door rang and the door seemed to stay open for a while. The bickering stopped and looking around, all the usual’s were already in the bar which meant, someone new had just come in, and judging by everyone’s faces being glued to the entrance, Beck was right.

She turned to see 5 burley men, all in leathers and knives strapped to their belts. She wouldn’t be surprised if they also had guns under their vests. So it was going to be one of those nights. Oh well, she hadn’t had a workout in a week or so, might as well make the most of it.

The apparent leader spoke pretty clearly “Good evening everyone,” how she couldn’t wait to smack that sly smile off of his scarred face. “Looks like you’re all going to have to leave I’m afraid.”

A few of the boys stood up but Beck put her hand up to stop them. “Don’t worry boys, leave this lug to me.” She faced the man up and was at least a head short of him, size was nothing when you had the reflexes of a feline and strength of a Silver Back though.

Laughing, the man studied her up and down and said “And what are you going to do little lady? Maybe you should just be a good girl and leave when you’re told.”

“Or maybe, we can make a deal.” She said as she turned towards the pool table, picking up two old queues. “You win, we leave, I win, you leave… in stretchers.”

He roared a horrible laugh and agreed, “Alright, you have yourself a deal but it’s you who’s going to leave on a stretcher either way.”

“We’ll see.”

She set up the table as the rest of the gang came around to fill the chairs at the bar and around the table, and allowed the man to take the first shot. Getting herself in position, she aimed at the ball she wanted and, missed.

He grinned and let out a small laugh as he aimed his shot and pocketed the ball.

“That’s the way Jim.” One of the lackeys called out. Jim held up a hand to silence him and Beck didn’t think she’d seen a man so large sink so small. Well, except for the ones she ‘dealt with’.

Jim took his second shot and missed, making it Beck’s turn. She took aim and, missed again.

“It’s okay Beck, you’ll get him next shot.” She turned to look at Dane and he winked at her. He knew exactly what she was doing.

The man now convinced he was going to win already edged past her and whispered, “You should’ve left when you had the change little girl.” It was funny that he kept calling her that when she’s probably triple his age.

Three of his shots went in before he missed and he was positively beaming, his underdogs all chuckling to themselves.

She was up, and this time, she wasn’t going to miss a single shot. She aimed and, pocketed. And again. Tanny cheered making the men all look back at the table with curiosity.

They all sat and stood there, mouths slowly gaping more and more open as Beck moved around the table and took each shot, pocketing each one until the 8 ball. When that also went where she intended, she straightened to look Jim right in the eye and blew the chalk off of the end of her queue like a smoking gun.

Anger was building steadily in his eyes and he moved towards her. Keeping full composure waiting for him to reach her, “You little bitch! No one hustles me!”

He stretched out his arm as if he was planning to grab her by the hair, they’ll never know what he planned because she already had a hold of his wrist and twisted it, he looked down in confusion and back at her with renewed anger as the rest of the group got up to come to his aid.

At that moment she pulled him downwards so his round stomach could meet her knee and he bellowed in pain.

One lackey reached her from the bar first so with the queue still in hand, she spun it around above her own head and smacked him right across his letting him hit the floor with a thud.

With Jim still winded and kneeling in front of her, her hand still wrapped around his wrist, she didn’t have much room to move, so when another leathered up beast came rushing towards her she didn’t have much choice but to use Jim as leverage as she spun out with a kick right to the man’s chest.

To all of the gang’s surprise, the man didn’t just fall, he flew towards the entrance door and slammed into one of the wooden pillars next to it, sliding down to the floor, completely knocked out. Everyone else in the bar was cheering her on now, most of them having already seen her fight, they weren’t at all surprised by her strength and tenacity.

Sure enough, the remaining two arse hats decided to lurch for her at the same time. She had no choice but to let go of the queue, she needed a fist now.

Twisting up above and onto Jim, he yelled in pain again. “Oops” She said cheekily as she aimed one fist into one head and one foot into the other. Both men staggered and fell to their knees.

She hopped down from Jim’s back as he looked up and said, “You’ll pay for this.” Just then her claws decided to have a mind of their own and come out to dig themselves further into the great idiot’s arm and he looked down to see the dark blue just before she regained her composure and forced them back in.

His gaze lifted back to her and he studied her eyes intently, “No, I don’t think I will.” Voice now laced with malice, her eyes burning. Shit, her eyes. She’d lost control of her eyes too. No wonder he was gaping up at her, he’d seen her irises rimmed in moving red flames.

She blinked and let go of his arm that was now probably broken in multiple places.

“What are you?” he asked with anger and a little bit of fear.

It was Tanny who piped in, “What do you mean dick head, she’s Beck. Now get the hell outta here!”

They didn’t need to be told twice. Jim staggered to his feet and started walking out, pulling one of his goons up roughly along the way with his good arm. “Come on, get up!” They all staggered out of the bar but not before Jim turned to study her one last time, a confused frown on his face.

It seemed like the whole bar cheered for her and came up patting her on the back while Tanny poured a bunch of fresh drinks for everyone.

“Looks like it’s shots tonights folks!” She yelled with a face full of glee. “This is why you don’t have to pay.”

After a few too many shot Beck decided it was time to go home. Not that alcohol had any effect on her other than making her feel a bit sick, in fact, she had to act tipsy so people wouldn’t suspect her of having a super human metabolism which is exactly what she has.

“Bye everyone!” She cheered, making sure she slurred a little bit to make it believable.

A chorus of “seeya kid” And “thanks again Beck” came her way as she walked out the front door and into the crisp autumn air.

Starting down the street she looked up at the navy night sky, filled with more stars then anyone could count. I wonder what heaven’s like. Thinking to herself, she didn’t really have many people she could have deep and meaningful conversations with, she was too busy protecting them.

Throughout the years, she grew more and more fond of humans and their connections with others. She’d never experienced that in Hell so she got sucked in by the first human who showed her any interest.

Cameron.

He was perfect in her eyes. Average height and build with short brown hair and eyes to match. Such warm brown eyes. They were together for two years so Beck thought she could trust him. She didn’t want to have any secrets between her and the person she loved, having studied human relationships for so many years, she saw the damage it could do.

So, she told him. Told him how she was created by Lucifer and was over 100 years old. He seemed to take it well, a little too well. It was the next day that she woke up to an empty bed but a full living room of men dressed in armour, like that would help them, and Cameron standing right at the front pointing a gun at her.

The disgust in on his features broke her heart and seemed to break something else inside her. The control she had over her monster side. She hadn’t morphed into her Demon form for years but it was as natural as ever.

Her soft skin turned all different shades of blue and her claws extended, the fiery rims of her irises showed. She went full monster, but she never killed anyone. Beat them to an inch of their life, sure, but she’d experienced enough death in Hell to want to see any on the surface.

After that she moved across the country to Brooklyn, where she laid low, making a few dollars here and there doing some debt collecting. Once she had a few clients who trusted her, she didn’t need to find any work, it always seemed to find her. More importantly, she vowed never to trust another human with her secret.

As she walked down the near deserted street, she thought she heard a foot scuff on the pavement. Just before shrugging it off, she remembered the head she thought she saw earlier when she was outside of Scythe’s.

Turning down the next alley, she jumped up to the fire escape with ease and crouched, waiting to see if anyone came around the corner. And they did.

The stranger was tall but not overly built and he was looking around as if he lost who he was clearly tailing. Could she not just get home to bed in peace? Apparently not.

The railing wasn’t very high and she cleared it with ease as she jumped down to land in front of the man, whom she gave quite a fright, judging by his quick backwards step.

“What do you want?” She asked with a firm tone.

“I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.” Replied the man.

That’s cute.

“Mhm, and why’s that my good sir?” Sarcasm now thick in her voice.

“You’re an unnatural creature of the night, I can’t just let you do what you want.” He was pulling out knives from each breast of his jacket now. Not just any knives, iron knives. The very metal that would burn through her skin like butter. Damn.

As I sit here with my lemon biscuits, savouring each citrusy morsel (they’re so damn good you wouldn’t believe), a thought came into my head about the Disney movies we all know and love that really set us up for failure in the real world, and comparing them to the high expectations that books also give us. 

I’m talking about the L word. Yep, that’s the one. The one word that scares me more than “commitment”. 

Love.

We all remember it, our younger years, dreaming about the Princes and Princesses of the beautiful Disney world and how much we wanted to grow up to find someone just like them. 

Fast forward a few years and you mature a bit. You start reading books and realise that Disney really ain’t got nothing on romance novels. Particularly Fantasy/Paranormal Romance for me. 

Don’t get me wrong, I still love my Princes and Princesses, especially Aladdin because let’s be real, he’s everyone’s favourite, and if he’s not, you really need to evaluate your preferences. 

I’m kidding of course, everyone’s different and holds different qualities more precious than others in a potential partner and/or Prince/Princess. 

Where was the turning point for me where I stopped being that dewy eyed girl in love with Aladdin? Don’t get the wrong idea, I’ll always hold a soft spot for our diamond in the rough Ali, but hand me a tall dark Russian called Dimitri any day and I might be able to compose myself enough to say hello..maybe.

That’s right, Vampire Academy. Everyone’s favourite student/teacher relationship. Relax, it’s not as bad as it sounds, sort of, maybe? Books definitely cloud that line of what’s right and wrong, especially when you ship a couple.

My point is, Disney just doesn’t cut it for me anymore when it comes to the idea of relationships being all cutesy and lovey dovey, I can’t stomach it. 

Put a 6+ foot Russian who can take down a Strigoi in seconds in front of me and still look sleek as hell and I’ll be impressed. 

Obviously I realise that these are characters in books and it is very unlikely I’ll ever meet anyone like Dimitri *sigh* and that there are more important things than height, muscles and the ability to fight like a beautiful menace, a girl can still dream. 

I also don’t mean to diminish anyone else’s view, especially if the Disney Princes/Princesses are still your favourite kind of cutesy loves. Don’t get me wrong, they’re adorable and I love them too.. there’s just something about relationships in books (when done well) that are much more captivating and believable, even if there are flying demons or evil red eyed vampires. 

It’s just more exciting that way. 

Gosh darn Cassie does it again!

Lord of Shadows. Where to even start.

This woman knows how to get a reader hooked for sure and the forbidden love between Emma and Julian is worrying (for their fate) but swoon galore.

Seriously, I can’t even find a guy to put up with my craziness let alone secretly paint portraits of me and lock them away for no one to see... wait it’s not as creepy as it sounds I swear.

If you haven’t read Lord of Shadows yet, you’re certainly in for a treat. Apart from a few slow bits, I can’t much fault the book at all.

The way Cassandra Clare writes her characters makes them so believable and also makes me want to be friends with all of them. Those kids get up to some rule breaking and it seems way more exciting than my life, like most books do let’s be real.

Relationships can also be difficult to follow or just plain boring so the diversity in this series is so so so welcome and *SWOON*.

I never thought I’d be rooting for a three way relationship but hey, polyamory could work, right? I guess we’ll find out in Queen of Air and Darkness.

The greatest but also worst part about LOS is the ending. Never have I finished a book on such a cliff hanger with so many fates in question.

Damn it Cassie Y U DO DIS?!

I almost died from excitement when I heard Queen of Air and Darkness will be out in 2018 instead of 2019 but I seriously don’t know how i’m going to cope with having all these questions to be answered until December. I might slowly go insane to the point where i’m under the covers, having not seen daylight for 43 days, eyes wide and red rimmed like Gollum yelling “BUT WHAT ABOUT EMMA AND JULIAN NOW?!” in that raspy voice as a sink my remaining teeth into a raw fish. Kidding guys, I still have all of my teeth.

And if you’re thinking about reading the last chapter first because you can’t wait to see what happens, don’t.

Try to stay away from spoilers too.

All in all, Cassandra Clare is a brilliantly talented creative mind and one of my role models.

If she ever stops writing I will riot.

And on that note, have a great day frands!

Check out my profile on Wattpad, I’m Willow Dream https://www.wattpad.com/WillowDream3?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_profile 

An aspiring author with a dream to forever live a life full of magic. Find what sets your soul on fire and stoke it with everything you have. 

I hope you enjoy my mind.