Of Blood and Monsters

by D. G. Swank

  I grinned. “You ask your couples if they want to rule hell?”

  He laughed. “Okay, not exactly that question, but we discuss long-term goals and dreams.”

  “It’s not like we were getting married,” I countered in my defense.

  Jack turned serious. “But surely you weren’t naïve enough to think sex with him would be without consequence.”

  He was right. “I hoped I was saving him from hell.” I grimaced. “It didn’t feel wrong, Jack. It felt very, very right.”

  It was his turn to make a face and look away. “I can do without the details.”

  My face flushed. “Not like that. In my soul, Jack. It felt like we were destined to be together.” Then I addressed the elephant in the room, my previous attempt to prove fate wrong by kissing Jack. “I think we both know you and I aren’t meant to be. We proved that the other day when we kissed and felt nothing.”

  He swallowed, his gaze fixed on the windshield and his face expressionless. “Speak for yourself, Piper.”

  I started to protest, but he held up a hand to stop me. “I think we should head back to the Corden house now.”

  He was right and it was obvious he was done with this conversation, but it felt wrong to leave things this way. “Jack, I’m sorry.”

  “I’m doing my best to counsel you, Piper,” he said with a hint of disgust, “because I feel like that is part of my destiny, but please don’t patronize me by apologizing.”

  I started to protest, but I didn’t want to hurt him any more than I already had.

  We were silent for the rest of the short drive back. I pulled into the driveway and started to get out, but Jack placed a hand on my forearm.

  “Piper.”

  I turned to look at him, tears in my eyes.

  “I’m still your friend,” he said with a sad smile. “I’m still here for you. I’ll try my best to rein in my own issues.”

  “Jack—”

  He shook his head and opened his car door. “We’re good, but don’t dry your tears. Save them for our visit with Robert Corden’s widow.”

  It was showtime.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Piper

  Before we went inside, I opened the trunk of my car and grabbed a sage stick and a lighter, dropping them in the pocket of the jacket I’d worn to conceal the daggers strapped to my thighs. Jack watched in silence.

  I shrugged. “Just in case.”

  Loretta Corden opened the door after the first knock. She held a wad of tissues in the hand that wasn’t clutched around the handle. Alarm filled her eyes. “Piper. Father Jack.”

  Jack offered her a warm smile. “Loretta, I just heard about Robert and rushed over to make sure you were all right.”

  Her wide eyes darted back and forth between us. “How did you hear? They haven’t made it public yet.”

  “I have a friend in the police department,” Jack said. “She clued me in.”

  Loretta’s gaze landed on me.

  I knew I should say something, but her and her husband’s betrayal stilled my tongue. I’d known them for years. My grandparents trusted them implicitly. Hell, they’d babysat me several weekends while my grandparents were away.

  And then they’d made me a sacrificial lamb.

  “Piper was with me when I found out,” Jack said. “And she insisted on coming.”

  “I was worried about you,” I forced out, stuffing my anger down deep. “I know Nana and Granddad will be devastated when they find out.”

  “Can we come in?” Jack asked.

  Flustered, Robert’s widow took a step back. “Uh…”

  “Loretta, you must be in a terrible state of shock,” Jack said, walking over the threshold before she could refuse us. “Let us sit with you for a bit.”

  I followed him in and shut the door behind us as Jack grabbed her arm and gently guided her to the front sitting room.

  “Did the police give you any details about what happened?” Jack asked. He sat on a formal, white brocade sofa and pulled her down with him.

  “Uh…no.”

  Jack shook his head. “Do you have any idea what happened? What was Robert doing at the warehouse?”

  I tried to hide my shock. After telling me to play dumb, Jack was certainly skirting the edge with his questions.

  She looked startled and cast a glance at me. “I don’t know.”

  “It’s okay, Mrs. Corden,” I said softly, fighting the urge to verbally attack her with everything I knew while simultaneously wringing her neck. “I’m sure this is all shocking and disorienting. I’m surprised you haven’t called anyone to come sit with you.” My smile tightened. “Then again, Nana and Granddad are your closest friends and they’re still on their cruise.”

  A new thought hit me. Had Robert purposely timed the attack for when they were gone? I was pretty sure Nana had told me they’d booked the trip at Loretta’s suggestion. Then my stomach turned as I recalled Nana informing me they’d be gone over my birthday, on a cruise their friend Robert helped them arrange.

  Loretta licked her bottom lip and sucked in a deep breath. “I…”

  “It’s okay,” Jack said, placing a comforting hand over hers, which rested on her jiggling knee. “We can just sit here for a moment. Did you and Robert make prior funeral arrangements? Do you need help with that?”

  She looked up at Jack, her lip trembling. Her eyes were wide with panic and a hint of fear. What was she afraid of? The police? Us? Fallout from the Guardians?

  I felt no pity for her, this woman who had made me cookies and given me birthday and Christmas gifts. All I felt was hatred, pure hatred filling my soul. My hands twitched, aching to wrap around the hilts of Ivy and St. Michael and help Loretta join her husband in hell.

  “Piper,” Jack said in a voice slightly too loud and sharp, and I realized he’d been trying to get my attention.

  I stared at him in horrified silence. I’d been seriously contemplating murdering this woman. What the hell was wrong with me?

  He forced a smile, then said, “I was just saying that Loretta could use a cup of tea, and since you’re so familiar with the house, perhaps you could go make us all some.”

  “Of course,” I said, my voice tight as I got to my feet. “I’ll be right back.”

  Hurrying out of the room, I could hear Jack’s soft baritone soothing Loretta as he offered his assistance in anything she needed. I stumbled down the hall, sweat beading on my forehead as I realized how close I’d been to murdering her.

  Had I tainted my soul? Had I doomed myself rather than saved Abel?

  I could dwell later, when I wasn’t midway through a theft attempt. Instead, I hurried through the family room at the back of the house and to the right. I found the tea kettle in a cabinet next to the stove and glanced out the window at the back of the house as I filled it with water. I didn’t see Collin standing around, but it hadn’t been a full fifteen minutes yet, and besides, I hoped he’d be more discreet. There was no telling with him. Collin was a complete wild card.

  After I set the kettle on the stove and turned on the burner, I headed to the back door and stepped outside, scanning the perfectly landscaped yard. Collin was crouched between the house and a large lilac bush in front of the study windows.

  He glanced up at me and I motioned him inside, then shut the door behind us.

  “Took you long enough,” he muttered. He lifted an eyebrow when he noticed the tea kettle. “Good to see you’ve got your priorities straight. It is close to teatime.”

  “Shut up, Collin,” I hissed under my breath. “My ruse is I’m making tea, so I’ll be expected to show up with a pot. Loretta will be listening for the hiss of the kettle.”

  He frowned but didn’t say anything.

  “Come this way,” I whispered, heading through the family room.

  He followed and waited behind me when I stopped at the entrance to the hall, listening to Jack’s comforting voice. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he had Loretta preoccupied
, so I led Collin into the main foyer then down a side hall toward the study at the opposite end of the house.

  Stopping in front of the study door, I started to reach for the knob, but Collin batted my hands away. It was then I realized he was wearing a pair of gloves.

  “Don’t touch it,” he said, moving in front of me and grabbing the handle. “Fingerprints.”

  He was right and I felt like a fool. Sure, I was here because Loretta had let us in, but I had no excuse to be in the study.

  “It’s locked,” he said, then reached into his bag and pulled out a small packet, which he quickly unwrapped to reveal small tools. It took him several seconds to pick the lock then push the door open. “We’re in.”

  We walked inside the study, and unwelcome memories washed over me. I’d visited this house more times than I could count, starting before my parents were killed. I remembered my own father sitting on the leather settee in front of the windows that overlooked the backyard, bouncing a preschool-aged me on his knee while he talked to a group of men. I’d asked him why Mr. Corden’s house smelled like the mountains, and he’d told me it was the oil on the wood paneling. The smell was hitting me now, full force, and I swallowed the pain it brought with it.

  Robert Corden had pretended to be a family friend, but he’d been our ruin. He’d had my parents murdered.

  Had my father figured it out before he and my mother had been shot?

  “Piper,” Collin whisper-shouted. “Come on.”

  He was standing in front of multiple glass cases that contained close to a hundred weapons of various kinds—swords, antique guns, daggers, and several antique pocket watches.

  “Holy shit,” Collin muttered, intent on the watches. “It’s identical to Ellie’s.”

  “A sword?” I asked, scanning the case, but he ignored me, now working on picking the lock of the first case.

  “We have a decision to make,” Collin said as the lock clicked. “Do we take them all or only a few?”

  “We don’t know which ones are spelled,” I said. “But if we take them all, the robbery will be reported sooner.”

  He nodded in agreement, a grim look on his face.

  “I can help,” Hudson said from behind me, and I squelched a shriek as I spun to face him.

  “You’re here,” I said in shock. “You can leave the house?”

  He gave me a sad smile. “I’m self-aware, Pippy. Which means I’m free to roam. And I can help.”

  “How?”

  Collin shifted, clearly uncomfortable. “I hope to God you’re talking to a ghost and not your imaginary friend.”

  I took a couple steps backward, blindly reaching back to grab his arm.

  He jolted. “Holy shit.”

  While Hudson had been at our meeting, the only people who had seen him were me, Abel, and Jack. “Collin, meet Hudson, my best friend, who has offered to help us determine which weapons are spelled.”

  “No offense,” Collin said in a sarcastic tone I was becoming well acquainted with, “but how can you tell which ones work?”

  Hudson’s mouth twisted into a small grimace. “I can’t, but Pippy can.”

  “What?” I squeaked out. “No, I can’t.”

  Collin snorted. “Pippy?”

  Resisting the urge to shove my elbow back into his solar plexus, I instead shook my head. “I can’t do that, Hudson.”

  “You can,” Hudson said, shooting Collin a dark glare. “You only have to try.”

  I released Collin’s arm and turned to study the weapons in the case. “They all look the same to me.”

  Hudson put his hand on my shoulder. “Focus on your power, then study the sword at the top left. The second from the top.”

  “How do you know that one’s spelled?” I asked, glancing back at him. “You said you can’t tell.”

  His eyes darkened, and I remembered how he’d known about the spelled weapons in the first place. Had they threatened him with that sword?

  I bit my lip and nodded at him before turning back to face the weapons. My gaze roved over them again, and I said in frustration, “Nothing.”

  “Don’t look directly at it,” Hudson said. “Look at the surface. Do you see it now?”

  I narrowed my eyes and saw a faint sheen that glowed, but it quickly faded. “I think I saw a flash of it.”

  “Saw what?” Collin asked.

  I returned my focus to the sword, surprised when the sheen came back into view. It was brighter now and stayed in focus. Maintaining my concentration, I turned to examine the entire case and gasped when multiple weapons lit up like a Christmas tree.

  “What?” Collin asked.

  “I’ll point out which ones are spelled, and you remove them from the case.”

  “How many are there?”

  “About seven in this case,” I said after I did a quick count, then turned to glance in the one next to it. “About fifteen in the next one. Close to twenty, just like Hudson had told us.” I pointed to an ornate watch on a middle shelf. “Plus that watch.”

  Collin reached for the watch first and shoved it into his jeans pocket. I started to protest, but he’d already pulled a thick blanket out of his bag and was laying it on the floor.

  “Aren’t you worried about cutting yourself when you’re done?” I asked, nodding at the blanket.

  He shot me a glare that suggested I was a fool as he removed a large, crumpled-up duffle bag from his smaller one. The new bag looked long enough to hold the swords.

  Collin was a pain in the ass, but I knew we needed him on our side. I also knew what he’d seen in the attic had scared him, yet he was here anyway. “I know Tommy showed you something you didn’t want to see in that picture,” I said. “I don’t know exactly what it was, but I know it’s supposed to happen if you fight the bad monster with me.”

  He didn’t respond as he stood upright, so I took that as a yes.

  I needed him to trust me enough to tell me, which meant I needed to offer something in return. “I’m going to tell you about the mark I need to stop from appearing.”

  He raised his eyebrows and waved a hand. “Please continue.”

  I held out my left hand, showing him the marks on my palm. “While we share the circle and the square, I have marks you don’t.” I pointed to the diagonal lines on the upper right corner of the mark. “Abel says this one means demon slayer. It indicates I can cross spiritual planes.” I looked up into his eyes. “I’m waiting for another, the reason Abel sought me out. The mark that makes me Kewasa.”

  “Deliverer,” Collin said.

  “Abel’s deliverer.” Did I tell him that Tsawasi thought I was their deliverer as well? I wasn’t sure his ego could handle it right now. I needed to ease him into it.

  He scowled. “What does that mean? Are you going to make him king of the world? His daddy’s successor?”

  “The opposite. My destiny is to deliver him from this world.” The blank look on his face told me I’d need to be more direct. “When the mark appears, I’ll kill him.”

  Shock filled his eyes. “Damn, Piper. That’s cold.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I don’t want to kill him, you fool. I’ll be compelled to. I won’t have a choice. That’s why Abel’s so worried about his father locking me up. If the mark appears while I’m imprisoned, he says I’ll go mad trying to obey the pull of the mark.”

  “And if you kill him…”

  “Okeus will be furious and make me pay many times over.”

  “Fuck.”

  “He sought me out because he was ready to die, but now we’re trying to figure out a way to stop it. Or at least slow it down. I’m hoping the seer will know, but Tsagasi pretty much told me not to waste my time. He said Abel’s job is done, presumably now that he helped me open my witness to creation magic.”

  Collin remained expressionless as he digested my information.

  I gave him a determined look. “I don’t give a fuck what Tsagasi said. I’m going to find a way to stop it.”

&nb
sp; “You can’t fight fate, Piper,” he said with a weary sigh. “Trust me, I’ve tried.”

  “Bullshit, I’ll fight it kicking and screaming all the way.”

  A smirk lit up his eyes. “You’re a lot like your cousin.”

  “I’m gonna take that as a compliment.” I paused. “There’s something else you should know if you’re going to fight with us.” When I was sure I had his attention, I said, “Tsawasi thinks I’m their deliverer too.”

  He stared at me for so long I was sure he’d gone into some kind of trance, but finally he answered. “I know,” he said, sounding older than time.

  “You know?” I asked in shock.

  “Tsawasi and I have had our own conversation, and since I’m not a touchy-feely, share-my-feelings-with-you-and-braid-each-other’s-hair kind of person, all I’m going to say is that Tsawasi convinced me we need to stay with you.” The tone of his voice made it clear he resented this turn of events and likely me along with it.

  “Collin—”

  “Which swords?” he asked, his face hardening as he gestured toward the case.

  We worked for the next several minutes, restricting our conversation to the task at hand.

  “Where’s the spear?” Collin asked after we’d pilfered most of the weapons. He was rearranging the weapons to make the collection look less picked over. “You said the ghost told you the spear was here.”

  I turned to Hudson with a questioning glance.

  “It’s here,” he said, sounding subdued.

  “But it’s not in the case,” I said. “Is it in a cabinet or closet?”

  “No,” Hudson said, then paused. “It’s in the basement.”

  A cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. Then something ignited in my chest, a white-hot energy that began to build. “They used it…” I swallowed. “On you?”

  He didn’t answer, but the expression on his face said it all. My rage didn’t stop to dwell on the fact that I hadn’t seen any blood on his body.

  “The spear’s in the basement,” I said, barely recognizing my voice.

  Collin’s head jerked up. “Piper?”

  “I’m going to get it.”