He sat down at her desk and opened the laptop, trying his hand at a few random passwords just for the heck of it. None of them worked, of course—he was no hacker. He might know someone who was, however, so he unhooked Veronica’s equipment, packed it in a nearby computer bag he’d spotted, and headed out of the studio, careful to lock it behind him.
It looked like Tina was going to get a call from him sooner than she expected.
* * *
He drove until he was a safe distance from Veronica’s hidey-hole, just in case anyone was watching it, before pulling over to call Tina. Tension crept into his shoulders and he caught himself holding his breath as the phone rang, once, twice, three times.
On the fourth ring, there was an answer. “Uh-huh?”
“Hey Tina, it’s Sebastian.”
Silence. Then, “You know, tiger, I didn’t give you this number so you could stalk me. Don’t ruin the good thing we got going here.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. That’s not why I called. I know you’re probably in pain and grumpy anyway, what with being slugged by a demon. But I’ve got something you’re going to want to see.”
“Is that so?” Tina sounded skeptical, but open-mindedly so.
“Yup. Veronica’s laptop.”
“What? No way!” Tina said, demeanor taking a one-eighty. “How did you find it? That’s sick. Totally sick, man.”
Sebastian grinned against the phone, wishing he could see Tina’s face. She was probably impressed. “Oh, I know people, and I’m good at finding things. I tracked down Veronica’s little witchy lair and it was just sitting there. It’s password-protected, though, and I’m better at hacking girls’ hearts than computer parts. You any good at cracking code?”
“Girls’ hearts, huh? Aren’t you the poet.” Tina sounded amused. That was nice. Lily wouldn’t have appreciated such humor.
“Only for you, sweetheart. So, hacking?”
“Yeah, I’ve got skills. But I’ll only help on one condition.”
“A piece of my heart?” Sebastian joked.
He heard a soft chuckle. “I can get that anytime I want,” Tina said. “No, I get a copy of her hard drive once I crack it.”
Sebastian thought about that. It was unlikely anything on that drive could prove harmful to himself or Lily, and he wasn’t worried about Tina. She wasn’t the dangerous one, as long as you didn’t come between her and her mark. She also seemed smart enough to stay away from demons, should Veronica’s drive contain anything overly dangerous. “Sure. You got a deal. I’ve got it on me now, can I bring it over?”
There was a longer silence this time. Finally, Tina sighed. “Sure, whatever. But if you start showing up uninvited, you’ll be getting some unexpected visits from dear Percy.”
“Got it. Percy the poltergeist, I assume?”
“Yeah. One nasty son of a bitch even without my help, so I’d stay on my good side if I were you,” Tina said, voice casual.
“So noted. I promise to always bug you over the phone before I bug you in person.”
“Yeah, whatever. Here’s my address,” she said, giving him the street, which he wrote down on a discarded pizza box in the passenger seat.
“Great, thanks. I’m on my way,” Sebastian said, starting his car.
“Hey,” Tina interrupted. “Since you’re already out, pick up some beer and pizza. I need junk food to get my mojo on.”
“You got it, boss,” Sebastian said, and hung up.
* * *
As Sebastian pulled up to Tina’s apartment, he felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. He was being watched.
“Right. Percy, I know you’re there. Stop being creepy and go tell Tina I’ve got her beer and pizza, okay? Now get lost.” Something invisible tweaked his nose, hard, making his eyes water, and he heard a cackling laugh that quickly faded. Stupid poltergeist.
Computer bag slung over his shoulder and hands full of junk food, he got out of the car and carefully looked around before crossing the street. College Park, right beside the Atlanta International Airport, wasn’t the nicest neighborhood in town. You weren’t guaranteed to get mugged, but it was a close bet. He rang Tina’s doorbell and the door opened as if on its own. As he passed through, something smacked him on the back of the head.
“Percy,” he growled, gritting his teeth. That miscreant was getting on his nerves. Climbing a set of steep stairs, he finally got to Tina’s apartment and stood for a moment, looking around. Surprisingly, and yet not, it looked much like his own. Pizza boxes—minus the moldy pizza—lay everywhere, along with empty beer, energy drink, and coke cans. The walls were plastered with band posters, some familiar, some not. The main room was decorated with lava lamps, black curtains, a neon green, furry rug, and more CDs than any one human ought to possess. As with most real witches he knew, her apartment looked fairly mundane except for a few odd quirks that indicated she knew more than she was letting on. In his house it was the specially aged pizza and cups of mixed drinks he left on his windowsills and outside his door at night—payment for various fae favors. His neighbors thought he was just a slob, feeding stray cats alcohol as a joke. That was fine with him.
Tina’s place looked deceptively normal, until you peeked into the kitchen and saw the boxes and boxes of broken glass—perhaps Percy had a penchant for breaking things—and noticed that, despite the fact that no animals were in evidence, all of her couch cushions looked like a dog had been at them. A dog with very sharp teeth.
Obviously forewarned by Percy, Tina emerged from what must have been her bedroom, dressed in a faded tank top and boxer shorts. It was immediately obvious that she wore nothing under the tank top, but then, she did have bandaged ribs, so maybe it wasn’t just her way of trying to throw him off. He fixed his eyes on her face, resisting the urge to stare a bit lower down.
“Gimme the pizza and the computer bag,” Tina ordered, hands outstretched. “Beer goes in the fridge. There should be something cold in there if you’re thirsty.”
Sebastian handed off the food and computer, stowing the six-pack in the fridge and snagging himself a coke before venturing into Tina’s bedroom. Unlike the living room, this room’s walls were plastered, not with posters, but with maps, diagrams, and photographs. With curtains drawn against the late evening sun, the room was illuminated only by her computer screen and several more lava lamps. Apparently, Tina had a thing for lava lamps.
She’d already shoved a pile of papers and trash out of the way, clearing a spot on her desk where she set up Veronica’s laptop. Stuffing a piece of pizza into her mouth, she typed away furiously, staring at the blinking white cursor of a boot screen. He was glad all the gobbledygook running across the screen meant something to her, because it might as well have been Chinese for all he could tell.
Snagging some pizza for himself, he opened his coke and settled on the bed, watching Tina’s fingers fly over the keyboard. Armies of letters and numbers marched back and forth and the computer beeped at odd intervals. Sebastian was entranced, fascinated by this whole unique language, known only to computers and people who studied them. He wondered if Jas knew any of it.
Attention fixed on Tina, Sebastian’s grip on his coke loosened and he almost didn’t notice when it started to levitate out of his grasp. Just before it cleared his hand, however, he came back to himself and grabbed it out of the air. “Hey! Stop it, you little sneak, that’s mine!”
“Shush,” Tina shot over her shoulder. “I’m trying to concentrate. Percy is being exceptionally well behaved, so shut up and deal with it.”
Sebastian snorted to himself, glaring around the room as if he could somehow spot the mischievous spirit. To pass the time, he tried to formulate a defensive strategy to protect himself from Percy’s version of “good” behavior.
The pizza was long gone when Tina finally straightened and pumped her fist in the air “I’m in!”
Sebastian rushed to her side. “Wow, that was fast.”
“It was nothing.” Tina shrugged o
ff the compliment. “The floozy had all the best security software but wasn’t smart enough to have it customized. All the standard stuff is an open book if you know where to look. Never trust anything you can buy online, that’s what I always say.” As she spoke, she plugged an external drive into the laptop’s USB port and started duplicating Veronica’s hard drive.
“I’m gonna need a copy of that,” Sebastian said, returning to the bed. “I want to return the laptop to Veronica’s apartment, so if police come looking they won’t be suspicious someone broke in.”
“That’ll cost you, lover boy. External hard drives don’t grow on trees,” Tina told him, still staring at the computer screen as she began searching through Veronica’s files.
“Hey, I brought you this goldmine, and it took you barely thirty minutes to hack it. I think a free copy of the drive isn’t asking much.”
“It is if you wanna stay on my good side.” She turned and winked at him, her profile—including her chest—sharp against the light of the computer screen. Sebastian swallowed involuntarily and looked away, just in time to see a pillow fly at him. It hit him full in the face, and he fell back on the bed with an “oomph!” of surprise.
Tina cackled, almost falling backward in her own chair. “Good one, Percy.”
“No, not good!” Sebastian spluttered, struggling upright. “Will you tell that darn thing to lay off?”
She cocked her head, examining Sebastian with an evaluating eye. “You wanna know something? I go on dates with guys so Percy can torment them. It’s part of our deal. And you know what? It’s hysterical. They have no idea what’s going on, but they try to stick it out because I’m hot, you know? The really tough ones come back for a second date, but nobody lasts past that. You, though...” she got up and came over to the bed, standing in front of Sebastian and reaching out to twirl a lock of his hair around her finger. “You’re cute, and not an asshole, yet. I think I might like you. So I told Percy to back off. But poltergeists never really do what they’re told, you get me? You can either deal with it, or get lost.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll deal with it,” Sebastian said, greatly distracted by her proximity. Fortunately, the level of the bed combined with his height and her petite frame meant they were almost at eye to eye, instead of his eyes being closer to chest level. He had a brief thought, wondering if this was what Lily felt like. The being constantly annoyed thing, not the height thing. He tried to clear his mind, thoughts of Lily, Tina, and Tina’s chest making a very bad combination that he had no desire to dwell on.
Tina chuckled softly. “Too bad I have bruised ribs, or I might have you pay me with something other than cash. Maybe later, huh?”
“What?” Sebastian said, still distracted. “Sure. Wait, no! I mean, maybe. Well, what I’m trying to say is—”
“What, getting cold feet?” Tina asked, running a hand through his hair. That was very, very distracting. “Let me guess, there’s someone else?”
“Noooooo...” he answered slowly, brain still trying to catch up. “Not exactly.” Even as he said it, Lily’s face popped into his head, but he pushed it aside. She was way too good for him.
“Well, then, maybe when I’m better, and you take me on that date, we can come back here. I promise Percy’ll leave you alone.”
“I—we’ll see,” was all he could manage.
“Sure, babe, whatever,” Tina laughed again and returned to her seat, once again scanning lists of files. “Hey,” she said after a while, “you’re looking for any dirt on the client, right? I think I found something.”
Sebastian came to bend over the computer with her. He scanned the document she’d opened. It wasn’t much, but there was a name: Rex Morganson - Wizard. Well, that was comforting, he thought. He wondered how Veronica had gotten ahold of that information and how reliable it was. The name was likely just a cover, but it was still something to go on. “Could you copy this and everything relating to it onto a thumb drive for me? I’m sure it’ll take a while to copy the whole hard-drive, so I’ll come back for the laptop tomorrow.”
“Sure thing,” Tina said, eyes glued to the screen, already zipping through more lists of documents while one hand rummaged in a drawer for a thumb drive.
Once she’d gathered a few more files together, copied them, and handed over the thumb drive, Sebastian said a hurried goodbye and made a beeline for the exit. He suffered more harassment from Percy on his way to the door but was left alone once he exited the building. Heaving a sigh of relief, he headed home to examine the files and start calling in favors.
* * *
He called Tina the next evening, checking to make sure the drive was copied before heading over to pick up the laptop and return it to Veronica’s apartment. On the way, he contemplated the fruits of his labor over the past twenty-four hours: if he’d had a fruit basket, it would have been empty. Everyone had either never heard of Rex Morganson or were so scared of him they shut down as soon as they heard his name. It was decidedly frustrating. If Tina hadn’t dug anything else up in the past day, he would try Anton again.
Plans made, his mind drifted and inevitably lit on Tina. He’d been wondering since last night at her odd bargain with Percy. Poltergeists, by nature, were not indiscriminate troublemakers. Most often, a person was wronged in life and their spirit came back to haunt a specific place, specific person, or even a specific type of person after death, instead of moving on in peace. What if their odd bargain implied that both Percy and Tina had been in abusive relationships or were perhaps abused as children? What if Percy was a nickname for Priscilla, or Prudence, and he was a she? Perhaps she was even murdered by a male she trusted. Their odd arrangement could be a sort of proxy revenge, lashing out at men for what had been done to them. It could be why they worked so well together.
He shook his head, pulling into a parking space on Tina’s street. It was all speculation, of course, even if it did seem to fit. He wouldn’t know unless he was foolhardy enough to ask Tina directly. For the time being, he liked a poltergeist-free existence too much to risk it.
It took little time to run up to Tina’s apartment, exchange cash for hard drive, and collect the laptop. He was getting better at anticipating Percy’s attacks and so was only slightly annoyed by the time he left the apartment. Unfortunately, Tina had found nothing else relating to Veronica’s last client, or any demonology material. The former didn’t surprise him, but the latter left him confused. If it wasn’t in her laptop, and it wasn’t at her apartment, where was it? Despite the lack of material useful to him, however, Tina had found plenty to interest her. She barely spared him a glance while he was there, though the brief glance he did get was accompanied by a crooked smile and a suggestive wink. He found himself both anticipating and dreading the day when she was fully healed.
Finally, he was out and on his way to Veronica’s lair. He wondered if anyone had realized she was missing yet. Had Sara reported it to the cops as he’d suggested? The thought made him press a little harder on the gas. He wanted to return that laptop before anyone came snooping, looking for Veronica.
The moment he mounted the top flight of steps to the studio apartment, he knew something was amiss. Heart sinking, he stepped forward, avoiding the shredded welcome mat and gently pushing on the door. It opened without resistance, revealing an apartment that had been completely ransacked. It looked like someone had turned the apartment upside-down, shaken it a few times, then put it right side up again. Every single item had been moved, turned over, or thrown across the room. Pillows had been cut open, chairs overturned, and glassware smashed. Obviously whoever had been there had been frustrated and desperate, not to mention careless. Even the refrigerator had been unplugged and pulled out. Judging by the still-cool food inside, Sebastian was not far behind the perpetrator.
There wasn’t much point returning the laptop now. In fact it would look suspicious if it were found, sitting pristine and undamaged amid all the wreckage. He’d have to throw it in a dumpster somewhere, or bette
r yet, have one of his fae friends hide it in another dimension. Let a mundane detective try to figure that one out.
Even as these thoughts ran through his head, standing amid the wreckage, another thought kept poking at him, derailing his musings. What had the perp been looking for? Nothing appeared to be stolen, only smashed to bits. It might have been the laptop, but with it missing so obviously from the desk, computer case and all, anyone would have logically assumed Veronica had it with her. Nobody would have thought it hidden somewhere in the house. So if not the laptop, what else?
A thought struck him, and with it came a cold wash of dread. He bolted out of the apartment, taking the stairs down three at a time at breakneck speed.
The only thing of value remaining had been her book or books of demonology—potent summoning rituals to command demons of immense power. And if someone had already determined it wasn’t here, there was only one place left to look: Sara’s apartment.
* * *
On the outside, everything about the apartment looked normal. It was past rush hour, so only a few cars trundled past and he saw few pedestrians. The man in the leather jacket was gone, and Sebastian didn’t waste any brain space wondering if that was a good thing or a bad thing. After giving the area a thorough sweep, he proceeded around the building to enter at the side, as he had before. Creeping carefully up the steps, he listened hard and flared his nostrils, every sense on high alert. On the first two floors all he heard were the normal rustlings and murmurs of people relaxing after a day of work. But halfway up the stairs to the third floor, he started smelling sulfur. Sebastian cursed inwardly. He should have seen this coming, been proactive.
Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus Revelations Page 11
