I put a hand on the wall to steady myself, which wasn’t exactly part of my act. “Hero or not, I don’t meet many supernaturals these days that are fans of the SSF.”
At least I wasn’t lying about that. It was no secret the SSF were treated like pariahs. You either avoided them, or you were them. There was no in-between. Not around here.
Adrik nodded slowly. Too slowly. His dark eyes were still intensely focused on mine like he could pick out my lies if he only stared hard enough. Instead of feeling guilty, however, my stomach turned to a butterfly sanctuary, and my insides flipped around at the sight of all that sexy angelic energy focused on me.
Dammit.
Not the right time, libido.
But the alcohol had a mind of its own. So did my vagina.
I gripped the wall tighter, eyeing the shovel in case I had to put myself out of my own misery. I’d smash myself over the head with it before I threw myself at a Nephilim with an attitude problem.
“You know, it’s just as strange to see a greater demon get this far downtown unnoticed,” I said before he could pick at another loose thread in my story. Or notice the fact that I was practically panting over him. “In fact, I can’t remember the last time I heard about a level five anywhere this populated. Seems unlikely . . . unless there was a hidden portal somewhere nearby. But the Neph would never let a portal get by their notice. They’re way too powerful for a mistake like that.”
Adrik’s eyes narrowed.
He rose swiftly, and I took an involuntary step back at the way his energy expanded, pressing against the empty space between us.
My southern regions buzzed at the tension, but what was left of my common sense knew scary and sexy were not the same thing. Well, not usually.
“You raise a good point, Gem. I’ll be sure to put it in my report to my superiors. Right along with how helpful you were tonight.”
Before I could answer, he spun on his heel and stalked out. I listened to the sounds of his boots on the stairs, followed by a scraping that made me wonder if he hadn’t opened a window somewhere on the second floor.
A moment later, the wind kicked up outside, and there was a loud swooshing sound. I crossed to the door and flung it open in time to see a pair of onyx wings swoop upward then disappear against the night sky.
Dramatic much?
I rolled my eyes and stomped my way down the sidewalk, headed for home and what I prayed was a still-sleeping demon baby. This night had gone on for way too long already. I needed sleep and probably at least five more bags of gummy bears.
A noise from an alcove drew my attention.
My muscles tensed, adrenaline pumping through me until my inner beast was about three seconds from a reflexive kill.
But then, a familiar figure stepped into the glow of the streetlight, and I exhaled.
“You really shouldn’t sneak up on a griffin with sleep deprivation and a whiskey buzz,” I said.
Starla waved me off, unfazed as I stepped into the small space where she waited. A dark coat was pulled tight around her collar, and she had her hands stuffed into the pockets.
“How was your first day?” she asked.
“Long.”
“Tell me about your new boss.”
“Adrik Romonov. Nephilim.”
“Former council member. Now, heading up a classified assignment within division thirteen.”
I frowned. She didn’t sound nearly shocked enough at the idea of a Nephilim doing blue-collar work.
“What’s his agenda?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. He doesn’t seem to want this job any more than I do. But I can’t imagine him taking orders from anyone either.”
“We need to know his motive for this,” she said. “It’s important to our cause.”
“Which is?”
I didn’t expect her to answer. Not when she’d blown off the question for weeks now.
“Someone inside the SSF is corrupt. And I believe someone at the top is working with them.”
My shock silenced me, but I recovered quickly.
“Any idea who?”
She shook her head. “Too early to say.”
Of course it was.
She frowned and leaned in, sniffing me. “What’s that smell?”
“Dead gorchst demon,” I said. “I would say it smelled worse than it looked, but that would be a lie.”
“A gorscht?”
Finally, I knew something she didn’t.
“Where?” she asked, her gaze and voice both sharp now.
Quickly, I told her about my cleanup job.
“And the portal?” she asked, eyes gleaming with interest.
“None reported,” I said. “That’s the strange part. I could have sworn I saw a chalked pentagram on the floor when I got there.” Lie. But close enough. “And by the time I was gone, it had vanished.”
“A pentagram? You’re sure?”
“Yeah, but that’s old-world witchcraft. No one’s that old school anymore.”
She pulled out her phone, typing in a message to someone. I tried leaning in to see the screen, but the display simply read “J.N.”
“You’d be surprised,” she said quietly.
I started to ask what she meant by that, but sharing time was apparently over. She slid her phone back into her pocket and straightened.
“Good work, Gem. I’ll be in touch soon.”
Shit. This was the part where I asked for something in return. I bit my lip, wishing I’d had time to look into that address in Dad’s file. Without time to investigate, I had no idea what else to demand from her.
So, I just sighed as Starla flashed me one last look.
Then, she was gone, the sound of her coat flapping around her legs nothing more than a whisper in the darkness.
“Another riveting exchange,” I muttered and headed for home.
Half a block from my apartment, a shadow crossed the alleyway, and I slowed my steps. Exhaustion had dulled my senses, but I knew a predator when I felt one. And whatever was lying in wait up ahead wasn’t some drunk mugger. It also wasn’t human.
I slowed my steps, debating.
I could either cut through behind Donny’s convenience store on my left and up to the roof where I could shift and fly home, avoiding the asshole altogether, or I could double back and sneak up on whoever was waiting to jump out at me. On the one hand, I’d already done more than a full day’s work, and my exhaustion was probably going to hinder me if it came to a throwdown. On the other, I couldn’t afford anything predatory hunting me in my own ’hood. Not with a baby to worry about.
Up ahead, the shadow passed over again, and I realized whatever it was hadn’t really tried for stealth. Not with the way it was moving in and out of the desperate glow of the street lights.
With a shake of my head, I made my decision and hoped it wasn’t the wrong one.
Chapter Six
I crept slowly toward the corner ahead, my fae senses practically yelling at me to shift into something better able to defend myself. The sounds coming from the alley were a disgusting blend of slurping and ripping—an unnatural combination that put me on edge. The volume was low enough that the handful of humans loitering in front of the bar down the block still hadn’t noticed the disturbance pulling me forward. But thanks to them, I couldn’t afford to shift here.
Instead, I reached for the blade I always kept in my boot and eased forward. Just before I rounded the corner, a gurgle then a cough sounded from the alley. A second later, something stubby rolled out of the darkness and bumped my boot. A red and sticky coating clung to the black leather I saved two paychecks at the sandwich shop to buy.
My nose wrinkled as my senses picked up the scent.
Blood.
I bent closer and picked up the strange item, holding it up for a better look. It caught the glint of the streetlight, and I recognized it for what it was.
A fucking toe.
My stomach chose that moment t
o grumble, reminding me I hadn’t eaten since who-knew-when, and I realized I was simultaneously both hungry and disgusted.
Another wet gurgle came from just around the corner, and I pressed my lips together, out of patience—and out of time. Whoever the toe belonged to was having a bad day.
I leaned forward and did a quick peek before pulling back out of sight again. Then I blinked as I realized what I’d just seen in that quick glimpse. It wasn’t pretty. It also wasn’t what I’d expected.
The grisly scene imprinted on my brain in one giant, impossible bloody-ass collage of disconnected body parts. And in the center of it all—a baby.
My baby.
Fucking shit.
I blew out a breath and leaped around the corner.
My little bundle of demon joy was so caught up in her midnight snack she didn’t even notice me coming.
I marched over and scooped her up, immediately regretting my decision when I realized she was covered in blood. Not hers. It all belonged to the owner of the toe from the looks of it. And it was pooled right where I was still standing.
I grimaced, holding her up and away from me as she whined and struggled to get down again.
“No way, young lady,” I scolded her, doing my best to keep a tight grip around her slickery little body. “What do you think you’re doing up so late anyway? I thought we agreed on gummy bears for dinner. Not people.”
She whined again, and the sound grew louder.
I remembered the ear-splitting scream from the bathtub earlier and promptly set her down again before she decided to go straight for Defcon Five and drew an audience. The moment her little legs hit the pavement, she waddled back to her snack and started slurping again. This time from a dismembered leg.
“Ugh.” I pressed a hand to my mouth and turned away—but not before I finally caught sight of the face of her meal.
“Shit balls,” I muttered, glancing away then back again just to be sure.
Oh yeah, it was her.
“Really, kid? You had to go for my neighbor?”
Demon spawn continued sucking out all the juiciest parts while dear old Patrice—may she rest in peace—lay filleted wide open next to the dumpster.
“I am so screwed,” I moaned, pacing back and forth while I tried to come up with a plausible explanation I could sell to Patrice’s nephew when he found out about this. Even after five minutes with the guy, I knew he wasn’t going to let this go once it came out she’d been murdered. And dismembered. And eaten.
Not to mention how I would explain this to the agency I worked for. The agency that would probably assign ME to clean up this mess.
Fuck.
Farther down the alley, something moved, and I froze, staring into the murky darkness for a glimpse of who was there. If it was some unsuspecting human, I could probably manage to summon enough fae glamour to convince him he hadn’t seen anything here tonight. But if it was a supe, I wasn’t making any promises. Not after the loss of sleep and alcohol. If push came to shove, maybe we could just eat them for dessert.
But no matter how hard I looked, even my fae eyesight couldn’t make out the shape approaching us out of the shadows. The air coming from its direction pulsed with some sort of otherworldly power, and I drew in a shaky breath as the signature reached me. It was a feeling I’d only ever felt in close proximity to two things: angels and demons.
Goosebumps rose along my arms and neck. I could feel just as clearly as I could see the creature approaching us.
Whatever it was—it didn’t come from this world. And if the smell of Patrice’s blood was drawing it, chances were I didn’t want to meet it.
We needed to move. Now.
“Fuck my life,” I muttered, scooping up my little bundle of homicidal joy for a second time.
She wriggled like before, but I was already moving, doubling back the way I came and looking for a quick escape. When her meal was out of sight, she settled down, and I sighed in relief that she wasn’t going to throw a fit over leaving her meal behind.
I did my best to tuck her into my jacket, or at least the bloodier parts of her, then hauled ass in a roundabout route back to my apartment, praying no one noticed the little hairless T-rex-lookalike with flesh stuck in its teeth.
Teeth! That explained a lot.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were teething?” I whispered. “What a big day.”
She grinned at me, and I flinched at her full mouth of canines.
Damn.
My baby was an early bloomer, apparently.
Halfway there, her gurgles turned to suckling sounds again, and I realized she’d managed to snag a bone that looked deceivingly like a pork rib with the skin still hanging on. My stomach churned, and I looked away, whistling to drown out the sounds she made as she ate my poor elderly neighbor for dinner.
Holy shit. This night could not get any worse.
I’d nearly made it back to my apartment building when the prickle of the otherworldly power returned. I quickened my steps, but the power was unshakable. I’d been spotted.
A low growl nearby stopped me in my tracks. The sound had an edge to it that suggested something more than a pissy werewolf too drunk to find its way home. Once again, the hairs on the back of my arms and neck rose in response to whatever power was rolling off the asshole currently stalking me from the shadows.
I glanced right then left, peering into the alley between this building and the next. Satisfied, I looked back at the path before me. Less than ten yards away stood my apartment entrance, but whoever the growling belonged to sounded close—and menacing—and I damn sure didn’t want it following me home.
Somewhere in the depths of the shadows, something moved toward us.
My senses practically screamed at me to get out of sight.
I took a hard left and slipped into a cubby. The space wasn’t much more than a pocket cut between two buildings, but I slid as far back as I could go, only stopping when I was wedged in tight between walls. The air was stale here and, though warmer, not the best place to hide considering all it took was one good look from whoever stood at the opening and we were busted.
The power I sensed stalked closer.
I concentrated on the handful of demon baby currently tucked into my jacket, soothing her and praying she wouldn’t get us both eaten.
A moment later, something passed by the opening. I went absolutely still at the sight of the monster.
It was taller than me by at least two feet and covered in thick fur. For a split second, I wrote it off as a werewolf. But werewolves weren’t that big. Not unless some freakazoid human had grown to the size of a skyscraper then been bitten and turned. Also, it didn’t have a snout. Or if it did, someone had done a great job of smashing it in because the front of its face was flat and wide. More proof this thing wasn’t a supe.
It stopped and sniffed the air, and I held my breath, using my hand to softly cover the mouth of the little demonling in my arms.
The thing turned slowly as if testing the air around where it now stood. A pair of glowing blue eyes swept past me as the thing swiveled its head, casting a glance backward. After another pause, the blue eyes swept back again, and the thing finally faced forward and moved on.
A trickle of genuine terror washed over me as I realized just how far off base I truly was. Werewolves were just humans who shifted, but this. . . This wasn’t shifter or man. It wasn’t even of this world, I realized.
A demon. But not just any demon.
At the Tiff, we’d done a unit on greater demons, all of which had been extinct for at least a couple of decades now.
The photos and lore made them sound like myth rather than part of actual history. Especially when you factored in how few humans actually knew about them. The destruction they’d caused had been catastrophic before the SSF had bolstered their numbers enough to take down the beasts.
This particular guy was reminiscent of a photo I’d seen depicting an entire village wiped out by a single creatur
e.
This asshole was a level six.
“Holy fuckery,” I breathed when enough minutes had passed and the weight of the power clinging to the beast had finally faded.
“Fuckery,” a tiny voice bleated, echoing my own.
I gasped and nearly dropped the wriggling worm-girl in my arms before I remembered I was holding her in the first place. All at once, it hit me: the voice I’d just heard belonged to her.
My demon-baby.
“You can talk?” I whispered, staring intently down into her too-large eyes. She grinned up at me and waved the leftover rib bone in my face as if offering me a bite.
“Eww.” I grimaced and arched away to avoid contact with the thing. “No thanks, kid.”
“Fuckery,” she sang again.
“Yes, this night has been full of that,” I agreed.
Her grin turned to a laugh, and I tried not to notice how terrifying she looked covered in blood, gnawing on a human rib, giggling hysterically. I sure knew how to pick ‘em.
Still, I didn’t move. Just in case that glowing-eyed wolf monster decided to backtrack.
An hour ticked by, and my muscles began to cramp. When I couldn’t hold my position any longer, I eased out of my hiding space and into the alley. When nothing jumped out to eat me, I wandered a little farther.
Still nothing.
The wolf-demon was gone.
As I neared my apartment, I glanced down at my toddler-monster and squared my shoulders. “Look, I need you to stay quiet,” I told her. “If you do that, I’ll buy you all the gummy bears you want.”
Yes, it was a bribe.
No, I didn’t feel guilty for it.
She grinned, and I took that as a yes.
With a final glance around—just in case blue-eyed demon-king was still lurking—I ran for my apartment.
Halfway up the stairs, I heard Patrice’s apartment door open behind me. “Gem?” I heard. “Is that you?”
Rourke, Patrice’s nephew, sounded curious and a little concerned.
I cringed and took the stairs two at a time.
“Sorry, Rourke, no time,” I called out.
“Listen, have you seen—”
Knock Em Dead (Supernatural Security Force Book 2) Page 7
