I squeezed my hands between my knees, shoulders tense, waiting to hear more, breathing through the antiseptic tang permeating the room.
“Together?” Baruch barked. “Those two are not known for playing with others.”
“I don’t care what the hell they’re known for!” I stamped my foot on the ground. “I want to know who they are and what they did with Ari!” My voice was a panicky screech but for fuck’s sake, talk to me like I was a child because I didn’t know all the ins and outs here.
Rohan gingerly flexed his arm. “Sakacha are pain demons. Physical pain. Dremla are soul leeches.”
“And?”
“I. Don’t. Know.” His breath rushed out in a hiss.
“Not good enough,” I snapped, swiping at my eyes with my hand. “Is he alive?” I could barely choke the words out through my tight throat and I dreaded the answer but I had to know.
Rohan’s bleak look conveyed his utter lack of knowledge. “There were five of them. They attacked his car as soon as it left the grounds and pulled him out. I ran over to help but…” He shook his head. “One of them dragged him out of the car, threw him over his back, and bolted.”
Kane rubbed his forehead with his fist. “They’re on foot.”
“But they’re fast,” Baruch said. “Who knows where they’ve gotten by now?”
“So I track.” Drio cut the thread with a small pair of scissors, tying the loose ends in a small knot.
“Take Baruch,” Rohan said.
Baruch was already in the hallway headed for the front door.
“I want to go with Drio,” I said.
“You can’t. You’ll just get in his way.” Kane slung an arm over my shoulder. “Why don’t you go move your dad’s car?”
It wasn’t up for debate.
Grabbing my Ryan Tedder sunglasses off the table in the foyer for courage, I jogged down the drive to the abandoned car, parked sideways right outside the gate.
I sidestepped the wreckage of Ari’s phone, smashed on the concrete. Even if Ari had still had his special Demon Club phone, Rohan wouldn’t have gotten to the scene any faster, but this broken piece of crap was a reminder of how helpless my brother was.
I pounded my fist on the hood.
The incessant chiming of the open driver’s side door taunted me. Gone. Gone. Gone.
A bloody streak ran from the shredded seat belt along the frame of the driver’s side door. I clamped my lips together, very glad my parents had left town and I didn’t have to tell them what had happened to their son.
Miserable, I got into the car, Ari’s blood literally on my hands as I drew the seat belt across my chest. The engine sputtered when I pushed the ignition button, but caught. My fingers tightened on the wheel, resentment burning hot and deep at being relegated to valet.
A one, a two, you know what to do.
I did know what to do. Let the boys pursue their leads, I’d pursue mine. I had to find Leo and get her demon insider knowledge. No one was going to sideline me when it came to Ari’s safety. Saving him was the one thing I could do right now.
I’m coming for you, Ace, I vowed. Stay strong.
With a glance up the drive to make sure no one was watching, I backed the car out onto the street. The world sped by in a violent blur as I drove like a madwoman to Leo’s place, streaks of traffic and barely-dodged pedestrians set to a cacophonic soundtrack of honking horns. Flicking on my signal, I made the final right turn onto Leo’s street. As usual, there was no parking, so I zipped into the alley to double park.
A black SUV T-boned me, spinning the car.
The air bags deployed. One second they weren’t there, the next PHOWOMP, the bags had exploded out of the front and side of the Prius, blowing my head back with a jarring snap of my neck.
I came to with my ears ringing, and three very cute paramedics crouching beside me. “Hello, boys,” I slurred. My arm burned like a son-of-a-bitch, covered in the world’s worst case of rug burn. Wrong day to wear short sleeves.
They held up the same three fingers in sync. “How many fingers do you see?” The three spoke in unison really well.
I squinted at them. “Are you guys identical triplets?” I closed my eyes because it was somewhat disorienting every time they moved. Also, my face throbbed.
“You’ve got a concussion. Do you know your name?”
“Nava. Katz.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
Closing my eyes didn’t make the world any less spinny-ride, so I opened them again. “I was hit.”
Triplet melted down to a duo, his faces furrowed in concern. “Do you know why there’s blood on the seatbelt? It doesn’t appear to be yours.”
That’s when everything came rushing back to me. “Ari,” I gasped, struggling up out of my seat.
“You need to stay put.” Hands grabbed at me. One set since he’d finally snapped into focus. “I’m going to cut you out because the release mechanism got mangled in the crash.” He jogged over to his car.
Adrenaline rode me like a little bitch, but struggle as I might the belt had me trapped tight. A quick glance in the rearview mirror showed bruising around my nose and left eye. I probed the puffy skin with a pained hiss. The fine white powder from the deployment that coated me didn’t add much to the overall effect, and only half of my beloved sunglasses now sat on my head. The other half was nowhere to be seen.
Neither was the hit-and-run black SUV.
I had to get out of here. There was no way to get past the airbags to try the ignition button and, given the crumpled frame and odd way the door hung open, I doubted the car would start anyway.
Dad was going to lose his shit.
I opted to try and zap my way loose from the seatbelt, since the paramedic was taking too long to get whatever tool he needed. I was so focused on the best way to free myself that I failed to realize he’d returned with what appeared to be a very thin, orange, post-modern stapler-shaped thing.
I shut my magic down with a lame, “It’s not what you think.”
He frowned at the tool. “The seatbelt cutter?”
No way he hadn’t seen my magic. Ignoring the impossible? Dodging that bullet worked for me except something about the way he watched me–his smile a little too bright, his gaze a bit too intense–made the back of my neck prickle.
Paramedic man squatted down, sawing through the belt with one sharp slice.
I pitched sideways. The world swung around me, my hand shooting out to grab the warped doorframe for balance. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the paramedic. Underneath his image, he was rippling.
A hot, bright burst of panic bloomed in my chest. I slammed my hand into his shoulder.
For a brief second, he transformed from shaggy cuteness to a silvery-blue serpent with an overly large mouth and needle teeth, made entirely of water. My electricity dissipated harmlessly over the surface of him. A weak cloud of steam rose off of the serpent, but that was it. His only reaction was to ask if I needed help standing up.
I doubled over, hyperventilating–not entirely an act–to buy me time.
“Come on. I’ll get you to the ambulance.” He tugged on my elbow, trying to pull me to my feet.
An icy certainty that I couldn’t let him put me in there slithered up my spine. I flashed back on the guy sucking that demon’s thumb, unwilling to contemplate what this one might do to me. But if my magic was useless on him, how was I going to get away?
Another tug. “Get checked out and I’ll help you find your brother.”
My head snapped up at his words. At his encouraging nod, the picture of compassion. Except I’d never said Ari was my brother. The mention of my twin triggered the memory of Ari’s concentrated salt-coated blade that had been tossed in the car door pocket. In one fell swoop, I thrust it upward into the demon paramedic’s jugular.
His eyes widened and his glamour fell away, leaving his watery serpent self with the knife sliding downstream to his toes.
I ju
mped to my feet, dizzy, and tense, waiting for the clatter of the knife on the ground. Waiting for his nasty retaliation.
Instead, he puffed up, solidifying into a Jell-O-like state, the knife buried inside him.
I’m not sure which of us was more shocked.
The demon tried to move but the salt content made him unwieldy. He wobbled from side-to-side, exactly how I’d expect a giant gelatin cube to walk.
“Bloating sucks,” I said, shooting a fairly decent forked lightning bolt from my eyes, which was so fucking cool. Thanks to his super salt content, he now conducted electricity just fine. His body wobbled back against the attack.
The demon curled into his left side. He had to be protecting his sweet spot. Excellent. That left a lot of him to work on.
“Where’s my brother?”
Silence.
Electricity crackling off of my finger, I ran the tip along his wrist, slicing through him like butter. His hand dropped to the ground with a meaty splat. His face tightened but he stayed mum.
The demon snapped at me with his spiky teeth but I sidestepped him, one magic-charged hand held up. “I can do this all day. Ari. Why was he taken?”
The demon edged away from me.
“Who are you afraid of?” I forced myself to voice my deepest fear. “Asmodeus?”
His imperceptible flinch was my answer. All guilt, all terror, I shoved down into a well-buried box to torture myself with later. Then I killed the uncooperative bastard.
The demon convulsed, contorting around himself until he became smaller and smaller and then nothing at all. All that was left of him was a few drops of water splattered on the ground and Ari’s knife.
I didn’t stick around to gloat, bolting for Leo’s place, since I had no phone to call her with. Luckily, she lived around the corner. Hand pressed to my sides, lactic acid burning its way through my muscles, I leaned on Leo’s intercom, holding the wall for balance, and praying she was home.
“Hello?”
“Let me in!” I scanned the area for any out-of-place twitch or suspicious person.
It seemed like an eternity before the door buzzed open. I cracked it enough to slide inside then shut it tight, wrenching on it a couple of times to make sure it had locked behind me. With one last look around the lobby, I stumbled into the elevator, hit three, and crashed on my ass to the floor.
I managed to shove my foot into the open door when it reached Leo’s floor, but couldn’t get up on my own, mostly because everything spun so violently, I wasn’t sure which way was up.
Leo ran over to me, hooking her arms under my pits. “Your face,” she gasped.
“Demons took Ari.”
I let her drag me inside. My adrenaline gave out, leaving my legs shaking, and my stomach doing dry heaves. I collapsed onto the round, red brocade chair by the window that she’d brought with her from her bedroom when she moved out. The stories this chair could tell.
“You need to go to the hospital.”
“No time.” I filled her in on what had happened.
“Shit, Nav, that was a kapasca demon. Psychopathic serpents. If he’d managed to haul you back to the water?” She shivered.
“How do I find Asmodeus?”
“I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “No clue even where to begin.”
“You got him a message.”
“Not directly and no one is going to give up his hideout.”
My hopes deflated, leaving me with a gut-level queasiness. I’d been positive Leo would know how to find him. I pressed a hand to my head.
“Got any Tylenol?” If she couldn’t help, I had to patch myself up and find Rohan. My accelerated healing powers weren’t accelerating fast enough. That, or my concussion was a lot worse than I thought.
“Not Tylenol,” she said, handing me a tablet and a glass of water a moment later. “Paracetamol.” She took the glass back from me, helping me to sit up.
I didn’t question her having the meds on-hand. Leo was a bit of a hypochondriac.
She gave me the bottle in case I needed another pill later. “I’ll put out feelers.” It was a start.
“Can you drive me back to the chapter house first?” I asked.
She hesitated. “Why don’t you just call them?”
“Because the stupid Fallen Angels never bothered to give me their cell numbers.” I seethed. “I promise not to let anyone hurt you. Or find out you’re a demonette.”
“No worries.” Leo grabbed her purse, patting it. “Custom made iron switchblade. Very effective. Even on Rasha.” She smiled evilly. “Remember that.” Then she grabbed her keychain from where she was using it as a bookmark in one of her crim texts.
I groaned at the distinctive logo, pressing a hand to my throbbing head as the sound sent a fresh wave of nausea through me. “Not the Vespa.” Given the one second delay between my brain and my body, I’d fall off the damn thing.
“Mom’s got my car. This is the fastest way unless you want to wait around for a taxi,” she said. She tossed me a spare leather jacket that was too short in the arms and too tight in the boobs, but would keep me warm and protected from any road rash.
The ride back wasn’t too bad, with only two stops for me to throw up–once in a box hedge, and the other right into the gutter like the classy kitten I was. We pulled up to the chapter house gate. Tossing her my helmet, I got off the bike to hit the buzzer next to the scanner panel.
“Yes?”
“Yum,” Leo mouthed at me, at the sound of Drio’s Italian accent.
I squeezed my right fist open and closed twice rapidly, our code for giant anal sphincter.
Her face fell.
“It’s me, Drio. Let me in.”
“Qui?”
“Nava. Quit screwing around. We don’t have time.”
“Bella, I assure you,” he purred, “You and I have all the time in the world.”
Leo shivered. “Could he just be one–” She opened and closed her fist once, indicating a partial anal sphincter personality. “I could deal with that level of douchery.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” The sentiment applied to the two of them.
There was a pause from the intercom, then Drio said, “I’ll be out in a minute.”
Leo parked the bike, while I leaned up against the gate in a pose I hoped conveyed nonchalance rather than assisted standing.
Drio finally arrived but didn’t open the gate. Asshole could have flash stepped outside instead of making us wait. Though he did darken at the sight of me. “Who hurt you?” he asked, pointing at my face.
I rattled the bars which failed to rattle. “Let me in and I’ll tell you.”
“Tell me and I’ll let you in.”
Was he really going to do this now? “Where’s Kane?” He’d let me in.
Drio braced a hand against the bar. “You’re not his type, bella.”
“What’s your type?” Leo piped up.
He rounded on her with an interested gleam.
“Not the time,” I hissed, smacking her across the top of the head. “I know who has Ari.”
Drio straightened up, all flirtiness gone, and opened the gate. “You better come talk to Rohan.”
I grabbed his wrist, bracing for the worst. “Did you find him?”
Drio glanced down at my hand on his arm. “You dare to wear the hamsa?” he growled in a low voice.
Dread sat in my gut like hot lead. Drio might not like me but he wouldn’t joke about me being Rasha. “Don’t you know who I am?”
“Problem?” Rohan asked in a silky voice, joining the party. He was not a happy camper.
Leo, however, was ecstatic for about the thirty seconds she fangasmed all over him once recognition kicked in.
Rohan bestowed a rock fuck grin on her and said, “Always pleased to meet a fan.”
That did it. I let my magic out in full force.
Ordinarily, I’d have loved making the boys’ jaws drop in shock at my amazing abilities, but the fact that my power
s were news to them meant that they had no clue who I was.
I wrapped my arms around myself, a million worst-case scenarios of how this could have happened flashing through my head. Trembling, I started up the drive, needing more than ever to get my fellow Rasha onboard with saving Ari.
Rohan attempted to stop me but I burst into full crackle. “I will go psycho like you’ve never seen if you don’t get yourself, Drio, Baruch, and Kane into the library this very second,” I said.
That’s when Rohan saw the ring. He grabbed my hand, barely flinching at the electricity scorching his skin. He tugged on it but of course, it didn’t move. His hand clamped on my wrist, he dragged me up the driveway without another word.
“Wait for me!” Leo called out.
Reality slowed down into a slow motion “Noooooo.” I yanked free of Rohan and sprinted for Leo before she could try to step over the ward and be repelled off of it, visions of Drio dusting my best friend dancing before my eyes.
“Rohan is highly overrated,” Drio said. “Allow me.” He took her arm, escorting her onto the premises, as I stumbled to a stop. Did he know she was a PD and was toying with us? Or had he inadvertently saved her?
Leo winced, her eyes widening in comprehension, but she regained her composure in an instant, flipping her hair as she assured Drio it would be her pleasure. Not that she had a choice. Drio may have sounded player personified, but the set of his shoulders assured me that neither Leo nor I were going anywhere until they had answers.
Brilliant. A goblin, a Rasha, and two amnesiacs walk into a house–I couldn’t begin to imagine where this joke was going to end. Or at whose expense.
So long as it wasn’t Ari’s.
Chapter 19
Rohan led me all the way around the house and in through the back door to the kitchen, presumably so I wouldn’t see anything I shouldn’t. I tried to explain that he was wasting valuable time, but he wasn’t inclined to listen.
They really had no idea who I was. How was this even possible?
How could I be so easily erased?
The mean little voice inside my head scoffed. Not that hard, Nava. Other than to Ari, weren’t you pretty much incidental to everyone anyway? And he wasn’t exactly feeling the love either, was he?
The Unlikeable Demon Hunter Collection: Books 1-6: A Complete Paranormal Romantic Comedy Series Page 21
