Versus

by Nick Freo

  Lilah leaned over me, honking the horn twice.

  “Hey!” she yelled at the man. She glanced up at me. “He’s a street demon. I’ve got this.”

  “Hey!” the man said, striding right up to the BMW as I lowered the window. “What’s up, lil’ firebug? I could smell that sulfur from ya fight from a block away. Looks they got one shot on ya. How’d ya let them get away with that?”

  “Ah, you know. I needed their guard to be down before I showed them how we do it on our turf.”

  “Did ya guys come to finish the job? How about we—” He stopped as his gaze slid toward the back and he saw Cara. His whole body went still, and he took a step away from the BMW.

  “She’s nobody,” Lilah said quickly. “Just a—just nobody. We can get rid of her in no time at all. Right, Kyle?”

  She stared at me, imploring me to agree. And I wanted to—this man’s question didn’t make sense, and I had a deep feeling that what he knew information that could lead us to Serena Foster. If all I had to do was ditch Cara for the morning to find out more about my father’s death, it was a small sacrifice.

  “I’ll take the two of ya to the boss if ya get rid of Halo Ass,” the street demon said, fumbling inside his jacket. He pulled out a carton of cigarettes and began muttering to himself.

  I turned around. Cara glared at me, her arms tightly folded across her chest and her nails digging into her forearm. I imagine that Lucifer had the exact same look when he told God to go screw Himself.

  “No,” she stated.

  “Cara, come on. This is what we came here to do.”

  “No. We came to find Serena in the hotel. And that all went to hell, as things tend to do when you associate with demons.”

  I glanced at the man outside of the car, but he seemed more interested in trying to light a cigarette.

  “Cara, if I lose this lead, I may never find out why my father was killed. I’ll owe you twice. I swear.”

  Her arms loosened the slightest bit.

  “Fine. But only because of your father.” She leaned forward, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek, but she lingered after the kiss, her words slipping into my ear like music. “Don’t go too far into the side of Hell. You’re on Arbiter business.”

  The demon outside fumbled, his cigarette falling to the asphalt. He mouthed the word Arbiter.

  I pulled away from Cara. “Just meet us at the mansion later.”

  As she jumped out and the demon clambered to get in, they nearly touched. The demon sneered, but deliberately shifted his body to not touch her. Cara ignored him, her long legs striding away from the BMW like she was on the runway. The demon slammed the door shut and poked his head in between the two front seats.

  “Hey ya heathens,” he said. “What were ya doing with that bitch?”

  Lilah grinned at him. “We were going to put the fear of Belial into her or maybe give her over to one of those freaks that like angels, but your plans seemed much more fun.”

  He laughed. “Can ya imagine screwing one of those prudes? I’d be surprised if there was anything there. So, what was it like roasting those glorified pigeons? Did they scream or just cry? Oh, shit, pardon my manners. My mother was a whore, but she raised me right—my name’s Donnie. It’s great to meet ya two.”

  “I’m Kyle. She’s Lilah,” I said. He nodded several times before abruptly stopping.

  “Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Lilah? No way. Holy fuck.”

  “Well, not quite holy,” Lilah smirked at me.

  “Right. Right, right,” Donnie said. “A real pleasure, ma’am.”

  I raised an eyebrow at Lilah. She winked at me.

  “So, uh, right. My boss would love to meet ya guys after what ya did. Let’s, uh, yeah, let’s get out of here. Just drive out and turn…” He pointed to the left. “Turn that way. Left? Left.”

  As I pulled out of the parking lot, my hands moving quickly to turn the wheel, a dark shadow caught my eye. Or, not a shadow. The ring on my finger was no longer the stormy gray it had been before. It was closer to an old asphalt gray—maybe a shade or two darker than it had been before. That didn’t seem promising, but I didn’t feel any different.

  “Take this road on the right,” Donnie said. “Ya guys gotta give me the details. How many angels did ya manage to take down? Were they higher up?”

  “A couple of them were,” Lilah said. “Are we driving toward Irving Street? Have you been to Crater?”

  “Yeah, yeah, man! I love that place. It’s a little worse since that stabbing a few months ago. It should have added to the whole, ya know, feeling of the place, but now the owner is all suspicious and shit, so I gotta keep everything on the DL. Go straight here.” Donnie scratched his head. “Ya asked me something, didn’t ya? Oh, right. Yeah, it’s near Irving. It’s a couple streets away, but the same area. Franklin Road.”

  “Franklin Road,” Lilah said slowly. She glanced at me. Franklin Road resembled rubble—the road had mostly deteriorated because no city worker wanted to be there. It was an area that only the nastiest kids would dare their friends to cross into. It was Hell—a home for sinners and a shrine for inhumanity.

  I kept my eyes on the road, but as we crept closer to Franklin Road, the scenery became more decrepit. The roofs of a few buildings had collapsed. A couple of buildings had been burned down into debris. Litter spilled out into the road.

  I found a parking lot on the corner of Franklin Road and Chapel Street. There was a building in front of the parking lot, but all of the windows were shattered, the right corner was missing several bricks, and someone had spray painted the word drum beside the image of a woman’s ass and something that could be a drumstick or a dick.

  “We’ll have to walk the rest of the way,” I said. “The road is too rough to drive on.”

  “No problem, man!” Donnie wrenched open the door, jumping out like we had arrived at a theme park. As I slammed the door shut and locked the doors, Lilah sidled up beside me.

  “You know, there’s a seventy percent chance we come back to find your car is gone, right?” she asked.

  “We’ll deal with that when it happens.” I gestured toward Franklin Road. “Donnie. You’re our tourist guide.”

  “Awesome, man.” Donnie shoved his hands in his pockets, but quickly took his role in stride. “Well, on ya left, we have the ole Diamond grocery store. It exchanged owners five times within three months a few years ago until it finally shut down because the owner was shot by his wife. Oh, next, here we have a real treasure. This is the house that Big Bruce lived in. He died after the meth explosion, but somehow, half the house is still there. It’s a miracle. Do you see that pothole? We call that refund rut because all ya tax refund is gonna go into fixing ya car.”

  There were no cars on this road, so the name must have been old. Lilah stayed within an inch of me, her arms folded over her chest. Despite the fact that she was still wearing the satin and lace shirt that barely covered her and it was cold enough that the slush hadn’t melted, she didn’t seem bothered by anything around her. She looked at everything with interest like Donnie was truly showing us something worth her attention.

  As we turned a corner, a large man with a deep scowl on his face and a leather jacket passed by us.

  “How’s it goin’, John?” Donnie said to him. The man pivoted to look at us.

  “Hey, ya fuckwad,” he said. Flickers of heat rolled off him. “Tell Sean I’m gonna fuck his wife tonight.”

  “Absolutely,” Donnie nodded and we continued walking. After we’d walked several feet, I noticed a man watching us from his porch. His clothes hung from his body like Donnie’s did and he had tattoos crawling up his arms.

  “What’s up, Donnie?” the man called out.

  “Just helping out some fuckers,” Donnie called back. He greeted three more people before we reached the end of the road. At the end, there was a building that was at least a dozen stories high. The height would have made it appear out-of-place, but it reminded me of the rock form
ations in the Grand Canyon—eroded by wind, water, and time. It slanted to the left and a few of the windows were broken, but the fact that it stood so much taller than the rest of the buildings made the deterioration seem more like decoration.

  As we approached it, it became hotter. The heat was enough that a thin haze wavered in my vision and I unzipped my jacket. As we passed an opened gate—the gate standing well over ten feet tall—I saw why. There were at least a dozen demons, broken up into three groups standing in front of the building. They were dressed like Donnie—baggy jeans or sweatpants with large t-shirts, sweaters, or jeans. Most of them had tattoos. I flexed my hand, preparing for a worse scenario than what happened at the hotel.

  “Ay! It’s Lilah!” one of them called out. There were a few hoots and hollers. Lilah curtsied. One of the demons walked up to us.

  “Lilah, if you have some free time, you should come to our streetball game,” he said. “No rules. Just a lot of fun.”

  “I’m busy for the next millennium,” she told him, leaning up against me. “But thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  He stumbled as he stepped back, falling back into the crowd. There was a small burst of laughter, but everyone else nodded toward us or smiled at us as we walked to the building. Donnie strode in front of us, basking in the attention.

  “What’s going on?” I muttered to Lilah after the door swung shut. “Do you know these guys?”

  “Nah,” she said, wrapping her arm around my waist. “I’m just known in the demon community.”

  “Known? Are you a secret pop star or something?”

  She laughed. “Ugh. No. There’s no way to be humble about this, and I have no desire to be humble, so, if you must know, I’m not a low-level nobody. I’m not as powerful or famous as an archdemon, but other demons know me, and even if they don’t, they’ll pretend to know me because one of their buddies knows me. I’m somewhat a big deal.”

  “So…you’re a higher level demon?”

  “Yeah.” She bumped her hips against mine. “Kyle, the Celestial Court didn’t just pick some demon out of a crowd. They only recruit the strongest. And here I am. It’s also why I could get the upper hand on those angel guards back at the hotel. It’s also why you’re stronger than those guards too, despite being new. You draw your strength from me. So, you’re welcome.”

  The door creaked as Donnie opened it. He gestured for us to walk inside. I followed Lilah in. Maybe I had underestimated her because of her beauty, but I should have known. She had no reason to be afraid of Franklin Road or its occupants when she and I were two lions walking into a home of hyenas.

  The inside of the building resembled my apartment—long concrete hallways with doors scattered throughout it and steep stairs.

  “Sorry, but we’re gonna have to take the stairs,” Donnie said. He didn’t offer an explanation, but considering the state of the building, there didn’t need to be one.

  Donnie became tired after the third flight of stairs, his heavy breathing bouncing off the walls and his hand grabbing onto the handrail like it was a lifeline, but he continued up. He stopped on the seventh floor, his face red and sweaty.

  “You need a minute, Donnie?” Lilah asked.

  “No, no, of course not,” he huffed out. “Just—just giving ya guys a minute to rest.”

  There was only one door on this floor. Lilah followed my gaze.

  “Is that where your boss is, Donnie?” she asked.

  “Yep,” he gasped.

  “We’re just going to go meet your boss, Donnie,” she said. “We’ll come get you later.”

  “No, no, I got it.” He stood up, half-limping toward the door. He knocked twice. Sweat crept down his neck.

  “Who is it?” a voice boomed out.

  “Donnie! I’ve got Lilah here.”

  There was a pause. I looked over at Lilah. She was playing with the hem of her shirt.

  “Come in,” the voice said.

  Donnie opened the door and gestured for Lilah to step in. I followed her.

  I imagined this room was what death smelled like—the odor of alcohol burned my nostrils, the sulfur invoking a gag reflex, and the marijuana-filled air adding a sweetness that made the rest twice as bad. In the center of the room was a couch and two armchairs, encircling a wooden table that was covered with drug paraphernalia and two bottles of liquor. The furniture looked too expensive to be sitting in this room, but the man—or demon—lounging in one of the armchairs stood out more than anything else.

  He was a massive man—at least 6’4” and built like an offensive lineman—but he was dressed in a tan suit over a red wine shirt. When he glanced at me, there was no mistaking that this was a man that had enough power to cause problems, and he knew exactly how to use it.

  “Lilah,” he said, standing up. He fixed his silk tie. “You look lovely. Your reputation precedes you, but nobody mentioned you were beautiful.”

  Lilah shrugged. “I’m sorry, but your reputation must not precede you.”

  “Stephos,” he stated. “You haven’t heard of me?”

  “No,” she said, but I saw her hand flex behind her back.

  “A sister as powerful as yourself should do a bit more networking. It might be helpful.”

  “It might be,” she conceded. “Or it might cause demons to start bothering me every minute of the day, and I’ve got shit to do.”

  He turned to me. “And I welcome you as well. May I ask for your name?”

  “Kyle,” I said.

  “Welcome, Kyle.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I’m here on Arbi—”

  “We just got back from the hotel,” Lilah interrupted. “We had a bit of a scuffle with some angel guards. You know how they can be.”

  “Ha!” Donnie blurted, stepping in front of us. “It was definitely more than a scuffle. Those bitches were scrambling around like we’d cut all their heads off. Just like chickens.”

  I opened my mouth, determined to talk about Serena Foster, but Lilah made a cutting motion behind Donnie’s back and shook her head once. I curled my fist up but stayed silent. Lilah knew this world better than I did, and she garnered more respect here than me. As inclined as I was to force my way through problems, if there was another strategy, I was willing to entertain it.

  “If you’re bragging about that, I can assume that you didn’t complete the hit?” Stephos asked Donnie. Donnie’s hands nervously fumbled near his chest, and he took a couple of steps back, retreating behind Lilah and me.

  “No, er, they were, uh, there were too many angels…they were all over…like ants…”

  “Sorry,” I interjected. “Are you talking about a hit on Serena Foster?”

  Stephos glanced at Lilah. She rolled her eyes.

  “I keep him around for the sex,” she said. “But he won’t tattle on anybody because he knows what will happen if he does.”

  Stephos ran his finger over his crystal glass before finishing his drink.

  “Yes,” he said. “The witch knows too much.”

  “She sounds like a nosy bitch,” I agreed, hoping demons were just as likely to spill their guts if you insulted their enemies as humans were.

  “Exactly! You know these witches—they get a bit of magic and they decide that they’re gods. They decide that they’re better than the rest of us and that the rules don’t apply to them,” Stephos grabbed a bottle of vodka and poured it into his glass. He gulped it down. “Parts of the Celestial Court are pissed that she’s threatening the order of things. What a dumb bitch. She thinks she can hide behind the angels and that hotel, but we’ll break them down. After your visit there, she won’t be able to—”

  He stopped. His gaze shifted between Lilah and me.

  “Why were you at the hotel?” he asked. “I didn’t think anyone else was meant to be dealing with Serena Foster. I gladly made her my problem.”

  “We were tasked with sending a message to the angels and Serena Foster,” Lilah said. “And we were also supposed t
o gather intel since the last hit was a failure. The others were…disappointed, to say the least. The hotel only had mid-level guards. It shouldn’t have been difficult.”

  Stephos’ eyebrow twitched and the heat of the room made the smell worse. “I see. Well, the previous attack was only a step in my plan, but I’d be interested in finding out the intel you managed to gather.”

  “There were four guards,” she said. “And a coven of at least seven witches. The coven is tightly bound. They won’t be easy to deal with.”

  Stephos nodded. “Thank you. Is there anything else I should know?”

  Lilah shrugged. “I could tell you which stocks to watch, but every girl needs her secrets.”

  He smiled. “You are charming, sister. We should have a drink to celebrate your success.”

  “No,” I said, the heat in the room pounding down on me. “We should get going. It was nice to meet you, Stephos.”

  I turned toward the door. I had forgotten that Donnie was still here. He had pressed his back against the wall, his head bowed. The heat increased. A bead of sweat slithered down my back.

  I grabbed the door knob, yanking the door open. As soon as Lilah and I had left the room and started going down the stairs, Lilah burst out laughing.

  “Oh. God. Sweet Jesus. He was ready to murder us. I would have loved that fight, but I suppose you want to keep a low profile.”

  “Right now? Yeah,” I said. I stopped on the landing of the fifth floor. She was still a couple of steps above me. I rubbed my temple. “I have no idea what’s going on.”

  “We’ll deal with whatever comes along.”

  I looked up at her. In the dim lighting, she still seemed to glow. Maybe hellfire had that effect on demons. Maybe the more powerful ones couldn’t contain the fire inside them.

  “You said you were more powerful than the average demon. If it came down to it, would you be able to fight off all these street demons?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Yeah. I don’t think it would be smart, but the two of us together could destroy them right now.”

  “These demons are guilty of trying to kill Serena,” I said. “And I bet some of them know more than they’re letting on.”