Halfling for Hire

by Harper A. Brooks

  After a few more seconds of drawing it out, I said, “Sixty thousand.”

  His brows shot up. He let out a short laugh. “You’re joking.”

  “I’m not.” I made sure to wipe the emotion from my face. “The original job you proposed was for Valentine. Now there are four people involved. As I said before, that raises the stakes.”

  “Which raises the cost.”

  Now he was getting it.

  He leaned over and began scribbling out the check.

  “Oh, there’s one more thing,” I interjected.

  He shot upright, a scowl on his face. “What?” he growled out.

  Here it was. The real reason I was doing this. It was my turn to drop a bomb on him.

  “I need a way to track down a demon.”

  He jutted upright.

  I nodded toward the ancient magical key. “I’m assuming it took some magic manipulation to get your hands on a specialty object like that. Dark magic. Whether it was you who wielded it or someone you know, I’ll take either.”

  When he glanced at the key and regret touched his face, I knew I had guessed right. Objects with that much power were always protected and extremely hard to find. And they were like that on purpose. So, if he had gotten his hands on it, that meant either he had used dark magic or someone working for him had—the kind of magic I needed to summon Xaver from Hell and get my answers. Get my cure and this Halfling out of me.

  When he spoke again, his voice was lower but more insistent. “Why would you want to summon a demon?” he asked.

  That wasn’t a no, which was a good sign. And it also wasn’t a denial either.

  “I have my reasons,” was all I said.

  As a half-demon, I couldn’t perform a summoning myself. My already-damned soul wouldn’t allow it, and whenever Wyatt had tried to do one for me, the sacrificial blood we’d used hadn’t been strong enough, either. I needed magical intervention. Of the darker, more sinister kind.

  At least, that was my assumption.

  He studied me for a while, saying nothing. Debating whether or not to tell me anything further, I’m sure. But if he wanted me to do this and finally take out the Valentine Family, he had no other choice.

  After a long while, he said, “Fine. It was me who found the key by less than… clean methods, but I will not summon a demon. That goes too far. I won’t compromise my soul—”

  I didn’t hear the rest of his sentence. My rising fury made blood rush behind my ears. So, Fernando was willing to hire me to kill an entire family but calling on a Hell demon was where he drew the line?

  As long as it wasn’t his hands that got dirty, right? If I was the one to kill them, then it’d save him from Hell—that what he was thinking. Put the blame on me instead.

  Whatever he told himself to sleep easier at night.

  “No summoning, no deal.” I whipped around and headed back to the elevator. What a waste of my fucking time.

  I jabbed the down button, the entire time thinking this guy was lucky they’d jacked my weapons downstairs, otherwise, this could have gotten way uglier.

  “Wait.” Fernando’s quick footsteps sounded behind me as he came closer. “I won’t summon him, but there is a way to track him.”

  Body stiff, I looked at him from over my shoulder. “It’s not the solstice. He’s in Hell. I know where he is.” That wasn’t going to help me at all.

  “Ah, but is he really?”

  I turned.

  Seeing that he now had my attention, he continued, “There’s been talk between the Council and other spellcasters about the shift in magic. We can feel it. Something’s happening. Some have even claimed to have encountered demons walking among us.”

  “Bullshit,” I barked. Did he think I was born yesterday? “That’s impossible.”

  “Believe what you want, but the magic around us is changing every day,” he said, and for some reason, his ominous words made a chill race down my spine. “If you do this job for me successfully, I will track the demon down for you.”

  “And if it doesn’t work?” I asked. “Or if he’s in Hell and unreachable?”

  “Then I’ll summon him. But that will only be used as a very last resort.” Fernando walked back to his desk, looking a bit paler than before.

  I contemplated my options here. He was offering me everything I wanted, really. Had even offered to summon Xaver if it came to that. So then, why was I still hesitating?

  Fernando filled out the rest of the check for the obscene amount I’d asked for, ripped it out of the binding, and crossed the room to stand before me again. Holding it out to me, his gaze met mine. “You know the job and you know my terms. Take the check and we’re in business.”

  I glanced at the thin sheet of paper between us. “Take out the Valentines.”

  “By whatever means.”

  That was the second time he’d said something like that, and the words stuck wrong with me. Maybe he’d thought I was still on the fence about knocking out an entire family? Could be it. But that didn’t bother me. After being in this line of work for so many years, I’d learned to detach myself from the emotional aspect and just focus on getting the job done. The demon part of me might have made that part easier, too, but who knew.

  “By whatever means,” I repeated and snatched the check out of his grip, officially sealing the deal between us.

  A metal fence about seven feet tall surrounded the property. A minor inconvenience, really. I could scale it in seconds. But the true challenge was going to be what lay in the mansion at the end of the long driveaway. Cameras. Loads of them. And a complex alarm system to tinker with.

  The technology stuff had always been Sean’s thing, but thanks to Fernando’s money and connections, I wouldn’t need his help this time. The blueprints and passcodes he’d given to me were supposed to make this part easier.

  The fact that he had all this information about the Valentine’s available only solidified my theory of Fernando having waited for this moment for a long time. And that he didn’t want to get his hands dirty and take him out himself. I’m sure there was more to it—like him being seen as a suspect just because of their animosity—so hiring me left him with a clean alibi and an efficient mercenary to do the job.

  I didn’t like to brag, but I was good at what I did. I always got my man. I was pretty good at misdirection, too, which was a big part of getting away with stuff like this scot-free. Especially when there was advance technology that could link DNA and whatnot. Sometimes I had to get creative.

  To take out all of the Valentines and not raise suspicion, I was thinking heavy sedatives and then a house fire.

  Was what I was doing fucked up? Absolutely. There was no doubt that killing people for a profit was wrong on so many levels, but that was a moral dilemma I had struggled with for a while and eventually overcome. Especially when my own life was in the balance. I’d do anything to not succumb to the monster inside me and fully become one of those disgusting Halfling creatures, forced to mindlessly work for a full-blooded demon with no will of their own. If that meant satisfying my demon blood this way, then so be it. At least until I was able to find a cure for it and free myself.

  That’s why I needed Fernando. That’s why needed to track down Xaver and force him to tell me what I needed to do. There had to be a way to fix it—fix me. I refused to think it was hopeless.

  So, sedative and house fire it was. It was the most humane way I could think of to do it.

  I scaled the fence, and when I came back down on the other side, I hurried to the side of the house, spotting the closest camera hanging from the roof’s overhang. Thanks to the plans Fernando had given me, I knew what blind spots and shadows to stick to. In the late-night hour and with my speed, it wasn’t too hard.

  I reached the window I’d planned on entering through. As expected, because it was small and led into a powder room, Valentine hadn’t bothered alarming it. A quick jimmy and twist of my shiv and the locks popped open. I crawled through,
pulling my backpack in after me, and stepped onto the pink shag rug.

  Pausing, I listened for any knowing sounds—walking, snoring, any signs of movement. The house was completely still.

  The demon inside reared up, growing more excited as the danger increased. Glancing into the hallway, I found a motion detector across the way, the green light steadily flashing to tell me it was activated. Shit. If I moved further into the house, it’d catch me and signal the alarm.

  Another quick look down the hallway revealed an alarm keypad with a fancy touch screen and solid-red armed light. I’d seen many different styles of security systems in my time doing this, and this one was running wirelessly. With a house this large, with this many doors and windows, it’d make sense. Fewer holes in the walls to run wires through.

  That meant this one panel controlled the entire system. I praised my luck. Convenient and cheaper when installing, but less secure for intruders who knew what they were doing. Like me.

  Carefully, I slid my hand across the wall until I touched the keypad, and with one swift tug, it was off the drywall. I let down my walls a little and allowed my demon’s Hellfire to flare in my palms, melting the piece of plastic until it was unrecognizable anymore.

  Placing it in the sink, I peered back into the hall and saw the motion detector’s green light out.

  Perfect.

  Things were going my way so far, but now came the hard part.

  After pulling out the needle from my bag, I followed my mental map’s route upstairs to the bedrooms. The first one at the top of the stairs belonged to the son, who still lived at home with his parents. Since I had been orphaned since birth, I didn’t really see the appeal of staying under your mother and father’s thumb, but that was me.

  He was where I’d expected him—in bed, fast asleep. I uncapped the needle and administered the sedative between snores. He didn’t even flinch. Once his breathing slowed and I knew the drug had taken hold, I moved onto the next room.

  The master bedroom with Valentine and his wife. Also both fast asleep. I worked quickly, and with each stick of the needle, my inner demon sighed happily, knowing what was coming next and loving every minute of the lead-up.

  Three down, one more to go.

  The daughter.

  There were three more rooms on the second floor, but all were empty—one, an office and two guest rooms. No signs of a daughter anywhere.

  Had Fernando made a mistake? No, that wasn’t something you messed up. If the son was almost thirty, then the daughter had to be at least college age. Maybe she was away at school or something. It’d make sense why none of the rooms upstairs showed any signs of her.

  I gritted my teeth. I knew things had been going too smoothly, but I couldn’t stop now. I was too far into this to stop. I’d just have to tell Fernando and let him know there was one other Valentine that needed to be dealt with. It would delay things, but I couldn’t help that.

  Back downstairs, I found the basement door and went farther down. Since the family had money, their basement was just another section of the house, completely finished and set up with a bar, pool table, and in-home theater. I walked over to the laundry/utility room and heard the hum of the washer and dryer running.

  Hmm… Dryer fires were pretty common in households. And since this one was next to the boiler and main electrical box, it could spread pretty quickly. Maybe even start an explosion.

  The demon shoved to the surface, wanting a closer look. My skin prickled with heat, and without my permission, flames licked my fingers. It was getting harder to control and that scared me, but since I needed its help right now, I let the fire grow in my hands. My entire body shook at the sudden release of power and my head whirled as the demon pushed for control. Like always, I fought him back, but it was harder this time. If it really tried, it might be able to take over.

  Moving quickly, I touched the dryer, the walls, the boiler, and the electrical box. Within seconds, the entire room was alight. Flames rose, dancing along the floor and spreading rapidly. Smoke darkened the room, and tossing my backpack over my shoulder, I left.

  My demon danced gleefully, still hovering close, but pleased enough, for now, to stay put. We both knew the house would be consumed within the next few minutes, so now I needed to focus on getting out safely.

  As a moved toward the stairs, a flash of movement caught my eye. Heart dropping, I spun and scanned the room, but saw nothing. I was alone down here.

  Must have been a trick of the light, or maybe it was just the fact that basements always seemed to creep people out—even if they had thousands of dollars dumped into them and tricked out like this one.

  When I climbed the first step, a voice tickled my ears. A female’s voice and I froze.

  It was soft as a whisper but definitely there. I turned.

  Moving past the laundry room, where the flames were crawling along the walls, was the ghostly image of a woman dressed in jeans and a black tank top. Even though her partly transparent form shimmered gold, I could still make out the darkness of her hair, the paleness of her skin, and the uncertainty hovering in her expression.

  My first thought was Valentine’s daughter, but this woman didn’t seem to be part of this world. More like an apparition moving through the basement as if she were following someone or something I couldn’t see. Talking to them, too, although her voice was a bit muffled. Not to mention she appeared closer to me in age.

  I’d never seen a ghost before, but that had to be what I was seeing. It was the only explanation my brain could come up with to explain it.

  I tried to creep closer but the fire was blazing so hot, rapidly taking over the basement. It forced me back. Smoke crawled along the ceiling, making the air thick and breathing more difficult. I had to get out of here. This place could blow at any second.

  That’s when I heard the woman’s voice again. “But she’s so young. Don’t tell me I’m here for her. She’s just a child.”

  Wait… What? A child?

  Bile rose up my throat, and I suddenly felt sick. Fernando hadn’t mentioned anything about a child.

  I didn’t kill kids. They were off-limits.

  Could it be Valentine’s daughter?

  Fuck. That’s what Fernando had meant when he’d said: “By whatever means.” He’d known I wouldn’t want to hurt a child.

  I should’ve asked more questions. I shouldn’t have assumed she was older, either.

  Panic surging, I pulled my shirt over my nose and mouth and ran into the flames and billowing smoke where the woman had disappeared. At the end of the hall, there was another door cracked open. My eyes burned and it was hard to see past the haze of the fire, but I shouldered my way inside to find a playroom of sorts, littered with toys of all kinds, and a small pink tent in the middle. When I saw the little legs poking out from underneath the blanket, my heart skipped. It was a child. No more than six or seven.

  Wondering how the ghost-woman had known that she’d been in here, I glanced around the room but she was gone. Or at least, invisible to me. But that wasn’t saying much because with the fire spreading so quickly, seeing anything through the smoke was growing more difficult by the second.

  Without another thought, I scooped the child into my arms, blanket and all. She stirred awake, groggy eyes struggling to focus on me, but I didn’t wait a moment longer. Pulling the blanket over her head and holding her close, I high-tailed it out of the room and through the flames, my face and hands stinging from the heat. I stumbled up the steps, trying to take three at a time and cursing Fernando the entire time.

  What a fucking slimeball. Wait until I got my hands on him.

  Forget the window. I went straight for the front door, no longer caring about the camera system. Running faster than I’d ever run before, I made it down the driveway and to the gate before an ear-pounding boom shook the night. The boiler had exploded. Whipping around, I saw the house engulfed in fire, every window shattered and part of the house reduced to rubble. Even this far
away, the immense heat made my eyes water.

  The girl was clinging to me now, her entire body trembling. Carefully, I pulled the blanket away and looked at her for the first time. Brown hair mussed from sleep and the most innocent eyes that widened in fear when she saw me—not her father—holding her. But when she tried to speak, all she could do was cough and gasp.

  “You’re okay,” I said to her, breathless myself. “I’m going to get you somewhere safe.”

  She continued to cough, and I knew I had to get her away from all this smoke. She might even need oxygen, but that would mean a hospital and taking her to one risked exposing me and my hand in the fire.

  Glancing back at the house, guilt spun through me. It’d been so long since I’d felt the emotion, I almost couldn’t name it. With my demon still rejoicing from the destruction I’d caused, regret was a conflicting and strange feeling to experience alongside it. But knowing I’d just killed all of this girl’s family, and almost her, made my gut twist with it. I’d made her an orphan. Like me.

  What had I done?

  Jamie. Her name shot into my mind like a bullet, and I knew she’d become my only priority right now. Soon the firetrucks and police would be arriving. I had to get us out of here. It was time to pay the nurse a surprise visit.

  Touching the gate’s lock, I summoned the Hellfire to melt through the metal. Tossing it to the side, I pushed it open and ran for my Jeep. After laying the girl in the back, I jumped in the driver’s seat, shoved the keys into the ignition, and peeled down the street, tires squealing loudly in the night.

  “Jamie!” I pounded on her door. The little girl was back in my arms and her coughs had turned into sputtering gasps and wheezes now. “Jamie, dammit! It’s me! Open up!”

  The moment the door swung open, I shouldered my way inside and went straight for the couch to lay the girl down.

  “Cole? Oh my God, what happened? Is she okay?” After closing the door, Jamie followed me, her voice a flurry of worry.

  “There was a fire.” My own lungs constricted and breathing was getting harder, but whether it was from the smoke inhalation or the deadly mixture of panic, regret, and fury pummeling me from all angles, I didn’t know. “I was able to pull her out, but she’s struggling to breathe. Do you have oxygen?”