His hands dropped to his side. “You wish to bargain with me?” he hissed.
“Why not?” I said, stepping back slowly toward Chuck’s kitchen. “I want to know what you know about it. I’m guessing, what, it has some magical kind of super glue? Or no, wait, was it licked with the spit of Satan or something? Was that it?”
The demon tossed his head back and almost yowled. He transformed again, only this time, he wasn’t a reaper, he’d turned into a were. I almost pooped my pants. It couldn’t be the one who had attacked me. Could it? I took a step back into the kitchen, only this time, it was from genuine fear. The demon-were sensed it and took another step toward me, relishing my anguish, making him more powerful by the second.
“Foolish witch, you think to try your wits with me?” he shouted, his eyes a whirl of fiery anger. “I would have thought you learned your lesson when I almost ripped out your heart on our last encounter.”
Horrified, my hand jumped to my chest. So, it was him! It was like I could still feel those claws as he gouged at my skin.
“Back away from her, Buster,” Liam said from somewhere behind him. “Fuck due process. You touch her and I’ll fill you up with lead.”
I was shaking like a leaf, but somewhere in my terror-filled head, it registered that Liam had just faced down a demon for me. That wasn’t something a girl could easily forget.
The demon-were turned from Liam to me and back again. His eyes were slits of amber sulfur, and I could feel him sucking the power from me. As I grew weaker, he grew stronger. It was only a matter of time before even salt wouldn’t be able to banish him.
I took a deep breath and summoned all my strength. “Tell me why you killed them, and in return, I’ll tell you where the postcard is.”
A wry smile twisted the demon-were’s lips. “This better not be a trick, witch,” he said suspiciously.
I shook my head. “I promise you, it’s not.”
“Ah. A promise. You will forfeit your soul if you lie. Very well.” The demon-were rolled his head, collecting his thoughts. “I wasn’t made aware of the existence of this card until about a month ago, when I saw it advertised on Craigslist.”
“Demon’s use the internet?” I heard Liam behind the demon-were.
“Be silent,” the demon hissed, “or I’ll see that you remain so forever.”
I shot Liam a glance around the were and he closed his mouth.
“Of course, the fool had no idea what he was holding at first. All he saw was the value of the stamp he’d stolen. But I saw the real power in the card, and I would have paid double, triple, even a thousand times what he asked for, just to get my hands on it.”
“I can’t believe Chuck stole it from me.” I heard Albert mumble behind him as the demon tore angrily through each drawer within reach. “I thought he was my friend.”
Enraged, the demon-were raised his hand, and a gust of super-natural force sent Albert sprawling to the window, where he slumped next to Harrison.
The were was salivating and his claws were outstretched, ready to strike as he advanced on me.
“Why was it so valuable?” I asked, reminding him of our bargain.
He paused. “Hmm, yes. Well, I paid him. But then the little fool tried to double-cross me. Me! The utter foolishness of it.”
“So, you killed him?” I said, backing into a corner, keeping well clear of his nasty-looking claws.
“Yes, of course I killed him. I told him I was coming over to discuss some kind of trade, but he hid it before I could get to him. But I shook it out of him. I shook it all out of him.”
The demon-were shivered like he was remembering some delicious pleasure. I felt even sicker, knowing he was reliving the death of Chuck Shoesmith.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Liam inching ever closer, looking for any opportunity to bring the demon down.
“So, then you killed Wendy Cane?” I said, trying to distract the were and get him to finish his confession.
But the were was not to be fooled, and turning, he howled a mighty roar. The closest thing to him was a kitchen chair and he grabbed it, throwing it at Liam and knocking him back to the wall with the others. Then he turned his devil eyes back on me.
“No. Not immediately,” he snarled, smashing through the kitchen table like it was dough. “I went there to find her, but she was gone. So, I bided my time, only to find I’d been tricked again. She didn’t have it anymore. I want what is mine!”
I could see the venom just beneath the surface, and he roared again. The were seemed close to exploding now, the frustration eating him alive.
I turned my attack to his pride. “So that was your magic in her apartment? I thought it was just dumb rookies.”
The demon’s slit eyes narrowed, and he paused. “I confess I lost my control and had a meltdown. Damn and blast them all. I had to cover my traces with forget-me spells, and I did it in a hurry. As you probably saw, it wasn’t my best work.”
He rubbed his hands together, and I almost felt the unsatisfied ache inside him.
“That doesn’t explain your death threats to Albert,” I argued. “Your explanation is incomplete.”
The were’s eyes narrowed. “That simple, old man? I would have thought a smart witch like you would figure that one out for yourself. Wendy gave the postcard to the police. Sooner or later it was inevitable those fools would trace it back to its legitimate owner. It was just a matter of time. I just got there too early.”
The demon-were took another step toward it. “But I’d paid for it—paid good money for it, and now I want what is mine!”
In a flash of fire, the angry demon transformed again, and I gasped when he assumed his next incarnation.
“No! Fucking! Way!” I cried out.
I could sense both Albert and Liam straining their necks, trying to get a good look at his face to see what the demon had morphed into.
“Mikey!” I shouted, not knowing whether to laugh out loud or cry my heart out. It was my own fucking landlord, only for the first time ever, he wasn’t smiling or handing my mail to me. This time I had something he wanted, and his arm was outstretched to me, demanding payment for his confession.
I backed deep into the kitchen, my hands grasping for something to hold onto. He’d clearly foreseen all this and had been planning it for months, which meant this was bad, really, deep-shit kind of bad. And if I didn’t know any better, I guessed we were all about to die.
8
The Postcard
“I still don’t understand why you’d do this,” I gasped, my gaze darting all over the counters as I desperately looked for salt. “It’s just a rotten postcard, for Chrissakes!”
“Of course you don’t,” said Mikey as he stroked his beardless chin. “I don’t think even that thief, Chuck, figured it out. But I did.”
“So?” I said, not really caring at this point but running a quick calculation in my head. Would Chuck have been more of a righty or a lefty? Where the hell would he stash his salt? If he even had any. “Go on?”
“The damned fool’s attention was just on the value of the stamp. I would have swiped it had he not been unfortunate enough to take his photos in the bathroom. The backside of the card was captured in the image, and that was far more interesting to me than the front.”
He licked his lips, and I saw him shudder with pleasure. He was so close to me, and in desperation I edged around the counter, trying to put as much space between us as I could.
“Do you know where that beach is?”
“Chesapeake Bay?” I stammered.
“Fool!”
The demon made a lunge at me which I just managed to dodge in time. I’d kept my wand hidden all this time, but now I ripped it from my arm, and with my voice elevated, I cried, “You take me now and your soul is forfeit to me, demon! You know the lore; your magic will turn on you if you do not keep your bargain.”
The demon staggered back, his eyes calculating, and I noticed his hands were tipped with claws.
He raised them in readiness, but he took a breath and continued, “It’s a forgotten beach in Hell, a place of refuge for us demons. The postcard was sent by The Great One himself and is an invitation to anyone who possesses it.”
Damn it, I was right. Satan had licked the stamp!
From behind him I heard Albert laugh. “So, you did all this for a stupid Timeshare?”
The demon paused, and half-turned to see what kind of moron would insult him so. It was the only chance I was going to get. In that second, I flung open the cabinet door to the left of the stove, slamming it into his stupid face and reached in for whatever I could get my hands on.
Something blue caught my eye, and I yanked open the lid and threw it in his face—but then looked at the label. Shit! Table salt!
Too late, Mikey realized he had given up his advantage and he cried out, the salt crystals burning into his skin. But it wasn’t strong enough.
I had seconds. With a flick of my wand, all the condiments in the cupboard flew across the room. “Sea salt, Liam, grab the sea salt!”
But the demon had already recovered. With supernatural speed he’d whooshed around the room, and before I knew what was happening, he’d knocked both Liam and Albert unconscious, and taken the gun out of Liam’s hand. Then he was back in the kitchen, coming for me.
Mikey’s eyes burned like the pits of Hell he lived in, and in no time at all, he had me on the floor, straddling across my shoulder and neck, his brimstone breath hovering inches above my face. I would have puked if I hadn’t been so terrified.
“If you kill me, you’ll never find that postcard,” I gasped, desperate for ideas.
“Oh, I don’t care about that anymore,” said Mikey. A great goop of his foul saliva oozed from his serpent-like tongue and grazed my cheeks. “I know one of you have it on you. And when you’re all dead, which will be very soon, my dear, I’ll have all the time in the world to go through your pockets and violate your corpses. Won’t that be nice?”
I struggled against him, but it was no use. Mikey cocked his head to one side. “How pretty your soul is. I can see it, you know. It’s almost the color of gold. I can see it, touch it, lick it.”
God, how gross was that?
“Go on, kill me then,” I said, still fighting to set myself free.
“Oh, believe me, it’s not as if I haven’t tried,” Mikey said. “If I’d have known you were a witch, I would never have let you rent the floor above me. Your kind are foul, nasty, meddling things, that get in the way of everything. And I have plans.” He sat back a little, easing off my shoulders, and for just a moment, I wondered what he was up to.
“Kill me then,” I spat, “but spare the others. You don’t have to kill them.”
Mikey’s hand fell on my scar, and I felt a stirring deep inside me. Oh, dear God, the bastard was going to tear out my soul from the very scar he’d carved for me.
“Too late to bargain now,” Mikey continued. “You will all be mine soon, and I’ll be free to do what I want with your souls. Forever.”
The demon was so close to me. The torments of Hell were just a breath away, and I was totally out of options. I closed my eyes and prayed to my ancestors to save me. I screamed in agony as his razor-sharp demon claws tore at my healed scar, dragging out my soul like it was nothing but a length of yarn. It was over. I felt my body go slack, and any second now, I would wake up dead. And then I would be the demon’s slave for all eternity.
Use the slipstream.
The voice came out of nowhere, and I felt a flicker of resistance still in my soul. I stopped fighting the demon, and, instead, I wrapped my arms about him and pulled him close in a lover’s embrace.
Focusing hard, the real world disappeared in a torrent of disoriented pixels, and the demon and I were alone, the winds of the slipstream howling around us.
The demon’s body became tense with fear and he held onto me, just as tightly as I held him. We were both falling, falling, down and down into eternal nothingness.
And then his head came up and the demon screamed—his eyes full of terror and anguish.
“Welcome to my world,” I cried, and then I dropped him.
“Noooooo!” he screamed, and horrified, his cells split into hundreds of tiny atoms right before my eyes, drifting off into the void, and he was gone forever.
9
Settling Accounts
When I opened my eyes, Liam was kneeling above me. And he was smiling.
“It’s a good thing you know your shit, because if it was down to me, I’d be showering you in red pepper flakes.”
I couldn’t help myself. In a flurry of wonder, I felt my soul fight its way back inside my body, and I gasped, thrusting upward and grabbing onto Liam with both hands.
Before he could defend himself, my mouth was on his, and I was kissing him with everything I had. Dumb? Maybe. But it seemed like a good idea at the time.
I heard a cough from somewhere across the room. “Is it over, is he gone?” It was Albert.
I fell back to the floor, gasping for breath, not just to recover from Liam’s embrace, but because, by golly, I’d been this close to death, and I needed a second to recover. I stared up at the ceiling, happy to be alive.
“Harrison’s gonna be all right,” said Liam. “He’s out cold, but his pulse is steady. Just work a little of your magic on him and I’m sure he’ll be just fine.”
Thank God, I thought. With all the energy I had left, I pushed myself up off the floor. The kitchen looked like a war zone, with salt strewn all over the floor and traces of my blood on the ground where I’d fallen.
But we had beaten the demon. He had no power over me in the slipstream and the salt was the last straw.
I raised my head to my ancestors and offered them a second prayer. At least they had gotten something out of all this drama.
Limping, I walked out of the kitchen and made my way over to the others. All eyes were open, and it was such a relief to know everyone was going to be okay.
Even Harrison was coming out of his fog and was rubbing his free hands. “What the hell just happened?” he said, shaking the cobwebs from his brain. He took a long, slow look around the apartment. “Wait, What? Hey! “What am I doing here? Where is Andres?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?” I asked. “Why did you leave Albert?”
I sensed Albert tense behind me. He’d be making a big noise about this later and I knew it.
Harrison scratched his head as he tried to think. “I got a text from the killer, telling me he had Andres down on the thirteenth floor and was gonna kill him if I didn’t come get him. What the fuck’s going on?”
I could hear the panic rising in his voice. Telling my partner about Andres was going to be one of the toughest parts of the night. It would have to be done, but maybe not right now. I rested my hand gently on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about Andres, he was never in any danger. It was a trick to lure you here. So, they could lure me.”
Harrison looked bewildered. “I—I—I don’t remember…”
“You’ve had a bit of a shock,” I said. “And your memory isn’t working. Just be still for now, and I’ll tell you all about it when the ambulance comes.”
“The ambulance?”
“You took a blow to the head. I just wanna make sure you’re all right.”
“Hmmpf,” groaned Harrison, “Just make sure they don’t charge this to the Worker’s Comp. I don’t want my premiums shooting through the roof.”
I smiled, knowing Harrison at least was gonna be okay. Until I told him about Andres. At which time he’d shit a cow and bust up the office, but I’d deal with that when it happened.
Albert stood in the center of the room, bewildered. I made a mental note to give him one of my bath bombs before we left. The man sure looked like he could use one.
I put my arm around his shoulder. “Let’s get you back to Diddles,” I said. “It’s probably his dinner time, I’d guess.”
“Yes, yes, quite right,” said Albert. “You’re very kind.”
Like an overtired child, I led Albert out into the hall. Behind me, I could hear Liam as he helped Harrison to his feet.
“Thanks,” Harrison said gruffly, and a moment later, we were all huddled outside the elevators.
Liam’s gaze met mine, and I was suddenly overwhelmed by all the things I wanted to tell him. Not least of which, was the man had been through hell and still looked like a million bucks.
“There’s something I have to tell you,” I said as I pushed the button to summon the elevator.
“It’ll keep,” he said, a twinkle in his eye. Fair enough, I thought. One step at a time.
“You know, Diddles and I can’t thank you enough,” Albert said, staring at my blood-soaked top and looking rather guilty. “I, um, well, you did wonderfully well, and I’d like to give you a little bonus. Is that okay?”
I smiled. All in all, things could be a lot worse. After all, Liam really wanted me—and, better still, at least I got to keep that dress.
About the Author
Adrienne Blake is my name, paranormal is my game. Romance, cozies, mysteries penned, my favorite words are "Loved" and "The End."
I'm a USA Today bestselling author –– my books blend plot, humor, and darkness, all in one sizzling cauldron. Born in the UK and writing in the US, I love apple pie but it has to be served with hot custard.
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