Demons Not Included: A Night Tracker Novel (Night Tracker Novels)

by Cheyenne McCray

  “What the fuck?” she said. A cop through and through.

  “Just listen to me,” I said. “I’ve taken down piles of trollshit like these before.”

  “Uh, trollshit?” she said.

  The Sprite tried to move and she slammed his head up against the wall. Hard. I liked her.

  “Just hold.” I said to Olivia. The Were growled and clenched and unclenched his sharp-clawed fists at his sides. “Either you stand real still and wait for the PTF, or you won’t be barking at the next full moon.”

  “You don’t have the guts, female,” he growled, and stepped back.

  1 moved with him and pressed the weapon’s blade against the Were’s Adam’s apple until droplets of blood dripped onto the Drow steel.

  “Trackers don’t give a shit about scum like you.” At the mention of the word “Tracker” he went still.

  “And I’m no exception.”

  “Fuck,” he said in his reverberating growl, and looked totally pissed at being in a position he now knew he couldn’t win.

  “No thank you.” I kept the blade steady as I moved one hand from the hilt to my belt, where I drew out my XPhone.

  Without looking I pressed speed dial for the PTF. I didn’t have to say anything to them. They had my position the moment I’d dialed in. After notifying the Paranorm Task Force, I put my XPhone back in its clip. The PTF would arrive in no time at all.

  “Hey, Blue Hair,” Olivia said to me. “Why don’t you fill me in on what the hell is going on.”

  “I will as soon as the PTF takes care of these two.” I never took my eyes or blade off the Were as I heard the sound of PTF sirens that could only be heard by paranorms.

  “Bullshit,” she said. “The NYPD will be on their asses as soon as I make the call.”

  “You won’t have time.” I said. “These two are about to be put into a cell that will hold them. Human jails won’t work.”

  “Human jails?” She looked amused. “Sweetheart, we’ve got to talk. I’m off duty as soon as we finish up.” Olivia scowled at the Sprite when he tried to wriggle, and she slammed his head against the wall again. “There’s a coffee shop—”

  I burst out laughing. “Me. with blue hair and amethyst skin going into a coffee shop at midnight?”

  “This is New York City,” she said.

  “Have to give you that one.”

  After the PTF officers took the Sprite away in magically treated handcuffs, along with the Were at gunpoint—including a tranquilizer gun—it was just me and Olivia.

  We faced one another.

  “Avanna,” I said, and the blood disappeared from my dagger before I sheathed my weapon. She narrowed her eyes. “Why don’t we order in pizza at my office,” I said, “and I’ll fill you in.”

  She slowly holstered her Sig. “What kind of office?”

  “I’m also a PI,” I said.

  She snorted. “A purple PI.”

  “Amethyst.” I started out of the alleyway and she fell into step with me, “And during the day I look human.”

  “Uh-huh...”

  Considering how hard-boiled she’d seemed, it surprised me that she agreed to go with me to my office.

  Turned out we both had a thing for Hawaiian pizza—Canadian bacon, double mozzarella, with extra pineapple chunks on top. We were meant for each other.

  She took off her sweat jacket and tossed it on the empty desk (soon to be hers if I did a good job of convincing her). She had her Sig in a shoulder holster and, for the first time, I saw her black T-shirt.

  Come to the Dark Side. We have chocolate.

  I took that as a good sign.

  After we stuffed ourselves with pizza I explained what I did as a PI and about the paranormal world, the best I could. She listened, then said, “You are so full of shit.”

  “Hellooo.” I held out my arm. “An amethyst woman with blue hair is telling you this.”

  She reached out and scraped her short nails over my arm.

  I snatched my arm back. “Ow.”

  “Not body makeup.” She frowned and peered at the roots of my hair. “A good dye job or you’ve really got blue hair.”

  “At night,” I said. “I’m half Drow.”

  She raised an eyebrow.

  “Dark Elves.”

  “Uh-huhhhh.”

  “During the day I look normal, like you.”

  With an amused look she help up her arm, showing her dark, golden skin. “You’re Kenyan and Puerto Rican?”

  “Not exactly.” I grinned. “Let me show you some of the stuff here.”

  In my office I had all kinds of unique paranorm artifacts that had magical properties. I even showed her a little of my elemental magic.

  “You can buy a book to learn that crap,” she said. “A Magicians for Idiots Guide.”

  “You are a tough one.” I put my hands on my hips. “Okay. One more chance to make you a believer.”

  I took her to the Pit.

  Weres, Doppler, Fae, and Shifters were all doing their thing. Shadow Shifters becoming nothing but shadows on the floor and vanishing, particularly freaked her out a little. And Olivia was pretty hard to freak out.

  Unfortunately Olivia kept wanting to hang around the Vamps. Damn bloodsuckers.

  The next day she gave her notice to her captain at the NYPD and she was mine.

  Heh, heh, heh.

  CHAPTER 10

  Once I had sent the e-mail with the drawing to Derek, I looked at Olivia. “I’ll get started on these door-stoppers from Rodán.” I gestured to the stack of books on my credenza.

  “Have fun.” She turned to her monitor. “I’m going to see what I can find on the Internet. If anything, considering our only clues are this symbol and that it must have been a Demon.”

  “I’d sure like to make sense of this whole mess before searching tonight for that damned Demon that murdered the cop’s family.” I picked up one of Rodán’s dusty tomes. “It would be nice to know exactly what we’re looking for.”

  “Mmmm.” Olivia was obviously already deep into her search. Every now and then paper would spit out of her printer, and I hoped she was finding good info.

  The bells on the door jingled, and Olivia and I both looked up.

  “Hiya, Olivia,” Caprice said with one of her smiles that made a person automatically want to smile back. Her dark hair flowed around her shoulders and her eyes seemed even more hazel than usual.

  “Let me see today’s shirt.”

  Olivia parted her Mets sweat jacket and the saying on the yellow T-shirt stretched across her melonsized breasts.

  A good friend will bail you out of jail. A best friend will be sitting next to you Saying, “Damn. We fucked up.”

  Caprice’s smile turned into a grin and she gave Olivia a high-five.

  Olivia twirled her seat before getting up and heading away from her desk. She glanced over her shoulder when she reached the door. “Gotta run some errands. Be back in thirty.”

  We waved her off. When the office door had closed behind Olivia, Caprice sat on the comer of my partner’s desk. “What’s up. chica?”

  I propped my elbow on one of the enormous books Rodán had loaned me and cupped my chin in my hand. “Right now, nothing good.”

  She cocked her head. “Tell me.”

  I told her about the crime scene, the murdered family, and the missing liaison.

  Caprice shook her head when I finished. “I’m sure glad I don’t have your job. Being a Tracker is enough as it is.”

  “No kidding.” I sighed and braced both arms on top of the huge book. “I’m glad you stopped by.”

  What the hell; I just dove into what I’d wanted to talk to her about since last night at the Pit. “About that guy you were with—”

  Her smile blossomed with pleasure. “He’s so freaking hot. I’m going to see him again tonight.”

  Jeez, this wasn’t going to be easy I tried to soften my words. “I know you think he’s an all right guy,” I said as I leaned forward
, and I knew my expression was serious. “But last night at the club I had a really bad feeling about him. Really bad.”

  Caprice just looked at me a moment as her smile faded. Finally she said, “You’re not a Seer, Nyx.”

  I looked away from her and picked up a pencil that sat between two cubes of hot pink sticky notes.

  “That’s true.” I clenched my fingers around the pencil as I met her gaze again. “But sometimes I get feelings. I sense things. Like last night when Jon was murdered. Before I left my apartment I had such a strong feeling that something horrible was going to happen. And it did.”

  Her face was tight and my belly hurt from taking away some of the happiness she’d felt at meeting that guy “If you really had a premonition, maybe what you thought you sensed around Chance was just a remnant of that feeling you’d had earlier.”

  “Maybe.” I tapped the pencil’s eraser on the desk as I thought about the strength of the sensation I’d had about Chance. “But I don’t think so.” I took a deep breath before I said, “I don’t think you should see him anymore.”

  “What?” Caprice slid off of Olivia’s desk and stood, anger making her dark eyes impossibly darker.

  The bite to her words caused me to straighten, drawing back in my chair. “That’s bullshit, Nyx. I can’t believe you’d even go there.”

  “I’m just worried—”

  “Save it.” Caprice turned and headed to the front door. She opened and shut it behind her hard enough to make the bells jangle louder than normal.

  Or maybe it just seemed like the bells were louder because the room was suddenly so empty without Caprice, and because I’d just upset one of my best friends.

  Still, why did she get so angry so fast? That wasn’t like Caprice. I sighed. Maybe I had overstepped my bounds and this Chance guy was okay. With all my heart, I hoped so.

  I sighed again, then cracked open the first book, the one I’d been resting my forearms on. I started searching from the beginning, scanning each page with the speed of my race. Some of the pages were worn, brittle even. Halfway through the book my temples started aching.

  Four and a half books to go.

  My blue Persian landed lightly on my desk, appearing out of nowhere as usual, and began walking back and forth on the surface. She stepped on the big book I was currently searching through as she went from one end of the desk to the other.

  “Cut it out, Kali.” All that long blue Persian hair, and ending up with a cat’s tail and rear end in my face, made for not being able to see what I was doing. Plus I was getting cat hair in my mouth with her so close to my face.

  I gave Kali a gentle push to get her butt out of my face. “I’m working.”

  Kali finally gave an irritating yowl and, with her tail high in the air, she stalked off in the direction of our kitchenette/lounge. Probably to go shred some of my underwear once she traveled her secret route to my apartment. I hoped Kali left me something to wear for the morning.

  At least at night I didn’t need anything but my fighting outfit. And Kali had yet to find a way to destroy the Drow-worked leather.

  Heh.

  I brushed my fingers over my collar as I looked again at the page I’d last been scanning before Kali had shown up.

  The door bells jangled again and I looked up, hoping it was Caprice. Instead it was Olivia, but she was carrying something that made my stomach growl.

  “Doughnuts!” I held my hands out as I recognized the box from our favorite bakery and smelled the doughnuts. “Gimme, gimme.”

  “Figured you hadn’t had anything to eat yet.” She passed the pastry box to me as she stopped in front of my desk. “So I made sure to pick up something nutritious.”

  “Mmmm.” I set the box down on a pile of file folders before opening the box and grabbing a Bavarian creme. My favorite. “I love you.”

  “I know.” Olivia sat on the edge of my desk and looked at me, and I knew something was up.

  The wisteria. Now doughnuts.

  Oh, crap.

  Still, I wasn’t about to relinquish my Bavarian creme, no matter that she was buttering me up. “This is about going out with me tracking Demons, isn’t it.”

  “Tonight.” Olivia’s gaze fixed on mine.

  I almost squirted the creme from my doughnut onto my desk when I set my hand down. “I haven’t talked to Rodán about it yet.”

  She pointed to the XPhone on my desk. “So call.”

  I looked at my Bavarian doughnut that was still making my mouth water. I hadn’t even had a bite of it yet. I narrowed my eyes at her. “You don’t play fair.”

  Olivia shrugged. “Stop wasting time.”

  I grabbed a napkin from the stack Olivia had set beside the doughnut box. I set my poor, lonely doughnut on the napkin before using another napkin to wipe the chocolate icing that had already gotten on my fingers.

  With a glare at Olivia, I hit speed dial for Rodán. “Olivia wants to go Demon tracking with us tonight,” I said the moment he answered.

  Rodán paused. “I want a chance to speak with her before she ventures out with you. I’ll meet with her tomorrow night in the Pit when she gets there.”

  Well, good. That put it off at least one more night. “I’ll tell her.”

  Rodán said good-bye and I set down my XPhone and looked at Olivia. “He wants a face-to-face with you first, tomorrow night.”

  “Rodán is full of shit.” She narrowed her eyes. “I’ve never met with him before we tackled any case. Hell, I’ve never even seen him.”

  I shrugged. “He’s the boss.” She slid from sitting on the edge of my desk to stand and reached for the doughnut box. I snatched it first. “Mine.”

  “Humph.” Olivia went around to her desk and plopped in her seat. “One more night. That’s it.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I said before I finally bit into my Bavarian creme, which was followed by an orgasmic sound of bliss. I savored the smell of the creme filling and chocolate icing.

  Olivia focused on her monitor as she started typing on her gel pad. “I have some ideas for things to look at on the Net. Maybe we’ll get lucky”

  I leaned back and took another huge bite, and with my free hand thumped the book I’d been researching. “So far I haven’t come across anything close.”

  “Let’s see what we can do,” she said, and I knew she was already lost in her research.

  I made my way through the doughnuts, and Olivia and I searched most of the day for something related to the Demonic symbol and found zippo. An irregularly shaped cone ... round and bumpy on top, with layers upon jagged layers as it went to a point. It looked like an earthy tornado.

  Every time I looked at the symbol I wanted to shudder. It made me feel like the sky had darkened and life was draining away. It got to the point that chills ran up and down my arms and I didn’t want to look at the symbol anymore.

  Whatever it was meant evil. Pure, pure evil.

  It wasn’t easy, but I managed to shut out my more sensitive human half and continue searching.

  None of Rodán’s books on the occult and Demonology coughed up what I was looking for. Damn.

  Could I have missed something because I’d been scanning the pages so fast?

  My XPhone rang and I looked at the ID that flashed on the screen. “It’s Derek.”

  Olivia leaned back in her chair and gave a sigh of exhaustion as she put her feet up on the desk and leaned back. “ ‘Bout time.”

  “Hi, Tiger,” I said when I answered, and Derek laughed.

  “Hey, Blue,” Derek said. I was so glad no one else had picked up on Derek’s nickname for me.

  Made me feel like a Border collie.

  Not that that’s a bad thing. I knew a Doppler Border collie who was a great guy.

  “Nothing yet,” Derek said, and my heart dropped. I had so hoped that, as an occult expert, he’d find something. “So far my search has led to dead ends. Although the symbol does look somewhat familiar.”

  That gave my heart a lift
. “Anything at all that will take us closer to finding this thing will be great.”

  “I’ll get back to you.” The sound of a door shutting in the background came over the line. “James just walked in and I haven’t made dinner yet.”

  “Tell James hello.”

  “Will do.”

  Derek severed the connection and I set the XPhone on my desk.

  A possible lead? I could only hope.

  CHAPTER 11

  “I’m going to have a chat with Caprice’s guy,” I said to myself as I pushed my way through the packed nightclub, trying to block out the scents of all of the paranorms and norms so that I could focus fully on the man Caprice was with.

  At first Caprice tilted her chin when she saw me, showing some of the anger from our earlier conversation. Then she visibly relaxed and smiled when I reached her. “Hi, chica.” She turned to the guy “Chance, this is one of my closest friends, Nyx Ciar. Nyx, this is Chance Cartwright.”

  “Great hair.” He set his beer mug on a table, took my hand, and gave a light squeeze before releasing me. His grip was warm. But I felt uneasy. Unsteady as he touched me. Almost queasy.

  “I’ve never met anyone like you,” he was saying.

  That’s because there isn’t anyone like me.

  “Funny,” I said. “I was thinking the same thing about you.”

  I tried to identify exactly what kind of being he was. Chance didn’t smell human, unless all the weed smoke and odors of beer and bar food were getting to me.

  “Chance and I are going out for lunch tomorrow,” Caprice was saying as Chance and I held each other’s gaze.

  I nodded, barely hearing her. The guy definitely wasn’t a Metamorph because he didn’t smell like newly mown hay.

  Oddly he smelled a bit like T. of rosewood and musk. Come to think of it. Chance even looked like a blond Highlander, where T was dark. Maybe they were related, or of the same race?

  The thought sent a strange twisting sensation through my belly. If so, what were they doing here?

  “Chance reserved number one,” Caprice said, bringing my attention back to her as she gestured toward the pool tables. “Looks like they’re about done. Chance said he enjoys a good game of pool.”