A black-haired man approached the fiends and spoke to them. Luke couldn’t make out their words over the chatter of tourists, but this guy had to be involved.
“That the bastard who’s summoning them?” Chase clenched his fists.
The man turned his head and scanned the street with his own set of red eyes. Luke recognized him immediately. Though full-grown now, his face was unmistakable. “That’s the halfling I saw last week.”
The man pointed into the alley, and the demons’ eyes followed his gaze. They slinked deeper into the shadows as the halfling turned and ran up Royal Street.
“Can you guys handle three on your own?” Luke asked.
“Are you kidding?” James bounced on the balls of his feet. “I was born for this.”
“Good. I’m going to tail the halfling. See if he can show me where his master’s hiding out.”
Keeping his distance, Luke followed the man out of the Quarter. He slinked through the outlying neighborhoods and through the wards that still hadn’t completely recovered from the last hurricane. Where was the fiend headed? With the last house behind him, Luke shifted into wolf form and stalked the halfling into the swamp.
Though he looked like a man, the half-demon moved with the speed and agility of an otherworldly creature. He leapt over fallen logs and ducked under low-hanging branches as if he had the entire forest memorized.
As the halfling approached a run-down shack situated on a piece of semi-dry land, Luke slowed his pace and ducked behind a tree. Crouching low, he belly-crawled closer to the structure. His back leg kicked a fallen tree branch, disturbing a nest of wild boar piglets. They snorted and squealed for their mother, scattering through the trees. The halfling snapped his head around at the sound and peered into the darkness.
Luke held his breath, anticipating the attack from the sow. Wild boars could be as mean as gators, especially the ones in the swamp. But the mother never came. Maybe she’d already been turned into someone’s dinner. A piglet scurried past the halfling, and he sneered, picking up the squealing baby and carrying it inside.
Luke released his breath. The last thing he needed was for a pig to give him away. He crept closer to the shack and peeked through the window. A makeshift altar stood in the center of the room. It was nothing more than a wooden table covered in cloth and animal bones, but this had to be the place where the demons were summoned. He could just make out the designs drawn on a cereal bowl in the middle of the table. Black magic markings.
The halfling picked up the knife that lay beside the bowl and stabbed the piglet. It let out a piercing squeal before flailing and going limp in his hand. Luke didn’t stick around to watch the rest. He could’ve easily taken out the demon spawn on his own, but the signs of struggle would let his master know he’d been found. He’d wait until the bastard was home and end this thing once and for all.
Macey took her frozen dinner out of the microwave and settled on the couch with a glass of chardonnay. Thor sat on the other end of the sofa and flicked his tail triumphantly.
“Don’t look so smug.” She eyed her cat. “He fooled you too.”
She flipped on the television and shoveled a spoonful of mac and cheese into her mouth. Luke planned to take her to a new Italian restaurant in the Garden District tonight. It would have been better than the cardboard pasta and runny, half-frozen cheese sauce she was currently eating. Stop it, Mace. Don’t think about him.
That was easier said than done. The harder she tried to get the image of his deep blue eyes and caramel hair out of her mind, the more vivid the picture became. She sighed and put the bowl on the coffee table. She’d get over him. Her life was fine before she met him, and it would be fine with him gone too. He had too many responsibilities, anyway. His job, running his pack, hunting demons. She was busy too…
And Thor would have missed their Saturday night Netflix binges.
She could think of a thousand reasons why not being with Luke was the best decision she could’ve made. As long as she kept her distance, he’d never have the chance to abandon her. This time, she was the one who left. The relationship ended because she wanted it to, and she would keep reminding herself of that until it stopped hurting.
She finished her dinner and set the bowl in the sink. Thor curled up in her lap, and she sipped her wine as she started season two of her new favorite show.
A knock on the door made her heart jump. Could it be Luke? So what if it was? He’d only fill her head with more lies, and she wasn’t sure she had the strength to resist him. She’d probably fall for whatever story he fed her, so she’d better not answer the door.
The knock sounded again. “Miss Macey? Are you home?”
That wasn’t Luke. She set Thor on the floor and tiptoed to the door.
Another knock. “Miss Macey? It’s Jimmy.”
The guy from the candy store? How on Earth did he know where she lived? She looked through the peep hole, and sure enough, Jimmy stood on the porch. He wore clean clothes, and his hair had been combed, but it was definitely him. She unlatched the lock, but kept the chain in place, and opened the door a crack. “What are you doing here, Jimmy?”
“I’m sorry, Miss Macey. My brother made me do it.” He squeezed his eyes shut, a tense, pained expression masking his face, as a garbled yelp came from somewhere deep inside. His body shuddered, and a sinister smile curved his lips. He sucked in a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes.
Blood red eyes.
Macey gasped and stumbled back, trying to close the door, but he stuck his foot in the jamb. He slammed his shoulder against the door with inhuman strength, snapping the security chain in half. Thor hissed and darted into the bedroom as Macey backed into a table, knocking over a lamp and shattering it on the floor.
Jimmy wrapped his long fingers around her neck and pinned her against the wall. “You were kind to my brother today.”
Brother? His voice was the same, but different. It no longer held the childish intonation it had earlier in the day. And his eyes…
“He likes you now.” He slammed her onto the floor, and the air whooshed out of her lungs.
She gasped for breath. “Jimmy? What are you doing?”
“I’m not Jimmy.”
She tried to scoot away, but he was on her in an instant, straddling her, pinning her to the ground. Her shoulder blades dug into the wood, sending piercing pain shooting into her arms.
“I was going to have some fun with you before I killed you, but now that my idiot brother has taken a liking to you, I won’t. I don’t want to damage his mind too much. Such a shame. You are a pretty little thing.” He thrust his hips against her as he spoke. “He begged me not to kill you. ‘Miss Macey’s a real nice lady,’” he said in a mocking tone. “A nice lady who’s been getting in my way long enough.”
He stood, lifting her off the ground by the shoulders, her feet dangling three inches above the wood. “You see…” With his hand around her neck, he slammed her into the wall. Her head knocked against drywall, and her vision swam with stars. Clawing at his hand, she tried to peel his fingers from her throat, but he held her with otherworldly strength. The strength of a demon. The brother who terrorized Jimmy was the half-demon spirt who’d been taunting her.
“You see, Miss Macey, I’ve got a plan. I’m going to run this city. And I am trying to build an army of halflings to help me do it. But you and your werewolf friends are making my life difficult. How can my demons impregnate enough women to build an army, when the werewolves keep killing them?”
She tried to speak, but his grip crushed her windpipe. She could barely breathe, but she refused to be his next victim. If only she could reach her pistol; she’d left it on the kitchen counter with her badge. She clutched his arm and managed a strangled, “Please.”
The demon in Jimmy’s body sighed and shook his head. “I have to use a body to kill you, since I don’t have one of my own. Making that branch fall on you took all the energy I had. It took hours for me to recover after th
at. Spirit energy isn’t infinite, I’m afraid.” He squeezed her throat tighter. “This way is much more efficient.”
She couldn’t breathe. Her vision tunneled, blackness closing in around her, when he suddenly let her go. She clutched her neck as she gasped for breath. Blinking away the darkness, she found Thor climbing up the man’s back, his teeth slicing into his neck.
She took the chance and stumbled into the kitchen, throwing herself at her firearm. Jimmy flung Thor across the foyer and roared as he came barreling into the room.
Macey raised her gun and fired. The bullet burrowed into his shoulder. Jimmy fell against the wall and slid down. He reached for the wound and pulled away a shaking hand covered in blood. His bottom lip quivered.
“You bitch.” The voice bellowed from every corner of the room. “I need that body.”
She swung the gun around, frantically searching for the source of the sound.
“Miss Macey?” The childish tone returned to Jimmy’s voice. He stood up and swayed on his feet. “I don’t feel so good.”
“Run, you moron. If you pass out here, I swear I’ll kill you myself.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Macey. You really are a nice lady.” He stumbled into the living room and out the door. Thor hissed and darted into the kitchen.
The last thing Macey saw was a cast iron pan flying across the room, striking her head with splitting pain.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Luke shifted to human form before he reached the city. He stopped by the bar, but his hunters were still on patrol. Macey didn’t pick up her phone, so he tried Alexis. No answer. Could they be at Macey’s house? It wouldn’t hurt to look.
He stepped out into the humid night and headed toward her home. At worst, he could at least let her know what was about to go down in the swamp, so they could concoct a cover story to satisfy the police. At best, Alexis would have convinced her she was wrong, and Macey would throw herself into his arms as soon as he knocked on the door. His chest tightened. He could only hope for the best.
As he turned the corner on Barracks, he caught a whiff of rotting flesh as a black mass dropped from a rooftop into an alley. Damn demons. His reunion with Macey would have to wait.
With his back pressed against the wall, Luke peered into the alley to see what the fiend was up to. This was a residential street; attracted to the masses, demons usually stuck to the crowded areas. More victims. Easier targets.
This demon crouched in a shadow, rubbing its knobby hands together, and staring up at a balcony. Tendrils of ivy crawled across the cast iron railing and climbed up the poles. Soft rock music played from a speaker on a table, where a glass of soda sat, untouched, the ice melting in the heat. A girl stretched out on a chaise lounge; she couldn’t have been more than fourteen. She punched in something on her cell phone, and the blue light illuminated an amused grin, her innocent eyes sparkling as she laughed.
The demon’s nostrils flared. That thing could scale the balcony railing in a single leap. He had to stop it, but it was against the rules to shift in the city. Aside from piercing the heart, the only other way to kill a demon was to cut its head off. He scanned the area for something sharp. Nothing.
He could fight it in human form. Wrestle with it. Try to make it run. It rocked to the balls of its feet like it was about to jump.
Screw the rules. These were desperate times.
Luke leapt toward the demon, shifting in midair, bringing his massive claws down on…nothing. The fiend had disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a dissipating cloud of black smoke. What the hell? Demons couldn’t disappear.
A maniacal cackle emanated from the balcony. The girl screamed. The fiend clung to the railing like a monkey, taunting Luke and scaring the girl to death. She scrambled back, curling into a ball and pressing herself against the wall. She glanced at the open door and focused on the demon.
Luke rocked back on his haunches and launched himself up. He swiped at the fiend, slicing a massive claw through its thick, leathery skin. It let out an ear-piercing squeal and lost its balance on the railing. Hanging from one arm, it let out a snake-like hiss. Luke growled in return.
The girl’s shrill scream echoed through night as she stumbled off her chair and darted inside, slamming the door. The fiend looked up at the balcony and glared down at Luke. Its lips peeled back over dagger-like fangs in a sick attempt at a smile. Then, it disappeared in another cloud of smoke.
Shit! Luke ducked into the alley and shifted into human form. Where had the bastard gone? The girl’s entire body trembled as she peeked through the curtains and clutched her phone in her hand. It hadn’t followed her inside.
A freakish cackle sounded from down the street as the fiend jumped onto another rooftop. Luke gave chase, following it as it leapt from building to building, leading Luke up Chartres, closer and closer to Basin Street.
The demon jumped to the street and plowed through a group of people on a vampire tour. They squealed in surprise, laughing at their own reactions, probably thinking the fiend was part of the show. Luke slowed his pace as he wove through the crowd, trying not to draw any more attention to the chase. As soon as he broke from the mass, he sprinted after the beast. He wouldn’t let this one get away.
“Smells like death around here. Need some help?” Chase and James caught up, flanking Luke on either side.
Luke pointed to the rooftop where the demon returned. “Tried to get a teenage girl on Barracks.”
“The bastard,” James said.
The demon darted across Basin street, weaving through traffic like a crazed animal. Drivers slammed on their brakes and honked their horns at what probably looked like a shadow to them.
The men followed, using the confusion in the traffic jam to their advantage and racing across the street. The demon scaled the wall of St. Louis Cemetery Number One and disappeared into the graveyard.
“Damn, that sucker’s fast.” Chase tried the gate. “Locked.”
“Step aside, boys, and give me some cover.” James took a lock-picking kit out of his pocket and stepped toward the gate. Luke and Chase stood in front of him, blocking him from view.
He tried to act casual, but so much adrenaline coursed through Luke’s veins, he doubted he was pulling it off. “Make it quick,” he said through clenched teeth as he nodded at a couple passing by. They slowed as they approached the cemetery gate—probably tourists wanting to experience the graveyard and all its spooky mysteries at night. But the St. Louis cemetery closed at dusk, and even daytime entry required a licensed tour guide. Breaking in was completely illegal, and completely necessary.
He straightened his spine and looked the man in the eyes. His girlfriend grabbed at his arm like she was nervous. “Evening,” Luke said.
The man’s eyes widened, a hint of fear draining the color from his face as he quickened his pace and hurried past.
“Got it. We’re in.” James popped the lock, and the others followed him inside the walls.
Stepping into the cemetery was like entering another world. Towering tombs rose from the ground in classic Spanish style. Row after row of white stucco structures housed the remains of generations of New Orleans residents. Most were well-kept, with elaborate statues adorning the crypts and long lists of names etched into plaques dating to the seventeen hundreds. Others had crumbled with decay, decades of weather eating away at the stucco, exposing the brick and mortar underneath.
“Welcome to the city of the dead,” Luke mumbled.
“The demon could be anywhere,” Chase said.
“We’ll find him.” James crept up the walkway, peering between each row of tombs. “Heeere demon, demon, demon,” he called. “Come to papa, you disgusting piece of hell trash.”
A shadow darted by in Luke’s peripheral vision, and he took off after it. He sprinted up a row of tombs and made a left.
Dead end. No demon.
He backed out and continued up the path.
“Over here,” James yelled.
Luke
followed his voice across the cemetery and found the fiend perched atop an enormous mausoleum, like a hideous, living gargoyle. It peeled back its lips in a putrid smile and cackled wildly before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
“What the hell?” Chase rubbed his eyes. “I’ve never seen one do that.”
“I forgot to mention that,” Luke said. “This one’s gonna be harder to kill.”
James grinned. “You mean more fun. Let’s get this bastard.” He shifted into wolf form and loped down the path. Chase and Luke shifted and took off in opposite directions. There’d be no more talk, but in wolf form, they had an almost telepathic form of communication. They couldn’t exactly read each other’s minds, but they always knew what the other was thinking.
Chase growled, and Luke turned a corner to find his friend face to face with the demon. It sneered as Chase leapt for it, disappearing in a poof before the wolf could make contact. It reappeared on a tomb four feet away, only to vanish and show up behind him. The fiend was toying with them.
James swiped at the creature, but it disappeared. Its teeth sank into Luke’s shoulder before he even realized it was on his back. He howled and rolled, knocking the demon to the ground. Luke latched onto its leg, and it let out a screeching wail. It clawed the ground, trying to free itself from Luke’s jaws.
They had it.
Chase pounced. Luke’s teeth snapped together. The creature was gone.
It reformed two feet away, dragging its mangled leg and leaving a trail of smoking, black blood. The wolves circled it, closing in, growling. The fiend tried to disappear again, but the injury had zapped its strength. Fear filled its wild, red eyes as Luke stepped forward and swiped a claw across its heart. This time, the cloud of smoke turned into a pile of ash. They sent the demon back to hell.
The men shifted to human form and slipped out of the cemetery, locking the gate behind them.
“What a night,” James said as they made their way into the French Quarter. “That one made six, all in a span of a few hours.”
Werewolves Only Page 19
