The bullets I used at Club Hex are my standard. The sacred sigils along the bullet are designed with the purpose to harm demons by altering the connection they have with their host. Through the soul/body connection a demon manipulates, they’re able to take control of an individual’s actions. By altering the connection, we can make them feel pain, the pain that their vessels feel, causing them to have a normal reaction just like their human counterparts, thus hindering their abilities. Normal weapons can work, but you’ll be going up against a fully-powered demon with regenerative abilities.
So in a nutshell, both bullets can do the other’s job, but each has their own specialty. The bullets marked with sacred sigils are designed to do as much harm to demon as possible by tampering with their connection from the inside. The Hex-Bolts, while bullets, aren’t designed to penetrate as deep as the other rounds. The primary purpose behind the bolts is to restrain the demon inside of vessel and inhibit their strength; which is why I’ll be stocking up on them for tonight, just in case we find the opportunity to get one to talk.
After moving from my desk, I make my way back to the opened chest that rests at the foot of my bed. I rub my hand against the inside towards the far right until my fingers pick up on the slightly different texture. I press against the false floor of the chest with my thumb. A faint click registers in my ear and the hidden tray at the bottom rears its head. I shuffle backwards on my knees and pull out the sliding tray, uncovering a secondary stash of supplies. From the lot, I grab a set of Berettas, two magazines worth of bolts, and my standard ammunition, all of which perfectly fit in the pockets of my utility jacket.
It sucks that I lost two of my Berettas. Those missing spots in my chest are bugging the hell out of me. Shaking the disappointment from my head, I slowly rise to my feet using the footboard as a brace, careful not to jar my injuries.
I walk back over to my desk and grab a pill from my blister pack of Tramadol. Another full dose would be too much, so just to stay on the safe side I bite into it and swallow roughly a fourth of the pill. I haven’t been in much pain since I’ve been up, but if things go south, I at least want to be able to have a decent chance of escape without my body slowing me down.
After coming to that conclusion, a painfully vivid the image of me at the mercy of some demon shoots across my mind. I shake my head and leave the room, refusing to entertain my thoughts. I’d rather die than let them try to possess me again.
I head over to the kitchen and go straight to the fridge for a quick meal—another protein shake to keep my energy up. While not particularly yummy, it beats the hell out of chicken noodle soup when prepping to do battle. I take a couple of self-righteous sips before calling Blaze.
“Hey, how is everything? Are you ready for tonight?”
“Yeah, I’m all set,” Blaze replies. The sound of his voice puts me at ease.
“Good.” I sneak a sip of my shake and lean against my dining table. “What about Abby?”
“She’s set up and ready to go. We cross-checked each other’s inventory to see if we were missing anything. How’s it looking over there, Ray?”
“Ray? Since when did that become a thing again?” I scoff. “I have two handguns, one with bolts, and another with sigils. It should be enough, but I have some spare ammo I’m bringing in addition to the stuff I already have in my car. Oh, and a dagger. Never leave the house without one. (Only, of course, if the blade is riddled with sacred markings.)”
“Good. How’s the other situation going? Your body.” His voice tenses.
“Uh…it’s good. I’ve been resting. Took a pill for pain and had a half-a-day nap. Took almost half of another just to be safe.”
“Great.”
“Yeah, I shouldn’t be a problem tonight. I—”
“Hold on a second.” Blaze goes silent on the other end but I hear a voice in the background. Female. Most likely Abby’s, but I’m not sure. I think they were in the middle of a conversation when I called. “Sorry about that. So what were you saying?” he cuts in a couple seconds later.
“Nothing,” I respond, masking my disappointment. “I was just making sure we were good to go tonight. We’ll meet up at the rendezvous in a bit. Stay sharp and be on time.”
“Eleven, right?”
“Yeah,” I say softly. “Eleven.”
“Okay, cool. I’ll see you then. Bye.” Before I can reply, the call ends. I shove my phone in my pocket, fully aware of the tinge of jealously I feel pulling at my solar plexus.
“Well, you said you wanted more space, didn’t you?” I mutter sarcastically and take another sip of my shake. Men are difficult, but honestly, I am too, so I can’t complain. Ugh. Now isn’t even the right time to worry about Blaze. I’m trying to save a life. Awkward relationships can wait for another time.
****
At five minutes to eleven, I arrive in the alley where we’re supposed to meet. I’m first to arrive, so I park my car and wait with the engine off. About two minutes later, a blue sedan turns the corner; Abby and Blaze. They park on the opposite wall of my car behind a dumpster.
“Hey.” We meet in the center, all dressed casually as college-age students with a bit of an edge to them, which is accurate because, I am totally edgy, by default. I’m a freaking hunter in my early twenties. I’m as edgy as it gets. “You guys ready to do this?” I cycle my focus between Abby and Blaze.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Blaze comments. Abby simply nods.
“All right. The area isn’t too far from here. We’re going to go on foot so let’s keep it casual. Hands in pockets, no shifty eyes. Stay tight. It’s a rough couple of blocks. I’ll point out the targets. They should be pretty obvious, but first, let’s scope out the area. Abby and I will go first. Blaze, stay about a block behind.” Splitting up isn’t normally ideal, but in this scenario, it can pay off. Two females walking around in the middle of the night make for easy targets in a predator’s mind. We also appear to be less of a threat if we have to talk to someone. Blaze will be far enough behind us to be seen as a stranger, but close enough to be in earshot in case of an emergency. All three of us are armed, so we should be able to defend ourselves if the situation calls. While it’s true that the demons of the area have already seen my face, they also know me by the distinct aura that Alfonse emits from our pact. With him in remission, I should appear as normal. I haven’t heard as much as a peep from him since my escape or felt even an inkling of his presence, but just to be on the safe side, I took a quick injection of Holy Water at my apartment before I left.
I don’t want to leave anything up to chance.
Together, Abby and I stroll down the empty sidewalk with Blaze not too far behind. After walking a couple blocks, I direct Abby to take a hard right, leading us away from the business district and toward the warehouse district. The wind shifts as we walk side by side. Tall buildings, fancy restaurants, and clubs are now a thing of the past. Worn, rusty industrial buildings now decorate the sides of the street for as far as the eye can see.
Abby and I walk further into the district, passing the crummy buildings, knowing good and well that Ben can possibly be in any one of them. The thought brings an uneasy feeling to my gut, causing me to wrap my arms over my waist as we trek on.
“What you two young ladies doing down here in a place like this?” an old black man lying against the metal door of a storage garage asks tactlessly before taking a sip from his brown bag. Even though he’s about two yards from us, I can still smell the faint aroma of cheap liquor and piss. I pause in my tracks. Abby does the same.
“Us?” I wag my finger between her and me.
“Yes, ma’am.” He smiles cheerfully and takes another swig. A tinge of brown liquid dribbles from inside the bag and onto his straggly, graying beard. I take a couple steps closer.
“Are you familiar with the area? We’re looking for someone,” I say as timidly as I can without giving away too much. The old man lowers the bottle from his face and a certain soberness becomes a
pparent in his eyes.
“Someone or something, darling,” he asks, his African accent bleeding into his perfect English.
I glance behind me and see Blaze just making the block. I hold my gaze just long enough for him to see that we’ve stopped, and then I turn my attention forward. “That depends…who do you know?”
The old man tilts his head to the sky and chuckles haughtily. The way the light catches his amber eyes is exceptionally disturbing. “Ah, I know lots of friends, little girl. Try your luck.”
Meeting this guy wasn’t what I had planned. I can’t tell if he’s a demon or not, but he’s definitely a dealer, or at the very least, a contact. It gives me the creeps seeing how calm he is. Are people watching us? Is he armed? If he’s a demon, it would explain the alcohol tolerance and the confidence, or he could just be bat-shit crazy.
“I’m looking for The Blue Devil. A friend of mine said I could find it around here.”
“The Blue Devil, eh?” He takes another sip from the bottle in his brown bag. “There are no devils here, child.” He grins. “That would be ludicrous.”
Oh yeah. Definitely a demon.
“I figured as much. You’re just some homeless drunk. How would you manage to get your hands on Sphinx? Let’s go.” I try to walk past him but he extends his hand, gesturing for me to hear him out.
“No need for such language, my dear. This homeless drunk may just be your ticket to paradise.”
“If you don’t have any Sphinx, we don’t want anything you have to offer. You’re not even the person we’re looking for,” I huff. “He’s some bartender named Gareth. I was told he could hook us up.”
“Gareth?”
“Yeah, Gareth. White guy, mid-twenties…handsome…you’re obviously not him. The club he works at had a shooting or some shit, so he hasn’t exactly been at work recently. He’s been known to be in this area on his off-days.”
“This Gareth you speak of sounds familiar,” he says while stroking his chin.
“Dude, it’s not that hard. Do you know him or not?”
“It depends. How bad do you want to know?”
“How much cash do you want?” I ask tersely, knowingly playing into his game.
“I think one hundred will be enough to jog my memory.”
“Seventy-five, and no bullshit,” I say coldly. He glares at me with a face of stone, but I have no intention of backing down. The money isn’t even an issue, it’s the principle.
He breaks into a smile riddled with missing teeth, but my expression remains neutral. “I like your attitude, kid. Seventy-five it is.” As if he had a choice. Seriously, fuck this guy. “Let’s talk in private, shall we, ladies?” I fake a cordial smile, covering my disgust before turning to my partner. I wonder how long he’s been like this…having a demon’s claws hooked into his soul. Weeks? Months? Years? I resist my urge to frown, and instead focus on the mission, emotions aside. We’ve found our mark; now all we have to do is find out what we can about Gareth.
“I don’t know. Mommy taught me to never follow strange men into dark alleys,” I quip.
“Didn’t your mother also warn you about taking candy from strangers?” He chuckles.
“Touché.”
With the old man leading, we go slightly deeper into the warehouse district, stopping in an alley, by my request. If we were being watched, going into the alley definitely breaks their line of sight, which is good. Blaze will have to lay back a little to prevent suspicion, but as long as he has a general idea of where we are, he should be able to find us. My dad taught him, too, after all.
“So why are we stopping here?” the old man asks.
“Because it’s bad enough as it is that we’re doing this out in the open. I don’t know if you noticed, but my friend and I aren’t exactly bodybuilders. The last thing we’d want is to be led into an unfortunate situation. This is area is secluded enough to go unnoticed by the cops but close enough to the main streets so that we can run if you try to burn us.”
“You say that like you don’t trust me,” he snickers.
“I don’t. I just met you, like, five minutes ago. I’m not trying to end up on the news.” The old man smiles at my remark. “Seems like everyone is catching bullets around here.”
“Smart girl.”
“Boarding school taught me a couple things.”
“Clever, too. So tell me, why doesn’t your friend speak?”
“Her? Oh, well she’s shy. I’m the vet.”
“Oh, really?”
“Ye—” What the hell?
Without warning, the old man thrusts his body into my personal space and stares deeply into my eyes. I flinch, but seeing that he’s yet to lay a finger on either one of us, Abby and I hold off on drawing our weapons.
“Ah, yes. I see. It’s faint, but it’s still there. You’ve already had a taste. Your body hungers for it more, does it not?” Abby flashes a skeptical glance my way, but I pretend that I don’t see her through my peripherals.
“Sure, whatever, man. I’m not really feeling the Shaman talk. Do you know where I can find Gareth or not? If you’re just bullshitting me, you’re wasting everyone’s time. I’m not a hard-sale.” The old man looks at me with expectant eyes. Realizing what he wants, I ease away from him and dig into my back pocket and fetch a stack of bills. “Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty,” I count out in front in him. “Keep the change.” I go to place the stack of bills in his open palm but jerk my wrist. He looks at me, surprised, yet amused. “If you’re bullshitting me, I will kick your ass, got it?” The demon smiles arrogantly as he feels the weight of the bills grace his hand. What an asshole.
“Most certainly, my child,” he assures me as he tucks the bills away.
“Okay, we did our part, so where can we find him?” I press.
“You can find him at 1458 Cyprus Street. He should be around. Knock twice, wait, and then slap the door before knocking twice again. He’ll come to the door after that.”
“1458 Cyprus Street,” I mutter to myself.
“Do you know the area?”
“No, but I have a GPS app on my phone… Can you call him to let him know we’re coming or something?” The demon stares at me blankly. “Don’t look at me like that. What if he’s not around? Just do it, please. I gave you eighty bucks,” I whine. The old man shakes his head at my request but still pulls out his phone. “Yeah, just put him on speaker, so I know you’re not pulling my leg.” Acting this naïve is killing me, but it’s soon to be over, thank God. I didn’t know demons could be so gullible, or maybe he’s just eager to get his hooks in or get demon commission. I don’t know how their system works.
“He’ll be there,” he proclaims as he unlocks his phone. “What kind of soldier would he be if he is never at his post?” A mischievous grin surfaces across the old man’s face.
I flex my fingers, getting Abby’s attention, letting her know that I’m about to strike. She shifts her eyes towards me, confirming that we’re on the same page.
From the corner of my eye, I see Abby slowly reach behind her back, prepping for the kill while she waits for my lead. “Normally, I don’t do this,” the old man confesses as he tinkers with his phone, “but I do hope to see you ladies ag—” Before he can finish, I lunge at him with my knife, hoping to lodge my blade into his neck. To my dismay, he ducks under my blade and launches me against one of the cold, brick walls that line the alley. My body ricochets against the surface and I grunt in pain as I slide down to the floor. “Did you learn that in boarding school, too?” he asks while he slowly approaches me. “Something tells me that you’re long overdue for another lesson.” He grins.
While he’s distracted, Abby rushes towards him and stabs into his shoulder before he can turn around. The demon bellows in pain from the Holy runes making contact with his skin. Abby goes for another stab but the demon is quick to recover, backhanding her before she can strike again.
“Abby!” Abby falls to the ground but stands up immediately, ready for
round two. Most of the demon’s strength must have been neutralized from the angle of his swing, granting Abby a second chance, but I don’t intend on letting that happen—next time luck might not be on her side.
“Hunters,” he growls. “Amateurs, at best.”
While the demon’s focus is away from me, I throw my knife, ignoring the pain radiating from my body. The demon gasps, stunned the second my knife buries itself into his spine. His shoulders creep back and a miserable groan escapes from his throat.
“Abby!” I yell from the ground, but she’s already on it. The disoriented demon unsteadily saunters towards her and Abby thrusts her knife into the side of his neck. “Amateurs, huh?” Abby retracts her blade and a stream of blood spurts from the incision. The demon drops to his knees, speechless, on the verge of death. I rise to my feet slowly, using the sturdiness of the alley wall for support. I’m surprised I didn’t black out from hitting the wall so hard. “Well, that didn’t go as smoothly as I expected,” I huff. I push my foot against the demon’s back, sending him face first into the ground, allowing him to die respectfully. Killing that demon was a necessary evil. He was too well connected. Even if the demon was exorcised, there was no way the human inside would ever live a normal life. They’d find him and kill him. As a vessel, he’d seen too much. Plus, that fight was starting to turn into a life or death situation fairly quickly. “You’re face okay?” I ask Abby while she picks up the demon’s unlocked phone.
“Yeah,” Abby responds glancing up from the stolen device. “I blocked most of the impact with my arm and he was at a funky angle when he swung at me, so I’ll live. How are you? You realize you basically flew into a brick wall, right?”
Sailor Ray and the Dark Descent (The Pact Book 2) Page 11
