Psychic Undercover [With The Undead]

by Amie Gibbons

  “I know,” Grant said and I blushed.

  The one time I’d gotten drunk with the guys was the day after my birthday.

  We were in Atlantic city for the weekend and I’d had one too many.

  Well, more like four too many.

  All I remember is seeing a lot of things that weren’t there, at least not physically, and passing out. Grant took me to my hotel room to sleep it off and stayed just in case I had any problems, which according to him I did. First I wanted to go back out to the casino to play with the unicorns, then there was a severe vomiting incident that I still don’t remember.

  “Bad experience,” I said to Quil, takin’ a long sip of the drink. “Ohhhh, sweet baby Jesus, that’s delicious.”

  “Down it,” Quil said. “I’ll get you another.”

  I nodded and gulped it down.

  “Whoo!” I slammed the glass down and Quil grabbed the top of it just in time to keep it from hitting the blacktop too hard.

  “Maybe we’ll give this a minute before I get you another,” he said.

  “Sorry.”

  “That’s okay. Vamp reflexes here.” He put the glass down. “Now, close your eyes. We’re going to try something here. It will take a bit for the alcohol to work, but we can at least start.”

  I closed my eyes.

  “The demon stalks his prey,” Quil said. “He has one right now. Is watching her.”

  Cold fingers touched my temples and I hopped in place, taking a deep breath and clenching my hands as my heart sped.

  Of course, he could probably hear it clear as a train.

  “He is already planning on how to get her drugged and alone,” Quil said. “Maybe there’s a friend or family member he could reappear as.”

  I drifted away on that voice, sunk into it like a bath full of bubbles and port.

  “They like pretty ones,” he said. “They see her now. You can feel the rapist’s lust. He changes to look like someone she knows, someone she trusts. Look back in your past, when you’ve felt safe and trusting. With a parent, a best friend, a lover. Feel that trust.”

  Flash.

  “Yeah, don’t worry, baby. I’m heading there right now.”

  She was nearly as short as me, had dyed red hair and dark skin, kind of a pug nose, but still pretty. She talked into the phone as she marched across the dark parking lot, the steps singing with the clickity clack alacrity of her impractical and hot heels, and a laptop bag swung with her.

  “You said Quil told you they don’t attack this early.” She rolled her eyes at whatever the person on the other side said. “I can’t believe how many rules you guys have. I will be there soon and you will see I am perfectly fine.”

  She unlocked the door of a blue sedan as she nodded.

  “Yes, if any guy, even you, approaches me, I’ll run the other direction.”

  Yeah, like she could run in those shoes.

  “You too, bye.”

  She hung up and I caught a glimpse of the time before she snapped the cell shut. Just before ten.

  “Hey!” a voice behind her called.

  I couldn’t see the face of the person, but it was a female voice, and it was wearing a long black coat way too big for the average height girl. “Sorry, Jen, but we need you back in there.”

  “Whyyyyyy? I’m supposed to meet my boyfriend.”

  “The computer just crapped out on us. We lost everything,” the other girl said. “Unless we want an F on our project tomorrow, we have to load back up all the slides from everyone’s computers and put them in order again.”

  “Shit!” Jen nodded. “I have to call my boyfriend back. He’s not going to be happy.”

  “Does he own you?”

  “He worries. It’s sweet.” She flipped on the phone and it blinked back off. “Oh come on! My battery died.” She waved it at the other girl.

  “You can borrow mine. It’s inside.”

  “It’s okay.” Quil was behind me, holding me up as I gasped for air, his arms around me before I even remembered where I was.

  I leaned into him and my breathing slowed.

  “Ow!” he yelped, lettin’ me go and getting on his feet before I could turn around.

  Len stood over me with his arms crossed. “You told me to slap you.”

  “Yes, I did.” Quil nodded, rubbing his head. “Good to know you’re so quick to follow orders.”

  “What I’m here for.” Len grinned.

  Grant kneeled in front of me. “What did you see?”

  I told them. “So do any of your guys have a college girlfriend named Jen? She’s black… maybe Indian ethnicity, dyed red hair, great taste in designer shoes?”

  “Shit, that’s Ron’s girl,” Len said.

  I twisted Grant’s wrist to check his watch. “She hung up the phone at nine fifty, and it’s nine forty. Holy crap on a cracker! I actually saw the future! Only a few minutes, but I’ve never seen the freaking future before!”

  “Celebrate later,” Grant said. “Where does she go to school?”

  “Vandy,” Len said. “She’s in the MBA program.”

  “Owen Business School is up on twenty-first, sir,” I said. “Other side of the campus.”

  “I don’t know her number, but I’ll call him,” Len said.

  He walked a few feet away and we waited in silence. I grabbed my incense and blew it out, wrappin’ it up in its plastic and putting it away.

  I turned and reached for the bowl and my hand grazed another, making me jump.

  I looked up to meet Quil’s eyes.

  “I wanted to help,” he said.

  I nodded. “O… okay. Thanks.”

  He put the bowl in my purse and inched to the side so I could get up and grab my cloth.

  Len walked back to us. “It’s the busy dial tone and he’s not answering me. Quil?”

  Quil nodded and pulled out his phone. “Yeah.”

  He walked away and I looked at Len.

  “If Quil calls, he’ll answer him,” Len said. “You don’t ignore the boss when he calls.”

  “He’s Ron’s boss too?”

  “Not like you’d think of it, but Quil’s third from the top in the hierarchy. He calls, you answer.”

  “Ah,” I said.

  Quil wandered back over a moment later as he hung up. “Ron’s calling her right now, telling her to stay with the group. Let’s go.”

  We hopped in our cars and sped up West End. Grant called the guys and told us to meet them there, and we pulled in front of the Business School after only a few minutes.

  Almost dead on to when the demon was supposed to show up.

  The guys pulled up with the lady vamps and Grant nodded at them and they ran inside.

  “Ariana, if you can get a vision again, now’s the time,” Grant said.

  I closed my eyes, tryin’ to focus.

  Nothing.

  The others came back out with Jen and her boyfriend showed up a minute later. They got in the car after Carla smelled him for demon and they zoomed off.

  Carla put her nose to the air and took a deep drag of the night. “He was here.”

  “You’re sure?” Grant asked.

  She gave him an ‘oh please,’ kind of look. “Sure as silk thongs, Special Agent Grant.”

  I didn’t ask what that was supposed to mean, it seemed kind of obvious anyhow.

  “And he went this way.” She pointed beyond the building into the heart of campus.

  The business school was right on the edge, so that left a lot of tree and brick dotted campus to cover.

  “More trees, what a shock,” Dan said. “What’s with these guys and woods?”

  “Trees help cover the scent,” Carla said. “But he’s close enough I think I got him.” She set out with us following close behind like she was a bloodhound.

  “Hold up,” Grant said after a moment. “We do this in teams. Carla you’re with Jet and Len up front. Dan, Stephanie, and Ariana next. Quil and I will bring up the rear.”

  �
��Stephanie should be in the back with you,” Quil said. “If the demon drops in on us or those three, you two can bring out the explosives. If they get the drop on the middle group and it has Stephanie, she’ll be messing with those instead of protecting the humans. She’ll get the demons, but they could get these two first.” He pointed to Dan and me.

  Grant stepped up to him and it looked like another pissing contest was brewing.

  “Actually we should do this in pairs,” I said and everyone turned to look at me. “If we’re running after the demons, it’s a lot easier to keep track of one partner than two. Someone in one of the groups of three could end up the odd man out and the demons could take advantage of that. It should be Carla and Jet, then me and Len, you and Stephanie, and then Dan and Quil. The demons will probably think there’ll be one or two groups, go after me and Len, who, let’s face it, look the weakest, and you and Stephanie will be there to back us up. And then there’ll be Dan and Quil behind you just in case.”

  “Okay. Good idea,” Grant said.

  I grinned. He said good idea.

  “Weapons out,” Grant said. “Quil, any sensitivity to specific weapons or metals?”

  “Like us with silver?” Quil shook his head. “Unknown.”

  “Earbuds all in?” Grant asked, lookin’ at me.

  We all nodded.

  “Stay in contact,” Grant said. “Anyone’s earbud goes out, Kowalski and I have GPS for them and we all haul ass to catch them. Stay in eyesight of the group in front of you and stay quiet.”

  We set out.

  Carla took the front, sometimes zooming ahead with her vamp speed with Jet in tow, then she’d pause to get the scent again.

  Len dragged me with the super-speed at those times and I hoped Stephanie and Quil were doing the same with the other guys.

  Though I had a hard time imagining Grant being okay with being dragged around like a rag doll.

  It’s weird to be hauled like that, to see the trees fly past you while your toes skid over the leaf and pine-needle covered ground.

  We must’ve circled through the campus at least three times before we heard it.

  Whoosh.

  Chapter twelve

  Len tackled me to the ground before I even registered the sound and the arrow flew overhead.

  What was it with this guy and freaking arrows? Wouldn’t silver bullets make more sense? I mean, come on! Join the twenty-first century!

  “Come on.” Len jumped to his feet and pulled me up by my arm before zooming us back up the path towards the third pair.

  “Who hired you!” Carla screamed.

  We followed the sound to where she was spraying the demon in girl’s clothing down with something from a canister. Mace?

  It screamed and clawed at its face.

  “Ewwwwwww,” I said as the girl pulled off her skin in pieces. The orange wax showed underneath and I gagged.

  “I’ll second that.”

  I jumped in a half turn. Quil and Dan had just appeared behind us. I was so shocked, I couldn’t even tell which one said that.

  Quil walked to Carla and the demon and gave the thing a vicious kick.

  It rolled over in the dirt, ripping off clothes and skin alike, large black coat already discarded next to it.

  “Where’s your partner?” Quil asked.

  “No partner,” it hissed through a hole in the face area since it’d already torn off its lips.

  I looked at the pile of shredded bits and sure enough an almost intact pair of lips twitched on the ground.

  Ewwwww. So much ew.

  “I was summoned alone,” it said.

  So the shooter the other night was the summoner?

  “Then who hired you?” Quil asked.

  “Sorry. I never got his card.”

  Demons can be sarcastic? Who knew?

  Its empty eyes, still the dark brown ones of the girl it was impersonating, landed on Carla. “I’ve never fucked a vamp, but you’re cute enough to make me reconsider my rule.”

  Carla launched herself at the demon and Len caught her, pullin’ her back into him with soothing noises.

  The demon jumped to its feet and lunged.

  Quil caught it around the throat and sprayed its eyes with mace with the other hand.

  The demon shriveled in on itself, strugglin’ to get its hands up to its face as Quil sprayed them.

  It screamed a long, shrill sound that made me and the vamps flinch.

  Quil squeezed it so hard its cry cut off.

  And its eyes popped out.

  How many times could I think ewwwwww without it becoming redundant?

  “What did the man who hired you look like?” Quil asked, calm as a cat on a sunny porch.

  “Vampire, not man, and I never saw his face,” the demon said, its voice high as a kid on helium now. “He said he needed to teach your nest a lesson. That you insulted him. When he summons me, I come out in a warehouse.”

  “Address?” Grant asked it.

  “Human numbers mean little to me.”

  “You don’t know?” Grant growled.

  Quil looked at Grant out of the corner of his eye and the demon shoved Quil back, speedin’ past fast as the vamps could move.

  Stephanie pulled something out of her pocket and pressed on it.

  BOOOOM.

  The trees evaporated in front of us and the concussion knocked me and Jet on our butts.

  My ears rang as I pushed to my feet. About twenty feet in front of us the trees were just gone, organic confetti with spots of waxy stuff for ten feet all around.

  My eyes darted, taking in the damage in the dim light.

  “There could have been people there!” Grant screamed, getting in Stephanie’s face.

  “Finals ended last week and the summer semester hasn’t started,” she said, starin’ him in the eyes. “The place is deserted. Back off!”

  Grant stared her down and her eyes widened.

  “What are you?” she asked.

  I opened my mouth on reflex and slammed it shut.

  Oh crap! She meant Grant?

  Quil and Len traded a look and Carla inched closer to Grant, taking an obvious deep breath.

  “Interesting,” Carla said.

  Quil gave her a look and she mouthed something that looked like, “Later.”

  The silence boiled over as Stephanie stared at Grant… almost scared.

  The silence made my skin itch and I asked, “Grant’s not human?”

  “Of course I’m human, Ryder,” Grant said.

  Carla made a small noise and he turned his glare on her.

  Stephanie took a breath and backed away, hand near her pocket.

  Like she was ready to pull out a weapon if she needed to.

  “Holy crap on a cracker!” I said. “Grant, were you holding her eyes, like they do to humans? Like hypnotizing?”

  Carla made another small noise and I growled.

  “Carla, what? What is it?” I asked.

  She looked at Quil and he nodded.

  “He’s human,” she said. “But there’s something else in there. I could pin it down more if I could have a taste.”

  “No,” Grant said.

  “Sir, did you know?” I asked.

  “No,” Grant said.

  He didn’t look surprised, but then again, it was Grant. Playin’ poker with him was worse than playin’ with Germans.

  “Would you be able to smell it if he was strongly something, like a quarter?” I asked.

  “Depends,” Carla said. “Some things have magic that disguises them. Leprechauns, for example. You can’t smell anything off about them. Like fucking chameleons. And even a powerful psychic like you wouldn’t get a vision off them.”

  I giggled.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Oh,” I flapped a hand. “Our forensic tech always tells us he’s part Leprechaun, cuz he’s Irish.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “He may not be joking.”

  I blinked. Huh.
>
  Grant took a deep breath. “Focus people. Is the demon dead?”

  “Yes,” Stephanie said. “Since he was leading us in circles, I placed some charges around, figuring they may come in handy.”

  “How many more?”

  “I placed a dozen, so eleven left.”

  “Gather them back up.”

  She zoomed off without so much as a smirk and my jaw dropped.

  He’d scared her.

  I looked down on the ground where the demon had been. The torn off skin was nothing more than liquid flowing into the dirt; the shredded clothes were still there.

  “Wait,” I said, “where’s that big black coat?”

  Everyone else looked around.

  “Shit!” Quil said. “It returned to the summoner.”

  “And now we don’t have anything to follow,” Carla said.

  “We have the information that it was a vampire who did this,” Quil said. “And we know that coat is what the summoner used to connect himself to the demon.”

  “And we know that either the summoner was here Thursday ni... actually Friday morning,” I said as a disturbing thought entered my mind. “Or they have a vampire in your nest working with them.”

  Quil’s eyes met mine.

  “Someone from our nest?” He pursed his lips. “I hate to think it, but it is possible, but… Well, at least that cuts it down considerably.”

  “It does?” Jet asked.

  “Yes. Our queen has many enemies, of course,” Quil said. “But if they’re going after humans connected to us, and not her humans specifically, it means it’s a grudge against the nest. Probably an unhappy business partner.”

  He paused. “I can think of five nests that could have the power and resources to summon a demon and control it who might have a problem with us. They’re on the grudge list we made. I have it in my car and I can give you information on their businesses, and even on some of their humans.”

  “Do it,” Grant said.

  We hiked back to the cars and Quil pulled the grudge list out of his car. Len grabbed a laptop out of the back and showed Grant the info they had on the suspects and the nests they belonged to, as well as their financial dealings.

  It was a ton of info. What, were they like the IRS for vamps in the entire South or something?

  Len started to explain the different databases he was giving us and Quil took my arm.