Hell Bent bm-1

by Devon Monk

  “Shame,” Terric said, maybe more for Davy than me, “do you recognize this signature?”

  See, here’s the thing. Every magic user has to draw glyphs, or symbols, that in turn magic fills and acts upon. And just like handwriting, every magic user has a unique signature. The way I cast Light doesn’t look exactly the same way Terric casts Light.

  Hounds, like Davy, are trained in knowing every magic user’s signature. They spend a lot of time keeping up on such things, and there were databases where each magic user had to register his or her signature.

  But I didn’t need a database to know who had killed Joshua.

  “Eli Collins,” I said.

  Davy’s heart kicked up into fight-or-flight mode, the kind of sweat-terror you fall into when realizing the nightmare didn’t go away when you turned on the lights.

  “Davy,” Terric said in a tone that pushed Davy’s heartbeat down a notch. “Do you agree?”

  Davy nodded. “That’s his work. I’d swear on it.”

  The door opened.

  We all turned, Davy with his hand on his hip—was he carrying a gun now?—Terric with his left hand casting a spell, and me with my right hand already through a spell, only the cracking red static across my rings holding the magic from filling it.

  “I didn’t mean to startle you,” Dessa said as she sauntered in without batting an eye at any of the near deaths we were aiming her way.

  “Shame,” she said, “want to introduce me to your friends here?”

  “No.”

  She stopped about halfway across the room. “Look, I’m unarmed. Well, I have these guns.” She reached inside her jacket and Davy pulled a gun.

  “Don’t,” he said.

  “I’m going to put them on the counter here, so you don’t have to worry about it,” she said.

  “Let her,” Terric said.

  “Fine,” Davy said. “Slowly.”

  She reached into her jacket, pulled her guns, slowly, one by one, and placed them on the counter.

  “Step away from it.” Davy sounded like he’d done this more than once. Over the past three years of Hounding for the police, I assumed he had.

  She stepped away and even kept her hands out to the side. “So, were they killed by magic?” she asked.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “Why the hell are you here?”

  “You know why.” She took a couple steps closer. “Also, we forgot to set our lunch date.”

  Terric lowered his hand, then, to me, “Shame.”

  I sighed and let go of the spell. I shook my hand and a loud crack of electricity lashed out to the floor in a red arc, the pull on magic interrupted like a fuse shorting out.

  Dessa’s eyes went a little wide and she paused before coming any closer. I noted Davy did not put away his gun.

  “Her name is Dessa,” I said. “She never told me who she works for. If I had to guess?” I gave her the up-down, gauging her with sober eyes. “I’d say government.”

  “Very good,” she said. “Dessa Leeds,” she said to Terric. “And I know you’re Terric Conley, and you’re Davy Silvers. What I don’t know is who the dead person is.”

  “Why should you?” Terric asked.

  “She shouldn’t,” I said.

  “I’ll make it worth your while, Mr. Conley,” she said.

  “Ha! Barking up the wrong tree, sister,” I said.

  “How?” he asked.

  “I have information,” she said, “about the movement against Soul Complements.”

  Terric weighed her comment and, as I expected he would, decided the information and possible safety of others was worth the risk. “I won’t give you his name,” Terric said.

  “That’s fine,” she said. “I just want to see his injuries.”

  Terric nodded.

  I sighed again. So not the way I would have let this go down. I missed being in charge.

  Terric was on the far side of the drawer, I stood near the head of it, and Davy was on the other side, closest to Dessa.

  She walked over, and paused nearest me.

  I folded my arms over my chest and watched her while she studied Joshua’s wounds. Okay, I’m not a sentimental guy—not really. But I’ve always seen pain as a very personal kind of thing. Tell someone you’re hurting, and you’ve just told them how you are vulnerable.

  So I did not like letting Dessa, no matter how nice she was, stare at my friend’s dead body. Stare at the wounds that had proved his final weakness.

  I expected her to keep her feelings to herself, but the expression on her face was clear and honest: sorrow.

  “These marks,” she said. “They’re from a blade—a knife—aren’t they?”

  “Yes,” Terric said. I didn’t know if he was watching me or watching her, because I refused to take my eyes off her.

  She shook her head, as if she didn’t want to deal with what was right in front of her. “And magic. They’re spells, aren’t they? The only one I recognize is Binding there.” She pointed to a Celtic-knot-looking design carved between the Death and Pain symbols.

  “They’re spells,” Terric said.

  “And they killed him?” She finally looked up. Not at me, at Terric.

  Terric’s body language shifted. He was measuring her just the same as I had. And he’d come to the same conclusion. She knew something about this. Something that was causing her sadness.

  “My brother was found like this,” she said. “Dead. With spells carved into his chest. Just like these.”

  “You never said that,” I said.

  “I was going to show you, remember?”

  “Who’s your brother?” Davy asked.

  “He was a Closer,” I said.

  Davy nodded. We’d had so many threats against Closers over the years, the death rate was in a much higher percentage than other magic users.

  “His name was Thomas Leeds,” she said. “He worked in Seattle.”

  Terric frowned, searching his memory. “I think I met Tommy once, briefly. I’m sorry for your loss.”

  Then he pulled the sheet up to Joshua’s chin and slid his body back into that endless cold.

  “What can you tell us about your brother’s killer?” he asked.

  “Not a lot,” she said. “He used to be a part of the Authority. That’s all I know, other than he may be in this area.”

  Since they’d found Joshua’s body in a parking garage downtown, yeah, I’d say Eli was in the area.

  “And about the government looking for Soul Complements?” he asked.

  “I’ll tell you what I know if you help me find who did this.” She pointed toward the drawer.

  “I am not in a position to guarantee you anything along those lines,” he said.

  Funny, that’s pretty much exactly what I’d told her. I tilted a told-you-so look her way.

  “Well, I’m going to be looking for the killer. Which means I’ll probably be getting in your way. I might even take my story to the police, or to the media. Blow the whole secret about magic being used to kill people right out of the water. I’m sure the citizens of Portland would be thrilled to find out all their fears about magic, and the mysterious Authority, are true.”

  “Blackmail, darling?” I said. “Really? How will that help your hunt? I don’t think having cops and reporters crawling over every move is going to give you time to find anything except a good lawyer.”

  “Either I’m in on finding the man who killed my brother and your friend there, or I’m going to make sure that we’re all out.” An ultimatum. Gutsy move.

  I opened my mouth to tell her she was out of luck.

  “Then you’re in,” Terric said.

  I kept my surprise to myself. “Wonderful,” I muttered.

  “Good,” she said, looking surprised at his decision too. “Good. Where do we start?”

  “We’ll need to see if there are records on your brother we can pull,” Terric said. “Did you drive here?”

  “Yes.”

  “You c
an follow us downtown to the office.” He locked the drawer, then started toward the door, pausing only to take her guns and shove them in his pockets.

  “Those are my guns,” she said.

  “Not while we’re working together, they aren’t,” he said without looking back.

  Have I mentioned there are moments when I really, really like that guy?

  “They’re not my only guns,” she said.

  “Then you can give me the rest at the office,” Terric said.

  Davy just shook his head. “You have no idea what you’re getting into, Leeds.”

  “Don’t I?” she asked as she followed Terric. “All right. How about you fill me in?”

  “I think you’ll find out soon enough.”

  He followed behind her. I noticed Davy did not put his gun away.

  Me? I paused next to the door. Let them all get a distance down the hall. Then I said a prayer for Joshua. Hell, said a prayer for the rest of us while I was at it.

  I had a bad feeling we’d need all the help we could get.

  Chapter 11

  Davy was gone before any of the rest of us, slipping down the street and rumbling away in that big old truck. I figured he was going to report Joshua and Dessa and everything else to the Overseer.

  We had maybe fifteen minutes tops before Clyde Turner found out and locked us out of the records, and any- and everything else he thought we shouldn’t be digging around in.

  I swung into the passenger seat of Terric’s car.

  “Fifteen minutes?” I said.

  “Until?” he asked.

  “The Overseer tells Clyde to lock us out of this case.”

  “Clyde might say no.”

  We were headed to the office. I noted it was still dark out, and checked the dashboard clock. Four in the morning. Jesus, I hated going to work this early. Or at least, I assumed I did. I didn’t think I’d ever gone into work this early.

  “ . . . for me would you?”

  “What?”

  “Dash. Call him. Tell him to meet us down there.”

  “At the office,” I said, taking Terric’s cell phone.

  “Yes. Don’t you ever listen to me?”

  “Every word.”

  I dialed. Dash, that overachiever, answered before the first ring was done.

  “Spade,” he said.

  “Hey, Dash, this is Shame. Terric wants you to meet us at the office as soon as possible.”

  “Trouble?”

  “You could say that.”

  “I’ll be there in five.” He hung up.

  “Be there in five,” I said. “Where does that kid live?”

  “Loft space just a few streets down. So, she poisoned you?”

  “Well, yes. I let her poison me.”

  “Uh-huh. Then what happened?”

  “Nothing. Nothing happened.”

  “Shame, I just told her she could be a part of this hunt. I want to know everything that happened, everything you know about her. I’m giving you three minutes to cover it.”

  “Why three?”

  “Because if I guessed wrong and she’s not what I think she is, I’m going to turn right and head straight to the police. When she follows us, I’ll knock her out and lock her up.”

  “Brutal. Effective. Very double-crossy of you, Terric. Why are you suddenly playing by the dark side of the rule book?”

  “Joshua is dead.”

  He let that sit for a second or two. “He’s not going to be the last friend of ours we bury if we don’t stop Collins.”

  So I filled him in. Every. Last. Detail.

  He didn’t laugh. The only time he spoke was to clarify things like what kind of car she was driving, what other cars I saw parked next to the motel, and what kinds of guns she was carrying.

  “Are you going out to lunch with her?”

  “If she has something on the missing people around town, don’t you think I should?”

  “She could be lying.”

  “Sure.”

  “Do you think we can trust her?” he asked.

  “You’re asking me to judge someone’s trustworthiness?”

  “Yes. Your gut feeling on her.” He glanced at me. “Honest gut feeling.”

  I dragged my fingers through my hair, rings rubbing and snapping as I did so.

  “She makes me want to trust her. I think . . . I’d guess that before her brother’s death she might have been a lot of fun to be around. She’s got . . . spunk. She’s calm under pressure, is trying to do the right thing. Plus, gorgeous. Her brother’s death isn’t a lie. She’s grieving. She wants his killer to pay—not just to die, but to pay—for killing her brother.”

  “And she wants . . . us. Our information so she can take care of the killer and move on with her life.”

  “She wants you,” Terric said. He waited. Waited for me to answer that.

  “Who wouldn’t? This?” I pointed to my face and body. “Irresistible.”

  The muscle at his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed. “Is that all she wants from you?”

  I took a deep breath and scrubbed my hand through my hair again, trying to smooth it this time. “She wants what I am. What I can give her: Death. A horrible, painful death for the man who killed her brother.”

  “Not exactly marriage material,” he noted.

  “I’m not planning on marrying the girl.”

  “Good.”

  What kind of tone was that?

  “Terric,” I said with a wide smile. “Are you jealous?”

  “No.”

  “Aw, c’mon, now, mate. You’re jealous I have a girlfriend. It bothers you that I like the look of her. The idea of being with her. And I would have done a hell of a lot more than kiss her if Eleano—”

  I stopped. I didn’t talk about Eleanor. Hadn’t for years. Certainly not to Terric. I couldn’t believe I’d almost started talking about her now. Why remind him that I’d killed a perfectly nice person because I was weak and had lost control of the monster within me?

  “If what?” Terric asked.

  “Nothing.”

  He didn’t push it. And yes, I was grateful for that.

  He changed the subject instead. “So you trust her?”

  “To a point. She has a goal. Right now it’s the same as ours. Or similar, anyway. I want the information she has. I think we can trust her to be truthful about what she knows. You know, until we can’t.”

  He nodded. “So we don’t lock her up, until we have to.”

  “This is nice,” I noted. “Just like old times. Think Davy’s ratted us out to Clyde yet?”

  “He’ll give us an hour. He wants Collins dead more than any of us. And the Overseer tends to make cut-and-dry decisions. He might want to lock Collins up and excuse the Authority of any other involvement in the case. But if we investigate, we’ll let Davy come along while we take Collins down. The Overseer would never let a Hound into Authority business. Especially not a Hound with plenty of reasons for vengeance.”

  I nodded. Pulled out cigarettes and lighter. Rolled down the window. Lit up. Knew Terric was really worried about all this when he didn’t even tell me not to smoke in his car.

  I finished off three cigarettes, only getting five puffs in total by the time we pulled up to the office. This was becoming an expensive habit.

  Terric parked along the side street and Dessa’s car rolled up just a few spaces down. Okay, the good thing about being downtown this early: plenty of parking spaces.

  We got out, waited for her, headed to the doors.

  “What kind of food do you like?” Dessa asked as we stepped into the elevator.

  “For?”

  “Lunch.”

  “I’m flexible.”

  Terric snorted and stepped into the waiting elevator.

  He leaned against one side of the elevator, I leaned against the other, and she stood at the back wall. Eleanor kept her hands to herself.

  “I’ve heard there are some great vegan places,” she said, “or
sushi?”

  “You like vegan, right, Shame?” Terric said.

  “Pizza,” I said, giving Terric a shut-up look. “Let’s do pizza.”

  “All right.” She leaned her shoulders back, more relaxed now that it was settled. “When?”

  “Why not this afternoon?”

  “Good.”

  The doors opened.

  Dash was there, waiting by the elevator. “Shame, Terric. . . .” His voice fell off as he saw Dessa step out behind us. “Um . . . hello. Have we met?”

  “Dash, this is Dessa,” I said. “She’s some kind of government assassin or something.”

  “Leeds,” she said, offering Dash her hand to shake. “Dessa Leeds. Ex-government or something.”

  “Nice to meet you,” he said. Then, “Terric. Clyde is here.”

  Terric paused just slightly in his stride down the hall. Enough time that I caught up with him.

  “Want me to handle it?” I asked as we walked, shoulder to shoulder, down to the main office.

  “Absolutely no, I do not,” he said.

  “I heard yes.” I reached the door just a step ahead of him and pushed it open.

  “Well, if it isn’t Mr. Clyde Turner,” I said cheerily. “What the hell are you doing down here so early?”

  What Clyde was doing was sitting at one of the empty desks to one side of the room, writing on a legal pad.

  He’d taken off his Giants hat, but was still wearing a flannel shirt, T-shirt, and jeans. A thermos and cup of coffee rested near his elbow.

  He looked up, and took in the party coming his way. “Shame. What are you up to?”

  Funny how I was always the one suspected of trouble.

  “I need a word with you,” I said. “Maybe in my office?”

  By this time Terric had caught up with me. “We both need a word with you. In my office.”

  “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He stood. “You two boys working together again?” he asked as he lumbered between desks and down the short hall to Terric’s office on the right. Terric unlocked the door so we could go in.

  Terric took his place behind the desk, and I motioned for Clyde to head in before me. I shut the door behind us. Then I pulled on magic and cast a Mute spell while I drew down the blinds on the big glass windows.

  I trusted Dash to be able to hold his own with Dessa out there, but I didn’t want her hearing us or reading our lips.