More Than Fiends

by Maureen Child

  I winced. It was a good hit, and Thea knew it. “Okay, I give you that. But, baby girl, we’re just going to have to figure out how to get past this, you know?”

  “I want to,” she said, but didn’t sound convincing. I know my girl. She can hold a grudge like a miser clutches his last penny.

  “You’re gonna have to torture me for a while longer, aren’t you?”

  “I think so.”

  I sighed. Fine. I could deal. But despite our private little war, there were a few things she had to know.

  “Okay, you can be mad at me, but I have to talk to you about something important.”

  “‘Dad’ important?”

  I grimaced. She was good.

  “Yes. Dad important.”

  She leaned back into the corner of the couch, folded her arms under the breasts that weren’t growing fast enough to suit her, and watched me warily.

  “Wow. How to start?” I sucked in a gulp of air, blew it out and then just dove right in. “Remember Gram’s friend who was here yesterday?”

  “Jasmine.”

  “Right. Well, she’s more than Gram’s friend. She’s sort of a teacher.”

  “Oh God. I don’t need a tutor,” Thea exclaimed and tried to lurch off the couch.

  I caught her before she got far and yanked her back down beside me. Sugar woofed, thinking this was a new game. I set the popcorn bowl on the floor to distract her. While the dog crunched happily, I looked at my daughter and thought about how I should tell her the latest. But there was no easy way to say, Guess what? There are demons in town! So the best thing to do was just say it and get it over with.

  “Jasmine’s not here to tutor you. She’s here to teach me.”

  That got her attention.

  She frowned, and her dark, finely arched eyebrows drew together. “Teach you what?”

  “You’re not going to believe this.”

  “Is it a lie?” she asked, lifting that one eyebrow at me again.

  “No. It’s a very weird truth.”

  “Okay.”

  “She’s teaching me how to kill demons.”

  There. I’d said it. Got it out into the open, and now all I had to do was wait for Thea to either freak out or laugh in my face or think I was back to lying. I didn’t know how the hell I could prove this to her, other than taking her into town and letting her watch me spray Leo again. But the delivery guy would probably hit the ground running if he saw me coming.

  “I know it’s hard to believe,” I said into the growing silence. “But it’s true. There really are demons and apparently ghosts, but Jasmine didn’t tell me about that. I only found out by accident today, but that doesn’t have anything to do with what I’m telling you. I just think you should know there are demons in La Sombra, babe, so you have to be careful and—”

  “I know.”

  “Huh?”

  “I said I know. About the demons.”

  I blinked, thunked the heel of my hand above my ear and asked, “You know?”

  “Well, duh.” Thea gave me a look that was filled with patient pity. “Of course I know. Everybody knows that.”

  Everybody knew about demons? How did I miss this? Did I not get the memo? This was not how I’d imagined this little chat going. She knew about demons? Was I the only person in the freaking world who hadn’t had a clue? Why hadn’t she ever mentioned this to, say, me?

  “What? Who? What?”

  “REALLY, Mom,” she said on a sigh, “demons are no different than anyone else.”

  My eyes bugged out. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see them land, plop, on the couch and roll over to stare up at Thea. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Just because a person’s a demon doesn’t mean he’s a bad person.”

  “Hello? A person isn’t a demon. A demon is a demon.”

  “See? Overreacting.” She shook her head. “Adults are so…Neolithic.”

  She was pulling the big words out to win this little battle, but no way.

  “Honey, demons are bad. Demon. Look it up.”

  “This is why I never told you. I knew you’d react this way.”

  “Logically?”

  She did an eye roll, so I knew the conversation was racing toward an end. So I hurried up to make the point I think she hadn’t quite caught.

  “Honey, did you hear me when I said Jasmine’s here to teach me how to kill demons?”

  “WHAT?”

  “That’s right, baby girl. Surprise! Your mom’s a Demon Duster.”

  She jumped to her feet and looked down at me in stark horror. “You’re going to KILL them?”

  I stood up, too. There weren’t many people I was taller than, but Thea was one of ’em, and right now, I wanted that authoritarian feel. “Look, I didn’t ask for this gig. It’s not like I want to kill ’em. Trust me, it’s pretty disgusting. But apparently all Burke women are Demon Dusters.”

  “You mean—”

  “Yep. Your time is coming.” Even as I said it, I thought, hmm. I really didn’t like the idea of Thea facing down demons. But instead of worrying about it now, I put it on the mental list.

  “No way. I won’t do it.”

  “I don’t think you get a choice,” I told her ruefully. “At least, I didn’t. Gram says she did her share of dusting, and my mom was supposed to, but—”

  Another brief blip of warmth in Thea’s eyes appeared and disappeared again in the next instant.

  “I’m going to be a doctor, not a demon hunter.”

  “You can probably be both,” I said in an attempt to assure her that her life would still be hers.

  “I don’t WANT to be both.”

  “Honey, demons are not a good thing.”

  “That is SUCH a prejudicial statement.”

  I narrowed my eyes. She was a little bit too defensive. Was this a defense of an entire race of demons? Or one demon in particular?

  “Thea…”

  “I just can’t talk to you, Mom. Clearly we’re on different planes of existence.”

  “Huh?”

  She backed up a step. “We don’t even speak the same language anymore.”

  “It’s called English,” I reminded her. “I taught you how to talk.” Big mistake.

  The drama queen was back. Her gaze dropped, then lifted, and she shook her head sadly. “Mom, you just don’t GET it.”

  True.

  Then she walked to her bedroom and, with an emphatic slam, shut me out.

  I tried to watch TV, but suddenly reruns of Angel felt a little too close to home. I mean, demon hunting on TV seemed like a good time. In real life, not so much. So I gave up, left Sugar curled up and snoring, and went out to the front porch to pout on the swing.

  My dad had made it twenty years ago, and whenever I needed a little extra peace, I sat there and it was almost like he was giving me a hug. Which I could have really used at the moment.

  I kicked off with my bare foot and set the swing into motion. The street was quiet, like an old woman settling down for a nap after a hard day. The flicker of Rachel’s television fluttered through her front window and down the street, and the Sanchezes’ dog Rosie was howling at the moon.

  I knew how she felt. I wanted to howl, too. My car was crunched, Thea wasn’t speaking to me—again—and…

  A black SUV pulled into my driveway, and the headlights danced across my eyes. Didn’t matter if I was temporarily blind now. I knew who was in the car.

  “Bad day?” Logan asked.

  “You could say that.” I stared at the white bag in his hand. “What’s that?”

  He shook the bag, wiggled his eyebrows and said, “Cinnamon rolls.”

  I perked right up. “From Sun and Shadow?”

  “Is there anywhere else?”

  Damn. He did have smooth moves. “Come on up.”

  He paused. “Where’s your dog?”

  “Inside, sleeping off a popcorn binge.”

  “God, Cassie.” He sat down as soon as I scooted over on the
swing. He handed me a napkin and one of the giant rolls, then took a bite of the other one. “Man,” he said after he’d chewed and swallowed. “I really missed these.”

  I wasn’t talking. Too busy eating. Not too busy to look at him, though. In the moonlight, his dark hair shone, and his pale blue eyes almost glowed. He was so close to me I could feel his body heat, and it was really spiking my own, let me tell you.

  “I missed you, too,” he said.

  “Hmm.”

  “I did,” he argued. “Always wondered what you were up to.”

  I took another bite. Hey, he’s the one who brought me the cinnamon roll. He couldn’t really complain because I wanted to eat it, right?

  “How’s Thea?” he asked after another minute or two.

  “Not speaking to me,” I said on a sigh.

  He grinned. “Yeah? Still?”

  “She’s not real thrilled with you, either.”

  Now he looked insulted. “What’d I do?”

  I started to tell him, then thought, nah. He wanted to be a parent? Let him get a peek at the dark side, too. “Ask her.”

  “I will,” he said, but he sounded worried.

  “Logan, not that I don’t appreciate the sugar rush, but why’d you come here?”

  He looked at me hard for a long minute, then said, “To do what I should have done this morning.”

  And then he kissed me. Sitting on my front porch, cinnamon roll icing all over the damn place, he kissed me like he had that long-ago summer.

  It didn’t take me long to remember why I’d been so crazy about him.

  The swing creaked and groaned as his arms came around me, and the bakery bag rustled between us. His lips were warm and soft, and his tongue was still damn talented. When he finally pulled back and looked at me, I could have sworn I saw stars dancing in the air.

  When he left me sitting there a minute or two later, I was too stunned—and, okay, yeah, too stirred up to be able to walk straight. So I just sat there in the moonlight and thought about the past and the present and the still-hazy future.

  I had some great dreams about Logan that night, but in the morning, I had to put hormones on hold and struggle back to reality. After all, I had my meeting with Devlin Cole to deal with. I put on my serious business suit—blue one this time—took down my Coach black bag and stepped into black heels that gave me an extra three inches of height. My hair had turned out great; I wore just enough makeup to look civilized and, for good measure, a little spritz of demon liquid in lieu of perfume. Oregano smells good, so what the hell: If demons were out there, it wouldn’t hurt to smell like their worst nightmare.

  Gripping the bid Thea had worked up before she went all Bad Seed on me, I got in the Nissan and drove to Magic Nights. I wasn’t too worried about Thea’s strange attitude to the demon population. After all, she was a kid. There was plenty of time to convince her that demons were dangerous—not a minority needing protection.

  Actually, I was more worried about my response to Logan the night before. I had been so sure that I was over him, and then the second his mouth touched mine, boom. All good intentions went right out the window. I swear, sometimes even I don’t understand me.

  I parked the dreaded Nissan-boring-car and straightened my suit jacket. This time I went straight to the business office entrance, upstairs at the back of the building. Devlin was expecting me, and I wanted to get this job sewn up. Then I could separate business and pleasure and start planning for the big date.

  “Ms. Burke.” A woman who looked like a supermodel pushed her desk chair back and stood up to greet me. “I’m Serena Sands, Mr. Cole’s personal assistant.”

  “Um, hi.” So cool. So smooth. Of course, watching the woman walk across the room had reduced me to less than my most confident self. Although, in my defense, I’m pretty sure Jennifer Aniston’s ego would have taken a hit if faced with this chick.

  She smiled, and I swear her teeth glinted like in a cartoon. She was at least six feet tall, with long, silvery blond hair, enough boob for three healthy women and legs that looked to be about five feet of her total height.

  God. Just call me Cinderella.

  “Mr. Cole will be with you in just a moment.”

  “Thanks,” I said and flashed her a smile I hoped was bristling with the confidence that was deserting me.

  Then she sniffed and made a face.

  “Something wrong?”

  “No,” Wonder Woman said, shaking her head and smiling again. “Not a thing.”

  The door to Devlin’s office opened, and a youngish guy with a stringy goatee walked out. He shot me a look, then ducked his head and hustled past me like I was the IRS chasing him down for an audit.

  I watched him for a second, wondering why he looked familiar. Then I realized he sort of looked like the guy who’d crashed into my car at the bank the other day. But as soon as I thought it, I dismissed it. Lots of young guys had those ugly-ass goatees (which always looked to me like the guy couldn’t grow a real beard, so he was doing the best he could), and besides, what were the odds my VW killer would be here in Devlin’s office?

  A second later, Devlin stepped to the door and smiled, and I confess I wasn’t doing much more thinking. He swept one hand wide, inviting me inside, and then he shut the door behind me.

  Alone with Devlin.

  Woo-hoo.

  He gave me a smile and escorted me to the chair in front of his desk. “It’s good to see you again,” he said—and, wow, his voice really had an amazing timbre to it.

  Sunlight splashed over the dark green walls of the huge room, and my heels clicked on gleaming wooden floors. His desk was massive, and I was really hoping this wasn’t a case of male compensation.

  “Thanks,” I said. “Um, who was that guy who just left?”

  Why did I ask? Couldn’t tell you.

  “Oh.” He frowned slightly. “Frank. He’s a bartender here.”

  I nodded. See, Cass? Perfectly reasonable. Ridiculous to think my car killer would be here, anyway. So. Back to business.

  “You brought the bid?”

  “Yes,” I said and laid the manila folder on his desk as he took his seat opposite me. “You’ll see that it’s a very fair price for the job you want done. We’re fast. We’re bonded. And we’re very good at what we do.”

  “You don’t have to sell me,” he said, leaning back in his chair and tapping his fingers against the folder he hadn’t even opened yet. “I’ve asked around. Clean Sweep is very popular in La Sombra.”

  Pride had me sitting up a little straighter. After all, this was my baby. I’d built my business up the hard way, client by client, relying on word of mouth from satisfied customers to keep me growing. And it had worked. With this contract, it would be working even better.

  Up until now, all of our customers had been residential. But if we could prove ourselves with Magic Nights, we could expand into any number of the businesses in town. Heck, Carmen could hire six or seven of her cousins.

  “Don’t you want to look at the bid?” I asked, anxious to get this deal sewn up.

  “Of course,” he said, “but I’m sure it’s fair.”

  “That’s trusting of you.”

  “Not at all. As I said, I researched you thoroughly.” He sat forward, leaned his forearms on his desktop and stared me in the eye. “I like what I’ve discovered.”

  Well, color me happy. I let loose a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and slumped a little in my chair.

  “Thank you,” I said. “Good to know.”

  He smiled, and my insides did a gleeful little two-step. The man had some serious magnetism working for him, and I was pretty sure he knew it, too.

  “So, if I hire you, are you still willing to go to dinner with me?”

  Hell yes. But I didn’t think it was smart to be quite so eager, so I said, “And if I wasn’t?”

  His lips curved again. “Then I’d have to seriously rethink hiring you. Because if there’s a choice, I’d rathe
r see you personally than professionally.”

  Whoa.

  Okay, he was way past a master’s in flirting. We’re talking doctorate at least. “Then let me make it easy on you,” I said. “I’ll still go out with you.”

  “Then you’re hired.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Is there a problem?”

  No. No problem. But he hadn’t even looked at the bid that Thea had burned brain cells over. The bid I’d worried over and thought about and fretted over turning in. “You still haven’t looked at the bid.”

  He sighed, flipped open the manila folder, glanced at the neatly printed-out estimation of labor and service, then slapped the folder shut again and looked at me.

  “You’re hired.”

  I blinked. Okay, then. “Well, I like that you make up your mind fast.”

  “I have,” he said and stood up, walked around the desk to me and helped me to my feet. “About a lot of things.”

  Oh boy. Just being this close to him was setting off brush fires in every corner of my body. He bent his head to mine. Closer, closer. Wow. I had been in the longest sex drought of my life, and now all of a sudden, two different men wanted to kiss me, two days in a row. How slutty was I? Never mind. I really didn’t want the answer to that question anyway.

  Oh, I knew this was so unprofessional. I should have stopped him, but I wasn’t a dummy. I moved in, too, closer, closer. God. He smelled so good. Like…

  “What is that perfume you’re wearing?” he asked and pulled his head back.

  “It’s, um…” Think, Cassidy, think. Couldn’t really tell him it was demon spray, now could I? “Jasmine,” I said quickly, thinking the demon hunter would get a kick out of it if she knew.

  He frowned a little. “Doesn’t smell like jasmine.”

  “You don’t like it?” Mental note. Do not spritz before big date. My body was humming, but clearly, there wasn’t going to be any fun and games at the moment.

  He gave me another smile and shrugged. “It’s…different.”

  Hooking my arm through his, he walked me to the door, then opened it for me. “I’d like for you to start at the club next week. Monday?”

  “Great. We’ll be here. First thing in the morning.”