“Hey!”
Ames grinned a flawless grin. “I’ll take that as a yes. Come. Sit.”
Denny and Ames sat on two Victorian wingback chairs that had seen better days.
“You still don’t understand the nature of witches, Goldy. Yes, they close ranks to protect each other, even from demon hunters, but it’s much more than that.”
“I see that. It’s just—”
He held up a manicured hand. “I don’t believe you do. You think Valeria doesn’t know you’re trying to locate her? If that woman wanted to talk to you, she would. She obviously doesn’t, so leave her be. Cornering a witch who doesn’t wish to be caught is worse than grabbing a tiger by the tail. It’s like grabbing it by its front teeth.”
“And you don’t think that should bother me?”
“I think you’re obsessed with learning something that might come to you naturally if you’d let it. Don’t ever force a witch to do something she doesn’t want to do. Valeria doesn’t want to meet with you, Goldy. End of story.”
“So you came down here to tell me that?”
Ames rose, straightened out his pants and shook his head. “Nope. I came to tell you what they wouldn’t in the hopes that you lay off for a while. Do some reading. Maybe spend some time outside of the paranormal world you now call home. Your training. It’s been too long since you’ve come by the house. There is still so much more I need to teach you. You know so little about Saugen and all it can do. If you aren’t going to be a twenty-something, then at least be a trained demon hunter.”
Denny ran a hand through her hair. “I have been reading, Ames. A lot. I’m not sitting around eating bon-bons, you know.”
“Oh, I am aware of that. Believe it or not, I know why you want to meet with Valeria so much.”
Denny’s left eyebrow rose. “Oh?”
Ames walked over to Gwen and kissed her forehead once more. “Yep. You think she can help you pull your mother out of her catatonia, and I’m here to tell you she’ll never do it. Ever.”
“Why not?”
Laying his hand on Gwen’s shoulder, Ames looked deep into Gwen’s eyes and said quietly, “Because I think she’s the one who put her here.”
***
As Denny drove to the convent to visit her sister, she couldn’t shake Ames’s last words.
He did not explain. He did not elaborate. He merely walked away, leaving Denny with more questions than answers, which seemed to be the dance they did.
Usually when something threw Denny off balance in her life, she reached out for her older sister, Sister Sterling.
Today was no exception.
When Denny first realized she’d been the one in the family chosen to be the hunter, she also understood that Sterling had taken the habit as a way of repelling the demon. That way, she could better care for a family left to raise itself after the accident took their father and incapacitated their mother.
It was the first time Denny had forgiven her for leaving her to raise Pure.
“Golden! So good to see you.” Sister Sterling’s face lit up when she saw Denny. She stood back to let Denny pass. “I was just thinking about you. Is everything all right?”
Denny entered the tiny one room apartment her sister lived in at the convent. The room was small and dark and always too cold for Denny’s liking. There was a single picture of Jesus on the wall, a twin bed, and a beat-up dresser. It looked like a dorm room at the University of Slumville.
“Come in, come in.”
“Don’t you ever just wear sweats?”
Sterling laughed softly, her eyes dancing. “Only when God isn’t watching.”
“So, basically never?”
“Right. Can I get you some tea?”
“No, I’m good. I can’t stay long.” Denny sat at the wooden bistro set that had seen better days.
“I know that tone of voice, Golden. You’ve come for answers to something.” Sterling sat across from Denny. “Some things will never change. What’s on your mind?”
Inhaling deeply, Denny jumped right in. “What do you know about Valeria?”
Sterling blinked twice before rising to fill the teapot with water and putting it on the single burner. “I wondered if her name would crop up in your research.”
Delta froze. “So you know her?”
“No, no. I know a little about her. Very little. I’ve met her once.” Sterling checked the heat from the burner. “The last time Mom was in the hospital, I snuck in late at night to see her. When I was contemplating service to God.” Sterling looked away. “Even though she couldn’t talk, I just knew she could hear me, so I...I guess I needed Mom’s blessing or something.”
“She does hear everything, Sterling. She always has.” Denny watched her older sister stare down at the teapot. “I wish you’d been able to go with me. Just once.”
The teapot barely whistled and Sterling poured herself some tea. “I envy your time with Mom on the spiritual plane. It must have been wonderful seeing her so...alive. To be able to speak with her again. It’s a dream come true.”
Denny shrugged. “I don’t know that I’d say wonderful. It just made me miss her more.”
A comfortable silence passed between them for a few moments before Sterling continued. “Anyway, I was about to go into Mom’s room at the hospital when I saw Valeria standing at the foot of her bed. She was...” Sterling shook her head. “Almost angelic. I remember thinking there was some sort of aura or glow surrounding her. It was short of miraculous, her standing there all aglow.” Sterling dipped her tea bag in and out of the water. “At first I thought she was an angel coming to get her.”
“I bet. Valeria is a pretty amazing woman. So what was she doing there?”
“I couldn’t see from behind, but that glow filled the room. This was before they announced mother’s condition.”
Denny felt her gut twist. Ames had told her the truth. “Are you certain of that?”
“Yes, Golden. It was the second night after she’d been admitted. No prognosis had been made yet.”
Denny leaned forward, her heart banging against her chest. “You said you met her.”
Setting the teacup down, Sterling nodded. “In a manner of speaking, yes. I tried to leave but she said, “Stay child, your mother needs you,” and then she left. I swear it seemed as if her feet never touched the ground.”
“You didn’t leave, did you?”
Sterling barely smiled. “No. I stayed with Mom all night, just holding her hand and talking to her. The strange thing was...her hands were very warm and I could have sworn she could really hear me.” Sterling shook her head. “When just the day before, she seemed so cold and lifeless. I don’t know what Valeria did, but I thought that maybe she’d saved Mom’s life.”
“How did you know who she was?”
Sterling smiled softly. “I didn’t need confirmation to know she was Mom’s best friend.”
Denny tilted her head to one side, surprise claiming her face. “Best friend?”
“Sure. What? You didn’t think Mom had friends?”
“I...I guess I never gave it much thought. Did she talk about her?”
A slight blush crept over Sterling’s cheeks. “Not to me, but overheard her talking to Dad a couple of times. She always said her name with such...reverence. I made the logical assumption she was a close friend.”
“Or something.”
Sterling’s eyes narrowed. “Meaning?”
“Demon business. Nothing to concern your habit. Is there anything else you remember from those days?”
Sterling thought for a moment. “Not really. What’s this about, Golden? Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“No, no. It’s nothing like that. I’ve just been looking for her. She...helped me out a while back and I’ve been looking for her ever since.”
“You...you’ve actually met her?”
Denny nodded. “I have and she is amazing, Sterling. She’s powerful and commanding. She’s a good one to have
on our side.”
“Is she...”
Denny held up her hand. “I promised myself to keep you out of the demon hunting business, so I am not going to share any of this with you. She’s powerful, she’s strong, and is amazing. Leave it at that. I just wondered if you knew anything about her.”
Sterling stared into her tea. “I know that the young girl who saw what she saw believed that Valeria saved her mother that night.” She looked into Denny’s eyes. “But now I know it was God’s hand that saved her.”
Slowly rising, Denny sighed. “That’s where we’ll have to agree to disagree, sis. I think that little girl was spot on. God had nothing to do with it. Valeria, for whatever reason, saved our mother that night, and I won’t rest until I find out how.”
***
Denny sat atop one of her favorite mausoleums like a gargoyle, watching foolish people come and go through the misty and dark cemetery.
Being a demon hunter didn’t mean just fighting demons, though many demon hunters did just that. Not true for Denny. She fought evil and darkness wherever it lurked in her small corner of the world. After all, what good was it to have the supernatural strength of a thousand-year-old demon and not use it for the good of humanity?
Putting a stop to a girlfriend-beating piece of shit was one such use.
The Hanta was awake and ready, as if preparing to spring on the first person they came across.
They.
She was finally feeling like they were a team working in tandem, she and her demon. She knew when it was lying in wait, watching, preparing for the perfect moment to strike. Still short of saying we, Denny could honestly say they worked well together.
Denny closed her eyes and envisioned the scratch marks she’d seen on Brianna’s neck.
The Hanta grew stronger...angrier. Desirous of battle.
It had taken Denny just one call to find the address of the woman. Denny changed in to her hunter leathers and waited for nightfall atop a marble mausoleum as she had been doing night after night for six months.
“Is that a...is that a chick up there?”
Three hoodlums in black hoodies and white high tops stopped in front of the eight-foot tall mausoleum and stared at Denny, who hadn’t moved from her crouched position.
“Holy shit, it is!”
All three gawked at her as if looking at an odd fish in an aquarium.
“Hello, boys.”
One jumped back.
“Don’t be afraid man. It’s just a girl.”
Denny grinned. “Oh really? Can a girl do this?” She leaned over the statue and flashed her red eyes at them.
All three jumped back.
“Dios Mia!” One yelled, stepping behind the other two. “It’s a...a...”
A slight smile made its way across Denny’s face. “A demon? Why yes. Yes it is, and your dios can’t help you any more than those little pea shooters you use as extended dicks.”
Hopping off the mausoleum and landing spritely on her feet, Denny let her red eyes glow redder and hotter. “You think you’re some bad-ass evil street punks? Well fellas, you got zippity-do-dah on me, and if you don’t want to me to kick your asses so hard you become hunchbacks, then I suggest you just mosey on over to the other side of town and steer clear of this neighborhood.”
All three took off running, leaving Denny alone in the graveyard. “Seriously? You flash a little redeye at them and they run off like a bunch of little girls?” She chuckled the Hanta’s laugh. “Pussies. They just don’t make thugs like they used to.” Denny laughed out loud.
Her Hanta had never really been funny before.
Interesting.
It took Denny fifteen minutes to walk to Ray Ann’s house. The woman lived in a smaller shotgun house in an area of town where most of the houses were rentals and in desperate need of repair.
“Well, what in the hell did she expect dating a low renter? Good manners? Exquisite behavior? Respect? Come on, Brianna. You deserve better than that.”
Putting on a baseball cap as her only method of disguise, Denny walked around to the back of the house and kicked the door in. The wood from the door frame splintered as the door ripped off its hinges and flew six feet into the kitchen, landing just inches from a woman’s feet.
“What the fuck?” Ray Ann growled, reaching into a drawer.
Denny moved with such speed, Ray Ann froze long enough for her to slam the drawer on her hand. “Uh-uh, asshole, this is one time when you don’t get the upper hand. No pun intended.”
“Jesus Christ! You’re breaking my wrist! Get the fuck off me!” Ray Ann tried hitting Denny with her free hand, but Denny caught her fist. For a moment the two women glared at each other.
Denny felt the Hanta within. “Oh honey, when I’m through with you, your wrist won’t be the only thing broken.” Denny leaned on the drawer.
“Fuck! Do you know who I am?”
“A wife beater?” Denny’s voice got lower and lower. “An asshole? Stop me when I’m wrong.”
Denny opened the drawer and shoved it so hard, the wrist bones easily snapped. Ray Ann howled like a beagle in heat. Then Denny grabbed Ray Ann by the throat and pinned her to the kitchen wall. Her broken hand and wrist lay limply at her side. “Listen here you piece of low-rent shit. I’m the person who’s come to exact the pound of flesh from you for your abuses of Brianna.”
“Is...that...what this...is about?” Ray Ann choked out.
Denny squeezed her neck harder, her fingers digging into Ray Ann’s skin. “I ever hear you utter one bad syllable, one negative word, or lay one more hand on another woman, I’ll come back here and cut you into teeny tiny pieces with my really bad-ass sword.” Reaching inside her vest, Denny pulled Epée out and, with the flick of her wrist, popped the sword from its sheath, making a sizzling sound as it crackled to life.
Ray Ann’s eyes grew wide. “What the fuck?”
“This? My leetle fren? This is your death if you ever even think about Brianna Stuart again.”
A look of recognition crossed Ray Ann’s face. “Ah, I see now. You’re the one she was fucking around with.”
Denny placed Epée’s tip near Ray Ann’s eye. It glowed like it was excited about the prospect of going through it. “Here’s how this goes down, mother fucker. You look at Brianna again and I’ll fucking gouge your goddamned eyeballs out and eat them in front of you. You speak to her again, and I’ll tear your tongue out of your mouth and eat that in front of you. You call her on the phone and...what do you think I’ll do to your ears?”
“Tear them off and eat them in front of me.”
“See? You aren’t nearly as stupid as you look.” Denny loosened her grip slightly before retracting Epée and shoving the cylinder back in her pocket. “Are we clear here?”
“What...what in the hell are you?” Ray Ann asked.
“Me? I’m all sorts of pain for you if you go near her again.”
“You don’t have a clue who you’re fucking with, freak. I’m a cop, and you’ve just made the biggest mistake of your life.”
Denny was back in her face, inches from her nose. “I don’t give a shit if you’re God’s first daughter. You don’t want to grab this tiger by the tail, sweetheart. I’ll bury you with your fucking badge shoved so far up your ass, it’ll settle in your stomach.”
“I’ll have you arrested within the hour, asshole.”
Denny chuckled and stepped back. “Oh really? I wonder how long you’d keep that tarnished badge with a domestic violence report against you? Maybe a minute longer than that hour?”
Ray Ann glared silently at Denny.
Denny stepped closer. “Your fucking badge can’t protect you from me Officer Thomas. In uniform or out of it, I’ll tear your arms off and beat you with the bloody ends of them if you do not heed my warning. Are we on the same page here, or do I need to break more bones?”
Tension hung in the air like west coast fog—cold, dense, invasive and lingering.
Denny’s hand darted
out and grabbed hold of Ray Ann’s other wrist, digging her fingers into the fleshy part of the skin. “I don’t like repeating myself, ass wipe. Brianna is off limits. Say it.”
Ray Ann locked eyes with Denny as if she could actually win this battle of wills.
“Say it. Don’t be such a putz, Officer Ass Hat. Say it.”
“Fuck you.”
Denny grabbed Ray Ann’s thumb in a thumb lock and drove her to her knees. “Say. It.”
Ray Ann grimaced. “You’re fucking with the wrong woman, freak show.”
In one quick motion, and one very loud snap, Denny broke her other wrist.
“Motherfucker!”
Denny pushed her away, where she rolled on her side and struggled to get up without using her hands. “That’s me. In a nutshell.”
“You broke my wrists!”
Denny sighed. “I explained to you, very simply for your teeny tiny mind, what would happen if you didn’t cooperate. You didn’t cooperate. So...are you ready to tell me what I want to hear?”
“I’ll never see her again,” she said quickly.
Denny nodded. “And what will happen if you think you can somehow outsmart me?”
“You’ll break my bones and...and...”
“Say it.”
“Eat parts of me.”
“Right. And if you think of sending your boys or girls in blue after me? What will happen then?”
Ray Ann stared at her broken wrists a moment before looking back at Denny. “You’ll break my career into pieces.”
“Yes I will. Itty bitty pieces to be exact. I’ll eat you, your career, and then your life.” Denny turned for the door. Capisce?”
Ray Ann slowly nodded.
“Good.” Denny stepped over the door. “You might want to get that fixed. This is a pretty shitty neighborhood.”
“What the fuck are you anyway, freak show?”
Slowly turning around, Denny studied the broken woman before her. “Who the fuck am I? I’m the demon hunter.”
***
Denny was only fifty feet away from Ray Ann’s house when the hackles rose on the back of her neck. Whirling around with both cylinders in her hands, she froze.
Blood of the Demon (The Silver Legacy Book 3) Page 3
