Demon Ex Machina: Tales of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom

by Julie Kenner

  “Master,” Thor said, with a low bow to Eric.

  “Out,” Eric said. “You can serve me by leaving me the hell alone.”

  “I serve you,” Thor said once again. “And I serve your beloved as well.”

  Eric cast a sideways look in my direction. “She wants you out of here, too.”

  The demon’s bland, subservient expression shifted into a sneer. “Your true beloved, sire. This one is merely a distraction. This one,” he said, lunging toward me, “must die.”

  His motion was so fast, so unexpected, that I barely managed to get clear. As it was, his fingers grazed my shirt as I darted out of his way even as Eric moved in front of me to block the beast.

  “Get out of here,” Eric said to me. “I’ve got him.”

  No way. Even if Eric had been one hundred percent, there was no way I was leaving Timmy. That simply wasn’t an option, and so instead of leaving, I shifted on my heel and switched direction, running back toward them, Eric’s curses echoing through the foyer. The demon lashed out, knocking Eric out of the way, though he apologized loudly as he did so. Then he dove at me and managed to catch me around the ankles. I went down with a splat, my knife sliding out across the slick marble floor.

  I cursed and clawed at the floor, trying to get purchase, but the demon was hauling me back toward him. I relaxed, planning to attack anew once he’d pulled me closer, but before that happened, he let go of me. I flipped over, and realized that Eric had tackled the beast. They were on the floor now, each one struggling for the upper hand.

  “Blade!” Eric shouted. “Kate, kick me your blade!”

  The knife I’d dropped was right at my feet, and I hesitated only a second. And then, praying that I wasn’t reading Eric wrong—praying that this wasn’t a demonic ruse to gain my trust—I thrust my leg out and sent the knife skittering across the floor to Eric.

  His fingers closed tight around it, and even as Thor screamed out Odayne’s name, Eric slid the blade home.

  “Don’t call me that,” he said with a sneer. “The name’s Eric. And if you can’t remember that, you lousy son of a bitch, you can call me David.”

  Then he pushed the body off of him, laid back on the tile, and sighed.

  I took the time for one quick glance toward the library, saw that Timmy had managed to sleep through the whole thing, then slid across the floor to rest my head in the crook of Eric’s arm.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “You would have handled it.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “But I’m glad you were here to do it.” I rolled over and propped myself up on my elbow. “I’ve been worried that I’d lost you.”

  A sad smile touched his lips, but he shook his head. “Maybe for a little bit you did,” he admitted. “I don’t really remember.”

  I hesitated, but knew I had to ask. “Was it Nadia?”

  His brow furrowed. “She’s really here then?”

  “Gave me a message for you.” I met his eyes. “She’s waiting. And she’s wanting.” I sat up, then took his hand. “Do you know who? Who this She-Demon is?”

  He shook his head, and when his lips curved around the word no, I was both disappointed and relieved. Relieved that he hadn’t fallen that much further into the abyss, but disappointed he had no new help to give us.

  Beside me, he shifted, and I sat straighter, suddenly wary. “What?”

  He didn’t meet my eyes. “I don’t know who she is,” he repeated. “But I think I’ve been with her. Kate, I think that’s where I was.”

  “Oh.” I swallowed, hoping he could see how much his words shook me. “Well. That’s—”

  “Troubling,” he suggested.

  I almost lied, but knew that I couldn’t. Not to him. “Yes,” I said. “But you found your way back.” I squeezed his hand hard, pushing down my own fear. “You found your way back, and you’re going to hang on.”

  “I’m back,” he admitted, but I didn’t like his tone or the way his silver-gray eyes skimmed over me.

  “Eric? What is it?”

  He didn’t have a chance to answer me, though, because Stuart’s overly loud voice echoed down from the upstairs. “I’d really like to show you a few more rooms.”

  “Later,” Lila said. “Bernie’s not even answering his phone. We’ll have our snack, and the upstairs will keep.”

  “Get him,” I hissed to Eric, nodding toward the body. We dragged it toward the kitchen as Stuart’s and Lila’s footsteps echoed down the stairs.

  “I think I left some cutlery in the kitchen the last time I was in here,” Lila said, and I sighed with exasperation and looked helplessly at Eric.

  He, thank goodness, kept his cool. He opened the cabinet doors under the sink and shoved Thor’s head inside. Then he crouched down and started muttering about pipes and fittings.

  Lila stepped in, opened up a drawer at the opposite end of the counter, and looked curiously toward Eric.

  “Plumber,” I said brightly. “We’ve got a leak.”

  “We have a lot of them,” Stuart said, stepping into the kitchen and immediately into his role. “After he finishes under there, maybe we can have him take a look at the upstairs.”

  “Great,” I said, with a huge smile toward Lila. “I think the girls got distracted. You head on back to the picnic and we’ll be right there.”

  Her smile matched mine, and with a handful of silverware now in her hand, she practically bounced back to the foyer. I sent Stuart a desperate glance, and he followed her out.

  “Bring him,” I said to Eric, who followed me toward the safe room, dragging Thor behind him. He dumped him at the threshold, only jumping slightly when Allie squealed “Daddy!” and shot off the bed to hug her father.

  I stood there with a body at my feet, no useful help, and a slightly nosy woman in the foyer. “Mindy,” I said. “Come give me a hand.”

  As Allie clung to her dad, Mindy and I dragged the body into the room and then shoved it under the bed. “Sorry,” I said to her. “But thanks.”

  “Are you kidding? That was the coolest. I got to hide a demon. I mean, like wow.”

  “Wow indeed,” I said with a smile. “Come on girls, back to Lila before she gets curious.”

  Allie nodded, then broke away from Eric, still standing just outside the entrance to the safe room. I frowned, suddenly uncomfortable, and I kept my eyes on him as I stepped out of the safe room as the girls rushed ahead for snacks.

  “Thanks,” I said, watching his face.

  “Not a problem.”

  “Thor definitely had it in for me.” A shadow seemed to cross his face, his silver eyes darkening. “What?” I asked. “Eric, what is it?”

  “Nothing,” he said, his voice remote. “But he didn’t understand.”

  I swallowed, feeling suddenly cold. “Understand what?”

  He smiled, then reached out to stroke my hair. “That you’re not to be harmed. That we don’t want to harm one single hair on this perfect head.”

  And then he leaned forward and kissed my forehead. And so help me, for the first time in my life, I shuddered under Eric’s touch.

  I didn’t sleep. Instead, I lay in bed, my forehead seeming to burn under Eric’s kiss, and my heart twisting in fear. He’d told me that “we” didn’t mean me any harm, but who was “we?” Eric and Odayne? Odayne and his beloved?

  And why were they allowing me to remain safe? Out of Eric’s love for me? Or was there some other, more nefarious reason?

  My fists clenched in the sheets, my mind whirling. What was I supposed to do now that the demon was truly mixed up with Eric? Maybe not completely, but there was no denying that Eric’s soul was poisoned, and I was no longer sure there was a way back.

  I tossed in bed, and at some point sleep must have come, though it was filled with dreams of fire and knives and Nadia bending close over Eric’s naked body. And Eric turning his head to look at me, telling me they wouldn’t harm me and that I had to watch, watch, watch as he descended to rule in Hell.
>
  I woke up with a scream caught in my throat, then almost released it when I saw the faces looming over me.

  “Dammit! What are you two doing?”

  “Nasty dreams?” Eddie said.

  “Are you okay?” Allie asked at the same time.

  Beside me, Stuart stirred, and I could tell the moment he realized we had company. He stiffened, then sat up. “Kate,” he began. “Why is half the household standing over our bed?”

  “I haven’t got a clue,” I said grumpily, but I plumped up the pillow behind my back and sat up to hear the answer to that very question.

  “It’s Lilith,” Allie said. “Lilith’s the She-Demon.”

  I swallowed a gasp and looked at Eddie, who nodded seriously. Lilith is one of the world’s oldest and most powerful demons. A creature who existed even before the world was formed. A vengeful female who legend said mated first with Adam, then cursed all men when he bound himself to Eve. “Are you sure?”

  Allie nodded. “I’ve been doing all sorts of research, and I finally found a reference to Odayne and a lover.”

  My gaze shifted back to Eddie, and he shrugged.

  “Forza doesn’t know anything about this,” I said.

  “Yeah. I know. I found it in some online role-playing games.”

  “Allie!”

  “No, it’s good information,” she protested. “I contacted the guy who plays under Odayne’s name. And he’s like some theology buff. Got a Ph.D. and everything. And he did all this research and found these love poems. Only they weren’t really poems. They were more like prayers. But not to God. They were to Lilith, and he said he found them in the archives of some disbanded satanic cult. At least that’s what he thought, but it turned out not to be satanic at all. It was goddess worship. Only not a benevolent god. It was a cult that worshipped Lilith.”

  I was staring open-mouthed at my daughter. “You found all this out by going to online gaming sites?”

  She shrugged. “Forza’s not the only group out there that knows stuff about demons.”

  “She’s a smart kid,” Eddie said, giving her a gruff hug.

  “That she is,” Stuart muttered.

  “So what did these poems or prayers say?”

  “That’s just it,” Allie said. “They were prayers for the safe return of her beloved.”

  “I thought Lilith’s whole thing was that she had no use for men,” I said.

  Allie shrugged. “Guess she found one she could stand, ’cause the poems were more like love songs, you know? About how Lilith and her mate were one, and each was the heart and soul of the other. Sappy stuff, but creepy, too. And a little bit sad, even, because he was gone, you know? Trapped. I’m not really sure how, but bound I guess. Like the time Andramelech was bound in Solomon’s Stone,” she added, referring to a vile demon who had been trapped inside a stone that God had once given to Solomon. The stone had eventually been cut down and placed in a ring, and now that ring was safe inside the Vatican. “But the poems mention her mate’s name. And it’s Odayne. And I guess Lilith is, you know, like really in love with him.”

  “Lilith and Odayne,” I said, as ice-cold fear shimmered through my veins. This was worse—much worse—than Eric merely having a demon trapped inside. Now he had a demon inside that one of the most vile and powerful demons in history wanted released.

  “You did great work, sweetie,” I said, smiling despite my fear. “Amazing work.”

  “Thanks,” she said, preening.

  “Now I need you to go check on your brother.”

  Her smile faded. “Why?”

  “Because I think I hear him.”

  “I don’t.”

  “Then I think you need to go get dressed for school,” I said.

  “It’s still early.”

  “Allie.” I injected a warning into my voice.

  “God! If you want to get rid of me just say so!”

  “I want to get rid of you,” I said, then saw the temper flare in her eyes.

  “That’s so unfair!” she wailed. “I figure this stuff out and I don’t even get to hang for the planning session. I’m not a kid! I’m fifteen!”

  “Not until Friday, you’re not.”

  I waited for her to make some sarcastic comment, but none came. Instead, she stormed away, muttering.

  As soon as she was out the door, Eddie turned serious eyes on me. “We need to find that dagger,” he said. “And we need to find it soon.”

  “Forget the dagger,” Stuart said. “If we can’t find it, we take that demon out the old-fashioned way. A knife through the eye.”

  “He’ll just come back,” Eddie said. “Born into someone else.”

  “Forgive me if I’m more worried about my family than someone else’s future problem.”

  Eddie nodded. “We look for the dagger,” he said. “And if we don’t find it, we do it your way.”

  “Either way, Eric’s dead and trapped,” I said. “His soul will be tied to this demon for eternity. There’s got to be a way to unbind them,” I said. “We just haven’t found it yet.”

  “And we’re running out of time. Kate—” Stuart began, but Eddie held up a hand to cut him off.

  “With these two, there’s no halfway,” he said. “Lilith’s evil. And Odayne’s the mate of the first evil. And now that power’s waking up inside your boy. You willing to risk that? You willing to risk your kids?”

  I closed my eyes and shook my head. Of course I wasn’t. No matter what—even if it meant sacrificing Eric—my kids had to come first.

  “You find that dagger, and you use it,” Stuart said. “And if you don’t, you can be damn sure that I will.”

  Twelve

  After the announcement of Lilith’s descent into San Diablo, I’d assumed the day couldn’t get any worse. I was, of course, wrong. And as I stood in bare feet amidst a sea of dishwasher bubbles, I listened as Laura rattled off fact after fact after fact about my new nemesis. I’m not sure if a broken dishwasher is really on the same par as a vile uber-demon, but in my current mood, both seemed equally horrible.

  “She’s a badass, all right,” Laura said, frowning at her laptop.

  “That’s a given if she’s come to San Diablo,” I said dryly. “All we ever seem to get are badasses.” I dropped another towel on the floor and moved it around with my toe, trying to sop up some soapsuds. I don’t know what Timmy shoved into the dishwasher, but after an expensive service call, I’m sure the plumber would be more than happy to tell me when he finally fit me into his busy schedule.

  In the meantime, I was more energized than ever about finding a way to unbind Eric from Odayne, and while Laura researched Lilith on the computer, I finished going through all of Eric’s books in the attic.

  By the time I closed the last book, my head was pounding, my eyes were swimming, and I was mightily discouraged.

  “Nothing?”

  “Not in these,” I confirmed. “Nothing that seems to even touch on Odayne or unbinding a demon from a soul. And as if those questions aren’t enough, I can’t stop thinking about what Eric said. About how they didn’t want to hurt me. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Eric loves you,” she said. “He’d fight to keep you safe.”

  “Maybe,” I said. But I wasn’t sure I believed it.

  I caught Laura glancing up at the clock. “You need to go?”

  “Sorry,” she said.

  I brushed off the apology. “As much as I like the idea of having my own personal research minion, I know that you have a life beyond demons. That is, of course, why I’m training Allie.”

  “Damn,” Laura said. “I’m about to be outsourced.”

  She tucked her computer under her arm and promised to spend some time researching later. Every little bit helped. If anything, Allie and her online gaming research had proved that point.

  I left not long after she did, hauling a screaming, cranky little boy around to various errands that I’d been ignoring. Home Depot for Stuart and the grocery sto
re for the family being tops of my list. “Cap’n Crunch!” Timmy wailed in the cereal aisle. “Please, Mommy! Please, please, please!”

  And, because I am a sucker with a fondness for those crispy little orange-colored bites, I caved, earning myself a tight hug and a firm, “I love you, Mommy.”

  Sugary cereals. The way to every child’s heart.

  When we finally got back home, I settled Timmy in his room for a nap, and began unloading the car. Three hours of shopping and two dozen bags and I still didn’t have any new clothes. Somehow, it just didn’t seem fair.

  I was shoving two Snickers bars into the freezer when Allie and Mindy came barreling inside, backpacks flying as they tossed them onto the kitchen table. Then they both fell into chairs and demanded ice cream.

  “Hello? Do I look like your personal serving wench?”

  “A little,” Allie said.

  “Around the eyes,” Mindy added.

  “Here.” Allie reached into her backpack and pulled out a report covered in clear plastic.

  I took it, then smiled when I saw the cover. Lilith. Bitch Demon from Hell. By Allie Crowe and Mindy Dupont.

  “We had free periods today,” Mindy said. “And access to the computer lab.”

  “This is great,” I said seriously, flipping through the pages. They’d included various images of Lilith they’d located online (though how they accessed sites relating to demonology from the school I didn’t know, and figured I shouldn’t ask). More important was the history section, which included a few accounts of possession by Lilith herself.

  “It’s not common,” Allie said when I mentioned the reference to her. “But it’s happened before. And the really interesting thing,” she said, moving to stand by me so she could point to the relevant sections of the report, “is this right here.”

  I started to skim the language myself, but Mindy chimed in. “Every time she’s possessed someone, there have been hints that Odayne’s burst out in some poor sap. That’s what he does,” she explained. “He grows inside humans and then when he’s like a grown-up demon he takes over and the person is just buried inside.”