by N. P. Martin
"So let me guess," I said. "You went after it?"
Frank nodded. "Of course. Bane tracked it. That dog had a hell of a nose on him, I tell you that."
"I’ll bet."
"Anyway, the werewolf knew we after it, so it started hunting us instead. It nearly got the drop on me, in fact. It probably would’ve took my head off if Bane hadn’t have jumped in the way, and then attacked it."
"I’ve never seen a werewolf. Are they big?"
"Most of them are, yeah. Bigger than a Labrador, I’ll tell you that. Bane held the werewolf off long enough for me to find my gun and kill it."
"Let me guess. Silver bullet?"
"Something like that. Werewolves can survive silver bullet wounds if they get the bullet out in time. But the bullets I use contain liquified silver in glass tips, which when shattered, release the liquified silver into the werewolf’s blood stream. They’re fucked after that."
"Good to know, I guess."
Frank fell silent as he stared down at the ground. Looking at how devastated he clearly was, regardless of his stoicism, I felt completely terrible all over again.
"Frank," I began to say, but he stopped me.
"Don’t say it. This isn’t your fault."
I sighed. "Well, it sure feels like it is."
He nodded. "I know, but if you’re going to stay a Watcher, you’d better get used to feeling like that. Shit happens all the time that’s out of your control, but that won’t stop you feeling like you should’ve done something, even if you couldn’t. It's what comes from having a conscience."
"Kinda feels like torture."
"It is," he said. "But that’s what whiskey is for." He took his hip flask out of his back pocket, opened it and took a swig after raising it in salute of Bane, his fallen comrade in arms. After pouring a small amount on the grave, he offered me the flask. "Breakfast?"
I shook my head, but took the flask, if only for Bane. "You’re a bad influence, Frank."
"All right, how’s this for bad? You wanna come to a strip club with me?"
I literally didn’t know what to say to that.
Turns out, Frank wasn’t joking when he asked me to go to a strip club with him. It was mid-morning, and he pulled up outside a place called Demon Ecstasy, which was smack in the middle of the Sex Quarter.
"Really?" I said. "Your contact hangs around in a strip club?"
"No," Frank said. "He owns it."
I nodded. "Even better."
"He’s also a demon."
I stared at him. "What? You never mentioned that on the way here."
"I know, I didn’t want to scare you."
"Scare me? Confuse me, more like. How are you friends with a demon?"
"It’s a long story. It doesn’t matter anyway."
"After what they did to your dog…"
"I know," Frank said. "It seems a little crazy, but here’s another lesson for you: not everything is black and white in this game. Actually, let me rephrase that: nothing is black and white in this game. It’s all one big murky gray area that frankly stinks to high-heaven, and all that grayness makes it very difficult to navigate. Which is why we need to rely on our gut and our grace to guide us."
"So you’re saying that not all demons are bad?" I was having a little trouble wrapping my head around that.
"I’m saying, sometimes interests align on both sides. It’s a complicated, dirty war we’re fighting. You’ll see for yourself soon enough."
We both got out of the car. "I can’t believe you have me at a strip club at ten in the morning," I said.
Frank shrugged. "The guy is a demon. Where did you expect him to hang out, the Disney Store?"
I made a face at him as we walked inside the club. Then a second later I stopped him by grabbing his arm. "I’m not sure I can do this, Frank."
"Do what? Talk to a demon?"
I nodded. "Yes."
"Okay, go sit in the car then." His tone was blunt, almost hostile.
"What?" I said, unsure of how to react.
"You forget we’re here to find out information about the demons who took your brother. This guy we’re about to see is our best shot, believe me. But if you don’t want to…" He went to walk out of the club.
"Jesus, Frank, hold on," I said, grabbing his arm again. "You don’t have to be so fucking melodramatic about it."
He stared hard at me. "I know it might seem weird to you, but this is the game, Leia. Sometimes the enemy is not the enemy."
"You trust this demon then?"
"His name is Lucas, and he saved my life once, as well as the lives of other people I care about, so yeah, I trust him."
I nodded. "Fair enough."
Frank laid a hand on my arm for a second. "I know you’re going through a lot right now. You have to trust me, though. Sometimes I think you don’t."
"I trust you, Frank."
He nodded. "I’m not sure you do, but you will. You’re a Watcher now, Leia. I’ve got your back as much as I had…"
"My mom’s?"
"Yeah."
A mild tension built up between us, but I stopped it before it got awkward. "Let’s go see what this guy knows then," I said, and we turned and continued into the club.
Demon Ecstasy was pretty much what I expected it to look like before I went inside. The interior was all shiny chrome railings and red velvet seats, with a large central stage and two smaller stages. Considering the place was owned by a demon, it was pretty slick. Though this did nothing to hide the general air of sleaziness, which was matched by a dozen or so male customers who sat around gaping at the few dancers on stage. The music blaring from the speakers was some generic hip hop track. It didn’t seem to matter to anyone, especially the customers, that it wasn’t even noon yet. Clearly time didn’t exist in a place like this.
"You want a drink?" Frank asked, already heading toward the bar, ordering a whiskey when he got there.
"No thanks," I said as I looked around the club, trying to see if I could spot someone who might be this Lucas character we were there to meet. As he was a demon, I figured I’d be able to spot him straight away, but I saw no one who aroused my suspicion, unless of course they were hiding their real faces, which some of them could apparently do.
Frank told the barman that Lucas was picking up the bill for his drink. Then he asked where Lucas was, and the barman pointed across the way to one of the seating areas where a gaggle of half naked girls were standing. As I stared over, the girls seemed to part, revealing the figure of a man sitting on one of the seats. He seemed to be in his mid-twenties, dark-skinned, immaculately dressed in a dark, maroon-colored suit. The second he saw me, our stares locked, and for interminable seconds, it felt like my soul was on fire as my surroundings seemed to ease out of sight. The feeling was so intense, so electric, that it took my breath away. It was all I could do to tear my gaze away as I took a deep breath to slow the rapid beating of my heart.
What the fuck…
"Hey," Frank said. "You okay?"
Still disconcerted, I nodded as best I could. "Sure, I’m fine."
Frank frowned. "You don’t look it."
"I said I’m fine, Jesus." I shook my head. "Are we going to talk to this guy or what?"
"Yeah, okay. Come on then."
I followed behind Frank as he headed over to where Lucas was sitting. For some reason, I was afraid to look at him again, nor any of the dancers that he jokingly shooed away when Frank arrived at his table. As they shook hands, I stood a few feet away, staring at the floor like some lost little girl.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
"This is Leia," Frank said, introducing me as he sat down beside Lucas. "My niece."
Lucas stood up then. "The pleasure is all mine," he said in a silky voice that made my knees go weak, and a warmth to begin spreading from between my legs.
Slightly embarrassed now, I finally looked up at him, taking his proffered hand. Up close, he was devastatingly handsome, with dark, mysterious eyes t
hat seemed to look into my very soul. It was hard not to get lost looking into those eyes, especially when I once again felt that undeniable electricity pass through me, as if our souls were reacting to one another. Then I remembered that he was a demon, and probably didn’t have a soul.
"Hi," I said, pulling my hand away, and then going over to sit by Frank.
Lucas sat back down as well, crossing his legs as he continued to smile at me, making me feel somewhat embarrassed. I was glad when Frank finally spoke, taking Lucas’ attention away.
"So where you been, Lucas?" Frank asked. "Haven’t seen you around in a while. You in trouble again?"
Lucas laughed as if Frank was joking, glancing at me as he did so. "Nothing of the sort, Frank," he said. "I’ve just been away on business, that’s all. You know how far my dealings stretch."
Frank nodded. "I do, which is why I’m here."
"I see." Lucas smiled his easy smile. "I thought perhaps this was a social visit, that maybe you just wanted to introduce me to your beautiful niece."
He looked at me when he said it, and my face flushed as I quickly turned away.
"Eh, no, Lucas," Frank said. "I didn’t come here just to introduce you to my niece. You can go ahead and turn the charm down now if you like."
"The protective uncle," Lucas said smiling.
"He hasn’t known me long enough for that," I said, immediately sorry and unsure of why I said it, because it created a tension in the air. Frank stared at the table, a little offended, I think. Lucas frowned slightly as he stared at me, probably wondering what was up.
"I can see you two are still ironing things out," Lucas said eventually, before looking at me. "Don’t be too hard on him. He means well, don’t you, Frank?"
Frank sighed and shook his head. "All right," he said. "Enough of the Dr. Phil shit. I’m here for information, Lucas. Are you going to give it to me, or are you just going to sit there looking amused?"
"Can’t I do both?" Lucas said, and I couldn’t help but smile as he looked at me. "Did I mention your uncle is also short-tempered and incredibly blunt most of the time? I’m sure you already know that, though."
"Are you done talking about me now?"
"For now," Lucas said, his dark eyes on me again. Not that I minded. I could hardly stop looking at him anyway, which he knew, because he would often catch me and smile, and my face would flush in a ridiculous school girl manner.
This is crazy, the guy is demon. That’s not even his body…
And yet, it was. Every ounce of his personality shone from his every pore, it seemed. I had never met anyone with such charisma, and I had to wonder if it was all fake, or down to some magic trick or power that he was using. When it came to men, I wasn’t in the habit of throwing myself at anybody, but with Lucas, that’s all I wanted to do.
But it’s more than that, isn’t it?
"Leia?" Frank said suddenly. "You with us?"
I blinked at him like I’d just woken up from a dream. "What?"
"You disappeared there for a moment. Are you all right?"
I nodded, then glanced at Lucas to see him staring at me, his eyes more serious now, as if he too was trying to figure out the weird energy between us, or as though he genuinely cared about the answer I was going to give. "I’m fine, Frank."
Frank stared at me a moment, then shook his head slightly before turning back to Lucas. "So Lucas," he said. "What’ve you heard about the missing Nephilim?"
"Missing Nephilim?" Lucas said, a little distracted now himself it seemed, which strangely made me feel glad.
"Jesus." Frank shook his head. "Am I the only one on planet Earth here?"
Lucas smiled then, suddenly regaining his former composure. "I’m sure it feels like that to you all the time, Frank."
"Ha ha. Have you heard anything or not?"
"Of course," Lucas said, before glancing in my direction. "Nothing slips past me in this town. In this world, in fact."
I found myself staring at him again, his air of complete mystery drawing me in, though not quite against my will. Lucas didn’t seem like any other demon I’d met thus far. I imagined there to be a savagery to most other demons that I wasn’t seeing in him. That’s not to say it wasn’t there, as I’m sure it was. But with the other demons, I suspected they wore their savagery and bloodlust like a badge of honor, happy to constantly throw it in your face. If Lucas possessed such traits, he hid them well. It was commendable that he even hid them at all. Clearly Lucas was a different kind of animal to all the rest, or maybe just cleverer about how he went about things. I couldn’t decide which.
"So what have you got?" Frank said, before draining the whiskey in his glass.
"I’m almost afraid to say," Lucas said. "For doing so might bring a lot of trouble to my door, and you know how much I hate trouble, Frank."
"Don’t we all? Come on, Lucas. Lives are at stake here."
"My brother’s life for one," I said to him.
"Your brother was taken too?"
I nodded. "Yes. How do you know they were taken?"
"It’s what I heard."
"Do you know who took the kids, Lucas?" Frank asked.
Lucas looked away for a second, as if he was contemplating something, then he looked at me. "I do."
My heart skipped a beat, and I slightly leaned toward him. "Who?"
Sighing, Lucas shook his head, then looked at Frank. "This is a lot bigger than you might think, Frank, and a lot more dangerous."
"Isn’t it always?" Frank said dismissively. "Come on, Lucas, will you? She just wants her brother back, and I want to stop whatever fuckheads took him in the first place. They’re taking the next generation of Watchers, and in case you hadn’t noticed, our numbers weren’t that big to begin with." He thought for a second. "Is that what this is about? Is some demon trying to wipe us out, yet again?"
"Don’t you think they would’ve just killed the kids instead of kidnapping them?"
"So tell us," I said to Lucas, not harshly, but softly, as I hoped to reach him on a deeper level. "Tell us who’s doing this, Lucas."
Lucas stared at me a moment, then a slight smile appeared on his face. I could tell from his eyes that he had some level of appreciation for my attempt at charm, which to an obvious pro like him, was probably more adorable than persuasive, but he went along with it anyway. "Fine," he said. "I’ll tell you what I know. There’s a demon on the loose here, a nasty piece of work named Abigor. He used to be something of a big deal in Hell. He designed most of the place, in fact, before he banished Lucifer to some unknown dimension, that is. Lucifer’s loyal followers then banished Abigor in kind. But that was a long, long time ago, and Abigor has clearly escaped his prison since."
My mouth hung slightly open as I listened to Lucas talk. Not so much because of his silky tones, but more because of what he was saying. He was talking about Hell, and Lucifer of all…people. Although my eyes had lately been opened to the worlds within the world, hearing Lucas speak of Hell in the real sort of ways that I'd speak of the shopping mall, was still more than a little jarring, especially since I knew my mother was trapped there.
"So what does this Abigor want then?" Frank asked him. "Why is he kidnapping my kind?"
"No one seems to know for sure yet," Lucas said. "Whatever Abigor is up to, he’s going to great pains to keep his plans on a need to know basis, pain of death being the consequence for any who speak of them"
"So you don’t really know anything?" I said, unable to hide my disappointment.
Lucas stared at me, a look of mock offense on his dark-skinned face. "Now did I say that?"
I shook my head, a little embarrassed now. "No, but…"
"I know something of what Abigor is up to," he said. "I just don’t know it all."
"Spill then," Frank said. "Time matters to some of us, Lucas. We can’t all be immortal."
Lucas smiled at Frank’s impatience. "Of course not. It seems that Abigor is building an army, or at least, that’s what I heard."
"An army?" Frank frowned. "So why does he need Nephilim? I’m sure he has plenty of demons under his command."
"I imagine his reasons are two-fold," Lucas said. "One is to weaken your ranks. The other, to strengthen his own. You Nephilim are quite powerful in your own way, more powerful than many of the demons under Abigor’s command." Lucas raised his hands. "Also, who knows? Abigor is mad in the head, always has been."
"So if he’s building an army," Frank said. "That must mean he plans on starting a war."
Lucas nodded. "I would imagine so, yes."
"A war against humanity?" I asked.
"Indeed," Lucas said. "Like most demons—myself excluded of course—Abigor hates humanity. It makes sense he would want to destroy it."
I shook my head as his words sank in. Was my brother to be used as cannon fodder in a war? Not if I could fucking help it. "This Abigor seems to be controlling my brother somehow," I said. "My brother is…different now. I would go so far as to say that he doesn't even want to be found, let alone be rescued."
Lucas nodded, a grave look on his face, which I took to mean he was about to impart more bad news. "Yes, well that’s the other thing."
"What?" I asked.
"Here's the thing: if demons need absolute control over people, they have to demonize them, which is first and foremost achieved through consumption of the respective demon’s blood—a process not unlike the blood bonding vampires use to create progeny and control their blood bags. Once consumed, the demon’s blood permits not only a direct connection, but also the ability to cause immense pain in order to achieve compliance."
I just stared at him, then shook my head. "Demonize them? Jesus…"
"Shit…" Frank said quietly.
"So my brother is a demon now, is that what you’re saying?" I asked Lucas.
"Not a full demon, that can take centuries, but…"
"But what?" I said.
"Even though your brother might still have a soul, he will still be a demon in every other respect," he said. "Their soul will be blackened, their outlook…changed."
"Changed?" I shook my head as I thought of Josh’s dark behavior on the phone. "Can this be reversed?"
