by Kat Cotton
He ducked, as though trying to ball up his body.
“Demon Child? That’s not big EVIL. Who woke the Demon Child? That’s what you should be asking.”
Timon had a point.
“So, who did?”
“I don’t know, and I’m not sticking around to find out. That’s powerful magic, and where there’s powerful magic, there’s danger. Now let me out of here. Oh, that money you owe me would be really handy too.”
I sighed and put my hand in my pocket, then slammed a few bills into his outstretched hand.
He unscrunched them. “Fifty? That’s not even a drop in the ocean.”
“It’s fifty more than you had a minute ago.”
He nodded his head, then ran off as fast as his little legs would carry him.
When I got back to Kisho, he had the bag of donuts.
“I had to pay for them.”
“Thanks.” I reached into the bag and helped myself. “Next stop is the park. We’d better save one of those donuts.”
We got to the park and headed for the benches near the pond. Hopefully, the old man would be there. People leaving town didn’t help me at all.
I spotted him and sat down beside him on the bench. Kisho stood next to me.
“Got yourself a boyfriend?” the old man asked.
I nodded. It was easier than trying to explain the situation. Also, I liked the idea.
“Good to have someone to protect you. A young girl like you can’t be too careful.”
I just smiled. Seriously, old people. It was like they were stuck in some dark past. I wasn’t about to go into a rant about the evils of the patriarchy when I needed information, though.
“Want a donut?” I asked him, and handed him the bag.
“Thanks.”
“So, there’s a big evil in town. Know anything about it?”
The old man shook his head. He lied.
“Come on, old man. You know everything.”
“I only know what the ducks tell me.” With that, he broke off a piece of the donut and threw it to the ducks.
Damn ducks. If I’d known he’d waste a perfectly good donut like that, I’d have eaten it myself. Kisho had wandered off to look at the pond, leaving me alone with the old man.
“The ducks don’t know anything,” he said.
It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. They were ducks.
“But, if you want to know more, you should talk to your pretty boyfriend. Ask him about it. That’s what the ducks say.”
That old man got more senile every time I saw him. He obviously didn’t know anything. Still, I gave him an awkward hug.
“Look after yourself, old guy,” I said, then called Kisho over.
“You don’t know anything about this big evil?” I asked him. “Anything you aren’t telling me?”
He looked at me with those big brown eyes, like melted chocolate. He couldn’t lie to me, not while looking at me like that. I’d seen him lie and I knew the signs.
“I only know what you know.”
Okay, I had to accept that. I walked back to the car.
“Where to?” Kisho asked.
“The biker bar.”
“Can I drive?” he said.
“Over my dead body.”
“Please?”
Damn his begging eyes. Despite my resolution to be hands-off with him, when he looked at me like that, I wanted to be totally hands-on.
“Can you drive stick?”
“Of course.”
I handed him the keys.
“Thanks.”
“You do anything to my car, you die. I will stake you.”
He trembled a little. Hell, I wasn’t that scary.
He jumped in the driver’s seat, adjusted the position, then fiddled around with the mirror. He followed the student driver handbook to the letter. I’d been wrong. I couldn’t put up with this.
“Give me the keys back. I’m driving.”
“Not a chance in hell.”
He swung the car out of the parking lot, raising a storm of dust, then put his foot to the floor. Holy shit, I had not been expecting that. The way he drove made me look like a pussy. He pushed the Mustang to the limit without ever seeming like he didn’t have control of it.
If I was totally honest, the way he handled my car got me a little wet.
“See, my car is awesome.”
“It’s too—”
“Say that and I’ll never let you drive it again,” I said.
“I didn’t say a word.”
“Your face did.”
“Sorry.” The way he lowered his head when he apologized did something to my insides. I wanted to find more things for him to apologize for, just so I could keep seeing him do that.
The biker bar wasn’t really a biker bar. Not human bikers anyway. They just tried to make it look rough to keep humans out. It was on the outskirts of town.
Even midafternoon, there were a dozen or so drinkers. Some mournful country music played, and the lights flickered. Kisho looked around him warily. The clientele weren’t the most genteel, but he didn’t have to be so cautious.
Except, before I could tell him that, someone at the bar spun around and lunged at me. He tackled me to the floor, arm across my throat.
“Hey, bitch, you dusted my buddy.”
“Who’s your buddy?”
He described his friend. I remembered him. Big guy. I’d gone for him last month.
“Dude, your buddy kept sleep-raping women. That’s not on. Keep it in your pants and you are fine in my book.”
The guy seemed hell-bent on revenge, though. I squirmed around a little so I could reach my blade and thrust it into his neck. The bar fell into silence as the demon turned to dust. Probably not the best way to start this conversation, but then I wasn’t going to dick around with a vengeful demon on top of me.
“Anyone else want to try it?” I asked the room.
They all turned back to their drinks except one guy. He sidled up to Kisho.
“I’ll try it on with your friend,” he said, rubbing his hand down Kisho’s arm.
I was about to dust him too. No one touched my assistant like that. But Kisho whispered something to him and he backed right off.
I walked up to the bar, ordering two beers.
“I don’t drink beer,” Kisho said.
“You do here,” I told him. “What did you say to that guy?”
“I just mentioned Nic’s name.”
Whoa, who’d have thought Nic could strike fear into these demons like that? Wait, did that mean he said it like he was Nic’s? They were a couple. I knew it. I had to ask him. But the bartender came back with our drinks.
“Know anything about the Demon Child?” I asked him.
“Last time you wanted information, you promised me a hundred bucks. I gave you the information and am still waiting for that cash.”
“Jeez, you know I’m good for it. I’ve just been busy lately. Make it two hundred and I’ll drop it off later in the week. If you have any good information.”
The bartender shook his head. I bet he didn’t even know anything. Before I could sweet-talk him, though, Kisho had peeled off a bunch of bills and set them on the counter. Did he know nothing? Firstly, you didn’t flash around the big bucks like that in a bar like this, and secondly, you didn’t give them money until you got the info.
The bartender grabbed the cash.
Well, at least I’d paid my debt. Sweet. I drained my beer. It’d been watered down.
“So, where’s the Demon Child?”
“The only thing I know is he’s in the city somewhere.”
I held out my hand. “Give me back my money. That’s no help to us at all.”
“He’s under the protection of someone big. Someone big enough to have the cops watching over him. You know anyone with that kind of clout?”
He winked.
I knew exactly who he meant. Should’ve guessed it myself. The mayor.
A f
ew of the demons had gathered at the corner of the bar, whispering amongst themselves. Not a good sign. I thought about dusting them just to teach them a lesson. The three of them thought they could take me. I had better things to do, though.
“Come on,” I said to Kisho. “Let’s get out of here.”
I sent a message to Detective Mitchell. Mitch. My contact on the force. If anything was going on, he’d know about it or he’d find out. Other than that, I had no other contacts worth tracking down.
“Where to now?” Kisho asked.
“Now we get coffee.”
We’d just gotten our coffee and snacks when my phone rang. It was Nic.
“Are you actually on the case? Or are you just planning to drive around in your fancy new car?”
I glared at Kisho but he shrugged. How did Nic know that?
“I’ve got feelers out. I can’t do much until one of them comes through,” I told him as I picked at the cake in front of me.
“You’re spent hours driving around. And driving way over the speed limit too. I didn’t loan you my Kisho so you could damage him in a car crash. And I don’t think the Demon Child is going to be hiding out in a hipster coffee shop, drinking single-origin organic coffee.”
Was the guy tracking me?
“You want me to work on the case, you don’t question my methods. And stop keeping tabs on me. Don’t you have better things to do? Like go check out that zit on your chin.”
I didn’t think he’d be stupid enough to fall for that zit comment, but he gave a little squeal and hung up the phone. I’m pretty sure the guy had never had a zit in his life.
The people at the next table left, and I grabbed their newspaper. Damn mayor on the front page. Not just the mayor, but the mayor at the zoo with a baby polar bear. Jeez, no wonder people loved that guy. He really bugged me, but seeing him with that baby polar bear melted my heart.
“That was mean,” Kisho said. “Nic is really proud of his perfect skin. He’s probably sad because he wanted to be invited for coffee too.”
“I’m a mean person,” I replied. “Get used to it. And having him along would be no fun.”
I waited for Kisho to defend Nic, but he said nothing. Saying nothing was evil. It made me argue out his Nic defense in my head. I didn’t want to have one half of my brain doing the Nic defense. I didn’t want Nic in my head at all.
“Did you tell him what we’ve been doing? How did he know?”
“Nic just knows things. And he has an app that tracks my GPS.”
That seemed creepy, but I wouldn’t question it. I had more important issues on my mind at the moment, like would a second slice of pie be too much? I had been working out a lot lately and needed to eat more carbs. I’m sure carbs were exactly what I needed, and sugar. Before I could order it, my phone rang again. It was probably Nic telling me I didn’t need pie.
It wasn’t. It was Mitch.
“Hey, any news?” I asked.
“I’ve found out something that might be of use. With the mayor’s curfew in place, most of the clubs and bars have shut down. You know that, right? Well, there’s an underground club opening in an old shop in the financial district this Saturday. The mayor knows it’s happening, but he’s done nothing about it.”
“If there’s nothing else open, it’s going to be packed. It’ll be a feeding ground for the Demon Child.”
“You got it.”
Chapter 13: Makeover
I’d managed to find out details from my contacts, got the address of the underground club and even the password you needed to get in. Partying had become complicated in this town.
Once I got ready, I headed to the vampire lair to pick up Kisho.
“You are not going out like that,” Nic said.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you never pick up a magazine or go on a website? Your whole look is so dated.”
My look was fine. It was me. Timeless and awesome.
“And you look a bit lumpy. Too many cakes.”
“Cakes? That’s not cake, that’s stake.” I grabbed the stake in my pocket to show him. “That’s weaponry. You don’t expect me to go into this unarmed.”
“Don’t wave that thing around near me.”
Ha, Nic backed off. That made me laugh.
“At least let me fix your makeup.”
I rolled my eyes.
“No way.”
He reached over to me as though about to whisper something in my ear. Instead, he ran his thumb over my eyelid, smudging my eyeliner.
“I have to fix it now,” he said.
I’d have whipped my stake back out and removed that self-satisfied grin from his face permanently if he wasn’t paying me.
What had my life become when I had a vampire giving me a makeover? I figured it was easier to go along with him than argue. I’d never been into that girlie sleepover thing when I’d been younger, so it was weird. He dragged me into the bathroom. The guy had more cosmetics than me. But then he was prettier than me, no denying that. He made me turn away from the mirror while he messed around with my face.
“How do you even use a mirror?”
“Special vampire mirrors. You don’t get a face like this without a mirror.”
Of course. I bet he got his money’s worth out of that mirror.
“You’re going to have to keep that horrible shade of lipstick, I guess, since I don’t have anything to fix it.”
“This lipstick is perfect on me. I’ve been wearing it for years.”
“Yeah, it might’ve been fine when you were younger, but that dark red is so aging. Humans have to be careful with those kinds of things. Also, do you never moisturize?”
I was pretty sure that teenage girl makeovers never got this bitchy. Or maybe they did. I’d seen Mean Girls.
Since I’d arrived, I hadn’t seen Kisho. I hoped he was getting ready and not tied up in the other room. I didn’t have much of a chance to look around because Nic kept grabbing my face and brushing over my skin. I had my eyes closed most of the time anyway.
When Nic finished, he spun me around, his arms draped over my shoulders, his mouth dangerously close to my ear. He could turn from being so effeminate to one hundred percent sex appeal in an instant. Bastard could feel my heartbeat quicken too.
“Open your eyes.” As he spoke, his breath tickled my ear.
I wasn’t sure if he’d just wanted to mess with me. If he’d really screwed up my face, I could redo it, I guess. It wasn’t like I could hunt the Demon Child looking like a fright.
When I looked in the mirror, though, he hadn’t been fooling around. He’d really ramped up my awesome. My eyes had a compelling intensity, and my face looked different.
“Admit it, you like it,” he said. He leaned in even closer, his chest pressing against my back.
“Huh?” I jumped away from him.
“The makeover.”
“Yeah, I realized that’s what you meant. It’s good. But, hell, I’m twenty-six years old, I’m way too old to be going to a club.”
“How do you think I feel?” said Kisho, walking into the bathroom. “I’m over three hundred years old. Clubbing is not my thing.”
I didn’t answer because my jaw hit the ground. Clubbing might not be his thing but, holy fuck, he was smoking. That tight t-shirt hugged his body and emphasized the width of his shoulders.
“He looks pretty, doesn’t he?” Nic said.
Pretty didn’t even come close. The eyeliner, the hair, the everything. And the way he filled out those pants.
Nic ran his hand down Kisho’s chest. My body echoed the quiver in Kisho’s, like he was touching us both.
“This is about the Demon Child, not fashion,” I said, shaking myself. I needed to get my mind on the job. These guys were just too distracting. “The plan is we get to the club, wait for the Demon Child to appear, then I stake him and we get the hell out of there and I go to bed and sleep.”
It all sounded so simple. So long as the Demon Child a
ppeared.
Kisho nodded.
I didn’t want to mention it, but staking vampires sometimes got me really hot, and if he wanted to share my bed, he’d be more than welcome.
I watched him. Who did he look at? Me or Nic? It was hard to tell.
“You’ve got the other stuff?” I asked.
I had the stakes. Kisho had an assortment of things to zap the Demon Child’s strength. Super-concentrated garlic, silver weapons and even the toenail of sea witch. I wasn’t sure about that toenail thing, but some people said it worked. It would’ve been much easier for me to take that stuff. If the bottles broke or there was some other accident, it’d zap Kisho rather than the Demon Child. But he was insistent on being useful.
“Sure you don’t want to come with us?” Kisho asked Nic.
I could see that Nic might be useful, but also a huge obstacle in my plans for Kisho, post-staking.
“I don’t pay her just so I can do the work myself.”
Chapter 14: Nightclub
We arrived at the club and joined the line. It seemed the news about the Soho hadn’t discouraged many of these kids. The mayor’s curfew hadn’t either.
The club, of course, was down a dark cobblestone alleyway lined with dumpsters. Luckily, it wasn’t summer, because that smell wasn’t exactly fresh. The line moved fast, though.
We had to go to a window and whisper the password. I waited for the girl to say I was far too old for their fun. She just took my money, though, and let me through. No one bothered checking us for weaponry either, thankfully.
Inside, music throbbed. It throbbed way too loud. The place was too dark too. All-black interior with flashing lights. I was definitely too old for this, but then it was business, not pleasure.
I grabbed Kisho by the hand and we headed for the dance floor. That’s where the Demon Child had struck last time, and hell, if I was going to be in a club, I wanted to be dancing.
I skirted my way through people, remembering why I hated going out so much. Compared to dealing with a bunch of drunk kids on the make, demons were so much easier. At least demons didn’t knock into you or spill drinks or try to make small talk you couldn’t hear over the thudding music.
