California Demon: The Secret Life of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom

by Julie Kenner

  Worse, my pistol was empty. I tossed the useless thing aside, pulled another knife from my belt, and rushed in to do battle with Cool.

  He’d retreated into the far corner, and his incantations were louder and faster. If he finished—if he drew out the Tartarus demons—David and I would be dead meat. So, I figured, would most of San Diablo.

  His legs were thick and powerful, like an animal’s, and while he held the tablet aloft, he kicked at me, the powerful thrusts forcing me backwards toward the book and the Tartarus demons.

  I lashed out with the knife, managing to inflict a deep wound, but paying the price when he kicked the knife out of my hand, then landed a solid kick to my ribs, sending me flying.

  I landed a few feet from the book, near where Allie and JoAnn had been. Troy, I saw, was gone, having slipped through the far exit. I imagined he was out of the museum right now, running as fast as he could away from this place.

  I forced myself not to go after him and punish him for the hell he’d put my daughter through. The threat was still here, and powerful. And if I didn’t stop it, Allie would be living a far worse hell very soon.

  A few feet away, the Tartarus demon continued to fight his way out. My entire body ached as I crawled toward it, then tried to slam the book shut. I couldn’t make it budge.

  The claw reached for me, and I jerked back. The demon was still partially in Hell. If he caught hold of me, could he suck me back in with him?

  “Kate!”

  David’s sharp yell cut through the cacophony and had my blood running cold. I rolled over to see David on the floor. The marble tiles were slick with holy water, and as he tried to find purchase to push himself up, Creasley was coming at him, knife at the ready.

  “Cane!”

  I searched, found it beside me, then slid it across the floor toward David even as Creasley leaped for his attack.

  He caught it just in time, running his hand down to knock off the rubber tap at the bottom to reveal a steel point. As Creasley’s knife descended, David slammed the cane up, that lethal point sinking deep into Creasley’s eye.

  The demon escaped to the ether, and the body sagged to the ground. With only one demon left, only one Tartarus demon could escape. That, however, was one too many.

  I didn’t bother waiting for David; I clambered to my feet and raced back toward Asmodeus. The Tartarus demon’s shoulders were out of the book now, and a puddle of slime was forming on the floor around where he emerged. Soon, he’d be out. And the only foolproof way to stop him was to stop the incantation.

  To do that, we needed to kill Asmodeus.

  The demon loomed before us, having gained height and bulk as he shed his human form. Open sores oozed with greenish pus and the stench he emanated was almost unbearable. I told myself this was a good thing. A revealed demon is a vulnerable demon. Never mind that he’s also a damn strong demon. So long as he stayed outside the human shell, he could be killed. And somehow, David and I were going to do just that.

  I rushed in, knowing the move was risky, but needing to land a blow. More, needing the demon to shut up—to stop the incantation. I didn’t bother with fancy moves. Instead, I just lunged, burying my last knife in his midsection.

  He screamed in pain, one thick leg shooting out to knock me backwards, even as his arms continued to hold the tablets aloft. I landed near Brent’s unconscious form, breathless, my knife still stuck in the demon’s thick hide.

  I’d stopped the incantation, though. For at least a few seconds, I’d slowed the release of Hell upon the earth.

  David bought us a few more seconds, rushing into the fray even as I climbed to my feet. I’d lost all three of my knives, and now I looked around for something to use as a weapon. I saw my stiletto shining on the far side of the room, no longer buried in Troy’s flesh. I started to dive for it, but stopped when I heard the familiar voice call my name.

  “Yo! Katie-girl. Over here!”

  I spun, handily catching the super-squirter water pistol that Eddie tossed to me. I hooked the strap over my shoulder, then held up my hand for the sheathed sword that came next.

  Only then did I see that Eddie was armed with a squirter of his own. “Now get that son of a bitch.”

  He aimed and fired, rushing toward the demon with more speed than I would have thought him capable of. As the holy water fired by Eddie cut pus-filled paths on the demon, David and I attacked those vulnerable spots with our weapons.

  “The tablet!” I yelled. “It’s not the book, it’s the tablet!”

  But try as we might, we couldn’t get to it.

  We kept at it until both Eddie and I had emptied the pistols. The incantation had slowed, but the demon was far from defeated. He was huge, vile, and strong as hell. In a nutshell, we were screwed.

  I honestly didn’t think it could get any worse.

  Of course, it did.

  “I’ll kill her!” Troy’s voice filled the room, and I spun around to see my daughter standing terrified, a knife seemingly floating in space pressed tight against her throat. “You let him finish!” the invisible boy shouted. “This is mine! And you can’t take it away from me!”

  “Hold on there, boy,” Eddie said, refilling his squirter from an opaque jug even as Asmodeus started back up with the incantation.

  I kept my eyes on Allie, but took a tentative step toward the demon.

  “Don’t!” Troy called. “I’ll do it, I will.”

  And I believed him. I’d heard that wild hysteria before. The maniacal timbre in the voice of a human who’d been promised wondrous, horrible things. I believed him, and I froze. And if that meant that a demon from Tartarus would be loosed upon the world, then so be it. But I wasn’t going to risk my daughter’s life just to keep them in Hell.

  Beside me, David stood just as still, his face frozen in a mask of fear and determination.

  He turned his head slowly, then mouthed a single word to me: Listen.

  I frowned. Listen to what? The incantation? The boy?

  “Finish!” Troy yelled to Asmodeus. “Finish and give me my reward!”

  The demon ignored him, never breaking from his chant. And as he chanted, Troy started to reappear. His form fading in and out like poor television reception.

  “It’s happening, Troy,” I said. “Listen to me. Believe me. You’re becoming visible because he’s abandoning you. That demon on the floor is going to take your place, and you’re going to be sucked straight into Hell.”

  “You lie,” he hissed, his revealed face now contorted in pain.

  I looked to David to help me out here—to try to convince the boy—but he had his head down and was praying. “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with you . . .”

  I stared. He was praying the Hail Mary? Did that mean—?

  A keening wail rose behind me, and I turned to see the demon almost fully emerged from the book. He rocked back on his haunches, black shark eyes aimed toward the ceiling, and his mouth open to release the sounds of torment in Hell. Only a tail remained in the book, just a tiny bit of flesh restraining him from fully entering our world.

  I caught Allie’s eye, saw both bravery and fear.

  “Let her go, you screwed up little pup of a boy.” Eddie’s voice rang out, filling the room. He held his super squirter at the ready.

  “Eddie!” I screamed.

  “Idiot!” howled Troy. “You think that holy water’s going to do any good against me?”

  “Why not?” Eddie said. “You’re practically demonic.”

  And as Troy laughed, Eddie fired. And then, to my complete amazement, Troy screamed out in pain. Allie didn’t waste any time, breaking free from his hold even before I could scream her name.

  “Ha!” I heard Eddie say as Allie started demonstrating some of Cutter’s more brutal moves on Troy. “Hot sauce. Gets ’em every time.”

  I’d spun around, and was about to leap on Asmodeus. I had no weapon, but I also had no choice. I had to shut him up. Had to stop that damned incantation.


  Before I could leap, though, David cried out for me. “Katie,” he called, the tone and inflection of his voice so familiar it ripped my heart in two. “Now!”

  I didn’t think. I couldn’t. I just heard his earlier Hail Mary prayer in my head and saw now that he was looking up toward the light fixture and the caged, fluorescent black light.

  The Tartarus demon was almost free, and I ran toward David as if the devil himself were chasing me. In a way, I guess he was.

  If I was wrong, we’d crash and burn and the demon would be free. If I was right, we might—might—have a chance.

  I prayed I was right. And as David grabbed me by the waist and tossed me into the air, I knew my prayers had been answered.

  I grabbed the cage and swung out, kicking my legs and praying. Praying hard.

  Below me, David thrust his cane into the belly of the beast, distracting Asmodeus from what I was doing. And, thank God, it worked. Yes, the demon reared his head back and saw me. But by that time, it was too late. My foot connected with the tablet, and it went flying, landing on the hard marble floor and shattering on impact.

  A column of fire shot up from the book, then spun like a whirlwind of fire and damnation before being sucked back down with a whoosh into the pages, taking the nearly released Tartarus demon back down with it.

  Asmodeus howled in frustration and anger, his clawed hand finding my leg and yanking me free from my precarious grip on the light fixture.

  While one hand held my leg, the other grasped my head, and I knew without a doubt that he was about to rip me in two.

  I heard Allie scream for me, and below, I saw David swing the sword, and I knew he was aiming to throw it, aiming to cut off the demon’s head.

  I didn’t even have time to pray before the blade was released, flying through the sky toward my captor’s neck.

  And then, suddenly, I was falling.

  I landed with a thud on the ground, then rolled over quickly, expecting to see an oily stain of bile marking the demon’s remains.

  Instead, I saw Cool.

  The demon had changed back at the last minute, transforming out of his vulnerable state. He was on the ground, as shocked and breathless as I. But not for long. I threw myself on him, and before he could gather the strength to toss me off, I grabbed one of the shards from the broken tablet, and jammed it right into his eye.

  The demon left in a puff and I fell backwards onto the floor, with barely enough energy to call for my daughter.

  She was at my side in an instant. “What’s happening, what’s happening?” She repeated the question, over and over, as I stroked her hair and told her, “It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s over. It’s okay.”

  We held each other like that, rocking and crying until we couldn’t stand it anymore.

  “Come on, kiddo,” I finally said, pressing my hands to her cheeks and looking into her eyes. “Let’s go. It’s over. It’s finally over.”

  Except it wasn’t over. Not really. In fact, if anything, I think it was just the beginning.

  Afterward, We stood in the flashing lights from a dozen police cars and told our story to the officers who were trying to make sense of what happened. Brent and Troy had been hauled away, arrested on charges of kidnapping, with more charges—related to the drug cult David and I had hinted at—sure to come.

  JoAnn had been taken to the hospital, unable to remember anything past leaving the beach with the boys. The paramedics assured her and Marissa that her memory would return. I had to wonder, though. In my experience, when an encounter with a demon creates hysterical amnesia, the mind usually stays blank. Frankly, I think that’s a good thing.

  Marissa rode in the ambulance to the hospital, and I promised to drive her car back to my house. She’d nodded a quick thank-you, then wiped away the tears that had battled through her defenses. Then she’d reached over and hugged me. Tight.

  I didn’t ask, but I had a feeling that marker I owed her had been satisfied.

  We’d had very little time to talk before the police arrived, but the story David and I had come up with was that we’d learned that the boys were involved in some weird cult rituals. When we learned they’d taken Allie and JoAnn, we’d gone after them. We probably should have called the police right away, but we weren’t thinking clearly.

  So far, at least, the police seemed to be buying it.

  My daughter, though . . .

  She’d seen enough to know that our story didn’t quite match reality. So far, we hadn’t had the chance to talk, and I still wasn’t sure what I was going to tell her. About me, or about what happened in the museum. I wanted to protect her from the truth, but sometimes you have to take the blinders off and let your kids see reality.

  I’d reached that point with Allie. It was time she knew the truth about my life. It was, after all, her life, too.

  I looked over to where she was talking with David and shivered, wondering suddenly about my own definition of truth. The Hail Mary maneuver. The tone of his voice. His urgent cry of Katie in that oh, so familiar voice.

  I brushed away a tear. I’d learned a few truths today, too. Of that, I was certain. But I wasn’t at all certain what I was going to do about it.

  And what, I wondered, was he talking about with Allie? I took a step that direction, my stomach tight as I thought about the things David could be telling her. But I was held back by the gentle press of a hand on my shoulder.

  “Hold off there,” Eddie said.

  “But he might—”

  “Won’t do it,” Eddie said. “Do you really believe he’ll tell the girl anything you don’t want her to know?”

  I thought about that, relaxing a bit when I realized that Eddie was right. Whatever his name, the man she was talking to would never do an end run around me. For better or for worse, with regard to matters demonic, I was the only parent Allie had. And the decisions to be made were mine alone.

  I squared my shoulders and joined them. Allie immediately sagged against me. David gave her a quick hug, then aimed a smile my direction. “I’ll let you two talk,” he said, then stepped away.

  “Wait!”

  He turned back, a question in his eyes. I didn’t want to leave Allie’s side, but I had to talk to him. “Allie, I need to—”

  “I’m gonna sit,” she said, then moved to the steps. I watched her for a second, then turned back to face David, not sure what I wanted to say, or what I wanted to hear.

  “Kate?”

  “That move,” I blurted. “The Hail Mary. How did you know?”

  He studied my face. “Eric told me,” he finally said. He looked away, focusing on something over my shoulder. “I’d forgotten, but your crash landing at Cutter’s reminded me.”

  “That’s it?” I didn’t believe him. Not for a minute.

  He looked me in the eye. “Is there some other answer you’d prefer?”

  My breath hitched in my throat as I thought about that. Thought about my life and my husband and my little boy. One word, and my family would change forever. That wasn’t a decision I could make. Not right then. Maybe not ever.

  “No,” I said, my voice thick with tears. “Thank you.”

  His smile was warm, but his eyes were sad. “Anytime, Katie-kins.”

  He turned away then, leaving me shaky and not at all sure I’d done the right thing.

  I took a deep breath to steady myself, then turned and walked to Allie. “I’m sorry I snuck out,” she whispered. “Am I grounded?”

  “We’ll talk about it later,” I said, baffled by the wonders of the teenage mind. Everything that had happened over the last few hours, and she was worried about being grounded?

  She nodded, apparently satisfied, then tugged at a loose thread on the knee of her jeans. “So, where’s Stuart?”

  “They’re sending a patrol car for him. He sounded too freaked out on the phone. I didn’t want him driving.” I’d also wanted to buy a few extra minutes, but I really had been worried. I could just see the pileup
on the highway from Stuart breaking every traffic law to get to us.

  “Oh.” The thread came loose, and she wrapped it around her index finger, cutting off the circulation until the tip turned pink. “So he’ll be a little while getting here?”

  I looked at my watch. “Probably a few minutes more.” I asked her why, but, honestly, I didn’t really need to.

  She lifted a shoulder. “I dunno. So, like, do you remember that conversation we had on the way to Los Angeles? The one about secrets?”

  Even though I’d been expecting it, I stiffened. “Yeah, baby. I remember.”

  “I think you’ve got some secrets, too, Mom,” she said, looking me in the eye for only an instant before dropping her gaze back down to her hands. “Do you?”

  I drew in a breath, let it out. “Yes, Allie. I have a few.”

  She nodded slowly, as if considering that. And this time when she looked at me, her gaze didn’t waver. “Well, then, Mom, I think it’s time. I think it’s time for you to tell me your secrets.”

  “Yeah,” I said, feeling surprisingly giddy as I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “It is.”

  Turn the page for a preview of the next adventure of

  Kate Connor, suburban housewife—

  fighting on the front lines of the battle

  between good and evil!

  Demons Are Forever

  Confessions Of A Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom

  Available from Berkley Books!

  l killed my first demon at the ripe old age of fourteen. Stabbed it through the eye with an ivory-handled stiletto that had been a birthday gift from my caretaker and mentor, Father Lorenzo Corletti.

  I had spent two days tracking the demon, living on the filthy backstreets of a poverty-riddled Italian village, eating nothing but the scraps I’d tucked away in a threadbare knapsack. I had one companion—a boy I adored and whom, in fact, I later married. But teenage lust was the furthest thing from my mind during those long days. Demon hunting is serious business, and I was a serious girl.