I never knew what that had meant. What game everyone was playing. It was the Powers That Be, mostly, and this curse they had put on my family. That was a game to them. But what was Erasmus’s part in it besides guarding the Booke and the Chosen Host?
Erasmus took his time answering me. Clearly, he wasn’t certain how to parse his answer. “She was created around the same time I was. Yes, I have known her for a very long time indeed.”
“As a…friend?”
He snorted. “Demons do not make friends with one another.”
“Lover then?”
He kept his eyes steady on the path ahead. “Why are you so curious?”
“Call it a human trait.”
“And a demon trait is to keep one’s own counsel.”
So that answered that. Stupid to assume that he hadn’t. He’d already admitted to other human liaisons…and what a little hypocrite I turned out to be. I was supposed to be dating Ed. Although his accusation that I’d hired a hitman to get at my ex kind of put a damper on that. Still. Like he’d said. He was only doing his job and his brother wouldn’t have had any other sane reason for beating up Jeff.
I sure focused on the dumbest things when I was nervous.
The GPS told me to make a turn up a dirt road that had turned muddy now after the rain. We slogged upward. When the phone told me it would be the next house on the right, I turned it off and stuffed it back into my pocket. Girding myself, I tightened my grip on the crossbow. It hadn’t armed itself. I wondered briefly if it would allow me to shoot people or if its aim was strictly for those of the supernatural variety.
It began to drizzle again, creating mist everywhere. Erasmus’s hair glittered with it, and my face felt each cold droplet like an ice pick to my cheeks. Ahead of us on the road, tall pines slanted inward, forming an arch. Beyond that, we turned to find a pond. I might have swayed toward it, but Erasmus’s hand gripped my wrist and tugged me back. It took a lot of willpower, but I tore my gaze away and looked instead at the dingy mobile home across the way. Paint peeled from its sides, and a few of the boards that covered the seams were warping away. A rickety stair led to the front door, surrounded by broken latticework. The glow of a TV shone through the window. Nothing stirred.
Beyond that was a barn so ancient it seemed to lean to one side. Its shingled roof sloped in the middle like the spine of a very old, broken-down horse. A faint light shone through the seams of the front doors. I motioned to Erasmus and he nodded, putting out a hand to stop me from going first. It was better if he took the lead. After all, he was the one who could see in the dark.
We crept up to the barn. I kept an eye on the house behind us, but all was still.
I shot a quick glance toward the dark pond and just as quickly turned away. It must have been the same as how an addict feels waiting for their next fix. I was hyperaware that the pond was near. So very near. And I really wanted to go over there, let the water cover me, fill my clothes, spill over my head…
“Kylie…” Erasmus hissed in my ear. “Don’t listen to it. Look ahead. Look at me.”
His eyes were like glowing beacons in the night. He drew me close. Was it my imagination when he dropped a kiss to my lips? For a moment, I forgot all about the water and the kelpie. Which was his plan. I snapped out of it with a gasp. “Thank you,” I whispered.
He didn’t glance at me again, but the muscle at his jaw strained.
“Look,” he said, pointing toward the slit in the door.
I pressed my face to the wet wood and, with one eye, looked through the seam between the doors. At first, I didn’t know what I was looking at. A weird glow, a shadowy figure. The glow wasn’t like the vortex we had seen before. It was nothing like it, in fact. And then the glow moved and I could clearly see the shape of a person inside it. That person slowly morphed into my grandfather!
I gasped and the shadowy figure turned toward the door.
“Come in, Kylie.”
That voice. Yup. She turned so that the glow from my…my grandfather’s ghost lit her. Leather catsuit, green streak in her long, dark hair, English accent…It was the other neighborhood demon.
I shoved the doors, and they swung open for me. “Shabiri, you bitch! What are you doing to my grandfather?”
“Kylie!” he cried. His voice was soft, distant. “Get out of here!”
Shabiri motioned with her hand and he couldn’t seem to speak anymore. He clutched at his nearly transparent throat with transparent hands and mouthed something to me.
“So nice to see you again, Kylie. Polite as always.”
I looked around. A dark barn, lots of junk. An old sofa probably inhabited by mice, a broken-down tractor beside an old car from the fifties with four flat tires and no windows, furniture tossed into a pile, and other things I couldn’t identify through the gloom.
A warm presence came up behind me. “How are you keeping the old man here, Shabiri?” asked Erasmus. “I didn’t think it possible to capture a spirit.”
“The things I know that you don’t could fill volumes…with you stuck in that precious book and all.”
He bristled. “Oh, you’d be surprised at the things I know,” he said smoothly. We all seemed to be circling one another.
“I would be surprised.” She smiled. Her sharp teeth suddenly looked normal again. “You being, well…you, Erasmus.”
“Let him go, Shabiri,” he insisted. “What could you possibly want with him?”
She glanced at her nails. “I suppose he has served his purpose.”
While they were engaged, I broke and ran for Grandpa.
Erasmus took a step toward me. “Kylie, no!”
As I neared my grandpa, the crossbow was suddenly yanked out of my hands. I twisted toward it, but before I could blink, Shabiri had it in her grip.
“Put it down.”
She smiled again, hefting it. “I don’t think so.”
“Kylie…” Erasmus’s voice stretched thin.
I knew I could get the crossbow back. I could feel its tug. I didn’t think she could keep it. But I was more worried about my grandfather. I reached out my hands, but there was nothing to touch. My fingers passed through him, ice cold. He still couldn’t speak, but up close, I could now discern the words he was mouthing:
It’s a trap!
“Erasmus…”
Suddenly, from all sides of the shadows, figures rushed forward. Solid hands closed over my arms. When I struggled, someone hit me across the face.
I shook the stars out of my eyes and stared at Doug. “You bastard!”
He struck me again, and boy! That hurt like a son of a bitch. No one had ever hit me before. The stars were more numerous this time and it took me more than a moment to shake them off.
Erasmus surged forward but stopped dead as if he had hit a wall. He looked down and then glared at Shabiri. I looked too. Salt. They had laid down a circle of salt around me. It didn’t affect me, my grandfather’s ghost, or the Ordo, but the demons couldn’t cross it, and neither, so it seemed, could my crossbow. A trap where Erasmus couldn’t save me, where Shabiri couldn’t interfere, but where the Ordo could do what they wanted. I was in real trouble.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Doug stood in front of me, fists closed and poised like a boxer. His goons Bob Willis and Dean Fitch each had me by an arm.
“Oh, real brave, Doug,” I managed to slur through a fat lip. “Two guys to hold the girl. You’re looking real good in front of your boys here.”
Nothing like the male ego. I saw it all work itself out on his face. “Let her go.”
Farmboy Bob on my right arm squeezed me tighter. “Doug, that wasn’t the plan, dude.”
“Let her go!”
Skinhead Dean released first and stepped back. He ran into the ghost and shivered. “Back off, old man.”
Grandpa didn’t seem to like his attitude or what he was doing to his granddaughter. As a ghost, I supposed he couldn’t do mu
ch, but he did what he could. He stepped right into Dean, which creeped him out good. He sprang away, slapping his body with his hands as if fending off bees.
“Damn, that’s nasty!”
Bob let go of my wrist, but he was the only thing holding me up. I sank to my knees. Great. Now what? I was still unarmed, still without demon help.
Doug crouched in front of me. “So here’s how it lies, little lady.”
“‘Little lady’? Really?”
Doug ignored me. “We want the book.”
I snorted a laugh. “I told you. It isn’t transferable. Didn’t you learn anything last time?”
“Yeah, well. Shabiri said you were lying.”
“And she’s Miss Reliable? Demons lie, dipshit. She wants control over Erasmus for some reason.”
Erasmus shot her a glare, and Miss Catsuit merely preened. “Hey Doug,” she purred. “She’s got that amulet. Maybe it would help if you took that from her.”
Doug smiled. “That’s right.” He lifted his own from a chain around his neck. The same sort of demon face as mine, tongue extended, twisting horns, and green eyes instead of the red of mine. “This has certainly come in handy. With your amulet and the book, we can finally get the party started.”
“What party? What has she told you? Didn’t summoning Baph—Goat Guy get you into enough trouble?”
His smile faded. “You need to zip it. I’ve got friends in higher places than her.” He reached for the chain around my neck. With a cry and the sudden smell of burnt flesh, he leapt back. He looked down at his blistered palm. “What the hell?”
“I guess your guru doesn’t know everything.” I staggered to my feet. “And the Booke is worse. You aren’t its master. If anything, it would master you. And it wouldn’t anyway because you aren’t part of my family. It’s a family curse, stupid. So all this planning was useless.”
“You think you know,” Doug growled, “but you don’t.”
“I know more than you. We’re leaving. And you are releasing my grandfather.”
“I don’t know,” he said, looking the ghost over. “I kind of like gramps hanging around in my barn.”
“How are you doing it? How are you keeping him here?”
There was a scramble. Sparks, smoke, growling. I didn’t know who leapt first, but Erasmus and Shabiri were rolling around on the floor, biting, scratching. She smashed him in the side of the head with the crossbow and he raised his hands to fend her off.
I was helpless, looking on from the salt circle, trapped in Doug’s strong grasp.
Shabiri leapt up and spun. She wound up her arm and a ball of fire with sparks of electricity crackled into existence. She heaved it at Erasmus, who batted it away with a smoldering hand. It exploded against the barn wall, shaking the rafters.
Baring his teeth, he growled, eyes glowing red and wild.
She hissed back, but when he waved his hand, she immediately sputtered and choked. Clutching her throat, she fell to her knees, gasping for air. Erasmus stalked forward and wrapped an arm around her neck. He pressed a single finger firmly to her temple, like it was a weapon. She screamed.
“Look for a charm pouch, Kylie,” he said. “They had to have used a spell and the pouch.”
Within the blink of an eye, she threw him off. He sailed across the room and landed hard on the floor. She shook off the vestiges of his magic and snarled. “Not so easily done, my dear Erasmus.” With one hand still clutching the crossbow, she curled the other into a claw and jabbed it toward him. He was struck with an invisible force that slammed him against the wall.
“Harridan!” he gasped between clenched teeth.
While they fought, I started searching the immediate vicinity for a small pouch.
“What makes you think I’ll let you have Grandpa back?” said Doug incredulously. He blew on his scorched hand, shaking it out.
“I’m not asking anymore,” I said with a sneer. Before he could stop me, I lunged for the salt circle and swept my hand through it, breaking the line. I held up my hand and the crossbow flew out of Shabiri’s grip and into mine. The crossbow armed itself and I swung it toward her.
“Where’s the charm pouch? Release my grandfather. Now.”
She folded her arms and cast her glance aside. “You haven’t got the guts to sh—Ow!”
I fired and the bolt hit her shoulder. I knew it wouldn’t kill, or at least figured it wouldn’t, since I’d also hit Erasmus not too long ago. But if it did kill, no tears here.
She stared at her shoulder and smoldered. Thick, sulfurous smoke rose from her. “You little tart.” She grabbed the bolt, twisted, and yanked. After she finally pulled it free, she heaved it to the ground. “That’s left a hole in my suit,” she said between gritted teeth.
“There are plenty more holes where that came from.” I aimed. The bolt she had thrown to the ground had appeared again, loaded and ready in the crossbow.
“Wait!”
“Free my grandfather.”
Shabiri looked a bit like a spoiled teenager at the mall, rolling her eyes with her hand on her hip. “What makes you think I know where the charm pouch is?”
“Lucky guess. Where?”
I felt coldness on my free shoulder and turned slightly. Grandpa smiled at me and pointed upward into the gloomy rafters. A pouch hung from a beam. “Erasmus, can you get that?”
“With pleasure.”
He disappeared and Shabiri chuckled. “She does have you on a short leash, doesn’t she, Erasmus?”
He appeared again beside her with the pouch in hand. “Shut up.” He held it aloft and crushed it. It burst into flame, falling to dusky embers between his fingers.
“Damn. That’s a relief.” Grandpa could speak again and he glided toward me, looking me over. “My girl. My big, precious girl! How you’ve grown.”
“Grandpa. Are you okay?”
“As good as a dead person can be, I suppose. I’m sorry you were lured here. I tried to tell them the book would do them no good…”
“She wanted it.” I lifted the crossbow toward Shabiri. Even wounded, she didn’t shrink from it. Her eyes just glared and glowed with green.
“A demon might be able to do something with it. I’m…not sure. As long as they aren’t the demon of the book. And speaking of…that must be him.” He was looking at Erasmus like someone examining a lab rat.
“Yes.”
Grandpa glided toward him. “If you touch my granddaughter…”
Shabiri yawned. “I’m afraid it’s far too late for that, old man.”
Grandpa looked at me. “What does she mean?”
“Oh dear, dear, dear,” said Shabiri. “Have I let the cat out of the bag? How careless of me. You’ve already shagged, haven’t you? Erasmus has that guilty look about him. He never could leave humans alone. Disgusting habit, really.” Shabiri slunk around Erasmus, almost touching him but not quite. “She’s sensitive about it, isn’t she? You didn’t make her fall in love, did you? Such a cad, Erasmus. I don’t suppose you told her about you and how this is going to end.”
Now it was Erasmus’s turn to smolder. I’d never seen so much smoke come from him.
I don’t know why I was defending him, but I hated the way she was speaking. “I know it probably won’t end well for me. I’m not stupid.” Maybe a few seconds before that, I really had my doubts, but as soon as the words left my mouth, I knew they were true. I was on a long, slow suicide mission. All my dreams were crumbling. What was the use of continuing the charade of running my shop as if nothing would happen? More than anything else, it pissed me off. That, at least, kept overwhelming terror at bay.
“Of course, darling, but did he tell you the rest? I’ll wager he hasn’t.”
Curls of smoke were puffing at regular intervals off Erasmus’s shoulders. “Keep your mouth shut, Shabiri, or I will shut it for you.”
“But this is delightful. You haven’t told her.”
I couldn�
��t help it. “Told me what?”
Erasmus rose up, spreading and widening like a black sail. His voice was ice. “HOLD YOUR TONGUE, CREATURE!”
She rose like him, her shoulders stretching into batwings on either side of her. The Ordo stepped back. “YOU DARE CALL ME A CREATURE, FOUL THING?” She laughed tightly. “Look at what you are. You can’t even run. You’re tied so tightly to the book and that monkey that you have become a laughing stock. I dare not even grace you with the name ‘demon.’”
They both hung like that for several heartbeats before Erasmus began to shrink. The fight seemed to have gone out of him. Maybe she was more right than he wanted to admit.
She shrank back more slowly. But before he could react, she slapped her claws to his chest and ripped his shirt open. There was that tattoo again, black and stark against his white skin. “Does she know what this is, what it means?”
“SHABIRI!”
“I know it means ‘assassin,’” I said.
“Oh, how charming. That’s the modern language, my dear. In the oldest of languages, it means—”
Erasmus punched her in the mouth. “I said shut it!”
She fell to the ground on her ass and I almost cheered aloud. But she sprang quickly to her high-heeled feet and postured toward him like a panther, shoulders leading. She wiped black blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. “You’re so crass, Erasmus. I’ll enjoy destroying you.”
“Many have tried. Just as many have failed.”
“But why so squeamish about your heritage, darling? Your birthright? Just tell the ugly little monkey. Have the bollocks to do that at least.”
“You don’t understand the book. You’ve never understood it.”
“I know that once I get it, I get you.”
“And you claim I don’t have the bollocks. Your useless attempts at revenge have led you here, on the leash of…these.” He waved his arm toward Doug and company.
She spared them a glance. “Everything in its season, my dear.”
“I hate to break this up,” I interrupted. I made a point of securing my hands on the crossbow, still aimed at Shabiri. “But I have a life to get on with.”
Deadly Rising Page 18
