by Devin Hanson
“That’s absurd,” I shook my head. “Why would he think that?”
Amat rolled a shoulder. “I cannot speak for him. This difference the two of you have will have to be settled eventually.” He shifted around and extended a hand toward Sam. “Detective Friday. I’m glad you survived. And you as well, Detective Moreno.”
Sam shook the offered hand. The automatic motions of social interaction seemed to pull him out of his shock. “You know my name?”
“We have kept a file on you ever since you were involved with the servitor. It is our business to know who fights against the evil in this world and who abets it.”
Lara straightened up and eyed Amat with barely concealed hostility. “Is it your business to murder as well? How many people died back there?”
“Killing in self defense is not murder,” Amat said easily. “If your SWAT had been there to do the shooting, you would be buying drinks, not making accusations.”
“SWAT would not have gunned down the innocent people in those vehicles!”
Amat’s grin vanished and he looked at Lara seriously. “I was under the impression that Alexandra had explained the situation to you. Those people were not innocents. Besides the fact that they were all doomed to death within a few weeks, not a single one of them would have been in their situation without having committed irredeemable sin. Your SWAT might not have done so, but it would have been a mistake.”
“Sin is not against the law,” Lara sputtered. “And certainly not worthy of the death penalty! Who are you, to be judge, jury and executioner? There is still law in this country!”
Amat looked at me, his brow furrowed in mild confusion. “Does she not know?”
“I’m right here, asshole,” Lara growled.
“Sorry, Amat. Lara has not been part of the recent discussions. There is a lot I have to catch her up on.”
Lara turned to me, her face darkened in fury. “You are a part of this too? You knew what would happen here?”
I shook my head and held up my hands placatingly. “How could I have known that? I didn’t even know where we were going until I arrived outside the front gate. Finding the Satanists here was purely coincidence. I understand you’re upset. I mean, I’m upset, and I understand what happened! But try to remember that Amat and his people just saved our lives. Give me the chance, and I will explain everything to you.”
Some of the anger faded from Lara’s face and she looked at Amat again. Stiffly, she gave him a single nod. “Thank you. Alexandra is right. You did save us back there.”
Amat accepted the acknowledgement with a seated bow. “It was our honor. I feel I can speak for the rest of the House when I say that we would do the same again.”
The back of the truck fell into an awkward silence after that, and we bounced along the narrow road at speed, only slowing when the lights of the office building came into view. We rolled to a stop in cloud of dust and Lara and Sam jumped down out of the truck.
“Don’t worry about us,” Amat nodded to me. “These know not to stop us. After this we are going to lie low for a while. Between the thralls and the police, we will have to be careful.”
I gave Amat a quick hug and a whispered, “Thanks,” before dropping off the tailgate. There were people standing about in tight knots, all eyes on Sam and Lara as they approached the superintendent.
Tovarrah drove off and I caught up with the detectives before they reached the super and his knot of people.
“What happened out there?” the super asked. He was an older gentleman with white hair and a bristling moustache. He was tall and fit, and he maintained an outward calm while still managing to convey a sense of command and urgency.
“Send a crew, and whatever medical equipment you have.” Lara started giving orders, and Sam drew me away with a hand on my elbow.
“We’re going to be at this all night,” he said grimly. “There has to be thirty bodies down at the dock. With that many dead, this is going to get complicated and fast. I’ll make sure Lara keeps things vague for now, but expect to answer questions tomorrow.”
“Sorry, Sam. I didn’t—”
Sam held up a hand, cutting me off. “You did nothing wrong. Remember that.” He gripped me by the shoulders for a moment and gave me a tight smile. “You should take off now while you can. Keep your phone on. I’ll call you when we need you to come in.”
I nodded and Sam shooed me away toward my scooter without letting me say anything else. I didn’t argue it. I was out of my depth here, and the idea of going back to the scene of the carnage made my stomach quail. I climbed on and got my helmet settled, then got off again to retrieve my gloves from the seat compartment. With the sun down, the cold wind would numb my hands in minutes.
“Ma’am?” I startled and turned, half-dropping to a crouch. One of the dock workers was standing behind me, his hands raised defensively. “Sorry! Didn’t mean to surprise you. The detective asked me to tell you that the gate will be opened for you when you get there. Just wave to the gatehouse.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. The dock worker nodded and hurried away. I got my scootered fired up, and I got the hell out of there.
Chapter Eighteen
I didn’t drop down to the speed limit until I was well within Long Beach and the last of the industrial buildings were long gone. My hands were starting to shake and I pulled into the next strip mall. It was Thursday night, and at 8:30, the city was still wide awake and moving.
I found a parking spot and killed the scooter, then just leaned on the handlebars and did my best not to cry. All the tension, fear, excitement and adrenaline of the last hour was still bottled up tight inside me and all of it came rolling out at once.
What the hell had we been thinking? Sam and Lara had naivete as an excuse, but I should have known better. Sure, let’s just wander into a known supernatural crime territory and flash badges. What’s the worst that could happen?
I pulled my helmet off and tilted my head back to stare up at the sky. Clouds were blocking out the stars, thick and heavy enough to promise rain. The breeze smelled of ocean salt, and was chilly enough to make me glad for my jacket. Somewhere down the strip mall, a door opened and the thump of a dance beat leaked out for a few seconds.
With sudden decision, I swung off my scooter and locked my helmet to the seat. Music meant a bar or a club. It was a Thursday night, so the number of men looking to score might be lower than normal, but I was desperate. I couldn’t let myself be caught vulnerable like that again. Sleeping with my friends wouldn’t end happily, so I had to find some other way to meet my needs.
The doorman at the club barely even looked at my ID before he waved me through with a bored expression. I tucked my ID away and walked into a haze of marijuana smoke and body odor. The house lights were turned down low, and there were a surprising number of people at the tables and grinding on each other on the dance floor.
I unzipped my jacket in the warm, humid air as I looked around. I needed a drink before I got down to my hunt. I made my way to the bar and edged between a couple of men somewhere around my age. I waved to get the attention of the harassed-looking bartender. “A beer, please. Something dark.”
She nodded and fished a bottle from under the counter and slid it across the counter. “Ten dollars.”
“I’ll get this round,” someone called from behind me. “Janie, put it on my tab?”
Janie shrugged and nodded. I turned to see who my benefactor was and smiled up at the guy. He was a few inches taller than me and was wearing a preppy sweater vest with glasses that were slipping to the tip of his nose. I lifted the cold bottle in a salute and I shouted my thanks.
“I’m Robby,” he yelled. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. “I haven’t seen you around here before!”
“Yeah, I’m just visiting.”
“You here for graduation?” He must have seen the confused look on my face. “Cal State Long Beach,” he tapped himself on the chest. “Just finished my last final. I’m goin
g to law school next year!”
I smiled politely. There was a steady flow of lust coming from the guy, but there was something… sheltered about him that turned me off. He kept talking, something about a family vacation in the Bahamas. I could barely hear him over the thump of the music. As soon as was polite, I turned him down and wandered through the club, sipping at my beer.
That wasn’t the kind of guy I wanted to have sex with. I needed someone possessed with a strong personality, someone who wouldn’t lose their mind. Robby, whatever his other qualities might be, just seemed emotionally frail. I had the feeling that if I slept with him even once, I’d wind up with another stalker.
I found my way to an empty table near the dance floor and sat, watching the people move around me. I drew eyes myself, but nobody found the nerve to sit down across from me. That suited me. I wasn’t nearly drunk enough yet to do any serious flirting.
It was amusing, watching the college students. Most of them were older than me by a few years, but they all seemed like children let out into the world for the first time unsupervised.
“This seat taken?”
I looked around and saw a tall, fit man with broad shoulders. He was cleanly shaven, with an unruly mop of brown curls on his head. I shook my head no and went back to watching the dancers. I kept an eye on him from the side, curious if he was going to try flirting with me, or if he was just looking to take the weight of his feet.
The more I looked, the more I liked what I saw. He wasn’t handsome, but he also wasn’t hard on the eyes. He had definition in the muscles in his forearms, and I could see the swell of more muscle in his shoulders. He had the upright bearing of an athlete and he was drinking sparkling water.
That last made me curious enough to say something. “Not celebrating?” I called over the music.
“To the end of the easy life!” he called back and saluted me with his drink. “I guess that’s worth celebrating, right?”
I grinned. “Not happy to be done with learning?”
He grimaced a little. “I just finished a degree in robotic engineering. My schooling is only beginning.”
That sounded way too nerdy to fit the body beneath that polo shirt. “How does a robotic engineer stay in shape? I thought the whole point was to get the robots to do the work for you?”
He quirked the side of his mouth up. “I’d be thrown out of the volleyball league if they caught me substituting a robot.”
“Volleyball?” In high school, that had been a girl’s sport. I had played a few games, but I was too short to be any good. Being six foot five like this guy would definitely give an advantage at the net.
“Don’t knock it,” he said cheerfully. “Though now that my last year is over, maybe I can join a new league that isn’t so strict on who plays. What about yourself?”
“Oh, I’m not a student.”
That made him swivel around in his chair and face me fully for the first time. “Oh really? A professional!”
“That might be going too far,” I shook my head and laughed. “I make ends meet. Most of the time.”
“Doing what? If you don’t mind me asking.”
I shrugged. “I’m a PI. A pri—”
“A private investigator?” His eyebrows rose. “You’re young for that work, aren’t you?”
“I got started early,” I said shortly. I didn’t particularly want to talk about myself. There were too many avenues of conversation that would lead into difficult territory. “What about yourself? Any job prospects now that you’re a free man?”
He gave me that half-smile again. “Maybe. JPL is head-hunting, but who knows if that will go anywhere. I might end up like my old man, fixing cars while my degree gathers dust until it’s worthless.”
“Not a lot of work for robotics? I would have thought that was a booming field.”
“Oh, there’s plenty of work. I could get a job in ten minutes making smart homes. You know, automated thermostats and ovens that send updates to your phone. I just think I’d slit my wrists from boredom after a year if I did that.”
I winced in sympathy. “Believe it or not, same thing goes for being a PI. I could be making bank hunting down cheating husbands. I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”
“I’ll drink to that,” he said. “To finding worthwhile work!”
I clinked my beer bottle against his sparkling water and took a swig. “I’m Alex,” I said.
“Jason. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little tired of yelling. Want to get some air?”
I eyed the last two inches of my beer and decided I didn’t need to be drunk to keep talking with Jason. He had personality in spades. “Lead the way.”
I tossed my unfinished bottle in the trash and walked out into the cold air with Jason. My initial estimate on his height was off. He was more like six foot seven, tall enough that he had to duck to get out of the doorway. Most extremely tall men I knew were gangly, uncoordinated and all but tripping over themselves. Jason, on the other hand, moved like a hunting cat, all precision of motion and casual strength. Out in the open, the street lights gave me a clear look at Jason’s face and I checked the sides of his nose. They were smooth; despite his height, he was human.
I took a deep breath of the ocean breeze. I had only drunk a little over half of my beer, but it had been on an empty stomach. I wasn’t much of a drinker, and I was feeling the alcohol.
“I could hardly hear myself think in there,” Jason sighed.
“Not a big partier?”
He scoffed. “Between studying for double majors and practice for the team, I barely had time to shit without a book on my knee. You aren’t working, are you? Am I pulling you away from something?”
I glanced north toward the distant docks before shaking my head. “All done working for the night. I was looking to unwind.”
“That’s lucky. I was doing the same. Just not doing a very good job of it. I hate to admit it, but I’m more at home tinkering at my workbench than socializing over alcohol. Thanks for giving me an excuse to get out of there.”
I grinned. “No problem. So, volleyball, huh? I don’t think I’ve ever seen guys play that sport.”
“If the season was still going, I’d invite you to watch a game. I like it.”
“I bet. Do the other guys get stilts to make it fair, or are all of you that tall?”
He laughed. “Most of us are tall. The tallest get pulled into basketball, but I never liked that sport. Too sweaty, too violent. Too much running.”
I didn’t have the budget to afford cable tv, so my exposure to professional sports was in bits and pieces. I had never heard basketball be described as violent, though. Before I could follow up, my stomach growled and I glanced down at it, embarrassed.
“Hungry?”
The last meal I had had was a salad with Sam for lunch. “Starving,” I admitted. “I don’t suppose you want to grab a bite?”
“There’s a great taco place a block from here.”
“Sold.”
Jason’s taco join turned out to specialize in fish tacos. Unsurprising this close to the ocean, but after watching Beard wolf down hundreds of them, I don’t think I’d willingly eat them for years to come. Fortunately, they also served chili fries. After hearing my order, Jason changed his mind and got the same.
We found a booth in the corner and spent a pleasant hour talking and exchanging funny stories. Jason was impressed to learn I was contracting with the police, and I got a very basic understanding of what went into being a robotics engineer.
It was one of the best dates I had ever been on.
The restaurant closed and the owner chased us out at ten. I had taken my jacket off inside, but the night had gotten even colder while we ate. I pulled it back on and zipped it closed.
“Are you staying somewhere nearby?” Jason asked.
I abruptly remembered about the ghoul. It would be hunting me tonight. There was no way I could go back to my house. “I live on the other
side of LA, but, it’s, ah, being fumigated. Termites.”
“Bummer. Well, I’d invite you back to my place, but I share a room. I kind of doubt Tim would appreciate us waking him up.” For the first time that night, Jason’s eyes traveled up and down my body. “Then again, maybe he wouldn’t complain.”
There had been a low undertone of lust coming from Jason ever since he started talking to me, but that was normal from any man I was talking to. The sudden spike in energy told me he had just thought about having sex with me.
“Thanks, I’ll pass. I was going to get a hotel room anyway.”
“If you want to stay somewhere nearby, there’s a Travelodge a block west of here. My folks stayed there once while visiting. It’s decent enough.”
I leaned out into the road and saw the Travelodge sign down the street where Jason had indicated. I bit my lip and looked up at him. “Want to show me where it is? So I don’t get lost?”
By the time I paid for the room and got the door open, lust was rolling off Jason in waves. I had gone into the club hunting for lust, but Jason was looking to be more than just a lay. He was smart, funny, and had depth of personality and emotional stability. My succubus side was rejoicing at the find, but so was my human side. Jason wasn’t the only one ready… no, eager, to get started.
I zipped open my jacket and started peeling it off. Before I could get the leather past my shoulders, Jason stepped in close and bent his head down to kiss me. I tasted the slight tang of lemonade on his lips as his hands slid down over my ass. I arched my back, pressing my chest into his as his fingers dug into me, then gasped in surprise as he lifted me effortlessly off the ground.
My arms were still trapped in my jacket, so I wrapped my legs around his waist and leaned into him, feverishly returning his kiss. Jason wrapped one arm under my butt, supporting my weight. With his free hand, he nudged the door closed.
I didn’t weigh a lot; a hundred pounds, plus some spare change. Even so, I had never had a man hold me in the air with such ease. I managed to wriggle the rest of the way out of my jacket and flung it to the side. I ran my nails up the back of Jason’s scalp and tangled my hands in his hair.
