by Jen Pretty
“Back to the topic at hand, should you require any assistance with your gargoyle problem, please do not hesitate to contact me. Julian informed me you do not have a cell phone-” he looked out the glass window toward the busy working bees and waved his hand. Elaine came hustling in, her pumps clicking on the tiled floor, and set a cell phone in front of me. “-Elaine programed in my number, so you may call me whenever you please. For this business or any other business, you might wish to discuss with me.” His creepy eyes were boring holes into my face.
“Yeah, okay, thanks.” I tucked the cell phone in my pocket. “Okay, swell, I should get going.”
“Oh. One more thing. Julian won't be able to assist you any longer. I require his help with another task.”
I glanced at Julian, and his jaw ticked. “Okay.” I stood up. I wanted to get the heck out of there. Julian’s eyes followed my movement, and I could somehow sense he was super pissed about this turn of events, but since he was fake Julian right now, he said nothing.
“The limo is yours to use while you are in town.” I waved over my shoulder. No way was I turning around again. Freaking half-demon drama. That's what this was.
Nicholas walked beside me and stepped on to the elevator. I turned to say something to him, but he put his finger to his lip in the universal signal for shut your pie hole, so I did.
We passed through the foyer and onto the street. “Okay, now you are safe to talk,” he said.
“That was creepy,” I said.
He nodded his head. The limo pulled up, and Nicholas opened the door, ushering me in. Apparently, the driver only gave special treatment to Julian.
“Bloomington and River Street,” Nickolas told the driver.
I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
“I live in this city. You can chill at my place till we come up with a plan.”
Sure. Just wander off with this guy I just met to some unknown location. At least I'm doing it in a limo. I’m sure bad guys only drive white cube vans.
“So, a demon possessed you?” I asked to break the ice.
“Yup.” Silence descended again. He rolled his head back and closed his eyes.
“How long ago?” I asked, trying again.
“Fourteen years ago.” He didn't bother to open his eyes this time.
“Holy shit. You can’t be much older than me,” he leaned forward in his seat to look at me.
“I was 10 when a demon possessed me. You know most people continue with their lives after being possessed?”
I nodded. Unfortunately, I was not one of the lucky ones. Thanks, Lincoln.
“My parents gave me up to the state when I went crazy,” he continued. “They couldn't handle it. So, after a sculptor exorcized me and could run fast, he adopted me and made me into a hunter. Can I have a nap now? I was up all night.”
His story was scary-similar to mine.
“Where were you? I thought you worked in this city?”
He let out a long-suffering sigh. “I was helping out with a high-speed shithead in Mississippi. They have all their gargoyles, but this one was a prick and they couldn't catch him. I’m surprised no one has called on you to travel to their city. It would have helped me out if you shared the workload.”
“Well, I had a job.”
“We all have a job,” he said.
“No, in a pizza shop. I couldn't just go running off.”
He stared at me for a minute, but the car slowed and then stopped. I looked away from him to see our surroundings. We were in front of a huge warehouse. I glanced back to him, and he was still staring at me like there was something wrong with me and he couldn't quite figure out what it was.
“What?” I asked.
He shook his head and slid over to open the door. I followed him out, scooping my net up off the floor of the limo. I was thankful nobody stole it while I was up talking to the winged dude, and the sounds of ships and the smell of the river filled my senses. The warehouse was a big grey box behind a wire fence. Nicholas pressed some buttons on a box beside the gate, and it slowly rolled open. I followed him across the paved parking lot. It was wide enough to turn a transport truck around in. He led me toward a main door on the far corner of the structure. The wind coming off the water and sweeping across the open area was cold and brought sand with it. I closed my eyes and turned my head away from the wind, but still got sand in my mouth. The gross nasty crunch of my teeth made me want to vomit. There was nothing worse than sand in your teeth. We reached the door and I followed Nicholas through.
Inside was not what I had been expecting. A dozen people were sitting before stones carving with hand tools and power tools. There was a rigging hanging from the ceiling that was lifting a big stone gargoyle across the space. Most gargoyles that size couldn't move. The sculptors used the biggest ones for powerful demons.
Nicholas crossed the room, waving at anyone who wasn't completely engrossed in their work and I hurried to follow him. He climbed a set of steel stairs that looked like it led to an office, but beyond the door at the top was a silent oasis. No grinders were screaming, or hammers chiseling. Just silence. I wondered if I could get whatever he used here for my bedroom back home. Never waking up to Lincoln’s early morning work would be amazing.
“So, tell me about this demon power you gained from your second possession,” Nicholas said, turning on me.
“Oh, well, I froze a gargoyle. It hurt like the fires of hell.”
He snorted. “That’s a neat trick.” He stared at me like he was trying to do math in his head. “Hand me the phone that Collin gave you.”
I took the new shiny cell phone out of my pocket. It was a smartphone. I heard they could do all kinds of things, but I never needed one in my town. I could have thrown a stone and hit home from anywhere in town. Well, if I was a better thrower. I handed the phone to Nicholas, and he marched over to the door, opened it and chucked it down the steel stairs to the cement floor of the warehouse. I heard it break into pieces.
“Hey, why did you do that?” I asked, mourning the fancy phone I had for less than an hour. “I had planned to download that brick-breaking game that everyone is always talking about.”
“There is a full demon loose in the city.”
“Pardon me?” He couldn't mean what I thought he meant.
“I mean, there is a demon. Not a possessed human, but a demon from hell hiding somewhere in New York. He is the reason the gargoyles are acting strange, and Collin is messing around. He knows about it.”
“How do you know about it? You were in Timbuktu or something,” I said.
Nicholas laughed and crossed the room to fall on the couch. “I was here the whole time, but underground trying to figure out what was happening. Collin has ears everywhere except this room and the underground.”
“Where is the underground?”
He looked at me like I was stupid. “Under the ground.”
I looked at him like I was stupid because maybe I was. “Like mole people?”
“No, Harlow, like in the subway. That’s where the half-demons who don't want to be under his control live, and that’s where we will find the solution to this problem.”
“Shit.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I tripped over the area rug, and sort of fell into an overstuffed couch that was sitting opposite the one Nicholas was on. “So, a demon. Like horns and wings and scales?”
“Yup, just like that.” Nicholas stretched out on the couch, and my eyes searched the room as I mulled over what he said. There was only one window, it looked out over the river, but there were other rooms up here. A hall led to what I assumed were bedrooms if Nicholas lived here.
“How do we stop him?” I asked.
Nicholas raised his shoulders in a shrug. Great. Helpful.
“I need to use your phone,” I said.
“You can’t call Julian. I don't know what's going on between you two, but he is just as bad as his boss.”
I remembered Julian's word
s before we met Collin the first time. He said to remember he was good. I snorted a laugh. Good, huh? Sure.
“I want to call my sculptor back home.”
Nicholas reached in his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. He tossed it at me, but I caught it. That was one skill I had — catching things. Lincoln knew stuff he hadn't told me and I hoped he had insight into this. I had to call three times before he answered.
“Yeah,” his thick voice said across the line, and I was immediately homesick.
“Hey, It’s me. I need to ask you something.” I hoped he wasn’t around anyone else. Sometimes he went to AA meetings or recovering addicts’ groups to make sure none of them were recovering from demonic possession and spilling the beans about their time possessed. It was a weird hobby, but his other hobby was carving gargoyles, so there is no telling from the taste. Maybe he went for the cheese tray.
“Sure, Har, what’s up?” he said, his accent thick.
“There is a demon here,” I said. The line was silent for so long I thought he hung up. I looked at the phone, and it seemed to be working. “Linc?”
“Yeah, Harlow. I’m here. Listen, if there is a demon there, maybe you should leave.”
“Are you serious? Who will stop the demon?”
Linc sighed and cursed under his breath. “Yeah, I guess you're right. You are probably the only one who can stop a demon now. Just be careful, okay?”
“How can I stop a demon?” I asked him.
“You need a sculptor stone and a lot of luck. Demons are hard to trap because they move so fast and they are nasty bastards, Har. Just be careful and come home soon. Preferably in one piece.”
“OK, Linc. I will.” I hung up the call, and Nicholas threw something at me. It was a sculptor’s stone. I looked back at him. “Do you have one?” He dug under the neck of his t-shirt and produced a stone and a bunch of amulets just like mine — all tangled and twisted.
I slid the new necklace over my head. The stone was heavy and cold against my skin when I tucked it under my shirt.
“So, we chase him down?” I asked.
Nicholas turned and lay down on the couch, his feet up on the arm. “Tomorrow. For now, we sleep.”
He lay perfectly still. I curled up on the comfy couch and closed my eyes. I was restless even though I felt exhausted. Nicholas’ chest rose and fell in a quiet rhythm for a long time before I finally fell asleep.
I startled awake and tumbled off the couch with an ‘oof.’ I lay on the floor and groaned for a moment, but the smell of pizza helped with my recovery. I pushed myself up and back onto the couch to the sound of masculine chuckles behind me. I ignored it and curled back into a small ball, trying to get heat going. My body felt cold now, like arctic-cold. I shivered and rubbed my arms trying to bring the heat back.
The smells of pizza grew stronger as Nicholas set a plate down on the coffee table in front of me. “What's wrong with you?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I’m freezing,” I said through my chattering teeth.
“Shit,” he replied and ran down the hall. He came back carrying a big blanket. “Are you in shock?” He spread the blanket on top of me, but it felt cold too. I wasn’t making any heat.
“I don’t… think so.” I clenched the blanket tight around my face, and Nicholas’ hands rubbed up and down my back. I was shivering in spasms that grew further and further apart.
“Here, eat this. Maybe you have low blood sugar or something.” I took a bite of the pizza and felt better. The gooey cheese reminded me of Len back home, and my homesickness grew. I fought back a tear and just ate my feelings. By the time I had finished three slices of pizza, I felt almost normal. It must have been a lack of food.
“How long was I asleep?” I asked.
“About 17 hours. It's noon.”
Holy shit. I had never slept that long in my life.
“I wouldn’t have woken you if I knew it would mess you up,” Nicholas said looking at me from where he sat on the coffee table.
“I haven’t eaten since yesterday morning.” That was a mistake. One I never planned to repeat.
Nicholas got up and went back toward the kitchen, grabbing a couple bottles of water. He handed me one. “You need to take care of yourself. We have to work together to get this demon off the streets.”
I nodded and guzzled the water till it was empty.
“Have you heard any more about him?” I asked.
“No, but I have a contact underground who is waiting for us. Why don't you take a shower and then we can go?”
I nodded and slid off the couch. Nicholas went back in the kitchen and scarfed another slice of pizza, and I trailed down the hall, peeking in doors.
One was an office, another a bedroom in masculine colours I assumed was Nicholas’ and the last door was a large bathroom with a shower and tub. I took a quick shower and pulled on my dirty clothes again. I untangled my amulets and put them all back on along with the new sculptor’s stone. I realized I had no idea how to get the demon in the sculptor’s stone. I would need to learn the secret words that Julian was mumbling when he saved that possessed woman.
I walked out to the kitchen, Nicholas was on his cell phone, speaking angrily. “Well, I’m coming down today, so either you meet me at the entrance, or there will be hell to pay.” He paused and listened to whoever was on the line. “Then be there. You and I both know this is not good for the city or the world. Screw the bat man.”
I thought it was funny that he nicknamed Collin “bat man”. I assumed there was only one bat man, though he could be talking about the comic book character. Nicholas didn't seem the type to get all puffed up about comics, but who was I to judge?
He hung up the phone and tucked it back in his pocket. I took a few more steps into the kitchen, and he noticed me.
“Hey, feeling better?”
“Yeah, thanks,” I said. “Hey, is your nephew okay?”
Nicholas rubbed his hands over his face. “Yeah. He’s fine — stupid kid. I reconnected with my sister last year. She is a lot older than I am and I didn't mean to get her kid involved in this. He followed me one night when I was staying with them and watched me catch a gargoyle. I should have been paying more attention. Since then it's all he can talk about.” He rubbed his forehead. “It's not your fault he got involved. It was mine for accidentally showing him this world.”
“That's okay. I accidentally let a drunk man pet a gargoyle once when he thought it was a cat.” Nicholas looked at me weird. I thought we were sharing. Oops. “Um, never mind.”
“All right, my guy is waiting to take us to one of the underground houses I haven’t talked to yet. They will hopefully be able to tell us where this demon is so we can track him down.”
“Sounds good,” I spotted my boots by the couch so sat down beside them and pulled them on. They smelled a bit, and I wished I hadn’t left them sitting in the middle of the room. The smell would have been less noticeable by the door. Damn my laziness. Nicholas was waiting, so I scooped up my net and passed through the kitchen to grab another slice of pizza. In the greasy box, was one last glorious slice. I scooped it out and into my mouth, biting through the cold cheese and toppings as I passed Nicholas and descended the stairs to the warehouse floor.
“Hey, Nick.” A woman swaggered up with a coy smile on her face. She was wearing a tight dress and heels and had a fresh manicure. I knew the type: skanks. She looked so out of place in the warehouse it was ridiculous. I noticed she also had amulets. So, she was a hunter. Not in those clothes, though.
“Chelsea, I thought I told you to go home?” Nick said extricating himself from her wandering hands. It was almost funny watching him dodge the bimbo and a small laugh bubbled out of me before I could clamp it down.
Her razor eyes landed on me and narrowed. I waved. “Sup?”
“This is Harlow, Chelsea. We have work to do, go home.”
She got this ridiculous pout on her face. “Where are you going? I thought we could get dinner a
nd go dancing.” She shook her body obscenely making her boobs kind of jiggle. My nose crinkled in disgust, but I was no longer of any interest to the woman. Dismissed again—what else is new? I took another big bite of my pizza and wiped the sauce off my face with the back of my hand, then licked it. I looked up to find Nicholas’ eyes on me and Chelsea death staring. I don't know why so many people think their death stare will actually kill me. It has not worked once yet and it's not likely to start. I waved my pizza at them, unable to talk with the cheesy, gooey goodness in my mouth.
“Bye, Chelsea,” Nicholas said walking past her and grabbing my arm as he went by me to drag me along with him out the front door of the warehouse. I could see the limo idling by the curb, but Nicholas kept pulling my sleeve and led me across to a rusty Volvo parked along the wire fence. I slid in the passenger seat as he got behind the wheel and then he took off like a rabbit, zipping past the limo and out onto the street.
“Was that necessary? I don't think anyone is following us,” I said as he continued to zip around corners and double back trying to lose some imaginary follower.
“I have a vehicle we will switch into downtown before we head east to the entrance to the underground. If Collin ever found them, it would get messy,” he explained while he sailed through a red light and horns blared.
“What does that mean? Messy?” I grabbed the oh-shit handle and held on. My body was being flung back and forth in the seat, and I wished I hadn't had that last slice of pizza now.
“Collin rules the half-demons.”
“He’s their leader,” I replied.
“No. He is their ruler. They bow to him, or they disappear.”
What the hell? Why didn't anyone tell me these things? I didn’t need to get involved with some crazy ass bat man mafioso crap. Wasn’t my life crazy enough?
“That’s just great. I’m going to kill Julian for bringing me here.”
Nicholas slammed on the brakes, nearly hitting a man running across the road. He laid on the horn and then squealed his tires and took off again. “Julian is under Collin’s control. He didn't have much choice.”
