Burning Midnight

by Rose Wulf

  A chill stole down Gwen’s spine. Is she here somewhere? Spying on me?

  “I’m sure you don’t want him getting hurt,” the demoness continued without waiting for Gwen to respond. “If I’m right, say yes.”

  Gwen swallowed heavily. She darted a reflexive look at Ben, who was checking his own phone now and hadn’t yet noticed her panic. That was good. “Yes.”

  “Perfect.” Gwen could hear the smirk in the bitch demon’s voice. “Then take your brother to a movie, something thrilling, and don’t fight me when I come for you.”

  Her stomach bottomed out. “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.” The demoness paused. “But it goes without saying, don’t try anything dumb.”

  The call disconnected a moment later. Her message delivered.

  Gwen stared at her phone, not really seeing it, as her mind spun. The demon bitch just expected her to give herself up? Of course, she did. She was threatening Ben. No way would Gwen let them hurt her baby brother. For as much as she’d been in this world, and despite that he’d been unknowingly dating an angel for months, Ben had managed to stay surprisingly out of things like this. Somehow always skirting the edge without ever falling in. She was so proud—and not a little jealous—of him for that.

  She couldn’t let that change now, least of all because she was afraid of what would happen to her. If some stupid demon wanted to kidnap her, well, it wouldn’t be the first time.

  Nausea rolled in her stomach and she grit her teeth. Yeah, okay, lousy pep-talk.

  “Gwen? Everything okay?”

  She pulled her attention outward, finding Ben had looked up from his phone and was watching her curiously.

  “Yeah,” she lied. “My, uh, boyfriend just had to cancel our date tonight and it caught me off-guard.” She cringed inwardly. Where the hell had that story come from?

  Ben continued staring at her. “Boyfriend?”

  Left with no other choice, Gwen plowed ahead. “Didn’t I tell you I met a guy?” She shrugged and started moving, unable to stand there and lie to his face. Semi-lie? No, it was a complete lie. There was nothing between her and Knox. That had been a one-time thing. “Anyway, it’s not like we’ve been dating long. The point is, I’m already bored tonight.” She paused as she stepped out of her bedroom, pretending to have a moment of enlightenment. “Hey, wanna see a movie?”

  “Wait a second,” Ben called after her, his footsteps on the floor assuring her he was following. “Tell me about this guy. You know you didn’t tell me.”

  Gwen waved her hand over her shoulder as if she were rolling her eyes at him. “Don’t forget which of us is the older sibling here, Benjamin. It’s no big deal.”

  “Sure it is,” Ben pushed. “You haven’t used the word ‘boyfriend’ since you were in college.”

  “I told you,” she said, finally turning to face him with the best grin she could muster, “I’m growing up.”

  At this Ben laughed, seeming to accept her response. That much, at least, she had been saying in some form or another for a while.

  She unlocked her phone again as she moved to flop onto her new couch and pulled up the local movie app. “Okay, let’s see what’s playing. I’m not in the mood for anything sappy.”

  “Thank God,” Ben joked as he took a seat. “There’s that new one with those talking cars you like so much.”

  She did like those. But she didn’t want to taint them, either. And the demoness had said thrilling. Did she literally mean a thriller? Gwen scanned the list, humming acknowledgment, and found an aliens-killing-humans type movie with an upcoming show. It was that or a slasher film, and Ben would never in his life believe she wanted to see one of those. Aliens, on the other hand, were more his thing. She could likely convince him she chose the movie as a thank-you for his help.

  “Actually, how about you let me treat you to this one?” She turned the screen around with the movie in question pulled up so that he could easily see which one she meant. “I’m sure you want to see it.”

  Ben stared at her for a second. “I mean, yeah, but … are you sure?”

  She shrugged, looking at her phone again as she preselected their show time, and said, “Of course, I am. It won’t kill me.”

  Ben grinned. “That’s very true.”

  ****

  Gwen’s little brother’s unexpected arrival might have made it harder for Knox to keep an eye on her, at least without risking causing her excessive problems, but it did provide him a different opportunity. Between cleaning up her wrecked apartment and their earlier fuck, Knox hadn’t had a lot of time to look into anything. They’d be forever playing a defensive game if they didn’t know who they were up against, and they would never know more than ‘a powerful male demon’ if he didn’t do some digging.

  Or, in this case, a little proverbial Russian Roulette.

  He hadn’t necessarily burned all his bridges underneath, but he was also asking for some heavy intel. The contacts left who might be willing to give him celebrity gossip or low-level politicians for a good price weren’t guaranteed to be so keen on handing out revealing information regarding their more powerful associates. Especially to someone like him. Hell, he didn’t have a lot of contacts who stood a chance of knowing the information in the first damn place.

  Which was where the game of chance came in.

  Knox ground his teeth as he waited for this particular contact to show. The other demon had a habit of testing him every time they met, as if he was never quite sure if Knox was worthy of whatever he held in his brain. That or he just enjoyed pissing Knox off. Either way, given his severely restricted resources and non-existent timetable, Knox was forced to play Sinclair’s game this time. So he sat alone at a middle table at a strip club, watching the flow of traffic and paying little attention to the dancers.

  “Come here often, handsome?” a whispery female voice cooed in his ear as a slender hand landed on his shoulder, fingers splayed and faintly squeezing.

  Knox slid his gaze sideways, finding an unfamiliar woman rubbing up on him. Dressed in booty shorts that were at least two sizes too small and a similarly tight bustier, the woman either thought she passed as a stripper or just didn’t care. Though he supposed it was possible she was an employee, since all the female employees seemed to be required to dress almost as scantily or evocatively as the dancers. It made no difference to him, though.

  “No,” he replied, turning his gaze outward again in search of Sinclair. Bastard better not have changed his mind.

  “Aw,” the woman said, sliding her hand up toward his neck as she angled closer. She leaned in until her lips brushed his cheek and whispered, “Well, for the right price, I could give you a very persuasive reason to come again.” She lifted her other hand and trailed the collar of his t-shirt. “We could even make it a private experience.”

  Knox found himself actually fighting the urge to roll his eyes. The woman was as attractive as a man might expect to find working at a moderately costly strip club. Sure, she was coming off a little strong, but he was still a bit surprised at even his own utter disinterest. In fact, the more she touched him, the more annoyed he became.

  Lifting her hand from his chest by her wrist, Knox said, “Sorry, the money in my wallet’s got a very specific name on it. You’re wasting your time.”

  She pouted but retracted her hands, sweeping over him one more time with her eyes. “Shame,” she muttered, her tone entirely lacking that seductive breathy quality. Then she turned and walked away.

  Knox looked away before she’d disappeared in the crowd.

  “For a moment, I thought I’d wasted my time.” The voice belonged to a tall, solidly built male demon who’d stepped out of the shadows of the crowd across from the table. Sinclair stood a couple of inches taller than Knox at six-three and, it seemed, hadn’t lost his preference for letting his size intimidate those he felt superior toward. He came to a stop beside the table, hands tucked into the pockets of his gray slacks. He made no mov
e to sit. “Knox.”

  Reminding himself he still needed something from the man, Knox inclined his head instead of snapping back with a sarcastic retort. “Sinclair. Thanks for coming.”

  Sinclair frowned. “I heard you’ve been poking your nose around in other demons’ business the last few days. You here to drag me into that?”

  “I only want information,” Knox said. Making sure to maintain his neutral expression, he added, “If you have the information I want, that is.” The best way to get Sinclair talking was to imply the possibility of his own oversight. Sure, there was no getting around the cost of doing business, but with Sinclair, sometimes there wasn’t business in the first place. Knox couldn’t afford to let that happen. So he had to poke the demon’s ego.

  Sinclair hummed, lifted his gaze past Knox for a moment, and finally took the seat nearest him. He settled back in the chair, his body language calm. Confident. “So what is it you’re looking for?”

  Not one to shirk what may be his only opportunity, Knox replied, “I’ve heard whispers about a demoness named Trix. Some rumors say she’s got power.” He paused and narrowed his eyes. “I don’t live on whispers and rumors. I need facts. As many as I can get.”

  Sinclair arched a brow but remained silent for several long seconds.

  Knox could tell from his expression that Sinclair knew something.

  “Those are some hard facts,” Sinclair said at length. “That kind of information doesn’t come cheap.”

  Color me shocked. Knox dipped the edges of his lips into a small, deliberate frown. “Then let’s talk price. You know I’m willing to pay for quality.”

  ****

  “Wow,” Ben laughingly exclaimed as they made their way down the hall to the specific theater room with their movie, “springing for the movie and popcorn. Did you win the lottery?”

  Gwen rolled her eyes, removed one hand from the freshly-filled popcorn tub, and gave her brother a light shove. “As if. You think the first things I’d buy with a lottery win would be a movie and popcorn?”

  Ben’s eyes shone with amusement. He held the door open for her as he said, “I don’t try to predict you, sis. I’m always wrong.”

  It was Gwen’s turn to laugh, at least on the surface, as she teased, “Oh, you’re finally learning!”

  She only wished she felt as light and exuberant as she was trying to pretend to be. But as soon as they’d pulled into the parking lot, she’d found herself fighting the urge to vomit. The smell of popcorn, usually almost irresistible, was actually making it worse. She’d just felt compelled to splurge a little, in part to play up her fake-positive mood, and in part in a real effort to enjoy every moment before her life went straight back to Hell.

  Literally.

  Gwen held tighter to the popcorn as she blindly walked up to their preferred area of seating. Her stomach swirled violently with each step until she had to hold her breath to keep from smelling the once-delicious scent of the popcorn. When they were seated, she passed the bucket over to Ben. “Here, you hold this. I don’t want grease stains on my clothes.”

  “Gee, thanks,” Ben said, taking the popcorn without resistance.

  The trailers started about the time Ben popped his first handful into his mouth, saving Gwen the effort of more strained small-talk. It’d only been about an hour since her call with that demon, but it had been such a hard hour. She was amazed she’d made it without crying. The worst part was bringing her brother in this way. But that’s the deal. Ben would live so long as Gwen surrendered.

  A part of her wished she’d had the chance to talk to Knox again. But every time the thought crossed her mind, she had to remind herself firmly that she couldn’t have talked to him, anyway. That was part of the deal, too. No reaching out to anyone—namely, she was sure, Knox or an angel. A deal Gwen would have gladly violated if any of them had a way of capturing or killing the damn bitch, thereby preventing Ben from becoming a target again the next day.

  Since none of that was the case, however, Gwen saw no other choice.

  Not wanting to tip her hand too soon, Gwen forced herself to take a handful of popcorn and bring it to her mouth. Fortunately, Ben’s attention was largely focused on the trailers, so she suspected he didn’t notice her nibbling at it with a permanent cringe. Each kernel was harder to swallow than the last.

  She endured the popcorn torture at unplanned intervals three more times as the movie started. They had to be at least halfway through the movie, and Gwen couldn’t fathom the idea of eating another piece of popcorn, when something deathly cold and psychologically chilling wrapped around her ankle. It slid, slow and deliberate, coiling once, twice, three times until it felt as though it were several inches up her calf. She didn’t remember demonic energy feeling quite like this, but then again, it was demonic, so she suspected it played as much off her state of mind as anything else.

  She said don’t struggle, but…? Was she just going to be sucked down through the floor from her seat? She’d expected the demoness to pop up and grab her physically—maybe even just kill her right there.

  Gwen risked a sidelong glance at her brother, finding him dutifully watching the movie. Blissfully unaware of what was happening. Ben … I’m sorry. It wasn’t like she’d expected to get to say goodbye.

  The music in the movie changed suddenly and someone in the scene screamed, but Gwen wasn’t paying enough attention to know why. It didn’t matter. That was the moment the grip of her ankle tightened and spread, and Gwen felt herself falling. Ben, the theater, even the loud movie, all fell away, until she was left in nothing but a void of darkness and the uncontrollable pit in her stomach telling her she was still falling.

  Chapter Eight

  Ben wasn’t sure if it was the uncomfortable chill rushing over his arm or the subtle clunk of something solid hitting the ground nearby that drew his attention. Whichever it was, he paused, his hand in the popcorn bowl, and glanced in Gwen’s direction. Expecting to find her bent over, maybe digging through her purse, or leaning away. Something to explain the change in the air. He wasn’t expecting to find her gone.

  His eyes widened and he looked past her seat, to see if she’d gotten up and gone the long way down the aisle for some reason. But no one was moving, least of all his sister.

  “Gwen…?”

  Ben turned, looking the other way, but still saw no sign of her. A pit formed in his stomach as he returned his attention to her seat, and the largest piece of evidence for a problem. Not only had she disappeared on him, but … her purse still hung awkwardly off the arm of her chair. One strap had slid off, so the purse was hanging almost sideways, and it occurred to him the sound he’d heard was likely something falling from within. He shifted around, setting his no-longer-enticing popcorn down, and looked at the floor in the vicinity of her seat. It didn’t take him long to find the object. Gwen’s cell phone.

  The pit filled with waves of nausea and he leaned forward until he was able to snatch it up. He grabbed her purse, too, then his popcorn, and quickly exited the theater. Suddenly, he wasn’t so interested in the movie he’d found exciting just minutes earlier.

  What the hell happened? He tossed the mostly-empty bucket of popcorn into the first garbage bin he passed in the darkened hall. How could she just disappear like that? It made no sense. People didn’t just disappear into thin air!

  Ben froze, his free hand wrapped around the heavy door handle. How could he have forgotten so easily? It was true that normal people, people who led ordinary lives, didn’t just disappear that way. But it was also true that his older sister didn’t fall into that category. She was only just beginning to try. Even as recently as a year before she’d been dying of heart failure—heart failure caused by a demonic curse that was coming due. Though they hadn’t always known it, literally for the entirety of Ben’s life their lives had been entwined with the supernatural.

  Gwen, what happened?

  Had she known this was coming? She’d been so insistent on going to a movi
e. On going to a movie he liked. He’d bought her excuse without a thought, but now—now he doubted it. He just didn’t really understand the surrounding details. What was going on in her life now that she wasn’t telling him? Why wasn’t she telling him? If she’d known something was coming for her, why did she just sit and take it?

  Ben shoved out the door, into the larger, brighter hall of the theater building, and moved to the nearest exit. He didn’t have even the beginnings of an answer. Except for the brief time, the year before, when Gwen had brought an angel and a healer into his house to rest, he’d mostly stayed out of these kinds of things.

  Well, that’s not entirely true… He swallowed, his ex-girlfriend’s smiling face flashing through his mind’s eye. He’d known her as Jennifer. A sweet, small-town girl who’d stolen his heart with every laugh. Then Gwen had brought Kai and Belle, her angel and Nephilim guardians, into his house, and in one afternoon, his life had been torn upside down. Because his beautiful, perfect girlfriend had turned out to be a liar. An angel who thought she could play human when she was bored.

  So, no, Gwen wasn’t the only one who’d gotten tangled up in the supernatural. He’d just never done it with any kind of awareness—aside from embracing and supporting his sister. Which he was going to have to do again, he realized. Somehow, someway, for whatever reason, she’d disappeared in the middle of a darkened movie theater. Without her purse, even her phone. And—somehow, someway—he was going to have to make sure she made it home alive.

  After everything his very existence had caused her, he owed her that much.

  He always would.

  Ben stopped after rounding the corner of the building, outside now, and looked down at Gwen’s phone. He didn’t personally know anyone who could help. He knew of a couple of useful people, theoretically. But Gwen had never even told him more than some vague generalizations of her adventures, so he honestly had no idea how to go about performing a rescue.

  I have to find a way. The ability was out there, he knew that. Gwen had contacts, right? Friends, even? Hadn’t she said she was friends with Belle still?