Jim jotted some notes on his pad, more to help himself settle down than to record any real information. The action calmed him. “Yeah, I see what you mean. Still, we’re going to have to call them in at some point.” He looked around the overgrown yard, sheltered on all sides by tall trees and thick hedges. “Honestly, I’m surprised we haven’t heard any sirens by now. Someone had to have heard the gunshots.”
Avery froze as she processed. She frowned and looked back at the house. “Jim, go stand next to the house, would you? Just for a second.”
Jim’s eyebrows went up, but he tucked his pad back in its customary pocket and moved away from her until he was standing right next to the house. He turned and spoke. Avery could not hear his words.
“Hey, can you hear me over there?” Avery asked, raising her voice. Jim rolled his eyes and she saw him silently answer in the affirmative, somewhat testily. She gestured him closer, and he approached. “Stay here,” she ordered. He did as he was bid as she walked over to stand where he had been a moment before, and a chill crawled down her spine at that same spot as she approached the house. She stood on the back step and turned to face her partner, who had folded his arms in annoyance. Avery took a deep breath and screamed as loudly as she could. Jim suddenly looked astonished, confirming her suspicion. She moved to rejoin him, this time expecting the chill that hit her a few feet away from the house. When she paid attention to the sensation, it felt almost like walking through a thin, cold waterfall. “You couldn’t hear me just now, could you?”
Jim stared at her in surprise. “No, not at all. Were you actually screaming?”
“Mmm hmmm,” she nodded. “I know it sounds crazy, but there’s some kind of field around the back of the house. I could feel it. It seems to be magickal soundproofing, if you can believe that.”
Jim looked at her, shifted his gaze rather pointedly towards the deceased demon, and then brought it back to her. “At this point, I’m inclined to believe pretty much anything.”
Avery nodded slowly. “Yeah, me too. I’m feeling pretty damned open-minded right about now. Let’s go talk to our new friends.”
In unison, they both gasped. They had left Kane and Ariana alone. In the crime scene. Not only was that against police procedure, both of them damn well knew better. They bolted for the open doorway, Avery in the lead, only to find the room empty. Kane and Ariana had gone.
Jim leaned in to look over her shoulder. “What the hell were we thinking, leaving them alone like that?”
Avery remembered Kane’s voice, how comforting it had felt, how reassuring, and she knew. “He cast some kind of spell on us. I’m sure of it. You know we’d never have left them alone otherwise.”
Jim didn’t answer at first, and instead, stepped back inside and looked around. “Something is missing. Several things, actually.” He jabbed a finger in the direction of the now darkened monitors at the computer desk. “They took the computer,” he swept his gaze around the room, “and there were more books here before. Several of the old-looking ones are gone now.”
Avery’s eyes were drawn to the black-painted floor in the corner, where lay the golden wire pentacle. Four deep gouges ran through the center of the design, breaking the wires in several places. A piece of paper lay in the center of the star, apparently torn from one of the newer reference books that lay nearby, and hastily written upon.
“They left a note,” she said as she picked it up. Jim walked over and looked over her shoulder so they could read it together.
Officers,
Please forgive our hasty exit. We know you have questions, and we’ll answer them ASAP. The sorceress who sent the demon is dangerous, and will kill you if you get too close. Obviously, you’re not ready to face her. Let us deal with her. Cover this up as best you can and we’ll find you afterward. It’s asking a lot, we know, but it’s for your own safety. Trust us.
A & K
P.S. Don’t poke around in this room too much. It’s not safe.
Both detectives were silent for a full minute after reading the note. Then a quiet sizzling sound arose behind them, accompanied by a wavering reddish-orange light. They quickly turned only to see the serpentine coils of the demon disappearing in flames that cast no heat. In less than a minute, the enormous body had completely vanished, leaving no trace whatsoever. The two partners slowly looked at each other. Jim swallowed. “As much as I hate to say it, I am inclined to believe them. What do you think?”
Avery’s eyes narrowed. “We could lose our jobs, or worse, if anyone finds out. You know procedure, Jim.”
Jim nodded, then pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and mopped it over his face. “You know I do, Avie, but this, ah, this is…look, these are some extenuating circumstances if I’ve ever seen them.” He leaned forward and whispered, “Demons, Avie. Demons are extenuating.”
Avery looked down at the paper in her hand. The handwriting had a definite feminine quality to it, but the ‘K’ was different. He had signed it himself, leaving a single letter that swirled and flourished elegantly into an archaic symbol.
“You got another evidence bag on you?” Avery said quietly.
Jim produced one from somewhere. He was like a magician with those things. “Duh. We’re taking that with us?”
“Yep.”
“You think they left prints?”
“Nope,” she replied as she slipped the note into the bag and sealed it. “But I want it anyway.” Then she sighed and looked around. “Whatever else we do, we need to pick up our spent rounds and casings. Then I want to poke around a tiny bit more.” She saw concern flood his face, and added, “I know, I know. It’s dangerous in here. Even so, I want to know a little more before we get out of here.”
Jim frowned, but pulled out another bag and began searching the floor for the flattened bullets that had failed to penetrate the snake-demon’s tough hide. He found one and deposited it in the bag along with a couple of brass casings. “All right, then. I don’t like it, but I’m in.”
“I thought you said I’d be taking the heat on this one if something went wrong?”
He squatted to look under the desk and came up with another mushroomed bullet. “Not a chance, sweetheart. We’re both in this up to our necks.” He stood to his full height and looked down at his partner, finally cracking a weary smile. “Well, your neck and my sternum, anyway.”
She smiled faintly, but her mind was elsewhere. Kane was definitely more than he seemed, far more than he had told them. Setting her jaw, she determined that she’d find out who he was. This wasn’t the last he had seen of Avery Lynne. Not by a longshot, she thought.
Chapter 11
“Hey, penny for your thoughts,” Ariana’s voice drifted over to me, distracting me from my musing. I turned and glanced at her, only to find her staring at one of her monitors. Upon returning to her house, she had plugged Raymond’s mini-tower into her enormous computer, circumvented its meager security measures, and was now browsing through his files at top speed.
“Find anything yet?” I said, ignoring her question.
“Oh, yup,” she answered brightly. “Our guy Raymond was a daring sorcerer in his way, but otherwise, pretty boring. Liked blondes, though.”
I shook my head at that and sighed. “What did you find that helps us?”
“He’s got all of his formulas on here. Everything connected to the pills; how to make them, how to infuse them with the bonding spell to make them call the demon, everything. It’s quite impressive, actually. And really twisted.”
“Anything tell you why he did it?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” she sighed. “I checked his emails and social media messages, there was nothing there. He was pretty isolated. Few friends, no relatives that I can see. I’m checking one more thing, though, and I bet that’ll get us somewhere.”
I stood and walked over to stand behind her shoulder. “What’s that?”
“Well, Kane, why does anyone do anything?”
I blinked at the
question, then answered, “Power, money, revenge, or love.”
“Precisely. At least, those seem to be the most powerful motivators for the folks we run across, right?” I nodded and she continued. “I’m digging into his bank accounts now. He’s got all his passwords automatically loaded, thank goodness. I checked his history for the last week, and I think I might have…” she clicked something and a new screen popped up on one of the monitors. “Yup! Look at this,” she pointed at the screen. I squinted at it. “Here’s a recent deposit for a hundred thousand dollars. That’s way above the usual pay grade of our community college professor, don’t you think?”
“I wouldn’t know,” I answered truthfully, “but that is a lot of money. Where did he get it?”
Her grin widened. “It was wired directly to his account from an account in the Cayman Islands. Hmmm…give me a few minutes while I dig into it.” She clicked something else and another screen popped up on the other monitor. I shook my head. Her computer prowess was profoundly helpful, and not something I could begin to duplicate. I figured I’d eventually have her show me how to at least surf the internet, as she called it.
Ten minutes passed, then she sat back in her chair and triumphantly pointed at the screen. “Ha! I knew this rig we got from Max would pay off! My old computer would never have been able to get through the firewalls. Anyway, look here,” she tapped the glass on the monitor, “The money came from a shell corporation. It’s a business that only exists on paper and on the internet, and they’re often used to hide illegal activities. I followed the trail, though, and now I’ve got a name.” She paused for dramatic effect.
“And…?” I prompted, deciding not to kill her just then.
“Diana Thornwall,” Ariana clicked and typed some more. “She’s got an estate in Old Katy, of all places. Looks like her parents hit it big a long time ago with a shipping business out of Houston and Baton Rouge, Thornwall Industries. She took it over. Never married, but has a daughter who’s around twenty, it says here. Diana’s…hang on…in her early fifties.” She clicked again and a picture of a striking middle-aged woman appeared on the screen. “Wow, that’s a cougar if ever I saw one!” I raised an eyebrow at her. I saw no resemblance to one of the cats and said as much. She just rolled her eyes at me and elaborated. “That’s what we call an older woman who prowls for younger men.” I looked more closely at the picture, which appeared to have been taken at a high society gathering. She was tall with brown hair, and had poured her curves into a sparkly red dress that matched the crimson on her lips. Jewels gleamed at her neck and wrists, and diamonds glinted on her earlobes. She had money, all right. She also had a predatory half-smile and a knowing gleam in her eye that made me think that Ariana’s slang term was probably correct. She looked downright dangerous. Good. “Your fangs are showing, big guy.” I turned towards Ariana, startled, but realized she’d been joking. My glamour hadn’t slipped. I sighed with relief. I was closer to Ariana than I had been to anyone in over two centuries, but I had yet to show her my true face up close. I had my reasons.
“She’s the one who paid him. She’s probably also the one who set up the self-destruct spell, and sent the snake-demon to his house,” I reasoned.
“That’s a logical assumption, I’d say,” Ariana agreed. “If she was watching the house, she’ll have seen those cops. And us.”
I frowned. That meant that Detectives Avery and Jim were probably in danger. Ariana’s house was heavily warded, courtesy of years of overlaid protective spells. The detectives had no such shielding, and even less knowledge, other than what little we’d given them. “We need to move quickly.”
“I hear ya.” She printed out a handful of pages, then shut down her system. “Those cops won’t stand a chance without us. We need to stop her before she takes them out.” She walked over and picked up her guns and began to strap them back onto her legs. “Why do you think she did it, Kane?” she asked as she started reloading her magazines, replenishing them with the special bullets she reserved for such occasions. “Why pay Raymond that much to have some random guys possessed by demons? Judging by what we’ve seen her do, she’s powerful enough to do that herself, so why hire it out? How could that possibly benefit her?”
“I don’t have any idea,” I answered coldly. I’d met hundreds of people like Diana over the centuries. Rich, powerful, and willing to kill anyone who got in their way. It was as if the money had scoured the decency from them somehow. Or maybe they’d just been born bad. Either way, it wasn’t my place to care why they were so vile, just to make them pay if they hurt innocent people. “Let’s go see if we can get her to tell us.” I flexed my claws where Ariana couldn’t see. They were about to get a workout.
Chapter 12
Jim sat in the passenger seat next to Avery, slowly shaking his head. “I don’t like this. Nope. Not one bit.”
Avery sighed and responded as calmly as she could, “Neither do I, Jim. But you know what’ll happen if we take this to the Lieutenant. She’ll lose her mind.”
“Are you completely sure we haven’t lost ours? I mean, we’ve seen some things in the streets, but…did we really see that?”
Without taking her eyes off the road, she whipped out her phone, thumbed it open to the photo album and pulled up the pics she’d taken of the demon. She’d been afraid they wouldn’t be there, but they had not disappeared when the creature’s body had. She handed it to him, and he glanced at it for a few seconds. Then he sighed in resignation. She tried to reassure him. “Yes, Jim, we did. And we would have died in that room if it hadn’t been for those two. We owe them.” She managed to suppress the shudder that gripped her when she thought about Kane, how he’d killed the demon with a combination of brute strength and a dagger’s blade.
“How do you know they didn’t call that thing, or summon it, or whatever?” Jim questioned. He pulled out his notepad out of habit and started going over his notes. She could tell he was just running through the possibilities. It was one of the things that made him a great detective. He’d keep going until he found something useful.
“They were just as surprised as we were when it showed up, and because it wiped the floor with that girl, Ariana, that’s why. She’s one tough bitch.”
“Takes one to know one, I guess,” he muttered. That made her smile. “Now, where exactly are we going?”
“We’re going to my place.” As soon as she said it, she groaned inwardly, knowing what came next.
“Hot damn, my prayers have been answered. I knew you couldn’t resist my manliness forever. Just make sure you give me time to limber up, you know my back acts up and I’ve got this dodgy hip.” Jim never even looked up from his notepad.
“You’re killin’, me, Jim. I’ll tell your wife.”
“Tell her, she’ll be thrilled. Hell, she’ll probably pay you to keep me.”
She laughed at last, the horrors of the night dispelled somewhat by their long-running joke. “Look, I need to do some research, and I’d rather not do it down at the station where it’s trackable.”
“What, you don’t want your Google search on Demon Summoning to show up on the IT logs?”
“Bingo,” Avery said, “plus, I found something those two missed on their way out. I think it’s a clue.”
Jim looked at her. “What, are we Scooby Doo, now?”
“Shut up, you ass. Look, I have…I have a hunch.” She pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and handed it over to him. He took it and carefully opened it up. He stared at it for a moment, frowning.
“Are you seeing something here I’m not seeing? ‘Cause this is blank.”
“Hold it up to the light. It’s from a notepad I saw on the desk. The top sheet was gone, but he pressed hard with the pen and left impressions on the sheet beneath. Can you see the names?”
Jim pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and clicked it on, shining its beam on the paper. “I’ll be damned. Those are the three guys that came down with demon-poisoning.”
&
nbsp; “Exactly. And look at the company logo.”
“Thornwall Industries? But he could have picked up this pad of paper practically anywhere, Avie, it probably doesn’t mean a thing.”
She shook her head briskly. “You’re wrong. There’s something there, I can feel it.” She turned and caught his gaze. “I can feel it, Jim. You know what I mean.” She turned her eyes back to the road, but her partner continued to look at her.
“Are you…” he asked carefully, “are you a witch? Like Kane said?”
Avery scoffed, but didn’t answer right away. Once she had ordered her thoughts, she began, “No, I’m not. At least, not like he said. I don’t know anything about spells or demons or magick,” she paused before continuing, “but I know I’m different. I see things. I feel things that others don’t; I always have. And you know I’m always right.”
He turned his eyes back to the road and sniffed. “Not a witch, huh? I’m not gonna lie, I’m disappointed. I was hoping you’d let me ride on your broomstick.”
Avery deadpanned, “That’s what she said.”
Jim stared at her and burst out laughing. “All right, all right, you got me.” When his chuckles died down, he continued, “I’m with you, Avery. You can count on me to see this thing through, whatever it is.” He held up the paper she’d handed him. “Let’s go run this down and see where it takes us.”
Chapter 13
Avenue D was an old road that led through the middle of what residents called Old Katy, to distinguish it from everything else in the area that had sprung up in the last decade or so. There was a blend of new construction and cracker box houses among stately trees and historical homes that were only a few years younger than the Civil War’s end. It was a quiet part of town, especially at night, though the lights at Mary Jo Peckham Park were blazing brightly so that youngsters could play their sports. Ariana drove the Jeep north until we’d passed the bright lights, then turned down a narrow road that paralleled a high, wooden fence, leaving the noise of the park behind us.
A Grim Situation Page 8
