The Devil's Daughter Box Set

by G A Chase

  Damn it. Why do you have to be so nice? Just once, I’d like to meet a fuck-face real so I don’t have any feelings of obligation.

  She pocketed the card. “Thanks. If I get through with my errands, I’ll try to make it. And if my boss does stop by, would you let him know I was on the job?” She gave him the shared-suffering wink of service personnel.

  He smiled and nodded. “You got it. Have a better evening.” He had the trumpet back to his lips before the door had fully closed.

  Strike one. Damn it, Fisher. Where the hell are you? Sidekicks aren’t supposed to go on missions alone.

  She got back on her bike for the ride to the Treme to confront the second name on her list, but before she could kick-start the engine, a vintage black VW bus blocked her exit. “Get in.”

  Damn it, Myles. “Can’t,” she said. “I’ve got something I need to do. I’ll stop by for a visit sometime tomorrow.” Like I’ve got time for fake-family obligations.

  Kendell leaned over Myles from the passenger’s seat. “We know you’re searching for Montgomery Fisher, but you’re not going to find him. He’s been abducted.”

  You have to be kidding me. Sere started up the motorcycle. “I’ll follow you.”

  Myles shook his head. “We need to talk before we get there. Your bike will be safe here.”

  How would you know? Sere squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. Once the pair got something in their heads, they’d never let it go no matter how many people they endangered.

  “Fine.” She shut off the motorcycle and wrapped her snakes around her neck before heading to the old bus. “How did you find me?”

  Kendell reached behind her and opened the grindy sliding door. “Your spies are my spies, but that’s not what’s important right now—finding Mr. Fisher is. I’ve had someone keeping an eye on that kindly CPA since the day we found you and Bart saving him from his doppelgänger out in the swamp.”

  Sere climbed in and shut the door. “What did your homeless contingent tell you?”

  “Like you, Mr. Fisher was heading out to talk to the four reals.”

  How did you figure out about the newly escaped demons? Oh, fuck it. You probably just talked to Professor Yates.

  “How many did he meet?” Sere asked.

  “Hard to say. The homeless aren’t exactly mobile. One guy saw him leave his offices earlier than normal, and another found his Jeep in a dirt lot near the Industrial Canal. The hood was still warm and the doors unlocked, but nothing inside had been disturbed. My guy hung around in case Mr. Fisher had just stepped out to take a leak. Of course, that wasn’t the case, but people on the street have a different reality from those who spend their lives in homes and offices. I often have to translate what the destitute see into what someone more economically stable would notice.”

  “And you came up with Fisher being abducted? Sounds like a stretch.”

  “Not when you consider that the warehouse Thomas took you to is only half a dozen blocks away from the dirt lot.”

  Shit. Sere leaned forward on the seat. “How fast can this jalopy go?”

  “We’re almost there,” Myles said.

  The couple had their skills when it came to the paranormal, but covert attack wasn’t one of them. “Park next to the Jeep, away from the warehouse,” Sere said. If Thomas was holding Fisher, she needed to get a look at what was going on between the two demon-possessed individuals before she would know for sure who to trust and who to watch out for.

  Even from half a mile away, the abandoned warehouse gave Sere the creeps. Old homes ravaged by hurricanes lined the pothole-strewn street opposite to where they’d parked. Tractor-trailer rigs idled along the side of the road, waiting to take on their loads. This is no place for Kendell and Myles, she thought. They’re just going to get hurt out here.

  Kendell hunched down behind the black Jeep as if she thought Thomas had enhanced vision. “What do we do?”

  The dirt lot appeared to be overflow parking for the still-functioning half dozen warehouses along the railroad tracks. “Thomas will be watching the front of the warehouse,” Sere said. “He’s not going to make the same mistake as before by leaving it unprotected. I’ll need to approach from the back.”

  Myles held a pair of binoculars to his eyes. “Between the wire fences and security cameras, the warehouses aren’t leaving a lot to chance. There’s not much between the back of those buildings and the floodwall. I suppose we could work our way down along the batture. There is an opening in the wall for off-loading ships halfway down, but we’d still have to scale the wall first to get there.”

  The low rumble under Sere’s feet made the VW’s body panels rattle. “Train’s coming. Stay low and keep up. We need to get across the tracks before the engineer sees us.” Sere ran off toward the thick brush at the edge of the lot before either Myles or Kendell could respond. Nettles and creepers clawed at her arms and tore at her thin leggings, but she was through the thicket before the locomotive had reached the bend in the tracks. Without checking on Myles or Kendell, she scaled the twelve-foot wire fence and jumped down the other side.

  “I can’t make that,” Kendell said.

  No shit. “Did you bring any weapons?” Sere asked.

  “No. During the one session we had with Joe, he made it clear we shouldn’t carry anything that could be used against us.”

  Brilliant. No doubt, Joe was right, but how are these two supposed to defend themselves? “I assume you do have a cell phone. When I get clear, call Polly.”

  “Why do you want her?” Myles asked.

  “I need someone with a field technology med kit—someone who’s got the guts to use it.” And because I don’t trust the professor, she added to herself.

  “Exactly what kind of trouble do you plan on getting yourself into?” Kendell asked.

  I’ll bet she’s just dying to add “young lady” to that question.

  “If I’m right, things are about to get ugly in there,” Sere said. “With both men possessed by energy created in hell, we’re going to need more than bandages once this is over.” She didn’t need to waste any more time discussing possibilities. “Give me fifteen minutes, then run the half mile to the warehouse. I’ll try to distract Thomas so you can make your approach. Just don’t enter the building until I give you the signal.”

  The train’s three headlights lit the far side of the tracks, but the curve’s embankment left enough of a shadow to easily hide a person. Sere sprinted over the tracks and lay flat on the coarse gravel. As the lights swung toward the warehouses, indicating that the train was rounding the corner, Kendell’s worried face came into view just before Myles pulled her back into the bushes.

  The smell of burnt diesel, the loud squeal of metal wheels against metal rail, and the sight of the towering locomotive made Sere lie even flatter on the ground. Hopefully, the people in the cab were more focused on bringing this monster alongside the correct warehouse than looking out for a stowaway. She waited until three of the tanker cars had passed before making her move. Once the front-wheel truck of the fourth car cleared her head, she scampered over the first rail and lay flat on the cement sleepers that supported the tracks. She reached up and latched onto the metal bars that ran the length of the tanker. With one quick flexing of her arms, she was off the ground and against the bottom of the railcar.

  She counted off the warehouses as the train passed the solid concrete loading bays. When it reached the abandoned warehouse, she let go of the metal support, dropped to the tracks, and rolled out from under the train. There was barely enough room between the guillotine of metal wheels on rails and cold, hard concrete wall. A loud screeching of brakes came from the locomotive. Stage one complete.

  With the main loading bay door closed and chained shut, Sere checked each window along the back of the warehouse for a way into the building. Somewhere there has to be a bathroom or back office in this damn structure. Unfortunately, when Thomas had held her captive, she hadn’t spent much time on the building�
��s floor plan.

  She ducked below a frosted-glass window and played her knife along the edge to find the latch. The window popped open. Instead of trying to squeeze through the tight opening, she fed the heads of the two snakes under the window.

  “See anyone?” she hissed.

  The snakes wriggled side to side before slithering over the frame and into the room. No yelling. That’s a good thing. She hoisted herself up to the window and followed her companions over the edge.

  The bathroom smelled as if it hadn’t been cleaned in a decade. Doesn’t matter. I’m not staying here long. She looked around the floor and fixtures, but her snakes had magically disappeared. Now, where did you go?

  A hissing from above directed her attention to the acoustic-tiled ceiling. Poking out next to the tile-sized ventilation duct was one of the snakes. He wiggled his diamond-shaped head.

  “Good thinking.” She hopped up, grabbed the metal track that separated the crumbling pressed-board tiles, and followed her snake onto the warehouse’s rafters. Old tarps, lighting fixtures from another era, and an array of garbage filled the storage space above the handful of shipping offices—all of it covered by a layer of dust so thick she feared she would sneeze if she moved too fast.

  She crept along the structural metal grid that covered most of the warehouse floor space. Following the path her two snakes had marked out in the dust without being noticed by the men below required most of her attention. The sound of Fisher’s voice made her go as still as a black panther stalking her prey. During a covert operation, surprise was a constant threat. She peeked over the edge. Instead of Thomas looming over Fisher as she’d expected, the tables were turned, and Thomas was the one strapped to the chair.

  Fisher turned the red shotgun cartridge between his fingers in front of Thomas’s face. “I want to talk to your demon.”

  “Why?” Thomas asked. The perpetually arrogant prick didn’t appear to find the kindly CPA all that intimidating.

  The professional businessman squeezed out a couple of paranormal pellets onto the metal desk in the otherwise empty warehouse. “Because you and I have something in common. Before I can determine if that’s for our mutual good or destruction, however, I need a little more information.” He took one of the stones between his fingers and pinched so hard that his face tensed from the pain. Even from twenty feet away, Sere could see the red overtake the whites of his eyes.

  Fisher is fucking drawing forth his demon.

  Thomas’s eyes grew wide and red. He didn’t need the stimulation for his own demon to rise to the surface. “What do you have in mind?” he growled in a voice more animal than human.

  “Tell me what you know about the four demons headed this way. What is their mission?”

  Thomas’s smile reminded Sere of the doppelgänger she’d known as a little girl in hell. “What makes you think I know anything that you don’t?”

  Sere gripped the metal beam in frustration. I’d chop his head off all over again if I had the chance. Everything she saw took on the familiar red glow. I have a soul. I don’t have to give in to my temptations. But then, those two aren’t empty shells either. We’re not as different as I had imagined.

  Fisher eased up on the pressure of his fingers. Before Sere knew what was happening, he kicked the chair over, pinched Thomas’s nose, and forced the paranormal pebble down his throat. “Swallow it,” he grunted between clenched teeth.

  Sere eased her grip on the rafter, curious about what was about to happen to the demon-possessed young man. Thomas thrashed against his bonds like a man being drowned. “Turn me loose,” he grunted.

  With one hand still at Thomas’s throat, Fisher reached up to the desk for a second pellet. “Tell me about the four demons.”

  “I don’t know anything, you fuckface. Why would I?” Thomas, now the defiant demon-prick, wasn’t all that different from the human version of himself.

  “Because I know you’re having dreams, just like I am.”

  Fuck. Why can’t I ever learn to trust the right people? Fisher should have told me before going off half-cocked like this. She pulled the shotgun from her thigh holster and laid it on the rafter. If one little pellet could fully draw forth the demon in Thomas, a hole blasted through his chest with the little buggers just might end her problem with him.

  The snake slithered over the stock of her gun and stared at her through the sights.

  “Fine,” she whispered. She took her finger off the trigger but left the gun lying on the beam. Not killing a human being still counted for something in what was left of her personal code. “But if he goes translucent, I’m shooting.”

  If fear was part of Thomas’s makeup, he did a masterful job of covering it up with anger. “If you’re having the same dreams, why pester me for answers?”

  “The demon in me isn’t as fully in command as in you. I’m betting that makes you even more susceptible to hell’s edicts. At least tell me whose voice I’m hearing in my sleep.”

  “Maybe you should meet him yourself.” Thomas lunged up from his chair—his zip-tie bonds cut with his switchblade. The quick action knocked Fisher on his back. His head bounced off the concrete floor.

  Damn it! Sere’s vision went demonic red as she swung down from the rafter with her bootheels aimed straight at Thomas’s head. The memory of how Joe had escaped her direct attack made her add a body twist just as she let go of the beam. Like a human-sized rifle bullet, she corkscrewed her feet into Thomas’s forehead, knocking him over the chair. Once clear of her adversary, she did a gymnastic handspring off the floor, stuck the landing, and stood with bent knees and knife in hand facing him.

  Thomas came up bleeding but still holding his blade. “I should have known you’d be lurking around in the shadows. So you’ve resorted to sending your CPA to clean up your mess?”

  “Doesn’t everyone?” she asked.

  He came at her with all the demonic fury she had experienced while fighting Joe in the swamp. He was full of unfocused rage, but he was still human.

  Don’t make the mistake of thinking he suffers from your doppelgänger shortcomings. She focused on her heartbeat to conserve her blood’s oxygen. When he made his thrust at her abdomen, she sprang clear of his lunge and, halfway through a backflip, clocked him in the chin with the toe of her boot.

  The instinct to kill, combined with her training, was a powerful intoxicant. He sliced at her in a street-fighting style more conducive to multiple attackers than one-on-one encounters. Is this you, or is my true adversary trying out some multiplayer tactics before the big event? She parried an especially determined move with a leg sweep, but Thomas’s wild gesticulations made it hard for her to anticipate how and where he would land. As he fell, his blade slashed deep into her arm. He rolled clear of her counterattack before getting back to his feet.

  The pain only increased her vision’s red hues. Instead of waiting for him to formulate his next attack, she took a gymnastic tumbling run at him, each handspring and cartwheel designed to increase her momentum while keeping all options open regarding her ultimate strike. At a distance of six feet, she directed her force down into her knees then exploded up with fists together, aimed at his ugly demonic face. The hit was like a bowling ball crushing a lone remaining pin. Thomas flew backward and ricocheted off the office wall.

  She should have felt victorious, but his position of vulnerability only fed her aggression. “I’m going to kill you.” Her words were so filled with animal instinct that she wasn’t sure they’d come from her or from some creature lurking within.

  The sounds of her snakes slithering above attracted her attention just as her shotgun fell into her hands from the rafter. She cocked all four hammers and aimed the barrels at Thomas’s chest.

  “Is this your answer for curing me of my demon?” Bloody and dazed, he struggled to his feet.

  Both snakes uncurled from above and landed on her shoulders. Her hands flexed on the shotgun as if unwilling to accept the humanity that struggled to ove
rcome her demonic desire. The red hues softened to yellows and oranges. “Go now.” She couldn’t trust herself to move, for fear the muscle memory of battle might return.

  He bolted for the door, knocking Kendell and Myles on their asses as they busted in. I hope that wasn’t their idea of a stealthy entrance. The pair didn’t even try to stop Thomas but instead raced for the man laid out unconscious on the floor.

  “What took you so long?” Sere asked.

  Kendell crouched next to Fisher. “You told us to wait fifteen minutes then watch for your signal. When we heard the commotion, we gave up sitting on the sidelines.” She pressed her fingers to his wrist. “He’s still got a pulse, but there’s blood under his head. We need to call 9-1-1.”

  “Where’s Polly?” In her post-demonic state, Sere found it hard to form more than simple questions.

  Myles stood over Kendell as if there was still some danger that demanded his protection. “We called her as soon as you rolled under the train. She should be here shortly.”

  Damn that time thing again. I’ll bet the whole fight didn’t last five minutes. “We need to wait until she gets here.”

  Kendell looked up in alarm. “Why? Are you hurt too?”

  Sere’s ability to speak slowly overcame her animal instincts. She turned her arm to inspect Thomas’s single victory. “It’s just a scratch. I’m fine, but Fisher called forth his demon before dealing with Thomas. If he goes straight to the hospital, I’m not sure who will come out of the coma.”

  “Fuck it all to hell.”

  Sere had never heard Kendell swear before.

  “I’m here,” Polly yelled from the warehouse entrance. She lugged the oversized backpack on her shoulder over to Fisher and dropped it next to Kendell.

  “You have to hook him up to the projection.” Sere’s pulse was increasing. What the hell? The battle is over. Why am I getting amped up now?

  Polly shook her head. “Unlike you, he’s human, not doppelgänger. Nothing would happen. The bandage reinforces the connection to the real. Since this is Mr. Fisher, it wouldn’t do any good.”