The stairs seemed to fly beneath my feet. I was moving quickly, but trying not to run. It was inappropriate to scare the shit out of your guests, even when they were on the payroll. Plus, as far as I knew, Balthazar hadn’t made his move yet. Rain could be fine. My gut told me that wasn’t the case, but a guy could hope, right?
By the time I got to the lab, I was flushed and a little out of breath. David looked up from where he was studying at the desk in the corner and raised one eyebrow in question obviously wondering why I was on the edge of hysterics. He stood up and made his way towards me at a quick walk.
Steve was busy setting the new window into the wall with help from two men outside. Thankfully, he didn’t look in my direction. I was pretty sure that I looked out of control, and we needed another wild story about this house like a zombie needed a hole in the head.
“What’s up, Boss?” David said with just a hint of concern.
I knew it was going to sound stupid or maybe just needy, but I didn’t have time to beat around the bush. “I’ve got to find Rain. Did she give you a number?”
David smiled in a way that said busted, like when you got caught walking a girl out of the dorms in college. It was just a little mischievous, and it had his eyes sparkling with intrigue. “I might have her number lying around. What’s in it for me?”
So, he thought I had just finally come to my senses and was calling her to make nice. After what he walked in on in the kitchen, I wasn’t surprised. “She might be in danger.”
David’s whole demeanor changed in an instant. He ran back to his desk and grabbed the car keys and his cell phone. “Let’s go; we’ll call her on the way.”
“You know where she lives?” God forbid if they had formed some kind of friendship. I’d never be able to have any peace.
“Not yet, honey, but I will once we call her.”
David pushed past me towards the door, and I reached out to stop him. “Not this time. I need to do this alone.” David’s mouth dropped for a second. He was obviously struggling with what he thought of as a rejection. “I’ve got something else I need you to do in the meantime.” I looked over at Steve. I knew the man was trustworthy, but there was no way I was leaving him alone in my house.
David reached out and dropped the keys into my hand. Then he did something where he tapped his phone against mine to transfer the number. Technology was fucking crazy these days. I thought back to when I was a kid and could easily rattle off about ten of my friend’s numbers from memory. Now I’d be hard pressed to remember David’s.
“So, don’t keep me in suspense. What’s this task you have for me?” David asked with just a hint of pout clinging to his lower lip.
“Angels.”
“If you want to buy her lingerie, you are going to have to do it yourself.” David put his hand on his hip in an exaggerated pose. “I’m not going to be a party to your corruption of that girl.”
David’s eyes were sparkling still as if he wanted nothing better than to help me get Rain into bed. Say what you want about gay guys, but I can tell you from experience they make the best fucking wingmen on the planet. Girls open up to them like no one else, and they’re never interested in stealing them from you.
“Not those kind of angels,” I said thinking about the last Victoria Secret fashion show.
David snapped his fingers in front of my face to get my attention. “So.”
“Real fucking angels. I need to know about them and how to get rid of them.”
Now David looked concerned again. “You feeling ok, Boss?”
I probably would have asked him the same thing while prepping him for a visit to the looney bin. Demons we knew; angels, well angels were another story. “Just dig into it, and get me some real information.” I turned and headed towards the door. “And get Benny on the damn phone. Tell him I need Rain’s address. If he gives you any shit, have him call me.”
David still looked a little confused, but he made his way back towards his desk. This wasn’t the first time I dumped some crazy request in his lap. He never asked too many questions, which was part of the reason he was the best apprentice I ever had.
I left him to work on that and headed towards the front door. It had been a while since I had driven myself anywhere, so it was going to be an interesting day.
The car was waiting in the drive and thankfully not blocked in by Steve or his workers. I slipped behind the wheel and fired her up. The car almost seemed to purr as it came to life underneath me. A few seconds later, I was listening to hits from the nineties and accelerating out of the driveway. All I needed now was for Benny to come through for me.
The music adjusted lower as I spoke to the onboard computer. “Call Rain.” It only took a few seconds for the rings to start, and a few moments later for it to go to voicemail. “Rain this is Bozley. Call me back, it’s important.”
I waited for the call to disconnect and then I called again. It didn’t matter if she thought I was some crazy stalker, it only mattered that she was safe. The call went to her voicemail again, but at least it wasn’t happening on the first ring. Not yet anyway.
My third call had just finished when the navigation system flashed showing I had a call from Benny. “Answer the call.” I looked down once to make sure the screen showed that the call had been connected. “Benny, tell me you have an address.”
“Damn it, Bozley, I don’t hear from you for months, and now you want favors. I mean, just because I tossed one little case your way doesn’t mean I’m willing to break the law for you… again. I should have just told David to fuck off, but he sounded frantic.”
“This is the job, Benny. It’s not easy, and it definitely doesn’t fit into your neat little laws.”
My Father’s law is all that matters; his rule is eternal.
“Super fucking helpful,” I growled.
Benny sounded pissed. “What did you just say?”
“Sorry Benny, I was talking with someone else, but I really do need that address.”
The line went quiet for a minute, and I thought maybe he had just set the phone down and walked away from his desk just to screw with me. Then I heard a rattle through the speakers, and Benny’s voice filled the car.
“Just tell me this isn’t for a personal visit.”
Jesus, did everyone in my life know I had a thing for this girl? “Nope, it’s for a biblical visit.”
Benny laughed. “Same damn thing, right?”
“Fuck, Benny, she might be in danger. It seems like hell might not be done with her just yet.”
“Well, maybe you should have started with that instead of the biblical visiting. Twenty-four twenty-six East River Street.”
“Thanks, Benny!” I said.
“Just don’t fuck this one up for me. I’m done cleaning up dead bodies for you.”
I let out a laugh. “You keep talking to me like that, and I’m going to start thinking you don’t like me very much.”
“And they say I’m the detective,” he said flatly.
The line went dead. I guess that last job we worked together really did leave a bad taste in Benny’s mouth. I knew he caught a lot of shit for it down at the precinct, but I didn’t know I made his shit list. Maybe he was just pissed that I hadn’t called him while I was wallowing in my own self-pity.
Screw it. I could sort out my problems with Benny later, now I had to get to Rain’s house. My foot hit the gas, and I muttered a spell to keep people from paying attention to the car. The spell worked wonders when you needed to get somewhere quickly and couldn’t risk getting a ticket or didn’t want the neighbors reporting a Bozley sighting before all hell broke loose.
Fifteen minutes later, I was pulling into Rain’s driveway. I left the car running as I hopped out. Hopefully, this would be quick. I started up the walkway towards the door and froze. It had never occurred to me that she might be at work. Maybe I should have started there.
What day was it anyway? Well, I was here now, and I might as well knock o
n the door. My feet started moving only to come to a stop just as quickly as they had before. The front door was open, and it looked as if it had been kicked in.
14
Looking at the slightly ajar door with the wooden frame around it splintered near the lock filled me with a cold rage. Almost nothing felt like a violation of self than having your house broken into. Every instinct I had told me to rush inside and destroy anything that got in my way.
I was under no illusion that the place would be empty. They either had Rain and were holding her until I came, or they were waiting for her to come back. It made a sick kind of sense to come through the front door. I mean, how often did you really use your front door during the week? I used mine a lot, but only because my house was old as shit and had a detached garage. This house didn’t have those same kind of problems, which meant Rain probably only used this door to get take out or pick up an Amazon delivery.
If any of Balthazar’s guys were inside then I had to be ready for anything. A quick slit of my left finger and a little blood on my forearm later, and my wards were in place. They wouldn’t stop a lot of bullets, but I could take a few.
What the tattoo and the wards were really for was to protect me from magical assaults. That included talismans or cursed artifacts which Balthazar’s men were sure to have. The ward itself wasn’t foolproof, but it should at least buy me enough time to counter with a get the hell out of dodge spell.
Expanding my senses didn’t reveal anything to me, but if these guys had any magical awareness, they could be shielded. Creeping forward slowly, I listened for anything that might give me an indication that someone was home. So far, there was nothing. The place was as silent as a tomb. Hopefully not Rain’s tomb. I wasn’t sure I could handle another failure so quickly coming off of my last spectacular debacle.
Even worse was the fact that this could have been easily prevented if I had just read the note Katerina had slipped into my pocket when I got into the car. Instead, I got wrapped up in myself and winning that damn pissing match with the voice in my head.
My name is Gideon.
I nearly growled. I would have if subtlety hadn’t been so necessary. Your name is whatever the fuck I want it to be until you become a little more helpful and a little less judgmental.
There are three men inside. Two by the entrance and one waiting in the back, came a much more useful response.
See, I knew you had it in you. I shook my head to clear it. A small part of me still thought that maybe I was going crazy. I mean, lots of crazy people think they’re sane, right? Any ideas on how we should handle this?
These men are shrouded by demon magic. It is our duty to engage and dispatch them.
That wasn’t exactly what I’d wanted to hear. Any less lethal options on the table? I’d prefer not to kill anyone we didn’t have to.
These men deserve to burn in the pit for all eternity. Their lives are not worthy of your concern.
I’ll try and keep that in mind, I thought back as I slowly I pushed open the door.
The last thing I wanted was for it to squeal and announce my presence to everyone inside. I stopped pushing on the door as soon as the gap was big enough for me to slide inside. I had two men to deal with here and then a third. The third I’d need to save for questioning, the other two would live or die based off their response.
Where did that thought come from?
I’d never killed anything not possessed by a demon before, and even then, it was reluctantly. As far as I was concerned, these were still men. Sure, they were working for a man with a demon inside of him, so obviously they lacked any kind of morals and had some incredibly bad decision-making skills, but they were still just men. If I killed everyone that couldn’t make good decisions, the world would be an empty place.
Those that make their bed with demons must be punished as such. Sending them to the pit to meet their masters would bring me great joy. Do not rob me of this pleasure, Bozley Green.
Let’s save the pleasure until after we make sure Rain is safe.
I felt the mental equivalent of slumped shoulders followed by a heavy sigh. I took that to mean that despite himself, Gideon had agreed to follow my lead for now.
Leaving the door open, I crept further into the house. I didn’t know if it was my magic or Gideon that was picking up on the location of the two men, but I seemed to know right where they were. That was going to make things a little easier to handle.
You are welcome.
Well, that answered the question on who was creating the minimap in my head. Gideon, anyone ever tell you that you’re a smug little bastard? I felt the images I had been seeing fade away, and I started to panic a little. Don’t get me wrong, big guy, I appreciate the help. If anyone asks, I’ll tell them you’re my smug little bastard, and they have to get their own.
The images came back, but I could feel the tension inside of me like a coiled spring. Whatever Gideon was up to, he was pissed off to the point of having a meltdown. I didn’t really fancy finding out what an angel’s meltdown looked like, so it was time to cut the snark and focus on keeping my angelic friend under control.
It didn’t take long to find what I needed inside of my bag. The problem was I only had a dose big enough for one of the men in question. I waited in the hall until Gideon showed me one of the men turning to look through another doorway.
As silently as I could, I crept into the room. With a deep breath, I blew on the dust in my palm and waited. The man seemed to sense something was wrong at the last moment, but by then it was too late.
He turned towards me, handgun outstretched, and then fell to his knees and finally flat on his face. Sleeping powder always did the trick. He’d wake up in a few hours with a brutal hangover. Hangovers weren’t any fun at the best of times, but if you ever got one without the fun of the night before, I had a feeling that made it feel even worse.
With one man down and one to go, I started walking deeper into the house. Hopefully, the last man in this part of the house wouldn’t expect someone coming at him from a direction he thought was being watched by his partner.
So far, that was the only plan that I had. Come at him from an unexpected direction and hope for the best. As I continued to creep forward, I went through a mental checklist of spells that I could use to incapacitate him. The first one that came to mind was trying to suck all of the oxygen out of the room, but if I was going to do that I might as well have just picked up his partner’s gun and shot him in the back.
With those options off the table, I knew that I had to get near him quickly and take him down as quietly as possible. It wouldn’t be easy to do. I wasn’t exactly trained for that kind of thing. Hitting him hard and hoping for the best wasn’t a quality plan.
If this man worked for Balthazar, he had some kind of training, and he would be ruthless when it came to retaliating if I didn’t bring him down on the first strike. I mean, the people that worked for demons couldn’t actually believe in the concept of a fair fight, and thankfully neither did magicians.
The man didn’t turn towards me as I moved around the corner. Slowly, one foot at a time, I inched forward. With each breath, each footfall, I was ready to launch myself at the man, but he never turned. Finally, I was too close to do anything but strike.
My fist moved back, and I let the punch fly. The goal was to hit him slightly on the side of the head, hoping that the blow would catch him off guard enough for me to finish him quickly. Instead, he turned towards me at the last moment. His eyes widened with surprise as my fist sank into his face.
He stumbled back and then fell to the ground on one knee. He wasn’t out of it yet, but this was my opportunity to try and circle behind him and choke him into unconsciousness before he came back to his senses.
A quick step forward was all I needed, but as soon as I moved he spun around lunging towards me and lashing out. I’d love to say that I jumped back from his attack to get into position for another one of my own, but the truth was I s
tumbled backward and almost fell on my ass.
Was that a hint of silver I had seen?
The man’s next attack confirmed it. He had a knife, I was totally fucked. That was the thing, when you fought demons, all you needed was your will to be rock hard and your magic to be on point. You didn’t get into a lot of physical altercations, and if you did, well, you were just doing something wrong.
No one wanted to tangle with one of the possessed. They were faster and stronger than any human, and mean as fuck. Chances were if you did have to fight, you were dead. So, when I tell you that my martial skills were a little rusty, I need you to understand that I’m over estimating my effectiveness by quite a bit.
So, now that he had the advantage, my first thought was to run, but I couldn’t do that, not if I wanted to help Rain. Plus, I was pretty sure the brute would chase me if I ran. That blow to his face hadn’t helped me earn any kind of leeway. Slowly, I backed up while keeping my eyes on the knife. He did a couple of experimental jabs to see how I would react and then he smiled as I continued backing away. Now, he was herding me towards the back of the house and the man that waited there.
“Little help,” I pleaded with Gideon.
The smile of the man in front of me widened. “You’re not going to need help soon unless it’s with picking out a body bag.”
Nervous laughter bubbled from my lips. “I’m pretty sure they don’t have designer bags with different colors and patterns to choose from.”
“You’re a smug little fuck, aren’t you?” He slashed out with the knife again.
I shrugged while maintaining a defensive stance. “I’ve been told my mouth tends to get me into trouble.”
The look in his eyes intensified. “You won’t have to worry about that for much longer.”
This time, the knife came at me hard and fast. It wasn’t a slash, but a full-on stab. It had the kind of power behind it that made me think the blade would have come right out of my back if it hit me in the belly—but the blade never found its mark.
Possessed (Bozley Green Chronicles Book 1) Page 13