“Oh, I really don’t think you can,” I snapped. Hurling would have to wait. At the moment, I had bigger things (no pun intended) to worry about. Holding the atomizer in front of me, pointed directly at him, I said, “You’re a demon and you didn’t tell me.”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts! There can’t be a but. How can there be a but?” I shouted. “You’re a demon. And we just—” I waved one hand at the couch, the floor, the antique table that he had bent me over so he could—Oh God. That hurly feeling came back with a sudden vengeance. “I had sex with a demon!”
“Yes,” he said, wrinkling his nose and blinking his eyes to clear away the last of the spray. “But I just had sex with a Duster. Look at it from my point of view for a minute.”
“Why the hell should I?” I demanded and took a deep breath. I was shaking, furious, embarrassed, and I still wanted him. How sick was that?
“Cassidy,” he said and sounded weary.
“Don’t,” I told him and spritzed the air in front of him.
He leaped back out of the way. “Cut it out!”
“I should be ripping your heart out, you bastard. I can’t believe you let me do all of that with you and didn’t tell me who—what—you really are.”
“It’s who, not what.”
“Oh.” I nodded grimly. “Thanks for clearing that up. I feel so much better now. You’re not a what. You’re a who. Well, peachy.”
“Damn it, Cassidy, if you’ll let me explain—”
“What’s to explain?” I shouted and heard my voice getting a little shrill, but I think any Demon Duster in my position would be just a tad annoyed by this point. “You took advantage of me. You put some weird sort of demon spell on me and convinced me that I wanted to be here with you and do—”
“No spell.”
“There had to be a spell,” I muttered. Otherwise, I wasn’t just a slut puppy. I was a slut for demons and that could mean only one thing. “I’m soooooo going to Hell.”
He chuckled until I glared at him.
“Which one?” he asked.
“One what?”
“Hell.”
“The Catholic one, and what difference can that make now?” My finger tightened on the spray button, and he seemed to sense it, because his big body clenched like he was waiting for the impact of the acid.
But even as he readied for it, he held up both hands again and said softly, “I’m not your enemy.”
“Right. Bet you say that to all the Dusters.”
“Cassidy…” He sounded tired. And, hey, he probably was. The last couple of hours would have killed a lesser man, er, demon.
“You knew, didn’t you?” I demanded, keeping the spritzer aimed at him and asking myself why I wasn’t firing the damn thing then yanking out his black heart. “You knew who I was before you ever called me for the job. Before I came up here. Before we—”
“Yeah, I knew.”
“Bastard.”
“Undoubtedly.”
“And your agreeing is supposed to make me feel better?” I asked, more furious now than I had been before, and that was really saying something!
“Are you going to squirt me again?” he asked, slowly lowering his arms.
“I’m thinking about it.”
The edges of his shirt hung open, displaying his gorgeous chest, and I had a tiny urge to stroke it. Damn it. Had to be a spell.
“Just let me explain first.”
“Sure. Go ahead and try,” I said, reaching behind me for my purse and shooting a quick look at the door to my left. I wanted a clear path to get out of there when I had to.
“Despite what you think,” he said quickly, as if sensing my impatience, “not all demons are devoted to the destruction of humanity.”
Jasmine had said pretty much the same thing, but that had been about a teenage twerp. Not a gigantic, walking orgasm.
“On your birthday, when you came into your powers,” Devlin was saying, “the head demon in La Sombra assigned me to meet you. To keep you busy.”
I snorted. Had to give him full points for that at least. “So what?” I asked. “You’re like Double O Demon now?”
One corner of his mouth lifted briefly. “That’s not far from wrong. I was told to keep you occupied. To find out what you knew. How strong an opponent you would be. I didn’t expect to like you.”
A stupid flutter of something that was probably pleasure rippled through me, then was gone again. “Gee, color me happy. A demon secret agent likes me.”
He stabbed his fingers through his hair and winced like he had the mother of all headaches. I have that effect on people.
“Damn right, I like you,” he said tightly. “And that’s no small thing for me. Demons don’t usually want to have sex with the woman who can kill them.”
I wasn’t impressed. “Human men do it all the time. There’s not a woman alive who hasn’t daydreamed about slamming a baseball bat into some moron’s head.”
“Granted,” he said with a tiny bow of his head. “But this situation is a little different.” He took a step closer, and I tightened my grip on the atomizer. “In siding with you, I put myself at risk.”
“And why would you do that?” I asked.
“Because you’re…” He stopped, thought about it for a long moment, then said, “Different.”
Different wasn’t always bad, so I let that go. “And siding with me means what exactly?”
“It means that I’ll help you. I’ll do what I can to protect you. And your daughter.”
“Why?”
“Because you need it,” he snapped. “Take your car ‘accident.’”
Shock slapped me again. Images of the bartender who had slammed into my VW flashed into my already-churning brain. “The guy who hit me! You know him. He works for you.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah? That’s all you’ve got to say? You send some guy out to wreck my car—and possibly me—and when it doesn’t work…what? You bring me here to kill me during sex? That’s the backup plan?”
Devlin’s features tightened. “I didn’t tell him to do it, and I could point out that you’re not dead and I’m the one with acid on my face!”
“Good point.”
“He ran into you hoping to score some points with the top demon around here.”
Great. Trying to kill me earns demon brownie points. Excellent news. “Uh-huh. And the top demon’s not you.”
“No,” he said tiredly, and shoved one hand through his hair. “Look, haven’t you noticed that some damn weird things are going on around here?”
“Duh.”
“Have you been watching the news?” he asked, taking a step closer until I lifted my handy-dandy little demon spray a touch higher.
“No. Too depressing.”
He blew out a breath. “Fires are erupting, then blowing out again all over town. Pets are vanishing.”
“Pets?” My heart twisted, and just how dumb was I? I’m standing in front of a demon warning me about all kinds of trouble and I’m worried about cats and dogs?
Clearly impatient himself now, Devlin said, “That threat aimed at Thea? That came from the judge. And he meant it.”
My eyes narrowed on him, and it was all I could do not to shriek and plunge my fist through his chest. But if I did, I wouldn’t get any answers, and I really wanted some.
“The judge?”
“Harrison Jenks.”
I staggered. “Jenks is a demon?”
“The head demon around here. He’s powerful. Nobody you should ignore.”
In a weird sort of way, that piece of information explained a lot. Judge Jenks was near legendary in La Sombra. Nobody in town liked him, and yet he somehow managed to keep getting elected. Now I knew how.
Hell, I’d been up in front of the mean old goat myself when I was eighteen. I had one teeny-tiny speeding violation, and the miserable demon had revoked my license and sentenced me to crossing-guard duty for six interminably long months
.
“That old bastard is the one threatening Thea?”
“Like I said, he’s powerful.”
“What kind of powers?” I asked. “X-ray vision? Spitting fire?”
“Not that kind of power,” he muttered. “The judge is connected to lots of highly placed, influential people. He can get away with almost anything.”
He gazed into my eyes with an intensity that made me want to look away. I didn’t. “And he plans to hand Thea over as a sex slave to the demon community.”
I staggered. I know I did, because I backed up hard and fast and slapped my head against the wall. That sharp pain brought me up out of the shock numbing my system. In a way, I sort of wished the shock had stayed. When it was gone, I had a clear mental image of my baby girl being tossed from demon to demon to demon and—“Never gonna happen,” I said.
“It won’t be easy to prevent. Since you came into your power, the entire demon community is on edge.”
“Community?” I echoed. “Demons have communities now?”
My arm dropped, suddenly feeling leaden. Something suspiciously like despair washed through me. How the hell could I protect my daughter from a “community” of demons? My fingers rubbed the small spritzer of demon spray as my gaze lifted to Devlin again.
If he’d been waiting for an opportunity to kill the Duster, I’d just handed it to him. But he didn’t move. He only looked at me out of those dark, dark eyes.
“I’ll help you protect her,” he said finally.
“Why would you do that?”
He shrugged. “I already answered that.”
True. He hadn’t answered it well, but it had been an answer. I wasn’t stupid enough to refuse help when I so clearly needed it. Still…“Fine,” I said. “I’ll take your help. But,” I added, giving him the death stare, “you make me regret it just one time, and I’ll rip your heart out and dump what’s left of you into an ashtray at the Indian casino.”
Devlin was right.
I started paying attention to the news.
Reading the paper.
Over the next few days, I was stunned to see just how strange things were getting in La Sombra. Not only in my little corner of the world, either. The strange was spreading.
It wasn’t just the mysterious fires or the disappearance of pets, either. There was actually a rain of toads. Seriously, toads. The news guys explained it away with some trumped-up story about a cyclone sweeping over a lake. But, hey, cyclones in California? Not so much.
“What’s next,” I wondered. “Locusts?”
“What?”
I glanced up at Thea and felt a wash of maternal love so powerful that it nearly choked me. Morning sunlight spilled through the kitchen window and lit her up in gold. She had a spoonful of Lucky Charms halfway to her mouth and mascara smudged under her right eye. She was beautiful. And smart. And funny. There was no chance in Judge Jenks’ hell that he’d succeed in hurting her.
“Are you still seeing Jett?” I asked, catching my darling daughter off guard. (The only way to get a straight answer out of a teenager is to surprise it out of them.)
“Yeah. Why?”
“You know why.”
“The demon thing again?” Her left eyebrow lifted, and she scowled at me. “Honestly, MOTHER, I thought we’d worked all this out.”
“It’s not Jett I’m worried about,” I lied, breaking off a piece of Pop Tart and tossing it into my mouth. “It’s his relatives.”
“Mom…”
“Baby girl, something’s going on in town, something big, and I want you to be careful.”
My tone must have convinced her when my words didn’t. She set her spoon down in the bowl and watched me. “I’m almost sixteen, Mom,” she said. “I can take care of myself.”
Huh. That’s what I’d thought when I was sixteen. Nine months later, I was a mommy.
“I’m just saying to watch yourself. The demons aren’t real happy about having me around.”
Instantly, her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed. “Are you in trouble?”
“Nah,” I said, not wanting her to worry. “I can handle it as long as I know you’re safe.”
“I am,” she assured me airily, and stood up, dropping the last of her toast to Sugar. “Honestly, Mom, you worry too much.”
Outside, a car horn honked, and Thea rolled her eyes, though a small smile curved her mouth. “When did picking me up for school every morning become my father’s job?”
Logan. Hadn’t seen him in a few days. Ever since my date with Devlin, Logan had made himself scarce. He still saw Thea every day, but it seemed he was avoiding me. Strange as it sounded—even to me—I almost missed him.
I didn’t say any of that, naturally. Instead, I shrugged and took another bite of my breakfast. “He likes doing it.”
“I know,” Thea said, waving as she raced from the room. “Later!”
As soon as my daughter was gone, the back door opened behind me, and Jasmine stepped into the room. I turned on my chair and looked up into her dark eyes.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
Ready to train. To get better at fighting. To be able to protect my daughter and anyone else who needed it. “Hell yes, I’m ready.”
After I nearly exhausted myself with Jasmine, the thought of cleaning made me want to sit down with a bucket of ice cream. It didn’t seem fair that I had to not only save the world, but also clean toilets.
I whipped through the two houses on my list for the day and met up with Carmen back at my house.
“We are getting more clients than we can handle,” Carmen said, taking another bottle of our demon/window spray. “Mrs. Hasting’s neighbor asked me yesterday for your phone number.”
“That’s good news,” I said, watching as the older woman frowned. Carmen was way more predictable than the weather. When things were going well, she frowned. When they were going bad, she frowned harder. She says it’s because her sons sucked all of her smiles out years ago and she’s too tired to find more.
Hey, I have a daughter. Maybe sons do suck!
“Rosario is doing well,” Carmen said, taking a sip of her coffee and frowning at it. “But I think we will have to hire Teresa and also Yolanda to keep up with the new work.”
She was right. We were getting way too much business for the three of us to handle. It seemed the weirder things got in town, the busier we got. Not a bad thing ordinarily, but at the moment, I half wished we were losing customers. At least then I could concentrate more on what was happening with Thea, the demons, Devlin, Logan.
“That’ll work,” I said and tasted the coffee. Seemed fine to me. Carmen was pickier than most. Once she’d even stepped behind the bar at a Starbucks to show the barista what he was doing wrong on her latte. “Carmen, are you noticing anything…different in some of the houses lately?”
“You mean the ghosts?” she asked, folding up the apron she habitually wore when working. “Sí. They are quiet now.”
“You knew about the ghosts?” I hadn’t had a clue until I’d started getting phone calls from relieved owners.
“You didn’t?” She chuckled a little and shook her head at me.
“No. And I suppose you knew about the demons, too?”
“Sí,” she said, and I had to pull a chair out and plunk down at the kitchen table. “There are dark places here. The name La Sombra in Spanish means The Shadows. Of course there are demons. There always have been.”
“I don’t believe this,” I muttered. “We’re having an actual conversation about demons, and you’re not freaked out?”
“Pfft! Why would I be worried about a demon? I lived through three sons, all teenagers at once. And now, Dios mio, a ten-year-old. What could a demon show me that I have not already seen?”
“Got a point.”
“These things have always been, Cassidy,” she said sagely, packing up her supplies and hitching the box onto one hip. “Good battles evil. Children make us crazy. Clean houses get dirty. It’s t
he way of the world.”
“Wow. Thanks, Grasshopper.”
“Pfft!” She smirked at me and marched out of the house, off to make somebody else nuts for a while.
So, had I been in a fugue my whole life? How had I missed what everyone else had been aware of? How had I not known about demons and ghosts and God knew what else was out there?
And had I woken up in time?
“I brought subs.”
I stared at Logan, standing on my front porch in the soft twilight, and thought about slamming the door in his face. He stays away for days, then shows up like he’s expected? How rude was that? Besides, I’d had a miserably long day and really wasn’t in the mood for this.
My expression must have told him exactly what I was thinking. He opened the top of the bag and let the delicious scent of marinara sauce waft over me. Sneaky bastard.
I still tried to be tough. “Thea’s not here.”
“Didn’t come to see Thea.”
Damn. I stifled a groan. He was going to want to talk about Devlin.
“Come on,” he coaxed and waved a bottle of wine at me to complete the temptation. “You can go out with Mr. Rich and Slimy and not have dinner with me?”
“Rich and slimy?”
His eyes narrowed despite the half smile on his face. “Cole’s got quite a rep.”
“Logan—” I so didn’t want to go there with him. Hell, I was only now coming to grips with the fact that I’d done a demon, for God’s sake. I did a mental eye roll. That sounded like a porn movie. “No talking about Devlin.”
“Fine, we won’t talk about him. We’ll just eat.” He rattled the bag. “Torino’s deli.”
I was done for and I knew it. I swung the door wide and let him in, nudging Sugar out of the way with a gentle knee shove.
Logan shot the dog a wary glance and hitched his bag of food a little higher, just in case. Hah! Like Sugar would actually jump for anything.
He walked into the living room, plopped himself down on the couch as though he belonged there, and set the white deli bag onto the coffee table. “I got two chicken parmesans.”
“Chips, too?”
“Of course.” He looked up at me. “Got a couple glasses and a corkscrew?”
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