The Trouble with Demons

by Spear, Terry

  “But Tessalyn…,” Jared said.

  “She’s wrong. I bet there’s never been a half Kubiteron gate guardian ever. And what were we supposed to do anyway? Return to Seplichus and search the database for a Samuria willing to work with me?”

  Jared said, “Yeah. We could check it out in the morning.”

  “I’m joking,” she said sarcastically.

  Jared looked at Hunter. “I don’t know anything about these gate guardians. I could get some information on them while we’re there.”

  “No,” Alana said.

  “How can you make an informed decision without knowing all the facts?” Jared said, sounding perturbed.

  Hunter shook his head. “She can’t go back. Not with the Matusa wanting her.”

  “Then I could return.”

  “To find out everything you can about gate guardians,” Hunter clarified.

  “You don’t want me to locate a Samuria?”

  Alana’s face steamed. Didn’t she already say she wasn’t going to be a gate guardian?

  “Tessalyn said it had to be a Kubiteron’s choice,” Hunter said.

  “Okay. I’ll bring back a list of names and profiles.”

  “Then you pick your own mate from one, Jared.” Alana huffed, then turned her attention to the house and tried to get Hunter and her back inside, but her uncle had locked it in such a manner she couldn’t reopen it. She rang the doorbell and banged the brass knocker. His bedroom was on the backside of the house, but even so, he was a lot heavier sleeper than she thought.

  Jared waited patiently for them to get safely back inside before he left.

  “Is there somewhere else we can stay?” Hunter asked, and she thought she sensed he seemed a little concerned.

  “Back patio? Chaise lounges aren’t the most comfortable to sleep on, but the backyard is protected by a barrier,” she offered.

  Jared looked a little left out. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Maybe you ought to hang around in case we have another summoning episode,” Hunter said.

  “There are six chaise lounges. Enough for a whole party of demons.” Alana headed for the backyard gate, glad that Jared could watch for demon signatures that might approach the house.

  “Hopefully we won’t have any uninvited guests crash the party.” Hunter followed her.

  With his laptop under his arm, Jared trailed behind.

  The night was warm and muggy, the stars glittering against a black satin sky while ornamental brass lanterns shed small amounts of light on sleeping flowers and winsome maiden statues. The fragrance of roses perfumed the air, but mosquitoes buzzed around their ears and landed on any inch of exposed skin. Alana cast a bug-off protection spell over the patio, and the three demons climbed onto the loungers for the night.

  For several minutes no one said anything, then unable to shut off her mind, Alana rolled over on her side. “So, Hunter, what did you think of your father?”

  A heated growl rumbled from Hunter’s direction.

  Chapter 15

  Hunter rolled over on his back on the chaise lounge and ignored Alana’s query. What kind of a question was that to ask of a Matusa anyway? Even if he was half human? How did he feel about his father? He hated him for making his mother pregnant, for leaving her, for caring for another woman more, and having a son with her.

  Bentos had even checked up on his other son, but not once had he learned how Hunter fared. Hunter stared up at the overhang above the patio. Only a Kubiteron/half human would ask him such an irritating question.

  He glanced at Jared who was watching him. What? Did he wonder, too? He growled inwardly. Jared ought to know him better than that.

  “I was just curious,” Alana finally said. “I try not to think about my own father, because Mom said he’d left her right after making her pregnant and never got in touch with her.” She took a heavy breath.

  Hunter watched the emotions playing across her face: irritation, disappointment, stoicism.

  “Anyway, kids bugged me at school when I was little. ‘Where’s your dad for the Dad’s Day with their Daughters?’ And ‘Why aren’t you making a Father’s Day card for your dad?’ Worse, my teachers insisted I make one for some other male family member. Why should I have? Mom’s dad had disowned her for getting pregnant without a husband. She was supposed to marry a nice, respectable warlock. Uncle Stephen had treated her coolly for years. And even until recently, he wasn’t very accepting of me. So, why should I honor some male member of the family, I’d like to know.”

  “So, did you make a Father’s Day card?” Jared asked.

  He needn’t have asked. Hunter could see from her mutinous expression she hadn’t.

  “No.”

  Except for cicadas and crickets singing in the muggy breeze, and the sound of water spilling from a marble maiden’s pitcher into a fountain in the rose gardens, no other sounds intruded on the night.

  Then Jared asked, “Did you get in trouble?”

  Hunter shook his head. He’d hoped Alana’s mind had quieted so they could sleep. If he’d had a pillow, he would have socked Jared with it.

  Alana offered a sinfully wicked grin.

  “I take that as a yes.” Jared smiled. He always found humor in the most devilish situations.

  “I made a Mother’s Day card and said it was because my mother needed to be honored on Father’s Day for being both my mother and father.”

  “You got into trouble for that?” Hunter asked, though he’d been expelled so many times from school over the years himself whenever someone hassled him, and he wouldn’t let them get away with it, he couldn’t understand how he ever managed to graduate this year. Though he’d wondered if they had wanted to get him out of the school quickly.

  “No. One of the boys tore up my card and said I was the reason my father wouldn’t come home.”

  Hunter raised his brows. “Good thing your demon half couldn’t kick in until you were older when you could handle it better or that kid would have been in some serious trouble.”

  She smiled and the look was pure evil. “Maybe so, but I had my witch’s powers. Suddenly, the little creep, Jeffries—though he was a lot bigger than me—got a nosebleed. He screamed and said I gave it to him, but I hadn’t touched him, physically.”

  “So how’d you get in trouble then?” Jared asked.

  “The kid swung his boot to kick me in the shin, and I socked him in the eye. The teacher only saw me hit him. When he kicked at me, I’d put up a protective spell, so he didn’t hurt me. But the problem was I couldn’t prove he’d kicked at me first. Either the other kids hadn’t seen what happened, or they were more afraid of him and lied. Anyway, I got sent home, and Mom lectured me big time about not using my witch’s powers at school. However, punching the kid in the eye was perfectly acceptable, according to my mother. Giving him a nosebleed wasn’t.”

  “I like your mother, at least about the punching-Jeffries-in-the eye bit.” Jared leaned back against his lounge chair.

  Alana stretched out. “After that, I always said my father was dead. And he was, until I learned I have this demonic connection to him. Now, I have this weird nagging at the back of my mind. What traits might we share? Is he an early riser like me? Does he grind his teeth when he’s mad? But most of all, I want to know what being a Kubiteron means. On the other hand, I’m not all that sure I want to meet him. I doubt he’d care anything about me or he’d have tried to get in touch with me.”

  “Unless he couldn’t,” Jared said, “because he would need to be summoned again.”

  Her brow furrowed.

  “Also, my father said it’s up to the demon child to search for the parent. Not the other way around,” Hunter said.

  “Yeah, well, I’ve thought about it ever since my mother told me the truth about him. And you know what? I was right. He’s dead. Whatever I am, is me. I’ve been me all along without him. I’ll be me the rest of my life and not give it another thought.”

  She sounded
less convinced of that than she let on, Hunter thought. “Did you find any clues to his identity while you were searching at the court of records?” He didn’t believe she wasn’t interested in finding her father, even if she meant only to chew him out for leaving her mother behind.

  Jared chuckled darkly. “You should have seen the way she talked to the Kubiteron she investigated. Remember I told you how you have to correspond with the demons in their world? Very cordially? Not this one. Man, she even used a ton of exclamation marks. Exclamation marks! I was amazed we didn’t have a swarm of Kubiteron demons at the court house looking for blood, and I don’t mean as in looking to see if they were related to her or not.”

  Hunter could believe it. But what he couldn’t believe was that she’d persist on questioning him!

  “What does your father do, besides rescue his poisoned son?” Alana asked Hunter, her voice not sounding in the least bit sleepy.

  “What do you mean, what does he do?” As if Hunter knew or cared.

  “His occupation?”

  “How should I know?”

  She glanced at Jared. “Do you know about the demon culture?”

  “It’s similar to ours in a way,” Jared said. “Some areas of their world have more hostile environments, hardier demons living there. Others are city demons like the ones here. They don’t have elected officials, but reigning princes instead.”

  “Matusa?”

  “No. That’s the ironic thing. The ruling princes are made up of the various demon clans. But the Matusa are the only ones who do not rule. According to the records custodian, Treikal, who by the way is a ruling prince’s cousin, the Matusa have too volatile tempers to preside over the rest. In that regard, they understand their limitations and leave the governing of regions to lesser demons.”

  “But I thought they would never allow others to rule them.”

  “Humans, no. And truthfully, if a lesser demon tells a Matusa what to do, he has to word it in a conciliatory manner or risk the Matusa’s wrath.”

  “So if you are related to Treikal, you could be related to a ruling prince. Wow.” She gave Hunter a frosty smile.

  He cast her a so-what-of-it look back. Then she closed her eyes and Hunter sighed, figuring he was finally going to get some sleep.

  Stephen’s voice suddenly boomed in their ears. “What is going on here?”

  They jumped from the loungers ready to do battle. Stephen fisted his hands on his hips and glared from one to the other.

  “Alana was drawn to a portal in the city. We had to send the summoned demon back,” Hunter said, yawning.

  “But we couldn’t get back in the house, though I tried to wake you.” Alana rubbed an eye.

  “If you were there in a vision—”

  “I had to help heal the injured demon. Hunter brought her to the front lawn.”

  Enough with the questioning already. If it wasn’t so important Hunter stuck to his part of the bargain and helped protect Alana against the Baltimore Matusa, he would have gladly gone home to his own bed. Though he had to admit he hadn’t had this much of a hassle in a long time and it rather perked up life.

  Stephen motioned to Jared. “What is he doing here?”

  Looking only half awake, Alana stretched her arms above her head. “He’s the one who tracks the summoned demon’s signature so he could locate me.”

  “He needs to return to his home.” Stephen gave Hunter a long, exasperated look. “And no more leaving the house with my niece tonight.”

  “Yes, sir,” Hunter said, sardonically. How could he stop her from leaving, if another portal opened? He slapped Jared on the back. “Call you later.”

  “Much later, will ya?” Jared took off for his Jeep parked out front.

  Stephen led Hunter and Alana back into the house. “I’m afraid I can’t get hold of Yolan at this hour. We really need to see if you can learn the spell to protect your mind from this portal intrusion.”

  “Hunter said we should examine the reason I’m being pulled to them,” Alana said, following her uncle.

  Hunter expected her to mention about her possibly being a gate guardian, but she gave him a look like he’d better not say a word. Ignoring what she might be wasn’t the solution, and he had half a notion to bring it up. Then again, her uncle would talk longer and there would go the chance at returning sooner to bed. Self-preservation was more important.

  “Good idea.” Stephen stopped before her bedroom door. “Get some sleep.” His voice sounded groggy and annoyed.

  “Right, Uncle Stephen.” She glanced at Hunter. “Night, Dark One.” Privately, she said, “Don’t you dare call me to your room again tonight!”

  The notion was tempting; he gave her a cocky smile. “Night, Kubiteron.”

  ***

  Early the next morning, Hunter woke to the sound of Stephen scolding, and Alana defending herself downstairs. He opened a bleary eye and peered at the glare of the bold white numbers on a digital clock. Five a.m.? Even the roosters were probably still sleeping off the morning.

  Yanking the spare pillow on the queen’s sized mattress over his head, he wished his demonic abilities could put people to sleep like Alana had done to the nurses at the nurses’ station. Witch ability or demonic?

  Whatever. He just wished he could zap Alana and her uncle back to sleep.

  And then everything grew quiet.

  Sometime later, in his semi-conscious state, he heard a voice speaking to him in his mind. “Hunter, are you still sleeping? The morning’s half over! Call Jared and let’s get on with business. Hurry, before my Uncle Stephen returns.”

  Then blessed silence. But the quiet only lasted a few minutes. Suddenly, demonic pounding shook his bedroom door. Grinding his teeth, he tried to ignore it.

  “Hunter! Get your butt out of bed! We need to find that shop where the summoning book came from. Now, Hunter!”

  Throwing the spare pillow at the door, he glowered at the clock. Seven? Still too early.

  “You never, ever want to wake a Matusa demon, Kubiteron!” he growled, running his hand over the light stubble covering his chin.

  “Yeah, well, if you don’t hurry and get your lazy butt out of bed, my uncle will be back, and I won’t be going anywhere.”

  “You need to stay here. Jared and I will check it out.”

  “Nope.”

  He yanked the black velvet comforter aside, then sat up, his mind still groggy. “You really don’t want to see me pissed.”

  “All right, sleep your life away. I’ll call Jared myself.”

  Standing, Hunter stretched his arms toward the ceiling and yawned. “He’s even grouchier than me before his first soda.”

  “Don’t tell me you drink soda for breakfast.”

  “No, I drink coffee. Jared drinks sodas.” Hunter grabbed his clothes and headed for the door. Yanking it open, he glared at the spitfire before him.

  Alana looked like a sunshiny day, her golden hair braided down her back, her green eyes sparkling with enthusiasm, her lips raised in an impudent grin.

  “You, Kubiteron, will have to learn your limits when it comes to dealing with a Matusa.”

  She chuckled under her breath, and he stalked off to the bathroom. “Has your uncle got any spare toothbrushes?”

  “Bottom drawer on the right. Throwaway razors, too. Despite being only one of him, he buys everything in army-sized quantities. Mom said it’s because his parents would run out of things, and he was always having to borrow someone else’s stuff to make do until they went shopping again. Cute boxers, by the way.”

  He glanced down at his black satin boxers covered in red hot chili peppers, his little sister’s Christmas gift to him. He tossed a glower over his shoulder. “Last female demon who got a glimpse of them, didn’t live long.”

  She laughed out loud.

  He slammed the bathroom door behind him and smiled.

  ***

  Half an hour later, Hunter scarfed down four scrambled eggs, a half dozen slices of bacon,
and three slices of toast dripping with honey, not even noticing Alana was there. Tossing down his fourth cup of coffee, he finally looked up from the table.

  Alana rested her chin in her hand as she leaned her elbow against the table and watched him. “Do you always eat that much?”

  “Only when I’ve been up half the night and had to fight demons all day. Not to mention I wasn’t able to eat while I was ill.” He glanced at the stainless steel kitchen that looked like it deserved to be featured in a cooking show. “Does your uncle like to cook?”

  “A hobby of his.”

  “What kind of work does he do to have all this?” Hunter motioned to the lavish furnishings.

  “Stocks and bonds.”

  “Stockbroker?” He slid his plate to her.

  She raised her brows, hesitated to take the scraped-clean plate, then jerked it off the table. She would not be his servant! “Investments.”

  Hunter leaned back in his chair while she shoved the plate in the dishwasher. “You mean he has inside information?”

  She turned and frowned at him. “He’s just good at what he does.”

  “I bet. You said your mother doesn’t have a cell phone. Can’t afford it? Can’t she get insider information on the stock market, too?”

  “Everyone’s different, Hunter. My mother can barely balance her checkbook, but she does a pretty good job at exorcising ghosts, which my uncle and most of his friends can’t do.”

  “And you?”

  Giving him an impish look, Alana shrugged, and he knew then she exorcised spirits. Which intrigued him.

  Once, he’d encountered a ghost and he’d always wished he could have helped the soul find peace.

  “So if Casper the Ghost came to visit me in the middle of the night, you could zap him back into the netherworld?”

  “We don’t zap ghosts. We attempt to give them solace, and they depart our world.”

  Not believing her for an instant, he tapped his fingers on the table. “You don’t mean to tell me there are only sweet-natured spirits out there who nicely do as you bid.” Though the one who’d come to him was definitely one of the good guys.