by Dakota Brown
"Well, I suppose we should go then. If there's anything else you can think of, Mr. Reed, please let us know." Darius stood and Aaron did as well, offering the priest his hand.
They shook and I reluctantly moved from Sabian's comfortable embrace so I could see them out.
Aaron also shook hands with Deputy McClellan and then I walked everyone to the door.
We all watched as they got into the deputy's car and pulled out of the driveway before Aaron turned to me.
"What other demons have you collected?"
"What?" I frowned, confused.
"Deputy McClellan said you were getting a collection of demons. One hellhound isn't a collection."
"Oh. Uh." I glanced at Sabian who shrugged, looking unconcerned so I pointed at him. "Incubus."
I could feel the force of Aaron's stare between my shoulder blades as I headed back toward the living room. Sabian went ahead of me and started cleaning up. I really could get used to this.
"I truly don't know how I feel about that," Aaron said when he joined us a minute later. I'd almost thought he was going to go hide in his room.
"Yeah, well, Mal's a vampire," Sabian declared from the kitchen. "He's way more dangerous than I am."
Aaron, who'd just put his coffee mug to his mouth, choked.
I glanced at Sabian, raising my eyebrows.
"He said I could tell Aaron."
"Ahh." Well, that was good at least. "If it wasn't clear, you gotta keep that under wraps. We tried to keep the whole Sabian's a demon thing on the down low, but that didn't work out so well."
"Yeah, not going to tell anyone," Aaron wheezed as he tried to catch his breath. "They'd lock me up, if nothing else."
"So, something about you is apparently painful for demons to touch."
"More felt like an electric shock. Surprised me," Sabian explained. "But I think now that I am expecting it, I wouldn't have as much of a problem. Mal probably had the same reaction."
Aaron hunched his shoulders and folded himself into the chair.
"You okay, mate?"
"It's a lot to take in."
"So, that super strong guy, did he have any issues grabbing you?"
"Now that I think about it, he did react surprised the first time he grabbed my arm, but the woman did something and then he didn't have any problems. I...uh...wasn't able to get away, or..." He clenched his hands together and stared at them. "I guess I know your secrets. I do have some sort of weird ability." He shrugged. "I don't know anything about it. No one else in my family does. I can tell when people are lying, and some other stuff."
"Guess it's a good thing I'm a shite liar," I replied, hoping to set him at ease, and wondering what the 'other stuff' was. He could tell us when he was more comfortable, though. It probably wasn't immediately relevant.
He smiled. "I had noticed you haven't even tried."
"Life's not exactly an open book, but, well, there's not that much to hide. I'm an exorcist, and apparently now I help demons instead of banishing them. Took a strange turn, is all. Still, not about to go out and sell my soul or any of that crap. What more do you want to know?"
"Probably none of my business, but..." He glanced at Sabian, gestured helplessly, and shrugged. "Both of them?"
"Mate, Sabian is an incubus. I challenge you to keep your hands off him if he doesn't want you to."
Aaron blinked a few times.
"Never fear, I could pick a form far more appealing to you," Sabian joked from the kitchen.
"I... what?"
"Incubi are apparently shape shifters," I replied with a grin.
Aaron squirmed in his chair. "I'm good, thanks, Sabian."
The demon chuckled and I groaned. He really needed to stop doing that when I couldn't tackle him to the ground and have my way with him.
Aaron looked pained and hunched over again.
"He has a few bad habits," I explained.
Sabian laughed, but this time he kept his power in check.
"Anyway, fortunately, Mal is pretty open minded when it comes to Sabian."
"For his background, Mal is extremely open minded about a lot of things," Sabian added.
"Yeah, I guess that's probably true, isn't it?" I hadn't actually thought too much about it, but Sabian was right. The vampire was positively liberal as far as I could tell.
"Okay, so you're shacking up with a demon and a vampire and you're helping me out because the demons have you doing the same thing Father Darius and Deputy McClellan are, except you're not giving the humans all the information you have? That about right?"
I laughed. "Yeah, mate. Darius can't handle all of this. It's safer if I keep him out of it as much as I can."
"Okay," Aaron agreed. "And you have a hellhound."
"Yeah. Not sure why, but he's here."
The creature appeared from wherever he had been and wagged his tail. I pet him on his fluffy head.
"Okay. I need to process all of this. I also need to get a car. Can you give me a ride? I'm sorry to impose."
"Naw, mate, it's no problem. I gotta head over to the shop for a bit and maybe I'll swing by Mal's and say hi. We should probably get some more crystals if we're going to unbind any more demons, if nothing else."
"Great. I really appreciate you helping me out," Aaron said.
"Happy to. Sabian, you coming?"
"If Aaron has no objection, I'll stick with him today. We probably shouldn't leave him alone in case they make another attempt to grab him."
I glanced at Aaron. He took a deep breath as if steeling himself before nodding. "Yes, thank you."
"Great. Let's go."
Chapter 13
Price
I dropped Aaron and Sabian off at a car dealership and headed for the restaurant. I just wanted to stop in for a minute and then I was going to go bug Mal at his shop. I had a thought that we might want to see if we could figure out anything about Aaron's crazy eye tattoos. I needed to ask him about those, but it hadn't been the time earlier.
The air conditioning of my restaurant welcomed me out of the hot desert air, and I stood under the vent for a moment. I could not wear the leather jacket in the summer. It was a lighter one, but still, it was hot. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to give up on my dedication to the punk look. Also, the jacket had actually saved my ass on more than one occasion. Even if it was just because I usually kept holy water in a squirt bottle in one of the pockets.
The hellhound followed on my heels and it was too hot to tell the creature to stay outside. Besides, most people didn't seem to notice him, anyway.
Wiping some sweat away from my brow, I headed the rest of the way into the restaurant. The staff members that weren't busy greeted me. A few of them sported the jean jackets I'd told Billy to give everyone.
"So, we need new shirts, too," Billy said by way of greeting when I walked into my office. He was sitting at my desk working on one of the projects I'd handed over to him. I collapsed into one of the spare chairs. The hound settled by my feet.
"Whatever you want, mate." I didn't have the energy to argue about it, and it probably was time for an update.
"Seriously?" He stopped what he was doing and looked at me.
"Yeah, sure. The guys like it. You all like it. Isn't hurting me any." I shrugged.
"Okay. I'll get to work on some designs. And designs on the official signs and all. Once I get it put together, I can run it by you?"
"Yeah, great."
"You okay, Chris?"
I nodded. "It's just been a very trying few days. I'd never expected to be involved with any of this again and now I'm neck deep in it."
"So, you mentioned the guys. Both of them?" Billy gave me a sly look.
I realized what I'd done, sighed, and gave Billy a 'look.'
He grinned in reply.
"I gotta go. Everything going okay here? Anything I need to know about?"
"No, boss. It's all good here. No demons that I know of. Customers have been relatively under control. We've got this
while you deal with whatever that priest has dragged you into."
"Thank you, Billy."
"Yep, see you later, boss."
I got up and left, knowing he'd take care of everything, waved at a few folks while I made my way through the restaurant, and got back into my oven-like car. As I'd suspected, no one noticed the dog.
I'd go see Mal for a few minutes, ask him about the tattoos, and then head back to my place.
The trip to the touristy town square didn't take long and I found a parking spot relatively quickly, though I hesitated getting out of the car once I'd turned it off until it got uncomfortable from the heat outside. Why was I suddenly uncomfortable? I doubted Mal would mind me swinging by, especially since I wanted to ask about occult stuff. Was I nervous? Okay, this was getting dumb. The hellhound woofed softly, possibly in agreement. I doubted he was too hot.
I got out of the damn car, let the dog out, and slammed the door in frustration. Chris Price did not get nervous about men. Even sexy, dangerous, nerdy, fangy men. It just didn't happen.
Despite the pep talk I still dragged my feet a little as I headed toward the store. Even with my hesitation, it didn't take long before I was pushing the door open to the shop and getting smacked in the face by the heavily incensed air.
Mal glanced up from a computer, a smile lighting up his face when I came inside.
"Chris, hello."
"Hey, Mal."
His brow furrowed. "Is something wrong?"
"No. Sorry." I shrugged and came over to the counter. "I actually just was hoping I wasn't bothering you by stopping by. I thought it might be wise to see if we could figure anything out about Aaron's strange tattoos," I said in a rush.
Mal's lips twitched and I thought he was trying not to smile. He reached across the counter and brushed his fingers along my cheek. I leaned into his touch a little.
"Malak, that had better be your girlfriend."
We both jumped and Mal looked a little sheepish.
"Olivia, this is Chris."
A tall, wonderfully curvy black woman came out from the back of the store. She hit every stereotype of a new age shop owner that Mal did not. Pink T-shirt with a black cat on it. Witch hat dangly earrings. Capris and sandals. Well, the last were more Santa Fe in the summer than new age. She was grinning at me, and I liked her instantly.
"Hi." I forced myself to talk normally, though I still felt really awkward. I did not like feeling awkward. It was not a normal experience for me.
"Hello. I've been trying to get Mal to bring his mystery girl by. So glad you are here."
I glanced at him and he shrugged, looking a touch embarrassed.
"Yeah, it's been a busy few days. First chance I got. Nice place you have here."
"I'd press you for details, and trust me, I want to know everything." She paused, wrinkling her brow for a moment before laughing. "Maybe not everything, but I've got to run next door for a few minutes. I'll be back. My apologies for meeting you and running out."
She was out the door before I could say it wasn't a problem, so I turned my attention back to Mal and arched an eyebrow.
"She made assumptions," he said hesitantly. "We haven't really had a chance to talk about our relationship."
"Right." I could not explain the sinking feeling in my gut. What the hell was wrong with me? "It's fine. I did just come by to see if you had any thoughts on Aaron."
Mal studied me for a few moments. "Chris. I do want a relationship. We just haven't had a minute to talk. Between the demons and everything else." He threw in a smile probably to lighten his statement a bit. "You have said you want to keep me around."
"Yeah, I did, didn't I." I stopped myself from saying any of my normal stupid lines. I did not want to fuck this up, though I had no idea what actually to say. I never talked about relationships. I just had a little fun and eventually moved on. Usually fairly quickly. This might have been only the second time in my life I'd found someone I wanted to stick around. Two someones even. Three, a small voice whispered, and I told it to shut up. I could barely handle the feelings the vampire and the incubus were bombarding me with. Aaron probably wanted someone that would fit nicely into his white picket fence life. An eighties throwback punk was not that person. Especially one that was an exorcist.
"You're thinking awfully hard, Chris," Mal said.
"Sorry, not good at any of this relationship stuff." I shoved my hands into my pockets.
"Well, it hasn't exactly been normal circumstances, either."
"Probably just as well for me." I laughed, some of the tension easing out of my shoulders. "My normal usually doesn't turn out well. You heard Darius. He thought a demon would be better for me than my normal types."
Mal chuckled. "Sabian is trying very hard to be good for you. He likes you a lot. So do I."
I shifted uncomfortably.
"Tell you what. Let's deal with this demon problem and if you're still speaking to me by the end of it, we'll discuss where we're going from here."
"Sounds good, mate." The idea of a future discussion made me uneasy, but I felt it was probably just because the entire situation was uncertain.
Fortunately, Mal changed the subject. "I'm sure it won't surprise you to know I was also curious about his tattoos. I've done a few searches in between other tasks. The only thing that really seems to match up is a rather old description of biblical style angels. There are plenty of other mythologies that deal with eye imagery of course, but in combination with the wings, and the style, well, it was the only thing that seemed even close. Aaron doesn't seem the religious type, especially for ancient religions, so it is a very confusing choice. Honestly, I think we'll have to ask him." Mal slid a book over to me and I looked at the picture.
"Well, that's terrifying." I studied the picture. It was of a creature with six wings, three on each side, and a set of some sort of crossed rings in between the wings, all covered in eyes. The center was depicted as a fierce glow, also covered in eyes.
"Vaguely," Mal agreed. "If he does have some celestial blood, and the tattoos are actually markings instead of choices on his part. That might explain why Sabian and I had a hard time touching him." Mal frowned. "Though I never really did go for the idea that vampires were damned. Perhaps it's simply something contradictory in our natures that causes the pain."
"He did admit to having some powers after Darius and McClellan left. He can sense if someone is lying or not. He now knows about you and Sabian."
Mal nodded, as if he had expected that. "That also lends to this theory. Interesting. I suppose sacrificing someone with angelic blood would be diabolical enough to summon a demon prince who did not wish to be summoned."
I shuddered. "We've got to stop them. Maybe it's time to get Sabian to contact the prince again and see if we can get more information."
"I agree." Mal took the book and slid it under the counter. "I've got to be here for another hour. Where is Sabian, anyway?"
"He's guarding Aaron while our new friend picks out a replacement vehicle."
"Why don't you stay here until Olivia gets back. Then we can leave together. My car is at home."
"Yeah, sounds good. Where do you live?"
"Just down the way." He told me his address. "I'll take you by sometime soon."
"Sounds good."
"I have a question," Mal said and I tensed slightly. Why was I having these strange reactions? I did not get worried about what men thought of me. Or anyone, for that matter.
"Yeah, mate?"
"You're an exorcist and an occultist. Surely you've got your own library?"
"Oh! Yeah, when I quit, I kind of really quit. Buried all that fuckery up in some chests on family land in the mountains."
Mal raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
"Dude, it was a bad time leading up to me getting out. Really bad time."
"I understand. If you ever want to talk about it..."
I shuddered. "Maybe someday."
He nodded his understanding. I su
pposed he'd seen his fair share of bad things. Probably far worse than what I'd experienced.
"Someday I want to hear your stories, too."
Mal smiled and ducked his head a little, as if embarrassed. "Sure. Sometime. Though it might be far less interesting than you're expecting. I've spent a lot of time with my nose buried in books."
"Fair enough."
The door chimed and Mal glanced over toward the customer who had just come in.
"Hey, you got anything interesting to read while I wait?" I glanced around and noticed a few comfortable looking chairs by the window.
Mal nodded and handed back the book he'd shown me. I took it and curled up in one of the chairs, wondering if maybe I should unbury the past. Literally. There were a lot of things in that stash that would have been very handy to have at the moment. It was probably time to get into a deep occult discussion with Mal, too. Pick his brain and all. Maybe he had some of the things I was missing.
Of course, if I could finish this task, maybe I could get out again.
The hellhound jumped up on my lap and made himself comfortable.
Point taken. There was no way I was going to get out again. Oddly enough, the thought did not make me sad. My heart picked up its pace a little, and I felt truly excited for the first time in years. Of course, I'd made some fairly epic mistakes right after feeling like this, so maybe it wasn't so good. Still...it would be better to be prepared moving forward, than to continue hiding. First things first, see what kind of book Mal had given me to read, and then head home and ask Aaron about his tattoos. After that, well, we had a really messed up occultist to stop. Then Mal and I would have a relationship talk. I was way more stressed out about that talk then any of the rest. How messed up was that?
∞ ∞ ∞
"You come back when you have a minute to talk, Chris. Mal is so quite about his personal life. I want details." Olivia waved as we left the shop.