“Thank you.” Mara sounded genuinely surprised. “I would love to share a meal with you after your generous gift of the gremlins. But doesn’t that normally come before the date?”
Lacey laughed. “Hey, I’m all for bucking convention. See you in a bit, Jinx.”
I waved good-bye, pleased they’d hit it off, and headed to the team locker room for my date with Kohler, god of the shower.
Once I was clean and reasonably presentable, I hopped on the elevator and descended thirteen stories below ground level for my meeting with the so-called Arbiter with Murkowski’s demon-in-a-jar. Arbiter of what, I couldn’t say. I’d have to ask D, assuming he decided to stick around.
He’d apparently been in the hell realm for a decade, according to his story. That would be useful. I could possibly bring myself to extend him a tiny bit of professional courtesy until he left me to get on with my work and my life since he could tell me more about messenger demons and demon lords.
Damn it, why hadn’t he answered my summons? Why was he back now?
The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that the boss had known D was back and he hadn’t told me. I’d bet every last dollar in my dwindling bank account that the boss had known where D had been all along, which meant he hadn’t kept his side of our bargain.
Then again, demons were treacherous, sneaky creatures who caught unsuspecting humans in loopholes by bending the rules and conniving.
The doors opened to an elegant, if shadowy, reception area. The walls were covered in dark carved panels that cast shadows over the black marble flooring in the low light. Mr. Barbatos, the boss’s secretary, looked up from beneath long lashes and nodded in greeting from behind his antique mahogany desk. It was as elegant as the demon himself. Mr. Barbatos didn’t use a computer, mobile phone, or any other modern gadget, though he did maintain an old-fashioned rotary dial phone on one corner of his freakishly neat desk. The phone served as a link between our squad of demon hunters and the boss, as well as an intercom system. I wasn’t sure how it worked, though, since it didn’t seem to be plugged in.
“You’re late.” Mr. Barbatos’s deep, velvety voice jolted me out of my musings and brought me back to attention.
“Sorry,” I said. “I had a little run-in with a dumpster.”
He grinned, his pale skin glowing from within as he leaned back in his fancy-schmancy office chair. “I heard.”
His expression grew serious, then, and the sparks of demon light swirled in his obsidian irises as he rose from his chair. He buttoned his tailored suit jacket, ever the gentleman, and glided around the desk, leaning in a little too close for comfort. With jet-black hair, chiseled features, and immaculate dress, Mr. Barbatos was swoon-worthy, but all he inspired in me was apprehension. Kind of like a modern-day Samurai warrior—beautiful, powerful, and deadly.
That was probably why he’d chosen this form while working on earth. The guy was a high-ranking demon, one I suspected held rank and power on par with the boss. How the two of them wound up stuck on earth doing what amounted to menial demon cleanup duty was beyond me. I’d never asked. None of us had. We valued the sanctity of our lives and souls too much to pry.
“One day you little demon hunters will learn to control your personal entities, but until then, I’ll never lack for entertainment,” he said.
Ouch. That stung. But since he seemed to be in a good mood, I channeled my bravery to ask him a few questions. If I couldn’t get the lowdown on my ex from my ex, I figured Barbatos would know.
“So,” I began, striving for casual as I adjusted the ice pack on my wrist. “D’s back. Did you know? The boss must have. Funny, he forgot to tell me.”
He arched a brow, feigning ignorance.
“The consultant?” I pressed, giving up any pretense of casual interest. Barbatos wasn’t buying it anyway. “The new demon who dropped by when I got back to HQ?”
“Ah.” Mr. Barbatos leaned against the desk and strummed his long fingers hypnotically over the antique wood surface. “That would be Dominic. Of course that’s not his real name. He’s not ranked highly enough to avoid control by a summons—yet. Dominic is one of many aliases he maintains.”
Duh. Of course he couldn’t avoid control by summons. That was why the boss and I spent years working to summon him and assumed he was dead when we couldn’t. Without his true name, we’d resorted to complex summoning rituals and work-arounds that involved personal effects, a lock of his hair, and blood. My blood. And the whole time the boss knew who D was and had been faking me out.
“Why is he here now, after all these years?” That was the most important question at the moment. It wasn’t for me, surely. He would have come back sooner if it was. A small pang stabbed at my heart, but I pushed it away. He was apparently here for a case—my case. But was it to help, to take it over, or maybe to offer protection?
That thought made me bristle. I didn’t need his protection. The team and I were highly trained professional demon hunters.
Barbatos grinned like the Cheshire cat. “Why don’t you ask him yourself? He’s waiting for you along with the Arbiter.”
“Again with the Arbiter,” I blurted. “How come I don’t know these names and titles and the new guy, this Dominic, does?”
Barbatos sighed, his gaze condescending with a hint of challenge. “You and your ragtag band of hunters didn’t need that information before. It was—what’s the human expression? Ah, yes, above your pay grade.”
The smug bastard irked me, but I knew better than to rise to the challenge, especially without Hannah to back me up. Instead, I glowered at him. “Why now?”
“Because, pet,” he said, leaning down and putting his face mere inches from mine. People and demons kept doing that to me today. What was up with that? “Shit’s about to get real.”
Chapter Eight
Mr. Barbatos led me into the boss’s lair. If I hadn’t already been on edge from the whole shit’s-about-to-get-real thing, that would’ve done it. He never accompanied any of us lowly demon hunters for the mandatory postgame wrap-up. It was beneath him.
I got the feeling it was beneath the boss, too, but he was a control freak.
My boss and his snarkily delicious colleague had been in charge of policing demon activity in the earth realm for centuries. Before that, demons moved as freely to and from their realm as angels—also known as celestials—and wreaked havoc on humanity. Versions of those encounters survived in religious texts and folklore throughout the world, but those stories varied widely in accuracy. Sometimes, demons were helpful. Seriously, the Black Plagues of the Middle Ages could’ve been extinction-level events were it not for the boss.
He was a freakin’ legend.
Some might call him a hero, but not me. I doubted he cared very much about a few hundred thousand human souls, give or take. No, he probably wrangled his fellow demons so he could drain their energy for himself, or collect trophies, or prove that he was the biggest badass in this realm and all others.
Male posturing was apparently universal.
And since he’d apparently been lying to me, I wasn’t inclined to think charitable thoughts about the old demon.
The air left my lungs once we crossed the threshold of the door, and as always, I got the sense that I’d entered a portal into another realm. The sleek black desk and ultra-modern accessories appeared standard issue and ordinary for the average egomaniacal human CEO—it was funny, considering how old-school Barbatos was by contrast. Everything in the boss’s office screamed Euro-style cool, from the smooth metal shelves filled with ancient tomes from earth and who knew how many other realms to the rows of flat-screens lining the tiled walls to the multiple computer screens and keyboards neatly aligned on his desk.
I almost giggled at the thought of Mr. Barbatos and the boss being paired as some sort of hell realm odd couple. I wondered if they had their own reality show. Wow, what if we were unwitting stars of a hell realm version of The Apprentice? Or The Dysfunctional Demon
Office?
“Jane Aurelia McGee.” The boss’s icy voice sent goose bumps erupting over my arms and shoulders. What was it about hearing one’s full name? Maybe he’d been talking to my mother.
I spun around, searching the dark, cavernous recesses of the office for the Big Kahuna. He seemed to materialize out of thin air using tricks of light and one of a series of hidden doors to his lair—sneaky corporeal demon—and sauntered toward his desk. The large screens lining the walls came to life as he passed them. The displays were…eclectic. Everything from digital stock tickers to documentaries to images of the never-ending wars and conflicts that raged all over my planet leapt off the screen in high-definition detail. He often had them on when we had a post-case wrap-up, but I’d always been too wrapped up in my case notes to comment.
“Do you watch all of these at the same time?” Then, remembering my manners, I added, “Sir?” I wanted to launch into a tirade about how he’d broken our bargain, but I’d be in a better position to renegotiate terms if I stayed calm, kept my wits, and used the element of surprise.
I was surprised when he answered. “Of course. I make it a point to stay informed about anything that affects our little business here in the earth realm.”
Of course he did.
Getting right down to said business, he gestured to the black leather chairs in front of his desk, inviting Mr. Barbatos and me to sit. It always made me squirm. I liked leather, but not being swallowed whole by it in the principal’s office. And my feet didn’t reach the ground. It was so undignified. The boss enjoyed reminding me that he was in charge, and this was one of his more annoying power games.
I gave Mr. Barbatos the side eye, but he only grinned, the smug demon. He knew what was going on.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know.
The boss stood behind his desk, looming over me in another power play. He wore a perfectly tailored suit like his executive assistant, only in dark gray rather than the light gray Barbatos favored. It worked for him, with his tan skin and salt-and-pepper hair.
I arched a brow and set the jar full of angry demon on the boss’s desk. For once, I kept my mouth shut and waited for the boss to explain. I could play power games, too.
The boss leveled his gaze on me. “Your demon captured an entity you weren’t expecting?”
Humor deserted me as my ire rose, but I resisted the urge to yell. Snark was more my style. “Technically, Dominic caught him. Funny thing, the case file mentioned that Mr. Murkowski likes hamburgers, Hawaiian shirts, and spending summers in Destin with the family, but it didn’t include anything about a preexisting demonic possession,” I said a little too brightly. “Then again, it failed to mention his Bad Santa fetish, too. Hate it when that happens.”
Barbatos smirked, not because he liked me or thought I was particularly funny, but because he thrived on conflict. It was a demon thing. The boss, however, narrowed his gaze and said, “I see. You and your demon failed to capture the demon possessing Murkowski.”
“No, Hannah managed to capture the demon and almost got ripped out of me in the process, but then it escaped.” I decided it wouldn’t be wise to mention that Hannah had let the demon go. “The whole situation could’ve been avoided if I’d known what I was dealing with. I don’t like being blindsided, and I don’t like lies.”
“Fieldwork is often unpredictable. It also comes with occupational hazards. Did you forget that, or have you become complacent? You’ve always been too brash. Seems Dominic arrived right on time.”
I should have kept my temper in check, but I had my limits. I stood, fists clenched at my side and body vibrating with barely contained rage. “We had a bargain. You told me failure to summon him meant he was dead. You lied—”
Quick as a snake, his face was in front of me, close enough that my eyes crossed. It took every ounce of training and fortitude I had not to flinch. The fact that I was in the right gave me strength.
“I didn’t lie. I never lie. If we were in the hell realm, I’d be within my rights to slay you where you stand.”
My heart pounded and fear sweat leaked from my pores, but I held my ground. We weren’t in the hell realm. He couldn’t kill me. It was against the rules. Of course, as far as I knew, he made the rules and could unmake them. But he owed me an explanation.
He backed away, straightened his jacket, and said, “Dominic’s appearance came as an unexpected surprise for me. My intention was to inform you at this meeting, but against my orders, he chose to make his presence known to you first.”
I kept my face neutral, but my jaw almost fell to the ground. D had surprised the boss? Nothing demon-related ever caught the boss off guard. Coupled with the weirdness of the Murkowski case, this couldn’t be good. I nodded, and in response to his arched brow, I took my seat again.
“Summon your demon. I need to know what happened when this one”—he looked at the jar on the table with disdain—“tried to take her.”
“Yeah, about that…” Hannah was still incommunicado. I wasn’t sure if a summons was a good idea. Then again, if the boss wanted her, she might be more inclined to listen.
“Never mind.” I tugged on the chain at my neck. Reaching into my shirt seemed inappropriate in the office setting. I stared into the center of the obsidian and watched as my reflection morphed into a scowl that really brought out the red demon sparks in my eyes.
“Greetings, Arbiter.” Hannah surprised me by speaking first. She hijacked my voice, and she shouldn’t have been able to do that. Then again, I was grateful that she showed up at all.
The boss’s gaze widened for a fraction of a second, but he quickly schooled his features to calm. Meanwhile, Barbatos leaned forward to get a better view, his eyes alight with giddy anticipation. All he needed was popcorn and 3-D glasses.
“You remember me.” The boss spoke carefully, with a hint of warning in his deep, cold voice.
“I remember everything.” Hannah’s calm disturbed me more than the boss’s anger.
Remembered him? Remembered everything? That didn’t make any sense. They talked all the time. The three of us had been through countless debriefings and postgame wrap-ups, not to mention all the times she tried to help us summon D.
Then again, Hannah had called him the Arbiter when she appeared this time. She’d never used his title before.
The escaped demon messenger had said, “Remember,” before he vanished. Perhaps that message had been meant for Hannah. My gut sank as I wondered what she’d remembered. We’d never figured out exactly what kind of demon Hannah was, where she’d come from, or why she’d wound up possessing me. She couldn’t remember anything about her past, and the boss figured she’d lost her memories after some sort of altercation with another demon. She’d been smuggled out of the hell realm and had taken up residence in me shortly thereafter.
The boss never said it, but I knew why she’d chosen me as a host. There was something in me that was wrong, malevolent. Had to be. Demons were attracted to bad humans, drawn by the darkness within them. I’d always been the bad kid. It was why my dad left us, why my mom always disapproved of me.
If Hannah was remembering her past, maybe she could tell me what was in me that was evil enough to get a demon’s attention.
The boss cocked his head to the side and studied Hannah, and me, with interest. It was weird. I wasn’t the focus of the boss’s scrutiny. Hannah was. Only this time Hannah seemed calmer, more in control of herself, than she normally did. I tugged on the black mirror and her leash a little more tightly. We seemed…closer, for lack of a better word. True, anger still coursed through her consciousness in dark waves, but she and I meshed without the push and pull of our normal dynamic.
Did that demon do something to you when you took a bite out of him?
For once, I didn’t voice the thought aloud, but Hannah caught it and, surprisingly, answered me.
Yes. He gave me clarity. Fear not, my other. I will keep us safe.
My other?
I tur
ned my attention back to the boss. When he spoke, his deep voice warped, and his essence vibrated with more malevolence than I’d ever seen in him.
“If you remember everything, then you’ll remember my policy. Tell me everything you know about this demon.”
The corners of my mouth tugged into a smile I suspected was equally cruel—Hannah’s doing. I preferred smirks, personally, infused with mild to moderate disdain and a dash of sarcasm. I almost dug out the black mirror again so I could see. I’m sure she made us look badass.
“I let the demon go,” Hannah said. “And I wouldn’t have given him to you if I’d kept him. Mephisto sought to capture me and my host. I wanted to know why, so I questioned him. He…enlightened me. And then I released him.”
Barbatos chuckled. “I haven’t seen Mephisto in ages.”
“He hasn’t had a message to deliver in ages,” Hannah replied.
Mephisto. I’d read about him once during the countless hours of study and online training that came along with the demon-hunting gig. How much of it was history versus myth was anyone’s guess. Dubious sources of information aside, while Mephisto wasn’t quite a hotshot in the hell realm hierarchy, the messenger himself ranked higher than any demon I’d yet encountered during my hunts. As far as I knew, he’d been holed up in the hell realm for centuries since the banishment of demon lords from earth. In addition to capturing tempter demons, demon hunters and portal guards were meant to keep demons like Mephisto from traveling to earth and wreaking havoc like they had prior to portal closures and travel restrictions.
“What message?” It was me who asked that time. I hated meetings. All posturing and cryptic back-and-forth without substance. Waste of time. I was a woman of action. “And what’s going on with Hannah?”
The second question was directed at the boss, but I’d be perfectly fine if Hannah answered.
At first, I thought the boss would ignore my questions, but he nodded, surprising me. “If this message is what I believe it is, perhaps it’s time to rally the troops from our side. Have you shared the message with your host?”
Catching Hell Page 6