I put on my best poker face and shrugged. “Not a clue.”
He smiled. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he didn’t believe me. No way. I had the best poker face. “Sure you’re not an angel? Assuming they exist, too.”
My chest went tight, and I fought a grimace. I’d spent most of my childhood wondering if I could find an angel to rescue me. That was what angels were supposed to do. I tried to be good, hoping a guardian angel would notice me, see I was doing my best despite the demon inside me, but none ever came.
Guess I wasn’t good enough.
I coughed and looked down at my feet. “Oh, I’m no angel, believe me. But if they’re out there, I’ll bet they’ll be keeping an eye on you and your girls. You folks deserve a break.”
I felt a hand on mine. Murkowski didn’t hold on long enough to make it weird. He just gave my hand a light squeeze. “I think you’re wrong.”
I was about to scoff, but his chuckle caught me off guard. I looked up to find Bad Santa grinning like a fiend, his gaze full of mischief. “Okay, maybe a fallen angel. You did bring me a heart attack special,” he said patting his belly.
Bless his heart. I grinned in spite of myself and made a mental note to have Boice and Roice keep an eye on the guy so he’d stay out of trouble. To be sure, I slapped him on the leg gave him a gentle reminder of my own. “Just remember what I said about bad habits and tempters, okay?”
He nodded. Then after a quick glance down at my business card, he gave me a funny look. “Jinx, huh?” The corners of his mouth curled into a smirk. “I hope you’re luckier than your name.”
I smiled back. “Like I haven’t heard that one before.”
My phone chimed, and I tugged it out of my tight pants. There was a text from Lacey. Weird dog reported in Percy Warner park, possibly a hellhound. We were scheduled to meet up at the park anyway. I’d never seen a hellhound. Maybe it had something to do with this case since it had apparently been spotted by the mundanes.
Time to go check it out, along with the portal and summoner in charge of the area, and possibly play dogcatcher.
Good times.
Chapter Twelve
I met up with Lacey at Percy Warner Park. The stone-and-wrought-iron gate lining the grand entrance near Belle Meade fit the genteel, old-money South feel of the area. Ah, nature—the air was filled with pollen, gnats, and the aroma of enough mulch to choke a demon tracker.
Yeah, I was a city gal. Pretty sure I was allergic to grass and natural sunlight. I spotted Lacey sitting on one of the stone steps and hauled ass to join her.
“What’s for lunch?” she asked. She sported shades and the telltale scent of SPF 100 sunscreen. Wise move for any ginger.
I pulled out some gourmet sandwiches and a couple of bottles of iced tea, earning a nod of approval. While we ate, I told her what I’d learned from Murkowski and showed her his sketches of the girl and the weird tree. She didn’t know the girl, but she recognized the tree, and a jolt of adrenaline shot through my veins along with hope. It matched the tree I’d seen on the boss’s screen.
“It’s one of the portals,” she said, confirming the lead.
“The one you texted about?”
“You got it.” She grinned, apparently happy to be on the hunt. “The guard in charge reported some unusual activity a week and a half ago. Nothing came of it at the time, but your buddy Roice might have a hit on the security cam.”
“Score. What about demon traces? Tempters, or something else more powerful? And what’s up with the hellhound?”
My partner stood up and dusted grass and debris off her butt. “We’ll probably find Rover the demon dog when we find the portal. As far as demons, I’d say it’s something more powerful, but you should probably have Hannah get a read on it. Speaking of reads,” she said, putting her hands on her hips and giving me a hard look. “Did you really get the boss’s favorite book?”
“Sure did,” I said brightly. “Straight out of the forbidden section. Pretty sure it’s hiding demon porn. Want to make doodles in the margins?”
She snorted. “You are so immature. I thought you’d be a tad more serious given the stakes. Why did Hannah let the messenger demon go instead of coughing him up and making him spill his evil plans?”
“No idea. She’s playing the whole cryptic mentor card.” I grimaced. I hated that card. “And apparently I need to ‘work this one out’ on my own to unlock my ‘true potential’ so ‘all will be revealed’ in time.”
“Lay off the air quotes. It’s not helping with the maturity thing. If Hannah’s not going to help, we should get cracking. Ready to take a look?”
“Hell, yeah.” I bounced up and down. Hey, if I was immature, I might as well live up to my reputation. Go big or go home. “And is that a yes to project doodle?”
I stopped after three bounces, though. Cowgirl boots and bouncing without a sports bra did not mix.
She caved and offered me a smirk. “Sure, I’ll help with project doodle, but only if I get to read the book first.”
That surprised me. I had no idea Lacey was interested in demon lore, at least not beyond classifications, descriptions of powers, associated sins, and tracking and capture methods. Trinity was the scholar in our little outfit.
My disbelief must have showed—I really needed to check my poker face—since Lacey gave me a scowl. Freckles aside, that woman had elevated the looks-that-could-kill thing to an art form. Maybe that whole myth about redheads stealing souls had an ounce of truth.
“Sorry,” I said. “I just didn’t realize you were, you know, interested. What I’ve read so far has been pretty dry.”
She jerked back, and her scowl deepened. “Seriously? Of course I’m interested. Aren’t you? Don’t you want to know why?”
“Why what?”
She shook her head at my apparent thickheadedness. Jeez. I wasn’t a mind reader, for Pete’s sake. “Why us.” Lacey said it nice and slow, as if that would somehow clarify this cryptic statement. “Haven’t you ever wondered why demons chose us?”
“Of course I have.” I’d done nothing but wonder for the past ten years. When it came to the standard demon drawn to sin scenario, however, Lacey’s case seemed a little more…cut-and-dried, given her penchant for shoplifting.
My face must have given Lacey some idea of what I was thinking, since her gaze went wide and then she looked away. Crap. I needed a better poker face.
“The world’s filled with shoplifters. I guarantee every mall within a twenty-mile radius is full of them, not to mention car thieves, hedge fund managers, and three-quarters of the hacks on Wall Street,” she said. A hint of pain bled through her mask of indignation.
I should’ve realized. I wasn’t the only member of our demon-hunting operation haunted by guilt and shame. I wasn’t the only one asking, “Why me?” I wasn’t the only one wondering what made me so bad I had drawn a demon.
I needed to be a better friend.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and meant it. “You didn’t deserve it, no matter how many graphic T-shirts you lifted. You’re a good person, Lacey. You just lost your way for a while. That’s all.”
“You think so?”
I put my hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Yes, I do. I don’t know why our demons came to us, but maybe it was so we could do some good in the world. After we solve this case, we’ll see if we can find answers in the grimoire. Deal?”
She gave me a lopsided grin and nodded. “Deal.”
We hiked about a gazillion miles before leaving the trail. I totally forgot to bring my machete, so every branch, vine, and twig repositioned by Lacey the leader came flying back to hit me in the face. And somehow, I managed to hit every spider web along the way despite bringing up the rear. I’d have to make a note of that on Lacey’s employee evaluation.
We stopped in a clearing, and I sensed the demon magic before I spotted the ugliest tree I’d ever seen in the middle of the small patch of clear forest. Its branches split and twisted at random an
gles that made it seem more crooked than a politician. Pockmarked with lumps along its trunk and full of hollows, the tree was as imposing as it was hideous.
And it matched Murkowski’s drawing to a T.
“Which hole is the portal?” I asked. There were so many. Maybe this was some kind of hell realm hub.
Lacey pointed to hollow at the juncture of a pair of branches. Then she nodded to the ground and the unnaturally regular pattern of leaves and debris that formed a circle around the tree. “Don’t cross the boundary.”
“I know that,” I grumbled. I wouldn’t have been able to even if I forgot. Ordinary humans could walk right up to the tree, blissfully unaware of how close they were to an interdimensional gateway. Since I harbored a demon, the magic would deny me access to the portal without permission from an authorized summoner, setting off all kinds of triggers, traps, and defenses to prevent tampering.
And speaking of summoners…
A man dressed in camo, the kind that actually blended, appeared from behind a nearby patch of shrubs. He’d painted his face in a haphazard pattern of greens, grays, and black with the odd brown smudge here and there, though that could have been dirt. Leaves clung to his hair, which he’d gathered into a ponytail behind his head. I appreciated the lack of a man bun almost as much as I appreciated the tall, lean frame and startlingly blue eyes.
Oh, yeah, I’d get a little dirty with him given half a chance.
“Hi there.” I waved and smiled. “We’d like to ask you a few questions about the portal.”
The guy whipped out a gun, leveled it on me, and pulled the trigger.
Chapter Thirteen
Lacey summoned her demon and sent him flying at Mr. Shoot-Em-Up before I could blink. Hannah, having located her sense of self-preservation, came as soon as I tugged on the black mirror, and we leapt into action. Literally. We jumped into a nearby tree, ripped off a heavy branch, and threw it at camo man while he was distracted by Lacey’s immaterial demon’s aerial assault just outside the boundary. He couldn’t shoot it, but he had a demon blade and knew how to use it.
The summoner was protecting his portal, but this was overkill. Shoot first? Seriously?
The tree branch hit his back between the shoulder blades and sent him to the ground. Simon buzzed above him, pulsing with anger and possibly hunger.
The summoner did one of those cool as hell backbend jumps to his feet, which had to hurt since I’d nailed him in the back. Glaring at Simon and Lacey, who was spinning her knife in rapid circles to create a shield against material and demonic attacks, he turned his attention to the trees. I chucked another branch at him, this one decorated with a scrap of whitish fabric that might or might not have come from my undies.
“We come in peace!” I yelled, motioning for Simon and Lacey to fall back. When he lowered his knife, I jumped down—this time Hannah cushioned my knees, and I didn’t get an owie—and approached, hands up and smiling at the psychopath on the other side of the boundary.
He scowled and spoke in a low, gravelly voice. “Ticket.”
“Oh, no.” I patted my pockets and looked sheepish. “I seem to have left it at home. Anyone else show up recently without a ticket?”
“From the other side,” Lacey added. Wasn’t she helpful…
“No one comes or goes without a ticket.” His deep voice dripped with disdain. It wasn’t attractive. I dropped him from a ten to a high eight on my hotness scale.
“That’s so weird.” I smiled sweetly and batted my eyelashes. “Because a messenger demon named Mephisto came to the earth realm recently, and he forgot his ticket, too. You haven’t seen anything strange around here lately, have you?”
“We’re from Demon Hunting HQ, by the way,” Lacey said.
I’d forgotten to identify myself. But honestly, the scuffle had been too much fun.
His frown deepened, as did the furrow in his brows. Maybe he was thinking. Or maybe he was a natural frowner. Hard to tell. I fished out my phone and held up a picture of Mr. Murkowski, waving it at the stern outdoorsman to get his attention.
He took a step closer and studied the photograph.
“This is the human he possessed,” I said. “The guy doesn’t remember much, but he said Mephisto dragged him somewhere in the woods. We think Mephisto dragged him here.”
The guard shrugged. “If he already had the demon inside him, he wouldn’t be able to cross the threshold.”
“But he might have been with someone—maybe a woman—and she could’ve crossed the threshold if she wasn’t possessed. Maybe they were checking to make sure they could get back through the portal after securing their prisoner.”
“Prisoner?” he said, gruff voice alight with interest. Yeah, he seemed the type to be interested in prisoners. I wonder if he had handcuffs.
What a delicious thought.
Lacey nudged me after a moment. I’d been staring. In my defense, the guy had started pacing, which gave me a nice side view of his ass.
“Yeah, um, anyway…” Where was I? Oh, right. I was investigating. Definitely not ogling. “We have reason to believe Mephisto traveled to the earth realm to kidnap someone for a hell realm demon lord. We need to know if there’s a chance he used this portal.”
His gaze turned hard, and I held up my palms. “Not that you would’ve let him. You seem…dedicated. But is there a chance another summoner commandeered this portal while you were out? On break or out camo and war paint shopping?”
He didn’t respond, so I kept going. I hated uncomfortable silences. “Oh, and Murkowski mentioned something that growled. Do you have a dog, wolf, coyote, or maybe Cerberus hanging out around here?”
“The mundanes have reported strange animal sightings, too. Any hellhounds running around?” Lacey asked.
His gaze drifted off, apparently lost in thought again. Or maybe he was stoned. Then he turned and started hooting and chirping and making other odd animal noises that made me take a step back. Lacey did, too.
Yup, our cray-cray senses were tingling.
All summoners were a little off—it was a job requirement. No sane person would hang around a demon portal, let alone police one. But even by summoner standards, making weird animal noises in the middle of the friggin’ woods during an interview was off the rails.
“What’s he doing?” Lacey whispered from the side of her mouth.
“No idea,” I said. “But dat ass.”
We fist-bumped, and then I cleared my throat, hoping to get his attention. Before I could speak, a swarm of woodland creatures invaded the clearing in a blur of fur, feathers, fangs, and scales. They gathered around Dr. Doolittle, who went from surly nutjob to oh-my-God-adorable in a nanosecond. He cooed to the birds on his shoulder and scratched fox and coyote ears before wrapping some kind of snake around his neck like a boa.
Wow, if I hadn’t had Hannah, I would’ve jumped right in there to cuddle all of them, rabies risk be damned.
Lacey could have if she’d put down her phone, aka demon carrying case, but she’d taken another step back. Maybe she was allergic to woodland creatures. That had to suck.
The summoner turned back to us, this time with a big grin that showcased the cutest dimples. A red-tailed hawk landed on his shoulder—the biggest one I’d ever seen—and the summoner nuzzled it with his nose. “My friends tell me there were some people here around ten days ago. I reported it to our boss around that time. You have anything from the man? Something they could scent?”
Oops. I hadn’t counted on that. Then again, I’d let Murkowski handle the file. I fished it out of my bag, placed it on the ground, and nudged it toward the boundary of the clearing. One of the foxes leapt over the boundary and sniffed it. I crouched down and watched in fascination, falling in love with the scruffy little redhead.
“Can I pet her?” My fingers itched to stroke her soft fur, and the fox seemed just as eager for a rubdown.
The summoner did some sort of chirp growl thing that I assumed was fox talk. Sounded more like sq
uirrel to me, but animal linguistics wasn’t my thing. The fox approached my outstretched hand slowly, sniffed, and then pressed her forehead into my palm to my utter delight. After a wonderful scratching session, the fox circled Lacey and then went back to the file, sniffing and pacing around in apparent excitement.
“Ricky recognizes the scent.” The summoner beamed, smiling at the little fox with obvious pride.
I squealed in delight, showering the creature with more scratches and praise. “Who’s a good fox? Who’s the best fox in the whole world? That’s right, Ricky’s the best.”
She accepted my praise with a few enthusiastic yips and a love bite or two, careful not to break the skin, before leaping back into the circle with her buddies.
“Has she detected any other scents? Other humans?” Lacey asked.
After another back-and-forth in fox talk, the summoner shook his head. “Nothing other than yours,” he said, nodding at my partner.
She sighed. “I was here last night. That’s how I knew the portal had been used recently. I’m surprised you didn’t.”
The summoner scowled and stepped forward, his muscles tense. “I suspected it had, and I reported it. Demon tracking is your job, not mine.”
The cute little woodland critters turned their unblinking gazes on us, and the trees and shrubs seemed to close in. Was it creepy in here, or was it just them? Even the gnarly tree quivered with something like menace, and I caught a flash of tooth and claw from some of the creatures within the protective sphere surrounding the portal.
Lacey tried to take another step back, but I grabbed her arm and yanked until she stood beside me. No way I would let her bail on me. “Okay, okay. We’re working on it. Did your buddy get any other scents?”
Thankfully, the tension eased and quickly returned to fairy-tale cuteness. The summoner chatted with Ricky and the other creatures for a bit and then turned back to us. “They’re going to sweep the area for more human scents, but perhaps your host’s companion concealed it. It’s not outside the scope of tempter demon magic.”
Catching Hell Page 11