“What it is, girl?” I asked.
She cocked her head and regarded me. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was sizing me up, putting me under a degree of scrutiny beyond that of an animal—albeit a remarkably clever animal.
I snorted. “Are you judging me? I thought only cats did that.” Were foxes part cat?
She raised her head and gave a couple of quick fox barks before running off. I stood, hoping she’d spotted some woodland creature to hunt so I could salvage my sneak-up-on-Cooper-and-save-his-ass mission, but she came back. After circling me twice, chirping, and dashing off while looking over her shoulder, I got the message. I was to follow. Hopefully she’d lead me to Cooper.
After chasing a crazy, and possibly rabid, fox through the woods, I wished I had Lacey with me. At least she’d cleared the trail in front of me. Short as I was, Ricky was decidedly closer to the ground and moved with greater agility and speed than I would ever achieve without demonic assistance. At least I didn’t hit any spider webs this time, but I did stumble on some tree roots, jacking up my knee and sacrificing dignity in the process.
After about a mile, we approached the clearing that housed the world’s ugliest tree and portal to the hell realm. I expected to find Cooper. Actually, I expected Cooper to body-slam me straight back into the forest if I got too close to the protective threshold surrounding the portal. It was his job to keep any demonic entity from seeking passage through his portal without authorization or a legal summons.
Of course, I was no longer a demonic entity. Without Hannah, I was an ordinary human being. Perhaps that was the key to avoiding detection, then. A human could breach the threshold and enter the protected space surrounding a portal and open it, assuming the human could get past the summoner charged with guarding it.
But how would a demon compel or convince a human to do such a thing without possession or some other sort of demon mojo that would leave a trace? Lust, greed, anger, and any of the other seven deadly sins required no magic to be sown in the hearts and minds of people. They were always there. A bribe, a carnal liaison, or a promise to take out a mortal enemy might entice a human to enter the space around a portal.
Murkowski had remembered being in the vicinity of this portal, though his memory was spotty. Did Mephisto leave Murkowski’s body temporarily and compel him to cross the threshold? And who was the woman who’d been with them?
When the clearing came into view and I was surprised, not to mention relieved, to find a familiar face there.
Boy, Lacey had gotten here fast. Faster than I had.
Too fast. There was no sign of Cooper or Archimedes, which put me on high alert. My instincts screamed caution. My instincts, the ones I’d honed through training and experience as an investigator, as a human, and not as a demon-possessed mortal, were still working. While the bubbly power still surged beneath the surface, it hadn’t taken over. This was all me.
I hoped it would be enough.
I bent to scratch Ricky’s perky little ears, and so I could whisper some instructions into them. “Hey, girl. I need you to find that cadejo. If he’s down for the count, be on the lookout for a wolfman. Maybe some of the other woodland critters you and Coop hang out with. Can I count on you?”
She leaned into the scratch, then faced me and cocked her head to one side. I wasn’t sure, but I thought she winked at me before disappearing into the forest. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was all I could come up with on such short notice.
“Lacey,” I called out as I took a small, tentative step into the protected circle surrounding the portal. “Boy, am I ever glad to see you. Where’s Cooper?”
A low moan came from a clump of bushes to the right of the portal tree, just outside the protective boundary. I spotted a pair of large boots sticking out from the mass of low branches, bound at the ankles, and then noticed the circle of stones that surrounded the area. That pattern looked suspiciously like a pentagram.
My gaze darted back to Lacey, who was busy drawing sigils in the air around the portal. Glowing sigils. Enchanted sigils.
Magic sigils.
Crap on a cracker.
I pulled out my knife and took a cautious step toward Lacey. It glowed purple, but the intensity faded as I extended my arm toward Lacey. Simon hovered behind the tree, outside of the boundary, his black shadow quivering. Was he angry, anxious, or scared? I had no idea, but at least I knew for certain Lacey wasn’t possessed.
I also knew she’d been the liaison between Mephisto and Murkowski.
“Lacey, you need to stop.”
She kept drawing sigils, but she turned her head, leveling her vacant gaze on me. Her voice was flat and devoid of emotion. “I must open the gates.”
This was so not what I needed.
I’d had a mile-long list of suspects and counting, but I never in a million years would’ve put Lacey Green on it, assuming Lacey was actually in there and hadn’t gone bye-bye thanks to whatever spell she was obviously under. Of course, that begged the question of who or what had bespelled her.
“Lacey, did Hannah put you up to this?”
She frowned. “The Intercessor is undecided, but we can no longer wait. The eve of war is upon us. We must open the gates to the realm of darkness and unleash the seven.”
I took another step, wondering if I could disable her. Without our demons, we were evenly matched in terms of strength and skill in hand-to-hand combat. True, I was shorter, but I was also scrappier and not afraid to fight dirty. I didn’t see her demon blade. She might have hidden it, or maybe the demon who’d put a spell on her had disarmed her first or compelled her to disarm herself. The demon couldn’t very well touch the knife.
Was that demon close by? Was it Belial himself, come to oversee the beginning of his rebellion?
I’d have to ask Lacey and hope she would—or could—answer. “Seven? The Seven Sins, you mean? Seven tempter demon harbingers of war?”
A familiar voice spoke from behind me. “The earth realm is full of tempters. What we need to get this party started are some truly deadly sins.”
I whirled around to find Mr. Barbatos smiling at me. “I told you. Shit’s about to get real.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
I stood frozen, uncertain what to do. Barbatos remained outside the protective boundary, presumably held back by his status as a demon. Mr. Traitor Pants was definitely living up to the title I’d just given him. Speaking of pants, who wore a three-piece designer suit on a hike in the woods?
“It was you. You’re the one who set me up.”
Barbatos laughed. “Yes, pet.”
“And you used Lacey to pull off this inside job. She was the go-between for Mephisto and Murkowski, and she…killed Keith?”
The pieces fell into place. Lacey had allegedly been stuck in traffic the night Mephisto tried and failed to extract Hannah and capture us both. She hadn’t been there as backup, leaving me to walk into Mephisto’s trap alone so he could get to me.
And Hannah.
She must have poisoned Cooper’s cadejo as a distraction to gain access to the portal, and when Ricky the fox recognized her scent, Lacey had the perfect cover. I’d sent her to scout portals in west Nashville the night before. As for Keith…
I gulped. D had called it right. The demon in charge—Barbatos—was tying up loose ends. Barbatos had gotten to Keith before D and I could get him back, and he’d used Lacey to do it.
Had she been a willing participant? Had Simon?
Barbatos shrugged. “It wasn’t personal. I didn’t expect you to get this far, let alone have Dominic show up. Your boyfriend’s rather…creative when it comes to interrogation, and the summoner’s loyalties were tenuous at best. I couldn’t risk him tipping you off.”
I shot a glance at Lacey. Her fingers were still working on the sigils, but they’d slowed. She was clearly under the influence of demon magic, but she was also listening. I hoped she could fight the spell. Maybe if I kept Barbatos talking, I could stall long enoug
h for Alexi to arrive.
Damn it, I really needed more backup.
Why hadn’t I called D? Oh, right, I was mad at him for doubting my abilities. Stupid. Pride might very well come before my fall.
I turned my attention back to Barbatos. “What’s your angle? Did you know what the grimoire predicted, or do you really want to start a rebellion in the hell realm? Doesn’t seem like your style.”
His gaze widened a fraction, but then he laughed. “You figured it out? I ripped those pages out of the grimoire myself. You are full of surprises.”
“And you’re full of shit.”
Barbatos didn’t rise to my lame comeback, but at least he kept talking—and the more he talked, the slower Lacey worked. Seemed as though whatever spell he had her under required his attention. I’d have to keep up the distraction, then.
Fortunately, distractions were my specialty. I was good at that.
I wished I was as good at wrapping my mind around whatever conspiracy I’d found myself embroiled in, or maybe the conspiracy in which I found myself embroiled. Crap, that stupid prophecy had apparently affected my grammar.
“I’ve been stuck in this realm for far too many centuries, pet, and I can’t leave without an unsecured portal. I was Mephisto’s ticket onto this plane, and he’s my ticket off it. Rebellions and prophecies and disposable little demon hunters are not my concern.”
Wow. I knew he was an asshole, but I hadn’t realized just how ginormous until now.
“So you don’t care if your realm becomes a war-torn hell…hole or if you wind up in another epic battle with celestials as long as you get to go home? I had no idea there was a token demon of selfishness.”
Barbatos rolled his eyes. “That would be Narcissus. Yes, he’s one of ours. Surprised? The Greeks invented drunk history.” He began pacing around the protective circle, casually cleaning his immaculate nails with a nasty-looking blade that had appeared out of nowhere. “As for me, I’m a Duke with legions that specialize in weapons production and distribution, which technically makes me a war profiteer. Doesn’t matter who’s fighting, really. I’ll arm the highest bidder. But I’ll need to get back home first. Lacey, dear,” he said, snapping his fingers. “Focus, please.”
Lacey shook her head and lifted her hands once more. She’d almost completed the circle of sigils around the portal. We were almost out of time. Where was Alexi?
“You won’t get far without a summoner to let you pass through the boundary. By the way, does the boss know about your plan? Is he in on it?” I took a step toward Lacey. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I couldn’t let her open that portal. Then again, if she could act as a summoner, I’d have to at least disable her.
Barbatos completed his circuit and stood beside the clump of bushes hiding an unconscious Cooper. He examined his knife and then leveled his gaze on me, clearly enjoying my confusion and distress along with the execution of his diabolical plans. Execution being the operative word since he intended to sacrifice Cooper. I couldn’t let that happen either, and not just because the guy had a great ass.
I only hoped he wasn’t the summoner who’d sent D back to his dad. Otherwise I might be saving him for nothing.
“The Arbiter is too busy chasing your demon to worry about anything else. After all, she’s supposed to unlock the gates to the hell realm according to the grimoire.” Barbatos made a moue of disgust. “Seems this so-called Intercessor is about as reliable as you. At least she’s kept The Arbiter distracted. Where is she, by the way? I’m surprised you survived separation with your fragile, human constitution.”
How did he—
Oh, right. I wouldn’t have been able to cross the boundary and get this close to the portal without Hannah. Of course, he also had Lacey the unwilling spy. I was apparently living up to Barbatos’s insults. Either I needed to get a grip, or the executive assistant from hell needed some new material.
Probably both.
The bubbly power surge still coursed through me, only this time it seemed to be waiting. Waiting for what, I had no idea. If ever there was a time for extra mojo, this was it. My skin tingled, and my knife flashed with a brilliant purple. If I couldn’t count on my demon, I’d have to rely on my wits, my training, and whatever strange power had suddenly and recently grown within me. It had allowed me to stop Mephisto from taking Hannah and helped me take on the boss and walk away unscathed.
Only one problem—I’d also have to control it.
Barbatos raised his hands, and the stone pentagram lifted from the ground. The rocks glowed as if molten and began to swirl with Barbatos’s magic. “The blood of this summoner should do nicely. It will give me enough protection to reach the portal.”
Damn it. I could disable Barbatos, at least temporarily, or I could tackle Lacey to stop her from opening the portal, but I couldn’t do both at the same time. Why couldn’t I do cool stuff like astral projection?
I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye, a flash of red. Ricky!
And she wasn’t alone. A low growl preceded the appearance of a hulking, frightening shape at the edge of the clearing. I adored Alexi and was glad he’d arrived to help out. But seeing him in full demon-cursed wolfman mode always gave me the creeps. The man was a gentle giant, but the monster within sometimes got a little carried away on missions, making Alexi better suited to brute force than finesse.
Barbatos paused and arched a brow at the large, hairy apparition. Alexi bared his fangs and rose to his full height, muscle-bound body tense as his eyes flashed red. He had Barbatos’s attention, which made the pentagram surrounding Cooper flicker. Lacey’s hands froze in mid sigil. We’d managed to distract Barbatos, thereby weakening his spell, but appeared to be at a standoff. I took a step toward Lacey, but Barbatos tsked at me and waved his hands over Cooper, making the poor man writhe and scream.
“Stop.”
“I can make this quick and easy, or I can take my time. I have missed the delectable flavor of suffering, the sounds of agony and torment. Step away from Ms. Green, if you please.” Barbatos raised Cooper’s body, making sure to hit every branch and twig on the way up, the bastard, and suspended it in the center of the pentagram. He slashed his knife through the air, opening a gash on Cooper’s flank. Crimson bloomed, staining the summoner’s camo shirt and dripping down his body into the cup Barbatos had conveniently magicked to catch it. After a few long, agonizing moments, Barbatos lifted the cup and drank deeply.
Ewwwwww.
I stood, knife raised and poised for battle, as the demon took a tentative step past the protective boundary. Crap. His spell worked. He’d managed to breach security around the portal. Now all he had to do was walk through it. Alexi roared and leapt to Cooper, slashing the burning pentagram with his claws. He caught Cooper’s limp body and lowered it gently to the ground, sniffing and nudging him with his oversize snout as he whined.
Ricky jumped into the circle and onto Barbatos, clawing, biting, and ripping the fine fabric of his suit, bless her. Apparently unprepared for ordinary threats, Barbatos yelped and swatted at the little vixen. The fox was good. She was a scrappy, pint-sized warrior who wasn’t afraid to fight dirty.
Kind of like me. No wonder I liked her.
I took advantage of the situation to go after Lacey. Following the fox’s lead, I tackled Lacey from behind and knocked her to the ground. She landed with a nasty thud and gasped. I hoped I’d rendered her temporarily unconscious.
No such luck. My colleague rose, her blank gaze landing on me as she raised her knife. Her instincts seemed unaffected by Barbatos’s spell since she dropped into a defensive position rather than going straight for the jugular. We’d received the same training in hand-to-hand combat and learned the hard way about the consequences of rash actions.
I crouched, too, and we moved in a slow circle, gazes locked, gauging one another’s intentions as we planned our attack and counterattack strategies. Lacey made the first move, bringing her blade down in an attempt to hit my carotid. I rai
sed my arm to deflect, making an effort to point the blade anywhere away from my body. She tried to redirect my arm down so she could punch into my neck or go around while hooking my weapon arm. Using our height differences to my advantage, I ducked and rolled, which threw her off-balance and allowed me to hit her in the back of her noggin with my knife’s hilt.
Lacey recovered and swiped me with her leg, knocking me on my ass, but I managed to scoot away before she could stab me in the leg. She gave me a good slash, though. It stung like a bitch, but I couldn’t afford to dwell on the pain. I scrambled to my feet, and she lunged at me again, grabbing my knife arm.
I punched her hard in the crook of the elbow and hooked my arm around the back of her neck, using the leverage to get her on the ground. I hopped on top of her and pinned her arms to the ground. “Lacey, snap out of it!”
She growled and raised her hips, doing her damnedest to throw me off. We must have looked like a pair of armed mud wrestlers. I was glad Boice and Roice weren’t around to see it. They’d turn it into a viral video.
I mean, it was kind of hot. Deadly, but hot.
I struggled against the bucking, raging demon hunter beneath me. I had no idea if Barbatos had dislodged my friend the fox, but she’d probably need some reinforcement soon. With a deep breath and a whispered apology, I slammed my head into Lacey’s nose. Hard. It made a nasty crunching sound. Crap. I’d totally have to cover the cost of her rhinoplasty, but at least I’d managed to disable her without lethal force.
“Alexi,” I yelled at the werewolf as spots danced before my eye. “Catch.”
I yanked Lacey up off the ground and half threw her out of the protective circle and into Alexi’s massive arms. She shrieked, bleeding like a stuck pig all over his fur and struggling to get out of his hold. He clamped his teeth on the back of her neck, not enough to pierce the skin, but hard enough to let her know he meant business. She took the hint and went limp in his arms.
Simon flew to his mistress and hovered over her, flitting back and forth, clearly agitated. Then the demon froze, at least as much as an immaterial mass of black smoke could freeze, and let out a blood-curdling scream. What the—
Catching Hell Page 23