“Come in, come in,” he said, with a genuine smile showing his perfect white teeth. We walked into the apartment, which had a hardwood floor, exposed brick all around and black leather couches that surrounded white throw rugs. A 72-inch plasma screen, which completely contradicted the old classic turntable, was hung up above the fireplace. He didn’t have his bike in his apartment, of course, because this was a third-floor walk up, but, rather, it was garaged down the street. “Would you ladies like a drink?”
His eyes lingered on me, and I looked down, feeling overwhelming emotion.
“No,” Sybil said. “We’d love that, but we really need to get a move on this. We might need you to shift. This demon is a powerful one, and if you’re in your wolf form, you probably will be able to help us out more.”
Good ol’ Sybil, not beating around the bush. “You’re right, of course,” he said. “But I need to stay in my human form while we try to map this out.” He motioned us over to his computer, which was on a glass table in an alcove that was right by the dining room. “I’ve been doing research on this guy. I hacked into the motor vehicle site and got his address, of course. That was one of the first things, so we at least know his neighborhood.”
“Why would he be hanging around James Woodson’s neighborhood?” Sybil asked him.
“It’s pretty simple. If he’s a smart demon, he’s not going to try to draw attention to himself. That would mean that he would probably do the typical things that James Woodson would do. He would stay around James Woodson’s house, go to work where James Woodson worked, that type of thing.” Then he tapped his temple and pointed at both of us. “According to his records that are on file with the police department, he has an ankle monitor on. Granted, a demon would be able to get that off without any problem or any kind of detection. But, then again, if he took it off, he’d have every police man in New York searching for him. He was lucky that he made bail, or that was a bail set for him. After all, he’s been accused of first-degree murder.”
“Well, he’s a powerful demon, so I would imagine that he’s extremely intelligent as well.”
He nodded his head. “Do you happen to know what demon is occupying his body? That would be a bit of pertinent information that might help us find him. We can go down to his apartment, of course, but chances are that he’s not there. You have to understand, he has second sight the same way that we do. He’s already anticipating our moves, which is going to make this entire operation that much more tricky.”
I cocked my head. “Yes, Hale, that’s true that he does have a second sight and psychic powers, psychic powers that put my powers to shame. But I also know that demons have difficulty tracking animals. They have problems communicating with animals, and have problems with reading their minds. I believe that’s because animals are pure – they don’t have any malice or evil in their hearts or their minds, so demons cannot relate to them. On the other hand, all humans have some degree of malice and evil in their hearts. Some more than others, and some can control it more than others, but everyone has a dark side to them that’s not so nice.”
Hale pointed at me, and my heart fluttered. “You make a great point, Maddy. One that I’ve never thought about. I’ve been gaming this out since you called me, and I haven’t been able to get around the idea that this demon will always be one step ahead of us. But maybe he won’t if we can figure out where his general area is and then I can shift. I’d be able to corner him, because I’ll have the element of surprise.”
My heart was in my throat as I talked to Hale. This was so dangerous. Hale had been in fights before – dog fights and human ones – but I didn’t think that he was ever in a fight quite like this. “Can the Animosh pack back you up?”
“Of course. I’ve already alerted the guys. They’re all ready and willing to go. They have their bikes gassed up and ready to take off at any moment. I think that we’re going to need all the pack power we can muster to take this on. Not that any of us can vanquish this demon. That’s going to be up to your sister. We can find him and corner him, but killing him is going to be a different thing.”
I looked out the window, and saw, in my mind’s eye, Peter and Lyra. They were still in Rome, but I closed my eyes to communicate with Peter. I let him know that it was urgent that he and Lyra get back now, because the demon was going to kill again. Peter communicated back with me, asking me where it was that we were supposed to meet, and I communicated that he should meet us here in Hale’s apartment.
“Peter and Lyra will be here,” I said, “in about five minutes.” They had to enter the portal in Lyra’s closet, of course, but I knew that they would literally be able to fly over here within a few seconds, so I wasn’t concerned that they would have a difficult time getting here on time.
I further communicated with Peter, asking him if he knew the exact demon that was occupying James’ body. He communicated back that it was Asmodeus. I shivered, knowing that Asmodeus was known as one of Satan’s most evil and infernal demons. He was known for his sexual perversion. Prior to his falling, he was known as one of the highest angels. As a demon, though, he was mainly known for committing murders and spreading evil around the world.
Hale nodded his head. “That’s good to know.” His fingers nimbly worked the keyboard of his computer, as he sipped on a bottle of beer that was on his desk next to his computer. “I’m so sorry, Maddy and Sybil,” he said, getting up and going into his kitchen. “Here,” he said, throwing us both a bottle of beer. “I’m a terrible host.” He grinned his sexy grin, and I melted just a little.
“Thanks,” Sybil and I said in unison. We both sipped on the beer while Hale busily worked on finding some research about the Asmodeus demon.
“Is your mother going to be able to tell you each time what demon we’re dealing with?” Hale asked while he peered into the screen, writing down phrases while crossing out certain words on a piece of paper. “If so, that’s going to make everyone’s job that much easier.”
“I don’t know,” Sybil said, looking at me. “Maddy, that’s your purview. Will mom be able to always give us information about each demon that Lyra is going to face?”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “No. Mother only knows about this one because this apparently foretold by the Ars Goetia that this particular demon was going to be the one to kill Lyra the first time. After this one, it’s going to be more complicated.”
Hale nodded and then read from the article on his computer. “Well, it looks like this Asmodeus dude is a lust demon. In fact, he’s the demon who represents the deadly sin of lust. He has seventy two legions under him, and he’s been known to possess bodies over time. He walks with a limp, has a handsome face, and has been known to frequent both gambling halls and brothels.”
Hale turned to Sybil and me. “Okay, girls, I think that we need to start with some obvious places. Bear in mind that he has an ankle bracelet on, and he’s not going to want to draw attention to himself.” He got on the page for the police department, which he hacked into to find the details of James Woodson’s bail. “Looks like his ankle bracelet restricts him to 1000 feet of his home.”
“Where is his home again?” Sybil asked.
“It is…” He didn’t finish his sentence right away, because, right at that moment, Lyra and Peter literally appeared in Hale’s front room. “Hello!” Hale said with a big smile. “Welcome to the party!” He chuckled. “Glad you guys can make it. Fashionably late though.”
Peter had to smile at Hale’s demeanor. “We would not be so fashionably late if Lyra’s mother were not so fashionably late herself.”
For Lyra’s part, she looked pissed. I read her mind, and, while her thoughts were jumbled in her head, and her brain seemed somewhat cloudy, I still got the message loud and clear: she was angry because she felt that Peter and our mother were hiding something major, something that they refused to tell her. I nodded my head, knowing what that something was, and also knowing that I wasn’t in a position to tell her abou
t it, either.
“Lyra,” I said quietly. “You need to focus. This demon is no joke. He can kill you, even though he has already killed you once. If you don’t want to sacrifice one of your nine lives, you’re going to pay attention to this.”
“What?” Lyra said. “What’s that supposed to mean, he can kill me even though he’s already killed me once? You mean that each demon usually only gets a single crack at me?”
“Yes,” I said. “That was one of the terms of the agreement between the Ars Goetia and the Maleficus. Each demon can only kill you once, which means that, when you come back, you can fight them without fear of being sent to Hell again by that particular demon.”
Lyra shook her head. “I’m so tired of hearing about that goddamned agreement. Mom got a really raw deal in that, and I’m the innocent victim. An innocent victim of the council shenanigans.” Then she shrugged as she thought about the implications of what I just told her. “Then again, that’s a handy little provision, really. Once a demon sends me to Hell, I’ll pop right back up and can kick his ass without fear. Pretty sweet.” She licked her finger and pointed it in the air while she faced the ceiling. “Thanks mom.”
“Yes, but Lyra, this demon has special dispensation. Specifically, the first kill doesn’t count, because that’s the kill that was ordained by the council to get the curse going. So, you’re still vulnerable.”
“Vulnerable schmulnerable.” She shook her head. “This is really going to suck. This whole job is going to suck. From what mom says, I might as well forget about school and bartending. Getting these demons is going to be a full-time job. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, though, once I get all these guys and dispatch them to where they belong. I’m going to have to have a normal life and find a normal job, but I’ll have this huge gap in my resume. What am I supposed to do, tell any prospective employers that I’ve been busy saving the world from demons?”
Good ol’ Lyra. Always thinking of herself first. “Lyra, by then, your powers will have been developed. One of your powers is going to be mind control. You won’t have any problems getting a job, believe me.”
Lyra smiled big when I said that. “Mind control, huh?” She gestured to Peter. “Maybe I can…”
“No. Peter is off-limits, and believe me, his mind is way too strong to be controlled. You better watch out, because he might be the one who’s controlling your mind,” l said.
Lyra sighed. “It’s all easy for you to say. You have your job as a pastry chef for that hoity-toity place. Mom hasn’t told you that you’re going to have to give it all up to save the world. That’s hardly fair if you ask me.”
Lyra was right about that. I did have an awesome job at a Michelin Star restaurant, the place where I met Olive, who is a sous chef at the same place. Sybil had her job at the police department, where she was working on becoming a full detective. My life was pretty normal now, except for the fact that I was constantly getting visions of evil deeds that I couldn’t control. I didn’t have to give up everything, as Lyra was probably going to have to. But Lyra’s father was the Archangel Michael, while my father was a boring mortal. In every lifetime, it was the same – my mother was a witch, my father was a boring mortal. With each lifetime, I kept hoping that the dynamic would change, and I would have an interesting father. Maybe a shifter or a fairy or a god or even a vampire. But no, I was only half magical and immortal, and that’s apparently all that I would ever be.
But Lyra…she was the descendent of one of the most powerful Angels ever. Her powers were going to far eclipse mine and Sybil’s. That wasn’t fair, but there it was.
“Would you like some cheese with that whine?” I asked Lyra, who was standing next to the computer, her arms crossed in front of her, with a scowl on her face.
“Ha ha. Listen, you’d whine too if it were you who had to kill this asshole demon.”
“Hey,” Hale said, snapping his fingers in front of Lyra’s face. “You need to pay attention, babe, because if you don’t.” He made a slicing motion across his neck and made a face. I smiled. Hale always made me laugh, no matter the situation. No matter how serious things got, he was always there with a light touch and a joke.
“Now, here’s what we got,” Hale said to her. “This James Woodson has on an ankle monitor, which means that he’s most likely close to his apartment. Now, lucky for us, his neighborhood is surrounded underground sex clubs. They’re the ones that aren’t marked at all, they’re just a building, a nondescript building, but you go in there and your every delight will be met by scantily clad women and men in leather.” He pointed to the map. “This is where he lives, here in the Village. There are two different sex clubs that are within 1000 feet of his apartment. There’s also a strip club, but it’s much less likely that you’ll find him there. Too tame. As I said, if he’s smart, he’s going to get his rocks off without putting on a flashing sign that says ‘hey, I’m a demon!’ He’s going to want to look like everyone else, act like everyone else, and make sure that the court doesn’t try to track him down, so he’s not going to take off that ankle bracelet.”
Lyra was paying close attention, to her credit. “You really don’t think that he’s going to want to jump bail?”
“No,” Hale said. “I don’t, and I’ll tell you why. He’s in the body of a mortal. This mortal doesn’t even have particular powers. No special speed, although he is going to be extremely strong. The demon is cunning, but he’s constrained by the physicality of his host. That means that if James Woodson jumps, the officers will come for him, and his fun is over at that point. He also most likely knows that he can already get all his sensual delights within walking distance of his home, so why does he feel the need to stray?”
“But he’s a demon,”Lyra protested. “He’ll be able to stay one step ahead of the law, even if he jumps.” She shook her head. “I don’t know, Hale. I don’t think that he’s going to be anywhere near his apartment.”
Hale finally sighed and brought up another screen. “Think what you will, but this is the best lead we got. If he jumped, and he’s on the run, then we’re all going to have problems finding him.” He looked around at all of us. “Do any of you have any clue on where he is?”
I looked at Sybil, Lyra and Peter, and all them hesitated for a few minutes, then each shook their head no.
“I thought so. This demon’s magic is so powerful he’s blocking every one of you. So, we have to find him the old-fashioned way, and that’s using logic. If he’s not at one of these sex clubs, then he’s not at one of these sex clubs. At that point, I got nothing, and neither do any of you. So, we all just better say a prayer to the Great Spirit, or we’re all going to be spinning our wheels and that little bastard is going to come onto our radar only after he’s caught killing again.”
I finally saw his point. “Okay, then, what do we do? How do we get into that club?”
“The guys have no problem whatsoever getting into these clubs. And as for you, Sybil and Lyra, I suggest that you cast a spell that will help you convince the bouncer at that club to let you in.” He grinned. “I’m quite sure that there’s something in your book of shadows that will help you get into that club. Just look in the index under the words ‘spell to get into a sex club’ and there you go.”
I knew that he was joking, because he knew that we didn’t have a specific spell for this situation. I did, however, know that there was a black magic spell that would help out. Black magic was what was used in situations where we have to manipulate somebody’s mind, and this situation called for just that. We were going to have to perform some kind of mind control, where we could just convince the bouncer to let us in the door.
Peter looked at me, and, the second I started to consider performing black magic, he shook his head. “No,” he said to me. “You can’t do that.”
Hale looked over at Peter. “She can’t do what?”
“She’s looking into casting a black magic spell to control the mind of the bouncer. She i
s bound by the terms of the Maleficus, and if they ever get wind that she’s practicing black magic, she’ll be brought up on charges. Even though her mother is in charge of that council, she won’t go easy on her.”
At that, Hale jumped up. “If something is going to put you into danger, you can’t do it.” He was suddenly all business, and I knew that he still cared. “You’ll just have to think of something else, Maddy.”
“Hey,” Lyra piped up. “Why is mind manipulation considered to be black magic? After all, Obi Wan Kenobi did it in Star Wars. It was a part of The Force, a major part of The Force. If it’s good enough for Obi Wan, it’s good enough for us.”
I shook my head. “Life is not a part of the movies, Lyra. And, yes, it’s black magic.”
“So why did Sybil approvingly tell me that I would grow powerful enough to control minds? She said that as if it were a good thing.”
“Organic mind control is one thing. Casting a spell to do it is quite another. That particular spell does involve black magic, and Peter is right. We can’t risk it.”
“So what do we have?” Sybil asked. “You guys apparently can get in there. I’m not going to ask how, by the way. But you guys can get in there and Lyra can’t?”
“Now, now,” Hale said. “I’m not saying you can’t. You can, you just have to know the magic word that these clubs use to get in. That is, if they don’t recognize you. They’ll recognize me and the guys, though. And no, it’s not what you’re thinking. Both of these clubs use the Blue’s as a form of protection. They can’t use the cops, so they use us to run interference for them. Kick people out, sweep for weapons, solve crimes when they occur, that sort of thing. We do that for a lot of different underground clubs around town.”
Sybil sighed. “Well, let’s look at our book, Maddy, and try to figure this one out.” I glared at Lyra. “You won’t have problems, by the way, Lyra.”
Lyra's Magic: Witches of Manhattan Book One Page 17