Demons Undone: The Sons of Gulielmus Series

by Holley Trent

  “No! Snap out of it. If I’m not getting any, no one is.”

  Marion guffawed. “We’ll see how long that lasts. There’ll be a fucking revolt. If I don’t kill you, Ariel will. Maybe we’ll tag team.”

  “I can’t take this.”

  “Okay, look. Deep breaths, deep breaths. Just compartmentalize, okay? Think of it this way. Claude is your dude. Your old man. Your boo-thang.”

  Now it was Gail’s turn to guffaw. Marion needed to take a little break from her brand new hip-hop obsession. “Claude is the pain in my ass.”

  Marion canted her head to the side and grinned at her. “Yet you’re still here in Mortonland.” She scrunched her little pixie nose. “Or is it Mortonville today? Eh. As I was saying, Claude’s yours. Gulielmus, beautiful hunk of evil that he is, could potentially be your father-in-law one day.”

  The grip of arousal eased somewhat.

  “John and Charles are both taken.”

  Yeah, Gail didn’t do married men. Absolute deal-breaker.

  “I don’t know what Jason’s deal is, but still. That’s three out of four you can’t and don’t want to touch.”

  That analysis did seem to help douse the flames somewhat, but then she looked at Claude and they flared right back up.

  She’d never known grungy could be her type until she’d met him. He made holey T-shirts and ratty sneakers look artistically stylish. He always wore his jeans slung a bit low, and imagining them sliding the rest of the way down was no hardship. And of course, there was that perfect face she wasn’t sure she wanted to punch or sit on.

  She whimpered, and Marion gave her a hard nudge to the ribs.

  “You’re mad at him, remember? Use that. Use that anger.”

  “I think my anger makes him hotter.” The last thing she needed was to have sex with him again. That seemed to be their cycle—argue, fuck, go adventuring. Lather, rinse, repeat.

  “Okay, try this. Think about something other than how he looks. Close your eyes and think about … magic. Unpack some of the things you’ve learned in the past couple of weeks. Ruby likes when you tickle her with static.”

  Gail closed her eyes and did as the woman suggested. Her inheritance was air and wind, and she imagined it blowing through her, cleansing her. It was her blood and her nourishment. It was her magic, should she ever master it. The wind could cause untold destruction, but it could also push clouds away from the sun.

  At that, she smiled.

  “Uh, Gail?”

  “Hmm?”

  “You’re off the ground, honey.”

  “What?”

  “Uh …”

  “Open your eyes, chéri.” That last reverent voice wasn’t Marion’s, but Claude’s.

  She opened her eyes to meet his and mused at the fact she was looking down at him. Had he shrank?

  He pointed to the ground, and smirked.

  She looked at it, realized she was floating a couple of feet off the ground, and naturally, immediately re-introduced herself to the ground, ass-first. “Oophf! How’d I do that?”

  “That’s all on you. You did that all on your own.”

  “I can’t …float. That’s just …” Maybe she could float. Hadn’t scaling that building been easier than it should have been for someone whose diet consisted mostly of barbecue sandwiches and Cheerwine cocktails?

  “Well, you just did.” He left her there on her ass and rejoined his father, brothers, Clarissa, and Agatha in the barn center.

  “That is so fucking cool!” Marion reached her free hand down and Gail grabbed it, accepting her aid. “You know, Charles is descended from an erote on his mother’s side. The erotes were winged love gods in the Greek pantheon. I asked him a few months ago if he’d ever tried flying, and he gave me a long blink before walking away. He wouldn’t even try.”

  “I can’t say I blame him, exactly.” Gail swatted dirt and straw off her rear end, and couldn’t keep the grin off her face. She’d flown! Well, floated. Same thing, sort of.

  “Oh, come on. We both know the wings were probably just for show. They were put into art so people would understand that they could take to the air, but the actual beings probably didn’t have them or need them. Just like you don’t need a broom.”

  “Let’s not jump to any conclusions, here. I’m not going to be streaking through the air like the Caped Crusader any time soon. I couldn’t do again.”

  Marion jabbed her index finger into Gail’s left shoulder. “Maybe not soon, but you will and it’ll get easier.”

  Gail scoffed.

  She jabbed again. “Repeat after me. I will.”

  Sighing, Gail put her hands up. “Fine. I will.”

  “That’s my girl. Besides, you’ve got forever to figure it out. Bonus part of being mated to an immortal.”

  “Wait, what?”

  Marion transferred Ruby to her other hip and nodded sagely. “Don’t feel bad. Up until last year, I didn’t know shit, either, and what I do know is because Momma and Ariel try to keep me on top of the learning curve.”

  “Back up. What was that about immortality?”

  “Oh. Yeah. It’s one of the things the Fates don’t dick around on. The mates of immortals stay with them as long as they’re alive—as long as it’s in the best interest of both. If Charles and I decide we can’t be together anymore, though I can’t imagine what circumstance would make that happen, we can break our bond. It’s a mutual thing. He’ll live for as long as he would have, and I’d …” She shrugged. “I guess I’d resume aging from wherever I left off.”

  Suddenly, staring at Clarissa, a light bulb popped inside Gail’s head. “Hey. Just how old is your grandmother?”

  “Nearly seventy.”

  “You sure? Has she steamrolled you with her power like she did to me? No way is she a mutt. If she is, you elves are scary motherfuckers.”

  “Of course, I’m sure. She was born on—” Marion’s lips clamped tightly on her words, and her forehead furrowed. “Wait. February doesn’t have thirty days.”

  This time when Marion held Ruby out to Gail, Gail took her.

  Marion strode into the thick of demons, hands on her hips, and sidled up to her grandmother.

  Gail couldn’t see Marion’s lips from where she was, but judging by Clarissa’s expression—which transitioned from serene to pinched in about ten seconds—Clarissa didn’t like what Marion had to say.

  “I think I just got your mommy in a little trouble,” she said to Ruby. Could it be that before now, no one else had jumped to the same conclusion that she had? There was no way Clarissa was only seventy. She had way too much power in that little body for someone whose kind had been in hiding for at least a thousand years. Her husband had been human, that much Gail knew. At least, her last husband. Who knew what she’d been up to before that?

  Ruby grabbed a handful of Gail’s ponytail and stared at it.

  “Don’t eat that.”

  Gail’s phone vibrated in her front pocket, and she shifted her and Ruby’s weight to her right hip and managed to pry the thing out of the tight nook on the fourth ring.

  She answered it without reading the display because it rang with her “family” ringtone, and the only person in that category who ever called her was Ellery. Maybe Ellery needed her back at the house.

  “Yeah?”

  “Oh, Gail, I’m so glad to hear your voice.”

  Fuck.

  She held the phone back a bit and stared at the screen to verify.

  Shaun Townsend.

  She contemplated disconnecting, but obviously he needed to be reminded to kindly fuck off.

  She put the phone back to her ear in time to hear him say, “That is you, isn’t it, Gail?”

  “Yes, it’s me. My number hasn’t changed.” Though she could have sworn she’d removed his number from her contacts. She didn’t take his calls on her apartment line, and she sure as shit wasn’t going to waste her anytime minutes for him on her cell. “Not to be rude, but I’m a little busy righ
t now. What do you want?”

  “You always did get right to the point. Miss that about you.”

  She tamped down the word liar on her tongue. When they were married, his constant reminder to her before they attended any event together was for her to hold her tongue. It was no wonder all his friends thought she was dumber than rocks. They didn’t learn she had a brain in her head and could articulate sentiments beyond, “Yes, it has been unseasonably warm lately,” until their messy divorce proceedings. Oh, she had plenty to say then, but most of that would never be made public, thanks to her gag order.

  Must have been nice for Shaun, having friends in low places. Or high ones. Whatever.

  She nudged some straw on the barn floor with the toe of her flip-flop.

  “I just wanted to check in and see if Ellery was okay.”

  Huh? That was out of the blue. He’d never been concerned about Ellery’s well being before, or anyone’s beyond his own, really.

  Why had she married him, again? That entire period of her existence was blurry and emotional, but there had to have been some spark.

  “Why wouldn’t she be?” she asked, hackles raised and suspicion working in overdrive.

  “Well …”

  “Do you know something I don’t know?”

  “Maybe it was just a rumor. You know, I still talk to some of our old mutual friends and hear things. I thought about calling your grandmother to follow up, but figured I’d give it one more shot and call you directly.”

  “Stop beating around the bush. What did you hear?”

  “Okay, don’t get mad, but … I heard she’d been abducted. Is it true?”

  The toes of Claude’s sneakers appeared just in front of her feet, and she looked up to see his drawn expression. “Who is that?” he mouthed, his eyebrows slanted in worry.

  She shook her head and put her index finger to her lips. “Ellery’s just fine. I don’t know who you heard that rumor from, but you need to check your sources.”

  Claude tipped his head to the side. He had to be dying of curiosity, and quite frankly, so was she at the moment. She hadn’t even told her own parents about what had happened to Ellery, and neither had Ellery unless she’d done it in the past ten minutes, which Gail doubted.

  Something was off.

  Maybe someone downtown in Durham had seen them leaving the warehouse and had ratted them out? Or maybe it was what Clarissa feared and Jason insinuated: someone at Mortonville was running his or her mouth.

  Claude gave her wrist a squeeze and she mouthed, Wait.

  “Listen,” she said through clenched teeth. “I need to run. Please don’t call me again.”

  “Wait, don’t hang up. While I have you on the line, I wanted to talk to you about the car.”

  “The car?” Shit, he couldn’t have possibly caught wind that she was thinking about selling it, could he? She’d only brought the idea up with a couple of close friends who promised they’d make some discreet inquiries about the vehicle’s salability. Maybe they hadn’t been discreet enough. “What about the car?”

  “Well, it’s just that I just miss it. I know you would have preferred to have Blue Book value in cash instead of getting it in the settlement. I don’t know why the court gave you that instead of the SUV, but look—I miss it enough that I’d offer you twice the value.”

  “T-twice that?” She gulped. She could pay off a sizable chunk of that education loan and use a little cash to buy a vehicle that was just a touch more practical. Like a Harley.

  Nope, nope, nope, her gut said. He was up to something. She didn’t know what, but she’d had that same feeling during the long nine months leading up to their separation. She’d felt anxious all the time like he’d built her up on a house of cards and was going to kick it out from beneath her at any minute. Her instincts had told her to put some space between her and her husband before she found herself in a situation from which she couldn’t dig out. She hadn’t. She’d stayed put, and paid the piper for it.

  She didn’t know exactly how many people in Shaun’s employ were crooked, but from what she’d seen, there were more than enough to clog the district court dockets for years, should they ever get caught.

  And she’d tried to tell—more than once. She’d even called the State Bureau of Investigations. They were “looking into it.” It didn’t help that so many people in local and state government were related to Shaun. Nepotism was a hell of a thing.

  She cleared her throat. “You know, I’ve grown somewhat attached to the little thing over the past couple of years. I’m not sure if I’m willing to let it go, either. Not even for twice the value.”

  “Are you fu—” Shaun must have clamped his lips before he could get the swear out, and good thing, because Gail really wasn’t in the mood. “Are you sure?” he ground out.

  “Nah. Let me think about it. I’ll call you. Send you an email or something.”

  “How about if I—”

  She held the phone at arm’s length and shouted, “Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?” Then she ended the call. Naturally, he called right back. She sent him to voicemail and powered off the phone.

  Claude watched her tuck the phone into her front pocket and then nodded toward it. “What was that about?”

  She opened her mouth, but before she could get any words out, he pressed his index finger over her lips. “Don’t downplay it. Remember, you’re drawing on my magic and my control. I can feel you when you’re trying to work up some power, even if you’re not conscious that you’re doing it. Who was it, and why are you agitated?”

  Damn.

  She sighed, and he dropped his finger.

  “It was my ex-husband.”

  The tightening knot at the base of her belly told her she wasn’t the only one feeling agitated about Shaun. That same tension Claude felt from her she was now feeling from him, except his came with an emotion was decidedly not hers this time.

  Jealousy.

  Why the hell would he be jealous of a man he didn’t even know? She’d divorced him, after all, so that had to mean he wasn’t exactly a world wonder.

  Through clenched teeth, he asked, “What did he want?”

  “Two things, and they seemed equally out of the blue. One was that he wanted to buy the car off me for twice its value.”

  “And that rankled you why?”

  “I don’t know why. It just seemed suspicious, and I’m going to listen to instinct for once and wait and see what he could possibly want.”

  “What was the other thing?”

  “Now, that one was really odd. He was checking on Ellery and wanting to see if she was okay because he’d heard she’d been abducted. I lied and said she hadn’t been and tried to find out where he’d heard such a thing, and he said a mutual friend.” She put up her hands. “And before you ask, no, I haven’t spoken to anyone.”

  “Has Ellery?”

  “I doubt it, but I’ll ask her when I get back inside the house. I suspect the more likely scenario is that we were spotted at the warehouse and someone passed along news to him. He’s got spies everywhere. It’s why everyone in city who doesn’t work for it fears the newspaper.”

  “Do you think the warehouse had surveillance cameras?”

  She ran her fingers through her ponytail until they hit a knot, and sighed. “Outdoors, maybe. Maybe even on a nearby building. Indoors? I sure as shit hope not, because if they were trained on the right spot, whoever checks that footage would have seen …”

  Fuck.

  “Agatha teleporting in and out,” he finished. “We can’t worry about it now. What was done can’t be undone. So, let’s just hope there weren’t any cameras inside. If it turns out there were, we’ll clean up the mess later.”

  “How?”

  The sudden red flash of his eyes told her that she didn’t want to know.

  He walked back to the demonic huddle just as Marion stormed away from Clarissa wearing a look of abject horror.

  She grabbed Ruby on her way to the
doors. “Going to the house,” she said. “I’ve had enough earth-shaking revelations for one day. I don’t need any more.”

  “Well, what did Clarissa say?”

  “You were right. She’s older than she lets on. Gulielmus gave her a lot more than forty years back.”

  “How many?”

  Marion shook her head hard, and walked. “I’m not sure, but she’s older than America. She’s not even a proper Southerner. You’re not allowed to say y’all anymore!” Marion shouted at Clarissa.

  Clarissa shook her head and returned to her conversation with the demons.

  Gail looked at the remaining group members, who were all talking over each other and fighting to get a word in edgewise. Then she followed Marion right on out.

  She had enough problems of her own at the moment that she didn’t need to worry about anyone else’s. They could deal with Ross.

  She, however, needed to figure out where Shaun was getting his information because no way would a man two years free from a marriage give that much of a shit about his ex-wife’s goings-on.

  Or a seven-year-old car.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Claude turned his mother’s coin over and over in his palm, and closed his eyes. He breathed away all of his tension and imagined that all the tethers binding him to the world were snipped, freeing his soul from his body. Muscle by muscle, he slipped out of himself and his spirit traveled to the place where spirits awaited messages. He’d been a messenger from the time he was born. As a young child, he didn’t know what the place in his dreams was, only that he saw the same specters there time after time and that they seemed to recognize him.

  He was much older by the time he understood who they were and what they wanted. Their relationship was symbiotic. He acted as their arms, legs, and mouth in the physical plane. He performed the deeds left undone for restless spirits, and in exchange, they gave him all they had. Some gifted him with the last little bit of magic they had after death, so that it became his until he met his own end. Others who had no magic gave knowledge, and even the small, inconsequential things, he was grateful for. It was like Ruby handing him a toy she’d been gnawing on and looking at him expectantly. To Ruby, that toy and all the spit on it was a gift. A treasure. He wouldn’t dare wipe his hands on his pants or make a face about it in front of her. Her sacrifice of the toy for him, someone she cared about, was a greater gift than the toy itself. I want you to have this.