whiskey witches 01 - whisky witches

by S. M. Blooding

  “’Bye.”

  She held the phone away from her ear, ready to hang up until she heard her brother’s voice come through. She put it back to her ear, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Hello?”

  “Hey,” he said. “I need your cell phone number so I can call you more often. I doubt you’re going to let that pain-in-the-ass hang around all the time.”

  Paige snorted and wished she hadn’t. The few tears that had sprung from her eyes had goobered up her nose. “You knew he was a pain and you still sent him?”

  “He’s a great person repellant, so I thought he might work as a demon repellant, too.” He waited. “You never know. It might’ve worked.”

  Paige smiled. She could hear the checkout counter dinging. “All right. Well, um, I’ll talk to you later. I’ve got your number and I’ll text you. I don’t think you’ve got a pen handy to write down my number.”

  “Uh, no,” he said simply. “’Sides, I lose paper all the time. Hey, we gotta go before Mom gets nervous. She doesn’t like us being out too long.”

  “Short leash?”

  He snorted. “Something like that. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Yeah. Talk to you later.”

  She stood there, the phone in her hand, feeling more than a little shell shocked. The edges were going blurry and the light had gone out on the screen where Nick’s name still sat. She wasn’t ready for the light to go off, for his name to disappear. She’d heard her daughter’s voice. She’d heard her daughter talk about her life. Paige’s arms ached with emptiness. Her soul begged for more, to call Nick back, to just get one more minute on the phone with Leah. Just a little longer.

  Dexx wrapped her in his arms, holding her close. “You’ll get to see her again. And you’re going to get her back.”

  She turned and buried her tears in his chest. She hoped so. She wished with everything she had. Her life would have to change. She wouldn’t be able to chase after demons any more. Three years ago had proved that. But . . .

  She needed her daughter. She was incomplete without her.

  And next time, no one was going to use Leah against her.

  Running away

  isn’t always cowardice.

  Sometimes, it’s about saving your life

  to fight another day.

  Other times,

  The fight just isn’t worth it.

  Johnny Hollow

  Dirty Hands

  Johnny Hollow

  Devil’s Night

  PAIGE AND DEXX had been reviewing the evidence all morning, trying to deduce where Sven hid. Nothing. Paige knew they couldn’t sit around and wait for the answers to magickally appear out of the air. That was stupid. They lacked the information they needed. Malika and Jones weren’t going to tell her anything useful. They needed a new plan.

  Dexx sat in a chair, his feet spread, his elbows on his knees, his eyes glazed.

  Paige leaned against the table, not even seeing the files in front of her. “I’m done waiting.” The words practically exploded from her.

  Dexx raised his numbed gaze off the floor. “Yeah. Me too. What do you have in mind?”

  Paige stared through him. “Who do we tail? Who do we stake out? How’s Sven attached to Jones or Malika?”

  “Right. All of that.”

  She slapped her hands against her legs and stood up. “We need to find where their hang out is.”

  “Hmm.” Dexx followed her out of the inn. “Okay. So, where do we start?”

  Paige thought about it until they reached Dexx’s car. “Malika’s house?”

  “If she’s in lock-up, what are we going to see?” Dexx leaned against Jackie’s roof. “It’s been combed over pretty good. There’s no evidence left to collect. If there’s anyone left to tail, that’s probably the last place they’d go. It’s a straw and you’re grasping.”

  “All of our options are straws. The last place we’d look is the best place to hide. Maybe someone will show up, lead us to Sven.”

  “By sheer will of bad luck?”

  She took in the bright blue sky, ignoring the humid heat. She was starting to get acclimated. Dang it. She didn’t want to get acclimated. “Would you prefer staring at the same old notes and getting nowhere, or pretend we’re doing some good, pray for a little good luck, and get nowhere somewhere else?”

  “You have a wonderful way with debate. Fine. Whatever. I’ve followed worse, anyway.” He disappeared into the car.

  Paige slid into the passenger seat.

  “All right. So what do we do if we run into a demon. Or Sven?”

  As if Sven wasn’t a demon.

  Dexx turned the key. Jackie rumbled to life. He put her in gear and guided her to the blacktop road leading to town. “Do you have a plan on how to handle that?”

  “Actually, yes. Back before Grandma found out I summoned demons, she taught Leslie and I how to use earth magicks. Once I discovered my gifts, I didn’t use them as much. I didn’t really need to.”

  Dexx raised his eyebrows. “I’m waiting for the awesome part of this plan.”

  He could be such a douche. “Demons use a different sort of magick, something from the dimension they’re from.”

  “This is starting to sound ten kinds of science fiction.”

  “Call it whatever you like, but the idea of multiple dimensions has been hypothesized for thousands of years.”

  “Wow. You just got nerdy. I think you just turned me on.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  Dexx drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Okay, so Hell is like another Earth?”

  “Kind of, I guess. I don’t know. When I see a demon, they feel different, but not in a way that’s easy to pin down. More like how a song turns creepy when sung in a minor key.”

  “Wow. Where’d that come from?”

  Paige sighed as they came to a stop sign. “I was on Facebook. Someone posted a version of ‘Every Breath You Take’ done in, I don’t know, some minor key. It was creepy. Just creepy and cool and . . . off.”

  “Interesting.” Dexx stared in his rear view.

  Paige glanced at him. “What’s wrong?”

  “We’ve developed a tail.”

  “Anyone we know?”

  “Brian.” Dexx pulled onto the shoulder and parked Jackie under a tree, rolling down the window. After a few minutes, Paige heard the sound of footsteps. “What’s up, Chief?”

  Brian set his hand on the door. “The car behind you is your detail. Don’t lose them.”

  Paige rubbed her cheek. “Remind me what good they’re going to be with a demon?”

  He raised an eyebrow, thumped the car door, and walked away.

  Dexx clucked his tongue. “All business, that one.”

  She shrugged.

  “Good. I’m happier.” Dexx put Jackie in gear and accelerated sedately away.

  “Seriously?”

  “Help in any form is help.”

  “No it isn’t. Sometimes, help is just fodder.” Her heart sank with the weight of that truth.

  Silence filled the car.

  “What were we talking about before Brian?” Dexx asked.

  Paige spread her open hands. “Don’t remember.”

  “Because we were just talking about it a second ago?”

  “Brian was a huge interruption. Also, the car tailing us has a human who’s probably going to end up dead because of us.”

  “Thank you, Glass Half Empty.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. Fodder’s how a good zombie apocalypse team survives.”

  His expression twisted in incredulity. “Are you kidding me? Zombie apocalypse shows up, and your survival plan is fodder?”

  “I gotta be realistic. Yes. I can fight. But there are a lot of people who will plain refuse. Why waste the life? Use it as a good defense.”

  He passed the turn-off to the Metley Plantation. “You realize, of course, you’re just making it harder on yourself because now you have that many more zombies to kill.”
<
br />   “Only if they find me.”

  Dexx turned down a residential street. “You are twisted.”

  Paige chuckled. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d bantered for the purpose of having nothing else to say. Sometimes, the stupid, boring moments really were the best.

  Dexx followed a one-lane, paved road. “So, do you stock up on weapons first, or food?”

  “All I have to do is make it home. The weapons and food are there.”

  “Seriously.”

  “Hey, when the CDC comes up with a zombie plan, it’s serious. Yeah, I’m gonna pay attention.”

  He shot her a disbelieving look out of the corner of his eye. “No joking?”

  “In my defense, most of it wasn’t gathered for the zombie apocalypse. I have weapons. Comes with the business.”

  “The business of being a cop.”

  “Yeah. Shut it.” Most cops had a gun or two. She had . . . well, she had an arsenal of other weapons. A compound bow, a crossbow, a hatchet, and a lot of knives. “The food kind of happened. I buy things on sale, which means I usually buy too much. And then I forget about it, or choose something easier, something frozen.”

  A low, dry chuckle escaped him. “Oh, boy. Pea, I never would have seen you in this light before.”

  “I’m not bad to have on a zombie hunting team.”

  “Until you decide I’m fodder.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “A demon hunter? Fodder? Right.”

  The trees disappeared, revealing a small outcropping of houses. They drove down a couple of streets before Dexx parked Jackie. Malika’s little blue house sat nestled down the street. They watched for several minutes, saying nothing.

  Paige took off her seatbelt.

  Dexx turned toward her. “What’s going on with us?”

  “What?” Startled, she twisted to see him better. “I don’t—I don’t know.”

  “Tell me I’m not the only one—I mean, we have a connection.”

  Oh, dear God. They were having that conversation. Shit. She was awful at relationships. She’d fallen in love once, with Leah’s father. But when he’d died in a car accident, she’d never been interested in entering another relationship. Until Dexx. Jesus. What did she want to do with him? “Yeah. I enjoy being with you.”

  “I feel better with you around.”

  She narrowed her gaze and focused her attention on the gear shift. “I appreciate the fact I can tell you anything.”

  “You don’t, though. You’re really not good with saying things that really matter to you.”

  She tipped her head to the side. “I tell you more than I do anyone else.”

  “So, why can’t we have sex?”

  Paige blinked. “Blunt.”

  “End of the day, I’m still me.”

  “Right. Um, well, uh, for me, things would get complicated.” Fact of the matter, she wanted to have sex with him. But he was her partner.

  “What’s complicated about sex?” He placed his knee on the seat between them, the leather squeaking under his shifting weight. “We’re together a lot. I find you attractive. I’ve seen how you look at me when you think I’m not paying attention.”

  She winced. “Can’t deny it.” Didn’t mean she knew what she wanted to with him, though. She didn’t. On one hand, she wanted to keep things the way they were. She liked what they had. On the other hand, gaw-dang, the man was sexy. She wanted to eat him alive.

  “Right. So . . .” He narrowed his eyes, his crow’s feet crinkling into place. “We could work, Pea. Think about it. You’re a demon summoner.”

  “You’re a hunter.” She let out a puff of breath.

  The car filled with silence.

  “We work pretty good together.”

  Which was part of the problem. “We sure do.”

  “Friends with benefits could be hugely beneficial.”

  “Casual benefits.” She didn’t know what she thought of that. Mostly, she was pretty sure she couldn’t do that. She wasn’t a casual sex kind of person. Well, not that she’d ever given it much of a chance.

  “You’re not the kind of woman who needs romanced. Are you?”

  “What do you mean, I don’t need romanced? Candles, paying for dinner, daisies, opening the door, those are nice.”

  “Yeah, but—” His eyes widened. “You’re not serious, are you?”

  “I’m not the kind of girl you generally pick up at the bar. I’m intense . . . Mostly intense.”

  “Trust me. I noticed.”

  “I’m not impressed by your devilish smile, or that sexy gleam in your eye.” No. She totally had. “I don’t give a rip about your ass.”

  “You’re a liar. Are you looking for a relationship, then? How would your job feel about our affair?”

  She hadn’t missed the reference to her being married to her job. “Seriously, shut it. Good grief.”

  “You don’t think so? When was the last time you thought of doing anything other than work?”

  She pursed her lips in thought. He had a point.

  “Even though your memories were stripped, you sought emotional refuge in work. Now, you’re a workaholic.”

  “Let me guess. There’s a drug for that.”

  “Yes.” Dexx widened his hands, his expression open. “Sex.”

  She barked a laugh. “Does it come in a pill?”

  He pushed his lips out, his eyebrows raised. “It comes from the sugar on my lips.”

  She burst into a fit of giggles. “Oh my god.”

  “I’m being serious.”

  She regained composure and studied Malika’s house.

  Dexx grinned in silence.

  Something moved in the thick bushes separating Malika’s yard from her neighbor’s. “What was that?”

  “What was what?” He pushed himself up in his seat.

  It moved again. “There.”

  “Where?”

  “In the bushes. Something’s moving.”

  “Is there a genie or something here we should know about?”

  She frowned at him in question.

  “We wished for some luck.”

  “It could be anyone.” She leaned her hands against the dashboard, getting as close as she could, hoping for a better view point.

  A man stepped out of the bushes, tall and muscular in his black jeans and raggedy t-shirt. His blonde, short hair shone in the brilliant sun as he stood before them. A sick smile graced his lips as he mouthed something she couldn’t understand.

  “That’s Sven.”

  DEXX’S EYEBROWS ROSE in alarm. “You’re kidding me. Sven? That’s him?”

  Not that Paige really recalled what his human form looked like, but her soul rang with his name. “Yeah.”

  “Okay. Time for your plan. Bring on the earth magick.”

  It had been more a theory. Less a plan.

  Dexx started for the door.

  Sven raised his arms high over his head, his voice almost audible as he called out to them.

  Dizziness attacked Paige. Time stilled. Brown leaves swirled in a spiraling dance in front of her. A piece of construction paper slowly sailed on the wind. Dexx moved in snail-like motion as he pushed his door open.

  Paige tried to yell at him.

  No sound emerged.

  She tried to move, to grab him.

  Her body wouldn’t budge.

  Energy shot through the windshield, vaporizing it as though it were nothing but water. The glass rippled, then reformed unharmed. The power wrapped around her, dark and damp, with a musty tang. What the hell?

  With a force of iron will, she grabbed Dexx’s hand and pulled him back in the car. “Go.”

  Sven tipped his blonde head, a sick smile sliding into place.

  The world blanked as the energies pulsed.

  “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

  Taking a step toward her, Sven’s expression turning feral.

  Her eyes hurt. “We. Have. To. Go.”

  Dexx brought
Jackie to roaring life.

  Paige allowed herself to sag in relief. Her shields slipped. Her gift leapt, clawing, ripping, tearing its way out of her, reaching, grasping, stretching toward the stranger. It pulled. It called. A single name issued forth.

  Sven took a staggered step forward.

  She had his true name and with it came a plethora of information. After being slain two hundred years before, he’d been born again after the first world war. He’d grown up in Queens. He’d had friends, watched them all die. Then on the eve of his own death as an old man, a knowledge had blossomed within him.

  He was a demon and a very dangerous one.

  Something seeped into her, pushing at her, shredding her soul, her very existence. A thick oily sludge blanketed her. Her breath quickened as she put more effort into staying in her body, maintaining control. Sweat broke out on her brow. She folded in her seat, concentrating on just staying . . . her

  She gritted her teeth. “Dexx. Go.”

  He put Jackie in gear, her tires squealing.

  Sven lowered his head, his arms spread as his lip curled.

  Smoke rolled around them. Jackie struggled to break free. She rumbled and roared, but didn’t move.

  Let me in. Let me see him.

  Paige dug her nails into the leather seat.

  Jackie roared in pain.

  Something pushed at Paige, like someone’s hand inside her chest.

  She deflected it with every ounce of will she had.

  The foreign force stopped.

  Sven’s beautiful face shown.

  Her gift flared. Names rose to her lips.

  “Mammon, Shax, Abaddon.” Her voice was so distant. “Rise. I need you.”

  From the smoke from Jackie’s tires, three bodies materialized.

  Jackie ceased her struggle, her motor purring as she faced off against the demons.

  Dexx’s chest rose and fell as he wrung the steering wheel. “Pea, what’s going—”

  One of the demons stumbled forward, his arms flung wide. Surprise and shock raced across his expression.

  Sven watched through narrowed eyes.

  Dexx pushed himself as far back in his seat as he could manage.

  Something inside her slid, went sideways.

  A stick crashed against Jackie’s door.