Demon Underground (2)

by S. L. Wright

  “You could always come out, too,” I told him.

  He laughed as if the idea was absurd. “I’ll sit back for a while and leave this one to you, my dear. What a bizarre idea you had . . . to live openly as a demon.”

  I wasn’t going to tell him about the bad parts, like the most recent New York Post headline over a photo of my bar that screamed FREAK SHOW ON C.

  “I’m told you’re here alone every night,” Revel said. “Do you think that’s safe? You could come stay with me when the bar is closed.”

  Alarm bells went off. Darn, and we’d been having such a nice conversation. The better to manipulate me into giving up control to him.

  “Oh, I’m never alone,” I assured him. It was true. I was referring to the Snow-monster and his minion, but I wanted him to think I was talking about Ram.

  I knew Revel would broadcast the news far and wide that Ram was a regular at my bar after hours. They would assume he was cloaked, and that was why they couldn’t sense him here.

  Another lie. I still couldn’t get away from deceit, to protect myself. It almost made me sick. I had to find another way.

  But Revel swallowed it whole, smiling and nodding as if he was in the know. He didn’t seem to mind that I barely uttered another word as I ushered him out the door. I did give him my new cell number in case he needed to get hold of me.

  I might have to count on him again someday. He hadn’t let me down this time. Even though he had destroyed my life, someday I might need his help again.

  24

  A few days later, in the dead of the night, I was cozied up in my armchair working on my laptop when I felt Bliss outside. It was really early for her to return, so I went to the front windows to look down at the nearly deserted streets.

  Mystify waved up at me, standing next to the guard who was on duty. He was wearing Bliss’s signature, along with his Theo Jr. persona. Mystify always wore another demon’s signature because it was safer than being himself. Goad’s demons would take him down just because he could infiltrate their ranks. And it didn’t help that Ram was his progenitor. Nobody trusted him, apparently, except for me.

  I let Mystify in and showed him up to my apartment. As I crossed the threshold, I realized it was the first time he’d been in my inner sanctum. From the way he looked around, he was remembering it from Ram’s memories. The almost reverent way he touched the back of one of the linoleum chairs made my heart skip a beat. He kept saying I’d made a huge impact on Ram, but seeing his reaction made it all the more real.

  “Do you want to sit down?” I asked.

  His gaze lingered on the door to the back room, where I’d made love to Ram that first night on the chaise. He sat down in the same chair Ram had sat in as a battered Theo. “I came to tell you about . . . you know who.”

  I nodded at his discretion. There was no telling how many directional mics were aimed at us. “Yes?”

  “Somehow . . . I can’t be sure how because everyone was keeping watch . . . we lost the package.”

  “Lost it? As in ...” I drew my hand across my throat.

  “Oh, no, not that. Just gone. Vanished. I think it’s gone deeper. Much deeper.”

  Here I’d been expecting Cherie to surface at any moment. I kept having nasty premonitions of Cherie facing off with me in front of the cameras. That would be a show nobody would want to miss—the demon vs. the saint.

  I gulped. “You don’t know where?”

  “We’ve got ears all over. People are looking. But there’s a whole other world below that one, Allay. I had no idea the extent of it.”

  I sat back, considering it. Cherie was a time bomb that could go off in my life at any moment. Leaving aside my public attacks on her, Cherie also knew my signature, even though I had been wearing June’s guise. What if she realized I was the one who kidnapped her from the Prophet’s Center?

  My uneasiness rose as Goad’s stinging signature flickered over me, making my skin crawl. I rubbed my arms. “I hate that guy! Why can’t he leave me alone?”

  “You’re too tasty,” Mystify said quickly. I looked at him, and he had the grace to look away.

  “I know it will always be like this, a struggle to survive every day. But I get so tired of it.”

  Mystify smiled slightly. “I have an idea . . . I could blast a little ‘Ram’ at him. That might keep him away for a while.”

  It was tempting. It would reinforce the rumors I’d set in motion that Ram was here with me after hours. It could deter demons from testing me further, especially Goad. I could ask Mystify to do it every few days; I could carry on the charade for a good long while.

  “I don’t want to live another lie,” I forced myself to say.

  “The only person you’re lying to is Goad. And he wouldn’t know it if he wasn’t here bothering you. He should go back to his own territory and leave you alone. If it takes a bazooka lie to send him there, then I’m all for it.”

  “You’re right. I guess using a lie as a weapon of defense is a lot like aikido—deflect the attacker.” Maybe rationalizations like that were what Shock meant when she said I was a demon now instead of human. But Goad’s stinging was getting stronger. “Do it.”

  It was like flipping a switch. One moment there was barely anything, a vague sense of well-being that typified Bliss, and the next second a Harley motorcycle was thrumming in the room with me.

  It was exhilarating—I started breathing faster, my body responding just like it did with Ram.

  I had to look at Mystify, telling myself it wasn’t Ram that I felt. His signature wasn’t nearly as strong, and there weren’t those chasms of emotion like with Ram, the weight of the millennia he evoked. I wasn’t carried away like I was with Ram.

  I just needed a second to get hold of myself. It was similar enough to spark a full-on lust-fest inside me.

  Mystify saw it. He grinned as he stepped closer, teasing in his eyes.

  “Mystify,” I said, reminding myself who he was. Even his persona looked like Ram.

  He touched my arm, just brushed it without trying to feed from me. He’d always fed from me before when he touched me. This was much better.

  “Goad’s gone,” Mystify told me.

  “Is he? I hadn’t noticed,” I said breathlessly.

  “You feel it, too,” he murmured. “There’s something special between us.”

  I swayed, unsure of myself. I did want to touch him, to kiss him. To feel loved again. I trusted him more than most of the people in my life. He had just chased off a persistent menace from my door by hardly lifting his finger. What more did I want from a man?

  Mystify stroked my face, leaning down to kiss me.

  Then he felt it. He stiffened and strained upward, in a way I’d come to associate with the effort to sense other demons. It wasn’t until he abruptly dropped Ram’s signature, returning to his own, that I realized what was happening.

  Ram was coming.

  The pounding, driving signature continued to grow stronger, coming up the block. He was letting me and everyone else know he was there.

  Mystify was now wearing his own signature, the floating void. I hadn’t felt it in a while.

  I went to the front window in time to see Ram arrive. He paused to shake hands with Glenn, my favorite security guard because he didn’t try to be all chummy with me. The two men sized each other up, and my cell phone rang in the kitchen as Glenn called up to get permission for Ram to enter.

  I ducked back before Ram could see me. “He must be mad because you’re wearing his signature. Do you want time to get out the rear? I can deal with this.”

  “He won’t do anything to me. Not in front of you.” Mystify sat down and leaned back against the chair as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

  “I’ll talk to him downstairs.” I didn’t think it was a good idea to throw them together. I was the only one who knew Ram had lost interest in me. His only reason for being here must be to squash Mystify for imitating him. I had to fix things now or he
would kill Mystify.

  I took a good look at Ram as I let him in downstairs. His expression was perfectly pleasant, as if he hadn’t a care in the world. The guard was smiling and laughing at something Ram had said, completely comfortable with him. It was a little scary that Ram had won Glenn over so easily. It was usually hard to get a word out of him, but Ram had managed to find a way.

  But I knew that under Ram’s genial mask lay a killer. I had discovered that four people had died in the fire that had destroyed the Prophet’s Center. Apparently the police also believed the fire had been deliberately set on the inside, not by the rioters as had been reported. Ram had cold-bloodedly killed them all. He was not the man I thought he was.

  I let him into the bar. With the shutter down, Glenn couldn’t see inside and sound the alarm if I needed help. But I didn’t have any defenses against Ram. If he wanted me dead, then I was dead. Nobody could stop him.

  As Ram followed me inside, there was a tightening in his eyes as he glanced back upstairs where Mystify was.

  “Is he too scared to come down?” Ram asked.

  His voice echoed in the stairwell. I’m sure Mystify heard it inside my apartment.

  I walked into the bar and waited until the door closed behind us. “You’re here to see Mystify?”

  “He is the one wearing my signature.”

  To all appearances, Ram was not angry at all. He was still letting his signature roar, and it nearly knocked me off my feet. It was also doing funny things to my nether regions, making me want to run my fingers through his hair and wrap my legs around him. . . .

  “I asked him to do it,” I said. “Goad has been hanging around lately, and I thought if he thought you were here . . . he would keep away. So if you’re mad about it, you can be mad at me.”

  It was embarrassing to admit it. But it was my fault after all. Ram walked deeper into the bar, standing in the middle of the darkened room. He was so guarded I had no idea what he was thinking. Here was a man who had been flayed alive repeatedly by his first great love. Only a fool would have believed he wasn’t a monster.

  The click of the bolt behind me was my only warning. Mystify opened the door, grinning just enough to show Ram that he didn’t care. He was still wearing his Theo Jr. persona.

  “The whole package,” Ram said thoughtfully.

  I gave Mystify a hard look. What was he trying to do, provoke Ram? “I was just explaining to Ram that I asked you to wear his signature. That you were helping me.”

  Mystify shrugged one shoulder. “That’s right.”

  He being nonchalant, with an undercurrent of cockiness. He was glad to have the chance to finally push back at Ram. After all, he couldn’t avoid his progenitor forever—

  Ram burst into motion, slamming into Mystify. With hardly a sound, Ram drove Mystify back against the wall. Mystify’s breath went out in an agonized whoosh, like his chest was crushed. Ram wheeled and dropped Mystify to the floor like a bag of cement.

  “Stop it, Ram!” I cried.

  Sprawled on the floor, Ram had Mystify in a choke hold, arching him backward. Mystify’s face was turning blue. But Ram wasn’t trying to drain him.

  “You kissed her, didn’t you?” Ram growled. “While you were wearing my signature. You made a move, didn’t you?”

  “Let go of him!” I ordered. “It’s none of your business.”

  Ram ignored me. This was between him and his offspring. Mystify grabbed at his arm, trying to dislodge him, but Ram had beaten him in his surprise attack. Clearly Ram didn’t care what I thought of his brutality.

  “Answer me!” Ram demanded.

  “Yes ...” Mystify managed to get out.

  “Allay didn’t want you while you were wearing your own signature. She only wants you when you’re wearing mine. Isn’t that right?” His arm tightened.

  “But I love her. ...”

  “You don’t love her. You’re feeling the echo of my love.” His anger flowed out now in a violent red gush. “In another month or two, you’ll hardly remember these feelings. Then who will be around to protect her? I will. So stop playing games with my woman, boy.”

  My mouth fell open. “Your woman? Since when? You disappeared when I refused to go away with you.”

  Ram was still focused on Mystify. “Do you understand me?” It looked like he was barely holding himself back from ripping Mystify’s head off. At any second, I expected him to start draining Mystify. I’d seen how quick it had happened with Vex; it would take no time to overcome a newbie like Mystify.

  It was frightening, overwhelming, because I knew Ram would do it if he thought it was necessary. Right in front of me.

  I picked up a chair, holding it over my head. “Let him go, Ram. Or I’ll make you stop, I swear.”

  Slowly he seemed to back away from his killing rage. The crimson cleared from his aura, as he warned Mystify, “What you know about me will get you killed. Remember that.”

  He let go of Mystify, pushing him away.

  Mystify rolled over, gasping for breath. I dropped the chair, kneeling down next to him. “Are you okay?”

  Mystify nodded, but he was rolling in agony. He had sadly misjudged Ram. He almost died because of it. We both knew it.

  My phone was ringing and it was the guard outside. I started to assure Glenn that everything was fine, even though I didn’t believe it. But he interrupted me. “There’s a guy here who wants to see you.” His voice lowered. “I’m not liking this, Ms. Meyers.”

  “Someone’s outside?” I repeated, looking instinctively to Ram.

  Ram moved quicker than I could think, ready to defend me. I had to leave Mystify gasping on the floor, and barely caught the door as it swung shut behind Ram. He was out the front before I could catch up to him.

  The guard was holding out both arms, warding off a skinny guy in a trench coat. He was staggering with his head down, barely able to stand. “Some car drove by and rolled him out,” Glenn said. “Then he started calling for you, Ms. Meyers.”

  “Allay?” Phil Anchor raised his head. “Is that you?”

  “Phil!” I exclaimed. In his bloodred eyes, I could see it—he was bingeing on drugs again. He was so high he hardly knew where he was. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in police custody.”

  “You ruined my life, Allay,” Phil slurred.

  Everything happened at once—Phil pulled back his coat to reveal a bulky pack strapped to his stomach. The guard, to his credit, leaped toward Phil to try to catch his arm as he reached for the device.

  Ram got there first. He caught Phil around the middle, slinging him around like a discus. Phil let out a loud ooff and nearly doubled over, his feet swung off the ground by Ram’s force. The guard and I fell back as Ram spun and then flung Phil as hard as he could.

  Phil flew through the air, much farther than humanly possible. As he arced back down into the middle of the intersection, Ram turned and leaped on me, his eyes blackly determined.

  I didn’t know what was going on until the explosion hit us. The boom made my ears ring, and chunks of asphalt rained down on us. Ram shielded me with his body, his warmth pressing against my cold skin.

  Car alarms went off, filling the ringing in my ears with horns and sirens. Cries rose above the din as people began calling out from open windows.

  I tried to push Ram aside so I could see, but he took a good look around first. When he finally let me go, he warned, “Watch out for the glass.”

  The ground glittered with shards of glass everywhere. It looked like every window on both blocks had broken. The middle of the intersection was now a concave hole, revealing broken pipes and a gusher of water that shot higher than the two-story building on the corner. The streetlights were fallen over like matchsticks, and people were coughing and carefully picking over the debris as they emerged from the surrounding buildings. One woman was screaming and crying, but I couldn’t see her.

  “Suicide bomber!” Glenn exclaimed. “That guy blew himself up.”


  My stomach heaved. What was that whitish thing over there?

  I’m not going to think about it.

  Ram tapped on the shutter down over my bar. There were a few scars in the new undersea mural. “The windows didn’t break. Bulletproof, just as I ordered.”

  “You ordered?” I repeated.

  “I couldn’t let you risk getting shot again.” He grimaced. “I didn’t know the idiot would shoot you in the face the second time.”

  Stunned, I asked, “Did you know Phil was going to do this?”

  “No! Of course not. He was in police custody the last I heard.” He lowered his voice as Glenn stumbled over the chunks of asphalt, closer to the crater in morbid fascination. “I knew Dread was going to try something against you. That’s why I’ve been watching over you. But I never expected him to use Phil again.”

  It took me a second to catch up. “So Dread sent Phil to shoot me and Pepe the first time. I should have known Phil couldn’t pull it off alone. Dread is the one who disabled the surveillance system.”

  Ram nodded. “But it backfired on him. The last thing Dread wanted was for Phil to murder you the second time in front of everyone. Dread should have known he couldn’t control a drug addict.” Ram kicked a chunk of asphalt. “There goes the DA’s corruption case.”

  “And he almost killed us.” That would have taken care of all of Dread’s problems in one blow.

  “I wouldn’t let that happen.” The look he gave me was full of tenderness. After his killing rage with Mystify, it was too much.

  Fire engines pulled up with sirens blazing. An ambulance came slowly down the avenue on the far side of the crater. Only my habit of locking myself inside at night had prevented a large crowd of tourists from being outside my bar. There were only a few people sitting here and there who had gotten caught in the blast.

  But for the first time, I didn’t feel like it was my fault. Despite what Phil had said—I didn’t ruin his life. He did. He let Dread fill him up with coke and strap dynamite to his waist. He was trying to push the button when Ram stopped him. I felt more sorry for the NYPD, who no longer had a witness or a defendant for their big corruption case.