The Unlikeable Demon Hunter: Need (Nava Katz Book 3)

by Deborah Wilde

  “I’m telling Mom.” I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering violently as I checked out the roof. A lot of pigeon droppings. “There’s no way off. No door.”

  “Give me a minute,” Ari said. “I’ll take us down.”

  The world lit up with a blinding reddish orange fire, accompanied by a familiar acrid burning. By the time dots had stopped dancing in front of my eyes, Ari was gone.

  I ran to the edge of the building and leaned over to see if there was a balcony I could jump down to. It was a sheer drop. Malik’s apartment was underneath me but without rappelling equipment and an open window, there was no way to get inside.

  I had to get there. Malik had my brother.

  I sprinted to the other side of the building and peered down. “Ah, man.” I clutched the ledge. I really, really hated heights.

  I pulled out my phone and called Kane. “How long would it take you to arrange a helicopter to get me off this roof?”

  “If one could even land there? It would take some time.”

  “Damn it!”

  “Uh, babyslay?”

  “Ari’s not going to be tortured again. Forget it.”

  “What?!”

  “I’ll get him.” I hung up and stepped up onto the ledge. My heart pounded, icy claws squeezing my chest. Since I didn’t like jumping off anything higher than the low diving board, I was rooted to the spot, sweat pooling under my arms and trickling down my back. I dug my nails into my palms. “Move.”

  Inch by inch, I talked myself off the ledge, my foot edging off further and further until momentum took over and I fell. My high-pitched scream cut off as I hit the outdoor pool two floors down. I smacked my feet on the bottom, but didn’t appear to break anything.

  I swam to the surface, coughing at all the chlorine that was now up my nose, but glad I’d chosen lightweight pants and a turtleneck for this outing and not jeans and a heavy coat. I might die of hypothermia but at least I wouldn’t drown.

  I sloshed over to the heavy glass doors and tugged. Locked tight. My magic made quick work of the cheap lock, then I exited the indoor lounge area, closed at this time of night, into the hallway. No doors were harmed in the process.

  The elevator required a biometric scan to access the penthouse, so that was out, but the stairwell only needed a quick short circuiting of the scanner. Kane’s teachings had been bang-on. People spent a fortune guarding the bottom of a building and only a cursory amount on the top and inside access points.

  Lucky for me.

  Malik’s apartment was the only one up here. There was no camera that I could see and no point in worrying about it. I crossed my fingers that there was no demon ward on this door, and blew it off its hinges.

  The city was a glittering jewel set against a midnight blue sky, laid out for my viewing pleasure through two walls of windows in the open-concept floor plan. The floors were burgundy concrete and the fireplace was inset in a single black glass column that supported a bottom corner of what I assumed was the loft bedroom. Being a demon was a lucrative gig, because if Malik made the kind of bank needed to afford this place solely off his art, he’d be all kinds of famous.

  There was no sign of my brother or Malik, not on the low leather sofa custom-made to follow the curve of the windows, or in the high-end kitchen, where an open bottle of wine and two glasses sat on the counter.

  I raced past the six-foot-by-six-foot glass cube holding wine bottles in wood racks, taking petty delight in the trail of water I left. Around the other side of it was a small hallway.

  Malik had my brother pressed up against a hanging black tapestry woven with abstract curves of flame colors. The marid trailed his finger along Ari’s chest.

  My brother drew in a stuttery breath.

  “Nava?” Before I could process why Leo was standing behind me with Daniel, Ari inhaled on a cut-off gasp, clutched his chest, doubled over, and collapsed.

  Malik knelt down beside Ari and cradled his head.

  “Don’t touch him.” I slammed my palm against Ari’s chest, shocking him, while concentrating a burst of electricity at the marid.

  Malik burst into flame before it hit. Leo yelped at the transformation, but while the demon released Ari, he did so with an aggrieved sigh. “This is getting tiresome.”

  “Then let’s shake things up.” I braved the heat pouring off Malik to press the amplifier to the flames in his shoulder region, attempting to defibrillate Ari with my other hand.

  Malik’s flame nostrils flared.

  I shocked Ari again, frantic.

  The amplifier was working, forcing Malik back into flesh so we could kill him, albeit a billion times slower than I wanted. The marid’s right leg had become corporeal. The flames swirling around at his core flickered angrily but the disc prevented him from moving.

  I should have been thrilled but all I cared about was the fact that Ari wasn’t responding to my defibrillation. I placed my hand on his chest.

  He wasn’t breathing.

  Malik’s neck solidified from flame to flesh.

  I dug the disc deeper into Malik’s shoulder, his body now corporeal all the way up his left side. “Fix him!”

  Malik’s fingers dug into the tapestry, white-knuckled and shaking, despite his level voice. “I can’t.”

  “Then prepare to die.”

  He closed his eyes, and fire cascaded down his right arm in a sheath. “You are such a bother.”

  The disc flew out of my hand. I grabbed for it, then jumped back as flame spurted out of Malik’s palm and melted the amplifier into a useless iron puddle on the floor.

  Smirking, the demon disappeared. Daniel and Leo were gone as well.

  I placed both hands flat on Ari’s chest. “Don’t you dare die on me, you asshole!”

  One more shock.

  After the longest moment in history, Ari wheezed in a breath.

  I slumped against the wall in a puddle of pool water, keeping a close eye on him.

  “Where’s Daniel?” Ari’s voice was gravely. He waved off my offer of help, and using the wall, sat up.

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s the one who attacked me.”

  “No. It was Malik.”

  Ari shook his head. “Trust me. It was Daniel, not Malik. That wasn’t marid magic. My guess is Daniel’s a hantu.” Malaysian possession demon.

  “But he’s a cop.” Silly me. Malik destroying the amplifier wasn’t us being fucked. No, our fuckification was reserved for a demon infiltrating those supposed to serve and protect.

  “He’s also a PD.” Ari rubbed his chest, spearing me with a pointed look. “They all turn in the end.”

  “This has nothing to do with him being a PD and everything to do with him being messed in the head.”

  Ari grabbed my arm to lever himself onto his feet. We were silent for a moment, Ari recuperating, me feeling my brain explode into tiny splatting pieces.

  “Daniel’s dad was a cop and with his training, he knows how to commit a crime and get away with it,” Ari said as we made our way out of the hallway into Malik’s main room, the lights impossibly bright.

  I squinted against the glare, wishing I wasn’t going into a final showdown with a wet ass.

  “That’s why he isolated his victims first.” My brother stopped to catch his breath. “His human side was organizing the kills, even if his demon side was exacerbating his emotions and his need to get rid of the competition. So who’s the next victim?”

  “Leo!” Daniel had brought her here and in the chaos, I’d forgotten about her.

  “She’s fine,” Malik stepped into view, his arm draped around Leo’s shoulder. There was no sign of Daniel. “Aren’t you?”

  “I’m fine,” she repeated. Her voice was breathy, her eyes wide as she gazed upon him and only him. “Are you hurt?”

  “Not even a scratch.” He smiled at her but his eyes promised me payback.

  “What did you do to her?” I demanded.

  “The barest kiss to get her in
the mood. It wasn’t her choice but desperate times. Who wants wine?” He led Leo to the seating area, then left her there like she was a statue for our viewing pleasure.

  I made a sound halfway between strangled disbelief and impressed awe at the power of that kiss. “What happened to not hurting humans?”

  Oh, his feline smile wasn’t smug at all. “She doesn’t really count, does she? Being a PD and all.”

  Ari sank onto the couch, his head buried in shaking hands.

  Leo didn’t react to the derogatory term. She just stood there paused until Malik directed her otherwise.

  “I could have a lot of fun with her. Oh, don’t worry, petal,” he said, “I’d snap her out of her daze to give me her full consent.” He tilted his head, raking a slow gaze over her. “Goblin women.” He whistled. “Feisty.”

  I stood protectively in front of my friend. “You knew that Daniel was killing them.”

  “The Arabic word for love,” Ari said. “He wrote it for you.”

  I glanced at Leo but there was no change. “Did you send him the victims yourself or just get off on knowing what that fucker was doing to impress you?”

  Malik poured the blood-red wine into one glass. “I didn’t know. At first.”

  “Once you did?” Ari prompted.

  Malik looked off toward the window before meeting our gaze. “I chose what mattered more.” He downed the wine.

  Daniel was Malik’s weakness. Ari and Leo were mine.

  I willed my best friend to snap out of it. To clench her fist at me for being the world’s biggest douchebag for having brought this on her. Do something resembling anything, but all she did was stand there with a vacant adoring beam.

  “I promise you she’ll enjoy every second,” Malik said. “She’ll die with a smile on her face.”

  He didn’t have to take it that far, but I had no doubt that he would. “What do you want?”

  He gave Leo one last look before adopting a more business-like tone. “Daniel for Leonie. I leave the choice up to you two.”

  “Why do we get a choice?” I said. “Compel us into letting Daniel go free.”

  “As I’ve already told you, I don’t have that ability. Trust me, if I did, you two would know. I’m surprised you even have to think about it, Ari,” Malik said. “What with your clearly defined morality and all. I’d have thought Leonie was acceptable collateral damage.”

  “The only acceptable collateral damage is you,” Ari said.

  “That’s adorable.” Two Rasha in the room with him making death threats and all he did was lick a drop of wine off his finger, giving zero fucks. “Your choice is Daniel or Leonie. Tick tock.” Malik shook the bottle, then set it on the counter. He headed for wine cube. “Cabernet this time.”

  I scoped out the room. Too high to jump, not that the windows opened or there was a sliding door. No way to get to the front door before Malik stopped us. No way to kill him. No shadows here for Ari to jump us into the EC since Malik had doctored the lights to full wattage.

  I wanted to scream in frustration. Daniel was going to get away. As was Malik.

  Malik returned carrying a new bottle.

  Ari flicked his eyes to the window.

  I looked but didn’t see anything. It was night. It was dark.

  Malik screwed in the corkscrew and popped the cork free. “What have you decided?”

  “No deal,” Ari said.

  When the marid’s attention was on the glass of wine he was pouring for himself, Ari narrowed his eyes and motioned subtly outside.

  I frowned.

  He kicked me, pointing at Leo and jerking his chin at the window, mouthing the words “twin war.”

  Ow. And oh.

  I punched him in the arm about five times. “We. Are. Not. Leaving. Leo.”

  Ari glared at me, my body blocking him from Malik’s view. “Overdoing it,” he muttered.

  “So glad I was an only child,” Malik said, coming over to us with his glass. “Hurry up and reach consensus.”

  I backed off, putting a protective arm around my friend. “Snap her out of it. You win. Leo for Daniel.”

  Ari growled in frustration, then nodded.

  Malik snapped his fingers.

  “Nava?” Leo blinked dopily. “What’s going on?”

  I tightened my hold on her. “Can we go now?”

  “No. Daniel needs time to leave town.” Malik pulled out his phone, texting Daniel, his head bent over the screen.

  Ari touched three fingers to his thigh. Two.

  I gathered my magic, fired it at the window…

  …and watched my strike go wild as Malik grabbed my wrist and broke it.

  “Fuuuuuuuuck!” Magic exploded out of my skin, wine staining my skin like blood.

  Glass exploded behind me with a thunderous crash.

  A red haze filled my vision. Electricity pounded out of me like bullets from an Uzi, peppering Malik.

  He gasped.

  His flames swirled tighter and denser, the voltage racking through him. My magic slid through his fire like…

  “Charged particles. I read about this.” Ari pushed to his feet. “Hold him, Nee. You’re putting him out.”

  The very shape of the demon’s flames morphed. Every other time he’d gone fiery, he’d been in control, keeping the outline of a human form. This time there was no shape, merely a jagged blazing starburst; the only identifying features his eyes, now open wide.

  “Keep the current oscillating,” Ari made a back and forth motion with his hands. “But go hard.”

  Acting on pure impulse, I made a scooping motion with my good hand as if turning up the dial, the broken one cradled against my chest.

  Malik shrunk into himself, getting smaller and smaller. An enraged roar poured out from deep in the center of the flames, bouncing off the walls.

  “Holy shitsticks,” Leo said, clapping her hands over her ears.

  The reds and blues of the marid’s flame grew weaker, his cries of rage quieting.

  “No!”

  There was a second of stunned surprise as Ari and I locked eyes with Daniel, who’d appeared, still in uniform. His features were twisted in fury.

  Ari drew in shadow through the broken window from the night sky, coiled it around his arm, and snapped it like a whip at Daniel’s wrist.

  Daniel placed his hand on the shadow, a ripple rolling out from his flesh up to Ari’s shoulder. My brother shivered violently, all the color draining from his face. Even though to witness Ari’s magic was to swear it had depth and weight, it was still shadows. Still intangible, but Daniel grabbed onto the magic, snapping its hold.

  He pulled his gun, grabbed Leo, and jammed the barrel to her head.

  Thanks to the glaring bright lights, I could see exactly how unhinged Daniel was: bloodshot eyes, wrinkled uniform, his hair sticking up every which way like he’d run his hands through it one too many times. “Let Malik go,” he said.

  Malik had almost sputtered out. I could end him, but could we take Daniel down faster than he could kill Leo?

  If I released Malik, I’d have to tell Mandelbaum that it was my fault that the demon got away. Even though he wasn’t the serial killer, he was an ancient being of unimaginable power. It would be career suicide. Or my death warrant. Either by the Brotherhood or the marid himself.

  Daniel cocked the trigger. “Decide.”

  I shut down my magic.

  Corporeal once more, Malik dragged in a deep breath, collapsing back against the wall with a hard thud.

  “Go,” Daniel urged.

  Malik hesitated and Daniel stared him down, not removing the gun from Leo. Pale, she was a wall of tense muscle, but her chin was jutted up in defiance.

  “You foolish boy.” Malik lay his hand on Daniel’s cheek. He tilted his head at Ari and me. “Until next time, Rasha.” Then he disappeared.

  “Saving himself. Big surprise.” Ari parked himself at my left shoulder.

  I appreciated the solidarity but I wasn’t t
aking my eyes off Daniel’s weapon. Sweat ran in a thin line between my shoulder blades. “A gun? That’s cheating. Have you no sense of demon pride?”

  “I’m not a monster!” Daniel’s hand shook. The one holding the lethal weapon.

  My heart stuttered, stopped, then tried to crawl up my throat. “No one said you were.” Please. He was totally a monster. He’d killed seven people. What did he think that made him? A Nobel Peace Prize winner?

  “Why don’t you put the gun down and talk to us?” Ari said. “Tell us what’s going on.”

  “I just wanted him to love me.” His hand tightened on the grip.

  “Easy.” I held up a hand. The good one since the broken one still dangled uselessly. Though it was highly efficient in producing copious amounts of pain.

  “By killing seven people?” Ari said.

  Leo sucked in a breath. “Whoa.”

  Pain twisted Daniel’s features. “I couldn’t help it. This darkness just took over.”

  “Bullshit. We’ve all got darkness in us and yeah, it’s harder when it’s literal evil, but that makes the humanity that much more precious. And as a cop? You of all people should have understood that.”

  “Leo,” I snapped. “Shut up.”

  “Let her go, Daniel.” Ari spoke quietly, his hand outstretched for the gun.

  Daniel turned pleading eyes on me. “You have no idea what it was like to love him and know that he didn’t return it. It didn’t matter how much I proved I was the only one for him, I was just one of many.”

  The kicker? I felt bad for the guy. Part of him was still human and that part of him was in a lot of pain. I wasn’t excusing his actions, there were no excuses, but I could empathize with at least part of his situation.

  “You didn’t prove your worth.” Ari sneered. “You destroyed any chance of the one thing, the one person you wanted. You killed his lovers, Daniel. Even Malik didn’t want you after that. Jakayla, Davide, Max, Reuben, Ellen.” With each name Ari stepped closer to Daniel.

  “That poor Jane Doe,” I added. “Did you even know her name?

  Daniel whimpered.

  “Tell me. Give her family some closure.”

  “Anna. Rodriguez.” He whispered her name. I wish we could have prevented Anna’s death, but if learning her identity meant her family could give her a proper burial, instead of always wondering what had happened to her, I’d take it as a win.