The Price of Exorcism

by Dakota Brown

  Mal and I went back to wandering the tables.

  As the night progressed, it turned out that I knew more pop culture quotes than Mal did, even though he'd been alive at the time. It wasn't too surprising considering he'd said he'd been buried in books for most of the decade, but I would have thought he would have picked some of them up, even without a TV habit.

  I think even the vampire had a good time, but we were both exhausted from the interactions by the time the last customers left, and the team cut the music to a more tolerable level.

  "Great job, guys," Billy said once we were alone. "You two hungry? We've got a couple of pizzas coming out of the oven in a few minutes."

  Mal glanced at me before shrugging. "I'm sure Aaron is starving. I'm fine."

  "Aww, Mal, you never eat any of our pizza," Mandy said. "Why?"

  "It's, uh," he floundered.

  "He's trying really hard not to admit that he's dating Chris, but doesn't like pizza that much," I explained.

  "Oooh." She arched her eyebrows. "How on earth does she let you get away with that?"

  "Uh, she's willing to accept other people's preferences, I guess," Mal replied.

  I tried to hide a smile knowing Chris really liked it when Mal indulged in his preferences with her.

  "Well, we could find something else for you, if you want," Billy offered.

  "No. I'll just grab a beer." He retreated to the kitchen to help himself.

  Mandy's eyes were glued to his back.

  She was definitely on to him, at least as much as she could be when she didn't know vampires were real. Hopefully, it would stay that way, for her sake. I couldn't imagine all vampires were as mild mannered as Malak was.

  Billy turned his attention to me. "He does eat, right?"

  I chuckled. "Yes, I've seen him eat. Besides, I doubt he'd be able to maintain that fine physique without actually feeding himself."

  Billy looked surprised.

  I shrugged. "I've seen him without his shirt on. Dude's got more muscles than I do." I was in good shape, and I worked out. I knew I looked good, and I didn't think there was any harm in saying it.

  Mandy sighed happily.

  I shook my head.

  "Chris will fight you," Billy said mildly.

  Mandy giggled, blushed, and hurried away.

  "She's convinced he's a vampire," Billy explained, laughing.

  "I swear, I've seen him eat. Just not pizza." It was true. It just happened that it was Chris I'd seen him eat.

  I cleared my throat as my mind took that idea and ran with it, from Mal with his fangs in her neck, which was oddly hot, to other things that Chris had that Mal could eat, and I had to jerk my head back to the present before I got unfortunately distracted.

  Billy arched an eyebrow as if he could sense the turn my thoughts had taken.

  Fortunately, that line of conversation was distracted by the arrival of a couple of pizzas, some pop, and Mal's return.

  This place really did have the best pizza, and I enjoyed the cheesy deliciousness while I watched the employees alternate between casual chatter while they ate and closing the place up for the night. Chris had managed to inspire a great deal of loyalty in her people and, not that I needed a reason, but it made me think even more highly of her. Now if only I could get over my own hang ups.

  The chatter paused when the bells on the door chimed. Almost as if in a movie, we all turned to look at who would come in when the place was so obviously closed.

  A chill rolled down my spine and I felt rooted to the spot as I met one of the invaders' gaze.

  His eyes were a deep blue, unnaturally so, set in bronzed skin. Impossibly golden hair hung to the guy's shoulders. I wanted to jerk my gaze away, wanted to move. His very presence filled me with a dread like I'd never experienced, not even going up against the demons.

  Mal swore, breaking me out of my trance, but only just. I still felt rooted to the spot.

  "You will come with us."

  There were two of them, though I'd only managed to get a look at the one. Mal stepped in front of me.

  "No, he won't."

  "And what exactly do you think you're going to be able to do to stop us from taking him, creature. You can't even touch us."

  Mal twitched but didn't answer. Simply moved to put himself more firmly between me and the two beings in front of us. I finally managed to get a look at the other one. She had the appearance of a child, but one look in those deep brass-colored eyes told me she was likely older than the concept of time.

  "Come."

  Her voice, high and child-like, wrapped around me. I threw everything I had into resisting it, but it was a losing battle.

  Mal glanced at me before his shoulders sagged, as if resigned to something.

  "Just keep fighting. I'll get rid of them," Mal said.

  The male laughed.

  Mal growled, darted sideways faster than I could follow, and suddenly appeared next to the taller being, holding a chair.

  The being ignored Mal, as if he were inconsequential, until the vampire broke the chair over the being's head.

  That dropped the guy to the floor.

  "Don't need to touch you to hurt you," Mal growled, somehow having procured another chair.

  He took a swing at the girl. She held out her hand and the chair cracked over an invisible shield.

  The other one got back up and both had turned their attention to the vampire. Mal held two metal chair legs like weapons, one in each hand.

  The girl held up her hand again and the other broken pieces of chair flew at the vampire.

  I was suddenly very grateful that Chris didn't have wooden furniture. I imagined Mal was, too. He managed to bat most of the pieces away, but one got through, sinking into his gut.

  He grunted, dropping one of the chair legs, and jerked the metal rod out, flinging blood in the process. The creatures flinched away, hissing as some of it splattered on them.

  I watched the vampire. He looked surprised, but then a smile tugged at his lips. He dropped the pieces of metal he'd been holding, shutting his eyes and taking a breath. He brought his hands up as I'd seen him do in the past, before drawing a glowing sigil in the air.

  The creatures sneered at him until he slashed his palm, sprayed blood on the sigil and shouted something terrifying sounding in Latin.

  A clap of sound followed a bright flash of light as the beings were forcibly repelled from the restaurant. The door slammed behind them and Mal ran to it and pressed his bloody palm against the glass, hastily scribbling another sigil in the blood before speaking again, this time the language didn't sound the same, so maybe not in Latin.

  The sigil disappeared and I suddenly felt unwelcome in the room, as if a force was trying to repel me.

  "Aaron, come here for a moment," Mal called.

  Finally able to move, I joined him by the door. He grabbed my hand, muttered a quick apology and sliced my palm open with his nail. He stared at a moment as the blood welled on my hand, licking his lips before he tore his gaze away and pressed my hand to the door.

  "Yeah, that's against health code," I joked, while trying not to freak out.

  Mal chuckled. "Probably."

  The unwelcome feeling faded, and the glass absorbed my blood. I took a deep breath. "Well, then. What the hell was that?"

  "Yeah, good question."

  Shit, I'd forgotten about Billy and the others.

  Mal and I slowly turned. I glanced at the vampire. His eyes had returned to their normal deep brown, but the front of his shirt was covered in blood. He sighed.

  "Best guess," he replied, glancing at the others. "Angels."

  "No shit?" I breathed.

  The others just stared.

  "Well, the warding I used to repel them was specifically designed to repel angels, and it worked, so yeah, I think so." He hunched his shoulders.

  "Why were angels after Aaron?" Mandy asked, eyes wide as they darted between me and Mal.

  He glanced at me and
I shrugged.

  "I don't know, but it's possible they were trying to piss off your boss," Mal said. "I guess it depends on which side of this whole thing they're actually on."

  "Wait, what thing? And aren't angels supposed to be the good guys?" Billy asked.

  Mal burst out laughing. "No. Angels are assholes. I prefer the demons most of the time. At least recently."

  "Dude, how many angels have you met?" I asked.

  Mal shook his head. "One or two over the years."

  "Um, Mal, are you okay?" Stacy gestured toward his stomach.

  He looked down, eyes widening before he muttered something annoyed sounding under his breath. "I'm fine."

  "But…"

  "I'm fine," he repeated.

  "Okay, so you all are involved in something bigger than just a few random possessed convicts, right?" Billy said, crossing his arms.

  Mal nodded, looking resigned.

  "Aaron is interesting to angels, and you're a badass who isn't actually injured after getting impaled?"

  Mal sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You do know your boss, right? If someone took Aaron, she'd go to hell and back to get him. We're not quite sure what's going on, but there's some sort of power play and we're apparently helping to stop it. Demons trying to rip things apart on Earth, angels being shits. I'm going to guess they're not on our side, either."

  "So, Chris is off dealing with an aspect of this?"

  "She's trying to get Sabian back," Mal admitted. "And hopefully finding out more about what is going on?"

  "What happened to Sabian?"

  "He was taken by the enemy."

  "So that guy she went off with…"

  "He's a friend." That admission was obviously hard for Mal to give.

  "And you?"

  Mal frowned. "A friend, obviously I would hope."

  "Yeah, dude, we know and we're glad," Billy stated, "But what the hell are you?" The manager turned his attention to me. "And you?"

  "Uh, guess I've got some angel blood. I just found out recently." I shrugged, hoping to take the heat off of Mal.

  "Damn," Billy replied.

  The others stared at me and I shrugged. I could take the attention if they left Mal alone.

  "So, you fixed the wards?" I asked Mal.

  "Yes, and now I'm wondering what the hell else I'm going to need to keep out before this is over." He shook his head. "This is going to be the most heavily warded place in Santa Fe next to Chris' house."

  "I wonder what Mayhem would have made of a couple of angels."

  Mal grinned and shrugged. "Hard to say."

  "Well, this has been a really entertaining night, but we should go," I said. "You all okay?"

  I let my gaze sweep over the others, checking for any signs that we shouldn't flee before they pinned Mal down with more questions.

  They nodded, looking a little dazed, but overall okay. The chairs were the only casualties other than our secrets.

  "Yeah, so, uh, I'll call if anything else weird happens. Thanks." Billy sounded a little shell shocked.

  Mal nodded then headed for the door, holding up his hand to keep me inside while he went and checked to see if things were clear.

  "He's a vampire, isn't he," Mandy stated.

  "Uh. Yeah, maybe you'd better let Mal have his secrets," I suggested. "Safer for everyone."

  Her eyes widened, but she nodded. She shifted her attention back to the door when Mal opened it and gestured for me to follow.

  "Night all," I said, feeling it was a bit of a lame goodbye but having no idea what else to say.

  "Well, they're taking that well," I muttered once we were back in Chris' car.

  Mal clenched the steering wheel. "Nice reply to Mandy," he said.

  "Forgot about your hearing," I answered. "But yeah, she knows, clearly."

  "Yeah, well, I might have to do something about that. I really don't want her getting herself in trouble with another vampire."

  "Would it be bad if she found one?"

  "Could be. Depends on who she manages to track down. There aren't that many of us wandering around, and we tend to avoid others of our kind, but I promise they're not all as mellow as I am about being discovered."

  "Are they all as badass?"

  Mal chuckled. "No, but any vampire is more than a match for a human. She'll get herself killed, or worse. There aren't any others in Santa Fe right now, but that could change. I'll talk to Chris when she gets back, see what she thinks we should do."

  "Would you know if someone moved into the area?"

  "If I hadn't placed wards all over Santa Fe to alert me, no."

  "I really am glad you're on our side."

  Mal glanced at me, his expression easing. "Me, too, Aaron."

  "At least the restaurant didn't get trashed this time," I added to lighten the topic.

  Mal laughed. "Yes, that was truly a mess from what Chris said."

  I nodded, though I'd only had it described to me. I hadn't known any of them when it had happened.

  Wow, had my life changed in a few short weeks.

  Chapter 11

  Price

  It seemed that no matter who was involved, meetings were basically meetings. I suspected the threat of violence was a bit higher here than most I'd been to, and the information was a bit more esoteric. And there was no food, damn it. Water, coffee, and tea, but I always made sure there was food when I made all of my employees get together for whatever reason.

  Demons–or possessed humans, anyway–a few of the Sidhe, the horsemen, a few human mages and some I wasn't sure what they were or how they were aligned with this group sat around the conference table with varying degrees of boredom or interest on their faces. I suspected they were just as hungry as I was. Or maybe I was projecting.

  Ezra and I had eaten brunch, but I still felt like there should be something. Of course, there was probably a huge range of dietary needs, and I really didn't think catering would cover them all. Really, I just wanted to get on with rescuing my incubus.

  The demon prince glanced at me, arching an eyebrow. I shrugged, wondering if he was listening or just sensing my distraction.

  I was interested. It was just that most of these beings liked to hear themselves talk, so they shared the relevant information and then kept going. So far, we had several incidents similar to the one we'd experienced in Santa Fe. Demons being harnessed for their powers, though not to the extent we'd encountered. There were also some incidents people were blaming on angels of all things. Apparent miracles that seemed to have some pretty horrendous side effects. I'd thought angels were supposed to be decent, but apparently not. There was also the more traditional nightmare-like creatures getting out into the 'real' world and all that.

  We all sat in a conference room with a large screen at one end for presentations. Except for the horsemen, most everyone looked completely human. The horsemen were pushing it a little bit, though I suspected they could glamour themselves up when necessary. Like Ezra, the others with obvious non-human features had already hidden them. The room was full but didn't feel too crowded. Most everyone had dressed in some sort of business attire. I had too, just pizza shop business attire, so, as usual, I didn't fit in. Mayhem lay with his head on my foot.

  Did you bring me along for this to torture me? Or so you could have company, I thought at Ezra.

  He hid a smile behind his hand under the guise of scratching his face.

  Maybe a bit of both.

  Jerk.

  His grin widened.

  Why do I care about this, again? I asked.

  You're already involved. You're known to hell, and if we know you, heaven does as well. And if the Host is getting involved, it's going to affect your half angel. Best if we stay informed.

  I groaned.

  Also, if this gets out of hand, it will impact all of the planes.

  Okay, okay, I'll stop complaining. He was being serious, and I took his words seriously, but I was getting bored.

  For
tunately, the only people who appeared to be paying us any attention were the horsemen, who were seated across from us. War, especially, seemed to be fascinated by me. I was looking forward to talking with her more this evening. I wanted to know her story.

  The real progress will happen tonight, he sent back to me.

  Though I kept my poker face in place, I sighed mentally. The speaker changed, and I tried to focus.

  Ezra put his hand on mine, and I let him, surprised but grateful for the physical contact. I noticed War watching us and she arched an eyebrow when I met her gaze. I shrugged, letting a hint of a smile sneak through my otherwise stoic expression.

  I was trying to figure out if I could recreate the fifth grade and start passing carefully folded up notes to War when Ezra's hand on mine tightened. I glanced up and tensed. Nicki, Daed, and another guy who seemed familiar, but I didn't know, walked into the room.

  Everyone fell silent at the intrusion, except for the soft growl that escaped Mayhem's throat.

  "It seems we weren't invited to what looks like a fascinating meeting," the man I didn't recognize said.

  Yeah, where do we know him from, mate?

  That is the mage that attacked us last night.

  Oh, nifty. I did sigh out loud this time. Of course, Nicki and Daed would be mixed up with the mage who was clearly working for demons. Lott most likely. I should have guessed that since it was completely unsurprising.

  "An oversight I hope you will forgive, Brennan O'Neal," Azrael said, standing and drawing the attention to himself. He sounded sincere, but I couldn't help but think he was not at all sorry. "We were not aware that you would have any interest in this gathering. We are simply sharing information on recent events. Who are your companions?"

  "Occultists in my service," he answered without providing names.

  "Very well, please join us."

  Since Azrael had offered, no one else would dare object. At least not at the moment. I suspected Ezra was going to have words with the angel of death later. Azrael had taken charge of the meeting and I suspected that most of the others were at least marginally afraid of the ancient being. Probably with good reason, though he seemed nice enough.

  The speaker whose presentation Brennan had interrupted visibly tried to collect himself. He, like many of the others present, was a mage in the employee of some demon or another. Several of the speakers had claimed to be in the service of the angels, and there were a handful of Sidhe present, along with, of course, Ezra and the horsemen.