My Demon Hacker (Demon Debacles #5)

One

Xin

But was that what I did when I received the email as I was surfing around the web, looking for something to do? Certainly not.

The email was simple, and a few seconds of searching led me to the local public library where it was sent from. Unfortunately, they didn't have security cameras, so I couldn't determine who exactly had sent the email. I had a feeling the choice of location had been intentional on the sender's part.

I didn't reply to the email, though, because I didn't know what the sender wanted with me, and I wasn't particularly interested in getting involved in human drama.

While most of my demon friends had jumped feet first into human life, I wasn't like them.

I preferred to stay home in my cozy one-bedroom apartment with its blackout curtains, a couch with deep, squishy cushions, a small kitchen I rarely used, warm orange walls, and a big, comfy bed where I spent half my day using my laptop and exploring the human world via the internet.

It was the best thing humans had ever created, and it'd taken me a few months to find my way around it with the help of magic and some informative books and online classes.

I'd gotten into hacking simply because it was an interesting challenge, and then I'd realized I could do some good using my skills.

I'd waited until I was good enough to avoid detection before doing something illegal—by human standards.

So far, I'd disappeared a few hundred student debts, 'redirected' money from some people who wouldn't miss it to some who really needed it, and exposed some not-so-legal dealings of some popular people.

A human would never be able to do these things without fearing retribution, but fortunately, I wasn't human.

I was sitting down for dinner later that evening when my laptop pinged with a new email from the same sender, and this time, it included only a few words:

Old Pavel Hall, tomorrow, 9 p.m.

Interesting. So the challenge had been some kind of test, an interview of sorts. Some human out there wanted to hire me, probably to help them commit a crime.

While I had no qualms about hacking people—especially those who were criminals themselves—I had no interest in getting involved with humans in any capacity.

Moving the cursor, I clicked on the trash icon, pushed the email out of my mind, then switched to the streaming service I'd been perusing before, and started a movie.

Why was I here? Hadn't I decided I wanted nothing to do with whatever this was?

I glanced around the abandoned building as I headed deeper into it.

The air was cold, the floor littered with scraps of paper, empty beer bottles, and some disgusting stains I avoided stepping on, even though I was in my incorporeal form and it couldn't actually touch me.

As a demon, my incorporeal form allowed me to move around without being seen or touched by humans, and I called it my incognito mode.

Only demons and Otherworld residents like the rulers and the soul collectors could interact with me in this form, so it was perfect for figuring out what I'd been invited into without revealing my presence.

This place must've been an event hall of some kind, but now it was empty, though the trash told me people still used this space for some not-so-savory reasons.

I walked deeper into the place, following the faint sounds coming from a room in the back. The scrape of a shoe, the clink of something metal. Someone was here already. Maybe the same person who emailed me?

On feet that made no sound, I stepped into the dimly lit room, the walls beige and bare except for some graffiti scribbled across the walls in thick black strokes.

There was only one person in the room, a woman in her late twenties with long, curly, brown hair, dark blue eyes framed in thick black mascara and liner with winged tips, and lips a bright pink.

She was tall, just an inch or so shorter than my 6?2?, and curvy, dressed in a Hello Kitty t-shirt, a fashionably torn denim jacket, black pants that clung to her legs, and pink knee-high boots that matched her lipstick perfectly.

She was a perfect blend of two of my friends, Kali and Elva.

As I watched, her eyes scanned the room, as if some part of her had sensed me, even if she couldn't see or hear me. She straightened up from where she'd been leaning against a rickety-looking desk that shuddered as her weight disappeared.

I held my breath as she walked right up to me, then relaxed as she continued through me to the other side.

It felt weird when someone walked through you in this form, but it wasn't uncomfortable.

I turned around, watching her as she paced across the room, and wondered if she'd been the one to email me.

It looked like she was waiting for someone.

Another sound brushed my ear, and I turned toward the doorway.

Footsteps approached, their click-click telling me it was someone wearing dress shoes or heels.

The woman heard the sound as it got closer, and her eyes sharpened as she gazed at the doorway, her hand drifting to her hip. Did she have a weapon on her?

It didn't matter if she did. I'd just come here to sate my curiosity. I'd find out who had invited me here and why, hopefully without needing to show myself, and then I'd go back home. I had no plans of getting involved in whatever this was.

Or at least I didn't, until I saw the man who walked into the room with a laptop bag across his shoulder, dressed like he was here for a board meeting.

Gabriel

I forced my face into a blank mask as I realized the hacker wasn't here. Their skills were impressive and exactly what I needed, and I'd hoped they would show up, if only to sate their curiosity.

Renée had shown up, as I'd thought she would.

I didn't know her personally, but Aisha was extremely confident in her abilities, which was saying something since Aisha was a cop.

She'd helped me get in contact with Renée through an informant of hers, but I knew I would have to convince Renée why she should do this job.

Unlike the Robin Hood hacker, she had no interest in sticking it to the rich assholes, so I would have to offer her another incentive.

"You're the one who contacted me," Renée said as I stopped just inside the room.

It smelled rank, and I wished I'd chosen a less disgusting meeting place.

I hadn't wanted to meet somewhere we could be seen together, though if this thing worked out, I would have to find a different place for us to operate from.

A breeze brushed my cheek, and I glanced backward as goosebumps popped up on the back of my arms.

Shaking my head, I returned my attention to Renée. "Yeah. Thank you for coming."

Renée raised a brow at me, then moved her gaze over me in a slow once-over. "It's my pleasure, sweetheart. Now, what's the job?"

I checked my watch, then glanced into the darkened hallway behind me before letting out a sigh. It seemed I would have to look for another hacker.

"Somebody stand you up?" Renée asked, and I chuckled.

"Something like that."

"Well, I'm a busy woman, so either we do this now, or you find someone else."

She wasn't lying. Renée was a prolific thief, and yet she'd never been caught. The entire police force knew who she was and what she did, but she was so good at her job that they'd never been able to prove any of it. She was exactly the right person for this job.

Before I could reply, the sound of footsteps just behind me made me jump, and I turned around, sucking in a sharp breath as my eyes caught on the person who'd just arrived.

They were tall, taller than even Renée and certainly much taller than my 5?8?.

While they were pretty plain-looking with short black hair and light brown eyes, something about them made them seem like a mirage, like something ethereal.

Their eyes fluttered as they looked away, and breath returned to my lungs as I took a step back.

"Oh, hello! Now that's someone I can see myself working with," Renée exclaimed as she blew past me and grabbed their slim arm, making their eyes widen.

They were dressed in a simple dark blue t-shirt and faded jeans, no jacket in sight.

The weather had cooled in the last few days, and I wondered how they weren't cold.

"Um, thank you?" they murmured in a soft voice, and I shook my head.

"I'm Renée. What's your name?" Renée asked as if she was the one in charge, and I let her because I was still struggling to get a grip on myself. It wasn't like I'd never met a beautiful person before, but there was just something about this one.

"Xin, they/them pronouns. Did you invite me here?"

"No, honey. It was him. It seems like you broke him, though."

That shook me out of my stupor, and I glared at Renée before turning my attention to Xin. A unique name for a unique person. Then again, it might be a fake name or their hacker handle.

"Yes, thank you for coming. Both of you."

Xin nodded, their eyes moving over my face before they dropped their gaze to their hands.

Clearing my throat, I focused on the reason why I'd invited them here. The reason that had kept me going over the last few years.

"Yes, yes, now tell us what the job is," Renée pushed, her impatience showing through on her face. She could be patient when she wanted to—she'd once waited a whole year to steal a specific painting—but only when she wanted to.

Nodding, I pulled my laptop out of its bag and placed it on the desk in the corner. Renée and Xin stepped closer as I opened the first tab on my browser, showing them our target's web page.

"This is Patrick Lewis. He's a multi-millionaire, and the CFO of AmazeAI, one of the biggest tech companies in the country, and my boss.

What his public page doesn't tell you is that he's been regularly stealing money from his own company, and whenever someone comes close to catching him, he shifts the blame onto one of his employees. "

Renée narrowed her eyes, and I could practically see her mind whirring as she ran through everything she'd heard about Patrick.

"Are we stealing from the thief?" she asked, and I nodded.

"In a way. I don't care about the money," I said, which made her brow shoot up. "I just want to make him pay for his crimes, for the lives he's destroyed. At the end of this, I would like to see him behind bars, where he belongs."

Xin's gaze sharpened, and I knew they'd sensed this was personal to me somehow. I didn't want to get into those details just yet, so I didn't answer the unasked question on their face.

"You will be paid, of course. You'll get your time's worth and then some. I'll explain the plan in detail once you've made a decision, so think on it, and get back to me in the next two days. You have my email."

Renée pursed her lips as she nodded, while Xin tilted their head. I felt X-rayed as they continued gazing at me, and turned my attention to packing up my laptop.

With a nod to them both, I left the way I'd come, only breathing easy once I was in my car and driving back home.

This would work. It had to. I'd worked too hard for this.