7. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
By some miracle, the animal handlers arrived within ten minutes.
We’d still not seen any sign of whoever was behind this: I’d have bet money that they had either heard me coming in and scarpered, or they were too drunk or high to notice. Drink and drugs often go hand in hand with the criminal element and some of them try the wares they peddle. It was unlikely that dogs were the only thing this crew was dealing in.
I was beginning to think that the dognappers weren’t the sharpest athame, given that many of the dogs still had their collars with addresses on them. Unfortunately, the collared canines weren’t the only dogs I’d found; there were also four cages brimming with puppies that, by the looks of things, had lived their entire life in confinement. It made me feel ill.
‘Come on out, you guys,’ I said softly as I opened the cage doors. BonBon was already safely settled in the back of Gazza’s squad car, and I’d rung Rowena to tell her that the police would return her darling within the hour.
With so many dogs and so few hands I figured I could spare another ten minutes to help, although by some miracle Tanya seemed to be getting more and more relaxed with each dog she encountered. By contrast, Gazza had declared himself allergic to anything taller than a handbag, which explained why he was sticking to the chihuahuas.
‘Out you get, little ones.’ A handler sidled up beside me to scoop up the last set of puppies as they scurried through the cage door. One slipped past her. ‘Can you grab it?’ she asked me, her arms already full.
‘Sure, no worries.’ I wasn’t going to miss the chance of a quick puppy cuddle before I left.
I followed the pup but, despite my best encouraging noises, the little golden retriever continued to race towards a staircase at the back of the unit. ‘Puppy! What are you doing?’ I called impatiently. ‘Come here!’
With a slight yap she – she definitely had female energy – ran towards me. The second I crouched down to pick her up, she turned and bolted back to the stairs. ‘What are you doing?’ I repeated, exasperated, as she did the same thing twice more.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, she clambered up the first three then looked back at me. ‘You want me to come too?’ I said slowly. I looked up and lowered my voice. ‘Is someone up there?’ If we went upstairs and I found a treasure trove of squeaky toys, I’d feel like a total idiot.
The dog tipped her head to the side as if beckoning me to follow her. I guessed we were doing some Lassie shit after all. I sighed. There was no chance I would leave her and both handlers were already busy.
I put my foot on the bottom step to follow the tenacious little creature and her gratitude hit me with such force that I had to stop. ‘So this is what you wanted,’ I said, as she glanced back at me impatiently. ‘Okay, I’m coming. I just hope you’ve got something nice for me up there.’ If ever there had been a ridiculous thing to say when heading upstairs in a warehouse housing stolen animals and a puppy farm, that had to be it.
As I pushed open the door, I heard a creak from behind the desk and knew exactly what the puppy had been trying to tell me. The arsehole had been hiding there the entire time.
‘You can come out now and I’ll make it easy for you,’ I threatened gruffly. The puppy was now running back and forth between the desk and me as if I’d not worked out for myself where the culprit was hiding. ‘I have things to be getting on with. Please don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.’
That was the moment he stood up. His eyes were red and glassy – he was high, then. Without waiting for me to speak again, the golden retriever pup raced over to him, bit down on the hem of his trousers and held onto him for all she was worth.
Had I been thinking sensibly I would have called Tanya and Gazza, but I wasn’t used to having anyone to call on. Then again, given what happened next, it was probably a good job I didn’t holler for the humans.
The guy was trying to shake the pup off but he wasn’t actually saying anything. He wasn’t yelling or swearing the way I’d have expected; in fact, he didn’t make a single sound. Stupidly, in the moment I didn’t think anything of it. Instead, I offered him a swift elbow to the temple with the intention of knocking him out so that the police could deal with him and I could get the hell out of Dodge.
And that was when the shit really hit the fan.
A surge of gratitude from the pup hit me like a punch in the stomach, almost knocking me off balance. I gasped and staggered back, narrowly avoiding the man’s fist as it flew towards my jaw. Thankfully, years of training meant I anticipated what was going to happen next. Before he could get his next strike in, I threw a swift punch to his temple and knocked him down. He crumpled to the ground as I rubbed my knuckles with satisfaction.
The pup continued to growl at my feet, her small body trembling with adrenaline as she faced the unconscious man. Her lips were pulled back in a fierce snarl as she bared tiny teeth that still seemed far too big for her size.
‘It’s okay,’ I murmured to reassure her, though my voice wavered. ‘He’s down.’ I wondered what this man had done to this tiny, brave pup because her hatred of him was deep and strong.
‘It’s okay,’ I whispered again, but her growl only deepened before turning into a sharp bark that sliced through the silence like a warning bell. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, a primal instinct and an undeniable sign that things were about to go from bad to worse.
‘Pup?’ I started to reach for her but froze mid-air as her gaze darted to the man’s chest. Following her lead, my eyes locked on him – and on the dark, writhing shadow that was peeling itself away from his body.
The air thickened, charged with a suffocating energy that pressed against my chest. The dark shape, smoke-like yet disturbingly solid, rose and spread tendrils that slithered and twisted like living things. They reached out and clawed towards me.
‘Oh hell,’ I whispered, dread curling through me. ‘This is bad. This is really bad.’
The pup barked again, her small frame trembling but resolute as she faced the shadow beast that was slithering towards us. I envied her courage because my stomach was churning with fear.
It was a demon. Demons weren’t just bad news, they were catastrophic. Taking one down would have been a challenge even in Witchlight Cove, surrounded by all the magical resources I’d once had, but here in the non-magical world? Without the Eternal Flame? I was way out of my depth.
I thought of Gazza, Tanya and the poor helpless dogs below. I might have been badly out of my depth, but it wasn’t time to tread water. I couldn’t let anything happen to them, not on my watch.
My pulse thudded painfully and the edges of my vision blurred as the malevolent force pressed on me. ‘Pup, you can’t take it on,’ I hissed, my voice barely audible over her barking. ‘Come away! Now!’
The demon’s shadow reared higher from its comatose human host, its inky form coalescing into a vaguely human shape. A pair of glowing red eyes snapped open like fire-licked coals and locked onto me. My body tensed with the weight of its malice.
For a second I was frozen, lost in memories of another night filled with darkness and death. Then the puppy growled and I was back in a moment I’d rather not have been in.
Fight or flight? Every nerve in my body screamed at me to run – but where? The door was too far away and the demon would be too fast. Then there was the pup … I couldn’t run and leave her to a fate worse than death.
I needed magic, powerful magic, and I had none. I wasn’t treading water, I was going to drown. I needed someone to send me a magical lifesaver, or at least a weapon. All I had with me was a very heavy set of keys. Maybe the cactus keychain would be my salvation? Maybe I could prod the human host in the eye and the pain of being blinded would make the demon leave?
As I pulled them out, I suddenly remembered something that might help more than a stupid plastic cactus keychain: a gift from Maddie, my childhood best friend. She was an alchemist and she’d given me a vial that she’d said would protect me. She’d warned me not to use it lightly, but this was as dark as it got. A demon. A goddamn demon .
I clawed through the tangle that jingled like mocking laughter: keys for the studio, keys for my flat, for Rosie. Plastic trinkets and tiny souvenirs. Why did I have so damned many?
The demon gave a guttural growl that reverberated through the room and rattled the furniture. Its tendrils shot forward fast as a whip, cracking into the floorboards inches from where I was crouching.
‘Dammit, come on!’ I snarled, my hands trembling as I dug through the clutter. The pup yelped as the demon's strike came close to her, and she darted between my legs as if I could protect her. ‘Stay back, girl. I’ve got this,’ I lied.
Finally my fingers closed around the glass vial on the keychain and I yanked it free. Pulling out the cork with my teeth, I was in such a panic that a tiny drop of liquid sloshed out and fell on the dog. The rich, metallic scent of magic hit me like a thunderclap, a heady reminder of Witchlight Cove, of Maddie, of all that I’d left behind.
But there was no time for nostalgia. As the demon lunged, I didn’t think – I just acted. With a scream, I flung the vial and the entire mess of keychains at its gaping maw.
The vial shattered mid-air, releasing a surge of Maddie’s inky-purple magic. The demon’s scream tore through the room, shrill and ear-splitting, like nails dragged across a chalk board but amplified a hundredfold. The windows exploded inwards in a shower of jagged shards and the floor trembled beneath me.
‘Down!’ I shouted, scooping up the pup and throwing us both under the desk as glass rained down. My arms curled protectively around her tiny frame and I felt her heartbeat hammering against my chest.
The demon thrashed and its shadowy form unravelled as its tendrils were torn apart by the liquid’s raw power. For a moment it clung on, its burning red eyes locked on mine with pure hatred. Then, with a final, wrenching wail, it dissolved into curling wisps that faded into nothingness.
Silence fell, save for the sound of my ragged breathing and the pup’s soft whimpers.
I stayed down, my body shaking with fear and adrenaline, but as the little dog nuzzled closer her warmth grounded me and I dared to lift my head. The demon was gone; the only reminders of its presence were the shattered window and the lingering stench of sulphur.
‘Jesus, Maddie,’ I murmured. ‘How the hell did you do that?’ She was an alchemist and she’d only been eighteen when I left. How on earth had she made something so powerful it had vanquished a demon? She’d been practising with my dad, working with the Eternal Flame – but even so.
I was still trembling. It had been so long since I’d felt out of my league, so long since I’d practised magic. I was strong, fast and tough in the human world, but in the magic world I was rusty as hell. My mum would have had my guts for garters.
‘Good girl,’ I murmured to the pup, my voice cracking. ‘You did a great job scaring it off.’
A demon! A fricking demon, here! No wonder so many dogs had been taken. When there were enough of them, the demon would have sacrificed them all and used their lifeblood to coalesce a permanent hold on its human host, locking itself in place with the screaming souls of the innocent. I went cold thinking about it.
Thank goodness for Rowena and BonBon, or this whole thing could have gone under the radar until the demon was too strong to beat. And I was lucky that Maddie had been practising with the Eternal Flame because she’d clearly wrought the strongest protections into that vial. It made my heart ache anew. I really should ring her; even with all that she represented, I missed her like hell.
The puppy licked my chin and her tail gave a tentative wag. I sagged against the desk, still stroking her soft fur with shaky hands. ‘We make a good team,’ I said. But as my eyes flicked back to the unconscious man, unease gnawed at me. If a demon had been possessing the human, had the man invited it in?
A moment later, he groaned and rolled over. It was the first sound he’d made and a sure sign that the possession was over. Picking up the pup, I walked over and kicked him none too gently. ‘Stay down,’ I growled.
Demons picked their hosts carefully. They went for the truly bad guys in the hope that people wouldn’t think their malicious behaviour out of character. Possession or not, this dude was surely a wretch who deserved whatever was coming to him.
He groaned again and moved as if he were going to stand. Whatever was driving him, I wasn’t letting him get away. I gave him a solid roundhouse kick to the head and he slumped back to the floor, unconscious. I checked his pulse to make sure he was out, then I cuffed him.
Once he was secure, I picked up my ridiculous bundle of keys and pocketed them, empty vial and all, then grabbed the happily wagging puppy and carted her away from her captor.
‘You did real good,’ I murmured to her as I jogged down the stairs.
She licked my face and her tail wagged even harder.