Chapter 54
Chapter
Fifty-Four
Kate felt beads of sweat slicking down her back when the demon placed her on the floor of another cell-like room.
He’d slung her over his massive shoulder and taken her down a hallway—they appeared to be in some kind of warehouse.
A warehouse somewhere in Oakland, she thought. This probably wasn’t good.
The demon was huge, much bigger than the Basement Boys. And Ginny was making constructs. Does Al know? Kate wondered inanely. He thought Ginny was an idiot, but here she was, bringing over demons and everything.
Ginny might not seem smart, but she sure as hell was dangerous.
The demon looked at her, tilting his head.
Kate cleared her throat. She’d always gotten along with the Basement Boys, even before she knew they were demons. Maybe this guy would be reasonable, too.
“Don’t suppose you’re an Ammonite?” she asked, with a nervous laugh. Please, please don’t hurt me.
He stared at her for a long moment.
Then, his face contorted.
He was…smiling at her.
“I do not suppose,” he said, with a thick accent, “that you have a Ho Ho?”
She blinked. Then, without thinking, she ran at him, throwing her arms around his hulking body. “Slim? Is that you?”
He did an awkward back pat, and she’d never felt so relieved in her life.
“I told you, I work on this plane quite often. As soon as I saw the contract posting, I knew immediately what the order was, and I suspected you were in trouble. I rushed for it.” He made a sour face.
“Although I am not fond of working for this particular human.”
“Oh, man, am I glad you did,” she breathed. “Can you help me get out of here?”
“The contract-keeper who brought me over,” he said with distaste, “said that I should ‘take care’ of you. I would imagine there is no better way to take care of you than to help you escape from a murderous madman intent on killing you.”
Kate’s grin was gleeful. “Ginny might be smarter than I thought,” she murmured, “but thank God, she’s still a clown. Okay. Now we just have to get Thomas out of here, too.”
Slim frowned, his weird new face looking like melted putty. She fought to focus on the “Slim” aspects of him, his personality, rather than what he looked like. “If she sees me, she can stop me,” he pointed out. “I am here in her construct, under her contract. Technically, I am under her control.”
“Ugh. Well, we’re going to have to figure out a way around that,” Kate said. “Because there’s no way I’m going without him.”
“I thought he was the reason you were here,” Slim said. “He signed you.”
“Yeah, and I’m on the hook as long as he is,” Kate said. “So if anybody’s going to kill him, it’ll be me. Can we boost him?”
Slim was silent for a long moment, his face contorting with thought. “If we are quiet and careful, we might be able to get him out,” Slim said, then frowned. “If we’re caught, though—I’m afraid that she will realize her mistake, and correct it.”
Kate swallowed hard. “She’s going to tell you to hurt me. Maybe kill me.”
Slim looked sorrowful, and he nodded.
“Guess we’d better make sure we don’t get caught,” Kate said, as adrenaline jolted through her bloodstream like a shot of meth. “Come on.”
“Wait.” He reached into a pocket of his huge gray jacket and pulled out a wicked-looking knife.
It resembled the one Victor had held, all gold and shiny and crooked.
“If she commands me, I won’t be able to disobey her, but I will be able to slow down.
If she gives the word…” He pointed at the center of his chest. “I want you to stab me, right here.”
Kate stared at the knife and recoiled. “Not just no, but hell no.”
“It will save your life,” Slim said firmly. “I told you, it doesn’t really hurt for me. It’s more like a sharp pinch. Besides, you know I will not truly be dead. I just won’t be here.” He pressed the knife into her hand and curled her fingers around the hilt.
“I still don’t think I can do it.” She felt nauseous.
“You can do anything,” he said, and there was such shining belief in his voice, she finally nodded.
She checked the hallway and heard Ginny, yapping away on her phone.
“Cyril, damn it, I told you, I took care of it. You should have signed me in the first place,” Ginny said, as Kate and Slim crept past the closed office door.
“No, I didn’t try to kill Victor! Trust me, I’ve got everything under control. ”
Kate and Slim moved quickly and as quietly as possible, counting on Ginny’s loud bitching to mask the sounds of a large demon’s footsteps. He opened the door to Thomas’s cell.
Victor was still crumpled on the floor. Thomas was hovering over the guy’s prone body.
It occurred to her that he needed to kill Victor, and she wondered if he’d tried anything while the guy was knocked out.
She felt a little queasy at the thought—until she remembered the pain Victor had put her through.
That went a long way toward making the idea of kicking around an unconscious old man palatable.
In fact, she wondered if they had time for her to get in a few good shots.
Thomas looked over at the sound of the opening door. “Kate?” He rushed to her, hugging her tightly for a second. “Kate. Are you all right?”
“No time,” she said. “We’ve got to—”
“No!”
She glanced over to see Victor, eyes blinking slowly, head shaking. “For fuck’s sake, of course you wake up now,” she groaned.
Victor stood up, blood gushing freely down his temple from where Slim had slammed him against the wall. There was murder shining in his eyes. “Where is that bitch?”
“Which bitch? You mean Ginny? She’s in the office,” Kate said, from behind Thomas’s back. With luck, Victor would go find her, and kill her.
Instead, he zeroed on Kate.
Whoops. Wrong bitch.
“You’re not getting away that easily, Kate O’Hara,” Victor spat out.
Slim growled at Victor, loud enough to have the hair on the back of her head sticking straight up.
Meanwhile, Thomas took in the whole scene in amazement. “Are you like the demon whisperer or something?” he asked her, stunned.
Ginny burst into the room. “What the hell is going on here?” she shouted, then stared in shock at Kate, Thomas, and Slim.
“You!” Victor shouted, and rushed her, producing his own curvy, wicked-looking knife from somewhere in his clothes “You tried to take away my prize. You double crossed me with the master!”
“You had one of those knives on you?” Thomas snarled with obvious irritation, momentarily surprising everyone. “Where? I searched you!”
Ginny barely had time to peep before Victor slashed a deep gash in her chest, almost certainly fatal. She stared at Thomas, gasping incoherently, her mouth opening and closing like a fish on dry land. She slumped to the ground, her expression pained—and pissed.
“Demon,” she gasped. “Kill…her…”
“No!” Thomas shouted, starting to move.
“She’s mine!” Victor repeated, leaping over Ginny’s body toward Kate.
Thomas threw himself in the way, and the two men started grappling, over and over, the blade shining like an obscene Christmas ornament in the light of the bare bulb.
Slim started moving toward her, as if he were in slow motion. “Kate,” he grunted, sweat beading on his forehead. “Do…what I told you…”
Ginny was watching, her eyes glazing. “Die, bitch,” she said, blood tingeing her lips.
Kate stared at Slim’s advancing form. He started to reach for her throat.
“Kate,” he pleaded.
She took a deep breath. Then, with one motion and with all her strength, she stabbed the knife forward, right in his chest.
Time seemed to freeze. Thomas and Victor paused in their scramble, and Ginny stared in disbelief.
Slim grunted. Then smiled.
“I’ll see you again, Kate,” he said.
Then burst into a cloud of flame and ash, vanishing.