Chapter 5 #3
She nodded. “I know. Weird, right? Like just because I’m new at this, he thinks I’m naive and will trust him and let him get close.
As if. Then he started to reach for my arm.
We were in the middle of everything with all these people around.
I mean, I had my stiletto, but I knew I couldn’t just poke him in the eye. Not on the boardwalk.”
“Right. Go on.” I felt ridiculously tense, and swore to myself that I would never let her leave the house again. At the moment, that seemed entirely reasonable.
“Well, he said it again. That he wasn’t a threat, I mean.
And as he was talking, this other guy rushed up.
Really cute. I’ve seen him around the high school.
And he put his hand on my shoulder and stared down the demon.
And he said, not a threat? I bet her mom would disagree.
And then he pulled out a knife and told the scruffy guy to get away from me. ”
“And the demon left?”
“Yeah, but he kicked the knife out of Jared’s hand—he told us his name later—and Jared stumbled backwards, and the demon ran off.”
I didn’t even know where to begin breaking down this story—or interpreting all of the ramifications. So I focused on potential clues. “What did the demon mean by new?”
Allie shook her head. “No idea. But Jared dusted himself off, then said he was sorry that the guy bothered me, and that he hoped to see me around. I wanted him to wait, but he took off.”
“New,” Laura said. “Maybe a new demon hunter? Allie is pretty new to it all. Or maybe he was looking for Eliza and got them confused.”
“But then why not just ask?” Eliza pointed out. “Unless he was afraid he had the wrong group of girls? But it’s not like anyone but us would take him seriously. Ask someone other than us if they’re the new demon hunter, and they’d just think they were getting punked, right?”
“But Jared mentioned me,” I pointed out, my focus on my baby girl. “He knew who you were, and he knows what your mother is, and presumably the demon knew, too.”
“I’m not so sure Jared knew,” Eliza said.
“I think he just meant that any mother wouldn’t like her daughter talking to some creepy guy on the street.
Honestly, I’m not even sure Jared knew the grungy guy was a demon.
He might have just thought we were being harassed and pulled a knife to scare him away. ”
“Well, I thought he was talking about Aunt Kate,” Mindy said. “I mean, we were threatened by a demon, so I just figured he was talking about the local demon hunter.”
“Well, we’re not figuring it out right now,” Allie said. “So can we please get back to the point?”
“The point?” Laura asked, clearly as confused as I was.
“Duh. Can we sleep over at Mindy’s?”
I swallowed a burst of laughter as I shot a sideways glance to Laura. I could tell from her expression that she was thinking exactly the same thing as me—at least some things never change.
“Yes,” I said, glancing at Laura for confirmation. “But you stay inside, and you stay careful. I don’t care if you see your dad out the window, you do not come outside again until morning. Understand me young lady?”
“Totally.”
“And tomorrow we’re all going to Mass in the morning—so be home by nine—then we’re going to go by Cutter’s studio.”
“Cutter’s still in LA, Kate,” Laura said.
“We’re all going to go to Cutter’s studio, and Laura is going to let us in with her key, and we’re going to practice training, and then next week starting when Cutter gets back, the three of you are having regular training every day after school.
” That, at least, was the plan. We’d see if it actually came to fruition.
“I’m not in school anymore,” Eliza said.
I tilted my head, and she held up her hands. “But happy to train whenever you want.”
“Okay girls, go on.”
Mindy and Allie fell in step beside each other, but Eliza stayed by me.
Before I could say anything, Allie turned, her head cocked. “Aren’t you coming?”
“Oh. Well, I, sure if you—”
“Well, duh,” Mindy said.
Eliza grinned. “Yeah. Great. I’d love to.”
“Mom, that’s okay right?”
“Of course, it is,” Laura said with the kind of smile I’d seen her use more than once when she was frustrated by a PTA meeting. “You guys go on ahead.”
They did, and Laura and I lingered behind as they hurried toward her house.
“Do you need help with this guy? Or the one in your backyard?”
I shook my head. “No. Just tell me where he is.”
“Under your garden bench, covered in weed barrier. It was the best I could do.”
“It’ll be fine. There’s nobody who goes in my back yard who doesn’t know the score these days.”
That was true.
Once upon a time I’d jumped through hoops to hide bodies in the storage shed without Stuart finding out.
Now, I could actually enlist his aid to help me move the body if need be.
Hopefully I wouldn’t need to do that. Although I did need to give Eric another call and let him know that I needed him to take care of two bodies, not one.
I needed to tell him the rest of it too. That there was a new enemy in town with a new agenda I didn’t understand, or maybe I just didn’t want to understand it. Because the demon who had attacked me said that I wasn’t her, and the demon who had attacked Eliza had said that she wasn’t her either.
I had a feeling I knew who they were looking for. Allie was new, after all. Newly aware. Newly annointed by battle. New to the world of demon hunting.
She’d returned from Rome with more strength than just training could account for, although I’d kept that assessment to myself. And there was still the question of what—if anything—that golden glow in the chamber beneath Rome had done to her.
Bottom line, my mommy instincts were on overdrive, and I was concerned about my baby girl.
I caught Laura’s worried expression, and pulled myself back to the moment. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing—just about Eliza…”
“Do you not want Eliza to stay with them?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just... Okay, maybe it is that...”
“What?”
She drew in a breath. “You’re sure about Eliza?”
I didn’t have to ask what she meant. “I am. Why do you ask?”
“That demon. The one on top of you. He said you weren’t new. He was looking for someone who was new. And she’s the new one, right?”
“Oh.” I nodded slowly, happy that she hadn’t made the same leap toward Allie as I had. “You might be right. But if so, it’s not because she’s bad.”
“I get that. But it might make her a target. And is that who we want around our girls?”
“Are you going to stop hanging out with me?” I asked. “Are you going to ask Mindy to stop hanging around Allie?”
I saw her shoulders slump in defeat. ”No. Of course not.”
“Good,” I said. And then, because I couldn’t hold it in any longer, I added, “Because it’s Allie, Laura. My baby’s the one that’s new.”