Chapter 15 #2
“Whatever.” He reached into his back pocket, unwrapped a mint, and popped it in his mouth. Then he shot me a scowl, then another one towards Allie, who was still holding her knife at the ready while she mouthed mint at me.
That, however, wasn’t enough to go on.
“Don’t got to get angry about it,” the possible demon said. “I’m going.”
As he walked by, Allie slipped the hand not holding the knife into her back pocket. I smiled, realizing I couldn’t be prouder when she pulled out a spray bottle and got him right in the face.
My kid came prepared.
The demon—because he was definitely a demon—let out plaintive howl as welts appeared on his face. He lunged to the side, then dove toward Mindy, yanking her in front of him like a shield.
“Do you not understand?” he asked, his eyes on Allie. “I would never hurt you. But this little bitch? I’ll break her neck and not even blink.” He pointed a finger at me as I started to take a step toward him. “You too, Hunter. Don’t move or this one dies. Then you.”
“But you won’t hurt me?” Allie said, taking a step toward him. “Why?”
I froze, trying to communicate with her telepathically to be careful and stay still. The wrong move, and Mindy died.
Apparently my telepathic skills needed work, because she took another step. “Tell me why.”
“You know.” The demon said. Allie took another step. “No, I don’t. What’s going on?”
“Come. No. Closer.”
“But I don’t get it,” Allie said. “Why aren’t you coming after me?”
And then, before I realized what was happening, Mindy opened her mouth and let loose with a high note so intense and powerful it’s a wonder the windows didn’t shatter.
What it did do was cause the demon to loosen his grip, so Mindy was able to break away at the same time that Allie burst forward, leaped on the demon, and knocked him flat on his back.
A blink of an eye later, her stiletto hit home, and the demon had been released.
And me, the Level Five Demon Hunter in the room had stood there useless, watching it all.
“They what” Eric asked, when I relayed the entire story to him less than ten minutes later.
I’d texted him to come get the body and couldn’t help but give him the blow by blow the moment I saw him. “Apparently they were thinking about ways to combine their skills and using Mindy’s voice as a distraction was their favorite plan.”
“Sounds like it worked.”
“Like a charm.” I was glowing with pride. “They’ll want to tell you all about it, I’m sure.”
“I look forward to it. The body’s upstairs?”
“Yeah. The girls, too. They’re still practicing in the ballroom.
” He took a step that direction. “You might want to wait. I nodded to the tile deliverymen who had texted right before the demon episode. They were currently bringing huge bundles of tile and hardwood into the mansion. “I don’t know how we could explain you hauling out a body.”
“A good point.”
“How did you get here so fast, anyway?” His apartment is on the far side of town. I’d expected at least a half hour wait.
“I was on my way over anyway. To be honest, I expected to see Stuart.”
I lifted a brow. “Mano y mano?”
“Just the opposite. I want to make a truce.”
“Really?”
He frowned at me. “Is that a problem?”
I shook my head, then pointed to a far corner as one of the delivery men caught my eye about where to unload his bundle. “No,” I said to Eric. “That’s definitely not a problem for me.”
“Are you saying it might be a problem for Stuart?”
There were so many ways I could answer that question, and I wasn’t sure what would be the best. I started with the most obvious. “I think Stuart’s a little concerned about why you weren’t at Mass yesterday.”
Eric chuckled. “What? Is your husband afraid I can’t walk into the Cathedral?”
“A little. But I think he’s more concerned about our daughter.”
“That son of a bitch...”
I could hear the anger in his voice, and I grabbed hold of the wrist above the hand that had just curled into a fist. “Hold on there. Truce, remember? He doesn’t understand it.
Honestly, I don’t get it either. It hurt you to walk into the Cathedral near the end of that whole thing with Odayne, remember?
And, yes, I know there was a demon inside you,” I say lowering my voice in case Allie was listening, or the delivery guys for that matter.
“But there’s something in her, too. We just don’t understand what it is. ”
“Did she have any problem walking into the Cathedral?”
“Of course not,” I snapped. “None whatsoever.”
Eric rolled his eyes.
“What?” I demanded.
“You make a big production to explain exactly why it makes sense that Stuart is concerned, then you get snippy with me when I suggest that you might be concerned?”
“Our daughter is not a demon. I’m just trying to think logically.”
Eric’s mouth twitched at the corner. “Don’t do that, Katie-kins. It doesn’t suit you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Back to my original question—why weren’t you at Mass?”
“Something came up,” he said.
“Something demonic?” I asked, right as the front door opened again, and a burly man pushing a dolly stacked with boxes entered.
The burly man stopped short. “Demonic?”
“You must’ve misunderstood. I said demo. As in, we’ve been demo’ing this place.” Who knew that lying so easily would be one of my most valuable tools as a Demon Hunter?
He glanced around. “Yeah. Can see that.”
I signed his clip-board without reading, hoping I hadn’t just sold him the house, then pointed to a free corner, hoping this was the last company scheduled to come by.
“Attacked,” Eric said, not even missing a beat once the guy was out of earshot.
“Wait, you’re telling me the demons attacked you? On the beach they were calling you Sire.”
“I know. Demons are tricky little devils.”
I snorted. “I think they just have bad leadership. Somebody’s not telling the right hand what the left hand is doing.”
“I don’t know,” he said, his tone turning more serious, “but I wasn’t thrilled to be jumped as I walked from my garage to my apartment. I don’t have room for another body in my trunk, Kate. Not until I can make a run to the school.”
“Not even one? What am I supposed to do with it? Put it in the back of the van and take it where?”
His entire body seemed to slump as he exhaled. “Is it a big guy?”
“Skinny.”
“All right. I suppose I can cram him in.” He didn’t sound thrilled, but I wasn’t about to argue.
As we started up the stairs, he gave me the rest of the story. “I had a dream,” he said. “A dream about Lilith.”
“What about Lilith?” We’d reached the double doors, and I nodded indicating that the girls were inside.
“I’ll tell you later.”
Since it didn’t seem urgent, I pushed the doors open, and we both watched as the girls practice sparring. They were doing well, and I was proud of Mindy who’d been making steady progress. But Allie’s skills had increased exponentially.
She moved with speed and form that she hadn’t had before we went to Rome, but I knew that her new expertise wasn’t the result of training with Marcus in the bowels of the Vatican.
Like it or not, I had to admit that something had happened to my daughter.
Something that changed her. But whether that change was for good or for ill, I couldn’t know for certain.
All I could do was go with my gut and, like Father Corletti had said, have faith that my daughter was fundamentally good.
That any skills or powers she now possessed had been given to her so that she could battle the demonic forces that wanted to wreak havoc in our world.
Not—please, God, not—so that she could rally those demons herself.
“They really are doing great,” Eric said next to me.
“I know.” He and I shared a smile as we watched them dodge and parry, kick and spin, their kicks and jabs and grunts echoing in the cavernous room.
As I looked around, I realized how huge this room was. They were moving all over it, but not even making a dent in the square footage.
“I hope Mindy and Eliza and Allie can get some more use out of this place before Stuart and Bernie sell it. It’s almost poetic that we’ve got demon hunters in training practicing in the mansion, when the whole reason we’re remodeling again is that demons practically destroyed it.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Eric said.
“Wasn’t your fault, no matter how much it might feel to you like it was.”
He took my hand and squeezed it. “Thanks for that.”
I nodded, thinking of Lilith. Wishing she was out of our lives completely. But considering what Jared had said, I feared we’d soon be facing off again with that determined and ancient bitch of a demon.
I wanted to crack a joke. To tell Eric that if I could get out alive from seventy percent off after Christmas sale, I could survive whatever Lilith had to throw at us.
But I couldn’t say it. This was important stuff, and our daughter was at the middle of it.
Sure, I can joke about how I honed my fading skills by practicing sword fighting with Swiffer handles, but that wasn’t what I needed now. I needed enchanted swords and lost information. I needed almost inhuman strength. I needed every ounce of the training I’d ever had.
I needed research. I needed help.
I realized then that I’d reached for Eric’s hand, and that help was right there.
He squeezed mine tight, and I was certain he understood what I was thinking. Our baby girl was in the middle of this. So was he, for that matter. And none of us understood what was going on.
I knew Stuart was worried about Eric. Worried about Allie, too. But I was certain that they were just as clueless as I was.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure if that simple fact made this whole thing better or worse.
It wasn’t a question I could examine too deeply, though, because the girls noticed us and raced over, Allie crying out for her father, and Mindy doing fist pumps and congratulating herself and Allie on what a great job they were doing kicking butt.