Chapter 5
Chapter Five
SKYE
I’m quiet as I drive back to my apartment, Connor in the passenger seat beside me. He and Gabe decided it was best one of them be with me when I went to grab my things… because even my delightfully stubborn ass can see why it would be best not to be home alone if a higher demon comes to mop up.
I can’t believe things have gone to shit so fast. I mean, we did already know there was a hidden gateway somewhere nearby.
Gabe and Con admit that although it’s possible someone on this side is keeping it hidden for nefarious reasons we don’t know anything about, it’s more likely that’s being handled from the otherworld side.
They’re both pretty sure they’d be able to recognize the signs of human “magic,” if they were close enough, and Connor’s been over almost every inch of the fifty-mile radius Gabe mapped out that the gateway should be in.
So that probably means there’s a hidden gateway in the control of higher demons, and since they haven’t already flooded the Earth with masses of demons, they must be planning something.
And whatever they’re planning is horrible enough that an adiut spirit, known for working with higher demons, felt the need to sneak away and warn humanity, knowing it would likely mean its destruction.
That whole last bit would never have been on my list of guesses, not if I’d had a thousand.
“Are you okay?” Connor asks quietly as I pull off the highway and into the outskirts of town.
“Okay is a relative term.” That sounds better than screaming hysterically about how fucking terrified I am.
“Very relative,” he agrees, rubbing his arms.
I steal a sideways glance at him as we inch along Main Street. Traffic here isn’t what people from cities expect to see, but we get our share, especially at this time of the afternoon when the kids are out of school. “You’re scared?”
“Petrified,” he confesses immediately. “Anyone with a brain would be. But…” He swallows audibly. “I had a run-in with a higher demon once.”
The words sink like a stone between us.
“Oh my god,” I exclaim. “What happened?”
He doesn’t say anything else for a long moment, and I sneak another glance. His expression is tight, more somber than I’ve ever seen it, and fear curls in my belly.
“I… I can’t talk about most of it,” he finally says.
“It was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.
I still have nightmares. I-I don’t even know how I’m alive.
It… I thought it was going to kill me. It nearly did.
I was sure nothing could be worse than that second…
and then Ian came in, and it got so much worse, because I knew it would get him too.
He was only twelve.” He takes a shaky breath.
“I screamed at him to run, tried one more time to get the upper hand—and failed—but my idiot brother started hitting the demon with these stupid fake flowers one of the neighbors… That’s not important.
Ian was yelling for the demon to let me go, and I was yelling for him to run, and I was so close… so close to death.”
He stops talking, and I give him a minute as I turn into the alley that runs down the side of the bakery to the small parking area at the back.
As I park the car, he releases his seat belt and turns to face me. “The demon let me go.”
My foot slips off the brake, and the car jerks forward before I can stop it. Thankfully, we avoid hitting the trash can again—I don’t want to have to replace it for a third time.
I put the car in Park, handbrake on, and turn off the engine, then give my attention to Connor. “Say what now?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know why. I still can’t believe it.
Nobody can believe it. If Ian hadn’t been there to witness it, if I hadn’t been so close to death when he called in the others, I don’t think they would have accepted it.
But that’s what happened. Ian was hitting it with the flowers.
We were both yelling. The demon spoke… I didn’t hear it at the time, but Ian says it was a smartass comment about the flowers. ”
I don’t know why knowing that higher demons can be snarky makes this worse, but it does.
“And then it let me go. Dusted off its hands as though it had actually been touching me, looked at us both and laughed, then just… left.”
“Holy fucking shit,” I breathe. Why would it have done that?
“The point I’m trying to make is that we’re all afraid right now, and there’s a reason for that. But sometimes, even when all the odds are stacked against us and it seems like it’s over, things can change. We might not even know why, but it’s not the end until you’re dead.”
I wince. “You were doing really well until that last bit. Not comforting.”
He chuckles and pats my shoulder. “Come on, let’s get your stuff and get back to the estate. Kieran will develop an ulcer if we’re not there for his meeting.”
We get out of the car and head up the exterior stairs to my apartment as I mull that over.
I’m not sure what Kieran thinks a meeting will achieve, other than causing the other members of the senior staff to freak the fuck out.
Gabe’s calling the Collective right now to tell the higher-ups what’s happening and hopefully get some guidance.
Inside, I quickly pack a bag while Connor cleans up the remnants of my spilled coffee.
Today hasn’t been a good day for coffee messes.
My apartment looks surreally normal, even though a spirit was destroyed in it this afternoon.
But then… what should it look like? The spirit was hanging out here most of the day, and I didn’t even notice.
Which reminds me… “Should I have my shields all the way up?”
Con rinses the sponge as he glances over at me. “What do you mean?”
“Well, since I realized the spirit couldn’t talk to me with them on full, I’ve had them on…
spirit mode.” I feel stupid saying it but honestly have no idea what else to call it.
“In case there was another spirit nearby who could tell us more. But if you really think a higher demon might come in search of who the spirit was talking to…” I definitely don’t want to be lit up like a Christmas tree target.
Connor purses his lips. “I don’t think demons can sense conduits,” he says finally.
“The same way hunters can’t see spirits.
But I’m not completely sure, so yeah, put the shields on full until I can check with someone.
It’s better if we temporarily miss making contact with a spirit than for us to permanently lose you. ”
My shields go up so fast, it makes me momentarily dizzy. “Definitely better,” I agree. “A lot better. When can you check on that?”
He pulls out his phone. “I’ll text Gabe and have him add it to the questions he’s asking. Are you nearly ready?”
I turn back to the bed and zip up my overnight bag. “Yep.”
Out on the landing, he hovers while I lock the door and then check it—not that we have a lot of crime, but I’m jumpy right now.
Halfway down the stairs, a thought strikes, and I ask, “Hey, do you mind if I stop in at the bakery? I want to get some snacks.” I get a certain number of free meals from the estate kitchen every month, and I’m sure Josh and Ewan and Daniel would feed me in a pinch, but if I’m staying in the crash room without a kitchen, I’m going to need snacks.
Plus, after the day I’ve had, baked goods are essential.
“Sure. Will they have cinnamon twists left?” Connor overtakes me in his eagerness to get to the bakery. Can’t say I blame him. Their cinnamon twists are legendary.
“Unlikely at this time of day, but we can hope.”
I’d planned to put my bag in the car first, but Con’s already halfway down the alley, so I bring it with me and hurry to catch up. It’s not heavy anyway.
The bakery, as always, smells like sugar and joy.
I inhale deeply the way I always do when I come in…
the way I’ve done since I was a little kid.
Teri’s behind the counter, serving, and I can see Jennie, her mom, through the door into the kitchen.
The bakery was taken over by Jennie’s mother after she was widowed by the Korean War.
She needed a way to keep her infant daughter fed, and the previous owners had run it into the ground and then left town to find better work in Chicago.
Since then, it’s been a family business and one of the mainstays of our town.
The customer Teri was helping leaves, and she turns her smile on me.
“Hi, Skye.” The smile becomes slightly more polite as her gaze slides to Connor.
He’s new-ish to town, and nobody’s sure what to make of him yet.
It probably doesn’t help that he has a mysterious job he won’t talk about and can be an asshole sometimes. “Connor.”
“Hey, Teri,” I reply with cheer I don’t really feel right now.
But Teri has known me since I was little—like, I have memories of my dad bringing me in and Teri, who was a teenager back then, sneaking me cookies.
If she thinks I’m upset about something, the phone tree will activate, and everyone in town, including Dad, will know before I even get back to the estate.
“Hi, Teri,” Connor echoes absently, scanning the display. He raises a hopeful and slightly desperate gaze to her. “Please tell me there are some cinnamon twists hiding somewhere. Please. I’ll be your best friend.”
That surprises a laugh from Teri, and her smile becomes friendlier again.
“I don’t think so, but let me check if Mom kept some aside.
” She disappears through the kitchen door as I study the display case and mentally compile my order and Connor bounces lightly on his toes, staring fixedly after her. Obsessive, much?
A minute later, Teri and Jennie both come out front. Jennie’s holding a tray of cinnamon twists, and Con fist-pumps the air. “Yes!”
“What lovely enthusiasm,” Jennie says dryly, setting the tray down while Teri gets a box. “Hello, Skye. We haven’t seen you in a while.”
“That’s because I’m trying to avoid becoming the size of a house,” I tell her. “I sit upstairs and put on weight just breathing in the delicious aroma from down here.”
Her grin is warm. “You’ve always been a sweet-talker.”
“Who, me?” I protest, then blow her a kiss.
“How many twists do you want?” Teri asks Connor—because nobody ever just gets one.
“All of them,” he says promptly.
“You’ll make yourself sick,” Jennie scolds, which is maybe the first sign that she likes him.
“Kieran’s having a staff meeting tonight.”
Both women look at me, and I nod, though I did notice Con didn’t say he planned to share them at the staff meeting.
“I suppose it’s close to closing anyway,” Jennie concedes, and Teri starts packing the delicious, sugar-covered dough into a box.
“I’ll grab some stuff too,” I say as innocently as I can manage, like I’m not worried about being hunted down by the scariest of scary demons. “I’m staying at the estate for a few days, and I need snacks.”
Jennie grabs another box, and we move down the display case as I make my selections. Then I wait for the fishing to begin.
“You’re going to stay at the estate?” she says casually as she begins to ring me up. Right on cue. “Is Josh sick?” I usually only stay if I need to fill in for Josh looking after our overnight guests.
“Nope. Just doing some overtime and don’t want to drive back and forth.”
She and Teri exchange glances, and I can tell they’re dying to know more. Overtime? What kind of overtime? Why don’t I want to drive? It’s only twenty minutes, and the weather’s good. Is there something wrong with my car, maybe?
“Everything okay with your car?” Teri asks.
“Top notch,” I assure her. Jennie opens her mouth to ask something else, but the bell on the door behind me chimes, and she looks over my shoulder to see who’s coming in.
Her face goes sheet white with shock, and I spin around. From the corner of my eye, I see Connor’s hand go to his belt, where I know he has a small blade hidden.
Too bad this monster isn’t in his job description.
“Mom?”