Sins of the Demon

  I laughed. “Not yet. But I am on administrative leave. Paid!”

  “Woohoo! Vay-cay!”

  “Yeah, under any other circumstance it would rock. Anyway, I’m headed to the house. The mayor was in there with the chief when I was given the lovely news, and he’s seriously gunning for me. Wanted me to sign a consent-to-search form to let them rummage through my house.”

  I heard her suck her breath in. “Yikes. I’m assuming you told them to get stuffed?”

  “Pretty much. But I have a bad feeling that the mayor’s gonna be pressuring Chief Turnham to scrape up enough probable cause to get a warrant.”

  She made an unpleasant sound. We both knew that there were ways to get around the strict legalities of search and seizure. All they had to do was come up with a “confidential informant” to attest that I was hiding evidence of my dark deeds in my house. “You’re still planning to summon tonight?”

  “Hell, no,” I said. “I’m summoning as soon as I get home.”

  “Good plan. You need something to cart your demon around in once you get him here?”

  “Crap. I might, depending on which demon I summon. I’ll need to go rent an SUV—”

  “No, you won’t,” she interrupted. “We can put him in the back of the van.”

  It took me a couple of seconds to process what she meant. “Wait. Your crime scene van?”

  “That’s the one!”

  I burst out laughing. “This is yet another reason why you’re my best friend.”

  After I hung up with her I called Roman, spun him a fiction about needing his signature on a witness statement so that I could close out the Barry Landrieu case, and could he possibly meet me at Grounds For Arrest in say, two hours?

  He agreed without hesitation. I breathed a sigh of relief. I still figured it was a long shot, but even eliminating him as a suspect would be progress. And since my progress thus far had been zilch, I’d take what I could get.

  Eilahn was waiting for me on the porch with the cat on her lap when I pulled up. I had absolutely no idea how the demon managed to be everywhere I was, but I wasn’t going to complain.

  Fuzzykins eyed me balefully as I climbed the steps. I reached to give her ears a scratch, and she gave me a dubious sniff. Well, at least it was an improvement over the usual hiss/snarl/claw reaction.

  “I’m on administrative leave,” I told Eilahn.

  “I know,” she said. “I listened in on your meeting.”

  Again—no idea how she managed that. Did she hide in the air ducts or something?

  “Any suggestions for demons to summon who can do a discreet assessment of Roman?” I glanced at the sky and scowled. “In broad daylight?”

  She thought for a moment. “A nyssor would be the most prudent choice.”

  I bit back a groan. She was likely right. But a nyssor…ugh. “They can assess for summoning ability?” I asked, hoping she’d respond with something like, Oh, wait, my mistake, you don’t need a nyssor after all.

  “Yes,” she said, dashing my brief hopes. “And it would only need a heartbeat or two of contact.” Her lips twitched. “You do not care for the fifth-level demons?”

  “They creep me the fuck out,” I confessed, adding a shudder for emphasis.

  She laughed, a crystalline sound. “You are not the first summoner to say so.”

  “There’s a reason for that,” I said sourly. “Do we have any bacon in the house?”

  “Second drawer in the fridge,” she replied as she stroked her fingers through the cat’s fur.

  I stood and headed inside, shedding the cuff and pulling my cell phone out as soon as I was through the door. While I walked to the kitchen I typed a text to Jill, then retrieved the bacon from the fridge, kicked the door closed, and walked back down the hallway to the basement door.

  Yes, you really do need to summon this demon, I told myself firmly as I hesitated. I didn’t really like summoning during the day, but the use of the storage diagram made it easier. Muttering something nasty, I set the package of bacon down, stripped off my clothes, retrieved the bacon, then headed down the stairs to get garbed up for the summoning. The sooner I got this over with, the sooner I could dismiss it.

  Chapter 16

  I’d just finished changing back into jeans and a long-sleeved shirt when Jill entered the front door. She flashed a smile at me, then stopped dead at the sight of the demon waiting patiently in the living room.

  “Good, you brought the stuff,” I said, moving forward to take the bag from her hand. “I appreciate it.”

  “Sure thing,” she replied unsteadily. She swallowed, frowned. “Is, um, this the demon… ?” She wrenched her gaze over to me, and I couldn’t tell if the pleading in her eyes wanted me to say yes or no.

  Exhaling, I nodded. I totally understood her reaction. Nyssor looked almost exactly like human children. This particular one looked like a little boy, perhaps four years old, and utterly beautiful, with flaxen curls and an angelic face. The “almost” part came in when you looked at their eyes, which were a little too large and had sideways-slit pupils. And the features were a little too perfect. They definitely fell into that “uncanny valley” territory. Creepy.

  I crouched by the demon and pulled clothing out of the bag. “Jill, this is Votevha. He’s a nyssor—a fifth-level demon. Votevha, this is Jill. She is my friend.”

  The demon’s eyes shifted to Jill. “Friend,” he repeated in a high treble. It bared its teeth in a vulpine smile full of hundreds of sharp teeth.

  Jill paled. “Jesus,” she muttered, but she managed to pull together a smile of her own. “So nice to meet you.”

  “I have clothing for you,” I told the demon. “Do you require assistance?”

  He shook his head and took the pants and shirt from me, examined them briefly, then slipped them on easily. He gave me a questioning look. “Good?” he said.

  “Good,” I said with a nod. “There are shoes, too.”

  He pulled them on while I straightened and turned to Jill. “Did you bring the booster seat?”

  “Yeah, borrowed it from my next door neighbor. Told her I was babysitting for a friend.” She gave a mock shudder. “I hope she doesn’t think I’m available to babysit her little darlings.” She paused, looked at the demon with a slight frown pulling at her lips. “Does, um, he really need one?”

  “Nope,” I said, “but if by some chance I get stopped, I don’t want to get a ticket for not having my demon properly secured.”

  Part of my text to Jill had been to ask her to bring her personal car instead of her crime scene van. Since I didn’t have an overly large demon to tote around, I figured it was better if we went with something a little less obvious. In theory we could have used my departmental vehicle, but since I was on administrative leave, I didn’t want to be seen driving it around too much, just in case someone remembered that, technically, I should have been asked to turn my keys in for the duration of my leave. And I didn’t currently have a personal vehicle. About a year and a half ago, the engine of the ancient Honda Civic I’d been driving since college had finally gone into a spectacular meltdown after two hundred and forty thousand miles. Buying another car—even a crummy used one—had been beyond my budget and relegated into the category of “things I really should do one of these days.”

  Luckily Jill had a nearly new Nissan X-Terra. It took a few minutes to figure out how to belt the demon into the booster seat, and then we were on our way.

  Jill glanced over at me after we were both in the car, and gave me a wink. “Look at us being all domestic and mom-like and shit.”

  I let out a snort of laughter. “Take a picture. This is the closest I’m likely to get.”

  The drive into town was uneventful, though I discovered that Votevha had a preference for National Public Radio. We parked about a block down the street from the coffee shop and walked, the demon trotting along between us. I couldn’t help but be amazed at how much he resembled a human child—not just in looks, but
in demeanor as well. He paused to tug on a fluttering piece of tinsel, darted forward to peer at a bug crawling along the sidewalk, pointed and laughed at a battered snowman decoration.

  Apparently he looked convincingly child-like to others as well. A middle-aged woman dressed in a full-length leather coat and a fur hat paused in her cell phone conversation as we approached. She frowned as her gaze came to rest on the demon.

  “That child needs a coat!” she informed us with an imperious sniff as we passed her.

  I gritted my teeth and kept going. “Pushy bitch,” I muttered. I’d even asked the demon if he was cold. What, I was supposed to make him wear a coat he would be uncomfortable in?

  “Maybe Votevha can go smile at her,” Jill said, eyes glinting wickedly.

  The demon stopped, looked back at the woman. His eyes narrowed, and then he looked back up at me. “Free.”

  I blinked, then shook my head, fighting back a smile. “I am grateful for the offer, but it is best that we remain discreet.”

  He nodded once, and continued walking. Jill and I fell into step on either side of him again.

  Jill gave me a baffled look. “What was that about?”

  My lips twitched. “Votevha was offering to, ah, smile at that woman as a free service. Apparently he thought she was a pushy bitch too.”

  The demon gave a firm nod. “Bitch.”

  Jill grinned broadly. “Eloquent and no doubt accurate.”

  We slowed as we neared the shop. “Okay, I see his car here,” I said, nodding toward the BMW parked across the street. “You two sure you can handle this?” I shot Jill a concerned look.

  “Oh, please,” Jill said. “We walk in, we walk by his table, Votevha here grabs his hand and assesses him, we walk out.” She looked down at the angelic-looking demon. “Did I miss anything?”

  He shook his head. “Perfect.”

  “All righty, then,” Jill said. She gave me a reassuring look and took the demon’s little hand. “Let’s roll!”

  I waited until they entered then followed. Despite the demon’s confidence, there was still plenty that could go wrong. If Roman was a summoner and got a good look at Votevha’s eyes, he’d instantly recognize a nyssor and know that we were on to him. Maybe I should have found sunglasses for the demon, I fretted as I walked into the coffee shop.

  Roman was at a table against the far wall. He’d apparently been watching for me, and he lifted his hand in greeting when he saw me. I gave him a nod in response, but I was also trying to keep an eye on Jill and Votevha without actually looking their way and drawing attention to them.

  I started moving toward Roman as Jill and the demon went past his table. In a smooth, effortless move, Votevha set his hand on Roman’s without even looking at him, without even a hitch in his stride, then pulled his little hand away as he walked beyond the reach of his arm. It looked like nothing but a curious kid who wanted to touch everything around him.

  Fucking hells, I hoped the contact was long enough.

  “Oh, darn,” I heard Jill mutter. “C’mon, sweetie, Auntie Jill forgot her purse.” The pair turned around, retraced their steps through the tables, and a few seconds later were out the door.

  I gave Roman a broad smile, and pulled a report out of my bag. “Hi, Roman. I’m so sorry to call you down here, but I really need to get this sewn up. My sergeant’s on my ass, and I’m in a huge rush.” I handed him a pen and plopped the report down in front of him, positioning it so that he could only see the last page which, conveniently, had nothing case-related on it. Important, since this report was for a completely different case, due to the inconvenient fact that I had yet to write anything up on the Landrieu death.

  He chuckled, lifted the pen, signed where I was pointing. “Not a problem. Anything else you need?”

  “That’s it,” I said with a cheery smile. “Thanks a million!” I quickly scurried out before I could be drawn into any conversation. Less than a minute later I was climbing into the car where Jill and Votevha were already waiting.

  “Well?” I twisted around to look at the demon. “Is he a summoner?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  I sagged back in my seat. “Damn.” Then I jumped in shock at a tap on the window. I turned, half expecting to see Roman, but instead it was Eilahn, expression grim.

  I hit the button to lower the window while trying to get my pulse back under control.

  “We have a problem,” she said.

  “You mean, besides the fact that Roman isn’t the summoner, and we’re back to square one?”

  “Yes. Someone is trying to get to the house.” Her eyes narrowed. “Several someones. I think they are there to search it.”

  “Shit!” I gripped the steering wheel as my mind whirled. “The basement. Fuck. My implements. The summoning circle and the storage diagram. It needs to be cleaned. I can’t let anyone see that storage diagram.”

  Her expression grew dark. She understood my concern. I’d created that diagram with a generous boost from Lord Rhyzkahl. He’d seemed very pleased when I discovered the way to store potency, which made me believe that it had been his intent to point the way. But as corny as it sounded, such a diagram in the wrong hands could be pretty damn dangerous. With a sufficient quantity of stored power, a summoner would have little problem calling and binding a demonic lord. Even Zack had posited that the reason I was a target was because I knew how to store potency. I wasn’t completely convinced of that, since I had yet to figure out how to increase the capacity, but then again, someone else might be able to work that out. At any rate, for now, it was surely best to keep the details of the diagram secret.

  She placed a hand on my arm. “I will go there at speed and remove all evidence of your arcane activities.” Her eyes went to the demon sitting in a booster seat in the back of my car. “Protect her if the need arises. I will pay.”

  “Done,” came the treble reply. Then I blinked and Eilahn was gone.

  “That’s so hard core,” Jill said under her breath. I gave her a questioning look, and she grinned. “The way she does that gone in a flash thing. I wonder if she practices it?”

  “Yes,” Votevha piped up.

  Jill and I stared at each other for a second, then burst out laughing.

  There were three cars parked in front of my house when I made it home. A St. Long Sheriff’s Office vehicle, a Beaulac PD vehicle, and an unmarked black Crown Victoria that I recognized as Sergeant Cory Crawford’s. Actually, they were parked about fifty feet from my house, at the outer edge of the open area in front of my house.

  I took a ridiculous amount of pleasure in telling Jill to go around them. She obliged with a grim smile and parked right smack up by my porch, next to my departmental vehicle and a different Crown Vic—a familiar dark blue one. I couldn’t help but smile. Eilahn had recruited reinforcements again.

  “Why are they parked way back there?” Jill asked as we got out. She looked back at the cars in my driveway.

  “They’re held up by the aversions,” I said, and quickly explained how they worked. She hadn’t had to experience them, since I’d made sure to adjust the wards to allow her access before she’d come over. “They probably aren’t even aware they’re being delayed,” I said with a lift of my chin toward the cars out in the driveway. “Most likely they all suddenly had the urge to make a phone call or check their email. That sort of thing.”

  “That’s a relief,” she said, a satisfied smile curving her mouth. “Is Eilahn finished with the basement?” Jill asked as she gave the nyssor a hand out of the car.

  “Hope so,” I said. “It’d be bad enough if people saw the diagram and all the other stuff in my basement, but that would simply brand me as a weirdo.” I snorted. “I think I have that designation pretty well sewn up right now anyway. It’s the storage diagram I’m most worried about. I can’t risk pictures of it leaking out.” I glanced over at the Crown Vic. “Looks like Ryan might be helping her as well.” I had to grin at the image of those two workin
g together.

  “Safe,” Votevha said abruptly.

  I gave him a nod. “Thanks. Jill, why don’t you take Votevha around back. There’s no need for them to talk to either of y’all.”

  She nodded and complied, mouth tight as she and the demon headed around the house. About half a minute later it was clear that Eilahn had deactivated the protections, because the men seemed to remember why they were there. They continued up the driveway, and parked about twenty feet from the house. I fought to keep a neutral expression on my face. Despite my preparations and the support of my friends, my stomach was a churning mess, and only a fraction of it was due to the cuff on my arm.

  I didn’t recognize the deputy who stepped out of the St. Long Parish Sheriff’s Office vehicle. Ruddy complexion, stout build with a slight pot belly, and bright red hair cut in a flat top. His duty belt held a Sig Sauer .45 on one side and a Taser on the other. He gave me a nod and a thin, polite smile. “Miz Gillian?” he asked.

  I didn’t bother correcting him with “detective” since it didn’t matter right now. “That’s me. They dug up probable cause for a search warrant? Or are y’all here to sing Christmas carols?”

  He gave me a wider smile that revealed a number of gaps in his teeth. “I love me some carols, ma’am, but these folks have a warrant to serve.” It was a Beaulac PD case, but since I inconveniently lived outside of city limits they needed an observer and representative of the St. Long Parish Sheriff’s Office.

  Tracy Gordon climbed out of the Beaulac PD car, looking deeply uncomfortable at the whole situation.

  “You know I have to do this, right, Kara?” he said, apology etched into his dark features.

  “It’s cool, Tracy,” I said. “It’s bullshit, but the sooner this is over with, the sooner I can get back to figuring out who the fuck is behind all this.”

  Cory walked up to join Tracy. “It is bullshit,” he muttered. Then he swept his gaze over the exterior of my house and the decorations. “Holy shit, Gillian. You have the whole fucking north pole here.”

  I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. “My, ah, roommate was expressing herself.”