California Demon (33 page)

“Mo-
om
! Have you gone mental?”

“For suggesting you stay home from school today? Why is that mental? I thought you’d be kissing my feet?” Allie and I were faced off, her at the top of the stairs, me at the bottom. She was dressed for school, fully decked out in cheerleader garb for the last-period assembly that would kickoff Christmas vacation.

“I’ve got responsibilities, Mom! I’m on the end of the first row in the second routine. If I’m not there, the whole thing’s gonna crash and burn.”

“Right. I’m sorry. You’re right.” I held up my hands in defeat. I may not have done the high school thing, but I was smart enough to know when I was beaten. And David would be there. At least I knew he’d keep an eye on her.

As soon as Allie was out the door, I packed Timmy into the van and took him to KidSpace. On the drive back, I tried to think what to do now. I had the entire day laid out in front of me. An entire day without husband or kids. A full, uninterrupted span of time I could devote to eradicating demons from the face of the earth.

Too bad I had no idea where to start.

I got back home and grabbed the 409, then started going over the kitchen countertops with a frenzy born of nervous energy. It was the last day of school before vacation and the day before the exhibition. All points were converging on tomorrow, but I didn’t have a clue what to do now.

If I didn’t figure something out soon, my house would be spotless. Not a bad deal for my family, but for San Diablo as a whole, I predicted dire consequences.

Eddie padded into the kitchen, grunted at me, and made a beeline for the coffee.

“Learn anything yesterday?”

His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything, just moved to the kitchen table and took a sip. I scowled at him, then threw down my rag and grabbed the Swiffer WetJet from the pantry. While I attacked the floors, Eddie attacked his coffee.

I’d scrubbed the entire kitchen and moved on to the breakfast room when he finally grunted at me. “Not a damn thing. Thousands of books in the cathedral archive, and not one mention of the
Malevolenaumachia Demonica.
” He pointed a bony finger at me. “You want to fight demons, you need information. Damned organization is behind the times, that’s what. Living in the damned fifteenth century.”

“Behind the times?
Forza
?”

“Databases! PDF files! Scans and uploads! All that techno mumbo jumbo your daughter blathers on about all day. You wanna tell me why not one of
Forza
’s research books are on the Internet? Far as I know, your esteemed ancient organization doesn’t even have a website.”

I leaned against my Swiffer handle and stared at him. “You want computerized information? Has Hell frozen over? Are monkeys flying?”

“You laugh, but I’m right. You mark my words.”

“Is this about Allie? Or that librarian you like?”

The tips of his ears turned pink. “You leave her out of it. That woman knows her stuff. She’s not trapped in the past.”

“Right,” I said, turning away to hide my grin.

Eddie grumbled something I couldn’t quite make out. When I’d managed to get my face well enough under control so that I could turn back, I found him scowling at me.

I held my hands up in supplication. “I’m not disagreeing with you. But you’re the man who until a month ago thought the Internet was a high-speed freeway in Germany.”

“I never thought any such thing.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, they call the damn thing a superhighway,” he muttered.

“At any rate,” I said, falling into the chair opposite him. “I take it you haven’t found anything useful. In books or online?”

“You take it right,” he said. He frowned at me. “The padre and I kept at it until about ten last night. When I got home, lover boy said you were out with Laura. Some crisis or other. She okay?”

The warmth in his voice made me smile. As with the rest of us, Eddie had adopted Mindy and Laura as if they were family. “She’s fine,” I said. “Well, she’s not, actually. The whole thing with Paul is eating at her. But I wasn’t with her last night.”

Eddie’s bushy brows waggled. “Oh, no? Where were you then?”

“Patrolling,” I said. “With David,” I added to the tabletop, feeling unreasonably guilty.

“Oh, ho,” he said. “And you didn’t want Stu-boy to know.”

“I didn’t want Stuart to know about the
patrolling,
” I said sharply. “David had nothing to do with it.”

“Right,” Eddie said. “Sure.”

I got up and poured myself a cup of coffee. I needed to keep my hands busy so I wouldn’t throttle the man. “Are you finished giving me grief?” I asked, my back to him. “Or should I wait a little longer to tell you what we learned?”

“Wait a little longer,” he said. “I’m still amusing myself watching you squirm.”

“Eddie!” I whipped around, glaring at him. “It’s the surf exhibition! The exhibition that Allie’s desperate to go to tomorrow! Now do you want to be serious? Or shall we just leave it to chance that our girl’s going to be okay?”

His shoulders rose and fell, his eyes darkening. He took a sip of coffee, then put the cup down hard on the table. Then he looked at me, every trace of humor gone. “Tell me everything,” he said.

And I did.

Half An hour later, I’d run him through all that had happened.

From learning that David was a rogue, to hunting with him last night, to finally reaching our theory that everything centered on the exhibition.

“It’s a good theory,” he said. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Keep Allie away, that’s for sure. And in the meantime, hopefully figure out what Cool is up to and stop it. But you and Ben haven’t figured anything out yet, and we’re running out of time.”

“You’re going to have to tie that girl down to make her stay home,” Eddie said. “Either that, or tell her the truth.”

My stomach twisted. “Yeah. I’ve thought about that.” I wasn’t big on the truth plan. Not yet. But I might not have a choice. If it came down to a choice between letting my daughter walk into danger or revealing my secrets to convince her to stay home . . . well, put that way, it was a no-brainer. Just not a no-brainer I particularly wanted to confront.

“And David’s the one who told you about Jason, right?”

“You mean about Jason recruiting Cool for the exhibition? Yeah.” I peered at him. “Why?”

“Just wondering if you should trust David. If you’re being smart about this.”

“What are you talking about?”

He shrugged. “You’re the one who said he brings back memories of Eric. Maybe he’s playing off that.”

I swallowed, fighting the bile rising in the throat. But Eddie was right. David had known Eric. And because of that, I wanted to be around him even as much as I wanted to run home and cry.

Still, I couldn’t discount what Eddie was saying, even if I did think he was dead wrong. “I didn’t trust him at first,” I said. “Remember? I’m the one who tossed holy water on his face.”

“And that convinced you?” Eddie’s eyes burned into mine. Years ago, nothing would have convinced me more.

“Not just the holy water,” I said. “The cathedral, too. We were inside, in the sanctuary, for almost an hour. He carried on a conversation. He spoke clearly. He was focused. He couldn’t be a demon.”

“He looked a little green around the gills to me.”

“I’ve already thought of all this, Eddie. I even asked him. He told me he was fighting a cold.”

“And you believe him.”

“Yes! If he were a demon, we’d know. No demon could survive that long beside an altar, and especially not the St. Mary’s altar.”

“So maybe he’s not a demon,” Eddie said.

“Isn’t that what I’ve been saying all along?”

“Maybe he’s something else.”

That
threw me. “Something else? Like what?”

“Don’t know. But if a demon can slide into a body, then why not a soul? I’ve heard rumors, you know. Whispers of
alimentatores
seduced by the possibility. Grabbing on to immortality by sliding their soul into a dying human.”

“What exactly are you suggesting?” I asked, my voice little more than a whisper.

“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m just talking. But if someone were to dabble in the dark arts—and if that someone played dangerous games with their own soul—well, he’d be changed, right? Not a demon, but not human anymore, either. So is he good? Or is he bad?” Eddie peered at me, his eyes dark and narrow. “Has malevolence touched him like a disease?”

“You’re saying that Eric might have . . .”

“Hid out in David’s body?” His bony shoulders rose and fell. “Eh. It’s possible.”

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “Eric would never—”

“Are you sure, Kate?” he asked gently. “Do you really know what Eric was or wasn’t capable of?”

But I couldn’t answer that. I’d lost all my words, and I could only sit there lost and hopeless, my head filled with memories of the man I’d thought I’d known and the letters that proved I hadn’t.

Could David really be Eric? And if he was—if Eric had slid into David’s body—then what did that mean? Was he still my Eric? Or was he something else entirely?

Seventeen

lt WAS almost A relief when the phone rang. I’d sent Eddie off on the pretense that I wanted to be alone, and now I needed to either let it ring or answer it. Since I was craving distractions, I answered, actually praying for a telemarketer.

I wasn’t prepared to hear David Long’s voice on the other end of the receiver. “Can you come to the school?” he asked, his voice low. “Creasley’s here. But he’s on his way out. I was in the office and overheard some of the staff talking about him. I’ve got students for the next two periods, but if you come right now, you can follow him from the parking lot. Maybe he’ll even lead you to Cool before you nail him.”

“On my way,” I said, relieved I wouldn’t have to see David. And a little too excited about the possibility of sending a demon packing back to Hell. What can I say? I was a little stressed out, and I was definitely in the mood to kick some demon butt.

“Good. Meet me at Cutter’s at five. You can fill me in on how you nailed the SOB. Then we can get in some sparring.”

I paused, wanting to protest, but the words never came. And as I stayed silent, he begged off, saying he had students waiting. I found myself listening to the dial tone.

It took only a few seconds to pull myself out of my funk, though. I had a date with a demon, after all. I grabbed my keys and purse and then made a quick run through the house to check the locks. I pushed through the curtains that covered the back door, saw the face just inches from the glass, and screamed.

The sound had barely left my throat when my brain caught up with the situation.
Laura.
Her skin red and splotchy, tears cutting a path through her powder, and dark smears of mascara under her eyes.

I yanked the door open. “Laura! Dear God, what is it?”

“Paul,” she wailed. “The bastard filed for divorce.”

She fell against me, and I hugged her close, my own sobs joining with hers. I thought about Creasley, the demon who’d been on my afternoon agenda. Killing him was my responsibility; I was the Demon Hunter in these parts, after all.

Didn’t matter. As far as I was concerned, my appointment with Creasley had just been bumped. He’d been preempted by a demon of the human variety. A lying, cheating, bastard of a husband.

For now, at least, Creasley lived. Because I had other responsibilities in San Diablo, too. And one of them was to be there when my best friend needed me.

l yanked Open the glass doors to Cutter’s dojo at ten minutes to five, and found myself staring at my daughter, her leg out thrust, as David Long went sprawling.

Her head snapped up at the sound of the bell over the door, and a wide grin spread across her face. In an instant, she went from Martial-Arts Queen to Homecoming Queen as she bounded across the mat toward me, squealing about how she’d totally nailed him.

“Did you see? Wasn’t it ferociously cool? I’ve been working with Cutter for weeks and weeks, but I didn’t think I had it down, but I did. I
so
busted him!”

I looked over to the busted “him,” who’d rolled over and was now sitting up, watching my daughter with amusement and affection.

My stomach twisted a little and I couldn’t help but wonder—was he watching
his
daughter, too?

Allie took my hands, still bouncing. “Tell her, Cutter! Tell her how fabulous I did.”

“It’s true,” Cutter said from behind his desk. “The kid’s doing great. She kicked David’s sorry ass.”

“Thanks a lot,” David said, climbing to his feet.

I saw that his cane was a few yards away, and I wondered if he’d fought with it or set it aside while doing battle with Allie.

He snatched up the cane and looked at me. “You okay?”

“Fine,” I said. “Just a little light-headed.” I pulled Allie into a hug. “You are amazing.”

“I know,” she said, then bounced happily around the room until she reached Cutter. He pulled her aside and sat her on a bench. I watched as he analyzed each of her moves, his hands moving in elegant illustration.

This wasn’t her usual class day, and I realized that she must have called Cutter and made a special appointment. I wondered how often she’d done that, and made a note to ask Cutter. If what little I’d seen was any indication, not only was she practicing frequently, but her practices were paying off. My little girl, it seemed, was learning to kick a little butt.

“I didn’t realize she’d be here,” David said. I’d moved to his side, and he spoke softly, his words meant for me only. “Actually, I didn’t realize Cutter would be here.”

“How were you planning on getting in?”

“Key,” he said. “I’ve been practicing here after hours. Cutter’s a good guy. I trust him.”