Crane, R [ Southern Watch 03] Corrupted by Robert J. Crane Page B

to be on a slow burn, things ratchet up a little at a time. Things have already gotten crazy here, what with Hollywood, those demons that came through and ate all those people, plus Gideon, that necromantic cock-spurt. Shit’s already getting bad here, and it’s not even week two. This isn’t a slow burn, it’s a fast one.” Hendricks shook his head. “Those are the ones that tend to go big.”
    “You’ve been in ones like that before?” Arch asked.
    “A couple times,” Hendricks said, chewing his lip. It gave him a sort of nervous satisfaction to nibble on his lip the way Erin probably would later. “There are always signs when it’s about to spin out of control. Enough to let you know to leave, anyway.”
    “Define ‘spin out of control,’” Arch said.
    Hendricks felt a flare of discomfort that twisted his face. Worse, he knew he’d let it show. “Well …”
    “How bad could it get?” Arch said, pressing him. Hendricks could almost feel the earnestness dripping off the Deputy. It was a funny thing, how Arch could stab a demon with a knife after a knockdown brawl and still have that ring of … naivety? Something. Not quite innocence. “You said Detroit and New Orleans have been hotspots—”
    “Low level,” Hendricks corrected. “Increased murder rates, some bizarre happenings, I mean all that shit’s grist for the mill. They weren’t huge spikes because they were slow burners. The towns where you see things get out of control …” He paused. “Well, those are the ones that disappear off the map. You can always tell when it’s about to happen because demon activity goes through the roof. You can’t walk down a street safely—”
    “You mean like how I was laying in my apartment and demons came busting through the door,” Arch said dryly. “Or how you got jumped outside your hotel room and she got knocked out.” He gestured to Erin.
    “I got knocked out?” Erin wheeled on him, and he felt her grip tighten on his belt. “ That’s what happened?”
    Hendricks shrugged, feeling the scarlet rush across his cheeks. “Would you have believed me at the time if I’d said it was demons?”
    “No,” she said, a little mollified. “And I probably wouldn’t have laid you, either.” Hendricks caught Arch looking away pretty hard on that one.
    “It can get a whole lot worse,” Hendricks said. “Though I admit I don’t usually get run down like that on my first couple days in town. Demons tend to avoid demon hunters until they have to face them or until they’ve got the numbers on their side. Hollywood was different. He didn’t avoid. He confronted because he was a pissy little fucker.” It was true; normally it didn’t matter if Hendricks got a little plastered in a hotspot as long as he wasn’t too far gone.
    “Probably wouldn’t have been as bad if he hadn’t caught you flat-footed while you were chasing tail,” Arch said with a little bit of sting. What was up with him? Bad mood, it felt like.
    “And just what were you doing that they busted down your door and caught you naked as the day you were born?” Hendricks asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He had a lot of respect for Arch, but he hadn’t known him for long enough to take too much of his shit.
    “We were trying for a baby,” Alison said, completely casual, like she wasn’t saying anything out of the ordinary.
    That sort of stayed there in the air like a heinous fart in the barracks during basic. Hendricks didn’t know what to say to clear it, either.
    “This is getting us nowhere,” Erin finally said. She looked tired and uncomfortable. “I don’t know why we’re even bickering now that Lerner’s gone. I would have thought that guy took all the asshole with him when he left.”
    Hendricks had to concede she had a point, even though he secretly kind of liked the particular brand of obnoxious Lerner spit out everywhere he went. “So, this scene you were at … pretty messy, huh?”
    “Never seen anything