the past; for coffee, maybe.
I jabbed at my cell. Without needing to make a call, I sent an alert to HQ letting them know the situation was about to get out of hand. They’d be all over this place in minutes. Broken glass crunched beneath my boots as I stepped through the shattered doors into a lounge. The house was dark except for a few blinking lights from various electronic gadgets. It would take a while for my eyes to adjust. I reached inside my jacket and unclipped the Baretta Pico from its holster. I cupped the little gun in a firm grip. Normal bullets wouldn’t keep a demon down for long—that was what the jet-injector in my left pocket with its dose of PC34 was for. Bullets, however, were an effective deterrent should this demon decide I’d make a tasty early evening snack.
I checked the hall and listened. A clock ticked somewhere to my left, and the boiler hummed. A board creaked above me. I was light on my feet, but each stair groaned a protest as I made my way to the second floor.
At the top, I paused. I didn’t have back-up, and my eyes weren’t fully adjusted to the dark. I wasn’t sure of the demon’s lineage, but I could bet my month’s wages on him having better night vision than me.
Muffled shuffling and a few awkward bumps behind a closed door revealed his location. He was waiting. I had two choices: wait for back-up, or take him down myself. Training told me to wait, but there was more at stake than following the guidelines. If I could take this demon down, on my own, Adam would have to admit I was ready to qualify as an Enforcer. He might still withhold my demon, but it would be another step toward freedom.
“This doesn’t have to get nasty.” I kept my voice level, trying to instill some calm authority. I didn’t quite nail it, probably due to the fact I was about to go toe-to-toe with a demon twice my size. “I don’t know why you ran, but if you’ve done nothing wrong, you don’t need to worry. Why don’t you come out, tell me your side, and nobody gets bumped back across the veil.”
More shuffling accompanied a rattle of scales. “You’ll kill me.” He must have reapplied his man-suit because the voice sounded human and afraid.
“Not unless I have to.” I flexed my slick grip on the gun.
“Your kind don’t ask questions. You shoot to kill. I know.” His words tumbled out so quickly that he barely took breaths between them. “It was that Missus Donaldson. Wasn’t it? Always sticking her nose in. I just want to stay here—that’s all. That’s not going to happen now. No way. I’ll have to leave. I can’t go back. I can’t. It’s been too long. Too long.”
I inched closer to the door. “Like I said. We don’t kill unless we have to.” I pressed my back against the wall and reached my left hand down to the handle, gripping the gun in my right. A car screeched to a halt outside, then another. Once the heavies arrived, the demon was toast. “Let me walk you out of here, and you’ll have your chance to plead your case. Fight me, and the Institute will take you out, or worse.”
“Is it t-true?”
I pushed down on the handle. “Is what true?”
“They capture us; run tests, like we’re animals.”
I hesitated, hand lingering on the handle, door almost released. I didn’t know the answer for certain, but I knew what they’d done to me and some of what they’d done to Stefan, and I suspected we were the lucky ones. I could have lied and told him everything would be fine, that the Institute was reasonable, that they wouldn’t hurt him, but I couldn’t do it. Maybe I felt something like compassion for him. Demon to demon. “Yes.”
“Then you can’t have me.”
I flung open the door and ducked inside, swinging the gun around while taking in the child’s bedroom with its Disney character bedclothes and bright wallpaper. I pinned the demon in my sights. He reared up to his full height, shook off his man-suit, and stretched badly deformed wings out
I jabbed at my cell. Without needing to make a call, I sent an alert to HQ letting them know the situation was about to get out of hand. They’d be all over this place in minutes. Broken glass crunched beneath my boots as I stepped through the shattered doors into a lounge. The house was dark except for a few blinking lights from various electronic gadgets. It would take a while for my eyes to adjust. I reached inside my jacket and unclipped the Baretta Pico from its holster. I cupped the little gun in a firm grip. Normal bullets wouldn’t keep a demon down for long—that was what the jet-injector in my left pocket with its dose of PC34 was for. Bullets, however, were an effective deterrent should this demon decide I’d make a tasty early evening snack.
I checked the hall and listened. A clock ticked somewhere to my left, and the boiler hummed. A board creaked above me. I was light on my feet, but each stair groaned a protest as I made my way to the second floor.
At the top, I paused. I didn’t have back-up, and my eyes weren’t fully adjusted to the dark. I wasn’t sure of the demon’s lineage, but I could bet my month’s wages on him having better night vision than me.
Muffled shuffling and a few awkward bumps behind a closed door revealed his location. He was waiting. I had two choices: wait for back-up, or take him down myself. Training told me to wait, but there was more at stake than following the guidelines. If I could take this demon down, on my own, Adam would have to admit I was ready to qualify as an Enforcer. He might still withhold my demon, but it would be another step toward freedom.
“This doesn’t have to get nasty.” I kept my voice level, trying to instill some calm authority. I didn’t quite nail it, probably due to the fact I was about to go toe-to-toe with a demon twice my size. “I don’t know why you ran, but if you’ve done nothing wrong, you don’t need to worry. Why don’t you come out, tell me your side, and nobody gets bumped back across the veil.”
More shuffling accompanied a rattle of scales. “You’ll kill me.” He must have reapplied his man-suit because the voice sounded human and afraid.
“Not unless I have to.” I flexed my slick grip on the gun.
“Your kind don’t ask questions. You shoot to kill. I know.” His words tumbled out so quickly that he barely took breaths between them. “It was that Missus Donaldson. Wasn’t it? Always sticking her nose in. I just want to stay here—that’s all. That’s not going to happen now. No way. I’ll have to leave. I can’t go back. I can’t. It’s been too long. Too long.”
I inched closer to the door. “Like I said. We don’t kill unless we have to.” I pressed my back against the wall and reached my left hand down to the handle, gripping the gun in my right. A car screeched to a halt outside, then another. Once the heavies arrived, the demon was toast. “Let me walk you out of here, and you’ll have your chance to plead your case. Fight me, and the Institute will take you out, or worse.”
“Is it t-true?”
I pushed down on the handle. “Is what true?”
“They capture us; run tests, like we’re animals.”
I hesitated, hand lingering on the handle, door almost released. I didn’t know the answer for certain, but I knew what they’d done to me and some of what they’d done to Stefan, and I suspected we were the lucky ones. I could have lied and told him everything would be fine, that the Institute was reasonable, that they wouldn’t hurt him, but I couldn’t do it. Maybe I felt something like compassion for him. Demon to demon. “Yes.”
“Then you can’t have me.”
I flung open the door and ducked inside, swinging the gun around while taking in the child’s bedroom with its Disney character bedclothes and bright wallpaper. I pinned the demon in my sights. He reared up to his full height, shook off his man-suit, and stretched badly deformed wings out
Similar Books
