A Girl's Guide to Demon Hunting (11 page)

Chapter 20

"Vegas is a cesspool of sinners and one day I will bath in their blood."
             
             
             
             
             
                              
- Peaches

    The sound of laughter woke me from a deep dreamless sleep. Two nights in a row; not bad. Rolling over, I glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand, surprised to see it was three in the afternoon. It’d been a long night of watching Jenny try to hack into Julie’s bank records. She told me to go to bed so many times I lost count but I couldn’t bring myself to walk up the stairs, at least not until I was sure Max was asleep. I kept replaying the Mateo mess in my mind, looking for any sign that Max had put the pieces of what I was together. When the sun rose and I hadn’t been carted off to jail, exhaustion won out and I finally climbed the stairs and crashed in Jenny’s bed.
    I sat up and looked around Jenny’s room. A pile of clean clothes had been laid on the dresser and my dirty clothes were gone, probably being washed. Jenny was a bit of a mother hen. Getting out of bed I took the pile of clothes into the attached bathroom, set them on the counter and started the shower.
My body must have really needed the rest
, I thought with a quick glance in the mirror.
    The dark circles that had been under my eyes for the last few days looked lighter and the bruising on my ribs was almost gone, just the faintest shade of yellow now. Is yellow
in
this year? Folding the pajamas Jenny let me borrow and stacking them on the counter, I stepped into the warm shower.
    As the steam filled the bathroom and I went through the normal routine, my mind began to wake up and I tried to think through everything that I needed to do today. First off I was going to kill Ace and Shooter, then after disposing of the bodies I was going to put Max on the first plane to Katmandu and then maybe have some chocolate. Or chocolate first, I’m adaptable.
    I couldn’t believe they thought it was a good idea to go into a Demon Lord’s house. And what was I going to do now? Mateo believed I had another human member, which meant I was now responsible for Max. If he broke the rules, it was me who was going to have to answer for it.
    But what was I supposed to do, just let him kill Max? Then Mateo would have the power of a Guardian which would be really, really bad. Plus there was no way The Council or the Royal family wouldn’t take revenge. Las Vegas would turn into a war zone and no one, not even the humans, would be safe. Great. No pressure.
    As if things couldn’t be worse, I still had the Camilla “issue” to take care of. I had one missing Guardian, one Guardian I needed to protect and a Demon I needed to kill. Feeling like I had more problems than solutions, I turned the water off and climbed out.
   
    After getting dressed in a pair of jeans and a faded red T-shirt of Jenny’s I put my still-damp hair in a ponytail. I went back into the Jenny’s room to find Ace sitting on the bed waiting for me, a guilty look on his face. I ignored him as I put the pajamas on the dresser and went searching for my shoes.
   Finding nothing but Jenny’s frog slippers, I sat on the bed next to Ace and rolled up the cuffs of the jeans so I wouldn’t trip. Turning to Ace, I saw he had a large white foam cup in his hand, a straw sticking out from the lid. I recognized that plain cup; it was from the Waffle Stop diner a few blocks away.
    “There had better be chocolate in that cup.” I said.
    Holding it out to me, I snatched it from him and took a long sip, relishing in the chocolaty goodness that only comes from a double chocolate fudge shake.
    “We’re sorry.” Ace said, while I took another drink and hoped he was done with his apology because I really wasn’t in the mood. “It’s not like we had a choice in the matter, not really. He was going to do it with or without us and we just figured with us he had a better chance of surviving.”
    As everything that could have gone wrong last night flashed through my mind, I went from calm to furious in the blink of an eye.
    “You could have, um, I don’t know, locked him in a room. Or called the police and said you thought he had robbed a bank, or I know, just NOT GONE WITH HIM!” I shouted.  
   Getting up from the bed, I stormed out of the room before I did something I would regret. Taking another sip of the shake so I wouldn’t keep shouting at Ace, I walked out into the living area to find Shooter and Max huddled over the dining room table.
   At my entrance they stopped what they were doing and looked up. Shooter gave me one of his lopsided grins. Glaring at him, I turned to Max to find him eyeing me with something that was way too close to humor for my liking. Ace walked around me, giving me a wide berth and came to stand next to Shooter, who, seeing Ace’s frown, mirrored him.
    “I believe...”Max began.
    “Shut it. You don’t get to believe anything right now.” I said, interrupting him; he was the last person I wanted to talk to at this moment.
    I ignored them and looked for a place to put my shake. No way did I want to spill it just so I could scare some sense into Ace and Shooter. Setting it down on the closest end table to me, I was turning back around when I heard Max.
    “Excuse m-...”
    “Again, SHUT IT!” I yelled and before he could say anything else I turned on Ace and Shooter.
    “You two. What the hell? You know the dangers. You know what happens when we mess with the locals. And still you chose to follow this moron into a Demon Lord’s home. I sw-” I forgot what I was going to say next as I suddenly found myself nose-to-chest with Max.
    Tilting my head back so I could glare into his face, I saw his eyes that had just been turquoise were now a dark blue. I took a step back, which was not at all because he looked ready to toss me out the window, it was so that I could yell better, I swear. Just as I opened my mouth to yell, he slapped his hand none to gently over my mouth and I found we were now eye level as he had bent down.
     “Now
you
listen.” He whispered. “If there is anyone to blame for this it’s me. They were only trying to help. They spent the better part of the day trying to convince me to change my mind.” 
   Well, hell, I hadn’t expected him to go all noble and stuff on me.
    “Although I probably wouldn’t have gotten caught if you weren’t so afraid.” He continued. 
    Pissed once again at his insinuation I was at fault, I bit down hard on his hand, causing him to release me but instead of moving away from the threat, he did the exact opposite and took a step towards me. Unafraid of his closeness, I wasted no time in firing back.
    “Me? You think this is my fault? I told you to leave it alone. Instead you decided to ignore my advice and drag my two friends, my
human
friends along with you as backup.”  
    “Ahem.”
    Max spun around so fast he knocked me off balance and I fell back towards the floor. Before I could even try to stop my descent, I found myself once again nose to chest with Max, although this time his arms were wrapped tightly around me as he righted us. Just as I made the observation that his chest was awfully warm for something so hard, he let me go and I heard him mumble “shit” under his breath.
    In one smooth motion he turned me around and with one hand he clamped hold of my wrist. Caught off guard by the restraint, I tried to twist my wrist free as I looked to see Jenny and two people I’d never met standing in the entrance of the living room.
    A young man stood next to Jenny, a smirk on his handsome face. Dressed in a pair of dark slacks and a grey dress shirt, with blonde hair and green eyes, he looked like he belonged on the cover of GQ. At his side stood a short blonde Angel, okay she wasn’t really an Angel, especially since she looked like she wanted to rip me limb from limb.   
    Perfect hair, perfect skin, not a wrinkle in her perfectly pressed suit. I hated her right away and not because she looked the same age as me and was wearing a pantsuit, although that might have been a factor.  It took me a minute to realize that, just like Max, Mr. GQ had his hand wrapped around the Angel’s wrist.
    “Who are you?” I asked, knowing they couldn’t be much of a danger if they got past Pancake.
    “We would be the backup.” GQ said, looking between Max and me.

Chapter 21

Tip 59:  Distractions are crucial, I use sarcasm and short skirts.

    Okay so I blame my slow moving brain on the idiot who had a death grip on my wrist, which was why it took two very long seconds for me to put it all together. On its own accord I felt my power rush through me as my mind absorbed the fact I was in the same room as three Guardians. My flight instinct took over and in a panic I tried to break Max’s hold on my wrist. He just held on tighter, grabbing my other wrist and spinning me away from everyone. Before I could react, I felt his shield surrounding us, so strong the air behind him shimmered gold, forming a barrier between us and the rest of the room.
    Trapped, my panic grew and blue sparks began to burst around us as my power fought against his shield. I was vaguely aware of Jenny and Ace as they ran towards me. They came to a skidding stop just outside Max’s shield. Ace took a step towards Max and I struggled harder. I needed to be free, to give my power a chance to calm before I hurt someone.
    Everything stopped as a small red dot slowly traveled up Max’s chest, coming to a stop directly in the center of his forehead. A quick look over my shoulder showed me Shooter, braced on the right side of the doorway to Jenny’s room, a pistol held steady in his hands, the red laser sight alive atop the barrel. By the way: shields? Not bulletproof.   
    “Let. Her. Go.” Jenny said in what I could only describe as a snarl.
    There was a mixture of surprise and admiration in Max’s eyes as he looked behind me to Shooter and then to Jenny. Finally he turned back to me and in the next moment his shield pushed away from us. I found myself able to calm a little and my power began to recede.
    I was acutely aware of the tension in the room as Max slowly let go of my wrists and took a step back, the red dot following him the whole way. Never taking his eyes from mine he said, “Sam, get my brother downstairs.”
    From across the room I heard the girl say, “Not until he puts the gun away.”
    I leaned to the side to look behind Max and was surprised to find the girl standing in front of GQ. It was almost as if she was using her body to shield him. Considering he was almost a foot taller than her, it didn’t do much good.
    “Allie?” Shooter said softly from behind me.
    I took a moment to answer; wanting to be sure I was in control.
    “It’s okay.”
    Before my words faded the red dot vanished. Faster then I thought possible Ace closed the distance between him and Max and grabbed Max’s arm, with a quick twist he wrenching it behind Max’s back, bringing him to his knees.
    The dot snapped back to Max’s head.  I looked up at Ace but it wasn’t Ace, it was Travis; the broken man who came to Father Henry after his life fell apart. My Ace was funny and relaxed and ridiculous. Travis was a wounded animal; something you didn’t disturb. I know Ace and he knows me, maybe better than anyone else in my life. I don’t really know Travis. I couldn’t talk him down, not when he was like this.    
    It was Jenny’s voice that broke the silence.
    “Ace, I think Max is ready to take them downstairs. We’re all safe now.” 
    Max started to move put paused when she continued.
   “And Max; we both know you are quicker and stronger than probably everyone in this room. Still, you might want to consider that a human who’s both slower and weaker than you cares so little about his own safety that he took you on. I suggest unless you really want to see the lengths Ace will go to keep Allie safe, you never
ever
try that again. Also I’m pretty sure Shooter can blow out your eye before you do anything anyway.”
    “Both eyes.” Came the quiet voice from the bedroom.
    “Ace?” I said. In it was a question and a request and more fear than I wanted to admit. I think it was the plea that worked. Travis left and Ace was back.
    “You take yourself and your little friends and wait downstairs.” Ace said and released his arm. I caught a faint smile (admiration?) as Max stood up. Rubbing his wrist, he turned to the other two Guardians, gave them a swift nod and they walked out of the room.
    When the door was closed behind them, I let my relief show and sank to the floor. My three best friends surrounded me, worry clear in their expressions. Shooter went into paramedic mode and grabbed my wrist to check my pulse. I glanced at him and only then did I realize half of his hair was standing straight up, he must have came out mid-mousse. I couldn’t help but laugh and it wasn’t long before Ace and Jenny joined in.
    Shooter didn’t wait for us to finish; after knowing I wasn’t going to drop dead he went back to the bathroom to finish doing his hair.
    “You okay Wonderkid?” Ace asked once we all caught our breaths.
    “Yeah…sorry about that.” I wanted to ask him if he was okay but I knew it was too soon, too raw, maybe later.
    “I should be apologizing to you.” Jenny said, “Father Henry called earlier and told me they were going to come by. I just assumed since he cleared them that they were cool.”
    “Did he tell you who they are?” I asked, and reminded myself to give Father H an earful the next time I saw him.
    “The guy is Julie’s mentor Nick, although Father Henry did leave out the nice little tidbit that he was Max’s brother. The girl is Julie’s cousin, Samantha.”
    Of course Max’s brother was Julie’s mentor, ‘cause that’s not something that should be mentioned sooner. I couldn’t help but wonder what else Max was keeping from me as I got to my feet.
    “We should probably go downstairs.” I said, wanting to do anything but.
    “Well, let’s just hope none of them are as big a douche as Max.” Ace said as he stood up and offered Jenny a helping hand.
    “I’m not holding out much hope, at least not for Nick.” I said.