A Girl's Guide to Demon Hunting (13 page)

Chapter 24

'Stop putting me on dating websites. It's not funny!"
             
             
             
             
             
      
-Allie

    The familiar stench of cooked cabbage greeted me as I walked down the hallway to my apartment. Yup; good to be home. I’d remembered my need of clothes when we were a block from Jenny’s.
    Unlocking my front door, I found the lights on as usual. I stepped inside with Pancake next to me and we searched the place for any sign of intruders. Finding nothing, I pulled my backpack from the closet, laid it on the bed and began to fill it with clothes.
    “Wow, tell me this isn’t your place.”
     I spun around, my fists clenched at my sides ready to fight, only to find Max standing in my doorway, a curious look on his face. Great, now there was absolutely no way I could continue to live here. How the hell did he even find me? And how was he able to sneak up on me? What the hell was wrong with me? I quickly decided all this was his fault and glared at him.
    “You going pack those or just carry them around?” he asked with a smile as he looked down at my right hand.
    Looking down, I realized I was holding a pair of panties. Seriously?? Turning around to hide my blush, I threw them into my bag.
    “You should really learn to knock and how did you even find me?” I snapped.
    “Call it a gift, also Shooter told me where you were going.” He said.
    Of course I had to mention coming here to Shooter today; could he ever keep a secret? Mentally adding “kill Shooter” to my to do list, I went into the bathroom and collected my bath stuff. I paused in the doorway of my bathroom and watched Max as he looked around my room. Dust motes floated in the golden shaft of light that streamed through the window and for the first time I really looked at him.
    His dark hung around his face in a perfect mess, the kind of mess that was only created by a really expensive haircut. His clothes were faded and aged but were clearly made to look that way. He couldn’t disguise the unease he felt in this moment, as if his brain was unable to process the idea that someone could live like this. I hadn’t noticed it before, probably because we were at Jenny’s, but here it was obvious. Max came from money and he didn’t want anyone to know.
    The slam of a door came from the hallway, snapping me out of my thoughts and I knelt down next to the bed. I pried the floorboard loose and sighed in relief as I saw everything was still there. Emptying it out, I placed mom’s photo album on the bed, along with my dagger. I put the wad of money in my pocket and slid the board back into place. I put the photo album and dagger into the front pocket of the bag. Max picked up my bag before I could stop him. I paused in the living room and grabbed Pancake’s ball and for the first time in two years turned off the lights.
    Max merged into traffic, right behind a beat up green Camaro. Okay so maybe I was a little more interested in the car in front of us than normal. I just didn’t know what to say.
Thanks for giving me a ride? Sorry for throwing something at you? Why are you a giant A-hole?
I’m not one for apologies, at least not giving them, so I tired to think of what I’d said last time I pissed off Father Henry.
    “I’m sorry.” I blurted out.
    Eloquent: that was me. When he didn’t respond I plowed ahead. 
    “I shouldn’t have thrown the button and I apologize.” My voice faded as his jaw clenched.
    Maybe bringing this up wasn’t such a good idea. Feeling like an idiot, I slunk down in the seat and ran my hand over Pancake’s soft coat. She gave my hand a small lick as if to say she was sorry and I gave her a equally small smile.  Max didn’t say anything until we were stopped at one of the longest red lights in Vegas. Not taking his eyes from the light he said, “It’s okay. You were right. I should have been paying more attention.”
    Stunned, I turned to look at him, not believing what I was hearing. Max glanced at me and a slow smile spread across his face as he saw my shock.
    “What? I can admit when I’m wrong. Not that it happens often.”
    I rolled my eyes as his ego slipped securely back in place.

Chapter 25

Tip 391:  Electricity is a great weapon against Demons, however this is not an excuse to taser your friends.

    I let Max choose dinner, not feeling like anything in particular. He decided on tacos.
    “Can I ask you something?” Max said, as he pulled out of the restaurant parking lot. I readjusted Pancake on my lap and turned to look at him.
    “Sure.”
    “Why do you live there? I mean, Ace said things were a little tough but I had no idea.”
   My lips pinched in frustration at Ace’s big mouth and I turned to look out the window as I thought of exactly how to answer his question. I finally decided on yet another variation of the truth.
    “The Council still pays me but after you subtract rent, food, utilities and the high cost of weapons, I’m not left with much at the end of the month.”
    “What about Jenny, couldn’t you live with her? Or Father Henry?”
    “They’ve offered but I won’t put them in that kind of danger. What happens if work follows me home?”
    “What about your parents, didn’t they leave you any money?”
   I couldn’t help but feel relief when he referred to my parents in the past tense. Good; hopefully Jenny’s fake paper trail would continue to hold up.
   “My parents’ money was frozen by The Council until I become an adult.”

   When he didn’t respond, I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. I was surprised to see him frowning.

   
    Max carried my bag up to Jenny’s apartment and Pancake and I followed with the tacos. I went straight to the kitchen while Max put my bag in Jenny's room. Taking down a stack of plates, I carried them and the bag of tacos to the dinner table. Max came into the kitchen, filled his arms with soda cans and went to set them on the table.
    “Why did you freak out over Nick and Sam?” He asked as he set the sodas down.
    I’d been expecting him to ask me about it earlier but I still wasn’t prepared. Obviously, I couldn’t tell him the truth, but then again I didn’t know a lie good enough to justify a mega freak-out.
    “I’ve got trust issues.” I said, purposely vague.
    “Can you be more specific?” He asked, taking the plates from me and setting the table.
    I was tempted to tell him no but Ace’s earlier warning about Max’s last straw replayed in my head. Instead I stuck with another partial truth, “I’ve always been the only Guardian here and I don’t like beings with that amount of power around my friends, even if they’re on the side of the Angels.”
    Max looked like he was about to ask me another question when I was saved by the bell. Literally. As the doorbell rang again I went to see who was at the door. It was Jenny, a big cardboard box in her arms.
    “Thanks.” She sighed when I took it from her.
    “Where do you want it?” I asked as I walked past Max and into the living room.
    I studiously ignored Max and tried to not show how relieved I was at not having to continue our conversation.  
    “Over by the windows.” She called as she walked to her dad’s room.
    I put it on the floor below the big bank of windows and went to see if she needed any more help. As I walked past the kitchen I saw Max, the light of the open fridge illuminating him. In his hand was a slice of ham and at his feet was Pancake.
    “No!” I yelled as he let go of the ham.
   As if in slow motion I watched the ham fall toward Pancake’s open jaws. I dove and slid into her as I hit the floor, wrapping my arms around her and rolling to my back. Unable to stop, I slammed into Max, who fell on top of us.
    I heard the wet smack of the ham as it landed on the floor and I sighed in relief.
   The floor was cold on my back where my shirt had ridden up on one side. I kept a death grip on Pancake’s collar as she tried to wiggle out from my arms to get to the ham.
    “I did something wrong?”  I heard Max say as he tried to catch hold of a wiggling Pancake.
    “The meat, toss it out of her reach.” I gasped as Pancake pushed against my stomach.
    His weight shifted for a second and I saw his hand reach out and pick the ham up off the floor. With a flick of his wrist it went flying into the air and I heard it land on the counter. Letting go of Pancake, she tore from the room, her claws scraping against the floor. She would spend the rest of the evening “hunting” for that stupid piece of meat.
    Like a weird game of twister, we both tried to untangle ourselves from each other. In his effort to sit up his hand pushed on my still healing ribs and I couldn’t help the grimace that crossed my face. He must have seen my look of pain because he moved his hand right away and looked at my side.
    “Your ribs?”
    “No, its fine, they hardly even hurt anymore.”
   His eyes widened as he looked at my side. Before I could stop him, he pushed my shirt up, exposing my stomach. I knew what he was seeing and I felt myself grow self conscious. No one but Jenny had seen the scars and she had thankfully never mentioned them.
    With a feather-light touch he traced one of the scars that ran down my ribs. His blue eyes darkened as he continued to stare at my side.
    “What happened?”
    “It’s nothing. Ugly.” I said in a rush and tried to pull my shirt back down.
    I avoided his eyes, ashamed at what he’d seen. I didn’t want pity from him.
    “Let me go.” I said, trying to escape.
    “Look at me.” 
    Ignoring him I struggled harder. His hand on my chin, he turned my head until I faced him. Knowing I was acting like a coward, I held still and steeled myself for what I would see in his face. Looking into his eyes I was shocked to find anger.
    Before I could ask him, his anger was gone and the warmth of his power settled around us. I had the distant thought that this was a side Max probably didn’t show often. His hand on my chin gentled.
    “Survival isn’t ugly.”
    I had no idea how to react to that. This was that rare situation when violence was not the answer.
    The slam of the front door rang through the apartment like a shot, causing us to jerk apart. Max mumbled something I didn’t catch as he let go of my wrists. Standing up in one smooth motion he walked out of the kitchen, taking the warmth of his power with him.
    I laid there for a moment and tried to get hold of myself. What the hell just happened?
Shooter, a taco in one hand and a soda in the other, peered over the counter and gave me a curious look.
   “What are you doing on the floor?”
    Giving myself a mental shake, I plastered a smile on my face. “Just looking for something I dropped.”
    “Need help?” he asked.
    “Nope, I’ll find it when I sweep later.”
    Max was gone by the time I was on my feet. According to Ace, who’d passed him on the stairway, he left to go meet up with Julie’s parents. I tried not to dwell on what happened in the kitchen as I sat down for dinner.

Chapter 26

"Legal - Shmegal."
             
             
-Jenny

   
Two hours later I found myself in the middle of an argument.  Conflict: at least it was familiar territory.
    “What if we can’t get through the door?” Ace asked.
   Jenny, hands on her hips with Pancake at her feet, pointed to the blueprint of Julie’s hotel lying on the table. “It’s a one-story building; there is no need to rappel.”
    “Ventilation shafts; we could access them from the maintenance room, here.” Ace said, pointing to another spot on the drawing.
    “Still no need to rappel.” Jenny said tiredly.
    I was usually not the best at planning the non-Demony missions and tried to stay away from them at all cost. Unlike Jenny, I didn’t have unlimited patience with some of Ace and Shooter’s more “creative” ideas.
    When Jenny started to bring up a few of their more epic failures, I decided to call it quits and go get a coffee from downstairs. 
    Of course Max was coming up the stairs, a small brown paper bag in his hand. Well, this was great. Max paused at the same time as me and I got the feeling he’d realized the same thing I did. The stairwell was only big enough for one, which left me with two options, climb back to the landing and let him pass or continue down and push past him. Okay; I suck at feelings, I admit it. The moment of vulnerability he’d seen earlier made the simple act of passing him on the stairs uncomfortable. 
    On the other hand, I kill Demons. Enough with the nervousness.  I said a quick hello as I swept past him and down into the café.   
     I walked across the empty café and went behind the counter. My small victory over insecurity called for a frozen mocha with a triple shot. Piling the ingredients on the counter, I searched the back of the fridge for Jenny’s personal stash of organic whipped cream. I found it hidden behind some strawberries and turned around, my prize in hand, to find Max examining a bag of espresso beans.
    “You’re really going to drink espresso this late?” he asked, his voice filled with disbelief.
    “Nope, I just came down here and took all this crap out to do a little inventory.” I told him as I took the beans.
    Ignoring him, I set about making my drink; between grinding the beans and crushing the ice neither of us was able to speak.
    Despite my measuring, I ended up making enough for two drinks. I was really tempted to spite him and pour the extra down the sink but I couldn’t bring myself to waste such tasty deliciousness. Plus, truth be told, maybe I was being a bit hard on him. I cleaned up my mess, topped off both drinks with a large dollop of whipped cream and pushed one to Max.
    “Thanks?” he said, eyeing the drink as if it might attack him.
   Rolling my eyes, I stuck a straw in mine and took a long sip. As the rich chocolate hit my tongue, I felt my spirits lift and I walked to my favorite chair, falling back into it. I propped my feet on the coffee table and continued to sip.
    “Why aren’t you upstairs?” Max asked, coming to sit next to me in what was usually Jenny’s chair.
    “They’re arguing about the best way to get inside, they don’t need me there for that.”
    “You’re the leader, don’t you want to be there to provide guidance?”
    Giving him a droll look I explained, “Max, it’s a posh hotel run entirely by humans. You’ve seen where I live. Who do you think would be a better expert, me or Jenny? Besides, we’re only going in to search her room for information. What’s the worst that can happen, bed bugs?”
    “I guess that makes sense.”
    Finally he was catching on;
perhaps the Demon hunter girl is not a complete idiot.
Good, the room already had one of those. Nodding my agreement with my own logic, I took another drink of my mocha, laid my head against the back of the chair and watched the pale yellow twinkle lights hanging above us. I’d almost completely zoned out, the lights having begun to blur when Max said, “We need to talk about Mateo.”
    “No,” I said, not quite ready to go back to non-mocha reality just yet, “what we need to do is sit here, relax, enjoy my wonderful chocolate creation and commune in perfect silence.”
    “Allie, I’m not going to drop this.”
    “Good,” I said, “I created that drink and it is chocolate perfection.”
    “You know I don’t mean the drink.” He said. What a stiff.
    “Fine.” Standing up, I turned to face him, “Then I’m going upstairs. I’d rather listen to them fighting than whatever long-winded and completely wrong reason you had for going to Mateo’s. You’re safe, no one was hurt that badly and we know Julie wasn’t there. Did I hit all the topics you wanted to cover?”
    “I- ah- yeah you did.”
    “Great.”
  
    Leaving him sitting there, I walked out of the café and up the stairs. I heard his heavy footsteps on the stairs behind me as I got to the landing. After resetting the alarm for the café I unlocked Jenny’s door. Stepping inside I let him come in, even if it was against my better judgment.
    Before I’d even shut the door, Pancake came running straight for me. I was astonished to see her run right past me and come to a sliding stop at Max’s feet. Dancing on her hind legs, she reached her front paws up towards the small brown bag he was carrying. Max crouched down next to her and pulled out a box of oatmeal cookies. Great, now he was trying to win over my dog. He didn’t seem to have any weapons so maybe at least I could keep Ace and Shooter for my own. Ignoring them both, I went back to where my friends were still arguing at the table.
    Max walked past me and stood between Ace and Jenny, examining the hotel blueprint. Four plastic toy army men were placed in the middle of the blueprint and a little black van sat to the side in a parking lot. “Great, now that you’re here Jenny can stay in the van.” Ace said to Max. He picked up a plastic man and after digging in a little cardboard box replaced it with another, this one painted red.
    “Why don’t we just say our key was lost and we need a new one?” Max asked, looking between Ace and Shooter.
    “Seriously? Because it’s no fun.” Ace said.
    “But more importantly,” Jenny said, giving Ace an irritated look, “it’s because of the cameras at the front entrance. Nick said the video footage would be the first thing The Council would request and we don’t need any of us on it.”
    “What’s this door here?” I asked, pointing to a doorway well away from the little army men.
    “It’s a maintenance entrance but it’s wired into the alarm system and has a key lock. We can get past the alarm but there’s still the lock.” Jenny said.
    “I can get us in.” Max said. “That is if you can turn the alarm off. I can pick the lock.”
    “You sure?” I asked, seriously doubting his breaking and entering skills.
    “Positive.” Max said.
    “Bad-ass. You seriously have to teach us how to pick locks.” Ace said, “That is if your arm still works.” Max seemed to understand this was the closest to an apology he would get from Ace  and gave him a quick grin before returning to his normal no-fun-guy face.
    “Excellent, but how do we get into the room without a key card?” Jenny asked.
    “When does the day shift start?” Shooter asked.
    Jenny picked up a pile of papers and shuffling through them, she pulled one out and read aloud.
    “5:30.”
    Shooter turned to Ace, who had the look on his face I’d learned to dread.
    “We’ll get us in.” Ace said.
    “It had better not violate the board.” Jenny said, glaring at both Ace and Shooter.
    “It doesn’t.” Shooter said, a tad defensively.
    “Are either of you going to enlighten us as to the how?” Max asked.
    “It’ll work,” Jenny answered, “but it’s better not knowing, trust me.”