Bad Grace (Watcher Chronicles Book 1) (6 page)

“Make yourself comfortable,” Eva said as she went to an elegant looking drinks table and set about pouring bourbon into two glasses.

Frank sat down on the cream colored fabric couch and resisted the urge to put his feet up on the large square coffee table in the middle of the room. “Still a clean freak, I see.”

Eva walked to the couch with the two glasses of bourbon and handed him one. “You know,” she said as she sat next to him, but not too close. “Just because we hunt scum doesn’t mean we have to live like them as well.”

“Are you saying I’m a scumbag?”

Eva chuckled. “Have you looked in the mirror lately? You know it isn’t nineteen seventy nine, right? When’s the last time you saw a barber?”

“You’re right,” Frank said, smiling. “I’ve let myself go a bit.”

“I’m just joking. I’m sure it hasn’t been easy for you the last year.”

Frank downed his whiskey in one, pressed the empty glass into his leg. “Not really. You?”

Eva smiled tightly. “The first six months were hard. I’m coping now.”

A massive wave of guilt washed over Frank as he stared at Eva. He hadn’t even called to see how she was doing because he was so wrapped up in his own grief. She could have been in a bad way for all he knew. She could have needed him. And he wasn’t there. “I know I was being a selfish asshole by staying away,” he said. “But why didn’t you reach out to me? Not that I blame you for not reaching out. I mean, I get it.”

“I did reach out, Frank,” Eva said before getting off the couch and walking to the drinks table again.

“What do you mean?”

Eva snatched the bottle of bourbon of the drinks table and brought it back to the couch, where she refilled both their glasses. “You ignored all my calls. You told me to go away and leave you alone the one time I visited you at the cabin. You didn’t even open the door.”

Shame added itself to the guilt in Frank as he suddenly remembered the night Eva had called at the cabin. He had forgotten about it because he had been blind drunk at the time. “I’m sorry.”

Eva shook her head. “You wanted to deal with things alone. I thought it best if I let you do that. I knew you’d show up again at some point.”

Frank smiled at her, for the first time in a long time not feeling like he was completely alone. The warmth he felt from that familiar connection with her seemed to thaw some of the ice in his veins. Why did Rachel have to be the one to capture his heart so completely? If he could have chosen, he would have chosen Eva. He never did have a choice on that one however.

Now you do, Frank. I’m not around anymore. What’s stopping you?

You know what’s stopping me.

Because you still love me? Or because of guilt, Frank?

“You okay?” Eva asked.

“Sure,” Frank said, nodding. “Why don’t you tell me about your latest case? What are you working on?”

Eva seemed to consider him for a long time, then she smiled, put her glass on the table. She leaned over, took his glass as well, set it on the coffee table.

“What are you doing?” Frank asked.

Eva lithely straddled him on his lap in one swift move, fixed him in her spellbinding blue eyes. He always said, someone of Eva’s character, she should have been a witch, not a Watcher. “Just relax,” she said hoarsely.

Frank didn’t say anything. As surprised as he was by her sudden advances, he was already completely drawn in by her. He couldn’t resist her. She obviously needed it. So did he, he realized.

As she leaned down to kiss him with her soft lips, he pulled her in tight and soon he was lost in her.

Soon, they were lost in each other.

CHAPTER 9

Afterwards they both got dressed, still in the living room, Frank feeling slightly shell shocked by the whole situation, although he had to admit he felt better in himself than he had done in a long while. He couldn’t help wondering however, how long it would take before the guilt came along and shattered his current state of serenity.

“Now we can talk,” Eva said as she tied her dark green robe, looking perfectly poised like the sex had taken nothing out of her.

Frank, on the other hand, was spent. His legs felt like jelly and he sat straight back down on the couch again once he’d pulled his jeans and Deep Purple T-shirt on again. “You still fuck like you did years ago.”

Eva was pouring bourbon into the glasses, her cleavage almost spilling out of her thin robe as she bent over the coffee table. Damn, she’s beautiful, Frank thought as he watched her. The passion she brought to their fucking was incredible, like she was trying to devour him completely. Some of the looks she gave him while she rode on top of him on the couch, at times he thought he must be fucking a demon. But it was just Eva, a woman he’d known since college, and that made it all the more exciting for him, all the more intense. “I got a no doubt rare glimpse of what’s inside you.”

Frank took the glass she offered. “Oh yeah? Hope it didn’t scare you too much.”

“You’ve changed, that’s for sure.” Eva sat next to him on the couch, her legs curled up underneath her, looking like a resting cat.

“You haven’t.” Frank looked into those eyes again, searched for the dark mystery behind all the blue. Found it. Stared at it the way you would stare up into the night sky, wondering at all the mystery and wonder that lay there. It was that near hidden part of her that fascinated him, which had always fascinated him.

Eva gave a small shrug. “I’ve changed, just not as obviously as you. I see a lot more darkness in you than I used to though.”

Darkness.

You know all about the darkness, don’t you, Frank?

“Maybe I’ve just spent too long in it,” he said. “Maybe it’s finally corrupted me.”

“You believe that?”

Frank stared resignedly at the coffee table in front of him. “I don’t really know what to believe anymore. That’s the truth.”

Eva stroked the side of his face with the back of her warm and slender hand. “You’ll find a way through it.”

“I hope you’re right,” Frank said and then drained his glass. “Anyway, you still working cases, I take it?”

Eva nodded. “I don’t do as much field work as I used to. Research is more my thing these days.”

Frank grabbed the bottle off the table and poured both glasses again. “You’re really wasting those damn fine skills of yours on the books?”

“I grew tired of the hunting, all the violence.”

“You were good at it. One of the best.”

“Who says I’m not still?”

Frank smiled. “Not me.”

Eva drank slowly from her glass. “What were you working on tonight to almost get killed?”

Frank shook his head at the memory, of the pain he felt when he was duct taped to that chair in the basement of the demon bar. “Demon’s stealing souls. The usual shit.”

“Wait,” Eva said. “Stealing souls?”

“Yeah. Apparently they do some ritual that steals the soul of the victim, turning the victim into some kind of ticking time bomb psycho.”

“Yes. I’ve actually heard about that.”

“Really? How?”

“Someone came to me a few days ago,” Eva said. “This person told me about their husband who was apparently acting very weird after being abducted by some gang on his way home from a bar. The husband’s memory of the abduction was hazy apparently, but the wife said he talked about some strange ritual he was put through before he was released several hours later.”

Frank nodded. “The ritual allows the gang to steal the soul of the victim.”

“I didn’t know that when the woman came to me. I thought it was just demons or some other supernatural fucking with humans again. Happens all the time, right? But then just yesterday, I see online that the woman’s husband went on a rampage downtown. I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it.”

“I was busy.”

Busy hitting the bottle.

“Anyway, he kills about twelve people with a kitchen knife, just stabbing anyone he can get close to. The cops put him down, needless to say.”

“Jesus. And these fucking scumbag demons are making more people like that guy?” Frank shook his head. “Imagine the damage people like that could cause the city.”

“You don’t need to imagine now. It’s all over the news.”

“I found the gang responsible tonight, over on the Southside. They’ve taken the place over, including a bar there that they’ve made their den. I was checking things out when one of them got the jump on me. Motherfuckers taped me to a chair.”

“Hence the reason for the grace explosion, I presume.”

“Yeah,” Frank said, nodding. “I was out of options.”

“Well,” said Eva standing, tightening her robe. “You’re not out of options anymore.”

“Why’s that?” Frank asked, though he already knew the answer from the look on Eva’s face, the look of a woman who had just made her mind up about something.

“Because we’re going to work this case together.”

Frank thought about it. He had been working alone for the past year. Maybe it would do him some good to hook up with someone again, even if it was just for one case. He’d been wallowing too long anyway. It was clear he wasn’t going anywhere soon, at least not by his own hand, so what the hell?

“Alright,” he said. “But first I’m getting some sleep.”

Eva smiled. “I’ll take you to the bedroom.”

CHAPTER 10

Frank awoke several hours later, naked in Eva’s bed. She wasn’t lying beside him when he woke, though they did sleep together, sans sex. He sat up and put a hand to his head. “Jesus,” he said, rubbing his forehead. The pain had subsided quite a bit, though there was still a dull ache there on the top of his skull. When he touched it he winced at how sensitive it was. God damned demon had nearly cracked his skull open. Probably fractured it. It would heal soon though. Couple more days and the only thing he’d be feeling again where his hangovers.

The room was dark as the curtains were still drawn, so he got up and pulled them open, wincing at the light that exploded through the window. “Jesus,” he said for the second time.

His clothes were on the cold hardwood floor by the bed. As he bent to pick them up, he noticed the photo frame on the bedside table. It was a small silver frame and the photo inside was of Eva and Rachel, standing smiling together, both of them looking radiant and gorgeous. They looked to be barely in their twenties. It was the first time he had seen the picture and he gazed at for a minute as he remembered back to when they had all attended the Watcher Facility for training and it was Eva and Rachel and him and his older brother, Dean. It was a time of much less darkness, an exciting time. They walked around as if they were invincible, feeling important because they knew things other people didn’t, of a world that existed beyond the one everyone knew about, a world of demons and monsters and the fight of good against evil. Yep, they all thought they were the shit, and they were for a good while. Then Dean and Rachel got together, ended up getting married, having kids. The party broke up after that.

You broke it up, Frank, with your petty jealousy and envy. You just couldn’t rest until you had me again, could you? And then look what happened.

I didn’t mean for any of it to happen.

That’s your trouble, Frank. You never mean for anything to happen, but something always does happen, doesn’t it?

Frank forced himself to look away from the photo and quickly got dressed so he could leave the bedroom, a place he suddenly didn’t feel comfortable in anymore.

In the kitchen, Eva was sitting at the dining table, dressed in an old pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. Her hair was loosely tied back and she was engrossed in an old looking book that lay open in front of her. She looked up and smiled when he walked into the kitchen. “The dead arises,” she said. “Coffee?”

“Please.” Frank took a seat at the table, across from where Eva was sitting. He glanced at the book on the table and saw most of it was written in Latin. Languages were never his strong point. The only dead languages he spoke were the ones in certain rituals and spells, ones he needed to know for on the job purposes. The rest he didn’t bother with much.

“Head feel better this morning?” Eva asked as he made coffee.

“Much better. Thanks for the grace.”

Eva smiled suggestively from the kitchen, said, “It wasn’t just the grace we exchanged.”

When he didn’t say anything, she laughed.

“You’re still so easy to embarrass, Frank.”

He shook his head. “Piss off.”

Eva sat a steaming cup of black coffee on the table in front of him and sat down. “I’ve been doing some research this morning.”

“So I see.” Frank sipped the coffee. It tasted good.

“I found some information concerning the ritual used to steal the souls. I think you’ll find it interesting.”

“Fire away.”

“Well,” Eva said, looking briefly down at the book. “The book lists the ingredients needed for the ritual to work. Most of the ingredients are fairly commonplace and would be easy enough to obtain. However, there is one vital ingredient that stands out as being not too easy to obtain.” She was looking at him with barely concealed excitement.

“What is it?” he asked.

“An angel feather.”

“Okay. You can buy those on the black market, if I’m not mistaken. Still rare, but obtainable, especially for a demon.”

“I know,” Eva said nodding. “But what about an
arch
angel feather?”

“Next to impossible to get. Wait, are you saying you need one for the ritual?”

“Yes. According to the book, the feather must be from an archangel.”

“So how would Krakus and his crew have gotten a hold of one? They didn’t strike me as the kind of demons with that sort of reach.”

“Well they obviously know someone who does.”

“But who? Does that mean they’re working with someone higher up? Another demon, maybe, something high level?”

“To get hold of an archangel feather, they would have to be pretty high up. I’m not even sure how high.”