Demon 04 - Deja Demon (24 page)

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Authors: Julie Kenner

BOOK: Demon 04 - Deja Demon
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“She nailed two in a row,” Laura said. “Not sure what he thinks he’s telling her. Seems to me the kid’s got it down.”
As I watched, Allie planted her feet, aimed, and pulled the trigger three times in quick succession. Three duckies fell back, the pellets having hit them dead center.
I smiled, a wave of mommy pride cresting inside me.
“I don’t see Mindy,” Laura said.
“With friends, probably. I bet Allie peeled away from the group when she saw David.”
“Lucky for Allie. I’m sure she wanted to spend time alone with David. It can’t be easy keeping secrets from your best friend.”
“It’s not,” I said, speaking from experience. I’d tried keeping my secrets from Laura, but I hadn’t been too successful. In truth, I’m glad she found out. I wasn’t entirely sure I’d want to do what I did without Laura having my back, keeping me sane and helping me when my demon-hunting life infiltrated on the mommy part of the equation.
As we watched, Allie tilted her head back and laughed, then bounced up and down like a little girl, clearly delighted with something her father had said to her. I pressed my lips together and blinked, determined not to cry. What was there to cry about right then, anyway? My kid was happy, and surely that was a good thing.
“You know what I don’t get,” I said. “Why she wasn’t more upset about Stuart grounding her. If it hadn’t been for seeing David at this carnival, I think she would have been perfectly content to spend all of spring break hanging out in the house.” And that, frankly, wasn’t my daughter. Or at least, it hadn’t been until she’d learned about my secret life. With that knowledge under her belt, she’d morphed into a study bug. And while I liked the academic bent in theory, in practice it made me a little nervous. Allie was either becoming less like the daughter I knew . . . or she was hiding something from me. And I can’t say I was comfortable with either option.
“Mindy’s going to be at her dad’s most of this week,” Laura said. “Maybe Allie figured it was a good time to hang out and download her music. Maybe even study.”
“The only thing that kid studies lately is demons. But as far as I know, there’s no demonology course offered at the high school. If there is, I think she’ll get an A.”
“It’s just the newness of it,” Laura said, catching on to my worried undertone. “She wants to impress David. And you, too,” she added in a rush.
“I know,” I said, hoping she was right. “But it’s spring break. I figured she’d want to go to the beach. Do all those car washes with the cheerleaders,” I continued, as Laura looked at me with the oddest expression. “Beg to go to parties for the football players.”
Laura’s brow furrowed, but she didn’t say anything.
“What?” I demanded.
“Kate, didn’t Allie tell you? She quit cheerleading.”
“
What
?”
“Mindy told me a day or so ago. I assumed you knew.”
I hadn’t known, and the fact that Allie would do something so major without either telling me or consulting me knocked me more than a little off balance.
Fortunately, I didn’t have time to brood, as the subject of my angst soon appeared at my side, her face bright and happy and her father in tow.
“Did you see me? I got all the ducks. I totally kicked ducky butt!”
“Allie!” I said, but through laughter.
“Sorry, but I did. Didn’t I Da—David?”
“You were great,” he said, giving her shoulders a little squeeze.
“David,” I warned, aiming a glance at his arm around our daughter’s shoulder. It was one thing for him to hug Allie in private, but I’d already seen two of her teachers and at least fifteen kids from her class wander by. Let a rumor mill like high school get wind of inappropriate touching from a teacher, and we’d all be facing a lot of questions and accusations that we really didn’t want to deal with.
“Right,” David said, sliding his arm off and stepping a respectable distance away, both hands balanced on the head of his cane. “So where’s the zombie?”
“My car,” I said, lifting my eyebrow. “How’d you know?”
“You had the word half out before you remembered Mindy was in the room.”
I frowned. Hopefully Mindy wasn’t as clever at interpretation as David. “You ready?”
“I don’t have to come, do I?” Allie asked.
“You can do whatever you want,” I said. “Just don’t leave the carnival area.”
“Over there,” she said. “I saw Charlie over by the Tilt-A-Whirl.”
“Do you have money?”
“Ten bucks,” she said.
“Be good. Keep your phone on.”
She gave me a salute. “Yes ma’am. If anyone messes with me, I’ll get ’em in the gut with a round kick. ’Kay?”
I looked at David and rolled my eyes. “A bit overeager.”
“Just a bit,” he agreed, his voice tinged with laughter.
“You guys go on ahead,” Laura said. “I’ll watch Timmy.”
I aimed a grateful look in her direction, and from the answering incline of her head, I’m sure she understood the message. The toddler-free chance to talk with my first husband. I definitely owed her one.
“She’s thrilled to be spending time with you,” I said as we walked across the Pacific Coast Highway.
“The feeling is mutual.” He turned to me. “Have you thought any more about a weekend?”
“Honestly, I haven’t.” I held up a hand before he could protest. “And I don’t want to even mention the possibility to Allie until I figure out what I’m going to say to Stuart.”
“Kate—”
“I’m not trying to be difficult. I promise. Your time with Allie is way up there on my priority list, but we agreed that I’m calling the shots here.”
“I think ‘agreed’ may be stretching it a bit.”
I glared at him.
He held up his hands. “At the very least, I thought you’d come up with a game plan or two.”
“I know,” I said, feeling guilty. “And I will. But it’s been kind of busy lately.”
He stopped on the sidewalk, his cane in one hand, and his free hand taking my elbow and pulling me to a halt beside him. “So what’s going on, Kate?”
I hesitated only a second, then told him the full story that, so far, he’d gotten only in cryptic bits and pieces. “Allie knows most of it, of course, since she was there. But she didn’t overhear the demon talking about the Sword of Caelum. And that’s not something I want her to know. Not yet, anyway. And I haven’t told her that we’re pretty sure Abaddon is behind the attacks on me.”
“You’re in danger, Kate. She has a right to know.”
“No.” I shook my head, adamant. “You weren’t there, night and day, when I told her the truth about me. She thought it was cool, but she was worried, too. Worried that hunting demons might kill me the same way it had killed her father.” I glanced up at him and saw him nod in understanding. “It’s one thing for her to know I’m out there, fighting the good fight. I can’t avoid that. But I don’t see any reason to announce to my fourteen-year-old that I’m a specific target for some bad-ass demon holding a twenty-year-old grudge.”
“Doesn’t sound like it’s a grudge. It sounds like Abaddon’s got another plan for invincibility and he thinks you and this sword could muck up the works.”
“I know,” I said. “Too bad I don’t have the sword. I’d put it to serious good use.” I looked him in the eye. “Right now, though, I don’t think Allie needs to know.”
“She can handle more than you give her credit for.”
“I give her full credit,” I said. “But I’m her mom. It’s my job to protect her. It’s what parents do, or have you forgotten how you spent four entire weeks researching the safest car seat?”
His eyes crinkled, laughing at the memory. “Fair enough.”
I caved a little, too. “I’m not saying I’m never going to tell her, but I’d like to have a little bit more solid understanding of what’s going on. What’s this prophecy that names me? And what exactly is Abaddon up to? The demon in the red dress called him The One. But The One what?”
“Is Laura looking into it?”
I nodded. “Hopefully she’ll figure something out soon. But don’t sidetrack me. I want an agreement from you about Allie.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“I’m sorry. But this is hard enough without micromanaging parenting. I’m the one on deck. As far as everyone else in the world is concerned, you’re her teacher, not her father. And as much as you might think that sucks, that’s just the way it is.”
“What about you?” he said, his eyes looking straight into my heart.
My breath hitched. “What about me?”
“Do you think it sucks?”
I hesitated, not sure if I should tell the truth and feel disloyal to my husband, or craft a lie and hurt the first man I ever loved. I settled on truth. Sometimes, it’s just easier. “Yeah,” I said. “It does suck. But Eric, that doesn’t mean . . . you have to understand that I have a good life now. A good man who loves me, and a little boy who means the world to me. I’m not going to—”
“I know,” he said. “I know exactly what you’re going to say.”
“And you understand?”
“As much as you understand my wanting to spend time with Allie. Just because I get it, doesn’t mean I’ll do it.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, emotions swirling like flies. “I am. But sometimes—”
“What?”
I couldn’t look at him. “It’s nothing.” Which, of course, was a lie.
He laughed. “That’s what you used to say when you were mad at me.”
I looked up at him, surprised he’d figured that out.
“Good Lord, you’re
mad
at me?”
“Not really,” I rushed to reassure him. “It’s just that . . .”
“What?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I do feel a little mad at you sometimes. ”
“For what?”
I shrugged. “For coming back, I think.” I tilted my head up, forcing myself to look at him, to see that flash of pain cut across his eyes. “For wanting a piece of your life back, and at the same time for confusing the hell out of me.”
I blinked, setting free a tear that had been clinging to my lashes. It trickled down my cheek until David’s thumb caught it at the side of my mouth.
“I love you,” I said, my words little more than a whisper. “I’ve always loved you. But I love Stuart, too. I really do. And this is killing me. It’s killing Allie. And I hate myself for thinking it, but sometimes I wonder if—”
I broke off, looking over his shoulder at a nearby store-front, unable to say the words or look him in the face.
“If you should have let me stay dead?”
He’d always been able to finish my sentences, but that was one I wished he’d never uttered. Even so, I couldn’t deny the truth. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Of course you’re confused. Hell, I’m confused and I’m not being pulled in different directions. You have a new life, Kate. I respect that. But I want to find a way in, at least a little.” He ran his hands through his hair, and I had the feeling he wanted to say more. That he just plain
wanted
more.
Then again, why wouldn’t he? I’d gained a new husband, a new child, and a new life. Eric had lost everything.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe I should move. Back to L.A. Even Rome. Allie could come visit. If you’re not willing to tell Stuart the truth, we could make something up. Stuart knows you grew up there, right? Surely we could come up with a plan.”
“I don’t want that,” I whispered. I didn’t want Allie to go overseas without me. And as selfish and complicated as it might be, I didn’t want David that far away.
“Good.” He tilted my head up so that I had no choice but to look in his eyes. “I don’t want it either, Katie. But I’m fighting. I want it known for the record that every day I’m here—every moment I’m around you—I’m fighting my way through my own particular hell.”
I shivered, his words making me unreasonably uneasy. But I saw nothing there other than love, concern, and a desperate longing.
“I know,” I said, my eyes welling. “And I’ll understand if you have to leave. But I’m saying it for the record, too, and no matter how complicated it makes things. I don’t want you to go. Now that you’re back, I don’t want you to leave me again. I know that makes me selfish, and it probably makes me a terrible wife. But it’s how I feel. I love you. I want you. And if I’m going to fight anything,” I admitted, feeling my cheeks burn despite the cool ocean breeze, “it’s the temptation to do something about that. Because, David,” I said, “that’s one line I’ll never cross.”
“I know,” he said, leaning close and letting his voice fall to a low, passion-filled whisper. “But I’m not as strong as you, Katie. I never have been. So don’t expect me to make the same promise. I won’t. For that matter, I won’t even try.”
I shivered, fighting the urge to let him take me in his arms. To kiss me and let me lose myself in memories. I wished desperately that I could segregate my life—this piece here, that piece there. To keep it separate and neat and clean.

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