Demon Ex Machina: Tales of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom (18 page)

“But that’s the thing, ain’t it?” Eddie asked.

“Thing?” I repeated, playing back the conversation in my mind as I wondered where we went astray. “What are you talking about?”

“Eric,” he said. “Just because
Forza
wasn’t looking doesn’t mean Eric wasn’t.”

“Looking for what?” Allie said, making me jump a mile.

“I thought I saw you go out with Stuart,” I said, sounding more accusatory than I meant to.

She shrugged. “I came back. What’s the big?”

There was, I assured her, no “big” at all. But as for what we were talking about, I had no clever response. Eddie, however, was winning big-time
alimentatore
points. “That demon that’s been dogging your dad,” he said. “Apparently there’s a dagger that’ll take the bugger out for good.”

“Odayne,” Allie said. “So far I haven’t found anything about him.” She shot me a smirk. “I’ve got homework that has to come first.”

“Actually, this one may be hot,” I said. “Bump it up for a week, and if we haven’t made progress, you’ll still have time to cram.”

“Wait. What? My mother?
My
mother is telling me to blow off studying?”

“Not blow off,” I said. “Just reprioritize.” Grades and school and all that stuff were important, of course. And while I had no desire to sacrifice her grades or her college chances, I also wasn’t willing to sacrifice her father.

More than that, I knew that she wouldn’t be willing to, either.

And while I may not have told her why she was researching, if she did know, I was certain she would shove schoolwork aside in a heartbeat. Which meant that if she later found out the truth about her dad, and learned that I hadn’t prioritized this work, then I’d be in even more trouble.

I sighed, absolutely stymied. I’d promised my family open and honest, but right then I simply didn’t see the way to pull that off. Not without breaking young hearts that didn’t deserve to be broken.

Allie was still looking at me with arms crossed over her chest and eyes narrowed in disbelief.

“What?” I demanded.

“You tell me.”

I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath, suddenly tired of the whole thing. “I want answers, Allie, is that so hard to understand? And as much as I wish it weren’t always true, you’re better at finding them than Laura.”

“But school,” she pressed. “There’s something else going on, Mom. You need to tell me. You know I’m going to figure it out, and—”

“Just stop it,” I snapped, making both her and Eddie jump. “I already told you the demon’s important to your dad and may be back in town. And if that’s not reason enough for you to think it should be priority, then I’ll just take the assignment and give it to Laura and you can spend the next week redoing all your homework for the year so that you nail your finals cold. But if you want to help, then do it. Don’t question it. Don’t analyze it. Just do it. Because I need answers, Al. I’m not going to be late again. I’m not going to lose someone else on my watch.”

The words flooded out, along with the tears. And although I managed not to raise my voice, we still caught a few looks from stragglers in the narthex.

To my shame, Allie looked completely chastised, and as she moved to put her arms around me, she glanced through the now-open doors to the altar. She was, I knew, thinking about Father Ben. And although I’d started my speech only hoping to convince her to drop her line of questioning, I’d ended up there, too, only realizing after the fact how much of the truth I spoke.

I missed him terribly, and I’d known the man for less than one year.

I’d lost him. I was the Demon Hunter in town, and he’d died on my watch.

I felt responsible because I was responsible.

And there was no way in hell I was losing Eric, too.

I couldn’t.

I
wouldn’t
.

Problem was, I didn’t know how to save him.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I wasn’t thinking.”

I returned the tight hug she’d wrapped me in. “It’s okay, baby. Sometimes it’s raw all over again.” I felt her nod, and kissed the top of her head. “Head on out and help Stuart with Timmy, okay? I’ll be just another minute.”

“’Kay.”

“And tell Rita I’ll be right there. She’s in a red Miata convertible,” Eddie said as Allie’s eyes widened. “Can’t miss her.”

“The Padre wasn’t your fault, girlie,” Eddie said, once Allie was out of earshot. “And Eric ain’t neither.”

“I know that.”

He worked his mouth as he considered me, then blew out a loud breath. “We need him. Hate to admit it, but we’re gonna need that boy’s help.”

“No,” I said, despite the weight of disloyalty in my gut. Nothing would ever change the fact that I loved Eric, but after what had happened last night, I no longer trusted him. And I certainly didn’t trust his ability to keep things secret from Odayne. “If we are plotting Odayne’s downfall, we’re going to do it without Eric looking on.”

I saw respect in his eyes when Eddie nodded at me. “Finally getting to the truth, ain’t you, girl?” I started to answer, but he waved me off. “I said we needed Eric. I didn’t say we were going to call him up and have him come over for a planning session.”

“What then?”

“He’s known about this for how long? His whole life, almost, right?”

“Since we were teenagers. Since the Cardinal Fire unbound the demon the first time.”

“And Eric’s a smart boy, right? He’d be looking for ways, keeping his eyes open, studying myths and legends and hoping to find facts. Hoping to find a way to get rid of the demon inside.”

“Sure.”

“Interesting career he chose after quitting the hunting life.”

I cocked my head, finally clueing in to where Eddie was going. Because Eric had worked as a rare books librarian, filling the San Diablo County Library—not to mention his den—with fascinating and unique works, all of which he’d handpicked.

And if we were lucky, one of his handpicked books held the answers we needed.

“But if the answer
was in his books, wouldn’t he have already found it?” Laura asked.

We were back at the house, with Allie tucked away upstairs and Stuart and Laura at the kitchen table. Laura was looking thoughtfully at me while Stuart had his nose buried in the newspaper.

“Not necessarily,” I said. “Eric bought a lot of books. I don’t think there’s any way he could have gone through all of them.”

“And even if he did,” Stuart said, peering at us over the top of the paper, “it’s possible he missed it the first time around.”

“Eric was pretty good at this research stuff,” I said, feeling foolishly overprotective of my now-demonic first husband’s skills.

“I meant he might have been made to overlook it,” Stuart clarified. “We have no idea how far the demon’s influence reaches.”

“Leave it to the lawyer to suggest the worst-case scenario,” Laura said with a grimace.

“Way worst-case,” I said. “The demon was bound back then. It only started to get some serious power after Eric came back inside David, and then even more when I used the Lazarus Bones to bring him back.” I clenched my hands at my sides, determined not to kick myself any more about that. My ass was already black-and-blue, and as everyone from Stuart to Father Corletti had told me, Eric’s present circumstances were not my fault.

“But not bound tight,” Stuart said. “Right?”

“Maybe,” I said, feeling surly because he was right.

I heard a
clomp-clomp
on the living room floor, and tensed, because it didn’t sound like any noise that would normally be moving through my house. Laura saw me, and clutched the edge of the table. “What is it?”

I shook my head, and put my finger over my lips as I stood up, then moved around the table so that I could see into the living room.

What I saw, just about laid me out flat on the floor. But this time, with humor, not fear.

My little boy, completely naked, except for a pair of black pumps, one of my evening bags, and a smear of red lipstick over his mouth. He looked up at me and smiled. “I go shopping!” he announced even as I heard a rap at the back door.

I turned and saw Mindy, her hand over her mouth to hold back a laugh. I gestured for her to come in, and she did, her eyebrows midway up her forehead. “It’s a good look for him, Aunt Kate,” she said. “Maybe you should tie a red bow to his little—”

“Mindy!”

She had the good grace to look embarrassed. “Maybe not.”

“Honestly,” I said, refusing to admit out loud that her suggestion was extremely camera-worthy. For that matter, I was deeply regretting not having my own camera handy and charged up. If nothing else, this would be the perfect photo to pull out on prom night.

“You looking for your mom?” I asked, as Timmy started shaking his butt and announcing that he was dancing.

“Allie,” she said. “If you think she’ll—”

“Allie!” I called up the stairs. “Come on down here.”

Her “Just a sec!” floated toward us, followed by the elephantine pounding of feet as she clambered down the stairs, skidding to a stop midway across the living room. She shoved her hands in her pockets. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Mindy stared at the floor. “So, um, I was thinking that since your parents are having this party thing tonight that maybe we should bribe my mom to let us rent something from Blockbuster and eat popcorn and Chips Ahoy.” She looked up at me. “I mean, if it would be okay with—”

“Fine,” I snapped off, mentally crossing my fingers. “Totally fine.” I hooked my thumb back toward the breakfast area, then headed that way. “I’m just going to go check on the stuff,” I said lamely, then disappeared, Allie’s eyes burning a hole in my back.

Since you can’t see the part of the living room where the girls were standing from the breakfast table, eavesdropping was easy, as Laura and Stuart had already figured out. Both were absolutely silent and leaning slightly toward the wall, and as much as I wanted to take the moral high ground and give them both a dressing down for not giving the girls their privacy, I couldn’t do it. I was too curious myself. And so we all sat silently, listing slightly toward the wall, as our daughters’ voices slowly rose in pitch and volume.

“But your mom said it was okay.”

“Yeah, but that’s because she’s not thinking, she’s already told me my priority needs to be—”

“What?” Mindy demanded. “Oh. School, right? Was she totally pissed about the grade on your—” Her voice dropped, as if she remembered that we could hear everything, and I had to wonder what new project Allie had given short shrift.

There was a long pause as they batted around a few conversational volleys that we couldn’t hear, and then Mindy’s voice rose again. “—how I’m supposed to understand if you won’t tell me what you’re doing?”

“I’m researching demons, okay? Is that what you want to hear?”

I froze, and I saw that Stuart and Laura had done the same. We looked at each other, not breathing, and waited for the other shoe to drop.

When it did, it was hardly the explosion I’d expected.

“God,” said Mindy, “this is your big secret? That you’re into those stupid Internet role-playing games? I mean, just because they’re not my thing doesn’t mean you have to hide them from me. I mean, God, Allie. You want to give me a little more credit?”

“Maybe you need to give me more credit,” Allie shot back. “And it’s not stupid. If you knew anything at all about what I do—”

“Fine. Then show me. Let me log on as Morgana the fairy princess and you can show me what you’re doing in your spare time now that’s so freaking important you blow off your friends. ’Cause you are, you know. I wasn’t even going to come over today, but I miss you, and you’re being a total bitch, and I’m tired of it.”

I could hear the tears in Mindy’s voice and moved my hand to cover Laura’s, who looked about ready to leap up from the chair and go comfort her offspring.

“You want to know more about what I’m doing? Fine.” I heard the stomping of feet, and then Allie’s voice from farther away. “So, are you coming, or what?”

When they’d both trampled upstairs and we heard the door snap shut, I breathed again. “Think it’ll do any good?” Laura said.

“I guess we’ll know soon enough.” I cocked my head, half of me expecting Mindy to run terrified down the stairs, the other half expecting to hear her indignant cry that Allie was a royal bitch for playing with her.

But I heard nothing. And I honestly couldn’t decide if that was good or bad.

“Cookies,” Laura said, standing up and going to my freezer. “I think the occasion calls for them.” Laura has a tendency to bake when she’s nervous. Considering she was in my poorly stocked kitchen rather than her own, though, she was obviously willing to settle for slice and bake. She pulled out a cookie sheet, then opened the freezer and started rummaging for dough while I remained at the table, a dozen things on my mind.

Frustrated, I smacked at Stuart’s newspaper with my fork. “Well?”

“Well, we have a plan,” he said. “You’ve got some of Eric’s old books in the attic, right? Laura and I can start perusing them, and—”

“You and Laura? What about me?”

“As much as I hate to say it, I assumed that you’d take the more direct approach and talk to Eric himself. At the very least, you need to be out patrolling. No matter what Eric did to the little boy, the mother’s still hovering.”

“She’s not really the mother,” I said with a shudder even as my eyes cut involuntarily to the picture window in our breakfast room. The thought that Lisa might be out there right now, sneaking silently around my backyard, both creeped me out and pissed me off.

“Here’s something interesting,” Stuart said, laying the paper down and tapping a headline in the Metro section.

I peered over, and skimmed the article upside down. Mr. Albert Preston, one of the residents of the Coastal Mists Nursing Home, had a heart attack during an organized shopping trip to the mall. The paramedic who arrived on scene had been about to call time of death when life “miraculously shuddered” back into the old man. Naturally, everyone was thrilled.