Demons LLC (Damned and Cursed Book 7) (14 page)

"I actually did.
 
I even got video of me sending the demon home."

"Demon?
 
It was a demon?
 
Holy shit."
 
She was quiet a moment before concern entered her tone.
 
"And…you're okay?"

"Of course."

Cindy breathed a sigh of relief.
 
Humans weren't comfortable with demons, and they shouldn't have been.
 
As close as they were, it sometimes amazed Cindy that he could look a demon in the eye and smack it across the face without so much as blinking.

"Okay, well, I'll grab your phone after work.
 
I'll give it to Kevin, so he can upload everything into that database he's working on.
 
Did you get them to sign the paperwork?"

Alex said nothing, only clenched his eyes shut.
 
He'd forgotten all about it, and the paperwork was still in the glove compartment in the truck.

"Babe?" Cindy said, noting his silence.
 
"Please tell me you didn't forget."

"Uh, forget is a mighty strong word—"

"Alex, it's
important
.
 
If any of them so much as have a bad dream, they'll probably sue us now."

"I'll get it over to them.
 
Don't worry."

She poked her head out of the shower for a moment to glare at him, but ended with a bright smile.

It was still hard to believe it was really happening.
 
Cindy said she was going to grow what she called the
family business
, and she wasn't joking.
 
Alex had dreams of helping haunted families for an actual living.
 
No more driving a forklift all day in a warehouse.
 
No more getting bitched at by his boss who hadn't worked an eight-hour day in ten years.
 
He wanted to use his powers to help people, and make enough money to put food on the table.
 
That was a respectable, noble goal.
 
However, it wasn't an easy one.

Thankfully, Alex had Cindy.

She already had a plan in motion, although Alex had trouble following it.
 
He could barely operate the phone she bought for him.
 
One of the many phases of the plan was getting Kevin to build some kind of database to track and log all the cases Alex worked on.
 
Cindy imagined a day when people would pay just to get a look at Alex's case files.
 
She literally wrung her hands together in glee when she brought that idea up.

"I want to talk to Kevin about that database," Alex said.

"Get Leese over here.
 
He'll draw one of those magic portals real quick for her ass."

He rolled his eyes at the thought of Alicia and Kevin.
 
The vet tech and the witch.
 
Definitely an odd couple.
 
Somehow, they were perfect for each other.

"It can wait until Halloween.
 
They're still coming over?"

"You know it."

Cindy opened the shower curtain without bothering to turn the water off.
 
She looked Alex up and down as they traded places.
 
Alex winked, knowing they were going to have a fun night.
 
Most of their nights were fun, regardless of what they did.
 
They led an interesting life.
 
Only in their marriage could Alex talk with a visiting ghost in the house while Cindy did accounting work from the dining room table.

"I'll head out in a few," Cindy said.
 
"You want me to make you anything before I go?"

"No, thanks, though."

They shared a quick kiss.
 
She pointed at him on her way out of the bathroom.

"We've got to talk more tonight about the business."

Cindy was trying to hide it, but Alex easily picked up on her enthusiasm.

"You thought of a name, didn't you?"

She smiled.
 
"Maybe I did.
 
Maybe I didn't.
 
Maybe we'll call it
Cindy's Slave.
"

"Funny."

"You deserve a break.
 
Try not to talk to too many ghosts today."

He laughed as he let the hot water wash over him.
 
After the night he had, a shower was exactly what he needed.

"I'll do my best."

Cindy's voice shouted from the living room.

"Did you ruin another shirt?"

*****

Alex regretted not taking the day off.

He felt like a zombie as he drifted through work.
 
His mind played tricks on him, no doubt from a lack of sleep.
 
There were times at the warehouse that everything seemed absurdly clear.
 
He could hear conversations from across the floor, pick up details about his coworkers that he'd never noticed before.
 
Then not even a minute later, it was like he was swimming through mud, unable to process anything.
 
If he made it through the day without crashing the forklift into something, it would be a small miracle.

"Alex!
 
Hey, Alex!"

He recognized his name.
 
Bringing the forklift to a stop, he searched around him for the source of the voice.
 
Finally, he saw Paul, his supervisor, standing not ten feet away, jumping and waving his arms.

"Teague!" Paul shouted.
 
"Earth to Alex!
 
Do you copy?"

"Yeah."
 
Alex blinked, trying to focus his vision.
 
"What's up?"

"Come with me a sec."

Alex groaned.
 
He knew it probably wasn't a
How about those Orioles
talk.
 
Adjusting his safety glasses, he climbed off the forklift and wiped dirt from his clothes.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

He said nothing.
 
His brain was in too much of a fog to play a guessing game.
 
Paul laughed and pointed at the forklift behind him.

"You want to shut that down?"

Luckily, Alex had to turn his back to reach for the forklift ignition.
 
That way Paul couldn't see his face turning red.

He followed Paul across the warehouse.
 
Paul was a good supervisor.
 
Most of the warehouse liked working for him.
 
The only issue was Paul's tendency to
work from home
, which most of the plant interpreted as napping on the couch.
 
His office was in the corner of the warehouse, and Alex had to put up with the comments as they walked.

"Hey, look!
 
Teague's in trouble again!"

"Aww, Alex!
 
What did you do?"

"Don't worry, man.
 
I'll call Cindy and let her know you got sent to the principal's office."

Alex rolled his eyes.
 
He took most of the joking in stride, but the repeated comments about Cindy drove him crazy.
 
Cindy was attractive, and the warehouse knew it.
 
They saw fit to remind him of that fact while staring holes through her whenever she visited.
 
He almost dreaded whenever she offered to stop by for lunch.

He followed Paul into his domain.
 
His office was less of an office, and more like four shaky walls and a patchwork ceiling.
 
It barely kept the noise out.
 
Alex admired what he'd done with the limited space.
 
A white-board was on one wall, pictures of his wife and daughter on the other.
 
Paul gestured to one of two chairs across from his desk.

"Have a seat."

Alex did so, trying to think of anything he'd done wrong recently.

Paul took a dramatic breath as he sat behind his desk.
 
Alex wondered if he was actually being fired.

"Yesterday, you loaded the wrong freight on the wrong truck.
 
Again."

"Ah, man," Alex said, frowning.
 
"Are you kidding?"

"I wish I was.
 
Is everything okay?
 
You haven't been yourself lately.
 
Even now, you look like you're high on something."

"No way.
 
C'mon, Paul, you know better than that."

"What is it, then?"

Paul was actually looking for an answer.
 
Alex didn't know what to say.

"I just haven't been sleeping well lately."

"Alex, you can't spend every night banging that new wife of yours."

He held in a scowl, and forced a smile.
 
It was difficult pretending like Paul had told a very funny joke.

"I'll get it together," Alex said.
 
"I promise.
 
Things are just a little crazy right now."

"Oh, hey.
 
I know what you mean.
 
I've been married twice.
 
But, eventually—"

The blood-curdling scream came out of nowhere.
 
Alex gripped the sides of his chair, his hands hurting from squeezing so hard.
 
Paul continued to talk about something that Alex no longer heard.
 
Only Alex heard the scream, and it took all his willpower not to jump out of the chair.
 
The sounds of the warehouse and Paul's droning went on without missing a beat.

Suddenly, she was standing behind him.

"What the hell?!" she shouted.
 
"What—?"

The mystery ghost was beautiful.
 
She wore a gray skirt with a white blouse and vest, looking very professional.
 
Alex watched her carefully without being obvious that he saw her.
 
She looked around the office, not recognizing where she was.

"Where am I?" she said.
 
"The truck.
 
Oh my God.
 
He didn't stop."

Alex glanced at the picture on the wall.
 
It was Paul's wife.

His breath hitched in his chest.
 
He'd seen it before.
 
A fresh ghost, after loosening from the body, could end up in several places.
 
Most, it seemed, stood outside their corpse.
 
Others went to places of comfort, like their home.
 
Sometimes those places of comfort were people.

Like a husband.

Paul didn't know it, but whatever he was saying was meaningless.
 
No lecture of Alex's work habits could match what was happening in his life at that moment.
 
Alex watched in horror as Paul's wife slowly absorbed more pieces of the puzzle behind him.

"I was taking Lisa to school.
 
The truck…."
 
She went quiet.
 
Leaning forward, she tried to put a hand on Paul's desk, only for her arm to slip through.
 
She fell to one knee and looked at her husband next to her.
 
"Paul?
 
What's happening?"

"Alex?" Paul said.
 
"Are you there?
 
Have you listened to anything I've said?"

"Yeah," Alex lied.

"Oh, no," she said.
 
"I'm…no.
 
No no."
 
She stood up.
 
"Julie!
 
Where are you?
 
Paul?
 
Can you hear me?"

"So, how is the family?" Paul asked.
 
"Is everything going okay on the home front?"

Alex looked down at the floor, trying to ignore the crying ghost behind Paul.

"We're good.
 
Cindy's great.
 
I got real lucky there.
 
We've known each other forever, so being married hasn't really been weird for us so far."

Paul smiled.
 
"I know what you mean about luck."
 
He pointed to the picture on the wall.
 
"It took me two tries for my luck to finally kick in.
 
Ann is amazing.
 
Gave me a wonderful daughter.
 
I don't know what I'd do without her.
 
No matter what, keep your family close."

Ann tried to hug Paul around the shoulders, but couldn't.
 
She broke down crying, on her hands and knees.
 
It was one of the most difficult things Alex had seen in his entire life.
 
Paul smiled, laughed, told a joke about how Ann and their daughter Julie fought over which bathroom was theirs.
 
He was unaware that his life would never be the same.

Only Alex knew, and he could say nothing.
 
Not without giving up many of his secrets.
 
He wasn't ready for the people he worked with everyday to know about who he was.
 
He wasn't sure if he would ever be ready.

"Do you plan on having kids?" Paul asked.

Alex wanted to run.
 
He wanted to escape, hide in a corner, forget about Ann crying behind her husband.
 
But all he could do was answer the question and avoid looking at her.

"We've talked about it," he said, his voice shaking.
 
"We're not really too sure.
 
It's years away, anyway.
 
Listen, I'm not feeling too well."
 
Alex grabbed his stomach for effect.
 
"I might have to hit the bathroom."

"Okay.
 
Don't worry about management.
 
I smoothed it over, I don't have to write you up or anything.
 
But tell Cindy to give the naked mambo a break.
 
Get some rest."