Demons LLC (Damned and Cursed Book 7) (45 page)

The trees finally opened up to reveal the lake.
 
Zoey was right.
 
There was barely any activity at all.
 
A single boat floated near the center, with several fishing rods mounted to the back.
 
There were three boating ramps leading to the water, and not far from them a dock house, sitting behind a long pier.

The parking lot was nearly empty, except for a van and two cars.

He stayed near the edges of the lake, near the shoreline.
 
He flew so low the tip of his left wing dipped into the water as he glided and banked.
 
As he neared the dock house, he saw a man walking slowly.
 
Alex didn't want to judge by appearances, but he had the look of someone doing something shady.
 
The stranger certainly wasn't taking a leisurely walk, or preparing to go fishing.
 
It was more like he was checking the perimeter.

Alex climbed in the sky, until the man patrolling was little more than a dot.
 
He adjusted his angle on the descent, coming down directly over the dock house.
 
He landed quietly and folded his wings.
 
There were voices, parts of a conversation, but he didn't have the chance to shift his attention when a single word made him jump.

"Yo."

He whirled around to see Nate.
 
Alex put a hand to his chest and felt his heart working just a little harder.

"Shit, Nate!" he whispered.
 
"You scared the shit out of me!"

"That's not good, if
I'm
scaring you.
 
How the hell do you think you'll save the cop lady, if you can't handle little old me?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Scouting the place.
 
You didn't think I was staying back with the ladies, did you?
 
Kylie and I came here the other night, so I just popped in."

"What's the deal with this place?"

"There's six men.
 
I think they've all got guns."

"Is Lisa here?"

Nate's demeanor changed.

"Uh, yeah.
 
She's…she's not in good shape.
 
She's tied to a chair—"
 
His voice cracked a bit.
 
"They're
filming
beating her.
 
I don't know if this is such a good idea."

Alex nodded gratefully.
 
Nate was amazingly helpful.
 
If saving Lisa's life came down to seconds, Nate had given him just that.
 

He commanded his wings to shrink into his back.
 
Sliding into the spirit realm, he willed his form to sink, and he moved through the roof.
 
He was halfway to the floor when Nate poked his head through the ceiling above him.

"Alex!
 
What are you doing?"

He took in his surroundings.
 
There were shelves, crates, barrels.
 
There was a man leaning against the wall, talking on his phone.
 
An innocent enough sight, except for the blood on his hands.
 
Laced through the fingers on his right hand were a set of brass knuckles.

Nate floated down next to him.

"What's the plan?"

"First, get Lisa out of here."

"She's back this way."

He led Alex through some old boating equipment to the rear of the dock house.
 
He had an idea of what he'd see, thanks to Nate's scouting, but still stopped when he walked through the last set of shelves in the way.

Detective Lisa Nash was unrecognizable.
 
Her hair was drenched in sweat and blood.
 
Her left eye was swollen shut, her clothes torn.
 
Spots of blood were spread about her feet.

Alex tried to think of the terrible things he'd seen.
 
Demons ripping members of his father's cult apart.
 
Prisoners turning on each other and the guards in horrific ways.
 
For some reason, they didn't compare to seeing Lisa, bloody and beaten.

On a desk against the wall across from Lisa sat a camera.
 
He could only assume they were torturing Lisa on orders from Charles Wallace, the criminal she'd arrested and put away.

He entered the living world just long enough to turn the camera, and then vanished again.
 
He circled behind Lisa to examine her restraints.
 
Her wrists were bound with duct-tape, which were taped to the chair.
 
He reappeared and focused on a single index finger, watching it shift and mangle into something far more sharp.

Lisa jumped and gasped as she felt the presence behind her.

"Huh?
 
What the—?"

"Shh!
 
Be quiet."

"Alex?"

"Yeah."

"How did you—?"

"Not now.
 
Is this all that Wallace guy?"

"Yeah.
 
I guess my date of decease came a lot faster than I thought."
 
She nodded toward the camera.
 
"But not before we recorded a greatest hits video first.
 
Is Zoey okay?"

Alex had to admire the detective.
 
In her current condition, her thoughts went to someone else.

"She's fine."

"She's…not human, is she?
 
Just like you?
 
That was her in the alley last night."

He finished slicing through the duct-tape and willed his finger to change.
 
The restraints were the only thing holding her to the chair, and she nearly toppled to the floor.
 
Alex caught her by the shoulders.
 
He glanced at Nate, who had a look on his face like he'd be sick, if that were possible for a ghost.

"Can you find us a way out of here?"

Nate nodded.
 
"There's a side door not far back.
 
Let me see if it's clear."

He ran away, while Lisa pulled herself to one knee.

"Who are you talking to?"

Alex ignored the question.

"Can you walk?"

She flashed him a defiant glare.

"I'm not crippled."

He helped support her weight by wrapping her arm around his shoulders.
 
She walked fast, but her steps were uneven and wobbly.
 
Nate appeared from around a storage rack, excited.

"Dude!
 
You won't believe it!
 
It's completely clear!
 
You can walk right out!"

They followed Nate to the side door, and it almost seemed too good to be true, but the ghost was right.
 
The door was wide open.
 
A view of the woods next to the lake greeted them.
 
They stepped outside, and Lisa let out a small breath next to him.
 
She truly believed she wouldn't be leaving the dock house alive.
 
One small flight, and they'd be gone.

A simple realization washed over Alex.
 
The people after Lisa would never leave her alone.
 
She would always be in danger, in hiding, on the run.

"We can't leave just yet," he said.

Lisa raised an eyebrow.

"We can't?
 
Why not?"

"Yeah," Nate echoed.
 
"Why not?"

"Just…one second."

His wings sprouted, and he beat them a single time to launch Lisa and himself upward.
 
They landed on the roof.
 
Gently, he eased Lisa down, letting her rest along the edge.

"I'll be right back.
 
Wait here, okay?"

She struggled to smile.
 
"It's not like I'm going anywhere."

He jumped down and ducked back inside.
 
Heading back to the chair, he could hear voices behind him, loud and laughing.
 
The rational side of him was shouting to go back outside, grab Lisa, and fly away.
 
He was allowing himself to get pulled into something beyond him, that might not have an answer.
 
He pushed the rational side away, but it followed him in the form of a teenage ghost.

"Man!" Nate said.
 
"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm trying to help Lisa."

"Leaving her bloody and broken on the roof isn't helping her!
 
Fly your ass on out of here!"

"I have to talk to these guys.
 
Convince them to leave her alone."

"And how are you going to do that?"

He pounded on the wall behind the empty chair.

"Hey!" he shouted.
 
"Can everybody come back here for a second?!"

"Ah, shit," Nate said, turning his back in frustration.
 
"He's lost his mind."

Six men showed up in a matter of seconds, from different parts of the dock house.
 
On seeing Alex, four of them raised guns.
 
He threw his hands up, truly afraid.
 
His demonic powers were strong, but a single bullet to the head or heart would kill him.
 
He wasn't immortal.
 
Only Jack Kursed could lay claim to immortality, and he needed a witch's curse to achieve that.

"Whoa!
 
Whoa, guys!" he said.
 
"Don't shoot!
 
I just want to talk, and if you shoot me, you won't find Lisa."

They glanced at each other, angry and confused.
 
Alex recognized the men from the day before, the ones who rammed Lisa's car and tried to kill them both.

One of them took a step forward and pointed his gun at Alex's head.

"Where is she?"

"Listen.
 
You have to stop this.
 
You have to leave Lisa alone, for your own good."

Two men in the back spoke.

"That's him!
 
That's the guy I was talking about."

"The one you said flew away?
 
I've told you to lay off the shit.
 
It's frying your brain."

"I'm fucking serious!"

"Shoot him in the leg.
 
He'll get talkative real fast then, I bet."

The man leading the pack lowered his aim and pulled the trigger, but Alex was already gone.
 
He felt the bullet pass harmlessly through his leg and bounce off the ground behind him.
 
Despite being safe, his nerves were still rattled.
 
His intentions were good, but he'd risked his life.

"Shit!" Nate said, grabbing his shoulder.
 
"Are you hit?
 
You alright?"

"Yeah, yeah.
 
A bullet going through you will always get the blood flowing."

The men argued and shouted.

"Where the fuck did he go?"

"You missed him!"

"What the hell is going on?"

Nate shook his head and gestured to the wall.

"Let's go."

Alex scowled as his lip twitched.

"Not yet."

"Dude.
 
You're not convincing any of these guys that crime doesn't pay."

"I know."
 
His demeanor changed as he watched the men.
 
They aimed their guns at the shadows, looked at the ceiling above.
 
"But I don't like people shooting at me."

In a fair fight he wouldn't have stood a chance against any of them, much less all of them.
 
It was a good thing he'd stopped fighting fair long ago.

Victoria had been training him.
 
She'd taught him half of surviving any battle was mental.
 
He had to be willing to cock his fist back, swing as hard as he could, and deal with the repercussions that followed.
 
She also taught him to use his strengths, and punching wasn't something Alex was good at.
 
He tended to hurt and bruise his knuckles.
 
Punching was always a last resort.

Luckily for him, he had many other options.

"Alex," Nate said, his voice shaking slightly.
 
It was one of the rare times he didn't address his friend as
man
or
dude
.
 
"What are you thinking?
 
I watched a diner full of rednecks kick the shit out of you the other day."

"I guess it's a good thing these guys aren't rednecks."

They didn't stand a chance.

The first victim fell easily, almost without a fight.
 
Alex appeared in the living realm just long enough to kick him in the back of his leg and ram his head into the table nearby.
 
He collapsed to the ground with a thud, drawing the attention of the others.
 
They barely had time to raise their weapons before he was gone again.

He ran across the room, running through two of them to get to the man on the outside of the group.
 
He lowered his shoulder and tackled him, sending him into the wall before vanishing again.

"Where is he?!"

Alex smiled as he stalked them.
 
Their fear grew, and along with it, his power.
 
He appeared behind another and grabbed him with the claws of his wings, ripping flesh and muscle.
 
Tossing him across the room into one of his partners took no effort.
 
The wall splintered from the impact.

Two men remained.
 
He could have simply vanished, but that would force his wings away, and he didn't feel like dealing with the already impressive back pain.
 
Folding his wings in front of him, he ran forward as they opened fire.
 
Some bullets penetrated the skin on his wings, bringing about a stinging sensation, but otherwise did no harm.
 
It was nothing that wouldn't heal over time, or even faster with a soothing flame bath.