Good Intentions 3: Personal Demons (36 page)

“But you’re following us? Sierra, it wasn’t us who attacked you. We all ought’a be on the same side.”

“I wasn’t following you. I’m here looking out for Hector. He’s probably a target, too.” She nodded toward Wade and Onyx, now standing by his truck parked along the side of the street. The rifle bags were no longer in sight. “I take it he gave you some hardware?”

“We’ve got two witches and a demon against a fuckin’ gang of wizards and who knows how many monsters,” said Drew. “Hector’s sketchy on the whole ‘demon friend’ thing, too, but he’s willing to at least talk and help us do something about this ourselves.”

“What are you going to do?”

“We don’t know yet. Something. Hey, I came over to talk ‘cause we’ve been cool outside of all the craziness. Can we maybe dial this back to something less like an interrogation?”

“I’m sorry,” she grumbled. “We lost three members of our circle and a bunch of friendly people from outside. I’m a little edgy.”

“Yeah. I feel you. My best friend from since grade school disappeared last night an’ we don’t know where he is now. And I had other friends get hurt.”

She tilted her head, thinking back with a frowned. “The guy with the sword?”

“Shit’s been weird lately.”

“Apparently. How long have you been doing this, Drew?”

“What, fighting monsters and shit? Not long. Couple times in the last few months. We don’t go looking for it. You?”

She glanced at the gun shop, then his waiting friends, then away. Her posture shifted. Her eyes turned to the sidewalk. “Six years. I started training for this life since I was fifteen. Mostly on-the-job training.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah. And I’ve never seen anything even close to what happened last night.” Her eyes finally met his. “Drew, I’ve watched you in class. You’re a tough guy, but unless you’ve got some unusual talent you haven’t shown me, this is way beyond you.”

“Oh, you think it’s beyond me?
You
think that? I’ve gotten fuckin’ vampires and werewolves and demons in my face, Sierra. I ain’t got no magic, no superpowers, I ain’t even good with a gun. I know this shit is over my head.”

“Then you need to get out. I’ll help you get out if there’s some reason you can’t.”

“You mean if I’m trapped in this or something? Thanks, but it’s not like that. Those are my friends,” he said. “Alex is my friend. That demon you’re all afraid of is my friend. I don’t leave friends hanging. Besides, what happened last night was fucked up. Someone’s gotta do something about it.”

“Yeah, but it should be people who are prepared for this kind of fight.”

“We’re looking for that kind of help,” said Drew. “All you gotta do is get your boss on the phone.”

Sierra raised her hands as if to argue something, then let them fall to her sides with a sigh. “I’m sorry, Drew. I can’t do that. We’ve lost people. Everyone else is sticking to what they know right now. That means we don’t trust demons.” She shook her head. “Tell Molly and Onyx to stop calling Kate. She’s not gonna answer. Neither is Jin. Not now.”

“Guess I tried,” Drew shrugged.

“Yeah. Me, too.”

“You really thought I need help getting away from this?”

“Yes,” she said, looking him in the eye again. “You’re a good guy. Not everyone walks into the shadows with their eyes open.”

“Did you?”

“Yes. I’m betting you didn’t.”

“Not really.” Drew looked back to his friends. “But I’m stayin’.”

* * *

Sorcery made everything in life easier except for dealing with other sorcerers.

Everyone told Bill life never offered shortcuts. His parents, his teachers, and every single one of the adults in his small town said the same shit. In a way, they’d been right, too. Magic wasn’t a walk in the park. He had to read, practice, and learn new things all the time. They just weren’t the things anyone taught in school.

His grades suffered for that, of course. So did his relationship with his parents. But they were proud of him in the end. All he needed was the right spell to make them feel pride.

Most things could be fixed with magic. He couldn’t conjure money, exactly, but magic could fool just about anyone into taking random slips of paper as cash. Landlords could “forget” when Bill didn’t pay the rent, or he could pass that trouble off onto some other tenant in the building. He knew spells for shooing away the cops, for cleaning up the house, and even for keeping his place warm in the winter.

Got sick? There was a spell for that. Put on some weight? Spell for that, too. Some asshole not showing enough respect, or making actual trouble? Bill knew all kinds of spells for that, from the simple stuff to make a guy walk away to the kind of fire and thunder he’d brought to the casino last night.

That little dispute brought out the one real drawback to sorcery, though: other sorcerers. If Bill knew a spell to build a fire, another Practitioner could know one to snuff it out. If magic let him throw a bolt of lightning, magic also let someone else deflect it. Magic could let him hide in plain view from any normal person, or animals, or even video, but against a skilled sorcerer, he couldn’t rely on magic alone. He still had to keep out of sight like an ordinary schlub.

When sneaking up on other sorcerers, it was best to use as little sorcery as possible. At that point, he had to rely on hard work and perseverance. Sometimes, though, even that paid off.

He spent almost the entire morning in his truck. A little magic helped keep it inconspicuous, but so did smart behavior. He stayed low, parked on a side street where he could watch the front of that shifty Jamaican’s store from across an intersection. Leon told him not to take his eyes off the place, even to stay put and piss in a bottle if he had to, but the hell with that. Not when there was a Starbuck’s around the corner. A little divination magic let him know when was an okay time to leave and when he should be at the truck…or, as it happened, when he should get up off the couch in the coffee shop and get back to the truck right goddamn now.

The pretty-but-creepy one who always wore so much black came out of Hector’s shop with a pair of guys about her age, one white, the other black. They carried a couple long rifle bags. That caught Bill’s interest. He slid down in his seat, hoping to keep out of sight just in case, and fished his cell phone out of his pocket.

Then the girl took a long look across the street. Bill’s heart nearly stopped in his chest, sure as he was that she’d spot him, but instead the turn of her head stopped before she even got to his side of the street. She said something to her buddies and nodded. The black guy jaywalked across the street, where he stopped and talked to the scrappy Indian girl from the casino.

That nearly gave Bill his second heart attack. He hadn’t seen her at all. The two stood only a street and a sidewalk away from his truck while the other pair waited by Hector’s gun shop. Bill didn’t dare throw out any magic now. Instead, he relied on technology.

“Yeah, Bill?” Leon asked as the cell phone connected.

“Leon, I got a bite here,” Bill hissed. His eyes darted from one pair of targets to the other. “I found one of those two witches from last night! She’s here with a couple of guys at Hector’s. It looks like that bastard gave ‘em some guns, and now one of them’s talkin’ to that tough chick who works for Kate like they’re buddies!”

He realized as he spoke that last bit might be exaggeration. The conversation looked a little more wary than friendly, but it didn’t strike him as an argument, either.

“You see Hector come out? Or anyone else?” asked Leon.

“Nope. But they’re carrying a couple rifle bags from his place. And now these others are talkin’. Maybe they’re working up a plan to come after us.”

“We’re not gonna worry about that, Bill,” said the leader of the Light. “Not when we can take ‘em out first. Okay, the gun shop ain’t goin’ anywhere, and neither is the casino. Bill, I want you to follow the others to wherever they go. Can you do that?”

Bill nearly objected, feeling a little bit of doubt, but then he saw the conversation split up. The black guy passed right in front of Bill’s truck on his way back across the main drag. The other two piled into a pickup parked on the corner by Hector’s gun shop. Bill’s eyes narrowed. It was a nicer and newer truck than his.

They probably used magic to buy that
, he thought.

They made ready to leave with only a couple of wary glances toward the Indian girl, but then she was gone. Nothing of interest remained on the street but ordinary traffic—and the one danger they hadn’t spotted.

“Alright, Leon,” said Bill as he turned the keys in the ignition. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Worshippers trickled toward the mosque from each direction along the streets. Few of them gathered in large groups to talk out in the open before prayer. Few would do so after the service, either. The seemingly endless turmoil of recent years did not deter them from prayer, but most people knew better than to take unnecessary risks. Even well within Damascus, the war was never far away.

The police and soldiers milling about in the neighborhood made some feel safer. Others were not so comforted by their presence, seeing the uniforms as a magnet for insurgent violence rather than a deterrent. Many saw the servants of the state as the real problem.

The crowd’s other guardians went unseen, as they had always been.

“On the bright side, one of those men they rounded up last night was a vampire,” said Nidal. He stood on the steps with two of his fellows, secure in the knowledge that his mortal charge was inside. The presence of other angels in the mosque freed him for a little small talk. “No one had a clue. Purely coincidental.”

“You’re sure?” asked Qasim. “None of the police were steered toward him?”

“No one dropped any hints whatsoever,” said Nidal. “There were only a few of us on hand, of course, but we were as surprised as the mortals.”

“Well, what happened?” asked Lisa. “Don’t drag it out, I have to get back to England soon. It isn’t smart to leave Reginald alone when Arsenal is playing. He drinks too much.”

Nidal snorted. “I’m surprised you’ve kept him alive long enough to have grandchildren.”

“Come on, tell!” Lisa urged, giving him a playful shove. “What happened?”

“Once we realized they had a vampire in the mix, we had to intervene. The last thing this city needs is
that
sort of panic. We ‘nudged’ a couple of the police to put him in one of the cars alone where he wouldn’t harm anyone. Then on the way back, the police car had an ‘accident.’ The fiery kind. Nobody else was hurt. We made sure the mortals were all fine. Before they were done with the clean-up, the police let everyone else go. They decided, what with the way the vampire burned in the car, that he must have been the bomb-maker hiding his chemicals in his clothes.”

“You’re kidding,” Qasim scoffed.

“It’s not like they wanted to arrest anyone in the first place,” Nidal explained. “They knew it was a nonsense raid when they started. It gave them a good excuse to let the whole thing go.”

“That worked out nicely, then,” said Lisa. “It’s not every night a supernatural crisis walks right up and…oh, you have got to be joking.”

The blonde angel strode directly through the crowd, irritably catching the falling shoulder strap of her tattered and bloodied white dress with one hand. “Hi,” she huffed.

“Rachel?” Nidal blinked.

“Yup. Long time, no see, guys. Lisa. Hey.”

“What happened to you?” Lisa asked with barely hidden disdain.

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” She turned her attention to the others. “Listen, I need to know the fastest way to smuggle a twenty-year-old American white dude without a passport over the border to Lebanon. Oh, and I need a cell phone. Can you help a girl out?”

* * *

Click. “This is Michelle.”

“Mom! Hi, it’s me.”

“Alex? You didn’t show up on my caller ID. I almost didn’t pick up.”

“I’m glad you did. This isn’t my cell.”

“That makes sense. This connection is terrible. Where are you calling from? The Seventies?”

“No, it’s still today,” said Alex, though for him it was nine in the evening. Michelle, on the other hand, probably hadn’t eaten lunch yet. “Listen, my phone got smashed. Long story. I’m on a disposable.”

“Wow, I thought disposables were better than this.”

“Yeah, well. It was the last one they had on the shelves.”

The corner store stood across the street with its doors locked and its windows boarded up. It made for a sad sight, but the rubble that remained of the adjoining storefront was worse. Much of the street still showed damage from whatever bomb had gone off here months ago. Not everyone had left the neighborhood, but the abandoned buildings made for a good spot to hunker down and make a phone call. Odds were slim that anyone would walk by and hear him.

For his part, Alex sat in the doorstep of another similarly boarded up business. He kept his legs tucked up near his chest, feeling the cold set in again. “Your number is the only one I could remember. I usually forget every other number as soon as I put it into my phone.”

“Oh God,” his mother chuckled. “This is exactly why I made you memorize my phone number when you were little. Your phone isn’t a reliable replacement for your brain.”

“Yeah, I know,” Alex groaned. “That’s why I’m calling. Turns out I still remember, so that’s lucky.”

“This sounds like we’re in completely different countries. So what’s up? Everything okay?”

“I’m fine.” It was the truth, mostly. Rachel had long since healed his injuries. Without her presence, though, fatigue and hunger crept back in. Though she often helped make up for the lost sleep and other effects of Lorelei’s “appetites,” Alex now saw the limits to her healing touch. At some point, his body still needed food and sleep, divine intervention or no.

“Anyway, I’m calling ‘cause I need Lorelei’s number. You have that, right? I’m supposed to meet with her someplace for lunch.”

“Ah. Gotcha. Hey, when you get a chance, you should get me Rachel’s number, too, just for emergencies. Like the next time you break your phone,” she added. “Hold on, I’ll get it.”

Alex rolled his eyes. He knew he’d be in for a little snarky commentary over this, but getting through to his mother was a relief. She sounded perfectly at ease. Despite whatever craziness might be going on back home, Michelle was fine. Alex eagerly wrote down Lorelei’s number on the packaging for the phone as his mother relayed it.

“
Thank
you,” said Alex. “I wasn’t sure what I’d do if I couldn’t reach you.”

“What happened to your phone?”

“Eh. Somebody’s foot, believe it or not. Broke into a bunch of pieces.” He glanced around the street guiltily. Lying to his mother never felt good. At least he wasn’t doing it right in front of an angel. “Hey, Mom. I love you. Seems like I don’t tell you enough.”

“I love you, too. You sure you’re okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine. Just thinkin’.”

“How about you come over for dinner this weekend? Or do you already have plans?”

“I don’t think so, but let me check in and see, okay? I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Okay. Bye, Alex.”

He hung up the phone. Alex gave his surroundings another good look, half expecting demons or masked gunmen or freaking ice weasels to jump out and prevent him from making this call. Instead, the street remained deserted. He looked over the international codes written on his phone package and dialed in the number.

She picked up on the first ring. “Hello?”

“Hey, Lorelei,” he almost sighed in relief. “It’s me.”

“Oh, my love,” said Lorelei. “Where are you? Are you alright? Is Rachel still with you?”

He smiled. Sometimes their supernatural connections felt embarrassing, other times indulgent and even decadent. For once, it all had practical uses. “We’re fine. She’s not with me this second, but she’s not far. We’re in Damascus.”

“Syria?” she asked with surprise. “So far away?”

“I started out even farther. Shit’s been crazy. What about you? Are you okay? The others?”

“We’re all fine. We came home to regroup and everyone stayed the night. Alex, you must be careful there. Even about what you say on the phone.”

“Yeah, I know. Believe me, I know. I’m on a disposable phone and I’m moving as soon as I hang up. You might not be able to get ahold of me again, anyway. The lines here are really spotty. Took me half an hour to get through. Anyway, what’s going on there?”

“Things went poorly with the hosts of the party after you disappeared. A few of our friends are out now to see if they can mend fences. The rest are here with me. We’re working on how to address our other problems over here, but let’s not worry about it now. We need to get you home. Where in Damascus are you?”

“Hell if I know. I can’t read Arabic, so all I can get off the street signs are the numbers. I’m in a quiet neighborhood on a burner phone. My cell got smashed. I don’t know if it does any good to give you the number when the lines are so bad.”

“Our lady friends said you could be anywhere, though I hadn’t thought you’d be on the other side of the world. You’re in about as sticky a place as you could be. I haven’t been there in ages. I don’t know how to get you home without coming for you myself.”

“Rachel has a plan,” said Alex. “I guess I probably shouldn’t get into it over the phone.”

“No, probably not.”

“She got me all this way by talking to her people. I guess she can network pretty well.”

“And here I’ve been reluctant to suggest any sort of travel because we wouldn’t want to leave her behind. I can’t tell you how relieved I was once I knew she was with you.”

“Me, too. So nobody got hurt?”

“None but me. That’s already taken care of, though. Thank you for that,” she added with a wink he could hear in her voice. “And Rachel?”

“She’s okay now. Little beat up when she got to me. I think she was worse before. She had a fight with, uh, Sam,” he said, again unsure how much he could say over the phone. “He ran away from her, so she came after me.” Alex paused. “She told me about him.”

“I thought she might. Alex, I am so sorry. I didn’t see this coming.”

“It’s okay. Shit happens. Rachel told me you jacked him up?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “He wants the crown, Alex. Naturally he made romantic overtures, but his true ambitions are obvious enough. The rest of this fiasco may be a separate matter or it may be related. I don’t know. But ‘Sam’ would only be interested in all that as a way to get to me. And he has Lydia,” she warned. “Either on his side or captive, I do not know. She has clearly told him what she knows about us.”

“Hooray,” Alex grumbled. “Well, what do we do?”

“We get you both home. The others and I are investigating the rest of this mess. Quietly, and at a distance. We cannot risk another confrontation until we’re in a position of strength. Ideally, I’d rather not put any of you at risk at all.”

Alex snorted. “Turns out it’s kinda tough to keep our friends out of this stuff, huh?”

“I’m more grateful for them than I can say. Things may have been much uglier without them.”

“Yeah, well. What’re friends for, right?”

As he spoke, a shimmering white light emerged from the storefront across the street. The beautiful angel quickly returned to his side. Her grin was almost as bright as her halo.

“Rachel is back?” Lorelei asked before Alex or his other lover could speak.

It made him grin. “Yeah. Yeah, she’s here.” He tilted the phone away from his mouth. “You want to talk to her?” he asked quietly.

“Of course,” answered Lorelei.

Rachel shook her head. “I can’t hold a phone while I’m in stealth mode.” Then she frowned thoughtfully. “Hell, I don’t even know if she could hear me like this, either.”

“Sorry,” Alex said into the phone. “She’s playing invisible friend right now. Guess using the phone is against the rules.”

“Anyway, we gotta go,” Rachel continued. “I found a way to get the hell outta Dodge. Think I’ve got everything worked out. Tell her I love her and let’s get this show on the road.” Then she paused and asked with complete sincerity, “Unless she needs another boost of sex mojo?”

* * *

“They’re in Syria,” Lorelei announced as she strode out into the living room. None of her injuries from the battle remained. “Damascus, to be exact.”

“Holy shit, Syria?” asked Jason. He looked up from the couch, where he sat with a laptop computer on the coffee table. “Those assholes teleported him all the way out there?”

“I don’t believe it was intentional,” she said. “Molly and Onyx were likely more correct than they knew about the spell being disrupted. Alex said they had already come a long way to get to Damascus, too. He didn’t say where they started from.”

“Jeez, that’s really not a good place to be. If anyone finds him there, they’ll probably think he’s a fucking spy or something crazy.”

“He knows,” she assured him. “That’s why they didn’t tell me how they plan to get back. It’s not safe to say too much over the phone.” Lorelei looked over Jason’s shoulder at the internet browser on the computer. “Anything interesting?”

“No, but it’s not like we expected anything,” he grumbled. “Whatever they did to cover up the fight and the fire alarm was good enough to keep the whole thing out of the news. I can’t find anything. Even that on-scene report we saw happening when we left isn’t online.”

“I expected no less.”

“Drew texted me a couple minutes ago. Said they’re on the way back.”