Heaven's Key (Demon Hunter Book 1) (9 page)

It was a relief when we finally made it to Massachusetts. I was done with being in a car. The Hellcat was a hundred times more comfortable than my Pinto, but Cole had been a man on a mission and breaks were few and far between. I drew the line when he used a fast food cup for a pee. The man was driven and had a meticulous eye for detail. I could see how that made him good at anything he tried, but if he didn’t learn to relax, he was going to be dead before he was thirty.

We didn’t go into Boston but stopped at a small town about thirty miles outside of it. The town was a typical fisherman’s village. The piercing cries of seagulls drowned out the roar of the waves, and the closer we got to the wharves, the more pungent the smell of fish. The sun danced around on the water. It was a perfect day in a quaint little town.

Cole seemed to know where he was going and soon we parked at the bottom of a steep hill. A tiny house perched at the top. As we got closer, the other side came into view; a sheer cliff with a small beach at the bottom. The tide was out, revealing the seaweed- and rock-carpeted ground. The briny odor of seaweed baking in the sun reminded me of home and it made me want to get as far away as possible.

It’s strange how a smell can grab you and bring you back to a place you don’t want to go. You close your eyes and you’re there. My chest tightened and I was having a hard time breathing. I would deal with it, though. I wasn’t going to tell Cole; some things you couldn’t tell anyone.

The house needed a coat of paint and the door was badly scratched by a family dog. It was old and not looked after. If it had been on a DIY show, they would say it had good bones, but I was betting they had a little arthritis. Cole had to knock three times before a short stocky man came to the door in his underwear.

“Jeez, Tom, I told you we’d be here in twenty. You could have dressed for the occasion.”

“Sorry, Bird. I fell back asleep. Justin didn’t come home last night and I was all over looking for that sea cow.” A cigarette bobbed between his lips as he talked.

“I thought we agreed you’d wait and let us handle it?” Tom backed up and left the door open for us to enter. As I tried to keep my eyes above the waist, we followed him inside.

“Come in; I’ll put the kettle on and I’ll fill you in.” Judging by the way his underwear hung from his ass, he’d lost weight recently. Something felt off about him.

The kitchen was small but homey and the kettle was one you put on the stove. Cole made small talk until the whistle signaled that the water was ready. While the tea steeped, Tom described how his son had become distant. He wouldn’t even work the boats anymore and Tom needed him this time of year.

“I tried to get him to open up, but he started staying out all night and sleeping all day. Justin looked terrible; bags under his eyes, and he was losing weight. Then the bodies of his friends started appearing. The first one was a shock; it hit him hard. This is a small town and everyone knows everyone. The whole town was in mourning. Then two more. Three boys who could swim before they could walk were found drowned, floating right beside the main pier.

“I thought it was drugs; maybe he got mixed up in something and was in over his head, you know?” The ash of the cigarette was now longer than the unsmoked end. I sat there listening and waiting for it to fall in his tea.

“I had to know what was going on. I was terrified Justin might be next. I followed him one night. He made his way straight for the pier. She slipped out of the water, naked, the water sparkling along her skin as it caught the moonlight. He had her coat, or pelt, or whatever. She wanted it, but he wouldn’t give it to her. They had a fight and he yelled at her to come. She was screaming at him, but in the end, she did what he wanted.”

A mere second before the ash was about to fall, he placed his cigarette in the ashtray and then topped up our tea. “I didn’t follow them. I was in shock. I wasn’t expecting what I saw, but she was a Selkie, I swear on my life. The next morning, he comes skulking home and we had a blow up. That’s when he started spending less and less time here, until last night, when he didn’t come home at all.” Taking another smoke from his pocket, he left it unlit on the table beside his cup.

“Selkies are usually harmless. Some say too curious for their own good, but it’s humans who usually take a Selkie under their power by stealing their hide or skin. If they do that, then the Selkie has to obey whatever he says. It sounds like it’s your son who’s in control.”

“My son wouldn’t make her kill people.”

“I never said he would, but it’s clear we don’t have the whole story. Are we even sure that the Selkie killed them?”

“Three of my son’s friends turn up drowned in the ocean. Kids who could swim before they could walk. The police say they were drunk and walked off the pier, but even drunk kids can swim. Fuck, if drinking and swimming killed ya, I’d have been dead a long time ago.” He looked exhausted. His eyes were narrow slits and they darted constantly between me and Cole.             

“Maybe the police are right?”

“She came on shore to seduce my boy and he’s under her spell. I want her dealt with or I’ll kill her myself.” He slammed his cup down. He’d raised his voice and now he wouldn’t look at us. Being exposed to something you thought was a myth can be shocking enough. It was too much to expect for him to believe his son might be the dangerous one.

“Let us handle it. Jael has worked Selkie cases before and I’ll make sure we find out what’s going on. If she has seduced him and is taking advantage, I’m sure we can sort it out.” Cole put his hand over Tom’s. The man looked my partner in the eye and then pulled his hand away. He wasn’t convinced.

“Fine, I’m just worried about him. He’s always been a good kid and now who knows what he has himself involved in? I love my boy. I’d do anything for him.” His voice wavered and he lit his cigarette.

We finished up our tea and decided to get started. “Is there any place for us to stay around here?”

“The Crow’s Nest B and B. It might have a room.”

The Crow’s Nest, like everything else in the little town, was on the main road and only a couple minutes from Tom’s home. The woman who ran the place was as round as she was tall. Her long black hair fell below her waist and swung like a pendulum when she walked.

“I have one room. It has a queen-size bed.”

“Is there any place else to stay? We aren’t together.”

“I’m the only game in town, I’m afraid. I could have a cot brought up.”

“Yes please,” we said at the same time.

We opened the door to our room to find a nautical gift shop had thrown up on all the walls. Even a giant ship’s wheel in pillow form lay on the bed. I hesitated to put down my bag on the dirty canvas rug. I was really tired of staying in dives.

“You know, if you wanted to cancel the cot so we can fuck again, you could have just asked. I would have said yes; well, probably.” I couldn’t believe he said that. “What? Too soon?”

“Ha, ha, Cole. Is your friend okay? I mean, he doesn’t seem to think his son can do any wrong, but Selkies are gentle creatures normally and his son has her hide. There’s just something off about this whole thing.”

“We don’t know what’s going on. Tom always talked like Justin was the sweetest kid. I don’t want to think he’s keeping this creature against her will, but I’ll admit it seems that way.”

“Let’s go see if we can track him down or any of his friends. If he has any left.”

We decided to start with the local bar. Justin wasn’t twenty-one, but his father said most of his friends hung out there anyway. He wouldn’t be the first kid to drink at a bar before he was of age. The tugboat was on the main drag and when we entered, all eyes turned to us. I’d visited too many small town taverns to count, and when strangers enter one, they’re always given the once over. “You got us; we aren’t from here. Now go back to your beer.”

“Can’t you ever play nice?”

“You know it’s not in my nature, so why try?” Cole rolled his eyes at me. It was very immature.

We approached the bar and ordered a pitcher of draft and nachos. “We’re looking for Justin O’Boyle. Has he been in here lately?” Cole passed two twenty-dollar bills across the bar and didn’t ask for change. The bartender scooped it up.

“Justin hasn’t been here for two nights, which is odd for him. Sit here long enough and he’ll show up.”

We took a seat in a booth with a view of the door. We were about to order another pitcher when a young man walked in with a woman. The bartender nodded at us and then at the couple. Everything about her was forgettable. Her body was average, the clothes she wore were baggy. Her hair was a mousy brown. Then you saw her eyes. They were the green of algae on a rock.

Those eyes were desperate and sad. They were a window into her mind and Justin’s girlfriend gave off such an aura of grief it affected the whole bar. It made me want to rip out Justin’s throat. He was keeping this creature against her will and I was going to put a stop to it.

“Where does this kid get his money? He drinks every night. He has to be paying to stay somewhere. I don’t get it.”

“Maybe he has a job.”

“Cole, stop defending this kid. He’s a bad seed. He’s going to the bathroom. You follow him and I’ll talk to the Selkie.” Cole headed towards the bathroom while I went over to the table.

The Selkie’s green eyes glowed slightly in the dim light. She shrank into the large wooden chair as I approached. “I’m not here to hurt you. I know what you are and I know your people are a peaceful race.”

“I doubt you know much about me or my people, lady.” She was angry with me and I couldn’t figure out why.

“I can protect you if he’s hurting you. Does he have your pelt?”

“This isn’t really any of your business. I can handle this myself.”

“If you can handle it, then why don’t you take your pelt back and go?”

“I…” She turned her head and looked towards the bathroom.

“How did he get your pelt in the first place?”

“How does anything shitty happen? Sometimes people pick on those who don’t have the power to protect themselves. When that happens, you just have to make the best of a bad situation.” She looked towards the bathroom.

“I can protect you. What’s your name?”

“You can’t pronounce my name; you can call me Fiona.”

“I can make Justin release you. Then you can go back to your family.”

Fiona shook her head and turned away. That was it. I couldn’t get her to talk anymore. I didn’t know what to make of it. She was scared but didn’t want my help. She clearly didn’t trust me, but if Justin was her only experience with a human, that would make sense.

Cole came back to the table. “He didn’t go to the washroom. He snuck out the back. By the time I knew what he had done, he was long gone.”

It looked like Justin was the monster this time, but I don’t kill humans. I just didn’t know how we were going to convince the cops what he had done, let alone Justin’s dad.

“Why don’t you stay here with Fiona and I’ll go looking for Justin?”

“I doubt he’ll come back here, but I’ll wait. If you find him we can all go back to Tom’s place and get this mess straightened out.”

I knew the only thing that Justin faced was a bullet or jail time. “I’ll go around to some of his other haunts.”

“Be careful. I have a bad feeling about this place,” I agreed.

I knocked on a few doors and that got me nowhere. Either no one was home or they clammed up as soon as I asked about Justin. The last place on my list was a pool hall that looked exactly like you’d expect. The place was empty except for the guy behind the bar.

“What can I get you, babe?”

I didn’t have time to school this asshole on calling strange women “babe.” “Have you seen Justin around today?”

“Yeah, he was here about a half hour ago. He was talking to Timmy, his friend, and then they both left.”

“Do you know where they went?”

“I’m not his babysitter, honey.” This guy was stretching the limits of my patience.

“Look, I need to find him. His dad is worried.”

He looked at me for a second, then shrugged his shoulders. “I think they were talking about going to the docks.”

“Thanks.” I handed him my card. “Can you give me a call if he shows up?”

“Yeah, no problem.” I didn’t get the feeling he was going to call, even if Justin showed up.

I walked down towards the docks. The boats were coming in, loaded with the catch of the day. The seagulls happily followed them in, screaming all the way. It was a busy place and if they were here, finding them was going to be a difficult task. They likely knew every fisherman down here and that meant they would be welcome to hide on any of the boats. I decided to go back and see if Cole had any luck.

When I got back to the bar, I found it as empty as the pool hall. The guy behind the bar was no help and I was beginning to wish I was in the Hellcat again. All this walking was tiring me out. I called Cole’s cell and it went right to voicemail. When he didn’t call me back right away, I got worried. He was supposed to wait for me.

Running back to Tom’s place reminded me how out of shape I was. I had to take it slow up the hill to his home to catch my breath. Nothing looked out of the ordinary as I walked up the driveway. The Hellcat was there, as was Tom’s truck. No one answered when I knocked, but the door was unlocked, so I slipped inside. Tom’s house was dark. All the curtains had been closed and only a tiny bit of light filtered through.

All the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. Fuck; what was going on? I yelled for Cole, but it was Tom who answered. “He’s on the shitter; come on down.”

I pulled out my gun and took off the safety. Cole was in trouble, and I was walking into a trap. There was no question in my mind. I knew these bastards were up to something before we even got here. Selkies were not a violent people, but you could always count on humans to fuck you over.

The stairs were steep and dark and the basement was too. Stopping before I got to the bottom, I could just make out a figure in a chair right in front of me. It was Cole. He was struggling to get up, but he was duct-taped in place and gagged. I backed up one stair.

The steps above me creaked. Before I could turn, something hard came down soundly on my head and someone shoved me down the rest of the steps. My head hit again, clicking my teeth together.

Pain screamed through my whole body. I could feel blood running down my neck. Blurry shapes swarmed all around me. I had to get away. My legs swept around, tripping the person closest to me. Cole’s muffled screams warned me in time to roll away from the person on the floor next to me. The floor where I had been absorbed a loud thud. I might not have lived through that one.

Training had taught me to never let go of my gun and it was still in my hand. My vision was starting to clear, but it was still too dark to be able to use my gun with any precision. I couldn’t risk hitting Cole by mistake. My mind raced through every option. Scurrying into the corner with my back against the wall, I pointed my gun towards the room, hoping they had no fucking clue that I couldn’t see a thing.

“Fuck off. Everyone just fuck off and stay where you are.” I needed a minute to take in what was going on. My vision was clearing and I could see most of the basement now. Tom and his son were standing close to Cole. Fiona was sitting on a couch up against the opposite wall. Both men and two others stared at her. She was clearly in charge.

“You screwed up, John. You didn’t hit her hard enough.”

“I hit her as hard as I could. It ain’t my fault she got a hard head.”

“What the fuck is going on? I thought you were old army buddies? Why is Cole tied to a chair looking like you almost beat him to death?”

Tom just shrugged. “We wanted him to help us, but when it came down to betraying you, he was having none of it, no matter how much we beat him.”

“I don’t even know you. Why are you doing this? We came here to help.”

“No, you don’t, but unfortunately, we know you. We wish we didn’t, lady.”

“Stop speaking in fucking riddles and tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“One night, a creature came to my door. He was dressed in a black hooded robe. I was told that to look upon his face would mean madness and I believed him. He radiated this kind of cold that got in your bones. I didn’t warm up for days. He told me we had to kill you. I don’t kill innocent people, so I refused.

“He laughed. It was a noise that gripped my gut, doubling me over in pain. Then it was gone. The next day, the first of our kind was found dead in the water. I had to consult the others. This whole town is descendants Selkies. We’re a peaceful people. We didn’t want to hurt you, Jael, but a few days later, two more of our kind were found dead. When we were asked again to kill you, we said yes. I really didn’t want to hurt Cole. He’s a rich asshole, but we served together, and that means something, but if I have to choose between you two and the people I love, there is no contest.”

This was not good. I didn’t want to die, but I couldn’t be the reason a whole town was wiped off the map. Cole was trying to tell me something, but his expression was hard to read because his eyes were swollen shut. I needed to buy myself more time so I could clear my head and think straight.

“Who wants me dead?”

“We can’t tell you that. We likely already pissed him off screwing up like this. It was supposed to be a quick divide and conquer.”

“I’ll kill you all if you don’t start talking.”

Justin looked between Fiona and his father. He was going to crack. “We just want to be left alone. Ziminiar threated us with death and eternal hell. I never wanted it to happen. I swear. Dad wanted no part of it until that demon bastard said I was next.”

Letting these people die because of me was not going to happen and I was beyond pissed that they had used Cole to get to me. This demon must have been too scared to come himself or send his minions. It lent more credence to Cain’s story if that were true. If he killed me himself, then he might have to answer to Cain. If I died during a regular hunt, no demon would get blamed.

My head had finally stopped ringing. I had a plan—a plan Cole was going to be pissed about, a plan even I didn’t like, but it was the only solution I could think of that didn’t involve my death or the death of a whole village of Selkies.

“Untie Cole.” I pushed my way up the wall into a standing position. “I think I have a plan that will save us all. I’m not going to be responsible for the death of your whole village.” No one moved. “Untie him or I’ll change my fucking mind and walk away and let you deal with Mr. Big Black Robe.”

Tom stood still for an eternity, watching me and sizing me up to see if he had any choice. He looked back to Fiona, who nodded. “No offense, but a little thing like you is never going to be able to take on the thing that came here.” He took a switchblade from his pocket and started to cut the rope.

“You nick him and you’ll lose a knee cap.”

Once Cole’s hands were free, he reached up and tore off the tape across his mouth. “You fucking asshole, I’m going to rip you apart with my bare hands.”

“Cole, calm down. Let’s try to keep the bloodshed to a minimum.”

When Cole was free, he stretched out his stiff muscles and punched Tom in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. I figured he deserved at least one punch. Cole’s face looked bad. They had really worked him over.

“Dad?”

“Stay right there, Justin. I’ve killed things a lot scarier than you. Your dad deserved that and more. Now, Cole, check them for weapons and then we can get busy with the duct tape.”

He recovered two knives and brass knuckles off of Justin. “Really? Brass knuckles? You’re a Selkie from a tiny fishing village. Why would you have those?”

He just glared at me. Answering questions was no longer an option, as Cole had placed duct tape over his mouth. When everyone was tied up, Cole came over to hear what I had in mind.

“So what’s the plan?”

“Please hear me out before you freak out. I’m going to ask you-know-who to come.”

“Fuck that. Let’s just walk away.”

“I can’t. These people were brought into this because of me. They lost friends because of me.”

“They lost people because of some demon. Don’t take this on, Jael. We don’t need him to come solve this. If you really need to do something, let’s summon this asshole and kill him ourselves.”

“We have no idea how strong this guy is. We might be walking right into his hands. Cain can handle this and I know he would if I asked him.”

“You call him and he helps us, then you owe him. Is that what you want? You want to owe a demon a favor? Isn’t that Hunting 101?”

“Look, I know it’s crazy. I know it’s wrong and I don’t like it either, but he has the power to do this without hurting any Selkies. This is your friend; don’t you want to help him?”

“Tom ceased to be my friend when he used my face for a punching bag. Fuck. If you do this and he comes through, remember that he isn’t some sweet guy saving you; he’s a monster doing what he has to, to get what he wants. Period, end of story.”

“I’m not going to fall for Cain. The fact that you think I need reminding he’s a monster pisses me off. I will never forget exactly what he is.”

“Fine, but I don’t like it. It feels wrong.”

“I got it, Cole. I fucking got it.

Are they secure? Because I think I should do this upstairs away from the locals. I’m not sure what Cain may ask of me.”

“Fine, let’s go.”

“Maybe you should stay down here and watch them. It might go smoother if I do this alone.”

“No fucking way am I letting you summon him alone. It’s not going to happen.”

He was angry and he had every right to be.
I
thought I was crazy. Cain couldn’t be trusted and no one like him ever did anything unless there was a catch. He would want something and I just had to hope it was something I was willing to give.

As we went upstairs, I could feel Cole’s eyes on the back of my head. His anger was almost palpable and if the roles had been reversed, I would likely tie him up until he came to his senses, but I saw no other option. The Selkies had already lost three of their own. They were innocent bystanders in this. If Cain could make this go away, I had to take the chance and ask him.