Nameless: The Darkness Comes (18 page)

Chapter Thirty-Six

“So?” Seth said to me. He looked better than he had the last time I’d seen him. They must have slipped some perky meds into his breakfast. Now if only they’d give him some pants, things would be almost perfect.

“So I had a showdown with Sparkles’ demon, but she wasn’t there.
And Lydia wasn’t there, either.”

His face fell.
“You didn’t see Lydia at all?”

I chose my words carefully.
“Well, I thought I saw Lydia, but it turned out to be a demon instead. Wearing, you know, Lydia’s form.”

Seth’s face went red. I wanted to smile because it was something that used to happen to my father, and Seth hated that it was passed on to him, but I wisely abstained. This girl has some brains, I tell you.

“Tell me what happened.”

“Trust me, big bro, you don’t want to know.”

“Tell me.”

His voice sounded like rusty metal, sharp and dangerous.
I told him with as little detail as I could. It still made my voice shake and my hands clench, however. I watched Seth turn red and white in quick succession.

“You saw her die.”

“But it wasn’t really her.”

He spit out a word then that I had never hea
rd him use.

“
Did you call an ambulance? The police? Where is she?” He started scrambling out of the bed. His IV caught and he snarled, pulled it out.

“What are you doing?
I told you it wasn’t really Lydia, just a demon who shape shifted to look like her. There’s no need…” Then it hit me. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“Where are my clothes?”
Seth yanked the stickers off of his chest. The machine next to the bed went crazy. “They have to have my stuff here somewhere.” He started to rifle through cupboards.

“After all of this, you still don’t believe me about the demons. You think I’m lying.”

Seth turned to me, exasperated. “I don’t think you’re lying, Luna. I think you’re unstable. My daughter is missing and you see her body lying on the floor of some house, and you just walk away? I don’t care,” he said, and I knew better to interrupt him, “that you think it wasn’t really Lydia. You saw her, and I need to make sure my little girl isn’t dead. Okay? Okay? Get it?”

I got it.

This wasn’t the time to have hurt feelings. I started punching buttons on the monitor until the beeping stopped. “We don’t have time to find your clothes, Seth. Just hold yourself closed. Let’s go.”

He grabbed the back of his hospital gown and I hurried him toward the door.
We hustled down the hall until we passed the nurse’s desk. I was hoping it would be unmanned, but no such luck. I put my arm around Seth like I was supporting him.

“Hi,” I said brightly, strolling by.
I gave the nurse my cheeriest grin. “Just taking him for his daily walk. I’m so glad you guys suggested walking around the floor. It’s really helping his recovery.”

“It does that,” she said and smiled back.
The phone rang and she turned to it.

“This way,” I whispered, and Seth and I darted down a back hall
toward the stairwell.

“This is so very unhygienic,”
he complained, grimacing at his bare feet as we thundered down the stairs. “Think of all the things that go on in the stairwell of a hospital.”

“Shut it,” I commanded.
“I’m still furious at you right now.”

“You know you’ll forgive me later.”

“Not hardly.”

We burst out of the hospital.
A security guard on a Segway eyed us suspiciously. Seth looked ready to push him down and speed away on his laughable machine if he tried to stop us.

As much as I cheered Seth’s newfound fierceness, now wasn’t the time.

“Excuse us,” I said. “Tom here needs a cigarette in the worst way. They said he couldn’t smoke inside the building, and I know we can’t hang around the doors. Could you kind of point us…”

“That way,” the security guard said.
He nodded toward the parking lot.

“Thanks, man,” Seth said.
The guard nodded and zipped away.

“’Thanks, man?’” I asked.
“Is that how a guy jonesing for a smoke talks?”

He glared at me.
I shrugged and led him to my bike. He caught the helmet I tossed and climbed on behind me.

I did a double take.
“Aren’t you going to hold that gown closed? What, you’re going to flash the entire city with your blinding skin?”

“I need both hands to hold on.
I know how you drive.”

A minute later we were on the road, my brother safely ensconced in his hospital gown and my leather jacket.
Hopefully that would be enough to keep us from being pulled over for indecent exposure.

“How close is this house?”
he yelled.

“Not too far.
Relax. I’ll kick up the speed.”

I heard a shriek as I gunned the bike.
I was still angry enough that it gave me a smug sense of satisfaction.

When we arrived at the house, he took a few shaky steps toward th
e front porch before he broke into a full run. He reached the door, and then spun to me, his face pained.

“It’s locked,” he said.

“Locked? No way,” I answered, but he was already peering through the windows.

“It looks
empty.”

“There weren’t any humans in it, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Close enough.” He used his elbow and broke the front window.

“Hey!
Watch my jacket,” I said. My irritation was getting the better of me. He ignored me and cleared the broken glass away as best he could before crawling inside.

I took a deep breat
h before climbing in behind him, steeling myself for what I was going to see. My eyes adjusted to the dim light and I turned to find…nothing.

There wasn’t anything here.
No monsters, no blood, no disembodied voices. It was just a simple house with beige carpet. Not horrifying at all.

“Where was she?”
Seth asked. His body was tensed like a predator before a strike.

“Here.
She was here.” My boots ate up the ground as I strode to the back room. The place was small, harmless. It was almost adorable. I threw open the closet and it was clean. Empty. “This was it.”

Seth dropped to his knees, examined the carpet.
“You said there was a lot of blood?”

I nodded.
“Definitely. Here, and she was attacked over here.” I moved to the center of the room. The carpet was pristine. “This whole area was saturated.”

Seth sighed with relief and let
his head fall to the floor. “The carpet isn’t damp. There’s no way somebody could have got the blood out so completely in such a short time.”

I
crossed my arms over my chest. “Oh, what? I wasn’t lying?”

He slowly stood up
, and I realized he was trembling. He had been terrified and here I was, acting like a jerk. Whether they were physically here or not, the demons were getting their hooks into me.

I stood in the center of the room and began to shout.

“Why are you doing this? What can you possibly gain from toying with me, you hateful, hateful things? Oh, it’s fun to torment the sick girl, isn’t it? It’s fun to see if you can drive her mad.”

“Luna
.” Seth grabbed my arm but I shook him off.

“I’m tired of your stupid games.
You’re a bunch of cowards, taking a little girl and then hiding away when I come after you. When I find you, I’m going to destroy you, do you hear me? I’ll take you apart one by one, and you’ll be sorry you ever messed with us.”

“
Stop, Luna. Just stop.”

My fists were clenched, my chest heaving.
I wanted to tear something to shreds with my bare hands.

Seth looked exhausted.
From worry for Lydia. From dealing with me.

“Seth, I
—”

“No, forget it.
You’re crazy with worry over Lydia. I am, too. We’ll find her. I promise.”

We rode home in silence.
At least I comforted myself with the thought that things couldn’t get any worse.

As usual, I was wrong.

An unmarked and a black and white were pulled into our driveway. Seth climbed off the bike, looking utterly ridiculous in his I-Just-Sprang-Outta-The-Hospital garb.

“Busted,” I whispered.
“The Segway security guy must have ratted us out. Man, that hospital takes its policies way too seriously.”

“Are you Luna Masterson?”
The detective didn’t even flick an eye at my brother, but the officer looked him up and down.

“Sure am.
What can I do for you, o’ fine enforcers of the law?”

“We need to ask you a few questions.
Do you know where Cecilia Masterson is?”

“Sparkles?
Nope. I’ve been looking for her myself.”

He looked grim.
“She’s been reported missing.”

That got my attention.
“Missing? But I just saw her. Where’s Lydia?”

“I know you saw her,
ma’am. An altercation was reported between the two of you.”

Cripes.
They didn’t know I had actually hit her, did they? Or, and this was even worse, had gone after her with a knife? I felt myself pale. Reed Taylor was right: I had gone absolutely out of control back there. Was he the one who turned me in?

The detective’s expression never changed.
“We’re going to need to ask you some questions, ma’am. Here or at the station, it’s your choice.”

“
Here. Come in, guys.” Hope there isn’t anything incriminating lying around. Body parts, for instance. Demon bits.

I opened the door and led them inside.
The officer turned to address my brother, his brown eyes narrowed.

“F
or crying out loud, put on some pants. There are minors in this neighborhood.”

Seth’s eyes met mine.
They were full of worry. “I’m sure Lydia’s fine,” I told him. I grinned, but I didn’t feel it. If even the police didn’t know where Sparkles was, where was Baby Girl?

Chapt
er Thirty-Seven

They grilled me forever. Then they grilled Seth. Being the estranged ex of a missing woman made him a natural suspect.

“I’ll answer any question you have,” he said, dignity rolling off him in waves.
“Just let me fetch some pants first.”

After they left, I grudgingly headed to work.
I wanted to call out more than anything, but Seth was taking an involuntary leave of absence from his job and the medical bills were gonna start rolling in. Besides, working with needles might soothe me.

Yeah, that was a nice thought, but s
tabbing didn’t make me feel any better. I was kind. I slid the needle under my client’s skin with grace and decorum.

It sucked.
Literally.

I wanted to stab something good and hard. I wanted to find a demon, knock it to the ground, and demand it take me to Sparkles.
As soon as I got off work, I was going to do some sleuthing of my own. I’ll track her down, show up on whatever doorstep she was haunting and kindly ask for Lydia back. Who could resist my sweetness? Failing that, I would find other ways to be persuasive.

I was cleaning up my workspace when a shadow fell over my hands.

“What’s up?” I said, looking up.

Nobody was there.

Suddenly my stomach flew around inside like lightning bugs. “Demon Patrol? Is that you?”

No answer, of course. Not that I expected any.
But still, Demon Patrol was the only angel I could ever sense, and if he had stopped hanging around Reed Taylor, maybe it wasn’t too far-fetched that he’d swing by to see me for a minute.

“Demon Patrol, if that
is
you, Reed Taylor has been missing you horribly. I broke up with him. I’m mad as sin at him for Sparkles, and I want to keep him safe and it seems like the right thing to do. It’s…complicated. It’s also making me miserable. I can’t find Lydia. And I caught a glimpse of Sparkles’ demon, and it was the biggest, darkest thing I’ve ever seen. And Seth nearly killed himself thanks to Demonic Sparkles.”

My voice cracked, and I pulled myself together. I glanced around to see if anybody noticed me talking to an empty space in my office.
Not yet. I lowered my voice.

“And if you aren’t Demon Patrol, sorry. I don’t really know how to deal with angels.”
Or people, for that matter. Only demons, and I don’t even do that particularly well. If that isn’t pathetic, I don’t know what is.

The shadow didn’
t move. Neither did I. I just sat there feeling stupid. That’d been happening far too much for my liking lately. Where was the confident Luna who would just waltz into any situation and shoot off her mouth like a Fourth of July firework? I didn’t know where she had gone. I missed her.

“I think I suck,” I confessed to the shadow.
“I used to be full of smart aleck swagger, and now I’m just full of loss. I was even thinking about knifing Sparkles, did you know that? Do you know what kind of person thinks about that sort of thing? Not me, that’s for sure.”

The shadow quivered in excitement or agitation, I couldn’t be certain which.
But it was most likely an angel, and angels were the good guys, so I chose agitation.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do it,” I said in my most soothing and reassuring voice.
It was my Good Luna voice. My Everything Will Be All Right, I Won’t Slaughter Those You Love voice. “I totally won’t knife anybody tonight. I promise. There. Feel better?” If I had cupcakes, I would have offered them to my agitated guest. It doesn’t get any sweeter or nicer than that.

Blood.
I thought. The image of something red and sparkling ran down the walls of my mind. The immediacy of the thought nearly made me gag.
Blood. Blood.

“You
can
not
be Demon Patrol! What kind of sicko angel are you? Uninvited, I say! Uninvited!”

Blood
, blood, blood, blood, blood.

“I’m telling your mother,” I admonished, gathering my things together.
“She would be so ashamed of you. Bad little angel. Bad.”

I stood up and put on my jacket.
Ed, my boss, appeared behind me, silent as the night except for his heavy breathing.

“Luna, we have one more draw.
Latecomer. Can you take him?”

The shadow shivered behind him.
I sighed.

“Aw, Ed.
I just closed my station. Is anybody else open?”

His red cheeks wobbled when he shook his head.
“Nope. Just you. Do you mind?”

Of course I minded. I was stuck in a tiny office with a bloodthirsty angelic presence.

“Don’t mind at all. Send him in.”

“Thanks,” he said.
He dropped the paperwork on my desk. I slid out of my jacket and sat back down to look it over. “I appreciate it.”

Ed was being decent today.
Not lascivious or bug-eyed. The world has officially gone insane.

“Not a problem, Ed.”

“Listen, since we’re the last ones here, I wondered if you wanted to—”

“Bradley Guzman!” I bellowed out.
“I’m ready for you right here. Come and get stuck.”

“Right then,” Ed said, and stepped out of the tiny room.
I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.

Blood
, blood, blood, blood! Blood! Blood, blood!

Cripes, welcome to crazy town!
I felt somebody sit down in front of me, and I automatically smiled.

“So you must be Brad…”
My voice trailed away. The tiny man had dark hair and a beautiful smile. He also had a demon wound around his neck.

“Hello,” he said.
His eyes danced. I nearly vomited on the floor.

“So, um, looks like a standard blood draw.
Ain’t no thing,” I said, and forced my hands to steady as I reached for the alcohol and wipes. “Roll up your sleeve, please.”

“Okay.”
The demon slithered its tongue in and out of Bradley Guzman’s ear. I forced myself to breathe normally.

“How’s your day going, Bradley Guzman?” I asked.
I slid the needle easily under his skin. He didn’t bat an eye. The demon glared at me once and then turned its attention back to its host.

“Pretty good, I guess,” he said.
I filled one vial. Two. I was nearly done, and then I spontaneously reached out for a third vial. It filled easily.

“Awesome to hear.
Apply pressure here, please.” I labeled the vials, taped the cotton pad over the tiny wound. “Good to go, my friend. Have a glorious day.”

“Thanks. You
, too.” He left. The demon raked its claws through his hair. I held the three vials of blood in my hand.

Why had I done that?
It had never happened before. What was I going to do with an extra vial of blood? And what would I tell Ed? “Whoops, I was just having so much fun watching his demon flirt with him, I could have gone on filling vials all day. Thank goodness I came to my senses, ha, ha, ha.”

I’d have to dispose of it.
I ran the two vials to the fridge, and surreptitiously slid the third into the pocket of my jacket. Suddenly I felt a purring sensation, and this time it wasn’t the Mark reveling in my underhanded behavior.

Blood,
the presence seemed to titter inside of my mind. I felt a twinge of emotion, both happiness and a sense of relief.
Blood. Blood!

“Okay, you little savage,” I muttered under my breath.
“I could get fired for this. There had better be a darn good reason you have me siphoning from the demon horde. Angel has some ‘splaining to do.”

Blood.
The presence disappeared.

I drove home carefully.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what type of woman would carry around a stranger’s blood in her pocket. It wasn’t comforting.