One Handsome Devil (19 page)

It wasn't exactly wonderful for the ego, but Katra was a big girl. She'd celebrate if Sara found someone who could make her really happy. “Sara looked really good tonight, didn't she?"

"Oh, yes. She is a very attractive woman. Do you think she's serious about Jack?"

Check. She could definitely erase one Reverend Bob from her dance card. The man obviously had it bad for Sara.

"Like I said, they've only been together for a little while. I couldn't say how serious they might be."

"I sort of got the idea he was moving in with her. I'm afraid Maura wouldn't approve."

If Reverend Bob thought Katra was going to respond to that kind of statement, he didn't know much about friends. “Hum."

He let that stand for a moment. The taxi pulled in front of Sara's apartment. Reverend Bob opened the taxi door, then turned and, for the first time since they left the bar, really looked at Katra. “The more I think about it, the more I realize that we would have been better off if I'd let you handle the control pad like you wanted."

No kidding. He might be kind of cute but he was all thumbs. Still, she'd been around long enough not to blurt out anything like that. Men had such fragile egos. “They are a little tricky."

"Not to mention your answers were usually right and mine were wrong a lot of the time. I really thought my years of college would pay off."

As if Katra didn't have a few years of college as well. Dallas might not have the world's best public school system but they didn't hire high school dropouts to be teachers, either. “Hey, we'll do better next time."

"After that drubbing, you wouldn't mind being my partner again?"

Just when Katra had been sure Bob was only interested in Sara, he came out with something like that. “I'll play with anybody who's willing to try,” she said. “If you want to know the truth, I could get addicted to that game. I'd probably play bar trivia every night if I could get away with it."

"We'll have to go out and try it again, then. There wouldn't be so much pressure if it was just the two of us."

Well knock her over with a feather. Unless she'd guilted him into asking by being so enthusiastic. Still, even if it was a
just a friend
date, she'd be able to play her game and have something to do instead of grading papers all night. “Call me some time. I'm in the book. We'll see if we can rack up some scores."

"I'll do that.” Reverend Bob fumbled for his wallet to pay the driver. “We probably beat them back. I'll come in with you, or we could get a cup of coffee somewhere while we wait."

This was the part of the date Katra hated. Should she kiss him or not? It hadn't really been a date and she still wasn't sure whether he was interested in her or in Sara so she figured she could let him make the first move. But should she invite him in for a cup of coffee? He had taken her home, after all.

She decided she didn't have to. It was Sara's apartment, not hers. She wasn't ready to have Rev. Bob making moves on her and she definitely didn't want to see him make goo-goo eyes at Sara. “You don't have to walk me up."

"The heck I don't. You don't know whether that Derrick creep is hanging around."

Katra had managed to put Derrick out of her mind for a few moments but she didn't think he had gone away for good. “I guess I forgot about him. Thanks.” The lump in her throat surprised her. He was concerned about her.

Bob knocked on Sara's door. He'd stepped up to it unerringly, clearly knowing exactly where it was. Strangely, Katra couldn't remember ever hearing Sara mention Reverend Bob coming over to her house.

He waited a few moments, then knocked again. “I thought so. They looked like they wanted to be alone for a few minutes."

"Maybe.” With Jack's ability to zap things where he needed them to be, it was more likely they couldn't come to the door because they were doing the nasty. Katra couldn't tell Reverend Bob that. It would break his little heart.

"I don't suppose you have a key?"

Sara hid her key under her mat, like half the population of the world. Katra didn't think Bob was ready to learn that. “Huh-uh."

"In that case, I noticed a Seven-Eleven down the street. How about if I buy you a cup of coffee."

"Add a donut and you're on."

They were halfway down Sara's street when Katra saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. Panic settled on her like a weight on her chest making it hard to breath. Could Derrick have followed them here?

The furtive movement resolved into Sara and Jack sneaking toward Sara's apartment. To Katra's surprise, Jack seemed to be limping.

"Hey guys,” she shouted, “get lost?"

"Almost,” Sara answered. Her voice sounded shaky.

"I'll have to take a rain check on the donut, Bob,” Katra told him, almost shoving him toward his taxi. Jack had lost his hat and Katra didn't want the Reverend Bob to look too closely. “Don't forget to give me a call some time,” she added.

"Believe me, I will.” He paused a beat. “Do you think Sara needs help?"

Katra looked at her friend, then shook her head. Sara's eyes had the glazed look of a woman who'd been sexed within an inch of her life. “I'll take care of her,” she told him.

"Right. I'm off then."

He bent to brush his lips against her cheek, then stepped back to the waiting taxi.

Katra stood frozen for a moment. What had that kiss been about?

"What was that about?” Sara said, echoing Katra's thought.

"I have no idea. But what happened to you?” Sara looked a bit of a mess but that could be explained by wild sex in a tree somewhere. Jack, on the other hand, looked like he'd been hit by anti-aircraft fire. His jeans were torn, one of his cowboy boots had lost a heel, and his black leather jacket leaked a thin trail of smoke.

"Let's go inside. I'll tell you there.” Sara led them to her door and opened it.

Sara's house looked like it had been caught by a storm and tossed. A sinking feeling swept over Sara. “What..."

"Stay here and let me check it out,” Jack growled.

Sara nearly growled back. Jack was a mess. He was barely walking and that wasn't because he'd messed up his boots. One of his hands was so badly charred she could smell the sulphur. If he could put his hands into the hot steel of Katra's engine without anything more than an oil smudge, Jack had to be truly hurting.

"It's my house."

"It could be dangerous."

Now he was pulling the macho act. “If someone's still in there, what would you do, bleed on them until they begged for mercy?"

"Demons don't bleed."

"Whatever you call that red stuff."

Jack seemed weaker by the moment but he naturally insisted on pushing ahead. “I don't call it anything. It isn't happening, couldn't be happening."

Denial from the demon who said he couldn't lie. Blood's closest cousin seeped through Jack's white shirt gluing the fabric to his chest. She had to get him inside and bandaged up. This house-tossing complicated an already bad situation.

Katra reached into her purse and pulled out a small pistol. “Why don't you two shut up. I'll go in and should check things out."

Sara wouldn't have been more surprised if her grandmother became a hippy. “What are you doing with that gun?"

"I've got a madman after me. I need some protection. When he heard my story, Reverend Bob gave this to me."

"Put that thing away before you shoot all of us."

"I know how to shoot."

She might at that. In high school and college, Katra had hung out with a
kicker
crowd. “I don't care. Whoever did this is gone by now.” Sara paused a beat. “Or whatever did it. Was this another imp attack, Jack?"

He shook his head, but uncertainly. “There is still a flaw in the fabric between dimensions but I don't think it's large enough to let even imps through.” He sniffed the air cautiously. “No sign of them. Of course that wouldn't prevent them from reaching through and causing problems. Your burglars might have been perfectly ordinary thieves influenced to come this way."

That wasn't very reassuring. She turned to Katra. “Give me the gun and I'll make sure there are no human imps. And keep Jack here with you. He wants to get himself killed."

Katra glared at Jack, then at Sara. “I'm not giving you the gun. You don't even know which end to point with.” She was gritting her teeth and looked angry enough that she might just shoot Jack and Sara to shut them up. Finally she sighed. “Let's all go."

It was possibly the dumbest idea Sara had ever heard but she wasn't going to win this argument. “All right."

Jack dumped his jacket and charged ahead. From the back, he looked even more damaged than he had from the front. One of his wings hung crooked down his back. The other had lost the membrane between the struts and beat the air ineffectually as he walked.

Sara couldn't resist. Trying her most delicate touch, she brushed her fingers against the charred flesh of his wing.

It radiated heat, nearly burning her fingers at her light touch. Jack grunted the instant her hand contacted his wing. “I'm all right."

"Oh, sure. Will it heal?"

"Eventually."

She waited patiently. He hadn't given her the information she wanted and she knew he would. Finally he broke down.

"Demons recover from physical wounds quickly. If something purely physical had ripped my wings or bent my ribs, I'd be able to recover in a few seconds. A church is something else."

Jack led the way into her bedroom. Whoever had tossed her house had paid special attention to her bedroom. Her underwear lay scattered around the room with the lacy things she bought for special occasions in a pile in the middle of her bed.

She stared at them, trying not to think of what some pervert might have been doing. It was hopeless. She'd have to throw everything away and start over. There was no way she would put anything here next to her body.

Jack had closed his eyes and was turning around the room like a hound with a scent.

"What are you picking up?” she demanded.

"It was Derrick, wasn't it.” Katra made it a statement rather than a question. She flipped off the safety switch on her automatic and fed a shell into the chamber.

"His scent remains but the man is gone,” Jack announced.

"So we go and get him. This is sick."

Sara's knees unlocked and threatened to toss her to the ground. She felt violated, as if the man had attacked her rather than just an apartment she rented. “Why would Derrick do this to me? We hardly knew each other in high school and it's been years."

Jack closed his eyes but his glare made it obvious he was looking for something at a level beyond the visible. Finally he shook his head. “I thought he might have come here looking for Katra and lost his temper but the aura is wrong for that. He came knowing that she wasn't here. He blames us for his striking out with Katra."

"
Us?
He doesn't even know you exist."

"That would make sense but it may not be true. Either angels or demons could have communicated with him."

"Demons, definitely. Everyone knows how evil they are.” Katra her gun around, accidentally clanging it against Sara's living room light. Glass shrapnel exploded around them.

Jack inhaled quickly, then blew hard, catching the flying glass before it could descend.

"Present company excepted,” Katra continued. She blushed, switched on the safety, and put the gun back in her purse. “Uh, sorry about your light fixture."

Sara felt hysterical laughter bubbling up inside her and bit her tongue to hold it back. The last thing she needed now was to completely wig out. “I always hated that thing anyway. It came with the apartment and I was always too broke to replace it. So now I have no excuses."

Sara piled the wadded underwear, bras, and stockings into a mound on her sheet, then yanked off the sheet, forming a Santa Claus sack. “I'm going to toss this."

"Shouldn't we call the police?” Katra asked.

"I'm not going to let more men paw through my underwear. Even if they are supposedly helping."

Katra nodded grimly. “We can take care of him ourselves. Do your magic, Jack. Find the man and let's go beat the snot out of him."

He looked concerned. “I should be able to, but I can't."

"You found him with no problems when Katra made her wishes,” Sara reminded him.

"I had some luck. At least it seemed like luck at the time. Right now, I seem to be fresh out.” He looked battered but his eyes still glinted with determination. Jack might be an evil demon from Hell, but he wasn't a quitter.

Sara hefted her sack. “We're not doing anything until I get this trash out."

Jack intercepted her and took the impromptu sack from her arms. “You two stay here and I'll take this out.” He paused and glared at Katra.

"What?"

"Do me a favor. Don't shoot me when I come back."

"Would my bullets hurt? I thought you were a big bad demon."

"Good question. Remember, though, your friend Reverend Bob gave you the gun. If just brushing against a church can do this to me, think what a weapon from the church could do."

He left the two women staring at each other.

Jack returned from the Dumpster and stalked through Sara's apartment. The aura of her one-bedroom home was badly distorted. The spells that had called him out of Hell in the first place, then the additional spells that had opened a gateway for the imps, accounted for plenty of the disturbance. Derrick's malevolence added to the grinding wrongness.

There was more, of course. Through the strong emotions of their time on Sara's bed and the power he'd exerted banishing the imps, he felt a malevolent hatred. Yet there did not seem to be a single focus. No one strand he could grasp and follow to the source.

"You look like you're turning into a zombie,” Katra told him. “Shape up."

"I thought you wanted me to find Derrick for you."

She gave him an evil grin. “Yeah. Do that and then help me decide whether I should put the bullet through his heart or his balls. I'm leaning toward his balls because his heart may be too small to find. I've about given up on his brain. It's probably bulletproof."