Red Moon Demon (Demon Lord) (39 page)

“What would you say if I offered you a job
as
live
-
in security and occasional backup
,
for an obscene amount of money? It would mean putting up with me, Old Man, and a spirit leopard.”

“Full medical?” he asked.

“Sure.”

He grinned
, suddenly looking decades younger
. “
I am honored
, Deathwalker-sama.”

THIRTY-NINE

“Every now and then, the angel on my

shoulder wakes up from its drunken

stupor.”

—
Caine Deathwalker

There was a lot at stake. This had to work, or I wasn’t getting paid. The gold was fine, but I really needed a new demon sword.

The garage light was on. The place
was
quiet except for the low hum of the industrial-sized
freezer
.
Haruka’s body
lay stretched on top of the lid. Her legs dangled off
.
There was a beautiful innocence to her.
F
ragileness
defined
her sleep, like an illusion about to break.

The
amulet
lay heavy in one
of my
hand
s. T
he red pearl—light as a dream—
lay
in the other. Two paths of magic. Two choices of insane magic.

The amulet was a tool of death, and able to manipulate its various states. Its power was god-level now
,
since Salem
linked
it to entropy. E
ach moment
of death
the universe felt was a source of energy that
c
ould make
a necromancer
drunk with power
.

The pearl possessed power poured from the heart of a goddess. It was a thing of miracles, and would have its costs to use.

Love
and
death.
Fire and ice.
Committing to either would change me in ways I couldn’t yet see.
Change my magic
—c
hange m
e
.

My dragon magic was a literal pain in the ass sometimes, but it made sense. There is a cost to all things. The necklace steals its power. There’s no true cost, no balance. That offended me to the core. I made my choice, dropping the necklace into the large side
-
pocket of the cargo pants I
wore
.

M
y
nerves shrieked with outrage, as if a straight razor were carving its initials in my often-abused flesh. This was the price I paid to heighten my senses
so they
enveloped
Haruka
,
while I
invoke a healing spell to help with the lightning damage she’d taken. That took care of my contribution.

Now for phase two
.
I pointed a fist at her. Inside the fist was the red pearl. I opened my heart to it and a pulse of power hit me
.
I was suddenly able to hear the heartbeat of the universe
, o
r maybe
the heart of
a Red Lady
,
far away in her own private universe
where abandoned suitors and half-alive fragments of her own thoughts
kept her
company
.

I
heard
Haruka’s
heart take a
double
beat
,
then a stronger one
. S
he to
ok
a shallow breath
. Then another. I was slightly disappointed that there were no Hollywood special effects
from the pearl
.
I felt Haruka trying to
live once more. Damaged by lightning, then by being frozen, h
er
pale, sexy flesh
resisted. I understood. I was calling her back to a universe of pain. It takes courage to face that.

“C’mon, Haruka, you can do this. Your father’s waiting on you.”

I’ve heard of fashionably late but this is ridiculous.

I put my hand over her heart and
,
with
my
gut
w
r
ench
ing
from
pain
,
used
a
low-grade
fire spell
to
warm her
. H
er fingers and toes
were
frost bit,
but the damage unmade itself as dragon magic hazed her. If I didn’t know better, I’d think my power alone was bringing her back.

I
put the red pearl in a different pocket from the necklace. No way was I taking a chance on those two things getting together, and maybe fighting it out, and taking down half of L.A.

I
picked Haruka
up and a
soft sigh spilled from her lips
.
I cradled her
against
me and carried her into the house.
The door
to the kitchen stood open.
I
’d
almost forgotten
Old M
an was watching
. Passing him,
I
was pinned by
his
eyes.
They were hard to read.

He said, “Sometimes, I am not
disappointed
in you.”

High praise, coming from him
. I said,
“Done, now where’s my gold
,
and sword
.
”

I didn’t stop for him
to
answer
.
I knew Hiro would pay his debt. I was carrying the reason for that in my arms. Her eyes fluttered as I passed through the kitchen.

I felt a shudder of revulsion. Th
e
room reminded me of another kitchen where the subconscious of a goddess nearly took my arm off

In the living room
,
I walked to
the
couch
and la
id
Haruka down.
On the back of the couch, there was a charcoal and burgundy striped blanket that Angie had used when she
’d
stayed the night. I picked up the blanket and spread it over Haruka.

Old Man went to the
o
ffice and opened
the door
.
Hiro
stood just
inside;
waiting in the hell only a parent c
an
know when a
child
’s life
hangs in the balance
.

He
came close
, sinking to his knees beside the couch, never really seeing me. He gathered Haruka in his arms, crying as her eyes opened and she murmured soothing words to him.

Old Man stood
just behind me
. He
put his hand on top of my head.
“You did good
,
Caine”

“Drink, gold
,
sword, in that order, Old Man
.
”

He laughed and went
in
to the bar
. W
hile he made drink
s for a calibration,
I made sure Haruka was still okay
. H
er pulse was strong
, h
er flesh warm
,
and vibrant with life.

Haruka said,
“
Didn’t I
…
die?
”

“Yeah
,
” I said, “but you’re
fine now
.”
I
went
to grab my drink
from
Old Man.
Side by side, we stared into the living room from the bar.
Family, so embarrassing
.
I looked at Old Man
.
“I’m so glad you
’
r
e
not like that
.
I would have to shoot you.”

Sometime later,
Hiro
placed a call. A car must have been cruising the neighborhood because it was only minutes later that a knock came to the door.
I opened it and four
black-suited
m
e
n
—replacements for those Salem had killed—
walked in car
ry
ing
brief
cases
.

I
led
them
in
to where Hi
ro
and Haruka waited. If the men wondered why the daughter of their new employer sat on a couch, naked under a blanket, they didn’t say so.

Old Man redirected the men into the
office
and had them lay
the cases on the bar
,
open
ing
them to show the shine
of
gold bars
,
a
hundred ounces
each. T
he
last
man had a long
er
case
. H
e opened
and turned it so I could see.

I got hard at once.

It was the new demon sword.
I could hear
its
lust for blood,
and feel its murderous aura.
I smile
d, went over and
petted t
he sheathed blade.
W
e are going to have so much fun.

Hiro said to the Old Man,
“Thank you for all you have done for
us
.
”

“It was nothing
,
little Hiro
.
”

Yeah, nothing for you
—y
ou weren’t the one who almost got killed a bunch of times
..
.
I felt a
deep
chill
of fear ice up my sp
ine
.
…And nearly got
married
.
I
picked up a drink and threw it back. That braced me
, chasing the horror away
. I returned to the living room to see my clients off.

Haruka bowed
deeply
.
“
Caine-sama
, I thank you for my life. I cannot express
my gratitude
.
”

I waved off her words. “You
r
gold is reward enough.”

Haruka
,
Hiro, and
his m
e
n left
.

Old Man
followed me back to the bar. He watched as I caressed the gold lovingly. He said, “Some of that is mine, you know.”

My hands stilled on the gold. “Oh, yeah, that’s right.
”

He continued to stare.

The silence became annoying.
“What?” I said.

“Are you going to make me tell
him?
”

“I’m sure
Hiro wi
ll
notice
, once she gets hungry
.
”

“That was not
part of
the deal
.
”

I shrugged.
“The deal was to
protect
her
. Sure, she died, but I brought her back, no harm, no foul.”

“She’s a succubus now. The ritual in the Mission took effect. Hiro might not consider that
no harm
.”

“He can bite me,” I said. “S
he’s alive
. W
ith a little help learning to control her
new nature, no one will ever
know
. And if they do, her power will ensure their loyalty so they don’t go around blabbing.”

“She’s liable to take over the entire clan. As a succubus, Haruka will not be satisfied with the traditional role of a Japanese maiden.
”

“
You
’
r
e
right,
but the
deal was for her to be alive and safe
.
”
I went behind the bar and started a couple more drinks.

Old Man said,
“That’s why I’m letting you keep
your share of the
gold and
the
sword
. However,
you
need to give
the amulet to me
.
”

I
cocked an eyebrow at him.
“No one should have
it. No one should use it.
”
To g
et
my point across,
I repeated words he
’d
t
aught
me as a child, “True power is not given
, an
d
never comes without a cost.”

He
glared at me. B
efore he could
argue,
his phone
’s
ring tone went off, playing
Bad Moon Rising
. His face lit up as he answered,
“Hey Achill
…
what?
R
eally
,
no problem bud
.
Yeah
,
I got vintage port chilling for the game
. Hmmmm. Oh, n
o problem
,
I’ll get him on it
right away.
”

I
’
ve a bad feeling about this.

The Old Man put his phone away, “
H
ey
,
there
are
a lot of new wolves
to deal with, and
Angie can
’t
handle them,
alone. S
he called Achill for help
,
for a new Alpha to be sent here.”

I didn’t like it, a wolf territory here in L.A., but since the night of the Mission, we’ve had clanless wolves running wild. That wasn’t good either.

Old Man said, “Achill
told her he could still feel William
out there somewhere, alive, more or less. L
ong story
made
short, they can
’
t find hi
m so we’ve been commissioned to do so.”

“William is one of the people I intend
to
kill. Soon. Let them bring in a new Alpha to subdue the wolves, and take them out of my territory.”

“
With the slayers setting up their own territory here,
we need the strength of the wolves. The council ha
s
approved it, so
don’t kill
William
… again
.
”

“
I know someone who I can call for a line on the Alpha, but if you expect me to swallow this, you’re going to have let me keep all the gold.”

Old Man looked at me with a mix
ture
of pride and irritation
.
“
Fine, but I want the necklace.
”

“
Only if you destroy it.”

“I intend to.”

“Okay.” By the time he said
fine
,
I had my phone out
,
search
ing
my contact
list
. I
found
her
and
pressed the button for
the
long distance call
down to Texas
.
“Hey Cassie, I need some…
”

“Caine! Are you in town?”

“Sorry, no.”

“Hey, Grace got that sword you recommended. Now she just has to learn to do something with it besides ninja poses.”

“Great, listen, I need some help retrieving a body picked up by the PRT here in L.A. Do you happen to know where they might have…?”

“Yeah, sure. Got a pen?”

“Just a second.” I made a writing motion in the air and Old man slid a writing pad and pen across the bar to me. “O
kay
, go.” I wrote
down
the address she gave me and ended the call.

“
You’ve got a contact in the PRT?”
Old Man asked.

“
S
he’s not
local, or I would have called her for backup against the warlock.
”
I started for the door.

“Where are you going?”

I waved goodbye without looking back. “No rest for the wicked.”
I got out of the house, and
strolled next door to
William
’
s place
.
I
knocked on the door and waited f
o
r
Angie
.
I hear
d
her
moving
in the
house
and a second set of footsteps
as well. T
he door didn’t open
,
but I
felt the presence of two people on
the other side.

I kicked the door. Hard.
“Okay, get out here
.
I’m going to pick up William and need you to come along to make sure he stays calm
.
I’m doing this for Achill
so I’m not going to kill William. Again.”