Read The Demon You Know Online
Authors: Christine Warren
knew that if he opened his mouth, the only thing to emerge would be a primitive, earsplitting howl of rage.
The Lupine jerked his head toward the club's rear entrance. "Let's go inside. We're not findinganything out here, and Rafe and Tess should be back soon.”
Reluctantly, Rule let himself be led inside. His helplessness maddened him. He commanded anarmy in the Below, planned strategy, and executed operations. Entire squadrons jumped at his faintestword, and no one dared to disobey his orders. He answered to the prime minister and the prime ministeronly. And yet here Rule could not even protect his own woman.
He felt Abby's absence like a raw, bleeding wound in his chest. A huge part of him had been tornaway, a part so new he should barely have noticed the difference, yet here he was, struggling for his nextbreath. For the next beat of his heart. Their relationship was still new. Hell, it practically still had the dewon, yet if this was a sample of what his life would be like without her, he knew he wanted no part of it.
Never fall in love with a mortal.
The advice served as a mantra to his kind, as well as to others like him, the Fae, and even tovampires, to a certain extent. No one wanted to live forever and yet watch the one they loved age anddie before their eyes. No heart, mortal or immortal, had been designed to withstand that kind of trauma. It had never occurred to Rule that he would one day have to face such a decision. There was no turninghis back on this relationship now, but in forty or fifty or sixty years, when Abby's lifetime ended, hewould have to decide whether or not he could go on without her.
He'd never imagined the decision would be so easy. He'd already made it.
Abby was his life. When hers ended, so would his. And since he planned on living a good longtime to come, he was damned well going to get her back tonight.
Rule and Tobias stepped into the club's main hall and nearly bumped into Tess hurrying down it
in their direction. The expression on her face made his heart flip inside his chest.
"What did you find?" he demanded, sprinting the last few steps toward her.
"The old Hudson Shipping and Mercantile Building." She grinned. "It's not right on the water, but
Claire got in within a few blocks. It's one of the few old buildings left after the Battery Park City Authority got done with the neighborhood. Even they weren't willing to take the place on.”
Rule grabbed her by the arm and spun her toward the front entrance. "You can tell me why not inthe car. Tobias, get in touch with Rafe," Rule yelled over his shoulder. "Tell him where we're going andhave him meet us there. Get the same message to Noah. Then gather whoever you can and follow us. Keep it quiet if you can and meet us one block east so we can set a plan. I want everyone there in twentyminutes.”
"Done!”
Rule grabbed a coat from the closet and threw it at her. He had no idea if it was actually hers,
and he didn't care. Across the hall, he barged into Graham's office and grabbed his scabbard and sword and the small utility pack he'd stored there out of respect for Graham's policy of no weapons in the club.
"Rule," Tess protested, yanking the coat off her head where it had landed, "it's rush hour. It's going to take at least forty-five minutes to get down to that part of the city.”
"Not if I have anything to say about it." He grabbed her again and dragged her out the door. She barely managed to grab her purse on the way out. "You're a witch. Get us a cab. Now.”
Tess scowled at him. "Normally I'd tell you to shove it, because this is
so
against the rules. But these are extenuating circumstances." She furrowed her brow, closed her eyes, and chanted something under her breath. Five seconds later a very bewildered-looking cabbie pulled to a stop at the curb in front of them. "I'll try to get the traffic and the lights, too, but there's only so much you can do in this
town, even with magic. If we fiddle with too many lights, we're going to get broadsided, and then we
won't be any good to Abby anyway.”
"Fine. Whatever." He shoved her into the cab and climbed in beside her. "Tell the driver where to
go, make him do it fast, then fill me in on where we're headed.”
"Wow, that debonair charm of yours makes it easy to see why Abby finds you irresistible," Tess
grumbled, but she followed his orders, and just then that was all that mattered.
"The building," he prompted.
"Right." She settled back against the seat of the cab, half-turned to face him. "It was originally
built in 1841 as warehouses and offices for the Hudson Shipping and Mercantile Company. The business belonged to a fellow named Isaiah Homer and his partner, Jonas Chapman. Apparently, these guys made their first fortune in the slave trade, but they saw which way the wind was blowing before the Civil War and tried to clean up their act by switching to coffee and cocoa. And a bit of opium.”
"Much more respectable.”
"Exactly. Anyway, they built the warehouse to store their goods, and rumors were that they dug a two-level basement under it to store some of their less legal imports. Including the last couple of cargoes of slaves they couldn't resist cashing in on.”
"So there were deaths in the building?”
"Where slavers were involved, there were always deaths, but that was only the beginning of the building's shining history. Horner and Chapman went bankrupt just before the end of the Civil War. Apparently, they were convinced the South would remain independent and become a lucrative trading partner for them." Tess shook her head. "Not the brightest souls in the history books. When they had a little trouble unloading the property to pay off their creditors, they decided to pioneer that old classic scam, arson-for-the-insurance-payout.”
Rule could see where this was headed, especially since Claire had made clear the place had more than its share of negative energy. "Let me guess. They didn't wait until it was empty, did they?”
"Not a chance. Torched the thing in the middle of a shift for the sailmakers they'd leased the space to. A hundred and thirteen people died, mostly immigrant women and kids.”
"Dare I hope that was the extent of it?”
"Oh, you optimist, you. Just the beginning. Since that original fire, the building has gone up in
flames three more times. Every time there have been fatalities, but strangely enough, the structure has
never been damaged badly enough to warrant tearing the place down. It's also been the site of two suicides, both during the Great Depression, and at least one murder, in the early fifties. And in 1972 the police found evidence of a bunch of idiots playing at summoning using the old living-sacrifice trick.”
He winced. "Human?”
"The police only ever found evidence of animal bones, but one of the cult members claimed they'd killed a woman. He was diagnosed schizophrenic and delusional, so they pretty much ignored him, but given the history ...”
"Yes. Uzkiel should feel right at home."
CHAPTER THIRTY
By the time she reached the top of the stairway, Abby could smell the sulfur, too. It filled her
nose with its rotting stench and made the task of breathing singularly unpleasant.
Okay, I can smell it now. Do you hear anything that I don't?
I'm not a guard dog,
the fiend snapped.
Don't yell at me. I'm just trying to save our asses. Well, my ass and your whatever you call your non-corporeal backside.
Abby knew it was the tension making them snap at each other, and to tell the truth, she preferred it to being alone with only her own thoughts for company. At least the sniping gave her something else to focus on, other than the knot in her throat and the grinding in her stomach.
She pressed her back against the wall and peered into the darkness. The difference between her
own night vision and Lou's had been startling at first, but now that she'd grown used to seeing with his acuity, she realized the pitch blackness of the building they were in looked dark even to him. She could
see no more than about five feet in any direction, and the inky space beyond that point had taken on a
sinister quality that made the hair on her arms stand on end.
That's not just the dark,
Lou informed her grudgingly.
It's this place. There's some nasty
energy here. Restless spirits and everything. Uzkiel must be in hog heaven.
Are you telling me this place is haunted?
As Salem.
Great.
Abby blew out a silent breath.
Just what I wanted to hear.
Trust me, it's not the ghosts you have to worry about. At least, not much.
You ’re such a comfort to me.
Abby took a moment to steady her nerves, then gave up. She was as steady as she was going to
get.
Which way do you think the smell is coming from?
she thought.
Why?
So I can head in the opposite direction.
Right.
Good. We'll go left. Left worked last time.
Instinctively, Abby reached up to touch her gold and garnet cross. The action, the familiarity of it,gave her comfort. She just couldn't decide if the symbol itself still offered any.
Iguess this is proof of that whole "demons aren't inherently evil" thing.
What is?
The fact that I can be possessed and still wear this. Sounds like proof to me.
It's proof that you can't drive one of us away with a symbol,
Lou agreed,
but that doesn'tmake it proof of the absence of God.
Abby did a double take in the darkness.
You believe in God?
Well, I've never met him, if that's what you're asking. . . .
I'm asking if you believe.