Through a Crimson Veil (15 page)

“A couple names, not the entire group. But their disappearance was why I was talking to Nat. Officially, there’s no word. Personally, I think the task force succeeded and brought demons through. I also think they got more than they bargained for.”

“Safe bet,” Conor agreed. Damn safe bet. Mika was afraid of these dark demons for a reason, and if someone who was part-demon was terrified, humans would be no match for them.

“It was natural for Nat to mention you were looking into demons, too…” Hayes went on.

Damn Nat. Conor heard the question Hayes wasn’t asking, and knew he was going to have to say something. “My houseguest is being hunted by some—she hired me to keep her safe.”

“How did she catch their attention?” Hayes asked.

“You don’t need to know.”

Hayes finally stopped playing with his beer and put his hands flat on the table. “She wasn’t a member of the task force, was she? You’d tell me that, right?”

“She’s not part of that task force, but that’s the last thing I’m saying about her. Client privilege, you know.”

Hayes seemed mollified. “Fair enough.”

“So…You’re looking into the disappearances? Officially?”

Hayes seemed glad to return the favor: “You don’t need to know.”

Conor scowled. He hated hearing his own words echoed back, but he didn’t press. Instead he kept his focus on getting info that would help him keep Mika safe.
“So…did you find out anything useful about these demons from Nat?”

“You mean, beyond what types are here and how dangerous they are? Nope. Nat tell
you
anything?”

“Nope,” Conor agreed. “But I think he knows more.”

“I do too.” Hayes grinned, looking more like the man Conor was used to running into at headquarters. “I also know there’s no way to get him to share something he’s decided not to pass along. I’ve tried to research him and haven’t even been able to prove he exists. If his info weren’t always solid…”

“I know,” Conor agreed. He paused, then decided he better pass the info along: “Nat brought up your name too, that’s why I came looking for you. But if I’ve got the timing right, you talked to him after I did.”

With a scowl, Hayes cursed. “I wish I could pick up half the damn intel that man gets, but I don’t like this. It sounds as if the son of a bitch is maneuvering us. What do you think he’s up to?”

Conor shrugged. “I don’t know, but he might bear watching.”

“Provided either of us can find him again.”

“Yeah,” Conor agreed grimly. “If you discover anything else about these demons, I’d appreciate a call.”

“Ditto,” Hayes replied.

Conor decided to change topics. “So, who are you hoping to spot?” he asked. “That’s why you’re hiding in the corner, right? Don’t know how much good it’s going to do you, Hayes. Everyone’s aware you hang out here.”

That wiped the smile off the man’s face. He said, “If I was worried about that, I would have gone to more effort in disguising myself than using hair gel.”

“Which means you’re hoping someone in particular spots you and comes over. Someone who you’d like to meet in a dark place.” Now Conor smirked, enjoying turning the tables. “Who is she?”

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be, McCabe?” Hayes responded.

Thoughts of Mika, naked and straddling him, popped into Conor’s head. Shit, did he need this? He had to keep his mind off her for a few more minutes. Pulling out a card, he scribbled a series of numbers on it. “Here’s my comm code. Use it if you find out something about those demons.”

Hayes glanced down and tucked the scrap of paper away before saying, “You didn’t put your comm code on your business cards?”

Conor shook his head. “If I put my number on it, people would think I wanted them to call.”

Hayes shook his head and reached into his pocket. “You really are antisocial, man.” He flipped his own card at Conor. “My code
is
on there. You remember to use it too.”

Standing, Conor slipped the card into the back pocket of his jeans and, with a nod, walked away. He was aware that Hayes watched him until the crowd hid him from view, but he didn’t worry about it; the man wasn’t going to follow.

Outside, it was much quieter. Conor reached for his comm unit, but he felt someone come up behind him. Forgetting the comm, he drew power as he turned and pulled his arm back to hurl it. But before he could fire an energy blast, he recognized Nat.

“Whoa, you’ve got a hair-trigger tonight,” the man said calmly; but Conor noticed he kept his hands in plain sight.

“Why the hell are you sneaking up on me?”

“Can I help it if you’re not paying attention?” Nat looked around before closing the distance and saying quietly, “I have something for you. Let’s go around the corner.”

Conor eyed the dark alley suspiciously. An hour ago, he probably wouldn’t have given much thought to following Nat, but after talking to Hayes, Conor was leery. “Hayes had a couple of interesting things to say about you.”

“And now you want to know what game I’m playing.”
Nat grinned, appearing entertained. “Can’t blame you, but you’re looking for conspiracies where there are none. I thought the two of you should work together, not duplicate efforts, nothing more sinister than that. I knew it was a longshot, though. Hayes is as much a loner as you are, McCabe.”

Shaking his head, Conor silently disagreed, but he wasn’t going to argue. “What do you have for me?”

Nat looked around again, and some instinct told Conor the man was nervous, that he wanted off the street and away from the streetlights pronto. “I know what kind of demon you are, and that you can kill me with one good shot,” Nat said softly. “I’m not setting you up, honest, but we can’t talk here.”

When Conor gave a nod, Nat didn’t wait. He all but scurried into the dark opening of the alley. Conor didn’t hurry. Reaching out, he scanned for a foreign energy sig, but sensed nothing unusual. When he joined Nat, he said, “You didn’t seem afraid of the dark demons at our last meeting.”

“Let’s just say I had a refresher course on what they’re capable of and leave it at that.” Nat took another hurried survey of the area, then pulled out something from beneath his windbreaker. “Here.” He held out the weapon butt first.

Conor took it, examined it. It was slightly bigger than a pistol, bulkier, but definitely not a toy. “What is it?”

“The humans who were experimenting with summonings created it. According to their notes, it’s killed every demon they’ve tested it on. Thought you might want it.”

“How’d you get it?” Conor had a lot of other questions, but he started with the most basic.

“Long story, McCabe, long story. This is the prototype and I took all the notes and schematics. I’ve already destroyed those, so you don’t have to worry about the weapon being recreated and used against you or your girlfriend.”

“Why give this to me?” Conor asked.

“Instead of keeping it myself or giving it to Hayes?” Nat shook his head. “I’m going underground—you won’t see me again until the dark ones are dead. Yeah, I’m frightened, and I’m man enough to admit it. Why you and not Hayes? I think you have a better shot at killing the Bak—” He stopped short. “A better shot at killing them than he does. And if your powers aren’t strong enough to take them down, you might need this.”

“Why should I believe you?” Conor asked.

“Because I’ve never lied to you or to your ex-partner.” Nat edged toward the mouth of the alley.

“Where’d you run into the dark demons?” Conor pushed.

“That severed head you were investigating tonight? That was supposed to be me. Take them down, McCabe.” Nat stepped out of the alley. “Good luck.”

Conor didn’t waste any time reaching the sidewalk, but Nat was already gone. What the hell was that man?

He heard a giggle and tucked the new weapon beneath his jean jacket just as the nightclub door opened and a couple stepped out. The woman laughed again, and the pair strolled away arm in arm.

Eyeing the door, Conor contemplated going in and telling Hayes what had happened. He had promised to keep the other man informed, but the idea of reentering the club didn’t appeal. He’d call Hayes, Conor decided. After he talked to Mika.

Mika. His uneasiness was back and stronger now. Conor reached for his comm unit and flipped it open. He was already dialing his home code before he realized the unit didn’t light up. Hitting the reset button didn’t bring it back online. He checked the power chip next and discovered it was dead. With a curse, he closed the unit and looked around. Across the street and up about a block was a twenty-four hour drugstore. It would cost him an arm and a leg, but they’d have power units there.

Climbing into his pickup, Conor drove over to the store, parked, ran in, and emerged with the chip he needed. As soon as he was back in his truck, he changed power units and called Mika. There was no answer.

Up till now, he’d been able to keep his anxiety in check by reminding himself of the protection around his house; but Mika wasn’t picking up the comm, and worry flooded him. He was frowning at the display, trying to reassure himself that she was only in the shower or something, when he noticed the message indicator was on. Almost reluctantly, Conor hit the button and brought the comm unit back to his ear.

“Conor, it’s Mika.”
His blood ran cold as he heard her voice. Once he had the location, Conor didn’t bother listening to the rest of the message. He put his truck in gear and squealed out of his parking spot onto the road.

Damn. No wonder he’d felt uneasy when he’d been in the club. Mika had been off his property and completely unshielded. Maybe he was overreacting and she was on her way back to his house already. Maybe he’d arrive at the place in question and find her healthy, consoling her cousin.
Maybe.
But the address she’d given wasn’t a residential area, so unless the kid had been at a rave or some other outlaw party, this was a setup and Mika was in a shitload of trouble. Hell, she might be dead already.

Conor pressed down on the accelerator and blew through two red lights.

He was past it before he saw Mika’s sports car parked on the street. Conor slammed on his brakes, put his truck in reverse and pulled over to it. He got out and looked in the passenger window. Nothing was inside except a pink purse. The hood was cold, which meant she’d been parked here for a while.

His adrenaline surged. This wasn’t a good sign.

Taking a deep breath, Conor centered himself and
reached out with his senses, looking for her energy signature. He found it almost immediately. She was a few blocks away.

Conor ran, using all his inhuman speed. He wanted nothing more than to hear Mika laugh about the way he’d overreacted, but he didn’t think that was going to happen. Not when his instincts were shrieking like this.

When he sensed another presence, Conor cloaked completely and rounded the corner full throttle. He drew to a halt as he saw the figure standing in the center of the street shooting fire from his hands. Mika—where the hell was Mika? He searched for her, finally pinpointing her energy, and focused his gaze in that direction. Her head popped up over the top of a bench, then ducked down again as another stream of fire streaked out at her.

Rushing past a melted streetlight, Conor pushed aside his fear. The bench was in flames, and Mika’s assailant was laughing madly. One more shot and she’d be exposed. But he’d be in position before she was defenseless.

Clouds rolled in, as if a storm were trying to form, but Conor ignored them. Instead, he probed the demon and recognized the sig. This was the same bastard who’d created the snare for Mika. Which also meant…this had to be one of the Bak-Faru!

Almost as soon as he thought the name, the demon let loose another burst of flame in Mika’s direction and turned to look at him. He shouldn’t know Conor was there, not when Conor had put enough power into his cloak to hide from any demon, but there was no doubt in Conor’s mind that the fire starter knew precisely where he was. Conor recalled how Mika had told him not to say the name of those demons aloud, to not even think it. Maybe he should have listened to her.

When the monster turned back to Mika and raised his hand again, Conor summoned his own power. It jolted him to realize upon which he was drawing. Quickly stopping himself, he summoned fire instead—he didn’t need to use
that
when he had other weapons at his disposal which were just as deadly. Weapons that wouldn’t cost him his humanity.

Shaken by his lapse, Conor moved, putting himself in front of his woman before he unmasked. He spared a quick glance to assure himself that she was okay, then prepared to attack with both fire and energy spells.

But the dark demon was gone. Or cloaked.

Conor searched hard for even the smallest hint of the bastard’s energy. He didn’t find anything.

“We need to get out of here,” he whispered to Mika. “Stay close.” When she nodded, he started another sweep of the area. He had a natural energy shield around him that protected him from magic, and he was sure he could use that to block any shots at her. If he could just figure out which direction they’d come from.

Conor kept scanning and felt her doing the same. “There’s another trap nearby,” he realized.

“Yes, at the entrance to the park. It’s subtler than the one a few nights ago, but I bet it’ll get the job done.”

This one wasn’t baited, Conor realized, but then it didn’t need to be; the Dark One had been driving Mika into it. Conor guessed that if she hadn’t cooperated and triggered it, the bastard would have killed her where she crouched. A frisson of fear shot through him at the thought, but he pushed it aside. The danger wasn’t necessarily over.

“When I give the signal, we’re running for that building, the one with the flower shop on the corner. As soon as you reach it, put your back against the wall,” he ordered. Mika nodded, and he relaxed an iota. She wasn’t going to argue with him. He drew flame and held it in reserve, ready to throw if there was any indication of that demon.

“Try to stay with me, don’t get too far ahead or behind. Use me as a shield.” Another nod, this one so emphatic that the hair standing up on Mika’s head bobbed. “Okay, let’s go.”