Dearly Departed, page 20
He looked over at me and Paris. “This your ‘situation’?”
Paris’s cheeks went red.
Situation? I was going to have to ask her about that later.
“That’s what I thought,” the demon responded. “I want details, after I find out what’s going on with the duke.”
Jake nodded at the parlor door. “They’ve been locked in there since last night. He actually left us alone.”
“I honestly didn’t know it was possible for him to be this quiet,” Poppy added.
“You’re all being dramatic,” Sebastian said, poofing in next to Jake. Evie stood next to him, arm resting on his. “I leave you alone often. I just try to prevent you from making my same stupid mistakes.”
“Didn’t work,” I whisper-coughed and gestured to Jake.
He shot me a glare. “My mistakes were well-calculated risks, thank you very much.”
“Does this mean you’ve made amends?” Paris prompted, gesturing between Sebastian and Evie.
“Yes. Evie has somehow found it in her heart to forgive me.” He patted her hand on his arm.
“I did have a century and a half to come to terms with it,” she admitted. “But yes. Your past transgressions are just that. Past.”
Paris looked at me, as if the words were meant for us. Her silent question, had I forgiven her for what happened? And my silent, I think so.
Belphegor grunted, as if he had understood our conversation, too.
As soon as Sebastian was done making introductions, Reggie appeared, speaking in excited, quick Spanish. Poppy replied and quickly translated for us that Reggie couldn’t wait to see how Sebastian handled being in love. Sebastian responded in Spanish, something that made Reggie laugh and Poppy snort, but they did not share.
With the threat of the real world waiting for us, everyone dawdled a little longer than planned, and Carma put out yesterday’s leftovers for an early lunch. No one wanted to break the seal and be the first to leave, knowing as soon as that front door opened, it was over. It was so rare as adults to be able to have one big giant sleepover with your friends.
Carma clinked a spoon against a glass and waited for quiet. “I must say, this was an even bigger success than we could have dreamed. If you’re open to the idea, we’d love to make this an annual thing. Same time next year?”
Everyone cheered in agreement.
Then my and Jake’s phone went off simultaneously.
It was like slow motion. I knew the moment before I even looked at the screen the perfect-day bubble was popped.
“Mom,” I said, looking up at my brother.
“Dad,” he responded, eyes wide.
We answered at the same time.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Paris
All I heard was “Daisy” and “hospital” and I was out of my seat. Sebastian handed Poppy Jake’s keys, and she had the truck pulled up to the door before Jake even finished relaying the entire story.
Daisy thought she saw Ben at the park and wanted her mom. Before they could call, she started crying. She shattered the windows on two cars, broke the slide, fell off her swing, and went unconscious.
“It’s her magic,” Jake confessed, voice shaking.
Loren stood. “I’ll call Javier. See if he’s made any progress on finding out Ben’s history.”
I grabbed Loren’s arm. “What do you need to know? I can get the info.”
Eliza ran past me. “I’m going with Jake!”
“I’ll meet you there!” I promised, then turned back to Loren, who was having a silent conversation with his wife.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
She kissed Loren hard but quick, then was out the door.
He turned back to me. “Eliza asked me to dig into Ben’s history to try and find his family lineage. They need to know what kind of witch she is before they can do a ritual to help.”
“And Raine?” I asked, knowing there was a reason she went.
“Raine gave up her own magic and survived. It’s a last-ditch effort.”
Jesus. Pulling magic this strong from a kid would likely kill her. “Have you made any headway with Ben?”
He shook his head.
“You got a vest and weapons?”
He nodded.
I held up my finger and dialed my brother.
He answered on the first ring. “What’s up, P? I’m about to head back to work.”
“I need to come by. Can you wait ten?”
He sighed. “Only ten.”
I hung up and looked at Loren. “Let’s suit up.” I pointed at Belphegor. “You in?”
“Is it for Daisy?”
“Everything I do is for Eliza and Daisy.”
He glanced at Amber, who waved him off. “We’ll be fine here. George already found a chair to fall asleep in.”
“What can we do?” Mina asked.
“Call Javier for me,” Loren ordered. “Tell him we may have a lead on Ben.”
Carma came rushing down the stairs holding my backpack and a duffle bag. “I hope you don’t mind. I grabbed your backpack and added a few snacks. I know it’s hard to eat on the go.” She handed me the bag and then turned to Loren and gave him the duffle. “Your keys are in the side pocket.”
“Thank you for everything.” I gave her a quick hug, which seemed to startle her. “Let’s go,” I ordered, and then we were out the door.
Belphegor scrunched down in the back as I dove into the driver’s seat and Loren hurried into the passenger side. He immediately opened his duffle and pulled out two bulletproof vests.
“This is Raine’s,” he explained. “You’re a bit taller, but it should work.”
I ripped off my sweatshirt, pulled the vest on, then replaced my hoodie. It was important to avoid advertising that one was wearing a bulletproof vest. The enemy was more likely to aim for your head if they saw it.
As soon as Loren had his on, I threw the truck in drive and headed toward my brother’s apartment on the outskirts of town.
*
“If I’m not walking out with a guy who looks like me in two minutes, come in.” I idled the truck at the curb. I pulled my pistol from my waist holder.
“Wait.” Loren opened his duffle and pulled out a stun gun. “Turn it on like this.” He demonstrated how it worked. “Works better in close quarters if you can’t get a shot off.”
I accepted the weapon. “Awesome.”
He smirked and grabbed a semi-automatic gun and its corresponding magazine, snapping them together. “Let’s do this.”
“I can go in alone.”
“And make me miss the fun? Please.” He opened his door.
Belphegor climbed out and left the back door open. “I’ll stand guard.”
I nodded at Loren as I buzzed my brother’s apartment. “It’s P,” I confirmed when he answered. The door unlocked and I held it open. “Going to 5B.”
The hallway was slathered in beige and stale smelling, and if I wasn’t homicidal, I’d brag about how much better my place was, with the exception of Doris. When we got to 5B, I wailed on Dallas’ door. “Open up!”
“What’s wrong with you?” He looked up and saw Loren, then attempted to shut the door.
But rage made me stronger, and I pushed my full body against the door then moved in, Loren behind.
Dallas grabbed his weapon from a side table and held it between us. “What’s going on?”
Loren closed the door and nodded to me.
“Where is he?” I asked my brother.
“Who?”
I release the safety. “I love you more than myself, but I swear to god I’ll shoot you. Where is he?”
“If you shoot me, Mom will be pissed.”
“Which is why I’d rather not shoot you.”
He looked at me, his eyebrows pulling together in apology. “I can’t tell you. You know I can’t.”
“This guy is former HQ. You don’t cooperate, I tell him your entire story.”
Dallas turned his gun to Loren. “Jesus, Paris, what the actual fuck? Do you want me dead?”
“Daisy is really sick. Ben is the only one who can save her. We need information only he can give. Where. Is. He?”
“They’ll kill him—then all of us—if they find him,” he confessed, his voice low. “And I can’t let that happen.”
“I love Eliza and I will do anything, and I mean anything for her daughter. So you tell me where Ben is, or I swear on our grandmother’s emerald ring that I will shoot you.” I swore I felt the ring on my right hand grow warmer.
He didn’t move for a long moment, then he lowered his gun. “If we’re discovered, bulletproof vests won’t help.”
The cloudy vision that had taunted me since Thursday brushed across my sight again but didn’t offer any new details. “That’s a chance I’m willing to take. You in, Loren?”
“I’ve made a career out of almost dying,” Loren explained. “No reason to stop now.”
Dallas handed me his gun. I doubled-checked the safety then tucked it into my holster, while I held the other one at crotch height. He looked from the gun to me. “Really?”
“I’m aiming for the part of your body I know you care about the most,” I said with a sardonic smile.
We walked out of the building, me in front and Loren in back. Belphegor looked at Dallas as if he were a hair in his food. “Twins are so creepy.”
“We have triplet cousins,” I offered.
He made a face. “That’s just not right.”
I turned on the child safety lock and waved Dallas inside the back door. Belphegor followed.
I climbed in the driver’s seat and turned around. “Where?”
“Nana’s Laundromat and Deli in Holly,” he said.
“Loren, can you navigate?”
He nodded. “On it.” He checked the screen. “Forty miles northwest. Take 75 North. Traffic is yellow. Looks like a snowstorm is passing through.”
“Good thing I have snow tires.”
I squealed out of the parking lot, which got a cheer from the demon and a groan from my twin. “Try not to kill us before we get there,” Dallas begged.
Loren held on to the handle above the door and glanced over at me. “Fill me in.”
“Ben isn’t really dead, and he needs to save his daughter.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Eliza
I sat on the hospital bed next to my sedated daughter, her eyes closed and cheeks pink as if she was just taking an afternoon nap while wearing an oxygen mask. I brushed her curls out of her face, soothing myself more than her. I’d sent my parents to get coffee because I couldn’t deal with my mom’s fretting.
I needed to stay numb. Needed to avoid looking at the tubes and wires. The cartoons playing on the television nearly covered the irregular beeping of the heart monitor. I checked my phone, but my text to Paris was still unread. Where was she?
Dr. Marback walked in the room, tablet in hand and a concerned look on her face. “We have calls to our best witches, but they’re all several hours away. I’ve got two on a plane. As long as Daisy’s vitals stay stable, and we can keep her sedated, we’ll wait. Hopefully a temporary spell will help.”
I nodded, all the what if questions bottlenecking in my throat. I couldn’t let them out, or I’d lose whatever it was keeping me upright.
“Have you thought about a removal?” she asked.
I bit the inside of my cheek, then nodded. “Raine, with the blonde and blue hair, she had a successful removal.”
Dr. Marback’s eyebrows raised. “Really? I would love to speak with her. Are you considering it for Daisy?”
I tucked my legs under me and scooped up Daisy’s tiny hand. “If she was your daughter, what would you do?”
She sat down in the chair next to me and looked at her tablet for a long moment, although she wasn’t reading anything. “Sometimes magic is kind of like a tumor. It can be one singular, benign tumor that’s in just one area of the body and easily removed. Every procedure would carry risks—damage to surrounding organs and tissues, infection, etc.—but generally in these cases there’s a good success rate.”
She turned off her tablet and met my gaze. “Daisy’s magic is like a metastatic cancer. It’s all over her body and creating chaos. There’s no guarantee surgery would work, and even if it did, we may not get it all. We could remove her magic, but if we missed some, it could grow back in a more alarming way. We may be able to remove it all but damage her body in the process.”
I swallowed hard, trying to get the baseball out of my throat. “I only want to do it if we’re out of options. If it’s that or…” I didn’t finish the sentence. I didn’t need to.
She nodded. “Any luck finding out information on her dad’s side?”
I shook my head. “I have someone in HQ on it, but there’s been nothing yet.” I kissed the back of Daisy’s hand. “Maybe we’ll get a miracle.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Paris
I hit the steering wheel. “We need to get around this traffic jam.” We were inching along as the sky threw up snow. It was like heavy fog, and outside of the brake lights on the car in front of us, I couldn’t make out anything. I was desperate for an exit sign.
My cell rang and I checked the screen. “Hi, Jake.”
“Paris, what the hell? Where are you?”
“Trapped on 75. Semi jack-knifed.”
“I could just move the semi,” Belphegor grumbled.
“Why the hell are you on 75 and not on your way to the hospital?”
“Can’t tell you yet.”
“You can’t lift a semi,” Loren scolded Belphegor. “Not without eating a human soul first.”
“What if I make sure they’re a really terrible human? There’s plenty of those around,” Belphegor responded, glancing at Dallas.
“You can’t eat my brother,” I called back.
“What’s happening on your end?” Jake prompted. “Why is Belphegor threatening to eat your brother?
“It’s a long story,” I explained.
“You keep very interesting company,” Loren mused.
“One soul,” Belphegor promised. “I can move the whole semi with the strength from one soul.”
“Paris,” Jake interrupted. “What’s your ETA?”
“As soon as I can,” I promised. “I’m on the trail of something that could help. I need you to trust me.”
There was a beat of silence. “What am I telling Eliza?”
“Tell her I’m trying to save the day.”
“Hurry.” He hung up and I hit the steering wheel again.
“I’ve got an idea,” Belphegor admitted.
“You’re not eating a soul,” I returned.
“Don’t need one to lift this truck. It’s light.”
“You’re going to what?” I asked.
“Tighten your seatbelts.” He stepped out of the truck, straightened his mint green sweater with the black stars, and bent low. Without ceremony, he lifted our entire vehicle over his head, as if we were no more than an egg carton and started walking.
“Oh fuck, the phone calls we’re going to get about this,” Loren said.
As if on cue, my phone rang. Sienna. I clicked to answer on Bluetooth. “It’s Paris.” My voice sounded strained as I tried to keep from flopping around.
“Agent Evans, why do I have reports of a large animal carrying your truck through human traffic on I-75 North?”
“Because a demon is helping us out of a traffic jam so I can save Eliza Robinson’s daughter’s life.” Accompanied by several screams and horns, Belphegor made his way up the exit ramp.
“I—” Sienna, who had probably never hesitated before in her life, hesitated. “There are so many violations—”
“It’s fine, write me up. If Daisy lives, it’ll be worth it.”
“I’m scheduling a meeting for Monday,” she warned.
“See you Monday!” I said, then hung up.
Belphegor set us down on the shoulder, as gently as if we were a baby bird. I rubbed at the side of my head where it had hit the door twice. The demon opened the back door and climbed in, not bothering to brush the snow off his sweater. “I got grease on my cuff.”
I reached around the seat and touched his sleeve. “I can get it out.”
Loren turned around to look at Belphegor. “I can’t wait to see Paris’s report on this.”
“Worry about reports later. We gotta fucking hurry. Daisy’s my ice cream buddy.” Belphegor had found Daisy wandering Applechester one day after she’d snuck out her window to get ice cream, and they’ve gone together every few weeks since. Between Jake and Belphegor, Daisy had more ice cream in a month than anyone I knew.
I merged into the light traffic. While unplowed, the road was passable and we were finally moving.
I slammed on the brakes, fishtailing, as a large animal, reddish brown and twice the size of a wolf, ran across the road. I wrestled the truck to the shoulder, my heart beating so hard, my head was shaking. “Tell me that wasn’t what I think it was?” I breathed in deep then blew it out before merging back on to the road.
“I couldn’t tell, but I hope not.” He ran a hand down his face. “I need to convince Raine to move somewhere it doesn’t snow. I despise snowstorms.”
I glanced over at him. “I definitely am going to need this story later.”
“I’ll tell you on the way back,” he promised. “Nana’s is coming up, half a mile on your left.”
We pulled into the empty parking lot, a sign on the door indicating it was closed Sundays and Mondays. I turned to my brother. “Why a deli/laundromat?”
“Food plus chemicals for clean up,” he explained.
Solid reasons. “What are we walking into?”
“Basement utility room with computers, cots, and a small bathroom. Block windows on the west side of the building. A fire exit on south side.”
“Firearms? Boobytraps?” Loren prompted.
“I’ll go in first to disable them.”
I turned around and stared directly into his eyes. “I will shoot you in the crotch if you screw me over.”
