Lost Souls

12

Leland didn’t say a word as he paced the floor of the hallway in front of Cait, Sam, and Jason. Every now and then, he’d pause beside her and raise his head, his mouth opening. Then it shut again and he growled, continuing to beat the carpet with his stomping feet.

“Nothing blew up,” she muttered.

He aimed a glare at her, then lifted a finger and shook it. “Another death. With you and one of my officers standing right there. How the hell are we gonna explain that the hell away?” He shoved a hand upward in an arc. “Goddamn it to hell, Cait.”

Her gaze dropped to her feet, and she scuffed her boots together, waiting for the storm to pass. “We do have a lead now.”

His gaze whipped back to her. “Gimme a name. I’ll have him hauled in for questioning.”

“Might be harder than finding Oscar Reyes.” Cait’s shoulder lifted and dropped. “Dude’s an incubus.”

His eyes squinted so hard, they nearly disappeared. His skin turned a frightening purplish red. “What the fuck is an incubus?”

“A seducer. He feeds on human pleasure and pain. They can be deadly if they take it too far.”

Sam cussed under his breath.

Cait lifted her chin. “Leland, it’s not like we have a playbook or a protocol to handle something like this. This is a demonic possession. Two demons are at work here.”

Leland paced and then spun, an arm flung outward. “I’m shuttin’ down the hotel.”

Cait fought to keep equal heat out of her voice. Arguing with Leland only made him more stubborn. “If you do, we might not find the incubus. He’ll be in the wind. But shutting down this floor to everyone except us is probably a good idea.”

For a long moment, Leland’s glance rested on her. His mouth worked like he was chewing his tongue. “I want that TV crew outta here and all their film confiscated.”

“We promised they could keep it.” An admission she wished she didn’t have to make.

“They can have it back after the investigation is closed, which by the looks of things may be never.”

“They’re the technical experts. They’re probably already cleaning up footage that will give us a clue as to what happened.”

Leland scrubbed a hand over his face. “Christ, how do I keep those morons from blabbing to the world?”

“Who’s gonna believe them? Look, you can hold them here for a while without filing charges.” She pointed at the hallway floor. “We do have a missing woman. The fact we have her body won’t be confirmed for a while.”

“I’ll post uniforms on the stairwell doors and at the elevators. No one approaches the room after the body is hauled out. Sure it’s safe for our folks to go back in?”

Cait glanced away, thinking. “He put on quite a light show. A huge expenditure of energy. Plus none of the techs have been attacked so far. I think he only reacts when he feels threatened.”

The redness in Leland’s cheeks receded. “Cait, do you really think you can defeat this thing?”

Cait swallowed hard and felt a pinch deep in her chest. “How do you feel about burning down a hotel?”

His eyes nearly crossed. “You gotta be kidding me.”

She lifted her shoulders. “I have it on good authority it’s the only way to kill the demon in the walls.”

“Can’t exorcise his ass?” he asked, his voice rising again right along with his eyebrows.

“Want to risk him moving elsewhere to continue to kill?”

“That would be someone else’s problem,” he shouted.

She jerked her head back. “I’ll make sure that’s a last resort.”

He opened his mouth to speak again but sputtered. He clamped his jaws shut and pointed a finger at her. “Goddammit” was the most he could muster as his face twitched.

“I get it. This is all my fault.” She paused and put the calmest tone on her next words. “But you know it really isn’t.”

“If you weren’t here, we’d have found a frickin’ body and stuck the file in a cold-case box.”

“Think not knowing is better? Or someone else dying?”

“I think I need a drink. You make my teeth hurt.”

She cast her gaze down to avoid his continued stare. Better to keep her mouth shut too, or he might bust a blood vessel. He was so angry. She’d always had that effect on him, and she wasn’t sure why.

He’d known her dad and her mother. He’d respected Paddy O’Connell but didn’t have a great opinion of her mom. When Cait had worked under Leland, he’d given her a grudging benefit of the doubt that she’d turn out more like Paddy—a damn good cop without a shadow following him around. That hadn’t lasted long. Even when she wasn’t working full-moon cases, she’d managed to piss him off at every turn. Said it was on account of her mouthiness.

Leland grunted. “Sam, walk with me.” The two men wandered down the hall and then stopped for Leland to whisper harshly, veins popping at his temples while he pointed at her with stabbing moves.

She felt sorry for her ex.

“That went well,” Jason drawled.

She gave Jason a stony stare.

“We’re still working the case. We still have access to this floor.”

“Only because he knows his detectives aren’t safe here. He’s much more willing for us to get sucked into a wall.”

Jason gave her a small smile. “So, what do you think we should do next?”

What she wanted to do next was get the hell away from this floor for a while. She checked her watch. Almost nine p.m. “I need to attend an AA meeting.”

“Seriously? Now?” Jason stiffened. “I’m sure Sam would be happy as a clam, but… now?”

“There’s one happening in the dining room in a few minutes. Eddie Bradley mentioned he knew the guy who runs it. Maybe he knows Eddie well enough to tell us where we might find him.”

Jason shook his head. “Eddie has to know it’s dodgy, that you might be on to him. Think approaching him on our own is safe?”

“Well, I’m not telling Sam.” She eyed Leland and Sam one more time, then set off for the elevators.

Jason let loose a long breath as he matched her stride. “This dude can be killed?”

“By any ordinary means. His shell is human. That doesn’t mean he won’t be hard to take down.”

“If he’s around here.”

“Oh, I think he will be. He’s arrogant. Thinks we’re too stupid to figure it out.” Reaching the elevators, she punched the button, then glanced back down the hall at Sam. He was still with Leland, but his sharp-featured face was turned toward her.

She gave him a little wave.

Jason glanced back too. “Cait, do you want this dude to be a demon because you like him?”

“I don’t need a new boyfriend.” Cait scowled. “I’m trying to hang on to the one I have.”

“Yeah, training us is so darn time-consuming,” he said, flashing a quick grin.

She studied him. “Are you seeing anyone?”

“You’re asking me about my personal life?”

She blushed. “I’m sorry. You know every pitiful fact about mine. I don’t know why I haven’t asked.”

Jason, his hands stuffed in his pockets, lifted his shoulders. “Up until a couple of months ago, you weren’t sober enough to hold a conversation and then remember it. Lately, you’ve had a lot on your plate. Everything’s changing. I don’t think you’re self-absorbed, if that’s what worries you.” He smiled. “Tell you what, when this thing’s over, I’ll tell you all my dating woes.”

She grinned, then snuck a glance down the hall. Leland was still on his tirade, no doubt reading Sam the riot act and warning him not to give her an inch of rope he couldn’t yank. Sam’s face was red too, but his gaze was on her.

“Let’s head on down to the meeting,” she said. “We’ll catch up with him later.” And he’d have a chance to cool off before he approached her again. Sam didn’t like being laid into like he was a rookie. He’d been a Marine and was a decorated cop. She hated that she still affected his work relationships, although they weren’t even married and she wasn’t on the force any longer. He must think she was nothing but bad luck.

She mouthed, I’m sorry, then turned away at the elevator’s arrival.

The trip to the first floor passed in total silence. A miracle, given Sylvia slipped in with them at the last moment. The main-floor foyer was empty. The clerk behind the registration desk dozed in his chair.

When they passed the bar, a TV blared, but a quick glance inside revealed very few patrons, all sitting at the bar watching some game on the widescreen.

With reluctance slowing her steps, Cait led the way into the dining room. Ten rows of mismatched chairs faced a dais. A table to the side was draped with a white linen cloth and held a coffee urn and mugs and boxes of store-bought cookies. There was no sign of Eddie Bradley.

The meeting was set to start in a few minutes, but several people milled in the area in front of the chairs, chatting. She wondered if the turnout was always this good or whether curiosity had drawn them all. She hadn’t had time to watch the news, but word had to be spreading about the goings-on at the Deluxe.

A tall, thin man with shaggy brown hair and a long-sleeved dress shirt rolled up to his elbows detached himself from the group and approached them. He held out his hand to Cait. “I’m Larry,” he said, his voice an even-timbred tenor. “Nice to meet you folks.”

Cait shook his hand, but he kept right on holding it. “I’m Cait. This is Jason. He’s with me, but he’s not a drunk.”

Larry’s eyebrows shot up. “We don’t refer to ourselves as drunks, Cait,” he chided gently. “We’re all recovering alcoholics in different stages of sobriety. We’ve all been where you are. A little bitter, maybe grudging about being here, right?”

She frowned and wiggled her fingers. At last, he released her hand, and she fought the urge to wipe it on the side of her jeans.

“It’s okay to feel uncomfortable. You might at first, but we’re all on this journey together.”

“Do I have to sign up or something?” she said, her voice sounding a little gruff to her own ears. But just being here, even if she wasn’t really here for the meeting, irritated her.

“This meeting is anonymous. We don’t have a sign-in register. The only requirement to be a member is a desire to stop drinking. Would you like to join us?”

“I was thinking a friend of mine might be here, Eddie Bradley. Have you seen him?”

At his blank stare, she added, “He’s an EMT with the fire department.”

His expression brightened. “Ah, Eddie. He has stopped in a couple of times. Drinks the coffee and listens. He referred you?”

“Yes, but seeing as he’s not here…”

“Why not stay a little while? The meeting doesn’t usually last long. He might still show.”

When he turned and moved across the room, she followed for a few steps and slid into the last row. Jason sat beside her.

“Wonder if Eddie looks the same to him,” Jason whispered.

“Notice I didn’t describe him.”

Larry, standing at the front, rapped a spoon against a glass. “If we’ll all take our seats, we can get started. Welcome, everyone. Looks like we have a full house tonight. And we have a couple of guests.”

Everyone turned to eye her and Jason. Cait slid deeper into her chair. “He might not come,” she said out of the side of her mouth. Maybe when everyone looked the other way she might slip out the door.

“Do you have anything better to do?” Jason whispered, hardly moving his lips. “Sam’s probably still upstairs getting his ass reamed. And then he’ll have to wait for a team to come out and take the body. Really want to be in the middle of all that?”

Someone sitting in front of them cleared his throat. Jason elbowed Cait and drew a zipper being closed across his mouth.

Cait sighed and slouched lower. Could the evening get any worse?

“Hi, my name’s Dave,” a heavyset middle-aged man said after walking to the front to face the group.

“Hi, Dave,” the group responded in unison.

Cait mumbled like she used to, sitting at Mass beside her father when she’d forgotten the liturgy.

“I’ve been sober for ten years now.”

After Dave launched into a long-assed story about how his addictions to hookers and buying lottery cards led him to drink, Cait turned toward Jason. “This will never be my thing. All this sharing.”

“Shhh,” Jason said. “I wanna hear about the hookers.”

“You would.”

She stared at Dave, then glanced around the room as he droned on, making up stories in her mind about the others who were listening so intently to every word Dave spoke.

“Does anyone else have something they’d like to share?” Larry asked, his gaze scanning the crowd.

The murmur of voices had died down without her realizing it.

“Cait, would you like to tell us something about yourself?” Larry asked, his gaze pinning her.

Her eyes widened. “I thought I could just listen this first time,” she said as everyone turned in their seats to stare.

“And you can. But if you’d like to share, we’re all here to listen.”

With embarrassment stinging her cheeks, she rose. “Hi, I’m Cait,” she said with a little wave.

“Hi, Cait.”

Good Lord, they sounded like Moonies. “I haven’t had a drink for forty-seven days.” Ready to plop back into her chair, she saw Larry’s encouraging nod and gave an inward groan. “I like scotch. It quiets the voices.”

“Yeah, that’s just where I thought you’d start,” Jason muttered beside her.

From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Eddie Bradley. He leaned against the doorway, arms folded over his chest, smiling in her direction.

“Um, it’s been a great meeting,” she said, edging out of the row. “I’ll think about coming back, but I have to go.”

Larry stood. “We’ll be here for you, Cait.”

“Thanks.” She gave them a tight smile and wave, and then bent to Jason. “Showtime. Hang back. You too, Syl,” she said, glancing at the chair beside Jason and smiling when Jason automatically jerked away.

Keeping her steps unhurried, she strode toward the incubus. Or at least she hoped like hell he was, because his smile was all kinds of wrong. Intimate, proud of her, softly supportive.

Her heart beat like a drum as she forced her own smile. “Hi there. I wasn’t expecting you to be here,” she lied.

“Told you I’d introduce you around. Larry and I know each other.”

“So he said,” she murmured, following him into the hallway.

“I see things have quieted down,” he said with a nod toward the foyer.

“Yeah, everyone’s pretty much cleared out. Guests are back in their rooms—those who decided to stay, that is.”

“No more excitement.”

Considering how best to bait the trap, she paused. “We had another incident. Just a little while ago. It rattled me.”

“You seem to be taking it all in stride. Want to tell me about it?”

“Want that drink?”

His gaze went beyond her. “Want to invite your friend too? He seems to be giving me the eagle eye.”

“No.” She shook her head. “He’s my partner. And we’re off-duty right now. He can find his own company to keep.”

Eddie jerked his chin to the side. “Want to head into the bar?”

She pretended to think about that for a moment, and then offered him a sheepish smile. “Right. I just walked out of an AA meeting. I don’t think Larry would think very highly of you if that’s where we go. Besides, I really should head back up to the third floor.”

Eddie’s smile slipped, and he sighed. “Doesn’t seem like we’re ever going to have time to get to know each other.”

His seemingly guileless gaze stroked over her, touching on her face, the curves of her figure. That odd warmth she’d come to recognize as something special about him infused her. She leaned toward him and glanced up from beneath her lashes. “Keep me company on the way up?”

His lids fell halfway. His nostrils flared. “Sure. Lead the way, Cait.”

She laughed. “I can’t talk to you if you’re behind me.” She slid her hand into the curve of his elbow. Together they set off.

“So, do you like what you do? Being a PI?”

Uh-oh. “How did you know that’s what I am? Have you been checking up on me?”

“I asked around. You and your partner run the Delta Detective Agency. Get any interesting cases?”

She made a face. “Mostly watching cheating spouses. The occasional missing person case. Believe me, it sounds more exciting than the work actually is.”

“Seemed plenty of exciting this morning. What exactly happened?”

At the end of the hall, they turned toward the elevators. “A woman I was following disappeared last night. The police wanted to ask me about what I knew. The officer in charge was on the third floor where her body was found. I guess I must have touched a light switch, and I got shocked. That must be something you see a lot,” she said, angling her head forward so she could watch his face.

“I’ve never responded to a call like that. Downed power lines, a husband deciding he can mess with his own junction box and getting his wires crossed, but you’re a new experience for me.”

She met his gaze, and for a split second, his eyes seemed to glow. She blinked and laughed, knowing she sounded nervous. Maybe he’d attribute it to the fact she was trying to flirt and wasn’t very good at it.

“Will your boyfriend be up there?” he asked as he touched the button for the elevator.

“He’s not my boyfriend. Sam’s my ex-husband. We’ve been divorced for a while now.”

“Still seems pretty protective.”

“Still thinks he owns my ass,” she grumbled.

His smile stretched. “You like playing with fire,” he said, his voice dipping intimately low.

Cait fiddled with a strand of her hair, one knee wagging in front of the other as she held his steady stare. “I’m not that brave. Not really. Not like you,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound like she was gushing too much. “Bet you’ve been in some real hot spots.” The doors opened and they stepped inside.

The trip up to the third floor seemed to take forever, stretching her nerves to the point of snapping. She stood beside an incubus. A powerful creature, or so Morin had warned. She’d only faced one demon before, but she’d been armed with a bellows and had two strong men backing her up.

Alone, and with Eddie Bradley inching closer, her mind went blank.

“Your hair still smells like it’s burning.”

Cait wrinkled her nose. “You sure know how to butter up a girl.”

“I have my ways.” He chuckled, the sound not the least sinister.

She wondered if he was laughing at her attempt to flirt. The doors slid open, and she started to step out.

He didn’t follow. Just lifted a brow and hit the button to reclose the doors.

A chill spilled down her spine. She almost had him where she wanted him, but how to convince him she really did want to get him alone? “I won’t be a minute. We can check in, then go find that drink.”

“Cait,” he said, his expression amused. “Do you really think I’m that stupid?” He tugged her back inside and hit the down button. When the car began its descent, he flipped the stop switch. “That’s better. We’re alone now.”

Her heart pounded. This was not what she’d planned. “What did you mean about me thinking you’re stupid?”

He turned toward her, then took a quick step forward, his body trapping her against the back of the car. He bent his head and nuzzled her ear. “Think I’m going anywhere near Sam Pierce now that he knows what I am?”

“What you are?” she asked, knowing he had to have felt her quiver that time.

His smile widened. “You really are cute. Especially when you drop the sexy act. I like you. I find that whole witch vibe extremely arousing.”

Her jaw sagged. “What did you say?” Lips brushed her neck, raising gooseflesh. She inserted her hands between their chests, intending to push him away, but his next kiss touched her carotid, which set her pulse racing. And not out of fear. Every bone and muscle in her body began to melt. The feel of his large, masculine body pressed against her, the rich manly smell of him—her knees felt weak.

“I’d like to do so many things to your body,” he whispered. “Give you the kind of pleasure only someone like me can provide. We’d be so good together.”

Heat blazed inside her, made her wet, the sudden intensity taking her breath. “Stop that,” she said, but turned her head to give him better access to her ear, which he nipped.

“That’s only a tease. Just a little taste. Come with me,” he said, pulling away and extending his hand. “No lasting harm will come to you, I promise. I’ll be gentle. I can be rough. Whatever you desire.”

Staring at his face, she could see how perfect a predator this handsome creature really was. She shook her head. “So you can leave me weak? Ready to turn over to your master?”

His eyelids flickered.

Good. She’d shocked him. He hadn’t realized she’d made the connection.

“Will you come with me or not?”

“Why are you even offering me a choice? Isn’t it your MO to simply take?”

“Like I said, I don’t want you left a wizened husk. I could drink you down for a lifetime and never get my fill,” he said, his expression filled with yearning. “You’re so much more than simply human. An elixir to someone like me. Come along, Cait.”

She squeezed her thighs together.

“That’s Eddie?” Syl stood beside her.

“Uh-huh,” Cait said, working up the gumption to drag away her hand.

“I liked him much better when he looked like Antonio. But that’s how he talks. All that talk about drinkin’. Thought he was talkin’ about somet’ing a whole lot sexier.”

“Sylvia, not now.”

His gaze sharpened and scanned the elevator car. “My little mariposa’s here?” He grinned. “Is she angry?”

Sylvia erupted in a blistering string of Spanish curses.

“She’s, um, disappointed you don’t look like Antonio Banderas.”

He tsked. “Better than, wasn’t that right, mi enamorada?”

Sylvia’s fingers curled into talons and she struck out, her hand passing right through him. “Joo… joo lyin’ sack o’ sheet.”

“She’s not feelin’ it, Eddie.”

The lights flickered above them. The elevator jerked.

Eddie’s head turned to the side.

“What’s happening?” Cait asked.

“It’s him,” he said, his expression tightening. “We have to get out of here.”

He flicked the switch again. The elevator dropped, skidding down at frightening speed, then it jerked again, stopped, and hurtled upward. Back at the third floor, the doors retracted, too fast for the proper mechanism to be controlling them.

Hand braced against the wall, Cait glanced over Eddie’s shoulder, and her eyes widened. Behind him, the foiled paisley wallpaper gleamed. “What the fuck, Eddie?”

He glanced over his shoulder and then stepped back. “Looks like I’ll be seeing you again much later, sweetheart.”

The doors popped closed and the elevator resumed its downward descent, only this time accompanied by its usual hum and at a pace that didn’t drop her stomach to the floor. When the digital readout read “1,” the doors parted. The shitty foyer was in front of her, and she leapt out.

“Cait!”

The stairwell door slammed behind Sam as he ran toward her.

Her knees weakened, but he reached her, pulling her against his chest. “What the hell were you doing with that bastard?”