Sins of the Demon

Chapter 23

The first confrontation turned out to be an argument with Ryan about whether I should go there alone or not. Obviously, Ryan was in the “or not” camp. So was I, to be honest, but at the same time I didn’t want to risk anyone else getting hurt or killed.

“Yes, it’s a hostage situation,” I finally said after he tried to convince me to call in the SWAT team. “But I’m not about to risk other cops if there really is a zhurn acting as lookout and guard. Plus, the fact that our suspect is a cop is going to raise all sorts of issues.” I checked my watch. Ten minutes left. We were parked about a block away from the address Roman had given us. I’d retrieved my ballistic vest from the trunk and put it on beneath my shirt and coat. I also wore the wire and earpiece.

“You don’t sound sure about the zhurn,” Zack said, frowning. He wasn’t any happier about our limited options or our time frame. But I had no doubt Tracy would pull the trigger. He’d killed plenty of others already.

“I’m not, but only because of Kehlirik. If Tracy summoned a reyza, would he be able to summon a zhurn as well? That’s two major summonings—tough for anybody to do, even if done on two different days.” Plus it was several days after the full moon. The summoning of Kehlirik would have already been insanely difficult.

“Tough, but not impossible,” Ryan pointed out.

“Right. And Tracy’s a smart guy. It’s quite possible he has the chops to do it, so I’d rather act on the assumption that there is another demon in play. Or something else he hasn’t told us about.”

Ryan’s mouth tightened. “Fine. No SWAT, but Zack and I are going to be watching the perimeter and listening in.”

I took a deep breath, trying to settle the churning of my gut. “He needs me alive. And as long as I’m wearing the cuff, he can’t use me to activate the gate. That’s our big advantage. I’ll go in, get him to release Roman, and then fuck up his world.”

“I hate this plan,” he muttered.

I forced a grin. “I would expect no less.” I glanced at my watch. “Okay, we’re not going to get any readier. Let’s get this shit over with.”

Garden Street was anything but garden-y. It was probably intended to be a high-tech industrial park, but whoever had built it failed to consider the fact that Beaulac’s industry tended more to tourism and general suburbia. Sprawling warehouses had been built, but the expected flock of high-tech industry failed to materialize. Now it housed run-of-the-mill businesses such as a carpet store and a plumbing supply place. Although most of the warehouses actually had tenants, I had a feeling the owners found it necessary to drop the rent far below what they’d initially expected to get.

The warehouse I was going to was not one of the occupied ones. It looked like it had been at one time—there was a faded patch on the front façade that looked as if a sign had once been there. But when we drove by to see if we could make any sort of security assessment, we couldn’t see any lights beyond the glass doors in front. And there were no cars parked anywhere nearby.

Ryan stopped the car a few hundred yards away from my destination. I half-expected him to come up with another argument against me walking in there, but thankfully he simply gave me an encouraging smile and silently handed me the mike and earpiece.

I clipped the mike inside my jacket, stuck the earpiece into my ear. “Here goes,” I said, then got out of the car before I could lose my nerve.

The brief walk should have given me a chance to try and calm my jangled nerves, but I couldn’t stop the worries from crowding in. Could Tracy sense that I’d destroyed his focus diagram? Or would he only know that when he tried to fire the gate up? Surely he would have said something on the phone if he knew. And how much would that affect the gate? Kehlirik had said it would still work but not as well. How much was “not as well?”

“Can you hear me?” Ryan’s voice came in through my earpiece.

“Loud and clear,” I murmured under my breath as I approached the double glass doors. The previous tenants had apparently been in some sort of stucco business, to judge by the faint imprint of painted letters that still remained on the doors.

“And you’re coming in strong too. I’m worried about how it’s going to work in the metal building though.”

“Guess we’ll find out the hard way,” I replied, pausing before I entered. Here goes. Let’s not fuck this up, ‘kay?

I stepped into a foyer area that looked like it might have once held a number of cubicles. Horribly ugly wood paneling covered the walls, and a dust-covered metal desk squatted against a far wall. I could see my breath in the musty air. The air didn’t feel any warmer than the outdoors, but at least I was out of the wind.

A set of metal doors in front of me probably led to the warehouse proper. My earpiece popped and hissed with static as I moved forward, and I grimaced. So much for staying in contact. I took hold of the door handle in front of me, then paused and peered into the corner.

“Greetings, honored zhurn,” I said, taking a chance that my hunch was correct.

I waited several heartbeats and was rewarded by the sight of two red eyes. “Greetings to you, summoner,” it responded in its distinctive crackling voice.

Okay, so at least my over-caution had been warranted. I didn’t bother trying to find out what this demon’s terms were with Tracy. The tenth-level demons were insanely reticent even under the best of circumstances. I had no doubt that if it was here, it was tasked with guarding the place. And since zhurn were able to communicate mind-to-mind with the one who summoned them, I was sure he was currently reporting to Tracy that I was here.

No sense in keeping them waiting. I yanked the door open and barged on in.

Inside was simply a vast open area. The ceiling above me rose at least thirty feet. There were no furnishings or interior walls. The only thing to look at was in the middle of the warehouse floor. That’s where Roman was sitting in a chair with his hands behind him—I assumed tied or cuffed. He looked shaken as all hell but didn’t seem to be injured or beaten up. Behind him stood Tracy, holding a gun to Roman’s head.

Tracy gave me a broad smile. “Look who finally decided to join the party!”

My earpiece crackled again as I walked forward. “Jill…owners…corporation.” Shit. I had no idea what Ryan was trying to tell me.

“Let’s not waste time, shall we?” Tracy said. “If you’d be so kind as to step into that diagram, we can get on with this whole thing.”

I opened my mouth to tell him to release Roman, then paused as Ryan repeated what he’d said. I could hear him this time. Well, now…that changes everything. “You’re sure?” I said.

“Quite sure,” Tracy replied.

“One hundred percent,” Ryan said in my ear. “As soon as we deal with the zhurn, we’re coming in.”

“Excellent.” I stopped and crossed my arms over my chest. Tilted my head. “And what happens if I don’t do as you ask?”

Tracy gave a bark of laughter. “I shoot your ex. Do you really think I won’t? You know I won’t hesitate.”

“Okay. Shoot him,” I said. “And no, this isn’t some stupid bluff. Why the fuck should I care if you shoot your partner?” I locked eyes with Roman. “Isn’t that right, Posterula Inc?” I snorted. “You’re listed as the CEO, right? Posterula…secondary door or gate. Very imaginative.” I resisted the urge to pump my fist in the air and give an exuberant shout. Damn straight! My instincts weren’t off!

Roman shot to his feet—not bound after all. He rounded on Tracy, scowling. “You said no one would figure it out!”

Tracy’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “I said the chances were low. It doesn’t matter now. Grab her and put her into the goddamn diagram.”

I spread my hands as Roman stalked toward me. “Oh, you don’t have to manhandle me into the diagram. I’ll walk there on my own, but first I want to know why the hell you tried to get me busted for murder.” Then I winced, shook my head. “Never mind. I know why.” Fucking hell, I could be dense sometimes. I looked at Tracy. “You wanted into my summoning chamber, didn’t you? You set me up just enough to get them to do a search warrant.”

“You did a good job cleaning up your diagrams,” he said. “But like all good summoners, you use blood as a component when tracing them out.”

Shit. “Luminol. You sprayed the floor with luminol.” It would have glowed like the Christmas decorations on my house. And since the glow usually faded after about thirty seconds, all he’d needed was a few minutes alone in the basement to spray the floor down and take a long-exposure picture. Then he could go back and build his own storage diagram. No wonder he was able to summon two major demons back to back.

I shifted my attention back to Roman. “Okay, I get why Tracy—or Raymond—would want to get some revenge against me. But why the fuck are you helping him with all this? What the hell did I ever do to you?”

Roman shrugged. “Not a damn thing. You were convenient. You’re the only summoner I know, and it helped that you had plenty of people who could serve as victims to link the portals.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said before I could censor myself. “I was convenient? What kind of sociopath are you? Dude, you need serious therapy.”

I barely had time to throw up a block before he closed the distance between us and clocked me hard in the side of the head. My arm took the brunt of it but he still hit me hard enough to drop me to my knees and make me see stars. I sent up a silent thanks to Eilahn for her attempts to teach me self-defense. I’d be out cold if not for her relentless drills.

“Cut it out, Roman,” Tracy snapped. “She needs to be alive and conscious.”

Roman grabbed my arm and jerked me to my feet, frog-marched me to the center of the diagram and then dumped me in the middle. “I financed this whole thing because with this gate I can be a summoner as well. Then I won’t need those fuckers at ESPN or anyone else.” He backed out of the diagram and folded his arms across his chest.

I gave a dry laugh and shifted my attention to Tracy. “Is that what you told him? That’s hysterical.”

Roman’s eyes narrowed but Tracy just shook his head. “Don’t listen to her, Roman. You’ll see for yourself in just a few minutes.” He holstered his gun and then lifted his hands, eyes unfocusing briefly. Queasiness hit me, and I had no doubt he was activating the diagram. I couldn’t see the energies, but I was quite sure that he was getting things started.

Roman smiled. “I’m not a summoner, Kara. But I do have sensitivity to the arcane—enough to allow me to work the gate. That sensitivity is one of the reasons I was drawn to you, though I didn’t realize it at the time. It wasn’t until I met Tracy, and we became friends, that I figured it out. He’s the one who told me I didn’t have to sit on the sidelines. And after the Symbol Man murders he knew you were a summoner.” He gave an ugly laugh. “You were an obvious choice.”

The queasiness grew a fraction, and Tracy’s forehead furrowed in concentration. Clearly he was expecting something to happen, and it wasn’t. “But he was wrong, Roman,” I said, shrugging. “I’m not a summoner.” I gestured around me at the diagram. “The gate would be open if I was, right?”

“Don’t listen to her!” Tracy snarled. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face despite the chill in the building. “She is a summoner. You know she is! It’s just taking longer to open than I expected.” His eyes snapped to mine. “The focus. You destroyed the focus.” His lip curled. “Doesn’t matter. I can still do this without it.”

“But you still need a summoner,” I said, acting a hell of a lot more casual than I felt.

Roman shifted, frowned. “Are you sure about this, Tracy?”

“She’s a goddamn summoner!” he shouted, fury suffusing his face. “Now shut the fuck up and let me do this!”

I took a deep breath. This was going to suck. Hard. “If I was a summoner, I wouldn’t be able to walk out of this diagram.”

Tracy’s eyes widened. “You’re bluffing,” he said. Then he sneered. “Badly, too. You’d be torn apart. You wouldn’t risk that.”

“You’re right,” I said. “I wouldn’t.” Come on cuff, don’t fail me now, I thought as I walked out of the circle.

Okay, the first step was walking, the second and third were stumbling as the nausea slammed into me. It was gone as soon as I was past the outer perimeter, but I fell to my hands and knees in front of Tracy and puked on his shoes anyway.

He gave a shout of horror and dismay as he leaped back, then he looked to the diagram. “I don’t understand,” he said, utterly flabbergasted. “I know you’re a summoner.” He shook his head as if trying to get his thoughts to fall properly into place. “And even if you’re not, the wards should have dropped you.”

Shakily, I wiped my mouth and got back to my feet. “Yeah, well, I’m clever that way. Now why don’t you be a good boy and shut this thing down before someone gets hurt.” As if to underscore my point the sound of gunshots came to us from the foyer.

“This is bullshit!” Roman seethed, rounding on Tracy. “You promised me!”

Tracy held up a hand, still staring at me. “It’s impossible. I had you assessed. There’s no way you can simply stop being a summoner.” He shook his head. “We don’t have a choice. They make sure we become summoners.”

A weird chill ran down my spine. “What are you talking about? Who’s ‘they?’”

He gave a dry and tortured laugh. “The lords. Come on, now. You haven’t figured this out? If your dad hadn’t died, do you think you’d have ever become a summoner? You wouldn’t have been mentored by your aunt—who conveniently left Japan and returned here in order to raise poor, orphaned you.”

The breath froze in my chest. “My dad was killed by a drunk driver.”

Tracy snorted. He was beginning to recover his composure now. “Right. Have you ever looked at the accident report? I have. He shouldn’t have died in that wreck.”

I swallowed hard. Of course I’d never read the report. Why the hell would I torture myself like that? “Why…why would they do that?”

His eyes grew dark with unshielded agony. I suddenly wondered if the death of his mother had truly been a suicide. “Because without us they have no way to return.”

“Return? What—”

“Fuck this!” Roman snarled, cutting me off. “Show me how to work the goddamn gate, and then these lords can have one more summoner on their payroll.”

“No, shut up, Roman!” I said, eyes on Tracy. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t tell me to shut up, bitch!” Roman shouted. “Tracy, hurry up and make me a goddamn summoner!”

Tracy leveled a glare at him. “Don’t be stupid. You can’t be a summoner.” His hand dropped to his gun, and I had zero doubt that Roman was about to die.

But I’d forgotten that Roman was strong and fast as hell. Before any of us could blink he’d knocked the gun aside and tackled Tracy. Roman wrenched the gun from Tracy’s hand with the accompanying sound of breaking bones, wrenching a scream of pain from Tracy. “Doesn’t matter,” Roman said through gritted teeth. “You are a summoner, and I’m going to get my fucking gate no matter what!” With that he stood, holding Tracy in a bear hug from behind and headed to the diagram.

“No!” I shouted, leaping toward Roman to yank him back from the circle. “It’s active!” I grabbed onto his arm to try to stop him, but I might as well have been a mosquito on an elephant.

Tracy kicked and twisted, but Roman was still one strong son of a bitch. He flung Tracy into the diagram just as the doors burst open behind us. I turned away and ducked as Tracy let out a spiraling scream of horror and agony. The scream abruptly cut off, and I quickly covered my head to shield myself from the spatter of gore as the energies of the gate shredded Tracy as effectively as if Roman had thrown him into a jet engine intake.

A silence fell, broken only by my ragged breathing and the sick, wet plop of stuff I didn’t want to look at. I cautiously looked up as Ryan and Zack ran forward, then got back to my feet, and reluctantly turned to look back at the carnage. The diagram itself looked untouched, but surrounding it was a corona of blood and flesh, no piece bigger than a fingernail. I fought back a surge of nausea, abruptly thankful that there was nothing left in my stomach to throw up. I’d seen grisly scenes before, but this was beyond horrific. I’d never quite grasped just how much gore one human body could make.

Seeking to distract myself, I grimaced down at my coat—now covered with blood and bits of Tracy. Shuddering, I yanked the zipper down and shrugged it off. Not sure if I could bear to wear it again, even if I could get the gore cleaned off. I resisted the urge to run my fingers through my hair. I wasn’t ready to face Tracy-parts mingled with my split ends.

“Take him into custody,” I told Ryan, jerking my chin toward Roman. “I’ll find a way to pin these murders on him if it’s the last fucking thing I do.”

Roman didn’t resist. He too was spattered in gore, and he seemed to be frozen in shock. “You might want to hose him off first,” I added. And me as well. Though a brief assessment seemed to indicate that my coat had taken the worst of it. My poor, beautiful coat. Yes, I’m worrying about my coat. Better than thinking about what just happened.

I started to inspect the coat to see if it was salvageable, but I froze as a tremor shook the floor.

“Kara,” Zack said, standing a few feet from the diagram. “We have a problem.”

“The gate,” I breathed, cold clenching my gut. I couldn’t see the energies of the portal, but I could imagine what they looked like. Under normal circumstances the gate could have held steady until a summoner closed it down properly, but when Roman threw Tracy into it, the whole structure had unbalanced. Like an uneven load of laundry in a washing machine. “How bad is it?” I asked. “Won’t it just collapse in on itself?”

Zack shook his head, face stricken as he turned back to me. “No. I mean, yes, but the backlash of the power.…” He swallowed visibly. “Kara, it could wipe out everything in a mile radius.”

My mouth went dry. There was a school only a couple of blocks away. Subdivisions, businesses. “A summoner needs to shut it down,” I said, barely hearing myself over the pounding of my heart. “How long do we have?”

“Only a few minutes,” he replied, voice cracking.

I nodded. Not enough time to get Tessa here.

“Wait,” Ryan demanded. “Zack, how can you be sure? Kara, I know what you’re thinking. If you take the cuff off, you’ll be summoned! Have you forgotten that someone in the demon realm is still after you?”

“I haven’t forgotten. But would that stop you?” I challenged.

“Fuck.” He closed his eyes, shook his head. “No.”

“If I work quickly, I might be able to get this shut down before a summoning gets a lock on me.” I moved to the edge of the diagram, glanced back at the two agents. “Here goes.”

I slipped off the cuff and dropped it behind me, then nearly staggered at the force of the energies raging around the diagram. Damn good thing I’d destroyed the focus. I didn’t even want to think how bad it would be if I hadn’t. But as bad as it was, this was—first and foremost—a portal, and all I needed to do was ground it and release the power safely. And that was one of the first things I’d had Rhyzkahl teach me.

Working as quickly as I dared, I set up the power sinks, tied the arcane strands into them, then shunted the energy away from the gate and into the earth where it would dissipate harmlessly. Within heartbeats the raging tempest had wound down to a mild whirlpool, and I could release the breath I was holding.

I spun to retrieve the cuff, but a blast of cold air stopped me as my fingers were millimeters from the cuff. I froze, mind racing. Run. I need to run! I thought in flailing panic. But even as I thought it, I knew there was nowhere I could run to. There were no wards nearby that would shield me from this summoning. And if I put the cuff on now—after the summoning had locked onto me—it would alter the forming of the portal and tear me to shreds. I’d be effectively committing suicide. Mouth dry, I straightened, leaving the cuff on the floor. I guess this is it.

“What are you doing?” Ryan shouted. “Put the cuff back on before it’s too late!”

“It’s already too late,” Zack said, agonized. His eyes met mine. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right,” I said, even though it wasn’t all right. Not at all. I was scared shitless, but I couldn’t let them see it. “I knew it was a long shot. But at least I saved the world, right? At least a little piece of it.” I gave a weak laugh, then took a shaking breath. “Take care of my aunt and Jill. And Fuzzykins.”

“We will,” Zack said. “You have my oath.”

The wind swirled around us, and I felt the first cold touch as the tendrils of the portal began to wrap around me. Ryan shot a look at the swirling energies, then stepped to me and seized my face in his hands.

“God damn it. You’d better come back to me. You hear? You fucking come back to me!”

I tried to nod, but it was tough with him holding my head like that. And the big lump in my throat made it tough to speak. He didn’t seem to care, because in the next instant his lips were on mine. This wasn’t some friends-kissing-friends kiss either—this was a full-blown, passion-filled, hungry as hell kiss as if there would never be any more kisses after this one. This was a kiss to tell each other everything we’d danced around for so long, full of fervor and heartache and grief and joy and longing. I clutched him to me, returning it with just as much passion, not breaking it until the arcane tendrils began to tighten and pull. I quickly released him and pushed him away from me. “You…you need to stand back now,” I gasped.

He stepped back reluctantly. “I love you,” he said.

The pull on me was increasing to the point of pain, but I managed a weak smile. “If I say ‘I know’ will you laugh?”

He chuckled. “Nerd.”

The power swirled higher as the portal widened. “I love you too,” I said.

And then the world disappeared.