Sins of the Demon

Chapter 5

The motor pool for the Beaulac PD was only a few blocks away. Well within walking distance. We’d barely made it past the PD building when we heard an eager shout from behind us.

“Kara! Ellen!”

We turned to see Officer Tim Daniels trotting up, wearing a grin that stretched from ear to ear. “I found her!”

I looked at him blankly. “Found who?”

“Fuzzykins!” His grin widened, if that was even possible. “Wait right here! She’s in my car.”

He took off at a jog. I felt rooted to the spot. “Okay,” I said. “You get to break his heart and tell him it’s the wrong cat.”

The demon snorted. “The fuck I will.”

I had to laugh. She was a fast learner.

Less than a minute later Tim returned, using both hands to carry a large cat carrier. A low throbbing growl began to emanate from it as he approached. “I had to come back by the station to fix my timecard,” he said, breathless and exuberant. “And I was real worried about her being out in this cold and snow, so I tried to think like a cat. Like, where would I go to be warm, y’know?” He set the carrier down. The growl changed pitch briefly, and I could see some sort of creature shifting within. “Then I remembered what you said about the turkey, and so I said to myself, ‘Self, if you were a cat who liked turkey and wanted a warm place, you’d probably end up over by Kelly’s Deli.’”

“Um.” I swallowed and tried again. “Are you sure it’s the right cat?”

Chuckling, he crouched and peered inside the container. “Great big calico Manx, right? And it’s a female. I checked, just to be sure, even though male calicos are pretty darn rare.”

“You’re kidding,” I blurted, staring at him. No way he’d found a cat matching my random description. I didn’t even dare look at Eilahn.

He gave an earnest nod. “It’s true! It’s a genetic thing with the way the X-chromosomes carry the coat color.” He shrugged, ducked his head almost shyly. “I like biology.”

I decided not to clarify what I thought he was kidding about. Slowly I lowered myself to peer into the carrier. I saw plenty of teeth and narrow-slitted eyes as it hissed and spat. But beyond that I could see calico fur. Nor was there any sign of a tail.

“That’s Fuzzykins, right?” He was so damn proud of himself. And I could hardly blame him. And what the hell was I supposed to say? It was the goddamn cat I’d described. This was getting ridiculous. Just how many coincidences was I going to encounter today? I could only hope to hell that most of these events truly were pure happenstance. Or maybe I simply needed to go back to bed and start this day over.

“Yes,” I heard myself saying. “That’s Fuzzykins.” I mustered a weak smile. “That’s a good Fuzzykins. Good kitty.”

Fuzzykins gave me a fuck you glare accompanied by a I-want-to-claw-your-face-off hiss. I quickly stood. “Um…she must be traumatized from her time on the street.” Great. A feral fucking cat. What the hell was I supposed to do with this thing?

Eilahn crouched and peered into the carrier. To my shock the growl stopped and the cat gave a perfectly normal mrow? The demon smiled and stuck her fingers between the wires of the carrier door. I wasn’t worried about her fingers getting bitten off—not with demon-fast reflexes, but apparently Eilahn didn’t have to worry about that. The damn creature rubbed her cheek against Eilahn’s fingers and started up a purr that shook the carrier.

Eilahn turned her gaze up to me—no longer the confident, kickass demon, but this time a hopeful eager child with a “can I keep it, pleeeeeeease?” expression on her face. I blinked in surprise. This was a side of her I’d never seen before. I hoped she didn’t want to eat it.

I resisted the urge to sigh and instead forced a smile. “You rock, Tim. Thanks for finding her for me.”

Super. My demon had a cat. Because my life wasn’t strange enough already.

I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning at the exuberant joy Eilahn took in the cat as we walked to the motor pool. Every hundred feet or so she set the carrier down so she could coo at the creature and let it rub against her fingers.

And the questions. Good grief, the questions.

“Is the food that Tim obtained of sufficient quality?”

“We will need to acquire a cat box, yes? What is the proper litter to be used?”

“Veterinary care! I must make an appointment for inoculation. That is how it works, yes?”

“Catnip. Felines require catnip, I have heard.”

At least she wasn’t asking about recipes for kitty gumbo.

We finally made it to the motor pool, and I asked her, “How do you know so much about cats?” On the one hand she seemed incredibly wise and knowledgeable, but on the other she was like a nine-year-old.

“I have read about them,” she said, her brow drawn down into a slightly puzzled frown as if to say, How else would I know about them?

I masked a smile and proceeded to deal with the various paperwork I had to fill out to take possession of the replacement vehicle. Once that was done there was a bit of a delay while the demon fretted over the best configuration for transporting the damn cat.

“I do not wish her to grow upset,” Eilahn said, frown puckering her forehead. “I have heard that cats do not care to ride in cars. If I am in the front and she in the back, will she not grow distraught? Perhaps I should hold her in my lap.”

“Um, that’s a pretty darn big carrier to hold on your lap,” I pointed out.

She blinked. “I did not intend to have her in the carrier. Why can I not simply hold her in my lap so that I can stroke her fur? Will that not calm her?”

I had a vision of a psychotic cat careening around the inside of the car—followed by an image of my mangled death in the ensuing wreck.

“No,” I stated. Firmly. “The cat stays in the carrier while she’s in the car.” For an instant I thought the Eilahn was actually going to pout. “It’s safer for the cat,” I added. At that she gave a reserved nod.

“Then I will sit in the back seat,” she said. “And I will turn the carrier so that I can reassure her.” She nodded to herself again, clearly pleased with her solution.

I had to smile. “If you want we could stop by the store on the way home and pick up some supplies. I mean, it’d probably be easiest to do that now.”

The smile that spread across her face was radiant. “You truly do not mind the addition of a feline pet to your household?”

I shrugged. “I’m cool with it.” Hell, I wasn’t a hundred percent on board with the concept, but it sure seemed to make Eilahn happy. It felt kind of nice to be able to pay her back somehow.

We made it home without any more incidents, other than shoving my credit card balance a bit higher. Eilahn had insisted on bringing Fuzzykins into the store, though again, I had to put my foot down and insist that the cat stay in the carrier. I had no doubt that if Eilahn had her way, the cat would be riding on her shoulders. The demon had looked longingly at an outrageously priced “Kitty Kondo”—a carpet-covered monstrosity for cats to supposedly play and lounge upon—but Eilahn seemed to understand that such a thing would be pretty far outside of my budget. I was stretching my finances already with the amount of stuff we had to get.

Eilahn nearly skipped up to the porch with the carrier and wasted no time opening it up and gathering the enormous cat into her arms. I unloaded the majority of the cat supplies onto the steps, then moved to give the cat a pet. It gave me a foul glare and hiss, then turned and bumped her head against the demon’s chin. Eilahn gave a delighted laugh and sat down with her, utterly entranced as the cat twined around her and rubbed against her, purring madly.

I shook my head in bemusement. “I think we bought a brush,” I told Eilahn. “She probably likes being brushed.”

The demon gave a delighted cry and dug through the bags. As soon as she located the brush she fell upon the cat with it like a master groomer. I only thought the cat had been purring loudly before.

“I’m going to get the mail,” I told her. She gave an absent nod of acknowledgement and continued showering affection onto the cat. I grinned as I turned and started the hike to my mailbox.

My driveway was long and winding—a slog of well over a quarter mile. It opened up into a broad area in front of the house that could conceivably hold half a dozen cars but had probably never held more than three at any one time. I wasn’t exactly known for throwing wild parties at my place. I lived in a single-story Acadian-style house that sat in the middle of ten acres of woods and on enough of a hill to allow me to have a basement. It couldn’t be seen from the highway, and I liked it that way, since my “hobby” of summoning big, scary, supernatural creatures probably wouldn’t go over too well with the Bible-belt mentality of south Louisiana.

I’d had new gravel put down the week before, which made the trek to the highway more challenging since it was like walking in shifting sand. I was usually a lazy-butt and drove to the mailbox, but I knew if I did that I’d earn an intensely withering look from the demon. Plus, she’d probably make me run ten times the distance in penance.

A chill wind wrapped around me, bringing with it the tang of pine and damp. Tugging my gloves back on, I cast a look up at a sky that had gone from light grey to dark and yucky in the past hour. The tops of the pines that surrounded my house swayed with a rising wind accompanied by a rush of sound like a distant roaring crowd. I didn’t have to check the weather forecast to know that more snow or other nastiness was on its way. This would be a fine day to stay inside and do energetic things like sit on my ass and catch up on TV.

The air went still when I was about a hundred yards from the house. The crunch of the gravel beneath my feet seemed to shout out into the sudden silence, and I slowed. Looking up again, I frowned as I saw that the trees had gone utterly still. That’s odd. Even if the wind died surely they’d still be swaying a bit—

An icy wind slammed into me before I could finish the thought, nearly buffeting me off my feet. I continued to stare stupidly at the trees. Still as stone. Why aren’t they moving?

“Kara!” Eilahn’s shout yanked me out of my absorption. I swiveled my head to see her running hard toward me, arms and legs pumping like a cheetah on steroids. “Run!” she yelled.

That wind. Oh fuck. Realization and horror slammed into me, and I dug my feet in and started sprinting for the house. Now I could feel the arcane menace in the unnaturally cold wind. I’d felt that before. I needed to get behind the safety of the wards now.

The house wasn’t all that far away, but running in the fresh gravel was a nightmare of uneven footing and shifting purchase. I briefly debated running along the side of the driveway but quickly abandoned that idea. There were so many sticks and pine cones and who-the-hell-knew-what-else that I’d be more likely to trip. Eilahn was still running all-out toward me, and I kept my focus on her as my lungs began to burn. I was a reluctant runner at the best of times, and speed had never been my strong suit.

But right now I could feel the lick of the arcane at my heels as it reached for me, and it spurred me like nothing else ever could. This was a summoning—of me. And I knew without a doubt that if it succeeded, I was well and truly fucked.

Eilahn reached me and spun in a move that no human could ever duplicate, managing to grab me and throw me over her shoulders at the same time. I let out a shocked Oof! but I didn’t resist. Right now I didn’t give a shit that I was in an exceedingly ignominious position. The pull seemed to be clawing at my essence and I could see the portal forming behind Eilahn—a slit in the fabric of the world surrounded by a greedy vortex of power. Tendrils of power began to snake out from the portal, gaining substance with every second, like tentacles in the maw of a kraken. The air seemed to shriek in protest, groaning like a building on fire. I tasted sulfur and ozone. I’d seen hundreds of portals, but I’d always been on the calling end. It looked a lot different from the you’re-coming-with-me-now end, and I didn’t like it one bit.

A tongue of energy whipped out and snaked around one wrist, and I let loose a girly yelp of horror, shaking my wrist to try and shed it. But this wasn’t a physical thing that could be dislodged. “Eilahn!” I shrieked. “It has me!”

Yet even as the words left my mouth Eilahn performed another inhuman move—somehow twisting and pulling me off her shoulders and launching me into the air.

My girly shriek shifted to a shocked scream as I hurtled through the air in a collision course with the porch of my house. I had barely enough time to remember to tuck my limbs in, and then I was through the wards and crashing into an ungainly, rolling tumble onto the porch.

I came to a stop and gasped for breath, distantly aware that several parts of my body hurt, but far more viscerally aware that the horrible pull was gone. A heartbeat later Eilahn gave a magnificent bound and landed in a crouch beside me. I shot a worried glance down the driveway, only to see that the tendrils had pulled back into the portal, and it was already beginning to spiral closed. Within three heartbeats it was gone, blinking out of existence with a pop that I felt more than heard.

“Are you hurt?” Eilahn asked, worry darkening her eyes. “Forgive me for throwing you. I could think of no other way to get you within the wards in time. Another few heartbeats and the portal’s hold would have been too strong to break.”

“S’okay,” I managed to croak. “Rather be broken than summoned.”

Eilahn’s lips pressed together as she ran her hands over me. A moment later some of the concern in her face cleared, and she sat back on her heels. “Nothing appears to be broken, though you will be bruised.” Then a whisper of a smile touched her lips. “It is good that I have been teaching you to fall, yes?”

I let out a strangled noise and cautiously pushed myself up to a sitting position, absurdly glad that the rocking chairs I’d purchased a few weeks ago with the grand intention of creating a “picturesque” front porch were still sitting in the shed out behind the house waiting to be assembled and painted. Being thrown into those would have sucked the big one. Who the hell was I trying to be picturesque for anyway? No one ever came to my house, and that was usually more than fine with me.

“You have no idea how much it kills me to admit this,” I said, “but, yeah. That whole tuck and roll crap paid off.” Oh, the joy of being thrown to the ground by a demon. Over and over and over.

The demon chuckled low in her throat. “Your praise brings me great joy.” Then she suddenly turned with a cry of dismay and scooped the cat up from the steps. As I watched, she cradled it to her chest, murmuring in an unfamiliar language, though I was pretty sure she was saying the demon equivalent of, “Oh, my poor widdle fuzzywuzzykins! Were you scared by that silly flying lady? You poor baby. Mommy will protect you and make it all better! Oh yes, she will!”

After a few seconds of reassurance she set the cat down, then turned to gaze down the driveway, a mixture of unease and anger in her expression. “The danger to you grows. Yet I am not convinced this attempt is connected to the attack from earlier this morning.”

“It’s fucked up, no matter what,” I said, leaning back against my house. This was the fourth time I’d barely escaped being summoned. Two weeks ago I’d been walking to my car after getting groceries when I’d felt that blast of icy wind. Eilahn had appeared out of nowhere, tossed me into the backseat of my car, and taken off like a bat out of hell—leaving behind a grocery cart filled with a week’s worth of food. “Am I wrong, or does it seem like whoever’s doing this is getting better at it? I used to be able to just run away from it. This one felt like it was right on top of me no matter what.”

She turned to me, worry darkening her eyes. “You are not wrong. With each attempt they refine the summoning. I do not think it will be possible to simply run from them anymore. It would not have worked this time, save that I was able to quickly get you within strong wards. Soon it will take only seconds to lock onto you and bring you through.”

The words were like a punch in the gut. “So, basically, if I step outside the safety of wards, I risk being summoned?” I heard the anger in my voice, and I hoped she knew it wasn’t directed at her.

Eilahn shook her head. “No, they will not be able to attempt another summoning for a while. It is not a constant threat.”

“Define ‘a while.’”

“A dozen hours at least.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Okay, that’s not the cheery news it could have been. I was really hoping for several days at the very minimum. Or years.”

Eilahn’s expression remained grave. “I truly wish I had more encouraging news for you. But it is not a completely hopeless situation. The house is warded, and I will complete the warding on your place of work tonight.” She reached down and helped me to my feet. I was glad of the assistance as I discovered all the places that were going to have impressive bruises by tomorrow. “There are also other…options,” she said.

“Such as?”

She released me as soon as she was certain I wasn’t going to topple right back over. “There may be certain physical artifacts that can aid in shielding you. Plus, you can continue to work on the mental exercises I showed you.”

I made a face as I hobbled my way inside and down the hall to the kitchen. “Those are more unpleasant than your lessons in falling.” Eilahn had been trying to teach me a way to turn my othersight inward in order to cloak my arcane signature, but all I’d managed to do so far was give myself spectacular headaches. It was like the “imagine a white wall” trick to the nth degree, and I had a feeling it was something that came far more easily to demon minds than my own.

“I will attempt to locate an artifact,” Eilahn said. “But the best hope is that Lord Rhyzkahl will be able to determine who is seeking to interfere.”

Interfere. That was a nice way of putting it. Someone in the demon realm was attempting to summon me—bring me through in the same way that I was able to summon the creatures native to that world. The scary part—for me at least—was that if I were to be successfully summoned, the summoner would most assuredly be powerful enough to bind me to his will, make me a slave. If I wasn’t simply killed outright, that is.

I really had no idea whether the ultimate goal was to kill me or not. And why did the graa attack me? What was its goal?

I sank into a chair at the kitchen table and clasped my hands together in my lap to hide the fact that they were shaking slightly. Not sure why I was bothering, since the syraza was definitely perceptive enough to see how off-kilter I was. She placed a mug of coffee in front of me, confirming my suspicion that she was well aware of my mental state. I gave her a weak smile of thanks and wrapped my hands around the mug, exhaling in relief as I took a sip of the most wonderful substance known to mankind. No wonder I hadn’t been able to run faster. I’d been practically uncaffeinated. I shouldn’t be expected to function on only one cup of coffee.

“I hate this,” I confessed. Eilahn tilted her head and frowned. “Not the coffee,” I quickly amended. “It’s perfect. I hate this whole stress and worry and always waiting for some sort of attack. I mean, I know I’m not the toughest chick on the planet, and I’m not some sort of supercop…but I am a cop, and I’ve survived a lot of shit, and I really fucking hate this constant nagging fear that I have going on.” I scowled down into my coffee. “It sucks, and I don’t know what the hell to do about it.”

“You are due to summon Lord Rhyzkahl within the next week,” she replied quietly. “I suggest you do so tonight, since the moon is full. He needs to know about this latest attempt.”

My scowl deepened. “Yeah, well I hate that too—the whole waiting-to-be-rescued crap. I’m not some weak-kneed damsel in distress.”

Eilahn gave a low laugh. “No one who knows you would ever accuse you of being weak in any way.” She stood and turned to the counter while I blinked in surprise at the compliment. “But I do understand your sentiment and why it chafes.” She shot me a glance over her shoulder. “Perhaps some comfort food is in order. I can make a late breakfast if you wish.”

I grinned despite my mood. “You’ve only been with me for a month and a half, and you already know me way too well. I could definitely do with some comfort food right about now.”

The sound of gravel crunching under tires pulled my attention. Reaching out mentally to the wards, I couldn’t sense a direct threat, but someone was definitely attempting to come down the driveway and failing. I glanced at Eilahn. She seemed studiously unconcerned which gave me a pretty good idea of who was attempting to get near the house.

Pushing up from the table, I winced at how much I’d managed to stiffen up in such a short time. I hobbled down the hall and grabbed my coat, pulling open the door to see a dark blue Crown Victoria backing up. I closed the door behind me and watched as it backed up to the first curve, then stopped and came forward again. At about fifty feet from the house the car stopped again and began to back up. Laughing, I made my way down the steps and waved my arms to get the attention of the driver. A second later the car stopped again and Special Agent Ryan Kristoff stepped out, sweeping an annoyed and frustrated glare over the house and the environs.

He didn’t look any different. He still carried himself like a federal agent. His hair was perhaps a bit shorter than normal, in a brush cut that couldn’t quite hide the fact that it tended to curl when it got longer. He had on his usual casual attire of khaki pants and oxford shirt, and the black pea coat he wore over them couldn’t hide the broad shoulders that tapered down to a slim and muscled waistline. But I knew he was different. At least, different from what I’d assumed him to be for so long. It felt odd that he looked the same as always.

A sharp and icy breeze dove down my collar, and I quickly zipped my coat up.

“What the hell have you done to your house?” Ryan demanded.

I stared at him then burst out laughing. This, at least, was the same old Ryan. Moody, mercurial, and charming. “Having some trouble?”

He glowered at me, but a hint of a smile played at the corners of his mouth. “I can’t get to your damn house! Did you do something to the wards? I have this overpowering urge to go run some errands first.” He peered at the house, and I had a feeling he was using his own othersight to check out the protections. Ryan had the ability to see and sense arcane power, though as far as he was aware he simply had limited skills that he’d inherited from his grandmother. Of course I knew his true skills were anything but limited, though I had to wonder why he’d been left with any power at all when his memories and abilities had been stripped from him. Maybe it’s impossible to completely shut it down, I mused. Maybe throttling his power down to idle was the only option.

“Yep, Eilahn tightened everything up and tweaked the aversions,” I said. Aversions were specialized protections that simply reduced or altered a person’s desire to cross a particular boundary. They could be overcome if a person had a stronger-than-usual will to get past them, but they effectively deterred most intruders. “Just keep your eyes on me as you drive up and don’t think about the house,” I told him.

He gave a curt nod then smiled. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too,” I said, probably more fervently than I meant to. Our eyes met, and for an instant I forgot about the cold and the drifting flakes.

Only for an instant, though, because another breeze swirled snow into my eyes. “Arggh! Yes, good to see you, but I’m freezing my ass off in this fucking snow. Just keep your eyes on me!” I retreated to the porch without waiting for a response, though his laugh followed me. He got back into his car and slowly drove toward me as I motioned him forward, feeling a little like the people who direct planes on runways.

As I watched, the tension in his face gradually cleared, and a few seconds later he stopped in front of the house and got out of his car.

“It won’t be so hard next time,” I told him. “The wards will figure out that you’re welcome here and should adjust.”

He trotted up the stairs to me. “Nice to know I’m welcome.”

“Well, how are you supposed to stalk me if you can’t get to the house?” I said with a wink. I yanked the door open and ducked inside, closing it as soon as he was all the way in. “Oh, and by the way, this weather sucks ass.”

He laughed. “I’ve been seeing far too much of this up north. I was really hoping to avoid snow down here.”

“So it’s your fault,” I retorted.

“Apparently so. By the way, that coat looks great on you.” He swept an approving gaze over me. “Is it new?”

“Bought it today,” I said, giving a spin to show it off before slipping said coat off. “Wearing it is the only thing that makes this weather even remotely worthwhile.”

“You look tough in it,” he said. “I figured you’d be wearing that god-awful Members Only jacket of yours.”

“Don’t make me regret letting you through the wards!” I warned. “That jacket has a special place in my heart.”

“It belongs in a special place in the eighties!” He laughed and pulled me into a hug, and I let myself relax into it. We were already back to our usual banter, the old patterns of behavior.

This can work if I just don’t think too much about it. Right? Because I couldn’t tell Ryan what I knew about him. Zack had made that clear. Ryan’s memories and abilities had been blocked for a reason and what little I’d been able to pry out of Zack had been enough to convince me that Ryan was safer not knowing.

But that didn’t mean I had to stop looking for the truth.

I pulled back, then punched him hard in the chest. “Why didn’t you call? Or text? Or email? Or anything?” I demanded.

He grimaced and made a show of rubbing his chest, but I knew that the flicker of pain I saw flash across his face had nothing to do with my punch. “I’m sorry. I’m a dick. I just.…” He faltered.

“Don’t do it again,” I said, relenting. “Okay?”

Relief shimmered in his eyes. “Okay. I promise.”

On impulse I gave him another hug, and this time I could feel that some of the tension had left him.

“Come on,” I said, turning to head down the hallway. “Eilahn said something earlier about a very late breakfast.”

“Do I dare eat her cooking?” he replied as he followed me. He knew Eilahn was a demon. He also knew the demons didn’t like him, though he said he had no idea why. For that matter, neither did I, other than that they called him a kiraknikahl, or oathbreaker. Though it didn’t take a genius to figure out that it probably had something to do with my theory that he was an exiled demonic lord.

“She knows you’re a friend and off-limits as far as any sort of permanent damage is concerned. I think the worst she might do is hock a loogie into your omelet,” I said as seriously as I could manage.

I snickered as I heard him groan. “You’re evil,” he muttered.

Eilahn was already at the kitchen counter and pouring batter onto a waffle iron. I had no doubt that she’d been completely aware of Ryan’s presence in the driveway and of our conversation in the foyer. I wasn’t at all surprised that she hadn’t allowed him inside the protections. She kept her hostility in check at my request, but it was definitely still there. And what the hell could a demonic lord do to deserve exile? I wondered for the millionth time. What oath did he break?

And how much of a fool was I being by continuing to associate with him? The lords were dangerous, and Ryan clearly had enemies. But I can’t simply abandon him, I thought with a touch of defiance. He’s still my friend, damn it. At least until I have a damn good reason to feel otherwise.

The syraza gave Ryan a slight nod as he entered the kitchen. “Good afternoon, Ryan,” she said, tone not quite chilly. “Will you be joining us for a late breakfast?”

He smiled broadly and plopped down at the table. “Why yes, I believe I shall, and thank you for the invite!”

“I did not invite you,” she replied before returning her attention to the waffle iron. I winced at the reply, but Ryan merely smiled wider. Great, it was going to be like this.

I headed toward the coffeemaker. Thankfully, she had also made coffee. “I didn’t know I had a waffle iron.”

“You did,” Eilahn replied with a slight smile. “It was at the back of one of your cabinets. Still in the box.”

I wasn’t terribly surprised. I went through phases where I was convinced I was going to learn how to cook, or at least learn how to make cool things like waffles or margaritas. Those phases usually passed quickly, and the related appliance ended up forgotten somewhere. In contrast, in the relatively short time she had been living with me, I’d discovered that Eilahn was an enthusiastic and skilled gourmet. I had no idea if she’d already possessed these skills, or if she picked them up while here, but I wasn’t about to complain. I’d never eaten so well in my life.

I need to figure out some way to give her an allowance or something. I almost asked her if she needed funds then stopped myself. This wasn’t something I wanted to get into with Ryan around.

I busied myself with getting my coffee the way I liked it and poured a mug for Ryan as well. Ryan knew who and what Eilahn was and knew about her role here as my protector. But I felt strangely protective toward her—which wasn’t logical in many ways, since she was the badass demon.

But the demons hate him for a reason. And even if he doesn’t remember or realize it, he’s pretty damn powerful. I couldn’t…wouldn’t risk Eilahn if I could at all help it. No matter how much I cared about Ryan.

I do care about Ryan, I told myself as I handed him his mug. He met my eyes and smiled as he took it from me, his fingers briefly brushing mine. I returned the smile but I couldn’t fight back the uncertainty. I care about Ryan…the Ryan I knew. Who the fuck is this?

I set my own coffee down on the table, then pulled the chair that faced the hallway out and around to exchange it with the chair across from Ryan. He gave me a puzzled look at my antics. “This chair wobbles,” I explained with a lift of my chin toward the one I’d just switched out.

“So, why don’t you sit somewhere else?” he asked with a lift of one eyebrow.

I plopped my butt down in the replacement chair. “Because I don’t like sitting with my back to the hallway. It gives me the willies.”

Amusement lit his eyes. “The willies?”

“The willies,” I confirmed, with an accompanying sticking out of tongue. “Eilahn does not get the willies sitting there, so that is her usual seat. And you are actually in my usual seat, but I am being nice and not telling you to move.” I smiled sweetly at him and took a sip of my coffee.

Ryan gave a chuckle. “Gotcha. It all makes perfect sense now.”

Eilahn placed a waffle-laden plate in front of me, then removed a second large waffle from the iron, placed it on a plate and took her seat. She paused for a heartbeat, then looked to Ryan with a guileless expression. “I left the waffle iron on for you. There is more batter in the pitcher beside it.”

“I think I need to complain to the management about the service here,” he said as he pushed back his chair, but he gave me a wink as he headed to the counter.

He’s back less than an hour, and I can already see where the dynamic between them is going. Demons or not, I was going to nip this shit in the bud.

“Just so the two of you know,” I said, stabbing my fork into my waffle. “I’m really not into the whole passive-aggressive teasing back and forth bullshit that masks real antipathy, and that the parties involved think is oh-so amusing. Yeah, it’s funny sometimes, but it kind of fucking stresses me out. So, Ryan, stop antagonizing Eilahn. And Eilahn, I don’t expect you to serve him, me, or anyone else, but by human standards telling a guest in your house to cook their own meal is considered rude.” I lifted my head to smile sweetly at them. “And now I’m going to eat my waffle.”

Ryan had the grace to look chagrined. “Sorry, Kara.”

Eilahn inclined her head. “I apologize as well.”

“I have no problem making my own waffle,” Ryan said. “Please go ahead and eat, Eilahn.”

I didn’t detect any trace of sarcasm and apparently neither did Eilahn, for she murmured thanks. I breathed a silent sigh of relief and dug into my comfort food.

After we finished eating I told Eilahn I’d take care of cleaning up. She didn’t put up an argument. She retreated outside, leaving Ryan and me alone in the kitchen. An awkward silence fell as I ran the water and waited for it to turn hot.

“Any new and interesting cases?” Ryan asked after a moment.

“Sort of,” I said, dabbling my fingers under the running water. “Not a murder but something kind of strange.” I quickly explained about the deaths of Barry Landrieu and Evelyn Stark and how I knew them. I wasn’t about to share the details of my connection to the two victims with the entire Beaulac police department, but I trusted Ryan.

He leaned against the counter, crossed his arms over his chest, and frowned. “Coincidences make me twitchy.”

“You and me both,” I said. The water was still cold, so I shut it off. Grabbing a towel, I dried my hands as I walked down the hall to a utility closet. “My water heater’s ancient,” I explained as he followed me. “Sometimes I have to relight the pilot manually.”

He wrinkled his nose in sympathy as I crouched and stuck the long lighter into the appropriate hole in the bottom of the tank. “It looks like you’ve done this a few times,” he said.

I listened for the sound of the gas firing up, then stood and nodded. “It’s on my list of things to replace when I can afford it,” I said with a sigh, closing the closet door. I didn’t bother returning to the kitchen, since I knew it would take a while for the water to warm up, and instead headed to the living room.

“There’s more,” I said as I plopped down into the armchair instead of my customary spot on the couch. Yes, I was a chickenshit, because what if he sat next to me? Then I might have to actually think about how I felt about him and whether his sitting next to me meant anything or nothing as far as his own feelings. And then I’d have to consider the fact that I suspected stuff about Ryan that I didn’t dare share with him, as well as consider the possibility that this whole “Ryan” that I knew was a total sham anyway.

No, much better to sit in the armchair and give myself more time to try and figure all of this crap out.

He didn’t seem to notice my hesitation over the seating arrangements and simply sat on the end of the couch closer to the chair. “More?” he frowned. “Tell me.”

I did so, giving him a rundown of the graa attack as well as the summoning attempt.

“Fucking hell,” he breathed after I finished. “So there’s another summoner involved, there are two deaths that seem to be connected, and someone in the demon realm is still trying to summon you.”

I nodded.

“Are any of these related to each other?” he asked.

I spread my hands and shrugged. “I have no fucking idea.”

He gave a dry chuckle. “Is your life ever dull?”

I could only laugh. “Not in the ways that count!”

He reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. “I have your back,” he said. “In any way I can. You know that, right?”

The memory of the being who’d blasted the golem with arcane power rose up. I could barely reconcile that creature and Ryan as the same person.

“I know that,” I said. He released my hand and gave me a warm smile.

A quiet fell, undercut by the muted rush of the water heater. “Where’d you grow up?” I asked, feeling as if I was taking a hammer to the smooth glass of the silence. It sounded more abrupt than I’d intended. “I mean, you’re not from the South, are you?”

A slight smile creased his mouth. “Depends. Are you going to call me a damn Yankee if I admit I was born in upstate New York?”

“Nothing so nice,” I replied with a small laugh.

He folded one leg over the other, resting his ankle across his knee. “I guess I’ll have to brave the insults then. Saratoga, New York. Went to high school at Saratoga Springs High then left for the bustle of the big city.”

“New York City?”

He grinned. “Cleveland.”

This time my laugh was genuine. “Oh, my. Culture shock!”

“In more ways than one.”

I tucked my feet underneath me. “What about your folks. Do they still live in Saratoga?” I knew what the answer would be. Or rather, I knew what he needed to tell me.

He shook his head, a shadow flickering across his face. “My mother passed away right before I started college. My dad about five years later.”

I made the appropriate sympathetic expression. He believed it. Surely nobody was that good an actor. “Any brothers or sisters?”

“Nope. I have some cousins I never see, but that’s about it.”

Hunh. I’d expected him to say that both his parents had been only children or some such thing. But maybe whatever caused him to have these fake memories also made him have no desire to seek out the rest of his mythical family.

His memories are fake. They have to be. Is his personality fake as well? Is this the real Ryan? If he ever remembers who he is, will this person go away? Will he still regard me in the same way?

I already knew the answer to that. There was no possible way he’d see me in the same light. Except…somehow he’d acted with the instincts and abilities of his former self when I was hurt and the golems were threatening. Were those instincts always running in the background? Or was that a one-time chink in the armor that held him? I could keep on grilling him about his past, but what was the point? I had zero doubt that if—no, when—I verified this info it would all check out. Whoever had taken the effort to insert this nuanced memory and background would have surely taken steps to make sure the paper trail jived as well.

Fuzzykins chose that moment to stalk into the room. She leaped nimbly onto the end of the couch and stared balefully at Ryan.

“When did you get a cat?” he asked. He reached out a hand to give the cat a scratch, then yanked it back as Fuzzykins snarled and swiped at it with a claws extended.

“It’s Eilahn’s.” I quickly explained the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the cat. “Don’t feel bad. She hates me too. But she completely adores Eilahn.”

“That’s pretty funny,” he admitted. Then, “Are you summoning tonight?”

I blinked, surprised both at the abruptness of the question and that he would want to know at all. He didn’t like Rhyzkahl—okay, “hated” was probably a better word—and he didn’t usually want any reminder that I had any sort of contact or relationship with the demonic lord.

My surprise must have been evident because he gave a little shrug of apology. “It’s a full moon,” he said. “I figured it’d be tonight—unless you already did for this month?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. I was planning to tonight.” I eyed him, mentally bracing myself for his usual gritted-teeth tolerance that barely masked his dislike of the arrangement. I frowned when it didn’t come. “You seem oddly cool with this.”

He placed both feet on the floor and exhaled. “I did a lot of thinking while I was up at Quantico. I didn’t like some of the things I realized.”

“Such as?”

“Such as the fact that you’re one of my best friends, the fact that I care about you considerably, and the fact that you’re in a situation that I have no right to judge, and that I need to grow the fuck up and actually be supportive.” He gave me a wry smile. “I realized that it’s not enough for me to simply not be vocal about the fact that I hated what was going on, because you’re not stupid, and you can certainly tell I disapprove whether I say it or not. But instead, I needed to change my damn outlook and accept what is and look for the positive in it. In other words, I need to stop being so much of a dick. That was kind of the reason I didn’t call. I was trying to process everything.”

I had to smile. “In other words, you were a dick because you were thinking about how to stop being a dick.”

He chuckled. “Well, when you put it that way.…”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I appreciate it, no matter how it came about.”

He put his hands on his knees and gave a nod, seeming relieved. “Okay, well, I should get out of your hair then, but how about we catch up tomorrow—I can bring over pizza and some DVDs of shows that I’m sure you’ve never seen but I think you should.”

I groaned. “You’re still trying to make me a nerd, aren’t you?”

“No,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “I think there’s no hope of that. But it won’t stop me from trying.” He stood, and I followed suit. “So, tomorrow?”

I nodded. “It’s a plan.”

He smiled, gave me a close hug. I allowed myself to relax against him before we separated. For a brief instant I thought he was going to do something like kiss my forehead or cheek or something else that fell within the affection-between-friends boundary, but he merely smiled at me before turning and leaving.

I watched through the window as he drove off. We’d broken through a huge barrier in our relationship. He’d come to accept the presence of Rhyzkahl in my life. I could stop with the cycles of guilt and angst and all that.

Except that I felt as if it wasn’t real. Is this all part of the act? Am I just another facet of his cover?