Demons at Deadnight (2011), page 7
“Sure.” I put a hand on the banister and gazed—okay, gawked—at the house-slash-palace. Well…wow. Vaulted ceiling, rich woods, iron, gorgeous artwork, beautiful furnishings, plush materials, thick oriental carpets, all in warm tones and instilling an overall feeling of comfort and welcome.
An iron chandelier glowed with a zillion lights. A long, curved staircase arched up the wall sporting several enormous landscape paintings of romantic bygone eras. They had that old-master quality and looked like they should be in a museum. Feeling guilty for whatever deceit I’d unwittingly fallen into, and losing my nerve, I turned to the woman, ready to admit a mistake and get out. She was gone.
Voices raised from somewhere in the back of the house. I crossed the foyer and peeked down the hall which opened to a room with lots of wood, cushy leather furniture, cozy quilts, and plush pillows all inviting guests to relax and sit a while. Massive windows framed a stunning view of the lake, sparkling washed-denim blue against the brilliant sun. Adirondack chairs and chaises were sprinkled along another covered porch leading down to an expansive lawn and beach beyond. A delicious aroma of something garlicky and full of carbs wafted in the air.
“He’s not even here,” came Tristan’s irritated voice.
I couldn’t see him, but Blake came into view. I jumped back. Okay, new plan. Out the door, make a mad dash to my car, and give up this ridiculous cloak-and-dagger stuff.
One problem. Someone was climbing the porch steps. I could see the shadow outside the stained glass. The knob turned and they bumped into the door when it didn’t open.
Loud banging and Matthias bellowed, “Open the door!”
“You locked the door?” Ayden said. “Go open it.”
“I did not,” Tristan said. “It’s your house, you go open it.”
While they argued, I panicked, hyperventilated two breaths, moved right, left, right, left, turned a circle, then dashed up the stairs on tiptoe. I was barely around the corner and out of sight before the door opened.
I made it down the hall into an expanse with the same large windows overlooking the lake. French doors opened to a full-length balcony. A wooden dock jutted out into the water with a cottage style boathouse big enough to hold the Titanic and the glacier. A sailboat, the old-fashioned kind of gleaming polished wood and brass, rocked gently against the dock.
A subtle hint of cinnamon wafted through the room. Comfortable furniture scattered throughout and an old-fashioned wet bar of the polished-wood-and-gleaming-brass theme lined one wall, a full-length mirror behind it. A billiards table with fringed leather pockets was set off to one side with large Tiffany lamps hanging above. Several game tables were nearby, one with a chess match in progress. Dart boards hung on two different walls. A fire crackled in a stone hearth big enough to park a tank. More thick oriental carpets cushioned my feet. The place had a masculine club-slash-pub thing going on.
A “killer” wall displayed the weapons collection. Old stuff. Battle-axes, swords, spears, nasty curved daggers, and other deadly looking things.
Somehow the old world tempo wasn’t put out by the proliferation of the latest and greatest toys. Big screen TVs, shelves of video games and DVDs, pinball machines, and mini-golf putt. It was impressive but sad. The room could’ve been Party Central for their contemporaries but I doubted any of the boys ever invited anyone other than each other to enjoy it.
I heard them coming. I thought about sitting in a chair and greeting them with a saucy, “Hello, boys. I want some answers and you’re going to give them to me,” as they walked in. Just like some femme-fatale in a James Bond movie. Then I got real, wussed out, and looked for a place to hide.
On my way to duck behind the bar I decided arming myself would be a smart move. I sprinted to the killing wall and tried to pull off some weapons. Nothing budged. I was ready to dive behind a couch when the gems twinkled in my peripheral. With nothing to lose I touched my fingers to the bejeweled battle-axe—once to the ruby, five times to the sapphire and once to the diamond. I heard several clicks and a soft rumble of gears. With a gentle shudder the wall split down the middle and parted. Maybe this was a James Bond movie.
Lights flickered to life from inside, and the doors, or wall, started to re-close.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The boys entered the game room. They didn’t see me. Probably because I was watching them on a monitor from the super-cool secret room I’d dived into before the wall closed.
One end housed a bank of large computer monitors hung in a semi-circle above a curved desk. They’d come to life when I entered and one showed what was going on in the game room. The rest scanned through different parts of the house and around town, including the high school. One even flipped through an outside shot of my house. From the angle, the camera had to be mounted on Tristan’s house. Gee, that wasn’t creepy.
Lights blinked on the desk with a crazy amount of buttons and knobs embedded into the surface. In the middle of the room was a large transparent monitor the size of a drive-in theater screen. Scattered below were several sleek metal tables that reminded me of file cabinets but without handles or locks. Writing on the side resembled hieroglyphics.
Bubbling sounds and chemical smells came from the other end of the room. A glow illuminated an elaborate high-tech laboratory complete with colorful liquids boiling in flasks. Tubes and beakers hovered over controlled flames. Shelves of glass jars held things I wasn’t close enough to see and didn’t want to. That end housed additional computers, strange, expensive-looking equipment lining the walls and littering tables, and temperature-controlled glass cabinets.
Overall, the place looked like the control room of a super-race alien spaceship. Only more advanced.
Who were these guys?
I heard my name and concentrated on the game room monitor.
“Come on, Aurora’s the only common factor,” Blake insisted in a voice that indicated he’d said it before. He leaned his massive frame over the billiards table to line up a shot. “And if they find out you’re holding something back, we’re all in for it.” His arm jerked. The three-ball missed the side pocket. “This kind of stress puts me off my game.”
At the bar, Matthias sat in a stool with his feet up and his hand around a tall, opaque glass of—chocolate milk? He shook his head.
“I don’t want to go off half-cocked, mate. We don’t know she’s involved. Tristan said the prelim background check came back clean.” Tristan nodded as he chalked his cue stick. “If she’s got something to do with the demon activity, we’ll determine the threat level ourselves and neutralize it.”
“Hah!” I pointed at the screen. They’d said demon activity. A big weight I hadn’t even known was suffocating me lifted off my chest. I wasn’t crazy. I wiped my suddenly wet eyes and sniffed hard, swallowing the snot because a glance around revealed futuristic secret rooms didn’t see the need for tissues.
I wasn’t crazy. I really wasn’t crazy. These guys saw demons too. It seemed likely after today’s events, but this confirmed it. We could all be crazy but at least we were the same kind of crazy. I sniffed again and used my sleeve. I felt so relieved and—
Wait a minute.
Neutralize? I find kindred spirits and they want to neutralize me? That sounded…ominous.
“I agree. Too much scrutiny from the society isn’t good.” Ayden lounged by the fireplace holding his hands toward the blaze and moved them to the beat rumbling out of the sound system. The flames danced an eerie orchestrated rhythm to the music. “If the High Council finds out what we can do, we’ll be the next Sicarius recruits. No one wants that.”
“Why’s Madame Cacciatori interested in us?” I was glad Logan had come in off the balcony. The high-wire act he’d been doing on the railing, swaying precariously, had made my palms sweat. Now he paced, agitated, his bright tie fluttering in a stiff breeze off the lake.
“Wait.” Blake stopped mid-shot and sat on the table which creaked in protest. “Who’s she again?”
Matthias sighed. “Don’t you ever pay attention? She heads-up the Divinicus task force.”
Blake looked blank, but since the demons kept calling me Divinicus, and not in a good way, I was interested.
“Sophina Cacciatori.” Matthias continued. “She taught some classes at the conference in Europe?”
Blake shook his head.
Logan spoke up. “You described her as the curvy, hot, Italian brunette with—”
“Great legs!” Blake finished with a broad grin. “And her son Cristiano is the seduction guru. Talk about smooth. So why’s she interested in us?”
“It’s not us,” Jayden was focused on a large aquarium I hadn’t noticed earlier. It sat toward the back of the room housing a multitude of colorful fish of various shapes and sizes. Jayden’s hands twirled and rolled as the exotic fish mirrored his movements as if caught in an unusual pattern of currents. “Being in charge of the Divinicus hunt, she would investigate any unusual demon activity.”
Hunting a Divinicus? Not good. I had enough of that going on.
Ayden nodded. “And we haven’t had this much action since forever.”
“Seventeen months, three weeks, and six days. I’d have to double-check on the hours and minutes. It was that attempt by Azazel’s followers to—”
“Yes, Jayden,” Ayden said.
“And I’m still uncertain if the shields the demon penetrated around the school were damaged because of inept maintenance or sabotage,” Jayden said.
Ayden held his hands dangerously close to the fire. “The problem is we’re on Cacciatori’s radar and that’s not good if we want to keep from adding our names to the Sicarius short list. She’s powerful.”
Jayden turned from the aquarium. “And desperate to find the Divinicus and put him underground. She’s got teams tracking leads worldwide. The threat’s too great to have him running loose.”
Was this Cacciatori woman the one who’d sent the demons after me? To put me underground as in “six feet” underground? If they reported my whereabouts to her, I was dead.
Jayden continued, “The last turf war in Columbia left many dead, and we’re struggling to retain dominance. The cartel is getting stronger. We can prevail, but taking care of the Divinicus will give us the edge we need.” Jayden opened a small canister, pinched some powder and sprinkled it on the top of the water. The fish raced to the surface. “When does your dad return, Matthias?”
“He’s still in Asia checking on a few operations, but he’s due back any day. Why isn’t your dad back yet?"
“The product in Germany wasn’t up to par,” Jayden shrugged. “He’s locating a new supplier as well as attempting various contract renegotiations. The demons aren’t making it easy.”
My hand covered my suddenly dry mouth. My knees buckled, and my butt nearly missed the chair which almost spit out across the room, alerting these…deadly criminals on the other side of the door.
That’s what they were. It all made sense. Columbia. Cartel. Turf Wars. Negotiations and contracts with demons in Europe and Asia over “Product.” They worked for a society, an organization, with an international demon/human drug cartel thing going on. Luna said Mr. Ishida owned an import-export business. If that didn’t scream “illegal drugs” I don’t know what did, and with the Sheriff as a player they could easily run the “Product” through Gossamer Falls. No wonder they were so rich.
I glanced over at the lab and edged away from the bubbling substances, trying not to whimper, almost afraid to blink lest it create some spark. I’d heard about Meth labs. Volatile. Highly explosive. It could blow any minute.
I watched the monitor and hoped I could find a way out without being seen. Then I had to keep my Divinicus status a secret and elude their hunters. Piece of cake. Really complicated cake.
Ayden scooped three balls from the billiards table’s pockets and juggled them with ease. “It’s probably better we don’t get them involved for now. They can claim ignorance if we take some heat.” The boys nodded. “So we need to figure out what’s going on, but keep a low profile and cover our bases with the society. Matthias, notify them we’re checking out some activity and will report later.”
“Right.” The Aussie grabbed a computer pad and punched buttons on its touch-screen. The array of TVs in the game room blinked to life and there was a new hum in the secret room. “I’ll send it low priority to an obscure security level. Hopefully, it’ll get buried.”
Jayden looked at Tristan who was engrossed in racking balls for a new game. “You’ve been exceedingly subdued. You live next door to her. Anything suspicious?”
“Nope.” Tristan focused on his task. “All’s normal. We should leave her alone.”
“But she remembers.” Jayden noted. “That’s abnormal.”
Remembers what?
“Maybe I did something wrong,” Tristan shrugged.
Jayden’s brow furrowed. So did mine. “Twice?” he said, heavy on the doubt.
“Or her DNA is coded weird. I don’t know.” Tristan snatched the balls from Ayden mid-air and slammed them into the wooden triangle.
Jayden tapped a knuckle against his chin. “I should have the DNA results from the hair samples very soon.”
Little creepy.
“We don’t know that she has anything to do with what’s going on.” Tristan’s jaw tightened. “Look what happened last time. People died.”
Matthias cut into the sudden silence. “That’s not fair. You had no control over what happened to Herman’s brother.”
They’d killed someone?
“But why take the chance? Leave her alone. Keep the society out of it.” Tristan studied the rest of the group. “Apologize. Give back the jewelry. Stay away.”
“Ayden, what happened between you and Herman?” Blake said. “There’s some rumor you pummeled one of his guys over your new girlfriend.”
“Yeah, mate.” Matthias folded his arms across his chest.
Ayden popped open a soda from the bar and took a swig. “He had Aurora cornered. I got her out.”
How romantic.
“By saying she’s your girlfriend?” Blake said with a crooked grin. “How’d you sell that one?”
“Doesn’t matter. She’d had a rough day. Didn’t think she should have to deal with Herman too.”
Tristan threw his hands in the air. “But you didn’t help. If he thinks Aurora is connected to us, he might go after her again. It’s another reason for us to stay away from her.”
“You keep saying that.” Ayden looked at him hard. “But we can’t.”
“Why not?” Tristan protested.
“Because we have to know if she’s connected to the demons.”
“I’ll do a more thorough background check.” Jayden headed toward the wall of screens opposite Matthias.
“No!” Tristan blurted. “That’s my job. I’ll do it.”
They all looked at each other, then Tristan. Matthias put down the control panel.
Tristan’s hand raked his hair. “What?”
Ayden sighed. “Is there something going on we should know about? Between you two?”
“No!” Tristan looked defiant. “Oh, come on, I just don’t want someone else getting hurt because of what we do. She’s nice. I like her. Not like-like, just like. I don’t want to put anyone in danger again.”
After a pause, Logan straightened his tie. “I like her, too. Not like-like. Just like.”
“She’s quite the conundrum.” Jayden’s tone and smile gave the impression this was a good thing. To Jayden anyway.
“I definitely like her,” Blake said. “I could even like-like her. Those long legs, great body, the fiery hair, and green eyes. She’s feisty and funny. What’s not to like or like-like?”
Tristan smirked. “Yeah, a sense of humor is so important to you.”
“Dude, I’m a very deep guy.”
“Her eyes are blue,” Ayden said.
Blake frowned. “Really?”
I smiled. At Blake being such an idiot or the fact Ayden remembered the color of my eyes, I wasn’t sure.
“He’s right.” Jayden nodded toward his brother. “They’re blue. More of an indigo which based on its wavelength in the color spectrum technically places it between blue and violet.”
“Oh, yeah, Blake, you’re deep,” Tristan snorted.
“Hey.” Blake stopped twirling his stick and pointed it at Tristan. “I could still like-like her.”
Matthias grunted. “Let’s keep it together, mates. Not go daft over a girl.” I thought his fingers would punch through the pad’s screen. “No one’s allowed to like her or like-like her. It will only make our job harder.”
Harder to kill me? Poor babies.
Ayden told Matthias, “I know what we should do. But you’re not gonna like it.”
Matthias flopped in a leather chair. “I’ll give it a fair go.”
“A question first, Matthias,” Blake said with an impish grin. “Aurora. Do you like her, or like-like her?”
With a guttural noise, Matthias launched from his seat. The game room went dark and erupted in sounds of a scuffle.
A split second later, I was in the dark too. My gaze flicked around the room, breath coming in spurts. I needed a way out. A strip of light shone at the bottom of a wall opposite where I’d entered. I knocked over a chair and fumbled around the wall, glad for all the noise the boys made.
They were psychotic. Talking about killing me—sorry, “neutralizing” me—one minute and like-liking me the next.
My hand found a panel and pushed. With a whoosh the wall slid open and I fell through.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I blinked against the sudden brightness from sunlight through a large window and hit my hip on the corner of a desk. A lamp teetered. I grabbed it before it crashed and jumped when the wall behind me slid shut.
A quick glance revealed the room was empty. I released a breath and edged down a wall of bookcases, eyes darting. The tranquil Zen-ish décor of subtle blues and greens should have calmed my shattered nerves. It didn’t.
I scooted past the low platform bed of dark high-gloss wood and caught a whiff of incense that burned a familiar musky scent.
