A Girl's Guide to Demon Hunting (12 page)

Chapter 22

"What do you mean I can't shoot him?"
             
             
             
    
  -Shooter

    Sam damn near ambushed us as soon as we sat down in our usual place in the Café.
    “Max informed us that your team was working on accessing Julie’s bank records. It’s smart, really smart. I’ve brought you all the information we have, I hope it will help. While we were traveling I managed to access The Council records and compiled a background on who we think could have taken Julie.”
    She pulled an iPad from the large black purse sitting near her feet and placed it on the table so we could all see it. On the screen was a picture of Peaches. She was dressed in a lemon yellow evening gown and was going into one of the Casinos.
    “Our main suspect would be her. As the Demon Lord for the Envy Demons, I figure she has the most to gain from taking Julie. Not only would it give her leverage against the Guardians but if she were to take Julie’s power it could raise her status in Vegas.” I could only listen to Sam, dumbfounded by her complete lack of any understanding of the situation.
    Flipping to the next photo, Nick took over. This time the screen showed two Demons; one a woman, thin with a beak nose and messy black hair. She was dressed in a white tank top and five hundred dollar jeans, a giant red designer purse hanging from one arm. At her side, towering over her was a man dressed in a black suit that was way too snug on his massively obese body. The picture looked like it was taken inside a grocery store.
    “This one.” He said pointing to the big guy. “Lord of the Gluttony Demons; based on his vice alone we think he is a likely choice for taking Julie.”
     This time it wasn’t just me looking confused. Ace and Shooter were staring at Nick like a third eye had just popped out of his head. Max looked between the three of us.
    “Okay, obviously you three think differently. Care to enlighten us?”
Ace picked up the iPad and proceeded to educate the ‘experts.’
    “First,
she
is the Demon Lord of the Gluttony Demons. Her name is Heidi and she has a thing for purses. This one,” he said, pointing to the big guy in the picture, “he’s her right hand man. Sort of an assistant who’s also a bodyguard. All the Demon Lords have at least one.”
    I smiled at the stunned looks on Sam and Nick’s faces as Shooter picked up where Ace left off.
    “And no way would Heidi take a Guardian. First off, it would mean she would have to stop shopping for purses and second there’s no reason. We’re in Vegas, people; did you see how many buffets are on The Strip? Who do you think owns them? No way Heidi would jeopardize all that.”
    “What about Peaches?” Nick asked, looking at Ace and Shooter, who turned towards me.
    Thankfully they hadn’t really had any run-ins with her, that honor was all mine. Leaning across the table, I flipped the picture back to Peaches.
    “You have to understand something. Unlike the rest of the world, the Demons in Las Vegas are organized and allied. When they built Vegas they formed a council of sorts, the leader of which was the most powerful Demon, usually the one with the most Demons under them. It’s changed throughout the years; the current leader or Queen is Peaches, who has a little less than one hundred Demons in Vegas alone. I think there’s around fifty more spread throughout the other cities in Nevada.
    Vegas is a constant source of food. It’s basically an all-you-can-eat buffet for them. They don’t fight, at least not often. The lesser Demons are loyal to the Lords and uninvited or visiting Demons are not tolerated for long. What I’m trying to say is that these Lords, they know a good thing when they see it and Vegas is a good thing. They aren’t going to sacrifice their life here so they can go back to scavenging for food and living in nests like other Demons.”
    I saw a shudder run through Max and gave him a questioning glance, to which he replied. “Nests are what I always imagined Hell would be like.”
    “I know; all the blood.” I said. Maybe I was wrong about him going into a nest.
    “Why hasn’t The Council sent the Palace Guards?” Sam asked, looking between Max and Nick.
    “Palace Guards?” Ace asked.
    Max in turn gave me an exasperated look. “Have you briefed them on anything in the Guardian world?”
    I returned the look with one of my own, “Obviously not. I thought it better to not tell the humans all the Guardian secrets but if you want to, go right ahead.”
    Shockingly my snide comment didn’t go over well with Max, I heard his teeth grind a few times before he turned to Ace.
   “The Palace Guards are a throwback to the times when we had an actual Army. It’s all volunteer now and of course much smaller. Their main focus is to eradicate those Demons a normal Guardian can’t kill. They work in small teams and are stationed at all the King’s palaces. They also guard the Royal family and The Council. Hence the name.”
    “Whoa...whoa, throw that into reverse.” Ace said, “Did you say King?”
    “We have a King, Queen, the whole damn circus.” Max said. “But that’s a topic for another day. We need to concentrate on finding Julie.”
    “Well, why don’t a couple of these Palace Guards come here and help us out?” Shooter asked.
    “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Ever.” I told him, “The Royal family is the most powerful among us. If a Demon got their power it would be Hell on earth. Literally. According to rumor, if a Demon were to take just one of the Royals’ power they would be able to reopen the gate to Hell. Besides what’s a little kidnapping when the King and Queen need their breakfast in bed?”
    Evidently Sam was the only one to appreciate my last comment. She was red faced and coughing, having been in mid sip; her coffee must have gone down the wrong way. Nick gave her a couple of thumps on her back to help her clear her airway. Seeing she was catching her breath, he turned back to the iPad.
    “Can you tell us anything about these other Demons?” He asked.
    The next photo was of Hank, the Demon Lord of the Sloths. He was of course filthy, his feet clad in mismatched slippers.
    “Sloth Demon. If it required him to put on shoes, no way would he bother.” I told him.
Scrolling to the next picture in the series, it was a head shot of Mateo. Max, looking over my shoulder at the picture, said. “Defiantly not him. He had the chance to kill me last night and he didn’t.”
    “Why was that?” Jenny asked.
    “I think it was because he didn’t realize I was a Guardian. I was careful to act like a human around the Demons. I was hoping they would underestimate me and take me to Julie.”
    “It was dangerous.” Nick said to Max, his voice hard. “I don’t want to lose you as well. You will not take a chance like that again.”
    I sat up in my chair, expecting a Max-on-Nick smackdown. I was betting on Max based purely on muscle mass, not that Nick looked soft by any means, just leaner than Max. I was thoroughly disappointed when Max just gave him a hard glare and sat back in his chair. Bummer.
    “What kind of Demon is Mateo?” Sam asked, spinning the tablet so it faced her and breaking my train of thought.
    “Greed Demon.” I didn’t bother to elaborate, not when I still didn’t know how much Max knew about what went down at Mateo’s.
    “I don’t get how he’s not the most powerful Demon; I mean, this whole town is built on gambling.” Sam said.
    Jenny must have noticed my unease, taking over the explanation.
    “True, but at the root of greed you’ll generally find envy. It’s at the heart of almost everything we do. Especially here. Take gluttony, for example; you’re in a restaurant and you see a waiter walk past you with a big piece of chocolate cake. The waiter puts it in front of a little kid. What do you feel in that moment? Most people just want what the kid has, a piece of cake. Far fewer want the whole cake. Then there are those who hate the kid because he has cake and they don’t.
    Unfortunately the Demons have grown wise to the fact envy is the strongest so they've started hunting in pairs or groups mixing the different classes of Demons. By combining their powers the humans have so many emotions rolling around, it allows the Demons to feed for weeks instead of days.”
    “That’s awful, how did they even learn to do this?” Sam asked.
    “From you.” Jenny answered. “It’s what The Guardians have been doing for decades. Look at your Palace Guards. You create teams that consist of the deadliest abilities to hunt down and eliminate the Demons. It’s the same concept except your targets are Demons instead of humans.”
    “Does the Council know this?” Nick asked.
    “Yeah, Father Henry reported it years ago.”
    At my answer a look was passed between Max and Nick; I couldn’t quit decipher it but I didn’t get the feeling it was good. Sam, clearly frustrated, threw herself back against the seat cushion and gave both Max and Nick a hard look.
    “Council shit later boys. We need to concentrate.” Turning her hard glare at me, Ace, Shooter and Jenny she said. “Now can any of you think of another Demon who would take Julie?”
    I came up blank and looked to my friends for help. Jenny shrugged her shoulders in response. Ace and Shooter both had identical glazed looks as they racked their brains. Ace was the first to snap out of it. Turning to me he asked, “What about Peter or Johann?”
    “I heard Johann’s currently locked up in Peaches’ white room.”
Ace and Shooter cringed at my words.
    “White room?” Nick asked.
    “Epic torture, you don’t come out without missing at least a few body parts.” I said.
    “What’d he do?” Sam asked.
    “Probably snubbed Peaches at a charity ball or something; he’s a Pride Demon. Whatever it was, it would be relatively big to make Peaches break the peace. Keep in mind, social graces are big to Peaches.”
    “And this Peter guy?” Max asked.
    “Lust Demon; he spends so much energy keeping control of his Demons, he’s about as likely to take her as Hank or Heidi; its waaay too much work.”
Max asked the question the rest were afraid to address, “What about taking her for physical reasons?”
    “He wouldn’t do that, trust me.” I said quickly. “With Lusts, it’s about the experience. Forcible contact detracts from it. A physical attack would come from a Wrath and I think Mikey’s at his winter house in Cabo. His Demons wouldn’t dare take her without his permission.
    Out of the corner of my eye I saw relief cross Nicks face.
    “So which one would take her?” Sam asked.
    “None of them.” I said my voice sure. 
    “Which leaves us with what?” Nick asked. Standing up, he began to pace. I followed his progress for a few minutes and felt a pang of sorrow for him. Pale skin, dark circles under his eyes, he looked about on the verge of a breakdown. I’m sure he wanted it to be a Demon Lord. It’s easier having an identifiable target, no matter how bad they are.
    Jenny finally broke the silence, “How can you all be so sure she was taken? Isn’t it possible she…I don’t know…she ran away from home? Maybe something was going on there and she just wanted to disappear. Trust me when I say Vegas is the perfect place to disappear.”
    I turned to look at her as she stood up and, like Nick, began to pace. I felt Max’s stare on me as I watched Jenny. I tried not to think about what he’d see in my expression or on the faces of my friends. The fact was the four of us all ended up in Las Vegas because we were running from something. Jenny was right, Vegas was a perfect hiding place for someone who didn’t want to be found.

Chapter 23

Tip 62:  No one is immune to a Demons power, not even you.

     Being stuck in a car with Max, Ace and Shooter was just about the last place I wanted to be right then. Well, except stuck in a car with Peaches...although it was a close second. But due to last night’s field trip to Mateo’s I couldn’t trust Max alone with Ace or Shooter and since Jenny was currently in hacker mode, it was up to me and Pancake to baby-sit. Which, thanks to my conversation with Father Henry, was exactly what I was going to have to do until either Max left or we found Julie.
     According to Father Henry the best way to make sure Max didn’t find out exactly how far down the rabbit hole I’d traveled with the Demons was to stick to him like glue. Personally I thought Father H had finally lost it but it’s not like I had a better plan, at least not yet. So instead of being snuggled up on Jenny’s couch feeding myself royal chocolate fudge ice cream and getting her supplies or food as needed, I was sitting in the front seat of a muscle car which Max named Tiffany with Pancake on my lap. Thanks to the codes that Nick give to Jenny, she was able to pinpoint a two-block radius where Julie’s phone last sent a GPS signal.
    “So what do you know about Julie?” Shooter asked from the back seat.
    “I’ve known her for about three years. She likes movies, concerts, that sort of thing. She’s real big on save the planet kind of causes. Nick’s constantly being dragged to some fundraising event. I don’t know, I guess she’s like every other 17-year-old girl.”
    “Yeah, except for the whole Fallen Angel DNA running through her veins.” Ace chuckled.
    “Okay so she’s mostly normal but what’s she
like
? What makes her who she is or more importantly what makes her worth kidnapping?” I asked.
    Max took so long to answer I was beginning to think he wouldn’t when he replied, 
   “Nothing; she’s not very powerful. Her family isn’t well known in the Guardian world or the human one. And she’s not stupid; she only uses her powers as a last resort.”
I wanted to ask him what she would consider a last resort but I heard the faint beep of Max’s GPS speed up and waited for it to tell us we arrived at our destination.
    “Stop up here.” Shooter said from the back, beating the GPS by two seconds. “This is the edge of the radius.”
    Max pulled off the road and put the car in park. We both exited to let Ace and Shooter climb out. 
    “Call me if you find anything, even the smallest thing.” Max said and tossed Ace a small black cell phone.
    “Sweet.” Ace said and began accessing the touch pad on the phone.
    “Just be careful.” I told him as I smiled at his excitement over the phone; Max was never going to see it again. Jenny was the only one of us who could afford a phone and Ace had been bitching the past month about not having one.
    “We’ll be fine. Are you going to be okay?” Shooter asked, his voice soft as he glanced at Max who was pretending not to hear.
    “Don’t worry about me.”
 
    Max and I'd been walking every inch of this block, looking for any sign of Julie. Purely on luck we’d done another check of the street and found the red plastic shards of a broken taillight. Following the trail to a storm grate, we spent a good ten minutes trying to see down into it when Max decided the best idea was for “someone” to go in. 
    “Are you serious?” I asked Max, looking between him and the drainage grate.
    “Do I strike you as the type to joke?”
    “You do it.” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.
    “I won’t fit and we both know it. You’re smaller.”
    “Fine,” I said, unable to find a break in the logic. “Just keep an eye on Pancake. She’ll try to jump in.”
    Max yanked the grate free and stepped out of the way. Zipping my jacket up, I wrapped my hair in a messy bun on the top of my head and went to stand on the other side of the hole in front of Max.
    “You owe me.” I said, just before I jumped down into the sewer.
    Landing in a puddle, I began to gag as a revolting smell surrounded me. I tried really hard not to think about the fact that it hadn’t rained in weeks, which meant this water most likely came from when the city cleaned up after very drunk tourists barfed in the street. Or worse. Taking short gasping breaths through my mouth, I took Max’s small flashlight from my pocket and searched the ground. Finding nothing in the main part of the drain, I took a few steps into the tunnel. I slipped on something I refused to shine the light on and smacked hard into the side of the tunnel.
    Cursing as I righted myself, I shone the light further into the tunnel and saw a flash as light bounced off something shiny. More carefully this time, I went further into the tunnel and saw an iPhone, its screen shattered, lying amongst a pile of trash that hadn’t been washed away. If this was Julie’s, it was totally worth climbing into a sewer for it. Picking it up with two fingers, I made my way back to the main drain and looked up to find Ace, Shooter and Max staring down at me.
    “Catch.” I said and tossed the phone to them.
    Max caught it in mid air. Flipping the phone over, he looked at the back and a bright smile lit up his face.
    “It’s Julie’s. Good work.” He said and stepped away from the hole.
    Feeling pumped from finally having something solid to go on, it took me a moment to realize he wasn’t coming back.
    “Ace, go get Max. He can get me out of here easier than you two.”
    “It’s cool, we can get you out, I think he’s a little wrapped up in the phone.” Ace said as he and Shooter laid down on the ground and hung their arms out for me to grab.
   They caught me on the second try. With lots of grunting and groaning on all our parts they pulled me out. As usual, jumping down a hole was so much easier than jumping out of one.
    “Thanks.” I said to them as we laid on the sidewalk trying to catch our breaths.
    I heard the familiar sound of Pancake’s snort to my right and found her walking up and down the sidewalk, her nose close to the ground.
    “Pancake, come!” I yelled and went to get her before she wandered too close to the street. 
    Grabbing her up in my arms, I pried her mouth open and found her chewing on a small metal button. I took it from her and turned it over. It was about the size of a quarter and had a red poppy on the front. Thankfully she’d only just gotten hold of it since it was the perfect size for her to choke on. Furious, I went to where Ace, Shooter and Max were standing; I gave Max a look of disbelief.
    “Really? You had one job: keep her safe!” I yelled and threw the button at Max.
    He caught it before it could hit his face and turned it over so he could see the front. I was caught off guard by the shock on his face so when Ace and Shooter each grabbed me by the arm and led me away I didn’t put up any resistance.
    I recovered my anger before Max did and twisting out of Ace and Shooter’s hold, I started walking back towards Max. Ace, quick as a flea and just as annoying, jumped in front of me and blocked me from going any further.
    “Allie, how about we give the large and pissed off Guardian a few moments? In fact how about you take a cab back to Jenny’s and we’ll make sure he gets home safe.” He said with a nod to Shooter who ran off to hail a cab.
    “Me?? He’s the one who nearly got Pancake killed.”
    “Yes, but look, she’s fine. See? No harm done.”
    I glanced down at Pancake, who was watching Ace and me, her little head tilted to the side.
    “Trust me.” Ace said.
    I looked up from Pancake at the serious note in his voice. It’s not something I hear very often.
    “Allie, he’s stressed out, you’re stressed out, you both need a little time apart or you’re going to explode and I’d rather not be caught in the blast. Hell, you think we want to stay with him? You may not have noticed but he’s somewhat the D-bag.”
    “Yeah, but…I’m right.” I told him, immediately regretting it. Really, could I sound more childish?  
    Thankfully he didn’t respond to my comment, just wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me to the waiting cab. Shooter held the door open. Putting Pancake in first, I got inside and closed the door. I watched Ace and Shooter walk back to where Max was still standing as the cab pulled away from the curb. It felt strange to have them protecting someone other than me or Jenny and stranger still, they were protecting someone
from
me.