Blood Trinity (5 page)

Great … like walking behind a horse. Jeez. Didn’t they have any sense of cleanliness?

He—the demon’s gender as determined by the size of his horns—glimmered in and out of shape, appearing more as shadow and mist than anything lifelike to unsuspecting humans at three in the morning. Even through her dark sunglasses, Evalle’s natural night vision picked up his bony spine, slinking tail and leathery skin as clear as a high-resolution image.

Why was he moving at such a sluggish pace? Cresyls were generally quick and dangerous … and traveled in pairs.

Where was this one’s mate?

Which one had ripped into a human tonight …

Or had they?

Something
had, and they were the most likely candidates. The remains of the young woman had shown up in the Atlanta city morgue a few hours ago. The morgue where Evalle worked part-time as a maintenance tech from ten at night until five in the
morning. All agents at VIPER were expected to integrate into the community, preferably somewhere that allowed them intel on supernatural activity.

The morgue was a perfect place to be. Not just for VIPER but for her own personal reasons as well.

The dead were not a threat.

Most of the time.

And what better place to hear about unusual killings or strange DNA evidence? Being on call for early Sunday morning usually meant processing run-of-the-mill Saturday night violence, not a demon mauling. The graveyard shift supervisor who’d received the woman’s body had filed a request that animal control come inspect the ravaged body and gouged chest.

That visit wouldn’t happen until Monday during business hours. But Evalle couldn’t gamble on the possibility of VIPER finding out about the mutilation before Monday, since they had other spies with morgue access besides her.

Even if a wild animal from the zoo
could
have ripped the heart out of the body so cleanly, any investigator would question why an earthly predator would leave the rest of the body uneaten.

Animals tended to be sloppy killers. Demons not so much.

Everything about this death was off, didn’t fit anything she’d ever seen or heard about with regard
to Cresyl demons—or any other kind, for that matter. Her Spidey sense was tingling off the charts, and she couldn’t shake the feeling this was bad for her.
Real
bad. Having been alone right before work, she had no alibi for the time of death.

Not paranoia. I’m being set up. I have to be.
Nothing else made sense.

Quinn and Tzader would help with a minute’s notice, but they were in Charlotte, and she refused to call them like some helpless female.
I came into this world alone and I can handle anything it throws at me.

And by the gods, she could handle the Cresyls.

If she didn’t make a mistake.

Or run out of time. With daylight coming in less than two hours, she’d be forced off the streets to hide from the August sun. That was why she’d faked a case of nausea at the morgue and clocked out early to go home. It wasn’t a total lie. She really was feeling sick to her stomach that someone wanted her butt in a sling.

Or more to the point, a cage.

Evalle flinched as unwanted memories tore through her with sharp talons at that thought. Nothing set off her panic attacks worse than imprisonment.

Well, there was one other matter, but she wouldn’t think about that either.

Focus.
But it was hard. No matter how much she
tried to keep the past buried, things like this threat unearthed her worst fears and made the old wounds burn anew.

Which was why she’d much rather battle the demons without. Once she killed them, they stayed dead. Too bad the ones inside her weren’t so cooperative. Even when she did manage to kill one, a dozen more cropped up to attack her.

As Quinn would say, bloody inconsiderate wankers.

But that was neither here nor there. She’d made the ten-minute ride to her secure apartment beneath a downtown parking deck only to pick up a weapon—the special dagger she carried, which had a bone handle carved with Celtic designs. The blade shimmered with a death spell. Badass to the extreme, it could be used to kill most demons if she stuck the blade into the creature’s forehead between where horns grew above each eye. The dagger had been a gift from Tzader after he and Quinn had saved her life in Utah.

Just one of several treasured gifts from Tzader and Quinn, with friendship and trust being the most cherished of all.

But she was on her own right now.

The demon paused in the middle of the next block at the newspaper-wrapped feet of a sleeping vagrant, a poor wadded-up piece of humanity not bothering anybody.

Was it sizing up the guy as a meal?

Evalle paused, perfectly still. Sweat trickled beneath her top to streak down the naked skin on her back and soak the top of her jeans. The back of her vintage BDU shirt stuck to her back. She wore the cotton military shirt for comfort, but nothing felt good in this heat. Her steel-toe boots were hot, but much handier and safer than sandals if someone or some
thing
wanted a throw down. She fingered the dagger in the sheath at her hip and wrinkled her nose at the sulfuric odor trailing off the demon. The odor was too faint for a demon who had eaten a human heart.

Although one of them might have discovered the magic of deodorant or perfume.

Then again, perfumed crap still stank no matter what you did.

Maybe this thing hadn’t attacked the human. She didn’t like the idea of hurting anything on purpose, but that young woman had died a hideous death, and the quickest way to find this thing’s mate would be to make him call for help.

Besides, as a VIPER agent, she was expected to do whatever it took to protect the humans from predators.

And she would.

A car turned onto the street half a mile down and headed toward her, the burned-out muffler rumbling
loud in the still night. She kept her eye on the demon. The last thing she wanted to do was attack one in front of a civilian who would see the demon clearly if it solidified to do battle, but she wouldn’t let him kill the vagrant.

The demon shook his head and mumbled under his breath, then continued on as though reluctant to pass up the human.

She let out a breath of relief, but why had he passed up this chance?

When the approaching car’s headlights flashed on the demon, the creature sprinted ahead then disappeared to the left down a side street.

Evalle sucked into a recessed doorway until the car passed her then rushed forward, holding her breath as she leaped over the vagrant, who reeked of body odor and urine. Man, that stench gave the demon a run for his money in the stink department. Maybe the demon had paused to wonder if the guy was kinfolk.

At the corner, the side street turned left and shot through a dark shadow cast by buildings on each side.

The street stopped at a railway embankment.

Empty. No demon.

Damn. She couldn’t have lost him.

Evalle moved ahead carefully, sniffing for any wisp of sulfur in the air. Luckily, she caught the scent by
the time she reached a weed-infested concrete pad twenty feet square at the end of the street.

The demon, now in solid form and hunched over, sat on a stack of tires, patting his scaly head above the horns. He mumbled incoherently. The scent of rotten eggs stank up the air, but the smell would be even more overwhelming at this distance if
he’d
fed on a human recently.

“What’re you doing here?” She spoke with authority even though she doubted he’d just blurt out the truth. Had to open the conversation with the Cresyl somehow.

He slowly lifted his head. Drool slid off one side of his wide mouth. His dull yellow eyes were unfocused. He started muttering again, a low guttural sound. “You.”

Huh? What was wrong with him? She took another step but kept a ten-foot separation. “You working with anyone?”

“You.”

For a Cresyl, this one didn’t act dangerous. He acted demented … or drugged.

Or maybe sad. Could he be sad about something? And why had she sensed it? She’d have thought her emerging empathic side was more discerning. “Who killed the human?”

His eyes moved around in strange circles, then focused on her. “You.”

“Guess I should make it multiple choice. Got any more words, or do I have to buy a vowel?”

Where are you, Evalle?
Tzader called to her telepathically.

Off Peters on the south side of Atlanta. Not far from where we busted that Midnight Moon Fae ring last year. Why? Where are you?

In Atlanta. What are you doing?

Thank the goddess Macha that Tzader was back. Evalle wouldn’t turn down his help.
I’ve cornered a
—

The demon snarled and jumped to his feet, shoulders hunched in an aggressive stance. His eyes glowed white hot. “You killed her.”

“Killed who?” She pulled out the dagger and spun it once, preparing for him to attack.

“You killed her.” He started howling, and his body shook as if reacting to a drug, but drugs didn’t work on demons, did they?

He took a step and stumbled.

Had someone cast a spell over this thing to accuse Evalle of killing the woman? “Who’s your master? Who sent you here?”

Evalle?

Get back to you in a minute, Tzader. Busy right now
.

“She died. You. Die.” The demon launched himself at her.

He had to be talking about someone else. A Cresyl would never avenge a human.

She dodged to the right and swung around when he missed her. “
Who
killed the woman?”

“You.” He stumbled around and snarled.

“Could we fast-forward to a new answer?” She needed a question he couldn’t answer with “you.” “Where’s your mate?”

That had been the wrong question.

He lifted the stack of tires and threw them at her, but she was too quick and spun away.

Or he was too slow for a demon. When she stopped spinning, she faced him. He curled over his chest, moaning so pitifully she almost felt sympathy for him.

Why wasn’t his mate coming to him?

If he stopped making that horrid sound long enough to talk, she might get some answers out of him. She’d planned on his fighting her so she could catch his tail. Cresyls were like opossums. If you could wrap one’s tail around your forearm, he was under your control.

Something had screwed up his mind.

Maybe he had some kind of weird sickness. Did demons get sick? Like demon Parvo or something?

She couldn’t hurt something that wouldn’t fight her.

Evalle softened her voice and eased toward his tail as she spoke. “Look, buddy. Just tell me who sent you here and I’ll find someone to help you feel better.
Or tell me where your mate is and I’ll go get her for you.”

The demon howled a screeching sound so high-pitched no human could hear it. His tail lengthened, whipping around to slap her legs out from under her. She slammed backward, her skull bouncing on the concrete.

Dazed, she blinked and touched her sunglasses, which were cockeyed on her face. No one had told her Cresyls could do that with their tails.

He dropped down over her, landing his knees on each side of her legs, arms arched above his head with claws extended to attack and a mouth full of teeth open to rip a chunk off her body.

Survival instincts shoved her mind past the pain in her head. Someone called her name from far away … or had it been Tzader in her mind?

The demon swung downward in slow motion.

She kept her eyes locked on the crazed look in his gaze. Blood rushed through her ears. Her heart pounded like war drums in her chest the closer his sharp fangs came to her face.

At the last minute, she whipped the dagger up in both hands and stabbed him in the forehead.

Putrid yellow dust swirled, then disintegrated, confirmation he hadn’t killed a human. If he had, she’d have been able to capture his essence in her fist before it disappeared.

Crud. No evidence. She had to get the other demon.

“Couldn’t you wait until I got here?” an angry male voice yelled from the alley.

She rolled over and pushed up to her knees to find Tzader running toward her. He had on a T-shirt, jeans and boots that were all so dark she’d never have seen him with normal vision.

Dusting off her jeans, she stood. “No, I couldn’t wait.”

“What’s the point of saving your butt in Utah if you’re going to put it at risk every time we turn our backs?”

“Can we
not
have this argument again?” She would forever be appreciative to Tzader and Quinn for saving her life and guarding her secret, but they were like two overprotective brothers at times.

Most
of the time.

“This was just a Cresyl, and a whacked one at that.”

One of Tzader’s eyebrows rose in question. He crossed his arms. “So you fell down on the ground to even the odds?”

Rather than admit she’d made a tactical error no trained warrior should by underestimating her opponent, she shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“What was the rush?”

She told him about the body at the morgue. “I didn’t find out who sent the demon and I can’t prove that
any
Alterant—including me—is innocent of killing that human until I get that second Cresyl.”

Another Alterant surfacing wouldn’t draw the attention away from her either. In fact, it created more problems. Things had been quiet for a long time, but two months ago a new Alterant had shifted and attacked humans. Evalle had been brought into VIPER once again and questioned extensively about her ability to prevent involuntary shifting. In reality, Sen—the top dog at VIPER—had been trying to catch her in a lie so that he could put her in protective custody.

Protective?
Yeah, right.

Tzader sent his gaze up at the sky that was lightening by the minute. “You’re running out of time.”

“I realize that. Now that you’re back, we can split up and search.” She started walking toward Peters.

He fell into step beside her. “I can’t go hunting yet. I came back to meet someone who has a lead on the Belador traitor.” They had yet to identify the bastard who’d betrayed them.