“What’s your name?”
“Bob,” he croaked out. “My name’s Bob.” He swallowed, his gaze wandering to where the two demons were discussing the body, and his face turned even whiter.
My instincts had been correct. If the demons tried to question Bob, he’d probably pass out. It wasn’t every day that a demon was killed in your business. If Bob was like most humans, he did everything he couldnotto attract this kind of attention from paranormals.
“Do you have somewhere we could sit and talk?”
“Inside,” he muttered, turning and shuffling toward the building. He led me through the brightly lit station and behind the counter, where a door opened to a small break room. I examined the TV screens, which currently displayed Bael and Vas, still deep in discussion.
“Can I see the footage?”
A jerky nod, and Bob sat in front of an ancient computer. A few hoarse voice commands later, and the video was cued for an hour earlier.
Cars pulled up and drove away, customers came in and paid for snacks or used the bathroom. I kept one eye on the screen displaying pump number two, where the body currently lay.
The screens began to go dark, one by one. It was as if some kind of dense, black smoke rolled over the cameras. I drummed my fingers on the desk. Whoever had done this was a pro, and they’d taken care of the cameras before they’d entered their range.
“Walk me through it, Bob.”
Sitting down had steadied him, and he took a deep breath, turning in his chair until his eyes met mine.
“It was a normal day, I swear. Customers were coming and going— one of them screamed at Rachel because gas prices have risen again. She called him a bad name and I had to give her a warning.” His lips quirked. “She’s a good kid, but she has a hell of a temper.”
He was leveling out, but his face began to drain of color once more, his hand trembling as he pointed toward the pumps outside.
“I didn’t know anything had happened until people started screaming. I ran outside, and it was justthere.”
“Tell me about the other people and cars who were here.” The human authorities would be interviewing those witnesses now, and everything they learned would automatically be passed onto Samael.
“Two trucks,” he said, his gaze turning distant. “One entering, one leaving. I’d noticed them a few minutes earlier because they were taking too long and blocking the entrance.”
We could see if any other cameras from buildings nearby had caught the license plates on the trucks, but I wasn’t holding my breath.
“Then what happened?”
Bob frowned, and his pupils dilated “I don’t know.” His voice turned higher-pitched. “Why don’t I know?”
“It’s likely that whoever killed the demon also cast a wide-range forgetfulness spell over anyone in the vicinity,” I said. And I had a feeling I knew who that person was. My search for Beatrice had just become my top priority.
Bob recoiled, stumbling to his feet. “And you? If you’re with the demons, you could do something like that too, couldn’t you?”
I kept my voice quiet in an attempt to soothe. “I’m what you might call a magical dud,” I gave him a tiny smile. “And even if I could, I wouldn’t. You’ve been helpful, and it wasn’t your fault your station was targeted.”
His shoulders slumped, but his face twisted a moment later. “This is what it’s like for us, you know. Paranormals wonder why we hate them? We’re playthings to them. Toyou. They’re my memories.Mine. What else did they take? What else?” He ran his hand through his hair and I got slowly to my feet.
“Bob,” I made my voice sharp. “I’m not going to hurt you.No one’sgoing to hurt you. We’re going to find whoever did this and make them pay. Do you understand?”
He nodded, but he took a step back as I approached. I sighed. I wouldn’t get anything else out of him, and the best I could do for him was get out of his station, and his life.
“I’ll take a look at the body now.”
The demons were both talking to the human cops. One of them– a grizzled older man with an expression that said he was tolerating us only because he had to– glowered at Vas but answered his questions with short one- and two-word answers. His partner didn’t seem like he was old enough to grow facial hair, and his hand kept dancing toward his weapon in jerky movements as Bael’s expression became darker and darker.
I crouched over the corpse. It was easier to think of it that way, instead of remembering that it was a demon with a name.Tarel.Who’d liked to pretend he was human. Something in my chest wrenched and I forced myself to drop my shields.
The same dark smudge, although it was smaller this time, confined only to the body itself and a few inches around it.
Vas finished with the cop and wandered over to me, shoving his hands in his pockets as he gazed at the body. “What are you thinking?”
