Vas appeared beside me, and the guy jumped back, moving further away and back onto his own lawn. He took one look at the demon next to me, made the sign of the cross, and disappeared without a word.
I glanced at Vas. He shrugged.
“I kicked a door open.”
“Alrighty then.”
I was having no luck with the lock, and we were drawing too much attention. We moseyed around to the back of the house and I stared at the door lying flat on the floor, completely removed from its hinges.
“You kicked the door down, not open.”
“Semantics.”
I rolled my eyes and walked over the door. Cassie’s house was small, with two bedrooms— one of which she used as an office. I hit the office first while Vas went through the bedroom.
She kept the place neat, and I took her laptop for Steve to crack later. My gaze got stuck on a small filing cabinet under the desk. Why bother picking the lock when I had a demon with me?
“Vas?”
He appeared a moment later, his expression grim. “You need to see this.”
I followed him into the master bedroom. I’d thought Cassie would keep anything tying her to the artifacts in that locked filing cabinet. But, like most people, she’d gotten lazy. Vas had emptied the drawer from her bedside table onto her bed, and I gaped at the flyers and stacks of paper.
The Federation for Human Separatism, the Human Freedom Union, the American Alliance for Mass Resistance, Portal Control for Concerned Citizens— there wasn’t a hate group targeting paranormals that Cassiewasn’ta member of.
We searched the rest of the house, including the filing cabinet, but there wasn’t anything tying her to the artifacts. I handed the laptop to Vas.
“Can you take this to Steve? I’ll meet you at the bank.” Cassie would be getting off work soon.
He didn’t look happy. I gestured at the car. “This thing is a tank, and I’ll stay in the car. I need Steve to crack that laptop and help us find the other members so we can locate the artifacts.”
“Fine.”
I sat in the parking lot outside Cassie’s bank until five. I watched as she got into her car and slowly followed her out of the lot.
Cassie was heading somewhere. If she was going home, it would be easier to take her in from there. Here, there were too many concerned members of the public.
But she didn’t head toward her house. Instead, she was driving further west.
She pulled into the parking lot of a community center and found a spot. A guy got out of his car a few rows back and joined her, and they began walking toward the community center.
I parked my car on the road where I could keep an eye on anyone arriving. Another woman walked past the entrance to the community center, checked her surroundings, and then backtracked, ducking into the entrance. Smooth.
I called Samael. “Any luck with the IP address?”
“We’ve found six humans who were connected to the attack on my security.”
“Yeah, well I’ve found a few more. You wanna help a girl out and send some demons?”
“Now you want my help?”
“I’m only one woman. I don’t want to shoot them all, which leaves me with a few options.”
“And where is Vas?”
The demon appeared next to my car, a wide grin on his face. I jolted. “Standing next to me.”
“If I do this, you will owe me.”
