Gasping and flinging the door open behind him, Chuck ducked under his wings and scrambled out of the bedroom. She kicked the intruder, Terry, as she passed while he still sat cowering in fear where Malachi had left him, and she started shouting for the other officer.
“Stop fussing over me like a damn child,” Nathan huffed into his mustache as he shifted on the sofa, holding an ice pack to the back of his head. Glenda was indeed fussing—scolding him ferociously—while she placed the last suture in his arm. When she was done, she bandaged it and began cleaning up her supplies. They both ignored Malachi’s quiet interjections, encouraging Glenda’s tirade.
“Hear me well, Nathan Bennett. Iwilltreat you like a child as long as you keep acting that way. Don’t,”—she snapped and shoved a finger in his face—“roll your eyes at me. If you want, I can yank those sutures out and send you to the hospital, where you can explain that you got stabbed in the front yard of Officer Kelly Charles. The same Kelly Charles, your son tried to stab last night. So, what’s it going to be, sir? Cause you want a scene? I can make a scene.” Now her hands were firmly planted on her hips, and her eyes were narrowed on him in a defiant, dare-filled gaze.
Suddenly, Nathan laughed and held up his hands in defeat. “Okay, fine, I’m sorry, Miss Glenda. Thank you for helping me. I guess I’m just feeling my age and a little embarrassed some thug got the best of me. He did look like Nick, though; I didn’t want to hurt an angel.”
At Malachi’s chuckle, they both turned to watch the man, Terry, as he sat shivering in a chair while Chuck interrogated him. Malachi was standing over her shoulder, still in demon form, making terrifying faces at him. Chuck couldn’t see him, so he wasn’t aware why the man kept flinching and twitching randomly.
He’d already jumped and screamed earlier when Reena trotted into the kitchen to inspect the visitor, having slept through most of the earlier ruckus. Terry was certain Reena was another demon, but she merely sniffed him in disdain, lapped up some water, and went out to the backyard.
Shaking her head, Glenda sighed, “Malachi, cut that out.”
Slouching, he moved back from Chuck and frowned at Glenda. “What? Just having a little fun.”
“You ate the man’s soul, sugar, what else do you need to do to him?” she demanded, hands still on her hips.
Baring his fangs, Malachi swiveled back to Terry. “I don’t know, Glenda, maybe flay him alive and dangle him over an open flame until his insides roast and burst?” At Chuck’s involuntary noise of disgust, he shrugged. “The manstabbedNathan and knocked him out. He was trying to get into where you two were. Did you think he just wanted to play Twister? He probably would have killed you, then Chuck.” At her glare, he snorted. “He would have tried.”
“And failed,” Glenda added with a slight sniff of approval before turning back to Nathan, pretending she didn’t see Malachi start leering at Terry again. “So, now what?” she asked him.
“Now what, what?” Nathan responded, then grimaced at Malachi’s snort of amusement. Glancing up as the large demon moved over to them.
“I think what Glenda means,” Malachi supplied before shimmering back into his human form, rolling his shoulders. “What do we do now? We’ve captured the intruder. You all won’t let me kill him, but you can’tjust let him go either. So, what’s the story? What’s the plan? Also, are you going to take Glenda to dinner?” He jerked his thumb towards where the witch was staring at him, open-mouthed and silent for once. “Because she wants you to. And she has this amazing dress she can wear. It’s teal and has skeletons, and they’re—”
“Malachi!” snapped Chuck, trying to choke back her laughter as Glenda’s face turned a ruddy color in embarrassment.
Shrugging innocently, he spun on his heel and threw his hands in the air. “What? She’s the one who made me look at it as a test. It’s one of those… if I have to see it, so do you—things. It was traumatizing, really.” He placed his hand dramatically over his heart and nodded wisely, his eyes overly wide and free of guile. Mostly.
Laughing out loud this time, Chuck shook her head as she stared at her friend, who was sputtering in indignation. “To be fair, Glenda, he does have you there. I was thinking, can you do that drawing spell again? Our friend Terry here has kindly agreed to give a description of the person who put the bounty on me.”
Quickly regaining her composure, although she pointedly avoided looking at Nathan as she did it, Glenda gathered her supplies, muttered her spell, and began sketching. Although it took longer to gather the sketch because Terry wasn't trained to describe people the way Nathan was, they eventually had a working image of the supposed angel who had tricked him.
Passing it off to the others, Chuck’s shoulders slumped, Nathan shook his head in disbelief, and muttered, “I’ll be damned.”
“I can arrange that if you want,” Malachi offered helpfully before he glanced at the picture and cackled with unhinged glee.
Never Sucker Punch a Demon
“No, Iknowthere’s no way this is anything other than another demon trick, no offense, Malachi,” Chuck insisted as she drove with Malachi, Nathan, and Glenda to meet up with the man in the drawing. After a heated debate, they agreed to drop Terry off on the other side of town with a promise to stay far away from them and never tell what happened, as if anyone would believe him that, despite stabbing a cop, and trying to kill another cop in her home, he had his soul sucked out by a demon and they let him go. Malachi hadn’t approved, but he was outvoted. Besides, this new twist was too delicious to ignore.
“I refuse. Downright refuse to believe it!” Chuck repeated for the third time since they’d piled into her car. Shaking her head in disbelief, she glanced over at Malachi as he sat silently next to her. Glancing in the mirror, she met Nathan’s stunned gaze and Glenda’s amused grin.
The witch leaned forward and patted Chuck’s shoulder companionably. “I don’t know, honey, that boy has always seemed a little off to me.”
Malachi pointed at Glenda and nodded. “Agreed. Also, he wears too much Axe body spray. And he sings Nickelback songs at karaoke.”
Snorting in amusement, Chuck gave him some serious side-eye. “Mal, that’s not enough of a reason to suspect someone of putting a hit on you. It’s no secret you’ve never liked Jaxon. How many times did you pee on his shoes?” She grimaced. “That just sounds weird when you’re in human form.”
Chuckling, Nathan joined in. “For what it’s worth, I’ve always thought Raifson was a bit of an idiot myself, but I also agree with Chuck. His questionable cologne choices and karaoke songs are not grounds for murder-for-hire. I still think it’s a lead we have to follow.”
Nodding stoically, Chuck’s shoulders slumped. “I know, and I agree. It’s just… Jaxon. We went to the academy together. He’s like a brother to me. This doesn’t seem like the kind of thing he would be behind. But I guess how well do you really know a person?” Her eyes zeroed in on Nathan in the mirror, then darted away in shame.
“It’s okay, Chuck. I understand, and again, I’m so sorry I kept all of this from you. I never thought it would come to this.” Nathan sat back in the seat and dropped his chin to his chest, staring at his tightly clasped hands. His sorrow was heavy in the air as the vehicle continued down the road, the only sound the hum of tires on the asphalt.
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Malachi cleared his throat softly and glanced back toward Nathan. “Hey, I meant to ask, what did you do with the evidence and case files from last night and Chuck senior’s box?”
“Huh?” Nathan started, his head flying up and eyes going wide with surprise. “What do you mean? I don’t have them, never went near evidence.”
