“I have no more to tell you, Katherine Crowe.”
“It’s Connor now.”
His brow quirked and I saw a glint of the evil that was inside him, despite our civilized conversation. “Oh? Is it really?”
“Yes,” I said, telling myself not to get angry. No matter what, this creature was a demon, and he knew how to play with thoughts and emotions.
“You should go now,” I said. “Thank you for the warning, and the information.”
He inclined his head. “Heed me. We will help you, but only so far as our interests align.”
“I understand,” I said, and then I watched in silence as he turned and walked away.
“Holy shit,” Bruce said from behind me. “That was freaky.”
“You’re not wrong about that,” I said as I turned to the group. Allie was looking right at me, and I met her eyes. I saw her concern there as well. But also her excitement. We now knew that Lilith already had a plan to come back. In the abstract, that sucked. But it also meant that we were one step further along that we had been. Apparently there was a way, or at least Lilith thought there was. All we had to do now was identify the ritual, and figure out how to stop it.
Easy as pie.
“So, um, does this mean we’re not killing demons today?” Ren looked at all of us, his expression unreadable. I wasn’t sure if he was relieved or annoyed.
“It probably does. I need to get back and get the team researching this.” I led them through the alley, planning to cut down the much less crowded side street to get back to where I’d parked the van. But just as we reached the end of the alley, something fast and lithe leaped toward me, grabbing me by the shoulders and slamming me back against the brick wall as another demon tumbled Allie to the ground.
I cried out in both pain and fear for my daughter, then rammed my leg up so that my knee caught the demon in the crotch. She jerked back, and I used her temporary distraction to grab her collar and spin us until she was the one against the wall. At the same time, I snapped my wrist, releasing the stiletto I’d returned to my sleeve, and raised it, the point just millimeters from her eye.
Beside me, I saw that Allie was in the exact same position and breathed a sigh of relief. In theory, I knew that Allie was more than able to take care of herself. In practice, I would always worry.
“So, um, why aren’t we killing them?” Allie asked.
“Class time,” I said with a grin, then raised my voice so the kids could hear me. “So how do we know these are demons?”
In my peripheral vision, I watched them look at each other. They were standing behind Eliza, who’d clearly moved in to protect them when these two had come at Allie and me.
“Um, they attacked you,” Bruce said.
“No, they could just be stupid muggers.” That from Ana.
“Ana’s right,” I said. “And we don’t kill humans. Not even criminals.”
“Their breath is rancid,” Allie said. “Smells like rotting fish. You guys come here take a whiff.”
They all looked disgusted but did as told while Allie and I kept the demons still.
“The odor gets worse as the demon gets older. Who can say why?”
Ren’s hand shot up.
“You can just answer,” I told him.
“Because they’re in a dead body. And so it’s, like, decaying.”
“Perfect answer,” Allie said, and he stood up a little straighter.
Against the wall, my demon growled low in her throat. “Sorry,” I said. “Class first. Then I’ll get around to killing you.”
“Bitch.”
“Hey, we don’t talk that way in school.”
