Sins of the Demon

But this was complete fucking bullshit. This was someone fucking with my life just to fuck with it. I resisted the urge to shoot a death glare at the mayor. “Is it just me,” I muttered to Ryan, “or does the mayor seem hell-bent on getting into my house?”

Ryan flicked me a glance. “You think he could be the summoner?”

I cast a sideways look at Peter Fussell. “Fuck, I don’t know, but he sure is acting weird. I mean, I know he hates me, but what if all this is just because he wants a look at my summoning chamber? Or the storage diagram?”

A grimace passed over Ryan’s face. “If so, he’s tipping his hand pretty heavily. And how would he know about it anyway?”

“He could have learned of it from a demon,” I said after some brief thought. “I’ve used it to summon quite a few demons, so I would imagine that word has spread a bit.” I jammed my hands into my pockets and hunched my shoulders. “This sucks.” I didn’t mind them sifting through my not-so-delicates, but the thought of them rooting around my basement made my stomach hurt.

“Can you get the demon you just summoned to check him out?” Ryan asked.

“That would be ideal,” I replied, “I’ll need to renegotiate terms with him.” I glanced at my watch. “Shit. Maybe not. He’s been here for a long time.” At Ryan’s questioning look I explained, “The lower-level demons can only stay a couple of hours. Not like reyza who can stay most of a day or longer.” In fact I really needed to dismiss the nyssor soon, but I couldn’t do that until all the searchers had left. Crap. I didn’t want to draw attention to the demon by going to check on him. Instead I pulled my phone out and thumbed in a quick text to Jill. How is he doing?

A few seconds later the reply came: he says he’s tired. Yep, I’d have to find another way to check out the mayor.

It was nearly twenty minutes later when Chief Turnham emerged, followed by my sergeant and Tracy.

The mayor straightened and lifted his chin as the chief walked down my steps. “Well? Did you find the evidence you need?”

I was thrilled to see the Chief Turnham give the mayor a withering look. “No, we didn’t find any evidence. I told you this was a waste of time.”

Well, that confirmed my suspicion that Mayor Fussell had been the supreme driving force behind this crap.

Fussell’s face twisted into a scowl. “You didn’t look hard enough. Get back in there and tear the place apart! She has drugs hidden in there somewhere. You know she had to have poisoned those people!”

Chief Turnham’s eyes narrowed, but I didn’t give him a chance to speak. “Hey, asshole!” I shouted as I stalked over toward him. “You got a problem with me, that’s fine, but while you’re dicking around with this shit, the real killer’s sitting back laughing at us.” Unless it’s you, I added in a silent death glare.

He drew himself up. “What did you call me?”

I stopped, thought back to my words. “I’m pretty sure I called you an asshole. But that was wrong of me to do. I meant to call you a complete blithering fucking asshole idiot.”

“Gillian!” The chief’s voice snapped out. “That’s enough.”

I struggled to hold onto my anger. I had the cuff on—this was my own very righteous fury. “Really? He won’t be happy until he tears my house to the ground to look for evidence that doesn’t fucking exist! I want him off my property. Now!”

“Detective Gillian, dial it down,” he said through gritted teeth.

I took a ragged breath. “Certainly, sir. But as a citizen, I respectfully state that this man is not welcome on my property.

Fussell sneered. “I’m an elected official. I’m on official business.”

The deputy cleared his throat. “Nope. Yer out of yer jurisdiction, and yer not law enforcement. Under title fourteen section sixty-three, if she forbids you to stay on her property, and you don’t leave, then I’m obliged to carry out my duty as an officer of the law.” He spat, then added. “Y’ain’t my boss, Mister Mayor.”

Fussell stared at the deputy, then spun and marched back to the chief’s car, got in, and slammed the door.

The chief gave me a dark glare. “Gillian, the only reason you didn’t just earn yourself a suspension for insubordination is because, as you said, you were acting as a citizen and not as an officer of the law, and these were most assuredly extenuating and trying circumstances. But, from here on out, if you so much as look sideways at the mayor, or fail to calm your shit down when I tell you to, you’ll be out of a job so fast your head will spin. Am I clear?”

I’d never seen the chief so angry. And especially not at me. “Yes, sir,” I replied, as meekly as I could.

He turned, stalked to his car, and drove off. I let out an unsteady breath and then turned to the deputy. “Thank you. Seriously, you have no idea how grateful I am.”

He chuckled. “No problem. Fussell’s my brother-in-law. He’s a complete dickweed. This was the most fun I’ve had in months.” Giving me a wink, he climbed into his car then headed off down my driveway.

Smiling weakly, I walked back to my house. Sarge stood on the bottom step.

“Did y’all take anything?” I asked. By law if anything was seized, they had to provide a receipt.

“Just pictures,” he said. “Probably would have seized your computer, except apparently you don’t have one.” He cocked an eyebrow at me. I replied with an i

“Not your fault.” I glanced back at Tracy. “Just, please make sure those pics don’t get out. I don’t trust the mayor. He’s up to something.”

“They won’t,” Tracy assured me gravely. “Promise.”

“Thanks, y’all,” I said, suddenly insanely weary.

“But, Kara?” Tracy said. I turned back and gave him a questioning look. “You might want to do something about that bag of old gym clothes in your closet.” He gave a comic shudder. “Next time warn a brother!”

“Damn,” I said. “I should have given those to the mayor!”

Chapter 17

The first thing I did after everyone left was to go to where Jill and Votevha were waiting. The demon sat with his legs pulled to his chest, face pale. Jill shot me a worried look. “I don’t think he feels good.”

“He’s been here for several hours,” I said as I crouched in front of Votevha. “Forgive me for the delay, honored one. I am deeply grateful for your service. Are you ready to go back?”

Votevha nodded, then bared his teeth in a razor-tipped smile. “Fun.”

I gri

Standing, I gave Jill a nod. She scrambled back while I began the dismissal chant, but then I stopped and scowled. Hard to pull potency when you’re blocked from the arcane. “I’m sorry, Votevha. We need to get onto the back porch so that I can be inside the wards.”

The demon nodded and trotted to the porch. I joined him there, pulled the cuff off. I had absolutely no doubt that Eilahn had restored the wards the instant the interlopers had left. Once again I began the dismissal chant, exhaling in pleasure as the power came into my control. Pulling potency, I focused on the bindings that held the demon in this world, shaping the portal that would pull him back to his own. A wind rose, bringing with it the stench of sulfur as a light-filled slit widened behind Votevha. A few seconds later a ripping crack split the quiet of my backyard, and the demon was gone.

I sank to sit on the back steps until the spots could fade from my vision. Dismissals were like sprinting while holding your breath. A rustle from the woods grabbed my attention, but before I could even think to find a weapon Zack emerged from the woods, carrying a large cardboard box. Gri

“We figured you didn’t want anyone seeing this stuff,” he explained.