Last Breath (26 page)

“Go to bed.” I waved her to my room and curled up on the couch with Lawrence and Singtha’s
Beyond the Veil
.

The sun was up and the traffic outside my window was roaring with the morning commute by the time I snapped the book shut, finally feeling confident that this might work without any of us dying. I glanced out the window and was contemplating curling up with Raven in my bed when my phone rang. I jumped, heart racing at the loud sound. Snatching it off the dining table, I blindly pressed the answer button to silence the thing before it woke Raven up.

“Aria?”

It was Dad. What the heck was Dad doing calling me at… okay, it
was
eight o’clock. Not exactly early, especially by my father’s standards.

“Morning, Dad.” It wasn’t the cheerful greeting I was trying for. I was just too darned tired.

“Are you okay, honey? Athena called last night and told us about the banishing. Her hands are all blistered, and she said your back was burned. Something about claw marks, too.”

Of course. Nothing in my family was ever a secret. I guessed I should be glad that Athena had waited on the story until she’d gotten home rather than calling from the road seconds after she’d left my apartment.

“Some mages summoned an assassination demon in DC and it got loose. It slashed my back. Athena and I returned it to hell, but not before he burned her hands and the back of my shirt. We’re fine, Dad. I’m fine.”

Actually I wasn’t feeling all that fine. Raven had slapped some additional salve on my back and re-bandaged me up, but each twist and turn of my body pulled at the injured skin. Making coffee this afternoon was going to be an exercise in pain management.

“Athena said it was Innyhal.” Dad’s voice was worried. “He’s definitely banished?”

“Yes.” I waited, holding my breath for what was to come next. Athena surely told him about Balsur. My sister was smart. She’d connected the dots, and although she hadn’t insisted on every detail about my obvious familiarity with the demon, she knew. And she surely told Dad.

“So Athena says you also have an angel running around up there in Baltimore?”

I let out the held breath with a whoosh. What? No insistence that I come home so the entire family as well as the Temple elders could examine my demon mark and chastise me for my carelessness? Maybe Athena had kept that to herself after all.

“Araziel. There are some death-magic mages up here and a few were doing human sacrifice. They took a woman’s soul that had been promised to Araziel, and the angel’s gone on a bit of a reaper-bender as a result.”

Dad made a tsk-tsk noise. “Angels are mission-oriented. No doubt Araziel believes he is simply delivering justice. Once he finishes with those he feels wronged the woman, he’ll make his way back to heaven.”

“He’s leaving dead people in my parking space,” I blurted. “And he killed two junkies who just happened to be nearby. It’s not cool, Dad—both the mercy killing and dumping corpses in my parking spot. I had to park somewhere else and I got towed.”

Sheesh, that sounded so petty and selfish, but I was tired. And I was beginning to wonder how I was going to get my car back.

“You can’t banish an angel, Aria. You can call one and try to reason with him, but you can’t banish him.”

“I know.” I shook my head to clear the thick feeling of sleep rapidly descending on me. “What can I say to him, Dad? And how do I respectfully summon him? He’s one of God’s messengers. I’m endowed with my powers by the hand of God. I assume that’s why my parking spot has become a repository for his dead. I want to lean on that tie between us without insulting him.”

“No circle. No candles or incense. Nothing except the sigil to burn and your sword held as a holy symbol. They hear prayers, Aria. Pray and he will come. Humble yourself and he will want to honor your request.”

Humble. I wasn’t all that good at humble, but I was quickly learning. “Thanks, Dad.”

It was information freely given without an in-person visit. I appreciated my father bending the rules, and knew he only did so because he was worried about me.

“Get some sleep, sweetie. We’ll talk later when you’re more rested. I’m concerned about the problems in that city you’re calling your home. I’d prefer my daughter not fight a hopeless battle in the land of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

In the last two weeks I’d faced a necromancer and the resident
Balaj
of vampires, demons, an angel, and two groups of mages. I was beginning to think Dad’s reference to the twin cities of sin was spot on, but how could I walk away? We were supposed to safeguard Pilgrims on the Path. I was absolutely convinced there were pilgrims here in Baltimore that needed my protection. What sort of Templar was I if I walked away and let them perish in a sea of evil?

“The Crusades, Dad? We’ve always fought hopeless battles. I’m just doing my job, Knight or not.”

“Sleep tight, my daughter.”

I hung up the phone smiling, because underneath all the worry there had been a note of pride in my father’s voice. And that was something that energized me more than a solid eight hours of sleep ever could.

I
’D ENDED UP
snoozing on the couch and waking up late, throwing clean clothes over a hastily washed body and grabbing my sword and phone as I ran out the door. It wasn’t until I’d hit the bottom of the staircase that I’d remembered my car.

Crap. Double crap. I quickly copied down the number for the towing company on the parking lot sign, then decided to waste money on a cab. I didn’t have time to walk, or even jog, to work. Cab fare. Towing fines. There wasn’t going to be enough of my vampire-job money to last me another month if this kept up. I’d need to start being poverty-line frugal, or get a second job. Although how I was supposed to find time to work a second job with my Templar duties, I had no idea.

Digging my phone out of my purse to dial for a cab, I saw I’d missed calls last night. Had it rung? I hadn’t remembered hearing any call besides my Dad’s?

Frowning, I called for the cab, then checked my settings. Do Not Disturb. Ugh. It had seemed like a good idea when we were in the middle of summoning Balsur and once again I’d forgotten to take the setting off when done. Dad’s had come through, as I’d designated his number as a priority call, but none of the others had. There were several calls from Tremelay, about the dead guys in my parking space, as well as their names and a few more calls from this morning. I scrolled through them, looking over at my space still festooned with crime scene tape and the magical vomit. How long would they block my parking space? I’d need to ask building management if I could have another one assigned to me until the police cleared it.

Dario. I’d missed three calls from the vampire. Each message became angrier as he demanded I call and update him about the angel situation. I had nothing to update him on. Other than Araziel bringing me a bunch of corpses and that I thought the vampires were safe as long as there were death magic mages left to kill, I didn’t know what to tell him.

It wouldn’t be enough. He’d be pissed. And I felt somewhat guilty for not prioritizing something that was important to the vampires. Dario had stuck his neck out for me a lot. Because of him, Russell was alive, practicing his necromancy and not drained of blood in a ditch somewhere.

Then there was one message from Janice that had come in just before midnight, urging me to call her. My cab pulled up and I hit re-dial, thankful that the spell on my sword was working and I hadn’t been denied service for carrying the weapon.

“I tried to give you the heads-up,” she announced in lieu of a greeting.

“Heads-up for what?” Maybe I should listen to my messages before dialing back next time.

“The article. This morning’s paper? I
had
to run it, Aria. There was a slaughter of six people at an apartment in the West End, then all the dead bodies in the parking lot by your apartment last night? People
saw
that. It would have been negligent of me not to report it.”

“What exactly did you say, Janice?” I gnawed on my lip, worried that she’d gone and spilled
all
the beans—demons, angel, death magic, and all.

“That there is a rash of killings that seems to be resulting from a feud between an occult gang from DC and one here in Baltimore, that there had been ritualistic killings and brutal murders that included innocent bystanders and lawful, working-class citizens.”

Oh no. “Thanks, Janice. I’ll call you later.”

I hung up and stared at the phone, pretty darned sure what the messages that Tremelay had left this morning probably said. Just to make sure before I called him back, I listened to them.

Yep. Reaming me out for leaking the information. It
was
me, but he couldn’t know that. It could have just as easily been someone from the station. Besides, it wasn’t my fault that the bodies in my parking lot had been such a public spectacle.

Oh wait. Yeah, it had been my fault. If I’d called it in right away rather than summoning a demon and spending most of the night researching while an angel lined up corpses in my parking space, the police might have been able to handle it more quietly and do damage control. It was too late for that now, so I dialed Tremelay’s number and got ready to eat some humble pie. It would be good practice for when I had to grovel before an angel later today.

“Ainsworth!” the detective screamed in my ear. Even the taxi driver winced at the sound. “What in all that’s holy are you doing? Did you
read
that article? Occult gangs? Human sacrifice? Our phones are ringing off the hook. Nobody can get anything done with all the whack-jobs calling to tell me their neighbor is a Satanist who killed their dog. I’ve got every unsolved missing person case piled up on my desk because family members are frantic to know if their son or daughter was murdered by this occult gang.”

“At least she didn’t bring up the four demons on the loose or a reaper angel.” I was trying to find some kind of silver lining in all this mess.

“I wish she had. No one would have believed her and the public would have labeled her a crazy. Now most of Baltimore is thinking this Janice somebody is the best investigative reporter since Watergate. If I don’t show some progress on this case right now, the lieutenant is going have my head on a pike.”

Crap. “Any progress on the list from the DC murder? Those guys should be suspects and there’s only eleven left.”

“Besides the three we managed to speak to last night, no. They’ve all conveniently taken leave from work. I don’t have the manpower to stake out their homes and wait for them. They weren’t there when we came by. I left a note and my card, but no one has called. There’s too many on that list, Ainsworth. Eleven is too many people for me to do a concerted manhunt. I can’t put out warrants. I’ve got no hard evidence that they’re connected to the murders. It’s all circumstantial and right now they’re just persons of interest. Until I manage to grab a few and put the thumbscrews on them, I’ve got nothing.”

I felt a twinge of guilt. “I’m working on that. I’ll call you later and hopefully I’ll have a few of them for you to interview. I know your lieutenant isn’t going to care about this, but I’ve got to get rid of these demons first then see what I can do about the angel. Otherwise you won’t have anyone left alive to question, let alone arrest.”

I paid the cabbie and climbed out of the car, hearing Tremelay growl in my ear. “Tonight, Ainsworth. I need something by tonight.”

“I’m on it. I’m at the coffee shop. Gotta go.”

I threw my phone in my bag and shot Brandi an apologetic look as I raced into the back to stash my sword and purse in a locker. My back was starting to hurt again. I really needed to change the bandages and put more salve on the cuts. Honestly, I probably needed to go to the doctor or an urgent care place and have it looked at, possibly get some antibiotics or something. There was no time. If I didn’t die of a necrotic tissue infection in the next couple of days, I’d carve out a few hours to have a doctor look at it.

“You okay?” Brandi shot me a quick look before turning her attention to the frother.

“Yeah.” I winced. “Burned and scraped up my back a couple of days ago. Woke up late and didn’t have time to take any aspirin before heading out. Oh, and my car got towed because my parking space was a crime scene so I parked in the neighbor’s.”

I didn’t tell her about the demons, angel, and killer mages running around. There was only so much sob story I could pour on a co-worker.

She shook her head. “Girl, you have the worst luck of anyone I know. I can’t help you with the towed car, but I’ve got some painkillers in my purse. Finish up this caramel mocha latte light whip and I’ll get them.”

“Bless you,” I called, taking the container of steaming milk from her hand and straining it into the espresso.

She was back in a flash, taking the cup and handing me two pills. I threw them down dry and ran for the register to relieve Anna for her break. It wasn’t five minutes later before I realized that whatever Brandi had given me, it wasn’t aspirin.

I stared owl-eyed at the two women ordering croissants and espresso, trying to keep from falling facedown onto the cash register.

“Brandi,” I hissed once the lunch crowd had thinned out. “Brandi, what
was
that stuff?”

“Percocet. I got them when I had my wisdom teeth out and saved the leftovers for emergencies.”

Percocet. And I’d taken two. I was high as a kite off a controlled substance while at work. Lord knows how long these things would take to work their way out of my bloodstream. I had a sword in the storage room. I had to pick-up my towed car and drive it home. I had to summon and banish four demons and beg an angel to stop killing. I had to chat with the police later. And I was high.

“Brandi, I needed aspirin, not narcotics. I can barely think straight. How am I supposed to get through the rest of my shift?”

She giggled. “Bet your back doesn’t hurt anymore.”

It did, I just didn’t care. Honestly right now I was finding it hard to care about anything. In a desperate attempt to counteract the opiates, I made a triple shot of espresso and tossed it down. Two hours left in my shift. Maybe if it was slow I could take a nap in the back room. Would this stuff work out of my system faster if I napped? Or ate a sandwich? Or drank a case of Red Bull?