Night Call (Book 2): Demon Dei (19 page)

“Oh, he wouldn’t have to come after you himself.” Kermit gave me a long, once over and narrowed his eyes. “Has Mercy been around this female demon?”

Kapow. Hawkins goes down to the left hook he should have seen coming.

“That’s why all the vampires have skipped town,” I said, kicking myself mentally.

“Bingo. All the head honchos of the vampire clans sensed the Lord of Lust’s arrival and evaced their troops before the total, fangs out, all in war could start. The other Old World creatures cleared out not long after. When the vamps leave town, you know it’s going to be bad.”

“Even though he’s not here physically?”

“He might be just possessing some fool out there, but that’s more than enough. And if one of his children is in town, all corporeal, then it’s ten times worse.”

For fear of being browbeaten with my stupidity again, I asked very tentatively, “One of his children?”

“You described the female as angelic, feathery wings, hot boobs. She’d be a succubus, a lust demon, of the line of the Lord of Lust.”

“Succubus. Interesting.” I couldn’t recall being overwhelmed with lust while in the presence of the she-demon. More like towering rage. “So, not all greater demons look the same?”

“No. They look like the Lord that spawned them. Leviathan is reptilian, snaky. Beelzebub is Lord of Gluttony but he was originally known as Lord of the Flies. Guess what he looks like. Amon is the classical ‘devil’ appearance, red, leathery skin, bat wings, horns, forked tongue and spear-headed tail. It’s rumoured that he’s actually the father of the original imp, though he denies it. Still, his acknowledged children aren’t that bright, either.”

This was good. I’d have to write it down before I forgot. Or get Kermit to write it. This was the straightforward information I’d asked Lila for. I couldn’t blame her for not knowing. She wasn’t the type of expert I’d wanted Jacob to find me and honestly, I should have thought of Kermit first. He claimed he was over two thousand years old and also claimed that there wasn’t much he didn’t know. I wasn’t convinced of either but there was certainly a skerrick of truth to them.

Despite my Honesty Policy, I regretted telling Lila as much as I had. Perhaps Erin had the right of it. She didn’t want to upset Ivan by shining a light on the things that lurked in the shadows, and perhaps part of her motivation was that she didn’t want to alienate him. Until you’re slapped in the face by a troll, it’s a giant leap of faith to believe in someone telling you trolls huddled on the foundations of bridges, ready to knock them down if tribute wasn’t paid.

If I’d kept my reality to myself perhaps there would be a future with Lila. She was sexy and smart, she wanted me (or at least she had) and what more could a man ask for?

Pushing that question aside before my brain could attempt an answer, I said, “So, to recap. There’s a succubus in corporeal form who’s killed one person already and has been commanded to kill me before I can point the finger at her summoner. Then there’s her dad, in non-corporeal form, possessing a poor person. Is he here for the same thing? Are they working together?”

Kermit shrugged. “It would be more likely than them on opposite sides. Demons might not get on so well with each other but they’re also very tightly bound by the rules of their society. Demons on one level can’t move up through the strata. They have to satisfy themselves with machinations amongst their own ranks. A Lord has complete control over his children and that order has never been upset. The six Lords can only ever battle each other for position of second in command, never for Lucifer’s position.” He grunted. “Though there have been attempts in the past.”

After Kermit’s reaction to saying Asmodeus’ name, I was a bit wary, but had to ask. “And what does Solomon have to do with it all?”

“Solomon? As in King Solomon of the Israelites?”

“I guess so. The female demon didn’t say much beyond his name.” Shouted it in desperation, actually.

Kermit picked at his ear thoughtfully. “Well, in all the history of the world there’s only been a handful of people who could summon corporeal demons into this realm and Solomon is generally regarded as the best of the lot. I think his total came to seventy-odd in the end. Put them to work building his temple and let me tell you, they weren’t too happy about being forced into menial labour.”

“So the female demon was summoned here in corporeal form.”

“Not in recent years, at least. She might be a left over from the last great summoner,
Aleister Crowley. Right now, there’s only one person capable of bringing a corporeal demon across the boundary and I know for certain she didn’t do it.”

“How can you be certain?”

“Because that person is an eight month old baby in Ethiopia. Generally, when a human summons a demon, they get part of its spirit, nothing more. That spirit fragment only exists for a short amount of time if it’s not given a body to possess. Longer if the summoner uses a circle to contain it in.”

A thought occurred to me and I could have kicked myself for not thinking of it earlier. “Imps are from the demon realm, and yet they seem to have no troubles coming across. At least lately they don’t.”

“True. But you can’t summon imps. No higher mental functions to get a hold on. Natural fissures in the boundaries between realms can occur. If they’re only small fissures, than only small things would find them and be able to use them. And it would only take four or five imps getting through to breed up a swarm or two here. Worse than rabbits.”

Memories of Mrs Arnold and Mr
Wibbles flashed through my head. “Yeah, I figured. If it was a natural fissure, and a greater demon did find it, could she widen it and get through? Or if a human found it, could they widen it and draw her through?”

“I guess so. Still take a shit load of power though.”

“Could I do it?”

Kermit snorted. “You
ain’t that hot.”

“Is there anyone in this region who could?”

“Beats me.”

I scowled. “You know about the kid in Ethiopia.”

“Yeah, because she’s like a freakin’ star fallen to the earth. Not something those of us in close communion with the earth could miss.”

“Could I summon the spirit part of a demon?”

“Pretty much anyone could.”

“How do I go about that?”

Kermit grabbed my shirt front so fast he blurred in my vision. “Don’t. That’s how you go about it.” His breath washed over my face like someone opening the door of a fridge that lost power several days before.

Trying not to breathe, I asked, “Why not?”

“It’s too dangerous. Mercy wouldn’t be able to protect you from a demon spirit if you didn’t contain it properly. You’d most likely get possessed and there’s a happy thought. A Primal possessed by a demon. You couldn’t imagine the trouble a demon with those abilities at hand could cause.”

I knocked him off me and stepped back, guts tensed. “I’m not a Primal.”

Kermit looked at me sidelong. “Not yet.”

I brushed dirt from his hands off my clothes. “You won’t tell me how to summon a demon?”

“Not for any price. Get your gun and start shooting. I’ll even stand still for it.”

I reached behind me and he didn’t flinch, didn’t even start sinking into the ground. Sighing, I grabbed the iPod and handed it over. From the other pocket, I took a set of big headphones.

“I didn’t think the little earplugs would stay in your big flapping ears,” I explained. “There’s two thousand songs on there already. Let me know if you have any requests.”

“Any Nasty Kitten?”

“You know they never recorded anything.” I shrugged. “But there might be one or two bootleg songs on there.”

“Cheers.”

Kermit waved his hand and the hole I’d entered through opened up again, accompanied by a set of stairs growing out of the floor.

One foot on the lowest step, I paused and faced Kermit again. “One last thing.”

He looked up from the iPod. “Yes?”

“Why are you so scared of demons?”

Kermit focused on his new toy and was quiet so long I wondered if he was just going to ignore the question. When he did speak, it was in a tone so forlorn I was almost moved to sympathy.

“When a demon possesses a human, they have a continual fight with the person’s soul for dominance and space within the body. When they possess animals and become familiars, it’s easier for them spiritually, but harder to get things done. Their ideal host is something more humanoid, without a soul.”

I nodded. “Seeya later, Afzal.” This time I used his name as a show of my thanks.

Walking up into the sunlight, I considered Kermit’s explanation. Apart from the physical differences between humans and the creatures of the Old World, the biggest defining feature was the soul. Humans had one, those of the Old World—ghouls,
djinn, gorgons, chupacabra, etc—didn’t. Kermit’s extreme paranoia made more sense now.

As much as I felt sorry Kermit had had to suffer through possession by demons, I was grateful for the information it had enabled him to gather. At long last, I was starting to think I might actually be able to solve this mystery now that I knew what I was facing.

All I needed now was to work out how to summon a demon.

Toward that end, I decided to call Lila. I had the phone out before I realised she’d never given me her number. Damn all sexy, mysterious women. So I called the next best thing.

“You got Tobias. I’m busy right now, leave a message.”

“It’s Matt Hawkins. I’m in need of your expertise. Call me ASAP.”

Then I rang Ivan. He answered very sleepily.

“Sorry. Did I wake you up?”

“Ugh. Yeah.
S’okay, though. I should be working.”

“Even if Erin’s not at the office?”

“Yeah. Sadly. What do you need?” He perked up quickly. “It’s not Erin? She’s okay?”

“She was when I left.” And the lie was out with little hindrance from my high ideals. “I haven’t heard any different. I was calling to see if she managed to talk to you about Chris Davis.”

“She didn’t say anything about him. Why?”

“We decided last night he should probably get somewhere safe. Get to a hotel under an alias. Just in case,” I added hastily when I heard Ivan draw in a sharp breath. “I don’t really think he’s in any danger. The murderer has been at large for over a week now and if Chris was a target he would have been killed before now.”

“Then why move him?”

“Just in case. Nothing much is making any sense about this case so far, so it’s probably better to take any and all precautions.”

Ivan sighed. “I’ll call Brad. He’ll call Chris.”

“Get Brad to give Chris my number. I forgot to pass it on the other night.”

“Are you making any headway on the case?” There wasn’t any real hope in his voice. Perhaps it was just the tiredness.

“Leaps and bounds, kid. Just waiting on another contact to get back to me so I can start on the next bit of the puzzle.”

“Really?” Now there was oodles of interest.

“I’m narrowing in on the murderer, but it’s become a bit complicated. There’s an accomplice who is probably more guilty than the one who did the actual strangling.”

“Holy shit,” Ivan breathed. “How does that work?”

“When I find out, I’ll let you know. Pass the message on and I’ll call back later for an update.
Seeya.”

I got into the car and headed over to St Lucia. I found a legal park at the
uni campus this time and headed over to the Michie Building. About to ding the bell for help, my phone rang.

“Night Call.”

“Matt. It’s Tobias. You wanted to talk to me? Did you banish the poltergeist?”

“Not exactly. Are you at work?”

“Where else would I be?”

“I’m in the foyer.”

He didn’t even say goodbye, just hung up and five minutes later, he clattered into the foyer. His bucket was with him again, but the mop had been replaced by a window squeegee.

“I hope we’re not going to be hanging off the third story cleaning windows,” I said. “I have a thing about heights.”

He laughed. “I’ll do the front doors while we talk.”

Going by our last meeting, I’d probably get out three words before he was done. However, I was pleasantly surprised when he started on the glass doors with slow, precise strokes.

“How’s the haunting going?” he asked.

“It’s not. The ‘poltergeist’ vanished.”

“Wow. It didn’t need a banishment?”

“Apparently not. Of course, there is the chance it might come back. But the poltergeist isn’t why I came.”

Tobias frowned. “I don’t know much else that would be of interest to you, unless you want to know how to get a streak free finish on your windows.”

“I thought God made it rain to clean windows. I’m working a second job at the moment. Did you hear about the physicist that was murdered at
Geotech?”

“Yeah. They never caught the guy, did they?”

“They didn’t, but I might. What I need from you is the name of a physicist at the uni who might be willing to talk to me.”

He thought for a moment. “Your best bet would probably be Dr Jones.”

“Great. Where’s he?”

“In the Physics Annex.”

Like I should have known. “Where’s that?” “I’ll show you.” Bucket and squeegee in hand, Tobias launched.

I scrambled after him. We rocketed along a path around the history building and into a wide open space.

“This is the Great Court,” Tobias informed me.

“Well, it certainly is great.” Man, I hoped we weren’t rushing all the way across it.

Thankfully we veered toward a set of buildings on the right. Set behind two other buildings was a long, narrow one proudly proclaiming itself as the Physics Annex. Tobias hurried through the front entrance and straight up a set of stairs. I laboured along in his wake up three flights. Finally, we reached a door with the name Dr Long Jones stencilled on it.

Tobias knocked. “Long, you in?”

“Come in, Tobias.”

I followed Tobias in and found a small, wizened Asian man straining on his tip toes to reach a top shelf.

“Let me,” I offered and leaned over him to get the book.

“Thank you,” the little doctor said as I handed it to him. He looked me over from behind thick, wire rimmed glasses. “Friend of Tobias’ are you?”

“Sort of.”

“Doc, this is Matt Hawkins. He’s an expert in similar fields to me.” Tobias immediately set about cleaning the office windows.

“Oh, Tobias, do stop that,” Jones muttered, hustling back around his desk. “You don’t work here. Put your gear down and take a rest.”

Very reluctantly Tobias finished the window he’d started and sat down. I took a seat beside him, opposite Jones.

“I presume, Tobias, that you’ve brought me this gentleman for a reason,” Dr Jones said even as he opened the book and began looking for something.

“He’s looking into the death of that physicist last week.”

Jones’ head snapped up and he stared at me. “Are you with the police?”

“No. I’m a private consultant, working for Geraldine Davis’ family.”

“And your field of expertise is in similar vein to Tobias’?”

“In a sense. I’m a psychic.” And now we’ll wait for the science versus psych argument.

“Interesting. And how does Gerry’s family think a psychic will be able to help them?”

Okay. Maybe he was going to come at it from an oblique angle. Right at the moment, he sounded reasonable and intrigued.

“No one else is having much luck.”

Surprisingly, Jones grinned at me. It made his whole face crinkle up and swallow his eyes. “Too true. How can I aid you?”

“I know she was doing contract work for Geotech when she was killed, but all signs are pointing toward some private research she was doing as well. It seems she either hid the research very well or it was stolen. Possibly it was the reason for her murder. I’m trying to get some idea about what she was working on.”

“The field of physics is very wide and varied. It’s not like I can offer up a handful of subjects that would cover all possibilities. Now, had she been working with a grant or for a research company, I’m sure I could find out what she was doing, but with privately funded research, I have no idea. Gerry’s interests were always wide ranging, but once she found something that interested her, she worked at it until she was satisfied.”

“You knew Gerry?”

“I was her doctoral thesis adviser.”

I looked askance at Tobias. He shrugged. So he hadn’t known Jones knew Geraldine before bringing me here.

“You would have got pretty close to her during that time, wouldn’t you?” I asked Jones.

“Pretty close, yes. I gave her away at her wedding.”

“Then surely you can make an educated guess at what she’d been doing.” Before he could shake his head in denial, I added, “Chris said the research was mathematical in nature. Lots of big calculations on powerful computers. Theoretical, not practical. Any ideas at all?”

Jones lifted his hands in a placating manner. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it might have been about. Since she sold the laser patent I’ve not had any contact with her or Chris.”

“How about before that?”

“Oh, we kept in near constant contact. Always discussing this or that theory, problems with laser technology. Many things.”

I sat back, pondering that. “I guess money changes people.”

Jones sighed. “Perhaps, but money had never been Gerry’s goal. She was always about the answers. There wasn’t a question she didn’t want to find the answer for. But I could be wrong. She may have changed.”

“Not about wanting answers, though. Chris said he tried to get her to take a break from her work, but she couldn’t resist it. I suppose being self-funded, she thought she could be completely self-sufficient and that meant academically wise as well.”

“You’re probably right about that.” Jones looked at his hands on the desk. “She much preferred working alone. I sometimes got the feeling she was just allowing an old man to offer her advice so he wouldn’t feel lonely.”

I studied him for a moment. “Did you like her, Dr Jones?”

“I gave her away at her wedding,” he answered immediately.

“Yes, but did you like her?”

Tobias kicked me. I ignored it, watching the physicist intently.

Jones took off his glasses and cleaned them with a white cloth. “No. I didn’t like her. I respected her intelligence, her dedication to the field. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to like her, but it was hard. She was obsessed. More so than any other student I’ve ever had. Her complete devotion to whatever she’d applied her mind was frightening. It was Chris who asked me to give her away. I’m sure Gerry hadn’t even given it a thought. I believe Chris organised the whole thing and she just had to be reminded to show up.”

“It’s a miracle they met and fell in love,” I mused.

“If anything is a miracle, that would be. Gerry got interested in ballistics and she threw herself into it whole heartedly, of course.” He smiled sadly. “She met Chris at the rifle range
and he taught her how to shoot. It is highly likely the romance was entirely one sided and she simply went along with it because she was too distracted to end it.”

I thought of Chris’ sad face and wondered if he might know that for a certainty. Poor bastard. But then I remembered the Geraldine I’d felt in the lab at
Geotech. That had been a woman who knew her husband well enough to recognise his hands, to know him from an impostor. She knew without a doubt the cold, impersonal demon wasn’t Chris. That wasn’t a woman who was completely unaware of everything that wasn’t her work.

And I got a deep insight into Geraldine right then. Everything said about her emphasised her intelligence. She had been a very smart woman. I was more than willing to bet she knew Chris loved her, and that she loved him in return. She simply operated on a level the rest of us couldn’t comprehend. Not even Chris. Not even her doctoral thesis adviser.

Which didn’t leave much chance for me to nut out what she’d been doing.

“Okay, doctor, I have one last question,” I said.

“Ask.”

“I’ve been led to believe the physics field can get pretty cut throat. Would stealing her research be a motive for killing Geraldine?”

“It is entirely possible.”

“Any idea who might be desperate enough to consider killing her?”

“Not without a clue as to her research.”

I nodded. “Thank you for everything, Dr Jones.”

He stood with Tobias and I and came to the door. “I hope you can solve this mystery, Mr Hawkins. I will ask around the faculty and the local professional community to see if she’d been in touch with anyone else.”

“I would appreciate that.” I gave him a card and Tobias and I left.

“Wow,” Tobias said as we left the building, once more moving at a speed slightly slower than sound. “So that’s the glorious life of the Night Caller.”

I grunted. “Well, that’s the daytime side of it.”

“Hope your nights are a bit more exciting. Have you given up on the poltergeist job then?”

I took a moment to make the conversation shift. “Not really. I just don’t see what can actually be done to help this guy.” Quickly ran him through the list of credentials Nick’s girlfriend failed to meet.

“That’s not a ghost of any sort.”

“Whatever Amaya is, or was, I don’t think we can do much more until she shows up again.”

“If she shows up again.”

“It’s a possibility. Thanks for taking me to Dr Jones. I appreciate it.”

“No worries.” Tobias looked at his watch. “Now I’m going to have to rush to get everything done. Call me if Carson gets anything new.” And he hurried back into the history building.

Wondering just how he could move any faster, I hiked to where I’d parked the car. Part way there, I got a call.

“Matt, it’s Lila.”

Like I needed her to tell me that. Her voice was more than enough.

“Hey,” was all I could manage while my heart bounced around on a day time TV show host’s couch.