Shift Work (Carus #4) (23 page)

“Bingo!” I said. My heart raced. The recorded voice sounded familiar. Not familiar enough to be someone close to me, but definitely someone I’d met. Something about the cadence and slight lilt of the words. And the meeting place. The street intersection bounced around on the inside of my skull. I knew that warehouse. I used it as a remote location to meet my handler back in my SRD assassin days. Crap! Was there a connection somehow?

Stan cleared his throat.

“Can they trace the call?” I asked.

“Yes. Burn phone. Dead end.”

“Well, that sucks.”

“We have a location of the killer and your nose. The location is an abandoned building in Gastown. There shouldn’t be anything else there.”

“Except the homeless and a lot of waste from bodily functions. I know that building. I met my handler there, back in the day.”

Another pause. “Think there’s a connection?”

“Doubt it. We weren’t the only ones to use the building, and it’s been more than half a year since I used it for that purpose.” Had it been only half a year? So much had happened since my botched assassination on Clint. Too much.

“When can you meet us?”

That’s right. I’d told Stan I couldn’t meet tonight for work because of “New Moon Supernatural Stuff.” I was so full of it. He’d grumbled, but he seemed to buy it at the time, or at least not care enough to push it. But that was earlier today when we didn’t have any leads. My chest tightened and pain sprang up at the back of my throat. If I didn’t have this personal Demon shit to attend to, I could help Stan sooner than later. Bring him closure sooner than later. If I hadn’t been compromised by a lecherous Seducer Demon and a now-deceased douchebag Vampire. Goddammit!

“Andy?” Stan asked, some of his excitement draining from his voice.

“Tomorrow. Two hours after sunrise,” I said. May as well forgo sleep.

“Perfect. Meet there?”

“You bet.”

Stan didn’t bother with an elaborate goodbye. He grunted and hung up on me, leaving me to twist in my own self-loathing.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“A woman brought you into this world, so you have no right to disrespect one.”

~Tupac Shakur

The sun set with a beautiful cascade of red and orange light. A cornucopia of scents drifted through the open window, and flooded my senses—mint, oregano, ginger, and pumpkin spice—as if each household delved into creating comfort food.

I certainly had. Two banana nut loaves and a bunch of cupcakes cooled on my stove top. If I survived this night, I wanted to gorge on food I loved. Napping had alluded me. If I survived this night, I’d have to meet Stan without a wink of sleep.

Was I really worried Sid would harm me? Not really. He seemed attached to the idea of having an anchor on a permanent basis. No. If harm came to me tonight it would come from stopping Sid doing something stupid.

Just enjoy the moment.
I watched the horizon. If only the sun wasn’t setting on my freedom as I knew it. If only it didn’t signal the beginning of my own personal hell.

I sat on the sofa, curled up in a fuzzy gray-blue blanket and watched the dying light of day fade into the peaceful abyss of night. If Tristan’s strong arms held me, maybe this desolation wouldn’t hit me so hard.

I sighed.

Who was I kidding?

Even if he’d returned my calls, or tonight wasn’t a new moon where Tristan ran around as a leopard, no way would I allow Tristan here tonight. His Alpha nature and dominant leopard wouldn’t tolerate Sid’s use of me, and after our failed attempt to take down Bola, I doubted Tristan and all his awesomeness could match Satan’s Assistant.

When the last rays of day disappeared, my core clenched. As if someone lassoed my uterus and started yanking, intense abdominal pain radiated from my trunk outward, down my limbs to the tips of my fingers and toes. Like menstrual cramps, but a bajillion times worse.

What the fuck?

My nails elongated and sank into the couch cushions. I ground my teeth together and snarled. If I had to birth Sid into this world, I’d gut him right away. To hell with the repercussions. No one played with my lady bits without permission.

The tugging continued, hard and relentless; pain shot through my body. My limbs curled and coiled under the onslaught, and I slid from the couch and crumbled to the floor. Not even the fetal position provided a reprieve.

My mind floated up and out of my consciousness. I looked down at my writhing body as my essence distanced itself from the pain. I’d done this before. Many times during the Dylan abuse years, and once when Lucien almost took my life to blood bond me.

This time it wasn’t so bad. My feras still paced in my head, waiting, wanting out. The beast remained tethered. My heartbeat pounded heavy in my chest, echoing in the living room. My body snapped back, like a victim of tetanus. With a gaping wide mouth, an unearthly scream ripped from my throat, spewing a milky white cloud. It spiralled with force out of my body like a mushroom plume from a volcano. When it cleared, a naked Sid stood over my crumpled and prone body, hands on hips, lips twisted up in a smug smile.

Sid slowly surveyed the room until his gaze fixated on where my essence hovered. “Nice trick, Carus. I’m glad you can dissociate. Though it shouldn’t hurt as much, I suggest not waiting so long next time.”

Fuck that. There’d never be a next time.

“You can come back now. We have much to discuss.” Sid stepped away from my prone body.

I drifted in the space above my body and focused on it. My awareness gathered like pooling heat above a bathtub before it dove back into my crumpled body in circling tidal-pools.

My eyelids popped open. Pain emanated from behind my eyes, my limbs lay limp and heavy, the floor uncomfortable against my bruised flesh. Surprisingly, the ache from the bullet wound had disappeared.

“Get up, sunshine.” Sid shuffled his bare feet from where he stood beside me, only a couple feet away.

All seven feet of naked flesh.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Not a view I wanted. At all. “There’s spare extra-large jogging pants in my closet. Go put something on.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely. No one should have to see that.”

“A lot of ladies love it.”

“A lot of ladies also love Cool James, but you don’t see him prancing around naked.”

“Who?”

“Never mind. Just go put something on.”

When I heard his bare feet pad along the wood flooring and hit the cushioned carpet in the bedroom, I opened my eyes up again and got up.

Or at least tried.

My limbs flopped around, heavy and boneless.

Well, this sucks
.

I smacked at my sofa and hauled my useless body onto the soft cushions. The muscles of my arms shook with fatigue.

Sid sauntered back into my living room, wearing jogging pants that made it to his mid-calf. No shirt. His chiseled eight-pack gleamed across the room at me.

“See anything you like?” Sid raised a dark eyebrow and brushed his hand along his olive-toned abs.

“There is nothing to like about this situation.” I glared at him. I would’ve waved at my useless body, but my arms defied the message and lay limp and useless beside me.

“Oh. That.” Sid frowned.

“Yeah. That. Why the heck am I so useless?”

“Being a portal to a Demon requires intense energy consumption. Most norms would die from the transfer. Supes, too. Your semi-divinity allows this to work.”

“It sucks.”

“It will get better.”

That’s what that loser, Caden, had said after he took my virginity, too. Liar. A wave of nausea wracked my body as my toes regained feeling. Well, Caden hadn’t lied completely. It did get better, just not with him. “How long will it take to regain my faculties?”

“Not long. Your bond with me will help accelerate the process.”

“Hoooo-ray.”

Sid tilted his head. “I sense sarcasm.”

“You sense correctly.”

Sid pursed his lips and glanced around my room again. His body twitched and a loud rumble erupted from his perfect washboard stomach. He clutched his stomach and turned back to me. “Have anything to eat?”

“What the hell does a Demon eat?” Didn’t these guys leech emotions? Never thought to see one chow down a cheeseburger.

Sid shrugged. “I don’t know. I feed off sexual energy.” He paused and looked at me again. “Not going to get that from you, am I?”

“You sense correctly, again.”

“But that’s in hell or when summoned in a circle, which is different. I’m not sure what I can or cannot eat.” He eyed my kitchen.

“Don’t even think about it.”

He cast me a wicked grin over his shoulder as he strutted toward the cupcake riddled kitchen; his lips twisted up. “Try and stop me.”

****

Motherfucker ate all my cupcakes. If I’d been capable of moving, I would’ve done some damage. Serious damage. Punching him in the junk multiple times would’ve been appropriate. Everyone knew not to eat a woman’s chocolate with vanilla icing comfort cupcakes. Did they teach these Demons nothing in hell?

I lay on my couch, as useful as a glass hammer, and watched the Seducer Demon hoover my food.

When he finished the last of my cupcakes, he moved to the banana nut bread. My limbs tingled, and I wiggled my toes. They moved. I tested my arms next, swinging them off the couch as if I could fly away.

Sid glanced at me before popping half a loaf into his mouth. Crumbs fell down his face, bounced off his chest and clung to his sweats; some pooled at his feet with bits of chocolatey goodness and vanilla icing.

With a breath sucked in, I wrenched my knee up. It worked. It drove up into the cushion and sent my body flying off the edge of the couch. My body smacked against the hard floor and sucker punched the breath out of my chest.

Sid barked laughter from the kitchen. Before I could tell him where to shove his nether bits, his laughter broke off in a strangled gasp.

I pushed off the floor and used the couch to pull myself up into a semi-respectable position. What the hell was that noise? Like a cow trying to crow.

Sid thrashed around frantically in the kitchen. Face red, arms flailing around. He turned to me with bulging eyes and panicked eyebrows.

The big bad Seducer Demon was choking on my banana nut loaf.

Sid clutched his throat and pointed at his gaping mouth.

“What do you want me to do about it? Throw yourself against a chair.”

Sid stopped his frantic motions and glared at me.

“I’m serious! I can’t give you the Heimlich maneuver in my current condition, and you can hardly do it by yourself. You need to dislodge the food with abdominal thrusts.”

Sid’s glare darkened, and his mouth flattened into a hard line. His face had passed red and went to purple.

I sighed and relaxed into the side of the couch. If he died on the mortal plane, he’d just go back to the Demonic realm and I’d be rid of him. Rid of him until he decided to torment me in my dreams. Even if this debacle wasn’t my fault, Sid seemed like the angsty type to take it out on me anyway.

“Okay, listen up, Demon,” I said. “Make a fist.”

Sid clenched his fist and waved it at me.

“Place your fist slightly above your navel.” I paused until Sid complied. “Good. Grab your fist with your other hand. Good. Now bend yourself over the back of my dining table chair.”

Sid shot me another death glare.

“Do it! We’re running out of time, idiot!”

He bent over the chair. If only I had my phone. It sat useless on my bed, ensuring no photographic evidence of this moment.

Sid made another strangled sound.

“Shove your fist inward and upward.”

He did, barely.

“Again! Harder!”

Sid cast me one last death stare before ramping his body down on the chair while thrusting his fist upward.

My stomach cringed.

Banana loaf spewed out of Sid’s mouth. The hard almond pieces, slathered with saliva, splattered against the table’s surface as Sid sucked back air. He doubled over the chair and gagged on more loaf, leaving a pool of chunky drool on the seat’s cushion.

“You’re cleaning that.”

Sid stiffened and straightened. His arm flung out, and he jutted a stiff forefinger in my direction.

I raised an eyebrow.

“You will never speak of this,” he whispered.

“Please, like I want to acknowledge any involvement with you.” My words were true, but I eyed my bedroom door again, which blocked the view of my phone, out of reach and out of assistance. Drat! A video of what I had just witnessed would’ve gone viral on social media. If possible, I might’ve used it as blackmail.

Sid studied me for a few tense minutes before he nodded, more to himself than to me, as if he’d come to a decision.

“So?” I asked.

“So, what?” Sid tilted his head.

“What do you plan to do?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.” With the couch’s help, I pulled my body up until I could get my shaky legs under me enough to stand.

His lip quirked in a condescending smirk. I wanted to punch it off his face. “Like you could stop me?”

“I’m not useless.” The beast stirred as she sensed my intent.

“True, but do you realize, little Carus, I could snap you in two before you even thought to shift into the Ualida?”

“Well, fuck you, Sid. I don’t want you marauding the Lower Mainland pulling a Bola.”

Sid snorted. “Please. I don’t feed off blood and mayhem. I’m more likely to cause a mass orgy than slaughter.”

He had a point. But still. The idea of him running loose in the city made my skin crawl.

Before I could voice any further objections, Sid spoke again. “Despite what you may think. I do not wish you harm. I want you to be…content…with this bond. I wish to have a permanent anchor to the mortal realm.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen. I felt like a knife had been shoved into my uterus and twisted around.”

Sid jerked back. His face contorted into something between horrified and disgusted.

“Tell me your plans, or I’ll reciprocate the pain.” I ground my teeth. Consequences be damned.

Sid cringed. After a deep breath, his shoulders sagged. “I didn’t plan much. I wasn’t sure it would even work. I didn’t anticipate it would cause such pain either.”