The Demon Within (9 page)

The mention of her name snapped her to attention.

“To ensure fairness, a ballot will be cast, granting each member one vote. Rumors will be settled. A leader will be chosen. We must preserve the group and create a united front. Demons cannot be allowed to win because we’ve lost focus on what’s important.”

It took less than twenty minutes to decide her fate. To protest that she didn’t want the leadership would get her nowhere. Even so, it hurt to know the people she grew up with preferred Henry’s lackadaisical leadership to her. But what confused her the most was why a vote had been called at all. She studied the back of her friends’ heads and thought she knew the answer.

Caly barely managed to mask her expression when Henry descended to crow about his victory.

“Aren’t you going to congratulate me?” A smug smile twisted Henry’s lips into a caricature of politeness, pride puffing up his chest.

“I know you don’t believe me, but I never wanted the group. So I hope you’ll take my words seriously. You don’t have the tactical training to hold the group. You and I both know it. Find someone and fast before you ruin the team Oscar spent his life perfecting.”

The smile disappeared, and viciousness took hold as if he took her words as a threat. Ragged edges of his composure unraveled and tiny cracks of strain that weren’t there a week ago lined his face. “The old man is dead. The team is mine. The vote decided it, yet you’re still angling for a position of power. I will decide what’s best for the group. Watch your steps. I won’t take kindly to your disrespect or misfit friends.”

Genuine amusement burst from her lips. “I would rather die on my own than under your bungling command. This group won’t survive without help before the demons overtake everyone.” Caly set aside the glass of water she’d picked up and tugged at her jacket. Predictably, his eyes dropped to her cleavage.

Her fists tightened. The temptation to knock him on his ass licked through her. This was Oscar’s memorial. He deserved better behavior from them.

“I’m leaving.”

“Leave now, don’t bother to come back.”

Caly shook her head and walked away. “Not to worry. I’ve enough courage to die fighting rather than run like a coward.”

The sharply muttered curse couldn’t be heard by anyone but her. It was enough. Caly stepped outside, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Cool evening air filled her lungs until her chest burned. The tension that had built up in her shoulders slowly unwound.

The long week of funerals left her exhausted. She missed Cunningham, and yes, even Oscar. Part of her screamed that leaving the group would only make her slide to hell all the quicker, but she couldn’t make herself move back into the warehouse. There were too many memories there to haunt her.

The smell of black licorice wafted on the breeze. She tensed and lifted her head even as her mouth watered. “Who’s there?” She reached for her weapons when Kelly’s strident voice pierced the thick-glassed door of the warehouse.

“Caly, wait.”

The smell vanished when David and Kelly rushed outside. Jarred, who never seemed hurry at anything, followed them.

“And where do you think you’re going?” The
without us
went unsaid.

As unobtrusively as possible, she searched the deserted street. “Henry’s right about one thing. Oscar poured his life into this organization. To split the group would destroy it.”

Empty pavement greeted her. Paranoia was getting the better of her. She glanced longingly at her car, then resolutely turn away. They’d only follow her.

“There’s no way you can leave and not expect us to protest.” The vehement words came from the mild-mannered Jarred. “I gave up my life to this cause. The cause was Oscar and his vision. You’ve always been that to him. The reason why he’d fought so hard. He might have favored Henry, but everyone knew he only kept the jackass at his side to provoke you. He was waiting for you to challenge the boob for control. It was never his intent to let Henry rule.”

If the words were meant to reassure her, they failed miserably. A pit opened up in her stomach. Others couldn’t rely on her, not when she couldn’t even trust herself. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Henry didn’t tell everyone the truth at what happened at the temple.”

Kelly snorted. “We know that, girl.”

Caly only shook her head. “The rendezvous point was a sacrificial temple. We were lured there. The demons had somehow managed to find a group of Fallen Angels. Before the bombs detonated, seven were restored to their bodies. If we hadn’t arrived a day early, we would’ve never survived.”

Since they’d returned, she hadn’t been able to sleep or relax. Even amongst her friends, her nerves jittered along her spine. She tapped her fingers against her leg as she searched the darkened street once more, suspicious of every shadow. Despite feeling eyes burn into the back of her skull, she frustratingly found nothing. “I don’t think we returned alone.”

Something was out there. Stalking her. Waiting to strike. She needed to keep her distance from her friends until she’d had time to neutralize the threat.

There was an ominous silence at her words. David scratched his chin as he always did when trying to recall information. “There are two types of Fallen. Those who loved humans just a little too much and those who had problems with upper management and were cast out.”

Jarred sighed. “I take it these are not the peace loving, tree hugging sort?”

“The blast should’ve eradicated every trace of them.” But she didn’t believe it. Her luck had never been that good. In case anything happened to her, she had to warn her friends. “If any of the Fallen regained their full power before the explosion, they could still be alive.”

“Shit.” David paced the cracked sidewalk, his canvas shoes slapped loudly in the deserted street. “Why would demons wish to raise something that could so easily destroy them?”

Caly shrugged, having asked herself that same question a hundred times without any satisfactory answer. “Almost all the ancient texts agree that demons once worked with angels. Then they became obsolete. They now sulked about in the shadows like vermin. This is their chance.

“Physical limits prevent the demons from ruling humans. If they woke the Fallen, they could be grateful. If you were a demon, what would you ask for in return?” She shivered and crossed her arms. Not because of the cold but because it could so easily work.

“It’s all speculation. We need a snitch to find out what they have planned.” She braced herself, and lied to her friends for the first time. “I met a demon years ago who should be able to supply us with some information.” Caly turned away, shame tightening her face.

“No.” David’s denial was immediate.

“Definitely not.” Jarred spoke at the same time. “There’s no reason to believe they’d be willing to help. They’re likelier to slaughter you as soon as you open your mouth.”

“Give me a better alternative.” Her heart lodged in her throat as she waited for a response that would save her from revisiting a past better left alone.

No one spoke.

They had no way to coerce a demon into working for them. Oscar’s group was known for their high kill count, not their leniency.

Surveying the dingy brick buildings, Caly turned her back to the others. “Something came back with us from the temple. When it comes for me, I don’t want any of you to be caught in the crossfire.” Without saying goodbye, Caly walked to her car.

“Caly.”

“David, leave her. This is something she has to figure out herself.”

Though Caly was grateful for Kelly’s understanding, she also knew it wasn’t limitless. She put her car in gear and sped away, estimating she had until noon at the latest before they descended en masse.

She parked her car near the farmhouse a little before midnight, thankful the house was five miles outside the city limits. She needed the solitude to build her walls as she decided where to begin her search for the one demon that might help them.

Her djinn.

Peering into the darkness, she detected no threat and made her way in the house and her room on autopilot. Without bothering to turn on the lights, she stripped, carefully folded her clothes and shoved them in the back of her closet, never to see the light of day again.

Ready for a hard training session, needing the exhaustion to sleep, Caly slipped into her workout clothes. The house was sparse, a testimony to her meticulous habits. Oscar taught her everything had a place, and if it didn’t, it didn’t belong. Caly didn’t mind most of the time. She couldn’t stand to lose more of herself, not when so little of it remained.

With a quick jog down the stairs, she paused on the landing. The library lay to the right. The only luxury Oscar had allowed were books, a weakness he himself couldn’t control. He explained them away as research, but they were also his pride and joy. She’d devoured them for the sole purpose of ridding her body of the demon it harbored, but had fallen in love with the lore.

She’d inherited his private collection, including his old tactical maps. The main research pieces would remain at the training center, but his personal favorites were here. A trickle of gratitude devastated her control.

She wrapped her fingers around the handle, but before the door swung open, she dropped her hand to her side. The latch clicked shut, and she rested her forehead against the cool wood.

Without a backward glance, she changed directions, preparing herself for a long, rigorous hike up the mountain trail. If she exhausted herself enough, maybe she wouldn’t relive Oscar’s death in her dreams.

Or even more disturbing, fantasize about the mystery man she’d left behind in the jungle.

Chapter Eight

R
uman watched the woman disappear out the door, disgruntled to see her on the move again. They’d just arrived home. How was he supposed to check for weaknesses in her living establishment if he couldn’t remain in one place long enough for him to reconnaissance the area?

Indecision wavered. He should follow his charge and make sure she stayed out of mischief, but he needed space to allow himself time to gather his thoughts. Being near her mangled his thinking process, made him ineffective. Detecting no overt threat, he lingered in the house, rationalizing that he needed to gather information about her in order to be able to better protect her.

For the life of him, he couldn’t find anything about her beyond the basics. No one in this backwater place seemed to be aware of anything about her. She couldn’t have just popped out of nowhere.

The normal daily ins and outs of a human’s life held no interest for him. This one was different. The way she moved, the way she reacted to situations, disturbed him.

It reminded him of himself when he first descended. Cocky, sure of himself, and terribly alone.

When she’d returned from the temple, it had amused him to watch her try to catch him unaware. The intricate traps she’d constructed, the tricks she’d used to confirm whether or not she’d been followed had delighted him. She could sense him. He wasn’t invisible.

Now it became an annoyance.

True to her namesake Calypso, Caly was an expert in concealing herself. On more than one occasion when he trailed her, she’d lost him.

Impossible but true.