whiskey witches 01 - whisky witches (34 page)

Paige went to the door and closed it behind her, her hands shaking.

Brian clenched his fists. “Saw you weren’t getting anywhere with Malika. I want a full confession.”

“She said she’d gathered powerful people and used their blood. I have the confession.”

His eyes blazed with dark emotions. “Yeah. I heard that. Get one from Jones. I want both these scumbags going away for a very long time.”

“I need to know where the key is.”

“I’m aware, but these two are in our grasp. We can get these two. In trying to get Sven and that key, we could lose all of them. Let’s catch the ones we can.”

“The key has the potential of destroying hundreds of thousands of lives. Millions, even. Billions.”

“I get it. I do, but—” He held his hands in front of him like he were holding a large ball. “—we have these two. Let’s take the wins we can.”

Yeah, well, what if by taking the win in this little battle, it cost them the war?

Brian pointed down the hallway with his chin. “Jones is one door down. Get a confession out of him. I’ll be in the security room.”

“Right.” She steeled herself and opened the door.

Jones’ expression shifted from boredom to mild interest.

Paige leaned against the wall. “Where’s the key?”

Jones raised his eyebrows. “Not even a little foreplay first?”

“Why? We have your DNA at the crime scene.” Still too early for DNA, but they had FBI on the case. She could bluff that lie. “Malika just confessed, pinning you as the mastermind in all this.”

Jones snorted, focusing his gaze in the far corner of the room. “She wouldn’t. I know you’re lying.”

“Why wouldn’t she? She’s facing multiple life sentences. Do you have any idea what hard time’s like for a female?”

“Do I care?”

“If you care for her at all, you should.”

“She was a means to an end. Just like Betsy. Just like Ashley. Just like Eddie.”

“Okay. So if we didn’t catch you, what? You were going to kill Malika, too?”

“This is a lot bigger than a few human lives, Whiskey. If you haven’t discovered that out yet, you disappoint me.”

“What side are you on?”

He sat up, tapping the table in front of him with his index finger. “You’ve got the demon inside of you now and soon, we’re going to unleash it and open the Gate to Heaven.”

Heaven. Shit.

He chuckled and sat back. “Didn’t see that one coming, did you? Yes. I’m working for the angels.”

“Using the demons.”

“They were the ones dumb enough to set up guards on the gate in the first place.”

“Why would the gate be located at the Metley Plantation?”

“You seriously don’t believe the gate can be pinned down to a single point of rock, do you? Something so immense, something so ethereal, something so far beyond your understanding?”

“Then why here?”

Jones took in a deep breath and released it slowly. “Because this is where Gabriel tied Lucius.”

“And that’s important because?”

He tipped his head to the side.

“Because?”

“We needed the soul of the final guardian. The key is in pieces, and this is the only way to mend it. When he tears himself out of your body, your soul will be sucked into the key, and there will be no more demon summoner.”

Souls sucked in the key. Souls already in the key. Did that even make sense? Sort of. Yes. Souls were like batteries, but how many souls would it take to power up a fragment of a key to open an ethereal gate?

“You can’t escape, even if you did know where the key was. You’d only be doing us a favor by going where we need you to be.”

“Fine. Then tell me where I need to go.”

With a sudden burst of speed, Jones shot to his feet, grabbing Paige’s arm.

Every muscle in her body primed for a fight. Even with his hands cuffed together, he could be deadly. She wasn’t stupid

He brought the underside of her arm into the light. He peeled away the white bandage and traced the puckered scar he found with a reverence that sickened her. “Do you see this?”

She tried to break his grasp, but he held it with an iron grip.

He looked at her through his lashes, his expression dark. “Even if you escape, you’re open to possession. You’re weak. You’re a liability. Gradually, you’ll slip into insanity. No more demon summoner. No more demons.” His eyes trailed to her chest and the symbols hidden under her soft t-shirt. “You’ll beg me to kill you.”

“Like you did the others?”

Jones released her. “Your death will be different,” he said, sitting down.

“How?”

He said nothing, settling into a comfortable position in his chair. “You know, you’re pretty smart. I didn’t think anyone would have figured out what we were doing, but you did. Well, sort of.”

He was sick. A sick asshole. Her stomach twisted like she’d eaten too much grease. “What do you mean, sort of?”

“You guessed why we killed who we killed and in the order that we killed them.”

“That was easy.”

“He said you were smart.”

“Sven?”

“Gold star. But don’t you want to know how close you were to solving this thing.”

Paige rolled her jaw. “I already know. I have confessions from both of you. I also know who the mastermind is. You might think it’s you, but it’s not. It’s Seven Tails Sven. Trust me. He’s playing you like a fiddle. All I need to know is where the key is.”

“He’s the mastermind? A demon?” Jones threw back his head and laughed.

Something finally clicked into place. “You’re a Nephilim.”

Jones sat back and shook his head. “That would be a nice ribbon around the box, wouldn’t it? I’m half angel, half human?”

“Fits.”

“I’m a little short, don’t you think?”

“Could be a birth defect.”

“You might want to go get your last supper,” he said with a wrinkling of his nose. “By tonight, you’re going to be dead and the power of the gate will be mine.”

“You mean, yours and Malika’s.”

A cold smile lit his lips. “I mean mine.”

Paige stood up. “Where’s the key?”

“Not yet.” His eyes widened in surprise, his smile faltering. “He’s not there.”

“Who’s not where?”

“The demon.” Jones rose. “Where is he?”

Time to get out. She closed the door behind her.

“Where is he?” Jones shouted through the door.

White met her in the main room.

Paige shook out her fingers, her heart racing. “He confessed like you wanted.”

“I got everything.” Brian walked to his office, gesturing for her to follow. “Including the threat on your life.”

“He’s been threatening my life, Chief.” She had a hard time feeling any additional panic. He’d already handed her ass to her a couple of times.

“This was different.” Brian fished the phone out of his pocket. “I’m setting up a security detail. I’m not going to let him touch you.”

“How are they going to defend against demons? Or angels? Sven is a notoriously ugly demon. He’ll get me if that’s what he wants. And are we completely ignoring the fact he’s sending me love letters via dead bodies? I’m not under threat of death from him.”

“I don’t care, Paige. You’re in my parish under my protection and, by God, I’m going to protect you.”

“With sticks?”

“With bullets.”

“Against demons.”

“You don’t have any say in the matter.”

Paige put a lid on whatever else she was going to say. Stubborn men.

They had to figure out how to fix their biggest liability.

Her.

“H
E SAID WHAT?”

“Dexx, please.” Paige dropped her badge on the table and stuffed her gun in the drawer. “Don’t overreact.”

“Overreact? Overreact. Huh. The man just said he was going to kill you tonight and I’m overreacting?”

“He’s in jail.” Paige headed for the bathroom.

He flung his hands in the air and stormed to the window. “Sven’s not!”

She turned at the bathroom door. “If this were a normal situation, you’d say we needed a trap.”

“Normally? Sure. That’s a great idea, but not this time.”

“Why not?”

“Because!” He clawed his hands. “Because it’s you. This time, it would be you in the trap. No. Just no.”

She didn’t know what else to do. She had no idea how to win this one. They were on the losing side. “I have something I have to tell you.”

He stared at her, his smile upside down, waiting.

“Bal came to see me. He said that every time he’s near me, he feels the need to possess me.”

“You want to know how I knew that?” Dexx folded his arms over his chest and tipped his head to the side. “The symbols carved into you, then magickally burned into you. You’re as open to demon possession as a child.”

“Okay. Did you know there’s a large population of demons and angels gathering here?”

He narrowed his eyes. “I vaguely recall you mentioning something like that off-hand.”

She shrugged. It’d been a busy day. She couldn’t remember everything she’d said.

“Do we have a defense against angels?”

“Not that I know of.”

“And do we know why the angels are here?”

“Since they’re the ones that bound the guardians to the earth and left the gates unguarded? Nope, but I’m guessing it’s not good.”

He paced away. “Shit.”

“Right. And—because we needed things to be more exciting—Sven has all the guardians. All of the Lucius’ brethren. They’re all trapped in the part of the key he has.”

Dexx’s face paled as he turned toward her. “You’re kidding me.”

“I wish. He seems to think that with Lucius as the final soul, he can complete the blood spell necessary to empower the key so he can open the gate.”

“Tell me that’s not possible.”

“How the hell would I know?” She ducked into the bathroom and closed the door. She’d been holding high pee since the police station. She’d needed to get out of there, to go somewhere she felt safe. Not in the inn. With Dexx. He made her feel safe.

How safe could he be when his traps didn’t even work?

Finished, she dried off her hands and re-entered the bedroom.

Dexx sat in the window seat, his phone in his hands. He waved it. “My ink came in. We’re going to—”

“No.”

“Yes. You have a knot work of spells branded into your bones that allow demons to come in. We have to counter that somehow.”

“With a tattoo?”

“They used a knife. I’ve got ink.”

She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t deny she needed to be able to do her job. She couldn’t stop being a summoner. What was she going to say every time a demon popped up? Go away? Nicely? No. Her world, or at least the parts she knew of it, weren’t going to disappear simply because she was broken. She needed to get fixed.

“What if we cut the symbols?”

“You sent the witch who could do that away.”

Paige winced. “Fine. What did you have in mind?”

Dexx laid out a couple of ideas. They decided on two after a great deal of debate. He retrieved his box from the front desk and got to work.

Paige did everything she could think to keep her mind off of what Dexx was doing, but that was somewhat hard, considering the fact he was sticking a needle into her skin repeatedly. It hurt like hell.

With her two tattoos in place and her skin an angry red around them, Dexx declared her done. “Let’s see if they work. Summon Balnore.”

Bracing herself, Paige reached inside and whispered, “Balnore, I need you.”

Nothing happened.

Paige turned to Dexx.

He shrugged. “Try using the mirror. The first time you summoned him, you used a candle and the mirror, and there were things. You know, other, scary things. With fire.”

“But I don’t need to. The mirror just helps sometimes.”

Someone knocked on the door.

Dexx frowned at her. “Did you order a pizza?”

She quirked her lips, but dug her gun out of the table drawer.

One hand on the Glock shoved in the back of his pants, Dexx opened the door a crack. He jerked back, shaking his head, then widened the door.

“You called?” Balnore asked, looking a little disheveled.

Paige frowned at him. “You felt the need to knock?”

“Because when you call me, you never throw up protections.” He rubbed the dark stubble lacing his chin. “It’s safer this way.”

“I didn’t think you could—” Paige stopped herself. “I mean, when you’re summoned—”

“I need to show up where you tell me to? No. What’s up?”

How much did she know about Balnore? He played things safe. Didn’t rock the boat. He guided her when she needed it. But what did she know about him? Really? “I need to know if the protections worked.”

“What protections?”

“The ones Dexx laid on me. The tattoos.”

Balnore shook his head.

She spun on Dexx. “You made this permanent.”

He opened his mouth, closed it, held up a finger and promptly fell back to his notes. “It should’ve worked.”

Balnore narrowed his eyes at Paige. “Huh.” He took two steps closer to her, remaining just out of arms reach. “It did work. A little. It’s easier to control the temptation. I don’t feel as though you’re pulling me into you.”

“Ha!” Dexx snapped his fingers and pointed to her. “I told you it would work. Can you summon another to see if it worked?”