Ready for anything? Shit.
The "battlefield" is Chickamauga Battlefield, the scene of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Over thirty thousand soldiers died in two and a half days of battle. Today, it's a National Park.
If you're looking for a place with negative energy, look no further because it attracts devil worshippers or satanists or whatever they want to call themselves by the droves. Most are idiots who stumble through what their elementary research has told them is a dark ceremony, others know what they're doing. When the former succeed it's a nightmare because they don't know what to do with what they've called, when the latter succeed it's a nightmare because they know exactly what they want to order the evil beings to do.
Every once in a while someone manages to call something up they really shouldn't have disturbed. When they do, I'm the one who gets to deal with it. Why me? Because I can, I suppose. The various shapeshifters can fight most of them off pretty good, and can usually injure them enough to send them back to where they came. However, I can actually kill them.
I keep a pair of thick hiking pants and a warm fleece top ready.
They've been soaked in a salt solution and allowed to air dry, which seems to help me repel most of what gets thrown at me on these expeditions.
It was thirty-eight degrees outside, so I wore my long johns under my fighting clothes, as I can't be bothered with a coat when I'm fighting. I laced on my heavy-duty hiking boots, which are sprayed with a layer of salt water after every wearing. My bag has a salt-soaked ski mask and gloves, and some safety glasses, but I wouldn't put those on until we arrived. One toss of something towards my face usually destroys the glasses, and I carry four extra, just in case.
I strapped on my knife sheaths, slid the knives in, secured my Sig P938, put my hoodie on and zipped it enough to conceal the weapons, took a deep breath, grabbed my backpack, and ran downstairs to the family room to let Xiaolan know I was going out on an emergency run and I didn't know when I'd be back. I'm pretty sure she thinks when I go out on these runs a patient is threatening to commit suicide and needs saving, but I've never offered the information and she's never asked.
I ran out the front door and bounced down the steps. Aaron hadn't arrived so I slowed as I headed to the road. He came around the corner and I sped back up and slid into the passenger seat.
Aaron frequently takes my breath away. He's a tall, muscular man — six foot three inches tall, Nordic blond, and graceful despite his muscles.
Built like something between a sexy male ballet dancer and a boxer, he looks like a Norse God. It really is too bad things didn't work out between us.
He was all business tonight, though. "Denny called, they have activity at the battlefield — scattered explosions and a few forest fires. The fire department can't put the fires out fast enough."
Most of Chickamauga Battlefield lies within the City of Fort Oglethorpe, and while the park service has jurisdiction, an agreement between the federal and city governments allows local law enforcement to respond to calls and investigate crimes inside the park.
I didn't want to bring this up, but Aaron needed to know before we arrived. "If you can keep some distance between Denny and me, I'd appreciate it. If you can't, I'll deal with it, but I don't know how he'll react."
"I wasn't aware you knew each other."
"We do, and the end wasn't pretty. I know he's a good cop, but he's an ass in his personal life. If you can keep me away from him, I'd appreciate it."
Aaron sighed and said, "Like you said, he's a good cop. He's also turning out to be a good police chief, and we're fortunate to have him on our side."
My temper got the best of me, and I told him, "Denny may be a good police chief, but don't make the mistake of thinking this makes him a good man. I knew him when he was a lowly detective, and it was obvious his aspirations were to run things even way back then. He wanted to rise up and be in charge, and he didn't care who he had to step on to make it happen.
He's hurt a lot of people in order to rise to the top — people he called friends, and some who were more than friends. He is not a good man."
"Are you telling me you dated him when he was a detective? That would have made you, what? Eighteen? Twenty?"
I crossed my arms over my chest and looked straight ahead. "I don't want to talk about it but don't make assumptions. Where are the fires and explosions?"
He sighed. Again. I never heard this particular sigh when he dealt with the men, but at that moment I didn't care. Later, I'd chastise myself for not being more professional, and for going all female on him when we should've been talking about the operation. For now though, I didn't give a shit.
"Where else?" he answered. "The backside of Snodgrass Hill. We're supposed to be met by a squad car a few roads over." He paused as he negotiated a turn. "It's just you, me, and Nathan tonight. I'd like to call in the wolves, but with the fire department on the scene we'll draw too much attention if we bring in more than a few of us."
"With so many people around, I'm guessing Denny will want to stick with us to make sure we don't get hassled, arrested, or shot by one of the good guys." I sighed. "I don't like him, but I don't want him hurt, either.
One of us will have to babysit him the whole time, which means there'll be only two of us fighting offensively. Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Breaking in new law enforcement personnel — letting them see the realities and figure out how they're going to respond within their own moral code — is always a trick. He was briefed by the former chief, and I've talked to him as well, but he's still getting used to the realities of it, and coming to terms with the fact he can't work within the justice system he believes in with such zeal. We'll have to protect him as best we can, but be careful about giving him orders. As chief, he'll consider himself in control.
Try to let him keep the illusion."
Aaron stopped to pick up Nathan in front of his house and there was someone with him. Nathan looked at Aaron and Aaron nodded in assent, and then Nathan opened the rear passenger door and he and the other man slid into the backseat as Nathan said, "I figured we'd need one more, he won't be much good fighting but he can keep Denny from getting hurt, I think."
I spoke up, "We were just talking about that, good thinking. Do you want to introduce us?"
Nathan just looked at me, so Aaron introduced us as he drove.
"Kirsten, this is Panda. Panda, Kirsten." He looked at me and added, "He's one of Nathan's lions, and he's great to have at your back when battling anything from this plane of existence, but he's never fought something from another realm so he's going to be out of his element." He looked in the rear view mirror at Nathan and asked, "I assume you outfitted him?"
"I gave him salt soaked clothes, but his boots don't have any protection."
I turned and looked him over. "Hello, Panda. Nice to meet you. I'm Kirsten. Fighting these things is what I'm good at, so if I tell you to do something, do it. Don't ask why, and don't think about whether it makes sense or not, because it may not. However, if I say to do it, there's a reason.
Even hard-headed, persnickety Nathan tends to listen to me when these things are around, right Nathan?"
One corner of his lip curled up. An almost-smile, which pretty much floored me.
"Yeah. As unlikely as it may seem, she knows what she's doing."
Nathan told Panda. "She and Aaron are usually on the same page with things, so you don't have to worry about who to listen to. If they happen to give two sets of instructions then follow whoever gave the last order because it probably means plans have changed. She and Aaron may both take flight, don't let it freak you out. Kirsten has more of a straight up and hover thing, but Aaron can actually fly around a little, even in human form."
He paused and Aaron told Panda, "Your job tonight is to keep the police chief alive. He isn't happy about having to call us in, as he's most comfortable working through the system. However, in order to save lives, so far he's called me when he comes upon the supernatural, but he still wants to tell us what to do even though he knows nothing about how to handle it. We'll need him close to us tonight because the place will be crawling with cops and firemen, and he'll need to tell them it's okay for us to be there. However, this means once we start fighting we'll have to keep him safe. You up to it?"
"He'll be fine," Nathan assured us.
Aaron trusted Nathan, so he nodded and glanced at me before looking back to the road. "Kirsten, you need to be super careful with your laser tonight. If you kill something by taking its heart and head, Denny'll realize it looks just like our second murder victim, and any use of your laser at all will look like the murder weapon for both bodies."
"You want me to blow up their heads instead tonight? You usually want me to keep that trick under wraps."
"No. Not unless you must. Just be careful around Denny. Tonight, it might be better to just injure them enough to send them back."
We reached the city limits and a patrol car pulled out in front of us and escorted us through town with lights flashing. I could see the smoke in the distance, and smelled it when we were still a few miles away.
We followed the car to the backside of the battlefield and parked in a residential neighborhood. The officer motioned us out of Aaron's SUV and into a squad car, and drove us past the fire trucks and barricades. He rolled his window down and spoke to a few people on his way through, and my throat and eyes burned as the acrid smoke smell grew stronger. I figured I could use it as an excuse for my facemask when I put it on later, if someone asked.
We pulled to a stop with a close-up view of Chief Edward Denton ordering people around, totally in his element.
Denny has aged well. I frequently see him on television in short news clips, but seeing him in person was different. He's six foot four inches tall, and the touch of grey in his black hair makes him look distinguished, not old. His sharp features and thin, wiry muscles exude strength and power.
However, despite the authority he wears like a perfectly tailored suit, I'm no longer the least bit attracted to him.
The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference.
Denny nodded to Aaron as we neared, and he motioned the driver to get out as he stepped towards the car. Aaron was in the front passenger seat, and I sat directly behind the driver's seat, with Panda in the middle and Nathan on his other side. I was certain Denny hadn't noticed me, and wasn't looking forward to his realizing I was working with Aaron.
He turned the car and drove away from the battlefield, but only a few blocks before he pointed to an unlit field and said, "I believe they came this direction."
We got out and Aaron took to the air to look around. I took the bull by horns and introduced Denny to Panda as if it hadn't been more than a decade since Denny and I had seen each other.
"Denny, this is Panda. Panda, this is Chief Denton." I faced Denny and worked my gloves on as I told him, "Panda's in charge of making sure you stay alive tonight."
"And who'll make sure you stay alive?" Denny asked, his eyes full of surprise, concern, and something else I didn't want to define.
I ignored the question and headed into the field with Nathan.
Twenty feet into the field, my shields literally vibrated with evil.
Damn. At least a half dozen, off to our right somewhere in the woods. I very quietly told Nathan, and we adjusted our trajectory almost in step with each other. I may not like Nathan much to hang out with him, but he's great to have by my side in a fight. Though, he almost got both of us killed a few times before he started admitting that maybe he should listen to me when we're up against evil beings from another realm.
I still wasn't sure what we were walking towards. I don't like calling them demons because, while it's probably as good a word for them as anything else, I think it gives them more power than they deserve.
Various things that can be called to our world from another, and several of them have the ability to make explosions. Unfortunately, one of those things was an actual full-sized demon, as in the opposite of an angel.
We don't see them very often, usually it's a lesser something or other that gets called up, and I was really hoping these were just the little three feet tall green and orange annoying beasties who threw fire and some sort of poison. We could handle six plus of them, I wasn't so sure about six full-sized demons.
And then they stepped out of the woods and I forced my fear into the background as I looked at seven large, evil, ugly, and scary-as-fuck demons.
I focused on the job, ignored my emotional reactions, and took stock of what I knew. The demons were powerful, but judging from the energy of the two closest, they weren't the upper echelon, thank goodness. However, they were powerful enough I needed to take the offensive now.
I took a breath of the cool night air and prepared to fire up my laser. I didn't think Denny could see from here and I wanted to kill these bastards. I pointed at the biggest demon and let the killing energy rip out of my fingertips and streak towards his chest. Once I'd pierced his heart I went straight up and then right, left, and back right to take his head off. When I do this, they die, they don't just get sent back to wherever they came from.
The other six scattered as I killed the first, and Aaron managed to take one down while Nathan had another engaged. One of them streaked towards me and I aimed at him and let the energy stream from me into him, but he locked some sort of shield around him, and it absorbed the laser — draining me. I shut the flow of energy down as quickly as I could, but I was suddenly drained beyond the point where I could just refill and go again. I could barely stand on my own, and felt myself wavering, but I used every ounce of physical stamina I could muster to stay upright, pull a throwing knife, and fling it towards him.
Whatever his shield was made of didn't deflect the knife and it went into his chest, a perfect throw. It wouldn't kill him, and likely wouldn't even send him back, but it would take him out of the action a few minutes, at least.
The other three demons were headed to the squad car, and I had no idea where Panda had taken Denny. I spoke in a normal voice to tell Panda to get the chief to the middle of the field, and I forced my muscles to walk towards the three demons likely headed their way. I heard fighting and assumed it was Panda trying to engage them and I sprinted, even though I knew I was using the last of my physical energy and would likely collapse soon. I wasn't sure if my mind was playing tricks on me or not, when I arrived to see Abbott taking down the last of them.
When I realized he'd taken care of all three (not dead, but injured enough they'd have to choose to either die here or go home to heal) I turned on my heel to make sure Nathan and Aaron were okay.
"We're good," Aaron assured me. "All but one are either dead or have gone back to their realm."
I looked at the spot where the one I'd taken down with my knife should be, and noted my knife wasn't on the ground, as it would be if he'd gone back to his plane of existence.
Aaron pulled me to him and quietly told me to incinerate the body of the one I'd killed.
"I can't," I told him. "I'm completely drained."
He grabbed my hands and pushed energy into me, fast enough it hurt, but it was enough I could focus heat inside the chest cavity of the body on the ground and blow it up, then do the same with the head.
He kept pushing energy in, but there was too much going on for me to accept it, and he backed off when I screamed in pain. Ignoring his look, I barked orders at Nathan to take off and look for the one that got away, looked at Aaron to let him know we had a job to do and I didn't want to talk about it, and then headed off to look for the remaining demon as well.
Aaron had given me enough energy to keep me standing and moving at least a few minutes, but not enough to do anything metaphysical.
We covered the wooded area until we reached a small subdivision, but none of us could get a location on him. A demon running around on our plane of existence was worse than bad, but even worse, I had a horrible feeling this was an upper echelon demon. I'd never seen anyone or anything who could shield themselves from my laser, much less drain me in the process. I'd felt the energy of the first two and assumed they would all be the same type or level or whatever. Next time I'd feel the entire group.
Denny joined us, and I looked at him, all business as I asked, "Any leads on finding whoever brought these things here? I need to know what they did to bring them, and I need to know if they have any control over the one who got away. Do you have any idea how bad things can get if this one can run around and wreak chaos on things with no one controlling him?"
"Sorry, Kirsten," Denny said, his tone also professional — a cop talking to a civilian. I didn't take it personal, though, as he'd used the same tone with Aaron.
"We didn't know anything at all until explosions and fires started," Denny continued as he looked around, and back to us. "I saw someone else fighting them. Where did he go? Is he with your group?"
"He isn't with us," Aaron said, "but we know who he is and it's good he was here to help. He likely won't show himself, and it's probably best if you aren't introduced to him."
Denny looked pissed, and it was obvious he wasn't happy having people around he felt he couldn't control.
I wondered why Abbott was here, and how he'd known to come. He's too well known in the community to be seen fighting supernatural shit — he and Denny probably make it to some of the same political social gatherings.
I was assuming Abbott was still around and just staying in the background so Denny wouldn't recognize him.
I was zapped and close to collapse, but I ignored the warning signs and took the half dozen steps to Aaron.
Luckily, Aaron saw my legs giving out and pulled me to him before I fell. With my head against Aaron's chest, I spoke soft enough Denny wouldn't hear. "Did you see the shield the one who got away put up? It zapped my laser and drained me, which is why I only managed to kill one of them — the second one zapped my power. I think he even managed to get a boost by the energy meant to kill him. What the hell?"
Aaron pushed energy into me as I talked. Slower this time, so while it hurt, I could stand it without letting those around me know I was in pain.
"Yes, I saw it," he told me, his mouth at my ear. "I need to do some research to be sure, but I believe they've sent an upper echelon jerkoff in, probably in response to all of the ones you've killed."
I turned in his arms, faced the other men, and looked at the chief.
"Denny, can you check tonight's nine-one-one calls to see if anyone in the vicinity of the first explosions reported a disturbance, or maybe a party with too many cars parked somewhere? If you'll take us back to our car then the rest of us are going to go get something to eat while I try to replenish what that asshole drained out of me. We'll eat in Fort O, so we won't be far."
Aaron's energy was only going to help so much tonight. I needed food — physical energy as well as the metaphysical kind.
I turned to take the final dozen steps toward the squad car and almost collapsed despite the energy Aaron put into me. Nathan caught me before I hit the ground, and handed me off to Aaron who carried me to the car like a baby. It'd been years since I'd been zapped so bad I had to be carried, so of course it had to happen when Abbott was probably watching. Shit.
Nathan drove, and Aaron and I sat in the back seat. Trading energy in a moving car isn't easy, but we'd gotten decent at it, and it was easier when I could relax and accept it properly.
Aaron sat on the back seat with his legs spread and sat me between his legs with my back to his front. I felt him relaxing his shields and I did the same, so the energy flowed from each of his chakras into mine. Within a few minutes we were basically sitting inside of one aura, and it doesn't get much more intimate than that. I relaxed in his arms and basked in the warmth, trusting I was safe for the moment, at least.
I startled when the engine turned off, and looked around to see we were in the Waffle House parking lot.
Aaron and I both worked together to turn us back into two separate auras without trauma. It isn't especially hard, but you don't want to do it too abruptly, either. We took a few minutes to pull away, and then got out of either side of the car and walked to the restaurant.
I wouldn't be able to hang out in the woods and make it my energy, which meant I was vibrating at a different frequency. It feels a bit like having the flu, as if I'm not really myself, but at least I could walk across the parking lot.
I'm a vegetarian, so finding a place to eat in the middle of the night in a small town wasn't easy, but we'd long ago learned we could all get something good here.
Thankfully, there were only two other tables filled with people, so when we walked to the far end of the building to sit, we were a good distance from the other patrons.
I was starving, and ordered not only eggs and hash browns, but also a waffle. Abbott met us there and ordered a coffee, which he again held and brought to his lips a few times. I sat between Aaron and Nathan, and Panda and Abbott sat across from us. I had the feeling Abbott had seen what Aaron and I had done to replenish my energy, but I figured it was best he realized up front how close Aaron and I are. I couldn't tell if I saw jealousy, or if he was just unsure of his place, but he was undoubtedly upset about something.
I took the bull by the horns and demanded to know how Abbott had ended up uninvited to a fight.
"I saw the explosions from my living room window and realized what they were," he told me, his voice imperious and distant.
"Where's your car?"
He glanced at Aaron and then looked back to me. "I flew."
I thought about that a minute and decided not to comment on the flight part, but to stick to my questions on why he'd come. From his spot on the mountain he likely could have seen the explosions, or at least the smoke. I finally asked, "Could you tell it was demonic fire? Or did you just assume it probably was since it was in the battlefield?"
He said it was the latter, and then he tore into Aaron about bringing me into the face of danger. I was shocked. He was really angry, his voice full of venom as he ranted with his voice low enough to keep the employees from hearing.
"You were so all-fired worried about her the other night you were prepared to start a species war, and tonight you drag her into a fight with demon-kind? She's a mere human, a fragile mortal, and she has no business facing this kind of danger."
Aaron knew how I would feel about this kind of talk, and I'm sure it's why he let Abbott keep talking. I heated my hand and reached out to rest it on Abbott's arm. I'm not sure exactly how, but I can make my hand feel as hot as an iron to other people, but the heat doesn't hurt me. Supernatural beings have very fast reflexes and they heal quickly, so they aren't damaged when I touch them, but it does get their attention.
Abbott's reflexes kicked in and he was immediately on the other side of the restaurant. I didn't even see him move.
He glared at me as he walked back to us, but I was certain no one in the restaurant noticed. It was so fast, it was as if he disappeared and reappeared.
Actually, I wasn't sure if he'd moved quickly or had actually disappeared and reappeared.
He was obviously angry, and he bit out the words, "What was the purpose of that?"
I didn't let his anger affect me, and answered, "To make the point that I'm perfectly capable of holding my own in a fight. Aaron brought me in tonight because this is what I'm good at. We've fought hundreds of things from that plane of existence and I'm still standing before you, scaring the crap out of you. I have the ability to kill these things, not just injure them.
So, put a lid on the male chauvinist crap and let us figure out what happened in case we run into the shielding bastard with the ability to zap my laser again."
We were all speaking very, very low. I could talk below the level of human hearing, and they aimed their words my direction and kept it low, so I was using a combination of hearing and lip reading. But, I was sure the Waffle House employees and other customers weren't hearing us.
"Actually, Kirsten," Aaron told me. "Abbott was speaking more to your status as human, rather than your gender, and if the demon we encountered is who I think he may be, then I am going to need to keep you away from him. I'll pull people together who can send him back, but I don't want you trying to kill him."
I shook my head. No way was I stepping down. "If we send him back he'll just return again, and where will that leave us? No, I need to take this guy out. I have other tricks," I reminded him. "I won't give him a chance to zap my laser again." I thought a second and asked, "What are the odds this dude is in on the disappearing women?"
We'd kept most of my abilities secret because, since I'm human and I'm usually up against beings that aren't, I need every element of surprise I can muster. I generally only use my other skills when no one is around who'll live to tell about what I can do. This way, when I'm attacked out of the blue, the attackers only think I have the laser thing, so they try to restrict my hands. They don't know I have what amounts to a thought weapon, and it doesn't matter that my hands are tied behind my back.
Aaron's phone rang — Denny had a possible line on where the humans were who had called these things. We got in the car, minus Abbott, who I guessed was going to fly again.
The food had helped and I was no longer in danger of collapse. Aaron and I sat in the back again, but this time we only held hands, with power trickling slowly from Aaron's right hand into my left — palm to palm.
Denny was a few miles away in his unmarked car that looked like an unmarked police car, completely defeating whatever purpose the lack of identification was supposed to provide. We followed him to the house, and when I got out of the car I had to stop a few seconds to brace myself. I could feel the hurt and chaos coming from the house, and I knew it would only get worse when we went in. This didn't mean these were our bad guys, but it meant they were somebody's bad guys.
I looked at Aaron to see if he felt it, and I knew he could without asking. His face was drawn, his body turned sideways to the house, protecting his chakras from the hatred and violence emanating from the small run-down house.
Aaron looked at Denny, his face grim. "You should let us handle this one. Drive one street north and sit in your car with your gun and salt out.
Do not unlock your doors until you see us again, and should an unknown person threaten you, don't try to be a hero, just drive away and don't look back." He turned his head and added, "Panda, you're with us this time, let's go in the back."
The house was tiny, and likely built in the fifties or earlier. We walked around it and into the backyard, easy enough with the gate standing wide open. Aaron didn't even slow down at the back door, he kicked as we approached and it disintegrated into small pieces. Abbott had been waiting for us in the back yard and he went in with us.
There were six men in the kitchen, and we had them all subdued in less than about ten seconds. I didn't do a thing, and let the guys handle this one. Sometimes I don't argue with the fact that I'm a girl and a human, and I'm weaker than they are. I insist they let me do what I'm good at, and to be fair that means I stand back and let them do what they're good at.
Once the men were subdued I asked, "Who's in charge?"
None of them answered.
Without looking around to find him I calmly said, "Nathan?"
Nathan stepped forward and partially changed. He's a beautiful man and a beautiful lion, but he has this half and half thing that's creepy-scary.
Still beautiful in its own way, but it would also fit well into any horror movie and scare the crap out of audiences everywhere. His face has both human and feline characteristics, but they're horribly warped into the same face. He stands on legs with feline muscles and human joints. He can choose to have either hands or claws, and right now he had claws. He was completely furred, with his lion's mane around his face and a long tail with a poof on the end, swishing in irritation behind him. His clothes shredded when he changed, so he was nude, with a pile of rags on the floor at his feet.
Two of the men pointed to the man who'd been leaning against the counter when we came in, wordlessly telling us he was in charge. Progress.
I decided not to ask if they'd been calling demons and just assume they had.
I looked at the leader and asked, "Do you have control over the beings you called?"
"If'n I'd a had control, d'ya think I'd a let 'em make a ruckus?"
"Maybe. Isn't that the purpose of bringing demons here? To create a mess? Lots of chaos? All of them have been sent back except one, I need you to call him here."
"No."
"No? Do you want to rethink that?"
Nathan stepped forward and reached for him, and while the idiot redneck shied away physically, he still refused to call the demon back. He was more afraid of the demon than he was Nathan. This didn't bode well.
Abbott stepped up and vamped out. He went all translucent and, well, evil looking. His fangs grew really long, his eyes somehow changed and sank into his face and grew darker, and I could see networks of veins through his skin. Even I was a little scared.
Our demon caller looked from Nathan to Abbott and changed his mind, agreeing to call the demon.
Abbott saw me looking at him, and he held my gaze without changing his face back to his human look. I wasn't sure how he could speak with those long fangs, but he did. "This, too, is who I am. Thank you for not shying away."
His voice was guttural, inhuman, but I reminded myself it was still Abbott. I nodded, and then looked around the room, noting the men Abbott had used his gaze on were all subdued, sitting as if in a stupor.
"We'll wipe their memory," he told me. "They won't remember Nathan or I looking anything other than human."
"Sure," I said with a small shake of my head. I wasn't used to the option of wiping people's memory, and didn't especially like the idea of supernaturals with that particular power. I was thankful I seemed to be immune, and promised myself I'd work with Lauren until she would also be impervious to having her mind fucked with.
Panda remained upstairs with the mostly catatonic men while the rest of us went to the basement with the ringleader. He had a circle already mostly formed, and he lit some candles and did some stuff with what I assumed were herbs. I had no idea how this worked, though I knew Aaron would call foul if something didn't look right.
I had to work to keep from running upstairs and out of the house as the ringleader chanted what I assumed was Latin and his voice assaulted the portion of my aura outside my shields. The room vibrated with evil before he started, but his words added to the sense of terror and dread, even though I couldn't understand them.
When he finished, Aaron said, "Since the demon is already in our realm, this won't pull him into the circle but towards it. It'll draw him back to the house physically, probably on foot. We should go back upstairs to wait."
Before we'd all made it back up, I heard fighting noises.
The demon came through the already shattered back door as we topped the steps, and Aaron practically flew across the room and engaged him in a fight. I pulled as much energy into me as I could and focused it to the inside of the demon's head. It takes me about two seconds to put enough heat in to make someone's head explode, but the demon figured it out at one second and managed a split-second of eye contact with me as he vaporized.
He'd gone back home before I could kill him, and now he knew I could explode heads.
Not good.
I looked at Aaron, and he didn't look happy either, but said, "What's done is done. We'll deal with it."
Everyone looked at me, apparently realizing I was the reason he'd vaporized, but I wasn't up for much conversation. "I want to go home now," I told the room in general, then looked at Aaron. "If you can find out the demon's name, that'd be great."
I walked out the front door, sat on the front steps, and saw Denny drive up a few minutes later. He saw me and pulled to the side of the road to park. He must've been slowly circling the block. So much for hoping he'd follow instructions.
I stood and walked towards him, and heard the doors click as he unlocked them. I accepted the invitation, sank into the passenger seat, and softly closed the door. I knew the guys inside would still hear, but I wanted them to do whatever they needed in order to finish up without coming to check on me.
"Everything okay, Kirsten?" Denny asked.
I didn't look at him, just stared out the front window. "I don't know anymore, Eddie. Sometimes it seems that for every bad thing we take out, three more take its place."
"You haven't called me Eddie in more than a decade."
I felt my eyes slowly close, and I forced them open but kept looking forward, "Shit, and I didn't even realize I did. Sorry 'bout that. It's been a long night."
The weight of his hand rested on my leg, the heat soaking through my jeans. "No need to apologize, I miss hearing it coming from your mouth.
We were so close, and we had something special. I'm sorry I messed it up."
I was so tired, I couldn't even be angry with him. Just tired and sad. I shifted in the seat and he pulled his hand back.
I glanced at him before turning my head to look forward again, my eyes unfocused as they looked out the windshield. "I used to hate you, but you know what? Your fourth wife just left you, and now I consider it a favor that you lied and cheated in such a fabulously hurtful and embarrassing fashion, because it means at least I didn't make the mistake of marrying you. You're an asshole, but when your work day is over you're a lonely, sad, asshole, and all I can muster for you now is pity. I hope you're happy with your career, because you'll likely have a hard time finding someone willing to be your fifth wife."
Okay, that was probably more than enough personal venom. I was better than this — being tired, sad, and disheartened didn't give me license to be mean. I sighed and added, "I appreciate you calling Aaron when there's something you know your department isn't equipped to handle, and I'll continue to be professional around you so we can work together, but that's as far as things are ever going to go."
I'd said it all in a tired, monotone voice. No anger, no emotion. Just fact. He responded in a way I hadn't expected — honest curiosity with no shades of anger.
"Why am I an asshole? What can I do to stop chasing the women I love away from me?"
I thought carefully before giving him the flippant "stop being a lying and cheating bastard" comment on the tip of my tongue. I didn't owe him anything, and I also didn't know what had happened with wives three or four, but he'd asked nice so I decided to give him an answer. It should be obvious, but if he didn't know then maybe someone should point it out to him.
"You're only worried about yourself, your career. You're more concerned about what the general public — strangers — think of you than you are about the people who love you. You put your image and reputation above the feelings of those around you, and you're willing to sacrifice friends and family in order to increase your political clout."
I paused, realized he wasn't understanding, and tried again. "You're supposed to put the feelings of the people you love you first, above everything else. However, your career and your political image are the most important thing in your life, which is why those are the only things you have left. I don't think a personal relationship will ever be more important than your career, or more important than what people think of you."
This, of course, wasn't his only shortcoming, so I added, "I'm also not sure you'll ever be able to keep your cock in your pants, and there are just too many opportunities for people to want to ride your power in whatever way they can, and you're all too ready to let them try."
The old hurt came back, and almost as an afterthought, I added, "When you hurt your girlfriend in order to further your career, there really isn't any way to recover from it. Once trust is broken in such a cruel and public way, you can't get it back."
He'd hurt me bad, not just by cheating on me, but by making me look bad so he could look good. He'd made promises he didn't keep, and I'd altered my life in order to be with him because of those promises. It'd been a train wreck, and it had taken me a long time to stop hating him.
My guys were coming out of the house now, so I got out of Denny's car without saying goodbye. Aaron raised an eyebrow at me, but I averted my gaze and slogged back to his car, waited for the doors to unlock, and then climbed into the passenger seat. Aaron spoke with Denny a few minutes and then we were off. I was tired enough that if Nathan and Panda hadn't been in the back seat, I'd have sat back there so I could lay down and sleep on the way home.
Aaron touched my arm once we were under way, and said, "Abbott wanted to talk to you tonight but I told him you'd need to go home and get as much sleep as possible since you'd have to wake at six tomorrow morning to get ready for your day."
"Yeah, by the time you get me home I should have time for around four hours of sleep. I can survive on that okay, but not three. Should I give him a call to tell him myself?"
"Totally up to you."
"Great. I'll just see him tomorrow night."