“So?”
“She might get a tad angry.”
I grinned. “I handle ‘tad angry’ with ease, vamp boy.”
He didn’t say anything, just looked at me, and my grin slowly faded. “Look, let’s just do this, before someone else dies.”
He took a moment to nod, then glanced at the house again. “Rhoan has this house tapped?”
“Yes.” I didn’t mention he couldn’t actually hear a whole lot. I had a feeling if I did, Quinn wouldn’t be going anywhere.
“Has he infrared of the rooms?”
“Not yet,” Rhoan said into my ear. “Maybe in an hour or so, once Jack’s team finishes hacking their security.”
I repeated his words, and Quinn nodded. “Somewhere in that house, probably at a subterranean level, there will be some sort of tunnel leading into a deep chamber. We need to find it.”
“Why?”
“Because that is where his power rests. That is where he sacrifices and feeds. To destroy him, we must first destroy the altar.”
“I’d imagine that would piss him off more than a little bit.”
“Yes, it will.” There was something in his eyes—a darkness that was part memory, part ferocity—that sent a shiver down my spine. “And that is when you will understand the true meaning of the god of darkness.”
“A lesson I have no desire to undertake.”
“A wise decision.”
That was me—wise all the way.
Not
.
“You got a car nearby?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll follow you to Jin’s, if you like.”
He nodded and pressed a hand to my back, gently guiding me toward the rear of the yard. Warmth shivered across my skin, and moon-spun desires sprung to fierce life. “I don’t suppose—”
“No,” he said, “not here. Not now.”
I scowled at him. “You’re just no fun.”
“If the moon heat is so bad, you should not be here.”
Yeah, well, there was that. “It’s just an itch that needs to be scratched. Nothing urgent.” Not yet.
He didn’t say anything, but then, he didn’t need to. He might not be able to actually smell my desire, but he was a vampire
and
an empath. He’d feel the heat of it in my emotions. Would hear the elevated rate of my heart.
I headed back to my car then followed his—a divine black Porsche Coupe—across to Jin’s. I couldn’t get parking anywhere close and was forced to park in the next street then lope back. Quinn, lucky bastard that he was, somehow managed to grab a prime parking spot five doors down from Jin’s.
My gaze went to his house, and a tremor ran down my spine. There was something almost watchful about its facade.
Something sinister.
I rubbed my arms and glanced at Quinn. “Doesn’t look as if there’s anyone inside.”
His gaze was on the building. “There’s nothing visible on infrared, but that doesn’t mean the place is empty.”
I raised an eyebrow. “It doesn’t?”
“Demons don’t show up on infrared.”
“That’s a comforting thought.” I paused. “So how do I combat a demon?”
“Demons can be killed when they materialize.” He walked to the trunk of his car and opened it up. “All you need to do is chop off their head.”
“Which will be positively easy, no doubt.”
It was dryly said, and he smiled. “About as easy as chopping off a vamp’s head.”
I waved a hand. “A walk in the park, then.”
“Yeah.” He handed me a long silver knife, waited until I’d strapped it on, then gave me two bottles of water and a box of salt.
“What am I supposed to do with these?” I asked, a little bemusedly.
“Holy water and salt are both weapons and purifiers.” He slammed the trunk lid shut. “They can either keep the demon off you long enough to use the knife, or contain the circle so that it cannot be used for summoning again.”
“We’re not going to destroy it?”
He shook his head. “By making it unusable we force her to make a second, and therefore drain her of a little more power. We need every advantage we can get.”
“Can I just point out it’s two against one?”
“No, it’s two against five. She will call the others if attacked and they can respond quicker than you could ever imagine.”
He touched my back again, sending little shivers of delight lapping across my skin as he guided me toward the house. “How? They’re in human form, and therefore restrained by human limitations.”
“They can shed their human forms if they wish. It just means they have to find new bodies to take over.”
“And would that be easy?”
He glanced at me, obsidian eyes giving little away. “No human can withstand them.”
“In which case, there’d be no need for a willing victim acquiescing to evil, then, would there? They could just take whatever they wanted.”
“There is a difference between feeding to maintain existence and taking over the body. In the first instance, one
has
to be willing; in the second, one does not.”
“Could a nonhuman resist them?”
“Not if we’re talking about a usurping of body ownership.”
A tremor ran through me. I hadn’t really wanted an answer to
that
particular question. Not when I probably had to face the bastards sooner rather than later.
I opened the gate and ran up the steps to the front door. It was locked, naturally, and a quick hunt around the nearby potted shrubbery didn’t produce any handily hidden key. “Don’t suppose you were a cat burglar in one of your bad periods, were you?”
“I’m a vampire, remember?”
“Oh yeah.” Thresholds and all that. “Oh well.”
I hit the door hard, in the sweet spot just above the lock, and it sprung open. Quinn raised his eyebrows. “That’s a neat little trick.”
“Courtesy of an apartment where the locks never work and the landlord refuses to replace them. It’s the same sort of lock.” I opened the salt and one of the bottles and held them at the ready. And felt stupid doing it.
I mean, water and salt had never been on my must-grab list when it came to weapons. When it came to unconventional weapons, give me a wooden spiked heel any day.
I took a long look at the shadow-bound hallway, then glanced at Quinn. “What am I looking for?”
“A cellar or room below ground level.”
“Why below ground level?”
“Earth acts as a barrier to those sensitive to magic.”
“The same way as it acts as a barrier to infrared?”
He nodded. “The door will probably be locked. Make sure it hasn’t got any symbols carved or drawn onto it before you touch it.”
“Symbols are bad?”
“They could be
very
bad.” He touched my cheek, his fingers so warm against my skin. “Be careful in there.”
“I will.” I leaned forward and kissed him—just a brush of lips, a promise of heat, but even so, it had my hormones dancing with glee. I pulled back before the temptation to taste him more fully became too much, and stepped over the threshold.
The silence of the house descended like a blanket, and there was something almost surreal about it. It wasn’t just the silence of a house without people. It was too watchful, too
tense,
for that.
Goose bumps ran across my skin. I gripped the salt box a little tighter and opened the telepathic link between us.
Heat swirled through my mind, desire as thick as anything I was feeling.
My, my, my,
I said, with a mental grin.
The vampire hungers for more than just blood, I think.
I’m standing three feet away from a bitch in heat.
His mental tones were dry.
Is it any wonder I’m feeling a little horny myself?
Well, the bitch did offer a little relief.
Not when we’re working.
I sighed dramatically.
You are such an old man.
I prefer to call it cautious. And you and I can sometimes get loud.
Yeah, but isn’t it fun?
Not when we’re breaking into a suspect’s house, it’s not.
I smiled, and took several steps into the hall. A clock ticked silently in the room to my right, and the still air was cold. Almost abnormally so. Amusement fled, and I licked my lips.
I suppose the kitchen is the most likely place for a cellar door?
Generally.
I hadn’t noticed one when I’d been here earlier, but then, I’d been more worried about getting some sustenance into my body before I passed out with fatigue. I padded down the hallway, my footsteps echoing lightly across the silence, every sense alert for the slightest twitch or abnormality. Nothing had changed, nothing had moved, since I was last here. Dust still layered the phone table, bills still covered the corkboard near the kitchen door, and plates bearing the remains of chocolate cake still littered the sink.
The only thing that was different was the atmosphere. The odd feeling that I was not alone in the house, despite the fact I couldn’t scent or see anyone.
I stopped near the kitchen table and had a look around. There was a half-glass door to my left, through which I could see the backyard. Beyond that, the only other doorway was the pantry.
Open it.
The pantry?
Yes.
I’ve seen it open. It’s a real pantry.
His frustration swirled through me.
Can you just do something I ask without arguing about it?
Don’t think it’s possible.
I grinned as I walked across the kitchen. The pantry door squeaked as I opened it, and the sound crawled across my nerves.
I see shelves covered with tins and stuff.
All of them?
My gaze slid down.
There’s three spare shelves on the right.
Squat down.
I obeyed.
And?
Is there a button or lever on or under any of the shelves?
I shifted slightly, moving closer to the shelves. Dust stirred, catching my nose and making me sneeze. The force of the sneeze stirred several sheets of loose paper sitting on one of the half-empty back shelves, revealing a small dark handle.
Found something.
No odd symbols on or around it?
A couple of dead bugs and some sheets of paper containing recipes is about as odd as we get.
Use the lever, then. But be careful.
Tension crawled through my limbs. I rolled my shoulders, then placed the bottles of holy water in front of me and grabbed the handle. It didn’t take much strength to move the lever down, and as I did, there was a harsh grating sound. The three shelves slid aside to reveal the darkness of a tunnel.
I peered inside. The tunnel was big enough to crawl into on all fours and shored up with wood, but the smell of dirt and mustiness hung heavily in the air. It was also long, dark, and scary-looking. I switched to infrared, but it didn’t help any. The tunnel curled to the left as it headed downward, and while infrared could see past walls, it couldn’t pierce earth.
What do you smell?
The sudden question made me jump a little.
Dampness.
I hesitated, sorting through the more tenuous scents coming up from the tunnel.
Blood. Sulfur.
Sulfur is demon scent. How strong is it?
Not very.
If it’s an old scent, it’s probably from past summonings.
He hesitated.
Still, proceed with caution, and keep the salt and water handy.
Just what the hell am I supposed to do with them?
Holy water burns when it hits them. The salt can act as a barrier they can’t cross if you use it to create a circle around yourself.
If I have time.
If you have the time.
I blew out a breath, grabbed the bottles of holy water, doing up the loose top so it didn’t spill before climbing into the tunnel.
Though there was plenty of room, progress was slow. Between tasting the air, sliding the water ahead of me, and trying to see where the tunnel was actually going, speed wasn’t going to happen.
The gentle slope curved around to the left, then right, and the smell of dampness, blood, and sulfur increased. And with it came something else. Muskiness.
Animal
muskiness.
Something else was down here. I stopped, drawing in a deep breath, trying to place the aroma. It was sharp and distinct, and felt old in a way I couldn’t even begin to explain. And it wasn’t anything I’d ever come across.
There’s something here.
What?
I don’t know. It smells animal, but different, if that makes sense.
Could be any manner of demon.