Luck of the Devil (14 page)

Chapter Sixteen

“This is bad.” Hope looked down at the pictures scattered on my bed. “Really, really bad.”

“What’s bad?” Tolliver asked, stumbling into my bedroom with Lisa at his side, both of them rubbing their eyes.

I looked between the two of them. What was Tolliver doing in Lisa’s room? And why was he wearing a pair of blue pajama pants with rubber duckies on them? “What are you doing here?”

He yawned. “Discovering the cure for cancer, obviously. What do you do at four in the morning? Sleep?”

“Shut up.” Hope pointed to the bed. “We’ve got a sicko.”

“She is not.” Tolliver looked at the picture of Matt kissing me and smirked. “She’s just a little desperate for attention right now.”

He cocked his head to the right and sniffed loudly, then peered at the picture, back up at me, and sniffed again. “Neighbor boy’s from angelic stock, huh? Kinky.”

“How did you know Matt was a nephilim?” I said.

“Well, you’re kissing him in this picture and you smell like a mixture of sunshine and cookies, which mean you’ve been shagging a member of the Heavenly Order. And I assume you can’t manage two men in one night. Why? Was I wrong?”

“No, you’re not wrong. Wait a second! What do you mean I can’t manage two men in one night?”

“Children,” Hope said irritably, and motioned toward the pictures. “Could we focus more on our guest? Faith, do you have any idea who could have put these here?”

“No, but they’re exactly like the ones from the hospital.”

“What pictures from the hospital?” Hope asked, her voice sharp.

I got the other envelope out of my top drawer and handed it to her. She flipped through the pictures silently and handed them to Tolliver.

“Damn,” he whistled.

“What?” Lisa asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Apparently Faith’s got a fan. And not in that nice
Bakes You Cookies
sort of way. More of the nasty
Kills a Bunny and Leaves it on Your Front Step
type.”

“So what do we do?” I asked.

“We tell Dad,” Tolliver said, and threw the pictures he was holding on the bed with the others.

“We do not,” Hope said. “He is the last person we want involved in this mess. We handle it ourselves.”

“Hope, I know you’re mad. But Faith’s got a demon hunter after her. Not some run-of-the-mill human stalker. A demon hunter. These guys are badass, and we need Dad.”

“No we don’t. He’ll lock Faith up in Purgatory until this asshole is caught. Which might never happen.”

“Great, thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said, glaring at her.

Tolliver ignored me and stepped between the two of us. “So what do you suggest we do? Wait for this hunter to banish her?”

“No, we sit tight and figure out who or what is messing with our baby sister. Then we catch him, kick his ass, and once we’ve had our fill, we hand him over to Dad.”

“I still think we should involve Dad now,” Tolliver said.

“I agree with Hope,” I said. “We’re immortals. Evil immortals. Satan’s spawn. Surely one sick freak can’t be that much trouble. Besides, there’s four of us and one of him.”

“Five of us,” Lisa corrected. “I think Mr. Cookies-and-Sunshine is going to want to throw a few punches as well.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Tolliver said.

“It’s a bloody brilliant idea,” Hope corrected.

“What?” Certainly, bringing Matt into this little game of Find the Demon Hunter was
not
a good idea.

“Matt’s an Angale. He would know which one of them was off their rocker enough to stop talking and start doing. And he’ll know what the freak looks like,” Lisa said.

“He could lure him somewhere so we can handle the situation.” Tolliver smiled and his tail descended, waving back and forth like a particularly evil cat’s. He hugged Lisa’s shoulders as his horns sprouted through his curls. “And we’ll feast on angel flesh, my lovely.”

“Um, Tolly?” Lisa said, giving him a nervous glance. “Bring it back down to eleven; you’re starting to channel a B movie.”

“What?” He looked down and shifted slightly, bringing his body back under his own command. “Sorry, I’ve got limited impulse control when it comes to that.”

“Uh-huh,” I said dryly. “The rest of us manage.”

“It’s the thought of angel flesh. It just makes my mouth water.”

“Tolly.” Lisa wrinkled her nose. “Could we maybe not discuss this right now?”

“I keep forgetting you’re still sensitive about those sorts of things.”

“Hello, Chef Tolliver?” Hope snapped her fingers at him. “Can we focus on the problem before you start making a port wine reduction as part of the solution?”

Malachi popped into sight. “What’s the problem? And why would he use a port wine reduction on it? I’ve found a nice, light sauce of chanterelles and sherry works much better on most dishes.”

“I’ve got a stalker,” I said and pointed toward the pictures on my bed.

“She’s got a demon hunter,” Tolliver corrected. “One who can apparently phase and is a bit of a voyeur.”

“It happens,” Malachi said, and floated over to the pictures. “Finally managed to hook up with the nephilim next door?”

I threw my hands into the air. “How did everyone else know about him before I did?”

“I didn’t,” Hope said. “I had no idea till you told me.”

“Me either,” Lisa said.

“I didn’t realize it till I got a whiff of
‘Eau de Angel’
on you this evening,” Tolliver said. “And I’m really not sure I’m fond of the idea that you’re playing ball with the other team. Especially if it’s an Angale.”

“So, what are you going to do about it?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said. “Anything I do will make you like him that much more. I’m just going to sit back and watch it all fall apart, and you will see no interference from me.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Any time,” he said.

“I knew from the day he moved in,” Malachi said. “I wanted to see how long it would take the rest of you to catch up. You’re incredibly incompetent about those sorts of things. Especially for the Master’s children.”

“I can’t believe you just knew. How?” I asked.

“It wasn’t hard. I floated through him once and knew everything about him.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “So why didn’t you tell me?”

“You didn’t ask. Anyway, back to the demon hunter. It looks like he followed you on your date. Is that Paris? Nice way to pull out the stops and dazzle him with the
Satan Spawn
bit. I’m impressed.”

“Yes, and apparently he’s been stalking her at the hospital, too,” Lisa said. “He has pictures of me murdering Harold.”

“Let me see,” Malachi said.

Hope pointed to the stack of photos on the bed, yawning.

“Hmm, definitely taken straight-on. So it couldn’t have been some human with a paparazzi lens from the street. You don’t have any buildings across that look into Harold’s office, do you?”

“No, the building across from us doesn’t have anyone on Harold’s floor. Plus, the stalker would be shooting through two layers of tinted glass. Surely that would distort the photos, right?”

“Maybe, but I don’t think it was someone across the street, either. My guess, given the phasing tonight, is that you have some sort of immortal tracking you. Most likely a nephilim either working with a demon, or one who’s stolen a demon’s powers and is harnessing them for personal gain.”

“I told you there was something creepy going on,” Harold said, floating out of my closet dressed in his standard work uniform. “Nobody believes Handsy Harold. I’m just the man who clawed my way to the top of the pile to become the head surgeon in one of the most prestigious pediatric surgery centers in the world. But no, no. Harold is an idiot. Harold doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Turns out Harold was right, and you’ve got a crazy stalker.”

“Okay.” I nodded at him apologetically. “You were right. I’ve got a stalker. And apparently he’s a bad one.”

“I tried to tell you,” he said, preening slightly. “I mean, I didn’t know how bad he actually was, but I knew he wasn’t right in the head. But you didn’t listen.”

Would he just let it go already? “You’re right. I should have listened to you about the stalker.”

“Eh, as long as you’ve learned the error of your ways.”

“Harold,” Tolliver said suddenly. “You said that you saw this creepy guy. Can you describe him?”

“Of course. I even have pictures. Or had pictures. They were in my cell phone. Which is now in a million little pieces since you threw my body in the dumpster instead of giving it a proper burial.”

“Crap.” I ran my hand through my hair, then tugged on the ends. “You said you can describe him, though?”

“Of course I can. I’m very observant. It’s what makes me such a good doctor. But you wouldn’t know that now, being that the dead aren’t allowed to practice medicine. Even in the free clinics. Which is totally ridiculous, if you ask me. They’re terminally short-staffed and they don’t want a ghost to diagnose people? Prejudiced. The whole lot of them. Great bunch of Alivists.”

“Alivists?” Hope asked.

“People who are still living,” Harold said with a sniff. “Somehow they think they’re better than me because they still have a corporeal body. Hence, Alivists.”

“Harold.” I hoped he’d get back on subject because I really didn’t want to think about the fact he was currently haunting the city’s free clinics. Once this was all over, we were really going to have to see about getting his paperwork fast-tracked. “The guy? What did he look like?”

“Oh, five-ten, maybe one hundred and sixty pounds, wiry, brown hair. Cheap clothes. He stank like that stuff they always use in churches during Christmas.”

“Frankincense?” Tolliver asked. “That’s weird.”

“No,” Harold said. “What’s weird is, he’s been sort of yellow every time I see him. Sort of like a weasel that swallowed a flashlight.”

“He glows?” I asked. “Are you sure?”

“Like a Christmas tree.”

“What’s that mean?” Lisa asked. “Why does it matter if he glows?”

“That means he’s a part of the Heavenly Order,” I said. Not good. So not good.

“The what?”

“The Heavenly Order,” I repeated. “The good-guy side of the equation.”

“Oh, that’s bad, isn’t it? So what are we going to do?”

“If it’s a member of the Heavenly Host, our best bet is to sit still,” Tolliver said. “They’ll get desperate to nab Faith and make a stupid move. Once that happens, we’ve got them.”

“He’s right.” Malachi bounced, which I guessed was his version of a nod in agreement. “Our best bet is to stay here and keep tabs on Faith.”

“So I’m a prisoner in my own apartment?”

“No,” Tolliver said. “Don’t go anywhere alone. Always have one of us with you.”

“Like I said, I’m a prisoner.”

“Basically, yes.”

“And we need to meet with Matt and find out if he knows anyone who might go rogue,” Hope said.

“That’s a good idea,” Malachi said. “Right now, let me do a little digging and see what I can find out about things. Hope, I want you to rack your brain and try to think about anyone that Faith or the rest of you may have crossed at some point. Faith, you need to invite Angel Boy out for drinks so we can discuss this little matter. Tolliver?”

“Huh?”

“Later this morning, call your father and bring him up to speed on this whole business.”

“No.” I pointed at my dread demon. “No Dad.”

“Why not?” Malachi faced me, waves of disapproval pouring off his form.

“Because he’ll put me in Purgatory until it’s handled. And I hate Purgatory.”

“I really think you’re making a mistake,” Tolliver said.

“No Dad. Besides, we have three demons, a ghost, a former member of the Angale, and the two kick-ass daughters of Satan on our side. Surely we can take one nosy little stalker on. Can’t we?”

“Probably,” Malachi said, and sighed heavily. “But your father’s not going to like it.”

“And?”

“Nothing. Just that your father isn’t going to like it.”

“My father doesn’t like a lot of things anymore. That’s what he gets for leaving his kingdom to live here.”

“Now what?” Malachi said.

Tolliver grabbed Lisa’s waist. “Go back to bed.”

“That’s a good idea,” Hope said, walking out of my bedroom and back into the living room.

“Is she staying here?” Tolliver whispered and motioned with his thumb to the couch.

“Yeah, I told her it was okay.”

“But why?” Lisa asked. “She’s got her own place upstairs.”

“Apparently, Boris is driving her insane praying and she needs to hide for a bit.”

“Well, it’s good to see he’s reverting back to his old ways.” Tolliver laid his head on Lisa’s shoulder, yawning. “Let’s go back to bed.”

“His old ways?” Lisa asked.

“Boris was an incubus,” I said.

“Incubi have this special gift,” Tolliver said. “They irritate anyone who isn’t attracted to them. It helps them hunt prey by getting rid of the men in an area so they have their pick of the women.”

Lisa’s eyes darkened. “Is that why some of the nurses at work have gotten so nasty toward me lately?”

“A little bit,” I said. “But it’s not as bad for succubi because there usually isn’t a limited supply of men to hunt from. Men, traditionally, fall much easier than women do, and until very recently, we’ve always seen fewer women than men. So it was harder for incubi to hunt without first clearing the area.”

“Okay. But if Boris was back to his old tricks, wouldn’t Hope be sleeping up there and not down here?”

“No, because Boris can’t enthrall Hope as an incubus. Like your unholy sexual powers have no pull over me or Faith, my sweet.” Tolliver snuggled her closer. He kissed the side of her head, closing his eyes and inhaling as if her very essence sustained him.

I tried not to gape, but it was so obvious—Tolliver was in love with Lisa. That’s why he changed her. If it were just attraction or the need for power, like I’d first suspected, he wouldn’t be nearly so affectionate. Tolliver toyed with, and tortured, the things that intrigued him. The only people who found him tolerable were those he actually adored. Which wasn’t many of us. And personally, I always suspected he was only decent to me and Hope because of Dad’s threats.