“What happened?” Geoffrey frowned. “Did someone hurt you?”
Their concern warmed Reese. She knew now that she would tell them everything and they would believe her.
“Friday night after I left The Bistro, a man tackled me…”
“Damn, I knew I should have walked you to your car, Reese.” Joe raked his hands down his face.
“It’s okay, Joe. I wasn’t hurt. Dagan protected me.”
“Dagan? I thought his name was Rufus.” Chloe had a twinkle in her eye.
“No, that is Rufus. I just met him Saturday.”
“Why is he here today?” Joe asked.
“Let me start at the beginning.”
Roberta nodded. “That would be best.”
Reese rose from her chair. The others shuffled out of her way so she could pace.
“As I said, I left The Bistro and walked toward my car, when Dagan tackled me. He’s a Time Walker.”
Geoffrey hiked his hip onto the desk. “What’s a Time Walker?”
“Well, I don’t understand all of it yet, but they are able to walk through different centuries hunting Kur and his followers.”
Chloe plopped down on the cluttered sofa. “Who’s Kur?”
“He’s a creature from the Underworld who wants to kill me.”
Suddenly, the others surrounded her.
Joe got in her face. “Kill you?”
Reese patted him on the shoulder. “Calm down. That’s why Rufus is here and Dagan will be back soon.”
“Swell,” Joe mumbled.
“Why would this Kur want to kill you?”
This question came from Roberta.
“Put your thinking caps on, my friends, and let’s see how much you remember about ancient Sumerian mythology.
“It seems I am a descendent of Enki, the water god. When he attempted to create a life form, he didn’t do so well, and Kur is the result of his experiment.”
“But why would this creature want to kill you,” Geoffrey said.
“To make a long story short, Kur discovered he could suck the life force from humans to sustain and enhance his own. So, he hunts us.” She held her hand up when Chloe was going to say something. “My life force has an extra something because I’m a direct descendent of Enki. It draws Kur and he wants it.”
Roberta chuckled. “It is all myth, Reese. Stories being told so some guy can get in your pants.”
“How did you…” She shook her head and straightened her shoulders. “At first I thought he was crazy too, until these shadow creatures attacked us at my house. I watched him fight and kill them.”
Chloe jumped up. “For crying out loud, did you call the police?”
“No.” Reese rubbed her hands over her now chilled arms. “Dagan sealed us in the house for the night. He has these powers and he can put a sort of shield over a small area for a few hours which nothing can penetrate.”
“So you were locked in your house all night with a total stranger and a man no less?”
He’s definitely all man
. Reese thanked the heavens that no one standing around her could read her mind. She also thought better of telling them he belonged to a race of aliens.
“Who the hell is this guy, and where is he?”
Reese thought Joe’s outrage was sweet. “He had to go see his mother.”
“His mother?” Geoffrey laughed. “Is he a wuss?”
Reese covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. “Not exactly.” She walked to the table where Joe had been sitting when she’d arrived and grabbed the edges. The knuckles of her hand turned white.
“What’s wrong?” Roberta’s motherly concern wrapped her up in strong arms.
She squeezed her eyes closed trying not to let the tears fall. “I’m amazed at how you guys are more concerned with the man I spent the weekend with and not the fact that he’s the supposed son of gods and fighting demons to save my life.”
Chloe waved her hand in the air. “We’ll get to that in a minute. You spent the weekend with this guy?”
A short laugh escaped Reese. “Yes, Dagan and I spent the weekend together.”
“And?” Chloe prompted.
“And, I’m not going into all that.” She bit her bottom lip and looked at her friends. “I need your help. Maybe we can find a way to stop Kur.”
“I’m not saying I believe there are creatures from the Underworld about to lay waste to the planet, but the idea is intriguing and it is research into ancient culture so I’ll help,” Geoffrey said. “We’re going to have to know everything about this Kur and the demons that allegedly attacked you.”
Joe rubbed his hands together. “Roberta, how about you order us some lunch?”
“You got it.”
“Give me about ten minutes,” Reese said. “I need to call my dad’s office.”
“Problems?”
“No, Joe.” She smiled at him and wiped a tear away. He knew better than anyone did how rocky things had been with her father since her mother died. “Actually things are looking much better. Dad has agreed to do a client Christmas party.”
“That’s great, Reese.”
“Yes, yes it is. I need to call Tony.”
“Okay, we’ll get ourselves together while you make your call.”
“Thanks.” She rummaged through her purse and dug out her cell phone. It only rang once before the vice president of her father’s company picked it up. “Hey, Tony this is Reese.”
“Hi, kitten. How’s things?”
She laughed. “Things are wonderful. I went to see Dad yesterday and I caught him cleaning out Riley’s closet.”
“What?”
“I know, scary, but it’s true.”
He sighed. “I guess if he’s cleaning out anything, that’s a good sign.”
“I think so too.” She walked to the back of the building to stand by the fire doors. “I spoke to him about a client Christmas party.”
“We haven’t done one since…”
“I know. I got this idea, hoping to get him talking and it worked.”
“Actually, I’ve had several clients ask about it.”
“Well, Dad has agreed to talk to you and Nancy about setting one up this December. I’m sure he’ll be calling in the next day or so.”
“We’ll be ready for it, Reese. This is great news.”
She smiled.
“I’ll be in touch, kitten.”
“Thanks, Tony.”
A huge, goofy smile stayed on her face as she walked back toward the group.
“What’s the grin for?” Geoffrey asked as he came out of the restroom.
“Today’s a good day.” She linked her arm through his and they skipped back in the other room.
Chloe came bebopping up. “What’s this? Can I join in?”
Geoffrey winked. “Reese says it’s a good day. Of course, if I were being chased by demons, I would be more concerned.”
The euphoria evaporated and Reese confronted reality again, albeit a bizarre reality.
Joe held out his hand to Reese. “Come over here and sit down before you fall down. Tell us everything we need to know.”
Reese took his hand and he led her over to the sofa. He brushed all the books and folders and legal-sized notepads to the floor so she could sit down. For the next couple of hours, she told them everything she knew about Kur, time walkers, and the
galla
.
At dusk, Dagan materialized outside Reese’s office, his senses on high alert. Rufus magically appeared out of the darkness.
Night rapidly approached. “What’s she still doing here?”
“Working.”
He glared at the
doghume
. “It’ll be dark soon and that will bring the death seekers.”
Rufus inclined his head. “True, but she won’t budge. They’re working on something she says is very important.”
Dagan glared through the window. Reese was smiling at the man from last night, who sat too close to her. The man lazily put his arm around her shoulders and Dagan immediately threw himself into the room and barreled toward the group.
The loud slam of the door brought the discussions to a halt. Reese looked up to see Dagan steaming straight for her.
“Uh oh,” she murmured.
Dagan roared, “Get your hand off her.”
Joe shot to his feet. “Not you again.”
“Do not touch her—ever.”
Joe marched around the table and stood toe to toe with Dagan, who towered over him by at least six inches.
“If anyone is bothering Reese, she’ll tell them to leave her alone, so you can kiss my ass, Tarzan.”
Dagan moved fast and had Joe pushed up against the wall, his feet dangling a couple of inches off the floor.
“Dagan, put him down,” Reese yelled.
At that moment, Joe planted his fist in Dagan’s face. Blood spewed from his nose.
“Joe!”
Dagan released the man, wiped the blood on the back of his hand and glared hard.
She’d had enough of the testosterone Olympics. Reese picked up the yard stick leaning against the wall, ran up to Dagan and whacked him on the arm. Then she turned and used the thing on Joe.
“Ow,” Joe said.
Dagan frowned at her. “Why the hell did you hit me?”
“Because I’m tired of this crap.” She shot a dirty look at them both. “This is not Monday night wrestling and neither of you is my keeper.”
She thought she heard Dagan say something about her needing a keeper, but she couldn’t hear it well enough to be sure.
Reese noticed Rufus standing by the front door with his hand on the knife he had in a sheath under his jacket. This situation could have gotten ugly. Both Roberta and Chloe had their mouths hanging open and were staring at Dagan, as if he’d stepped out of a movie magazine. Geoffrey leaned back against the side door, his foot propped against the wall and a huge smile on his face. This was the most bizarre evening she’d had, well, since Dagan tackled her on Friday.
Chloe finally came to her senses and said, “So this is him, the he-man?”
Reese chuckled. “Yeah, all six-foot-plus inches of him.” She eyed Dagan appreciatively. “When he’s not frowning and doing that whole intimidation thing, he’s actually fairly nice to look at.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Reese.” Chloe tapped her chin as she walked around Dagan. “He’s pretty nice to look at now.”
Rufus laughed from his place near the door. Dagan shifted and threw laser beams of warning at him.
“What the hell is going on here, Reese? It’ll be dark soon and you need to get home.”
Joe readjusted his shirt and brushed off the sleeves. “You’re not her keeper.” He sneered.
Dagan took a step toward him and Reese put herself between the two men. “Look you two. If we are going to be working together, you need to make nice.”
“What?” Dagan bellowed.
She placed her hands on his chest. “This is my team. Roberta, Chloe, Geoffrey and… Joe. Guys, this is Dagan.” She looked up at him and smiled. “My hero.”
Joe snickered. Dagan narrowed his eyes in Joe’s direction.
“I’ve explained the situation to them and we have been doing research to see if we can dig up any useful information about Kur.”
“Useful information? Rufus!”
She nodded. “To see if we can find a way to stop him.”
Rufus slid up next to him. “You called?”
He had the most dumbfounded expression. “You let her tell all these people about us?” he whispered loudly.
Rufus shrugged. “Couldn’t stop it. She opted to tell them the truth when they asked about her…” he coughed into his hand, “…bodyguard.”
“Great, just great. Like I don’t have enough problems already, now I have to do a
go’ras
on her whole team.”
Darkness descended. Reese opened her mouth to say something else, but he raised his hand and turned. Rufus had already moved back to his position, closed and locked the door and drawn his weapons.
“
Galla.
”
Rufus frowned. “I felt the charge the minute they appeared.”
“What’s happening, Dagan?”
“We have company and this isn’t the most ideal place to take on the warriors of the Underworld.”
Reese tensed. “More of those shadow things?”
Dagan moved toward the window to gaze out at the street. The night held an eerie silence. A light mist gathered over the street. The temperature dropped several degrees in a matter of seconds.
“A large group,” Rufus replied. “I count ten. Damn.”
“Why did it get so cold all of a sudden?” Roberta asked.
“You’re about to get a crash course in fighting demons,” Rufus said.
Geoffrey ran the short distance until he stood next to Chloe. “Cool.”
Rufus nodded toward the back of the room. “Come on.” The rest of the group followed. He stopped long enough to inform Dagan of what he’d seen. “Two are yellow-eyed demons.”
Dagan’s nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. He spoke in his ancient tongue. Unfamiliar with the language, she was pretty sure he’d been swearing.
Reese went up to Dagan. “What are you going to do?”
He rested his palm against her cheek and rubbed her bottom lip with his thumb. “Protect you.” He leaned down and kissed her. “But first, I’m going to call in some help.”