What Voodoo Do You Do? Page 5

  The streets were mostly empty, but a few people huddled behind closed doors and a green SUV, sitting alone in the center of the street and surrounded by dented and steaming cars, had a wide-eyed couple in the front seat.

  I parked the car at the curb beneath an old-growth tree a few blocks away from the edge of town, and Ferral and I climbed out. I went back and forth on leaving Monty in the car before finally deciding to bring him with. It seemed the demon had a thing about flinging cars around.

  There was no way I was leaving my little man helpless and alone inside my car.

  Without a word, Ferral disappeared in a burst of silver energy and then reappeared, his sleek, gray moon hound form oozing residual energy. He cast a silver-hued gaze up at me. I’ll sniff the demon out. Try to stay hidden until I find it.

  I nodded, one icy hand desperately clutching Monty’s leash.

  Watching the sleek, two hundred pound hound melt into the shadows and make his way up the street, I couldn’t help wondering if the existence of the demon had something to do with the maelstrom at Golden Years.

  It was a big coincidence if it didn’t.

  I wasn’t a fan of coincidences.

  Monty’s head jerked up, and his bright gaze locked onto something across the street. I followed the line of his sight and saw nothing except a rumpled, dirty old man who looked like he slept on the streets. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen a street person in Rome. It happened more than made me comfortable. I didn’t like to think of someone in my protectorate sleeping outside, without food or facilities. It broke my heart, and I wanted to fix it.

  Without giving too much thought to whether it was a good idea, I started toward the man. He wasn’t safe on the street right at that moment. In fact, it was a miracle he hadn’t been killed already.

  Monty bounced along beside me, his tail straight out behind him, snapping the air. In canine body language, his tail told me he was borderline hostile.

  He didn’t like the cut of the old man’s jib.

  I’d proceed with caution. The man’s greasy head lifted as we approached. I smiled. “Hi. Are you doing all right?”

  The homeless guy’s thin lips pursed and shifted as if he were chewing something. His too-slender face was heavily lined, and greasy strands of gray-brown hair fell to his shoulders in lank strands.

  He was crouched against the gray brick wall of Rome’s only bank, Rome Savings and Loan. I noticed his filthy hand was wrapped around a chipped mug that was missing its handle. The bank’s logo was visible on the side of the mug, and my gaze slid to the dumpster in the nearby alley.

  Had he pulled the broken mug out of that dumpster? What else had he pulled out of there? I grimaced at the thought.

  “Are you hungry? Do you need some money?”

  Handing out cash wasn’t really my thing. I’d been burned before when I’d given cash to people who lived on the street and then watched them carry the cash to the liquor store rather than the local grocery for food. But everything on the street had closed up. If I wanted to help him, cash was all there was.

  A sour stench wafted from the man. He continued to work his mouth, the deep creases in the skin around it telling me the facial tick had probably been with him for a while.

  I shifted closer. If I could get him talking, maybe he’d relax and I could help him get to safety. “Did you see what did that?” I asked him, nodding toward the uprooted trees and battered vehicles. As I glanced toward the street, my gaze caught on the couple in the forest green SUV.

  The woman’s eyes looked like they might pop right out of her head. She fixed me with a terrified look and gave her head a single, rigid shake.

  I frowned. What was that all about?

  The sound of cloth shifting against cloth brought my head back around. Sunlight climbed out from behind a distant tree line, the light catching in the man’s copper-colored eyes and giving off a strange aura that was there one second and gone the next.

  Beside me, Monty growled a soft warning.

  Wings fluttered high above my head. I glanced up as the sun was temporarily eclipsed by the striking figure spreading a thirty-foot span of wings and then tucking them, diving directly toward me.

  With the sun in my eyes, I thought, at first, I was being attacked by a demon. But Monty’s staccato bursts of angry barking, interspersed with snarls that lifted the short hairs all over my body, brought my gaze back to the man in front of me.

  He was no longer sitting on the sidewalk. His form, strangely, was tall and straight, his expression no longer tentative.

  As I watched, the man lifted his arms away from his body and, with a leering smile toward the airborne creature diving our way, he sprouted enormous black wings that looked a lot like Gren’s and turned to face me.

  I sucked in a shocked gasp, backpedaling into the street and pulling a reluctant Monty with me.

  Aggy, run! Gren’s voice screamed inside my head.

  But it was too late. The thing’s gaze turned on me, vibrant red like fresh blood. With only the slightest tensing of his muscular form, he shot forward, slamming into me with a force that carried us across the street and smashed me into the stone and wood front of the Pretty in Pink Boutique.

  I fought the muzziness clouding my thoughts as my body tried to absorb the damage from the impact. Claws dug into the flesh of my shoulders, sending breath-stealing jolts of agony through me as I struggled to shove the demon off my chest.

  Its mouth opened and two rows of slimy yellow teeth, triangular and wickedly sharp, sprayed spittle that smelled like rotten eggs over my face and throat.

  Without warning, the teeth lowered to my neck and speared my skin.

  My screams swallowed any awareness of the world around me. My hands clawed at the thing in a panicked frenzy. I was dimly aware of Monty’s little body whipping around my legs, snapping and snarling. The monster at my throat lifted its head, yanking its teeth from my flesh, and looked down at my dog, kicking out with a clawed bare foot and missing as Monty, at a speed that seemed impossible, dodged and lunged, biting and snarling. Amazingly, the filthy fabric covering the demon’s muscular legs was torn and covered in blood from Monty’s attack.

  My little hero. My dog was taking it to the demon while I stood there and screamed like a worthless idiot.

  Feeling ashamed, I jerked energy into my hands and slammed my palm into the creature’s throat, sending it flying on a wash of golden energy.

  Before it crashed into the buildings on the other side of the street, the thing was scooped out of the air by Gren.

  A roar of outrage filled the empty street as they shot skyward, wings pounding as they flew straight toward the sun.

  I pushed myself away from the wall, every muscle in my body screaming at me. Scooping Monty off the ground, I buried my face in his soft fur. “Thanks, buddy.”

  He whined and frantically licked my face, which was his way of telling me he was worried.

  Madam Lares, are you okay? Ferral trotted up to me, his sleek canine form disheveled and covered in dirt.

  Monty’s tail wagged enthusiastically at the advocate’s arrival.

  “I’m fine.” Looking toward the sky, I added, “Gren’s dealing with it now.” The two forms were so small, I realized they had to be really high in the sky.

  You’re bleeding.

  I bit back a snarky response. Something along the lines of, “Thanks for the update, Commander Obvious.” Instead, I started across the street. The young couple was still in the car, their gazes focused straight ahead even as I approached. “What happened to you?” I asked Ferral.

  “Just a bit of a scuffle. I dealt with it.”

  My hand on the car door, I eyed him for a beat. His haunting silver gaze locked on mine. There was nothing in his gaze that implied a desire to explain further. Apparently, he’d told me as much as he intended to on the subject.

  Sighing, I yanked the car door open and looked inside. “Are you hurt?”

  Neither of them looked
at me. Neither spoke.

  Beside me, Ferral tensed, his furry body pressing against my hip. Aggy, I don’t think…

  I wasn’t destined to find out what he thought. With a snarl and a burst of surprising speed, the man behind the wheel turned and shot out of the car, clamping his teeth onto Ferral’s throat before either of us could react.

  7

  A Good Man Falls, A Guardian Weeps

  The moon hound yelped in surprised pain. I barely had time to decide what to do before the woman sprang off the driver’s seat and hit me in a flying tackle. We smacked the hard asphalt and rolled, my hands flat on her shoulders and elbows locked, trying to keep her gnashing teeth away from my throat.

  Deep inside, beneath the immutable need to survive that had me reaching for my magic, I realized the people who were attacking the advocate and me were victims. They’d been demonically possessed. They were different from the thing that Gren was fighting. As I struggled to keep the snapping woman away from my throat, despair rose up like bile in my throat. There was something in the woman’s eyes…a residual horror…a frustrated kindness…that flashed a warning in my mind.

  Ferral, they’re possessed. Don’t kill him.

  Caught up in fighting for his life, he didn’t respond. The possessed man was straddling him, fingers curved like claws and digging into Ferral’s throat. The human’s arms were covered in claw marks, and several bleeding holes perforated his throat. But his terrifying red eyes were alight with a fanatic’s gleam. He didn’t seem to feel any of the wounds.

  Like a zombie.

  I shuddered at the thought and slammed a foot down onto the asphalt, catching my assailant off guard and rolling us over before she could stop me. I lay on top of her, one arm shoved beneath her chin to keep her mouth away from my flesh.

  “Aggy!” A familiar voice called out. “What can we do?”

  Bev’s long, slender legs appeared in my line of sight. I couldn’t risk a glance up to her. “Do you know a spell to knock these two out?”

  Another pair of legs, partially covered in khaki-colored capris, appeared next to Bev’s. “Yes. They’re possessed?”

  The woman beneath me bucked hard and nearly managed to unseat me. I fought for control, managing to get her back underneath me. My arm slipped and she managed to clamp her mouth down hard on my wrist, her jaws strong enough to compress my bones as the skin ripped.

  I bellowed in pain, nearly giving in to the desire to rip my arm away. Anything to stop the excruciating pain.

  Monty flew into the mix, snarling and snapping at the woman’s unprotected face. His teeth drew blood from several bites before he got hold of the skin at her throat and tried to shake her like she was a mouse.

  Bev slapped the woman’s head with an open palm that was infused with energy, and the glowing red color of her eyes dimmed, sifting away to show the human brown beneath. A beat later, her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out.

  “It won’t last long,” Bev said, crouching down beside me. “The demon is strong. Much stronger than their human will. It will fight its way through that spell in minutes.”

  “You need to get that taken care of, honey,” Mavis said, taking my hand in a gentle grip. “Human bites are nasty. You don’t want it to get infected.”

  I wondered how dangerous demon bites were. “Later,” I said, pushing to my feet. “Right now, you two need to find a way to subdue them long enough that we can lock them up.”

  I became aware of snarling and snapping a few feet away. Ferral was still tumbling around with the man. Both of them were bleeding. “Can you knock him out too?” I asked Bev.

  She smiled a little meanly. “Ferral? Gladly.”

  Despite myself, I grinned. “Don’t tempt me.”

  I heard that, the cranky hound said in my head.

  I snorted out a laugh.

  Aggy!

  My gaze shot toward the sky and the winged creature barreling toward the ground. Gren! Are you okay? Even as I asked, I realized he wasn’t okay. He wasn’t okay at all. He was falling way too fast, his wings fluttering around him as if they were shattered. His legs were bent at odd angles.

  Monty whined, his tail tucked.

  I’m sorry, Aggy. I couldn’t… The voice in my head was husky, broken, threaded with pain. The words he’d spoken sifted into silence, and I realized he’d passed out.

  I must have made a sound because everyone looked at me. “What is it, honey?” Mavis asked.

  I watched Gren hurtle toward the ground, knowing he wouldn’t survive the impact from that height. “I have to help him.”

  Ferral trotted over, his soft warmth pressing against my hip. You must stop his fall, Madam Lares. You’re nearly out of time.

  “I’m well aware of that!” I screamed, losing control of my temper. I threw up my hands and sent a wave of energy flying toward Gren, praying it wouldn’t be too late. He passed the tops of the nearby trees, a mere twenty feet from the ground. It was a distance he would travel in the blink of an eye, the unforgiving ground awaiting him.

  Inexplicably, a word in a language I didn’t recognize fell from my lips. “Cernerse!”

  Gren plunged downward, his big body limp, tangled mahogany hair covering his gorgeous face. My heart pounded in my throat as I watched, certain I’d been too late. Why hadn’t I acted more quickly?

  Behind me, Mavis gasped, followed by Bev’s yelp of fear.

  Ferral pushed closer but said nothing.

  Gren’s body was inches from the ground. Still, he fell. I fought to keep from closing my eyes. If he was going to die because I was too weak to save him, I wasn’t going to look away.

  If he died, it would be my fault.

  With an abrupt jolt that made his entire body shudder, he yanked to a stop. I drew in a breath for the first time in moments, my knees softening beneath me. He’d stopped in time! Barely.

  My protector and friend hung so close to the ground that it looked as if he’d landed.

  A heartbeat later, with the soft sound of displaced air, he settled gently against the pavement.

  I ran over and dropped to my knees. My hands slid over him, checking his broken body for mortal wounds. The shattered legs and wings were obvious. But, with his super-fast healing, neither would be life-threatening.

  “Gren!” His face was a mask of blood, his arms covered in claw marks that were so deep I was pretty sure I was seeing bone in some spots. And his beautiful wings…

  Tears filled my eyes. I wrapped my fingers around his hand, feeling the warm slide of blood beneath my palm. Monty snuggled up next to Gren, tucking his long nose beneath the fallen protector’s chin as if to comfort him.

  “What can we do?” I asked Mavis, Bev, and Ferral.

  In a heated wash of silver energy, Ferral’s human form replaced the sleek moon hound. “He must be taken to a healer,” the advocate said. He touched my shoulder with a warm hand. “Let me take him, Madam Lares.”

  I shook my head, the tears making the world swim around me. “I’m staying with him.”

  “We need your help, honey,” Mavis said, her gaze sliding to Ferral’s. “We need to get these two behind bars before they wake up.”

  I nodded. “Okay, do that. Thank you,” I said as an afterthought as the harshness of my words sank in.

  “Honey,” Mavis said gently. “We need you to speak to Davis.”

  “Davis?” I shook my head. What did Rome’s top cop have to do with anything? “I don’t understand. Just tell him what you need.”

  “He’s human, Aggy,” Bev told me. “You’re going to have to explain to him what’s going on.”

  I finally looked up at them, my patience wearing thin. “You can tell him.”

  They shook their heads, Bev’s expression turning angry. “This is your protectorate, Madam Lares. Only you can reveal magic to humans. That’s the magical law.”

  When I shook my head again, my hand tightening around Gren’s limp fingers. “The law be damned. Gren will die if I d
on’t get him some help.”

  “Davis won’t believe us. Only the Lares’ magic will get through to him,” Bev said.

  I glanced at Ferral, not hearing them. “Can you carry him?”

  “Yes, but…”

  “Agnes Bethany Lenore!” Mavis barked out.

  I blinked in surprise as my surrogate mom lost her temper. Mavis never lost her temper.

  “You are the Lares of the entire town of Rome, Aggy. Not just of the select few you like. Everyone in Rome is currently in danger. You need to do your job to protect them all.”

  I closed my eyes, my fingers clenching as I struggled to accept that she was right. It wasn’t about what I wanted.

  After a moment, I nodded and stood, looking at Ferral. “You’ll get him to a healer?”

  Ferral inclined his head. Before I could change my mind, he scooped Gren up and threw him over one broad shoulder, then took off running like he wasn’t carrying two hundred pounds of broken protector.

  I threw Mavis and Bev a look that could have been warmer. “I’ll go talk to Davis.”

  Hurt flared in Mavis’s eyes. It tugged an answering regret from me. But I shoved the guilt away. I needed to deal with the problem at hand. That alone seemed an almost insurmountable goal, given that I could barely breathe through the panic of losing my friend.

  I’d just have to take it a minute, and a single heavy step, at a time.

  The Rome Police Station consisted of a small “office” whose entrance was in an alley at the end of the street. The single room where Chief Davis Marshal greeted the public was small and dark, with no windows and very little attention paid to furnishings. There was no need for what the cop would consider “frou-frou.” Davis was rarely in the office. He did his best work out on the streets. The people of Rome rarely visited his little, almost literal, hole in the wall.

  During the day, the chief ran Rome on his own. Nights and weekends, two cops on loan from a nearby town covered for him, handling everything that wasn’t delicate, political, or personal for Davis. When something seemed to fit those parameters, the part-time cops called Davis at home and he joined them at the scene.