Whiskey Witches, F.J. Blooding [ap literature book list .TXT] 📗

Agent Scott rubbed his forehead. “Whatever. Are we good now? Can we work together?”

She shrugged. It still felt way too convenient, and “he sees dead people die” wasn’t much help. Balnore didn’t even faze him. Interesting.

“There’s the mirror I saw,” Scott said, pointing to the right, “and the wheat.”

Paige ran her tongue over her teeth and nodded. “They’re playing. Malika and Jones. They’re toying with us, having fun.”

“You haven’t caught them yet. They’re getting cocky. They’ll slip up soon.”

“We don’t need them to slip up. I need him to slip up.”

“Him, who?”

Paige rubbed her eye and paced away. Sure, Balnore had told her Special Agent Scott wasn’t bad, but that only meant he wasn’t evil. Maybe. Did she really trust Balnore anymore?

Tough question. Always and never.

Headlights shone on them and a rumbling purr met Paige’s ears.

Dexx pulled Jackie next to Scott’s car and got out. “What do you have?”

Relief crept into Paige’s chest. Having Dexx there made things easier. She could trust Dexx. “Another body.”

He clicked on his flashlight and pointed it at the caboose.

Scott raised his hand to shield his eyes and stepped out of the glare.

“Who’s the fed?” Dexx asked.

“Special Agent Jack Scott.” Paige ran her hand over her face. “He sees people die. Balnore says he’s clean.”

Dexx narrowed his eyes at her, his expression pained.

“I know,” she said. “I know.”

He relaxed his brow and nodded once. “Details on the first body you found. It was left in town?”

“Malika apparently killed her. Put the woman in her own dress, then tied her to a light post in the middle of town.”

“Security cameras?”

“Probably. We’ll have to see.”

“Small town.”

“Hopefully not so small.”

“Witnesses?”

She shook her head and meandered toward the dead male.

“Then how’d you get so many details already?”

She gestured to Scott. “He saw it in a vision.”

“Seriously?”

“And the details he had were solid. I’d say he was in on it, but Balnore vouched for him and I have to believe good people are out there.”

Scott ducked his head and chewed the inside of his cheek.

Paige winced. Just how calloused had she become? “Malika left love runes and conch shells on the ground at her victim’s feet. Some kind of message for Jones?”

“A love note, maybe?” Dexx’s face contorted in an expression of gross.

“It’s sick.” Though, with these two, it was a real possibility.

“They’ve been killing people together for weeks. This is a little lame, don’t you think?”

That wasn’t the word she’d have used. “Then this guy. According to Agent Scott, Mike strangled him, then left him here with a mirror and a wreath of wheat.”

Dexx’s expression went flat. “Wheat? Are you fucking kidding me? First a protection mandala and now a wreath of wheat.”

“Just goes to show that the power is neutral until warped by the hands of the user.”

“Wheat.”

“I know.”

Scott’s eyes bounced between the two of them as they volleyed. “You two speak in a weird sort of half-language.”

Paige shook her head and turned away from the body.

“We used complete sentences,” Dexx said.

“No. You really didn’t.”

“Really? I’m sure we did.”

“No.”

“As cute as both you boys are,” Paige interrupted. “Shut it.” She rubbed her mouth. “There’s probably evidence we can actually follow here.”

“That’s a good thing,” Scott said.

“No. I need to get to Sven and I can’t do that if Malika and Jones are locked up in jail.”

Agent Scott stepped into her line of view. “You think these two murders were plants so they could get caught.”

It made sense. They’d been several steps in front of her this entire investigation. This would be like thumbing their nose at her, reminding her she still didn’t know what needed to. “Sven’s hiding. And my globe stops working now? No. Somehow, he knows the only way I can find him is through those two.”

“Who is Sven?”

Dexx walked to Jackie and propped himself against her hood. “A demon, and a pretty bad one at that.”

Scott stretched his neck. “A demon. As in, a real one.”

Dexx chuckled. “No, numb nuts. A guy who thinks he’s one. Demons don’t really exist.”

“Like I can’t see people die before it happens?” Scott gestured to Paige. “Also she summoned a demon, Balnore, to see if I was okay.”

“Pea. Really?”

She rolled her eyes. “I was tired of playing.”

“I knew you had some kind of ability when it came to demons.” Scott spread his hands. “It’s the only thing that made sense. A lot of your cases had the same footprint.”

Same footprint? She’d never had anyone study her before. It felt a bit creepy.

Raising his chin, Dexx pursed his lips and folded his arms over his chest. “This is too weird, Pea. First the chief. Now a fed.”

“May I remind you who brought Brian in.”

He quirked his lips and flicked his eyebrows. “Right. Anyway, yeah. She summons, as you know. She can do it practically at will.”

“And that’s it?” Scott asked. “If that’s the case and Sven really is a demon, then summon him.”

Paige bit the inside of her lip.

Dexx unfolded his arms and thumped Jackie’s hood. “That’s a good point. Why go through all this if you can just summon him?”

Summoning someone like him now? It was too soon. She still felt raw from the possession. “He’s too powerful. I just got my gifts back. Yes. I can summon demons I’ve summoned before. Balnore for example. But more than that? I’d have to know his true name.”

“How would you find that?” Scott asked.

Dexx shrugged. “I have books and books with demon names.”

“No.” She stared at the stars blinking out overhead. “Those are just letters and sounds. A true name is so much more. It’s a twinge in the gut. It’s a twist in the heart. It’s a collage of images.”

“So when someone without your ability creates the circle,” Dexx said, gesturing with his hands as if recreating the act, “and goes through all the pomp and circumstance—”

“A demon isn’t forced to come when someone summons like that.” Paige propped her foot on Jackie’s bumper. “The salt circle is to protect the summoner, but the real protections have to do with names; the true name of a wall, the true name of a door.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No.”

“And your gift,” Scott said, “comes with understanding these names.”

“Kind of. I guess. I hear walls speak. I experience memories, watch them play. It’s like being able to see beyond the veil of time, to see all the timelines together.”

Dexx’s face screwed up in confusion. “How does that help you find a name?”

“The name of a location, of a wall, of a door, is the culmination of all those memories, all those voices, all the people who left their mark.”

“Hmm.” Dexx glanced at the victim still tied to the caboose behind Paige. “So how do you get a demon’s true name?”

“Research them. Pull up all their information. Collect their details.”

“So do that.”

“Sven died, Dexx. His paper doesn’t exist.”

Scott pulled his head back. “Demons die?”

“Like anyone else. He died hundreds of years ago and no one’s heard from him since. He could have been born again as a human or as a bear or as a tree.”

“Now you’re pulling my leg.”

“I wish I were.” This was well above Paige’s understanding. She’d never even asked many questions about this. She’d never had to. “Demons are souls. Angels are souls. When they die, they go back into the same soup we all do.”

“So no matter what you believe, you’re going to be reborn.”

Paige shrugged. “It’d be an awful waste of energy, don’t you think?”

Dexx released a puff of breath and glanced at the bandage on her chest. “How are you feeling, anyway? It’s been less than a day since you were abducted and possessed.”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you? What about when you’re around demons?”

“I’m fine.” And she was, surprisingly. She’d always been a quick healer, but this was a new fast for her. She’d had symbols carved into her. She’d been beaten and drugged, and she was just a little sore.

“Okay. So, what’s the plan?”