“Better move this car,” said Kwon. “Your buddies in blue are starting to wonder what we’re up to.”
Curran nodded. “No sense giving them reason to be alert.” He slid the car out of its space and rolled down the street.
“You realize,” said Kwon, “that’s it’s insane that Darius has protection right now.”
“He apparently donated heavily to the mayor’s last election campaign. He’s got friends in high places.” Curran glanced at Lauren. “I never knew demons contributed to political parties.”
Lauren shook her head. “Amazing isn’t it? He uses our own systems against us to make his job easier.”
“Fantastic,” said Kwon. “It’s always so damned refreshing to see the system hard at work for the criminals.”
Curran laughed. “It’s almost comical.”
“Yeah,” said Kwon. “If only the fate of us all wasn’t at stake.” He sighed. “Man, this is nuts. Why don’t you just let me call a friend of mine who can cap this guy from distance with a sniper rifle? Whole thing’ll be solved real quick.”
Curran turned around. “You know people like that?”
“Man’s got to have friends in seedy places.”
“Much as the idea appeals to me,” said Curran, “we can’t. Primarily because we’d all be implicated.”
“How so?”
“Darius isn’t some naive fool, Kwon. He knows what kind of danger he’s in now. He knows I’m not the only one after him. And he’s smart enough to take precautions to let the world know what happened to him should a bullet zoom into him without reason.”
Kwon slumped back against the seat. “This sucks.”
“Besides,” said Curran. “The sniper trick might work on a human. This guy’s a demon. Who know what hurts him?”
“Never know until we try.”
Curran frowned. “Yeah, well we’ve got another problem right now.”
“What’s that?”
He glanced at Lauren. “He seemed very interested in seeing you. I don’t like having you around us right now. He might come for you or do something else.”
“Then we can use that,” said Lauren.
“I’m not treating you like bait,” said Curran. “And I’m not arguing about it, either.”
Kwon sat up. “Drive me home, I’ll grab my car, come back and set up watch on him. You stash the lady here and then come on back.”
“You comfortable doing that?” asked Curran.
“Not really,” said Kwon. “But someone’s got to keep watch on that guy. I’ll stay here. I got your cell phone number. I know how to dial.”
“Okay,” said Curran. “Let’s do it.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
They dropped Kwon off at his house shortly after eight o’clock. Curran shook his hand. “You sure you’ll be okay?”
Kwon shrugged. “No. But if things get hairy I’m sure I can convince him otherwise.”
“Thought you said you were a lover not a fighter.”
“I am.”
“You also said you don’t do much talking with your hands.”
Kwon nodded. “Yep. That’s true.”
“But you think you’ll be able to handle him, huh?”
Kwon leaned into the window and smiled. “I never said anything about not knowing how to use my feet. I studied Tae Kyon and Han Pul back in Korea.”
“For how long?” Curran wasn’t sure any type of martial arts would be useful against a demon but he didn’t say so.
“Long enough.” He patted Curran on the shoulder. “Get out of here, cowboy. Lauren, you watch out for this guy.”
She smiled. “Take care, Kwon.”
Curran drove off, watching Kwon wave after them in the rearview mirror. He glanced at Lauren. “You think it’s still safe at Father Jim’s?”
“Hopefully.”
“Should I be naive and hope that the demon can’t enter a holy dwelling like a church or other blessed home?”
“This isn’t the movie
Curran sighed. “That doesn’t make me feel good about leaving you alone.”
“I won’t be alone. Father Jim will be with me. Remember? My boyfriend.” She smiled.
Curran grinned. “Add some more salt to the wound why don’t you.”
Lauren stayed quiet for a minute, watching the outside world flash by. “Was it necessary to talk to Darius back at his house?”
“I think so,” said Curran.
“Why?”
“He knows we’re on to him. He’s trying to thwart our attempts to link him to the any crimes that we could bust him on. If he’s able to establish us as harassing him, he’ll have an easier time of completing his mission.”
“That concerns me,” said Lauren.
“What do you mean?”
“The fact that he’s so willing to come out of the shadows and confront us on this whole thing. It leaves me feeling very unsettled.”
“You think he’s up to something else?”
“No,” said Lauren. “But I wish it was just that.” She sighed. “I think he might be getting close to completing the mission.”
“Because he confronted us.”
“Yes.” She tapped the dashboard. “I think he’s reached the sort of point where he’s not so concerned anymore with us being able to stop him.”
“He’s more confident now,” said Curran.
“Uh huh. Think of it this way: if he’s only got one more person to kill, what difference will we be able to make?”
“Hopefully a very big one,” said Curran.
“Yes. But from his perspective,” said Lauren, “he doesn’t have much of anything to lose. He knows he can kill one more person, get their soul into that vat and then begin the resurrection ceremony. Don’t you see? He’s not just confident. He’s starting to feel invincible.”
“I think he’s probably been feeling pretty invincible for a long time,” said Curran.
“Maybe,” said Lauren. “But he’s bound to be feeling more like he’s won now than ever before.”
Curran frowned. “You’re depressing me.”
“I’m depressing myself, Steve. But I think it’s the truth.”
They passed a small noodle restaurant and Curran turned them left. “I never would have expected a demon to behave like this.”
“How do you mean?”
“Guess I’ve got this old fairy tale notion of them being these nasty ugly beasts that can only breathe fire and kill you. But here this guy Darius is using the cops against us. He’s got himself some interesting attributes.”
“Satan is a lot more talented than many people give him credit for. You can bet he’d never send a dimwitted
