Mark of the Demon

At the very least, maybe I can make it too hot for this guy to get any more victims, I thought grimly as I headed home. It was only two a.m., but I knew that I needed to try to wrench my sleep cycle back to something more normal. I turned off the highway and onto the winding trace that was my driveway. I rounded the curve before my house, then slowed, a frisson of wariness going through me as I saw a car parked in front—a dark-blue Crown Victoria. Then the wariness was replaced by a curious mix of annoyance and pleasure as I recognized the car as Ryan’s. What the hell was he doing here again?

Sleeping, I discovered as I got out of my car and walked up to his. I bit my lip to keep from laughing as I looked through the window at him. His head was tipped back against the headrest and his mouth had fallen open, and if not for the fact that I had heard him snoring when I was still six feet from the car, I probably would have thought him dead.

The temptation to leave him out here was nearly overwhelming, but my curiosity as to why he was here won out. I tapped on his window with my keys.

Nothing. He continued to sleep and snore.

I banged harder, and this time he jerked awake, accidentally sounding the horn. He jumped and let out a blistering oath.

“Jesus Christ, Kara! Where the hell have you been?”

I was laughing so hard it took me several tries to answer. After a few deep breaths I managed to speak. “Out. Why are you sleeping in my driveway?”

He groaned and opened the door, rubbing at his face as he got out. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I came here looking for you,” he said, glaring at me accusingly.

I gave him a sour look in return. “I was out. Working. Why didn’t you call my cell?”

A flicker of something that might have been embarrassment crossed his face as he stood and stretched his back. “I didn’t think to. I thought that maybe you’d just gone out for a few minutes, since it was after ten when I came by, so I figured I’d wait for you. And I guess I fell asleep.”

“You know, you could have gone inside. The door you busted is only nailed shut with two nails.”

He shook his head. “Nah, I think that would have been a bit forward. Stalking you from the driveway is plenty for now.”

I laughed again. “Do you want some coffee? I can fill you in on what I’ve been doing.”

He glanced at his watch. “If it’s decaf. I can probably still scrape together a couple of hours’ sleep after you brief me.”

“Ha. I’ve just about given up on normal sleep,” I said as I led the way around the back of the house.

I climbed the back steps, unlocked the door, and entered, then stopped dead two feet inside the kitchen, causing Ryan to nearly run into me. He began to speak, but I put out a hand, signaling him to be quiet. I could see down the hallway and a rectangle of light on the floor.

The basement door was open and the light was on, and I knew that I had not left it so.

I drew my gun, though I had a sick suspicion that if anything was down there it would not be affected by a firearm. I sensed as much as heard Ryan pulling his gun, following my lead and blessedly not asking any questions. I glanced back at him and pointed toward the hallway and the square of light. He nodded, holding his gun close to his body, at the ready.

I stepped as soundlessly as possible down the hall, checking the rooms to either side as I went, hugging the wall to keep from hitting any of the creaky spots in the floor. My pulse sounded loud in my ears and I breathed shallowly, ears straining for any noise in the house, any clue that could define what I could be facing.

Ryan knew what he was doing; he slid around and covered the areas I couldn’t see as I eased down the hall. I caught the whisper of movement down in the basement and moved to the top of the stairs, shielding myself by the doorjamb and peeking down, covering the stairs with my 9mm.

A figure moved to the bottom of the stairs—something with blond hair and a wild print blouse. I jerked the gun back.

“Damn it, Aunt Tessa! I almost shot you.” My heart pounded as much from the thought of almost shooting my aunt as from the relief that it wasn’t something worse down there.

Tessa looked up and gave me an ingenuous smile as she climbed the stairs. “Now, why would you want to do something like that? Did you know your front door is broken?”

I sighed and holstered my gun. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Ryan doing the same. “Really? I hadn’t noticed. What are you doing here? I didn’t see your car.”

“Oh, I bought a motorcycle yesterday,” she said breezily, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “It’s parked on the other side of the house. I came over to see how your summoning went.”

I winced as Tessa reached the top of the stairs and saw Ryan. Well, now Ryan knows where I learned how to summon. Tessa gave Ryan a measuring look, then fixed me with a steely glare that I did my best to return. It was her own damn fault for assuming I was alone. Okay, so maybe it was an easy assumption, considering how rarely I had company, but I still wasn’t about to take any blame for the slip.

I shoved my hair back from my face. “I already told you what happened in my summoning. Why did you buy a motorcycle?”

“Because they’re cool.” Tessa frowned at Ryan, then shook her head and pointed a finger at me. “No, sweets, not your last summoning. I wanted to see how your next summoning went. But it seems that you haven’t summoned again.”

“I’ve been busy. There’ve been two more murders. And when did you learn how to ride a motorcycle? Do you have a valid motorcycle endorsement on your license?”

“Today, and, no, I don’t need to bother with that.” She turned to Ryan, smiling sweetly, ignoring my groan. “Hello, darlin’. I’m Tessa, Kara’s aunt. I saw you sleeping in the car when I came in, but you looked so peaceful that I just didn’t have it in me to wake you up.”

Ryan didn’t miss a beat. He smiled graciously and extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Pazhel. I’m Special Agent Ryan Kristoff with the FBI. I’m on the Symbol Man task force with your niece.”

Tessa took Ryan’s hand, a small smile curving her mouth as she regarded him. “The pleasure is all mine. And how did you know my last name?”

“I’m a big fan of thorough research.”

I watched the interplay, arms folded across my chest. Why the hell had he checked my aunt out? Had he already known that she was a summoner? Well, he certainly did now.

Tessa raised an eyebrow and released his hand, then turned back to me. “I know you’re ticked at me for prying, sweets, but I’ve been worried about you. I thought you might try to summon on the dark, and I hadn’t heard from you in a while. I’ve been out of town for the past few days, so I figured I’d check that everything was all right.”

I abruptly realized I was scowling, but I didn’t make much effort to modify my expression. “I’ve been busy. Remember? Serial killer? I’ll summon again in about a week, on the full.” Then I straightened. “Wait, if he’s gearing up to something big, it’s going to have to be on this month’s full.”

Ryan’s forehead creased in a frown. “Why? What happens after this month? I thought you just needed a full moon to have enough potency for big summonings.”

Tessa shook her head. “The convergence of the two spheres is more important than the phase of the moon. We just came out of a period of a few years where the convergence was so small that it was darn near impossible to summon anything higher than eighth level. Right now the convergence is nearly as high as it can possibly be, but after this month it will start to taper off to more-normal levels.” She nodded her head toward me. “Kara would have been a full summoner some time ago if she hadn’t been forced to wait until the convergence was high enough to allow for a summoning of a twelfth-level demon.”

I could see him mentally filing that information away. “So anyone seeking to summon anything of any decent size or power would do so on this next full moon—which means we have less than a week to catch him.”

I moved to the kitchen and dropped into a chair at the table. “Right. That also means he’s going to be doing more murders between now and then, building up a strong reservoir of power.” I tapped the table thoughtfully. “But I’m hoping that it’s going to be harder for him to find victims. I spent the last few nights going around and showing the other photographs from Cerise’s house, trying to get the word to these people—and everyone else as well—to be careful.”