Damn, we'd finally gotten to the stereotypicalwarehouse and I'd mostly been unconscious for it. Bummer.
"Looked worse than it was. Needed a bender tocome down from the adrenalin and actually get some sleep."
I could tell she didn't believe me, but I wasn't aboutto tell her the truth. Or anything else, for that matter.
The possessed human was a young man with shaggy blackhair, sallow skin, and a desperate air about him that might have been hisnatural state even without a desperate demon.
"You couldn't take care of him before we gothere?" I asked Darius.
"Wasn't sure if you would want to talk to himfirst," Darius answered. "This is the first one we've found in awhile."
"Seems like most of their amulets hold prettywell. You only find the ones that are flawed," I said.
"That's what we were thinking." Dariusstudied me as I approached the possessed human.
He looked up, the familiar red rimming his irises. Ifought to keep from rubbing at my own red rimmed eyes.
"Master! You're safe!"
I felt my eyes widen in surprise and I glanced atDarius and Deputy McClellan. Neither of them looked like they understood.
He's speaking in demonic. You understand because I'mtranslating for you. Don't reply. I will handle this.
They went back and forth for a bit. Ezra somehowcommunicating without using my body. Probably a perk of being a prince, andalso not being bound into an amulet.
The end result was that Ezra's underling was more thanhappy to be sent back to hell, promised not to resist, and gave us basicallythe same information we'd had from his bloody artwork.
Proceed.
You're not my boss.
Ezra sighed.
Darius hadn't painted a protective circle this time,for which I was extremely grateful. We were going to do this without for awhile. It wasn't nearly as dangerous with the demon prince riding along, as itwould have been if I hadn't already been possessed. None of the demons we weredealing with were going to try and tangle with Ezra for my body.
Fuck that was weird.
I didn't even need the reveal spell to find theamulet.
I snatched the charm off of the guy's wrist. Oddly,the human didn't react poorly to losing his demon. He simply sighed and passedout.
I debated just handing the thing off to Aaron. They'dtold me what had happened when he touched them. Finally, I decided the cops hadenough of our secrets and I'd do it the hard way.
"Want me to do this here or take it with me anddo it at home?" I asked Darius.
"I have a room prepared," he replied.
Guess he didn't want me to inadvertently add to mycollection. Three was plenty, but I wasn't going to bring that up in front ofMcClellan.
"Sabian, why don't you and Aaron and Mayhem waitwhile I take care of this." I didn't want to accidently banish thehellhound, either.
The hellhound cannot be banished in the same way,especially now that he is bound to you. Keep him at your side.
As if sensing that, Mayhem stayed with me. Aaronwaited with Sabian and I followed Darius into the small office, hoping likehell that he wasn't pulling something to try and get Ezra banished. He'd havean unwelcome surprise if he tried.
Fortunately, everything was just as he'd promised.Minus a protective circle, though I could see where there had been one.
Eyeing him as I approached the table made me feel likeshit, but I had reason not to completely trust Darius.
He held out his hands in surrender. "I promise,no tricks, Price."
"Humpf," I muttered.
"I thought you two were friends," DeputyMcClellan said.
"We are," Darius replied. "But it's acomplicated friendship. I've certainly done things in the past to earn a bit ofmistrust on her part. It's fine."
"What could you possibly be trying to trick herwith in this instance? She's the one that taught you the spell."
"Long story," I grumbled and placed theamulet on the table. I checked for the ingredients to the ritual and got ready.
Do you want me to show you an easier way? I believe Ihave discovered one.
Not right now, 'cause then I'd have to explain myself.Later, mate.
Ezra didn't reply and I settled into the rituallanguage.
Releasing the demon took almost no effort, andbanishing him was nearly as easy as waving my hand in the creature's generaldirection and saying go home.
Darius stared at me in amazement.
I shrugged. "He really wanted to go home."
"I'm sure that's it," he replied slowly.
"Yeah, mate. Now, I really had a hell of a shitday yesterday. I'm going home."
"Thank you for coming down, Price. And pleasethank Sabian for translating all of that. I'm not sure how useful it was, butthe more information we have, the better."
"You're welcome, Darius." I headed out ofthe office and took a deep, relieved breath when Sabian and Aaron flanked me.
Another deputy showed us out and I collapsed into thepassenger seat of Aaron's new car.
By the time we got home, I barely had the energy tocall Mal, but I did. We talked for a bit, before I bid Aaron and Sabian anearly good night and fell into my bed, hoping to sleep soundly enough to notthink about being alone. I'd spent most of my life alone in my bed, but damnit, I had gotten so used to Mal and Sabian holding me and now it just feltempty, even with a tiny puffball hellhound curled up at my side.
Even he got up, grumbling, after I tossed and turnedfor what seemed like forever.
I was about to get up when Ezra jerked me into theblank space.
"What's wrong?" He stared at me, armscrossed across his chest.
This time he wore some sort of silky looking dressshirt, in black, with the sleeves rolled up showing muscular arms. His slacks werealso black and fit well enough that it probably should have been illegal.
"What do you mean?"
"You're trying to rest. I'm trying to rest. Why areyou tossing about like a ship on stormy seas?"
"Didn't know you were a poet, too."
"I'm not," he practically snarled. "I'ma tired demon prince, who spent most of my energy keeping your ungrateful assalive. And I've spent the rest of my energy attempting to
