easily manipulated. For that matter, so is some of the newer and flashier technology—which was why
Gibson was using a tape rather than a digital recorder. Somewhere along the way he’d turned off the
camera as wel . I could tel because there were no lights flashing on it at al .
“Ms. Graves.” Gibson took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index
finger. “There are things we don’t tel the press. Mainly because if the public knew, they’d panic and
make things worse for everyone.”
I nodded. It made sense. I didn’t
scared the shit out of me, and I didn’t have to try to stop them. The cops were the ones who got to face
that sort of thing head-on and get crucified afterward, no matter how they handled the situation. I could
accept the need for … discretion.
“I need your help, so I’m going to tel you something—but you didn’t hear it, and you sure as
get it from me.”
“I can keep my mouth shut,” I assured him.
“Good. Because we don’t need this getting out, especial y not right now. But you need to know why
we’re taking this so very seriously, and why I’m wil ing to bend a little to get the job done.”
“Tel me.”
Gibson leaned in and spoke even more softly. “There was a spel used on that al ey to eliminate every
trace of living or formerly living matter down to the pre-cel ular level. Not even bacteria survived. The
spel that was used is
I forced my mind back to my history of magic classes in col ege and recited from memory, “‘The early
Catholic church declared
worked only by a demon or a half-human/half-demon spawn. Any human party to that type of magic is
immediately excommunicated.’”
“Yep,” he agreed. “And al spel s that are
Accords. Their use is considered a crime against humanity and cause to be brought before the
international tribunal. Demonic spel s are war crimes … even when there’s no war.”
Demonic. Something must have shown in my expression, because he said, “
something.”
It was so frustrating, I
of context it didn’t make sense.
Gibson gave me some space. We sat and sipped coffee and stared at nothing for a few minutes.
When I had a little better grip on my emotions I broke the silence. “So we’re dealing with at least the
semi-demonic.”
He let out a little growl and lowered his voice. “Don’t say that too loud, and
the World Series coming up just a few short miles away in Anaheim.”
Wel , that certainly explained both why the police had decided to act dumb to Emma and why Alex had
been careful about what she said to me. Assuming, of course, she actual y knew anything. She might
not.
Gibson slid his glasses back on and scooted back in his seat. He pul ed a smal notebook from his
pocket and began reading from it. “‘The first officers on the scene were Conner and Watson. They
arrived within fifteen minutes of Ms. Landingham’s cal . The place was deserted, but they could see
what looked like the remains of two adult males on the ground near the foot of a back staircase next to
a Dumpster and a rather large pile of smoldering ash that they believed might be the burned remains of
multiple vampires. They radioed for backup and proceeded toward the al ey. Watson was in the lead.
As he reached his left arm into the al ey to shine his flashlight on the remains he felt …’” Gibson
hesitated for a second before continuing with the same clinical detachment coroners use to stay sane.
“‘… a burning, tingling sensation in his arm. He told his partner to stay back and cal for magical
backup.’”
Gibson’s jaw clenched, and I watched a slow flush creep up his neck. He kept it under control, but I
could feel the rage beating off of him like heat from a furnace. “In less than two minutes, the bodies in
the al ey began to disintegrate, along with every other thing that had ever, at one time, been a living
thing, up to and including the cotton of Watson’s shirt and the arm beneath it.”
Gibson’s eyes locked with mine and I
what he said next head-on. No hiding. No flinching. “It started at his fingertips and worked its way up,
his arm
hadn’t thought to run back to the car for the vampire kit and the axe—” His jaw clenched, and the words
cut off, choked off by his rage. He worked to steady his harsh breathing. It took a couple of minutes,
but I waited silently. There was nothing to say. Just the thought of it was horrifying. I felt my stomach rol
with revulsion that had nothing to do with the smel of his il ness. “The Internal Affairs officer threw up
watching the dashboard cam video. They brought in a priest to bless him and doused the tape with holy
water—in case watching it activated another spel .” Gibson paused again. “Watson and Conner are
stil alive. The doctors think they can magical y alter their memories enough to let them out of the psych
ward in a few weeks and send them home.”
Gibson’s eyes bored into me like lasers. “I want the bastards who did this. The priests can deal with
the demons, but somebody human had to summon them—has to be working with them. I won’t do
anything that wil risk a slick lawyer getting them off. But I
I agreed wholeheartedly. The best part was, I must have been gone by then. Even if I recovered the
rest of my memories, I wouldn’t have to remember seeing one cop cut off another’s arm with an axe. I
even had an idea of how to get started on the right track. “Detective Gibson, my best friend is a levelnine clairvoyant. What say we pay her a visit?”
He shook his head. Alex must have suggested the same thing. “No dice. Vicki Cooper is an inpatient
at a mental facility. Anything she got would be dismissed out of hand as being tainted.”
Shit. He was right. Which sucked, because she was the best and I trusted her implicitly.
“So what do you suggest?”
“Not
7
Dorothy simmons was a sweet-looking little old lady with fluffy white hair and a round face. She met