Demon Hunters (30 page)

Since all the madness with the Morgan
Sanguine case, my life had settled back into normal mode. Of
course, normal for me was still more chaotic than most other
peoples’ lives. My caseload remained steady, but despite that, and
an unpleasant encounter with a rare Were-tiger, I felt rather good
about my life.

My demon was still rattling around in my
head and I was still a lightning rod for all manner of horror and
atrocity you could think of. The one thing that made me happy above
all that mess was the fact that Gwen had sold her home in Blue
Haven and moved to Los Angeles to live, which put an automatic
spring in all my steps.

She found a nice condo in Studio City, which
was actually quite nice. I helped her get used to the area. Showed
her all the points of interest, for both the tourist and native. I
showed her where to get the best produce and the best places to go
for a late night fast food binge. We were inseparable for weeks,
but I couldn’t play momma bird forever. I had to get back to work
and Gwen was set to find a career of her own. Due to the
conflicting schedules of both goals, we found we had less face time
to enjoy, but we did enjoy what time we had. She had said she was
close to finally landing a job but she didn’t go into much more
detail than that.

As I walked up the stairs to my office, I
was quite impressed with the work done on the building. My landlord
wasn’t burdened with a reputation for being very generous and I was
sure he was going to lowball the whole job, but it looked as though
he had spent real money. He not only had my office rebuilt but he
gave the whole dump a makeover, inside and out. There was new
molding along the walls along with brand new paint. I walked up the
stairs to my office and noticed the fresh new carpeting he had
installed. I also noticed how quiet it was. I felt like I was the
only one in, but as I stepped inside, I saw Ivar at his desk poring
over a pile of books.

“Morning.” Ivar looked up.

“Good Morning, Jake. You’re in early.”

“Yeah, I tried to sleep in, but I just
couldn’t do it.”

“That is a sign of a healthy sleep
pattern.”

“If you say so.”

“How is Gwen? I haven’t seen her in a
while.”

“We’re good. She’s been busy looking for a
new job.”

“She’s having trouble?”

“It’s tough going from a small fish bowl
like Blue Haven and into an ocean like L.A.”

“I’m sure she’ll find something. She seems
very bright.”

“She is. What are you up to?”

“Nothing. Just my usual referencing
exercises. We had a couple of visitors.”

“Already? What did they want?”

“One wanted to hire you for a background
check. It didn’t seem he understood the nature of our business. The
other wanted you to gather evidence for some lawsuit he’s
preparing. They both left numbers.” I walked over to my desk. It
was oddly clear of clutter and papers. Gwen had taken to stopping
by periodically and straightening up for me. I looked over at my
phone and saw a slip of paper with two numbers and two names. One
name had background check next to it and the other one had lawsuit.
I picked the phone up and started dialing the background check
number first.

“You’re actually calling?” Ivar asked with
some level of surprise.

“We gotta pay the bills somehow. The little
demons and imps of the city have been annoyingly quiet lately. I
can do a quick background check. Pick up an extra check. It might
just cover the electric bill this month.”

I sat down with the phone to my ear. A voice
came on suddenly. It was thick and low.

“Hello?”

“Hi. Jake Corba here. Is this William
Bertram?

“Yes. Thank you for getting back to me.”

“My pleasure. You came by my office this
morning?”

“Yes. I spoke with your assistant. I need
you to run a background check on someone I’m thinking about
hiring.”

“Are we looking for anything in
particular?”

“Just a general check. Prison record,
whatnot.”

“Okay. I can do that. Would you be able to
come in and sign some papers?”

“Of course. I could come by this
afternoon.”

“Great. Any time after two will be
fine.”

“I will see you then.” It sounded like he
was about to hang up, and a curiosity came over me.

“Mr. Bertram? Before you go, I’d like to ask
you something.”

“What?”

“Why me? There are lots of companies that do
this kind of work. I’m just some no-name private investigator. How
did you even find me?”

“It’s actually the oddest thing. I told the
applicant I needed to run a background check, and they actually
referred me to you.”

“They did? Who is this applicant?”

“Gwen Thorne. Do you know her?” I smiled a
little to myself.

“The name sounds familiar. I’ll have to
check. Come by around two and we’ll get you taken care of.”

“Okay. Thank you.” He said and hung up. I
leaned back in my chair and just as I was about to open my mouth,
the door swung open and Gwen came in.

“Good morning you two.” She softly patted
Ivar’s shoulder as she made her way over to me. She was wearing a
blue dress that danced gracefully with every step she took. I could
sense the faint aroma of perfumed flowers in the air as she got
closer. I got up quickly and wrapped her up in my arms and hugged
her tightly.

“Morning.”

“Jake. I have a favor to ask.”

“I already talked to him.”

“Him? Who him?”

“William Bertram. About your background
check.”

“I honestly don’t know what you’re talking
about.”

“Don’t act so innocent.”

“Fine. I might have encouraged him to call
you.”

“It’s fine, really. I just don’t get
why.”

“I was hoping you might be able to
creatively edit some of the things you find in my background
check.”

“Like what? What could you have done that
would raise any red flags? A nice girl from Blue Haven, like
yourself.” Gwen turned away from me slowly.

“There’s a lot about me you don’t know. Not
that any of it is relevant now. I was a different person then.” My
interest was rising.

“Okay. You’re scaring me now. What am I
going to find?”

“Nothing. Some youthful transgressions. A
few black marks. A little federal conviction.”

“Excuse me?”

“It was nothing. In college, I got kind of
swept up in activism and some friends and I went out on a boat and
intercepted some fishing boats that were known to kill
dolphins.”

“And?”

“We kind of hijacked it.”

“You hijacked a boat?”

“And then ran it aground,” Gwen looked up
and caught me staring at her. “It was a small one. No one told me
it was a felony. I got a year of probation. I didn’t serve hard
time, but it’s still on my record.”

“That doesn’t sound, too bad.” I said with
some reservation.

“I know that, but it doesn’t look so
sterling to prospective employers,” Gwen said. “I just need you to
kind of water it down a little.”

“Water down. As in erase?”

“If you could?”

“Gwen. That’s illegal. Incredibly illegal,”
Gwen looked down darkly. I quickly put my finger to her chin and
lifted her head back up. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks,” Gwen said with a broad smile.
“Will you stop looking at me like that?”

“I’m sorry. It’s hard to digest. I can’t
really picture you taking part in anything illegal.”

“You believe in ghosts, demons, trolls,
werewolves, and all other sorts of things that go bump in the
night, but me breaking the law is so out of reach?”

“All those other things I’ve seen. I just
can’t see you hijacking a boat. It’s kind of bad ass.”

“I have a wild side.”

“That is becoming exceedingly clear.” I
pulled Gwen in for a kiss.

“Before I met you I had a very interesting
life.

“No doubt. So, what job is so important to
get that I’m risking jail time?”

“Real estate agent.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I got my license a long time ago, but
I got kind of sidetracked after I got married. I thought I’d pick
it back up. I renewed my license last week and interviewed with Mr.
Bertram a couple days ago.”

“And this would be a big career move?”

“Big enough. Bertram Real Estate is a huge
company, at least from what I’ve learned. The important thing is
he’s willing to take a chance on me. That is as long as my
background check comes back clean and felony free.”

“Yes, don’t worry. I think it should be easy
to bury a boat hijacking. Not much chance of you doing it again, is
there?” I thought it came out rather cute, but Gwen’s expression
soured and she stepped away.

“It’s not a joke.”

“I didn’t say it was.”

“This is important to me. When I was
married, Henry didn’t like me working. He was always so backward
about that. I got my real estate license for a reason. What better
job is there than to help people find homes to raise their
family?”

“Okay. I’m sold. You want this? We’ll make
it happen.” Gwen beamed up at me and gently kissed my lips.

“Thank you.”

“Settled? We good?”

“Yes.”

“Great. Now get out of here. I’ve got a
business to run.”

“All right. I’ll see you tonight, right?
Dinner?” Gwen asked as she headed for the door.

“Absolutely.” She blew me a final kiss and
disappeared around the corner. I looked back down at the phone and
picked up the little slip of paper next to it. The last number was
for a guy named Felix Lesidous. I quickly dialed but instead of
ringing, I got an earful of a loud beep and a message stating that
the number had been disconnected.

“This guy came in today, right?”

“Correct.”

“That’s gotta be a record. His phone’s been
disconnected.” I said. Suddenly the door flew open and a scrawny
looking guy stood in the frame. He was wearing a suit of
questionable taste. It was poorly cut and seemed to be two sizes
too large. His face was angular and pale with dark lines running up
around his mouth. His thick brows were furrowed over his angry eyes
as he marched up to my desk and pounded his fist down.

“You Jake Corba?” He asked.

“Yes.”

“I’m Felix Lesidous.”

“I was just trying to call you. Your phone’s
been cut off. You know about that?”

“That’s not important right now. I need your
help.”

“Fine,” I sat down. “I understand you need
me to help you with a lawsuit. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Now we’re getting somewhere. Have a
seat and let’s get to work,” Felix sat down in the chair across
from me and settled in. I pulled out a piece of paper and found a
pen. It had been a long time since I worked on a, as some would
say, normal case, but I remembered getting as much information as
was available was a good thing. “So, Mr. Lesidous, what is the
nature of your lawsuit? What are we looking for?”

“I am suing on the grounds of wrongful
damnation!”

Not All Lawyers go to Hell

“Excuse me?”

“You heard what I said.” Felix sat across
from me with his beady, black eyes locked onto mine and the
determination in his face was as real and sincere as I’ve ever seen
in anyone else’s face. The moment he spoke those words, I felt like
I had just stepped through another weird door. It was like hearing
words I knew and understood but there was a meaning I wasn’t quite
connecting with.

“Wrongful damnation? I don’t think I’m
understanding what you’re saying.”

“I was told you specialize in these kinds of
matters.”

“Just tell me what happened.”

“Fine. I died and I know I was supposed to
go to Heaven...” Felix proceeded.

“Whoa! That’s where I’m stuck. You
died?”

“Yes.” Felix said plainly.

“Then how are you sitting in front of
me?”

“It wasn’t easy, believe me. I had to get a
special pass. I only have a few days. We need to get this done
now!”

“A pass? To come back to life?”

“Yes. After I died, I went on to what I
thought was Heaven, but when I got there, it was gone. I waited for
a bit and then some guy came out of nowhere and told me to go with
him. The next thing I know, I’m being sent into Hell. It gets kind
of fuzzy after that. The last thing I remember clearly was sitting
in a big office with black walls and being handed this.” Felix
pulled out an object from his coat. It looked like a card made of
solid gold. The light it gave off filled the room, bathing
everything in a yellow glow. I took it from him and it was light,
but it felt like it was made of metal. The surface was smooth and
cool to the touch. As my eyes adjusted, I could see writing
engraved on the card. It said ‘3 Days’. I handed the pass back to
Felix and as he put it back into his coat, the glow faded away and
I was able to blink again.

“So what is this all about?”

“I was sent to Hell but I was supposed to go
to Heaven. I spent fifty years in torment just because they lost
the place I was supposed to go to.”

“You were in Hell for fifty years?”

“Yes. The point is, I want compensation and
I want to be sent to Heaven like I was originally intended to. I
was promised eternal peace and tranquility. Maybe we could go for
breach of contract too. I’ll have to talk to my lawyer.”

“You have a lawyer?”

“Of course. You don’t jump into a class
action lawsuit like this without a lawyer.”

“Class action? There are more of you?”

“As of now, there are six hundred billion,
eight hundred and sixty two million, five hundred forty eight
thousand, seven hundred and eight plaintiffs. It’s not just the
newly dead. All the souls who were already up there got evicted
without notice. I have to tell you, Ghandi looked pissed.”

“Are you actually suing God?”