Demon Night (40 page)

Then they left for Cole's, where Ethan's predictions held true; each evening brought in new vampires. Some only sat and listened, but others came up to the bar for a brief word or a long conversation. And after a few days, Charlie noted, they'd already picked up regulars.

Closing time found them flying to various locations in the city, visiting with as many vampires as they could, alerting them to the nephilim and seeking information about Jane. By the second week, Charlie knew by sight almost every vampire in the community, except for Manny and his girls. Ethan's first destination each evening was Manny's house, claiming he had questions for the vampire, but Manny had never been home. And Ethan had shaken his head, smiling, when Charlie suggested visiting him wherever he worked.

And every night, she and Ethan returned home with no word about Jane—every night, the tension of not knowing wound tighter and tighter.

Charlie thought it must be like getting fuzzy. It was never overwhelming at the beginning of the evening, but by the time Ethan set her feet on the deck at home, she was ready to scream from it, ready to go off at the slightest provocation. Ethan must have felt it building in her—and perhaps the frustration was rising in him, as well. After the second night, he'd cut the time they remained in the city by an hour, returning home to engage her in an exhausting training session. The sweat and contact inevitably led them to bed, always hot and rough—and where she finally found release, laughter that didn't have an edge of guilt, and the impenetrable bliss of falling asleep within Ethan's embrace.

But Ethan never stopped working. They'd reported Jane missing, and every night over his whiskey at Cole's, Ethan updated her on the progress of the—equally slow—police investigation. Jake remained at the house when Ethan had to leave, but kept in constant contact from the tech room, researching locations and names whenever Ethan required the information.

So far, they'd only been asked to break through the spell once. Charlie had recognized the blond Guardian who walked into Cole's, and she'd tapped on the one-way mirror. Less than a second after Old Matthew relieved her at the bar and Ethan rushed Charlie through the back door, they'd been standing in front of a burning house.

Two minutes later, she and Ethan were back at Cole's—and to her surprise, Ethan had truthfully answered one vampire's question of why they both suddenly reeked of smoke.

And Selah hadn't been the only Guardian visitor; a few others had dropped by. If not for Ethan's introductions, Charlie wouldn't have realized they weren't human: a hard-edged female who sculpted a tiny metal piano with keys that Charlie could play with a toothpick; a brooding male whose unblinking stare gave Charlie the creeps, but who managed to crack a smile while speaking with Ethan; another woman who reminded Charlie of a crow, who seemed to surprise Ethan simply by coming in, and who talked music with Charlie for almost two hours.

Nothing about the Guardians was similar, except that they all sized Charlie up, and they all appeared to relax in Ethan's presence.

Before she and Ethan had returned to Seattle, she'd mostly seen him fighting, or with the novices; she hadn't realized how good he was at putting people at ease—even when they had no reason to be so. A few days into the second week, he convinced the two scientists who'd left Legion to join Ramsdell Pharmaceuticals—though, he told her later, not on his own. Savi's partner had flown up from San Francisco, then had left for the airport once they'd finished their negotiations.

Charlie hadn't met Colin Ames-Beaumont since her encounter two months before, but she could easily imagine what had taken place when Ethan recounted the meeting over the bar that evening.

“We offered them a real nice position, and what with Ramsdell investing in a lab here in Seattle, didn't even have to ask them to relocate—but I reckon all of our sweet-talking didn't matter much,” Ethan said, his gaze holding hers. “They took one look at his pretty face and that was it.”

Charlie had to hide her grin, and let the sound of his soft laughter roll over her. She didn't know how Ethan created such an intimate atmosphere between them with just a low tone and that intense focus, but when he spoke to her like this it was as if they were alone.

And similar to those moments before dawn and after waking from her daysleep, it pushed the helpless anxiety away, just for a while.

But her stomach tightened when Ethan paused and said slowly, “And as tomorrow's your day off, I set Jake up for a date with Mark Brandt.”

Charlie blinked, but it still didn't come together. That he intended for Jake to copy Charlie's form and meet with Mark was clear, but not why.

Special Investigations had been treading carefully with the Brandts due to the senator's status. Ethan had called it pussyfooting when Lilith had told him to stand by—but he had agreed that a strong response would give the Brandts reason to think themselves more of a threat than they were.

Charlie knew SI was tracking Mark's purchases, and that he'd been spending most of his vacation at his father's house in Bellevue. But Ethan hadn't yet approached him, except to fly over the property and get a feel for the location.

Charlie's gaze fell to the counter when a short stack of papers appeared beside her hands.

“Colin brought these up,” Ethan said. “Savi got onto Legion's e-mail server last night, and downloaded quite a bit before they caught her and booted her off. SI's still sorting through the messages, but before she went into her daysleep, Savi wrote up a list on the front page detailing what she's found so far.”

“But why is Jake—?”

She broke off as Vin slid in front of her with an order, and as soon as she'd placed the foaming mug on his tray, Ethan continued.

“Brandt's name showed up, and after reading what he tried to send to Jane, we thought we ought to talk to him.”

“
Tried
to send?” She glanced up from the bulleted list on top of the printout.

“Sammael screened all of her incoming mail; these never got to her.”

“The asshole,” Charlie muttered, but she didn't rush ahead to the e-mails; she made herself read all of the first page. “What's this about IP addresses and mailing lists? What does that mean?”

Ethan's smile was broad. “It means we have a real good idea of the aliases several of Belial's demons are using, and their locations around the country. And there appears to be a demon-only list within Legion, which doesn't include near as many demons as we'd been led to believe. Here in Seattle, there's only Sammael and three subordinates…although one of those, I'd wager, was the demon that the nephil killed.”

That all sounded like great news, until she read a little more. “The messages they send one another are encrypted?”

“Yes,” Ethan said, and tapped the papers. “But Brandt's aren't.”

The messages dated a month previous began simply—and were exactly what Charlie would have expected to read from an old acquaintance looking to renew a friendship.

But after two weeks, the tone changed, and they weren't directed to Jane anymore. Halfway through the fourth, Charlie glanced up at Ethan. “Did he figure out that she wasn't getting the messages? He doesn't open with a name, and just says ‘You'…like here: ‘You can't hide behind your mask forever.' And all of these ‘I know what you are' and ‘Humans deserve the truth' statements. I can't see him saying that to Jane.”

Ethan was wearing a slight frown, and he absently swirled his whiskey. “Neither can I, Miss Charlie.”

“Actually, I can't imagine anyone saying that,” she said, looking at the e-mail again. “It's kind of movie-of-the-week. But I guess since he's a politician-type, maybe he reduced it to sound bites.”

“Yes.”

Charlie blinked; Ethan's reply had been terse, and his jaw was like steel. He let out a long breath, turned in his seat.

She hadn't been listening. But all of the other vampires in the lounge must have been—everyone's attention was on Joel. He didn't have his laptop that evening, and he wasn't drinking a screwdriver—and the man with the thick neck who was crowding in on Joel's space apparently didn't like having his expectations blown to hell.

More emotions hit her, now that she was focusing on the two men. Anger that bordered on violence, arousal, a need to dominate. Joel pulled away, said no—and was crowded a little more.

Ethan stood, but Charlie was already over the bar, striding across the lounge. She leaned her hip against the table, crossed her arms. Joel wouldn't meet her eyes, so she settled her gaze on his date. The guy was completely 'roided out: acne, overdeveloped muscles, and she could practically smell the testosterone.

“Leave,” she said quietly. “Right now.”

The musclehead barely spared her a glance. “Fuck—”

She had his arm up tight behind his back before he could finish, forcing him to stand. “That's the second word that starts with ‘F' that I've heard you say tonight, and I've only been listening for a few seconds,” she said, not caring that his veins were throbbing at his temples, his teeth were grinding, and pain was screeching from his psychic scent. She shoved him toward the exit without releasing his wrist. “This hurts, doesn't it? I haven't even broken or torn anything. Next time you walk in here, I will.”

She passed Melody, whose eyes widened before she rushed past the hostess podium and pushed the front door open, then held it wide.

Charlie considered planting her foot in the musclehead's ass, but wasn't certain if she'd misjudge the force—and injury might bring her more attention than this guy warranted. She marched him across the street instead, through drizzling rain, and left him groaning and holding his arm in front of the Heritage.

Ethan stood at the door with Melody, a deep smile creasing the corners of his eyes. “I aimed to be all menacing and formidable until he ran away.”

“He'd have tried to get a few punches in first,” Charlie said with a shrug. “My way was faster and easier.”

She slid her arm through Melody's as they walked back into Cole's, then left her at the podium with a brief squeeze and a thanks.

“That it was, Miss Charlie. And I reckon it answered a question for most everyone here.”

“Everyone” must have been the vampires; as she walked through the lounge she couldn't miss the tension and unease pouring from them.

“What answered what?” she asked after she'd checked in with Joel and returned to the bar, wiping the last of the rain from her arms.

“Well, Miss Charlie,” Ethan said as he took his seat, “I haven't slain you.”

“Oh, my God.” Her stomach lurched, gooseflesh rose on her skin. “I broke the Rules.”

“That you did. And I figure if you made a habit of twisting a man's arm up behind his back, hurting him for no good reason, we'd be having some real strong words between us. But you had a good reason, so I ain't all that riled up about it.”

Her heartbeat regained its normal pace. Ethan was sitting in his easy sprawl, facing her across the bar, yet his words were obviously for everyone.

But he was going about it indirectly. Charlie shook her head, and said, “I thought we had to follow the Rules.”

Ethan watched her face for a long second; then he sat up a little straighter and nodded.

“All right. For vampires, they're more like real important guidelines, and the ‘not killing' part the most critical one. You're stronger than humans, quicker—most times, no matter what he's threatening, you can get around a human without resorting to killing him. And so long as you don't abuse your strength, we'll be all right. I sure ain't going to slay a vampire for defending someone, or for doing her job.” His lips curled slightly. “Though maybe next time, you might jump over that counter a little more human-like.”

She smiled, pulling the stack of e-mails back in front of her. “If they're just guidelines, why does it matter so much if demons and Guardians break them?”

“They ain't
just
guidelines for us; for a demon or a Guardian, they're absolute. If I'd done what you did, Michael would soon be showing up to give me a choice to Ascend or Fall.” He was silent until she met his eyes, and his tone became intimate. “I'd be Falling—which only means that I'd be transformed back into a human to live out the remainder of my life. I've got too much to atone for to visit an afterlife just yet. But you ain't got to worry if it ever happens; once I became a human again, you could turn me, so as I could continue providing for you.”

She dropped her gaze to the printout again. Ethan, a vampire? She couldn't even imagine it. And though it would mean he would need her to feed him, too…she wouldn't want equality to come that way.

“I like the wings,” she said finally. “So if you run across a human you want to hurt, maybe you should bring me, and I'll beat him up for you.”

“Well, Charlie, that's about the sweetest offer I've had in years.”

She glanced up; although there was humor in his reply, he was staring down into his glass, his jaw tight.