Guardian's Hope (36 page)

“Cut it a little close there, didn’t you?
Thought I was going to fry when we crossed the alley. Grace’ll have
to put us up in one of her fancy guest rooms. Sun’s well up by
now.”

“
Hope?
”

“Do you know where Grace went?” Canaan asked
Manon.

“I’ve no idea. Probably to the store to pick
up something special, non?” She looked at the island where Nardo
had thrown his jacket on top of the twins’. “And if I were you, I
would hang all of this up before she gets back.”

“
Hope!
”

The two culprits grabbed their jackets and
took them off to hang on the rack in the den.

“They’re both gone,” Nico said aloud.

“So they went to the store together. They’ll
be back in a minute.” Nardo walked over to the key rack. “See. They
took the junker. The worst that can happen is the POS falls
apart.”

“Jeesh, you guys are so old.” Col pulled out
his cell phone. “Modern times, guys.” He speed dialed Grace’s
phone.

“Don’t forget these.” Manon stooped to pick
up a boot.

Everyone turned as Grace’s phone rang from
its place on the counter.

“What’s Hope’s number?” Col asked.

“She doesn’t have one. She always
borrows.”

Manon stood with a piece of paper instead of
a boot in her hand. She laid it on the counter for all to see.

Went to Smiths. Will call. G+H

“
Hope!
” Nico headed for the door.

Canaan grabbed his arm. “Don’t be a fool! The
sun’s up. You’ll be too sick before you get there.”

“How’d they find him?” Nardo asked.

Dov raised his hand guiltily. “They didn’t.
We did. Grace was supposed to give you the message.”

Nico changed directions and headed for the
twins, his fangs exposed and his face hard with the rage. Nardo and
Broadbent stepped in front of the twins.

“It’s not their doing,” Broadbent said with
more force to his voice than they’d ever heard from him. “Flying
into a rage will only hurt one of us, not those who need it.”

Nico’s hands clenched into fists as he
brought himself under control.

The story spilled out of the twins, back and
forth, alternating sentences until finally Dov said, “We always
leave messages with Grace when we can’t get you. Shit, you guys, we
never thought they’d do something like this.”

“No one did.” Canaan said stiffly. He was
having his own problems maintaining control.

“It gets worse,” Col added miserably. “They
don’t know about the demon.”

Chapter 37

Smith thought they were some damned holy
rollers banging on the door and he ignored them, expecting them to
go away, but the banging continued and he finally ripped the door
open to blast them a new one before they banged the goddammed house
down. He had enough troubles without listening to some song and
dance about going to hell.

And there she was, looking exactly like she
did when she was in Bloodsucker’s. He stared at her for a moment
with his mouth hanging open and then at her friend before smiling
and inviting them in just like a couple of fucking Avon ladies.
Ding-dong, your get out of jail free card is here!

“Come on in ladies. What can I do for you?”
He held the door open wide.

“Mr. Smith,” Hope said politely as they
passed through the door, “I know you know who I am and you know I
want my sister. I think we might come to some arrangement.” She was
shaking inside.

They’d talked about it on the way over. Smith
was frightened of something, most probably the demon holding Faith.
They could offer him protection in exchange for information. He was
human after all and the Guardians had rules against killing them.
Surely Nico and Canaan would offer him safe passage out of town if
it meant getting Faith back and finding the demon’s lair.

“Now that you’re here, the only arrangement
to be made is me getting you to Damon and getting rid of the
Incredible Hulk here.” He poked his chin at someone behind
them.

They turned as one and Hope gagged. Like the
creature she’d seen running into Lenny’s house, this one looked
like a giant man, but she could see the demon shimmering in and out
like some bizarre double exposure.

“You ladies can stay here as my guest until I
figure out how to handle this.” His eyes kept straying to Gor. What
kind of name was that? The guy hadn’t said a word since he’d
latched onto him at Damon’s place. What if this guy was supposed to
kill him when he found the bitch? Wouldn’t that be a poke in the
ass.

Grace hadn’t said a word since he opened the
door, but her eyes were darting around the room memorizing the
layout should they need it.

“Let me take your coats.” Smith held out his
hand and when they politely declined, he gave them his best shark’s
smile. “You don’t have a choice. Take them off or Gor here will
take them off for you.”

They reluctantly passed him their coats. He
checked the pockets and threw them carelessly onto a chair. Then he
rubbed his hands together and leered. “Sorry ladies, but you’re
next.”

One at a time, he ran his hands over them,
snickering when they winced and squeezing painfully in places he
shouldn’t have touched at all, taking a lot more time than he
needed to check them for weapons. He enjoyed it. They endured it.
The demon started to drool and lick its slavering lips. Finally, he
stepped away.

“Take them upstairs to the back bedroom.
Don’t forget to lock it.”

The demon took a step toward him and
stared.

“Well I’m not going to fucking run away now,”
Smith snarled. He used his thumb to point at Hope. “I got the
bitch.” He huffed and shook his head angrily when Gor didn’t budge.
“Get up the stairs.”

Smith, with Gor following behind, led them up
the short flight of stairs and down the hall. There were two doors
to the right and two to the left. He stopped at the last door on
the left and ushered them in.

“Make yourselves comfortable,” he said with a
humorless laugh. “You can try the window if you want, but it’s
nailed shut. You can smash through it, I guess, but I’ll fucking
hear it and be back before you can get out and if you do get out,
it’s a long way down. Gor’ll have you before you finish saying ow.”
He closed the door behind him and they heard the key in the
lock.

“Make yourselves fucking comfortable,” Grace
mimicked. “On what?”

The room was empty except for a single chair
with a metal frame and padded seat and back rest like the kind
found in many restaurants and bars. Hope went to the small window.
Smith hadn’t lied.

“Grace, I’m sor…”

“Don’t,” Grace snapped, “Don’t you dare say
it. You didn’t force me to come. I volunteered. So instead of the
two of us whining about how I shouldn’t have let you go and you
shouldn’t have let me come, let’s figure out what the hell we’re
going to do.”

Grace flopped into the chair and Hope propped
her hip on the window sill. Grace’s anger helped Hope focus.

“Okay. Let’s begin at the beginning.” It was
what she always said to the children at school when they were
trying to solve an arithmetic problem. “Start with what we
know.”

“There’s a big ass demon downstairs and
neither one of us can take him. That’s what I know.”

“Grace,” Hope used her teacher’s voice to
show how disappointed she was. It worked.

“Okay. What do we know.” She chewed on her
thumbnail while she thought. “Smith is still scared shi… skinny.
Sorry, I tend to swear when I’m upset.”

It felt good to have something to smile at.
“Don’t. Don’t you dare say it. Don’t apologize, just say it anyway
you need to.”

Grace leaned against the back of the chair
and grinned. “You enjoyed that, didn’t you?”

“Yes I did. Now finish what you were
saying.”

“Smith is still scared and not just of the
big ugly downstairs. He’s all talk. Even when he was feeling me up,
he was stinking with fear and then he’d kind of get excited – not
that way, which is kind of creepy when you think about it. Wouldn’t
a normal guy get a little jazzed? – anyway, it was more like he’d
won first prize and it wasn’t me. What did you get?”

Hope nodded. “Same as you. Mixed. He wants to
get rid of what’s his name? Gore? I don’t want to think about how
he got that name. He said he wasn’t, but if Gore had brought us up
here alone, Smith was going to run.”

“Maybe he thinks Gore is going to kill him
and take the reward for finding you.”

“Reward?”

“Guys like Smith don’t work for free,
sweetie. There’s got to be something in it for him and I’ll place
my bets on cash. But there’s something else going on there.”

“And it has to do with Damon, who I assume is
demon.”

“Yeah, the smartass. Talk about advertising.”
She looked up at Hope. “Do you think Smith knows he’s dealing with
demons?”

“No, I don’t think so. Wouldn’t he be
thinking “I need to get away from these demons’? I’d pick that
up.”

“Yeah, that would be a hard thing to keep out
of your head.”

“Maybe it’s greed warring with fear. Maybe
one part of him thinks this Damon is going to double cross him,
kill him maybe, but the other part wants the money he’s been
promised.”

“And if Damon is a demon, and we can be
pretty sure he is, you can bet your sweet patootie he’ll go for the
double cross.”

“What’s a patootie?”

“The thing filling out the back of your
skirt, Miss Priss.”

“Oh! That’s a new one. So, what else do we
know about Smith?”

“That’s all I’ve got.”

“Me too, except…” Hope turned her head to
look out the window.

“Except what? Come on, Hope, maybe it’s
important.”

“He wants my sister.”

“You’re sure?”

“Of course I’m sure,” Hope snapped. Her chin
quivered. “Once the demon has me, Smith hopes he’ll give Beauty to
him. Beauty has to be Faith. I saw the images.” Her voice caught.
“She’s not so beautiful anymore. She looks like she’s dying.”

“It’s not going to happen, Hope. One way or
another we’ll figure this out. Come sunset, they’ll be looking for
us and in the meantime, we’ll find a way to make this work. We’re
not going home without Faith.”

*****

Everyone at the House of Guardians agreed.
They needed to be alert and at their best. There was nothing they
could do until sunset. They needed to rest, to sleep. No one
did.

Nardo spent time on his computer, verifying
what they already knew. The only thing he found of interest was
that Bloodsuckers was owned by an investment corporation and he
spent hours tracing the various entities involved. Nora seemed to
think that Smith was more than a manager, but if he was, he was
using a name other than Gary Francis. Nardo thought it more likely
that his ‘ownership’ was more like blackmail. It didn’t really
matter. It spread no new light on their dilemma and only emphasized
Smith’s bad character.

Broadbent pretended to read his book and
smoke his pipe. He never turned the pages and the pipe kept going
out for lack of draw. He finally gave up both and sat staring at
the blacked out window, willing the sun to set long before its
time.

The twins decided to spend their time
painting their rooms in the newly renovated house next door, but
they only finished one wall. They didn’t want to paint. They didn’t
want to play video games or shoot pool or work out in the new gym.
They couldn’t even work up the enthusiasm to call each other names.
They only wanted to get to Grace and Hope and beat the shit out of
Smith. Surely there weren’t any rules against that.

Canaan sat in his office alternating between
rage and despair. How could she do something like this? Make him
feel like his world was coming apart. When he got his hands on
Grace he wanted to throttle her, beat her to within an inch of her
life. But wanting and doing were two different things and he knew
that once she was in his arms again, he would love her like she’d
never been loved before. If he got her back. If they weren’t too
late.

Nico was in the parlor. He leaned with both
hands braced against the mantel piece. No fire blazed in the hearth
and that was as it should be. No warmth, no light, no comfort. His
Hope was gone.

“
Hope?
” he called for the thousandth
time and for the thousandth time there was no answer. She was too
far away. If she could hear him at all. The athame sat in its
holder where Hope had agreed to let it reside until she had enough
control to wield it. It no longer called to him to hold it and
dream of its owner. Instead, it mocked him and his foolish belief
that happiness was his for the taking. His Hope was gone.

Otto and Manon were the only ones who sought
their bed in the yellow room that had once been Hope’s. Their
lovemaking had been soft and gentle; the comforting coming together
that comes with age. They clung together in the aftermath, kissing
almost chastely, running their hands over each other’s bodies as if
to reassure themselves that their love, at least, would survive
intact. Manon ran her fingers lightly over the grey in his hair
that was too swiftly taking over what was once a rich brown.

“I am thinking I should take one of the cars
and go to this Smith’s house and spy. I could park on the street
and keep watch to make sure they do not leave. If they do, I could
follow.”

“You don’t drive, my sweet.”

She pouted prettily. The same pout she always
used when she wanted something Otto was reluctant to give. “It is
what, a twenty minute drive? I can do this, Mon Coeur. Did I not
drive your Bentley?”

“You did, Manon, in 1936. How many cars have
you driven since?” He shook his head at her audacity. She was still
very much the woman he’d fallen in love with.

“I’ve had no need. Until I found my cottage
here, I always lived in cities. When you were not there, I hired
cars.”