Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

“Well, I can’t just leave him here for anyone to find,” the woman said as she walked over to the slain demon. “Plus, that blood is a problem. It’s pretty toxic to anyone without magical protections of their own. Yours must be pretty good if you’re feeling no ill effects.” She peered back at him through the rain. “Are you feeling any ill effects?”

“No, ma’am,” Colt reported, coming up beside her. “It tasted gross, but I got it all out and the shift took care of the rest.”

“Good,” she said, nodding, then turned back to the dead creature. “I’m going to send this thing to earth and drain its residual magic into the ground. Just… I don’t know. Watch my back, or something, while I do this. It shouldn’t take long.”

It sounded as if she was giving him busy work to keep him out of her hair, and he shook his head. He and his skills had never been dismissed so readily before. But he was curious about what she was going to do, so he kept silent while she raised her hands to waist level in front of her, palms down toward the earth. Then, she started to chant.

The earth moved. Or the demon did. Something happened, but Colt couldn’t be sure exactly how it all worked. One minute, the demon was there. The next, it wasn’t. Was it buried? He wasn’t sure. But he thought he’d seen something flowing out of the corpse a moment before it disintegrated before his eyes.

She turned back to him and brushed her hands together. “There. That’s taken care of. Now, I want to hear your story.”

Off they went, heading for the front of the building and the small plastic shelter in front of the place. Colt was holding the rest of his gear in his hands, and he noticed the way she peeked over at him from time to time as they moved quickly out of the rain.

When they were both seated inside the clear plastic shelter that was open in the front, she did her best to wring the water from her long hair. He couldn’t really tell what color it would be when it was dry. Dark. Maybe brown or even black. He wasn’t sure. Colt wrung out his T-shirt, not really surprised by the massive amount of water it had held.

“What do you think this shelter is?” she asked, looking around curiously.

“Maybe for smokers?” he offered. “It looks like a bus shelter, but I doubt there are any busses making the rounds out here.”

She tilted her head and shrugged. “You never know. Now, you’re Colt Kinkaid, right? I’m Faith Peabody.” She held out her hand, and he took it, surprised by her forthrightness. This woman wasn’t anything like he’d expected.

As their hands met, a little tingle of what could only be magic sparked between them for a brief moment, and her eyes widened. Colt wasn’t sure what to make of it, so he just frowned a bit.

“Well, that’s never happened before. You’re a mage as well as a shifter?” she asked him, clearly curious.

“No, ma’am. At least, not that I’ve ever known. My mother was a mage, but she and my father died when I was just a kid, and I don’t know much about magic. My dad was a shifter, though, and that part came easy, even though he wasn’t around to teach us much about it.”

“You have brothers, I think you said.”

“Yes, ma’am. Two older brothers,” he confirmed.

“Both mated recently, right? Within the coven? Anybody I might know?” She looked genuinely curious, so he figured he might as well indulge her.

“Do you know Meg?” Faith nodded, smiling. “She mated my eldest brother. And if you know Mrs. T’s granddaughter, Amalie, she mated my middle brother.”

Faith clapped her hands together, smiling even wider. “I know them both. I’ll have to come up with a present for each of the happy couples. That’s wonderful news.”

“Yeah, that definitely is the good part,” Colt allowed, “but there’s been a lot of tumult to get to this point. But first things first. I’m supposed to call Mrs. P so she can hear your voice and make sure you’re okay. Any objections?” Colt pulled out his phone, which was encased in a waterproof, shockproof case. Something that had come in handy more often than not in his line of work.

“No objection, but I could call her from my phone,” she offered.

Colt shook his head. “She’s been expecting the call from me for days. I’ve been chasing your trail since Colorado and checking in on a regular basis. Let me put her mind at ease.”

Faith nodded and sat back while he put through the call. It was answered on the first ring.

“I’ve got her,” Colt told the older woman who was one of the most powerful witches on the East Coast. “She’s okay.”

Colt held out the phone for Faith to take, which she did readily. “Hi, Aunt Gloria,” she said brightly.

They chatted for a moment about nonsensical things which Colt took to mean that they had some sort of code set up to verify that they were both truly all right, and that the communication link was secure before proceeding. Smart. Colt’s shifter hearing let him in on both sides of the conversation without his even trying, so he noted when Mrs. P switched to talking about recent events.

“You’ve led my young friend, Colton, a merry chase. Why such a circuitous route, Faith?” Mrs. P asked. “You had me worried.”

“Did you know there’s been a major increase in demon activity? I mean, I went twenty years without seeing a single one, and now, I’ve ended three in the last week,” Faith shocked him by saying.

“That’s why I needed to talk to you,” Mrs. P said with a hint of a scold in her voice. “Mrs. T says the Demon War has begun.”

That pronouncement was met with silence for a long moment. Then, Faith seemed to rally.

“Well. It wasn’t exactly unexpected. I mean, I knew all along that there had to be a need for my sort of talent, otherwise why would I have been given it, right?” She sounded casual, but her eyes looked haunted.

“I’m sorry, Faith.” Mrs. Peabody’s words were surprisingly gentle. The old battle axe did have a soft side after all. “I would have been happier had you been able to live out your whole life without ever having to use your power.”

“Me too,” Faith agreed softly. “But that’s not the cards we’ve been dealt, and I’ll just have to suck it up and do my part.”

“Which is why I sent Colton to you,” Mrs. P went on. “And before you say you don’t need any help, remember please that we all need help from time to time. There is no shame in accepting assistance in fighting evil. You both have the same goal. I suggest you tell the young man what you can do and work together to do it. Have you had a calling to a particular area? Is that why you’ve been on the road so much?”

“Yes, Aunt Gloria. I’m getting close now. I think I’m headed for Houston, or just outside, but I won’t be sure until I get there,” Faith admitted.

Colt didn’t like that. He’d wanted to avoid Houston and the Clan that ran it, but it looked like that ship had sailed. Drat.

Mrs. P had some more words of wisdom for Faith, and they talked a bit longer, but all the while, Colt was thinking how he was going to deal with the Clan in Houston, if that’s where they ended up. He was going to have to make some phone calls. Maybe Billy’s new friend was back in Texas by now and could run interference. Colt didn’t like having to have anything to do with the Clan but if he was going to be prowling all over their territory, he really had to get the Alpha’s okay. Dammit.

Faith said her goodbyes and promised to call her aunt again soon, then she handed the phone back to Colt. Mrs. P had already hung up. The old lady was apparently satisfied for now, though he was sure she’d be expecting regular reports, as he’d been giving her the past few days while he’d been on Faith’s trail.

“So, how do we do this?” Faith looked resigned to working with him. Not exactly overjoyed but willing to humor him because of her aunt. Great. They were off to a spectacular start.

“Do you know where you’re going?” he countered.

“Generally.” She shrugged. “Toward Houston, but I think I really need to be on the outskirts. I’ll know more once I get closer.”

“What’s drawing you there? Do you know?” He didn’t really understand how she could be traveling all this time and not really know where she was heading.

She pulled back and sort of looked at him funny. “I thought you knew. I’m a Demon Slayer.”

“You’re a what now?” He shook his head, wondering if he’d heard her right.

“I slay demons. That’s my primary magical power and the reason I’ve been training as a Priestess.” She looked at him as if he was the slow child in the class, but he hadn’t been told any of this. Was she for real?

“Your aunt wasn’t very forthcoming with information about you,” he explained. “She just sent me after you, and when I asked for details, she said she didn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

Faith laughed, and the sound made his inner lion stand up and take notice. Odd, that.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said after a moment. “I don’t mean to laugh, but that is so like Aunt Glo.” She sobered up a bit and began to explain. “So, my magic is a bit different than most others. I have this one really neat ability and am mostly useless for the more common stuff that most witches can do. I fumbled around for years, bemoaning the fact that my magic was pretty lame until I met a Priestess in New Mexico who set me on the right path. I dedicated my life and my work to the Mother of All, and I’ve been studying for the past several years, learning how to best utilize my powers for good.”

“A commendable calling,” Colt told her, impressed. “But what is it you actually do?”

“My sort of magic is really only good for a few things. The main one is that I can fight and kill demons from other realms, then send their magic into the earth along with the molecules of their bodies.”

She really was a Demon Slayer. Colt hadn’t even known such a job title existed in the magical world, but he was learning new things every day it seemed.

“All right. There’s one slight complication that I will do my best to work out on the way toward Houston,” he told her.

“And what’s that?”

“I’m a Kinkaid, but I’m not part of the Clan. Houston is the Kinkaid Clan’s base of operations, and it’s only polite to let them know we’re coming. Especially me, because of my lack of affiliation with the Clan. I have a connection or two that I can call as we drive and set things up on the way,” he told her. “We probably should meet with someone from the Clan to let them know what you might be doing while we’re in their territory. If, for example, you expect a bunch of demons to show up, that’s probably something they’d want to know about.”

“Oh.” She frowned. “Good point. I haven’t really dealt with a lot of shifter organizations. You’ll have to let me know the proper etiquette.”

“Glad to help,” he said, but the irony in his tone was lost on her.

He’d been reduced to social secretary. His brothers would be laughing their asses off right about now. Maybe it was a good thing they weren’t here to witness his demotion from protector to servant.

He tapped a few things on his phone to bring up a map of the area. Turning to show her the map, he spoke again.

“There’s a truck stop a little over two hours from here. If you plan to stay on this road, we could stop there to eat. By then, I should have further information on the Clan and how we should proceed with them,” he suggested.

“All right. I like that idea. I’ve got snacks in the car, but I could probably use a hot meal. Something more nutritious than pretzels and water.” She chuckled, and he was struck again by the earthy loveliness of her tone. It did something to his lion that he didn’t fully understand.

He put his phone away and rose from the plastic bench. He could really use some dry clothing. So could she, he surmised. Both of them were wet through and through.

“But first, I’m going to change my clothes in the truck before we get moving. I can’t drive like this.” He looked down in mild disgust at his wet fatigue pants.

“That’s a good idea, too,” she said as she also rose. “I have some clean stuff in my bag that I can wiggle into in the car, but there’s not much I can do about my hair. Ug.” She ran the fingers of one hand over her wet tresses and grimaced. Then she looked at her old car. “Actually…” She turned to look at the building. “I’d like to take about ten minutes and put myself back together in the ladies’ room here. I think they have one of those blower things to dry your hands, and that might help get the worst of the dampness out of my hair. It would be easier to change in a larger space, too, and I have an umbrella in the car. I just didn’t have time to use it when I felt the demon emerge from Between.”

“Wait, you can actually tell when they come into this realm?” He hadn’t known that was possible.

“Yeah.” She nodded absently, still looking at her car parked not too far away. “The best explanation my mentor and I could come up with is that I feel it when the bubble—for lack of a better word—around our realm is pierced. Especially when it’s coming from a bad place. I feel the evil of the demon realms when it connects ever-so-briefly with our own.” She looked back to meet his gaze. “Not that I’ve had a whole lot of personal experience with it until very recently, but my mentor was able to locate some historical records in the Priestess Archives about people like me who’ve come before. We extrapolated from those ancient accounts and tried to test our theories very cautiously. So far, everything we worked on is holding true. Thank goodness.”

Faith breathed a sigh of what sounded like genuine relief, and Colt wasn’t surprised. That was a heavy burden for someone to carry around. Even worse was the fact that her skills had been mostly untested until the demons started popping out along her path.

“Why do you think you’ve been encountering so many demons the past few days?” he asked, wanting to hear her theory. The way her mind worked sort of fascinated him, he had to admit. She might have seemed a bit scatterbrained at times, but he was learning that wasn’t the case. Far from it.

“It could be that either I’m drawn to them—which I believe I am—or they’re targeting me. I actually think it’s a little of both.” She looked around at the deserted rest stop. “I mean, why else would that thing we just dealt with pop out into the mortal realm here of all places? I think it was looking for me. To try to stop me.”