The Unlikeable Demon Hunter (Nava Katz #1)(34)

Yeah, that sounded like reaching, even to me.

Any hope of support from Baruch was pointless. He sat there, his eye blinks conveying his hilarity.

“I take care of it because I take care of everything in this house of overgrown children,” she informed me, her voice less breathy, more steely. “I’m in charge of all Brotherhood administrative business in Canada. Rasha, rabbi, or Executive member living or visiting this country, I’m their go-to.”

“How does the Executive work? Do they fly out here often?” With all the training and plotting, I hadn’t had a chance to learn much about them yet and every bit of intel helped.

“No. Rabbi Abrams passes on any local concerns that they need to be involved in. The six rabbis chosen to make up the Executive handle big picture organizational issues like establishing new chapter houses.” Ms. Clara pointed at a couple of places where I’d missed signing.

“We have them in many major cities across the globe but as global crises change,” she said, “so do locations and the number of Rasha stationed there. Hunters are reassigned all the time. The Executive has been busy with field offices in Northern Africa these past few years. And of course the head of the Executive, Rabbi Mandelbaum, also personally interacts with the intelligence department.”

“Like hunter Homeland Security?” I glanced at Baruch to see if he’d weigh in but he was checking something on his phone.

Ms. Clara kept up the explanation. “Security on an international level. They monitor crimes across the globe for certain details that could be evidence of demonic activity. Social media activity as well as anything gleaned through work under DSI. All intelligence gathered goes through them before being handed over to Rasha as specific missions.”

I shook out my hand. “James Bond epic.”

“As for the cookies–”

“Really, really good cookies,” I interjected.

Her expression softened. “Thank you, doll. I like making cookies.” She picked up a stress ball from her desk, squeezing it. “With this bunch in town, I need all the stress relief I can get.” She winged the ball at Baruch’s head, nailing him in the temple and killing his amused eye blinks.

Baruch bent to retrieve the ball from the floor and placed it back on her desk. He tucked his hair behind his ears, sliding his phone into his pocket. “Our stress is what makes you the most in-demand dominatrix in the country. You wouldn’t be half so good if we didn’t push you to your breaking point.”

“You wouldn’t even begin to know where I break,” Ms. Clara replied darkly.

“Perhaps not.” Baruch shrugged and I leaned in. This was better than HBO. Oh, to have popcorn.

Sadly, Ms. Clara veered off the juicy stuff to give me a lecture about requisition forms that was so dull, my eyes glazed over. Though I did perk up a bit at the myriad of medical treatments I was entitled to. “Two massage therapy sessions a month, you say?”

“No one uses them,” Baruch said with a dismissive wave.

Ms. Clara eyed him with distaste before turning back to me. “I’d be happy to provide you with a list of approved practitioners.”

Twisting her monitor back into position, she pressed her palm to a small pad on her desk to be scanned. Once the light turned green, she started typing. “Better than a password,” she said, noting my curiosity.

I placed the last of the signed forms in the file. The Brotherhood could proclaim Rabbi Abrams was in charge here, but it was clear to me who really ran the show.

The final item of business was to get my palm scanned so I could access the Vault and stuff on my own. Ms. Clara explained it would take twenty-four hours to process, then pronounced us done.

“Excellent. I promise to behave like a pampered princess and exploit every last thing I’m entitled to.”

One side of her mouth quirked up at that. “Provided you have the correct requisition form,” she said.

That’s when Baruch hit his limit. He engulfed my hand in his and tugged me to my feet. “Yes, Nava will pretend the best of intentions for your forms and you will pretend you don’t enjoy filling everything out on our behalf, and natural order will be maintained.”

He dragged me to the door.

“Leave the pen,” Ms. Clara called out.

Baruch growled.

I tossed it back at her as I cleared the door, being rewarded with a wink.

Oh yeah. Way better than cable.

Baruch warmed up on the punching bag. I watched him in amazement for a few minutes as I stretched. I’d never seen anyone’s fist almost punch through the bag before. The most astounding thing of all was how calm he was. It was pretty sexy the way he pummeled the thing in a total state of Zen. The fact that he’d taken off his shirt and was working out bare-chested didn’t hurt the cause any, even if he was more muscular than my tastes generally ran.

One thing Baruch had gotten into my skull was staying in the present during any fighting since letting my thoughts wander led to meatsack tenderization. Even with my accelerated healing, I was tenderized enough. “Doesn’t super strength usually come with anger issues?”

He stopped punching.

“I mean, you’re pretty mellow. Which is great. I, for one, would not want my baggage infringing on Drio’s. Because holy wow, two wounded angry people. That’s not even counting Rohan, although Drio would win any diva-off hands down.”