Demons (Darkness #4)(28)

“Something nobody would miss,” Jonas said as he strolled back into the area. He only looked mildly more relieved.

“What’d you do with him?” I asked in a testy voice I couldn’t help.

“Wiped his memories, threw his clothes in a tree, and sent him stumbling through the park naked. I hope he gets pneumonia. He signed his death warrant when he went after you.” Jonas flexed from head to toe. He cracked his neck.

“Do you kill small animals, too, psycho?” Ann asked offhandedly.

“Only human ones,” Jonas growled back.

“Look here.” Dominicous extended his finger to a few scratches in the bark, further up from the pentagram. “Someone of my height drew these. They look older. The weather has worn the freshness.”

I handed him the lighter so he could hold it up. They were characters.

“Runes,” Dominicous said to my stare. “But I don’t know what they mean. Toa would know.”

Of course he would.

“Well, this happened before that warehouse thing. And being as though there wasn’t a mass riot, I’d assume this attempt at bringing a demon through didn’t work,” I surmised, stepping away.

“Bringing it through what, exactly? A portal?” Ann asked, giving me room.

I bit my lip, thinking. “From wherever they exist when it isn’t here. We should consult Toa.”

I hated that hint of sullenness in my voice. Dominicous did me a favor, and kept himself from nodding.

“Okay.” I dusted off my hands and looked to Jonas. “Anythi—”

“Incoming,” Charles interrupted in a low voice. Before I could even open my mouth to ask a question, he rushed across the small clearing, threw a thick arm around my middle, and bodily carried me into the treeline. He dropped me against a trunk and stood over me as Dominicous melted in beside me. Jonas drifted toward the opposite side of the clearing, his tattoos glowing faintly right before the shadows seemed to reach for him, pulling him into their bosom protectively. Ann was beside me a moment later, her brow dancing on her face as she processed smells. It was her “huh?” face.

She showed that face to Charles all the time. But then, we all did.

“Smells like women,” Ann said softly, the sound barely tickling my ears. “Fresh scents, fragrant, floral soaps…”

“Why would women come here so late—”

“Shhhh!” Charles hissed in my ear.

“Humans can’t hear as well as you,” I softly whispered back.

“Might not be human,” he answered.

I felt a light touch on my shoulder. Dominicous telling me to shut it.

We waited in silence as the bodies drew near. Footfalls were the first thing to reach my ear. Someone pounded the ground with decisive, no-nonsense steps. Fabric swished, like tracksuit pants. Something dragged, tinkling and jingling.

“Human,” Charles assessed. “Sounds like a pack of elephants in a lightning storm.”

Where did he come up with this stuff?

Dominicous shifted, his body melting down into a pose of patient relaxation. Jonas shifted across the way, too, only his was in irritation. He obviously had other things he wanted to do tonight. We were not great with time management.

A moment later, four women walked cautiously into the clearing. The woman in the lead, wearing a thick gray skirt and black, long-sleeved shirt tucked in, was the force behind the thumping feet. Probably five-foot-eight and pushing sixty, her large bosom took up her whole chest, straining the effectiveness of her bra as they reached for the ground. She broke the tree line and paused, hands on hips, surveying the surroundings like a groundskeeper might notice his freshly mowed lawn. Behind her skulked a small woman in her early thirties, thin and mousy, sporting glasses held together with tape in two places. She held a Taser in one hand and pepper spray in the other.

She wouldn’t have been my optimum choice for a battle unit.

Behind them crowded a pair of twins, which had Charles perking up considerably. If it wouldn’t draw attention to our hiding place, I would’ve punched the idiot. Pudgy with round faces, each had a smile and a splash of freckles. They looked around like they were waiting in line at the fair.

“Okay, ladies, let’s set up,” the woman in the lead said, glancing down.

Each woman spread around the circle, not one of them stepping over the now disturbed line. One of the twins dropped a small satchel, the burst of metallic tinkling making the mousy woman jump and crouch, weapons of destruction aimed at the disturbance.

“No one’s here,” the leader said, waving away the mousy attack unit. “You can calm down.”

With a last glance around, the mousy woman slightly relaxed, hunching just a bit more in bad posture as she settled to the ground cross-legged. Soon everyone else joined her, each shifting and moving until they found a comfortable spot.

“Okay,” the leader said, straightening out her skirt with firm pats. “Focus, now.”

Charles sighed softly and leaned his forearm on the tree over me, getting comfortable. His hard chest pushed into my face, squishing my nose and having me gasping. I grabbed skin in my two fingers, squeezed, and twisted for all I was worth. It was a pinch to tell the masses about. They probably used it in the Spanish Inquisition.

Charles grunted and backed off quickly, the slide of his skin on bark permeating the space. The heads of all four women snapped toward us.