Claire had a look of proud accomplishment on her face for her little circle of Hell. “Now, Valerie, go ahead and tell the circle what you need the demon for.”
“I need a demon guide,” Val told the circle. When the circle didn’t answer back, she continued, “To find a demon named Julian who has stolen something that I need to get back.”
“Good enough.” Claire swished her robe and knelt in front of the powdered circle. She opened the book, and then gave Val an enthusiastic sideways grin. “Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
“Not the Bette Davis impression,” Reggie grumbled into Val’s ear. “Anything but the Bette
Davis impression.”
With the flashlight propped under her chin, Claire read aloud from the little book. It was in another language, something Val didn’t understand at all. Was it Latin? Didn’t Claire just say she didn’t understand that language? How did she even know what she was reading? And should Val be more nervous than she already was?
As a full-fledged angel in Heaven, Val vaguely remembered being able to understand all languages of the human souls who entered through the gates. And just as she’d been told that all unusual meat tastes vaguely like chicken, all languages were the same and understandable to her.
But that was then and this was now.
Even though she wasn’t sure Claire understood what she was saying, she still spoke in a commanding tone, never hesitating even once. There was another container next to her—this one squat and about the size of a margarine tub—from which she scattered what looked like pink salt as a punctuation to the end of each line she spoke.
It felt like it was taking forever and nothing was happening, but finally Val felt something. A wind. As if someone had turned on a heat fan. The warm air blew through the room and swirled around the circle. The crystal suddenly began to glow.
“It’s working,” Claire whispered. “Now concentrate on what you want so we can find the best demon for you.”
Concentrate. Okay. Val closed her eyes and tried to think about Barlow. The key. Finding
Julian. Nathaniel kissing her, his body pressed firmly against hers.
No, wait, she thought. That wasn’t important.
The perfect demon guide. Who would have to obey his summoner and not be able to lie.
Reggie let out a little yelp and Val’s eyes snapped open.
The cigar-smoking demon was staring at them from across the room. Well, at Reggie, anyhow. And it looked hungry. Claire had stopped reading and also watched it warily.
“I’m almost finished,” she whispered. “I just need to throw a last pinch of shadow salt into the circle.”
“Well, let’s hurry it up shall we?” Val said . . .
. . . Just as the demon launched itself at her.
“No!” Claire leapt to her feet to block its path. “You’re not going to hurt my boyfriend.”
“Your boyfriend?” Reggie piped up.
“Ex-boyfriend.”
“Muck-ruick soorl,” the demon spat at her.
“How dare you!”
“What did he say?” Val asked.
“No idea,” Claire replied. “But it sounded rude, don’t you think?”
The demon was growling, obviously agitated that he was being kept from what it probably thought was a tasty snack. Reggie was now so entwined in Val’s hair she worried she might need to cut him loose.
The demon took a step forward and Claire held out her hand. “Stop!”
“Ollor kiiod!”
And then two things happened at once. The demon jumped at Claire and she said some witchy
Latin thing. A pulse of white light emanated from her and touched the demon, causing it to freeze in mid-jump. It looked nervously from side to side, and then . . .
The only way Val thought she could describe it would be to say it fizzled. Like a firecracker.
Gone. The stogie dropped to the floor and Claire took a second to grind it out with her shoe before she fell forward on the carpet.
Val rushed to her side and shook her shoulder.
“Claire, are you okay?”
She was breathing, but it was shallow. Val couldn’t believe Claire had that much power.
She’d just vanquished a demon without any props or tools. Holy impressive, Batman.
She blinked up at Val, looking a little, stunned. “I just kicked a little ass, I think.”
“You did indeed. A little black, furry ass.”
“You need to finish the summoning. Just concentrate very hard on what you want . . . throw the shadow salt . . . and keep the crystal safe. I need to . . .” Her voice trailed off.
“You need to? You need to what?”
“Have a nap. G’night.” She shut her eyes and immediately started to snore.
Terrific. Just terrific.
Val looked at Reggie, which hurt her neck a little since he was sitting on her left shoulder.
“Now what?”
His eyes were very big, but it could have just been their proximity to hers. His whiskers twitched. “Did you see what she just did to that thing?”
“Uh-huh.”
He scratched an ear. “I guess I got off lucky.”