Agent Dark- Vegas Read online

  “Honest to God, he jumped.”

  “OK. Well, I can hack into all the surveillance cameras in the area. Anything in particular I should be looking for? Most of the cameras won’t detect the difference between a human and a demon using a glamor.”

  “He chewed his own arm off during the fight. Would that affect his glamor?”

  “He did what? Why did he— Never mind, I don’t want to know. Yes, his glamor probably only has one arm as well. I’ll scan the images and see what I can find.”

  “Great. Thanks, Henry.”

  “While the computers do their thing, I was talking to Judah; he’s done making your laptop and he’s bringing it to Boston.”

  “Really? That’s sweet. He could’ve shipped it.”

  “He has to come to Boston for meetings anyway. We are working on a new AI program together. But really I think he wants to see Vesper.”

  Kat laughed. “Of course he does.”

  “Ah. Here we go. Your demon is only a couple of blocks from where he was last night. A security camera caught him only a few minutes ago. There are a few industrial buildings to the east of the apartment buildings you were at. He looks to be heading that way.”

  “Perfect. Thanks, Henry. I owe you.”

  “Bring me some donuts and we’ll call it even. You should visit the office more often.”

  Visiting the office was something Kat had been specifically avoiding ever since Vesper had been wrongly arrested for demon summoning. That it had been her partner who arrested Vesper made it even more awkward. He’d apologized to both her and Vesper since then, but the damage was done. At some point she’d have to go back. Perhaps a donut delivery was a low-key way to do it. “If I catch this bozo tonight, I’ll be bringing you all the Blackbird Donuts your little nerd heart desires.”

  “Blackbird Donuts? Oh, I’d love a blueberry white-chocolate Bismarck.”

  Kat smiled. She could practically hear Henry salivating at the mention of his favorite donuts. “I think that can be arranged.”

  “Sweet.”

  “Dude,” she answered instinctively.

  “What does mine say?”

  Kat pumped her fist. “SWEET.” She was always pleasantly surprised when someone caught her movie references.

  ...

  After a quick drive around the industrial area that Henry had mentioned, Kat got a whiff of the demon’s scent. It was faint, but it had been even when she was close to it. This demon was as close to scent free as you could get in a fabric softener, or a demon.

  Leaving the Dodge, she followed the scent to a warehouse. The warehouse was housed inside a ten-foot-tall chain-link fence with a round of barbed wire at the top. It looked more like a prison yard than a warehouse. Kat scanned the fence for an opening, but she could see nothing. The damned demon had probably jumped right over it. She wasn’t even going to attempt to try it. Luckily, her magic skills had progressed enough that she knew a rune that would create an opening in the fence.

  Running her finger along the fence, Kat watched as the metal started to glow and then peel back, creating a temporary door. She stepped through and headed to the door of the warehouse. Judging by the amount of undisturbed dirt in front of the door, this warehouse wasn’t visited often. She inspected the door, and it was locked. To her left was a window, but it was easily fifteen feet from the ground. From her position, she could see that the window was slightly open. The demon had entered the warehouse from the window.

  Kat looked at the window. Maybe if she ran and jumped, she could do some crazy parkour moves and get to it, but then she’d still have to get out. On the other hand, if the building had any security, it was likely on the door. She took another look at the window and shook her head. It looked crazy, but she had draia power now, so maybe she could make it.

  She lined herself up with the window and took a run at the wall. She jumped as high as she could, then kicked off the wall, propelling herself up. She almost made it, but when she’d kicked she pushed too far away. Taking another run at the wall, she jumped again. This time she was able to reach up and grab the ledge. She pulled herself up and could see that the window frame had been broken. It certainly wasn’t a case of someone forgetting to close the window.

  Crawling inside, she looked around. It was a medium-sized warehouse, or what she assumed was a medium-sized warehouse, as she’d only ever seen a couple of them. It was filled with rows of shelves and boxes—nothing that warranted interest, other than for being potential hiding spots for an annoying gorilla-sized demon.

  Jumping down to the floor, Kat started following the faint demon scent. She carefully made her way through the maze of shelving units and haphazardly stacked boxes until she spotted the demon in a corner, hiding in the shadows.

  “Draia, you have no business on the mortal plane. Your kind belongs in Unreha,” the gorilla demon hissed in a voice that sounded more like it belonged with a lizard than something that looked like an evil gorilla.

  “I’ve lived here all of my life; I think that gives me certain citizenship rights. Besides, you are one to talk. Your kind certainly doesn’t belong here.”

  “The human realm will belong to those strong enough to hold it. My masters will soon arrive and take what is rightfully ours.”

  Kat nodded. “Well, when they show up, I’ll explain why I sent your ass back to hell. In case no one told you, killing humans isn’t acceptable.”

  The demon huffed. “Humans are cattle, food and slaves for their superiors.”

  “You don’t get asked to many dinner parties, do you? It’s not polite to insult your hosts.”

  The demon’s eyes glowed in the dark and were narrowing. She could see a subtle shift in the shadows as the demon prepared to attack. Her hand was resting on her Glock, and she was ready.

  She stood like the sheriff at high noon, waiting for the desperado to draw, or in this case launch himself forward in an attack, which the gorilla demon did at just that moment.

  Kat drew and fired. She kept firing until the demon finally stopped coming forward and fell to the ground. She maintained her stance, ready to fire more holy water bullets into the body if it moved, but the body burst into flames.

  One more demon back where it belongs, Kat thought as she holstered her gun. The whole “my masters” bit sounded rather cliché, but she’d run it by Dexter and see if there were any other demons running around spouting off doomsday prophecies.

  4

  Kat

  After dealing with the gorilla demon in an efficient and professional manner, something she’d failed miserably at the previous few nights, Kat was in the mood to celebrate. And by celebrate, she meant pick up a quart of Ben & Jerry’s Half-Baked ice cream and watch a movie. Whoever had decided to combine chocolate fudge brownie and chocolate chip cookie dough into one ice cream was a national hero. No, a genius national hero who deserved a medal.

  Of course, when she was hungry, she thought everyone who made her favorite foods was a genius who deserved a medal, but that was beside the point. Right now, her mission was to hang out with her buddies Ben and Jerry.

  Kat pulled over into the Stop and Shop parking lot, and entered the store. Normally, she’d make a beeline for the frozen section, but since she now had a roommate, she decided that community snacks was a thing. Besides, if she gave Vesper more options, the chances of her wanting to steal her ice cream diminished. Taking a small cart, Kat filled it with chips, pretzels, licorice, and then her ice cream. There, Kat thought, all the essential food groups for a movie night.

  After paying for her treasures, Kat headed back to the car. Outside, standing in front of the Dodge were three men.

  Kat frowned. All three men were wearing Blood Runners’ colors and had their hands strategically placed on, or near, what were obviously concealed weapons. Looking down at her bag of goodies, she worried that they’d get shot. “I’m putting down my groceries. Whatever you do, do not shoot my groceries. I will not be held responsible for what happens i
f my ice cream gets hit.”

  The three men glanced nervously at each other and then the one in the middle spoke. “Why would we shoot your stinking ice cream? You think we’re savages?”

  “Not at all,” Kat said. “But innocent bystanders get hurt all the time. I just don’t want Ben and Jerry being hurt.”

  “You’re kind of crazy, aren’t you?” asked the one on the right—a thicker dude with a bad handlebar mustache.

  “I’m crazy? I’m not the one trying to pull off that mustache. You don’t have the chin for it. Grow a beard, or at least a goatee.”

  One of his friends snickered while the bad mustache dude’s brow furrowed as he tried to think of a comeback.

  Kat slowly stepped away from the bag of goodies, trying to get it out of the line of fire.

  The guy who snickered shook his head. “Lady, I don’t know why you are trying so hard to protect your ice cream. It isn’t like you’re going to get to eat it.”

  “Who’s going to stop me? You three?”

  “Hell no. We’re the distraction.”

  As the gang member’s words filtered into her brain, Kat could only think one thing: shit. She turned to see what had crept up behind her while she blabbered on with the guys in front of her, but before she could finish turning, a powerful pair of hands grabbed her by her head and shoulder, exposing her neck. She could feel the attacker’s breath as it tried to bite her neck.

  A damned vampire! The Blood Runners had brought a vampire in to hunt her. Kat reached over her shoulder as quickly as she could. Her hand grasped the vampire’s hair, holding its head back. Its fangs were a beaver’s hair away from her exposed flesh.

  The vampire growled in frustration as it couldn’t push down against her arm. She was stronger than him.

  Kat twisted her body away from his deadly fangs and punched him in the gut as she turned. The vampire let go of her and stumbled back.

  “Sorry. I don’t neck on the first date,” Kat said as she moved to attack him.

  “Kill her,” the vampire hissed.

  Shit, she’d turned her back to the three gang members and then forgotten about them. Keep your head in the game, Kat, it’s only a stinking blood sucker. You’ve sparred with his kind plenty, Kat thought to herself as she pivoted on her back foot so that she spun around so she could watch both the vampire and the gang members.

  Two of the men had pulled their guns out and were aiming at her. She used her magic to bring up her magical ward. She’d gotten quite good with it and wasn’t worried about the bullets being fired at her. The trick was keeping the ward up while fighting the vampire.

  As the gang members fired at her, Kat drew her gun and was just about to return fire when the vampire struck her in the hand, kicking her gun away. He followed it up with a combination of strikes that Kat only partially blocked. She needed one free hand to keep the ward magic up.

  Bullets bounced off her as her ward did its job, but the repeated blows to the face and stomach from the vampire were starting to wear her down. She needed to do something before things got desperate. Ducking under a right hook from the vampire, Kat landed a well-placed side kick that sent the vampire back a few steps.

  Kat spun to face the shooters. She frantically tried her stupid freaky spider powers again. A web of magic ice shot out and splattered all over the closest shooter. It reminded Kat of a porno spoof she’d seen on the Internet. Distracted by the thought, Kat didn’t see the vampire’s next punch coming.

  The hit to the back of her head knocked Kat to the ground. Anger and frustration started to fill Kat. She was really starting to get pissed off by the fact she’d had to resort to using her gross web magic, and now this asshole vamp wasn’t even letting her finish the job.

  Kat kicked, striking the vampire in the ankle. The kick knocked the vampire to the ground. Kat followed up with a second kick to the vampire’s face. She then turned and fired two more shots of magic webbing at the last two shooters.

  Jumping to her feet, Kat glanced at the shooters. All three were basically frozen, stuck in the magical webbing. Finally, she could focus on just one opponent.

  The vampire, realizing the situation, stood up. “I don’t suppose you’d consider a truce.”

  Kat shook her head. “A little late for that.”

  The vampire gave a cocky grin. “Worth a try.” He attacked again. However, this time he had Kat’s full attention. She blocked his attacks and then landed a spinning kick that sent the vampire flying through the air. She grabbed her gun from the ground and pointed it at the vampire as it got to its feet. “All right, play time’s over. Put your hands in the air.”

  The vampire put his hands in the air, but started slowly walking towards Kat. “What, you’re going to arrest me?”

  “Arrest you, send you to paranormal prison, find you a nice cellmate who will call you George, and he will love you and squeeze you forever.”

  “Sounds lovely, but I think I’d rather just kill you,” the vampire said as it started to lunge towards her.

  Kat fired three rounds into the vampire’s chest.

  The vampire looked shocked. He looked down at his chest and then back at Kat. “Bitch, I hope they kill you slowly.”

  Kat shook her head as he dropped to the ground. It was too bad dead vampires didn’t burst into flames like demons. She would’ve enjoyed watching that asshole disintegrating. Also, there would’ve been less paperwork.

  Checking on the three gang members stuck in her magical webbing, Kat ignored their cursing. She phoned the MBI headquarters and got Tanya, the girl at the front desk.

  “Hey, Kat, what’s up?”

  “My blood pressure. I just had three asshats and a vampire try to kill me.”

  “I’ll call the local PD and the morgue. Four bodies?”

  “No. One dead vampire and three Blood Runners who just need to be collected.”

  “OK. I have your GPS coordinates. A paranormal coroner team is on the way, and so is an FBI team.”

  “The FBI and not the local PD?” Kat asked.

  “Because they are gang members who attempted to kill a federal agent. If it had been dead bodies, local PD can do the paperwork, but since you’re actually bringing in live suspects, this time they get the FBI.”

  “I see.” Kat almost felt bad that most of the bad dudes she’d met ended up dead, or almost. It was hard to feel bad about killing someone when they were firing a semiautomatic at you.

  The FBI team arrived much quicker than Kat had anticipated. “Wow, you guys got here quick,” Kat said as the two agents got out of their car. “I literally just made the call.”

  “Someone in the store called it in to nine-one-one,” said the first agent. “When they described a guy trying to bite a woman only to get his ass kicked, it got bumped to us. We would’ve called the MBI, but with the play-by-play we were getting from the guy in the store, it seemed like you had it under control.”

  Kat recognized the agent, but she couldn’t remember his name. “We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

  “Agent Sam Smith. I was at the first crime scene with that demon affair. We didn’t officially meet. And my lovely partner is Agent Betty Black. She loves to take these paranormal calls.”

  “As if you don’t,” said Agent Black as she inspected the three gang members and the web of magic they were caught in. “You don’t see cool stuff like this unless you take the paranormal calls.”

  Agent Smith shrugged. “She’s just happy she won our bet.”

  “Bet?” Kat asked.

  “When we were listening to the nine-one-one call, the guy was describing the fight as it happened. He got really animated and descriptive when talking about your magic,” Agent Smith said.

  Agent Black laughed. “Funniest thing I’ve heard in weeks. He almost lost his mind. He was comparing it to that naughty Muppets movie. He said it was almost like the scene where the blue private eye Muppet sprays down the office with his stuff.”

  Kat made a face. Sh
e knew the movie, and the scene. She didn’t disagree with the caller’s description. “Yes. It is kind of gross.”

  “Are you kidding? It is awesome,” Agent Black said as she touched the webbing. “It’s like a combination of spider webbing and icicles. It’s even cold to the touch.”

  “It’s damn cold,” one of the Blood Runners complained. “Get us out of here.”

  “You just settle down. First, we’re going to get your guns, and then we’ll get you out of there,” Agent Smith said. He then turned to Kat. “We can get them out of there, can’t we?”

  Kat thought about it. The weird webbing was some sort of variation of the restraining spell. So, in theory, the release for the restraining spell might work? She’d only used the magic once.

  “I think so.”

  Agents Smith and Black carefully reached through the strands of magic and patted down the gang members and made sure they didn’t have any more weapons. They carefully pried the guns out of the hands of the men. “OK. Release them if you can.”

  Kat took a deep breath. She really wanted this to work. It was embarrassing enough that she was casting web magic, but if she couldn’t make it go away...

  She waved her hand and whispered, “Restraints release.” She held her breath for a moment and waited. Seconds later, the magical icy web sticking to the three criminals started to melt away. Within ten more seconds the webs were all gone, leaving only a puddle of water and three shivering bad guys. Kat exhaled in relief.

  “So cool,” Agent Smith said. “You’re like if Spidey and Freya the Ice Queen had a love child.”

  Kat frowned. “Does that make me a half emo teenage boy who can’t stop shooting his web off, half evil bitch with an even more evil sister?”

  Agent Black chuckled.

  Agent Smith smiled. “Something like that.”

  Kat shook her head and hoped to God she didn’t have an evil sister somewhere in Unreha who would come to ruin her life one day. The only good part of the comparison was being compared to a character played by Emily Blunt, and that was a comparison she’d take all day. Emily was hot.