Dangerous Things. Amy Blankenship

until one went down there.”

      â€œWe also have someone that knows how to deal with demons,” Trevor offered. “With any luck, she’ll be able to figure it out once we call her in.”

      â€œIt’s not too late to back out,” Zachary said to Chad. “Just give the word and we’ll wipe your memory of everything that happened.”

      Chad frowned and started to pour coffee for the three of them. He’d been a cop all his life because he wanted to make a difference. More than once though, he felt like he wasn’t doing enough. There was always one more drug dealer, one more murderer, one more traffic violation… it just didn’t seem worth it sometimes. But what Trevor and Zachary were doing did make a difference… the kind of difference Chad had always wanted to make.

      Taking a long drink of his coffee, he set his cup down and nodded once. “I’m in.”

      *****

      Angelica decided that phones were worse than demons when hers started ringing at three in the morning. Looking at the caller ID, she narrowed her eyes and grabbed the receiver. Turning it on, she pushed her dark hair out of her way and placed it against her ear.

      â€œUnless the world’s falling apart, the seas have turned red, the seven plagues of Egypt have returned, or you’re dying, there’d better be a damn good explanation for you waking me up,” she growled.

      â€œAw, come on Boo… is that any way to talk to your Zachy-bear?”

      Angelica hung up and dropped her head back onto the pillow. She’d just gotten back to sleep when the phone rang again. Without looking at the phone, she turned it on and spoke again.

      â€œI’m going to get you, Zachary,” she muttered. “You and your little dog too.”

      â€œOh my, Wizard of Oz flashbacks,” Zachary gasped and Angelica secretly smiled at his antics, glad he couldn’t see her.

      â€œWhat do you want?” she sat up, pushing her hair out of her face.

      â€œWe got a really nasty one for you named Misery,” Zachary offered.

      Angelica climbed out of bed and turned on the lamp. “How big?”

      â€œNot sure, but I’m going to guess a level seven.” He smiled into the phone knowing that would get her attention… and he just loved getting Boo’s attention.

      Angelica walked out into the living room and turned on her laptop. She typed in a few things and frowned.

      â€œLevel seven? Are you sure?” she asked. Anything over a level five was very dangerous and extremely rare.

      â€œIt’s just a guess,” Zachary answered. “It was able to trap one of our two fallen that we’ve been following and apparently another fallen had been down there with it for a long time. Since they are considered level seven then I’m assuming anything powerful enough to trap one is an equal.”

      Angelica was searching her database. More than three quarters of it had been illegally obtained from the vaults of the Vatican, but no one could argue with her results. The fact that a level seven demon might have been discovered in Los Angeles was more than enough of a reason to wake up not only her, but the rest of the P.I.T. crew as well.

      Each demon was placed in a class of one through ten, with level ten being the equivalent of Satan himself. She’d hate to run into anyone who possessed enough magic to seal away a level seven demon… you’d need the thunder of God to pull it off.

      â€œI’m not finding anything on a demon named Misery in the Los Angeles area,” she said after a few minutes. “Let me hook up my external hard drive and take a look at those files.”

      She heard Zachary talking to someone in the background and figured it was Trevor until she heard another voice join in the conversation.

      â€œWho are you talking to?” she asked curiously.

      â€œThe newest member of our team, Chad,” Zachary answered. “He’s a local cop that knows a little too much, so we brought him on to protect the masses, and by the masses I mean the other idiots he works with.”

      Angelica smirked, “They’re probably worse out there.”

      â€œNot by much,” Zachary said.

      â€œOkay,” Angelica said. “I got it hooked up, let’s take a look around and see what all I’ve got on here.”

      â€œYou mean you don’t know?” Zachary asked in surprise.

      Angelica sighed, “You know how I am. I’d forget my head if it wasn’t attached sometimes. I’ve only had a chance to explore a fraction of this thing.”

      â€œYeah, you did download it in a big hurry.” Zachary said and sighed himself. “Good times, good times.”

      Angelica accessed the hard drive and typed a word into her search prompt and pressed enter.

      â€œI take it you haven’t been behaving yourself.” Angelica asked leaning back on her sofa while the computer did its thing.

      â€œHell no,” Zachary laughed. “You can’t take me anywhere, remember?”

      Angelica winced remembering only a couple months ago when they’d gone to a big gala while chasing a four year old werewolf who had gotten lost and wasn’t very happy about it. By the end of the night, Zachary had lost his pants because the werewolf had transformed during a child’s temper tantrum and ripped them to shreds.

      The funniest part was that Zackary hadn’t said a thing, just took them off and walked around in his underwear and tuxedo jacket and shirt. Angelica couldn’t make up her mind whether to be embarrassed or laugh her ass off. Seeing his legs with the knee high socks and dress shoes had nearly killed her when several of the young ladies crowded around him wanting to dance.

      Her laptop beeped and she sat forward to look at what the search had found.

      â€œFind anything?” Zachary asked.

      Angelica opened a few of the files that had the word Misery located in them and started reading. Her cigarette slipped from her fingers as she read and landed on her foot.

      â€œOuch, damn it!” she cursed and picked her cigarette back up, quickly putting it out.

      â€œEverything okay?” Zackary frowned worriedly and held up a hand when Trevor wanted to know what was going on.

      Angelica read over the information again just to be sure. “I’m catching the next flight out,” she informed him before pulling the phone away from her ear. She hung up on Zachary’s questions and looked back at the screen. It wasn’t what she had read that made her so sure this was dangerous… it was that the head man of PIT had somehow just locked her out of the file.

      If Storm was keeping secrets… then she was wanted to know why.

      Chapter 2

      Anthony paced relentlessly across the marble floor of his study. He ran a hand through his dark hair in frustration and anger. He knew he’d lost his temper when he killed Arthur and now he’d also lost his leverage for binding Jewel to him as his mate… not that it would stop him.

      He’d meant for the situation to remain calm… but when Arthur had brought up Anthony’s father, the werewolf part of him had lost it. Now he’d be forced to use coercion of a different kind on his runaway bride. The only problem was, he had to find her first.

      Someone knocked on the door and Anthony stopped pacing long enough to straighten his hair