Tempting the Demon. Elle James

Blaise responded.

      To my right, something moved in the dark.

      My heart leaped and my hand went to the gun in the holster beneath my jacket. My senses identified the creature at the same time as a scrawny black cat eased out from behind a giant trash container, headed straight for me. I hate cats. And of course, for some bizarre reason, they love me.

      All slinky, independent and mysterious, they give me the creeps. Long ago I’d decided not to make war with them. If they truly had nine lives, that gave them nine chances to get back at me. I wasn’t risking it. As the feline weaved its body around my legs, I braced myself and pretended it didn’t matter.

      Blaise bent and scratched the creature beneath its chin, his body warm next to mine. “Hey, kitty, I bet you have stories to tell, huh, fella?”

      Rudy strode past us into the alley. “So this is where they found the stiff?”

      Trust Rudy to be crass. Blaise said, “That stiff might have been someone’s father, son or husband.”

      The agent feigned shock. “You mean demons have parents and children? I thought they hatched, like lizards or snakes.”

      “Can I hit him now?” I asked.

      Blaise straightened. “Not worth the scraped knuckles. Besides, he’s goading us. Are you going to rise to his remarks?”

      “That’s why I brought him along.”

      “I can hear what you’re saying, you know,” Rudy said from halfway down the gloomy alley. “Nothing here, by the way.” He bent to lift a discarded cardboard box and peered beneath it.

      “Three days and I can still smell death.” I tipped my chin up and inhaled. “But it’s not coming from this alley.” Like a beagle on the trail, I followed my nose past a closed appliance store, a liquor store with a neon Open sign flashing in the window, and a grocery whose doors had probably closed at sunset, the steel cage rolled down over the windows and locked securely. The scent grew stronger the closer I got to the next alley entrance.

      Blaise and the cat kept pace.

      As I turned into the next alley, someone groaned. No, it was more of a last breath being released. The acrid smell of death hit me hard and I staggered backward.

      That’s when I saw it.

      Like a wraith swathed in a long black cape, the figure rose from the ground and raced to the opposite end of the alley.

      “Stop!” On instinct, I ripped my nine-millimeter Glock from my holster and aimed at the fleeing person. “Or I’ll shoot!”

      The shadowy figure never slowed, dodging right around the far end of the building and disappearing from sight.

      “Take the next block!” I shouted to Blaise as I ran after the figure.

      I tripped over a big lump of rags stretched across the ground, mostly concealed in the gloom of the building, and landed hard on a pale blob. My hands pressed against the blob, realizing it was a body with arms and legs. Death wafted up and wrapped around me, its cloying scent gagging me as I struggled to get off of the body.

      The whitewashed features, the blank stare and the horrific stench led me to the instant conclusion that he was dead, and nothing I could do would fix that. I pulled myself up and ran on, determined to stop the killer before he took another life, human or demon.

      As I skidded around the corner at the end of the building, gun drawn, another figure came to a halt at the opposite corner. I aimed and would have pulled the trigger if he hadn’t spoken immediately.

      “It got away,” Blaise called out.

      “Damn.”

      Blaise closed the distance between us and we walked back to the body.

      “Is he human or demon?” I asked.

      “You tell me.” Blaise waited.

      I’d smelled dead human more times than I could count. This wasn’t the same. He had a grittier, more pungent scent. “Not human.”

      With a nod, Blaise crouched down beside the dead demon. “This man looks like he’s been dead for while, but at the same time it appears to be a fresh kill.”

      “Look at his face.” I knelt beside him, trying not to let the stench choke me. “He’s smiling.” His lips were turned up at the corners.

      “And he’s still got a hard-on.” Blaise pointed to the man’s genitals, exposed to the night air.

      “You think a hooker is offing these demons?”

      A shot rang out, echoing off the brick walls.

      I leaped to my feet. “Where’s Rudy?”