90_Minutes_to_Live (30 page)

“Stay away from him,” she hurried to her father's side, but when she tried to help him stand, her hands went right through his body as if it was a projection image. Trembling, she watched as the bull demon hoisted her father to his feet.

Her father's left cheek was red, as though he had just been punched. “What do you want?” he asked.

Another figure stepped into the doorway. Julia recognized the pale-faced demon right away from the local evening news. Trich was a fire spirit known for working in the criminal underworld. His explosive rage had a reputation on both sides of the law. Even though Trich wore an expensive suit and fedora hat, she could still smell the strong stench of sulfur on him.

“From you? Nothing.” Trich said. His goon handed him her father's phone. “You're just bait,” he pocketed the phone and motioned for the guard to take her father away.

Julia jumped to her feet. “Let him go!” Her pleas went nowhere.

The guard slammed a fist into her father's gut. Julia felt the wind sucked out of her as he groaned. The demon twisted her father's arms behind his back and led him out of his home. Trich lingered in the door, scanning the interior with a sneer. A flash of ruby glinted in his coal-black eyes.

“You bastard!” Julia tried to grab the demon but her hands went right through him. She let out a frustrated cry, upset she couldn't hurt him the way he was hurting her father. As he turned off the lights and exited the house, she raced after him. Her legs moved as if they were stuck in quicksand. She watched her father get stuffed into the backseat of a black van. “Dad!” But she wasn’t fast enough. Everything became blurry as her vision narrowed. The pain between her eyes returned, but this time, it felt like hot lava poured into their sockets. She grabbed her head and screamed.

*   *   *

Something cool touched Julia's forehead. Her eyes flew open and she sat up, gasping for air.

“Take it easy.” Sam pushed her back down to the ground. He wiped a damp towel across her sweaty forehead. “Just breathe.”

She tried to inhale but each time she did, her chest ached, not just from the effects of the spell but also from what she had just witnessed. A demon had kidnapped her father!
You're just bait
. But for what and for who?

“I saw what happened Sam,” she closed her eyes, but she could see her father’s battered body. “I saw who took my dad. A demon named Trich. He works-”

Sam stopped wiping her face. “I know who
he
is.” his voice grew cold. “The cops are always trying to bust him on something but the charges never stick. What does Trich want with your dad?”

“I don't know,” she opened her eyes and slowly sat up. She was still in the corridor in front of the doorway. The two candles had gone cold.

“Here.” Sam slipped her father's keychain into her hand.

She swallowed the lump in her throat as she looked at the photograph her father treasured so much. How could it be possible, that just an hour ago they were talking about dinner over the phone?

The phone.

“I need my phone,” she said.

“It's on the counter.” Sam left her to grab it. “You gonna call the police now?”

“Trich said my dad was bait. I don't want to put him in more danger by calling the police.”

“Then, what are you going to do Jules? We've already cast a retrieval spell. How far are you going to take this on your own?” he stood over her with her phone in his hand. “Now that we know someone like Trich is involved, this is getting too dangerous.”

She looked up at him without blinking. “You can leave if you want Sam, but this is my
father
.”

He narrowed his gray eyes but handed her the phone.

“Thank you.” she called her father's number. With each ring, her heart quickened.
Pick up. Please pick up!
The line clicked as someone answered. “Dad?”

“Hello Julia.” Trich's velvety voice sent a shiver through her body. Her name must have shown up as the incoming call.

She pretended she didn't know whom she was talking to. “Who is this?” Sam crouched down beside her and she set the phone to speaker. “I'm looking for Leon McKinley.”

“He's fine. I have one of my associates keeping him company.” A muffled groan came from the background.

Julia struggled to keep her voice even. “What do you want?”

“Meet me at Mayhem in fifteen minutes and I can fill you in,” Trich said.

Julia met Sam's hardened gaze. She knew if Trich were standing in front of Sam, her best friend would break the demon's nose.

“Willie's,” she said.

Sam raised his brows and mouthed, “What?”

“If you want to fill me in, meet me at Willie's Tacos downtown,” she told Trich. Willie's would be crowded with humans and También; if she had agreed to meet him at Mayhem, she knew they would outnumber her inside the popular demon nightclub.

“Fine,” Trich said. “I could go for some fish tacos right now. I'll see you there and Julia, if you show up with any surprises, my associate has instructions on how to dispose of your father.” With that, Trich ended the conversation.

She stared at the silent phone. Her stomach knotted, bile rising in her throat. She stood on shaky legs.

Sam put his hands on his hips. “Are we seriously going to meet Trich for tacos right now?”

“Not you,” her voice sounded hollow, “just me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You heard him. No surprises,” she walked over to the coffee table and picked up her book. “I can't risk it Sam, I'm sorry.” She headed for the door when he grabbed her arm.

“And I can't risk you going after Trich alone. What if it's a trap? What if he knows you're a librarian and wants to use you for something?”

 Everything inside her dropped into dead weight. “Then I guess it's my fault Trich took my dad.” She felt as helpless as when her father's alcoholism took him away from her.

“Don't say that,” Sam said with a shake of his head.

She pulled her arm from his hold, struggling to keep her tears from spilling. “Don't come with me Sam. I need to do this part on my own.”

With a deep frown, he stepped back.

“I'll call you later,” she raced into the darkness, clutching her book and father's keychain.

*   *   *

Julia turned down Main Street in her Honda. Downtown Stockland had a few skyscrapers that housed businesses, banks and hotels, but since it was a Saturday night, the streets filled with a younger crowd. Girls in short skirts and heels; guys roaring their engines down the street in their souped-up Civics. She drove past the long line in front of the popular Mayhem dance club. The También, with their human buddies, waited to cross the velvet rope to get into the exclusive venue, owned by millionaire and music producer Conrad Jones.

Conrad was already a famous Hollywood name before he came out as a werewolf ten years ago. She remembered nights during university when she stumbled into the club with her girlfriends, including one who was a fairy, dressed in bright colors with their hair and make-up done. Then, they danced with their bodies pressed against other bodies—some with heartbeats, and some without.

A handful of human protestors, across the street from Mayhem, raised their picket signs. GO BACK TO HELL. HUMANS ONLY. JUSTICE IN SEATTLE. If they weren’t careful they
would
end up in a riot like at that Seattle club. Julia didn't know what it was like to live in a world without the También
.
Her father had told her stories about her grandparents not being able to sit in the front of a bus or drink from a water fountain just because of the color of their skin. Now instead of human rights, it was También rights that were the new movement.

But what right did Trich have in kidnapping her father?

She pulled into Willie's parking lot. The popular taco shop was usually filled with people coming from the beach and kids from her alma mater, UC-Stockland. She entered the restaurant and scanned the place. A group of elves, with their tall lean frames, pale skin, clear blue eyes and pointy ears, waited for their order. A Cyclops in a Hawaiian shirt eyeballed her as she walked past him. Loud laughter exploded from a table of college students, mixed with humans and También.

“Damn. You're a good-looking chocolate milkshake.” Trich approached her with a grin. “You look just like the picture your daddy carries in his wallet. I'm Trich.”

She cringed, not only from him being a creep but also from the overwhelming smell of sulfur filling her nostrils. The same expensive suit and fedora hat she had seen in her spell didn't do anything to mask his true nature.

“I got a table by the window,” he said, “...and some tacos waiting for us. You like steak, right?” he winked.

She narrowed her eyes but followed him. Just as he said, there were two orders of tacos waiting for them. Despite her still-empty stomach, she didn't touch her food.

Trich took a large bite from his fish taco. “Delicious,” he licked the salsa from his fingers.

She wanted to take the fork on the table and stab it through his hand. Instead, she sat back and crossed her arms. “Okay, I'm here. Fill me in.”

“You want to get your dad back, right? All you have to do is a favor for me,” he pointed to her plate. “Don't let that food go to waste darling.”

“Why would I want to do a favor for you? I've heard the stories. Money laundering. Theft. Murder. What makes you think I won't go to the police?”

He finished his taco and wiped his thin lips with a napkin. “Because you're sitting right here across from me,” he turned his head to the left, then to the right. “And I don't see any cops around, do you?”

He was calling her bluff but that didn't intimidate her. Maybe it was because they were talking in a crowded area or maybe it was because she didn't have time to be scared. She had to save her father—and if that included working for a demon, she would do it.

“What kind of favor do you want?” she asked.

“I have an associate who needs help reversing a spell. Last night, he went to collect a debt from a client—a gypsy—but when she couldn't pay up, he had no choice but to show her the consequences,” he took another bite of his taco and slurped it down with a Coke. “You heard about the fire down here last night, at the bakery?”

Julia shook her head. She had worked late at the library and crashed right into bed when she got home and today, she had studied until her father's phone call.

“It was at Sweet Treats, just down the block. The gypsy was the owner,” Trich said. “You see, she wasn't cooperating, so my associate had to teach her a lesson. He set the bakery on fire but before he did, the bitch put a curse on him. This morning, all his hair had fallen out.

“What happened to the owner?” Julia asked, even though she already knew the dreaded answer.

“She got what she deserved,” Trich said, taking another sip of his Coke. “Bitch went up in flames with her cookies and cakes.”

Julia felt lightheaded. She dug her nails in her palms to control herself from fleeing the table, because she couldn't stand to be around this monster for another minute.

“Her name was Emilie Balanescu and she was a member the Sinti Tribe,” Trich said. “From what I gather, you know a great deal about the Romani people. I read your bio on the library's web page Julia. You studied the people and its language at university. As a
librarian
, it's your specialized department.”

“So, this reversal spell is for your associate to get his hair back.” Never mind that he had killed a woman and set her business on fire; all he cared about was his appearance. Now she felt like vomiting.

“Who knows what will fall off next?” Trich grabbed a steak taco from her plate. “This is a very important associate of mine. I gave him my word I would reverse the spell. If you do that for me, I give you my word your father will be returned to you.”

“And I say your word means shit to me.”

The ruby glint returned to his dark eyes. “Ah,
Baby Girl,
you should hear your father call out to you when he's in pain. It breaks my useless heart.”

 Anger electrified her body. She jumped to her feet, one hand on her fork. She was seconds from stabbing it into his neck.

“Careful Julia,” Trich said. “You wouldn't want to draw any attention to us,” he wrapped his hand around her wrist.

A moment later her entire arm felt like it was on fire. She let go of the fork but Trich kept his hold on her. The burning sensation traveled up and through her chest. She clenched her jaw to stop herself from screaming out in pain.

“I want to talk to my dad first,” she hissed, sitting back down.

“He's fine.”

Sweat trickled from her forehead. “I want to
talk to him
.”

He glared before releasing her. The pain vanished but the heat lingered. He took out his Blackberry and called a number. “Put Daddy on the phone,” he handed the phone to Julia.

She put it to her ear. “Dad?”

“Baby Girl....” his voice sounded so weary.

“Don't worry. I'm going to get you out of there,” she fought to keep her voice from cracking. “Just stay strong for me, okay?”