Demonfire (12 page)

Willow poked her head up out
of Dax’s pocket and took off on a quick search of her own. Dax followed her.
Eddy wet a clean washcloth and found a box of bandages. Alton grabbed the
broom, dustpan, and a small wastebasket after she pointed out the broom closet,
and followed Eddy back to the porch.

Dax and Willow were right
behind them. “It’s all clear,” Dax said. Willow poked her head out of his
pocket. He carefully shoved her back down. “Stay put.”

Frantic barking echoed from
across the street. Eddy glanced toward her dad’s house. “I don’t think Bumper
likes being left behind,” she said, kneeling in front of Mr. Puccini. Carefully
she wiped the blood off the long scratch on the back of his hand and covered it
with a clean bandage. “You might want to get that checked, Mr. Puccini. Give
your doctor a call.”

Still looking dazed, he nodded
his head. “Good idea. I can’t believe I don’t remember what happened.”

Alton cleaned up the remnants
of the shattered turkey while Dax held the wastebasket. He dumped the broken
shards of ceramic and handed the broom and dustpan to Ed.

Eddy stood up and patted the
old man’s shoulder. “We’re going to head back home and let Bumper out, Mr.
Puccini. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Thank you, Eddy. You’re a
good girl.” He stared at the broken shards of ceramic Alton had dumped into the
waste-basket and shuddered. “Evil thing. Absolutely evil.” He looked at Ed, and
frowned. “I never thought of Muriel’s ceramic turkey as evil before. Now why…?”

“Falls can be dangerous, Dom.
Eddy’s right. You better have your doctor take a look. If you need a ride over
to the clinic, I’ll be glad to take you.” Ed glanced at Eddy.

“We’re going home now, Dad.”
She grabbed Dax’s hand, and Alton followed them across the street. As soon as
they were out of hearing, she let out a deep breath. “Okay, what now? And
Alton, thank you. That hypnosis thing really is a cool trick. I was wondering
how we were going to explain Muriel’s turkey turning killer.”

Alton nodded. “You realize
this is only the beginning. Those demons were merely a fraction of the many
that must be infesting this area.”

“Those demons? There was more
than one?” Eddy paused with her hand on the front door.

“There were two controlling
the ceramic bird. Possibly the ones your dad saw last night. He merely broke
their avatars, but he didn’t kill them. There were two demons, working together
in broad daylight.” Dax’s glance shifted from Eddy to Alton. Back to Eddy. “Not
only are they going against their nature by being out in daylight, they appear
to be learning to cooperate. When they do, they’re obviously stronger.”

“What if they’re spreading
out? Going past Evergreen? They could be in the town of Mount Shasta or McCloud
or up in Edgewood, or…” Eddy opened the door. Bumper launched herself through
the doorway, wiggling and whining as if she’d been abandoned for days, not
minutes.

Ignoring the dog, Eddy gazed
at both men. “What are we going to do if they’re in other towns, if they move
to the bigger cities? We’re not that far from Redding or Sacramento.”

Dax shook his head. “I don’t
think they’ll travel far from the mountain. At least not yet. It’s their link
to Abyss. They don’t belong in this dimension, so they have no corporeal form
without an avatar. They can’t remain mist for long without getting sucked back
to Abyss. I imagine they’re finding avatars as soon as they reach town.”

Eddy rubbed her hands over her
arms, as if she’d felt a sudden chill. The sun was high in the sky, and the day
was warm, but she shivered anyway. “What’s to keep them here?”

Dax flashed her a lopsided
grin. “Ceramic creatures can’t travel far. The only one I’ve seen with much
mobility is the gargoyle, since it’s a creature that can fly.” He paused a
moment. “That one confuses me. Flying a stone creature would take a lot of
power. It took two demons to animate the turkey. More to make the bronze horse
and soldier come to life. How does the gargoyle find enough power to travel
through the air, to strike me with a curse? I want another look at that one.”

“Now?” Alton asked.

Dax nodded. “Now would be a
good time, during daylight.” He studied Alton for a moment. “However, Ed’s
clothes won’t fit you, and there’s no way you can go out like that.”

Alton held his arms out.
“What? You don’t like the robe?” Then he laughed. “I’ll stay with Ed. Unlike
you two, he thinks I’m wonderful.” He shook his head and sighed. “Do you
realize that’s the first time the heir apparent to the Ruling Council of Nine
has ever used a broom and swept trash?” Eddy punched his arm, and he laughed.
“I’ll stay with Ed. See if we can come up with a plan. You and Dax find me
something to wear. I have a feeling tonight’s going to be busy.”

Eddy measured Alton for sizes,
fastened the leash to Bumper, and led Dax out the door. “We can walk. It’s just
a couple of blocks to downtown. I want to hear what people are saying.”

Dax took her hand as they
walked along the sidewalk. The moment his fingers wrapped around hers, she
turned her head and caught him watching her. “What?”

He shrugged and glanced away.
“I have fewer than five days left with you. I don’t want to waste them. I
really like the way your hand feels in mine.” He slanted her a quick glance and
then looked straight ahead.

She had to moisten her lips to
speak. “I don’t want to waste any time, either.” The thought of Dax leaving sat
like a lead weight in her chest. Stupid, really, to fall for a guy who’d be
gone forever by the end of the week. Absolutely stupid.

They walked in silence, but
Eddy felt as if every nerve in her body were located in the palm of her hand,
the sensitive tips of her fingers. As tall as she was, she’d always felt
awkward and oversized walking hand in hand with a guy, but Dax was so much
taller, so much broader, she felt feminine beside him, even in her jeans and
hiking boots.

The sun was warm on her
shoulders. The scent of pine and cedar tickled her nostrils. Birds chattering
in the gardens they passed and the constant jingle of Bumper’s leash and collar
played a symphony punctuated by their footsteps and the distant rush of traffic
passing by on the interstate.

They reached the main street
in town, Lassen Boulevard. Once the old highway, it was now a busy thoroughfare
lined with small stores selling everything from crystals with dubious magical
properties to hardware and baked goods. They passed a tiny café tucked in
between two other shops. The smells wafting through the open door stopped both
Eddy and Dax.

“We didn’t eat much
breakfast,” she said, leaning toward the doorway.

“I agree.”

“C’mon, girl.” Eddy tied
Bumper’s leash to a bike rack in front of the store. The dog stretched out in a
sunbeam and groaned blissfully.

Eddy rubbed her belly. “I
think she’ll be okay here.”

Dax patted Bumper’s head and
got a couple of thumps of her tail in response. Then he took Eddy’s hand and
hauled her through the door. The place was almost empty, so they grabbed a
booth near the front window, where they could keep an eye on the dog. Dax stared
at the walls, at pictures of huge logs lashed to railroad cars and men of
another age standing atop tree stumps with crosscut saws longer than they were
tall. He was obviously fascinated by all the old photos of the surrounding
area, as much as by the concept of food.

The waitress poured coffee for
both of them and left menus. Eddy glanced down at hers. “It’s almost lunch. How
about a hamburger?”

Dax frowned. “I don’t know
what a…”

“I’ll order. You’ll love it.”

Dax nodded and went back to
studying the photos. Eddy studied Dax. Everything was new to him. Walking down
a small-town street, sitting in a café, the taste of coffee. Hamburgers and
fries, sunshine overhead, and the sound of birds.

What was that like, to be
faced with something new every time you went anywhere, saw anything? Touched
anyone?

She thought of the warmth of
his hand in hers, the sound of his beating heart when they’d slept so close
together, and realized that everything about Dax was just as new to her. His
touch, his bravery, his quirky sense of humor. How much of it was the demon,
and how much the man who’d once inhabited the perfect body that now belonged to
Dax?

No…it
doesn’t belong. It’s on loan…a short-term loan.
She couldn’t let herself
think of that. Five more days. Just her luck. Finally meet a guy who fit every
need she’d ever had, including a few she hadn’t known about, and he turns out
to have the life span of a moth.

The waitress set their plates
in front of them. Grabbed a bottle of catsup off the next table and stuck it in
front of Dax. Eddy noticed the woman gave him a thorough once-over before she
spun around and headed back to the kitchen.

Dax stared at his plate. “What
are these?” He picked up a crisp French fry.

“Ambrosia. Here.” Eddy dumped
a blob of catsup on his plate, swirled a fry through the sauce, and held it up
to his mouth. Dax smiled and parted those perfect lips, and she placed the fry
on his tongue.

He closed his mouth, chewed
for a moment, and closed his eyes with a look of pure bliss. “I had no idea…”
He picked up another fry, dipped it, and popped it in his mouth. “Absolutely no
idea.”

Grinning, Eddy took a bite of
her burger. They ate in silence, but she couldn’t help but wonder if they’d
have a chance like this again. It felt like a date…a perfectly normal date with
a really good-looking, but perfectly normal, guy.

She watched him eat, noticed
how he concentrated on each bite, chewing with his eyes closed, savoring the
flavors. What would it be like to have that attention paid to her, to have that
concentration, that focus from a man like Dax?

She shifted in the vinyl
booth. Tried to ignore the hot clench of feminine muscles, the deep sense of
yearning that built between her legs and seemed to settle in her womb. Damn,
she was asking for trouble.

Like you
haven’t already got it?
She wasn’t sure if the stupid voice in her head
was going to make her laugh or cry first. She forced her attention away from
the man sitting across the table, away from the need pulsing through her body,
and thought about the job they had to do.

Dax finished his burger and
fries and was swirling one of Eddy’s fries through a puddle of catsup left on
her plate when the door to the restaurant burst open. He spun around, prepared
to fight, as a tall, slim woman with skin the color of dark caramel barged
through the door.

“Eddy Marks! Where the hell
have you been?”

“Ginny! Hi.” Eddy waved the
woman over. “You’re wearing your uniform. When did you start working day
shift?”

“When all hell broke loose,
that’s when.” Ginny grinned at Dax and stuck out her hand. “Hi! I’m Ginny
Jones, Eddy’s only friend in the world. Who’re you?”

Eddy laughed and winked at
Dax. “This is Dax. He’s my other friend.”

Other
friend?
Dax glanced at Ginny, then at Eddy, and back at Ginny. “Hello,
Ginny.” He shook her hand and frowned at Eddy. “What about Alton? Willow and
Bumper? Aren’t they your friends, too?”

Eddy shot him a big grin. “I’m
teasing. Just teasing.” She scooted over, and Ginny plopped down next to her on
the bench seat. “What do you mean, all hell broke loose?”

“Your house for one thing.
It’s trashed. Don’t lie to me, sweetie. I’ve seen it, and I’ve been worried
sick since I heard about it. I called Ed, and your dad just said it was
vandals. What happened?” Ginny grabbed one of Eddy’s fries and popped it in her
mouth.

“Vandals, just like Dad said.
I’m staying at his place until we get it fixed. What else is going on?” She
shoved her plate, still half covered with those absolutely delicious fries Dax
had been munching on, in front of Ginny.

Ginny managed to eat French
fries and still talk a mile a minute. “Remember what I told you about Mrs.
Abernathy’s cat? That she said Mr. Pollard’s garden gnome ate Twinkles?” Ginny
shook her head. “We’ve had at least a dozen reports like that. Cats, dogs, even
a gerbil, all disappearing, and people calling in to blame it on garden gnomes
and statues and all kinds of shit. It’s like everyone in town is doing drugs.”

Eddy shot a serious look in
Dax’s direction. “Ginny’s a nine-one-one dispatcher, so she hears all the
emergency calls.”

He nodded, not entirely
certain what 911 was, but if people were making reports, it wouldn’t be long
before someone started putting all the stories together.

Ginny plopped another French
fry in her mouth. “I heard they found the missing statue in your front room,
all in pieces.”

Eddy nodded. “They did. The
place was trashed when I got home the other night after we had coffee. A
neighbor must have called it in. I just went straight to Dad’s—I was afraid
they might still be around.”

“What about that dog you said
you got? How come it didn’t protect your place?”

“She hid in the bedroom. I
think they scared her.” Eddy glanced out the window, and Dax knew she was
probably sending a silent apology to Bumper. So many lies they were telling…he
hoped they could keep the stories straight.

Eddy pointed to Bumper.
“That’s my brave watchdog right there.”

Laughing, Ginny nodded.
“Ah…the one I tripped over. That is one silly-looking mutt. Reminds me of pit
bull in a Marilyn Monroe wig.”

“Really? I think it’s more the
Shirley Temple look.” Eddy waved at Bumper. The dog wagged her tail and lay
back against the sun-warmed sidewalk.

“No matter.” Ginny’s dark eyes
narrowed. “Eddy, you know what I told you about picking up strays…” She turned
a focused eye on Dax. “Where’d you guys meet? I don’t remember hearing about
you before, Dax.”