The Price of Possession by Dakota Brown (universal ebook reader txt) 📗

days ago and they seemed nice. Billy had a talent for hiringgood people. The two they had replaced were moving on to college in otherstates. We did not have a high turnover at Price's Pizza Parlor. I took care ofmy people.

I was about to reply when Rebecca, one of our new teammembers ran in. She was a younger Native girl whose family had just moved tothe area, and her eyes were wide with fear.

"Billy!" She avoided looking at me. "Aman just ran into the bar demanding the exorcist." She blurted somethingin Navajo that I didn't quite catch but the word Skinwalker stood out to me.

I shot to my feet.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Price. I just...he scared me."Unshed tears made her eyes shine.

Shit, if she was that scared of me, I must be in somekind of mood.

I felt a blast of energy and flinched as the lightsflickered. Sabian glanced at me, uneasy.

"Sabian, why don't you stay here, just incase," I said to the demon, putting a bit of extra power behind my wordsjust in case I had to do something drastic. I didn't want to lose the incubuson accident.

He nodded.

"Rebecca, you don't ever need to worry about beingafraid of someone in the store. We've got your back. We'll take care of it."I patted the girl on the shoulder as I stalked past.

Billy and Rebecca followed me out of the office. Thekitchen was a disaster. Sauce had splattered everywhere. The dough hadvirtually exploded. The cooks looked shell shocked and just kind of staredaround at the mess.

They turned their wide eyes to me when I stormedthrough the kitchen.

"Don't worry about it, mates, not your fault,"I shouted as I jogged out into the dining area.

The man, or should I say demon, causing all the ruckuswas not someone I'd ever seen before. He was decent looking if you overlookedthe red rimmed eyes of full demonic possession, and the torn and bloodsplattered shirt barely concealing a scared chest. A few poorly done tatscircled his biceps. His blond hair stood on end, but I doubted that was itsnormal state.

"Bring me the exorcist!" he shouted.

Patrons were scattering from their tables as hestomped toward the back of the restaurant.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you are doing?"I shouted, hoping to get his attention before anything else exploded. This messwas going to be hard enough to clean up as it was.

The guy turned, eyes narrowing, focusing on me. "You!"

"Yeah, I'm the owner and we're calling the cops.What the hell, dude?"

"I will have the exorcist!"

"Yeah, there's a Catholic church down the waywith a qualified priest. Maybe you should go there."

"No." He hissed.

Fuck.

I jumped up on a clean table. "Everyone out! Sorryfor the mess! Come back next week, tell the waiter discount code demonand you'll get fifty percent off your order. Anything you managed to eat todaybefore this jerk showed up is on the house."

That was all it took for the restaurant to clear outwhile the demon stared at me.

Billy came up next to me. "Discount code demon?"

"Um, well, uh, yeah. Just, uh, make sure it getshonored, okay?" I should have picked a better discount code. "Andmaybe get..."

"You will come with me!" The demon pointedat me.

"Go fuck yourself."

It howled in anger and all of the pitchers of liquidexploded upward. My poor staff. The ones who hadn't already been covered inpizza sauce were now soaked with pop or water.

"Listen, asshole. There's no exorcist here,though clearly you need one. The cops are on their way, and you're going tojail if you don't get out of here now," I yelled, jabbing my finger athim. I fished around in my jacket pocket, grateful I'd left it on. Mydedication to the look, despite the temperature, was paying off because I stillhad a small squirt bottle full of holy water tucked in there. I stalked acrossthe table so I was closer to the possessed human.

A moment before he raised the energy, I saw him focushis attention on my vintage movie posters.

"Oh, hell no!" I whipped the bottle out andsquirted him full in the face.

He screamed, clutching at his eyes.

"Price," the demon hissed. "You willhelp us."

"You come in here and destroy my shop, attack mystaff, and expect me to help you? Hah!" I squirted him again, enjoying hisagonized scream a little too much.

"What the hell is that?" Billy asked, voicetight.

"Holy water," I grumbled.

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. Fucking demons. I don't help demons, youasshole. I banish them, now get the fuck out of my restaurant!"

He picked up a chair, probably intending to toss it atme. For someone who said he wanted my help, he was really bad at acting like heactually wanted it.

"Exorcizamus te," I started.

He howled, dropping the chair, and doubling over inpain. "You must release us!"

"Trying, mate. Omnis immundus..."

The demon screamed in fury, but whatever he was nowhowling at me was in a language I didn't speak. It grated on my ears and I shoutedthe exorcism rite over the top of his cries of rage.

This one wasn't nearly as easy to release as the oneat the stripper bar had been. He was clearly trying to get a message to me, butI wasn't having any of it. No one got to destroy my pizza shop and get my help.Also, I was pissed and horny, and I really wanted to kick the shit out ofsomething.

In the end, the demon really had no chance. I was sofired up about everything, it simply didn't have the power to resist as Ishouted out the last of the exorcism.

The human collapsed to the ground and I winced as hishead smacked the bare floor. That wasn't going to feel good when he woke up. Ofcourse, he probably wouldn't notice over the rest of his aches and pains.

"Go back to hell and fucking stay there!" Ishouted as the demon was sucked back into the abyss.

Sucking in breath, chest heaving, I glared at theunconscious human, daring the demon to try and come back.

Nothing.

Exhaustion washed over me, but I was angry enough thatI pushed the weariness away.

"Um, Chris?"

I jumped. I'd forgotten about Billy and the others fora moment.

"Yeah, Billy?" I