The Price of Exorcism by Dakota Brown (sneezy the snowman read aloud .txt) 📗

some sort of powerplay and we're apparently helping to stop it. Demons trying to rip things aparton Earth, angels being shits. I'm going to guess they're not on our side, either."

"So, Chris is off dealing with an aspect of this?"

"She's trying to get Sabian back," Maladmitted. "And hopefully finding out more about what is going on?"

"What happened to Sabian?"

"He was taken by the enemy."

"So that guy she went off with…"

"He's a friend." That admission wasobviously hard for Mal to give.

"And you?"

Mal frowned. "A friend, obviously I would hope."

"Yeah, dude, we know and we're glad," Billy stated,"But what the hell are you?" The manager turned his attention to me. "Andyou?"

"Uh, guess I've got some angel blood. I justfound out recently." I shrugged, hoping to take the heat off of Mal.

"Damn," Billy replied.

The others stared at me and I shrugged. I could takethe attention if they left Mal alone.

"So, you fixed the wards?" I asked Mal.

"Yes, and now I'm wondering what the hell else I'mgoing to need to keep out before this is over." He shook his head. "Thisis going to be the most heavily warded place in Santa Fe next to Chris' house."

"I wonder what Mayhem would have made of a coupleof angels."

Mal grinned and shrugged. "Hard to say."

"Well, this has been a really entertaining night,but we should go," I said. "You all okay?"

I let my gaze sweep over the others, checking for anysigns that we shouldn't flee before they pinned Mal down with more questions.

They nodded, looking a little dazed, but overall okay.The chairs were the only casualties other than our secrets.

"Yeah, so, uh, I'll call if anything else weirdhappens. Thanks." Billy sounded a little shell shocked.

Mal nodded then headed for the door, holding up hishand to keep me inside while he went and checked to see if things were clear.

"He's a vampire, isn't he," Mandy stated.

"Uh. Yeah, maybe you'd better let Mal have hissecrets," I suggested. "Safer for everyone."

Her eyes widened, but she nodded. She shifted herattention back to the door when Mal opened it and gestured for me to follow.

"Night all," I said, feeling it was a bit ofa lame goodbye but having no idea what else to say.

"Well, they're taking that well," I mutteredonce we were back in Chris' car.

Mal clenched the steering wheel. "Nice reply toMandy," he said.

"Forgot about your hearing," I answered. "Butyeah, she knows, clearly."

"Yeah, well, I might have to do something aboutthat. I really don't want her getting herself in trouble with another vampire."

"Would it be bad if she found one?"

"Could be. Depends on who she manages to track down.There aren't that many of us wandering around, and we tend to avoid others ofour kind, but I promise they're not all as mellow as I am about beingdiscovered."

"Are they all as badass?"

Mal chuckled. "No, but any vampire is more than amatch for a human. She'll get herself killed, or worse. There aren't any othersin Santa Fe right now, but that could change. I'll talk to Chris when she getsback, see what she thinks we should do."

"Would you know if someone moved into the area?"

"If I hadn't placed wards all over Santa Fe toalert me, no."

"I really am glad you're on our side."

Mal glanced at me, his expression easing. "Me,too, Aaron."

"At least the restaurant didn't get trashed thistime," I added to lighten the topic.

Mal laughed. "Yes, that was truly a mess fromwhat Chris said."

I nodded, though I'd only had it described to me. Ihadn't known any of them when it had happened.

Wow, had my life changed in a few short weeks.

Chapter 11

Price

It seemed that no matter who was involved, meetingswere basically meetings. I suspected the threat of violence was a bit higherhere than most I'd been to, and the information was a bit more esoteric. Andthere was no food, damn it. Water, coffee, and tea, but I always made surethere was food when I made all of my employees get together for whateverreason.

Demons–or possessed humans, anyway–a few of the Sidhe,the horsemen, a few human mages and some I wasn't sure what they were or howthey were aligned with this group sat around the conference table with varyingdegrees of boredom or interest on their faces. I suspected they were just ashungry as I was. Or maybe I was projecting.

Ezra and I had eaten brunch, but I still felt likethere should be something. Of course, there was probably a huge range ofdietary needs, and I really didn't think catering would cover them all. Really,I just wanted to get on with rescuing my incubus.

The demon prince glanced at me, arching an eyebrow. Ishrugged, wondering if he was listening or just sensing my distraction.

I was interested. It was just that most of thesebeings liked to hear themselves talk, so they shared the relevant information andthen kept going. So far, we had several incidents similar to the one we'dexperienced in Santa Fe. Demons being harnessed for their powers, though not tothe extent we'd encountered. There were also some incidents people were blamingon angels of all things. Apparent miracles that seemed to have some prettyhorrendous side effects. I'd thought angels were supposed to be decent, butapparently not. There was also the more traditional nightmare-like creaturesgetting out into the 'real' world and all that.

We all sat in a conference room with a large screen atone end for presentations. Except for the horsemen, most everyone lookedcompletely human. The horsemen were pushing it a little bit, though I suspectedthey could glamour themselves up when necessary. Like Ezra, the others withobvious non-human features had already hidden them. The room was full but didn'tfeel too crowded. Most everyone had dressed in some sort of business attire. Ihad too, just pizza shop business attire, so, as usual, I didn't fit in. Mayhemlay with his head on my foot.

Did you bring me along for this to torture me? Or soyou could have company, I thought atEzra.

He hid a smile behind his hand under the guise ofscratching his face.

Maybe a bit of both.

Jerk.

His grin widened.

Why do I care about this, again? I asked.

You're already involved.