Page 45 of Malice

“Most likely,” Xavier replies and starts to roll up his sleeves. He already removed his suit jacket and looks devilishly handsome in black dress pants and a dark button up shirt.

“Ey!” The guy yells again. “You deaf or something? Toss me the keys to your car and there won’t be no trouble. We just want to take it for a little spin and will have it back in no time. We promise.”

“I’ll let you handle this,” Xavier tells Devon, using this as a teachable fucking moment. Devon draws his fangs and speeds over.

“Do you think he can handle this?” I ask.

“I guess we’ll find out,” Xavier says, hand sliding to the small of my back. Devon says something to the two guys and then a gun shot rings out.

“Guess he can’t,” Xavier sighs and speeds over.

“Ow, that fucking hurt!” Devon stumbles back and looks at his stomach, hands covering the wound. “I didn’t think it would hurt.” He’s bleeding, and seeing the blood on his hands shocks him as much as it shocks the rest of us. In a flash, Xavier is there, and he grabs the gun in the guy’s hand. He snaps it back, breaking his wrist. The gun clatters to the ground.

Before the guy next to him can even react, Xavier reaches out with his other hand and wraps his fingers around his neck. In one quick movement, he clunks their heads together and both humans fall down.

Looking bored, Xavier turns and goes to Devon, picking the bullet out from his abdomen and dropping it on the ground.

“I told you to handle it, not create a crime scene,” Xavier tells Devon, flicking blood off his fingers.

“Holy shit,” Leo whispers, mouth open as he stares at Xavier and I recognize the look in his eyes. It’s awe mixed with a little bit of fear and a ton of physical attraction.

“We are in a bad part of town,” I chide, holding my hands over the map. “It’s a great place for demons.”

“But humans,” Xavier adds. “Especially at night. You won’t heal if you get shot.”

“My goal on a daily basis is to not get shot. It’s kinda a fifty-fifty chance of living in America.”

“Uh,” Antonio starts, motioning to the guys on the ground. “Are we going to leave them?”

Xavier shrugs. “They’ll be out for a while. We need to focus on what the demon is doing here. Do you have a different way to track it?”

“Usually I can pinpoint where a demon is in a broader setting. I can use a different spell since I don’t technically have anything belonging to the demon.”

“Keep watch,” Xavier tells Devon and then stands behind me as I lean over the map. Holding my hands out.

“Tenebras invoco ut te reveles,” I whisper, focusing on pulling the darkness out of the night. “Tenebras invoco ut te reveles.” The herbs starts to vibrate and this time, they scatter across the map, piling in tiny circles.

“Well, fuck,” Antonio mutters. “There’s like a dozen demons in the area.”

“Can you kill them?” Xavier asks.

“If they’re non corporeal and possessing people, not exactly,” Antonio says. “We brought the vanquishing potion Wren made a while ago.”

“It should still be good,” I say and then make a face. “I think.”

“You fight demons all the time,” Devon starts, looking up and down the street. “But you don’t know how to kill these guys?”

“We don’t come across demons with the capability to possess people that often,” Leo says. “Desire what mainstream Hollywood makes you think. I’d say we’re more monster hunters than demon hunters if you wanted to be technical.”

“Wide spread possession…that wasn’t on my bingo card,” I retort, conquering a ball of light in the palm of my right hand so Leo, Antonio, and I can see as we get the vanquishing potions from the bag. We pour it over the blades of the weapons they brought, and Xavier takes my favorite dagger, holding it at his side. I’m relying on my powers more than physical weapons this time, and with my left hand still bandaged, I’m down one arm to wield a dagger anyway.

“The second the demons realize we’re onto them, they might attack,” Antonio says, stepping right into his role as leader. Xavier eyes him curiously but doesn’t say anything. There’s no need to remind us all who really is in charge, after all.

“And stabbing them with these blades will kill them?” Devon asks.

“Maybe,” Antonio says. “The demon could jump before it has a chance to be killed. But the human it is possessing will definitely die. So, uh, try not to kill anyone if you can help it.”

“What used to be here?” I ask when we’re heading down the road. “Like years ago. I know Tent City was cleared out somewhat recently because of health issues, but it’s coming back. But before, something else had to be here.”