Page 77 of Speak of the Devil
“It’s not my imagination,” she replied, mentally adding,Although it could be the imagination of Marvelous Marva.“Some of the clues just don’t add up.”
His expression abruptly sobered. “And your accusations don’t add up, either. For one thing, why in the world would I hire a demon-finder if I was actually controlling a bunch of them?”
She’d already pondered that angle to the problem, so she didn’t even hesitate as she said, “Because it wasn’t your own demons you were worried about. No, you were much more concerned about the one who’s been winning all that money off you and the other casino owners. Probably you were thinking that if I reported on any of your pet demons, you could just ignore my findings. I guess my question is, why would a guy like you be messing around with summoning demons in the first place? The corner office and the big salary weren’t enough for you?”
“I’m afraid you have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, his voice flat, all humor gone, and she crossed her arms.
“Maybe I don’t. In that case, please enlighten me. Why were you the one to approach me and not some other casino exec? Were you trying to keep tabs on me so I couldn’t figure out what you were really up to?”
His eyes narrowed, and in that moment, the first trickle of fear moved down Delia’s back. If asked, she would have said that Robert Hendricks was a pleasant-looking guy, someone who took care of himself but didn’t try to roll back the clock and use a bunch of treatments that only made him appear desperate rather than fifteen years younger.
Now, though…now she saw the cruelty in his gaze and the set of his mouth as though viewing them for the first time.
Maybe she was.
“What if I double what I’m paying you?” he asked, his words an echo of Caleb’s offer during lunch. In Robert Hendricks’ case, though, she doubted he’d upped the ante merely to make their arrangement even more appealing.
No, he wanted to see if he could buy her off.
“People are getting hurt,” she said. “Someone’s probably going to die if all this crap keeps up. There’s no amount of money in the world that would let me stand by and watch that happen.”
His lips thinned. “Then I’m afraid we’re at an impasse. And that can mean only one thing.”
She began to ask him exactly what he intended by that comment…and then took a step back in horror.
Red glowed from his eyes, and his face began to shift and stretch, mouth widening and baring pointed yellow teeth, while his features sharpened and his skin grew scaly, morphing into the stuff of nightmares.
Into a demon, in fact.
Without thinking, she reached into her purse, fingers scrabbling for the little purification kit she always carried with her…and its accompanying bottle of holy water.
“Back off, demon!” she cried — more to warn a listening Caleb about what had just happened than because she thought Robert Hendricks…or whatever the hell that thing was…would actually heed her warning.
And she splashed about half the vial’s contents onto the creature.
It screamed and recoiled, smoke bubbling up from its flesh everywhere the holy water had hit. A second later, Caleb appeared right in front of her, blocking the demon from physically retaliating. Even in the strain of that moment, he’d kept the borrowed face he wore when they’d appeared in the hallway outside the kitchen, and she couldn’t ignore the stab of relief that went through her.
With any luck, the demon would have no idea of who he was dealing with.
“Get back!” Caleb yelled, and she did as she was told, knowing this was not the time to argue.
If he wanted to play macho demon slayer, he was welcome to do so. Besides, he presumably knew what he was doing, while Delia knew she sure as hell didn’t. The holy water had worked, but she’d already used up half of it, and she had a feeling the bit that remained wasn’t going to be enough to get rid of the creature that had possessed Robert Hendricks’ body.
Or maybe he’d been a demon all along, and she’d been lulled into a false sense of security by the supposedly normal life and background Pru had dug up about him.
Well, they could figure all that out later…if she and Caleb survived this encounter, of course.
The demon hissed at him, baring yellow fangs that were the polar opposite of Robert’s straight white teeth. “This is no concern of yours, demon,” it said, and Caleb only grinned at the thing.
Delia could see why. If the demon had addressed him that way, then it probably had no idea who he really was and thought he was another full demon like it. Obviously, a regular mortal would never have been able to pop into existence out of nowhere the way Caleb had just done.
“Oh, you’ve made it my concern,” he replied. “I don’t know what kind of game you’ve been playing here, but it stops now.”
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a vial of holy water identical to the one Delia still held, then splashed some of the blessed liquid on the creature. It screamed in agony, so loudly that she thought it was a good thing Robert Hendricks’ office was located down this corridor away from the guest rooms, or someone surely must have heard it and called security…or come to investigate for themselves.
What they would have found would require a level of explanation she didn’t think she was capable of right now.
But the demon was also backing away. Clearly ready to finish the thing off, Caleb pursued, throwing more holy water at the creature, tossing the used-up bottle aside once it was empty before pulling another one from his jacket pocket.
