Page 106 of Deck of Scarlets

The beep of my pager made me jump back from the mirror, wiping my upper half clean. I checked the message, and the symbol shaped like a scarlet quill flashed on the screen, then the address underneath where demon activity occurred.

Nobody would suspect my absence if I left now without bothering to return to the table. Well, Josh would. But to leave them both at the table, what excuse could he use? I had my chance, and I was going to take it.

No second-guessing, I went in and out undetected, running to 89th Avenue, my dagger strapped securely on my leg, hidden by my pants. My lungs burned with each long stride, but nothing mattered more than reaching that spot. Yes, Josh should have been with me, he was my guardian, and my inexperience would probably get me killed, but if the message went out to everyone, I was sure backup would follow. Heck, I was sure the fleet was already there.

I could smell the sour stench of demonic activity right near the alley between 88th and 89th. A light tap on my shoulder had me spinning around, ready to strike, when Chloe caught my arm.

“Where’s Josh?” she asked, releasing my arm.

“Occupied,” I said.

“Not likely.” He came up behind Chloe, looking over me into the alley.

How? How did he escape the booth?

To my surprise, Kal appeared from the alley, his bow strapped securely to his back. “A body is in there. Well, what’s left.”

“What do you mean?” asked Josh.

“Take a look. I also alerted Captain Harrison,” Kal said, moving aside to let him through.

“Surprised they’re not the ones who found it first. They’ve been slacking, too busy caring about Columbia.”

I walked in front of him when Kal grabbed me by the arm. “Prepare yourself. It’s brutal.”

I gulped, nodded once, and then went further into the dark alley, Josh on my heels. There, sprawled out on the ground, blond hair knotted and pieces of it missing from being pulled out, was a woman, completely naked. Her body was half-submerged in black sludge… I froze mid-step. A human body, yes, but one where she had been sucked dry. One touch, and she would combust into dust. A life-sized prune in human form. Mummification in the flesh.

But the eyes, so kind, so lifeless, so…

The food from Peg’s Diner began to rise in my esophagus. “I know,” Josh whispered behind me. He took a step forward, bending down to examine the body, black goo staining his white shoes.“Josh,” I said.

“It seems this type of demon likes to strip their victims first. Why? I have no idea,” he said, more to himself than me.

“Josh,” I repeated.

“Granted, they have brains, but to be this precise in murdering their victim,” he continued, unaware of my pleading.

Everything spilled over. “Goddamn it, Josh, look at me!” I shouted. My words bounced off the walls in the alley; I’d never been so furious in my life.

He stilled and remained kneeling in front of the body.

“Why won’t you look at me?” I whispered, defeated. Hurt. I was hurt. Pathetic, because I thought we could at least communicate normally regardless of what happened between us.

“Don’t, Remi,” he breathed.

“Don’t what?” I repeated in that same breathy tone. Did he feel the longing too? “I can’t…”

“Maybe I can’t.”

“You guys good in there?” called Chloe, breaking our private bubble.

“Almost done,” Josh replied. Whatever moment we tried to share evaporated into thin air. Josh retrieved something from his jacket, took a small sample of the demon’s sludge-like matter, and stored it safely in the little vial. He stood, rolling his shoulders, and then without a single glance my way, stalked off to where Kal and Chloe stood waiting.

Tears threatened to escape, but I needed to pull myself together. After a few deep, calming breaths, I met the rest back on the sidewalk, hearing them discuss taking the sample to Father Benedict to test what kind of demon was lurking in the New York City streets.

“Strange, right? The body shriveled up like a prune,” commented Chloe.

“It could be a Drarkoth,” suggested Kal.

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