Page 52 of Shadow Scorching

“Are you okay?” Penn asked. “I could feel your demon rear her pretty head.”

“Yeah, she did at that,” I said. “He was trying to steamroll me. Could you tell?”

“Oh yeah,” Penn said. “He was acting like every jerkwad every woman has ever met. Come back inside. I did some scrying while listening to him and I think I know what we’re dealing with?”

Dante turned to look at her. “Really? What?”

“Wait till we’re back with the others,” she said.

I stood and followed them back into the building and up to the office. Once we were all together again, Penn began typing away on her tablet.

“I think we’re dealing with achoku-yi,” she said. “They’re creatures from the astral realm who can manifest in our world. They drain life force from others, and leech off their victims in other ways until the victim dies or the hold is broken. Then, they move on to the next.”

“Choku-yi? I’ve never heard of them,” I said.

“They’re rare in our world, though common on the astral,” Penn said. “They’re smart, too. It doesn’t surprise me that this one realized how lucrative scamming is, and has turned to that in order to find his victims.”

She turned her tablet so we could see. “The article’s from Jettison’s Grimoire of Vampirism. The choku-yi are considered psychic vampires, who happen to rob their victims as well.”

“And you said they originate in the astral plane?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Carson spoke up. He had been searching on his laptop. “I found it in our database, as well. Though it’s barely a paragraph long description.”

“So they can drain their victims of life force?” Dante asked.

“Yeah,” Carson said. “They can drain them dry.”

“They usually do that when they feel they’ve gotten as much as they can, financially.” Penn glanced at Dante. “Your aunt got lucky. And, speaking of your aunt, did they discover anything else that Jet might have stolen?”

Dante glanced at his phone. “She texted me. She’s better. Given what happened, she’s blocked Jet. The doctor told her that her energy will return, though it will take a while. She’s missing about a hundred thousand dollars in jewelry that was in her safe, and about ten thousand in cash. She wanted to file a report with the cops, but I told her to wait till I can be there. But Jet knows her address, and I’m worried he may try to finish her off.”

“I’ll set up a meeting at the hotel for tomorrow. If he thinks the cops are even remotely on his trail, then he may vanish, so we’ll have to be cautious while we’re waiting for him. And we have his address.”

“What other powers do the choku-yi have? He’ll fight when he realizes it’s a trap,” Carson asked.

“Well,” Penn said. “They can drain your life essence as an attack. It’s not something that has to be set up in advance. He’sgoing to fight—and he’ll be good at it. They’re strong and they’re skilled with the martial arts, when they’re in human form.”

“Can he disappear onto the astral when he realizes what we’re up to? Is there a way to prevent it?” I asked.

“Yes, he can, and yes, there is. We can set up some magical dampening wards. It won’t prevent him from draining life essence, but it will prevent him from managing to leap onto the astral. But…it will also prevent anybody else in there from using magic on him.” Penn frowned. “He won’t be able to turn back into his natural form, either.”

“Carson, can you call Destiny and tell her our plan. Ask if she can be there with us, so she can arrest him—” I stopped when Dante shook his head.

“I wouldn’t,” Dante said. “If we involve the police, there’s a good chance he’ll be back on the streets before you know it.”

I stared at him. “Whatwouldyou suggest? That we kill him?” While I had no doubt he had killed others, I wasn’t sure how that would wash with the cops if they found out.

“Not exactly,” Dante said. “I’m not sure what I’m suggesting but…”

“If you want, I could talk to Hecate—she’s goddess of the crossroads, and a protectress of women. Jet’s abused, and likely murdered, many women,” Penn said.

“All right, go ahead and ask her,” I said. “This won’t be a burden on you, will it?” I knew that the gods could—and often did—exact prices for the help they gave.

“No, I’d be glad to do it. But we need to get in that hotel room before tomorrow and set up everything.” She glanced at the clock. “It’s three. We clear Michael’s house tonight at seven. Why don’t we go check into a hotel and get started?”

That sounds good to me.” I stood. “Penn and I will go find a room and we’ll let you know what we need, after that.”

As we headed for the door, it hit me that we were in for an intense twenty-four hours. Not only were we storming Michael’s house, but we were taking on a creature that we weren’t familiar with. But I wasn’t one to let the unknown stop me. And I had the best crew in the world at my side.

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