Page 6 of Hounded: Ashes to Ashes

Since I couldn’t focus on the book anyway, I shoved it aside and turned my full attention on Sully. “I’m listening.”

“They want your tears, right?”

It was a redundant question, but I answered, “Yeah.”

“So, give them some. In exchange for Loren’s freedom.”

I shoved to standing, dragging the wine bottle along with me like an anchor. “Done.” I gestured to the books scattered about. “Do the spell. Call her up. I’ll cry all over the bitch.”

Sully got to her feet, as well, but her expression conveyed far less agency than I would have liked. “The calling is the problem,” she said.

The buildup and the letdown. Every. Damn. Time.

“How so?” I asked flatly.

“Demonscanbe summoned,” Sully began, sounding as trepidatious as Evander had when he was trying to talk me down. Was I feral or fragile? “And contract demons come easier than most,” she continued, “but it takes certain criteria.”

I stared at her, trying to appear as stable as I could with X and wine pumping through my bloodstream.

Drawing a deep breath, Sully declared, “We have to know her name.”

I waited for the other shoe to drop. When Sully said nothing further, I pressed.

“Okay…?”

“I don’t know it,” she admitted.

Silence stretched, and I stared some more, waiting for the punchline.

There wasn’t one.

“You’re kidding,” I said.

Sully shook her head.

I swirled the wine bottle harder this time, wishing it was fizzy champagne that could explode like I wanted to.

“Way to bury the lead, Sully.” I turned away while lifting the rosé for a swig.

She chased me toward the bathroom. I had a bag packed in there with clothes and one of Loren’s sweaters hung on the back of the door.

“Lore never said. You know how he is.” She sounded apologetic. “I was hoping he’d told you.”

In the five months since my rebirth? No. In the lifetimes before that, though…

“No,” I replied, but I was thinking. Gears were turning, and those four pills in my pocket were practically burning a hole against my thigh.

Wednesday through Saturday would have to wait; I was getting high tonight.

Indy

Four pills hitlike a freight train.

They kicked in with a sweeping sensation that would have toppled me if I wasn’t already lying down. Sully went to bed an hour ago, and I was alone, hugging Loren’s sweater around myself while I sprawled on the living room floor.

The lights put polka dots on the ceiling. Leopard spots glowing yellow on the white plaster. I’d started counting them, then lost track and started again, again, again. Then the spots turned into shooting stars.

I could hear myself breathing. And the city three floors below was never quiet, so I heard it, too. Cars rumbled, horns honked, and rain pattered the window at about 2:00 AM when I was still awake. Not dreaming.

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