Page 8 of Devil Bound
I cocked my head but nodded carefully.“I did that already though.Done for the night, I’m afraid.”
Three people had been bludgeoned to death.Dismembered afterward though.Talk about small mercies.
Simon nodded.“I was called in as an extra set of hands.Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing you work soon.Get yourself a new pair of rubber boots before then, yeah?”
And off he went, his own sturdy boots easily coping with the mud.I watched for a moment as the drizzle picked up again.At this point, I’d been outside long enough for the BPD consultant windbreaker I was wearing to have gotten soaked through as well, but I’d infused my hoodie and jeans with a water repellent spell before getting out of my car, meaning apart from where the rain had trickled down my neck, I was dry.
Except for the shoes.
I squelch-farted my way to the car, which I’d parked across from the construction site next to the other police cars, both marked and unmarked.I hesitated with my hand on the driver’s side door, then went to my trunk instead and tossed my Converse in.I’d wisely laid out a sheet of plastic in there, almost as if I were planning to transport bodies, but it was just for clothes I didn’t want inside the car.My gnawed-on rubber boots were there, as well as the wrapper of a granola bar I vaguely remembered devouring, though I had no idea where I’d gotten it.
“I should stop by the landfill,” I said, then cackled.“This is what no coffee does to me, it’s making me sound like one of the bad guys.”I opened my door and got into the car, soaking the seat in the process but really not giving a fuck at this point.
I turned the heating up high on account of my besocked and very much soaked feet, then left the scene in my rearview mirror.
It was a Monday, and traffic would clog the streets like a hairball in a drain soon, but I couldn’t just head home and sleep for the next ten to twelve hours.I needed shoes, preferably some that held spells better than those dead Converse in the back.The forensics guy was right about the rubber boots too—I needed them, had put off getting a new pair for the sole reason that I loathed shoe shopping.
My feet got cold on the drive despite my car’s best efforts, and the rain beat down on me, turning the morning light into an insubstantial ghostly flicker through my slick windshield, but I made it to the FerroFinn Center, Brunswick’s glitzy, 24/7 shopping opportunity.I knew they had a coffee shop.
The underground parking was pretty empty, and I only spotted one car coming in after me out of the corner of my eye, something sleek and black and vaguely European.Either way, I felt great about the prospect of not being seen by too many people who would give me weird looks.
“No reason to think walking around in your wet socks would be weird at all, right?”I glanced at the foot coverings in question.With all the rain and mud, they were barely even recognizable as socks.“Fuck me.”
I tried magic on them, but contrary to some people’s beliefs, socks and necromancy didn’t really mesh.Instead of a wet, flubbery mess, I ended up with a still wet but slightly stiffer mess.It was like walking on milk cartons, but really, it was fine.No fucking way was I putting on the mud shoes from the trunk, or the boots with the bite marks and that one zombie tooth sticking out of the sole.
I made it ten noisy steps from the car when I realized I was still wearing the BPD consultant windbreaker, so I walked my ass back and threw it onto the passenger seat before finally heading up to the stores.
“Need to be strategic about this,” I mumbled as I inspected the signage telling me what stores were on which floor.
I was seconds away from going to the second floor first to get myself those damn shoes, but I just couldn’t, not when the coffee place had a coffee bean on the sign.That was an invitation I couldn’t say no to.
“Double espresso, here I come.”With the prospect of blessed caffeine, my mood lifted.
When I got off on the third floor, there was barely anyone there, and the only looks I drew were from the staff of the various stores I walked past, though really, the soft background music covered most of the noise my milk carton socks made.If no one actually looked at the atrocities covering my feet, I was just another customer, not memorable at all.
I smiled at the lady in the coffee shop, who looked about as enthusiastic about making my coffee as I was about buying shoes, but I didn’t fucking care about her mood.She was making me coffee and putting extra espresso in, and that was good enough for me.
I tipped her generously before making off with my prize in hand, sipping carefully once I got on the escalator so as not to burn myself.I risked a slight scalding for a good swig though, and the coffee immediately settled my nerves, allowing me to take in the haven of consumerism all around me.
At this time of day, there were cleaning staff visible, the odd businessperson with a rain-slick umbrella just grabbing a pre-packed lunch, and people who sat on the benches and sort of stared into space—probably killing time here, either because they had nowhere to go or had a place they didn’t want to return to if they could help it.The shopkeepers weren’t too busy, most either looking at their phones or stocking shelves.
It was such an in-between time this early in the morning, and taking a look around this usually busy place allowed me to see the fringes of the everyday.I wasn’t sure I liked it, but didn’t think I hated it.
With the shoe store looming ahead of me as soon as I got off the escalator, I risked a second scalding gulp of coffee and made my way inside.I’d just buy the damn shoes quickly, maybe get one of those coffee filter holders for drip coffee, then head home.Easy-peasy, a half hour tops, and then my day would finally be over.
A shiver ran down my neck, as if someone were watching me, but when I turned, there was just the escalator and the elbow and knee of someone going up on it, just about visible before the person vanished.
“Lack of coffee can make you hallucinate.”I sipped some more.
Thus fortified, I went to buy some shoes.
5
Lucifer
Over three years ago.
Tronyhadboughtmea nice little pile of books.They were in a bag next to me on the passenger seat.The angel had given me the fancy-looking purple cloth bag filled with filthy goodness as a reward for “finally taking a shower.”
